Level 5, strong build ideas!

[King-Strawberry]

Hi all, looking for some build suggestions.
character will be level 5, trying to stay away from spellcasting however.
I want a strong gladiator type build that will be a real challenge in 1v1 combat but also possessing social/assassination abilities... Anyone have any ideas?
So far i'm thinking swordsage, but I don't know all that much about ToB.
I'd love your input/
-Strawberry

[Fouredged Sword]

Dwarf crusader 5.

Feats - Toughness, roll with it flaw, shaky-> roll with it.

You get good Dr and a very hard to kill 5th level character who is hard to kill.

[Kane0]

Hi all, looking for some build suggestions.
character will be level 5, trying to stay away from spellcasting however.
I want a strong gladiator type build that will be a real challenge in 1v1 combat but also possessing social/assassination abilities... Anyone have any ideas?
So far i'm thinking swordsage, but I don't know all that much about ToB.
I'd love your input/
-Strawberry

All ToB classes are good choices, but may take a little bit of reading to get comfortable with.
With a Crusader you would have to put a fair bit of effort to actually die in combat.
With a warblade you get a lot of personal combat benefits and decent skill selection (and has Int-based class features). Less tanky than the Crusader but offensively pulls ahead.
Swordsage is much better at skills and has the more sneaky disciplines but has to be more careful with personal combat. They arent as front-line tanky and have to use their maneuvers more judiciously.

I'm not sure about raw power, but a swift hunter (Ranger + Scout) may suit you. They get plenty of skills and precision damage but may fall short in one on one combat unless they can pepper the enemy without much trouble.

A straightforward Fighter/Barbarian might work too, or possibly a Psychic Warrior if you have access to Psionics.

Are you allowed homebrew?

Edit: There is also Magic of Incarnum, which is about as hard to grasp as the ToB. Incarnates have good skills and decent combat where totemists if built well are terrifying opponents in personal combat. Both would be quite the spectacle in a gladiator arena too.

[King-Strawberry]

All ToB classes are good choices, but may take a little bit of reading to get comfortable with.
With a Crusader you would have to put a fair bit of effort to actually die in combat.
With a warblade you get a lot of personal combat benefits and decent skill selection (and has Int-based class features). Less tanky than the Crusader but offensively pulls ahead.
Swordsage is much better at skills and has the more sneaky disciplines but has to be more careful with personal combat. They arent as front-line tanky and have to use their maneuvers more judiciously.

I'm not sure about raw power, but a swift hunter (Ranger + Scout) may suit you. They get plenty of skills and precision damage but may fall short in one on one combat unless they can pepper the enemy without much trouble.

Are you allowed homebrew?


I don't believe homebrew is allowed. but I don't want so much an unkillable beast like a crusader. More of an assassin that can still hold his own if he doesn't get the jump on the enemy.

[Kane0]

Perhaps a Hexblade then? They aren't actually that powerful but have a ton of flavor and can fill both gladiator and assassin roles fairly well. You won't be as impressive as a ToB or other 'good' option but it might just be fun enough to try anyway.

[Fouredged Sword]

Then go swordsage with a balance of diamond mind, stone dragon, and tiger claw.

[Cheiromancer]

If you do go hexblade, ask your DM if you can use the unofficial fix (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19547530/Contacting_Wizards_of_the_Coast_about_Hex_Blades?p ost_num=11#332210466) that Mike Mearls, the designer of the class provided. It is as follows:

The hexblade suffers a little because he came on the scene relatively early in 3.5's life. As R&D pushes the boundaries of the game, we learn that some things we thought were risky or potentially broken aren't. Other times, we learn things that look fine don't actually work in play.

Armored mages fall into the first category. Them seem really powerful, but in the long run they aren't. Spells and magic items allow an unarmored mage to build great defenses. The spell mage armor is as good as medium armor, and its duration allows most mages to keep it active at all times. If you compare the hexblade to the duskblade from PH 2, you can see how the thinking has changed.

If you want to boost the hexblade, I'd try the following changes:

* Good Fortitude save
* Curse ability usable 1 + the hexblade's Cha modifier per day
* Curse ability usable as a swift action
* Curse ability does not count as used if the target makes his saving throw
* Ability to cast in light or medium armor and while carrying a light shield or buckler
* At 6th level, the hexblade can cast one hexblade spell per day as a swift action, as long as its original casting time is a standard action or faster. He gains an additional use of this power at levels 8, 11, 14, and 18.

The key to the hexblade is his curse ability, but it's a little un-fun to have it so limited in use. The hexblade also has trouble casting spells and using his melee attacks, so shifting spells to swift actions fits in with the idea of an armored mage.

(These are by no means official. They're just off the top of my head changes I'd consider

[Randomguy]

I'm thinking a factotum tripper, maybe with a level of marshal so you can add your Cha to trip checks. Or maybe Factotum 3/Marshal 1/Incarnate 1 so you can shape Mauling Gauntlets and get another +4 to trip checks.

Trippers in general have the flaw of being too specialized against humanoid opponents, since it's hard to trip most monsters, but if you're mostly doing 1v1 combat then this shouldn't be a problem. And if you grab a reach weapon or a spiked chain then you'll be able to beat most melee builds.

[Raendyn]

Be a Druid, summon things, profit.

Get Augnment summoning and if u r in eberron get Ashbound summoning. Also try to grab Natural bond.

Go dire wolves summoning and then start taking photoes.

For a pet get a Fleshraker dinosaur from MM3.