[3.5] Axe Murdering Hobo

[A.A.King]

I'm wanting to create an Axe-Focused Ranger, but I'm torn between two ways in:

1. I can make it strength focused (using Brutal Throw) which would increase my damage output in both Melee and Ranged and opening up stuff like Power Attack and Power Throw. Making him a Dwarf with a Fighter Dip into the Racial Substitution Fighter will make him a true Axe Murder capable of using many type of axes. However I can see combat very quickly becoming focused on THF a Greataxe and having little actual focus on throwing weapons

2. I can make dexterity focused (using Weapon Finesse) which would make would make it easier to focus purely on Throwing Axes both Ranged And Two Weapon Fighting but such a build naturally geared towards dumping Strength will have a low damage output, but Whisper Knife might help out there.


So, is there a way to make my Dwarf more obviously multipurpose with feats or prestige classes (other then the Throw Anything Feat, not really a fan of that one) or should I go for a Whisper-Axe sort of build?

Edit:
Right now the idea is an Axe-Focused Dwarf who's Primary Melee Weapon is a Greataxe with a Dwarven Waraxe as Secondary Weapon combined with a throwing axe (Light Weapon) two weapon fight when fighting multiple weak opponents and few more throwing axes to make ranged attacks whenever necessary.

The important bit of the build so far

Ranger 1: Precise Shot (Level 1 Feat), Brutal Throw (Flaw 1), Quick Draw (Flaw 2)
Ranger 2: Two-Weapon Fighting (Combat Style)
Ranger 3: Rapid Shot (Level 3 Feat), Endurance (Ranger Bonus Feat)
Dwarf Fighter 1: Axe Focus (= Weapon Focus (Greataxe, Dwarven Waraxe, Throwing Axe and other Axes)
Fighter 2: Power Attack (Fighter Bonus Feat)
Deepwarden 1: Power Throw (Level 6 Feat)
Deepwarden 2: Constitution instead of Dexterity to AC

Something can still chance of course, depending on where I should go from here. Stat wise I only need a dexterity of 13 for Rapid Shot and can focus the rest on Strength and Constitution. Deepwarden 2 means my AC won't suffer from low Dex (though it takes a while to get it) so it will just be my initiative which will be low. And, if I plan on going Master Thrower (which I am not right now) I could replace Rapid Shot with Precise Shot, removing the need for a Dex of 13 and allowing me to get Quickdraw for free.

For now however I'm looking for ways to increase the potential of both my melee and ranged combat with the sheer power of my axes. Melee Weapon Mastery and Slashing Flurry seem nice but it would require Weapon Specilization. Any thoughts?

[Hunter Noventa]

You could always get the throwing and returning enchantments on your axes, though you may want to ask your DM for a more lenient range increment than 10ft on the throwing enchantment.

However, throwing a two-handed weapon is a full round action instead of standard.

Really the way to do thrown weapons is Bloodstorm Blade, but your DM may not be allowing Tome of Battle.

[cerin616]

TWF with a battleaxe (1 hand) and a throwing axe (light). Then build for both throwing and TWF.

Dunno what kind of build you want to go with though, like, do you want the brutally evil axe murderer that people are terrified of, or do you want a good guy who just happens to axe fight?

[A.A.King]

Bloodstorm Blade isn't quite what I am looking for. I'm more looking for a Master of Axes type of character, Throw Anything makes the carrying of different axes redundant so right now I'm looking for something more something which ups both the ability to throw my throwing axes as the strength of my melee combat.

EDIT: I'm looking for a mixture between the two. Not an Evil Axe Murdering Hobo, but a "good" Axe Mudering Hobo. A psychopath who is not inherently evil but who cannot stop a fight once started. If he get mad at you, he'll want to kill you and once he's killing you he gets more mad at you for staining his lovely axes with Blood. Even if you flee, he'll follow you, throws his axe at you and if necessary, tracks you down. A lovable weirdo, as long as you're not on his list.

[Feytalist]

Go Tempest? Some more TWF fun and if I recall, it allows you to extend your Weapon Focus etc feats to both weapons you are wielding.

There are weapon style feats in CW that key off two weapons. Not two axes, unfortunately, but axe+dagger and axe+hammer could be decent?

[Fax Celestis]

You could always get the throwing and returning enchantments on your axes, though you may want to ask your DM for a more lenient range increment than 10ft on the throwing enchantment.

That's just the range before you start taking to-hit penalties. -2 per increment past the first, maximum 5 increments for a thrown weapon. Really not that big a deal, and you can take Far Shot to increase that to 20' increments. There's another feat somewhere that halves that penalty too, but I can't remember where it is or what it's called.

If you're really into this throwing thing, you can just go with archery ranger. All of the feats are equally applicable to thrown weapons.

[Slipperychicken]

EDIT: I'm looking for a mixture between the two. Not an Evil Axe Murdering Hobo, but a "good" Axe Mudering Hobo. A psychopath who is not inherently evil but who cannot stop a fight once started. If he get mad at you, he'll want to kill you and once he's killing you he gets more mad at you for staining his lovely axes with Blood. Even if you flee, he'll follow you, throws his axe at you and if necessary, tracks you down. A lovable weirdo, as long as you're not on his list.

Seems like you want that one PrC with the "frenzy" class feature that forces you to fight, and takes Will saves to end. Frenzied Berserker, I think.

Brutal Throw adds Str to attack rolls (instead of dex) with thrown weapons. No prereqs, and it means you no longer care much for Dexterity, so you can put everything into Str and Con.

[PaucaTerrorem]

Wait, this thread isn't about murdering axes?

[A.A.King]

I already mentioned Brutal in the OP, that one is kinda obvious

And yeah, I don't actually want Frenzied Berserker because his killing spree should always be limited to people he perceives as enemies. He should be able to kill of everyone that pissed him off and then turn his head around towards his allies with puppies that say "that wasn't me, forget this happend"

[Fouredged Sword]

Whirling frenzy may be good though. +4 str, +4 dex, and an extra attack help out no matter what way you go in the build.

Note that one level of barbarian and the extra rage feat are enough to get you through most combats.

[A.A.King]

I got the idea for a Dwarven Axe Fighter lined out in the OP, for now it has no Barbarian levels because I don't want too many dips if possible. Right now I'm still hoping to find that one great Axe Prestige Class I missed. If not, any ideas for this guy?

[Fouredged Sword]

High sword, low ax fighting style feat with an aptitude ax? It would make for a tripper...

[Curmudgeon]

That's just the range before you start taking to-hit penalties. -2 per increment past the first, maximum 5 increments for a thrown weapon.
You've got that wrong.
Range Increment

Any attack at less than this distance is not penalized for range. However, each full range increment imposes a cumulative -2 penalty on the attack roll. That's a -2 penalty at 10'.

[ericp65]

Cool, you're building Kai the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker! :smallbiggrin:

[A.A.King]

Cool, you're building Kai the Hatchet-wielding Hitchhiker! :smallbiggrin:

I don't know who that is.