Classic Final Fantasy Dragoon

[SethoMarkus]

Hello Playgrounders,

So, I've recently been bitten by the themed-character bug and have become obsessed with the concept of the classic Final Fantasy Dragoon. Polearm as primary weapon, crazy jumping about during combat, and armor motif inspired by dragons (either as homage to their teachers, or as trophies from their slain foes).

Now, I know of the Jumplomancer. I don't much care about jumping so high that it takes a full minute to descend amongst an adoring crowd. I also know of the Tiger Claw maneuvers in Tome of Battle; even with some re-flavoring of fluff, not exactly enough to build an entire character around.

What other resources are there for combat utility of the Jump skill? Can a Jump be used as part of a Charge (to avoid uneven terrain, clear a chasm separating you from the enemy, etc)?

I don't want to resort to homebrew if I don't have to, and I don't much care whether it is optimized or not as long as the build is still able to contribute in, say, a T4 party. I don't generally play in high OP games, and my group tends to focus on story and gimmicks, so it is mostly the theme and spirit that I want to achieve.

[pilvento]

Leap attack Feat, complete warrior, make jump check as part of a charge to increase your power attack damage.

And no character resembles more the flavour in my opinion than the PrC from the book of exalted deeds, the Vassal of Bahamut

Thats a start.

[Crake]

Leap attack Feat, complete warrior, make jump check as part of a charge to increase your power attack damage.

And no character resembles more the flavour in my opinion than the PrC from the book of exalted deeds, the Vassal of Bahamut

Thats a start.

Leap attack also says you get to ignore difficult/dangerous terrain of the distance you jump, so you could technically jump over a hole or pit or whatnot and land your attack

[Larkas]

This might be very relevant: Little Red Raiding Hood: A Tale of & Guide to the 3.5 Dragoon (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872838/Little_Red_Raiding_Hood:_A_Tale_of_38;_Guide_to_th e_3.5_Dragoon).

[Qc Storm]

Well, as a fellow Dragoon lover, I made an attempt at hom- oh. Okay.

Maybe a dragonborn dungeoncrasher? Fly high, drop on on dudes, crash them into the ground? That's about as close as I can think of.

[SethoMarkus]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!


Leap attack Feat, complete warrior, make jump check as part of a charge to increase your power attack damage.

And no character resembles more the flavour in my opinion than the PrC from the book of exalted deeds, the Vassal of Bahamut

Thats a start.


Leap attack also says you get to ignore difficult/dangerous terrain of the distance you jump, so you could technically jump over a hole or pit or whatnot and land your attack

I'll take a look at the Leap Attack feat! Not sure how I missed that one, but it sounds exactly like what I need. Buff up Charging as much as possible, take Leap Attack = instant dragoon Jump attacks!




This might be very relevant: Little Red Raiding Hood: A Tale of & Guide to the 3.5 Dragoon (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872838/Little_Red_Raiding_Hood:_A_Tale_of_38;_Guide_to_th e_3.5_Dragoon).

Interesting... I'll have to read up on this.


Well, as a fellow Dragoon lover, I made an attempt at hom- oh. Okay.

Maybe a dragonborn dungeoncrasher? Fly high, drop on on dudes, crash them into the ground? That's about as close as I can think of.

Yeah :smallfrown: I would love some homebrew that follows the class/job closely, but right now I just wanted to come up with a build that could be used in a standard 3.5 game. Homebrew is great, but sometimes it gets a bit sticky if the DM isn't familiar with it or willing to learn it. If you want to link or PM me the homebrew, though, I'd love to see what you have!

[Larkas]

Interesting... I'll have to read up on this.

Take care, though, those builds are fairly optimized. You'll be doing a gazillion damage per turn and then some. Those are a great starting point though: you can take the bits and pieces you find more relevant and build a character more in tune with the optimization level of your party.

[Platymus Pus]

A dragoon? I hope you give all of the fall damage to the enemy if he hits.
Because that's one of those things the dragon does large amounts of dmg from jumps while being immune from dmg and the jumps are rather insane for classic FF.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzgq1248CV8
I'd go for this Dragoon's jump.
I'd let him enchant a equipment and the pole arm with this somehow.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/j/jump

[Feytalist]

How about Battle Jump? It's a regional, racial feat from Forgotten Realms (Unapproachable East, specifically), but you can refluff it without problems, probably.

You can make a charge when you drop down on your foe, or you can initiate a trip or grapple attempt with some bonuses. (Need to get up there somehow first, though).


Okay, so it's in the guide that was linked. Still.

[SethoMarkus]

Thanks again for all the help!

Right now I'm looking at Fighter/Lion Totem Barbarian, with Battle Jump, Leap Attack, and Leap of the Heavens, and probably with Martial Study: Tiger Claw, both for some fun goodies as well as gaining Jump as a class skill (possibly with Sudden Leap to gain a free retreat with a jump to get out of range of normal melee and put the enemy back at threat with a reach weapon, as long as I don't more further than my normal movement speed in the round I think this works).

[juicycaboose]

Do you want a Dragoon more like the ones in the Ivalice ff games (ffta et al)? Or more just kain from ff4?

I built one up to level 5 a little while ago that never got to see play, was going to be for a game that didn't allow ToB but if you are allowed Tome of Battle I wouldn't take very many levels of fighter like I did but his basic feat and race layout was

Dragonborn Human: Heart aspect (breath weapon)

Feats
Dragon Wings (i wanted him to be even more dragony :>)
Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Greatspear
Power Attack
Battle Jump
Leap of the Heavens

some are obvious, battle jump has already been mentions but Leap of the Heavens allows you to make a jump check from standing still as if you had run the 20ft lead-up
And if you do take the 20-foot running start then you gain a +5 competence bonus to the check.

It's from Player's Handbook II


edit: swordsage'd by the OP, welp


also, Jump is a class skill for both fighters and barbarians already

[Dusk Eclipse]

Take care, though, those builds are fairly optimized. You'll be doing a gazillion damage per turn and then some. Those are a great starting point though: you can take the bits and pieces you find more relevant and build a character more in tune with the optimization level of your party.

The dragoon build is really versatile in the sense you don't need to go all out, battle jump+ valorous weapon is more than enough, after that you can focus on more utility (via maneuvers, tripping, whatever), heck the gish versions have tons of utility.

[Hunter Noventa]

Yeah :smallfrown: I would love some homebrew that follows the class/job closely, but right now I just wanted to come up with a build that could be used in a standard 3.5 game. Homebrew is great, but sometimes it gets a bit sticky if the DM isn't familiar with it or willing to learn it. If you want to link or PM me the homebrew, though, I'd love to see what you have!

Dungeoncrasher is an alternate class feature for fighters found in Dungeonscape, i think the book is. Deal damage by slamming people into walls, or any hard surface. Like the ground.

[SoraWolf7]

If you decide to go the winged route as suggested by juicycaboose, you could pick up some levels in Aerial Avenger from the Dragon Compendium, which is nothing but the idea of swooping down on your enemies with your weapon of choice and getting bonuses to attack by doing so with skills such as Power Dive.

[RFLS]

You might also check out Saph's Horizon Tripper, and arm it with a Guisarme. Leap Attack slots very nicely into the character, you'll have lots of options that are fairly simple to use, and it seems to fit your design goals to a T.

[Vaz]

The thing about the Jumplomancer is that you cannot be observed for all that time, so I don't think that jumping as the example works; the spot checks get so high that the crowd of typical NPC's would not be able to see him, probably.

[SethoMarkus]

The thing about the Jumplomancer is that you cannot be observed; the spot checks get so high that the crowd of typical NPC's would not be able to see him.

Great point about the Jumplomancer, but I specifically don't want to do that anyway. Thanks for the input, though!

[Qc Storm]

Yeah :smallfrown: I would love some homebrew that follows the class/job closely, but right now I just wanted to come up with a build that could be used in a standard 3.5 game. Homebrew is great, but sometimes it gets a bit sticky if the DM isn't familiar with it or willing to learn it. If you want to link or PM me the homebrew, though, I'd love to see what you have!

It's in my signature. Cant miss it.

[SethoMarkus]

It's in my signature. Cant miss it.

Well, I guess you can make something idiot-proof, but the idiot still finds a way through! :smallredface: Now that you point it out to me, the link is really obvious, and boy is my face red...

[Slipperychicken]

1-level (or more) Warblade dip, pick up the swift-jump maneuver, the +10 jump stance (leaping tiger?), and also the parrying counter (wall of blades?) because it's freaking awesome. Take the dip as late as possible to qualify for better maneuvers and stances like Iron Heart Surge.

That's the nice thing about ToB; you don't have to go all-in to get cool stuff. A little dip can add useful options and abilities to almost any martial character.

[j_spencer93]

mantis leap pretty cool leaping feat but takes monk...so maybe leap of the heavens, extreme leap, and leap attack combined with several polearm or spear weapon focus feats.
actually battle jump prob exactly what you would want, maybe mighty leaping and the others stated too.
oh and flying kick, +1d12 on charge attack, battle jump lets you treat falling on an opponent from 5ft a charge, so good combo, need power attack though

[j_spencer93]

you have the jumping part covered with all feats listed and there are still a few others, but are you also wanting to be proficient at close range with spear or halbreds of solely focused on jumping and skewering those below?