Feat choice for next level, what is your opinion.

[Nergaal]

Hi all,

first of all sorry for my mistakes, i am french and i will probably make some :)

I' m new here and i'd like your opinion on the subject of my next Feat choice.
But before, let me summarize my situation :

Me and my group play a sandbox campaign that is about exploration, so we are often outdoors. There is lot of combats involved and sometimes at night. Some dungeons too.

We only play with the minimum core ( PHB1, MM1 and GMM ) and we do not have access to other books. My GM will accept some Prestige Class from other books if it fits his campaign setting.

We do not know how our maximum level in the end of the campaign and i will foresee 10 to 12 max.

The group change each time of play due to the sandbox type campaign. But we have :

- Fighter level 7 - Archery style, and he wants to go dual wielding
- Fighter level 6 - bastard sword + shield, Improved disarm, power attack, and he wants to go cleric on next level
- Paladin level 6 - mounted combat
- Rogue level 6 - scout type, no combat style privilegied
- Rogue 1/Sorcerer 5 : dunno what he can do really
- Rogue 6 : New player, first game on thursday - dunno him
- Fighter 1 / Cleric 5 : classic Healer / buffer
- WIzard 7 : Damage type ( Fireball, eclair, magic missile)

I play a Barbarian 2 / Fighter 3 Human Spiked Chain Tripper who looks like this :

Abilities : Str 18 (20), Dex 16, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 7
Feats : Exotic Weapon Proeficiency(Spiked Chain), Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack
Equipments : Spiked Chain +1, Mithral Breasplate +1, Cloak of Resistance +1, Gauntlet of Ogre power (+2 str)


Now, i will gain a level probably on the next session that is Thursday and i will take another figther level to hit Level 4 and gain another 2 feats ( 1 for ECL6 and 1 for fighter lvl 4 )

My GM accepted the Weapon Exotic Master prestige class and so i wondered what 's the best feats i could get to follow this route.

If i want to access this prestige class at level 7 i have to take Weapon focus feat on level 6. But i dunno if it is for the better.

My plan right now is just that : take Weapon focus (spiked chain) on next level and one of these :

- weapon specialization (spiked chain) : more damages
- Blind-fighting : to compensate my inability to see in the dark and my reduced movement during night
- Iron Will : because +2 will save is really poor
- improved disarm : because it is a nice synergy with my tripping style.

Could you help me please ?

Have a nice day :)

[The Trickster]

Limited to core, two weapon fighting feats could be a viable option. Double the trip attempts when power attack isn't an option. Core really limits you though.

[RFLS]

Greetings!

First of all, your English is excellent.

Secondly, your feat choice depends on your DM. Being limited to core really hurts martial characters, so see if you can talk him into allowing a few more books. Many of them are available online in PDF form. However, I'll assume for now that you will remain limited to core. As such, your feat choices were good ones. Here's how you should pick:


If you're fighting lots of big, dumb monsters, Weapon Specialization might be a good way to go.
Blindfight, however, is good if you're dealing with lots of undead or casters.
Only select Improved Disarm if you're consistently fighting humanoids.
Finally, Iron Will is a bit of a junk feat - I'd recommend against it. You're better off trying to turn the caster into chunky salsa.


Last thing - what did you mean by "eclair"? I'm 90% sure that you don't mean the wizard is fighting the forces of evil with a delicious pastry.

- RFLS

[Psyren]

Last thing - what did you mean by "eclair"? I'm 90% sure that you don't mean the wizard is fighting the forces of evil with a delicious pastry.

It's been awhile since I took French, but I'm almost certain "éclair" means "lightning."

[Fax Celestis]

Last thing - what did you mean by "eclair"? I'm 90% sure that you don't mean the wizard is fighting the forces of evil with a delicious pastry.

I, too, had this vision, and it is delicious. Pieomancy is the best magic.

[Callin]

It's been awhile since I took French, but I'm almost certain "éclair" means "lightning."

So he kills with Sugar Shock? :smallwink:

[Fax Celestis]

So he kills with Sugar Shock? :smallwink:

My buddy made a mod for Dungeons of Dredmor (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=99087709&searchtext=) that does basically this.

[Feilith]

Personally from core i enjoy whirlwind attack if you can stomach the feat prerequisites (dodge and mobility...bleh) but its pretty fun if you go for it, especially with your extra reach.

[nedz]

It's been awhile since I took French, but I'm almost certain "éclair" means "lightning."

Well it could be a Chocolate filled Toffee, but BabelFish tells me Eclair, in French, means Flash — which doesn't really help.

Also: We normally use DMG rather than GMM.

Ed:
oh and Improved Initiative or Cleave maybe ?

[HalfQuart]

If you're using Core only because that's what you have access to and not because of philosophical reasons, you may want to check out the Guide to Free D&D (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=513).

Exotic Weapon Master is quite good.. Go with Flurry of Strikes first... an additional attack is golden. Then go with Trip Attack at the next level to get +2 to all trips.

Improved Disarm, and disarm in general, is a pretty cool concept theoretically, but is very difficult to pull of reliably; I'd say stay away from it.

You may also want to consider Psychic Warrior if psionics are in (assuming you have access to the whole SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psychicWarrior.htm) and not just PHB, including psionics). Some DMs dislike combining Fighter and Psychic Warrior on the same character, but it does get you more feats and -- most importantly -- access to the Expansion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/expansion.htm) power so that you can get bigger and have greater reach.

[Nergaal]

Hello and thanks to all for answers.

First or all yes i meant "Lightning". In french "éclair" is for sure a yummy pastry but it is also Lightning .. i just used the french word, dunno what :)

Secondly, we only use the the three aformentionned books ( and yes MMG meant DMG lol ) not because of access but because my GM don't want to use the others. He don't want to be burried by a mountain of feats and classes, and he thinks this is more challenging. Anyway his game, his rules :)

Anyway i think reading your comments that i will go for Blind-fight because of the regulars undeads we fight. We have some dumb monsters too and some humanoids, but another warrior can disarm and i 'd like to be more comfortable with night environement.

Thanks again and please don't hesitate to give others advices :)

[Psyren]

First or all yes i meant "Lightning". In french "éclair" is for sure a yummy pastry but it is also Lightning .. i just used the french word, dunno what :)

Woohoo! High-school validated!

[HalfQuart]

- Blind-fighting : to compensate my inability to see in the dark and my reduced movement during night
You might want to just get your party a few Everburning Torches (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#everburningTorch). Normally I'd say skip Blind-Fight, but core-only it isn't too bad... It's one of those things that probably won't come up too often, but when it does you'll be glad you have it. Although I'd probably take Improved Initiative before it. Cleave can be good if you frequently fight larger groups of enemies, but if your DM tends to favor one or two more powerful enemies you won't get much out of it.