How to make (and counter) a high strength character?

[Gwazi Magnum]

Largely for curiosity's sake.

I the last campaign I was in I played an Orc with decently high strength. I always had a ton of fun using him to break down walls, juggle guards etc. I'm not 100% sure if I'm done having fun with such a build yet or not though, especially since I have yet to ever optimize and use such a build (when I did last time was I was noob beta-testing an idea).

However, my DM could not for the life of him counter/control such a character. So essentially along with looking for advise on how to make a high strength character I'm also looking for advice to give the DM on to better handle him as a player character and not DM in a way that makes him feel he needs to either...

a) Target and kill my guy ASAP
b) Give up on difficult encounters because "I just kill them too fast"

To give a list on generally what I did with the last character to give a better idea of what the DM was facing:

-Kicking/Smashing down any wall or other stone or metal obstacle
-Picking up and tossing any foe (including dragons)
-Doing 200+ damage a round on a foe

[Hamste]

What level was this?

[Hand_of_Vecna]

There are basically two ways to make a high strength character.

1. Stack templates on a strong race like Feral Half Minotaur Water Orc, then get buffed with enlarge and such.

2. Get polymorphed into something big and strong, then buff further.

Big melee bruisers have numerous counters.

Ranged attacks from out of charge range, movement modes the can't match, reflex and will save based save-or-lose; glitterdust, web, entangle, pretty much any illusion or enchantment, intangible creatures, tripping, sundering, disarming, grappling, more disposable mooks than they can cleave through in a round.

[Gwazi Magnum]

What level was this?

Last case we started at level 1 and ended at level 17.

During the earlier stages of the campaign all he did was one shot zombies and juggle town guards.

Later stages was where all the wall breaking and 200+ damage stuff came in.

[claypigeons]

Ego Whip is fun counter to a BSF.

Your DM could try social encounters. Or flying enemies. Miss chance. Misdirection and illusion.

[OldTrees1]

To give a list on generally what I did with the last character to give a better idea of what the DM was facing:

-Kicking/Smashing down any wall or other stone or metal obstacle
-Picking up and tossing any foe (including dragons)
-Doing 200+ damage a round on a foe

1&2 should not be a problem. 1 takes a long time and usually is a waste of time compared to the alternatives. 3 can be a problem depending on the party. Perhaps a -damage +AC feat?

[Hamste]

At later stages 200 damage per round is almost nothing. The average 17th level character should be able to do 2d6+34 (full shock trooper power attack)+9 (28 strength)+4 (greater magic weapon cast on weapon)+3d6 (various elemental damage)+2d6 (merciful)+2d6 (vicious) for an average of 7+34+9+4+10.5+7+7=78.5 on each attack that hits (with 5 possible attacks bonus one from speed or haste). That being said you still end up screwed by hundreds of different effects from greater mirror image to blink to that annoying wizard shooting you with fireballs to a simple web.

[Gwazi Magnum]

Thanks for the tips guys.

Though as a player I also don't want to make a character that the DM can do almost anything to make irrelevant, I just want to highlight to him that there are many things that makes a STR high character not broken.

So in regards to player advice... most of the stuff is solved by stuff such as magic items and spells. But is there a way to make strength still be useful when ranged?

[Hamste]

Brutal Throw: strength instead of dex on thrown weapons. Thrown weapons already have your strength on damage so it results in thrown weapons being entirely dependent on strength. Get power throw and your damage will increase nicely. You do run into the problem of thrown weapon generally having sucky range though.

[tyckspoon]

You do run into the problem of thrown weapon generally having sucky range though.

Javelins aren't too bad, with a 30 ft range; if you pick up one of several ways to extend that range increment you can cover any reasonable area with them. (I like the Gauntlets of Extended Range, which double your increment with any thrown weapon for a mere 2k gold. When you have enough money, consider combining them with Gauntlets of Endless Javelins... 60 ft range increment by 5 range increments is 300 feet. Anything longer than that distance is the realm of dedicated archers, spellcasters, and using teleportation effects to close the distance anyway.)