Choosing a melee class

[YossarianLives]

Hi all so my group is starting a new campaign after just finishing a awesome
9-month campaign. Anyway the role of warrior has fallen on me and i can't decide having only ever played casters. The only problem is the DM is only allowing core classes so my options are fairly limited. So i have to choose between paladin, fighter, or barbarian. What are the pros and cons of each class and which ones are more fun to play?

Thanks!:smallsmile:

[eggynack]

Is the core limitation just on classes, or does it also apply to the stuff you can use on those classes? Either way, the best mundane melee option is likely the horizon tripper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80415), with its decent combat prowess and bevy of reasonable abilities. The other solution is just using a caster for melee purposes, which means a druid or cleric, though you presumably don't want to do that. So, mostly the horizon tripper.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Are your feats/PrCs/ACFs/spells/races/etc also limited to core only?

The paladin is kind of MAD without a Dragon Compendium feat (Serenity), and his Smite is kind of crap. But later books give him a pretty nice spell list, things to do with Turn Undead, and feats like Serenity (all class features key off wisdom) and Battle Blessing (cast most spells as swift actions), getting you closer to a working character than anything else.

The fighter... well, the fighter is just there to help you pick up feats. Core-only, there's nothing really worth getting, though. Outside of core, 2-4 levels of fighter can really help a feat-intensive build along. ACFs like Dungeoncrasher (Dungeonscape) and Zhentrim Fighter (Champions of Valor web enchancement) give you a few actual useful class features.

The Barbarian is probably the best in a core-only environment, if only by default. You can rage to power up and hit things. That's about it. With splat support, you can get pounce (spirit lion totem, Complete Champion), which lets you full attack after a charge-- vital for a melee character-- as well as feats like Leap Attack (Complete Warrior) to help you power attack the crap out of everything. There's not much you can do beyond kill things, though-- some intimidation stuff (Intimidating Rage, Complete Warrior; Never Outnumbered, Complete Scoundrel), some mild trap stuff, oddly enough (Trapkiller ACF, Dungeonscape), and hey, 4+Int skills is better than nothing...

Also, +1 to Horizon Tripper in a core-only game-- it's one of the best bits of character building out there.

[YossarianLives]

Thanks I'll try that out.

[The Trickster]

How do your fellow party mates play? Do they like to build powerful characters, or do they keep it simple?

Will you be rolling for stats, or doing a point buy system?

What kind of character do you like? Doing lots of damage, or disrupting the enemy?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Druid.

Have a war-trained riding dog animal companion. Say you trained it for two months to give it the Warbeast template (MM2), which requires a DC 20 Handle Animal check (4 ranks, +4 link, +2 Cha or masterwork tool (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#toolMasterwork), take ten). Buy leather armor barding for it, there's no armor check penalty so no drawback for nonproficiency. Its stats will be as follows:

Size/Type: Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 3d8+12 (29 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 50 ft.
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +4 natural, +2 leather barding), touch 12, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+6
Attack: Bite +6 melee (1d6+6)
Full Attack: Bite +6 melee (1d6+6)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip +4
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, Combative Mount, Link, Share Spells
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +3
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 15, Con 18, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Jump +16, Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +5, Survival +2*, 1 rank in anything you want
Feats: Alertness, Track (B), any one feat it qualifies for

I'd give it cross-class ranks in Spellcraft (an animal can be trained to recognize spells) until it has 2 ranks, and give it Mage Slayer at its 6th HD. Your character should use a wooden tower shield and hide armor, and prepare Enrage Animal (SC) in all your 1st level spell slots.

[Yorrin]

If you're stuck in a Core-only game and don't want to go with a Horizon Tripper, Barbarian 20 is a surprisingly effective build. Much more effective if you're allowed to get Spirit Lion Totem and all that other fun non-core stuff, but unless you play with a group full of optimizers, Barb20 will satisfy the "beatstick" archetype with no problems. The same cannot be said for Fighter20 with core-only feats, and it would be somewhat difficult on a core-only Pali20.

[Vogonjeltz]

Hi all so my group is starting a new campaign after just finishing a awesome
9-month campaign. Anyway the role of warrior has fallen on me and i can't decide having only ever played casters. The only problem is the DM is only allowing core classes so my options are fairly limited. So i have to choose between paladin, fighter, or barbarian. What are the pros and cons of each class and which ones are more fun to play?

Thanks!:smallsmile:

Paladin: gets magic, eventually, has some fun abilities like healing. Difficult to fool by virtue of detect evil at will. Not threatened by feat effects.

Barbarian: gets listen as a class skill, all things being equal is physically stronger in combat than the fighter or paladin. Will get hit more than the other two, but will also take less damage from those hits.

Fighter: flexible in his fighting style choice. Has the feats to dabble in multiple styles. Benefits the most from searching through various add on books of feats. Lives or dies by feat selection and wits. Consider what feat trees you want and map out ahead of time what the character can select, and what the required stats are. Example: Combat Focus line requires 13 Wisdom; Combat Expertise line requires 13 Intelligence; Power Attack line is 13 Strength; and the Dodge line a 13 Dexterity.

You are probably only going to be able to pick one or two lines unless the character only has slightly above average stats.

[weckar]

Why exactly are we excluding the Ranger? Not advocating, just asking.

[Yorrin]

Why exactly are we excluding the Ranger? Not advocating, just asking.

Because this. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330458)

[Grod_The_Giant]

Because this. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330458)
Ehh, you can do a decent Ranger in core. Dip a level or two of Fighter for heavy armor proficiency, then go the rest of the way in Ranger for free TWF using a two-handed weapon and armor spikes. Add on enough skill points to actually do things, and a few spells...

[eggynack]

Why exactly are we excluding the Ranger? Not advocating, just asking.
Because we're not, probably. The horizon tripper incorporates ranger levels, at the very least, and that's the front runner melee build in core games. At the same time though, rangers don't offer that much if you're going down the TWF path, due to the lack of precision damage, and the archery path is decidedly not-melee.

[lytokk]

Ehh, you can do a decent Ranger in core. Dip a level or two of Fighter for heavy armor proficiency, then go the rest of the way in Ranger for free TWF using a two-handed weapon and armor spikes. Add on enough skill points to actually do things, and a few spells...

except ranger loses TWF when wearing medium or heavy armor. but you could spike a medium armor and have it made of mithril.

[Buufreak]

Ehh, you can do a decent Ranger in core. Dip a level or two of Fighter for heavy armor proficiency, then go the rest of the way in Ranger for free TWF using a two-handed weapon and armor spikes. Add on enough skill points to actually do things, and a few spells...

I think you missed the part where Rangers lose alot of everything when wearing anything bigger than light, including his bonus fighting style feats.

[Grod_The_Giant]

except ranger loses TWF when wearing medium or heavy armor. but you could spike a medium armor and have it made of mithril.
Wait, what? <checks books> Whoops. :smallredface: (Also, dumb-- how the hell do I forget how to use a second sword when I put on a suit of platemail?)

[Gavinfoxx]

No no, Rangers are using Greastwords and Mithral Breastplate with Armor Spikes for two weapon fighting!

Here's a Horizon Tripper I made using only the PHB & SRD. Does your DM allow the SRD?

http://www.thetangledweb.net/forums/profiler/view_char.php?cid=55074