PHB/DM's guide only Fighter/Barb Help

[Nimbryx]

So, my DM is running a very minimalist campaign right now because we're trying to introduce two new people to the basics of DnD. We started the campaign at level 1, and enough time has elapsed that we just dinged level 6 (from level 4 - lot of fighting and a lot of doorknobs). I chose to be the designated...uh, melee/meatshield/whackamole of the party since my other party members wanted to mess with being casters. It's turned out to be something entirely fun because I've never played one before, but consequently I have little idea of feats and stuff.

Setting:
Undermountain/Underdark
Our hub right now is currently a major melting pot/trade city, mainly comprising of dwarves, gnomes and a small human population. Drow and especially surface elves are rare to see.

Party (aside from myself):
Gnome Illusionist Wizard
Dwarf Cleric of Pelor (Good, Healing)

Books:
We're using the PHB and the DM's guide only for our character's progression and equipment. That's it. 3.5e.
Half-Orcs have been banned.


My character so far:

Race: Dwarf
Classes: Fighter 2/ Barb 2

Item bonus, Racial Mod, Doorknob

Str: 21 (18 +2+1)
Con: 19 (15 +2+1)
Dex: 15 (15)
Int: 14 (-)
Wis: 11 (-)
Cha: 13 (14 -2+1)

Feats:
Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Cleave

Ability:
Uncanny Dodge, Rage 1/day

Inventory:

Spiked Rhino Hide Armor (+2 hide armor, doubles charge dmg) - normal hide armor is +3 AC, I'm confused, is it +2 to AC or...? I tried reading the rules but I'm not sure.
Spiked heavy steel shield
Locked Gauntlet
Ring of Feather Fall
Bracers of Deflection +2
Ioun Stone (+2 str)
Dwarven Waraxe
Longbow
Greatsword (Blessed +1D6 vs unholy/evil/undead, Keen, Mighty Cleaving)


I currently have two levels I need to spend from when we were last afield. I'm just curious what I should really do with this character.

Feats I'm contemplating:

Spring attack - With this feat - could I charge/kill 1st target -> cleave/kill 2nd target-> Charge/kill 3rd target -> Cleave/kill 4th target by level 6? Am I still allowed a 5ft step doing this? I know I'm allowed to move up to my maximum movement speed - would that include my maximum charge distance?
Improved critical - My DM is ruling that it will stack with keen - taking my greatsword from a 17-20 to a 15-20. I thought it redoubled everytime - making it a 12-20 instead? I should shaddap, since he's allowing it in the first place, he says he just doesn't want an OP blender to deal with when the rest of the party is learning.
Combat expertise + Whirlwird attack - charge, attack, whirlwird next turn - proceed to cleave everything to bits.
Combat reflexes - charging into a crowd tends to be a lot of AoO action. But my dex isn't great.
Greater Cleave - Unlimited cleaves? I could see this going well with whirlwind attack - other than that, no idea. I don't see a lot of situations I would be using this from the current difficulty of the campaign. We're fighting a lot of onesies and twosies.
Iron will - My will save is atrocious. Dom'd barbarians kill parties.


Does anyone have some advice?

The aim of what I was hoping to do was create a charger who had a decent AC when closing, and could deal with crowds by taking advantage of crits to proceed to cleave and clear out a room before they harm my party. Pretty standard, I suppose.

[boxfox]

I'm in a similar boat, but posted my own thread since I get a few more books than you.
I'm not sure what these "Doorknob" bonuses are...can you elaborate?



Feats:
Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Cleave
Well, you've already got Dodge and Mobility...looks like the start of a mobile fighting build.

Inventory:
•Spiked Rhino Hide Armor (+2 hide armor, doubles charge dmg) - normal hide armor is +3 AC, I'm confused, is it +2 to AC or...? I tried reading the rules but I'm not sure.
The final stats for this armor are:
+5 AC bonus (this is +3 from the armor itself and a +2 Enhancement bonus) PLUS your DEX bonus (up to a maximum of +4 DEX)
You have a -2 Armor check penalty to certain rolls while wearing the armor.
RAW (Rules as Written) the DMG says it adds +2d6 to charge damage, not doubles it, but if DM says "OKAY", then shhhhhh.

•Spiked heavy steel shield
Personally, I'd trade this for a Buckler. It's only 1 less AC, but straps to your arm so you can use your greatsword with no penalty. You can't use the GS with your big shield, and the Dwarven Waraxe just doesn't do as much damage.

•Dwarven Waraxe
If you get rid of the shield, lose this, too.

•Longbow
Upgrade to Composite as soon as you can...highest STR bonus possible.

•Greatsword (Blessed +1D6 vs unholy/evil/undead, Keen, Mighty Cleaving)
Jesus...little nuts for a lvl 6...Good stuff...Amazing in Underdark....

Periapt of Wisdom +6 = +3 to Will saves, Spot, Listen, Search, Survival...etc...
Underdark will eventually yield Illithids, if not yet...BE READY.

I currently have two levels I need to spend from when we were last afield. I'm just curious what I should really do with this character.
I feel your pain...

Feats I'm contemplating:
•Spring attack - With this feat - could I charge/kill 1st target -> cleave/kill 2nd target-> Charge/kill 3rd target -> Cleave/kill 4th target by level 6? Am I still allowed a 5ft step doing this? I know I'm allowed to move up to my maximum movement speed - would that include my maximum charge distance?
Nope. TOTAL distance is = to your speed. When this is useful is preventing big melee types from getting full attacks on you. You move 15' to them, Attack, move 15' away. You've moved your 30ft for the turn, but you end 15' away from them, so they can't make a 5' step and still hit you with a full attack. Not very useful for a dwarf...becomes more useful if you manage to acquire higher speed bonuses...but not much, because by stopping the big monster from hitting you with full attacks, you're stopping YOU from hitting him, too....

•Improved critical - My DM is ruling that it will stack with keen - taking my greatsword from a 17-20 to a 15-20. I thought it redoubled everytime - making it a 12-20 instead? I should shaddap, since he's allowing it in the first place, he says he just doesn't want an OP blender to deal with when the rest of the party is learning.
Yep, shaddap. Your DM's math is correct, although his allowance of the stacking is questionable. It's not supposed to, but...shaddap... :)

•Combat expertise + Whirlwird attack - charge, attack, whirlwird next turn - proceed to cleave everything to bits.
Whirlwind specifically states that you lose the ability to cleave when using it. Also, putting yourself into the center of a number of baddies is BAD. You will not live unless they're all stupid little grunts that present 0 challenge anyway...though even they can kill you with a few bad rolls.
You're DM might be playing extra nice since the other guys are new....who knows....

•Combat reflexes - charging into a crowd tends to be a lot of AoO action. But my dex isn't great.
That's true...although the AoO will be for the bad guys, not you.....

•Greater Cleave - Unlimited cleaves? I could see this going well with whirlwind attack - other than that, no idea. I don't see a lot of situations I would be using this from the current difficulty of the campaign. We're fighting a lot of onesies and twosies. Probably a wasted feat. Only useful when you suddenly fight 8 kobolds at once...in any scenario in which this feat proves useful, the challenge is so low that the only thing the feat does is speed things up.

•Iron will - My will save is atrocious. Dom'd barbarians kill parties.
Yep. Bout the only option in Core, too.

Just because you CAN charge, doesn't mean you SHOULD. There is a lot to be say for standing 5-10 feet in front of your blaster and your healer, just letting them spam spells or crossbow bolts until whatever's left gets close, then Charging the leader. Don't forget that while you're in the mob, your friends can probably hit you with spells accidently...and your healer is too far away to heal.

I suppose I'd focus less on mobility at this point, and more on survivability. Dwarven Defender is terrible, as are most of the prestige classes in the DMG. I'd probably go up to 14 level in Barb at least, for Indomitable Will. Mighty Rage at 20 is nice in Core, but that's already epic for you since you took fighter a few times.

You could also progress Fighter and pick up all the feats you want. Statistically, they're all bound to be useful at some point, lol.

[Nimbryx]

I'm in a similar boat, but posted my own thread since I get a few more books than you.
I'm not sure what these "Doorknob" bonuses are...can you elaborate?



Feats:
Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Cleave
Well, you've already got Dodge and Mobility...looks like the start of a mobile fighting build.

Inventory:
•Spiked Rhino Hide Armor (+2 hide armor, doubles charge dmg) - normal hide armor is +3 AC, I'm confused, is it +2 to AC or...? I tried reading the rules but I'm not sure.
The final stats for this armor are:
+5 AC bonus (this is +3 from the armor itself and a +2 Enhancement bonus) PLUS your DEX bonus (up to a maximum of +4 DEX)
You have a -2 Armor check penalty to certain rolls while wearing the armor.
RAW (Rules as Written) the DMG says it adds +2d6 to charge damage, not doubles it, but if DM says "OKAY", then shhhhhh.

•Spiked heavy steel shield
Personally, I'd trade this for a Buckler. It's only 1 less AC, but straps to your arm so you can use your greatsword with no penalty. You can't use the GS with your big shield, and the Dwarven Waraxe just doesn't do as much damage.

•Dwarven Waraxe
If you get rid of the shield, lose this, too.

•Longbow
Upgrade to Composite as soon as you can...highest STR bonus possible.

•Greatsword (Blessed +1D6 vs unholy/evil/undead, Keen, Mighty Cleaving)
Jesus...little nuts for a lvl 6...Good stuff...Amazing in Underdark....

Periapt of Wisdom +6 = +3 to Will saves, Spot, Listen, Search, Survival...etc...
Underdark will eventually yield Illithids, if not yet...BE READY.

I currently have two levels I need to spend from when we were last afield. I'm just curious what I should really do with this character.
I feel your pain...

Feats I'm contemplating:
•Spring attack - With this feat - could I charge/kill 1st target -> cleave/kill 2nd target-> Charge/kill 3rd target -> Cleave/kill 4th target by level 6? Am I still allowed a 5ft step doing this? I know I'm allowed to move up to my maximum movement speed - would that include my maximum charge distance?
Nope. TOTAL distance is = to your speed. When this is useful is preventing big melee types from getting full attacks on you. You move 15' to them, Attack, move 15' away. You've moved your 30ft for the turn, but you end 15' away from them, so they can't make a 5' step and still hit you with a full attack. Not very useful for a dwarf...becomes more useful if you manage to acquire higher speed bonuses...but not much, because by stopping the big monster from hitting you with full attacks, you're stopping YOU from hitting him, too....

•Improved critical - My DM is ruling that it will stack with keen - taking my greatsword from a 17-20 to a 15-20. I thought it redoubled everytime - making it a 12-20 instead? I should shaddap, since he's allowing it in the first place, he says he just doesn't want an OP blender to deal with when the rest of the party is learning.
Yep, shaddap. Your DM's math is correct, although his allowance of the stacking is questionable. It's not supposed to, but...shaddap... :)

•Combat expertise + Whirlwird attack - charge, attack, whirlwird next turn - proceed to cleave everything to bits.
Whirlwind specifically states that you lose the ability to cleave when using it. Also, putting yourself into the center of a number of baddies is BAD. You will not live unless they're all stupid little grunts that present 0 challenge anyway...though even they can kill you with a few bad rolls.
You're DM might be playing extra nice since the other guys are new....who knows....

•Combat reflexes - charging into a crowd tends to be a lot of AoO action. But my dex isn't great.
That's true...although the AoO will be for the bad guys, not you.....

•Greater Cleave - Unlimited cleaves? I could see this going well with whirlwind attack - other than that, no idea. I don't see a lot of situations I would be using this from the current difficulty of the campaign. We're fighting a lot of onesies and twosies. Probably a wasted feat. Only useful when you suddenly fight 8 kobolds at once...in any scenario in which this feat proves useful, the challenge is so low that the only thing the feat does is speed things up.

•Iron will - My will save is atrocious. Dom'd barbarians kill parties.
Yep. Bout the only option in Core, too.

Just because you CAN charge, doesn't mean you SHOULD. There is a lot to be say for standing 5-10 feet in front of your blaster and your healer, just letting them spam spells or crossbow bolts until whatever's left gets close, then Charging the leader. Don't forget that while you're in the mob, your friends can probably hit you with spells accidently...and your healer is too far away to heal.

I suppose I'd focus less on mobility at this point, and more on survivability. Dwarven Defender is terrible, as are most of the prestige classes in the DMG. I'd probably go up to 14 level in Barb at least, for Indomitable Will. Mighty Rage at 20 is nice in Core, but that's already epic for you since you took fighter a few times.

You could also progress Fighter and pick up all the feats you want. Statistically, they're all bound to be useful at some point, lol.

Well, the doorknob bonuses are indicative of random lottery type chances we've made as a party. There was a room of stone pillars, covered in brown mold, guarded by a fire and an earth elemental. We dealt with them and examined the pillars to reveal they had wondrous, volatile magic. We ended up touching the pillars, since the DM basically revealed to use that this is a chance we could take on our own initiative - touch the pillar, roll a percentile, and something happens. I lost skill points a few times, had a few random minor magic items fall out of the sky. Gave us permanent stat bonuses, rolled randomly. Those are the doorknob bonuses. It's kind of a house term for us because we once ran an entire dungeon that was like that where every door had a random magical effect like that. Led for some very interesting times after our wizard in that campaign got turned into an ooze.

Awesome idea about the buckler and periapt - didn't even really think about it, especially since the periapt is out of my price range. The shield was primarly for when defense was strictly needed at low levels. The most use I'd had out of it was when the mage cast grease on some steps and I proceeded to take point and shield bash people down the slip and slide until morale improved while the cleric and the mage tossed the room we had cleared. Due to a few nasty crit fails when I was a wee fighter (3 in a row) the party's ruled I'm never allowed near a bow again. I nearly killed our cleric in the first major ranged combat we did. XD

The blade is a little nuts, largely because it was blessed as part of a story decision as part of the DM's discretion, which he ruled would not count toward the enhancement bonus amount toward enchanting it further. According to his rules, the blade's only a +2 greatsword. Woohoo for that.

I'm starting to think that taking the few empty levels in fighter just for the two early feats really hurt my overall progression as a barbarian, trying to attain those capstones. But OOC, the DM has informed me that this campaign will probably be going on to epic levels. I guess it's a YMMV - hopefully as people become more familiar with the game, he may open up more books as we start reaching the teens.

I ended up taking spring attack and going 2 additional levels in barbarian - came in handy since we encountered a rather large red dragon who meant business, so keeping away was actually quite nice to my health for the few rounds I had his attention before my comrades proceeded to use sculpt stone and hemisphere of ice to turn it into an immobile popsicle.

But I definitely intend to take improved critical (greatsword) and Iron Will though, perhaps take combat expertise to give myself some more survivability.

I appreciate the advice!

[boxfox]

Wow, your games sounds incredibly fun.
Aim to get your DM to let you use the Player's Handbook 2. There are rules in there for retraining your character.
Best of luck to you. ;)