Don't know what to go for!

[koucaine]

My friends and I are in our first campaign ever. We are not familiar with optimized builds but we have a good amount of books available. I read about the charging fighter and decided to go for it. I'm currently at Fighter 6 because I was excited about getting tons of feats fast but then I realized that's about it. So now i'm looking for a class of PrC to take but my stats are very limiting:

str 18
dex 16
con 19 (i got a +3 inherent bonus)
int 09
wis 13
cha 09

feats: power attack, imp. bull rush, imp. sunder, weapon focus (greatsword), weapon specialization (greatsword), shock trooper, combat brute, leap attack (my GM has a weird houserule under which you can save a feat for use later so i take this at lvl 5 with my 3rd lvl feat!)

I really hope you can help me!

[Falcon X]

Multiclass to Warblade (Tome of Battle). It's a great class with the same flavor as a fighter. It also can be treated as a Prestige class because your lvl 1 maneuvers are given based on your character level, not your class level.

Dip into Barbarian - If you really want to get broken with your present build, check this out: http://ihititwithmyaxe.tumblr.com/post/5994449301/the-charging-fighter-breaking-3-5-d-d

Multiclass to Crusader (Tome of Battle) for ultimate Lockdown build.

Prestige Classes are often don't give or take much with Fighters, but if you want flavor, check out these as powerful choices:
Hulking Hurler (CW): To throw things
Bear Warrior (CW): To turn into a BEAR!
Dervish (CW): For Whirlwind Attack awesomeness
Occult Slayer (CW): For Anti-Mage
Warshaper (CW): For shapemelding fun
Ur-Priest: If you want to step away from fighter and become like an evil deity.
War hulk (Miniature Handbook): The ultimate big stupid fighter
Elemental Warrior (Planar Handbook): for elemental fighting
Blade Bravo (Races of Stone): For added feinting in Melee to increase attacks. Combine with some skill tricks from Complete Scoundrel.

[Ellowryn]

Definitely a level of Barbarian, maybe 2. Having 6 levels of Fighter already kinda slows you down and limits what you can do, but if you start building now you can probably still make out okay.

Basically 2 levels of barbarian will give you a lot of what you need for a charger: 2 BaB, Pounce, an extra attack, and also the Improved Trip.

Also, your feats are mostly good, but Weapon Focus/Greater Weapon Focus are really dead feats. Can your DM let you trade those out? Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Spiked Chain is pretty mandatory for a good charger and synergizes well with improved trip. And also see if he would let you get the Dungeon Crasher ACF from Dungeonscape for your Fighter, it will spike your damage.

Try this Thread http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?105525-3-5e-Being-Bane-Eldariel-s-Guide-to-Barbarians, its mostly about barbarians but it should have the locations of all the neat tricks and many useful tips for chargers.

[koucaine]

Multiclass to Warblade (Tome of Battle). It's a great class with the same flavor as a fighter. It also can be treated as a Prestige class because your lvl 1 maneuvers are given based on your character level, not your class level.

Dip into Barbarian - If you really want to get broken with your present build, check this out: http://ihititwithmyaxe.tumblr.com/post/5994449301/the-charging-fighter-breaking-3-5-d-d

Multiclass to Crusader (Tome of Battle) for ultimate Lockdown build.

Prestige Classes are often don't give or take much with Fighters, but if you want flavor, check out these as powerful choices:
Hulking Hurler (CW): To throw things
Bear Warrior (CW): To turn into a BEAR!
Dervish (CW): For Whirlwind Attack awesomeness
Occult Slayer (CW): For Anti-Mage
Warshaper (CW): For shapemelding fun
Ur-Priest: If you want to step away from fighter and become like an evil deity.
War hulk (Miniature Handbook): The ultimate big stupid fighter
Elemental Warrior (Planar Handbook): for elemental fighting
Blade Bravo (Races of Stone): For added feinting in Melee to increase attacks. Combine with some skill tricks from Complete Scoundrel.

Thanks for the advice! I'm having doubts about taking warblade because of my low int, do you think it's still viable? I took a look at War Hulk and think it's really good, but i don't qualify because of size :smallfrown:

[Falcon X]

First off, in light of your low Int, Crusader might be the way to go. Especially based on the feats you already have for him, such as Bull Rush, Shock trooper, etc.
If you can find a way to make your character zealous about either alignment, concept, or belief in a deity, this would work beautifully. See if your DM can build in a small arc to the game if you aren't currently designed this way.

You are also well built for the Lion Totem Barbarian Pounce trick. If that seems up your alley, I'd go ahead and grab those two levels now.

As for Warblade. Your low Int does impede this option, but doesn't rule it out. You could take the necessary dips and go into a Tome of Battle Prestige class, starting with a small dip into Warblade:
- Deepstone Sentinel if you're a dwarf
- Eternal Blade if you're an Elf
- Jade Phoenix Mage if you want to dip into magic. Possibly dip into Duskblade, Warmage, Hexblade, or Suel Archanamach?
- Ruby Knight Vindicator. If you want to dip into divine spellcasting, this is AWESOME. Start Ur-Priest or Divine Crusader. Heavy flavor requirements though. Wee Jas is a fun deity to serve though...

[koucaine]

Basically 2 levels of barbarian will give you a lot of what you need for a charger: 2 BaB, Pounce, an extra attack, and also the Improved Trip.

Thanks man! But i'm curious about how can i get improved trip whitout the prereqs

[Shinovar]

You can take the Wolf Totem here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/newreply.php?p=17319113&noquote=1)

The important bit it:

A barbarian dedicated to the wolf totem does not gain the standard uncanny dodge, trap sense, and improved uncanny dodge barbarian class features, and instead gains the following abilities.

A 2nd-level wolf-totem barbarian gains Improved Trip as a bonus feat, even if he doesn't meet the normal prerequisites.

[sonofzeal]

There's also a regional feat, "Wolf Lodge Berserker", which gives +4 to trip and explicitly qualifies you to also take Improved Trip as if you had Combat Expertise. Great investment for Barbarians.



As for Warblade, don't worry about the lack of Int. Warblades get some mileage there, but Warblades do just fine without Int and Crusaders do just fine without Cha. Swordsages need a bit of Wis, admittedly, but even then you can fake it.

[Metahuman1]

My recommendations in order:

Crusader: The only maneuver you care about form stone dragon unless your doing a ton of grappling or tripping and no moving is Mountain Hammer. Beyond that, you can't mess up your maneuver selections with this class. And since you never need to spend actions to recover maneuvers, pick adaptive style and you should always have something you can use.

Warblade: Lack of int hurts, but you still get some class features and bonus feats that aren't int dependent. Same thing for Stone Dragon applies, any other school you get here is solid.

Swordsage: Giving up some BAB, good fort save and hit dice size, getting mostly class features you can get a least a bit of mileage out of with your Wis. Avoid dessert Wind, Only use Shadow Hand if your investing in stealth. Only use Setting Sun if your willing to pick up improved trip. Same rule as above for stone dragon. Beyond that, your fine.

Psykick Warrior: You'll certainly want to improve your Wis for this one, but the buff powers are quite useful indeed, and you still get lots of bonus feats.

Barbarian: It's the simplest option, get spirit Lion totem, wolf totem, and maybe whirling frenzy and Trap Killer. Might consider Hulking Hurler, War Hulk, Frenzied Berserker (take precautions to not accidentally kill party members!), or a dip in Exotic weapons master form here.