Axelote Ryme: Arcane Fisticuffs

[Derpldorf]

Hello all, this is my first thread. There's a character that's been floating around my head for a while, but I can't seem to flesh him out. I sit down with my pile of books and stare off blankly into space.

*Cough*... So, let's get this thing on the road.

Axelote is the stereotypical gentleman detective, dashing and diplomatic, skilled and astute, not afraid (nay, some say maniacally eager) to engage in good ol' fashioned fisticuffs (preferably Queensburry Rules)

So far I've got him pegged as a,
Human Decisive Strike Monk 2/Dungeon Specialist Go to Ground Riposte Scout3/Urban Distracting Strike Champion of The Wild Urban Tracking Crowd Walking Hidden Stalker Voice of the City Ranger15//Factotum3/Duskblade17

The Ranger side would have Asthetic Hunter and swift hunter to stack both of the dips for unarmed attack of a LvL 17 monk, riposte of a LvL 18 scout and the Favored Enemy of a LvL 18 ranger. Kung Fu Genius to help reduce MAD, with a focus on Int, Dex, and Robilar's karmic snap kick AoO chains.

Yeah, that's about as far as I go before I blank out. I'd love any Feedback or advice.

[Optimator]

Looks like a really fun build. I'd play it.

[Derpldorf]

Well... Thank you, but that's not really helpful.

Aside from the mentioned, what feats would you suggest? What Acf's would you use instead or in addition too what's already in the build? Is decisive strike really worth it? Or should I try wedging in Overpowering Assault instead and get double damage for my AoO's? How does Riposte interact with the AoO feats? Does it add the bonus to all attacks in the round, or just the main strike?

Really any advice or suggestions or constructive criticism is welcome. Even just simple observations and anecdotes on similar characters you've built or played before...

[Gildedragon]

Holy alternative class features batman.

Seeing how you are wanting to be attacked first cause of the not-skirmish The Honorable Challenge flaw is one that suits you quite well.

with a loadout like that, factotum and able learner as a bonus feat should probably be in your 1st level.

You're getting trapfinding twice: consider the Drow Rogue ACF that swaps it for Poison Use, or the one that gives disguise self some times per day
they are rogue acfs but they target that sole class feature, so they ought be game...

what feats are you taking?

If you could manage to get pounce that would be really good.

Also two levels in unarmed swordsage might be better than two levels in monk: diamond mind and setting sun maneuvers could probably be right up your alley. Pearl of Black doubt, for instance, seems like something that would benefit the scout's not skirmish

[NoACWarrior]

if you run arcane strike and have a several touch spell charged you could go the trading attack route - with karmic strike.
Lets face it, your AC will not be great, and trading attacks with that monk ACF is pretty darn good. Especially if you convince the DM snap of the foot applies to AoOs (though the damage from it may not be doubled).

[Derpldorf]

Ha! Yes there are a lot of Acf's in the build. Couldn't really be helped, as he's intended to to work primarily in a city environment all that wilderness malarkey wouldn't be of much use.

I'm fairly leery of flaw in general as a rule, they really have to have commonly used RP implications to have any real value over 'free feat for a minor penalty I don't care about? Sure!' But it does seem to mesh well with my build, where's it from so I can look it up?



Yeah, I've got a few levels of factotum, enough to get int to str and Dex checks anyway. Able learner is a pretty good feat, okay sure lets go with that.

I'm getting Trapfinding twice? Hmm, so I am, fancy that. Unfortunately I don't think any of the acfs I know of can fix that. I'm not familiar with any rules stating you can take acfs from a class you don't actually have, care to enlighten me?

Feats? In no particular order,
Kung Fu Genius
Astetic Hunter
Swift Hunter
Robilar's Gambit
Karmic Strike
Snap Kick

I'm thinking of taking superior unarmed strike, improved skirmish, and practiced spellcaster, but that's open to debate. Everything else is up for suggestions if you have any.

Pounce would be pretty good, I could drop a few levels of ranger and grab some pouncebarian...

Hmm, I didn't consider US, is there a way to get its unarmed progression to stack like the monks can? It would be a 100% upgrade if that's possible.

Yes NoAC, that's the idea. Decisive strike then counter attack with Robilar's Karmic Snap Kick while loading his fists with various arcane shenanagins from the duskblade side. Yeah, my ACs gonna be god aweful, but it isn't really important to the build. If it's really required I'll shell out for some protective items.

[Gildedragon]

Honorable challenge is from Dragon 324.
Feats wise: you need combat reflexes, combat expertise, dodge is that coming in from anywhere?
Regarding USs alas there is nothing official for them outside ToB but see my next point.

If you are actually playing the guy I would ask the DM about allowing feats that apply to monk's Unarmed Strikes / Armor apply to a USs. It is probably not unreasonable.

[Derpldorf]

Expertise is human bonus, reflexes is monk bonus (along with Stunning Fist) and Dodge is LvL 3 cause in the current build order there isn't anything in the plan that I could take at that level.

That's a reasonable interpretation that I'm actually using for the riposte advancement.

Edit: Okay, just got a look at the Honerable Challenge flaw and... Despite my prejudice against flaws in general, I like it. So feats would look something like this now, lvl1-Kung Fu Genius, HB- Combat Expertise, Flaw-Dodge, lvl3- combat Reflexes

Are there any other flaws that match thematically with the character? I'd like to get Reflexes out of the level three slot so I can get Astetic Hunter into it and clean up my build order allot.

[Gildedragon]

City Slicker (dragon 324): The "WTF are these "tiger"things you keep going on about; they like big rats or what?" Flaw
Or
Terrain Specialist (329): favored terrain city, be not so good at tracking in the wilds

As to dodge: if you are gonna be runny-pouncey-skirmishy maybe expeditious dodge is a better choice? Or the incarnum dodge feat (out of the box it is identical to dodge, but it can be boosted)

Note: the srd's Brawler trait (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm)

[Derpldorf]

Okay, I've thought about the advice givin so far and have revised and refined my build a bit.

The basic chassis is as follows

Human
Str: 14
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 18
Wis: 8
Cha: 8
Flaw: Honerable Challenge
Flaw: City Slicker
Unarmed Sword Sage 2/ *Ranger 1/ **Scout 3/ *Ranger 14// Factotum 1/ Fighter 2/ Factotum 2/ Duskblade 15
*Urban, Distracting Strike, Champion of the Wild, Urban Tracking, Crowd Walking, Hidden Stalker, Voice of the City
**Dungeon Specialist, Go to Ground, Riposte
Added the fighter levels when I remembered the Able learner feat can only be taken at LvL 1 and... Skills Yay! I couldn't have that.


The feats would look like..
Lvl1-Kung Fu Genius
HB-Able Learner
Flaw1-Combat Expertise
Flaw2-Combat Reflexes
Fighter1-Dodge
Fighter2-???
Lvl3-Astetic Hunter
Lvl6-Swift Hunter
Ranger2-???
Ranger4-???
Lvl9-???
Ranger6-???
Lvl12-???
Ranger8-???
Lvl15-???
Ranger11-???
Ranger11-???
Lvl18-???
Ranger14-???

As you can see, I've got allot of blank spaces even though I've got a basic idea of what I want, but I've got a good reason. My DM has decided to try out the Fractional BaB and Save system and frankly, I've got no clue how to parce them. Could I get a little help with them please?

[Gildedragon]

It would probably be beneficial to move factotum to lvl 1. gestalt I see!

As to fractional BAB and saves
1st: always round down
2nd: BAB
Full BAB means add +1 to your BAB
Medium BAB means add +2/3 to your BAB
Bad BAB means add +1/2
3rd: saves
Good saves: any class's fist level grants +2.5 to its good saves, and +.5 every subsequent level
Bad saves: a class gives +1/3 to its bad saves

Barbarian Dip to pounce?
Also, if you move the second USS level you can milk it for a bit more.

[Derpldorf]

Sorry it's taken so long to reply. I was jogging at a local park and got into an incident involving a baseball and the side of my jaw... it gifted me with a mild concussion and pretty much shattered the wisdom teeth on the left side and cracked three of my back molars. I've spent a couple days in surgery and recovery and this is the first time I've been able to drum up any impetus to go online let alone post a reply...

I chose not to add in the barb as it would dilute my original idea a bit too much for my liking. He's supposed to act like a gentleman, which means not necisarily attacking first, even if he desires too.

Could you tell me more on the USS level? How could I improve its placement?

[Gildedragon]

The later you take SS the better maneuvers you can get. Every non SS level you take counts as 1/2 SS initiator level. A maneuver level is roughy got around the same level as wiz's spell levels iirc. So 4 non SS levels means that your 1st SS level gets access to 2nd level maneuvers

ranger 1, scout 3, ss 1, 2 of something, ss 2

[Derpldorf]

Ah, I see... I guess I need to brush up on my ToB/Bo9S.