How would one use Rugby as inspiration in D&D 3.5?

[Coidzor]

And maybe some pathfinder material, if truly necessary, on a case by case basis.

So, I was talking with a new player who wants to base her character, at least in combat, off of the... Lock(?) position in Rugby. Unfortunately I don't really know much about Rugby so I probably need to do more than a quick skim of the section of the wikipedia article, but it seems to involve a mixture of helping lend their strength in positioning and repositioning allies and also moving opponents around as bodily as possible. As well as tackling and catching and throwing.

Nothing really stands out as a good way to channel that into something in D&D, though, beyond a "Rugby > Tackling > Bull-Rushing > Dungeon-Crasher Fighter?" thought process or a "Repositioning allies and enemies > White Raven discipline for repositioning allies and, uh, Standing Sun discipline for moving/throwing foes around to reposition them?"

I think there might be some maneuvers that deal with bull-rushing though, and I need to re-read what the Warblade has to offer there, since I don't think Crusader has much for repositioning/moving opponents, though there is a fair bit they can do to block. And I don't believe Swordsages get White Raven, Going to read through those more tomorrow, but any help in narrowing down where to look and alternate directions to check out would be appreciated.

[avr]

Locks tend to be big guys even by rugby standards, though that doesn't help much, you'd likely be aiming for that as a strength based melee type anyway. Jumping is a skill they use so look at Tiger Claw maneuvers - definitely Sudden Leap at least.

Aside from that, ask her what she means I guess?

[Coidzor]

Locks tend to be big guys even by rugby standards, though that doesn't help much, you'd likely be aiming for that as a strength based melee type anyway. Jumping is a skill they use so look at Tiger Claw maneuvers - definitely Sudden Leap at least.

Aside from that, ask her what she means I guess?

Definitely, will probably chat with her more about things Saturday or Sunday. I was mostly hoping some Britlanders who actually know what Rugby is, properly. might have some further insight or have actually grappled with this sort of thing before.

Worst case scenario we've got a barbarian set up for her, and she appreciates the idea of smashing faces. Since it looks like two of us are playing a Swordsage and a Crusader already, a part of me thinks it might be nifty to have a Warblade to round out the trio there if that would work out, seeing as how, IIRC, Warblade does have a component of barbarian redux to it even if it does the Fighter redux part better.

[Eldaran]

I don't know anything about Rugby, but you could almost make one of Mordenkainen's apprentices. "Mordenkainen's future henchmen had to rhyme with Bigby. This resulted in Zigby the dwarf; Rigby the cleric; Sigby Griggbyson the fighter; Bigby's apprentice, Nigby; and Digby, who eventually replaced Bigby as Mordenkainen's new apprentice. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigby_%28Greyhawk%29)"

[Nightcanon]

I assume we're talking Rugby Union rather than Rugby League? In RU the set-piece restarts of the scrum and lineout are more formalised and retain more of the "game designed to give all shapes and sizes something to do" feel than RL, where they are less important and all the forwards tend to be big strong types. In RU locks tend to be your primary lineout jumpers so are tall and long-limbed. In the scrum they form the second row, 'locking' the front row of 3 together as they push against the opposition. In open play locks tackle and tend towards attacking moves that involve lots of close-quarters pushing and shoving in concert with teammates (other forward players) that has the effect of drawing defenders in, creating gaps out wide for faster teammates (backs) to exploit.
I'm afraid I don't understand enough about American Football to offer analogies; nor can I really see how you would have a D&D character based on a Lock (pretty much all the forwards would be high STR fighters/barabarians).

[Denver]

Goliath character who takes fling enemy and fling ally as feats? It definitely won't work beautifully, but the Goliath would grapple and bull rush well, and would be able to reposition individuals in combat.

[Milodiah]

Goliath character who takes fling enemy and fling ally as feats? It definitely won't work beautifully, but the Goliath would grapple and bull rush well, and would be able to reposition individuals in combat.

Please give this character a high INT, so he/she can refer to the above as "kinetic tactical redeployment operations".

[Spiryt]

Warrior who can push, shield bash, overrun, tackle, takedown hard, slam against surfaces...

And himself is terribly hard to control, stop, unbalance, trip, due to sheer mass and strength, coordination, balance etc.

Hard to come up with much other than that.

Perhaps some melee classes that grant Freedom of Movement and similar effects (Ranger 4th level spell, I believe?).

Some ability to navigate battlefield without carrying about creatures stopping you.

Tumbling kinda takes care of it, but something that supplements it, I guess?

[Coidzor]

Warrior who can push, shield bash, overrun, tackle, takedown hard, slam against surfaces...

And himself is terribly hard to control, stop, unbalance, trip, due to sheer mass and strength, coordination, balance etc.

Hard to come up with much other than that.

Perhaps some melee classes that grant Freedom of Movement and similar effects (Ranger 4th level spell, I believe?).

Some ability to navigate battlefield without carrying about creatures stopping you.

Tumbling kinda takes care of it, but something that supplements it, I guess?

I mean, Warblades have some of that movement in Sudden Leap and the like, I think? And they can do some level of tripping with maneuvers, though that's more of a Swordsage thing, right?

Bull-Rushing/slamming people around would be more Dungeoncrasher though. Which if one threw those together it'd be like... Fighter 4/Warblade 1/Swordsage 1, maybe, to get the basics down? Or maybe Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Warblade 1/Swordsage 1 if we made Dungeoncrasher a feat chain because **** Fighter.