Dwarven defender/Deepstone sentinel

[Lloyd-Starbuck]

Hi I got a couple of questions.
1. would the Dwarven defender defensive stance work with the Deepstone sentinel Mountain Fortress Stance.

2. would a fighter/crusader be a powerful gestalt to enter these prestige classes

3. what feats would be useful for a lock down build

4. are spike chain really good for lock down builds as people say they are.

5. is recommended dwarf sub-race that would make this build better.

6. would a dip in knight be useful.

i'm allowed all 3.0-3.5 books and maybe some dragon magazine stuff. the concept that i'm trying to build is a tough character that would place himself in combat and draw all enemies to him while keeping them at bay. preventing them from attack or slowing them down.

[rockdeworld]

1. Yes in the sense that you can have both active at the same time. No in the sense that you can't forgo the benefit of Defensive Stance to activate Mountain Fortress Stance.

2. Yes in the sense that crusader is powerful. No in the sense that it's 2 classes fulfilling the same role, the fighter adds nothing except a few bonus feats, and it can't do anything a crusader can't.

3. Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Improved Trip

4. Yes. It has reach (which seems to be required for Mountain Fortress stance, as most enemies won't be able to get within 5' of you), allows you to trip (required to use Improved Trip, which is a superior tactic for lockdown builds until high level with flying enemies)

No comments on the others.

[paperarmor]

I think that Knight/Crusader would be better entry since Knight levels let you treat all squares you threaten as difficult terrain. Psionic Duergar are the dwarf variant I'd suggest since PSAs auto augment as if you'd spent the maximum power points to do so. With the racial expansion power you'd go from medium to huge and be able to treat 20 worth of squares as difficult terrain and basically never have to move.

[Sian]

yeah ... if going Gestalt Knight/Crusader might be a better fit, as they're both fairly good at actual tanking, without doing it the same way, and they complement each other nicely

[nedz]

Knight//Crusader is reasonable, but consider something like Marshal//Crusader. This has the advantage that Marshall is a passive class and can buff everyone including your other side. Now there are other options here — it really depends what other threats you wish to build into your character.

3. Why has no one mentioned Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill) ?
It seems to me that this is a feat you should take a good look at.

[Troacctid]

Fighter//Crusader is definitely not a good gestalt combo. Every aspect of the Fighter chassis is redundant, so it is essentially Commoner, but with bonus feats. Bonus feats are cool and all, but they're certainly not worth playing a Commoner.

Rogue is strictly better than Fighter. Using the feat variant from Unearthed Arcana, you get exactly the same benefits as a Fighter, with the only differences being that you lose the better hit die, except you don't, because you get a d10 from Crusader; you lose the good Fort in exchange for a good Ref, except you don't, because you keep the good Fort from Crusader; you have medium BAB instead of full, except not, because Crusader; and you gain a bunch of skills and class features for free. If you weren't keeping track, that is 100% upside compared to Fighter, literally no drawbacks.

Also better than Fighter is Psychic Warrior. You still get all those bonus feats, but you also gain magic powers on top of them. Most notably expansion, which is paramount for a Deepstone Sentinel that wants to stay stationary and therefore needs to threaten as many squares as possible.

Another good option is Incarnate. This would improve your Will and give you a wide variety of buffs to improve your combat abilities and skills, as well as letting you so things like fly, teleport, see invisibility, and other useful things. It would also qualify you for Ironsoul Forgemaster, which is a great prestige class for tanky dwarves and has a lot of synergy with what you're doing.

[(Un)Inspired]

Psychic warrior it a pretty awesome gestalt for crusader.

I'd recommend cleric as your strongest option but it's kinda a waste of gestalt as there's already a prestige class that let's you do both quite well.

[paperarmor]

Or if you want to get really crazy with it go for Wu Jen// Crusader and get 7ths for the ever so lovely Body Outside Body (Don't have to move because you're already everywhere.) and Giant Size. (Be colossal it's awesome.)