Improving a Phalanx Soldier

[Venico]

Hey folks, in my weekly game I've sort of encountered a dilemma. I previously had a Necromancer Dwarf who believed he was bringing life and second chances to "people". Fun character but after his 5th or so child got immediately wrecked despite a hefty amount of gold being spent on his defense, the Dwarf decided adventuring wasn't for him or his children.

So my new character was a turncoat in the army of the BBEG and since I was just an average soldier in the military I asked the DM if he wouldn't mind me starting out a few levels lower to reflect this. I assumed I'd be catching up with the party in a rubber band effect but my DM decided to give me Natural Lycanthropy to make up for the two lost levels.

Now I don't mind being a bit underoptimized usually but this campaign is VERY combat heavy and as a Phalanx Soldier, my guy isn't that useful outside of combat anyways. So the party around me is two levels higher and they also have these powers granted by spirits (kinda like Mythic Tiers) with custom powers. My character hasn't gotten these until the last session but the powers still aren't decided. The party however has a cavalier who has a +29 to hit and minimum damage on a charge is ~100. An alchemist and a gunslinger are both doing around the same ball park damage.

I have a Lucerne Hammer, a Tower Shield, and Hellknight plate but that's about it. I'll list my feats and stats but I'm just looking for ways to be relevant in combat. I can never hit anything and if I do, they have huge HP pools to keep the rest of my party from one shotting them. Any and all advice is welcome. I've been considering the Trip tree in order to possibly give me a way of contributing. Magic Item suggestions would also be helpful.


Str: 19
Dex: 14
Con: 20
Int: 13
Wis: 13
Char:6

HP: 66 AC: 29

Combat Reflexes
Dodge
Mobility
Combat Expertise
Weapon Focus
Spring Attack
Combat Patrol
Power Attack
Lunge
7th Level Feat-Undecided

[rockdeworld]

Neat character idea. It sounds like your DM is being a bit unhelpful in his attempt to be helpful though, unless he still gives you the extra XP.


I assumed I'd be catching up with the party in a rubber band effect but my DM decided to give me Natural Lycanthropy to make up for the two lost levels.
As you said, you were right, and he actually cursed your character by removing the extra XP.

If 3 characters in your party deal tons of damage, you don't have to. In fact, you can multiply their effectiveness by being a combination Tank/BFC, and tripping is one of the ways to do this (it's good that you already have a reach weapon, Lunge, and high STR). If you do, you'll want to swap the Lucerne Hammer for a Guisarme/Fauchard.

One question: Are the feats you've chosen set, or can they be changed? If the former, I suggest talking to your DM about retraining (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/more-character-options/retraining). If the latter, or with retraining, I would suggest:
Dodge -> Improved Trip (and take combat expertise first)
Mobility -> Greater Trip
Spring Attack -> Fury's Fall
Combat Patrol (requires a full-round action >=P) -> Stand Still
Power Attack (you're only using 1 hand) -> Disruptive
7th Level Feat -> Spellbreaker

The reason I recommend removing Combat Patrol is because you could be tripping people instead of starting that up. The reason I recommend removing Spring Attack is that it's terrible, especially for you (because of your low movement). Mobility is terrible, and Dodge is only good as a prerequisite for better things that you don't have.

If you can get a melee weapon, I'd recommend: Step Up, Following Step, Step Up And Strike
If you can get a cheap boost to Intimidate, and put max ranks in it, I recommend Antagonize for making your opponents target you instead of your DPS allies.
Shield Focus -> Missile Shield -> Ray Shield would not be bad, but I recommend getting them after Greater Trip+Fury's Fall+Spellbreaker

If you go Fauchard (presumably with Exotic Weapon Proficiency), I recommend getting an Improved Critical effect, either from the feat or a Keen enhancement or elsewhere, and getting Tripping Strike, followed at some point by Repositioning Strike

Here's a trip guide that I got some ideas from: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kj_ppmS2m5Z4MNaSzW48rH9wTE72HihX_7s52u5gsbs/edit?hl=en

[Venico]

The feats are set but I might be able to retrain. I was originally going for just tons of AoOs with a huge threatened area but with the very high AC that I usually need a 19 or 20 to hit, it's not working well. I see where you're coming from with most of these but why Stand Still? It's only effective on your adjacent squares which the Phalanx Soldier is notably weak on.

[rockdeworld]

Stand Still gives you more opportunities to make trips, and also stops your opponents' movement. Ideally you hit the opponent with a weapon that doesn't have reach, but you don't have to: as worded, Stand Still allows you to take the AOO granted when your opponent moves from 5' away to 10' away, and thus attack them when they're 10' away with your polearm (assuming they're trying to move past you).

For a build that wants to make lots of AOOs, Spring Attack is just terrible, and I don't think giving up a Full-Round action justifies Combat Patrol, much less also having to give up 2 feat slots to Dodge and Mobility.

[Swaoeaeieu]

if you have access to path of war, you can make really cool phalanxes. and manouvers help do more dmg and give more options in combat. really fun to play imo