felixwarrior_13
2017-01-17, 05:11 AM
Hello all, long time lurker but first time posting anything.
I have been throwing around a couple potential build ideas for an upcoming campaign, and I was hoping to get some feedback about what you guys all think.
Now, before I get any further, I would like to mention that this is going to be a game with two players who have never played, another who has only been in a session or two, and another one who I know has little to no optimization experience. There are an additional two players who are the DM's friends more than mine, so I don't know much about their level of experience. All in all, we'll have seven players, myself included, so it's a decent-sized group.
The DM wants to keep characters to the core three rulebooks, the PHB, DMG, and MM. This does exclude "2s" (PHB2, DMG2, etc), as well as SRD content not in these books, like UA.
So long story short, I have the PHB and DMG to pull from, and am playing with very inexperienced people.
This means I generally don't want to play a caster, as they're too easy to outshine the rest of the party, whether that's in utility or damage or what-have-you.
We'll most likely be starting at level 1, and I really don't know how high level we'll get, so I'd rather not be terrible (relatively speaking - it's a PHB melee build, it's not gonna be great) for long if I can help it, though again, I don't want to outshine anyone. I guess that's really the challenge here.
With all that said, I would like to play a tank with a touch of disabler thrown in. I know, a turtle isn't a threat, but the DM doesn't do complex encounters or tactics, and again, we'll have new players that I'd like to plop myself down in front of to babysit a little.
Therefore, I currently have two vague build ideas:
Build 1:
1 Monk - Stunning Fist, Toughness
2 Monk - Combat Reflexes
3 Monk - Dodge
4 Monk
5 Monk
6 Monk - Improved Trip, Improved Natural Attack
7 Ranger
8 Ranger - TWF if the DM rules it stacks with Flurry, Rapid Shot if not
9 Ranger - Improved Initiative?
10 Begin Dwarven Defender
The thought here is to use the monk levels to grab SF (I don't want grapple since it wouldn't pair well with Defender) and Reflexes and Trip for a bit of control, while still being mainly a semi-tanky melee that can do a little damage thanks to Imp Nat Atk at 6 bumping me up to 2d6. Ranger 3 gives me Endurance, which is a prereq for Defender, the remaining needed +3 BAB, and a free feat choice. Could be replaced with Fighter for similar benefit, but lose tracking for a few hp and lose free feat for a wider selection.
Build 2:
1 Ranger - Toughness
2 Fighter - Power Attack
3 Ranger - TWF and Improved Shield Bash?
4 Ranger
5 Fighter - Improved Bull Rush?
6 Fighter - Combat Reflexes?
7 Fighter - Dodge
8 Begin Dwarven Defender
This build feels a lot more tanky AC-wise, but has less saves and loses the tripping (I probably won't have the stats for it), so I thought perhaps Bull Rush could be used to move enemies away from allies, and then plant myself in a defensive stance between them or something. The nice thing about this build vs the monk is that I get full BAB, so I get into Defender earlier. I'd be using a dwarven waraxe and a spiked heavy shield, so damage would be lower than the monk build, but it would be less MAD.
For a quick comparison, the Monk build has the advantage with tripping, move speed, damage, and saves.
The Fighter build has advantages in feats, AC, and and BAB (meaning both to-hit and earlier entry to Defender).
So what do you guys think? Which would be a better fit for an extremely low-optimization party? Or would it be better to drop Ranger all together and go straight Fighter and pick up Endurance that way? Monk/Fighter instead of Monk/Ranger? I'd rather not add Paladin to the mix and get even more MAD than he already is if I can avoid it, and everything else loses BAB.
Thanks a bunch in advance!
I have been throwing around a couple potential build ideas for an upcoming campaign, and I was hoping to get some feedback about what you guys all think.
Now, before I get any further, I would like to mention that this is going to be a game with two players who have never played, another who has only been in a session or two, and another one who I know has little to no optimization experience. There are an additional two players who are the DM's friends more than mine, so I don't know much about their level of experience. All in all, we'll have seven players, myself included, so it's a decent-sized group.
The DM wants to keep characters to the core three rulebooks, the PHB, DMG, and MM. This does exclude "2s" (PHB2, DMG2, etc), as well as SRD content not in these books, like UA.
So long story short, I have the PHB and DMG to pull from, and am playing with very inexperienced people.
This means I generally don't want to play a caster, as they're too easy to outshine the rest of the party, whether that's in utility or damage or what-have-you.
We'll most likely be starting at level 1, and I really don't know how high level we'll get, so I'd rather not be terrible (relatively speaking - it's a PHB melee build, it's not gonna be great) for long if I can help it, though again, I don't want to outshine anyone. I guess that's really the challenge here.
With all that said, I would like to play a tank with a touch of disabler thrown in. I know, a turtle isn't a threat, but the DM doesn't do complex encounters or tactics, and again, we'll have new players that I'd like to plop myself down in front of to babysit a little.
Therefore, I currently have two vague build ideas:
Build 1:
1 Monk - Stunning Fist, Toughness
2 Monk - Combat Reflexes
3 Monk - Dodge
4 Monk
5 Monk
6 Monk - Improved Trip, Improved Natural Attack
7 Ranger
8 Ranger - TWF if the DM rules it stacks with Flurry, Rapid Shot if not
9 Ranger - Improved Initiative?
10 Begin Dwarven Defender
The thought here is to use the monk levels to grab SF (I don't want grapple since it wouldn't pair well with Defender) and Reflexes and Trip for a bit of control, while still being mainly a semi-tanky melee that can do a little damage thanks to Imp Nat Atk at 6 bumping me up to 2d6. Ranger 3 gives me Endurance, which is a prereq for Defender, the remaining needed +3 BAB, and a free feat choice. Could be replaced with Fighter for similar benefit, but lose tracking for a few hp and lose free feat for a wider selection.
Build 2:
1 Ranger - Toughness
2 Fighter - Power Attack
3 Ranger - TWF and Improved Shield Bash?
4 Ranger
5 Fighter - Improved Bull Rush?
6 Fighter - Combat Reflexes?
7 Fighter - Dodge
8 Begin Dwarven Defender
This build feels a lot more tanky AC-wise, but has less saves and loses the tripping (I probably won't have the stats for it), so I thought perhaps Bull Rush could be used to move enemies away from allies, and then plant myself in a defensive stance between them or something. The nice thing about this build vs the monk is that I get full BAB, so I get into Defender earlier. I'd be using a dwarven waraxe and a spiked heavy shield, so damage would be lower than the monk build, but it would be less MAD.
For a quick comparison, the Monk build has the advantage with tripping, move speed, damage, and saves.
The Fighter build has advantages in feats, AC, and and BAB (meaning both to-hit and earlier entry to Defender).
So what do you guys think? Which would be a better fit for an extremely low-optimization party? Or would it be better to drop Ranger all together and go straight Fighter and pick up Endurance that way? Monk/Fighter instead of Monk/Ranger? I'd rather not add Paladin to the mix and get even more MAD than he already is if I can avoid it, and everything else loses BAB.
Thanks a bunch in advance!