Leap Attack, Power Critical, or something else?

[Mars Ultor]

After my (3.5) character died I took over a Fighter 2/Ranger 3 NPC and after establishing a personality I’ve decided to keep him as my own character. He’s not as I would have built him so I’ve got to make do with how he’s already made.

The campaign uses milestone experience, levels come pretty slowly. We just finished a major adventure and we're going up a level. Because the character has no Wisdom score there's no point in remaining a Ranger. I thought I'd go Fighter for 6th level and then 7th later on. That gives me a feat now—6th level character and one at 7th for being a 4th level Fighter.

Core D&D classes only, no alternative features or Tome of Battle maneuvers, but most feats are allowed. Magic items are given in treasure, but not much loose gold. Occasionally we can sell magic items to a particular wizard and he’ll improve an existing item. It’s not reliable, I can’t count on trading in a magic sword for adding a plus to a shield.

Strength is 16, Constitution is 12, Dexterity is 14, the other ability scores are 10 or 11. His existing non-Ranger feats (no retraining) are Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Buckler Defense (with a +2 buckler), and Combat Reflexes.

Right now I have a +1 Longspear, and take advantage of the Combat Reflexes feat. I use movement when I can and Ready actions so I can get as many Attacks of Opportunity against my opponents as possible. That's worked out pretty far, and I like getting the extra hits, particularly since there's an Improved Tripper in the party and I can sometimes get hits on his opponent as well.

My intention was to take Leap Attack, but it was kind of iffy because most combats I'll have to use a standing jump (20 DC) and my Jump total will be 12 plus the die roll. This adventure we’ve come across some treasure; a +1 Keen Falchion and a suit of +1 Full Plate armor potentially available. I suspect the armor also has another quality, but we haven't cast Identify yet. Another PC mentioned that he's considering the armor, but I can probably get it as my treasure pick. No one wants the Falchion, I know I can take that as a left over. Currently I have a +1 Mithril Chain shirt as my armor. I'd get an AC that's four points higher, and possibly another benefit, if I take the Plate suit.

If I take the armor, Leap Attack is out of the question. Instead, I'm thinking about taking the armor, the Keen Falchion, and the Power Critical feat. That feat gives a +4 to confirm a Critical hit, but it's got Weapon Focus as a prerequisite. I'd take Weapon Focus: Falchion this level and Power Critical whenever next level happens. I hate taking Weapon Focus, but getting Power Critical later on makes it worthwhile.
I'm looking for opinions on:


+1 Longspear/Leap Attack (no armor, no falchion)
+1 Longspear/Plate Armor/Suggested new feat?
+1 Keen Falchion/Weapon Focus feat/Plate Armor
Some combination I haven’t considered



I did the math, it seems worthwhile taking the Power Critical feat, I’d have a +16 attack bonus when confirming Critical hits (7 BAB + 3 Str + 1 Falchion + Weapon Focus + 4 Power Crit. Feat). The issue is that it’s hard to quantify the benefits of Attacks of Opportunity, I can’t compare the benefits of remaining with the spear to picking up the new falchion. There’s also the fact that when using the spear I can sometimes minimize damage, I can get a couple of hits and then move away. Then that’s another AoO for me when my foe approaches. I usually out-hit whomever I’m fighting before taking too much damage. I assume the heavier armor is a trade-off, I have to remain up close, but my AC is better.

Core D&D classes only, no alternative features or Tome of Battle maneuvers, but most feats are allowed. Magic items are given in treasure, but not much loose gold. Occasionally we can sell magic items to a particular wizard and he’ll improve an existing item. It’s not reliable, I can’t count on trading in Falchion for adding a plus to the spear.

I'd thought about taking Improved Sunder and Combat Brute, but that also means giving up the spear (which I could do), but Sundering my potential loot doesn't make sense to me. I don't have Bull Rush, so that maneuver of Combat Brute would only provoke Attacks of Opportunity against me. My only benefit would be the increased Power Attack Damage, but I'd need to reduce my Attack bonus by at least five points just to make it useful. Another PC is going the Improved Bull Rush/Shock Trooper route, but he's got Improved Trip and a belt of strength, I can't qualify for Tripping (Intelligence too low for Combat Expertise) and I don't have a belt.

It's a large group, most PCs are non-optimized, but it's already apparent that the semi-optimized Druid is the best fighter, while me, the (tripping) Fighter/Rogue, and a straight Fighter are trying to stay relevant in combat.

[Nifft]

Core D&D classes only, no alternative features or Tome of Battle maneuvers, but most feats are allowed. What about Prestige Classes?

Compared to Fighter 3, taking Horizon Walker levels isn't bad, and you already have Ranger 3 which automatically meets the feat tax.


How much do you like this NPC that you've inherited? What do you like about it, what do you want to maximize? What don't you like, what do you want to compensate for?

Are you allowed to make your own PC if something bad happens to this one?

[Mars Ultor]

What about Prestige Classes?

Compared to Fighter 3, taking Horizon Walker levels isn't bad, and you already have Ranger 3 which automatically meets the feat tax.


How much do you like this NPC that you've inherited? What do you like about it, what do you want to maximize? What don't you like, what do you want to compensate for?

Are you allowed to make your own PC if something bad happens to this one?


PRCs are possible; but I'd have to take another level of Ranger to qualify for Horizon Walker, I have one rank in Knowledge: Geography. I had thought about it but the Dimension Door benefit doesn't kick in until 6th level. That could be literally years in actual time. Do you think the early level abilities (+1 vs. certain creatures, +4 on a skill check) make it more worthwhile? Either way I'm getting a feat at this level.


I like the NPC, he went from being a red shirt to a full character. He's not the PC I would have made, but it turned out okay. I didn't necessarily expect to keep this character so he's not even the personality I would have chosen long term, but it's become fun.


Another PC is possible if this one dies, I thought he might not have survived the last adventure. I have a concept, but I haven't created anything yet.


When we finished the adventure where I took over the NPC the DM asked if I'd like to continue to player the NPC, we usually have one or two with the party. I agreed because I enjoyed playing the character and the rest of the group liked him as well. I thought he'd be an NPC, but I'd handle him, instead the DM said I should consider him my character and do what I like. His future is entirely up to me.

I do have the new PC I created after that adventure though, he's a Fighter/Rogue and he's got Improved Trip, Bull Rush, next level I'll get Shock Trooper. I was able to build him from the ground up and I'm happy with how he turned out. My intention was to play a character who was the son of a general and had learned planning, diplomacy, and other skills along with having combat training. That's worked out better than I thought and even he's become team leader. I tried to think how he would think and encouraged the other PCs to fight tactically, we take advantage of flanking, the missile weapon users focus on the same target, one character had the responsibility of shooting at spell casters to force them to make Concentration checks. He's not the best at anything, but he does diplomacy, he gets his Sneak Attack damage from flanking, and taking Improved Trip turned out to be great.

[Zaq]

Power Critical is kind of a disappointing feat, in my opinion. If you crit on a 20, then 5% of the time you’ll roll a threat and get to see Power Critical, which gives you 4 extra numbers on the die that count as a success to confirm your crit. So that’s an extra 20% of the die that’s relevant on the confirmation; roll above that and you’d have succeeded anyway, and roll below that and you’ll fail anyway. I’ve been told that there’s different ways of calculating this sort of thing that would change based on your chance to hit in the first place, but it seems like the calculation for “did Power Critical matter on this attack?” is [chance to get a crit threat] • [20%]. So about 1% per point of critical threat.

I understand that failing to confirm a crit is disappointing, but I want my feats to matter more often than what I just described, you know? Even expanding your crit range doesn’t make it that much more appealing unless you’re a real hardcore crit-fisher. A Keen Falchion crits on what, a 15? That moves Power Critical’s chance to matter up from about 1% to about 5%, assuming that you’re fighting a crittable target (which isn’t a guarantee). So, you know, about on par with Weapon Focus, which is a rather dull feat. I dunno, man. I just don’t like seeing feats go to waste, especially when you level up slowly.

I personally don’t think that Power Critical comes up often enough to be worth the slot. If you want to really focus on critical hits and really hate threatening but failing to confirm (which I will agree is super disappointing—just not necessarily sufficiently disappointing that I want to spend a feat over it), I guess what really matters is that you have fun, but I wouldn’t think of it as being the best choice.

[SLOTHRPG95]

How squishy are you? Improved Toughness generally lets you take roughly one more hit from a mook before going down, which is never a bad thing. If you want more offensive punch instead, do you run into your favored enemy much or is that really just a marginal benefit? If your campaign is semi-built around them, taking Favored Power Attack or Improved Favored Enemy might not be a bad idea. If not, consider Hold the Line, given that you're already a Combat Reflexes guy with a reach weapon it's sort of a natural choice. But also, if the lack of spellcasting potential is the only thing holding you back from adding on more levels of Ranger, ask your DM if you can use the non-casting variant from Complete Warrior. Overall it's not as powerful as just having WIS 14 or higher and eventually just getting access to all the spells, but it's not terrible and lets you keep getting three times as many skill points as you would get were you to continue with Fighter.

[Mars Ultor]

Power Critical is kind of a disappointing feat, in my opinion. If you crit on a 20, then 5% of the time you’ll roll a threat and get to see Power Critical, which gives you 4 extra numbers on the die that count as a success to confirm your crit. So that’s an extra 20% of the die that’s relevant on the confirmation; roll above that and you’d have succeeded anyway, and roll below that and you’ll fail anyway. I’ve been told that there’s different ways of calculating this sort of thing that would change based on your chance to hit in the first place, but it seems like the calculation for “did Power Critical matter on this attack?” is [chance to get a crit threat] • [20%]. So about 1% per point of critical threat.

. . . A Keen Falchion crits on what, a 15? That moves Power Critical’s chance to matter up from about 1% to about 5%, assuming that you’re fighting a crittable target (which isn’t a guarantee). So, you know, about on par with Weapon Focus, which is a rather dull feat. I dunno, man. I just don’t like seeing feats go to waste, especially when you level up slowly.

I personally don’t think that Power Critical comes up often enough to be worth the slot. If you want to really focus on critical hits and really hate threatening but failing to confirm (which I will agree is super disappointing—just not necessarily sufficiently disappointing that I want to spend a feat over it), I guess what really matters is that you have fun, but I wouldn’t think of it as being the best choice.


A keen Falchion is a potential critical hit about thirty percent of the time depending on the target's AC. My attack bonuses would give me +12 to hit, enough for an AC of 27 minimum. I suspect most times I roll in the critical range, I'll hit and have to confirm the critical. The feat and my other bonuses would give me a +16 to confirm the critical hit. That +4 is about 20% depending on AC. Weapon Focus is a maximum 5% bonus, and it could be less for ACs over twenty. The way I see it, if I get a critical hit, which will happen slightly more than one-quarter of the time, most times I'm going to confirm if I take the feat. Regardless of my dice rolls, I'm getting to count my Strength bonus and the weapon's plus twice. That's an additional six points of damage, more if I Power Attack.


Since you're not enthusiastic about the Critical Hit scenario, what would you suggest? What feats do you think would be worthwhile?

[Nifft]

There's at least one [Luck] feat which allow a confirmation re-roll, and that's potentially better than +4 since you can use it when it counts, rather than when you're hitting someone who will die from the basic attack but fail when you're hitting the boss-monster -- check out Complete Scoundrel for the list of [Luck] feats.

With only one [Luck] feat, you only get one daily re-roll, but each [Luck] feat gives you a point into a pool that fuels all of them. If you can grab three or four such feats, you can re-roll several times per day. A couple of other [Luck] feats allow you to re-roll stuff like initiative or saving throws, and those can also be pretty great to have on those rare occasions when you face a save-or-die / save-or-sit-out.

[DEMON]

Since you're not enthusiastic about the Critical Hit scenario, what would you suggest? What feats do you think would be worthwhile?

If you have a broad enough favored enemy or a right one in a thematic campaign, Favored Power Attack can do you some good.

The feat isn't the hottest stuff out there, situational for sure, but if you can use it often, it adds up.

[Mars Ultor]

How squishy are you? Improved Toughness generally lets you take roughly one more hit from a mook before going down, which is never a bad thing. If you want more offensive punch instead, do you run into your favored enemy much or is that really just a marginal benefit? If your campaign is semi-built around them, taking Favored Power Attack or Improved Favored Enemy might not be a bad idea. If not, consider Hold the Line, given that you're already a Combat Reflexes guy with a reach weapon it's sort of a natural choice. But also, if the lack of spellcasting potential is the only thing holding you back from adding on more levels of Ranger, ask your DM if you can use the non-casting variant from Complete Warrior. Overall it's not as powerful as just having WIS 14 or higher and eventually just getting access to all the spells, but it's not terrible and lets you keep getting three times as many skill points as you would get were you to continue with Fighter.


I'd prefer doing more damage to having more HP. My current tactic of Withdrawing and screaming for the cleric has been reasonably effective so far.

The campaign is primarily geared around orcs, but they often have ogres or sometimes giants as henchmen. I have an orc-bane Morningstar, so I chose Giant class creatures as my favored enemy. I wouldn't be against Favored Power Attack or Improved Favored Enemy, but I don't always get to choose which villain I'm going to fight. I'll think about it though.

I did consider Hold the Line, but I've got to rely on my opponents to Charge, not just attack. I don't like that I can only use the feat if the bad guys cooperated.

It's going to be a long time before I can see any of the benefits of the Ranger variant even if it's allowed. I think the Fighter feats give me more of an advantage overall. Besides the spell casting, it's too dangerous to have an animal companion at this level. If I could cast spells I stay a Ranger, but without that feature there's no point in continuing.

Thank you for your suggestions.

[Mars Ultor]

If you have a broad enough favored enemy or a right one in a thematic campaign, Favored Power Attack can do you some good.

The feat isn't the hottest stuff out there, situational for sure, but if you can use it often, it adds up.


Another person suggested this, it could be useful, I'll thing about it. My only concern is while we encounter my favored enemy (Giant class) somewhat regularly, they're often not alone and I can't choose which villains in the group I get to fight.

[Nifft]

It's too bad you don't have the Int for Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown), that seems like really good synergy for your reach.

You could take Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill), which forces a Reflex save -- and Giants can be terrible at those. Gives you a bit of control, at least, though not as good as Improved Trip.

[SLOTHRPG95]

I'd prefer doing more damage to having more HP. My current tactic of Withdrawing and screaming for the cleric has been reasonably effective so far.

The campaign is primarily geared around orcs, but they often have ogres or sometimes giants as henchmen. I have an orc-bane Morningstar, so I chose Giant class creatures as my favored enemy. I wouldn't be against Favored Power Attack or Improved Favored Enemy, but I don't always get to choose which villain I'm going to fight. I'll think about it though.

I did consider Hold the Line, but I've got to rely on my opponents to Charge, not just attack. I don't like that I can only use the feat if the bad guys cooperated.

It's going to be a long time before I can see any of the benefits of the Ranger variant even if it's allowed. I think the Fighter feats give me more of an advantage overall. Besides the spell casting, it's too dangerous to have an animal companion at this level. If I could cast spells I stay a Ranger, but without that feature there's no point in continuing.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Is your WIS 10 or 11? If the latter, would you consider upping it at next stat bump (and maybe more later) to open up some semi-decent spellcasting? Or is that not worth it, and you'd rather just bump STR or CON? Keep in mind also that if you did end up sticking with Ranger and picking up Improved Favored Enemy that it affects all your favored enemy picks and at 5th level you can pick up orcs as well, meaning extra damage whether you're hitting a Giant tank or an Orc mook. If that still doesn't sound tempting, then yeah you're probably better off with the bonus feats from Fighter.

[Mars Ultor]

Is your WIS 10 or 11? If the latter, would you consider upping it at next stat bump (and maybe more later) to open up some semi-decent spellcasting? Or is that not worth it, and you'd rather just bump STR or CON? Keep in mind also that if you did end up sticking with Ranger and picking up Improved Favored Enemy that it affects all your favored enemy picks and at 5th level you can pick up orcs as well, meaning extra damage whether you're hitting a Giant tank or an Orc mook. If that still doesn't sound tempting, then yeah you're probably better off with the bonus feats from Fighter.

My Wisdom is 11. If I took a level of Ranger now I'd be a 4th-level Ranger and a sixth-level character. I'd still have two more levels until I got my ability score increase. It could literally take until Christmas 2019 for me to reach that level. If I had a 12 Wisdom now I'd remain a Ranger, I wouldn't even worry about the Fighter feats.

I wonder if my DM will let me forgo my Animal Companion in exchange for taking that +1 to Wisdom early. Then I'd always take the Jump spell, take the Leap Attack feat, and bounce around doing extra damage.

[Mars Ultor]

There's at least one [Luck] feat which allow a confirmation re-roll, and that's potentially better than +4 since you can use it when it counts, rather than when you're hitting someone who will die from the basic attack but fail when you're hitting the boss-monster -- check out Complete Scoundrel for the list of [Luck] feats.

With only one [Luck] feat, you only get one daily re-roll, but each [Luck] feat gives you a point into a pool that fuels all of them. If you can grab three or four such feats, you can re-roll several times per day. A couple of other [Luck] feats allow you to re-roll stuff like initiative or saving throws, and those can also be pretty great to have on those rare occasions when you face a save-or-die / save-or-sit-out.


I wasn't familiar with the Luck feats. They're not bad but I feel as if there's something more useful. I appreciate the suggestion.

[Mars Ultor]

It's too bad you don't have the Int for Knock-Down (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#knockDown), that seems like really good synergy for your reach.

You could take Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill), which forces a Reflex save -- and Giants can be terrible at those. Gives you a bit of control, at least, though not as good as Improved Trip.


The problem with Stand Still against a giant, is that they have reach. All I'm doing is keeping them where they can continue to pound me. Against non-giants I wonder if keeping foes from moving is better than causing damage. I've seen Stand Still mentioned in different places as a good feat; I think I must be missing something, I don't understand the benefit of that feat.

After the adventure where my character was killed I made up a new character, a Fighter/Rogue. Since the party always had an NPC or two traveling with us, I asked if the NPC I had taken over could stay with the group. The DM said he's enjoyed the character as I played him, I should keep him as my own character in addition to new one. I'd have total control, he'd let me run two PCs. There's another player in the campaign that has a second PC, it wasn't that unusual. The DM's brother played with the group and then went away on vacation. He loved it and never came back. He continued to Skype for a while, but eventually stopped. Since his character had been the Cleric, another player kept him in addition to his regular PC.

My character created from scratch has Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Combat Reflexes, Knock-down, and Bull Rush. Next level I'll be taking Shock Trooper. I also get 2d6 Sneak Attack damage pretty regularly because I make sure to flank if possible. That character makes much more sense, I thought tripping would be interesting and when I learned more about the rules I saw it was a good choice, it's one of the better paths in the game for a Fighter. Unfortunately I can't remake the Fighter/Ranger and resolve his issues. I understand why he a Ranger for campaign purposes, but he's not really qualified for Ranger and it's just a dead end for him.

[Fizban]

This does not sound like a game where Leap Attack is even remotely necessary, or even useful. Leap Attack requires Power Attack, which requires spare to-hit you can dump into it.

The main problem with Power Critical is that it's so much worse than Improved Critical, which a crit build always wants to take. But with fixed treasure and an already Keen falcion, you don't really need to take Improved Crit, and you can get Power Crit right now. Crit build is the opposite of Power Attack though, rewarding you for keeping your attack bonus high so that even low BAB attacks or bad confirmation rolls can crit.

The use of Power Crit depends on how your accuracy is to begin with. If you're rolling 11 to hit, then with a Keen falcion 50% of your threats are going in the trash. Power crit decreases that to 30%, so instead of 1/2 your threats landing, 2/3 of your threats land, and that should feel pretty good. On your first attack you might not need an 11, but your second attack? Hits on a 15, but the chance of confirming is much lower, unless Power Crit.

If you want realiable damage though, Weapon Spec is Weapon Spec. +2 with chosen weapon no ifs ands or buts, multiplies and stacks with everything, and it qualifies you for Melee Weapon Mastery once you hit BAB +8 for another +2 attack and +2 damage. Both of those are way better than Power Crit, and work just fine for whatever weapon you take them for. The only problem is that if the DM is going random treasure rather than curating it, you're unlikely to find something that matches your focus later on. Though Mastery covers a whole damage type, so if you took it for falcion it'd apply to all your common swords, axes, and slashing polearms.

Dancing around with a polearm and combat reflexes gives extra attacks. One extra attack is 100% more damage, one confirmed crit is 100% more damage. The usefulness of reach is in the defensiveness, as you have noted. If you want to keep that then nothing the falcion does is going to help, but more AC is more defense. If you want to switch to aggro, then longspear isn't going to get any more aggro, but standing and full attacking only gets better with level.

[Nifft]

The problem with Stand Still against a giant, is that they have reach. All I'm doing is keeping them where they can continue to pound me. Against non-giants I wonder if keeping foes from moving is better than causing damage. I've seen Stand Still mentioned in different places as a good feat; I think I must be missing something, I don't understand the benefit of that feat.

After the adventure where my character was killed I made up a new character, a Fighter/Rogue. Since the party always had an NPC or two traveling with us, I asked if the NPC I had taken over could stay with the group. The DM said he's enjoyed the character as I played him, I should keep him as my own character in addition to new one. I'd have total control, he'd let me run two PCs. There's another player in the campaign that has a second PC, it wasn't that unusual. The DM's brother played with the group and then went away on vacation. He loved it and never came back. He continued to Skype for a while, but eventually stopped. Since his character had been the Cleric, another player kept him in addition to his regular PC.

My character created from scratch has Power Attack, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Combat Reflexes, Knock-down, and Bull Rush. Next level I'll be taking Shock Trooper. I also get 2d6 Sneak Attack damage pretty regularly because I make sure to flank if possible. That character makes much more sense, I thought tripping would be interesting and when I learned more about the rules I saw it was a good choice, it's one of the better paths in the game for a Fighter. Unfortunately I can't remake the Fighter/Ranger and resolve his issues. I understand why he a Ranger for campaign purposes, but he's not really qualified for Ranger and it's just a dead end for him.

Honestly it sounds like you know what you want, and what you want is the character that you made -- not this half-baked NPC.

It sounds like you're getting frustrated by trying to make the NPC fit into the expectations that you have for the PC you made. If this is accurate, then talk to your DM, and play what you want.


If you do want to stick with the NPC, my advice is to find a way to get enlarge person cast on you, either by yourself or someone else. Having 20 ft. reach with Stand Still is a zone of control that even most Giants can't easily overcome. You can get that spell permanency'd for some XP cost, which is probably a lot of gold, but at least it's a pair of Core spell effects.

[Fizban]

I understand why he a Ranger for campaign purposes, but he's not really qualified for Ranger and it's just a dead end for him.
Seems like a perfectly fine build to me. A switch-hitter skirmisher with longspear and longbow (as presumably it's set to ranged ranger) is entirely reasonable for someone who previously worked alone or as the main high level guy in a bunch of NPC 1s, the kind of thing that would do well in the one guy vs army thread (without being specialized for that specific task). It's just not the single specialized build that most people favor on PCs. If you think dex 14 isn't "qualified" for ranger, then that's on your desired op level, not him.

So yeah, sounds like you don't want to play a build you didn't make, that's fine. Tell the DM that if you're running two characters you want to make both of them (and since the DM already offered you two characters, they shouldn't be backing out on that).

[Mars Ultor]

Dancing around with a polearm and combat reflexes gives extra attacks. One extra attack is 100% more damage, one confirmed crit is 100% more damage. The usefulness of reach is in the defensiveness, as you have noted. If you want to keep that then nothing the falcion does is going to help, but more AC is more defense. If you want to switch to aggro, then longspear isn't going to get any more aggro, but standing and full attacking only gets better with level.


We played last night and I tried to keep track of when I getting the Attacks of Opportunity because of reach, and when I'd have gotten a potential critical if I'd been using the Keen weapon. It turned out that I got AoA more consistently, I enjoyed it more. Being aware of the fact that I was able to move around and continuously force my opponents into stepping out of threatened square was fun. I made an effort to position myself in the center, I was able to get attacks on the guys attacking other party members, too. My intention was to keep with the spear and perhaps pursue Weapon Specialization as you suggested. Unfortunately, I was killed in the final battle of the adventure.

Raise Dead is possible in our campaign, although not Resurrection, or I can make up a new character. I'm undecided. Another player suggested I make up a new character and continue to use a Longspear, but I'm not sure.

[Mars Ultor]

So yeah, sounds like you don't want to play a build you didn't make, that's fine. Tell the DM that if you're running two characters you want to make both of them (and since the DM already offered you two characters, they shouldn't be backing out on that).

My character was killed last night in the final battle of a two year adventure. It's been building and building and I thought I'd be killed when we actually fought the group of BBEGs that had been behind everything, but I survived. Last night we escaped the fortress and while attempting to protect the prisoners we had rescued I was killed by the last few surviving villains. To add insult to injury, the guy was using a non-magic Falchion and got a critical hit. He rolled a 20 to hit and a 19 to confirm, the other players suggested I hold out hope, but I knew he was a goner.

I had a new character in mind when I thought I wouldn't survive the big battle, but the other players are urging me to bring back the Spearman. They're willing to chip in for a Raise Dead, Resurrection isn't possible in our campaign yet. I'm not sure what to do. Another player, who knew my new character concept, a Barbarian/Cleric--the Turkic/Proto-Mongols are a big part of the campaign--suggested I make the character but continue to use a Longspear.

The DM liked my now-dead character but understands that I felt I hadn't been able to design the character and that he was limited by early choices. He's suggesting the new character, too. I think I'm leaning in that direction, but I feel bad that I'm discarding the old one.

[Mars Ultor]

Honestly it sounds like you know what you want, and what you want is the character that you made -- not this half-baked NPC.

It sounds like you're getting frustrated by trying to make the NPC fit into the expectations that you have for the PC you made. If this is accurate, then talk to your DM, and play what you want.


As it turns out, my character was killed last night in the last battle of a multi-year adventure. While I feel bad about it, and the DM likes the character, he said he knew the former NPC had limitations and it was fine if I didn't want to Raise him and just make a new character.

I'm considering a Barbarian/Cleric because it fits the campaign. I might use a Longspear, but I'm not going to feel married to it. I think just knowing the character is actually mine will allow me to make decisions and not be restricted by prior choices.

[Eldariel]

As it turns out, my character was killed last night in the last battle of a multi-year adventure. While I feel bad about it, and the DM likes the character, he said he knew the former NPC had limitations and it was fine if I didn't want to Raise him and just make a new character.

I'm considering a Barbarian/Cleric because it fits the campaign. I might use a Longspear, but I'm not going to feel married to it. I think just knowing the character is actually mine will allow me to make decisions and not be restricted by prior choices.

This doesn't sound like a bad way to go; you can always go Barbarian 1/Cleric 4 though that does delay your access to higher level spells, which are really nice for a warrior Cleric. Such a character does make for great reach fighters. Particularly spells that enlarge you (Enlarge Person from Strength-domain or Righteous Might down the line) further enhance the effect, allowing you to control up to 20' of space in all directions. And as a Cleric, once you hit level 4 spells (potentially in one level), you can use Greater Magic Weapon to enhance all your weapons so you can make switch-hitting more efficient. Indeed, you can just go straight Cleric with the "illiterate" trait and just build towards the feral end of the spectrum if you wish to maximise your spell access while still fulfilling the same niche if you feel so inclined.