Wirlwind attack + Great Cleave = Death?

[SpicyBoi_Nezu]

My DM's little sister planned on making a campaign for him to run, she suggested that we start at level 10. I though that it would be a great idea to make a Fighter, and optimize the number of enemies I can hit in one round, I plan on making him a dex fighter, using a Scimitar to maximize chance of crits once I get to Improved critical, making cleave occur more often.

What else could I do

[DeTess]

My DM's little sister planned on making a campaign for him to run, she suggested that we start at level 10. I though that it would be a great idea to make a Fighter, and optimize the number of enemies I can hit in one round, I plan on making him a dex fighter, using a Scimitar to maximize chance of crits once I get to Improved critical, making cleave occur more often.

What else could I do

I don't see how crit-fishing increases the amount of cleave triggers, as cleave triggers on death, not on a crit. That said, you would definitely need something to increase crit chance or crit damage here. A couple of levels in a martial initiator, or at the very least feats invested in martial study and martial stance to get the 'blood in the water' stance.

[Kurald Galain]

Well, you could add in a reach weapon, Improved Trip, and Knock-Down. Whenever you hit an enemy, get a trip for free; when it stands up, get another attack for free.

[The Kool]

Unfortunately,

When you use the Whirlwind Attack feat, you also forfeit any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats, spells, or abilities.

Two words for you: Robilar's Gambit. For a bonus, have two more: Karmic Strike. Trip control and AoO optimization. Personally if I'm building a cleaver I go with Frenzied Berzerker, but straight fighter is better for a crit/trip/AoO fighter for the insane number of feats that build into it.

[liquidformat]

So Scimitar doesn't qualify for weapon finesse unless you take a couple levels of dervish which really isn't that great of a prc. However, it does lend itself well to the idea of moving around the battle field hitting as many people as possible and also works well with a crit fisher build. Granted it is very feat intensive...

[The Kool]

So, to elaborate on my suggested feat path for the dex/AoO build, I would recommend kukri and TWF, the damage is lower but you have better to-hit values in the long run. Otherwise pick up a falchion and Power Attack, boost STR and ignore Weapon Finesse. This is probably your choice if you go with the Berzerker and want to crit/cleave all day long (double-digit static damage bonuses that multiply on your frequent crits... good times).

Is your "what else could I do" question asking for different build ideas? Because if so, I'd need to know whether you want melee, caster, gish, control, tank, skillmonkey, etc etc etc.

[Cavir]

Take any of the 18-20 crit weapons, then add Keen and add Prismatic Spray to it. All that extra damage will activate Great Cleave more often. I like the Heavy Flail (19-20 crit base, Impact instead of Keen, same effect) for its specials on trips and disarms. Though.... TWF Keen Kukris both with Prismatic Spray. Who cares about the low base damage then. Just watch out for disarms. Warblade also gives a bonus for confirming crits (assuming said warblade has more intelligence than a typical barbarian...). Keep close friends with a mage to Enlarge you, and/or buy stock in Enlarge Potions.

[The Kool]

Keep close friends with a mage to Enlarge you, and/or buy stock in Enlarge Potions.

If you don't care about base damage and reach, consider going Halfling with a Reduce Person. Those to-hit bonuses are nice.

[RNightstalker]

If you use a rapier you'll have the same threat range and be able to use weapon finesse. If ToB is allowed, get your feats in the mace and have an aptitude weapon with the Lightning Mace feat, which gives you an additional immediate attack every time you roll a threat...not confirming it, but just rolling a threat.


A 1-level Dervish dip will also net good reflex and will saves, which will help balance the Fighter's good fortitude saves...especially if y'all do fractionals. It will also provide Dervish Dance which will allow you to move around to spread out your attacks instead of hoping everyone gangs up on you. If you're doing TWF, the feats invested will make Whirlwind Attack obsolete for the same reason.

[Endarire]

A spiked chain grants reach near and far and is finessible, but it's a 20x2 crit weapon.