Looking for dex-based melee guides..

[daggaz]

My google foo is failing me on this one (wizards hocus pocus with their own boards and the fact you cant search for the word "dex" here in the playground sure dont help), so thought I would ask for some links instead.

Looking for guides to building dexterity based melee characters, especially in regards to trippers and barbarians, but really, any good solid knowledge is welcome (including reasons why NOT to do it.)

I have found plenty of good rogue guides thanks to personman and chronos' postings, so many thanks to them and I dont need any links to building the ultimate sneak attack machine.

[Mordokai]

Well, this is one combo a player of mine pulled on me.

Race: Water orc(+4 STR, +2 CON, -2 to WIS, INT and CHA)
Weapon: Spinning sword(10 feet reach)(Secrets of Sarlona, if memory serves)
Levels: Fighter 8/Exotic weapon master 1(CW)
Feats: Weapon Expertise
Improved Trip
Knock Down(Sword and Fist)
Inhuman Reach(Lords of Madness)
Combat Reflexes

And some other feats from LoM that don't much improve the effect of the build, but are good throw in.

What does this do? Combined with Belt of Enlarge Person, it gives him a 30 feet reach, allows him to do a trip attack every time he damages enemy for more than 10 HP and with 16 DEX it gives him 4 AOO per round. It's great for a battlefield control and he's very good at it too. It is very specialised build, but it works wonders in those instances

[Curmudgeon]

The X stat to Y bonus thread is back, though minus formatting.

[Adumbration]

Well, this isn't from any guide or anything, just a build that I once used.

Air goblin swordsage - let's make it level 6, for sake of simplicity.

Feats:
1st: Shadow blade
3rd: Weapon finesse
6th: Two-weapon fighting
(Note, with flaws, you can have two-weapon fighting at 1st level.)

Air goblin gives you +4 to Dex, the small size and a few other perks, namely not having to breathe. Swordsage gives you access to handy maneuvers and the Shadow blade feat. The combination of Weapon finesse and Shadow blade replace strength as the modifiers of attack and damage rolls, rendering it obsolete for anything but carrying capacity and some skill checks.

This build is viable at 3rd level, and ups the power level again at 6th level when the penalties for two-weapon fighting decrease significantly. If you continue taking Swordsage, you should be able to keep up quite nicely with other melee types, if not surpass them: you can be very stealthy if necessary.

[Curmudgeon]

1st: Shadow blade

The combination of Weapon finesse and Shadow blade replace strength as the modifiers of attack and damage rolls

Actually, Shadow Blade doesn't replace Strength for damage; it adds Dexterity also. (The summary of the feat in the table on page 30 of Tome of Battle has the "instead" wording, but the actual text of the feat on page 32 makes no mention of replacement. Text trumps table when there's a discrepancy.) This means if you've got a Strength penalty you'll still suffer from it.

When you hit with a melee or thrown weapon, including a sling, add your Strength modifier to the damage result.

[Quirp]

you can also take the High Sword, Low Axe feat from Complete Warrior (it has some perequisites)
it allows you to make a free trip attempt when you hit with both sword and axe