The Deepstone Sentinel

[Tavar]

Okay, I never really looked at this class before, especially after seeing it only had 3/4 BAB, plus Stone Dragon is one of my least favorite disiplines. Looking over it, though, it seems pretty neat, though definitely not for every campaign. If you think that you'll be on the ground alot, is the class as good as it seems?

[Darrin]

If you think that you'll be on the ground alot, is the class as good as it seems?

You could say it's an under-appreciated PrC. Essentially it's an updated Dwarven Defender that doesn't blow goats. It gets ignored because most of the high-powered ToB builds grab one or two maneuvers from Stone Dragon and never need anything else from it.

The biggest drawback is the reliance on Stone Dragon stances, which cuts down on your mobility and just aren't quite as sexy as some of the stances in other disciplines. But it's much more flexible than the Dwarven Defender. First, you can at least make a 5' step and still maintain your stance, and second, if you need to move, you can get back into a stance with a swift action.

It pairs up quite nicely with Crusader and/or Knight. A lockdown Knight 4/Crusader 6/Deepstone Sentinel 5/Something +5 with Test of Mettle, Thicket of Blades, and Stand Still could be very interesting.

I've also always wanted to do something with Dragon's Tooth + Dungeoncrasher, but I think Dragon's Tooth is a standard action, so popping one up behind your opponent and then slamming him into it in the same round is problematic.

[Akal Saris]

It's perhaps not as good as it seems, since mobility is so ridiculously key in 3.5, but it's still decent.

Really, if you like the dwarven defender, then this is as good or better - and if you didn't like the idea of being a stout dwarf in full plate, barring the halls with your axe and shield (or more likely spiked chain...), then you wouldn't like this either.

I'm not a big fan of it because it doesn't really bring a new idea to the table, the way that the bloodstorm blade and master of nine do. I wish that there had been some sort of rogue/swordsage multiclass PrC included instead of this one, frankly.

Edit: By the way, the dwarven defender has some advantages over this as well: a d12 HD compared to a d10, a strong will save vs. a weak will save, full BAB vs. 3/4 BAB, and enterable at 7th vs. 10th. So it wouldn't be so bad to go Crusader 7/Dwarven Defender 3/Deepstone Sentinel 1, for example.

Also, its main stance isn't really much better than thicket of blades, which is a pity. But the flavor and mechanics are pretty sweet - I'd definitely use this class for an NPC encounter, at the least.

[Fax Celestis]

Dungeoncrasher plus the class-stance in which you charge an opponent from atop your mountain is pretty cool. It also makes a pretty solid battlefield controller with your standard Stand Still etc. setup, especially if you couple it with three or four levels of Knight.