[3.5] War Master

[Person_Man]

This build is an attempt to combine Flaming Homer with Haberdash the Masked, with inspiration from and Darrin's King of Pong.

Half-Ogre Whatever 5/Warhulk 4/Master of Masks 1/Warmind 5

Half-Ogre (LA +2, Races of Destiny) provides Large Size, which is a pre-req for War Hulk, and useful for boosting your reach, damage, and opposed checks. It also qualifies you for Knockback (Races of Stone), which requires Large size or Powerful Build. If you’re willing to give up Hulking Hurler or you just happen to have a nice DM (by RAW Powerful Build doesn't apply to prestige classes, but it’s reasonable that it would) you can be a Half-Giant (which also qualifies you for War Mind) or Goliath instead.

Warhulk 4 provides you with the Mighty Swing ability, which allows your attacks to apply to 3 adjacent squares.

Master of Masks 1 (Complete Scoundrel) provides the Gladiator Mask, which gives you +1 to hit and damage, and proficiency with ALL martial and exotic weapons. Having proficiency with every exotic weapon to some extent replaces the need to take feats like Knock-Down, Improved Disarm, Scorpion's Grasp, Spiked Chain, and all of the pre-requisites involved in taking them. (Check the Haberdash link if you want to full list of useful exotic weapons). Although the exotic weapons which replace these feats are generally weaker then a build that takes those feats, it's far more efficient.

War Mind 5 provides Sweeping Strike. As long as you haven't moved more then 10 ft since the end of your last turn, on each melee attack you can choose squares he threatens that are adjacent to each other, and his attacks apply to creatures in those two squares equally. War Mind also provides you with access to very important psionic powers, such as Expansion, Hustle, Psionic Lion’s Charge, Claws of the Beast, and Claws of the Vampire.

Feats:
Power Attack: Pre-req.
Improved Bull Rush: Pre-req.
Knockback: Free Bull Rush when you Power Attack.
Combat Expertise: Pre-req.
Improved Trip: Free attack when you Trip an enemy.
Shock Trooper: Shift To-Hit penalty to AC when you Power Attack. If you Charge, for each square you Bull Rush an enemy back, you can also push them one square left or right. If you Bull Rush enemies into each other, you get a free Trip on each.
Quickdraw: So that you can always finish your attack routine with ranged attacks once you knock enemies outside of your reach.

Notable Weapons for this build:

Spoiler

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Boomerang: Eberron Campaign setting pg 119: This weapon actually sucks. It deals less damage then most other thrown weapons. When it misses, you can make an attack roll to catch it. However, proficiency with this weapon qualifies you for the uber Boomerang Daze feat (Races of Eberron pg 108) forces anyone who takes damage from your boomerang to Save or be Dazed (one of the most powerful effects in the game) for 1 round, and Boomerang Ricochet (also RoE pg 108) which lets you hit a second adjacent target with your boomerang (potentially Dazing both) after you hit the first.

Mancatcher: Complete Warrior: Gives you a free Grapple attempt when you hit your enemy. Also, as long as your enemy can’t reach you, they can’t attack you or do anything other then attempt to move or escape from the grapple.

Net (PHB): Using a net is a ranged touch attack (maximum range of 10 feet) that imposes a -2 to attack rolls and -4 to Dex, 1/2 movement, and you can’t charge or run (no Save). When an enemy escapes from a net, you get a free AoO. Enchant one with Spell Storing and put Shivering Touch (Frostburn) into it, and you've got a great BBEG killer.

Orc Shotput: Sword & Fist, p. 71: One of the best thrown weapons in the game: 2d6 damage, 19-20 crit, x3 multiplier.

Pincer Staff: Underdark: Basically a mancatcher that deals more damage.

Ritiik: Frostburn: If you successfully hit an enemy, the enemy must make a Reflex Save. If it fails, you get a free Trip Attempt.

Sharktooth Staff: Savage Species: Gives you a free Grapple attempt when you hit your enemy. Unlike the mancatcher or pincer staff, it has no reach. But it deals the best damage. It’s also worth mentioning that they each have size restrictions.

Claws of the Beast: These are notable in that they remove the need for a Spiked Chain (FAQ specifies that you can switch between a two handed weapon and a natural attack as a free action), and you can deal natural weapon damage when you Grapple. It's also really easy to pump Claw damage to ridiculous levels, and buff it with Claws of the Vampire.

Your combo is pretty simple. If you have two enemies adjacent to each other, each attack is actually 3 attacks (initial, Mighty Swing, Sweeping Strike) PLUS a free Bull Rush attack from Knockback (which also applies to both enemies thanks to Might Swing and Sweeping Strike) PLUS a free Trip or Grapple attack depending on what exotic weapon you use (which also applies to both enemies thanks to Might Swing and Sweeping Strike) PLUS your free follow up attacks from Improved Trip (which also applies to both enemies thanks to Might Swing and Sweeping Strike) which can be triggered by a Ritiik or by knocking enemies together with Shock Trooper.

If the enemies are not standing next to each other, use Knockback and Shock Trooper to Bull Rush them next to each other.

If you're fighting one enemy, Grapple them to death.

Ideas, comments, criticisms, and build suggestions are welcome. All WotC books and Pathfinder are usuable.

[RagnaroksChosen]

Wow... just wow...


Thats a realy cool build..


Isn't warhulk 4 and warmind 5 ability the same thing?

[Person_Man]

Isn't warhulk 4 and warmind 5 ability the same thing?

Mighty Swing targets any 3 adjacent squares that you threaten.

Sweeping Strike targets any two adjacent enemies that you threaten, and it only works when you've moved 10 ft or less since your last turn.

So they're clearly different abilities, and would stack.

[RagnaroksChosen]

excellent... I was misreading it.

[Demons_eye]

Awesome!!!

[9mm]

whatever 5 needs to be a psionic class or you have to slip in hidden talent to qualify for War Mind's power point pre-req; assuming you can't finangle your DM to let Half-giant qualify for War-hulk. Also given how Massive swing works (3 adjacent squares you threaten), I'd suggest Psy-war, the first 5 and keep the Half-orge race with liberal aplications of expasion.

[Cieyrin]

whatever 5 needs to be a psionic class or you have to slip in hidden talent to qualify for War Mind's power point pre-req; assuming you can't finangle your DM to let Half-giant qualify for War-hulk. Also given how Massive swing works (3 adjacent squares you threaten), I'd suggest Psy-war, the first 5 and keep the Half-orge race with liberal aplications of expasion.

Half-Giant would qualify to go War Hulk regardless of finagling by virtue of Powerful Build, which gets them the requisite size to get in. It's the same reason Goliath War Hulks be running about hither and yon.

[9mm]

Half-Giant would qualify to go War Hulk regardless of finagling by virtue of Powerful Build, which gets them the requisite size to get in. It's the same reason Goliath War Hulks be running about hither and yon.

I said that... however the problem remains that it is mechanicly better to actually be half-orge or another ACTUALLY LARGE race, and that will mean a psionic class, like Psy-war.

[Person_Man]

Oh, forgot to mention. Whatever 5 could be Fighter 6, for Dungeoncrasher. I don't honestly think you'll need the bonus 8d6 + (Str bonus *3) damage when you Bull Rush someone into an object (like dead bodies!) or walls. But it's an option.