[3.5] Fighter prestige class

[Mater]

Hey guys, prepare for the really dumb question. It sounds weird but I was unable to find a decent prestige class for my fighter. Neither in any book I posses nor on the internet. So I ask you is there a good prestige class for a fighter with his trusty greatsword? I was thinking about weapon master but it has been messed up in 3.5 into several stupid classes which I cant relate to sadly :-( I was also thinking about something rather offensive. Please suggest something I might have missed. Thanks

Mater

Note: Because of the DM issues I cannot multiclass, so only prestige classes please.

[EvilJoe15]

Ur-priest. Go DMM crazy.

[Marriclay]

We need more build info! We must know the ins and outs of this character's set up!

Ur-priest. Go DMM crazy.

Doesn't that require some connection to the divine to begin with? Besides, most DMs won't allow players to use BoVD and many simply hate Ur-Priest players

[Dusk Eclipse]

it depends in what you want to do, and your current feat set up, maybe even race.

For example Warforged Juggernaut is a good prestige class, but you need to be a warforged to take it

I think a straight fighter can prestige into Dervish (CWar) but that class is specifically for Dual wielders..... I am sorry I can't be of more help

[EvilJoe15]

No it doesn't, just Spell Focus(Evil), and Iron Will. Don't need to be a caster to take Spell Focus. And it's in C. Divine.

[Mater]

Oh fast replies. So some additional info. It is gestalt fighter/rogue. For rogue I have dread commando which is quite brilliant, but after that I need something for the fighter, because bonus feats from fighter feel a little redundant.
It will not be an evil campaign so only good or neutral...
If the class would have a little of the ranger feeling I wouldnt mind, but I must have Pre's from fighter side only whitch is a little problem. Also I would appreciate some deeper weapon specialization as I suggested with that weapon master.
Yes I know I am demanding and picky but thats just me guys so bear with me please :-)

[tyckspoon]

Exotic Weapon Master isn't too bad (go Bastard Sword, wield it two-handed, apply the Exotic Weapon Master abilities to it. You lose a couple points average damage on the dice, which is utterly meaningless by the time you can take the class.) And the 3.0/Neverwinter Nights version of Weapon Master is decent, nevermind what the book says about EWM being the official update of it- they are very clearly completely different classes.

I'm not aware of any generally-good PrCs for Fighters, unfortunately, not in the way you can always suggest Master Specialist or Fatespinner or Loremaster or Archmage or.. well, you get the idea. Most of the better martial classes are aimed at gishes and/or have skill requirements that are really, really rough on a straight-classed Fighter.

[Prodan]

EWM with Spiked Chain = Win

Suel Arcanamach/Dragon Disciple

Hmm.... But the best fighter prestige class of all time has got to be...

CANCER MAGE!

[Krazddndfreek]

Well, before PrCs, you can't go wrong with a Barbarian dip. Well that would have been a good idea

Ahh, but its gestalt, this fixes things slightly. So maybe instead of taking fighter, be a wizard or another caster? Then you could go into Unseen Seer later if you want. Although does your DM understand that you can't have two PrCs at once? Or his he just houseruling it away?

EDIT: Or if you're bent on fighter, then the TWF route is not a bad one, since you've got rogue on the other side. Maybe prestige into Dervish like that guy said, or Tempest to alleviate the penalties?

[Mater]

And the 3.0/Neverwinter Nights version of Weapon Master is decent, nevermind what the book says about EWM being the official update of it- they are very clearly completely different classes.

I'm not aware of any generally-good PrCs for Fighters, unfortunately, not in the way you can always suggest Master Specialist or Fatespinner or Loremaster or Archmage or.. well, you get the idea. Most of the better martial classes are aimed at gishes and/or have skill requirements that are really, really rough on a straight-classed Fighter.

1)Yes he is decent but my DM will not allow him sadly :-(

2)Yes thats why I made this thread, but I am willing to soak some cross class point from rogue side if I will be really without a choice...I dont like it though...

[Saya]

Depends really on what you want to do, and how long you expect to go with it.

In all honestly, you can do something as silly as going Master Thrower, then enchanting a greatsword or two with throwing and returning properties, and simply go nuts from there.

[Mater]

Well, before PrCs, you can't go wrong with a Barbarian dip. Well that would have been a good idea

Ahh, but its gestalt, this fixes things slightly. So maybe instead of taking fighter, be a wizard or another caster? Then you could go into Unseen Seer later if you want. Although does your DM understand that you can't have two PrCs at once? Or his he just houseruling it away?

Well as I understand it you can but only one PC per gestalt level which I will obey so there should not be a problem with this. Second I already have a wizard in my party so that would be a little redundant...also I should have mentioned that rogue is wildeneress rogue variant from unearthed arcana and he would be a ranger type...(not ranger because I wanted to play him with two-haneded weapon)...

[Mater]

Depends really on what you want to do, and how long you expect to go with it.

In all honestly, you can do something as silly as going Master Thrower, then enchanting a greatsword or two with throwing and returning properties, and simply go nuts from there.

Well it may seen odd but we are also a little concerned about the RP side of the class so DM would not allow a construct like this and frankly I would not wanna play it, but Thanks for the tip :-) :-)

[Optimystik]

Doesn't that require some connection to the divine to begin with?

Not only does it not require such a connection, the class actively discourages it. But I wouldn't consider that a "Fighter PrC" anyway.

To answer the OP - I would recommend Kensai and/or Incarnum Blade.

[Krazddndfreek]

Kensai would be pretty good I was going to say.

@Mater: You could honestly be a Mystic Ranger instead. You'd get spellcasting, and you could qualify for Dread Commando without the fighter. Also I'm fairly confident that you could be a gestalt wizard without stepping on the other guy's toes. But it's your character. The ability to cast invisibility and wraithstrike without relying on scrolls should be pretty tempting though.

[Mater]

Not only does it not require such a connection, the class actively discourages it. But I wouldn't consider that a "Fighter PrC" anyway.

To answer the OP - I would recommend Kensai and/or Incarnum Blade.

Well just finished looking at that incarnum blade and it looks interesting. Abilities are not so stunningly awesome but it is interesting. I would have to thing hard to put him in the place in my RP profile though. Kensai is ok but we dont use XPs so it would be little problematic.

its almost 1am here so see ya guys tomorrow... :-)

[Keld Denar]

Occult Slayer is a fun little 5 level PrC that is pretty easy to get into. You probably already have Weapon Focus and Improved Init. The capstone is perma-Mind Blank, which makes 2.5 schools of magic cry in the corner. The other abilities are so-so, but can be useful.

Pious Templar is another staple for my melee characters. It gives some bonus feats, a splash of Paladin spellcasting (which is nice if use look up Pally spells in Spell Compendium and Complete Champion), and Mettle. All while keeping full BAB. Requires a crappy feat to get into, but it sounds like you have feats to spare.

A decent late entry spellcaster PrC is Suel Arcanamach. You need +6 BAB to get in, which you should have. Get in and hope back out into a PrC like Abjurant Champion. In fact, Suel1/AbjChamp5/Spellsword1/Suel+3 is a pretty solid 10 level investment that gives you some REALLY good combat utility with Abjuration and Illusion's defensive capabilities and Transmutation's offensive buffs. Abjurant Champion even fixes your low Caster Level issues, allowing you to compete at nearly full capacity! It has its own spellcasting capabilities that progress pretty quickly. You aren't gonna shatter the universe with Wish, but you can pick up your own source of Enlarge Person, Haste, Fly, POLYMORPH, Bite of the Wereboar, Greater Mirror Image, etc, to take some of the burden of buffing you off the party mage.

[Darth Stabber]

Horizon Walker is about the best in core (Says something about fighters in core, there are no prcs for them, but they can bend over backwards and get into a mediocre ranger prc.).

I don't remember the prereqs for Slayer(srd) being so bad, and if you sneak a level of any manifesting class in there, you will enjoy it more.

Corrupt avenger (HoH) is easy to get into (it's been my experience that GMs don't mind tainting their players, even if the taint rules are not being used, and no one else will be subjected to them), as is Death Delver(same) (not finagling, just you need to almost die, and a few mild skill requirements.

suel arcanamach(CA) always comes up and is really good.

There are a few other PRCs that give a modest spell progression that you may want to look into, but I can't think of any off hand, check the complete series.

EDIT: I can't read and you GM is a jerk for the no multi-class thing, and you should not have picked fighter, psiwar maybe.

[herrhauptmann]

Occult slayer, doesn't that tend to get a lot of flak for not actually being good at killing casters?
There is the Witchslayer from ToM, an antibinder warrior. Check with your DM, some regular sorc/wiz/cleric spells could count for the class abilities. Also grants Mettle I believe.
Take the mageslayer feat tree, and OS or WS get that much better.
Since your DM allows ACFs, are you aware that there's a few other ranger weapon styles lying around in a dragon magazine? Grappling, mounted, thrown weapon, and Two Handed weapon. That'll give you the ranger flavor you want, and make hitting horizon walker very easy.

If you've got mettle, there's an item in Complete champion which will upgrade Mettle to Improved Mettle (like improved evasion). Shirt slot I believe.

[Keld Denar]

Occult Slayer is actually better at NOT getting killed by wizards than actually killing them. About the only offensive ability they get is Weapon Bond, for an extra +1d6 vs foes with spells or spell-like abilities. Viscious Strike is a joke, and should never ever be used. If you read Mind over Magic as an Immediate action (since it doesn't make much sense as a free action, but CWarrior predates swift/immediate actions), its kinda an offensive ability, and the idea of reflecting a Finger of Death back on a 32 Int, 10 Con Grey Elf Wizard is hillarious, but in practicality, a smart caster wouldn't be targetting your fort save and most things that are targeted (non-attack roll) that target your Will, you'll be immune to thanks to Mind Blank, and the caster would probably make the will save easily anyway. Plus, reflecting a Dominate or similar just gives the caster control over himself, instead of giving you control over him.

What IS really good for killing casters is being able to do enough damage to 1-shot them IF you can pierce their protections, and then naturally being able to pierce their protections. The former is pretty easy with 2handed Power Attack, and Pierce Magical Concealment works well on the latter. Just get some flight and/or some swift action teleports and pray your target doesn't have 2 dozen carefully worded contingencies waiting for you.

[nedz]

Its a shame you can't add more base classes.

Horizon Walker for some interesting abilities, as mentioned by others.

Prestige Ranger (from UA)

Racial Paragon class

[true_shinken]

While Weapon Master was updated in 3.0, Kensei from Oriental Adventures is nearly the same but wasn't; Dragon 318 updates OA and does not even mention it. You could go with Kensei.
Note, though, that by RAW you can't have a PrC on each side of gestalt.

[Gametime]

If you read Mind over Magic as an Immediate action (since it doesn't make much sense as a free action, but CWarrior predates swift/immediate actions), its kinda an offensive ability, and the idea of reflecting a Finger of Death back on a 32 Int, 10 Con Grey Elf Wizard is hillarious, but in practicality, a smart caster wouldn't be targetting your fort save and most things that are targeted (non-attack roll) that target your Will, you'll be immune to thanks to Mind Blank, and the caster would probably make the will save easily anyway. Plus, reflecting a Dominate or similar just gives the caster control over himself, instead of giving you control over him.

It can be nifty for the tricksy wizards that use the occasional Reflex-or-suck, which are usually effective against fighters but also a bitch to have reflected back at you.

[Keld Denar]

The only non-AoE, non-attack roll Reflex Save vs Suck I can think of is Bands of Steel from the Spell Compendium. Its...3rd level. Yea, sucks.

[DragoonWraith]

The only non-AoE, non-attack roll Reflex Save vs Suck I can think of is Bands of Steel from the Spell Compendium. Its...3rd level. Yea, sucks.

...that spell got our Warforged Crusader killed a few weeks ago...

[Gametime]

The only non-AoE, non-attack roll Reflex Save vs Suck I can think of is Bands of Steel from the Spell Compendium. Its...3rd level. Yea, sucks.

There's also a Spellwarp Sniper'd Wings of Flurry, which allows no save at all. A corner case, admittedly, but still nice to have a defense against it.

[Optimystik]

There's also a Spellwarp Sniper'd Wings of Flurry, which allows no save at all. A corner case, admittedly, but still nice to have a defense against it.

Spellwarp turns spells into rays, which have attack rolls.

Hail of Stone has no save, no SR and no attack roll IIRC - but it's an area spell.

[Keld Denar]

There's also a Spellwarp Sniper'd Wings of Flurry, which allows no save at all. A corner case, admittedly, but still nice to have a defense against it.

Since it has an attack roll, its not targeted. Since its not targetted, it can't be spell reflected. So....yea, my point still stands.

You'd need Ray Deflection to counter a SWS's Wings of Flurry. Occult Slayer won't save your life.

[Mater]

Ok guys thanks very much for all your recommendations. I must admit I was looking at that occult slayer before but I did not like the feel of it. Horizon walker on the other hand feels nice but since my DM may finaly said yes to 3rd edition weapon master I will probably pick him. So thanks again for all your help...if he will not allow him after all I might bother you again so sorry in advance :-P :-)

[true_shinken]

Since it has an attack roll, its not targeted. Since its not targetted, it can't be spell reflected. So....yea, my point still stands.

You'd need Ray Deflection to counter a SWS's Wings of Flurry. Occult Slayer won't save your life.

Ray-WoF still has a Reflex save for the dazing effect.