(3.5 DnD) Item Help - Hellreaver Build

[AtwasAwamps]

So, I’ve been asked by a friend of mine to join a campaign she’s running. I have been asked to play something ‘semi-knightly’. For a while, I was tempted to go straight knight, but then decided that no…no, I wanted something a little bit different from my standard LG types.

So I’ve decided upon the following build:

Race: Desert Half-Orc (No plans on changing race)

Stats (40 point buy, after racial adjustments of +2 Con/-2 Wis):

Str: 18
Dex: 10
Con: 16
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 15

Lion Spirit Totem Barbarian 1/Paladin of Freedom 4 (utilizing half-orc sub levels)/Hellreaver 4

Feats:
Run (racial bonus)
1. Power Attack
3. Improved Bull Rush
6: Leap Attack
9: Shock Trooper

I think this is a fairly solid charging build. The character will pack a Wand of Rhino’s Rush in a chamber on either one of his gauntlets or his weapon for when he needs to Nova and I’m considering grabbing the orc feat that allows you to double damage on a charge in exchange for taking an op attack to the face (Headlong Rush, I think?). Other feats on my list include Animal Devotion (depending on which God I choose to worship), Divine Vigor, Divine Might, and…well, right now, that’s about it.

What I’m looking for right now are items…I’m thinking Falchion is the way to go for a weapon, and obviously Valorous is a solid enchantment…and clearly I’m going to want to boost my Con/Str/Cha with some items…but what else is out there that I should be looking at? I’d love some suggestions…I’m guessing a displacement item really needs to be on there, just to grant me some survival post-charging.

EDIT: ToB, ToM, Incarnum, and Psionics are banned for this particular game. Makes me sad, but eh.

[faceroll]

You need a way to get over or around difficult terrain. I've never seen a charge build that worked very reliably in actual play, due to the nature of dungeons and forests and bogs and dragon lairs. Flight gets around a lot of it, unless you're stuck in a ten foot wide hallway with monsters or fellow PCs in the way.

Maybe there's something in MiC that lets you do that?

[AtwasAwamps]

I think there's a skill trick for that, or probably a magic item somewhere. Or, you know, ridiculous jump checks for leap attack.

[faceroll]

I think there's a skill trick for that, or probably a magic item somewhere. Or, you know, ridiculous jump checks for leap attack.

There's a skill trick, and a couple feats (one of which is psionic) for moving around obstacles. Going over rubble, however, I dunno. Flight is the obvious one, but I'm not sure if you can use leap attack while flying.

[SurlySeraph]

Leap Attack + a sufficiently high Jump modifier will usually take care of difficult terrain. I *think* there are boots that grant you Acrobatic Charge, which would be a good backup.

Yep, Headlong Rush is the feat you want.
I wouldn't take Animal Devotion *and* Divine Vigor *and* Divine Might; it's usually better to focus on using your turn attempts for one specific thing if you don't have a ton of them, which you don't. I'd go with Animal Devotion for the versatility and duration, myself, but if you expect to be able to prepare before combat most of the time Divine Vigor will serve you well. Divine Might probably won't be necessary, since you should have great damage output already.

There are also items that grant Tome of Battle maneuvers; you'll want one for Wall of Blades, which lets you replace your AC with an attack roll as an immediate action. Great for not dying after your charge.
There are a variety of ways to get concealment/ miss chances; the Smoking weapon enhancement is a very cheap one.
If you get a falchion, you'll probably want to make it Keen. Valorous is obvious, and the Collision psionic weapon enhancement is good since it'll get multiplied by Leap Atack.

Do be careful to manage your swift actions well. If you're casting Rhino's Rush every round, you won't be able to use your Holy Fury powers.

[AtwasAwamps]

Oh yes, should specify: This particular DM is very against non-vancian systems, so things like Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, and Incarnum are right out...she doesn't want to have to learn new systems. Otherwise I'd have dropped a level of warblade in there instead of Barbarian for the exact reasons you've indicated :)

Also, question: Standard rage or Whirling Frenzy? I only have one use per day, so which do you think would be the best use of it?

And regarding swift actions: I'm aware of the issue here, I don't expect to be using Rhino's Rush every single turn. And good point about the turn attempt uses, I will keep that in mind.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Sandals of the Light Step in MIC, part of the Fleet Warrior's Array, give you +10 ft. movement and you ignore movement penalties for difficult terrain. That will let you charge over any ground, and you can even Water Walk 1/day. The entire set is actually pretty good, and fairly cheap.

Armbands of Might give you +2 on Str checks, and when you Power Attack for at least -2 they increase your damage bonus by +2. Since this is an additional Power Attack bonus it will be increased by 100% for Leap Attack (post-errata). At your current level, power attacking for -9 will grant +18 damage, which will go up to +20 with the armbands, then get increased to +40 via leap attack which is not expressed as a multiplier. That +40 will get doubled normally with Rhino's Rush, Valorous, and other effects.

Note that a critical hit is another multiplier, so if it's already at x3 for both of those and you score a x2 critical hit, it will combine with the previous multipliers to be x4 total. If you score a x4 critical hit, they will combine to be x6 total. A Kaorti Resin Falchion gets 18-20/x4, but it's an exotic weapon.

You should have a 1st level Paladin spell each day, you can prepare Rhino's Rush and carry a few 1st level Pearls of Power to recover it between fights. They're plenty cheap so you should be able to easily afford at least three, assuming four encounters each day.

A Mask of Blood in MIC makes your rage last a round longer, and 2/day you can spit a stream of blood that deals 4d6 acid damage. The Brash weapon property makes your rage last three rounds longer, and you can put it on a set of +1 armor spikes so it won't cost more to further upgrade your primary weapon. You should consider using the Whirling Frenzy variant in place of your standard barbarian rage ability. With the lion spiritual totem ACF in Complete Champion you'll get Pounce, which means Whirling Frenzy will grant an extra attack on a charge as well. Consider getting the feat Extra Rage from CW at least once.

[faceroll]

I prefer whirling frenzy, especially with the pounce variant, as it's a damage multiplier, and multipliers are cool. You could also pick up extra rage as a feat (pick it up instead of one of those devotion feats, for the reasons SurlySeraph gave), which will let you stay angry in most encounters per day.

Also, leap attack is very cool. I never realized it replaced your charge with a jump!

However, you still have to be able to jump over everything. If an enemy is 30 feet away and there is difficult terrain between you and him, you need to clear 30 feet of it with a standing jump. That's... pretty epic.

[SurlySeraph]

Jump's not too hard to boost. 26 Str (18 base, +4 item, +4 Whirling Frenzy) for +13, +4 for having 40' base speed (it still applies even if you don't actually have a running start), +12 Haste (since it gives 30' more base speed and at ECL 9 the party caster better be giving him Haste) = 29, so he can automatically make standing jumps for 15 feet or running jumps for 30 in a typical fight. It'll take some money and effort to make 30-foot standing jumps, but DC 60 isn't all that tough; +10 Ring of Improved Jumping, +12 30' enhancement bonus to speed from one of various spells, and upgrading to a +6 Str item will let him make it on a 7 or less in a few levels.