[3.5] Gremshak, the morally ambiguous bounty hunter...

[gibbo88]

...got an evil game coming up and I've decided to have a crack at building a NE, Half-orc Bloodhound, starting at level 6 (CAdv, from memory). Both really for something new since I never play a Half-Orc and Bloodhound because the class has always interested me. Thinking Barbarian 1/Ranger 4/Bloodhound 1. Barb for the fast movement, HD and rage for "subduing" people. Ranger for the necessary skill points. I would be open to changes, however. Since I just get the one combat style ranger class feature I went with a Two-handed style (power attack). Still tossing up with doing twf or not, but basically the Two-handed lets me save money on magic weapons.

Essentially what I'm after is suggestions for magic items and feats, assuming one flaw.

Thanks all!

PS; if is relevant to any suggestions, listen and spot are one skill, as are move silently and hide.

[Waker]

Well, a quick note, but Gather Information isn't a class skill for Rangers, so you'll be spending 8 points on it.

[gibbo88]

Yeah yeah, painful that one.

[Waker]

I should've pointed out that you could take Urban Ranger to get the Gather Information from it. Barbarians already have Survival, so that class can take care of the requirement.

[gibbo88]

I thought about that one, but the fluff gets in the way. I see him more as a chasing-someone-across-the-country sort of bounty hunter, not one tracking someone in town.

[Elric VIII]

You could add a level of Thug Fighter to keep BAB, get 4+Int skill points, and get Gather Info as a class skill.

EDIT: This might have some fluff issues, but if you make it a dip that represents a small portion of your overall training, with the ranger as the bulk of your levels, it might work.

[gibbo88]

I'm then eating some multi-class penalty correct?

[Elric VIII]

Well, if you go for Barbarian 1/Fighter 1/Ranger 3/Bloodhound 10 you would only get XP penalties if you tried to advance Fighter further since Barbarian is your favored class and Ranger is your highest base class. PrCs do not count for multiclass penalties.

Just wondering, why are you taking a 4th level of Ranger and what do you plan on taking after Bloodhound?

Also, if you take archery as your conbat style you could grab EWP: Bolas and use them as a non-lethal way of capturing fleeing targets. It's not incredibly powerful, and EWP is not a great feat, but is is pretty cool.

[gibbo88]

The fourth level of ranger was basically just a filler level if I'm honest.

[faceroll]

Well, if you go for Barbarian 1/Fighter 1/Ranger 3/Bloodhound 10 you would only get XP penalties if you tried to advance Fighter further since Barbarian is your favored class and Ranger is your highest base class. PrCs do not count for multiclass penalties.

Just wondering, why are you taking a 4th level of Ranger and what do you plan on taking after Bloodhound?

Also, if you take archery as your conbat style you could grab EWP: Bolas and use them as a non-lethal way of capturing fleeing targets. It's not incredibly powerful, and EWP is not a great feat, but is is pretty cool.

barb1/ftr2/ranger3 doesn't have penalties; your example does.

[Elric VIII]

barb1/ftr2/ranger3 doesn't have penalties; your example does.

You're right, I was thinking about Humans that can just raise their highest level class as much as they want. However, there would be XP penalties when trying to raise anything but Barbarian or another PrC here.

To revise my suggestion: Barbarian 1/ Fighter 1/ Ranger 1/Fighter +1/Ranger +1/ Bloodhound 10. this eliminates the multiclass penalties and you can take endurance as your Fighter 2 feat. You would lose out on 2 skill points, but I think you can get the prereqs anyway.

EDIT: You might also consider the Wildshape Ranger ACF, which will trade Combat Style for Fast Movement (and Wildshape at levels 5+) and then trade Barbarian's Fast Movement for Pounce via Spirit Lion Totem.

[faceroll]

Barb1/fighter2/ranger3 doesn't have exp penalties, because barb doesn't count and the other two classes are within 1 level of each other.

Anyway, I'm not really sure what bloodhound does for you. I'm guessing you're good at tracking or something. Just make sure you're not sacrificing too much to gain a bonus that only helps in a narrow range of situations.

Just looking at barb1/fighter2/ranger3, I would recommend the following feats/ACFs:
Trade in fast movement from barbarian for pounce instead.
Use the whirling rage variant in place of normal rage. It gets you +2 AC and an extra attack instead of +4 con and +2 on will saves. Having an extra attack and being able to pounce is awesome.
The extra rage feat lets you rage 3/day. That's pretty much every meaningful encounter. Reckless Rage (feat from races of stone) gets you an additional +2str&con at the cost of -2AC.

[Kerghan]

Half-Orcs, like Half-Elves, are unfortunately, quite underpowered compared to their parent races. A more solid build might be to use either human, or a full blooded orc (subject to DM approval of course) because the bonuses and penalties are more solidly balanced out.

Not terribly familiar with multiclass experience penalties except for two things:

1.) Barbarian is the racial favored class for both half-orcs and orcs (duh most of you might be thinking but I will mention just for prosperity).

2.) I've never met a DM that enforced them, but if you do then may God have mercy on your soul.

I would start out with Ranger to maximize skill points (i.e. 6+ int mod. x4 at 1st level). And try to spec your character so you can take your first level of Bloodhound by level 5 so you can have access to their 2nd level ability nonlethal force (which lets you deal nonlethal damage with a melee weapon without taking the -4 penalty). I would also explore the tripping angle as much as possible with your limited feat selection (Bolas in the long run end of being more useful then nets).

[Thurbane]

Justiciar (CW) and Crimson Scourge (Cty) are two other PrCs for bounty hunter types, just in case you're interested.