Help me Taunt and Poke

[cupkeyk]

The DM has already informed us that we will be retiring our characters soo and will soon be entering a low-no magic campaign (party will be no magic, opponents will be low; we can loot the dead baddies for their magic though). The current druid is building his swordsage but I want the same battlefield control as my Conjurer. My Idea is to use mobility with the Taunt button with some offensive power.

Strongheart Halfling Knight 20

Racial: Wild Cohort
1: Power Attack
2: Mounted Combat(free)
3: Cleave
5: Ride By Attack (free)
6: Improved Sunder
9: Shock Trooper
10: Spirited Charge (free)
12: Great Cleave
15: Ability Focus (Knight's Challenge)
15: Endurance (free)
18: Diehard

I will be riding a riding dog from levels one to twelve and a dire hawk from thirteen onward. I will be wasting my shield block ability unless I, by some miracle find a dancing shield.

Some criticism and feedback, suggestions would be awesome.

[Draz74]

I like it, but it seems like it would be pretty hard to actually play effectively.

[Jack Mann]

Looks good to me, but I haven't played many knights. Still, your build should be pretty effective.

[Kel_Arath]

killa scro!

[Jack Mann]

What did the English language ever do to you?

[Fizban]

It's a fine build, but not a true battlefield controller. For that you need a reach weapon, and different feats. Combat Reflexes, Stand Still, etc. I don't know the build myself, but if you do it right you can lock down anything within reach with tripping and Stand Still. Most people use a spiked chain, but it's perfectly possible with a guisarme.

[cupkeyk]

I am using a reach weapon-- a lance.

I can opt out of being halfling and the Power Attack>Cleave>Great Cleave>Improved Sunder>Shock Trooper tree in favor of a Goliath with Combat Expertise>Improved Trip>Combat Reflexes>Stand Still>Awesome Blow.

My issue is that the build doesn't scale as well. A Charging Halfling on a Dog can consistently deal six times his BAB in damage to a creature, killing weenies while the big guy will have issues with creatures larger than large. It's a toss up neetween a conjurer with only viscid glob and iron bands or an area spell conjurer: very effective vs. mediums or can kill the weenies really well. The absense of magic makes both approaches equally appealing. I will have to think it through further.

Draz74: Care to expound?

[PinkysBrain]

Here's an interesting alternative for battlefield control while mounted ... get quickdraw and improved mounted archery from CW. It reduces your attack penalty, but more importantly it allows you to attack anywhere during the move.

Now get a whole lot of nets and put some long ropes on them. You can now ride around the battlefield, net everyone and ride away. They are now entangled, and if they try to move away from you they have to make a strength check.

[cupkeyk]

I realize that I should get knockdown and get the benefits of improved trip actually having to trip them.

[PinkysBrain]

Knockdown? Where is that from?

PS. nevermind, I see it's in Sword and Fist ... yeah, if you are allowed 3.0 feats that's a winner against larger creatures which you won't generally succeed in tripping.

[Lemur]

To be nitpicky, Shock Trooper requires Improved Bull Rush, not Improved Sunder. Improved Sunder is for the tactical feat Combat Brute (which also has its uses).

Also, Dire Hawk? Maybe I'm looking at different books than you are, but that strikes me as being too small and weak to be a suitable mount, unless you're able to take one with it's hit dice advanced to large size (bonus HD granted to animal companions by class/feat abilites don't contribute to size changing). Dire Bat, on the other hand, seems serviceable. Additionally, you could get it by level 4.

I'm not sure Great Cleave is really worth the feat. Using a Shock Trooper lance charge would certainly be devastating, but using Shock Trooper with numerous opponents around strikes me as a risky endevour, Ride by Attack or not. Cleave by itself seems like it should service for most situations.

I like PinkysBrain's idea of Ride-by netting, just because the concept is amusing. For what it's worth, I've always wanted to go harpooning people in midair, then dragging them skywards.

[Arbitrarity]

Pinky, sword and fist is in the SRD in the psionic or divine feats section. For some reason they aren't amalgamated.

Ouch, shock trooper + great cleave. The bonus is retained, so you do the crazy damage to all targets I think...

[the_tick_rules]

this kinda enviro is where monks earn their keep.

[Cowboy_ninja]

this kinda enviro is where monks earn their keep.

actually since complete scoundrel came out with its "ambush feats" a rouge with unarmed strike can de-buff just as good as a monk and better.

a (very roughly thought up) build woud go like: rouge takes unarmed strike (or 1 - 2 lvl in monk) so he can get stunning fist and weakening touch and proceeds to take ambush feats like throat punch and deafening strike...

yea kinda like that......

[cupkeyk]

You will notice that the Dire Hawk is medium and a halfling is small. With Wild Cohort, it will gain enough strenghth to carry a halfling. Actually it can carry a halfling but pretty much nothing else. It's the only flying druid companion of its size. A desmodu Hunting Bat is the only other medium sized flying mount. The idea is keeping the mount small enough to enter dungeons so a dire bat is out of the question.

Strongheart Halfling Knight 20

Racial: Wild Cohort
1: Power Attack
2: Mounted Combat(free)
3: Cleave
5: Ride By Attack (free)
6: Improved Bullrush
9: Shock Trooper
10: Spirited Charge (free)
12: Great Cleave
15: Iron Will (free)
15: Lady's Gambit
18: Ability Focus (Knight's Challenge)

[Lemur]

If that's the case, then the hunting bat is probably your only option. A dire hawk isn't going to be much use in a dungeon situation, mounted or otherwise. The bat, at least, can hover, which makes it far more practical as a mount for enclosed spaces. It also has a better ground speed than the hawk, as well as being naturally stronger.

[cupkeyk]

The issue is that the bat is not on the druid's animal companion list, so I can't use wild cohort to get it.

[F.L.]

Cowboy_Ninja, couldn't you use the Ascetic Rogue feat from Complete Adventurer to good effect as well? Full monk unarmed damage, and a little bonus to the DC on the stunning fist.

[Cowboy_ninja]

Cowboy_Ninja, couldn't you use the Ascetic Rogue feat from Complete Adventurer to good effect as well? Full monk unarmed damage, and a little bonus to the DC on the stunning fist.

Yes.

Yes you could, and should.

[herrhauptmann]

How about a tauric creature?
Take mounted combat (you are your mount) and those feats. Plus leap attack: normally you can't use leap attack while mounted on an animal, but you ARE your mount.