Help deciding PrC

[Alleine]

I've been thinking of making an artillery build character, obviously specializing in thrown weapons. I was thinking of going with Fighter/Hulking Hurler/Master Thrower, but when I look at some of the Master Thrower tricks, they look replaceable by feats, or not that good in general. Plus they have the penalty of being only for weapon focus weapons, and mostly the normal thrown weapons that deal crap damage unlike the Hurler that'll end up throwing boulders and such.

Should I just go Fighter/Hulking Hurler, using the fighter feats to replace the Master Thrower tricks, or continue with my original build?

[Raolin_Fenix]

I'd stick with the original build. Sure, some of the abilities are replaceable by feats, but that doesn't mean they're not worth taking.

Consider the following: as a pure fighter, you get eleven total bonus feats (one at first level, then one at every even level). But six of those are always always always always ALWAYS going to be used up on the Weapon Focus tree. That's the only purpose of having a high-level fighter. That only leaves you with five actual bonus feats; the Weapon Focus tree might as well just be a class feature for the fighter.

Admittedly, five bonus feats are nothing to laugh at. But you're planning a PrC anyway, which rules out the possibility that you'll take Weapon Supremacy (which requires Fighter level 18, which you will never see). Weapon Supremacy is, of course, pretty much the whole point of continuing in the Fighter class past eighth level or so (maybe twelfth if you go all-out).

So the highest fighter level you'll ever see is 17th, even with only Hulking Hurler. By taking Master Thrower (a five-level PrC) as well, all you'll lose is two feats (14th and 16th level). For that, you'll gain five Master Thrower skills. You still get twelve fighter levels, allowing Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Ranged Weapon Mastery, Greater Weapon Focus, and Greater Weapon Specialization, plus two extra feats of your choosing, plus the feats you normally get at first level and every three levels.

PrC is the way to go.

[Bassetking]

Go with the Hurler, and use Orcish Shotputs instead of Boulders, you can fulfill both the requirements of the Weapon feats, and the Hurler requirements with them.

[Alleine]

Thanks guys, I guess part of my problem is I've never played a fighter before, and I don't want to end up as a one-weapon fighter, which seems to be what the Master Thrower and Fighter are. Unless I was able to use the weapon group variant from UA. I really want to be able to use both PrC's in conjunction with each other, but the Hurler is more of a 'Hey look, a (something)! I'm gonna throw it!' while the Master Thrower is more of specialist.

And I'm a little ill at ease about using an orcish shotput, considering I don't know anything about it except what the out-dated Sword and Fist will tell.

Thanks again!

[Draz74]

Um, check Fighter builds on the Character Optimization boards. They have plenty of better things to do with their 11 bonus feats rather than taking the Weapon Focus tree.

[AslanCross]

Thanks guys, I guess part of my problem is I've never played a fighter before, and I don't want to end up as a one-weapon fighter, which seems to be what the Master Thrower and Fighter are. Unless I was able to use the weapon group variant from UA. I really want to be able to use both PrC's in conjunction with each other, but the Hurler is more of a 'Hey look, a (something)! I'm gonna throw it!' while the Master Thrower is more of specialist.

And I'm a little ill at ease about using an orcish shotput, considering I don't know anything about it except what the out-dated Sword and Fist will tell.

Thanks again!

As far as I can tell the orcish shotput deals 2d6 bludgeoning damage, crits 19-20/x3 (a rather strange set of numbers), weighs 15 pounds and has a range increment of 10 feet. This is from Arms & Equipment Guide.