Looking to build an AoO monkey

[Tyrael]

One of the recurring villains in our campaign is a British-accented male elven Swashbuckler6/Duelist10. The PCs are 13th level. He wears a black greatcoat, a wide-brimmed black hat, black clothes, spotless white gloves and a featureless white mask. After hearing the description, the players promptly dubbed him "V" after V for Vendetta. He's a bit of a Jarlaxle nod; uses gajillions of magical and nonmagical doohickeys and custom thingamabobs to gain the advantage in combat. I gave him a Hookshot based off the Rod of Ropes, Gloves of Storing, the works. Anything and everything is designed to be flashy and over the top, even like custom Ninja Smoke Bombs(tm), which are thrown to the ground and burst, emitting a cloud of purple smoke to fill a 5-ft square and casting Word of Recall upon the user.

Anyway, I'm retooling him and I want him to be an AoO monkey. So far, I've picked up Combat Expertise(char1), Combat Reflexes(char3), Dodge(char6), Karmic Strike(char9), Evasive Reflexes(char12), and Defensive Sweep(char15). The way I figure it'll work in a typical round is this:

V activates Karmic Strike and then full-attacks someone (say the tank). On the tank's turn, every time the tank hits, V can AoO him, as well as AoO'ing at the end of the round. If the tank is doing too much damage, he can skitter backwards and activate Elaborate Parry to get +10 AC.

The build is largely centered around twirling and flourishing and parrying and not getting hit, doing a zillion parry-ripostes, that sort of thing. Problem is, both Karmic Strike and Robilar's Gambit rely upon you getting hit before you can AoO.

So, I want this guy to be untouchable in regular combat, while AoO'ing the tar out of everyone near him (I plan to give him a vest and cloak of resistance to buff his saves, too).

Any thoughts? Could the build be improved?

[Karsh]

Well, you could always give him the Martial Study feat for some throwaway maneuver and then Martial Stance for the 3rd level Devoted Spirit Stance Thicket of Blades which will cause 5 foot steps to provoke attacks of opportunity.

Or if you want mobility, there's a 5th level Setting Sun stance called Shifting Defense that lets you take a 5 foot step with every missed attack, although that doesn't do you a lot of good as far as AOOs go. You'd have to give him a level in a Martial adept class or 2 non-related levels for him to be able to take that one, though.

[Arbitrarity]

Get robilar's gambit, rather than karmic strike. It does NOT rely on being hit, only on an attack roll in melee being made. Just rearrange feats a bit.
Whoops. Hmm... second, I'll be checking a bit further. I seem to have recalled that wrong, but maybe not :/

Aha. If you're using the crystalkeep description, it's wrong. PHB2 has a slightly different text.

See This Thread

[Person_Man]

You need Double Hit from the Miniatures Handbook. Double hit allows you to make an off hand attack at the same time as your primary attack when you make an AoO.

With Karmic Strike and Robilar's Gambit, they hit you once, and you hit them back 4 times.

It would also be helpful if you could get reach (Warshaper or Deformity Tall or Inhuman Reach), and a way to deal serious damage somehow (Sneak Attack, ability damage, Claws of the Beast).

Perhaps a King of Smack redux?

[Tyrael]

I don't know if I can quote non-SRD books, so I'll paraphrase. If I'm reading this correctly, Robilar's Gambit generates an AoO every time an opponent swings. Karmic Strike generates an AoO every time an opponent hits you.

Double Hit sounds cool, Person Man, but I don't think our DM'd allow it. It's kinda far out there in terms of splatbooks. That aside, the character's a fancy flourisher fencer duelist. Two weapons doesn't quite suit his style.

Edit: Slightly related question, since he's a swashbuckler/duelist, he gets INT bonuses to damage and AC, so I want to boost his INT into the stratosphere. How can I do that with WBL? I already got him a Headband of Intellect +6, but the only other thing I can see is the Tome of Clear Thought +5. Maybe if I create a custom item, or something? Do bonuses from 2 things stack? Like, if I made him a Mask of Intelligence +8, would it stack with the Headband +6 for a total of +14? Or would he just get +8?

[Fax Celestis]

I might recommend Scout instead of Duelist using the Riposte variant.

[Rex Blunder]

That's a great idea, Fax, it sounds like it would fit the character's flavor perfectly. And you can check out the variant on the wizards site.

My main problem with riposte is I can't tell if it should work with feats that refer to skirmish damage, like Extra Skirmish or the various ones that ranger, etc. and scout levels for skirmish purposes. By RAW no, I guess?

[Anxe]

you could give him Hold The Line instead of Karmic Strike. Instead of taking a hit he has to be charged. He only gets to AoO when he's charged, but the opponent's attack doesn't have to hit him for his attack to go off.

[Anxe]

Edit: Slightly related question, since he's a swashbuckler/duelist, he gets INT bonuses to damage and AC, so I want to boost his INT into the stratosphere. How can I do that with WBL? I already got him a Headband of Intellect +6, but the only other thing I can see is the Tome of Clear Thought +5. Maybe if I create a custom item, or something? Do bonuses from 2 things stack? Like, if I made him a Mask of Intelligence +8, would it stack with the Headband +6 for a total of +14? Or would he just get +8?

Enhancement bonuses don't stack for ability scores. So no a Mask of intelligence does not stack with the headband. Profane, Sacred, and Luck bonuses on the other hand do stack. They cost a bit more, but that's two more things you can get int from besides, enhancement, and inherent (You cannot have a profane and a sacred bonus to the same thing). You could also have him use a Bestow Curse on everyone around him to make them dumber and him seem smarter. Not quite the effect you want, but it's still cool.

[Fax Celestis]

That's a great idea, Fax, it sounds like it would fit the character's flavor perfectly. And you can check out the variant on the wizards site.

My main problem with riposte is I can't tell if it should work with feats that refer to skirmish damage, like Extra Skirmish or the various ones that ranger, etc. and scout levels for skirmish purposes. By RAW no, I guess?

By RAW, no, but most DMs will be reasonable and let it slide.

Also, Tyrael, you might want to grab yourself a pair of Counterstrike Bracers.

[zippy]

Greatreach Bracers from the Magic Item Compendium are nice in that they extend your reach by 10 feet for 1 round, but they are limited use per day (3/day, I believe).

No signature. Nothing to see here. Move along.

[Person_Man]

I don't know if I can quote non-SRD books, so I'll paraphrase. If I'm reading this correctly, Robilar's Gambit generates an AoO every time an opponent swings. Karmic Strike generates an AoO every time an opponent hits you.

Double Hit sounds cool, Person Man, but I don't think our DM'd allow it. It's kinda far out there in terms of splatbooks. That aside, the character's a fancy flourisher fencer duelist. Two weapons doesn't quite suit his style.

Edit: Slightly related question, since he's a swashbuckler/duelist, he gets INT bonuses to damage and AC, so I want to boost his INT into the stratosphere. How can I do that with WBL? I already got him a Headband of Intellect +6, but the only other thing I can see is the Tome of Clear Thought +5. Maybe if I create a custom item, or something? Do bonuses from 2 things stack? Like, if I made him a Mask of Intelligence +8, would it stack with the Headband +6 for a total of +14? Or would he just get +8?

I understand if your DM doesn't allow Double Hit, so I'll drop it. But from a purely crunch point of view, it really is your best bet for lots of AoO.

If you're a Duelist, you don't want Karmic Strike. Duelists have sky high AC, and Karmic Strike relies upon getting hit. Thus you'll rarely use Karmic Strike, and its a waste of a feat.

Also, it sounds as if you don't want to use a reach weapon (or elongated arms via Inhuman Reach or Deformity Tall). So that knocks another major source of AoO, which is people trying to get past your threatened area.

I'm a big fan of the Scout, so I think Fax's Riposte idea is a very good one. Although you really won't be dealing that much damage, it seems to fit the fluff perfectly, it works well with Karmic Strike, and you'll have a boatload of useful Skills and special abilities.

[Tyrael]

Oh wow, that's a tough decision....

Currently, with Swashbuckler6, he gets a +10 to damage (Insightful Strike, since I boosted his INT up to 30), +1 Reflex (Grace), Weapon Finesse for free, +1 AC (Dodge Bonus), +6 BAB, +5 Fort, +2 Reflex, and +2 Will.

If I traded those levels out for Scout, he'd get +2d6 damage(Riposte), Flawless Stride, Evasion, Trackless Step, a bonus feat, +1 Initiative/Fortitude (Battle Fortitude), Uncanny Dodge, Fast Movement +10, Trapfinding, and a whole bunch of skills.

Duelist requires Perform 3 ranks, Tumble 5 Ranks, BAB+6, Dodge, Mobility, and Weapon Finesse. Due to the BAB requirement, Scout can't enter Duelist until level 8, so it would be a Scout8/Duelist8. Those two extra levels of Scout would give him Camoflague, +1 Reflex, and another bonus feat, but he'd lose levels 9 & 10 of Duelist, so that would lose Deflect Arrows, +2 BAB, +1 Reflex, and +1d6 of Precise Strike.




Overall, it looks to me like he loses a little damage but gains a lot more versatility. Awesome.