[Maculosa]

Hi, I never played 3.5 edition before so i need help about my caracter creation.

My caracter will be a HUMAN FIGHTER and start will those stats :

FOR : 17
DEX : 17
CON : 15
INT : 12
WIS : 12
CHA : 16

I'm wondering what would be a good way to go with my figher ? (Feats, Prestige etc...)

I will be the only fighter in my group, i'm interested by dealing strong damage or having multiples attact etc...

Which way would you go with this fighter?
(i'm open to any suggestions.)

PS: Sorry for my bad english...
Thanks!

[Demortis]

Well, lets try this. We'll focus on defense first. Now remember, these are just options, and not in anyway a strict rule set. these are only in my opinion.

Sword and Sheild: Defense
Heavy sheild(either steel or wood)
And the heaviest armor you can afford. Movement isnt as important as not getting hit!
Feats: (*= players hand book 2, **= Races of Stone)
Combat Expertise-Trade Base attack for Armour bonus.
Dodge -+1 dodge bonus against 1 enemy
*Sheild Specialization- Increase sheild bonus +1
*Active Sheild Defense- Make Attacks of op without penalty when fighting defensivly
*Sheild Ward- gain sheild bonus on touch attacks and against bull rush, trip, grapple, overrun, and disarm.
*Melee Evasion- While fighting defensivly, negate a foe's attack.
*Armor Specialization- Gain DR 2/- with chosen armor.
**Heavy armor Optimization- +1 to AC with heavy armor, -1 to ACP.
**Greater Armor Op- +1 to Heavy armor AC, -2 to ACP. stacks with Heavy Op.

This would be something that I would take inorder to keep myself alive and make sure to irritate the enemy into focusing on you.

Two-weapon Fighting
Now, you can go with either two light weapons, or take the road less traveled:mischief:. Now remember, with this build you are a nimble fighter. You dont have the Armour like a sword and board fighter, but you do a whole lot more damage then said fighter.

Now, you can either go with twin shortswords, but for this build, were gonna go with something alil scarier!

Two-weapon fighting and any feat that goes with it. Improved and Greater two-weapon fighting are found in the Complete Warrior. While Oversized Two-weapon fighting is found in the Complete Adventurer. So we should either focus on using longswords, or the ever better Bastardsword.
Feats:
Exotic weapon Prof(Bastardsword)-now you can use a Bastardsword in one hand.
Two-weapon Pounce- Attack with both weapons during a charge, lose the +2while charging.
Two-weapon Rend- deal an extra 1d6+1-1/2str bonus.
Combat Reflexes- Gain extra AoO equal to Dex mod.
Vexing Flanker- +4 to attacks against a flanked target.
Dodge- +1 to AC against one foe.
Mobility- +4 AC against AoO's toward you.
Spring Attack- move before and after an attack.


Now, heres the killer section! You do the most damage out of the other two types, and you have moderate defenses. Get the best heavy armor, its going to be the only thing to protect your hide when fighting. Take a good two-handed weapon, like a Greatsword or even the Scythe makes this build deadler. Try to focus on one person at a time unless the situation dictate otherwise. You need to take on the heavy hitters first.
Feats:
Weapon focus(weapon of choice)- +1 to attack.
Weapon Specialization(same)- +2 to damage.
Greater focus(same)- +1 to attack stacks with Focus.
Greater Spec(same) -+2damage, stacks with Weapon Spec.
kinda see where Im going with this?
Melee Weapon Mastery- Gain focus and Spec with multiple weapons.
Weapon Supremacy- +4 to resist disarm, Weild weapon while grappled, +5 to one attack when using full-attack option, +1 to AC, Once a round- treat a D20 roll as a 10.
Power Attack- trade BA for extra damage.
Cleave- make an extra attack after droping a foe once a round.
Great Cleave- no limit to extra attacks.
Any of the Combat Form feats from the Players handbook2 is a good choice.
Improved Sunder- No AoO for attacking an item, +4 to attack roll.
Combat Brute(Complete Warrior)- Its a tactical feat that grants several useful abilities.

But, like I said, this is just my opinion on these, these are by no means what you should take. Try to find something that fits you. I just wanted to give you some options here. Im not the best one to ask about other classes that help with these, buy Siberys can find the flaws in these styles and power them up just nicely.

[Maculosa]

Great Reply, thank you very much.

The second and the third way look interesting...
but you say i should wear heavy armor but since i have a good dex i loose my AC dex bonus (+3 with 17) i'm planning in the forth level to raise my for to 18 and dex to 18 at the 8th level.

Maybe i should take a way to make advantage of good strenght and dexterity.
maybe i'm better to wear a medium armor + my dex bonus AC to a heavy armor that will give around the same AC.

As for the prestige classes... any suggestions?
(to take feat that the classes will require.)

Thanks.

[Demortis]

Go with Kensai, from the complete warrior. You can sack XP to increase your weapons abilities.

[Siberys]

Yeah, definitely agree on the Kensai part. You get the same weapon abilities, but the cost in experience is nowhere near the equivalent cost in gold to make a sword magical.

When trading XP for Gold (which is usually used for say buying scrolls of a spell that costs experience), 1 experience point is worth 5 gold. So, according to Kensai rules, you are actually getting a weapon of equivalent ability at 1/10th of the price.

40 XP = 200 gold for a +1 weapon, whereas a normal +1 weapon is 2,000 gold.
1000 XP = 5000 gold for a +5 weapon, whereas a normal +5 weapon is 50,000 gold.

The only downside is that only you can use that weapon, but more than likely you'd be the only one using it anyways.

[GawainBS]

If you want to do a lot of damage, go for a twohanded weapon. A halberd (or some other weapon that you can wield in both hands and does piercing damage) or such, combined with TWF and Armour Spikes, to make use of your high DEX.
If you really want a shield, get an Animated Shield. Finally, save up for a Mithral fullplate, that's the best armour available for a fighter.
Also, I wouldn't raise my DEX, just use items to raise it, and put all your points in STR. Also, for what I'm suggesting, raise INT & WIS to 13, for Combat Expertise and Combat Focus respectivly.
A final note about stats: I would have put that 16 CHA in CON, and 15 in INT. CHA doesn't help a Fighter's abilities one bit.

Suggested feats: (I'm assuming Fighter10/Kensai 10)

1: Two Weapon Fighting, Power Attack.
2: Cleave
3: Combat Expertise
4: Combat Reflexes
6: Improved TWF, Double Hit (Mini Handbook)
8: Weapon Focus (Halberd)
9: Weapon Spec (Halberd)
12:Robillar's Gambit (PHBII)
15:Melee Weapon Mastery (Piercing)
18:Improved Trip.

In the end, this grants you attacks from fighting with two weapons (Spikes and Halberd) and you do 1.5x STR damage and double Power Attack damage with your Halberd.
Due to Robillar's Gambit, whenever someone attacks you (hit or miss), you get an Attack of Opportunity against them, with both your weapons thanks to Double Hit. Any of your attacks could be Trip attempts.
Make sure you get as many ranks in Concentration as possible, since that powers one of your best Kensai abilities.

[Maculosa]

Thank you very much for the great suggestions...

As for my stat i know the 16 in CHA is useless... but we had to roll our stat in the way they come 1-for 2-dex etc... i our MD let us (1 time) switch 2 stats..

So i roll :

FOR : 12
DEX : 17
CON : 15
INT : 17
WIS : 12
CHA : 16

So i switched the INT 17 with FOR 12... but i got stuck with the 16 CHA.

[GawainBS]

Such things happen. You've rolled good stats nonetheless.
There are ways to take advantage of that 16 CHA, but it would involve more multiclassing and different feats.

[Maculosa]

I don't really want to go multiclass, i will stay with a fighter and prestige class.

I do not plan to use a shield and give any feats in shield defence unless it can give me a real huge bonuss.

I want to focus on damage and a bit on defence.

By the way what "Improved TWF" TWF means?

I speak french and all our book are in french and some term are not translated the same...

Thanks

[Claudius]

Two Weapon Fighting = TWF
Improved TWF = ITWF

[Maculosa]

Humm why suggesting me to take TWF but using 2 hand weapons ?

Is TWF give advantage of using 1 2handed weapon ? (like Greatsword)

[GawainBS]

TWF can be used with a Greatsword/Halberd/whatever in your mainhand, and Armour Spikes as an offhand weapon. It's ruled by the FAQ. So you'd get 4 attacks with the greatweapon, and 3 offhand attacks with the spikes.
The best translation for Armour Spikes I can think of is "des épines de l'armature". They are in the weapon table.

[Demortis]

"The pointy things that goes on armour!"

If you want to make some use of your high Cha, put ranks into intimidate. It helps ward off some of the smaller creatures.

[Maculosa]

I'm reading for the Armor Spikes... they are in the armor section and called "Pointes pour Armures" they say make critical x2 and can make then a separate magical weapons... but they do not say how much damage they do... and they also say it's impossible to do more than 1 secondary attack per round.

[Demortis]

they do, 1d6. and you can only make more then 1 secondary attack if you have the TWF feats.

[Maculosa]

ok But the for TWF... Armor Spikes considered like a secondary weapons so do i have "Malus" (sorry i dont know the english term) of using a Greatsword for primary weapons and armor spikes as secondary? (like i would have if i would want to use 2 swords)

[Soontir Fel]

If you are asking about the decreased attack modifiers, yes they should apply like using an off-hand weapon. I'm not sure about this because I dont know much about armour spikes, but two weapon fighting feats give you an additional attack at lowered attack bonus.

[Demortis]

ok But the for TWF... Armor Spikes considered like a secondary weapons so do i have "Malus" (sorry i dont know the english term) of using a Greatsword for primary weapons and armor spikes as secondary? (like i would have if i would want to use 2 swords)

"The option" I believe is the phrase you are looking for. And yes, you can use them while attacking with a Greatsword.

[GawainBS]

A lvl 20 FTR with 22 STR and TWF, ITWF and G(reater) TWF using a Greatsword and Armour Spikes would have these attacks:
Greatsword: +24/+19/+14/+9 , each doing 2d6 + 9 damage.
Spikes: +24/+19/+14 , each doing 1d6 + 3 damage.

Attack bonus: 20 base, +6 from STR, -2 from TWF.
Damage Greatsword: 2d6 + 1.5x STR.
Damage Spikes: 1d6 + 0.5x STR.

[Maculosa]

Very interesting.. but this is the case i goes my warrior to level 20 but not take a prestige class..

Yes "Malus" means "decreased attack modifiers"

Also why in the previous post did you suggest the Helberd instead of the greatsword ? since greatsword do more damages...

and for GTWF i will need to spend 2 point on dex.
if i go without using a secondary weapons (not taking any TWF feats)
and instead taking feats like (Critical science) witch no one suggest it.. (not worth it?)

As for the Prestige class i read the Kensei part the ability to trasfer energy to
weapons is very great but this class need to be loyal witch can cause a probleme because all the others group members are not loyal..

Is there any others Prestige class that can fit my taste ?

Thank!