a technical warrior [Archive] - Wizards Community

a technical warrior [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
WarlockOfSiberys
10-25-06, 01:24 AM I'm looking for a build for a gestalt fighter/barbarian using the barb variant from the PHB II. Its for an "modified Eberron-ish" campaign, and I want to play an experienced veteran soldier, who has a trick for everything. I'd like to stay away from Weapon Focus and Weapon Spec. because I plan on him having a wide assortment of weaponry. He has an all-around decent stat set, not sure how to place them all yet (16, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12). I plan on him being the very... harsh/coarse... voice of experience in the group since i'm one of the only people we have that has really played at high-levels, my character can reflect that.

When I picture him in my head, i can see him in some type of medium armor, with a heavy shield and a shortsword in hand. Now I know I can't have whole trees of feats to specialize in, but I want to have a little something for every occasion, a real generalist fighter. Just some feats I like so far are Combat Expertise, probaly Improved Trip and Disarm, Power Attack, Cleave, Die-Hard, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Shield Bash, Agile Shield Fighter, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, maybe a few tactical feats like Shocktrooper, just a touch of everything.

I've been trying to think of a movie or book character that idealizes what I want but so far no luck. But he will act blunt and is always straight to the point. His fighting style is to use his opponents weakness against them, and if he can't do that, he will have no qualms about simply beating it into submission. He would be like that Master Sergeant that looks like he wants to kill you when you say "good morning." Anyone who was in the service will know what i'm talking about.

If he was faced with some prancing swashbuckler while he was having a drink, he'd be the one to give a warning, and then sunder the prancers weapon, then disarm him of the remaining weapon (just because he can), and then trip him, and then knock him one right between the eyes, and then tell him to get up and go away before going back to his drink.

He's really just going to be a crusty old trooper. Think Clint Eastwood in... well I was gonna say Heartbreak Ridge, but really Clint Eastwood in any movie. A hard***. Or Col. Marcus Ruin if anyone has read aelryinth's "A Story of Worms..." thread on the eberron boards.
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=608692

Anyway, to re-cap, male human fighter/barbarian(variant) gestalt build, level 20, un-placed stats are 16, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12. I'd like to keep the full 20 levels of fighter, but any PrC's that might be worth cutting some barbarian levels for would add some flavor. Thank you very much to those of you who have gotten to the bottom of my idea at last.
Book
10-25-06, 02:12 AM I'd like to keep the full 20 levels of fighter, but any PrC's that might be worth cutting some barbarian levels for would add some flavor. Thank you very much to those of you who have gotten to the bottom of my idea at last.Fighter 20 / Barbarian 20 is one of the weakest gestalt builds one could think of. Primarily in regards to strategic all-around game parameters. Yes, you can do one thing really, really well (melee combat), but you literally suck wind at every other aspect of the game.

Gestalt build absolutely must have 2, preferably 3 good saves (Fight/Barb has 1) and skills that are significantly moderate-to-excellent (Fight/Bard gets 4/level with low INT Mod on average).

If Fighter 20 is mandatory to you, that's fine. But make that other side a Barb build that also grants you a comprehensive suite of strong saves, skills, and varied class abilities.
Daemoniss
10-25-06, 08:29 AM You can take some levels of Warblade, so you can refocus your feats to use a large number of weapons.
wingedcoyote
10-25-06, 10:52 AM You can take some levels of Warblade, so you can refocus your feats to use a large number of weapons.

REALLY good advice. If you can use ToB, Warblade is not only very useful but fits perfectly with the flavor you described. I'd honestly consider reserving an entire half of the build for Warblade and possibly Maneuver-advancing PrCs.
Llochlyn
10-25-06, 11:43 AM A good build for the "experienced fighter" should include Warblade/something roguish in my opinion. The image we have of the experienced fighter often includes a bit of stealth...

Speaking of ToB, for sheer fighting efficiency, a "mere" Warblade 20/Swordsage 20 is quite fun in this regard if you wish to keep it simple (class wise), and will provide :

Damage,
Cunning fighting tricks (throws, counters, I'm pretty sure there's some disarming in there too)
Stealth
Skills to back this up

If you aim at something more brutish, keep warblade 20 and put some levels and fighter + PrCs on the other side... I don't think barbarian suits the flavour at all, but that's my opinion.
Avalon®
10-25-06, 12:19 PM How about using something like tactical soldier from the miniature's handbook. It's more or less fits the bill of what you're looking for.
WarlockOfSiberys
10-25-06, 06:12 PM First, thanks to everyone for their thoughts and time. Second, and just in defense of my choice in the Barbarian, I was looking at getting ahold of improved uncanny dodge, as well as a few more skill points, and not least of all a 12 HD. Also the variant from PHB II, the Beserker Strength, fit pretty good flavor-wise. And how that power activates is dependent on your barbarian level. That was just my thoughts.

Does anyone know of any specific PrC's, besides that tactical soldier? (Which I did think of, but I just don't have that book, is it online anywhere?) I took another look at the Dread Commando from HoB, but its not really what I was looking for, he's more of a front-lines kind of guy, he knows the value of a good scout, but he also knows he belongs in the thick of things.

Now I own and have read ToB, but I have yet to play one of the classes. How many levels of warblade would be effective? After looking at it again, I see the warblade has the 12 HD as well as the skill points I was looking for in the barbarian. Should I just go fighter 20/warblade 20? Or should I diversify a bit? I had an idea last night to maybe give him a few levels of warlock, which he keeps a secret to give him an extra edge in battle when he might need it. Maybe he has a rep as the "only survivor" on more occasions than most?

Any other ideas or comments would be welcome.
Wizu
10-25-06, 06:39 PM warblade 20//warlock 20

Just because you can.

Think about it for few moments.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WarlockOfSiberys 10-25-06, 01:24 AM	I'm looking for a build for a gestalt fighter/barbarian using the barb variant from the PHB II. Its for an "modified Eberron-ish" campaign, and I want to play an experienced veteran soldier, who has a trick for everything. I'd like to stay away from Weapon Focus and Weapon Spec. because I plan on him having a wide assortment of weaponry. He has an all-around decent stat set, not sure how to place them all yet (16, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12). I plan on him being the very... harsh/coarse... voice of experience in the group since i'm one of the only people we have that has really played at high-levels, my character can reflect that. When I picture him in my head, i can see him in some type of medium armor, with a heavy shield and a shortsword in hand. Now I know I can't have whole trees of feats to specialize in, but I want to have a little something for every occasion, a real generalist fighter. Just some feats I like so far are Combat Expertise, probaly Improved Trip and Disarm, Power Attack, Cleave, Die-Hard, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Shield Bash, Agile Shield Fighter, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, maybe a few tactical feats like Shocktrooper, just a touch of everything. I've been trying to think of a movie or book character that idealizes what I want but so far no luck. But he will act blunt and is always straight to the point. His fighting style is to use his opponents weakness against them, and if he can't do that, he will have no qualms about simply beating it into submission. He would be like that Master Sergeant that looks like he wants to kill you when you say "good morning." Anyone who was in the service will know what i'm talking about. If he was faced with some prancing swashbuckler while he was having a drink, he'd be the one to give a warning, and then sunder the prancers weapon, then disarm him of the remaining weapon (just because he can), and then trip him, and then knock him one right between the eyes, and then tell him to get up and go away before going back to his drink. He's really just going to be a crusty old trooper. Think Clint Eastwood in... well I was gonna say Heartbreak Ridge, but really Clint Eastwood in any movie. A hard***. Or Col. Marcus Ruin if anyone has read aelryinth's "A Story of Worms..." thread on the eberron boards. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=608692 Anyway, to re-cap, male human fighter/barbarian(variant) gestalt build, level 20, un-placed stats are 16, 16, 16, 14, 14, 12. I'd like to keep the full 20 levels of fighter, but any PrC's that might be worth cutting some barbarian levels for would add some flavor. Thank you very much to those of you who have gotten to the bottom of my idea at last.
Book 10-25-06, 02:12 AM	I'd like to keep the full 20 levels of fighter, but any PrC's that might be worth cutting some barbarian levels for would add some flavor. Thank you very much to those of you who have gotten to the bottom of my idea at last.Fighter 20 / Barbarian 20 is one of the weakest gestalt builds one could think of. Primarily in regards to strategic all-around game parameters. Yes, you can do one thing really, really well (melee combat), but you literally suck wind at every other aspect of the game. Gestalt build absolutely must have 2, preferably 3 good saves (Fight/Barb has 1) and skills that are significantly moderate-to-excellent (Fight/Bard gets 4/level with low INT Mod on average). If Fighter 20 is mandatory to you, that's fine. But make that other side a Barb build that also grants you a comprehensive suite of strong saves, skills, and varied class abilities.
Daemoniss 10-25-06, 08:29 AM	You can take some levels of Warblade, so you can refocus your feats to use a large number of weapons.
wingedcoyote 10-25-06, 10:52 AM	You can take some levels of Warblade, so you can refocus your feats to use a large number of weapons. REALLY good advice. If you can use ToB, Warblade is not only very useful but fits perfectly with the flavor you described. I'd honestly consider reserving an entire half of the build for Warblade and possibly Maneuver-advancing PrCs.
Llochlyn 10-25-06, 11:43 AM	A good build for the "experienced fighter" should include Warblade/something roguish in my opinion. The image we have of the experienced fighter often includes a bit of stealth... Speaking of ToB, for sheer fighting efficiency, a "mere" Warblade 20/Swordsage 20 is quite fun in this regard if you wish to keep it simple (class wise), and will provide : Damage, Cunning fighting tricks (throws, counters, I'm pretty sure there's some disarming in there too) Stealth Skills to back this up If you aim at something more brutish, keep warblade 20 and put some levels and fighter + PrCs on the other side... I don't think barbarian suits the flavour at all, but that's my opinion.
Avalon® 10-25-06, 12:19 PM	How about using something like tactical soldier from the miniature's handbook. It's more or less fits the bill of what you're looking for.
WarlockOfSiberys 10-25-06, 06:12 PM	First, thanks to everyone for their thoughts and time. Second, and just in defense of my choice in the Barbarian, I was looking at getting ahold of improved uncanny dodge, as well as a few more skill points, and not least of all a 12 HD. Also the variant from PHB II, the Beserker Strength, fit pretty good flavor-wise. And how that power activates is dependent on your barbarian level. That was just my thoughts. Does anyone know of any specific PrC's, besides that tactical soldier? (Which I did think of, but I just don't have that book, is it online anywhere?) I took another look at the Dread Commando from HoB, but its not really what I was looking for, he's more of a front-lines kind of guy, he knows the value of a good scout, but he also knows he belongs in the thick of things. Now I own and have read ToB, but I have yet to play one of the classes. How many levels of warblade would be effective? After looking at it again, I see the warblade has the 12 HD as well as the skill points I was looking for in the barbarian. Should I just go fighter 20/warblade 20? Or should I diversify a bit? I had an idea last night to maybe give him a few levels of warlock, which he keeps a secret to give him an extra edge in battle when he might need it. Maybe he has a rep as the "only survivor" on more occasions than most? Any other ideas or comments would be welcome.
Wizu 10-25-06, 06:39 PM	warblade 20//warlock 20 Just because you can. Think about it for few moments.