Post/Author/DateTime	Post
levay77 11-05-03, 11:16 AM	This character is to be a frontline fighter. His primary job is to assist the other fighters and deal out some decent damage on his own. Level 1/2/2 Class barbarian/ranger/fighter Human str.19(18+1) dex.16 con.18 int.14 wis.10 cha. 10 h.p. 68 a.c.18 feats: Exotic weapon prof.(dire flail), combat expertise, improved disarm, improved trip, giants toughness special abilities: fast movement, rage1/day, track, wild empathy, two weapon fighting, favored enemy human My idea is to disarm and/or trip my opponents to weaken them up for my allies. Do any of you have any suggestions to make this a better build?(stupid question) Please keep in mind that he is going to be one of only two frontline fighters in my group, the rest are clerics, wizards, rogues and psionists.
levay77 11-05-03, 11:25 AM	Oh yeah, since we started him at 5th level, I have 4300 gold to spend.
Funny Slaughter 11-05-03, 11:30 AM	take a look here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110451) for ideas how to improve trip. gs Funny
levay77 11-05-03, 11:46 AM	sorry but what are jotunbrud and wolf berserker. Where can I find the description?
Funny Slaughter 11-05-03, 11:52 AM	take a look here (http://crystalkeep.com/d20/index.html) jotunbrud is from races of faerun, increases your size to large for the calculations of trip, grapple etc. wolf berserker is from unapproachable east, gives you +4 to trip and let you chose improved trip without fullfilling the other requirements (expertise, int 13) both are forgotten realms books. gs Funny
levay77 11-05-03, 12:37 PM	I chose the dire flail as my primary weapon. Is there any other choice that would make more since? Is there any way to boost the effectiveness of such a weapon? By the way, we have encounteres mainly giants, orcs hobgoblins humans, and dragons so far in this campaign. (This is my 3rd character in this campaign) So is trip and disarm a viable and effective option against these opponents? Or should I try a different build?...
Funny Slaughter 11-05-03, 01:54 PM	dragons are really hard, they are big and strong. but if you dedicate a bit to trip you can throw nearly anything from their feet until the higher levels. lets try some maths. starting str 18. rage for 22. thats +6 starting cha 16 6 (str) + 4 (size/jotunbrud) + 4 (wolf bers) + 4 (trip) + 3 (minor aura) = 21 used: human 1 level marshal 1 level barbarian 1 level anything (need 3rd level feat) at CL3 as a human you have a +21 to your trip-check. a mature adult red dragon is huge and has a strength of 33 for a total trip-check of +23 (+4 because of 4 legs), nearly 1:1, not bad at 3rd level a grasping weapon (A&E guide) adds another +2, str and cha enhancers also. if you are able and willing you can also go half-ogre, skip jotunbrud and get some enlarge for a further +4, but that makes marshal less attractive. add in feral and you get more strength as well as natural attacks you can also trip with. gs Funny
SerpentMage 11-05-03, 11:16 PM	If Tripping is what you are going for, then the Sweeping weapon ability is a must (+4 to Trip attempts; +1 equivalent ability). It can be found in Arms & Equipment Guide(pg 98), Magic of Faerun (pg 141), and Faiths & Pantheons (pg 177; sidebar). EDIT: Oh, and be sure to grab some Steadfast Boots from A&EG (pg 130); grants immunity to Trip & Bullrush and the wearer is consider automatically set against a charge so long as he/she is wielding a melee weapon (cannot be a Light weapon, though)...all for 6000gp.
Kenkai 11-05-03, 11:47 PM	is there anything else specialabout that sweeping abiliity or is what you listed basically all of it? if thats it, thanks!
Psifon 11-06-03, 01:01 AM	Funny, why bother with Jotunbrud? You can make a vest (or belt or whatever) of continuous enlarge person for only 4000 gp. Then you ARE large, you have reach, and you save a feat.
Funny Slaughter 11-06-03, 03:01 AM	i think its because of some sentences in the DMG my DM is very aware of. the pricing for items is not always following the simple formula given, and a continuous enlarge person is, in his opinion, much more worth then just a few gp. i think its also not a bad thing to get only the good things from being larger, not the minus to hit and AC. being large is often nice, sometimes i am greeding at out half-ogre cleric, but in many situations its not good, i prefer to stay medium sized without reliance to a doubtful balanced item. gs Funny
draegl0th 11-06-03, 03:03 AM	Play a Feral Human Werebear. The ECL would hurt, but you gain +20 to strength and become large size. :behold: +2Rage Str+14Str+4Imp. Trip+4Sweeping+4Wolf Lodge Berserker+4Size Gives you a "mere" 32 :P You have a great chance of tripping anything in MM besides Colossal creatures. Have fun.
levay77 11-06-03, 01:42 PM	Starting with my present build,(barb1/ranger2/fight2human) can anyone think of a prestige class that might help me improve my trip and disarm ability? Please keep all of the info coming.
Jindl 11-06-03, 02:00 PM	Beyond a limited number of feats, the only way to improve this build's tripping is to improve your Str and Size. A good way to do this is to take a level of Sorc (max out your knowledge-arcana and pick enlarge person as one of your spells known). Then take levels of dragon disciple (10 levels gives you a +8 to Str). Your BAB will suffer a bit, but it doesn't factor into your trip modifier. Another option is to advance as a weredireboar or weretiger lycanthrope. Both will give you large size in hybrid form, although the direboar gives higher strength. 9 levels in lycanthrope and direboar grants a +16 str and large size = +12 on trip checks. Plus other goodies like DR 5/silver, +4 Con, and natural attacks. But you will have to become an afflicted weredireboar, which will take some RP'ing, as well as putting skill ranks into Control Shape (Wis). But it can make an awesome trip monster. It can also qualify you for the WarHulk prestige class for further Str boosting (and thus Trip boosting.) -Jindl
levay77 11-11-03, 12:58 AM	I decided to stick with the build I started with. We played Friday night and it worked pretty well. The drow were a little hard to trip, but when they did hit the ground, they stayed there. The chimera was a slightly different story. I gained enough exp. to go to 6th level and, well to be honest, I multiclasses so much I don't know what to do. I have decided not to advance as ranger. With my low wisdom, access to spells is very limited. Fighter and barbarian both look good, but slightly boring. So that leaves....rogue, bard, or build to a prc. I have a few ideas that i am looking into but would value your input. Many thanks in advance.
MoogleEmpMog 11-11-03, 02:30 AM	There's not a whole lot you can do for tripping, past what's already been suggested, so I would take this character in the direction of at least one other specialty that you think is useful/cool/characterful. One feat that in my experience is very useful is Defensive Throw - unless you are almost always hit, in which case, don't bother. If enemies seem to miss you 45% of the time or more, it's a good choice. The most obvious thing to do is to stick with Fighter from this point on, just to speed your feat progression. A second level in Barbarian or some in the Rokugan Ninja would also net you the sometimes useful Uncanny Dodge. The latter would give you several useful abilities, but the d6 hit dice could be trouble since you're one of just a few front-line fighters. As far as Prestige Classes are concerned, I don't know of any involving the dire flail, and none that revolve around tripping leap to mind. I would think Gladiator would be appropriate for a character with your proficiencies and background, and Ghostwalker is always cool - but both require your DM to oblidge you from time to time, especially the former. With those feat choices, building toward a prestige class at a reasonable level is probably out of the question. Unless you want to be a Gladiator (4 ranks in Intimidate are all you'll need) or another PrC that mostly has skill requirements, you'll have to stick with base classes, of which Fighter is probably the most useful to your build at this point.