Post/Author/DateTime	Post
drakoni 05-11-05, 06:23 PM	Hello all...welcome to my first posted build here. I am intending to play this character in a campaign upcoming in the future, but I wanted to tinker around with it a bit and see what kind of response I could get from the CO board. With search being down, I couldn't check to see if this had been done recently, so I apologize if this is kind of a duplicate. Character concept is a Bull Rushing specialist (never tried it before, so why not). The character is intended to take advantage of goliath traits and racial feats to shove combatants around the battlefield and put them where I want them--into walls, off cliffs, etc. The build goes as so: Goliath Barb2/PsyWar2/Ftr2/War Mind10/???4 Lv1) Barbarian 1 -- Power Attack Lv2) Psychic Warrior 1 -- (Improved Bull Rush) Lv3) Fighter 1 -- Rampaging Bull Rush, (Knockback) Lv4) Barbarian 2 Lv5) Psychic Warrior 2 -- (Improved Sunder) Lv6) War Mind 1 -- Extra Rage Lv7) Fighter 2 -- (Combat Brute) Lv8) War Mind 2 Lv9) War Mind 3 -- Shock Trooper Lv10) War Mind 4 Lv11) War Mind 5 Lv12) War Mind 6 -- Cleave Lv13) War Mind 7 Lv14) War Mind 8 Lv15) War Mind 9 -- (Unknown) Lv16) War Mind 10 Lv17-20) Open With Rampaging Bull Rush, I get the capability to knock people prone during a Bull Rush if I take a -4 to the opposed check, and Knockback gives me a free Bull Rush attempt whenever I use Power Attack, with a bonus to the roll equal to the Power Attack damage boost. Combine this with the charging and bull rushing benefits of Combat Brute and Shock Trooper, and the numbers really start to add up. Basic concept is at the beginning of an encounter, rage and charge the best target of opportunity. Once you reach War Mind, kick in the insight bonus to Str and Con before charging. Using Shock Trooper, use 5+ points of Power Attack, and kick the penalty from To Hit over to AC. Hit them for high damage, and then Knockback kicks in to give the free Bull Rush attempt. With the damage boost from Power Attack fueling Knockback, odds are they will go flying a good 15+ feet. Take the -4 penalty on the Bull Rush attempt with Rampaging Bull Rush, and when you win the opposed roll, they land on their back. Next round, assuming they haven't moved up on you, charge again (using Psionic Lion's Charge for the pounce) and add the bonus from the Advancing Blows maneuver of Combat Brute, in addition to Momentum Swing from Combat Brute, to modify the Power Attack bonus to 3x your Strength. If they have moved back up to engage you again, full attack 'em into the ground. Use Knockback again for even more distance, and use Domino Rush and Directed Bull Rush from Shock Trooper to golf swing 'em into each other for free trip attempts. Lather, Rinse, Repeat. The Bull Rush numbers on the character look promising. Assuming a base Str roll of 16, the numbers for the bull rush bonus are 5 (Base Str of 20) + 2 (Rage) + 2 (Insight boost from War Mind) + 4 (Imp. Bull Rush) + 4 (Powerful Build) + 4 (Expansion) = +23 to the opposed Str check, in addition to the bonus for using Power Attack with Knockback. Odds are, even with the -4 penalty for using Rampaging Bull Rush, they're gonna go flying at least 15-20 feet. The character makes a good damage monkey otherwise, when you add in the Psychic Warrior and War Mind powers. I intend to pick up Expansion, Force Screen, Psionic Lion's Charge, Weapon of Energy, and Vampiric Blade as powers, with others still uncertain. He can always tank rather effectively, and with Force Screen and the Insight bonus to AC 3x/day from War Mind, his armor class actually won't be completely abysmal. The only real weakness I see with this guy is his will save. The game will be in the Forgotten Realms, and the DM is giving us a free regional feat. I am going to use it to pick up Bullheaded for the extra +2 to Will saves, with a possibility of picking up Iron Will, then Cumbrous Will for the +6 at need. On the positive note, the Bullheaded feat takes away the penalty of Cumbrous Will, so that makes the feat all the more attractive. Comments, questions and suggestions are definitely encouraged, as I would like to polish this build up a bit. Books allowed are just about anything 3.5 related, but only standard D&D 3.5--no third party materials, including Dragonlance. Thanks in advance!
deduke 05-12-05, 05:09 AM	i played a build like this (without the psionics) at lvl 10 and it was really nice. I would suggest to get extra rage asap since rage 1/day just isn't enough. regards deDuke
PhoenixInferno 05-12-05, 08:45 AM	Looks like you've done your homework. Its a pretty well thought out build, but I don't think you can be raging and use psionic powers at the same time. Other than that, it looks good. If you're so inclined, you might consider being a Warforged instead of a Goliath because there's a Racial Tactical feat for Warforged in Races of Eberron that revolves around the use of Power Attack. You could also use the Half-Giant instead of the Goliath because both have Powerful Build, but Half-Giants are naturally psionic, which is a plus. Make sure you use the 1st Goliath Barbarian racial substitution level to get Mountain Rage for extra strength and actual large size if you do stick with Goliaths.