Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Yruc 06-20-07, 03:28 PM	Okay my current campaign my character has been killed 3 times. I am now supposed to make my 4th. I need / want to be some sort of tankish type of character but it just hasn't worked out well. The DM knows how to maximize his characters we fight very well. I know a whole lot less. TKP this last session, So we all get to make new characters. We are going to be in the same campaign world, but I need a character that can take a licking and still keep on ticking and be able to dish out a side order of hurt too. Here is a brief summary of the 3 character's and their deaths I've had so far in this campaign. 1st Chararcter: Dwarf Barbarian (power attack, etc) LOW: AC High: Hit points and damage. Died: Charged a group of mobs and was surrounded by 4 or 5 mobs and beatten to a pulp while raging causing instant death. 2nd Character: Human 2handed Fighter (power attack etc) Med: AC and Hit points High: damage Death: Eaten by giant dire crocodile. Hope he got heart burn!! 3rd Character: Dwarf Paladin / Dwarven defender High High Really High: AC and hit points Low: Damage. (ie 1d10+6) Death: Party had already fought 3 big fights before we fought what we thought was the BBEG/ A lizard man cleric in a old dopple gannger temple. The party killed him and ended the fight with -9 hit points. 2 rounds after the BBEG was killed an NPC in the party grabbed the artifact we were after and revealed he was a dopple ganger and the healer had only healed me up to 30 some odd hit points. I start fighting the dopple ganger can't hit him as his ac is higher than mine. But get pummled and taken to 5 hit points with 1 hit. Next round I get 2 full attacks on me which hit and do 40+ points of damage. Needless to say expload. So does the rest of the party. Everyone killed except 1 person, who the BBEG just left in the temple. (The temple is under the ocean and he has no way out...) Any suggestions ?
APannos36 06-20-07, 03:46 PM	well, it seems that you may want to do what i have for my character. play as a Goliath Druid. Druids are one of the best classes to play as far as kick-assery. As a Goliath, you get a +4 to str. this will make you a hard hitter. and as a druid, using summon natures ally, wild shape and spellcasting. a druid can spread out his killing all over the place. Also, as a Goliath, you get to use large sized weapons without penelty, which means more damage. look at races of stone for more info on goliaths. hope that helped. oh, i almost forgot, a drawback to goliaths is that the have a +1 level modifier.
StoneStokes 06-20-07, 04:12 PM	Dwarven cleric of Kord with the domains Strength and Good. Don't worry about your turn undead ability (your lowered Cha will make turning difficult). Instead, build him as if he were a fighter (high Str, Con, and Wis). Equip him with the best armor you can get. Make sure to take spells like bull's strength and enlarge person every day. Instant Tank. If I were to build him using the elite array 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, this is what I would get after racial adjustments: Str 14, Dex 10, Con 15, Wis 15, Int 8, Cha 10 At level 4, bump Wisdom; at level 8, bump Constitution. HIGH: AC, damage, healing ability, Fort saves, Will saves. MEDIUM/HIGH: hp, Atk bonus. MEDIUM/LOW: speed. LOW: turn undead, Ref saves, skill points (which should all go into Concentration, since he will be casting in combat a lot). Suggested Feat: Combat Casting
Candin 06-20-07, 04:47 PM	I never did like combat casting. You can get a +4 concentration when casting defensively, or take skill focus and get a +3 concentration all the time..
DrMorganes 06-20-07, 04:56 PM	Nifty dwarf. Personally, I'd dump CHA in favor of INT and put the extra skill points into Heal. I'd also choose Skill Focus (Concentration) over Combat Casting. Sure the bonus is slightly less, but you can use it in ALL your Concentration Checks, not just while in combat situations.
StoneStokes 06-20-07, 05:09 PM	Nifty dwarf. Personally, I'd dump CHA in favor of INT and put the extra skill points into Heal. I'd also choose Skill Focus (Concentration) over Combat Casting. Sure the bonus is slightly less, but you can use it in ALL your Concentration Checks, not just while in combat situations. Yeah, it is a personal choice. I have never really liked playing low Cha characters for some reason. But also, I am assuming there is already another healer in the party (otherwise he wouldn't need to be the tank, he'd need to be the healer). So Heal is less important for him. With too low of Cha, and you are guaranteeing that he will never turn undead. It was a good point about Skill Focus (concentration) as being better than Combat Casting. I had known this, but forgot (I have only built clerics as a DM). Other good feats for this build are any that are normally considered fighter feats. Power Attack, Cleave, Weapon Focus, etc. I would also suggest (again, assuming there is already a primary healer in the party) that he never prepare cure....wounds spells. Let the healer prepare those. Instead, prepare all the buff spells, and spiritual weapon. His role should be tank/buffer.
esteigs 06-20-07, 08:44 PM	For a great tank, choose a goliath ( as someone else suggested), make it a Fighter, give him exotic weapon proficiency:bastard sword, two weapon fighting, monkeygrip, and oversized 2 weapon fighting. That makes you wielding 2 huge bastard swords, and if im remembering correctly that does somewhere around 4d8. dont quote me on that though. Half-Giant from the XPH works well too, pretty much anything with powerfull build. If you REALLY want a good tank, get enlarge person permanenced, so you can wield GARGANTUAN bastard swords, and take levels in tempest, to lessen the penalties. tell me if its too munchkinized for this campaign, i'll tone it down a bit XP
xvthreetwoonevx 06-20-07, 09:43 PM	For a great tank, choose a goliath ( as someone else suggested), make it a Fighter, give him exotic weapon proficiency:bastard sword, two weapon fighting, monkeygrip, and oversized 2 weapon fighting. That makes you wielding 2 huge bastard swords, and if im remembering correctly that does somewhere around 4d8. dont quote me on that though. Half-Giant from the XPH works well too, pretty much anything with powerfull build. If you REALLY want a good tank, get enlarge person permanenced, so you can wield GARGANTUAN bastard swords, and take levels in tempest, to lessen the penalties. tell me if its too munchkinized for this campaign, i'll tone it down a bit XP Monkey Grip and Powerful Build do not stack. Also, the only reason you should EVER two-weapon fight is the wounding special property, or sneak attack. If you want to wield a massive weapon: Titan Bloodline: Read as-written, it technically lets you wield a Colossal Warhammer (Or greathammer, or something. I don't remember exactly) once you hit thirteenth level. or Half-Ogre from Races of Destiny. +2 LA, +6 Str, Large size, among other things. Combine this with a Gold greatsword (Golden weapons are from Magic of Faerun, it deals one size larger damage, but i beleive you need an EWP to wield them.), use Monkey Grip, and take levels in the Psychic Warrior class, so you can learn Expansion, which can increase your size by up to two categories. That's Large-->Huge-->Gargantuan-->Colossal-->Colossal+ Weapon damage while manifesting Expansion. Unfortunately, it's a very poor way to deal damage, as you could just be Power attacking and not have to build your entire character around weilding a really big sword. I second the vote for Cleric. They're really rather tough to kill. If you can swing it, Divine Metamagic+Persistent spell=total cheese, but you'll probably need it. Good luck.
8for47 06-21-07, 02:42 AM	It might be a good idea to play a different character to a Tank style, In the last two campaigns I have been in I started playing a Tank fought a round too long and ended up dying. My replacement characters (rogue in 1st campaign and fighter/scout in 2nd) have not been tanks and have lasted much longer using hit and run tactics. Tanking might not be the correct style for you. Alternately if you must play a Tank character, I would recommend a Crusader (from ToB), wear the heaviest armour you can afford and use sword and board to crank your AC. You will be able to get additional damage from your combat maneuvers so you don't need to use a 2 handed weapon.
kelvinaw273 06-21-07, 03:12 AM	I would suggest a long chat with your DM on the subject of the game not being DM vs Player, as by the sound of things he seems to either expect you to be optimized to the max (which you aren't) or else just wants to use the party as a test-bed target for his latest builds. The game is meant to be about everyone having fun, and there are few that involve having much fun with dead characters (Vampire excepted).
Potato Weasel 06-21-07, 08:41 AM	I agree with kelvinaw, as it seems you had pretty decent characters, its just that you were against horribly horribly overwhelming odds. Even the best character is going to run out of spells and hp after the fourth or fifth big fight in a single day. Talk to your dm. If he doesnt start toning down things, then you have to take the initiative. If you've just ground your way through 3 encounters, find a place to take a rest, if there isnt somewhere safe, have the party mage cast rope trick. Do this even if the quest your on is time sensitive, because obviously he expects you to grind yourself to nothing and keep throwing things at you, if he objects, tell him you've learned that if you keep going you'll die. That simple. Then either he will change, or you'll keep doing this.
sensestaker 06-21-07, 06:50 PM	What kind of racial and alignment restrictions do you have? What is you starting level and wealth, and how are your ability scores determined.? For a straight forward beatstick character, a hobgoblin sword-and-shield fighter can be a good choice (assuming hg's are allowed-hence my first question)