Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Maerdash 05-17-05, 02:14 PM	Ok so heres the deal my friends are putting together a gladiator match double elimination their are 2 types of battles unarmed and armed, now normally i wouldnt have any problems, but the class is a generic fighter that we all get who we get to pick skills and feats for weapons are random :rolleyes: . Im not used to playing fighters i tend toward spell casters especially the wizard, cleric, and druid my group thinks im a good player but im willing to admit that im woefully inadequit when it comes to creating fighters, so i would like some suggestions. I have savage species, complete warrior, complete arcane, planar handbook, manual of the planes, libris mortis, and of course the three core. So far my best idea is to go mainly grapple (imp. unarmed, imp grapple, earths emrace, flying kick, etc) with power attack and improved sunder thrown in so that i can take care of weapons in the armed portion of the competition, my normal group wont think of sunder, its not in their play style (who wants to sunder a weapon you can sell is their thought) however i dont think this is good enough because 9 of the 16 players we will have at next weeks games ive never met, and they are old school from what ive been told. So if you can find it in your hearts to help a veteran player not embarass himself to horribly id appreciate it. thanks and sorry about the bad spelling/grammar i was educated in arkansas :D
krichaiushii 05-17-05, 08:18 PM	More information is required. Firstly, what does "but the class is a generic fighter that we all get who we get to pick skills and feats for weapons are random" mean? I think you are saying that everyone must be a fighter. The remainder of the sentence indicates something(s) will be randomly chosen, but I am not sure what or for whom. Please explain. In addition: How will stats be generated? Rolling or point buy? What method used for rolling or how many points for point buy? What is the starting level of these fighters? And related to this question is what is the starting wealth limits of these fighters (DMG standard, more, or less)? Any limits on how you can spend the starting gold (such as your most valuable magic items are valued at 25% starting cash on the most expensive magic item, 15% on second, 10% on third, and the remaining items at less than 10%)? What are the book limitations for PC development? After all, not everyone has access to the same books, so "anything goes" favors those with many books instead of setting a level field. After determining book limitations, what are the race, feat, and item limitations, if any? Generally speaking, reach is quite useful, as is going first; so the feat Improved Initiative is highly recommended, and so is as high a Dexterity as you can swing. An argument could be made for a ranged fighter - its hard to be hit in melee if your opponent dies before reaching you. The same can be said for reach weapons - or weapons that can trip people up. Come to think of it, the feat Weapon Focus: whatever may prove quite useful, indeed.
TheSilentF 05-17-05, 09:57 PM	Well, i dont know if you can do this, as i rarely play fighters as well but you can try. Here it is. Somehow, gain the sneak attack ability, i dunno, multi class or something, or take a prestige class. Once you have it, during the combat when your fighting, get your oppenent on the ground so hes prone, then make another attack and you get sneak attack. This adds a little extra punch to each attack. The main way i fight with my thief is that i just move into flanking position after sneaking behind the enemy, so i get sneak attack damamge. Im dealing 50+ damage every attack, so try it.
Maerdash 05-17-05, 10:26 PM	ok sorry, level 6 fighter everyone gets the same stats (no point buy, no rolling) weapons and armor a determined randomly for each player, we get to choose our own feats and skills, but everything else is EXACTLY the same, also we dont get any starting gold we are as i understand it working with the exact same pakage as everyone else our only points of difference are going to be our skills and feats (nuts i know). As for book limitations there are none, they are even allowing sword and sorcery relics and rituals( im the only one who owns it and its so broken i dont plan on even taking it to the game). The fighter that we are all being given is a human. On a side note: Yes i realize that the limitations here are harsh but im taking it as a compliment since i was told if i was allowed to pick any core class i wanted i would walk away with the win without anyone else having a chance, that said they do know my weakness in the fighter and are making it where i dont have a chance and i would really appreciate help thanks
krichaiushii 05-17-05, 11:39 PM	Okay, human fighter 6. What are these stats you are being assigned, and can you distribute the numbers among your stats, or are they dictated for each stat? Knowing this dictates feat availability (if no 13 in Intelligence, the Combat Expertise chain goes away, for example). This also dictates how many skill points you have to spend. As the only combats are in an arena, the only skills that will be worthwhile are Jump, Tumble, Balance, and maybe Climb and Swim (depending on how arena is set up). Feats; Consider these: Human- Improved Initiative 1- Dodge f1- Mobility f2- Power Attack 3- Improved Bullrush f4- Improved Overrun 6- Improved Unarmed Strike f6- Improved Grapple The majority are useful in both armed and unarmed combat. Doubly so if the arena is full of obstacles, like pits. Possessions: Random weapons and armor? Are these determined before or after feats are chosen? I ask because it would suck to build a range guy and get assigned a dagger as your weapon. Or Power Attacking with said dagger. Or a whip. That said, are all weapons and armor equal value damage-wise? A dagger vs. a longspear has a nearly predetermined winner. Try to convince the DM to just assign everyone the same amount of gold and let each person equip thier fighter accordingly. Even limit it to nonmagic items. Have fun.
Maerdash 05-19-05, 12:37 AM	weapons are completely random so yeah i can get screwed in the dagger department, we do get to choose our feats after our weapons are determined though, ill try to get the dm to let us use a standard amount of starting gold. thanks for all the help so far
bookwurm 05-19-05, 10:24 AM	Just an idea. Pick up ambidex and 2 wpn fighting. On the first round of combat, disarm him. He's good as dead, then. If he has a 2 hander, just throw it as far behind you as possible. That said, dodge would be a must, I think (it is one on one).won focus too.
The Captain 05-19-05, 11:48 PM	If you have the 13+ INT score then I would suggest Combat Expertise if you're lucky enough to end up with a weapon that can be used for trips. Improved Disarm and Improved Trip can be wonderful for slowing down your enemy (it takes a move action to get up or pick up your weapon) and providing AoOs (this also stops them from using a full attack) as long as your disarm/trip attempt works. Take Deft Opportunist from the Minis Handbook to optimise your AoOs. A reach weapon that can trip (I think the guisarme?) makes good use of the Hold the Line feat (although you would also need Combat Reflexes as a prereq) as you can use your AoO when they charge to trip them before they can reach you. Even taking all of these feats you still have one left to mess with so you could still take Improved Graple for those unarmed battles, but you may want to consider Close Quarters Fighting (Complete Warrior) instead to help balance the playing field against a player who focuses on a grapleing style. Improved Unarmed Strike is ok, but it doesn't actually improve your damage any. The only real bennifit I can see from it is gaining and AoO in the unarmed battles (but you only get that if your opponent doesn't have the same feat). If you do manage to convince your DM to let you buy your own EQ then I would go heavy flail or guisarme for your weapon. If you want to spend that last feat on an exotic weapon prof then spiked chain is the way to go for these feats. Edit: I forgot to mention that Improved Toughness would give you an extra 6 hp and Die Hard basicly gives you an extra 9 (but you'd have to take Endurance somewhere in there to qualify for it).
deduke 05-20-05, 09:20 AM	In this kind of matches i would really go for either tripping or grappling. Either way pick up the jotunbrod feat from Unaproachable East. It will let you count as large fro grapples, trip etcetera. A possible progression could be 1 Improved Unarmed Strike 1 Jotunbrod 1 Improved Grapple 2 Combat Expertise 3 Improved Trip 4 Dodge 6 Mobility 6 Spring Attack Instead of Spring attack you could also pick up elusive target from complete warrior. regards deDuke
krichaiushii 05-20-05, 06:53 PM	Sooooo... Any word on what your stat choices are? If given leeway via point buy or a set array that you can place as you see fit, we will gladly provide help with them, too.
Gehenna 05-20-05, 10:25 PM	If you can get your hands on two weapons, my suggestion is: 1 Two Weapon Fighting, Combat Expertise, Dodge 2 Karmic Strike 3 Combat Reflexes 4 Improved Toughness 5 6 Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Double Hit Basically, you get to hit them twice every time they hit you once.