Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Drascin 04-08-06, 04:18 PM	Hello to all. I'm new both at the D&D forum and at my new role at my adventuring party (I've always been the healer, or some support character... now I am the fighter of the group). I'd like to ask for some tips on feat selection, because I'd hate to be dead weight for the group, which is most likely what I would end up being if I try to choose the feats. I am intending to go for speed and two-weapon fighting, because I refuse to become a mere tank :P . So, any recommendations on feats (apart from the obvious two-weapon fighting in all its variants) and possible PrC? Right now I was thinking of heading for dervish, seems a flexible type of fighter. Thanks to everyone who bothers to reply to my noobish questions, and I hope I got it in the right forum.
kelvinaw273 04-08-06, 04:24 PM	If you want to depend on speed, I would suggest Improved Initiative; if you intend to rely on light weapons, take weapon finesse if your Dex is higher than your strength. Dodge, mobility and spring attack are all good, allowing you to get in fast and hit first. I would suggest that a few levels of Rogue might give you an additional edge in surprise situations. To be honest, for the speed-based fighter Ranger, Swashbuckler and even Monk are easily as good as the straight fighter option. I would at least consider these.
Koji 04-08-06, 04:35 PM	This really belongs on character optimization but I'll help you out anyway. Every fighter needs a gimmick, or else the party's cleric and paladin will outclass them (clerics have divine might, which turns them into featless fighters, and both they and paladins can heal). Dervish is good, I know there's some wierd prc/feat combo that turns dervish fighters into unstoppable killing machines. A neat trick is to take combat expertise and improved trip, and have your left handed weapon be a sickle. It's a 1d6 small weapon so you get the to hit bonus without sacrificing a ton of damage, and you can make free trip attempts with it.
CryoSilver 04-08-06, 10:56 PM	Take a level of rogue. For the mere cost of a point of BAB, you get: a bucket of skill points, sneak attack, trapfinding, and +2 Reflex saves. That 1d6 sneak attack adds up when you're TWFing. Later on, get Wounding weapons.
Drascin 04-09-06, 05:21 AM	This really belongs on character optimization but I'll help you out anyway. Oops, sorry about that. I didn't see that forum. I'll repost this there, then. Thanks for replying anyway. Some of these ideas are really good... I think I'll do the rogue level thing, having sneak attack will help and it will also make it easier to meet the ability prerrequisites of the dervish (by the way, what's TWF? I'm not familiar with D&D acronyms in english :embarrass ). @kelvin: I already have dodge and mobility, and I'm going for Spring attack as soon as next level, but I hadn't thought of Improved iniatitive, thanks for the idea. And the swashbuckler... is it really worth it? Losing such a big number of feats in exchange for its traits doesn't seem that good of a trade. Maybe I'm not seeing it. Of course, Tumble as a class skill would be very welcome, though.
kelvinaw273 04-09-06, 06:00 AM	Ah, but you get Acrobatic Charge, and you can swap into the duelist class which allows your Int bonus to AC. As you are already adventuring as a straight fighter I would recomend you stick with that now, though.
serow_#R 04-09-06, 07:04 AM	you might wanna consider Tempest from complete adventurer as well, that's also another pretty nice 2WF based prestige class
Shaggy_Shaggs 04-09-06, 07:20 AM	(by the way, what's TWF? I'm not familiar with D&D acronyms in english :embarrass ). Two-Weapon Fighting, referring to both the general combat style, and the feat chain beginning with that feat.
nastynate 04-09-06, 07:32 AM	you might wanna consider Tempest from complete adventurer as well, that's also another pretty nice 2WF based prestige class Actually unless you plan on using the fighter weapon style feats from complete warrior, like high sword/low axe, tempest is pretty bad. You just don't gain much from the class otherwise. A fairly standard and effective dervish build is the classic human scout 3 / swashbuckler 3 / fighter 4 / dervish 10 build. You'll get skirmish, insightful strike, nice AC bonuses, trapfinding, pretty good skill points, and enough feats to get an extra trick in besides the TWF chain and the prerequisites. This build really only needs good stats in dexterity and intelligence too, which is quite nice. Try it like this: 1 scout: TWF, dodge (bonus human), skirmish +1d6 2 swashbuckler: weapon finesse ( bonus swashbuckler) 3 fighter: weapon focus-scimitar, mobility (bonus fighter) 4 scout 5 swashbuckler 6 fighter: combat reflexes, elusive target (bonus fighter) 7 scout: skirmish +1d6/+1 AC 8 swashbuckler: insightful strike 9 dervish: improved TWF, slashing blades 10 fighter 11 dervish 12 fighter: double hit, karmic strike (bonus fighter) *these two feats are a nice combo* 13 dervish: spring attack (bonus dervish) 14 dervish 15 dervish: greater TWF 16 dervish 17 dervish 18 dervish: weapon specialization-scimitar 19 dervish 20 dervish: one thousand cuts -Nasty-
Lina_Inverse 04-09-06, 07:22 PM	Play a druid. Druid 20 is a better fighter than anything these people suggest.
nastynate 04-10-06, 06:55 AM	Play a druid. Druid 20 is a better fighter than anything these people suggest. LOL! While almost certainly true, the OP specifically asked for a fighter / dervish, and help with his feat selection. I try not to suggest things completely different than what the poster wants. This isn't much different than suggesting he play Pun-Pun...he didn't ask for the most powerful melee fighter possible, he asked for help making his current concept work. Post errata (if I were looking for RAW power) I'd rather play a cleric with divine metamagic over a druid anyway. I doubt I'm completely alone. -Nasty-