As I explained in my last thread, I am joining a new game and am looking for a fairly powerful, but not over the top character. I have read a lot of guides and seen many builds tht do really obscene things getting thousands of points of damage a round or dozens of AOOs. I even made a truely awesome tripper I played for a few sessions in my last campaign. Got 16 AOOs a rounds and could trip anything that moved within 45 feet of him and then attack them and attack again when they tried to get up, to trip again and get yet another attack. Combat slowed to a CRAWL, but I was able to control the battlefield like no ones business.
Anyway, I had looked for a Wizard build, but am thinking of going with something else, as I get tired of choosing spells all the time, and I don't know the monsters well enough to be very viable shapechanging. Oh, and our campaign has got rid of any metamagic reduction tactics, so some of the best things you can do with wizards without resorting to shapechange type stuff is out. I am exploring many other options, making the builds and then seeing what they look like. What I am going to do here is show two builds and ask for opinions on them. They are not extremely minimaxed, and though I would appreciate ways to minimax them some more, I am not looking for getting to the stupid extreme levels of things like getting 1500 strength, or having a hundred attacks in a round.
The first thing I looked at is a Warlock. I was flirting with several types and in the end bastardized some options to give me a little bit of both ends. (melee and ranged) The campaign doesn't use flaws, has a fairly lenient roll build (roll 4 dice choose best 3, can reroll 1s or 2s once, and if I am totally unhappy with the results can reroll them. So the build is a Pixie (Lion Spirit Totem Barbarian 1, Warlock 8, Hellfire Warlock 3, Arcane Trickster 5) (right now I am assuming level adjustment buy off is allowed, though it only gets rid of one level for the pixie). I am using Strongheart Vest to block the Con damage from Hellfire Warlock and Assassin's Stance to get 2D6 Sneak Attack. Gonna try to sneak that one past the DM, who may rule that since its a stance it can't qualify for PRCs. (Thats the way I would rule it, even though I have heard the arguement about not being able to knock you out of the stance.) For Feats, other than what was required to get here, I have Fly By Attack, Imp Critical and one undecided. She does 6D6 EB, and 6D6 Hellfire Blast, with Chusable of Fell Power giving another 2d6, and will sneak attack anything vulnerable that can't see her all the time (due to Imp Invis) for 4D6 (must rethink 5th level in ArcTric) This gives her 18D6 EB that she can Chain to 4 targets, or she can use Eldritch Glaive to Full Attack (after a charge with Barb) someone for the same damage with 3 attacks. She will virtually always hit, and will almost never get hit. If she does encounter something that sees her and can hit her, she can fly out to range and Eldritch Spear it for 14D6 a round.
The next build I am looking at is a Warhulk Dungeon Crasher. I haven't fully fleshed out the Warhulk portion yet, as I have been told we are going into epic levels and am building him toward that end. He is a Half Ogre (Lion Spirit Totem Barbarian 1, Fighter 12, Fist of the Forest 3, Warhulk 4) with VOP. I have used both Fighter Variant abilities for the Dungeon Crasher. He uses either his hands for damage, doing 2D8 damage +16 for Str +5 Exalted Strike, or a monkeygripped huge Longspear. Has two weapon fighting for his unarmed strikes. At this point he can use Mighty Swing to hit three squares 5 times with his unarmed attacks or 4 times with his Longspear. Knockback means if he uses Power Attack and hits he will do a bull rush on anyone he hits. Though I believe he could only really push back one target for more than one square. When he smashes someone into a wall he will do an extra 8d6 + 48 damage. Don't know if Power Attack would improve that damage. The big bonus I see for this build going into Epic Levels is that he will have already gotten hismaximum nuber of attacks, and sticking with Warhulk in Epic, he will still get his Epic Attack Bonus, on top of +2 Str per level which will mean his total attack bonus will be going up much faster than others. VoP will increase his stats, and Epic will continue to do so.
What I am concerned of with this build is that I am not sure if VoP or Fist of the Forest is worth it. FotF gives me unarmed damage, and Con to AC. VoP helps continue stat bonuses. Though this might be better with standard gear. If I go with Standard Gear I may just get rid of both VoP and FotF.
Other things I am looking at that I have not fleshed out yet are a Swift Hunter, a more standard VoP Monk with Drunken Master, and a specially allowed Pathfinder Paladin that has good story elements. Another idea I have always wanted to do in D&D but have no idea how to accomplish is a Captain America type that uses a shield and unarmed damage. An initial iea is to go Monk, but they lose a lot using a shield and the shield wouldn't do much.
VOP is not worth it.
Look at the stat increases it gives. Then go look at how much a +6 item of Stat costs. (36k). Your PC needs Str and Con. Maybe dex. Thats 72K and you are getting just as much as VOP will help you in the stat dept. (You can also buy the books of stat later on, unlike a VOP character)
fist of forest is great for con to AC, and the increased unarmed damage is worth considering. Also, you can totally own stuff with fist of the forest. Just don't sleep inside or pay for food more than 3X a month.
Also, monkey grip isn't worth it either. Just power attack for 2 instead. (an optional-2 to hit +4 damage is typically better than a non optional -2 from monkey grip with + 3.5 average from a large greatsword over medium)
For this build I would just use a traditional greatsword. A reach weapon could be cool (because you threaten adjascent with your unarmed strikes).
Yeah, that is the main thing I like about FotF. I thought if you concentrated more on Con than anything else with it, it gives you two points of defense, extra AC and boosting HP. The unarmed strike bonus is good, but not as necessary if you use weapons. If I go that route I may use an axe or something... not sure. What I was looking at with monkey grip was not just damage though, and I may be wrong about this, but doesn't monkey grip add to the reach of a weapon? Was planning on a Long Spear that has reach, which is more since I was using a Half Ogre. Thought it might give a little more reach... thinking about it I do think that is wrong though.
If I go that route I may use an axe or something... not sure. What I was looking at with monkey grip was not just damage though, and I may be wrong about this, but doesn't monkey grip add to the reach of a weapon? Was planning on a Long Spear that has reach, which is more since I was using a Half Ogre. Thought it might give a little more reach... thinking about it I do think that is wrong though.
No, it doesn't add reach. Just lets you use a bigger weapon. I cannot remember the exact reasoning why but I think it goes something like this...
You are a medium creature (bear with me). You have a reach weapon. It makes your reach 10ft. You wield a large weapon. Wielding a large weapon specifically only gives you extra damage.
A large creature with a reach weapon specifically "can strike up to double their natural reach but can’t strike at their natural reach or less."
So any reach weapon has a reach of 10ft when wielded by anything, but large creatures can instead use "Double their natural reach".
The increased reach comes from the monsters size, not being a longer weapon.
You spend 3 feats post 10th class level to get 2d6 sneak attack and magehand so you can start taking Arcane Trickster... why not scrap Arcane Trickster, and instead go 4 more levels of Warlock, and 1 level of Mindbender, netting you Telepathy... and spend one of those 3 feats on Mindsight, giving you super blindsight, essentially, and saving you 2 feats. Spend one of those 2 feats on Extra Invocation to replace the lesser invocation you spent on Charm; and the other feat on Ability Focus (eldritch blast) to add 2 to the save DC of all your eldritch blasts (like noxious blast >
) Sure you don't get sneak attack, but then again, lots of difficult enemies are immune to it anyway, so not really losing much there. So that would make it Warlock 13 / HFWL 3 / Mindbender 1, thats 16d6 total EB with chasuble and hellfire blast; to make up for the base attack, get yourself a wand of divine power (caster level 10th, 50 charges) for 30k gps; nets you 4 glaive swings a round for 10 rounds, and you probably won't miss. Feats I suggest: 1st (Ability Focus (eldritch blast), 3rd (Point Blank Shot), 6th (Precise Shot), 9th (take Mindbender here) (Mindsight), 12th (Extra Invocation), 15th (improved flight (makes your pixie flight perfect maneuverability), 18th (Extra Invocation)
www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ei/200...
Best epic warlock feat in there, IMO, is Dark Transient - you litterally become like the fabled warlocks... able to blink in and out of reality on a whim. Once you take it, you can retrain your improved flight feat at 15th level to extra invocation, since fell flight is now 60 perfect anyways.
hope these suggestions help (warlock is my fav 3.5 class of all time)
Your ways seems good, though I may stick with this route since it still wouldn't cost me EB damage, and I would still get the SA when I can use it... Though usually at this level a lot is immune, and going without any levels in rogue I cannot fix that with the alternate class abilities... gives me something to think about. Thanks.
Unfortunately it is not as it is a fullround action that gives you attacks that you normally get from your BAB (hence the confusion). This is why things like haste do not work with the glaive. The highest number of attacks you can get is 4 from a 16+ BAB.