Some people expressed some concern that the Knight's Challenge doesn't actually taunt. My DM has stated that it does (in his world at least) because of the wording.
Either way, my interest is to provide good avoidance and high focus for the enemy to attack me. My DM sets the characters up to be high power, ie: Players reroll HP if the die is less than half, he allows 3 sets of rolls for stats with 4 dice per stat and dropping the lowest.
Class: Knight / ???
Race: Human
Level: 8
Starting Gold: 28,000
Stats:
14 - 16
15 - 17
12 - 14
17 - 14
17 - 15
14 - 16
Feats:
1: 2
2: Mounted combat
3: 1
4: - +1 stat
5: Bonus Feat
6: 1
7: -
8: - +1 stat
9: 1
Books: Players Habook I & II, Sword and Fist, Divine Champion, Masters of the wild, and Song and Silence.
How would you go about making a character that works well with the group listed above, with the stats above. They are all high damage, low survivability types, so anything that allows me to keep them alive is my main objective.
As a side note, I've played in his world since level 1 (for about 8 months) and havent done a single dungeon yet, so looks like its mostly outdoors.
I appreicate any help since I'm a complete and utter noob making "tanks".
Also let me know if you need more information. And I try not to multiclass too much, I don't want cheese, just efficiency
-Deanbot
Also, the feat Stand Still - you can find it in the SRD.
You will want to look at the Devoted Defender, from S&F.
Also, the feat Stand Still - you can find it in the SRD.
Noted
Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16
Knight 1: (Fighting Challenge +1, Knight's Code, Knights Challenge) Alertness, Weapon Focus: Lance
Knight 2: (Mounted Combat, Shield Block +1)
Knight 3: (Bulwark of Defense): Combat Reflexes
Knight 4: (Test of Mettle, Armor Mastery: Medium)
Paladin 1: Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day
Paladin 2: (Divine Grace, Lay on hands): Stand Still (or Hold the Line)
Devoted Defender 1: (Harm's way, +1 dodge bonus to AC)
Devoted Defender 2: (Defensive Strike)
BaB +8, Base Fort +7 (+13), Base ref +4 (+10), base will +4 (+9).
Skills:
Search 4
Spot 11
Ride 9
Intimidate 7
Handle Animal 5
Sense Motive 11
To sum it up:
You have a reach weapon, so you can AoO enemies moving close. If they start your turn within reach, they cant take 5' steps or even charge, and move at half speed, provoking AoO as they do so; with Stand Still, you might even be able to lock them in place; either way, you're sticky.
When you roll for initiative, you designate a buddy to be your "charge". If they are attacked and you are adjacent to them, you can swith places and take the attack, AND it provokes and AoO from you.
On your first turn, as a swift action, you use Test of Mettle (5 uses per day) to call out every opponent at CR 2 or greater, Will save DC 15. That should get you some attention.
And when you get tired of bodyguard duty, mount up, grab a shield, and charge for double damage with your primary weapon! :D
(Actually, you might want to grab Spiked Chain proficiency+focus instead of lance, and delay Stand Still until level 9 - but I like my version better).
Equipment
Stat boosters, magical weapon, armor (mithril plate ftw!), heavy warhorse.
Anyways, Spiked Chains and to a lesser extent other Reach weapons work well in the area control department which goes hand in hand with your intentions. It also works well with your Bulwark ability. You may need to dip Fighter to get the tripping related feats in a reasonable time frame. If you can dip this instead do it, because you'll get a lot more meaningful stuff and only lose about 4 HP.
So is it a general rule of the thumb that if you go sword and shield, you simply cannot output damage? Or do you have to go with the cheesy 2 handed with an animated shield?
I was liking the idea of shield bash, but are you allowed to use that on Attack of Opportunities?
Psiwarrior 2 is also a great dip for feats, and you can get a few awesome powers like Expansion from it. And that sets you up to go into Warmind later, which is freakin' awesome.
No Psionics in the world
Perhaps a mount won't be best due to the fragile nature of them. Apparently charging on paper doesn't always work out in game as well.
So is it a general rule of the thumb that if you go sword and shield, you simply cannot output damage? Or do you have to go with the cheesy 2 handed with an animated shield?
I was liking the idea of shield bash, but are you allowed to use that on Attack of Opportunities?
Sword and Board doesn't give you reach, and doesn't give you damage that matters. So all that'd happen is the enemies ignore you to attack everyone else, at which point you are the antithesis of a tank.
Two handed weapons do give reach and damage that matters. If you want a shield, animate it. It's not cheesy at all seeing as melee needs every edge it can get just to keep up. You could also use a buckler, but animated does it better.