Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Irving Jan 15, 2009 18:30:23	So I'm starting a 3.5 game with some touches of 3.75 tossed in; call it 3.67. Krynnish Minotaur for the race (+4 Str, -2 Dex, Int, Cha, natural attack 1d6. 2d6 on the charge). I'm the only fighter in the group. I've already taken a feat that makes me Large for the purposes of special combat maneuvers. I'd like to abuse that power shamelessly by bull rushing, sundering, and generally being a big bully on the battlefield - Combat Brute and Shock Trooper from Complete Warrior are high on my list of things to play with. How can I defend the party best, though? How can I achieve defender "Stickiness"? My thought is to bull rush a good amount as an attack of opportunity; any other thoughts?
#2 kurukami Jan 15, 2009 19:03:55	Consider two things. First, find a way to regularly increase your size, be it through enlarge person, righteous might, or whatever. Second, take the Knockback feat from Races of Stone, and wield a two-handed weapon. In that way, you can effectively "bull rush" anyone you hit while power-attacking. You have notable bonuses thanks to size and higher strength and (presumably) Improved Bull Rush, and you can send them flying with ease.
#3 sjiggie Jan 15, 2009 19:05:23	Combine that with the dungeoncrasher variant fighter to deal massive amounts of damage on a bull rush. The variant figher is in Dungeonscape Get a Combat Reflexes for more AoO per round and crusader 2 for Thicket of Blades stance so that all movement provokes an AoO. Combine it with a reach weapon to cover a large area and you have your battlefield control
#4 NiteCyper Jan 15, 2009 19:14:17	Up Against the Wall! Bull Rushing Finally Gets Its Day! - (by JanusJones) discussion on the fighter variant (Dungeon Crasher) from Dungeonscape
#5 jaronk Jan 16, 2009 0:50:06	Dungeoncrasher + Knockback + War Hulk = Joy! Also, consider using these with Shield Charge and Shield Slam. All kinds of amusement. JaronK
#6 emansdrawkcab Jan 16, 2009 1:09:49	Dungeoncrasher + Knockback + War Hulk ... ... + Barbarian 1 + Berserker 1 + Frenzied Berserker 1 + Warblade 1 (1. Iron Heart Surge, 2. White Raven Tactics, 3. Sudden Leap, 4. Blood in the Water) + +1 Impact Minotaur's Greathammer = JOY
#7 jaronk Jan 16, 2009 2:31:19	Actually, I don't see the need for Frenzied Berserker (the main boost of that class is the power attack returns, which aren't NEARLY as good with War Hulk). Barbarian is obviously fun here (especially Lion and/or Wolf Totems). Warblade could be amusing too. I was mostly referencing the Bulldozer here: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1532.0 Definitely fun if bullrushing is your thing, since you bowl people all over the place. JaronK
#8 emansdrawkcab Jan 16, 2009 12:45:20	Oh, I was just try to boost STR as high as i could with 4 levels. +16 STR, before the +20 from War Hulk, and +8 CON too. EDIT: The link isn't working for me.
#9 ithamar Jan 16, 2009 12:54:31	Perhaps this question is more TO than CO, but... I was wondering the other day if you could somehow get your bull rush modifier so high that when you hit someone with Knockback, they literally break the sound barrier? By the rules, movement from bull rush ends in your turn (or in your opponents turn if you use it as an AoO). That means all of your enemy's movement takes place in, at the most, 6 seconds. So how far can you bull rush someone in those 6 seconds (assuming no walls or other obstacles)? How high can you get that bull rush modifier? You'd need it in the hundreds, but is it possible? And thanks to Knockback, you don't need to worry about upping your movement speed. So just swing away!
#10 winternacht Jan 16, 2009 13:16:34	Well, if you assume a "flying" time of three seconds (half round) then your bullrush must win the opposed strenght check by about 3376 to get your opponent to Mach1... Seems pretty impossible.
#11 jaronk Jan 16, 2009 17:55:29	EDIT: The link isn't working for me. Weird, it works for me. Anyway, here's what I was linking you to: Build 2: The Bulldozer The other option is to combine Dungeoncrasher with War Hulk, using Improved Trip, Knockback, Shield Slam, Shock Trooper, Improved Bull Rush, Power Attack, and Shield Charge. Weild a skillfull spiked shield of some kind and go nuts. Charge and shield slam/charge... now you can attack every enemy within reach at the end of the charge. If you can get your strength up to about 50 (easily done with a War Hulk) the save to avoid being dazed by your attack is DC 40... yehaw. And you trip them from the hit... which lets you attack again due to Improved Trip. Then the enemies fly away from you from two bull rushes due to Knock Back, and you can direct them into each other (if any of them somehow didn't get tripped, that gives you another trip attempt against them). Then if they hit a wall they take a bunch more damage. If they hit more enemies, those get tripped and are now in a dangerous spot indeed. The guys you hit directly can't act next turn, so charge them again (and if you can get more enemies into the group, so much the better... Shock Trooper makes that very possible). You can sweep through countless enemies this way, pushing groups of them in front of you like a psychotic spikey bulldozer from hell. And of course you'll average about 400 damage to all enemies within your reach when you charge, not including damage from bouncing them off walls. EDIT: Just to show the actual build, it's Feat Varient Rogue 2/Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Dungeoncrasher 6/War Hulk 10. Race is anything large with LA paydown, or a Human with Permanent Enlarge Person. Feats for the human version would be: 1: Improved Shield Bash, Shield Specialization, Power Attack 2: Improved Bull Rush 3: Knockback 4: Improved Trip 5: Shield Charge 6: Cleave 8: Shield Slam 9: Shock Trooper 12: Leap Attack 15: Shield Ward 18: Weapon Focus (Spiked Armour) If flaws are allowed, go for Blood Spiked Charger. If you do a race other than human, just bump the feats down by one. Use a Skillfull Valorous Spiked Shield with whatever other mods you like (Skillfull is a huge one, a +2 enchantment that provides +6 to hit for this build. Valorous helps with damage). If your DM allows both Lion Totem and Wolf Totem on the same Barbarian (they do replace different things) then go for it and watch your charge damage skyrocket. The really awesome thing about this is that it's a combination charger, lockdown, and tripper, and can do all three of these things at once without losing anything. Plus, the usual weakness of chargers is multiple enemies... but that's a strength of this build. It could sure use more reach though. Note that if you wanted you could take Agile Shield Fighter (I think that's the TWF with shields feat) and dual wield shields for even more slamming action, if Lion Totem works. JaronK
#12 ithamar Jan 16, 2009 18:31:21	Well, if you assume a "flying" time of three seconds (half round) then your bullrush must win the opposed strenght check by about 3376 to get your opponent to Mach1... Seems pretty impossible. Oh. :embarrass That's definitely in the realm of TO then. We'd need Pun Pun for that kind of bull rush modifier... Too bad.
#13 NiteCyper Jan 16, 2009 19:08:26	Oh, I was just try to boost STR as high as i could with 4 levels. +16 STR, before the +20 from War Hulk, and +8 CON too. EDIT: The link isn't working for me. Lolth-Touched template. Also, the link doesn't work for me either.