Stand and bang

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I want to design a character for 3.5 who is based around the idea of merely "standing and banging", to use the phrase of some UFC guys. He doesn't charge, he doesn't leap around, he doesn't move to give his friends flanking bonuses, he doesn't play mind games with his enemies, he just stands tall and pounds the living crap out of anyone who comes near. My parameters are these:

1: I want him to be human -- I like humans.
2: He is gonna be a gestalt character, the first class fighter, but the rest is what's giving me problems.
3: He's gonna be a primary user of the maul (an exotic weapon from the Complete Fighter.) He's gonna use feats like Brutal Strike (PH2), Crushing Blow (PH2), Three Mountains (CWar), Power attack, Great Cleave, and such.
4: He's gonna use the heaviest armor available, but no shield -- he wants two hands to maximize his Strength bonus and Power Attack bonus. He's going to focus primarily on Strength, and put all of his ability improvements into that stat.

OK, here's the thing -- I'm not sure what other class to pair him with that will improve his ability to stand and bang. Knight, Samurai or Hexblade is no good -- my guy's Charisma is likely to be his dump stat. Barbarian, Monk, Scout, Ninja, and Spellthief are no good either, because they focus on movement and use little armour. The same goes for Wizard or Sorcerer -- Charisma and Intelligence are both gonna be quite low, as he'll want high Constitution and at least a moderate Dexterity. I also don't want his Wisdom to be too low because I don't want his Will save to suck.

So my thought is Cleric -- He can have a Wisdom of 14, and that means I can have him be a Fighter / Cleric for 8 Levels -- after that it's a waste to go with more Cleric levels because he can't cast the higher spells. I was thinking of Exotic weapon master for 3 levels, that would give him some good tricks. Then maybe Psychic Warrior? He's Wisdom based for his powers and has some extra feats the guy could use. Can anyone come up with some good prestige classes for this guy? I also thought of Rogue levels -- if you replace Evasion with the spell reflection feature from CWiz, the armor issue disappears. Pair that with Telling Blow (PH2) and you might have something, but overall it's minor, as he really doesn't need a lot of skill points to do what he does. I suppose I could have him be a dwarf and take dwarven defender, but I really want him to be human.

 

Why not druid? Buff spells, animal companion, limitations are on what weapon and armour you can use depending on material, however there are materials and spells that can be made permanent such as ironwood. If you have the Arms and Equipment Guide it has other materials for armour, they are costly though, so would need to save up as a Fighter first

 

Cleric isn't bad. Exotic Weapon Master is good too.

Have you considered the Frenzied Berserker or the Ravager?

There is also the Death Chosen prestige class (a mortal who has pledged his life to the service of an Undead Lord) from the Libris Mortis. Rather odd choice but would work well with a Necromancer in the party.

 

Maybe after 8 levels of cleric, druid might work. By that time I might be able to get some high end dragonscale armor or some ironwooded armor or some such. I still want him to be in the heaviest armor possible. Luckily the druid is allowed to use other weapons as long as he has their proficiencies.

 

Man! I feel like a total noob again! Gestalt characters..? Was that the mix-up build of multiple classes and you get the best of both?

Anyway... I think you might get some (all 3) levels in the Stoneblessed prestige Class from Races of Stone and choose Dwarves:
You then are still human, but closely related to dwarves and can choose their prestige classes (like dwarven defender). You also get a permanent +2 Con and some others like racial battle technique (+4 dodge vs giants and +1 attack on orcs/gobbo's)
You won't have full BAB, though: +2 iso +3 , but hey: You have access to all dwarven prestige classes and feats! That should be adding to the stand and bang of your character, I guess.

Edit: This might become a bit too much focused on Dwarves for your likings, but if you intend to get some cleric levels, you might choose Dumathoin as your patron, choose the metal domain and get a free Martial or Exotic weapon proficiency as well as weapon focus in any sort of hammer (maul should be optional too, right?). Dumathoins chosen weapon is the maul, so that suits nicely. Other cleric domains are a bit sucky, perhaps...

 

What material is available? Tome of Battle is pretty good for warriors, and this character can function quite well as a Crusader or Warblade. Crusaders, in particular, are impressive when it comes to dishing out punishment AND taking it. If you are not dead-set on fighter, I'd say crusader/psy-warrior is about as hardcore as it gets. Fighter/psy-warrior is also good, and the amount of feats you get is obscene. Levels of cleric or ardent (Complete Psionic - psi-cleric based on ideals, rather than spirituality) are always good, of course, especially for a gestalt build.

For a fighter-ish psionic PrC, I think you may like the Warmind from XPH. It has some psionic goodies, and hits hard like a truck. Power attack + sweeping strike + strength buffs that stack with enhancement bonuses = mucho squishing. The Sanctified mind from Lords of Madness is pretty good too (full BAB, 5/6 manifesting, good will save, extra goodies), but it helps to a decent manifesting progression of your own.

 

I don't have Tome of Battle, but am considering the Green Star Adept from Complete Arcane. If I did it with warlock, I don't have to worry about boosting Intelligence or Charisma to get high end spells, as you don't actually need a high Charisma to get higher level invocations. If I consistently select invocations that have a 24 hour benefit, the casting failure chance of armor becomes moot, and the Adept gets damage reduction, an improved armor class, and some sweet resistances and immunities as time goes on. By the end of it he's nigh on immortal, has some inherent strength bonuses, and would really be quite good at the whole "like a rock" role that I envision him as having.

 

The adept is decent, though if someone could allow a 1/2 casting Dragon Disciple that would have been better (seriously, half-dragons are good). Just who had the smart idea of allowing extra spells instead of casting progression in 3.5? Even the OA update article realized that's BS.

I still think a fighter/psywarrior can be better, though .

 

As you said, the fighter/psy warrior would get an "obscene" amount of feats. I am seriously pondering going that way. But the full time DR, AC, resistances --> immunities, and freaking immortality really make the Green Star stud attractive. I'm gonna do some more workups on this and keep those who care (an obviously small number) posted.

 

Well, it's your character, so if like the idea of the class - go for it. I find the GSA somewhat interesting, but not particularly great, and there are a few things that I find somewhat off-putting. The requirement to find new doses of greenmetal (which aren't exactly cheap) every level kind of ticks me off, and while immortality is fun, I think that might be within the powers of ye olde wish-granting genie, not exactly an impossible task at higher levels . The other things are cool freebies, but I think that they are just so much glitter on the class - it's like having paying for a Volkswagen with a lot of flashy extras when the same amount of cash can buy you a Cadillac.

BTW, I've occasionally wondered what having draconic or elemental blood (represented as templates) can do for your lifespan. I suppose that if half-elves should have approximately 50% longer lives, half-dragons should certainly live for centuries.

 

I have a few more thoughts, but I'll get to them later -- stupid question I've probably asked before -- if you have a touch of celestial blood in you you are an Aasimar. If you have a touch of lower planes blood you are a tiefling. What happpens if you have a touch of elemental in your ancestry? I KNOW there's a word for this but I can't remember it.

 

I think those are the genasi. However, iirc these names are only for creatures with well-expressed planar blood. There were mechanics for weaker bloodlines, though they weren't as widespread - Unearthed Arcana had bloodline progressions, there were also heritage feats, Dragon magazine had the sorcerer bloodlines (which Pathfinder adopted), etc. It is a matter of interpretation, but I'd say a sufficiently weak outsider blood would not require a special race or template. Maybe your gift for divine magic comes from a planar bloodline, maybe your bardic ability and mind-affecting magic are at least partially due to your great-great-grandmother's dalliance with the fey, etc.

 

Every time I see the title to this thread I think to myself ... now this could be interesting. But then I realize it's not in the MUG....

 

T2 - I was disappointed by the content too

For a character that can just stand there and dish out a pounding, a pure Fighter is a good choice, in my opinion. Grab proficency for Mountain Plate from Races of Stone. Get Monkey Grip to take an oversized weapon. Lay the smack down.

 

My idea was basically a fighter who uses the other class(es) in his gestalt build to augment the very sort of feat progression you are mentioning, CJ. I don't want class features that have limited uses, but rather things that can be used over and over and over and over again -- that's what appealed to me about the Green Star Adept -- immune to fatigue and exhaustion, damage reduction, increased AC, hell, even the reduced Dex feeds into the image of a guy who just stands and lays the smackdown on any foe stupid enough to come close. Some of the warblade abilities mentioned earlier are limited use, but the sweeping strike feature is 24/7, and I really like that part of it.

I borrowed Tome of Battle and liked the Crusader class -- there's a guy who, with the right maneuvers and stances, could truly stand and bang, and his maneuvers just keep regenerating with no need to waste even an immediate action. Sweet.

T2, perhaps I'll start a MUG thread with the same name but a vastly differing topic. But I'll do it later.

 

Would a Green Star Adept be immune to the Fatigue after a Barbarian Rage?

A high Con, the Extra Rage feat once or twice.. Could be a roaring success.

 

That does sound good, especially for a regularly paced D&D game. But my thought is I don't want too much in the way of limited use class features. I want feats like Power Attack and such that you can use 24/7, all day long, no recharge required. That's what attracted me to the Psychic Warrior -- not his ability to use psionic powers but his extra feats early on in the class progression.

 

Have you seen the Knight class, by chance?

Edit: Actually, some of their stuff is per-day, but it might still interest you.

 

Knights are cool - -I was tempted to use it as my first level for the HP, but a lot of his stuff is CHA based, and the character concept is anti -- Cha to say the least -- it was gonna be the dump stat. I suppose I could play against form and have a Knight with 8 CHA -- that would be cool. I'd just focus on the HP and guadring bonuses. IIRC, his shielding bonus for adjacent allies doesn't explicitly state he needs to use a shield to gain it, which frees his hands up for some 2 handed mayhem (I've switched from the maul to the Goliath Greathammer) and he could kick some butt that way. I'll do some more workups.

 

I'm currently creating a power attacking character (yours is probably gonna be able to kick my bottom any time he wishes to, though)

The greatest risk of playing such warriors is that they might get boring after a while, which is why I like to get feats like Combat Brute (tactical feat from Compl Warrior). It spices up combat situations pretty much. Improved Sunder might come in handy, especially with the Goliath Greathammer. Also, I like Improved Bullrush, Leap Attack and Knockback (for a Goliath). Most of these feats are based on Power Attack, but all can be used to create interesting situations.