Help with Dwarf Build (possible Dwarven Defender)

[agrelic]

It's time for me to roll up a character for a new campaign, so I thought I'd see if the forums here have any advice for me.

I will be playing a dwarf who comes from a very devout clan. (This is a homebrew world where the dwarven religion is dedicated to protecting the rest of the civilized world from certain evil deities.) In mindset this character could be a paladin, but I'm not fond of several of the class features, so I'm looking for something else.

Right now I'm thinking of starting with a classic dwarven fighter (heavy shield + dwarven waraxe) and aiming towards Dwarven Defender for some extra dwarven flavor. What I'm not sure of is which feats I should take besides those required for DD. At first I was thinking Weapon Focus, Weapon Spec, and Melee Weapon Mastery, but looking at it again its seeming too limiting. Any suggestions?

I'm also open to suggestions on a different class path if it fits the character.

I don't feel that my character has to be the most powerful character in the party, but I also don't want to make myself stupidly weak if there's a better option.

We're starting at first level. For character build we're restricted to core, with the exception that I'm taking one of the variant faith feats from CDiv at first level. Material from splat books may be brought in at later levels with DM approval.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Fighter 2 / Crusader (from Tome of Battle) everything else. Warblade from the same book also works, but Crusader is more defender-y and gives you some things to use a shield for.

See if you can use the Dwarf Fighter racial substitution level for Fighter 1st level in Races of Stone if possible. It gives d12 HD instead of d10, adds Knowledge dungeoneering to your class skill list (but only for that one level as far as I know), and replaces your Bonus Feat with Axe Focus, which is basically Weapon Focus with all axe weapons, and counts as it for meeting pre-requisites of other things.

With Crusader you can heal allies a bit and make yourself a target with Devoted Spirit's stances. Iron Guard's Glare gives anyone you threaten a -4 to hit if they don't attack you. Thicket of Blades makes 5 ft steps provoke attacks of opportunity. The class also gives you a delayed damage pool, whereby when you take damage, up to a certain limit (starts at 5 damage each round, cap rises with level), the damage goes in there instead of immediately affecting you (it takes effect the next round). This can allow you to stave off death. Further, you get attack and damage bonuses whenever you have damage stored in there.

 

[kitcik]

Fighter 2 / Crusader (from Tome of Battle) everything else. Warblade from the same book also works, but Crusader is more defender-y and gives you some things to use a shield for.

See if you can use the Dwarf Fighter racial substitution level for Fighter 1st level in Races of Stone if possible. It gives d12 HD instead of d10, adds Knowledge dungeoneering to your class skill list (but only for that one level as far as I know), and replaces your Bonus Feat with Axe Focus, which is basically Weapon Focus with all axe weapons, and counts as it for meeting pre-requisites of other things.

With Crusader you can heal allies a bit and make yourself a target with Devoted Spirit's stances. Iron Guard's Glare gives anyone you threaten a -4 to hit if they don't attack you. Thicket of Blades makes 5 ft steps provoke attacks of opportunity. The class also gives you a delayed damage pool, whereby when you take damage, up to a certain limit (starts at 5 damage each round, cap rises with level), the damage goes in there instead of immediately affecting you (it takes effect the next round). This can allow you to stave off death. Further, you get attack and damage bonuses whenever you have damage stored in there.

Consider Warblade 1 / Fighter 2 / Crusader the rest.

D12 at level 1, a better initiator level when you enter Crusader, good L1 abilities (Sudden Leap), etc.

 

[Wyvernhand]

Look into Deepwarden 2 (Races of Stone), its very nice. +Con to AC is wonderful, especially if you ignore Skip Williams' house rule that states that it is still capped by Max DEX bonus (a dumb rule at that). That alone will make you MUCH more tanky than Dwarven Defender ever will.

Also, I like Exotic Weapon Master (Complete Warrior) for my dorfs. If you use an Urgrosh, you can hold it in both hands like a greataxe (to benefit from 2:1 PA and 1.5x +Str), and since its a double weapon, you can benefit from the Flurry of Strikes trick from EWM. -2 on all attacks for an extra swing at max attack bonus, except that unlike a monk, you'll probably have full BAB and a great Str score. Damage scales geometrically with more attacks, so this is a good thing.

To polish it all off, Occult Slayer is pretty nice for shoring up defenses (Mind Blank as a class feature) and has that mistrust of magic feel, while Pious Templar gives Mettle, DR, bonus feats, and that devout dwarven feel. The paladin spells aren't bad either, if you look in Spell Compendium and Complete Champion.

 

[Dandu]

This is the only dwarf build you will ever need.

 

[agrelic]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I looked at crusader, and it really does have the feel I'm looking for with this character. There's one thing that's always seemed odd about the class. The way you get maneuvers available to you and recharge them strikes me like playing a card or board game (especially since making cards of the maneuvers seems like the best way to implement this class). I've always hesitated with the class because I felt I'd have the sense of playing a card game while my friends are playing D&D. Has anyone else felt like that? Any thoughts on how to play the class without that happening?

Also, does anyone have recommendations on which fighter feats this type of character should take?


Thanks

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

You can use the fluff to help, the whole flashes of divine inspiration" thing. If you're a chaotic crusader it's also easier to flavor. Or you can just embrace the card aspect. I like the class because if I ever want to replicate a character from Baten Kaitos (RPG where you can store the essence of almost anything on cards to summon up for use later, even attacks, which is how the combat system works).

For feats...

You could either go Shield Focus + Shield Ward from PHB 2, or get Parrying Shield from Lords of Madness. Both give you shield bonus as touch AC. Former gives +1 shield AC, shield bonus to resist most combat maneuvers, but costs an extra feat. Latter is just touch AC, but is only one feat.