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Q-Staff Fighter Build
- Thread starter Tetsubo
- Start date
green slime
First Post
"Optimal"? In what way? Most fun? Longest life? Most tricks in bag?
I'd go something like this:
Monk 2/ Fighter X For the first freebie feats and skill points, and to be able to Max out Tumble. Also gains you evasion. The loss of one BAB and 3 hp grants you all good saves, which is well worthwhile IMO.
Elf, Dwarf, or Human
Stats:
Str: 16 + level bonuses
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 14
Wis: 14
Cha: 8
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (monk freebie @ 1st), Improved Grapple (monk freebie @ 1st), Combat Expertise (1st), Combat Reflexes (monk freebie @ 2nd), Weapon Focus (QS) (Ftr1), Iron Will (3rd) ,Power Attack (Ftr2), Weapon Specialization (QS) (Ftr4), Two Weapon Fighting (6th)
Improved Trip/Improved Disarm/Dodge (going for Elusive Target) would all on the future lineup
Equipment: Gloves of Dexterity, Periapt of Wisdom, Bracers, magical QS, cloak of resistance.
I'd go something like this:
Monk 2/ Fighter X For the first freebie feats and skill points, and to be able to Max out Tumble. Also gains you evasion. The loss of one BAB and 3 hp grants you all good saves, which is well worthwhile IMO.
Elf, Dwarf, or Human
Stats:
Str: 16 + level bonuses
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 14
Wis: 14
Cha: 8
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike (monk freebie @ 1st), Improved Grapple (monk freebie @ 1st), Combat Expertise (1st), Combat Reflexes (monk freebie @ 2nd), Weapon Focus (QS) (Ftr1), Iron Will (3rd) ,Power Attack (Ftr2), Weapon Specialization (QS) (Ftr4), Two Weapon Fighting (6th)
Improved Trip/Improved Disarm/Dodge (going for Elusive Target) would all on the future lineup
Equipment: Gloves of Dexterity, Periapt of Wisdom, Bracers, magical QS, cloak of resistance.
John Q. Mayhem
Explorer
Perhaps heading for Swashbuckler later, for the AC; not much synergy there otherwise.
kjenks
First Post
Str high, Dex 14, Int 14, Con 16, Wis and Cha low. Human is best, but consider Dwarf, Wood Elf.
Ranger2/Fighter the rest of the way.
Choose Ranger at level 1 for more skill points. Choose Two-Weapon Fighting, Ranger style. This gives you the flexibilty to use TWF vs. low AC targets or when you have big bonuses (bard or other spellcaster often buffs up your party). Taking TWF as a Ranger style means your Dex doesn't need to be really high (just 13 for Dodge).
Take the Greater Weapon Specialization tree for fighter feats.
TWF and Improved Trip together give you a lot of opportunities to knock down your foes.
Since you won't have a shield, you'll get hit a lot. Take Improved Toughness.
Power Attack is a must-have feat for any wielder of a two-handed weapon. Use it when you can't use TWF or when bashing through hardness or DR. Use it vs. prone opponents or with Defensive Strike.
1: Rgr1 - Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Track
2: Rgr2 - TWF style
3: Ftr1 - Dodge, Wpn Focus (QStaff)
4: Ftr2 - Power Attack
5: Ftr3
6: Ftr4 - Improved Toughness, Wpn Spec (QStaff)
7: Ftr5
8: Ftr6 - Quick Staff
9: Ftr7 - Defensive Strike
10: Ftr8 - Gtr Wpn Focus (QStaff)
11+: Ftr...
Take cross-class ranks in Tumble so your Total Defense AC gets a bump. Max out your Survival ranks, too.
Enhance your darkwood quarterstaff to +1 Shocking, Flaming, Frost. Rely on your spellcasting buddies for Greater Magic Weapon, Spikes spells.
Get an animated shield, Boots of Speed, Belt of Giant Strength, Ring of Spell Storing (Enlarge Person, Reduce Person, True Strike, Alter Self [to troglodyte], Barkskin). Get a +1 bow and a +1 adamantine Ghost Touch greatsword.
Enlarge Person gives you reach, strength. Reduce Person gives you dex, AC.
If you go Wood Elf, buy 14 Int, reduced to 12 from race, then bump it up at character level 4. Re-order feats since you need 13 Int for Combat Expertise. Dump one feat.
1: Rgr1 - Wpn Focus (QStaff), Track
2: Rgr2 - TWF style
3: Ftr1 - Dodge, Improved Toughness
4: Ftr2 - Combat Expertise
5: Ftr3
6: Ftr4 - Improved Trip, Wpn Spec (QStaff)
7: Ftr5
8: Ftr6 - Quick Staff
9: Ftr7 - Defensive Strike
10: Ftr8 - Gtr Wpn Focus (QStaff)
11+: Ftr...
Ranger2/Fighter the rest of the way.
Choose Ranger at level 1 for more skill points. Choose Two-Weapon Fighting, Ranger style. This gives you the flexibilty to use TWF vs. low AC targets or when you have big bonuses (bard or other spellcaster often buffs up your party). Taking TWF as a Ranger style means your Dex doesn't need to be really high (just 13 for Dodge).
Take the Greater Weapon Specialization tree for fighter feats.
TWF and Improved Trip together give you a lot of opportunities to knock down your foes.
Since you won't have a shield, you'll get hit a lot. Take Improved Toughness.
Power Attack is a must-have feat for any wielder of a two-handed weapon. Use it when you can't use TWF or when bashing through hardness or DR. Use it vs. prone opponents or with Defensive Strike.
1: Rgr1 - Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Track
2: Rgr2 - TWF style
3: Ftr1 - Dodge, Wpn Focus (QStaff)
4: Ftr2 - Power Attack
5: Ftr3
6: Ftr4 - Improved Toughness, Wpn Spec (QStaff)
7: Ftr5
8: Ftr6 - Quick Staff
9: Ftr7 - Defensive Strike
10: Ftr8 - Gtr Wpn Focus (QStaff)
11+: Ftr...
Take cross-class ranks in Tumble so your Total Defense AC gets a bump. Max out your Survival ranks, too.
Enhance your darkwood quarterstaff to +1 Shocking, Flaming, Frost. Rely on your spellcasting buddies for Greater Magic Weapon, Spikes spells.
Get an animated shield, Boots of Speed, Belt of Giant Strength, Ring of Spell Storing (Enlarge Person, Reduce Person, True Strike, Alter Self [to troglodyte], Barkskin). Get a +1 bow and a +1 adamantine Ghost Touch greatsword.
Enlarge Person gives you reach, strength. Reduce Person gives you dex, AC.
If you go Wood Elf, buy 14 Int, reduced to 12 from race, then bump it up at character level 4. Re-order feats since you need 13 Int for Combat Expertise. Dump one feat.
1: Rgr1 - Wpn Focus (QStaff), Track
2: Rgr2 - TWF style
3: Ftr1 - Dodge, Improved Toughness
4: Ftr2 - Combat Expertise
5: Ftr3
6: Ftr4 - Improved Trip, Wpn Spec (QStaff)
7: Ftr5
8: Ftr6 - Quick Staff
9: Ftr7 - Defensive Strike
10: Ftr8 - Gtr Wpn Focus (QStaff)
11+: Ftr...
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
green slime said:
And most definitely not to forget flurry of blows ability - get an extra attack at full strength bonus.
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Another interesting (and perhaps not-so-obvious) possibility is:
Monk1/druid 1/Ftr x
This gives you the monks ability to flurry of blows with your quarterstaff and as a druid with 12 Wis you can cast shillelagh twice a day. Get scribe scroll and you can cheaply made a whole bunch of scrolls of shllelagh. Then when you want to get into a fight you have a +1 weapon which does 2d6 damage, you can flurry for two attacks at 2d6+ full strength bonus at -2 to hit. If you take TWF tree you could ultimately unload a lot of damage, esp with weapon focus/spec tree too. You lose 2 BAB against a normal fighter, but you could be an effective damage machine.
Cheers
Monk1/druid 1/Ftr x
This gives you the monks ability to flurry of blows with your quarterstaff and as a druid with 12 Wis you can cast shillelagh twice a day. Get scribe scroll and you can cheaply made a whole bunch of scrolls of shllelagh. Then when you want to get into a fight you have a +1 weapon which does 2d6 damage, you can flurry for two attacks at 2d6+ full strength bonus at -2 to hit. If you take TWF tree you could ultimately unload a lot of damage, esp with weapon focus/spec tree too. You lose 2 BAB against a normal fighter, but you could be an effective damage machine.
Cheers
S
shurai
Guest
For yet another direction, why not take a non-deitized cleric who has the War domain, but with favored weapon: quarterstaff? You'd get:
1) free weapon focus
2) various useful warrior-type spells (magic weapon, magic vestment, various spells to enhance your characters AC, which is useful for a light-armor character like the one you're trying to build).
3) a nifty visual: convince the DM that since your religion's favored weapon is the quarterstaff, that the virtual weapon created by Spiritual Weapon should also be a quarterstaff. Talk about ultimate staff technique, huh? : ]
Also, I'm surprised no one has advocated pure monk or a few levels of fighter followed by lots of monk. Fighter 4 / Monk the rest of the way might be pretty good:
1) weapon specialization is especially good for double weapons.
2) full strength bonus on all Flurry attacks.
3) Improved Disarm (6th lvl monk) is pretty strong with a large weapon like a quarterstaff.
The other nice thing about doing it this way is that your character can start out fighting with armor and then switch over to no armor at 5th level and beyond, which is probably about when magical armor replacements become available.
1) free weapon focus
2) various useful warrior-type spells (magic weapon, magic vestment, various spells to enhance your characters AC, which is useful for a light-armor character like the one you're trying to build).
3) a nifty visual: convince the DM that since your religion's favored weapon is the quarterstaff, that the virtual weapon created by Spiritual Weapon should also be a quarterstaff. Talk about ultimate staff technique, huh? : ]
Also, I'm surprised no one has advocated pure monk or a few levels of fighter followed by lots of monk. Fighter 4 / Monk the rest of the way might be pretty good:
1) weapon specialization is especially good for double weapons.
2) full strength bonus on all Flurry attacks.
3) Improved Disarm (6th lvl monk) is pretty strong with a large weapon like a quarterstaff.
The other nice thing about doing it this way is that your character can start out fighting with armor and then switch over to no armor at 5th level and beyond, which is probably about when magical armor replacements become available.
green slime
First Post
I find Kjenks build interesting but I'd warn against it; it has a very weak Will save. Combining that with a low Wisdom score...IMO it requires Iron Will.
It is also much more difficult to gain the prequisite 5 ranks in Tumble for the boost to Fighting Defensively when you are crossclassing all the way (Ranger/Fighter): 10 skill points, means you not be able to do much with your Tumble skill until at least 6th level. It all depends on what level this character will be built at.
On the plus side, Kjenks build looses no BAB, which is always good. Another bonus is that the character can use wands of CLW, and other goodies.
Perhaps it might be worthwhile to consider Monk 2 / Ranger 2/ Fighter X? Not necessarily in that order.
It is also much more difficult to gain the prequisite 5 ranks in Tumble for the boost to Fighting Defensively when you are crossclassing all the way (Ranger/Fighter): 10 skill points, means you not be able to do much with your Tumble skill until at least 6th level. It all depends on what level this character will be built at.
On the plus side, Kjenks build looses no BAB, which is always good. Another bonus is that the character can use wands of CLW, and other goodies.
Perhaps it might be worthwhile to consider Monk 2 / Ranger 2/ Fighter X? Not necessarily in that order.
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