Questions a/b Fighter builds

[TheNameless14590]

I am leaning toward making my next character be a Fighter. I have only played spellcasters before and I am not sure how I should proceed. I dont know what type of Fighter will be most effective. I dont know what kind of opponents we will face in our next campian. I want to be a human. I would appreciate any adivice on how to build a strong Fighter. I dont want to weild a spiked chain, thoguh it seems to be a great weapon. I also dont really want to use a bow.
Thank you.

 

[Crothian]

well, two weapon fighting is fun especiually if you have complete warrior. Lots of fun 2 weapn oriented feats in there. While sword and shiled is considered weak, I like it as the AC can get high at low levels and you can withstands attacks easier.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

If you want a survivor, I suggest you go the Shield&Sword route. Another interesting route would be the Reach Weapon / Combat reflexes fighter... There are many, MANY possible fighter builds.

What do you mean by "effective"? Versatile? Damage-dealing? AC?

WIll you start at level 1? Do you have any idea what the other players are making?

AR

 

[Mystendanian]

Get a character concept

What Altamont is getting at is this: The most important thing to first realize before making a character is defining a character concept.

Do you want to be a herculean fighter like Conan? Do you want to be a swift swashbuckler like "the man in black" from the Princess Bride? Do you want to be big and dumb like Fezzik (Andre the Giant) in Princess Bride? (Sorry, the movie was so good had to reference it twice). You get the idea...

If you're having a hard time defining a concept, you might want to pick a weapon and start there. Also read through as many feats as you can find; they will help inspire ideas. You'll read one and think, "oh, that would be cool to do" and your concept may grow from there.

Myst

 

[DragonShadow]

That's exactly right, you have to know what kind of fighter you want to be beforehand.

Generally speaking though, a fighter with a high AC will live longer to be customized. As long as you can get your AC high enough to suit yourself, go with whatever weapon(s) you like.

My personal favorite is a Longsword, Buckler, Longbow combo, but that's just my preference.


If you don't want to be using a bow at all, you're probably going to want something sturdy that won't get sundered (if your DM sunders often) etc etc.

One suggestion would be to grab yourself a greatsword. It's two-handed, so you won't be able to use a shield at the same time, but it's a real sweet deal when you get down in the dirt.

Just don't die.

 

[Darklone]

People always forget the good old polearm dude.

If you can use CW, there's a halberd fighter feat that allows you to use the halberd pretty nicely and you'll have one weapon with slashing, piercing and bludgeoning damage.

Net & Trident is rather unusual as well...

If you don't want to take a bow, think about some other ranged weapon such as throwing things or a ballista on a cart.

Otherwise, get an idea what kind of weapon you like. Then we will gladly help you with as many twinky suggestions as you want

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

Good I think the best fighter is a two-handed weapon combined with levels of barbarian & Frenzied berseker you can do a lot of damage with power attack.
The 2weapon fighter do more attacks but little damage especialty if monsters of your campaing have DR.
The mounted figther with spirited charge can do devastating charges
A fighter with a reach and trip weapons as spiked chain are one of my favorites.
Swashbuckler duelist & bladesinger have a very high AC but do less damage
have some buff spells it's really fun

Now I'm play with a Pal4/Sor6/Ek5/SpSword5/ in an epic campaign and it's fun
with div might, arcane strike, Channel, 2handed weapon I do a lot of damage

These items do your life more easy:
ioun stones Purple vibrant (stores spells for true strikes and enlarges)
steadfast boots inmune to trip,bull rush...(AaGE)
trip weapon with the ability +4 trips (SaF, DoF)...

Try someone have a lot of choices and enjoy

 

[hong]

There are three basic fighter builds that come to mind right now:

1. Sword + shield, heavy armour, full defense route

2. Lightly armoured, Spring Attack + Tumble, light fighter/swashbuckler route (usually fighter/rogue)

3. Two-handed weapon, high Str, full offense route (usually barb or fighter/barb)

Of these builds, I've tended to see that 1) and 2) have the best survivability. If done well, not many things can hit a tank with maxed-out defenses, so they can stay in the middle of combat and keep swinging. The Spring Attack fighter is less well protected, but if they keep moving (haste/boots of speed are very useful), they can avoid being smacked down.

The full-offense build 3), OTOH, tends to be very risky. You'll dish out awesome amounts of damage, but it's also almost guaranteed that you'll take awesome damage in return. Even though barbarians get d12 HD, it just isn't enough to compensate. The two fighter/barbs IMC have died the most often of all the PCs; one twice, and the other three times. They've also been taken down to negative hp far more often than anyone else. The knight in full plate and shield, OTOH, has yet to die, although he's come close a couple of times.

 

[Darklone]

There are three basic fighter builds that come to mind right now:
1. Sword + shield, heavy armour, full defense route
2. Lightly armoured, Spring Attack + Tumble, light fighter/swashbuckler route (usually fighter/rogue)
3. Two-handed weapon, high Str, full offense route (usually barb or fighter/barb)

4. Archer build or twf/rapid shot throw master.
5. Polearm (or spiked chain)!!!! Spring attack fighters with tripping or disarm schticks.

Of these builds, I've tended to see that 1) and 2) have the best survivability. If done well, not many things can hit a tank with maxed-out defenses, so they can stay in the middle of combat and keep swinging. The Spring Attack fighter is less well protected, but if they keep moving (haste/boots of speed are very useful), they can avoid being smacked down.

The full-offense build 3), OTOH, tends to be very risky. You'll dish out awesome amounts of damage, but it's also almost guaranteed that you'll take awesome damage in return. Even though barbarians get d12 HD, it just isn't enough to compensate. The two fighter/barbs IMC have died the most often of all the PCs; one twice, and the other three times. They've also been taken down to negative hp far more often than anyone else. The knight in full plate and shield, OTOH, has yet to die, although he's come close a couple of times.

Make that sword&boarder a ftr4/paladin with TWF, Divine Might/Divine Shield and shield bash twinkies and you'll have a high AC monster with good damage output that survives everything.

 

[hong]

4. Archer build or twf/rapid shot throw master.

Yeah, I should have said I was only thinking of melee builds.

5. Polearm (or spiked chain)!!!! Spring attack fighters with tripping or disarm schticks.

Ew, tripping and disarming. But polearms are v.good. One of the barbs actually has a glaive and uses it to great effect. Of course, it helps when the DM forgets about it and moves the BBEG to 2 squares away from him, thinking he's out of reach....

Make that sword&boarder a ftr4/paladin with TWF, Divine Might/Divine Shield and shield bash twinkies and you'll have a high AC monster with good damage output that survives everything.

Heh. The knight in fact does quite remarkable damage by himself, despite having a longsword and no divine feats or 2-handed damage. WSpec and a holy weapon will do that for you.