Need help building...Flint Fireforge!

[insanogeddon]

Flint Fireforge ideas

PHB: Barbarian dip, Ranger dip
Complete Adventurer: Scout and Street Fighter
Complete Warrior: Darkhunter (if ranger dip), Exotic Weapon Master, Occult Slayer, Stone Lord (if ranger dip), Swashbuckler


Ideally get PH2 allowed and get the shield feats... for an off hand no dex attack.

For such a jibbed build (seriously a hand axe on a archetypal dwarf... someone no readi someone watchy to muchy lord o ringi)

Just 2 scout, 2 rogue, 2 barb, 2 swashbuckler, will pay off pretty much more than anything AND cover the books where he really can do a bit of everything. Also gives alternate sourceds of damage as your weapon focus is chosen as if your a elf woodswoman. Its not even a throwing axe where with the comp. adv feat brutal throw you at least would have missile str to hit flexibility.

It adds to the character of the build and adds some nice boosts.

 

[coyote6]

Just 2 scout, 2 rogue, 2 barb, 2 swashbuckler, will pay off pretty much more than anything AND cover the books where he really can do a bit of everything.

Except that he'll be 12th level, and have a total Will save of +1 -- all from his Wis. If a dragon glances meaningfully in his direction, he'll be shaken for 4d6 rounds. He'll have to change his name to Flint Yesiamyourbuttmonkey.

 

[insanogeddon]

Unless your using fractional bab and saves.

If your not its pretty easy to spand 4 levels to dip into 2 classes with good will saves to add +6

 

[Herzog]

IIRC Flint is an axe and shield fighter, not two weapon

I was planning to go TWF with axe and shield.....
As in, take Improved Shield Bash.
I'm currently contemplating whether having the TWF feat is worth it taking levels in Ranger.

@insanogeddon:

Thanks for the pointers. I'm staying away from Ranger/Scout combination, since I already have a Lion Totem Barbarian/Scout/Ranger/Tempest in another campaign.

I like the idea of getting some boosts from all around. I'll check with my DM first, since I seem to remember him being non too fond of 'dipping'.

@coyote6:

We're not using fractional Bab/Saves, so thanks for the warning. I'll keep an eye out for selecting a balanced set of save boosts....

 

[Crust]

I read the Dragonlance books in high school. I also DMed the Classics modules up through Icewall and Silvanesti. Though I haven't read the newer books, I do remember Flint.

I have Flint Fireforge's 2E stat block in card format. It's taken from the Tales of the Lance box. He's as standard as 2E allows. Maybe this'll help:

Flint Fireforge:
Hill dwarf male fighter, 4th level
S 16 D10 C 18 I 7 W12 Ch 13
AL: NG AC: 6 hp: 42
His movement is in 2E language, though next to Swim it says "Never!"

Appearance: Gruff, aging dwarf with a full beard and a scar over his right eye.

Creed: Fighting is bad for business.

Height: 4'7" Weight: 148lb.
Hair: Gray Eyes: Hazel
Age: 139 Birthday: 11 Ael. 203

Proficiencies
Weapon: Club, Hand Axe, Battle Axe (specialized), Dagger
Nonweapon: Blacksmithing, Reading/Writing Common and Hill Dwarf
Languages: Common, Hill Dwarf, Gnome

Armor: Studded leather/small shield

Weapons: Club, Hand Axe +1 (thrown), Dagger, Battle Axe

His gear is standard, though he does possess wood carving knives and a skin of ale.

History: (Begin play at 342 AC) After learning wood and metal craft from his father, Flint left his clan to work in a more lucrative region. He honed his skills to the point that his wood carvings and metal works made him one of the few dwarves welcome in Qualinost. There, he met Tanis, the half-elf. A lasting friendship began.

Family: Upon reaching adulthood, Flint left his family lands. He has had little contact with family since. His closest familial relation is his nephew, Jasper, son of one of his many sisters.

Personality: Outwardly gruff and crotchety, Flint truly loves his young friends. He feels extremely protective of them, for they are all too young and idealistic to really take care of themselves.

Aside from the above info from Tales of the Lance, I do remember the griffon mane topknot on Flint’s helmet. That’s key.

Flint also has a hatred of gully dwarves, as he was once held prisoner as their "king" for a few years if I'm not mistaken.

I'm also pretty sure that the 2E Dragonlance module Flint's Axe is available for download at paizo.com. I bet it's cheap. It might help.

 

[Herobizkit]

Yup, I did not read the OP closely enough - I tried to rebuild Flint from scratch instead of how to improve as is.

I checked over here and Flint was statted as a 4th level warrior, pure and simple. Flint is your typical Dwarven Warrior, pretty much cut and pasted from Gimli of LotR fame (of course, Dragonlance is essentially one giant LotR rip-off, but both are now classic tales, so there you go).

What you want to do with Flint is make him YOUR vision of Flint. Your Dex is too low to take TWF as a bonus feat (requires Dex 15). Ranger is an interesting choice, but you'd likely be better off without - you'd need to wear light armor or none to get the "free" TWF feat.

Exotic Weapon Master is a possibility if youor dwarf gets the Dwarven Urgrosh (or some other exotic weapon DL equivalent) - all you'd need is 3 points in Craft (weapon) and Weapon Focus (in whatever exotic weapon you have). You can then use said weapon and do all kinds of stunts, including a monk-like flurry. Heck, pick ANY exotic weapon you want. You'll have the feats.

If your character is Lawful, Kensai could be flavored as a dwarf-esque Oath of Service in exchange for Reorx's blessings.

Occult Slayer could be interesting, playing up the 2e's Dwarven mistrust of magic.

Stonelord is pure awesome for Dwarven "communion with Stone".

 

[Dandu]

Steadfast Endurance lets you use Con for will saves instead of Wis. You either have to blow a feat on the prerequisite Endurance feat, or take 3 levels in Ranger for it.

Note that the levels in Ranger give you free TWF. It also lets you qualify for the Deepwarden prestige class which allows you to add Con to AC instead of Dex, thus making up for the Light armor restriction. It also has good Fort and Will save progression.

So, to recap,

If you go Ranger2/Fighter2/Ranger1 going into Deepwarden, you will have full BAB, a decent amount of feats, good skills, decent AC from your light armor and shield (later Con to AC), and good will save.

Oh, and I'd swap your stats a little. No reason to have an 8 in Int and a 13 in Cha since Int is more important and my impression of Flint from the wiki article is that he is not a very charismatic person.

I'd put your 15 base score currently in Cha into Int, put the 8 in Int in Dex (Thankfully, Deeparden...), and the 10 from Dex into Cha.

End up with STR 16, DEX 8, CON 18, INT 15, WIS 12, CHA 8

Feats:
1: Improved Shield Bash
2: TWF (Ranger)
3: Free feat , Shield Expert (Fighter Bonus), Exotic Shield Proficiency (Traded for Tower Shield Proficiency)
4: Shield Ward (Fighter Bonus)
5: Endurance (Ranger Bonus)
6: Steadfast Determination

Misc: Get a spiked shield.

Just a suggestion that I threw together late at night. Could probably use some tweaking.

 

[Herzog]

I'm going to try and convince the DM tonight to allow Races of Stone and/or Player Handbook II.

If he allows Player Handbook II, I'm going to use Agile Shield Fighter (and it's prerequisites) to dual-fight with a shield. That will allow me to get into heavy armor, which should take care of the lack of Dex.
Of course, I'll also go for Steadfast Determination.

If he allows Races of Stone (but not PH2), I'm going to use Ranger to get TWF, Deepwarden to boost my ac by con, so I'm not too vulnerable in light armor. I'll also try to get the racial substitution levels for fighter, to boost my hp (d12) and get a more generic weapon focus. Racial foes seems less interesting, but since it would replace Power Attack. (which cannot be used with light weapons. What was my DM thinking when he build this character....) I guess it's ok.

I'll also get some rogue lvl for Sneak Attack damage (from flanking, not sneaking ) and skill points in both cases, and see how it goes from there. Skills will be focussed on search and disable device, and some in open locks (in agreement with the player playing tasslehof, who is concentrating on open locks and wants some disable device on the side)

Thank you all for your contributions thus far.
Any additional pointers remain welcome, of course!

 

[coyote6]

What was my DM thinking when he build this character....

The stats are almost a direct copy of the 2e stats, so I'm guessing he tried a direct conversion, then realized that a fighter with an Int 8 has all of 7 skill points to spend, which wasn't enough to cover the skills he thought appropriate, and gave him a bunch of feats that Flint doesn't seem to have in the books. So he swapped two levels of Ftr for Expert. And bizarrely didn't make them the first levels; perhaps quadrupling those 5 skill points might let him have too many useful skills at useful levels.

The WF (hand axe) is just bizarre, though, since the 2e stats given above show him as specialized in battle axe. I assume he went with hand axe because Flint's magic weapon is a hand axe.

Frankly, Flint was an interesting character in the books because of his personality; I don't remember any particular heroics from him, though, and statwise, he (and the rest of his fellow Heroes of the Lance) were goofy as hell.

When I ran the first DL module, all my players took one look at the Heroes' stats, and said, "Uh, we can play our own characters, too, right? Half-elves, halflings kender, and dwarves, and not one multiclassed character? Single-classed fighters, and not one with specialization? MADNESS!"

(Why yes, we were teenagers, and perhaps prone to powergaming, why ever do you ask? )

Did MWP ever put out 3e stats for Flint & co.?

 

[Herzog]

Well, the DM has enforced his book restriction, as well as the character as it stands as the starting position, although he has allowed me to replace Power Attack after I explained you can't use that on a light weapon.

I decided to replace it with Improved Shield Bash.

I'm currently contemplating going for Occult Slayer.

I'm also planning to take Rogue lvls (both for Disable Device and Open Locks as for Sneak Attack) and Ranger lvls (for the TWF).

Although if someone knows of a way to reduce the TWF penalties WITHOUT taking Ranger lvls (taking into account I have a Dex of 10 and cannot use the PHII options) I would be very glad.