12th level AoO build

[Thurbane]

I was wondering what people's thoughts would be for making a 12th level melee build that focuses on making AoO?

For game/allowability purposes, it would have to be as "core only" as possible, but feats & PrCs from the Complete Series & PHBII would also be allowed.

The following are specifically forbidden: Bo9S, psionics, MoI and races of LA +3 or higher.

 

[szilard]

Three (preferably five) levels of Knight would be good to fit in there somewhere - rob your threatened enemies of the ability to take 5' steps. If they want to move, they provoke an AoO.

A polearm that gives a bonus to trip is good, particularly with the Short Haft feat.

-Stuart

 

[blargney the second]

A Knight/Fighter would probably be a decent base. Combat Reflexes and Deft Opportunist make a good start for feats. Mithril fullplate will serve you nicely for armor.

One way or the other, you'll want to threaten as many squares as possible. There are a few ways of doing so, some of which can be combined for insane reach:
1) Spiked Chain.
2) Polearm and Improved Unarmed Strike.
3) Inhuman Reach from Lords of Madness.
4) Become Large or bigger.

From there, you can go a few different ways to force out some extra AoOs:
1) Improved Trip (either with Combat Expertise or some Monk levels)
2) Close Quarters Fighting
3) Mage Slayer and/or Supernatural Opportunist (from Tome of Magic)
5) Robilar's Gambit and/or Karmic Strike

If you want to go the trip route, goliath is a good race, otherwise you'll most likely want to be a human for that sweet extra feat.
-blarg

 

[Arkhandus]

Human Fighter 7/Knight 5 or Fighter 6/Knight 6.

Take Combat Reflexes, EWP: Spiked Chain (or just use a polearm if you like, it's just less effective because you won't threaten as much of an area), Weapon Focus (Spiked Chain), Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Weapon Specialization (Spiked Chain), Power Attack, Melee Weapon Mastery (Piercing), and Robilar's Gambit. You'll also get Mounted Combat from the Knight levels, and one other feat from their cruddy list, probably Iron Will or Great Fortitude, maybe Ride-By Attack.

The Knight levels will make it difficult for anyone to get past you; your threatened area (10 feet with a spiked chain) will all be considered difficult terrain and enemies will suffer a +5 (or +6, depending on your Knight level) increase to the DC of their Tumble checks to get past you without AoOs.

 

[szilard]

Knight 3/Fighter 4
wield a Guisarme
Feats include: Combat Reflexes, Improved Trip, and Short Haft (and prerequisites)

This gives you five levels to play with for other classes and LA+X races.

Some weird options:

Duergar (LA+1) - Enlarge Person 1/day with good duration. Immune to Poison and some other stuff. Stability (good to have when tripping). Combine with four levels of whatever.

Human Hexblade 4/Rogue 1 - Get a Charisma bonus. Use it for both the Knight's Challenge and Hexblade Curse. Don't take a familiar - take the PHBII option, and you'll almost always be flanking - and getting +1d6 damage from the Rogue level.

True weirdness: Knight/Bard. Use a whip for trip attacks with a 15' range. Use Quick Draw for pulling out a weapon with an appropriate reach after that. Good Charisma synergy. Abuse Alter Self to make yourself Large (you might need to find a non-humanoid PC race).

-Stuart

 

[Zelc]

If you want an optimized character, you probably shouldn't take Knight past level 3.

Go with a Fighter and possibly Monk (2 levels) base. A Spiked Chain could be good since you're not using Stand Still.

 

[Patlin]

How about a Shifter (variant Druid.) Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise and Improved Trip. Reach might still be a couple of levels off, if I recall correctly, but as long as you're going to keep playing the character you'll get there soon enough. You can use your spells for healing and also to shore up the limitations of shapechanging.

Superior Resistance, Cloud Wings, Essence of the Raptor, and Heart of _______ spells are all very usefull. There are a lot of other ones, too. Listening Lorecall can get you limited blindsight, and it's easy to get AOO's if you can see and no one else can.

 

[Legildur]

Another consideration is that cover negates AOOs, so in a multi-opponent battlefield, they can often find a way to sneak past your AOOs by using one of their buddies as cover.

This can be overcome through a level or two of the Exotic Weapon Master PrC (CW) IF you are wielding a spiked chain.

 

[Will]

I don't know how effective it is, but one idea I've considered is:
Combat reflexes, combat expertise, karmic strike, deft strike.

So, with combat expertise, give yourself -4 to hit/+4 AC.
Karmic strike, -4 AC. (So you are now at -4 to hit, regular AC)

Every time someone hits you? Get an AoO. +4 to AoOs due to Deft Strike, which means a net +0 (due to combat expertise)

The main downside is that you are cutting down on your odds of hitting with regular attacks.

You may want to combine this with Goad or something to ensure people keep hitting you. And the build probably works better if you can manage some DR.


The biggest downside with this approach is that you want lots of Dex, with all the affects on melee that brings. (Might want to be rogue/barbarian or something weird).

 

[Flipguarder]

arcane casting spiked chain knight maybe

for some reason i think, taking five levels in knight, then some in a customized arcane casting class that gets some sort of class ability that has to do with an AoO. Finally use a spiked chain, be invisible, and enlarged. also maxing dex and combat reflexes. pump hide and move silently. then


Get close to someone (5ft) while invisible and enlarged. wait for them to move, attack once then, no matter what you get at least one more because they can't do 5ft steps and then rinse repeat. you get 15ft reach and so I'd repeatedly get 10 ft away from them and then you can have fun making them immobile and they can't reach you, dependent on their reach obviously. Thats what I would do at least.


this idea was based on a previous post but, this is the only evidence I saw that something like that exists and doesn't stop 5ft steps, I don't know, can someone explain that class feature to me?

# Vigilant Defender: Also at 5th level, a knight can guard the space around her on the battlefield. If a foe tries to use the Tumble skill to move through the space the knight occupies or through the space the knight threatens without provoking an attack of opportunity, the DC for the tumble check increases by an amount equal to knight's class level.