Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9375137" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Hm.  Giant-Kin, Firbolg (Complete Book of Humanoids).+2 Str (max of 19).  Natural AC of 3 (can drop to 2 with 15 Dex, which is the maximum starting Dexterity).  You start with 13 additional hit points at 1st-level.  There's two ways to go here- the first is dual-wielding (using Ambidexterity and Two-Handed Style Specialization from Complete Fighter's Handbook) and exploiting this trait:[ATTACH=full]367401[/ATTACH]To dual-wield a pair of double-sized longswords with weapon specialization for a potential (with 19 Str) +4 to hit damage, 5/2 attacks per round at 2d8+9 (average 18 damage per hit).You can use Wild Fighting if you have a high Con score (a proficiency in the Complete Book of Humanoids).  It worsens your attack bonus and AC by 3 each, but you get an extra attack per round and +3 damage on attacks (bringing us up to 7/2 and 2d8+12) for up to two combats each day, but if you can't rest for an hour after it's use, you're basically useless due to the penalties.On top of this, you can take the Berserker Kit from Complete Fighter's.  It's harder to use this unless you have a Barbarian/Berserker Priest in your party (who, if they have the Incite Berserker Rage ability from their Priesthood, can cause you to start raging in 1 round (!).But if you have a turn to work yourself into a frothing rage, that's another +1 to hit and +3 to damage!The other way to do this is to specialize in Punching (Complete Fighter's Handbook) and use a pair of oversized cestuses.  With Tumbling proficiency (easily gotten from the Gladiator Kit), and 1 slot devoted to Punching Specialization, you replace the damage on the punching chart with 2d4 (non-temporary) slashing damage.  You get 2 attacks per round with a total (19 Str) of +6 to hit and +8 to damage.  The writeup on the Cestus mentions you can use these with Two-Weapon Fighting as well (so with a slot devoted to Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Style Specialization, you have no penalties to hit) for an extra attack, bringing you up to 3/1.  You also gain a small KO chance when you punch non-regenerating creatures, and this allows you to use the Firbolg's ability to swat away ranged attacks (6 or higher on a d20, up to two a round).*This is contingent on the DM ruling that using the Cestus counts as having a free hand.  This is never stated, but given that the weapon is intended to be used with Punching Specialization and it's basically a glove (and you can grab things with it, albeit at a penalty), this seems to be the intent.  If the DM doesn't rule that way, you'd have to use a single Cestus and leave a hand free- this still gives you 2 attacks and the ability to counter ranged weapons though.You can specialize in the cestus but you can only use the benefits of either weapon specialization or punching specialization each turn.Note that you can combine this with Wild Fighting (and if you want to spend double slots on Tumbling, be a Berserker as well) allowing you to theoretically have four attacks per round (see * above) at +3 to hit and 2d4+11 damage with Wild Fighting (and +4/2d4+14 if you can rage on top of that!).</blockquote>

Verification