D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 Seen a tank like this before?

[Jackinthegreen]

Considering opponents cannot be tripped when they are already prone, there is no infinite loop. Bull rushing a prone target does not force it to stand up either, even if it's smashed against an obstruction.

As for the build, I agree it is a bit messy. Given D&D's nature though, there are certain objectives that simply can't be done within the rules without looking "messy." Martial characters usually have to multiclass to get the good stuff to compete at a similar level to most casters. And I'm feeling a whole lot of deja vu right now, as if I've typed this stuff before.

Anyway, I did also say it has good control even without Aptitude cheese. A couple levels in barbarian to get pounce and Improved Trip, and then the rest into fighter will do. It's essentially shock trooper, knock-down, and knockback that are the heavy lifters here. Note that there was no Expansion because the character was already large due to Half-Ogre. For extra cheese the half-minotaur template could have been used instead.
Taking advantage of Bloodstorm Blade mostly means the character can do these things at range and not have to go toe-to-toe with the baddies. Going into melee has its own rewards with pounce and gaining use of shock trooper's Heedless Charge tactic.

In short though, most of the "tanking" done in D&D is about controlling opponents. Buffing your party's AC doesn't usually accomplish that very well, but if it works for you, I guess it works for you. As mentioned though, some mild lockdown would go a long way to keeping stuff off your party.

Dodge can lead you to Elusive Target. Negating Power Attack would be classified as a tank thing I'd say. If you're confident in your defenses, using Cause Overreach is fun, especially with Improved Trip.

How many turn attempts do you have again? Get a nightstick from Libris Mortis for 4 more. You might benefit from Travel Devotion, if you can take it.

 

[kitcik]

I should have known.

I defer to the wisdom of [MENTION=85158]Dandu[/MENTION]

You should take the feat Allied Defense.

 

[Turtlebuster]

I guess you're right, but with the sunder action for what I was referring to, armed opponents typically can be spread around the battlefield like butter between charging, bullrushing, tripping and sunder with mass trips followed by bullrushes followed by sunder followed by whatever I'm not looking it up but goes on for a long time in a lot of situations until I'm not interested in rolling THAT many strength checks

 

[Jackinthegreen]

I know what you mean with those rolls and trying to keep things simple.

I would, however, recommend being a bit more accurate. Sunder is an opposed attack check, not a strength check. And it's generally not used anyway because it's breaking the loot. That's one of the reasons I didn't refer to Combat Brute at all, though Advancing Blows and Momentum Swing can be fairly decent. Likewise, the build I linked does not have Combat Brute in it either. I'm not entirely sure where you got to thinking about Combat Brute, other than the tactics I mentioned reminded you of that.

 

[Turtlebuster]

I brought up combat brute last page when I was responding to your earlier post. Since sunder is an attack option you can use it as your bonus attack when tripping people - with combat brute you can then do whatever follows it - again, i'm not remembering exactly which tactic of which feat goes in which order for best typical result, but with multiple enemies and a build designed for it your going to smear everything until you either roll that nat 1 or encounter someone with a large, magical as adamantine weapon and so on. At which point, good, that's the weapon you don't want to sunder. a hand ful of +1s and masterwork - if you have no space limitations (which we always do) you could always have them repaired if they are worth it for use, never a total loss. And there's nothing wrong with asking the DM to described the weapon you are considering sundering... it's not failsafe by any means, but if you encounter a dwarven warrior in shining adamantine breastplate and winged greaves, it might behoove you to save his gear. The lizardmen with their hides and longspears can go ranger themselves.

EDIT: oh, hahah as I'm new to this place I didn't realize I'd be censored. No biggy, it was in the T&C that I definitely read. I was probably trying to type a noncuss word and my brain wanted to see happyfaces, anyway

Are Advancing Blows and Momentum Swing in a 3.5 sourcebook? If so, are they pathfinder/eberron? They definitely sound familiar but I'm only familiar with 3.5 WotC greyhawk and I can't recall what those feats do, although I can make educated guesses, but I know we've never mixed settings. Not, I don't think, for any good reason, just haven't had the books to go around probably. I have thought some things I've read from other settings looked a little more powerful on average

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Advancing Blows and Momentum Swing are two of the tactical maneuvers possible with the Combat Brute feat. They're pretty much the only ones most people will use it for because, again, sundering destroys loot and repairing magic items costs a lot. Given how easy it is to upgrade items thanks to the rules in the Magical Item Compendium, it's doubtful the enemy will have a weapon or shield most would want to use instead of sell, but I suppose it's possible. And of course the DM can say a certain piece of equipment isn't purchasable, then put it on a monster so that the players can still get the lot. A group using sunder will hopefully be able to scout out what weapons the opponent has before the encounter. Most of the time it's just not practical to sunder though.

And yes, some feats are simply more powerful than others. Compare Power Attack to Toughness for example. The designers have said they included some feats as traps so that system mastery would actually be more of a benefit. Mostly they were just covering their asses though when people pointed out some feats were total crap and others were pretty darn useful.

 

[Dandu]

Sundering your loot is like tossing your salary into the fireplace in order to keep warm.

 

[Turtlebuster]

Oh, and now I remember why I think of shock trooper as a broken loop - it's because of Knockback so if you qualify and use them both you can:
Charge/bullrush your foe. win the str check and push him into his ally 3 squares back, trip both of them, use your attacks on each, each attack giving you a free bullrush, the bullrush allowing you to again use the bonuses from Shock Trooper, however Knockback doesn't allow you to move with them this time so you instead Sunder FIRST and with max power attack coming from AC you better succeed, at which point with Combat Brute allows you a follow up attack which you can NOW use to make an attack and let them be knocked back as per Knock Back, still being able to control where they go. I guess it's not really limitless anymore than Improved Cleave is, but it's easy to see what some reach and Cleave would do here. Or Sudden Leap, lvl1 boost manuever or chronocharm of the horizon walker to follow your foe anyway as you've steered him into the next fella to repeat once more. I'm doing this very lazily so even without the obvious Dungeoncrasher build i'm missing some great combos in there I'm quite sure

Ya, sundering loot is a bad idea. Unless you are fairly selective about it an play in a game where you generally never can use/carry all of what you find anyway. When enforced, weight limitations completely change a game. Suddenly you don't give a f*ck HOW many +1 breastplates and shields are on that squad of whatevers because bags of holding don't grow on trees and you'd rather keep room for the next chest of gems and valuable artwork/wondrous items