Advice for a 6th lvl Newbie!

[Lord Pendragon]

I'll put in a third recommendation for Iron Will. An extra 10% chance to avoid Charm, Hold and Dominate spells is well worth a feat, especially for the fighter. I'd also recommend getting Lightning Reflexes with your 9th-level character feat. You'll have fighter feats aplenty to take the nifty offensive feats, but against wizards and sorcerers, getting out of the way goes a long way toward staying alive.

Now for that 6th-level fighter feat, [color=sky blue]Quick Draw[/color] is a good idea, so that when your PC has been the victim of a Disarm, Sunder, or Black Pudding himself, he won't be without a weapon in hand. It's also useful for switching from a ranged weapon to a melee weapon, or from a reach weapon to a close-range weapon. Another good choice would be to take Weapon Focus in a ranged weapon (composite longbow would be a good choice. With a mighty composite longbow and specialization, your arrows will be fearsome indeed). A fighter should be good at a distance too. Then add on Weapon Specialization afterward.

Just some ideas.

 

[mmu1]

Hmm... Well, let me take a stab at this.

1. Forget about Whirlwind Attack and Spring Attack. Whirlwind attack is incredibly overrated (because the D&D combat system is such that you're much better off concentrating all your attacks on the same enemy rather than doing a little bit of damage to a lot of enemies), and Spring Attack is not something the party tank should be playing around with - you want to be at the front lines, getting your full attack in as often as possible and soaking up the damage that party members with less HP can't handle, not flitting about like a butterfly, leaving unengaged enemies free to attack weaker party members.

2. Once again a reccommendation for Iron Will: When playing a class with feats to spare, this is really a no brainer, mind affecting spells are the absolute Achilles heel of any Fighter.

3. Expertise. It's great for those times when you just need to hold something off and stay alive long enough for the rest of the party to bring their attacks to bear on it. Especially when fighting something incorporeal or resistant to melee attacks, and waiting for the party mage to get off his bony ass and do something about it. Although I too can't stress the importance of increasing CON enough - whether you want to boost that or INT should be based on just how many HP you have at the moment (if you're above average, it can wait), and whether you're likely to get any CON-boosting items in your campaign (as you certainly won't be getting any INT-boosting ones)

4. Blind Fighting. I can't believe this wasn't mentioned yet - it HALVES your chance to miss any enemy with some form of concealment (not just completely invisible ones), and protects your from being sneak attacked in melee by invisible creatures.

5. Quick Draw. It doesn't look like much, but it can be a life-saver in situations where you only have a partial action, or when you suddenly need to switch between melee and ranged weapons.

 

[Gaiden]

I would suggest capitalizing on feats you already have.

Thus take great cleave, or sunder from the power attack chain.

Expert tactician may be worth your time depending on what kind of fighter you are. You already have improved initiative so taking expert tactician may be very good for you. However, spiked chain may also be worth your time. I know you already focused on the long sword, but that reach with combat reflexes is really REALLY useful.

I must second the iron will and blind fight recommendations. Both feats go a very long way.

 

[dazm]

Feedback

Well first of all thanks for the input. I was amazed at the speed of some of the responses.

I have decided to go for the feats Quick Draw and Improved Disarm.
I am going to return to using a reach weapon (hopefully get some use out of the combat reflexes feat ). So its Quick Draw for that me thinks.

Sunder may well have worked better than disarm, but could you imagine the horror at potentially destroying a cool magic weapon!

Iron Will, now I really considered this feat. However, knowing me as I do I would have resented it from the start. The feat would simply have been absorbed into the character sheet and forgotten. I would much rather have a more tangible feat that makes a more obvious difference.

Expertise is going to be a hard feat to choose, having to increase INT at 8th lvl instead of the more obviously beneficial CON would be hard! I wouldn't even benefit from extra skill points.
But! I do like the feat so it may be a necessary sacrifice

Once again thanks for the advice, I may be around again at 12th lvl asking again thx

dazm

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Re: Feedback

Iron Will, now I really considered this feat. However, knowing me as I do I would have resented it from the start. The feat would simply have been absorbed into the character sheet and forgotten. I would much rather have a more tangible feat that makes a more obvious difference.

I'm glad you got the input you wanted, and that you've been able to use it to help you make up your mind. Everyone has different playing styles, so each of us is going to see things in a slightly different way.

I just wanted to take a moment to respond to what you said above. In a way, you're right. Iron Will doesn't provide any new combat options, so it doesn't often see the limelight. But as for an "obvious difference"...well, the first time you find yourself fighting a vampire and he turns that Dominate of his in your direction, IMO there isn't a more tangible feat in the PHB!

Good gaming.

 

[telepox]

as has been said, concentrate on progressing the feats you have, and maybe combining some skills that are related to them. For combat, a fighter can max out melee fighting or ranged fighting. I would determine this with what STR or DEX you have, but in your case, you have a good base for melee feats. Stay with them. Expertise looks lame, but the feats following it are pretty cool.