Best Feats for Greatsword Fighter?

[Endur]

1 Vulnerable (Flaw) (UA)
1 Improve Initiative (PH)
1 Power Attack (PH)
1 Weapon Focus (Greatsword) (PH)
1 Combat Reflexes (PH)
2 Cleave (PH)
3 Mage Slayer (CA)
4 Weapon Spe (Greatsword) (PH)
6 Improve Toughness (CW)
6 Close Combat Fighting (CW)
8 Improve Critical (PH)
9 Greater Weapon Focus (Greatsword) (PH)
10 Melee Weapon Spe (Slashing)
12 Greater Weapon Spe (Greatsword) (PH)
12 Robilar's Gambit (PH2)
14 Great Cleave (PH)

I would probably take Great Cleave at level 6 and Improved Toughness at level 14.

 

[Marius Delphus]

All of which only points up that either (1) not even a fighter really has enough feat slots, or (2) the number of feats available makes customizing your character a real "pleasure."

A couple other notes from the player about this particular character that might be relevant. The character's been a single-classed fighter since 1982 and "always will be," so no "funny business with multiclassing" (as interesting as I think the monk levels idea might be). We both totally blanked on the Critical feats from ELH, but they definitely make the cut. I also got read the riot act for forgetting Great Cleave; even though I think it's not really useful against high-CR foes, I'm reminded that this character is also supposed to singlehandedly rout lower-CR minion mobs.

The character needs to eke a couple more points of DEX out of his equipment to power AoOs (good thing he knows a couple epic spellcasters that might agree to help him out on that score), but I think we're on to something that's full of fun-to-play clobber potential with this build. Maybe not the height of min-max but still something that wades into battle in full plate and does a crazy amount of damage with a big honkin' sword.

Thanks again for your comments folks, and keep 'em coming if you think I need to consider something else. I'll also be back with an archer thread as soon as I finish plumbing my books and deciding what sort of feats Legolas's *instructor* might have had.

1. Power Attack {H}
1. Weapon Focus (greatsword)
1. Combat Reflexes {F}
2. Cleave {F}
3. Iron Will
4. Weapon Spec (greatsword) {F}
6. Improved Toughness [CW]
6. Close Quarters Fighting [CW] {F}
8. Greater Weapon Focus (greatsword) {F}
9. Melee Weapon Mastery (slashing) [PHB2]
10. Improved Critical (greatsword) {F}
12. Great Cleave
12. Greater Weapon Spec (greatsword) {F}
14. Robilar's Gambit {F} [PHB2]
15. Defensive Sweep [PHB2]
16. Replace fighter feat with Overwhelming Attack class feature [PHB2]
18. Martial Study (foehammer) [BO9S]
18. Weapon Supremacy (greatsword) [PHB2] {F}
20. Martial Stance (thicket of blades) [BO9S] {F}
21. Epic Weapon Focus (greatsword) {E} [CW]
22. Epic Weapon Spec (greatsword) {EF} [ELH]
24. Overwhelming Critical {E} [ELH]
24. Devastating Critical {EF} [ELH]

 

[Ferghis]

15. Defensive Sweep [PHB2]

I was wondering if a character with so many attacks of opportunity per round wouldn't benefit more from Deft Opportunist from the Miniatures Handbook. Adding +4 to hit (or +8 to damage) seems more useful on each AoO that the character is already triggering (especially using Robilar's Gambit), than a feat that will add another AoO that the character might not be able to use because he's hit the Dex Bonus limit on AoOs. No?

 

[Ferghis]

Oh, and at Epic Level, wouldn't you want some DR or Fast Healing, just to not depend completely on the cleric?

 

[Marius Delphus]

The character's final Dex will be at least 20 to ensure 5 available AoOs. His level 26 feat will likely be Improved Combat Reflexes (unlimited AoOs), assuming his Dex gets to 21. I'll have a look at Deft Opportunist (no books atm).

I'm not sure this really speaks to the feat list, but apart from a really terrific epic sword (epic and legendary, in fact), the character will have really terrific epic armor that will take care of damage mitigation and will be carrying or wearing another item that will grant some kind of regeneration or fast healing. But I agree those are great epic feats to consider for levels 27 and 28.

 

[Ferghis]

The character's final Dex will be at least 20 to ensure 5 available AoOs.

I have to admit that 20 dex is pretty high for a Tank. I thought privileging Str and Con would have left a lower stat for Dex, which is why I was suggesting improving the the AoO the character already had, and not looking for new ones. Btw, All Deft Opportunist does is add +4 to hit to the character's AoO. And just to nitpick, I think Dex 20 would give you 6 AoO per round. One base plus 5 for the +5 Dex bonus, unless the SRD has been corrected by a more authoritative source.

If you have the Combat Reflexes feat you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round.

 

[Marius Delphus]

I have to admit that 20 dex is pretty high for a Tank. I thought privileging Str and Con would have left a lower stat for Dex, which is why I was suggesting improving the the AoO the character already had, and not looking for new ones.

Between magical books and magical gear, I think DEX 20's very doable while getting STR to 30 and CON at least 20. If it sounds like an awful lot of attribute points, maybe it is, but this whole thing is mainly an experiment anyway -- these characters took on H4 after all, and I think they deserve really terrific epic 3.5 writeups. Certainly nobody in the party started with any 8s.

Course, that'll make it all the better if they break out of retirement and take on an actual adventure only to learn that I still have a mean streak as a DM.

Btw, All Deft Opportunist does is add +4 to hit to the character's AoO. And just to nitpick, I think Dex 20 would give you 6 AoO per round. One base plus 5 for the +5 Dex bonus, unless the SRD has been corrected by a more authoritative source.

Okay. For some reason I always read Combat Reflexes as:

If you have the Combat Reflexes feat you can make as many attacks of opportunity as you have points of Dexterity bonus.

I'm sure the player will take the extra; I'm not anticipating any complaints at all on that one. Five seemed about right when I was thinking about it so maybe we can shift some gear cash into CON... ponder ponder. Thanks for the heads-up.

EDIT: But what a silly misreading that is on my part, now that I think of it. Suppose you have DEX 13 and Combat Reflexes... how many AoOs do you get? Obviously it's got to be more than one, for the price of a feat. So 1+DEXBON *must* be right.