Dwarven Defender

[DeathOfRats]

Also, why is combat expertise useless for a DD? I would have thought in situations that required it you would be able to get an insane AC bonus from all factors, +4 DD bonus, +4 defensive stance bonus, +5 combat expertise bonus, say +5 from a +3 shield, +11 from a +3 full plate, +3 from a +3 RoP, and +3 from an amulet of nat. armor brings you to 45 AC.

 

[Endur]

There are several problems with combat expertise from a Dwarven Defender perspective.

1) You need to have a 13 intelligence to get Combat expertise. If you are using point buy or the standard array, you are not going to have a 13 intelligence. As a Dwarven Defender, your stat priorities are Str, Con, and Dex. Dex has to be at least a 13 to get Dodge. Str for offense, if you don't have a tough offense, all the defense in the world won't matter. Con for hit points and keeping your stance going longer. Wisdom is good because, as a fighter type, you can expect all sorts of mind control/charm/hold type spells. Which means Intelligence is either going to be your 5th or 6th characteristic. If you multiclass to Paladin, then Charisma has to be high, and intelligence is dead last.

As an example, my 28 point buy Fighter/Paladin/Dwarven Defender had the following 1st level stats:
Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Chr 12, Wis 12, Int 8

2) If you don't have a high offense, all the defense in the world won't matter because the enemies will ignore you. So, I really dislike taking a -5 to hit, especially since the -5 to hit will also apply to your AOO's and your AOO's are very important against grapple attempts. Expect a lot of Giants, Trolls, Bears and so on to try and grapple you.

3) If you really want a tough defense, bring along a tower shield. Then use the tower shield when you need to make yourself even harder to hit.

Also, why is combat expertise useless for a DD? I would have thought in situations that required it you would be able to get an insane AC bonus from all factors, +4 DD bonus, +4 defensive stance bonus, +5 combat expertise bonus, say +5 from a +3 shield, +11 from a +3 full plate, +3 from a +3 RoP, and +3 from an amulet of nat. armor brings you to 45 AC.

 

[DeathOfRats]

Ah, I see. I am actually blessed with an old character converted from 2nd edition. 18 percentile strength conversions rock, and he even has a decent intelligence score of 13 so he qualifies for combat expertise.

I would have loved to do something paladinish for him, but having a charisma below 10 really puts him at a disadvantage for that.

I did take on board the comments about cleave though, and taking a look at the epic book it seems like a good idea to get improved critical to lead onto devastating critical Maybe I will take a few less roll with it's and take you up on cleave/improved crit instead.

Lvl 10 Figher/10 Dwarven Defender								

Level	Class			DR	Fort	Reflex	Will	Feats
1	Fighter				2			Dodge, Toughness
2	Fighter				3			Power Attack
3	Fighter					1	1	Weapon Focus
4	Fighter				4			Endurance
5	Fighter							
6	Fighter			2/-	5	2	2	Roll with it, Weapon Specialization
7	Fighter							
8	Fighter				6			Cleave
9	Fighter			4/-		3	3	Roll with it
10	Fighter				7			Improved Critical
11	Dwarven Defender		9		5	
12	Dwarven Defender		10		8	Iron Will
13	Dwarven Defender			4		
14	Dwarven Defender		11		9	
15	Dwarven Defender					Great Cleave
16	Dwarven Defender	7/-	12	5	10	
17	Dwarven Defender					
18	Dwarven Defender		13		11	Greater Weapon Specialization
19	Dwarven Defender			6		
20	Dwarven Defender	10/-	14		12

I don't know how your campaigns run, but a lot of the adventures I have done would be much more successful if all our characters had taken a feat to improve our saving throws so I would much rather have Iron Will than Power Attack, although I do admit that I would love to have Power Attack too

 

[Endur]

The other thing I would suggest, is if possible, go into DD at 8th level, not 11th. DD is much better than Fighter. Although if you are doing an conversion, you might have resrictions. No idea what level your character is.

Yes, without a chr bonus, Paladin isn't helpful.

 

[Kodam]

Hi!

Expect a lot of Giants, Trolls, Bears and so on to try and grapple you.

I'd suggest taking the close-quarter fighting feat from Sword&Fist to prevent exactly this dangerous maneuver.

 

[Kylearan]

Well met!

Level	Class			DR	Fort	Reflex	Will	Feats
...
6	Fighter			2/-	5	2	2	Roll with it, Weapon Specialization
...

Where do you get the DR from? Did I miss something?

Kylearan

 

[Darklone]

You missed the Roll with it feat from Savage Species... it grants DR. Stackable DR.

 

[Kylearan]

Well met!

You missed the Roll with it feat from Savage Species... it grants DR. Stackable DR.

Ahh, now I know why I shouldn't buy Savage Species - that sounds like one heck of a good feat (I don't like having PC monsters btw).

Thanks for the answer.

Kylearan

 

[DeathOfRats]

Well, PC monsters aren't too bad....except when they all want to be a different monster. It would probably work out to be a really cool game if all the PC's were monsters of the same clan and for some reason they had to do something.

As for the feat, it is marked under a general feat...has Con 20 pre-requisite making it tough for a lot of characters to take. Monster feats are quite a different thing altogether!

 

[Surfal]

Lvl 10 Figher/10 Dwarven Defender								

Level	Class			DR	Fort	Reflex	Will	Feats
1	Fighter				2			Dodge, Toughness
2	Fighter				3			Power Attack
3	Fighter					1	1	Weapon Focus
4	Fighter				4			Endurance
5	Fighter							
6	Fighter			2/-	5	2	2	Roll with it, Weapon Specialization
7	Fighter							
8	Fighter				6			Cleave
9	Fighter			4/-		3	3	Roll with it
10	Fighter				7			Improved Critical
11	Dwarven Defender		9		5	
12	Dwarven Defender		10		8	Iron Will
13	Dwarven Defender			4		
14	Dwarven Defender		11		9	
15	Dwarven Defender					Great Cleave
16	Dwarven Defender	7/-	12	5	10	
17	Dwarven Defender					
18	Dwarven Defender		13		11	Greater Weapon Specialization
19	Dwarven Defender			6		
20	Dwarven Defender	10/-	14		12

Greater Weapon Specialization requires Superior Weapon Focus and more levels of Fighter than you have, IIRC. Many DMs will allow one of the MotW toughness feats in place of the base toughness feat for DD pre-reqs. Ask your DM. If he's ok with that, I'd go for one of the better ones. Here's my suggestion:

Ftr1 Endurance, Weapon Focus
Ftr2 Power Attack
Ftr3 Die Hard
Ftr4 Weapon Specialization
Ftr5
Ftr6 Dwarf's Toughness, Cleave
Ftr7
Ftr8 Dodge
DD1 Roll With It
DD2
DD3
DD4 Iron Will
DD5
DD6
DD7 Great Cleave
DD8
DD9
DD10 Roll With It

If instead you want some more options in combat, drop WF+WS or PA+Cleave and go for Combat Expertise and Improved Trip.