Front-liners

[roguerouge]

Is there a "hold the front-line" melee class that actually works at mid to high levels? Given the deep dissatisfaction with vanilla fighters, what actually works to fill this party role? What build works best at this? I'm talking Core and Completes only, no psionics or BoNS stuff.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

I think your best option is a knight who specializes in defense.
AC and hp are all you have, but that's all you asked for.

 

[Jack Simth]

Cleric and Druid do very well at that. The Druid has two stats to worry about: Wisdom and Constitution. The Cleric also needs a little strength and Dex (but not much). The Druid Wildshapes into something with a good AC, and boosts it with spells. The Cleric wears armor for a good AC, and boosts it with spells. Both self-heal.

The Minor Shapeshift reserve feat (Complete Mage) helps both out (the Druid can get it more easily, though, as the Druid gets Baelful Polymorph).

 

[roguerouge]

I'll rephrase then: any front-liner concepts that work and provide more than simply masochism for the player?

 

[Shin Okada]

Front-liner = Durability + somewhat threatening attack power

High AC, high saves, and enough hp are needed to be a durable character. And at least somewhat threatening attack power are needed to hold the line. Because even how durable the character is, opponents can just ignore him if his attacks are nothing. Using reach weapon with related feat is a good idea, too.

So I say, amongst standard classes, Paladin works best. In addition to high AC, it has better saves than a fighter and immune to fear. Of course, if you include various prestige classes, there are many options.

 

[roguerouge]

Building towards a prestige class is fine.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've had success with high-dex polearm "fighters" of various classes- PsyWars, Monks, Fighters, "War" Clerics, etc., and multiclass variations thereupon.

The basics:

Your PC needs to be proficient with a decent polearm or reach weapon (duh), have a dex worthy of taking Combat Reflexes, and then follow up with feats like Stand Still*, Hold the Line, Deft Opportunist, and so forth.

Refinements:

- Spells like Enlarge, powers like Expansion, racial abilities like Powerful Build, and feats like Monkey Grip or Heavy Weapon (depending upon the particular polearm) increase your base weapon damage.

- At some point, some opponent will close within your Polarm's effective range. There are 4 basic ways to get around that- using a reach weapon that can be used against adjacent foes, Improved Unarmed Combat, Armor spikes, and Shorten Grip or Short Haft (2 similar feats from different sources). Races with multiple limbs have an additional way around this- wielding a conventional weapon in addition to the reach weapon.

- Some races make better "reach warriors" than others, due to unusual stat adjustments (Githzerai and Anthro Apes have a +6 to Dex!), or other racial abilities (Half-Giants with Stomp & Powerful Build, Thri-Kreen with multiple arms = multiple weapons, the Githzerai Inertial Armor psi-like ability). Don't sneeze at that Human's extra feat, either.

- Some reach weapons are better than others, so choose carefully. Guisarmes, for instance, give a bonus to trip attacks and are only martial weapons. Greatspears (my personal fave) are 2D6 reach weapons that can be thrown if need be, but are exotic. The Kusarigama (another fave), doesn't do much damage, but can do all 3 damage types (depending upon the writeup), and as a chain weapon, can do those tricks as well.

- Some PrCls are better than others. The Kensai can be brutal- with its inherent ability to enhance its chosen weapon and the +8Str "Power Surge" (which stacks with all kinds of bonuses) can tear opponents up quite nicely.

* Stand Still appears in the XPH, but it is a general feat that also appears in another WotC supplement (which escapes me at the moment). It allows you to make an AoO to make a foe stop moving.

 

[Arkhandus]

Core + Completes? If that's a hard and fast restriction for the campaign, then, probably a human paladin with a spiked chain, the feats for it, power attack, and so on. Maybe multiclassing later for better defensive power, but I dunno what most of the PrCs are in Complete Warrior or Complete Divine. Templar's probably in one of them, and should be a good defensive-but-still-threatening paladin PrC. That one might require using a deity's favored weapon though in order to get best effect, so less trippy/disruptive than the spiked chain but maybe more damage output.

 

[FalcWP]

Well, it isn't high level (level 4 gestalt), but a player in my game is currently doing the high defense/tank role. He was trying to decide if he wanted to go the polearm route or the sword and board route when I made a silly suggestion that actually works...

Use a Small-sized spear (or other polearm of your choice) as a medium sized character. -2 penalty to attacks, damage drops a bit... but it becomes a one-handed weapon, and retains its reach. This allows for a lot of feats and abilities that require you to be threatening someone to come into play more often, while still keeping the defensive benefits of a shield.

He's decided to focus on those abilities, but a lot of them won't apply for you. As I said, its a gestalt game, and he's taken levels in Crusader, Paladin, Fighter, Knight, and Cleric. Unfortunately, Knight is PHB II (guessing that'd be allowed along with Completes, but possibly not) and Crusader is Bo9S, and they're providing the bulk of his 'get them to target me' abilities. He doesn't do enough damage to make him a primary target normally, so abilities like that are quite important. About the only thing he has that you could grab easily is the Goad feat from Complete Adventurer.

 

[Kaisoku]

You said no Psionics, but the feat "Stand Still" is not a psionic feat, just a general one. It is found in the Expanded Psionic Handbook though, but it is located in the SRD (if you are looking for reasons to call it "core").

Basically if someone leaves your threatened space (as in to get past you or get away from you), you can forego damage on your AoO and instead force a Reflex save of DC 10 + damage rolled. Failure means they stop moving.

Combine with Combat Reflexes, and you can keep people near you. Combine with reach weapons and/or size increases and you can affect a large area of "go no further".

I honestly don't know what it's doing in the psionics handbook though, since it's just a really nice feat that any Front-Liner should look at getting.