Gnome Fighter

[Land Outcast]

What would I do...

A gnomish gunslinger if your rules allow it...

If not, something similar to:

1st Level: EWP (Repeating Crossbow), Point Blank Shot
2nd Level: Rapid Shot
3rd Level: Weapon focus (Crossbow)
4th Level: Weapon Specialization (Crossbow)
5th Level:
6th Level: Rapid Reload

Of course it is not a powerbuild, who'd go for a crossbow for a powerbuild?


If you are going ranged with :

a halfling, go for daggers... or a sling
an elf, go for bows
a half-orc, go for javelins
a gnome or a dwarf, go for a crossbow
a human, go for whatever suits you...

a half-elf: go for insults... and run!

 

[Prophet2b]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

With your bonus to AC and Con, you make a better melee fighter than ranged fighter.

This actually helps a lot. In fact, this makes me think about doing melee over ranged primarily. One of my favorite fighting cross-classes to do is Swashbuckler/Fighter, but I never really considered just how it'd work with the gnome. That looks like a pretty sweet deal...

I have to give this more thought now. I'm excited.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Check out the Blade Bravo PrC in Races of Stone, very cool gnome dex fighter class. It's sort of a cross between the Duelist and the Gnome Giant Killer. Try a ftr/swashbuckler/bravo tank fighter, but stack up those dodge bonuses in favor of the heavy armor. Dual wield, too.

 

[Legildur]

Well, if you are going to go melee, have a look at Races of Stone from WotC. There are a few handy feats in there - namely Titan Fighting, which enables you to apply your racial Dodge bonus against giants when dodging larger (medium sized or larger in this case) opponents.

There's also the Blade Bravo PrC, which is a light fighter.

 

[Warehouse23]

I have found great success with a gnome Ftr/Paladin/Cavalier as a melee combatant. Combining a medium mount with the +1 to attack (small) and the serious of charge-improving feats produces a PC who can hit once per round with devastating effect. The +1 to AC (small) also helps in a "tank" role.

 

[Gnome]

If you're going the DEX fighter route, I'd strongly consider going with a whisper gnome if the DM allows them.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Yep. It is. But it doesn't mean that the DMG is right

Yes, indeed. We used 25 point buy for most our campaigns, including Age of Worms now. So 25 is already sufficient for tougher campaigns, and 28 point buy is probably for overpowered campaigns...

I think the suggestion to go with crossbows is a good one. You see them rarely in the game (especially at higher levels, and never "dedicated"), so it should be a fun and distinctive experience alone for that.

Ability Scores:
Str 14 [12 with racial adjustment. For Carrying Capacitiy]
Dex 16
Con 14 [16 with racial adjustment]
Int 12
Wis 10
Cha8
Optional:
Reduce Dex to 15, Strength to 12 (before adjustments), or Wisdom to 8, to put more points into Intelligence (increase to 14) or compensate weak charisma and wisdom.

Feats:
1st level: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot at 1st level.
2nd level: Rapid Reload
3rd level: Weapon Focus ("Preferred Crossbow") or Exotic Weapon Profiency ("Super Cheater Crossbow* ")
4th level: Weapon Focus ("Prefered Crossbow") or Crossbow Sniper [PHB II]
6th level: Far Shot, Weapon Specialisation ("Prefered Crossbow") or Crossbow Snipler [PHB II]
8th level: Weapon Specialisation or Improved Critical ("Preferred Crossbow")
From now on, you are free to take whatever you like.

Variants: Considering ignoring the Weapon Focus tree for a while and instead concentrate on Mounted Archery. At higher levels, Riding Dogs aren't a good choice, so look out for magic items (like the Ebon Fly) or magical beasts (like the Hippogriff). Leadership might be not such a bad choice.

Skills:
Take as you see fit. If you go the Mounted Archery route, 5 ranks in Handle Animal and a maxed Ride skill are your goal. Jump and Climb become less important at higher levels in that case, otherwise ensure that you have positive modifiers even with armor. Intimidate isn't so great for small size characters, on the other hand, a Intimidating Gnome is fun.

*) Whatever looks like a good exotic crossbow. You should probably go for more damage then more attacks, since this progression includes the Rapid Reload feat anyway.

 

[Legildur]

Yes, indeed. We used 25 point buy for most our campaigns, including Age of Worms now. So 25 is already sufficient for tougher campaigns, and 28 point buy is probably for overpowered campaigns...

<shakes head in disbelief> I don't know how you do it! Our parties would never survive on such a low point buy. I don't know why this is the case, as our tactics aren't so bad, but I do know that magical items can't be bought and we only get what we can find. Otherwise, more power to you!

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

<shakes head in disbelief> I don't know how you do it! Our parties would never survive on such a low point buy. I don't know why this is the case, as our tactics aren't so bad, but I do know that magical items can't be bought and we only get what we can find. Otherwise, more power to you!

There is always a town (or city) in the area where we are allowed to buy (at full price) and sell (at half price) magical equipment. Thus, we can easily customize the equipment, but it still doesn't change that we often enough have to rely on what we found first (and that we still follow the wealth guidelines). And I think we often still have a wide assortment of items which is not neccessarily overtly specialised.
Characters might die a bit more often, but Raise Dead is usually available at the levels where it's worth to get raised.

It certainly helps that we have a few very experienced players and we know all the standard tactics - or develop new ones when we play unusual character combinations (like with a Monk and Druid instead of a Cleric and Rogue).

 

[wmasters]

Personally for a gnome fighter I'd be tempted to go TWF and go with a gnome hooked-hammer specialist, but that's possibly in part because I like the racial weapons.

Min-maxed stats on a 28 pt buy (which is what I normally play at) would be something like this:
Str 16 -> 14
Dex 16
Con 14 -> 16
Int 8
Wis 8
Cha 8

Personally I'd drop the Str to 14 -2 racial adjustment and have some of the mental stats too
So for feats I'd be looking at something like this (with a fighter build):
1st: Two Weapon Fighting, Two Weapon Defence
2nd: Weapon Focus (Gnome Hooked Hammer)
3rd: Power Attack
4th: Weapon Specialisation (Gnome Hooked Hammer)
6th: Cleave, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
8th: Improved Critical (Gnome Hooked Hammer)

I guess you could go down a ranger route with this as well, and pick up TWF and ITWF that way, losing Weapon Specialisation and Two Weapon Defense and picking up Improved Critical at 9th (or multiclassing and picking it up at 8th with a level of fighter).