D&D 3.x Good Melee Builds For Low-Wealth 3.5 Campaigns?

[sporkpimp]

Hello, ENWorld!

So, my DM runs a (very) low-wealth Eberron campaign. When I say very low wealth, I mean that in our current campaign, not a single one of our five level 14 characters has magic armor, and the warforged fighter was using a +1 Keen Greatsword until level 12. My Fighter 2/Artificer 12 has no magic gear other than a ring of Featherfall, a ring of Warmth, and his self-crafted Animated Tower Shield. (Well, and his Packmate and Dedicated Wright homonculi.)

Now, the entire group in this campaign went for full spellcasters or psions with the exception of the Fighter (who later went Draconic Shaman), and in the next campaign this DM runs, even she's going for a full spellcaster. For a nice change of pace, and to fill the now-empty role of front-line tank, I'd like to build a front-line meleeist of some kind -- a fighter, warblade, barbarian, whatever.

So my question is: what are my options for a front-line melee fighting build that will hold its own at such a low level of wealth?

All Eberron and WotC core books (Complete Warrior, Tome of Battle, PHB 2) are allowed, but the Vows (including Vow of Poverty) are explicitly off-limits. Right now I'm looking pretty hard at the Warblade because of the offensive potential of the maneuvers combined with the d12 hit die, but I would love to hear any other options.

-Albert

 

[Cedric]

I'd say go Half-Orc Barbarian/Fighter...with enough Fighter levels for the extra feats to round out your character (at least 4 levels for Weapon Specialization, but I recommend 6th level to get the extra feat and bump to your saves). Go with a 2h weapon, crank your strength and go the power attack route.

If you can convince your GM to let you, take "sense weakness" as a feat from the Draconomicon...it requires Weapon Focus and Combat Expertise, but you should have both of those anyway. Sense Weakness allows you to ignore 5 points of DR with a weapon that you have Weapon Focus with.

Also, make buddy, buddy with your favorite cleric and get him/her into the habit of casting Magic Weapon or Greater Magic Weapon on your Greataxe.

 

[Thanee]

Yeah, some Greater Magic Weapon would be good.

One level of Barbarian with Extra Rage is almost mandatory, I guess.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Goldmoon]

Forsaker from Masters of the wild if your DM allows it.

 

[IcyCool]

Forsaker from Masters of the wild if your DM allows it.

Er, oddly enough, the Forsaker isn't really "low magic". Most of his class abilities depend on him destroying magic items, which generally aren't very common in a "low magic" world.

 

[Goldmoon]

Er, oddly enough, the Forsaker isn't really "low magic". Most of his class abilities depend on him destroying magic items, which generally aren't very common in a "low magic" world.

Only his Damage reduction (which isnt very good anyway) relies on destroying magic items.

 

[ThirdWizard]

The best front line fighter in a low wealth game is a cleric.

Otherwise, to be frank, a non-spellcasting character will be fairly useless. I've been there, so I know.

 

[kerbarian]

I'd agree with the others on the general idea of relying on other party members for buffs to make up for the lack of magic items. Greater magic weapon, magic vestment, and such are good. Far better, if you can get it, would be polymorph.

One build I like (but haven't tried yet) is to start with a changeling fighter 4 / warshaper 4. Warshaper 4 gives you a whole pile of useful abilities -- immune to stunning and crits, an extra natural attack, +4 str, +4 con, +5' reach, and fast healing 2. You could go with barbarian instead of fighter, or a mix, but you wouldn't have either as a favored class (changeling is necessary to continually get the warshaper benefits), so mixing them is a little awkward.

Another option would be to try a master of many forms. The main problem is that it would take several levels before the melee ability really kicks in. Until then, you're just a druid. But once you get it going, it's pretty scary. At druid 7 / MMF 2, you could continuously stay in the form of a cave troll, and you could use enhance wild shape to get its fast healing 8 (plus darkvision 90', low-light, and scent). War troll at 12th level is even more broken.

 

[IcyCool]

Only his Damage reduction (which isnt very good anyway) relies on destroying magic items.

Are you sure? I seem to remember looking at that and seeing that it was mostly a useless class unless you were destroying magic items all the time. I'll have a look at it when I get home, I guess.

I'll second ThirdWizard on the Cleric idea, although any class with spellcasting abilities (Bard, Paladin, Ranger) is probably a good choice for this sort of campaign.

 

[gabrion]

nm...skip right over this

Edit: My vote definately goes for one of the Tome of Battle classes. Warblade is a solid option, but don't overlook the crusader. They are great at shrugging off and healing damage, so while they lack some of the flare of the other two classes, they seem much more durable, which can make a big difference in a campaign where you don't get to rely on a bunch of magic items.