Help my Fighter - Suggestions welcome

[Dr_Sage]

Good evening!

My fighter is a dwarf soldier, ex-member of a light infantry division, now adventuring to his 3th level.

So far he has:

Str -16
Con - 18
Dex - 12
Int - 10
Wis - 12
Cha - 10

- Battlerager Vigor, but hes more built like a defender, both in personality and strategy (scale mail + heavy shield + battleaxe).

* Dwarf Weapon Training;
* Toughness;

w-> Cleave;
w-> Crushing Surge;
e-> Shield Bash;
e-> Boundless Endurance;
e-> Sweeping Blow;
d-> Comeback Strike.

So far I have being tough as a piece of iron, so I have been sucessfull in protecting my friends from melee waves of orcs and kobolds. I miss my attacks a LOT, more becuse of my astonishing rolls (usually on the 1-5 range on the d20), than the lack of "to hit".

I have no idea what to develop next, so I am here open to suggestions.

I am priorizing durability and defense in all of its forms, and I am open to suggestions of powers, feats, stats etc.

I come to you - more experienced people - becuse many times something that looks amazingly good is crap when the time come... and somethimes we dislike some feat/power, and actually that is the stuff you would like to have.



At first I am considering:

* Switching from Crushing Surge to Brash Strike.
* Getting rid of Bouldless Endurance... I almost never remmember to activate...
* Getting the Multiclass Warlord Feat (Student of Battle), becuse it fits the character and allow me to save someone´s butt with Inspiring Word (even mine).
* Getting the Ranger Multiclass Feat becuse there is a LOT of ambushes in our game, and I am a soldier that cannot hide very well (I would get stealth). Hunter´s Quarry once per encounter would also fit my style of play.
* Martial Freedom seems VERY interesting... but how often would that be usefful? If someone grabs me it seems not to work (text says the bonus is only for saving trowns, not ability checks).


Ideas? Suggestions? Criticisms?

 

[Rafe]

Hmmmm... Given you're a 'tank' style Fighter, I'm a bit surprised you don't have Tide of Iron. (That said, I don't have MP book, so no clue what Brash Surge does.) Cleave is good for marking and Tide of Iron is good for maneuvering enemies which can help you clear them off a Striker or Controller so they can spend a full move action instead of just shifting... or just to maneuver enemies into places you want them to be.

Unstoppable tends to be better than Boundless Endurance, in my opinion, though it depends when you use Boundless Endurance. The 6 point regeneration (given your stats) is alright, and it gets better at higher levels (when you spend more time bloodied since you 30/60 is a larger range than 16/32). For a Dwarf, I think Unstoppable might be better since you don't want to become bloodied in the first place. For a Dragonborn, Boundless Endurance. Kind of a toss-up. Better to get advice on that from someone who's played a higher level Fighter.

For equipment, with your stats, I'd go with Craghammer and, once you get into Paragon Tier, look at Hammer feats (Hammer Rhythm, etc.). Make the most of your high Con by using Hammers.

Otherwise, it looks like a good character to me. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Cleave is good for marking

How so?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Cleave was good for marking before WotC ruled that only the enemies you actually roll attacks against are marked.

 

[Dr_Sage]

Ops

Cleave was good for marking before WotC ruled that only the enemies you actually roll attacks against are marked.

Jeez... is this official? Cleave does not mark 2? If this is the case we have been playing wrong.

******************************
Help me here guys... more suggestions?

 

[evilbob]

I have to say that this is the first fighter build I've ever seen without Brute Strike as your level 1 daily, but that doesn't make it a good idea - just popular. (It might help if you're always missing, though.)

As for practical advice, I would continue to avoid feats like power attack: your attack is already too low to take more off of it, and the dwarven weapon training gives you the same benefit without the minus to attack. Plate armor might not be a bad idea for a feat, but then again if you're worried about stealth checks, maybe not.

Overall I'd say you're doing pretty good for what you're going for, and your future ideas seem solid, too. The only thing I'd change is swapping an at-will for Reaping Strike; guaranteed damage is something that's hard to pass up when you miss a lot. Reaping Strike and avoiding power attack are trademarks of the dwarf fighters I've seen.

 

[Krensus]

I've been playing a similar dwarf fighter in RPGA games, with a very close build to yours.

Firstly, I definitely agree you should change to Brash Strike. It gives a better bonus to hit than charging, makes you do ridiculous damage (In your case I think around 1d10+10 or 11), and if you're in the thick of things, chances are your enemies will be able to get CA against you anyway. I also agree that Tide of Iron is amazing, especially if you have a rogue or a few other melees so that you can herd monsters into CA. And as someone above said, no, Cleave doesn't mark the other target. You have to actually attack to mark, and Cleave just spits out damage.

I advise Pass Forward over Boundless Endurance. It lets you maneuver to maintain flanking with other melees or to a better position to stop a bad guy from running with Combat Superiority.

As a shield tank, I would definitely recommend picking up Shield Push. It lets you push an enemy 1 square with combat challenge, and it's an interrupt so if they provoke a challenge attack for melee attacking an adjacent ally, you can move them back and invalidate their standard action, as they are no longer in range. Devoted Challenge is also a good feat for Dwarf fighters, but your wisdom is somewhat low to make it completely effective. I know these feats go outside your plan of prioritizing durability, but I think in a lot of cases that durability isn't any good if someone else is getting beat on.

 

[garyh]

Don't forget that Dwarven Weapon Training grants you access to superior axes and hammers. Just thought I'd point that out since you listed a battleaxe, and I figure if you're using Martial Power, you probably have access to and a DM amenable to Adventurer's Vault.

Official DWT Ruling: Ask Wizards: 11/14/2008

EDIT: Can someone link to something official about Cleave not marking the second target? I've never heard of that.

 

[Dan'L]

-I'm interested by your decision to wear Scale instead of Chain, and thus forgo the extra damage that Battlerager Vigor would grant. Does the extra 1 AC really make that big of a difference to your ability to be a defender?

-Unless you are having no use for the temp HPs you're getting from Crushing Surge (which will stack, thanks to Battlerager Vigor), I'd probably keep this At-will. Especially if you're considering swapping out other heal-oriented powers.

-If you're having trouble figuring when to activate your Boundless Endurance, perhaps something like Shielded Sides would give you a clearer cue.

-My take on multi-classing is that it should make in-character sense. From your description, I'd guess that Warlord is more in-line with your concept, but you'd be the best judge. Remember that if you want training in Stealth, you can always just take a Feat training in that. Also, remember that if you multi-class into a Warlord, you gain access to feats that have "Warlord" as a pre-req.

-If you go with multi-classing into Warlord, and gaining the once-a-day Inspiring Word, you might consider re-training Comeback Strike to something more along the lines of "the best defense is a good offense." Take particular note of Lasting Threat from Martial Power for a daily that combines hard-hittingness with the defendery goodness of a permanent marking.

-Dan'L

 

[Danceofmasks]

Cleave doesn't have a second target.
If it did, it would mark both.