Help with character progression

[oneoclockbird]

sorry if this is the wrong forum...

Since the Draconomicon has been released, my GM has decided to dust off the old Council of Wyrms box set and begin a dragons-as-PCs campaign. We are having an absolute blast with it, but I have come to a point where I need to make a decision about where I am going with my PC.

I have a Brass Dragon. We are incorporating all the classes with the dragon hit dice. We are getting regular feats at every four hit dice, combining levels and dragon HD advancements. For instance, my brass is Very Young and a fourth level bard, so she is at 11HD. I have taken the feats Epic Reflexes, Wingover and Hover. She has a very high Dex (24), a high Cha and decent other stats (lowest being Wis).

I have decided that I want my dragon to begin to head toward being a Challenge of Wing and Claw fighter. In the CoW setting, that is a duel wherein the two dragons involved must stay aloft until the fight is over, and cannot use anything but natural weapons. Not even breath weapons are allowed. Brass are not the largest dragons, so I am thinking I would need a progression that would allow for a very quick, spring-attacky kind of direction.

What would be the best PrClasses/class level progression for this character? I am giving serious thought to taking four levels of fighter and heading towards Dervish. It is this sort thing I would like to head towards.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[oneoclockbird]

No one has any suggestions at all? I'm kinda surprised.

 

[italianranma]

Uhh, I have no experience at all with Dragon PCs or the Draconian or even the DragonLance setting... I know a little about making a finesse fighter though. In my experiance a finesse fighter needs a lot of help before he's ready to take on that powerattacking tank that most fighters are. If you're a finesse fighter you have a few stats to worry about instead of just STR and CON. That being said the way to survive one-on-one fights with big brutes is to not let them hit you. This is a lot easier than it sounds of course. Maybe I'm inexperienced, or don't know how to pull it off, but I can't seem to use spring attack in a one-on-one fight, even against heavy armored people.
Round 1
Finesse: Spring attack move about 30 feet away from the tank
Tank: Full defense 20' forward
Round 2
Finesse: I Spring attack and after that I am 10 feet away
Tank: Charge, Power attack, big weapon, +56 str damage, you die
Finesse: crap!

I've found that the way to win is to have an incredibly high AC, one that even if not power attacking the big guy couldn't touch. You can do this through a lot (and I mean A LOT) of feats. (CW) means it's from the Complete Warrior.
I've found that having the following is a great combo (albiet only fighters have enough feats to use it early)
two-weapon fighting
two-weapon defense
Improved two weapon defense [CW]
Now you have 2 attacks, and a +2 shield bonus, it's like getting that second attack for free! But wait there's more:
Combat Expertise
Improved Combat Expertise (CW)
Now the sky is the limit on that AC. But of course your attack rolls all suck now. If only there was a way to get that extra AC for free...Well you can dodge for a +1 but that's not really epic. You need more: you need to add your INT modifier to your AC. There are a lot of classes that do this, but most require specific weapons (aka invisible blade) or that you be an elf (blade singer). The Duelist still works though, (you also have to get weapon finesse and mobility to pick it up though). I'm sure that there are others that will do this, and if not design your own, make a Dragon Duelist(tm). Finally there is one more technique for you:
Defensive strike: if an opponent attacks you and misses while you are using the total defense action, you can attack that opponent on your next turn with a +4 bonus on your attack roll.
If you have all the feats listed above as well as 5 ranks in tumble when you use the total defense action you will get a whopping +10 AC bonus (+6 from Total defense, +4 from improved two weapon fighting).

I don't know if this will help you. If you are already quite the tank I suggest you continuing down that path and try to roll high.

 

[oneoclockbird]

This helps quite a bit, thanks!

Uhh, I have no experience at all with Dragon PCs or the Draconian or even the DragonLance setting... I know a little about making a finesse fighter though. In my experiance a finesse fighter needs a lot of help before he's ready to take on that powerattacking tank that most fighters are. If you're a finesse fighter you have a few stats to worry about instead of just STR and CON. That being said the way to survive one-on-one fights with big brutes is to not let them hit you. This is a lot easier than it sounds of course. Maybe I'm inexperienced, or don't know how to pull it off, but I can't seem to use spring attack in a one-on-one fight, even against heavy armored people.
Round 1
Finesse: Spring attack move about 30 feet away from the tank
Tank: Full defense 20' forward
Round 2
Finesse: I Spring attack and after that I am 10 feet away
Tank: Charge, Power attack, big weapon, +56 str damage, you die
Finesse: crap!

I've found that the way to win is to have an incredibly high AC, one that even if not power attacking the big guy couldn't touch. You can do this through a lot (and I mean A LOT) of feats. (CW) means it's from the Complete Warrior.
I've found that having the following is a great combo (albiet only fighters have enough feats to use it early)
two-weapon fighting
two-weapon defense
Improved two weapon defense [CW]
Now you have 2 attacks, and a +2 shield bonus, it's like getting that second attack for free! But wait there's more:
Combat Expertise
Improved Combat Expertise (CW)
Now the sky is the limit on that AC. But of course your attack rolls all suck now. If only there was a way to get that extra AC for free...Well you can dodge for a +1 but that's not really epic. You need more: you need to add your INT modifier to your AC. There are a lot of classes that do this, but most require specific weapons (aka invisible blade) or that you be an elf (blade singer). The Duelist still works though, (you also have to get weapon finesse and mobility to pick it up though). I'm sure that there are others that will do this, and if not design your own, make a Dragon Duelist(tm). Finally there is one more technique for you:
Defensive strike: if an opponent attacks you and misses while you are using the total defense action, you can attack that opponent on your next turn with a +4 bonus on your attack roll.
If you have all the feats listed above as well as 5 ranks in tumble when you use the total defense action you will get a whopping +10 AC bonus (+6 from Total defense, +4 from improved two weapon fighting).

I don't know if this will help you. If you are already quite the tank I suggest you continuing down that path and try to roll high.