I Need Staying Power

[Felnar]

so in the next campaign i'm playing an elf fighter (sword and shield)
my problem is hit points,
the -2 con is leaving me with only 10 con
what's the best way to increase my staying power from there?

 

[Tatsukun]

Well, there's the Improved Toughness feat. It turns out worse until level 4, but after that it's better.

Or of course, an item of CON. Maybe 3 levels of Cleric and take "Craft Wonderous". Make all the stat boost items you want at half price! Ok, that's powergam-y...

Combat Expertise? That'll help your AC, which is the shortcut to surviving. Or go for the Spring Attack feat chain. If you aren't there, they can't hit you.

Archery?

The Duelist class to boost AC?

That's all I can think of right now, good luck!

-Tatsu

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Pump your AC any way you can- dex, armor, whatever. Not being hit does a lot more for survivability than being able to take a hit, at least up until middle levels.

 

[Infiniti2000]

A 4,000gp amulet of health +2 directly offsets the Con loss. A belt of dwarvenkind would do the same thing, but I can't thematically see an elf willingly use that.

The other suggestions are excellent, but are over and above the loss of Con.

 

[Arnix]

Why is your con stat only a 10 after modifiers? That is REALLY low for a "tank" class.

You need
------------
Full Plate
Large Shield
Dex 12
Ring of Protection
Cloak of Displacement, greater
Boots of Speed

 

[Felnar]

Why is your con stat only a 10 after modifiers? That is REALLY low for a "tank" class.

we're using 28 point buy
and character concept /background doesnt allow dumping of cha

at level 3 i'll have 23 AC without magic gear (using one house feat)
i'll go for +con and +ac
maybe adamantine for the DR

do people feel Improved toughness is worth it as a feat?
at level 7, would you trade 7 hitpoints for a different feat?

 

[Stalker0]

If you have a 23 AC at lvl 3 I wouldn't worry too much

As for the DR idea...basically go with DR if your worried about being hit a lot (low AC)...and go wtih con items if your worried about teh one big attack.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Keep pumping your AC. AC 23 at 3rd level is doing well.

A 10 Con will be fine as long as you do not get raked by Fireballs too often.

I would go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket. Dodge and/or Combat Expertise are going to serve you better than a few more hit points. Every once in a while you will get hit big, but a few more hit points will not help you there. You just have to bank on your AC keeping you clean of the small hits most of the time so you can survive the unlucky big one.

Consider the Spring Attack chain because you will want to option of staying away from full attacks.

 

[IcyCool]

I would go ahead and put all your eggs in one basket. Dodge and/or Combat Expertise are going to serve you better than a few more hit points. Every once in a while you will get hit big, but a few more hit points will not help you there. You just have to bank on your AC keeping you clean of the small hits most of the time so you can survive the unlucky big one.

On the thought that you'll get hit big, after you have boosted your magical armor enhancement to +5, consider the fortification abilities. Being able to negate a crit is a big benefit. Also, as someone mentioned before, a cloak of displacement is a handy thing.

 

[Belbarid]

we're using 28 point buy
and character concept /background doesnt allow dumping of cha

I'm in roughly the same boat with an Elven Ranger- so I have to work with the light armor restriction to boot. Combat Expertise, Dodge, and if necessary Fighting Defensively, with flanking bonuses a MW sword, Weapon Finesse, and hitting enemies when they're not looking making up for the BAB penalites.

"So, will a 23 hit you?"
"Nope..."

Then the DM broke out the Stirges, and life got ugly.