Improving my fighter!

[Gamling]

So, hi Ive a level 9/11 fighter rogue character named Diego. Hes currently my only active PC and i adore him. Ive tailored him so that against any weapon wielding foe he is largely unbeatable, yet against monsters hes not so fantastic. His high level benefits and magical equipment combined with his choices in profficiency grant him tons of combat maneouvers every combat round. This combined with his good THAC0 means he will nearly always parry enemy stikes with enough attacks left over to still swamp them in damage. His down side is that he doesnt wear anything encumbering. After a lot of difficulty, i managed to procure a mithril chain shirt (as chainmail) and this has its own DP, but still not many. Monsters are largely unparryable and so can easily damage him. Im stumped for how to improve this character, he dual wields and has japanese kotes strapped to his arms, hes an initiative mod of +4, and his DEX is 22. If anyone has any ideas let me know i also have a magic item due me, any ideas are appreciated

 

[n00bdragon]

This game sounds like it's using some supplements or house rules I've never heard of. Vanilla AD&D 2E doesn't have "combat maneuvers" or parrying attacks. I assume by mithril chainmail you mean elven chain? Elven chain might be nice if you're using your thief abilities all the time. Otherwise it's probably worth it to just give up on the ones you can't use while wearing armor and go with boring old full plate. Also how did you get a Dex of 22?

There's simply too much information missing here to comment.

 

[Gamling]

Fair enough, we do play a bastardized ADND 2E but the core principals are the same, combat maneouvers are simply attacks or parries (introduced in full detail in the fighters handbook) per round. As for the mithril, a chain shirt (such as the one frodo wears in lotr) is on a par with dwarven high quality (see fighters handbook) chainmail in strength and AC rating, the advantage
of it bieng so light is that it doesnt slow movement (full plate would take an unencumbered 12 to an unencumbered 6) yet grants the 'no armour' bonuses to thief skills (though im more interested in move silently and hiding in shadows than disarming traps). The dex 22 was a mix of things and a lot of luck... A starting 18, a lucky encounter with both the deck of many things and a homebrew magic deck called the deck of deeper magics and one well spent wish lol xP to me, dex has always been ten times more important to a fighter than strength lol

 

[I'm A Banana]

He sounds pretty competent to me. Nearly always parries attacks, with enough left over to swap into damage? Has a good AC despite not being able to be encumbered? I'm not sure what you'd like to improve, exactly.

Given that it's 2e, I'm also not sure how many rules options are going to be open to you to improve him after you've already created him. You know what your future levels will be like, your magic items are kind of in the DM's camp, and there's just not that many character-building decisions left for this character.

Which means it's all in how you roleplay him at the table.

But I might be getting ahead of myself: What is happening that makes you feel like your fighter isn't mighty enough?

 

[Gamling]

Its not that im unhappy with him at all, but in our group theres two DMs, one of which is myself. Weve drastically enhanced the guidlines set by the DMG, PHB etc etc, making gameplay more difficult in a believable and challenging way. I use this character to stretch the boundaries as much as i can get away with in the other DMs world, to try and guarantee a balance within our gaming mechanics. Basically a super character could still be felled by the simplest of things. Though hes brilliant, he can still be beaten, which is obviously important, but if theres any ways either in equipment (like a free parry from a shield), profficiency (like the special benefits gained from improved initiative), or even magic items (such as his rapier of speed), then i would employ them, or rather work towards employing them, to test the boundaries of our rules set