[Iron Heroes] Best Defence is a Good Offence?

[Particle_Man]

I have an idea for a character but am worried that it may not be mechanically viable, so I am looking for feedback:

I was thinking of doing a Single-Classed Weapon Master (Maul) and going for all the Weapon Focus feat (1,2,4,7,8,9,10) Vorpal Hurricane (3,9), Power Attack (1,4,5). With feats Mountain Folk (Tough as Stone, for more hp) and Prodigy (lets me use Vorpal Hurricane at level 1 instead of waiting for level 4).

Some house rules from my DM: Token generation is as per Executioner (without the "beginning of combat" tokens) + 1 token per hit vs. target (this does not become 2 or 3 tokens per hit at higher levels). Another house rule is that I get Perception as a skill group, so I will go for that, Athletics, Survival and Gather Information. Characters are required to take one background trait. On the other hand, at 16th level I am allowed to trait in the Prodigy trait for Brave, if I roleplay that bravery in the levels leading up to it (alas, swapping out feats is *not* allowed). Also, the SWSE rule of no iterative attacks and a damage bonus equal to half one's level will be used. The DM is talking of modifying the xp system to slow down advancement, but nothing specific yet (this was one of the reasons I went for Prodigy - I didn't want to wait too long for the use of Vorpal Hurricane). A final house rule is that my hp double at 1st level (but not doubling con bonus or Mountain folk: tough as stone bonus).

The styles I am going for would be: Expert Strike, Weapon Agility, Critical Strike, Precise Strike, Quick Recovery, Flurry of Strikes, Vicious Riposte, Mobile Attack and Armed Feint, in that order.

Stats are str 18, dex 10, con 18, int 10, wis 10, chr 8.

Now with Studded Leather for 1d3 dr I find my active defence is...11. Should I be worried? I could invest in some Defence feats like Mobility 3 (Spring Attack) or another Defence feat that gives Evasion-like abilities, or else some Armor feats to increase DR (the secondary feat mastery has not been decided yet, since I was going for all Power feats).

So my character right now is weak on defence (but with good hp), strong on offence. I like the character concept, but am worried I am setting myself up for a fall.

Is this character concept viable?

 

[ruleslawyer]

I would cross-post this to the IH boards if I were you; IH posting here is pretty dead.

Having no defense is only a big deal if you face foes that use Power Attack. Against them, you're going to have a hard time; if the frost giant fighting you can power attack at -9/+18, then your DR and hp are going to be run through really fast.

That said, I don't think it's that big a deal at low levels. Expect the DM to use attack challenges and Power Attack against you all the time, and expect to get targeted by all the monsters... a lot. Given your character concept, this is an advantage of sorts, since you will likely be using vorpal hurricane over and over.

One thing; I would limit yourself to 5-foot steps in combat, and I would *hide* if faced with a skilled archer. I would also highly consider taking a level or two of berserker if you're going with this concept (preferably for 2nd level so that your skill groups can be maxed before you go 'zerk), because you WILL get hit, and getting an extra 10 feet of movement or a +2 to Str and Con would be a nice bonus.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

Looks like all your skill challenges are going to be Jump, Climb, Swim.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Stats are str 18, dex 10, con 18, int 10, wis 10, chr 8.

Now with Studded Leather for 1d3 dr I find my active defence is...11. Should I be worried? I could invest in some Defence feats like Mobility 3 (Spring Attack) or another Defence feat that gives Evasion-like abilities, or else some Armor feats to increase DR (the secondary feat mastery has not been decided yet, since I was going for all Power feats).

So my character right now is weak on defence (but with good hp), strong on offence. I like the character concept, but am worried I am setting myself up for a fall.

Is this character concept viable?

I would never play a character with such focused ability scores (unless I had to). I usually top out abilities at a value of 16.

That said:
Thanks to the Armor as DR mechanic, Iron Heroes characters can have a very low Defense.
There are some tricks you can use to improve your AC, though. A high Dex, using a shield and a high Charisma with Overwhelming Presence can work wonders and make you the AC "king".

At low levels, the armors DR will very often make up four your low AC. At higher levels, the level bonus will kick in and probably compensate the reduced effectiveness of DR.

In my recent campaign (currently at level 4), there are two characters that are hard to "get by".
The Armiger is protected with his massive amount of armor based DR, and also often uses the "Roll with it" Defensive Challenge. Easy to hit, but very hard to hurt. (Many of my NPCs relied on Suicidal Attack to compensate, which made them even easier to kill.)

The Man at Arms is using the Overwhelming Presence/Shield Use approach and Dodge. He became a very hard target to hit, with an AC in the 20s against his dodge target.

Both characters couldn't be ignored - the Armiger uses a two-handed weapon and would shred his enemy to pieces, and the Men at Arms also was quite effective, even if he couldn't deal as much damage as the Armiger...

 

[Irda Ranger]

the Armiger uses a two-handed weapon and would shred his enemy to pieces, and the Men at Arms also was quite effective, even if he couldn't deal as much damage as the Armiger...

Well there's a sentence I never thought I'd see ...