Need help! Creating a spare character: Axe Fighter theme

[Nightfall]

This is really simple. I'm bored, I deal with a power monger friend whose ALWAYS changing characters (or at least thinking up new ones), and thus I want to front line good in case my Githzerai paladin bites the dust.

Requirements:
Must be a fighter type.
Race: Any but favor Str and Con Score
Level: 5 but any ELC of +5 or lower, acceptable
Campaign setting: eberron (but WotC acceptable is good)
d20 is allowed.

Feats: Any

Hope that's a help!

Sincerely,
Nightfall

 

[Legildur]

I know nothing about Eberron, and never play any non-standard races, so I won't have the ultimate solution that you are perhaps looking for.

As far as front line axe fighters go, you can't go past a good dwarf!

Races of Stone has a fighter substitution level for dwarves that grants the Axe Focus (Ex) ability, which grants grants you Weapon Focus for all axe-type weapons.

And of course, dwarves can treat a dwraven waraxe as a martial weapon and wield it in one hand (or 2 hands if you want the extra hitting power).

Options are to stay straight fighter and go the heavy armor and maybe tower shield route.

Another option is to multiclass as a barbarian (2 levels) to gain rage 1/day, fast movement, and uncanny dodge (as well as boosting Fort save and gaining a bucket load of decent skills if you take it at 1st level).

And you could look at taking the Exotic Weapon Master PrC from Complete Warrior that ups the two-handed damage of the dwarven axe and may (depending on your DM's reading of the rules) allow you to 2-1 Power Attack when wielding the axe in one hand.

There is a weapon style feat (can't remember if it is Complete Warrior or Races of Stone) that allows the use of armor spikes as an off hand weapon when wielding a great axe (shame it isn't combined with a dwarven waraxe).

Feats? Well Wpn Focus (or Axe Focus), Wpn Specialisation, Power Attack and Cleave are fairly clear cut. But after that, it comes down to personal preference. There is a feat (Races of Stone again?) that allows you to apply your racial Dodge bonus versus giant type creatures against any creature larger than you. And Extra Rage (if you multiclass into Bbr) could prove useful.

 

[Nightfall]

Leg,

Well reason I want non-standard races is I'm tired of feeling I'm not getting the oohmp out of my character when he attacks because he's Githzerai paladin. Also most of the "standard" races don't intrigue me enough anyway. (Course my feeling underpowered might come from the gestalt warmage/warlock. But there you are.)

I would prefer to fight two weapon axe style. But using great axe is an option.

 

[rowport]

I agree with the dwarf fighter idea that Legildur is suggesting. Instead of a (predicable, but reliable) heavy-armor dwarf, I would suggest a Ranger/Barbarian two-weapon stylist, using a Dwarven Waraxe with Hand Axe. Feats include several of the Complete Adventurer two-weapon fighting ones, plus Quick Draw (for throwing axes), and Monkey Grip to use large axes. Optimized? No. But Cool.

 

[Nightfall]

Hm...maybe instead of hand axe, waraxe and great axe. Some food for thought. Thanks Row.

 

[rowport]

Sorry, I missed the "non-standard race" requirement!

OK, in that case, go an unexpected direction (as if your current character is predictable...!). How about a stealth fighter Dark Hunter (from Fiend Folio and Dragon last October)? A two-axe Ranger with the natural hide/shadow abilities would be pretty nifty. Go towards the Shadowdancer PrC. Cool.

 

[Nightfall]

Row,

It's not "required" so much as "high desireable." But Dark Stalker eh? Now THAT has potential. Thanks Row. Not 100% sure about Shadowdancer but it has some great versitility to it.

 

[Alzrius]

Nightfall,

I think you should go with an orc (not a half-orc, a full-blooded orc). They get +4 to Strength; sure they take mental ability negative modifiers, but who cares if you're a fighter, and you can take the Daylight Adaption feat to get rid of that light sensitivity problem.

With that Strength, you should then wield a greataxe. The trick here is to wield not just one, but two small greataxes (ones meant for gnomes and halflings; also, try to get them masterwork at the very least), one in each hand. That way, you can wield them as one-handed weapons that still do 1d10 damage and have a critical multiplier of x3 (your +4 to Strength will balance out the -2 penalty to hit for inappropriately sized weapons). After that, take the full range of Weapon Focus feats for them (Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus, and Greater Weapon Specialization) along with all the Two-Weapon Fighting feats, and maybe Improved Critical, and watch yourself deal bloody death all over the battlefield.

 

[Nightfall]

Great suggestions Al. I'll keep them in mind. Thanks.

 

[Iku Rex]

With that Strength, you should then wield a greataxe. The trick here is to wield not just one, but two small greataxes (ones meant for gnomes and halflings; also, try to get them masterwork at the very least), one in each hand.

Not a good idea. Rule of thumb: +1 attack = +2 damage. +1 damage for -2 on attacks is a bad trade. (Edit: It is indeed, but in this case it's more like +2 damage for -2 on attacks. Still a bad trade.) For the same reason he'll usually want to avoid dual-wielding one-handed weapons.

Attack bonus can be converted to damage with Power Attack.

I second the Orc though. I'd use a dwarven waraxe and aim for exotic weapon master (CW). High Str + Uncanny Blow = Ugly. Maybe some sort of charge-specialist? (I'll see what I can come up with... )