Need help getting 'effective' shield bash

[Herzog]

The epic heroes of the Lance are not so epic.

Indeed. The fact the story is epic is mostly because of the fact they actually survive most encounters

Exactly how much freedom do you have with these characters? Can you retool their skills?

A bit.
The DM mostly focusses on story, so if he feels it is within the general 'feel' of the character, or if we can spin a nice bit of story around it, he tends to allow small changes. Within the 'normal' progression rules (NB without retraining) we get pretty much free choice (otherwise, I doubt he would ever have allowed Flint to pick up a level of Spellthief....)

Why, do you have suggestions?

 

[Dandu]

Any chance you can get rid of Spellthief? An Expert can get all the skills necessary for qualifying as an Occult Slayer.

You could go Expert2/Fighter2/Ranger2/Occult Slayer 5.

Hm... slaying mages with a hand axe and shield is going to be the tricky part, though.

 

[Herzog]

Any chance you can get rid of Spellthief? An Expert can get all the skills necessary for qualifying as an Occult Slayer.

True, but giving Flint Knowledge (Arcana) and Spellcraft as part of his 'starting' package is not really within his 'feel', I think. Besides, I'm kind of committed to changing the Expert levels to Master levels. (which have a more restrictive set of class skills, but get extra's)

You could go Expert2/Fighter2/Ranger2/Occult Slayer 5.

I'll probably be going Master2/Fighter2/Spellthief1/Ranger2/Occult Slayer 5

Hm... slaying mages with a hand axe and shield is going to be the tricky part, though.

Yep. But, it will be Fun!

On the subject of items: I was checking out the Bashing property, and since it is a +1 property I think adding it to a +2 shield is a bit expensive.
I've also checked the armor stats, and I wonder if paying the price for a mithril breastplate (or chainmail) is really worth it? It's only one additional AC when compared to a chain shirt!

 

[Dandu]

Yep. But, it will be Fun!

Depends. Are you a masochist?

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

On the subject of items: I was checking out the Bashing property, and since it is a +1 property I think adding it to a +2 shield is a bit expensive.

That's why you put it on a +1 shield.

It's true, the effective price keeps going up with the cost of the shield. But I still think it's worth it for the decent bump up in damage you're getting for 1 lower AC. Especially so if your DM allows you to enhance the shield as a weapon by upgrading from the +1 granted by Bashing (per RAW Bashing just lets you treat the shield as a +1 weapon and thus you'd have to start from scratch when upgrading it as a weapon, rather than just paying 6000 to make it +2). That's 2000 gp saved right there.

I've also checked the armor stats, and I wonder if paying the price for a mithril breastplate (or chainmail) is really worth it? It's only one additional AC when compared to a chain shirt!

It's a long term investment, since you can only sell items for half, in the long run improving on your chain shirt instead of making the switch just results in lost money. Eventually the price of upgrading the armor, which rises exponentially, will surpass the cost of 4000 to make breastplate mithral (specifically, between going from a +2 to a +3 armor) and continue to be a better deal with each passing level.

Obviously if your DM restricts buying items and you rely mostly on stuff you find, this doesn't apply.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

One interesting thing I noted a while ago for a sword and board user is that it's actually better to use a heavy shield as your main weapon and shortsword as offhand, rather than longsword as main and light shield as the offhand (if you use a heavy, it's not a light weapon and you'd suffer an extra -2 to hit). The difference in damage between a spiked Bashing heavy shield and a spiked Bashing light shield is greater than the 1 damage difference between a short and lognsword (d6 and d8), and you get +1 AC in the deal!

But...you're a dwarf and have access to C.Adventurer, so throw that out the window. You should employ your racial waraxe proficiency for your primary weapon and pick up the Oversized TWF feat so you can use a heavy shield in the offhand w/o additional penalty. The damage and AC increase is worth the feat cost, IMO.

 

[Herzog]

IIRC, shields are ALWAYS considered offhand weapons, so I'm always considered fighting with a heavy off-hand weapon when using a heavy shield, unless I take the Oversized TWF feat.

Picking up the Dwarven Waraxe might be a good idea, but that would mean ditching the +1 throwing axe I'm using right now (and ignoring or rebuilding the weapon focus I have on it) which Flint got from his brother!

I think there are going to be some situations in which we can 'buy' stuff, but I'm not sure whether we are going to be allowed to 'improve' magic items.

I'll keep the advice in mind, although I'm currently inclined to invest in magical chain and dex improvements to get my AC up. (I'll do the math on mithril vs magic to see where I need to put my focus, depending on 'given' items, 'bought' items and situations where I can improve items)