D&D 3E/3.5 No ideas for character

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some stuff I like when playing stereotypical melee warriors in 3.5Ed:

1) Use a Hvy Flail or Maul (CompWar): Hvy Flail 2hd Martial Weapon, 1d10 19-20x2, bonuses to trip or disarm; Maul 2hd Martial weapon, 1d10x3 bludgeoning Not many critters are resistant to bludgeoning damage.

1a) the Greatspear (CompWar): 2hd Exotic weapon, 2d6x3 piercing, Reach, 10’ RI when thrown. Lots of fun, but if you go this route, you should invest in the feats that make pole arms more effective (mostly in things like Dragon Compendium, etc.)

1b) if you take something more mainstream like a bastard sword or 2hd sword, pack a Morningstar as your backup for the same reason as the maul or flail, and also does piercing damage.

2) find a way to boost your strength and/or size- potions, gauntlets, belts, etc.

3) boost your AC as much as possible

4) if you like playing brainy warriors, Knowledge Devotion (CompChamp) is virtually a must, but works best when you’re playing a class that already has access to Knowledge skills & some skill points. Dipping into something like Ranger or Marshal would be a solid option to maximize the feat’s benefits. You might also recommend the feat to the person playing the Ranger:

Knowledge Devotion Feat

 

[GrimCo]

Yeah, been a while. Sorry bout bugbear. Try to find template or low LA (+1/+2) race that gives you STR and CON and doesn't give penalty to INT if you go Warblade route. Other option, take human for extra feat, 10 levels Crusader/Warblade and 2 levels of fighter.

Exotic weapons usually aren't worth the feat you burn on them.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Exotic weapons usually aren't worth the feat you burn on them.

FWIW, there’s also ways to be weirder than normal, and still be effective, including Exotic Weapons. Most obviously, investing a single feat in something like the Bastard sword, enabling you to wield it 1-handed as an exotic weapon: your damage gets a boost, but you can also use a shield.

Then there’s fighter variants, alternative class features and so forth. The Exoticist from Dragon is one example that focuses on exotic weapons in particular:

Exoticist​

Some fighters train so they can seek adventure. Others turn their training into an adventure. Exoticists forgo training in traditional, mundane weapons and focus solely on the rare and bizarre. They rely not only on their ability to wield these weapons, but on their opponent's inability to counter them.

Class Skills​

The exoticist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Class Features​

All the following are class features of the exoticist.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The exoticist is proficient in the use of simple weapons, all armor (heavy, medium, and light), and shields (including tower shields). The exoticist also gains proficiency with four exotic weapons at 1st level.

Bonus Feats: The exoticist gains bonus feats as the normal fighter class does, but the exoticist must select bonus feats from the following list (any of the bonus feats that apply to a specific kind of weapon must be applied to an exotic weapon that the exoticist is proficient with): Blind-Fight, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Far Shot, Great Cleave, Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, Greater Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical, Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Initiative, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Sunder, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Lightning Reflexes, Manyshot, Mobility, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Reload, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run, Spring Attack, Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Defense, Weapon Finesse, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Whirlwind Attack.

Special Abilities: The exoticist may choose any of the following in place of a bonus feat. To use any of the abilities described below, the exoticist must wield an exotic weapon with which she is proficient.

Dazzling Display: By making a flamboyant display of her weapon, the exoticist hides attack maneuvers, suddenly lashing out with an unexpected blow. The exoticist gains a +4 bonus to Bluff checks to feint in combat.

Exotic Attack: The exoticist not only learns to wield strange weapons, but to wield them strangely, and this unusual technique is more difficult to counter. The exoticist gains a +2 bonus to opposed trip attempts she initiates using her exotic weapon and opposed disarm rolls.

Strange Strike: The exoticist learns to fully exploit her knowledge of exotic fighting styles. She gains a +1 competence bonus to all attack rolls if her opponent is not proficient with the weapon the exoticist wields.

 

[GrimCo]

I'm not familiar with classes from dragon magazine. But from reading this, it's mediocre class at best. Best martials, hands down, are Crusader and Warblade from Bo9S. Stances and manouvers make huge difference. They are almost on par with casters.

Exotic weapons in most cases aren't worth it, but there are some exceptions, depending on the build. There are decent amount of martial weapons if you scour the splatbooks that you don't really need exotics. Bastard sword in sword&board build is okay, since you give up damage anyway.

In 3.5, most damage comes from bonuses, not weapons damage dice itself. 2hd gives you 1.5 str mod, then add focus (to remove some penalty from PA), specialization, power attack (doubles for 2hd), magical bonus from weapon (+ to damage, removes bit of penalty from PA). All that adds up to decent amount, which is guaranteed damage on every hit, and multiplies on a crit (that's why you want either weapon with high crit mod, so when you crit, you crit hard, or with high crit range, so you can crit more often).

FE, you take regular old Falchion. 2d4 damage isn't that much. But it crits on 18-20 * 2. With 20 str,spec, power attack. You have +7 from str, +2 spec, take -3 to hit for +6 damage, now you are at +15 damage. If you take +1 keen falchion, damage is +16, crit range 15-20, with warblade that adds int mod to crit confirmation, you can pretty realiably dish out 4d4+32 damage. Other option is something like my favourite, schythe. At crit, you deal 8d4+64 damage. For 8d4, average damage is 20. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. Or Greataxe, with it's *3. It's average weapon damage is 19.5 on crit, but your bonus is 48 for this calculation.

Even if you aren't critting, you are dealing solid damage round after round.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm not familiar with classes from dragon magazine. But from reading this, it's mediocre class at best. Best martials, hands down, are Crusader and Warblade from Bo9S. Stances and manouvers make huge difference. They are almost on par with casters.

Not arguing mechanics, but I personally never liked them or anything from Bo9S. Different strokes for different folks!

(Despite hilarious accusations to the contrary, I’m not any form of mechanical optimizer.)

As for exotic weapons? I’ve played Greatspear (or similar) wielding Dex-based warrior builds with good results. Each was fully committed to the shtick, with Combat Reflexes, Improved Combat Reflexes, Deft Opportunist, Hold The Line, etc., plus some way to increase from size M to L (usually potions, but one dipped into a caster class and had Enlarge).

The first time I played the build, the character fought from the second rank (behind the party’s Barbarian), and did the most melee damage when the party faced groups of attackers. The second time was at a con- the Enlarged Greatspear-wielder kept a green dragon from closing when it couldn’t use its breath weapon.

 

[GrimCo]

Before Bo9S came out, my go to for melee was 2 levels of fighter, then cleric all the way. For fun, oversized weapon, plus Monkey grip. Enlarge is good until you get Righteus Might ( +4 str, +2 con, +2 natural armor, DR 3/evil that rises to DR6 at lv 12).

For dex builds and exotics, i used elven curve blade or elven thinblade (dual wielded) mostly.

To be fair, i haven't played vanilla 3.5 since PF1 came out, so i'm sure there are better combos out there than what i propose, but i'm going from simple and effective builds. 3.x had tons of splatbooks, so i'm sure there are some templates that would be cool for this build, just don't have time to scour old books.