Player looking to "jazz up" character

[kengar]

One of my players is running a 7th (nearly 8th) level Fighter (FRCS campaign) who uses a 2-Bladed sword. His problem is that he is a good general fighter (decent archer, decent melee) in a party with 2 specialists (half-orc barbarian for melee, elven ranger for archery). He's a little frustrated with the character, so I'm trying to offer possibilities on ways to make him more interesting/effective. Prestige/Multi class, feat selection, etc.

Here's some of the basics for what he has so far:

STR 16, DEX 16, INT 10
CG Human Male
Feats:
Exotic Weapon: Double Bladed Sword
Ambidexterity
Two Weapon Fighting
Point Blank Shot
Rapid Fire
Weapon Focus
Weapon Specialization
Power Attack

What recommendations should I give him? Ideally, it should be something that:
1) won't be overshadowed by the other fighter-types &
2) won't cause him to overshadow them.

 

[Wippit Guud]

Improved disarm would be nice. He has a large weapon, bonuses for that.
(this assumes he takes lvl 8 fighter)

Multi-class way, psi-war would be nice, could turn him into Darth Maul, and he'd still get a feat at 8th level. (and 2 at 9th). Can take feats like psionic charge and up the walls.

 

[shilsen]

Improved disarm would be nice. He has a large weapon, bonuses for that.
(this assumes he takes lvl 8 fighter)

He can't get it with only a 10 Int (13 required).

A simple fix might be to pick up some rogue levels. With sneak attack damage, evasion, and extra skill points, he'll be a lot more effective than he is now, both in and out of combat.

 

[Wippit Guud]

Huh... why was I thinking it was Dex based...

 

[kengar]

I was thinking of suggesting a level or two of rogue to him, shilsen. There is a "thug rogue" in the party as well (Rog6/Ftr1), whose Spring Attack & Sneak Attack has been a little frustrating to the player as well. Not sure how that would work out. It may just frustrate him in that he is gneralizing further.

iirc, there was a PrC somewhere called "Blade Master" or some such, whose forte was attacks/round; which was why he took 2-blade sword originally. Can't remember where I saw it offhand & don't have my books with me.

EDIT: TEMPEST! That was it, Spatula! Too bad about double weapon though.

WG, interesting suggestion re: Psi-War, but we aren't using psionics in our campaign. Thanks though!

 

[Spatula]

He's not smart enough for Improved Disarm. What about the Tempest PrC? It'll take him a while to get up in power, but eventually he'll be getting tons of attacks... no, that won't work, Tempest doesn't work with double weapons, how stupid. And he's not smart enough to get into the Weapon Master PrC.

You might tell him to just stick with it for a few levels. Take Improved Crit at 8th - with all his attacks he should be threatening often. Take Improved Two-Weapon Fighting at 9th which will give him 4 attacks/round vs. the half-orc's 2. Take Cleave at 10th for the extra melee attack when he drops someone. If he gets as far as 15th he can pick up Greater Two-Weapon Fighting for 6 attacks/round.

He should also start searching for something to boost his strength. Or convince the spellcasters in the party to give him a bull's strength every day - he'll get more benefit out of it than the barbarian because he gets more attacks.

Multiclassing with psychic warrior isn't a bad idea, either, although it will slow down his ability to get the two-weapon fighting feats.

 

[MerakSpielman]

A few levels of rogue is good....

You could put a different poison on each blade.

Come up with powerful-sounding phrases for when you attack, full round attack, power attack, etc....
"Whirling dervish of death!"

 

[Jeremy]

Check out the netbook of feats, double weapon fighting and improved double weapon could take him to much closer to the halforc melee'er.

Netbook of feats is heavily reviewed and even has ratings for each feat that rank them by balance, usefulness, etc.

Also, if you can arrange for something to happen to his weapon (something good mind you, not a rust monster or something), that might make it more interesting to him too. Especially if the sword starts talking to him.

 

[kengar]

Also, if you can arrange for something to happen to his weapon (something good mind you, not a rust monster or something), that might make it more interesting to him too. Especially if the sword starts talking to him.

They just got back to Silverymoon with a modest pile of cash and items to sell. He should be able to afford some custom enchantments at this point.

EDIT: This brings up a Tangential question; I know that -when enchanting a double weapon- you have to enchant each "end" separately, but how does this realte to things like the weapon's total "+ __ equivalent" and the cost of further enchantments?

For instance, suppose the PC has his MW 2-bladed sword enchanted to +1/+1. Is that a +2 equiv when calculating costs or is it two +1's? Also, what about enchantments like Throwing or Returning? It doesn't affect one side v. the other, so do you need to enchant each end for that or will once on the whole weapon do?

(I posted this question separately from this thread here as well.)

 

[Taren Seeker]

I definitely recommend he stays on the imp 2 weapon route. Right now he feels like the 1/2 orc is outdoing him, but the extra 1 or 2 attacks will balance it out, and even outstrip the 1/2 Orc.

When you reach high levels, I find 2 weapon fighting to be much better in terms of damage than 2 handed fighting, especially when you consider high crit ranges and effects that add extra damage.

Improved crit at 8, imp 2 weapon at 9. He'll see the payoff soon enough, especially when he gets a keen effect and some weapon enhancements. Also, he should take Greater 2 Weapon as soon as he qualifies.

For PrC's, I've always liked Holy Liberator (don't know if it fits his character concept) which he could take at 11th if he chooses Iron Will at 9th and Imp 2 weapon at 10th.

*noticing the ranged feats, tangent*
Hmmm...how cool would a throwing/returning two-bladed sword be? Wind Ninja Chronicles, anyone?
/tangent