Spiked Chain wielder?

[Legildur]

I've been having some fun recently with a dwarf Monk 7 doing the trip thing while wielding kamas. And now I've been thinking about what it would be like to do something similar with a spiked chain wielding fighter? I am the experimenter in my group and would you believe that no one in our groups since the advent of 3.0 has taken a spiked chain? I even got booed for taking the monk in one campain and a druid in the other (got told I might as well take a bard!!). But I think I have proved them wrong.

Basic stats are 17, 15, 15, 15, 13, 9.

I was thinking that a dwarf (for the survivability and stability bonus) might be appropriate but happy for suggestions. The Exotic Weapon Master PrC from Complete Warrior looks tempting to take the Exotic Reach, Flurry of Blows, and Trip Attack exotic weapon stunts.

Available books are (3.5E) PHB, DMG, Complete Warrior, and Complete Divine.

Str 17, Dex 15, Con 17, Wis 15, Int 13, Cha 7 with bonus ability points in Str then Dex then Con.

Ftr1 - Exotic Weapon Proficiency (spiked chain) and Combat Reflexes (F)
Ftr2 - Weapon Focus (spiked chain) (F)
Ftr3 - Power Attack
Ftr4 - Weapon Specialisation (spiked chain) (F)
Ftr5 - nothing
Ftr6 - Improved Trip and Combat Expertise (F)
EWM1 - Flurry of Blows
EWM2 - Trip Attack
EWM3 - Exotic Reach and Dodge
Ftr7 - nothing
Ftr 8 - Greater Weapon Focus (spiked chain) (F)
Ftr 9 - Mobility
Ftr 10 - Spring Attack (F)
Ftr 11 - nothing
Ftr 12 - Greater Weapon Specialisation (spiked chain)

Or would you build it a different way? Or something completely different? Should I take Improved Disarm? Would like to eventually get Whirlwind Attack... but not enough feats (well, could get it at level 17, but that seems awfully late).

 

[Darklone]

I'd think about two levels barbarian

 

[Kabol]

Spiked chain is nice - but the dmg on it is a little low - think about picking up monkey grip and either useing spiked chain with a shield - or useing a Huge spiked chain to up dmg from 2d4 to 2d6.

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

Two levels of barbarian kills the feat tree necessary for a proper spiked chain wielder.


Personally, I think no spiked chain wielder should ever overlook the JohtunBlud from Races of Faerun.

Automatic +4 on every trip, disarm, and sunder attempt.

And for those of you who say the damage is underrated... At level 7 my spiked chain wielder was outperforming the power attacking, feat focused, weapon specialized, great sword fighter of level 6. He wasn't completely optimized, but neither was my character who'd originally gone with a single level in swashbuckler - gaining weapon finesse, something that was completely unneeded

But yeah the levels of monk are just as neccessary as the johtunblud feat.

Want to have fun and make a GM's head hurt? Carry two spiked chains (you need to drop one occaisionally on a failed trip against an intelligent foe anyway)... Grab a potion of enlarge. Drop both chains, drink potion and announce your usage of the 'monkey grip' feat as you grab both chains, one in each hand.

Not in my game of course (denied) but it'll make any GM go 'huh?'

Also consider the potion of enlarge with the spiked chain in your hand... now you're doing the damage of a greatsword, except you do it more often.

Also, consider going down the karmic strike path rather than the EWM.

Furthermore, with a little careful planning, you'll find that Fighter 4 and Monk 4 are all you need for 98% of your feats... the rest you can get from either straight fighter, or mixing in a better PrC than EWM (tactical soldier? Whirling Dervish?)

Have fun! I certainly enjoyed taking out a Frost Giant at 6th level... Enlarged, 15' reach and AC enough to dodge boulders... he'd close, I'd trip, down, hit. He'd stand up and I'd AoO hit 'em. He hit me once, and I karmic striked to trip him, hit 'em, then used my action to move to 15' and ready the action to hit 'em if he approached me. He stood, hit 'em, came to me, tried to trip with AoO (missed) and hit with readied action to trip again (made) and hit again. This went on for about 5 rounds before he died.

CR11 vs Lvl 6 Spiked Chain. Swallow that, you Great sword enthusiasts

 

[Darklone]

Hmm. Why not half-giant plus Jotunbrud feat ?

 

[Scion]

Possibly drop a couple of levels of fighter and pick up psychic warrior. You lose one BAB but gain an extra feat to drop somewhere (that can be psionic if needed, possibly for aligned attack just in case, or cloak dance to hide when you need to, ghost attack if you dont want to have to put ghost touch on your weapon, psicrystal for a bit of a boost and a buddy, recklace offensive for some extra attack power although I feel this should be a general option available anyway, stand still! how can you make a spiked chain guy without it?, and up the walls for the coolness factor).

Taking psychic warrior as your first level nets you a bunch of skill points to spend on interesting skills as well, although I am not sure what it would do for the rest of your progression. Might be worth it simply for autohypnosis and search though.

 

[ForceUser]

My idea for the spiked chain guy is a fighter 10/transmuter 1 with the following feats: Combat Reflexes, Whirlwind Attack & Improved Trip. The gig would be to cast enlarge person to bump the threatened area up to 15 feet, do whirlwind improved trips, then take the AoOs when the opponents stood up. This fighter would need a high Dex & 13 Int, and is more of a crowd-control fighter than a damage dealing fighter. The idea would be that, working as part of a team, he would keep his enemies off balance and unable to act while the rest of the PCs destroyed them.

 

[Arnix]

PsyWar would also give you Stand Still which can prevent people from getting within your reach. Combine it with a high dex and combat reflexes and nothing will touch you in melee.

 

[sdt]

Excuse my ignorance as my group doesn't use expansion books, however, if you dwarf only moves 20', then Spring Attack is of limited use.

 

[Legildur]

True, Spring Attack is not a fantastic feat for a dwarf. But it is the prerequisite for Whirlwind Attack... and with an enlarged fighter wielding a spiked chain, that could be hilarious.