Stop hitting me!

[Diirk]

He's in plate so an upped dex won't help him.
Starting value of a 9th level character halved is 18,000 so I'm pretty sure he can't affort things like rings of spell storing, adamantine armour, etc.

That said, Fullplate +3 is 10650, a Falchion +1 for 2350 ish (forget cost of a falchion but close enough), leaving 5000.. enough for maybe a +2 str item for offense, or an amulet of natural armour and a ring of protection for defense.. if you get the defensive items thats 24 AC, probably about the best you can do given your funds.

 

[Majere]

General SOPs of our group fighters
Full defence and expertise are your friend. Learn to love them.
Position yourself to make sure you cant be flanked
Depending on how important it is to the character: Loose the falchion take a shield, in the end your going to lose up to 7 points of ac and other nicities you can stick on there.
Defending weapon
Amulet or natural armor
Ring of protection
Shield of spell sorting into which you have protection from (element) or similar
PFE
Shield of faith
Buy +1 armor with lots of tricks and have the cleric cast magic vestments on you for the AC buff.
Ditto druid and barkskin
Periapt of wisdom (everyone needs +4 on their will save )


Eventually things are going to hit you beause the have +25 to hit... with their weakest attack .. at that point you want to forget ac and look for other tricks
Fortification increases in power as your levels go up
Displacement is a god send, if/when you can get a majour cloak its worth every single penny AND giving up a major cloak of resistance IMHO.

Dont forget to have the mage cast mage armor on you every day.. because you never know when there with be an icky touch attack.
And remeber PFE means summoned cereatures cant use their natural weapons on you !

 

[Sir Whiskers]

This is only indirectly related to your question, but if you haven't already, take Improved Toughness (from Complete Warrior) as soon as you can. It grants +1 HP per level, which will at least help keep your fighter on his feet a bit longer.

Concerning items, unless you can come up with a good mix of AC boosts, your AC will never be spectacular compared to your opponents' BAB. At the higher levels, miss chances will help more. For example, a minor cloak of displacement grants a 20% miss chance and is 24,000 gp (I know - that's probably too much for you right now, but well worth it when you can afford it).

For spells, Blur, displacement, entropic shield (personal), mirror image (personal), stoneskin would all help - try to get your wizard to buff you with some of these, especially if it looks like a tough fight. Your only option for the personal-range spells is a ring of spell storing (minor - 18,000 gp). Protection from evil has a range of touch and grants +2 AC vs. evil opponents - see if the wizard or cleric will cast it on you. Alternately, get some potions at 50 gp each. Most other useful potions are too expensive to use regularly, except for the healing ones, of course.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Pile of tiny items could be good: Ring of deflect +1, natural armour +1, luck bonus from somewhere. Etc.

+X Mithral Full plate and a reasonable dex/dex boost items works OK, but it isn't a cheap solution.

+X Animated shield is another good but expensive answer.

Both of these are good when you've already racked out the minor items.

Expertise is great, but you need a good basic AC to start with. However 2 handed style + power attack is probably more useful for putting the bad guys down before they can hit you.


I'm sure the party cleric can find a spare Magic Vestment!

As the levels go on, hit points become more important - Heal spell is a great friend at higher levels....

 

[Darklone]

Multiclassing with one level of sorcerer for True Strike and Shield spell might be nice if your DM is generous.

 

[Darmanicus]

Fight defensively, or resort to full defense if things are going badly. Anybody can do this, without gold or feats.

Expertise. Not sure if it works with a falchion, though.

Duel-wielding spiked shields? (kidding)

Fight defensively? Expertise? Sorry but I'm too busy hitting things HARD! Anyway it smacks too much of girly elf type tactics........no thanks!

 

[Darmanicus]

Best solution is to make friends with some casters who will help you out. Barkskin, Shield of Faith, Magic Vestment, that sort of thing. (And Stone Skin if you can manage it

If you could scrape up the money, a Ring of Spell Storing would be perfect. That would let your friends charge it up with some spells on their "off days" so you were not a burden during the adventure. Better yet, it would let you cast "personal" spells on yourself (like Shield, or Alter Self for natural armor).

For a cheaper option, I guess I'd buy a wand of Alter Self and spend my time as a lizard man. With one cross-class rank in Use Magic Device, you can even use it on your self (so long as you have the time to waste on retries before you need that half-hour of scaly goodness). That would cost 4500gp.

As I've said previously, there's a problem with one of the 'casters' although the priest is nice enough..........for a dwarf.

I'll have to check out that ring of spell storing though and see how much I could load it up.

I'm sorry, but no self respecting Paladin would be seen dead with a wand! "What's that tucked in your belt then?" I hear you say. Well........ they're sticks, a stick of cure light and a stick of bless weapon so there!

 

[Darmanicus]

Ring of Force Shield

Where do I find this?

 

[Darmanicus]

Funnily enough - see if you can get ahold of an item of 'reduce person'

Surprisingly, being reduced isn't going to hurt you as a fighter (small) vs. a fighter (medium) _if_ you focus on your critical hits (keen falchion, imp crit, etc. whatever you can do).

Falchion at 18-20 will go to 16-20 with any one of those (lower in 3.0), assuming 3.5 rules.

Reduced fighter gains +2 Dex and +1 AC for a total of +2 AC and +1 to hit with weapon finesse weapons.

That's one option.

Second option - plate mail is nice armor - horrible to your dex. If you have a decent dex modifier, go with something lighter. Quicker speed, lower check penalty, and more dex to your AC.

Third option:
Forget plate mail entirely (ac 8) and use items of mage armor and the like - you can match the AC of plate mail, or better it, fairly easily (as mentioned, easier if you have spell casting buddies)

Fourth option:
Use tactics. You can legally advance to the first threatened square and ready an action to hit something if it hits you (this would then include both the weapon or the creature when triggered). After the first such action goes off, ready an action to hit creature and 5' adjust. This works best with reach weapons, of course, but similar variations with swords also work.

Other tips:

Use cover/concealment. Force that miss chance vs you. Buy incense, carry lamp, smoke the area and force miss chances. An item of darkness works great in 3.5 if you are an elf, or the like. hide behind trees, bushes, rocks, other characters, whatever works.

At 9th level with an AC of 20, you are going to get hit. Period. Any fighter of 9th level will have a +9-+18 to hit range. That'll hit you 50% to 90% of the time. If you 'accept' that and build a wrestler type - let 'em hit, then grapple.

A diffferent concept - look up Karmic Strike in the Complete Warrior. If they hit you, you hit them as an AoO. You can trip or grapple on an AoO. With CR, you could trip them on a hit, trip them when they stand etc.


Personally, I'd dual wield Falchions with Imp Crit, 2 wpn fighting, imp 2 won fighting, 2 wpn style, 2 wpn defense (FRCS feats), combat expertise, and an item of reduce person.

Assuming plate + no dex or even chain shirt with +4 dex, you can hit 24-25 AC fighting defensively, or better. With imp crit and a 16-20 crit range on your 4 attacks, you stand decent odds of doing similar damage as you are currently. Possibly better if your GM will allow Wpn Finesse on Falchion...

Take one level of rogue and bluff, or max out intimidate and shake your opponents to get either SA +1d6 or +2 AC (shaken = -2 to attacks and saves) vs a single target.

IMO anyway

Doesn't improved crit with a falchion make the range 15-20?

Dual wield falchions? They're 2 handed weapons.

Can't get rid of the armour, if I do and am stocked up with magical trinkets then all it takes is one lucky dispel so the armour has to stay as back up.

Can't use shield either as it's not my characters thing.

Some good ideas though. I like the concealment thing. Maybe I could get an alchemist to create some heavy duty smoke grenades, mind you it'd work both ways wouldn't it?

 

[Darklone]

Ring of Force shield wouldn't help you cause you wield a twohanded weapon... it's only a shield after all. A light one made from force, but still a shield.

Doesn't improved crit with a falchion make the range 15-20?

Right.

Dual wield falchions? They're 2 handed weapons.

Right.

Can't get rid of the armour, if I do and am stocked up with magical trinkets then all it takes is one lucky dispel so the armour has to stay as back up.
Can't use shield either as it's not my characters thing.
Some good ideas though. I like the concealment thing. Maybe I could get an alchemist to create some heavy duty smoke grenades, mind you it'd work both ways wouldn't it?

Well, if you don't want to fight defensively nor expertise nor use a shield... get used to getting hit hard. Improve your hitpoints, options are given above. Amulets of Health are cool. Try to get temporary hitpoints as much as possible (Vampiric Touch, False Life, Aid spell, Bear's Heart...)

Though it looks like Displacement is your best bet.