Suggestions and Ideas for a character build.

[AlexanderVisintine]

Okay so I might possibly be doing some D&D 3.5 coming soon with friends. We haven't played a game of D&D together for like almost 2 years and I'm feeling a little rusty on the various classes from the completes and such.

We'll likely be using our classic House Rule of having a Feat for every odd level of the character as opposed to the standard character Feat progression [just putting this knowledge out there for anyone who's willing to toss me ideas or tips]

Here's what I had in mind. I'm thinking of making a kinda Final Fantasy type Dragoon character. I was thinking of running him as either a Fighter or Paladin at first and then branching around for things I just am not yet sure on what classes/feats would be optimal for taking.

I plan to have him use a polearm of some sort [most likely a spear or a light lance of some form] I plan to utilize jumping as per the concept of FF Dragoons and maybe in higher levels trying to get a smaller dragon as either a companion or mount.

Any tips/suggestions/ideas for this would be greatly appreciated as I'm looking to your brainstorming abilities to assist me in this task. We'll likely have access to most of the standard D&D WotC published books just as an fyi.

Thanks again for any help

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

First, Welcome to ENWorld!

Second, I don't know FF that well, but if you're going for a polearm warrior of some kind, there are all kinds of options.

1. There is the Combat Reflexes feat tree. CR gives you additional Attacks of Opportunity. You get more use out of them with Hold the Line, Stand Still and Deft Opportunist. I've used them all to great effect in game.
2. Design your PC with either a way to increase their size or have a party member or some magic items to do that for you.
3. Beyond the Core & Completes, there are some other books that add polearms to your game that you can pick from- Oriental Adventures, Dragon Compendium v. 1, Rokugan, etc. Some of them are definitely worth picking.

And I'm sure there are more suggestions on the way.

 

[GabrielNotchear]

I don't know much about this class, but I would recommend looking at the Dragon Shaman class in the Players Handbook II. It has the middle attack progression, and you would have to take an exotic weapon prof, but it wears medium armor, and gains a lot of dragon related abilities, including auras to enhance the party, scales, and a breath attack.

It reminds me of the dragoons to a certain point.

If you really want to go full warrior, though, a paladin of one of the dragon gods would work very well, focusing on reach and attacks of opportunity (see post before mine that covered all that rather well)

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

If you want a FF Dragoon, the Tiger Claw discipline from Tome of Battle is a good start. Try making a Warblade character, max jump, and use TC for most of your strike maneuvers. Once you get Swooping Dragon Strike at ECL 13, you'll really feel like an FF Dragoon.

There's also a feat called Battle Jump from a very early (3.0?) book called Unapproachable East. I think it's either overpowered, very poorly written, or both. But as I understand it, the feat lets you bounce around via jump checks, inflicting x2 damage on enemies as you do.

Players Handbook 2 has a feat (Leap of the Heavens?) that lets you execute a jump from standing as if you had a running start, worth taking as well. Alternatively, some races such as Goliath and Catfolk (Races Stone and Races of the Wild, respectively) get such an ability as a racial feature. Both of those races are LA +1, though (unlike most LA +1's, those races are actually worth the level adjustment at least).

For those who don't know, I mostly know Dragoons from FF Tactics, haven't played many other Final Fantasy games. Not only do they wield polearms/spears and wear knight armor, they also have the curious ability to leap...really stupidly high. In Tactics, they actually disappear from the isometric battlefield completely when they perform their jumps, not returning until they land their jump attack.

 

[AlexanderVisintine]

I'd like to thank everyone for all suggestions thus far.
I couldn't recall what Battle Jump was called or what Leap of the Heavens was in but I had considered those for the Dragoon's jump traits. Mainly since I'd planned to use them for a character a long time ago who was supposed to wield a "Buster Sword" sized weapon and throw a leaping momentum into his attacks, his training was basically geared at "Get into the enemy's area and take him out in a single blow"

As for the Dragon Shaman I LOVE that class but it'd likely be refused b/c I know ppl think it's rather overpowered, which frankly it is.

I had never honestly even thought to consider Warblade so I'll be sure to look into the options suggested with that.

Thanks again everyone and I look forward to any other great advice.

 

[Dandu]

The Dragon Shaman is a Tier 4 class whose main attraction is the ability to constantly keep the party at half HP. It eventually gets a weak breath weapon, medium BAB, along with some minor abilities.

The Dragon Shaman is weak. Overpowered classes are full casters such as Psions, Sorcerers, Wizards, Clerics, Druids, Favored Souls, Spirit Shamans, Wilders, Erudites, and etc.

Now, back to the subject.

Power Attack Improved Bull Rush Leap Attack Shock Trooper Dungeoncrasher Battle Jump

For more information, consult The Little Red Raiding Hood: A Tale and Guide to the 3.5 Dragoon

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you can't use the Dragon Shaman, see if you can take levels in Battle Sorcerer (Unearthed Arcana) or Duskblade (PHB2).

With the former, you can wear some Scale Mail (either Mithril or full weight if you take the Battle Caster feat) and take the Draconic Heritage feats, esp. Draconic Breath. You'll be able to cast Enlarge on yourself, as well as that spell in the compendium that briefly increases the size of your weapon- both increasing your Reach and base weapon damage. Multiclass between BttlSorc & Ftr (for bonus Feats).

Duskblade is a "one-stop shop" for Ftr/Mage type PCs. Full BAB + some casting (arcane casting, about on par with a Paladin's) makes them kind of fun.

 

[Theroc]

I believe the Draconomicon has a feat which grants a Dragonnel as a mount(which can be used as a Paladin's special mount... I think). Not sure if that suits the dragoon or not, but... they can jump off the mount to attack? lol

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Now, back to the subject.

Power Attack Improved Bull Rush Leap Attack Shock Trooper Dungeoncrasher Battle Jump

For more information, consult The Little Red Raiding Hood: A Tale and Guide to the 3.5 Dragoon

Adding to this...

Extreme Leap skill Trick from C.Scoundrel. Swift 1/encounter (or 1/ 5 minutes out of combat) use it to long jump an extra 10 ft. Costs 2 skill points.

Boots of Striding and Springing: Not only +5 jump, the +10 ft speed also adds another +4 jump, effectively. Magic Item Compendium says you can pay to increase the jump bonus beyond +5 (using the DMG table for skill bonus costs).

Boots of Agile Leaping, from MIC. If for some reason you want a high dex build, these let you use dex on jump instead of strength. They also let you not be flatfooted when balancing if you have 5 balance ranks, which by itself is awesome. At only 600 gp, it's totally worth paying extra to attach this to another set of boots.

Belt of Ultimate Athleticism, MIC. For only 3600 gp, you can activate it as often as you want as a swift action. That round, you can take 10 on any jump checks you make (also tumble, swim, and a few others). Once per day, you can use a swift action with it to take 20 on your next jump check.

Of course Warblade offers tons of jumping maneuvers via Tiger Claw. You'll want to shoot for the 3rd level Leaping Dragon stance. By RAW, it adds ten feet to all jumps, not +10 to the skill modifier. It's debated whether that was intended or not. It also lets you make standing jumps at no penalty, making Leap of the Heavens feat unnecessary if you make a Warblade (or Swordsage, but I think Warblade's better for this). Jump-based Tiger Claw maneuvers include:
1 Sudden Leap (move AND full attack? Sweet!)
2 Claw at the Moon
3 Soaring Raptor Strike (only works on foes larger than you but does +6d6 damage, amazing for its level. It's the reason I like to make small charcters when using TC)
4 Death from Above
5 Pouncing Charge (no jump check involved, but still awesome with Leap Attack feat)
7 Swooping Dragon Strike (huge damage, 95% impossible to make fort save or stuns for a round. Only downside is you have to vertically clear the enemy with your jump)
9 Feral Death Blow (instant death!)

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

If you like Warblade, but would like Dungeoncrasher Fighter as well, a good build would be:

Warblade 1 / Fighter 2 / Warblade 2-18

Warblade has a higher HD and skill points, so take 1st level there. Then drop into Fighter for two levels, get Dungeoncrasher at level 2, and re-enter Warblade at initiator level 3, and able to choose level 2 maneuvers. The fighter dip also delays your stance at Warblade 4 until you have 5 initiator levels, so you can get a 3rd level stance (like...say...Leaping Dragon Stance).

Dungeoncrasher improves rather nicely at Fighter 6, I guess you could go in that far, but you would fall behind on maneuvers severely. *Shrug* Look over the classes and see what you prefer.