The Infamous Spiked Chain Madness

[eamon]

To Eamon: I gather you might have missed the fact that the character has Improved Trip. Also remember it is difficult to hit what you cannot see i.e. Spell like ability of Darkness. Don't forget he also has Unholy Blight which most casters will not be likely to get past. Also I covered the invisible factor with the Blind Fighting Feat. And remember there are multiple things character has to slow down a group of adventurers i.e. Spike chain + feats, tanglefoot bags, spell like abilities, Ring of the Ram, etc. This character is made to be a difficult fight and is not entirely based on just the Spiked Chain. What the OP asked for was a character that could give his players a run for their money that uses the spiked chain, not a munchkin character based around the spiked chain. So I gave him what he wanted.

I think it's a great NPC - the attention to the details like tanglefoot bags make him much more threatening and well-rounded, and much more memorable too! I just wanted to point out that tripping is risky business since (even with improved trip) if you fail to trip an opponent the opponent can try and countertrip, and that even with a solid advantage on your trip check there's a very real chance that you will fail your opposed check and that the opponent will succeed in tripping you. By the way, in 3.0, Improved Trip didn't grant the +4 benefit. Tripping invisible creatures is more difficult not just because of the miss-chance, but also because you can't take AoO's against them. Anyways, spiked chain tripping is not a bad ability, but it's not as easy to really break as it sometimes seems - and as the title "Spike Chain Madness" seems to imply.

But, to reiterate, I don't think it's a bad NPC by all means - it looks like a lot of fun!

 

[Storm Raven]

Only time it was a double weapon in 3.0 was for the Master of Chains PRC. You had to have levels in the PRC to get tyhat effect.

And, if I remember correctly, when a Master of Chains used the spiked chain as a double weapon, he gave up the reach attribute of the weapon. The choice was, essentially, extra attacks, or reach, but not both.

Other than the Master of Chains special ability, the spiked chain has never been a double weapon in the 3.0/3.5 rules.

 

[Kaisoku]

This will only really be helpful if your reach is 10' larger than your opponents: they don't incur an AoO when they enter your first threatened square, but when they leave it. So they'll be 10' within your threatened area when you stop them. Likely they'll be able to pound on you at this point. You'd have to ready an action to hit and 5' step away to avoid the hit (assuming their reach is 10' shorter than yours), and in that case you've given up all your iterative attacks to get in one attack that doesn't damage them. If they decide to attack you.

...

And even with all of that, you still have ranged opponents. Sure, the Greatsword wielder will be melee-focused too, but he doesn't need to pour so many resources into his specialty to make it viable.

The point wasn't to make an unbeatable force. The point is simply to give him options against creatures that are strong against tripping. It only works on AoO, it only stops them, no prone, no bonus to hit for being prone, no additional attack for damage, no damage done at all. I've personally opted to NOT use Stand Still to do the extra damage instead.

Also, as per the rules:
"An attack of opportunity “interrupts” the normal flow of actions in the round. If an attack of opportunity is provoked, immediately resolve the attack of opportunity, then continue with the next character’s turn (or complete the current turn, if the attack of opportunity was provoked in the midst of a character’s turn)."

I can't remember where I read it as well, probably a FAQ entry, but the words "An AoO occurs before the event that provoked it" seem very familiar.

This is why when a person standing up from prone provokes an AoO, you can't trip them again, since your AoO is happening while they are still prone (before the action that provoked it is completed). You can only do other things, like disarm or damage them.

What saves a person from being tripped forever, also stops a person from moving out of the square with Stand Still. It can't be both ways.


It's not like this is unbeatable, and the primary reason for using this is so that a Fighter can keep things near him to beat on him... they will have to find a different way to get away from him. Such as doing something that doesn't provoke an AoO. Tumble, 5' step, withdraw, all wouldn't provoke.
There's a host of conditions that would prevent the Fighter from making AoOs, including running out. Being large and huge for the reach reduces the Dex of the character.

But I should stop here... don't want to give my DM more ideas to mess up my character.