The Infamous Spiked Chain Madness

[Folly]

Don't forget you can disarm any held item. So not only can you bone the fighter, but the cleric as well (no Divine Focus prevents a lot of spells)

 

[Felix]

The funny thing is, I am planning on using this as a monster! It's mostly to show the players that wicked creatures do exist and can counter a lot of their "one trick pony" characters.

The spiked chain wielding monster will seem overpowered to your party because he will be facing a group of bipedal Medium-sized opponents. Against this particular kind of creature, the spiked chain build does well. Against other kind of creatures, it's better to have a Spear (for lockdown builds) or a Greatsword (for damage).

EDIT:

This is why you pick up the Stand Still feat (in the SRD for 3.5, expanded psionic handbook). Forego damage on your AoO, and instead the target needs to roll Reflex save vs DC 10 + your damage roll or stop movement.

Useful for when fighting extremely large, four-legged, and strong creatures. That can be a massive Reflex save to beat and it stops them from closing as long as your reach beats theirs.

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.

I imagine an answer to this dilemma is: "Well, there's a feat that..." There may be, but the spiked chain build is so feat-intensive that it almost becomes prohibitive.

Exotic Weapon Prof
Combat Reflexes (Dex 13, for multiple AoO's)
Combat Expertise (Int 13, for prereq)
Improved Trip (For +4 trip bonus and attack afterwards)
Improved Disarm (To keep people from holding things in your reach)
Stand Still (vs non medium bipedal foes)
Weapon Finesse (?) (For attack, in case your Str score isn't that good)
Power Attack (?) (Str 13, for damage, in case your Str score isn't that good)

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.

 

[VanRichten]

Here you go SJ. This is a character you can throw in as an encounter that will give your players a good run for their money. For all of those in the forum do note this a character made using 3.0 Rules and nothing more than the 3.0 Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide.

(Note Attributes were taken from the stats for a Level 1 NPC Fighter in the DMG, and then Half Fiend Template, Plus Levels and Magic Item Effects. Magic items were based on the DMG chart for determining gold based on level.)

Human Half-Fiend Fighter

Level: 12 (3 for Half-Fiend, 9 for Fighter)

Hit Points: 9d10 (81 Hps Avg)

STR: 22 (+6), DEX: 18 (+4), CON: 16 (+3), INT: 14 (+2), WIS: 12 (+1), CHA: 10 (+0)

FORTITUDE: 12, REFLEX: 10, WILLPOWER: 7

BASE ATTACK BONUS: +9/+4

AC: 26, TOUCH AC: 16, FLAT FOOTED AC: 22

SQ: Darkvision 60', Immune to Poison, Acid/Cold/Electricity/Fire Resistance: 20, Darkness 3x/day, Desecrate 1x/day, Unholy Blight 1x/day, Poison 3x/day, Contagion 1x/day

FULL ATTACK (Natural): Claw/Claw: +10/+10, 1d4 + 3/1d4 + 3, Bite: +15, 1d6 + 9

FULL ATTACK (Spiked Chain, Main Hand): +13/+8, 2d4 + 7
FULL ATTACK (Spiked Chain, Off - Hand): +13/+8, 2d4 + 4

STANDARD ATTACK (Spiked Chain): +17, 2d4 + 10

FEATS: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, Blind Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Spiked Chain)

Weapon: +1 Wounding Spiked Chain

Armor: +2 Light Fortification Chain Shirt

Shield: +1 Animated Large Steel Shield

Hands: Guantlets of Ogre Power

Fingers: Ring of Protection +2, Ring of the Ram (w/50 Charges)

Feet: Slippers of Spider Climbing

Neck: Necklace of Fireballs Type VI

Back: Cloak of Resistance +3

Quiver: Javelin of Lightning x5

Carried: Potion of Blur, Potion of Haste x2, Potion of Enlarge, Potion of Cure Serious Wounds (X4), Potion of Cat's Grace, Potion of Aid, Oil of Slipperiness (x2), Tangle Foots Bags (x4), Thunderstone (x4), 30 Gold

Tips for Playing

Play this character intelligently as he does have a higher than average INT for a fighter.

Use the Oil of Slipperiness on himself and Potion of Cat's Grace before the encounter takes place.

Have him use the slippers for running up walls and other sorts of barriers and use his reach with the chain to attack foes from those positions. Since he will most likely be on higher ground this gives him a +1 Bonus to Attack.

Use Thunderstones on any Arcane Casters and Tangle Foot Bags on Divine Casters.

Target your Rogues or other high dexterity based characters with Disarms/Trips.

Target the Fighter types or those Strength types with the necklace of fireballs. Or even better have the area they are fighting coated with the extra Oil of Slipperiness.

Trick to this guy is keep him at range from the party. Keep him mobile and you should give the party a run for their money.

 

[sjmiller]

Here you go SJ. This is a character you can throw in as an encounter that will give your players a good run for their money. For all of those in the forum do note this a character made using 3.0 Rules and nothing more than the 3.0 Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide. <snip: character>

Fascinating! A most interesting character indeed. I can tell you that I would have never thought of it, or if I had I doubt I would have come up with this particular combination. Thank you very much! I will let you know how the encounter turns out with my adventuring group. I think I have just the place for them to encounter him and he may prove to be a recurring villain.

 

[VanRichten]

Thanks and glad I could help. Incidentally if you want to give it some flair figure that his fiendish half is that of a Kyton (chain devil).

 

[sjmiller]

FULL ATTACK (Spiked Chain, Main Hand): +13/+8, 2d4 + 7
FULL ATTACK (Spiked Chain, Off - Hand): +13/+8, 2d4 + 4

STANDARD ATTACK (Spiked Chain): +17, 2d4 + 10

FEATS: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain), Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, Blind Fighting, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (Spiked Chain)

Weapon: +1 Wounding Spiked Chain

Okay, I quoted this stuff because I am a bit confused, or at least unsure about a few things. A spiked chain is a large weapon, which means a medium-sized character needs 2 hands to use it. The Full Attack shows using a spiked chain in both hands, or am I mistaken? Even so, he only has the one (rather nasty) spiked chain. Now, is the full attack listed for when he is taking the Enlarge potion? That would make sense then, because bing large means he could wield it one-handed. That would also explain the Two-weapon Fighting as well. Just trying to make sure I am reading this right. It's not often I use elaborately created characters like this.

 

[eamon]

I'm not familiar with 3.0 anymore, but was the spiked chain merely a one-handed weapon?

In any case, if your party is quick-witted, this wont work well:

Any tumbling character will avoid AoO's almost entirely, and casters can hardly fail to cast defensively at those levels - if you can even see them, since many will be able to be invisible.

Another thing: even if your trip modifier is 10 higher than your opponents, you have a 1% chance to be tripped yourself... if your advantage is +8, that chance is 3%, if it's only +4 it is 10%. Unless you're much stronger than your opponent, you will eventually be tripped yourself.

The tactic is good; but it's especially so when your biggest strength is somehow exploitable - and that strength lies in slowing others down. If your side of the combat has the superior ranged firepower and/or good defenses, it works great. Alone... it's not as easy; and you'll be outclassed in terms of damage output by fighters focusing on that so there is some trade-off.

 

[Felix]

Okay, I quoted this stuff because I am a bit confused, or at least unsure about a few things. A spiked chain is a large weapon, which means a medium-sized character needs 2 hands to use it. The Full Attack shows using a spiked chain in both hands, or am I mistaken? Even so, he only has the one (rather nasty) spiked chain. Now, is the full attack listed for when he is taking the Enlarge potion? That would make sense then, because bing large means he could wield it one-handed. That would also explain the Two-weapon Fighting as well. Just trying to make sure I am reading this right. It's not often I use elaborately created characters like this.

He did note that he was using 3.0 rules when the chain was a double weapon; he also has Ambidexterity as a feat.

 

[VanRichten]

To SJ: Those stats are based on not having the Enlarge Potion in effect. I left that because you might not want to use it. Adjust as normal when using it. Yes he is using it in two hands the reason for the off hand attack damage being slightly less is that when using two weapons you get only 1/2 the strength bonus to the off hand even when using a double weapon.

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.

 

[frankthedm]

He did note that he was using 3.0 rules when the chain was a double weapon; he also has Ambidexterity as a feat.

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.