WANTED Melee Types that stand up longer Apply Within

[Caliban]

Caliban,
The breachgnome is a prestige class from Races of Faerun.

Remember that he's effectively level 11 (like your example).. 8 from levels, and 3 from his race (ECL+3). And using the table in the DMG, that means 66000 gp starting money..

Bah. Supplements I don't own don't count.

 

[Endur]

Part of it depends on the group mix.

Suppose you have six players, and five are spell casters/archers.

That means only one character is "melee-oriented", which means that nearly all melee attackers will have the option to focus their attacks on the melee character, which means unless he is very tough defensively, he's going to have real problems.

Now imagine a party that has six melee characters (no spell casters or archers). For this party, all the PCs get involved in melee and the risk is seriously reduced.

3e promotes more specialization than prior versions of D&D, so it also increases the benefit of having your character specialize in defense.

Tom

I have been playing DnD with a group of 5 others for a combined total of around 70 years of play and have only now under the 3rd edition rules noticed how hard it is to be a melee type. Our group are steering away from them vowing not to play melee types. We are choosing casters and archers to try and live longer. Has anyone got any ideas on a character that is hard to kill. That is a great all rounder. good defence and attack. i dont mind what race or what class a hybrid type is good too (Hybrid is a melee who dabbles like a ranger or Pally) Also any ideas on magical items might help too .

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Another possibility:

Ftr 2/Wiz 6/Spellsword 2

Str 14, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 14 (+2 lvl, +4 headband), wis 10, cha 10
Feats: Dodge, Power Attack, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Expertise, Improved Trip (or Greater Combat Reflexes), Expert Tactician (Song and Silence) or Quickdraw, Scribe Scroll, Extend Spell (3e) or Craft Wondrous Item (3.5e)

Equipment: +4 mithral chain shirt, +3 large shield, +1 ring of protection, +3 cloak of resistance, +1 one handed weapon, +4 headband of intellect, eyes of the eagle, 3kgp in masterwork guisarme, etc.

Spells:
1: Shield (3e), Protection From Evil, Magic Missile
2: Bull's Strength (3e), Cat's Grace (3e), False Life, Mirror Image, Glitterdust
3: Haste (3e), Blink, Dispel Magic, Greater Magic Weapon, Fly
4: Polymorph Self, Improved Invisibility

Skills: Note that spot and listen are class skills for Spellswords so spend all your spellsword skill points in one or the other. You should end up with a +20 spot or listen when your familiar is next to you and the other score in the vicinity of +9.

Tactics:
Bull's strength, cat's grace, and possibly False Life on you. Greater Magic Weapon on your Guisarme and main weapon.
If you use it, Polymorph into a Troll or Annis hag (this is a short duration tactic with 3.5e polymorph)

The enhancement bonus from your spells will stack with the abilities gained from the polymorph.

3e AC:
+3-+4 dex
+1-+2 deflection
+0 to 8 natural
0 to -1 size
+1 dodge
+4 haste
+7 cover
+8 armor
+5 armor (shield)
Total: 23-48 (53 with expertise); typical beginning of combat AC 30-31

3.5e AC (Note no use of the shield, cat's grace, or haste spells)
+2 dex (might want to buy some +2 gloves and +2 headband and +2 bracers of health to suck up the extra damage)
+1 - +2 deflection
+0 - +8 natural
0 to -1 size
+2 dodge
+8 armor
+5 shield
Total: 28-36

3e tactics: Haste and Shield are good round 1 defensive spells
Blink and Imp Invis give an extra attack from Expert Tactician (although Imp Invis makes you useless as a shield for other characters unless you move out front and use Imp Trip on your AoOs to stop opponents who move to attack them)
Polymorph gives size and strength to make excellent use of improved trip (especially on AoOs)
Leave spell slots open and prepare extended buffs and GMWs at the end of the day if you still haven't used the slots. They'll last several hours into the next day.

3.5e tactics (?):
Polymorph Self will be the only way to squeeze a good AC out of the combo and you'll have to forgo the reach of your guisarm in favor of the shield's AC bonus
Blink and Mirror image will combine quite nicely to make you very difficult to hit for several rounds.
Improved Invisibility will work wonderfully well for your defense but makes you useless as a shield for other characters unless you have polymorph running and can use imp trip to stop your enemies movement on your AoOs.
Leaving Spell slots open is much less rewarding than it was in 3e.

 

[tarchon]

In our group, the Monk is the perennially alive character. Being able to run away with a 60 move is really cool, plus the phenomenal saves.

 

[Naar]

A Psychic Warrior with high Str who has manifested one of the biofeedback chain of powers takes some damage from each injury as subdual damage. If you have a wrathful healing weapon (from Enemies & Allies), you heal half the damage you deal out on a hit. Whenever you heal normal damage, you heal an equal amount of subdual damage. When I tried this out, using a Half-Ogre, it worked very well.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

2Naar:
Your healing both subdual and "lethal" damage with the sword ability? I believe the normal rule for this applies only to the cure spells, and if it is not a cure spell, it won`t do what you described. Otherwise, the tactic is good.

 

[Naar]

From the SRD:

When a spell or a magical power cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of subdual damage, if any.

The weapon quality is described as positive energy flowing into you, even to the point of damaging an undead wielder, which is the same as a cure x spell.

I can't take credit for this tactic, though. Whoever came up with it, I salute you.

 

[hong]

The knight IMC has an AC of 31 at 8th level. Not much can touch him, unless you start tossing fireballs around.

Dex 13
Full plate +2
Large shield +2
Amulet of natural armour +1 nat. armour
Ring of protection +1 deflection
Improved Dodge (homebrew feat) +2 dodge
Indomitable (homebrew feat) +1 luck

In one session a dragon did a full attack on him, and MISSED with everything.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

So the overall lesson here seems to be:

Do anything and everything to jack up that AC.

 

[hong]

So the overall lesson here seems to be:

Do anything and everything to jack up that AC.

Yup. While it's true that attack bonuses usually outpace AC, there's no reason you can't be the exception to the rule. Also, while high AC may not always stop the first attack, it can still be useful for stopping _iterative_ attacks.