Q182 : Where can i find a copy of the Masochist (hit me please) build by Stoned Golem on the wizards board? It died in the transition, apparently, and some of the concepts would serve a character of mine well now, but I can't remember it all.
A182Here the web archive link -- but it takes FOREVER to load.
here's the first post:
[spoiler]
Of course, lowering your AC is a bad thing. That didn't stop the Complete Warrior from including no less than three ways (Banzai Charge, Inspire Recklessness, Shock Trooper) to increase your offensive power at a massive cost to your AC. Now usually a little bit of AC loss (rage, charging) is a necessary evil and can be compensated for. Once your pass a certain point however, you might as well just say "screw it" and go all out. There isn't really a big difference between AC 8 and AC -8 once you get past very low levels, so I figured if you're going to be a sitting duck, there must be a way to turn it into a strength.
The Masochist
(Races of Faerun, Complete Warrior, Book of Exalted Deeds, Unapproachable East, Enemies and Allies)
Barbarian 2/Fighter 4/Frenzied Berserker 10/Warrior Skald 1/War Chanter 3
Worships Illmater obviously
Feats
1st: Intimidating Rage
Fighter 1: Power Attack
3rd: Destructive Rage
Fighter 2: Cleave
Fighter 4: Combat Expertise
6th: Righteous Wrath
9th: Dodge
12th: Weapon Focus
15th: Karmic Strike
18th: Combat Reflexes
Noteworthy Equipment: +5 Valorous Wrathful Healing weapon of choice, Retributive Amulet, +5 Empyreal armor of choice
Strategy: When you're going into Banzai mode, activate Karmic Strike, switch your armor's bonus to your saves, and Inspire Recklessness on yourself. Frenzy if you want, then Supreme Power Attack your entire BAB, sacrifice your AC to make up the difference, and go kill things.
End result: You'll probably get hit A LOT, but that's okay, at least if it's up to the number of times you can use Combat Reflexes. Whenever you do get hit they take half the damage, plus you get an AoO against them, and you heal half of that. On a charge you can deal a minimum of 80 extra damage, healing 40 for yourself in the process, while normally you do a minimum 40 and heal 20. If you do frenzy, Righteous Wrath should keep you from accidentally turning on your friends, and even if your HP do drop below -10 at some point you can possibly get it back up by killing enough things before frenzy wears off.
Since you're going to get hit anyway, you transfer your Empyreal armor bonus to your saves to better protect against insta-kills, dominations, and everything else. Do it all-out and you should end up with a negative AC, which although stupid, does make sense within the rules. After all, if a 1st-level commoner attacking from prone with a weapon he isn't proficient in and rolling a 2 can end up with a negative to-hit, it makes sense that you could have negative AC too. The sad part is that said commoner could probably hit you.
Of course this only works against physical melee attacks (and partially against melee touches), so it should be used judiciously. Against one-dimensional bruisers or lots of little cannon fodder guys though it can be wild. With a Ring of Freedom of Movement and making the weapon Magical Beast Bane by my calculations you could literally go toe to toe with the Tarrasque and win. It would never miss, but if your Dex was at least 20 you could counter every hit, never miss your counterattacks, and heal more than you were hurt on everything but a critical bite. Combined with your own attacks, the big T should slowly but surely fall if it didn't retreat.[/spoiler]