Impregnable Armor

[Theomniadept]

Okay, so I've got this simplistic idea; Fighter 10/Dwarven Defender 10. Feats of Dwarven Armor Proficiency, feats as follows:
1: Dwarven Armor Proficiency
1F: Shield Specialization (Heavy)
2F: Shield Ward (PH2 82)
3: Improved Toughness
4F: Heavy Armor Optimization (RoS 141)
6: Endurance
6F: Dodge
8F: Greater Heavy Armor Optimization (RoS 141)
9: Titan Fighting (RoS 145)

Obviously, as you can see I'm going for a defensive build. Shut up I want to do this and the other players claim they're invincible anyway so I'm just securing a constant share of XP and loot (sarcastic remark obviously not being offensive I just know the attitude towards defense).

I don't know what other feats to take, perhaps Improved Weapon Familiarity to get myself a buckler-axe AND warpike so my animated shield adds AC and I technically threaten 24 squares? And if there's more fighter bonus feats to take I'll add 2 levels of fighter to this to round out the 10 but if not should a couple levels of multiclassing be in order?

As far as magic equipment goes I have some homework done. Note that final costs will not add up correctly because I am listing prices as listed, then dividing all physical components by 3 because they are being crafted.

ARMOR: +5 Soulfire something Greater Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, Sonic Resistat Dessication Resistant Mithral Dwarvencraft Battle Plate with +5 Defending Armor Spikes- 300 gp for Dwarvencraft, 2,500 gp for Battle Plate, 9,000 gp for Mithral, 100,000 gp for +X armor enchants, 330,000 gp for all 5 energy resistances, 9,000 gp for dessication resistance, 50 gp for armor spikes, 72,000 gp for weapon enchants. Total cost: 522,850 gp, an amount hereby referred to as the McDuck. Crafting it myself reduces the cost to 514,950 gp.
-Problem here is I've got a +1 enchantment slot that's all empty and needs to be filled. Also I don't know if there are other enchantments that would be really good on armor.

SHIELD: +5 Animated Mithral Dwarvencraft Heavy Shield with +5 Defending Shield Spikes  - 300 gp for Dwarvencraft, 1,000 gp for Mithral, 10 gp for shield spikes, 20 gp for shield, 72,000 gp for weapon enchants, 49,000 gp for shield enchants, 25 gp for shield sheathe. Total cost: 122,355 gp. Crafting it myself reduces the cost to 121,451.67 gp.
-This one has much room for potential boosts, perhaps Arrow Catching or something?

NECKLACE: +5 Amulet off Natural Armor, 50,000 gp
RING: +5 Ring of Protection, 50,000 gp

WEAPON: The actual weapon is still up for grabs but the primary one's gonna be made of starmetal and be a +5 Defending parrying weapon (considering double weapon with other side +5 defending and just two-handing one side but that's still debatable). Cost at this point is 600 gp for dwarvencraft, 5,000 gp for starmetal, 98,000 gp for enchants.

ARMOR CRYSTAL: Greater Iron Ward Diamond - Until this puppy absorbs 50 points of physical damage my DR will be 11. After that it's still 6. 8,000 gp. No ideas thus far for a shield crystal.

_______

Thus far AC is at: 9 for armor + 2 for armor feats + 5 for armor enchant + 2 for shield +1 for shield feat + 5 for shield enchant +5 for necklace +5 for ring +1 insight from weapon + 10 base +4 Dodge from Dwarven Defender = 49
With 3 defending weapons once first round in combat comes along AC improves to 64. Defensive Stance increases it to 68 and against 1 opponent it's 69 unless they're Large or Larger, in which case it's 73 against them.

In addition the first 30 points of energy damage are nulled, 10 points of Dessication too (just in case), Energy damage, drain, negative levels, and instant death don't exist.

This is what I have thus far. I don't know of many other useful enchants/items/feats. I know Shieldmate and Improved are okay at low levels but not later on, Shield Wall gives 2 if I'm next to another ally with a shield but that's rare. And at this point I'm gonna cut the post off to post it and hope it goes through so I don't have to redo this.

[Solo]

Impregnable Armor

What, like a chastity belt?

[Theomniadept]

Impregnable Armor

What, like a chastity belt?

You put your woman in this and NOTHING is gonna impregnate her for the rest of her life regardless if she takes it off. That said, Impregnable is a synonym for impenetrable. Ever played Final Fantasy Tactics? Remember the line, "Impregnable Fortress Bethla Garrison"?

[Solo]

Yeah, I knocked it up.

[Daniel678]

As it is you will autofail almost any reflex saves (you have a +7 with minimum dex), you cannot escape from a forcecage, reverse gravity, or fight a flier without help from your party, you cannot deal relevant damage, and there is no reason for enemies to attack you other than if you physically block their path. At level 20 that just doesn't cut it.

A few suggestions to increase your defense, reduce your weapons and armor to +1 and have a mage/cleric cast greater magic weapon and magic vestments on them. If you do not have a mage/cleric in your party get leadership. You will need spells to buff you and fill the holes in your defenses. You will want a cloak of resistance +5, the weapon bonus that increases your saves by the enhancement bonus, short range teleporation, flight, and more protection from spells.

Take a look at some of the crusader lockdown builds for ideas about how to make a defensive character that can still contribute to the party.

You really should increase your offense too but I suppose that's not what you want.

[Theomniadept]

Okay I assumed the +5 cloak or vest of Resistance and +6 Belt of Magnificence were a given but I guess not. I dunno about reducing the bonuses to +1 because if I do I'd have to get 3 GMWs to regain the AC. If an enemy doesn't have reason to attack me then isn't that technically a form of battlefield control in that no matter what I'll be attacking it? And the enemy won't want to attack me meaning it's predictable who'll be targeted?

And forget ToB, that's practically never allowed and I never liked the anime-esque fighting stuff anyway.

I haven't listed anything past 8th, really. Thus far I've got Fighter 8 with the feats filled out and Dwarven Defender 10 but that leaves not only my feats at 12, 15, and 18 but also 2 levels that I'm not sure about - maybe more fighter if there's 4 really good feats I need but otherwise they're empty and open to any multiclassing thanks to Dwarves favoring fighter.

cannot escape from a forcecage, reverse gravity, or fight a flier without help from your party, you cannot deal relevant damage, and there is no reason for enemies to attack you other than if you physically block their path.

Okay, I understand this. First, what CAN escape forcecage other than Disintegrate and AMF? Second, who else can reverse gravity but a spellcaster? Third, I've got an animated shield so I can still barrage an enemy with arrows from a composite bow like a normal fighter, I can climb and swim perfectly (Armor Check Penalty in this build is -1) and I've still got open magic item slots for feet, arms, gloves, torso/back (depends on which holds Resistance bonus), head, and face, not to mention another ring slot.

The only thing more I can think of that's missing is Spell Resistance but aside from the really bad armor enchant I can't think of a good source of it.

[X-Codes]

Yeah, I knocked it up.

Epic troll is epic.

You're using Races of Stone and NOT Deepwarden for a Dwarf High-AC build?  That's more sinful than committing gay adultery with a 12-year old Catholic Priest, and then beating him to death, throwing his body into a river, and then shooting yourself.

There's a rule somewhere in one of the Races of X books that allows you to switch your racial weapon familiarities around, so you can treat the Warpike and Buckler-Axe as Martial Weapons by default, although you're not so lucky with Waraxes and Urgoshes.

Some stuff to take note of:
Steadfast Determination, because you're taking the pre-requisites, anyway.
Dungeoncrasher Fighter Varient, because you do solid damage when it works.
Driving Attack, because it gives you an ABSURD bonus to Bull Rush attacks, and you're taking that many levels of Fighter, anyway.
Combat Brute and Shock Trooper, because they're a match made in heaven.
Dwarf Fighter 1, because the Warpike and Buckler-axe are both axes.
Fireblood Dwarf and Dragonscale Husk Dragon Magic Variant, because you've got lots of levels in heavy armor classes.  Actually stacks with Armor bonuses to AC and scales to a +12 bonus.  Is untyped, and therefore applies vs. touch attacks.  Gives energy resistances, too.

So, something like...
Barbarian 1/Dungeoncrasher Fighter 6 (including Dwarf Fighter 1)/Deepwarden 5/XXX 8 with XXX being any class with full BAB and heavy armor proficiency (or that you can convince your DM to be treated as giving heavy armor proficiency for purposes of stacking with Dragonscale Husk).  Deepstone Sentinel is good, since it causes the area you threaten to be Difficult Terrain, so a cap of Crusader 4/Deepstone Sentinel 4 should work.

Feats: Endurance, Steadfast Determination, Weapon Specialization [Dwarven Warpike], Melee Weapon Mastery [Piercing], Driving Attack, Stone Power, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Sunder, Combat Brute, Shock Trooper, and either Extra Rage or Power Attack.

36 Con (25 base, +5 inherent, +6 enhancement) - +13 (note that Rage does not reduce AC on this build, the +4 Con offsets the -2 AC)
19th level Dragonscale Husk - +12
Buckler-axe with Improved Buckler Defense & Magic Vestment CL 20 - +6
Defending Buckler-axe & Greater Magic Weapon CL 20 - +5
Greater Mage Armor - +6
Barkskin - +5
Ring of Deflection - +5

= an easy 62 AC, also with Uncanny Dodge and a touch AC of 45.  A few short-term spells like Haste and Polymorph [War Troll] puts you at 75/44, if your equipment can be worn while polymorphed (it should be, magic items resize to fit their wearer, and War Trolls are humanoid).  Use Driving Attack to knock your enemies into a corner for solid damage and abuse them with your tactical feats and difficult terrain.  The very low cost of listed items means you have the cash to add just about anything else you need for immunities/flying/etc.

[Mushroom]

And forget ToB, that's practically never allowed and I never liked the anime-esque fighting stuff anyway.

I hate you

[Theomniadept]

Sorry dude. Magic Items resize but that's not true for weapons and armor, otherwise we'd all make fine sized armor models and then enchant them with +1 to save money.

What's Dungeoncrasher from? And Deepwarden may give CON to AC but that's a bit difficult to qualify as I need 15 ranks in cross-class skills (at least for fighter).

Also, Driving Attack requires Weapon Focus, Specialization, AND Melee Weapon Mastery with a piercing weapon. That's feat heavy for a defensive build. Again, why take those feats as a primary in a defensive build? I know they're good, but I'm not trying to play charging leaping pouncing frenzying loot-smacker.

And finally, I'm gonna have to see what book actually has the rule to switch around weapon familiarities otherwise it's not gonna fly.

[Solo]

And forget ToB, that's practically never allowed and I never liked the anime-esque fighting stuff anyway.

Which anime? I'm looking for a good anime to waste my time with, so if you've seen anything that's like ToB, let me know.

[Sinfire Titan]

Tanking means dealing damage while being hard to kill/ignore. Being a turtle only makes you easy to ignore, as your damage output is going to be pathetic.


Seriously, DD is a trap. Stop hating on the Bo9S and play a Crusader. Your party will appreciate it.

And forget ToB, that's practically never allowed and I never liked the anime-esque fighting stuff anyway.

Which anime? I'm looking for a good anime to waste my time with, so if you've seen anything that's like ToB, let me know.

Thank you, Solo!

[Theomniadept]

Rurouni Kenshin's cool but I'm sorry, D&D rounds are six seconds and there are limits to what an unaided human body can do. Also, Amakekeru Ryu no Hirameki cannot be said during an attack that's fast as lightning. Yelling out an attack name should give the target a no-action knowledge check to identify the move using BAB instead of ranks vs. DC 10 + move user's level + move user's dex mod. Succssfully knowing the move gives you a +4 Dodge bonus to AC against it until the end of the encounter and a +4 on saves, ability checks,a nd skill checks agaisnt whatever the hell ToB considers appropriate for a melee attack to accomplish.

[Solo]

Rurouni Kenshin's cool but I'm sorry, D&D rounds are six seconds and there are limits to what an unaided human body can do.

You're playing a dwarf.

Also, Amakekeru Ryu no Hirameki cannot be said during an attack that's fast as lightning.

How do you feel about a quickened Dimension Door?

Yelling out an attack name should give the target a no-action knowledge check to identify the move using BAB instead of ranks vs. DC 10 + move user's level + move user's dex mod.

I would just like to clarify something before I make a joke: Does ToB mandate the yelling out of attacks?

Also, Driving Attack requires Weapon Focus, Specialization, AND Melee Weapon Mastery with a piercing weapon. That's feat heavy for a defensive build. Again, why take those feats as a primary in a defensive build?

Because of the Manigot Line.

[JaronK]

And forget ToB, that's practically never allowed and I never liked the anime-esque fighting stuff anyway.

Which anime? I'm looking for a good anime to waste my time with, so if you've seen anything that's like ToB, let me know.

In all fairness, Swordsages get pretty close to a lot of anime ninjas.  Of course, Beguilers get close to Naruto ninjas too.

But Warblades?  They could be Samurai at most, but more likely they're Braveheart.  Crusaders are classic European fiction.

JaronK

[Maat_Mons]

A high-level human in D&D may very well be able to lift 2,800 pounds overhead and survive reentry from orbit without a spacecraft.  What real humans can do isn't relevant. 

Yelling out an attack name should give the target a no-action knowledge check to identify the move using BAB instead of ranks vs. DC 10 + move user's level + move user's dex mod. Succssfully knowing the move gives you a +4 Dodge bonus to AC against it until the end of the encounter and a +4 on saves, ability checks,a nd skill checks agaisnt whatever the hell ToB considers appropriate for a melee attack to accomplish.

You can already identify the maneuver with the martial lore skill.  Identifying a spell with spellcraft doesn't give a bonus to save against it, so I don't see why there should be a double standard for identifying a maneuver.  Also, maneuvers don't require you to yell anything, but many spells do. 

[Theomniadept]

Uhh....you mean Maginot Line? What's that got to do with charging with a spear and spending feats? That's artillery too, are you suggesting I specialize in arrows?

Okay, I need some clarification on that switching of weapon familiarities and the like but this is supposed to be a self-defensive build. If Dwarven Defender's so bad then why does it get Damage Reduction and Armor Class to every AC? If one person can't be hurt it means it's difficult to stop them. Forcecage aside there's methods of getting a Dwarven Defender to move - boots of flying or levitation for cheaper price just to name flight methods.

Deepwarden looks good, don't get me wrong, but for a defensive build I don't need animals - the endless graveyard of ranger companions is a testament to that. Two levels for Con to AC would mesh really well, but no more.

And where's that fighter variant from while I'm at it?

And Maat, that was a joke. How am I supposed to assassinate someone if I yell my attack beforehand to make sure he knows what I use?

Mithral Battle Plate may be treated as Medium Armor but if you treat it 100% as medium armor then it's ridiculous - there's no reason behind making armor of a different material and suddenly understanding how to effectively use the intricate plate and chain design. If it's base is heavy armor in all sensibility it functions the same for feats. Also, Restful wouldn't go well with this armor. It's Mithral and I have Endurance - I can sleep in it already.

Oh and I may have forgotten; no Dragon Magazine. i didn't subscribe, I can't find it, and from what I've seen I'd rather not.

[Solo]

Uhh....you mean Maginot Line? What's that got to do with charging with a spear and spending feats? That's artillery too, are you suggesting I specialize in arrows?

The Manigot Line was a series of superb defensive emplacements constructed after World War I. The designers drew on lessons learned during the Great War and consisted of immense concrete bunkers, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and various other defenses. It was considered impregnable by the French.

The Germans invaded Belgium and marched into France through Brussels, the exact same thing they did in World War II.

[Maat_Mons]

Mithral Battle Plate may be treated as Medium Armor but if you treat it 100% as medium armor then it's ridiculous - there's no reason behind making armor of a different material and suddenly understanding how to effectively use the intricate plate and chain design. If it's base is heavy armor in all sensibility it functions the same for feats.

Your viewpoint has no official support.  From the FAQ:

[Havok4]

Uhh....you mean Maginot Line? What's that got to do with charging with a spear and spending feats? That's artillery too, are you suggesting I specialize in arrows?

The Manigot Line was a series of superb defensive emplacements constructed after World War I. The designers drew on lessons learned during the Great War and consisted of immense concrete bunkers, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and various other defenses. It was considered impregnable by the French.

The Germans invaded Belgium and marched into France through Brussels, the exact same thing they did in World War II.

His point is that if you have no means of actually attacking enemies effectively they have no reason to attack you. They can just walk around you and kill your party then kill you with ranged attacks or grapples if they are mundane. If they use spells they will ignore your defenses completely and you will have little to no way of stopping them from killing you.

[Bauglir]

If I'm reading the OP right, he doesn't care about the rest of the party and is just tagging along to get a share of the XP and loot. Doesn't exactly sound fun to me, but if that's what he wants so be it.