Impregnable Armor

[Endarire]

My Hood (sig), even without spells, will one-round or one-shot you.  Your AC and DR at this level do not matter.  Invest in save boosters, mobility enhancers and spells.

If you want to be dead weight, then my condolences to your teammates.

[Amechra]

I'm sorry to say this, but even in tanking, you suck. Heavily.

Even if AC mattered, I could do you one better with 4 feats

Necropolitan Kalashtar Fighter (Darksong Knight Sub level) 6/Full BAB (Whatever Classes) 14

Feats: 1 fighter feats, 1 from levels. Combat Expertise, Improved Combat Expertise, Power Attack, Path of Shadows, Dancing w/ Shadows.

I use Combat Expertise to full for a +20 dodge bonus to AC! I use Graceful Lunge+Power Attack for full+Combat Expertise for full to get +40 damage and +20 AC! I use the third option from Dancing with Shadows+Combat Expertise for Full for +40 AC!

I can keep doing the last ad nauseum, boosting my AC to horendous levels. Or I could convert it all into a bonus to hit.

And the AC is all dodge bonus.

I'm immune to stuff you used a goodly portion of your WBL on.

And did I mention that I can literally just keep boosting my AC by 20 each round?

Power Attack means I hurt things.

I literally have you matched at pretty much every point except the energy resistance (I'm immune to dessication, iirc). For the price of 3 feats and a ritual.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

If you seriously want to stack AC...
Ghost2/Battledancer 1/ Cloistered Cleric 3/ Prestige Paladin 2/ Hexblade 3/ Mystic Wanderer 1.
Pick up divine shield, and "channel positive energy: Fate's mercy" (KoKPG).

That adds cha to AC four times, cha to saves four times, and your cha to your allies' saves once.  Oh, and you're immune to nonmagical attacks, and have a 50% miss chance against normal magical ones.

Pump your charisma through the roof.

[X-Codes]

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.

You're not wearing armor, you're wearing a Dragonscale Husk, which is a class ability.  Your weapons can be large size if you want, just get a pair of Strongarm Bracers to facilitate that.

Dungeoncrasher is from Dungeonscape.  When you see it, you should understand exactly why I also recommend Driving Attack.  Further, you're rather pidgenholed into getting the first Dwarf Sub-level because of the need for Dungeoneering.

Between the Dwarf Fighter Sub-level and the Barbarian sub-level there's only a little more than 5, depending on Int.

They're actually not that great, but Driving Attack is worth it IMO, and Driving Attack is useful in both Defensive and Dungeoncrasher builds.

EDIT: The weapon familiarity bit is on Complete Warrior, p154-5.

[Sinfire Titan]

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.

Spoilered because this may not be the case.

[spoiler]In which case he's a dick, and his party would be stupid to not abandon his ass while he's in the Defensive Stance. Or gank him in his sleep and not rez him.



Seriously, wasting resources is one thing, but trolling your own party while doing so is criminal.[/spoiler]

[rasmuswagner]

I can keep doing the last ad nauseum, boosting my AC to horendous levels. Or I could convert it all into a bonus to hit.

And the AC is all dodge bonus.

I'm immune to stuff you used a goodly portion of your WBL on.

And did I mention that I can literally just keep boosting my AC by 20 each round?

Dude, I don't know what you've been smoking, but please share it. Dancing with (path of) shadows obviously does not work that way.

[carnivore]

IIRC, Deepwarden 2 .... simply Substitutes Con for Dex for AC, thus the Armor still imposes llimites to the Max allowable to be used with AC

 

[Lo77o]

IIRC, Deepwarden 2 .... simply Substitutes Con for Dex for AC, thus the Armor still imposes llimites to the Max allowable to be used with AC

 

You shouldn't yell fire, in a crowded thread.

[Prime32]

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

Strange. The abilities in ToB seem more in line with western heroes like Beowulf, Cu Chullain and King Arthur, rather than anime characters like Kyon and Ash Ketchum. I'm not sure what's so Japanese about reflecting sunlight into your opponent's eyes or attacking from high ground. Not many of the old European martial arts (used by knights and such) have survived, but they had completely ridiculous names for their stances and swings.

[Theomniadept]

My problem is that people are assuming there's no use whatsoever to Dwarven Defender.

Now, I'm grateful for that feat that uses Con to Will, and Deepwarden 2 seems good but I've never seen a ruling that says whether or not Max Dex on armor translates to Max Con for Deepwarden or whether since there's no such thing as Max Con you can stack Con through the roof. And just so you know for sensibility purposes all my DMs have treated Mithral as a template of sorts.

You can shout Save-Or-Die all you want, there's immunities to that sort of stuff - ergo, Soulfire to take care of your Slaying Finger of Imploding. Get back on topic and focus on what the topic was for - how do I augment this? AGAIN, spell resistance is needed here but I wasn't thinking a crappy enchant for SR 19 was going to help at all. Perhaps the cloak, but I haven't looked at it to see exactly what SR it gives.

Now, how exactly is the build useless? Does a first level barbarian run into an encounter and rage? Yes. Then? He's tired. Next encounter he's useless? I wasn't aware. I don't HAVE to Defensive Stance, that's just a really good boost when appropriate. Crowded hallways, Evard's Black Tentacles, caves, etc. And if the party abandons me? I'm a Dwarven Defender. High AC and all those enchants means my survivability doesn't drain the spell lists of others. And did anyone take the AC into account? With high augmented strength and high AC I can damn the torpedoes and just run through enemies with Bull Rush or run around a battlefield eating up attacks of opportunity. If I can't do damage then that's why I've got a decent number of open feat slots. I was thinking Combat Expertise, Improved Trip and switching my familiarities to our friends the buckler-axe and warpike to make sure the enemies around me stay there and HAVE to fight my defensive stance. Oh, you want to grapple or trip me? Look at my feats - Shield Ward adds my Shield AC to my Touch AC and as a bonus against all that stuff. If I can't do great damage then I can take Power Attack and Combat Brute and Shock Trooper, yes, but why be the Frenzied Berserker? I'm looking for more originality than that. I CAN take more offensive stuff since apparently there's little to find in defenseive aid but as is the build's using two-handed weapons, and a good one at that.

It's a viable PrC that many people think is worthless, and I have to disagree. But, I'm not here to start a fight, I came asking for some aid. I'm not trying to break the game, rather the name of the game is remove my character from party dependancy. Thus, resistances to energies, immunity to instakill, DR, etc.

I'm saying it right now if you're going to tell me to play some weird-as-heck race/class setup with like three prestige classes and four base classes I'm not going to take it into account that well. I can jot it down for later but this character is based a certain way. A lot of people aren't looking at the big picture. I'm the trap-detector. I walk in the room and simply shout out where the enemies are as they attack me. Separation from the party in the event of something like capture or pitfalls won't spell immediate doom like Mr. Squishy the Rogue 6/Pincushion 4. I'm not looking to keep a running killcount and announce it to the party after every battle to overcompensate for having a tiny sized familiar.

PLEASE, for the sake of the boards stay on topic. Needs: Spell Resistance, Armor class boosts preferrable to Touch AC. Damage Reduction. Good magic items to enhance mobility/damage. Feats. Enchants.

Prime32: I have a hard time respecting a book with the Crane Kick from the Karate Kid (written by people with no knowledge of martial arts). See: Baffling Defense.

Solo: It is spelled Maginot, not Manigot. It confused me as I kinda thought you may have been talking about something I hadn't heard of. And comparing the French in this way is like telling me that an orc defeated an Elf in Mithral Battle Plate. It's silly to think the Fren-I mean, elf, could win in the first place.

[Prime32]

You walk into a room and see two guys.

One is covered from head-to-toe in adamantine armour an inch thick, and is wearing numerous magical items which shield him from the elements. He is also moving at a snail's pace and can be easily avoided, while his attacks don't seem to bothering your allies much.

The other guy is skinny, wearing cloth, and is casting spells which kill multiple allies of yours each turn. It is common knowledge that spellcasting can be disrupted by breaking the caster's concentration.


Which guy are you going to attack?

[Theomniadept]

I understand where you're coming from but again it's then known who will be attacked. Isn't it the Wizard's job the create Walls of Iron or Stone or Prismatic Walls to veer enemies towards the path the Wizard wants them to take? If we're going to talk specialization it seems more viable to leave battlefield control to the masters.

I mean, unless there IS something of the sort in a magic item.

Then again, it may be a bit of a waste but I could go with a Glamered armor enchantment to make my massive suit of armor look like a T-shirt with the word ARMOR stenciled on it. Using a two-handed halberd with reach would probably make me look like a barbarian as opposed to a dwarven defender.

[Gods_Trick]

Okay, if you're not BFC, what do you do? You're not tanking if you aren't a threat, or an easily bypassable threat. You might be the only survivor in a TPK, but thats ... not a good thing.

Try to incorporate the feat Goad, or maybe Knight levels so you'll have a way to pull some 'aggro'.

[Theomniadept]

I have heavily considered Goad but the character is a dwarf. Although I could qualify easily with a +5 book at a higher level. Is it really good or does it have some limitation like only one enemy, they get a save, etc?

EDIT: Okay, save is based on my level, can be augmented with the Belt, but only affects 1 enemy and spends a move action, and even then only applies to melee attacks. Ehhh....hard to decide but I think I'll pass. There's probably better stuff like ranking Intimidate and using Never Outnumbered.

[snakeman830]

Now, how exactly is the build useless?

Because it's more or less negated by a commonly used first level spell (Grease).  There's no SR or attack roll on it at all and even if you succeed on the save, it cuts your already low speed to the point of hilarity.  Meanwhile, you're flat-footed and likely prone, especially since you're dumping Dex.  Yes, it only covers a small area, but it took you out of the fight for likely 2 turns.

All of the Martial Adepts have Balance as a class skill, so they won't be in such trouble with Grease (especially since they all have more skill points).

Finally, no matter what your AC, DR, or SR, there are plenty of enemies that will still laugh at you.  Anything with a breath weapon, for example, doesn't give a crap about any of those defenses.

[Sinfire Titan]

I have heavily considered Goad but the character is a dwarf. Although I could qualify easily with a +5 book at a higher level. Is it really good or does it have some limitation like only one enemy, they get a save, etc?

Hello MAD, my name is Noncaster. What's that? You want me to pump my Cha to obscene levels for a feat that doesn't work on half of the MM, in addition to pumping Con and Str? Sure, sounds like a marvelous idea. I don't mind spending the feat slot when I have to take Toughness and Endurance too.


Sarcasm aside, it isn't worth the feat. At the low levels it has some use, but only against non-ranged characters. At the mid and high levels, the feat is useless due to spellcasting or Supernatural Abilities. You are better off with the Knight class (PH2), or, again, Crusader levels (impose penalties for not attacking you, even against mindless enemies).

[Theomniadept]

But...by that logic the entire dwarf race can be stopped with Grease and should thus not be used. You're not factoring in the all-encompassing picture. There's a reliable base point in my dwarf, and that 'terrible' reflex save is 6 base, 5 resistance, and at least 3 dexterity from the Belt of Magnificence (needed just for strength and constitution but here's a little side boost). 14 for a bad save I can live with. As far as dragons go, yes they have a breath weapon, hence the resistances on the armor.

Sinfire, thanks for the clarification. I figured it wasn't worth it but I wasn't entirely sure.

And there's STILL no help with getting other stuff like SR, more DR, etc. Dang this is one-track-minded. Anyone? If SR's such a casterkiller why is nobody giving me a laundry-list of possibilities? I'm not a caster myself but c'mon, there's gotta be something magic on a mask or shoe to help me.

EDIT: Mantle of Spell Resistance is much more expensive compared to the 19 SR enchant but gives only 21?? Man, that's...kinda embarrassing. It seems good for lower levels but OUCH on the long-term.

[Rebel7284]

Actually there are so many good spells with SR-none, that SR is considered a niche defense at best, a drawback at worse, especially considering it makes you harder to buff and heal. =)

Also, get your wizard friend a lesser rod of chain spell so he can buff all of your defending weapons with one casting.

Overall, I guess it sucks that your great idea is actually not a very viable strategy in D&D after around level 3, but such is life.

Anyway, here is a build I tried to do that gets high armor class (naked).

Dragonborn Mongrelfolk with the Mineral Warrior template (+1LA)
Ranger 3/Stoneblessed[Dwarf] 3/Deepwarder 2/Fist of the Forest 1/Dwarf Paragon 3/XX8 probably finish Fist of the Forest

You have +10 Con from your race, +2 from Stoneblessed, +2 from Dwarf Paragon

What this build has: good DR, GOOD MOBILITY, 2x Con to AC, great hit point.

It's still not amazing, but at least it can charge in and leap attack while keeping the AC high

[Sinfire Titan]

Fuck, why didn't I say this sooner? You want good defenses, but don't want to play a caster? Play an Incarnate or Totemist.

[Theomniadept]

But...then SR's useless why look for spells without it but if you did that it'd be broken but -AGH CYCLICAL LOGIC.

I could see high AC naked as good but all the AC from this build is from the investment. Great idea - I'm recording that for later.

Erm...there's nothing wrong with my mobility...remember? This is the problem; people aren't reading past the first sentence. Think! Dwarf = 20 ft. Mithral Battle Plate = Medium armor. Plug those two together, I can full run at 80 feet as if I were nude and beardless. Armor check penalty isn't a problem either, it's -1. -7 for Battle Plate, reduce by 3 for Mithral, reduce by 3 for feats. If I need higher speed the boots of springing and striding are a classic.

Back on track I may not have 100% Wizard BFC but I AM now using a reach weapon and close-range weapon and thus Power Attack gives me good boosts. But...I'm a bit conflicted on Combat Brute and Shock Trooper as my dwarf movement is not the best, so I may try other feats to fill to that last slot or two.

While I'm at it, where's Jotenbrud from? I've seen the feat before but not in its actual source.