Optimization: Attack of Opportunity Tactician

[feral_child]

An idea I've been toying with for a while was exploiting Attacks of Opportunity to get in as many hits per round as possible. However, I can't seem to think of any way to make it work. I was wondering if you guys knew any tricks for enticing your enemies into granting you attacks of opportunity?

[kalaskaagathas]

Having lots of reach (and the ability to attack adjacent), having the ability to make moving around you difficult terrain, being a tripper, having that stance which makes 5 foot steps provoke, Combat Reflexes.

[ImperatorK]

Robilar's Gambit is very useful, although risky.

[BruceLeeroy]

Double hit, Deft Opportunist.

[Midnight_v]

Here's some required reading.
Jack B. Quick
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19869062/6_hits_to_1:_Jack_B._Quick

King of Smack:
  http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19866038/The_king_of_smack.

And I started to post to a little lock build... but...
Thicket of Blades, Standstill, Karmic Strike/or Robilars gambit.
Optimizing for standstill, use either, the monk 1 acf, or the 16 fighter acf (don't do this)

[Unbeliever]

Robilar's Gambit is very useful, although risky.

Word Given Form, or other forms of concealment, can help mitigate this a lot.  As can a ridiculous AC, at least until you get to epic or near-epic levels, though that might be hard to pull off. 

[ImperatorK]

Robilar's Gambit is very useful, although risky.

Word Given Form, or other forms of concealment, can help mitigate this a lot.  As can a ridiculous AC, at least until you get to epic or near-epic levels, though that might be hard to pull off. 

I know, I added the "risky" bit just so he knows that there is a downside to the feat, mainly +4 to enemy attacks and damage.

[stranglebat]

that crusader stance Thicket of blades i think its called would be ideal, you gain AoO every time someone moves in your area

[Hasmadad]

Also add Karmic Strike to the mix. Make sure you are using some form of vampiric/healing weapons. Or just play a vampire.

Rogue ability opportunist allows one AoO every time a partymember hits an enemy you threaten, and with Savvy Rogue you can do it up to Combat Reflexes times per turn. Requires rogue lvl 10 though, but adding the sneak damage to all those double hits is just gravy.

-Uncle Has

[CantripN]

So, let's try to make an AoO based build that's even better!

We want:
Rogue 10 - For the above.
Monk 2 (Invisible Fist) - For double damage (Decisive Strike), and Invisibility 1/3 rounds as an Immediate Action. ...or get Feign Death (Immediate Action to become immune to just about any effect, end as a Standard to resume play.)
Crusader 1/2 (Thicket of Blades, Maneuvers such as Defensive Rebuke)
Paragonistic Initiate 2 (Tactical Combat 2 = Spell Disrupter, Physical Augmentation (Dexterity)).
Savvy Rogue (Feat)
Double Hit (Feat)
Expert Tactician (Feat)
Combat Reflexes (Feat)
Deft Opportunist (Feat)
Robilar's Gambit (Feat)
Acetic Rogue (Feat. Not sure on this one...)
Snap Kick (Feat).

[Hasmadad]

Some other stuff

Magic items:

As much Dex as possible (book, gloves)
Bracers of Opportunity (MIC 81) for 2 additional AoO and +2 on all AoO attacks

Feats:
More AoO possibilities
Deft Opportunist (CAd 106)
Supernatural Opportunist (ToM 75, requires a crap prereq)
Mage Slayer (CAr 81)
Hold the Line (CW 100)
Close Quarters Fighting (CW 93)
Savvy Rogue (CS 80)

More Damage
Craven (CR 17)
Two Weapon Rend (PH2 84)
Other SA buffing stuff.
Lightning Mace (CW 113) with aptitude weapons of your choice.
Roundabout Kick (CW 105) as above

Uncle Has

[feral_child]

Yikes. I'm no pro at this game and have no clue what most of these feats, abilities, and items do. I also don't understand how they benefit an AoO build.

Is the objective to place yourself beside the spellcasters and ranged fighters to get an AoO when they attack?

[CantripN]

No. At least, not only. The objective is to make it so you get an attack whenever they move, don't move, attack you, attack another, cast spells or even think about it. And even if they don't.

The goal is to make as many attacks per round, and deal as much damage and effects with those as possible.

[Tr011]

I made a build for a fighter, who could do over 9000 AoOs... (not really over 9000, but it was not capped and near infinite).
You just need said Double Hit, Karmic Strike and Lightning Mace (whenever you roll threat range, get an extra attack). Get a threat range of 8+ and hit every enemy back until he is dead. Works on undeads and constructs, too (since you don't need to confirm the crit).

[Lycanthromancer]

Psychic warrior with a psicrystal using Metamorphosis to become a pair of 12-headed hydras, using Karmic Strike, Robilar's Gambit, Thicket of Blades, and Double-Hit on each of them?

[feral_child]

I was looking at some of these feats and I think I should just go straight Fighter for as many feats as possible. Some I liked:

Combat Reflexes (of course)
Backstab
Defensive Sweep
Defensive Throw
Deft Opportunist
Karmic Strike
Robilar's Gambit

Defensive Throw allows a Trip (with an attack following if successful) if I dodge an attack. Karmic Strike and Robilar's Gambit offer an attack if I'm hit. I'm hesitant to use Robilar's Gambit because of the +4 on damage. I think a combination of Karmic Strike and Defensive Throw would be best, allowing me an attack whether I'm hit or not without increasing damage against me.

In addition, the Rogue's Sneak Attack of Opportunity, Opportunist, and Savvy Opportunist are awesome. I may end up going 9 Fighter / 11 Rogue (not sure what order) granting 5 bonus feats and 6 Sneak Attack die. Or maybe a 6th feat and 5 SA die is better?

Also, I don't know what the other popular one's mentioned here do. What is Double Hit? Expert Tactician? What are those other class abilities mentioned?

As far as weapons, I would like a Reach weapon with either the Short Haft or Shorten Grip feat (what is better?) in order to threaten more squares, but still be able to attack if an enemy enters my space.

I feel like dipping into a Sneak Attack class would be cool. Backstab and Defensive throw put my enemies in a position where the extra damage is applied, and the Sneak Attack of Opportunity feat adds the bonus to ALL of my AoO. May be worth it if nothing better comes to mind.

[Lycanthromancer]

Use a glaive and a spiked gauntlet. Saves a feat.

[feral_child]

So after a bit more research, I discovered two more possibly decent additions to my build.

- The Tactical Soldier starts with a Flanking special ability. I do not know exactly what it means, but it apparently makes it easier to flank enemies or something. He has some other gem abilities, but too late in the class imo. Is dipping once for Flanking worth it you guys think?

- The Nightsong Enforcer gets Opportunist in 6 levels (as opposed to the Rogue's 10). However, the requirements seem a bit steep and I'm not sure if it's worth it. Personally I think the other abilities aren't too beneficial to me except +1 on flanking attacks. Thoughts?


ps - can someone explain to me in layman's terms what the Flanking ability does?

[snakeman830]

The Tactical Soldier's ability lets you pick any square you're adjacent to instead of a square you occupy to determine flanking status.

The reason for Rogue 10 for Opportunist is that you can get Savvy Rogue which sets the limit to your normal AoO amount instead of 1.

[feral_child]

Ah thank you. Good point also about Savvy Rogue. Opportunist seems like it would be the most frequent cause of AoOs so it only makes sense to be able to use it frequently.

So my current plan would be Fighter 8 / Rogue 11 / Tactical Soldier 1. An odd number of Rogue levels is optimal for SA damage, and an even number of Fighter levels is preferred because you get a feat on each even level. Might as well fill the gap with Flanking.

I read other suggesting dips into crusader and monk earlier. How useful are those abilities actually going to be? There are so many useful feats I can get as a fighter where I can easily be using my full quantity of AoO each round (or it seems that way). Should I drop some fighter levels for another class?


Also, I did some thinking and I don't think a reach weapon will be all that effective. I was thinking the Halberd. It doesn't have reach, but it can trip and deals decent damage.