Harro!
I'm pretty new to D&D3.5, in terms of months played, but read quite a bit in the last months. Have played around 30 other RPGs in the last 15 years.
I am looking for a bit of advice on my first character, who is level 3 at the moment. I won't go too much into personality details, since I don't need any advice here. It's a big guy, tough, pretty fearless, but actually a rather nice chap. With a big dog. Very loyal, and I play him to be not the ... smartest one.
Group setup:
[spoiler](1) cleric, (2) mage/warlock, (3) rogue/scout, and (4) me. Since it was my first 3.5 char, the group decided I should start with a fighter.[/spoiler]
I'm level 3 now.
1- Barb - 1 feat, 1 human feat, 1 feat from flaw, 2 extra feats (from DM)
2- Fight - fighter feat
3- Fight - feat, fighter feat
I started reading and decided to go 1 level Barbarian (skills, rage, movement, pounce), and then fighter for life.
We had 2 extra feats from the start, and we get feats every odd level (3/5/7/...), that + my fighter bonus feats gave me a nice start.
Feats:
[spoiler]I'm running around with a Greatsword, and the feats I have are furious & powerful charge, tireless, weapon focus, extra rage, Imp. Bull Rush (to qualify for ... you already knew it, Shock Trooper), Power Attack & Cleave.
[/spoiler]
My stats:
[spoiler]STR 18+1
CON 16+2
INT 14
DEX 12
WIS 10
CHA 8[/spoiler]
I do nice damage as human fighter, at my current level - at least compared to the rest of the group.
[spoiler]My warlock buddy enlarges me (25GP per scroll, I buy them for him, it's quite worth it), and with a bit of rage here and a bit of Powerattack there, I do around 3w6(large gsword)+2w6(feat)+14(normal+PA) on a charge, and still some nice damage on a normal attack. Usually, the Cleave kills the next enemy. [/spoiler]
The character is basically rather fearless, and also takes insane damage due to very low AC (low Dex, medium armor, rage, enlarge, charge).
Now, you already see where this is going: Leap Attack & Shock Trooper for some additional Pewpew.
Going Warblade[spoiler]Ok. Now, I started reading a bit here and there, and saw that the Warblade rocks so much more than my fighter. I love the idea of maneuvers and stances rather than getting a couple of feats now and then.
So, I thought about going
Warblade from now on. My INT is 14, which isn't very good, but not the worst thing for a fighter/warblade, I guess. [/spoiler]
I read TOB carefully, and read through some Warblade stuff, but I still have some questions.
(1) Is level 3 a good choice to start Warblading? My DM told me that in his world, 3*0.5 = 1.5, and since 1.5 is mathematically rather 2.0 than 1.0, he is giving me an initiator level of 2 for my 3 levels of barbarian/fighter. That means, on level 4, with my first level of Warblade, I'd start with Initiator Level of 3, allowing me already tier1 & tier2 maneuvers. Quite nice, I guess?
(2) Maneuvers & Stances
[spoiler]
What maneuvers / stances should I go for? My current weakness is ... AC. And flexibility. Charge and cleave is boring, except for those billions of dice I get to roll.
Now, I very much like the Raptor School (don't have the book right here, but I think that was the name). Lot's of jumping around, and since my character has crazy Strength, only wears medium armor (barbarian), and jump maxed, I want to make him a jumper. I guess it's not the best school damage wise for a Greatsword wielder, since those mongoose attacks are even better for TWF, but ... does it totally suck? I'd love your opinion on it.
Sudden Leap for instance is awesome for him I think, even though he doesn't need that full attack for TWF.
For defense, I thought about
Wall of Blades (insanely nice once I get Shock Trooper and can actually transfer the -BAB to -AC)? And of course that sweet concentration-on-
will-safe maneuver. I could also take the Resolute alternative warrior class feature, but will-save sounds superior. He has concentration 0 at the moment, and constitution 4, so adding only 2 levels of concentration would also give him a +7 will safe in total (+1 from a trait, +4 constitution, +2 concentration), which is a lot for level 3. I don't have to max concentration to keep the will safe viable with this maneuver, right? Just a bit now and then?
So those 3 would be the first ones I took, maybe? And then continue Iron Heart and Raptor Jump Thing School?
I see a lot of people going for Iron Heart feat in the end (Stormthing warrior), but that looks like it only makes sense when you have a lot of OOA attacks. It might be fun to play a trip-ooa-spiked chain warrior, but my guy simply isn't. He is big and badass and tough and nice to animals.
Not in the way YOU are thinking right now!
Maybe you have any other good ideas?
[/spoiler]
(3) Charging in general (skill tricks?)[spoiler]
Are there other ways to maxizime my charges? I like charging, and since I spent quite some feats on it already, it would be stupid not to go further. On the other hand, I don't want to be a one trick pony.
I also thought about that jump skill trick (10y more). Do I understand it correctly that if I could normally move 6 feet, on a charge 12 feat, and on a leap attack 14 feat (because my character jumps while charging)? And that e.g. Sudden Leap would also have a greater distance?
Also, getting 5 ranks tumble and 5 ranks balance as Warblade is probably worth the skill trick with the "charge around the corner"? [/spoiler]
(4) Pounce
[spoiler]Umm, I don't really understand how this works. I have the lion totem spirit thingie, could you explain it to me? Actually, I don't really understand how the whole multiple attack thing works once you read BAB7 and get another attack. [/spoiler]
(5) Magic Items
Also, I would love to have some advice on magic items (I have around 5.000 GP atm). I don't know much about magic items. Maybe you have some advice for the character I plan to play.
[spoiler]
* Ring of Protection +1 looks nice I guess.
* Strongarm Bracers for later, maybe?
* Whirling Weapon looks hardcore, but too expensive I guess.
* Life Drinking Weapon crystal maybe?
* Amulet of Tears?
* Boots of the Battle Charger (oh yeah baby)
* Gauntlets of OGre Power?[/spoiler]
(6) Dibs .. into Swordsage?
[spoiler]Should I dib into Swordsage for one level? What exactly would that mean - would I actually get another 6 maneuvers + 4 more readed maneuvers? So one level Warblade and one level Swordsage would already give me 3+4=7 readied maneuvers? And if I had taken martial study 3 times as a fighter, I'd have 10? Sounds a bit insane, especially since I can reset them in a free action+attack. Or did I misunderstand? [/spoiler]
EDIT: (7) Armor
[spoiler]Right, I forgot armor. My AC is 16 at the moment, lowest in the group, as mentioned before. It drops to 10 when I enlarge, charge and rage. Quite bad. Could I possibly wear heavy armor? I would lose the barbarian ability of movement, I guess, which would drop me down from 8-2 to 6-2 feet movement? And the difficulties on jump would be insane, I guess?
Any other ideas how to help out with my AC? I usually kill 95% of the enemies really quickly, while the rogue positions himself and the warlock loots
, but the cleric is having a hard time keeping me up. [/spoiler]
That's it boys. Thanks for your patience.
ta-ta
Torvon
EDIT:
Restrictions
[spoiler]I can't just take random levels of classes if it doesn't fit the character concept. Barbarian, Fighter and Warblade fit quite nicely really, but I can't dip into stuff like Crusader, unfortunately. It neither would fit my personal playstyle, nor the playstyle of my group. [/spoiler]