This build is how one of my characters (Salamanthra Omtoth) lived her life on a certain PW. This means two things for people looking at it. First, I left the inefficiencies intact (except the one that was a flat-out mistake on my part). Second, there are some quirks whose origin lies in my PC's environment. Both of these are things that others probably do not want to imitate.
Salamanthra Omtoth, Combat Mistress, is a do-everything fighter. She does not focus in a particular weapon, preferring to instead focus on fighting techniques. In a sense, she is the opposite of the weapon master, able to adapt to whatever weapons are encountered. While she is not "devastating"ly effective, she has gone toe-to-toe with the toughest of foes and lived to tell the tale.
In other words, someone using this build should not expect the damage output of a purely strength-focused build, but should expect durability and should be willing to adapt.
Hit points: 607 Skill Points: 215 Saves: 29/19/22 (f/r/w) Base Attack: 30 AB: +38/+33/+28/+23 (unbuffed melee, mundane weapon) AC: 18 (naked), 28 (mundane plate and tower shield)
Skills:
Concentration: 43 (49) Discipline: 43 (60) Listen: 21 (25) (cross-class) Taunt: 21 (20) (cross-class) Tumble: 20 (22) (cross-class) The 5 remaining skill points can go to any skill that is useful at low skill levels. (I put them in heal.) I think it's most useful to use 2 of these skill points at level 2. That way, you get the benefit of those skill points throughout this character's career, and the price you pay is that one of the cross-class skills goes up a level later than it would have. Since four-fifths of the time tumble can be delayed with no effect on gameplay, this is really a very small price.
Leveling guide: (Fighter is the class for every level.)
21: epic skill focus (discipline) 22: armor skin 24: epic prowess, great constitution I / +1 CON (19) 26: spring attack 27: great constitution II (CON 20) 28: epic damage reduction I / +1 CON (21) 30: epic damage reduction II, epic will 32: epic damage reduction III / +1 STR (20) 33: great strength I (STR 21) 34: whirlwind attack 36: epic toughness I, great strength II / +1 STR (23) 38: improved power attack 39: great strength III (STR 24) 40: improved unarmed strike / +1 CON (22)
Notes:
* Some might notice that Sal's strength and constitution stayed at odd numbers for extended periods of time. This was intentional, as she had found bracers that granted +3 strength and constitution, which made the modified scores even. To avoid this, start increasing constitution at level 16.
* For some reason I took alertness (+2 to listen) before skill focus in listen. I don't know why. I reversed the order above to reflect the better order. (This is the one correction I made from how I actually played this character.)
* While called a combat mistress, this build is lacking in two areas of combat, namely ranged fighting and fighting with two weapons. This is because I did not envision my character making use of those styles often. However, if someone wanted to add mastery of these areas to this build, it can be easily accomplished. Just change one of the strength boosts into a dexterity boost and replace the five feats luck of heroes, iron will, epic will, skill focus (listen), and alertness with the feats two-weapon fighting, ambidexterity, improved two-weapon fighting, point blank shot, and rapid shot. I would also re-order the feats a bit so that both ranged weapon feats are taken at level 1 (since that is when ranged and melee AB are the same, and when rapid shot has the biggest impact).
Strengths: High hitpoints, DR 9/-, and many combat feats. The combat mistress is a survivor with options.
Typical equipment: Plate armor, tower shield, one-handed melee weapon. Darts or hand axes are kept in reserve, in case ranged attacks become necessary. A good two-handed weapon in reserve is also desirable.
Tactics:
1-2-3: Sal's most common attack routine (after gaining 4 attacks per round) has been knockdown-called shot (leg)-taunt. The idea is that if the knockdown is successful, the opponent is on his back for 2/3 of the taunt, mitigating the flat-footed condition, and if the knockdown fails, the taunt can be skipped. (While at fewer attacks per round, the called shot was skipped for similar effect.) When this combo works, the opponent is left with significantly reduced AC for a few rounds.
Denial: Sal is a party girl, and when she needs to, it's improved expertise for +10 AC. She'll take the swings while the others dish out the punishment. On the fun side, if Sal's only hits are auto-hits, then attack penalties don't matter, so she might as well pull out the fancy moves.
Smash: Usually, Sal uses a shield, but there are times when all-out damage is desired, most notably when the enemy is a mage with a different kind of shield (read: Mestil's). That's when it's time to pull out the two-hander and turn on (improved) power attack. As long as she dishes out comparable damage to what she takes, her hit points should prevail.
Most of her other tactics are standard; she just has all of them. (Well, most of them -- as mentioned above, she doesn't go for dual-wielding or ranged attacks.) If she's not the target, she can be rather effective running around an enemy (spring attack), and either taunting from behind or taking advantage of the +2 AB flanking bonus.
Development notes:
Salamanthra was not mapped out in advance. I started with the idea that I was tired of finding weapons that my PC did not know how to use. Hence the medium-sized race and the exotic weapon proficiency at level 1. Next, this idea evolved into not specializing in any particular weapon. I checked the feats that were left, which led to 13+ dexterity and intelligence. After that, I just went with what seemed right at the time. Well, around level 18 I took a look at what awaited in epic levels, but otherwise I just went with the flow.
In the end, Salamanthra turned into more of a defensive survivor than a potent attacker. Works out well in party play, maybe not so much solo.
General notes:
Do not follow this build rigorously. This was not planned in advance, and undoubtedly has many flaws. It was also heavily influenced by environment, so if used in another environment, adaptations should be made.
* Iron will and epic will are more indications of Salamanthra's character than integral parts of the build.
* Using two feats to improve the listen skill might be overkill in some modules.
* Epic skill focus in discipline at level 21 is very important to survival on Salamanthra's world. Other worlds might be more forgiving.
* Whirlwind attack might be a higher priority since it has been fixed in the beta for NWN 1.69.
* Called shot, disarm, and knockdown are all opposed by discipline. It is probably not that useful to get all three in quick succession, but having options later is good.
* The order of feat selection is quite flexible, and that flexibility can be useful. For example, Salamanthra really needed an AC boost at level 6, but maybe someone else would benefit more from being able to disarm opponents at this level. Or maybe getting improved power attack earlier would be of more use to someone else. It all depends on the opponents you're facing, whether they're high-level heavy-hitters, weapon specialists, or mages with damage shields.
Accomplishments:
* At level 5, Salamanthra's party was facing some higher-level elementals (a mix of huge and elder, as I recall). We were able to take them out one at a time, but that required one party member to flee while everyone else pelted the elemental from a safe distance. Got old fast. Then came level 6. We needed AC. Salamanthra had two feats. For the next elemental we faced, she stood her ground.
* At level 20ish, Salamanthra had the pleasure of seeing "Smite Good: Failed" float over an enemy's head.
* At level 35ish, Salamanthra was having one of those days. She got level drained, petrified, and hit by a few lesser maladies. Then she got hit by a Bigby's crushing hand (or maybe the clenched fist). Things were looking bleak. Her teammates had fallen, and -- being petrified -- she could do nothing to help herself. Surprisingly, the Bigby's expired before Salamanthra!
Finally, let me add that if you appreciate seeing a strength-based fighter who does not use the ultimate criticals, you should thank a certain mystic jester for asking me to post this here. _________________ Fix tan cloaks: Cloak Converter, also available for some Macs.
Cloaks are not supposed to be potato sacks!
Great idea. I like a lot the int feats combined in one package. They all really work well.
P.S. Does the jester happen to be Wizard Weatherwax
Well, the amount of feats on pure fighters is ludicrous, you've got EDR III, Improved Disarm and even Improved Unarmed Strike which is cool, though I don't like that you take Whirlwind Attack even if you have so many spare feats, I have seen it being useful at low levels when you have 2 APR, in those cases I've used it and it's good, but by the time you get 4 APR it becomes useless and you're getting it very late so it seems worthless (along wiht having to take Spring Attack, Mobility, Dodge).
Personally, I'd take a lot more epic feats in Great Strength, not that I have something against your all-around style but some feats are simply less worth it, and having 17 epic feats with no weapon-focusing (which takes out EWF, EWS, Ov Crit and Dev Crit from the epic list) you sure can get more than just 3 on Great Strength.
It's an interesting style anyway, a Fighter without EWS is sure rare to see. _________________ "My name is Thaxll'ssyllia, but you simians may refer to me merely as "Sir", if you prefer a less... syllable intensive workout."
Edwin Odesseiron - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Very cool to see one of the characters on the server make an appearance here. I like what you've done with her. Of course, with so many feats one can adjust in many ways to personal taste and playing environment, which is a great bonus to this build. Good analysis and write up as well TK. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
I don't like that you take Whirlwind Attack even if you have so many spare feats
I just wanted it. If you object to having it, you could always take another Epic Toughness.
Quote: I have seen it being useful at low levels when you have 2 APR, in those cases I've used it and it's good, but by the time you get 4 APR it becomes useless and you're getting it very late so it seems worthless (along wiht having to take Spring Attack, Mobility, Dodge).
If I was doing this post-1.69, I would take Whirlwind a lot earlier, probably at level 6 or 8. Since Whirlwind is bugged in version 1.68, other things got a higher priority. (BTW, Dodge and Mobility were taken for more than just qualifying for Whirlwind, so no issue about "having" to take them.)
Quote: Personally, I'd take a lot more epic feats in Great Strength, not that I have something against your all-around style but some feats are simply less worth it, and having 17 epic feats with no weapon-focusing (which takes out EWF, EWS, Ov Crit and Dev Crit from the epic list) you sure can get more than just 3 on Great Strength.
Epic Skill Focus and Epic Will could be converted into Great Strengths, but that's it. Fighters get no Great Ability feats as bonus feats, so you can fit at most 7 of these feats in a pure fighter build (and there are already 5 Great Abilities in there).
For me, the epic skill focus in discipline was necessary for survival, worth a lot more than an extra point of strength. If you don't need that much discipline, you could use those two feat slots to increase your strength modifier by another +1.
Quote: It's an interesting style anyway, a Fighter without EWS is sure rare to see.
I'll take that as a compliment. I wanted to do something different.
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Quote: Posted 02/02/08 00:24 (GMT) -- WhiZard
P.S. Does the jester happen to be Wizard Weatherwax
No. I believe his handle on these boards is "the mystic jester". _________________ Sorry. We're closed. Cheers.
Edited By The_Krit on 02/06/08 04:33
I approve of this build. Looks like a lot of fun to play. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
If you object to having it, you could always take another Epic Toughness.