Human Fighter 30/WM 5/HS 5 by Ses

[sestitodc]

Thought I'd share one of my personal favorite builds. Some of the feats are easily changeable to fit your play style, although to my best recollection, it was something like this (levels I took classes/feats might be messed up a bit, it's been awhile since I've logged on, doing this all from memory). You can choose any of the double-sided weapons (Dire Mace, Double Axe, Two-Bladed Sword), although I think I went Double Axe on one because of the great representation of that type of weapon, and I might have gone Two-Bladed Sword on the other, for the increased crit range cause I wanted to see more sexy crits :p.

Human, Alignment any non-evil, Fighter 30/WM5/HS5
Stats
Strength 17+all 10 stat points+7 Great Strength=34 final
Dexterity 13+2 Great Dex=15 final
Constitution 14
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 8
Charisma 8

1 F1 Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, Knockdown
2 F2 Two Weapon Fighting
3 F3 Dodge
4 F4 Mobility
5 F5
6 F6 Spring Attack, Expertise
7 F7
8 F8 Whirlwind Attack (Intimidate 4)
9 WM1 Improved Critical
10 WM2
11 WM3
12 WM4 Blind Fight
13 WM5
14 F9
15 F10 Weapon Specialization, Iron Will
16 F11
17 F12 Cleave
18 F13 Alertness
19 F14 Power Attack
20 F15  
21 F16 Epic Weapon Focus, Great Strength 1 (Discipline 4, Lore 6, Persuade 8, Search 4)
22 HS1 Great Dex 1 (Tumble 25)
23 F17
24 F18 Armor Skin, Great Strength 2
25 F19
26 F20 Epic Prowess
27 HS2 Great Strength 3 (Tumble 30)
28 F21
29 F22 Epic Weapon Specialization
30 F23 Great Strength 4
31 F24 Great Cleave
32 HS3 (Tumble 35)
33 F25 Great Strength 5
34 F26 Overwhelming Critical
35 F27
36 HS4 Great Strength 6
37 HS5 Great Dex 2 (Tumble 40)
38 F28 Ambidexterity
39 F29 Great Strength 7
40 F30 Improved Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills
Um, 4 Intimidate, 6 Lore, 8 Persuade, 4 Search, Max Discipline, Heal, think I cross-classed spellcraft, and maybe dumped some more x-class into search, don't really remember, maybe some into concentration?

I had a Fighter28/WM7/HS5 variant as well, although I preferred Fighter 30. Fighter 30 loses out on the +2 crit range but gives a higher chance to proc the fighter widget, as well as giving the -attacks proc to subtract an additional attack/round from the mob, which is absolutely killer against bosses. Although this is a melee character (and does a really good job at that), deep down my primary goal was to be a support/melee, so I preferred to capitalize on the support at a slight loss in critting power (and since some bosses are crit immune anyway, I wouldn't actually even lose out on anything vs them).

Base Stats:
AC: 10 base+2 Armor Skin+8 Tumble+15 armor(+6 full plate)+5 shield ring+6 deflection+6 natural+5 boots+4 haste+8 Harper Scout pot+3(?) deflection from double-sided weapon=72 AC (not bad for a melee dps, and improvable with better gear, think I had 76 on mine, 78 with bard song)
AB: 30 bab+18 str mod+5 weapon+5 Harper Scout Pot+4 feats (wf/ewf/ep)+1 WM (Superior Weapon Focus)+2 Bless/aid pots-2 dual wielding=63 (again, not great, but not horrible)

Now, to sell the character! Although the ab is a tad low, you get +2 flanking assuming someone else is tanking, which bumps it up to 65. So the attacks come in at 65/60/55/50/65/65/60 (first four main hand, 5th Haste, 6th+7th off hand), so 3 at max ab instead of 2. Two of the fighter procs also lower the ac of the target (one unequips the shield, the other gives a straight up -ac), and one raises your ab. So it only takes one hit/proc to cause you to easily hit the target, causing you to continuously roll procs on the target since they are so easy to hit. The spellcasting failure one is especially sexy when the boss gets low on health, and wastes his heals to spell failure. I'm quite certain I probably left some stuff out, although anyone who's played with me can vouch for the build's sexiness (off the top of my head, that's you NLawson ). Alternatively, you could change the starting stats to Str 18/Dex 14/Con 10, freeing up an epic feat as well as changing one of the great dexs to epic skill focus (as well as making leveling a bit more fun with ambidexterity+improved two weapon fighting much earlier), at the loss of 80 health/+2 fort saves, but it was already super easy to level, didn't see the need for extra feats, and love having a decent ac+sexy health pool (700 health I think).

(Edited to clean it up a bit/reformat it out of how I usually wrote character builds for my use)

[NLawson]

I'm coming to this super late (my bookmarks got lost and I forgot to re-add GvM considering how rarely I check it), but I just had to confirm how awesome this build is. I don't care if I'm 3 months late to the party.

I can't be bothered going into the specifics, and I can't remember half of them anyway, but basically as soon as your widget procs, you win.
This toon is NOT a main dps damage-dealer (it doesn't have the ab and damage for it), but it fakes it so well that you wouldn't know it. What this toon does is it turns good dps toons in your party into unstoppable death-dealing murder machines, because suddenly you're only missing on a 1 and your tank can have a nap. It is melee-support in the purest definition of the term.

Sest would sometimes play this on Mordor with my Scythemeister (whom, having now watched Soul Eater, would have made an epic Maka). It was hilarious every time.

[Ace-of-Spades]

I've wanted to make a fun hitter-type character for awhile now and I've been heavily considering this build. I've spent awhile pouring over the build and trying to make any modifications or improvements. This has been especially challenging due to the crazy feat prerequisites.

I wanted the benefits of a few more Weapon Master levels (AB, Critical, Double-Weapon AC), however this caused me to sacrifice Epic Fighter feats and therefore I end with 2 less Great Strength.
I opted for a 27/8/5 split that came out like this:

Fighter(27), Weapon Master(8 ), Harper Scout(5), Human

STR: 17 (32)
DEX: 13 (15)
CON: 14
WIS: 8
INT: 14
CHA: 8

Human: (Quick to Master)
01: Fighter(1): Knockdown, Weapon Proficiency Exotic, Weapon Focus
02: Fighter(2): Two-Weapon Fighting
03: Fighter(3): Iron Will
04: Fighter(4): STR+1, Expertise, (STR=18)
05: Fighter(5)
06: Fighter(6): Dodge, Mobility
07: Fighter(7)
08: Fighter(8 ): STR+1, Weapon Specialization, (STR=19)
09: Fighter(9): Power Attack
10: Fighter(10): Spring Attack
11: Fighter(11)
12: Fighter(12): STR+1, Whirlwind Attack, Improved Critical, (STR=20)
13: Fighter(13)
14: Fighter(14): Cleave
15: Fighter(15): Alertness
16: Fighter(16): STR+1, Great Cleave, (STR=21)
17: Weapon Master(1): Weapon of Choice
18: Weapon Master(2): Blind Fight
19: Weapon Master(3)
20: Weapon Master(4): STR+1, (STR=22)
21: Harper Scout(1): Great Strength I, Great Dexterity I, (STR=23), (DEX=14)
22: Harper Scout(2)
23: Fighter(17)
24: Fighter(18): STR+1, Overwhelming Critical, Epic Weapon Focus, (STR=24)
25: Weapon Master(5)
26: Weapon Master(6)
27: Harper Scout(3): Great Strength II, (STR=25)
28: Weapon Master(7): STR+1, (STR=26)
29: Weapon Master(8 )
30: Fighter(19): Great Strength III, (STR=27)
31: Fighter(20): Epic Weapon Specialization
32: Harper Scout(4): STR+1, (STR=28)
33: Fighter(21): Great Strength IV, (STR=29)
34: Fighter(22): Epic Prowess
35: Fighter(23)
36: Fighter(24): STR+1, Great Strength V, Armor Skin, (STR=31)
37: Harper Scout(5): Great Dexterity II, (DEX=15)
38: Fighter(25)
39: Fighter(26): Ambidexterity, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
40: Fighter(27): STR+1, (STR=32)

Hitpoints: 460
Skillpoints: 225
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 23/17/21
Saving Throw bonuses: Mind Effects: +2, Traps: +2
BAB: 30
AB (max, naked): 46 (melee), 33 (ranged)
AC (naked/mundane armor/shield only): 22/32
Spell Casting:
Alignment Changes: 0

Concentration 43(45), Discipline 43(54), Intimidate 4(3), Lore 6(13), Persuade 8(7), Search 13(15), Tumble 40(42), remaining skillpoints 43

I put it through the build tester and have a couple concerns. First, my AC and AB stats are quite a bit lower than the ones your build projects. I recall it was only about 53 AC and around 54 AB, unbuffed (about 60 for both buffed). I am wondering if this is a result of my alterations to the build, or lack of some gear availability in the test merchant? My other concern is whether the lack of 2 Strength from GS feats are having a profound enough effect on my final stats. I thought maybe the added WM levels would even out any AB discrepancies, but I am not entirely clear on how WM AB bonuses work.

I would love to hear some discussion on benefits and drawbacks of this build and any viable alterations on it. Other alternatives I was considering were: Fighter 22, Weapon Master 13, Harper Scout 5 as well as a WM 16 variant, but I feel the excess WM levels may be detrimental to the build due to lack of Great Strength Feats and Fighter Proc. opportunities.

[sestitodc]

I put it through the build tester and have a couple concerns. First, my AC and AB stats are quite a bit lower than the ones your build projects. I recall it was only about 53 AC and around 54 AB, unbuffed (about 60 for both buffed). I am wondering if this is a result of my alterations to the build, or lack of some gear availability in the test merchant. My other concern is whether the lack of 2 Strength from GS feats are having a profound enough effect on my final stats. I thought maybe the added WM levels would even out any AB discrepancies, but I am not entirely clear on how WM AB bonuses work.

I would love to hear some discussion on benefits and drawbacks of this build and any viable alterations on it. Other alternatives I was considering were: Fighter 22, Weapon Master 13, Harper Scout 5 as well as a WM 16 variant, but I feel the excess WM levels may be detrimental to the build due to lack of Great Strength Feats and Fighter Proc. opportunities.

My ab+ac calculations were as follows:
AC: 10 base+2 Armor Skin+8 Tumble+15 armor(+6 full plate)+5 shield ring+6 deflection+6 natural+5 boots+4 haste+8 Harper Scout pot+3(?) deflection from double-sided weapon=72 AC (not bad for a melee dps, and improvable with better gear, think I had 76 on mine, 78 with bard song)

AB: 30 bab+18 str mod+5 weapon+5 Harper Scout Pot+4 feats (wf/ewf/ep)+1 WM (Superior Weapon Focus)+2 Bless/aid pots-2 dual wielding=63 (again, not great, but not horrible)

The AC value was assuming you had +6 full plate armor, the shield ring from Captain of the Corsairs in Corsair City (gives +5 shield ac, WM only), +6 ring/ammy, +5 boots, were keeping yourself hasted from helm/boots/pots/a friendly mage. That's in addition to the HS pot and double weapon ac bonus, which are GvM additions.

The AB was assuming a +5 weapon, bless+aid pot, and the +5 from HS pot, another GvM addition.

Something like ftr7/hs5/wm28 or ftr10/hs5/wm25 etc, would net you like ~5 more ab, and some more ac, although I really enjoy some of the procs from the fighter widget (mainly the party friendly -ab ones and the tank-friendly/saver -attacks per round proc, oh, and the spellfail one was nice to hinder any Heal spamming)

[Ace-of-Spades]

I saw your initial calculations, you didn't really need to copy&paste them.
My question was whether it was a lack of gear or the additional 3 weapon master levels that were affecting the stats. I'm going to go ahead and just guess it was gear. The shield ring, +5 boots, Haste, Bless and Aid pots are all not available in the GvM Build Tester (last I checked).

I guess I'm mainly interested in making a good hitter that takes advantage of the Fighter Widget, as I too like it's proc abilities. I'm just examining the benefits of a build such as this, which seems fairly well rounded in AC and AB as well as APR, vs something like a 2H Weapon hitter build.