User:SirHoneyBadger/Dwarf Magic Eight Ball

'Dwarf Magic Eight Ball' (As in "Puts magic users behind the ever-rolling eight ball".)

Dwarf Barbarian 2 / Fighter 18 (Kensai)

The goal here is to create a highly mobile melee character who is capable of doing damage extremely quickly, while rapidly and successfully landing multiple critical hits, and who is also very adept at shrugging off spells and damage, and focusing on targeting and eliminating magic users, generally one at a time, but in very rapid succession.

This build is also adept at quickly killing lots of lower level minions, but lacks much of the DPS of a pure barbarian, and some of the violence of a pure fighter, at the highest levels.

While it lacks a little in steady damage, it more than makes up for that in speed and stamina, lots and lots of criticals, and the ability to easily and safely move from one distant target to the next (second only to a complicated, fiddly, pricey monk). Basically, this is the Energizer Bunny of melee builds. Your Haste boost should be used often, and if played right, there's no reason this character should ever stop attacking.

This is a fairly simple, straightforward build, but it is far from simplistic, and lends itself to a variety of easily gotten gear. Two dwarven axes are obviously the weapons of choice, and the more magical damage each one does--preferrably of two or more different types and materials--the better. Armor class is almost never going to be an issue for this build (topping out at +30 to hit before two-weapon modifiers, while unbuffed and calm), so the goal here is to crush any damage resistance by sheer force, as even unmagical dwarven axes will be capable of dealing 18-27 points of basic damage per hit each, with a critical range of 18-20x3, in the hands of this character at level 20.

Armour is very secondary to this character, although a well-crafted suit of light adamantine chain of greater nimbleness will do nicely. Items that grant spell resistance/immunity to blindness and other negative effects, and increase the character's already formidable damage, speed, and jumping ability, as well as saving throws, are always welcome.

A steady source of healing will always be important, but the Magic Eight Ball can take the pain far better than most, while frantically dishing it out.

Starting Stats: Strength : 15 Dexterity : 16 Constitution: 14 Intelligence : 8 Wisdom : 14 Charisma : 6

You'll want to start out as a Barbarian, for the extra skill points, and put as many skill points as you can into first Jump, then Balance and Tumble. You shouldn't have any left over.

Add all additional skill points to Jump as you level up.

Your first feat should be Iron Will, which will boost your low Will save, and make your first encounters with spellcasters a little easier.

After Level 1, you should switch over to Fighter and rack up your two weapon and oversized two weapon feats, which will allow you to use any nice dwarven axes you come across, to their full effect. Once that's done, you can take your second level in Barbarian. The extra rage and extended rage enhancements can then be brought into play, which should provide a lot of punch, when combined with the Fighter Haste boost.

As a dwarf, you will recieve 7 bonus feats, and as a fighter, you will recieve 10 fighter feats. They should be spent in the following manner, in order, as you earn them.

Bonus feats:


 * Iron Will
 * Luck of Heroes
 * Dodge
 * Mobility
 * Bullheaded
 * Discipline
 * Greater Weapon Focus

Fighter Feats:


 * Two Weapon Fighting
 * Oversized Two Weapon Fighting
 * Weapon Focus Dwarven Axe
 * Weapon Specialization Slashing Weapons
 * Improved Two Weapon Fighting
 * Improved Critical
 * Power Critical
 * Spring Attack
 * Greater Two Weapon Fighting
 * Greater Weapon Specialization Slashing Weapons

You will also recieve a total of 80 enhancement points. They should be spent on the following enhancements, but for the most part, the order isn't terribly important. The enhancements marked with a *** however, are very beneficial to this build, and should always be purchased as soon as possible.

After each enhancement, a point cost is given. Multiple enhancements of the same name indicate that their is more than one "level" of that enhancement.


 * Dwarf Axe Attack 2
 * Dwarf Axe Damage 2 ***
 * Dwarf Axe Damage 4 ***
 * Dwarf Spell Defense 1 ***
 * Dwarf Spell Defense 2 ***
 * Dwarf Spell Defense 3 ***
 * Dwarf Constitution 2
 * Dwarf Constitution 4
 * Improved Jump 1
 * Improved Jump 1
 * Improved Jump 1


 * Barbarian Willpower 1
 * Barbarian Constitution 2
 * Barbarian Extend Rage 1
 * Barbarian Extra Rage 1 ***


 * Fighter Strength 2
 * Fighter Strength 4
 * Fighter Strength 6
 * Fighter Critical Accuracy 1
 * Fighter Critical Accuracy 2
 * Fighter Critical Accuracy 3
 * Fighter Critical Accuracy 4
 * Fighter Haste Boost 1
 * Fighter Haste Boost 2
 * Fighter Haste Boost 3
 * Fighter Haste Boost 4
 * Fighter Attack Boost 1
 * Fighter Attack Boost 2
 * Fighter Attack Boost 3


 * Fighter Weapon Specialty 1 ***
 * Fighter Weapon Specialty 2 ***
 * Kensai Weapon Mastery 1 ***
 * Kensai Weapon Mastery 1 ***
 * Kensai Weapon Mastery 1 ***
 * Fighter Kensai 4 ***
 * Fighter Kensai 2 ***
 * Fighter Kensai 2 ***

You will also earn five (5) points to add to your stats by level 20. They should be spent as follows:

+2 to Strength. +2 to Dexterity. +1 to Constitution.

Of these, dexterity is actually the most important, and the first point should be applied to dexterity, because you'll need atleast 17 dexterity to qualify for all of your feats. The remaining order doesn't matter that much.

After applying these points, your stats should look as follows.

Before Enhancements: Strength : (15 + 2) 17 Dexterity : (16 + 2) 18 Constitution: (14 + 1) 15 Intelligence : 8 Wisdom : 14 Charisma : 6

After Enhancements: Strength : (15 + 2 + 3) 20 Dexterity : (16 + 2) 18 Constitution: (14 + 1 + 3) 18 Intelligence : 8 Wisdom : 14 Charisma : 6

This will also give you Saves at level 20, that should look as follows (before any additional bonuses are applied from gear, spell effects, etc.):

Fortitude 20, Reflexes 11, Will 13.

However, these can be further increased when your enhancements, Rage, and Uncanny Dodge are applied, giving you a total normal bonus of:


 * Fortitude 25 vs spells, Reflexes 19 vs spells, Will 18 vs spells,

and a total possible bonus of:


 * Fortitude 27 vs spells, Reflexes 23 vs spells, and Will 21 vs spells,

making it very difficult for hostile mages to put you under their influence, or quickly eliminate you.

Max hit points should top out at 304 while calm, or 344 while raging, +10 with the 'Draconic Vitality' enhancement.