Anyone else lurve their Dwarf Defenders?
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:56 am
I don't know if its lack of people submitting a bit of advice or whether its self-evident how much of a freaking tank this character can be, but...anyway, either way, I'm finding my Dwarven Defender to be a lot cheaper to run on healing potions than anything else!
Anyway, the first thing to note about the DD is the hit dice; d12. This means you get a HEAP of HP, especially if you manage a high CON. I opted for a Ranger/DD because I could get the benefits of some stealth, set traps (traps are so negected as a way of totally ruling EVERYTHING, but thats a separate issue), and did I mention two weapons? I guess that you should try a Fighter/DD so you can wear tanky armour but the strategy bears out when you consider a level 10 DD gets damage resistance. It doesn' matter how crap your AC is when, with the right magic item (Amulet of Evil gives shadow armour), you can soak 15-20 damage right off the bat.
For instance, in my battle with the Valsharess, the damn elf's magic was pretty terrible at gibbing me, but once i survived that I took 0 points of damage from her ****y whipping (shadow armour made me immune to negative energy). Anyway, I think you get my point.
The other point is the defensive stance, which adds 2 to your STR, CON, and so forth. At level 27, an extra 2 CON is 27HP...
In terms of doing a pure DD build without trying to do fancy Ranger stuff, the class is obviously intended to be a tank, so you would do Fighter till LVL 7, DD till level 18 (to get your Lvl10 DD and immunity to knockdown, damage soak, etc), then pack on as much HP as you can.
STATS
Stat wise, I went with DEX, and weapon finesse so I could have a greater swordsmans belt versus a belt of Hill Giant Strength, and bracers of Dexterity. But in pure form, you'd definitely pack on the CON and STR and sit in the heaviest suit of plate mail money could buy, behind a +6 shield. Wisdom is important, because it gives you the ability to disregard the only thing which can stuff you round; mind controls and daze,spells, etc. Having a high Will save is important for avoiding magical punishment.
SKILLS
Skills-wise, I've messed around with set traps, etc, as a consequence of being a Ranger, but since you are immune to knockdown, you can keep a low Discipline and really all you need to spend skill points on is Tumble, to ramp up your AC. I found the Ranger route quite useful as the defensive stance is a static position; you can't move once you set it off. So if you can sneak in close to an enemy and set up, it helps maximise the AC and HP bonuses of the Defensive Stance.
I think, also, a few levels of Rogue would be worth it to either ramp yur Tumble up, or in the very least get a high Use Magic Device so you can actually do something with all the cool toys you pick up.
FEATS
Going the ranger route you pretty much get free two weapon fighting; the other route would obviously be to get Exotic Weapons feat and a dwarven war axe and go for it. Feats such as Mobility, Dodge are required to get into the DD prestige class so you have to get those, but beyond that Toughness, Improved Criticals are the way to go, and if not a Ranger, weapon specialisation is essential in whichever weapon you want. You can't neccessarily emulate the Weaponmaster in toto, but if you keep a set of weapons and add acid damage to kick Mephisto, you can get a good weapon and keep it and max it up with feats.
You can also get expertise or disarm. I haven't gone that route, but it would be particularly useful to a DD in that you can neutralise the enemy's weapon and further decrease their damage, or with expertise, you've got the luxury of time to wear them down.
The other point here with the ranger is the favoured enemies; you can really ramp your benefits up against your major opponents by 10 levels of Ranger, ie; dwarves, elves, outsiders.
The disadvanage of the rager is, obviously, a hit of about 6AC on heavier armours and more if you use 2 weapons due to the loss of the shield. However, with planning and a higher Dex, I still got to AC_39 which isn't a problem due to the damage soaking.
EPIC FEATS
Epic feats should be spent on Epic Toughness (more HP) and on energy resistance or extra CON. Epic Criticals is also a good way of ramping up your damage-daling capabilities, but really epic resistance will eventually make you immune to magic even as you have become somewhat immune to physical damage.
Hope someone finds this inspiring to make a dwarven defender. They are pretty cool as far as tanky characters go.
Anyway, the first thing to note about the DD is the hit dice; d12. This means you get a HEAP of HP, especially if you manage a high CON. I opted for a Ranger/DD because I could get the benefits of some stealth, set traps (traps are so negected as a way of totally ruling EVERYTHING, but thats a separate issue), and did I mention two weapons? I guess that you should try a Fighter/DD so you can wear tanky armour but the strategy bears out when you consider a level 10 DD gets damage resistance. It doesn' matter how crap your AC is when, with the right magic item (Amulet of Evil gives shadow armour), you can soak 15-20 damage right off the bat.
For instance, in my battle with the Valsharess, the damn elf's magic was pretty terrible at gibbing me, but once i survived that I took 0 points of damage from her ****y whipping (shadow armour made me immune to negative energy). Anyway, I think you get my point.
The other point is the defensive stance, which adds 2 to your STR, CON, and so forth. At level 27, an extra 2 CON is 27HP...
In terms of doing a pure DD build without trying to do fancy Ranger stuff, the class is obviously intended to be a tank, so you would do Fighter till LVL 7, DD till level 18 (to get your Lvl10 DD and immunity to knockdown, damage soak, etc), then pack on as much HP as you can.
STATS
Stat wise, I went with DEX, and weapon finesse so I could have a greater swordsmans belt versus a belt of Hill Giant Strength, and bracers of Dexterity. But in pure form, you'd definitely pack on the CON and STR and sit in the heaviest suit of plate mail money could buy, behind a +6 shield. Wisdom is important, because it gives you the ability to disregard the only thing which can stuff you round; mind controls and daze,spells, etc. Having a high Will save is important for avoiding magical punishment.
SKILLS
Skills-wise, I've messed around with set traps, etc, as a consequence of being a Ranger, but since you are immune to knockdown, you can keep a low Discipline and really all you need to spend skill points on is Tumble, to ramp up your AC. I found the Ranger route quite useful as the defensive stance is a static position; you can't move once you set it off. So if you can sneak in close to an enemy and set up, it helps maximise the AC and HP bonuses of the Defensive Stance.
I think, also, a few levels of Rogue would be worth it to either ramp yur Tumble up, or in the very least get a high Use Magic Device so you can actually do something with all the cool toys you pick up.
FEATS
Going the ranger route you pretty much get free two weapon fighting; the other route would obviously be to get Exotic Weapons feat and a dwarven war axe and go for it. Feats such as Mobility, Dodge are required to get into the DD prestige class so you have to get those, but beyond that Toughness, Improved Criticals are the way to go, and if not a Ranger, weapon specialisation is essential in whichever weapon you want. You can't neccessarily emulate the Weaponmaster in toto, but if you keep a set of weapons and add acid damage to kick Mephisto, you can get a good weapon and keep it and max it up with feats.
You can also get expertise or disarm. I haven't gone that route, but it would be particularly useful to a DD in that you can neutralise the enemy's weapon and further decrease their damage, or with expertise, you've got the luxury of time to wear them down.
The other point here with the ranger is the favoured enemies; you can really ramp your benefits up against your major opponents by 10 levels of Ranger, ie; dwarves, elves, outsiders.
The disadvanage of the rager is, obviously, a hit of about 6AC on heavier armours and more if you use 2 weapons due to the loss of the shield. However, with planning and a higher Dex, I still got to AC_39 which isn't a problem due to the damage soaking.
EPIC FEATS
Epic feats should be spent on Epic Toughness (more HP) and on energy resistance or extra CON. Epic Criticals is also a good way of ramping up your damage-daling capabilities, but really epic resistance will eventually make you immune to magic even as you have become somewhat immune to physical damage.
Hope someone finds this inspiring to make a dwarven defender. They are pretty cool as far as tanky characters go.