Emergence Campaign Weblog

The warrior’s look is like a thunderous rain-cloud’s, when, armed with mail, he seeks the lap of battle. Be thou victorious with unwounded body: so let the thickness of thy mail protect thee. With Bow let us win kine, with Bow the battle, with Bow be victors in our hot encounters. The Bow brings grief and sorrow to the foeman: armed with the Bow may we subdue all regions.. The sword lops limbs, thou smitest down the sinner,.. Let blinding darkness follow those our foemen, while these shall have bright shining nights to light them… Urge thou these heroes on to slay the enemy.

-The Rig-Veda

A fair number of the questions about Eclipse can be summed up as “What does it do for Martial Characters” – and while the real answer is that “There’s no division between Martial Characters and Casters in Eclipse” (as shown by Hiten’s supernatural powers) – there has been a recent spate of questions along the lines of “How do I build a Charger / Archer / Throwing Master / Critical Hit Fighter / Dirty Tricks Master / Two Weapon Fighter / Two Handed Fighter”. There are already a few articles on this – Building Better Martial Characters Part I and Part II, the Man-At-Arms article has some useful notes even if you’re not building a Dark Ages character, and there is plenty of other material such the article on Weapon Specialists lying about – but there are always new things to talk about. In this case it’s going to be some of those “standard builds” – and why most Eclipse fighters can afford to fill quite a few of those roles instead of just one or two.

The first bit is simple: As a first level general d20 Eclipse Fighter thou SHALT TAKE:

• Muscles Of Steel: Advanced Improved Augmented Bonus (Adds a second Attribute Modifier to your Constitution Modifier for Hit Point Purposes, Specialized and Corrupted / only adds through level six, 6 CP. Note that when you hit level six, it will be time to upgrade this). This will – as has been mentioned before – save you enough points to get an extra feat at every level. Between that and Eclipse’s cheaper martial abilities  a fighter can afford a LOT of extra tricks and upgrades.
• Dedicated Drill: Adept (may purchase four chosen Martial Arts Skills for half cost, 6 CP).
• Arts Of War: Fast Learner, Specialized in Skills for +2 SP/Level, Corrupted / only to keep the user’s Adept Skills maxed out (4 CP).

To save those points… leave Medium and Heavy armor proficiency for later, when you can afford it (-12 CP), take your BAB with No Iterative Attacks (Corrupted, -2 CP) and buy that up later when it will matter if you want to (Or you may just want Double Damage / only when you take a Full Attack action while making only one attack, 6 CP), and take 1d8 HP instead of 1d10 (-2 CP).

Admittedly, Martial Arts skills are usually limited to unarmed and/or a particular weapon or two – but they can get you the equivalent of +4 to Attacks, +4 to Damage, four Feats, and a various other abilities, both mundane and mystical, with that weapon when using that art without further expenditure, even if it will take some levels. That’s better than the entire Weapon Specialization feat tree right there – although you can still buy that and throw it in if you wish. It’s cheaper in Eclipse anyway.

You’re also going to want to consider

• Innate Enchantment. Small boosts don’t do nearly as much for Spellcasters, but for a Fighter effects like Personal Haste, Immortal Vigor, and other small boosts can really add up.
• Imbuement (especially if you’re using Thrown Weapons), so as to save money on buying magical weapons (6+ CP).
• Favored Techniques (Favored Foe variant, 6 CP). While favoring particular weapon groups divides the bonuses between Attacks and Damage, and favoring Armor Types divides the bonuses between AC and DR. You can also favor particular maneuvers, environments, or types of opponents.
• Penetrating Strikes: Augment Attack, +1d6 damage only to overcome Damage Reduction (3 CP). If you want to Specialize and/or Corrupt this – perhaps to a particular weapon – you can get the price down to 1 CP/d6 – so 2 CP to penetrate DR 5, 3 CP for DR 10, and so on.
• Grant Of Aid with +4 Bonus Uses, Specialized in Hit Points (6 CP) isn’t VITAL – but five uses of healing (1d8+5) damage without taking an action is very, VERY, useful at lower levels – and at higher levels you can buy off the Specialization and repair attribute damage and negative levels as well. Sure, you can get more healing other ways – but healing that goes off when the player wants it to even if the character is helpless or unconscious can be quite helpful.
• Melee Block: This allows the user to give up an AoO to attempt to block up to 60 points of damage from an incoming melee attack once per round (6 CP). While this calls for a good Reflex save or Luck if you want it to work at all reliably, either of those is worth having anyway – and even an unreliable block can be helpful.
• Ignoring Armor. Yes, you will want SOMETHING to stack armor enchantments on – but even if you don’t want to take Use Of Charms and Talismans (6 CP) to gain access to Shimmermail (+4 AC Bonus, no penalties) and various other toys, you can use Ironcloth (The Practical Enchanter) or Pathfinder’s Haramaki (4 CP) or Silken Ceremonial Armor (30 GP) to get a +1 Armor Bonus with no penalties and no required armor proficiency. Admittedly, Full Plate provides another +8 Armor Bonus (in exchange for a hit to movement, killing your Dexterity bonus, and a huge Armor Check Penalty), but to use it effectively you’ll need to buy Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor Proficiency (15 CP) and then deal with those penalties. At that point you could buy Defender (+1 Dodge AC Bonus), Specialized and Corrupted / only while carrying a Light Load or less, only while wearing one of the minimalistic “armors” given above, your effective armor is obvious to observers, bonus does not increase with level (2 CP per +1 AC). For 16 CP – only 1 CP more than Heavy Armor Proficiency – that will make your Haramaki as effective as Full Plate Armor without any of Full Plates penalties or limitations other than appearance. Is there any reason not to turn armor into a special effect? After all, that’s all it seems to be in the movies. If you still want armor – perhaps to take advantage of special materials or modifications… well, the Smooth modifier, or an Immunity to its penalties, or some such, may be in order.

Now Hiten already illustrates the basics of a two-handed attack / tripper build. For further development building on his (level two) setup…

Lockdown / Tripper Build:

• Flickering Lightning Dance: Reflex Training (Combat Reflexes Variant) with +4 Bonus Uses, Specialized in Pole Arms Only, Corrupted / Guisarmes only (4 CP). This will provide +4 AoO over what “Combat Reflexes” would normally provide (in Eclipse, Dex Mod, minimum 1). Combined with sufficient Reach, this can lock people down in quite an area and is handy against chargers.
• Wall Of Steel: Double Damage versus Charging Attackers, Specialized for Reduced Cost (Pole Arms Only), Corrupted for Increased Effect (Guisarme Only). This lets you do triple damage against a charging attacker. When combined with extended reach, decent damage and attack bonuses, and an increased number of AoO, this very effectively inhibits Charging – especially since said charging character need not be attacking you; he or she need only be passing through the area you threaten (3 CP).
• Lance Of Storms: Lunge, Specialized and Corrupted for Increased Effect / Pole Arms Only, Only for Guisarme (6 CP or +4 CP over Hiten’s existing Will Of Destruction ability). +15 Natural Reach will let the user cover quite a chunk of territory.
• Lightning Strikes Twice: Luck with +4 Bonus Uses, Specialized and Corrupted for Reduced Cost / only for Attacks, only with Pole Arms (4 CP). This, of course, is good for both “I cannot miss this time!” and “I REALLY need a critical hit right now!”. Game masters should keep a lid on Luck though; characters who basically never need to roll are rarely very interesting.
• Bladestorm Dance: Presence, Specialized for Double Radius of Effect (20′) / only while the user is using a Guisarme, only affects opponents within reach. Anyone whom the user currently Threatens within a 20′ radius is considered Flanked if they are also being threatened by any other friendly character (6 CP).
• Hurricane Stance: Opportunist (Specify) / The user gets to make an AoO when someone they threaten does something that normally would not provoke an AoO. For example, if someone…
  • Attacks someone else.
  • Attacks you and misses.
  • Takes a 5′ step or attempts to withdraw.
  • Casts a spell, whether or not they are casting defensively or would not otherwise provoke an AoO.
  • Gets Tripped.
    • This is normally 6 CP, but it can be reduced to as little as 2 CP/Instance if Specialized and/or Corrupted.
• Hook Of Fate: Overwhelm, Specialized and Corrupted for Increased Effect (Target may be moved up to 10′ in any direction, may spend an AoO to automatically move an unresisting ally without inflicting actual injury) / only with Polearms, only with a specific weapon (6 CP). With this trick you can shuffle people around the battlefield, move your friends (who are “provoking” an AoO at your option because they are not defending themselves against you) about as needed, toss attackers into hazards, and break most charges.
• Eventually you’ll want to be tripping very large creatures. That’s Immunity/The normal size limitations on Tripping. That’s Common, Major, and Trivial (for +1 Size Category, 3 CP), Minor (+2 Size Categories, 6 CP), Major (+3 Size Categories, 9 CP). As usual, this can be Specialized and Corrupted to either reduce the cost or to add a special effect; would you, perhaps, like to give your friends a chance at an AoO when you trip someone?

The Lockdown / Tripper build is actually fairly expensive – a fighter would have to devote four or five levels worth of special ability purchases to it to get everything – but being able to strike at any target within 30 feet or so, move them around, break charges, and keep multiple opponents from acting even as you inflict large amounts of damage, and disrupt spellcasters is probably well worth it.

For a Fear build…

• Avatar Of Death: Presence, Specialized and Corrupted for Triple Effect (30′ Radius, Enemies become Shaken for one minute if they fail a Will save at DC (10 + Cha Mod + Level/2) / Only works once per day on any given opponent, user must demonstrate their power in a threatening manner – charging, making a full attack, casting a major offensive spell, or taking a similar action.
• Aura of Awe: Improved Superior Presence, Corrupted / the user must be prepared and ready for battle – although a fight over contracts in a business boardroom, or political influence at a kings court is just another form of battle as long as the user us prepared for it (12 CP). With this you gain a +4 on any skill checks to dominate, command, or intimidate, all enemies within 10′ who are vulnerable to Fear are considered Shaken, and would-be attackers must make a DC (13 + Cha Mod) Will save to attack the user each round, although they do get a +5 bonus if the user is currently attacking them.

Martial Art: Lion Presence Style

The visage is commanding, the eyes as hard as iron. The stance projects POWER, the gestures assurance. The voice rumbles, echoing and seeming to shake the ground. The user stands like a tower, hisor her aura that of an unquestioned king, with a gaze as piercing as an eagles. The strength and dominance is that of a lion in it’s prime, ruling it’s pride with an iron claw.

• Requires: Avatar Of Death or Aura of Awe.
• Basic Techniques: Attack 4 (Variant, adds to Cha-Based Skill Checks), Defense 4 (Variant, adds to Will Saves), Synergy/Intimidation, Synergy/Bluff, Synergy/Diplomacy, and Synergy/Intimidate. Toughness 1 (Variant, reduces your effective (but not actual) personal level of Fear by one level).
• Advanced and Master Techniques: Voice Of Thunder (Battlecry), Rule The Mod (Whirlwind Attack, only for intimidation and dominance effects but is not an independent action), Immediate Dominance (Reflex Training, Specialized and Corrupted for Increased Effect (nine uses/day) / only for intimidation and dominance effects, using the per-encounter power rule to make this “twice per encounter”). and Fearmonger (Immunity / the usual limitations of Intimidation (Common, Major, Minor, User may apply Pathfinders “Unchained” effects when using Intimidation, 6 CP)).
• Occult Techniques: Inner Strength x 2, Ki Focus (+4 Charisma), and Wrath (Variant; any creature you strike must make a DC 15 Will check or have it’s current level of fear increase by one level, you are immune to Fear while this power is in use).

Now this DOES stretch the Martial Arts rules a bit, but the art in itself shouldn’t break anything; there are plenty of spells that produce massive fear or social effects.

The Fear Build is relatively cheap – 18 CP and one of a fighter’s four Martial Arts slots – bur all too may creatures are immune to fear (and often to other social skills). On the other hand, it offers a marvelous defense against swarms of lesser attackers and has a decent chance of turning away midlevel attackers in any given round. That’s a pretty large boost to your ability to hold back a horde. It’s probably well worth the two levels it will take to acquire it.

Next up; The Charger / Two-Handed Smiter, Throwing Master, and a few others.

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