Tweaking the "Small" Warrior

[Farcaster]

As an experiment, I recently created a Gnomish NPC fighter. Right off the bat, he gets stung with a strength penalty, although the constitution bonus is nice. And although the Gnome gets a +1 to hit from his size, he must use smaller weapons. Herein lies the problem I'm looking to solve. His reduced strength and reduced weapon size are destroying his damage potential. My goal is to within the first 10 levels make him a potent little melee attacker.

I've thought about some interesting tweaks that seem appropriate for a little tinkering gnome type, such as using Oil of Impact on his weapons, or alchemists fire coating his weapons. He could also become a little feat demon, but certain feats like trip and disarm he will always be at a disadvantage using because of his and his weapons size category. Certainly as he starts getting more magical gear in his career, his damage ratio will improve, but in addition to stat boosting gear and energy damage weapons, how would you optimize the small warrior? And can you think of some ways that my little gnome could really capitalize on his size in combat?

[Ed Zachary]

Haste, Divine Power, Righteous Might, Bear's Strength, Harm spell on sword...

[Farcaster]

Did I mention that he's a fighter? jeez!

[shilar]

Offset low damage per hit with more hits per turn(perk more likely to hit with 2 attacks instead of one). The hooked hammer is a martial weapon for Gnomes. It's a double weapon. It does 1d6/1d4 damage, comparable to a short sword dagger combo. Has a massive critical damage of x3/x4(take improved critical). Take the two weapon fighting tree, It will cancel most penalties and give you two more attacks when you complete it. With your size bonus to attack and your fighter BaB you roll with no penalty for attacks. And once you start the weapon focus/specialization tree(or against racial enemies) you start getting bonuses again. Also improved initiative(for catching an enemy flatfooted to give them an AC penalty) and combat reflexes(for extra attacks of opportunity) should also make the feat list after a few levels. The Rapid shot feat tree does the same thing for ranged attacks but has harder requirements. The average damage for bows is only one less point for small characters than medium.
Average damage per round if all attacks hit and a strength stat of 18 for human 16 for gnome to reflect racial adjustment.
human fighter with longsword 5(average damage for longsword)+4(for strength)=9
gnome fighter with hooked hammer 4(for hammer end)+3(for strength)+3(for hook end)+1(for offhand strength)=11added average

[shilar]

Haste, Divine Power, Righteous Might, Bear's Strength, Harm spell on sword...

Also make friends with spellcasters.

[Moritz]

Make him dex based

[Farcaster]

Make him dex based

He does have a higher than average dexterity. So, how would you capitalize on that?

[The Wandering Bard]

OK, two suggestions.

First, As previously mentioned, make him dex based. Use Weapon finess, which will allow hit to attack using his dex bonus instead of his str bonus, on damage rolls. Also look at Elven lightblade and elven shortblade, these nasty weapons do higher than average damage, and can be used as light weapons. VERY WORTH IT!!

Option 2. is very fun. Give his the monkeygrip this will allow hit to use larger weapons single handedly, Allowing a sheild. also the Oversized weapon feat is worth looking into though i doubt you will get it by level 10.


These are fun options to use for a close combat person, a fighter can also be ranged. thus CROSSBOWS there great. use posions, or acids, and alchemist fire, plus any number of newer one use items on them. Also if you have the money, physical bonus items, Gauntlet and belts of strength. Good stuff, anyways hope this helps. Have fun.

[Ed Zachary]

Did I mention that he's a fighter? jeez!

On the first line, and it was implied two or three other times.

As Shilar said, make friends with a spell caster. Or he can gain the use of those spells through magic items or potions. Also look at Keen Edge.

Make him dex based

Finesse (feat) only applies to the attack bonus, not damage.

[Moritz]

Yep, they beat me to it. Weapon Finesse (feat). There's another feat that helps with the damage aspect though, can't recall what it is.

[RealmsDM]

Other than what has been mentioned, I like the idea of alchemical bonuses for gnomes. All types of oils & salvs that a gnome could dream up to beef up his combat potential (all non magical of course!)
And close quarter fighting & other similar feats are great for small creatures!

[Argent]

A few levels of rogue could help with increased damage in the right situations. And you can take Improved Feint to make those right situations happen more often. And if you are going Dex-based fighter, the rogue skill points in Tumble, Balance, and Bluff will be useful as well.

As for feats that improve damage: Combat Tactician, Melee Weapon Mastery (Player's Handbook II); Gnome Foe Killer (Races of Stone); Expert Tactician (Complete Adventurer); Arterial Strike, Monkey Grip, Power Critical (Complete Warrior). I don't have any other books at hand at the moment, but I'll edit this if I come across others.

But Fling Ally is always a lot of fun...

[shilar]

Never got why everyone always goes finesse fighter for small characters. While it is helpful for halflings who get a dex bonus. It really doesn't do much for gnomes. Unless you plan on making dex his high score he really wont see any bonuses and it really doesn't help with damage. If you want damage put high score in strength let the size mod take care of the strength penalty to hit. Gnome fighters have a constitution bonus. Make a double barrel tank out of him. between two weapon fighting and a few alchemical tricks you wont lack for damage.

[starfalconkd]

Two words for your gnome: Titan Fighting.
Pre Reqs: Dodge, Racial Dodge Bonus to AC against Giants
Benefits: Whenever you designate a creature one size category larger than you as the target of your dodge feat, you apply your racial dodge bonus to armor class against giants to that creature (regardless of it's type) instead of your normal +1 bonus from your dodge feat.

It's from Races of Stone. That feat, a hooked hammer, the Exotic Weapon Master class, and maybe the tempest class plus a bunch of fighter levels will make one seriously dangerous gnome.

[Karui_Kage]

As a gnome, I wouldn't worry too much about the damage dice you're using. You want to capitalize on the damage bonus. A 1d4 weapon, for example, only has an average 2 point difference compared to a 1d8 weapon (2,3 average for 1d4, 4,5 average for 1d8). I, in all honesty, wouldn't worry about your con as much as Dex and Str. You get the nice +2 bonus from con, so even if you put a 10 in there, you'll still have a +1 bonus. If you had an Elite array, I'd recommend the following:

Str: 15 (modified 13)
Dex: 14
Con: 13 (modified 15)
Int: 10
Wis: 12
Cha: 8

His strength will only be +1, so work on improving that first with stat points. Just one will bump him up to a +2.

Also, do what the others say, make use of dual-wielding and that gnomish hook hammer. Even with the -2 penalty to hit, you'll still have that +1 from being small, so overall it's a measly -1. Use Weapon Finesse, and you'll help offset it. I wouldn't waste the feat if he'll be 10th level though. You can make his strength equal to his dex with one stat point.

The biggest thing this character will have going for him is AC. Assuming nothing magical (I'm not sure what level he is, though you mention 10), he can have Full Plate and a Heavy Steel Shield for a total AC of 22 (Full Plate 8 + Dex 1 + Size 1 + Shield 2). Add in a +1 enchantment on each piece of armor, and you'll be at 24. Make the Full Plate mithril, you can add another dex for 25. You see where I'm going with this.

Use his fighter bonus feats to get weapon spec for either (or both) weapons he's using too. That +2 damage will be nice, especially with that high crit multiplier. Heck, get Shield Specialization, Two Weapon Defense, and other feats like that for more +1 AC bonuses. This guy may not do much damage every round, but I imagine most players will have a hard time hitting him.

If you need any more help choosing feats, or a theme for the guy, feel free to shoot me a PM.

starfalconkd's ideas are good too. Titan Fighting is a great feat for him. Exotic Weapon Master could go well, though I would personally take Tempest over it if you're going for dual-wield. Heck, even Dervish could be handy. Do that after you have all the bonus feats you want though, maybe at level 7 or so.