Second Life Fighter

[aeroplanefly]

So I've been planning out my feats and trying to figure out how to build my fighter for next life. I'm currently capped out on my half-elf fighter dil paladin, and I have gear to allow me to build a nice DPS-ish fighter. I'm not bent on getting completionist, I just feel like it's time to advance to this character's second life.

Human Fighter 34 point build.
Feat progression:

H1: Toughness
H1: Two Hand Fighting
F1: Power Attack

F2: Weapon Focus: Slashing

H3: Dragon Mark of Sentinel (swap for Paladin PLF with Fred later)

F4: Stunning Blow / Improved Sunder

H6: Cleave
F6: Weapon Specialization: Slashing

F8: Improved Two Hand Fighting

H9: IC:Slashing

F10: Greater Weapon Focus: Slash

H12: Dragon Mark of Sent / Combat Expertise
F12: Greater Weapon Specialization: Slash

F14: Greater Two Hand Fighting

H15: Dragon Mark of Sentinel (second tier)

F16: Great Cleave

H18: Dragon Mark of Sentinel (third tier)
F18: Superior Weapon Focus: Slash

F20: Shield Mastery / Combat Expertise / Improved Sunder

The plan is to use chimera fang with the first tier of dragon mark of sentinel, then swap it for Paladin PLF when other weapons become a bit more useful than Chimera fang. At cap, I will use a lesser heart of wood and take all three tiers of sentinel dragon marks. This is not exclusively a tank build, but my understanding is that I'll be able to increase my AC without sacrificing my DPS while using epic chimera fang. I'm also debating whether to take Combat Expertise over Shield Mastery. Shield Mastery makes more sense at least, since I can keep Power Attack running.

And this build is more for raid boss dps.. stunning blow might be useful, but I enjoy using improved sunder to decreases raid bosses AC / Fortification / Fortitude. It helps the entire party dish out a bit more damage, and I don't think any boss is immune to Improved Sunder. I'd even swap Shield Mastery AND Combat Expertise if I really felt I needed a combination of both Stunning Blow and Improved Sunder.

So with that in mind, I have 4 feats, but can only take two of them... they are

Shield Mastery
Combat Expertise
Stunning Blow
Improved Sunder

I'm willing to swap them around but at cap, I'll have to choose two of the four. Suggestions?

[unbongwah]

The plan is to use chimera fang with the first tier of dragon mark of sentinel, then swap it for Paladin PLF when other weapons become a bit more useful than Chimera fang.

The ML:5 version of CFang is pretty ****, IMHO; just skip it entirely. If anything, I'd take b.sword or d.axe prof. so you have options for tanking other than eFang.

If you're going S&B, you definitely want both Shield Mastery feats for the added PRR & doublestrike bonuses.

Also, are you going SD or Kensai? You take all the Kensai pre-reqs, but it seems a bit...odd to mix it with S&B.

[aeroplanefly]

Plan is to go THF slasher kensei, but switching to bastard sword when necessary. I have a nice stock of falchions and bastard swords from my current paladin life (which by level 18, I went exclusively towards THF weapons).

The other option I suppose is to take stunning blow, improved sunder, and swap the dragon marks for combat expertise, improved trip, and... one free feat to choose from.

[Kinerd]

You can use Improved Sunder in every fight, I would think that's a must.
CE and Shield Mastery on a DPS character seem iffy choices.
And that leaves Stunning Blow.

It also seems like you'd have one more feat slot, right? One epic slot goes to OC, then the next one is open.

[aeroplanefly]

Ah, yes,
I have OC planned out for 21... not sure about 24 yet...

Not about ready to TR atm, but will soon, my buddy has been begging me.

[unbongwah]

Plan is to go THF slasher kensei, but switching to bastard sword when necessary.

That's the part that confuses me: what do you mean by "when necessary?" You're trading DPS going from 2H to S&B; the appeal is the extra AC, threat bonuses and PRR from Shield Mastery feats & SD / DoS. But if you're not tanking, none of that really matters; and if you were tanking, you should be investing more survivability feats, IMHO. So, it seems to me like you'd be better off with just a 2H Kensei and leaving the shields & b.swords in your TR cache for another time...

[Nitesco]

How about taking the prereqs for both Kensai and Stalwart? Then you can switch between them and see what you like. I think you can still fit one Shield Mastery in.

[aeroplanefly]

How about taking the prereqs for both Kensai and Stalwart? Then you can switch between them and see what you like. I think you can still fit one Shield Mastery in.

This is what I had in mind when I started the build, but I am trying to find out where to go in terms of making a great balance between DPS.

Alternatively, I could swap the three sentinel feats for something else. I would likely drop bastard sword completely, and maybe take dodge, mobility and spring attack to increase my dodge bonus and remove my -4 attack bonus while moving.

Other options... maybe take a quick draw, brutal throw, and have one left over. I don't like lacking a ranged weapon anyhow (although I would have an Infectious War Bow in my TR cache).

In the end, I have options... I have three feats that I can use elsewhere if I don't take the sentinel dragonmark feats. Where to put them seems to be the question...

[Nitesco]

I would dump the Bastard sword and Dragonmark idea completely. There are enough lemmings running around the game as it is with those types of builds and im most cases, franky they suck. Until they are fully geared and tweaked to actually tank a difficult mob, in my experience in most cases they are rubbish DPS and they never actually get to do what you planned. Most likely you would spend most of your time trying to catch up the the real DPS while they carry you through a quest. Go Kensai in Legendary Dreadnaught and dominate those wannabe's.

[Dieterstrife]

I've met 2 Stalwart offensive s&b builds, and one Kensai version.

If you're going s&b, go Stalwart. Otherwise, just use a falchion.