User talk:ThunderGod Cid/Meat Shield

Ratings

Blocked Rating	Somehownotsingle favors this article and rated it 4 of 4!
	This rating refers to a substantially different version of the article, or concerns mentioned in it have already been addressed.What I really like about this class, besides the cool abilities, is that it gives the Fighter in the party some sort of identity besides the guy who smashes stuff. Thus, both from a combat aspect and an RPG aspect, this is a class that would be fun to play!

Unfortunately, this rating is now referring to a vastly different incarnation of this class, since the class is now 10 levels instead of 20 and the abilities are going to be shuffled. It's no longer in main nav anyway but still. - TG Cid (talk) 08:57, 10 June 2017 (MDT)

Comments

Very cool class, been looking for a real defender like this for a long time. --Be well 14:25, February 20, 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. It's been SGT'ed but not thoroughly playtested, so if you ever use it in a campaign feel free to post how it went, what its pitfalls are, etc. - TG Cid 15:25, February 20, 2010 (UTC)

I'm currently travelling, so might be some time before I can play it. But I will let you know when I do :) --Be well 02:12, February 21, 2010 (UTC)

Wide Load

How does it work? Especially the parts about squares being occupied? Does the distance that counts as occupied increase? Does that mean that people in melee can't attack the meat shield without reach? The ability seems rather... problematic :-/ --Ghostwheel 21:46, February 23, 2010 (UTC)

Fixed that a while back. Think it's been cleared up now. - TG Cid 22:56, March 10, 2010 (UTC)

Because AoO's Are Not Kind to Heavy Armored Guys

I was thinking that it would be helpful to add in an ability that gives the Meat Shield more AoO's. I think it would be similar to the Races of War rules on the premise, but scale with your total attack bonus instead of your base attack bonus. The reasoning for this is because most characters don't have to worry about making more than 3 or 4 AoO's in a round given the circumstances of their implementation, therefore allowing as many AoO's as normal attacks in a full attack makes sense.

A Dex-based fighter with maximized Dexterity and Combat Reflexes, however, is capable of making ten AoO's in a single round. Should they manage to acquire Thicket of Blades, they can actually make the most of it. Normally I wouldn't press the issue, but since a Meat Shield of level 4 or higher can make AoO's for any movement in his threat range (basiclly the same as Thicket of Blades from what I understand) I feel more AoO's would actually benefit him. As such, I am proposing that a Meat shield gets 1 AoO for every 5 points of total attack bonus (not BAB) that he receives (from any source), giving him eight at a total attack bonus of +40 without having to waste his time and feats with Combat Reflexes and Dexterity, which are counter-intuitive to the premise of the class IMO. - TG Cid 22:56, March 10, 2010 (UTC)

Ordering of abilities

Perhaps move Oath of Service up to be the first ability, so you define what a Principal is before talking at length about what the Meat Shield does with regards to the Principal. -- Aelaris 09:31, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Intercession

I'm planning to play a Meat Shield, but have a couple questions on the Intercession ability:

1) Is Intercession meant to take up your immediate action for the current round? It would make the high number of usages per encounter pretty meaningless as your typical combat encounter is almost never going to exceed 7 rounds or so. It also has a huge impact on the overall effectiveness of the Meat Shield when fighting against multiple enemies and/or designating more than one principal.

2) Is movement taken during an intercession (including principal movement when switching places) meant to provoke attacks of opportunity?

Thanks! - Willturn 00:30, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

1. It's not meant to take your immediate action. You do, however, have to be adjacent to them and follow all the other limitations stated there. And it does require an immediate action to move in conjunction with your principal. But yeah, making it an immediate action would ruin its usage, so it doesn't do that.
2. No, it's not meant to provoke AoO's. I should probably stipulate such therein.

Thanks for the feedback. I hope that helped. - TG Cid 16:44, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Changes Made

Since I took this off main navigation years ago and recycled some of the abilities, I am trying my hand at making it work again within a 10-level scope. Not sure it will work, but worst case scenario it rots in my sandbox forever. - TG Cid (talk) 08:57, 10 June 2017 (MDT)