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SHANDRA, F NG HUMAN FIGHTER 11
Shandra is certainly a credible warrior. Her feat selection emphasizes shortswords, so you could run with that. How you do it is up to you. Having her dual-wield for more damage, or going with sword and shield so she can tank it are valid alternatives.
However, I will take the opportunity to offer an alternative way to develop Shandra, which may offer insights on other character builds. Her build is centered around the Parry skill. Using the Parry skill requires activation of the Parry fighting mode, which means you do not attack unless a Parry skill check allows you to make a counter attack. This requires some explanation.
If you have a character in Parry mode, then anytime an enemy attacks the character that attack will mean a Difficulty Class for the Parry skill to make a check against. The character can only make as many Parry attempts in a single round as she has attacks within a single round.
The DC equals a die roll of 1d20 plus the total attack bonus of the enemy attack. The bonus includes base attack bonus as per the enemy's level progression, items that grant bonuses to attack bonus (e.g. +3 weapon), feats that grant attack bonuses, and the ability bonus from Strength (e.g. 18 Strength grants a +4 bonus) or Dexterity if the enemy is using a light weapon in conjunction with the Weapon Finesse feat, and so on.
When the enemy makes an attack against a character in Parry mode, the character must make a Parry skill check against the DC of the enemy attack. The Parry skill check means a 1d20 die roll plus the Dexterity ability modifier bonus (18 Dexterity means a +4 bonus), plus any feats that grant a bonus to the Parry skill, plus any items that grant bonuses to the Parry skill, minus any armor check penalties. Since the use of the Parry skill can be hindered by armor check penalties, Parry is useless for any warrior packing heavy armor and/or a shield.
If the Parry skill check exceeds the DC by any amount, the character has successfully parried the enemy attack and avoided taking damage. If the Parry skill check exceeds the DC by at least 10, the character can then make a counter attack against the attacking enemy. Note that a Parry skill that exceeds the DC by at least 10 only offers the opportunity to make a counter attack. The character's attack roll must still exceed the armor class of the attacking enemy to connect for damage.
If the character has the Improved Parry feat, the character's Parry skill check only needs to exceed the DC by 5 to get a counter-attack. The Improved Parry feat is pretty much obligatory for any character build that is focused on use of the Parry skill.
Although it is possible to wear a Light Shield without any armor check penalties, it is often better to dual-wield. The Two-Weapon Defense and Improved Two-Weapon Defense feats offer bonuses to the Parry skill.
An ideal build would be a character that combines the high attack bonuses and higher number of attacks per round offered by the Warrior classes (e.g. Fighter, Ranger with the dual-wield path) with the thieving skills of a Rogue. Such a character would be able to fill two roles at once. The character could take care of the thieving skills, but also act as a decoy who can hold up multiple enemies in the heat of combat. Such a build would require light armor like Leather or Padded, plus maybe dual-wielding, to get the most benefit. The Duelist is a natural prestige class with which to centre a Parry-based build around. A Duelist can add her Intelligence bonus to armor class if not wearing armor, so wearing Bracers of Armor instead of armor may be called for instead. More importantly, the Duelist can add her class level to the Parry skill check roll, which can make parrying and counter-attacking almost a gaurantee every single time. Keep in mind, though, that if you want to take full advantage of a Duelist's offensive abilities, you'll need to wield a single weapon without any shield instead of dual-wielding. That may require a judgment call as to whether the Duelist's bonus to Parry is enough to compensate for not taking advantage of the Two-Weapon Defense feats.
Shandra, however, cannot obtain any prestige classes. Still, she makes do with leather armor, and an item that adds a bonus to her Parry skill. She certainly did right by me during this playthrough.
Stats
Skills
Shandra emphasizes Craft Weapon, Lore, Parry and Taunt.
Feats
Starting Feats:
12th level: Two-Weapon Fighting - The key point is to reduce the penalties to Shandra's main weapon attack from -6 to -2.
Skill Focus (Parry) - Giving Shandra yet another +3 bonus to her Parry skill checks.
14th level: Two-Weapon Defense - Gives Shandra a +1 shield bonus to armor class, and yet another bonus (+2) to Parry.
15th level: Improved Parry - An integral part of my set up for Shandra. Now she only needs to have her Parry skill check rolls exceed an enemy's attack roll by 5 instead of 10 for her to counter-attack.
16th level: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting - A logical last choice for Shandra.
Inventory
