Shieldsplitter, what heroic path choose ?

[Waldham]

- Iroborn for indefatigable against the fatigued effect produced by rage ? But at 19th level only.
- Painless for retributive rage, ferocity ?
- Steelblooded for strategic blow (is it effective against the solidity of a shield or weapon ?), untouchable (but valable at 19th level only) ?
- Giantblooded for the reach (at 10th and 20th level), rock throwing, fast movement, fearsome charge ?

- Other ?

Thanks for your future answer.

[Luiniel Blades]

It's kind of hard to say for sure.  I guess it depends on what you are going for.  Iron-Born is great even well before you gain Indefatigable with the extremely durable warrior with more Hit points, Natural Armor, Fortitude bonus, Damage Reduction and Energy Resistance. On top of that if he doesn't get killed, between a decent healer and his improved healing rate, he'll be back soon enough.

Painless has always struck me great flavor wise, the guy who charges headfirst into your defensive line and just refuses to die is always appealing.  Ferocity is a cool thing to have and the retributive attacks make a great way to keep the killer momentum going after the initial rush is over with.

Steel-blooded is nice in that it provides you with a boost to attacks and damage as well as feats to add options to your list.  Sadly the Strategic blow is only for a creatures Damage Reduction, not an item's hardness.  For that look to the Dwarven Cultural fighting technique- Knowledge of Steel to halve the hardness of weapons and shields.

Out of all the Paths for this Prestige class however I have to hand it to the Giant-Blooded. Between the reach, the size bonuses, increased strength, fearsome charge and eventual faster movement it seems like the perfect match up for the Shield-splitter class. The rock throwing ability is a nice ranged addition but not exactly what your character is probably wanting to do.

[Waldham]

Orc Fighting Techniques

Power Sunder
Benefit: If you successfully sunder an opponent's weapon or shield, you may immediately initiate a trip attack without provoking an attack of opportunity. If you fail, you may not be tripped in return.

Quick Charge
Benefit: When you charge, you can choose to move 10 feet farther than normal.

Lunging Cleave
Benefit: Once per round immediately after dropping an opponent, you may make a 5-ft. step. If you have the Cleave feat, you may make this 5-ft. step before your immediate additional attack. In any case, this movement does not count against your movement for the round or as your one 5-ft. step in the round.

Iron-Handed Grappling
Benefit: You deal +2 damage whenever you make a grapple check to damage an opponent, including applying damage after the initial grapple check.

Savage Throw
Benefit: If you have the Power Attack feat, you may use it when attacking with a thrown weapon. The benefit is halved, however, so for every 2 you subtract from your attack rolls, you may only add 1 to your damage rolls with thrown weapons.

Chaotic Overrun
Benefit: When you move into the defender's space during an overrun, he can either choose to avoid you or take an attack of opportunity, but not both. Furthermore, if you lose the opposed Strength check to knock the defender prone, he may not attempt to knock you prone in return.

0/What fighting techniques are useful for a shieldsplinter ? power sunder, quick charge, lunging cleave, chaotic overrun ?

1/ For the rock throwing ability, can it useful against a sniper ? A flying opponent, no ? Savage throw can be interesting, no ?

2/ Are there other mentor for the figthing techniques other Rizzakk ?

3/ Do an official covenant item (vardatch) exist ? If yes, what book ?

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

Quickened could be an interesting option - extra move action can be handy to set yourself up into a charging position, or just an extra attack never did anyone any harm.

But, overall I'd go with Ironborn.  Partly because it's just all-round a solid choice, but also because it gives you DR, which is a prerequisite for Shieldsplitter, meaning you can then start multiclassing rather than needing 7 levels of Barbarian just to qualify for the PrC.  Barbarian 1 with Extra Rage feat (if allowed, from Complete Warrior), then 6 levels of Fighter/Defender/Wildlander is generally gonna work out better than straight Barbarian.

If no Extra Rage, I'd take Barbarian 4 then multiclass a bit.

Steelblooded never did a melee character any harm, free weapon focus chain and some nice other abilities always good.  I'd avoid Painless though - the flavour is great, but mechanically it pales in comparison to the similarly flavoured Ironborn (main problem is that many of the abilities are very niche - how often are Painless and Nonlethal DR going to actually come up in the average campaign?).

[/munchkinism]

Orc Fighting Techniques - there can be/should be more trainers for the various techniques, but only the ones in Steel & Shadow were ever defined in canon.

[Johanas]

 

how often are Painless and Nonlethal DR going to actually come up in the average campaign?).

Obviously you've never been in one of Doomed Hero's real world tabletop Midnight games. I'm pretty brutal with ability damage and moral quandaries, but nonlethal DR is a literal lifesaver in some Midnight games (again, especially DH's). Forced March? HA! Starving? NO PROBLEM! Slavers with whips/unarmed attacks/saps? Meh. It all depends on the campaign. Shadow's Advocate aside, I do agree that Ironborn is generally one of the most popular, and in a harsh world like Midnight, survivability tends to go further than melee prowess, as it isn't just the Shadow after you, it's EVERYTHING. The weather, animals, you name it. Painless is good; Ironborn is great. It can weather any storm. Usually.

Steelblooded gets bonus feats, but it never seems to have as much positive feedback as the other two. Not in terms of munchkining, but rather in flavor. Got with your gut on whatever feels right.

[DaveTheMagicWeasel]

Not saying Painless is bad, just that Ironborn does basically the same thing, but better.  It may grant lower bonuses, but Fort save, hp, DR, etc that applies to everything instead of a limited subset is better afaic.  The campaign I run has quite a lot of forced marching, etc, but I'd still say Ironborn would be the better choice.

All Steelblooded really does is increase your numbers.  Nothing wrong with that and it's a solid path, but it's not very exciting so I think that's why it get the doesn't get as much attention as some of the flashier paths.

[Doomed Hero]

I'm with Dave on this one. Ironborn does everyting a Painless does, only better (except for Ferocity, but really, that's a pretty minor ability).

Dave, have you taken a look at my Reworks? A lot of the issues with paths are discussed and (hopefully) resolved. I'm pretty proud of my Painless rework. If you haven't seen it, please take a look. I'd love to hear your thoughts.