The Lancer (3.5e Optimized Character Build)

Introduction

Inspired by dragons. Trained for war. Glorious in battle.

The Lancers are a diverse group of people that fight in a distinctive, if meteoric style. While they may appear no different than any other light foot soldier or cavalry when first encountered, their superhuman speed soon sets them apart. Their signature combat technique is revealed when one takes to the sky through a legendary leap, only to crash, weapon first, into their target before landing gracefully.

The style is passed on by way of individual mentors; each Lancer received his or her basic training from a single, more experienced master. Such training often involves precision leaping from tall trees and, in extreme cases for experienced Lancers, mountains. An individual lancer may then focus on any of several different techniques to round out their combat repertoire. In fact, the tradition declares that each individual lancer develop his or her own unique variation in the combat style. Some wield swords, others ride mighty steeds, and still others practice the way of the warrior-mage. In this way, they remain versatile on the whole, and adaptable individually, while allowing their techniques to expand and develop when new moves are learned, new magic discovered, or new gear engineered.

Lancers who focus on mounts prefer to be called dragon knights. The original founders of this combat technique, who have the strongest ties to the dragons themselves, often in service of Bahamut, call themselves dragoons. For practical purposes, the terms of 'dragoon' and 'dragon knight' are interchangeable, and a typical lancer will answer to any of these.

Presented below is a suggested template for Lancers. It is fully playable regardless of your character race. There are suggested adaptation tips below.

By and large, the Lancer is a modular concept. Only two feats, Leap Attack and Power Attack, both highlighted below, are absolutely required, though there feats required in this build that are NOT required to be a lancer. (Dodge is necessary for the blade dancer prestige class but optional for the dragoon concept.) In fact, your lancer could have a completely different class breakdown than this. It's entirely up to you whether you use this basic version or one of your own devising.

The build itself is, at its core, a union of two simple designs, the uber damage charger and the mobility monkey.

References

Non-core Books Required

Complete Adventurer

Expanded Psionics Handbook (all relevant material also in the SRD)

Oriental Adventures (Blade Dancer)

Unapproachable East (Battle Jump feat and Valorous weapon enchant)

Recommended

Unearthed Arcana (optional; required for Additional Favored Class)

Game Rule Components

Skills

MUST HAVE: Jump! Tumble!

SHOULD HAVE: Balance, Climb, Listen, Spot.

WOULD BE NICE: Concentration (if you took feats that require you to expend your psionic focus), Hide, Intimidate, Move Silently, Ride (Ride moves up if you wish to be partly or fully mount-dependent.)

Psi Powers

PsyWar ML 2, 2 Powers Known, Max Level 1

Go with what you feel like here, though follow the golden rule of psionic dipping: Pick LONG DURATION or NO AUGMENT powers.

I'd suggest powers like synesthete, elfsight, or chameleon, since you'll be using these with your scout levels for so long and they remain useful even later. If you prefer an emergency HP reserve, get vigor.

Remember that if you lose all your power points, YOU LOSE YOUR PSIONIC FOCUS which powers your Speed of Thought and Up the Walls feats.

Items

Equipment MUST HAVE

-Polearm or spear. Use a lance if you intend to be mounted often or a halberd or longspear otherwise. Double hand your weapon for more damage.

-Light armor with a low armor check penalty. Mithril breastplates and chain shirts work wonders here. Get the halfweight property (Underdark) on mithril armor to make full plate considered to be light armor.

-Longbow or shortbow for skirmish.

SHOULD HAVE

-Valorous weapon (Unapproachable East). When using a lance while mounted, you get triple your STR to damage.

-Speed enhancement. Boots of of continuous expeditious retreat cost 8000 gold by the charts. (Must provide better than +20 feet enhancement, or a non-enhancement bonus.)

-Accelerator: dorje of hustle, see below.

-Jump boosters (any sort)

-Fall blocker (Cape of Catfall; see below)

-Freedom of movement, like the ring

-Low check penalty shield AC: MW dastana (OA), Ring of Force Shield, mithril animated shield

-Mount: A dragon, horse, or phantom steed is optimal. A mount is mostly important for mounted dragoons and if you rely on a mount you should wield a lance.

-General combat boosters: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, AC, saving throws, etc

WOULD BE NICE

-Brooch of inertial barrier: See below

-Wisdom booster for power points

-The perfect weapon for this lancer would probably be an aurorum (BoED) Illithidwrought (Und) Wrathful Healing (Enemies & Allies) Valorous (UE) lance of Collision (XPH). Mind your DR.

-There is a weapon in the A&EG, the halberd of vaulting, which gives a huge bonus on Jump checks and another damage multiplier for exactly this sort of attack; however, attempts to break down the pricing to figure out how much this should appropriately cost a PC proved that it's dramatically underpriced at the value it's listed! If it could readily be converted, it (enhanced with Valorous) would easily make the best base lancer weapon.

-The perfect 'heavy' armor for this lancer would probably be a mithral Halfweight Full Plate of Nimbleness (Magic of Faerun), possibly with Illithidwrought (Und). It has an armor check penalty of -1, regrettably, but +10 AC (before enhancement bonuses) with a max dex of +5 at half the weight of normal full plate. Alternately, a magical mithral breastplate of anything you choose will continue to function in antimagic, and allows greater customization with only slightly weaker protective capability. It lacks the style of a dragoon in full plate, though.

-Critical Booster: Keen/Maiming (Miniatures Handbook) Crits add yet another set of multipliers- and with both these enhancements your lance would be a 19-20/x1d6 weapon- but not every enemy is vulnerable to crits, and you can't count on them. That's why they're optional.

-Some way of summoning a CL 12 or 14 phantom steed: CL 12 for economy or CL 14 if you want all the options

-A method of performing full attacks after charging.

Custom Items, Less to More Luxurious

Cape of Catfall A level 2 manifester is important should our jumps take 2 rounds. (See below.) We want it to activate every time we fall 20 feet or more. (Try persuading your DM to allow this cape to trigger when you fall at least 10' or even at least 2'!) By XPH/DMG pricing, this is 2000 GP before the contingent trigger. The Ring of Feather Falling is similar and costs 2200. This suggests a +10% increase in price for the contingent trigger. The final price is therefore 2200, which is comparable to the similar Ring of Feather Falling. RESULT: A cape that, after falling for 20 feet or more, negates 20' of falling damage and causes you to land on your feet. Very handy, particularly with Tumble checks, and very stylish. Affordable at low levels, too!

Brooch of Inertial Barrier This L4 power requires a kineticist. A command word activation is OK because of its 10 min/level duration. (You may save money by making it a power completion item, thereby requiring passing checks to manifest inertial barrier.) RESULT: DR 5/- and the complete negation of half your falling damage for at least 70 minutes per use. It's a buff and a parachute!

Bracers of Psionic Lion's Charge This L2 psywar power requires manifester level 4, though a higher ML allows for bonus damage. By the tables, an item of a continuous L4 version of this costs 64,000 gold. There are plenty of other ways to get full attacks on a charge. RESULT: Pogo-lance for all the insane damage, but more than once! Wheee!

Progression

Starting Ability Scores (Before Racial Adjustments):

STRength: 15 (+2)

DEXterity: 14 (+2)

CONstitution: 13 (+1)

INTelligence: 10 (+0)

WISdom: 12 (+1)

CHArisma: 8 (-1)

Stat Increases

4th: +1 to Wis (12 to 13)

8th: +1 to Str (15 to 16)

12th: +1 to Con (13 to 14)

16th: +1 to Str (16 to 17)

20th: +1 to Str (17 to 18)

The lancer requires only 13 STR, DEX, and WIS. Adjust these scores and adjustments as necessary if your chosen race has racial modifiers to one of these abilities. The use of certain feats or classes in customization may alter your priorities here as well.

Assumptions

-Psionic powers meet the very loose blade dancer prerequisite.

That's it. Any DM allowing psionics is likely to see that the blade dancer was written for a psioncs-less campaign, but the class would still work with a psionic feel. (You can explain a Battle Jumping scout as an ambush-technique specialist.) If you feel the lawful alignment is too stringent, ask your DM. The description says many blade dancers frequently get drunk which doesn't seem lawful.

Race: Any race. Must be of Lawful alignment.

Lancers are all dedicated and disciplined individuals, often in military service. The original founders were paragons of virtue in the service of Bahamut himself, but the style has grown so much that today the best and worst that each race has to offer are found bearing the lance.

ECL	Class/HD/LA	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Feats	Class Features
			Fort	Ref	Will
1st (Scout 1)	Scout 1	+0	+0	+2	+0	Battle Jump (Unapproachable East)	Skirmish 1d6, Trapfinding
2nd (Scout 1, PsyWar 1)	Psychic Warrior 1	+0	+2	+2	+0	Power Attack^
3rd (Scout 2, PsyWar 1)	Scout 2	+1	+2	+3	+0	[**]	Battle Fortitude 1, Uncanny Dodge
4th (Scout 2, PsyWar 2)	Psychic Warrior 2	+2	+3	+3	+0	Dodge^
5th (Scout 3, PsyWar 2)	Scout 3	+3	+4	+3	+1		+10' Speed, Skirmish 1d6/1, Trackless Step
6th (Scout 4, PsyWar 2)	Scout 4	+4	+4	+4	+1	Mobility^
7th (Scout 5, PsyWar 2)	Scout 5	+4	+4	+4	+1		Evasion, Skirmish 2d6/1
8th (Scout 6, PsyWar 2)	Scout 6	+5	+5	+5	+2		Flawless Stride
9th (Scout 7, PsyWar 2)	Scout 7	+6	+5	+5	+2	Up the Walls (Expanded Psionics Handbook)	Skirmish 2d6/2
10th (Scout 8, PsyWar 2)	Scout 8	+7	+5	+6	+2	Spring Attack^,	Camouflage
11th (Scout 9, PsyWar 2)	Scout 9	+7	+6	+6	+3		Skirmish 3d6/2
12th (Scout 10, PsyWar 2)	Scout 10	+8	+6	+7	+3		Blindsense 30'
13th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2)	Scout 11	+9	+6	+7	+3		Battle Fortitude 2, Speed +20', Skirmish 3d6/3
14th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 1)	Blade Dancer 1	+10	+6	+9	+3		Acrobatics +10, Fast Movement
15th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 2)	Blade Dancer 2	+11	+6	+10	+3	Mounted Combat[1]	Enchanted Blade 1
16th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 3)	Blade Dancer 3	+12	+7	+10	+4
17th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 4)	Blade Dancer 4	+13	+7	+11	+4		Ride the Wind, Improved Fast Movement
18th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 5)	Blade Dancer 5	+14	+7	+11	+4	Spirited Charge[1]	Acrobatics +20, Acrobatic Attack
19th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 6)	Blade Dancer 6	+15	+8	+12	+5		Enchanted Blade 2
20th (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 7)	Blade Dancer 7	+16	+8	+12	+5		Greater Fast Movement
21st (Scout 11, PsyWar 2, BldDncr 8)	Blade Dancer 8	+17	+8	+13	+5	Legendary Leaper (Complete Adventurer)

^ Bonus Feat.

[**] Races that do not favor Scout or Psychic Warrior should take Additional Favored Class (Unearthed Arcana 100). Any race that favors Scout, Psychic Warrior, or a suitable replacement can and should take the Run feat here. The calculations below assume that you took the Run feat. Most lancers are likely to be human anyway, so they have the room.

[1] These two feat slots are fully rotatable for whatever your Lancer wishes. They were chosen both for amazing Power Attack synergy and a nod to the historical dragoons, who were mounted infantry. Stand Still (XPH) and Combat Reflexes are solid replacements for a foot-only soldier using a reach weapon.

Notes

If you're more interested in raw damage, the Powerful Charge and Greater Powerful Charge options are useful here, both in Eberron Campaign Setting, although they are size dependent.

Do not underestimate the power of Cleave in this build. It and its bigger brothers, are the only way I know of to add more attacks to the end of the charge at the same damage potential as the charge! Cleaving is especially potent in full-attack-chargers. Don't take them if your DM isn't the sort to offer cleaving opportunities though, as this feat is highly situational unlike the others suggested here.

Monkey Grip (Complete Warrior) is another interesting feat for the damage-monger, as it lets you wield larger weapons with a lower penalty, which of course means more damage. Goliath and half-giant lancers already enjoy a similar ability. If you continue with psionic aspect of the lancer enough to reliably use expansion, psionics becomes an even more attractive choice.

The best feat choices for a damage dealer in general, however, would be Improved Bull Rush and Shock Trooper (CW), for the Heedless Charge maneuver. This not only virtually assures you a hit on an insane PA, but minimizes the penalty that the low AC brings by letting you walk away from the charge -- so far away that they can't even charge back at you unless they have a VERY high speed. Shock Trooper also synergizes nicely with skirmish.

For the tactical warrior, Deft Strike (Complete Adventurer) and Neraph Charge (Planar Handbook) are sound choices, especially since your advanced speed can get you out of most attack ranges while you use Deft Strike.

For the truly mobile, Psionic Charge (XPH) or a similar charge-redirection feat can sew mass chaos on everyone. Remember, OVER to DOWN is only a 90 degree change. (Watch your psionic focus!)

For a melee character, his hit points are surprisingly low, though thankfully he spends most of his time in positions that are impossible or impractical to hit. Improved Toughness (CW) can fix this somewhat, and it should probably be considered, especially if your race has a Constitution penalty.

If you want to limit the number of books you're using or improve your jump a bit, Skill Focus (Jump) and Acrobatic are the way to go. These let you attain similar results to the ones below but in FAR heavier armor, up to a -5 check penalty, for identical results.

Mix and match these or one of your own discovery as you wish.

Final Assets at Level 20

Assumed to have no magical equipment. The stuff above appears in parentheses.

Base Attack Bonus: +16. Epic ready.

Speed: 110 ft base (22 squares). On top of this, he runs at 5x this speed (which works out to, with no equipment, 68 miles an hour, or over a mile a minute), retains his dex bonus to AC while running (even when surprised), has Flawless Step, Up the Walls, Skirmish, a high Tumble and Spring Attack. This amounts to him doing this regardless of terrain, including on vertical surfaces, while getting bonus AC and damage, avoiding AoOs, and spring attacking from further away than most characters can move and attack (or, in extreme cases, charge.) Trackless Step and Ride the Wind are the icing on the cake. (If this is not enough for you, supplement it with your mount, and it's for this reason I suggest a phantom steed. It sticks to the high-speed-in-many-places theme, and can water walk, which means you can now literally run at this speed anywhere on the planet's surface.)

Jump Check: 23 (ranks) +4 (strength) +2 (Synergy) +20 (competence) +4 (Run) +32 (speed) [+anything from other feats like Skill Focus or items] = +85, plus effective Skill Mastery. This lets us take 10 for a high jump of 23.75 feet, or a long jump of 95 feet. He can clear 11.875 feet high jumping or 47.5 feet long jumping without moving first, which is enough to trigger Battle Jump (but not Leap Attack) on a Medium or shorter creature from melee, or Leap Attack (but not Battle Jump) from rest.

Other Skills: Acrobatics provides +20 and Skill Mastery in Balance, Climb, and Tumble as well as Jump. Tumble in particular should be taken to help avoid catastrophic falling damage. (See here for epic Tumble DCs.) Also, OA and the Epic Level Handbook both say that a DC 40 Tumble is all you need to take a 10' step as a 5' step, which means you can trigger Skirmish on close-quarters full attacks, or pull off a poor-man's hustle for evading full attacks. Finally, max out Ride if you plan on using a mount. you use your mount's Jump check or your Ride check for those attacks, and it's cheaper/easier to compensate for the mount's jump in general than it is for your ride check. Besides, you have Mounted Combat. Keep your mount alive!

Other Combat Stats: Saves 10/12/5, with evasion. Initiative check of +4 due to Battle Fortitude. Also posesses Uncanny Dodge and Acrobatic Attack, and the most impressive Spring Attack you'll ever see this side of the two weapon rogue/tempest/elocator.

(The blade dancer's Acrobatic Attack as written is identical to the 3.0 duelist's ability of the same name, which was updated in the revision to Acrobatic Charge. For some DMs, this may alter the class feature somewhat, making it nearly obsolete as you'll just jump over most difficult terrain.)

Scouting: 30' blindsense, combined with an amazing Spot/Listen check, psionic powers that can augment this, and any natural sensory abilities the character enjoys due to race. On top of all this, he has AMAZING stealth options for an armored fighter with Camoflauge, Hide/Move Silently, and a low armor check penalty, hopefully.

Charge Discussion

We all know that charges can be lethal when certain multiplicative effects are applied. This build was the first I know of to use Leap Attack and other multipliers to attain sickening returns on Power Attack.

By using a two-handed weapon such as the lance or most spears, a lancer performing any leap of 10' or more HORIZONTALLY as part of a charge deals triple his bonus damage from Power Attack, which is already +2 per -1 for using a 2-handed weapon. The Battle Jump feat doubles all your damage if you drop or jump DOWN onto an enemy from at least 5' above them to a maximum of 30' above them. (You take fall damage unless you negate it somehow.) Note well the distances; this prevents some types of jumps. Battle Jump also changes attacks into 'charges' even if they violate the charge movement rules: A lancer doing a vertical leap 5' above the target's height, and then falling, will behave as a charge even though the movement was not in the same direction or necessarily the same line. This is important, as some of your options do not trigger unless you 'charge,' mainly the Valorous weapon enhancement (UE) which further doubles all damage on a charge.

The easiest way to handle damage calculations this way is to figure out your multipliers on base damage and power attack separately, and then add the final results for each together. I've worked out a few basic formulas for you here:

N = normal weapon damage without strength. (This includes anything else multiplied, like enhancement bonuses.)

S = Strength modifier

P = Power Attack penalty

M = Final damage multiplier under D&D rules since two doublings equal a tripling. (This is 3 for the normal lancer via Valorous + Battle Jump.)

E = Extra damage from non-stacking sources, like Skirmish.

Assumes Leap Attack Triggered

TWO HANDED WEAPON: M*(N+1.5*S) + 2*P*(M+2) + E

ONE HANDED WEAPON: M*(N+S) + P*(M+1) + E

Basically, under normal conditions (Battle Jump + Leap Attack), this amounts to a 10:1 return on Power Attack, plus 3x normal weapon damage, every round. On foot.

(Note: You can drop M to 2 if you do a purely horizontal leap and thus do not trigger Battle Jump, which may work better in tight spaces. If you're completely unable to jump, this drops a fair bit, and you're limited to your weapon's reach as an advantage. Doesn't this remind you very much of the FFT lancers? Unlike them, however, you do have a VERY impressive Spring Attack range, which in the most beneficial case. You have an item granting a mere 10 or 15 extra feet on that which any artificer PC can design for you. (If your DM won't let you, see the item alteration infusion (ECS) and the Boots of Striding and Springing, swapping the enhancement bonus for luck or something. Alternatively, get an item of continuous expeditious retreat for 8000 gold.)

Yes, this is indeed EVERY ROUND! Your prodigous speed allows you to move however far back you need to still get a running start and pull off a leap that covers the requisite 10' horizontal, [enemy height+5]' vertical distance to trigger the charge on Battle Jump, and since you did leap 10' horizontally as part of this charge, Leap Attack kicks in, and... WORLD OF PAIN!

(For the player, the DMG general rule on monster height is that their height is approximately equal to their space, so a Large creature occupying a 10' square is about 10' tall. Skip quantifies the distinction between [Long] and [Tall] creatures in All About Mounts: Part 5.)

Furthermore, the lancer above is capable on foot and on a mount. When mounted, making such a leap limits his options somewhat, as he'll be using his Ride modifier or his mount's Jump modifier, whichever is lower. I'd suggest a phantom steed that's air walking and thusly able to jump from 10' above the opponent. The steed's excellent speed also helps for a wonderful Jump check. Assuming such a leap is possible, you get the same returns as before, but further doubled for a lance (just use it 2-handed), doubled again for Spirited Charge. This means that, for the big guns, he can end up with a 14:1 return, plus 5x normal damage, with the lowest maintenance mount I'm aware of. He does this without any levels in cavalier (CW), too!

If height is an issue, like you're trying to jump on the head of the dragon in true Kain style, use Up the Walls first. This can get you about a hundred extra feet off the ground. You then use your standard action on "start full round action (charge)," leaping away from the wall, tree, dragon, or whatever you ran up. Your next round will be spent finishing the movement and finishing the charge. Just like the Final Fantasy Tactics lancers, your target may move and thus you miss, but in the mid-round you're much, much harder to hit. Up the Walls also has the added flavor bonus of being, effectively, Ignore Height when your speed is this high. (Ignore Height is a marginally useful but very memorable FFT lancer ability.)

To get the most out of maneuvers like this one, activate your dorje of hustle first as a swift action. (See Rules Compendium for details. The Sage ruling in Rules of the Game 2 has no link available.) Use the extra move action to run up the wall, and then you still have your full-round action to charge. This compresses the attack into a single round.

Alternately, on landing from ANY leap, activate the dorje of catfall if you can. Obviously, it won't work on a hustle Up the Walls jump, as you're out of swift actions, but it will work on a two-round jump or a normal jump without a wall. Use the extra move action to withdraw out of anyone's reach. Your abundant speed and Tumble skill, or Mobility and Skirmish, should be reliable. This also helps you reposition after you land should you miss your opponent on the two-round leap.

Finally, since he's moving a fair bit more than 10', he gets +3d6 on all damage and +3 AC. This isn't terribly critical but it's helpful considering your lighter armor and your need to make your one attack this round count.

Customization

The lancer is VERY customizable. The armor enhancement, most of the weapon enhancements, between two and four feats (race dependent), the selection of secondary style (mounted, heavy armor, tactical, etc.) are up to you.

In fact, a fully-mounted version is quite possible; my favorite is paladin 5 / cavalier 10 / paladin+5. Simply take some advanced flying mount or the like as your steed, grab your two-handed lance, and be ready to charge. The mount's bonus HD will help you improve its Jump check, as now it can qualify for certain feats including Skill Focus (Jump) and has skill points to spend on Jump. This version, using Unstoppable Charge on a Battle Jump, has a whopping 18:1 return on Power Attack, along with 7x the normal weapon damage, provided he uses the lance two-handed. (Surprisingly, Combat Brute (CW) doesn't help this damage much, but it does give you a similar return on your second attack should you remain in melee rather than spring attacking.)

An alternate heavily-overhauled build is one I will not explicitly quantify, the Supreme Cleaving Full-Attack-Charging Mounted Battle-Jump Attacking Frenzied Berserker lancer. In the interests of avoiding TPKs, DMs should put away their notepads right now, and players should turn off their twink instincts. Any player or DM who attempts to field this behemoth fully deserves the inevitable sack beating behind the game table. The author of this post is not liable for such injuries.

Humans have the easiest time with this build, as expected. A favored class of Any means that they don't need Additional Favored Class, and they get a bonus feat at level 1. Half-Elves come next, also for the same reason.

Not surprisingly for a damage build, the half-orc has another interesting option available to it. The feat Headlong Rush (Races of Faerun) allows a half-orc to double his charge damage YET AGAIN at the cost of provoking AoOs for his movement. A lancer's traditional charge movement is FAR higher than most people can reach with an AoO. This adds 2 to the return on any Power Attack here and adds another multiple to any normal damage; 4x, 12:1 standard, 6x, 16:1 above build while mounted, 8x, 20:1 cavalier version. This damage is NOT on a critical hit! To put this in perspective, the Ubercharger "only" has 6x, 12:1, and manages a damage range of 1803-1908 with assorted buffs and no less than four miracles. Ouch. To my knowledge, this sets a new Dungeons and Dragons world record for damage multiplication on a charge.

In the end, raptoran or goliath is probably the most optimal race to build this Lancer with, beyond the omnipresent human. Other Lancer builds may favor other races, like the half-orc for damage or kalashtar for psionics. (Note: Raptorans are the most statistically optimal race listed here if you can play as them; however, a dragonborn (Races of the Dragon 8) half-orc is better in nearly every case!)

Epic Lancers

Lancers are ambitious people, and frequently they strive to change the world. One of the dragoons, Sir Kain Highwind of Baron, is so renowned that his very name has become synonymous with the style, and he serves as an inspiration to everyone.

However, the few lancers that accomplish enough to be counted among the heroes of bardic epics are just as diverse as the rank-and-file lancers found throughout the world.

Generally they focus on whatever is expedient at the time.

In the case of this particular lancer build, level 21 is plotted already; Legendary Leaper (CV) is a natural for this build. I'd highly suggest continuing blade dancer until level 10 at the very least for Supreme Fast Movement, taking feats like Epic Skill Focus (Jump) or the like. (Goliath lancers should probably take Epic Skill Focus as their first epic feat, as they already have a close-enough approximation of Legendary Leaper.) Epic Blade Dancer may also be a sound choice, but I can't remember if there ever was an "official" one published. Still, it isn't too hard to devise an epic progression for it.

Since, for a melee-esque character, the lancer has only mediocre hit points (121 or so at level 20 on average with a modest CON bonus and without Improved Toughness), Epic Toughness might actually be a viable choice here. For lancers who focus heavily on one weapon type, the Devastating Critical (CW) feat chain is certainly worth a look into. For the lancer with more than a passing interest in riding, there are an assortment of mount-related feats worth looking into, along with levels in Cavalier. Be advised that cavalier Deadly/Unstoppable Charges are actually less effective than they sound in the class ability; they count as another doubling or a tripling of the damage in the end, that's all.

The psionically-inclined lancers are strongly encouraged to look into the path of the Illithid Slayer (XPH). It has one of the best arrays of maintain-focus options I've ever seen, and since you probably don't have a lot of Expend-Focus feats, it's worth it. The nearly-full manifesting ability is icing, especially since you will now hit the point where you can use hustle on your own instead of buying a few psionic afterburners every now and again. Qualifying might prove problematic for non-humans, though, unless you used Ranger somewhere in the build or took a few more scout levels. (If you wish to expand into Expend-Focus feats, get yourself a psicrystal and Psicrystal Confinement.) Scout is a good backup if you can think of nothing else. It has a good array of complimentary class features for the remaining 9 levels within it, for sensation, stealth, and mobility, and the extra speed and skirmish power doesn't hurt. The hit points are the weakest aspect of this class, though. Finally, if you want to play up the dragon side of the dragon knights, there are an assortment of decent classes in Draconomicon that you may find interesting.

Essentially, your epic options are as variable and versatile as your character has been up to this point. You're not wanting for choices, so choose wisely and well.

Adaptation

Let's face it, not every DM is going to allow this many books. Some don't want to use OA for flavor or revision purposes, others deny FR material, and still others hate psionics. What to do in these cases?

No Psionics

This hurts you a fair bit, but you can recover. The obvious replacement of psywar with fighter isn't as wise as it would be normally. You still need to be able to cast first level spells for blade dancer. For this reason, I'd suggest dropping two levels of either blade dancer or scout as well as trade psywar for four levels in paladin, hexblade (CW), or ranger depending on your preference, and ability scores in the case of the hexblade, a charisma caster. I recommend Sohei (OA) instead, which also grants spells at 4th level. I haven't seen the 3.5 update for this class, but as written, the signature Ki Frenzy ability further increases your speed and gives you a flurry-like ability. To top it all off, no ability score modifications are required, as Wisdom is its key ability score. In this case, the Bracers of Psionic Lion's Charge mentioned under Would Be Nice become a Should Have. Using any of these nets you a higher attack bonus (usually) along with a few other interesting class features if you wish. You've lost Up the Walls and a Cape of Catfall as well- consider the Dash feat (Player's Guide to Faerun) to make up for the lost Speed of Thought, and a same-price-but-far-less-effective ring of feather fall- be sure to custom make this one so it doesn't slow you down too early.

No Oriental Adventures

This is crippling if you want truly epic leaps, but you can recover as well. The easiest solution here is to replace Blade Dancer with 2 or 3 levels in Scout, Fighter or PsyWar, and 4 or 5 levels in Thief-Acrobat (CV). This returns your Skill Mastery in Jump along with Defensive Roll and, possibly, Improved Evasion. The cost is a lower base attack bonus and, of course, a SIGNIFICANTLY less effective Jump check; however, since the blade dancer provided Competence bonuses- the easiest ones to get with magic items- replacing it isn't going to be difficult, just slightly expensive. Speed enhancers and jump boosters become critical in this variant. Another easy solution to this would be the Exemplar (CV). I'm not terribly familiar with the class, but from what my early perusals show, it seems like a decent, if humble, replacement for Blade Dancer in the Jump department.

No Faerun Material

You lose Battle Jump and the Valorous enchant. That's about it. This puts less of an emphasis on high jumps and more on jumps in general, as you no longer need to fall DOWN on your opponent. However, this does also cut out some of the interesting "charge" triggers, as now you're held to the same movement-as-charge restrictions that everyone else is, meaning you must charge in a straight line with no other movement this round. I'm sure you can find a feat to replace Battle Jump.

Core Only

Play a druid and pretend you're a dragoon.

One-Plus-One Gaming

This is a variant I'm familiar with. DMs allow builds that have one, at most two, classes in them, base or prestige. In this variant, I'd suggest going scout into Blade Dancer at some high level. You would lose out on martial weapon proficiency at lower levels which isn't critical unless you're going for a mounted build; just use a longspear or other two-handed simple weapon. For psionic feats, you can get by with Wild Talent or a Naturally Psionic race if you wish. If you don't have access to those, then follow some of the No Psionic tips above. (I should also note that in this variant, many magic items are limited to two special properties, not counting enhancement bonuses. Hence why I phrased the equipment section like I did and limited the abilities of the unique gear.)

Exalted Dragoons

Another option if you like your exalted material is to replace 2 levels of Blade Dancer with 2 levels of Vassal of Bahamut (BoED). This is difficult to do, but possible, and it fits the flavor of Kain very, very well. I mean, a Lawful Good character who is intimately tied to the dragons? You get effective heavy armor with virtually no penalty, AMAZING senses (4x low light + 120 darkvision), plus a spell or two. You can even replace Psywar with Fighter under this build, as you can meet the blade dancer prerequisite with VoB levels. The problems with this one are easy: Your feats get very tight, you have to have slain a red dragon solo- not as hard as it seems if you're using this build and have an advantage- you must be contacted by an emissary of Bahamut, you must worship Bahamut, you must maintain Exalted status, and you're under a Vow of Obedience to Bahamut.

Yeah, they're pretty fierce, but you knew the risks when you accepted Exalted rules.

Conclusion

So, what do we have in the end?

We have a Scout character who is fully playable from level 1 regardless of race. He'll be as effective as any low-level multiclasser until level 6, when he truly begins to shine. After that point, the rest is developing the signature attack form to some epic-like levels.

He fits the FFT lancer feel very, very well, with very high jumps that sometimes take more than one round to finish, a breastplate (or heavier armor), and a lance. He has a nod to historical dragoons in his potential as a mounted fighter as well as an infantryman, though admittedly the similarities stop there.

The build is EXTREMELY customizable, and adapts to virtually any expanded ruleset.

The core mechanic is easily ported to builds that only BARELY resemble this one, such as the Pally/Cavalier above. (Virtually ANY charger could gain from this.)

The Power Attack returns are the stuff of legends.

He is THE final word on tactical movement without using the Elocator (XPH).

He breaks many archetypes of armored warriors, in having excellent scouting and stealth options, plus a large skill list for most of his career. (I still find it funny that it's perfectly possible to attain primary-combatant roles without levels in fighter or a related base class. Psywar is a support combatant similar to monk and bard, IMHO.)

Since the core mechanic is so simple, he's remarkably equipment-light. Any two lancers built by different people are going to have different gear, even possibly different weapons, as anything that you can Power Attack with works, though two-handedness is highly preferred. (I choose the lance for flavor and mount synergy, though I can see lancers striking with their gauntlets or greaves if need be, or anything a berserker would use.)

It even manages to remain true to the FFT lancer in build mechanics, the scout is a union between an archer's combat and a thief's skill prowess, while the FFT lancer required training as both an archer and a thief.

In closing, we have the Final Fantasy Dragoon. In D&D.

Credits

This build was one of my favorites from back in the day. The original posts that led to it's creation were on the WotC forums, but have since been deleted. The only source I could find was the following link, which quoted the original build. http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19868782/3.5_dragoon_build._ScoutDuskbladeBlade_Dancer_Comments_and_advice_apreciated I have ported it here to share it going forward, as well as for my own reference. The original build credit goes to Tempest Stormwind.

a composite character build by Tempest Stormwind
with valued contributions from the following board members:
Shoes, Otto the Bugbear, Antidjinn, Bacris, Tenken, mommy was an orc, Jedrious, Sardrakh, Fendrin, Sentient, and very special thanks to Impeesa - a natural 20 to this build.
Lovingly edited and formatted by Endarire.
Inspired by the Final Fantasy dragoons.

---

Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Optimized Character Builds