Crowd Control master and not a mage

[jorgelrr]

This is an exercise that im trying to make functionall. Im building a character, somewhere between lv 8-15, in wich i would like the build to work(maybe a little higher if necessary). The Idea here is to make a heavily focused cc character, everything is permited EXCEPT homebrew material.

Seems Easy enough except for a catch, i wouldnt like it to be a wizard/sorcerer type of character(could be a cleric, druid, or anything thats really not just another mage, and any race/template is also an option.), we already got 2 of those in the party. Right now i have done some research on the dragonfire adept class, getting entangle, weakening, slow, sickened in a huge area, but this are all very easily avoidable.

I dont know if there are more to the cc of a breath weapon, of if ToB, soulmeds or Binder could be better for this, and yes, i know that not beeing capable to cast the usual control spells makes this sub optimal but i would like any tips/advices or suggestion on the build to create and optimize the best of the cc of a "not mage".

PS: note that i would like to avoid building around a trip/grapler since this are so easily avoided at mid high levels.

[noob]

Zyceril binder(I mean the summoning vestige) gives a fair amount of crowd control through summoning monsters and having perpetually one or more creatures near him(after level 10).
Cleric got a bunch of really cool crowd control spells if you research a bit like ice slick or create undying(body blocking minions and it is "good" aligned).(or even animate undead if you are evil)

[DeTess]

Crusader from ToB also gets a number of crowd-control abilities from the devoted spirit discipline. Swordsages get access to the Setting sun discipline, which is all about forcibly re-positioning the enemy.

[Mordaedil]

One of our players decided to multiclass warblade with the Jaunter prestige class, which has a ton of abilities that gives him some amazing crowd control and movement options.

[Eldariel]

Well, Dragonfire Adept is pretty amazing. Yes, those things can be resisted but rarely are they all resisted in one. Only Slow and Entangle fall under the same defense (Freedom of Movement). And you have Invocations to fall back on after that so it's not like that's the end of the line for you.

You could, of course, mix it up a bit. Martial BFC can be okay (Boomerang Daze [Races of Eberron] is a very strong all-round CC effect for instance, and can be added onto a martial adept shell for more BFC effects) and every character can wield a reach weapon and build for AoOs as another layer of CC. Here's an example of a Bloodstorm Blade martial adept build doing just that, though it does use Aptitude weapon shenanigans, which may not be desirable in your average game. You can build a multithreat with all those aspects just fine without it though; it just means you can't combine it all quite as easily (generally speaking, you should wield a melee weapon and quickdraw your Boomerang each turn - Glove of Storing enables doing both while constantly threatening the area).

Also, Trip isn't quite that easily avoided on high levels; things with natural flight are subject to it and it works on creatures with Freedom of Movement so magical flight is about the only counter but most creatures with natural flight rarely bother getting magical one as it is redundant. Thus it works there quite well. That said, Stand Still is a great CC option that enables stopping everyone within your reach very reliably without giving them any outs other than not provoking or making the save.


Also, Cleric/Druid/etc. are all great battlefield controllers, just as good as the Wizard/Sorc type when built for it. Thus, if you're open to those, that's the easiest answer and one that would be on equal footing with the casters in your party, while providing something different. Cleric has Ice Slick [Frostburn], Darkway [Spell Compendium], Laogzed's Breath [Serpent Kingdoms]/Nauseating Breath [Spell Compendium], Silence, etc. making them tremendously powerful crowd controllers from the start if built for it. Meanwhile, Druids have Entangle, Soften Earth and Stone, Blinding Spittle [Spell Compendium], etc. and neither slows down any time soon. Both also have good summons that can crowd control (indeed, grapple/trip/etc. at will or cast crowd control effects as spell-likes, starting from Dretches on Summon Monster III), and Clerics in particular have an easy time accessing many of the Wizard toys as well (Domains, Divine Magician, etc.). Thus, this is the omega option if you want all the power while being a tad different.

[Zaq]

I agree that you’re on a fine track with DFA. Druid is also good at this sort of thing just out of the box.

Shadowcasters get some interesting BfC powers, but they have truly pitiful staying power, so I wouldn’t recommend them in a non-Gestalt game without houserules to make them better.

Psions are less good at this than typical arcane casters, but they can still do the job pretty well.

There’s always the old Incarnate + Shape Soulmeld (Mauling Gauntlets) + harpoon trick, but it’s hard to make it work on more than 1 or maybe 2 enemies at once. Mauling Gauntlets make you good at tripping, too, so if you can get enough hands or otherwise have multiple weapons wielded at once, standard spiked chain tricks mix with that build.

[Barna13]

Play a half-illthid goliath(+6 LA). Take 3 levels of factotum(for INT and STR to grapple+trip), 2 in monk(for improved grapple+mobility), 1 in crusader(for iroan guard's glare), and 2 in fighter(for combat expertise and improved trip). Pick up dodge, abberant blood, inhuman reach, and elusive target with feats.

Pick up greatreach bracers and you now have a reach of 20ft.

Combine it all and if your opponent misses an AoO from you moving, you get a free trip, and follow that up with attaching your tentacles. The next turn you eat their brain. If they try to move near you you trip them, then hit them with your spiked chain that does 2d6+1.5XSTR.

Pros:
-It's a really silly fun build
-Nonmagic(works reasonably well in an antimagic field.
-It can neutralize spellcasters/rogues/not big creatures.
-Instant kills are fun.

Cons:
-High LA. This has 6 LA, so by level 9 your party is level 15.
- Negated by freedom of movement.
-Lower HP than normal

[Lapak]

I second the vote for Druid. The vast majority of their good direct-combat spells are crowd control, they are capable of summoning both general-purpose monsters to act as CC and summoning things that are built specifically for it, and they play quite differently from arcane casters.

And heck, you can mix in some of the melee-CC options by picking appropriate Wildshape forms, maybe piling on a feat or two if desired.

[jorgelrr]

Thank you all very much for your help, Right now im thinking about mixing the boomerang trick with zceryll binder, by level 12 i could bind zceryll, summon everything nice with crowd control, and make the boomerang kind of work, after level 12 i could take all fighter levels for extra feats. LA buyoff is allowed but 6 LA is too much, cant even be bought . or maybe dip 1 level crusader at lv 13 for a greater initiator level... I'm going to build a few sheets and see how they develop and how long it takes for each to be functionall, again thank you all very much for your help