Expertise and Improved Expertise

[POTS]

Just have a few questions about expertise.

1) Does expertise stack with all other ac enhancements or is there something else that negates it?

2) Which characters if any benefit the most from experitse/iexperitse (and if they do benefit why/how) and even with that benefit is it worth the two feats used to get it?

3)Are there any char/combos that absolutely should not take e/ie and if so what classes are those.

Just as a background i am building a barb/ddefender and am wondering if expertise/i expertise would be worth takeing and if it is is it a MUST or are the two feats beter spen elsewhere?

TIA for any imput suggestions.

[Nox]

It stacks as it is an unnamed bonus but you cant manually move while its on all movement must be part of an attack action otherwise it turns of, and note that you tak a -10 to AB.

Casters benifit the most from expertise and improved expertise as spells do not rely on AB and you don't have to move. AS for if its worth it i found it useful simply incase something slips by the tankers. expecially with the kill casters ai >

Sorc or bard + Pm = poor casters

Wizards can learn new spells from scrolls sorcs and bards are kinda screwed when taking pale master.

Other than that most class combos will work to some degree or another.

3.)

[Balduvard]

Aside from benefits to casters, I find it useful if you plan on building a tank (which from the class selection I can only guess you are) which doesn't necessarily have to kill the enemy, but keep it occupied enough to let a caster blow it away. Even if you aren't building a tank, you might want to consider it if you are going to be doing non-combat moves that don't require AB (healing, rezzing) so you can toggle between those modes if needed for an extra AC boost.

[FunkySwerve]

If youre planning to make a lower-ab character, you might as well, but with a Barb I'd advise against it, since you have the opportunity to get your ab up to levels high enough to dish out serious damage. Consider Mighty Rage, since Shapestrong ability will be fixed soon, or great strength, asum,ing you already have EWF and EP.
Funky

[hfb]

IMO, unless you are going wm with your barb/dd, expertise is too expensive in stat points. the int requirements (5 pts in character creation) cost too much in str and con to justify its acquisition.
WM, which requires the 13 int itself, also presents the difficulty of very limited "extraneous" (non-WM) feats and so if things like improved critical appeal to you, hard decisions loom. Furthermore, there seem to be two ways to tank: 1. the AC based unhitable tank, typical of dexers/monks/buffed casters; and 2. the BRICK tank with DR and Dmg immunities for days which might be hit by everything but after the numbers crunch nothing can do more than 25 points. In the case of a barb/DD, i would suggest being a BRICK, especially if you are a non-shield user. This is a trade off, but it works very nicely against one opponent with a finite amount of physical attacks (as most "boss/dragon" encounters are which btw are typically the hardest ones). (Side note: If you can spare a class [barb + DD = one left over], one that gets you UMD or ranger class might help because of mid-high level access to good DR equipment.)

[Phantanya]

I like the expertise for my bard/rdd. It is perfect for distracting spawn for casters. A good teamwork skill.
IMHO.

[MilesAtma]

i think expertise is handy at times, only costs 5 ab points so it doesnt hurt you too much if you've a decent warrior ab. And you dont have to use it all the time, so you have options. its a bit of a hassle to use though, constantly going off in the middle of a battle if the enemy runs too far away and or if you use various other abilities in battle. one thing is for sure, your going to die in illithids and sissth and desert regardless of ac so thats something to look forward too lol

[Lord FlashHeart]

Funky stopped the Improved Expertise for casters exploit by making expertise cancel when a spell is cast (or was that a patch fix?)

Anyway, it no longer works.

[FunkySwerve]

It was a module switch, one of the default options. I just toggled it.
Funky