FS build in light armor and without EDM

[dzidek1983]

Just looking for something different then other players choose when they play FS.
Most people take a dip into cleric, paladin or blackguard for divine might, shield and later epic divine might.
I wonder if there are players that didn't choose this path and how they feel about playing such character.
I realize its a weaker FS, but on the other side it could be much more interesting form the RP point of view to have a PTWF FS of Deneir using daggers or a staff using FS/monk of Azuth with flurry with wisdom AC.

Please share your experience on this.

[Theodore01]

I played a dual-flailing FS20,Temp4,Ro3,BodyG3 up to lv30.
It was/is a fun build to play. Played him mostly before the dispelfix, but still enjoy him from time to time today. Works best in a party.

[dzidek1983]

I have in my mind a FS build with a quaterstaff as weapon in light armor, type of traveller.
Azuth works nicely, and has synergies with the BG region through CK.

I just have my concerns when it comes to the AC of a 2h FS without Divine Shield.

HIS AC could be: 10 base + 10 mithrall chainmail + 1 tumble + 1 LOH + 1 Armor skin + 4 dodge + 4 deflection + 4 natural + 5 armor = 40 AC

Would need to add some sort of shield AC so its not that pathetic.

Recitation ads +2 AC but i bet its deflection so it wont stack.
Battletide could grant +3 AC (+1 dodge and -2AB to enemies)

[Theodore01]

That's the same problem that any Two-hander has.
As a FS you have 10 AS/CI dam-reduction and a lot of spells.
Use a shield and monkeygrip or a shield wand.

[freekender]

One posibility is a Talos FS with 10 levels of Stormlord. But maybe this is not the path you have in mind (?)

In fact, I was planning on RCRing my snowy-snowflake drow Stormlordlady (yes, you read it well ) into a Stormlord-Stormsinger. No idea how it will work but, hey, that is part of the fun.

Now, after reading Theodore's build, a Stormlord dual-wielding spears comes to my mind. I wonder if it would be even possible with Monkeygrip

[chad878262]

The cleric spell list is not really set up for dual wielding, or high DEX builds in general. Going WIS/Monk is difficult because you need CHA for spell levels. The reason so many FvS builds have EDM is because you need a minimum of 16 CHA for spells so when you add in STR for AB/Damage trying to go DEX or WIS (or worse, both) your stats start to look really poor. This isn't to say you can't do it, but I would think you have to make some tough decisions about your character type.

Were it me, I would want to go FvS 12 / Monk 4 / SF10 / Hierophant 4. Basically your first 20 levels will require you to get all 11 FvS levels and 3 SF levels no later than 17 so you can take Hierophant at 18, 19 and 20. So you would take Monk at 1 for skills. Then FvS until you qualify for SF, then 3 levels of SF and just make sure to get your 2 additional Monk levels to meet 3b20 rule as well. In order to get AC you can be an Aasimar which allows you to get CHA to 16 and WIS to 16 at a 1 for 1 in point buy, which also will allow you to get STR and DEX to 14 without completely dumping CON/INT. You can't cast cats grace so DEX should either be 13, 15 or relegate yourself to spending a half mil. to get +4 DEX item. DEX +4 to AC, Tumble 30 and pumping WIS on level ups will give you better AC than wearing chainmail. Divine Power handles BAB/AB alongside increasing your STR to 20... I'd only do this with an Aasimar though due to being insanely MAD, and that means you have to eat an XP penalty for most of the leveling.

If you don't mind going below CL30, you could mitigate the XP penalty by dropping Hierophant and just going FvS 9 / M11 / SF 10 which only gets you 8th level spells and CL 21, but better fist damage... Or you could go FvS 14/M6/SF10 with CL 26 and just avoid the XP penalty as long as you can... FvS12/M8/SF10 might be the best 'middle ground' where you can avoid the XP penalty until late epics (XP penalty at 28-30 if you do it right). This gets CL 24 and weapon specialization in your quarterstaff. Finally, if you want to be more Monkish (and lower your CHA requirement!) you could just do something like Monk16/FvS4/SF10 which would make you far less dependent on your easily dispelled buffs, but would work far better as a Fist monk.

For Quarterstaff FvS build I would probably go with one of the minimal monk builds to maximize CL. Even though the XP penalty will be painful, I also think Aasimis your best bet because any other race is really going to suffer from the MAD (and the only race that wouldn't get a penalty is human or 1/2 elf anyway).

Now, after reading Theodore's build, a Stormlord dual-wielding spears comes to my mind. I wonder if it would be even possible with Monkeygrip

Yes, odd as it would look, you can dual wield spears with Monkey Grip.

[freekender]

Now, after reading Theodore's build, a Stormlord dual-wielding spears comes to my mind. I wonder if it would be even possible with Monkeygrip

Yes, odd as it would look, you can dual wield spears with Monkey Grip.

Yes, it seem odd to see (I saw a dual-welding spears char once lol). But, in fact, what I meant was if the SL ability of adding damage to the spear would apply to both spears if dual-welding them (when casting it, of course).

[dzidek1983]

Was thinking about SL even a simple S20/SL10 works and with Hiero and Spell power you can even sacrifice another 3 levels for anon caster and retain 30 CL.

[freekender]

Was thinking about SL even a simple S20/SL10 works and with Hiero and Spell power you can even sacrifice another 3 levels for anon caster and retain 30 CL.

Sadly, Hierophant is not avaible for FS. Only Clerics, Shamans and Druids can take it.

[chad878262]

Bah, forgot about that... D'oh!

We did discuss it in QC, but there were concerns that it would allow for some pretty sick PB's coming out of FvSs...

[dzidek1983]

I forgot about that... either way Stormlord needs some strict RP that i have no interest in...

I could take ICE for +6 armor and with those short term buffs i can have 52AC

but then i drop my dmg big time to a whooping 25 per hit avg... cos i cant use IPA

[Steve]

If you go Favored Soul 20 / Dragonslayer 10, you'd pick up +2 Tumble to AC, and with 29 CL, you'd probably have 0% chance of being dispelled (Mord's is another thing altogether).

But, really, you need Cleric or Paladin so that you can get Divine Shield, at least (ignore EDM if you like). FS 17 / Cleric 3 / DS 10 is CL 26, so you have a 20% of being dispelled, but Divine Shield and many FvS buffs actually aren't dispelled (which is a bug, but hey, a reliable one). I'm sure those Cleric Domains could be a big bonus to the build, if you choose the right god.

[Theodore01]

Was thinking about SL even a simple S20/SL10 works and with Hiero and Spell power you can even sacrifice another 3 levels for anon caster and retain 30 CL.

Sadly, Hierophant is not avaible for FS. Only Clerics, Shamans and Druids can take it.

you're sure about that ? have read otherwise, but not tried yet.

[chad878262]

He's correct, you can't take Hierophant with FvS spell progression.

[Sun Wukong]

Well, if Divine Seeker gets the divine spellcasting progression as previously discussed, it could offer some synergies with a dexterity based Favored Soul.