Build Assistance Requested!

[FearBeforeTheFlames]

Hello folks!

Since Alexander Marshall has become a cameo RP character, I'm in the business for a new character build! I've designed a few of my own, and thought it may be prudent to compare it to some of the best and brightest that have graced this server for a long time. There are two characters I'm interested in:
A Paladin. (Human or Aasimar) Which utilizes (Effectively) the server's Cavalier Class Kit.
A Cleric of Lathander, (Human or Aasimar) which utilizes the Morning Lord of Lathander PRC.

DISCLAIMER:
I realize there are several PRC's in testing that may work for these builds. Please avoid them! These are builds I'd like to implement soon! These builds seem rather straightforward, but as I am recently returned, and unfamiliar with so many facets of the additions to the server, any and all assistance is appreciated!

I have one more requestion~ (It's a word, I swear.)

I travel quite a bit for work, and would like a separate character capable of simply grinding, or 1 off RP in a mostly solo environment, for if I log in without my partner (Bee~) after a long night of work on the road. Suggestions?

Thanks so much!
FearBeforetheFlames

[chad878262]

I'm away from my computer, but will try to give you general advice for the two builds.

Cavalier does not get turn undead, so no edm. However it does get great smiting for free along with the shiel line if feats so build around that. You want max STR, 14 WIS, decent CON. DEX can either be 9, 12 or 13, 9 for full plate with a +3 DEX item, 12 for full plate with no DEX item, 13 for wearing mithral full plate with a +3 DEX item. You could also go with a 10 DEX if CON is also even and wear the ring if the knight (+2 DEX/ CON and Vocus feat toughness). INT depends on how many skills you want and CHA can actually be your dump stat if you want since CHA only add to attack bonus while paladin level determines smite damage. From there it is jyst a matter of selecting feats, skills and deciding if you want take 4 levels in another class for extra benefits such as fighter, M@A, Anointed knight or monk. Feats to consider would be toughness/ steadfast determination, tower shield proficiency, PA/IPA, knockdown/ IKD, (greater) heavy armor optimization, extend spell, practiced spell caster (if you don't stay pure).

For the cleric I would suggest max WIS and CHA as your second stat. Cleric 10/ morning lord 10/ Hierophant 10. Or if you want drop some cleric levels and grab a flavor class like hospitaler, but be mindful of caster levels and the need for practiced caster. Be a high DC caster worth solid turning of undead. Choosing Aasimar and getting cha to 23 will allow you to turn outsiders (costs any epic feat) so that's another option, which should still be able to reach 24 our 26 WIS. Finally you could leave woofs at 16 or 17 and get STR and CHA to 21 for EDM. Feats are highly dependent on what direction you want to go.

Four the cleric I would go Aasimar, the paladin is go human.

EDIT: Also, almost forgot with the cavalier, since you are getting Shield Bash and Shield Charge for free, 13 DEX is a really good idea since you can then take Agile Shield Fighter which will give you extra damage on shield bash (simulating 2 attacks) but requires 13 DEX. So building for Mithral Full Plate is a really good way to go. Also remember Paladin Spells can grant +8 STR so try to end on an even STR. If you need more specific build help I can try to provide you more of a full build, but will probably not be until tomorrow night at the earliest.

[FearBeforeTheFlames]

Chad,

Thanks so much for your wonderful suggestions. I have a few follow up questions.

Would a flavor class such as Hospitaler be beneficial for a Cavalier build? Is it possible to ensure CL doesn't take a hit that makes it unplayable at high levels?

If a Cleric goes Morning Lord, and Hierophant, what would be the ideal focus? Wisdom for DC spells? Charisma for Turn Outsider? Or split strength and charisma for EDM?

Thanks for your time an attentiveness! Feel free to chime in, anyone that may have suggestions.

[Tsidkenu]

Hospitaler is a 6/10 spellcasting class, so your build would effectively be Paladin 20/Hospitaler 10 with a total CL of 26. You would need Practiced Spellcaster Paladin to sit 'comfy' at 30 CL to be immune to Greater Dispelling which the odd high level mob has.

Paladin 30 goes just fine for Cavalier though and you have 3 epic bonus feats going that route, whereas with Hospitaler you can only get 2 bonus epic feats if you take levels 5 & 9 Hospitaler as epic levels because they get bonus feats on those levels.

I'll let someone else build a Morninglord for you, though!

[FearBeforeTheFlames]

Thanks Tsidkenu! I think we'll probably dip 4 fighter for proficiencies and early feats, and take Practiced spellcaster! Your insight was instrumental.

I'm still curious as to the best focus to go with a Cleric/Morning Lord/Hierophant? Anyone have any ideas?

If a Cleric goes Morning Lord, and Hierophant, what would be the ideal focus? Wisdom for DC spells? Charisma for Turn Outsider? Or split strength and charisma for EDM?

[RedLancer]

I believe they've modified Turn Outsider to require 21 CHA instead of 25 on BGtSCC, so you can get both Turn Outsider and EDM. I'd go that way.

[chad878262]

Thanks Tsidkenu! I think we'll probably dip 4 fighter for proficiencies and early feats, and take Practiced spellcaster! Your insight was instrumental.

I'm still curious as to the best focus to go with a Cleric/Morning Lord/Hierophant? Anyone have any ideas?

If a Cleric goes Morning Lord, and Hierophant, what would be the ideal focus? Wisdom for DC spells? Charisma for Turn Outsider? Or split strength and charisma for EDM?

Personally I wouldn't go for EDM. Hierophant has some nice abilities that can improve your caster levels. I would go for ~22 CHA and ~28 WIS (I think that is possible with an Aasimar, but if not then 26 WIS). I would then take Spell Power 1-3 and Improved Divine Spell Power which allows you to use Turn Undead to increase your CL. Thus you have 33 CL, use Divine Spell Power and have a chance to get it up to 37 and anything that gets you to 35 or higher increases your DC as well. No chance for hitting 38, but you are also pretty good at turning undead.

For specializations there are a few options. There are lots of Evocation spells so you could be focused in that for things like Castigate, Blade Barrier, Hammer of the Gods, Implosion, etc. Conjuration has a few decent spells, but most notably storm of vengeance. Perhaps not a common choice for a Lathandrite, but possibly still an option would be Necromancy for Undeath to Death. Finger of Death does not have the 'evil' descriptor so you can use that for non-undead, but a Sun Cleric focused on destroying undead might very well be interested in the necromantic arts used in the destruction of undead...

Of course, if you don't have a lot of skill playing casters the learning curve is pretty extreme, so going with the standard EDM Gish type of Cleric is a much easier path since it is mostly just buff and bash.

[FearBeforeTheFlames]

Well, I really like this suggestion Chad. I'm hoping to be running with another person, playing the paladin build I'd mentioned earlier, so a caster based cleric would be much more ideal. So Cleric 10/ Morning Lord 10/ Hierophant 10 with Charisma and Wisdom sounds like my speed!

[chad878262]

Ok, if that is what you are interested in here are some suggestions:

1. no matter what get Advanced Divine Spell Power. All of your Morninglord levels equate to tons of uses of Turn Undead, might as well make your buffs harder to dispel or your initial casting harder to resist!

2. I would also make sure to get Mastery of Energy. +4 on both your turning check and your damage roll and will apply to planar creature turning checks as well once you get turn outsider in epics.

3. I would take at least Spell Power I and II to have a CL of 32 at all times. It's +1 to your DC's and +10% chance to avoid the dispel part of mords (There are fewer divine spells on the breach list than arcane).

4. If you do not take Spell Power III you have one open Hierophant ability to chose, Blast Infidel is a good pick if you chose to focus on Necromancy. Otherwise Faith Healing is a strong option which can be a party healing bonus OR an increase to damage spells against undead (does not apply to heal, only to cure wounds/mass cure wounds line of spells). Inscribe Rune is another option I would consider to be able to carry around essentially one extra spell per spell level. Being a caster based cleric you can never have enough spells!

If it were me I would go SP I, SP II, Mastery of Energy, Advanced Divine Spell Power, and Faith Healing with a focus on Evocation (remember to take the Divine Spell Power Feat before you get to the Hierophant level where you want to take the Advanced version!). However, the Necromancy option and Blast Infidel is something I do find intriguing, I think it would actually be tough to RP walking that line with a Lathandrite Cleric traveling with a Paladin...

As for pre-epic feats you get seven. You are required to take Great Fortitude and Extra Turning for Morninglord as well as a Metamagic feat for Hierophant (I recommend Extend Spell). You will have 4 feats left to chose from pre-epic. I recommend Spellcasting Prodigy (must be taken at level 1), Divine Spell Power, Spell Focus: Evocation/Necromancy (your choice depending on which direction you want to go) and then either Greater Spell Focus or Empower Spell. Epic Feats you will want to mostly take Great WIS, ending on an even level. If you have a leftover feat or are ok with 1 lower DC you can pick up an epic spell or two... or if you took Greater Spell Focus in pre-epic levels you can grab epic spell focus, a Greater Spell Focus and the rest all Great WIS.

[freekender]

EDIT: Also, almost forgot with the cavalier, since you are getting Shield Bash and Shield Charge for free, 13 DEX is a really good idea since you can then take Agile Shield Fighter which will give you extra damage on shield bash (simulating 2 attacks) but requires 13 DEX. So building for Mithral Full Plate is a really good way to go. Also remember Paladin Spells can grant +8 STR so try to end on an even STR. If you need more specific build help I can try to provide you more of a full build, but will probably not be until tomorrow night at the earliest.

One point about this... The wiki says the following about Agile Shield Fighter:

Agile Shield Fighter

Type of Feat: General
Prerequisite: Shield Bash, Dex 13, Shield Specialization
Use: Automatic.

When making a shield bash and armed strike attack as part of a full attack action, your attack penalty is reduced by 2.

Gameplay Notes

As in PnP: The Two weapon fighting feats work the same as this feat does. Combine them if you want reduce the penalty as much as possible. The penalty reduction stacks.

So, I understand that it just erases the -2 penalty for "dual-welding" a weapon and a shield in Shield Bash mode.

[chad878262]

Probably needs updated. We had discussed this in QC and I believe the damage is increased based on Agile Shield Fighter/TWF and damage is increased further for ITWF and GTWF. This is to simulate multiple shield attacks because as I understand it there wasn't a good way to increase the actual number of attacks from the shield past 1.

[freekender]

Probably needs updated. We had discussed this in QC and I believe the damage is increased based on Agile Shield Fighter/TWF and damage is increased further for ITWF and GTWF. This is to simulate multiple shield attacks because as I understand it there wasn't a good way to increase the actual number of attacks from the shield past 1.

And does it increase the number and/or DC of the save vs. the shield attack effect?

[chad878262]

No.