Warlock: Word of changing build

[Steve]

Unfortunately, that AB is so low, you'd never hit anything in Epics!

[Deathgrowl]

28 AB on the one with the hideous blow. Frost giants have around 30 AC, mystics about 35 AC. You'll hit them just fine.

And then you can drop ICE and still have 50 AC yourself while having 34 AB to hit things.

Remember the first hit is going to be 130ish damage and can crit. Not to mention it can give a 10 round daze or whatever it is.

[RagingPeace]

Ahhh, with combat expertise, I misunderstood your post then. Still that's very good, and if you need to go on the offense you can always swap over to the dryad or cow-demon-shape.

[Steve]

Ha! I just went up to the Frost Lands to confirm that AC of the Frost Giants, and got a cold arse handed to my Lvl 26 Monk.

So it would seem hitting the 33-35 AC isn't so much the issue, it is surviving what Epic Level mobs can dish out (and in the Frost Giants case, that's a bunch of spells that are passing SR 32 and requiring pretty high Saves. Horrid Wilting is a cold bitch).

Anyway, not these Epic Areas should really be solo-able, but...I guess a Word of Changing Warlock could have a pretty good chance.

[Deathgrowl]

Might even pick up brimstone blast for those frost giants. That'll make you hit for 190ish damage on that hideous blow. And it can still crit.

[Nemni]

One can't actually crit with hideous blow since it doesn't run a touch attack but instead just hits automatically whenever your first melee attack hits. Also if you go for high damage blast you will not land any DC blast (requires investing in Cha instead of blast), so you have to decide which one you want. And in shape you sacrifice your AoE which mean you should plan your char so that you can at least hit some normal attacks too, or your overall damage will suffer greatly. 28 AB in epic areas sounds like a recipe for boredom

[Steve]

Yeah, that was what I was thinking: if you combine Hideous Blast + Noxious Blast, you'll Daze your opponent but lose out of the actual Eldritch Blast dice...right? And with a low STR + low added DMG bonuses, I can imagine getting any dmg over the DR of the epic foes, will be pitiful.

Then, it's the low AB again with making 1-2 hits per round.

Maybe, if one could change up Blast type while in Word of Changing form, it would allow at least for dazing, then switching to regular Eldritch or Vitrolic Hideous Blast, to deal out the greater damage for a few rounds, then switching back to Noxious re-Daze.

However, combining a Warlock using Noxious with another PC with high DMG, would be silly dangerous...for mobs.

[Deathgrowl]

No, no. You do get the blast dice too. What nimne is saying ist that you can't do brimstone and noxious at the same time. So you'll have to choose between elemental damage (which frost giants have 50% vulnerability to) and daze effect with normal magic damage.

[chad878262]

As with any build, damage/effect mitigation is more important than damage/effect potential. With your Monk at level 26 going to a CR29 area it is not a major surprise you struggled Steve, but that same Monk at level 30 should to just fine so long as your AC is decent (especially since you'll have more SR, presumably and might not take as much punishment from the spell casters).

All in all the build suggested by DG seems to me very similar (if perhaps a bit less tanky) to a Dragon Druid. Might at times not be very offensive, but should be able to outlast almost anything the PvE server can throw at it. I will also agree with Nimne though...it sounds like a mind-numbingly boring play style.

[Steve]

But, but, but...I took my Lvl 24 Bardzerker into the Frost Giant Castle and whup their frosty behinds good!

Well, let's just say I was playing stupid, cause I saw 3 Mystics and was cocky and I paid 2600 xp for it. Sometimes...the Character Sheet INT/WIS score bests the Player INT/WIS score.

But back to Word of Changing, I personally think being able to shape into different forms is awesome RP, and even if you're PC vs. mobs experience will be mind numbing, at least you can watch a movie while doing it! Though...who is really killing mobs at Level 30, anyway...except for LOOT-GRINDERZ-UNITED!

[Calen]

What kind of feats and stats do you pick for a word of changing build?

[Deathgrowl]

Charisma all the way. No point in anything else. Strength, Dexterity and Constitution is static by shape. I suppose if you want skills you could go intelligence.

What feats? Depends on the level split. The one I showed above needs power attack (and therefore 13 strength) and cleave to get blackguard. It's really just built like your average blackguard warlock. I did take Divine Shield, but it didn't really give me much. I think in devil form it just gave me 2 more AC (so 58 instead of 56), despite the 7 charisma modifier, so it didn't feel worth it.

CE/ICE is a good choice regardless.

If you instead decide to go for the warlock/dragonslayer route, you'll have somewhat higher AB, but lower blast dice (by 2, I think) because of the loss of bonus epic feats.

[Steve]

http://nwn2db.com/build/?308211

You can make it better, if you're willing to min/max around. This build will take you places!