Author Topic: I Am A Paladin  (Read 5408 times)

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Rejakor

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I Am A Paladin
« on: September 06, 2011, 09:37:37 AM »
So, someone in my noobs DnD group wanted to run a game, and we're at an easy pausepoint in my current game, so I went for it. (I vastly prefer playing to running).

The basic idea of the setting is that the world was blown up.  Nucleomagical war, that left the world thoroughly irradiated, half the gods dead and the rest insane/deranged/mutated/given up, and humanoid races ekeing out an existence in tiny pockets throughout the world.  We start in one pocket, a decent one, population maybe 200,000 people all up (as a relic of my campaign - accurate countryside/city population totals - far more people live on the land than in cities or towns), but stuff is getting worse.  The radiation is seeping down from the north, as is cold, and barbarians, etc.  Anyway, we're all level 2.  As an addendum to that, with my help, the new GM designed some 'good' mutations that people could start with, where you roll separately for benefits, detriments, and easiness to hide/visibility.  He knew what this would do to party balance, and he's okay with that.

Party -
The Maidens-

Treebrother(5' move speed, bit of nat AC, fortification)/Dead Eyes (can see the spirits of the dead) female human Druid 2 w/ improved animal companion for a Dire Badger
Blind Eyes (True seeing, bonuses to Spot, can't be flanked (2 nat. 20's))/SuperIntelligence (3/day 'Oh, I brought along a ladder, btw', fairly weak compared to higher rolls of SupInt) Warlock 2 with great stats(18s all up ins) female tiefling with a Devil Pact (has to sacrifice people, do tasks for devils, gets Beguiling Influence and Entropic Warding invocations for free.. DM really wants to screw someone over with clever mafia style 'pulling you in deeper and deeper' devil pact but probably won't do it to this player as it would be like shooting a duckling)
Me - (Regeneration (1hp/hour fasthealing)/Regeneration (1hp/rnd fasthealing) female human Paladin 2 (no variants, yet), with one chosen feat, Endurance.

The Monsters-
Spines (zombie actions, 2d4 damage on all natural weapons, 2d4 damage to all attackers, if does a full round action takes 2d4+str damage)/Extra Arms (1 set of extra arms with it's own primary and secondary attack routines (!) (not multiweapon fighting.. acts like a second set of primary/sec routines in and of themselves), but due to 1 on detriments, will roll on chart to do things character doesn't intend them to do every round) male Half-Minotaur (!)(only the +4 str version.. gains nothing from size increase except Large size, which is still pretty amazing) Monk 1
Tentacles (gains 1 tentacle natural attack, 10' reach that doesn't provoke AoOs, but every round rolls on chart to do things doesn't want, entirely visible... tentacle beard, hair, tentacles all up ins)/Black Eyes (can see magical radiation, remove magical radiation where looking(not permanently), and lower bad effects of mutations (detriments) by up to 2 steps (nat 1's and nat 20's each cost 2 steps, otherwise 2-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-19) (!) which can be made permanent with a feat at level 3 (!!!)) male human bard 2



Right now i'm doing decently well, as I have a suit of full-plate and a shield and I sit on a horse (although our only combat so far has been against 4 entirely outclassed mutated barbarians) and I have far more DnD experience than pretty much anyone at the table, but as the party levels up, and the minotaur gets rid of some detriments, i'll need a bit more oomph to keep up.

Stats at the moment (rolled, in order);

Str: 12
Dex: 11
Con: 16
Int:   8
Wis: 12
Cha: 13


Feats: Endurance, ?? (unpicked)

ACFs: None


A couple of provisos;  I don't want to gish.  I have gished.  I've won gish competitions.  I'm just not interested in going palasorc or whatever at the moment.
I don't want to 'roflpwn those noobs with my mad numbars' - I could very easily do that, and i've chosen not to.  What i'm looking for are interesting ideas that I wouldn't know about or synergize in my mind normally.
I'm aware of the chargeadin, the battle bless cleric, and the serenity apostledin.  I'm not looking for those builds for this character, at the moment.
I have more DnD experience than anyone at the table by a large margin.  I don't want my numbers to even be as close to good as the other characters, as I will be taking more of the limelight in roleplaying/tactics probably anyway.
That said, I don't want to be the 'useless member of the party'.
I have essentially unlimited 'this is balanced' cred with the GM, so homebrew or whatever is probably on the table.
A custom feat at level 3 is in the offing that can make your benefits one step higher.  For my good regen mutation, that would probably translate into fast healing 2 + immunities/saves against ability loss/level loss, or fast healing 5.
I'm especially interested in odd synergies with short dips into base classes, or oddball paladin prestige classes that are actually usable. (as opposed to most, which are crap)
I want whatever I mechanically build to reflect the character, which i'll detail below.
I realize Crusader is way better than paladin 2 for what i'm kind of looking for.  However, I wanted a class that was obviously not-cheesy so that the other players wouldn't think I had a broken character (they know I have insane rules-fu).  So I won't be 'retraining' into Crusader.  I might dip into crusader, but it's not currently on the cards (so hey, convince me, maybe i'm missing something).


The character is essentially my view of how a paladin should be - certain/strongminded, but not righteous - strong, but not overbearing - Good, without being preachy or smug - protective, without being smothering or making others feel weak.

At this point in the campaign (first session), i've hurled myself in front of the mutant party members to avoid them being shot by town guards going 'AHH MONSTERS', negotiated with a mutantphobic duke to send help to the party's beleaguered home village, and got cut down by the half-minotaur while trying to put out a fire he'd set to burn down the inn the party was sleeping in, and then when brought to consciousness by the druid (in the middle of a scattered about hay and oil fire with the fire-phobic part-tree druid making a will save to ride in on her badger and heal me) used my 2 points of Lay On Hands to stabilize the half-minotaur at -9 before falling unconscious(at 0, doing a standard knocked me to -1). (due to Spines thing and low hp, 2hitKO'd himself trying to run away and then full attacking me).  (group had a chat after the session - apparently the minotaur player thought his character was basically gimped by mutations and low hp, and thought that being a minotaur/low charisma meant that he wasn't allowed to roleplay or say anything because the GM would demand a skill check and then screw him over because he doesn't have like +15 diplomacy/bluff (like the warlock does) - so hopefully that's sorted out now). 

Oh, and I also added a couple of minor points of interest in insisting we ride all night, taking the barbarians who weren't rabid prisoner(half minotaur later killed them while I negotiated for replacement horses with an already scared farmer.. sigh..), having her get like really muggy/tired even though with endurance/high con she's like the best in the party at resisting tiredness, and really enjoying a bowl of good beef stew.

Incidentally, she worships Soren, pre-holocaust a minor god of beauty, now an internally deformed outwardly pretty/untouched god who has risen to prominence on the 'cleanse all mutants' platform, which my paladin, due to reading an old book and not getting out much, thinks means 'heal all mutants of their mutation if it's healable' as opposed to what it actually means, which is 'witch hunt, burn at stake, odd coloured eyes = mutation'.

McPoyo

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2011, 11:56:46 AM »
Have you thought about going the route of "infinite healing power" through maximizing your Lay on Hands? Unless there's a lot of Undead in the game, that would give you plenty of "usefulness" even once the Minotaur starts overshadowing you in combat.

edit: Also, you can eventually cure a surprisingly large number of ailments using Lay on Hands, as well.
[Spoiler]
A gygaxian dungeon is like the world's most messed up game show.

Behind door number one: INSTANT DEATH!
Behind door number 2: A magic crown!
Behind door number 3: 4d6 giant bees, and THREE HUNDRED POUNDS OF HONEY!
They don't/haven't, was the point. 3.5 is as dead as people not liking nice tits.

Sometimes, their tits (3.5) get enhancements (houserules), but that doesn't mean people don't like nice tits.

Though sometimes, the surgeon (DM) botches them pretty bad...
Best metaphor I have seen in a long time.  I give you much fu.
Three Errata for the Mage-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Barbarian-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Monks doomed to die,
One for the Wizard on his dark throne
In the Land of Charop where the Shadows lie.
[/spoiler]

Solo

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2011, 12:02:41 PM »
Like heal a broken heart.

So, have you considered a few levels of Marshal?
« Last Edit: September 06, 2011, 12:26:52 PM by Solo »

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Rejakor

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2011, 12:15:53 PM »
It requires a miracle or better to heal a broken heart.


I saw that healing build that relied on stacking cha in order to use that Healing Spirit thing and lay on hands to heal 1000's of hp... actually had plans to use it as a battle medic base in the game i'm running.

It doesn't really suit the character concept, though, and i'm starting from base 13 cha (and I don't want to do anything to scare people into thinking i'm breaking the game in half).

Thinking about it more, I kind of want a mix of tanking (although without lockdown) / toughness, applying decent damage occasionally (rhino rush on a horse with a lance would do this without having to put much/any ubercharging in), and utility in the form of diplo and spells.

Currently my problem is that while 20 AC (full plate, heavy steel shield) is alright for level 2, AC becomes less useful with time and making a shield worthwhile either involves ubercharging with it or sooo many feats and shield parry/shield ward.  Given that I want to burn a feat on my mutation, and I want Battle Blessing at some point, it doesn't seem doable to have that many feats on the build, especially one designed to be played from level 2.

Also, the usual problem of paladin spells being fairly lacklustre and diplo + ride being pretty much the only skills I can use.


EDIT: edit swordsage'd

Marshal from memory seems to mostly revolve around adding Cha to stuff or really minor bonuses to hit and AC and things... her cha is pretty underwhelming (rolled) even if I chuck my 4th level point in to make it 14.  And if I wanted to add minor bonuses to everyone, i'd be trying for a initiate of milil pally.

What I actually am fairly interested in is Smite optimization, but from what I can see it's kind of Really Really Hard and Not Worth It.  And involves jumping through so many hoops that the group would think I was pun pun.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2011, 12:18:52 PM by Rejakor »

McPoyo

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2011, 12:28:07 PM »
Not if you went Exalted, and took levels in Fist of Raziel.

I would also suggest a variation on one of the Lockdown builds. Lockdown 2.0 used Crusader, iirc, but one of the others used a non-ToB base. The same basic premise still applies, even without ToB.

That said, whatever you do, try to get as much synergy as possible.
[Spoiler]
A gygaxian dungeon is like the world's most messed up game show.

Behind door number one: INSTANT DEATH!
Behind door number 2: A magic crown!
Behind door number 3: 4d6 giant bees, and THREE HUNDRED POUNDS OF HONEY!
They don't/haven't, was the point. 3.5 is as dead as people not liking nice tits.

Sometimes, their tits (3.5) get enhancements (houserules), but that doesn't mean people don't like nice tits.

Though sometimes, the surgeon (DM) botches them pretty bad...
Best metaphor I have seen in a long time.  I give you much fu.
Three Errata for the Mage-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Barbarian-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Monks doomed to die,
One for the Wizard on his dark throne
In the Land of Charop where the Shadows lie.
[/spoiler]

Rejakor

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2011, 01:00:31 PM »
Fist of Raziel actually looks like a really thematic class for paladins.  If it wasn't, y'know... ten levels long.  Level 16 before it starts becoming interesting?  The game is NOT going to last that long.  It's not even intended to last that long.  Like, level 10ish at the most.

It's actually way better for some kind of class that has good spellcasting and smiting.. although they disallow Destruction domain clerics i'm sure some other domain grants a Smite.  It also leaves you with the problem of limited smites/day... hell, a binder KoSS bound to Andras or something would probably be a better candidate, if you could swing the +1 spellcasting to apply to arcane as well as divine, or just allow divine to affect binders.


I really don't want to go lockdown but it and crusader are looking better and better.

McPoyo

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2011, 01:04:56 PM »
Another suggestion would be Ordained Champion (CC), using your limited turn undead to get smites. It's also only 5 levels long, and gets you the ability to channel spells with attacks, but you really only need the first two levels to get the turn-attempt-becomes-smite ability. Could grab Extra turning and get more use for the feat cost that way than Extra smiting.
[Spoiler]
A gygaxian dungeon is like the world's most messed up game show.

Behind door number one: INSTANT DEATH!
Behind door number 2: A magic crown!
Behind door number 3: 4d6 giant bees, and THREE HUNDRED POUNDS OF HONEY!
They don't/haven't, was the point. 3.5 is as dead as people not liking nice tits.

Sometimes, their tits (3.5) get enhancements (houserules), but that doesn't mean people don't like nice tits.

Though sometimes, the surgeon (DM) botches them pretty bad...
Best metaphor I have seen in a long time.  I give you much fu.
Three Errata for the Mage-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Barbarian-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Monks doomed to die,
One for the Wizard on his dark throne
In the Land of Charop where the Shadows lie.
[/spoiler]

Rebel7284

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2011, 01:17:36 PM »
So wait, as a paladin you're very concerned about making sure you don't overshadow a Druid? Right...

Question: how long do you think the campaign will last?  No point optimizing to level 20 if you're only playing till 5 :)

Also, for the Monk, I strongly suggest him taking the talashora(sp?) feat, the one that stacks levels in monk and psionic class and moving to Psychic Warrior.  What's worse than a LARGE, spiky minotaur of doom? a HUGE spiky minotaur of doom!  He'll still have pretty low power points, but at least he'll be able to do something besides hit with average BAB.

Now some ideas for your character:
You are missing an arcane caster.  Picking up Sword of the Arcane Order to memorize wizard spells in your paladin slots should give you some versatility even if very late.
Devotion feats from complete champion are very nice.  Animal Devotion can boost your strength or give you a temporary flight speed.
Marshal is pretty nice for utilizing charisma, although your charisma is indeed pretty low.  A 1 level dip in binder can give you Naberious(sp?) for good social skills.  (Can binders be lawful good?)
Alternatively, Warblade or Crusader give you more options for fighting and boosting the whole party.  Paladin 4/Crusader 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 7 is good.
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Rejakor

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2011, 02:25:05 PM »
Hm, you've got some good ideas there.


The reason i'm worried about overshadowing the party (why i'm playing a paladin rather than anything else), or rather, the appearance of overshadowing the party, is because my first real attempt at optimising was this (ignore the warlock bits... that's a more recent update.. it works as cleric 20) and this is the druid's what, 20th session?  Not that the player is dumb, but her mutations don't add amazing anything, druids at low level are 'eh', she's very unlikely to build a melee wildshaper (she'll likely stick to light BFC (entangle) and healing, possibly buffing), and I want her to be mechanically stronger than me.  Cause I know how to roleplay and make plans and crap and party lead (warlock should be doing the talking, but I end up doing it because he doesn't say anything).  So i'm already getting limelight.  I don't need to mechanically overshadow the other party members.

The only one i'm worried about is the half-minotaur... not very experienced GM combined with a level 1 attack routine of (+2/+2/+2 1d8+2d4+4, -1 1d8+2d4+4 (flurry, (1 attack, 1 extra hands attack, 1 flurry attack) and then gore)) OR if he takes multiweapon fighting, (+0/+0/+0/+0/+0/-3, 1d8+2d4+4).  Once he gets some HP or the bard realizes he can stare at the minotaur (Black Eyes) to remove the 'arms don't do what you want' and 'spines murder you' detriments, he'll be a monster.  And at 6 BAB, his multiweapon fighting full attack becomes (assuming amulet of natural attacks +1, and +2 bardic music) (+9/+9/+9/+9/+9/+9/+9/+9/+9/+4 (2 attack routines TWF'ing, + flurry, + gore) 1d10+2d4+7 (1d10 base monk, 2d4 spines, +4 str, +1 amulet, +2 bardic music) for an average, assuming all hit, of 175 damage.  This is without PA, this is without any kind of buff, or magic item (belt of giant strength adds +20 damage).  That's really really good for LA +1, once he gets rid of the detriments (Black Eyes, and it's sister mutation, Violet Eyes, are amazingly powerful/gamebreaking in the setting... especially with the feat chains for them to make changes permanent (but not stacking).. but that's the way the GM wanted it).  Ofc any kind of PA, or pounce, or even SA or swordsage Burning Whatever is going to add scads of damage due to the number of attacks.

So yeah.  It's mostly the minotaur i'm worried about, as i'm essentially the only other melee, and without a bit of work i'll be a waste of space compared to the wrecking ball that chassis could become (hell, even if he goes pure monk, he'll be making me look like a waste of space).  So i'm finding something interesting to do that will keep me relevant as a melee generalist vs the spiky ball of spiky doom in the corner.

Also, i'm not going to give any build advice to him, not that he's incapable of reading online and working it out on his own.



Campaign Length:  It's fairly variable.  It could go a long way, after I finish mine, or never get finished (like the vast majority).  That's why i'm trying to find a build that doesn't only become good/viable at level 15.  The focus is on the lower levels, as I can retrain if necessary, but bonus points if the build is good all the way to 15+ (game will never go epic if I can help it).


Animal Devotion - I had forgotten about the various devotions.  I'll have to go look them up.  That could really help.

Sword of the Arcane Order - I thought about this, but nah.  I don't want the paladin to be a lacklustre sorcadin.  If I was gonna go sorcadin, I would.

Marshal - on looking it over, bard is better.  And can more easily be mixed with paladin (initiate of milil, from smite to song).

Paladin/Binder/KoSS is actually kind of tempting, bound to Andras or someone else who gives Smite/paladin things.  Binding is morally neutral, although some of the feats specify that you can't be a good binder and use them (and anima mage too, wtf).

RKV is a good idea.  Just the right level of brokenness for when the game starts hitting that 'oh god casters are wtf' realm.  Even if entry as paladin is strictly subpar to entry by cleric.

Oh, and just out of interest, there was a funny build idea in the Q&A thread - rainbow warsnake with prestige paladin and sword of the arcane order... all paladin, cleric, and sorc/wiz spells as spontaneous spells.  Which is hilarious.  Not to mention Battle Blessing on sorc/wiz spells.  Someone said it had been around for ages, but i've never seen it.

Solo

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2011, 02:44:19 PM »

"I am the Black Mage! I cast the spells that makes the peoples fall down!"

The Legend RPG, which I worked on and encourage you to read.

Shiki

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #10 on: September 06, 2011, 02:56:18 PM »
Oh, and just out of interest, there was a funny build idea in the Q&A thread - rainbow warsnake with prestige paladin and sword of the arcane order... all paladin, cleric, and sorc/wiz spells as spontaneous spells.  Which is hilarious.  Not to mention Battle Blessing on sorc/wiz spells.  Someone said it had been around for ages, but i've never seen it.

Essentially something like what's in the builds section here.
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Rejakor

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2011, 03:58:37 AM »
In my other game, I actually am playing a Duelist.

And i've got a half-abandoned duelist handbook (a Proper One) half-written up somewhere on my home computer.


Out of memory, my duelist is something like; martial rogue 2/swashbuckler 3/Whirling Frenzy Lion Totem Barbarian 2/Hit-N-Run Fighter 2/Swordsage 3, with all the usual Craven/Shadow Blade/Daring Outlaw/Penetrating Strike crap.  The idea being a mobile blender with decent AC, and relying on int for more than just skills.

But yeah, it's always time to duel.

Always.



Ordained Champion might be useful for a 2 level dip.  But I can't really find anything that makes smiting worthwhile other than Charging Smite and that removes the possibility of dragonriding - although, dragon cohort.

dantheman

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #13 on: September 08, 2011, 02:24:32 AM »
Alternately, if you really want smite optimization, ask your DM if they're ok with having Witch Slayer from Tome of Magic
1) use Smite Evil instead of their normal smite (from the adaptation section)
2) and if it would stack with paladin smite.

It'd absolutely destroy spellcasting progression though.

Nagukuk

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2011, 04:13:03 PM »
Just be a Paladin

Take Improved Init, and Improved Disarm , and belittle the huge minotaur guy for always smashing the poor unarmed opponents to bits.  :smirk



SorO_Lost

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #15 on: September 10, 2011, 05:03:49 AM »
Oh, and just out of interest, there was a funny build idea in the Q&A thread - rainbow warsnake with prestige paladin and sword of the arcane order... all paladin, cleric, and sorc/wiz spells as spontaneous spells.  Which is hilarious.  Not to mention Battle Blessing on sorc/wiz spells.  Someone said it had been around for ages, but i've never seen it.

Essentially something like what's in the builds section here.
Both TML's & Kell's builds are kind of illegal and based on early entry shenanigans so it's probably why.

btw, does anyone have a legal build that doesn't use Dragon material? Preferably one that doesn't abuse early entry as I would like to showcase such a build else where if possible.
Tiers explained in 8 sentences. With examples!
[spoiler]Tiers break down into who has spellcasting more than anything else due to spells being better than anything else in the game.
6: Skill based. Commoner, Expert, Samurai.
5: Mundane warrior. Barbarian, Fighter, Monk.
4: Partial casters. Adapt, Hexblade, Paladin, Ranger, Spelltheif.
3: Focused casters. Bard, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Martial Adapts, Warmage.
2: Full casters. Favored Soul, Psion, Sorcerer, Wu Jen.
1: Elitists. Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard.
0: Gods. StP Erudite, Illthid Savant, Pun-Pun, Rocks fall & you die.
[/spoiler]

InnaBinder

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #16 on: September 10, 2011, 11:40:57 AM »
Just be a Paladin

Take Improved Init, and Improved Disarm , and belittle the huge minotaur guy for always smashing the poor unarmed opponents to bits.  :smirk



How's he getting Improved Disarm with his stat base, again?
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Rejakor

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #17 on: September 10, 2011, 11:52:52 AM »
My paladin isn't really the belittling type anyway.


Shiki

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #18 on: September 10, 2011, 02:53:27 PM »
Oh, and just out of interest, there was a funny build idea in the Q&A thread - rainbow warsnake with prestige paladin and sword of the arcane order... all paladin, cleric, and sorc/wiz spells as spontaneous spells.  Which is hilarious.  Not to mention Battle Blessing on sorc/wiz spells.  Someone said it had been around for ages, but i've never seen it.

Essentially something like what's in the builds section here.
Both TML's & Kell's builds are kind of illegal and based on early entry shenanigans so it's probably why.

btw, does anyone have a legal build that doesn't use Dragon material? Preferably one that doesn't abuse early entry as I would like to showcase such a build else where if possible.
So, any early entry trick is illegal or something? I concur that they were most likely not intended, but I'd need more than that to think that they not work as written. Unless I'm missing something here..
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SorO_Lost

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Re: I Am A Paladin
« Reply #19 on: September 10, 2011, 11:56:17 PM »
Oh, and just out of interest, there was a funny build idea in the Q&A thread - rainbow warsnake with prestige paladin and sword of the arcane order... all paladin, cleric, and sorc/wiz spells as spontaneous spells.  Which is hilarious.  Not to mention Battle Blessing on sorc/wiz spells.  Someone said it had been around for ages, but i've never seen it.

Essentially something like what's in the builds section here.
Both TML's & Kell's builds are kind of illegal and based on early entry shenanigans so it's probably why.

btw, does anyone have a legal build that doesn't use Dragon material? Preferably one that doesn't abuse early entry as I would like to showcase such a build else where if possible.
So, any early entry trick is illegal or something? I concur that they were most likely not intended, but I'd need more than that to think that they not work as written. Unless I'm missing something here..
Actually it's a bit more than that.

TML or Kell's build uses Dread Necro as the base to acquire Turning, Dread Necro's Alignment says they cannot be good but that was handwaved because fuck alignment. Not exactly a good excuse to me even if others agree. Secondly, Prestige Paladin requires Protection from Evil as a Divine Spell. for this, Alternate Spell Source (or w/e) is used, but that is Dragon Material.

The other build (the none dread necro one) uses Sacred Exorcist, without early entry this is impossible (display spoilered).
[spoiler]1: Warmage/Beguiler 1
2: Warmage/Beguiler 2
3: Warmage/Beguiler 3
4: Warmage/Beguiler 4
5: Warmage/Beguiler 5
6: Warmage/Beguiler 6
7: Rainbow Servant 1 // Minimum level Rainbow can normally be taken (3rd level spells). Minimum level Sacred Exorcist can be taken (10 ranks in a skill).
8: Rainbow Servant 2
9: Rainbow Servant 3
10: Rainbow Servant 4
11: Rainbow Servant 5
12: Rainbow Servant 6
13: Rainbow Servant 7
14: Rainbow Servant 8
15: Prestige Paladin 1 // Need to take Battle Blessing here.
16: Prestige Paladin 2
17: Prestige Paladin 3
18: Prestige Paladin 4 // Need to take Sword Of The Arcane Order here.
19: Rainbow Servant 9
20: Rainbow Servant 10
As there is simply no room for Sacred Exorcist.[/spoiler]

Basically, the way people build it now is based off poor rulings and 3rd party materials. I'm wondering if anyone has figured out how to build it, well, better. Honestly the best I've come up with is literally the spoilered build, using Southern Magincian(for the spell) and a Shroudcrown(for turning) but Southern was ruled by the Sage not to meet PrC prerequisites, and then of course I'm still using items to meet the requirements. So, I kinda failed too. Time to pick at someone else's brain for a bit I think.
Tiers explained in 8 sentences. With examples!
[spoiler]Tiers break down into who has spellcasting more than anything else due to spells being better than anything else in the game.
6: Skill based. Commoner, Expert, Samurai.
5: Mundane warrior. Barbarian, Fighter, Monk.
4: Partial casters. Adapt, Hexblade, Paladin, Ranger, Spelltheif.
3: Focused casters. Bard, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Martial Adapts, Warmage.
2: Full casters. Favored Soul, Psion, Sorcerer, Wu Jen.
1: Elitists. Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard.
0: Gods. StP Erudite, Illthid Savant, Pun-Pun, Rocks fall & you die.
[/spoiler]