Build for a 'King'?

[Bryan_0697]

[woodenbandman]

Any reason you have no Law Devotion? That +X to hit translates to damage when used with Power Attack, and AC is also great.

If he has allies, dip into Crusader for Iron Guard's Glare and Shield Block, then take either White Raven Defense -> Clarion Commander or Devoted Bulwark -> Faith Unswerving. These two tactical feats are fucking awesome, and both are fitting for a "leader" type guy. Iron Guard's Glare + Law Devotion = net +5 AC to a lot of allies. Shield Block is also good for protecting someone who is about to die.

As for making him more powerful, there's the standard "DMM persist a bunch of spells that kick ass." Other all-purpose suggestions:
-Ditch Imp. Shield Bash, you're focused on AC right now, not TWF. Just don't shield bash.
-You could also afford to lose Shield Specialization and Agile Shield Fighter, the +3 benefits to AC are replaced and more by Law Devotion.
-This removes the need to take Ordained Champion, so let's go with something a little more fun, how about some good old fashioned Church Inquisitor? Okay, less fun, but more spells, which is what we really care about.
-I don't seem to see any Prestige Paladin. This is an NPC, so unless he plans on gaining some levels, you might wanna ditch the mounted combat.
-If you dip Crusader, you can pick up thicket of blades if you want. Also this lets you use Cloistered Cleric.

So if you go with my suggestion, you get

Cloistered Cleric2/Crusader1/Church Inquisitor2/Crusader+1/Church Inquisitor +3. This will get you Thicket of Blades, which is useful. Loses a number of caster levels equal to your ordained champion build. If you need more feats, you could go for more Ordained Champion.

For feats, Try: Law Devotion, Power Attack, Extra Turning, Holy Warrior, Knowledge Devotion, and either White Raven Defense -> Clarion Commander or Devoted Bulwark -> Faith Unswerving. You may or may not want Combat Reflexes in here, and if you do, you'd also benefit from a Spinning Sword (Secrets of Sarlonna), but at that point, you've probably got too many feats and you'll need to take Ordained Champion again.

This build is focused on granting his allies, who probably have a low AC, a much higher AC. He can grant adjacent allies a +4 with Iron Guard's Glare, shield block grants them an additional 6, and his tactical feats are both centered on party support.

Noting that you're an old character, you'd probably be best suited to using the White Raven tactical feat instead of the Devoted Spirit one, simply because it requires less of you putting your ass on the line and it's Cha based, which you get a bonus to.

For spells, you get 4th level spells, so toss a Holy Transformation or a Divine Power out. If you focus on losing no caster levels whatsoever, a Righteous Wrath of the Faithful is win.

Sorry for the rambling, but there's a lot of useful suggestions in there.

[Bryan_0697]

[dark_samuari]

The Marshal base class from Miniatures Handbook and the Legendary Leader prc is out of Heroes of Battle, both may fit the kingly theme.

[woodenbandman]

I always manage to forget that Wis to damage ability of the Ordained Champion. Gosh.

[Operation Shoestring]

I always manage to forget that Wis to damage ability of the Ordained Champion. Gosh.

Eh, if you're an OC, you're a cleric.  If you're a cleric, you can likely Buff your STR to heck and back anyway.  Small wonder so many people forget that one.

[DimitriX]

Now I know this is a very very very old post, but I think my suggestions can be useful to everybody accidentaly reading this post.

I have to say that what makes someone a king in D&D is power, but if you are running a realistic campaign, you can instead use wealth, equipment and fame. So, even if he is level 9 he has many guards around him, lots of coins, some of the best magic equipment around and maybe even artifacts!

If I were you, I would decide that king's background and story and choose his classes and prestige classes according to these.

So, if what made him a king is a very good pact with a Devil, he could be Warlock 6 and 3 levels of a prestige class from Book of Vile Darkness.

If he is king only because of his ancestry, he could be : Knight 2 (what he was taught in young age) / Aristocrat 3 (achieved through running his kingdom) and as for prestige classes the ones that I like the most for sovereign are in a rare non-official book named The Quintessential Aristocrat like Imperial Senator (which can be changed to fit his role as king), Priest King (suitable for Clerics) and my favourite, Sovereign (I think its name speaks for itself). One must-have feat for him should be Nobleborn (+1 or +2 to Leadership Score ; I can't remember exactly) and another one is Leadership. He can also have Skill Focus (Diplomacy) and Weapon Focus (Warhammer), because his father taught him to fight with this weapon.

Another very straightforward build would be Fighter 4 / Rogue 1 / Vigilante 4 for a king who was being secretly some kind of hero in his town.

The king may be powerless himself but he may also have a Cleric 7 cohort together at all times and one of his sons may turn to arcane studies. He may also have an artifact enabling him to control a Red Dragon, or a very very powerful armor giving him +24 AC, while being as light as a chain shirt (and that armor may also have a weakness that disables its power completely).

[Aliment]

The problem with a king with amazing magic items is that when the party loots the body you can seriously screw up WBL.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

He spends all his wealth on a very pimped out sessile stronghold.  And took landlord.  And leadership. 

And his cohort also took landlord and leadership.  And had a familiar.  Who was dark chaos feat swapped to have landlord.  And leadership.  And so on.

[dark_samuari]

There's always the options of base classes like marshal, crusader, the knight, warblade, and fighter which could lead into prestige classes like legendary leader or kensai.  

[DimitriX]

Well, that's just not such a problem. He may have rare magic items, but he is extremely well-guarded as well. So if your level 9 or 10 players manage to kill the level 9 king, survive all his guards and find a way out of the palace, well, they deserve the +4 Longsword.
Also, a tip for everyone. Houserule teleportation magic! Teleportation shouldn't be used to leave a place in only 6 seconds! This ruins many adventures!

[The_Mad_Linguist]

Well, that's just not such a problem. He may have rare magic items, but he is extremely well-guarded as well. So if your level 9 or 10 players manage to kill the level 9 king, survive all his guards and find a way out of the palace, well, they deserve the +4 Longsword.
Also, a tip for everyone. Houserule teleportation magic! Teleportation shouldn't be used to leave a place in only 6 seconds! This ruins many adventures!

Or, you known, just have divert teleportation or some defenses up.  It's not like there aren't twenty to fifty different anti-teleport strategies.

[DimitriX]

I don't like having all the teleportation defenses up in the places where the adventure I create would be ruined. I prefer non-linear scenarios and more freedom for PCs. So, the best homebrew for me is having portals in some places which you can teleport from. So, the 15 level group has to actually walk some distance on foot.