Author Topic: PF Paladin of Slaughter Assistance  (Read 2254 times)

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Zax

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PF Paladin of Slaughter Assistance
« on: January 24, 2010, 08:27:51 PM »
First, some info:

Books: Pathfinder, 3.5 Core, most 3.5 splats, no dragon or 3rd party (besides PF lol)
Level: Starting at 2, ending around 17
Flavor: Evil paladin of Vhaeraun
Restrictions: Must be Drow
Abilities: 24 PF Point Buy

I am building a paladin of slaughter for a drow campaign in pathfinder. The changes for the PF pally of slaughter are (as devised by myself and okayed by the DM):

[spoiler]
-Start Spoiler Block-

Level  Ability
1      Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Smite Good 1/day
2      Divine Grace, Deadly Touch
3      Debilitating Aura, Divine Health, No Mercy
4      Channel Negative Energy, Smite Evil 2/day
5      Divine Bond
6 on... As normal, but progressing 'No Mercy' and swap all to evil


Non-obvious Descriptions:

Deadly Touch:
Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin can heal the wounds of undead (or those healed by negative energy, her own or those of others) by touch. Each day she can use this ability a number of times equal to 1/2 her paladin level plus her Charisma modifier. With one use of this ability, a paladin can heal 1d6 hit points of damage for every two paladin levels she possesses. Using this ability is a standard action, unless the paladin targets herself, in which case it is a swift action.

Alternatively, a paladin can use this power to deal damage to living creatures, dealing 1d6 points of damage for every two levels the paladin possesses. Using deadly touch in this way requires a successful melee touch attack and doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity. Living creatures do not receive a saving throw against this damage.

No Mercy:
This ability functions as the opposite to Mercy. Instead of removing the chosen condition, the Deadly Touch may bestow the condition on the target. This lasts for a number of rounds equal to the paladin's charisma modifier. The target may attempt a saving throw against 10 + half the paladin's level + the paladin's charisma modifier to resist the effect.

Additionally we devised variants to Animal Devotion to fit drow themes.

-End Spoiler Block-
[/spoiler]

So, onwards...

I'm building a melee character. I'm not trying to be super powerful but i'd like to know what you think of the build I've come up with and if you have any suggestions for improvement. I'm aiming for the build to have: High saves, BAB, Damage, AC, HP, Fly, Some tricks, and prefer to get healing and a teleport/ddoor ability. Those are the basics of any melee character I try to create.

This character has high saves, bab, AC, fly, some tricks... mediocre damage and HP, and gets healing and eventually ddoor (at like level 16...). Starting at level 2. Expect to end at maybe level 17

Abilities (after drow adjustment):

STR 17, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 10, WIS 7, CHA 16

Progression:

[spoiler]
-Start Spoiler Block-

Lvl Class Feats             Notable Abilities
1   Pal   Power Atk
2   Pal   
3   Barb  Animal Devotion   Whirling Frenzy Rage, Pounce
4   Pal     
5   Pal   Battle Blessing
6   Pal                     Speed+10, +30ft DarkV, +2 Acro
7   Pal   Tomb Tainted Soul
8   Pal                     Spike Stones
9   Pal   ? maybe extra rage
10  Pal
11  Pal   ?
12  Pal
13  Pal   ?                 Earth Glide
14  Pal
15  Pal   ?
16  Pal                     Dimension Door
17  Pal   ?
18  Pal
19  Pal   ?
20  Pal


-End Spoiler Block-
[/spoiler]

Uses Whirling Frenzy alternate rage (+4 str, +2 dodge to AC and Ref, melee version of rapid shot). Uses Underdark Knight instead of special mount. Uses re-flavored Lion Totem barbarian

Why so many paladin levels?

Well, the first reason is because there are no good PRCs that an evil paladin can take to advance BAB and Spells... well, none that are easy to qualify and don't suck... I could be wrong and please suggest any that fit well (even blackguard - requirements suck and it's just a doubleup on what I have)

The second reason is that only paladin will advance Underdark Knight, and spike stones and earth glide are awesome. So is DDoor, but I get that too late in the game to be a valid reason to stick with paladin. Also, deadly touch increases with level which gives more turn attempts which fuels domain feats.

About Abilities:

I'd rather have more CON but it's too expensive. I could have gone:
STR 17, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 10, WIS 7, CHA 16

But I intend on using mithril so I'll be getting full dex anyway, so that's more AC (and more ref...). I could recover the HP by taking Improved Toughness, or recover some AC by taking Dodge (it's better in PF).

I will be using longsword and shield (mostly). When I can afford it the shield will be animated for both AC and 2 Handed Power Attacks. Pounce and Whirling Frenzy work really well, especially at the lower levels. Animal Devotion is mostly for an extra STR increase, but can be used for fly when needed. Will always save Deadly Touch uses to fuel a desperate fly :)

Rage is free to activate and can be ended any time (though fatigue lasts 2x num rounds raged). This is great with battle blessing as fatigue doesn't stop you casting.


So what do you think? Do you have any suggestions for things I may have overlooked? I was thinking I may throw Chaos Devotion in there - I'm not a fan of not knowing what to expect, but it's a decent buff. I'm open to feats (not 100% attached to Tomb Tainted Soul, and have no plans after) or PRCs (as long as they are at least as powerful as continuing Pally). Would you take the proposed stat block or my other choice?

Thanks for your suggestions

p.s. this will be duped on wizards. Want to reach as broad an audience as possible.

juton

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Re: PF Paladin of Slaughter Assistance
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2010, 11:39:25 PM »
The smite a Paladin gets in Pathfinder is a pretty decent ability for a melee character. I'd ask the DM if a majority of your opponents will be good, if your campaign is going to be Drow on Drow you will want to swap out smite for something else. If your going to beat up on the goodie-goodies there are feats that will let you get more uses of smite.

As for prestige classes, Blackguard isn't worth it but Ordained Champion could be, it's in Complete Champion. The highlight for your build would be the ability to use turn undead attempts to get more smites, Ordained Champion will also advance you smite damage but you'll lose 1-2 levels depending on whether or not you dip.

Zax

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Re: PF Paladin of Slaughter Assistance
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2010, 11:59:58 PM »
Thanks for the input.

Not sure how much we'll vs good opponents - often the adventure path is up to us. I can't see anything that I could swap smite for except alternate smites or favored enemy, and requirements for those aren't able to be met. I could take charging smite (would fit with pounce) but the new smite is better than charging smite.

There are several problems with taking OC, not the least of which is the inability to meet a couple of requirements (alignment, deity). Even if we adapted it, there are issues. The paladin's channel energy (turn undead) is fueled by lay on hands, thus having OC increase channel energy is questionable. The OCs smite is fantastic though. The class adds a couple of nice abilities, and a couple of redundant/useless ones. The real kicker is the Smite, so yes, it would be cool if I could change the requirements. There is still the problem of it losing caster levels, not advancing lay on hands, and not advancing underdark knight. As I said I'm happy to lose those for something nifty, but I don't think OC gives it. Fist of the Gods is awesome, but with less caster advancement due to barbarian/OC, spells are even more of a scarce commodity.

I'll think on it, thanks very much. I had completely forgotten about the OC smite being 'smite anything'

Cheers.

Zax

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Re: PF Paladin of Slaughter Assistance
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2010, 07:29:57 PM »
Bit of a bump :)

I'm not sure divine might is worth it, but I was looking at fitting in divine shield and/or divine vigor. The former helps to increase my already formidable AC, the latter helps to make up for my lack of a good CON. There are also choices like dodge (which is much improved in PF) and shield specialization (average) to think about.

So to summarize the question: are there any PRCs or great feats i'm overlooking?

Cheers