Dragonblooded Pariah {20 barb/20 sorc)

[MurphysLawAgain]

Gargazon, I have a few questions about this build:-

1) Why are you taking that fighter lvl? I don't see what it gets you.
2) Don't you mean LL Trans rather than Necro at 57?
3) In my experience as a hells caster you dont have to have maximised saves. DC & Spell pen will help you more. To that end I would replace the 3 reflexes feats and Great cha feat with epic & LL spell pen and 2 more con. I dont play a pariah so I may be way off base for this quasi but starting with a +2 to your "base" stat of con I suspect you need all the boosts you can get.

[gargazon]

murphyslawagain said:

Gargazon, I have a few questions about this build:-

1) Why are you taking that fighter lvl? I don't see what it gets you.
2) Don't you mean LL Trans rather than Necro at 57?
3) In my experience as a hells caster you dont have to have maximised saves. DC & Spell pen will help you more. To that end I would replace the 3 reflexes feats and Great cha feat with epic & LL spell pen and 2 more con. I dont play a pariah so I may be way off base for this quasi but starting with a +2 to your "base" stat of con I suspect you need all the boosts you can get.

1) Fighter level gets me heavy armor proficiency, also gets me blind fight.
2) I read some of the other builds for pariah and they recommended ll necro and ll evocation, but not transmute. I am not sure why, but yes I meant necro. Perhaps someone who knows why can enlighten both of us LOL.
3) saves would be low even with the feats I took. If it's not necessary to get saves as high as possible for a Hell's Pariah that would be wonderful. But this build isn't mostly a caster, it's control class barbarian, so mostly a tank at 60. I could certainly redo things with fewer barb levels and a lot more sorc levels but that would change a lot of other things as well.

That said, I hated to drop the spell pen and gspell pen and take the save feats, so if it's truely not necessary for a hells build I would definatly get more con and ll penetration in lieu of save feats.

Constructive criticism very welcomed at this point.

[borges]

gargazon said:

But this build isn't mostly a caster, it's control class barbarian, so mostly a tank at 60. I could certainly redo things with fewer barb levels and a lot more sorc levels but that would change a lot of other things as well.

This part doesn't make sense. All of your feats, except for Blind Fight, are casting feats. If you are serious about making a tank, this build simply won't work. For starters, you won't be hitting anything. You also won't be making any of the KD checks in the Hells (except for one, which factors in CON). So I'd recommend the casting route. Barbarian control class is good, as it gets you 4 extra CON during legendary levels. Yes it stinks not to be able to change spells or boost Concentration past lvl 40. That's the price you pay for selecting a very challenging quasiclass.

Two reasons to take LSF Transmutation: +15 GMW (the best non-epic enhancement available in the mod) and improved Flesh to Stone. Flesh to Stone is to a Pariah what Firebrand is to a BFM, though obviously less flashy. Lots of high-value targets can be petrified in the Hells and other areas.

[Trazik]

This pariah is a caster, make no mistake. Your BAB is far too low to make you a decent tank and speaking as a pariah player (mine is 20/20 with only LL trans) IMHO pariahs are most useful to parties as casters. In hell runs I find myself using little more than bigbies (lvl 9, 7 and 5), weapon buffs (magic weapon, +15 GMW and flame weapon), epic wall, stone to flesh and sometimes spells like ice dagger (pit fiends) acid arrow (malebranches).

If your intent is to however focus on LL and arti runs ... I found myself using meteor swarm & ice storm in addition.

Trazik

[MurphysLawAgain]

One more thought, if you are looking for a melee build and you have Dragonblooded you should go straight to "Holyblazer" the Paly, bard, 50RDD build. If you really want to go with a caster then you need to go all the way. This server will reward you for maximising your build either for caster or for tank. Any attempt to cover both will make your character worthless in the LL areas, let alone Hell.

[fragment]

Hi,

first you did this mostly right, so don't be put off

To reiterate what the others said, you're not going to be a tank. What will happen is, you helplessly stare at your hitpoints while swamped in a bunch of mobs, unable to move out, unable to do anything but to continue casting, seeing your 2k+ hitpoints going down to 0 over a few rounds, dying there, without being able to do anything. You cannot drink heal potions! That said, there are certainly squishier casters.

On your build. A pariah compares to a sorcerer, and should, in some respect, be *better* than a sorcerer, or you would just make the standard rak sorcerer and be done with it. What makes pariahs good is their spell penetration. I think of mine as the pale master of evocation and transmutation. When you do the build right, you're like a good sorc, only that you'll be able to break SR somewhat easier. The main caster stat is CON, and the spell penetration ability is tied to CON as well, and sets in when you rage. My pariah hits 76 SP, my pale 75, and my rak sorc 68.

You should totally focus your build on that. Don't be afraid to be a specialist.

Problems:

Constitution, or lack thereof, and the consequences. I went with gnome maelephant and great con 6. That gives me a whopping 8 more base casting ability, comparing to my pariah, and you 4 less casting ability comparing to the standard rakshasa sorc. Your spell penetration will hit 60 I think while not raging, and while raging it will be 61 ... that's not better than the rak. Oops?

Missing 2 caster feats. Epic and leg spell penetration. I don't think completely relying on rages is feasible, so you will need those.

The fighter level. Really, get rid of it, and start with barbarian to get control class barbarian. Get 20 sorcerer levels so you can get that 3rd level-9 spell. Gain 1 more caster level. Take heavy armor as a feat.

Other attributes. You have too much charisma. You want to end at charisma 19 exactly, because that opens up level 9 spells. Otherwise, charisma serves no function, and spending 4 points more on it than neccessary is a waste. 10 strength is unneccessary as well, even investing these in wisdom for more will save would be better.

Too many epics. You apparently chose evo, trans and necro. Drop either necro or evo and read the book for the other epic (or the spell pen book, you can afford that). Invest the 3 feats in constitution.

Too high reflex. The option to care about reflex save at all comes with BUR races, not with UR. You need those feats to get your constitution higher. Being stoned all the time will be annoying, but that's how people remember pariahs anyway.

So far - as I said, you did this mostly right, so don't be put off. Refine your build towards constitution and you should be good to go

[wnxhalfwingseen]

Cant help but notice a huge flaw in your stats for this build, You have a HUGE charisma you only need 15 (after subraces) because when you get pariah you instagain 4 charisma boosting you to 19 and you get lvl 9 spells if you wish and after that everything into con for a caster and a slit on con and str for tanks, A tank pariah should end up with 30-38 naked con (at 60 no demi) 19 charisma naked and 24-30 STR. With this subrace a more reasonable number would be 28 str and 32 con. however thats only 44 CL's and 40 STR with items that would only be 81 IF you grabbed AB feats. with dragon blooded you could make an okay pariah but you are better off going caster without serious con/str/cha boosts (Maelephant hound archon ect).