Prismatic Abilities (30 XDD / 1 Sorc / 9 BG)

[johannhowitzer]

This is a White Dragon built for Hardcore play, designed to make nearly all ability checks in the Hells and stand as a nearly-indestructible tank, a wall of scales and claws. It is not designed to produce high amounts of damage.

Half-Elf Dragonblooded
STR 14(16)
DEX 14
CON 16(18)
INT 12(14)
WIS 8(6)
CHA 12(14) (forced due to first level Sorcerer)

Leveling:
Sorcerer 1
XDD 2-11
BG 12-20
XDD 21-40

Increase STR at 4-16
Increase DEX at 20-60

Concentration 63
Craft Armor 47
Craft Weapon 47
Discipline 63
Hide 5 (1 point taken CC, req for BG)
Listen 31
Lore 3 (+5 points free to qualify for XDD)
Parry 63
Persuade 63
Tumble 30 cross-class

Power Attack (req for BG)
Cleave (req for BG)
Toughness
Blind Fight
Divine Might
WF warhammer
GWF warhammer

Epic Toughness x10
EWF warhammer
Epic Prowess
Epic DR 1
Armor Skin

LWF halberd
Legendary Will
Legendary Battle Hardened 1
Legendary Battle Hardened 2
Legendary Battle Hardened 3
Legendary Battle Hardened 3

Due to BG levels, this will be able to use the crit immunity ring; crit immunity is something XDDs do not get for free. I built one of these a long time ago using Dire Mace and less solidarity-feats, and it performed extremely well all the way to Cania (never did Nessus with him).

The funny-looking Craft Weapon and Craft Armor scores are taken to balance the two so that I stand a good chance to retain both under hell penalties with bardsong. Provided with decent argument for changing how these are setup, I will. Alternatively, could drop some points out of Parry to boost either or both. Parry is included in case I have to drop the crit ring for some reason.

This build does make all STR, DEX, INT, and CHA ability checks in Hells that I'm aware of. Final ability scores at 60:

STR 52
DEX 42
CON 40
INT 32
WIS 18
CHA 32

Getting 88 AB and 132 AC in UR gear at +20 AB buff cap. Physical immunity is better than an offensive build that uses full plate, despite the fact that this will wear light armor to exploit DEX bonus. Saves at F 74 / R 68 / W 62.

[chainlink]

Why not take tumble to 30 for 2 more ac would only cost you another 20 points vs the 48 you're putting in to craft armour for a gain of 1?

[jonuhey]

Go sorcerer instead of bard, you will be able to use all scrolls without even UMD check and it will save you 23 UMD points that could be used together to cross class tumble.

And yes, cross class tumble up to 30, think the max AC a pure xDD can get from tumble is 6.

Divine might is not worth the feat for this imo, its for things that damage, that contradicts your first statement ;P Change it for improved critical, Halberd has a nice crit range... unless you have an aug to use in bank with IC/PC for halberd, that would free you 2 feats...


I would drop dex by 2 during char creation and bump int with it, that would make you have 42 final dex which would be enough for Malebs (not like you gonna find paragon ones in HC party for now ;P) and you gonna be using medium/light armor on this anyway for higher ac I think?
Also the 120 more skill points could be used in Craft armor and maybe even search or something else like Listen.

If I remember correctly, prismatic half dragons should need only epic toughness 9, so you have a free epic feat. Edit: nvm I thought this was a prismatic half dragon build, only now saw its dragonblooded.

[johannhowitzer]

Hm, thanks guys, that all sounds pretty solid. It didn't occur to me that since this won't wear heavy armor, Malebranche DC will be lower.

Though the idea with divine might over improved critical is that a lot of things this will be tanking are immune to critical hits - Pit Fiends, Malebranches, Bueroza, Narzugon... all the really dangerous ones are. I made a chart of all the mobs I'd be expected to tank, by elemental/exotic vulnerabilities, and found that Acid, Cold, Elec, Divine, and maybe Magical covers nearly all of them - which is why I chose Halberd, in view of the Dustbone Halberd's types. With this build's high CHA mod, Divine Might seemed like a nice way to boost damage against those crit immunes.

Anyway, with low AB, I'm under the impression that crit range doesn't matter as much, right? Since if I only hit things on 15-20 on later attacks, all those hits will be in critical range with keen.

(I misread the Tumble documentation, didn't see the minimum of 6. Since this gets 8 draconic AC, I thought my max would be 4. Oops.)

[johannhowitzer]

Updated, incorporating all of your suggestions - DEX dropped by 2, INT buffed by 4, now makes Dogai check. Tumble boosted to 30 cross class, Craft Weapon added, UMD dropped, changed to Sorcerer, but only 1 Sorc, and 9 BG - only real change there is a few extra hit points, it doesn't change base saves.

I changed some other things too... Warhammer instead of Halberd, since Warhammer has both Ssithrak and Uroboros versions, and the DB Warhammer is close enough, I can craft it if I really want to. Iron/Legendary Will feats dropped since I recalculated saves without them, and they're high enough. That allowed me to add GWF and Armor Skin, which I think is enough. 132 AC seems like plenty in UR, that's dexer-grade, Expertise would just be overkill.

[vorshlumpf]

Might try this build. Why WDD instead of some other colour?

[starcore]

I'm thinking about a reinc for my XDD and going with this build.

Would this still be relevant in 2020? (I know XDD isn't the best choice for a tank, but it's what i have!)

Also, any suggestions for paragon feats?

[Deleted]

Abandon XDD and do something entirely new. Not even remotely worth your time, energy, or resources.

[starcore]

My main usage of this is for multiboxing. Right now my level 63 XDD is doing this pretty well, i can pretty much set him attacking a pack of mobs and ignore him to focus on my caster, due to his massive HP pool and good saves and immunities (just occasionally tabbing back to hit a heal pot). The build i was following is so old it stops at 60 though.

Any suggestions for a melee tank (An existing build on the forum would be awesome)? I'd like to re-use my XDD, but I don't mind starting a new character if its not currently viable. I'm ideally looking for something that doesn't need much input though (Not needing to press called shot every 6 seconds for example!)

[dagoon]

Oct 6, 2020 4:53:09 GMT starcore said:

My main usage of this is for multiboxing. Right now my level 63 XDD is doing this pretty well, i can pretty much set him attacking a pack of mobs and ignore him to focus on my caster, due to his massive HP pool and good saves and immunities (just occasionally tabbing back to hit a heal pot). The build i was following is so old it stops at 60 though.

Any suggestions for a melee tank (An existing build on the forum would be awesome)? I'd like to re-use my XDD, but I don't mind starting a new character if its not currently viable. I'm ideally looking for something that doesn't need much input though (Not needing to press called shot every 6 seconds for example!)

highergroundpoa.proboards.com/thread/25835/komodo-22-ranger-druid-shifter

The very best “fire and forget” tank build

[starcore]

Tyvm good sir!