Post by johannhowitzer on Jun 28, 2007 22:57:57 GMT
Looking on HGWiki's build list, I saw several versions of the Paladin, including one that uses this very class combination, but I did not find what I was looking for, so I decided to build it and post it on here. I've been wanting to make a well-balanced Paladin for some time, but didn't have the subrace to make it practical.
The idea is to get the most out of the new Greater Smite ability, while still retaining enough normal tanking ability to survive and be useful when not faced with evil enemies. That said, here is the build, I will postfix an explanation for the choices I've made.
Human, Baseborn Titan (starts LG, will need several alignment shifts)
NOTE: I realize the Hound Archon is a better choice, and increases the flexibility of the feat selection slightly, but I do not have Hound Archon, so I am building this with the Baseborn Titan subrace I just acquired. By all means, use Hound Archon for this build if you have it, it is better in every way. If you don't even have Baseborn Titan, it's pretty easy to get Prismatic Half-Dragon, and that works nearly as well, though you will have to shift 2 points from STR to WIS at creation.
Starting abilities / subrace:
STR 14 / 16
DEX 8 / 8
CON 14 / 14
INT 12 / 10
WIS 12 / 14
CHA 16 / 18
Leveling and feats:
1. Paladin --- Weapon Proficiency (exotic), Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
2. Paladin
3. Paladin --- Blind Fight
4. Paladin (CHA)
5. Paladin
6. Paladin --- Power Attack
7. Paladin
8. Paladin (CHA)
9. Paladin --- Divine Might
10. Paladin
11. Paladin
12. Paladin (CHA) --- Improved Critical (bastard sword)
13. Paladin
14. Paladin
15. Paladin --- Extend Spell
16. Paladin (CHA)
17. Paladin
18. Paladin --- Toughness
19. Paladin
20. Paladin (CHA)
21. Bard --- Great Charisma I
22. Red Dragon Disciple
23. Red Dragon Disciple
24. Paladin (CHA) --- Great Smite I
25. Red Dragon Disciple
26. Red Dragon Disciple
27. Paladin --- Great Smite II
28. Red Dragon Disciple (STR)
29. Red Dragon Disciple
30. Paladin --- Great Smite III, Great Smite IV
31. Red Dragon Disciple
32. Red Dragon Disciple (STR)
33. Paladin --- Great Smite V
34. Red Dragon Disciple
35. Red Dragon Disciple
36. Paladin (CON) --- Great Smite VI
37. Bard
38. Paladin --- Great Smite VII
39. Paladin --- Great Smite VIII
40. Paladin (CON)
Legendary levels:
42 - CON, Epic Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
44 - CON
--- NOTE: Read Enchantment book before level 45! ---
45 - Legendary Spell Focus (enchantment)
46 - STR
48 - STR, Armor Skin
50 - STR
51 - Great Smite IX
52 - STR
54 - STR, Great Smite X
56 - STR
57 - Epic Prowess
58 - STR
60 - STR, Legendary Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
Skills: maxed Discipline and Taunt, 40 each Tumble and UMD, 8 Lore before level 22, and the last few points in Heal.
There is a very strict progression this must follow, thanks to the bonus to STR that the Paladin gets for all Great Smite feats taken before level 41. Thanks to that special bonus, Great Smite feats do double duty, acting as delayed Great Strengths as well as contributing to the Greater Smite. For this reason, it was important to take as many Great Smite feats pre-legendary as possible, and it turns out the maximum (with RDD in the mix) is eight. In order to stuff that many in pre-legendary, it was necessary to have 25 CHA by level 24. This was barely managed, and necessitated a Great Charisma at level 21. It is not practical to raise initial CHA to 20 - this would be too costly - but an initial CHA of 18 was necessary as well.
That said, this build will suffer a bit in the AB department until level 41. RDD and a full pre-epic BAB progression helps offset this, of course, but the +8 increase to STR at level 41 will be a godsend. Final abilities:
40 / 60
STR 26 / 46
DEX 8 / 8
CON 18 / 20
INT 12 / 12
WIS 14 / 14
CHA 27 / 31
Note the odd CHA. This is a rather unique case... I had originally put the CHA at 34, but that caused the final AB to suffer a little, with only a slight increase in saves and physical immunities to show for it. I switched the last two ability increases over to STR instead of CHA, and gave up the final Great Charisma feat for Epic Prowess and LWF... while this does not improve Greater Smite's chance to hit, it does increase non-smiting AB by 4. CHA cannot be less than 31 for this build, as 25 is needed early, and 6 more is granted through RDD and Paladin LLs. (With Hound Archon, since CHA starts a bit higher, this odd ability score can be avoided.)
If more HP is desired over AB, especially with the presence of Taunt in the build, some of the LL ability increases can be switched to CON instead of STR, preferably early. Pre-legendary AB is hurting a bit too much to sacrifice any STR.
There you go! Compared to my Derrzagon Dwarven Defender (my first immortal character), this build only has 2 less STR and CON, and makes up for it with the ability to cause massive damage to evil creatures. Dachy would be in a world of pain.
The idea is to get the most out of the new Greater Smite ability, while still retaining enough normal tanking ability to survive and be useful when not faced with evil enemies. That said, here is the build, I will postfix an explanation for the choices I've made.
Human, Baseborn Titan (starts LG, will need several alignment shifts)
NOTE: I realize the Hound Archon is a better choice, and increases the flexibility of the feat selection slightly, but I do not have Hound Archon, so I am building this with the Baseborn Titan subrace I just acquired. By all means, use Hound Archon for this build if you have it, it is better in every way. If you don't even have Baseborn Titan, it's pretty easy to get Prismatic Half-Dragon, and that works nearly as well, though you will have to shift 2 points from STR to WIS at creation.
Starting abilities / subrace:
STR 14 / 16
DEX 8 / 8
CON 14 / 14
INT 12 / 10
WIS 12 / 14
CHA 16 / 18
Leveling and feats:
1. Paladin --- Weapon Proficiency (exotic), Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
2. Paladin
3. Paladin --- Blind Fight
4. Paladin (CHA)
5. Paladin
6. Paladin --- Power Attack
7. Paladin
8. Paladin (CHA)
9. Paladin --- Divine Might
10. Paladin
11. Paladin
12. Paladin (CHA) --- Improved Critical (bastard sword)
13. Paladin
14. Paladin
15. Paladin --- Extend Spell
16. Paladin (CHA)
17. Paladin
18. Paladin --- Toughness
19. Paladin
20. Paladin (CHA)
21. Bard --- Great Charisma I
22. Red Dragon Disciple
23. Red Dragon Disciple
24. Paladin (CHA) --- Great Smite I
25. Red Dragon Disciple
26. Red Dragon Disciple
27. Paladin --- Great Smite II
28. Red Dragon Disciple (STR)
29. Red Dragon Disciple
30. Paladin --- Great Smite III, Great Smite IV
31. Red Dragon Disciple
32. Red Dragon Disciple (STR)
33. Paladin --- Great Smite V
34. Red Dragon Disciple
35. Red Dragon Disciple
36. Paladin (CON) --- Great Smite VI
37. Bard
38. Paladin --- Great Smite VII
39. Paladin --- Great Smite VIII
40. Paladin (CON)
Legendary levels:
42 - CON, Epic Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
44 - CON
--- NOTE: Read Enchantment book before level 45! ---
45 - Legendary Spell Focus (enchantment)
46 - STR
48 - STR, Armor Skin
50 - STR
51 - Great Smite IX
52 - STR
54 - STR, Great Smite X
56 - STR
57 - Epic Prowess
58 - STR
60 - STR, Legendary Weapon Focus (bastard sword)
Skills: maxed Discipline and Taunt, 40 each Tumble and UMD, 8 Lore before level 22, and the last few points in Heal.
There is a very strict progression this must follow, thanks to the bonus to STR that the Paladin gets for all Great Smite feats taken before level 41. Thanks to that special bonus, Great Smite feats do double duty, acting as delayed Great Strengths as well as contributing to the Greater Smite. For this reason, it was important to take as many Great Smite feats pre-legendary as possible, and it turns out the maximum (with RDD in the mix) is eight. In order to stuff that many in pre-legendary, it was necessary to have 25 CHA by level 24. This was barely managed, and necessitated a Great Charisma at level 21. It is not practical to raise initial CHA to 20 - this would be too costly - but an initial CHA of 18 was necessary as well.
That said, this build will suffer a bit in the AB department until level 41. RDD and a full pre-epic BAB progression helps offset this, of course, but the +8 increase to STR at level 41 will be a godsend. Final abilities:
40 / 60
STR 26 / 46
DEX 8 / 8
CON 18 / 20
INT 12 / 12
WIS 14 / 14
CHA 27 / 31
Note the odd CHA. This is a rather unique case... I had originally put the CHA at 34, but that caused the final AB to suffer a little, with only a slight increase in saves and physical immunities to show for it. I switched the last two ability increases over to STR instead of CHA, and gave up the final Great Charisma feat for Epic Prowess and LWF... while this does not improve Greater Smite's chance to hit, it does increase non-smiting AB by 4. CHA cannot be less than 31 for this build, as 25 is needed early, and 6 more is granted through RDD and Paladin LLs. (With Hound Archon, since CHA starts a bit higher, this odd ability score can be avoided.)
If more HP is desired over AB, especially with the presence of Taunt in the build, some of the LL ability increases can be switched to CON instead of STR, preferably early. Pre-legendary AB is hurting a bit too much to sacrifice any STR.
There you go! Compared to my Derrzagon Dwarven Defender (my first immortal character), this build only has 2 less STR and CON, and makes up for it with the ability to cause massive damage to evil creatures. Dachy would be in a world of pain.