Doctor Smiles-28 Cleric/10 RDD/2 Bard

[jctrapster]

Introducing Doctor Smiles, my take on the Higher Ground Battle Cleric. I wanted to make a tank with buffs who could take full advantage of divine power. Here it goes:

Starting Stats (Half-Orc) Subrace Mods (Doppleganger

Str 16 (18) 16
Dex 8 (8) 8
Con 16 (16) 18
Int 12 (10) 10
Wis 14 (14) 19
Cha 8 (6) 4

Though it may seem disadvantageous to use a strength reducing subrace on a strength build, the end result is better than with any other subrace I tried (that includes Fallen Angel).

Level order is pretty simple, with no alignment changes required. 20 Cleric/1 Bard/10 RDD/1 Bard. Most of the feats can be moved around without problem (order isn't really optimal atm), but be careful with the bonus feats.
Every Ability point (4, 8, 12 etc) goes into Strength.

Level:
1-Spell Focus: Enchantment
3-Greater Spell Focus: Enchantment
6-*Weapon Focus X
9-Toughness
12-*Improved Critical X
15-Extend Spell
18-Blind Fight
21-*Epic Weapon Focus
24-Epic Prowess
27-**Epic Reflexes
30-Great Strength I
33-Great Strength II
34 (Cleric Bonus Feat) Armor Skin
36-Great Strength III
37 (Cleric Bonus Feat) Epic Spell Focus: Enchantment
39-Great Strength IV
40-Read Epic Tome-I suggest Divination
42-Legendary Spell Focus: Enchantment
45-Great Strength V
48-Great Strength VI
51-Great Strength VII
54-Great Strength VIII
57-Great Strength IX
60-Great Strength X

Skills-8 Lore for RDD, take 40 tumble and max Discipline on the level 40 Bard level. Pump Concentration through LL.

*-Doppleganger allows martial weapons; I would suggest rapier, scimitar or longsword, use for focus and improved critical.

**-Absolute necessity, reflex is your low save.

Now the good part-STATS!

Saves-(With Epic Reflexes, maxed abilities, RDD Con bonus, and +20 saves at level 60)
Fortitude: 59
Reflex: 50
Will: 58

Abilities-(Level 60, Rdd bonuses, every ability point into strength, +12 abilities)

Str-66
Dex-20
Con-32
Int-24
Wis-31
Cha-16

Bab-25
AB at 60, max strength, no buffs-57
With +20 Cleric Buffs -77

With Divine Power, maxed AB and Haste, using focused weapon:
+77/+72/+67/+77/+77/+77 (Not too shabby)

Not sure if I got the flurries right, but you do get 4 attacks at +77, and two other decent ones.

Not sure about HP, will try to add it later. Should be fairly decent, but not high for a tank.

AC-I'm sure I did something wrong, but max should be around:
8 (Tumble) +10 Base + 1 (Dex Bonus) +19 Shield + 16 Natural + 20 Dodge + 16 Deflect +8 (Full Plate) +19 Plate Bonus +4 Epic Enchantment spell +4 RDD bonus. Note that the Epic will still only raise to a cap of +20, if there is +19 full plate.

(Is there +19 plate? Mind may be playing tricks on me)
Should be 126 ac, not bad for a strength guy.

On the whole, you've got a decent ac (126), somewhat low hp tank with 6 attacks per round, 4 at full ab (+77), with excellent buffs (including +14 GMW, enchantment epic) 100% innate fire immunity, and Miracle (you can pick any other epic, I thought this would be most helpful. Party rez and 1000 temp hp). Should have a decent damage output-with rapier (high crit range, good damage selections, just hard to find and keen) you can have 6 attacks with a 13-20/x2 for 1d6 +28 base, then darkfire (if no kickback/fire immunity) GMW, divine favor and more.

I know there are improvements to be made, what are your thoughts?

Thanks!
-JC

[jctrapster]

C'mon guys, it can't be THAT bad

How about a reply? Anyone?

[whodat1]

well, your competition i think is yue's monk cheese battle cleric . Id like to see some pro/cons vs that build, might help. Its interesting, but right now I don't see what benefits outweigh losing the cleric levels.

[jctrapster]

Alright, I'll make some comparisons them.

Note that this is from the build posted on the first page of this thread highergroundpoa.proboards3.com/index.cgi?board=builds&action=display&n=1&thread=6904&page=1 With updates this comparison may be different; with subraces like Fallen Angel it could change.

Max AB at 60 is 77, compared to Yue's 73.
I get 6 attacks, Yue gets 7 (Due to level 55 Divine Power bonus) Big loss for me there, but not terrible.

My flurries should be +77/+72/+67/+77/+77/+77 , while his are +73/+68/+63/+58/+73/+73/+73.

You have to weigh whether you want a boost to ab, or an extra attack at lowest ab. This is assuming Yue's build took the 4 paladin levels pre-epic, which may be incorrect. If not, his flurries are improved at +72/+67/+62/+72/+72/+72/+72, most likely more useful than the extra ab.

He gets evasion, Doc doesn't. Yue gets an additional 7 caster levels over Doc which allow him to cast spells like Harm, WoF, and Earthquake. Doc gains fire immunity and +4 ac. Yue's build gets better saves through Paladin and the pre-epic configuration, getting +10 to reflex and a few to the other two.

Yue also gets Divine Might, which would help though I'm not sure how much. Hit points are pretty close-Yue gets 908, Doc has 1040 with maxed con and no other buffs.

I think that's most of the major differences; the biggest things I miss are the extra attack, evasion, saves, and harm. What I gain is +4 AB, +4 AC, Immunity to Fire, 132 hit points. Keep in mind that Fire immunity may help with the lack of evasion, and that the extra attack is at lowest AB, +58.