Holy Inquisitor (Ftr 4, Pal 32, CoT 4)

[Vichya]

This build is designed as a strength tank with high exotic immunities for Aboleth and Abyss.

Some areas in the game have high amounts of incoming exotic damage. This build is designed to withstand it and tank successfully. This is much less an issue in Hells as it is in Aboleth and Abyss where different exotic immunities are required at the same time.

A Paladin is also the perfect tank for Aboleth, since Holy Sword is a very important spell there. In addition to high immunities this build is also a smiter, which adds some area of effect damage to it.

Goals of this build:
(Assuming 2x demi)

• Enough Strength to make most - if not all - checks in the game (DC 64 Goristro)
  
• Enough Dexterity to make some checks in Hell such as from Advespas and Erinyes
  
• Good AC
  
• High physical and exotic immunities
  
• Very high saves (70 Fortitude/Reflex/Will)
  

Optimized for	Level 60, Immortal	Level 60, 2x Demi
Build	Fighter 4/Paladin 32/Champion of Torm 4	Fighter 4/Paladin 32/Champion of Torm 4
Race/Subrace	Half-Elf (+1 skill point per level, immunity to sleep effects) Pharlan	Half-Elf (+1 skill point per level, immunity to sleep effects) Pharlan
Level order The order in which levels are taken is extremely important with this build.	Fighter 1 Paladin 18 Champion of Torm 1 Fighter 2 Paladin 1 Fighter 1 Paladin 13 Champion of Torm 3	Fighter 1 Paladin 18 Champion of Torm 1 Fighter 2 Paladin 1 Fighter 1 Paladin 13 Champion of Torm 3
Abilities at character creation (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha)	14, 10, 14, 14, 12, 14	14, 14, 14, 14, 8, 14
Pre-epic and epic ability progression	Charisma 10	Charisma 10
Legendary level ability progression	Strength 10	Strength 10
Pre-epic feats	Blooded Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Greater Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Improved Critical - Bastard Sword Power Attack Divine Shield Metamagic - Extend Spell	Blooded Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Greater Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Improved Critical - Bastard Sword Power Attack Divine Shield Metamagic - Extend Spell
Fighter bonus feat at Level 1	Weapon Proficiency - Exotic	Weapon Proficiency - Exotic
Epic feats	Weapon Specialization - Bastard Sword Cleave Greater Cleave Great Smiting I Great Smiting II Great Smiting III Great Smiting IV	Weapon Specialization - Bastard Sword Cleave Greater Cleave Great Smiting I Great Smiting II Great Smiting III Great Smiting IV
Paladin bonus feats	Great Smiting V Great Smiting VI Great Smiting VII Great Smiting VIII	Great Smiting V Great Smiting VI Great Smiting VII Great Smiting VIII
Fighter bonus feats at Level 21 and 24	Epic Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Epic Weapon Specialization - Bastard Sword	Epic Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Epic Weapon Specialization - Bastard Sword
Champion of Torm bonus feats	Great Smiting IX Great Smiting X	Great Smiting IX Great Smiting X
Legendary level feats	Legendary Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Legendary Skill Affinity - Tumble Legendary Skill Affinity - Listen Epic Prowess Armor Skin Overwhelming Critical - Bastard Sword Devestating Critical - Bastard Sword	Legendary Weapon Focus - Bastard Sword Legendary Skill Affinity - Tumble Legendary Skill Affinity - Listen Epic Prowess Armor Skin Overwhelming Critical - Bastard Sword Devestating Critical - Bastard Sword
Tome	Enchantment	Enchantment
Artifact	Several artifact can be useful for this build including: The Orb of Dragonkind for poison immunity, Hand of Vecna for stun immunity or	Several artifact can be useful for this build including: The Orb of Dragonkind for poison immunity, Hand of Vecna for stun immunity or
Pandect	Spell Resistance	Spell Resistance
Abilities (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha)	60, 24, 28, 28, 30, 46	64, 32, 32, 32, 30, 50
Skills	Concentration 30 Craft Armor 63 Craft Weapon 33 Discipline 63 Listen 63 Tumble 60	Concentration 30 Craft Armor 63 Craft Weapon 33 Discipline 63 Listen 63 Tumble 60
AB	99	101
AC	131 (using Strongheart)	134
Saves (Fort, Ref, Will)	77, 68, 69	81, 74, 71

Some notes:
Weapon: you definitely want a slashing weapon for Aboleths. Bastard Swords are very nice because of their high critical hit multiplier and since there's a fire mega damage one (Arcfire).

Smites: I didn't take Extra Smiting on this build since I don't have enough feats for it. Most of the damage comes from direct weapon damage anyway (on my last Nessus run 55k out of 270k damage was from smites). If you really want it you can drop Exotic Weapon Proficiency and use Longswords for example.

Pandect: with the Spell Resistance Pandect a Pharlan has 79 Spell Resistance, enough to resist maybe 40-50% of spells from non-boss mobs.

Artifact: I used the Strength artifact since the stun immunity is very important in Aboleth. If you can cover this with gear, then Constitution is much better since poison immunity helps a lot in Abyss and Hell.

Abilities:
Assist Other (Player Tool 2):
Pick up any player who is knocked down, even if you're about to activate UUU. It can save precious time and prevent the death of a party member.

Divine Might & Divine Shield:
With 50 Charisma Divine Might & Shield lasts 6 minutes. Always use Divine Might since the +30 physical damage boost is one of the reasons your damage output will be quite high given your low number of attacks per round. Divine Shield is a bit more problematic, on the one hand you get +20 dodge AC which can come in quite handy if you die on a deep hell run. You also get 20% divine immunity. On the other hand you'll cause kickback damage when certain mobs hit you. However, with high AC and concealment this is usually not a real issue.

Lay on Hands:
Lay on Hands gives the target (which must not be yourself) immunity to Critical Hits for 52 rounds with this build. This is often best used on Bards or Druids, although some other classes like Cleric or Shifter might benefit from it too. If you use the Quality of Mercy gloves then using Lay on Hands on someone also applies the same effect on yourself.

Spells:
Paladins have a few very useful spells.

Level 1:
 Endure Elements: 8% elemental immunity
 Bless Weapon: +2 dice of divine damage
 Deafening Clang: +4 dice of sonic damage
 Divine Favour: +5 physical damage and attack bonus
 Lionheart: complete immunity to fear, very useful in Aboleth and some Abyss runs
 Protection from Alignment: prevents from being turned by Death Knights.

Level 2:
 Aura of Glory: charisma modifier/2 physical and charisma modifier positive immunity. One of the reasons this paladin has very high exotic immunities.

Level 3:
 Greater Magic Weapon: with an Enchantment Draughts you can give +14 GMW, in case no one in the group has anything better.
 Magic Circle against Alignment: prevents anyone inside the circle from being turned by Death Knights.
 Remove Blindness/Deafness: removes blindess caused by Gadacros in the Abyss.
 Remove Curse: useful spell for Aboleth, Elysium and Abyss. You can release mazed party members with it.

Level 4:
 Death Ward: 26 rounds of critical hit immunity
 Freedom of Movement: running faster is nice
 Holy Sword: cast at caster level 52, which means you can breach creatures normally immune to the effect, such as Aboleths.

Some of these spells should be cast extended since some spell levels are pretty tight. I usually cast Divine Favour, Deafening Clang, Lionhearts (if needed) and Aura of Glory as extended spells. Another useful item is the Pit of Moliation paladin ring, as it gives three level five slots. If you use it before you rest you can cast an extended Freedom of Movement, Holy Sword and Death Ward and then switch rings to something useful.

Equipment:
Randomized items make it impossible to give an optimal gear combination. So I'll just give a few hints what to use and let you figure our your personal favorite gear setup.

In order to maximize armor class for this build you have to use a BUR medium armor. This gives you 135 AC with Asmodeus artifact, Strongheart and +2 bonus from Craft Armor. However there's an alternative to that, the Plate of the Holy Avenger has a +2 armor class bonus which means it's only at -1 AC compared to a medium armor. This makes it very appealing, especially when you consider its spell slots, immunities, damage reduction and resistance.

The equipment I currently use is:
Armor: Plate of the Holy Avenger
Shield: Bastion of Cormyr
Helm: Visor of Vigilance, Gnomish Exploration Goggles (if I don't want to be hit at all)
Cloak: Corruption
Belt: The Serpent's Coil
Gloves: The Quality of Mercy (it's possible to switch to other gloves after using Lay on Hands, like Manacles of Mephistopheles for example)
Amulet: Strongheart
Boots: Mordenkainen's Mockery, Clockwork Boots (if breach immunity isn't required or if you're comfortable using a ring for it)
Mote: exotic immunity motes

Run Logs: (Character name is Silas El'Akura)
Nessus
Shedaklah 3


History:
2011-05-01: inital post
2011-05-06: added run logs

[simpetar]

Nice build. I have one question about gear: where do you usually get confusion immunity when running Abo? Amulet and giving up 3 AC, helm and giving up ESF Listen, gloves, or something else completely?

[Vichya]

I usually use Heavently Haunts there, as I also need level 6 spell immunity. This still leaves me at 131 AC, enough not to get hit too often.

[Marflar]

Vich do you think this build would still be viable with the Half-Cloud Giant race?

[Vichya]

It should work with a few changes.

1.) Half Cloud Giant is large shape, you should use a large weapon, such as Falchion or Greatsword.
2.) Start with at least 11 points in wisdom, so you can cast extended level 4 spells at double demi. You need 15 wisdom for that. (If you start a new character take 14 wisdom so you can at least cast level 4 spells)
3.) You also get 2 more charisma, so only take 8 charisma increases before level 40.
4.) Don't use the Spell Resistance pandect since you don't have any natural spell resistance.

If I were you I'd test your build in the test chamber first, I spend a lot of time figuring out the class order so I could maximize my stats. Using a different subrace will most likely mean you can take class levels at different character levels.

[Marflar]

Sept 16, 2011 12:40:24 GMT Vichya said:

It should work with a few changes.

1.) Half Cloud Giant is large shape, you should use a large weapon, such as Falchion or Greatsword.
2.) Start with at least 11 points in wisdom, so you can cast extended level 4 spells at double demi. You need 15 wisdom for that. (If you start a new character take 14 wisdom so you can at least cast level 4 spells)
3.) You also get 2 more charisma, so only take 8 charisma increases before level 40.
4.) Don't use the Spell Resistance pandect since you don't have any natural spell resistance.

If I were you I'd test your build in the test chamber first, I spend a lot of time figuring out the class order so I could maximize my stats. Using a different subrace will most likely mean you can take class levels at different character levels.

1. I had planned on actually going with Mercurial Greatsword since they get exotic weapon prof for free.
2. My base starting stat for Wisdom was actually going to be 14 when I rerolled it since they don't get the bonus that Pharlans do.
3. I had actually just planned on starting off with a base 8 Charisma that would bump me to 14 that could keep me true to the build and most of the stat bumps mentioned, the only real change would be that I'd take dex to 12 to counter the -2 from the race but would gain 2 con for an extra 60 hp.
4. Of course

That'd likely be a good idea and had honestly forgotten about it, since it's been so long since I've played except recently, the only real change I can see with this version and mine is the size scale and would probably use a Tower shield since heavy/medium armor will limit the dex ac quite a bit; moreso than the Tower shield would anyways unless there's simply better large shields out there?

[Vichya]

You can't use a shield with a mercurial greatsword, as far as I know.

Keep in mind that in order to take the smite feats you need to have 25 charisma before level 30 (I forgot the exact level). So starting with 8 charisma won't work. If you don't want to use smites you can easily swap some feats and take 10 greater strength instead.

[Marflar]

Hm, you mentioned in your post that you didn't take extra smiting and it showed that you only did 55k out of 270k which is barely a 5th of the damage, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to skip the smiting feats and just go for more raw damage anyways?>

[Vichya]

Like what? Smite also gives me 10 strength and I already have all the weapon specialization feats I can get. This build does very high damage with the right weapons and buffs.

[Marflar]

Ah ok. . . So what should the starting stats be then? And I'm not sure why a Merc Greatsword couldn't be used with a shield if you're a large size?

[Vichya]

Mercurial Greatsword is a huge weapon, not a large one. Only large characters can wield it, and then without shield as far as I know.

[Marflar]

Ah ok that makes sense then, will just stick with a regular large weapon then unless there are better choices? Double scimitar a huge weapon as well er?

[Vichya]

No, it's a large weapon but you won't get any extra attacks using it. You only get the 2 off hand attacks if the weapon is larger than your character, i.e. on medium sized characters.

[Marflar]

Ah ok, Greatsword it is then lol, thanks for the advice Vich.

[chirality]

Sept 16, 2011 14:07:36 GMT Vichya said:

Mercurial Greatsword is a huge weapon, not a large one. Only large characters can wield it, and then without shield as far as I know.

Definitely true.

It is "supposed" to be a Large weapon in D&D, and its status as an Exotic weapon was balanced out the improved crit stats vs. normal greatsword. However obviously that has been changed...I always assumed to further balance out the stats...although to be honest I don't really see the point. It is common knowledge that (well at least in my opinion) base damage dice is about the least important factor of a weapon's stats, especially the further into HG you go. So we have a weapon with ok, "impressive" base damage (2d6), but still only one physical type (and at that generally not very good except for certain runs such as Abo). Sure, x4 crit looks good on paper but there is not much that makes people want to use this over scythe or even heavy pick if high crit is really what they want. As a result this seems like one of the most-underused weapons on HG, and for very good reason. Perhaps the Huge size was intended to accomodate Large toons who wish to use two-handed, non-double weapons? Shrug.

Anyway, sorry for that little off-topic rant. As far the merc greatsword + shield thing goes, however, unless you have Shapestrong then yes even Large toons can only wield two-handed.