Tempered Faith (36 Paladin/2 Monk/2 Blackguard)

[unwitting1]

Having tasted of evil and renounced its bonds, this holy warrior's single-minded zeal is nothing short of alarmi..err...I meant inspiring.



Race: Human
“Baseborn Titan" (secret UltraRare subrace) - requires Human
STR +2,WIS+2, INT-2, CHA +2, Feats: Extra Smiting, Skills: +10 Healing

Starting Abilities:
Str 14 / 16
Dex 10 / 10
Con 14 / 14
Int 10 / 8
Wis 12 / 14
Cha 16 / 18

1. Paladin – Toughness, Power Attack
2. Monk -- +5 hide, +5 tumble (free Cleave feat for blackguard)
3. Paladin – Blind Fight
4. Paladin – Cha +1
5. Paladin
6. Paladin- Divine Might
7. Paladin
8. Blackguard – (alignment change) Cha +1,
9. Blackguard – Divine Shield
10. Paladin – (alignment change)
11. Paladin
12. Paladin – Cha +1, Extra Turning
13. Paladin
14. Paladin
15. Paladin – Weapon Focus
16. Paladin – Cha +1
17. Paladin
18. Paladin – Improved Critical
19. Paladin
20. Paladin – Cha +1
21. Paladin – Great Cha I
22. Paladin
23. Paladin
24. Paladin – Cha+1, Great Smiting I
25. Paladin
26. Paladin – Great Smiting II
27. Paladin – Great Smiting III
28. Paladin – Str +1
29. Paladin – Great Smiting IV
30. Paladin – Great Smiting V
31. Paladin
32. Paladin – Str +1, Great Smiting VI
33. Paladin – Great Smiting VII
34. Paladin
35. Paladin – Great Smiting VIII
36. Paladin – Con +1, Great Smiting IX
37. Paladin
38. Paladin – Great Smiting X
39. Paladin – Armor Skin
40. Monk – Con +1, max out Tumble

Abilities at Level 40
Str 18
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 8
Wis 14
Cha 25

Base Saves at Level 40
Fortitude: 41
Reflex: 31
Will: 33

Skills @ 40:
Discipline 43, Tumble 43, Hide 5 (for blackguard), remaining points discretionary

LL Progression:

41: Altar of Legends adds 10 Strength for the Great Smiting feats
42. Epic Prowess
45. Epic Weapon Focus
48. Great Cha II
51. Great Str I
54. Great Str II
57. Great Str III
60. Great Str IV
All Points to Str

Abilities at Level 60
Str 46
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 8
Wis 14
Cha 30

Saves at Level 60 with Full Buffs
Fortitude: 79
Reflex: 69
Will: 71

Pros:
--Ridiculously high saves, and without having had to use any feats to get there: Aside from rolling a 1, you won’t miss a saving throw after level 9.
--Evasion
--In between Extra Turning and the high charisma, you should be able to keep Divine Shield and Divine Might going almost constantly…unless you're in a kickback area and wouldn't want to. This is one of the few tankish characters that will need to use their planar ring.

Cons:
--For a melee character, the base AB isn’t so stellar.
--Until level 41, when the altar bumps strength up by 10, this won't be a very effective combatant. Late bloomer.


Let me know if this is build is feasible--I just created the character today. Basically, I wanted to see if I could find a use for the Baseborn Titan.

Incidentally, does anyone know what kind of AC bonus Divine Shield provides? What will it/won't it stack with? The answer could make or break how plausible of a tank this character is.

[unnone]

I was told in a discussion with a DM that Divine shield is dodge ac. Basically, you get 0 ac from it, since UR boots + haste caps you at 20.

I wouldn't bother splashing a monk level pre 20. You don't need the save bonus from monk when you end up with a 41 cha, which gives you +30 to saves alone (2x cha bonus). Postpone your monk level until 40, and you'll get a full 20 bab from 4/4 classes. I'd personally sacrifice Extra Turning (exchange for cleave) for +1 BAB. I'll have to review the rules for Turners, but I don't think Extra Turning is going to be that big of a bonus for you without extra turning domains.

I'm not sure if Extra Turning will be worth taking if you aren't going to take other turning feats with it.

[sabregirl]

Divine shield gives you dodge AC - once you get UR boots (+16) your AC will not go up anymore using divine shield. However dodge AC stacks and will help counteract penalties in the hells. I think the ridiculous saves from BG are overrated and it's better to take 10 CoT in epic levels for the free feats. Anymore, I'd highly recommend taking 2 rogue on any build you can for UMD, would probably take points out of dex and put them in int to have enough skill points, would be REALLY nice if you had enough points for taunt as well. 30 cha is overrated I think just go 26 and put the rest in str. Note that you can also get extra turning for free on some items.

-S

[louisvilleslugger]

I have a raksasha Paladin37/BG2/Monk1. He's currently level 42 and extremely similiar in build to yours. He does pretty well, but if I could do it over, I would take Rogue 2 instead of monk 1 for the UMD.

I have left my CHA at 26 and then focused on Strength

Edit:

I took Paladin 1 thru 21, then monk at 22nd to max tumble and get the free cleave for blackguard. Ideally, you could hold off to late 30's to then max the skills from the "dip" classes.

[unwitting1]

Oh, I intend to leave my Cha at 26, as well, but the legendary paladin levels will add on 4 to strength and charisma by level 60, so it's not as though I'm wasting the points. They're for free.

I'll try messing around with replacing the monk levels with rogue....

[unnone]

I'd drop my dex to 8 to slap those skill points elsewhere, probably INT, especially if you're going to go for UMD. I think UMD is the best skill in the game bar none.

I also don't think I'd bother with the extra point into CHA in LL's. You can replace it with Extra Turning if you want, or with ESF UMD or Disc, or Extend Spell.

And now a look at skills.

Ideally, you'd like to have the following skills maxed as possible:
Taunt - 63 points
Disc - 63 points
Tumble - not needed past 40 - 40 points
UMD - 43 points
Hide - 5 points

214 skill points, 88 of which MUST be spent by level 40. 214/63 > 3, so you need 4 skill points per level for this. You'd need a min 12 int, or 14 at creation screen ( 2 skill points per level for paladin+ 1 for human + 1 int bonus). That means you need to spend 4 more points in int from somewhere. 2 are availible from dex, but the other two are painful to get. Without maxing taunt, you are ok with 10 int. - 151 points, less than 3x63. Or you could possibly max taunt, and not max UMD, since 34 for scrolls is doable with 20 UMD, although the hells penalties, where you are most likely to want to use a scroll, will render them iffy.

Damn, I forgot about the hells penalties. I'm gonna have to review my newest build again.