Unholy Beast - Cleric 30/Rog5/Monk5

[reelroleplayer]

Goal: I have long been toying with how to build a monk that can hit consistenly while dual-wielding and at the same time maintaining a high AC. This led me to cleric, buffers extraordinaire. It had to be dex-based to achieve the AC goal, precipitating the need for the rogue class and Uncanny Dodge.

The first portion is the standard non-HG build. LL options are included at the end, but I thought these ought to be separate since 41-60 is a much longer road than 1-40.

It's difficult to build with these three classes without an experience penalty, but the way I've levelled it seems to avoid a penalty, which was part of my goal. I have tested this build in a trainer, and really liked what it produced.

What this is build IS: A melee build that gets the maximum number of attacks with a great AB, designed to be playable even when dispelled. With only his maxed GMW (undispellable), he'll still maintain a solid 50 AB. What I've found with my str-based battle cleric is that he's great buffed but REALLY starts to suffer when dispelled, which happens pretty often on HG. This build will also be able to achieve a much higher AC than a STR build. Please also note his saving throws are much higher than most cleric builds.

What this build IS NOT: Despite the high number of cleric levels, this is not a caster build. While you'll be able to mem some decent dmg spells, enemies will almost always make their saves since your DC is abysmally low, so I'd really avoid direct damage spells with this build. The 30 cleric levels are necessary to get maximum GMW, Magic Vestment, Barskin bonuses, etc--not to mention 30 is the minimum to qualify for the cleric mass ress secret.

You still get full cleric casting to lvl 9, so you can load up some low-powered nukes if that's your preference. While you only get Extend Spell in my version of the build, you could easily nix two Great Dex's at the cost of 1AB and 1AC and 1 reflex save and take Silent Spell and Maximize Spell for spellbook management. I personally think Extend spell is sufficient, since this build is focused on melee moreso than casting.

I won't include gear, since I think a build ought to focus on "naked" stats to level the playing field when comparing it to another build (so to speak).

Advantages

-Solid, workable AB. 40 base single-wielding, 50 with GMW, and you can get as high as 66 with maxed buffs/Dex pre-LL.
-3 Maximum AB attacks. With Haste (a given) and Divine Power, this build gets 3 attacks at the maximum AB bonus.
-Maximum number of attacks possible (using Flurry).
-Good AC. Naked AC is 36--he'll be neck and neck with straight dexer AC.
-Above average saving throws.
-Can pick up a bow and snipe as long as he's buffed (36 ab without buffs).
-40 UMD

Disadvantages

-Mediocre to low Hitpoints, though with a high AC build this isn't usually an issue.
-Low dmg initially, but that will only really be an issue until decent elemental weapons are available to you.
-Max cleric spells come later than I'd normally like (lvl 36 before getting 9th), but since lvl 6+ spells are low-priority for the intent of the build, I figured it wasn't a big deal.
--
Unholy Beast

Race Human, Subrace Bugbear

Alignment: Lawful EVil

Base Attributes
STR 8 (10 with Bugbear)
DEX 17 (19 with Bugbear)
CON 10 (12 with Bugbear)
WIS 16
INT 13 (10 with Bugbear)
CHA 8 (6 with Bugbear)

Clerical Domains
Plant (for Barkskin) and Trickery (for Imp. Invis)

Level Distribution and Feats
01: Monk(1): Toughness, Two-Weapon Fighting
02: Rogue(1)
03: Monk(2): Weapon Finesse
04: Rogue(2): WIS+1, (WIS=17)
05: Cleric(1): Domain Plant, Domain Trickery
06: Cleric(2): Weapon Focus: Kama
07: Monk(3)
08: Rogue(3): DEX+1 (DEX=18)
09: Cleric(3): Ambidexterity
10: Cleric(4)
11: Cleric(5)
12: Cleric(6): DEX+1, Blind Fight, (DEX=19)
13: Cleric(7)
14: Cleric(8)
15: Cleric(9): Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
16: Monk(4): DEX+1, (DEX=20)
17: Rogue(4)
18: Cleric(10): Improved Critical: Kama
19: Cleric(11)
20: Cleric(12): DEX+1, (DEX=21)
21: Cleric(13): Epic Weapon Focus: Kama
22: Cleric(14)
23: Cleric(15)
24: Cleric(16): DEX+1, Armor Skin, (DEX=22)
25: Cleric(17)
26: Cleric(18)
27: Cleric(19): Great Dexterity I, (DEX=23)
28: Cleric(20): DEX+1, (DEX=24)
29: Cleric(21)
30: Cleric(22): Great Dexterity II, (DEX=25)
31: Cleric(23): Great Wisdom I, (WIS=18)
32: Cleric(24): DEX+1, (DEX=26)
33: Cleric(25): Great Dexterity III, (DEX=27)
34: Cleric(26): Great Wisdom II, (WIS=19)
35: Cleric(27)
36: Cleric(28): DEX+1, Great Dexterity IV, (DEX=29)
37: Cleric(29): Great Wisdom III, (WIS=20)
38: Cleric(30)
39: Monk(5): Epic Prowess
40: Rogue(5): DEX+1, (DEX=30)


Final Attributes
STR 10
DEX 32
CON 12
INT 10
WIS 20
CHA 6

AB and Damage
(no buffs, mundane Kama)
40/37/34/31 (18-20 x2)

or

Dual-Wield
(no buffs, mundane Kamas)
38/35/32/29 and 38/35 (18-20 x2)

With haste and Divine Power, both attack scenarios gain two additional attacks at max AB.

AC: 36 (no buffs, no equipment)

Final Saves (Vs. Spells)
Fortitude 23 (31)
Reflex 32 (40)
Will 28 (36)

Hit Points 390

Pre-LL Skills:
Concentration 42 (42)
Spellcraft 40 (40)
Tumble 40 (50)
Use Magic Device 41 (40)

LL Stat increases: All DEX

LL skill increases: continue to max concentration and spellcraft. Free choice for remainder.

LL feats:
Great DEX 5-10
Free choice

Final Stats:

Dex: 48 (Max: 60)
AB, single Kama: 48 (74 maxed)
AB, dual-wielding: 46 (72 maxed)
Naked AC: 44 (can easily hit 90+ with readily available gear)
HP's: 590 (with maxed con: 830)
Fort: 28 (40 v. spells)
Ref: 46 (58 v. spells)
Will: 33 (45 v. spells)

EDIT: Attacks/round
EDIT: Math issues

[hiryuu]

The Divine Power is a interesting asset. For defense-minded dual-wielding, you may also want to look at padding The Lonely Bard with a couple monk levels.

[s0n0va]

Try out 9 monk, 13 rog, 18 cleric. it turns out to be an exellent melee type with solid ac & enough attacks & spells to get things done. The epic dodge dosen't hurt either.

[reelroleplayer]

I think that'd be great for a non-HG character, but 21+ cleric adds too much to pass up on HG (double stat buffs, natural AC much higher with barkskin--freeing up ammy slot, +10 undispellable GMW, access to the cleric secret, double/triple prayer bonus, higher dodge buff from undeath's eternal foe, increase in % conceal for improved invis, and more I probably forgot to mention).

I'd definitely build it the way you suggest elsewhere, but I think my build would be stronger overall on HG.

**EDIT Also, 18 levels of cleric is dispel bait---even standard dispel would strip your buffs easily and quickly, while at lvl 30 I'm effectively immune to all dispels except Disjunction and breaches.

[FunkySwerve]

reelroleplayer said:

**EDIT Also, 18 levels of cleric is dispel bait---even standard dispel would strip your buffs easily and quickly, while at lvl 30 I'm effectively immune to all dispels except Disjunction and breaches.

Be aware that dispels are slated for upgrade.
Funky

[reelroleplayer]

Heh, that's gonna be ugly. Even being immune to lesser dispels, I spend quite a bit of time rebuffing from disjunctions and breaches. This change might make caster clerics more desirable (since they don't rely as much on buffs), but I think melee clerics will lose quite a bit of power. It may be your intention for balance purposes, which I readily concede you'd know a lot more about than I would I haven't played much in LL's, but so far I'm getting owned

[FunkySwerve]

I don't really anyicipate it having too great an effect in that regard. There will, of course, be some new ways to defend against them, as well.
Funky

[DragonChyld]

I would personally Nix the Rogue levels in favor of 5 levels in Barb, you still pick up UCD and you still pick up evasion from the monk levels, you lose the +3d6 SA BUT you pick up +1 to your BAB and You pick up a +10% to your movment speed. You also Nab UCDII. You will also pick up 30 HP.
Change Level 20 from cleric to Brb 5 and you will pick up +2 to you BAB, still not take XP penalties and you can still pump tumble with your Monk level at 38.

~ DC

[reelroleplayer]

I made some adjustments to this build, and now am of the mind that 25cleric/10sd/5monk is the way to go--I *think* that this build has enough AC to benefit from Epic Dodge. I'd definitely also suggest Earth as a second domain (as Trickery is a no-brainer). Scalable stoneskin is a nice secondary defense, along with high AC and ED.

I'd also drop spellcraft in favor of hide and ms, since I wasn't previously aware that spellcraft is included in the +20 save bonus cap. Hips comes in handy on occassion.

Built this way, his undispellable AB at 40 will be 53 (which includes only base, GMW, and maxed dex), and he'll still have an AC of 95ish with easily obtainable +10 gear. Not too shabby, and he can buff to 65 in a pinch.

I just built my second character to immo, an SCV / ED rogue, and I find concealment, high AC and ED to make an amazing difference.

He still won't compete with dedicated, buffed WM's in terms of hit frequency, but he'll have a strong mix of defense and offense, and will be able to solo for loot very well and still be of substantial benefit to a party.