Divine Spellsword - Cleric 28 / RDD 10 / Bard 2

now, this is my spellsword-build. i admit he matures lately, but when he does he works extremely well in PvM, 1 - 40 i have not tested him in PvP,
but since he can implode nearly anything without high SR and has nice AB and AC he'll do ok i think.

the idea behind the build is to focus completely on
the spellcasting attribute (wisdom) while letting the RDD-levels do the job in boosting the melee attribute (strenght).

human, any non-lawful alignment

str: 14 (22)
dex: 8
con: 10 (12)
wis: 18 (34)
int: 14 (16)
char: 8 (10)

all stats to wis

1)C (trickery, war) - spell penetration, spell focus: evocation
2)C
3)C - martial weapon prof
4)C
5)C
6)Bard - weapon focus: scimitar
7)RDD
8.RDD
9)RDD - empower spell
10)RDD
11)RDD
12)RDD - mighty spell focus: evocation
13)RDD
14)RDD
15)RDD - improved critical: scimitar
16)RDD
17)C
18)C - mighty spell penetration
19)C
20)C
21)C - epic weapon focus (scimitar)
22)C
23)C
24)C - epic spell penetration
25)C
26)C
27)C - epic spell focus: evocation
28)C
29)C
30)C - wis I
31)C
32)C
33)C - wis II
34)C - wis III
35)C
36)C - wis IV
37)C - wis V
38)C
39)C - wis VI
40)Bard

concentration: 43
discipline:43
spellcraft: 42
tumble: 40
lore: 8
UMD: 43
taunt: 25

equip: mundane plate, mundane tower shield, mundane scimmie.

str: 22
dex: 8
con: 12
wis: 34
int: 16
char: 10

spell resistance: 40
AC (buffed): 47, 50% concealment
AB (buffed): 57/52/47/42

damage: 1-6 + 10 (15-20x2)
+ 5 slashing
+ 7 magical damage

saves:
fort: 31 (40 vs spells)
reflex: 21 (30 vs spells)
will: 42 (51 vs spells)

he can effectively cast combat spells: harm, implosion (DC 46 with +12 wisdom from buffs/gear!), empowered blade barriers, hammer of the gods - and can go into melee!
his evocation spells are only 2 points away from the maximum DC possible - implosion is still better than any mage can get his WotB or weird.
buffed up he has nice hp: i got to 480 without rerolling on levelups. breaking the 500 with gear and rerolling won't be hard. nice for a spellsword.
give him a keen scimmie, wisdom and strenght boosting gear and you got a character with: high AB, good AC, nice damage, and good offensive casting abilities.

note: you will gain +1 AB if you take the first 20 levels as cleric.
due to playability i've chosen to benefit from the RDD strenght bonus - and hence melee presence - asap.

Edited By griphook on 01/29/06 13:46

You gain 2 AB by taking only Cleric pre-epic. Either postpone at least RDD 9 and 10 to epic, for 1 more AB, or postpone the whole collection for two more AB. As for clerics and melee presence, don't worry. Buffed, you don't even need to spend much gold on items. By lvl 15 you make your own complete set with +5 items. Weapon, Armour, shield, natural(with plant domain) and deflection. On top of this, flame damage on weapon, imp invis (with trickery), healing, a lot of melee buffs and ability buffs, penalties to your enemies rolls and even attack spells. You can easily afford to wait for the RDD path if you want to. Clerics can easily hold their own, even WIS based. Undeads? Yeah, those would be fun to fight. The two rounds the bunch of them would last...... i like the build, but i would think about the plus of having higher AC due to Armor Skin, and maybe try to get improved combat casting. when you are surrounded and need to either get out, of do a touch attack (harm) you will be slaughtered by the AOOs You don't need ESP with 28 caster lvls, you already beat maximum toolset SR (32) with GSP. Even without GSP you would fail only on a roll of 1 (5%)

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Dilegua notte
Tramontate stelle
Tramontate stelle
All'alba vinceṛ
Vinceṛ
Vinceṛ changes:
- change leveling order to 1-20 cleric for an additional +2 AB.
- drop ESP for Armor Skin
- drop GSP for combat casting if you can stand the 5% chance of not braking 32 SR.

Edited By dust7 on 01/29/06 09:56

griphook, if you have such fun editing my posts please don't mess up the leveling order (level 7/8), thanks.

in addition, the "works extremely..." has not not be highlighted, thats not the best build ever.

Edited By dust7 on 01/29/06 10:06

This build is truly great, it got good casting DC's and prowess. I will just note your naked AB though.
I assume dropping GSP for EP. If not, subtract 1.
AB, normal Scim, unbuffed.
35/30/25.
With ONLY divine power cast.
40/35/30/40. add another 40 if hasted.

Buffed a Cleric reaches the +20 CAP., Hasted, buffed:
55/50/45/50/50. plus whatever STR boosters you get. do WAR domain power increase this?

Melee buffs, for those who doubt the soloing prowess.
Bless, Aid and prayer give +3, battletide +2(and lowers your opponents ab), GMW +5, divine favor +5 and divine power caps it +5 more. All of those are availible at the power lvl at Cleric lvl 15. you CAN handle bosses at that level, even if your offensive casting doesn't work. Nope not me...thats how you posted it.
I only "Highlighted" ..no problem lvl 7/8 fixed

Note...if you use "8" + ) it turns into a smiley.

Edited By griphook on 01/29/06 13:59

War domain gives you aura of vitality for a +4 STR/CON/DEX, add in lucky empowered bull's strength and endurance for another +7 STR/CON (you've got cat's grace too but that will boost just your ref saves if you wear heavy armor) and you almost reach the cap. Domain power puts you past the cap for CON (and DEX if you want to) for a few rounds a day.

Summing up: you easily get another +5 AB/damage , +200 HP, +5 ref saves (and possibly +5 AC) without any item at all just with 3/4 spells.


It's nice to be a cleric!


EDIT: dust, post the revised version for everybody to see
_________________
Dilegua notte
Tramontate stelle
Tramontate stelle
All'alba vinceṛ
Vinceṛ
Vinceṛ

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 01/29/06 13:57

Might want to make a note to take the 8 lore on the bard level to qualify for the RDD.

I play one of these on my world. Took full 20 cleric then 1 cleric then 1 bard (max tumble/8lore/some UMD) then 10 RDD then more cleric, 1 bard at 37 (max tumble) then finish cleric. Very fun to play.

-pc