Hello again to everyone. I have one more character build. This character does more minimum damage per hit than both chndragon's sorc/cleric/rdd and Stephen Hawking's bard/rdd/ftr. This build does the most minimum damage per hit to all creatures no matter what their alignment. I use a greatsword and thanks to the bard and cleric buffs he is quite a melee fighter. He has weaknesses. I am aware of them, but since the thread is about “who is the best at XYZ”, I think this character is the best at doing minimum damage per hit. No magical items are used in this build. The only thing my guy had on was a plain greatsword and robes.
Start Human True Neutral Stats: Str 16 Dex 8 Con 8 Wis 16 Int 8 Cha 16
Choose Strength and War domains for cleric. That way I can get +12 to strength with no items at all.
Take your levels like this: *4 cleric *1 bard – bump lore to 8 *3 rdd *1 cleric *7 rdd *3 cleric *1 bard *8 cleric *12 bard – max skills
Finish as 16/10/14 cleric/rdd/bard
Level-----feat 1 – Extend Spell (bonus human feat) 1 – Weapon Prof: Martial 3 – Power Attack 6 – Improved Power Attack 9 – Divine Might 12 – Maximize Spell 15 – Weapon Focus: Greatsword 18 – Improved Critical: Greatsword 21 – Knockdown *24 – Great Strength I *27 – Great Strength II *30 – Great Strength III *33 – Great Strength IV *36 – Great Strength V *39 – Great Strength VI
*note: for a more rounded build I suggest taking cleave, great cleave, overwhelming critical, devastating critical, epic weapon focus, and improved knockdown instead of the Great Strength I-VI feats. This will lower your attack by 3 and your damage some too, but not a whole lot. You may also want to start with only 14 charisma and use the extra points to raise constitution or intelligence. For maximum dmg. though I needed charisma to be as high as possible so things like divine might would do as much dmg as possible. Having charisma at 14 instead of 16 when you start lowers your damage by 1 divine damage, but you can get an extra 80 hit points if you put those points into constitution instead. It’s up to you. The numbers I quote below for damage, etc. are based on taking the feats exactly as I’ve shown above.
Bump strength at levels: 4, 8, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40 Bump wisdom at levels: 12, 16 Final stats thanks to rdd bonuses: Str 38 Dex 8 Con 10 Wis 18 Int 10 Cha 18
Here’s where I put my skill points for this build. Change as you will Lore – 8 UMD – 20 Tumble – 36 Perform – 21 Discipline – 34 Concentration – 20
Holding just a greatsword and no buffs my attacks are like this: +39/+34/+29 damage: 2-12 + 21 (critical 17-20/x2)
I can raise my strength with the following: +2 minimum roll from bull’s strength +4 strength from extended aura of vitality +7 strength from strength domain powers.
This allows me to get +12 to strength without any items whatsoever. Also I can cast keen edge from bard. This makes my attacks and dmg: +45/+40/+35 damage: 2-12 + 30 (critical 15-20/x2)
When I activate improved power attack my attacks and dmg look like this: +35/+35/+30 damage: 2-12 + 40 (critical 15-20/x2)
Casting maximized Eagle’s Splendor my charisma is: 23 or +6 modifier Total Minimum Damage Calculation: +2 physical (2d6 greatsword) +30 physical (strength modifier) +10 physical (improved power attack) +3 bludgeoning (bard song) +5 physical (greater magic weapon) +1 slashing (extended prayer) +2 slashing (extended war cry) +4 bludgeoning (war domain powers) +2 magical (extended battletide) +5 magical (extended divine favor) +6 divine (divine might) +6 fire (darkfire does 6-11. There’s a bug with it) -------- 76 minimum damage per hit.
I can get 6 attacks per round by casting haste and 2 extended divine powers. This isn’t a problem because I chose strength domain so I can easily extend the divine powers and have at least 4 of them prepared with no problem. My attacks will now be: +35/+30/+25 +35 – haste +35/+35 – divine power
The following spells/abilities will raise your attacks. +6 divine power +5 greater magic weapon +1 aid +1 bless +1 prayer +2 battletide +5 divine favor +5 war domain powers +2 bard song
As you can see I can easily get more than +20 to attack, but there is a +20 cap attack bonus. My final attacks with buffs and using improved power attack will look like this: 1d20 + +55/+50/+45 +55 – haste +55/+55 – divine power
If you have a hard time hitting somebody, don’t use improved power attack mode. You’ll do a little less damage, but you’ll have +10 more to attack. This build also critical hits 30% of the time. This will multiply the divine, magical, and the 2d6 +40 damage by 2. It doesn’t multiply the fire damage for some reason and it doesn’t multiply the bonuses from bard song, prayer, war cry, and war domain powers.
Cool spells/abilities from cleric: Death Ward – immunity to death spells and abilities Negative Energy Protection – immunity to negative energy/level drains/etc. Harm –no save Heal Battletide Magic Vestment - +5 AC bonus on my robes. Aura of Vitality = +4 to strength, dexterity, and constitution. War Domain Powers = +5 to attack, damage, dexterity, and constitution. There are others. I don’t remember them all.
I can already raise strength to +12 with no items. If I maximize cat’s grace and endurance I can get +12 to dexterity and constitution as well, thanks to aura of vitality and war domain powers. This is all with no items. That equates to an extra 6 AC and 240 hit points. The RDD gave me +2 constitution so I get 40 hit points from that. I can heal myself 3 times. Or I could cast Greater Restoration to heal myself. This is a really tough build. For purposes of getting the most out of every hit I had to min/max this build some. If I were playing this build I would change some things around. I would actually start with 14 and have 4 more intelligence. Since I get 2 bonus charisma from RDD I would end at 16. With items that is perfect for this build because if I raise my charisma to at least 28 with spells/items I will get a second level 5 spell for bard. I would also go for devastating critical if I were playing this character instead of the Great Strength feats. Spell pentration feats would also be nice, but not necessary since most of the damage comes from melee.
That’s it folks. Make sure you choose the spells from bard that you don’t have from cleric. Extend spells that last 1 round/level. Otherwise, you’re good to go. You'll be doing 76 damage per hit at a minimum. That is way better than anythine else I've seen, and especially useful for a melee character in PvP since not everybody can be killed with smite evil.
cdaulepp
Jushak Brimstone
Joined: 24 Oct 2003 Posted: Tuesday, 02 March 2004 05:30PM Cdaulep, quite a work U must've done for that
Oh, and thanx for the CLEAR and SIMPLE explanation of the build... Hope that makes sure there are no stupid questions about it
Two question I think aren't too stupid thought - dismissing even a hint about dispel magic (as you said you ARE aware of this build's pros & cons)
1) I'd like to know how long do all these effects hold. What I'm asking is clear casting order, how long does it take casting all this, and how long do the effects stay after all this buffing, if it isn't too much to ask. 2) Dismissing critical hits (Tymora is my goddess, but still, I don't exactly LIKE depending on luck) what is the MAXIMUM damage that this build achieves? This isn't THAT important, but would help calculate the average damage and such things.
I dare say this is a very good build as it is, and having a healer as a backup would really raise it's destructiveness, so it is valid party build too.
Oh, and one thing is still unclear:
Quote: can get 6 attacks per round by casting haste and 2 extended divine powers.
Why exactly would you get 1 more attack for casting another Divine Power? And are you sure about the AB's for the additional attacks? Aren't they supposed to get -5 AB for each successive attack/round too? _________________ "Lavamancers use three aspects of magic to make a golem: Transmutation; to mold the golem, Necromancery; to bind a soul to control the golem, and Evocation; to blast the damn thing on fire." - Jushak Firestone - Grim Lavamancer
Edited By Jushak Brimstone on 03/02/04 17:32:55
cdaulepp Game Owner NWN NWN: SoU
Joined: 10 Aug 2003 Posted: Tuesday, 02 March 2004 06:43PM
Quote: Posted 03/02/04 22:30:19 (GMT) by Jushak Brimstone
Cdaulep, quite a work U must've done for that
Oh, and thanx for the CLEAR and SIMPLE explanation of the build... Hope that makes sure there are no stupid questions about it
Two question I think aren't too stupid thought - dismissing even a hint about dispel magic (as you said you ARE aware of this build's pros & cons)
1) I'd like to know how long do all these effects hold. What I'm asking is clear casting order, how long does it take casting all this, and how long do the effects stay after all this buffing, if it isn't too much to ask.
Remember, clerics get "spell resistance" as a spell. So my spell resistance is 16 + 12 = 28. Not super high, but a lot better than nothing. Pure casters spells will always hit me, but multi-classers can have a harder time.
I extend haste with bard. So haste lasts 28 rounds. Basically, I extend everything I can that lasts only 1 round/level. If something lasts 1 turn/level there is no point in extending that spell at all. I'd deffinitely extend divine power, divine favor, haste, aura of vitality, prayer, and battletide. Things like Divine Might last for x rounds where x = charisma modifier. So Divine Might has to be cast pretty much every 5 rounds or so. Divine might takes up one of my turn undead abilities. That's okay because I don't use turn undead for anything else. The bard song lasts for 10 rounds I believe. I can sing 14 times per day though, so I basically have unlimited number of those.
When buffing, I cast extended haste, then all my buffs. Sorry, I'm not going to give an exact detail of the spells I use. The key ones I talked about, the others, that I didn't talk about, use your imagination. There's not really a wrong way to do it. When buffing, I line up my spells on my quick bar in order of duration. I cast the ones that last the longest first and I save things like War Domain Powers and Divine Might for last because they last the shortest amount of time.
You have so many buffs that you will actually not have enough quick slots for them all. (I fill up alt and shift quick slots with buffs, and reserver the normal quick slots for things that I need quickly like heal, greater sanctuary, or harm.) Since you don't have enough quick slots for all your buffs, you'll have to cast some of them from your radial menu. Work out some system, so you can do it easily and repetitively. You'll find that it becomes second nature, and you can almost cast them from your radial menu as fast as youc an from quick slots once you've been doing it for a while. After all your buffs are cast, your extended haste is going to last another 6 rounds or so. So you'll need to cast another one of those. That one will last you for a long time.
Quote: 2) Dismissing critical hits (Tymora is my goddess, but still, I don't exactly LIKE depending on luck) what is the MAXIMUM damage that this build achieves? This isn't THAT important, but would help calculate the average damage and such things.
The maximum is everything I listed before except darkfire will do 11 damage instead of 6. And your 2d6 greatsword will do 12 damage instead of 2. That's an extra 5 fire and 10 physical. The minimum damage it will do is 76. The maximum (non-critical hit) is 91. Basically you take: +76 (minimum) +5 fire (rolling an 11 instead of 6) +10 physical (rolling a 12 instead of 2 for 2d6) ---- 91 damage.
Quote: I dare say this is a very good build as it is, and having a healer as a backup would really raise it's destructiveness, so it is valid party build too.
Oh, and one thing is still unclear:
Quote: can get 6 attacks per round by casting haste and 2 extended divine powers.
Why exactly would you get 1 more attack for casting another Divine Power?
Divine power stacks. If you cast 2 of them you get 2 extra attacks per round and your base attack is changed to that of a fighter of equal level. I tested each aspect of the build one thing at a time to make sure it rolled exactly as it should. Then I tested it with all the buffs. When you cast haste and 2 divine powers you get an extra 3 attacks every round. It will roll through your attacks like this: +55/+50/+45/+55/+55/+55 and then it starts over again the next round. Since I extend haste and divine power I get 6 attacks per round for at least 28 rounds in a row (extended haste lasts 28 rounds, while extended divien power lasts 32 rounds), at which point haste ends and I only get 5 attacks per round. But do you really need 28 rounds to kill something?
Quote: And are you sure about the AB's for the additional attacks? Aren't they supposed to get -5 AB for each successive attack/round too?
I don't know what divine power is "supposed" to do. I only know that it was rolling at my highest attack bonus and it was addending the attacks after it went through my standard +55/+50/+45.
BTW, some people say that monks can only have 10 attacks per round. But a monk with divine power can have more than 10.