Well ill repeat my build wich i have posted elsewhere. Altho i find it unlikley that it has been posted already, it may have been, im not going to read all 50 some odd pages. Its another pally/cot build, and while its not as good as what torias has posted in several things, it does have some advantages wich i will explain later. This is the build i use exclusivly and have been from the day i got hotu.
Note that all feats and skills and whatnot are placed for optimal gameplay while leveling based on my experiance and i will have a rundown at the end.
Human LG(obviously)
Starting stats
STR 13 CON 10 DEX 08 WIS 14 INT 09 CHA 18
You basicly level a paladin to 20, then level COT to 20. Simple isnt it? The reason is becaus im used to playing on low magic worlds, paladin magic is GOOD and getting asmuch as you can as soon as possible is important! I will review spells afterwards.
Feats:
1 Power attack 1 Cleave 3 Extra Turning 6 Divine Might 9 Divine Shield 12 Weapon Focus 15 Extra Smiteing 18 Toughness 21 Great Charisma 1 22 Improved Critical 24 Great Smite 1 24 Great Smite 2 26 Great Smite 3 27 Great Smite 4 28 Great Smite 5 30 Great Smite 6 30 Great Smite 7 33 Great Smite 8 34 Great Smite 9 36 Great Charisma 2 38 Great Smite 10 39 Great Charisma 3
All but one level up stat point goes into cha, after level 24 you can put the NEXT stat point into str to bring it to 14, but you need to go all cha to 24 so you can have enough cha for great smite 1 at 24
Ok now again this is a simple build with out much finesse but i do find it to be verry good when played right.
First of all, extra turning is taken early becaus it is verry easy to rack up alot of experiance at low levels killing hoards of undead. At low levels a paladin can destroy undead which are acualy worth exp. At higher levels the only thigns you can destroy are so weak in relation to you that you could just ignore them, but it makes the early levels go by REALLY fast if you are in an undead populated area. Ofcorse if you are not then you could rearange the feats. But i find extra turning at such a low level to be a real boost.
I find toughness to be worth a feat. Its 40 hitpoints for one feat, thats dubble what great con or epic toughness could give you, so i think its worth it, but note that its not taken untill the last paladin feat due to it not really ammounting to much at lower levels.
Now for the reason we are going 20 pal, and doing it first, the spells. Let me list the usefull paladin spells for you. With level 20 and 14 wis you will have 4 level 1 and two spells, and three level 3 and 4 spells. Extra wis items will help ofcorse but you dont need. it would be nice to get enough for a 5th level one spell but you only need 4 slots to function to fullest potential.
Bless Deafening clang Divine favor Bless weapon Aid Bulls strenght Eagles splendor Aura of glory Prayer Death ward Holy sword
All those spells added togeather can generate an impressive + damage and +ab, this build is for takeing out evil and undead bosses. Against hoards of weaker things, then ofcorse your probibly better off going with something else.
Pros and cons.
Pros against other pally/cot smiter builds 1. 50(give or take) minimum base damage per hit with a nonmagical weapon (fully buffed + divine might, this is a few points higher than other pally/cot BASE damage, adds up)
2. Shields, cant use a shield with a scyth, more ac, more room for stats, better.
3. Lay hands will do insane damage being that you count as a level 40 paladin, with tons and tons and tons of charisma. As far as i know lay hands canot be resisted and you canot make something immune to it. Against undead bosses *like liches* its a simple and quick solution. Infact i would rather have lay hands than 1 free casting of heal per day.
4. Ability to add a _minimum_ of +5 charisma mod due to pally buffs, aura of glory + eagles splendor. Aswell as bulls strenght. Not as usefull in high magic areas, but i always find myself looking for items that do things i CANT buff, look at spells like haveing aditional item slots.
5. Higher non crit smite damage *500 average, ofcorse if high magic you could probibly get 520 or more*
Cons against other pally/cot smiter, aswell as other melee in general builds
1. Lack of that impressive high critical damage, hitting for over 2k is nice and impressive. *i just dont think you should build something around crits if your main attack is going to be something you can only use three times a day*
2. Levels of weapon master really will make dealing with hoards of weak things easyer
3. Hitpoints and defence, with out much con, and all feats geared towards smiteing, smiters miss out on some nice epic feats and hitpoints. High ac is really nice and usefull, but damage reduction and more hitpoints aswell as basic epic melee feats make dealing with general things alot easyer.
Ofcorse you also get the CoT bonuses, and being level 20 cot lets you hit that next 5th level for +2 more.
I played the hotu compaign with this, iv played it to 40 in various PW, and iv played through many high level moduels with it. I find it to be balanced and work right, while maintining a nice clean balanced symetrical feel and look wich seems just about right. In other words, it almost feels like a 'well rounded one trick pony' to me.. _________________ Umpire of The Mauve Army of Naked Chick Magazines, Seņor Bertey von Spleenhiezen The Grand VII- Holder of the Anti-pic- Resident mystic of Pseudoscience- Advocate and founder of the Lopsided Diamond Allignment Chart. You can't ignore whats not there.