Playable from level 1 - 40 ..PvM

I was toying around with the idea of a tough as nails character, and I just looked through the builds already done and noticed that for some reason this class combo hasn't appeared yet. It seems like it should of a long time ago, but anyways here it is.

Race: Dwarf
Alignment: Lawful Good

Starting Stats:
Str 14
Dex 13
Con 15
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 12

Character Level Progression:
1- Paladin - Concentration 4, Discipline 4, Tumble 2 - Power Attack
2- Paladin - Concentration 1, Discipline 1
3- Paladin - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Tumble 1 - Dodge
4- Paladin - Concentration 1, Discipline 1 - Con
5- Paladin - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Tumble 1
6- Paladin - Concentration 1, Discipline 1 - Toughness
7- Paladin - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Tumble 1
8- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Con
9- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Weapon Focus-Battleaxe
10- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1
11- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1
12- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Cleave - Con
13- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1
14- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1
15- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Great Cleave
16- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Con
17- Dwarven Defender - Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Spot 1
18- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Improved Critical-Battleaxe
19- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Blind Fight
20- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Con
21- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Epic Weapon Focus-Battleaxe, Great Constitution I
22- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1
23- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Knockdown
24- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Great Strength I - Str
25- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Armor Skin
26- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1
27- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Epic Prowess, Great Strength II
28- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 11 - Str
29- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1
30- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Great Strength III
31- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Epic Damage Reduction I
32- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Str
33- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Great Strength IV
34- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1
35- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Epic Damage Reduction II
36- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Great Strength V - Str
37- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1
38- Dwarven Defender - Discipline 1, Spot 1
39- Paladin- Overwhelming Critical-Battleaxe
40- Dwarven Defender - Craft Armor 8, Concentration 5, Discipline 2, Spot 2 - Epic Damage Reduction III - Con

Level Distribution:
Paladin 8
Dwarven Defender 22
Champion of Torm 10

Final Skills:
Craft Armor 8
Concentration 25
Discipline 43
Spot 43
Tumble 5

Final Stats:
Str 23
Dex 13
Con 22
Int 12
Wis 12

Some in game stats:
-This character in normal full plate with a tower shield has an AC of 25. It's easy enough to get into the high 40s low 50s though with normal magic items.
-This character has a max hit point total of 724.
-This character has a damage reduction od 24/-.
-This character has base saves of 37 fortitude, 25 Reflex and 27 Will. This makes him have a decent chance to save vesrus dev crits, as well as most every sother save.
-With a normal battle axe this character has a AB of +40/+35/+30/+25 and a threat range of 19-20 with a X3 crit damage modifier. Weapon choice can be switched to whatever a player wants though. I went battle axe just because it was dwarven to me.

Some downsides:
-Not able to get dev crit, but honestly to me it's not that big of deal
-Needs Cha boosting items to make smites a threat. In normal items his smites are only +1 to hit and +18 damage.
-Low skill point pool. At level 40 only has 129 total points to spread around.

All in all this character is one hard to kill mofo with decent damage output. Have fun with it, comment, whatever.

Edited By griphook on 08/03/05 20:45

Wouldnt it be better to not focus on STR and focus on Charisma since its a holy kind of build? Perhaps even not do all the Con and do Char aswell? The CON is very important to have at least 21 for teh epic damage reduction feats. I went with STR over CHA mostly because I have a CHA based build and foundd STR based is better because it's always there where as CHA based boosts are only around for a few rounds. Also I found this route I had very acceptable damage averages. About the only thing I would really change is the weapon used. If you look in the build index under my name I have a bard/pm/BG that is CHA based and abuses those abilities. Playing between the two I would say this is the superior of the two.
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Quote: Posted 12/09/04 23:43:14 (GMT) -- Emrill

About the only thing I would really change is the weapon used.

Okay, I'll bite: What weapon and why?

K. I took battle axe on this one mearly for rp purposes. It could be any martial weapon. If I wanted to abuse the overwhelming crit, I'd probably go with scimitar.
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Click Here You like scimitar and shield over greatsword? I think I would focus in greatsword to complement the high strength, then go scimitar and shield for hard hitting foes.

Well, on second thought, I suppose you could carry both since there's no fighter so no weapon specialisation. That's the double edge of weapon specialisation: I feel like I must ALWAYS wield my weapon of choice no matter the situation. Then there you find me, poking a skeleton in the ribs with my dagger/rapier/short sword instead of picking up a mace or morning star and smashing it to kindling....


Kaliban 23- Champion of Torm - Discipline 1, Spot 1 - Knockdown

whats up with the Knockdown i dont need it but sould i put mobility would that work on this build? If you want to put any feat you wish there.
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Click Here I noticed no divine shield or might why is that?
Quote: Posted 07/11/10 09:36 (GMT) -- KidMiracleman

I noticed no divine shield or might why is that?

Yeah, I was gonna ask: Why Paladin? Then I thought: OK, it's for the Divine Feats and the saves. But you don't get the Divine Feats, so why? Also, you do take Knockdown in the Epic levels, so why not move some CoT levels to the pre-epics and do something like this pre-epic?

1- Pal - Power Attack
2- Pal
3- Pal - Divine Shield
4- Pal
5- Pal
6- Pal - Weapon Focus (whatever)
7- Pal
8- CoT
9- Pal - Divine Might
10- CoT - Dodge
11- CoT
12- CoT - Toughness, Improved Critical (whatever)
13- DwD
14- DwD
15- DwD - Cleave
16- DwD
17- DwD
18- DwD- Great Cleave
19- DwD
20- CoT

This way you would lose both Blind Fight and Knockdown to gain Divine Might / Divine Shield. IMO that's the only reason to take Paladin instead of Fighter. If you don't do this, then go Fighter / DwD / CoT and you can get both Blind Fight and Knockdown plus WS and EWS to help with damage. From what I see, Paladin in this build doesn't make any sense if you have 12 CHA and no DM / DS, and if you are confident that you can get enough CHA-enhancing gear to make Paladin worth your while, then those feats should be there. In other words, I do see the synergies in this class combo, but I don't see you taking full advantage of them. Also, I would drop Concentration for 20 Tumble since you practically won't be casting spells in combat. Resisting Taunts would be the only use left for that skill, and the 4 AC is better.

Also, you may have noticed that I moved the 8th Pal lvl to the pre-epics, that's because you don't take Taunt, so there's no reason to delay it that much. Getting all your spell slots and Pal feats in there ASAP seems a better option.

Well, I think that's it. The rest I think is quite well-distributed and well though.

Take it EZ!

Edited By Maximillian Kane on 07/11/10 14:19

paladin = STYLE! At least back in 2004!

While fighter gives feats, the paladin has a few more nicenessess! Immune to fear for one, which is often overlooked. The save boosts with cha gear. And, in this build, the synergy with COT.

I cannot, nor would i ever speak for Em, alas i havent seen him in a LOOONNNNGG time. Needless to say, or maybe it is needed!, Anuis and I were discussing an idea just before he put out his build a few weeks ago. A build is only ONE idea! It isnt, nor should it EVER be considered a static entity (though, there are a few PERFECT builds, maybe 4 in the entire guild). If you want fighter, sub it in!

In the future, while it is perfectly cool to ask on builds as old as this guy, asking "why take pal" is something that the original poster could only truly answer 100% (everyone else is speculating), and the odds of Em being around are slim. But who knows.
Quote: Posted 07/11/10 21:45 (GMT) -- avado

paladin = STYLE! At least back in 2004!

While fighter gives feats, the paladin has a few more nicenessess! Immune to fear for one, which is often overlooked. The save boosts with cha gear. And, in this build, the synergy with COT.

I cannot, nor would i ever speak for Em, alas i havent seen him in a LOOONNNNGG time. Needless to say, or maybe it is needed!, Anuis and I were discussing an idea just before he put out his build a few weeks ago. A build is only ONE idea! It isnt, nor should it EVER be considered a static entity (though, there are a few PERFECT builds, maybe 4 in the entire guild). If you want fighter, sub it in!

In the future, while it is perfectly cool to ask on builds as old as this guy, asking "why take pal" is something that the original poster could only truly answer 100% (everyone else is speculating), and the odds of Em being around are slim. But who knows.

I had no idea the build was that old I just replied to the guy before me, although I did look at the entire topic and discussion. I agree that Pal and CoT have tremendous synergies, stacking levels on smites for instance, stacking save bonuses. My question, however, was not as much WHY PALADIN? as it was WHY PALADIN IF YOU DON'T GET DM / DS? I know that a build isn't a steady thing and what could be a tweak to one person may be a foolish thing to to do in the view of others (I was discussing the Grim Ripper with Grimnir77 via PM, suggesting one minor tweak that would work extremely well for me but to him it was not worth the trade). In this build I just couldn't believe he took Paladin just for the immunity to fear, better smites and +1 to saves. To me there just needs to be more than that. +7 to AC and to Damage for 7 rounds with capped CHA is to me a must have in a build like this. Just because you have DR doesn't mean you should be getting hit all the time, especially with no damage shields.