Strengths: 1. Fast 2. Improved Evasion and other very useful monk feats 3. 1d12+19 damage with a mundane greatsword at level 30 4. A naked AC of 27 5. Maxed Stealth mode 6. Fighter feats like Improved Disarm, Improved Knockdown (courtesy from the monk levels) and Epic weapon focus and specialization
Weaknesses 1. Low AB 2. Low Hit points (max 240 at level 30) 3. May run into an xp penalty 4. Takes a little while to come into full power
Explanation: First of all, this character is at level 30 for two reasons. One, the server which I usually play on is level 30 capped, so I design most of my characters for maximum power at level 30. The other reason is because I feel that the player should decide how to spend the last 10 levels. The build has already achieved in my mind a good base, so the person who is making this build can decide whether to take ten more levels of fighter or monk or a mixture of the two. The fighter levels would probably give devastating critical while the monk levels would give spell resistance and increased speed, depending on what the player wants out of the character. No matter what, I would recommend taking the Toughness feat because that will give the Blademaster a boost in hit points which it significantly needs.
This build is fairly solid anywhere, whether it be PvP or persistent world servers. The harper scout gives it an element for role playing. This character makes a good defensive tank because of its huge amounts of AC and an anti-spellcaster due to its monk levels.
If a player didn't care about role playing and wanted a pure power build, I would tweak the character a little. Lower the starting intelligence to 12 and raise constitution. Instead of taking disarm, take mobility and then take some Shadow Dancer levels instead of Harper Scout levels. This will add HIPS which will make you a nightmare for anyone who doesn't have true seeing.
Edited By Bromium on 02/28/08 19:38
No need to take Cleave at 1st level since you get it free as a 1st level Monk. You could switch to Dwarf instead.
I took the cleave because I wasn't sure if the monk's natural cleave was counted towards the required feats for overwhelming critical.
Dwarf would be a cool idea. It would raise the starting constitution a bit too, which is a good bonus. Thanks for the idea!
Yes, the monk's cleave feat counts towards prerequisite. All class feats count just like you selected them at level up. Now, if you had an Ax with the bonus feat: cleave, that would not count towards the prerequisite. _________________ If everyone is thinking alike, then someone is failing to think.