Straight level 40 ..PvM Build

Yet another build of mine found on the Looking for Excellent Character Builds threads that isn't indexed here - and should be, imho. This build also makes use of Cleric levels, and its usefulness has also been curtailed since Divine Power was fixed was fixed in 1.64. I'm including it here since it's still fun to play, and quite an interesting build.
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Remember Torias' Divine Warrior build that he posted on the Epic Character Builds page? It is a cool build, but not one that can't be improved. On version 3 of these threads I posted a build called the Disciple of Torm, which was a variation on the Divine Warrior, that kicked its, erm, buns. The Disciple was 6 Paladin / 12 Cleric / 22 CoT, so it got many of the same great feats and class abilities as the Divine Warrior but also got cleric spells like Harm, Heal, Divine Power, Greater Sanctuary, etc. for added firepower. Trust me, the Disciple of Torm owns.

Well, recently I was thinking about how to make a Blackguard, who had a lot of levels in the Blackguard class, kind of an iconic Blackguard, but also one who could handle himself in a fight. Oh, and I didn't want to use any alignment changes. This guy has to be straight up pure evil forever. So I wondered, would the best Blackguard be similar to the Disciple of Torm, replacing CoT with Blackguard and Paladin for Fighter? While those classes ds make a good (evil) and powerful character, I was looking for something with a little bit extra, that little bit more ooomph. As the main problem with the Disciple of Torm and most other CHA-based builds is their lack of AB and general poorness in melee without their buffs, I reckoned that little bit of x-factor this Blackguard needed was Weapon Master levels. No longer would he be subject to having to "bravely" run away when his buffs ran out. His crits would more than make for that! Well, maybe not quite, but he's definitely more formidable than with plain old boring Fighter levels. So here he is, in all his infamy: the Infernal Weapon Master! (ok, I guess the name could use some attention)

Race: Human, finishing 11 Cleric / 22 Blackguard / 7 WM

Stats
The Infernal WM is quite odd; he needs at least 13 in every stat except Con. So he's a well-brought-up, well rounded and balanced individual, who just happens to be an evil machine of doom.
Str 14
Dex 13
Con 10
Int 13
Wis 14
Cha 14
I increased Cha at every 4th level except for 32 and 36, where I increased Wis.

Skills
The general strategy for skills while levelling as a Cleric was to increase Concentration, Spellcraft and cross class Tumble & Hide, the latter being up to 5 ranks for the Blackguard requirement. While levelling as a BG, I kept up the Concentration and cross classing of Tumble, dropped Spellcraft for Discipline, put the required 4 ranks into Intimidate for WM. Luckily Intimidate is a clas skill for Blackguards. On the WM levels I increased Discipline, cross classed Tumble and saved the rest. The final skills were something like
43 Discipline
43 Concentration
20 Tumble
32 Spellcraft
4 Intimidate
5 Hide

Levelling
1 - Cleric 1 - Dodge, Mobility, Healing and Strength domains
3 - Cleric 3 - Power Attack
6 - Cleric 6 - Cleave
8 - Cleric 8 - Spring Attack
12 - Blackguard 4 / Cleric 8 - Weapon Focus: Scimitar
15 - Blackguard 7 / Cleric 8 - Expertise
18 - Blackguard 10 / Cleric 8 - Whirlwind Attack
21 - Weapon Master 3 / Blackguard 10 / Cleric 8 - Improved Critical: Scimitar
24 - WM 6 / Blackguard 10 / Cleric 8 - Great Charisma 1
27 - Blackguard 12 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Divine Might
28 - Blackguard 13 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Epic Weapon Focus: Scimitar
30 - Blackguard 15 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Divine Shield
31 - Blackguard 16 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Epic Fiend
33 - Blackguard 18 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Great Charisma 2
34 - Blackguard 19 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Epic Prowess
36 - Blackguard 21 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Great Charisma 3
39 - Cleric 11 / WM 7 / Blackguard 21 - Great Charisma 4
40 - Blackguard 22 / WM 7 / Cleric 8 - Armour Skin

The Infernal WM gets a half-decent attack bonus when he's using his scimitar, partly de to his feats, partly due to his theoretically massive amount of buffs. His strength can easily be increased to gargantuan proportions. He gets 14 base, +5 from Divine Strength (domain power), a potential +5 from Cleric Bull's Strength and a potential +5 from Blackguard Bull's Strength, which (handily) stack. So he'll more often than not get his full +12 bonus to Strength without any items, giving him 26 Strength and a modifier of +8. He also gets +3 each from Greater Magic Weapon and Divine Favour. His total AB with a scimitar at level 40 is
28 base
+4 (feats)
+1 (WM levels)
+8 (Strength)
+3 (Divine Favour)
+3 (Greater Magic Weapon)
+1 (Aid)
+1 (Bless)
+1 (Prayer)
which is 50 in total. Not massive, not dreadful either.

His damage output is really good too. As he finishes up with 26 Cha, Divine Might gives him +8 divine damage on each hit. Combine this with Darkfire, Divine Favour, his Strength modifier and you get
1d6 scimitar
+8 divine (Divine Might)
+6 to 11 fire (Darkfire)
+3 magical (Divine Favour)
+3 enhancement bonus (GMW)
+8 slashing (Strength modifier)
+1 slashing (Prayer)
which is a range of 30-40 in total. Might not sound much, but remember the Infernal WM threatens a crit on a roll of 10-20 with a keen scimitar, and each crit has a x3 multiplier. I haven't included the 7d6 sneak damage the Infernal WM gets on here, because practically all of the creatures on my PW are immune. But potentially that's another shedload of damage right there. I would imagine he finds it quite easy to score sneaks on non-immune creatures too; he has an Epic Vrock he can summon to take the brunt of a melee attack while he's busy flanking. The Epic Vrock isn't much for dealing damage but he has a fair few hit points so he can stick around for a bit.

I'm tired of typing now so I'll leave it there I think. But this is probably the best Blackguard build I've seen on here; certainly it's the best one I've ever come up with. And because it's a post about a Blackguard I can sign off with this smiley!
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One extra amendment to this build - as there's no real need to cast Divine Power at all, you can safely drop the Strength domain, as its main purpose was to get the Divine Power spell on two different spell levels. He can get Stoneskin from either Earth or Magic domains, or forget it entirely and go for Trickery, for Improved Invisibility. You could even choose to keep the Strength domain, since it gives you +5 to Strength for as many rounds as you have Charisma bonus. Personally, I'd go for Earth, since it also allows you to get Energy Buffer, which is an awesome defensive buff able to keep you alive in a lot of circumstances. The domain also lets you turn elementals, which is handy as this character gets plenty of Turning attempts.

Edited By griphook on 07/07/05 23:48

Your progression is kind of screwed up. You take Spring Attack at cleric 8, and then take your next feat at cleric 8/BG 4. How is that possible? That's an obvious mistype as it should be a level 9 feat.
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Quote: Posted 11/12/04 17:58:51 (GMT) -- Emrill

That's an obvious mistype as it should be a level 9 feat.

Yeah, sorry, that should be 9 - Blackguard 1 / Cleric 8. Thanks for the catch guys.