Playable from level 1 - 40 ..PvM or PvP Build

The jagged stones on the coarse path dug into his hands as he slipped on a patch of ice, but the merchant did not notice as he hurried towards the temple of Lathander in some kind of loping gait that was a mixture of a run and a crawl. As he crested the top of the ridge, which the path meandered through, he crouched down low and paused to catch his breath. To steady himself and regain his bearings, he looked over frozen rocky terrain for the temple. He was in the foothills of the Spine of the World Mountains and the first snowfalls of winter had, covered the broken rocky terrain with a dusting of snow and ice. The icicles that coated the sides of the roughly hewn path glittered in the sunlight giving the rock the appearance of crystal. However this terrain was as dangerous as it was beautiful, the ice made the path slippery and treacherous and the glare from the reflected sunlight threatened to blind the merchant, beyond this was the threat of avalanche. Straining, he could make out the large stone structure of the temple with its crystal dome at the base of the ridge, about two stadiums in the distance, however the winding of the path would lengthen that descent. He paused, to rub some snow on his raw hands and knees and then scampered towards the temple. Somehow, the merchant managed to make his way down the slope and reach the temple, before collapsing on its steps. The guards lifted him and carried him into the temple, hurrying to bring him to Father Torin, the high priest of the Temple.

Father Torin was a tall thin man, and the loose fitting robe he wore exacerbated his appearance. In his youth he had been a mighty warrior, but his knee had been crippled battling frost giants and years of inaction had stripped the muscle from his frame. Leaning heavily on his gilded staff, the first snow always made his knee hurt, he stooped down over the merchant. Speaking a few words in deep baritone voice, which seemed unnatural for his appearance, he healed the Merchant’s wounds. Refreshed, the merchant stirred, starting from his prone position like a man waking from a nightmare. “Dr-dr-dragons!” he stammered.

Father Torin, put his finger to his lips to quiet the man and give the merchant a chance to gather his thoughts. Seeing the gaunt figure of the priest bathed in the multicolored refracted sunlight that entered the temple through its great dome ceiling, the merchant felt safe for the first time since his caravan had been attacked by a pair of white dragons. He had traveled north from Amn to trade for scrimshaw in the Ten Towns of the Dale. However, he had arrived late and hoping to make it south before the first snows fell, and made travel impossible, he set out on an old Dwarven trading route that cut through a spur the Mountain range. His caravan had been heavily armed and he felt sure that his guards could handle any threat. He had not counted on dragons. They had swept down out of the east in the early morning as the sun was beginning to rise and they were breaking camp, their icy breath devastating his guards. Even when the guards did manage to organize, they were no match for the beasts, who lifted the caravan trailers into the air only send crashing down in their ranks scattering the guards like chaff in the wind. The merchant who had been at the head of the caravan, managed to sneak away in the chaos of the battle and head north to the temple they had passed the day before. As the merchant finished his tale, Father Torin frowned and hobbled off from the main hall, to one of the meditation rooms.

As he walked, he could not help but wonder if this was his fault. Earlier in the year he had had a vision that the white dragons were rallying to attack the Ten Towns. He sent out a summons for warriors from Waterdeep to come and join his men in a preemptive strike against the beasts. While the strike had succeeding in killing the dragon matriarch, it was a pyrrhic victory at best. They had broken the dragons’ resolve to fight, but their own forces were shattered. Perhaps this raid was retribution for the paladins’ strike. Still he was not without hope, a detachment of knights from the city of Calimport had been on a pilgrimage to Waterdeep when the call for warriors had come and they decided to answer it. With some of their men too wounded to head south and their equipment damaged, they had decided to stay the winter at the temple. Father Torin, was now going to seek their leader.

He found him in deep prayer in the meditation room when he entered, but the warrior stirred at the sound of Torin’s staff on the cobble stone floor. This warrior was a tall muscular man with rich camel coloured skin and thick black curly hair that cascaded down his back. He looked young, as if he had not yet seen thirty winters, but the priest knew he was nearing forty years of age. As the warrior rose, the priest informed him of the situation. Listening carefully, the warrior informed the priest that he would set out alone to face the beasts. His men were still wounded, and he feared that this may be a trap to lure the paladins from the temple; if he alone fell, it would not sap the temple’s strength. For himself, he had Lathander’s favor and had faced dragons alone in the past. Besides the dragons may not be there when he arrived, and if that was the case they would have to wait until the thaw before they could track the beasts. His equipment had been damaged in the previous skirmish with the white dragons and he had to settle for some old weaponry in the armory. Donning a much patched suit of full plate, a mantlet and a notched-scimitar, he set out from the temple.

The priests of temple, had aided him on his way by teleporting him to the top of the ridge. Looking off into the distance, he could still make out the forms of the dragons, looting the remains of the caravan. He made his way towards the caravan, pausing as neared it call upon his god to strengthen his skill at arms and enchant his equipment. He felt his body surge with divine power, and saw the imperfections in his armor and blade fade away before his eyes. As he examined the fine edge of the temporarily restored weapon, he spoke an incantation which engulfed the blade in flames. White dragons love fire, he thought to himself as he hurried towards the caravan.

The horror of the massacre that had take place here had been dulled by the cold and ice. Twisted bodies and the remains of the caravan lay strewn about covered in thick ice. He guessed that this was the result of the dragon’s breath as opposed to the weather, it struck him as a very clean death. There were no pools of blood and gore, no acrid smell of burning flesh, just the frozen corpses that looked like some macabre sculpture of a battlefield. As he walked through the wreckage, he saw the cause of the destruction. Two white dragons, about twice the size of the caravan trailers, their scales glistening in the light from his weapon. One of them was gnawing casually on the arm of a guard, while the other was rifling through the remains of the caravan. The warrior guessed they were juveniles, the ones that he had faced earlier were larger. Still these were dangerous beasts, their claws were as long as his sword and their jaws could rend a man in two. They turned to look at him, with that look of disdain that only dragons seemed to be able to muster. The one closer to him, dropped his meal and hissed, “So, one of the self-righteous bastards from the temple, has decided to grace us with his presence. I thought they would have sent a whole division of knights to deal with us.”
“It hardly seems worth the challenge. Well do your worst, knight.” The second dragon scoffed.
Self-righteous bastard? Self-righteous Bastard?!? The audacity! The nerve! They didn’t even know him well enough to make a statement like that. Enraged, the warrior thought of a few choice epithets of his own, but discipline and experience cooled his temper. His first duty was to deny the dragons flight, hence reducing their advantage. As he recited his prayer, the wind began to blow faster and harder in chaotic patterns and the sky blackened as, green swirling mists seeped into the ether from some unknown source, only to coalesce in clouds and spew forth a deadly rain of acid that hissed and smoked as it dissolved anything it touched. A lightning bolt streaked from the mass of mystical weather to strike the dragon that had insulted him, drawing a roar of agony.

The two beasts answered with a blast of cold from their gaping maws. The warrior ducked behind his mantlet as the blast approached. The ice pellets scattered off his shield like a thousand sling stones but the cold air snaked around the shield and swirled around his limbs, numbing them with its icy venom.

Shivering, though more or less unscathed, he stepped out from behind his shield and invoked the name of his god again. This time the dragons were stricken blind, drawing another roar. The second dragon tried to fly, but as it raised into the air a lightning bolt from acid storm struck it, causing its muscles to spasm. The dragon crashed to the ground, its momentum sending it into a skid. The warrior raced towards the out of control beast as it came to the stop. With a mighty swing from his scimitar, he cut deeply into the exposed neck dazed dragon bathing himself with its spurting arterial blood. Leaving the beast in its death throws, he turned to the remaining dragon.

Using its own magic, the beast had freed itself from its blindness. The sight of it’s dying comrade and constant burn of the falling acid, drove the dragon into a frenzy and it charged towards the warrior. It took a mighty swing at the warrior, who ducked under his shield, beveling it to deflect the blow upwards. The shield held but the warrior’s arm felt numb, he could not deflect too many blows like that. As the dragon swung again, the man again readjusted his shield, but this time as the blow was deflected, the scimitar swung out carving deeply into the dragon’s wrist. The dragon recoiled, howling in agony. Even as it pulled back, another lightning bolt racked its body, causing it to bolt upright. Pressing the attack, the warrior strode forward and plunged his weapon into the dragon’s abdomen. Running across the breadth of the beast, the warrior dragged his blade across its belly opening the wound and spilling its innards onto the ground. It took all his speed to dive out of the way beast as it collapsed on the ground.

As he regained his feet, he turned to regard his opponent. It struggled, trying to muster enough strength to mount a final attack. But as it clawed on the ground, it slipped on its own blood crashing back down. It stared at him with its rage filled blue eyes, and as their eyes met the warrior realized the dragon was not so much angry that it had been defeated as much as it was angry that a human had defeated it. As this realization dawned on him, a final lightning bolt from the cloud punctuated his victory. As he surveyed the corpses of the two dragons, he mused to himself, “Not too bad for a self-righteous bastard.”

Overview
I hadn't really done a pure battle cleric before, so I thought it would be fun to give it a try. I did do the Wilderness Preacher and Harbinger of Chaos builds but I don't consider those real battle clerics. There are many other builds with the same classes, but only Pius Custos by Soul Reaper is STR based. That particular build has only level 8 cleric casting, but does have level 4 paladin spells and a 1 point higher AB, but significantly lower saves. At any rate, this build was designed for scenarios where devastating critical has not been banned, low to mid-magic setting. With about +7 or +8 equipment, the pure fighter builds are on par with the cleric builds and start to surpass them as the equipment continues to improve. As someone who doesn't like to spend 10 minutes buffing before every encounter, I only included the more long-lived buffs in my AC and AB calculations.

Advantages
-Devastating Critical on a weapon with a good critical range.
-Level 9 Cleric Spells.
-Level 2 Paladin Spells. Bless Weapon, Deafening Clang, Aura of Glory.
-Good Saves. The 37 fortitude saving throw may seem a little low, but with both his charisma and constitution buffed he should be able to survive most devastating critical attempts.
-40 AB. It could be better, but it's a lot higher than any of the similar charisma based builds.

Disadvantages
-Not too many combat feats, only knockdown really. Of course, with this build it has to be expected.
-Only extend spell for metamagic feats. Combat casting and improved combat casting would have been nice to make casting a little easier in combat.
-Only 404 hitpoints. With endurance and aura of vitality he can increase that to 564, but that still is kind of low for a melee build.
-Low spell DC. He can't really depend on his cleric spells for damage purposes.

Self-Righteous Bastard (What else can you call a Paladin/Cleric/CoT?)

Race Human

Alignment Lawful Good

Base Attributes
STR 16
DEX 8
CON 12
WIS 14
INT 12
CHA 14

Leveling Guide
Levels 1-4 Paladin
Levels 5-12 Cleric
Levels 13-16 Paladin
Levels 17-29 Champion of Torm
Levels 30-39 Cleric
Level 40 Champion of Torm

Final Level Distribution
Paladin 8
Cleric 18
Champion of Torm 14

Attribute Bonuses
4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 increase Strength
36 increase Wisdom
40 increase Charisma

Clerical Domains
If there are permahaste items available, war and trickery
If not, travel and trickery

Feats
Level 1: Weapon focus (Scimitar), Power Attack
Level 3: Divine Might
Level 6: Divine Shield
Level 9: Extra Turning
Level 12: Improved Critical (Scimitar)
Level 15: Knockdown
Level 18: Extend Spell, Cleave
Level 20: Great Cleave
Level 21: Epic Weapon Focus (Scimitar)
Level 22: Great Wisdom I
Level 24: Great Strength I, Great Wisdom II
Level 26: Overwhelming Critical (Scimitar)
Level 27: Great Wisdom III
Level 30: Great Strength II
Level 33: Devastating Critical (Scimitar)
Level 36: Great Wisdom IV
Level 39: Great Charisma I
Level 40: Epic Prowess

Final Attributes
STR 26
DEX 8
CON 12
WIS 19
INT 12
CHA 16

Final Skillpoints: 172
Concentration 42
Discipline 43
Spellcraft 40
Taunt 6
Tumble 20

Skill Progression
Level 1: Concentration 4, Discipline 4, Taunt 4, Tumble 2
Level 2: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Taunt 1, Save 1
Level 3: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Taunt 1, Tumble 1
Level 4: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Taunt 1, Save 1
Level 5: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 2, Tumble 1
Level 6: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 3
Level 7: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1
Level 8: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 3
Level 9: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1
Level 10: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 3
Level 11: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1
Level 12: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Save 2
Level 13: Concentration 1, Discipline 3, Tumble 1
Level 14: Concentration 1, Discipline 3
Level 15: Concentration 1, Discipline 1, Tumble 1
Level 16: Concentration 1, Discipline 3
Level 17: Discipline 2, Tumble 1
Level 18: Discipline 2, Save 2
Level 19: Discipline 1, Tumble 1, Save 3
Level 20: Discipline 1, Save 6
Level 21: Discipline 1, Tumble 1, Save 7
Level 22: Discipline 1, Save 10
Level 23: Discipline 1, Tumble 1, Save 11
Level 24: Discipline 1, Save 14
Level 25: Discipline 1, Tumble 1, Save 15
Level 26: Discipline 1, Save 18
Level 27: Discipline 1, Tumble 1, Save 19
Level 28: Discipline 1, Save 22
Level 29: Discipline 1, Tumble 1, Save 23
Level 30: Concentration 14, Spellcraft 13
Level 31: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1
Level 32: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 3
Level 33: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1
Level 34: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 3
Level 35: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1
Level 36: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 2, Save 1
Level 37: Concentration 1, Spellcraft 1, Tumble 1, Save 1
Level 38: Concentration 1, Save 4
Level 39: Concentration 1, Save 7
Level 40: Discipline 11

Final Saves (Vs. Spells)
Fortitude 37 (45)
Reflexes 27 (35)
Will 33 (41)

AB and Damage

(No buffs, regular scimitar)
40/35/30/25 8+1D6 (15-20 X2)
Devastating Critical DC 38

(+8 CHA, +8 STR, [Aura of Vitality, Bull's Strength, Eagle's Splendor, Aura of Glory], Darkfire, Greater Magic Weapon, Bless Weapon)
49/44/39/34 17+1D6 +5+1D6 Fire (+2D6 Divine Vs. Evil) (15-20 X2)
Devastating Critical DC 42

AC
24 (full plate, tower shield, no buffs)
36 (full plate, tower shield, +4 DEX, [Aura of Vitality], Vestments of Faith, Armor of Faith)

Hit Points 404 (max every level)
_________________
Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.

Edited By griphook on 05/31/05 19:13

I've never played any of these classes (they're some of the few I haven't tried) so I might try this out sometime. I enjoyed the story, too.

The best part, though, is the name. That's hillarious! I hereby officially nominate the "Self-Righteous Bastard" as the best-named Epic Build of all time. Thanks for a good laugh!
_________________
Disarm? That means chopping the other guy's arms off, right? correct me if I'm wrong, but the max bonus from dex in full plate is +1; and you're assuming +4?
Quote: Posted 12/29/04 13:59:05 (GMT) -- Khandahr

correct me if I'm wrong, but the max bonus from dex in full plate is +1; and you're assuming +4?

I meant an actual +4 to the dexterity stat, increasing it to 12 and letting the character get a +2 to his AC (he has a -1 from dexterity as it stands).
_________________
Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.
Quote: Posted 12/28/04 17:47:13 (GMT) -- Mithdradates

AC
24 (full plate, tower shield, no buffs)
36 (full plate, tower shield, +4 DEX, [Aura of Vitality], Vestments of Faith, Armor of Faith)

I forgot you can cast Vestments of Faith twice (once on your shield, once on your armor)
Hence (for long term buffs) the AC is
24 (full plate, tower shield)
+5 deflection (Armor of faith)
+2 from +4 to DEX [Cat's grace or Aura of Vitality]
+5 armor (Vestments of Faith)
+5 shield (Vestments of Faith)
41 Total
Not a great AC, but with 50% concealment from improved invisibility and divine shield it should be okay.
_________________
Two wrongs don't make a right but three lefts do.