Okay - this is my first ever build, and I'm not sure how good it is by the standards of these boards, but I figured I'd post it up to get some criticism anyway. See what you think:
Blade Apostle
Race: Human
Alignment: Any (mine is lawful evil)
Base Attributes:
Str 16 (25) Dex 13 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 14 (19) Cha 8
Clerical Domains: Healing and War
Skills: Max Discipline, Spellcraft, Concentration. Put 4 ranks in Intimidate as soon as possible and then forget about it. Do what you like with the spare - I pumped Craft Armor just because I like it. Heal or cross-class tumble would make better build sense I guess.
Naked AB +33/+28/+23/+18 AB with non-magical Scimitar +37/+32/+27/+22 Naked Saves: Fort: +25 Ref: +17 Will: +25
Obviously, the strength of the build lies in the Clerical buffs augmenting natural melee capability. AC is decent with heavy armour and a tower shield, and the right equipment. AB is a little on the low side, but if you take time to buff fully (Greater Sanctuary can buy that time), you should find that it starts to look very respectable. Dev Crit DC is quite low, but the save will be forced often - the character threatens a crit on 9-29 if he has a keen scimitar, and with Clerical buffs to increase damage the build doesn't rely on it. If for whatever reason you find you can't melee someone or something (usually because of a high AC) then Harm followed by a quick Searing Light or Hammer of the Gods should do the job. Greater Ruin is there as a last-ditch measure - if you can't hit something and it's immune to harm, Greater Ruin will at least take a chunk out of it which you then might be able to follow up with spells like Destruction, Firestorm, Storm of Vengeance, and so on. You're not an offensive caster, but if pressed you can pull out a few tricks in that line. Ultravision/Darkness combo is very useful, and if that doesn't work to give your opponent a hefty miss chance then Word of Faith might.
Overall I've found the build very versatile and powerful. Like all Cleric builds, it gets destroyed by Dispelling of course. If that happens you can resort to offensive spell casting if you really want, or you can simply Greater Sanctuary and get the hell out of Dodge. Not ideal, I know... I don't really have an answer to this particular weakness. Personally the only thing I really don't like about the build is having to take half an hour to buff after every rest.
Edited By Cinnabar Din on 02/27/08 20:39
LOL, i have been thinkin for some time bout postin my version of the Cleric/ftr/wm, cuz i noticed a general lack of them about. It would be interesting to know the damage output of your guy. My version is critting for over 120 average damage at lv 34 (overwhelmin crit not yet reachd cuz str is 22). I have found that this combo with the right weapon (one handed, with a shield) is one heck of a tough character.
I'll get around to posting mine for comparison another day.
Peace
Do you think you could post some statistics like max hit points, base damage and buffed damage?
I gotta say, kudos! I just ran your build in a lvlr and i am impressed. I was gettin crits of 98 (highest i noticed) with a +4 scrimter and some buffs. I used Divine favor Battletide to get +5 +2 damage. Divine pwr gives u a fair Ab of around 52 or so.. so it is adequate and i LOVE the 13-20 crit range.
Just something to consider though, I am not sure of the usefulness of Knockdwn/imp KD, as i have never even considered using it. So to increase the ab, take Epic prowess in its place. For one feat (imp kd) it is well worth it, IMHO.
Peace
Knockdown is very useful against anyone or anything with a low discipline since not only do you get a bonus to hit anything lying down, they dont hit back either. IMO its one of the most powerful lower level feats in the game. With Improved knockdown you can knockdown a dragon
Syrath
Edited By syrath1001 on 01/24/05 02:38
AHh, If that were the case here I would agree wholehearted.. BUT the build has it taken at lv 33! At that late in the game.. epic prowess is the better choice, as it improves your to hits...
Peace
This is a nice build indeed. See my version of the Cleric/Fighter/WM a bit down in the Epic Character Builds forum (Hannibal by Firestar) for a comparison.
My suggestions would be as follows: Firstly, take more WM lvl's, in exchange for some cleric lvl's. You only need 15 cleric lvl's to reach your Maximum AB wrt buffs. If you want lvl 9 spells, then 2 more lvl's will be sufficient. Then take less fighter lvl's to boost your WM lvl's even more. This will give you 2 things... AB incriments with Superior Weapon focus, and bonus WM feats (amongst others Epic Weapon Focus and Epic Prowess)
Then, take more fighter/WM lvl's pre-epic, so that your BAB pre-epic can be higher, increasing your AB of your character.
You will lose nothing, except a more difficult lvl'up process. The character overall, will be stronger at higher lvl's.
Cleric/Fighter/WM 15/10/15 will prolly be some of your most powerfull combinations.
Anyways, good build, especially for a more caster orientated build.
Firestar
15 WM adds nothing that 13 WM doesn't already give. And 13 WM levels isn't really worth it, since it takes 6 WM levels to get anything that you don't already get from 7 WM levels. If you're going to go for a WM-heavy build, 19 is the absolute minimum you should be thinking about taking. Any less than that and it's just not worthwhile, especially not in a Cleric build. This kind of build is technically doable with Fighter 6 / WM 19 / Cleric 15, but you'd be kind of pushed for feats, and you wouldn't get the full buffing power or level 8 Cleric spells until really late on, presuming you delay taking your final Cleric level so you can max out Spellcraft.
Fighter 8 / WM 16 / Cleric 16 would enable you to take 15 Cleric levels, thus getting the most out of your buffs earlier, but I'm not sure that spending 9 levels on WM, only to get +2 to Weapon of Choice attack rolls and 2 bonus feats, is really worth it.
Doesn't WM add a +1 to hit on every 5th level after 10 (15, 20, 25, 30). I agree though it usually isn't worth going higher than 10 for the class and very rarely over 7. _________________ Come visit the Epic Builders Guild for all the character info you could ever want or need: Click Here
Quote: Posted 01/24/05 18:04:01 (GMT) -- Emrill
Doesn't WM add a +1 to hit on every 5th level after 10 (15, 20, 25, 30). I agree though it usually isn't worth going higher than 10 for the class and very rarely over 7.
Superior Weapon Focus is meant to add +1 to Weapon of Choice attack rolls at level 10, but it doesn't, it never has in any patch.
Epic Superior Weapon Focus (terrible name, btw), according to the manual, adds +1 to attack rolls with Weapon of Choice every 5 levels after 10, but it actually adds +1 every three levels after 10, ie. whenever the WM gets a bonus feat.
The manual is wrong about these things quite often, it's better to use the Grimoire.
Umm, i am runnin out the door, but wm does get bouns to ab. If your char is melee based and you have 7wm lvls it iw WELL worth it to get 15 lvls of wm at least simply for that. Hits, to a melee char, are the lifeline, am i wrong?
Peace
what about if you went 21 cleric 19 WM beter cleric buffs/spells and good WM feats and bonuses to AB
or 15 cleric 6 Rogue 19 WM you get the key buffs for melee and some sneaks attacks.. tumble bonus and i think and max discipline and other skills.... take rogue as the first lvl to get alot more skill points and end with either rogue or cleric as last lvl depending on if you wanna max totally spell craft or say tumble...
i'm not an expert character builder so i hope some of that is useful.. if not sorry just ignore it
Edited By Blunkanthrust on 01/24/05 23:23
Sorry Herbie... my mistake. You are right.
15 lvl's of WM is totally pointless. I forgot that the manual was wrong. My fighter/WM/Cleric combo is WM 19/C 15/F 6. It works out to a really good combo.
What you want to try is take as many 1 BAB/lvl classes pre-epic, as that increases your total BAB at lvl 40. Remember that after lvl 20, all classes gain the same BAB/lvl. This is 1/2 BAB per lvl, if I'm not mistaken... Can somebody correct me? But the fact is that what BAB is concerned, only pre-epic lvl's will matter when you take which classes. Saving throws and feats is another consideration, but where BAB is concerned, you need to take as many fighter/pally/barb/WM/DD/COT/etc.etc classes pre-epic to gain as much BAB by lvl 20 as you can.
Personally I think the F/WM/Cleric is a great build for a low-mid magic world. They make awesome melee fighters!
My suggestions would be as follows:
If you are PvM you can keep your multiple cleric levels pre-epic, or if you just want to have more buffs early.
I chose to do F9/WM7/C4 pre-epic. Then F10 on lv21 for EWF and EWS. Then you can take 16 more cleric, 2 fighter, and 1 more WM (at level 40). I prefer to maximize spot for those that like to hide.
This will net you 3 more BAB for 19 at level 20, and you will get your WM feats earlier to help you crit your way though faster.
Down side is not much cleric buffs until after lv21. It just depends on the PW you are playing though. If you want to give up BAB for more cleric buffs it's your decision.
Also keep in mind if the PW you play has +5, +10, or +20 weapons your cleric buffs count towards the +20 magical cap.
Not ideal, I know... I don't really have an answer to this particular weakness. Personally the only thing I really don't like about the build is having to take half an hour to buff after every rest. 
