I prefer this build to the divine druid/cleric/shifter as there are less spell buffs involved and it still has some benefits even if those spells are dispelled.
The build is designed for PvM, where I play there are a lot of monsters with different powerful abilities such as true seeing, damage reduction to specific damage types, decent spell resistance, etc.
Stats: Race Human Str 13 Dex 8 Con 10 Int 8 Wis 17 Cha 16
End Stats; Str 13 Dex 8 Con 10 Int 8 Wis 18 Cha 28
Saves; Human - Fort 35, Refl 27, Will 32 Kobold & Drow - Fort 35, Refl 35 Will 32 Add +4 for saves vs spells Add +3 to fort and +2 to reflex when buffed.
Attack Buffed; Epic Drow +47 using minimum rolls Epic Kobold +48 using minimum rolls
AC unbuffed; Epic Drow AC 36 Epic Kobold AC 36
AC Buffed no items; Epic Drow AC 50 Epic Kobold AC 50
The spells used to enhance the shapes were; For attack bonus - Bull Str (Druid), Bull str (Blackguard), Blood Frenzy, Aura Vitality For ac - Barkskin, Aura Vitality, Divine Shield All the spells can be extended to increase duration.
The stats are for indoors.
Edited By griphook on 06/02/05 14:43
Looks intresting, but a lot of servers support improved item merging...so it might be nice to push wisdom up naturally and get outsider shape as well for the lovely rak form spell immunity. I really like the inclusion of blackguard for the 4/round and sneak damage which stacks with the 5d6 on the epic kobolds shortsword though.
Interesting point about improved item merging as I didnt know that existed for some servers I guess the main benefit with the Raakshaa is that it can avoid nasty situations around missile storm. Against most spells the saves are really good and both the Drow/Kobold get improved evasion, also SR 30 can help with some fights.
I decided to focus on charisma for the saves, ac bonus, and dmg enhancement. I agree that one day I will probably wished I had taken Outsider
Edit: Ooh I forgot to mention that Charisma helps with using Taunt to lower the AC of monsters and this can be important for shifters as their attacks are not the best.
Edited By lala_truthsayer on 03/16/05 23:22
Ya you will definately wish that if you are going to use this character on a pvp environemnt, otherwise you won't miss it all that much most likely. A nice use of the shifter concept though. Do you feel the weapon focus feats are al that needed? Seems like a lot of feat use to get only a few more AB. _________________ Come visit the Epic Builders Guild for all the character info you could ever want or need: Click Here
Yeah there are a lot of weapon focus feats, but from my own experience they do make a difference at epic levels. I tend to go for the benchmark (naked) that a melee build needs to be about +44ish, while a melee caster or enhanced feature melee build need to be about +38ish. I guess it depends on the difficulty of the persistent world, but those figures work out about right for me.
The problem with most of the shifter shapes (excluding Dragon)is that their abilities scores are not that impressive, while the shifter enhanced weapons distort the attack values. So the Epic Drow in this case is; BAB 26, WF/EWF/EP 4, Str 6 gives a total attack bonus of 36 naked. Adding the +6 sword does make it 42, however this shows that the figure is pretty low. Remove the 4 attack bonus for WF/EWF/EP and the mundane attack level drops to 32.
I would say that figure is too low at epic levels for most moderate tough persistent worlds.
Edited By lala_truthsayer on 03/17/05 16:22
My friend, I like the concept! (*cough* reminds me of my dru/shf/COT build!) We should really get your guy and mine together to knock around cw. It would be quite entertaining.
I do second the use of wpn and epc wpn focus in the shifter builds. If you dont use them, why specialize at all? Make a dru/shifter pure build and use dragon form. What would be fun is to try to work in wf/ewf in unarmed! LOL too many feats? Oh well (jkin)
Peace
Interesting build...nice job. One question I have is how, if you focus on the Undead form, do you actually heal your character while shifted. I have always enjoyed the undead form but find it to a niche form, thus would support taking construct or outsider as well...
Quote: Posted 03/30/05 04:11:33 (GMT) -- Daeliax
Interesting build...nice job. One question I have is how, if you focus on the Undead form, do you actually heal your character while shifted. I have always enjoyed the undead form but find it to a niche form, thus would support taking construct or outsider as well...
That is a dam good question, Daeliax. One thing people will tell you is to have your wizzy cast Neg Energy Burst to heal you and raise your STR at the same time, or your Cleric to cast Harm or Inflict Wounds on you, but that is not always a possibility, esp if you are racking around town solo.
I am currently trying to coax my DM into either making Potions of Harm as monster drops or merchant sells, or to just make Potions of Heal heal your undead form with a script fix like it does nonundead, erm...living. You cannot use the potions on enemy undead anyway, so changing the script would maybe be a less cluttersome option.
Quote: Posted 03/30/05 04:11:33 (GMT) -- Daeliax
Interesting build...nice job. One question I have is how, if you focus on the Undead form, do you actually heal your character while shifted. I have always enjoyed the undead form but find it to a niche form, thus would support taking construct or outsider as well...
Thank you
The focus is more on the Epic Drow and Kobold, the Undead shape feat was taken as it has no requirements with regards to Wisdom, therefore making it pretty cheap to take.
The reason I decided not to focus on Risen Lord is that from my own experience it has a niche use. The downside of Risen is the AC (much lower than both Drow and Kobold), cannot heal, no protection against blunt or potentially elemental dmg wpns, and can be turned. All of which I have painfully experienced while playing on PWs.
I agree at times its undead benefits and resistance to slash/pierce can help if partied with others who can dish out dmg, especially if you can get access to slash/pierce reduction items. Overall I have found both the Drow and Kobold more useful, just my preference.
If you prefer to focus more on Risen Lord, it probably makes sense to replace 3 feats for Exotic Wpn proficiency/Wpn focus Scythe/Epic Wpn focus Scythe.
Thanks...that answers my questions. Harm potions, eh? I'd thought of those in the past -- might be a good idea to revisit.
