Playable from level 1 - 40 ..PvM

He served many gods during his early days. Never feeling the undying devotion to a diety that so many of his brothers did. Finally, during a sojourn in the mountains, his years of discontent came to an end.

He returned to civilization with the signs of his draconic heritage proudly displayed; in body, song, and faith. Now he serves his Dragon masters, carrying out their orders and aiding their causes.

WarPriest of the Dragonlords
Cleric 22 / Bard 8 / Red Dragon Disciple 10

Domains: Trickery and either Magic or Travel depending on availability of Perma-Haste items.

Human
any alignment

Str. 14 (30)
Dex 14 (15)
Con 14 (16)
Int 10 (12)
Wis 14 (19)
Cha. 12 (14)

1 Cleric 2-Weapon Fighting, Knockdown
2 Cleric
3 Cleric *Weapon Proficiency: Exotic
4 Cleric (Dex. 15)
5 Cleric
6 Cleric Ambidexterity
7 Cleric
8 Cleric (Wis 15)
9 Bard Empower Spell
10 RDD
11 RDD
12 RDD *Weapon Focus: Kukri (Wis 16)
13 RDD
14 Bard
15 Cleric Improved 2-weapon Fighting
16 Cleric (Str 19)
17 Bard
18 Cleric *Improved Critical: Kukri
19 Cleric
20 Bard (Str. 20)

21 RDD *Epic Weapon Focus: Kukri
22 RDD
23 RDD
24 RDD Epic Prowess (Wis 17)
25 RDD
26 RDD
27 Bard Armor Skin
28 Cleric (Wis 18)
29 Cleric
30 Cleric Great Strength 1 (Str. 25)
31 Cleric
32 Bard (Wis 19)
33 Cleric Great Strength 2 (Str. 26)
34 Cleric
35 Cleric
36 Bard Great Strength 3 (Str. 27) (Str. 28)
37 Cleric
38 Cleric
39 Cleric Great Strength 4 (Str. 29)
40 Bard (Str. 30)

AB (w/ mundane Kukri)
Main hand: 37/32/27
Off hand: 37/32

AC (full Plate) 33

Fortitude 26
Reflex 21
Will 30

Skills: Basically I dump as much as I can into Tumble and Discipline and then split the rest between UMD, Spellcraft and enough Perform for the Bard Song. Oh, and be sure to take 8 in Lore for the RDD requirement.

A few last notes about my thoughts on this build...

The AB seems low, but I with some cleric buffs you can easily up it by 15 or so.

Because I found that most Cleric buffing levels stop around spell level 6, I only bothered taking Cleric to 12 pre-epic. I had thought about taking Cleric to only 8 pre-epic and RDD to 8 pre-epic, But I figured that I would need the Improved Invisibilty more than the RDD AC bonuses.

I pretty much neglect the Bard spells; only using the Bard levels for the Bard Song and Tumble, UMD, and Discipline point dumps. I could have used less Bard levels in this build, but I wanted to make this build as playable from level 1 as possible, therefore the frequent point dumps.

The Kukri choice was mainly for flavor and the extended Crit range. Double-Sword would also be a decent choice. Depending on the environment and available equipment, you could also take the Martial feat instead and go with ShortSwords, Handaxes, etc. I suppose that If you wanted to try for Dev. Crit, you could use Sickle's as your focused weapon.

I found a few similar builds (the closest was cdaulepp's), but they all used a 2-handed weapon and/or had a different build focus. I've tried it a couple of different ways, but this seems to level the easiest.

Edited By griphook on 08/14/05 15:20

This sorta reminds me of my buff disciple, but with cleric spells instead of sorcerer. I like it. The only thing I see is maybe compeltely forego the exotic weapon aspect and look at using a high damage weapon to take advantage of your strenth such as a greatsword. I say that because I don't see you going for the dev crit factor, and that may allow you some rework to get some extra AB and up your average damage per round.
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Quote: Posted 08/12/05 15:10:06 (GMT) -- Emrill

The only thing I see is maybe compeltely forego the exotic weapon aspect and look at using a high damage weapon to take advantage of your strenth such as a greatsword. I say that because I don't see you going for the dev crit factor, and that may allow you some rework to get some extra AB and up your average damage per round.

You make a good point.
All that strength seems to go to waste without using a 2-handed weapon. But, what I was trying to do with this build, though, is maximize the amount of damage that the Cleric buffs would do per round of combat.

Here's a quick breakdown.

Dual Wield Average damage with 3 buffs
Main Hand: 2 (weapon) + 13 (darkfire) + 5 (geater magic weapon) + 5 (divine favor) + 10 (strength bonus) = 35 * 3 (APR) = 105 damage per round

Off Hand: 2 (weapon) + 13 (darkfire) + 5 (geater magic weapon) + 5 (divine favor) + 5 (strength bonus) = 30 * 2 (APR) = 60 damage per round

Total Dual wield damage per round = 165


Greatsword Average damage with 3 buffs
7 (weapon) + 13 (darkfire) + 5 (geater magic weapon) + 5 (divine favor) + 15 (strength bonus) = 45 * 3 (APR) = 135 damage per round

Total Greatsword damage per round = 135


Granted, it's only 30 per round but sometimes that makes quite a difference in battle. Especially if you only have 3 main hand attacks per round. Ultimately it would be up to the individual player's style.

As for the Kukri's, I really only used them for style. Without any Weapon Master levels, their Crit range probably isn't as important to this build. A Double-Sword would make more sense in terms of effeciency since you would only have to buff one weapon instead of 2.

If you really wanted to forgo the whole Exotic weapon route, you could drop the Exotic weapon feat as well as the Improved Critical feat and use maces instead. This would allow you to take Power Attack and Cleave - 2 feats which this build could really use.

In the end, however, I went for kukri's.

Thanks for the feedback, though. Don't spells like magic weapon and darkfire only affect your main hand weapon though? I could be wrong.
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Quote: Posted 08/15/05 16:22:11 (GMT) -- Emrill

Don't spells like magic weapon and darkfire only affect your main hand weapon though? I could be wrong.

You can cast it on both your weapons. It just takes two separate castings.

Steve
Quote: Posted 08/15/05 16:22:11 (GMT) -- Emrill

Don't spells like magic weapon and darkfire only affect your main hand weapon though? I could be wrong.

When you cast the spells, yes. However, you just need to switch your offhand weapon to the mainhand and cast the spells again. Voila! All buffs applying to both mainhand and offhand.

Dmuzzy: the only problem with your damage comparisons is you're assuming all attacks will hit. If you're dual-wielding you'll be at least at a -2 to hit over the greatsword, so you'll have less chance of landing all attacks in dual-wield mode.
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Quote: Posted 08/15/05 16:50:57 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din

[Dmuzzy: the only problem with your damage comparisons is you're assuming all attacks will hit. If you're dual-wielding you'll be at least at a -2 to hit over the greatsword, so you'll have less chance of landing all attacks in dual-wield mode.

Quite true.

I was wrestling with how to show probable hits (and damage)-per-round based on the reduced AB of dual-wielding vs 2-handed for various AC's; but ended up taking the easy way out posting the breakdown as you saw.

I think I could make a stronger case for dual-wielding on this build if the strength weren't so high. But as it stands, I have a sneaking suspicion that either way would probably yeild similar results over the long haul. (I'd love to see a detailed analysis of dual-wielding vs. 2-handed weapon with all the variants of strength and extra weapon damage; but I can only imagine what an undertaking that would be, especially considering things like, DR, Damage immunities, Epic Dodge, Concealment and other factors)

And to be perfectly honest, part of the reason that I built this as a dual-wielder was to differentiate it from the other builds of this type. I also find that it's fun to be able to mix and match various weapons with special properties (ie. one has a strength bonus while another has an AC bonus). Granted these aren't compelling reason's per se; but it can add a little fun and flavor.

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In regards to casting Darkfire/Greater magic weapon on 2 weapons; I usually just cast it once on myself and then hit "I" to bring up the inventory while my toon is still going through the incantations of the first casting, and then I cast it again, directly on the off-hand weapon in my inventory (forgive me if I'm stating the obvious).
Quote: Posted 08/15/05 16:50:57 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din

Quote: Posted 08/15/05 16:22:11 (GMT) -- Emrill

Don't spells like magic weapon and darkfire only affect your main hand weapon though? I could be wrong.

When you cast the spells, yes. However, you just need to switch your offhand weapon to the mainhand and cast the spells again. Voila! All buffs applying to both mainhand and offhand.

You can also just open your inventory and cast the spells directly on your offhand weapon.

Steve Ok, that's what I thought about those spells. I guess if I were to build I would go the greatsword route myself, but I do like the build concept though hence my interest in it.
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