I play on a PW where mobs have relatively high AB, but relatively low AC. I wanted to design a build that would have very good full-time ac. That is, good AC without using limited abilities or spells. At the same time, I wanted enough damage to beat mobs' regen. I also hoped to have flexibility to do more damage or take more damage, as the situation warrants. Thus was born the Dwarven Brick. Like a brick, he is small, but very solid. Extremely tough, but with several sharp, pointy corners. He can be a wall, or he can be a weapon.
Dwarven Brick Playable level 1-40, PvM Any Lawful alignment
Dwarf: (Darkvision, Defensive Training vs. Giants, Stonecunning, Hardiness vs. Poison, Hardiness vs. Spells, Offensive Training vs. Goblinoids, Offensive Training vs. Orcs, Skill Affinity: Lore)
The Brick ends up with 18/- damage reduction, along with a long list of bonus tricks: Monk AC Bonus, Cleave, Evasion, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Flurry of Blows, Deflect Arrows, Monk Endurance, Still Mind, Purity of Body, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Wholeness of Body, Hide in Plain Sight, Defensive Stance (12/day), Defensive Awareness III, Improved Evasion, Shadow Daze, Summon Shadow, Shadow Evade, Defensive Roll, Uncanny Dodge II
With the monk attack schedule, along with flurry of blows or Improved Power Attack, he can put out usable damage with a Kama.
I considered rearranging things to get the additional 9 DR from feats, but I had to sacrifice far too much to get them.
In a world with +5 items available, he has 68 AC with haste. Defensive stance raises that to 72, or Improved Expertise raises it to 78. His AB with a +5 kama and full dex bonus is 51. On my PW, that's enough to use IPA or IE and still land at least 75% of hits.
His saves are decent, but they rely on stat gear and +resist gear to be truly good (both of which are available).
Epic Toughness can (and probably should/will) be traded for an Energy Resistance feat that fits well with the Brick's environment and/or gear bonuses. If needed, Epic Prowess could be traded also.
I welcome any questions, comments, or suggestions.
Edited By Cinnabar Din on 02/25/08 04:40
Conceptually, it is a good build. The DD cannot take Tumble except by cross-class, though (according to the grimoire, anyway) and so you'd have to move your last monk feat back to level 37, which may make playability an issue til then.
I haven't taken the time to count your skill points but your allocation seems high. DD get 2/level, SDs get 6 per level, and monks get 4/level. Check that, it's where my builds usually fail.
Level One Monk: 4 * (4+2) = 24 Intelligence: 2*39 = 78 Monk 8: 8*4 = 32 DD 26: 26*2 = 52 SD 5: 5*6 = 30
Equals 216, so you are right. And now that I look at it, you have allocated a lot of skill to lore and heal, useless skills imho. Aren't there any skills you need otherwise? Concentration helps you resist taunt. That could be useful for your build.
Quote: Posted 08/24/05 21:26:32 (GMT) -- Ithacan
Conceptually, it is a good build. The DD cannot take Tumble except by cross-class, though (according to the grimoire, anyway) and so you'd have to move your last monk feat back to level 37, which may make playability an issue til then.
Shadowdancer at 37 gives him 40 tumble with no cross classing.
Quote: Equals 216, so you are right. And now that I look at it, you have allocated a lot of skill to lore and heal, useless skills imho. Aren't there any skills you need otherwise? Concentration helps you resist taunt. That could be useful for your build.
On my PW, heal potions are pretty rare, but healing kits are common. Hence the heal. It can be done without, though, if there's something else I need more... I just don't know what. I've yet to see a taunting mob on the PW. I picked lore simply because I like being able to identify stuff, but again I could and would drop it if something better were available.
As Lego said, SD gives me the tumble.
Sovran, what PW do you play? (Just curious) _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
SovranSpecific,
Nice build. It's very similar to a build I posted a while back. However my build goes for Dual-Wielding. I'll post my build again here -- not to steal your thunder, but to show you what I did with the very same classes:
AC 32 HP 470 BA 27 AB: 40/37/34/31/28/25 & 40/37 Saves: Fort 25/Reflex 32/Will 22 Skills: Max: Disc, Tumble, Hide, Move Silently, +10 left over _________________ "Where there is life, there is hope." - Grover
Edited By Kaliban99 on 08/25/05 03:12
I dub thee Kaliban Thunderstealer!
I thought I had seen a M9/SD5/DwD26 before, and when I did a search, I came up empty. I think it is because the Search Engine uses the Index page, which is only updated 1/month. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
I thought I had seen a M9/SD5/DwD26 before, and when I did a search, I came up empty. I think it is because the Search Engine uses the Index page, which is only updated 1/month.
Kaliban Thunderstealer...hmmm.. well, it sounds better than Kaliban Thunderarse!
I, too, did the search, thinking I could politely insert a link to my build for comparison, but since I couldn't find it I decided to post my entire build.
Apologies to SovranSpecific!
Kaliban.
PS - Found my build post with discussion: Tempered Steel _________________ "Where there is life, there is hope." - Grover
Edited By Kaliban99 on 08/25/05 04:07
D'oh! I did a search, too, to see if there was anything very similar, but I didn't think to look through the recent non-indexed builds. I normally watch those anyway, but must have missed one.
It looks like you chose the two-weapon feats essentially in place of power attack and expertise feats. I thought about that, but PA and Exp are both very helpful on my PW (World of Amon, btw, a great PW imho). With the low AC mobs, I can still dual-weild if I find that my damage isn't reduced by the AB penalties, and I can use power attack with one hand to make up the damage difference if AB does matter.
Your choice is probably better for a general build not tailored to a specific PW or environment.
Sorry to try to steal thunder you'd already claimed, but I truly did come up with this one from scratch. Great minds think alike.
Edited By SovranSpecific on 08/25/05 14:21
Quote: grizzled_dwarflord I thought I had seen a M9/SD5/DwD26 before, and when I did a search, I came up empty. I think it is because the Search Engine uses the Index page, which is only updated 1/month.
D'oh! I did a search, too, to see if there was anything very similar, but I didn't think to look through the recent non-indexed builds. I normally watch those anyway, but must have missed one.
It looks like you chose the two-weapon feats essentially in place of power attack and expertise feats. I thought about that, but PA and Exp are both very helpful on my PW (World of Amon, btw, a great PW imho). With the low AC mobs, I can still dual-weild if I find that my damage isn't reduced by the AB penalties, and I can use power attack with one hand to make up the damage difference if AB does matter.
I've stomped around on Amon. It's a great PW for either RPers or PGers. The quests are amazing in their number and complexity.
Kaliban. _________________ "Where there is life, there is hope." - Grover
Quote: Posted 08/25/05 14:48:13 (GMT) -- griphook
Quote: grizzled_dwarflord I thought I had seen a M9/SD5/DwD26 before, and when I did a search, I came up empty. I think it is because the Search Engine uses the Index page, which is only updated 1/month.
only 1/month..ONLY 1/MONTH ..ONLY 1/MONTH
sheesh ..what you want Guy's'n'Gals....BLOOD
Gee, it'd be a shame if at the next update to the Build Index list, all of Grizz's build somehow disappeared.... _________________ "Where there is life, there is hope." - Grover
SovranSpecific,
