This is such a horrible build, I shudder to post it....

It started out, simply enough, as a project for a tutor; a bug collection. Perhaps it was the droning lecture as he pinned his bugs upon the board that drove him to his madness; perhaps he was born that way. But whatever the reason, shortly thereafter, he moved from impaling bugs to impaling anything he came across. Sloths, Fruit Bats, Breakfast cereals...all were fair game in his impaling fetish.

And with so much death dealt by his unfortunate obsession, it wasn't all that surprising when he began to take an unhealthy interest in the undead. Often impaling them just as quickly as he could create them; all the while whistling an off-key tune. A tragic tale, indeed.


Vlaahd the Impaler - Bard 16 / Weaponmaster 8 / Palemaster 16
(With apologies to Vlad Dracul (1390? - 1447))

Playable 1-40 PvM
Human - non Good

Str 16 (26)
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 12 (13)
Wis 8
Cha 14

1 Bard - Dodge, Mobility
2 Bard
3 Bard - Weapon Focus-Spear
4 Bard - [Int 13]
5 Bard
6 Bard - Expertise
7 Bard
8 Bard - [St 17]
9 Bard - Spring Attack
10 Bard
11 Bard
12 Bard - Whirlwind Attack - [St 18]
13 WM
14 WM
15WM - Improved Critical-Spear
16WM - [St 19]
17WM
18 WM - Power Attack
19 WM
20 WM - [St 20]

21 PM - Cleave
22 PM
23 PM
24 PM - Greater Cleave - [St 21]
25 PM
26 PM
27 PM - Epic Weapon Focus-Spear
28 PM - [St 22]
29 PM
30 PM - Great Strength 1 [St 23]
31 Bard
32 PM - [St 24]
33 PM - Overwhelming Critical-Spear
34 Bard
35 PM - Epic PM Feat (?)
36 PM - Devastating Critical-Spear - [St 25]
37 PM
38 PM - Epic PM Feat (Epic Warding)
39 Bard - Epic Prowess
40 Bard - [St 26]

AB 41 (45 with Bard song and a good Bulls strength roll)

AC 35 (53 with Bard song, Mage Armor, Expertise and Haste)

HP 277 (random rolls)

Fort 17
Reflex 26
Will 19

Skills: Tumble, Discipline, Spellcraft, Perform and UMD are the only ones I was concerned about (other than the 4 in Intimidate for WeaponMaster). The rest could be spread out in other usefull areas like Spot, Search, Taunt, etc.

Notes about this travesty of a build: One of the PW I frequent has Dev Crit enabled and has a little bit of PvP. With that in mind, I was trying to create a build that would get Dev Crit, yet be immune to it. This is the unfortunate result. I'm really not too impressed with it as it is feat-starved to say the least and doesn't really mature until pretty late in life (if at all). Also, with only 14 in Charisma, you don't get the 5th level Bard spells that you would normally have access to at level 34. I guess you could switch a strength stat bump for a Charisma bump instead, but this build really needs strength as it isn't getting damage any other way (apart from Crits).

If you weren't concerned about getting Dev Crit, you could switch out the PowerAttack, Cleave, Greater Cleave, Overwhelming Crit, and Dev Crit feats for something actually usefull. Perhaps Knockdown, Toughness, Blindfighting, Curse Song, etc.

I was hesitant to post this build due to its many flaws, but as there weren't many like it I figured that maybe someone might be able to tweak it into something worthwile.

All things considered, though, I was able to take this build up to level 30 and armed only with a +3 spear and wearing +3 Chainmail, take out a level 40 fighter in the Novice to Epic mod. I don't know if that is particularly good or not, I'll let others more knowledgeable than I be the judge of that.

Cheers.

Edited By griphook on 10/30/05 23:33

Seeing as you do not have the CHA for higher level bard spells, maybe you would be better suited with a 14 bard/7 WM/19 PM split. You get nothing when you go from 7-8 WM except for hitpoints and saves (and 1 ABif it is pre-epic). This would give you a maxed bard song, all the good benefits from WM, and stronger palemaster abilitied as well as another bonus feat.
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Click Here I thought the exta 2 AC came at PM level 20? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I suppose I could go 12 Bard / 1 Palemaster / 7 WeaponMaster pre-epic. Then take 19 Palemaster and 1 Bard at level 40 in Epic for my point dump.

I would lose 1 AB, and my discipline would be hurting from levels 20 - 39 but I guess I would have a stronger undead companion to hang with.

Good stuff. Thanks for the input.

Edited By dmuzzy on 09/07/05 17:57

Quote: Posted 09/07/05 17:55:40 (GMT) -- dmuzzy

I thought the exta 2 AC came at PM level 20? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

As far as I can tell, the only Pale Master ability that would increase would be Summon Greater Undead, which would go from a Ghoul King to a Vampire Mage. But, the extra epic feat is definitely a big plus. You could pick up another Epic Spell then if you wanted, like Epic Mage Armor.

Steve