It hadn't been easy. Karrick Fellbeard was outcast and ridiculed. The Clanfathers thought him slightly mad. Even his parents and siblings had their doubts; he could see it in their troubled expressions,the pitying looks when they thought he wouldn't notice.
"Why does a Guardian of the Forge need to consort with the Eldritch Masters?" they'd ask. He shrugged and said nothing.
Despite that, he persevered, training daily in the Battle Halls, and studying with the mages at night. Days passed with sore muscles, bruises, and stitches reminding him of the day's battle training as he strained his eyes over dusty tomes and parchments by the light of a smoky, guttering candle at night. The days turned to weeks, and the weeks to months.
Still the Clanfathers muttered into their beards of the 'Mad Guardian' and the other Dwarves shook their heads or shared a jest over an ale at his expense. "Spellbeard", they called him. He bore it all in silence.
And then the day came when a call to arms echoed down the stone corridors and reverberated through the meeting halls. Attack!
It had been an uneasy truce and now it was war. Rumors had been heard of an alliance between the rival clans and the foul creatures of the dark, and now they were proven true. Dark elves and Dwarves in an unprecedented alliance, and now assaulting the Clanhold.
He donned his armor as quickly as he was able, grabbed his shield and took up his battleaxe. Before heading out into the confusion of the halls, he began chanting incantations. He could feel power coursing into him, his body energized. He turned his attention to his axe, chanting arcane spells, and caressing its edge. Soon the blade shone like the full moon and fire ran along its rim.
A passing Guardsman noticed him and turned, shouting "By the Gods, what be ye doing, lad? Get yerself out here and help. There be battle!" then rushed off down the corridor, chewing curses.
He was prepared. He followed the Guardsman, but something made him pause. An intuition perhaps, or a flash of inspiration. In an instant, he turned and went the other way, making for the mines. He knew, he knew they'd be coming that way. This frontal assault had no hope of success. He knew it was a feint.
The main tunnel was wide, but the doors were thick stone and solid. They were barricaded. No worries about invasion this way. But there was a narrow side tunnel,used now for storage and ventilation, but seldom travelled. He stopped, listening. Yes! He could hear them coming.
Abruptly, they were there. Dwarves and Drow, a small group of them. They stopped short, surprised. In that moment of hesitation, he bagan to move his hands, chanting an incantation. In seconds his body was encased in an acidic mist.
The leading Elf let out a low chuckle. "Well look, a lone Dwarf. It appears you've no friends, Dwarf. A pity. There'll be none to mourn you."
He set his feet, grinned, and said, "Ye'll pass through here when ye learn to eat stone, drow. Come ahead and let me axe taste yer blood. She's sharp, hot, and thirsty."
The Elf let out a shout and the group charged. Blades flashed, blood flowed, screams resounded through the passage. Incantations and spells were cast, but still he stood as if rooted to the stone.
Eventually, the Guardsmen found him. The bodies were piled high, almost choking the small passage. He stood among the them, covered in blood, a vision of death itself. At the shocked looks on the Guardsmen's faces, he laughed, exhausted. "Hah, don't look so worried. Most of it ain't mine", he said.
In the years that followed, the legend of Karrick Fellbeard grew. Rumor had it he'd singlehandedly taken on an entire Drow army and his axe could cut through stone like rotten fruit. Whatever the truth of it was, none disputed he'd saved the Clanhold and the word 'Spellbeard' soon became a term of respect.
I was actually very surprised to see there isn't a single posted build with this class combination. Granted, I've not played it, but it looks like it would pretty darned effective to me. Anyway, here's the Mystic Wall:
FTR 10/WIZ 12/DwD 18
Dwarf, any Lawful
Should easily be playable 1 to 40, PvM.
STR 15 (26) DEX 14 CON 18 (22) INT 14 (16) WIS 8 CHA 6
21)FTR8: EWF/ EWS 22)WIZ5: GRT INT I (15) 23)DwD10 24)WIZ6: Epic Prowess/ CON (19) 25)WIZ7 26)WIZ8 27)WIZ9: GRT CON I (20) 28)WIZ10: GRT INT II (16)/ STR (21) 29)WIZ11 30)DwD11: GRT STR II (22) 31)DwD12 32)DwD13: CON (21) 33)DwD14: GRT CON I (22)/ DR I 34)DwD15 35)DwD16 36)DwD17: GRT STR III (23)/ STR (24) 37)DwD18 DR II 38)FTR9 39)WIZ12: GRT STR IV (25) 40)FTR10: DR III/ STR (26)
Spellcasting: Up to level 6 spells (level 5 Stilled). My recommendation is specializing in Illusion for the extra spell per day at the cost of only the Enchantment line (your spells are pretty much strictly for defense, so the loss of the Enchantment line is no big sacrifice). By doing this, you get:
21/- Damage Reduction Defensive spells Self buffing Decent AB Good saves vs spells A bucket of HPs Defensive Stance 8x/day 4 attacks (5 Hasted) Dwarf
What's not to like? _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Edited By griphook on 10/28/05 19:19
I don't know what I like better...the story or the build!
Awesome work Cin!
Edit: I would probably ditch reflexes for exotic weapons feat, but that's just personal taste. I love me Dwarven War Axes!
Edited By Talamier on 09/16/05 00:12
Quote: Posted 09/16/05 00:10:39 (GMT) -- Talamier
I don't know what I like better...the story or the build!
Awesome work Cin!
Thanks!
Quote: Edit: I would probably ditch reflexes for exotic weapons feat, but that's just personal taste. I love me Dwarven War Axes!
Aye, I thought about it. Doesn't seem right for a DwD to not use a Dwarven Waraxe, but in the end Lightning Reflexes just managed to nudge that base save into the 20s and I couldn't resist. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Great story and great build Cinn!
I don't know what your wife is feeding you this week to inspire all these builds, but be sure she keeps it up!
While reviewing your build, I was thinking it'd be really cool for your Mystic Wall to wield a Double-Bladed Sword. Make it so!
Kaliban _________________ This space for rent
nifty. i have been debating on making adwarven spellsword, but you beat me to it again! i have to move quicker i guess. after hearing spellbeard though, i think that should have been the name of this build. i laughed and enjoyed the story. nifty. i can already hear the spellbeards calling to war...
-c _________________ "Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things." - Miyamoto Musashi
Rock-solid. I, too, am surprised that no one has thought of this before. It would seem that he/she would be highly effective in solo/duo PvM.
It behooves me to mention that the name 'Spellbeard' was Grizzled_Dwarflord's creation, not mine.
Sorry I didn't put that in the text Grizz. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
I'd get more wiz levels if I were to make this build.
Go 10 fighter/16 wiz/dwd 14
lose 3 dr and one dd feat, but gains one wiz feat. Losing 1-2 ab from str loss to get int up to cast. (you can grab 2 bab anyways by not taking any wizard pre-epic too if you want to make up the difference).
lvl 7 and lvl 8 spells can really help out a spellsword.
premonition, shadowshield, mind blank, (protection from spells if not illusionist) are useful, also gmw will be maxed with 15 wiz levels.
Plus with 12 wiz levels the durations on your spells is very short, especially for damage shields, which you'll probably want to use a lot with this guy.
I'd get more wiz levels if I were to make this build.
Go 10 fighter/16 wiz/dwd 14
Yeah, there are a ton of ways to build a spellsword. I chose to go the way I did for a couple reasons (explained below).
Quote: lose 3 dr and one dd feat, but gains one wiz feat. Losing 1-2 ab from str loss to get int up to cast. (you can grab 2 bab anyways by not taking any wizard pre-epic too if you want to make up the difference).
I wouldn't want to trade the 6 points of DR and the bonus feat for more WIZ, for one thing. My personal preference is to have at least 21/- DR in a DwD build, or there's very little point in going for them (that's just my personal cut-off) and more if I can work it in.
I really don't like saving the WIZ levels until epic, as that kind of defeats the purpose. 4 pre-epic WIZ levels is the very minimum I like to do (and I did it in this particular build in order to get that level 5 WIZ bonus feat in epic for GRT INT).
Also, this isn't intended as a caster build that fights a bit. It's meant as a fighting build that can cast to help himself buff and for a bit of protection.
Quote: lvl 7 and lvl 8 spells can really help out a spellsword.
They can, but I chose to stop at level 6 spells (had to draw the line somewhere and the only one I'd really like to have that I don't get is Shadow Shield).
Quote: premonition, shadowshield, mind blank, (protection from spells if not illusionist) are useful, also gmw will be maxed with 15 wiz levels.
Like I said, Shadow Shield is the only one I'd really miss. The immunity to Death Magic and negative effects is damned nice. However, an ammy of Health has the same effect (if you can get it). Otherwise a high Fort vs spells is a bit of a fall-back plan and you also have Lesser Spell Mantles to absorb spells.
Premonition, while a good damage soaker, wouldn't be picked up until late in the character's career, by which time (unless you're in an extremely low magic environment) your opponents are probably going to bypass the DR with +5 or better weapons anyway. And you have Grtr Stoneskin as an option if your opponents can't bypass the +5 DR limit. Couple that with your DwD DR and you'll take very little damage.
GMW is in the same boat: unless the environment is extremely low magic, you'll probably have a +5 weapon anyway.
Mind Blank can be compensated for with PfE/PfG, Clarity, and Lesser Mind Blank (granted they're all single target, but when you're adventuring in a party, you prepare your spellbook accordingly).
Quote: Plus with 12 wiz levels the durations on your spells is very short, especially for damage shields, which you'll probably want to use a lot with this guy.
Durations are fine for hour/level and turn/level spells. For the round/level spells, that's why you have your Concentration maxed: to recast them in battles (although 12 rounds is generally long enough to get you to the endgame of most battles). And your short duration shields are things like Lesser Spell Mantle and Globes vs casters (and you're not going to get into a spell-slinging contest with them, you're going to go after their butts). For battles vs melee opponents, you're using the reciprocal damage spells. 12 rounds is plenty if they're actually beating on you.
As I said, you could definitely go other ways with the spellsword template. However the point behind this build was a DwD that had some spells to help him out. Having more WIZ levels than DwD levels wouldn't fit the vision.
Thanks for the input, though. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Edited By Cinnabar Din on 09/16/05 19:24
This build is totally sweet! But I think you missed a feat. At level 9 it looks like you took fighter level 6 and lightning reflexes as your general level 9 feat, wouldn't you also have a fighter bonuses feat at this level?
You're right. Supposed to Improved KD there. Thanks! _________________ Wave upon wave of demented avengers marched cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream...
An offering on the altar of the Edit Gods is due
MMmmm ..Fresh Troll liver...yummy ...OK Edited
Nice build with a nice balance between offense, defense, and support magic. I support the level split as-is, it just "clicks." I think this build's best spells would be the return-damage shields, with that hefty dose of DR your enemies could easily kill themselves by attacking you ineffectively.
You have a talent for making creative, versatile and effective builds, Cinn, and you're on a roll lately. Keep up the good work _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
I think this defender is one of a kind. Simply amazing!
Kudos again Cinn!
Thanks guys. Yeah, this one turned out okay. _________________ Wave upon wave of demented avengers marched cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream...
MMmmm ..Fresh Troll liver...yummy ...OK Edited