This is a build that i have been mulling over. not terribly powerful, but kinda fun to play through in most mods. easy to level and easy to play. oh, and the name is supposed to be a joke. an order of knights wielding tiny dagger-sized weapons seemed funny at the time.
Ranger 17, Paladin 18, HS 5 Human playable 1-40, PvM
STR 15 to 26 DEX 12 CON 14 to 16 INT 14 WIS 14 CHA 8 to 10
21)HS1 Great Cha I, EWF: Kukri 22)HS2 23)Paladin11 24)Ranger11 Great Str I 25)Paladin12 26)Ranger12 27)HS2 Epic Prowess 28)Paladin13 29)Ranger13 30)Paladin14 Great Con I 31)Ranger14 32)HS3 33)Paladin15 Great Con II 34)Ranger15 35)Paladin16 36)Ranger16 Armor Skin 37)HS5 Great Cha II 38)Paldin17 39)Paladin18 Epic Will 40)Ranger17
for FE's i would choose, in order, Undead, Elementals, Outsiders, Constructs.
for skills, i recommend putting the same number of points into craft trap as in set trap, so that you can use what you can make (i think that is the craft difficulty, correct me if i am wrong). trap setting can be fun, and helpful to guard your back, or lay a retreat path, in a big fight. spellcraft, i would put whatever you can. the more the better. you could also put some points into hide/move silently, which with ranger spells can be functional. spot may also be handy, coupled with FE, alertness and wis bonus.
Saves: Fort 27 Will 21 Refl 20
you get a small spellcraft bonus depending on your other skill allocation. you get a +2 vs traps and +2 versus mind-affecting spells from Harper Scout, as well as a +2 to all saves. the Paladin levels, combined with stacking Eagle's Splendour and Aura of Glory, or just Cha equipment for a permanent boost, gives you +6 to all saves. that is an effective 35 Fort, 31 Will against spells, 30 Refl against traps, 28 Refl against spells when buffed with charisma spells and HS abilities factored in. That is pretty decent, especially since i had no intention of adjusting for better saves. alright for a melee char.
AB: 39/34/29/24 with any old stick lying around 40/35/30/25 & 40/35 with dual kukris 42/37/32/27 with a single kukri 36/31/26/21 buffed with a bow
can be easily boosted with ranger and paladin spells to high 40's.
Damage: 1-4+8(15-20/x2) & 1-4+4(15-20/x2)
only 4 less damage than using the traditional longsword, with a better crit range. could also use bastard sword or katana for single wielding if you like. scythe for damage. but that isn't in keeping with my concept of being able to dual wield if i want to. but whatever floats your boat.
AC: naked 21 buffed in Hide Armor 27 buffed in Hide Armor and Tower Shield 30 in Full Plate Armor 29 in Full Plate with Tower Shield 32
HP: 350 (Ranger and Paladin) + 30 (HS) + 120 Con + 40 Toughness = 540 max
some perks with this build include immunity to fear and disease, hide and move silently bonus in wilderness, harper knowledge, built in dual-wielding, animal companion (panther has nice sneak attack, dire wolf or brown bear for power and HPs), extra damage against crit immune monsters, lay on hands, turn undead and smite evil (when buffed). also, wisdom does double duty on the ranger and paladin spells.
Recommended Spells: Ranger 1 camoflage, ultravision, resist elem 2 cat's grace, one with land, protect from elem 3 aid/blade thirst/gmf 4 summon creature iv Paladin 1 deafening clang, bless, protection from alignment 2 bull's strength, eagle's splendour, aura of glory 3 prayer (gwm should be available as well, if you want to drop prayer slots) 4 holy sword
Overall, this isn't a terribly powerful character, but rather one with good RP possibilities and some nifty abilities. It is versatile and adaptable for a variety of environments. Just by changing skill allocation and using different spells and equipment this character can act as a frontline fighter, limited buffer, poor archer (creatures and cat's graces), limited rogue (invisibility, spells and skills adjusted) and mage hunter (changing FEs, with CHA boosting equipment), although this is intended as a warrior with some perks. I just found this a fun little build.
any improvements would be welcomed, but try to stay with the feel of the build if possible.
-c _________________ "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement."
Edited By griphook on 09/20/05 22:22
Baane! Get BoE!
Want me to show you how to get Bane in this build without losing ANYTHING? Watch: Start with STR 14 and CHA 10. This way you can use those advances in CHA for STR instaed, and free up you Great STR I feat for a trade in Bane of enemies. You might need to shuffle things a bit, but hey.
A sidenote. i don't really know the prereq's for Bane, but if it is ranger lev at least 20, you need to shuffle more.... My suggestion will still free a feat.
to get BoE i need to have 21 levels of ranger. not really possible with this build. you would lose paladin spells, which are better than the ranger spells.
starting with a higher CHA as you suggested requires another feat to be used to up strength since great cha is a HS bonus feats and great str is not an option for those feats. i don't think that idea is very good. it would require a lot more fiddling around, with no real purpose. one could start with a lower dex, and then use the HS bonus feats to get great dex instead of great cha, but this would only have a minor effect of slight playability differences during leveling until the end. i guess one could get epic will in the HS bonus slot, but that is only one feat freed. still don't see how that would work.
thanks for the suggestions. keep up the great and helpful comments!
-c _________________ "You cannot pass!"
If you went 21 Ranger/ 14 pally, you would have the pally spells but you will have a lot less of them so you'd need wisdom boosters to use them. If you did like the pally spells more than the Ranger, why didn't you just go Pally 20/Ranger 15?
because i like ranger the best. paladins are fine, but rangers are the true heroes. a pure class ranger, with good skill points and some planning, can achieve a very versatile role in a party. i just really like rangers. most of the fun of this build was using a ranger, but then getting the paladin spells as well. add in heavy armor proficiency class access to taunt and persaude and i was quite happy with the result. true, i could have used cleric, and gotten a wider variety of spells as well as heavey armor prof, but that build was already done by one better than i. also, this build features a lot of interesting and different playing options for an almost purely warrior build. Also, the ranger and paladin are the only based classes that come close to proper innate spellswords. limited spells castable in armor with full BAB progression and martial weapon prof.
but enough of my ranting. like i said, this is not a powerful build, and shifting around pally and ranger levels to get BoE and then wearing wis amulets would be a good idea for those aiming for greater umpf. in that case, i would also use something like a scimitar and stick in heavy armor. but that is what i liked about this build. it could easily be changed, even half way through building it, but become whatever you like.
if you think you have a better build, please post it, so taht others can see your great ideas. the more the merrier!
-c _________________ Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
Idea: make it a halfling
Cuteness factor x100
that is one of the perks of the Forest Order of the Tiny Blade - you can easily imagine a small creature or a large creature joining the ranks. the weapon need not be altered. just think of a poor halfling, trying to wield a longsword as a normal knight would, or even a small shortsword and shield.
Want me to show you how to get Bane in this build without losing ANYTHING?
that is one of the perks of the Forest Order of the Tiny Blade - you can easily imagine a small creature or a large creature joining the ranks. the weapon need not be altered. just think of a poor halfling, trying to wield a longsword as a normal knight would, or even a small shortsword and shield.