Playable 1 - 40 PvM

In troll dens and ogre camps, scarred brutes gather near campfires in the dark nights of winter to share tales of adventures past. Many of these tales feature beautiful human women who cut down troll and ogre comrades with flashing swords or strumming longbows, both weapons wielded with equal deadly efficiency.
When the sun goes abed early and the cold winds blow daggers of ice through skin and cloak, bandits and ne'er-do-wells muster together in dim, smoky taverns to retell of past encounters. Many of their stories have skirmishes with the same ferocious sword-wielding and bow-wielding women.
Across the lands, all who follow dark paths lower their voices and look about cautiously when speaking of the terrifying Swordmaidens of Torm...

The idea behind this build was to put together a solid sword-wielder who could also wield a bow with skill. Although some may say an Elf would make a better sword & bow fighter, I wanted to stay close to the idea of the Norse Valkyrie so I chose Human.

This character is not only a strong straightforward fighter, but she has a few tricks up her sleeves:

Customizations one could make are to move points from Strength to Charisma, permitting some Bardic spellcasting as well as improving some CoT abilities. And of course, one could shuffle points between Strength and Dexterity as they like, to improve one attack over the other. I opted to focus on Strength and swordfighting, and make archery secondary. (Although one idea I had was to go Dex-based to empower the archery skills, and use Weapon Master levels to boost the Longsword attack. Perhaps that build will come another day...)

Suggestions, questions, and criticisms welcome.

Thanks,
Kaliban.


Classes: Fighter 8/Bard 8/CoT 24
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral

Stats (Raise Dex at 11, 39, 40. All other raises go to Str)
(start/finish)
Str 16/28
Dex 15/18
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 8
Cha 8

1 Ftr 1 WF: Longbow, WF: Longsword, LoH
2 Bard 1
3 Ftr 2 Blind Fight, *Knockdown
4 Ftr 3
5 Ftr 4 * WS: Longsword
6 Ftr 5 Point Blank Shot
7 Bard 2
8 Ftr 6 *WS: Longbow
9 Ftr 7 Rapid Shot
10 Ftr 8 * Imp. Knockdown
11 CoT 1
12 Bard 3 Curse Song
13 CoT 2 * Imp. Crit: Longsword
14 CoT 3
15 CoT 4 Toughness, * Imp. Crit: Longbow
16 CoT 5
17 Bard 4
18 CoT 6 Called Shot, * Power Attack
19 CoT 7
20 CoT 8 * Imp. Power Attack

21 CoT 9 EWF: Longsword
22 Bard 5
23 CoT 10 * EWS: Longsword
24 CoT 11 EWF: Longbow
25 CoT 12
26 CoT 13
27 Bard 6 Great Str I
28 CoT 14 * EWS: Longbow
29 CoT 15
30 CoT 16 Great Str II
31 CoT 17
32 Bard 7
33 CoT 18 Great Str III, * Epic Prowess
34 CoT 19
35 CoT 20
36 CoT 21 Great Str IV
37 CoT 22 * Armor Skin
38 CoT 23
39 Bard 8 Great Dex I
40 CoT 24

AC Naked: 24, Plate & Tower: 32, Max HP 474, BA 29
AB (Mundane Longsword): 42/37/32/27
AB (Longbow): 36/31/26/21
Saves: Fort 38/Reflex 39/Will 30
Skills: Max Tumble, UMD, Disc, Conc, Taunt, Perform 17
Bard Song: +2 Attack, +2 Dmg, +1 All Saves, +8 HP, +1 Skill Bonus
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What I'm reading now:
The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer.

Edited By griphook on 10/27/05 23:27

I (heart) this build

But I would prefer taking a couple points from STR and adding to CHA. Very nice I like this build too, I think it's got a lot of potential for online party play where survivable melees with a side of support are always useful.

I'm not sure the ranged weapon flexibility does anything for me... you are spending a number of feats on it but in most situations I think this character would rather be in melee anyway - if not to take advantage of the higher AB, then in online situations where you'll want to be keeping bad guys off your squishies.
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Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Quote: Posted 10/15/05 04:38:49 (GMT) -- Kaliban99

I wanted to stay close to the idea of the Norse Valkyrie so I chose Human.

Kaliban, Kaliban, Kaliban!

Some new deviltry is afoot here. See my PM for details.

Nice build, too.
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE! Deviltry?

Who, me? Never!


Thanks for the kind words!
Kaliban
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What I'm reading now:
The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer. Nice build Kal. I like the focus in a ranged and melee weapon, actually. One could easily collect DEX-boosting gear to swap with STR-boosting gear as the situation warrants and maintain a good ranged attack.

Oddly, this build is reminiscent of something I've seen recently. Can't quite put my finger on it...
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Wave upon wave of demented avengers marched cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream...
Quote: Posted 10/15/05 22:13:46 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din

Nice build Kal. I like the focus in a ranged and melee weapon, actually. One could easily collect DEX-boosting gear to swap with STR-boosting gear as the situation warrants and maintain a good ranged attack.

Oddly, this build is reminiscent of something I've seen recently. Can't quite put my finger on it...

Hehe, what could you possibly mean?! Looks innocent and bats eyelashes

Good point on collecting specific Str or Dex gear. Thanks for the kind words.



Quote: Posted 10/15/05 18:01:22 (GMT) -- Xylophone

I like this build too, I think it's got a lot of potential for online party play where survivable melees with a side of support are always useful.

I'm not sure the ranged weapon flexibility does anything for me... you are spending a number of feats on it but in most situations I think this character would rather be in melee anyway - if not to take advantage of the higher AB, then in online situations where you'll want to be keeping bad guys off your squishies.

You're right that most players would choose to emphasize one attack over the other. This is admittedly an RP-ish build (Shh! Don't report me! ).

However; instead of the archery feats one could easily choose a second weapon to specialize in. For example, if one wanted to beat the unholy snot out of the undead, you could take Wpn Focus, Wpn Spec, Epic Wpn Focus & Epic Wpn Spec in Heavy Flail and know that you have equal aptitude using either weapon (longsword or heavy flail).

Or, with some feat-juggling, you could take Exotic Weapons Proficiency, the 3 Dual Wielding feats, and then specialize in Katana and Dire Mace. For example:

Luck of Heroes -> Exotic Weapons Proficiency
PBS, Rapid Shot and Called Shot -> Ambi, TWF, Imp. TWF

That would make for one competent warrior, able to use any and all weapons.

Kaliban.
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What I'm reading now:
The White Spider by Heinrich Harrer.

Edited By Kaliban99 on 10/17/05 02:32