Tirelessly trashing baddies 1-40, PvM. Probably usable PvP late-build. ALIGNMENT SHIFT REQUIRED!
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Gunthar looked down upon himself. He was getting old, to old he had realized. No longer did he wield his sword with the same strength and vigour of his youth. Many a fiend and evils henchmen had his holy blade sent to Hell, no longer was he capable of that. His face was tired and wrinkled. No longer did he have the handsome face of youth. Many women had he shared the night with, and many people had he comforted. No longer was he capable of that. That was about to change. He sighed. How had it come to this point?

Once he had been one of the foremost crusaders in the struggle versus evil. Slowly but surely all the battles and his age took its toll. Soon he was defeated time and again. The evil villains didn’t even finish him off, rather left him in the dirt to realize his shortcomings. Shortly after his gravest defeat, a voice had started whispering in his ear. Promises of power. Promises of life eternal. He had easily resisted them at first, his faith in Tyr unwavering. But the voice became more insisting, and he knew it spoke the truth. His body became frailer and frailer, weaker and weaker. His life was nearing its end. At last he was too tempted, he made contact.

A Pit Fiend of immense power from the deepest layer of Hells had called him to a dark temple. His face showed no emotions in face of the Demon, nor no fear. “I knew you would come to your senses, hero.” The fiend said, sarcasm shining through at the end. ”before you start talking crap, scum, tell me the prize of eternal life, the prize of my strength returned?” Gunthar stated bluntly, not caring for word games. ”Not much really, I love getting another death-knight into the world.” he grinned, a row of huge sharp teeth showing. ”But of course, I must ask a small favour. I find that reasonable for the gift I am to bestow you.”. The old paladin gave no reply, he just stood there. He stared the devil straight in the eyes. The Pit Fiend looked down upon him. It was a defeated man he saw. A former beacon of light on the doorstep of loosing everything he had held dear. The promise of Death does that to humans, he mused. Makes them ready to agree to most everything. This old man would be his best work, he thought, pleased with himself. A chosen of Tyr, who had brought much light into the world, now ready to join him and defeat that light. Oh yes, all those years of temptation, of subtle images, of power to be held. It was well worth it. Gunthar just stood there, silent, waiting for the Fiend to state his favour. The devil grinned again ”Go to your temple, talk to the high priest alone, and kill him. Return to me, and I will fulfill my promise to you. “
Gunthar lowered his head. He shook his head, and he was clearly trembling. He seemed to be struggling with his inner self for awhile, but in the end he just turned and left the temple.

After a couple of days he came back, and stood before the devil. His face seemed even older, and he had some kind of eternal sadness in his eyes. ”Done.” the paladin said ”now it’s your turn.”
”Not so fast, I need to see it myself.” He started chanting over a scrying pool, and soon an image came up. It clearly showed the priest lying in a coffin. All around him were his followers, praying and weeping. He stretched his will through the portal. The body truly was dead, he felt no signs of life at all. He even felt the true sorrow of his followers. He was pleased. One last test, he thought, just to be completely sure. He tried to detect goodness in the man. Nothing. Not a single trace. He was amazed with himself. ”Finally I have defeated you…. he whispered to himself. ”Take off your armour and all your clothes and equipment, lay down on my altar. Soon you will be more powerful than ever before." the Pit fiend boomed. Gunthar did as he said. The Hell-lord drew arcane symbols on his body, and after a while started his ceremony. Gunthar felt life slowly draining from his body, all the while he was awake. After what seemed like hours, the pain in his body became almost unbearable, but he held fast, never screaming, never fainting. Then abruptly, it all stopped. He opened his eyes, and sat up.

His eyesight was back to what it had been again. He looked down his body. It looked just as old and frail, but he was stronger than in many years, perhaps stronger than ever. Another change he felt was that he held magic powers at his finger tips. Having fought many a Death knight he kind of suspected that. He walked towards the devils two imp helpers. ”just need to test something, master.” he said. He stretched out his left arm, and the realized it was bone. Another little quirk, he realized. Oh well, it felt just as strong, so no matter. He started to chant, and seconds later a cone of cold burst from his hand, freezing the fire imps in an instant. He smiled.
”I can do without those imps, but don’t do it again, hero.” again the sarcasm. This would be a great ruler of his old protectorate. Together they would assault the temple of Tyr first. It would be ironic enough he reasoned.

Gunthar approached his old blade. A holy sword. He stretched out his hand to grab it. ”Don’t!! The blade burns evil hands who tries to h…..!” the devil stared in amazement. Gunthar held the Holy Avenger firmly in his hand, smiling at the Fiend. He spoke a word to Tyr, and Smote the devil in the gut. His eyes wide with confusion. ” But how, I saw the dead body. You should not be good.”
The devil was stuttering, his body fading away to Hell. In a few seconds he would be gone. ”Heard of the spell Feign Death? The priest were never dead, fool. And he also protected me from your pitiful spell to see my goodness.” Then the Devil was gone, banished to hell for at least the next 100 years. He would come back for revenge, the now undead paladin knew, and then he would follow him in to hell and end his existence forever.

He couldn’t hide his amusement. He had been old, he was about to die. Evil could finally have been rid of him. The foolish devil had been thoroughly played in his own game. Now he would be a Crusader against evil for all eternity.
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An undead Paladin. There exists 1 other build with these classes, but it is a sorcerer/PM with 1 pal lvl for saves.

Human, LG, must change to LN between 19 and 22. And back at before 40. If you can only change once, go 20 PAL straight away.

Starting

Str 14(28)
Dex 8
Con 12
Wis 14
Int 12
Cha 16


Leveling

1:Pal: WF:Longsword; Knockdown
2:Pal:
3:Pal: Power attack(for divine shield)
4:Pal: STR(15)
5:Pal:
6:Pal: Divine shield
7:Pal:
8:Pal: STR(16)
9:Pal: ImpCrit:Longsword
10:Pal:
11:Pal:
12:Pal: Blindfight; STR(17)
13:Pal:
14:Pal:
15:Pal:Extra turning
16:Pal: STR(18)
17:Pal:
18:Pal: Still spell
19:Pal19:
20:Sorc: STR(19)
21:Sorc: EWF:Longsword
22:Sorc3:
23:PM:
24:PM: Epic Prowess; STR(20)
25:PM:
26:PM:
27:PM: Armor skin
28:PM: STR(21)
29:PM:
30:PM: GrSTR I(22)
31:PM:
32:PM10: STR(23)
33:Sorc4: GrSTR II(24)
34:Sorc:
35:Sorc:
36:Sorc: GrSTR III(26); STR(25)
37:Sorc:
38:Sorc:
39:Sorc10: GrSTR IV(27)
40:Pal20: STR(28)


Skills
Concentration 43(44)
Discipline 43(52)
Taunt 43(46)
Tumble 20
left over 3

HP: 358 ( )


AC naked
21, FP+tower 32. The divine shield max +9, Cats grace +2, mage armor+4, Haste +4 and a few other spells.

AB mundane longsword
+42/+37/+32/+27, add holy sword +5, Bless +1, divine favour +5, Aid +1, prayer +1, Bulls STR +1-2, haste. Total +57/+52/+47/+42/+57. Maximum +68/+63/+58/+53/+68 with max STR, true strike and haste.

Damage mundane longsword
1d8+9(17-20/x2) Add keen edge(15-20/x2), holy sword+5 and 1d6 divine, divine favour+5magic, Bulls +2, Flame weapon 1d6+5fire.

Saves ..start/end
Fort 6/25
Reflex 2/18
Will 5/23 these are quite pitiful, but you can get loads of immunities, and also have a few from PM levels. and they can be raised by raising CHA.

Spell slots Paladin 1 to 4
4/4/3/3

Spell slots sorcerer 0-6./known 0-6
6/7/7/7/6/6/6* -/ 7/5/4/3/2/1/0
*Can only be used for stilled lvl 5 spell.

Suggested spells Paladin
1: Bless, Divine favour
2: Aid, Aura of glory, Bulls, Eagles
3:Magic circle ag align, Prayer
4: Death Ward, Freedom, Holy sword

Suggested spells Sorcerer.
0: only two usable IMO, light and Resistance.
1: Mage armour, Identify, shield, True Strike
2: Many useful, choose from environment. Cats Grace, Darkness, Death armour, Endurance, Flame Weapon, Invisibilty, Ultravision
3: Clarity, Haste, Keen Edge, Vampiric touch
4: Imp.Inisibility, Lesser Spell Breach, Elemental shield, stoneskin(rarely useful this late.)
5: 1 spell only, choose wisely. Bigbys Interposing Hand, Lesser Spell Mantle, Mestils Acid Sheath.
6: None, use stilled lvl 5’s.

There he is, the Eternal Crusader. A fallen Paladin that didn’t truly fall, but rise instead. Palemaster loads up on immunities which will make some spells obsolete late in the build, but they are useful early in the career. If you pick reciprocal shields, and have them up while buffed for melee you will be quite effective, immune to crit and all.

The AB doesn’t own the land, but it is quite OK, and you have nice buffs. Forget attacking spells, your DC will max be 19 + spell lvl. Can be somewhat exposed to dispels, but just cast divine power, Holy sword or imp Invis to quickly get a nice bonus back up.

Your concentration isn’t rocket high, but since you are immune to crits it should be enough. The sorcerer spells is somewhat of a pain, you don’t seem to get enough.
Saves aren’t exactly good, but your immunities and spells should do some for you. With lesser spell breach and holy sword you have nice dispelling capabilities to.

Alignment change. First to LN after lvl 19, before lvl 23. Keep in the borderlands to good and switch back before lvl 40. His Hp aren’t to high either.

Also worth noting guys, I haven’t tested this to thoroughly, but it is built in a leveller and tested a wee bit at lvl 10, 20, 30 and 40. He performs ok at all those, but truly blooms after he becomes immune to crits, of course.
I think OK AB, with good buffing capabilities. Very good AC, at least buffed. Low hp. Low saves. Could use spellcraft. Can get nice damage to.

So, let me know what you think, community. Be harsh, be nice, be whatever tickles your fancy, but be honest or begone. Really good story, nice build. The concept is quite captivating.
Why not going for more PM lvls and get Epic Warding and Epic Mage Armor? (besides AC bump and stronger summonings) PM 16 seems not a bad idea to me and it gives you 2 bonus feats and a little more HPs. I would also try to get divine might, it's short lived but it's gonna help in melee and anyhow you can always get CHA gear and use your eagle's splendor. Maybe drop 2 GS and get divine might and toughness

Cheers,
Kail
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Vincerò
Vincerò Nice one, Grim. Have you considered Bard in favor of Sorcerer? UMD, Tumble, more skill and hit points and, most importantly, you wouldn't have to take that crucial second alignment shift at Lvl 40 since Bard has both Discipline and Taunt as class skills. If losing Improved Invis is a concern, you could even drop a couple of Levels of Pally for Bard to open up 4th level spells (or just raise Charisma to 18).

Although, I'm sure there's a few combos like that already.
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Quote: Posted 12/18/05 19:46:56 (GMT) -- grizzled_dwarflord

Nice one, Grim. Have you considered Bard in favor of Sorcerer? UMD, Tumble, more skill and hit points and, most importantly, you wouldn't have to take that crucial second alignment shift at Lvl 40 since Bard has both Discipline and Taunt as class skills. If losing Improved Invis is a concern, you could even drop a couple of Levels of Pally for Bard to open up 4th level spells (or just raise Charisma to 18).

Although, I'm sure there's a few combos like that already.

Yes, that was considered. But that needs even more alignment shifting, and on the Law/Chaos axis. The Bard song would be nice. Sorcerer do pack a little power in this build. You can use the whole array of spells stilled just like a lvl 10 sorc un-stilled. If you get my drift.

Kail: Yes, and it would increase AC to, but make sorcerer unusable. You would need at least 15 PM, probably 16. I tested an incarnation with that. Pal20/SOR4/PM16. You lose lots of spells, some nice ones, and gain (ehm..) 4 AC or so, and epic warding. Might be worth it. I do enjoy his spellcasting though. As for divine might, that would increase his damage capability even more, and he is able to boost CHA up to 9 points on his own. Aura of glory(4) and Eagles splendor(1d4+1). "No room for it" was my main reason for not having it. 1 more feat pre-epic, and it would be Divine might. Might be OK to switch extra turning for it.

Thanks for your comments.

Edited By Grimnir77 on 12/19/05 06:47