The Hermit (Cleric 26/ Rogue 13/ SD 1) Playable 1 - 40 in PvM
The goal of this build was to create a character that could function with the healer/ caster versatility of a Cleric, and the skill/ SA utility of the rogue. Clr/ Rog has been done plenty of times, though as far as I can tell from the search engine, this is the only one that can punch through stock SR while still retaining 300+ skill points. In terms of level split, the closest thing out there is probably Dodgy McDodge by DeathScytheDuo, a Cleric 26/ Rogue 13/ Monk 1, which at first glance may seem to only differ by flavor of cheese, but this build managed to fit in an epic spell, combat casting, all three Spell penetration feats (Dodgy McDodge had none), 88 more skill points, and it has a higher AB to boot (though admittedly not on the same monk AB progression. . .his build used kamas). Plus, I'm looking for suggestions, so I think this is worth posting.
The basic character concept is that of a sage who loves mankind, but hates people, and thus spends most of his time secluded in the woods, honing his skills, occasionally saving a village or two, and, instead of living off the land as a Druid might, acquiring his basic life needs by stealing from those who have too much. Countless times he may have single handedly crippled a roaming troupe of orc raiders by systematically removing the leaders then disappearing back into the night, and nobody is quite sure why that black dragon stopped nesting in the nearby swamp, but chances are this character had something to do with it. Those who understand what he is let him be, but those who don't consider him little more than a crazy, maybe even dangerous, recluse.
Race: Human Alignment: Any
Starting/ Ending STR 8 DEX 16/ 26 CON 12 WIS 16/ 19 INT 14 CHA 8
Average HP (no rerolls): 266 Max HP: 334 AC: 28 Naked, 30 w/ mundane padded armor and small shield AB: +37/ +32/ +27 w/ mundane rapier Saves (+9 vs spells): Fort 22 Ref 27 Will 25 7d6 Sneak Attack
Skills: 315 total Concentration: 43 Hide: 42 Move Silently: 42 Spellcraft: 43 (45) Tumble: 40 UMD: 41 (40) 64 left over for Rogue skills, all of which synergize nicely with the +14 you get when trickery domain power is activated.
Tactics & Variations This character is meant to be as versatile as possible, preferably for solo play, but in party play he could fill the role of the healer, the sneak, and the caster (something of an homage to Xylophone's healer/ sneak/ tank, The Faithful Adventurer). With such a low wisdom and no spell foci, the DCs on your spells aren't going to be too impressive, but Clerics have enough no save spells, and you have enough caster levels and spell penetration feats for overcoming SR that you can fill this role when absolutely necessary, not to mention Greater Ruin to throw around in really dire times. Clerical methods for generating SAs have been discussed elsewhere, so I won't bother going into them here, though it should be noted as a tool available. Some might complain that Epic Dodge comes awfully late in the build, but you should notice that it wasn't part of my original goals for the character, it just happened to fit in nicely with what I saw taking shape. . .not too bad of an icing on the cake, IMHO.
Depending on your style of play, either of the Cleric bonus feats can be exchanged for Great Wis I to get rid of that dreaded odd stat, and the pre-epic spell penetration feats can be exchanged for either (i) Ambidexterity and Two Weapon Fighting, (ii) Toughness and any save booster (probably Great Fortitude), or (iii) KD and IKD. If you wanted to go really crazy, you could even exchange 3 or 6 levels of Cleric for Rogue and pick up Crippling Strike and/ or ISA, 1d6 to 3d6 extra SA damage, and 18 to 36 extra skill points. Targets without SR would still have something to fear from you, but if you do go this route I would abandon any hopes of being a reliably useful caster (-12 to SR checks = ouch!), not to mention the loss of the Epic Cleric bonus feats.
Before anybody asks, yes this character could be played as a halfling and still be effective, some might even argue more effective. You lose one pre-epic feat and gain two epic feats (because you don't have to take Great Dex II and III), not to mention the other halfling niceties, and this build doesn't have knockdown so the size difference isn't even an issue. However, I find that having a STR of 6 gives you a prohibitively low carrying capacity, and while this character may not need those 43 skill points to be an effective force in combat, he does need them to be able to do all the things I want him to do as a solo player. Besides, I think of halflings as being a little too gregarious for the character concept.
This character leaves something to be desired in AB, HP, and saves, especially compared to some of the specialists out there, but AB can be shored up significantly with Cleric buffs, and saves vs. spells aren't exactly horrible, so the only attribute that could really be considered a weakness is HP, and this is on par with most of the stealthy builds that I see out there. It was a concern, nonetheless, and the lack of HP is one of the primary reasons I chose SD for cheese rather than monk. . .I wanted this character to have a means of escape when a battle wasn't going well, and I'm always too arrogant to prepare a greater sanctuary ahead of time, not to mention SD can be taken 19 levels sooner than monk without incurring an XP penalty.
Edited By griphook on 01/28/06 23:51
I like this build a lot - reminds me of the arguments I had on WoTC's website back in the day that Cl 13/ Ro 7 was a better jack of all trades that Bard 20 (back in 3.0). I was looking to make an assassin / SD / cleric build, but unfortunately given the way they use the Trickery domain in NWN it's not possible to do easily (whereas it's a breeze in PnP). Then I checked for this mix and liked yours the best.
If I were to make this character, I'd probably drop back on the Cleric levels significantly - probably take cleric 20 and rogue 19 and make him less of an SR-penetrating based character - he'd gain crippling strike, slippery mind, and 3d6 SA, which with his clerical buffs and PvM focus should probably see him through from a more melee based focus (and, although it may not fit your concept, War Domain would be smoking for this character, given the dexterity buffs available from Cat's Grace and Aura). But that's a different character - yours is pretty good as is.