Urebril had only just arrived the port town, but already he knew his brother had been here. The town reeked of evil, but he could feel a change in the air, this town was changing, changing for the better, but there was still a lot of work to be done. Urebril was wondering whether he should try and find his brother first, or press on and get straight to work. Keeping to the shadows he made his way down an alley, but all too soon it looked like the decision had been made for him.
Out from the shadows leapt a small masked man brandishing twin kukris. Though he was caught off-guard, Urebril dodged uncannily to evade the first blow. Spinning on his feet, Urebril smashed his shield into his Halfling attacker, knocking him from his feet. His other hand came smashing down, the well finessed mace blow cracking his attacker’s skull. Muttering a quick prayer for the deceased, Urebril turned and melded into the darkness.
Through winding streets he moved, sticking to the shadows as best he could. Rotten corruption was everywhere. Through a temple window Urebril could see a fat priest dining off golden tableware whilst a diseased beggar lay dying in the streets. No wonder that there was so much evil in this town.
“Enough is enough” he thought to himself, “can I really walk by? It’s my duty, nay my purpose to put at end to this”
The beggar looked up as our hero knelt down beside him. He could feel the life flow back into him as the unknown stranger touched him and mouthed some words in a tongue he couldn’t understand, “thank you stranger, you have saved me…” his voice tailing off as the stranger had already left, the sound of the swishing of a cloak still on the air.
Urebril felt better now. He’d cured the beggar’s disease and was sure that the beggar hadn’t noticed the gold he’d slipped him. However all was not right. Looking back towards the temple window he couldn’t see the priest anymore so assumed he must have moved further inside. Moving silently over to the door, he tried the handle, locked. Urebril had never liked the underhand methods he sometimes employed but the ends could easily justify the means. He’d never been the greatest at picking locks, however it was quiet in the alley so he’d be able to concentrate, now hopefully it wasn’t too complicated.
“click” the lock sprung open and with a gentle push the door creaked open, maybe a little noisy but he’d still have the element of surprise…or as much surprise as he thought he would need.
The layout of the temple was simple enough, but all was silent, we’ll aside a guttural chanting emanating from deeper inside. Rounding a corner Urebril could see a flight of stairs heading downwards, the flickering of torchlight dancing on the stone as he could he the chanting louder and clearer now. “Necromancy” he thought to himself. Racing down the stairs, the chanting grew in volume till it reached it’s crescendo with a boom. The sound that followed was strange to Urebril’s ears but not unrecognizable. It sounded like a clatter of bones rising up from the floor, taking shape, maybe reanimating.
Bursting into the torch-lit chamber Urebril lost any chance he had of surprise, but then he wasn’t sure how much you could surprise the colossal undead monstrosity that the priest seemed delighted he’d animated.
“I will deal with you later” shouted the priest as he raised a bony hand in the air, “but for now I must fly”
“Bloody Palemasters” thought Urebril as the priest simply vanished. He gripped his mace tight as he cast a simple buffing spell whilst the bone tyrant shambled towards him. He only had moments to throw his hands up and channel the power of his god before it was on him.
Urebril couldn’t remember much of the fight. His mace worked wonders against the hardened boned, the sickening crunching sound as the bone splintered with every smash. The beast had hit him a few times but he wasn’t hurt badly, though he was going to have to rest soon. He’d better get out of here before that priest came back. Urebril was sure he was going to need his brother, Celadur, with him for this fight.
the Undiscovered Country pt. II Paladin 20 / Champion of Torm 10 / Shadowdancer 10
Ultimately designed for lvl 40 play, though leveling is such as to try and allow skill dumping as you go along.
Suitable for Play vs. Monsters & Play vs. Players.
01: Paladin(1): weapon finesse 02: Paladin(2): 03: Paladin(3): dodge 04: Paladin(4): DEX+1, DEX=20 05: Paladin(5): 06: Paladin(6): weapon focus* 07: Paladin(7): 08: Champion of Torm(1): DEX+1, DEX=21 09: Champion of Torm(2): knockdown, improved knockdown 10: Champion of Torm(3): 11: Champion of Torm(4): blind fight 12: Paladin(8): DEX+1, skill focus: discipline, DEX=22 13: Paladin(9): 14: Paladin(10): 15: Paladin(11): extend spell 16: Paladin(12): DEX+1, DEX=23 17: Paladin(13): 18: Paladin(14): mobility 19: Paladin(15): 20: Paladin(16): DEX+1, DEX=24** 21: Shadowdancer(1): epic skill focus: discipline 22: Champion of Torm(5): 23: Shadowdancer(2): 24: Champion of Torm(6): DEX+1, great dexterity I, epic weapon focus, DEX=26 25: Shadowdancer(3): 26: Champion of Torm(7): 27: Shadowdancer(4): great dexterity II, DEX=27 28: Champion of Torm(8): DEX+1, epic prowess, DEX=28 29: Shadowdancer(5): 30: Paladin(17): great dexterity III, DEX=29 31: Shadowdancer(6): 32: Paladin(18): DEX+1, DEX=30 33: Shadowdancer(7): great dexterity IV, DEX=31 34: Paladin(19): 35: Shadowdancer(8): 36: Champion of Torm(9): DEX+1, great dexterity V, DEX=33 37: Shadowdancer(9): 38: Paladin(20): 39: Shadowdancer(10): epic dodge 40: Champion of Torm(10): DEX+1, armor skin, DEX=34
*for the purposes of the story this is Mace. However if 1d6 bludgeoning damage does not satiate your thirst may I suggest a Rapier for 18-20 x2 crits or for the secret Dwarves in all of us, Handaxe with it’s x3 crits
**make sure you have the following skills at this point: Discipline 20, Hide 10, Move Silently 8 & Tumble 5
A lot of these buffs have short-term duration and limited functionality vs. for instance non-evil non-undead things, however I think it’s important to mention everything!
Unbuffed AC – naked with mundane tower shield
35
Self Buffed AC – Shadow Evade
39 – 20% concealment, 10/+3 DR
Maximum Buffed AC – as above with +6 items** & Dex +12 from items & Hasted
*this is taken purely for the story and could easily be recycled into more Hide / MS. Furthermore instead of taking extra ranks in Hide / MS you would have 43 skill points to max. any skill of your choice. Heal would be useful in a place where Heal Kits are abundant, taunt may prove useful against high AC opponents, however you are flat-footed whilst taunting, maybe a few cross-class ranks in spellcraft wouldn’t go amiss, however your saves are pretty decent regardless.
Saving Throws
Fortitude: 29 Will: 23 Reflex: 36
+5 whilst using Divine Favor +3 to +5 from self-buffed charisma (Eagle’s Splendor & Aura of Glory)
& don’t forget, with Slippery Mind given free at Shadowdancer lvl 7 you will be re-rolling any failed Will saves
Hit Points
380 Maximized
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And there you have it. I hope that I haven’t missed anything, however it is entirely possible! There is no XP penalty as you are using two prestige classes…and I’m sure people will also be happy to know that this is also a completely original build as tumble weed blows through the search engine for these class combinations!
Damage output may be a little low, but then it usually is with Dexxers. Lack of sneak attack could be remedied by taking Rogue instead of Shadowdancer, however you would end up having to take at least 13 Rogue levels to get Epic Dodge.
The fact that you don’t get Epic Dodge until level 39 is not really a major issue for me as I spend most of my time playing at lvl 40 & you still need to maximize your tumble skill at level 37. As you really only require 15 Paladin levels to benefit fully from the two major level dependant buffs (GMW & Divine Favor) you could go for at least 13 SD levels. This would give you a bonus Epic feat which you could take as Epic Dodge, further freeing up a regular Epic feat which if taken as Great Dexterity VI would allow you to drop your starting Dex to 18, giving 3 points to spend as you see fit.
