When Mother Earth is in peril, there's one who heeds the call of help and stands and fights for her protection. This being is a noble soul, dedicated to eradicate all the enemies of nature, able to call the natural forces to his aid, to conjure help from the wilds and to summon the primeveal powers of creation, taking the form of beast, elemental and of a mighty dragon. A chosen one among thousands, who knows no mercy in the pursuit of his task, whose only purpouse is to defend the well being of the planet.
And when you venture in the wilds, be careful of your conduct, cause ancient unmerciful eyes might be watching you, unseen...

******

Well, this is it, a Dragon with Bane of Enemies. It gets Elemental Shape too (although it's only once a day), has a good AB, especially in wilderness vs FEs (6 shorter than Jormundgandr, both builds fully buffed). AC's not bad either, a potion of Owl's WIS will improve it further (up to +2). Your only direct AB buff is Aid, you can benefit from Bless and Prayer and Bard's song, pity Divine Favor and Battletide are out of the equation.

Variant builds

The build can be made also by taking 4/8 druid lvls preepic at the cost of -1/-2 AB, might be a good idea to get the druid spells in at lower lvls, or even wildshape. Dragon Shape will be available 3 lvls earlier (at 33rd lvl) this way. Saves will improve too (+2 For/+3 Will with 4 druid lvls, +3 For/+4 Will with 8 ).

Another alternative, at the cost of EP, 8th lvl druid spells and spell slots and elemental shape is going Ranger 21/Druid 14/Monk 5 for +1 AC, +10% speed, deflect arrows, still mind, purity of body and +4 stunning fists a day.

Time for the build!


Gæa's Protector - Ranger(23), Druid(16), Monk(1)
Human, LN
PvM playable 1-40, untested PvP

STR: 10
DEX: 10
CON: 12
WIS: 18 (32)
INT: 14
CHA: 8

Hitpoints: 446
Skillpoints: 301
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 23/27/16
Saving Throw bonuses: Spells: +8, Fear: +2
BAB: 30
AB (max, naked): 31 (melee), 42 (ranged)
AC (naked/mundane armor/shield only): 31/31
Spell Casting: Ranger(4),Druid(8)


Dragon stats (buffed)

STR: 48 (60)
DEX: 36 (46)
CON: 32 (42)
WIS: 32 (40)
INT: 14
CHA: 8

Hitpoints: 946 (1154)
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 33/27/29 (38/31/34)
AB (unbuffed): 54 (+2 in wilderness areas, +2 vs FEs)
AB (buffed): 61 (+2 in wilderness areas, +2 vs FEs)
AB (max self buffed): 65 (in wilderness and vs FEs)
AC: 62 (76)
DR: 40/+6
SR: 20
Immunity to Fire/Electricity/Acid 100% (depending on chosen shape)
Immunity to mind affecting spells, paralysis, sneak attack
True Seeing


SKILLS
Concentration 42(43), Disable Trap 5(9), Discipline 42(42), Hide 43(43), Move Silently 43(43), Search 1(3), Set Trap 42(44), Spellcraft 38(40), Tumble 40(40)


LEVELING GUIDE
01: Ranger(1): Blind Fight, Knockdown, Favored Enemy I, {Dual Wield}
02: Ranger(2)
03: Ranger(3): Zen Archery
04: Ranger(4): WIS+1, (WIS=19)
05: Ranger(5): Favored Enemy II
06: Ranger(6): Toughness
07: Ranger(7)
08: Ranger(8): WIS+1, (WIS=20)
09: Ranger(9): Improved Knockdown or Expertise, {Improved Two-Weapon Fighting}
10: Ranger(10): Favored Enemy III
11: Ranger(11)
12: Ranger(12): WIS+1, Extend Spell, (WIS=21)
13: Ranger(13)
14: Ranger(14)
15: Ranger(15): Empower Spell, Favored Enemy IV
16: Ranger(16): WIS+1, (WIS=22)
17: Ranger(17)
18: Ranger(18): Improved Critical: Unarmed
19: Ranger(19)
20: Ranger(20): WIS+1, Favored Enemy V, (WIS=23)
21: Ranger(21): Bane of Enemies
22: Druid(1)
23: Druid(2)
24: Druid(3): WIS+1, Great Wisdom I, (WIS=25)
25: Druid(4)
26: Druid(5)
27: Druid(6): Great Wisdom II, (WIS=26)
28: Druid(7): WIS+1, (WIS=27)
29: Druid(8)
30: Druid(9): Great Wisdom III, (WIS=28)
31: Druid(10)
32: Ranger(22): WIS+1, (WIS=29)
33: Druid(11): Armor Skin
34: Druid(12)
35: Druid(13)
36: Druid(14): WIS+1, Dragon Shape, (WIS=30)
37: Druid(15)
38: Druid(16)
39: Ranger(23): Great Wisdom IV, Epic Prowess, (WIS=31)
40: Monk(1): WIS+1, {Cleave, Evasion, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist}, (WIS=32)


This was it, feedback and constructive criticism is, as usual, gladly appreciated.

Cheers,
Kail

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 08/06/06 15:26

Quote: Posted 05/03/06 21:03:53 (GMT) -- Kail Pendragon

Variant builds

The build can be made also by taking 4/8 druid lvls preepic at the cost of -1/-2 AB, might be a good idea to get the druid spells in at lower lvls, or even wildshape. Dragon Shape will be available 3 lvls earlier (at 33rd lvl) this way. Saves will improve too (+2 For/+3 Will with 4 druid lvls, +3 For/+4 Will with 8 ).

This won't work... You don't have the required Wis 30 unless you delay Bane of Enemies (replacing it with a Great Wisdom) until after Dragon Shape. That's exactly the way to do it, Ranger 21st lvl and BoE at 36th character lvl, Great WIS I at 21st lvl.

I didn't post the variant leveling guides, cause the guys here are smart enough to figure out how to do it, and anyhow it would have made the post less readable (think of 3 lvlin gguides in a row... my eyes hurt at the thought).

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Wait for me Dragon, we'll meet in the sky
By fire and magic, I'm sworn
Hell is calling, we cannot be denied
Fly to the blackness of the Storm

We must die to be reborn!

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 05/03/06 21:49

Nice! This one looks like a lot of fun to play. At first I thought, Uh-oh, Monk doesn't come until 40 without an XP penalty, so this is going to be hard to level, but then I realized it's just a regular Archer style Ranger, then an Archer style Ranger with supplemental casting from Druid levels . He doesn't even need the monk level to be effective.

The only tweak I might make is to replace your metamagic feats with Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus: Conjuration. When you start picking up your Druid levels, and all those movement decreasing spells, your ranged attacks should get a big boost. Just a matter of taste, though.

*bows to the master of dragons*
_________________
There's always time to procrastinate. Nice format

...though it does look like it's been pasted straight out of Kamiryn's UBER tool - Character Build Creator I have been awaiting this build. Though you have never actually mentioned it, I knew you had something brewing. A dragon with BoE had to pop out of your Dragon bestiary sometime.

You really get some nice figures(numbers!) with it too. Damage is a problem in some Dragon builds, but this should go a long way to solve it.

Smooth again
Grimnir
_________________
I see the fear you have inside, you can run but never hide.
I will hunt you down and tear you limb from limb.

I run the Pre-Epic Builders guild. Join and share your experience. i like this. nifty idea.
and the overlap between ranger and druid spells is minimal in this case. as mentioned already, the stats are quite decent.
well executed.
-c Thanks all for the comments, I'm glad you appreciate the build.

koolthursday: indeed this is an archer style ranger, I believe in the version I played I got Point Blank Shot and gave up IKD, moving toughness or blind fight up some slots. Spell foci instead of metamagic is an option, although, as a matter of personal preference, I'd stick with metamagic for the increased buffs and go with no save spells for the offensive. Besides when you shapechange you can't cast anymore, so those empowered/extended buffs you just cast will be useful.

Grim: I've got more builds than I let out indeed, I tend to "publish" only some, the ones I find more interesting. Damage output is not bad, consider you get 2d6+5 vs FEs which means 7-17, average 12 additional dmg per hit and you've got up to 8 apr at monks progression... not bad, especially when added to 2d6+6+19 base dmg from +6 dragon claws with a base STR 48. Add then another +6 from capped STR. Total is 4d6+36 (40-60, average 50) dmg per hit vs FEs. That's gonna hurt

krsboss: I am a proud user of Kamyrin's CBC, it helps me a lot in my epic characters building. Copy and paste plus some restyling makes everything neat and easy

Chris: yeah, ranger and druid go together well, the spell that overlap will help you when you still have to get the druid lvls if you go the max BAB route, and free up some spell slots from the druid spellbook when you get the druids spells (basically you get additional spell slots for a limited selection of druid spells) plus you get a couple of ranger only spells that help with buffing. Besides the two classes go together well concept wise.

Thanks all again for the feedback!

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Wait for me Dragon, we'll meet in the sky
By fire and magic, I'm sworn
Hell is calling, we cannot be denied
Fly to the blackness of the Storm

We must die to be reborn!
Quote: Posted 05/06/06 01:34:04 (GMT) -- Kail Pendragon

krsboss: I am a proud user of Kamyrin's CBC, it helps me a lot in my epic characters building. Copy and paste plus some restyling makes everything neat and easy

Yeah, I'm at loss for words to describe how good & useful it is!

...my only problem is that I often save build configurations and with each being 10 meg it soon eats up harddrive space...still I gotta use up my 200 gig with something! I was skeptical coming in with a look at the class split, but I ended up being quite favorably impressed with this build. I would pick point-blank shot instead of empower spell, personally, but that is mostly a matter of taste... I wouldn't rely on offensive casting from this build at all.

Dragon builds that aren't helpless outside of dragonshape are always a good thing. And using ranger for it wins you some extra coolness points. Nice job.
_________________
Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. Nice job Kail.

Just a shame you have set your Dragonshape benchmark so high with the Order of Jormundgandr.

Metamagic over point blank shot for me though, purely personal. Thanx guys! As I said I actually played a version with Point Blank Shot myself for these same reasons, I just gave up IKD instead of Empower Spell since dragon builds benefit less from gear than others and I like to cap my stats on my own. Besides, IKD becomes overkill once you get DS. Also, empowered Ice Storms are something I really like... personal preference though

Jormundgandr is a beast indeed, the other dragons come behind. But they can be a lot of fun to play too

Cheers,
Kail
_________________
Wait for me Dragon, we'll meet in the sky
By fire and magic, I'm sworn
Hell is calling, we cannot be denied
Fly to the blackness of the Storm

We must die to be reborn! Great build, as would be expected from oud moderator Kail Pendragon.

About the variants, I probably wouldn't sacrifice BAB, dragon AB is one of the things that are hard to increase since you can't use any weapon shifted.

Very good idea Bane of Enemies, and Favored enemies also give you AB and checks against them, only 5 favored enemies, but that should cover most of races in PvP.

The damage is great, heh heh, but my dragon can still deal more with 12d6 Death Attack.

I also prefer Empower and Extended for buffs, a druid can cap STR by himself used correctly, you would need more levels to cap WIS though. Plus all the other stuff.

If you actually use a lot a bow (which should be), you could change Armor Skin or Toughness for Rapid Shot, or both and add also Called Shot... just some thoughts....