The man looked odd, carrying a big axe and wearing flowing robes. And there was something . . . unnatural about the way he walked through the crowd so fast without creating so much as a ripple in the sea of people, preternaturally calm in his aspect. By the time he reached the market square, it was clear that he had come with a purpose.
He walked straight up to Big Sal, the swarthy and evil man who provided "protection" to the market. Protection from him and his bosses' goons, of course. Big Sal saw him coming and knew it was trouble. "Look alive, boys, got us a harper or sumthing coming this way!" The eight men who looked as if they were half asleep bolted to attention; they were far better than mere jakeleg goons.
Code, as we all came to know him, didn't hesitate. He swung the axe down on the table in front of Sal, slicing it cleanly in two. He then smashed his fist three times quickly into Sal's nose, the last blow knocking him to the ground. "Where will I find the girl, you miserable cur!" he barked at the fallen man.
Sal was no coward. He spit out a tooth and smiled an ugly grin, "Well, welcome to the party. Get'im boys!" Sal's men had been standing almost in shock but sprang into action.
Code darted away, showing that uncanny speed usually associated with monks, but no monk any of us had ever seen carried such a big axe. The men chased him through the market and into an alley. Unfortunately for them, it was an alley of Code's choosing: deadly spring traps claimed the lives of the first three to follow.
Code turned to the remaining men, his face disturbingly calm. They circled him slowly, properly chastened by the sudden death of almost half their number.
"Right, boys," said the taller of the men, "on three rush him! One, two . . . "
Code's axe swung in a wide arc and cut off the man's head before he got to 'three.' The return stroke sliced through another's leg, crippling him. In less than a minute, the five goons were a mass of blood and body parts. One or two of them might live, if they received medical attention promptly.
Code strode quickly and calmly back to Sal. He picked the large man up by his neck and asked again, "where's the girl, Sal?"
Sal smiled wanly but he knew his time was up. . .
Walks Softly and Carries A Big Axe
Monk 6/Rogue 5/Paladin29 Human Lawful Good PvM or PvP 1-40
S: 14 to 28 D: 14 C: 10 W: 14 I: 12 CH: 14
1 Pal 1 Feat: WF Great Axe; Power Attack 2 Pal 2 3 Pal 3 Feat: Toughness 4 Pal 4: STR (15) 5 Pal 5 6 Pal 6 Feat: Divine Might 7 Pal 7 8 Pal 8 STR (16) 9 Pal 9 Feat: Divine Shield 10 Pal 10 11 Pal 11 12 Pal 12 Feat: Imp. Crit; STR (17) 13 Pal 13 14 Pal 14 15 Pal 15 Feat: Extend Spell 16 Pal 16 STR (18) 17 Pal 17 18 Pal 18 Feat: Blind Fight 19 Pal 19 20 Pal 20 STR (19) 21 Monk 1 Feat: Gr STR I (20) [Monk: Cleave, Evasion] 22 Monk 2 23 Rogue 1 24 Rogue 2 Feat: Great STR II (21); STR (22) 25 Rogue 3 [Uncanny Dodge] 26 Pal 21 27 Monk 3 Feat: Gr STR (23) 28 Pal 22 STR (24) 29 Pal 23 PFeat: EWF 30 Pal 24; Feat: GrSTR (25) 31 Pal 25 32 Monk 4 STR (26) 33 Pal 26 PFeat: Armor Skin; Feat: ESF: Discipline 34 Pal 27 35 Pal 28 36 Rogue 4 Feat: Epic Fortitude; STR 27 37 Monk 5 38 Pal 29 PFeat: Epic Prowess 39 Rogue 5 Feat: ESF: Listen 40 Monk 6 [Monk IKD] STR 28
You can take your STR down to 26 and pump your CHA to 16, extending your Divine Might and Shield by one round and adding one to each. If you don't mind the exp. penalty, you can forgo Blind Fight and go Elf; the maxed out Listen should counterbalance the loss of Blind Fight. You'll need to shift the starting abilities about to keep your skills in place, though. Con falls to 8, Int bumps to 14, if I were building it (this is actually how I built it on my PW, but the Human version is more . . . accessible. A 40% exp. penalty really slows down leveling).
He can set traps, has uncanny dodge, monk speed, and packs a pretty mean whollop. And he carries a two-handed sword with decent AC. Paladin buffs are pretty good and his won't be dispelled by Greater Dispel. And he can use any scroll you come across. With his high listen and the ability to use Amplify scrolls, he should be all right v. your HiPSers.
If you have high-UMD items on your PW, you might want to shift skill points to UMD and max it out. On mine, this is sufficient to use the Blackguard-only Great Axe. Build to taste.
It's just another paladin rogue when you boil it down, but I like it.
Cheers,
Ithacan _________________ We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender - Winston Churchill
Interesting, but taking Monk6 until the last level really renders IKD useless in all the leveling path, you should take monk sooner, I don't see any reason not to take it sooner
Assassin can take the skills and give Uncanny with Death Attack just like Rogue but with no EXP penalty, of course, you'd need to hande annoying Alignment shifts but it can surely be done.
Quote: AC no armor: 10 base + 2 dex + 2 armor skin + 8 tumble + 1 monk + 2 wis = 25 naked
This flashes as an odd statement, you definitely get a higher AC with a Heavy Armor, your HP will thank you when you wear a Heavy Armor.
And I really had to say this: Monks use kamas
Other than that it's nice
I'd say choosing full plate over cloth depends on how prominent the dex/wis gear is, and of course how high the magic equip is. You'd certainly net more AC with just maxed DEX and base WIS. And with WIS buffs, it would keep going up to a cap of +6.
But a nifty build, none the less.
Well, true, but I personally dislike environments where you can do such things as capping ability scores only with items, Paladin buffs CHA greatly, and some STR too but not DEX or WIS. On the other hand, not wearing armor makes me want to use a kama, if he would be wearing armor it would be more reasonable.
The only real problem here is the low HP, you could swap DEX and CON for +80 HP at -2 AC and Reflex, but with a Heavy Armor a DEX score of 10 isn't truly low, it can be buffed to max without extremely powerful magical items and the HP boost is considerable.
Monk is taken last as the only of the classes with both Listen and Discipline in its skillset. Which means you don't get KD or IKD to help with leveling at all.
You can wear armor depending on what kind of gear you can get your hands on. If the calculus supports heavy armor, the only monk ability you lose is speed. You can switch between robes for traveling and armor for fighting, I suppose. But with gear that adds +6 bonuses to dexterity and wisdom, you are better off in the robe.
The constitution is a problem. You should try building it elf. I almost quit the build four or five times before finally getting it to forty lol.
Cheers,
Ithacan
Excellent build IMHO, and the idea of a pally/assasin sickens me, as I totally dislike any alignmnt shift.... what do you want?? have your cake and eat it too?
Nice story to boot...
....and 70 AC with a two-handed wep, very nice indeed
well done, I'm certainly glad I walk the str8 and narrow
Edited By Markus Tarek on 02/05/07 05:18
I have to agree re: alignment shifts. Magic items were contemplated by the game; alignment shifts go to the core of the balance of the classes. No Bard Paladins, no Paladin PM's, etc. But whatever, there are certainly PW's that permit alignment shifts, and you can certainly build a Paladin Assassin there. And there are certainly PW's where you can get gear to make this two-hander make sense in a robe rather than full plate.
Well, true, but I personally dislike environments where you can do such things as capping ability scores only with items, Paladin buffs CHA greatly, and some STR too but not DEX or WIS. On the other hand, not wearing armor makes me want to use a kama, if he would be wearing armor it would be more reasonable.