Hide and Seek Arcana
Wizard 21/Monk14/Shadowdancer 5
Elf
Lawful Neutral
PvP 36-40

Suddenly… all of your magical wards and protections fade away. Then, out of the shadows comes a volley of missile spells, pelting you into submission, followed by a flurry of fists that are soon stained with your blood. You think, what the heck was that? I didn’t see it, I couldn’t hit it, and it just kept disappearing and reappearing, and beat the crap out of me!

You’ve just encountered your first Mording, Hipsing, and Melee Mage. Lucky you.


Str 8
Dex 20 to 30
Con 12
Int 16 to 20
Wis 14
Cha 8


1: Wizard 1 – Combat Casting
2: Monk 1 (Monk Abilities)
3: Monk 2 – Weapon Finesse (Deflect Arrows)
4: Monk 3 Dex 21 (Monk Speed, Still Mind)
5: Monk 4
6: Monk 5 – Dodge (Purity of Body)
7: Monk 6 (KD, IKD)
8: Monk 7 Dex 22 (Wholeness of Body)
9: Monk 8 – Mobility
10: Monk 9 (Improved Evasion)
11: Monk 10
12: Monk 11 Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike Dex 23 (Diamond Body)
13: Shadowdancer 1
14: Shadowdancer 2
15: Shadowdancer 3 – Spell Penetration
16: Shadowdancer 4 Dex 24
17: Shadowdancer 5
18: Monk 12 – Greater Spell Penetration (Diamond Soul)
19: Monk 13
20: Wizard 2 Dex 25
21: Wizard 3 – Armor Skin
22: Wizard 4
23: Wizard 5 – (Epic Spell Penetration)
24: Wizard 6 – Epic Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike Dex 26
25: Wizard 7
26: Wizard 8
27: Wizard 9 – Epic Dodge
28: Wizard 10 (Metamagic Feat of your choice*) Dex 27
29: Wizard 11
30: Wizard 12 Great Int I (Int 17)
31: Wizard 13
32: Wizard 14 Dex 28
33: Wizard 15 – Improved Combat Casting (Great Int II, Int 18)
34: Wizard 16
35: Wizard 17
36: Wizard 18 – Great Dex I (Dex 29) Int 19
37: Wizard 19
38: Wizard 20 (Great Int III, Int 20)
39: Wizard 21 Epic Spell: Epic Mage Armor
40: Monk 14 Dex 30



Naked AB: 37 (24 BAB +10 Dex +3 WF/EFW)
Naked AC: 34 (10 + 8 Tumble +10 Dex +2 Wis +2 Armor Skin +2 Monk)

AB Unarmed Strike: 24 + 16 Dex +5 (Gloves +5) +3 (WF+EFW) = 48 + 15 True Strike = 63
Attack Schedule (Hasted): 48/45/42/39/36/48
Attack Schedule (Hasted, True Strike): 63/60/57/54/51/65
Damage Unarmed: 1d12 -1 + Gloves

AC Buffed: 10+ 16 Dex +8 Tumble + 8 Wis +20 Magic Gear +4 Haste +2 Monk +2 Armor Skin +1 Mage Armor +5 Epic Mage Armor = 76 + Epic Dodge


HP: 276 / 516 with +6 Con Gear

Saves:
Fort: 20 / 26 (+6 Con Gear)
Reflex: 34 / 40 (+6 Dex Gear)
Will: 23 / 29 (+6 Wis Gear)
-Saves could go higher with magic gear that adds save bonuses. Hopefully.

Skills: 255 to allocate

Spellcraft: 40
Tumble: 40
Discipline: 43
Hide: 43
Move Silently: 43

*Metamagic Feat – Even though it’s rather taboo to take pre-epic feats in epic lvls, I took Extend Spell here. The build is a bit lean on feats, as it’s intended to cover a lot of ground. After much thought, I decided that it wouldn’t be the end of the world to take a pre-epic Metamagic feat here, and have found that Extended Globes of Invulnerability, Acid Sheaths, and Spell Mantles have saved my life in PvP countless times.

Pro’s: Mords and Hips! Does your opponent have True Seeing (or any buffs, for that matter)? Not for long! Mords will take care of that nicely, and with your Monk speed, you’re still pretty quick in Stealth mode.

Casters will have a hard time getting through your Mantles, and meleers will be extremely annoyed at your high AC (and Epic Dodge) when you fight from behind Acid Sheathor Elemental Shield. IGMS, Ice Storm, and Horrid Wilting make up for low damage output, and Power Word Stun (or Kill) will help nicely with finishing off wounded opponents that just won’t die!

Also, Epic Dodge, Uncanny Dodge, and Improved Combat Casting make spell use in the thick of battle a breeze.

Con’s: Low damage output. See above. Buffs can be dispelled. No Epic Warding. Relatively low HP. Limited spell output. Every ability score except Cha needs buff items.

Strategy: This build tries to be many things at once, and while it’s not an expert in anything, it’s just good enough to frustrate and confound opponents. Is it a mage? Is it a Hipser? Is it a meleer? It’s all and none.

Additionally, your high AC will buy you time to adjust your fighting strategy based on your current opponent(s). You have many, many options, and that can be overwhelming in the middle of a battle.

With a little added oomph from Epic Spell Penetration (and a little help from Mords) your Horn should stack up pretty well, and give you a melee advantage over dexers. You needn’t worry too much about the big Horn yourself, as with Ethereal Visage, Globe of Invulnerability, and Spell Mantles, you have immunity in triplicate. Finally, Kamas could easily be subbed for Unarmed strike as a means of increasing damage output. Dual-wielding is also possible. Personally, I don’t like getting disarmed, so I opted for Unarmed with this one.

I checked the search engine for builds with the same classes and came back with two, which are both really cool builds.

Serene Shadow Mage (Monk 13 / Wizard 20 / Shadowdancer 7)
-- Ithacan

Sneaky Wizard (Wizard 35 / Monk 3 / Shadowdancer 2)
-- Slimcea

I have to admit to not knowing how to add links to forums. Sorry!

Anyhow, comments or suggestions are more than welcome!

Edited out EP, and moved ED to lvl27. Adjusted all following AB calculations - Grim

Edited By Grimnir77 on 05/13/07 12:09

I like it overall; a nice Jack-of-all-Trades feel; but I do have one question/suggestion: When you meet all the requirements for Epic Dodge at level 20; why wait until level 37 to take it?

Epic Dodge at level 21 would have a far greater effect on your AC than Armor skin will; so I would suggest switching them
_________________
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The Moonshae Isles - Forgotten Realms
A Role Play, Low Magic world How is Epic Dodge even taken at level 37?
Quote: Posted 05/11/07 17:03 (GMT) -- galelabriel

How is Epic Dodge even taken at level 37?

Ah. Oops? Looks like I got a little mixed up there. The lvl 27 feat, which in this case is Epic Prowess, should be where Epic Dodge is taken. Not sure what I was thinking there...

Fixed - Grim

Edited By Grimnir77 on 05/13/07 12:06

An interesting concept - but a couple things.

First, why not start as Monk? Afaik, you'd net more skill points that way.

Second, why 14th Monk? I'd go 8 Monk, 4 SD, and 8 Wizard pre-epic, which would cost you 1 BAB, but net you 2 more Wizard levels (which, it is of course nice to have more Wizard in this style build) and Epic Warding. Also, would allow you more Discipline skill-dumps post-epic. You'd end 12 Monk, 23 Wizard, 5 Shadowdancer, that way.

Finally, I don't see how you plan to beat high-caster level mages with your MD's. I am fairly certain a 23rd level Wizard (or 21, as yours is), won't dispell any of the 38 Sorceror or Wizard's buffs, even with Mordenkanen's Disjunction.
Quote: Posted 05/11/07 18:39 (GMT) -- mantis3

An interesting concept - but a couple things.

First, why not start as Monk? Afaik, you'd net more skill points that way.

Second, why 14th Monk? I'd go 8 Monk, 4 SD, and 8 Wizard pre-epic, which would cost you 1 BAB, but net you 2 more Wizard levels (which, it is of course nice to have more Wizard in this style build) and Epic Warding. Also, would allow you more Discipline skill-dumps post-epic. You'd end 12 Monk, 23 Wizard, 5 Shadowdancer, that way.

Finally, I don't see how you plan to beat high-caster level mages with your MD's. I am fairly certain a 23rd level Wizard (or 21, as yours is), won't dispell any of the 38 Sorceror or Wizard's buffs, even with Mordenkanen's Disjunction.

You pose some excellent questions, Mantis. First off, why start wizard, and why 14 monk? Those two questions have pretty much the same answer. I wanted to maximize the pre-epic BAB, and also have access to caster related feats. Looking back on it, I could've simply taken my first lvl of Wiz at lvl 2, gained some skill points, and nothing else would be affected.

Second, the 23 Wiz 12 Monk 5 Sdd level split is also a good idea. You'd get an epic Wizard bonus feat (which the build could certainly use)and all the attendant benefits of 2 more caster lvls, without sacrificing much AB. Very astute suggestion. I'll be building another variation of this build soon, and I may have to integrate that idea. I'm also working on a 26 9 5 split (gotta love those), but the lower AB scares me a bit.

As to the Mords... I've PvP'd this build for several weeks now, and I've found that my Mords does carry enough whallop to dispel some of the more important buffs on a lvl 38 caster, namely, Acid Sheath and/or Elemental Shield. A second casting almost always removes True Seeing, if the first doesn't as well. Frankly, I'm surprised that it does, but I'm certainly not complaining.

Also, most lvl 38 casters are lacking in AC or Discipline (or both), and with their Sheath down, it doesn't take much IKD spamming to keep them on their back

Thanks for the input! Nice build, and a tough bugger for sure, but if you can beat pure casters with it, they are inexperienced. As long as they have True seeing up they can dispel your defensive buffs with one mord, just like you do. And I'd just like to inform you that neither Ice Storm, IGMS or horrid Wilting requires one to see the target, just know the general area.
Aside from that it's for sure a good PvP-build, as is most builds with 20+ levels of sorc/wiz.

Welcome to the guild.

PS, please update yourself on the build rules, and post as TyrTemplar told in your other build thread.
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We are sons of Odin, and the fire that we burn inside
is the legacy of warrior-kings who reign above in the sky
I will lead the charge, my sword into the wind
Sons of Odin fights to die and live again If you took SD lvl 5 @ character lvl 27, you'd have a better Tumble skillpoint dump spot, and still make Epic Dodge at that level.