Slashing, Cursing and Carrying out Critical Missions with Devastating Precision PvM (1-40) and PvP
WING COMMANDER (Red Squadron) By Deborah “Tyr” Templar
Concept: It is said that Leonardo Da Vinci invented a “flying machine” in medieval/Renaissance times, his flight theories based on the study of birds, which centuries later led to the development of an actual glider for human use, among other civil and military inventions, including the tank, gun powder missile, ballista, and the parachute. Initially, Da Vinci’s flying machine was based on an idea of human-powered wings; although his flapping wings ideas was dropped by him in favor of an idea based on gliding techniques, what if, instead, his earlier ideas had worked, such that humans could in fact have flapping wings–could early medieval air force flyers, capable of carrying out bombing (fire) missions, and critical extraction exercises, have been the result?
This Build: A Dev.Crit Pally/RDD w. a high dev.crit dc is nothing short of a classic, but is it balanced / playable? It is when mixed with the bard: in essence, the Wing Commander is a balanced (playable) dev.critter, enjoying an efficient use of bard, not just for skill dumps (i.e., tumble/AC and umd) but to achieve that classical high dev.crit DC (i.e. bard song/curse song), without the need for all the associated sacrifices, such that Commander enjoys a nat. dev.crit DC 44 (48 self-buffed w. curse song/52 str-cap), and a very high natural AB/damage output, without sacrificing feats, saves, HPs, AC, skills, etc. to get there, nor taking on any xp burden.
In other words, Wing Commander is a powerful but playable melee’r, w. high saves / immunities and readily made dev.crit immune w. some reasonable gear (+5 items), and quite different from all 3 dev.crit drakes which have come before (for similar builds, see below). The main draw-back of this build (apart from the fact a dev.critting half-drake is likely banned on many servers) is that s/he requires an alignment change; that said, it is only one alignment change, on the lawful-to-neutral axis (being one of the easiest (if not the easiest) to make), and with ample time in which to do so. In the event a player is uninterested in an alignment change, a sorcerer variant is included.
Without any further ado, please meet the Wing Commander (Red Squadron) (bard variant, followed by the sorcerer variant):
• Note – with +6 con (or, +4 con and +2 cha) and 3 reasonable items (i.e., +5 ring, fort cloak, and scarab, providing +15 fort combined), adj. fort 55 (57 vs. evil) such that you are, among other things, essentially dev.crit immune.
Self-Buffs: Div.Grace, +4-5 (aura, eagle’s); Resistance, +1; Prayer, +1; Song (+1 Fort, +1 Will) • Add +9 all-saves vs. spells if trained spellcraft instead of i.e. taunt (see skills, below).
• Bioware Cap (assuming str, cha and umd/weaponry): 74, + taunt: 80 AB (combat), +6 smite bonus (vs. Evil): 86 AB
iii) Damage (comparative):
a) Mundane Greatsword: 2-12+21 (crit: 17-20/x2) (15-20 umd/keen) +3 bull’s +2 song +1 prayer +3 deafening clang +5 divine favor +5 Holy Sword (ON Hit: Dispel Magic, and +1d6 vs. evil) +5 power attack (-5 ab) +26 smite vs. evil -- (47-57), +1d6 vs. evil, +26 smite (vs. evil) --
b) Mundane Scimitar: 1-6+14 (crit. 16-20/x2) (14-20 umd/keen) +2 bull’s +2 song +1 Prayer +3 Deafening Clang +5 Divine Favor +5 Holy Sword (ON Hit: Dispel Magic, and +1d6 vs. evil) +5 power attack (-5 ab) +26 smite vs. evil -- (38-43), +1d6 vs. evil, +26 smite (vs. evil) -- • Damage calc do not include any magical weaponry/umd, nor factor in any crits. • Other: Turn Undead; Bless Weapon, +2d6 vs. Undead; RDD Fire (Breath); UMD
Defense Vitals: 21 AC (naked) +8 mundane plate (+3 mundane shield) +4 mage armor +1 curse song (lowers enemy AB) +1 prayer (lowers enemy AB) -- AC 35 (38 w. mundane shield), +1 vs. Evil (PvA) (self-buffs only)
• assuming +5 items, dex (i.e. cat’s) and haste: 58 AC (w. +5 shield: 66 AC)
* feel free to adjust your Commander’s skill-set to suit your own preferences/environs.
Edited By TyrTemplar on 06/27/07 23:45
Similar Builds (high Paladin (25+)/RDD blends—dev.critters):
There are numerous paladin/rdd blends utilizing either bard or sorcerer in the mix, and in many differing combinations (i.e., over 26 combos thus far on the pulse, mainly spellswords, high sorcerers or mid-to-high level bards (incl. a few of my own), each half-drake having its own unique charm, and all being materially different from this build); according to the pulse, there are 10 builds that purposely take on 25+ Paladin in the mix (hence, non-dispelable), and of those 10 builds, only 3 are str.based/dev.critters – namely:
Bwookie’s (Paladin 29 / Sorcerer 1 / Red Dragon Disciple 10), Click Here an ECB classic! enjoying a dev.crit (naked) dc 46 (49 self-bufffed/53 str-capped), which is super nice, but at the expense of essentially everything else (i.e., feats, incl. the lack of Blind-fight, HPs, AC, etc.); this concept was subsequently adapted into Born to be Wild (Paladin 29 / Red Dragon Disciple 10 / Sorcerer 1) , Click Here , by malibu-fr, for more AC while retaining a dev.crit (naked) dc 45 (48 self-buffed/52 str-capped), which is also nice, but goes half-orc to do so, thus being even more feat and skill starved (incl. the lack of Blind-fight), with even fewer HPs, and also xp burdens.
The remaining dev.crit high paladin/rdd (and only other dev.crit high paladin/rdd to use bard in the mix) is Nivik23’s (Paladin 28 / Bard 2 / Red Dragon Disciple 10), Click Here ; a unique build, balancing smiting (GS3) w. dev.crit (DC 38), and thus different not only from the other 2 dev.critters, but also very different from this build (albeit sharing the same class combo, the two builds differ significantly as to focus, feats and also the level-split.
All Other High Paladin (25+)/RDD Builds (Non-Dev.Critters): In addition to the above 3 mentioned dev.crit pally/rdds, there is also Mithradates’ Knight of Bahamut (Bard 4 / Paladin 26 / Red Dragon Disciple 10) Click Here (a solid melee warrior w. very nice saves/pally buffs, which shares the same level-split as the Commander, but no dev.crit); there are also 3 great smiters/non-dev.critters (namely, my own Dragon Slayer (Paladin-Bard/RDD, Click Here and its Paladin-Sorcerer/RDD variant (avoiding an alignment change), Click Here , being balanced b/w great smiting and melee, as is Ithacan’s Holy Smiting Dragon (29 Pal/So1/RDD10), Click Here ).
The remaining 3 high pally/rdd blends are non-smiters/non-dev.critters, as follows: DaMouse’s Pally of Swash (Paladin 29 / Sorcerer 1 / Red Dragon Disciple 10) Click Here (a non-smite/non-dev.crit gnome, hence neat apart from serious xp burdens); Lala Truthsayer’s nice cha-based (pvm/pve) Divine Paladin (Paladin 29 / Sorcerer 1 / Red Dragon Disciple 10), Click Here ) , and DarkWyver’s RP-model, Red Knight of Valor (Paladin 29 / Sorcerer 1 / Red Dragon Disciple 10, Click Here ).
WHAT FOLLOWS is the WING COMMANDER -- Sorcerer Variant: