I put together this build to solo through the module S!: Tomb of Horrors. It's very heavy on traps and secret doors, designed for a party including a high level rogue. The final boss is Acererak, a Demi-Lich (and souped up to be as fearsome as they were in Baldur's Gate II). While a Cleric or Paladin is very useful in the final battle, most such builds will never make it there by themselves without a Rogue to lead the way. This build is intended to be a Paladin who is nearly as good as a Rogue himself.
There is one other build with this level split: Click Here Of course, it's one of Grizzled Dwarflord's - he and I seem to think along similar lines more often than not. Grizz's build was a Cha-based Great Smiter, with Rogue primarily used just for Tumble and UMD, plus a few points here and there. This one is Str-based, with Rogue at level one to build up a store of skill points for later dumps. Skills are focused on Search and Disable Trap (to handle the environment he was designed for).
01: Rogue(1): Blind Fight, Knockdown 02: Paladin(1) 03: Paladin(2): Weapon Focus: Greatsword, P: (Smite Evil) 04: Paladin(3): STR+1, (STR=17) 05: Paladin(4) 06: Paladin(5): Extend Spell 07: Paladin(6) 08: Paladin(7): STR+1, (STR=18) 09: Paladin(8): Toughness 10: Paladin(9) 11: Paladin(10) 12: Paladin(11): STR+1, Improved Critical: Unarmed, (STR=19) 13: Paladin(12) 14: Paladin(13) 15: Paladin(14): Extra Smiting 16: Paladin(15): STR+1, (STR=20) 17: Rogue(2): Ro: (Evasion) 18: Champion of Torm(1): Power Attack 19: Champion of Torm(2): Cleave 20: Paladin(16): STR+1, (STR=21) 21: Paladin(17): Epic Weapon Focus: Greatsword 22: Paladin(18) 23: Paladin(19) 24: Paladin(20): STR+1, Great Strength I, (STR=23) 25: Paladin(21) 26: Paladin(22) 27: Rogue(3): Great Strength II, Ro: (Uncanny Dodge I), (STR=24) 28: Paladin(23): STR+1, Epic Prowess, (STR=25) 29: Champion of Torm(3) 30: Champion of Torm(4): Great Strength III, Great Wisdom I, (STR=26), (WIS=15) 31: Champion of Torm(5) 32: Champion of Torm(6): STR+1, Great Wisdom II, (STR=27), (WIS=16) 33: Champion of Torm(7): Great Strength IV, (STR=28) 34: Champion of Torm(8): Great Wisdom III, (WIS=17) 35: Champion of Torm(9) 36: Champion of Torm(10): STR+1, Great Strength V, Great Wisdom IV, (STR=30), (WIS=18) 37: Rogue(4) 38: Paladin(24) 39: Paladin(25): Great Strength VI, (STR=31) 40: Paladin(26): STR+1, Armor Skin, (STR=32)
Notes: I used the CoT levels for Great Wisdom for an extra level 3 and 4 spell per day. You could certainly use them to pick up Dev. Crit instead, but that wasn't a focus here since he was designed for Demi-Lich killing, and undead are immune to crits anyway.
His Search and Disable Traps are high enough to spot and disable anything but Epic traps reliably. He'll usually spot Epic Traps in a few rounds, and even disable them with a few buffs or items.
His saves are quite good, and he has Evasion. He can self-buff with Aura of Glory, Eagle's Splendor, and Bless and Prayer for another +8 to all saves (and if he can pick up some Cha from items he can get to +10).
AB is quite good (44), and of course he can do all the usual Pally buffs for another +14 or so. He can also use Divine Wrath for another +2 (it should last at least 5-6 rounds when self-buffed, up to 8 if fully buffed). AB is high enough that he can afford to use Power Attack if he is up against a high DR enemy, or switch to Sword and Board if he needs more defense (his AB with other weapons is still 41, not bad at all).
He can Smite for +36 damage 3 times per day - not a main focus of the build, but not bad either.
His normal damage is quite nice - 2-12 + 16 unbuffed, up to 2-12 + 25 (buffed Str) + 5 (Divine Favor) + 5 (GMW or HS) + 2 (Prayer and Bless) + 3 (Deafening Clang) + 1-6 vs. evil (HS) + 2-12 vs. Undead (Bless Weapon). So even on a normal hit, he will punch through a Demi-lich's 30 DR just with base damage every time, plus the magical and divine damage that will bypass it. And that's with a mundane greatsword.
TM
Give him the Carsomyr and let's go killing Demi-Liches though I doubt killing Acererak is as hard as killing Kangaxx... what made Demi-Liches hard on Baldur's Gate was their unlimited instant Imprisonment, you don't get so nasty spells on NWN.
I'm no big fan of Power Attack, probably Divine Might could work instead, it adds damage without AB loss... granted 14 base CHA is low... but buffed it could still work fine.
Nice build Tatooed Monk, I like it. _________________
Quote: Posted 12/19/06 19:54 (GMT) -- FinneousPJ
Thax the Shadow Dragon sez: MONKS USE KAMAS. Just ask him.
Edited By Thaxll'ssyllia on 07/23/07 02:07
Acererak in S1 has been souped up - he has a scripted soul-sucking ability very similar to Kangaxx's Imprisonment. Luckily, it is disabled if you are in single-player, but it tends to freak out parties who don't expect it when the first couple of players disappear.... It's a well-designed module, lots of unusual special scripted events, designed to slowly creep out a party. Works really well with a DM, especially if he is a bit on the sadistic side.
Unfortunately, you need to take PA to qualify for Divine Might/Shield, so you could only drop Cleave. Given his low Cha, I thought Cleave would be more generally useful (not vs. Demi-liches, but in getting to them). I actually considered taking Improved Power Attack (which I vey rarely bother with), since he has the AB to afford the -10 to hit, and the +10 damage will help beat the 30/- DR.
TM
I like the fact that he has 500+ hit points, a 32 strength, and has the elusive 18 Wisdom for the added 3rd and 4th level Pally spells. Nice. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
I like the build. Though, I would consider Divine Might/Shield. I know that a base 14 CHA is nothing special but, as you and Thax already stated, you can buff it up nicely with spells and items. Getting +8 to +10 to Damage or Armor class is nice. I would atleast consider dropping Cleave for Divine Shield myself. Just a thought. Good build TM.
Edited By galelabriel on 07/23/07 15:14
Nicely done, TM. Which ToH module did you play this one in? I took one of my Rogue/FTR/CoT builds (Favored of Moradin) through Ghool's mod and he rocked. A Pally/Rogue combo would be tres cool though. May have to run through it again... _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
wow, this looks really excellently balanced. i've always thought the pally and ranger spellbooks are overlooked, so kudos for that
i usually play single-player in the OCs, and if i were doing so, i'd drop epic prowess and armor skin for the divine might and shield feats, like so:
18: Champion of Torm(1): Power Attack 19: Champion of Torm(2): Cleave 20: Paladin(16): STR+1, (STR=21) 21: Paladin(17): Epic Weapon Focus: Greatsword 22: Paladin(18) 23: Paladin(19) 24: Paladin(20): STR+1, Divine Shield, (STR=22) 25: Paladin(21) 26: Paladin(22) 27: Rogue(3): Great Strength I, Ro: (Uncanny Dodge I), (STR=23) 28: Paladin(23): STR+1, Divine Might, (STR=24) 29: Champion of Torm(3) 30: Champion of Torm(4): Great Strength II, Great Wisdom I, (STR=25), (WIS=15) 31: Champion of Torm(5) 32: Champion of Torm(6): STR+1, Great Wisdom II, (STR=26), (WIS=16) 33: Champion of Torm(7): Great Wisdom III, (WIS=17) 34: Champion of Torm(8): Great Wisdom IV, (WIS=18) 35: Champion of Torm(9) 36: Champion of Torm(10): STR+1, Great Strength III, Great Strength IV, (STR=29), (WIS=18) 37: Rogue(4) 38: Paladin(24) 39: Paladin(25): Great Strength V, (STR=30) 40: Paladin(26): STR+1, Great Strength VI, (STR=32)
i'd do this because: 1) a greater bonus in special situations is typically more useful than a tiny bonus overall; and 2) Nymph Cloaks +5 aren't hard to come by.
I'm guessing that the mod you played in made it harder to buff your CHR, though?
(btw, can i get a link to this mod? looks awesome)
But that's only a minor issue, it's a great concept, well done
EDIT: i had divine might on a rogue level,
Edited By eltrentoro on 07/23/07 16:41
This Link is to Ghool's ToH module. I thought it was very good and a lot of fun. _________________ It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Acererak in S1 has been souped up - he has a scripted soul-sucking ability very similar to Kangaxx's Imprisonment. Luckily, it is disabled if you are in single-player, but it tends to freak out parties who don't expect it when the first couple of players disappear.... It's a well-designed module, lots of unusual special scripted events, designed to slowly creep out a party. Works really well with a DM, especially if he is a bit on the sadistic side.
Unfortunately, you need to take PA to qualify for Divine Might/Shield, so you could only drop Cleave. Given his low Cha, I thought Cleave would be more generally useful (not vs. Demi-liches, but in getting to them). I actually considered taking Improved Power Attack (which I vey rarely bother with), since he has the AB to afford the -10 to hit, and the +10 damage will help beat the 30/- DR.
TM
Hey, that sounds really nice, though I wonder, if he has a scripted soul-sucking similar to Imprisonment, then you also get a scripted soul-releasing similar to Freedom? that would be fair (though really sadistic people wouldn't care about it being fair).
Ah, yes, Power Attack is pre-requisite for Divine feats... grrr... well yeah I'd take Divine Might instead of Cleave since you're planning on killing Demi-Liches divine damage is a must, but Improved Power Attack just makes you miss like crap, I've never found it useful except against easy to hit mobs. Cleave is a nice feat to have anyway... _________________
Quote: Posted 12/19/06 19:54 (GMT) -- FinneousPJ
Thax the Shadow Dragon sez: MONKS USE KAMAS. Just ask him.
Thanks, guys.
Quote: Posted 07/23/07 16:40 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din
This Link is to Ghool's ToH module. I thought it was very good and a lot of fun.
Yep, that's the one. Tried it once with a neutral halfling version of Grizz's Zhentarim Scout, and had a heck of a time at the end since he couldn't use any of the custom items intended for killing Acererak (halflings can't use a Greatsword due to size, and he couldn't use the artifact mace due to alignment, even with a 35 UMD). Finally managed to whittle him down using scrolls of Bless Weapon, but it was painful. I didn't want to use the Executioner, seemed too cheesy. This guy made it much easier.
On the topic of Divine Might/Shield - I wouldn't bother with Divine Shield, the duration just isn't worth it. When you need AC, just switch to a real shield and a longsword or other weapon, you've got plenty of AB to handle the loss of 3 for WF/EWF. If you want, you could take Dvine Might in place of either Cleave or Improved Crit (since undead are immune anyway). I wish you could take Great Cha as a CoT bonus feat, that would make it more useful, but you can't. I wouldn't drop Iron Skin and Epic Prowess - I like having good AC (especially since he primarily uses a greatsword) and AB. Cleave is more dispensable to me, since it makes the biggest difference against mobs of weaker enemies who generally aren't that much of a real threat.
There is no problem keeping Cha buffed - he can buff it by 9 with his own spells, you just need to pick up 3 more from items to max it out, but it's still only 26 (+8 for 8 rounds). Of course he can do it quite a few times (up to 11 if you can max Cha without spells). Of course he can already do a fair amount of divine/magical damage from his normal buffs, but every bit helps.
TM
Edited By Tattoed Monk on 07/23/07 19:25
Here's a variant on him that I played through Aielund recently. Switched to Scim + shield to use some good items in that module. Tossed in Dev Crit just because he could.
TM
Paladin(26), Champion of Torm(10), Rogue(4), Human
though I doubt killing Acererak is as hard as killing Kangaxx... what made Demi-Liches hard on Baldur's Gate was their unlimited instant Imprisonment, you don't get so nasty spells on NWN.
wow, this looks really excellently balanced. i've always thought the pally and ranger spellbooks are overlooked, so kudos for that 
