Skill Points Total: 174 - 6 Points left over. I dropped them in Heal. Why? I'unno. Was feeling frisky.
Alright. Explanation before you all hang and lynch me for this. Yes, this build looks absolutely horrible when you first look at it. Average HP that doesn't even break 200? 26 AC on a Monk build? NO weapon focuses whatsoever? May I please direct you to the name of this build. The All-Star ==Protector==.
This is a tried and true PvP build of mine that just so happens to be my absolute favorite to play. Why? Because he barely -ever- gets killed. This build is meant to stay within his GS, heal where needed, Ressurect where allies have fallen, AND... TA DA! The greatest part about this guy. He has your back when it comes to pesky mages. IGMS Spam? He's got them countered. Timestoppers? He can cover that, too. Implode Spammers? If he has Mord slots left over, he's got those countered as well. And he does it all from the safety of his Greater Sanctuary.
But, he's got one more little trick up his sleeve. That beautiful, lovely combination of Timestop - Harm.
Now, this build is meant for a high magic server. He's usually sporting Cleric Robes which offer Extra Spell Slots, a Nymph Cloak of the highest value available, Dex Belt of the same, Wisdom Ammy and a Haste Helm. If your servers don't offer permanent haste items, bring a bag of Speed Potions with you. The reason I left haste out of the Sorc Spell List? You can take it if you want, but I think you'll want to keep those spell slots open for either self buffs or buffs for your PvP allies.
Strategy Guide: This guy has really low AC. So you're going to want to augment that with ways to help him out a little to live just in case you get one of those Mord Scroll spammers who end up knocking you from your Greater Sanctuary. I like to bluff. And I do it well. This is why I took both Acid Sheath and Elemental Shield. If you are ever caught outside of your GS and you have your Greater Stoneskin up and Acid Sheath and Elemental Shield, Meleer's Hesitate to swing at you. If they don't know you're so split in levels like this, they're going to think twice before charging into a 'Kill Yourself On Me' defense. This usually gives me enough time to cast a Timestop, grab a GS and get out of the area quick.
Secondly, you notice I have both Displacement AND Improved Invisibility on my spell list for Sorc. Why? Because, I've come across an annoying bug across many servers. Improved Invisibility will actually bug your Greater Sanctuary on most PvP servers and that leaves you a sitting duck. HOWEVER, Displacement does not! And though it doesn't last nearly as long as an Imp. Inv. does, I'd rather much cast 3 Displacements compared to one Improved Invisibility and risk my GS bugging and getting killed. Use your Displacement on yourself, and your Improved Invisibilities on your Allies.
Third. Why the heck do I have Skill Focus in Listen when this is not an offensive build? Simple. Just because I can't kill the other team's sneaks, doesn't mean I can't heal my own. I wanted a high Listen so I could spot my own sneakers and heal them while they are in the safety of their Stealth. All too many times have I seen a sneak drop dead because they had to leave Stealth to be healed and the Greater Restoration didn't go off fast enough before an enemy faction member got to them first. If I am going to be sitting back in my Greater Sanctuary safe from harm and healing, I want my sneakers to have the same comfort that they can sit back in their stealth and GET healed. Especially since the server this build was made for has a 3 minute cool-down timer on heal potions. A lot can happen within three minutes, which is where the cleric comes in to save the day. Clairaudience/Clairvoyance will also give you a nice little boost once cast to see your fellow sneakers. I'd say use your True Seeing all the time, but many PvP servers I play on now-days have nerfed True Seeing to only seeing Invisible and giving a +20 to Spot.
Lastly, another key point. Take the Psuedodragon Familiar. Why? Because even thought these servers have nerfed True Seeing Scrolls and Spells, Psuedo's seem to still possess their pure True Seeing ability. This will also give you the ability to scout for Sneaks and GS Mages/Clerics of the enemy faction while safely hidden away somewhere in your GS and able to report the number of hostiles around.
Anyways, I think this has gotten -very- winded. But I wanted to atleast give an in-debt explanation as to why I picked such an unorthadox build. Well, there you have it. If you seriously don't believe me, try it out yourself. My PvP faction gave me high praise more than several occassions for being the tide-turner in battles with both healing -and- countering abilities to keep them alive.
Format fix - Kail Pendragon
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 02/08/08 10:37
One more quick note about this guy. He derives Greater Sanctuary from both his Cleric AND Sorceror spell lists. Your meleers will love him when he is countering mages out of their Greater Sanctuaries so they can knock them down and kill them quick, then run up and heal the damage done from their shields.
And because he pulls from two seperate spell resevoirs for GS, I have -yet- to be in a position during PvP where I had run out of GS spells to save my own skin even after expending MANY slots of it on counters. By the time you are running out of GS spells, you should have plenty of time to run off and rest.
I made a similar build a while ago click here (though I went combat side not caster) and I can back up that it's a great build, it gets lots of versatility (though spell DCs aren't very special at all, and I can't get all the buffs I want and spells on my quickslots ), but there are a few things that popped up when I made mine and come into mind right now...
I beat you on the Time Stop -> Harm trick, your AB is low
The most important thing would be that you're not taking epic Sorcerer and therefore you don't access the obviously powerful epic spells such as Epic Warding (come on, EW is pretty damn powerful alright, even in high magical environments).
Why do you state high magical environment by the way? as a magic freak with all kinds of possible buffs you own in low magical environments, not on high ones, there you're not outstanding in any status.
You should probably go for Improved Combat Casting, it's useful for casting spells to heal or escape in the midst of combat. _________________
Quote: Posted 07/28/06 23:16:09 (GMT) -- Big Meph Using the 2 ESF's in a dex based sneak build, to me, just looks like you're teasing your diabetic opponent with extra sugar on your whipcream covered chocolate mudcake.
Edited By Thaxll'ssyllia on 02/06/08 19:57
I never even thought to search for a Wizard variant to this. I just thought the Wisdom and Charisma went hand in hand with a cleric. So my first thought was go Sorc.
You're right. He has the potential to buff himself up and give himself the AB he needs for the timestop/harm combo since it's still a touch attack. I was simply saying that even on a high-end magic item server, this guy is hard to best. Or maybe I've just been playing him so long that I've developed that sixth sense of keeping him out of the compromising situations that could get him killed.
All in all, it's just a fun build. But you need to learn patience with him. During PvP with it, you're going to be sitting around watching everyone else doing the casting and slashing. It's straight support. But it's that support actor in the scene that just so happens to have the potential to steal the show and win everyone's heart. =P
I prefer Wizard because it gets bonus feats every 5 pre-epic levels, very useful for Great INT allowing my build to get a decent STR score, I usually throw all my CHA to increase the rest, the amount of stats spent are less because you spend a bit in INT even if you're a Sorcerer but you don't need CHA if you're Wizard.
Well, you conditioned your build for support, since you invest none in AB and HP, but a Cleric/Sorcerer/Monk makes a great front-liner in low magic.
The Time Stop - Harm is a nifty trick for PvP, but Time Stop owns anyway on any heavy caster; it's a good variant for fun though, it works often enough and it's cruelly effective.
Yeah, knowing how to play it is a big deal, since it has so many options, I kinda just use all my long-term buffs and go killing spree, easy enough. _________________ "My name is Thaxll'ssyllia, but you simians may refer to me merely as "Sir", if you prefer a less... syllable intensive workout."
Edwin Odesseiron - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Edited By Thaxll'ssyllia on 02/08/08 02:13
Yeah, and I prefered the Sorc because, though he doesn't get as high Stats and loses out a bit on feats, he gains that in spell slots per rest. And with this build tailored the way I made him, being straight support, those extra spell slots are vital to the integrity of it.
After looking over your build, then looking over mine, both get the job done where they are meant to. If you are looking for a support type, mine is the way to go. If you are looking for a more combat-oriented varient, this is going to lack. So grab Thaxll'ssyllia's build.
), but there are a few things that popped up when I made mine and come into mind right now...