I am quite new to this guild, and have done a lot of reviewing over the builds in the past week and saw many good ideas. After using the search engine, however, I found that many of the builds similar to this one were divergent in one of the following points:

- They took more paladin than sorceror (thus not becoming an epic sorceror)
- They did not receive divine might and shield
- They took devastating critical (a bit of a stretch, IMO, for a build like this)
- They focused more on charisma (spellcasting) than strength (melee).
- The build was not focused upon PvP.




SORCEROR 26/PALADIN 4/RED DRAGON DISCIPLE 10


Race: Human
Alignment: Lawful Good (no alignment changes needed)
PvP: Intended to be used for player vs player purposes.

Playable Range: Aimed for 40, but once you hit epic levels it should be pretty easy (with RDD increases and div might/shield).


-ABILITIES-:

STR: 16 (32) (+8 upon level up)
DEX: 8
CON: 14 (16)
WIS: 8
INT: 12 (14)
CHA: 16 (20) (+2 upon level up)


Hitpoints (Maxed): 388
Total Skillpoints: 183

Saving Throws: | Fort: 30| Will: 27| Reflex: 19|

BaB: 24 (3 Attacks per round)
AB: 39/34/29 (With Scimitar)

AC: | Naked: 19 | Armor+Shield: 30 |

Spellcasting Ability: 9th Level Sorceror Spellcasting; Epic Warding and Epic Mage Armor; DC is generally low due to a mediocre score. (Recommended Familiar: Faerie Dragon or Eyeball)


-SKILLS-
Concentration: 43 Points (46)
Spellcraft: 43 Points (45)
Discipline: 42 Points (53)
Tumble: 20 Points
Heal: 15 Points (14) (Replace with any other desirable skill.)


-LEVEL OUTLINE-

01: Sor 01: Power Attack, Still Spell
02: Sor 02:
03: Pal 01: Weapon Focus: Scimitar
04: Sor 03: (+1 Charisma; 17)
05: Sor 04: (+8 LORE)
06: Rdd 01: (RDD Increase: +2 Strength; 18)(Knockdown)
07: Rdd 02:
08: Rdd 03: (+1 Charisma; 18)
09: Rdd 04: Blind Fight, (RDD Increase: +2 Strength; 20)
10: Rdd 05:
11: Sor 05:
12: Sor 06: Maximize Spell, (+1 Strength; 21)
13: Rdd 06:
14: Pal 02:
15: Pal 03: Divine Might
16: Rdd 07: (RDD Increase: +2 Con; 16), (+1 Strength; 22)
17: Rdd 08:
18: Pal 04: Divine Shield
19: Sor 07:
20: Sor 08: (+1 Strength; 23)
21: Rdd 09: Armor Skin, (RDD Increase: +2 Int; 14)
22: Sor 09:
23: Sor 10:
24: Sor 11: Epic Prowess, (+1 Strength; 24)
25: Sor 12:
26: Sor 13:
27: Sor 14: Epic Weapon Focus: Scimitar
28: Sor 15: (+1 Strength; 25)
29: Sor 16:
30: Sor 17: Toughness*
31: Sor 18:
32: Sor 19: (+1 Strength; 26)
33: Sor 20: Auto Still Spell I
34: Sor 21:
35: Sor 22:
36: Sor 23: Epic Mage Armor, Auto Still Spell II, (+34 SPELLCRAFT), (+1 Strength; 27)
37: Sor 24:
38: Sor 25:
39: Rdd 10: Auto Still Spell III, (RDD Increase: Strength +4; 31)(+42 DISCIPLINE)
40: Sor 26: Epic Warding, (+1 Strength; 32), (+43 CONCENTRATION; +9 SPELLCRAFT; +20 TUMBLE; +15 HEAL)


*Note: This feat can be replaced with others ones depending upon your style: Epic Fortitude, Epic Skill Focus, Improved Knockdown, Improved Critical, etc. But sorcerors get a low HitDie so I prefer to increase their hp as much as possible.


Preferred Spell List:

Level 1: True Strike, Mage Armor, Grease, Endure Elements, Shield
Level 2: Balagarns Iron Horn, Darkness, Flame Weapon, Bulls Strength, Ultravision
Level 3: Flame Arrow, Greater Magic Weapon, Keen, Negative Energy Burst (or Haste if you don't pick up any items)
Level 4: Ice Storm, Lesser Spell Breach, Elemental Shield, Improved Invisibility
Level 5: Mestil's Acid Sheath, Lesser Spell Mantle, Energy Buffer, Bigby's Interposing Hand
Level 6: Isaac's Greater Missile Storm, True Seeing, Greater Spell Breach
Level 7: Shadow Shield, Finger of Death, Spell Mantle
Level 8: Horrid Wilting, Greater Sanctuary, Bigby's Clenched Fist
Level 9: Time Stop, Greater Spell Mantle, Mordikainen's Disjunction



Notes:

- This build thrives upon a greater spellcasting ability and melee presence. Generally kills dexterity based builds and has a good damage absorbtion. Also has decent damage with divine might.
- With Epic Mage Armor, RDD Armor Skin, and other AC enhancing feats or spells, this build has a decent AC, especially when using divine shield.
- The cons of this build are its sacrifice for balance. It's spellcasting ability is no where near on par with a 38/1/1 (Sorceror/Paladin/Monk) and its AB can be easily beaten by a weapon master; however, the sorceror buffs are their to help it, as always.
- Starved of feats and skill points, this build has its disadvantages by taking Paladin instead of Fighter.


Strategy:

- Generally try to strip your enemy of their buffs and weaken their offensive power with your AB reducing spells such as Bigby's Interposing Hand and Negative Energy Burst. Darkness is a nice defensive spell as well.
- Adapt to the situation by either using melee or magic. Vs mages, try to use melee after dispelling their precious buffs. Against high SR builds, such as monks, a melee is usually the only way to handle things.
- When it comes to magic, use your spells wisely as they tend to be used more effectively as defensive than offensive. However, when enemies run away (or you are faced by archers, sneakers, etc.) your magic can double as an effective ranged attack, as well as builds that have a high ac.


-PROS + CONS-

- Overall Pros:
* Well rounded
* Has a higher melee presence than most Sorceors
* Spellcasting Ability adds flexibility to most situations and can easily win a battle
* With extra HP from an above-average constitution and RDD levels (along with toughness), your HP is much higher than most sorcerors.
* Your ability to have a high dispelling power can be effective versus cleric builds and others that rely on AB enhancing spells.
* This build can thrive on both magic and non-magic items.

- Overall Cons:
* Sacrifices additional melee/caster presence, a bit below average at both.
* High SR is a problem.
* Your AB relies on such spells like true strike or Balagarns Iron Horn/Bigby's (or Time Stop), making it hard to hit something otherwise.
* Your AC relies on Divine Shield a lot, and Epic Warding wears off in only 26 rounds.
* This build is feat and skill starved, making its combat versatility limited.


Final Notes:

- On an AB/AC +5 server, this build can get up to 72 AC and 50 AB (65 w/ true strike).
- If this build is deemed too similar to others like it, I am sorry for bringing this build up.
- Some spells and/or abilities are nerfed on some multiplayer servers, making this build a bit harder to play.
- Make sure you take 34 spellcraft for epic warding and 8 lore for RDD at the proper levels!



Added class lvls to leveling guide, fixed title, added bold and italic formatting - Kail Pendragon

Edited By Kail Pendragon on 04/29/09 17:42

Just a note: since it's Human, there's no XP penalty.
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It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!!
Quote: Posted 08/11/08 16:34 (GMT) -- Cinnabar Din

Just a note: since it's Human, there's no XP penalty.
Good catch, fixed.
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For Heavy Metal
We will die Thank you for the edits; that post is a lot easier to read now. I'll be sure to keep that in mind for future builds! Nice write up on this build, btw. Kudos on the thought and work you put into it.
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It's rogue, dammit, ROGUE!!! Looks like a fun character to play. Well done.
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Ariel, Ookla, RIDE! This character can be tough to level up.
Your pre epic BAB is low, you get no significant magic before half way up in the epic lvls, and you wont get the boni of RDD 10 until very late. So you'd better start out at lvl 40 or close.

Other than that, these characters (spellswords) are always a compromise between spellpower and melee presence. I like the way you try to balance things out. But I doubt it will be good enough against the strongest pvp builds.
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I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it... Its actually a very effective build ive played this type of build before and went dev crit on my version and as long as u know what to do with it you will succeed often, even better with a friend with you