The aim of this build is to present a playable character focused on fighting in the iron golem form bestowed by the 9th level arcane spell Shapechange. I tried to address the lack of AB presented by such builds by squeezing in as much pre-epic BAB as I could (16) and adding monk for an improved attack schedule. Another obstacle is presented by the inability to merge any items into this spell-shifted form. I tried to address the loss of item AC with epic mage armor. Blackguard is included to help with pre-epic AB and make full use of his casting stat thru divine dmg and divine shield and improved saves. Divine might and sneak attack helps somewhat to alleviate the lack of dmg reduction penetration of this spell-shifted form.
I searched Pulse Cap's Engine for similar builds but the only one with this combination of classes was Defiler Of The Silt Sea (Monk 6 / BG 2 / Sorc 32) by Darchen and is more of a pure sorceror intended for PvP and does not take advantage of divine might/shield. After starting to type out this build, I noticed a build called Buff of the Jungle (Druid 20 / Monk 2 / Cleric 18) by Thaxll'ssyllia that fights in Earth Elemental form with many of the same immunities and divine buffs as this one. Buff is a better build. Divine Power combined with the various other clerical AB buffs and outdoor druid AB bonus combine to make a more effective fighter. It is also more playable at all stages of development, whereas the Infernal Iron Fist doesnt hit his stride until lvl 33 and doesn't shine until lvl 39. However since we arrived at a similar destination through different means I would like to still post mine.
THE INFERNAL IRON FIST - SORCERER (21), MONK (6), BLACKGUARD(13) Race: Human Alignment: Lawful Evil Playable 1-40 PVM. Not recommended for PVP
ABILITIES (ending) STR 14 DEX 8 CON 10 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 18(28)
Spells: 1st level - Color Spray, Magic Missle, PfE, Shield, Mage Armor 2nd level - Bulls Strength, Eagles Splendor, Endurance, Cats Grace, Owls Wisdom (I would recommend keeping flame weapon in lieu of this one until lvl 33) 3rd level - Haste, Protection from Elements, Negative Energy Burst, Flame Arrow 4th level - Elemental Shield, Evards Black Tentacles, Improved Invisibility, Confusion 5th level - Mestil's Acid Sheath, Firebrand, Hold Monster, Bigby's Interposing Hand 6th level - Bigby's Forceful Hand, IGMS, Undeath to Death 7th level - Spell Mantle, Shadowshield, Bigby's Grasping Hand 8th level - Mindblank (maybe redundant for a golem...but seriously there isn't much else to choose from), Greater Sanctuary, Horrid Wilting 9th level - Shapechange, Mords, Wail (could switch for Dominate Monster)
Hitpoints 302 max in Human Form/422 with a lucky empowered casting of Endurance
802 max in Golem Form/922 with a lucky empowered casting of Endurance
AB and Damage Fist in Human Form is 29/26/23/20/17/14 for 1-8 +2 physical critx2 on 19-20
Normal weapon (Scimitar?) and lucky empowered Bulls Strength/stacking BG Bulls Strength/Haste/Divine Might/lucky empowered Eagles Splendor it is 35/35/30/25/20 for 1-6+8 physical and 12 divine critx2 on 18-20
Golem Form: with lucky empowered Bulls Strength/stacking BG Bulls Strength/extended Haste/Divine Migh/lucky empowered Eagles Splendor - 43/43/40/37/34/30/28 for 2-20+16 physical and 12 divine critx2 on 19-20. 4d6 sneak damage is added if you are flanking or have IKD'd the target
AC Human Form fully buffed in normal full plate and tower shield (EMA, MA, lucky Empowered Cats, Haste, Divine Shield) = 66 (better if you can acquire a shield with + on it)
Golem Form fully buffed (add Lucky Empowered Owls and no need for DS because you've hit the cap) = 67
Saves: Human Form - unbuffed Fortitude/Reflex/Will = 32/27/30; buffed with lucky empowered etc 35/30/33
Golem Form - unbuffed Fort/Ref/Will = 37/33/30; fully buffed 40/36/33
PROS •Golem Immunities: crits/deathmagic/mind spells/poison/lvl and ability drain/paralysis/stun/sneaks. •Decent AC and plenty of HP in golem form •Evasion •4d6 sneak •lots of attacks and good damage •Damage Shields (probably his most dependable damage source against high AC types) •decent taunt •Protection from Harm (ShadowShield) •Some DR 30/+3 (useless against most epic opponents but still helps cushion against Evards, High DC Blade Barriers, and Ice Storm) •Concealment from II
CONS •Low AB (I wonder if an ally casting GMW on me when I'm shifted would help.....it works on my summonses) •inability to cast in golem form •inability to merge items •vulnerable to greater dispel •golem form dispellable? (no opponent on my leveller has attempted it yet) •feat starved (no WF/EWF/Auto Still etc to help out as a spell sword in human form) •low DC's and lack of spell penetration
CONCLUSION (after some play-testing)
This is a very effective build against mobs that are slightly less powerful than it, against bosses it must resort to damage shields because it can't hit them. Being dispelled or having haste/dmg shields run out is not the end of the world..you've got 7 9th lvl slots a day that can be used to cast stilled GS followed by rebuffing and another shapechange (you also effectively heal any of those 300 temporary hits you lost while fighting in golem form). This build will struggle against well-made/played PVP casters as well as fast AA's, but it took out the prismatic dragon in my leveller with no gear.
Any comments or suggestions for improvement (possibly AB or feat/spell selection) are welcome.
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 05/27/10 21:16
Welcome and thanks for sharing your build. Interesting build idea you got here.
It's painful to see 3 pre-epic feats used in epic slots (spell penetration, greater spell penetration, and improved critical). I'm not sure how much the Spell Penetration line of feats actually helps this build anyways.
I cant really add anything more right now (have to tend to the little one). I'm sure others will be along shortly to give you their recommendations on how to make your build stronger.
Cool build! _________________ "Death and damnation!" Grimgnaw
Edited By gbojinov on 12/14/08 11:24
I like the focus and committment. It takes this guy a while to get where he wants to go. The only regret is that I wish you had just a wee bit more Sorc levels. Not sure how to do that given your nice pre-epic 16BAB. You'd have to sack either Monk or BG levels, and there ain't a whole lot of those. Speaking of levels, you have BG16 listed in the thread title.
Good one, and cool name. It fits. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Thank you Kail Pendragon for editing this, I didn't realize how choppy my post must have looked until I see the new version. Thanks for the comments everyone.
@Galabriel - Maybe the SP line is a bit too little too late, but I wanted to try and give him a fighting chance to cast his offensive spells against those with toolset level SR.
But I don't know what else I could do with those feats. I could apply 2 of them to charisma, but 28 is probably enough for this build, considering that fully buffed in golem form he has already hit the dodge cap without the need for DS. Maybe epic toughness to help him survive an ambush in human form?.
@GrizzledDwarfLord - More sorc lvls would be nice. The easiest way to implement them might be to sacrifice one attack, IKD, and 1AB by substituting 2 sorc for monk pre epic and another monk in epic (keep one to top off tumble)...that gets you to 24. One could then sacrafice 2 lvls of BG in epic (keep one to top off taunt), and pick up EP where I picked up ESP and pick up ESP with one of your new sorc Bonus feats (26 sorc lvls now). Still one epic bonus feat left to spend.
This split would be a more effective caster but I like having IKD in golem form...I can actually KD dragons(the weak kind)....its really fun.
Thank you for speaking so nicely about my build and welcome to the guild.
Hmmm, depending on the playstyle, Still Spell could be rendered useless. Since you're a shifted Monk (and don't merge items), an armor won't do any good, on the other side, since your WIS is so low, it might help playability before reaching the shift, so in the end it depends if you're playing it from level 1 or not. Also tied to playability, Toughness becomes irrelevant once you get the Golem form, just look at your HP.
Perhaps it would be somewhat more playable to take Divine Might and Shield sooner, it seems you'll be a buffer all the time, so the Still and Empower Spell won't be so decisive when your Sorcerer level is just 6.
Being dispelled might be a concerning issue, but you just have to live with it. I've had my Elemental Shapes dispelled with Mords in PvP, even though they're supposed to be undispellable (maybe it was something from the server though) but you can just shift again, how many Mords could they have prepared? Since you're not recommending it for PvP, chances are you won't get dispelled often, so don't worry about it.
The build looks pretty fun, actually the only drawback I find is that you get the Golem Shift you want very late. _________________
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 12/14/08 20:47
@thax
- You are correct about toughness and still spell being taken pre-epic to help playability. Although still spell won't really be useful until around lvl 22. I realize that this build will not be the easiest to level up, but its not intended to be just a straight to 40th build.
- From lvls 1-7 it should be able to level up like any other sorcerer.
there is a rough patch from 8-10 where additional monk levels don't really add anything yet.
From 11-20 you are playing it as fighter with low hitpoints but the ability to cast longterm buffs like bulls/stack bulls, flameweapon, protection from elements, mage armor/shield etc. Blackguard also gives you access to nifty pets like the succubus (evards,fear,dispel/chainlightning) and the doomknight (bladebarrier/dispel/fearaura).
- The reason I take divine shield and divine might with my last two pre-epic feats is that I can't take them any earlier with my level split....they aren't available until my 3rd level of blackguard and I can't take blackguard until BAB reaches 6.
- the skill point total is actually 227 and I just forgot to list hide.
- Thank your for the kama suggestion for weapon....I think that is probably the best one as it maximizes my attacks and dmg from flame weapon.
- In addition, I'm taking two more lvls of sorc in epic so that the split is 23/6/11. This allows me to take sorc 21 at 36th lvl and get epic mage armor a little bit earlier. I am taking Epic Prowress on the level that I took Epic Spell Penetration. And I am taking epic spell penetration as a bonus feat on my final sorcere lvl, ESF taunt will have to wait until 39th lvl. The new lvl progression should look like...
As a result, I will lose one point of discipline and taunt and those 2 will go into craft armor I suppose.
- I am going to play this guy from level 1 onwards in a fast levelling module (an early prototype of infinitedungons called endless nights 3) and see how it goes.
Please smack me if this is out of line, but what about changing Sorcerer altogether? What about going the Druid route, which also gets the Shapechange spell. It seems that doing this would alleviate a lot of the problems that you had with the original. For example, if you look at the stuff below, it looks like a completely different build, but essentially it's your concept and idea, and I merely substituted Sorc for Druid (I also checked the Search Engine, and I didn't find anything, which in itself means nothing, but better than not checking):
Druid28/Monk7/BG5
Str14 Int10 Wis16 (20) Dex8 Con14 Chr14 (26)
1 Druid1, Power Attack, Extend Spell 2 Monk1 3 Druid2, WF: Unarmed 4 Druid3, Wis17 5 Druid4 6 Druid5, Blindfighting 7 Monk2 8 Druid6, Wis18 9 Druid7, Empower Spell 10 BG1 11 BG2 12 BG3, Divine Might, Wis19 13 Druid8 14 Druid9 15 BG4, Divine Shield 16 Druid10, Chr15 17 Monk3 18 Druid11, Improved Critical: Unarmed Strike 19 Druid12 20 Monk4, Chr16 21 Druid13, Great Chr I 22 Monk5 23 Druid14 24 Druid15, Great Chr II, Chr19 25 Druid16 26 Druid17(Shapechange) 27 Monk6, Great Chr III 28 Druid18, Chr21 29 Druid19 30 Druid20, Great Chr IV, (Elder Elemental) 31 Druid21 32 Druid22, Chr23 33 Druid23, Great Chr V 34 Druid24, Greater Ruin 35 Druid25 36 Druid26, EWF: Unarmed Strike, Chr25 37 Druid27 38 Druid28, Great Wis I 39 BG5, Epic Prowess 40 Monk7, Chr26
Advantages: Shapechange much earlier, with the added bonus of Elder Elemental Buffs are now undispellable Much higher AB while In Golem mode Golem mode lasts longer Only loses 2 charisma compared to original build. More Hit points Better Saves Even though has Int10, still gets as many skill points as the Sorc version due to so many Druid levels. Still has high Taunt score Gets IKD earlier Gets DM/DS earlier No need for Still Spell, he's Divine Caster Gets to throw his Wisdom into AC (which works great with Owls Insight)
Disadvantages: Doesn't get as many Shapechange spells per day (but can go into Elemental Mode) Spell DCs aren't as great, but I don't think he would need high DCs. He should be able to dish out some nice divine damage and keep a nice AC and good immunities with Druid buffs. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
WOW!!!
I am standing in slack-jawed amazement. Your alternative gets everything I was shooting for earlier and does it better.
LOL, I kinda wish now that I had submitted my idea to the build request forum, so that a superior template wouldn't get secreted away inside of an inferior ones.
I didn't realize druids even received the shapechange spell, because I don't play them.
I am standing in slack-jawed amazement. Your alternative gets everything I was shooting for earlier and does it better.
LOL, I kinda wish now that I had submitted my idea to the build request forum, so that a superior template wouldn't get secreted away inside of an inferior ones.
I didn't realize druids even received the shapechange spell, because I don't play them.
This solves so many problems, THANK YOU.
It may need some polishing up in places, but I would leave that to you since it's your concept (like hit points, shifted stats, ACs for the various forms, and Epic Spell choice. I'm sure Kail or one of the Mods would be happy to put it in place of the original and retitle the Thread's class composition. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Truth is, even if I had known about Druid access to the shapechange spell, I would have been intimitated by the necessary alignment shifts. You have somehow managed to make them as easy as possible though. The 1st and 3rd will be as simple as killing all those city slickers who despoil nature. The second is a little trickier, but there are enough levels in between to stuff some good deeds into my alignment credit account....if necessary I'll even decline some of those item/money rewards.
Truth is, even if I had known about Druid access to the shapechange spell, I would have been intimitated by the necessary alignment shifts. You have somehow managed to make them as easy as possible though. The 1st and 3rd will be as simple as killing all those city slickers who despoil nature. The second is a little trickier, but there are enough levels in between to stuff some good deeds into my alignment credit account....if necessary I'll even decline some of those item/money rewards.
Oh crap. I totally forgot about alignments. Can't believe I did that. Sigh. I forget that Druids have to be Neutral and Monks have to be Lawful. That changes things. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Heh, I've tried the Druid / Monk / Blackguard as well as the Paladin version. Yeah, alignment change was one of the big reasons I decided to post only the Cleric one.
In favor of your build, using Druid instead of Sorcerer will make you lose Haste because you can't merge any armor. Cleric can work it out but you also won't get Epic Mage Armor, so take a good look at your ending buffs before changing to Druid.
Quote: - The reason I take divine shield and divine might with my last two pre-epic feats is that I can't take them any earlier with my level split....they aren't available until my 3rd level of blackguard and I can't take blackguard until BAB reaches 6.
Right, sorry, that can only be done with Paladins or Clerics. _________________ "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
and welcome to the guild. 
but you also won't get Epic Mage Armor, so take a good look at your ending buffs before changing to Druid.