(posted it also in the general Bioware forums, but thought I'd go ahead and post here since it is an Epic Build question)..

Am thinking of doing a little PVP (and some PVM too of course) build centering around the Raksh..Rakshas..Ra..uh..You know, that form that prevents 1-8 level spells from hitting you.

I've gone thru the Epic Builders builds and found a few examples of those building around that shape.

The most intriguing to me is the Wizard one..where you go about 27 Wiz levels or so and then have your Rak form spam Maximized Ice Storms. He'd also be an Epic Wizard and have access to Epic Spells and Mantles and Mord's (for those critters that had high SR and you could knock it down and get those Ice Storms thru).

The downside is, you need 25 Wisdom for Rak shape, and also need to focus in on INT for your Wiz spells to have any decent effect. Typically in our high magic world, one needs to pump one stat or the other to be effective.
Also in a separate shifter question on that, I need to know exactly what items (armor/weapon/rings/amulets/cloaks) do shift along with that shape.

I also thought Cleric. You get good buffing, you keep the Wisdom synergy and with Magic Domain, cast Maximized Ice Storms (well, maybe..haven't tried it out tho. Downside is though unless you take Spell Penetration feats, high SR could be a bugger for ya.

Or go mostly Druid with the casting and then add a Monk level for cheese, er, uh, AC.

What do you all think would potentially be the best build to try?

Thanks!

J. Well I'd do either heavy Druid with Monk cheese or high Wizard. I've posted both kinds of builds.
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"With Europe liberated, the people of the world turned their attention to that old devil, the United States of America [...] We taught that monster of old the true meaning of freedom."
Star Wreck High Druid with Monk Cheese definitely. Druid 28/Shifter 10/Monk 2, Druid 12/Shifter 8 pre epic, Monk at 22nd lvl for discipline and tumble dumps, Shifter 10 at 24th lvl for Outsider Shape, then Druid all the way. Monk 2 for the final skill dump. Beware of blessed bolts.


Cheers,
Kail
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Heavy metal
Or no metal at all
Whimps and posers
Leave the hall! Thanks for the suggestions, Kail and FinneousPJ.

I did look over the builds in the guild and was curious if anyone had played them in a semi-high magic world and what the results might be.

I know you did what I thought was a great Wizard build with it, Finneous. Was surprised you could get an AC approaching that of Monk-cheese with it. So was definitely looking for you input on your favorite build of these since you did so many Rak-type builds earlier.

Just doing some preliminary builds on the Novice to Epic mod, I was able to get 70+ AC in Rak form. Which isn't bad. Though in my PW, against really baddy-types, you need 80-90+ AC to survive. Still his purpose is to fling those Ice Storms and RUN.

Still tweaking it .. I added a Monk 3 in one of them, for both playability and a little extra speed. Is there much difference between say 28 Druid and 27 Druid?

Joe Lo! I've done a rak build too, the 28/10/2 veriety. Getting only 27 druid means one less feat and slightly worse SR penetration, I would only do it for playability on a very slow-leveling server. Like most shifters, the rakshasa is at its best in fairly low-magic environments. The shape does merge effects from all item slots except gloves, but still doesn't usually gain much by having good equipment. Most importantly, the 15/+5 DR is awesome in a low magic setting.

Blessed bolts are blocked by death ward, so you're ok until that's dispelled. With the second monk level you get deflect arrows which might save you in a tight spot, but it only works while in physical combat.

I haven't tried the mage veriety myself, but I imagine it's a bit harder to level as it only gets really good ac until near the end. I've only been playing on one server for a long time though, so it could be my "tactical" thinking is a little stuck in that setting. Cool..have learned a lot about this sort of build.. thanks!

Yeah, it's a tough call now to go either Monk 2 or Monk 3. Probably will try to sweat it out and go Monk 2, but I'll keep tweaking the build and see what I can come up with.

I did find one strange thing in the Novice to Epic Training mod when I was testing the build out.

I had on Boots of Speed. It showed me as Hasted in my normal form.

When I shifted to Rak, I wasn't Hasted. I *thought* boots did shift with you..maybe not (?)

Joe They do, indeed. Try getting rid of haks and overides (move them temporarily to another folder, say hak.1 and override.1) and try again seeing whether they merge in your Rak shape. You might also want to try reinstalling if that won't work, glitches can happen sometimes.


Cheers,
Kail
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Looking for a realm of adventure? Check out World of Greyhawk, you won't regret it. Shifters in Rak form merge item properties that are on the item only, even temporary ones until you de-shift. For example, the PW I play Athas Reborn: there is a set of medium armor that gives you undead properties temporarily, but removes them if you take off the armor. If you shift into, say. . . a dragon, you can keep the armor quality until you go to your base form. Dracolich 4tehwin! Rakshasa merges armor, item and weapon category, which means everything but bracers/gloves not just items.
_________________
Heavy metal
Or no metal at all
Whimps and posers
Leave the hall! Just looking through i noticed this and thought that maybe i should post a rak build i have...

On the server i play on there are many melees and few items for shifters.. so instead of trying to stop the melees hitting me by going monk for ac.

I went Dwarven Defender - gets u some nice damage reduction and so far being hit for 12 damage when u have ~600hp is no problem exp when ur Maxed ice storms are eternally landing on them.

Just a thought.

Im not sure if this is true so dont take it for word test it - but maybe being DD also reduces the effect of those blasted evards on you as they are physical damage (I think from memory) but dont kno.

For those of you who dont kno this Evards tenticles go through Spell mantles (including Raks Immunity) however Small Statures 9halflings and gnomes) are immune to it - hence while ull never see me on a Human or elf mage ^^ The main problem with DD is that it weakens your Icestorm of Uberness to take lots of levels in a non-druid class. Plus you miss out on all that tasty tasty monk WIS AC... Yea thats true, but as i said the server i play on hardly have and items that you would call ideal so i just went DD and its nice to watch ppl slowly chip away at your health as you steadily pound em with ice storms But loosing the nice monk ac is a real bummer