Character build ideas, need 2nd opinion

[Legacy_Shailfire]

               

So I have 3 character builds I have in mind that I'd like a second opinion on(mostly pve/server oriented)

 

7 Paladin/7 Weapon Master / 26 Champion of Torm, Base stats of 14 str 14 dex 10 con 14 int 12 wis 14 cha

VS

9 Fighter/7 Weapon Master / 24 Champion of Torm, base stats of 16 str 14 dex 14 con 14 int 10 wis 8 cha

 

all upgrades into str, focus in scimitar (massive critical/overwhelming critical stacking)

 

Idea was to make a decently offensive paladin with smite capabilities that could dish out high damage without smites, but I feel like I have a rather lackluster/pitiful paladin who's basically a sub-par fighter with an ok lay on hands, where as the fighter variant feels like it would be superior offensive wise but would be missing out on some saving throws, not sure if the champion of torm levels would overbalance it or not.

 

28 barb 2 bard 10 rdd,

 

16 fighter 2 bard 22 rdd

 

would yield massive strength, and could take a greatsword and hit everything for oblivious damage, on top of having a really high health pool(half orc, 20 str 14 con 14 dex) but barbarian feels kind of sketchy since the barb rage is made useless by the fact that on pretty much every server, by epic levels I'll have +12 str capped already, so I was thinking about a fighter variant(more damage due to weapon specialization, heavy armor as baseline, take all the feats known to orckind) as well as a decent breath attack/armor bonus/hp from the large count of RDD levels(not sure what to do with RDD bonus feats though)

 

35 monk 5 fighter

 

vs

 

7 fighter 7 wm 26 monk

 

Dexterity based, with attack bonus cap, basically unarmed vs dual kama question, I feel like dual has better capabilities here, but not sure since unarmed can be pretty neat with circle kick/cleave/AoO

 

7 fighter 7 wm 26 rogue (dual wield, rapier, or rapier/shield depending on situation)

vs

or halfling variant using kukri(exotic, crit, slightly more ab/ac due to small stature)

 

Also any ideas you all may have for builds that are really strong in the higher epic levels(planning for 40 with a server that "levels to 60" of sorts, the knights templar thing)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_AndrueD]

               

Maybe this good place to get help.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_rogueknight333]

               

A few quick thoughts on these builds:

 

7 Paladin/7 Weapon Master / 26 Champion of Torm, Base stats of 14 str 14 dex 10 con 14 int 12 wis 14 cha

VS

9 Fighter/7 Weapon Master / 24 Champion of Torm, base stats of 16 str 14 dex 14 con 14 int 10 wis 8 cha

 

There is rarely much purpose in taking more than 10 levels of the Champion of Torm class, since it loses its main advantage, a bonus feat on every other level, in Epic levels. There it only gets a bonus feat every 4th level, which is no better, and often worse, than what many other epic classes provde. A better version of what you seem to be aiming for here would be Paladin 23/Weapon Master 7/COT 10 (I suggest base states of 14 STR, 13 DEX, 10 CON, 13 INT, 14 WIS, 14 CHA though other variations are possible. This gives you enough Paladin levels to make significant use of the features of that class while also giving you the core benefits of a Weapon Master.

 

28 barb 2 bard 10 rdd,

 

16 fighter 2 bard 22 rdd

 

Barbarian rage is not necessarily completely useless if you take feats like Terrifying Rage, but you are right that in general the class tends to be rather underwhelming.  An RDD build based on Fighter would normally be better unless you needed a lot of extra skill points for some reason, but 28 Brb/2 Brd/ 10 RDD is not too bad. As with COT, however, there is rarely any point in taking more than 10 levels of RDD. At that point you have all the Stat bonuses, which is the main thing the class offers, and some other class will almost certainly offer more. So to modify your 2nd build here, cap RDD at 10 and put the additional levels into Fighter or Bard. More bard levels can definitely be useful, providing bonuses from both Bard Song and various spells.

 

 

35 monk 5 fighter

 

vs

 

7 fighter 7 wm 26 monk

 

There are advantages to both of these but they are not really the same sort of build. The first is a more dedicated monk that has more of the characteristic features of that class, which are primarily defensive, such as more Spell Resistance. The second is using monk levels mainly as a means to increase APR for offensive purposes (in view of which, for that build I would probably reduce the number of monk levels somewhat to increase FTR or WPM levels).

 

In general, it is better to arm Monks with Kamas than have them fight with fists, since 1) if you rely on fists you are in effect sacrificing an equipment slot (you have to use your gloves/bracers slot for your "weapon" rather than something offering other bonuses) and 2) Kamas typically come with an enchancement bonus, increasing both AB and damage, while Monk gloves offer only an AB bonus. However, in some environements the magical monk gloves available might be so much better than the magical kamas that they compensate for these drawbacks.

 

Do not bother with the Circle Kick feat, it is bugged and not too useful.

 

 

7 fighter 7 wm 26 rogue (dual wield, rapier, or rapier/shield depending on situation)

vs

or halfling variant using kukri(exotic, crit, slightly more ab/ac due to small stature)

 

Why not 8 FTR/ 7 WPM/ 25 Rogue? What is the 26th Rogue level giving you?

 

That aside, either works, though note you are not getting as much advantage from Weapon Master here as you might in some other cases (and that class takes a heavy feat investment) since with that many Rogue levels you will be able to do a lot of Sneak Attack Damage to foes that are not immune to crits anyway, and against crit immune foes the main Weapon Master features will also be useless.