Sunday, 18 October 2009

Self-healing THF kensei with saves

I've been playing this character for two years now and just decided to reroll him again, for the second time - the previous version didn't have UMD and I kept having bad dreams about getting neg levels and not being able to remove them. So I remade the build and thought I'd drop it here for you guys to giggle at.

I wanted to play a fighter that runs about and hits stuff with a big weapon but I can't stand having to be babysat and not being able to heal myself. This bloke meets those requirements and on top of that can tank in most situations if needed, except the most demanding ones. He's primarily a tier II THF kensei though. Tier III can't be reached because of the 4 pally levels. The trade-off is:
  • no fighter capstone (-10% attack speed)
  • loses 2 bonus feats
  • no Kensei III
vs
  • divine grace and aura (+7 to all saves + boost)
  • +2 AC (aura + enhancement)
  • access to metamagic feats and Paladin Devotion II that make the marks worthwhile
  • perma immunity to fear and disease
  • a lil' bit of LoH
Some DPS sacrifced to more survivability then. Some people couldn't get over losing the capstone, I'll try to live with it and use Haste Boost as often as possible. Fear and disease immunity can be obtained on items or via GH of course but on a pally they're always on, can't be dispelled and don't occupy an item slot. The metamagic feats remain the most important reason for the splash though. Along with Paladin Devotion II, they provide fast, reliable self-healing that allows me to top my (or somebody else's) health up about ten times per rest. With the five Greater marks healing for 459 hit points, I can get myself from almost dead to full health in the blink of an eye even in the middle of a fight - no Concentration check required. Without these feats and enhancements, the marks would probably not be worth it and I could as well go for full DPS - but that would be a different character.

Naturally, the general agreement would be that I should go TWF instead of THF.. I've already got a TWF melee character and I really don't fancy playing yet another khopesh dualling toon, there are way too many around already. Instead I want to try something else and see for myself if the Kensei THF benefits are any good.. And I really like seeing a lot of red numbers all around me.
Nevertheless, the build could be converted to TWF by dropping Con and Cha by 2, putting those points into Dex instead and replacing THF line with TWF. Force of Personality could be replaced with Khopesh if you so wish and another feat could be swapped out for OTWF, although with Kensei II it shouldn't be necessary.

If this character ever finds a +3 Int tome, I will consider replacing Force of Personality with Combat Expertise. With the Weapons Focus and Kensei to-hit bonuses, it might actually be possible to have both CE and Power Attack on at the same time and still hit (if these two can be on at the same time that is - need to check). I could also put the last ability raise in Int if I somehow get a +3 Str tome before level 20. I would however have to eat a +2 Wis tome and free up the cloak slot to put a Wis +6, +3 exceptional Will save cloak in it to maintain a respectable Will Save. With the Mineral II and Cha skills items already in place, this would require 40 Shroud runs because two Cleaning Essences will be needed.

Figures reached after a couple months of grinding follow. Everything is self-buffed, feel free to add the usual extra bits you get when you've had half the server come over and buff you up.

Base Stats:
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 12

End Stats:
Str 32 (40 with Power Surge on) = 16 base +5 level +2 tome +3 fighter +6 item
Dex 18 = 10 base +5 spectral gloves +2 tome +1 halfling enhancement
Con 24 = 16 base +2 tome +6 item
Int 12 = 10 base +2 tome
Wis 8
Cha 20 = 12 base +2 tome +6 item

Hit Points:
517 hp = 200 base +140 con +20 heroic durability +30 gfl +10 draconic vitality +22 toughness +30 fighter toughness +20 halfling toughness +45 min II goggles

To hit THF:
40 = 20 base +1 size +11 str +5 weapon bonus +4 gh +2 weapon focus +2 competence (spectral gloves) -5 power attack
(+ Kensei bonus)

AC THF:
41 = 10 base +1 size +12 DT breastplate +4 dex (armour mastery I) +5 protection +3 barkskin pot +2 pally aura & tier 1 enhancement +1 armour ritual +3 chattering ring
49 = 41 see above +4 shield clicky/wand +4 insight bonus or armour or weapon

AC shield mode:
55 = 41 see above +9 mithral tower shield +1 shield ritual +4 insight bonus on armour or weapon

Saves:
Fort 40 = 14 fighter16/pally4 +2 pally aura & enhancement +5 divine grace +7 con +1 halfling racial +5 resistance +4 gh +2 head of gf
Reflex 31 = 6 fighter16/pally4 +2 pally aura & enhancement +5 divine grace +4 dex +1 halfling racial +2 halfling luck +5 resistance +4 gh +2 head of gf
Will 33 = 6 fighter16/pally4 +2 pally aura & enhancement +5 divine grace +5 charisma force of personality +1 halfling racial +3 halfling luck +5 resistance +4 gh +2 head of gf
Additional +2 with Pally Saves boost on.

Skills:
Level 1 (fighter): Intimidate full rank, UMD half rank
Level 2-5 (paladin): Indimidate half rank, UMD half rank
Level 6-7 (fighter): Intimidate full rank, UMD half rank; nom nom Int tome
Level 8-9 (fighter): Intimidate 2x rank, UMD half rank
Level 10-11 (fighter): Intimidate full rank, UMD half rank, Tumble half-rank
Level 12-20 (fighter): Intimidate full rank, UMD half rank, Balance half-rank

Intimidate 57 = 23 ranks -4 halfling +4 fighter +5 charisma +15 item +4 gh +6 cha skills necky +2 head of gf +2 kensei
UMD 31 = 11 ranks +5 charisma +4 gh +6 cha skills necky +2 head of gf +3 cartouche/abbot gloves
Tumble 1 rank
Balance 4.5 ranks

Feats (Level 1 fighter, 2-5 paladin, 6-20 fighter):
1 Least Dragonmark of Healing
3 Toughness
6 Lesser Mark
9 Greater Mark
12 Empower Healing Spell
15 Maximize
18 Force of Personality
F1 THF
F2 ITHF
F4 Improved Critical Slashing
F6 Power Attack
F8 GTHF
F10 Weapon Focus Slashing
F12 Weapon Specialization
F14 Greater Weapon Focus

F16 Greater Weapon Specialization

Enhancements:
Halfling Dex I
Extra Dragonmark IV
Hero's Companion II
Halfling Luck Reflex II
Halfling Luck Will III
Fighter Armour Mastery I
Fighter Attack Boost II
Fighter Critical Accuracy II
Fighter Haste Boost I
Fighter Intimidate IV
Fighter Strategy Trip I
Fighter Strength III
Fighter Toughness III
Halfling Toughness II
Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Paladion Devotion II
Paladin Extra Lay on Hands I
Paladin Resistance of Good I
Paladin Saves Boost I
Kensei II + Weapon Mastery II (GS or Falchion, yet to be decided)

Self-heals:
Dragonmarks can be cast immediately in the heat of battle, can't be interrupted, can be cast while quelled or feebleminded.
5x 459 hp Heal - Greater Mark (7x with dragonmarked set)
7x 150 hp CSW - Lesser Mark (more with dragonmarked set)
9x 50 hp CLW - Least Mark
Above figures include +20% bonus on incoming heals from Hound bracers, divide by 1.2 to see how the marks will heal

2x 70 hp LoH


Desired gear (Bloodstone, Spectral Gloves and Intimi helm ready and waiting, rest to be farmed):

Head: Intimidate
Necklace: Charisma skills / Silver Flame / Cartouche / Dragonmarked necky / Sup Pot VI
Goggles: Mineral II (Heavy Fort, Protection +5, +45 hp)
Trinket: Bloodstone / Head of Good Fortune
Cloak: Charisma (+6 Wis +3 exc Will Save Shroud cloak later)
Armour: Dragontouched Breastplate, Tier 1 +5 resistance, Tier 2 True Seeing, Tier 3 +4 Insight if lucky, otherwise a decent guard
Belt: Con +6, GFL (Knost/Vorne/DoS)
Bracers: Levik's Bracers (+6 Str, +20% Incoming Heals)
Gloves: Spectral Gloves (GT, +5 Dex, +2 competence to-hit)
Ring 1: Resistance / Dragonmarked set ring (Charisma) later
Ring 2: Chattering Ring / Energy resistances
Boots: Striding / Anchoring / FF etc...

Notable weapons to be farmed:
Mineral II two-handed weapon, Good Burst & +4 AC or Good Burst & Acid Blast if I win a lottery and get Insight on armour
Lightning haste / air guard +4 AC scimitar for shield mode

That's about it. Summary:


Neat:
Hits a lot of things at the same time with a big sword and self-heals while doing so.
Can DPS, tank and heal others as required depending on quest and group setup, even though he doesn't excel at any of the roles.
Undispellable immunity to fear, disease and 95% things that require a Fort save (the remaining 5% are 1s on dice).
Can chuck halfling companion bonuses on main tank when being an off-tank.
When I'm not drunk, usually outlives everybody else when things go pear shaped (except the clerics if they're decent).

Not so neat:
No capstone and no Kensei III.
Can't reach enough Intimidate and AC to be a proper main raid tank.
5 feats sacrificed to healing that could be invested in DPS and/or AC.
Occassionaly runs out of marks and LoHs and has to resort to wand healing.



2 comments:

  1. you can't activate power attack and combat expertise at the same time. i got both on Alairna and it doesn't work
    if you take CE anyway later you may consider imp trip. it's a great feat but most fighters just don't have the int for CE. but to be honest i don't see which feat you could switch out for it, you need them all for your build (except force of personality maybe, but that will have to be swapped for CE).
    i'm sure it's an effective and fun build to play

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just posting a link to an alternative build by Aaxeyu that's better than the above posted one. I like it and will consider it if I TR or LR Ganthra.
    http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=3345944&posted=1#post3345944
    (post number 7)

    ReplyDelete