Morose Partygoer (43/365)
The Paladin of Revelry is actually something of the misnomer if I'm being honest.
He is a paladin and he does worship a god of revelry; of food, good drink, and good times. That much is true.
But he's also one of the most melancholy individuals I've ever created. To quote him: "Every party ends eventually."
There's a few reasons I've come up for with this sort of mindset and it can actually have an effect on the class build
1) He's the last scion of this deity's faith in which case he's definitely on the edge of losing his faith. In this case I'd be using the rules for Ancient PCs from Dragon Magazine #354 and his class build would change accordingly (which I'll outline below).
2) Crisis of faith in game in which case the events in game would determine his eventual build within a certain set of parameters.
3) He's still a loyal servant to his deity and just happens to be the most depressingly jolly person ever.
4) He's actually lost his faith in his god but still draws power from....somewhere. Maybe his god, maybe his faith in the goodness inherent in everyone or something else. Who knows.
Anyway!
As far as a class breakdown goes this guy -- and I'm really annoyed with himself that I forgot his actual name -- is based, of course, on a Paladin. In all probability he's actually a Paladin of Freedom (ie, Chaotic Good) instead of the standard Paladin of Honor (Lawful Good) because, let's face it, he venerates a god of partying.
Now comes the part where I rip apart the class D:
Detect Evil
Smite Evil
Divine Grace
Lay On Hands
Aura of Resolve
Divine Health
Turn Undead
Special Mount
Those are all of the abilities I get from the first five levels of Paladin.
Now, this is me so I can't let anything sit like it was intended to.
So, I give up Turn Undead for Aura of Sanctity and I either get immunity to fear (since Paladins of Freedom are immune to compulsions) or to Death Effects. I'd personally like Fear. Divine Health I'd be petitioning the DM to change to poisons instead of diseases because, seriously, this guy worships a party god. Booze tolerance anyone?
And then the Special Mount I'd be losing for the Sword of Celestia so that at 5th level I get an automatic +1 weapon that I can upgrade as if I had Craft Magic Arms and Armor. Pretty good I think.
Then I'd also be adding the Solstice Knight substitutions which gives me the ability to cast Daylight X/Day (X = Smite Attempts) at 1st level and then at 5th level I give up 1 smite/day to get 30 foot darkvision and the ability to do double damage to undead with my smite attempts. Seems fair to me.
If I were to take more than 5 levels in Paladin I'd probably petition the DM to change Remove Disease to Neutralize Poison or using something like the Cursebreaker alternate from Complete Mage.
A few more things this guy uses are 1) The Holy Warrior variant from Complete Champion and 2) Character Traits. Not flaws, actually but the traits from the SRD. In particular the Slow Musclebound Traits because I've always pictured this man as enormous and heavy -- almost fat -- but immensely strong and tough. The Slow traits halves his speed from 30 feet to 15 feet but gives me +1 HP per hitdie and the Musclebound Trait grants me a +1 on Str checks ans related skill strengths but a -2 on Dex checks and related skill checks. Works for me, really.
The breakdown below is assuming that he suffers a crisis of faith and loses his faith in his God or is of the Ancient PC variety.
Level
1 Paladin True Believer, Weapon Focus (Maul)
2 Paladin
3 Paladin Exotic Proficiency (Maul)
4 Paladin Power Attack
5 Paladin
6 Pious Templar Battle Blessing
7 Pious Templar
8 Pious Templar Weapon Specialization (Maul)
9 Pious Templar Combat Expertise, Improved Sunder
10 Pious Templar
11 Doomlord
12 Doomlord Improved Trip, Improved Critical (Maul)
13 Doomlord
14 Doomlord
15 Doomlord Knockdown
16 Doomlord Endurance
17 Doomlord
18 Doomlord Awesome Smite
19 Doomlord
20 Doomlord Diehard
As a note; if the guy kept his faith he'd end up going just straight Paladin 10/Pious Templar 10 I imagine. Really it would only mean he'd be getting a few different feats at different levels and that his Maul of Celestia would be automatically +2 instead of +1. Personally, I like the idea of a Paladin who's lost his faith in his God but retains his faith in the inherent goodness of people, drawing power from that. But the loss of faith catapults him into the Doomlord class.
Anyway, this build:
Paladin is the foundation that lets me build up into Pious Templar. I know True Believer seems like an odd feat to have if your character's lost the faith but when he first gets True Believer he's still, y'anno, a believer. Now Pious Templar makes him into a crusader for his god and, even though I gave up the Paladin spellcasting I get it back via Pious Templar. With Doomlord I get a bonus to Con and/or Cha plus Entropic Blow and 5 more levels of spellcasting for Pious Templar which basically gives me the same spellcasting I'd get with 20 levels of Paladin. Pretty neat, right?
And, before I go further, some of y'all might be questioning why a God of Revelry has the maul has his favored weapon. Simple: Iconic representation of the mallet used to tap kegs of ale.
So, at level one we have True Believer and then Weapon Focus for the Maul. Both of those are the requirements for Pious Templar and then Weapon Focus serves double duty for Doomlord. Granted, technically I need Weapon Focus with any sword but that's just silly >_>
At 3rd level I get Exotic Proficiency for the Maul which is important so I can use it one handed. Granted, I probably won't use it one handed at all and it is tempting to just drop this feat and reshuffle a few things to earlier levels. Maybe Power Attack or Combat Experise *shrugs*
Speaking of, at 4th level -- since I gave up spellcasting -- I get a bonus feat which is Power Attack. I need this feat to get Improved Sunder which I need for Doomlord.
6th level is my first level of Pious Templar and I get Battle Blessing. I might as well get all the mileage I can from casting Paladin spells and this feat makes it all worthwhile.
At 8th level I get Weapon Specialization as a bonus feat, fun times.
And 9th level I get my regular feat and a bonus feat. One is Combat Expertise which is needed later and the second is Improved Sunder which I need for Doomlord.
I finally get into Doomlord at 11th level and at 12th level I get two more feats. One is Improved Trip which I need for later and the second is improved Critical for the maul. Might as well really go for it since I have the opportunity.
Now 15th level gets me the feat Knockdown which is something not alot of you may know about. It's hidden in a corner of the SRD and it lets me make a trip attack for free anytime I do more than 10 points of damage to someone in melee. Gee, I think I have that covered.
At 18th level I get Awesome Smite because....why the hell not?
And then my last two Doomlord bonus feats are Endurance and Diehard because.... why the hell not?
Vote!:
Knob, Hidden Talent Fighter, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Balthas Kasra, Kurth, Alarian Thrakos, Tarman Vorse, Spellsmiter, Highlander Build, Original Gideon, Dragonmage, Melee-ist Fighter, "Standard Fighter", Master of Chains, Mounted Archer, Arisias, Whirlwind, Vykes, Anarok Tor, Cerberus Ranger, Kobold Pick Fighter, Magekiller, Ebin, William Corshek, Grappler, Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Lucky Adventurer, Toguro Character, Slashing Killer, Meta-Mage, Hunter of Man, Force Mage, Bardic Dervish, Halberdier, Assassin Homage, Dragoon, Draco-Blade, Missile Mage, Aiel Homage, Graeme, Ulric Vantir, Archer Mage, Vartyr Kellisk, Nature Mage, Trapper, Blessed Hunter, Dwarven Thane, Edward Mallory
Gestalt Builds:
Seige Engineer, Ubertrooper, Leon Thrakos, Ravenclaw Bard, Tri-Weapon Fighter, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, Alikin, Bloodclaw Master, Wordspeaker, Dread Pirate Roberts, Disarmer, Joshua Numenor, Direfrost Mage, Incarnate Dragon, Fortress Sorcerer, Voice of the Forgotten, Voice of Gruumsh, Kalix of Black Iron, Urzai Irondancer, Shadow Hunter, Elias the Stormwalker, Njal the Warbringer, Randal Bernard, Marsarlis #113, Eddie the Pierce Sniper, Graul the Ice Fisted, Tero Dach, Armored Tank, Earthbender Sorcerer, Mindreader, Dusk Commando, Eldritch Fistfighter, Lucian Thrakos, Merek Stonebreaker, Flash, Captain America, Arhmis Diei, Liam Ironarm, Runecaster Dwarf, Horizon, Desmond Arlin, Undead Psy-Warrior, Paladin of Revelry, Lord of Moil, Master of Fears
He is a paladin and he does worship a god of revelry; of food, good drink, and good times. That much is true.
But he's also one of the most melancholy individuals I've ever created. To quote him: "Every party ends eventually."
There's a few reasons I've come up for with this sort of mindset and it can actually have an effect on the class build
1) He's the last scion of this deity's faith in which case he's definitely on the edge of losing his faith. In this case I'd be using the rules for Ancient PCs from Dragon Magazine #354 and his class build would change accordingly (which I'll outline below).
2) Crisis of faith in game in which case the events in game would determine his eventual build within a certain set of parameters.
3) He's still a loyal servant to his deity and just happens to be the most depressingly jolly person ever.
4) He's actually lost his faith in his god but still draws power from....somewhere. Maybe his god, maybe his faith in the goodness inherent in everyone or something else. Who knows.
Anyway!
As far as a class breakdown goes this guy -- and I'm really annoyed with himself that I forgot his actual name -- is based, of course, on a Paladin. In all probability he's actually a Paladin of Freedom (ie, Chaotic Good) instead of the standard Paladin of Honor (Lawful Good) because, let's face it, he venerates a god of partying.
Now comes the part where I rip apart the class D:
Detect Evil
Smite Evil
Divine Grace
Lay On Hands
Aura of Resolve
Divine Health
Turn Undead
Special Mount
Those are all of the abilities I get from the first five levels of Paladin.
Now, this is me so I can't let anything sit like it was intended to.
So, I give up Turn Undead for Aura of Sanctity and I either get immunity to fear (since Paladins of Freedom are immune to compulsions) or to Death Effects. I'd personally like Fear. Divine Health I'd be petitioning the DM to change to poisons instead of diseases because, seriously, this guy worships a party god. Booze tolerance anyone?
And then the Special Mount I'd be losing for the Sword of Celestia so that at 5th level I get an automatic +1 weapon that I can upgrade as if I had Craft Magic Arms and Armor. Pretty good I think.
Then I'd also be adding the Solstice Knight substitutions which gives me the ability to cast Daylight X/Day (X = Smite Attempts) at 1st level and then at 5th level I give up 1 smite/day to get 30 foot darkvision and the ability to do double damage to undead with my smite attempts. Seems fair to me.
If I were to take more than 5 levels in Paladin I'd probably petition the DM to change Remove Disease to Neutralize Poison or using something like the Cursebreaker alternate from Complete Mage.
A few more things this guy uses are 1) The Holy Warrior variant from Complete Champion and 2) Character Traits. Not flaws, actually but the traits from the SRD. In particular the Slow Musclebound Traits because I've always pictured this man as enormous and heavy -- almost fat -- but immensely strong and tough. The Slow traits halves his speed from 30 feet to 15 feet but gives me +1 HP per hitdie and the Musclebound Trait grants me a +1 on Str checks ans related skill strengths but a -2 on Dex checks and related skill checks. Works for me, really.
The breakdown below is assuming that he suffers a crisis of faith and loses his faith in his God or is of the Ancient PC variety.
Level
1 Paladin True Believer, Weapon Focus (Maul)
2 Paladin
3 Paladin Exotic Proficiency (Maul)
4 Paladin Power Attack
5 Paladin
6 Pious Templar Battle Blessing
7 Pious Templar
8 Pious Templar Weapon Specialization (Maul)
9 Pious Templar Combat Expertise, Improved Sunder
10 Pious Templar
11 Doomlord
12 Doomlord Improved Trip, Improved Critical (Maul)
13 Doomlord
14 Doomlord
15 Doomlord Knockdown
16 Doomlord Endurance
17 Doomlord
18 Doomlord Awesome Smite
19 Doomlord
20 Doomlord Diehard
As a note; if the guy kept his faith he'd end up going just straight Paladin 10/Pious Templar 10 I imagine. Really it would only mean he'd be getting a few different feats at different levels and that his Maul of Celestia would be automatically +2 instead of +1. Personally, I like the idea of a Paladin who's lost his faith in his God but retains his faith in the inherent goodness of people, drawing power from that. But the loss of faith catapults him into the Doomlord class.
Anyway, this build:
Paladin is the foundation that lets me build up into Pious Templar. I know True Believer seems like an odd feat to have if your character's lost the faith but when he first gets True Believer he's still, y'anno, a believer. Now Pious Templar makes him into a crusader for his god and, even though I gave up the Paladin spellcasting I get it back via Pious Templar. With Doomlord I get a bonus to Con and/or Cha plus Entropic Blow and 5 more levels of spellcasting for Pious Templar which basically gives me the same spellcasting I'd get with 20 levels of Paladin. Pretty neat, right?
And, before I go further, some of y'all might be questioning why a God of Revelry has the maul has his favored weapon. Simple: Iconic representation of the mallet used to tap kegs of ale.
So, at level one we have True Believer and then Weapon Focus for the Maul. Both of those are the requirements for Pious Templar and then Weapon Focus serves double duty for Doomlord. Granted, technically I need Weapon Focus with any sword but that's just silly >_>
At 3rd level I get Exotic Proficiency for the Maul which is important so I can use it one handed. Granted, I probably won't use it one handed at all and it is tempting to just drop this feat and reshuffle a few things to earlier levels. Maybe Power Attack or Combat Experise *shrugs*
Speaking of, at 4th level -- since I gave up spellcasting -- I get a bonus feat which is Power Attack. I need this feat to get Improved Sunder which I need for Doomlord.
6th level is my first level of Pious Templar and I get Battle Blessing. I might as well get all the mileage I can from casting Paladin spells and this feat makes it all worthwhile.
At 8th level I get Weapon Specialization as a bonus feat, fun times.
And 9th level I get my regular feat and a bonus feat. One is Combat Expertise which is needed later and the second is Improved Sunder which I need for Doomlord.
I finally get into Doomlord at 11th level and at 12th level I get two more feats. One is Improved Trip which I need for later and the second is improved Critical for the maul. Might as well really go for it since I have the opportunity.
Now 15th level gets me the feat Knockdown which is something not alot of you may know about. It's hidden in a corner of the SRD and it lets me make a trip attack for free anytime I do more than 10 points of damage to someone in melee. Gee, I think I have that covered.
At 18th level I get Awesome Smite because....why the hell not?
And then my last two Doomlord bonus feats are Endurance and Diehard because.... why the hell not?
Vote!:
Knob, Hidden Talent Fighter, Multiterrain Shocktrooper, Balthas Kasra, Kurth, Alarian Thrakos, Tarman Vorse, Spellsmiter, Highlander Build, Original Gideon, Dragonmage, Melee-ist Fighter, "Standard Fighter", Master of Chains, Mounted Archer, Arisias, Whirlwind, Vykes, Anarok Tor, Cerberus Ranger, Kobold Pick Fighter, Magekiller, Ebin, William Corshek, Grappler, Stormlord Cleric, Storm Mage, Lucky Adventurer, Toguro Character, Slashing Killer, Meta-Mage, Hunter of Man, Force Mage, Bardic Dervish, Halberdier, Assassin Homage, Dragoon, Draco-Blade, Missile Mage, Aiel Homage, Graeme, Ulric Vantir, Archer Mage, Vartyr Kellisk, Nature Mage, Trapper, Blessed Hunter, Dwarven Thane, Edward Mallory
Gestalt Builds:
Seige Engineer, Ubertrooper, Leon Thrakos, Ravenclaw Bard, Tri-Weapon Fighter, Warblade/Lurk Concept Char, Alikin, Bloodclaw Master, Wordspeaker, Dread Pirate Roberts, Disarmer, Joshua Numenor, Direfrost Mage, Incarnate Dragon, Fortress Sorcerer, Voice of the Forgotten, Voice of Gruumsh, Kalix of Black Iron, Urzai Irondancer, Shadow Hunter, Elias the Stormwalker, Njal the Warbringer, Randal Bernard, Marsarlis #113, Eddie the Pierce Sniper, Graul the Ice Fisted, Tero Dach, Armored Tank, Earthbender Sorcerer, Mindreader, Dusk Commando, Eldritch Fistfighter, Lucian Thrakos, Merek Stonebreaker, Flash, Captain America, Arhmis Diei, Liam Ironarm, Runecaster Dwarf, Horizon, Desmond Arlin, Undead Psy-Warrior, Paladin of Revelry, Lord of Moil, Master of Fears