Evangelist of Gorum

[Christopher Lee]

I posted a while back about needing a character for a Jade Regent game, and the two most numerous responses were Witch and Bard, due to my party's utter lack of spellcasting or healing.

I don't really care for the Witch spell list, and I've never been a huge fan of bards,...and honestly I just want to smash faces in with a big piece of steel for once. I always seem to end up as the party caster.

However, I recently picked up UC and discovered the Evangelist. I think with a 1-2 level Fighter (or Barbarian) dip this could be an excellent battle priest, and i like the flavor of a priest of Gorum "spreading the word" about stomping heads. Maybe something like:

Evangelist 8/Fighter 2
Half-orc

Wis>Str>Cha>Con>Dex>Int

We are using the old 4D6, drop lowest, reroll 1's...so I expect generous stats.

Still working on a good feat progression.

Maybe pick up channeled smite at some point to utilize my channel energy dice.

Also, I will take at least one other perform skill and play hardcore metal for the caravan when not smashing heads in.

I'm absolutely terrible at optimizing, so any input is appreciated. I'm open to any suggestions, I just want to keep the Battle Evangelist theme. Also, I will take at least one other perform skill and play hardcore metal for the caravan when not smashing heads in.

[Thalin]

First, no need for the 2nd level of Fighter splash; it's hard enough to justify one, but it essentially grants you heavy armor proficiency, all weapons, a combat feat, and 1 extra HP (you'll take it at first). But you don't want to delay bardsong progression / spell progression too much, and one extra feat isn't worth it.

Stats are Str > Con > Wis (though you want almost exactly a 14, so can potentially overtake con) > Dex (exactly a 12 is preferable, anything more is a waste, less not so bad). > Chr >> Int. Chr only gets you rounds of bardsong, which while good is not as important as smashing face. For front line you are still primarily a fighter with some nifty tricks and a good inspiration.

Don't worry about Channel Smite until you have the whole power attack line; and now you can go into cleave and cutting finish (giving you old-school extra attack cleave).

I'd swing a Luceren Hammer... D12 with reach is hard to beat. Often you'll get an extra aoo each round. You can switch this guy to Barb 1 and take the rage domain too... might make you manlier (in this case get Combat Reflexes to really take advantage of that hammer and have Str > Dex > Wis).

[ShadowcatX]

I agree with Thalin, nothing you get from a 2 level dip is worth giving up 2 levels of progression, take 1 level of fighter, and the rest in cleric.

I personally think I'd go str > wis > con > chr > dex > int. Your channeling will not be all that great, but it'll still save you spells and spells are worth more than 1 point of AC. The extra rounds of bard song are a fringe benefit.

[Christopher Lee]

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to start with Evangelist just to have a bit of healing so my party doesn't die horribly before we hit level 2. I rolled pretty good stats, then found out the GM is also giving a free 14 and 15 to sub out, I used those to replace the two low rolls I had (11 and 9). I really hope he is bumping up the power level of the AP. Well, here is my tentative stat line.

Evangelist 1
Half-Orc

Str: 17
Dex: 14
Con: 15
Int: 14
Wis: 17 (15 +2 racial)
Cha: 16

I might switch Con and Cha, still not set in stone. Looking through traits and feats, now. How useful would having UMD as a class skill be?

[Thalin]

You should actually:

Str: 19
Int: 14
Wis: 16
Dex: 14
Con: 15
Chr: 15

If you want to maximize; Wis is not as important as Str for this kind of character. But who cares, with stats like those (47 point build) you would have trouble building badly.

4, 8, and 12 max Str, Con, Chr in that order.