|
Following on this thread, I have decided to play a Paladin of Shelyn for Wrath of the Righteous inspired to Saint Michael.
The general vibe is that of a once otherworldly beautiful woman, whose face has been however terribly scarred because of a demon's attack. For this reason, she has decided to devote her life to avenge her lost beauty, the most precious gift Shelyn gave her. She radiates an aura of calm rage, which explodes as a blinding halo when cutting through demons with her glaive.
The build until 11th level would be:
Aangelkin Aasimar (Immortal Spark, Halo alternate racial traits)
11 Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Stats: 14+2 14 14 8 8 18+2 (middle age + lesser age resistance)
Traits: Fate's Favored, Bully, [Campaign trait]. Drawback: Scarred
Feats:
1 Combat Reflexes
3 Power Attack
5 Hurtful
7 Cornugon Smash
9 Angelic Blood
11 Angelic Wings (fixed feat)
I particularly like this concept and the roleplay behind it, however I realize there are a couple of problems, namely on the AC department. Since Dex is not a primary stat, Heavy armor will be necessary for this character. Together with the low Dex and no skill ranks put in Fly, this will make winged flight quite hard, and I honestly I can't really see myself playing an angel too heavy and awkward to fly using her own wings.
So I remembered about Mythic Weapon Finesse, which should come around level 6, and decided to go Dex-based with Musetouched Aasimar:
Musetouched Aasimar (no alternate racial traits)
1 Swashbuckler / 10 Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Stats: 13 16+2 14 7 7 16+2
Traits: Fate's Favored, [?], [Campaign trait]. Drawback: Scarred
Feats:
1 Weapon Focus [Glaive]
3 Bladed Brush, Weapon Finesse (Swashbuckler dip here)
5 Combat Reflexes
6 Mythic Weapon Finesse
7 Power Attack
9 Angelic Blood
11 Angelic Wings (fixed feat)
The race synergyzes particularly well with Shelyn. The extra attack from Parry and Repost makes Hurtful, and so Intimidate, less useful, which is why this version of the build lacks the passionate anger of the previous one, focusing more on Diplomacy.
Now, I must say that, while I like the flavor of the first build a little bit more, I find myself asking: why would anyone play a Str-based character whenever Mythic Weapon Finesse is available? I understand that until level 6, the first kicks more, but eventually both builds deal pretty much the same damage. On the other hand, the latter has way better defenses, which are much more important than damage at low levels, is not encumbered by heavy armor (which is also quite costly) and does not need to spend money and/or mythic feats to make their ACP less taxing.
What do you think? Which one of the two builds is more convenient?
Are you familiar with the Virtuos Bravo Paladin? You don't have to use it, but it was sort of intended for what you are doing.
The main reason to go Str based is to avoid the taxes on Dex based; you're spending a general feat, a character level dip and a mythic feat to go Dex based which the Str based character just doesn't need to pay.
That said I do like going Dex based better, the slow lumbering guys are usually mooks or villians in most popular media.
So here are my thoughts:
DEX to damage is really good for 1 of 2 reasons:
- You have a low point buy and need to make more use of less stats.
Or
- You're playing a skill-monkey and are focusing on DEX-based skills.
You're playing with a 20 point buy, and have found a way to cheat the system with your STR build to have an effective 28 point buy (with 2 stat bonuses in your 2 most important stats as well). This means you really don't need to make DEX pull double duty.
You also have only 1 skill point per level (plus maybe your FCB), meaning you're probably not putting anything much in Fly anyway. Since you won't be flying till level 11 anyway it seems like a waste of feats for something you won't use for the first 10 levels, and won't be that good at even when you get it.
Lastly let's talk heavy armour. Full Plate comes with a -6 ACP, but Masterwork would bring that down to -5. If you can get Mithral that goes down to a -3. With 14 DEX that gives you a -1 on fly checks.
OR
You could go with a Breastplate. Paladin's care less about being hit than any other class, so snagging yourself a Mithral Breastplate will leave you with only a -1ACP (for a net +1 to fly checks) as well as full movement speed. A Breastplate has 3 less AC than Full Plate, but you'll be saving 5000gp on the Mithral, which means you'll probably only end up with 2 less AC.
Since the DEX build won't be using their Glaive till level 3 (or will be terrible with it), and won't be getting DEX to damage till level 6 you're really waiting a long time for things to start working for you.
PS. I'm not really familiar with Mythic (so there might be an obvious answer), but where is the feat at level 6 coming from for the DEX build?
He’s talking about mythic weapon finesse. You usually get your first mythic tier by level 6 in Wrath.
He’s talking about mythic weapon finesse. You usually get your first mythic tier by level 6 in Wrath.
And that gives you a free feet/upgrade?
That's the part I wasn't clear on, but if it works then ignore that question.
Mythic tiers give you mythic feats as you gain them which you don't need to pay for using normal feats. See the table here.
You could also take Power Attack at level 1 if you think you'll need the damage to get through DR. You can still make 1 AoO per round normally, so Combat Reflexes could wait till 3 as well if needed.