Dwarven Battle Mage

[wiglin]

I have had this character capped for a while. It has been a fun build to play. I have soloed tanked the reaver on elite, played firewall magnet in Temple of Vol (also unlocking the extra chest room), and kept up in the kill count on madstone elite with a critical raging barbarian. Very versatile, great survivability. (Just remember to hot key those divine power clickies)

Name: Wigs
Server: Ghallanda
Level 14 Lawful Good Dwarf Male
(2 Paladin / 2 Rogue / 10 Sorcerer)

Hit Points: 313+False Life Spell=333 +other buffs.
Spell Points: 1148

Saves:
Fortitude: 22 +4GH +5Item=31 / 34 vs. spells / 33 vs. poisons
Reflex: 21 +4GH +5Item +1Haste=31 / 34 vs. spells / 32 vs. traps
Will: 17 +4GH +5Item=26 / 29 vs. spells

Stats:
Str 15 +3Level +6Item +2Favor Tome +2Rage=28 (+9)
Dex 14 +1Enhancement +1Tome +6Item=22 (+6)
Con 16 +2Enhancement +6 Item +2Rage=26 (+8)
Int 12
Wis 8 +Item =14 (+2)
Cha 13 +2Tome +3Enhancement +6Item=24 (+7)

Skills:
Concentration 24 +Item = Enough
Use Magic Device 27 +3Cartouche +4GH +2Boost +1Rabbit Gloves=37

Level 1 (Rogue) Toughness
Level 2 (Paladin)
Level 3 (Paladin) Skill Focus: Use Magic Device
Level 4 (Rogue)
Level 5 (Sorcerer)
Level 6 (Sorcerer) Maximize Spell
Level 7 (Sorcerer)
Level 8 (Sorcerer)
Level 9 (Sorcerer) Extend Spell
Level 10 (Sorcerer)
Level 11 (Sorcerer)
Level 12 (Sorcerer) Power Attack
Level 13 (Sorcerer)
Level 14 (Sorcerer)

Other noted abilities:
Evasion, Lay On Hands=84 hp's, Smite Evil

Enahancements:
Enhancement: Rogue Skill Boost I
Enhancement: Dwarven Axe Attack II
Enhancement: Dwarven Axe Damage I
Enhancement: Dwarven Constitution II
Enhancement: Dwarven Spell Defense I
Enhancement: Dwarven Toughness IV
Enhancement: Sorcerer Elemental Manipulation III
Enhancement: Sorcerer Energy of the Dragonblooded III
Enhancement: Sorcerer Charisma III
Enhancement: Rogue Dexterity I
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness I
Enhancement: Sorcerer Wand Mastery II

Spells:
L1 Jump, Expeditious Retreat, Ray of Enfeeblement, Shield
L2 Blur, False Life, Scorching Ray, Resists
L3 Haste, Displacement, Rage
L4 Firewall, Stoneskin
L5 Cloud Kill

AC:
10 base
9 - +5 Mithral Chainshirt
6 - 22 Dex
5 - Protection Item
3 - Barkskin potion
2 - Chaos Guard
1 - Haste
1 - Paladin Aura
4 - Shield Spell
1 - Parry when needed for tanking.
-2 - Rage
=40 self-buffed while Raged and 2hand fighting.
=44 vs. giants

With +5 Mithral Light Shield: -Rage=44
vs. Giants +4=48

To Hit:
8 BAB
9 STR
4 GH
1 Haste
5 Weapon
2 Enhancement
=29 Regular Mobs
=30 vs orcs and goblins

+6 with Divine Power clicky
-5 Power Attack
=30 Bosses
=31 If boss is an orc or goblin

This build really needs one more level to shine. (3rd ray for scorching ray, 30-point resists)
The key to making this work is hot keying divine power clickies to keep you BAB = to a fighter.

The idea is to stand in your own firewall or cloud kill while dishing out damage.

Pros:
+You can umd heal scrolls on a 5 or better
+Wand Mastery II boosts your CSW wands
+AC is respectable
+Evasion with a reflex save high enough to matter
+Raise Dead scrolls without failure,
+You can spam yourself (and the party) with stoneskin, blur, displacement, haste, GH (via scrolls
until level cap increase), false life, rage, and resists.
+84 hp LOH for that uh-oh moment
+300 hp's with buffs
+1100 sp on a mellee dps

Cons:
-Relying on Divine Power clickies for hard to hit mobs
-Pugging



Here is a list of the weapons I have acquired.

DPS:
+5 True Law Greataxe of Righteousness
+5 Greataxe of Pure Good
+2 Acid Greataxe of Greater Orc Bane
+3 Shock Greataxe of Greater Aberration Bane

Stat Effecting and Instakill:
+2 Vorpal Dwarven Axe (Use with a shield for maximum ac)
+1 Dwarven Axe of Disruption (Use with a shield for maximum ac)
+2 Paralyzing Dwarven Axe (Use with a sheild for maximum ac)
+3 Cursespewing Great Axe (Use with a shield for maximum ac)
+2 Dwarven Axe of Smiting (Use with a shield for maximum ac)

Tanking:
+5 Dwarven Axe of Parrying

Equipment Layout:
Head: Magi / Swap in a Diplomacy or Concentration item
Body: +5 Mithril Chain Shirt, Fearsome Robe of Moderate Fortification
Belt: +6 Con / Swap in Bubble Belt
Feet: +6 Dex
Gloves: +6 Str / Swap in Rabbit Gloves
Bracer: Chaos Guard
Ring: Greater False Life
Ring: Tumble +13
Neck: Protection 5 / Swap in Cartouche / Swap in +6 Wisdom necklace
Trinket: Kardin's Eye / Swap in Mummified Bat

[Aspenor]

Where are your stats bro? Would be nice to see them....You have everything else!

[wiglin]

Stats are listed directly under saves.

[wiglin]

Updated for referencing.

[wiglin]

I have capped this character, and I am very happy with the end result.

[wiglin]

Updated the original post with my final thoughts about the build.

[Geonis]

Why do you not have Carnifex listed under your DPS weapons?

I'm pretty sure it would out DPS all the axes you have listed.

If it's because you don't have it, you need to start running Delera's until you get it.

[wiglin]

I was 0 for 9 on the cartouche and carniflex, and when the cartouche dropped I took it. I haven't gone back and tried for carniflex.

[Geonis]

I was 0 for 9 on the cartouche and carniflex, and when the cartouche dropped I took it. I haven't gone back and tried for carniflex.

I know that feeling, it took 8 tries to get Carnifex for me.
I started as soon as I made level 4, and by the time I got it I was 8.2.
I ran nothing but Delera's intil I got it.
I didn't run that quest for about 6 months after that.

[Implements]

Is this a 32 or 28 pt build? If it's a 32 , how would you adjust your stats for a 28 pt version?

[wiglin]

I would do 1 of two things.

Drop constitution to 12. (substract 28 hitpoints and -2 to fortitude save)

Drop dexterity to 10. (subtract 2 from ac and -2 from reflex save)

Having a reflex save of 30 is a good breaking point for evasion.

So you have to decide more ac and reflex save or more hitpoints and fortitude. The fortitude is high enough so dropping con wont hurt you in that dept, but most on the forums would say to keep con and go for more hp's. That is a valid approach.

The tanking capabilities are mostly from displacement and stoneskin so losing a couple of ac isn't that bad. The kicker is losing 2 to your reflex save. This really only effects traps though because your save vs spells will be fine.

[Rentz]

yeah...anything above 26 reflex save and 250 standing HP is gravy, imo.
i wouldn't fret much as long as you are achieving those numbers with your buffs.

nicely done, Wig

[wiglin]

Thanks.

Are you still playing yours?

[Rentz]

Thanks.

Are you still playing yours?

yup, he's my main, and still my favorite until i roll a Warforged version (maybe).
I've been tooling around with a dual-wield warchanting drow bard lately- he's a lot of fun, and has a very similar style.

not quite as swiss army knife as my battlemage, but fun none-the-less.

[Vehemoth]

I'm working on a warforged with the same idea in mind (10s/2p/2r) but started with the following stats:

Str: 18
Dex: 10
Con: 16
Int: 8
Wis: 6
Cha: 13

What are your thoughts on the WF you mentioned?

I'm thinking about throwing in another lvl of paladin to 3 for the paladin better aura, fear immunity and paly toughness II.

[wiglin]

I thought about 3 paladin, but I decided against it for these reasons.

1 it wouldn't raise my attack bonus any higher at the current cap.

I get fear immunity from greater herosim, which I have to use scrolls for.

I wanted to be that much closer to being able to take greater herosim as a spell when the level cap is raised.

The next level cap will let me hit sorcerer 12. which is vital for two things. 1 level 6 spell (greater heroism), and level 11 brings the 3rd ray for scorching ray and 30-point resists.

Although paladin 3rd would allow for some paladin enhancements. Saves are 30ish, and 1 more lay on hands isn't that big a deal when I can use wands anyway.

with 300+ hp's standing, there isn't a need to spend more ap on toughness enhancements.

Now as far as the stats, those are really personal taste more than anything, but here is what I would do.

Str 16
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 14
Wis 6
Cha 13

I would drop str to 16 and free up those 6 points for int. With an 8 int your looking at one skill points per sorcerer level, not enough to keep umd capped. Now as a warforged you can use the repair, so you could slack on umd, but raise dead scrolls have saved many a wipe with the builds survivability.

With a 14 int you get to invest a whole lot of points during the rogue levels, and be able to keep umd, concentration capped with one extra skill point left over for as you see fit. I would probably invest more into open lock so I could get all locks, diplomacy, or jump.

Another option would be int 12 and dex 12. One more added to your reflex save is nice, and you can keep umd and concentration maxed with a 12 int.

In the end you could keep an 18 str, but the trade of for skills to me is worth 1 less to hit and 1 less point of damage.

Also as a warforged, you can take the pally enhancement for +1 to hit with a greatsword.

[Rentz]

well, the nice thing about warforged is you'll be able to repair, and eventually reconstruct yourself.

i pretty much agree with everything wiglin has said in the post above, and i would arrange my stats like this: (this assumes a collection of +1 tomes, which are easily purchased, traded for, or looted).

17 str (+2 favor tome + 3 lvl up + 2 rage spell + divine power/6 item = 30)
10 dex
13 con (+1 tome +2 enh + 6 item + 2 rage spell = 24)
12 int (not quite as many skill points - but enough for UMD and concentration, and some OL/DD/Search during the rogue levels)
6 wis
14 cha (+1 tome + 3 enh +6 item = 24 charisma)

SP 1100+
HP 221 without any buffs or false life item

to-hit
8 bab
10 str
5 weapon
1 greatsword enhancement
6 divine power clicky
4 grtr hero (from girds or scrolls)
1 haste
-----------
+35

with power attack: +30

base damage with power attack:
15 str
5 +5 greatsword
10 power attack
----
30


saves with +6 items and all your own buffs:
29 fort
27 reflex
25 will

immunity to fear with grtr hero, and you'll almost alwyas save against it anyways (and you can wand-whip or drink remove fear anyways). add in all of the Warforged Immunities, and you only ever have to worry about rolling 1's.


spell selection at level 14 (roughly):
lvl 1: expeditious retreat, jump, magic missile, shield
lvl 2: blur, repair moderate, resist energy, scorching ray
lvl 3: displacement, haste, rage
lvl 4: repair critical damage, wall of fire

(drop repair crit in favor of Stoneskin at level cap, as you will then have reconstruct).

this is pretty much what i would do, as a warforged.

also, i would be tempted to go with the Mithral body feat, as that would afford you decent AC for the mid-levels and zero spell failure with enhancements and/or Arcane Sigil. you'd top out around 30 AC.

you may think 221 standing HP is low, but with your insane saves, displacement, stoneskin scrolls, and very potent repair spells, you're actually better off than a lot of toons with 400 HP.

oh, and don't underestimate the importance of UMD.
yes, the ability to raise the dead is very important and will save a LOT of groups from wiping --- but it also serves a much more selfish purpose. go browse the Auction house for +5 greatswords and greataxes with 2d6 of bonus damage (holy/greater banes/elemental of pure good/true chaos of pure good, etc)...now look specifically for those weapons with Race Restrictions and their prices... it's crazy what you can find for cheap 'cause there are a lot of RR drow or RR halfling restricted items that MOST 2handing toons (fighters and barbarians) cannot use.

i've got a pretty respectable cache of +5 2d6 or better 2handers, and i almost never pay more than 5-10k plat for them.

[Kaldais]

just curious

[Vengenance]

This build looks like a lot of fun. Nicely done.