Should a Sovereign Host FvS20 dual-wield?

[jsaving]

Several posters including Arkat and Impaqt have made builds that turn the favored soul into a formidable DPS machine through a combination of judicious multiclassing (monk2, ranger6, etc) and appropriate faith choices (Lord of Blades or Undying Court). My question involves a character that's none of these things, who wants the capstone and hence will stay pure and also opts for Sovereign Host with the full understanding that longswords are a subpar weapon.

Does such a character have enough weapon-damage potential that it's worth making the sizable sacrifices needed to achieve that potential, like burning 4 feat slots on TWF/ITWF/IC/GTWF and reducing wisdom to achieve a higher strength? Or is it better to simply say up-front that a pure Sovereign Host FvS isn't strong enough in melee to justify those sacrifices, and would be better-served in an offensive caster or healbot role?

[Angelus_dead]

If a Sovereign Host FVS wanted to spend feats on melee, he'd get better results taking Falchion proficiency and some of the THF tree, allowing him to skip the dex requirements for TWF. Notice that the elf/dwarf racial enhancements to falch/grax can start to compensate for missing the FVS weapon bonuses.

[Angelus_dead]

A suggestion for the devs: To avoid situations like a Sovereign Host guy preferring non-longswords, characters should be allowed to equip some one-handed weapons in both hands for a bigger bonus from strength and power attack. (Weapons which are finesse, 4x crits, or khopesh should be excluded)

[Impaqt]

It really depends on what you expect melee wise out of your FvS..... I often Dual Weild Khopesh's on my pure Human Cleric even though I dont have any TWF Feats. I find that in a lot of situations, I can still hit things just fine(Usually I do this for Debuffing.. CUrsespewing.. WOunding.... Str Sapping)

Its a Lot of Feats for minimal Gain. Blade Barrier, Implosion, Energy Drain, Destruction, COmetfall... al provide better benefits than an average melee cleric/FvS.

[TFPAQ]

I ran a toon to lvl 12 trying to dual the longswords. While damage from spells jumped at 12, it was becoming a melee nightmare with the longswords. IMO scimitar's for the win if you are going to dual. Drow enhancements are nice adding with the shortsword (FS and racial) and still allowing for rapier improvements (racial) and elf for scimitars is nice (have one hitting lvl 20 by this weekend).

If I were to reroll this guy with the longswords I would max his strength and make him THF.

[muffinlad]

I started by Human-LongSword FvS as a sword and boarder who basically used Divine Nuking and Crowd controll to help the tanks in the group take out the bad guys.

Works well, but as I am starting to get into higher level content, there are frequently quests where helping the DPSers with more than just a swing or two has proven to be very helpful, esp if you are hitting with Wounders/Weakener etc.

I have found that dual weilding with two long swords (Stat or Green Steel) in these occasions will help. The To hit is not that big of a deal even with a 22 Str. (14/2tome/6 item) as your First and Fourth "Divine" spells will help get your numbers up high enough that that your misses will be infrequent on Norm/Hard even on high content.

I would not look to take your pure class into "main tank" category, but you can make a real difference if played and equiped smartly.

muffinflav

[gysot89]

i have a human FVS that right now is 18/1 FVS fighter

got bored and did the math..... longswords do more than scimitars people!!!!

yes i know burst damage bla bla bla... longswords do more

my FVS CAN drag agro off of some tanks, and i for one think that the build DPS wise dual weilding longswords is very formidable!!!

on the up side to everything once i get all my gear made on him i will have 2600SP, little over 500HP..

[Thame]

Several posters including Arkat and Impaqt have made builds that turn the favored soul into a formidable DPS machine through a combination of judicious multiclassing (monk2, ranger6, etc) and appropriate faith choices (Lord of Blades or Undying Court). My question involves a character that's none of these things, who wants the capstone and hence will stay pure and also opts for Sovereign Host with the full understanding that longswords are a subpar weapon.

Does such a character have enough weapon-damage potential that it's worth making the sizable sacrifices needed to achieve that potential, like burning 4 feat slots on TWF/ITWF/IC/GTWF and reducing wisdom to achieve a higher strength? Or is it better to simply say up-front that a pure Sovereign Host FvS isn't strong enough in melee to justify those sacrifices, and would be better-served in an offensive caster or healbot role?

Im going to use my FVS as an example here. FVS get feats every 3 levels so on your way to 20 you can do more in the way of dps them you know. So burning feats on the TWF line is very feasible. Mine was simply a self healing fighter that can do very good DPS.
You obviously want to stay pure just for the capstone enhancement. The 10dr nullifies glancing blow damage, the class feats of resists nullify the elemental damage from most hits and all glancing blows.
I essentially negated wisdom on my build. Wisdom is for your spell DC anyway. Went str, dex for TWF, con for HP and cha for spell points. With higher CHA you dont need items to make high SP and you can focus more on DPS items and enhancements. The difference between yours and mine is I took Kopesh with OTWF and have 2 greensteel kopeshes. Compared to longswords they are way better DPS.
It offers very good DPS, self sufficient, and you can solo almost everything if that is in game.

There are alot of options for your specific wants. If someone comes on here saying to be a healbot etc its obvious they cant find healers.

[Angelus_dead]

The 10dr nullifies glancing blow damage

You probably meant to say "grazing hit". Do you have an example of where a TWF FVS20 might take a grazing hit? That means the monster rolled a 17 but still missed your AC.

The difference between yours and mine is I took Kopesh with OTWF and have 2 greensteel kopeshes. Compared to longswords they are way better DPS.

You know what else is way better DPS? A cleric compared to FVS, if both are using khopesh and have good charisma.