Firewood: 8 Fighter / 12 Wizard Warforged Battlemage

[therobb]

I've wanted to try out a battlemage build for a while. While they're often maligned as gimps- jacks of all trades, masters of none...these guys can self-buff, self-repair and put out both solid melee and spell damage. For a player like me with increasing focus on solo play, what could be better?

I wanted a solid to-hit chance so I could rely less heavily on Divine Power clickies than other melee arcane builds. To achieve this, I went THF instead of TWF to avoid to-hit penalties. I also went with more fighter levels and no rogue or monk levels for a higher BAB and access to Superior Weapon Focus (+2 to hit). With these attributes, this build should be able to leave power attack on most of the time and require only occasional fiddling with Divine Power clickies.

This build definitely trades some defense for offense compared to TWF variants (no evasion and a dumped DEX stat), but with high standing hit points, displacement, stoneskin & quickened reconstructs available, survivability won’t be a problem.

This build uses a weighted maul to proc stuns and achieve a respectable stunning blow DC of 39. This would change with feats swapped from bludgeoning to slashing if a certain epic greatsword was acquired...

Inspiration taken the Gemstone & Edtwo builds (credit Impaqt for the layout & presentation below).

Name: Firewood
Level 20 True Neutral Warforged Male
(8 Fighter / 12 Wizard)
Hit Points: 500+
48(wizard) +
80(Fighter) +
20(heroic) +
180(28 con) +
44(2 toughness feats) +
70(toughness enhancements)
10(draconic) +
30(GFL) +
20(minos legens)
---
502 standing HP
20(rage)
---
522
45 (shroud)
---
567 (could go higher with exceptional con, pots, madstone etc.)

Spell Points: 1000+
545 L12 Wiz
105 INT Bonus
080 EotS
200 Archmagi
150 Shroud
----
1080 (could swap empower spell for mental toughness to pick up 100 more)


BAB: 14/14/19/24
14 BAB
13 STR
5 Weapons
1 Focus
2 Greater Focus
1 Kensai
--
+36
----
+1 Haste
+4 GH
+1 Rage Spell
---
+42
+6 DP Clicky
------
+48
-5 Power Attack
-------
+43 self-buffed with power attack on

Saving THrows:
Fortitude:Reflex:Will:
4:4:8 L12 Wizard
6:2:2 L8 Fighter
9:0:3 Attributes
5:5:5 Resistance
1:1:1 Resistance RItual
-----
25:12:19
4:4:4 GH
2:2:2 Luck
------
31:18:25


Abilities(32 Point - exceptional bonuses omitted for the sake of simplicity):
{36}Strength 18+5 Levels +2 Fighter +3 Tome +6 Item +2 Rage
{16}Dexterity 8+2 Tome
{28}Constitution 18+2 Tome +6 Item +2 WF
{20}Intelligence 12+2 Tome +6 Item
{16}Wisdom 8 +2 Tome +6 Item
{14}Charisma 6 +2 Tome +6 Item as needed

Stunning Blow DC:
10 Base
13 strength
1 kensai
3 fighter tactics
2 warforged tactics
10 weighted
-------
39 (could easily be increased via short-term buffs: madstone, titan's grip, etc.)


Skills:
Max Concetration and balance. One rank of tumble. Spare points in jump, few in haggle.

Level & Feat Progression:
Level 1 (Wizard)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Extend Spell
Feat: (Selected) Two Handed Fighting

Level 2 (Wizard 2)


Level 3 (Wizard 3)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness


Level 4 (Wizard 4)

Level 5 (Wizard 5)
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Maximize Spell

Level 6 (Wizard 6)
Feat: (Selected) Quicken Spell

Level 7 (Wizard 7)

Level 8 (Fighter 1)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Focus- Bludgeoning

Level 9 (Fighter 2)
Feat: (Selected) Stunning Blow
Feat: (Fighter Bonus Feat) Power Attack

Level 10 (Wizard 8)


Level 11 (Wizard 9)

Level 12 (Wizard 10)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighteing
Feat: (Wizard Bonus) Empower Spell

Level 13 (Wizard 11)

Level 14 (Fighter 3)

Level 15 (Fighter 4)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Bludgeoning Weapons

Level 16 (Fighter 5)

Level 17 (Fighter 6)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Two Handed Fighting

Level 18 (Fighter 7)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 19 (Fighter 8)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Weapon Focus: Bludgeoning Weapons

Level 20 (Wizard 12)

Enhancements:
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Kensei Maul Mastery I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy II
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei I
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Stunning Blow) I
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Stunning Blow) II
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Stunning Blow) III
Enhancement: Fighter Maul Specialization I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III
Enhancement: Racial Toughness IV
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements I
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements II
Enhancement: Wizard Lineage of Elements III
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation I
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation II
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation III
Enhancement: Wizard Elemental Manipulation IV
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar I
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar II
Enhancement: Wizard Energy of the Scholar III
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Fighter Strength II
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness II
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness III
Enhancement: Wizard Wand Mastery I
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution I
Enhancement: Warforged Constitution II
Enhancement: Warforged Healer's Friend I
Enhancement: Warforged Inscribed Armor I
Enhancement: Warforged Tactics I
Enhancement: Warforged Tactics II
Enhancement: Warforged Great Weapon Aptitude I

[TFPAQ]

I played one all the way to Ftr8/Wiz12 but felt seriously gimped overall ... not enough spell points to cast effectively in many situations and dps/melee was only "adequate".

LR'd him to Fighter12 (Kennie II) and Wiz 8, world of difference and much more fun to me to play (more melee-centric in my game play I guess).

Displaced, hasted, stoned and STR pushing 50 (double raged) and nothing stands before you very long...

Didn't miss Reconstruct like I thought I would...

[Phidius]

Excellent, we need more of these running around

While I really love all the perks of the 2 Rog/2 Monk splash, it looks like you've given it due consideration.

Let us know how you like it!