+6 All Saves or CL 13 Blade Barrier?

[SisAmethyst]

Shield will stack with +4 AC items, unless it is also a shield. The spell stacks with armor, bracers, and rings, just not physical shields. Plus with extend spell and the robe from the catacombs, it'll last 6 minutes. But true, there are shield clickies, the main point of possibly taking wiz was for the bonus metamagic feat and some extra sp.

Well, it stacks indeed with the armor but in case you really come in a heavy situation, switching to real S&B mode is probably better, especially then having a shield with divine whatever potency on it and probably even higher shield bonus then +4 and for the protection from magic missiles etc you can use items like the mantel of the worldshaper or others. If I am not completely wrong there are even pots with the 'shield' spell. So the need for this single lvl 1 wiz spell was questionable.

The extra amount of SP you get from a lvl 1 wizard compared to what you get from an additional fvs level is I guess not the big of the difference if at all, as for SP most splash a Sorc instead. Also I am not sure how good are the divine Enhancements you may loose that you can't access due to lower levels in FvS like
- Favored Soul Energy of the Scion IV
- Favored Soul Improved Spell Penetration III
- Favored Soul Extra Action Boost II

The free Metamagic feat would be the only reason I could see, but well, as I said, I am not sure if the sacrifices you do by getting a Wiz. level (e.g. lower DC for all your spells) will be worth that extra feat.

[voodoogroves]

It isn't as horrible an idea as you were originally suggesting ;-)

I've been tossing around the idea of a Ninja Spy / FVS (drow) and/or an elf or human using longswords. Human would give more healing amp, if that was your thing, elf more base damage/to-hit.

For the Ninja/Short-swords Monk 6 (required), FVS 13, Rogue 1 is where I think I ended up ... for the longswords I still never quite finalized between more monk and more ranger or fighter.

12 on a caster mixed with some melee (6/2 split on the melees seems common) is a completely workable build. You may get some declines from time to time.

[Oversouldgg]

The free Metamagic feat would be the only reason I could see, but well, as I said, I am not sure if the sacrifices you do by getting a Wiz. level (e.g. lower DC for all your spells) will be worth that extra feat.

The only DC i'd have to worry about is Bladebarrier, which I don't even know if I'll have yet. As I said, wiz would mainly be for the extra metamagic feat, shield/sp would just be a bonus.

[Hecore]

Human can only get +1 strength -- you aren't allowed to take the same stat enhancement twice.

Since your saves will be good anyway (thanks to the fvs and monk levels) I'd instead choose a single level of rogue for UMD and a bit of Open Locks. You can still wand the shield spell that way as well as have a much wider selection of equipment that you can put on. Blade Barrier won't be perfect w/ only 13 levels, but it will give you a decent source of AOE damage when you need it.

[Phidius]

As a monk, I'll have my concentration skill maxed out since it's tied to ki. Do you think I'll still need Quicken?

Since his recent LR+3, Stryde now has maxed ranks in Concentration as well. However, it's not too uncommon to get hit for more than 50 points at a time - which is a really bad time to rely on Concentration.

Quicken also helps get those Blade Barriers out faster.

[Oversouldgg]

Human can only get +1 strength -- you aren't allowed to take the same stat enhancement twice.

That's good to know, thanks.

[falcon2030]

not to mention the fact that casting the spell cannot be interrupted with quicken on therefore saving spell points as you'll find in some cases you will need the few extra saved in the middle of a mob

[gott_ist_tot]

If you want BB, quicken is pretty much a must, no matter your concentration. Sometimes I forgot to turn on quicken in Sins of Attrition, and BBs are excruciatingly slow. Wait, I take that back - there is a possiblity you won't care as much as i do if your BB takes a few seconds to get up.

I have dumped my wisdom. Like, completely. So my BBs are hitting for 150 (max, sup pot., empower - and boy you want empower instead emp heal You know what? It's still enough to destroy sins of attrition in 24 minutes solo, with *all* optional chests. Which net you 1-2 larges per 2 runs.

Anyway, my 2 cents are - I would definitely try to epmhasise on BBs with such a build and see how it goes.

[Pwesiela]

8 wis and BB?

Go with the saves. You're barriers are gonna do jack squat for damage. That is, if the mob doesn't make the <18 reflex save. Which they will.

[Oversouldgg]

8 wis and BB?

Go with the saves. You're barriers are gonna do jack squat for damage. That is, if the mob doesn't make the <18 reflex save. Which they will.

It'll be more like 20 WIS at lvl 20, not sure if that'll make much if a difference though.

[Oversouldgg]

Since his recent LR+3, Stryde now has maxed ranks in Concentration as well. However, it's not too uncommon to get hit for more than 50 points at a time - which is a really bad time to rely on Concentration.

Quicken also helps get those Blade Barriers out faster.

How much damage do Stryde's BBs do? What's his Wisdom?

[Renvar]

You mention dropping GTWF as you don't have the BAB for it. Not sure it's been mentioned before, but you only discuss using a +2 tome. With a 14 dex you are going to need a +3 tome to get GTWF and, I believe, ITWF. I think TWF only needs a 15, and you will have that at 7th level, but unless you have a +3 dex tome you haven't mentioned, there is no ITWF or GTWF. At which point, the dps on this build is going to suffer.

[Pwesiela]

It'll be more like 20 WIS at lvl 20, not sure if that'll make much if a difference though.

Putting the save at <22? No, it won't.

[soloman]

IMO: If you set up the toon to be able to get the most out of your BB then go that route.

Regardless of what peeps say a decent BB even with a low DC can clear a room (granted you kite the mobs properly) in most quests in the game.

Mobs will still take half damage (if set right, itll be around 130 points of damage on a save)and the evasion mobs that are still standing can be mowed down easily (usually).

Now if the builld has trouble meleeing even those mobs then you are doing something wrong or should consider respeccing altogether.

Your sp is prolly sitting around 1500 and thats more than enough to be able to use a BB here and there when things get hairy.

Quick edit: May I ask what the purpose of the monk levels were for if you started at such a low wisdom?
My 2cp~ Solo

[Oversouldgg]

You mention dropping GTWF as you don't have the BAB for it. Not sure it's been mentioned before, but you only discuss using a +2 tome. With a 14 dex you are going to need a +3 tome to get GTWF and, I believe, ITWF. I think TWF only needs a 15, and you will have that at 7th level, but unless you have a +3 dex tome you haven't mentioned, there is no ITWF or GTWF. At which point, the dps on this build is going to suffer.

The post with the build mentions in an edit that it wont have the BAB for GTWF, and i'll put a level up point into dex for 17 base.

Corrected the original post so other people don't get confused.

[Phidius]

How much damage do Stryde's BBs do? What's his Wisdom?

Somewhere around 100 a tick... not sure of the exact number. His wisdom is 26 (starting with 14) - however, that only comes into play when the mobs have evasion.

If they don't have evasion, your wisdom could be 16 for all it matters.

Mostly, though, he uses Bladebarrier to grab initial aggro, or when Dungeon Alert kicks in.

[Renvar]

Have you thought about 12 cleric levels vs. 13 FvS levels? You take a spell point hit, but gain more spells per level, including that all important 6th level. You will be able to have Heal, BB, and another. With the new radient servant line, you will also be able to use your healing aura to heal yourself while fighting without use of mana. ANd those will regenerate over time without shrining.

You may find that the ability to heal without mana usage and the extra spell slots and the ability to do the 12/6/2 thing without losing BB is greater than the spell point loss and the two 10 point ele resists you are giving up.

Just a thought. I'd never have suggested this pre U5, but the radiant servant may have tipped the scales.

[Oversouldgg]

Somewhere around 100 a tick... not sure of the exact number. His wisdom is 26 (starting with 14) - however, that only comes into play when the mobs have evasion.

If they don't have evasion, your wisdom could be 16 for all it matters.

Mostly, though, he uses Bladebarrier to grab initial aggro, or when Dungeon Alert kicks in.

You and Pwesiela seem to disagree on this...

[Oversouldgg]

Have you thought about 12 cleric levels vs. 13 FvS levels? You take a spell point hit, but gain more spells per level, including that all important 6th level. You will be able to have Heal, BB, and another. With the new radient servant line, you will also be able to use your healing aura to heal yourself while fighting without use of mana. ANd those will regenerate over time without shrining.

You may find that the ability to heal without mana usage and the extra spell slots and the ability to do the 12/6/2 thing without losing BB is greater than the spell point loss and the two 10 point ele resists you are giving up.

Just a thought. I'd never have suggested this pre U5, but the radiant servant may have tipped the scales.

I've considered this, but 12 cleric has 545 SP vs 960 SP of a FS13. Maybe a Torc would fix this?

[Pwesiela]

You and Pwesiela seem to disagree on this...

He does 100 a tick, I'll assume that's non-saving. So, with a <22 DC, you can look at about 50 a tick. Which only occurs while kiting them back and forth. You'll likely (though I'm nowhere near a numbers guy) do more standing still and cutting with your weapons.

To put this in perspective, Insene's barriers do (standard) ~250-275 a tick and upwards of ~550 on crits. Yes, she's specced for barriers with wis maxed, and at upper levels, thing save all too often.