AC / Intimidate Paladin/Monk

[jellyfish21]

ATM, my 9 paladin / 5 monk has reached near a 75 AC, with all saves reaching near 40+, Intimidate skill reaching about 45-50 and Hit Points about 350.

Our elite Prison of the Planes run was cool, as I wasn't even healed during a long Marrilith fight.

More to come.

[Alexandryte]

More specifics about build and gear would be nice.

I do enjoy reading about interesting builds....specifically if part monk is involved.

[jellyfish21]

Halfelf.
32 point buy.
Starting stats: 10str, 16dex, 14con, 16wis, 12int and 8cha
+2 supreme tome at level seven.
12, 18, 16, 18, 14, 10 - stats for +2 tome.
+1 dex at level 4, 8, 12 - 21 dex at level 12.
+1 monk wis, +2 paladin cha, +1 rogue diliente dex, +1 wis and +1 dex for human adapt.
12, 23, 16, 20, 14, 12 - stats with enhancements.
Water stance +2 wis / -2 str
10, 23, 16, 22, 14, 12
+4 str golves, +6 dex boots, +5 con ring, +4 wis/5intim hat (paladin spell in quest), +6 cha cloak
14, 29, 21, 26, 14, 18
Guild ship buffs +1 dex, +1 con
14, 30, 22, 26, 14, 18
+2 DDO store ability pot
16, 32, 24, 28, 16, 20
Those are my present adventuring ability scores.

[Khellendros13]

Halfelf.
32 point buy.
Starting stats: 10str, 16dex, 14con, 16wis, 12int and 8cha
+2 supreme tome at level seven.
12, 18, 16, 18, 14, 10 - stats for +2 tome.
+1 dex at level 4, 8, 12 - 21 dex at level 12.
+1 monk wis, +2 paladin cha, +1 rogue diliente dex, +1 wis and +1 dex for human adapt.
12, 23, 16, 20, 14, 12 - stats with enhancements.
Water stance +2 wis / -2 str
10, 23, 16, 22, 14, 12
+4 str golves, +6 dex boots, +5 con ring, +4 wis/5intim hat (paladin spell in quest), +6 cha cloak
14, 29, 21, 26, 14, 18
Guild ship buffs +1 dex, +1 con
14, 30, 22, 26, 14, 18
+2 DDO store ability pot
16, 32, 24, 28, 16, 20
Those are my present adventuring ability scores.

AC breakdown? I'm interested.

You run store pots all the time?

[jellyfish21]

Current Feats
Monk ac +2 centered level five monk
Combat Expertise +5 AC
Dodge +1 AC
Two Weapon Fighting
Two weapon defense +1 ac
Fists of light
Skill focus intimidate
Weapon finesse
Toughness
Fast movement monk 1
Still mind +2 enchantment saves
Elf enchantment save +2
Aura of courage - Enhancement bonus at level seven paladin +3 ac/saves
Evasion
Immune to sleep, fear and disease.
D8 unarmed strike damage - magic
Slow Fall
Divine grace +cha to saves (+5)
Flurry of blows (BaB good with monk weapons)
Items
+5 necklace of protection
Ring resist +4
Bracers of armor +6
Greater Parring Kama +2 ac
Goggles of shield +4 ac
Enhancements
Defender of siberys stance +2 dodge
Paladin ac boost +3 ac
Total ac from items, feats and enhancements
34
Wis/Dex bonus 11/9
base 10
total ac atm 64
Haste, Recitation, Barkskin, Song of Heroics = + 12
76 AC
Blessing of the three dragons and dwarven stoutness from ship buffs +2
78 AC
(I can gain another four wisdom from a +6 item and +2 ship buffs for an 80 AC)

[jellyfish21]

No raid or epic items, yet, lol.

[jellyfish21]

I only run store pots for things like the elite marrilith in PoP.

[Bobthesponge]

the AC is impressive, but with 10 starting STR you won't be able to hit anything for much longer - that is the DDO tradeoff. you'll definately win any staring contests, though.

[jellyfish21]

I plan on going the rest of the way paladin.
Level 15 paladin gives the highest bonus for aura of courage ac enhancements.
No sense of relying on another paladin for it.
Many paladins don't even have that enhancement line (wonders never cease).
Level five monk give another +1 monk ac bonus.
Many intimidation tanks complain of a low balance skill; mine is near 30.
I may have a hard time reaching 500+ hit points; we'll see. I think I'll take two more toughness feats.
Monk and Paladin intimidation enhancement lines stack.

I'm pretty happy.

[tjaysteno]

the AC is impressive, but with 10 starting STR you won't be able to hit anything for much longer - that is the DDO tradeoff. you'll definately win any staring contests, though.

That's where Weapon Finesse comes in.

[jellyfish21]

I have weapon finesse.
I rarely miss.

There has to be thousands of str based and dps characters.
I call players to have at least one intimidation tank on there log in screen.
It's as basic as having one cleric on the screen.

[Khellendros13]

Thank's for the breakdown.

Honestly, what is the DPS like?

[twiliteslayer02]

you can get another 1 at least from pally bulwark.

[wax_on_wax_off]

Halfelf.
32 point buy.
Starting stats: 10str, 16dex, 14con, 16wis, 12int and 8cha
+2 supreme tome at level seven.
12, 18, 16, 18, 14, 10 - stats for +2 tome.
+1 dex at level 4, 8, 12 - 21 dex at level 12.
+1 monk wis, +2 paladin cha, +1 rogue diliente dex, +1 wis and +1 dex for human adapt.
12, 23, 16, 20, 14, 12 - stats with enhancements.
Water stance +2 wis / -2 str
10, 23, 16, 22, 14, 12
+4 str golves, +6 dex boots, +5 con ring, +4 wis/5intim hat (paladin spell in quest), +6 cha cloak
14, 29, 21, 26, 14, 18
Guild ship buffs +1 dex, +1 con
14, 30, 22, 26, 14, 18
+2 DDO store ability pot
16, 32, 24, 28, 16, 20
Those are my present adventuring ability scores.

With no strength or charisma for no power attack or divine might then you will be a waste of a party slot as you won't have any DPS (afai can see).

[DragoonPenguin]

with No Strength Or Charisma For No Power Attack Or Divine Might Then You Will Be A Waste Of A Party Slot As You Won't Have Any Dps (afai Can See).

+1

[EKKM]

Certainly interesting, what is your max intimidate going to be? I assume your goal is to tank the end game raids on elite so you need an 81 (DQ Epic) or 79 for Hound.

[smyter]

Seems like a fun Crowd Control/Survival build. Obviously, you do low numbers for pure damage, but you still contribute. Things to think about:

I like your choice of Halfelf. Pair with the Rouge Half-Elf Dilettante you get the +1 dex and +2 saves vs traps. With another +1 dex coming from Human Adapt. Comparing to a Halfling that gets +2 dex at character creation, +2 more with enhancements. I would go half-elf since you are not sacrificing STR or intim for the +2 dex. Although you are building a "sacrifice everything for AC/Saves" build. Therefore, you have to remember that Halflings get a racial +1 AC and +1 Saves. Furthermore, they also get the +3 to each save if you select the enhancements. Therefore:

+3 dex more, which could mean 1-2 more AC, Reflex save, and to hit
+1 natural AC more
+1 natural to all saves
+3 enhancement to all saves
and a +1 to hit

Half elf gets no STR or INTIM penalty.

Just something to churn your butter

[Uchuujin-San]

lack of DPS not withstanding, this will be a very survivable build to lvl, but will be lacking in end game content such as epics where all they rely on is getting the most DPS out of the party to drop held mobs before they break and squish the party. If you understand this drawback then by all means the build looks like a blast to play as you'll be virtually untouchable all the way through to Amrath. You'd also make a great AC tank for Sulu in VoD/ToD with that kind of AC, though with <600 HP it'd be risky, but doable, to put you on Horoth on norm but you have to make sure you have the intim to no fail or things could go south quickly.

imo AC tanks are a niche build and extremely difficult to balance between DPS and AC for end game content. However for leveling, if you can hit the AC then its great to just see misses all the time. The people who are telling you that your DPS is light (and it is very light even with the extra str from the stance) are looking at the end game epics where dps is king, and in those even if you can avoid the majority of the damage through high AC A) mobs have so much HP that your hits will be tickling them and B) the majority of the time epic mobs are stunned/held and wont be swinging back making AC moot.

In regards to gear loadout you should craft greensteel AC kamas i'd suggest Min2 with holy/acid/4 AC insight, also youre at the right lvl to equip icy raiments if you havent got them already which is a +4 stacking dodge bonus to AC. The raiments especially will be a massive bump to AC.

RE: halfling, though the trade off is slightly higher saves and AC, you lose was it 4 points of intim (i think) for the size difference.. imo for a build that relies on intimidate to hold aggro its probably not a good idea to penalize that.