34pt Bastower of Hate

[guyge1]

The BasTower of Hate Paladin: Bastard Sword for glancing blows & Tower Shields For AC & Tanking.
I know Bastard Swords have the x2 critical modifier versus the Khopeshes x3.
But the idea is to be able to engage & damage multiple targets. (Generating Slight Damage & Hate from Glancing Blows)
To build hate with the use of Divine Righteousness, Sacrifice, Smites, & Shield Bash w/ 20% Strike in Melee.
Using Intimidate to start Aggro & build Hate.

No Stats Maxed, but a starting base of 16: Strength, Constitution, & Charisma.
This will make a well rounded platform for a paladin who we all know is stat starved.
Level up Ability Raises 3 into Strength & 2 into Constitution.
Higher Intelligence for more Skill Points to
Max out Intimidate, Balance, & UMD. Rest into Tumble & Jump.

Feats:
Bastard Sword Proficiency: Namesake of the build. Bastard Sword have been forgotten about with the overpowering Khopeshes. Glancing Blows.
Tower Shield Mastery: Namesake of the build & AC/DR.
Toughness x2: More HP the Better.
Combat Expertise: the +5 to AC in stance for Tanking.
Improved Shield Bash: Obviously want to Turtle up & still ****~em' off & the 20% chance to make a secondary shield bash while attacking with a melee weapon.
Skill Focus Intimidate: For all those High level Bosses. Elite Xy'zzy "Here kitty kitty"

Other Options, Switch something out for:
Power Attack? More DPS but will it matter with Sword & Board or Shield Bashing?
Two Handed Fighting? Improve the Glancing Blows. To be able to switch to THW situationaly for more effective hate generation & DPS
Bull Headed? Intimidate & Saves?

PRESTIGE:
Defender of Siberys III: Superior Defensive Stance
+4 Sacred bonus to Strength and Constitution, a +3 Sacred bonus on all saves, and a +4 Dodge bonus to Armor Class. 50% Sacred bonus to melee threat generation.
The Magic Circle against Evil.
Mass Shield of Faith +2 deflection bonus to AC.
Opens 2 Spell slots. Not to important but Buffs add up.
Gear will be important but I don't feel the need to list it all out. The build will be recycled into an improved 36 point build after Some better +4 Tomes are banked up.
600+ Hit Points & Intimidate of well over 62 will be achievable at end game.
I need to Crunch more numbers on AC as I seem to be lacking in that area & need to work on the gear, feats, & enhancements.
I will not want to change much but I am interested in some feedback.

This is a build for Smaller Parties as I would be the with few or the only Melee/Tank. Or situational appropriate uses for Tanking (Sullomades, Xy'zzy, & maybe Horoth). Keeping Aggro off Party & using minimal party resources to keep me alive.


Should I have worries about rolling with this build?

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.9.1
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Raaly 1 
Level 20 Lawful Good Human Female
(20 Paladin) 
Hit Points: 454
Spell Points: 260 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 27
Reflex: 15
Will: 15

                  Starting            Ending          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats         Base Stats         Modified Stats
(34 Point)       (Level 1)          (Level 20)           (Level 20)
Strength             16                 22                   22
Dexterity             8                 10                   10
Constitution         16                 21                   22
Intelligence         12                 14                   14
Wisdom                8                 11                   11
Charisma             16                 19                   21

Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 4
+1 Tome of Dexterity used at level 4
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 4
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 4
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 4
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 4
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 20
+3 Tome of Constitution used at level 20
+3 Tome of Wisdom used at level 20
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 20

                  Starting            Ending          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills        Base Skills        Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)          (Level 20)          (Level 20)
Balance               0                 11                   11
Bluff                 3                  5                    5
Concentration         5                 26                   29
Diplomacy             3                  5                    5
Disable Device        n/a               n/a                   n/a
Haggle                3                  5                    5
Heal                 -1                  0                    0
Hide                 -1                  0                    0
Intimidate            7                 28                   35
Jump                  4                  8                    8
Listen               -1                  0                    0
Move Silently        -1                  0                    0
Open Lock            n/a                n/a                   n/a
Perform               n/a               n/a                   n/a
Repair                1                  2                    2
Search                1                  2                    2
Spot                 -1                  0                    0
Swim                  3                  6                    6
Tumble                0                  7                    7
Use Magic Device      5                 16                   16

Level 1 (Paladin)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Paladin
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 3 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Two-Handed Fighting

Level 4 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR

Level 6 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Combat Expertise

Level 8 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR

Level 9 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Shield Bash

Level 12 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Toughness

Level 15 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons

Level 16 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: CON

Level 18 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Skill Focus: Intimidate

Level 20 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: CON

Enhancement: Paladin Armor Class Boost I
Enhancement: Paladin Armor Class Boost II
Enhancement: Paladin Armor Class Boost III
Enhancement: Paladin Weapons of Good
Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Constitution I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Paladin Courage of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good II
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good III
Enhancement: Paladin Focus of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good II
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good III
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Righteousness I
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Sacrifice I
Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite I
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Lay on Hands I
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil I
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil II
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys I
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys II
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys III
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate I
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate III
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate IV
Enhancement: Paladin Charisma I
Enhancement: Paladin Charisma II
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness I
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness II
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness III
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness IV
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might I
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might II
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might III
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Turning I

[theboatman]

Tower Shield Proficiency is not the same as Shield Mastery.

I'm not sure if you are just calling it a different name, or have the feats combined some sort in your mind for this build, but:

TSP only grants you the ability to use the shields, while SM gives you 20% less incoming damage while you hold a tower shield (15% with a large shield.) If you really want more survivability, I would recommend the latter; you can always use a masters touch scroll (since you will have the umd for it) to gain proficiency. It is a comfort issue, as you have to reapply every instance you enter and every shrine you use, but it's a small price to pay compared to not having Shield Mastery. (And yes the shield maintains mastery even if you pull out a two hander, you can swap it on/off after touching it.)

[guyge1]

Tower Shield Proficiency is not the same as Shield Mastery.

I'm not sure if you are just calling it a different name, or have the feats combined some sort in your mind for this build, but:

I was referring Improved Shield Bash 20% Chance to Shield bash in Melee. Not the Tower Proficiency. But I see what you are getting at with the Shield mastery.
Thanks.

[unbongwah]

I don't see Power Atk; and your glancing blows will be limited w/only 1 THF feat; which means you're gimping your DPS unnecessarily, IMHO. Your AC will also be a tad low with DEX 8.

Here's a possibly mad idea: dump-stat INT, skip CE (since feats are super-tight), and focus a bit more on DPS.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 3.9.1
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 20 Lawful Good Human Female
(20 Paladin) 
Hit Points: 372
Spell Points: 260 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 25
Reflex: 17
Will: 15

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(34 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             16                    24
Dexterity            12                    14
Constitution         16                    18
Intelligence          8                    10
Wisdom                8                    10
Charisma             16                    20

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 20
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 20

Level 1 (Paladin)
Feat: (Past Life) Past Life: Paladin
Feat: (Human Bonus) Toughness
Feat: (Selected) Two Handed Fighting


Level 2 (Paladin)


Level 3 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack


Level 4 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 5 (Paladin)


Level 6 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighting


Level 7 (Paladin)


Level 8 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 9 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons


Level 10 (Paladin)


Level 11 (Paladin)


Level 12 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Handed Fighting


Level 13 (Paladin)


Level 14 (Paladin)


Level 15 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Shield Mastery


Level 16 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 17 (Paladin)


Level 18 (Paladin)
Feat: (Selected) Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword


Level 19 (Paladin)


Level 20 (Paladin)
Ability Raise: CHA
Enhancement: Paladin Armor Class Boost I
Enhancement: Paladin Weapons of Good
Enhancement: Unyielding Sovereignty
Enhancement: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Strength I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery II
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery III
Enhancement: Paladin Courage of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good II
Enhancement: Paladin Bulwark of Good III
Enhancement: Paladin Focus of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good I
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good II
Enhancement: Paladin Resistance of Good III
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Righteousness I
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Sacrifice I
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Sacrifice II
Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite I
Enhancement: Paladin Exalted Smite II
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil I
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil II
Enhancement: Paladin Extra Smite Evil III
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys I
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys II
Enhancement: Paladin Defender of Siberys III
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate I
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate III
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness I
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness II
Enhancement: Paladin Toughness III
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might I
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might II
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might III
Enhancement: Paladin Divine Might IV

[joaofalcao]

The BasTower of Hate Paladin: Bastard Sword for glancing blows & Tower Shields For AC & Tanking.

Theres no AC breakdown to your build. Would you care to make one?

Because, if you want to max you AC, the tower shield might not be the best option, if you have enough DEX.

But its hard to give an opinion on it without such things as AC Breakdown. Whats your goal on AC?

[Ralmeth]

Hey there Guyge1,

It looks like a good start, but I'd like to offer a few comments & suggestions:

Tanking in groups
I see that you want to be able to tank groups of mobs while in S&B mode, building up hate with glancing blows to all enemies nearby, and I can tell you that this just isn't going to work well in practice. The problem is that when an arcane or divine throws out an area of effect spell they will pull aggro of the group, when other melees each pound on different monsters the hate they are generating will be much more than you can do...I have been in many groups and explained to them how the new hate works, and if they want me to tank the groups of mobs they need to not cast AOE spells and focus on one target a time. Alas because I always see melees bashing on different targets, blade barriers go up, etc. If you have a static group or your group works very well with each other I can see this working, but only if the entire group is on the same page. Pretty much are gone the days where you could hit intimidate and tank a group of mobs. Paladins are awesome though at tanking one mob at a time, such as big red named.

Stats:
In order to get your AC higher, look at starting your dex higher (you can lower con to 14). With epic armor and the max dex bonus increase from DoS you can get consideraly more points of AC. This would also open up the dodge feat for you for 1 more AC. AC toons need to scrape together every piece of AC they can find.

Feats:
100% you need to take power attack. Any good Pally Defender has both a S&B tanking mode and a DPS mode. You're DPS mode can be as simple as power attack turned on with the best THF weapon you can find, with the THF feats giving you a better DPS mode. IMHO the absolute required feats on a Pally DoS are Toughness, Power Attack, CE and Improved Crit (half offense, half defense). I'm also not a big fan of SF-intimidate or just taking one THF feat. Either go with all of the THF feats or don't bother with any of them. So as Pally's have a limited feat selection I think there are two routes you can go, either THF as Unbongwah suggests, or use those extra feats to enhance your S&B mode (such as shield mastery). Other feats to consider are improved shield bash and extend. Extend is awesome for the times you are using CE.

Enhancements:
The only thing I would definitely change is the armor boost enhancements. The first tier is required for DoS, but your AC boosts are shared with your Defensive stance clickies. You're going to want to use your defensive stance, so I would drop AC boost 2 and 3. That will free up some points for something else.

Best of luck with it!

[RTN]

If you have UMD, you don't need to take the feats for Bastard Sword or Towershield. You can scroll Master's Touch to use them. It's a bit of a pain, but you can do it.

In their place, take Power Attack and Improved Crit slashing. Also, look at the epic Chimera's Fang.

Given the changes to intim and hate production, I think you can probably drop CE as well since it doesn't function with Power Attack and now tanking is all about hate production and damage mitigation (through shield mastery and using a shield) rather than getting the highest possible AC.

[Calebro]

If you have UMD, you don't need to take the feats for Bastard Sword or Towershield. You can scroll Master's Touch to use them. It's a bit of a pain, but you can do it.

Master's Touch works fine for shields, but it won't give you proficiency in a bastard sword, which is an exotic weapon.

[RTN]

Master's Touch works fine for shields, but it won't give you proficiency in a bastard sword, which is an exotic weapon.

Ah, that's right. Forgot about that. Thanks for the correction. Which makes the Epic Chimera's Fang even better for a build like this.

[Calebro]

Ah, that's right. Forgot about that. Thanks for the correction. Which makes the Epic Chimera's Fang even better for a build like this.

Not really.
You'd still be spending a feat to get proficiency, you'd just be spending it on a worthless dragonmark instead of the weapon itself.

[RTN]

Not really.
You'd still be spending a feat to get proficiency, you'd just be spending it on a worthless dragonmark instead of the weapon itself.

If you're using a shield and intend to hate tank on a pally, it is one of the best weapons out there, if not the best. I've successfully done it in ToD w/o any agro issues and I'm still undergeared for my hate gear. The OP is clearly looking for hate tanking w/ a shield. You could conceivably do a Min II Khopesh, but I'd rather have the Chimera's Fang and at least one of the dragonmarks (possibly two) for the extra intim.