Classic Knight

[SiliconScout]

So I decided to see what could be done with both the sword n board model AND a bastard sword.

The idea here is modeled off the classic knight. He wades into battle, calls on his enemies and cuts through throngs of them.

He's looking to maximize the DR boosts of his shield and with his bastard sword he's looking to max out the glances he's going to be getting.

This is what I have so far. At this point he's level 14 and handling himself fairly well. Rarely leads the kill count but is usually second. Right now I am finding his WILL saves to be his sticking point though. Anywho here is the build any comments are welcome.

Please keep in mind that this is a flavour build but it is meant to be useful at 20 for sure.

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.09.02
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Samburger Knight of the Realm
Level 20 Neutral Good Human Male
(20 Fighter) 
Hit Points: 372
Spell Points: 0 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 15
Reflex: 7
Will: 6

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 20)
Strength             18                    26
Dexterity            12                    12
Constitution         15                    16
Intelligence         10                    10
Wisdom               10                    10
Charisma              8                     8

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 20)
Balance               3                    12
Bluff                -1                     2
Concentration         2                     6
Diplomacy            -1                     2
Disable Device        n/a                   n/a
Haggle               -1                    -1
Heal                  0                     0
Hide                  1                     1
Intimidate            3                    29
Jump                  8                    31
Listen                0                     0
Move Silently         1                     1
Open Lock             n/a                   n/a
Perform              n/a                   n/a
Repair                0                     0
Search                0                     0
Spot                  0                     0
Swim                  4                     9
Tumble                n/a                   n/a
Use Magic Device     n/a                   n/a

Level 1 (Fighter)
Feat: (Human Bonus) Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons


Level 2 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Shield Mastery


Level 3 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Shield Bash


Level 4 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons


Level 5 (Fighter)


Level 6 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Diehard
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost II
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost I
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost II
Enhancement: Kensei Bastard Sword Mastery I
Enhancement: Fighter Armored Agility I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy I
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy II
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei I
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Trip) I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate I
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate II
Enhancement: Fighter Strength I
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness I


Level 7 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Strength II


Level 8 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Bastard Sword Specialization I
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate III
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness II


Level 9 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness III


Level 10 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Shield Mastery
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Trip) II
Enhancement: Human Improved Recovery I


Level 11 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Strategy (Trip) III
Enhancement: Human Adaptability Constitution I


Level 12 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Handed Fighting
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Kensei Bastard Sword Mastery II
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei II
Enhancement: Improved Intimidate IV


Level 13 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Human Greater Adaptability Strength I


Level 14 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Toughness IV


Level 15 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Enhancement: Racial Toughness III


Level 16 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Superior Weapon Focus: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Fighter Armored Agility II
Enhancement: Fighter Bastard Sword Specialization II


Level 17 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Attack Boost III


Level 18 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Cleave
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Great Cleave
Enhancement: Kensei Bastard Sword Mastery III
Enhancement: Fighter Critical Accuracy III
Enhancement: Fighter Kensei III


Level 19 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Haste Boost III


Level 20 (Fighter)
Enhancement: Fighter Weapon Alacrity
Enhancement: Fighter Armored Agility III

[SiliconScout]

sweet a perfect build right out of the gate! finally!

LOL.

Cummon guys I know I have to have missed something that fits the flavour and boosts the build. Give a builder a hand eh!

=)

[Luckness]

Where do you want to go with this? Better DPS while maintaining the Bastard Sword + Board motif, or better saves, AC, and possible evasion with the same? (More offense, or more defense.)

One thing I'd suggest is to lose the Trip enhancements at some level, pick up the Stunning Blow feat, and work hard on giving that ability a good DC. If you're going to do less DPS, you could help a lot just be occasionally stunning trash. Trip is ineffective at higher levels. This also means getting a Mace to switch into in order to apply the stun.

Your Wisdom score could be reduced to 8, possibly spending the point in Constitution.

To be honest I don't really like this build... taking sword and board seriously along with Kensai just seems wrong. :P

I do understand the desire to utilize glancing blows on a Bastard Sword, but the tanking enhancement line would make more use of the fact that you're wearing a shield all the time. But it would mean even lower DPS.

Should I assume you want the most DPS (and whatever else you can provide with that) while still using a Bastard that gets Glancing Blows? (As you may have found out, no glancing on dual wielding bastards.)

[mournbladereigns]

Where do you want to go with this? Better DPS while maintaining the Bastard Sword + Board motif, or better saves, AC, and possible evasion with the same? (More offense, or more defense.)

One thing I'd suggest is to lose the Trip enhancements at some level, pick up the Stunning Blow feat, and work hard on giving that ability a good DC. If you're going to do less DPS, you could help a lot just be occasionally stunning trash. Trip is ineffective at higher levels. This also means getting a Mace to switch into in order to apply the stun.

Your Wisdom score could be reduced to 8, possibly spending the point in Constitution.

To be honest I don't really like this build... taking sword and board seriously along with Kensai just seems wrong. :P

I do understand the desire to utilize glancing blows on a Bastard Sword, but the tanking enhancement line would make more use of the fact that you're wearing a shield all the time. But it would mean even lower DPS.

Should I assume you want the most DPS (and whatever else you can provide with that) while still using a Bastard that gets Glancing Blows? (As you may have found out, no glancing on dual wielding bastards.)

Yeah, have to agree here, kind of an odd duck build, your using Sword & board but not focusing on defensive/tanking advantages of it. That said, if you are going to go heavy Kensai, going Tactics fighter would be good choice. Stunning Blow, Sap, Improved Trip would let you control battle more, combined with intiming & cleave/great cleaving.

Consider keeping a Falchion around for Heavy DPSing. I'd say, to be more effective, go with falchion for heavy boss beating. And a BS & board setup for tanking/intiming, clearing trash, with stunning blow/sap to back it up for dealing with high threat targets and controlling combat. (The slashing spec bonuses from kensai will still make your bastward sword effective.) Plus you'll have option to cleave/great cleave in either setup. (Its easy to switch kensai spec from different weaps in same family, so you can work with both to see best setup for you.)

[idlerdw]

Drop dex to 8 up con use a +2 tome and a +2 dex item to up your dex for bonus.

[Luckness]

This guy looks like he has already walked your road.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=309926

He tries to get maximum bastard sword and board DPS through 12 Fighter / 6 Barb, choosing 2 Rogue also.

It appears you can put "Weighted" on your shield for better stun DC's. This is effective, convenient, and aesthetic over the approach that calls for a mace with the property.

Depending on what you think of the rogue splash - your reflex save is not really high enough to get good use of evasion, and the linked build dumps UMD - you might instead go 14 Fighter / 6 Barb. You'll gain one more feat and access to a few more fighter enhancements, as well full BAB 20.

Going Warforged is a compelling choice in terms of getting your DC's higher, as well as the Power Attack enhancements, but that may not be compelling to you. If you want to play a human, it has no glaring weaknesses, and the extra feat can help round him out more.

[unbongwah]

"S&B Kensai" makes my head hurt. Go SD and make a real tank, IMHO; you've certainly got the feats for it.

Since you're already lvl 14 I don't see how you could add the Sentinel feats now; but if you did you'd be able to take advantage of the proposed upgrades to epic Chimera Fang if & when they get added.

[SiliconScout]

Sweet, thanks for the advice guys, without a doubt there are tweaks I am going to miss that don’t disrupt the flavour and looks like you found some. I will reply to chunks of your posts (and it might be out of order LOL). Thanks.

Couple of you talked about Stunning instead of Tripping and to be honest now that crafting is available I am thinking that might be the better road for sure. I can take that mithral tower shield, turn it into a blank and get probably spiked and stunning on it pretty easily (as soon as my crafter gets some more levels) which will help with the bashes and I can do stuns with it.

For heavy DPS right now he can either wield dual bastards (the no glances here REALLY sucks) or just lay waste with his Carnifex. Not sure what the big advantage of a falchion would be here say over a great sword/Axe.

I agree too that the build is a bit of a mutt. I probably should have either tried to make a S&B OR a BS wielder, doing both has him being less effective at both, though to this point the DPS hasn’t been brutalized too bad. Basically I wanted a BS wielder but once I found out that you don’t get glances dual wielding then the shield came out because what else is he gonna do with that hand. At this point he can solo Gianthold easily enough with a pocket cleric or pots at this point but I know he’s nearing the tipping point to where things are going to get a lot harder for him. And at I figured if he’s gonna multiclass then his fighter level is gonna top out somewhere between 14 and 16.

The rogue doesn’t really fit the flavour of the build but the barb might for sure. The only Barbs I have played have been warforged so I don’t know how bad those rage drawbacks are gonna be. At 6 levels of barb he’s just going to have 2 rages… probably only worth it to splash in 4 levels of that (as 4th is when the second rage kicks in) that way I only lose the 1 fighter bonus feat. Basically the Rage would be saved for boss fights.

Might be worth it to go to 5 to get improved uncanny dodge so the mobs around me won’t get flanking bonuses as he does tend to get surrounded, that said though it would come at the cost of another bonus feat and to be honest he’s not got that many to spare at this point.

The good news is I haven’t swapped any feats out yet and I have plenty of shards maybe enough for he Exceptional shard so I might be able to swap up to 2 feats out at this point.

Assuming its only 4 levels of Barb then I could take Power attack at 15 and Cleave at 16. … basically giving up superior weapon focus and Kensaii III. Is that worth it?

I figured I could give up diehard for stunning blow if needs be.

For sure it’s too late to go sentinel though, too many feats would need to be changed to make it worth it.

[kendo]

For heavy DPS right now he can either wield dual bastards (the no glances here REALLY sucks) or just lay waste with his Carnifex. Not sure what the big advantage of a falchion would be here say over a great sword/Axe.

I am assuming they are referring to higher levels. for low to mid levels, Carnifex is probably your best bet. but at higher levels it will lose out to a falchion with additional damage bursts and/or DR bypassing specs. especially with crafting, a +4 or +5 HB of XX falchion would out damage a Carnifex.

but the nice thing is, any of your feats that help boost THF with Carnifex should move over and help out a falchion

[FranOhmsford]

From the OPs opening satement I'm assuming this is a flavour build first.

Medieval Knight - Paladin splash

+4 Cha item for lvl 1 and 2 spells.