The Lovable Bastard Hero Build: 18 Fighter/ 2 Rogue

[Chaoscheerio]

So this is my first real attempt at a custom build and it focuses on my favourite weapon: the bastard sword!
Also named for the character who will be trying it out: Hotpockette The Lovable :3

Hotpockette the Lovable
Human Female
True Neutral
18 Fighter/2 Rogue

True Reincarnated, 34 pt build.. Past life: Fighter

Build plan: Two Weapon Fighting Dragonmarked Stalwart Fighter
Base ability scores:
16 Strength
16 Dexterity
16 Constitution
12 Intelligence
8 Wisdom
8 Charisma

Level progression:
1 Rogue
2-8 Fighter
9 Rogue
10-20 Fighter

Tomes used:
+1 str,dex,con,int at level 3
+2 at... whenever I can afford them

Ability score raises:
4- Strength
8- Strength
12- Strength
16- Strength
20- Strength

Feats:
Level 1: Two Weapon Fighting, Oversized TWF
2: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword
3: Least Dragonmark: Sentinel, Weapon Focus: Slashing
5: Weapon Specialization: Slashing
6: Toughness
7: Improved TWF
9: Lesser Dragonmark: Sentinel
10: Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing
12: Power Attack, Greater TWF
14: Combat Expertise
15: Skill Focus: UMD
16: Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing
18: Greater Dragonmark: Sentinel, Dodge
20: Superior Weapon Focus: Slashing

Skill Points:
Level 1: 4 points into: Balance, Jump, Swim, Intimidate, Haggle, UMD, Tumble, Spot, Heal, Listen(too many skill points >.<)
2-8: 1 point Intimidate, 1 to Jump, 1 point UMD
9: 8 points to balance, 1 to Intimidate, 1 to UMD
10-20: 1 to Intimidate, 1 to Jump, 1 to UMD


Enhancements *NOT CORRECT* messed up placement of toughness enhances, figuring out how to fix them now.*
Level 1: Improved Trap Sense, Rogue Sneak Attack Training
2: Fighter AC Boost 1, Fighter Haste Boost 1, Improved Intimidate 1, Human Improved Recovery 1, Fighter Critical Accuracy 1
3: Fighter Strength 1, Fighter Item Defense 1
4: Human Adaptability Strength 1
5: Racial Toughness 1, Racial Toughness 2, Fighter Toughness 1, Fighter Toughness 2, Fighter Haste Boost 2
6: Improved Intimidate 2
7: Fighter Stalwart Defender 1, Fighter Armour Class Boost 2
8: Fighter Strength 2
9: Extra Dragonmark Use 1, Rogue Dexterity 1
10: Fighter Bastard Sword Specialization, Fighter Toughness 3
11: Fighter Haste Boost 3, Fighter Critical Accuracy 2
12: Fighter Toughness 4
13: N/A
14: Fighter Stalwart Defender 2, Human Greater Adaptability: Constitution
15: Fighter Armour Class Boost 3, Racial Toughness 3
16: Fighter Item Defense 2, Extra Dragonmark Use 2
17: Improved Intimidate 3, Improved Intimidate 4
18: Fighter Haste Boost 4, Fighter Extra Action Boost 1
19: Fighter Bastard Sword Specialization 2
20: Fighter Stalwart Defender 3, Fighter AC Boost 4

Planned Gear at 20(* marks what I currently have):
Main Hand: Mineral 2 Greensteel Bastard Sword*
Off Hand: Epic Chimera's Fang(Just need scroll/shard for this)
Helm: Epic Chimera's Crown(Just need the base item)
Armour: Dragontouched Leather Armour - Deathblock, Exceptional Strength +1, Levik's Defender
Bracers: Levik's Bracers
Goggles: Tharne's Goggles*
Belt: Undecided
Trinket: Greater false life symbiont thingy from the new chain >.> forgot the name.
Cloak: Triple Earth Greensteel Weave Cloak - +10 HP, +15 HP, +20 HP
Necklace: Stalwart Necklace
Ring 1: Cinder's Band
Ring 2: Some ring with moderate fortification*

Possibilities, gear to work towards: Greater Vulkoor's Might set.

Notes/how I'm going to play it:
Hate tanking with evasion, unsure what total AC I'll be able to work up to yet since this build hasn't seen the light of day yet.
Drawing the most out of the Epic Chimera's Fang and sentinel dragonmark. No need for protection items due to least dragonmark.
What worries me: I may suffer from a lack of reflex saves making evasion and the 2 rogue levels pointless, Same thing with AC, making tanking impossible. Hoping to counter both of those with the defensive stance.

Hopefully I'll be able to fulfill the tank role and still have fun
If not, at least I've made it easy to switch to kensai :3
I'm excited for this build can you tell?

Well, and this toon still has some time left before she TRs, so I have time to change my mind!

[illowock]

I've never played with TWF bastard swords, so I'll let others comment on the benefits and drawbacks of it.

I would recommend you change the alignment to True Neutral since none of your planned equipment requires you to be Lawful Good. This will allow you to use chaos and taint of evil items without penalty.

I would also change Lightning Reflexes and TWF Defense to Power Attack and Skill Focus: UMD.

Also you did not list a belt slot, but should consider 1 or 2 ToD sets to pump up the character. (Frenzied Berserker and Stalwart Defender, comes to mind.)

[Chaoscheerio]

I've never played with TWF bastard swords, so I'll let others comment on the benefits and drawbacks of it.

I would recommend you change the alignment to True Neutral since none of your planned equipment requires you to be Lawful Good. This will allow you to use chaos and taint of evil items without penalty.

I would also change Lightning Reflexes and TWF Defense to Power Attack and Skill Focus: UMD.
)

Well, it's based on bastard swords, so no changing that
Good idea on the true neutral alignment, never considered that before.
Just wondering why you would change lightning reflexes and TWF defense?
Also, not totally sure what to slot in the belt since I get most of what belts can offer from the stalwart set/levik's. Perhaps find another ring and use the belt for fortification, not too sure though

[Krago]

Well, it's based on bastard swords, so no changing that
Good idea on the true neutral alignment, never considered that before.
Just wondering why you would change lightning reflexes and TWF defense?

PA and UMD are better choices to Lightning reflex and TWF defense. I would gladly give up 1 AC for Heal scroll use. +2 Reflex save is nice, but not at the cost of 5-10 damage per hit.

Any chance of delaying 2nd lvl of rogue till later to try and maximize your skill spread?

With at 16 starting Con, I would just put all points into Str. With Ftr Toughness, and Racial Toughness, you should be fine on hp.

[Chaoscheerio]

PA and UMD are better choices to Lightning reflex and TWF defense. I would gladly give up 1 AC for Heal scroll use. +2 Reflex save is nice, but not at the cost of 5-10 damage per hit.

Any chance of delaying 2nd lvl of rogue till later to try and maximize your skill spread?

I was only planning on lightning reflexes because I'm afraid my reflex saves won't be high enough to make evasion useful, and that heal scroll does look delicious right now. I perhaps didn't do enough research, and didn't know TWF defense was only +1 AC >.<

In regards to the rogue level for skill spread... what skill spread? Well, and I don't even know totally what you mean by skill spread anyway.

EDIT: Going to update right now the changes I'm planning now.

[Krago]

I was only planning on lightning reflexes because I'm afraid my reflex saves won't be high enough to make evasion useful, and that heal scroll does look delicious right now. I perhaps didn't do enough research, and didn't know TWF defense was only +1 AC >.<

In regards to the rogue level for skill spread... what skill spread? Well, and I don't even know totally what you mean by skill spread anyway.

EDIT: Going to update right now the changes I'm planning now.

Skills.
2 lvl/fighter
1 Human
1 12 Int
4 per lvl.

Fighter Class skills Intim, Jump, Repair, Swim. By taking Rogue again at lvl 3, you put points into skills that will not be viable at end game like DD, Search, OL.

Balance is a much better pick than the Rogue skills. And you can get a better balance score by delaying taking the 2nd lvl of Rogue till later say around lvl 10 or 11.

Max out Intim, UMD, Jump on Ftr lvls. Then when you take 2nd Rogue lvl, you pick Intim, UMD, and dump rest of the points into Balance. Now you have a much better Jump AND Balance skill level.

EDIT: And as for Reflex Save, you should be more concerend with your Will Save with 18 lvls of Ftr. I would take Con to 14 and put those 4 stat points into CHA to gain +1 to Intim and UMD. Your reflex save can easily get to 20 with +6 DEX Item and GH. Your will save may break 10.

[Chaoscheerio]

That actually makes a lot of sense, though I'm still unsure how taking a rogue level later would make a difference. But, my rogue level is fairly interchangeable anyway so it doesn't really matter when I take it. I think I was just hoping to grab evasion/get it out of the way ASAP.

EDIT: Actually, taking the rogue level later would really throw my feat/enhancement decisions for a loop, so I'll take a look at that a little later.

[Chaoscheerio]

EDIT: And as for Reflex Save, you should be more concerend with your Will Save with 18 lvls of Ftr. I would take Con to 14 and put those 4 stat points into CHA to gain +1 to Intim and UMD. Your reflex save can easily get to 20 with +6 DEX Item and GH. Your will save may break 10.

Well those 4 points would also decrease my hp by 20, and with sentinel dragonmark + stalwart fighter I already will have a good intimidate score.

[Krago]

Well those 4 points would also decrease my hp by 20, and with sentinel dragonmark + stalwart fighter I already will have a good intimidate score.

True, but I failed to mention that I would also swap out Lightning reflex for Force of Personality, which will add your Cha modifier instead of Wis to your Will save. This is where the Batman builds of yore which threw in a few Pally levels to gain Divine Grace feat really benefited from it.

I believe the Helf Pally dilly brings the same benefit up to a point.

[Chaoscheerio]

So I played around with it a bit in a character planner and from the looks of it taking the second rogue level would actually fit perfectly in at level 9 so that's where I'm going to leave it at.
Also, before I decide to swap out lightning reflexes for power attack, that'd give me -10 attack bonus if I use it with combat expertise, right? Something tells me I won't be using them at the same time anyway

Also, just had an idea for the belt. Perhaps a poison immunity/disease immunity item with a medium guild augment slot for bonus HP/whatever.

[Krago]

So I played around with it a bit in a character planner and from the looks of it taking the second rogue level would actually fit perfectly in at level 9 so that's where I'm going to leave it at.
Also, before I decide to swap out lightning reflexes for power attack, that'd give me -10 attack bonus if I use it with combat expertise, right? Something tells me I won't be using them at the same time anyway

Also, just had an idea for the belt. Perhaps a poison immunity/disease immunity item with a medium guild augment slot for bonus HP/whatever.

Correct, both CE and PA would apply their -5 to hit penalties if active at the same time.

Im not sure I am sold on the Dragon marks though. I do not see any benefit for the DM of Sentinel when you could just as easily UMD a scroll for any of the benefits. This also uses 3 feats which could be used elsewhere.

[OldAquarian]

Correct, both CE and PA would apply their -5 to hit penalties if active at the same time.

Im not sure I am sold on the Dragon marks though. I do not see any benefit for the DM of Sentinel when you could just as easily UMD a scroll for any of the benefits. This also uses 3 feats which could be used elsewhere.

CE and PA are stances - can only have one active at a time
For higher survivability Half Elf (Paladin) Might work nicely to up all your saves

DM Sentinel used to be very good for building an intimitank for the + to intim ( back when all you needed was a high intim ) - otherwise not very useful compared to other feats - including extra toughness

[TheDearLeader]

CE and PA are stances - can only have one active at a time

I concur with this fact.

[Krago]

CE and PA are stances - can only have one active at a time
For higher survivability Half Elf (Paladin) Might work nicely to up all your saves

DM Sentinel used to be very good for building an intimitank for the + to intim ( back when all you needed was a high intim ) - otherwise not very useful compared to other feats - including extra toughness

PL:Fighter would be a better option for Intim than DMs.

[Chaoscheerio]

Meh. I'm focusing this build on something I'd have fun playing, so I don't expect it to be the best at anything as stated, I love bastard swords, and they happened to have made a few items that work really well with my love of them.

Also, because of the dragonshard focus on the epic chimera's fang, the sentinel dragonmark will also give me 50% stacking fortification, and Superior Parrying.

[OldAquarian]

Meh. I'm focusing this build on something I'd have fun playing, so I don't expect it to be the best at anything as stated, I love bastard swords, and they happened to have made a few items that work really well with my love of them.

Also, because of the dragonshard focus on the epic chimera's fang, the sentinel dragonmark will also give me 50% stacking fortification, and Superior Parrying.

Failing saves is not Fun
And yes, chimera's fang can boost the value of the marks

[DrNuegebauer]

Hotpockette the Lovable
Human Female

Ring 2: Some ring with moderate fortification*

am I missing something?

[Chaoscheerio]

am I missing something?

Yes you are. Epic Chimera's Fang gives stacking 50% Fortification if I have the greater sentinel DM, so with even moderate fort, and my symbiont, I'll have 135% fortification.

[Luckness]

+2 tomes can be expensive, but from my point of view, they are less expensive than a lesser resurrection heart in order to fix stats when I have acquired +2 tomes, which should not take too long. (My level 18 rogue has already saved up five +2 tomes for his first TR. Check the AH every time you log in for discounts.) With this in mind...

The minimum for your Int and Dex, with +2 tomes, is 11 and 15 respectively. There is very minimal loss from a starting Int of 11 instead of 12, as getting the full 23 ranks of Jump is just not that valuable. Just be sure to have a +1 and +2 tome to eat at level 3 and 7, respectively. There may be more significant loss from a starting Dex of 15, in terms of your AC and reflex save, but you will be taking the Rogue Dexterity enhancement to make it an even 18, allowing a Maximum Dexterity Bonus of 7 with a +6 dexterity item, which should be plenty wearing full plate and tower shield.

With all this in mind, I would prefer to reduce those two stats by 1 in order to start with 17 Strength. You are more useful in all your roles (dps or tank) with higher DPS, and the loss is negligible. With the higher Strength you will be able to adjust your enhancements in order to save action points or push for the highest possible Strength as you acquire the +2 and +3 strength tome (there is no rush on these, unlike the Int and Dex tomes).

[Chaoscheerio]

Eh, Finally TR'd with my plan as it looks currently. Too late now, let's see how it goes