Kensei Warpriest for new players (Human 12/8 Fighter/Cleric)

[EllisDee37]

Last updated Jan 8th, 2017

This THF heavy armor frontline melee build is designed to play like a paladin. As a general rule you'd be better off playing a pure paladin, but this fighter variant is still viable. I keep this character in my stable as a variation that focuses more on tactics (stunning blow and trip), action boosts (12/rest at cap with ship buffs), ameliorating strike, and as an excuse to have a Legendary Dreadnought character, as opposed to paladins who will likely be in Divine Crusader. Both Master's Blitz and Ameliorating Strike perform better for TWF, but they still function well enough with THF to be effective.

No tomes are required or listed. If you happen to have a +2 int tome put the extra skill points into Balance or Jump.

Alignment doesn't matter. In general True Neutral takes less damage from certain rare enemies, but non-neutral alignments open up the possibility for specialty twists in epics. eg: Your weapons bypass DR/Good if you're good aligned.

Human is preferred for the extra skill points and DDoor clickie. If you want to go with a different race, drop the dragonmark and sacrifice the heal skill. Ideally use a +2 int tome by level 7 to minimize the skills shortfall, but it should work even without an int tome. Non-humans get at least 9 AP to play with in either their racial tree or the various class trees.


Kensei Warpriest
12/8 Fighter/Cleric


Level Order

1. Fighter. . . . .6. Fighter. . . . 11. Cleric. . . . .16. Fighter
2. Fighter. . . . .7. Cleric. . . . .12. Fighter . . . .17. Fighter
3. Cleric. . . . . 8. Fighter . . . .13. Cleric . . . . 18. Fighter
4. Fighter. . . . .9. Cleric. . . . .14. Fighter . . . .19. Fighter
5. Cleric. . . . .10. Fighter . . . .15. Cleric . . . . 20. Cleric


Stats
. . . . . . . .28pt . . 32pt . . 34pt . . 36pt . . Level Up
. . . . . . . .---- . . ---- . . ---- . . ---- . . --------
Strength. . . . 16. . . .18. . . .18. . . .18. . . .4: STR
Dexterity . . . .8. . . . 8. . . . 8. . . . 8. . . .8: STR
Constitution. . 14. . . .14. . . .14. . . .16. . . 12: STR
Intelligence. . 12. . . .12. . . .12. . . .12. . . 16: STR
Wisdom. . . . . 10. . . . 8. . . .10. . . . 8. . . 20: STR
Charisma. . . . 14. . . .14. . . .14. . . .14. . . 24: STR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28: STR

Skills
. . . . . F. F. C .F .C. F. C .F .C. F. C .F .C. F. C .F .F .F .F .C
. . . . . 1. 2. 3 .4 .5. 6. 7 .8 .9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
Concent . . .1 .4. . .3. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1. 1. 1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1. 23
Heal. . . 2. . . . . .1. . .3. . .3. . .3. . .3. . .3. . . . 1. . .3. 22
UMD . . . 2. . . . 1. . .1 . . 1. . .1 . . 1. . .1 . . 1. 1. . .1 . . 11
Jump. . . 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Balance . 1. 1. . .1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tumble. . 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
. . . . .------------------------------------------------------------
. . . . .16. 4. 4 .4 .4. 4. 4 .4 .4. 4. 4 .4 .4. 4. 4 .4 .4 .4 .4 .4


Feats

.1. . . . : Power Attack
.1 Human. : Least Dragonmark: Passage
.1 Fighter: Cleave
.2 Fighter: Stunning Blow
.3. . . . : Weapon Focus: Slashing
.3 Deity. : Follower of: Sovereign Host
.6. . . . : Great Cleave
.6 Fighter: Weapon Specialization: Slashing
.9. . . . : Empower Healing Spell
10 Fighter: Improved Critical: Slashing
12. . . . : Extend Spell
13 Deity. : Unyielding Sovereignty
14 Fighter: Greater Weapon Focus: Slashing
15. . . . : Two Handed Fighting
17 Fighter: Improved Two Handed Fighting
18. . . . : Greater Two Handed Fighting
19 Fighter: Greater Weapon Specialization: Slashing
21 Epic . : Tactical Mastery
24 Epic . : Overwhelming Critical
26 Destiny: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
27 Epic . : Heavy Armor Master
28 Destiny: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
29 Destiny: Dire Charge
30 Epic . : Tactical Combatant
30 Legend : Scion of: Arborea OR Astral Plane


Spells

Cleric

1. Cure Light Wounds, Nightshield, Remove Fear, Protection from Evil, Divine Favor, <Any>
2. Cure Moderate Wounds, Resist Energy, Eagle's Splendor, <Any>, <Any>
3. Cure Serious Wounds, Magic Circle Against Evil, Protection from Energy, Prayer, <Any>
4. Cure Critical Wounds, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, <Any>

Enhancements (80 AP)

Kensei (35 AP)

• Kensei Focus: Axes, Spiritual Bond, Strike with No Thought, Power Surge
  
  1. Extra Action Boost III, Weapon Group Specialization, Haste Boost III
  2. Tactics III, Weapon Group Specialization, Ascetic Training: Conditioning I
  3. Weapon Group Specialization
  4. Opportunity Attack, Weapon Group Specialization
  5. A Good Death: Melee, Weapon Master, One with the Blade, Deadly Strike, Keen Edge

Warpriest (22 AP)

• Smite Foe
  
  1. Divine Might III, Toughness III
  2. Smite Weakness, Wall of Steel III, Inflame III
  3. Inflame: Energy Absorption III, Strength
  4. Ameliorating Strike

Stalwart Defender (14 AP)

• Toughness, Stalwart Defense
  
  1. Durable Defense III, Stalwart Defensive Mastery III
  2. Resilient Defense III
  3. Strong Defense III

Human (9 AP)

• Damage Boost
  
  1. Dragonmark Focus: Orien I, Action Surge: Strength III, Improved Recovery
  2. Lesser Dragonmark: Dimension Door

Leveling Guide

1. Hum0 Damage Boost; Hum1 Dragonmark Focus: Orien I; Hum1 Improved Recovery
2. Ken0 Kensei Focus: Axes; Ken1 Haste Boost I, II, III
3. Hum1 Action Surge: Strength I; Hum2 Lesser Dragonmark: Dimension Door; War0 Smite Foe
4. War1 Toughness I, II; Ken1 Weapon Group Specialization
5. War1 Toughness III; War1 Divine Might I, II, III
6. War2 Smite Weakness; War2 Wall of Steel I, II
7. War0 Resilience of Battle; War2 Wall of Steel III; War2 Inflame I, II
8. War3 Strength; War2 Inflame III; War3 Inflame: Energy Absorption I
9. War3 Inflame: Energy Absorption II; War4 Ameliorating Strike; Ken0 Spiritual Bond
10. Ken2 Weapon Group Specialization; Ken2 Ascetic Training: Conditioning I; Ken0 Strike with No Thought
11. Ken3 Weapon Group Specialization; Ken2 Tactics I
12. Ken2 Tactics II, III
13. Ken1 Extra Action Boost I, II
14. Ken4 Weapon Group Specialization; Ken1 Extra Action Boost III
15. Ken4 Opportunity Attack; Ken2 Ascetic Training: Conditioning II; Ken5 One with the Blade
16. Ken5 Keen Edge; Ken5 A Good Death: Melee; Ken5 Weapon Master; Ken5 Deadly Strike
17. SD0 Toughness; SD1 Item Defense I; SD1 Durable Defense I, II
18. SD1 Durable Defense III; SD0 Stalwart Defense; SD2 Resilient Defense I, II
19. (Bank 4 AP)
20. Reset All Trees

Destiny (24 AP)

Legendary Dreadnought

1. Legendary Tactics III, Extra Action Boost III, Strength
2. Momentum Swing III, Imp. Power Attack, Strength
3. Lay Waste, Critical Damage I
4. (none)
5. Devastating Critical
6. Master's Blitz, Headman's Chop

Twists of Fate (15 fate points)

1. Sense Weakness (Tier 4 Fury)
2. Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)
3. Boulder Toss (Tier 1 Fury)

Designed to play like a paladin, you start off with two fighter levels and then alternate the next 13 levels between cleric and fighter. This grows your self-healing with you as you level while always keeping a fighter icon in parties so you won't be mistaken for a healer. The final cleric level is pushed back to 20 since it only adds marginal benefit.

Choose the Kensei Weapon Focus applicable to your weapons, and feel free to reset the tree to change your weapon focus as you level. As an example, I use a crafted greatsword (heavy blades) from level 1 to 3, switch to carnifex (axes) from 4 to 7, back to greatswords (Sword of the Thirty & Whirlwind) from 8 to 19, then finally settle on Epic Antique Greataxe for 20+.

The leveling order for enhancements boils down to: Race to DDoor, then race to Ameliorating Strike, then race to Kensei tier 5s.