The Blood of Vol -- The Spectral Warpriest's Twin Egyptian Blades

[Nayus]

This idea sucked.

Don't try it.

[Axjl]

Unless you totally Need the 1 fighter Level, i wouls suggest to go 2 Pally 6 cleric 12 wizard. You loose a feat and some spell Points, but you get real nice boost to saves, if geared well it can get you almost no-fail saves, which is nice if you solo. If you are a Group Player, then maybe your way better Would be interested to see the build in Action.

[Nayus]

Yeah I thought about that but as an undead I'm immune to almost anything so unless I could get get Evasion I don't consider saves to be any important. Maybe I'm wrong though.

On a side note, Khopeshes apparently aren't what they used to be in epic content due to Named Items being now so important therefore it's a viable choice to drop the Khopesh feat in Epic Levels to pick something else depending on what weapons you have available for you.

[Rhaphael]

Basically, the biggest problem with a Melee Wizard is BAB, I once tried a Kensei Dwarf taking all Axe enhancements, stuffed myself in to-hit and it still wasn't satisfying, we currently have access to 3 solutions:
:: Casting Tenser's Transformation or Divine Power :: It uses up so much SP that it defeats the point of taking Arcane levels. It's way better to reduce your to-hit and use that SP for spell damage.
:: Clickies :: Their duration is way too.. too short. Also defeats the point of making a self-buffing character when you rely on clickies, might as well farm Displacement clickies for your melee. You can let it up if you don't bother using a clicky every 30 seconds! And having 3+ bars full of it!
:: Eldritch Knight or Warpriest Tier 5 :: Aye! It is REALLY costly, demands a massive AP investment but it's the only way to go.

Eldritch Knight or Warpriest T5 is not the only way to get full BAB. There is also the Warchanter T5 core Victory Song (it's a toggle now). Ok so it requires lvl 18 Bard at least, but that's not so bad because in return you'll get to cast arcane spells in medium armor, get another +1 crit multiplier on 19-20 and get all the goodies of bard songs.

I'm not saying it's better than your cleric/wizard combo, I'm just saying you missed an option .

Most of the Warpriest stuff aside from Divine Might and maybe Ameliorating Strike is pretty meh. Because the latter can't even heal yourself in undead form, it's only used for groupmates. Divine Power is an enhancement bonus so it doesn't stack with items. And the skelly is not really worth the points though (even maximized it's pretty bad even in the high teens let alone epics) you're much better off taking things that enhance yourself.

And lastly healing yourself with Inflict spells is cumbersome because they require you to target yourself, i.e. you first need to click F1 which is annoying to say the least. Besides even though Inflicts are slightly more efficient, NEB will heal you for more with 13 wizard levels than ISW will with 6 cleric levels. When you're surrounded and need burst healing to get your hp up (which is the only time you'd need either NEB or ISW anyway because the rest of the time you'll have DA and lesser DA running) I'd rather have a big heal (that does bonus AoE damage too) than a more efficient heal.

Numbers:
Inflict Serious Wounds @CL6
Min=15, MAX=30, AVG=23 @12SP (1.88 HP per SP)

Negative Energy Burst @CL10 (capped)
MIN=25, MAX=40, AVG=33 @25SP (1.30 HP per SP)

[Visty]

since i already played a similar build and i wanna go back to it, it thought abit more about the cleric levels and wondered:
what about divine disciple?

you get access to negative energy burst as SLA which means you can add maximise/empower/quicken and it still only costs 7sp while healing for alot (with a possible second neg energy burst from your wizard levels and the inflict spells from cleric)

enhancement wise i came up with the following:


you lose out of EK stuff but get a good boost to your negative spellpower, a cheap selfheal plus alot of critchance for said heal (if you want the abit EK stuff its possible to drop the highest critchance enhancement from DD and PM to get 4AP back which could get you EK core1 plus 15hp from the toughness line or whatever)

also WF/bladeforge would be an awesome race for that if bladesworn transformation would actually do what it says and also raise your BAB but it doesnt :/

[Arlathen]

Just wanted to post a thanks in this thread for an interesting Idea I've dreamt up....

[Lauf]

<snip>

I will try to improve on your concept.

drop the undead tree, go for WF race, go for 5 fvs instead of 6 cleric.

pick up follower of lord of blades for greatswords as faith weapons
+5 to greatswords from the warpriest tree
implement bonus to greatswords from tier 2 fvs tree
reconstructs would heal you for more than cause serious wounds, so that also solves your survivability issues, and WF adds more hp.

take 2 or 3 rogue/monk levels instead of 1 fighter (and the 1 cleric), get evasion, get insightful reflexes and lightning reflexes instead of I/GTWF. (And drop the TWF as WF have 1 less feat).
this not only gives you evasion and a better reflex save, but actually frees up a feat, as you no longer need to take khopesh proficiency.

and if you go rogue you can have full ranks in UMD and/or trapping skills.

in the warpriest tree pick up ameliorating strike, it would heal far better than those radiant bursts you've had your eye on.

end result - more hp, evasion, better reflex save, more attack/damage, more spell power, better self healing, better party healing, higher UMD, and an extra feat.

enjoy.