Help me patch up this mess of a rune arm build

[Tennen]

Hello fellow builders!

... this is a request for a heroic life build. though if all ends up well I might take it into epics ...

I've collected a few good rune-arms along my travels, and it seems a shame not to put them to use.
having said that, I've an inherent dislike for ranged combat, and to make things even harder, my melee weapon of choice has always been a scimitar, and so I've accumulated several gs ones (rad2, pos3, min2).

so the challenge is to try and come up with the optimal build that would be swf with a scimitar + rune-arm. (the best of the worse )

my thinking is to roll a 15 pally, 3 arti 2 fighter, max int (!!) invest in cha as my secondary stat (16 points) and con as the 3rd (14).
I know I know... not maxing cha on a pally?
harper tree would let me get away with it, and it would allow me to max the trapping skills, balance, & UMD.
going max int + harper would also free up stat points that normally go into strength, and put them to better use. this would also mean forgoing the cleaves, but the pally KotC tree has cleave replacements, so I can get away with that too

basically I'm banking on holy sword + my rad2 to work well together with the swf attack speed and the kensai haste boost.
while using the fighter feats (weapon focus this and that) and the harper tree to get as much passive +% to my melee power (which will also be boosted by the KotC tree), and get my damage that way.


and so I come to you with a funky int pally, wielding a scimitar and a rune arm...


any thoughts? ideas? suggestions?

[cru121]

it's hard to go wrong with a paladin 15.
Artificer 4 / Fighter 1 would grant you the same amount of feats, but also 2nd lvl artificer spells.
Fighter levels also delay Holy Sword...

[Enderoc]

3 artificer would make your runearm Jewelry.

[voodoogroves]

I'd still consider CHA-based (and-by proxy, STR). INT to stuff is great. With a decent INT, you'll have enough to trap. With CHA you get both CHA and STR to damage, essentially and great saves w/ CHA w/o having to think about Insightful Reflexes.

Obviously, bastard swords would be better (or d-axes), but you can make scimmies work.

[Tennen]

Artificer 4 / Fighter 1 would grant you the same amount of feats, but also 2nd lvl artificer spells.

you've made a great point, thanks!

I'd still consider CHA-based (and-by proxy, STR). With CHA you get both CHA and STR to damage,

the harper's know the angles enhancement gives a similar effect to that of divine might.
since know the angles gives int bonus to damage, and the damage is already determined by the int, a max int build should come out ahead of a cha/str build, I think.

however as you've pointed out, I should take insightful reflexes if I want to go full int

3 artificer would make your runearm Jewelry.

yea, I don't suppose I'd do much more than blast the occasional door with it.
but that piece of jewelry would also give me smiting/disrupting weapons, and a damage buff... which IMO is nothing to sneeze at.

but if you have a better idea for a rune-arm melee build, I'm all ears. that's what I'm here for