32 Point Drow Sacred Fist - Follower of Vulkoor - 16/3/1 Paladin / Monk / FvS

[dogsoldier]

Edit: This Says 32 point, but Drow is weird insofar as it gets only 28 build points by default, but is unique in getting +2 to three different stats (CHA/DEX/INT), and -2 to CON. Unless you have past lives and that is increased, but never actually becomes 36 point with past lives. That sounds needlessly complicated, but I am just saying that this works well as a first life build, and especially given the stat requirements that are needed for Paladin and Two Weapon Fighting.

I posted this in a thread in general discussion, thought I would put it here in case someone finds it interesting.

One of the cool features of this setup is that it really seems like you could have a solid setup with either Shortswords + Ninja Spy and Drow trees and Sacred Fist, or Daggers with Vistani and Sacred Fist.

Shortswords are centered with just one action point, so that is the obvious starting point to go that route at level 1.

Where it gets interesting is level 12 Vistani Core which gives you the same critical threat and multiplier that you would get from Holy Sword. Pure Paladin does not get that until level 15, multiclass gets it later, but Vistani Level 12 core replaces Holy Sword in the Paladin level 4 spell list, which means that you can take Zeal And Ki Explosion, which is important because you only ever get two level 4 spells.

So probably 1-11 Shortswords, swapping to Daggers at level 12.

If you can live without Ki explosion (its good for burst, but it is expensive on Ki, so you wont be using it all the time), then you could use Shortswords with Holy Sword when you have 15 Paladin levels (level 17 if you push back the last two monk levels). Precision is not all that important until Epic levels, and you probably wont need healing Ki anyway with Paladin cures and Lay on Hands.

Lawful Good Drow 16/3/1 Sacred Fist, Monk, Favored Soul

Edit: Stats adjusted to cut down on Encumbrance for True First Life No Gear or Tomes, based upon my experiences (more details on that at the bottom of this post):
STR 12 (drop to 8 if you have tomes and gear waiting for you)
DEX 16
CON 12
INT 14
WIS 10
CHA 16 (increase to 18 if you have tomes and gear waiting for you)

Skills:
At least one rank in both UMD and Tumble
Max Concentration
Max Heal
Max Diplomacy

On creation, and on second and third monk and and the favored soul levels, boost some of the nice to have things that you cannot get as class skills from Sacred Fist, like Jump on Favored Soul level, and Spot/Jump, etc. on Monk Levels. Concentration and heal are the most important skills, you can take concentration at every level, but on monk levels don't waste skill points on heal when every other level you can take it as a class skill.

Level 1 Monk: Martial Arts Feat: Two Weapon Fighting, Regular Feat Two Weapon Defense (we want the +10 MRR cap from TWD right off the bat, and monk gets more skills, so more on creation)
Level 2: Favored Soul: Follower of Vulkoor, Spells: Nightshield, Cure Light Wounds (we want a Divine Class by level 3, because we do not want to waste a feat slot, and a Divine can take Empower Healing)
Level 3: Sacred Fist: Empower Healing
Level 4: Sacred Fist +1 DEX, ALL remaining level ups in CHA
Level 5: Sacred Fist
Level 6: Sacred Fist: Adept of Forms (we cannot take Improved Two Weapon fighting here, but that is fine because we want the upgrades to monk stances)
Level 7: Sacred Fist
Level 8: Sacred Fist
Level 9: Sacred Fist: Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Level 10: Sacred Fist:
Level 11: Sacred Fist:
Level 12: Sacred Fist: Master of Forms (this is going to sound counter-intuitive, because you are going to want to take imp critical instead, but know that this gives you either passive ki generation boosts, or ki generation on hit, you want it here)
Level 13: Sacred Fist (this is where you get your first major Ki spell, Incinerating wave, you will like the extra Ki for this
Level 14: Sacred Fist (now with 12 levels of Sacred Fist you basically have the main core of the class, 23 AP in Sacred Fist gets you most of what you want)
Level 15: Monk: Martial Arts Feat Precision, regular Feat Improved Critical Piercing
Level 16: Monk: Path of Harmonious Balance: Fists of Light (healing Ki stuff, and you can take the level 3 core in Ninja spy)
Level 17: Sacred Fist
Level 18: Sacred Fist: Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Level 19: Sacred Fist
Level 20: Sacred Fist
Level 21: Grandmaster of Forms (If you are going into epics and utilizing the GMoF tree you probably want this)
Level 22: Perfect Two Weapon Fighting
Level 24: Overwhelming Critical
Level 25: Crush Weakness
Level 27: Quicken (you want it if you are going to do legendary questing at cap)
Level 28: Pierce Adamantine Or Cold Iron (take the other one from GMoF when you pickup extra Ki generation there)
Level 30: Scion of Arborea
Level 30: Epic Reflexes if you are not utilizing Shadowdancer, or probably Intensify if you are (your Cure Mod SLA from Radiant Servant can benefit from it, as well as the Cure Mod Mass SLA from Exalted Angel if you wanted to go into that tree for another healing SLA)

Enhancements on creation as level 7 Vet II test character:



Edit: Changed Favored Soul Spell Selection: Cure Light + Nightshield, Swap out Cure Light once it stops being useful when you have Level 1 Paladin Spells, and can dedicate a slot to Protection from Evil. Probably at level 8 when you get your second Paladin Level 1 spell Slot

Edit: Changed the stat recommendations for STR and CHA based upon my experience as true first life no gear. I was not getting encumbered all the time, but enough to push me into Fire Stance only 1-5, I still want that option for +2 STR from fire, but I want the extra DPS from Wind stance too sometimes, options basically. And I have no tomes or gear. This will simplify my Gear Tetris as I can basically ignore the STR part of it for now. I used the free Lesser Reincarnation that all new characters get on creation, at level 5 to adjust stats. Slightly less Damage, Significantly less Encumbrance, not a bad trade.