Human Paragon 3
2009-03-24, 02:44 AM
I have been considering this for some time, building a best of three worlds style character: skills, magic and combat. I was thinking that combining Beguiler with Dread Commando would be a good way of accomplishing it. Both classes get 6+int skills. The beguiler provides some great utility spells, and the Dread Commando adds in +5bab and three dice of sudden strike, not to mention the ability to use those skills in full armor.
The main combat trick of this character, aside from the obvious beguiler shinanigans, would be to go invisible using Blinding Color Surge, then sudden strike/full attack the enemy to death. As soon as I've taken all 5 levels of D.C., I would switch to either Eldritch Knight for more spellcasting and full BAB or Arcane Trickster for more sneak attacks/skills/casting. Could go either way. I call the build The Predator.
There are a few problems with the build however. Let me get you up to speed.
First, it requires Dodge and Mobility. I mitigate this by taking Elusive Target to justify the feat expenditure.
Second, you lose some serious spellcasting by taking the Dread Commando levels. This can be toned down with Practiced Spellcaster, but the 5 missing spellcaster levels will hurt.
Third, the invisiblity/sudden strike trick only works against a narrow selection of enemies, and even then it's only 3 sudden strike dice, unless I boost it via more multiclassing.
Lastly, it takes fully 10 levels of beguiler to qualify for Dread Commando. This is a problem, because by then the extra 5 levels of BAB are practically meaningless. My plan to take care of this would be fitting in 3 levels of human paragon (for BAB+3 by level 5) then slipping in 2 levels of another full BAB class. The Human Paragon levels help with MAD, give you a skill for life, and give you a bonus feat to ease the Dodge/Mobility burden.
The other two levels of full BAB class are up for debate however. Here's how I've broken it down.
Option A: Fighter. This gives me d10hd, +2 BAB and two more feats to play with at the expense of my skills and caster level. Not sure how valuable the fighter feats would be in this build.
Option B: Thug Variant Fighter. Take 3 levels for two dice of sneak attack and +3 BAB. It doesn't make much sense to take 2 levels of this class because level 2 is dead. On the plus side, the skill selection is much better.
Option C: Dusk Blade. Again, you'll want 3 levels of this one for arcane channeling. Adding some shocking grasp onto that sudden strike can only be beneficial. Not great in the skill department, though unfortunately, and it begs for 3 levels, slowing my entrance into the PrCs I want to take.
I feel like there is some trick I am missing, some class or combination of classes that will put this build over the edge and into awesome territory. Or some feat that will tie it all together. What am I missing? Help please!
The main combat trick of this character, aside from the obvious beguiler shinanigans, would be to go invisible using Blinding Color Surge, then sudden strike/full attack the enemy to death. As soon as I've taken all 5 levels of D.C., I would switch to either Eldritch Knight for more spellcasting and full BAB or Arcane Trickster for more sneak attacks/skills/casting. Could go either way. I call the build The Predator.
There are a few problems with the build however. Let me get you up to speed.
First, it requires Dodge and Mobility. I mitigate this by taking Elusive Target to justify the feat expenditure.
Second, you lose some serious spellcasting by taking the Dread Commando levels. This can be toned down with Practiced Spellcaster, but the 5 missing spellcaster levels will hurt.
Third, the invisiblity/sudden strike trick only works against a narrow selection of enemies, and even then it's only 3 sudden strike dice, unless I boost it via more multiclassing.
Lastly, it takes fully 10 levels of beguiler to qualify for Dread Commando. This is a problem, because by then the extra 5 levels of BAB are practically meaningless. My plan to take care of this would be fitting in 3 levels of human paragon (for BAB+3 by level 5) then slipping in 2 levels of another full BAB class. The Human Paragon levels help with MAD, give you a skill for life, and give you a bonus feat to ease the Dodge/Mobility burden.
The other two levels of full BAB class are up for debate however. Here's how I've broken it down.
Option A: Fighter. This gives me d10hd, +2 BAB and two more feats to play with at the expense of my skills and caster level. Not sure how valuable the fighter feats would be in this build.
Option B: Thug Variant Fighter. Take 3 levels for two dice of sneak attack and +3 BAB. It doesn't make much sense to take 2 levels of this class because level 2 is dead. On the plus side, the skill selection is much better.
Option C: Dusk Blade. Again, you'll want 3 levels of this one for arcane channeling. Adding some shocking grasp onto that sudden strike can only be beneficial. Not great in the skill department, though unfortunately, and it begs for 3 levels, slowing my entrance into the PrCs I want to take.
I feel like there is some trick I am missing, some class or combination of classes that will put this build over the edge and into awesome territory. Or some feat that will tie it all together. What am I missing? Help please!