The Ultimate Holy Warrior

[NeoSeraphi]

Hey Playground! I want to make a powerful melee cleric, a warrior with as close to full BAB and full casting as I can get. I do not want to use the divine power spell to do this.

So my question is, what good almost full-casting full BAB cleric PrCs are out there? I know Ordained Champion is 3/5, and Bone Knight is 9/10 (is Bone Knight full BAB?)

So what level can I get into bone knight? Is it more worth it to get bone knight or to take a 1 level dip of prestige paladin (for access to paladin spells, which are more combat-oriented) and then move on to other LG full BAB prestige classes?

Can someone please suggest a build for me?

[onemorelurker]

Ruby Knight Vindicator is really good. 8/10 spellcasting, full BAB, and full maneuver/stance progression. I believe the standard entry method is Cleric 4/Crusader 1.

I've actually never heard of Bone Knight, so I can't help you out there, I'm afraid.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Depends on what you mean by 'holy warrior'. There's tons of ways to get that effect, although precious few of them have casting.

Cleric/Crusader/RKV does what you want. Pretty powerful, although can get a bit cheesy.

Divine Crusader has full BAB, and has it's own spell progression, end up with 9th level spells, but you only cast out of one domain (barring shennanigans)

War Priest has a full BAB, but it's only 1/2 spell progression.

If you like ToB, and don't mind not having actual magic, you can just go straight Crusader. It's good, but not broke.

UrPriest gives you 9th level cleric spells out of 10 levels of PrC, which makes it strictly superior to Cleric if you want full BAB and full casting. Call it Crusader/UrPriest2/PrC/PrC... you end up only losing a single BAB, and even if the PrC's have 1/2 casting progression, you only need caster level 10 to have 9th level spells.

Something like Crusader/UrPriest/RKV/War Priest ought to do the trick...

[Coidzor]

Knight of the Raven is from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and gives 9/10 casting, IIRC, and the Sun Domain. It is full BAB and has a nice companion too.

[NeoSeraphi]

Depends on what you mean by 'holy warrior'. There's tons of ways to get that effect, although precious few of them have casting.

Cleric/Crusader/RKV does what you want. Pretty powerful, although can get a bit cheesy.

Divine Crusader has full BAB, and has it's own spell progression, end up with 9th level spells, but you only cast out of one domain (barring shennanigans)

War Priest has a full BAB, but it's only 1/2 spell progression.

If you like ToB, and don't mind not having actual magic, you can just go straight Crusader. It's good, but not broke.

*raises an eyebrow* You need ranks in Hide to qualify? ...Why?

Hmm...access to the Shadow Hand discipline, full BAB, 8/10 casting...the only real unattractive part is that I'd lose 2 caster levels back to back (1 to take crusader, 1 from the first level of the class). Wee Jas is Lawful Neutral, though, so I could go Cleric 4/Crusader 1/Prestige Paladin 1/RKV 10...that gets me +15 BAB and CL 13 at 16th level. Not bad. What would you recommend I finish it with? I'd rather not lose a fourth caster level, as that would take out all chances of 9ths.



UrPriest gives you 9th level cleric spells out of 10 levels of PrC, which makes it strictly superior to Cleric if you want full BAB and full casting. Call it Crusader/UrPriest2/PrC/PrC... you end up only losing a single BAB, and even if the PrC's have 1/2 casting progression, you only need caster level 10 to have 9th level spells.

Something like Crusader/UrPriest/RKV/War Priest ought to do the trick...

:smalleek: That's...a little too much cheese for me. (Partly the reason I was avoiding the divine power spell)

[ShneekeyTheLost]

*raises an eyebrow* You need ranks in Hide to qualify? ...Why?

Hmm...access to the Shadow Hand discipline, full BAB, 8/10 casting...the only real unattractive part is that I'd lose 2 caster levels back to back (1 to take crusader, 1 from the first level of the class). Wee Jas is Lawful Neutral, though, so I could go Cleric 4/Crusader 1/Prestige Paladin 1/RKV 10...that gets me +15 BAB and CL 13 at 16th level. Not bad. What would you recommend I finish it with? I'd rather not lose a fourth caster level, as that would take out all chances of 9ths.Well, you could always finish off with regular Cleric. It's 3/4 BAB, so you'd only be losing another point of BAB, in return for not losing another caster level. A fair trade-off, in my opinion. You'd at least end up with higher than a BAB of +16 and 9th level spells, which is the litmus test for any other 'gish' build.


:smalleek: That's...a little too much cheese for me. (Partly the reason I was avoiding the divine power spell)

Well, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not present it as an option. Mechanically, it's far more powerful. However, I can understand your perspective.

[DoctorGlock]

If you want to go very low optimization, pathfinder campaign setting has the holy warrior archtype for clerics. D10 HD, full BAB, one martial weapon, no domains or domain slots. I'm playing one next semester and so far it looks pretty solid. You will be a bit thin on feats though.

All the 3.5 have been mentioned- Ordained Champion, Knight of the Raven, Ruby Knight, Bone Knight are all pretty awesome. Prestige paladin 1 is amazing for battle blessing (which partially negates the need for DMM and is alot friendlier for most DMs), or go 4 for sword of the arcane order (or both which is kind of unpleasant)

[Piggy Knowles]

I don't have CDiv open right now, but I'm pretty sure Divine Crusader is actually 3/4 BAB, not full BAB.

Cleric 4/Crusader 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 10/Contemplative 5 is an incredibly solid build all around, with 9th level casting, 6th level maneuvers, easy progression from 1-20, etc. It also has the "I Win" button of turning on a lot of swift actions in a single turn, which can potentially be pretty abusive, so tread carefully.

Fitting in Ordained Champion levels would lose 9th level spells, which is a pretty serious loss, but would fit in well with the concept and be able to do some interesting things. Auto-quickened War domain spells plus Divine Impetus is pretty boss.

[Ithandor]

Another solid PrC that hasn't been mentioned is Fist of Raziel, from Book of Exalted Deeds. 9/10 casting, full BAB, some nice class abilities.

[Aegis013]

Bone Knight (PrC from Five Nations) does not have full BAB growth. It's great for immunities though.

[hex0]

Another solid PrC that hasn't been mentioned is Fist of Raziel, from Book of Exalted Deeds. 9/10 casting, full BAB, some nice class abilities.

This. This so hard...Also Swanmay is worth mentioning.

[NeoSeraphi]

The Smiting is decent, I suppose, and the magic circle against evil is amazing, but the other class features are kinda meh. Still, it does have full BAB and 9/10 casting, so thanks for pointing it out to me.

[Bakkan]

I built this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8940229&postcount=9) a while ago. You may get some ideas from it, though now that I look at it again I realize its BAB isn't as high as you want.

[Hanuman]

Warforged saint.