Cleric1/Crusader5/Hellreaver2 ..

[Torvon]

Harro.

I'm currently playing a Goliath Cleric1/Crusader5, and will add 2 levels of Hellreaver soon. Tank/Healer build, pretty much indestroyable

Due to some divine thingie we can rebuild our characters at level7, and I will change the character a bit, and wanted to ask for feedback.

I'm set on trading the LA+1 Goliath for the LA+1 Feral Creature template, which is 10.000 better.

Main idea: be unkillable, but also do enough damage that you annoy enemies so they can't ignore you.
Main weakness: reflex save.

I guess I should go for human as a race, then template feral creature (buyoff at level 5).

Stats would be, at level 6,
STR 20
DEX 8
CON 16
INT 8
WIS 12 (12 for bonus spell)
CHA 16 (high for skills, hellreaver later, and will save crusader)

Domains Knowledge (Knowledge Devotion) and Time (imp. Initiative, Truestrike).

With 2 flaws, as human I have 2+1+1+1+1=6 feats at level 6.
* I thought about going for a spiked chain (proficiency), but not going further into the route. It does decent damage, I have reach, I can attack adjacent targets, and if I want I can still try to trip even without imp trip.
* Divine Vigor looks great. I have 6 turn attempts, that is, at level 6, 72 temporary hitpoints per day, and 6x 10ft movement for each 3 minutes. Nice!
* Jotunbrud. I was a Goliath before, and being human gives me an extra feat. In terms of continuity, but also in terms of kickass this is a reasonable feat, I think?
* Power Attack, obviously
* Sacred Vitality: immune vs. ability drain/damage etc. Awesome for a tank. And our DM loves ability damage.
* Mageslayer? Fearless destiny? Other kickass feats? Should I try go into charge build, leap attack, shock trooper? Needs a lot of feats. Same for trip route, and I don't have the INT ..

Our DM is a bit insane and likes to dish out insane damage, I need something that makes me survive insane damage if I fall way below 0.

Equipment:
* currently armor+1, weapon+1, anklet of translocation, ring of shield +4, Healing Belt, Cloak of Resistance (boosting my REF save to ... 2! but only because I put "agility" on armor...)
* Got 3k gold and will find more soon, any reasonable ideas for this build?

Thanks
T.

(EDIT: would vow of poverty route make sense? Basically all material is allowed.)

[Snowbluff]

If you don't want to die, the Crusader's Maves will do a great job actually. The 9th for Devoted Spirit is a Heal spell that you can use all day. RKV would work well here.

EDIT: Get Stone power, you qualify. It's good. Too good.

Also, Aberration Blood from LoM leads into another feat that increased reach by 5, which would work with any weapon, not just Spike Chain.

[Urpriest]

Are you getting all that much mileage out of Knowledge Devotion? You don't have that many skill points, it doesn't look like you're going to be able to keep many knowledge skills maxed.

[Torvon]

Are you getting all that much mileage out of Knowledge Devotion? You don't have that many skill points, it doesn't look like you're going to be able to keep many knowledge skills maxed.
Good question. I have to have Knowledge Planes4 (Hellreaver) and took Religion5, basically that allows me to take the skilltrick collector of stories, and I think I can apply this (once per encounter) to my Knowledge Devotion checks. I took cloistered cleric at level 1 and put 1 point into every knowledge skill.

Basically, this pretty much gives me a +2attack & +2 damage as a free action against the boss or at least the majority of enemies each fight, sometimes it's just 1/1.
That's not so bad for a free feat, really. What other devotions would you recommend?

Thanks ;)

[Torvon]

If you don't want to die, the Crusader's Maves will do a great job actually. The 9th for Devoted Spirit is a Heal spell that you can use all day. RKV would work well here.

EDIT: Get Stone power, you qualify. It's good. Too good.

Also, Aberration Blood from LoM leads into another feat that increased reach by 5, which would work with any weapon, not just Spike Chain.

* Maves = Maneuvers? They are nice indeed. I might go full Hellreaver or just go back to Crusader after 2 levels, will have to see.
* Stone Power: gives me 10 temp HP every round if I wish. That's a lot of healing indeed. Doesn't stack with Divine Vigor temp HP though, I guess. (does Divine Vigor movement stack with feral creature movement??)
* Aberration feats sounds sweet. So I could drop the spiked chain proficiency and get the 2 feats. Problem is that without spiked chain I suck at attacking opponents close to me! Armor Spikes do some damage but way less than 2h weapon... Any ideas on how to solve this? Spiked chain is nice because with the aberation feats I could hit everything between directly next to me and 20feet away!

T

[Torvon]

Noone?

Other questions:
* Just got a ring of spellstoring (up to level 3 spells), which is really sweet. We put in 3*benign transposition now, but I wonder if you have other ideas, especially for maneuvrability. Or just other stuff that would totally kickass in combination with feral creature cleric1/crusader/5, which is what I'm at the moment.
* Equipment: bloodrage bracers look awesome (+5damage for 5 rounds, also receiving 5 damage per round). As Crusader I dish out way more dps, I can tank another 25 damage per 5 rounds (just focus on healing strikes), and my feral friend with 3 natural attacks per round will be happy, because he'll do 15 damage per round more!
Any other suggestions?

[Myth]

Give that Healing Belt a Belt of Battle as per the MIC rules.

If you are feat starved swing a greatsword (will work well with Abberation Blood). Plus you don't go for lockdown really.

Go for Ruby Knight Windicator.

With such high Cha you could grab Extra Turning to get some DMM: Persist, since RKV advances casting to some extent.

Reasons to go for Hellrever?

Sacred Vitality is so-so. 10 rounds of immunity is nice but this can be replicated without feat/turning costs by Cleric spells and/or equipment. Or you can go for Bone Knight to get perma immunity to this and much more.

[Torvon]

Thanks for the replies.

(1) RKV sounds great. Read up on it, Cleric2/Crusader3/RKV seems to make a lot of sense, and the only way to get Thicket of Blades at level 6, which is awesome. Another one Paladin4/Crusader1/RKV, which I like because it gives me Rhine Charge and access to cool Paladin feats. But overall, Cleric is much stronger I guess.
(2) Feats: DMM, extend spell, persist spell, extra turning ... you suggest 4 nice feats, but where the hell should I take 4 feat slots from ô_ô. Also, currently I have 6 turning attempts per day, at level 6, with the current build. Persist spell has x+6, so I couldn't even persist one spell per day.
Also, I need the turning attempts for divine vigor and sacred vitality. If you have suggestions for being immune to ability drain at level 6 in another way than this feat, which is affordable at that level and reasonable with level1 cleric spell, which are everything I have handy, let me know. But honestly I doubt there is another way to get this done.
(3) Str20 Dex8 Con16 Int8 Wis12 Cha16. I guess I could drop Charisma for Wis with this build? Not sure, I had it high for Crusader and Hellreaver (and roleplaying).
(4) Bone Knight doesn't really fit well with the concept of the holy warrior (Hellreaver requires good alignment, and my character is a Pelor cleric/crusader).
(5) "Give that Healing Belt a Belt of Battle as per the MIC rules." What rules do you mean? Belt of Battle is awesome but costs 12k and is there far, far off at level 6.

Thanks!