Building a Shadowknight

[Grindir]

Like it says I am building a Shadowknight build based on the Shadowknight from EQ. I am aware that there is already a thread on this which I have read through. What I am needing is a few more specific questions answered. I'll be starting at 1st lvl and advancing to an undetermined level. I'm not worried about being optimized, just full of flavor and playable. So here is the build in question.

Cleric 4 / Ordained Champian 5 / Cleric X (or different Pc)

Race: Human
Diety: Hextor
Domains: War ; trade Domain for Necro wizard spells ( Alternate class feature in Complete mage)

Feats
1st: Crusader Strike (to mimic life tap)

Human: Martial Spirit (to mimic life tap)

3rd: Retrobutive spell (still up for debate)

4th:Bonus fighter feat for trading in Domain power (unsure of what to pick here)

6th: Craft Magic weapon and armor

9th: Holy Warrior

12th: ??

Shadowknight features:

A. Life Tap: martial stance, crusader's strike and vampiric touch.

B. Damage over time spells (need help here)

C. Curses and debuffs : cleric spells offer hundreds of options here.

D. Harmtouch: massive damage with a touch once a day. Question 3 is about this.

E. Fiegin Death: Rigors Mortis spell from Hero's of Horror covers this.

So my questions are...

1. Are there any other ways to mimic life tap abilities?

2. Are there any spells that do damage over time that I could get with this build or ways to get heat blood or belker claws which are both wizard transmutation spells on my spell list?

3. Can I channel vampiric touch into a +1 spell storing bloodstone weapon that also has vampiric touch stored in it and in the blood stone (three seperate castings and release all three spells with a single hit?

4. What is the cheapest way to get more vampiric touches per day?

5. what is a good stand alone fighter feat for my 4th lvl feat?

6. What are some good spells to choose from the wizard list? I get one per lvl that can be from either the Abjuration, Divination, and Necromacy schools?

7. Can I use a rod of metamagic to cast modified spells into a spell storing weapon or channel a spell? Example rod of empower used to empower vampiric touch to store into a weapon with the spell storing property.

Thanks for the help.

[Menzath]

To save on making an entire build craziness I would just use Duskblade and swap some spells to make them "themed" correctly.

That or be an Evil crusader.

[Bonzai]

Ah EQ... I had a Troll Shadow Knight on the Xev server back in the day. I got fed up with them when Gates of Discord got released and switched over to City of Heroes for something different.

When I played a Shadow Knight, they were known for a few key things;

1. They were a melee tank with good weapon skills and armor proficiency.

2. They had a Harm Touch that dealt instant damage.

3. They had skeleton pets.

4. Specialized in Damage over time spells, and draining life and health from their opponents.

They were also good at pulling and splitting mobs, but that has less of an application for D&D.

First thoughts?

Dread Necromancer: They have their charnel touch ability which mimics harm touch. They can cast summon undead for instant pets, and can cast vampiric touch to mimic drain life spells. DoT spells are kind of rare in D&D, so are going to be a little tough to replicate. Where they fall short is on the tanking department. A Skillful weapon can get you up to 3/4 BaB, and you can wear light armor. There are a few ways to bypass the armor restrictions.

Fallen Paladin/Black Guard: They get full BAB and hvy armor. Smite can sub in for harm touch. They get a fiendish servant, and the fallen paladin gets a skeleton pet. They also get the inflict line of spells.

Paladin of Tyranny/ Slaughter: Similar to the paladin/black guard but with some minor differences and no prestige classes.

[Grindir]

I have already gone through several different build types including modified duskblade, necro gishes ( which is a close second), and paladin of tyranny, but I want to stick with the cleric ordained champion. Good BAB, Heavy armor, quick access to Animate dead, lots of spells to choose from (except damage over time spells which are rare in D & D as metioned by Bonzai), and the nice goodies that Ordained Champian gets; smite attack for a turn attempt, sack spell for DR, quick cast War Domain spells (divine power and Flame Strike :smallsmile: yes please). I really just need some help with the details that I asked in the first post. Thanks for the replies though I'll read it all and appreciate the help.

[Menzath]

1: Actual healing when you do damage... Healing sting. Druid only though. also not that great. vamp. touch is next best bet without going to psionics(which does have a better ability for that, empathic transfer-hostile I think it was called)

2:Aura of cold lesser+greater(neither are that good though), Balor nimbus, Black sand, Bleed(doesn't really do damage by itself), etc, etc . There are DoT's, you just have to look.

3: For the storing effects of the stone/weapon part of their magic is that they channel it when you want, even if you were the original caster of the spell. Just make sure they can all be easily activated at the same time, spell storing on a weapon is a free action when you attack though so you shouldn't have issues.

4: Wand. either make your self for better CL or get the feat reckless wand wielder(you can add +2 to CL for an extra charge used).

5: hmm good stand alone fighter feat. Improved initiative. Going first sometimes can mean life or death. Or just instant win. either way not to many other fighter feats make THAT big a difference by themselves. better to find something that fit's into your build.

6: Resist's, scrying, dispels, you get all those as a cleric as well though so it can be tough to dig through books. Iron guard(lesser and norm) Indomitability, Aura of terror(not to good for PC's), Avasculate(Neat ray attack for insta suck w/ save or suck attached) and those are just t oname a few.

7: As long as your DM allows it I don't see why not.