VoP Goliath Kensai

[Kaulz]

Hallo Playground,

Would like to hear some toughts on this one.
I have played around with Vop for a while, seeing it as some kind of chalenge to build a cool charakter around it, so dont sue me and mainly dont sugest things like : drop vop and stuff.

this guy will be some kind of Devi/Demonhunter

ECL:12
Goliath Kensai

Str 18+4
Dex 10
Con 16+3
Int 10
Wis 18+4
Cha 23+6


1 Monk - Imp. Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Blows, Combat Expertise Sacred Vow
(UApg52: Passive Way )
2 Monk - Imp. Trip, Evasion

3 Paladin - Smite Vow of Poverty

4 Paladin - Divine Grace, Favorite Enemy: Evil Outsider (UApg58) Nymph´s Kiss

5 Fighter - Weaponfocus FIST

6 Marshal - Skill Fokus: Diplomatie, Minor Aura: Motivate Strength Touch of The Golden Ice

Sainttemplate

7 Fatemaker - Take-Charge Appeal +1Cha

8 Fatemaker - Confidence of the Fated 1/day minor moralboost Nemesis

9 Kensai - Signature Weapon Fist´s: +1Stunning Surge( next lvl taken)

10 Kensai - Power Surge Sanct. Natural Atk
for Standart Feat´s or for Exaltet Feats

Saves
Reflex 13 Will 21 Fort 23

AC 27

FullAtk 13/8 or Flurry 11/11/6

Trip +18
Grapple +20
Stunning Surge DC 23
Golden Ice DC 16

Dmg against Evil Outsiders is 1d8+6 +1w8saint +1w4Sanct.Natural Atk +1w6+2Fav.Enemy

Cha to combattactikstuff like triping and Skils etc.

Fasthealing1/2HD
Imune to Acid Cold Electro Petrification



Iam planing at least 2 more Kensai lvls to get weaponenchantments like Brutal Surge and Binding

I have some ideas for feats like the Goliath Mark feats from RoS but are not sure about them.

Do u have some Ideas how to Improve not only this Build but maybe give it some Flavor to?

some questions:
can i flurry like: one aditional attack for -2 to all of them ?
is grappling considered as Strenghtcheck cause of motivate Strenght ?
What kind of DamageReduction do i have if Saint gives me DR5/evil @ 6th and Vop DR5/magic @10th Lvl?
What to increase with Vop-Statboost @ lvl 11 Str+2 for Dmg+1? or Wis+2 for Ac +2 ?
Evasion is Gold, i know. but how good is it if u have a bunch of imiunities and even fire Resistance 10? maybe
switsh it for deflect ray and take good Karma at 6th lvl ?

give me some Brainstoming pls ^^

Edit: ~No ToB, DragonMagazin and Eberron nor any Psionic´s pls~

[morkendi]

My best vop build was cobra strike monk 2/ fighter 2/ palidin 2/ dervish. Had i think it was called alturnaive strike to make my unarmed strike count as slash for dervish. Could flurry and move. Crazy high ac and saves plus evation and devine grace. Was very hard to damage. Took elusive target as well so i could purposely move between opponents and make them hit each other. Caused a lot of mayhem on the battlefield that made it very fun to play. Got saint later in build. Felt like a much better monk the way it played. I know a lot of people down vop, but it can be very fun. My dm let me get away with character saying he had no need for worldly possessions wich let party have more.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm not sure if this is along the lines of your request, but have you considered going Swordsage instead of Monk or Monk/Paladin? The Diamond Mind manuevers depend on Concentration checks, which has good synergy with Kensai. The Swordsage gets Wis to AC same as the monk, and can use it in light armor. Even if you don't want Swordsage, you could use feats to pick up a useful maneuver or two.

If that's not to your liking, I recall a feat from Complete Adventurer that is designed for Monk/Paladins; it advances certain abilities on both sides, which can be very useful, and allows free multiclassing between them. If you don't want to give up any feats you already have for that, perhaps a Flaw is in order?

[Kaulz]

My best vop build was cobra strike monk 2/ fighter 2/ palidin 2/ dervish. Had i think it was called alturnaive strike to make my unarmed strike count as slash for dervish. Could flurry and move. Crazy high ac and saves plus evation and devine grace. Was very hard to damage. Took elusive target as well so i could purposely move between opponents and make them hit each other. Caused a lot of mayhem on the battlefield that made it very fun to play. Got saint later in build. Felt like a much better monk the way it played. I know a lot of people down vop, but it can be very fun. My dm let me get away with character saying he had no need for worldly possessions wich let party have more.

sounds pretty cool ^^ I tought about the RockScisorePaper-Feat u mentioned too ... but not sure if i should take that or the Transmutation Enchantment via Kensai.
Sadly Iam not alowed to "share" loot. so I think i will raise my own Orphanhouse Brand for secretly building an Army of Good Paladins. Maybe with a little help from Leadership Feat.

Maybe I can convince my DM to give me some Tome of X or Graft,s/Tattos to improve my Body without actualy possesing more stuff.

Flying Enemies are still a Mayorproblem.
till now all i did was increaseing my jumpskill so that i easy can reach up to 6m with a standing jump (suprise Mr. Wiz)
How to handle the Grapplecheck while in midair?

[AvatarVecna]

No ToB? That's a shame, it pairs well thematically with Kensai; enough so that I'm putting together theoretical characters using this combo. Oh well...

From everything I've observed with the VoP, the bonuses favor defense at the expense of offense, so options giving you more attack/damage bonuses are almost always better than defensive options. I'd go with the Str bonus over Wis bonus.

Since you're already a VoP monk, take a look at Fist of the Forest. It's got terrible pre-reqs, but the flavor is perfect, and the mechanical benefits are interesting: three levels will upgrade base unarmed strike damage to 2d6, adds Con to AC, give you a frenzy-like ability, and give you scent.

In regards to the combo of VoP and Kensai: the effect descriptions are usually overlooked, since the final effect is "I have a magic weapon that I didn't have to buy". But the two abilities work differently, in such a way that they stack.


The Vow of Poverty doesn't make your weapons/fists into magic weapons; it gives them a benefit similar to that of magic weapons, but it doesn't make them weapons. Think of this like a casting of Greater Magic Weapon/Fang with CL equal to ECL: whatever weapon you "cast" it on (by wielding it) gains an enhancement bonus to attack and damage, and still doesn't count as a magic weapon.

The Kensai ability allows you to form a spiritual connection with a specific weapon you carry (or a natural attack/unarmed strike). By spending XP, you make the weapon into a magic weapon for all purposes, except for the gp cost (which would trigger the end of VoP). This means that the enhancement bonus gained from VoP can't be used to count as the minimum +1 enhancement needed to add magical qualities to a weapon, since it's not actually making the weapon in question magical. Also, since the Kensai can only imbue a natural attack/unarmed strike/masterwork weapon, a VoP Kensai must go weaponless except for his natural attacks/unarmed strikes in order to gain full capabilities.

Why does this matter? Because now we have a repeatable situation: let's say a high level Fighter has a +1 Holy Vorpal Longsword of Speed (an effective +10 weapon with +1 enhancement), has the party caster cast Greater Magic Weapon on their longsword; that longsword now has up to a +5 enhancement, making it (temporarily) an effective +14 weapon. Of course, if the bonus enhancement is a constant effect on your character (like the Vow of Poverty exalted strike), then you permanently have a weapon with +5 enhancement and 9 levels of abilities.

The VoP Kensai is similar enough to be legal: so long as their signature weapon has a +1 enhancement, they can add on 9 levels of enchantment abilities and then use their VoP exalted strike to have a +5 enhancement bonus. That's what makes this combo cool. It's a rules legal situation with similar cases to cite, and ultimately, it's a VoP Kensai; few DMs will look at that combo and declare it OP, no matter the situation.


Unfortunately, since you're playing a character with no real ranged capabilities, no magic items, no spells/psionics/maneuvers, and limited skills points, it's going to be next to impossible to consistently and efficiently threaten flying enemies. This is the advantage of playing in a group: instead of trying to build a character who can take on anything, build a character that can be great in enough situations that the other party members can easily cover the rest. The party casters will be your best friends; whether they buff you up or bring the enemies to you, you can easily take it from there.