Looking for Epic level help

[Texas Snyper]

I posted this on the /r/dnd reddit page and they recommended posting here. I'm not looking for uber cheese, just making sure I'm not missing anything I should have since this is my first game at this high of a level. http://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2l7hwe/35_looking_for_epic_level_help/ for reference

Short backstory: I've played in a few games but not too many and never got into double digits. However, this Saturday I'm joining a campaign that a few friends are in that's been going on for 8 years. Their original characters are 60+ and now their kids are the heroes currently and level 23. I've read my handbooks and guides but there is no substitute for experience and I just want to make sure I don't miss anything.

I'm building a level 23 Epic level Swordsage/Dervish and I just am seeing if you guys have any suggestions for gear/feats/etc that I may have overlooked or don't know about.

1 Swordsage 1 Weapon Focus (Shadow Hand)[Class feature], Desert Wind Dodge, Mobility, Deadly Defense (extra feat), Inattentive (flaw)
2 Fighter 1 TWF
3 Fighter 2 Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse (Fighter Feat)
4 Swordsage 2
5 Swordsage 3
6 Swordsage 4 Insightful Strike (Desert Wind), Run
7 Dervish 1
8 Dervish 2
9 Dervish 3 Improved TWF
10 Dervish 4
11 Dervish 5
12 Dervish 6 Blind Fight
13 Dervish 7
14 Dervish 8
15 Dervish 9 Greater TWF
16 Dervish 10
17 Swordsage 5
18 Swordsage 6 Shadow Blade
19 Swordsage 7
20 Swordsage 8
21 Swordsage 9 Epic Speed [EPIC]
22 Swordsage 10
23 Swordsage 11

Class features: WIS to AC, +3 AC Dervish, +45 Movement speed, Dervish Dance 5/day, A thousand cuts 1/day, Spring Attack, Cleave during dance, Greater Cleave during 1k cuts, Elaborate Parry, Sense Magic, Quick to Act +3, Evasion, Movement Mastery

16 known maneuvers/8 readied maneuvers/4 stances/Initiator level: 17 (SS 11+[fighter2+dervish10]/2)

Maneuvers

Burning Blade
Wolf Fang Strike
Sudden Leap
Burning Brand
Fire Riposte
Cloak of Deception
Zephyr Dance
Searing Blade
Ring of Fire
Dancing Mongoose
Shadow Stride
Salamander Charge
Inferno Blade
Shadow Blink
Raging Mongoose
Girallon Windmill Flesh Rip
Feral Death Blow

Stances

Child of Shadow
Flame's Blessing
Assassin's Stance
Rising Phoenix

GEAR

Weapons: +11/+9/+8 (what DM gave me for weapons)

Adamantine Dagger +1 (Sonic burst, Wounding, holy)
Adamantine Dagger +3 (holy, wounding, warning, magebane)
Cold Iron Dagger +2 (wounding, holy, warning, magebane)
Armor: +10/+9 (what DM gave me for armor/shield) Both with 30 Resist each energy type, Mirror Images (6) 3/day

Mithril Chain Shirt +2 Heavy Fort +5, Death Ward +1, Greater Blur +2
Mithril Chain Shirt +5 Nimbleness 1, greater blur 2, fortification light 1
Magnificent (+6 all stats) Belt of Battle
All tomes/manuals +5 all stats
Heward's Fortifying Bedroll
Everlasting Rations
Rope of Climbing
Banner of the Storm's Eye Phoenix Cloak with +5 saving throws
Ring of Freedom of Movement +5 Deflection AC
Ring of Arming
Third Eye Conceal
Scout’s Headband
Amulet of Natural Armor +5
Gloves of Storing
Sandals of the Vagabond +2 Init
Tiger Claw Bracers (Swooping Dragon Strike)

Concept: An agile dexterous fighter that uses/manipulates shadow and flame in combat. Shadow Stride and shadow blink for quick movement jumps via shadow. I get my low but not bad STR to dmg as well as DEX with Shadow Hand feat when using daggers and in shadow stance (child of shadow or assassin's stance). I can get a full attack while dancing with the different desert wind boosts for bonus damage. (Inferno Blade 3d6+1/init level for each attack + A thousand cuts = 14 attacks with big damage boosts) Other boosts and counters do not inhibit my dancing and I also have a select few high level maneuvers worth using before/after a dance.

[Texas Snyper]

Any suggestions?

[Belial_the_Leveler]

1) What's your attack bonus like? If it's less than +43 total, you're going to have problems.

2) What kinds of armor bonus can you ignore? If you don't ignore at least armor and force bonuses, you're going to have problems.

3) What kind of damage can you do in a full attack? If it isn't 250+ then you're in trouble.

4) Ring of Sequester is your friend. It's like Ring of Invisibility, except magic can't detect you. That's something you want yesterday, causality be damned.

5) Starmantle Cloak halves all melee and ranged damage, destroys nonmagical weapons/projectiles. This includes stuff like hulking hurler hitting you with the moon or archmages mailing you some nonmagical orbs of highly volatile elemental nature. You also want that yesterday.

6) Soulfire, Transmutation-proof mithral celestial Full Plate. Counts as light armor, has a +bazillion max dexterity bonus, negates all death, negative energy and energy drain effects, prevents you from being petrified, transformed into a gerbil, disintegrated or otherwise lose outright against most wizards. You want that yesterday, too.

7) +1 shield of great reflection. Reflecting (probably hostile) magic back to the source since the ELH got out. Grab it.

[Texas Snyper]

1) What's your attack bonus like? If it's less than +43 total, you're going to have problems.

My BAB is about a +18 I think with +2 from Epic levels. My DEX is +9 So i have a +29 before weapon bonuses, with an additional +5 when dancing. How would I get that much more attack bonus?


2) What kinds of armor bonus can you ignore? If you don't ignore at least armor and force bonuses, you're going to have problems.

How do I get that?


3) What kind of damage can you do in a full attack? If it isn't 250+ then you're in trouble.

I'm not sure. Without using a maneuver a full attack, if I use the sneak attack stance for 2d6, I can get 7d4+14d6+12d6+37[STR]+63[DEX]+7[wpn1 enh]+14[wpn2 enh]+35[dervish dance dmg]=264.5 AVG +7CON DMG with STR and DEX bonuses to dmg, sonic burst and 7 CON damage. This doesn't account for magebane or holy but does assume all 7 attacks hit. A thousand cuts gives me double the attack.


4) Ring of Sequester is your friend. It's like Ring of Invisibility, except magic can't detect you. That's something you want yesterday, causality be damned.

Done


5) Starmantle Cloak halves all melee and ranged damage, destroys nonmagical weapons/projectiles. This includes stuff like hulking hurler hitting you with the moon or archmages mailing you some nonmagical orbs of highly volatile elemental nature. You also want that yesterday.

I'll see about getting that added to my cloak


6) Soulfire, Transmutation-proof mithral celestial Full Plate. Counts as light armor, has a +bazillion max dexterity bonus, negates all death, negative energy and energy drain effects, prevents you from being petrified, transformed into a gerbil, disintegrated or otherwise lose outright against most wizards. You want that yesterday, too.

That looks nice, definitely going for that. Do you mind breaking down those parts and how they go together?


7) +1 shield of great reflection. Reflecting (probably hostile) magic back to the source since the ELH got out. Grab it.

I can't use shields

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The attack bonus was for a fighter of equal level, unbuffed, with SRD gear only. It's sort of a bechmark where if you fall below you know you aren't going to be effective in melee. Damage was a benchmark too - yours is at least average and the constitution redutions make it good. Don't overly rely on them though - some epic creeps will be immune. You need to get some lasting buffs from your allies. Weapon damage might not be good in epic but it is going to be reliable - there are lots of epic creeps immune to most status effects.


Ignoring armor comes from brilliant energy, persisted wraithstrike, wielding an incorporeal ghost-touch weapon and similar effects. Ignoring force comes from some rare enhancements, being a mageslayer and the like. IF you're allowed Pathfinder material, a true crystalline weapon will cut through both armors and deflection bonuses and there are ways to counter its weaknesses.


Celestial armor is special armor with increased max dex bonus, lowered check and spell failure penalties and one category lighter. It comes at a basic enhancement bonus of +3. Make it mithril and it's even further improved. Soulfire is a +4 enhancement bonus that provides constant Death Ward. Transmutation Proof is a +5 enhancement bonus that provides constant immunity to form-altering attacks.


Shields can be made animated to fly around your head and stuff. Casters have been using such since time immemorial (actually, since 3rd edition came out). Paying extra to get that Great Reflection property (it is a +7 enhancement) is almost always worth it because it reflects any magic targeted at you back at the caster regardless of level. Someone could be hitting you with Epic Spell of instant death and they would be the ones dying instead.
Even better, you can make that shield intelligent and give it special powers. It could be readying an action to dimension-door you out of trouble if you get hit with any instant-lose epic ability for example, or have the ability to slowly heal you, or detect creatures for you.






Ultimately, what you pay for is what you get. You could have an artifact weapon that could kill a god at a single touch but it's going to be extremely expensive, even if your DM allows artifacts.

[Texas Snyper]

So should I be worried about my +29/+34 (dancing) attack bonus?

Would a truedeath weapon crystal cover the 'ghost-touch' aspect? I am changing one of my feats and was debating between Mage Slayer and Blind Fighting and leaning towards Mage Slayer.

For my weapons I was given a +11, a +9 and a +8. I could do Sonic Burst +6, Wounding +2, Holy +2; Brilliant Energy +4, Wounding +2, Holy +2; Wounding +2, Holy +2, Warning +1, Magebane +1 for my weapons being +1 for the first two and the 3rd being a +2.

As for armor, I'm allowed one +10 and one +9 right now. So I could do +1 Mithril Full Plate with +3 Celestial, +5 transumation proof, +1 death ward with another at +1 Mithril Chain Shirt +5 Greater Fortification, +2 Greater Blur, +1 Death Ward yes?

I was under the impression that even with animated shields you are still considered "holding/using a shield" and it just frees up your hands to use otherwise. If I am wielding/using a shield I lose my AC bonus from both classes and I cannot dervish dance.

EDIT: How would a level 23 fighter have an attack bonus of +43 anyways?

[Texas Snyper]

Also, I just realized my full attack damage is a little high because I forgot my offhand damage is 1/2 STR instead of full strength.

EDIT: Never mind on that second part, found an answer