Advice For a Scythe-Wielding Undead-Slaying Half-Vampire

[Erit]

Hello Playground. I need help once more. It's a common occurrence, me being stumped. I have a concept in mind for a backup character in this one campaign where the party may or may not be TPK'd soon because only one out of the four of us bothered to optimize whatsoever. It's a Human Half-Vampire with Tomb-Tainted Soul and Tomb-Born Vitality, who views their purpose in life as being to heal the sick, comfort the dying, and to put the dead in their coffins. Especially if said dead are up and about and causing mischief for the not-dead.

Thing is, I can't really come up with a satisfying build that suits this concept. While Cleric 20 might be the most optimal course of action, it's also just... kinda bland, to me. Plus it doesn't wholly suit some of the images I have in my head for this character, since it lacks a readily-available means of appearing in a dark corner as someone lies on their deathbed in resigned acceptance of their imminent demise. They don't eat or sleep or any other form of rest, they just keep going about what they've made their job.

All sources are allowed, though I'd prefer to keep things from getting too obscure. Two flaws, traits, stats pre-modifiers and unnasigned is 15/15/14/13/11/10. I'd prefer melee competence that isn't contingent on spellcasting, but considering the numbers at my disposal that might be asking a bit much.

If anybody can point me in a direction vaguely akin to this I'll be eternally grateful.

In before comments on LA being awful and scythes being nonsense and suboptimal and undead being really, really easy to deal with.

[ExLibrisMortis]

The Dragon #313 half-vampire (katane) template has +4 LA, and it's probably worth LA +2 or so - outright weak at low levels, and no more than managable at higher levels. It provides benefits to stealth, primarily, with (Ex) spider climb and boosts to dexterity and Hide/Move Silently. Picking a (lesser) mortif is a bit more powerful - they're basically planetouched: undead edition - and gets rid of the katane's Blood Hunger.

In any case, undead-slaying often means positive energy, so why not do some channeling, with something like cleric 4/crusader 1/prestige paladin 1 or 3/ordained champion 5. Another nice option is the arcane paladin 2/sorcerer 4/spellsword 1/silver pyromancer 5/abjurant champion 5. There is a paladin variant that loses Turn Undead, Lay on Hands, and remove disease, and nets you Favoured Enemy. For a sorcadin, that's basically a free Favoured Enemy (undead), which is excellent.

I would treat the scythe as no more than personal preference. It's not a bad weapon, but given that undead are immune to critical hits, I don't think it's worth optimizing for the x4 multiplier.

[Erit]

The Dragon #313 half-vampire (katane) template has +4 LA, and it's probably worth LA +2 or so - outright weak at low levels, and no more than managable at higher levels. It provides benefits to stealth, primarily, with (Ex) spider climb and boosts to dexterity and Hide/Move Silently. Picking a (lesser) mortif is a bit more powerful - they're basically planetouched: undead edition - and gets rid of the katane's Blood Hunger.

I was planning to use the Libris Mortis template, since it offers all the same as Katane that I'm interested in, for half the level adjustment and doesn't restrict alignment or have a mandatory Blood Hunger.


In any case, undead-slaying often means positive energy, so why not do some channeling, with something like cleric 4/crusader 1/prestige paladin 1 or 3/ordained champion 5. Another nice option is the arcane paladin 2/sorcerer 4/spellsword 1/silver pyromancer 5/abjurant champion 5. There is a paladin variant that loses Turn Undead, Lay on Hands, and remove disease, and nets you Favoured Enemy. For a sorcadin, that's basically a free Favoured Enemy (undead), which is excellent.

The Tomb-Tainted line requires nongood alignment, and being Evil would make things very interesting in a bad way. The DM might be willing to remove the "any nongood" clause from the feats (he's allowed far weirder things), but I haven't had the chance to approach him on it. So unless there's an LN Paladin somewhere that I don't know of, a sorcadin build is beyond me.


I would treat the scythe as no more than personal preference. It's not a bad weapon, but given that undead are immune to critical hits, I don't think it's worth optimizing for the x4 multiplier.

It's very much personal preference. I'm going for a "shepherd for the dead" theme here which overlaps a lot with the grim reaper. Though there are ways around undead critical immunities, I don't plan on optimizing around them.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I was planning to use the Libris Mortis template, since it offers all the same as Katane that I'm interested in, for half the level adjustment and doesn't restrict alignment or have a mandatory Blood Hunger.
Hmm, that's a much better template. Didn't think of that, for some reason. I think I've been using the half-undead article too much.


The Tomb-Tainted line requires nongood alignment, and being Evil would make things very interesting in a bad way. The DM might be willing to remove the "any nongood" clause from the feats (he's allowed far weirder things), but I haven't had the chance to approach him on it. So unless there's an LN Paladin somewhere that I don't know of, a sorcadin build is beyond me.
There is, actually. Dragon #310, Enforcer paladin variant. They get the ability to deal nonlethal damage at no penalty (even +2 bonus damage on nonlethal weapons), which is pretty hilarious if you're using a scythe, and useless versus undead. It's still the same dip from a sorcadin's perspective, though (full bab, Divine Grace).


Edit: I can see two easy avenues fluff-wise:
1) You're a cleric (/crusader/prestige paladin/ordained champion/RKV) of Wee Jas, putting unlawful undead to rest. Buy blood from licensed temples and stuff. Note that OC is not Wee Jas-compatible by RAW, though they fit well fluff-wise.
2) You're a non-initiate of the Silver Flame, using arcane magic instead of the divine magic that is denied to you. You're a LN enforcer (/sorcerer/silver pyromancer/abjurant champion) with Heretic of the Faith. HotF normally doesn't let you get into Silver Pyromancer without meeting the LG prerequisite, but ask your DM. As a bonus, HotF allows you to treat the scythe as your deity's favoured weapon, no matter what that weapon normally is.

[Erit]

There is, actually. Dragon #310, Enforcer paladin variant. They get the ability to deal nonlethal damage at no penalty (even +2 bonus damage on nonlethal weapons), which is pretty hilarious if you're using a scythe, and useless versus undead. It's still the same dip from a sorcadin's perspective, though (full bab, Divine Grace).

Hrm... I'm hesitant to use Dragon Magazine material, and Enforcer doesn't quite match the feel I'm going for as-presented, but I can work with it if nothing else appears.


Edit: I can see two easy avenues fluff-wise:
1) You're a cleric (/crusader/prestige paladin/ordained champion/RKV) of Wee Jas, putting unlawful undead to rest. Buy blood from licensed temples and stuff. Note that OC is not Wee Jas-compatible by RAW, though they fit well fluff-wise.

Diptastic. If I can swing Ordained Champion to work with Wee Jas I might just use this, albeit replacing Crusader with Warblade using Martial Study because Crusader's granted maneuver system... bugs me. Greatly. But that's a rant for elsewhere.


2) You're a non-initiate of the Silver Flame, using arcane magic instead of the divine magic that is denied to you. You're a LN enforcer (/sorcerer/silver pyromancer/abjurant champion) with Heretic of the Faith. HotF normally doesn't let you get into Silver Pyromancer without meeting the LG prerequisite, but ask your DM. As a bonus, HotF allows you to treat the scythe as your deity's favoured weapon, no matter what that weapon normally is.

And since the setting is Greyhawk rather than Faerun I don't need to be overly concerned with that Wall of the Faithless malarkey, either. The alignment thing might be harder to get handwaved, but getting access to Sorcerer spells opens up Reserve feats, which are my jam.