Ruby Knight Vindicator

[Ha Do Ken]

Hi guys, I know this topic has been brought up so many times and I've seen a lot of comments but I'd still like some advice.
I've currently started playing a DnD 3.5 campaign, I'm a 1st lvl Crusader (ToB) at the moment and want to go into RKV. I'm considering either a Crusader2/Cleric3/RKV10 or a Crusader1/Cleric4/RKV10 build. I'd also like some advice on feats to take, I'll give a quick run down on my character below.

Human: Crusader 1
STR: 17
DEX: 13
CON: 15
INT: 12
WIS: 14
CHA: 18

FEATS: Animal Devotion (who doesn't want to fly at 1st lvl), Healing Devotion
SKILLS: Diplomacy 4, Intimidate 4, Hide 2, Religion 4, and extra languages.

Obviously stuff like Extra Turning is useful and I've lost count how many debates about DMM Persist I've seen. So suggestions and advice from you all would be much appreciated

Thanks

[Kelb_Panthera]

If you're not getting divine metamagic of some stripe, don't bother with extra turning. Most other divine feats won't need more than the 3 - 7 turn attempts you can get in a day on the ability alone and neither will the RKV class features. Grab a nightstick and call it a day.

You really ought to figure out what you want for those last 5 levels and consider sprinkling them in amongst the RKV levels. Staggered levels are much more useful to a martial adept than for most any other type of character since off-levels still count for 1/2 for IL. Getting your last maneuver at IL 13 (Clr 4/ Cru 1/RKV 10) is a bit lackluster.

Feat choices depend on where you're going. You want to be a spellcaster with some fighting ability, a crusader that casts spells, or an even~ish mix?

[Goaty14]

Firstly, you should put the cleric levels first, since they'll boost your effective initiator level. Secondly, it pretty much dumbs down to if you wanna be more cleric or crusader, so it is more or less your choice. Though, you'd probably benefit more from more crusader than cleric, by giving you stuff to do with swift actions.

[Ha Do Ken]

If you're not getting divine metamagic of some stripe, don't bother with extra turning. Most other divine feats won't need more than the 3 - 7 turn attempts you can get in a day on the ability alone and neither will the RKV class features. Grab a nightstick and call it a day.

You really ought to figure out what you want for those last 5 levels and consider sprinkling them in amongst the RKV levels. Staggered levels are much more useful to a martial adept than for most any other type of character since off-levels still count for 1/2 for IL. Getting your last maneuver at IL 13 (Clr 4/ Cru 1/RKV 10) is a bit lackluster.

Feat choices depend on where you're going. You want to be a spellcaster with some fighting ability, a crusader that casts spells, or an even~ish mix?

The reason I didn't mention the last 5 lvls is because I've never been in a campaign where the characters reached 20th lvl, most I ever got was 17th lvl (Paladin9/Hospitaler8) and I'm not sure how far this campaign will go. As such I'm trying to get as much out of the early lvls as possible. Since I am the party's main damage dealer I was thinking of Cleric at 2nd lvl (taking Undeath and Law Domains), ditching Law Domain for Law Devotion, Cleric again at 3rd lvl taking Divine Metamagic (Persist) as 3rd lvl feat and Cleric 3 at 4th lvl improving my Str to 18 using the stat bump. This means at 4th lvl my Law Devotion compensates my 1 lvl loss of BaB, it also compensates if I use a 2H Weapon (18 Str = +6 damage with 2 hander), including Bull's Strength using persist make it 22 Str= +9 damage and if I really want to top it off use Ape's Fury (from Animal Domain) for an extra +2 = 24 Str= +10 damage. Using a Greatsword (probably +1 magic at that lvl) equals 2D6+11 damage....what do you think ???

[InvisibleBison]

The reason I didn't mention the last 5 lvls is because I've never been in a campaign where the characters reached 20th lvl, most I ever got was 17th lvl (Paladin9/Hospitaler8) and I'm not sure how far this campaign will go. As such I'm trying to get as much out of the early lvls as possible. Since I am the party's main damage dealer I was thinking of Cleric at 2nd lvl (taking Undeath and Law Domains), ditching Law Domain for Law Devotion, Cleric again at 3rd lvl taking Divine Metamagic (Persist) as 3rd lvl feat and Cleric 3 at 4th lvl improving my Str to 18 using the stat bump. This means at 4th lvl my Law Devotion compensates my 1 lvl loss of BaB, it also compensates if I use a 2H Weapon (18 Str = +6 damage with 2 hander), including Bull's Strength using persist make it 22 Str= +9 damage and if I really want to top it off use Ape's Fury (from Animal Domain) for an extra +2 = 24 Str= +10 damage. Using a Greatsword (probably +1 magic at that lvl) equals 2D6+11 damage....what do you think ???

1) You won't be able to take DMM (Persist) at third level, because DMM only works with a metamagic feat that you already have. Unless you're able and willing to retrain both of your 1st level feats, you won't be able to pick up DMM (Persist) until 9th level.

2) 2d6+11 is an average of 18 damage. CR 4 monsters tend to have about 30 to 50 HP, so you'd kill them in 2 to 3 hits. That seems like a reasonable amount of damage, especially if you're using strikes as well.

[Ha Do Ken]

I checked the Complete Divine under Divine Metamagic feat and it states that "you choose a Metamagic feat" it doesn't anywhere say you have to know the Metamagic feat first

[Rebel7284]

I checked the Complete Divine under Divine Metamagic feat and it states that "you choose a Metamagic feat" it doesn't anywhere say you have to know the Metamagic feat first

Check the errata.