Hypercubism
2018-04-29, 11:05 PM
TL;DR:
The Defiant PrC requires renunciation of any powers granted by a specific diety. Vow Of Poverty doesn't explicitly state if it's a vow to a god, or if it can be taken as a vow to a personal moral codex, but it is a religious feat. Does this make the compatible?
Expanded Concept:
Both the Forsaker (anti-magic) and Defiant (anti-divine) PrCs have very light requirements and grant strong defensive and healing effects. In addition, both work really nicely with Vow Of Poverty, because you already can't use magic items, and because their bonuses are unique and don't overlap (thus stacking nicely). To leverage the best benefit from these 3 factors means relying on Dexterity (for unarmored AC), Constitution (for Natural Armor), and Charisma (for the PrC bonuses).
Relying heavily on Dexterity means we might get good benefit out of weapon finesse and any related feats (more on this later).
The first problem to consider is how to get the quickest entry into the PrCs to avoid dead levels. This requires either 3 feats, or a +5 Base WILL save (depending on the class). There's no way to speed up base save progressions, so it might be best to try the feats first. Ignoring humans and Flaws, this means getting 2 feats rather quickly. The best way to do this is to take the Expert Generic Class (a variant rule that most GMs allow because it isn't very powerful by default), which allows us to take 2 feats in 2 levels, select our class skills, and get 2 levels of Good save progression.
To allow entrance into the second PrC means boosting the save progression further, which is easy because the Defiant's class structure naturally favours ex-clerics: 3 levels of cleric will get us both the necessary progression and 2 bonus features within the Defiant class; We make the swap to that class at level 5. Along the way we also hit level 3 (which gives us Sacred Vow).
At levels 6-8 we pick up the first 3 Forsaker levels, granting our base features. At level 6 we also pick up Vow of Poverty, which grants a variety of features along with some Exalted bonus feats (at 6, 8, 10. Spend one on Exalted Spell Resistance).
At this point we're a pretty good tank, but we lack useful combat abilities. Let's fix this by doubling down on Dexterity.
At 9th level we pick up Sword Sage and the Shadow Blade feat (which adds our DEX to damage on Shadow Hand weapons). This gives us a 2-class multiclass, which is fine.
At 10th level we pick up a single level of Pugilist (a Dragon Magazine variant fighter), gaining Weapon Finesse, Improved Unarmed Strike, and Endurance. Since all of our base-classes are within 1 level of each other, we don't take any experience penalties yet.
Now the only question is, which non-human race to use.
Personally, I opted to use the Lesser Wispling (Fearun + Fiend Folio) race with the Unseelie Fey template (the unseelie are known to be willing to breed with anything). This stacks the modifier array to -4/+6/-2/+2/0/+2, gives us a sensitivity to iron, a damage reduction effect, and makes us targetable to any spells that target Humanoids, Outsiders, or Fey. Thankfully, we resist spells pretty easily.
Theoretical Results:
Expert2/Defiant3/Forsaker3/SwordSage1/Pugilist1
Using 16DEX,16CON as a base, this leads to:
16+6(Race)+2(VOP)+2(Forsaker) = 26 DEX
16-2(Race)+2(Attribute Increase) = 16 CON
10+8(DEX)+1(Size)+1(Deflection VOP)+4(Natural Armor)+7(VOP) = 31 Unarmored AC
+17/+16/+16 Saves
+17 to attack with finesse weapons in the Shadow Hand discipline, with a +10 to damage with them.
SR 18 vs Divine Mind Altering Spells
SR 14 in general
+4SR vs Evil
Immunity against Divine Damage
DR 10/Cold_Iron
DR 5/Magic
DR 3/_
Roleplaying Background:
A being born of humanoid of outsider heritage and a fey would understand intense conflict from both the planar perspective (and the mortal hatred toward most outsiders) and from within the fey (the unseelie vs seelie conflict) and would thus likely try to counter this through its lifestyle. I imagine a young creature that'd first seek religion, becoming a cleric of a peaceful fate, that would eventually renounce it upon realizing how corrupt and strife-ridden the religious world can be. Instead it, it would seek to further and embody a more peaceful/disciplined humanist philosophy, and would effectively be a crusader against the various inherent sources of strife (including religion, the vanity and power of the arcane, corruption and wealth, etc).
The result is a tiny and unusually-looking missionary capable of dealing out swift justice to those who disrupt the peace of the world.
The Defiant PrC requires renunciation of any powers granted by a specific diety. Vow Of Poverty doesn't explicitly state if it's a vow to a god, or if it can be taken as a vow to a personal moral codex, but it is a religious feat. Does this make the compatible?
Expanded Concept:
Both the Forsaker (anti-magic) and Defiant (anti-divine) PrCs have very light requirements and grant strong defensive and healing effects. In addition, both work really nicely with Vow Of Poverty, because you already can't use magic items, and because their bonuses are unique and don't overlap (thus stacking nicely). To leverage the best benefit from these 3 factors means relying on Dexterity (for unarmored AC), Constitution (for Natural Armor), and Charisma (for the PrC bonuses).
Relying heavily on Dexterity means we might get good benefit out of weapon finesse and any related feats (more on this later).
The first problem to consider is how to get the quickest entry into the PrCs to avoid dead levels. This requires either 3 feats, or a +5 Base WILL save (depending on the class). There's no way to speed up base save progressions, so it might be best to try the feats first. Ignoring humans and Flaws, this means getting 2 feats rather quickly. The best way to do this is to take the Expert Generic Class (a variant rule that most GMs allow because it isn't very powerful by default), which allows us to take 2 feats in 2 levels, select our class skills, and get 2 levels of Good save progression.
To allow entrance into the second PrC means boosting the save progression further, which is easy because the Defiant's class structure naturally favours ex-clerics: 3 levels of cleric will get us both the necessary progression and 2 bonus features within the Defiant class; We make the swap to that class at level 5. Along the way we also hit level 3 (which gives us Sacred Vow).
At levels 6-8 we pick up the first 3 Forsaker levels, granting our base features. At level 6 we also pick up Vow of Poverty, which grants a variety of features along with some Exalted bonus feats (at 6, 8, 10. Spend one on Exalted Spell Resistance).
At this point we're a pretty good tank, but we lack useful combat abilities. Let's fix this by doubling down on Dexterity.
At 9th level we pick up Sword Sage and the Shadow Blade feat (which adds our DEX to damage on Shadow Hand weapons). This gives us a 2-class multiclass, which is fine.
At 10th level we pick up a single level of Pugilist (a Dragon Magazine variant fighter), gaining Weapon Finesse, Improved Unarmed Strike, and Endurance. Since all of our base-classes are within 1 level of each other, we don't take any experience penalties yet.
Now the only question is, which non-human race to use.
Personally, I opted to use the Lesser Wispling (Fearun + Fiend Folio) race with the Unseelie Fey template (the unseelie are known to be willing to breed with anything). This stacks the modifier array to -4/+6/-2/+2/0/+2, gives us a sensitivity to iron, a damage reduction effect, and makes us targetable to any spells that target Humanoids, Outsiders, or Fey. Thankfully, we resist spells pretty easily.
Theoretical Results:
Expert2/Defiant3/Forsaker3/SwordSage1/Pugilist1
Using 16DEX,16CON as a base, this leads to:
16+6(Race)+2(VOP)+2(Forsaker) = 26 DEX
16-2(Race)+2(Attribute Increase) = 16 CON
10+8(DEX)+1(Size)+1(Deflection VOP)+4(Natural Armor)+7(VOP) = 31 Unarmored AC
+17/+16/+16 Saves
+17 to attack with finesse weapons in the Shadow Hand discipline, with a +10 to damage with them.
SR 18 vs Divine Mind Altering Spells
SR 14 in general
+4SR vs Evil
Immunity against Divine Damage
DR 10/Cold_Iron
DR 5/Magic
DR 3/_
Roleplaying Background:
A being born of humanoid of outsider heritage and a fey would understand intense conflict from both the planar perspective (and the mortal hatred toward most outsiders) and from within the fey (the unseelie vs seelie conflict) and would thus likely try to counter this through its lifestyle. I imagine a young creature that'd first seek religion, becoming a cleric of a peaceful fate, that would eventually renounce it upon realizing how corrupt and strife-ridden the religious world can be. Instead it, it would seek to further and embody a more peaceful/disciplined humanist philosophy, and would effectively be a crusader against the various inherent sources of strife (including religion, the vanity and power of the arcane, corruption and wealth, etc).
The result is a tiny and unusually-looking missionary capable of dealing out swift justice to those who disrupt the peace of the world.