Crusader is a sworn enemy of evil, but unlike Paladin he doesn't enforce order. He relies on his combat prowes but also has limited divine combat skills to fall back on when he faces greatest of evils. He mercilessly hunts demons, devils, undead and evil dragons.
Human STR16 DEX13 CON8 INT13 WIS12 CHA15
L 1 Fighter: power attack, cleave, weapon focus melee*
L 2 Fighter: combat expertise
L 3 Fighter: dodge
L 4 Fighter: great cleave +1CHA
L 5 Fighter
L 6 Fighter: mobility, spring attack, 4 ranks of intimidate
L 7 Frenzied berserker
L 8 Frenzied berserker +1STR
L 9 Frenzied berserker: Whirlwind attack
L10 Frenzied berserker
L11 Frenzied berserker
L12 Weapon master: Weapon of choice, Improved power attack +1STR
L13 Weapon master
L14 Weapon master
L15 Cleric: Divine might, Domains: water, good.
L16 Weapon master +1STR
L17 Weapon master
L18 Cleric: Divine shield
L19 Weapon master
L20 Weapon master +1STR
* Falchion or Scythe. If you want blunt weapon for RP reasons go for warhammer(wielded in two hands), not warmace.
Skills: only requiment is 4 ranks of intimidate for berserker. But since this build gets 4 points each level I suggest puting them into tumble, spellcraft, diplomacy and intimidate, even with non-class skill penalty you'll end up with 10 tumble, 20 spellcraft, 15+ diplomacy and intimidate (with your char bonus you'll be over 20 in those two). On levels 14 and 17 makes sure you save up 5 points for coming cleric level to pump diplomacy and spellcraft. Also put a single point into use magic device so that you can use simpler items like thiefs hood.
Free feats: you get supreme cleave, toughness, evasion, immunity to fear and WM feats. Not bad
Equipment: ring of protection +5, ring of resistance +3, nymph's cloak +8, +5 keen weapon, full plate, belt of cloud giant strenght, bracers of armour +8, boots of striding +8, amulet of natural armour +5.
These are easly found/crafted in OC, while you could make better items, like mithral full plate with dex bonus, I choose to stick with basic items in this example.
You have 4 1st level spells and I recommend protection from evil and 3 castings of bless - divine favor last to short to be usefull. You only need frenzy when facing powerfull casters that use death spells.
Asuming that you have cast protection from evil, bless, divine might&shield, have equipment from above and your foe is evil aligned:
Saves: Fortitude 22, Reflex 14, Will 15.
AC: 45
AB: +36/31/26/21 or +30/25/20/15 with improved PA.
Damage: 2d4 + 18 physical + 7 divine
with IPA: 2d4 +38 physical + 7 divine
Critical range: falchion 13-18/x3, scythe 17-20/x5
This is my favorite melee, it fits well into good hero story and doesn't have a stick up his like Paladin. This is obviously a powerplayer build (doh!) but I like to make some background for my characters, it makes gaming more fun.
There are lots of FB/WM builds out there, if someone has posted this specific build before I appologise, I've not seen it.
PS for some reason immunity to fear doesn't prevent dragons fearfull presence from working...I don't know if this is a bug.
As pomr said WM's +2 crit stacks with everything, but improved crit/keen/keen edge spell don't stack with each other. This is also reason I never took improved crit feat.
Turn undead uses are always 3 + CHA modifier so class levels don't matter. You'll have 10 with nymph's cloak ;)
Weapon spec is definitly good stuff but this build already does pleanty of physical dmg so +2 won't make a significant difference. But +7 divine dmg is quite nice when you are up against something that's immune to crit hits or/and has high dmg reduction. And divine dmg can't be resisted by any enemy in game, AFAIK.
Actually, the Weapon Master bonus does add. I played a character with Greatsword (2 actually, thanks Monkey Grip!) which had Improved Crit: Greatsword (17-20) and that changed to 15-20 when I got Weapon Master 7.
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at 2007-01-10 16:31:46
