KodeWraith's CHA Pally framework

[Kodewraith]

Reposting my CHA pally build for U59. This is basically a Vanilla CHA based paladin that works with any race and (mostly) any fighting style.

Of particular note are 3 fighting styles it has a lot of synergy with: Bastard Sword plus Shield, Bastard Sword as SWF and GreatSword which all work really well. But you can adapt the build to work with TWF longswords, SWF longsword or some other race specific weapon if you want. The version posted below does not need to respec at 20 when you get magical training or at 23 when you can get Bastard Swords as favored weapons, but you can. This version is setup for Bastard Sword and Large Shield after level 31. Once you hit cap, I usually blanace out the 31 enhancement points into Vanguard for a bit more offense.

I designed this build for great survivability because I'm not that great a player, so I need a lot of padding. You can solo R3+ if you're good without too much effort. I run in EA mantle if soloing which auto-ticks for about 400 hp when soloing. It's a very forgiving build and usually makes most saves. Consider swappnig out Empower Heal or Magical Training for Quicken. They're both useful.



Character name: Kodraith
Classes: 20 Paladin, 10 Epic, 2 Legendary
Race: Dragonborn· · · · · ·Alignment: Lawful Good

· · ·Start Tome Final · · ·Incorp:· · 10% · · ·Displacement:· · 0%
Str:· · 16· · 8 · ·24 · · ·HP:· · · ·2029 · · ·AC:· ·114
Dex:· · ·6· · 8 · ·27 · · ·PRR: · · · 163
Con:· · 16· · 8 · ·48 · · ·MRR: · · · ·55 · · ·+Healing Amp:· ·193
Int:· · 10· · 8 · ·18 · · ·Dodge: · ·0/25 · · ·-Healing Amp: 4294967266
Wis:· · 10· · 8 · ·20 · · ·Fort:· · ·228% · · ·Repair Amp:· · · 30
Cha:· · 20· · 8 · ·69 · · ·SR:· · · · · 0 · · ·BAB: · · · · · · 25
DR:
Immunities: Natural Disease, Magical Disease, Super-Natural Disease, Fear, Energy Drain, Freedom of Movement, Death Effects

Special Feats
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Feydark Illusionist Tree
Inherent Fate Point
Inherent Magical Resistance(2)
Inherent Melee Power(2)
Inherent Physical Resistance(2)
Inherent Racial Action Point(2)
Inherent Ranged Power(2)
Inherent Spell Power(2)


Saves:
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Fortitude:· · · · ·92*
· vs Poison:· · · ·92*
· vs Disease: · · ·92*
Will: · · · · · · ·80
· vs Enchantment: ·88
· vs Illusion:· · ·82
· vs Fear:· · · · ·86
· vs Curse: · · · ·80
Reflex: · · · · · ·61
· vs Traps: · · · ·61
· vs Spell: · · · ·61
· vs Magic: · · · ·61
Marked with a * is no fail on a 1 if required DC met

Class and Feat Selection (Consolidated)
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Level Class · · · · · ·Feats
1 · · Paladin(1)· · · ·Standard: Two Handed Fighting (switch Magical training at 3 with 2HF and you can further dump STR)
3 · · Paladin(3)· · · ·Standard: Magical Training
6 · · Paladin(6)· · · ·Standard: Improved Two Handed Fighting
9 · · Paladin(9)· · · ·Standard: Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
12· · Paladin(12) · · ·Standard: Greater Two Handed Fighting
15· · Paladin(15) · · ·Standard: Empower Healing Spell
18· · Paladin(18) · · ·Standard: Force of Personality <--- can also swap for Quicken or Bastard Sword prof.
21· · Epic(1) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Overwhelming Critical
22· · Epic(2) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
25· · Epic(5) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Doublestrike
27· · Epic(7) · · · · ·Epic Feat: Epic Fortitude
28· · Epic(8) · · · · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Embodiment of Law
30· · Epic(10)· · · · ·Epic Feat: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword <--- decide here what you want your fighting style to look like at cap.
31· · Legendary(1)· · ·Epic Destiny Feat: Shield Mastery Specialty
32· · Legendary(2)· · ·Charisma: +1 Level up


Enhancements: 80 APs, Racial 6
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Dragonborn - Points spent: 6
Core1 Hardy I
Core2 Ability I: +1 Charisma
Tier1 Hard Scales - 3 Ranks
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Knight of the Chalice - Points spent: 41
Core1 Slayer of Evil I
Tier1 Extra Smite - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Improved Second Strikes - 3 Ranks
Core2 Courage of Heaven
Tier2 Divine Might - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Adept Combatant
Core3 Slayer of Evil II
Tier3 Ability I: +1 Charisma
Tier3 Holy Combatant II
Tier3 Exalted Smite: Exalted Smite - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Lead the Charge - 1 Ranks
Core4 Improved Courage of Heaven
Tier4 Ability II: +1 Charisma
Tier4 Knight's Training
Tier4 Censure Demons
Tier4 Vigor of Life I
Core5 Slayer of Evil III
Tier5 Holy Retribution: Holy Retribution
Tier5 Censure Outsiders
Tier5 Ascendancy
Tier5 Vigor of Life II
Core6 Champion of Good
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Sacred Defender - Points spent: 31
Core1 Holy Bastion
Tier1 Extra Lay on Hands - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Improved Sacred Defense I: Durable Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Sacred Armor Mastery - 3 Ranks
Core2 Sacred Defence
Tier2 Improved Sacred Defense II: Resilient Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Bulwark Aura - 1 Ranks
Tier3 Greater Sacred Defense I: Tenacious Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Ability I: +1 Charisma
Core3 Divine Righteousness
Tier4 Ability II: +1 Charisma
Tier4 Swift Defense
Tier4 Greater Sacred Defense II: Hardy Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Reinforced Defense I: Reinforced Armor - 2 Ranks
Core4 Redemption
Core5 Glorious Stand
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Feydark Illusionist - Points spent: 7
Core1 Find Familiar: Pseudodragon
Tier1 Familiar's Flourish I
Tier1 Illusory Weaponry
Tier2 Familiar's Flourish II
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[Dragnilar]

This is pretty good, it's about what I usually use with derivations like dodge / mobility / whirlwind.

 

[Kodewraith]

Note that the points spent in SD can likely get moved to other places now that the +HP bonus in Tier 3 SD does NOT stack with the +25% bonus from Tier 5 KotC. (SSG really needs to change that). I stil lliek the 10% move speed and more AC, but you can certainly cap out that tree at +6 CON in tier 3 and pick up more stuff for your Aura and stil take Core 5 in SD. But the only Greater Defense ability to take in SD is the +6 CON ( Tier 3). You can ignore the other two tiers of Great Sacred Defense from SD; you don't need the +STR and the +HP doesn't stack with KotC.

If you go shield, you'll likely want points in Vanguard, for the cores if nothing else. If you're not going with a shield, than points in VKF or Falconry or your Racial tree are good places to look. Just make sure you pick up your +25% hp bonus from someplace.

 

[Buddha5440]

This is very similar to what I play on one of my Alt's.

Kindof surprised you didn't work Precision in there somewhere. Maybe in place of Empower Healing (your LoH should be plenty).

Also: you are missing 1 AP - you have 6 racial but only 79 regular AP in the build (41+31+7=79), unless 1 of your racial is a regular AP.

Human: Lawful Good: Paladin 20
feats
1-Magical Training (for Feydark Illusionist) -> Bastard Sword @20 and get Magical training from ED core 1 to keep Feydark
1H-Shield Mastery
3-Precision
6-Force of Personality
9-Improved Critical Slash
12-Improved Shield Mastery
15-Greater Shield Mastery
18-Two Handed Fighting
20- Switch Magical Training -> Bastard Sword
21(E)-Improved Two Handed Fighting
22(ED)-Perfect Two Handed Fighting
24(E)-Greater Two Handed Fighting
25(ED)-Perfect Shield Mastery
27(E)-Overwhelming Critical
28(ED)-Deific Warding
30(E/L)-???/Scion of the Arborea

I have yet to update for Legendary levels but will likely add Shield Mastery Specialty.

I found the two handed fighting feats less beneficial at lower levels than the shield feats so I put them in later.

Enhancement split is almost exactly the same but I have no Racial AP so I end up with 41/32/7 in KotC/Sac Def/Fey.

Build works quite well, I just wish we had more options in Epic/Legendary Bastard Swords.

 

[Kodewraith]

Looks good! That build is mostly identical to my older, pre u57 version, except I think I took 2HF while leveling and then the Shield mastery feats later. Note that at 31 you can pick up an entire "fighting" line with a single feat. But yeah there's something fun about spending all 6 and destroying everything in early epic levels. I agree that the 2HF feats are way less necessary, but I happen to have a large heroic GreatSword collection, so I usually build around that especially if I have a lot of cleaves.

One other trick on some iconics is that you can take "Beloved of Helm" instead of BSword prof. It gives you a BSword prof plus favored weapon and a +1 to hit, but doesn't work on all chars. The other fun BSword combo is taking SWF while leveling and then picking up at least the first 2HF feat.

 

[Holmgang]

What if you don't have access to feydark, what would you do instead?

 

[Kodewraith]

If you don't have Feydark Illusionist the only way to get CHA to hit and DMG is to play as a PDK iconic. You'd need to burn a +1 heart to remove the fighter level, then take the first Tier 1 ability that lets you use CHA for hit dmg for a limited number of swords. Which fortunately have BSword in the list. You burn 3 AP to pick up the tree. Note that if you run as a PDK, you take the feat "Beloved of Helm" instead of Bsword prof as the Favored feat also gives the proficiency.

But at the point you buy a +1 heart, you should likely just spend points on accessing Feydark.

If you don't want to spend any points and you don;'t have Feydark, just put all your creation ability points in Strength and go Strength based. The build will have some more flexibility since you also won't need Magical Training. Your saves will be worse, but your shield will do more dmamage, you pick up an extra feat (no Magical Training needed) and you have more AP to spend (you don't need 7 points to pick up CHA to hit/dmg).

 

[Kodewraith]

Also note if you are making this build on Hardcore, go with Buddha's feat formulation in post #4. Race still doesn't matter but Dragonborn makes it easier to hit the 15 STR for your 2HF feats later. If non-human, ditch Force of Personality as you'll already have very high will saves. I would recommend 15 STR to start and then pop two level ups into STR, the rest into CHA. You need to hit 17 STR by 20ish, but want everything else in CHA.

Level with Heavy Shield + Longsword with CHA hit/dmg from Feydark. I'd recommend putting fewer points into SD to take only Core3 or 4 and more into Vanguard. You will need to explicitly take Magical Training fro L1 or 3 until L20. You will also need to maintain 7 AP in Feydark Illusionist, so you could also put in another 4 AP and get Color Spray. You might end up with something like 41 KotC, 21 SD, 11 Vanguard, 7 Feydark, 1 where ever.

Do the BSword switchover at L23 when you can pick up BSword favored weapons from Divine Crusader and start picking up the 2HF line.

Also SSG: Make a Core inVanguard give you BSword as favored weapon and fix the Greater Defense SD HP bonus to not be the same as KotC HP % bonus.