Dragon of Death - F(12), Brd(1), RDD(10), WM(7)

Fighter 12 / Bard 1 / Weapon Master 7 / Red Dragon Disciple 10

by Neonin 00:46, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Description
The Dragon of Death is a dual-wielding character concentrating on two scythes. Why? Because dual-wielding scythes is cool!

The main premise behind this build is extremely hard-hitting criticals. The combination of a scythe, improved critical, and the Weapon Master ability Increased Multiplier mean that a scythe will hit a critical on 17-20 and do x5 damage. This, of course, falls down when fighting things that are immune to critical hits, but the weapon will still do pretty decent damage due to the high strength you should have.

This build probably doesn't even hold a candle to most of the ones on this site in PvP (the few tests I've done I had my butt handed to me on a platter due to being unable to hit the buggers) but is aimed at those who would like to play some form of huge weapon-wielding monster and not use DEX-based builds.

Advantages:


 * Base Attack Bonus of 26, meaning full 6 main-hand attacks.


 * Scarily high criticals.


 * Earth Genasi, for those sick of playing Air Genasi, Drow, Duergar, or Deep Gnomes.


 * Decent AC and saving throws at level 30 with magic equipment and 30 ranks of Tumble and Spellcraft.

Disadvantages:


 * Relatively low AC compared to other builds on this site (Kaze no Kama, I'm looking at you!)


 * Main advantage of high criticals lost on things immune to critical hits.


 * No Perfect Two-Weapon Fighting, though those last 3 attacks tend not to hit anyway.


 * No social skills.


 * No natural spell resistance unless Drow is used.

Character Creation
Why these classes/races?


 * Earth Genasi receive +2 STR and +2 CON, meaning we can get a nice stat spread. This is important as we're going to need 19 DEX for Greater Two-Weapon Fighting, 14 INT for the skill points, and as high a STR as possible for attack bonuses and damage. Earth Genasi also have Fighter as their favoured class, so no multi-class penalties apply. Air Genasi could also be used if you prefer those, or Drow if you don’t mind the XP penalty after level 3.


 * 12 Fighter for bonus feats to make the build work plus lots of BAB.


 * 1 Bard to fulfill prerequisites for Dragon Disciple, plus 1st level Inspire Courage, plus Tumble and Spellcraft as class skills.


 * 7 Weapon Master for Ki Damage, Ki Critical, Increased Multiplier, and Superior Weapon Focus, and more BAB.


 * 10 Dragon Disciple for +8 STR and +2 CON (as well as +2 INT and +2 CHA, but they don't really matter).

Variants
The build lends itself to a small amount of customization in the form of changing which weapon you focus on, for example:


 * Greataxe: 1-12 base damage, 17-20x4 critical.


 * Greatsword: 2-12 base damage, 15-20x3 critical.


 * Falchion: 2-8 base damage, 13-20x3 critical.


 * Warmace: 1-12 base damage, 17-20x3 critical.

You could also use a pair of medium-size weapons instead, dropping Monkey Grip out of the feat list in favour of getting Improved Two-Weapon Fighting earlier:


 * Longsword: 1-8 base damage, 15-20x3 critical.


 * Warhammer: 1-8 base damage, 17-20x4 critical.


 * Battleaxe: 1-8 base damage, 17-20x4 critical.


 * Scimitar: 1-6 base damage, 13-20x3 critical.

If you want to do hideous criticals, you could drop some of the feats after getting Improved Critical and go the Power Attack->Cleave->Great->Cleave->Overwhelming Critical route. With the scythe, this would add a whopping 4d6 to your critical damage.

Level 30 Stuff
Want to see how the character ends up at level 30? Here's the numbers!

Without any magic items at all, you have the following:

Main Hand Attacks - +38/33/28/23/18/13

Main Hand Damage - 2-8 +16

Off-Hand Attacks - +39/34/29

Off-Hand Damage - 2-8 +10

If you add in a +9 Strength item, Inspire Courage, and two +8 Scythes you get:

Main Hand Attacks - +52/47/42/37/32/27

Main Hand Damage - 2-8 +21 +8 +1

Off-Hand Attacks - +52/47/42

Off-Hand Damage - 2-8 +12 +8 +1

With just those three items you've just made your damage:

Main Hand Max - 38, 190 critical

Main Hand Min - 32, 160 critical

Off Hand Max - 29, 145 critical

Off Hand Min - 23, 115 critical

Feel free to add haste, 3x5d6 elemental damage, or if you're feeling evil you could try whacking on Vorpal. With all the gear I put on mine using the Battle of the Builds module I ended up with AC 52, saves 37/38/32, HP 466, and the sight of a character dual-wielding two fracking scythes! Oh, and all this is completely unbuffed if you ignore the Inspire Courage thing.

I've only just started playing it in the campaign, so I'll update when I finish to let you know how it goes.