Divine Dancer of Derring-Do F(12),Dls(10),SD(2),DC(6)

Description
Fighter 12 / Duelist 10 / Shadowdancer 2 / Divine Champion 6

This build is chiefly designed to be both dependable in a fight, and fun to play. I personally don’t enjoy having to cast a ton of buffs before entering the fray, and I also don’t like playing a pure melee warrior where my only role in the battle is to sit back and watch him (or her) hack away. So I set out to design a character that could do enough damage to win most any fight while rarely getting hit, and also have a lot of options and tricks available to keep bouts from getting boring.

This nimble fighter’s chief attribute are Intelligence and Dexterity. INT’s a permanent boon to AC thanks to Canny Defense from Duelist and Uncanny Dodge from Shadowdancer, it adds damage thanks to Combat Insight, and it of course gives more skill points than your average meatshield. Dexterity is kept high as well for AB, more AC, the Parry skill, feat qualification purposes, and extra damage from Expose Weakness. I decided to go for the Divine Champion PrC instead of Weapon Master because I’ve found that campaigns are usually chock-full of crit-immune enemies.

Strengths: Good AC, especially against touch attacks, and an even higher Parry skill. Uncanny Dodge. Good Reflex saves and Evasion, as well as decent Fortitude. Can use Haste thanks to Duelist, but really can win most fights with few or no buffs. Combat Insight at Level 21 allows for high damage throughout the epic levels. Lots of feats. 29 BAB. More skill points and saves than most Fighters.Hide in Plain Sight allows escape when things go south.

Weaknesses: Won’t do as much damage as RDD/FB type builds. Fairly low Will save, though higher than a pure Fighter thanks to DC. Fairly weak until Level 21 when Combat Insight is gained, making this build best suited to an epic-level campaign like MotB. Possibly the only build ever to qualify for the Weapon Master class but not take it (I don’t consider that a weakness, but you might). HP only average.

Character Creation
Why these classes/races?

Tiefling:


 * +2 DEX, +2 INT, -2 CHA


 * DEX and INT are the two most important attributes, CHA doesn’t matter


 * Infernal Resistance is nice, +1 ECL isn’t a big deal

Alternatives: Drow will work if you really want Spell Resistance, but you’ll have less HP, +2 ECL instead of +1, and you’ll have to deal with light penalties. Air Genasi is almost the same as Tiefling, but you’ll have lower Wisdom. If you’re just dying to use the Weapon Master class instead of Divine Champion, however, a variant of this build would be an Air Genasi that takes 1 level of Cleric and 7 levels of WM instead of SD and DC. I don’t really think it’s worth it. Any other races than these three will have far worse ability scores.

Fighter:


 * Level 12 for Epic Weapon Specialization


 * Fighter Bonus Feat used on Epic Prowess at Level 21, so Combat Insight taken at same level

Duelist:


 * Level 10 allows +10 AC bonus with Canny Defense and an INT +8 item


 * Precise Strike and innate Haste ability add to combat prowess


 * High Parry skill a good defensive ability

Shadowdancer:


 * Level 2 for Hide in Plain Sight, Evasion, and Uncanny Dodge


 * Evasion allows build to qualify for Expose Weakness

Divine Champion:


 * Level 6 gives +3 bonus to all saves


 * First bonus feat used for Epic Weapon Focus at level 25, allowing Epic Weapon Specialization that level