[Epic] I know it's silly, but help me make a 36th-level cleric

[Jack Simth]

Let's see.......

Avoiding Epic items, assuming you're got a base 11 dex and aren't putting your level based stat boosts or feats or levels into it, at 20th, you're looking at....

Cleric, always on from items/enhanced items via spells:
+5 Mithral Fullplate (+13 Armor bonus)
+5 Tower Shield (+9 Shield)
+5 Amulet of Natural Armor (+5 Enhancement Bonus to Natural Armor)
+5 Ring of Protection (+5 Deflection)
Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone (+1 Insight)
+6 Gauntlets of Dexterity (+3 Dex, stacks)
+5 Defending Weapon (+5 bonus that stacks with all others)

And you're looking at an AC of 51, Core, for a Medium creature, with nothing that will wear off in any meaningful amount of time, with no semi-unclear DM rulings to worry about (Monks Belt: +(Wis Bonus+1)AC or just +1 AC?), nor any custom items.

If you run the favorable ruling on the Monk's Belt, then you drop the Fullplate and Shield, pick up a Ring of Force Shield, Bracers of Armor +8, and pump Dex and Wis. With a base 18 Wis, putting all five level boosts into Wisdom, and getting the +5 Tome of Understanding, the +6 Peripat of Wisdom, and the +5 Manual of Quickness in Action, you're looking at....

Cleric or Druid:
+8 Bracers of Armor (+8 Armor (Force))
+2 Ring of Force Shield (+2 Shield (Force))
+5 Amulet of Natural Armor (+5 Enhancement Bonus to Natural Armor)
+5 Ring of Protection (+5 Deflection)
Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone (+1 Insight)
+6 Peripat of Wisdom (None directly)
+5 Tome of Understanding (none directly)
+6 Gauntlets of Dexterity (+3 Dex, stacks)
+5 Manual of Quickness in Action (+3 Dex, stacks - this is why the 11 dex, earlier)
Monk's Belt (+1, +Wis Bonus = 13)
+5 Defending Weapon (+5 bonus that stacks with all others)

And you've got an AC of 55, Core, all but 15 of it Touch. With no spell durations to run out. And no upper cap on your Dex bonus to your AC, so if you started with a Dex of 18, you'll have an extra +3 AC on top of that. And you can activate and deactivate the ring at will as a free action, so you have a hand free for casting as long as it's your turn.

Such spells as Haste, or Greater Heroism will boost your AC a bit further.

If you want to play a real AC Monkey, there's other things you do - PrC's that grant stats to AC (such as the Duelist, with Intelligence), temporary spells (an AC oriented Psion with a bit of time to buff up - and at 20th, they'll have it if they have a turn at all - is a sight to behold).

If you're using guidelines to make items, simply integrate the above as needed into your otherwise listed build. A few more points of AC.

Oh, and even if your AC still leaves your opponent in Nat-1 territory, remember:

It cuts down on the amount of Power Attack he can use, which cuts down on the amount of damage he can deal to you significantly.

 

[RangerWickett]

Okay, so I'm going Monk 1/Cleric 32/Seeker of the Misty Isle 3. I started worshipping a god that provided the Travel domain (so I could get the necessary Survival ranks for Seeker), but converted to Corellon Larethian for the domains Magic and Protection. My caster level total is 35. I have 6 epic feats normally, plus 4 epic feats from Cleric progression.

I'm thinking Multispell x2, Automatic Quicken x3. I've got five others. I might go for Improved Spell Capacity x5 (which actually gets me 10 extra spell slots because of high Wisdom. Or should I do spell capacity x3 and multispell x4? I don't know if I'll have need to cast 5 spells per round if I'm just buffing. I really don't think I have much offensive capacity.

I plan to use some items of teleportation to hop around the field, and use multispell and automatic quicken to make sure the party stays healthy.

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm an elf, so base Dex 16, +4 inherent, +14 item = Dex 34. Base Wis 18, +5 inherent, +9 levels, +14 item = Wis 46. With a monk level, that's already AC 40.

I think even a ring of force shield counts as using a shield for the purposes of monk, so it's out.

+8 Bracers of Armor (+8 Armor (Force))
+5 Amulet of Natural Armor (+5 Enhancement Bonus to Natural Armor)
+5 Ring of Protection (+5 Deflection)
Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone (+1 Insight)
+5 Defending Quarterstaff (+5 bonus that stacks with all others)

So that's AC 64.

I'm sure I could argue to get a +5 insight ioun stone, so make that 68. If I had a scroll of shapechange I could turn into a dragon or something. I'm not even sure if Choker is the best option, since I can already cast a handful of quickened spells per round. What are good shapechange forms?

Me, I'm fond of old brass dragon. Immune to fire, +24 natural armor (but -2 AC because of huge, and -4 from lower Dex still nets an AC boost to 82). Hmm. How does changing Dex affect my AC? When do I apply magic items.

 

[Someone]

You'd probably want some kind of human-shaped celestial to shapechange into, as you'll want all your magic stuff to continue working. Unless you find something better in the ELH, a Solar may be a good choice: you'll get DR 15/epic and evil (wich the dragon may or not be able to pierce) and regeneration 15, also bypassed by evil and epic weapons. Even if the dragon's natural attacks can neutralize it, other damage sources won't. And you'll add +21 natural armor to your AC, blazing fly speed, and reasonably good abilities.

 

[Rkhet]

You'll want to stick to humanoid forms. Won't want your gear to stop working.

Core only, Pit Fiend is better than Solar for stats, close-combat ability, and harder-to-pierce DR.

Outside of that, it depends on which book you have access to. MM2? MM3? Fiend Folio? Those are the main 'broken forms' books.

 

[moritheil]

So, how did it turn out?

 

[RangerWickett]

The game won't be for more than a month. Also, the GM has declared that I can't create new magical effects, so no +5 luck AC or +5 insight AC. I can combine effects of existing items, so I can get maybe a ring of freedom of movement, evasion, and sustenance.

 

[Quartz]

But a +5 Luckblade would be just fine, right?
And are you allowed to use an animated shield?

 

[ByteRynn]

If you are looking for counter-magic ability, I suggest looking at the Complete Mage Divine Counterspell cleric alternate class ability. Basically, it lets you do a "dispel magic" counter spell 1+Cha modifier times/day using your effective turning level rather than your caster level as your dispel magic check. You give up turn undead.