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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jasin" data-source="post: 1850018" data-attributes="member: 7531">Hm. The mystic wanderer requirements are a bit of a pain: non-lawful and 2nd-level divine spells (among other things). If she wants to finish the iaijutsu master, Lianne won't have 2nd-level paladin spells by 20th, much less at the beginning before she turns lawful.But! There's this class on the WotC site, the <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20030224a" target="_blank">arcane duelist</a>. I don't think it's a good class, really, neither good as in munchy or good as in well designed; but 2 levels give you apparent defense: Cha to AC... even when armoured!So a Lianne might have gotten another level of bard before travelling to the east, for the 1st-level spells required by the PrC. She's probably better off in the long run, but this one only really starts to shine at high levels: Snowflake Wardance at 9th, Cha to AC and 14th, Divine Might at 15th, Strike from the Void at 15th... not a problem for an NPC that's to be used at that level, but as a player, I dislike delayed gratification, and we usually start somewhere in the 1st-7th range, so 15th is delayed.A 20th-level Lianne, this time with PC-quality gear and 40 point stats, so I can compare her to the guys IMC and your Padma more easily.Female human Brd2/Sam2/Pal4/Iai10/Acd2; CR 20; Medium Humanoid (human); HD 2d6+16d10+2d8+100 (206 hp); Init +21; Spd 30 ft; AC 50 (touch 31, flat-footed 34); BAB +18; Grap +20; Atk +32/+27/+22/+17 melee (1d10+13 plus 1 Con plus 2d6 holy/19-20, katana) or +29/+24/+19/+14 (1d8+7/x3, longbow); S/R 5 ft/5 ft; SA Spells, countersong, fascinate, turn undead 19/day, smite evil 1/day, strike from the Void, one strike two cuts; SQ Bardic music, bardic knowledge, inspire courage +1, aura of good, divine grace, lay on hands, aura of courage, divine health, weapon finesse (katana), canny defense, lightning blade, strike with no thought, chosen weapon, enhance chosen weapon +1; AL LG; SV Fort +31, Ref +34, Will +27; Str 14, Dex 22, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 33.Skills and Feats: Bluff +20, Diplomacy +44, Iaijutsu Focus +43, Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +6, Perform (dance) +27, Perform (sing) +27, Sense Motive +12, Tumble +26, Divine Might, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (katana), Extra Music, Extra Turning, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Quick-Draw, Snowflake Wardance, Spring Attack, Weapon Focus (katana).Equipment: Lianne's winged circlet, Lianne's katana, belt of Constitution +6, gloves of Dexterity +6, cloak of resistance +5, ring of deflection +4, amulet of natural armour +4, +5 mithral chain shirt of speed, +5 large animated shield, +2 mighty [Str 14] composite longbow, pale green ioun stone.Bard Spells Known (2, save DC = 21 + spell level)0--know direction, light, mage hand, message, prestidigitation.1st--remove fear, silent image.Paladin Spells Prepared (1, save DC = 11 + spell level)1st--bless weapon.Lianne's winged circlet is a circlet of Charisma +6 that also acts as a circlet of persuasion and a major circlet of blasting, allows the wearer to fly as if using winged boots, and gives a +3 bonus to attack and damage rolls.Lianne's katana is a +3 holy focus collision adamantine katana.Powerup Results (inspire courage, Snowflake Wardance, Divine Might, haste): AC 51 (touch 32, flat-footed 34); Atk +45/+45/+40/+35/+30 melee (1d10+25 plus 1 Con plus 2d6 holy/19-20, katana); SV Fort +31, Ref +35, Will +27 (+28 vs. charm).The equipment leaves some 15k gp to be spent on any essential stuff I might have forgotten. The circlet is less then optimal (+6 to Cha as a secondary power is 18k down the drain!) but I wanted a character with a neat signature item that's not a weapon.According to Hong's idea, +3 luck to attack and damage is priced as (bonus squared) x 5000 gp. What would you say the limit is on the bonus, Hong? Divine favour now only goes up to +3. Would it be the same for items?Some random thoughts and questions:On an iaijutsu strike, (which she is likely to get, with an Init +21) Lianne deals an additional 7d6+77 damage... if she rolls a 1 on her iaijutsu focus check. +8d6+88 on a 2, +9d6+99 on a 7.She's probably using her one smite evil to make sure an important iaijutsu strike hits, since the attack bonus is great and the damage not so great, due to high Cha and low paladin level.The arcane duelist's Cha bonus to AC should probably be limited to levels in the class, like the duelist's or the bladesinger's Int bonus. The two levels are probably not worth taking then, just for the +2 to AC, but technically, Your Honour, the ability description says nothing about limiting it, so...How exactly is Divine Shield supposed to work? "... granting it [your shield] a bonus equal to your Charisma modifier. This bonus applies to the shield's bonus to Armor Class...". Is this an enhancement bonus? Does it stack with the shield's enhancement bonus? Improve it? Is it limited to +5? If it's just an unnamed bonus, she might be better off with Divine Shield instead of Divine Might, especially if it's ruled that arcane duelist levels don't give her the entire Cha bonus to AC.Can you even use Snowflake Wardance with an animated shield? "A character with an animated shield still takes any penalties associated with shield use, such as armor check penalty, arcane spell failure chance, and nonproficiency." I guess one could argue either way, depending on the exact phrasing of the feat, but an animated shield should probably disable SW. If so, she has a scabbard of defense +5, a weaker AC by 1 and an additional 12000 gp to spend. Would you allow Divine Shield to work with it?... ah, damn. I just noticed that Divine Might requires Power Attack, which Lianne doesn't have! She could get PA at 15th, Divine Might at 18th and drop Extra Turning...It's probably simpler/cleaner/fairer to go with the first build, without arcane duelist levels. Lower AC, but you could easily bump it up at least partially with a slightly different item selection. Just changing the divine favour item from +3 to +2 gives you back 25000 gp... It still won't be 50, but it won't be bad either. The two levels freed up by dumping arcane duelist should be Pal levels, I think: another smite evil, and a benevolent DM might allow the player to swap out the warhorse for something else, like a divine feat (I would).BTW, the first post has a mistake too: she can't take Combat Expertise as her Iai4 bonus feat, since she's not smart enough. Make it Dodge or Skill Focus (iaijutsu focus).</blockquote>

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