Paladin of Tyranny Advice!

[Satori]

My goal is to create a functional, 6th level Paladin of Tyranny (Unearthed Arcana) style build to serve as a front line tank/fighter. The end result should be reliable in melee and survivable against magic.

Books Allowed: Complete Warrior/Divine/Arcane/Adventurer, Expanded Psionics Handbook, Races of Faerun.

NO TOMB OF BATTLE!

Here is my build skeleton so far...

Paladin of Tyranny 4/Fighter 2/Blackguard 10

Stat importance: Str>Con>Cha>Wis>Dex>Int

Feats: Power Attack, Divine Might, Divine Shield, Improved Buckler Defense, Improved Sunder

Equipment: Lots of Armor, Buckler, Falchion (I like Crits and Two Handed Weapons...helps for Sundering too)

The idea here is to create a heavy hitting, damage soaking tank that has high saves and limited immunities (fear, disease, etc...).

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This is all I have so far. Any improvements? Criticisms? Adjustments? Modifications to classes? Must have races? Equipment requirements?

In other words, how would you build a Paladin/Anti Paladin style build?

 

[DarkJester]

Three levels of hexblade would make it very difficult to fail a save. Possibly try to trade out your mount for a variant if you don't plan on making use of it.

 

[Endur]

Paladin of Tyranny 6/Blackguard 10

Extra Smiting is the most powerful feat a Paladin variant can get and you can take the feat multiple times.

High charisma for the smite bonus. High charisma also helps your saving throws.

Feats:
1: Power Attack
1: Cleave
3: Improved Sunder
6: Extra smiting
9: Extra smiting
12: Extra Smiting
15: Extra Smiting

 

[Satori]

Dark Jester: I thought about adding Hexblade levels, but I didn't want to incur XP penalties or forestall getting into Blackguard. I'll have to look into a 2 or 3 level dip, though. Do you agree with Blackguard for a Prestige Class, or would you take the PC into another path?

Endur: I agree, Smiting rocks However, one thing I noticed is that a Paladin of Tyranny gets "Smite Good"...the campaign we play in is a very stereotypical "Adventurers Against the Bad Guys" style game. Rather than play yet another good guy, I thought an Anti Hero would be a bit more fun. Unfortunately, there are very few "Good" enemies to smite in this campaign, so my smiting ability is a bit gimped. Do you know of any feats/Prestige Classes that allow different uses of "Smite" (like Divine feats)? Of course, I could always try to convince my DM to allow "Smite Chaos" (which makes sense).

Thanks for the tips, guys, and please keep them coming!

 

[DarkJester]

I'd go Paladin of Tyranny 4 Hexblade 2 Fighter 4 Blackguard 10 (though probably not in that order). You would never ever fail a save if you had anywhere near a good charisma with Dark Blessing + Arcane Resistance + Divine Grace. Grab divine might and extra turning to maximize the charisma synergy. Heroes of Horror has the Dread Commando prc if you could get access to that. One of its abilities allows you to be sneaky even in full plate.

 

[Darklone]

If you go Hexblade, you might add in Arcane Strike if you somehow manage to fulfill the prerequisites (IIRC arcane 3rd level spells?). It's not much but it helps.

Since your striking is gimped, why not ftr4/pal(tyr) and heading with blackguard levels towards Melee Weapon Mastery?

 

[DarkJester]

Since your striking is gimped, why not ftr4/pal(tyr) and heading with blackguard levels towards Melee Weapon Mastery?

That was my idea behind the 4 fighter levels as well, so I'll second this.

 

[Seeten]

Paladin of Tyranny 4/Hexblade 2/Blackguard is what I did, Tyranny aura causes save penalty, hexblade curse causes save penalty, nice synergy, and I went with high stat Cha/Str/Con/Wis/Dex/Int, crazy saves, mettle, divine might, divine shield, etc.

I enjoyed it as a very defensive fighter with the ability to max out melee attacks with divine might/smite.

 

[Satori]

Wow, great advice guys! Thanks!

One question, though.

I'm having issues figuring out how to use Smite Good in your typical "Fight the Evil Guys" adventures. Aside from getting my DM to allow "Smite Chaos" (most evil mooks are C/E), is there any way to get some use out of "Smite Good"? Otherwise, it becomes a useless ability when it should create a serious "Limit Break" ability in combat.

 

[Darklone]

Aren't there some variants that give up the Smite ability?