True Templars and Stunning Smites

[Carpe DM]

I was fiddling about with the idea of a "True Templar" -- that is, a mix of monk and paladin levels leading up to the Templar prestige class that would represent the mix of holy orders and fighting discipline that the warrior monks originally used.

I noticed something odd, though, which I'm sure you've all noticed some time back: with a Ki weapon, a Monk - Templar could deliver a stun with a regular weapon, and the DC continues to rise with the character's level progression.

Thus:

Monk 1 / Paladin 5 / Templar 8, with spirited charge could deliver x3 damage, stun, and (with pain touch) leave the stunned target nauseated for the next round after the ride-by attack. Rinse and repeat.

And the Templar's feat progression, extra spell slots for low-level Pal. spells (which are all the good ones anyway), and smite progression don't leave the character out in the cold either.

That's pretty scary.

Edit --

By the way, has anyone tried the Divine Metamagic / Quicken Spell / Extra Turning route for a Paladin - style character? It seems to me that the ability to turn on Holy Sword or Divine Sacrifice as a free action would be pretty darn useful.

Carpe

 

[Aust Diamondew]

If by "fighting discipline that the warrior monks originally used" you are refering to the Knights Templar, the order of warrior monks who existed during the middle ages, I don't think a level of monk would do good in representing how they fought.

Other than that it sounds interesting and quite powerful.

 

[Deset Gled]

By the way, has anyone tried the Divine Metamagic / Quicken Spell / Extra Turning route for a Paladin - style character? It seems to me that the ability to turn on Holy Sword or Divine Sacrifice as a free action would be pretty darn useful.

I looked into it this briefly when I first started reading CD. It can be a rather nice combination, but I think it's just too expensive to make it work. Every time you use the Divine Metamagic feat with Quicken, it's going to cost you 5 turning attempts. That's an awful lot for one free action. It might come in really handy every once in a while, but isn't something you're going to be able to use very often. And spending three feats on a chain you can only use a couple of times a day at most is an pretty big cost. Doubly so for the paladin, whose feats are few and highly valuable.

 

[Sejs]

Other than that it sounds interesting and quite powerful.

Having played one (Valentine), I can say that yes - Monkadins are very fun.

Edit/Additional: Though I havn't tried one with the Templar bit mixed in yet, I'll admit.

 

[Carpe DM]

Having played this out more completely, there's another hidden drawback to the quicken / extra turn / divine meta combo: With that many non-fighter selectable feats, you're going to backload the payoff in the character.

If you go monk 1 / Pal 5 / Temp 8 you'll complete the payoff by 14th level, which I think is about the best you can do.

Of course, this leaves you vulnerable to "What next" phenomenon: you can't go back to monk, or pal, and you're rapidly running out of Templar levels. The full progression for 20 levels would be monk 2 / Pal 8 / Temp. 10, but of course that would delay the payoff of your last figher feat until 18th level.

Edit:

I should add, though, you can do the important stuff by 12th level, if you're willing to put your 8th level Templar extra feat into some other random fighter-feat (such as weapon-focus, Lance, in preparation for Cavalier).