Shieldbearer and 1H Barb

[Manty5]

I'm posting this while trying it out so that I can share the idea and get feedback on it as well.

 

Maybe build posts should come in 2's, since that number lets you have 4 of the written NPC's per playthrough.  Also, 1/3 of your party will be built your way, allowing for builds that work well together.

 

 

 

"Face" Character: Tanky Shieldbearer Paladin.    Race:  Moon Godlike.

Str: 11  Dex: 4  Con: 9

Int: 20  Per: 17  Res: 17  

 

I believe the Shieldbearer of St. Elga to be the best paladin you can have for a player-character, with great int/per/res for conversations and the acc/def bonuses help the other character a lot.  The STR is for the healing waves, the INT is for max duration on the deflection bonus and max AOE for the aura and moon healing.  Might is enough to make the healing worthwhile.  The build can be made more effective with 18's in per/res taken from might, con or int.

 

Weapon mix:  A one-handed weapon or a ranged weapon(some players like to open combat with a ranged volley) for landing hits with shielding flames, and a weapon/shield mix for tanking because paladin shields are awesome (at least I've heard that both the beginning game one and the endgame one are).   Consider using a flail(graze2hits), since the class itself only has average accuracy and grazing on your shielding flames strike is a bad idea.  Choose Zealous focus for accuracy, shielding flames for deflection, and choose your other talents for even more deflection.

 

Your attacks will be very slow, but you only need to land 2 good ones to keep the deflection bonus rolling.  I've heard there are armors that can grant riposte.  Grab the heaviest one of those you can find.

 

Hireling:  Speed/Finesse Barbarian (Hearth Orlan, 1-handed style).  Freed slave from the Deadfire Archipelago.

Str: 16  Dex: 19  Con: 10

Int: 18  Per: 5  Res: 10

The goal of this character is to generate lots of accurate hits, seeking to spread weapon-based maladies via crits (which raise the duration by 50%)  It gets that accuracy through the paladin's aura, one-handed weapon style with accurate weapon types that also have disabling or debuffing conditions, and reducing enemy defences through Brute Force->Threatening presence.   Accurate Carnage and Vulnerable Attack for damage improvement, The Hold the Line and One Stands Alone combo for even more damage, and Bloody Slaughter.  Once you have bloody slaughter you can have your party target the high-hp enemies while carnage criticals kill the wounded.

Fairly common disabling weapon enchantments include:

* -5 to all defenses(which is effectively a +5 acc bonus for every party member, including you and yorur carnage)

* Stun on Crit(glorious)

* Lifesteal

 

The first two are enhanced by your high INT score.  There are some weapons that cast offensive spells on crit as well.

 

I initially thought to make him a moonlike with 19int 20dex, but I already have one of those for the other char and there's only so much cheese a man can stand.  Sorry.

Edited April 7, 2015 by Manty5