smite good BG build

[frightnight]

can anyone with experience help me here or via pm with a smite good based BG build? kind of at a loss as to how to make this work effectively..esp considering bg kind of get the short end of the stick in this regard....does arelith have *any* good align mobs i could even use this on while leveling?

[Ferret Roll]

I don't believe there are any good aligned creatures that you can fight while leveling. Really, nothing in the module jumps out to me as being a good aligned npc that you can fight, unless you take to fighting friendly npcs inside settlements (which opens an entirely different can of worms).

[CragOneEye]

Yeah think closest get to that are the giant eagles and fey in Minmir.

[Razmo_de]

Really, nothing in the module jumps out to me as being a good aligned npc that you can fight, unless you take to fighting friendly npcs inside settlements (which opens an entirely different can of worms).

Well, Bendir defenders do spawn in places, and they have decent loot. But yeah. Smite good lacks in a few areas. Mainly, you're just able to effectively leverage 20 levels for the damage aspect. And you just can get to a multiplier of 8. 8x20 = 160 dmg; that is not all that much.
You could go 6 fighter/5 WM (rapier)/19 BG for a good chance of a x3 crit too. 3x8x19=456, more like it. If you then add a few points base damage, and the 6d6 sneak attack to it, you're at ~500 dmg. So if you can sneak up the paladin and stealth-smite her from behind, you're at roughly 850-1150 damage from your three surprise smites.
Well, that will be the only thing you'll be good for, but hey.

[frightnight]

could 8 bard/22 blackguard work fo 352 damage on a crit? i could probably go for that... or is 8 bg/22 bg an inferior build in some way?

[frightnight]

is paladin/bg allowable on arelith? fallen paladins?

[CragOneEye]

Most you can do is 20 BG, BG caps at 10 lvls pre-epic

[frightnight]

paladin/bg out?

[CragOneEye]

that could work. I was thinking of doing something like that actually, someone who starts off as a pally of Kossuth, but then falls, but then regains favour with kossuth as a BG

[frightnight]

so fallen paladins are allowable on arelith? is there any mechanics nerfs that come with that? im assuming there is

[CragOneEye]

To be honest not sure if they are or aren't.

[The Man of the Moon]

is paladin/bg allowable on arelith? fallen paladins?

Brought through RP IG I think that could be, but mostly arranged with DMs aid for the alignement change and dunno if with penalties or not, anyway this is something you will need to figure IG or FOIG or whatever that was called...

And there could be some... but FOIG!

[Anime Sword Fighter]

Typically Paladins lose their Paladin levels when moving from LG to any other alignment.

[Razmo_de]

paladin/bg out?

To clearly answer that question, each of your character classes must be compatible with your alignment, at any given point in time (note that bards can also be lawful on arelith).
So a character that has paladin levels is always LG, and if that alignment should be changed by a DM (with or without the player asking for it), said character looses all conflicting levels. Similarly a blackguard is always evil.
To sum things up: Yes your character can be a paladin and a blackguard, but not both at the same point in time.
You could have some paladin levels, fall for murdering a kitten, and become a blackguard afterwards. Or vice versa, discovering your universal love for kittens and founding a kitten orphanage.

[DM_Ironfist]

is paladin/bg allowable on arelith? fallen paladins?

Blackguard/Paladin is an illegal build on Arelith.

More to the point, as soon as your Paladin is no longer LG aligned, they'll become an illegal character and forcibly have their Paladin levels removed. If their first level is Paladin, they will be deleted.

It ~is~ possible to play a Paladin, and then remake that same character as a not Paladin with a different alignment that then takes levels in blackguard. This is the closest you'll get.

[frightnight]

guess it was worth a try

[Oros]

I've done a smiter Blackguard. It didn't turn out as well as the average Paladin/CoT smiter, because BG can't grab the CoT smite feats, nor would CoT increase the smite damage like it would for Paladin. I'm not sure if CoT would increase Smite Good damage, but they can't be taken together anyways.

[frightnight]

is there any point to playing a bg beyond 3 levels?

[Razmo_de]

is there any point to playing a bg beyond 3 levels?

You want to take divine might AND divine shield? The 4th level even gives you 1d6 sneaks. And yes, 4 levels in a full BAB class.
Hmm. 19 Assassin/4 BG/7 rogue. 15d6 death attack like a full rogue, while having 4 attacks and the CHA stuff.
And maybe, at some point, BG summons get fixed.

[CragOneEye]

There is nasty fiend summon, if go for 10 BG, plus warrior class AB. It all depends on build and character concept.

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

Bard13/BG10/WM7
Key Highlights:

5th Level Bard Spells (Healing, buffs, debuffs) assuming you have a high enough charisma modifier for bonus spells (You're playing a smiter, you will.)
Bard Song AND Curse Song (provides you with +2 to attack and the enemy with -2 AC, which stack for a 4 point swing in your favor)
4 attacks/round unhasted (wait until epic levels to grab your last 3 bard levels to maximize this potential at +17 BAB instead of +16)
3d6 sneak attack
Extended and Enhanced Crits on your smites - I recommend one of the one-handed axes.
Fiend summon

Sadly, you cannot stack Ki Critical with Smite, but just imagine the havoc...

[one day remains]

Only instance of this I've ever seen work affectively was a 20 bg 4 rogue 6 fighter who used a keen scimitar. In PvP against good characters? He was insane. Like literally I watched him kill a group of epic pals barely taking a scratch.

That said against non-good characters? Still a bg fighter so he retained a decent fighting-ness and had good stats. So while he wasn't the "best" he could still divine might shield for 60 ac and pump out 50 damage a hit 4 times a round without sneaks. You unfortunately just lose out on epic feats so lose 2-4 AB, 2 natural ac, 10 disc, 2 tumble ac, late level skill dumping... That said if you're prepared to lose that and plan your build around it? It's still not a bad build normally and can quite literally 1-2 hit good creates/players.

[Razmo_de]

Only instance of this I've ever seen work affectively was a 20 bg 4 rogue 6 fighter who used a keen scimitar. [...] . You unfortunately just lose out on epic feats so lose 2-4 AB, 2 natural ac, 10 disc, 2 tumble ac, late level skill dumping... That said if you're prepared to lose that and plan your build around it? It's still not a bad build normally and can quite literally 1-2 hit good creates/players.

In that case, I'd drop 1 bg level for a tumble dump in the epic levels. 19 BG still gives 3 bonus feats, while loosing only 5% smityness.