Need idea for deathknight

[wolf0013]

Hey, I want to play a deathknight as my next toon, I know it might not be the most powerful, but I lke it, I had a dragon soc/sandshaper before, and I this campain I had a catfolk fighter who got killed, my current is a raptorian-lothtouched warblade/fighter. so i play what I feel would be fun to play. But I still wanted to make it as good as posible.

So I am now playing to do a deathknight, once we hit level 10. Can be of any race and class. and only withthe help of 3.5 books, no campainsetting. Hope you can help

[sirpercival]

So is death knight the concept?  Or are you doing a Krynn Death Knight?

[johnboy069]

Maybe a Crusader/Dread Necromancer would work. WRT is good for motivating your minions.

[sirpercival]

You said no campaign-specific stuff?  Or just that the game isn't in a specific setting?  Basically, can you play a Bone Knight?

[altpersona]

necropolitan?

[wolf0013]

It going to be a toon around the deathknight templet from monster manual 2.

But not Dragonlance, forgoten relms or ebberon is allowed

[sirpercival]

How does your DM deal with level adjustments?  Death Knight from MM2 has an LA of +5.

[wolf0013]

Full and hard, A LA

We are running with joined xp so to say, so we are all the same level and gain the same amount of xp

So any Death knight would be a effectiv level of 6, 5 for level LA and 1 from class level

[sirpercival]

Then... don't do it.  You'll be so far behind everyone else that you'll never catch up.  +5 LA is just not worth it.  You can play an undead knight no problem, just don't do that template.

[wolf0013]

I know it is not the most perfect build I know: But I do love all the fluff around the knight and that they are kind of the melee version of lichs, so I was wondering if there was anyway to do this,

I know I can do the who necro templet for zero LA, but cant seem to give it the same things as the Death knight has.

I like the idea of commanding undead as a frontline commander.

[sirpercival]

What is it that you like about the death knight?  Commanding undead armies from the front lines can be done with Undead Leadership and a white raven warblade or crusader.  You could do stuff with a dread necro or a death master as well.

[wolf0013]

I like that they gain free undeads, imune to turning and DR and SR.

Also I havent played the many campains, last campain my first toon lastet the intier campain. so I do not know how to play that many difrence classes

[altpersona]

+5 LA is an online poli sci degree from a Sealand college. (Sealand doesnt seem to have an established education system, primary or secondary)

[sirpercival]

Alright, you want an undead master who leads from the vanguard and puts the beatdown on people.  I have an idea for a build for you, based on my Bardic Necromancer build, using Song of the White Raven and DFI.

The next question is, how high is the optimization level of your party?  I mean, is becoming a Necropolitan and spellstitching yourself too high-op?

[wolf0013]

we are currenty just level 4, which i why i dont plan to use this guy here before level 10.

But we have a mixed party, from 2 noobs me and a friend of mine, to old vetercans who have played a long time. and we have a good DM ajucts the CR to the party, but is still hard on us, he has allready killed two toons, and it was with melee attacks on the people with the highest AC.

But anything is legal, as long as it is 3.5. But it still has to be something to is fun to play with ^^

[altpersona]

this is for a second character, not a build for the one you are playing, right?

[wolf0013]

that it is, I was feeling it was a bit out of my leauge still, so is waiting with it. But I would like to have it as a backup, as I know our GM is a killer

[sirpercival]

Alright, here's my suggested build.  Do you get flaws?  There are a few more nice feats you could get, but these are the essentials.

NE Necropolitan Spellscale Bard 1/Warblade 5/Dirgesinger 4

Feats:
1st - Dragonfire Inspiration
3rd - Song of the White Raven
6th - Requiem, bonus warblade feat
9th - Undead Leadership

You want your cohort to be a Spellstitched Necropolitan Lesser Aasimar Cleric X, with a wisdom of at least 18 (should be doable easily).  You give it Animate Dead and Revive Undead as two of its SLAs.  When you reach 11th level, you take the 5th level of Dirgsinger.

Now you have several ways to make undead. 

1.  You can attract undead followers with Leadership.
2.  Your cohort can Animate Dead for free as an SLA 4/day.
3.  Your cohort can command undead using its turning abilities.
4.  When you have the Song of Awakening (from Dirgesinger 5), you have access to the most wonderfully broken Undead-creating combo in the game.  Whenever you kill a foe that you think would be nice to have as an undead minion, you animate it with Song of Awakening.  Then you kill it again, and have your cohort use Revive Undead on it (with no material component as an SLA).  Then it is yours forever, with all its SLAs, supernatural abilities, and class features.

After Dirgesinger 5, you continue with Warblade.  You have great fighting capability with your maneuvers, and you can use Dragonfire Inspiration on all your undead minions within range to make them dragonfire-wielding monstrosities.

How does that sound?

[Bauglir]

If you absolutely must take Death Knight, talk to your DM about letting the LA count as non-initiating class levels for the purposes of calculating your initiator level (it seems like it is in-line with the intent, which is to allow you to keep getting level appropriate abilities), and be a Crusader. sirpercival offers a suggestion that is probably superior in every way, though, and you can still call yourself a death knight and change not one whit of your character's story.

[wolf0013]

sirper, while it looks qicked, I dont think my DM will allow it, think i will have a hard to if not imposible to talk him into find that kind of cohort,

but the class also have to be able to work witht he rest of the party


Banglir, will hav to hear him about that with initiator levels