Give me your opinion on this paladin-warlock-ur priest-eldritch disciple build!

[xzyx]

So, I've started playing a campaign with some friends recently; we've only played a single session, and altough I was quite happy with my character (a not too cheesy venerable dragonwrought desert kobold sorcerer- incantantrix that does not use most of the associated cheese, but I still fear he is too powerful for the campaign), but I have recently had a good idea for a new character and might change it, as it integrates better with the campaign.

We are playing a really roleplay-heavy campaign, and combat doesn't show up very often (but it can be quite unforgiving when it does, as the party isn't very well integrated and each person ends up looking for itself most of the time). The setting involves all religions but Pelor ending and the Church of Pelor becoming a gigantic organization very similar to what the Catholic Church has been in european medieval time (has inquisition and such; any kind of arcanist is usually hunted to death quite quickly).


So I had this crazy idea: I'd make a deep character (my DM fancies well made character concepts and is good on integrating them in the world, and can be forgiving on some requirements for that to work)- he would be a paladin of Pelor, working for the inquisition, but wouldn't have any spell because he is too fanatical (kind of representing the church of pelor is going astray from its ideals, and he is defined by this moral decadence). He thinks he is extremely Good but ends up making evil acts (by our modern view) most of the time. And he has a dark side with weird powers that manifests itself as he levels (his warlock levels), so he'll have to deal with it sometime in the future and that'll probably define him.


Now, for mechanics!
I am quite sure my DM will allow me to flexibilize the alignement requirements for Paladin, Ur-priest and warlock - so I might make him Chaotic Good or Loyal Evil (I ain't very good on D&D alignements, so I don't really know which one represents this character better).

He's Human, and I've got pretty good dice (If I remember well, I got 18, 17, 16, 16, 14, 9)

So I'm thinking of:

STR 14
DEX 9 (my first increment will go here, to make it 10)
CON 16
INT 16
WIS 18
CHA 17

His levels are as follows, so far:


Warlock 1

Spell Focus (evil or whatever else the DM chooses) and Iron Will - See the unseen

SKILLS:Bluff 4/Knowledge (Arcana) 4/ Knowledge (Planes) 4/Spellcraft 4/Knowledge (Religion) 4/Use magic device 4

Paladin 1

SKILLS:Knowledge (Religion) 5/Bluff 5/Knowledge (Planes) 5/Knowledge (Arcana) 5

Paladin 2
SKILLS:Knowledge (Religion) 6/Bluff 6/Sense motive 4

Divine grace

Extend Spell


Paladin 3
SKILLS:Knowledge (Religion) 7/Sense motive 7/Use magic device 5

Warlock 2
All seeing eyes (comprehend languages on written material +6 spot and search), beguiling influence  (+6 intimidate, diplomacy, bluff) or Otherworldly whispers (+6 on 3 good knowledges, and flavour for listening voices ^^)

SKILLS: Spellcraft 8/ Knowledge (Religion) 8/Use magic device 8

Ur-Priest 1

 I will probably continue buffing up social skills and knowledges, and, well, have cleric spells.

Ur-Priest 1

The same, plus Rebuke Undead.

Eldritch Disciple 1 till' 9

I keep advancing Ur-Priest and warlock on eldritch disciple, to get 9th level cleric spells by level 17 (I loose the first divine caster level on Eldritch disciple) and up to greater invocations, plus the ability to put blast essences in my spells (I was thinking of combining Noxious Blast and Holy Sword -or any weapon buff, really- to make all my attacks provoque fort. saves on enemys and, on fails, make them nauseated). Also, persisting divine power and some other buff (visage of the deity for CHA bonus, or holy sword from the glory domain- as tecnically my deity is Pelor and I should have acess to his domain as a ur-priest, I guess).


I intend to get these feats:

1- Spell Focus (evil) e Iron Will

3-Extend Spell

6-Persist Spell

9-Divine metamagic (persist)

12-Armoured Caster - Warlock

15-Practiced Spellcaster (Ur-Priest)

Is it too cheesy/worth it to go 1 more level of paladin to get 3+CHA turn undeads (so I'd 6 turns and 6 rebukes) and the Holy Warrior to get and Extra Turning feat so I could persist 2 spells?
I'm afraid I might loose too many caster levels, as it is very likely the campaign will end mid levels, tough we me begin another one from there.

Also, can the Ur-Priest get spells from cleric domains?

Should I get a Paladin of Tyranny? makes sense and fits with the character, but I am not sure it will be very useful.

I don't really intend on using eldritch glaive or anything too showy as they may think I'm an arcanist (and it's not really wrong) and try to execute me or something like that before it is time. Also, it is possible that this restriction gets better as the campaign progresses, but there are no guarantees.

I have acess to all books we have: that is, all "Complete X" (except for psionics stuff), players guide and campaign setting to Faerun, all core, oriental adventures and some minor books (like Masters of the Wild and such, nothing too interesting or I'd remember), but I may be able to talk into getting something from other books. Players handbook II may be used too, I think.

So, min-maxers, mind giving me a bit of feedback? ^^

[xzyx]

Oh, and I forgot to add: we are starting at level 2, there are no psionics and the only houserules I've seen so far are banning inexpensive material components for spells and (outside of combat-heavy sessions) wizards and clerics do not need to prepare spells. This might seem like big, but isn't as much, since it is mostly so they can use their spells without having to predict they'll interrogate someone or something like that later.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

Does the spontaneous casting also apply to your Ur-Priest casting?

[xzyx]

Yes, it does. The DM doesn't like much this "prepared spells" concept, so it applies to all prepared spells. I think he'd take it even from combat situations if it didn't break the game so much.

[Unbeliever]

Yes, it does. The DM doesn't like much this "prepared spells" concept, so it applies to all prepared spells. I think he'd take it even from combat situations if it didn't break the game so much.

I've found spontaneous casting doesn't really increase caster's power, and may lead to more flavorful characters in practice.  Provided, of course, that they have a rough theme or at least a spell list shorter than the Spell Compendium that they are going to cast from. 

I think Paladin of Tyranny might be nice for the saving throw penalty, and it kind of fits with what you're going for.  Overall, I dig it.  Though,I couldn't tell from your description:  is the Ur-Priest and Warlock manifestations of a weird power taking interest in him?  Another thought might be that the Warlock levels are his innate spellcasting, which he's actively suppressing since it's evil and corrupting, leaking out. 

The game is low powered, so I think you'll be fine.  I'd miss Eldritch Glaive, personally, as I think it defines the melee warlock.  But, you're sort of going a different way with it.  I'd still maybe ask your DM about reflavoring it.  Priests of Pelor have to use flaming swords or fire substituted Ice Axes all the time, right?  If so, then you'll want Power Attack. 

Besides that, given that it's a low-powered game I think mechanically you'll be reasonably solid.  I'd definitely look into Persist Spell or the Devotion Feats.  Your concept is a front-line fighter, but you don't have a lot of the standard front-line fighter stuff, so you'll have to make up for it with your other abilities.  Being able to stun people you hit with your Blast Invocations and various Cleric buffs should help you there.  As should Persistent Divine Power as that turns you into a faux warrior.

[xzyx]

Yes, it does. The DM doesn't like much this "prepared spells" concept, so it applies to all prepared spells. I think he'd take it even from combat situations if it didn't break the game so much.

I've found spontaneous casting doesn't really increase caster's power, and may lead to more flavorful characters in practice.  Provided, of course, that they have a rough theme or at least a spell list shorter than the Spell Compendium that they are going to cast from. 

I think Paladin of Tyranny might be nice for the saving throw penalty, and it kind of fits with what you're going for.  Overall, I dig it.  Though,I couldn't tell from your description:  is the Ur-Priest and Warlock manifestations of a weird power taking interest in him?  Another thought might be that the Warlock levels are his innate spellcasting, which he's actively suppressing since it's evil and corrupting, leaking out. 

The game is low powered, so I think you'll be fine.  I'd miss Eldritch Glaive, personally, as I think it defines the melee warlock.  But, you're sort of going a different way with it.  I'd still maybe ask your DM about reflavoring it.  Priests of Pelor have to use flaming swords or fire substituted Ice Axes all the time, right?  If so, then you'll want Power Attack. 

Besides that, given that it's a low-powered game I think mechanically you'll be reasonably solid.  I'd definitely look into Persist Spell or the Devotion Feats.  Your concept is a front-line fighter, but you don't have a lot of the standard front-line fighter stuff, so you'll have to make up for it with your other abilities.  Being able to stun people you hit with your Blast Invocations and various Cleric buffs should help you there.  As should Persistent Divine Power as that turns you into a faux warrior.

You got it quite right ^^ The warlock levels are his innate spellcasting he can't really deal with (as it is arcane and therefore, evil in his eyes). His Ur-Priest casting comes from his frustration from not being able to cast spells; he wanted to be a cleric, but as his faith is blind, he's not awarded with favors from Pelor (who is, as I interpret it, kind of seeing his sheep go astray). As such, he developed inconsciously a way to tap into divine power and cast it. So, he believes himself to be a faithful servant of Pelor but in reality, he's quite the opposite (which will, I hope, lead to interesting character development ahead).

I really like the idea of eldritch glaive being flamig pelor-like weapons. I may even try that for the whole eldritch blast (so it does not become a useless feature -as the character would never use it willingfully).

About power attack, I really wanted it but couldn't find anywhere I could place it; I'm relying on armoured caster because I'm not sure if I can trust that there will be enough magic itens to justify the aquisition of a Robe of the Archmagi or similar, and dropping either divine meta-persist or practiced spellcaster will undermine me a lot in the late game. Do you have any suggestions? What if I drop the 3 level of paladin and get a level of fighter?

Also, I'm wondering if I should get one more level of paladin, so get both Turn Undead and Rebuke Undead, and use both for divine meta-persist. What do you guys think?


Also, faux warrior coupled with Surge of Fortune must be an interesting combination ^^

[Jackinthegreen]

Get a Nightstick from Libris Mortis which will give you +4 Rebuke Undead.  Depending on how one interprets the wording, if you got both Turn and Rebuke it would give you +4 to each.

Which kind of paladin are you using?  The variants from the SRD are worth looking at.  There are also some good/neutral versions from Dragon Magazine 310 page 47, and evil versions from 312, page 18.  If any tickle your fancy, chat with your DM about them.

For more ACF's, check http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=b3cofcunvjgqqts7s570inec31&topic=7908.0

I believe you want the Battle Caster feat, yes?  Don't bother with it.  Medium armor will usually make such a small difference that it's not worth a feat.  And if you absolutely have to, there's a +3 enhancement called Lightweight that turns heavy armor into light for all purposes.  It's in a Faerun book if I recall correctly, so it might not be on the table.  I'll get back to you on that if you think it might be allowed.

By RAW only full clerics get access to domains from their deity, plus a few other classes and alternate features here and there.  Ur-Priests do not gain domain spells since they simply take divine power and aren't given it, but your DM might change things up for you.

[xzyx]

I avoided nightsticks because they are outside the allowed books AND extremely cheesy.

About domains, I suppose it makes sense that isn't allowed. I'll talk to the DM, anyway, but thanks ^^

I've seen all variants many times (I love variants hehe). I only planned on taking paladin of tyranny because fits well thematically and it ain't bad (can use that deadly touch of his in interrogation scenes, and deal raw, no-variables, damage in combat).

Where is this enchantment from? I've searched it but couldn't find it. But someone in some forum said it's psionic and so, I probably can't have it. Even if I could, it's not from the sanctioned books so I should avoid it.

Does medium armor makes such a small difference, really? I mean, beetween a chain shirt and a mithral full plate seems to be many precious AC points, and I'll need the defense. (ur-priest doesn't get nice shield and greater mage armour spells, sadly).

The only thing that worries me is: I fear I may turn out to be worse than a straight cleric - the spell progression will be pretty much the same, nulling the big "I get 9th level spells at level 15" advantage ur-priest usually has, and if I don't find a way to survive being in the frontline, then things will get bad quickly for me. Especially because I'll have lots of d8s, 2 d4s and 4 d10s of HP.

Any ideas to increase my defense?