Goliath Shock Trooper Paladin

[Agnostic Paladin]

The first one of my potential builds for my Saturday night game is ready. It changed a lot from first conception to now, but this seems to be an interesting, if incredibly brittle glass cannon.

Currently 3,000 xp short of 11th level (bought off the LA)

Goliath, worshipper of Kord

Str 25 (27 with equipment)
Dex 10 (12 with equipment)
Con 20
Int 10
Wis 18
Cha 8

Martial Rogue 1 / Paladin of Freedom 2 / Goliath M Rogue +2 / PoF +2 / Pious Templar 3

MR1: Power Attack
1: True Believer
3: Knight Training (Rogue)
MR3: Improved Bull Rush
6: Serenity
P4: Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
9: Shock Trooper
PT3: Weapon Specialization (Greatsword)

+1 Large Silvered Valorous Brutal Surge Greatsword (3d6 damage, double damage on charge, can bull rush an enemy that is hit without having to follow to get maximum distance)
Wearing +2 Full Plate, Belt of the Champion, Third Eye Surge, Brute Gauntlets (of Dex), Torc of the Titans, Prefect's Vestments w/ NA +1, and a Ring of Protection +1

Overall, I'll be able to knock things around pretty good (although power attacks are going to miss fairly often), but my AC is a joke; anything I don't knock down / away / kill is going to beat my head in.

Intending to max out M.Rogue 5 / Paladin of F. 5 / Pious Templar 10
(Although the temptation to dip into Goliath Barbarian 1 for pounce once I get another iterative might be tempting at some point.)

Took Holy Warrior ACF @ Pally 1 for the extra feat. Pious Templar spellcasting advances faster than Paladin and an extra martial feat seems more useful than an extra two first level spells per day.

Using the Martial Rogue variant to get feats, needed skills, and desired skill tricks: Twisted Charge, Nimble Charge, and Extreme Leap

Goliath Rogue 2 and 3 for the hit die bump, and Mettle of the Mountain is much more useful than Evasion; especially for a heavy armour character. (And isn't exactly the same as the Pious Templar Mettle.)

As he's built now, I'm not sure that there's a good enough Divine Feat to use all those Turn Attempts on, but I don't see any ACF to trade it off for. Divine Fortune will open up at Pious Templar 5, which I can hit at level 12, which might be a good use for them.

I'm not 100% sure which way to go when he hits 11 though; there's multiple options vying for attention.

I'll get Charging Smite, along with a second smite evil / day at Paladin 5, but need to get Rogue 4 first.

Rogue 4 gets Uncanny Dodge (useless), and Rogue 5 gets another feat - at the cost of a second lost BAB.

Pious Templar 4 will get me another feat, as will PT 8. PT 6 & 10 are more smites / day which are useful.

I'm especially not sure how far I should be looking to take Pious Templar; is there any other Prestige Class that would be worth switching over to while still getting spellcasting to 10?

[Empirate]

I'll get Charging Smite, along with a second smite evil / day at Paladin 5

This caught my attention. You're going for a charge build, but intentionally delay Charging Smite?! I'd say get as many Pally levels as soon as possible, to max that charge damage, and definitely take Extra Smite a couple times. I'm not too sure what good Pious Templar is doing you, either. Seems like it's much too similar to more Paladin levels to be worth two very subpar feats.

[Agnostic Paladin]

Pious Templar caught my eye because it has faster caster progression than Pally proper, along with bonus feats and a second smite progression - Pious Templar 10 / Holy Warrior Paladin 5 will have two more smites, four more feats (plus a two feat tax), and 2 more spells (2nd & 3rd) than a Paladin 15 with spells. Also Mettle, a couple points of DR and improved Will save; in exchange he's losing Remove Disease.

I tried to mitigate the feat tax as much as possible by going Pally of Freedom so I could worship Kord to get greatsword as my favored weapon and get the full effect from the belt of the champion.

As for delaying Charging Smite, it's mainly because I'll have to take Rogue 4 before Paladin 5.

[Jackinthegreen]

Why exactly do you need Rogue 4 first?  The feat?  Charging Smite is definitely worth a feat and perhaps more.

[Agnostic Paladin]

To avoid XP penalties.

[Jackinthegreen]

Ah, your DM is one of those twits...  Good luck with that!

[Agnostic Paladin]

It's a very RAW-oriented game; which is a large part of what led to it becoming as char op focused as it is I think. I'll live with xp penalty avoidance when it means that I was able to get away with DMM abuse all summer.

[Mixster]

Why greatsword? Why not something with reach? Anything you charge that's bigger than Medium (depending on the interpretation of Goliath, you could have 10ft reach so let's say huge+), Will get an attack of opportunity on you that could shut you down.

Most charger builds want pounce since it increases their damage output by a ludicrous amount.

If going stricly RAW you cannot take a level in paladin, then another class and then rogue. Which you seem to be doing.

[Agnostic Paladin]

Why greatsword? Why not something with reach? Anything you charge that's bigger than Medium (depending on the interpretation of Goliath, you could have 10ft reach so let's say huge+), Will get an attack of opportunity on you that could shut you down.

I don't know any deities that have a reach weapon as favoured, and I wanted to get something out of that stupid true believer feat; and the belt's relic ability is decent.

Most charger builds want pounce since it increases their damage output by a ludicrous amount.

Pounce would crank his effectiveness up a lot, but I wasn't trying to go completely insane with his damage potential.

If going strictly RAW you cannot take a level in paladin, then another class and then rogue. Which you seem to be doing.

I completely forgot about that. Crap. I guess I'll have to rework either without the Rogue levels (difficult to overcome skill / feat requirements without them) or maybe replace the Paladin levels with Barbarian. Losing the heavy armour will mean changing his stats to actually have a Dex mod though...

Egh. I'll figure it out tomorrow instead.

[kitcik]

I don't know any deities that have a reach weapon as favoured, and I wanted to get something out of that stupid true believer feat; and the belt's relic ability is decent.

Kossuth (F&P / DR325) Spiked Chain
Zoser (Sand) Spiked Chain
Wastri (CDiv, LGG, DR 323) Guisarme

[Agnostic Paladin]

A god of fire elementals, a god of sandstorms, and the human god of racism who thinks that dwarves and elves should all be killed.

I'm not sure I'm a good enough bullshitter to find a way to make a Paladin or Paladin of Freedom who could draw the holy power to make the world a better place from those gods. Especially as a non-human character

[kitcik]

A god of fire elementals, a god of sandstorms, and the human god of racism who thinks that dwarves and elves should all be killed.

I'm not sure I'm a good enough bullshitter to find a way to make a Paladin or Paladin of Freedom who could draw the holy power to make the world a better place from those gods. Especially as a non-human character

So sad for you then.

Admittedly, making racism "good" is a stretch that I don't think I want to prop.

Simply, the first two could be seen as scourging the land clean. This is an age old concept. Kossuth specifically believes in purification through fire.

[Jackinthegreen]

I completely forgot about that. Crap. I guess I'll have to rework either without the Rogue levels (difficult to overcome skill / feat requirements without them) or maybe replace the Paladin levels with Barbarian. Losing the heavy armour will mean changing his stats to actually have a Dex mod though...

Egh. I'll figure it out tomorrow instead.

If it wasn't for your lack of Sneak Attack I'd say Devoted Inquisitor might work.  However, there is another feat called Knight Training which should work for you.

[Agnostic Paladin]

Thanks Jack; I should have realized Eberron had a feat like that since I had recently used the monk equivalent for another build I'm working on.

So, I'll write him up with that feat at 3rd, move Serenity to 6 and live without Pushback for now. And I'll check on Saturday if we enforce the no-multiclassing Paladins and Monks rules; if not, I can quickly switch them back around.

[Jackinthegreen]

If you can swing Jotunbrud as qualifying you for Whoops, you're already a Goliath.  No worries on getting Knockback as a superior feat to Pushback.

[Agnostic Paladin]

That is better than Pushback. I mustn't have switched to Goliath yet when I was reading through all the PA-prerequisite feats, because that qualifies him. The Brutal Surge weapon is producing a very similar effect for the moment though.