I was talking to someone last night who had not played for a long time and was trying to remember and build some of the “Good Old Builds”. He had a build that was xp’ing on Sheelo Mt and was fairly effective, but I made one little suggestion that would greatly improve the effectiveness of his build and he was ready to feed his level 39 build to the shark. This got me thinking that many hours of frustration could be saved if people had a list of some of the simple but effective builds that they could reference.
So this post is for people to give some of their favorite classic builds. I’m not asking for your “SUPER SECRET UBER BUILD OF DEATH THAT NO ONE CAN TOUCH CAUSE IT’S SOOOO L33T!!!!!!11111” build, just the old classics that everyone should have in their stable.
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16 comments:
Wiz 37/pm 3 ftw!
LOL
Any player interested in eventual pvp needs to have the following builds in his arsenal:
- Mon20/Cle15/Sd5Or a variation of it like Jajus' and Mnich's Mon23/Cle12/Sd5 or Arikel's Mon18/Cle17/Sd5 that benefit a lot when Undeath's eternal foe AC boost was stacking
Pros* Fast like a rocket
* Good AB
* Awesome AC
* Enough SR to resist most spells of an unlucky wiz30/pm10
Cons* Relies heavily on buffs
- Wiz30/PM10The best build for farming boss drops.
Pros* Faces a few bosses without worrying about getting his ass deved
* Can solo in the mines, protected by EW and acid sheath, usually with enough HP to last a long time while casting numerous Firebrand spells
Cons* No spells, no damage shield = dead
- Any exalted mageIf you want to have a chance at grappling any monk that didn't get SR feats.
Pros* Enough caster levels to touch any racial SR build.
* Has a good chance to land spells successfully on a SR 60 monk.
Cons* If it's a char based sorc with 1 level of pally, it probably will have enough Fort to resist dev attacks but it can still take a lot of critical hits..
- Bard/Rdd/PMXp machine that kills trogs fairly easily..
Pros* Crit immune
* High AC
Cons- Average AB
- Only 4 attacks (hasted)
- Cle20/Bard4/PM16One of the best builds around..
Pros* Awesome AC
* Excellent AB when fully buffed
Cons* Relies too much on buffs
- Cle28/Bard2/RDD10One of my favorites. The monk basher.
Pros* Epic cleric. Which means his spells won't be dispelled by your main target, the regular monk/cle/sd
* Extended buffs last forever. You can do a round in the mines with 2 Divine Power, 2 Battletides, 4 or 5 Divine Favors and a few Prayers. But with your awesome AB, you'll need only the everlasting Divine Power and Battletides, with the first increasing your main attacks to 5 (hasted)
* Excellent AB to hit AC80 monks
Cons* Shit AC
Btw, this thing seems to be screwed up.. i hit enter when im writing stuff.. it appears alright in the preview but it ends up like that when I publish it..
bah.. must be game mistake :(
There's some more con's you forgot in the last few, anything without monk will have crap sr. Period, so it's screwed if it'd ever run into anything looking even slightly like a mage.
Personally I prefer the monk/cleric/wm (critmonk, dual kukri) as a variation on the sd build. Since it does TONS of more dmg compared to the wimpy dmg the sd will end up with, wich will rip apart anything without pm fast.
I usually prefer slight alterations of the usual classics, cause hey everyone has one already so why should I bother? PvP with classics is just trying to get lucky with having the right classic facing the right opponent, boooooring.
Ok, For me there are 2 “classic” builds. With these 2 builds you can kill almost every boss on the server and you’ll actually be someone that people will want around, instead of someone that makes people groan when they see you coming.
20 Monk, 15 Cleric, 5 Shadow Dancer
There are as many different variations on this build as there are stars in the sky, but here is how I make it. It’s EASY, it XP’s very fast, and it can kill many of the bosses (and some players) in the game.
The classic build (at least on Badlands) is made with a Human/Githzeria sub-race. That will give you a +2 to Wisdom and a +4 to Dex, as well as a minimum of 60 Spell Resistance at level 40. The drawbacks are that you get a -2 to Intelligence and it’s an ECL 2 sub-race, but I believe that these negatives are well worth the positives. There are 2 different schools of thought on how to distribute the ability points. Some put 18 in Dex, 16 in Wis and 12 Int. After the sub-race affects take place, you will have 22 Dex, 18 Wis and 10 Int. This will give you the most possible Dexterity but will leave you with a low number of Skill Points. Another way to distribute them is 16 Dex, 16 Wis, 10 Con and 14 Int. While this obviously drops your Dex by 2 and will cost you 1 pt of AC and AB, it will also net you 40 HP and 40 skill points. Either way, put all of your ability points from level 4 – 58 into Dex.
I get Plant and Trickery cleric domains. Plant gives access to the Bark Skin and Creeping Doom spells. Bark Skin is great for early AC and Creeping Doom, while TOTALLY NERFED by Q (I’m not bitter) is still a good PK spell. The Trickery domain gives you access to the Invisibility and Improved Invisibility spells. Invisibility is nice to have, and Improved Invisibility gives you 50% conceal after you make your first attack.
You need the feats Dodge & Mobility in order to get access to the Shadow Dancer class, as well as 10 skill points in Hide, Move Silently and Tumble. You’re going to want to max those skills anyway so it’s not a big deal. You want Extend Spell to make your Cleric buffs last longer, and Weapon Finesse so you can use your Dex modifier for AB. Get Weapon Finesse as quickly as possible.
I take Cleric from level 1-15, 1 level of Monk, 5 levels of Shadow Dancer, then 19 levels of Monk. Some will say that doing this progression doesn’t give you the best possible saves, but it is the easiest way to make the build and makes XP’ing very easy. Get yourself a Mace (you can use it with weapon finesse) and head to the Dozo ruins. Once you get to level 5 you can destroy the undead with “Turn Undead” and xp’ing gets really easy and fast. In my opinion, most people move on from the Dozo Ruins too quickly. I stay in the ruins until at least level 8, sometimes level 9, because while the XP per kill definitely starts to drop, you will be spawning 5 monsters at a time. The xp will slow down, but the ease and speed at which you will be mowing through the enemies will speed up.
When you reach level 9 head to Newport. Get +3 to AC on your Clothes, Helmet, Shield and Boots. You can use Bark Skin to get the +3 natural AC that you would have gotten on your amulet. You can either get more Dex for better AC/AB or more Con for more HP. Either way, you should be able to solo in the Newport Sewers fairly easily. Kill the Mages first, Warriors second, Priests third and Rogues last. Stay in the Sewers until around level 15, then go to the Drow Stronghold after upgrading your equipment. Keep your AC as high as possible. This build does not deal a lot of damage quickly, it depends heavily on not taking damage. You should be able to kill the Drow fairly easily with your mace, but once you get your first level of Monk and get a Kama in your hand you will “LOL” at how fast they die. Keep killing Drow until level 21, upgrade your equipment fully, and then there are quite a few options where you can Xp. Some try Azers then, some go to Lurid Caves; I’m not going to give you any more direction in that regard. Make sure you get Epic Dodge as soon as you can, that is the primary reason for taking the Shadow Dancer class. It’s a great Feat that will save your life many times as you Xp and PK.
The next big decision is whether you’ll max out your Dex or get more Spell Resistance. If you don’t take any “Improved Spell Resistance” feats, this build will end up with 60 Spell Resistance. Here is the formula for beating Spell Resistance: Caster level + 1d20 + spell penetration modifier. What this formula does not take into consideration is the spell “Mordenkainens Disjunction”. This spell will lower your SR by 10, so make sure you factor that in. While 60 SR is a good amount of SR, enough to keep it from getting affected by any build with less than 25 spell casting levels, it wont protect you from some of the more dedicated casters out there. The alternative is to take Imp SR feats which add 2 SR per feat taken. You can take it up to 10 times for a total of 80 SR. It’s really a toss up, whether you want to be immune to magic or max out your AC and AB. There is no wrong choice.
The other classic build is the 29 Wizard/ 10 Pale Master/ 1 Rogue, Bard, Monk. There are too many possible sub-races that make a good mage to list here, I’ll let you figure out what you want. This is a pretty straight forward build, you cast lots of spells and rely on Acid Sheath, Epic Mage Armor and Epic Warding to keep you alive. 29 levels of Wizard will make your buffs last a long time and give you plenty of spells along with TONS of skill points. 10 levels of Pale Master gives immunity to Critical Hits and gives some bonus AC. At level 40 it’s typical to take 1 level of Rogue, Bard or Monk for a “skill dump”. From level 1-39 you put skill points into Heal, Concentration and Spell Craft. Then at level 40 you’ll have over 200 skill points to spend. I’ll leave it up to you to determine what to put them in other than “Tumble”, tumble is a necessity.
This is a much easier build to make and much harder to mess up so I’m not going to go into as much detail on this one. Some people pump their Int for bonus spells, some only get 20 Int and then pump either Str, Dex or Con. There’s no right or wrong way to make the build as long as you get at least 20 Int, Epic Warding, Epic Mage Armor and the following spells: True Sight, Isaacs Greater Missile Storm, Mordenkainens Disjunction, Improved Invisibility, Acid Sheath, Elemental Shield and Flame Brand. There are tons of other spells that are very useful but those are the ones I consider essential to a long and successful life as a Mage.
Another fun build, and the build that I was talking about last night to the guy who hadn’t played in a while is 29 Paladin, 1 Sorcerer, 10 Red Dragon Disciple. This is another build with tons of possible variations but the classic version is 29/1/10. Taking Paladin from 1-20 will give you the highest possible Base Attack Bonus possible while giving you some pretty decent buffs. The 1 level of Sorcerer gives some nice 1st level utility spells as well as the ability to read arcane scrolls, but the purpose is to get access to RDD. RDD gives an extra 8 Str, 2 Con, 2 Int and 2 Cha.
This is another build with so many different variations on how you set it up that I’m not even going to try to go into any specifics. Different weapons, skills and feats can drastically change the way one 29/1/10 build plays from another. 2 classic variations are the “High Str, Dev Crit” version and the “High Cha, Great Smite” version.
Deimonos said... Btw, this thing seems to be screwed up.. i hit enter when im writing stuff.. it appears alright in the preview but it ends up like that when I publish it..
It's been happening to my comments lately as well. I finally started adding a HTML code line break in to force the issue.
An HTML line-break code looks like this: <br>I used a special code to print that, normally it just does a line-break.
"& lt ; br & gt ;"
"< br >"
Remove the quotes and spaces.
LMAO !!!!
That looked so much better in the preview. HTML code is taking a BIG shift in the language structure right now. The whole thing could be eliminated in this Blog if they used BB Code instead of HTML Code. Most of the <b>BOLD</b> and <i>ITALICS</i> statements that we are use to are being changed over to a new style and won't be supported much longer by the browsers. Yes, that means all old web pages will need to be rewritten or become unreadable.
<strong> replaces <b>
<em> replaces <i>
Try http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp for a nice HTML Code reference.
I think anyone who occasionally reads this blog should definitely be taking notes right now... Deurack and Deimonos didn't give away ALL their secrets above,,, but they did basically flesh out a half-dozen HIGH QUALITY builds that any Badlands regular should have. Just one comment on the Mk20/Cl15/SD5: Deurack gives a detailed rundown, but I still disagree with the pre-epic progression. I recommend starting w/ monk at generation, this gives you cleave as a bonus feat, which really comes in handy. Then, I'd take 12 levels of Cleric, 3 more levels of monk, and Shadowdancer for levels 17-20. This will square up your BAB at 15. I also recommend trickery and strength as domains. Strength IMO is better than plant because barkskin potions are readily available in dozo, and Creeping Doom works really well in tight spaces, but the area of effect (unfortunately) doesn't follow the enemy around. Strength grabs you divine power as a level 3 spell. This is an incredibly powerful spell, as it will grab you an extra attack when it ups your BAB to that of a fighter. By having level 3 div pwr, lvl 4 extended div pwr, and lvl 5 extended div pwr. By loading up on that spell, you'll be able to farm for a LONG time before resting. Also, you get access to stoneskin with str domain (although scrolls are readily available).
Epilogue: Okay, so you've mastered all the above builds. So now what? How about something really difficult. I built a Bard/WM/RDD a while back. You talk about FEAT-STARVED!!! This is one build where you really have to have your shit together and on paper. You can't be like Garble and just "wing" it. It's not necessarily a PvP monster, but it's a fun build.
Another powerful build, and this is not textbook or even popular, is a Ranger/Monk/Shadow Dancer.
I have made several versions of this and it is awesome and does not rely on, or need buffs.
From Monk 9 and SD 5 you get access to Epic Dodge, which makes you very hard to hit in close melee.
Monk 9: Will make you 30% faster than normal, making you faster than any player or monster, except another monk. This also gets you a long list of feats for free. Cleave and Improved Knockdown for starters.
Shadow Dancer 5: SD 1 will make it possible to disappear right in front of anybody or monster that does not have True Seeing or Blind Sight. The only real reason to take 4 more SD level is to get Epic Dodge. Skill Tumble: 40 Tumble points (taken at level-up) will get you +8 AC.
Ranger 21: This will get you Bane of Enemy which adds to your Favored Enemies for more AB, Damage, Spot and Hide against that favored enemy. By taking Ranger as you first 20 levels you get your 20 BAB for max BAB. Rangers don't get many spells and only a few are worth using. Rangers get a Spot Bonus while outdoors and above ground.
All three of these classes get hide as a skill. Rangers have spells that can buff this another 40 points or so.
There's two ways to pick your favored enemies:
1) For PVP pick player races like Human and Elf.
2) Pick monster types that are immune to critical damage such as Undead.
-- Either way, it's up to you. Make sure you take Ranger 21 before level 41, then you can wait until the Legendary Levels to take Bane and more Favored Enemies.
This leaves 5 more levels to do with as you want.
- Some would take extra SD to get better AC from a short term SD spell.
- Some would take Ranger for spell duration and 1 extra feat.
- Some would take more Monk to get 24 Spell Resistance at Monk 12 as well as another 10% faster (40% speed now) and even more feats.
You can take a small race such as Kobold for a small AC and Hide bonus, or a larger race that gets a dex or wisdom boost. Either way, this is a DEX build. You will want Int 14 to start for the skill points and 14 wisdom to get all the Ranger spells. Taking more wisdom will help you AC and Will Saves as well as Monk Stunning Fist. This is a DEX build so take all the DEX you can muster for AB and AC.
I prefer monks with fists as this gets you a higher ability to avoid direct hits. This is a perfect build for dual Kamas, but only if you're a medium/large size. Halflings and small races get a nasty AB penalty with two Kamas.
Like the Cleric/Monk/SD, this is very powerful and even easier to play. But, I find (both builds) it boring to play because there is no real challenge. If you take Monk 1 at level 21 and SD 1 at level 22, you can literally hunt solo in any area you want. (That was true for my first build on the original BadLands before the level 60 engine.)
This build is very hard to hit, but don't scrimp on the Con. Rangers get excellent HP, so take advantage of it. More con equals better Fort Saves.
You don't need strength, but in the low levels it will be slow to kill monsters and you can't carry much. At level 21 when you max out your gear this will change.
Not alot has been said about Strength builds and I didnt want the Barbarian Hordes out there to feel left out. There are SOOO many different ways to make a good barbarian, but I'll throw out the simplest one: 28 Barbarian, 2 Bard, 10 Red Dragon Disciple.
Levels 1-20 are Barbarian for the best possible BAB, then a level of Bard and 10 levels of RDD. Then 8 more levels of Barbarian with level 40 as Bard for the skill dump.
This is a super effective build for Dev Crit lovers. I wont go into ability point distribution because some people want 21+ Con to get Might Rage while others would rather just pump their Str to the max. Dont forget to max out your "Intimidation" skill if you're going to get Terrifying Rage, and why wouldnt you? Terrifying Rage is almost like a Curse Song for Barbarians, but instead of using Perform it uses Intimidate.
Yes, when I built Shark Bait, before the wipe, that was my base.
I focused on max strength with a secondary in max damage. So I started with Deep Orc and used a Great Axe. I defiantly wanted all three Epic Rage Feats, which can only be taken on a Barbarian level or after 41.
Between levels 21 and 40 I took as many Bard levels as I could for better song and spell duration. I probably should have taken more charisma, but I wasn't willing to give up any str or con. I couldn't take all 10 Great Strength feats because I used two for Great Constitution.
Or did I take two Bard levels and eight Barbarian levels? I can't recall now. I didn't have enough cha to get any Bard spells and Epic Barbarians get extra feats and damage reduction.
Barbarians get 12 Hit Points per level and with my high con of 22 (plus 12 from gear), I had a mountain of HP. I think my AC was a low 60, fully buffed so the extra HP was really welcomed.
Being an UBER Barbarian, I could rage for +8 str and con as well as cast scrolls to climb to +12. If you're not familiar with the UBER Barbarian System on BadLands RPG, we can become UBER Barbarian which allows us to rage beyond the +12 cap. Essentially, us Barbarian have a +24 cap.
The buffs from scrolls worked long enough (just) to help with bosses. I was able to muscle Sheelo alone without taking much damage, critting her on one blow for 250 critical damage. In the arena I made toast out of a Pale Master with more levels than me, and had time for breakfast. I also took out Black Betty and Dev Beetle alone.
I wasn't without my weak spots, and I can't even count that high.
You did bear an uncanny resemblance to Iron man as well.
After posting about some love for the Arcane Archer I thought I should post at least some Archer builds.
Before I even get into any specifics on builds I want to mention the best friend an Archer build has: the Called Shot feat. If they cant hit you, they cant hurt you, and the Called Shot feat will slow them WAY down if you hit them in the leg a few times. ‘Nuff said.
AA means you have to be an Elf, and strangely enough the best subrace to use on an AA build is Drow. A note to the hard working DM’s out there making new Subraces: There is currently only one elf subrace that gets a Dex bonus, and it gets a -2 to Charisma. While you CAN take Wizard levels in an AA build, it makes MUCH more sense to use Bard, so a -2 to Charisma is not very attractive. It would be really nice to have an Elf subrace with a good, strong Dex bonus for those of us who are just Masochistic enough to play AA builds.
One of my favorite Arcane Archer builds is 12 Bard, 27 Arcane Archer, 1 Shadow Dancer. 27 levels of AA will give you a +15 to Attack Bonus that DOES NOT count towards the +20 AB cap, and getting 10 levels of AA in your first 20 levels will give you 4 attacks/round with a BAB at level 40 of 26. Add the +15 for AA and you have a 41 AB before adding any Dex bonuses or buffs, which is not too shabby. Another nice thing about the AA class is it gets “Great Dex” as a bonus feat, so you can get 4 of those before level 40, ensuring you will be able to get all 10 Great Dex feats before level 60. After some quick (and possibly fallible) math, at level 58 with your Dex maxed out, the builds AB would be right around 60 before any buffs. Add the fact that the build can use Hide in Plain Sight to sneak up on things and hit them while they’re flat footed and this build can do some serious damage. Using Called Shot on the first shot will either lower their AB by 2 or lower their movement by 20% and give them a -2 to Dex, and the -2 to AB and the -2 to Dex are CUMULATIVE…that’s just fun stuff.
Not all the best Archer builds use Arcane Archer, although it is a pretty awesome class. Another really fun “Ranged” build is 24 Rogue, 15 Cleric, 1 Shadow Dancer. The 15 Cleric levels give you all the great healing and utility spells and also gives you enough awesome buffs to be able to hit almost any other build. This build can also get Epic Dodge and does 12d6 points of additional damage from “sneak attacks”, and that’s any attack done by a bow within 30 feet of the target. Add the ability to use Hide in Plain Sight and this build can do some HUGE damage to anything unlucky enough not to have True Sight. One of the best things about this build is that it’s not restricted to the Elven race, so you can make it with any race-subrace you want. I’ve even made a build like this with a Halfling and used Darts instead of a Bow because Halflings get a +1 to AB on all “thrown” weapons.
Just remember, these builds can be really fun because they’re SOO different from most of the builds that people play on Badlands, but you have to go into the experience knowing that 1) Any build that uses a ranged weapon is a BOTTOMLESS MONEY PIT, and 2) it will be a slow and sometimes frustrating build to xp.
Dudes, I added this as a permanent link in the sidebar, lots of good stuff here!
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