Acidic Draconian Defender (Bard 16 / RDD 10 / Dwarven Defender 14)

[unifiedworld]

This is a build designed for the Swordflight singleplayer mod. It’s a build and level split that has been done before and I will compare my build to others before presenting the build.

In the context of Swordflight, it may seem redundant to play a bard since your (virtually) permanent companion is a pure bard! However, she doesn’t get Curse Song so there is still some value in playing a bard who can use Curse Song.

This build doesn’t get as much damage reduction as other builds (it gets 18/-) but it reduces enemy damage by 3 via Curse Song so it’s as if it had 21/- damage reduction. The attack rating is not very high (41AB) but can be enhanced via Curse Song (-5 enemy AC), Taunt (up to -6 enemy AC) and spells (Bull’s Strength, War Cry). Usually, when you taunt enemies, you have to worry about getting flatfooted and taking more damage as a result, but not in this build. Your damage reduction is likely so soak most, if not all, the damage.

This build uses a two-handed weapon. So it’s not meant to use a shield (which in Swordflight is one of the few ways to get elemental damage immunities). 10 levels of Red Dragon Disciple means we don’t need to worry at all about fire. Cold and Electricity can occasionally be an issue but 20 elemental resistance from an amulet usually covers the issue. However, acid is everywhere: acid fog on the ground, acid sheaths on enemy mages, acid damage per second in some of the hell environments. In some cases, not using the elemental immunity shields vs. acid can be very brutal. This build tries to mitigate that issue by getting 10 extra damage resistance vs. acid that will stack with the damage resistance provided by a typical Amulet of Acid Resistance (according to my reading of the NWN wiki, anyway).

My bard is up to level 4 now and she’s so strong it’s been ridiculous how effective she has been. I have learned through her that Taunt is an amazing skill. I’m looking forward to getting to her dwarven defender levels since she’s my first dwarven defender ever.

This build does require two alignment changes, unfortunately. Fortunately, it’s quite possible to get enough alignment shifts in Swordflight to make the change from Neutral to Lawful by level 11. I believe I’m up to 59 (neutral) now at level 4. Going from Lawful to Neutral is trivially easy since picking any decent person’s lock shifts you toward lawlessness (from Lawful to Neutral).

I originally wanted two Epic Energy Resistance: Acid feats but I changed one to Great Charisma for extended War Cry. I might change it back later depending on how things go in the module.

I had to cut Concentration and Spot/Listen because there were simply too many skills I wanted and not enough points to allocate. Since I didn’t have Concentration, I thought it was safe for me to skip Still Spell as well. In order to cast with armor on (sometimes), I’ll wear light or medium armor with reduced arcane spellcasting failure if I can increase my dex enough to make it safe and if I can find such armor!

Now, to compare with other builds that have the same classes and level split:

1. https://world-of-greyhawk.github.io/builds/data/build117682.html This build went for 16 charisma, while I stopped at 15 charisma. (The sixth-level spells don’t seem so appealing and I would only get 1 or 2 per day at most anyway.) I’m not sure if he took weapon focus or epic weapon focus. Overall, his build idea is very similar to mine but he didn’t write it out in detail so it’s hard for me to evaluate his build next to mine. This build makes the mistake of taking the fifth level of RDD in pre-epic, which may allow for more skill points in the build (if it leads to getting RDD9 sooner) but certainly lowers the final AB of the build by 1.

2. https://world-of-greyhawk.github.io/builds/data/build122023.html Same author as the first build (very similar build as well). Again, hard to evaluate because it’s not written out in a reader-friendly format. But again, no weapon focus or epic weapon focus. Suggests Armor Skin for a Dwarven Defender build which doesn’t seem quite right to me. Buffs Charisma to 16 which isn’t a bad idea but I took Strength to 30 instead, which is important when our AB is not so great overall (though it will be improved by War Cry and indirectly by Taunt and Curse Song, of course). Skill allocation is virtually identical. This build makes the mistake of taking the fifth level of RDD in pre-epic, which may allow for more skill points in the build (if it leads to getting RDD9 sooner) but certainly lowers the final AB of the build by 1.

3. https://world-of-greyhawk.github.io/builds/data/build198702.html This build has bad attribute point allocations. It starts with 11 charisma when it should start with 12. (It adds two charisma points during level-ups. Instead, it should get +1 dex, +1 cha and -1 con at character creation and then add +1 constitution during a level-up.) This build gets Still Spell and Improved Critical where I took Extend Spell and Epic Acid Resistance. Also, it gets Curse Song very late. I find it’s better to pre-buff without armor then equip armor and engage enemies so I would rather have Extend Spell instead of Still Spell. Also, this build starts with 2 less intelligence so it gets one less skill when the build is already starving for skill points. That results in a low UMD skill and a very low Spellcraft skill. This build ends with 2 strength more than my build but it lacks Epic Prowess.

4. https://world-of-greyhawk.github.io/builds/data/build307030.html This build doesn’t bother with Epic Damage Reduction. It gets 36 strength instead. It starts with 14 charisma and 12 intelligence so again going for 16 final charisma at the cost of a full skill. This build gets Dev.Crit., which of course is a powerful option but it doesn’t get any metamagic feats. No Epic Prowess. No Knockdown. If you want to go the Dev. Crit route and you’re OK with losing Epic Damage Reduction, this build may be for you. This build makes the mistake of taking the fifth level of RDD in pre-epic, which may allow for more skill points in the build (if it leads to getting RDD9 sooner) but certainly lowers the final AB of the build by 1. Delaying RDD5 to epic levels doesn’t even change when Overwhelming Critical and Dev. Crit. are available.

Anyway, let me know if you would build this character differently!

Best Wishes,

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Bard(16), Dwarven Defender(14), Red Dragon Disciple(10), Dwarf

STR: 14 (30)
DEX: 14
CON: 16 (21)
WIS: 8
INT: 14 (16)
CHA: 12 (15)

Dwarf: (Darkvision, Defensive Training vs. Giants, Stonecunning, Hardiness vs. Poison, Hardiness vs. Spells, Offensive Training vs. Goblinoids, Offensive Training vs. Orcs, Skill Affinity: Lore)
01: Bard(1): Dodge
02: Bard(2)
03: Bard(3): Curse Song
04: Bard(4): STR+1, (STR=15)
05: Bard(5)
06: Red Dragon Disciple(1): Toughness
07: Red Dragon Disciple(2): (STR=17)
08: Red Dragon Disciple(3): STR+1, (STR=18)
09: Red Dragon Disciple(4): Knockdown, (STR=20)
10: Bard(6)
11: Dwarven Defender(1): {Defensive Stance}, *Alignment Change*
12: Dwarven Defender(2): CON+1, Weapon Focus: Greataxe, {Defensive Awareness I}, (CON=17)
13: Dwarven Defender(3)
14: Dwarven Defender(4)
15: Dwarven Defender(5): Blind Fight
16: Dwarven Defender(6): CON+1, (CON=18)
17: Dwarven Defender(7)
18: Dwarven Defender(8): Extend Spell
19: Dwarven Defender(9)
20: Dwarven Defender(10): CON+1, (CON=19)
21: Red Dragon Disciple(5): Epic Weapon Focus: Greataxe
22: Red Dragon Disciple(6)
23: Red Dragon Disciple(7): (CON=21)
24: Red Dragon Disciple(8): STR+1, Epic Damage Reduction I, (STR=21)
25: Red Dragon Disciple(9): (INT=16)
26: Red Dragon Disciple(10): (STR=25), (CHA=14)
27: Dwarven Defender(11): Epic Damage Reduction II
28: Dwarven Defender(12): STR+1, (STR=26)
29: Dwarven Defender(13)
30: Dwarven Defender(14): Great Strength I, Epic Damage Reduction III, (STR=27)
31: Bard(7): *Alignment Change*
32: Bard(8): STR+1, (STR=28)
33: Bard(9): Epic Energy Resistance: Acid I
34: Bard(10)
35: Bard(11)
36: Bard(12): STR+1, Great Charisma I, (STR=29), (CHA=15)
37: Bard(13)
38: Bard(14)
39: Bard(15): Epic Prowess
40: Bard(16): STR+1, (STR=30)

Hitpoints: 588
Skillpoints: 225
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 28/25/21
Saving Throw bonuses: Spells: +8, Traps: +1, Poison: +2
BAB: 27
AB (max, naked): 41 (melee), 30 (ranged)
AC (naked/mundane items only): 24/34
Spell Casting: Bard(5)
Alignment Changes: 2

Craft Armor 1(4), Craft Weapon 2(5), Disable Trap 1(4), Discipline 43(53), Lore 8(29), Open Lock 1(3), Perform 28(30), Pick Pocket 1(3), Spellcraft 27(30), Taunt 43(45), Tumble 40(42), UMD 28(30)

01: Disable Trap(1), Lore(4), Open Lock(1), Perform(4), Taunt(4), Tumble(4), UMD(4),
02: Lore(1), Perform(1), Spellcraft(1), Taunt(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1),
03: Lore(1), Perform(1), Spellcraft(1), Taunt(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1),
04: Lore(1), Perform(1), Spellcraft(1), Taunt(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1),
05: Lore(1), Perform(1), Pick Pocket(1), Taunt(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1),
06: Craft Armor(1), Craft Weapon(2), Spellcraft(1),
07: Save(4),
08: Save(8),
09: Save(12),
10: Perform(3), Taunt(5), Tumble(5), UMD(5),
11: Discipline(4),
12: Discipline(4),
13: Discipline(4),
14: Discipline(2), Save(2),
15: Discipline(1), Save(5),
16: Discipline(1), Save(8),
17: Discipline(1), Save(11),
18: Discipline(1), Save(14),
19: Discipline(1), Save(17),
20: Discipline(1), Save(20),
21: Discipline(1), Spellcraft(13), Save(10),
22: Discipline(1), Save(13),
23: Discipline(1), Save(16),
24: Discipline(1), Save(19),
25: Discipline(1), Save(22),
26: Discipline(1), Save(26),
27: Discipline(1), Save(30),
28: Discipline(1), Save(34),
29: Discipline(1), Save(38),
30: Discipline(1), Save(42),
31: Discipline(1), Taunt(21), Tumble(17), UMD(10),
32: Perform(2), Tumble(5),
33: Discipline(2), UMD(5),
34: Discipline(1), Spellcraft(3), Taunt(3),
35: Discipline(1), Perform(3), Spellcraft(2), Taunt(1),
36: Discipline(1), Spellcraft(5), Taunt(1),
37: Discipline(1), Taunt(1), Tumble(5),
38: Discipline(3), Perform(3), Taunt(1),
39: Discipline(2), Perform(4), Taunt(1),
40: Discipline(1), Perform(5), Taunt(1),

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Fantastic build dude. I love tanky melee characters but having potent debuffing capabilities, just makes them even better.

[unifiedworld]

Hey man, I’m glad you like the build! Are you thinking of trying it out by any chance?

[CtrlAltDefeat]

Yep. Currently playing through The Aielund Saga with a friend but after I am done, I will try out this build in the Shadows of Darkmoon: Echoes module as it allows you to alignment change freely. I haven’t played Swordflight yet but I heard it’s challenging

[unifiedworld]

Cool! My bard is still at level 4. I might change the build around later, depending on how the playthrough goes.

[Author]

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