Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dean 05-05-07, 03:16 PM	I am making a 13th level character for a campaign, the memebers have already decided to be evil so i am going with that. So i decided to play a fallen paladin gone blackguard. Human Planning on getting a +2 item for each of my stats just something i like to do. Str 16 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 12 Cha 12 So my question is any cool tricks of the trade for this class? I have never played a blackguard before. I looking into some divine feats.
Garonak 05-05-07, 06:38 PM	Divine Might (Comp Warrior) could be a nice one. I just finished making a Human Death Knight Paladin 3/Blackguard 10/Exotic Weapon Master 1. With Divine Might he can add his cha bonus on attacks for a full 8 rounds/day. Combine this with Smite good and he will make a nice pool out of the party's paladin...:evillaugh
JulesCARV 05-05-07, 07:24 PM	If being an ex-paladin is critical to your concept, then ignore this, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend fallen paladin as the route to blackguard. If you have the misfortune to be a fallen paladin in the first place, blackguard is one of the best of your bad options, since you can recoup some of your losses, but if your objective is to go blackguard from the get-go, then other classes are better. Six levels of paladin will get you -Smite evil twice a day (worth one feat (extra smiting, to be specific) -+1d6 sneak attack (almost certainly worth less than one feat for a heavy warrior like a blackguard. Probably not even worth as much as weapon specialization, widely considered a weak feat (+3.5 under special circumstances vs. +2 always) -Lay on Hands (self and fiendish servant only. I'd say maybe worth a feat, given your moderate charisma. At blackguard level 7+, you could take Extra Slot for a 3rd level slot that could hold cure serious wounds (among other spells). Blackguard lay on hands doesn't have the paladin LoH advantage of being able to harm undead with no save) A fighter 6, by contrast, gets four feats, compared to the weak "three" I'm claiming tha ex-paladin gets. They're more flexible than the ex-paladin additions to a blackguard. And that's just a fighter. Fighters aren't noted for being a super-optimal class in the first place. (There are probably more synergistic classes, like hexblade, crusader, and the like)
Marcus Majarra 05-06-07, 09:02 PM	Well, the advantage of playing an ex-paladin is that you can eventually lose almost all your paladin levels and wind up with plenty of room for prestige classes. Shadowbane Inquisitor can make it so that you have an ex-paladin build without any paladin levels at all. The problem is that pulling this off is very late-game, around 17th-level, assuming you want all Shadowbane Inquisitor abilities: Step 1) Start off as a Rogue 1 / Paladin 5, entering Shadowbane Inquisitor Step 2) Take at least 6 levels of Shadowbane Inquisitor. Step 3) Take your first level of Blackguard, trading in your 5 Paladin levels for Blackguard levels (since Paladin and Shadowbane Inquisitor levels stack for the purpose of fallen paladins) The earliest you can do this is level 13. At this point, you're a Rogue 1 / Blackguard 6 / Shadowbane Inquisitor 6. Not a bad deal, with BAB +12 and 5d6 sneak attack, among other abilities. Taking 10 levels of Shadowbane Inqusitor isn't a bad idea, but this offsets your first Blackguard level to 17th: Rogue 1 / Paladin 5 / Shadowbane Inquisitor 10 becomes Rogue 1 / Blackguard 6 / Shadowbane Inquisitor 10. At this point, you've got all the abilities of a 10th-level fallen paladin, all of the Shadowbane Inquisitor abilities and is quite a hefty character. It finishes off very well as a Rogue 3 / Blackguard 7 / Shadowbane Inquisitor 10.
MaximumHavoc 05-07-07, 08:25 PM	if your dm allows a reworking/retraining, then i suggest the following: blackguard10/assassin3 (albiet, it is a little MAD) or at the very least . . . blackguard10/rogue3 and remember to make poison use a regular part of your combat style.