Gonna be joining a campaign soon and its supposed to be somewhat pirate themed. Should be pretty fun, if only I could figure out what I actually want to play ;)
Going for a 2 Rogue/3 Hexblade/2 Paladin (most likely of Tyranny)/2-3 Blackguard.
-Odds are we won't get past level 10.
-We're starting at level 5.
-Up to +1 LA races.
-32 pt. buy.
-No flaws.
-Tome of Battle seems to be out.
-Don't know what kind of equipment we're gonna be able to get if any.
Unfortuneately blackguard sucks up 3 feats (pa, cleave, and improved sunder) so I'm left with just my level 9 feat remaining. Unless I go human of course, which opens up a lot more options.
Things I'm reallying going for with this character.
- Awesome saves to go along with mettle and evasion.
- Not suck at being on a ship.
- Not worried about trap disabling.
- Would like to do decent damage.
- Would love to have a decent ac.
What I need help with:
- What race? (Up to +1 LA, and seems templates might be allowed)
- Where do I put my ability scores? (str or dex? how much cha? etc...)
- What should I take for my remaining feat(s)?
This is my first attempt at not playing caster type in a real campaign so thanks for your help in advance
That said, I'd include at least 4 levels of Pally of Tyranny. That nets you Rebuke Undead, which, alone is crappy, but with the aide of Complete Warrior OR Complete Champion, you can use those attempts to power either Divine Might (+cha to damage for 1 round) or Law Devotion (+3/5/7 attack bonus or AC for 1 minute depending on level). Unless your Cha is REALLY high, or your combats are lasting less than ~3 rounds, Law Devotion is the better choice since you'll be filtering most of the AB bonus through Power Attack for big numbers. It comes for free on the first use per day, but every use after that costs 3 rebuke attempts. A good estimate would requires 9 rebuke attempts per day which would account for 4 combats.
Also, you have goodish BAB and some Sneak Attack dice, you definitely want to look into Craven (Champions of Ruin) and Staggering Strike (Complete Warrior). The former requires 1 die of SA and adds your HD to damage when you sneak attack. Thats HOT! The latter requires +6 BAB or higher and at least 1 die of SA, and whenever you get your SA, your foe has to make a save or be Staggered (per the Staggered condition in the back of the PHB, minus the bleeding to death part). That keeps you from being full attacked back, and if you can do ~30-40 points in a single hit (not hard with Power Attack), the save is nearly impossible to make.
I'd also recommend at least 1 level of Barbarian, since that garners you pounce using the Spirit Lion Totem ACF in Complete Champion. Pounce is awesome for melee types. You are already so mutted out, another class won't hurt, right?
So...Barb1/Pal4/Hex3/Rog2, not in that order. Order is something youd need to determine. Rog1 as your first level will get you the most skill points, but cost you ~4 HP as opposed to Barb1, depending on your HP generation method. I'd get to Pal4 before level 6 as well, so you can nab Law Devotion or Divine Might as your 6th level feat. I'd also wait if you can for Rog2 till about level 7-8 and use it to backfill your trap skills to keep them viable, or just take Able Learner. Other than that, its all whatever...
Definitely go human. Str > Con > Cha > Int > Dex > Wis
However, Paladin (regardless of variant) has Divine Grace while Blackguard has Dark Blessing and stack (which we think is by rule, but either way the dm is allowing it to stack).
But ya, not taking Blackguard is fine by me if you think I can still get my saves to at least 20n (or near enough) when considering only +2 items (stat and resistance). Which I've calculated to be the threshhold mark for the end fight (which is more or less a guess and a personal goal).