[Build] Warrior of the Holy Light / Two Handed Fighter

[Blackk9]

Looking for critique and help for a build I'm thinking of. Pretty new to building a character for Wrath of the Righteous, so I'd like to find ways to optimise this build. I unfortunately have no idea what feat to take at 19th.

The idea behind this build is to be as devastating as possible wielding a Greatsword and either vital striking Neutral Enemies into the dirt, or completely obliterating any evil enemies with Vital Strike + Smite Evil. Fighter levels are to give the desperately needed bonus feats to get this build with a paladin. Skills — UMD in particular — are meant to make up for the lack of spellcasting that Warrior of the Holy Light sacrifices.

Race: Aasimar (Angel-Blooded)
Background: Leader

Lvl	Class	Special	Feat(s)	Ability Scores
1	Whl(1)	Smite Evil 1/day	Power Attack	| Str 19 | Dex 12 | Con 14 | Int 12 | Wis 8 | Cha 16
2	Whl(2)	Divine Grace, Lay on Hands	—
3	Whl(3)	Aura of Courage, Divine Health, Mercy (Fatigued)	Extra Lay on Hands
4	Whl(4)	Smite Evil 2/day, Channel Energy, Power of Faith	—	STR 20
5	2hf(1)	Bonus Feat	Toughness, Weapon Focus (Greatsword)
6	2hf(2)	Bonus Feat, Strong Grip	Blind Fight
7	2hf(3)	Overhand Chop	Vital Strike
8	2hf(4)	Bonus Feat	Weapon Specialization (Greatsword)	STR 21
9	2hf(5)	Two-Handed Weapon Training	Improved Critical (Greatsword)
10	2hf(6)	Strong Grip, Bonus Feat	Critical Focus
11	Whl(5)	Divine Bond	Wings
12	Whl(6)	Mercy (Diseased)	—	STR 22
13	Whl(7)	Smite Evil 3/day	Improved Vital Strike
14	Whl(8)	Aura of Resolve, Power of Faith	—
15	Whl(9)	Mercy (Exhausted)	Staggering Critical
16	Whl(10)	Smite Evil 4/day	—	STR 23
17	Whl(11)	Mark of Justice	Greater Vital Strike
18	Whl(12)	Mercy (Blinded), Power of Faith	—
19	Whl(13)	Smite Evil 5/day	???
20	Whl(14)	Shining Light	—	CHA 17

Skills

Level	Lore (Religion)	Persuasion	Use Magic Device
1	1 (+6)	1 (+8)	1 (+6)
2	1 (+6)	2 (+9)	2 (+7)
3	2 (+7)	3 (+10)	3 (+8)
4	2 (+7)	4 (+11)	4 (+9)
5	3 (+8)	5 (+12)	5 (+10)
6	3 (+8)	6 (+13)	6 (+11)
7	4 (+9)	7 (+14)	7 (+12)
8	4 (+9)	8 (+15)	8 (+13)
9	5 (+10)	9 (+16)	9 (+14)
10	5 (+10)	10 (+17)	10 (+15)
11	6 (+11)	11 (+18)	11 (+16)
12	6 (+11)	12 (+19)	12 (+17)
13	7 (+12)	13 (+20)	13 (+18)
14	7 (+12)	14 (+21)	14 (+19)
15	8 (+13)	15 (+22)	15 (+20)
16	9 (+14)	16 (+23)	15 (+20)
17	11 (+16)	17 (+24)	15 (+20)
18	12 (+17)	18 (+25)	15 (+20)
19	14 (+19)	19 (+26)	15 (+20)
20	15 (+20)	20 (+27)	15 (+20)

[gmwaddington]

I recommend putting more points into Charisma, to increase Mark of Justice. At higher levels this becomes increasingly important to help your teammates hit the tough enemies.

[Blackk9]

Originally posted by gmwaddington:

I recommend putting more points into Charisma, to increase Mark of Justice. At higher levels this becomes increasingly important to help your teammates hit the tough enemies.

I could increase the base charisma to 17 or even 18. But that would require dropping Int to 10 or even 8.

If I were to do that I'd need to know - without spoilers - how important Lore (Religion) and Persuasion are to the main character.

[canuck250]

Originally posted by Blackk9:

Originally posted by gmwaddington:

I recommend putting more points into Charisma, to increase Mark of Justice. At higher levels this becomes increasingly important to help your teammates hit the tough enemies.

I could increase the base charisma to 17 or even 18. But that would require dropping Int to 10 or even 8.

If I were to do that I'd need to know - without spoilers - how important Lore (Religion) and Persuasion are to the main character.

Pers more so, as you will have more MC only pers checks over nature, most of those you will have your party to help.

[gmwaddington]

Originally posted by Blackk9:

If I were to do that I'd need to know - without spoilers - how important Lore (Religion) and Persuasion are to the main character.

Anyone can usually make the Lore (Religion) checks, but there are some important Persuasion checks that can only be made by the main character.

[Tyrazial]

Isn't taking Wings in the class feats a bit of a waste since you get them going down the angel path? What would be a good sub-in feat?

Also Divine Bond, do you guys recommend weapon or animal? I've found animal companions are great for helping hold the line and diverting enemy fire off the party, like having free hit points hanging around nearby.

[Yannir]

Originally posted by Tyrazial:

Isn't taking Wings in the class feats a bit of a waste since you get them going down the angel path? What would be a good sub-in feat?

Also Divine Bond, do you guys recommend weapon or animal? I've found animal companions are great for helping hold the line and diverting enemy fire off the party, like having free hit points hanging around nearby.

I can say that now that I've tried Seelah with a horse, I don't think I'll do the weapon buff ever again. The horse is just such a big power boost.

And if you intend to go for a horse anyway for an MC or mercenary, you can basically skip defensive stats like Dex and Con since the horse will be taking most of the hits for you.

I know I'm 4 months late for this build party but there's a number of issues in the build here. I'll just go over them in case you haven't done this yet or there's someone else who's curious.

A. Where are your Teamwork feats? They are really strong, particularly Outflank is the bare minimum you should have here. Get it on the horse too and you always have a partner to trigger the bonus with. At level 4, give the horse a +1 Int so they can pick it.
B. If this build goes all-in on the damage, I'd assume you're also going for the horse as your Divine Bond. Vital Strike works really well with mounts since you can Full Attack on the first turn while the horse does the moving.
Defensive feats like Wings and Toughness are pretty much a complete waste in that context, on a mount. Opponents will be targeting the mount 90% of the time instead of the dude on it.
C. If you are going for the horse, the fighter levels are kinda bad since those are levels where your horse won't be leveling up.. I'd say you would make a stronger build overall by going pure Warrior of the Holy Light.
You could make up the difference with Boon Companion but as you said this is already rather feat-contested, and Boon Companion is only +4 levels, not the 6 fighter levels you have here.
D. I don't think you need Extra Lay On Hands feat either. WotHL gains extra casts anyway, and now that you've dropped Dex and Con, you can get more Charisma for extra casts of it.
E. As for feat order, I'd pick Weapon Focus first rather than Power Attack. Hitting is more important early than damage. You can get Power Attack later.
F. Now that you're mounted, you want Mobility as a skill because it affects your rolls for Mounted Combat and Indomitable Mount feats. Those are feats you want btw. The other mount feats are nice, but not essential.
I would just go full Mobility and Persuasion, you don't really need UMD. If you do go for 12 Int, you could put the off-points into it. You can pick Lore Religion on another character.

So overall I'd say you have the right idea but your execution of it limps a bit. I don't think those fighter levels are bringing anything essential here but are in fact detracting from it.

[RandomDude2018]

Dont like anything here but i'm pretty sure at level 20 you wanted STR to 24.