Aldori Defender build and further advice.

[Azriel Ragia]

Ninety nine percent of this credit goes to AdjectiveBadger. I loved how he kept the theme of an unarmored Swordmaster with this build. I just added a few tweaks while trying to keep the spirit of the build in mind.

Race: Human

Any Lawful Alignment

STR: 13
DEX: 17 [increasing to 20]
CON: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 10
CHA: 14 [increasing to 16]


Aldori Defender 1: weapon focus (dueling sword), weapon finesse, Slashing Grace
fighter 2: Aldori dueling mastery
fighter 2/Scaled Fist Monk 1: combat expertise, Crane style
fighter 2/Scaled Fist Monk 2: Dodge
fighter 3/Scaled Fist Monk 2: combat mobility
fighter 4/Scaled Fist Monk 2: weapon specialization (dueling sword)
fighter 4/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 1: disarm
fighter 4/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 3: agile maneuvers
fighter 4/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: greater disarm
fighter 5/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: weapon training (heavy blades)
fighter 6/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: Crane wing
fighter 8/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: greater weapon focus (dueling sword)
fighter 9/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: Armed Bravery, weapon training (heavy blades)
fighter 10/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: Improved Critical
fighter 12/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 5: Crane riposte, greater weapon specialization (dueling sword)
fighter 12/Scaled Fist Monk 2/duelist 6:


I would appreciate any advice on how to further improve the build.
Again Mad Props to AdjectiveBadger for doing the most with this build. Badger if your still reading this I would love to hear your opinion on it

[captain403]

Don't get finesse or grace at level 1. Get 4 levels of thug (1st at level 2), you will get finesse and grace for free. Monk at level 3 - 2nd monk isn't needed, as thug will get evasion. Take most of the thug levels from fighter - you don't need to go past level 8 fighter.

Also, assuming you have given it to your other melee companions, you want outflank in there somewhere.

[Azriel Ragia]

The reason i have Finesse and Slashing Grace at level one is I wanted the build to feel useful from level one up. I really cant stand builds that don't "take off" until level 6 or higher. Also, why am I taking Thug levels? I mean other then Finesse for free at level 2. What does Thug add to the build that fits the theme?

[captain403]

Taking finesse and grace on level 1 when you can get them for free is not making good use of feats.

Thug will get you both of those, evasive, debilitating injury, uncanny dodge, and 2 rogue talents (more or less free feats). That will cost you 1 BAB over the life of the character. You get finesse at Level 1 rogue (level 2 character). If you push rogue at 4 and 5, you then have grace.

Front loading your character the way you do it works, but isn't necessary, and you gain much more by delaying grace. A dex Aldori is a tank character, and damage output, while good, isn't the end of the world if it is delayed.

[captain403]

As an aside, this[www.neoseeker.com] may be of interest.

[wendigo211]

Slashing Grace isn't as good as Finesse Training (Rogue level 3) or Deft Strike (Aldori Swordlord level 1) both of them let you add 1.5x your dex modifier to damage as opposed to 1x like Slashing Grace when you wield a dueling sword with nothing in your off-hand. You can't take them at level 1. If you started as a Rogue (or Thug) you could take it at third level, level 6 is the soonest you could take a Swordlord level. Rogue 4 would also give you uncanny dodge, which could be somewhat useful at the beginning of combat.

If you are taking Slashing Grace, there's no reason to take Aldori Dueling Mastery, get an Alchemist (e.g. Jubilost) to cast the Shield spell on you instead (it will give you a +4 to shield AC instead of a +2). If you decide not to take Slashing Grace you would need the feat for the Duelist's Precise Strike to work.

Combat maneuvers aren't great, you can't attack the same round you use them, so most of the time you're giving up one round of attacks for a chance to disable an enemy for one round. The enemies have pretty high CMDs as well, so your odds aren't great. If you are going to take a combat maneuver Trip would be better, it works against more enemies than disarm, and you could take Fury's Fall in addition to Agile Maneuvers and add twice your dexterity modifier to your CMB.

Your damage is going to be on the low side. You're getting dex modifier +12 on top of whatever enhancements are on your weapon, and you aren't getting any bonus attacks per round from dual wielding or flurry of blows. You should consider taking Power Attack and/or Piranha Strike for the extra damage (I think you could have them both active at the same time with a Dueling Sword) and with a Greater Invisibility buff you could still hit things with the attack penalty.

Finally, why are you increasing CHA to 16? You're not leveraging CHA for anything other than the Scaled Fist AC bonus so stick those points in DEX and get a +1 to hit, damage and AC instead of just a +1 to AC.

[Azriel Ragia]

I was trying to go for a theme, sort of a "charming and dashing unarmored sword master" type thing, what with them MC, eventually" becoming a King i liked the idea of him having some CHA to show he had some charm. I wanted to Mix RP builds with function without min-maxing.

[wendigo211]

Originally posted by Azriel Ragia:

I was trying to go for a theme, sort of a "charming and dashing unarmored sword master" type thing, what with them MC, eventually" becoming a King i liked the idea of him having some CHA to show he had some charm. I wanted to Mix RP builds with function without min-maxing.

If you want to do RP stuff, use your base points. Don't waste the 4 level attribute bonuses that can push your stats beyond racial maxima.