Castlevania styled Lasher build?

[Fool In Black]

Hi all.

Thinking about making an lasher build in the style of the game series Castlevania by Konami. Mainly the character would use whip in one hand and some kind of hatred againts undead and maybe some holy and lesser powers May sound pretty weak, but thats why I need help.

I thought that I should take weapon finesse and max my dexterity for whirlwind attack.

I thought about fighter/lasher/weaponmaster, but don't know if thats any good and no bonus damage to undead.

So give me some tips. This is for the NWN main story so it does not have be super powerful, but have enough power to beat the game.

So.. Any thoughts?


ps. Sorry if sounds too complicated. English is not my main speaking language.

[TigerDragon]

For your concept, a Paladin/Lasher is probably more in tune with the Castlevania feel.

[Calirion]

I'm not familiar with Castelvania, but based on the information you provided, I have a couple of suggested.

Obviously, the lasher class already gives you whip ability.  The problem is adding special attacks on undead to that.

The obvious choice for an anti-undead prestige class is skullclan hunter, but the prereqs make it impossible to create a build with lasher.  You need sneak attack 3d6 and the ability to cast 3rd level  divine spells, so obviously that is a no go.  The other prestige class with a clearly undead flavor is soldier of light, and that should work.  SOL gives you turn undead plus the ability to convert turn undead attempts to  positive energy bursts that damage all undead in range.  You also get a smite undead ability, regeneration , an energon companion that emits positive energy bursts and, at higher levels, casts cleric spells, and a paladin-like ability to add charisma bonus to saving throws.  I'd take SOL instead of weapon master, and you will be in better undead fighting shape.

Also, if your character's charisma is 15 or higher, you can take nimbus of light, then holy radiance.  That's two feats gone, but you get an aura that does 1d4 divine damage to undead each round.  With your weapon focus, you would also be eligible for sanctified martial strike, so each blow with the chosen weapon would do 1d4 divine damage to evil opponents, including undead.  You might want the higher charisma anyway, to enhance the SOL turn undead and related abilities, so there is a nice synergy there.  The tradeoff is fewer ability points to spend on strength.

The one undead weapon that build doesn't give you is holly martial strike (2d6 divine damage from any melee weapon).  That's an epic feat that does, however, require smite evil as a prerequisite.  (The SOL smite undead ability doesn't qualify.)  I found holy martial stsrike might handy in combat:  the damange works against any evil opponent, while the SOL attacks only work against undead.  If you would prefer that ability, there are two builds that would get it.

Paladin/lasher/fist of raziel.  Paladin will take longer to get the prereqs for lasher together (no fighter bonus feats), but plaladins do get fear and disease immunity, as well as turn undead.  Fist of raziel gives you sanctified martial strike  and holy martial strike for free.  (You can't substitute SOL and take the feats separately because SOLs must be neutral good and paladins must be lawful good.)

Fighter/lasher/champion of torm.  You don't get turn undead with this build, but champions of torm do get smite evil, saving throw increases, and five fighter bonus feats in the first ten levels, so it is a little like taking ten more fighter levels.  Then you can quality for holy martial strike.

The last two builds don't have quite the same specifically anti-undead flavor that soldier of light has, but they are probably actually more effective in combat, unless your only opponents are undead.  Even then, it is probably a toss up.  I haven't used lasher before, but I have used levels in paladin, champion of torm, soldier of light and/or fist of raziel to enhance my ability to fight evil.

(If you ever decide you'd rather combat evil outsiders with your lasher, check out knight of the chalice (in a build like paldin/lasher/knight of the chalice.  That class gives you  better BAB against evil outsiders, and extra damage each time you hit--and this extra damage stacks with holy martial strike.  Additionally, knights of the chalice can use turn undead attempts to stun demons and gain a holy aura against demons that can be used at will.  Outsiders, beware!

[TigerDragon]

Actually... You could do either a paladin/lasher/skullclan hunter OR a cleric/lasher/skullclan hunter.  The lasher provides the needed "sneak attack" dice for the skullclan hunter, but you have to have the whip equipped when you level up it looks like, to take that first level of skullclan hunter.

I just confirmed this in the OC with a spawned in whip for testing purposes.

[N-S]

Naztharune Rakshasa is always another option for SA. Otherwise a very interesting post, Calirion.

[Fool In Black]

Thanks for the replies.



I think I try the skullclan hunter with paladin build. I just take lasher levels before skullclan, then I should have enough sneak attack for the requirements like TigerDragon said.

If somebody has any other ideas for like dexterity build with much less holy powers, please tell I think that I could manage with holy water and whip to get the castlevania feel.

[Swank Country]

So I believe this is my first post.

Castlevania sure has lots of fighting of the undead, but that's not all that you'll find inside the shadows. Vermin, were-creatures, demons, dragons, and even trolls. (On a side note, I've never actually played any of them except for Simon's Quest and a Super Nintendo version that I can't recall the name of.)

The builds listed already really are good all-around. Yet, I wanted to give him a bit of a twist that didn't make him feel like a lumbering pile of metal. Sure, paladin's fight evil. They certainly seem to have the market cornered, but this ranger is ready for a shot! Heheh.

I spent some time coming up with a build that's less divine dependent when fighting with a whip, while keeping those vampire hatred juices flowing. I'll just jump right into it:

Ultimate Ranger 11/Lasher 19/Foe Hunter 10
CG Human

Starting Attributes: 16 str, 10 dex, 12 con, 14 int, 8 wis, 15 cha
Ending Attributes: 26 str, 10 dex, 12 con, 14 int, 8 wis, 16 cha
(Lvl 4 add cha, rest into str)

Level Progression:
1-5 Ranger, 6-7 Lasher, 8 Hunter, 9-10 Lasher, 11-17 Hunter, 18-19 Lasher, 20 Ranger, 21-22 Hunter, 23 Ranger, 24-26 Lasher, 27 Ranger, 28-31 Lasher, 32 Ranger, 33-36 Lasher, 37 Ranger, 38-39 Lasher, 40 Ranger

Skills:
43 Discipline, 42 Intimidate, 40(20) Tumble, 40(20) Spellcraft, 30 Hide, 30 Move Silently, 14 Search, 2 Craft: Weapon

Notes on feats:
Ranger Bonus is selected after main feat window in CC. Don't freak out like I did!

B-F and FoP on lvl 1 could be subbed for Nimbus and Holy Radiance, if you want a splash more undead damage.

Feats: *Substitutable
1: Blind-Fight*, Force of Personality*, Ranger Bonus-> Exotic Proficiency: Whip
2: Favored Enemy: Undead
3: Weapon Focus: Whip
4: Ranger Bonus-> Endurance*
6: Sanctify Martial Strike: Whip
9: Improved Critical: Whip
12: Power Attack
15: Cleave
18: Great Cleave
21: Epic Weapon Focus: Whip
23: Favored Enemy: Vermin*, Ranger Bonus-> Favored Power Attack*
24: Epic Will
27: Toughness
30: Great Strength 1
31: Overwhelming Critical: Whip
33: Armor Skin
35: Epic Prowess
36: Devastating Critical: Whip
39: Epic Toughness 1 and 2
40: Ranger Special Ability +3d6 Sneak Attack*, Ranger Bonus-> Improved Favored Enemy*

This is a role-playing concept more than anything, so adjust feats, skills,  and attributes as fits your taste. The first thing that comes to my mind is the vermin favored enemy. 'Twas just for flavor.

Well, hope I didn't miss anything in the post. I'm off to run this character through Darkness over Daggerford! Both firsts for me!

I realized just now that the Death Attack ability of the Foe Hunter might not work on undead, as they're crit immune... But I haven't tested it. Argh? I don't play much, and test even less.

Enjoy and have fun!

[heimdallw32]

I made a build similar to the Ranger/Foe Hunter one, I think the only weakness of it is the whip's very low base damage (which becomes a problem when facing anything other than the Foe Hunter's hated enemy)...originally this was going to be for a PW RP server and was going to have someone enchant the whip heavily, which would have done the trick.

Might be a bit of cheating, but you could make yourself a custom whip in the toolset with a few enchantments on it to boost its damage (like, maybe, a little divine damage, maybe +2 or +3 enhancement, stuff like that), then drop it into a basic test module, bring your character in, grab the whip, save character, then load up NWN.

Part of my reasoning for this is the Belmont's whip is an ancestral thing, very old and passed down through the family. It's obviously not your standard whip, afterall.

I think the Ranger/Foe Hunter combination should work quite well though. Should be able to fit in a third class like Fighter (for bonus feats) or whatnot.