Heya again, it's been a while since I've posted one of these. So I don't have a new Ina build, as I've been using others' builds the last couple of lives because I'm lazy and creatively drained.
So, I'm going to give you a build I'm using on one of my alts instead. This build is meant to try to simulate as much of the tanking potential of a Voodulock, without being forced to burn a LR +1 to get rid of the Iconic Fighter level that Purple Dragon Knights are saddled with.
Groundloop Warlock Tank
15/3/2 Warlock/Fighter/Cleric
True Neutral Purple Dragon Knight
Level Order
1. Fighter 6. Cleric 11. Fighter 16. Warlock
2. Warlock 7. Warlock 12. Fighter 17. Warlock
3. Warlock 8. Warlock 13. Warlock 18. Warlock
4. Warlock 9. Warlock 14. Warlock 19. Warlock
5. Cleric 10. Warlock 15. Warlock 20. Warlock
Stats
36pt Tome Level Up
---- ---- --------
Strength 12 +4 4: CON
Dexterity 8 +5 8: CON
Constitution 18 +4 12: CON
Intelligence 14 +4 16: CON
Wisdom 8 +3 20: CON
Charisma 16 +3 24: CON
28: CON
Skills
F W W W C C W W W W F F W W W W W W W W
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
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Concent 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Heal 2 ½ ½ ½ 2 3 1½ 1 1 ½ 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 1 1½ 1½ 1 23
Spellcr 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 23
Intim 4 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 3 2 2 1 1 1 23
UMD 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 10
Perform 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 9
Tumble 1 1
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20 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Feats
1 : Force of Personality
1 PDK : Insightful Reflexes
1 Fighter: Shield Mastery
3 : Maximize Spell
6 : Empower Spell
9 : Quicken Spell
11 Fighter: Improved Shield Mastery
12 : Extend Spell OR Enlarge Spell OR Mental Toughness
15 : Mental Toughness OR Improved Mental Toughness
18 : Empower Healing Spell
21 Epic : Epic Eldritch Blast
24 Epic : Intensify Spell
26 Destiny: Epic Arcane Eldritch Blast
27 Epic : Epic Damage Reduction
28 Destiny: Toughness
29 Destiny: Deific Warding
30 Epic : Epic Toughness
30 Legend : Scion of: Celestia
2 Warlock: Pact: Fey OR Fiend
6 Cleric : Protection Domain
5 Deity : Follower of: Helm
Enhancements (80 AP)
Enlightened Spirit (36 AP)
• Eldritch Aura, Aura of Courage, Shape Vestments, Aura of Menace
1. Resilience of Body III, Spiritual Defense III
2. Spiritual Bastion III, Power of Enlightenment III
3. Eldritch Burst III, Spiritual Ward III, Power of Enlightenment III, Constitution
4. Spiritual Retribution III, Brilliance
5. Spirit Blast III, Shining Through
Tainted Scholar (21 AP)
• Tainted Spellcasting, Tainted Lore, Stanch, Tainted Lore II
1. Planar Power I, Feigned Health III, Strong Pact, Eldritch Focus III
2. Utterdark Blast, Eldritch Chain Shape, Strong Pact
3. Charisma
Stalwart Defender (14 AP)
• Toughness, Stalwart Defense
1. Durable Defense III, Stalwart Defensive Mastery III
2. Resilient Defense III
3. Tenacious Defense III
Purple Dragon Knight (5 AP)
• Spell Power Boost
1. Cormyrean Knight Training, Improved Recovery
Divine Disciple (4 AP)
• Emissary: Light
1. Spellpower: Light III
Destiny (24 AP)
Unyielding Sentinel
1. Commanding Presence III, Shield Prowess III, Constitution
2. Legendary Shield Mastery III, Constitution
3. Renewal III
4. (none)
5. Hardened III, Strength of Vitality III
6. Resurrection
Twists of Fate (31 fate points)
1. Empyrean Magic (Tier 3 Crusader)
2. Sacred Ground (Tier 3 Crusader)
3. Consecration (Tier 2 Crusader)
4. Rejuvenation Cocoon (Tier 1 Primal)
5. Primal Scream (Tier 1 Fury)
There's reasons for everything, so strap in.
15 Warlock: Misty Escape or Hurl
3 Fighter: Stalwart Defense, +20% HP from stance, 2 bonus feats
2 Cleric: Cheap light spellpower, potential spellpower consolidation with domain, free weapon proficiency
As far as skills go, the important ones are Spellcraft, Intimidate, and Concentration. Put one point in Tumble at creation, and put at least one point in Perform so the skill is accessible and adding to your pact damage. (Ignore Perform with a non-Fey pact choice.) UMD to taste (you want 40 or so by endgame, so judge accordingly based on gear and past lives), and any extra points go into Heal. If you STILL have extra points, and are Fey, put them in Perform. Otherwise, Balance is your friend.
In order of pact preference, Fey works best. However, it's not as hands-down best as on a pure build because you don't get Otto's Irresistable Dance, losing a slight bit of crowd control in the process. Fiend is also workable, as even if Hurl fails, the enemy is still stunned. Great Old One is probably the worst of the options, but it exists. Your Thrall DC will be trash, but at least you get Knock, so that's something. Still, I recommend Fey or Fiend as the primary two options.
As far as Cleric domains go, you will only be getting the level 2 effect. Protection Domain increases your defenses a little bit, which is better than nothing and probably the best choice.
Because of the Cleric levels, Empower Healing becomes an obtainable feat, which helps your Renewal and Cocoon hit even harder than the Voodulock. You can also get free Bastard Sword proficiency from Follower of Helm, which gives you small glancing blows. You get extra feats with the Fighter levels, which are used to take the Shield Masteries, and open up a couple of feat slots for extra metamagic and/or Mental Toughness feats to boost crit chance a teeny bit. I prefer Extend for bumping up the length of my Displacements (and Feigned Health). There isn't much to Enlarge, but it's an option too. You could also just take Mental Toughness there, and then take Improved Mental Toughness with the level 15 feat.
The only reason Insightful Reflexes is there is because you really have few options for Level 1 feats, and your INT will be higher than your DEX at all times, so why not add to your Reflex saves a little?
Another potential viable option is to take Favored Soul levels instead of Cleric levels. You lose access to the domain (barely a loss), but you can take Scourge for a slightly higher spellpower boost in longer fights. You still get Bastard Sword proficiency via the FvS deity feat.
Speaking of enhancements, because I have to invest so heavily in Stalwart Defender to make up for the loss of the Enlightened Spirit capstone (and its +20% HP), I trim the fat a bit from the ES tree. AP is spread fairly thin, but is still workable. You still get most of everything you would want from ES for a tank build. You also get the ability to use your superior Charisma stat for weapon attacks - it's chip damage, but it also means you'll be hitting more often, which helps to maintain aggro.
As far as Destiny goes, Voodu's Unyielding Sentinel layout is pretty good, so go with it. Because you will not be getting the Rage effect and stat bonuses from Primal Scream (see below), you want to make sure your Constitution ends up EVEN. A traditional Voodulock wants an odd CON because of the +5 from Scream. There's two free points as a result, which can either go to Resurrection in Tier 6, or the third tier of Constitution to get the numbers you need.
You do lose a few things with this split. Because you lose Celestial Spirit, you lack permanent Feather Fall and the cool floating animation. You also lose full BAB from the capstone. (Tenser's covers this at least.) Also, you lose some versatility from Primal Scream - your defensive stance makes you immune to Rages. It still can deal a metric ton of sonic damage, though, so it doesn't lose all of its use. Because of this, if you only have 4 Twists open, go with Cocoon over Scream.
