Epic Character Builds – Kukri Master
The Devastating Kukri Master is the consummate combatant, combining a blenderific attack style with a stainless steel defense. Designed by moderator extraordinaire, Christian “Torias” Gillott, this epic character is strong, agile, tough, smart, and most of all, exceptionally well trained. He has mastered every conceivable aspect of his chosen weapon, the Kukri. Pity the fool that stands in his way.
Devastating Kukri Master
Overview
Fighter: 8
Champion of Torm: 10
Weapon Master: 22
Race: Human
Alignment: Non-Evil
Starting Stats
Str: 15
Dex: 15
Con: 14
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 8
Final Stats
Str: 26
Dex: 15
Con: 18
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 8
Final Skills
Discipline: 43
Heal: 43
Lore: 43
Tumble: 20
Appraise: 19
Intimidate: 4
Equipment
2 Kukris
Full Plate Mail
Why the Kukri?
The kukri is but a small weapon that does very little damage. It may be overlooked as inconsequential by a lesser combatant. But the Devastating Kukri Master knows the secrets to turning the kukri into the most deadly weapon known to man, elf, or dwarf. The kukri possesses a razor sharp edge, represented by its extended critical threat range of 18-20/x2. That places it on par with the scimitar and the rapier.
The kukri’s second advantage is its size, as a small weapon it is ideal for the fighter who wishes to use two weapons simultaneously, allowing them to almost completely eliminate the hefty penalties that are associated with using two weapons.
All of the Devastating Kukri Master’s training has been devoted to wielding kukris in the most effective manner possible.
Offensive Training: The Devastating Kukri Master’s offensive philosophy may be summarized as follows: strike often and surely, hit hard and threaten sudden death, follow through each killing blow.
Ambidexterity / Two Weapon Fighting / Improved Two Weapon Fighting: These feats allow the Devastating Kukri Master to use two kukris simultaneously to obtain two extra attacks each round whilst minimising the associated penalties.
Devastating Kukri Master In Combat – Click to view.
“Devastating Kukri Master In Combat”
Open Image in Gallery:
View Small | View Large
Weapon Focus / Superior Weapon Focus / Epic Weapon Focus / Epic Prowess: A large number of attacks per round are all well and good, but those attacks need to actually hit the enemy to have any effect. The Devastating Kukri Master is well aware of this and has included extra emphasis in his training on the ultra precise placement of his attacks. Whether it be a chink in their armour, a lose grip on their shield, or a flaw in their defensive technique, the Devastating Kukri Master will find an opening and exploit it mercilessly, rarely missing an attempted attack.
Weapon Specialisation / Epic Weapon Focus / Great Strength: Along with rarely missing, the Devastating Kukri Master’s training allows him to make each and every attack hurt much more than usual, all through clever placement of the blow and supreme knowledge of how to wield the kukri, combined with extraordinary strength.
Critical Hits: The Devastating Kukri Master does the basic stuff really well, hit the enemy, do some damage. But where he shines, where he strikes fear into the heart of his opponent is in the realm of critical hits. Any enemy that is not immune to critical hits had best run as soon as the Devastating Kukri Master’s abilities become apparent.
Improved Critical / Ki Critical: Intense training with the Kukri allows the Devastating Kukri Master to threaten a critical hit with almost ludicrous frequency. A base critical threat range of 13-20 means that 40% of all his attacks will threaten a critical hit. If the Devastating Kukri Master can obtain a pair of Keen kukris, look out, his critical threat range increases to 10-20. That’s 55% of all his attacks threatening a critical hit. The vast majority of those threats will be confirmed, as the Devastating Kukri Master has worked hard to perfect the accuracy of his attacks.
Increased Multiplier / Overwhelming Critical / Devastating Critical: We know that the Devastating Kukri Master will score zounds of critical hits each battle. That’s scary to begin with. What’s even scarier is the result of those critical hits. Increased Multiplier means that each critical hit will do three times the already high base damage. Overwhelming Critical means that each critical hit will do an extra 2d6 damage on top of the tripled base damage. Devastating Critical? Oh it just means that each enemy that is critically hit must make a Fortitude save–or die. Die a painful, horrible death, as their internal organs flood the battle field and their head flies a good few meters from their body. Vorpal? The Devastating Kukri Master scoffs at vorpal; it is nothing compared to his awe inspiring capabilities with a kukri.
Whirlwind Attack: Given that each attack made by the Devastating Kukri Master is potentially instant death, the ability to attack every single enemy surrounding him is rather useful. Don’t be surprised if the Devastating Kukri Master quietly sings “Ring-a-ring o’ roses” to himself as his enemies “all fall down”.
Power Attack / Cleave / Great Cleave: These feats allow the Devastating Kukri Master to capitalise on every killing blow that he makes. These feats can set up a positive feedback loop, in that he gains an extra attack each time he kills an enemy, which has a good chance of killing the next enemy outright, gaining him yet another extra attack.
Mobility / Spring Attack: A good offense means nothing unless you are in the correct position to use it. This branch of feats allows the Devastating Kukri Master to effortlessly glide through a dense battlefield without drawing any potentially deadly Attacks of Opportunity.
Appraise / Lore: The Devastating Kukri Master may live or die depending on the quality of his equipment. These skills allow him to accurately identify powerful magic kukris and other equipment, as well as barter for them more effectively.
Defensive Training: The Devastating Kukri Master has a blisteringly lethal offense, but it is one that requires him to be in thick of melee combat from the start to the end of the battle. Thus, his defensive training focuses on outmaneuvering, outthinking, and outlasting his opponents to withstand anything they might throw at him.
Dodge / Tumble / Expertise / Armour Skin: Since he carries no shield, the Devastating Kukri Master may be thought to lack a viable defensive option. This is not the case. Hard learnt acrobatic skills allow him to gracefully dodge, weave, and tumble out of the way of incoming blows, despite the heavy weight of his full plate mail armour. His keen intellect allows him to weave an effective shield out of nothing but his weapon strikes. While this does decrease his accuracy slightly as he deflects incoming blows with his own attacking strikes, it significantly increases his defenses and helps him weather any storm. Any blows that do get through his defenses will face a further obstacle of having to pierce his thickened skin, which itself forms a type of natural armour.
Toughness / Epic Toughness / Great Constitution: Despite his grace, expertise, and thick skin, some of his enemies’ attacks will translate into solid blows. Thus, the Devastating Kukri Master has trained intensively to build up his toughness and endurance so that he may keep fighting long after a normal combatant would have died of many grievous wounds.
Discipline: Many crafty enemies might try to strike a debilitating blow, knocking the Devastating Kukri Master off his feet, disarming him, or injuring his limbs. With dedicated training, the Devastating Kukri Master has become supremely disciplined in combat, allowing him to withstand these attacks with little chance of being debilitated.
Sacred Defense: As a divine champion of the deity Torm, the Devastating Kukri Master has been blessed with divinely fueled fortitude, reflexes, and will power. These will help him to withstand the many unusual offensive capabilities his enemies may possess.
Heal: The Devastating Kukri Master realises that the end of one battle is merely the beginning of the countdown to the next. With training in the heal skill, the Devastating Kukri Master can expertly tend to the wounds sustained by him and his companions, so that when the next battle begins, they will all be in fighting fit form.
Character Advancement History
Following is the path of the Devastating Kukri Master during the first forty levels of his life.
| 1 | Fighter | Discipline 4, Heal 4, Intimidate 2 (cc), Tumble 2 (cc), Appraise 2 (cc) | Power Attack, Cleave, Exotic Weapon Proficiency | |
| 2 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Weapon Focus (Kukri) | |
| 3 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Intimidate 1 (cc) | Dodge | |
| 4 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Weapon Specialisation (Kukri) | Strength |
| 5 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Intimidate 1 (cc) | ||
| 6 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Ambidexterity, Two Weapon Fighting | |
| 7 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 8 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Strength | |
| 9 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Mobility, Spring Attack | |
| 10 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | ||
| 11 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Expertise | |
| 12 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Whirlwind Attack | Strength |
| 13 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Weapon of Choice (Kukri) | |
| 14 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | ||
| 15 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Improved Critical (Kukri) | |
| 16 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Strength | |
| 17 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 18 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Improved Two Weapon Fighting | |
| 19 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 20 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Strength | |
| 21 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Great Strength I, Epic Weapon Focus (Kukri) | |
| 22 | Fighter | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Epic Weapon Specialisation (Kukri) | |
| 23 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 24 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Great Strength II, Great Cleave | Strength |
| 25 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 26 | Champion of Torm | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Overwhelming Critical (Kukri) | |
| 27 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Great Strength III | |
| 28 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Strength | |
| 29 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 30 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Devastating Critical (Kukri) | |
| 31 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Epic Prowess * | |
| 32 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Strength | |
| 33 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Toughness * | |
| 34 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Armour Skin * | |
| 35 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | ||
| 36 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Save 2 | Great Constitution I * | Constitution |
| 37 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Tumble 1 (cc), Appraise 1 (cc) | Epic Toughness I * | |
| 38 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 3 | ||
| 39 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 1, Appraise 1 (cc) | Great Constitution II * | |
| 40 | Weapon Master | Discipline 1, Heal 1, Lore 3 | Epic Toughness II * | Constitution |
- Indicates this selection can be changed without affecting the integrity of the overall build.