Patriarch PerciusMaximus – “Roman Legionary” Fanatical Zealer (1.13)

TheNix

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Jun 23, 2003
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Percius Maximus is the younger brother of Naughtius Maximus (and up and coming rival of Biggus Dickus). He was the Optio Centuriae in his Centurion brother’s Century. He was spoken of so highly that he was likely to replace his rival and become the second member of this family to become a Centurion in the Jerusalem garrison. But fate intervened! You see, his household gods needed him. In the far-off world of Sanctuary, an ancient evil was stirring again; so armed only with his trusty pilum and scutum (well, kinda sorta) he was sent to face this evil. But his household gods were wise, they gave him skills and magics far beyond even the best legionary soldier and sent him off to face the most evil beings Sanctuary has even produced.

This is his story!


Patriarch PerciusMaximus, Zealer

Level: 84

St – 127 (164)
Dx – 124 (157)
Vt – 249 (271)
En – 15 (17)

HP 1200
Mana 308

Resists:

Fire: 75
Cold: 75
Ltning: 75
Poison: 75

Skills:

Zeal: 20 (29)
Sacrifice: 20 (29)
Vengeance: 20 (29)
Fanaticism: 20 (26)
Holy Shield: 6(8)
Cleansing: 1 (8)

Prerequisites 1


Attack:
Zeal: AR: 7316, Dam: 1777 – 3666 with Might Merc and Attack speed topped out

Defence:
7,601 with 75% block (after Holy Shield)


Equipment:

Weapon 1:
Demon’s Arch
“Um” HoZ

Weapon 2:

Naj’s Puzzler


“Silver Jewel of Fervour” Harly
“Duress” Archon Plate
Lava Gout
Gore Rider
Nosferatu’s Coil
Atma’s Scarab
Raven Frost & Manald Heal


Merc (Act 2 – Might)

Eth Rockstopper
“Duress” Wyrmhyde
“Infinity” Thresher

Random musings:

I wanted to create a character reminiscent of an imperial Roman legion, armed with the pilum and scutum. The pilum is essentially a throwing javelin, but it was not unknown for them to be used as melee weapons, that meant that I had options. The Amazon was the obvious choice, but female legionaries were essentially non-existent, so she was out. I then considered a Barbarian, but I didn’t want to go down the double throw route (as good old Percius likes his scutum) and I was not sure whether the Spear mastery applied to melee javelins anyway. That left the Paladin and the most obvious build the Fanatical Zealer. Being a legionary soldier, I wanted Percius to be more martial than magical, so I avoided Blessed Hammer and Fist of the Heavens as a secondary skill (although I was really tempted to let the household gods aid him with the "Fist"). I also considered Smite, but that would have pretty much would have made him a copy of Patriarch Amphetamine that I completed not too long ago. In the end I went for the safe option, Vengeance. Being a Optio Centuriae, a second in command come Centurion in training, he required a Hastile (a wooden staff) to show his rank. If a wooded staff was required equipment, then one with Teleport charges would fit the bill nicely. And I had a low-level staff with Teleport charges that I could use until Naj’s Puzzler was available: Bonus!

Okay, time to talk about the gameplay. A Fanatical Zeal with any half decent weapon is great. That’s it really. I went for a Might merc armed with an Infinity to lower both the defence and resistances and while he lived everything went exceptionally well. But we all know how suicidal merc are, and when I was alone the game became considerably harder. I had four or five deaths and they were all when I was fighting alone, swarmed and Zeal-locked. I tried to use Charge to quickly close into Zeal range on several occasions, but it didn’t really work for me. So, I ended up letting the enemy come to me while I lobbed javelins at them, then switching to Zeal when they came into melee range and this worked really well: And more typical of a legionary soldier! In the end, Vengeance was a complete waste of points. The native elemental damage on the Demon’s Arch and the Duress, delivered quickly by Zeal, chewed through all PI monsters efficiently enough without Vengeance. If I had my time over with this build, I would have let the household gods pound the enemy with Fists of the Heaven!

You might think that I made this character to show off the knowledge I have gained over the last few months watching YouTube vids about Roman legions and their battlefield tactics, and you might be right. But really it was just an excuse to do a **** joke!


Screenshot053.jpg
 
Very cool concept/theme and execution! Thanks for the writeup. :)

You might think that I made this character to show off the knowledge I have gained over the last few months watching YouTube vids about Roman legions and their battlefield tactics, and you might be right.

I haven't been engaging in any such research, but quite coincidentally I just saw this fascinating-to-me video revealing aspects of the pilum design I had never considered.

 
Very cool concept/theme and execution! Thanks for the writeup. :)



I haven't been engaging in any such research, but quite coincidentally I just saw this fascinating-to-me video revealing aspects of the pilum design I had never considered.

The pilum is an interesting weapon and there are a good number of videos about them. I don't just watch Roman videos; I watch historical and HEMA based videos by people like Lindybeige (my favourite), Scholargladitoria, Shadaversity, Metaltron, just to name a few.
 
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What is this then? Romanes eunt Diablo, "People called Romanes they go the Diablo"?

Congratulations on the Patriarch - No Gladius & Tower Shield on switch?
 
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