InEffect: because damage.

InEffect: 2h tank for mnsigur

Race: Aasimar(Angelkin)
Alignment: LG

Stats:
Str: 19 > 24
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Int: 13
Wis: 7
Cha: 16

Final Build: Paladin(Divine Guardian) 2* / Sorcerer 4 / Dragon Disciple 4 / Eldritch Knight 10
*Whatever really. I guess DG is my a tiniest amount better than regular pal.
Bloodline: Any Draconic.

Main skills: Mobility 3, Knowledge(Arcana) 5*, Persuasion (max)
Suggested secondary skills: Use Magic Device(Max) or max out Arcana and drop spare points into UMD.
*By level 5

Detailed leveling breakdown:
Lvl 1: Paladin - Dodge
Lvl 2: Sorcerer - Extend Spell
Lvl 3: Sorcerer - Combat Expertise
Lvl 4: Sorcerer
Lvl 5: Sorcerer - Arcane Armor Training
Lvl 6: Dragon Disciple
Lvl 7: Dragon Disciple - Arcane Armor Mastery // Blindfight
Lvl 8: Dragon Disciple
Lvl 9: Dragon Disciple - Outflank
Lvl 10: Eldritch Knight - Weapon Focus: Greataxe
Lvl 11: Eldritch Knight - Wings
Lvl 12: Eldritch Knight
Lvl 13: Eldritch Knight - Improved Critical: Greataxe
Lvl 14: Eldritch Knight - Dazzling Display
Lvl 15: Eldritch Knight - Shatter Defences
Lvl 16: Eldritch Knight
Lvl 17: Eldritch Knight - Intimidating Prowess
Lvl 18: Eldritch Knight - Greater Weapon Focus: Greataxe
Lvl 19: Eldritch Knight - Arcane Strike*
Lvl 20: Paladin
*or Dreadful Carnage

Spells by level in order of importance:
Lvl 1: Shield, Enlarge Person, True Strike, Corrosive Touch, Vanish
Lvl 2: Mirror Image, Cat’s Grace, Glitterdust, Sense Vitals, Bear’s Endurance
Lvl 3: Haste, Displacement, Resist Energy(Communal), Vampiric Touch
Lvl 4: Animate Dead, Dimension Door, Protection from Energy(Communal), Volcanic Storm*
Lvl 5: Geniekind, Angelic Aspect, Echolocation, Vampiric Shadow Shield
Lvl 6: Heroism(Greater), Transformation, Dispel Magic(Greater)
Lvl 7: Waves of Exhaustion, Legendary Proportions,
Lvl 8: Seamantle
*Or Enervation to use with true strikes to kill immortal stuff like a troll in the endgame. Although the same can be done with stat drain.

Gear: Mithral heavy armors, Best 2h you can find till you get some good axes from masters. +Stat and +AC items as usual, Helmet of battlefield clarity.

Endgame gear:
Helmet of battlefield clarity, Gyronna’s Amulet, Absolver Cloak, Onslaught, Great Dweomer Smile, Ring Of Circumstances(+AC+Str), Any +Dex+Con Belt, Royal Gloves of Valor, Charon’s Touch, Opportunist’s Boots, Vanquisher

Earlygame: forget you have spells for now. Play like a regular fighter would. Use shield and some weapon. And so 1st act will pass.

By Act2 things become interesting. 1st order of business is to grab Helmet of battlefield clarity from the trader. They also have Mithral plate that you’ll be thrilled to get. You should’ve found +1 greatsword in A1 - that’ll do for now, but I’d look to buy corrosive heavy flail as well , but it’s not a priority by any means and any 2h you find on adventures will do if you are short on cash.

Assuming you did everything in A1 you should be level 5 and have 15% ASF in mithral plate. Not too great, but it will have to do. It’s not like you’ll be casting much outside of a few buffs here and there.

By level 7 you will look almost like a real character with just 5% ASF that’ll stick forever. Missing some slots is a bit upsetting, but it’s no big deal. At level 9 Everything is fine as you get outflank like all other melees should.

Cat’s grace and bear’s endurance are taken so you aren’t stretched too thin on items. Pretty much only belt you need to have +Str one. It doesn’t mean you should aim for better as it saves you slots, but if you find +6 belt of str you can put it on and still retain your HP and AC. It mostly convenience, but it’s nice to have.
Given it’s a lvl20 build I guess I have to tell you how to get to said level 20.
1. Collect ALL +persuasion items.
2. When passing Persuasion checks turn off Sharing Exp for skill checks in the options. (don’t forget to turn it back again after to max out the gains)
3. If needed, buff up and equip all those shiny +Persuasion toys. Chocolate meal is also handy as that’s another +3
4. First big buck persuade check is in Armags tomb. Go for big intimidation from the get go and you’ll get 300000+ Exp.
5. There are more here and there, just keep an eye out. Overall you can get more than a million exp from those and when you come to the endgame your companions will be brought to your level.

Alternative would be going as a party of 3 or 4.

Will have in the ballpark of 70AC by endgame if you did everything and grabbed all items on the list(a lot of them are masterpieces from artisans, so get working on those kingdom stats!) and a ton of AB, especially if you turn CE off. Not exactly viable for unfair due to slower AC ramp than other classes, but can tank unfair endgame no problem.

Didn’t pick power attack as we can’t afford it really. CE already cuts into out AB by midgame (not so much thanks to the helmet) And I highly doubt It’d be worth it. You can grab it instead of blindfight if you really want it.

It's one of very few ways to make a serviceable armored tank with 2h weapon of all things. Could use alchemist, but those don't really mesh all too well with 2h. And Aldori DW alchemist had too much problems as well(mostly due to the fact that there are no insanely good duelist swords till the very endgame) and That thing also doesn't break 70AC, so I decided against that.

Dazzling we use to ramp Effective AB even higher. Again could've grabbed Carnage somewhere, but decided against that. Chances are you'll have some Dazzling thug in your party be it Linzy or Valerie and you only really want shatter defenses.

Fighting defensively is not really used here, but you do have it so that's +3AC when you need it.

Can be done as LE. Just grab fighter instead of Pal at level1(focus heavy armor) and grab Thug 1 at level 20. Will cost you a bunch of saves, but otherwise won't affect much(you will fight transformed anyways)

Khoraji: Hi InEffect, really loving this build and and appreciating the work you're putting in here!

Just a quick question, how would you (or anyone else with more game knowledge than me) tweak this for more damage without losing too much tankiness ?
I'll be playing on challenging.

InEffect: Drop CE, Drop blindfight, grab power attack instead of blindfight and fit in dreadful carnage. Arcane strike instead of CE, Dreadful instead of arcane strike. Done. The rest is more or less fine. Might re-arrange the stats a bit. Only thing that matters is str and some cha,
Although as all armored things in the game it's gonna suck big time against touch.

InEffect: Drop CE, Drop blindfight, grab power attack instead of blindfight and fit in dreadful carnage. Arcane strike instead of CE, Dreadful instead of arcane strike. Done. The rest is more or less fine. Might re-arrange the stats a bit. Only thing that matters is str and some cha,
Although as all armored things in the game it's gonna suck big time against touch.

baronofsyn: Will you put together the most broken sword saint possible?

If you don’t have the time for the build, would you mind giving me your opinion on a couple things?

Do you think a slayer dip would benefit sword saint? Like one dip into Viv and one dip into slayer.

What do you think about sword saint using the rapier?

InEffect: https://www.gog.com/forum/pathfinder_kingmaker/ineffects_guide_v2/post115

as for rapiers... well... they exist? that's good, I think. Jokes aside, there are not that many actually good dps weapons. So much so I can list them all:
1h:
Lion's claw falcata. 15-20/x3 +3 weapon.
Blinding light estoc. 15-20/x3 +5 weapon, but comes real late.
Redeemer longsword. 17-20/x3 +5 holy. 1 transformation/day
Allslayer. Keen +5 shorsword, ignores DR.

2h:
Vanquisher greataxe. 17-20/x3 +5. +10 damage.
Serpent prince fauchard 15-20/x3 +3.
The end heavy flail. Ignores DR

That's about it. Everything else is worse. Sometimes a bit, sometimes a lot. Some of it has situational use, but strictly damage-wise that's it. Considering saint is a crit-fishing class you are pretty much limited to a choice between Lion's claw and blinding light. and with the former being available much earlier it's not that much of a choice.

DSMTyralion: I guess your Crit-Range is with the Improved critical (I think) because my Lion's Claw has not 15-20 crit-range?

InEffect: yes, that assumes either improved crit of keen enchant.

ottffss1: can you please link to a build that uses the most of lion's claw main hand/ allslayer offhand or something like that. I am pretty sure you designed some dual-wielder a while back just not sure which one anymore. thanks!\\

funny thing though as it seems with shield bash/master and revana's oath as shield as weapon my attack bonus is always way better with the shield than with any weapon I can equip.

InEffect: shield master is bugged in that way. It applies shield AC instead of enchant and it does it twice from the looks of it.
Lion's claw you generally want to use as a primary weapon. TWF in practice is not that great for damage. What you do with lion's claw is stack a whole lot of flat damage and then go to town with that x4 crits. And for stacking flat dice best way is two-handing and a whole lot of strength.
For TWF you'd have to abandon x4 and probably go V16/M1/something 3

ottffss1: Thanks! Is dual wield worse dps than two-handed str even on high attack number/ high sneak dice builds? (sorry for posting here you can answer in mechanics thread.

ottffss1: specifically is a sai dual-wield sneak build comparable to an str/legendary proportions reach build?