3.5 Power Play

RSS
Email

0 Kudo

Author	Comment
Green Gnome	...	#61	[-]
Posts: 246 (09/30/03 17:42:39) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I like the idea of a Shuriken-wielding ninja-type character, but perhaps one might prefer the 10th level Rogue ability Crippling Strike for a few reasons: 1) It doesn't allow a saving throw. 2) Unlike death attack, it can be used with ranged attacks (i.e., shurikens), and doesn't require 3 rounds of study per death attack. 3) It doesn't require a Prestige Class, so one's level advancement is perhaps a bit more flexible. For instance, if one chooses to take Rogue 10 first, he can pick up Crippling Strike to power up his Sneak Attacks. Then he takes 8 levels of Monk to gain various combat abilities, then 2 more levels of Rogue. This would result in a 6d6 + 2str Sneak Attack damage, but with the option of Flurry of Blows at a -1 penalty, and no BAB loss from multiclassing. The advantage of taking so many Rogue levels at the beginning is that at these lower levels, Monks tend to be weaker than Rogues, so in doing so one can bypass those weaknesses. One point which is unclear--if a Monk character with Rapid Shot throws Shurikens, can he use Flurry of Blows AND Rapid Shot in the same action? If so, that would be a lot of attacks.
pbryant	yo	#62	[-]
Posts: 583 (10/01/03 04:10:50) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Going back a bit... *Quote:* Say some level 8 rogue bozo catches you flat footed in combat, and sinks his knife into your gut for sneak attack damage. Is it really going to take you six seconds to react enough to defend yourself properly? By the rules, you still haven't reacted enough after getting stabbed to make yourself assume any sort of defensive posture that will protect you from another sneak attack. 6 seconds! That's a really long time in a fight! 1) Time in any RPG is unstable. Things don't work out quite how we think it should. Its irrelevant. 2) If someone stabbed me in the guts, I would probably have a hard time defending myself adequately before he could do so again. Have you been stabbed in the guts in knifefight? No?
OverdrivePrime	Re: yo	#63	[-]
Posts: 1646 (10/01/03 05:30:28) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Nah, thankfully, I keep outta knife fights. I've been sucker-punched before though, and you better believe that I had my guard up and was facing my attacker even as the white flash of "you just got jacked in the ear" went through my brain. That guy had a lousy BAB though, so maybe that's why he wasn't able to follow up fast enough. Don't worry... I'm adopting Jackelope's concept of "#of attacks per round doesn't really denote the true number of swings being taken." It represents your potential to inflict pain in one six second span. You might make a flurry of attacks, or you might make one truly telling blow. A rogue who gets 6 sneak attacks due to dual wielding and jumps his enemy, and lands all six might have just managed to sink both knives into his enemy's throat and rip them out in the opposite directions. In real life, it would look like just two actions, but in the game, it does the deadly damage of six sneak attacks. He did not care anymore: Life and Death, the same. All that mattered was that the crowd would be there to greet him with howls of lust, and fury!
wildingo	Re: yo	#64	[-]
Posts: 134 (10/06/03 11:07:32) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Chopped off head!
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Archmage	#65	[-]
Posts: 6941 (10/13/03 09:24:27) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Whats changed? The archmage prestige class has taken a hit in terms of power. The good old days of twinking a save DC up to around 60 are gone for now, so its time to look at other fun option in terms of power. - Spell power now grants a +1 effective caster level for the purpose of the level-dependent strength of the spells you cast. General tactics Archmage is the diesel engine of arcane spellcasting. If you want to cap off your wizard or sorcerer build, archmage is how you do it. Arcane fire is an ability that is usually only worth it in a few instances (such as with an arcane trickster). Arcane reach is an ability that cane make your touch spells (normally balanced because you have to get into melee and touch someone) absolutely broken, but only if you make good use of melee touch spells. Mastery of counterspelling is powerful, but only if you have a counterspelling build in the first place. Mastery of elements is a strong way to get around the lack of energy substitution or energy admixture in 3.5. Mastery of shaping is an obscenely powerful ability for any kind of area of effect artillery mage, especially when you lay a fireball down on all your opponents but conveniently missing all of your allies. Spell power has lost a lot of oomph, but it is still a standard choice for taking the archmage that extra damage dice, minute of duration, or 5% chance at something is nothing to sneeze at. Spell-like ability is an odd-man out sort of ability. Its expensive and not terribly useful, but if well-planned, the benefits can be extraordinary. How far to take this prestige class? Take as much as you want here. If you just want to splash a level for spell power, do so. If you want to grab arcane reach too, dont hesitate to take a second level and then go back to your prestige class of choice. Or use all five levels as a nice cap to your build. Its up to you. What are the basic ways to build an archmage? The archmage is, as I said above, the class used to add power to the end of a build. The extra bit of power from this class is usually enough to let you brow-beat tougher opponents with your spells. - The Arcane Lord- Your standard wizard/red wizard/archmage build. - The Master Hunter- A demonstration of how the arcane trickster can legally progress divine spellcasting. - The Swindler- A charmer, a con-man, and a guy who can kill you with a single touch. The Arcane Lord All the might of magic is at my command. This is the most standard spellpower-based archmage build. We go for a simple, old-fashioned wizard 5/red wizard 10/archmage 5 build. Our goal is simply to make the best possible caster. For an example, lets make a good old fashioned gnomish illusionist. Illusionists are quite fun, you know. Okay our wizard needs to drop two schools to begin our best choices are probably enchantment (which is fairly well covered in terms of affect by illusion spells) and then a weaker school, such as necromancy. This is, of course, entirely up to you when you build your arcane lord, but for this little gnome, these are the strongest choices. Early on, we want to knock out our feat requirements for archmage. Scribe scroll gives us one requirement, and taking tattoo focus takes care of a second. At level 3, grab spell focus in illusion. Level five bonus feat should get this character craft wondrous item, the method of creating the most powerful items in the game and qualifying your character for red wizard. For red wizard, consider dropping divination and conjuration to further specialize Level six should net skill focus for the character, and level 9 should get your spell focus in another school of your choice (I would recommend transmutation). Now that you have qualified for archmage in everything but spellcasting, you have level 12, 15, and 18 to invest in greater spell focus, spell penetration, and greater spell penetration. Archmage high arcana should be used to obtain spell power obviously, but also grab mastery of shaping (so you can make those high-level illusion spells more versatile) and arcane reach (to avoid having to get in close to deliver touch attacks). The other high arcane you chose is up to you, but I would specifically recommend against arcane fire. This build should make your illusion spells very difficult to save against (especially the old standby spells phantasmal killer). The Powerhouse Big kaboom, big kaboom, big kaboom! Now we go for a fairly straight-forward sorcerer build. The sorcerer is at the disadvantage here because of the difficulty in terms of spell versatility and many other aspects. So how to bring the sorcerer up to the same level as the red wizard/archmage? How about by capitalizing on strong multiclasses with sorcerer? Our build here is going to be sorcerer 6/paladin 2/eldritch knight 7/archmage 5 (alternatively you can go sorcerer 6/paladin 2/eldritch knight 10/archmage 2, which still gets this build everything we want). This build also focuses on having deadly spells, but in the long run, spells that require an attack roll for the caster are cheaper (they come at lower level, they do not allow a saving throw, etc.). This is because the average primary spellcaster is going to have a poor base attack bonus. However, both of the above builds take advantage of eldritch knight to gain an excellent base attack bonus for a primary caster along with a strong caster level. Spells of choice are those sweet rays that deal plenty of damage but require an attack roll. These are often weak spells that are neglected in favor of the slightly less powerful spells that dont require an attack roll, but this build can make good use of them. Other spells of choice are self-buff spells, like mage armor and shield and the like. The animal buffs are excellent too. Out of personal favoritism, if this character has a good dexterity score, take advantage of it with feats like weapon finesse and finesse a rapier (that extra fighter bonus feat will soak the cost of the feat for you). Archmage high arcana should definitely include arcane reach and spell power, though mastery of elements can be priceless for this build as well. Feats should include the obvious spell focus, spell penetration, and greater versions of each. The Supreme Mystic Sorry. My god said you werent allowed to do that. Again, let us look at the mystic thurge to see if we cant get some strength out of a class that really seems to be lacking. I mean, he gives up at least three caster levels! But I digress how can we take advantage of the massive number of spells the mystic thurge gets? Well theres summoning or we can make a nasty counterspelling character who uses archmage to really sure up his counterspelling abilities. Were going to go for a wizard 3/cleric 3/mystic thurge 10/archmage 4. This will have the character casting as a 17th level wizard (18th level with spell power). A bead of karma can make up for the lacking power on the cleric side of the story. Cleric domains should probably include magic (which gives you access to some pretty powerful defenses against magic), and if for no other reason that it makes the character much more logical and realistic (a cleric who worships a god of magic takes up casting arcane spells that makes sense). In this case, feats are fairly standard, and spells are almost entirely up to you. Archmage levels are there for two primary reasons: mastery of counterspelling and spell power. This character has a huge number of spell slots available to him a little preparation means that he should be able to throw out counterspells all day, and by level 17, his counterspells throw spells back onto his enemies (that mastery of counterspelling high arcana is gold for this build). Those spell slots also mean losing a few to high arcana abilities arent anything to cry over either. And anything that does get through is going to run into tough magical defenses overall, making this character very resilient. His role will be more of a support role than offensive, but the ability to throw back spell after spell after spell makes him invaluable for the party as a whole. Your party will thank you when you throw the big bad evil guys disjunction back at him. Conclusion The archmage is there to put a little extra power in an arcane spellcaster build. It used to be almost standard, though in 3.5, it takes a more specialized build to make it worth investing in. The loss of spell powers potency seems to take a lot out of the archmage, but there are still plenty of high arcana abilities to invest in, so long as you can figure out an innovative way to use them. Well, I'm taking my time, I'm just moving on You'll forget about me after I've been gone
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Assassin	#66	[-]
Posts: 6941 (10/13/03 17:37:28) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Whats changed? Assassins are basically the same as they used to be, however, they have a great new ability: hide in plane sight! The sweetest of hiding skills is now part of the assassin class huzzah and double huzzah! - So long as the assassin is within 10 feet of shadow, he can hide. How sweet is that? - As with all spellcasters, there has been some minor tweaking to the assassins spell list. General tactics In terms of powergaming, assassins exist for three purposes: to give a non-rogue sneak attack, to get a non-caster spellcasting, or to give a rogue death attack. Death attack is powerful, but extremely difficult to make use of. It takes careful planning to set up for a death attack. However, setting it up can make for an encounter that ends with one attack, which is always nice. The ability to use poison cannot be underestimated. Arcane spellcasters have notoriously low fortitude saves and poison is relatively cheap at higher levels. Lets just say that poison and arcane spellcasters dont get along. Hide in plane sight is a standard ability for assassins now, and this ability can get you out of a huge number of tough spots. Need to get away from the guards or avoid salesmen? Hide in plane sight works like magic. Speaking of magic, never forget that you have access to a small but extremely effective spell list. True strike, cats grace, invisibility, dimension door, freedom of movement, and greater invisibility are all great spells. And speaking of magic again, use magic device is a class skill. Do not underestimate the power of this skill it is extremely good for filling in the holes in your casting repertoire. How far to take this prestige class? There are three schools of thought on assassin. The first one says to take assassin at least until level 8 or 9 for good sneak attack and hide in plane sight. The second says to only get five levels so you can qualify for arcane trickster with it. The third says to just grab one for poison use and death attack. What are the basic ways to build an assassin? An assassin can be used to make an extremely interesting enemy, and it can also be used for the most unlikely of heroes. The trick is to take full advantage of the sneak attack, spells, and death attack the class has to offer. - The Darklord- A blackguard/assassin? Talk about your big bad evil guys - The Nightrider- No, not the car. The mounted archer assassin. - The Ripper- A gentleman who would never brutally kill someone or would he? The Darklord Your angel of death has come. If you want a fun big bad evil guy, then look no further! This build offers two variants, depending on how you want the character to develop. For those career evil-doers, theres the quick fighter 4/rogue 3/blackguard 4/assassin 9. But for the drama-lovers out there, there is the considerably more powerful rogue 1/blackguard 10/ex-paladin 1/assassin 8. In general, the builds are the same in terms of feats, but obviously the layout and character development. The career evil-doer (fighter/rogue to blackguard) starts out evil, and remains evil throughout his career. No alignment shifts. However, the fallen paladin/blackguard is a much sadder story about a heroic knight who became corrupted by the same evil he sought to destroy. Weapon of choice for this character is (for sheer style) a scythe. Preferably at higher levels, this scythe should have the frost and frozen burst enchantments. Style doesnt really mean a lot, but in this case it pays off. Our assassin is wielding a farming tool, so that makes it fairly easy for him to disguise himself as a farmer or the like. Not only that, but the scythe plays into the requirements for blackguard (power attack, cleave, and improved sunder). Other feats of choice are weapon focus (scythe), and never underestimate a blackguard/assassin spring attacking from the shadows (though this becomes an expensive tree to invest in). Now this build is powerful in melee +17 base attack bonus is nothing to sneeze at. This character is a combat rogue he gets into melee and can stand there with some staying power. Coupled with his fiendish servant and his assassin skills, this character is an extremely difficult to beat enemy, especially when you cant find him. And with the Darklord, you can never find him he finds you. The Nightrider Shoot him right between the eyes, then ride like the wind! Admittedly, I am a fan of mounted builds. While this will probably lead to my downfall some day, I will nevertheless push ever forward and come up with another neat idea to take advantage of the 3.5 system with. And to that end, I humbly present the Nightrider. Designed to make his way into an enemy military camp and deliver the killing blow, the Nightrider presents himself as a simple mounted archer, and a member of the enemy army. He proves himself in battle indeed, few can equal his skills with a bow. He is a good rider, as well. He can do both at once. And then one morning the soldier is missing and the general is dead with a poisoned blade stuck in his back. The build here is a pretty simple ranger 11/assassin 9. Ranger feats are used to build up archery, mounted combat, and mounted archery. Weapon focus is good, as always. In combat, your advantage is mobility. You can move and shoot very easily. Indeed, combined with manyshot, you are more than capable of hitting multiple foes quickly then galloping away to safety. And now we get to a somewhat questionable idea: technically speaking, an assassin can make a death attack with a thrown melee weapon. The description of death attack requires the assassin to make a death attack with a melee weapon, but not as a melee attack. Now this goes entirely against the spirit of the rules, and I would encourage DMs to house rule that the assassin must make a melee attack do deliver a death attack, but should you elect not to heed my advice, assassins out there can sit back and use throwing axes or daggers from the shadows to make death attacks. Again, I definitely recommend that any DM reading this house rule that assassins must make death attacks with a melee attack, but rules-wise this is an option for the Nightrider. Another option is to qualify for spirited charge and use that in conjunction with death attack, though this becomes extremely costly in terms of feats, although gaining the opponents trust and then sliding a blade into his back is the classic way to get a death attack, and one that will work more often than not. The Ripper Heed my warning: never turn your back on the Ripper. Nocturnal and nameless, a depraved man wanders the streets of the city. He meets lovely ladies under the guise of a refined gentleman seeking companionship for the evening. Then, when the victim least expects it, she feels a blade pierce her back, and then darkness. The Ripper claims yet another victim. This build is open to a lot of interpretation in terms of character, making for a very usable character for just about anyone, but the character I will describe here is a kind of terrorist, who butchers people in the streets to make it clear to the local government that they are no longer welcome here. What he hates about them will never be known clearly. What is known about this character is that he is a highly skilled rogue 11/assassin 9. This build optimizes sneak attack (rounding out at +11d6 at level 20) while maintaining a respectable +14 base attack bonus. Social skills, hide, and move silently are the keys for this character. He needs to speak like a gentleman before he slaughters like a madman. For weapons, a hidden knife or even his cane (perhaps its really a masterwork club) will do the trick. He gets his target alone, then uses death attack to kill them off in a single blow. If that is unable to destroy his foe, 11d6 points of sneak attack damage should be more than enough. And if that still fails, the poison on the blade should prove most unfriendly for the assassins victim. And if all that is unable to kill the victim, then perhaps the Ripper picked the wrong victim. But the Ripper is no fool: he will survey a victim for several days before he moves in for the kill. Then he sneaks away to continue living whatever cover he has chosen perhaps a foreign noble in the city, or a young merchant lord, or maybe just a courtier trying to make his way in the local politics. But who would think that such a fine gentleman would ever commit such awful crimes? Nobody, if the Ripper plays his cards right Conclusion Assassins can make some extremely deadly villains (and even some extremely unlikely heroes). The key in designing them is to make good use of their spells, sneak attack, and death attack feature. Youd be surprised what interesting characters you can make with this rather straight-forward class, and its also surprising how powerful they can be sometimes. Well, I'm taking my time, I'm just moving on You'll forget about me after I've been gone
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Blackguard	#67	[-]
Posts: 6941 (10/17/03 20:28:17) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	What's changed? The blackguard has changed a bit in terms of how valuable their requirements are, in addition to a slight mechanics change on a few of their abilities. - Power attack and paladin levels are both much more valuable than before (note that paladin levels are not requirements, but give very nice perks. - A few blackguard abilities have been tweaked and moved about. Also note that the blackguard now has an aura of evil, continuing 3.5's habit of making alignment much more important for the holy casters. - As with all spellcasters, there has been some minor tweaking to the blackguard's spell list. General tactics Blackguard is a way for an evil character to gain paladin-like bonuses and also a fair amount of sneak attack. The spell list of the blackguard is nothing spectacular, but it does carry some bite in combat (cure, inflict, buff, and some decent summons to set up sneak attacks). Poison, as for the assassin, is a lovely choice for the blackguard. It is and remains a great way to deal with enemies with low fortitude saves. Blackguards have the same notoriously good saves that paladins do, making them relatively resilient to spells (especially with eagle's splendor). Aura of despair, coupled with the staying power of a blackguard, makes them an excellent way to drop an opponent's saves for allied casters. Your fiendish servant is nothing special, but combined with command undead and summon monster, you can have a fair number of companions at a moment's notice. How far to take this prestige class? Blackguard, like the paladin, gets most of his goodness from his first two levels. However, do not think that the blackguard up to level ten is a bad idea. Sneak attack and smite are a deadly combination... What are the basic ways to build a blackguard? The blackguard is a frontline damage-dealing machine with the twist of having tons of tricks up his wicked little sleeves. Sneak attack, poison, summoning spells, a fiendish servant... all make for nasty surprises to catch foes with. - The Brute- This guy loves killing, and he knows how to do it... very very well. - The Fallen One- A strong build designed around the slow decline of a paladin to evil. Great character and still a strong build. - The Storm- A classic sneak attack two-weapon fighting build, but with an evil twist. The Brute "Just die already, dammit!" The strong guy, who probably isn't terribly bright, but knows how to hit really hard, and really well. The goal with this character is to get some nasty damage potential, and between rage, smite good, power attack, and sneak attack, you should have little trouble doing this. Our build is barbarian 5/fighter 4/blackguard 10/assassin 1. You will want to go for blackguard as soon as possible. Pre-blackguard, I would recommend going fighter 4/barbarian 2. This will get you rage, uncanny dodge, weapon specialization, and enough feats to qualify for blackguard with plenty of feats to spare. Your feats should be invested in the classics: weapon focus and it's ilk are always worth the investment. For this character, you might also using those extra fighter feats to invest in the dodge/spring attack tree. In my mind, it is almost definitely worth it (especially with your enhanced movement). You could also go for a mounted warrior, with the spirited charge tree multiplying damage even more, but only if you decide to go mounted with your fiendish servant. In combat, your job is to dish out damage. Your blackguard spells should help back up this role pretty easily and allow you some nasty damage potential. Regardless of whether or not you go mounted, you are probably one of the more mobile characters in the group, so be sure to make use of this by keeping on the move. This is the reason I suggested spring attack: with it you will be able to spring in and out of melee, using allies to flank long enough to make use of that sneak attack bonus. You have four main sources of damage: power attack, rage, smite good, and sneak attack. You can, of course, use all this more often than not at once if you manage to set yourself up correctly. To cap off your build, I recommend a level of assassin. You should have little trouble qualifying for it after 19 levels, and the death attack is a very sweet ability to tie into the rest of your selection of skills. So when something nasty goes down... go in and start slaughtering. That's what you do. Just make sure to use your damage dealing capabilities when they are needed or when you can pull it off successfully. The Fallen One "I know the depths of my wickedness... and gods above help me, but I like it." Again, this is a pure damage build. But this one is designed around the classic story of a paladin's fall from grace. Numerically, this is helpful because paladin levels translate to sweet blackguard powers after the fall. This character stats as a fighter, a mercenary in the king's army. But after he slaughters ten prisoners of war, he recanted his money-hungry ways. He devoted himself to the church, spending five levels as a paladin, hunting down and destroying the wicked men from his past. His tremendous strength was more than capable of crushing many of the scum he had once called friends and allies. He knew of so much corruption, so much evil, and so much wickedness. To repent, he destroyed all that he had once embraced. But his zeal to destroy began to outweigh his righteousness. His fall began swiftly after five levels of being a paladin. He retreated to the wilderness, hoping to not fall victim to the abject cruelty that once defined his very way of life. The rage he unlocked in his heart sparked the old hatred of his past, and when he slew his former best friend (who had begged him for mercy), he was brought down to join the forces of evil. All who had wronged him would be made to pay. He knew all along that he was walking down the road to evil, but not once did he stop. His only regret: never again would he be able to see the woman who brought him into the light and believed that he had a good heart. The whole build is fighter 4/paladin 5/barbarian 1/blackguard 10. Feats for this build are what you would expect, weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc. The character gains plenty of goodies from being a fallen paladin (extra smites and an extra point of sneak attack damage). Not only is the build good in and of itself, it's a good character too. A tragic person whose fall should make sense with his class development, one who tastes the finest fruits of righteousness and loses it all to his fall into evil. This build is an example of how a character can be a strong build but still be a very fun character to roleplay, with a character development that few DMs will be able to say "no" to. The Storm "The faster I swing, the sooner you die." Now a good old two-weapon fighting sneak-attack build. This character is designed around decent sneak attack, good base attack bonus, and be able to fight with two weapons. Our build is ranger 6/rogue 1/assassin 3/blackguard 10. The ranger levels give us our base in two-weapon fighting. The assassin levels and rogue levels pad this build with 3d6 extra sneak attack damage (for a total of +6d6). The character also still has a base attack bonus of an impressive +18, which is excellent for a character with 6d6 sneak attack. Your options for weapons really come down to three choices: dual-wielding small weapons (such as short swords) to save feats, getting a big weapon and a small weapon (more damage but more feat-intensive), or go with a double weapon (usually requires a feat investment, but might be overall less than two different weapons). For this character I describe, I am assuming a double sword (style points don't count for a lot, but I just like the feel of a double sword). Feats of choice are weapon focus in your weapon of choice, as well as getting extra two weapon fighting feats (such as greater two weapon fighting when you qualify for it). Consider dodge to boost your armor class. Power attack, cleave, and improved sunder are required, but when you decide to wield your double weapon as a single weapon two-handed, you can get some versatility out of it in terms of extra damage and a good chance to break some enemy weapons. In melee, use your ability to summon a monster to flank with you, then deliver a flurry of sneak attacks. You can use poison very well, so feel free to do so, if you want a little extra "oomph". In addition to all this, you have a little stealth, you have decent spells, you have a helpful fiend, and you can command the undead. Well, use these things! Set up sneak attacks, do some damage, poison the enemy, and have fun. Trust me... everyone likes a little damage, and everyone likes to be a little evil. If that speaks to you, the storm has you covered. Conclusion The blackguard is a wonderfully versatile class. From a frontline stomper for the bad guys to a sneak attack build to a tragic fallen hero storyline, the blackguard has you covered. The trick to getting the power out of this class is simple: make a build designed to do damage, then proceed to wail on your foe. Alternatively, you can splash blackguard with an evil character much as a good fighter-type splashes levels of paladin. The Fools will hate him always, So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Dragon Disciple	#68	[-]
Posts: 6941 (10/18/03 20:00:03) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	What's changed? The dragon disciples former potential for a very nasty and very cool bigger-than-average hero (rim shot). But now that enlargement is a thing of the past, and we have a new dragon disciple to consider. - No more size increase. Now this is something that really hurts the class, but we can deal with it. - Your breath weapon is equal in strength no matter which dragon type you pick. - Wings are bow available for all dragon disciples, regardless of size. General tactics Dragon disciple is a way for a character to greatly enhance their attributes and grab some natural armor Breath weapons are a pretty nice perk for anyone who gets stuck in with the bad guys, especially ones with poor reflex saves. Wings are arguably one of the sweetest abilities of this class. Never underestimate the power of flight. While often overlooked, blindsight is an ability that is capable of basically shutting down illusions, darkness, and blindness. Fighting in the dark becomes a great advantage for you. Bonus spells mean that you have access to a wide variety of useful low-level spells. While definitely not a prime ability, claws and bite are an excellent way to surprise a foe. How far to take this prestige class? Dragon disciple is basically good all the way through. In the past, the enlargement bonus was the pinnacle of development. Now, you really dont have a definite stopping point. Fit in what bonuses you can for your build. What are the basic ways to build a dragon disciple? Taking advantage of the dragon disciple is a matter of using the ability boosts and the other abilities granted by this prestige class. You can do so best with a caster-light melee build, though more caster-heavy builds are possible. - The Disciple of the Scale- A medium-caster build focused on an effective unarmed dragon disciple. - The Draconic Trickster- A very nasty flying archer who is more than a little dangerous. - The Slayer- The blood of a wicked dragon sire and the heart of a hero. The Disciple of the Scale "Youll find my Dragon Furioso stance most interesting." Remember how I said that monks and sorcerers make a great multiclass? Its still true. We will take a good old build, the disciple from waaaayyyy back in the sorcerer power play and modify it a bit to make it more of a warrior build. The build is going to be monk 6/sorcerer 4/dragon disciple 10. This build will give you access to the sweet low-level sorcerer buff spells, like shield, mage armor, the animal buffs, invisibility, blur, and the like. Overall, plenty of sweet stuff to be had at low levels, eh? The monk levels get us flurry of blows at only a 1 penalty (which of course quite nice), all three monk bonus feats. And dragon disciple grants you well dragonhood. Feats to go for are grapple feats: you will have a sick strength score, so why not take advantage of it. Improved grapple should be your first monk bonus feat, with deflect arrows at second level and improved disarm at level 6 (to level the playing field with those big bad fighters). Your base attack bonus isnt anything special at +13, but its better than the average caster. Your strength more than makes up for it, and your breath weapon is nasty. Your role become that of a precision-based tactical warrior. You swoop into the battle where needed, dealing death with your breath weapon. You should have a good armor class thanks to your spells and natural abilities, so even in an antimagic field, youll be a formidable foe. When the time comes to fight with a strong enemy, cast true strike, then disarm the guy. Weapon of choice is your sai here, so grab weapon focus in it. Id also recommend dodge, mobility, and spring attack, as this character is definitely not as durable as other fighters early on (though you come back strong as you progress). Once your foe is disarmed, you use your great strength to grapple them and remove them from the fight. Prior to battle, buff yourself up with spells, and try to open the fight by catching your foes off-balance and clumped together with a breath weapon. Above all else, make use of your spells: getting brew potion to make yourself some potions for battle isnt a bad idea. The Draconic Trickster "Nice shot? Well of course it was, you poor fool." One of the more dominant character types against unprepared foes is a flying, invisible ranged attacker. Why do you think those spellcasters like fly so much (aside from the obvious imitation of superheroes like Superman, Storm, or Powdered Toast Man)? This character is a bit more on the mundane side, but is still very deadly. Our build is bard 6/fighter 4/dragon disciple 10. Id recommend keeping bard and fighter levels as equal as possible as long as possible to avoid the XP penalties. But moving on, our character here is going to be a flying, invisible archer some day. In the mean time, we stack him up with archery feats (far shot and manyshot are essential for this build), weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc. We also use bard levels to qualify for dragon disciple. Bard has the lovely ability to wear light armor and still cast spells, so that mithryl breastplate is practically screaming to you. Their bardic music is also always helpful to every group, and their skills are invaluable. As we progress this character, keep in mind the goal of being a skilled archer. Bard spells should be used to get those nice little buff spells like cats grace. Prior to going dragon disciple, you will act as the standard bardic archer, and you will continue to do this as you progress through the class (buying better and better strength bows, of course). Not only this, but unlike the typical bardic archer, you are a monster in melee with your obscene strength score. So dont hesitate to pull out your longsword and darkwood shield and charge into battle to assist the real fighters. And when you finally get your wings, use invisibility combined with flight to rain some carefully selected death down upon your foes. An equally viable alternative build here is fighter 4/sorcerer 5/arcane archer 1/dragon disciple 10. You miss out on better armor class, hit points, and base attack bonus (+14 versus +15) in exchange for a bit more offense on your arrows. Though being a skill point junkie, Id say go bard. I guess Im just crazy that way. The Slayer "Through the river of steel well go when the dragon lies bleeding." And since I already reminded you of one good multiclass with sorcerer, Im sure you remember the other one. Come on I know you can get this. Charisma is good for sorcerers and? Paladins! I cant believe you didnt get that. Anyway, our build has two variants: paladin 5/sorcerer 1/fighter 4/dragon disciple 10 or paladin 9/sorcerer 1/dragon disciple 10. The former is the unmounted slayer, while the later is a mounted warrior. Both are fairly straight forward, but I will focus on the non-mounted slayer. Unbeknownst to this character, he was sired by a hideously evil red dragon. As he grew, he came to devote his life to the task of hunting down and slaying dragons, especially evil ones. He had early martial training as a fighter before he joined the paladin order to gain a divine advantage in hunting evil foes. He knows the power dragons can unleash, for he felt it burning in his own veins. One day, this power erupted in the form of sorcerous magic. This was the revelation of a horrible truth to him: the true nature of his father. He would use the curse of his draconic fathers blood to hunt down and destroy this monster once and for all. Our non-mounted paladin build enjoys a significant boost to his armor class in the form of a shield and extra feats. This build goes fighter 4/paladin 5/sorcerer 1/dragon disciple 10. Feats of choice here are exotic weapon proficiency (bastard sword), weapon focus and weapon specialization in the same, as well as power attack. Dodge and mobility, and even spring attack, are quite useful against dragons (to avoid their otherwise deadly reach. Also, flyby attack becomes a wonderful feat, again considering how dangerous a dragons reach makes him. But your saves and immunity to fear make you a good candidate to lead the charge against him, and with a few choice sorcerer spells, you should have good defenses and access to the occasional true strike (just to make sure your smite hits). Our mounted warrior does not come as highly recommended, because getting a horse into a dragons lair is a bit difficult, and eventually you will be able to fly, so it almost seems a waste to me, but if it floats your boat, definitely grab the traditional mounted feats, as a spirited charge is a great way to bring a dragon down. Conclusion The dragon disciple is not what he used to be, but he still makes for an excellent warrior. The trick is to take advantage of the wings you have access to regardless of your size and your breath weapon, and make sure your build will benefit from the attribute boosts and natural armor. If you can do this, you can make fine use of the dragon disciple. And the Noble will crane their necks, So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Duelist	#69	[-]
Posts: 6941 (10/19/03 14:16:09) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	What's changed? One of my other favorite fighter-type prestige classes, and like the dragon disciple, its gotten its fair share of nerfing. Nevertheless, we will make something interesting out of it yet! - Prerequisites are much easier and are definitely more useful for the character (no more ambidexterity). - Intelligence bonus to AC depends on your level. - Precise strike is delayed in class development. Oh well things could be worse. General tactics The duelist is a class chock-full of defensive abilities, so you should be relatively safe in melee. Precise strike at level 10 of this class basically gives you an average of 7 extra damage with each attack, and if you use it consistently, it really adds up. The improved reaction ability is a fairly sweet way to put your initiative through the roof, though this ability is often overlooked. Generally speaking, your character has a high enough armor class to stand toe-to-toe in melee relatively . Your prerequisite feats set you up just one feat away from spring attack, so its usually a good idea to grab it. Your reflex saves are excellent, so you have little to fear from area of effect spells. How far to take this prestige class? Duelists are basically good all the way through (especially now that you need to take multiple levels to use your full intelligence bonus to AC). Level 7 is the only really nice level in terms of abilities, so if youve already gotten to a high enough level to make full use of intelligence, holding out until you get elaborate parry is nice. What are the basic ways to build a duelist? Defense is what duelist gives you. Offense is nice too, but the defensive bonuses this class can grant are absolutely great. Two of these builds will be defensive and a third one will be built for offensive power. - The Acrobat- A former circus star who knows a thing or two about stabbing where it hurts. - The Fencer- A classic swashbuckling swordsman who is well versed in fencing. - The Wandering Master- The absolute master of defensive martial arts. The Acrobat "Tuck and roll, tuck and roll, roll and stab." Lets get things started with our offensive build. Our goal is to get a character who can drop enemies quickly and easily, but also has some staying power in melee. That said, the build well be working with a very simple rogue 10/duelist 10. Dont let the simplicity deceive you: its a good, solid build. In addition to winding up with a +17 base attack bonus, +5d6 sneak attack, and +2d6 sneak attack. Our feats of choice (in addition to the prerequisites) are weapon focus (rapier), spring attack, improved critical (rapier), and improved initiative. Assuming a dexterity bonus, you have a standing +8 bonus to initiative. Your rogue special ability should be crippling strike (2 points of strength damage whenever you deal sneak attack damage? Yes please). Your combat scene should start with you spring-attacking your opponent, dealing normal damage, sneak attack damage, and spring attack damage (as well as some strength damage if youve gotten that tenth level of rogue under your belt). You will threaten a critical on a 15-20 (25% of the time). Your style of combat is to rely on your decent armor class to protect you from one attack at a time from an opponent (your spring attack should prevent a foe from getting full attack against you unless you want them to). While moving about, keep your defenses up and keep springing in to flank an opponent for some nice sneak attack damage. If that isnt possible, you can use your precise strike anyway. Skill ranks in use magic device are very worth it, because your other hand cant be used for off-hand attacks or a shield, but a wand is neither of these things. Investing in a cheap wand of magic missile is a nice way to get some ranged damage in against a well-defended enemy, those few foes you cant reach to melee, anyway. The Fencer "A bit of steel and a bit of magic what a delightful combination." The big problem with fighter/mages in 3.5 is the lack of a class that provides for use of armor (aside from bard). So our alternative is a duelist, whose armor bonus for a wizards prime ability is a sweet deal. Now lets look at our build: fighter 4/wizard 6/duelist 10. This will get us the feats we need to qualify for duelist very easily, level 3 wizard spells (which means plenty of fun defensive spells), weapon specialization, and even a +17 base attack bonus by level 20. Our feats of choice here are more defensive: combat expertise, for example, is thrown into the mix, and I would also recommend grabbing combat casting (because your concentration checks will be horrible otherwise) to further your abilities to cast in combat. Weapon focus and specialization in your weapon of choice are no-brainers, and you should pick defensive spells. In combat, your job is to outlast the enemy: you will be able to hit him when he cant hit you. You will chip away at your foe and wear him down. If needed, blast away with a nice little spell or two if its needed (magic missile definitely comes to mind). Save money by making utility scrolls for yourself to cover the odds and ends of adventuring, and in combat dont hesitate to get stuck in. Stab away until the enemy drops, then move on to the next one. Spring attack really isnt worth it, because you will be strolling into melee and poking away with your weapon. Use breaks between kills to cast needed spells on yourself and on enemies. Be conservative with your magic, but try to make sure you dont forget about it! That measly +4 bonus from mage armor might be the thing that keeps you from being the one whos pushing up daisies. The Wandering Master "Your blows are like so many noisy flies: all I must do is swat them away." And yet another monk build. This one is designed around defense, but a more mundane defense than the fencer. This build also features a higher volume of attacks (thanks to flurry of blows and monk weapons) and an excellent standing armor class, though it is fairly stat-intensive (needs a good intelligence, wisdom, and dexterity). Monk feats should be invested in stunning fist, deflect arrows, and improved disarm. Other feats should go into combat expertise, weapon focus (siangham), weapon focus (sai), improved initiative, and perhaps spring attack if youre so inclined. Even without any sort of magic, your armor class is excellent. You should spend your time trying to disarm your opponent with that sai. Once this is done well, roll to cackle evilly. You will almost definitely be faster than your opponent, so you can just run away with the weapon, or you can switch over to you siangham and start dealing some precise strike damage. Whenever you sit in melee for any extended period of time, sit in a defensive posture (using your duelist abilities to their fullest) until your opponent is disarmed. Stunning fist against an opponent with a low fortitude save is like a disarm too, and it has the fun added bonus of making your opponent flat-footed (and thus easier to hit) than normal. Remember, you can technically flurry with your siangham, getting seven precise strikes off in a round (which isnt too shabby). Hold your sai off-hand to be ready if your opponent grabs another weapon (or the one lying on the ground). You are definitely not a damage machine, but you are very capable of disarming an enemy, and then winning the easier match against an unarmed foe. For you, the name of the game is defense, and once your foe is disarmed, victory is yours. Now if you could just do something about those danged locking gauntlets Conclusion The duelist has lost a lot of steam, but it is still a nice class when used for a strong defensive build overall, and it offers interesting combos for defensive characters (and even the occasional offensive character) when done right. To take all his glory So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Dwarven Defender	#70	[-]
Posts: 6941 (10/31/03 21:54:05) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	What's changed? Now for everyone who likes their characters to have a bit of meat on their bones! The dwarven defender is basically the same tank to end all tanks that we all know and love, except for a few changes. - Defensive awareness is now uncanny dodge, primarily for the purpose of continuity. - Mobile defense takes this tank to a whole new level of tankness. - Endurance is now a much more desirable feat than it was in 3.0 General tactics Defensive stance is this classs bread and butter. If you arent holding the line, you arent earning your keep. 6/- damage reduction is better than you can get with a straight barbarian, and basically lets you wade through weaker enemies like they arent there. All dwarves may use dwarven waraxes as martial weapons, meaning you wont have to skimp on weapons to adequately use a shield. Between your armor, shield, armor bonus, and defensive stance, your armor class should enable you to adequately fight most enemies with relative safely. And if you do start taking hits, your d12 hit die and damage reduction can take quite a bit of punishment. Trap sense is the new extension of uncanny dodge, and that +2 bonus to save against traps is huge for class that has a poor reflex save (and will almost definitely have a base class with poor reflex saves). Never underestimate uncanny dodge as a way to avoid the nastier affects of a rogues sneak attack. How far to take this prestige class? Dwarven defenders are, quite simply, the best choice for a tank character in the 3.5 core rules. That said, a character focusing on building a tank is well advised to take as many levels of dwarven defenders as possible. Otherwise level 8 is the level to aim for, because mobile defense is absolutely the pinnacle of this classs development. What are the basic ways to build a dwarven defender? Dwarven defenders are clearly all about defense, but that doesnt mean they cant have some bite to them too. These builds are primarily about defense, but show how to squeeze some offensive strength out of the class too. - The Bodyguard- Your devoted protector and all-around unkillable warrior. - The Shieldsman- A bit of axe and board action for a former ranger. - The Wrestler- Your classic grappling monk who is quite a nasty character indeed. The Bodyguard "I take the hit, be it axe or bolt or spell." Starting things out with the most defensive build, lets take an often-overlooked class for the dwarf: the paladin. Our build will go something like this: paladin 6/fighter 4/dwarven defender 10. Simply put, this build is designed to make for a strong character designed to support a primary spellcaster (especially a sorcerer or wizard). Your role is to provide unflinching defense for your charge, no matter what comes. And you can do this in 3 main ways. First, you will have an excellent armor class, meaning hitting you will be difficult in the first place. Second, your saves (between divine grace and dwarven bonuses) will be very formidable. Third, you have the ability to extend your own hit points with a decent amount of healing (lay on hands and a wand of cure light wounds are a sound investment). To take advantage of your healing, investing a feat in diehard (in addition to your other requirements) is a good idea to ensure that even if an opponent manages to drop you, the ability to heal yourself and diehard working together mean you will be back on your feet in a round, swinging away once more. You are also a decent offensive threat with a pair of smite evils per day. Evil enemies beware: the bodyguard can deal a nasty bit of damage if you challenge him. Other important feats to get for this build are weapon focus, weapon specialization, and combat expertise (to boost that armor class up). If youd like to up your damage, power attack is a good consideration as well, as is cleave (as you are well-designed for mowing through masses of enemy grunts). Most important, though, is to coordinate with the partys caster. The two of you are even tighter of a team than normal, and through working together, the two of you should be quite an effective team. Every wizard loves having a nice, thick dwarf to stand behind. The Shieldsman "A good shield kills just as well as a sword." Well its time for the classic two-weapon fighting build, and again I present a good old shield expert who uses his shield as his off-hand weapon. The only twist here is the use of the dwarven defender as our prestige class of choice. Overall, this build again focuses on defense, but the combination of ranger favored enemy and fighter weapon focus provides the boost to damage a two-weapon fighter needs to keep up with other fighter types in terms of damage. As a ranger 6/fighter 4/dwarven defender 10, this character manages 7 attacks by level 20 (3 with his shield). This build is a bit feat-intensive, but still doable. Our feats need to be invested in greater two-weapon fighting (meaning youll need a good dexterity to use this build), weapon focus and specialization in dwarven war axe and shield bash. Improved shield bash is of course a must, and your final feat is probably best invested in something like power attack, though its up to you. In a defensive stance, you will be an extremely tough nut to crack. Your increased strength coupled with your weapon focus should make up for your attack penalty from two-weapon fighting, and the added damage from your strength, favored enemy, and weapon specialization should allow for some extremely nasty damage when you get your axe and shield going. Plus, the main disadvantage of a defensive stance (immobility) actually meshes well with two-weapon fighting. Since two-weapon fighting uses a full-round action, standing still isnt going to horribly affect your strategy too much. Before you are able to invest fully in your feats, you might consider using a handaxe as an off-hand weapon early on. Though as soon as you can use improved shield bash, do so. It will pump your armor class up quite respectably. In combat, take a defensive stance in a key position of the battlefield (a choke-point like a door is a good choice) and swing like theres no tomorrow. The Wrestler "I am making with the crushing now, yes?" Another monk build? This is getting a little repetitive. But this one offers a slight variation in strategy. Most monks require the ability to move quickly to avoid a fight. This dwarven monk does just the opposite: he moves quickly to get into a fight. But wait if the monk has to stand still, then isnt he putting himself at risk? Why would a monk stand still? Well, if hes grappling, hes not moving. So our build here Is designed to take advantage of the monks grappling abilities and use them in conjunction with the dwarven defenders defensive stance (to ensure strong defense and a good boost to strength and hit points in melee). The build is monk 11/dwarven defender 9. Your monk bonus feats should be used to get you improved grapple, combat reflexes, and improved trip. Your other feats should be used to boost up your grappling skills: weapon focus (unarmed strike) and combat expertise help your offense and defense respectively. Also consider diehard: you already have the prerequisite feat for it, and wholeness of body will let you heal 22 hit points every day (which isnt too bad), and this will let you stay on your feat, and probably give you the time you need to get to a friendly healer to get back into the fight. In combat, you should use your respectably speed (especially for a dwarf) to close with a caster. Then, go into a defensive stance and start grappling with your opponent. With an increased strength and better base attack bonus than the average monk, you are a downright dangerous grappler. So get in melee, start the grappler, and get squishin. If you really want to complete the look, get yourself a belt of giant strength, a mask or two, and give yourself a stupid name (like El Dwarfo Magnifico). Then talk in English that no is good, and be breaking things greaterly. Being great wrestler no is easy, but this build is making wrestler gooder and nicely and SMASHING. Conclusion Yeah! Finally, a fighter prestige class that actually got a modest boost in power. This class is designed to be a strong, defensive class, but with a bit of tweaking and a new look at how to put defensive stance to use, and the classic brick wall dwarf class can make for some interesting builds. Not to a single new guardian So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
Raidi Sovinfaile	Re: 3.5 Power Play- Dragon Disciple	#71	[-]
Posts: 1969 (11/12/03 02:45:29) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I was bored and reading through some of your power plays, and one thing you seemed to downplay in the 3.5 Dragon Disciple is the natural weapons. *Quote:* While definitely not a prime ability, claws and bite are an excellent way to surprise a foe. Something that has been confirmed, is that the Dragon Disciple is supposed to have the same natural weapons as the Half Dragon. First off, that means a change in primary weapon (2 claws are primary, bite is secondary). Also, if using a weapon, you can get extra attacks as secondary natural attacks. That means at least a bite at -5 on a full attack action. And since they have three natural weapons (2 claws and a bite), they qualify for the multiattack feat (so only -2). A very powerful build is Bard 4/Fighter 6/Dragon Disciple 10. - Net +16 to BAB means 4 iteratives. - 6 Fighter levels means 4 bonus feats and access to Weapon Spec. - 4 Bard levels means access to 2nd level spells (only 0 + Cha, but that number can be boosted heavily by DD levels). - TWF tree means 3 extra offhand attacks, coupled with the extra bite attack means massive number of attacks. - Bard magic means you can wear light armor! Dex requirement for GTWF is 19 Dex, so getting 20 Dex and sticking there is all you need. Hey.. can we say "Mithral Breastplate"? - Since you have the feats (11 in total, 12 if human), pick up Multiattack, and Improved Shield Bash. Get a shield with spikes. With the money you don't need to spend on a Dex item (or on ability boosts in general to remain effective), you can dump into shield enhancements and shield spikes as weapons enhancements. Heck.. you can even go for Power Attack, Cleave, and even Weapon Focus and Spec for your shield (or rather, your shield spikes). Power Attack is very useful for a guy with +8 base Strength (+4 attack than normal). Your damage will be high enough to benefit Cleave at least a few times... especially if you have a frequent critting weapon (scimitar?)... gotta love extra strength damage. Yes, shield incur spellcasting penalty... but since we are using a light shield (it's a light weapon), it's only 5%. And if you make it Mithral, that 5% is gone. This build takes full advantage of the extra power boost and natural weapons gained from the DD PrC. You can easily spend money on extra weapons/armor because you don't have to spend as much on things like Natural Armor, Ability Boosting items. The Bard spellcasting takes full advantage of the "combat caster" concept with the ability to cast in light armor... and the DD bonus slots fully fleshes out what 2nd level spells you might need. The Fighter levels means you can get the feats needed for this build, and the BAB to make it a full combat build. Another point is that the Bard class makes a better "spontaneous arcane casting" fold in than the sorcerer. Let's face it, the DD is all about combat.. it's ties to the arcane basically a flavour/power balance thing. So it's safe to assume you don't want to go into this with Sorcerer 10/DD 10 unless you really just want a Combat/Caster half'n'half build... which really isnt' much of a powerplay if you ask me. So let's compare Bard levels vs Sorcerer levels. - Bard has more BAB over levels more than 2. - Bard has two high saves, Sorcerer only Will. Combine with the DD's low Reflex, that's a sore point... - Bard has some nice combat related specials (inspire courage, countersong), while the Sorcerer has.. a familiar. - Bard's get more Spells Known early on compared to Sorcerers! - Bard's can cast spells in light armor at no penalty! So let's say that we want more than just 1 level (for the spontaneous arcane casting requirement), and want some decent spells in th class. 4th level means 2nd level spells for both the Bard and the Sorcerer, no loss there. The Bard knows an extra 2nd level spell over the Sorcerer. What's all those extra spells the Sorcerer can cast do for him when he only knows one spell? Reality check: this is not a spellcasting class. What's the point of having 10 castings of an animal buff? Or Blur? Combat spells lose their edge at the higher levels.. Flaming Sphere? Acid Arrow? You have much better damage potential than that... Besides, the DD will give the Bard all the 2nd level spells he needs . Coupled with the fact that spreading out the Bard and other levels (something you want to do unless human or half-elf anyways), you can dump some extra skill points into Use Magic Device.. nice tool for wands.. spreading the repertoire of spells. Speaking of skillpoints.. dumping some points into Tumble (and at least 5 in balance for the synergy) would be easy to do and quite useful too. Considering that Tumble and Perform are on the Monk skill list too, it would probably make a better multiclass combo for the Disciple of Scale over the Sorcerer. You'd squeeze one more BAB out of the combo. Better saves. Much better skills. 2 2nd level spells known instead of just 1. Inspire Courage and others over the Familiar. While the idea of "dragon blood" fits best with Sorcerer concept... the class just seems to work so much better with the Bard.
Jackelope King	Re: 3.5 Power Play- Dragon Disciple	#72	[-]
Posts: 6941 (11/12/03 09:16:34) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	*Quote:* I was bored and reading through some of your power plays, and one thing you seemed to downplay in the 3.5 Dragon Disciple is the natural weapons. Natural weapons are nice, and I am aware of the weapons Dragon Disciples are "supposed" to get. My reason in downplaying the importance of them is that, in general, they are a poor way of dealing damage. Natural weapons cannot be used two-handed to take advantage of a high strength. The "off-hand" bite is real nice when used with a two-handed weapon, though to be perfectly honest, I don't see it as an absolute key. You cannot enchant natural weapons unless you're good friends with a druid. As a fighter-type build, I think dragon disciple benefits more from a good, sturdy magic weapon to deal damage with instead of relying on claws. They are excellent back-up, and a great off-hand weapon with your big ol' sword. Also, I aplaud your bard build. The reason I personal tend towards sorcerer in general is the fact that there are better low-level buff spells to be had with sorcerer than with bard. Don't get me wrong: bards are my third favorite class (behind rogue and ranger). I love using bard levels in all sorts of builds. However, I feel that the "wasted levels" for a fighter in spellcasting classes are best spent in sorcerer levels in general. I used bard in the Trickster build for Dragon Disciple because it relied on specific spells, and as an archer build, it would benefit from bardic abilities. The other two builds use sorcerer because it allows for slightly better spell selection (bard spell list is much better than it used to be, but it is still too specific to it's own little niche to be as useful as the sorcerer spell list). Still, the bard makes a great choice for many of these builds, depending on what you want to do. My choice of sorcerer was for better spells, and though you mentioned that at higher levels magic items tend to outshine these low-level buffs, the ability to hold out until high levels to get those magic items saves plenty of money for use in areas like magic weapons and the like. *Quote:* I am also surprised you used fighter instead of arcane archer for some of those builds. I used fighter in many places instead of arcane archer because arcane archer is a pain for a non-archer build to qualify, it is really lacking overall in power (two levels are nice, but they really aren't worth going for unless you have decent AoO attack spells or really need +1 arrows), and often those builds could not qualify for arcane archer without some more twinking. Since most of those builds were done to show full or near-full progression of a prestige class, I rarely tried to make room in the build for something like arcane archer. I'm going to try to post the eldritch knight some time this week, but I'm really unsure of when I'll get it in. So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
Raidi Sovinfaile	Re: 3.5 Power Play- Dragon Disciple	#73	[-]
Posts: 1969 (11/12/03 15:28:27) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Plus, to qualify for arcane archer you have to be an elf or halfelf.. which is rather restrictive for a general purpose power play. As for Sorcerer vs Bard. First reason: The thing with the sorcerer is that his spell selection means squat when you have a total of 1 spell known for 2nd level (and 3 for 1st level). I'd say that Bards have plenty of good spells to cover the 3 1st and 2 2nd. Especially since you probably aren't going for damage spells (you have much better damage potential with physical combat), Bards have lots of utility options. I just see taking sorcerer for magic as being silly because you end up with more spells per day of your limited (even moreso than Bard) spell selection. The spell list doesn't help when you can only know one spell. Second reason: Remember... the Bard has access to UMD, which means he has access to wands and scrolls outside his spell list. Which means he can cover an even greater ground of spells in item form than the sorcerer (who is stuck with just arcane). If you put at least 5 ranks in Spellcraft and Decipher Script, you'll get +4 synergy bonus for using scrolls right there. Charisma is already an important ability, so you're most likely going to get at least +2 (or higher once you get Dragon Apotheosis and a Cloak of Charisma). Use a wand is a fixed DC of 20. Use a scroll is DC 20 + spell level, but you can easily get the synergy. And since spellcasting is not your focus, you can afford to dump double points into it with DD. Third reason: Bards can cast spells in Light armor with no spellcasting penalty. A Mithral Breastplate would be considered light armor, and has a max Dex of 5 too.. Sorcerer spellcasting makes a combat casting combo very difficult (either spellcasting is sacrificed, or armor wearing). The only point I see for the Sorcerer is that it's good for when you only need to take 1 level. There's no real loss in combat ability, but you get much better spellcasting for the one level. If you take em to 4th level (for 2nd level spells), Bard just seems to blow them out of the water. The Monk/DD build seems like it would work much better with Bard (saves, BAB, skills, inspire courage, etc). As for the natural weapons... I just meant that you didn't have a build that took full advantage of it. Claws won't be a massive bonus, except to make it so they are always considered armed... however the Bite will always come into effect, meaning a really big number of attacks per round is possible. So I just wanted to provide a build that took care of that Edit Screwed up my synergies... oops!
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Eldritch Knight	#74	[-]
Posts: 6941 (11/18/03 20:50:40) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Whats changed? The eldritch knight is sort of like the old Spellsword, but it offers full base attack bonus, a fighter bonus feat and nine caster levels. Wow. Just wow. The only weakness of the class is the inability to cast in armor. General tactics Eldritch knight exists to make the good old fighter/mage character concepts doable. Full base attack bonus makes the old problem of hitting with otherwise powerful touch attack spells much easier. You need to take advantage of your wasted level in a fighter class by using those martial weapon proficiencies well. Packing a good old fashioned longbow can be very helpful. There are some very nice armor enchantments out there, so still spell is a great feat for the fighter/mage on the go. At most this class allows you 18 caster levels (assuming just one level of a fighter-type). Dont forget that you lose at least two caster levels. An eldritch knights skill points and hit points are fairly weak dont forget what you are giving up for this class! Invest heavily in defensive items if you want to melee for extended lengths of time. How far to take this prestige class? Take as much as you want here. Eldritch knight is effective if taken by itself or as a segue into a more powerful class at a later point. What are the basic ways to build an eldritch knight? Your goal with an eldritch knight is to make an effective fighter/mage. How you do this is up to you, but here are a few sample builds to show what versatility you can get out of such a vanilla class. - The Dark Fang- Another two-weapon fighting sneak attack build of the fighter/mage persuasion. - The Magic Defender- What you get when you cross a brick wall with a wizard. - The Sacred Skald- An ex-bard who has devoted his life to battle in the name of his god. The Dark Fang Feel the icy grip of the darkness. In case you havent gotten my line of thinking yet: two-weapon fighting + sneak attack = good. So heres a fun little fighter/mage example that includes just one level of wizard and no fighter levels. The build is very convoluted, but is plenty of fun: ranger 3/wizard 1/fighter 1/assassin 5/eldritch knight 8/arcane trickster 2 (though we will actually go ranger 2/wizard 1/fighter 1/ranger 1/assassin 5/eldritch knight 8/arcane trickster 2 to get the skills we need). Now this certainly looks like itll be a bit ugly. I mean, this doesnt even make sense, right? Actually, it does, those it certainly is a stretch. This build will give us a +16 base attack bonus by level 20, +4d6 sneak attack, death attack, 3rd level assassin spells, casting as a tenth level wizard, ranged legerdemain once per day, a decent spread of skills, hit points slightly better than that of a rogue (average hit die is 6.2). Feats of choice include weapon focus (shortsword), improved two-weapon fighting, greater two-weapon fighting, dodge, craft magic arms and armor, and craft wondrous item. Other feats are basically up to you. At level 20, this build has 7 attacks each round, and if you hit with every one while flanking an enemy, you can end up rolling 35d6 for damage. And as a reminder, you can cast as a level 10 wizard and can cast 3rd level assassin spells, meaning you have excellent troubleshooting abilities and you can give yourself some healthy buffing with defensive spells. You have some decent stealth abilities, meaning you can avoid some less observant enemies altogether. With defensive spells like mirror image, displacement, you should be able to make up for your weak armor class and hit points. With your item creation feats, you can make some decent magic items to keep yourself safe (rather cheaply as well). When it comes to it, you can even track your enemy through the woods (not terribly well, but you can always make yourself glasses of tracking or some similar magic item to boost this if need be). In combat, your decent magic lets you chose when the fight begins and where it takes place. Strike from hiding and be ready for anything, then dash in and deliver a deadly flurry of slashes to crush your foe. The Magic Defender Who ever said dwarves didnt make good mages? Build suggested by no interference How would you like a wizard who almost has as many hit points as the average fighter, can increase his armor and hit points without casting a single spell, and doubles as an extremely effective tank? Our build this time is fighter 1/wizard 8/eldritch knight 10/dwarven defender 1 (though the order of the build will be fighter 1/wizard 8/eldritch knight 2/dwarven defender 1/eldritch knight 8) . Feats of choice will include still spell, combat expertise, craft magic arms and armor, and craft wondrous item. If the party lacks a primary spellcaster, this character can fill in by investing in spell focus, greater spell focus, spell penetration, and greater spell penetration. Otherwise, this character stands in the middle of the battlefield in his heavy armor casting with impunity. This character is also extremely effective at working with a weaker spellcaster as a personal meatshield. Before going into casting mode, go into a defensive stance. With still spell, you can cast even in the heaviest armor in the game and while holding a big old tower shield, keeping your armor class at a healthy level while you cast. You can also make your own armor and shield with the item creation feats, saving yourself a healthy bit of money for other items. Invest your time and money towards getting or creating defensive items, and use the money you save to buy things like metamagic rods (extremely awesome magic items for the wizard who is tight on feats). In combat, your job is to protect weaker characters (especially mages who just arent as tough as you are) and still remain a viable caster while doing so. If you have another arcane spellcaster in the group, focus on utility and area of effect spells. You are best suited to act as a support caster, or one who deals with weaker enemies (like the hordes of goblins) while the other caster focuses on using save or die spells on the tougher enemies. You are an extremely tough cookie and you cast as a level 17 wizard with a +16 BAB! Not bad, all things considered The Sacred Skald For the glory of the gods above! Once this character was just a simple bard, one who played for his supper at inns and supported his party in battle. But through his journeys, he became more and more religious, turning to the gods for help and assistance. Then one day he heard the call, abandoned his bardic way of life, and took up the more martial life of a paladin. This character is designed to be a melee-focused bard who supports his allies in the thick of battle with bardic music and spells. The build is bard 9/paladin 2/eldritch knight 9. The character casts as a 17th level bard (which isnt too bad), achieves a +17 base attack bonus, manages to get inspire courage +2, inspire greatness, divine grace, a bit of back-up healing in the form of lay on hands, and even a single use of smite evil every day. A fairly decent accomplishment, eh? For this character, Im assuming a classic sword & board build with some focus on offense and defense (in essence a build for a standard melee type). You will be more effective in melee than the average bard and will be a better support spellcaster than the average paladin. You will be able to boost your fighting ability with wands of paladin spells if need be, and your bardic music will be extremely effective (since youll be able to stay in the middle of the fight, affecting as many allies as possible with your singing). Remember that as a bard, you can cast in light armor (which includes a mithral breastplate, and a mithral light shield has no arcane spell failure. You should be able to maintain a healthy armor class, and your saves by level 20 will be very nice (especially with divine grace), meaning you should have some amount of protection from spells. Your feats should go into weapon focus (longsword), dodge, and maybe into the mounted combat tree. If you elect to go with mounted combat, consider focusing in the lance instead. Leadership is also a nice feat (if your DM will allow it many dont). This character makes an excellent diplomat or leader of a small army, and hes no pushover in combat either. Conclusion The eldritch knight might not be the most flavorful prestige class ever, but you can manage to use its abilities effectively while still creating an interesting character at the same time. Just make sure to invest in defensive items and remember to keep your constitution nice and high to avoid an unpleasant dirt nap. So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
no interference	Dwizarf Wizard	#75	[-]
Posts: 3082 (11/18/03 22:39:47) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	W3rd. It should also be noted that there are tons of spells with no somatic component at all that still manage to be really powerful (like Teleport). I'd go for the most melee power at first, since you're a stronger fighter at lower levels. That means Ftr1/Wiz5/Eld4/DDf1/Eld6/Wiz3. The reason you start with fighter is for the extra HP and because the original intent was for this fella to be a master craftsman as well. Most of your spells are going to be utility, so stay away from specializing (even though that is usually the best move) and you don't need to worry about Int as much since most of your spells won't be DC based. You'd start with Combat Casting and either Dodge or Toughness, and approximately 4 skills. You'll take up Craft (armorsmith) and (weaponsmith), and Concentration & Spellcraft. Any leftover ranks can go wherever you want, likely into things like Knowledge (arcana). With those skills at first level you can craft yourself a dwarven waraxe, tower shield, and banded mail for 103 gp. With 4 ranks in both skills and +2 int you can easily craft all of these items by taking 10. The feat tree would look something like this: 1st - Combat Casting Ftr1 - Toughness Wiz1 - Scribe Scroll 3rd - Still Spell 6th - Endurance Wiz5 - Craft Magic Arms & Armor Eld1 - Dodge The following 4 feats can be used for pretty much anything you want, although Combat Expertise, Craft Wondrous, and Diehard are among your top choices. EDIT: Was thinking about it, and I think you probably definitely need combat casting. Don't know why I forgot that one. EDIT2: Oh yeah, and make a Con amulet. You are wanting to have around 36 Con by the time you hit 20th. It should be a larger priority than your Int, as this character is mainly about surviving nuclear blasts and then laughing about it in the tavern later. 18 STR, NO INT
Jackelope King	3.5 Power Play- Hierophant	#76	[-]
Posts: 6941 (11/27/03 19:33:12) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Whats changed? The folks over at Wizards of the Coast decided to play fair and weaken spellcasting PrCs too. The Hierophant has lost the option to pick spellpower +2 as a special ability and his blast infidel ability (which used to be based on patron deity) is now based on allignment. Faith healing got a boost (since it is now based on allignment as well), but overall the class is weaker than it was before, meaning it is a very weak class overall. General tactics If you want to be able to cast miracle and other level 9 spells by the end of your build, do not take more than three levels of this class. Remember that while your spell progression halts with this class, you still increase caster level, which means a cleric 15/hierophant 5 will still cast his lower level spells as if he were a cleric 20. The good news: this class is dirt-easy to get into. A metamagic feat and 15 ranks in knowledge (religion)? Not a bad price. Blast infidel is not a bad ability, but it is heavily reliant on your ability to detect allignments easily. Divine reach is easily the best ability of the bunch. Harm with a nice 30 ft. reach? Not bad at all... Faith healing is a good ability for a healer-type cleric, especially when you are a LG cleric with a cadre of paladins and you're throwing out free maximized mass cure critical wounds. It's improved mainly because the odds are bettern that you'll share an allignment than a patron deity. Gift of the divine isn't bad, but it isn't particularly good either. If you fight a lot of undead, it's nice to be able to create a backup cleric. Mastery of energy is a nice deal for any cleric who likes to tangle with the undead. A free metamagic feat is rarely worth taking, unless you're really trying to squeeze to get the requirements for a class or feat you really need, especially since you're effectively giving up a level of spellcasting progression for it. Power of nature is pretty nice, but requires forthought to use properly. Don't want to get caught with your pants down because you gave the fighter your wildshape ability today... Spell power is the old standby, and it's a fairly nice choice for the average cleric (who with this and a bead of karma can boost his effective caster level by 5). As with the archmage, spell-like ability is an odd-man out. It's a decent ability, but picking the right spell can be tough. A buff-a-holic cleric will probably be quite pleased to give up a spell-slot to be able to cast one of his spells two times per day. How far to take this prestige class? As I said before, I'd recomend against taking more than 3 levels of this class if you want access to level 9 spells. What are the basic ways to build an hierophant? The hierophant's purpose is to trade a few levels of spellcasting progression for a few abilities you can't get anywhere else. Get what you need out of it then go on your merry way. - The Lightbringer- A dedicated healer and a person who really is the backbone healer of any party. - The Hunter of the Damned- A cleric dedicated to snuffing out the unholy spark that powers the walking dead. - The Scourge- The druid who yearns to blanket the world with the dark claws of the true power of nature. The Lightbringer I come bringing hope, bringing life, bringing light! The cleric got an overhaul in 3rd Edition to create a class that wasn't just a walking band-aid. But to be honest, sometimes being the healer can be fun. If you want to make a really strong healer, you can push out a pretty decent amount of healing if you work at it, even moreso than the average cleric. Our build is simple enough: cleric 17/hierophant 3. We want to gain access to level 9 spells with this character (mircale is just way too nice to pass up). Domains of choice are healing and protection (keep the party healthy and safe). Healing is a prime choice for the reason that you are able to cast all healing spells at +1 caster level. This means your cleric will be curing an extra point of damage with every spell. Feats of choice for this character are metamagic feats (such as the ever-popular extend spell) and defensive feats (like dodge and expertise) to extend your own survival. Craft magic arms and armor is also atractive for the ability to make yourself some impressive magic armor to keep yourself safe. When you start taking levels of hierophant, invest first and foremost in spell power +1 (meaning that you now cast healing spells at your own caster level +2, which translates into another two hit points every time you cure someone). Not bad. Now throw in the classic bead of karma (expensive, but not prohibitively so). With this, you can use healing spells at an impressive 26 caster level by level 20. This is very nice for a few castings of some mass cure spells. Couple this with the faith healing ability (if your group shares allignment with you) to automatically maximize your cure spells. Regardless, also make sure you grab divine reach so you can heal allies from a distance. This build isn't exactly Mr. Kill-a-lot, but it certainly isn't a bad twist on the healer. The Hunter of the Damned My task is simple: send the dead back to where they belong. Dealing with the undead has always been one of the cleric's fortes. Aside from the paladin, nobody else can turn undead, and nobody can do it as well as the cleric. Our build is again the relatively simple cleric 17/hierophant 3. The variance is in the feats, domains, and special abilities we chose for this character to make him the bane of any walking dead. Domains will have to include sun (the domain for someone fighting undead). Good is another strong domain, as it will do a good job protecting you from the evil undead who would love to eat some part of you for breakfast. Feats will definitely include extra turning for this character (a top choice once divine feats start rolling out again in 3.5), and will probably also include some metamagic feats like extend spell to make sure your buff spells last an appropriate amount of time. You can also grab things like the ever-popular spell focus and greater spell focus to bump up your save DCs. If you get involved in melee often (which isnt hard for a cleric), definitely consider weapon focus. Regardless of your feats, your hierophant abilities are absolutely key. Divine reach lets you snipe evil undead with cure spells while mastery of energy will net you a +4 bonus to your turning checks (which will give you the edge against more powerful foes with turn resistance). Your last hierophant ability is up to you: if youd like to cement your spellcasting, grab spellpower. If youd rather reinforce the turning power of the party, gift of the divine is a way to let your entire party turn if need be. They use your cleric level and their own charisma modifier (the sorcerer and bard will love that part). If you do this, extra turning is definitely worth it because it means that your party wont lose your support in other areas during a turning check. The sorcerer in the back can cover for you while you are smashing away the walking dead in the front of the party. The Scourge The weak will be culled to make room for the strong. This harkens back to the good old days of the General Druid who had a horde of animal companions with him at all times, but adds a new twist. Our build is very simply monk 1/druid 18/hierophant 1. Our character is the unseen enemy, and he makes a great Big Bad Evil Guy. This character is not someone who likes to get his hands dirty: thats what cohorts and summoned animals are for, my dear boy! So this character is going to be a modified summoner druid with the leadership feat. Spell focus: conjuration, augmented summoning, and extend spell are all very desirable for this character. Natural spell and leadership are also great (especially for our plans for this character). The trouble for this character: the knowledge skill requirement is tough for a druid to meet. So that is why we have that stray level of monk thrown in. This serves a few purposes for a druid. First, it lets us meet that requirement for 15 ranks in knowledge (religion). If you can manage at least a 12 in intelligence (or you play a human), you can manage the requiremen. Monk also adds wisdom to your armor class when you wearing no armor (which you rarely will be in wildshape) and it can net you improved grapple (which is awesome for many of your high strength and large size wildshapes). What to do with that one level of hierophant? Well lets just go with a gift of nature. This isnt a particularly deadly ability, but for the behind-the-scenes manipulator, this is a great ability. Imagine you have a group of meddling adventurers causing trouble in a nearby city. They need to die. So you have one of your cohorts dress up like a druid, give him your use of wildshape. Then theyll wonder how you keep coming back from the dead to give them grief. With a horde of cohorts, summoned animal, your beloved dire bear animal companion, and your ability to lend out druidic powers while you watch your enemies and learn. If you get into a fight, polymorph into something big and show off that nice trick you picked up during your time in the monastery. The hierophant doesnt have to be a cleric or a good guy. An evil old druid can do it too. Conclusion The hierophant is not a strong class, but you can get some interesting characters out of it. The class provides some interesting abilities you cant get anywhere else, but the lack of spellcaster progression is painful to a dedicated spellcaster like the cleric and the druid. If you have a need for a specific ability of the hierophant, the trade-off of a caster level might just be worth it. So if I'm rambling ignore me If on the money then adore me
cthulhu waits	Re: The Horizon Walker	#77	[-]
Posts: 1456 (12/02/03 17:57:11) Ancient Dragon More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The Halfling Nomad the road goes ever on and on All halflings are nomadic, its in their nature. Nearly every halfling born has had a trace of wanderlust in his blood. But for some of the small folk, this urge to explore, to see the next bend in the road or over the next hilltop goes much deeper. For this halfling, this need to travel can cause him to leave the tightly knit community from which he comes, and travel far and wide, even to other planes of existence. Most such halflings return to their people by the time they are middle-aged and live a comfortable existence regaling their less experienced fellows with wild tales of adventures and strange creatures and sights. Some, though, never return...they set out on the road one day and follow it straight into the sunset, to vistas undreamt of, and into legend.. This, then, is the halfling nomad. Build The basic idea for this character is one who is highly skilled in several areas, and perhaps more than a little larcenous, as befits his halfling nature. Two-weapon fighting and sneak attack make him an able combatant as well. Your levels should end up as Ranger6/Rogue5/Horizon Walker9. What order you advance in is a personal choice, you might want to go into HW as soon as possible (6th level) or you might choose to finish your advancement in ranger and rogue before going into the prestige class. Your ranger levels give you 2 favored enemies, which combine nicely with the HWs bonuses to attack against creatures of his chosen terrain masteries. Other benefits are tracking, wild empathy, Endurance, an animal companion to keep you company on your far-flung journeys (a riding dog is an excellent choice) and the rangers combat style. Favored enemy is a personal choice, though kobolds or goblinoids are an obvious choice for halfling. Magical Beast is always an excellent selection, though, as they are an extremely numerous monster type. While its tempting to use a halflings racial ability with thrown weapons and slings to complement an archery combat style, the superior choice is 2 weapon style, which when combined with sneak attack is a deadly combo. You can use your bonuses with thrown weapons to be an effective double thrower with daggers, throwing axes or similar weapons. For animal companion, riding dog is an excellent choice. Combined with some mounted combat feats and you are an effective mounted combatant. Focus on the stealth skills and ride if you are going the mounted route, and don't forget knowledge (geography.) One skill you should put a few (no more than five or so) points into is Craft (mapmaking.) Because you have to make maps of all these far-flung places you trek through, right? Rogue levels are pretty self-explanatory, with the main choice here being how you allocate your skill points. With only five levels of rogue, you might as well forget the skills which rogue class skills only (i.e. not ranger or horizon walker) because you probably just cant get them good enough to mess with. It will be more profitable to focuse on those skills which you can excell at, of which there are many. The only exception might be Tumble, which can be very useful for setting up flanks. With five levels of rogue you can get it up to 8 ranks, along with a +2 synergy bonus for jump, and then your dex should make you passable at tumbling. The main skills to concentrate on with your rogue levels are hide, move silently, spot and listen. If you choose to focus primarily on not being seen and heard, you should be almost capable of hiding while under the effects of the glitterdust spell. Adding up the bonuses from race, size, horizon walker, the stealthy feat, elven cloak and boots, and skill focus (move silently) [to compensate for the size bonuses to hide] and max ranks gives you +38 and +39 in hide and move silently, resepictively, before dex bonuses. For horizon walker the main considerations are, of course, what terrain masteries you want. I would suggest forest (+4 to hide), hills (+4 to listen), marsh (+4 to move silently), plains (+4 to spot) and underground (for the darkvision.) Desert is nifty, with the immune to fatigue and never being exhausted (which becomes fatigued), but I prefer the skill bonuses myself. Of course if your campaign takes a seafaring turn you might want to pick up the aquatic terrain instead. Some of the juiciest parts of this class are the planar terrain masteries, and a few clearly stand out here. Shifting is hard to beat, with the dimension door ability every 1d4 rounds. After that, the Fire Resistance 20 is very nice. Tremorsense, which you get from having Cavernous is very helpful, not to mention a somewhat unusual ability for a PC to have. If you spend a lot of time actually on the other planes, then Aligned might be a good choice, and the immunity to spells and affects which are alignment based is handy if you're fighting evil clerics alot. If not, you probably want the Cold Resistance 20. For skills, continue maxing out your stealthy and perception skills. Not many special notes on feats for this build. Weapon finesse is a must, if you want to hit with those short swords, but if you take rogue at 1st level youll have to wait until 3rd to pick this one up. 2 weapon defense is a great feat, and of course youll probably want to pick up Greater 2 Weapon fighting at some pointto get more of those sneak attacks and you're not taking enough levels of ranger to get it. You could pick feats which accentuate your combat ability, such as Improved Feint and Improved Critical. Or you could accentuate your already high skills by picking such feats as Stealthy and Skill Focus. The feats I would probably take would be: weapon finesse, two-weapon defense, improved iniative, improved critical, greater two-weapon fighting, stealthy, skill focus(move silently.) One note on equipment: early in your career pick up a Handy Haversack and pair of Boots of Striding and Springing. The Haversack might mean the difference between a movement of 20' (which sucks) and a movement of 15' (which really sucks.) And the boots are for...well, you're a friggin' horizon walker, you've got to have those boots, man! As a variant build, you could drop the rogue levels and go with a Cleric of the Travel Domain. Or you could just be a straight Ranger/Horizon Walker. Well, that brings us to the end of our journey through the joys of a Horizon Walker. Hope you had fun looking at this fun prestige class and build with me, and may the roads always rise up to meet you and the wind be always at your back! When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."
Jackelope King	Re: A question on the Assassin builds	#78	[-]
Posts: 6941 (12/05/03 07:27:57) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	writes off finishing the power play in one thread Anywhoo, yes, you can use improved unarmed strike to deliver a death attack. It doesn't matter that the attack only does subdual damage: all the death attack requires is a melee weapon. I don't know if I'd recomend it, because for a non-monk fighting unarmed doesn't work very well (unless you make a good grappling fighter/barb). If it's what you want, go for it. And Cuthulu, nice little build. My only suggestion there would be to say no more than 7 levels of horizon walker are ever really needed (to get dimension door and tremorsense). They're waking up on Christmas Morning hours before the winter sun's ignited
The Stray 7	Re: A question on the Assassin builds	#79	[-]
Posts: 65 (12/05/03 13:16:32) More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	*Quote:* you can use improved unarmed strike to deliver a death attack. It doesn't matter that the attack only does subdual damage: all the death attack requires is a melee weapon. IIRC, doesn't Improved Unarmed Strike grant the ability to deal lethal damage with an unarmed attack in 3.5? "Hey, what does this button do?" --last words of Bodak Steelgrinder, orcish sorcerer
Jackelope King	Re: A question on the Assassin builds	#80	[-]
Posts: 6941 (12/05/03 16:01:16) The Min/Maxed Mod More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	If the mods decide to keep this open, that's fine. But I won't continue to expand the thread until I get the go ahead from a mod. But to answer the last question: yes, improved unarmed strike lets you deal lethal or subdual damage in 3.5. I worded my response poorly, and forgot to mention that improved unarmed strike would let you deal lethal damage. To correct myself: a normal unarmed strike can still deal death attack, just as an improved unarmed strike can. EDIT: Special thanks to DethStarDriveBy for cleaning up this thread for me. I plan to finish stuff up next week over winter break... so I should be able to get through these last four prestige classes by then... They're waking up on Christmas Morning hours before the winter sun's ignited

Yuku free message boards

3.5 Power Play