2nd Edition Character Optimization (RMcD94)

Originally posted by RMcD94:

After posting in the sticky thread and realising most of the content here is for 3rd edition I would love to see your guys thoughts on character optimization in second edition and how far it can go.

What's the most powerful level 1 character one can create? I am aware of one combination from this stream and the follow up here. I would be amazed if it's possible to do better than the 4 wielding katana Thri-kreen but there are many other books.


Are there any specific levels where another character becomes especially power, is there anything that one should always take if you want to create a strong character in a specific class?

What's the most powerful character ever?






Originally posted by Krusk:

For 2e? I believe a high strength dart thrower is usually pretty awesome.

Depending on the ammount of splats you can add an elven archer can get off a ton of damage.

This thread has a lot of good info.

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10675.0


Originally posted by RMcD94:

Thanks a lot for the link Krusk.

I remember darts were mentioned specifically as being OP in combats and tactics.

"
The 16th-level Dart Specialist: It's ludicrous to allow a high-Strength character the
full benefit of his muscular power if he insists on using tiny little weapons such as darts.
A good way to address this kind of min-maxing is to limit the damage bonus granted by
high Strength to the maximum roll of the weapon's base damage. A dart normally causes
1d3 points of damage against size M targets, so a character with exceptional Strength
could gain a total of +3 to his dart's damage—but no more, even if he is normally entitled
to a damage bonus of +4 or more. "


Originally posted by RMcD94:

I also found this

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...scension-(BetaSquirrel)&p=6744345#post6744345

fantastic thread from the thread you linked which it seems the game is already broken. Infinite levels upon start!

I believe the strongest level 1 character that you can make would be a Tulani Eladrin Abyssal Warrior/Mage/Specialty Priest of Horus. You need to be in the planescape setting for this. With abyssal warrior your starting equipment can include a suit of armor, and a weapon of your choice, for these I would personally grab an antistoneskin spectral red sabre of disruption and a godly armor of the zodiac (armor type doesn't matter provided it does not hinder your dexterity bonus to AC). With the Tulani's base AC of -3 and the +5 bonus to AC from the godly armor you're already at -9 (when your base AC is better than that of your armor you receive a bonus of 1 rather than the AC for that armor). Many people are of the impression that -10 is the best AC any character can have in 2e but a lvl 12 Gold Dragon has -12 AC so I would argue the range in the PHB is not absolute. The spells you choose as a mage/priest don't matter very much because you are level 1, priest grants +3 wisdom because you are a Tulani Eladrin, and mage has the highest base nonweapon proficiencies of any class. If you are a member of the fated faction you can access all proficiency groups at no extra cost and have double your starting proficiencies. Using this feature you can spend an absolute ton of proficiency slots on the proficiencies from Requiem: The Grim Harvest which normally act as class abilities to be insanely powerful (I'd provide an exact list but it's pretty customizable) the only one you 100% need is intelligence bonus because for each 1 slot spent you get 1 point of intelligence, the amount of proficiency slots gained by the additional languages that are provided by high intelligence are then doubled by your fated bonus to double initial slots (since initial slots are any slots you have during character creation). I was able to hit a -14 AC (-15 against missiles) and had all of my stats above 20 using this method, Tulani is already a very powerful race and with Requiem: The Grim Harvest I do believe that no other PC can actually survive in a 1v1 against them. Keening would typically allow a lvl 1 to one-shot but you can grab bardic shield to practically guarantee a counter to that. With the passive prot evil granted by tulani you are also protected from level draining, and the magic jar proficiency. With the red sabre you are surrounded by an anti-magic shell that does not affect your own stuff and you can bypass any AC bonuses conferred by their armor. If they do not avoid melee you can use the paralysis proficiency to stun-lock them indefinitely and kill them, if they do avoid melee then it is highly unlikely that they can hit you considering tulani have a passive aura of protection from normal missiles, and can only be hit by +1 or better weapons. In the rare circumstance in which they do have a +1 or greater ranged weapon, you can assume one of the eladrin secondary forms (one of the faerie light ones, either sphere or globe just can't remember which) to become immune to physical attacks and approach them with your high flight speed, best any character can do is force a stalemate. The only thing I can think of that could be a potential weakness is psionic attacks but it is unlikely that a level 1 psionicist would have the means to defeat you, especially since the red sabre's anti-magic shell does still have some effects against spell-like abilities.