Looking for an 8-9th lvl smackdown

Calling all Sultans of Smack. I'll be playing in a new game this weekend and for some reason I'd like to make the DM twitch over the things my character can pull off. In short I'm looking for a subtle munchkin- nothing too over the top, but an awesome trick or two he can really rely on. But I'm limited on levels.

Here are the guidelines:
1) Level is 8th, maybe 9th
2) Normal starting gold for that level (so 27k or 36k)
3) I can probably talk the dm into a low ECL race at no cost in level- so figure a 1 level discount on ECL costs
4) Any class published by WOTC
5) Stats are: 18, 17, 15, 13, 13 and 10 (not counting the 2 stat increases for level)

I'm leaning towards a fighter/rogue type (maybe something that can get sneak attack damage in almost all the time), though a caster would be fine too.

Hit me with your best shot!

Ok, try this one on for size. It may be completely incompatible with your campaign, of course. I don't know whether or not you or your DM consider the rogue class and sneak attacking to be fundamentally at odds with the paladin class. With the stats you've been given, you can cover up the rogue's big deficiency (low damage when he can't sneak attack) by using high strength and/or Power Attack. It doesn't quite hit the plan of being able to sneak attack all the time, but it makes up for it another way. Bluff can be used to set up a sneak attack, and Improved TWF can let you make up to 4 sneak attacks per round. Using a standard weapon (which can be used either one or two handed) and a spiked gauntlet lets you switch easily between one and two weapon fighting styles.

Aasimar paladin 3/rogue 6
Str 18(22), Dex 18*, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 16*.
*Cha and Dex got level bumps. Con should get the next one.
Feats: Power Attack, Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Improved Toughness
Skills: Tumble +16, Diplomacy +19, Sense Motive +14, Bluff +15, Jump +10, Use Magic Device +15, Decipher Script +5, Spot +4, Listen +4, Speak Common, Speak Celestial, Speak Draconic, Speak Elven, Speak Dwarven, Speak Giant
hp (assuming average dice, starting with rogue): 67
AC: 20
Fort: +12, Ref: +15, Will: +10.
Base Attack: +7/+2, Grapple +13
Attacks: +14/+9 (1d8+10, 19-20/x2), +1 adamantine longsword
or +12/+7 and +12/+7 (1d8+7, 19-20/x2) and (1d4+4, x2) two weapon style.

Gear: +1 mithral breastplate, +1 adamantine longsword, +1 spiked gauntlet, +4 girdle of giant strength, +2 cloak of resistance. Plus around 3000 gp worth of other stuff. Alternately, you can tune down the girdle and pick up the difference in defensive and utility items, or better weaponry.

Abilities: trapfinding (in theory only - it's not that kind of rogue), sneak attack +3d6, evasion, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge (dex to ac), aura of good, detect evil, smite evil 1/day, divine grace, aura of courage, lay on hands (9hp/day), divine health, darkvision, daylight (1/day at 9th level), resist acid, cold and electricity 5 each.

this is probably not the sort of thing you're looking for - its a little over the top, and can only pull off the damage output for one or two fights - though it can also do consistent damage for most of the day if you would prefer. this isn't fully statted out - no skills, and only 2/3 of the feats and powers chosen.


Human Psychic Warrior 9

Str 18 (20 with enh+2)
Wis 17 (18 with ability increases, 20 with enh +2)

pp:45

Feats: Talented, Overchannel, Psionic Fist, Psionic Meditation, Improved Natural Attack, weapon focus (claw), +3 others

Powers: Claws of the beast, claws of the vampire, painful strike, hustle, expansion +4 others

Items: gauntlets of ogre power+2 (4000), periapt of wisdom +2 (4000), amulet of natural attacks +1 (6000)

overchannel the claws of the beast (11pp) so they do 3d6 damage and last for 11 hours. expansion (huge, 1min/level -9pp) to huge brings the damage to 6d6, improved natural attack brings them to 8d6, and painful strike (swift - 9pp) adds 1d6 damage. Use hustle and psionic meditation to recover focus every round, to use on psionic fist. Claws of the vampire if you're in danger of being hit a lot and taking signifcant damage.

you have two attacks a round at +13/+13 for 8d6+2d6+8+1d6nonlethal/8d6+8+1d6 nonlethal for a total of 20d6+16 per round with a 15ft reach, of which 2d6 is nonlethal and you also heal 16d6/2 damage every round if claws of the vampire are in effect. with a decent dex, combat reflexes would also be very useful

average damage is 79 normal and 7 nonlethal per round, if both attacks hit. max is 136 (248 on a double crit). even without any powers except claws of the beast you have natural attacks that last half the day, doing 4d6+5 each. as an added bonus you can call and dismiss them as a swift action, so you don't have to scare the commoners.

it also scales pretty nicely - at 13th level your base claws do 4d6, expansion brings them to 8d6, and imp. nat. attack brings them to 12d6 each

Expansion doubles your claw damage???

Wouldn't it be nice to stack the Half-ogre on that Psywar with only 8 levels?

Darklone said:

Expansion doubles your claw damage???

Wouldn't it be nice to stack the Half-ogre on that Psywar with only 8 levels?

Click to expand...

it doesn't simply double them, but that's the effect from moving up two size categories. base damage of the claws is 3d6 - going to large gets you to 4d6 -huge to 6d6, improved natural attack to 8d6. half ogre setup with this couldn't overchannel to the same point, so would also have base 3d6 claws +2 size categories from expansion + 1 from imp.nat.attack, so also would have 8d6 claws. of course, at level 9 (ECL 10) for the half-ogre, that turns into 12d6 for each claw, which is significantly better - plus you have 20ft reach rather than 15, as well as a higher strength.

which brings up the question - what happens to natural attack damage after 12d6? does it go to 12d8, then 24d6 after? it's not very clear. it's also not clear how the 5d6 claw damage scales with size - the list goes 4,6,8,12.

I'd take rogue 5 / Invisible Blade 4, with the idea that with one more level of invisible blade you'll be set. Remember that the feats for IB are wrong in the book because theyswitched out the ranged feats. The creator of the class has said to switch in Weapon Finesse and Weapon Focus: Dagger.

As of tenth level, you'll have two attacks, plus one for two-weap, plus one for haste. Each attack is +5d6 because at 10th level all your attacks become sneak attack (feinting becomes a free action). So that's 20d6 plus 4d4 plus your str. bonus, magical bonus, or what have you.

Plus, if your DM lets you use the right feats (he should) instead of the wrong ones in the book, and if you are playing a good-aligned character and have the Book of Exalted Deeds, you can make a human, and use this feat progression:

1. Weapon focus / finesse.

3. Two-weapon fighting.

6. Servant of the Heavens

9. Sanctify Martial Strike

So that at 11th level you can switch from Invisible Blade to Slayer of Domiel. At 20th level, you'll have a Rogue 5 / Invisible Blade 5 / Slayer of Domiel 10, which means that you can use Deathwatch on your opponent, every attack is a sneak attack for +10d6 damage, and if he ever drops below 35 or so hitpoints (which you'll know b/c of Deathwatch) your target is automatically dead (touch attack for slayer of domiel death attack, 10d6, if more than target's current hitpoints target is killed *NO SAVE*).

Plus the Slayer spells are fabulous in their own right. And you can get the feat which converts your sneak attack damage vs. evil creatures to d8 rather than d6.

good luck,

Carpe.

Carpe DM said:

...Remember that the feats for IB are wrong in the book because they switched out the ranged feats. The creator of the class has said to switch in Weapon Finesse and Weapon Focus: Dagger.

Click to expand...

Slight hijack here, but Carpe, what are the correct requirement feats for Invisible Blade?

Complete Warrior lists Far Shot, Point Blank Shot and Weapon Focus (dagger, kukri, or punching dagger).

Should it be Weapon Finesse and Weapon Focus only? Or something else as well?

Standard caster: Druid level 9. Wildshape into a Dire Lion. Cast Animal Growth on you (and perhaps some other animals you might summon), Barkskin, Bull's strength, Greater Magic Fang ... if you only have 1 left, use the +1 to hit/damage on all natural weapons.

Charge (5 attacks with pounce). Improved Grab with bite attack... and you get two more rakes. You're huge, that helps a lot with grappling. Improved Grapple, Natural Spell and Dodge&Mobility are nice to help with charging, but only the first two are necessary here...

Druid gets my vote as well.

Also try wild shapeing into a Rhino, Bull str, animal growth. You'll do something like 6d6+50 damage on the charge.

Giant octopus all the way. 8 Attacks with Improved grab, no size limitation IIRC and constrict damage. SQUEEZE!