About to start new campaign -- critique my character builds

[Mighty Halfling]

I start a new campaign on Thursday. I don't have stats yet, but here are a few ideas I'm playing around with, and I'd appreciate your thoughts on any/each.
Yep, it's a lot of character ideas, but I figure if I come up with enough ideas, I might not have to settle for a boring build.

Cleric build idea --
Concept: He hangs back behind the main fighter and needles foes with his longspear until he's needed as a healer.
Race: Human
Feats: Scribe Scroll, Improved Turning;
God:
1st choice -- Gruumsh, Domains: War, Strength. (Gets me a Weapon Focus feat on Longspear)
2nd choice -- St. Cutbert; Domains: Strength, Destruction.
3rd choice -- Hextor Domains: War, Strength. WF switches to Flail
Notes: Important to remember: Crank up the STR

Ranger build idea --
Concept: Trying to be a front-line fighter, but with all the cool Ranger stuff. Essentially a bounty hunter.
Race: Half-Orc,
Feat: Orc Double Axe and maybe see if DM will allow a martial conversion cuz it's racial. If Ok, I then add Weapon Focus: ODA.
Favored Enemy: Human
Notes: Needs a decent Dex to help me get past chainshirt limits!

Wizard build idea --
Concept: Specializes in using touch attacks on his own or with familiar.
Race: Halfling
Familiar: Hawk or Owl (for the high AC, plus spot check bonus),
Feats: Spell Focus Evocation to start, at 3rd Weapon Finesse (to be used with touch attacks.)
Spells of importance: Spectral Hand for delivery. Mirror Image to help when Familiar goes into action.
Schools: Evocation. (Drop Enchantment, Abjuration)


Rogue build idea --
Concept: A fellow who maximizes his critical hits.
Race: Human
Second Class: Rogue 1, Fighter at level 2, then all Rogue. (edited for clarity re: Feadin's reply)
Weapons: Punching dagger(crit x3), Heavy Pick (Crit. x4).
Feats: 1st: 2-weapon fighting, Combat reflexes; 2nd: Weapon Focus: Heavy Pick; 3rd: Weapon Focus: Punching Dagger.
Skills: Amp up Use magic Device, Decipher Script, Spellcraft so I can buy scrolls/wands of keen edge (DC 25 scroll, DC 20 for wand).
Notes: Need high Str, Int Cha, (and Dex helpful, but not required).

Paladin idea --
Concept: Make a gnome paladin
Race: Gnome
Weapons: Greatsword and lance.
Feats: 1st - Mounted Combat, 3rd -- Weapon Focus: Lance,
Notes: Amp up Ride, Handle Animal, Even in melee, attack mostly with lance at 10 ft range. Need high Cha and High Str is a must, so this is clearly a difficult build to pull off!

We start rolling 6 p.m. EST on 11/18.

 

[FEADIN]

Coming from a rapid reading:

Wizard build: Weapon finesse can be a waste because touch attacks are so easy.
Rogue build: Start rogue not fighter to get max skill points.

 

[Persiflage]

Cleric

Clerics basically win, so there's no problem with just "being a Cleric". By mid-levels, you can fulfill any role you want just by changing your spells. Howecver, Improved Turning is a horrible feat, and only worth it if you're going for an absolutely maximised turning build (and probably not even then). +1 to CL for turning purposes? Meh.

If you're going to be a melee cleric, you'd be much better off going for Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell) as early as possible to give you those all-day combat buffs.

Ranger

An Orc Double-Axe is cool and flavourful, but you definitely don't want to be spending a feat on it. Assuming your DM is going to allow you automatic familiarity with the weapon rather than forcing you to take an Exotic Weapon Proficiency, that'll work just fine.

Personally, I'd prefer to go for weapons that have a better threat range (and that you're more likely to find in a horde), but I can understand why you'd want the cool factor. I wouldn't opt for Weapon Focus unless it's a prerequisite for something you want later on.

Wizard

If you really want to go with melee touch attacks (not a career option I'd recommend, but OK) then Evocation is probably not the school you want to focus on. Many of the great touch spells - shivering touch and vampiric touch to name but two - are Necromantic. There are a bunch of Evocation touch-spells, but if you're going to focus on Evocation you should be thinking about doing damage at range, and how you're going to overcome monsters' spell resistance (the latter of which also applies to Necro). Conjuration also has a number of good touch spells.

Consider specialising.

Rogue

Two comments:

1) All your eggs are in one basket: anything immune to critical hits is also immune to your sneak attacks. Make sure you have something else to do when fighting the oodles of crit-immune critters.

2) Mathematically, you're better off going with something that has a much better threat range than you are something with a high threat multiplier. A heavy pick with keen edges has only a 19-20 threat range, whilst a scimitar (same base damage) would end up with a 15-20 threat range. The pick does twice as much damage, but you'll crit with the scimitar three times as often.

You definitely want Dex. Don't burn your feats on Weapon Focus: if you take a Fighter dip, do it a bit later when your base attack is high enough to qualify for more interesting stuff. A dip to Swordsage gets you Weapon Focus with reams of weapons for free, depending on the discipline you choose.

Paladin/Gnome

Read this thread.
Then this one

Should give you plenty of ideas. If you go with any Gnomish damage-dealer, also pick up Giant Killing Style from Tome of Battle if you can manage it: a permanent +2 to hit and +4 to damage to pretty much everything you will ever meet. Doing mounted combat on a size Medium mount is no bad thing either; your base weapon damage may be lower, but you will never, ever care. Again, you might want to rethink Weapon Focus, although there are several feats and prestige classes that require it depending on the path you choose


Good luck!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

About the cleric:

If you really want to poke with a spear from behind the lines, you should look more at a high dex build and the Combat Reflexes feat tree: Deft Opportunist, Stand Still, Hold the Line, etc., and use Bull's Str and similar buffs to boost your Str.

In addition, I've found that clerics with Extra Turning and the original version of Sacred Healing make for very popular healers. Done after a combat, this large AoE combo gives Fast Healing to everyone in it's zone. It doesn't sound like much, but it gives everyone more HP on average than your low-level heals...simultaneously. This means you don't run out of heals...

I know it doesn't sound like much, but our current 3.5 campaign has hit 12th or 13th level (I can't recall because we're on hiatus while someone runs a 4Ed game to give the other DM a breather), and he's keeping the party running just fine.

FWIW, this is also one way in which Paladins can get big value for their Turn attempts.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

Thanks for all the replies.

One thing I should have mentioned ... at the moment, the DM isn't allowing anything from the Player's Handbook, so awesome feats such as Hold the Line and sourcebook classes are out. (Prestige Classes are OK, he says.)

Still, with a little whining, I might get some of those back in.

I particularly appreciate the ideas for the cleric. They heavy use of Bull's Strength will be great. And Combat Reflexes? GREAT idea.

For my Rogue build, I will probably stick with the Heavy Pick. I just love picks because they're so rarely used. I agree on the math you present though. Just going for the amusement of having a pick over the raw numbers of a scimitar.

For the Wizard, a good point is made. I'll definitely take Necromancy over Evocation as my specialization.

The Paladin Gnome threads you point to rely on non-PHB sources, so I'll have to be especially whiny to get all that. Still, if the numbers work out, I'll give it a try.

I do my rolls this evening, so I'll jump back on to let you know how things went.

For anyone else, I'll take additional suggestions all through character creation tonight. I have a smart phone, so I can check in!

 

[Mighty Halfling]

I ended up going with a halfling wizard. My stats are .... Str 14, dex 17, con 13, int 16, wis 14, cha 7 ... yeah, pretty good.
Feats were Spell Focus: Necro, Alertness (from Familiar) and Scribe Scroll.
I skipped Weapon Finesse since my STR was so good.
yeah I know I could have taken a better dex, but I like a well-rounded character more than a min-max guy.
Familiar is an owl.

 

[Dandu]

If you want to go into melee, you'd really be better off with that 16 you put into Str allocated to Con.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

With his stats, I was thinking I might split him off and take at least one martial-class level ... or find a prestige class that grants him some more martial prowess. Just a little bit mind you. Something to give him a little oomphf in close-quarters. What are some classes/prcs that let you deliver touch spells through your weapon?

 

[Dandu]

Spellsword, or any wizard who takes the Smiting Spell feat.

Even if you do take your first level in, say, fighter, you will probably want to allocate more to Con as even Fighters have to have decent Con to stand up in melee. Just take Weapon Finesse as your fighter bonus feat to hit things, if you feel it's necessary. It's not like you'll be using your strength to deal damage.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Arcane Strike let's you channel spell energy into damage.

I don't have them handy, but don't the Duskblade and the Suel Arcanomach do something similar to the Spellsword?