Airwalkrr's Maure Castle 3.5 OOC

[Rhun]

So, I'm making up my wizard, and I'm noticing my saves are only in the +8 or +10 range. Kind of thinking that is a bit low, and I've already bought a cloak of protection.

That is a bit low...your bases should be +8 for Will, and +4 for Fort and Reflex? Are your mods in the associated abilities low? With that said, your wizard shouldn't really be exposed to much that requires Fort or Reflex saves, if he stays in the rear during combat.

My cleric, for example has:

FORT: +13 (8 base, + 3 con, +2 resistance)
REFL: +9 (4 base, + 1 dex, +2 feat, +2 resistance)
WILL: +16 (8 base, + 6 wis, +2 resistance)

Actually, on further review, I think your scores are about where they should be. Comparing them to my cleric's, his Refl is right in the same range as yours (and would be lower, but he took a feat). Fort is higher because he has two good saves, or else it would be in the same range. Will is his good one, because it is a good save AND his wisdom mod goes toward it.

 

[Rathan]

So, I'm making up my wizard, and I'm noticing my saves are only in the +8 or +10 range. Kind of thinking that is a bit low, and I've already bought a cloak of protection.

Fort: (+4 +2 +2) +8
Refl: (+8 +5 +2) +15
Will: (+4 +0 +2) +6

That's what I got with a cloak of resistance +2.... my will save sucks... but the rest are decent to awesome...

 

[airwalkrr]

So, I'm making up my wizard, and I'm noticing my saves are only in the +8 or +10 range. Kind of thinking that is a bit low, and I've already bought a cloak of protection.

Well wizards have traditionally had low saves, so this is fairly appropriate. Especially when one considers they focus most of their efforts on being good at spellcasting, not defense.

One other note, I will allow research for spells, feats, and abilities (like teamwork benefits and such) during the campaign, which could potentially open up the door for other things, but not right out of the box. And it will take some time (and gp) to get them. But this way I can allow things on a case-by-case basis and generally allow one thing in at a time. I will also allow retraining each time you level up (per the PH2). It will cost some time and money to retrain (leveling up itself won't cost anything aside from a little downtime), but the option will be available. There are several levels to the dungeon, and I expect your group will want to take an extended rest of at least a week or two in between dungeon levels.

 

[airwalkrr]

[MENTION=23484]Kobold Stew[/MENTION], one other note, since fighter 7 doesn't give you much except for hp and base attack, having fighter as a favored class might allow you to branch out a bit, maybe taking a level of barbarian or something to get some nifty benefits. It's kind of a powergamer strategy, but I'm a powergamer, and this is a tough dungeon, so I wouldn't mind it. Ranger could also work (just to get Track and some more skill points).

 

[Kobold Stew]

Heh. Thanks, airwalkrr.

I understand that approach, and of course it is possible. Ranger 3/Barb 2/Fighter 2/ DD 5 (or whatever) would give some treats. It's a different approach than I would want normally to take -- if it wasn't clear from my horizon walker idea, I am not a powergamer, and am more interested in telling a story (in my head at least) that has me interested. I'll give it some thought.

It's clear the group needs a melee based character; I'll see if I can produce something that fits. I might not be able to do so.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Halfnose Connor

One more try:


Halfnose Connor.

Through his gaptoothed smile, Halfnose is able to keep a cheery outlook no matter where he finds himself. He cheerfully would endure the cross country runs his father made him do; he cheerfully lived for a year off the land, foraging and stealing from the mountain gnolls where needed; he even kept his spirits as he recovered from the axe in his face, that one time the Gnolls caught him. The girls don’t look at him so much any more, but that’s okay. Halfnose is confident that most things will go his way. He’s lucky that way. He’s good at his job, and people know his name (even though it’s not his real name; no one calls him Rupert any more), and he’s even getting famous, especially since he has learned how to slip himself through those little tears in the universe, that were always around if only he had thought to look for them. In any case, he’s a much better fighter now that he’s learned that trick. And that, when he thinks about it, is reason to smile.

16 (10 pts) +2 (4, 8) +4 item
14 (6) +2 item
15 (8) +1 (12) +4 item (?)
13 (6)
10 (2)
8 (0)

[sblock=”Skills”](stats not incl. yet)

Kn (geog/nature) 8 (+2 syn)
Kn (dung) 5
Spot 15 +4 (HW)
Listen 15 +4 (HW)
Survival 15 +2 (syn fron Kn) +2 (syn when tracking)
Move Silently 15 +4 (HW)
Search 5
Jump 5 (+2 syn)
Balance 5 (+2 syn)
Tumble 5 (cc) (+2 syn)
4 points** (to balance?)

Ranger 2 (35sp+5 for human), Barb 2 (10sp+2), Ranger 1 (7sp+1), HW 7 (35sp+7)
[/sblock]

BAB: +12/+7/+2
Saves: (+11, 5, 5) +stats +magic
Langs: Common, Gnoll

5 level feats +1 human: Comb expertise, imp trip, Comb reflexes, Power attack, Iron will ***ONE MORE (Cleave? Improved Disarm? Weapon Focus?)

Ranger: Endurance, Rapid shot, wild empathy, track, favored enemy: outsider (evil) [or gnoll?]

Barbarian: 40’ move in med armor, rage 1/day, uncanny dodge

HW: Planar mastery (+1 vs creatures from underground, desert, hills, plains, marsh, shifting, cavernous), 60’ darkvision, 30’ tremorsense, immune from fatigue, dimension door every 1d4 turns

[sblock=”Equipment”]
Cloak of resistance: 3 (9k)
Belt of giant strength +4 (16k)
Amulet of health +4 (16k) or Amulet of natural armor +3 (18k)
Gloves of Dexterity +2 (4k)
Haversack – 2k
Ring of feather fall 2200 or Ring of sustenance 2500 (how much for a ring that does both? 7050?)
Ring of protection +2 8k
Wand of cure light wounds (1d8+1) 750
Diamonds, 5k
Potions of enlarge person ?

+2 guisarme (cost? 8-9k?)
+2 mithral chain shirt (?) or adamant. Breastplate? (9-10k)
mw spiked gauntlet (or armor spikes?)
mw longbow[/sblock]

 

[Rhun]

One other thought, while we're discussing it...Fighter 7 may not net you much, but Fighter 4 is well worth it for Weapon Specialization. Weapon Specialization opens up lots of other feat choices for the PC at later levels, some of which are quite nice. I'm fairly certain that PHB2 has some super sweet feats that have WS as a prereq.

 

[airwalkrr]

Kobold Stew, to be fair, this campaign probably isn't for you if you don't have a little bit of powergamer in you. It is raw dungeon-crawling and a lot of the encounters are fairly tough. There are a good number of non-combat challenges and "traps" as well, but when the combat comes, a solid character design is going to be more or less mandatory. In light of that, I second Rhun's suggestion that you pick up at least 4 levels of fighter. +2 damage with your choice of weapon groups is hard to pass up. Halfnose isn't a bad build. Note you can use the PH2 for your two remaining feats, some of which are helpful to melee characters.

 

[Rhun]

And Melee Weapon Mastery from PHBII is a must for a higher level fighter type (+2 attack bonus, +2 damage), since it stacks with Weapon Focus & Weapon Specialization (both of which are prereqs for it).

 

[Kobold Stew]

Kobold Stew, to be fair, this campaign probably isn't for you if you don't have a little bit of powergamer in you. It is raw dungeon-crawling and a lot of the encounters are fairly tough. There are a good number of non-combat challenges and "traps" as well, but when the combat comes, a solid character design is going to be more or less mandatory.

Hey, thanks for being blunt with me here. I appreciate you being up front about what it is you want (or in this case don't want). I'm surprised that this is the response from my comments a few days ago, but you need to play a game that's right for you guys, and if I'm not better than nothing, then I won't take up more of your time.

Have fun, and maybe next time there'll be a better fit.

Kobold Stew