Arabesu's Eyes of the Lich Queen, w/ Boons! - OOC

[Douane]

Douane, how about this? Favored enemy generally sucks, instead of your favored enemy bonuses, you can get discretionary points that you can use to boost damage on a round for round basis. You can divide up the points over all your attacks for the round or add them to a single attack.

Additionally, if you aim at a single target for one full round you can double your bonus for that target for the subsequent round. Not a huge bonus to each arrow, but a way to get over the DR hump if you have little else and a nice neat mechanic for taking time and aiming at a target.

Bonus would be 2/round at 1st, 4/round at 5th, 6/round at 10th (or doubled if you aimed on the previous round), but unlike most precision damage, can be applied to any target(s) within the first range increment.

If you want a huge bonus to each arrow, consider a +1, impact bow as your boon. +5 damage is pretty big, and unlike the +7 points you'd get from energy, it would be tripled on a critical.

Many thanks for the idea, Arabesu!

Just to make sure I didn't give the wrong impression: I hadn't gone off to sulk, but went silent while looking for a way to make the archer work. [It's just too good (and creepy ) a concept to simply cast it aside.] I had set the evening aside for gaming matters but some urgent family matters swiftly killed that plan, thus no recent post from me.


I'll be back today after some sleep (almost 5AM here), but right now my brain is already too dozy and I really don't want to fall asleep on the keyboard (again).


Thanks!

Folkert

 

[Arabesu]

I interpret all this because of that last sentence that suggests that powerful build and mountain rage don't stack with regard to weapon size. Obviously your armor is going to resize, there is not a balance issue there.

Under your advice, I'll try it the way you suggest, but I am a bit leery as to the balance issue; I'm just having a hard wrapping my head around huge weapons wielded routinely as early as 2nd level.

 

[Fangor the Fierce]

Uh, I hate to interrupt, but I think Arabesu is right. In the Barbarian Substitution levels section, Page 150 of Races of Stone, Mountain Rage states:

When he rages, his size category increases to Large. (Although his size category increases by one step, the Goliath barbarians height only increases by a foot or so, and his mass only increases by about 30-40%, so his equipment still fits normally.) This change increases the barbarian's space and reach to 10 feet and applies a -1 penalty on attack rolls and to AC. However, he does NOT gain additional benefits on weapon size and grapple checks, since he already has them from his powerful build ability.

So, yeah, you can take Mountain Rage with Goliath, increase to large, but your gear stays the same. No increase in weapon size or damage dealt due to size increase. Only Strength increase. Sorry to step on someone's toes, but I had this idea as well, but then figured it wouldn't work, due to the rules stating so.

 

[Arabesu]

Thanks Fangor, I thought I had remembered it as working that way.

It seems pretty convincing to me.

And quite frankly, even without a huge weapon, Hightower is going to be a monster at melee. Mark my word. I especially like that you have the mageslayer feat, I would never have thought to take that feat, but since I've run some the more nasty encounters, I know it will be very useful.

You know I was thinking about it, and it reminds me of the hulk: Sure he rips out of his shirt, but those purple pants he wears just stretch a bit.

 

[moritheil]

did we lose our wizard?

Do you guys want or need a Zil Gnome Spellthief? I can build one.

Alternatively, I have an Elven Wizard good to go. I just favor the Zil Gnome for RP purposes since it's Eberron Specific.

 

[Vertexx69]

I especially like that you have the mageslayer feat, I would never have thought to take that feat, but since I've run some the more nasty encounters, I know it will be very useful.

I was tempted to go full out anti-mage with all 3 mage-slayer feats to bypass all magical protection and obscuring spells. But 40ft diameter reach with Improved trip and descent combat reflexes is too much fun.
And after a long break from D&D, when I started playing again I noticed that every caster does so defensively. So when they try, its a really nasty surprise that they seldom live through. And casting from prone doesn't really work ;p

 

[Arabesu]

Welcome Moritheil,

I can not speak for the players as to which they would choose, but either sounds like it could fit in well with the party at hand.

I was waiting anyway for Douane who was thinking about playing an archer, so you have a bit of time to work out the bugs.

Arabesu

 

[Fangor the Fierce]

I was tempted to go full out anti-mage with all 3 mage-slayer feats to bypass all magical protection and obscuring spells. But 40ft diameter reach with Improved trip and descent combat reflexes is too much fun.
And after a long break from D&D, when I started playing again I noticed that every caster does so defensively. So when they try, its a really nasty surprise that they seldom live through. And casting from prone doesn't really work ;p

You do realize that if you have the Mage Slayer feat, that any spellcaster that you threaten automatically knows that you have it, and that they know they can't cast defensively? It's in the description of the feat. I ran into this with my own spiked chain wielding barbarian/fighter in my home game. Just thought you would like to know.

 

[Douane]

[...] I was waiting anyway for Douane who was thinking about playing an archer, so you have a bit of time to work out the bugs.

Arabesu

Damn, I'm holding things up again. Sorry for that but as much as I like gaming, university and work still have to come first, unfortunately.

In my quest for an archer concept I'd been going over the old (and not converted) 3.0 archer PrC Peerless Archer and Deepwood sniper to see if they could possibly turned into adequate 3.5 versions. Still I've been a bit reluctant to suggest those since their 3.0 status. Same goes for the 3.0 "Three arrows for the King" pdf which concentrated on archery.

I'd also considered a pure fighter build, but that would have killed the wilderness aspect I really wanted to keep.

So I turned to the "Dark side" in my despair and went to WotC's Character optimization boards. The recommendations ran towards doing things a bit differently than what I had envisioned and go for a Scout/Ranger multi-class. Thus my latest build ran towards a Ranger 1/Scout 4 who uses the Improved skirmish feat to do 1d8+4+2d6 damage after 10 ft. of movement or 1d8+4+4d6 after 20 ft., all-the-while still being able to max some of the wilderness skills.

 

[moritheil]

I present Rosapila, Gnome Spellthief Extraordinaire! I've made some concessions to preserve usefulness where sneak attack immune fights appear (I can only assume that this will happen, as it happens in every campaign and a campaign titled "Eyes of the Lich Queen" doesn't seem to be an exception. )

[sblock]
CHARACTER NAME : Rosapila
RACE (ECL) : Gnome (+0)
CLASS (LEVEL) : Spellthief 3/Gnome Illu 2
... NET LEVEL : 5
ALIGNMENT : N
SIZE : Medium
SPEED : 30 ft.
TYPE : Humanoid (Gnome)

Rosapila is a dark-haired gnome who wears a dusty rose cloak over dark red or black garments. She favors innovative solutions to problems, but is not afraid to enter a knock-down, drag-out fight herself.

Rosa, as she is known, is a Zil Gnome. Her brother was an artificer of no small renown. Long ago he disappeared, but in keeping with the customs of Zilargo, nobody said anything about it. Being bright enough to know how things work in Zilargo, Rosa kept quiet, but resolved that one day she would know why. Searching his workshop, she found his final masterwork - a rapier sized and balanced for a gnome to use. Since then she has trained with it constantly and keeps it with her as both a reminder of her loss and a tool of her trade.

EXPERIENCE : ?,000
CASH : 260 gp

ABILITY SCORES: 28 Point Buy: 4+6+6+10+0+2
Str 10 (+0) (12/base -2/rac)
Dex 14 (+2) (14/base)
Con 16 (+3) (14/base 2/rac)
Int 16 (+3) (16/base)
Wis 8 (-1) (8/base)
Cha 10 (+0) (10/base)

SAVES
FORT +5 (1/spt 1/grace 3/con)
REF +4 (1/spt 1/grace 2/dex)
WILL +6 (3/spt 3/ill 1/grace -1/wis) +2 vs. illu


HIT POINTS : 2d4 +3d6 + 15 = 28
ARMOR CLASS
Standard : 22 (10/base 2/dex 5/armor 4/shield 1/size)
Touch : 13 (10/base 2/dex 1/size)
Flat-Foot : 20 (10/base 5/armor 4/shield 1/size)

*+4 AC vs. giants.

INITIATIVE : +2 (2/dex)
BASE ATTACK : +3
RANGED : +7 (2/dex 1/enh 1/size)
MELEE : +5 (0/str 1/enh 1/size)

WEAPONS
See equipment.

LANGUAGES
Common, Gnome, Draconic, Elven, Giant, Orc.

RACIAL TRAITS
* +2 Constitution, -2 Strength.
* Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
* Gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
* Low-Light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
* Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
* +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
* Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects.
* +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids.
* +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when it’s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
* +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
* +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
* Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc. In addition, a gnome can speak with a burrowing mammal (a badger, fox, rabbit, or the like, see below). This ability is innate to gnomes. See the speak with animals spell description.
* Spell-Like Abilities: 1/day—speak with animals (burrowing mammal only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/day—dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnome’s Cha modifier + spell level.
* Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass gnome’s bard class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.


CLASS FEATURES
Gnome Illu - barred evocation, conjuration, -1 CL to transmutation
1. All your Racial Spell-Like abilities are cast at your Wizard CL (instead of at 1st level).
2. You gain access to some Illusion spells at an earlier level than normal (indicated below):
0th – Silent Image, Ventriloquism.
1st – Leomund’s Trap, Minor Image.
2nd – Illusory Script, Major Image.
3rd – Illusory Wall.
4th – Persistent Image.
5th – Programmed Image.
3. Choose one of the following School (may not be one of your Prohibited Schools): Conjuration, Evocation, Transmutation. You cast spells from this School at –1 Caster level. At 1st level, you may not cast spells from this School at all.

Spellthief: ignore light ASF. -1d6 SA: steal spell/effect/resist 10, trapfinding, detect magic, spellgrace +1


FEATS
Cha 1 . Telling Blow (add SA on crit, works with ranged)
Wiz 1 . Scribe Scroll
Cha 3 . Master Spellthief (arcane levels stack for steal spell, casting)
Cha 6 .
Cha 9 .
Cha12 .
Cha15 .
Cha18 .
---------------[ Epic Threshold! ]---------------
Cha21 .
Cha24 .

SKILLS 9*10+2*6 = 102
Balance +7 (5 ranks 2 dex) Not flat-footed when bal.
Bluff +8 (8 ranks 0 cha)
Concentration +12 (8 ranks 4 con)
Craft (alchemy) +6 (1 ranks 3 int 2 gnome)
Diplomacy +2 (0 ranks 0 cha 2 bluff)
Disguise +2 (0 ranks 0 cha 2 bluff)
Escape Artist +10 (8 ranks 2 dex)
Hide +10 (8 ranks 2 dex)
Know (Arcana) +11 (8 ranks 3 int)
Know (Nature) +4 (1 ranks 3 int)
Know (Planes) +8 (5 ranks 3 int)
Know (Psionics) +4 (1 ranks 3 int)
Know (Religion) +4 (1 ranks 3 int)
Listen +6 (5 ranks -1 wis 2 gnome)
Move Silently +10 (8 ranks 2 dex)
Search +4 (1 ranks 3 int)
Sense Motive +7 (8 ranks -1 wis)
Speak Language 1 pt
Spellcraft +13 (8 ranks 3 int 2 ka)
Spot +4 (5 ranks -1 wis)
Tumble +10 (8 ranks 2 dex) 150% def bonus AC

98

Tricks: 4 pts
Acrobatic Backstab (enemy flatfooted if you tumble past)
Collector of Stories (+5 know to identify creatures)


EQUIPMENT (total 24640 gp)
Adventurer's Outfit
Pearl of Power I [1000 gp; recall 1st level spell 1/day]
Mithral Chain Shirt +1 [2100 gp; AC5 6maxdex 0 ACP 10% ASF]
Cold Iron Armor Spikes [100 gp; 1d6 x2]
+1 Keen Enfeebling Rapier [20000 gp; 1d4+1 15-20x2, 1d6+2 Str dam on crit; casts L1 shield when drawn]
MW Heavy Crossbow [350 gp; 1d8 19-20x2, 120']
Bolts, Cold Iron (20) [4 gp]
Bolts, Regular (60) [6 gp]
Cold Iron Caltrops x5 [10 gp]
Silk Rope [20 gp; 100', +2 use rope, 10 lbs.]
2x Potion of Lesser Vigor [100 gp; fast healing 1 for 11 rnds]
2x Scroll of Protection from Evil [25 gp, 2 xp]
2x Scroll of Color Spray [25 gp, 2 xp]

ILLU SPELLS: 6 5+1
0 - Silent Image x4, touch of fatigue, Ventriloquism
1 - Alarm, Color Spray, Distract Assailant x2, Protection From Evil, Swift Expeditious Retreat

SPELLS KNOWN: - 6
0 - all but conjuration, evocation
1 - Alarm, Charm Person, Color Spray, Distract Assailant, Protection From Evil, Swift Expeditious Retreat

[/sblock]