Assault on Raven's Ruin

[dog45]

The party so far:

Difflam: Polmor Flintlock, Dwarf Fighter 5
Kularian: Zofren Nectuul, Aasimar [Lite] Duskblade 5
Insight: Doppelganger 3 / Rogue 2
Aurora: cleric
Moonstone Spider: mage?
D. Shaffer: Gimgour Firehand, Dwarf Warmage 4 / Fighter 1


The XP question. Characters start with exactly the amount of XP needed to be 5th ECL, so any crafting done will lower your ECL.

 

[dog45]

Insight:
[sblock]It's your choice. I think it's a good trade, especially if playing a straight minotaur isn't allowed. What other ideas did you have in mind?
[/sblock]

 

[Insight]

[sblock]
OK here are my alternate ideas:

Doppleganger (as per Races of Destiny, gaining racial abilities by level) 5, or maybe interspersed with Rogue levels
-or-
Celestial (LA +2) Wood Elf Ranger 3

Can you tell I like playing strange characters???
[/sblock]

 

[D.Shaffer]

D.Shaffer:
[sblock]Your attack bonus for both the waraxe and morningstar should be +4 because of the attack penalty from wearing the buckler. Also note you don't get the AC bonus when you attack with a melee weapon. Furthermore, your damage for the morningstar should be 1d8+2.

Other than that, your character looks good. I was going to cut off the players at 5, but dwarves are my favorite race and you had a good description, so you're in.

edit: Checked out Warmages in PHB II. You can use the Eclectic Learning if you want. You're sacrificing uses per day for versatility. What spell did you want to pick up?
[/sblock]

[sblock]Ok, I'm operating on three hours sleep, so I apologise in advance if I sound like I'm being argumentive here.

Something to keep in mind with my weapon block there is that each should be seperated with a big 'Or', I just kept it together cause it looks nicer that way. He's either using the crossbow, OR the waraxe, OR the Morningstar. When he's doing melee combat, he uses a weapon in his mainhand, but doesnt do anything with the buckler arm. I like to keep it free in case I need to cast a spell with somantic components and it's easier to lose the buckler bonus for a round then drop a weapon and pick it up later. Also, I'm not sure where you're getting the +2 bonus damage for the morningstar. It's silvered and only Masterwork. Silvered weapons are -1 to damage, cancelling out the +1 to damage from Str, and MW weapons only add to hit bonuses.

Yeah, I always liked dwarves, but never got around to playing one so I thought I'd give it a shot. Thanks for the kind words on the description. I was thinking maybe I was going a bit TO stereotypical 'Mad Dwarf' with him.

I'm not sure yet what to take for ecclectic learning. I was typing this in at work and I didnt have PHBII with me to confirm the choices I can take. I'm going home now so I'll pick one when I get there and edit the sheet. Cant wait to play.[/sblock]

 

[dog45]

Insight:
[sblock]The Doppleganger monster class is fine. I'll let you take class levels mixed with the racial levels, since I didn't insist on Kularian taking the Aasimar level. Personally, I don't like the idea that you have to take all the class levels of a monster class before you can take regular class levels. I would recommend Rogue levels, as the party doesn't have one and will need one.

The werebear doesn't fly, for the same reason the minotaur didn't. An afflicted lycanthrope has to take the HD of the animal as well the LA. So the ECL of an afflicted werebear would be 8, 6 HD + 2 LA.


However, if you really wanted to play a werebear, here's a class level progression. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20031114a . But, I think the party would benefit more from the Doppleganger.
[/sblock]


D.Shaffer:
[sblock]You're right about the weapon damage. I forgot about the silver damage penalty, and I assumed you were using it 2 handed.
[/sblock]

 

[Insight]

[sblock]
Yeah, I have a good character concept for the doppelganger. I'll do a write up when I get home.
[/sblock]

 

[Moonstone Spider]

Dang, leave a few hours to cut some tile and the thread explodes.

Well the Aranea just won't do with it's LA (I was thinking of the dungeon in the Exile series full of friendly happy spiders, love that game) and a Warmage has already joined to fill the magician slot. So since there's no rogue/skill user in this group I guess I'll switch over there so the party isn't killed by the first trap they encounter. In order to compete with Insight for most bizarre concept, I have in mind a human/medium scorpion tauric character. This template is from Savage Species and lets you merge two monsters into a centaur-like being. The character would have 3 racial hit die (d8) and no LA, so 3 racial levels of Tauric Scorpion and 2 levels of rogue. Assuming the character ever gets a sneak-full-attack the results would be horrific as it would hit four or five times depending on the build but he'd be relatively weak in other areas, although I think the relatively low BAB will partially offset this. So visually I'm pretty much making the final boss from The Mummy Returns although hopefully with more personality and a better backstory.

Are there any objections to this concept?

 

[Insight]

Question for the DM:

[sblock]
I'm going with the Races of Destiny Doppelganger monster class with some Rogue levels. However there appears to be an error in the level listings. Normal Doppelgangers get +4 bonuses to Bluff and Disguise checks, but the leveled version doesn't ever get these bonuses. Since the lvl 8 Doppelganger appears pretty much the same as the regular Doppelganger, can we assume that this is a misprint or error of some kind? Doppelgangers should be good at that sort of thing. I'd be ok with splitting it up (maybe +2 at 4th and another +2 at 8th), or front-loading it at 1st if you're feeling generous
[/sblock]

 

[Kobold Stew]

Well, I might as well offer myself for the Alt list --

It looks like fun. My character idea (since Goblins were mentioned), was to play a Goblin rogue.

The backstory would involve him being a goblin traitor, willing to betray his goblinoid cousins, with a flash of the noble savage.

Depending on your openness to specific UA ideas,
Jungle Goblin
Barbarian (1 or 2 if you allow the UA simple variant)
Rogue (4 or 3 -- perhaps wilderness rogue, just to go UA all the way)

Other ideas are possible to fit needed niches, but this is where the party seems lacking.

Let me know! KS

 

[Insight]

My Character So Far:
[sblock]
X [CR 5] 10,000xp
Doppelganger 3, Rogue 2
Medium Shapechanger
Init +3; Senses Darkvision 60; Listen +5, Spot +5
Languages Common, Elven

AC 19, Touch 13, FF 16 (+3 Dex, +1 Natural, +4 Armor, +1 Enhancement)
HP 25
Immune Charm and Sleep spells
Fort +2, Ref +8, Will +7

Spd 30ft
Melee MW Rapier +6 (1d6; Crit 18-20) or Natural Weapon +5 (varies)
Ranged Shortbow +5 (1d6; Crit x3; RI 60)
Space 5'; Reach 5'
Base Attack +2; Grapple +1
Ability Scores Str 8, Dex 16 (14), Con 12, Int 13, Wis 16, Cha 20
Attack Options Sneak Attack +1d6
SQ Change Shape, Detect Thoughts, Evasion, Trapfinding
Feats Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse
Skills Bluff (7) +14, Diplomacy (3) +9, Disable Device (1) +4, Disguise (7) +14/16, Forgery (1) +2, Gather Information (2) +7, Hide (1) +4, Listen (2) +5, Move Silently (1) +4, Open Lock (1) +4, Sense Motive (2) +6, Sleight of Hand (2) +7, Spot (2) +5, Tumble (1) +4.
Traits Suspicious: +1 Sense Motive, -1 Diplomacy and Intimidate

Equipment MW Rapier, 2 Daggers, Shortbow + 20 Arrows, Mithral Shirt +1 [Armor +4, Enhancement +1, Spd 30, max Dex +6, 0 ACP], Bag of Holding Type I, Gloves of Dexterity +2, Bedroll, Caltrops, Vial of Ink, Inkpen, 10 Sheets of Paper, Waterskin, Thieves' Tools.
Wealth 1gp, 9sp, 9 cp.

Note: X gains a racial bonus of +2 to Bluff and Disguise at 1st level, and again (for a total of +4) at 4th level in the Doppelganger class progression.
[/sblock]