Character development questions

[Turjan]

After years of no games, I more or less accidentally managed to get into a new game of D&D 3.5 as a player. The campaign is supposed to take place in Eberron, we all rolled our stats (mine suck ), and as it looks the party consists of a barbarian (very good stats), a sorcerer, and a druid (my char). There's also a ranger NPC around at the moment.

There won't be a change in party composition, and some of our starting choices were fixed (my druid had to take "scribe scroll" as first feat, the sorcerer "toughness"). I think the DM does this for the first time, it's sometimes a bit railroady or NPC driven, but we all have fun, so no complaints here.

I'm pretty sure what to do with my druid (there's not much I can do wrong here), but the elf sorcerer and the half-orc barbarian (both completely new players) have declared some interest in going into prestige classes. We are all at level 3 now. The sorcerer wants to stay predominantly spellcaster. Are there any good prestige class options for the sorcerer and the barbarian, given the constraints? Books allowed are the core books, the early "Complete" books, and everything Eberron.

 

[Alexander123]

You can find handbooks for all these choices here
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?PHPSESSID=dq6s83igda1rvtnmjjh2c7kip6&board=22.0.

Also, I would not play with a DM who tried to force my character to choose a feat so you might want to talk to him about it. Also, rolling stats can be a boon or a bane so if you want a more reliable way you should talk to your DM to see if you can do a point buy. I definitely think the point buy option should be available to players so that they can have more control over their characters destiny. Your DM may be new but this doesn't give him a right to dictate to you what options you can choose for your character.

Also you might want to have your DM take a look at this thread http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10106.0.

 

[Turjan]

Thank you for the links.

Also, I would not play with a DM who tried to force my character to choose a feat so you might want to talk to him about it.

I really don't want this to become a topic about general things like what a good DM should do or not do. As we had two new players, he wanted to get started quickly, so he decided that everyone had to pick one of the 3.5 PHB starting packages. It's no big deal, everyone has been enjoying the game so far, so no conflict there. (He already regretted one of his more railroady decisions from last session ). I just mentioned this part so it's clear how the chars look like at the moment and won't be rebuilt from scratch (3rd level).

I would just like to get some advice for these two new players that results in not too suboptimal character choices in the future and does not overwhelm them with too many details.

 

[Alexander123]

For the barbarian you can't go wrong with power attack and improved initiative. Have the barbarian take 6 levels of Horizon walker asap and get the shifting planar master. Tell the barbarian to get a 2-handed weapon as THF is superior to a sword and a board.

For the caster I would recommned playing a wizard and picking up sleep and grease, glitterdust, alter self (turn the barb into a troglodyte for a +6 to nat armor) and web plus a number of others which you can find here The Logic Ninja's Guide to Wizards: Being Batman. I don't play sorcerors but on the handbooks page I'm sure there is a guide for them too. Tell the caster to focus on battlefield control and not direct damage. For PrC you can't go wrong with archmage. For feats, extend spell (lvl 3) and improved initiative are good. So many battles come down to who can get the first spell off.

 

[Alexander123]

Make sure your barbarian has a crossbow. Ranged weapons come in handy with battlefield control spells like entangle.

 

[Dandu]

I don't play sorcerors but on the handbooks page I'm sure there is a guide for them too.

Look closely at the contents of my post.

 

[Alexander123]

Which post? I looked closely at the contents of the above post and I didn't find anything.

 

[Dandu]

Sorry, the URL didn't make it through the first time.

 

[Alexander123]

It's an interesting guide for those who may want to play a sorceror, as for me, I like the versatility of the wizard. Is there anything in particular you wanted me to look at/for?

 

[Turjan]

Look closely at the contents of my post.

Thank you very much. I forwarded the link to the player of the sorcerer.