Gaming W/Jemal - Epic Mortal Kombat (Character creation.)

[crazy_monkey1956]

What about races, specifically races with Spell-Like Abilities above 4th level?

Any restrictions in terms of Level Adjustment or racial HD?

I tend much more toward story-effectiveness than combat-effectiveness. Is my Prince from a lost kingdom level 20-something Aristocrat going to get slaughtered? Wouldn't actually play an aristocrat, but my point is, is that I don't create combat heavy characters often enough to make them effective in a combat heavy game.

 

[Jemal]

My games are no more combat heavy than any 'normal' D&D game.. About 50/50. I personally believe that a character should be able to handle itself in both Roleplaying AND combat. Otherwise he/she is going to find theirself standing back watching half the game.


if you want an example of how I tend to run games (Specifically Epic ones), I've got two Epic Games running on the boards right now.. One's evil, one's good:
Prevention
Return to Power


They're both about 200 posts long, but if you can wade from beginning to end, I think you'll like it.

And just a side note... the last tournaments winner was a Prince. Allarion Sarutobi of Lyrevan, and he's one of the best roleplayed characters I've ever seen, which is half of why he won (He managed to talk a few people into surrendering to him, which is worth 3 kills a piece.. And I don't mean through Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate, but rather through excellent roleplaying. He WAS a very god fighter, though, on top of that.
(Though I'm not telling anyone what happened in the castle or afterwards.

One thing to keep in mind though... if your character isn't a powerful fighter, then why & How did he get invited/brought/accepted into the Tournament?
Also, is the concept specifically SUPPOSED to be non-combatant, or is that a side effect of you not usually making powerful/Epic characters? If it is the latter, there are many here who would be happy to help you with a few tips/pointers.


to your Other questions: No spell like abilities over 4th level either.
As for LA/HD, it depends on what you want. Just ask. I'd prefer no Liches, or anything else that's inherently 'unkillable' except by very specific means.
Vampires, however, are perfectly acceptable. I can tell you right now that there's going to be about a half dozen of them in the tourney.

 

[Brother Allard]

You know, I woke up this morning and I said to myself: "self, you need to go find and resurrect that thread, because you never know. Something good might happen."

This just goes to show that I should always listen to myself.

So... Feral Half-orc (?) Bear Warrior / Frenzied Berzerker. I've been looking for an opportunity to pull him out of the folder. This looks like it will do nicely.

Actually, if you're handing out boons: being able to apply the feral template to a giant might not be quite strong enough, but the idea of a feral half-ogre bear warrior / frenzied berserker makes me a little weak in the knees.

 

[Brother Allard]

And, incidentally, should you ever have openings in either of your other epic games (as if), I've got some good ideas for those too...

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Just an idea to throw out, not finalized...

Enialis Nailo

Half-Elf Wizard 4/Half-Elf Paragon 3/Elf Paragon 3 (Total Wizard caster level 7) Arcane Archer (level TBD by campaign starting level).

Raised by elven nobility, Enialis would be a prince if not for his human blood, the result of a tryst between his elven mother, a princess at the time, and a human adventurer. He has struggled his entire life to prove himself just as "elven" as those of purer blood, going so far as to become an arcane archer and rise to the most elite ranks in that endeavor. Still it is not enough. His elven family still consider him a child because he is not even a hundred years old yet. Hearing of a strange competition elsewhere in the world, he has set a new goal to prove his worth to his elven family.

Focus of the character is obviously archery, augmented by spellcasting, though he has some capacity in diplomatic skills and stealth as well. His goal in the competition would be to avoid melee and defeat his opponenents before they can land a blow, and use diplomacy on the reasonable ones. I may throw in a few fighter levels to augment his feat selection.

 

[moritheil]

This seems like a convenient place to pose a question: has anyone had much experience in epic with high-LA races (angels, archons, demons, devils, dragons, etc. ?) It seems to me that the overall dominance of high-level casters only increases in epic, making high LA a risky proposition, but I'd love to hear from someone whose experience says otherwise.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I have a house rule in my Face-to-Face games where LA doesn't count toward entry into epic status. Thus, a character with a LA has to reach 21 HD or class levels before being considered epic. It works mostly toward the character's advantage because it allows their BAB and Base Saves to progress normally, among other things.

As an example, a 21st level human fighter is going to have 4 attacks per round. A human-vampire fighter would hit a ceiling of 3 attacks per round according to the normal rules (referencing the 3.5 DMG here, not the Epic Level Handbook). Sucks (pun intended) for Mr. Vampire.

 

[moritheil]

I have a house rule in my Face-to-Face games where LA doesn't count toward entry into epic status. Thus, a character with a LA has to reach 21 HD or class levels before being considered epic. It works mostly toward the character's advantage because it allows their BAB and Base Saves to progress normally, among other things.

That's how I've always played it - one cannot take epic feats until reaching 21+ HD. I don't think that's a houserule.

While this way of ruling things helps BAB, one must also account for the fact that epic feats are much more powerful than regular feats, and if creatures were counted as epic by ECL, those feats would be available sooner.

 

[Shayuri]

I'm playing a Mature Adult silver dragon in Prevention. It's a lot of fun too. The trick with dragons is to play to their strengths. No dragon is really a main spellcaster. Their magic is best chosen to supplement their natural badassness. Boost your strength and Con through the roof, get Multiattack and something like Dire Charge or an item that gives you pounce. A full attack from a dragon is a terrifying thing when properly buffed.

Problems you'll have include DR...it's hard to make natural weapons pierce epic DR, or any kind of special material DR. To say nothing of alignment DR. On the other hand, if you focus on dragon hit dice instead of class levels, you get monster BAB (which is 1 to 1 even in epic levels) which lets you power attack with a tailslap for so much damage that DR is rarely much of an issue.

Your magic should be personal buffs, energy resistance (especially if you're vulnerable to something), and check out Draconomicon for "breath weapon magic." Good stuff in there.

----

Hey, you say no spellcasters allowed...but do Warlocks count as spellcasters? Rhodia makes me want to try my hand at an epic warlock.

 

[moritheil]

Ah, metabreath . . . bane of players worldwide!

Thanks for the perspective!