Duke Arioch
First Post
First of all, greetings. I am new to this forum and I want to say hi.
Secondly, I finally managed to get my friend to play as a Dungeon Master, as oppose to me being one. He owed me one for arbitrating one AD&D 2nd edition game, and I called him on it (hehe).
There has been some time I wanted to actually play this game, and, as now I am given the chance, I want to make a warlock. But not just any warlock. A Drow warlock. Warlocks are a class I wanted to try out for some time now. So I will post first my friend's house rules, and then the build I came up with. All I want from you is to receive some pointers and tips (if you have and/or want to give any). I want to play this character for flavor, and NOT for "uberness". That in mind, here it goes:
First, the house rules
- 36 point buy system
- no stat can be greater than 18 at lvl 1 (even with racial stat mods)
- all races with lvl adjustment up to 2 are available for selection
- start with 55k exp (lvl 11 for races w/out lvl adjustment)
- lvl adjustment buy-off is available
- starting gold acording to the table in DMG
- any 1 item cannot cost more than half the starting gold
- all items from all books are available for purchase (except some really cheesy ones)
- hitpoints gained per lvl are maximized hit die on every odd number lvl
and half that every even numbered lvl
- tomes that add inherent bonus to stats are forbidden
- all invocations in all books are allowed for warlock, even those made for other classes
- Leadership feat and other means to get powerful companions are out
- Incantatrix, Planar Shepherd and some other broken classes are out
- Crafting is out
And here is my character:
Charr, Lawful Evil, female Drow Warlock (9)/Hellfire Warlock (1), reveres Mephistopheles as Deity
Stats: STR 8, DEX 20 (18+2 from lvls), CON 12, INT 16, WIS 10, CHA 18
BAB: +6, Grapple: 5, INITIATIVE: 5
Saves: Fort 4, Ref 8, Will 8, +2 to Will vs spells, SLAs & enchantments
AC: 20 (Touch 15, Flat-Footed 15); DMG reduction: 2/cold iron
Hitpoints: 55; Spell Resistance: 21
Skills (ranks only): Concentration 13, Intimidate 6, Knowledge (Planes) 12, Spellcraft 13, UMD 13, Disguise 8
Proficiencies: Simple, Rapier, Short Sword and Hand Crossbow
Feats: Light Adaptation (to negate Light Sensitivity racial penalty) @ lvl 1, Flyby Attack @ lvl 6 [I haven't decided which feats to take on lvls 3 and 9 yet]
Special Abilities: Detect Magic (at will), Deceive item, Fiendish Flamewreath (replaces Fiendish Resilience), Darkvision 120ft, Immunity to sleep effects, Darkness 1/day, Dancing Lights 1/day, Faerie Fire 1/day
Invocations known: Baleful Utterance, Entropic Warding, See the Unseen*, Fell Flight, Brimstone Blast, Humanoid Shape
Languages: Elven, Undercommon, Common, Infernal, Abyssal, Draconic
Attack 1: Eldritch Blast 5d6+2d6(Greater Chasuble)+2d6 Hellfire
Ranged Touch 60ft @ 13 to attack, 20x2 crit
Attack 2: Warlock Scepter 1d6+2-1
Melee bludgeon @ 7/2 attack, 20x2 crit
Attack 3: Hand crossbow 1d4
Ranged Pierce 30ft @ 11/6 attack, 19-20x2 crit
Items: 2xEternal Wand of Lesser Restoration, Mithral Shirt of Nimbleness +1,
Greater Chasuble of Fel Power, Warlock's Scepter, Crimson Spidersilk Gown (clothing, worn over the mithral shirt).
Background:
Charr is the name she took when she vowed that she will never use her true name again. However, I will use only that name in her background although at that time she still used her old Drow name.
Born as the third daughter, besides being the youngest, she was also physically weaker, and more frail. She learned pretty quickly that the mithral shirt beneath her clothes was much more worthy, than the show of power and confidence of the skimpy attire.
Despite this, anyone who declared him/herself an enemy to her would soon find out that the weak posterior hides a keen and calculated intellect as well as forceful personality. Traits that always proved to be enough to assure that she, and not the enemy, would end up alive - and clean of acusations.
Although she was calm and calculated almost all the time, her desire for vengance was something she could not control, no matter how unwise that would be in given circumstances.
As the time passed, her sisters who were as mean and sharp as herself started schemeing against their mother, the House Matron, as well as against each other. They started vying for power within their own House, as well as between clergy of The Temple. This has put Charr in considerable danger, as attempts on her life became much more frequent.
One night, after "an accident" she barely survived, while contemplating what action should she take against her sisters who, no doubt, had something to do with it, an image of a strange woman appeared to her.
This... woman, over 6 feet tall, with graceful posture and gray skin tone, not unlike her own, appeared, seemingly, out of thin air with the flash of a flame.
Eyes like red embers gleamed from the face of perfect feminine features, with the cruel and calculated smile; Large raven-black feathery wings flexed lazily, as she introduced herself and her master she was presenting here.
She was an Erinyes, sent by her master to offer power beyond the wildest imagination to her, Charr, and all for a small price, not worth mentioning right then. She offered to lend some of that power out as a taste of what was to come. Awed, Charr made the first deal.
In the following month, Charr found out she started to manisfest some powers which she could not yet fully control. Attempts on her life never ceased, and to her great pleasure, her powers helped her many times to either despose of the attackers, or to redirect them at her own enemies.
The Erinyes continued to visit her almost every night, and between her lessons on how to control the vast powers Charr was granted, she would also reveal any schemes her sisters, and even other houses were into. She would use former knowledge to save her own skin, and latter to inform her mother of other Houses' intentions, thus gaining some of her mother's trust.
During all this time, Charr actually began to study about other planes of existence, particularily Nine Hells. There were very few books that touched the subject, but those she found dealt with the matter in great detail. Charr meant to be prepared to get the most out of the deal she was about to make.
Finally, one night, the Erinyes brought up the subject of closing the deal. Charr was well prepared for this and the bargaining began. Soon, the Erinyes realized that she would not get what she wanted so easily, and anger filled her, turning her beautiful visage into one of utter hate and fury. Were it not for the initial deal, she would have struck Charr down, there and then.
Smiling slyly, Charr recited the price for her own eternal soul to the infuriated Outsider. Firsat. To keep all warlock powers already granted to her. Second. To be granted the use of the powers of Hellfire. Third. Her soul is to skip the initial wretched least devil forms and the perilous journey through all the tortures in between. And finally, to be granted the access to Erinyes devil form when/if her soul ever gets enough promotions.
Erinyes decided the price was too great to pay for one soul, no matter how crafty the soul's owner is. As she meant to open a gate to escape to her master, she found out she was unable to do it. With cruel smile, Charr explained what she learned from all those books... about other planes of existence, inhabitants of those places and portals. She produced the contract and ordered it to be signed. At that moment, a male terrifying voice echoed through and around them... a mad mix of fury and amusement. It was the voice of Mephistopheles, who was amused to find a mortal who thought could haggle with infernal powers.
The voice stated that any such individual was worthy of bearing the fires of Hell as weapon and standard. It ordered the contract to be signed, but warned the Drow warlock that she will be constantly under scrutiny and her resolve would be tested many times before her soul will be delivered to him. The voice then gave the first order to Charr. The order was to destroy her own House, and as many Houses she could, through subtlety and open skirmish, She was also to cripple the Temple of Lolth by any means possible. The voice dissapeared and the wierd pressence could not be felt any longer. Wards and spells that held the Erinyes caught shattered, and the Outsider vanished with last warning: "Obey and wield the powers of Hell with pride. And pray we don't meet again."
Thus, the second and final deal was made.
She held to her end of the bargain. Through manipulation she managed to destroy her own House and bring a couple of other Houses to ruin. She had managed to desrupt the Temple of Lolth from within, dealing a powerful blow to the Spider Godess' clergy. However, she finally brought attention to herself, and had to use all her witts and skills to escape her enemies and, eventually, Underdark. There, on the surface, she started to forge her new future on the fires of hell she now held.
Description:
Charr is a young Female Drow with gray skin and slender, although statuesque body. Her waist-long silvery hair is held with red band, and hides several silver needles coated in various poisons. Mithral wire is also hidden in her tresses, and can be used readily as a garotte.
From gorgeous, yet cruel face gleam two red cinders of her eyes, and small dark rose-bud lips are almost always drawn in a calculating cruel smile. She has graceful and lithe way of walking which hints at hidden fleetness.
Clad in long scarlet sleeveless and shoulderless high-neck gown with an opening at the front, which shows fine mesh of mithral shirt covering her bossom. Same mithral mesh encases her arms, but leaves her hands and shoulders bare.
That is it. I plan to take Imp. Critical (Eldritch Blast) at lvl 12 and continue taking extra invocations until epic (yes, this will be played well into epics ^^). I haven't decided which feats to take on lvl 3 and 9. I WILL NOT be taking Point Blank/Precise shot feats. I am playing in a party with Chaotic Evil Duergar Barbarian/Frenzied Berserker, and I don't really care if I do manage to hit him, as he will turn on me as soon as he fells our enemies. This will be a party of three, where the third character will be Chaotic Neutral Drow Favored Soul of Eilistraee. I didn't want to get my CON score higher, cos it goes against the flavor I have set up for her. I am not planing on using vestiges and other stuff to offset the CON dmg she receives every time she uses Hellfire. I find it too cheesy for my taste.
I also want to explain Fiendish Flamewreath. I never really found the fast healing warlock gains normally as really good ability. It is always a couple of lvls too late to really make a difference. And it isn't worth Epic Feats to make it any good. Venomous blood is slightly better, but the only enemies worth of sapping their STR score usually have huge Fort saves, and thus are very hard to poison. While Flamewreath isn't all that better, it adds to the flavor, and at lvl 18, with 5d6 fire dmg, really complements Hellfire Shield.
So, that is all. If I have forgotten something, I will add it.
Feel free to post your thought on it, and thank you all in advance.
Secondly, I finally managed to get my friend to play as a Dungeon Master, as oppose to me being one. He owed me one for arbitrating one AD&D 2nd edition game, and I called him on it (hehe).
There has been some time I wanted to actually play this game, and, as now I am given the chance, I want to make a warlock. But not just any warlock. A Drow warlock. Warlocks are a class I wanted to try out for some time now. So I will post first my friend's house rules, and then the build I came up with. All I want from you is to receive some pointers and tips (if you have and/or want to give any). I want to play this character for flavor, and NOT for "uberness". That in mind, here it goes:
First, the house rules
- 36 point buy system
- no stat can be greater than 18 at lvl 1 (even with racial stat mods)
- all races with lvl adjustment up to 2 are available for selection
- start with 55k exp (lvl 11 for races w/out lvl adjustment)
- lvl adjustment buy-off is available
- starting gold acording to the table in DMG
- any 1 item cannot cost more than half the starting gold
- all items from all books are available for purchase (except some really cheesy ones)
- hitpoints gained per lvl are maximized hit die on every odd number lvl
and half that every even numbered lvl
- tomes that add inherent bonus to stats are forbidden
- all invocations in all books are allowed for warlock, even those made for other classes
- Leadership feat and other means to get powerful companions are out
- Incantatrix, Planar Shepherd and some other broken classes are out
- Crafting is out
And here is my character:
Charr, Lawful Evil, female Drow Warlock (9)/Hellfire Warlock (1), reveres Mephistopheles as Deity
Stats: STR 8, DEX 20 (18+2 from lvls), CON 12, INT 16, WIS 10, CHA 18
BAB: +6, Grapple: 5, INITIATIVE: 5
Saves: Fort 4, Ref 8, Will 8, +2 to Will vs spells, SLAs & enchantments
AC: 20 (Touch 15, Flat-Footed 15); DMG reduction: 2/cold iron
Hitpoints: 55; Spell Resistance: 21
Skills (ranks only): Concentration 13, Intimidate 6, Knowledge (Planes) 12, Spellcraft 13, UMD 13, Disguise 8
Proficiencies: Simple, Rapier, Short Sword and Hand Crossbow
Feats: Light Adaptation (to negate Light Sensitivity racial penalty) @ lvl 1, Flyby Attack @ lvl 6 [I haven't decided which feats to take on lvls 3 and 9 yet]
Special Abilities: Detect Magic (at will), Deceive item, Fiendish Flamewreath (replaces Fiendish Resilience), Darkvision 120ft, Immunity to sleep effects, Darkness 1/day, Dancing Lights 1/day, Faerie Fire 1/day
Invocations known: Baleful Utterance, Entropic Warding, See the Unseen*, Fell Flight, Brimstone Blast, Humanoid Shape
Languages: Elven, Undercommon, Common, Infernal, Abyssal, Draconic
Attack 1: Eldritch Blast 5d6+2d6(Greater Chasuble)+2d6 Hellfire
Ranged Touch 60ft @ 13 to attack, 20x2 crit
Attack 2: Warlock Scepter 1d6+2-1
Melee bludgeon @ 7/2 attack, 20x2 crit
Attack 3: Hand crossbow 1d4
Ranged Pierce 30ft @ 11/6 attack, 19-20x2 crit
Items: 2xEternal Wand of Lesser Restoration, Mithral Shirt of Nimbleness +1,
Greater Chasuble of Fel Power, Warlock's Scepter, Crimson Spidersilk Gown (clothing, worn over the mithral shirt).
Background:
Charr is the name she took when she vowed that she will never use her true name again. However, I will use only that name in her background although at that time she still used her old Drow name.
Born as the third daughter, besides being the youngest, she was also physically weaker, and more frail. She learned pretty quickly that the mithral shirt beneath her clothes was much more worthy, than the show of power and confidence of the skimpy attire.
Despite this, anyone who declared him/herself an enemy to her would soon find out that the weak posterior hides a keen and calculated intellect as well as forceful personality. Traits that always proved to be enough to assure that she, and not the enemy, would end up alive - and clean of acusations.
Although she was calm and calculated almost all the time, her desire for vengance was something she could not control, no matter how unwise that would be in given circumstances.
As the time passed, her sisters who were as mean and sharp as herself started schemeing against their mother, the House Matron, as well as against each other. They started vying for power within their own House, as well as between clergy of The Temple. This has put Charr in considerable danger, as attempts on her life became much more frequent.
One night, after "an accident" she barely survived, while contemplating what action should she take against her sisters who, no doubt, had something to do with it, an image of a strange woman appeared to her.
This... woman, over 6 feet tall, with graceful posture and gray skin tone, not unlike her own, appeared, seemingly, out of thin air with the flash of a flame.
Eyes like red embers gleamed from the face of perfect feminine features, with the cruel and calculated smile; Large raven-black feathery wings flexed lazily, as she introduced herself and her master she was presenting here.
She was an Erinyes, sent by her master to offer power beyond the wildest imagination to her, Charr, and all for a small price, not worth mentioning right then. She offered to lend some of that power out as a taste of what was to come. Awed, Charr made the first deal.
In the following month, Charr found out she started to manisfest some powers which she could not yet fully control. Attempts on her life never ceased, and to her great pleasure, her powers helped her many times to either despose of the attackers, or to redirect them at her own enemies.
The Erinyes continued to visit her almost every night, and between her lessons on how to control the vast powers Charr was granted, she would also reveal any schemes her sisters, and even other houses were into. She would use former knowledge to save her own skin, and latter to inform her mother of other Houses' intentions, thus gaining some of her mother's trust.
During all this time, Charr actually began to study about other planes of existence, particularily Nine Hells. There were very few books that touched the subject, but those she found dealt with the matter in great detail. Charr meant to be prepared to get the most out of the deal she was about to make.
Finally, one night, the Erinyes brought up the subject of closing the deal. Charr was well prepared for this and the bargaining began. Soon, the Erinyes realized that she would not get what she wanted so easily, and anger filled her, turning her beautiful visage into one of utter hate and fury. Were it not for the initial deal, she would have struck Charr down, there and then.
Smiling slyly, Charr recited the price for her own eternal soul to the infuriated Outsider. Firsat. To keep all warlock powers already granted to her. Second. To be granted the use of the powers of Hellfire. Third. Her soul is to skip the initial wretched least devil forms and the perilous journey through all the tortures in between. And finally, to be granted the access to Erinyes devil form when/if her soul ever gets enough promotions.
Erinyes decided the price was too great to pay for one soul, no matter how crafty the soul's owner is. As she meant to open a gate to escape to her master, she found out she was unable to do it. With cruel smile, Charr explained what she learned from all those books... about other planes of existence, inhabitants of those places and portals. She produced the contract and ordered it to be signed. At that moment, a male terrifying voice echoed through and around them... a mad mix of fury and amusement. It was the voice of Mephistopheles, who was amused to find a mortal who thought could haggle with infernal powers.
The voice stated that any such individual was worthy of bearing the fires of Hell as weapon and standard. It ordered the contract to be signed, but warned the Drow warlock that she will be constantly under scrutiny and her resolve would be tested many times before her soul will be delivered to him. The voice then gave the first order to Charr. The order was to destroy her own House, and as many Houses she could, through subtlety and open skirmish, She was also to cripple the Temple of Lolth by any means possible. The voice dissapeared and the wierd pressence could not be felt any longer. Wards and spells that held the Erinyes caught shattered, and the Outsider vanished with last warning: "Obey and wield the powers of Hell with pride. And pray we don't meet again."
Thus, the second and final deal was made.
She held to her end of the bargain. Through manipulation she managed to destroy her own House and bring a couple of other Houses to ruin. She had managed to desrupt the Temple of Lolth from within, dealing a powerful blow to the Spider Godess' clergy. However, she finally brought attention to herself, and had to use all her witts and skills to escape her enemies and, eventually, Underdark. There, on the surface, she started to forge her new future on the fires of hell she now held.
Description:
Charr is a young Female Drow with gray skin and slender, although statuesque body. Her waist-long silvery hair is held with red band, and hides several silver needles coated in various poisons. Mithral wire is also hidden in her tresses, and can be used readily as a garotte.
From gorgeous, yet cruel face gleam two red cinders of her eyes, and small dark rose-bud lips are almost always drawn in a calculating cruel smile. She has graceful and lithe way of walking which hints at hidden fleetness.
Clad in long scarlet sleeveless and shoulderless high-neck gown with an opening at the front, which shows fine mesh of mithral shirt covering her bossom. Same mithral mesh encases her arms, but leaves her hands and shoulders bare.
That is it. I plan to take Imp. Critical (Eldritch Blast) at lvl 12 and continue taking extra invocations until epic (yes, this will be played well into epics ^^). I haven't decided which feats to take on lvl 3 and 9. I WILL NOT be taking Point Blank/Precise shot feats. I am playing in a party with Chaotic Evil Duergar Barbarian/Frenzied Berserker, and I don't really care if I do manage to hit him, as he will turn on me as soon as he fells our enemies. This will be a party of three, where the third character will be Chaotic Neutral Drow Favored Soul of Eilistraee. I didn't want to get my CON score higher, cos it goes against the flavor I have set up for her. I am not planing on using vestiges and other stuff to offset the CON dmg she receives every time she uses Hellfire. I find it too cheesy for my taste.
I also want to explain Fiendish Flamewreath. I never really found the fast healing warlock gains normally as really good ability. It is always a couple of lvls too late to really make a difference. And it isn't worth Epic Feats to make it any good. Venomous blood is slightly better, but the only enemies worth of sapping their STR score usually have huge Fort saves, and thus are very hard to poison. While Flamewreath isn't all that better, it adds to the flavor, and at lvl 18, with 5d6 fire dmg, really complements Hellfire Shield.
So, that is all. If I have forgotten something, I will add it.
Feel free to post your thought on it, and thank you all in advance.
