DFA tips

[Duke Arioch]

Hello everyone. First, sorry for inactivity... My life has been pretty messy last couple of months, and I had to put my family and job in front of my love for RPGs lol
Now on to business: A friend of mine called me today and told me there is a place in lvl 6 game he is creating tomorrow and asked me if I wanted to join. Since I pretty much left all other games I was in, I accepted.
Rules are: 32pt buy, fav class applies, no LA races, Eberron setting, no robots (lol) and no templates, evil, and we start with 25k gold (instead of normal 13k) but the loot will come more sporadically.
Campaign will mostly take place in Khyber, in narrow passages with little (if any) need of flight, and I will have two teammates, one of which will be gnome rogue (other one is undecided). Now, the rogue will dump CHA and UMD for increased combat prowess, so I decided to go with UMD monkey/diplomancer, and consequently with dragonfire adept (as I played too many warlocks).
I spent some time checking my books today, and this is what I came up with.
Changeling DFA1/Rogue1/DFA4
STR 8, DEX 14, CON 16, INT 14, WIS 10 (or 8), CHA 14 (or 15)

1. [DFA] breath 1d6, Endure exposure (least), non-combatant (flaw), inattentive (flaw), able learner, power surge, entangling exhalation skills:Bluff 4, Dipl 4, Intim 4, SenseM 4, UMD 4, Conc 4
2. [ROG] Social intuition (Take 10 on Diplomacy check among other things), imp. initiative (trade sneak attack for bonus fighter feats variant), skills:Bluff 1, Dipl 1, Intim 1, SenseM 1, UMD 1, Conc 1, 6 undecided (tumble? disguise? some knowledge?)
3. [DFA] scales +2, breath effect (frost) skills: Dipl 1, UMD 1, Conc 1, 3 undecided, clinging breath (metabreath)
4. [DFA] breath 2d6, beguiling influence (least), skills: Dipl 1, UMD 1, Conc 1, 3 undecided
5. [DFA] dragonkin, skills: Dipl 1, UMD 1, Conc 1, 3 undecided
6. [DFA] breath 3d6, breath effect (slow), ????? (feat)

I plan on getting 1 lvl dip into mindbender on lvl 9+mindsight feat. I don't know if I should get bluff, intimidate, sense motive higher than 5 (I need 4 for mindbender, took 5th for synergies). Invocations I am planing to get are charm and humanoid shape (lesser), chilling fog and draconic toughness (greater), undecided for dark. Breath effects will be thunder, enduring and tiamat (maybe force instead).

As for feats, I might take quicken SLA (draconic toughness)+ rapid breath to take off 1 round wait for breath recharge, but others are open (metabreath, probably, or snap mortalbane on chilling fog for flavor and increased damage).


For items, I am getting +1 warning dagger with wand chamber and least energy crystal (around 8800g), twilight mithral shirt +1 (5100), dragon spirit cincture (2000g), healing belt (750), a wand or two (dunno which and if I will have enough money) and, maybe, anklet of translocation (1400g).


What do you think? What should I do with skills? Feat choices for later? Would you change something? Some other item I missed?



Thx in advance.

 

[Shin Okada]

Now, the rogue will dump CHA and UMD for increased combat prowess, so I decided to go with UMD monkey/diplomancer, and consequently with dragonfire adept (as I played too many warlocks).

Frankly speaking, I don't think DFA to be your friend. Unlike Warlock, DFA does not have Deceive Item class feature. In my experience, just having descent CHA and 9 ranks of UMD skill does not make a UMD monkey. The modifier will not be high enough to use even the lowest level magic items constantly.

If I were you, I will play a Bard instead. Magic Savant spell in Complete Mage gives you +4 insight bonus to a UMD check. You can even take 10 when reaching L7 (and having 10 ranks in UMD). Also, unlike DFA, CHA is the main stat for a Bard.

Anyway, if you want to make a UMD monkey, here are some good feats and items available for a L6 PC.

#Feats

Magical Aptitude (PHB）
+2 to Spellcraft and UMD.

Skill Focus (UMD) (PHB)
Yes, +3 bonus helps.

Magic Device Attunement (Complete Mage P.44)
Once you make a UMD check to activate an item, you can use that item without additional UMD checks for that day.

#Items

Heward's Handy Haversack (DMG)
Can retrieve an item without provoking AoO. Always useful for an item user.

Spellsight Spectacles (Magic Item Compendium P.138; 2,500gp)
+5 competence bonus on UMD checks for using scrolls.

Tunic of Steady Spellcasting (Complete Adventurer P.136: 2,500gp)
+5 competence bonus to Concentration. You still need to make a concentration check for using a scroll defensively.

 

[Duke Arioch]

First of all, thx for quick reply. It seems that, in my haste, I forgot to mention some things, and I also need to clarify some things in my post.
My party will have 3 people (me included), so every character has to fill a few roles. When I said I would be an UMD monkey, I forgot to add "in addition to battlefield control and multi-target damage dealer".
I am aware that bard is far superior as skill monkey, and I have several bard characters. DFA is something I wanted to try for some time, as I find invocation classes fun to play (I even designed one for our homebrew game a couple of years ago).
Sorry I was unclear.
Now, I have a few updates. Rogue character will be rogue/swashbuckler. Second character will be paladin of tyranny with some dips/prcs.
My 6th lvl feat will probably be ability focus. 9th is locked on mindsight. So I am set for some time regarding feats.
As for items, I will probably get wand of nerveskitter (maybe eternal) for my dagger. My initiative will be monstrous: 2dex+4feat+5dagger+5 nerveskitter. Breath DC will be 17. Pally's aura will effectively raise it by 2.
So, what should I do with skills? Max all social? Or get others? Do you have any thoughts on item selection? Thx again.

 

[Shin Okada]

I cannot say whether if you should max-out social skills or not. The importance of those skills largely depend on adventures you play and the habit of your DM.

As for UMD monkey, if you really want to, you MUST max-out or you may not able to fill that role. Unless constantly beating DC 20, you cannot even use wands constantly. Using scrolls are harder challenges.

Regarding DFA it self, I highly recommend to take Entangling Exhalation feat. It needs Dragon Blood subtype as a prerequisite (Dragontouched feat or Dragonborn, maybe?). But definitely worth taking.

 

[Duke Arioch]

As for UMD monkey, if you really want to, you MUST max-out or you may not able to fill that role. Unless constantly beating DC 20, you cannot even use wands constantly. Using scrolls are harder challenges.

I am aware of that, and UMD is one of the skills I intend to max, along with diplomacy. I will go for wands for a long time, and get to high level scrolls only much later, when gold and UMD checks let me.

Regarding DFA it self, I highly recommend to take Entangling Exhalation feat. It needs Dragon Blood subtype as a prerequisite (Dragontouched feat or Dragonborn, maybe?). But definitely worth taking.

Yup. Got it on 1st level, along with power surge (unlocks metabreath) and able learner. It is the reason why I didn't take rogue at lvl 1 to get all those juicy skill points.

Again, thx for input.