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A wee bit of PC design...
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<blockquote data-quote="Asha'man" data-source="post: 5000376" data-attributes="member: 52424"><p>So you're playing an actual 3.0 campaign? That's a rare beast these days. Fun, though. Let's see what we can do.</p><p> </p><p>First of all, I wouldn't ask the DM about flaws or Precocious Apprentice -they're kind of dubious. I <em>would</em> try to convince the DM to allow the Mystic Theurge PRC. Even though it's more powerful in 3.0 than it is in 3.5, because of the Haste nerf, a multiclassed caster honestly needs it to be viable. And you wouldn't take it all the way through anyway, because of your Geomancer focus.</p><p> </p><p>If the DM doesn't allow Mystic Theurge, I'd almost advise you to try another build. (Verdant Lord?) but if you really want to play this, (and I can see why, it's a really cool idea) I'd go with the Clr 3/Wiz 5 version, for the extra feat. The problem with this is that at the end of Geomancer, at Clr 3/Wiz 5/Geo 10 (With, presumably, Clr 11/Wiz 7 casting), you will be casting Enervation while the other caster casts Energy Drain, Haste while he casts Time Stop, and Blade Barrier while he casts Prismatic Wall. Also, you will hardly ever penetrate the SR of anything close to your CR, even in forests. In other words, "big name offensive spells" are nothing but a trap. </p><p> </p><p>It's not all awful, though, although you'll have to resign yourself to not actually being a caster, but rather a buffer and high-maintenance warrior-type. At level 12, between Haste, Shield and full plate armor, your AC should really be something, and with Divine Power, you can contribute on the front line. With spells like Resist Elements, Shield Other and Protection from Evil, you can make the party more durable. Take Craft Wand as your bonus wizard feat, without question. The more spell slots you have, the better. Use it to make wands of utility and buff spells, and use it whenever you have the opportunity. Don't forget to use your free Scribe Scroll, either. As a nice bonus, you'll get a tidy discount on Wands of Cure Light Wounds, the most cost-effective means of post-battle healing. Which reminds me. Don't heal in combat, because with your low healing abilities, it's only worthwhile if it directly saves someone's life. Over the course of a turn, enemies deal out more damage than you can heal, at least until you get high enough in level to cast the actual Heal spell.</p><p> </p><p>Specialization is a good idea, either as a Transmuter or an Abjurer, but dropping Conjuration is not. Grease, Fog Cloud, Glitterdust, Web, and Sleet Storm are all useful. I'd suggest dropping Evocation, where you only really lose Magic Missile and Wind Wall. </p><p> </p><p>Some thought on drifts:</p><p>Stage 1: As you said, there are only two plant-based choices. If you care, you could substitute "green and waxy (i.e plantlike) skin" for "green and scaly skin"</p><p>Stage 2: Photosynthesis is a given. Camel hump might be refluffed to storing water, cactus-like, which would effectively remove your need to eat and drink. Or you could just take sap for blood.</p><p>Stage 3: Thorns are fun. Antlers help with the "swamp thing/Merlin" aesthetic, and also give you a natural attack, handy for your full attack routine.</p><p>Stage 4: Acidic stinger could be an extension of thorns. More full-attack goodness! Pounce would be sweet, but it's not really character-apropriate. Ferocity could be an extension of sap for blood. Scent is also fun, but again, hard to justify.</p><p>Stage 5: Tree bark! Grow, AC, grow! A unicorn horn by any other name would still provide an extra natural attack and a bonus against poison. The hedgehog stuff, which might be a kind of hardening/hibernation of your wooden limbs, could be fun with Haste but feels kind of gimmicky. Tremorsense could be feeler roots. Blindsense is harder to explain but even more useful. </p><p> </p><p>For a feat progression, I'd suggest something like this:</p><p> </p><p>Wizard bonus: Scribe Scroll, Craft Wand </p><p>Human Bonus: Divine Vigor (Might seem like a random choice, but with a d6 average HD, some extra hit points are always nice. And since your turning doesn't really advance otherwise... Also it's good to be able to keep up in the dungeon even when you're wearing full plate.)</p><p>Lvl 1: Improved Initiative (You want the time to deploy your buffs.)</p><p>Lvl 3: Extend Spell (Prolongs the duration of buffs. Saves on spell slots in the long run)</p><p>Lvl 6: Possibly Quick Draw, since you'll be juggling wands, weapons and magical foci. Depends on how strict your GM is with that kind of thing.</p><p>Lvl 9: Brew Potion, so you can hand out buffs to the other PCs and don't have to do it all yourself. (This one is probably the most replaceable, if I've missed a feat you want)</p><p>Lvl 12: Arcane Strike. You probably won't have the spell slots to use it much at the beginning, but it's nice in a pinch and will only get more useful. (An alternative option is Improved Familiar, the Complete Warrior version. They actually make pretty good bodyguards, since you can share spells with them.)</p><p>Lvl 15: Persistent Spell (If it's the 3.0 version). Same as Extend Spell, but so much better! (If the DM says no, take Quicken instead.)</p><p>Lvl 18: Quicken Spell (Helps buff faster. Enables the Harm/Quickened Magic Missile trick, if that's your kind of thing.) (If you took Quicken at 15th and have 3 natural attacks from Drifts, take Multiattack here.)</p><p> </p><p>If the DM does allow Mystic Theurge, I'd go with the Clr 3/Wiz 3/Geo 6 version, for more drifts. Also, it means you'll finish Geomancer quicker and can then go into Mystic Theurge, which will give your casting a much-needed boost. (You might want to consider interspersing levels of Mystic Theurge with Geomancer, if you find during the campaign that your casting progresses too slowly.) </p><p> </p><p>In that case, I'd go with Clr 3/Wiz 3/Geomancer 8/Mystic Theurge 4, (Spell Versatility 9 is pretty silly, since there's no way to actually get 9th level spells before level 20 if you have it.) which gives you final caster levels of </p><p>clr 13 wiz 9 (Or Clr 11/wiz 11, if you prefer that. 6th level wizard slots are really useful, so it's a valid option.) by level 18 and still complete spell versatility. </p><p> </p><p>If you've gotten him to approve that, you might get him to approve Practiced Spellcaster too (Complete Divine, same book as the updated Geomancer), which would allow you to play an actual dual spellcaster.</p><p> </p><p>And in that case, prohibiting Conjuration instead of Transmutation begins to make sense again.</p><p> </p><p>In which case, go with these feats:</p><p> </p><p>Wizard Bonus: Scribe Scroll</p><p>Human Bonus: Improved Initiative</p><p>1: Spell Focus (school of your choice. Just make sure it's one where saves are important.)</p><p>3<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":P" title="Stick out tongue :P" data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":P" />racticed Spellcaster (Wizard) </p><p>6: Practiced Spellcaster (Cleric)</p><p>9: Empower Spell (Keeps your damage up to par) </p><p>12 Craft Wand (You probably still want this)</p><p>15 Quicken Spell (And definitely this)</p><p>18 Spell Penetration (If you need it, which you probably will. Otherwise, Maximize Spell)</p><p> </p><p>This version gets fewer drifts. I suggest:</p><p>Stage 1: It's cosmetic anyway. Go with the viny hair and the leafy skin.</p><p>Stage 2: Photosynthesis and tree sap blood. (On a reread, tree sap blood might be really good, if it works whenever you take ongoing damage (i.e when on fire, inside Acid Fog etc.) </p><p>Stage 3: Thorns are good for "leave me alone!" factor. Spinning webs might be cool. Could be fluffed as growing entangling creepers from your body, for extra Swamp Thing-ness.</p><p>Stage 4: Scent is the thing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Asha'man, post: 5000376, member: 52424"] So you're playing an actual 3.0 campaign? That's a rare beast these days. Fun, though. Let's see what we can do. First of all, I wouldn't ask the DM about flaws or Precocious Apprentice -they're kind of dubious. I [I]would[/I] try to convince the DM to allow the Mystic Theurge PRC. Even though it's more powerful in 3.0 than it is in 3.5, because of the Haste nerf, a multiclassed caster honestly needs it to be viable. And you wouldn't take it all the way through anyway, because of your Geomancer focus. If the DM doesn't allow Mystic Theurge, I'd almost advise you to try another build. (Verdant Lord?) but if you really want to play this, (and I can see why, it's a really cool idea) I'd go with the Clr 3/Wiz 5 version, for the extra feat. The problem with this is that at the end of Geomancer, at Clr 3/Wiz 5/Geo 10 (With, presumably, Clr 11/Wiz 7 casting), you will be casting Enervation while the other caster casts Energy Drain, Haste while he casts Time Stop, and Blade Barrier while he casts Prismatic Wall. Also, you will hardly ever penetrate the SR of anything close to your CR, even in forests. In other words, "big name offensive spells" are nothing but a trap. It's not all awful, though, although you'll have to resign yourself to not actually being a caster, but rather a buffer and high-maintenance warrior-type. At level 12, between Haste, Shield and full plate armor, your AC should really be something, and with Divine Power, you can contribute on the front line. With spells like Resist Elements, Shield Other and Protection from Evil, you can make the party more durable. Take Craft Wand as your bonus wizard feat, without question. The more spell slots you have, the better. Use it to make wands of utility and buff spells, and use it whenever you have the opportunity. Don't forget to use your free Scribe Scroll, either. As a nice bonus, you'll get a tidy discount on Wands of Cure Light Wounds, the most cost-effective means of post-battle healing. Which reminds me. Don't heal in combat, because with your low healing abilities, it's only worthwhile if it directly saves someone's life. Over the course of a turn, enemies deal out more damage than you can heal, at least until you get high enough in level to cast the actual Heal spell. Specialization is a good idea, either as a Transmuter or an Abjurer, but dropping Conjuration is not. Grease, Fog Cloud, Glitterdust, Web, and Sleet Storm are all useful. I'd suggest dropping Evocation, where you only really lose Magic Missile and Wind Wall. Some thought on drifts: Stage 1: As you said, there are only two plant-based choices. If you care, you could substitute "green and waxy (i.e plantlike) skin" for "green and scaly skin" Stage 2: Photosynthesis is a given. Camel hump might be refluffed to storing water, cactus-like, which would effectively remove your need to eat and drink. Or you could just take sap for blood. Stage 3: Thorns are fun. Antlers help with the "swamp thing/Merlin" aesthetic, and also give you a natural attack, handy for your full attack routine. Stage 4: Acidic stinger could be an extension of thorns. More full-attack goodness! Pounce would be sweet, but it's not really character-apropriate. Ferocity could be an extension of sap for blood. Scent is also fun, but again, hard to justify. Stage 5: Tree bark! Grow, AC, grow! A unicorn horn by any other name would still provide an extra natural attack and a bonus against poison. The hedgehog stuff, which might be a kind of hardening/hibernation of your wooden limbs, could be fun with Haste but feels kind of gimmicky. Tremorsense could be feeler roots. Blindsense is harder to explain but even more useful. For a feat progression, I'd suggest something like this: Wizard bonus: Scribe Scroll, Craft Wand Human Bonus: Divine Vigor (Might seem like a random choice, but with a d6 average HD, some extra hit points are always nice. And since your turning doesn't really advance otherwise... Also it's good to be able to keep up in the dungeon even when you're wearing full plate.) Lvl 1: Improved Initiative (You want the time to deploy your buffs.) Lvl 3: Extend Spell (Prolongs the duration of buffs. Saves on spell slots in the long run) Lvl 6: Possibly Quick Draw, since you'll be juggling wands, weapons and magical foci. Depends on how strict your GM is with that kind of thing. Lvl 9: Brew Potion, so you can hand out buffs to the other PCs and don't have to do it all yourself. (This one is probably the most replaceable, if I've missed a feat you want) Lvl 12: Arcane Strike. You probably won't have the spell slots to use it much at the beginning, but it's nice in a pinch and will only get more useful. (An alternative option is Improved Familiar, the Complete Warrior version. They actually make pretty good bodyguards, since you can share spells with them.) Lvl 15: Persistent Spell (If it's the 3.0 version). Same as Extend Spell, but so much better! (If the DM says no, take Quicken instead.) Lvl 18: Quicken Spell (Helps buff faster. Enables the Harm/Quickened Magic Missile trick, if that's your kind of thing.) (If you took Quicken at 15th and have 3 natural attacks from Drifts, take Multiattack here.) If the DM does allow Mystic Theurge, I'd go with the Clr 3/Wiz 3/Geo 6 version, for more drifts. Also, it means you'll finish Geomancer quicker and can then go into Mystic Theurge, which will give your casting a much-needed boost. (You might want to consider interspersing levels of Mystic Theurge with Geomancer, if you find during the campaign that your casting progresses too slowly.) In that case, I'd go with Clr 3/Wiz 3/Geomancer 8/Mystic Theurge 4, (Spell Versatility 9 is pretty silly, since there's no way to actually get 9th level spells before level 20 if you have it.) which gives you final caster levels of clr 13 wiz 9 (Or Clr 11/wiz 11, if you prefer that. 6th level wizard slots are really useful, so it's a valid option.) by level 18 and still complete spell versatility. If you've gotten him to approve that, you might get him to approve Practiced Spellcaster too (Complete Divine, same book as the updated Geomancer), which would allow you to play an actual dual spellcaster. And in that case, prohibiting Conjuration instead of Transmutation begins to make sense again. In which case, go with these feats: Wizard Bonus: Scribe Scroll Human Bonus: Improved Initiative 1: Spell Focus (school of your choice. Just make sure it's one where saves are important.) 3:Practiced Spellcaster (Wizard) 6: Practiced Spellcaster (Cleric) 9: Empower Spell (Keeps your damage up to par) 12 Craft Wand (You probably still want this) 15 Quicken Spell (And definitely this) 18 Spell Penetration (If you need it, which you probably will. Otherwise, Maximize Spell) This version gets fewer drifts. I suggest: Stage 1: It's cosmetic anyway. Go with the viny hair and the leafy skin. Stage 2: Photosynthesis and tree sap blood. (On a reread, tree sap blood might be really good, if it works whenever you take ongoing damage (i.e when on fire, inside Acid Fog etc.) Stage 3: Thorns are good for "leave me alone!" factor. Spinning webs might be cool. Could be fluffed as growing entangling creepers from your body, for extra Swamp Thing-ness. Stage 4: Scent is the thing. [/QUOTE]
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