Elemental Themed Characters

[Road_Runner]

There are two parts to my question:

1) My friend who is making an 11th level druid (he just died) is interested in making his character ice or water themed. I was wondering what would be the best way to build this character. I was looking at energy substitution/frostburn feats somewhat, but I'm not sure the best way to build that and I would appreciate any suggestions for him.

2) I'm playing an 11th level raptoran warblade, and the DM just gave me this +5 two-bladed sword that can't be disarmed/destroyed and every time I kill a monster with it I summon an elemental with HD equal to its HD for 1 round/level. I was wondering if there was an equivalent value wind-themed weapon?

Another important point is that the druid is most likely soon going to recieve an item of equivalent value to the sword I got, which might possibly enhance his elemental spellcasting, but we don't really know.

 

[Road_Runner]

My friend is really interested in the Winter's Blast Reserve Feat and the Snowcasting Feat line in Frostburn. He also said he found some reference to some glacial druid, but couldn't find that or any other prestige classes that could work for him.

 

[Road_Runner]

Ok well nobody really posted, but here's an update anyway (if you care).

1) I found out the full effects of the sword, which include:

- +5 two-bladed sword
- every time a natural 20 is rolled and confirmed as a crit it insta-kills the target (no save)
-every time an enemy is killed with the sword it summons an air elemental equal to the HD of the killed creature which lasts for a number of rounds equal to the HD of the sword's wielder.
-sword cannot be disarmed/broken/stolen etc.

The DM more or less let us customize the artifacts, so I changed the swords effects to:

+5 two-bladed sword
- every time a natural 20 is rolled and confirmed as a crit it insta-kills the target (no save)
- Every time a crit is scored (my threat range is 17-20) you get an extra attack
- ability to use air walk at will (self-only)
-sword cannot be disarmed/broken/stolen etc.

Getting the crit effect was somewhat of a stretch because at 17th level I can get 26 attacks with Raging Moongoose + Time Stands Still so the DM was worried about abuse.

2) The druid ended up going Energy Substitution, the Winter's Blast reserve feat and the Snowcasting Feat line (also maybe Cold Specialization). His artifact is something as follows:

- +15 to druid level for determining animal companion level, this bonus increases to +20 at 16th level. (He has two animal companions via animal cohort feat I think, so this applies to both).
- +4 untyped bonus to Wisdom
- every time he kills an opponent all enemies in 100 ft (not sure distance exactly) are frozen (works like entangled), DC is based as if casting a 7th level spell.
- ability to use Awaken spell with no XP cost.


So yeah, I know both of these artifacts are horrendously OP but I would be interested in your comments. More specifically I was wondering if you think that the customized version of my relic is better than the original one (they are supposed to be about equal in power).

 

[DumbPaladin]

Can't say.

I can't speak for anyone else, but while I have read your original post, and the two updates, I have no advice.

For your first question, I don't think anyone else can tell you how a player in your group should build their character. That should be that player's decision. I think forums like this are good places to request assistance on an already existing build, but I feel I am in no position to advise people I've never met -- nor people I have -- on what their characters should be. Personally, I don't have the expertise to answer your second question; I'm not an expert on items. But both of these questions seem very much tied to the uniqueness that is the game that you participate in and the rules of that game's world.

For this reason, asking advice on these artifacts is not going to get much response, because even you yourself admit they are "horrendously" overpowered. Would you want to face a monster wielding that sword? If it rolls two 20s, your character's dead, and now your friends have to fight a massive air elemental who can suck them up in its whirlwind attack. I feel sorry for your party if this happens.

Making a provision that it can't be stolen, broken, and so on isn't guarantee the weapon won't get used on you: dominate person would take care of that, and I'm sure there are half a dozen far more creative ways to do so.

I'm personally of the opinion that it's never a good idea to give a party member a weapon that could obliterate the party if used by a bad guy.

Aside from that, I don't think I can advise you on anything you've said, because it's your game. What you do in your game is perfectly right for you ... but when it becomes very specific to solely your game, it's very hard for anyone else to give input.