Gibley - Halfing Paladin with Odif, Celestial Riding Dog

Artoomis

First Post
First, the background story:

We had a near total party kill and many of us chose to create new 11th level characters, sticking very closely to published rules only. I decided to create an unlikely hero who would be surprisingly effective. Gilbey's story is:

Gibley was born in a halfling community far to the west, in a small town called Hillhome. He parents were Harmli and Grobloe, a pair of retired adventuring bards (there is a rumor that one or both of them are secret members of the Harpers, but they’ve denied any such thing). His parent’s stories served not only to stir up the adventurous spirit in Gibley, but also in one of his two older brothers, Groblo and his younger sister, Barba. Groblo is a fairly inexperienced wizard whose adventuring career was cut short by an incident involving a bartender, his comely daughter and a “charm person” spell. The family doesn’t like to discuss it. Barba is an active, adventuring rogue who sells her skills to various masters, and secretly sends a portion of her earnings home. The remaining brother, Fridli, never really got the adventuring “bug,” and stays near home.

Gibley’s wild, adventurous spirit was tempered by his fascination with the local temple to Avroreen. He used to sit and listen to stories from the temple cleric for hours on end. Then one day, a tall, noble figure came through town – he was twice Gibley’s height, and so heroic looking! Gibley was fascinated and wanted to emulate him – his name was Artoomis the Just, and told stories to fill a young man’s head with wonder. Stories of dragons and demons defeated, even minions of a very evil god called “Set” were vanquished. Gibley was truly inspired, and was determined to become a holy warrior like Artoomis. Eventually he did succeed in becoming a paladin, but he has never again seen Artoomis.

The vows:

Vow the First: To strive for honor and justice.
Vow the Second: To protect the weak and succor the needy.

After completing his training and taking his vows, he was rewarded with a small set of twin short swords to wear around his neck (the holy symbol of Avroreen) and status as Paladin of Avroreen. Gibley then began his adventuring career in a most ordinary fashion - answering a cry for help. Bobo, a high priest of Avroreen, had recently received a request for help from the family of Jenfer, the daughter of a very influential and well-to-do local family. It seems she had gone exploring and was last seen headed towards the old ruins about 1/2 day out of town.

Gibley and several others immediately set out to rescue Jenfr, and, after battling kobold, orcs and not a few foul undead they managed to rescue her alive, surprising even themselves.

After that harrowing introduction to adventuring, Gibley began going wherever he felt he was needed, following up on rumors of undead infestations, missing persons reports, mysterious crop failures, and generally anything out of the ordinary. He soon grew quite adept at the business of confronting evil ne’er-do-wells, and a few people even started seeking him out, and not just halflings, either. He was picking up quite a reputation for taking on nearly any righteous cause.

Gibley continued adventuring very actively for several years, traveling all over western and southern Faerun, seeing many strange peoples and customs. He is probably one of the most widely traveled halfings ever.

However, this was all putting quite a strain on him, and he decided to retire. This was not to be, however, it is just not in is his nature to sit still for long. He did manage to locate a peaceful valley in the deep south. He was very happy there, it was a small community with many races represented and living in harmony. After a couple of years of relative bliss, he decided his days of resting were over – he needed to be “out there,” spreading the word and doing good deeds, “spreading the word.” Since his adventuring companions decided to stay behind in blissful retirement, Gibley decided the time was right for a divine companion, and he prayed long and hard for guidance. In the end, his prayers were answered in a most astonishing fashion. He had a dream to go to a certain remote field and wait for his prayers would be answered. He did so, and after 7 days of fasting and purifying himself for whatever was to come, he was amazed by the sight before him. A bright light blinded him with its brilliance, and when it faded, he saw Forndel descending down to him on a small cloud. Thus did Gibley meet Odif, his erstwhile companion and mount.

This was about a year ago, and, in the intervening time, Gibley spent what was left of his adventuring spoils on having Celestial Armor made for Odif. It somehow just seemed right – since Forndel had come down from the heavens, he should not be totally earthbound while serving Gibley, and , of course, Odif himself is Celestial.

Gibley’s current adventure is to seek out an old adventuring group, the Fellowship of the Mithral Tree. It consisted of elves and dwarves working together for racial harmony. A worthy goal indeed. Gibley decided to seek them out, and see if he might use that organization to help prove the worth of halflings to other races, and thus help to bring all races together. In the past few months, he’s managed to get a hold of several rumors that indicate that one of the members, a dwarf who is so far nameless, may have lived in a dwarven town in the northern mountains. A place called Mountain Lake. Or possibly “Dug – something,” that’s the problem with rumors, you can never get them exactly right. It is there he is bound.
 
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Gibley's Stat Block

Here he is, built with standard money and 32 points. In addition to starting equipment, he's managed to get a magic item made for Odif (Saddle Blanket of Resistance) plus get a favorable ruling from my DM that Odif's extra hit dice from being a paladin's mount grant him skill points and feats as a magical beast. This was based on the poor PHB language and Gibley's background dtory of how Odif came to Gibley.

Gibley

Male Lightfoot Halfling Pal 11
HD 11D10+11
HP 94
Init +0
Speed 20 Ft
AC 20 (+1 size, +0 dex, +5 Armor, +3 Shield, +1 Ring of Protection)
Attack +2 Light Lance +17/+12/+7, 1d6+5; or Short Sword +15/+10/+5, d6+3
SV Fort +16, Ref +11, Will +14
Al :LG
Str 16, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 20;

Languages Spoken : Common, Celestial, Chondathan, Halfling

(I only listed the skills for which he took some ranks)

Skills: Diplomacy 14, Heal +16, Knowledge(Religion) +7, Ride +14, Speak language (Celestial) (NA).

(I only listed feats he's taken, not those granted by class)

Feats: Mounted Combat, Power Attack, Ride-by Attack, Spirited Charge

Special Abilities : Detect Evil, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands, Divine Health, Aura of Courage, Remove Disease (3/week), Smite Evil, Turn Undead (at 9th level), Special Mount

Magic Items : Amulet of Health +2,Buckler +2, Claok of Charisma +2, Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Light Lance +2, Pearl of Wisdom +2, Rhino Hide +2, Ring of Protection +1, Vest of Resistance +2.


Notes on tactics and damage:

His normal tactic is to charge using ride-by attack. This give a multiplier of 4 (6 for critical) for normal damage of 4d6 + 28 once per round (+2 damage for charging) for an average of 42. With a boost of only +2 damage( possible with power attack or spells) his average is 50 points - a massive damage caused Fort save or die.

When appropriate, his mount activates his celestial armor and they fly for 50 minutes once per day. Very effective both for 3-D combat and improved speed.

Weaknesses:

Low AC for his level, mounts saving throws are lower than his own. Relatively low strength makes him vunerable to improved grapple attempts. He tries to keep out of reach using his ride-by attacks - with limited success.

I'll post the dog as the next post.
 
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Odif's Stat Block

Odif

Male Celestial Riding Dog
HD 6d8+12
HP 52
Init +2 (Dex)
Speed 40 Ft
AC 28 (+2 dex, +10 Natural Armor (6 of it from being paladin's Mount), +6 Armor)
Attack Bite, +9 (+9/+4 ?)
Damage 1d6+3
SV Fort +11, Ref +9, Will +8
Al :LG
Str 17, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 7, Wis 12, Cha 8;

Languages Spoken : Dog, Celestial

(I only listed the skills for which he took some ranks)

Skills: Listen +6, Spot +10, Swim +2.

Feats: Iron Will

Special Abilities : Scent, Improved Evasion, Share Spells, Empathic l;ink, Share Saving Throws

Magic Items : Celestial Armor +1, Saddle Blanket of Resistance, +2
 


YOU NEED aRMOR OF cOMMAND AND AN eAGLE'S sPLENDOR.. oops..
eagle's splendor spell or magic item.

Get Rhino Hide armor, and make sure to get Divine Might come 12th level. :)
That'll up your damage double, at LEAST...
 




Axiomatic Unicorn said:
How do you roll HPs?

10 at level 1 +11 for Con leaves 73 for 10d10.

Living City system - max first and second level, 3/4 for the rest.

Makes them on the high side - but no randomness, and I like that!
 

Rashak Mani said:
Your Dog has better AC than you do !

Rhino Armor probably looks funny on you too.

I think it's very funny that the dogs armor class is 40% better than Gibley's. I love that (though I need to improve Gibley's AC as money permits).

Yes, my DM gives me a hard time about teh Rhino Hide armor looking silly.
 

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