Help Me Build a Weirdo

[rowport]

Yep, that's right, a weirdo. I am thinking of an alternate character for the Age of Worms campaign I am about to start, and guessing that I will need one with the PC death rate in the Paizo campaigns. LOL Anyway, my very general- and sometimes contradictory- ideas include the following:
* humanoid with a bunch of aberration feats (from Book of Aberrations) stemming from magical experimentation

* Half-Illithid template (what book is this in? I know I saw it somewhere)

* psionics (Psion, Psiknife)?

* Mindflayer/Illithid 'reformed'- but LA+ scares me...

* Dread Necromancer (from Heroes of Horror)?

* Warlock (from Complete Arcane)?

That's about it. I thought through a bunch of Undead PC variations, but I think I would rather have a live character. LOL To the extent that I have any background at this point, I am tossing around a human(oid) decendant of the Illithid slaves, who is adventuring to try to forget the horrors of his past. That could explain lots of strange stuff- aberration feats, template, etc. Anyway- ideas are welcome! Any WOTC 3.5 book is fair game.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Dude...you want wierd, start off by looking in the Savage Species book, then move into the XPH and go from there...

What is wierder than an anthropomorphic Multi-headed Learnean Pyro-Cheetah Soulblade/Pyrokinetic?

Why, an anthropomorphic Feral African Elephant Spellfire-wielding, PsiWar/Druid, of course...

Or a Reptilain Bugbear Psion/Rogue...

A Minotaur PsiWar/Druid?

Half-Dragon Githzerai Monk/Psion/Fist of Zuoken?

 

[rowport]

Danny-

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Go, Danny, go! I knew the great minds of ENWorld (tm) could make a weirder weirdo than I could find on my own!

Still, some of your bizarro suggestions reminds me that I should add a caveat: I would prefer a character that is at least *somewhat* playable, even if not optimal. The problem with the high LA+ from savage species is that playing them at low levels means virtually no hit points. And, multiclassing casters/psionicists is always sub-optimal, etc. So, ideally weird =/ useless.

I will say, though, that Half-Dragon Githzerai Monk/Psion/Fist of Zuoken actually sounds reasonably effective *and* strange. Hmm. It might just not be weird enough, though...

Thanks for the input so far!

 

[Audhild&Krin]

The Half-Illithid is in Bastards and Bloodlines from Green Ronin.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Take a closer look at the anthropomorphs...some of them are High LA/Low HD, but some are High HD/Low LA! Read them closely! They all range between 1-5 ECL, with 1-3HD.

Savage Species also has several templates that are moderately low LA, and while many of the monsters actually in the book are High ECL, there are a few, like the Bugbear, that are low ECL and VERY playable.
Plus, the Half-Ogre (new race) is only a +1LA creature!

Feral and Reptilian templates are pretty good with relatively low LAs (+1 and +2, respectively), but the #1 sleeper template is Multi-headed. It is +2 LA/head, +2HD/head, +2LA for Learnean, +1LA for Cryo or Pyro.

...if you take the basic Multi-headed template for a medium size creature (maximum +1 head), its a +4ECL template that adds +2HD, which (partially) gets around that pesky low HD problem.

However, the fun doesn't stop there! Multi-headed gives +2 bonuses to Listen/Seach/Spot checks, AND because each head controls an arm seperately, it eliminates 2wf penalties (functionally, Superior 2WF feat), and gets Improved Initiative and Combat Reflexes as bonus feats.

With all of that on a Human Lvl 1 Fighter as the base creature...thats 5 feats, 6 if you count the S2wf, for a 5 ECL critter. On the surface, that is roughly equivalent to the number of feats a Lvl 5 Fighter would have, but that S2wf effectively gives you several more (since you don't need any of the prerequisite feats).

That said...what kind of overall LA/ECL are you looking for?

 

[Bad Paper]

My personal weirdo...

...just died (this is his first death, as opposed to the three deaths of the character he is replacing, ha ha ha). Thank you RttToEE! We brought him back, almost good as new.

Anyway, he is currently a human Fleshwarper 1/Monk 1/Ranger 1/Wizard 5. Munchkin much? I know, I know, but it's hard to meet the prereqs for the Fleshwarper (from Lords of Madness). He's going to stick with the Fleshwarper thing as long as he can. The biggest drawback is the compulsory grafting [use-it-or-lose-it] of the PrC, and RttToEE is not known for being patient with item-crafters. If he can't keep up with the grafting, he'll just keep pursuing Wizard (all his spells are buffs). Note that his death was naturally caused by a particularly effective Dispel Magic followed by a Very Mean Giant; I have not had the chance to squeeze in Practiced Spellcaster yet.

He took three feats from LoM: Aberrant Blood (flexible limbs), Inhuman Reach, and Deepspawn. Inhuman Reach lets him swing that greataxe of his at targets 10' away (though all melee attacks are at -1; in practice this is pretty balanced, particularly as part of a feat chain), and the combination of Aberrant Blood, Deepspawn, and Improved Grapple (note the monk level) give him an extra +8 on grapple checks. When buffed, his grapple mod is +25. And he gets two secondary tentacle natural attacks! yay munchkin!

His aesthetic goal in all this is insectoid: pursue the silthilar chitin-plating grafts for natural armor, and then undead, fiendish, and illithid grafts for lots of bug stuff: antennae, claws, stinger tail, mandibiles, etc. And the Secret of the Beholder from the Fleshwarper's Elder Secrets will give him the nice touch of bug-eyes.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the stuff from Lords of Madness. Check out the half-farspawn template as well.

EDIT: if you want to see him: http://www.campaign-blog.com/view.php?id=688 Note that I haven't updated his familiar's info (familiar is now an aberration, a weasel with bat-wings and darkvision)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There's a Savage Species Template that heads in a similar direction: Insectile (+2LA)

Creature becomes an aberration with climb=land speed, +2 Nat AC, +4 arms (but no additional attacks), Darkvision 60', Tremorsense, Wide vision (+4 spot, cannot be flanked), +4 Dex, +2 Wis. Preferred class: Rogue

And, BTW, I'll second the recommendation to check out LoM. Good book!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

What about using one of the more unusual races for a base creature before applying a template?

Eberron has Changlings, Warforged & Shifters, Dragonlance has Kender, the XPH has Thri-Kreen, etc.

Insectile Half Giant? Winged Warforged? Feral Kender? Half-Fiendish Thri-Kreen?

Half-Dragon Fire Genasi Warlock/Soulknife/Pyrokinetic/Spellfire Wielder

I swear, coming up with these combos... Its like busting open a dam.

 

[DamionW]

Plus, the Half-Ogre (new race) is only a +1LA creature!

In Races of Destiny (3.5) Half Ogres were changed to LA +2.

 

[The Edge]

How about...A Dwarf Fighter...

*Tumble weed*

...

*Cricket noises*

Considering how 'origional' everyone trys so hard to be, that could well be the most origional character somes DM have seen for years.

Saying that you thought about an undead character made me think of this amuseing character from a computer game. I think his name was simply Jack, a skeleton rogue that in life was a terrible womeniser, and then attempted to carry that pastime on into his death. Upon discovering that women don't realy go for the red eyed skelton look, he decided to simply climb into open windows at night and hop into bed. Obviously quite a shock to anyone involved, he quickly became an unpopular vistor and improved home security across the land.

For really weird races I haven't got a chance in the nine hells of competeing here. I just don't have the suplements. But don't remember personality quirks and bizare customs/habits/hobbys. Coup de grace your felled and dying opponents with fish, develop a catchy, weird or just retarded slogan/battle cry/victory speech. Give up a side pocket on your pack to house a poted plant which you should name, perhaps name it after another party member just to spook them. Keep handing notes to the DM saying that you wisper a song, then watch the other PCs wonder and worry. Oops, geting into make the PCs paranoid mode; think weirdo.

Anyway just how much do you hate your DM? Or is the un-normal normal in this cammpain?