Is this a gamebreaker?

[Scratched_back]

Hi all,

Briefly, I need to know if my character is judged (by you) to be overly powerful for a low level character. I understand that "powerful" is only relative to the individual game, but I'm worried that I've inadvertantly designed a character that forces my GM to overpower encounters and make other PCs in the party feel ridiculed. Take a look and see what you think.

Kerith - Sun Elf: 9th Level (1st Fighter/5th Wizard/3rd EldritchKnight)

BAB: +6/+1 Caster Level: 7th Hitpoints: 65 AC: 15

STR: 18
DEX: 14
CON: 14
INT: 16
WIS: 14
CHA: 10

Feats: Weapon Focus: Greatsword, Power Attack, Cleave, Skill Focus: Concentration, Arcane Strike (by far my best feat, from complete warrior), Improved Toughness, Practised Spellcaster.

Weapon: +2 Keen Greatsword - Ability to store one 3rd level or lower "touch range" spell per day and release it as a free action. Typically in my case, a Vampyric Touch.

Armour: +3 Bracers of Armour.

Attacks: +13/+8 at 2d6 + 8

(Note, much more often than not, in a combat situation, I have haste cast upon myself for an extra attack, and frequently "sacrifice spells" to arcane strike for massive bonuses to hit and damage. When attacking three times per round, using a 3rd level spell for +3 to hit and +3d4 damage becomes awesome. Also, couple with this that I threaten on 17+, I just seem to dish out a LOT more damage than our party's fighters, and do it consistently.)

To sum things up, I consistently do more damage than the fighters in the party, I can cast spells as if a 9th level mage, I have 65 hitpoints due to Improved Toughness so I'm not made of tissue paper like most mages (I also legitimately rolled maximum on ever single hit die, with my GM and entire party as witness, which helps!) and if ever in need of healing, I typically vampyric touch and move/fly away!

Please get back to me and tell me if this is a freak of D&D because it's getting to the point where I feel bad for showing up the other characters at points, and this isn't a way to brag, this is concerning if I'm taking the fun out of the game for anyone!

Cheers all.

 

[Quez The Lame]

Well, first you cast spells as 7th level wizard, not 9th level. Practiced spellcaster rises your spellcaster level to 9 only for spell effects, dispel and vs spell resistance.
Second none of your feats is on the wizard bonus feat list (although swapping out skill focus for an item creation or metamagic feat wont hurt your character).

As I assume that the other fighters have ability scores and weapons of similar power I dont think that your character is a game breaker. Besides your high hit point total I cant see where you rise yourself from the common fighter/wizard. Your AC is not high enough to be the unbreakable meatshield, though your damage potential is awesome (even without arcane strike). So it's nothing more than a well designed character with excellent ability scores and lucky hitpoint rolls.

 

[Gaiden]

The only game breaking thing about your character is your greatsword. A +2 keen spellstoring greatsword is worth ~32k gp. A 9th level character's wealth is at 36k gp. Typically you are not supposed to own anything over half your total wealth meaning you have a weapon suitable for an 11th level character.

However, its only a virtual +4 sword. Seriously, whatever.

The fact that it is spellstoring synergizes extremely well with your character but that is not a balance concern. To be honest, I would consider your character to be fairly average for a 9th level PC (no offense) and a far cry from game breaking. You're looking at...what, about a +14 to +18 to attack depending on your buff spells and conditions. That's about right for a melee type of your level. Moreover, if you are sacrificing spells with arcane strike you are looking at perhaps a maximum of ~38 extra damage and if you don't power attack probably closer to 17 to 18 (accounting for misses). The average damage from a 9th level fireball is around 32. The problem in your group might lie within the experience of the other players and generating characters as opposed to your par power level. That or your DM is not playing the bad guys smartly: if they know they are up against a buffer, they ought to be sending their mooks to eat up all of your power so that when they face you, you are all out of spells to expend for your abilities.

Oh and with a normal AC of 15 at 9th level, I'd be exceedingly careful. Even when buffed, I presume your AC doesn't top out anywhere close to 24+ which is the ideal for a frontline fighter type. Your hit points would last you a few rounds in combat with some dire apes, giants, or anything else that hits often and hits hard.

 

[Mekabar]

How did you get those ability scores? 40 point point-buy?

Yes the character does have a lot of advantages over a standard fighter, alone by the fact that spellcasting is so very versatile in D&D. However the EK is still lacking in some areas. You don't have the tactical finesse of a Fighter, who can Improved Trip or Grapple considerably better than you. And AC 15 is really low, even factoring in a +4 Shield bonus from the shield spell does not make you very durable.

 

[Scratched_back]

Well, first you cast spells as 7th level wizard, not 9th level. Practiced spellcaster rises your spellcaster level to 9 only for spell effects, dispel and vs spell resistance.
Second none of your feats is on the wizard bonus feat list (although swapping out skill focus for an item creation or metamagic feat wont hurt your character).

Yes sorry, I should specified; with regards to duration, damage dice and counterspelling I'm 9th level, correct. Also, I think when I checked previously Arcane Strike was classed as a Metamagic Feat, although I may be mistaken. Even if it isn't, like you said, skill focus concentration isn't an issue.

 

[Scratched_back]

The only game breaking thing about your character is your greatsword. A +2 keen spellstoring greatsword is worth ~32k gp. A 9th level character's wealth is at 36k gp. Typically you are not supposed to own anything over half your total wealth meaning you have a weapon suitable for an 11th level character.

Again, I should've gone into more detail here. The sword is acknowledged by everyone in the party, including the GM, to be extremely powerful. The reason I have the item at all is because the characters we are playing were from a campaign with a GM that starved us of anything magical, and never gave me a chance to learn any new spells, loot any spellbooks, etc. So literally all I have (still) are the spells I get for going up the levels as a wizard - Far from ideal!

The new GM (one of the players from the previous campaign) wanted to reward us for our patience - perhaps endurance would be a better word - by giving out a few powerful magical items.

 

[Scratched_back]

How did you get those ability scores? 40 point point-buy?
[\QUOTE]

Lucky rolls my friend! Of course these are inclusive of the modifiers for a Sun Elf and also the stat increase at 4th and at 8th.

 

[diaglo]

9th lvl isn't low level.

what were the parameters for character creation?

you have with 2 items spent 32K+ + 9K = 41K+

point buy you are at the lowest 40.

compared to the standard NPCs in the DMG you are overpowered. but i don't know anything about your campaign nor the other PCs.

 

[Mekabar]

Lucky rolls my friend! Of course these are inclusive of the modifiers for a Sun Elf and also the stat increase at 4th and at 8th.

Yes I factored that in. This may be the main reason why your character is stronger than the rest of your party. Using normal Point-buy a Fighter/Mage has to spread the points beween physical stats and intelligence, and ends up having sub par physical stats in comparison to a straight Fighter. Yours however are extraordinary well, especially considering the -2 Con penalty of the Sun Elf. However I still believe that a pure Fighter or Barbarian with appropriate Feats would have the upper hand in melee combat.

 

[Scratched_back]

However I still believe that a pure Fighter or Barbarian with appropriate feats would have the upper hand in melee combat.

Could a pure fighter or barbarian cast haste on themselves and get three attacks per round though? Could they then match three attacks at +18/+18/+13 dealing damage of 2d6 +8 +4d4? Of course I also have the option of vampyric touch to drain 4d6 hitpoints whenever I wish with a relatively easy touch attack...

I'm not arguing with you, just being objective, as was the entire point of this post. I think the only thing stopping me white-washing a lot of enemies is my poor AC, which could be rectified if allowed 'buff time'.

Also, a barbarian or a fighter may find themselves blinded by a glitterdust or something similar. We all know their will saves aren't great