Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
I was playing around with The Complete Warrior and the Book of Exalted Deeds. And I noted a nice crossover between the two of them. The concept here is a character who uses feats and a PrC to have a great control over his weapons and armour. This works best with a Fighter character who wants to spend a lot of effort on his armour and weapon.
1) Ancestral Relic feat from BoED. Not an exalted feat, simply a feat that allows you to spend money on an item to give it powers, exactly as if you had the relevant Item Creation feats and necessary spells. Of course, it only works for you. The idea here is to use this feat to improve the characters armour as he goes up levels, eventually adding special abilities since the maximum value of the item eventually goes over what you can spend on a suit of armour.
At 15th level, you can have an item worth 100,000gp, about the maximum feasible price for a suit of armour (equivalent to a +10 suit). By 20th level, the maximum value is 380,000gp - that's a lot of nifty extra powers in one place, right there.
And you have exact control over what it does.
My plan for a fighter involves taking Ancestral Relic at 3rd level, and applying it to a suit of MW Full Plate (may as well aim high). At that moment, the armour is worth more than the maximum allowed by the feat, but at 4th level you can spend 1000gp to make it +1...and so forth.
2) The Kensai PrC from Complete Warrior. This has a class feature that allows you to spend XP to improve a weapon that only works for you. This then stacks nicely with the other ability to create a character who can improve his armour and weapons! Ta-da!
It does become clear that it's a very good way of having control of your character. You end up as LG, due to alignment restrictions, but you save a lot of money on your main weapon which can then be spent on your Ancestral Relic (keeping it up to speed) and other equipment.
I wrote him up at 14th level, so I could compare him to Xiang, my character in S'mon's Borderlands campaign. So, here he is:
Stefan Olafsson Human male Fighter 8/Kensai 6
Str 23 Dex 14 Con 18 Int 13 Wis 8 Cha 13
BAB+14 Initiative+2 hp 13d10+66 Fort +15 Ref +9 Will +9 Grapple +20 AC 31 (flat 29, touch 15)
Concentration +15, Diplomacy +19, Ride +19, Intimidate +21, Sense Motive +5, Knowledge (nobility) +7, Bluff +4, Gather Information +4
Height 6'3", Weight 200lbs, Hair Blond-to-white, Eyes Piercing Blue, Skin Tanned, Move 20ft, AL LG, Age 26
Kensai abilities: Signature Weapon, Power Surge, Ki Projection, Withstand
Feats: Combat Expertise, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Power Attack, Cleave, Ancestral Relic, Weapon Specialisation (greatsword), Power Critical (greatsword), Great Cleave, Greater Weapon Focus (greatsword), Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Sunder
Equipment: Belt of Giant Strength +4, Cloak of Resistance +3, Amulet of Natural Armour +3, Ring of Protection +3, Bracers of Health +4, Boots of the Winterlands, Golembane Scarab
Unique Equipment:
Gunlaugsson's Armour (Ancestral Relic) +5 Mithril Fullplate of Light Fortification and Fire Resistance
The Sword of the Meteor (Signature Weapon) +4 Adamantine Axiomatic Greatsword
atk: +25/+20/+15melee, 2d6+15, 17-20/x2 (+2d6 damage vs chaoticl creatures, weapon is lawfully aligned)
Stefan is a serious young man making a rapid name for himself in the northern part of the Borderlands. He has been in the field fighting the forces of Chaos for the best part of a decade, from small scale skirmishes under the command of his father, through to a recent desperate last stand to defend a small village that had only recently been liberated. In each and every case, Stefan has stood firm and sure.
He inherited Gunlaugsson's Armour from his uncle upon his retirement. The armour had been out of use for several years after rumour surfaced that it had been cursed. However, after several years of fighting within it, Stefan has begun a definite campaign to have these rumours quashed, as he seeks to become ever more worthy of the increasing power of the armour. Legend has it that it's full powers include the ability to resist spells, and even turn them back upon their casters.
The Sword of the Meteor is another important find. After a long battle against a large group of Beastmen, Stephan and his allies discovered a long forgotten and inaccessible tomb. After several battles with ancient guardians and undead, the Sword was located in the heart of the tomb. The undead occupant spoke at great length with Stephan about the history of the area, the nature of the sword...and when they returned to the surface, the Sword was strapped to Stephan's back.
Stephan has sworn an oath of service to the protection of the Northern Lands against the forces of Chaos. He will gladly lay down his life, his body or his soul in that cause. However, not all of his days are spent in solemn contemplation of what lies ahead of him. He is a regular amongst the formal events of the region, and his easy charm and well spoken voice has led to several dalliances, none of them serious. The greater powers in the area are, however, starting to think that this likeable young man could do with a wife.
------------------------------
Notes: He's not quite as dangerous in a straight fight as Xiang, but he's pretty well equipped. He also has more skills outside of combat, and a much higher armour class. All in all, he seems pretty well balanced, although his Kensai ability to use his Concentration check instead of a Reflex save is pretty nasty!
What do you think? Too powerful for a 14th level character? Not powerful enough? Would you allow a player to take both the Kensai class and the Ancestral Relic feat?
1) Ancestral Relic feat from BoED. Not an exalted feat, simply a feat that allows you to spend money on an item to give it powers, exactly as if you had the relevant Item Creation feats and necessary spells. Of course, it only works for you. The idea here is to use this feat to improve the characters armour as he goes up levels, eventually adding special abilities since the maximum value of the item eventually goes over what you can spend on a suit of armour.
At 15th level, you can have an item worth 100,000gp, about the maximum feasible price for a suit of armour (equivalent to a +10 suit). By 20th level, the maximum value is 380,000gp - that's a lot of nifty extra powers in one place, right there.
My plan for a fighter involves taking Ancestral Relic at 3rd level, and applying it to a suit of MW Full Plate (may as well aim high). At that moment, the armour is worth more than the maximum allowed by the feat, but at 4th level you can spend 1000gp to make it +1...and so forth.
2) The Kensai PrC from Complete Warrior. This has a class feature that allows you to spend XP to improve a weapon that only works for you. This then stacks nicely with the other ability to create a character who can improve his armour and weapons! Ta-da!
It does become clear that it's a very good way of having control of your character. You end up as LG, due to alignment restrictions, but you save a lot of money on your main weapon which can then be spent on your Ancestral Relic (keeping it up to speed) and other equipment.
I wrote him up at 14th level, so I could compare him to Xiang, my character in S'mon's Borderlands campaign. So, here he is:
Stefan Olafsson Human male Fighter 8/Kensai 6
Str 23 Dex 14 Con 18 Int 13 Wis 8 Cha 13
BAB+14 Initiative+2 hp 13d10+66 Fort +15 Ref +9 Will +9 Grapple +20 AC 31 (flat 29, touch 15)
Concentration +15, Diplomacy +19, Ride +19, Intimidate +21, Sense Motive +5, Knowledge (nobility) +7, Bluff +4, Gather Information +4
Height 6'3", Weight 200lbs, Hair Blond-to-white, Eyes Piercing Blue, Skin Tanned, Move 20ft, AL LG, Age 26
Kensai abilities: Signature Weapon, Power Surge, Ki Projection, Withstand
Feats: Combat Expertise, Weapon Focus (greatsword), Power Attack, Cleave, Ancestral Relic, Weapon Specialisation (greatsword), Power Critical (greatsword), Great Cleave, Greater Weapon Focus (greatsword), Improved Critical (greatsword), Improved Sunder
Equipment: Belt of Giant Strength +4, Cloak of Resistance +3, Amulet of Natural Armour +3, Ring of Protection +3, Bracers of Health +4, Boots of the Winterlands, Golembane Scarab
Unique Equipment:
Gunlaugsson's Armour (Ancestral Relic) +5 Mithril Fullplate of Light Fortification and Fire Resistance
The Sword of the Meteor (Signature Weapon) +4 Adamantine Axiomatic Greatsword
atk: +25/+20/+15melee, 2d6+15, 17-20/x2 (+2d6 damage vs chaoticl creatures, weapon is lawfully aligned)
Stefan is a serious young man making a rapid name for himself in the northern part of the Borderlands. He has been in the field fighting the forces of Chaos for the best part of a decade, from small scale skirmishes under the command of his father, through to a recent desperate last stand to defend a small village that had only recently been liberated. In each and every case, Stefan has stood firm and sure.
He inherited Gunlaugsson's Armour from his uncle upon his retirement. The armour had been out of use for several years after rumour surfaced that it had been cursed. However, after several years of fighting within it, Stefan has begun a definite campaign to have these rumours quashed, as he seeks to become ever more worthy of the increasing power of the armour. Legend has it that it's full powers include the ability to resist spells, and even turn them back upon their casters.
The Sword of the Meteor is another important find. After a long battle against a large group of Beastmen, Stephan and his allies discovered a long forgotten and inaccessible tomb. After several battles with ancient guardians and undead, the Sword was located in the heart of the tomb. The undead occupant spoke at great length with Stephan about the history of the area, the nature of the sword...and when they returned to the surface, the Sword was strapped to Stephan's back.
Stephan has sworn an oath of service to the protection of the Northern Lands against the forces of Chaos. He will gladly lay down his life, his body or his soul in that cause. However, not all of his days are spent in solemn contemplation of what lies ahead of him. He is a regular amongst the formal events of the region, and his easy charm and well spoken voice has led to several dalliances, none of them serious. The greater powers in the area are, however, starting to think that this likeable young man could do with a wife.
------------------------------
Notes: He's not quite as dangerous in a straight fight as Xiang, but he's pretty well equipped. He also has more skills outside of combat, and a much higher armour class. All in all, he seems pretty well balanced, although his Kensai ability to use his Concentration check instead of a Reflex save is pretty nasty!
What do you think? Too powerful for a 14th level character? Not powerful enough? Would you allow a player to take both the Kensai class and the Ancestral Relic feat?
