My new character: Master of Chains

[Sarcoth]

My group had a massive death toll and I was the only one to survive. I decided to roll up a new character along with everyone else anyhow. The DM is letting us all make new character's at level 6 and we are using a 34 point system.

I'd like your thoughts on the character as well as any additional recommendations.

Abilities Scores are:
Str = 15
Dex = 16
Con = 14
Int = 13
Wis = 12
Cha = 9

Level 1 = Rogue. I did this so I could gain a bunch of Rogue skills and backstab.
Level 2 thru 5 = Fighter. Here I gained all the feats I needed so I could make a Master of Chains for level 6. At level 4 I put one point into Str bringing it to 16.
Level 6 = Master of Chains and for the level 6 feat I took Combat Reflexes.

Since my weapon of choice will be the Spike Chain, I can hit anything up to 10 feet away. Also, it is easier for me to get AOO's in combat with this weapon, so I took the Combat Reflexes feat.

Since we are starting off at level 6, the DM allows us to pick up to 13,000 gp worth of items (including magic items). I would like to hear suggestions of what items to pick for this character. This guys Will save is only a 2. I mainly am worried about spells like Hold and Sleep because Hold is what killed my group last time. Are there any magic items out there to give a resistance to Hold or Sleep or both?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Sarcoth

 

[Trellian]

First off, let me say that master of the chains is one of the most interesting prC's out there. And the spiked chain is THE most powerful weapon! I play a rogue/fighter as well, 5th level, so she isn't master of chains yet... and in the campaign where I dm, one of them is playing an 8th level character, 3 levels of MoC.

The MoC has some very good class feats (Superior weapon focus, specialization), and some not as good (chain climbing).
As for choice of magic weapons, I would recommend a magical spiked chain +1 (2000), since you won't expect to find many on adventures. Also, boost up your strength in order to more effectively trip your foes. Gauntlets of Ogre power (4000) will do. Spend some on a Cloak of Resistance as well... I think a +2 cloak is 4000. All your saves will be raised by 2. Since you cannot use a shield, purchase an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (1000). Use the rest on mundane gear.. maybe a bow and some healing potions!

One thing you have to remember is that you can actually have another PC standing between you and your foe... but this gives the enemy a +4 cover bonus. It says in the rules that if you hit the cover instead, you don't inflict any damage (the shaft hit him etc), but in the case of the spiked chain, i have ruled that you do (since the chain does not have a shaft and is covered with spikes almost everywhere). So beware of this...

Hope that helps!

 

[terrafaux]

I am actually in a 3.5 game and i wanted to make a character with the master of chains out of the sword and fist book

anyways this is for a backup character

where we are in the campaign(sp?*) the level i would have to make it is 11th level
I have always had help with making characters and have not made one really myself
esp with a prestige class such as this

what would be the best way of going around it and if someone could help me make it that would be fantastic!

just as long as the stats are decent and well round that would be fantastic
i have posted around on other stuff asking for help and have not heard word.

so anyone that could hook me up with stuff for this that would be fantastic thank you for you time if you read this anyone that can help.

i also just stumbled across this site randomly looking for stuff to help me

 

[Celebrim]

Master of Chains is one of the earliest examples of unbalanced PrC (ei, makes an already strong concept stronger, strictly better than a base class pursuing the same concept, etc.). I groaned inside when I first read the entry, because in my opinion it was this class in particular and what it represented that ultimately killed 3.X. There were several similarly problimatic classes some of which were objectively worse, but this is the first one that I had a player beg for and the one I most often saw when running open dungeon crawls for the local gaming store.

I hope you enjoy the class. It's really effective cheese, and if you've just nearly TPKed I can definately see the attraction of cheese. The above suggestions are pretty good - straight foward christmas tree stuff that is always useful in typical campaigns. Long term try to get a glove of storing capable of holding your chain, and another one for a ranged weapon for those few cases that you can't or don't want to close. Also look for something that gives you flying when you need it, and after that, just do the Christmas tree thing as others have suggested and you should be fine except when you get to higher levels. At higher levels, you'll need a buddy to cast 'free action' and 'mind blank' on you at all times, or get items that provide the same effects.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Master of Chains is one of the earliest examples of unbalanced PrC (ei, makes an already strong concept stronger, strictly better than a base class pursuing the same concept, etc.). I groaned inside when I first read the entry, because in my opinion it was this class in particular and what it represented that ultimately killed 3.X. There were several similarly problimatic classes some of which were objectively worse, but this is the first one that I had a player beg for and the one I most often saw when running open dungeon crawls for the local gaming store.

I hope you enjoy the class. It's really effective cheese, and if you've just nearly TPKed I can definately see the attraction of cheese. The above suggestions are pretty good - straight foward christmas tree stuff that is always useful in typical campaigns. Long term try to get a glove of storing capable of holding your chain, and another one for a ranged weapon for those few cases that you can't or don't want to close. Also look for something that gives you flying when you need it, and after that, just do the Christmas tree thing as others have suggested and you should be fine except when you get to higher levels. At higher levels, you'll need a buddy to cast 'free action' and 'mind blank' on you at all times, or get items that provide the same effects.

Is it better than core Druid, Cleric, or Wizard? No? Ok then.

 

[Celebrim]

Is it better than core Druid, Cleric, or Wizard? No? Ok then.

It is over a certain range of levels (prerequisite classes stronger than spellcasting class up to the point it is taken, and then continues stronger again until 5th and 6th level spells start becoming available). Keep in mind, that in this era alot of spells like Ray of Weakness and Alter Self hadn't been broken like in 3.5. Clerics didn't start really rocking until 9th level. Wizards were still pretty fragile until stoneskin, polymorph and the stronger save or dies started becoming available.

Besides which, that's not the point. There are also equivalent PrC's even from the same era that have full spellcasting progression and provide powers on top of those of a stock wizard. At least with those PrC's, even though they had the same flaws, you could get lame excuses about how you were giving up something (however minor). You couldn't say that of MoC.

But even to the extent that there is imbalance with the stock version of those three classes, it doesn't follow that Master of Chains is any part of a 'cure'. I mean, you might as well go, "Aha! But are apples not blue? No? Ok then." The problems with the Druid (which didn't really come to a head until 3.5), the Cleric, and the Wizards don't have any real bearing on MoC. The problem here is that its bad design in isolation, and problems with full spellcasters don't mitigate the problem. It requires some relatively simple fixes to bring sanity to the spell-caster/non-caster balance issues, but I don't need to go into them here to note how bad for 3.X the unconstrained PrC model was in the long run. You need only go to an optimization board and look at the vast range of power levels that 3.X could be played at between the sort of non-mastery stock suggested characters in the 3.0 DMG and what you could do with the full array of late 3.X powers.

It's one thing to go, "Hmmm... Haste is problimatic and some of these high level spells need to be rethought for balance." It's quite another thing to say, "Gee, at high levels, wizards are much more powerful than fighters. Let's fix that by creating PrCs that are strictly better than fighter and playing catchup while simultaneously offering new arrays of spells for spellcasters AND providing them lots of new PrCs with full spellcasting progression. Yeah, that will work out really well!"