Need help with a new PC for Eberron! (a bit long)

[AFGNCAAP]

Hello. I need a few ideas for character concepts for a new Eberron PC. Lemme provide a bit of background info (WARNING: Eberron module SPOILERS--if you are playing or haven't played the modules yet, stop reading here):



Well, my group has just finished Whispers of the Vampire's Blade, and the PC group is in flux. One of the PCs, a half-elf ranger, reported our activities & missions to his house (a big no-no for this mission, since our employer explicitly said it was a hush-hush job)--he was arrested for treason when we returned our quarry to our employer. In addition, the group didn't get paid because of this.

My PC, a human bard, left the group shortly afterward. A few reasons why:

• Though not posessed by the Soulblade when he wielded it, I saw my PC as being somewhat tainted by its influence (went from NG to N).
• The party suffered a lot of trials & tribulations, but in the end, we were betrayed by one of our own, & that cost us the reward (& pretty much harmed the group's reputation).
• The group's leader is NE. My bard discovered this when using detect evil from an item in order to find our quarry in a crowded room, during the recent mission. (The player has the PC as NE due to greed, though the character hasn't done anything to screw over the other PCs at all. However, my NG PC felt a bit deceived, and probably wouldn't have even associated w/ the character for long once if he knew this fact off the bat.)
• As a player, I grew a bit tired of playing the character. It didn't help that I lost a level overall (going from 5th to 3rd from vampiric attacks, then levelling up back to 4th). And, I didn't really plan out the PC for a prestige class, which I really regretted later on down the line.

I wanted to play a paladin or paladin variant from Unearthed Arcana, but that's not possible at all w/ the NE PC (Eberron paladins must still follow the moral high ground--though a cleric may slip & falter, paladins cannot. As such, my character can't willingly/knowingly adventure/associate with the NE PC).

The remaining PCs are:

• A N warforged cleric of Onatar. Has a rather low Wis to be our group's primary divine caster (plus has a rather low Str & Dex score, so he's not much of a help in melee, which is sorta one of the warforged's racial strengths).
• A CN human (daywalker) human paragon/battle sorcerer. (The daywalker is a 3rd-party supplement's treatment of a half-vampire, ala Blade. A +2 LA race. The battle sorcerer is the variant from UA). This character's also has spellfire, & is going for the Spellfire Wielder PrC. She will briefly take a level or 2 in sorcerer, then go into Spellfire Wielder ASAP--so she's no good as a primary spellcaster, either.
• A NE gnome artificer. His main problem has been a severe lack of time & money to create magic items, & it seems that he really needs a lot more prep time than a wizard would.

The group used to have a CG half-elf ranger (archery focused), though his actions were really more toward CN; plus, he's pretty much out of the picture now. The daywalker is a replacement PC for the player's deceased shifter barbarian character.

I played a bard to sort of cover the arcane spellcaster & roguish angle that the party was lacking. For the most part, this group has really lacked a high Str & Con dish-it-out-&-take-it sort of warrior, & instead has had a lot of high-Dex characters. The daywalker has a 19 Str, but has the Solo Fighter flaw from UA (gains a negative when flanking), & has a poor BAB since the character's going for a more combat mage theme (but is still nowhere near in comparison to a devoted combat character like a fighter or the like).

The (CG) half-elf ranger's player is thinking of taking up a warforged barbarian/fighter that eventually gains the Warforged Juggernaut PrC.

Now, I was considering of playing the party's strong guy, but that wouldn't be a good idea if the other warforged is created. I can't go with the paladin idea because of the evil PC. I don't want to make a storng guy PC is the other player makes a strong guy, & thus shifting the balance from a Dex-heavy group to a Str-heavy group. As I see it, this group is really missing out on:

• A rogue: we've been relying on the aritificer's ability for traps, but I'm not sure if that's a safe bet down the line.
• A "tank": the high Str & Con warrior in heavy armor. We may get that with the new warforged, but I don't want to bet on it.
• A promising devoted caster. The cleric has a rather low Wis (would be a 16 if it weren't for the -2 Wis for a warforged), & the artificer isn't much help when he isn't prepared at all (and a lot of the adventures have dealt with deadlines & immediate response; or if there has been downtime, he hasn't had the money &/or materials to make more items). The daywalker, who could be a decent sorcerer if she was devoted to it, will be a spellfire wielder instead.

So, with this in mind, here's what I was contemplating for a new PC. The character will start off at 5th level (same as the rest of the party):

• A dwarf barbarian; main weapon is a warhammer. Hopefully will get a dwarven thrower down the line. May have him take levels in Dwarf Paragon.
• A half-elf who progresses in Half-Elf Paragon, then in Human Paragon (due to divided ancestry ability for the Half-Elf Paragon). Not sure when class he'll progress in afterward.
• A human or half-elf cleric/sorcerer, going for the Mystic Theurge PrC.
• A human or half-elf rogue/wizard, going for the Arcane Trickster PrC.
• A human or half-elf fighter, focusing on using a bastard sword.
• A human, half-elf, or elf monk/sorcerer or monk/wizard going for the Enlightened Fist PrC.
• A half-elf or elf swashbuckler/wizard, going for the Bladedancer PrC.
• A human, elf, or half-elf fighter/sorcerer or fighter/wizard going for the Spellsword PrC.
• A human, elf, or half-elf soulblade.
• A human, elf, or half-elf character that takes the Divine Crusader PrC (following the Sovereign Host).

I'm really unsure on what to select, because I feel that the group's really suffering w/ it's current line-up. Basically, I want my PC to cover a weak point that the group has; however, I'm seeing a lot of weak points.

Any ideas/suggestions/advice?

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Play a tank character if the warforged barbarian doesn't materialise - otherwise I'd recommend a human wizard/rogue/arcane trickster.

(Really, I would recommend a straight wizard, but I won't step outside the boundaries of your stated ideas.)

Focus your rogue skills on the necessary dungeoneering areas, and try to be as general as possible with your wizard spells. Get as many as you can of as many different types.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Aligment is a little different in Eberron and you may want to look into it a bit more with your DM. Being 'evil' is not a bad thing per say IF of the same church or church of similiar thoughts (ECS pages 35 & 67), this seems to give a lot of players a hard time and is up to how your DM rules on it.

 

[fuindordm]

Sounds to me like you need another dedicated caster.

What about a Blood of Vol cleric, PrC to True Necromancer?
Or an abjurer wizard? Real wizards have a certain coolness in Eberron, I think. The UA specialist wizard variants are very nice.

 

[Zephyrus]

I've had a couple of char idea's that I've played around with.. but since I'm usually the DM I dont get to play them (or I show them to my players and they play them). Some indea's include...

High WIS & DEX Shifter Monk w/ Beast Hide and Beast Hide Elite & 1st level and as many Shifter feats you can get

A Cleric with a decent STR & CON with the Summoner and Time Domains. Summoner provides +2 CL for summon spells so even at 1st level your creatures stick around for 3 rounds. a 5th level caster would be able to summon elementals. makes for a good flexiable caster. Time domain gives Improved init so your not last man on the totem pole. Of course if you do the character as a Human you can have Spell Focus Conj. & Augment Summoning at 1st and thus allow you to take something else at 3rd.

If you want a butt-kickin cleric... a Human Cleric with the planer domain of Elysium. Grants you smite evil. Combined with Silver Smite from the eberron book you have an impressive melee fighter.. fallow that with Silver Flame Exorcist. it covers alot of bases by providing a divine caster, a armored fighter. Heck.. the smite makes you paladin-esq. w/o having to be a paladin.

A Rogue with Improved Feint makes for a good melee focused rogue. With Improved Feint making Fienting in combat a move equiv. you can feint and sneek attack every round weither your flanking or note.

the Warmage from Complete arcane makes for a very good battlecaster. Decent CHA and INT. Heck if your doing point Buy and have enough points to get two 18's. a Gray Elf Warmage w/ Spellcasting Prodigy can realy lay the smackdown on someone. Even a Pair of 16's would work cause at 5th level you might could afford a pair of +2 Stat items.

anyways hope that helps maybe some.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Aligment is a little different in Eberron and you may want to look into it a bit more with your DM. Being 'evil' is not a bad thing per say IF of the same church or church of similiar thoughts (ECS pages 35 & 67), this seems to give a lot of players a hard time and is up to how your DM rules on it.

From what I've read in the Eberron book, though clerics may slide from their "required" AL in Eberron (allowing for evil Silver Flame priests & whatnot), paladins face much stricter requirments--in essence, Eberron paladins face the same AL requirements/restrictions as standard D&D paladins.

Well, I discussed some character ideas w/ the Eberron DM, and he's given me a fair amount of feedback on some of those character concepts.

The player considering the warforged juggernaut is sticking with his idea: apparently he's considering a multi-armed warforged character (which I'm not sure exists as is). So any sort of tank/warrior character is right out.

I was considering a LE changeling monk that would multi-class as an assassin (since there's at least 1 other PC who's evil), but I may not go w/ that idea if the other player switches his PC's alignment (which he is considering, since the character's been played more like TN than NE).

Otherwise, I've pretty much considered going with a monk, a elf or half-elf swashbuckler/wizard going for bladesinger (getting a bit of an arcane spellcaster & an agile character), a soulblade (since he'd be the only psychic PC in the group), or a half-elf Paragon who then progresses in Human Paragon (to later go into an available PrC). All of these characters will have a non-Evil alignment (if not a Good alignment).

However, except for the changeling, I'm intending this PC to take the Leadership feat at 6th level (the PC will start off at 5th level). I may use one of the unused PC concepts for the character's cohort, or at the least have the cohort provide useful backup (as a secondary divine spellcaster, an arcane spellcaster, a rogue, etc.). The cohort will be 4th level, so I may go with a multiclassed spellcaster or non-spellcasting class for the cohort (since he'll be at least 2 levels lower than my PC, & pretty much the rest of the group as well).

Thanks for the feedback.