OOC - [Epic] Scions of the Endless Falls - Full

[perivas]

Here are the cohort--Loudbark Laughingoak--and animal companion--Tessaru--for Caira Greenleaf.

Player Name : Perivas
Cohort Name : Loudbark Laughingoak

STATS:
Race (ECL) : Treant (+12)
Class (Level) : Barbarian (4)/Fighter(4)/Ranger(3)
.... Net Level : 23
Alignment : Neutral Good
Deity : God of Nature
Gender : Male
Size : Huge
Speed : 30 ft
Type : Plant
Experience : ?

LEVEL BREAKDOWN:
01: Ranger
02: Barbarian
03: Fighter
04: Ranger
05: Barbarian
06: Fighter
07: Ranger
08: Barbarian
09: Fighter
10: Barbarian
11: Fighter

ABILITY SCORES
STR 42 (+16) (base 15, +18 treant, +3 level, +6 enhancement)
DEX 12 (+1) (base 12, -2 treant, +2 enhancement)
CON 30 (+10) (base 13, +10 treant, +1 level, +6 enhancement)
INT 11 (+0) (base 9, +2 treant)
WIS 17 (+3) (base 11, +6 treant)
CHA 11 (+0) (base 9, +2 treant)

SAVES
+31 Fort (+5 treant, +4 brb, +4 fgt, +3 rgr, +10 CON, +5 resistance)
+15 Refl (+2 treant, +1 brb, +1 fgt, +2 feat, +3 rgr, +1 DEX, +5
resistance)
+15 Will (+2 treant, +1 brb, +1 fgt, +1 rgr, +2 feat, +3 WIS, +5
resistance)

BASIC STATS
HP 388 (5d8 ECL, 7d8 treant, 4d12 brb, 4d10 ftr, 3d8 rgr + 230 CON)
AC 48 (+1 DEX, +20 armor, +16 natural armor, +3 deflection, -2 size)
Touch 9
Flat 47
Initiative +1 (+1 DEX)

MISCELLANEOUS EFFECTS
Immune to fire
Does not need food or water

BAB +16/11/6/1
Melee +30/+25/+20/+15 (+16/11/6/1 base, -2 size, +16 STR)
Missile +15/10/5/0 (+16/11/6/1 base, -2 size, +1 DEX)
Grapple +44/+39/+34/+29 (+16/11/6/1 base, +8 size, +16 STR, +4 GG)

SKILLS (42 dryad; 96 druid; 108 INT) (1)cross-class for barbarian; (2)treant
skill
Diplomacy +3
Hide –9*
Intimidate +6
Knowledge (nature) +6
Listen +8
Sense Motive +8
Spot +8
Survival +8 (+2 aboveground)

FEATS
HD 01: Power Attack
HD 03: Improved Bull Rush
HD 06: Improved Sunder
HD 09: Awesome Blow
HD 12: Improved Grapple
HD 15: Lightning Reflexes
HD 18: Iron Will
Rgr 01: Track
Rgr 02: Two-weapon Fighting (Combat Style)
Rgr 03: Endurance
Fgt 01: Weapon Focus (mace)
Fgt 02: Improved Critical (mace)
Fgt 04: Weapon Specialization (mace)

CLASS ABILITIES
Ranger: favored enemy (undead), track, wild empathy, combat style,
Endurance
Barbarian: fast movement, rage 2/day, trap sense +2, uncanny dodge
Fighter: bonus feats

RACE ABILITIES
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Animate trees
Double damage against objects
Trample 2d6+STR*1.5
Damage reduction 10/slashing
Low-light vision
Plant traits
Vulnerability to fire

ARMOR
Elven Darkleaf full plate +5 (AC +13, DEX +3, penalty -3, 20ft.)
Dragonhide Large Shield of Arrow Deflection +5 (AC +7, penalty –2)

WEAPON
Huge Mace of Ruin +7 (+38/33/28/23 melee atk, 2d6+25 dmg, 19-20/x2)

EQUIPMENT
1,000,312gp Huge Mace of Ruin +7
240,000gp Ring of Fire Immunity
108,000gp Belt of Mighty Prowess
49,650gp Dragonhide Large Shield of Arrow Deflection +5
28,000gp Elven darkleaf full plate +5
25,000gp Cloak of Resistance +5
18,000gp Ring of Protection +3
18,000gp Amulet of Natural Armor +3
8,000gp Gloves of Dexterity +2
4,000gp Clear spindle ioun stone
900gp Bag of Tricks (gray)
-----------
1,499,862gp Total


Cohort Name: Name : Tessaru

STATS:
Race (ECL) : Wolf
Alignment : Neutral
Gender : Female
Size : Medium
Speed : 30 ft
Type : Animal
Experience : N/A

ABILITY SCORES
STR 20 (+5) (base 13, +7 companion)
DEX 15 (+2) (base 15)
CON 15 (+2) (base 15)
INT 2 (-4) (base 2)
WIS 12 (+1) (base 12)
CHA 6 (-2) (base 6)

SAVES
+16 Fort (+10 wolf, +4 resistance, +2 CON)
+16 Refl (+10 wolf, +4 resistance, +2 DEX)
+10 Will (+5 wolf, +4 resistance, +1 WIS)

BASIC STATS
HP 104 (16d8 + 32)
AC 28 (+2 DEX, +16 natural armor)
Touch 12
Flat 26
Initiative +2 (+2 DEX)

MISCELLANEOUS EFFECTS
Devotion
Improved evasion
Link
Shared Spells

BAB +12/7/2
Melee +17/+12/+7 (+12/7/2 base, +5 STR)
Grapple +17/+12/+7 (+12/7/2 base, +5 STR)

SKILLS (32)
Hide +5
Jump +5
Listen +5
Move Silently +5
Spot +5
Survival +7* (+4 for tracking by scent)

FEATS
HD 01: Track
HD 03: Weapon Focus (bite)
HD 06: Combat Expertise
HD 09: Improved Trip
HD 12: Endurance
HD 15: Die Hard
Cmp : Multiattack

RACE ABILITIES
Low-light vision
Scent
Trip (Ex): A wolf that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip the
opponent (+1 check modifier) as a free action without making a
touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the
attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the wolf.

WEAPONS
Bite

EQUIPMENT
Collar of Resistance +4

 

[Ferrix]

Ah Isida, there is a difference however.

Full-attack action is different from an attack action. An attack action is the individual attack you make (read: roll) to hit your opponent (or do other various combat manuevers). A standard attack action uses a standard action (leaving you with a move action) letting you make one attack action. A full-attack action is a full round action where you can get multiple attack actions from high BAB and other things (haste, twf, etc.).

Let's go back to the original 3rd edition when you had shuriken that you threw three with one attack.

With one attack action you received three attack rolls. Now only the first one in this attack action would inflict sneak attack damage. Now if you did a standard attack action, you'd have gotten one attack action, and consequently three attack rolls, and only one would be eligible for sneak attack damage. However if you took a full-attack action (say with three attacks from BAB), you'd get three attack actions, and consequently nine attack rolls (three per attack action), one of each would be eligible for sneak attack damage.

Now that shuriken have been changed it's no longer a problem with weapons. However, ranged touch attack spells that give multiple rays per single casting however still function as a single action thus providing only one chance for bonus sneak attack damage.

Thus if I go before someone in an opening round (not the surprise round) and I'm in a position to make a full-attack, they are still flat-footed (as they haven't gone yet), every attack action I make is eligible for sneak attack damage. Thus if I hit with three attacks with a shortsword while they were flat-footed, and my sneak attack was +10d6, each attack would get the bonus sneak attack damage, for 1d6+10d6, 1d6+10d6 and 1d6+10d6. For a whopping damage total of 33d6 damage (avg. of 115.5 dmg). Which is pretty good but not outrageous as it's limited to specific circumstances (i.e. a sneak attackable foe & flanking, denied Dex or flat-footed).

I think that's about it.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

I agree with Ferrix. The issue is now closed.

 

[Wrahn]

perivas,

Don't you need epic leadership to have a cohort that powerful?

Also you forgot to subtract it's size modifier from it's armor class.

I have the Hit Points at 388 (5d8 from ECL, 7d8 from Plant, 4d12 from Barbarian, 4d10 from Ranger, 3d8 from Ranger + 230 from Con)

 

[Thanee]

Heh. Was about to post the same example with the shuriken, but Ferrix has already explained everything pretty good.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Kelleris]

Okay, here's an action-packed post for you, Isida. I'm just about done with the character, I just need to query you on a few more things.

First off, poisons. I'd really like to use them, but obviously there isn't a poison in the world (er, in the DMG) that will do anything at 30th level. Ergo, I'd like to know if I can use the system in Blue Devil Games's Poison book. Basically, I'll just a whip up a few poisons with suitably high save DCs using that system and then run them by you when I'm done.

Second, I have a possible spell-like progression through 40th level for the modified half-fey template. I used some epic spells, on the theory that you wouldn't mind just the spells as spell-likes, since there's no designing new ones and no rolling Spellcraft:

21-22  reverse gravity 3/day
23-24  summon behemoth
25-26  elemental swarm
27-28  verdigris at will
29-30  regenerate 3/day
31-32  epic repulsion (undead and constructs only)
33-34  shapechange 3/day
35-36  verdigris tsunami
37-38  enslave
39-40  eternal freedom

Looking at it, I like it, but it might be a bit much. So, howsabout I keep the Con penalty? Drop the wings and the +2 Wis, add this stuff. It seems like a lot, but the first 20 levels of spell-likes were only worth +1 LA themselves, so I dunno.

Thirdly, how do you feel about the Rogue variant that gives bonus fighter feats in place of SA dice (in Unearthed Arcana)? I'd like to use that for my Assassin levels, if possible. +4-5d6 SA just doesn't do much for me.

Fourth, there're some feats I'd like you to look at, all from Chainmail Bikini's Beyond Monks, some slightly modified. I have my explanation/excuse/ wheedling in italics after each one:

Silent Fighting [General]
You have learned to fight quietly
Prerequisites: Move Silently 5 ranks, BAB +4
Benefits: As long as you wear light or no armor, and have no more than a light load, anyone using the Listen skill to hear your unarmed attacks has a +10 modifier to the DC.
Additionally, you have no penalty to your Move Silently skill when charging.
Normal: When you try to Move Silently while charging, you gain a –20 penalty.

Leap of the Clouds [Epic]
For some reason, gravity just doesn't seem as important anymore.
Prerequisites: Jump 21 ranks, Tumble 17 ranks, Balance 17 ranks
Benefits: When you attempt a high jump, the DC of the jump is equal to the height of the jump in feet.
You can make any type of jump without any running start with no penalty to the DC. If you make a 20ft. running start before making a long jump, the DC is halved.
When jumping down, you take falling damage as if you had fallen a number of feet equal to the actual distance fallen minus the value of a Jump skill check.
You gain a +5 bonus on all Jump checks.

It's a slightly-harder-to-get, pumped-up version of Legendary Leaper. Since that feat is stupid at a level where the change in my character's extra pair of pants can buy an item of flying, I made it quite a bit more powerful.

Combat Mind [Fighter, General]
You think before you fight.
Prerequisites: Int 13+
Benefits: Before rolling for initiative, you may choose to take a –6 penalty to the roll. If you do so, your attack rolls gain a +2 insight bonus or you gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC during the entire combat. You choose which bonus you receive before taking your first action.

I usually like to wait until someone else goes before I commit in a fight; this is my excuse. I've heard that initiative is ridiculously important at epic levels, due to the shorter fights, so I may be shooting myself in the foot here. Regardless, this feat's been helpful up to 13th level, so I'd like to keep it for this iteration.

Artful Dodge [Fighter, General]
You predict where your opponent will strike next, and make sure you are not there.
Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Dodge
Benefits: You may apply your Intelligence bonus instead of your Dexterity bonus as a dodge bonus to AC. Conditions that cause you to lose your Dexterity bonus to AC cause you to lose this bonus instead.

Weapon Finesse for smart people. I'll still have a high Dex, of course, but this feat lets me have a higher Int without messing up my AC. It's so hard to get a decent AC at this level... Fair warning; if I don't take this feat, I'm going to seriously consider splashing the S&F duelist. Does that make you mist up at all?

Heh, that might sound like a threat ("give me this feat, or else"). It wasn't meant that way, of course; think of it as more of a veiled request to use the Duelist from S&F instead, if Artful Dodge doesn't look good.

 

[Ferrix]

First off, poisons. I'd really like to use them, but obviously there isn't a poison in the world (er, in the DMG) that will do anything at 30th level. Ergo, I'd like to know if I can use the system in Blue Devil Games's Poison book. Basically, I'll just a whip up a few poisons with suitably high save DCs using that system and then run them by you when I'm done.

Check the epic level handbook for poisons, there are some really nasty ones there. (They even ignore standard poison immunity)

Silent Fighting [General]
You have learned to fight quietly
Prerequisites: Move Silently 5 ranks, BAB +4
Benefits: As long as you wear light or no armor, and have no more than a light load, anyone using the Listen skill to hear your unarmed attacks has a +10 modifier to the DC.
Additionally, you have no penalty to your Move Silently skill when charging.
Normal: When you try to Move Silently while charging, you gain a ?20 penalty.

Leap of the Clouds [Epic]
For some reason, gravity just doesn't seem as important anymore.
Prerequisites: Jump 21 ranks, Tumble 17 ranks, Balance 17 ranks
Benefits: When you attempt a high jump, the DC of the jump is equal to the height of the jump in feet.
You can make any type of jump without any running start with no penalty to the DC. If you make a 20ft. running start before making a long jump, the DC is halved.
When jumping down, you take falling damage as if you had fallen a number of feet equal to the actual distance fallen minus the value of a Jump skill check.
You gain a +5 bonus on all Jump checks.

It's a slightly-harder-to-get, pumped-up version of Legendary Leaper. Since that feat is stupid at a level where the change in my character's extra pair of pants can buy an item of flying, I made it quite a bit more powerful.

Combat Mind [Fighter, General]
You think before you fight.
Prerequisites: Int 13+
Benefits: Before rolling for initiative, you may choose to take a ?6 penalty to the roll. If you do so, your attack rolls gain a +2 insight bonus or you gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC during the entire combat. You choose which bonus you receive before taking your first action.

I usually like to wait until someone else goes before I commit in a fight; this is my excuse. I've heard that initiative is ridiculously important at epic levels, due to the shorter fights, so I may be shooting myself in the foot here. Regardless, this feat's been helpful up to 13th level, so I'd like to keep it for this iteration.

Artful Dodge [Fighter, General]
You predict where your opponent will strike next, and make sure you are not there.
Prerequisites: Dex 13+, Dodge
Benefits: You may apply your Intelligence bonus instead of your Dexterity bonus as a dodge bonus to AC. Conditions that cause you to lose your Dexterity bonus to AC cause you to lose this bonus instead.

Weapon Finesse for smart people. I'll still have a high Dex, of course, but this feat lets me have a higher Int without messing up my AC. It's so hard to get a decent AC at this level... Fair warning; if I don't take this feat, I'm going to seriously consider splashing the S&F duelist. Does that make you mist up at all?

Heh, that might sound like a threat ("give me this feat, or else"). It wasn't meant that way, of course; think of it as more of a veiled request to use the Duelist from S&F instead, if Artful Dodge doesn't look good.

[/QUOTE]

I'll start top to bottom.

Silent Fighting, drop the negating the penalty to charging and moving silently or make it only applicable if you only move less than half your charge movement, and even then only reduce it by half.

Leap of the Clouds seems generally fine in my thoughts.

Combat Mind, haven't had much epic combat experience yet myself so... can't judge.

Artful dodge seems pretty really good, why wouldn't every mage ever thought of not take this feat. Sure two feats, but dex is now pretty much a dump and that's usually a +10-12 at least at this level.

 

[Kelleris]

Hmm, haven't got the ELH with me. Still, I higthly doubt there's more than a handful of poisons in there, and I'd be surprised to see that they even have a high enough save DC for this level. I recall seeing them and thinking they were pretty low, given the circumstances.

I wouldn't really bother with Silent Fighting without the charging, especially since I don't make unarmed attacks except as a last resort.

I can only vouch for Combat Mind at lower levels, unfortunately. It does make you nearly always go last or next-to-last, though. :\

Artful Dodge is quite an investment at low levels, since it requires a crappy feat and a decent score in the very thing it replaces. However, my character will only have an Int modifier 3, maybe 4 points higher than his Dex modifier. And Weapon Finesse has the same problems you find, and it isn't terribly unbalanced either. If someone wants to take that for their wizard, they can clear that separately with Isida, of course - at epic levels, broken is very, very relative. All it really does for me is to let me horde my skill points, as I am wont to do. Also, a wizard with the feat would be down two feats (obviously), and at this level would probably still have a crappy AC. Honestly, I'm having a lot of trouble getting Arion's AC up, and he needs it. My hps are going to be crap (base Con of 11, and I have no intention of buying a ridiculously-expensive +8 item).

EDIT: 278 hp average. Since I need to be in melee to keep my damage output at a halfway decent level, you can see why I prioritized AC. I need to have at least a chance that the evil twin of our elephantine dragon disciple won't instantly kill me with an Overwhelming Crit.

 

[Wrahn]

I am not sure that continuing spell progression past 20th level is a good idea, certainly it should increase the ECL dramatically with a host of incredible powerful spells added.

3.5 talks about adding abilities to monsters:

ADDING SPECIAL ABILITIES
You can add any sort of spell-like, supernatural, or extraordinary ability to a creature. As with a class level, you should determine how much, or how little, this ability adds to the creature’s existing repertoire. A suite of abilities that work together should be treated as a single modifier for this purpose. If the ability (or combination of abilities) significantly increases the monster’s combat effectiveness, increase its CR by 2. Minor abilities increase the creature’s CR by 1, and truly trivial abilities may not increase CR at all. If the special abilities a monster gains are not tied to a class or Hit Die increase, this CR increase stacks.

A significant special attack is one that stands a good chance of incapacitating or crippling a character in one round. A significant special quality is one that seriously diminishes the monster’s vulnerability to common attacks. Do not add this factor twice if a monster has both special attacks and special qualities.

Make sure to “scale” your evaluation of these abilities by the monster’s current CR.

When a Solar gains Hit Dice increases it does not gain more spells, a half celestial has no epic progression, I think carte blanche giving the half-fey epic progression is a mistake.

As far as the feats go, my opinion, for what they are worth:

Combat Mind would be more appropriate as an epic feat. +2 to hit and +2 to AC is a lot. Particularly with few requirements to get to.

Artful Dodge needs about two more feats to qualify for (say mobility and expertise) it should represent a serious commitment to be able to ignore dex as a statistic.

Leap of the Clouds could be beefed up a little (adding 10 to jumping) and require legendary leaper. Otherwise I am not a fan of just adding things that already exist in the game. If you find legendary leaper too weak, I would petition Isida to replace it with your text. (Because Ultimately I agree, flight is easy and more powerful)

Is there something specific you are looking to do with the silent attack? Even if they can't see you or hear you, if you attack them they can counter attack with the standard 50% miss chance. (Which they would get even if they heard you)

And just as a side note, my experience in epic play, going first does not change, there are advantages and disadvantages to it. My general opinion unless you are trying to control the pace of the combat, don't worry about it.

 

[Kelleris]

The half-fey template is mostly just me looking for something to fill out that +2 LA with the stuff I'm giving up. I'd probably be willing to add another point of LA, and that would definitely pay for it, since it would cost me another level even with the LA buy-down.

Why does Combat Mind strike you as an epic feat? It isn't worth anything like an epic slot, though it might be without the penalty to initiative.

Re Artful Dodge: Maybe, but I would like to point out that it hardly lets you ignore Dex as a statistic. I'll still need it for Reflex saves and a large number of important skills. In fact, it still leaves Dex more important than Strength is with Weapon Finesse. With Artful Dodge, my Dex score is still only 6 points lower than my Int. Weapon Finesse, on the other hand, will be giving me +6 to all melee attacks.

Leap of the Clouds was suggested mostly because Legendary Leaper is terrible; I'm just not going to take it, any more than I would take the epic feat that (bizarrely) doubles your low-light vision range. I would like to take something appropriate to my character, though, rather than being forced to decide between weak feats and shameless power-gaming.

Silent Attack is flavorful. That's the only reason I want it. In any case, it doesn't make you harder to find in combat. It would let me melee someone for a round without alerting those nearby, and it could cause some serious hit-and-run confusion given the right circumstances, It's probably weak overall, though. Just snazzy.