Palemaster Gish?

[Dandu]

I don't have any bonus to ranged touch attacks (10 dex) so I'm shying away a bit from the orb spells and rays and such.

1. You are attacking touch AC.
2. Shouldn't you have good AB from being a gish?
3. You can ditch Combat Casting for Fell Drain Spell and combine it with Magic Missile.

 

[Nifft]

Ok so here is my revised character now.

Human 1 Fighter / 4 Wizard (Necromancer) (prohibited schools evocation/enchantment)

Cool. One munchkin trick is to take Ranger 1 instead of Fighter 1 at 1st level. You get a lot of bonus skill points, and you get a FAR better skill list to spend you (massive) Int bonus skill points in. The price? Heavy armor and 2 hp. Oh, and you can use wands of all Ranger spells, including cure light wounds, which can be very helpful.

For your one "Favored Enemy", pick Undead: it's not that you particularly hate them, it's more like you know them really well from extensive (practical) study, so you're good at both making and taking them down.

Str 18
Dex 12
Con 12
Int 16 +1 at level 4 (will probably continue to add stat points here)
Wis 10
Cha 10

It kills me to see a PC with a high Strength and no Power Attack, and that goes triple if the PC has access to true strike. There's no other use for a high Strength. IMHO it might be better to go with a high Dexterity + Weapon Finesse (which will work with all your Conjuration spells + your PrC touch attacks).

Weapons: Scythe for tripping or
Scimitar + Shield + Keen Weapon spell for extra AC and crits
Armor: for role playing purposes I'm saying my character has undead armor
that acts as a normal chain mail +4 AC basically

If you're open to dropping the scythe, you could benefit greatly by using Dex + Weapon Finesse.

Feats:
Weapon Expertise
Improved Trip
Extend Spell
Combat Casting - Still looking for a replacement for this, although
nothing seems especially appealing. Ideas?
Most likely Spontaneous Divination for wizard bonus feat next level.

You can't have Weapon Expertise with only one level of Fighter.

Combat Casting sucks. Instead, take Skill Focus (Concentration) for a +3 bonus to every check, instead of a +4 bonus to a few checks.

Spells:
1st level:
Chill Touch
Mage Armor
True Strike
Kelgore's Firebolt
Enlarge Person
Expeditious Retreat
Blade of Blood
Benign Transposition

2nd level:
Command Undead
Bulls Strength
Web
Bonefiddle
Kelgore's Grave Mist

I highly recommend mirror image as a defensive buff, but otherwise, good stuff. Maybe you can buy it as a scroll?

You don't need mage armor if you're going to wear chainmail. You don't need true strike if you can't Power Attack -- and even if you could, it won't be great until you can Power Attack for -5 or more.

You do need a ranged attack option. Maybe buy a wand of acid orb (750 gp).

Cheers, -- N

 

[foggman]

Hmm the level in Ranger does sound interesting. I don't expect my character to ever wear heavy armor so that might be a good idea.

I went with high strength for a few reasons. For one I'll need help with all my to hit rolls. Since I'm using a two handed scythe I'll get extra damage on attacks. Also once I get my arm graft I'll effectively have 22 Str. I'm kinda set on using a scythe I think. It's just part of the look and flavor I'm going for with this character.

My mistake for listing Weapon Expertise, I got it mixed up with Combat Expertise which you need to get Improved Trip.

I do plan on buying mirror image and all the good illusion defensive spells at some point.

Mage armor is mostly for when I think I'll be casting a lot of spells, during which I won't be wearing the chainmail. I do have a ranged weapon option in the form of a crossbow or longbow, I can't remember which it was and I don't have my sheet in front of me. Not to mention I always have my spells and wands as a ranged option too.

I might still pick up Power Attack, but like you said it might be better to wait until I can make use of it to its maximum potential.

And yea I'm still looking for replacements for Combat Casting. Dandu's Fell Drain Spell suggestion seems interesting, although I did change evocation to a prohibited school so I can't use magic missile anymore.

 

[Nifft]

I went with high strength for a few reasons. For one I'll need help with all my to hit rolls. Since I'm using a two handed scythe I'll get extra damage on attacks.

Strength only helps with melee attack rolls.

Dexterity (+ Weapon Finesse) helps with all attack rolls: melee and ranged, which includes all your spells.

My mistake for listing Weapon Expertise, I got it mixed up with Combat Expertise which you need to get Improved Trip.

Gotcha. Yeah, Expertise is pretty sweet.

Mage armor is mostly for when I think I'll be casting a lot of spells, during which I won't be wearing the chainmail.

Consider investing in a mithral chain shirt (instead of the regular chain shirt). It's half the spell failure, and it's not prohibitively expensive for a 5th level PC.

I do have a ranged weapon option in the form of a crossbow or longbow, I can't remember which it was and I don't have my sheet in front of me. Not to mention I always have my spells and wands as a ranged option too.

You will do better with a ranged touch attack, since you don't have the Dex or the spare feats to focus on either kind of bow.

And yea I'm still looking for replacements for Combat Casting. Dandu's Fell Drain Spell suggestion seems interesting, although I did change evocation to a prohibited school so I can't use magic missile anymore.

If you like Combat Casting, you should take Skill Focus (Concentration) instead.

Fell Drain isn't limited to Magic Missile.

How much gold do you have to start?

Cheers, -- N

 

[foggman]

Would Dex + Weapon Finesse work on my touch attacks as well? Are my touch attacks considered to be light weapons?

Yea I just mentioned magic missile as it seems like the ideal spell for fell drain. Its level 1 and can hit multiple enemies if you choose. I might still go with that over combat casting anyway. I don't really like combat casting, I'm just struggling to find feats that would really benefit my play style.

As for gold, I'm not sure. We all started at level 1 and we've been sort of hording our gold. None of us are very experienced dnd players so we haven't been sure how to spend it. We've probably got quite a bit though.

 

[foggman]

Hey guys,

Resurrecting my thread because I've got a new question pertaining to this character concept. So, my group just picked up again after the holidays and the DM set us all at level 6. Which puts me one level away from starting to pick up pale master levels finally (currently 1 level of fighter and 5 levels of wizard).

I decided to choose the Leadership feat at 6th level and gain a cohort. I'm wondering from you guys what would be the most ideal cohort class to compliment a gish palemaster. I'm currently thinking some sort of cleric to gain access to some of the divine exclusive spells that pertain to undead, as well as some good buffing spells, and cause wounds spells that can be used offensively or to heal undead.

What do you think? Are there any more obscure classes that might be a better compliment? Thanks!

 

[Dandu]

Yes, a cleric would be good.

 

[foggman]

So I was thinking cloistered cleric? Drop the combat aspect of the cleric to become a knowledge based skill monkey and focus her mainly on buffing the party and undead with spells.

Went with these stats
10 str
14 dex
- con (thinking of making her necropolitan for story reasons)
14 int
18 wis
12 cha

Picked undeath as one of the domains, not sure on the other? Any suggestions?
Thoughts on possible feats?

 

[Dandu]

Planning domain? Knowledge Devotion?

 

[Fallenibilis]

If you want a knowledge based divine caster may i suggest Archivist as they get a whole bunch of ally boosting abillitys based on their knowledge skills and can virtually cast every divine spell in the game.