[Planescape] Squaring the Circle Redux - OOC (Full)

[Serpenteye]

Sephiroth, Serpenteye, I may have an rather unusual solution for your ghost situation. I've written a prestige class called The Song Ghost, in which a bard literally bonds with a spirit in order to help it complete the task that held it to life. However, for Serpenteye's character, you could turn this PrC on its head. Make the Song Ghost your cohort, and perhaps select an elf or similarly long-lived race so that you can say you've been around for a while. Just a suggestion.

Maybe, but the link leads to the Songheart and I can't seem to find the Song Ghost on your link-list of classes.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Ok, I fixed the link now.

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

For Serpenteye:

To buy off LAs, your character must be a certain minimum character level (therefore, this level does not include Racial Hit Dice or the LA itself) as indicated on the following table:

LA          Minimum Character Level
+1          3
+2          6, 9
+3          9, 15, 18
+4          12
+5          15
+6          18

When he reaches the minimum level, he must pay XP equal to his current (ECL - 1) X 1000 XP. This will reduce his LA (and effective ECL) by +1. To clarify, here's a few examples: for instance, Flaust is a tiefer and has a +1 LA. When she reaches 3rd level (4 ECL), she can spend 3,000 XP to reduce her LA from +1 to +0 and now follows the standard table for level progression. However, if she was a race with a higher ECL, like a drow, who has an ECL of +2, she would have to wait until she was 6th level (ECL 8) to buy off one LA reduction, spending 7,000 XP in the process. At 9th (ECL 10), she can can spend another 9,000 XP to get rid of the her second LA. So the higher your LA, the higher level you have to before you can start buying off your LA, and you also spend more experience doing so.

In your ghost character's case, since he has an LA of +5, he would need to be 15th level (ECL 20) and spend 19,000 XP to reduce his LA from +5 to +4. The book is not too clear on the higher LA adjustments after that, unfortunately. Since he would be LA +4 then, I assume he could spend another 18,000 XP to reduce it to +3 since he's already above the 12th level limit for +4 LA characters. (Can someone confirm or correct this?)

In any case, I'm afraid it's not much of a help to your character, since his LA is so high. :\

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

@Sephiroth: Would you have any problems with a Spellblade (from PGtF) for Greater Dispel Magic (instead of the Ring of Counterspells and something else)?

Np. But be aware that it won't work if the greater dispel magic is an area effect, nor will it work if your opponent simply casts dispel magic at you.

Apart from that, I'll do a few minor changes still, swap a feat and a few attribute points, one spell (Align Weapon doesn't seem very useful since Holy includes good already, which I wasn't aware of ).

Plus it won't work on your holy greatsword. OTOH, it's handy if you need to hit something that has DR with a different AL component such as Law or Chaos. But that's pretty rare.

P.S. Thanks for catching the enhancement bonus thing with Blade's dire flail. I often forget those.

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

Okay, Kajamba Lion, here's my comments for Vladimir Kronenheim:

--AC is correct but your Dex modifier note isn't
--Reflex save should be +7 (3 base + 2 Dex + 2 grace = 7), +9 with the cloak
--You have a +2d6 against evil under your Full Attack entry and I'm not sure where that comes from since your weapon isn't holy.
--Vlad should have 67 skill points but when I add up your ranks, I'm coming up with 70. (67 = 21 points from levels 1-3, 40 points from levels 4-11, and 6 points from level 12.) You'll need to remove 3 skill points from somewhere.
--Knowledge: Religion should be +10 (5 ranks + 5 Int). Same with Knowledgge: Planes.
--Spellcraft should be +18 (13 ranks, +5 Int).
--Price for your +3 spiked chain should be 9000 gp + 109 gp + 720 XP. You only to pay XP costs for the magical portion of the cost and the 109 gp is from me assuming you craft the weapon yourself with the Craft skill.
--I added up the 2 scrolls of Mordenkainen's faithful hound (2,250 gp), 2 scrolls of summon monster V (2,250 gp), and scroll of plane shift (2,275 gp) and I'm getting 6,775 gp, not 7,775 gp.
--I added up all the prices for Vlad's magical gear (using the numbers above) and the cost to scribe his spells and I'm coming up with 88,659 gp which is over his limit. (I have his magical gear total at 83,559 gp and his spells cost at 5100 gp.)
--Technically speaking, Vlad's XP should be 66,880 XP. He suffers a -20% XP penalty ever since he hit 12th level which gave him a starting XP of 67,600. Then subtract 720 XP for item creation.

Okay, that's it! And since Thanee explained how making magic weapons work so nicely, I hope that's clear for you. I know he's not high enough caster level to make a +3 weapon by himself but he can corroborate with someone-- for example, Zoe, since it looks like she could use some help with her gloves of dex-- so I'm not too worried about that. Of course, that would require that he knows Zoe beforehand.... but well, whatever. It's not a big deal.

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

A clarification on weapon and armor creation for everyone:

You don't need to pay XP for the masterwork portion of the weapon or armor's cost when making magical arms and armor, but you do need to pay full price (unless you're using the Craft skill to make the item, in which case, you pay only 1/3rd the market price for materials).

So a +1 longsword would cost 1315 gp (1000 + 300 + 15) and 80 XP (1/25th of 2000) to create.
And a +1 breastplate would cost 800 gp (500 + 150 + 150) and 40 XP to create (1/25th of 1000).

[/pointlessserviceannouncement ]

 

[Serpenteye]

For Serpenteye:

In any case, I'm afraid it's not much of a help to your character, since his LA is so high. :\

No, not much help... But I guess I'll adapt. A Ghost can be very powerful if it's played well.
I wonder if Sorcerer is the right path to take for him, though. He'll be able to make a much greater impact with Telekinesis and Malevolence than with 3rd level spells, but as a Sorcerer he will get a good synergy with his Charisma. Paladin offers some good possibilities, but it would be pretty weird on a Ghost. Ranger gives good skills and two-weapon fighting, something that would be very useful with some of the ghost's special abilities, and the reduced HD is of no consequence so it's much better than the other fighting classes. The animal companion could be interesting rp-wise but of little practical use and very limited durability. Weapon proficiencies will be useful when he's posessing our fiendish enemies.
The Rogue gains almost as much, and fits the theme better. I guess I'll have to look closer at my strategies...


Do any of you know any good charisma-based fighting-feats?

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

Hrm.... My PC has attracted unwanted attention and I now need as total Bios reboot and hard drive reformat. My update of Flaust will have to be after that. :\ I hate viruses.

Ugh... that's highly unpleasant (the re-format, not Flaust's update). I hope you had all your files backed-up...

 

[Serpenteye]

Ok, I fixed the link now.

It's a very well-made class, and it's not a bad PC for a Bard, but it doesn't really fit. Why would I pay a +5 LA for being trapped inside someone's head and being unable to use most of my special abilities?

 

[Sephiroth no Miko]

True, true. But the myth about the tragicness and insanity of ghosts is based on the belief that the afterlife is someting positive, a paradise, and that the ghost would be much happier if he was truly dead.
The Planescape afterlife is no such thing.

I can't say I'm exactly thrilled with the way the 'Afterlife' is set up in PS, and it all seems so... I dunno, bleah (particularly the petitioners)... but unless I want to re-write the cosmology we're stuck with it. Besides, I can understand the reluctance of the game designers not to have adventurers traipsing around 'paradise.' (I mean, if it's paradise, why adventure? Why not just enjoy it?)

Kind of, but that would depend on what kind of creatures he posessed. Evil people are generally a lot more interesting than good ones, perhaps he prefers peeking into their heads.

Yeah, but two evils still don't make a right. Possessing unwilling evil people (or creatures) is no less evil than possessing willing good people. :\ We just might not feel as sorry for them....

Do you have BoVD? There's a whole set of rules in there for possession (it's also in Ghostwalk), which I guess we'll be needing for your character.

What would happen if the item was destroyed? Could he find another token as an anchor, or would he simply fade away?

He'd be able to find another anchor, but if it's not done with within a certain time frame, he'd start having to make saves to remain. At least that's how I see it.

I imagine most adventurers have something they leave behind when they go out adventuring, something they might want to protect, something they will check up on every now and then. It will be the same way for my character, but instead of friends and family it's his grave.

Some adventurers do, but many don't. "Orphan" seems to be a popular background choice for many adventurers and for a lot of them, it seems that the party is their family.

He would have to go back to his grave to be able to use his new equipment, but that doesn't mean that he would let the other characters go with him, and it's better than getting no new equipment at all. There's not many items made specifically for ghosts, are there? As a Sorcerer he has limited use for Ghost Touch weapons.

Ehr, no. On the other hand, there's very little a ghost needs really. It doesn't eat, drink, or breath. It cannot feel cold or hot. It's got a slew of undead immunities and great mobility. I guess you would primarily need protective items, and some utility items. Healing might be concern, since good clerics won't be able to heal you without memorizing inflict spells.

I would like that . I think that if we made an item his anchor he would have to spend most of his time posessing someone to carry it, and that would really not be using his abilities to their fullest potential.

Hmmm... why would you assume he'd be possessing them to carry it? Couldn't he simply persuade them to carry it of their own free will? It's not like he'd be asking them to carry something huge and unwieldly.

Do any of you know any good charisma-based fighting-feats?

Unfortunately, no. :\ Charisma seems to be a dump stat for most warriors, excepting paladins, for whom Divine Might is a nifty feat. But that also requires an ability to turn undead.