Use of the swashbuckler and odd races

[yoippari]

I am wanting to start a new character. My DM will allow races and classes from core books, complete divine and warrior (or wanker as he puts it), and XPH. I am trying to get him to allow a nerfed dragonkin (no monstrous humanoid levels and possibly less natural armor), a modified kobold (maybe use a template from this forum), or a doromite. Depending on what he allows I may make a gnomish bard, a doromite psion, or some sort of swashbuckler.

I understand what is needed for the psion and bard. I am not entirely confident with a swashbuckler. Basicly what I want to do is make a back story for a dragonkin swashbuckler who was a slave turned noble guard and friend to some rich guy in a big city.

To justify this odd class for a race comprised mostly of barbarians and sorcerers I will play on a dragons natural interest in gold, the environment the character grew up in (emphasis on moving quickly in both tongue and foot), and having the idea of morals, rules and justice ingrained by his "owner". The morals make the character good, while the idea of rules and justice make the character lawful. I am defining lawful as believing in the need for order and a code of conduct for each person. This does not make the character follow regional laws blindly but he will honour his agreements, and his own code of conduct (which is based on either bahamut's or one of the class patron gods' dogma).

My question is: with this kind of background, is it feasable to have a swashbuckler dragonkin?

 

[Nightfall]

Just go half celestial elf. That should be decent enough. (Just use the modifications from WotC's about templates to make it decent for you.)

 

[Nifft]

Gnome Bards are surprisingly effective.

My definition of "Law" vs. "Chaos" is "Law = Organization" while "Chaos = Individual", so a Chaotic person could very well have a personal code of conduct, but he won't impose it on anyone else.

Anyway, what's your goal here? This board has remarkably little influence over your DM's decisions on what to allow, and we don't know much about whatever version of house-ruled Dragonkin you're referring to.

But some of us do like Psions.

-- N

 

[yoippari]

My question is: with this kind of background, is it feasable to have a swashbuckler dragonkin?

I need to convince my DM to let me use a dragonkin. What I am asking you guys is if it would make sense for me to have a swashbuckler dragonkin, given the above background.

 

[Nifft]

Well, post the stats of the nerfed Dragonkin, and tell us about your game world -- e.g. is it FRealms, GHawk, Eberron, Scarred Lands, Dark Sun, or a homebrew?

-- N

PS: Still, I suspect that your DM will hold our opinions in low regard -- we are just voices in the aether, after all.

 

[yoippari]

+8 str, +2 dex, +2 con, +4 wis, +2 cha
Size large; speed 20; fly 40 (good)
Natural attacks: 1d6 claws, while airborn a full attack adds rear claws to the attack with full attack bonus.
Detect magic(Su) at will as a sorcerer whos level is equal to the dragonkin's HD.
+7 natural armor
Languages: draconic + bonuses (bonuses include common)
Favored class: Barbarian
LA+2
This is a Dragon kin minus all 7 monstrous levels (unless the natural armor is part of the monstrous levels, in which case that would go too)

The game world is quite under developed. Our DM did not want to use FR (we all had lvl 3 characters in Ferun) so he said that while we were traveling we woke up one morning and we were not where we fell asleep. All we know about this land is that gnolls are quite tolerant of other races and even have a city which has a dwarven quarter. We have a map of the region we are in and I think that is as far as our DM got in designing the world.

Once again, I am not asking you to convince my DM of anything. I am asking for your opinion on the basic idea of a character background which might make the DM say "Hmm, well the backgrond fits, the race isn't *too* powerful, with a little tweak I might allow this."

 

[Nifft]

I find LA hard to judge, but the race looks *very* powerful. 7 Monstrous Humanoid HD might balance it out, because they are strictly worse than any class levels you could take.

Large, all by itself, is valuable. With practically every stat boosted... well, it's up there.

Here's what I'd do: make a normal, LA+0, human-equivalent base race, then design a "Racial Paragon PrC" for this Dragonkin, probably 8 levels in all, which grant (over 8 levels) all the bonuses you've listed. Sort of like a compressed Dragon Disciple which neither grants nor requires spellcasting, and has no breath weapon. Hmm.



Dragonkin (Base Rase) Medium Humanoid
Speed: 20 ft.
+2 Str, -2 Dex
Natural Armor: +2
Natural Weapons: 2 claws 1d4/1d4
Tail: grants a +4 racial bonus to balance, swim, and climb checks, and a +2 racial bonus to avoid being tripped or bull rushed.
Armor Speed: like a Dwarf, a Dragonkin in medium or heavy armor suffers no additional movement penalty -- they already move at 20 ft.
Automatic Language: Draconic, Bonus Languages: Common, Terran, Dwarven, Gnome, Orc, Gnoll
Favored Class: Barbarian



Dragonkin Racial PrC

Requirements:
Race: Dragonkin
Language: Must speak Draconic
Special: No levels in other Dragonkin Racial PrC

Dragon Kin Paragon (PrC) -- As a Prestige Class, levels in this class can be freely taken without incurring an XP penalty.

Benefits:
HD: d10
BAB: Full (as Barbarian)
Good Save: Fortitude / Bad Saves: Reflex, Will
Skill Points: 4 + Int bonus
Class Skills: Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowlege (Arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis) and Swim (Str).

[u]
Level   BAB   Fort	Ref	Will	Special Abilities[/u]
1	+1	+2	+0	+0	[i]Detect Magic[/i], Armor +3
2	+2	+3	+0	+0	+2 Wis, Darkvision
3	+3	+3	+1	+1	+2 Dex, Armor +4
4	+4	+4	+1	+1	Monstrous Size, +2 Str, +2 Con
5	+5	+4	+1	+1	+2 Wis, Armor +5
6	+6	+5	+2	+2	+2 Str, Rear Claws
7	+7	+5	+2	+2	+2 Dex, Armor +6
8	+8	+6	+2	+2	Monstrous Apotheosis (Wings), 
					Armor +7, +2 Str, +2 Cha

Weapons and Armor: If taken as the character's first level, this PrC provides proficency in Simple weapons, Light armor, and Shields (but not tower sheilds).

Special Abilities:

• Detect Magic (Sp): The dragonkin can use this spell-like ability at will, as a Sorcerer of his character level.
• Armor (Ex): The indicated bonus replaces the character's racial natural armor bonus.
• Darkvision (Ex): 60 ft. range.
• Monstrous Size: The character becomes size Large (10 ft. face and reach, -1 Attack, -1 AC, -4 Hide, +4 Grapple, etc.). He gains no ability bonuses or penalties other than those indicated -- they are already figured in to his racial progression. His claw attacks deal 1d6/1d6 damage.
• Rear Claws: The dragonkin's rear claws develop to the point that he can use them as part of a full attack, should they not be required for standing (e.g. when flying or grappling). Rear claws count as secondary natural attacks.
• Monstrous Apotheosis: The dragonkin has fully embraced his heritage. He gains gains wings which enables him to fly at 40 ft. (good), his Natural Armor bonus increases to +7, and his type changes to Monstrous Humanoid.
• Ability Increases: The character gains a total of +6 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Con, +4 Wis and +2 Cha. These bonuses are gained as though through level advancement.

Okay, done. Probably belongs in House Rules, tho'.

-- N

 

[Particle_Man]

As another option, lose the good alignment, go LN, start as a Hexblade, and multi-class in to Dragon Disciple ASAP. And be a kobold. Kobolds are cool.

 

[Darklone]

As another option, lose the good alignment, go LN, start as a Hexblade, and multi-class in to Dragon Disciple ASAP. And be a kobold. Kobolds are cool.

Right kobold!

Check out gnomes&kobolds from kenzer and simply take a half-dragon kobold there with the appropriate feat choice.

 

[yoippari]

I like your +0 dragonkin. Perhaps I will post this in house rules (with credit given) so that it could be put in the class and race sticky. The only differences between what you posted and what is in the book (draconomicon) is stuff like the saves and HD, things I did not post. The differences are:
HD d8
Good saves: ref, will / Bad saves: fort
its skill points are 10(2+int) but that is for making a standard dragonkin and doesn't fit well with having a racial PrC
and BAB is + 7.

The only change I would make from the end result of your PrC is the saves and maybe the HD.

As for the kobold suggestion. I have looked at both the kobold variants in the house rules forum and the standard kobold. The standard one seems too weak (-1 LA), but with a racial PrC that can easily be compensated for.

I might bring up the idea of a variant kobold if my DM still thinks this is too powerful.