working on a new campaign (20th level)

[dragonis111]

Hey guys, I'm starting a new campaign, my players will make high level characters for it.

A couple questions, one of my players wants a melee/spell casting class so will a human paladin benefit from taking levels in spellsword?

Secondly, one of my players is going to be a half-aqautic elf sorcerer/arcane archer, he took 14 sorcerer levels so he has the required +7 attack bonus, along the way he took the rapid shot, weapon focus (longbow), and improved critical (longbow) feats to meet the requirements of arcane archer.
He will take 6 levels in arcane archer, he also took water adaptation at 1st level and he will be the captain of the pc's elf wingship. So would a sorcerer/arcane archer be a good mix? or should he redo his sorcerer to prestige into something else, maybe artificer?

The campaign is for 20th level lawful good characters with 2 australia sized continents seperated by an ocean both who eventually go to war and the pcs must side with one. The last character is a half-ogre barbarian (chaotic good the only one) with prestige levels in dragonslayer. By the way both continents are run by kings and evil dragons inhabit a chain of large islands between the 2 continents.

 

[concerro]

Hey guys, I'm starting a new campaign, my players will make high level characters for it.

A couple questions, one of my players wants a melee/spell casting class so will a human paladin benefit from taking levels in spellsword?

Secondly, one of my players is going to be a half-aqautic elf sorcerer/arcane archer, he took 14 sorcerer levels so he has the required +7 attack bonus, along the way he took the rapid shot, weapon focus (longbow), and improved critical (longbow) feats to meet the requirements of arcane archer.
He will take 6 levels in arcane archer, he also took water adaptation at 1st level and he will be the captain of the pc's elf wingship. So would a sorcerer/arcane archer be a good mix? or should he redo his sorcerer to prestige into something else, maybe artificer?

The campaign is for 20th level lawful good characters with 2 australia sized continents seperated by an ocean both who eventually go to war and the pcs must side with one. The last character is a half-ogre barbarian (chaotic good the only one) with prestige levels in dragonslayer. By the way both continents are run by kings and evil dragons inhabit a chain of large islands between the 2 continents.

If he wants to fight and cast spells he should go battle sorcerer from UA or duskblade from PHB2. The question is does he want to be a caster that knows how to fight or a fighter that can cast spells.
I personally dont like the arcane archer, but depending on how hard your campaign will be efficiency might not be necessary. If you plan on making it a hard campaign then he should just be a caster that focuses on Ray spells if he wants a ranger attacker.

 

[Crazy Eights]

Not to nit pick, but he couldn't take Improved Critical at all unless he is a level 16 Sorcerer. Improved Critical requires a BAB 8+.

Otherwise, I agree with Concerro. If the player wants to both fight and cast spells, the Battle Sorcerer variant is a much better choice IMO. It has a better Base Attack rate and a better Hit Die.

As far as the Paladin/Spellsword goes, it isn't really a great combo. He loses HP, BAB, and spell casting progression as a Spellsword. Plus you have to be able to cast 2nd level arcane spells.

 

[dragonis111]

(sorry I haven't been able to post I have been busy)Thanks guys, I will definitely recommand the battle sorcerer to my player, he wants to be a fighter that can cast spells. and I'll advise my sorcerer on specializing in ray attacks then(they dont know it but a group rival npc's that are their main enemies throughout it have mirror shields that have a 50/50 chance of deflecting a ray attack back at the caster muwahaha) and would a half-ogre barbarian/dragonslayer be good? Also the campaign is hard..... well its challenging in the fact that there is alot of diplomatic choices to make which require alot of thought in not much time. Once again thanks!!!

 

[Jack Simth]

Hey guys, I'm starting a new campaign, my players will make high level characters for it.

A couple questions, one of my players wants a melee/spell casting class so will a human paladin benefit from taking levels in spellsword?

Secondly, one of my players is going to be a half-aqautic elf sorcerer/arcane archer, he took 14 sorcerer levels so he has the required +7 attack bonus, along the way he took the rapid shot, weapon focus (longbow), and improved critical (longbow) feats to meet the requirements of arcane archer.
He will take 6 levels in arcane archer, he also took water adaptation at 1st level and he will be the captain of the pc's elf wingship. So would a sorcerer/arcane archer be a good mix? or should he redo his sorcerer to prestige into something else, maybe artificer?

The campaign is for 20th level lawful good characters with 2 australia sized continents seperated by an ocean both who eventually go to war and the pcs must side with one. The last character is a half-ogre barbarian (chaotic good the only one) with prestige levels in dragonslayer. By the way both continents are run by kings and evil dragons inhabit a chain of large islands between the 2 continents.

... apparently, your players aren't particularly grand at optimization.

For instance, the Sorcerer-14/Arcane Archer-6 is only going to have a BAB of +13 and cast as a Sorcerer-14. Arcane Archer doesn't really grant anything overly useful past level 2 (unless you're playing Gestalt or some such, and can put other stuff on the other side). Even at that, what you're gaining from Arcane Archer isn't worth what you're losing in terms of spells known. If he were to go with, say, a Sorcerer-13/Abjurant Champion-5/Arcane Archer-2, he'd have a BAB of +13 (exactly the same), but would cast as a Sorcerer-18 (9th level spells). It's thematically similar, but much more mechanically viable. Mind you, in general, something even better would be a Sorcerer-5/Mage of the Arcane Order-10/Abjurant Champion-5 (BAB of +12, Sorcerer caster level of 20), but that's just my preferences for full casters showing through, and my fondness for the Mage of the Arcane Order PrC.

For a Melee/Spell Casting class, try a Cleric-20 (Druid-20 is also good, but requires an alignment of NG or LN in a game designed for an LG). Seriously - no PrC's needed. +15 BAB, with spells to compensate for the lost attack bonus. Full casting, and such spells as Barkskin, Magic Vestments, Greater Magic Fang, and Greater Magic Weapon to save on cash for equipment.

 

[concerro]

(sorry I haven't been able to post I have been busy)Thanks guys, I will definitely recommand the battle sorcerer to my player, he wants to be a fighter that can cast spells. and I'll advise my sorcerer on specializing in ray attacks then(they dont know it but a group rival npc's that are their main enemies throughout it have mirror shields that have a 50/50 chance of deflecting a ray attack back at the caster muwahaha) and would a half-ogre barbarian/dragonslayer be good? Also the campaign is hard..... well its challenging in the fact that there is alot of diplomatic choices to make which require alot of thought in not much time. Once again thanks!!!

Does he want to concentrate on spells that buff him or does he want spells that make other people hate life. This will determine if he should go battle sorcerer or cleric, possibly even druid. There are only so many ray spells, but they can be metamagiced(sp?). If the ray spells come back to him he should have other spells available so after the first 2 spells he should get the hint*.

Are you asking about the half-ogre for a player or for an NPC. What book and page is the dragonslayer(I am assuming it is a PRC) from? It may actually be better for him to keep casting ray spells, *because casters can do a lot worse things to you when they are not casting ray spells, unless he is not good at picking spells in which case do as you please.
You may want to start at a lower level if these guys are now.

*These are connected.

 

[dragonis111]

I had chatted with my players and here is the (near)final list:
A half-ogre fighter/dragonslayer (class from draconomicon, race from savage species)
A half-aqautic elf sorcerer/archmage
A human paladin/? (focusing on buffing himself and healing)

My 2nd to last question is my player with the paladin wants a prestiige class that focuses on buffing/healing, is there anything like that? (I guess I could make a class but thats more work!)

My last question is would 4 (all of them lizardfolk CE fighter/blackguard) npc's be too tough as the main enemies they frequently encounter? so far they all have these magical mirror shields that have a 50/50 chance of defelcting ray attacks back at the caster, they carry scrolls to make up for their lack of magic, and they are all wielding magical poisoned longswords, with mithril breastplate armor. And Young adult black dragons as mounts. The pcs will probably buy mounts during character creation and hire mercenaries too.

 

[Jack Simth]

I had chatted with my players and here is the (near)final list:
A half-ogre fighter/dragonslayer (class from draconomicon, race from savage species)
A half-aqautic elf sorcerer/archmage
A human paladin/? (focusing on buffing himself and healing)

Two meleeists and an Arcanist (Sorcerer). Well, this is a party that shouldn't lack for direct damage, at least. No primary healer, though, and that's going to hurt. Still, it's workable.

My 2nd to last question is my player with the paladin wants a prestiige class that focuses on buffing/healing, is there anything like that? (I guess I could make a class but thats more work!)

Well, normally, if you want a good buffer and healer, I'd suggest pure Cleric. But as he wants to play a Paladin, he might try a Paladin-7/Divine Crusader-7/Contemplative-6 (applying the spellcasting advancement from Contemplative to Divine Crusader).

Divine Crusader gets him some high-level Divine spells (from a single domain), but Contemplative adds domains (one at 1st, one at 6th). With a Paladin-7/Divine Crusader-7/Contemplative-6, he'd have three domains available for prepared casting. If you choose your domains well (say, Healing, Protection, and Good) you'll get what you're after, while still having a decent BAB (+15).

My last question is would 4 (all of them lizardfolk CE fighter/blackguard) npc's be too tough as the main enemies they frequently encounter? so far they all have these magical mirror shields that have a 50/50 chance of defelcting ray attacks back at the caster, they carry scrolls to make up for their lack of magic, and they are all wielding magical poisoned longswords, with mithril breastplate armor. And Young adult black dragons as mounts. The pcs will probably buy mounts during character creation and hire mercenaries too.

That depends on:
1) How well the players optimize their choices
2) How well the party works together as a group
3) How well you build the opponents
4) How smart you play the opponents
5) What level you build the opponents

AKA, I can't really answer this question effectively.

 

[dragonis111]

That depends on:
1) How well the players optimize their choices
2) How well the party works together as a group
3) How well you build the opponents
4) How smart you play the opponents
5) What level you build the opponents

AKA, I can't really answer this question effectively.

1) they are pretty experience players
2) they are good team players
3) the opponents will have pretty good stats
4) I'm pretty decent at playing npcs
5) the npcs are fighter 12/blackguard 8

Does that help?