Character Builder Thread

[Damionte]

I’m trying to build a powerful melee monster for a gestalt campaign. I have rolled the abilities with incredible luck, and I hope I could make an equal incredible character out of it. The final character level is 8.

Books that can be used
PHB 1&2, DMG 1&2, Unearthed Arcana, Complete Warrior, Champion, and Adventurer, Tome of Battle

Race
Human with “cultural bonus packet”; I got +1 to fortitude saves and Bastards swords as martial weapon)

Class(es)
I want to try something out of the tome of battle. And I have to take all three levels of human paragon. No “strong” caster classes like clerics or wizards; if it can do magic better than a ranger, I’m probably not allowed to play it.

Ability Scores
18, 18, 16, 14, 14, 11. Probably STR 18, but I’m not sure about the Rest.
The Character also gets +2 bonus to one chosen ability score and a –2 penalty on one other ability score.

Alignment
NG or CG

House Rules
No multiclassing XP penalties, no favourite classes. Either a strong caster or a ToB class. If I want to, I could take Powerful Built instead of my normal Human Bonus (skills and extra feat), but I’m not sure if that is such a good idea.

Concept
The Character should be the protector of the somewhat weak group (no capable spellcasters or fighters). He should have enough Hitpoints to play the bodyguard and enough punch to hurt someone who hurts one of his friends. He should be a big and likeable giant, so he should be good in protecting the others.
Since everyone else in the group seem to have some kind of pet I’d like a built without any animals, mounts, etc. It’s enough petting zoo as it is.
Getting the bastard sword proficiency for free, I’d like to use a bastard sword. He doesn’t need to do anything else but hitting things with his sword, but he should be very good in it. The other characters are a Favoured Soul 8/Paladin5/Occult Slayer 3, a Specialist Wizard 8/Swashbuckler 8 and a Ranger 8/ Scout 8.

Yours is easy.

You're gestalt so you don't have to give up anything.

On one side of your gestalt take 8 levels of swordsage. On the other take 2-4 levels of fighter and Warblade for all the rest.

DONE !

That's it. You can do whatever you want combat style wise with that. Just go through the book and see what maneuvers you want to pick up.

[Damionte]

I've currently got a v3.5 level 2 (almost 3) Human, Chaotic Neutral Urban Ranger with stats of:

Strength 14 (+2)
Dexterity 16 (+3)
Constitution 14 (+2)
Intelligence 10 (+0)
Wisdom 12 (+1)
Charisma 12 (+1)

Skill ranks in Climb, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (local), Move Silently, Sense Motive, Sense Motive, and Perform (dance). The ranks in dance are from when I thought I was going for levels in Shadow Dancer before Ir realized that it was more of a melee oriented class. Favored enemy is Constructs, and taken the archery track. Feats taken are Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot.

Things are going well so far, but I think a prestige class could liven things up a bit. Arcane Archer is out because I'm not an Elf, and Assassin is out because I'm neutral. Shadow Dancer is too melee oriented and really not what I'm looking for.

Any suggestions on how to advance this character? I'm really not sure where I'm going.

So you're an urban ranger archer? You don't need a prestige class.

Now that you're lvl 2 ranger take 4 levels of scout. At level 6 take the <Swift Hunter> from complete scoundrel.

This will allow your Ranger and Scout levels to stack for the purposes of bumping your favored enemy, and skirmish abilities. It also let's you use your skirmish on any creature you've chosen as a favored enemy, even if that foe would normally be immune to skirmish damage, "Like Undead"

Go back to ranger for the rest of your career. If you need more feats splash in two levels of fighter along the way.

The Ranger will act as your prestige class since it gains spells. This will boost your archery just as well as if you'd become an assasin.

[OneWinged4ngel]

Lookin' for some advice and feedback on the traitor with the broken heart, Magnus Graven.

Alright, so, I'm joining up with an Eberron game with a sort of "All Quiet on the Western Front" theme set during the Last War, with the players fighting for Karrnath and starting at level 2.

My character, Magnus Graven, is an exiled Aundairian human wizard from Arcanix branded with the Mark of Outlaw. I can't really say much more than that, because I know some players read this forum and I don't want to give away his backstory.

Anyways, I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of Rogue 1 / Wizard (Diviner, Enchantment barred) 5 / Unseen Seer 10 / Arcane Trickster 4.

Enchantment is barred because I don't want to give up Evocation (Contingency, Wall of Force, and handy rays are all good for this guy) or Necromancy (I... I'm in Karrnath... I can't not have it! XD. Moreover, things like Avasculate and Enervation make for wonderful sneak attacks.)

Ability scores are 32 point buy, and I'm thinking something like:

Str 8
Dex 16
Con 12
Int 18
Wis 10
Cha 8

As for feats, I'm getting one extra bonus feat at level 1 as a result of houserules (the Mark of Outlaw counted as a flaw). So, I'm thinking of taking...

1: Able Learner (Lets me qualify for Unseen Seer more easily, and helps me as a skill monkey), Insightful Divination (Pretty obvious reasons: It gives me more init and more saves for doing what I do anyways), Practiced Spellcaster (Practiced Spellcaster negates the CL penalties from the Rogue level and Unseen Seer. Insightful divination gives a healthy boost to his initiative and saves all day when casting from his favored school. Improved Init boost his high init even higher. Another possibility I considered was taking Collegiate Wizard at level 1.)
3: Improved Initiative (Makes my high init even higher)
6: Wizard Bonus Feat replaced with Spontaneous Divination from Complete Champion (lets me cast my divination spells spontaneously), and Acidic Splatter (added to give me a consistent source of sneak attack without even needing to blow through spells per day. Also makes my Acid Orbs slightly better.)
9: Extend Spell (Useful for making that 1 round Hunter's Eye two rounds, as well as lots of other things.)
12: Quicken Spell (It's... quicken spell. I mean, come on. Who wouldn't take it?)
15: ??? (I haven't planned this far ahead...)
18: ??? (I haven't planned this far ahead...)

I'll be taking a Raven familiar named Xerxes, and he'll have my skill ranks, and that means he'll have UMD (as well as all those other handy rogue skills), making him an excellent scout and support in that regard alone. He can talk, so he can use the verbal components and command words for items. I'm also considering giving him a custom magic item of Ray of Frost, allowing him to consistently dish out damage when he benefits from my Hunter's Eye via Share Spells. Additionally, Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability and shared spells like, say, Trollform will help him to dish out some more damage with those sneak attacks.

As for spells, I'm thinking at the start I'll take Light of Lunia, which, shared with my familiar, will give me 4d6 damage with touch attacks (5d6 with sneak attack) or 9d6 against undead and outsiders. I'll be taking Familiar Pocket, Color Spray, Silent Image, Sniper Shot, Mage Armor, and Shield to round out the startin' list. Additional options I've considered include Golem/Grave strike, Comprehend Languages, and Enlarge Person.

In the longer term, I intend to pick up Cloud of Knives, Acid Orb, and Avasculate. I figure my high level attack routine will look something along the lines of...

"I have +25 or so init, hang out invisible all day, and use divinations to know where you are and always get the drop. Then, I use extended Hunter's Eye shared with my familiar, as well as shared Cloud of Knives, ambush, and hit the enemy down to half hp with no save (and force a fort save or stun) with Avasculate, in addition to about +15d6 sneak attack damage. Then I sneak with a quickened Acid Orb. Then I hit with the familiar's stored spell (some up-to-5th level blaster thing, say, Orb of Electricity), and he sneaks too from the Shared Hunter's Eye. Then we both get another sneak out of Cloud of Knives."

Totalling up, it'll hit people with several touches, force a save against stunning, a save against sickening, another save against stunning, and *no save* against 91d6+10 *after* dropping the enemy to half hp with no save. And, doesn't even take any 9th level slots or anything. I can also Golem Strike (at a cost of doing 30d6 less damage, but eh) or gravestrike to take care of those pesky immune people.

Now, I'm wondering what other spells might be useful for a sneak-attacking mage, what other feats might be useful, and really anything to make the concept work better. Please note that stuff like Polymorph, Celerity, Wraithstrike, Divine Metamagic, White Raven Tactics, Belt of Battle, and the like are all thankfully banned :)

I've also considered Ocular Spell, but that too looks to be a little on the "too good for comfort" side. Oh, and no Craven.

...So, anything I should be doing? Never played a Rogue/Wizard before.

[oim]

Now that you're lvl 2 ranger take 4 levels of scout. At level 6 take the <Swift Hunter> from complete scoundrel.

I've taken a level in scout, as you suggested, and things were looking great until I realized that moving ten feet each round for skirmish means only one attack per round. That means that skirmish really isn't helping my damage at all and I was better off just using rapid shot.

Is there any way to get around this? I really don't want to be stuck making one attack per round for the rest of my career, and I don't want to have these levels in scout go to waste.

[cupkeyk]

I've taken a level in scout, as you suggested, and things were looking great until I realized that moving ten feet each round for skirmish means only one attack per round. That means that skirmish really isn't helping my damage at all and I was better off just using rapid shot.

Is there any way to get around this? I really don't want to be stuck making one attack per round for the rest of my career, and I don't want to have these levels in scout go to waste.

Get to Ranger 6 ASAP and get Greater Manyshot from XPH. Now all your arrows from a standard action manyshot deal skirmish damage. Scout 3/Ranger 17 will have 16 BAB by level 17, shooting four arrows at +8/+8/+8 for 1d8+7d6, assuming you also took improved skirmish. If You also took Expeditious Dodge, you can get +9AC when you move forty feet a round, not exactly hard for a scout/ranger.

[Durendal]

I need some help rounding out a Ruby Knight Vindicator I'm building. I haven't rolled the abilities scores yet, so I can't give you exact stats, but I'll be trying to go high strength with decent con, wisdom, and charisma. Right now I'm looking at a LN Human Crusader 4/Cleric of Wee Jas (death and magic domains) 1/ RBV 10/ Crusader 5. I was wondering which feats and maneuvers I should take. Right now my feats look like this:

1.Combat Focus
1.Endurance or Power Attack
3. Combat Stability
6. Vital Recovery
9. Extra Turning
12. Combat Vigor
15. Diehard or Leap Attack
18. Extra Turning again?

I was also looking at mostly Devoted Spirit maneuvers with sprinklings of Stone Dragon and White Raven (like White Raven Tactics ) while picking up Shadow Stride and Shadow Blink for Nightcrawler-esque fun. So I was looking for any suggestions about different feat choices or recommended maneuvers.

Oh, and I can use just about anything 3.5.

[vargen]

Hi all,

next week I am going to start playing D&D 3.5 again, I haven't played it for quite a few years so I am not up to date with all the new fun and cool classes that I can choose from.

Anyway, we are going to play "Savage Tide", placed in Forgotten realms.

28 points buy

Any race (pending DM approval)
Any class (from a official source)

I am very partial towards Rangers and Scouts, so are there any new fun variant of Ranger or Scout that I should try out? I have heard that there are a wildshape variant of Ranger in a book somewhere.

Since Savage Tide is a campaign I would also appreciate a full level 1-20 suggestion and maybe with good items I should afford within every level that is a must/should buy/steal/borrow.

[The Mormegil]

I need some help rounding out a Ruby Knight Vindicator I'm building. I haven't rolled the abilities scores yet, so I can't give you exact stats, but I'll be trying to go high strength with decent con, wisdom, and charisma. Right now I'm looking at a LN Human Crusader 4/Cleric of Wee Jas (death and magic domains) 1/ RBV 10/ Crusader 5. I was wondering which feats and maneuvers I should take. Right now my feats look like this:

1.Combat Focus
1.Endurance or Power Attack
3. Combat Stability
6. Vital Recovery
9. Extra Turning
12. Combat Vigor
15. Diehard or Leap Attack
18. Extra Turning again?

I was also looking at mostly Devoted Spirit maneuvers with sprinklings of Stone Dragon and White Raven (like White Raven Tactics ) while picking up Shadow Stride and Shadow Blink for Nightcrawler-esque fun. So I was looking for any suggestions about different feat choices or recommended maneuvers.

Oh, and I can use just about anything 3.5.

Don't take Vital Recovery: you heal just fine.
Diehard tree sucks for you: tell me, how the hell are you going under 0 hp?
But Power Attack isn't your type either: better land those nifty healing strikes!
Also, You may consider dipping in two more cleric levels: healing is just what you need.
I always recommand Divine Metamagic (Quicken Spell) for swift buffs.
I would take Cleric of Wee Jas 1 (undeath [Extra Turning granted power] and magic domains)/Crusader 4 and then, say:
H-Extra Turning
1-Quicken Spell
Flaw [Uncaring]-Divine Metamagic
Flaw [Shaky]-Divine Might
Trait - Spell gifted (evocation)
3-Extra Turning
6-Extra Turning
9-Extra Turning
12-Extra Turning
15-Extra Turning
18-Extra Turning

But that's just an idea...

[Durendal]

K, I'm not sure if I want to be that spell dependent, but I get your point about not needing power attack or diehard. That said I still like the Combat Focus feats, they mesh well with a high wisdom melee character like I'm building.

Anyone have any suggestions about how to incease my ability to go Nightcrawler on people. Or have any good maneuver suggestions?

[The Mormegil]

K, I'm not sure if I want to be that spell dependent, but I get your point about not needing power attack or diehard. That said I still like the Combat Focus feats, they mesh well with a high wisdom melee character like I'm building.

Anyone have any suggestions about how to incease my ability to go Nightcrawler on people. Or have any good maneuver suggestions?

There's a cape that gives you dimensional door 1/day in DMG. There's also a +1 special ability for weapons that teleport you up to 30 feet 3/day with a succesful hit in MiC. That means a teleport-strike-retreat tactic with Shadow Blink.
Devoted Spirit manoeuvres aren't good at anything but curing (except for the mighty Divine Surge and some 5th level charge manoeuvres), but I recommand some of the stances greatly (Immortal Fortitude, Aura of Perfect Order).
White Raven offers White Raven Hammer, Tactics, War Leader's Charge, War Master's Charge and Battle Leader's Charge.
Stone Dragon can be left behind except for Stone Bones at level 1 (exchangeable later, but good for start) and Mountain Tombstone Strike that has no prerequisites!
Shadow Hand deserves a little more consideration, since you can have a few manoeuvres. One with Shadow is just GREAT, but needs 4 other manoeuvres. Shadow Stride, Jaunt and Blink are good anyway, even without your theme.
Then, Death in the Dark has an awful lot of d6 damages, plus some ability damaging strikes, plus Cloak of Deception.


Oh, and I almost forgot: since you're a Crusader, Extra Granted Manoeuvre is almost a must.

[happyturtle]

Help! I'm about to start gaming again for the first time in *cough* years. My last character was a 1st edition ranger who was the leader of the group. This time I'll be playing in a new campaign, but with players who have gamed together before. I don't know any of them except the DM. Because of this, I don't want anything too 'center-of-attention'. I finally decided on a 'cloistered cleric'.

1. Which of the above are you asking for?
Hints and tips for building a first level character, with maybe some general advice for the next 3 or 4 levels.

2. In your request specify whether you have requirements, preferences, or no limits on the following:
a. Books that can be used to build your character
I'm not sure what books the DM has, so assume the most common ones. The game is set in Forgotten Realms.

b. Race (including any Level Adjustment Limits)
human female
c. Class
Cloistered Cleric of Savras
d. Ability Scores (fixed or generation method)
Unsure
e. Alignment
LN
f. House Rules: are there any other requirements or unusual rules imposed on you/your character (e.g. no single level dips, no item creation feats, Track is being given to you as free feat, etc.)
Unknown
g. Concept: what requirements or preferences do you have regarding concept?
The first idea I had was an archivist, but the DM doesn't have the sourcebook for that. However, I'm working with that as a concept. Lessa is completely devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. I haven't come up with an early history, but at some point she joined the church and became devoted to learning and the pursuit of knowledge. I picture her as the stereotypical nerd: low charisma, high intelligence, full of obscure knowledge that is all gained from books. She would have been quite content to spend her entire life as a librarian translating and scribing copies of the church's most ancient texts, but recently experienced a vision from Savras commanding her to set forth and gather knowledge. While obedient to her deity (she is VERY lawful), she is not at all fond of 'roughing it' as an adventurer. However, she would easily forget her distaste for wild places and dungeons if she were to discover some ancient book or scroll that she could decipher. She would be as delighted on discovering a hidden library as a rogue would be on discovering a hidden treasure room.

h. Other: Is there any other information that might help someone make your character all she can be (e.g., what are others playing, the setting is largely wilderness, the DM is threatening to use a lot of undead, or the campaign will be heavy on combat and light on intrigue)?

The campaign will be set in and around Waterdeep, but the DM is going to base a lot of his adventures on what type of party we come up with. The first session, which is taking place in a few weeks, is going to be taken up with character building.

A few questions:

* Savras's favored weapon is the dagger. Even though she's a cloistered cleric, I have the idea that the clerics might practice throwing daggers at targets as a leisure activity, and that I could make her particularly skilled at that. Would there be any particular skill or feat to make this work?

* Cloistered clerics are proficient in light armor. Does this include shields?

* I'd like to give her an early history that could give her some more flavor as a character than 'reads books all the time' but I can't for the life of me think of anything. I'd like her to have some type of skill that is atypical for her class, but makes sense with her background (think Elan being the only member of the party who could Ride) but I don't know what. I'd like to avoid a tragic background and just stick with her having grown up in a normal family, shown aptitude for learning, and being sent to the church. I just want her to have some type of skill she learned in the 'normal family' part of her upbringing. This doesn't have to even be a particularly useful skill for adventuring... I just want some additional flavor.

* So far, the feats that have seemed most interesting to me have been Diligence, Obscure Lore, and Scribe Scroll. Skills that seem to fit are Decipher Script, Profession (Scribe), Forgery (she would make copies of rare and valuable texts so that students could study them while the original was safely stored), and of course all the Knowledge skills that seem appropriate for having been learned mainly from books. Any others I should consider, or advice on the above?

* General advice on making her a good support character for the party, as well as fun to play for myself is very welcome!

[LightWraith]

Hello all, I'm new to D&D, so I'm still getting the hang of the whole character building thing... I need a 6th level character for a PbP game I'm trying out for. I was thinking of maybe some mix of Ranger and Paladin?


Books: I'd like to stick to Core
Race: Human
Class: Ranger/Paladin
Ability Scores: 13/16/13/11/13/10 Hit Dice are max first level then roll.
Alignment: Lawful Good
House Rules: None that I know of, but it's a homebrew setting
Concept: I'm thinking that he'll be kind of a woodlands type, roaming around the world and clearing out whatever evil he happens to come across. I'd prefer speed over brute strength, so no shield and probably the standard longsword.
Other: This is a homebrew setting. There is an order of Paladins in the city we will be heading towards first, and I cannot be a member of said order, nor preferably devoted to the same god (St. Cuthbert). Starting gold is 15,000GP

Due to my unfamiliarity to the whole creation system, I'd like a character as complete as possible. Feel free to choose out some items/weapons/etc as well.

Thanks in advance!

[Skjaldbakka]

Hello all, I'm new to D&D, so I'm still getting the hang of the whole character building thing... I need a 6th level character for a PbP game I'm trying out for. I was thinking of maybe some mix of Ranger and Paladin?


Books: I'd like to stick to Core
Race: Human
Class: Ranger/Paladin
Ability Scores: 13/16/13/11/13/10 Hit Dice are max first level then roll.
Alignment: Lawful Good
House Rules: None that I know of, but it's a homebrew setting
Concept: I'm thinking that he'll be kind of a woodlands type, roaming around the world and clearing out whatever evil he happens to come across. I'd prefer speed over brute strength, so no shield and probably the standard longsword.
Other: This is a homebrew setting. There is an order of Paladins in the city we will be heading towards first, and I cannot be a member of said order, nor preferably devoted to the same god (St. Cuthbert). Starting gold is 15,000GP

Due to my unfamiliarity to the whole creation system, I'd like a character as complete as possible. Feel free to choose out some items/weapons/etc as well.

Thanks in advance!

I'm on it.

EDIt- and here you go: Ranger 4/Paladin 2

If you tell me your tangled web username, I can transfer the sheet to your account.


This is primarily an archer build, so you may want to convince your DM to allow ranged smite from BoED, and Devoted Tracker would allow you to freely multiclass Paladin and Ranger.

General Strategy with this build is to full attack with your bow, unless an enemy get in your face, then drop your bow, quickdraw your two swords and engage in melee with your free 2WF feat from ranger. I don't recommend continuing to climb 2WF, but rather, focus on your archery. Against a group of foes, try pinning them down with your entangle spell. You can only heal 2hp/day with lay on hands, so I would recommend saving it for emergency stabilizing of allies, as you have no ranks in heal. I gave you a wand of cure light wounds, which is the most efficient OOC healing tool in core, as well as a scroll of cure moderate wounds, because you had money left over.

Purely for flavor, I made this guy a LG follower of Wee Jas, who doesn't so much hate the undead as those who make them, and keep them from reaching their final reward. You feel that it is your divinely appointed role not to cleanse the world of the abominations that are undead, but to punish those who would desecrate the sanctity of death.

Thusly, I gave you favored enemy: undead, and a few ranks in Use Magic Device.

Almost forgot- Your level 4 stat boost went into Con.

EDIt- I just realized which game this is for.

[The Mormegil]

Help! I'm about to start gaming again for the first time in *cough* years. My last character was a 1st edition ranger who was the leader of the group. This time I'll be playing in a new campaign, but with players who have gamed together before. I don't know any of them except the DM. Because of this, I don't want anything too 'center-of-attention'. I finally decided on a 'cloistered cleric'.

1. Which of the above are you asking for?
Hints and tips for building a first level character, with maybe some general advice for the next 3 or 4 levels.

2. In your request specify whether you have requirements, preferences, or no limits on the following:
a. Books that can be used to build your character
I'm not sure what books the DM has, so assume the most common ones. The game is set in Forgotten Realms.

b. Race (including any Level Adjustment Limits)
human female
c. Class
Cloistered Cleric of Savras
d. Ability Scores (fixed or generation method)
Unsure
e. Alignment
LN
f. House Rules: are there any other requirements or unusual rules imposed on you/your character (e.g. no single level dips, no item creation feats, Track is being given to you as free feat, etc.)
Unknown
g. Concept: what requirements or preferences do you have regarding concept?
The first idea I had was an archivist, but the DM doesn't have the sourcebook for that. However, I'm working with that as a concept. Lessa is completely devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. I haven't come up with an early history, but at some point she joined the church and became devoted to learning and the pursuit of knowledge. I picture her as the stereotypical nerd: low charisma, high intelligence, full of obscure knowledge that is all gained from books. She would have been quite content to spend her entire life as a librarian translating and scribing copies of the church's most ancient texts, but recently experienced a vision from Savras commanding her to set forth and gather knowledge. While obedient to her deity (she is VERY lawful), she is not at all fond of 'roughing it' as an adventurer. However, she would easily forget her distaste for wild places and dungeons if she were to discover some ancient book or scroll that she could decipher. She would be as delighted on discovering a hidden library as a rogue would be on discovering a hidden treasure room.

h. Other: Is there any other information that might help someone make your character all she can be (e.g., what are others playing, the setting is largely wilderness, the DM is threatening to use a lot of undead, or the campaign will be heavy on combat and light on intrigue)?

The campaign will be set in and around Waterdeep, but the DM is going to base a lot of his adventures on what type of party we come up with. The first session, which is taking place in a few weeks, is going to be taken up with character building.

A few questions:

* Savras's favored weapon is the dagger. Even though she's a cloistered cleric, I have the idea that the clerics might practice throwing daggers at targets as a leisure activity, and that I could make her particularly skilled at that. Would there be any particular skill or feat to make this work?

Try Zen Archery (Compete Warrior): requires Wis 13 and lets you apply Wisdom instead of Dexterity on ranged attack rolls.

* Cloistered clerics are proficient in light armor. Does this include shields?

Only if specifically mentioned. Normally if you are proficient with any kind of armor you are proficient with shields, but there are a few exceptions: for instance the Swordsage (Tome of Battle).

* I'd like to give her an early history that could give her some more flavor as a character than 'reads books all the time' but I can't for the life of me think of anything. I'd like her to have some type of skill that is atypical for her class, but makes sense with her background (think Elan being the only member of the party who could Ride) but I don't know what. I'd like to avoid a tragic background and just stick with her having grown up in a normal family, shown aptitude for learning, and being sent to the church. I just want her to have some type of skill she learned in the 'normal family' part of her upbringing. This doesn't have to even be a particularly useful skill for adventuring... I just want some additional flavor.

I'll add a Craft or Profession skill and take a few skill points. You'll need them, 'cause Knowledge skills are a lot, but if you want flavor, those skills are perfect (reminds me of a certain ship-builder barbarian... )

* So far, the feats that have seemed most interesting to me have been Diligence, Obscure Lore, and Scribe Scroll. Skills that seem to fit are Decipher Script, Profession (Scribe), Forgery (she would make copies of rare and valuable texts so that students could study them while the original was safely stored), and of course all the Knowledge skills that seem appropriate for having been learned mainly from books. Any others I should consider, or advice on the above?

Don't take Diligence: it may be flavorful, but you need feats more than you need skills.
Obscure Lore is neat for your character, so I'll say ok.
Scribe Scroll... well... is... good... but...
I'll consider Divine Metamagic (a bit cheesy if abused, but good for Quicken healing/buffs). It's in Complete Divine (Your DM should have it). It lets your burn turn attempts in order to apply metamagic feats to your spells on the fly without increasing the spell's level. Combine with, say, Quicken Spell and here you go. Or maybe with Chain Spell (maybe Complete Arcane?) to have a single spell apply to all your party.
You'll need Extra Turning for that... and a moderate if not high Charisma...
Think about it.
I then have two suggestions about skills:
1)taking at least 1 rank in every Knowledge skill lets you apply Int bonus and try every check.
2)At level 2 or more you might consider taking the Collector of Stories skill trick. Skill tricks are introduced in Complete Scoundrel and are like less powerful feats that you can buy with 2 skill points. This one requires 5 ranks in any Knowledge skill and gives +5 on every Knowledge check made about monsters.

EDIT: I just read Races of Stone again, and, well, there's another feat that's just for you: Ancestral Knowledge. It would to be a dwarf, but if you beg your DM to be reasonable it may allow it. I would: it's all but broken or anything. It allows to try Knowledge checks untrained and lets you use Wisdom as the Knowledge key skill.

* General advice on making her a good support character for the party, as well as fun to play for myself is very welcome!

Buy a wand of lesser vigor (Complete Divine for the spell) as soon as you can to help your healing potential. Buy (or Scribe) scrolls of spells that have very specific uses (for instance, all animal-plant-insects-related spells) and prepear the most commoly used spells.
If you want her focus on knowledge, you might want to take some (or all) of these Prestige Classes:
-Loremaster (Dungeon Master's Guide)
-Divine Oracle (Complete Divine)
-Paragnostic Disciple (Complete Champion)

>Enjoy your game
--The Mormegil

[LightWraith]

Wow, very cool! Thanks! You pretty much nailed exactly what I was looking for :)

My tangledweb name is "LightWraith"

[cupkeyk]

Hi guys.

Could I have a level by level build for a Paladin 4/Crusader1/Ruby Knight Vindicator10 (plus a few levels of something else, maybe more Crusader levels) to level 20?

Race is most likely Human or Half Elf. Maneuvers will focus on debuff (The "vise" strikes from SD, entangling blade from DS, things that stun, sicken, give penalties), buff (WR action boosts). With feat selection and skill tricks if applicable, maneuversandstances too. A few healing maneuvers until I get Touch of Healing and that Heal Maneuver would be awesome

Thanks in advance.

Rolled stats would be 17, 16, 16, 14, 13, 11 in no particular order.

[webgem]

Hey everyone, just wondering if I could get some help with a chameleon based character. We have already started the game, but we're allowed to change characters if we want, and I thought I'd change my rogue to a rogue chameleon type because then I could give our 3 man team a little healing, yet keep up my roguishness. This is primarily because in our first fight my two other members went to -5 hp and I was at 3. One of the others is new, so is playing a straight up fighter, and the other is a hexblade going into that one arcane caster fighter type. Sorry, can't remember the exact prestige class. But it hates magic. Well anyway, onto the description.

1. We start at level 3, and I'd like a level by level up through 6 or so (right when I can get into the chameleon pc. Or possibly another way to get the rogue/cleric angle up through that level abouts. If you want to go into more levels that would be great too, though no real need to get past 15 or so. Also, advice on feat selection and ect is super cool too!

2. a. Books that can be used to build your character
any books that are produced by wizards...aka completes, races, ect.
b.Race (including any Level Adjustment Limits)
any race, probably human for the extra skill point
c. Class
I was thinking rogue/swashbuckler/swordsage/chameleon my first impulse is to go rogue 1/swash2/swordsage2/chameleon10/any5 don't know if that is the best route though
d. Ability Scores (fixed or generation method)
28 point buy
e. Alignment
CN
f. House Rules
I think max of 4 classes, he might fudge a little on that, and the first three levels we get max hp (yeah and we still almost got aced on the first fight)
g. Concept
I was going for somebody that could be both stealthy (fill the skill monkey role) and provide some healing. I know that bard could do that, but I've never really felt the bard angle, I could be convinced, but it might be hard. It's just that the assists don't help much with the stealth, and for some reason doesn't seem to fit with my idea of this campaign. The chameleon would take a while to get there, but with able learner and UMD I could wand it sorta till then. It just seems like a really fun class, and I'd probably be doing the divine angle for most of my career. My guy would be posing probably as an adept rather than a specific cleric, but be able to whip off his robes and go sneaky as well. Later on at pc level seven it could start to get pretty wicked as well.
h. Other
As I said before we have about three of us total, though the dm might give us an arcane or psionic npc. We are a part of a mercenary group doing various jobs for them. Seems to be pretty orc heavy right now on baddies. We will probably have to be fairly trap oriented, so that is why some rogue angle is necessary. The only thing I'm worried about with the changeling is that it only has 4 skill points per level. Since two of those should probably be bluff and disguise, I run out of room if I want everything. Ex. human with 14 int gives 7 per level: ms, hide, umd, bluff, disguise, search, disable divise. Pretty good, but if I want to be any sort of scout I'll be missing listen and spot. Any ideas there would be nice as well.

[Rid]

I'm hoping that everybody would be willing to help me build a Thri-kreen Character, level 20. We are playing without psionics, so ignore any psionic-bits which are attached to the 'Kreen. I'm thinking of going for a Monk, to use my speed/jumping abilities to their fullest extent, though I'd be willing to see if something else works.

Books: Any Core + All Complete book (minus Psionics) + PHBII + MM I-IV + Savage Species

Race: Thri-kreen, obviously.

Class: Monk, Rogue, any support-combat class, really.

Ability Scores: 4d6 x7 drop lowest, drop lowest overall.

Alignment: Any non-evil.

House Rules: No psionics.

Concept: I'd like to move fast, and hit like a machine-gun (lots of attacks). After all, what's the point of having 4 arms if you don't use them? Leap attacks will also play a significant part (due to the +30 to jump racial bonus). A ring of freedom of movement might be handy.

Other: The party includes a cleric, a paladin, a hulk (half-ogre armed with a returning bolder and massive shield), and a spell-caster. Our adventure isn't likely to include many traps, so I was thinking that I could focus more on being highly mobile. I tried to make this guy before, and he ended up being obscene (multiattack along with flurry of blows made him into a killer), but I'm sure that he could be even better. The GM wants us to make 'the most entertaining characters we could think of', which she will then subject to her most entertaining monsters. Should be a good time.

Preemptive thanks for any help you guys will offer!

[happyturtle]

Try Zen Archery (Compete Warrior): requires Wis 13 and lets you apply Wisdom instead of Dexterity on ranged attack rolls.

I ended up changing deities to Oghma, and since his weapon is a longsword, I won't bother trying to gain any type of proficiency there.

I'll add a Craft or Profession skill and take a few skill points. You'll need them, 'cause Knowledge skills are a lot, but if you want flavor, those skills are perfect (reminds me of a certain ship-builder barbarian... )

Perfect! I looked at the Craft and Profession lists and went with Profession (Brewer). Which means that I can always bring the party round the family home for a drink

Thanks for all your tips

[Curmudgeon]

Is there some sort of online class selector that lets you pick classes based on their attributes? For example, right now I'm looking for the following:

• Full BAB
• 4 + INT or better skill points
• at least 2 good saves
• Front-loaded: bonus feat(s) at 1st level

[cupkeyk]

Is there some sort of online class selector that lets you pick classes based on their attributes? For example, right now I'm looking for the following:

• Full BAB
• 4 + INT or better skill points
• at least 2 good saves
• Front-loaded: bonus feat(s) at 1st level

Ranger and all ranger variants with Fort and Reflex, 6 skill points, and track.

The Samurai with Fort and will, 4 skill points and exotic weapon proficiency (bastard sword)

[The Mormegil]

I'm hoping that everybody would be willing to help me build a Thri-kreen Character, level 20. We are playing without psionics, so ignore any psionic-bits which are attached to the 'Kreen. I'm thinking of going for a Monk, to use my speed/jumping abilities to their fullest extent, though I'd be willing to see if something else works.

Books: Any Core + All Complete book (minus Psionics) + PHBII + MM I-IV + Savage Species

Race: Thri-kreen, obviously.

Class: Monk, Rogue, any support-combat class, really.

Ability Scores: 4d6 x7 drop lowest, drop lowest overall.

Alignment: Any non-evil.

House Rules: No psionics.

Concept: I'd like to move fast, and hit like a machine-gun (lots of attacks). After all, what's the point of having 4 arms if you don't use them? Leap attacks will also play a significant part (due to the +30 to jump racial bonus). A ring of freedom of movement might be handy.

Other: The party includes a cleric, a paladin, a hulk (half-ogre armed with a returning bolder and massive shield), and a spell-caster. Our adventure isn't likely to include many traps, so I was thinking that I could focus more on being highly mobile. I tried to make this guy before, and he ended up being obscene (multiattack along with flurry of blows made him into a killer), but I'm sure that he could be even better. The GM wants us to make 'the most entertaining characters we could think of', which she will then subject to her most entertaining monsters. Should be a good time.

Preemptive thanks for any help you guys will offer!

First things first, I based this on Tome of Battle, so if you don't have it (I didn't see it in your book list) pass up to the second paragraph. And try to get your hands on it, it's pretty awsome!


Tiger Claw manoeuvres are perfect for a Thri-Kreen, 'cause they require Jump checks. Also, there's a 1st level boost that makes you move as if you had jumped as a swift action.

So: Warblade 3/Monk 2/Swordsage 2/Storm 3/Monk +1/Swordsage +2/Warblade +1/Monk +1/Master of the Nine 5
EDIT: Just realized that you have 2 racial HD and +2 LA.
Thri-Kreen Fighter 2/Swordsage 2/Monk 2/Storm 3/Swordsage +3/Master of the Nine 5

Makes you able to get maaaany attacks in a round, plus some nifty manoeuvres.
By level 20 you should be able to have 44 attacks in a single round (needs to use Superior Many-Weapons Fighting, flurry of blows, Raging Moongoose and Time Stands Still. ).
Nice, huh? And on top of that, you can engage and run away from melee as much as you like thanks to Sudden Leap and Pouncing Charge.
Be sure to get some Devoted Spirit manoeuvres through Master of the Nine, so that your 2nd 9th level manoeuvre could be Strike of Righteous Vitality (you know, move, standard action to land the strike, then jump tumbling away. Recover expended manoeuvres and repeat until you are fully healed)




Second paragraph:
You need monk to get flurry of blows.
You need fighter to get feats.
You can have ranger to get even more feats.
You need Storm in order to get TWVersatility and Improved Spring Attack.
You need Scout to gain skirmish.

LA +2
MH 1 - Dodge, Many Weapon Fighting, Vulnerable, Shaky, free feat, free feat
MH 2 - nothing
Monk 1 - free feat, Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Expertise, AC bonus, flurry of blows
Fighter 1 - Weapon Focus (any cool one-handed or light), free feat
Fighter 2 - Mobility
Ranger 1 - Track, Spring attack, favored enemy (any), wild empathy
Ranger 2 - Improved Many Weapon Fighting
Storm 1 - Storm Defense +1
Storm 2 - Bounding Assault, Ambidextrous -3/-1
Storm 3 - Two Weapon Versatility
Storm 4 - Ambidextrous -2/+0
Storm 5 - Rapid Blitz, Improved Spring Attack
Scout 1 - Skirmish +1d6/+0, Trapfinding
Scout 2 - Battle Fortitude +1
Scout 3 - Superior Many Weapon Fighting, Skirmish +1d6/+1, fast movement +3m
Fighter 3 - nothing
Fighter 4 - Two Weapon Rend
Scout 4 - Swift Hunter


With Passive Way monk variant (Unearthed Arcana) and Champion of the Wild ranger variant (Complete Champion).

Has fairly high AC, maaany lots of attacks (needs two plurals ), has skirmish and moves fast and hits hard.
I left some feats open to you...
You still need Unearthed Arcana for this, flaws and Monk variant, but you could just take Stunning Fist and leave by the flaws!

[Yeygresh]

I'd like to request a Level by level Hexblade build for a PbP game.

Clarification: All books available; I'd like to stick with Human as a race, but I can be persuaded otherwise; I'd like a powerful Hexblade build, PrC's are good, and a dip or two is fine; I'm not sure what we're using, but you can use 32 point buy; True Neutral if possible; I'd like a Melee focused build; this is going to be an Undead heavy game.

Please and Thank you!

[The Mormegil]

I'd like to request a Level by level Hexblade build for a PbP game.

Clarification: All books available; I'd like to stick with Human as a race, but I can be persuaded otherwise; I'd like a powerful Hexblade build, PrC's are good, and a dip or two is fine; I'm not sure what we're using, but you can use 32 point buy; True Neutral if possible; I'd like a Melee focused build; this is going to be an Undead heavy game.

Please and Thank you!

Hexblade isn't properly a great class in itself, so I'd multiclass early in something else. I would like to know something else on the character (i.e. you want to fight in a certain way, you want to specialize in defense, or reckless attack, or you would like to be a debuffing melee character or something like that) in order to make you a build: you know, melee type is pretty generical...

[Yeygresh]

Hexblade isn't properly a great class in itself, so I'd multiclass early in something else. I would like to know something else on the character (i.e. you want to fight in a certain way, you want to specialize in defense, or reckless attack, or you would like to be a debuffing melee character or something like that) in order to make you a build: you know, melee type is pretty generical...

The mortality rate is supposedly going to be high, so I guess a defensive build would be the best bet(No Leap Attack + Shock Trooper ).

Maybe Hexblade/Beguiler?

[Bitzeralisis]

Summoner Deathlash. If someone would care to give me advice on how to improve him, I'd be honored.

[Dr. Weasel]

I'd like to request a Level by level Hexblade build for a PbP game.

Clarification: All books available; I'd like to stick with Human as a race, but I can be persuaded otherwise; I'd like a powerful Hexblade build, PrC's are good, and a dip or two is fine; I'm not sure what we're using, but you can use 32 point buy; True Neutral if possible; I'd like a Melee focused build; this is going to be an Undead heavy game.

Please and Thank you!

I was thinking about setting one of these up, so I thought I'd throw this in here. I'm not trying to ace anyone out as far as your build goes, but you might consider elements of it-

Spoiler

Show

1:Marshal 1;Power Attack, Dodge
2:Hexblade 1
3:Hexblade 2; Mobility
4:Hexblade 3
5:Hexblade 5
6:Marshal 2; [Feat]
7:Marshal 3
8:Marshal 4
9:Arcane Duelist 1; [Feat]
10:Arcane Duelist 2
11:Crusader 1
12:Crusader 2; [Feat]
13:Crusader 3
14:Crusader 4
15:Crusader 5; [Feat]
16:Crusader 6
17:Crusader 7
18:Crusader 8; [Feat]
19:Crusader 9
20:Crusader 10


Be sure to take the Creepy-Shadow-Panther-O'-Horrific-Doom (or "Dark Companion" if you're into the whole brevity thing) alternate class feature from the PHB2.

This gets you some good tanking abilities in the form of Charisma to your AC, Allies' abilities and your Saving Throws against Spells

Pick up Devoted Spirit and White Raven Maneuvers to keep the Debuff thing going (Party buffs and enemy debuffs are basically the same thing) and to keep yourself alive.

I'll fill in the feats as they occur to me.

Statistics:
Str:15 Dex:12 Con:14 Int:10 Wis:10 Cha:16

Use the heaviest armor possible (Hexblade spells are nothing to write home about unless you go full Hexblade, in which case you end up being a Battle Sorcerer of half your level; just with more hitpoints).

Also, there are no reasons to take Hexblade beyond fourth level unless you're really desperate for fifth level's bonus feat.

Maybe Hexblade/Beguiler?

Dual casting stats make the children cry.

[Zid]

I am aching to play a Rakshasa as a character. However, with LA: +7 and 7 racial HD, it´s ECL 14. I can´t really see it as filling a slot in a ECL14 party. Does anyone have an idea for how to pimp my Rakshasa? Any kind of concept will do. Eldritch knight?

[Dr. Weasel]

I am aching to play a Rakshasa as a character. However, with LA: +7 and 7 racial HD, it´s ECL 14. I can´t really see it as filling a slot in a ECL14 party. Does anyone have an idea for how to pimp my Rakshasa? Any kind of concept will do. Eldritch knight?

Abjurant Champion would work far more effectively than EK, but would leave you with an open level. Maybe cap it off with a level of Mindspy (Sorcerer 13 won't do much for you). Unfortunately, you won't have many more options than that. Take the standard Gish feats (1:Power Attack 3:Combat Casting 6:Arcane Strike 9:Rapid Metamagic 12:Quicken Spell) and try to blend in; probably taking a secondary 'Tank' role.

You probably won't break the game no matter what you do with that many class levels missed, but if you play intelligently you may be able to shine as much as anyone else in a not-too-optimized group (I'm always surprised how many of those there are).

[DasK]

i'm watching oots and this forum for a mounth now, but i'm more like the watching guy and not a talker. but now i need your help on this.
i'm new in D&D, but my DM wants to change for Exalted so he allowed us to make funny characters in the last campaing in D&D for a while, so we can have fun. for example we have characters like Karr the troll/barbarian, the lich/cleric(vecna) and the "this is sparta" fighter/scout.

i whant to play as my hero and mentor... Red Mage from 8-Bit Theater. the NuclearPower forum doasn't have any D&D forum or anything like that, so i'm recuesting your help insted. any help is apreciated ;)

1.) a level-12 human character.

2.)

a. Books: any core and complete adventurer and complete warrior or the internet

b. Race: Human

c. Class: any spell caster (i'm thinking in spell thief)

d. Ability Scores: 18 16 14 11 10 8 +3 to assing, but i think my DM will allow a "pool" to ditribute (80). He will need LOTS of inteligence, for the skills.

f. House Rules: no alingment and "clases of war"

g. Concept: well, the creator of my character will ahve to be a fan of 8-bit theater, so he knows how to make a good Red Mage. He needs all knowleges maxed (my DM allows me to treat any knowlege as class skill) and is going to be used in an advanced world, so he will use some kind of rifle and a sword, but need to be proficient only with the rifle.

h. Other: there are not other very "inteligent" character or arcane casters in the party, the setting is largely in a midle earth/fallout world, the DM is threatening to use a lot of demons and shadownly creatures, and this is not a "very fighting" campaing...

please, it's my only chance to play like the Red Mage, i already had a "Redish Mage" character in this campaing but he died to soon... and didn't mange to write the "requiem for six adventurers and a lich". i blame Heruman and the Drew Elf...