Creating a character based off of the Koi-to-Dragon legend.

[Minty_Illness]

I'm joining in on a "3.5 Campaign set in Feudal Japan with a fantasy twist" as my DM's words go and I was struggling with coming up with a character. Originally I wanted to reprise my Artorias-based Two-Handed Fighter Half-Giant to be more like Ser Alonne from the DkS2 DLC but decided that I'd try to branch out of usual routine of see-it/kill-it and go with something a little more flavorful. I'm trying to come up with a character based on the legend of Koi fish swimming up a waterfall and becoming a dragon. (Yes. I know this is Chinese mythology. DM said go for it.)

Spoiler: Legend

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In the wild, koi are cold water fish who gain strength by swimming against currents. It seems they have captured the imagination of fish fanciers for centuries. Many years ago, in a time before recorded history, a huge school containing thousands of koi swam up the Yellow River. The colors of their well muscled bodies flashed in the sunlight making them seem like a million living jewels. All was going well until the koi reached a waterfall. Immediately, a large number of them grew discouraged and turned back, finding it much easier to simply go with the flow of the river. Yet, a determined group of 360 koi stayed on. Straining and leaping, each koi strove to reach the top of the falls. Again and again they flung their bodies into the air only to fall back into the water. All this splashing noise drew the attention of the local demons who laughed at the efforts of the struggling koi. Adding to their misery, the demons sadistically increased the height of the falls. Still the koi refused give up! Undeterred, the koi continued their efforts for one hundred years. At last, with one heroic leap, a single koi reached the top of the falls. The God’s smiled down in approval and transformed the exhausted koi into a shining golden dragon. He joyfully spends his days chasing pearls of wisdom across the skies of the vast and eternal heavens. Whenever another koi finds the strength and courage to leap up the falls, he or she too becomes a heavenly dragon.

This is becoming a problem for me though, because I've only ever been a Fighter or a Wizard/Elemental Savant. To pull this off I was thinking of using an aquatic-subtype race like Aquatic Elves, Sahuagin, or the Malenti Sahuagin, and one of the draconic classes like Dragonfire Adept and cross-classing this with Monk. Any suggestions on race/class mixture to stay true to the goal?

[Eno Remnant]

After some consideration a friend and I came up with a few ideas:

Koi: Shalarin (Monsters of Faerun) or Hengeyokai (Oriental Adventures) seem like the best racial options, apart from those you've outlined. The second allows you to have an alternate form as a carp, which you could reflavour as a koi.

Dragon: Dragon Shaman (PHBII variant), Dragon Disciple (DMG), the Dragonborn template or the Half-Dragon template. The second and last are probably your best options, as Dragon Shaman is slow. Note that Dragon Disciple is a PrC over ten levels to become very similar to a dragon, and the Half-Dragon template is a classed template over three levels.

You may want to take Wu Jen (Complete Arcane) as your base class with a water or fire affinity, or Dragonfire Adept, or Dragon Shaman. All three fit thematically, and are superior options to Monk.

Note that taking the Dragon Disciple PrC will require you to be a caster, which is part of the reason I suggest Wu Jen. Also, Wu Jen is the favoured class of the Hengeyokai, so if you picked those two you could multiclass into another class with no XP penalty.

My friend recommends "a fish-type Hengeyokai with +CON, -WIS, with levels of either Dragonfire Adept, or with Wu Jen (and the 'water' or 'fire' elemental nature, depending on what [you] thought fitted the flavour best) + the classed Half-Dragon (three levels, ambiguous reading gives you either +2 LA or +3LA depending on how nice your DM is) template."

He also wanted you to "Note this line for the Half-Dragon template: "Half-dragon" is usually an inherited template, but it could be acquired through special magical rituals as well... i.e. climbing up the waterfall (be it metaphorical or literal)"

It should also be noted that, in terms of the Wisdom penalty Hengeyokai applies and the effects it has on Will saves, it is possible to take a feat called Keen Intellect that replaces your Wisdom to Will saves with Intelligence. This lends itself to the Wu Jen choice quite nicely. It's a 3.0 feat, but if your DM complains you can simply say that it's from a book called Oriental Adventures, so you should be able to have it.

Hope these help!

[Laughingmanlol]

Also, I think the Epic Level Handbook contains the DC to swim up a waterfall, so you could always do a skill-optimised character and try to achieve it literally

[Jeff the Green]

After some consideration a friend and I came up with a few ideas:

Koi: Shalarin (Monsters of Faerun) or Hengeyokai (Oriental Adventures) seem like the best racial options, apart from those you've outlined. The second allows you to have an alternate form as a carp, which you could reflavour as a koi.

No refluffing necessary; koi are carp.

[Minty_Illness]

Thank you for all of the amazing ideas Eno! A Hengeyokai Wu Jen would be perfect for what I'm hoping to use. I'd rather not dip into Dragon Disciple(Bronze, if I really have to) because I feel like this would neuter me level wise as a spell caster and anything I get from DFA's invocations would be just as good. I may crossclass WJ with DFA to gain that. Another thing I was hung up on was when you said...

It should also be noted that, in terms of the Wisdom penalty Hengeyokai applies and the effects it has on Will saves, it is possible to take a feat called Keen Intellect that replaces your Wisdom to Will saves with Intelligence.

Because I originally looked through dndtools and it pointed me to the Keen Intellect feat that gives a bonus to knowledge, scry, and search checks. I did find The one you were talking about in the end. Now that I've got that misunderstanding out of the way I've got to figure out how to mix WJ with DFA.

Would you recommend staying with one single class or a mixture of WJ, DFA, or DS? Using both Invocations and Auras along side dragons breath seems a good way for a DFA/DS to control the field.

[Eno Remnant]

The feat I was referring to was actually: http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/f...Keen_Intellect

Similar, but they have their differences.

After discussing it with my friend, he had some suggestions that basically summed up everything you really need to know on the subject.

"A single-classed Wu Jen is able to mimic the koi's journey up the waterfall to become a dragon through their spell progression (the metaphorical journey, naturally).

As first-level spells (amongst many others), they have Cobra Breath (i.e. a breath weapon, of sorts, which does CON damage) and Scales of the Lizard (i.e. defensive natural armour buff, dragons have scales and are gigantic lizards, you see where I'm going with this).

They also have the third-level spell Steam Breath (up to 10d6 fire damage in a cone).

Then there's the fifth-level spell Fire Breath (ranged touch attack fire-based breath attack, not that great but it fits the flavour).

And, of course, the seventh-level spells Adamantine Wings (exactly what it says on the tin), and, more appropriately, Channel the Dragon (look it up - I think you'll approve, flavour-wise).

You could also consider--if you're allowed--Shapechange (assuming you'll get 9th-level spells before the game finishes, of course) as your pièce de résistance.

I would personally advise this route - but that's because Wu Jen is my favourite class of all time (I'm not sure why; it just is), and because my character-building creed is effectively "First, rearrange reality".

If you want the best mixture of power and flavour, however, then a single-classed Dragonfire Adept is a superior option. Solid class, solid abilities, solid utility, good all-round bet."

He knows his stuff, so either way you're golden.