Meaningless Thread: Inquiring On Your Character Ideas For A Crazy Build Space.

[Erit]

Or, "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Gestalt".

I recently started a PBP with a couple of friends (private, sorry voyeurs of the Playground) which uses some very fantastical build guidelines and I'm interested to see what the mad hatters of this world would make for them. Context thus established, here we go.

You are a 40th level Gestalt character. You cannot take any class into epic progression (so no Paladin 21 or Assassin 11), and you have it on good authority that you will never encounter anything with more than 15 hit dice. Your base stats are two 18s, two 16s and two 14s assigned as you see fit, and you have a +5 Inherent bonus to all of them. Every time you would gain a feat from level progression, you instead gain two, but bonus feats from classes are unaffected. You cannot take stacking feats twice on the same level (so no picking up Toughness and Toughness at 3rd, for example). Up to four points of level adjustment may be assumed to be bought off.

All first-party material is allowed, as is all Dragon Magazine and Web content. Basically if it was on DnDtools it's greenlit. You are permitted one, and only one, magic item; it may be epic, but not custom. Tier One classes are largely banned, the exception being Wizards; Wizards must specialize. For the purposes of feat selection, treat all feats gained as if they were gained at 40th level; this means one can load themselves down with nothing but epics if they so choose, but that probably isn't the best idea.

You can give as much or as little detail as you like, and can even pin up multiple ideas if you want. I'm merely curious to see what is imagined.

[AvatarVecna]

1) Can we double-prestige (that is to say, take PrCs on both sides at the same level)?

2) Can we use theurge options (such as the Mystic Theurge/Ultimate Magus PrCs, or the Swift Hunter/Ascetic Knight/Devoted Performer feats)?

[AvatarVecna]

Also, are powerful caster-based PrCs banned too, or are they allowed as long as they're being combined with legal caster base classes?

[Erit]

Yes, yes, and yes. It's generally open season as far as options aside from what's already been laid down. The build space concept stems from the lead characters of the RP being basically gods, so I see little reason to limit power beyond what is needed to keep a single individual from solving every problem.

Example, the character I came up with was Sorcerer 20/Elemental Savant 10/Abjurant Champion 5/Spellsword5||Warblade 20/Fighter 14/Exotic Weapon Master 1/Elemental Warrior 5. Focusing on storms, lightning bolts and travel-focused magic while letting maneuvers handle the arse-whuppin'.

[unseenmage]

Monster characters allowed?

Are Comstructs considered Magic Items for this excercise?

If so then true dragon spellcasting on one side and wizard on the other seems pretty tasty.

[Erit]

Monster characters are permitted, and RHD are unaffected by the level cap. However, your Wizard half stops at 20 without prestiges and you do still need to specialize.

Constructs and other forms of minionmancy are fair game, so long as they are provided by spellcasting or class abilities rather than items, my personal feelings of "it's cheesy" being irrelevant.

[ben-zayb]

With a 15HD limit, you should probably houserule-out Holy Word and co.

[Erit]

With a 15HD limit, you should probably houserule-out Holy Word and co.

I'm leaving them in specifically because of the limit, actually. If you've seen Overlord, it's a similar situation to Momonga's, except rather than being trapped in a game the PCs in question visit from an alternate world out of boredom or similarly irrelevant reasons. Kind of like the Marvel Asgardians.

[AvatarVecna]

Spoiler: Reality Warper

Show

Alignment: True Neutral
Race: Venerable Tinker Gnome (Dragonlance Campaign Setting)
Template: Half-Ogre (Dragon Magazine #313)
Template: Dark Creature (Tome Of Magic)
Template: Primordial Giant (Secrets of Xen'Drik)
Template: Phrenic Creature (SRD)
Template: Necropolitan (Libris Mortis)

Stats (Pre-Racial): 14/16/14/18/16/18
Stats (Lvl 1): 6/12/6/27/21/27
Stats (Lvl 40): 12/18/-/40/26/32

BAB: +22
Base Fort: +19
Base Reflex: +23
Base Will: +31

All of these assume fractional progression.

Wizard specializes in Illusions, banning Evocation and Conjuration

Wizard ACFs: Gnome Illusionist Racial Substitution Levels 1/5/10 (Races Of Stone); Chains of Disbelief (Unearthed Arcana)

Track A: Factotum 3/Beguiler 5/Shadowcraft Mage 3/Rainbow Servant 2/Factotum +8/Rainbow Servant +8/Shadowcraft Mage +2/Factotum +9
Track B: Wizard 10/Monk 2/Uncanny Trickster 1/Ultimate Magus 10/Uncanny Trickster +2/Incantatrix 10/Archmage 5

Beguiler CL: 28
Wizard CL: 36

Uncanny Trickster advances Ultimate Magus.

Feats

1. Iron Will (via Otyugh Pit)
2. Spell Focus (Evocation)
3. Spell Focus (Illusion)
4. Versatile Spellcaster
5. Spell Mastery
6. Signature Spell (Silent Image)
7. Arcane Thesis (Silent Image)
8. Eschew Materials
9. Still Spell
10. Silent Spell
11. Extend Spell
12. Heighten Spell
13. Twin Spell
14. Repeat Spell
15. Empower Spell
16. Maximize Spell
17. Persistent Spell
18. Quicken Spell
19. Scribe Scroll (DCS'd into Darkstalker)
20. Craft Wondrous Item
21. Insightful Reflexes
22. Kung Fu Genius
23. Keen Intellect
24. Steady Concentration
25. Extraordinary Concentration
26. Enhanced Shadow Reality
27. Rapid Metamagic
28. Practical Metamagic (Heighten Spell)
29. Easy Metamagic (Heighten Spell)
30. Improved Metamagic
31. Improved Metamagic
32. Improved Metamagic
33. Multispell
34. Multispell
35. Ignore Material Components
36. Improved Spell Capacity
37. Improved Spell Capacity
38. Improved Spell Capacity
39. Craft Epic Wondrous Item

Primary Skills

• Appraise
• Bluff
• Concentration
• Decipher Script
• Diplomacy
• Disable Device
• Disguise
• Gather Information
• Hide
• Intimidate
• Listen
• Move Silently
• Open Lock
• Search
• Sense Motive
• Sleight Of Hand
• Speak Language
• Spellcraft
• Spot
• Tumble
• Use Magic Device

Note: Unless we're using retroactive skill points, some of these skills will be lower than maximum rank.

Butt naked, you've got a +59/+57 Hide/Move Silently check, HiPS, and Darkstalker. Of course, that only matters if you're not under tons of illusions, which you probably are. You're also a wonderful scout, trapmonkey, and face, purely due to getting tons of skill points on a dual-caster build that's Int-SAD; you've got super Ref/Will saves, and undead immunities/spells covering your less-awesome Fort save. Incidentally, on top of casting as a 28th lvl Beguiler and a 36th lvl Wizard, your Beguiler side adds the entire Cleric spell list to their spells known list. The real meat of the build, spellcasting-wise, is Silent Image: it lasts Concentration+4d4 rounds, applies any metamagic you have other than Persistent Spell for free automatically, and gets heightened an additional 6 spell levels beyond the slot used. So, if you use a 12th lvl slot to cast a Heightened Silent Image, that SI is an 18th lvl spell, and can duplicate 17th lvl evocation/conjuration (summoning/creation) spells. Feel up to some mass Persistent shadow summoning? Or maybe you wanna drop a ton of 210% real super-metamagic'd 17th lvl blasting spells on your enemy's position...or maybe you wanna fake your own miracles? Whatever it is, you can probably do it. While the Beguiler side of things will be casting spontaneously, the wizard side of things will be preparing...although you can automatically convert any prepared spell to a Silent Image of the appropriate level. This means you can stock up on more obscure utility spells, or ensure that you have particularly useful/vital spells. Oh yeah, and I should mention that your illusions can bypass True Seeing on an opposed CL check.

There's two really good ways to expand on this build's power without leveling up: firstly, you can craft magic items yourself using whatever gold you've got left over after your magic item (or whatever gold you can steal, if you don't get to have any left over); in particular, Int-boosting items, skill-boosting items, and Thought Bottles will be exceedingly useful to you in the long run. Secondly, if you feel like you want more feats, like some Epic crafting feats, some Fast Healing, or even just Great Intelligence over and over, I recommend using a Thought Bottle to store your current XP level, then casting Twinned Repeated "Heroics", followed by Twinned Repeated "Embrace the Dark Chaos", followed by Twinned Repeated "Shun the Dark Chaos". Repeat the last three steps until you're satisfied with your current number of feats, run out of spell slots, or run out of XP to burn. Use the Thought Bottle to regain your original level of XP and go on about your business with 4 shiny new feats per round of casting. Bonus points if you use nested Thought Bottles to make it go on even longer each time you do this. Best of all, you can do this every day as long as you find a way to make back the 5000 XP. Since I mentioned Great Intelligence, I should probably mention all the things Int is connected to. It fuels your Beguiler casting, your Wizard casting, your AC (twice), your Reflex saves (replacing Dex), your Will saves (replacing Con), all saves (if you spend an inspiration point to do so), Str checks, and Dex checks. What I'm saying is that boosting your Int with your item(s) or via bonus feats is a sound investment.

Now, maybe you wanna be more of a team player, buffing/healing allies as you see fit. Works for me! Just replace Spell Focus (Evocation) for Enlarge Spell, slip some ranks of Craft (Weaving) in the build somewhere, and replace Archmage with War Weaver, and maybe shuffle Uncanny Trickster around so that it's upgrading War Weaver instead of Ultimate Magus. Sure, you'll be losing some CLs on both sides, but that's only a problem against equal-level casters in a world where apparently there's nobody but you with more than 15 HD...and it's offset by the ability to cast a single-target Touch spell of up to 7th lvl on the whole party at close range instead of touch range. This lets you cast Heal on the whole party, among many other things.

The world is your oyster; get out there and reshape it to your imagination.

[Erit]

While I expected greatness when I saw "Gnome", I do feel compelled to address one minor error; you have half as many feats as you ought.

[AvatarVecna]

While I expected greatness when I saw "Gnome", I do feel compelled to address one minor error; you have half as many feats as you ought.

The OP says that feats from level are gained on both sides, but other feats are unaffected by that doubling. So the feats I'd normally get for being a 40th lvl character are 14 (1st and then every 3rd lvl, 1+13=14); those get doubled, and then I start adding bonus feats. I get Scribe Scroll from Wizard (which gets DCS'd into something else), I get two flaws, I get 4 metamagic feats from Incantatrix, I get 1 bonus feat at Beguiler 5, 1 from the Otyugh Hole, two from Ultimate Magus, and three from dipping monk (which get DCS'd into something useful); this totals to 42 rather than 39, so it seems I forgot to change out the Monk feats for something useful. I gave up the Wizard bonus feats at lvls 5 and 10 for ACFs, none of my templates grant bonus feats, and Factotum/Rainbow Servant/Uncanny Trickster/Archmage don't grant bonus feats, so I'm not sure where you're seeing the rest.

Any requests for a kind of thing to see next?

[Erit]

I am in error. Your formatting is not what I'm used to and I was hasty in my judgements; apologies.

Still, awesome character. As far as requests go? Nothing in particular. I threw this up in hopes of seeing what others would create of their own volition.

[AvatarVecna]

I am in error. Your formatting is not what I'm used to and I was hasty in my judgements; apologies.

Still, awesome character. As far as requests go? Nothing in particular. I threw this up in hopes of seeing what others would create of their own volition.

No worries, lots of weirdness going on in this one. Hell, I did actually miss three feats, so I'd need to decide what to do with them...

...probably whatever the feat is that divides the required crafting time for magic items. Probably 3 times.

EDIT: I've got a few other ideas I'll probably throw out if I can hammer out the build to the point that I'm satisfied.