[3.5] Luck-based PrC's

[DeTess]

Hey People,

A character concept I've been toying around with is a follower of a luck diety that is based almost entirely around luck and fortune. I was wondering if anyone has a list lying around of PrC's that would fit this theme(either stuff about manipulating luck, or powers that have random outcomes, like the prismatic ray spell). Apologies if I've missed some incredibly obvious index somewhere, and thanks for any responses.

[logic_error]

Wild mage
Wilder
Fatespinner
Escalation mage

[Inevitability]

Anarchic Initiate fits what you're looking for, and is only one of the very few psionic PrCs that fully advance manifesting.

[J-H]

Fortunes's Friend and luck feats. I believe both are in Complete Scoundrel. You can get somewhere over 10 rerolls per day...

[Diovid]

Fortunes's Friend and luck feats. I believe both are in Complete Scoundrel. You can get somewhere over 10 rerolls per day...

Fortune's Friend + Luckstealer (Races of the Wild) is pretty nice (see also the note in either CS or RotW on the interaction between Luckstealer and luck feats).

I would probably enter these prcs with either Spellthief (using the Trickster acf) or Bard (using acfs to taste).

For added luck-based fun, be a glimmerskin halfling.

[Iku Rex]

Auspician. From Faiths and Pantheons (3.0, FR).

[Gildedragon]

Cleric Domains Luck (obvs) + Hope (1/day reroll a failure) (Dr 340)
Improved Domain Power (Luck) ACF (-1 domain, or -turn undead, or -1 feat) (Dr 342)
Benevolent cleric variant (Dr 311) Give Luck-domain style rerolls to others
Domain Focus Cleric ACF: -1 domain, Domain power x2 (ie Luck gets 2 rerolls per day) (Dr 347)

A Cloi Cleric (Luck and Hope) could trade away Knowledge for x2 Luck domain, trade away turn undead for Luck bonuses to rolls

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Not a PrC, but see about your DM allowing the Pack Rat or Well-Prepared feat from Pathfinder. It lets you roll Sleight of Hand to pull a mundane item out of nowhere up to a gp limit. Say you just happened to pick exactly what you need up earlier

[Zaq]

The Visionary Seeker (from Planar Handbook) gets a couple dice-manipulating abilities (one called "bend fate" and one called "trick fate"), but they come really late in a bare-bones class, and they have harsh daily use limits, so I can't really recommend the class in good faith. From the same book, there's also the Chaotician, which is much more nicely condensed. It might be closer to what you're looking for, and it's nice in that it works on a noncaster.

Of course, in the context of D&D, what is luck? Is it abilities that have "luck" in the name? Is it explicit manipulation of rolled dice? Is it simply some form of competence or means of success that doesn't have a visible cause? From the perspective of the players, we see all kinds of dice rolls behind most meaningful actions, but in most games, the characters don't see that kind of thing. From any given character's perspective, what's the difference between succeeding at a task because your roll (and your mods) were good enough the first time around versus succeeding at the same task because you got a well-timed reroll or a retroactive bonus? How do you want to play that at the table? The way you answer that question is going to determine what kinds of classes and feats make sense here and will give you the satisfaction you're looking for.

Auspician. From Faiths and Pantheons (3.0, FR).

Wow, that's crazy obscure. I can't decide how I feel about that class. It's got really gnarly prereqs (FOUR feats, and they're nearly entirely passive?!), but it also gives 10/10 casting, and then mostly nickel-and-dime bonuses after that. And, of course, there's the old standby of "1/day abilities are totally useful class features, right?" I feel like the prereqs alone will make it a poor choice on the vast majority of characters, but if you have a way to get around them, it's kind of amusingly flavorful. Really weird that they get a reasonably robust skill list and then only 2 + INT skill points, too.

[DeTess]

Thanks for the suggestions already provided, everyone!

Of course, in the context of D&D, what is luck? Is it abilities that have "luck" in the name? Is it explicit manipulation of rolled dice? Is it simply some form of competence or means of success that doesn't have a visible cause? From the perspective of the players, we see all kinds of dice rolls behind most meaningful actions, but in most games, the characters don't see that kind of thing. From any given character's perspective, what's the difference between succeeding at a task because your roll (and your mods) were good enough the first time around versus succeeding at the same task because you got a well-timed reroll or a retroactive bonus? How do you want to play that at the table? The way you answer that question is going to determine what kinds of classes and feats make sense here and will give you the satisfaction you're looking for.

The basic idea is a character that is a fervent follower of a luck diety, and places his fate in his/her.its hands. Things like re-rolls would play well with this, but spells, features and abilities that have semi-random effects would work as well. Re-rolls and similar effects would probably just help with the flavour (my character appears far luckier, while his enemies get all kinds of bad luck), but any random effects I can get my hands on would be the real meat of how I play him. For example, a spell that has a 50/50 chance of permanently sending the target to another plane, or turning him into a dragon would probably see at least some use (depending on how much the party would be willing to let me get away with. I wouldn't want to be too disruptive).

[Nando]

Things like re-rolls would play well with this, but spells, features and abilities that have semi-random effects would work as well. Re-rolls and similar effects would probably just help with the flavour (my character appears far luckier, while his enemies get all kinds of bad luck), but any random effects I can get my hands on would be the real meat of how I play him. For example, a spell that has a 50/50 chance of permanently sending the target to another plane, or turning him into a dragon would probably see at least some use (depending on how much the party would be willing to let me get away with. I wouldn't want to be too disruptive).

Totally sounds like a Wild Mage to me (Comlplete Arcane p. 68). Grab a Rod of Wonder, while you're at it...

[Dr_Dinosaur]

A Wild Mage with some refilling abilities would be great, if they can reroll their surge/Rod of wonder every so often!

[Afgncaap5]

I actually had a *lot* of fun once with a halfling Sorcerer who took an ACF that gave him the Luck domain, then had him take levels in Fatespinner, Luckstealer, and Fortune's Friend. I took the spell Ruin Delver's Fortune (an immediate action spell that can grant Evasion is nice, and that's just one of four things it can do), every applicable Luck feat I could think of (including the Third Time's The Charm feat just for funsies), a Lucky enchantment on my weapon (didn't need it, but I couldn't resist), and anything I could get that would grant/force rerolls, miss chances, luck bonuses, and random chance.

No where near the most powerful character I've ever played. Easily in the running for the most fun.

[weckar]

I feel the one thing where most Luck-classes fall flat is their generally limited utility per day. Does any of them overcome this to the point where luck becomes your main power source rather than just a very occasional gimmick?

[Zombulian]

Fortune's Friend + Luckstealer (Races of the Wild) is pretty nice (see also the note in either CS or RotW on the interaction between Luckstealer and luck feats).

I would probably enter these prcs with either Spellthief (using the Trickster acf) or Bard (using acfs to taste).

For added luck-based fun, be a glimmerskin halfling.

Oooh I'd forgotten about the Luckstealer. Immediately started considering adding it to my Trickster Spellthief handbook before I saw the rest of your post .
Do you have any page numbers for interactions of Luck feats and Luckstealer? Seems promising.

[Afgncaap5]

I feel the one thing where most Luck-classes fall flat is their generally limited utility per day. Does any of them overcome this to the point where luck becomes your main power source rather than just a very occasional gimmick?

Luckstealer. Not in the way you're asking for, I think but see my thoughts on Luckstealer in the third paragraph. Aside from Luckstealer, though... from the characters I've taken that use luck mechanics, I can say that the characters who only dabble in it a little come off with it feeling like an underwhelming gimmick while the characters who are all about luck from the get go tend to feel like it's a more constant thing. Effectively, for luck to feel like a power source, you've gotta keep piling on the luck feats, invest in chronocharms and other similar items, get the spells or items that skew the odds through miss-chance or rerolls, take levels in classes all about trusting to/experimenting with your own luck, etc.

This is actually similar to how it works in real life: the "science of luck" is one of probability, so that the more often you give yourself chances to be lucky the more often it'll turn out that you are. This doesn't mean that a person should decide to buy lotto tickets, of course, but it *does* mean that the people who generally feel luckier or who are perceived by their friends as lucky are the ones who shake up their routine, take walks, try new things, and the like. D&D's luck mechanics similarly favor quantity: if you take an awful lot of stuff related to luck and make sure that you're okay with the vast majority of times that your luck simply won't help you, luck in D&D can start to feel like a semi-reliable (albeit exhaustible) source of power, sort of like a hyper-focused set of spell slots.

Having said that: a Luckstealer (as promised) sort of gets this. Their ability to "steal" luck isn't exhaustible, but it can't really be called a constant power because the Luckstealer's targets get Will saves and you're limited to an amount of "points" of luck stolen equal to your Charisma modifier. In effect, the Luckstealer acts as a sort of perpetually self-recharging battery that siphons the luck-energy from others, but like all batteries you have a cap to how much juice you can store. The good news is that Complete Scoundrel has a sidebar that gave another use to a Luckstealer's stolen points: you can use three luck points to give yourself another luck reroll, so even if you only have a single luck feat and a single standard luck reroll, you can just keep recharging that. If you use methods to boost your Charisma score so that you can store more points (and get an increase to the DC of your luck stealing ability) then you're on the right track. I'm not well-versed on methods to boost the DCs or power of class-based spell-like abilities beyond that, but I've got a feeling that some way probably exists. By the time you get Curse of the Black Cloud, the DC won't be so much of an issue because all you'll need is a convenient set of targets nearby and if the cloud hits enough people the odds are good that it'll help you. Sadly, though, the cloud itself is limited to daily uses, so even though you're getting a crazy amount of luck on your side with the at-will base ability of the class, the mass-usage isn't spammable. But frankly, I don't think it needs to be.

Meanwhile, for something more reliable: their lucky magic ability is always in effect whenever you cast spells with variable numeric effects that lets you reroll one damage die out of every five (rounded up, I think.) That's generally not a *huge* boost to the numbers, but it does make your ability to deal damage luckier and it never goes away.

[Diovid]

Oooh I'd forgotten about the Luckstealer. Immediately started considering adding it to my Trickster Spellthief handbook before I saw the rest of your post .
Do you have any page numbers for interactions of Luck feats and Luckstealer? Seems promising.

Sidebar on page 73 of complete scoundrel.

[Zombulian]

Sidebar on page 73 of complete scoundrel.

Aha! So it's that you can use a Luckstealer's pool to apply to rerolls and such. That's pretty cool but not exactly what I expected. Thanks!