An effective character that never moves [build help] [3.P]

[kulosle]

So this build was inspired by the creepy doll Halfling alternate race trait. I want to make a character that never has to move. So the first thing you have to do is get a creature that is under your control to do all the moving for you. Eidolon seems like it's probably the best choice but an improved familiar mount might work too. But i'd like them to look like the player character.

then it's finding a way to be useful. My first thought was aura's but that still means my character isn't doing anything with thier turn. so then aid other cam to mind. The zealot class seems like a great choice. can telepathically speak too allies so i don't have to move. and if i get swift aid, i can use every action aiding someone from afar. Now you might think this requires you to move to aide them and you might be right. but then if you add cavalier with the inspiring commander archetype then you can aide someone with a perform orator check. which if i'm speaking telepathically to them doesn't require me to move. The archtype was already cleared by the gm and he okayed perform orator using telepathy doesn't need to move. so my question is how do i make this build better. all 3.5 books available and anything on the 20pfsrd website. we start at lvl 8. i don't know what anyone else is doing yet.

edit:
i think the eidolon would require less work to get. 1 level dip in summoner and their is a cavalier order that ups summoner level for the purpose of your eidolon. familiar seems like more work but would probably be stronger. probably end up with a ratling that has a belt of expansion on. while i have a belt of reduce person on. then disguise the ratling to look like a human kid. it says their face and hands look human. so it could work. would have to ask gm about what the penalty to disguise on that would be. or maybe a magic disguise. the question then becomes how best to get a familiar.

[icefractal]

Well, as you're already a Halfling, definitely get the Helpful trait, so your aid gives +4.

If you want to go beyond assisting, the Psychic casters don't have visible components (neither do the Psionic ones, but that's 3PP so check w/ the GM).

[kulosle]

I've looked up the guide for zealot (which doesn't mention cavalier despite being very thorough otherwise) and a few guides for cavalier but none of them mentioned multiclassing. Whats a good level spread for a zealot/cavalier. right now i'm leaning to just 3 in zealot ad the rest in cavalier. need as many uses of tactition as i can get. but i would still need some creature under my control. what about psicrystals? is it possible to make them bigger and useable as a mount? cause i can get a psicrystal from zealot without having to multi class out. Cause i don't want to take the cavelier order of the chimera to try and do the eidolon path because this build should really be using the order of the dragon.

[kulosle]

so i realized that the build at the moment has to be cavalier 5/zealot 3. because that is when the classes get the abilities so i don't have to move. get a psicrystal. whats the cheapest way to make it into a little girl to hold the creepy doll?

[Ruethgar]

If your GM is ok with 3rd party, there is a martial discipline that might interest you. http://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=146.0

Then there is also a PF feat that makes a construct into a mech suit, and Spheres of Might Tech Sphere can do similar with the vehicle talent at a much cheaper cost if a bit weaker. There aren’t really requirements for operation(like hands)that I recall so a psi crystal should be able to use either.

[kulosle]

Well 3rd party is a little different than homebrew. But we do allow it some times. I'm not use i'd want to use it though. It seems like i'm suppose to be controlling the dolls like a puppeteer. So i don't think that would work. but it definitely looks interesting and i'll have to talk with my gm about it.

[FaerieGodfather]

Shapeless Familiar and Changeling Familiar might be a starting place, but you'll need to improve your familiar's STR score somehow.

Arcane Hierophant, perhaps?

[Hellfire014]

Zealots (I assume the Psionic/Path of War class based off the psicrystal comment) don't need to move to aid another once they hit lvl 3, its all psionic after that, as long as its kept within the Collective. So unless your idea is to focus on granting teamwork feats or using Int based Bard songs (which are not carried over the Collective by RAW) when you're not spamming Aid Another, I see no point to cavalier levels beyond the first. Unless I'm missing something?

This is an interesting idea though. If you want to play up the 'haunted doll' aspect, you should look into Unwilling Participant , taking the Strike of Unity conviction asap.

so i realized that the build at the moment has to be cavalier 5/zealot 3. because that is when the classes get the abilities so i don't have to move. get a psicrystal. whats the cheapest way to make it into a little girl to hold the creepy doll?

A Transmorgrifist Psion 10/Metamorph 10 using a Shared Power True/Major Metamophosis for 2430g? Permanent duration, +3 sizes, and other goodies.

[Ruethgar]

Anyone remember where the Token Familiar feat was? It let your familiar act like Drizzt's cat and turn into a small object. Might work ok, but IIRC it can't act as an object.

[Rynjin]

I actually had a character I was tooling around with months back on the same concept. Zealot is a poor fit; you're losing out on the main draw of the class (Maneuvers).

What is great is a Mesmerist with the Vizier archetype.

Your Hypnotic Stare is undetectable; targets don't know they're affected. As a Psychic caster you don't have any Somatic or Verbal components; they are replaced by Thought and Emotion, and Psychic casting can be undertaken as a purely mental action (even while Paralyzed or similarly restrained).

When you do cast spells, as a Vizier you don't even get the aura around you that denotes you're casting a spell; this aura is shifted to an ally instead (as is any sign that you did something when an ally uses your Implanted Trick class feature), and by 5th level you don't even provoke AoOs any more, being covered in a permanent Illusion of Calm effect that makes you appear to be perfectly still even when you're actually moving. As long as you stay in your square you can actually do stuff like make ranged attacks with a bow or something and nobody can tell.

It is absolutely perfect for these purposes.

[Hellfire014]

Zealot is a poor fit; you're losing out on the main draw of the class (Maneuvers).

I'd argue that the main draw of the Zealot is the Collective, and that the maneuvers are there for when supporting with your class abilities isn't the best option. Which is why I suggested Unwilling Participant (add enemy to collective) and Strike of Unity (Use strikes through collective). Granting your collective maneuvers with Echoes of Steel and supporting the party with other harmless maneuvers with Collective is great for kulosle's concept.

[Rynjin]

I'd argue that the main draw of the Zealot is the Collective, and that the maneuvers are there for when supporting with your class abilities isn't the best option. Which is why I suggested Unwilling Participant (add enemy to collective) and Strike of Unity (Use strikes through collective). Granting your collective maneuvers with Echoes of Steel and supporting the party with other harmless maneuvers with Collective is great for kulosle's concept.

If your main draw of a full BaB class with Maneuvers is the Collective, I find myself questioning why you aren't using the Tactician or Vitalist, two other classes with a Collective who get far, FAR more use out it than a Zealot does.

The Collective is how a Zealot supplments his other abilities, not the main focus of the class, even if you're a Void Prophet.

[Hellfire014]

If your main draw of a full BaB class with Maneuvers is the Collective, I find myself questioning why you aren't using the Tactician or Vitalist, two other classes with a Collective who get far, FAR more use out it than a Zealot does.

The Collective is how a Zealot supplments his other abilities, not the main focus of the class, even if you're a Void Prophet.

I meant for the purpose of what kulosle was going for, and staying along the lines of his initial build. Of course a full caster/manifester would be better at doing nothing physical, thats what they were made for. And the unmoving Zealot has no shortage of supporting maneuvers they can use until they get access to Strike of Unity for offense.

And please recall that his initial build is Cavalier/Zealot, both full BAB classes, and the only thing their character would be doing is telepathy and aid another. The Collective is what makes his idea work in the first place. I'm just expanding on this without outright saying "play a caster".

[Andor13]

How about a Rajah? Absolutely nothing about the class requires you to move a muscle. You could literally play a brain in a jar with no loss of effectiveness, particularly if the GM rules that the jar has an neck slot for an amulet of war. Once you hit 2nd level you get a crew of holographic anime cat girls unseen servants who can carry around the jar and talk for it.

[Thunder999]

Spheres of power might be fun, conjuration companion to carry your about outside of combat, destruction has a few things that let you increase cast time to a full round action to avoid paying spell points as does creation and you can get the range of many spheres up to long.

[Ruethgar]

I just remembered the psychic sandwich, if you wanted to go that route. The most powerful turkey avocado swiss in the multiverse! Or doll, if that's your fancy.

[kulosle]

So the reason for the cavalier levels was to get the ability to aid other with a perform orator check instead of an attack roll. i know the zealot can do it at a distance too but they still have to make attack rolls to aid people. which feels like it should take some kind of an action. But perform orator telepathically is perfectly reasonable to not need any movement. i'll try asking my gm if aiding over the collective requires movement in the first place.

And i know full psionic caster could just do this. but full casters are boring in my opinion. also it might just be too strong for this campaign. this is suppose to be a gimmick campaign. the other players decided on what they are doing. there is a sundering build using blacksmith from spheres of might, a two shield build (don't know how he's going to pull that one off) and a candle caster from tome and blood 3.0 so we aren't exactly fully optimized. I went with the aid another build because i found it hilarious. and i think these two classes are the best at doing that. although it is funny that they are full bab and i'm not taking advantage of that. i should squeeze in the unwilling participant part and do that. But boosts and counters are the zealots bread and butter and ways and i can use those

How about a Rajah? Absolutely nothing about the class requires you to move a muscle. You could literally play a brain in a jar with no loss of effectiveness, particularly if the GM rules that the jar has an neck slot for an amulet of war. Once you hit 2nd level you get a crew of holographic anime cat girls unseen servants who can carry around the jar and talk for it.

oh right that class is quite nice. they get to attack with a lazer and make manuevers with it. and said laser can come from an allies square. probably the best way to attack without moving or even drawing attention to yourself. but i would need to find a way to get telepathy and gain a companion that looks like a little girl to carry me around.

Spheres of power might be fun, conjuration companion to carry your about outside of combat, destruction has a few things that let you increase cast time to a full round action to avoid paying spell points as does creation and you can get the range of many spheres up to long.

Is it possible for this companion to look like a little girl?

edit: upon further reading the rajah ability. it says the unseen servants can look like anything. but it doesn't say what size they are. and neither does the unseen servant spell. Does it make sense that i can have 1 that looks like a little girl? cause with their added strength one could easily carry me who weighs at most 33lbs less if i reduce person myself.

[Demidos]

Depending on your feelings on LA and/or LA buyoff, I did a very fun 3.5 "horror little girl build" a year or so back, with a little girl that had blinded herself after her subconscious powers had shown her too many horrible things.

The basic premise of the build was that using templates (e.g. Phrenic or Half-Fey, specifically) in conjunction with the Magic in the Blood feat (setting all PLA/SLA uses to 3/day), you could get enough abilities that you could concievably be a functional character, freeing up your levels to do something silly-fun like expert/marshal (for lots of skills and auras), or something more powerful if you desired (like dread-witch or cleric in full-plate).


Half fey grants you all sorts of strange illusions and enchantments, and as SLA's you dont have to move at all to activate any of them. Phrenic is a more directly offensive/defensive template that gives you direct combat options.

My initial instinct given the "lower power level" you talked about is leveraging the template to give you combat options and then throwing in your fun aid another shenanigans with your levels (a level dip in marshal would be huge for you though if you don't use multiclass penalties!).
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Also if your DM is fine with homebrew you could probably do some metamagic stuff to make the Grandmaster in my sig Silent/Still Spelled and summon constructs to beat people up for you, but that's separate XD

[kulosle]

so my gm ruled that the zealot would still need to move when aiding the collective unless i had the cavalier ability to make it a perform (orator) skill.. He did also say that the rajah's unseen servants can be up to medium size in appearance. So i think the best thing to do is to actually go rajah instead actually and get telepathy from some other source. The gm will let me trade away halfling luck for the ghostwise halfling telepathy. athough thats only out to 20 ft. would need to get a better one for that plan to work.

[StSword]

Well if Third Party Material might be available, I would be remiss to not mention the Potentialist from Book of Many Things 2.

The point of the Potentialist is to not act.

A Potentialist if they don't use a standard action, manifests a capacity field with a radius of 5 feet times their strength bonus (minimum five feet) in which the Potentialist can target a foe who enters the field or begins the turn in that field for precision damage, damage type based on the weapon the Potentialist is holding (or unarmed strike if they have no damage).

Starts off at one target for 1d6 damage, at 20th level it's 10d6 damage to two targets, at default.

And at first level, if they don't move (specifically move, they can use their move action for non movement based actions), use an attack of opportunity, or use an immediate action can teleport, starting at 15 feet range, increasing with level.

They have talents they can buy, and have paths for customization ala wizard school specialization or sorcerer bloodlines.

A Drive Potentialist can use two weapon fighting to increase their number of capacity field attacks a turn, Spirit Potentialists can heal their allies, Vigor Potentialists can target everyone in their capacity field and convert the precision damage to cold, fire, or electricity.

Now the field being based on strength isn't ideal for a halfling, but the character can just lay there like a doll and attack (or heal if you go Spirit), and move around by teleporting.

[Andor13]

oh right that class is quite nice. they get to attack with a lazer and make manuevers with it. and said laser can come from an allies square. probably the best way to attack without moving or even drawing attention to yourself. but i would need to find a way to get telepathy and gain a companion that looks like a little girl to carry me around.

Is it possible for this companion to look like a little girl?

edit: upon further reading the rajah ability. it says the unseen servants can look like anything. but it doesn't say what size they are. and neither does the unseen servant spell. Does it make sense that i can have 1 that looks like a little girl? cause with their added strength one could easily carry me who weighs at most 33lbs less if i reduce person myself.

You can make them look like whatever you like, although the are always unreal seeming. I don't see why you couldn't make them put on real clothes and make a disguise check. Is there a reason it has to be telepathy? You can explicitly make the unseen servants talk, and they say whatever you want them to, so you could have them speak for you. "Miss Dollykins thinks licking the ichor-stained, unworldly altar is a terrible idea. Make Walter do it."

[kulosle]

I need telepathy to be able to make perform orator checks to aid my allies without moving. Or anyone noticing. I mean unless I'm scrapping that part of the build altogether. But I really like it being an aid other build. I haven't done one of those before and I find it hilarious that everyone's aid is coming from what appears to be an inanimate doll.

Gm said yes to making them look real with a disguise check if I use real cloths. So yay. Who knows even someone beats it and knows their unreal might make the little girl seem even creepier.

So their is also a bard archetype that gives maneuvers. And at 2nd level they can make a perform check in place of any skill check they need for a maneuver. I might also want to grab that. Later into the build. That way I can use the maneuvers that would normally require a check without having to move. So cavalier 5, rajah 2, bard 2 (taking the second level of bard once I level up and probably taking cavalier from there) gives me everything I need besides telepathy. Is there a way to improve telepathy cause I might just go with ghost wise halfling.

Edit: I just found something Shedu Crown soulmeld bound to the crown is 100ft telepathy. That's 2 feats in what is already a feat intensive build. Well let me see what I have.