Unique and Fun builds for 3.5

[Chris222]

Can someone give me some builds that are fun to mess around with but also not too broken. I don’t like running over a whole campaign but I like all the different combinations 3.5 has.

[Chris222]

Starting Level is 5 btw

[AMFV]

Can someone give me some builds that are fun to mess around with but also not too broken. I don’t like running over a whole campaign but I like all the different combinations 3.5 has.

I mean there are thousands of potential builds (probably more actually). Do you have anything specific you're looking for? If you just want something unique and fun you could check the Junkyard or Iron Chef builds, those are usually not too powerful but are pretty unique and fun. If you're looking for something else there's a ton of material around.

Edit:

Starting Level is 5 btw

What are the other build rules. Allowable sources?

[JNAProductions]

Dragonfire Adept is fun.

[Chris222]

I mean there are thousands of potential builds (probably more actually). Do you have anything specific you're looking for? If you just want something unique and fun you could check the Junkyard or Iron Chef builds, those are usually not too powerful but are pretty unique and fun. If you're looking for something else there's a ton of material around.

Edit:



What are the other build rules. Allowable sources?

Not really any rules. Just want something fun to play around with

[Crake]

Not really any rules. Just want something fun to play around with

You're gonna have to give people more to work with, this is super vague and generic. "Fun to play around with" and "not too broken" is also very subjective.

[ExLibrisMortis]

• Bardsader/bardblade
• Swift hunter (melee or ranged)
• Unseen Seer sorcerer or wizard (scout base or rogue base)
• Crusader/incarnate (maybe with monk for Decisive Strike)
• Wild shape ranger/master of many forms
• Astral deva or trumpet archon (monster class)
• Psychic warrior (with or without Tashalatora)
• Moon-warded fangshields ranger 4/paladin 2/ranger knight of furyondy X with Serenity, Devoted Tracker (übermount/Wis-SAD), requires non-humanoid base (e.g. elan, aasimar, anthropomorphic animal)
• Anthropomorphic tiger into Bloodclaw Master
• One-level-of-everything into Champion of Gwynharwyf (e.g. barbarian 1, hit-and-run fighter 1, battle dancer 1, Wild Shape ranger 1, mariner 1, crusader or warblade 1 at level 5, Anointed Knight at 6 if you can squeeze it in and have the Cha to get the DR and stack it with CoG)
• The above, but with Singh Rager (Lawful barbarian)
• Psion or erudite or ardent into Constructor
• Horselord barbarian crafty hunter barbarian (Dragon 338 + UA ACFs)
• Sorcadin (really more for ECL 10+, but you can start early)
• Suel Arcanamach 3/Abjurant Champion 5 (as above, but you can start with crusader or warblade 5 and the casting bolts on easily)
• Straight shaman
• SA fighter 1/paladin into Shadowbane Inquisitor--start planning your fall into Blackguard now, fall at level 12 or so
• Magical Training cleric 4/church inquisitor 1/paragnostic apostle 1 into Dweomerkeeper, focus on Divine Defiance (counterspelling) to keep the power relatively modest. Focus Domain (Inquisition), Improved Domain (magic), grab a nice staff.

A bunch of these get started at level 6-7 (e.g. the first level in many PrCs would be the 6th), but that's the design of the game, pretty much.

[AMFV]

Dragonfire Adept is fun.

Seconded, if you're just looking for out of the box fun that's going to feel unique DFA is right there. It's just a super cool class.

[Saintheart]

Low level builds compendium from minmax.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Cloistered Cleric 1/ Paladin for the rest, Underdark Knight ACF, Divine Counterspell ACF for Paladin, take Divine Defiance and use Cleric turning to fuel it, Inquisition domain, Knowledge Devotion and Law Devotion. Fill your 1st level Paladin slots with Rhino's Rush and get 1st level Pearls of Power to recover those between fights.

Crusader, or Crusader 5/ Binder 1/ Hellreaver 5/ Crusader 9 always binding Naberius and using Stone Power instead of Power Attack. Dragonborn Warforged only loses the default composite plating but can still take Adamantine Body. Pick the heart aspect with Entangling Exhalation and keep opponents debuffed with that. Include Mineral Warrior (gained after Dragonborn so nothing is lost) and buy off the +1 LA if possible.

Spellthief 1/ Ardent 4/ Psychic Assassin 6/ Slayer 9, take Practiced Manifester early, get Mind Cripple from Psychic Assassin, use Substitute Powers for Ardent. Possibly use an Avenger version of Psychic Assassin if you don't want to be evil aligned. Use TWF with Gloves of the Balanced Hand, put a wand chamber in each of your weapons and put a Wand of Wraithstrike in one, which you can activate thanks to your Spellthief level.

Psion, Shaper 5/ Ectopic Adept 5/ Paragnostic Apostle (adapted) 1/ Constructor 9. Personal Construct ACF, PA ability is Mind Over Matter, and be sure to get Practiced Manifester.

[Inevitability]

Past Iron Chef rounds have been mentioned already, but the Iron Chef E6 rounds are especially useful if you just want something fun at low levels. The bottom of the first post in the current round has a list of all former competitions, if one of the themes sounds interesting I suggest having a look.


Outside of that, some monsters that might be fun to play:

-Hairy Spider from Monsters of Faerun is a +0 LA legally playable fine-sized spider, if you can get your DM to get it an intelligence score somehow (being an ex-familiar or arguing a little about what 'at least 3' means should both work, at worst you can make it fiendish/celestial). Your ability scores will be pretty bad outside of wisdom/dexterity/constitution, so consider a divine caster (with Surrogate spellcasting), an ardent, a swordsage, or even a weirder dragonfire adept/warlock/binder build.

-Marrulurks from Sandstorm are 3 RHD +1 LA monsters that get 2d6 sneak attack, charisma-based death attack, an 1/day Nauseating Breath, free poison use, and a lot of useful ability bonuses, making them really good rogues with some special abilities you otherwise wouldn't have.

-Half-fey is a +2 LA template that gives lots of fun spell-like abilities and wings, plus good stat boosts. Phrenic is similar but with psionics and no flight.

-If you want to play a ghost, Telthor from Unapproachable East is a +2 LA template that turns a humanoid into an incorporeal fey. The only issue is the Bound to the Land (Su), which deals 1 point of damage for every turn you spend outside your homeland. There's ways to outheal that damage if you're above half-health (dragon shaman's vigor aura, Touch of Healing feat), but few to negate it completely.

-In a way, it's the opposite of memorable, but a Vecna-Blooded creature (MMIV) can make for a very interesting PC.

[pabelfly]

Giant Anthro Octopus is fun and not very broken at low-level. It's a lot of fun throwing a whole bunch of d20s on the table and knowing your enemy is going to turn into sashimi, but you will still be in the same ballpark, damage-wise, as a decent two-hander power attack build.

My question would be, do you expect to reach level 9?

If you think you'll reach level 9, I'd go Octopus 2/Barbarian 1/Ranger X so you can get Greater Multiweapon Fighting. If you're at level 5, Ranger 2 gives you Multiweapon Fighting for free.

If you don't think you'll reach level 9, I'd go Octopus 2/Swordsage 1/Psychic Warrior X. If you're staying at level 5, Psychic Warrior 2 gives you Mantled Warrior (Dimension Hop), which is great fun for a martial.

[smasher0404]

A silly but powerful concept I keep punting around is the idea of the Whale Wizard

Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale (Savage Species) is an incredibly potent race for a melee character, getting a massive bonus to strength, natural armor, and naturally having Large size (which is a bonus to a bunch of different combat maneuvers like tripping and grappling). Also notably, they do not get a penalty to Intelligence.

Combine that with a level of Conjuration-specialist Wizard with Abrupt Jaunt (PHBII), and a level of your favorite martial class for martial weapon proficiencies, and you have a Whale that is teleporting around and smacking people in the face. At ECL 6, you'll be primed to enter Abjurant Champion at your next level (which keeps both BAB and Spellcasting progression).

[Forrestfire]

I'm personally a big fan of any of the full 1-20 builds in my ranger guide, but especially the ones labeled "The Cooler Duskblade" and "Enemy-to-Surface Missile System" if you want some very novel martial builds.

[vasilidor]

I like Rogue/Warlock. Not actually all that powerful, but some of the Warlock abilities synergize well and sneak attack applies to the eldritch blast so you don't lose much in the way of damage all of the time, just most. I had fun playing this before.

[Anthrowhale]

Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale (Savage Species) is an incredibly potent race for a melee character, getting a massive bonus to strength, natural armor, and naturally having Large size (which is a bonus to a bunch of different combat maneuvers like tripping and grappling). Also notably, they do not get a penalty to Intelligence.

Combine that with a level of Conjuration-specialist Wizard with Abrupt Jaunt (PHBII), and a level of your favorite martial class for martial weapon proficiencies, and you have a Whale that is teleporting around and smacking people in the face. At ECL 6, you'll be primed to enter Abjurant Champion at your next level (which keeps both BAB and Spellcasting progression).

Taking that further you could be a large Primordial Giant Half-Ogre Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale tiny Muckdweller Whale 3/Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 3/Abjurant Champion 5/Shaper of Form 1/<your choice>

Then, you are a Muckdweller as strong as a whale with BAB+7 and full casting at ECL9 in a party of ECL 12, so you'll catch up rapidly.

[Nikorasuko]

I tend to lean towards some sort of magical build of some kind. Even if I'm playing a normal fighter I'd want to give him Soulmelds from Magic of Incarnum. You can give him Incarnate weapon, impulse boots, and wind cloak effectively making him a jedi.

Although honestly an actual fun idea is simply to try to hoard as many soulmelds as possible on your character. It will make you look absolutely monstrous. Well in a transparent hard to look at all the stuff badly messing together sort of thing. Could be real fun roleplay wise with making an incarnate that keeps getting the bonus soulmeld feat which has no limit on.

[RNightstalker]

I had a lot of fun playing an arcane trickster. I took a 1 level cleric dip for the luck domain granted power, then went into fortune's friend PrC before doing wizard to be able to qualify for Arcane Trickster. If I could do it again I'd go Human Paragon instead of Wizard for the extra (luck) feat. That would get you 6th level spells, 5D6 SA, and 13 luck rerolls at level 20 before adding any with items. If you're lucky, your DM will let you do a divine trickster to do the PrC with divine casting instead of arcane. That would net you 7th level spells and another D6 SA at level 20.

[Nikorasuko]

I had a lot of fun playing an arcane trickster. I took a 1 level cleric dip for the luck domain granted power, then went into fortune's friend PrC before doing wizard to be able to qualify for Arcane Trickster. If I could do it again I'd go Human Paragon instead of Wizard for the extra (luck) feat. That would get you 6th level spells, 5D6 SA, and 13 luck rerolls at level 20 before adding any with items. If you're lucky, your DM will let you do a divine trickster to do the PrC with divine casting instead of arcane. That would net you 7th level spells and another D6 SA at level 20.

To make the Arcane Trickster divine instead doesn't sound game breaking to me. That's actually a fun concept. Although I do feel the class features would have to change to a more appropriate divine feel rather than arcane. In the end you're making a Divine Trickster homebrew class. For example changing the rogue-ish arcane mage hand to having an animal companion mouse that can pick locks for you.

[Maat Mons]

The easiest way to have an "animal companion" that can pick locks is to use that Druid ACF that replaces your Animal Companion with a pseudo Familiar. Since Familiars can use your skills you pick a monkey as your "familiar" for the opposable thumbs. The hard part is getting the monkey Trapfinding, so you can offload all the dangerous work to a disposable minion.

[Inevitability]

The easiest way to have an "animal companion" that can pick locks is to use that Druid ACF that replaces your Animal Companion with a pseudo Familiar. Since Familiars can use your skills you pick a monkey as your "familiar" for the opposable thumbs. The hard part is getting the monkey Trapfinding, so you can offload all the dangerous work to a disposable minion.

If you've already found the traps (say, with your own trapfinding), you only need trapfinding to disable magic traps. Aka, the kind that can be negated with a single dispel. Melvin the Monkey can be assigned to any mundane stuff and for the rest you just buy a few cheap wands.

[vasilidor]

Human: rogue 2, Sorcerer 3, Fortunes Fool 5, Unseen Seer 10 Final caster level is sorcerer 15. Gets a lot of skill points and magic bridges the gap where your skills fall short. Luck feats are just a fun concept, some of them are actually decent.

[RNightstalker]

Fortunes Fool 5

Never heard of that one. Source?

[vasilidor]

Never heard of that one. Source?

Complete Scoundrel. It is a prestige class that is not actually that good, but I want it to be good. It winds up being an add on to an otherwise solid build.

[Wildstag]

Take Ranger, use the Solitary Hunter ACF and a broadly applicable Favored Enemy option, such as undead (or if your GM allows it... "Foreign merchants and clerics"), then get your bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls. Feats such as Power Attack and Favored Power Attack enhance your ability to do static damage. Build into a Leap Attack focus and you're a wonderful shock-trooping Ranger (without actually taking Shock trooper).

Alternatively, I'm a fan of Hengeyokai Warshapers, since with your first 4 levels in a full BAB class, your 5th level grants you critical hit immunity and sneak attack immunity, great attack options, and all with the ability to blend in with normal human scenes.

[Anthrowhale]

In a party with (say) a Wizard, a Cleric, and a Druid, playing a Spellthief can be pretty fun with cooperative allies. For any individual combat, if the party needs an extra wizard (for example), the Spellthief can oblige. And of course the Spellthief can potentially combo personal spells from multiple sources.

[RNightstalker]

Complete Scoundrel. It is a prestige class that is not actually that good, but I want it to be good. It winds up being an add on to an otherwise solid build.

I know of Fortune's Friend.

[vasilidor]

My brain registered it as "Fortune's Fool".

[Lorddenorstrus]

I mean, when I had a DM instead of being stuck as DM. The last fun character I played was Gestalt... and allowed pretty much anything. So I made a Warlock/Cleric that went into Eldritch Disciple//Crusader. Was a fun char. The crusader part probably wasn't necessary but the idea was a Melee Cleric and the Disciple let me slap Invocations to spells so I was able to basically Chain heal people from a huge range in case of emergency. Not.. exactly an optimized character concept in the grand scheme of power? But it was certainly an interesting character.

That's the thing 3.5... has just so many options it's impossible to think of and keep track of them all. Can do pretty much anything.

[Inevitability]

Something that came to mind, the musketball build I made for the E6 build competition.

It requires some adapting for a non-E6 environment, but the core idea is as simple as urban druid + any small sized race, and you get to drive a car around! Completely rules-legal!