20th-level One-off, need a character concept


Advice


A buddy is visiting town, and wants to run a 20th-level one-off. We've got 5 players, and we're trying to put together the party.

I know the game will require heavy combat skills, but will also require some info-gathering/diplo-type work up front.

So far, we've got a Druid, and Inquisitor, a Magus, and possibly another arcane caster - sorceror, most likely.

So that's two divine casters, and two arcane casters, with a fair amount of combat ability strewn in. What's missing?


A paladin, or an arcane archer concept could both be interesting ones, especially if you are allowed the Ultimate Combat Called Shots Mechanic. Fireball to the head anyone?


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What you are really lacking is a 20th level commoner optimized for minature pet pig ranching.

Actually, is ranching correct or is it just farming for pigs? hmm...


Before I saw the party I as going to suggest. Barbarian/Sorceror/Dragon Disciple but you might want to go with some sort of uber warrior to stand out.

Liberty's Edge

I love a good 20th-level one-off. I recommend going with a full base class, as you almost never get a chance to use those crazy 20th level capstone abilities. The master invisibility of a Ninja, the immortality of a monk of the four winds, etc.

I would like to give special mention to the monk of the healing hand archetype - although generally regarded as a less-than-stellar monk archetype, it's 20th level capstone ability might be the perfect thing for a one-shot. It is, after all, usable only once...

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16

brreitz wrote:

I love a good 20th-level one-off. I recommend going with a full base class, as you almost never get a chance to use those crazy 20th level capstone abilities. The master invisibility of a Ninja, the immortality of a monk of the four winds, etc.

I would like to give special mention to the monk of the healing hand archetype - although generally regarded as a less-than-stellar monk archetype, it's 20th level capstone ability might be the perfect thing for a one-shot. It is, after all, usable only once...

I totally agree with Brreitz, this is one of those FEW opportunities to make use of capstones!

If you're really trying for a crazy-optimized build, though, you will have to multiclass/dip. Here are some ideas i've had recently that are insanely good at 20th level:

-A halfling vivisectionist alchemist sniper. You start with one level of fighter to get weapon and armor proficiencies, then go Viv alchemist for the other 19 levels. Your feats are standard for longbow fighting (Point blank->Precise->Rapid Shot->Manyshot->Focused shot....) and your discoveries should definitely include wings, extend potion, eternal potion and greater and grand mutagen (using Dex mutagens). Then you find a potion of Greater Invisibility (has to be created by a summoner since it's 3rd level on their list) and use it with your eternal potion ability and alchemical allocation to get permanent greater invisibility. Then you fly up above your enemies and rain down tons of arrows, all with sneak damage 10d6 since you're invisible. You can even use a discovery to get tumor familiar and then Improved Familiar it into something that can cast wands for you.

-A human crossblooded sorcerer/dragon disciple with a 1-level dip in Alchemist. This one focuses completely on strength bonus. You can see the full build here: http://www.the-ush.com/index.php?topic=3744.0

SO MANY OTHERS! PM me if you want more!


Fighter 1/Wizard 5/Eldritch Knight 10/Arcane Archer 4

Because when you have a chance to cast 9th level spells and have a 17 BAB, you take it.

You can have your buffs up....and if you don't for some reason, you can cast time stop and put em up! Plus you'll provide ranged support, backup arcane casting (and the versatility the Sorc is probably missing), as well as outdamaging the rest of your group in all likelihood.


Find the 20th level capstone you'd most like to finally for once in your life actually get to play with, and pick whatever class it happens to be attached to.

Ninja is a horrifically weak class, almost as much as rogue is, but you can't deny...the ability to be a true ninja unseen by anything...is pretty awesome. For example.


I'm partial to the Samurai myself and I think the capstone is ubercinematic, especially if there's a huge battle going on around you while you face off against your hated foe.

Of course for me, half the fun of playing a one off is making the character in the first place so put together something fun and colorful to play because no one is going to care if some other class could do an extra 5% damage per round or whatever.


Samurai's 20th level ability is terrible. Very poorly executed. The other guys can still beat you down, they just have to leave the finishing blow for their master to deliver, and you can't even fight back against them. Would've been better if it worked like... "You gain DR 20/-- (DR = class level)and SR 30 (10 + class level) against any attacks or harmful spells not from the foe you challenged. You may not attack anyone but the foe you chalenged on your turn or with normal AoOs, however, any creature other than your challenge that attacks you provokes an attack from you, resolved before his. These attacks do not count as AoOs."
Something like that to actually make you an undaunting, unstoppable force out to take down your hated foe. Instead...we got what is in UC.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Try this halfling sorceress on for size. She's partial to earth spells and can turn almost anyone to stone (CL 33 to bypass SR and the worst of two saves against DC 35) as many times a day as needed (spell perfection and echo spell ensures she never runs out of flesh to stone).

Shapechange (which can be stretched to over 24 hours with her spell slots) along with limited wish and her captsone ability to use her own spell slots to charge MORE POWERFUL wands and staves gives her nigh unlimited versatility.

If I could afford it, I would have given her a "staff of wishful thinking" (limited wish and wish) which, with her captsone, would have meant unlimited wishes for free, but alas, not even 20th-level characters can have everything.

Her clones, ring of delayed doom, and myriad of ongoing spells practically ensures that whatever fate befalls her is one of her choosing.


Ravingdork wrote:
Try this halfling sorceress on for size.

Fixed his link for him.

Also, Ravingdork, your halfling has 2 items that occupy the head slot, Hat of Disguise, and Circlet of Persuasion.


Recently our local roleplaying society had a 24-hour event over a weekend... the game I played in was split between 12 hours of a 20th-level 'group' (I say group; we didn't work together, we just happened to be in the same country at the same time) of evil players, and 12 subsequent hours of a heroic 17th-level party trying to undo the damage. Creating the characters was pretty hilarious... if your game is not that serious you could try something like my L20 dwarf antipaladin who conjured sweet baked goods to use as grenades under the alchemist bomb rules... apple pies of 10d6 damage are great against clerics :P

More than that, being able to use all the abilities was pretty awesome; I think I calculated that if this antipaladin had Smited a good outsider while channeling negative energy through his +5 conductive keen hasted greatsword, he could do 1500 damage per round max... without even critting. If you've never played L20 before (which I hadn't) it's insanely fun just to see the size of the stats you get...O.o

(Of course, my L17 good character was a human paladin who conjured savoury baked goods, especially explosive sausage rolls :P)


StreamOfTheSky wrote:

Samurai's 20th level ability is terrible. Very poorly executed. The other guys can still beat you down, they just have to leave the finishing blow for their master to deliver, and you can't even fight back against them. Would've been better if it worked like... "You gain DR 20/-- (DR = class level)and SR 30 (10 + class level) against any attacks or harmful spells not from the foe you challenged. You may not attack anyone but the foe you chalenged on your turn or with normal AoOs, however, any creature other than your challenge that attacks you provokes an attack from you, resolved before his. These attacks do not count as AoOs."

Something like that to actually make you an undaunting, unstoppable force out to take down your hated foe. Instead...we got what is in UC.

The main point of the capstone isn't that the minions can't kill you - it's that all their attacks do minimum damage unless they crit (which as a samurai you can spend a use of resolve to ignore). I like the picture of the samurai wading through battle and all of the minions only able to nick and scratch him. If you do couple it with any sort of damage resistance then it becomes really mechanically effective.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Tels wrote:
Also, Ravingdork, your halfling has 2 items that occupy the head slot, Hat of Disguise, and Circlet of Persuasion.

As per the parenthetical reference, the hat is rarely worn (for exactly that reason).

Thanks for fixing the link.


Humphey Boggard wrote:
The main point of the capstone isn't that the minions can't kill you - it's that all their attacks do minimum damage unless they crit (which as a samurai you can spend a use of resolve to ignore). I like the picture of the samurai wading through battle and all of the minions only able to nick and scratch him. If you do couple it with any sort of damage resistance then it becomes really mechanically effective.

a) It only protects against weapon attacks, not spells or Su. This is TWENTIETH LEVEL.

b) Nothing prevents your cowardly challenge target from running circles around you as his minions whittle your health away, then when you're nearly dead, lob a magic missile at you. The level to which you become nearly helpless against other enemies is just pathetic.
c) Even IF your foes only have weapon attacks, minimum damage at that level is likely to look something like: "2d6+25 damage. So...you take 27. Darn."
d) If your challenge target's minions make a meat wall between himself and you, you cannot do anything without ending your last stand. A Bull Rush or Over Run is an attack.
e) The minions could even try combat maneuvers to disarm, trip, grapple, sunder, etc... you. You can't AoO them to prevent it, and no matter how high your CMD is, a 20 auto succeeds. Basically, any ability that requires you to completely remove your ability to fight back against people trying to kill you is dumb.


I'd like to put together a 20th level Tetori. Them are scary.


Ravingdork wrote:
Tels wrote:
Also, Ravingdork, your halfling has 2 items that occupy the head slot, Hat of Disguise, and Circlet of Persuasion.

As per the parenthetical reference, the hat is rarely worn (for exactly that reason).

Thanks for fixing the link.

Ya, I caught that, but I wanted to point it out in case anyone else missed it.

If I can get a party high enough level, I may just use her as a BBEG. I think it would be kind of Evil to design a dungeon that makes it obvious a Medusa lives there, and have her pretend to be a captive in her own dungeon. Use Wish to make a Simulacrum of herself, and have it disguise itself as a stunted Medusa, and then have her hit them in the back.


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Here's a really fun fire-sorcerer blaster: She'er Falen

In addition to a lot of the versatility that Yiankun shows, this beautiful ifrit can transform just about anything into anything else, cast time stop to summon armies, and quickly blast her enemies apart with a pair of exploding doves or roast them slowly within a clinging ring of fire.


Ravingdork the link is broken.


Ravingdork wrote:

Here's a really fun fire-sorcerer blaster: She'er Falen

In addition to a lot of the versatility that Yiankun shows, this beautiful ifrit can transform just about anything into anything else, cast time stop to summon armies, and quickly blast her enemies apart with a pair of exploding doves or roast them slowly within a clinging ring of fire.

Fixed!


Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

What is wrong with me!?


You typed 'a' instead of 's' in She'er's name in the link :P

Don't worry, I got you.


How about the Rogue capstone? A lot of 20th level villains are likely to be high level casters, many of which aren't suited to dealing with plain-old non-magical stealth, especially the stealth of a rogue that's been boosted like there's no tomorrow.

Stealth up to our friendly villainous wizard, sneak attack him, and from there, find out if the fort save of a primary caster is enough to avoid instant death.

Then again, that strategy risks either failing spectacularly or finishing the villain immediately and being anticlimactic/unexciting for the others, so it might actually be a no-win situation.


if you like using class mechanics for diplomacy and that, take a witch, with lvl 20 you've got forced reincarnation as punishment and summon spirit to double (or times a hundred) the number of people you can speak with.
Unbreakable fighter is immune to mind affecting thinigs at lvl 20. Not to be sneezed at.
The right alchemist can be crazy powerful, but you risk going the munchking way.
Vanilla summoner with twin eidolon should be crazy strong aswell.

I would go with scout+ninja, sap master and inflict 20 points of ability damage per attack, that should nerf everyone to lvl you can manage and is probably a hell of a lot of fun to play.


TWF Kukri-wielding Paladin. Go one-shot a Pit Fiend. ;)
All the Diplomacy you need right there.

Though, if I could be lvl 20 for a day, Oracle of Bones all the way. That's got to be my favorite capstone in the game.


A 20th level summoner could be interesting. Build a pouncing eidolon with lots of attacks, then use twin form to become a copy of it. Add some teamwork feats, and boom. Charging death.


Bobson wrote:
A 20th level summoner could be interesting. Build a pouncing eidolon with lots of attacks, then use twin form to become a copy of it. Add some teamwork feats, and boom. Charging death.

have one eidolon be a mount, while the other one rides it and have spirited charge lance goodness!!!!

EDIT: i don't really know the capstone summoner ability, but you could totally get enough arms and enough lances to pounce with the max number of attacks with 2handed wielded lances if you can make them both separate.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2013

Party makeup aside, I'd play a witch that pimps out the suffocation spell.

If you're looking for a heavy beater, I'd pick a ranger and tailor his design to whatever you know about the upcoming adventure, and consider making him celestial for that big smite with Improved Crit.

Summoners are awesome at 20. Antipaladins might be the most damaging character available. And I really like the Master Chymyst with a cestus.

Scarab Sages RPG Superstar 2013

I never got to play that illithid body tamer.......

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