Green Smashomancer |
What would you play?
I ask because I'll be playing a new campaign in a Homebrew setting, where arcane magic has disappeared because Nethys was killed, and the area we'll be starting in is a dense jungle. We start at level 7, gestalting is allowed, and (most*) monsters are too. I'd really like to make the most of my chance here, so I'd like any feed back the messageboards have to offer.
*most= Magical beast, Fey, Humanoid both monstrous and regular, and plants. Just need to be able to speak.
Green Smashomancer |
Maybe an Aasimar Cleric/Monk gestalt? Super SAD, and can have some nice "Wise Guru" theming. Or a Nymph who will proceed to take levels in Oradin. So many options available, I can't decide! That's why I wanted to see what someone would want to do given these circumstances, I might miss a really great option.
Deadmanwalking |
Natural Weretiger Cleric/Ranger, probably Human. 9 level casting, a full Animal Companion with the Boon Companion Feat, a base Strength of 25 or so when you like (despite leaving it at 10 via point-buy, if you like), 6 + Int mod skill points per level, DR 10/Silver, a total of a level 6 character by the standard rules including the CR adjustment, Pounce, Favored Enemy and Favored Terrain, all the wilderness lore and skills you could want, and some pretty awesome thematics depending on your precise build. Makes a fabulous switch-hitter and damn effective caster.
Green Smashomancer |
In order:If you want to go Aasimar, then I suggest Angel-Blooded Aasimar Wood Oracle.
First, I ask:
What books are available?
What races are available?
What is the point buy?
Basically, go nuts, but if you want reliable numbers, lets say 25 point-buy.
Mysterious Stranger |
If you are in a jungle environment where arcane magic does not work a druid is going to be your best bet. Not only will they have the spells, and abilities to do well in the jungle, they also have a lot of more blast spells than the cleric. If you gestalt with a monk you can completely dump charisma and concentrate on wisdom and physical stats. Wild shape into a gorilla to become large, and the boost to your physical stats even further.
You may want to look at an Oread as they get a bonus to both strength and wisdom.
Green Smashomancer |
make a cannibal jungle dwelling druid/monk Halfling..have various tribal masks to denote what aspect of nature he is currently embodying. And have sharp filed teeth.
creep the hell outta people with wild eyed staring at their yummy calves.
Funny thing, Halflings are cannibals in this setting, save for the ones on the coast-line, who are pirates. Scarred Witch Doctor would be great, but aren't they arcane casters?
Hmmm... decisions...
Deadmanwalking |
So, for Human Weretiger Ranger/Cleric 6:
Str 13/25, Dex 18, Con 10/19, Int 10, Wis 19 (+2 Weretiger, +1 level), Cha 10 (-2 Weretiger),
Feats: Power Attack, Rapid Shot, Multishot, Deadly Aim, Boon Companion, 1 more Feat of your choice.
Does the standard switch hitter thing, but with natural attacks, not a sword. Has an Adaptive bow to take advantage of his Strength, and an Amulet of Mighty Fists for melee. Wears a Mithral Breastplate. Not a lot of HP when not transformed, but should always be transformed in combat.
For skills, has maxed out ranks in Perception, Survival, Stealth, Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Religion) and one other of your choice, plus a single rank in six others (rounding out most of the class skills).
Go with whatever deity you like, though Erastil or Gozreh seem most appropriate. Grab either buffing or offensive casting spells, your choice.
Green Smashomancer |
But, like I asked, are witches arcane casters? One of the major themes is a lack of Arcane magic. Never considered playing a Halfling before, but "psycho midget" is the only way I can think of playing one.
Was I just hallucinating, or is there actually a way to get dex and wis to hit and damage? At this point I'm just curious.
Deadmanwalking |
But, like I asked, are witches arcane casters? One of the major themes is a lack of Arcane magic. Never considered playing a Halfling before, but "psycho midget" is the only way I can think of playing one.
Witches are indeed arcane casters. If you want to go with the whole 'crazy witch doctor' thing, though, you could easily go Juju or Nature Oracle. Those are Divine, have much of the same flavor, and take advantage of the Halfling Charisma bonus.
Ashtathlon |
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He does not need to be crazy...just in it to win it.:)
Do a lot of talking to plants and trees and such, and explain that's why he eats only meat..any meat, he respects the plants to much.
toss dirt in the air to ward off evil spirits...shake a magic stick at enemies before combat, have fun with the character and setting, I am sure you can make a very nasty non arcane character with this.
Hell multiclass druid and barbarian for a real ball of Halfling nastiness.
I have always approached characters not from the number side first but from the concept side, and how I will interact with the other players, that was always more important for me..but hey have fun. :)
Deadmanwalking |
Giving that Weretiger build a look-through, it reminds me of the importance of somethingthropes in the setting, I may have to use that for sheer story reasons.
On the other hand, crazy midget wearing nothing but bones.
Well...you can't do a Tiger, but a Halfling were-creature is doable. It'd need to be something Medium as opposed to Large, but it's very doable, and the best of both worlds in some ways.
Malisai |
My Hexcrafter is Minatan (so, from a rain-forest island) to justify his Wayang Spellhunter trait. He uses a scimitar (like most magi) but his is essentially a weaponized machete. He's a tiefling, too, and from a cannibal culture. Something about the inherent cruelty didn't sit well with him (so he's CN, not CE) and he set out on his own.
Deadmanwalking |
Mechanically, of Medium Animals, I think you're best of going with Leopard...which also makes cannibalism make sense. But komodo dragon is pretty darn awesome thematically (and would combine well with something like a Greatsword).
Sadly, this build should probably not be Druid-based, since Wild Shape and lycanthropy don't go well together. Cleric with Barbarian or Ranger is solid, though, and can maintain the same thematics pretty easily.
Deadmanwalking |
Of course as a Druid he could just turn into a komodo and eat people..i guess it would boil down to the stat crunching, that's not my bag though. :)
maybe some kind of komodo totem or somesuch.
Well, it really comes down to does he want to turn into all kinds of animals with magic, or be a were-creature, with all that implies societally as well as the whole being vulnerable to silverthing and the hybrid form as well as animal form.
Malisai |
Dagnabit, I read the OP too fast and missed the lack of arcane. Poor Nethys. Anyway, he's an existing character.
In the absence of details about Minata, I made up a culture for him to come from. It is a tiefling-dominated "society" that exists, for the most part, on the other side of an island from a "Booty Bay" type settlement where retired pirates tend to spend the rest of their days. The tieflings raid from time to time to eat more and to diversify the gene pool. When their children don't manifest tiefling-ness by their 19th birthdays, they are sacrificed and eaten.
So the character could only work as a fighter (no magic to focus on, huh?) or, if the GM allows witches to work normally (since, in Malisai's tribe, that is the primary source of arcane magic), and allows hexcrafters to work by extension, a hexcrafter magus.
I really enjoy the image of a tribe of tiefling head-hunter/cannibals, though. A bone through a nose here, a tiger-skin cloak there... Even if your GM doesn't allow exceptions to the no-arcane rule, the culture is still a good start-point.
blackbloodtroll |
Arcane magic is GONE in this setting, BBT. No Bards, Witches, Summoner's, etc.
Green Smashomancer wrote:I ask because I'll be playing a new campaign in a Homebrew setting, where arcane magic has disappeared because Nethys was killed
That does not invalidate my question.
Nethys has no control over the existence of arcane magic.
Azten |
Azten wrote:Arcane magic is GONE in this setting, BBT. No Bards, Witches, Summoner's, etc.
Green Smashomancer wrote:I ask because I'll be playing a new campaign in a Homebrew setting, where arcane magic has disappeared because Nethys was killedThat does not invalidate my question.
Nethys has no control over the existence of arcane magic.
In the setting in question he obviously did.
Deadmanwalking |
No arcane, but divine works fine. I like the komodo thing. would we need to come up with racial adjustments for a were-komodo? And I think the GM in question would allow arcane based SLA's.
All Were-Creatures get +2 Wis, -2 Char (which stacks on top of the normal Halfling Charisma boost tomeke the total racial mods -2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Wis).
As a were-monitor lizard, he'll have three forms: Halfling, which will have no physical stat mods beyond the standard Halfling Dex bonus, as well as hybrid and animal forms,in which his base stats will be Str 19, Dex 15, and Con 19 or his halfling-form stats, whichever are higher. So, if he has Str 10, Dex 18, Con 12 in halfling form, then in hybrid form he'll have Str 19, Dex 18, Con 19.
Most enhancements (ie: belt, spells, rage, etc.) should apply to both sets, though level-up points and Tomes will not apply to the Hybrid or animal form stats. Which does let you not worry too much about Str and Con and still be, say, a terrifying man eating Halfling Barbarian/Cleric.
You'll also gain a bite attack (with poison and grab), scent, a +5 NA bonus, DR 10/silver, 30 ft movement, Swim 30 ft, a +4 racial mod to Stealth(+8 in undergrowth), and become Medium sized, all only in hybrid or animal form. Gear merges with the animal form, becoming useless, but stay and remain useful as normal in Hybrid Form.
Deadmanwalking |
Well. Cannibal were-Halfling Oracle is growing on me, What would be a good curse to go with? I think Nature or Wood Mystery is the obvious choice.
What other Class are you going with? It matters, especially for Curse.
And there's also the Juju Mystery if you like, that's kind of a 'Hollywood Voodoo' style Mystery, and so might be appropriate. Also, the Lunar mystery is very were-creature-y, though some of its abilities will not stack well with being an actual were-creature, I suppose.
Deadmanwalking |
I'm leaning towards Ranger, I think. Everyone in the group has payed one so far, so, this looks like as good a place for my turn as any. Although, Ranger doesn't really do it for me thematically.
Then go with something else. Mechanics are cool, but theme trumps them. I'g go Barbarian, as Ashtathlon suggests, though that's probably a step up mechanics-wise...
Green Smashomancer |
Unseen Lizardfolk looks like a great fit for this campaign, but there's one problem. I'm playing a lizardfolk in a separate campaign. They're my favorite race, but I should branch out more, shouldn't I? And just got the word, the cannibal halflings have a wis + dex bonus, no str penalty, and a Cha penalty.
Deadmanwalking |
Unseen Lizardfolk looks like a great fit for this campaign, but there's one problem. I'm playing a lizardfolk in a separate campaign. They're my favorite race, but I should branch out more, shouldn't I? And just got the word, the cannibal halflings have a wis + dex bonus, no str penalty, and a Cha penalty.
Well in that case, mechanically, you should go Cleric instead of Oracle. Cleric can still work for the shaman thing quite well, actually. Since, as a Were-creature you'd wind up with +2 Dex, +4 Wis, -4 Chr.