In 10 days time, I'm about to begin what seems to be a homebrew drow campaign in Faerun. In short, we're starting in the period where Lolth has gone silent and are a part of a 5000 strong drow army marching against an army of duergar dwarves.
The group consists of:
Ninja (Backstabby/Butterfly's Sting)
Ranger (Reach weapon with x3 modifier to get use of Butterfly's Sting, animal companion)
Fighter/Duelist (Crane style feats, super high AC and touch later on)
Kensai Magus (Dervish dance, crane style feats, high AC and touch from the getgo and great dmg all around)
Cleric/Gray Warden (Just a good allrounder, buffs and dmg)
Wizard (Me)
Thing is, I've never actually played a wizard as a character before, I'm usually some variety of a dmg dealer, be it fighter, barbarian or the like - hence me asking for advice. Here's very roughly what I've thought of so far:
Character draft:
Male Drow Conjurer (Teleportation) 5
NE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +5
DEFENSE AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+0 armor, +3 Dex, +0 Natural, +0 deflection, +0 Shield , +0 dodge)
hp 38 (5d6+12+4)
Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +3 (+1,6/+1,6/+4,5)
STATISTICS Str 8, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 23(21), Wis 10, Cha 12
Base Atk +2,5; CMB +1; CMD 14
Feats: Additional Traits, Magical Aptitude, Spell Focus: Conjuration, Augment Summonings; Traits: Magical Lineage(?), Survivor, Convincing Liar, Honeyed Tongue;
Skills: Havent decided yet, but planning on the knowledge skills, maxing arcane, planes, local. I plan on picking up bluff, diplomacy and sense motive, so he can maneuver well socially. Might be stupid idea though, let me know.
The character himself: Unlike most drow his raison d'etre isn't gaining influence and power through all means possible. It's merely a means to an end - What he truly wishes for is overthrowing Lolth, as the dominating god, along with the inane powerstruggles and matriarchy.
He believes in a society more like some of the surface races. Where there's more equality, as everyone has their place and functions. He wishes that one day, drows focus on excelling in their area of expertise, and more importantly, focuses on the prosperity of the race as a whole.
He will stop at nothing to achieve this, and since drow society is what it is, he must play by their rules.
I plan on taking up the Arcane Savant prc, as that can make me very self sufficient. What I need is a wizard who excels in 1v1 or even 1vX combat, since this is a drow campaign, and with my characters "life mission", he's an obvious candidate for being backstabbed at some point, which most likely 'will' occur from NPC and/or players alike - since they've all made them sadistic CE bastards who revel in the society. ;)
I'm interested in other builds or variations of this, feats, must-have spells, creative uses of spells (as the GM seems to like stuff like that) and what ever else you can offer. ;)
Usually minions, summons or enviromental hazards is they way to go to make nice battles - like the invisible cleric (great idea). However, following normal rules, for single powerful enemies that should be able to put up an epic fight vs 7 PCs, is usually gonna rofl stomp players because he's too deadly, or other way around.
Mythic levels can give some good survivability, if focused on defense, thus giving the BBEG the much needed staying power, without having to gain tonnes of firepower. Lastly, the possibility of an extra standard action via Amazing Initiative tips the scales a little bit more into the BBEGs favor.
Also, purely subjective, selfmade "boss templates"/tweaks is a really good way to make solid single NPC encounters. As evilnerf said, max hitpoints is a good idea. Hell, double it even, if need be. Extra standard action at -10 ini and something in the line of mythic saves - just only vs save or suck spells/abilities (these last two will be hard for some to swallow, so ask players if they're good with it). But nothing sucks more, as a GM (subjectively), than having a nice fight, and character, planned out to have it ruined with a fumbled save feeblemind or hold person. :p I call it artistic freedom! ;)
Master of Many Styles of the Sacred Mountain + Brawler. Requires you to be in light armor, since you will most likely find your wisdom lacking to make it work - and you will get access to the brawling enhancement that can only be put on light armor.
MoMSotSM for 1 to 8 levels, depending on build, rest brawler. You can then use Dragon Style and Crane Style simultaneously, which will make you decent, not great, but decent. AC will be average or slightly below, but that's what crane style is for and damage will be decent. ;)
If you chose to get 8 levels of monk instead of 1-3, the benefit is more or less, 3 styles active instead of 2, better saves, 20 ft faster unhasted speed and more of that unarmed damage. Going for 3 levels over just 1 nets you toughness, saves, +1 free natural armor bonus, 10 ft faster unhasted speed and access to monastic training. 1 level dip nets you good starter saves, fuse style, which is good, and earlier investment into brawler, which means more damage.
And off-topic, high strength doesn't necessarily mean that the char HAS to be the hulk. You can handwave various, while far fetched (unlike magic...), explanations for it.
So, just using this existing thread for these questions:
1) How does a magus (myrmidarch) use ranged spellstrike to cast a spell when it's clearly spell combat that allow's a magus to cast a spell while attacking in the first place? Is this an oversight on the devs part?
2) Assuming they CAN use spell combat with a bow: How does ranged spell strike work exactly? Let's have lvl 11 myrmidarch, with his +8/+3 BAB, using ranged spell strike with scorching ray.
Can he use rapid shot to fire three scorching ray loaded arrows at BAB +6/+6/+1? or is he stuck at +8/+3 (since ranged spellstrike doesn't, afaik, provide the free attack that normal spellstrike does)?
Any clarification of this would be appreciated. ;)
Str 10 Dex 18 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 18 Cha 7
Truespeaker alt racial, +2 sense motive and linguistics and learn 2/1 languages
Spoiler:
Unarmed Fighter Archetype, MoMS Monk Archetype
Feat:1,3,5,7,9,11
Feat bonus: 1,2 fighter, one can be any style no prereqs. Monk, 1, 2, 6, 10 can all be style, no prereqs. Max sense motive, max acrobatics.
Needs: Combat Reflexes, Weapon Finesse, Snake Style, Snake Fang, Panther Style, Panther Claw, Panther Parry, Snake Sidewind kinda maybe.
Off topic and spoilerfied, as it doesn't really provide anything to the monk tactics part:
Spoiler:
Correct me if I'm wrong - it's a very nice defensive build, but doesn't it basically make the monk useless if he's ignored? Even with those AoOs he's gonna be hitting like a wet noodle. A very big unpleasant wet noodle that leaves small bruises, granted. ;) I'll admit system mastery ain't my forte, but if you can't do damage, battlefield control or buffs/healing, then you're borderline useless.
A synthesist focusing on unarmed will do that better (when using natural attacks or weapons it gets way ahead), decent dmg and nice spells to boot. A 2h fighter can do that better, due the the plethora of feats he gains, that grants good versatility from 2h being very light on feat reqs. Clerics too - though, wont hit harder, but his versatility via spells beats the monks by huge amounts.
Only way of making an unarmed unarmored martial character that can hold his own maneuver/utility-, damage- and "tankingwise" (aka being an actual threat and able to take the heat) is to either dip in the monk and go other class or choosing another class entirely. Unless your only real "schtick" is gonna be moving around really fast, flank and pour potions into fallen comrades. Then the monk is great. :p Point is, as a player I don't feel the monk has anything but speed going for it. I would really like to know how to build a monk that does good damage, has decent defense, hit's reliably and performs maneuvers well.
It's like these "monk's are so great" builds focus on one thing and become good at it. But they seem to forget that the fighter who wants to do the same, can mostly do it better, easier and most likely while being decent at other stuff too. Or am I wrong here? :)
Ability bonus stacking is not the right way to go imo, as that can lead to terrible terrible damage via broken ability stacking. What the monk needs, again just my opinion, is really static bonuses (boni?), much like the weapon training of fighters, and less MADness. ;)
Quick fix/suggestions, but far from polished:
1. Wisdom in place of, and functioning as, strength in regards to hit/damage. Negative strength still subtracts. Could be debated if it should be counted as strength in regards to feats, or even just style feats, as style feats such as the Dragon Style chain would be unavailable to the monk due to the 15 strength requirement.
2. Flurry of Blows simply being the TWF feats for free.
3. Full BAB, at the very least in regards to feats.
4. Monk weapon training (unarmed and all monk weapons) at: 4th level, +1 hit/damage every 4th level. And if it's not changed to full BAB class; +1 hit/damage every 4th level when flurrying and +2 hit/damage when making a single attack, making the mobility of the monk not only useful in beautiful art of running away really fast, but also makes a single attack worthwhile (and able to hit!)! ;) Attack roll maneuvers might become a problem when making them as a standard action. Could be specified only to work with damaging attacks... Buut it's iffy ultimately and needs some work.
5. Abundant step as a move action at most and able to perform remaining actions after. Could later become a swift action, free or with the use of more ki points - but might be overpowered along with the other buffs. ;)
6. Master Arminas' 'Monastic Skill Training', skill options are always great and those actually makes sense.
7. More options to the monk bonus feats. ;)
8. Proficiency in all monk weapons, including exotic.
9. Monk unarmed should top out at 2d8 at most, prefferably 2d6, lest large monks will cause many fighter tears. We don't want that, just balance.
10 Fix AoMF in multiple ways, though mainly making unarmed attacks actually enchanted, or make a new monk specific one - it's a quick errata.
11. Possibly more 5 foot steps available.
Some of these should give the monk some combat ability close to that of the fighter, but without outperforming him damagewise or in sheer combat versatility via feats and multiple weapon training groups. However, this was just made up on the fly and needs tweaking, as I'm sure it's not that well balanced. ;)
Imo, 20 point buy and 3 players + animal companion should be fine. The original AP is quite easy. If you absolutely need more, then perhaps have them run into a tortured unfettered eidolon that needs to have the burning mark removed, possibly by a ritual or side Q of sorts. Hell, could even be the slain unicorns eidolon (it was a unicorn, but also a summoner! What a twist!... -.- ). :b
Said ritual could end up with players permanently losing HP equal to their con modifier, but the Eidolon ends up partially bound to all three, giving them an eidolon, but without the summoner abilities and share spells, but Eidolon heals as a player does. This should give them more than enough of a boost in both power, pawns and action economy to deal with standard KM AP imo. ;)
But it requires people to delve into the summoner eidolon rules, which many aren't that proficient with, so... Anyways, was just my take - godspeed to you, good sir!
I'm with those saying that if the threat of death should be there, and this is a great place to start! :p Simply follow normal rules - and since the dragon isn't evil per se, have the dragon simply leave after the combat.
If any character died fully in combat, let them stay dead. Those not stabilizing, dies. Those "lucky" enough to stabilize lives! Time to reroll new chars and integrate them in the campaign! :b
Better than a crossbow, sure; you hit a little easier, but basically same damage at initial levels. However, it quickly loses its appeal, though a swift teleport keeps getting more and more useful, as you can suddenly reposition yourself very easily, which can save lives. ;)
TLDR: I would stick with Teleportation subschool. ;) Though, it's personal preference. :p
Yep, these are great work - but I have a question in regards to the conversion made by GeneralChaos. Are they unable to be obtained in .doc format from google docs, or is it just me who's a complete retard? :)
EDIT: I'm simply asking as I like to add my own touch to it, and having it in word, already formatted, makes it alot easier. ;)
As soon as I read the rules for smite evil, I houseruled them differently, as the dmg potential was so damn high. It's now constant, and damage is somewhere between the +1 dmg per level and fighters WS/GWS+WT level vs evil, half that vs. neutral (intelligent beings) and none vs good. Doesn't ignore DR either. Sorry. :p
I know many will disagree with such changes, but for me has made DMing more fun, and doesn't make the paladin be the main DPS'er in the long run - have to share that spot with everyone else, more or less. Everyone needs their place to shine, and frankly, were I a melee fighter, I would be pissed having an archer paladin in the party, as he would get all the glory. So to speak. Also, as a sidenote, I note to max BBEGs HPs, sometimes even doubling them, if it makes the fight more epic. :P
As for the topic; yes, imo, paladins does too much 'selective' dmg in contrast to low monster HP in pathfinder - one slip up and your BBEG is done for. (And perhaps I think the dmg overall in pathfinder is too high, but that's another discussion entirely.)
