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Alright, presenting The Vacuum. He's pretty damn squishy, but as best I can tell he can take down each of the big bads, one after another, with absolutely no rest, even assuming all of the bad guys get 15s on their rolls, and he gets 5s. He took some work, and there were several places where I may have made mistakes, so please give feedback. This might not be entirely in the spirit of the competition, but I think by the RAW of this challenge, The Vacuum succeeds.

** spoiler omitted **...

Just curious, which eldritch heritages / bloodlines were used? (Couldnt find it in the spoiler text)

Also what does "G.A.R" stand for?

Sorry for the thread bump all!

I was actually looking at making Corvo as well, I'm starting a video game themed party (Have a belmont, Rydia summoner from final fantasy, Magus from Chrono Trigger, and Blanka) so I was going to play the rogue.

I'm torn if i should do arcane trickster and kill my BAB or if I should go a rogue/ninja build. Both build on corvo quite a bit.

Rogue provides the proficiency with hand crossbows & disable devices.

Ninja grants scores you access to the wakizashi (probably closest weapon to what Corvo uses) and also gives you Poison for your sleeping bolts. You also get Ghost step which could be the "blink" , Vanishing Trick & Invisible Blade help out quite a bit - and of course, "assassination" is pretty key.

As for the Summon rats or possession... I have no idea. This is where I'm torn - I mean a sorcerer can dominate monster/person and use dimension door.

Flavor wise you could easily RP Black Tentacles to look like the rat swarm since it would slow people down and damage them

Pretty torn lol

Low levels for dedicated casters is pretty brutal. Until you start getting more wands and spell slots you need to improvise , its why I get summon monster around level 3 so they have a bit of duration in a fight , or use a crossbow against unengaged enemies

A good plan for a tarrasque is hit it with retribution then feed as much you can to it as quickly as you can ;)

I guess a downside about using a familiar with a wand is fighting enemies with spell resistance

Cryage wrote:

Now THATS optimized ! Danke :)

I'll miss my +4 to my init for losing my scorpion though :(

Do any of the improved familiars grant this ?

Nope. None of the improved familiars grant any of the static bonuses BUT if you went with the beast bonded witch archetype they can give you something a LOT better at 10th level.

Kill yourself and jump into your familiar then track down a Quickling and Magic Jar into it. You are now rocking a permanent natural Dex of 24 for a +7 init that benefits from all of your other init boosters.

This is something I'll remember for my future witches ;) current one I'm about to roll up is based on Diablo 2's necromancer (doing a party of video game inspired characters)

Now THATS optimized ! Danke :)

I'll miss my +4 to my init for losing my scorpion though :(

Do any of the improved familiars grant this ?

Is that 22 unbuffed ? Get a belt of con or bears endurance to add another +2. Also getting rid of is sad :( I love that hex

OP, how high is your INT as well? What is the save for your hexes?

Keep in mind at level 10 you should be able to quicken Ill omen as well so evil eye turn 1 , turn 2 cackle for move if you have too , then quicken ill omen and bestow curse. This gives -8 to saves making almost anything land. So quicken another ill omen then major hex and win !

There is a feat which makes you celestial in your wild shape and if I recall you can get 1 smite a day with that .... On a pounce with 5 attacks as a dire lion, you can shut down a final boss really fast ;)

Edit: Planar wild shape , that's the name of it :)

Agile is a +1 enchat allows Dex to replace your damage instead of strength

Ooh!! Yeah I should have read it closer thought it was an actual race specific trait like the elf one that gives initiative, not an actual race trait...

Hmmm, may have to make my witch a samsaran to get boneshatter.

Anyway a good spell vs golems or high spell resistance enemies is caustic cloud

As a human could he take additional traits and select adopted trait and take the samsaran mystic past life trait (serious question, not sure if possible)

I remember looking at it back in high school and wasn't that impressed then. If i remember correctly, a lot of it was about the prefix/suffix to make weapons/items. There were some spells but were rather bland.

I think I'm going to lean towards using the Juju oracle for the neutral aligned undead (playing with a few good characters) - I know there was the errata but we're going to overlook it and keep them as neutral.

That being said, I'm wondering if anybody can help me align some spells to match abilities of the necromancer:

Amplify damage: Not sure what spell would work for this... Basically would let my party do more damage to a target (maybe even subbing a better chance to hit would work?) Thoughts anybody?

Dim vision: Blindness/Deafness curse works

Weaken: Bestow curse or even ray of enfeeblement works great

Iron Maiden: Again not sure... basically the Retribution Hex works perfectly for this, but cant find a spell that resembles something like this.

Terror: Fear... duh lol

COnfuse: THere is the obvious confusion spell , or even Bestow Curse (though confusion works better stylistically...)

Life tap: This basically acts as a leech spell - anybody who hits the target gets life back, like a vampiric touch - is there a mass buff I can give my allies or a debuff I can place on the target to reflect something like this?

Attract: Basically a monster hit by this becomes the target on his friends... probably a dominate spell would reflect this relatively well.

Lastly, Decrepify: Lowers the targets movement, attack speed, damage and physical resistance.. Yeah cant think of much that could do all of these in one casting... probably a fatigue/exhaustion spell (maybe waves of fatigue/exhaustion) Any suggestions?

After looking at all these, Witch almost seems the way to go and I should neglect the idea of animating undead and go the curse/poison route with a witch since they get poison/pernicious poison. Yeah... maybe i'll go witch

Our party has a member who has it... Its pretty amazing

Its good to get on those cheaper but awesome items like the ring of sustenance , frees up slots for things like ring of freedom movement or evasion and still get ring of prot

Ah bummer :( my party is mostly going go be good so spirit vessels was going to be my ace up the sleeve against the whole "but animated creatures are evil!!!"

Is there any way to take 2 mysteries so I can get both juju and bones?

Afternoon all!

I just wanted to get peoples thoughts on the matter, I've been thinking of creating the necromancer from diablo 2. I know this likely was talked about a few times but the most recent I could search was from 2011 and I knew new content has released since.

I'm toying with the options of either oracle (juju) or the witch. Witch seems logical because they can get animate undead with plague and the hexes would resemble the curses quite a bit. I also like the oracle because their in dead aren't evil but rather neutral...

Just wondering if anybody has any feedback or could refer me to any threads I may have missed :)

Thanks !

Doesn't he cease to be a wolf after a certain point? Correct me if wrong but in Twilight Princess being a dire wolf wasn't really an ability for him, but a curse - and touching the master sword removed the curse from him

This is what I've narrowed it down too:

Classes/Archtypes:
FIGHTER with the Lore Warden Archtype, I figure Link studies his opponents to learn how to overcome them

Race: Half elf with Ancestral Arms training in the Boomerang

Traits: Reactionary (Yay +2 initiative), Nimble Fingers - Keen mind (Disable device class skill... he IS a dungeon crawler after all ;) ).

We're doing Shattered Star so we can also pick a campaign trait - I picked Maestro of the society for 3 more rounds of bardic performance.

20 point buy for stats:
14 - Strength (5 points)
15 - Dexterity (7 points)
13 - Constitution (3 points)
13 - Intellect (3 points)
10 - Wisdom (0 points)
12 - Charisma (2 points)

Half elf, I put +2 attribute to Strength.

BARD with the Archivist Archtype - again uses his knowledge to beat them. Also gives him training for his Ocarina and gives him some abilities with it for some versatility.

Level 1 - Fighter
Feats (base) - Weapon Focus: Longsword, Fighter Feat - Shields (lose it for being a Lore Warden, However, DM is letting me retrain this feat to DODGE when I get my 1st level of bard, which brings us too...)

Level 2 - Bard (SHIELDS ARE NOW BACK and level 1 fighter feat is now Dodge). This unlocks a TON of skills to be class skills (Use magic device, perception, perform). Bard knowledge, cantrips, countersong, distraction, fascinate - and Naturalist (Archivist archtype ability, awesome party wide buff that is Insight bonus)

Level 3 - Fighter level 2 - Took point blank shot as my fighter feat. Bravery is replaced with Combat expertise from the archtype.
Base feat is Quick Draw

Level 4 - Bard level 2 - as an archivist I get lore master (take 20 knowledge check 1/day - important for later abilities), and magic lore - disable device as a rogue. WOO - Stat point here is +1 int.

Level 5 - Fighter level 3 - Maneuver Master +2 CMB/CMD (archtype)
Base feat - Weapon Focus: Boomerang

Level 6 - Fighter level 4 - bonus feat precise shot

Level 7 - Fighter level 5 - Weapon training - heavy blades.
Base feat - Mobility (we see where this is going ;) ).

Level 8 - Fighter level 6 - bonus feat - deadly aim (reasoning for this soon to follow - see equipment trick @ level 10).

Level 9 - Fighter level 7 - Know thy enemy ability (archtype) - this is why the lore master is important. Maneuver Mastery goes up to +4/+4 for CMB/CMD
Base feat - Weapon specialization - longsword

Level 10 - Fighter level 8 - bonus feat: equipment trick: Boomerang. right now I'm working out some equipment tricks with my DM, but please see very bottom for suggestions we're working on (wouldn't mind input/ideas as well :D).

Level 11 - Fighter level 9 - Weapon training , Thrown +1/+1 & Heavy blades +2/+2
Base feat - Leadership - Pixie (druid) who's animal companion will be a warhorse (buff my current warhorse to be Epona)

Level 12 - Fighter level 10 - Bonus feat - Improved trip (see below for equipment trick idea - if DM approves I will keep this feat).

Level 13 - Fighter level 11, Hair's Breadth (archtype)avoid taking a crit with acrobatic check. - Maneuver Mastery goes to +6 for CMD/CMB
Base feat - Close Quarter thrower (I picture me getting tied up with an enemy and seeing another foe approaching an ally and I throw my boomerang at it and do an equipment trick to slow it down).

Level 14 - Fighter 12 - Bonus feat: Greater weapon focus Longsword

Level 15 - Fighter 13 - Weapon training bows +1/+1 , Thrown +2/+2, Heavy blades +3/+3
Base feat - Spring attack

Level 16 - Fighter 14 - Know they enemy as a swift action, Bonus feat - greater weapon specalization: longsword

Level 17 - Bard 3 (back to bard), Inspire competence +2
Base feat - WHIRLWIND (Took awhile to get here, wanted it sooner but the problem is I feel if i focused on this too early, I would get bored - i'd rather have the versatility of the boomerang and equipment tricks it can bring).

Level 18 - bard 4 - 2nd level bard spells

Level 19 - bard 5 - naturalist bonus goes to +2 (fairly moot at this point, but buffs are buffs), Jack of all trades
Base feat - still deciding.

Level 20 - Fighter 15 - Maneuver Mastery goes to +8 for CMB/CMD.

Now on to the equipment tricks for boomerang:

Tripping throw - Acrobatics 6 Ranks & Improved Trip - The wielder of the boomerang knows how to add a delicate throw that spins the boomerang in an unorthodox pattern that trips the unsuspecting opponent. Can only affect up to one size category larger (up to large creatures). If successful, knocks the target prone.

Unusual curve (like Ricochet Shot for shield) - Deadly Aim & Perception 6 Ranks - The wielder is adept at gauging unique shots to targets behind cover and may. The boomerang may hit a target behind cover/who recently went around a wall - however the wielder takes a -2 to hit to targets behind cover. If the target is behind a wall, this can only be done on the subsequent round and suffers a -5 to the shot, additional negatives from range increments are applied as well.

Stunning shot - Deadly aim & Passed knowledge check of creature - The wielder knows specific vital points and rolls to hit vs the target. On a successful hit, the creature must pass a fortitude check based on 10+CMB of the thrower of the boomerang. If passed the target is merely staggered for 1d2 rounds. If the saving throw failed, the target is stunned for 1 round and staggered for the next round.

I was looking at Arcane Archer.... but really, it's not only lack luster on it's own, but a lot of Link's abilities are of martial quality. Anything exceptional he does is from magic items, so I'll certainly be taking Dangerously Curious as a trait.

THREAD RESURRECTION lol

My group and I are going to be starting Shattered Star shortly and we've pretty much settled on something unusual: A video game character inspired party. I choose Link because I think he's one of the quintessential characters for the fantasy genre.

I was thinking of leaning him towards fighter/bard but this thread has certainly got me thinking of possibly paladin or ranger... maybe a spread between fighter/bard/rogue.

For his mount Epona, I was actually thinking of buying a warhorse earlier on around level 3-5 and naming it Epona - and then around level 11 or so, taking Leadership and getting a Pixie as my companion (I'm Link after all ;) )and she could take druid levels where her animal companion would be the horse who she "enchants" to make it above a regular warhorse.

Just need to figure out a way to get hook shot.

I think the importance will be acrobatics, perform, and knowledge dungeoneering. I was even thinking of the Lore Warden fighter PrC. I lose shields but I get them back by going into Bard.

Thoughts?

And YES those are my bestiaries on that side table ;)

(I'm seraph403, I more commonly go as Cryage on forums so i made an alias lol)

like I said, us players completely appreciate it and makes gaming a friggin blast! I play 40k as well and that terrain is nothing compared to what Pirate puts us through lol

I dont even believe cohorts from the leadership feat is taken into consideration for xp