I have come up with 4 different ways to make a polymorphing sneak attacker and want to get some feedback on which one would be the best. The main idea is to have a char that turns into an animal with a large number of natural attacks to maximize the sneak attack damage output. The big ones at each level being:
Beast Shape I: Deinonychus, 4 attacks, pounce
Beast Shape II: Giant Octopus, 8 attacks, good reach, swim, jet
Beast Shape III: Giant Lake Octopus, Huge version of the above
Beast Shape IV: Sand Kraken, 10 attacks, good reach, constrict
Build 1 Druid (Crocodile Domain)
BS I at 4th lvl; BS II at 6th; BS III at 8th
Pros: Longest use of BS, after lvl 6 you can reliably have it for every fight. You get a familiar that can help you flank. Fastest access to BS.
Cons: No BS IV. Sneak attack doesn't start until 6th. Most of your feats have to be spent on Accomplished Sneak Attacker (you can retrain your old feats to this after 6th to stay full). Has to spend yet another feat on Natural Spell.
Build 2 Alchemist (Vivisectionist, Beastmorph)
BS I at 7th lvl; BS II at 10th; BS III at 13th; BS IV at 16th
Pros: Mutagen for making you super bad-ass for 1 or 2 fights. Mutagen can give your tentacled form flying and pounce without any magic items or extra spells. Access to cool discoveries. Doesn't need to spend a single feat on Accomplished Sneak Attacker like the others.
Cons: Worst spellcasting of the bunch. Very slow to get BS II and up.
Build 3 Brawler 1 (Snakebite Striker, Strangler), Wizard 3 (Transumation: Shapechange), Arcane Trickster for the rest
BS I at 6th lvl; BS II at 8th; BS III at 10th; BS IV at 12th
Pros: Best spell list. You get a familiar that can help you flank. +1 natural attack on top of normal. Cool stuff from Arcane Trickster. Get automatic sneak attack on all grappled targets.
Cons: Worst hit points and BAB. Sneak attack progresses at 1 lvl later unless you spend a 2nt feat on ASA. Can't cast while transformed until you get Tricky Spells at 9th.
Build 4 Brawler 1 (Snakebite Striker, Strangler), Arcanist 4, Arcane Trickster for the rest
BS I at 7th lvl; BS II at 9th; BS III at 11th; BS IV at 13th
Pros: Best spell list with the best way to prepare and cast spells (IMO). Shift Caster lets you cast while polymorphed. 1 extra Exploit and can get more with feats (best ones being Familiar, Dimensional Slide, Quick Study, and School Understanding for Shapechange). Cool stuff from Arcane Trickster. Get automatic sneak attack on all grappled targets.
Cons: Worst hit points and BAB. 2 feats spent on ASA. Everything comes 1 level later than Build 3.
Notes for Builds 3 and 4: They can also get Trapfinding (for Ranged Legerdemain) with Variant Multiclassing: Rogue. Chill Touch and Calcific Touch can also make your natural attacks more effective.
Say you have a player who wants to be Meta or you want to have the party come across a crazy priest of "The almighty DM! The one true god that controls our actions and determines our fate!"
What would your Deity entry look like and what boons would you grant with Deific Obedience?
Here's mine:
SCUD422:
God of Adventuring, Gaming and Knowledge Alignment: NE
Domains: Luck, Evil, Knowledge, Madness, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Wakizashi, Katana or Nodachi
Holy Symbol: d20 with a middle finger instead of a 1
Temples: Dungeons, Man Caves, and Your Mother's Basement
Worshipers: Monsters, Adventurers, and the Insane
Obedience: Unlike most obedience, this only needs to be performed once per game session. Do one of the following. Tell the DM a joke good enough to make him laugh. Show the DM a broken/interesting combo or build he hasn't seen. Or bribe him with food and/or drink. Gain a +5 profane bonus on all knowledge checks made to identify creatures.
Boons
1: The Right Touch (Sp)infernal healing 3/day, ghoul touch 2/day, or mad monkeys 1/day
2: How many walls? (Su) You know that your actions are not your own and have completely given yourself over to the one that you know controls your actions. As such, you now know everything your player knows. There is no more out-of-character knowledge. This should also come with the realization that if you misuse this knowledge, The Almighty DM will punish you appropriately.
3: PC Hivemind (Su) Your madness has become contagious. Your fellow party members start to hear voices in their heads. While this may be slightly disconcerting for your allies, they can use these newfound voices to communicate with each other through you over any distance, even across planes, regardless of consciousness or death.
There is a lot that I like about the listed PieceMeal Armor rules, but there is also a lot that I don't like. There is an over-abundance of "options" when in fact there are only a couple. For example, there is no reason other than special materials to use anything but Padded or Studded Leather leggings.
Please give me your comments and suggestions. My plan is for this to supplement the existing table of armors while not being able to make anything more powerful numbers-wise than you could make with the existing piecemeal armor rule set.
So, you're a spellcaster who has taken a couple level dips in other classes or took a prestige class that doesn't give you full caster progression. You're going to miss out on the spell levels, that's the price you have to pay. But do you have to have a lower caster level as well? You could have had the foresight to start with the Magical Knack trait or ask the GM to allow you to grab the Intuitive Spellcaster feat (which they totally should). But what if you can't really afford the feat? Here's a magic item that I came up with:
Gloves of the Heightened (insert class name here)
Price 6,000 gp CL 8
These magical gloves are attuned to a specific class. When these gloves are worn by someone that has levels in the specified class, their caster level in that class gains a +4 bonus as long as this bonus doesn't raise their caster level above their current Hit Dice.
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Items, creator must have 8 levels in the associated class, 3,000 gp
Alternates: this could easily also be an ioun stone for double the cost, be a ring by changing the feat requirement, and/or give a higher or lower bonus. To find the base cost the item, take the bonus squared and multiply by 375. CL of the item and levels in the requirement are double the bonus.
This staff can be given weapon enhancements like a normal staff in addition to having the below abilities.
This staff has 4 large grooves running along its length. Each groove can hold 1 magical staff, or 2 wands or metamagic rods, which shrink down and snap into place. The wielder can cast any spell from any of the slotted items or use any metamagic rod when casting a prepared spell as if they were wielding it.
As a move action, the wielder can make the entire staff function as if it was one of the staves slotted into it, but doing so negates any weapon enhancements that the Staff of Holding has and makes the other staves, wands or rods temporarily unusable. This ability can be ended as a swift action.
Non-metamagic rods can also be put into the staff, but only their spell-like abilities can be used, such as a Rod of Wonder. Rods with static abilities, such as a Rod of Absorption, can also be placed into the staff, but the rest of the staffs powers have to be suppressed with a move action as above for the rod to function.
