Pretty par for the course as far as 4tg level spells go.
4th level spells are super good.
I like the illusionist idea. A gnome illusionist with a bird school familiar who makes his artistry persist as long as possible. Maybe a cleric pulling in a Lillend from time to time with planar ally...
Additionally, people keep bringing up her being an old lady as if that meant she was less of a threat, she's a cleric, those extra years directly increased her power as a caster. She was at minimum 9th level, she was by no standards just a feeble grandmother type. It doesn't matter how powerful she was. It doesn't matter what her alignment was, or what you think her alignment should be. What you think she should have done doesn't matter either. Here's what matters to the PC alignment question: 1. The PCs see a person walking around.
It doesn't matter what she was. It doesn't matter if the PCs know she is good or not. The PCs are executing people without evidence or cause. These conclusions follow: A. The PCs are murderers.
There is a MASSIVE double standard being applied here. On the one hand, we have a person walking around watching someone kill innocent people. On the other hand, we have a person who murders an innocent person. And many here seem to be hung up on the watcher's inaction while absolving the murderer. The PCs saw a person walking. She was near a BAD GUY. The PCs planned and executed that person's murder. The PCs are murderers. Kifaru you did nothing wrong. If your PCs feel empowered to kill anyone they have a bad feeling about, without doing any research or recon, that's up to them. They didn't research, they didn't recon, they didn't even check her holy symbol, they went straight from suspicion to murder. This is an extremely CHAOTIC act and their alignments should shift accordingly. They were not manipulated or coerced into this murder, they chose it themselves. Shift their alignments and make that sword burn a little. Definitely don't reward this with a level in Paladin (whose major drawback is that you're not supposed to go around murdering random people). I would have the local Abadarians put up wanted posters with their pictures saying they are suspected brigands who accost travelers on the road. Regardless of the clerics alignment, or action/inaction, they murdered an old woman who had done nothing at all. You need to impose consequences or just throw alignment out the window.
I had a young player who loved playing evil. He built a CE rogue and not only fleeced the PCs but also would hang back in combat and then start looting enemies as his other party members dropped them. The other players were frustrated, and told me, but I told them it was an in game problem and they should come to an in game solution. So one evening they set up camp and the rogue flat out says "I don't feel like taking a watch" leaving the wizard and the fighters to do it. So... everyone went to sleep but the fighter on watch, and after an hour he woke up the other two and said "This guy is useless, let's leave him." They pulled up stakes and left the rogue in his tent, alone in the woods. I had drawn up an encounter with a feral druid who asked that they pay a toll to travel through her forest. The three tough-looking PCs managed to negotiate and avoided the combat for a pittance. The rogue woke up well after dawn, found everyone had left, ran into the druid and her raptor animal companion, who took every last penny the rogue had fleeced off of his comrades. The player drew up another character and, though he still roleplays a selfish jerk, now makes sure he is actually helping the party and not harming it.
Ranger is not a bad choice for your background. You could go traditional ranger and have a standoffish Tiefling with a super friendly dog and use that as your primary connection to the party. But I think you should consider the Guide archetype (APG). It trades favored enemy for a bonus against a single target but would let you use it for big game or your vengeance pact. Also it trades animal companion for an ability to help your party in a specific terrain. Thematically, it let's you boss everyone around when they are stomping through the forest. Good luck!
Take Animate Dead. Pump up your Stealth and your Bluff. Lie to the Paladin. What he don't know can't hurt him. Always lie to the paladin.
If you want to compete with the other 4 characters in melee, then be honest with your party and tell them you plan on being bad at spellcasting. If instead you want to be the sole magic user in the party, then own it. Don't sully yourself by picking up a weapon, you have MAGIC! Lord it over them constantly and make sure all of your feats have the word "Spell" in them.
As feat starved as you are, I would throw out Selective Channeling. It sounds like you'll rarely be channeling in combat anyway, and denying that 14 HP to the dragon one time is not really worth a feat. |
