Hi,
I'm playing RotRL at the moment (15 Points-buy) and during the last few sessions we encountered some basic issues with our party composition (lvl 3): Monk, Summoner (Humanoid-Brawler Eidolon), Witch, Dwarf-Transmutation-Wizard.
The Monk and Summoner are very unexperienced players, so they lack a lot of group tactics, while the witch chracter is a little bit egocentric and silly (but in a fun way).
I'm playing the Transmutation Wizard, my character concept is some sort of explorer who is facinated by Thassalonien. I wanted to got Pathfinder Savant, but during the last evenings (we are in the goblin keep North of Sandpoint at the moment) he was near death 3 times due to lack of spells.
So he decided to train his physical skills a little bit more. As he's already the parties "dungeon explorer" (disable device, perception, darkvision), I think of going a strange route for the character advancement.
Wizard (6) / Ranger (Dungeon Rover) 3 / Arcane Archer
My DM allows me to change the AA to a "Arcane Crossbow Archer".
Attributes (15 Points Buy): 10/14/14/10/16/8
The Build so far looks like this
1 Wizard (1)
2 Wizard (2)
3 Wizard (3) - Weapon Focus (Crossbow, light)
4 Ranger (1) - Fav Enemy: Evil Outsider
5 Ranger (2) - Combat Style: Crossbow (Precise Shot), Point Blank Shot
6 Ranger (3) - Fav terrain: Underground
7 Wizard (4) - Rapid Reload
8 Wizard (5) -
9 Arcane Archer (1)
What do you think? I know this is far from optimized, but can this work? He shouldn't be the main Damage Dealer, but a dungeon explorer and the parties guide (underground and in the wilderness).
I love the idea! It's a bit outside of my area of expertise so I'm probably unable to give much worthwhile advice until I manage to make some time to read up on archer-gishy-type builds :)
Just my 2 cents: wouldn't an Archeologist archetype Bard make more sense than Wizard for an explorer-scholar?
If you're set on Wizard, I'd multiclass with Rogue instead of Ranger. Most of the same skills and more expertise in traps, which probably are probably more prominent in dungeons and ruins than trackable wildlife.
[Edit]: Check out this thread, is that similar to what you'd want?
[Edit 2]: Check out Sin Magic Specializations. These are the wizard specializations ancient Thassilon used. It completely fits the theme of your character and gives you even less chance to run out of spells again :)
what order do you have your stats in?
since at least 3.0 (maybe earlier, its been too long since i played 1st or 2nd edition to remember) the 'standard' order has been Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha...
i hope your wizard doesn't have 10 int and 16 wis (if he does you have bigger issues than how AA will pan out, lol)
Ups, mixed up Wis and Int (as usual^^):
Str: 10 Dex: 14 Con:14 Int:16 Wis:10 Cha:8
I'm set with the wizard as we are already in the game (we're level 3 now) and I don't want to switch characters.
I also looking for the AA to give him at least a little bit combat potential (in combination with transmutation and ranger-spell-wands it could be nice).
So the cross class has to be a full BAB class, otherwise AA will kick in very late :)
No one else has some ideas or tips?^^
Flavourful and far from optimised. I doubt anyone would have an issue with this.
I like it - you'll need 1 more level of Wizard in your map-out to qualify for the BAB though (right number in the one-liner).
Evil Outsider isn't bad, but might not be your *best* choice for favored enemy... Talk to your DM about this. Maybe take your L.4 in Wizard first as well (get the BAB for that anyways).
There is also a very good Crossbow feat in the player's guide to Curse of the Crimson Throne (also set in Varisia).
If you're willing to wait, you might also hold back the 3rd level of Ranger and take 8 in Wizard (gets you the 8th level school power as well), taking AA at 11th. This keeps your spellcasting a little closer to full.
You could take Rapid Reload at 3rd, and use 2nd level Ranger for Rapid Shot, skipping precise shot (can just cast a spell at something in combat). You also don't need to take Point Blank Shot necessarily.
Definitely memorize Flame Arrow :)
It might be worth it to skip the 3rd level of ranger and incorporate 2 levels of the Eldritch Knight prestige class.
Thanks for the feedback.
As precise shot is a preq. for AA I can't really skip it :(
I already thought about Wiz8, but the Transmutation-power isn't that good, so I think I can skip it.