So I'm part of an evil campaign and I need to make up different characters - I wanted to try something new to me with Alchemist 3/Rogue 1 but it's been too frustrating to get my head around and I just don't feel a lot of support from the GM even though he endorsed the idea at first.
So I'm going to go back to my comfort zone of proper casting either with my best class, Cleric, or one I've recently tried and liked, Sorcerer. I'd just go with Cleric but there are two others (both Racial Archetypes and I'm looking at Variant Channeling) and I want to be prepared with an Evil Sorcerer if I'm shot down.
So we're rolling at 4th level and I was thinking Lamashtu, with the Madness and Trickery domains. Now, there are a lot of redundant things in these two domains, so I'm looking also at subdomains. Anyone have any suggestions? It's all great looking domain material from what I can see. Unlike my Cleric of Gozreh it's hard to choose because it's all actually GOOD lol.
Now Sorcerers are a little less familiar to me, any good suggestions for evil bloodlines?
Flavor wise I'm thinking a truly mad character with a penchant for theatrics and girlishness. Fully insane. In light of that, I might consider Chaotic Neutral over Chaotic Evil.
Also looking for Racial suggestions - for the Cleric I'm really looking at more monstrous appearances in keeping with Lamashtu's theme, but open to a lot on the Sorcerer. All Material is allowed, RP capped at probably 16.
Hell, not that I'm not more than willing to do the foot work finding feats and traits and stuff, but I'm totally open to all suggestions, especially from people who've tried this type of thing before :)
Thanks in advance!
A cleric of Lamashtu can be interesting. You might be interested in the feat "demonic obedience", which allows you to gain extra special abilities for worshiping lamashtu:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/demonic-obedience
being impregnated or impregnating your partner, or
sacrifice a creature that has been alive for no more than a
week. Gain a +4 profane bonus on saves against insanity,
confusion, and polymorph effects.
BOOnS
1: lunatic’s Gift (Sp) lesser confusion3/day, touch of idiocy2/
day, or summon monster III1/day
2: Teratoma (Ex)You gain a beneficial deformity. Generally, this
deformity manifests as a tentacle, tail, claw, or bite that grants
you a secondary natural attack dealing 1d6 (1d4 for Small
creatures) points of damage. You gain an additional ability
depending on the attack chosen as well—this ability can be
chosen from the following special attacks: bleed 3, grab, trip,
or a 5-foot increase to reach with the natural attack.
3: Third Eye (Su)A third eye opens in your forehead. This eye
grants you darkvision to a range of 60 feet (if you already
have darkvision, it extends the range of your darkvision by
60 feet) and a +4 profane bonus on Perception checks. Three
times per day, you may use a gaze attack that lasts for 1
round; activating this gaze attack is a swift action. This gaze
attack has a range of 30 feet, and drives those who fail to
resist its effects with a Will save permanently insane, as per
the spell insanity(save DC equals 10 + half your HD + your
Charisma modifier).
It does come from the "book of the damned" that not all GMs allow. This can work well with the "demoniac" prestige class which eventually lets you turn into a demon!
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/c-d/demoniac
As for sorceror, I cant help you much. I'm fond of the "imperious" bloodline, which is great for buffing others. But that's might not be best in an evil campaign.
Edit: also, a mask for a servant of lamashtu:
http://www.archivesofnethys.com/MagicWondrousDisplay.aspx?FinalName=Demon%2 0Mother%27s%20Mask
All this stuff has come from my own research to make a servant of lamashtu as a BBEG. They are twisted (just like their mistress) so their is a lot to play with.
So looking at some domain and subdomain guides, I'm convinced that Madness and Trickery are best left alone, the subdomains are awesome, but not quite awesome enough.
So I guess I'm just looking for some really cool monstrous looking races that don't go beyond 16 Race points - super bonus if they have a +2 wisdom :P
And does anyone have an opinion on the variant channeling with clerics?
Williamoak I'm a little confused about how worshiping a Demon Lord might change the whole deity worship of the cleric. Does the Demonic Obedience feat just mean I'm worshiping a demon that's related to Lamashtu? Or does this kinda supercede it?
Our game allows any and all material on the SRD (with GM approval required for 3rd party material, usually given)
So looking at some domain and subdomain guides, I'm convinced that Madness and Trickery are best left alone, the subdomains are awesome, but not quite awesome enough.
So I guess I'm just looking for some really cool monstrous looking races that don't go beyond 16 Race points - super bonus if they have a +2 wisdom :P
And does anyone have an opinion on the variant channeling with clerics?
Williamoak I'm a little confused about how worshiping a Demon Lord might change the whole deity worship of the cleric. Does the Demonic Obedience feat just mean I'm worshiping a demon that's related to Lamashtu? Or does this kinda supercede it?
Our game allows any and all material on the SRD (with GM approval required for 3rd party material, usually given)
Ah well then forget it, it's not on the SRD (since it's not part of "core" material"). It's a splatbook that gives interesting options for evil-worshippers, but you might make your life a LOT easier by not going the complicated route I'm proposing.
As for "demonic obediences" & lamashtu, she is BOTH a god & a demon lord. There is no conflict in that respect. In fact, you can be a cleric of any powerful planar entity, like an infernal duke, demon lord, empyreal lord or daemon horseman. You can even be a cleric of Cthulhu (in theory) since it has associated domains (dark tapestry, void, madness & a few others) (though, as anything, it relies on GM approval).
Still, if you go cleric, what is your goal? Do you want to smash, do you want to cast, or do you want to do both? The cleric really has that versatility.
Hmmmmm
Andreww it's like you know me! I've always wanted to play the sort of conflicted side on this whole Evil campaign my group is doing. Everyone is like...flat out puppy-flaying evil and I really liked the idea of someone who might have been good once.
Course then I'd have to part with one of my cherished domains...I might have to go with madness for the debuff. That said though, I've never looked into the Empyreal bloodline and we actually have a good character in the other campaign going mystic theurg so i shouldn't have a hard time getting to know the class.
Williamoak that makes a lot of sense, the Feat looks very interesting and I will have to think about it.
I've checked out the Demoniac before, but despite the Deity choice I wasn't really thinking such a demonic theme, I was more loving Lamashtu for the Insanity side. I'd like this person to be simply nuts. Besides which I kinda like playing a character a bit before picking a suitable prestige class (not the optimal way, I know, but I prefer story to optimization)
Oh I suppose I was completely leaving out the ability to just pick domains without the deity. Maybe she worships herself...
@Great Escapist: that's perfectly all right, though dont forget the demonic aspect's of Lamashtu. Her representation in the "book of the damned" is a mostly naked, heavily pregnant woman covered in scars with the head of a 3-eyed hyena. Plenty of reasons for her worshiper to GO insane.
I'm also a fan of flavorful PrCs, and the Demoniac is FAR from optimal (prestige classes in general are sub-optimal in pathfinder). It does however allow some cool flavor. I tend to be the type to build a personality around interesting mechanics.
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If you need ideas for the evil sorcerer, there are several concepts you may want to go with. Since I'm lazy I'll outline one below and talk about more as I have the time/energy...
The Necromancer: 3.5e may have not been frendly to Necro-sorcerers but PF certainly has. The Undead Bloodline sorcerer is one of the best necromancers in the game for one reason: the bloodline arcana. Clerics, oracles and wizards are forced to use command undead to have control over intelligent undead and thus they have to deal with their commanded pets getting a new save each day vs. what is most likely a low or dumped stat(except for the Oracle, obviously). You, however, don't have to worry about that. Sure, you don't get command undead, but because of your bloodline arcana you don't need it. You just use dominate person on intelligent undead. This means that the undead bloodline sorcerer is the absolute best class for making use of intelligent undead(except for an agent of the grave wizard who does just as good as you once they get a certain class feature.)....and intelligent undead > mindless undead by far.
If you want to go this route you'll want to invest a bit in both enchantment and necromancy. Thus, Kitsune becomes a powerful choice. While you get less spells known then a human, your enchantment DCs will be spectacular without even investing a single feat into them, allowing you to focus your feats entirely around buffing Necromancy. Likewise, Human is a good race because their favored class bonus gets you more spells known. Neither is better then the other for this and I'd go with whichever one you like more fluff-wise. Humans have the benefit of greater versatility while Kitsune will be better at controlling intelligent undead. So the choice is yours, here.
As for feats, it depends on how much you want to make use of minions. If you want to be a minionmaster then you'll want Undead Master for sure. In addition, depending on how much offensive casting you wish to do you may want to invest in feats that significantly boost your caster level for the spell Animate Dead(which in turn allows you to animate and control more undead). Mage's Tattoo(Necromancy), Spell Specialization(Animate Dead) and Spell Perfection(Animate Dead) are all great for this, and the last one also increases the bonuses from Undead Master. You'll also want the trait that increases the CL of a specific spell choosing Animate Dead, of course. If you want to be more of a traditional "caster" necromancer who focuses on slinging debuffs, death magic and curses more then animating the dead go with typical spellcasting feats like spell focus/greater spell focus(Necromancy), spell penetration/greater spell penetration, metamagic feats etc...and call it a day. The wiz/sorc list is filled with awesome necromantic debuffs and curses so have fun neutering enemies into uselessness. If you go this route you may want to consider going wildbloded for the sanguine version of the undead bloodline as it trades out the rather minion-focused bloodline arcana for a more offensively minded one.
Hope that gave you some ideas.
Takhisis I should have said I'm not really that interested in undead, it's SUPER suited to the campaign though, and it would make the gm SO pleased because the story is all about a Lich who wants to turn the material plane into his own undead plane and become a deity. And you make it sound really cool haha
But I just don't think I want to worry about a lot of summoned, companions or anything beyond my own character in this game just because I don't feel like it'll be fun with a GM that gets pretty ruthless about rules - I really prefer a more casual and forgiving game. I actually checked out the witch but decided against it with the familiar.
I think I could totally handle the combined spells of a mystic theurge though. Also would the ability to cast spells at a higher level due to bonus spells and meta magic count for your prereqs of casting level 2 spells?
I like the look of the Empyreal Bloodline but I've always found it confusing when you get into altering effective caster level very often Seperatist Archetype would have this same problem with one of the domains, I wonder why it exists since the book says you can just choose 2 domains without a deity anyway...
So far I've found Aasimar and Changeling for wisdom and charisma bonuses for a Cleric/Sorc build working towards the Mystic Theurge. I'll probably just roll up three now, that one, a Cleric 4, and a Sorcerer 4. He's bound to let me use one of them :P
Any other suggestions of material that's friendly to a joyously, ridiculously insane and twisted character would be appreciated! Thinking a lot of illusion and mind altering stuff. Like williamoak said, I love building around intersting game material. I tweaked the Ifrit Wishcrafter just so I could have a Genie of the Lamp.
Thanks again for so much help guys! I love brainstorming builds with people so it's really fun to have an outlet :D
Thanks again for so much help guys! I love brainstorming builds with people so it's really fun to have an outlet :D
No problem! I love posting messed up/overpowered/just weird builds all the time. My endgoal is to have at least one interesting build for each class, prestige class (& maybe every archetype). So keep an eye out, I post build threads pretty regularly.
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TSeperatist Archetype would have this same problem with one of the domains, I wonder why it exists since the book says you can just choose 2 domains without a deity anyway...
Sorry for the slight derail, but it exists for two reasons:
One: some games require clerics to worship a deity, and this gives you more freedom if you have to.
Two: worshiping a deity is a benefit, as you gain proficiency in your deities favored weapon and can make use of such feats as Guided Hand or affect the crit profile on Spiritual Weapon.
Depending on the Deity you choose, and the type of cleric you are playing, this can be a very big benefit.
One: some games require clerics to worship a deity, and this gives you more freedom if you have to.
Two: worshiping a deity is a benefit, as you gain proficiency in your deities favored weapon and can make use of such feats as Guided Hand or affect the crit profile on Spiritual Weapon.Depending on the Deity you choose, and the type of cleric you are playing, this can be a very big benefit.
Oh no such thing as derailing! Thanks for the explanation, it makes sense and I was thinking that for story purposes it was a good archetype, it just didn't seem to change enough to be worth putting it together in the first place. I've never played a module though, I was forgetting that they might have requirements like that. Plus the proficiencies are a good point.