This is for a Strange Aeons campaign. My stats are pretty much set after talking to the DM and CANNOT be changed. We rolled for them, we've placed them, and I've moved them around as much as he'll let me. (It would be awesome to swap the 6 in STR with the 9 in INT, but it was decided a 6 INT character would have to be pretty damned stupid, which doesn't quite match up with the idea of a master orator.)
Character cannot benefit from bonuses for being of an old age.
Character will worship Groetus and this will NOT change. Please do not try to convince me otherwise. The deity and the roleplay behind it tie in perfectly with this campaign, and I am giddy for this concept. Archetype is Evangelist. Chosen Domain is Madness.
After some consideration and debate in another thread about Bad Touch strategies, I have decided to go with a mixture of summoning, pure support spells, and just the barest dose of Bad Touch. This character's primary function is Arm/Anvil, buffing allies, debilitating enemies, and providing monsters to act as meatshields / damage-dealers.
The party consists of:
Me
Brawler (melee)
Slayer (melee)
Occultist (will also do melee)
Wizard (illusions, mostly)
Feats, Traits, and Alternate Racial Traits:
-----------------------------------------------
FEAT PLAN
Level 1 - Lingering Performance. This is 100% necessary since I start with so few rounds of bardic performance.
Level 3 - Spell Focus (Conjuration). I will need this later.
Level 5 - Sacred Summons. Standard action summons are a gamechanger, and at level 5 I will be dropping Dretches onto the battlefield. Their DR and offensive capabilities are handy.
Level 7 - Augment Summoning. Now my pets are more powerful.
Level 9 - Lunge. This will let me safely bad touch things for the most part, especially if combined with bracers of longarm.
Level 11 - Discordant Voice. +1d6 sonic damage to all attacks? And it buffs my summons, too? Yes please!
Level 13 - Deific Obedience
Level 15 - ?? Improved Initiative ??
Level 17 - ?? ?? ??
I will also try to get a +1 Training Spiked Gauntlet as soon as possible to give myself the Weapon Finesse feat. I don't plan to make any damaging melee attacks, but Weapon Finesse will boost my Melee Touch Attacks, such as Vision of Madness and any bad touch spells I choose.
Eventually I will boost my AC with a mithral heavy shield. Since it will have no ACP, I won't need to worry about needing proficiency. I can also get shield spikes and put another Training enchantment on the shield spikes if necessary. (The shield would act as a weapon drawn and in hand.)
TRAITS
The book expressly suggested that we have someone good at Diplomacy, so I decided to take up the role. Who doesn't want the mad cleric preaching about the end times leading negotiations?
Empathic Diplomat (Region) - Use WIS for Diplomacy instead of CHA.
Indomitable Faith - +1 to Will Saves. Yeah, they're already strong, but the roleplay fits and in this campaign I bet they're going to be REALLY important.
True Devotion, Madness Domain (Campaign) - Once per day when casting a divine spell, you can attempt to cast the spell without losing the spell from its spell slot or using one of your allotted spells per day. There is a 20% chance that this attempt is successful.
In addition, select one domain or inquisition you have. You can use the first granted power of that domain or inquisition one additional time per day. You must have a good alignment and be class capable of casting divine spells in order to select this trait.
Misbegotten (Drawback) - -2 on all dexterity-based skill checks. Painful, but I get to play a dwarf with physical deformities (hence his name Thelgi the Accursed).
(ALTERNATE) RACIAL TRAITS
Deep Warrior - +2 Dodge vs. aberrations, +2 CMB to grapple aberrations
Fey Thoughts - Perception as a class skill. Need I say more?
Iron Citizen - +2 Diplomacy and Sense Motive.
Stonecunning - Y'all know what this does.
Weapon Familiarity - Not very useful with 6 STR, but it might somehow, some way come up.
Hardy - +2 to saves vs. spells, SLAs, and poison? Yes please!
Darkvision (60ft) - Always handy.
Greedy - Nothing that good to replace it with.
-----------------------------------------------
Level 1 Statistics:
-----------------------------------------------
THELGI THE ACCURSED
Male Dwarf Cleric (Evangelist) 1
CG Medium Humanoid (Dwarf)
Init +X; Senses special senses; Listen +X, Spot +X
Aura Chaos (Faint)
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 10
(armor +4, Dex +0)
hp 10 (1d8+2)
Fort +4, Ref +0, Will +7; +2 saves vs. spells, spell-like abilities, and poison
Defensive Abilities +2 Dodge AC vs Aberrations
OFFENSE
Spd 20 ft., ignores encumbrance / armor penalties to speed
Melee Quarterstaff -2 (1d6-2 / x2)
Ranged Light Crossbow +0 (1d8 / 19-20 x2)
Special Attacks Sermonic Performance 4 rounds/day (Countersong; Fascinate [DC 10]; Inspire Courage +1)
Domain Spell-like Abilities:
8/day - Vision of Madness Spells Prepared (CL 1st):
1st (3/day)—Bless, spell name (DC XX)
0 (at will)—spell name (DC XX), spell name (DC XX)
D Domain spell; Domains Madness
STATISTICS
Str 6, Dex 10, Con 15, Int 9, Wis 19, Cha 11
Base Atk +0; Grp -2, CMD 8
Feats Lingering Performance
Skills Diplomacy +10, Knowledge (History) +3, Perception +8, Perform (Oratory) +8 (+XX conditional); Sense Motive +6; +2 bonus on Perception checks to notice unusual stonework, such as traps and hidden doors located in stone walls or floors, and receive a free check when passing within 10 feet of such features.
Languages Common, Dwarven
SQ aura
Combat Gear quarterstaff; light crossbow and 20 bolts; iron holy symbol of Groetus (compartment; empty); lamellar (leather); Other Gear N/A
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Vision of Madness (Sp) You can give a creature a vision of madness as a melee touch attack. Choose one of the following: attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. The target receives a bonus to the chosen rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum +1) and a penalty to the other two types of rolls equal to 1/2 your cleric level (minimum –1). This effect fades after 3 rounds. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
NOTES
As an Evangelist, Thelgi does not spontaneously cast his spells into Cure spells, but instead from a special Evangelist list. This means he can Spontaneously convert his 1st level spells into the Command spell.
-----------------------------------------------
Hopefully this gives you an idea of what I'm going for. My goal at the start is to use my bard song, spells, and domain power to assist my allies, only using my crossbow or quarterstaff when desperate.
At later levels I intend to provide my bard song as a move action (and later a swift action) while also standard action summoning things like Dretches, Bralani Azatas, Babau Demons, Chaos Beasts, Shadow Demons, Lillend Azatas,
and eventually Hezrous and then Ghaele Azatas. I intend to memorize a Burst of Radiance or two early on to smite evil things like undead and aberrations. My general modus operandi will be "Buff allies, summon monsters, and debuff things as necessary."
I specifically intend to use Vision of Madness to make it easy for my Wizard buddy to get off critical spells - such as Save-or-Die spells - on the enemy. At level 10, for instance, I will be reducing the enemy's saves and attacks by 5 each. By then I should have a mithral shield and mithral breastplate, too, and I should have ways to deal with encumbrance, so the melee will be somewhat safe for me.
Out of combat, my character will act as the diplomacy expert. He'll have Sense Motive and Perception at respectable levels, too, and with Stonecunning I might be able to spot traps and help whoever will be disabling them.
I thought about taking the Evangelist PRC, but the max level of the AP is 17, and at that level Clerics get 9th level spell slots. I am NOT sacrificing those!
-----------------------------------------------
So, given all of the above... I'd like some opinions on this setup. Does it makes sense? Is it spreading itself too thin, being a master of none? Should I be focusing on something more?
Sacred summons lets you standard action summon creatures with exactly the same alignment subtypes as your deity. Groetus is CN, dretches have C and E subtypes. There's actually very little with just [chaotic] summonable and what there is isn't much good in a fight. Chaos beasts have +13 attack and you're getting them at level 11.
Sacred summons lets you standard action summon creatures with exactly the same alignment subtypes as your deity. Groetus is CN, dretches have C and E subtypes. There's actually very little with just [chaotic] summonable and what there is isn't much good in a fight. Chaos beasts have +13 attack and you're getting them at level 11.
Ahhh, I see. So, it's not a case of "Match at least one alignment," it's a case of "it has to EXACTLY match?" That changes things.
Any suggestions on other routes? I like the various things I can summon, and I want that to be an option.
Should I, perhaps, take something like Evolved Summon Monster and use that instead of Sacred Summons (which won't really work for me), accepting that my summons will take a Full Round Action?
Evolved summon monster, or expanded summon monster or summon neutral monster could be useful. With 2-3 meat shields and possible illusions hiding behind the front line for a round should be doable fairly often.
Edit: and with buffs and debuffs flying around, even rather poor attack values can be sufficient.
With as few rounds of performance as you have extra performance (+6 rounds) looks better to me than lingering performance (best case +4 rounds at 1st level, and action economy issues).
I love this character, despite him not being optimized. If anything, it adds to the charm.
But yeah, go all out for summoning. I suggest taking augment summons ASAP and superior summons and either expanded or neutral monster at some point. There's rings of summoning you can get as well.
Honestly, save for the occasional bad touch, you probably shouldn't be in melee anyway. Early levels will be hard on you though, hence boosting summons as soon as you can. Though lingering performance allows you to stretch out your inspire courage early on.
Personally at low level I'd just carry a flail and deal with the fact that you won't be very effective...
Level 1 - Extra Performance. +6 rounds = 10 rounds at level 1!
Level 3 - Spell Focus (Conjuration). I will need this shortly.
Level 5 - Augment Summoning. Now my pets are more powerful.
Level 7 - Superior Summoning. More minions!
Level 9 - Lunge. This will let me safely bad touch things for the most part, especially if combined with bracers of longarm.
Level 11 - Discordant Voice. +1d6 sonic damage to all attacks? And it buffs my summons, too? Yes please!
Level 13 - Evolved Summon Monster. WEIRD MINIONS!
Level 15 - ?? Another Summon feat ??
Level 17 - Deific Obedience
-----------------------------------------------
For items: Must grab a Rod of Giant Summoning, and late-game grab a Ring of Summoning Affinity (Agathion). That will let me summon creatures with pounce and strong SLAs (including Heal!), potentially in clumps of 1d3+1.
Still want mithral breastplate, still want mithral heavy shield. Still want bracers of long-arm.
Thoughts?
Oh, weapon finesse on a +1 training spiked gauntlet, and... what Combat feat should I slap on my +1 training shield spikes?
You could probably wait on superior summons to a higher level, when you can summon multiple strong summons. I'd take expanded summon monster or neutral summons to help fill out your summon list earlier.
Maybe throw lunge on your training armor spikes and free up another feat for summoning?
Otherwise looks pretty good.
Strange Aeons is a lot of fun, I'm currently running it (on hiatus due to quarantine).
Can't put Training on armor spikes. Training is pretty specific:
Quote:
Popular among those who seek to impersonate skilled warriors, a training weapon grants one combat feat to the wielder as long as the weapon is drawn and in hand. The feat is chosen when this special ability is placed on the weapon. That feat cannot be used as a prerequisite for any other feats and functions for the wielder only if she meets its prerequisites. Once chosen, the feat stored in the weapon cannot be changed.
The 'in hand' part is the difficult portion. In order for me to use it, I have to be using a weapon I am holding in my hand.
My spiked gauntlet is on my hand, so it works. My shield is in my hand, so it works. Obviously, a flail or the like would work, too. But armor spikes, boulder helmets, and other such things aren't in hand, so they don't work, unfortunately.
At least, that's my understanding. If there's an FAQ out there that says otherwise, that would be reason enough to take all the training enchantments.
--------------------
I might just do what you suggest. Taking Neutral Summons would give me some interesting options, like minions with DR/Adamantine. It's worth considering.
I hope you get to play your Strange Aeons game again soon. Really hoping my game turns out alright!
