I am not necessarily talking about actual crusader knights of Iomedae marching towards the Worldwound, but the concept of delivering light into darkness... both literally and figuratively. Pushing back against the encroaching shadows, bringing light into the darkness, and provide beacons of hope burning bright in the despairing void to guide the lost.
I kind of have an obsession with finding unique and creative ways to use things like the Lantern Lighter Ranger's Stunning Light, or the Aasimar's Heavenly Radiance/Sunlit Strike, or weaponizing the spell Fear the Sun.
I am looking for classes/archetypes, feats, races, and everything else that may be beneficial to going into the darkness and fighting the things that live in darkness... bringing the fight to them... screw knocking, kick the door. I do try avoid 3rd party content, but I do love gestalt... so if you have any particularly juicy gestalt combinations that really synergize for bringing the light, please do share.
I have a few builds that are mostly complete following this theme, and I have kind of focused on that Fear the Sun spell. A lot of potential enemies in the Underdark will already have light sensitivity/blindness, but being able to force such weaknesses upon enemies that otherwise would be unaffected is clutch. It is a low level spell, so ensuring the enemies will fail their saves does take some dedication to the cause. I have a Lantern Lighter Ranger VMC Cleric, and a Brown Fur Transmuter Arcanist gestalt with a Beastmorph-Vivisectionist Alchemist, and a Lamplighter Investigator gestalt with a Staff Magus. Just to give you an idea of the sorts of things I have prepared for this "dream team".
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
A Skald with the Celestial Totem rage power can turn an entire (small) army into beacons.
While raging, the barbarian shines with a righteous light. This effect bestows upon the barbarian a halo of gleaming light that shines as if it were daylight and triggers an invisibility purge effect in the barbarian’s square and each adjacent square. The invisibility purge only affects nongood creatures. A barbarian must be at least 8th level to select this rage power.
And the Pallavi of Nirvana’s Blossoming bardic masterpiece they qualify for at lv 11 would count as actual sunlight with a three round setup.
Effect: You begin your dance slowly, focusing on exact posture, the position of your limbs, even the direction of your gaze, then build to a blur of motion. Upon completing the performance, you summon a fixed aura of divine sunlight that glows in a 100-foot-radius circle centered on you.
The divine sunlight acts as true daylight and affects creatures damaged or destroyed by such light. The light is as bright as sunlight at full noon and counters or dispels any darkness spells of 4th level or lower. If the dance is performed in an area of more powerful magical darkness, both the divine sunlight and darkness are temporarily negated so that otherwise prevailing light conditions exist in the overlapping areas of effect.
Within the area of the sunlight, plants grow and blossom rapidly, becoming a overgrown tangle. This effect mimics the overgrowth version of plant growth. You and one ally per three bard levels are immune to the movement-impairing effects of the overgrowth. The divine sunlight and all its associated effects last for 1 minute per bard level you possess.
Nice suggestions. Thank you both.
The Skald class, in general, is something I need to investigate further... I have been meaning to take a deeper look at that class for a while, anyways. I love Bards, so the class should prove relatively easy for me to understand how to use effectively. And, without a doubt, that Celestial Totem/Pallavi of Nirvana’s Blossoming combination seems quite fitting for what I am looking for.
As for the GM territory of Coninual Flame in a waterproof lantern... I think that will be ok. The likelihood of an enemy targeting one of the party's lanterns with Dispel [or anything else] is quite low.
Sure, every Drow can cast Dispel Magic as an SLA, but they will all have far better uses for their actions than worrying about the crusading knights' lanterns. To be honest, it is "only" every Noble Drow that has SLA's, but who uses non-Noble Drow for literally anything? There is only one Drow in my opinion, and that I use... all Drow are Noble Drow, if I have any say in it.
Regardless, using a standard action to Dispel my lantern will likely be the last standard action of your life, and it will mean absolutely nothing... should have shot me with a poisoned crossbow bolt and hoped for the best... literally anything else than targeting my lantern will likely be a better use of the last 6 seconds of your life. Yell to warn others, run away, repent for your sins [surrender], target ME [not my accessories]... all viable options that might accomplish SOMETHING other than temporarily turning off my personal flashlight. Lol. I can assure you, that there are more than just me, and they have flashlights, too... even if you Dispel all our flashlights, you all still just wasted the last 6 seconds of your lives, and we will kill you without our flashlights.
That being said, I think the idea is great... Continual Flame candle wicks in waterproof lanterns, that is. And I doubt any GM I am willing to play with will shoot down the use of such things... there are much bigger fish to fry... the lanterns are the least of the worries when the party can create far more dangerous light sources with or without the lanterns. The flashlights they carry are trivial, at best. Even for the party members, themselves, as they will all likely have Darkvision and other ways of seeing or perceiving in darkness.
I was looking at the Skald's Raging Song, and seen that it obviously will not stack with other morale bonuses... such as Bloodrage or the Warrior of the Holy Light's Power of Faith.
It's not a big deal, those just happened to be the first gestalt combinations that popped into my head. Doesn't matter, because Skalds have different saves than Bards... so Bloodrager and Paladin do literally nothing for a Skalds' saves in a gestalt setting. I generally shoot for full BAB and all good saves, so I likely need to find "better" gestalt combinations [for the Skald], anyways. Not everything has to be gestalt, that's just how my mind works when looking at things.
When setting off into the abyss... bringing the fight to your enemy, no end in sight, crusades never end, the ultimate dungoen crawl... do you think it would be best to have two pools of resources that compliment eachother, but are exhausted at the same time... or, two pools of resources that may not stack, but are exhausted separately? Double the effectiveness, but half the potential duration... versus half the potential effectiveness, but twice the duration?
Found a Blossoming Light Cleric in my notes that I had not put in my Fear the Sun folder... exact flavor I am looking for, but I think I need to gestalt it with UnMonk to fix that whole no armor situation.
And I found that an Aasimar can get Sunlit Strike at level one as an Arcane Duelist Bard or a Construct Sabotuer cRogue... that's an additional d6 damage, not including the damage from Arcane Strike, itself. AND, at least a DC 14 Fort save... assuming an 18+ Strength... being staggered on a failed save. Pretty legit at level 1... sure, it only works on enemies with light sensitivity/blindness, but those are the exact enemies this whole thread is about.
I was looking at the Skald's Raging Song, and seen that it obviously will not stack with other morale bonuses... such as Bloodrage or the Warrior of the Holy Light's Power of Faith.
A morale bonus to Str/Con would definitely stack with the Holy Light's Power of Faith that adds to Att/Dmg/AC. The saving throw bonus wouldn't though.
As for possible Gestalt combos, you can consider the Dex classes if you take a relevant Skald archetype like Urban or Twilight Speaker that helps even when you're not Str based. Court Poet gives the elusive morale bonus to Charisma which is very attractive for a Paladin or Starknife build.
You are correct... I had just associated the attack and damage bonus from the increased Strength with the morale bonus specifically to attack and damage... but they are separate bonuses/sources. Interesting.
Court Poet's Insightful Contemplation with Desna's Shooting Star could be lots of fun... something I will definitely look at. Any allies that happen to one of those Oracles that abuse Charisma, or a Scaled Fist Monk/UnMonk, or Kensai Magus, an Inspired Blade Swashbuckler's pool of Inspired Panache benefits from both increases, everyone that has Noble Scion of War gets an Initiative bonus, everyone with Steadfast Personality... what fun. Nevermind ALL those DC's that can be hiked up... Witches' Hexes, Clerics' Channels, obviously spells too... that could get scary pretty fast, most spellcasters don't really need that much help with their DC's.
Things are going to roll over pretty easy when you start stacking "free" +1 or +2 or +3 to the DC's of all the mages' spells when those mages already likely have Spell Focus, Greater Spell Focus, and Varisian Tattoo... any racial bonuses or Bloodline Arcana on top of that... it would be difficult as a GM to keep the encounters entertaining with that level of effectiveness from the party's spellcasters. I guess I did say "dream team".
Although, I may keep this Court Poet nonsense in my back pocket to use AGAINST the party. Lol. Sometimes, I'm mean like that sometimes.
One of the key class abilities that got me started on this concept was the Lantern Lighter Ranger's Stunning Light (Su):
"At 13th level, a lantern lighter learns to increase the effectiveness of bright light on creatures with light blindness. Daylight spells cast by the lantern lighter or other sources of bright light he wields cause creatures with light blindness within the area of bright light to become stunned for 1 round in addition to being blinded."
And, at level 18, it upgrades to Paralyzing Light. Anyways, Lantern Lighter stacks with Wild Stacker... so a single class Ranger could be rocking Stunning Light and the aforementioned Celestial Totem Rage Power... with a Glorious weapon.
Glorious wrote:
Price +2 bonus; Aura moderate evocation; CL 5th; Weight —
DESCRIPTION
A glorious weapon glows with a dazzling light equal to a daylight spell when drawn. The wielder cannot suppress this light, though it can be temporarily suppressed by any effect that can suppress daylight. A glorious weapon flashes with light, and any creature the wielder attacks in melee is automatically dazzled until the beginning of the wielder’s next turn. When a glorious weapon confirms a critical hit, the target is blinded until the beginning of the wielder’s next turn (DC 14 Will negates); if the weapon’s critical multiplier is greater than x2, this blindness lasts 1 additional round per multiple over x2. Only a melee weapon can have the glorious ability.
Sarenrae does have the Sunsinger Skald archetype that is very fitting to this theme, though. It stacks with Court Poet, AND Battle Scion. Could always gestalt the Ranger with the Skald. Lol.