Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Arithan 11-12-03, 02:16 AM	Well, this is gonna be a fairly large post, and I thank those who you who post with suggestions and 'constructive' critism. Now, with that said... I'm gonna start off by telling you that as of now i have two confirmed and willing PCs who will being playing a Greatsword toteing Barbarian and his brother... a wizard. Now, with that said it'll have some interesting character conflicts. Now, I will have a cleric that may pop in and out of gameplay, due to story reasons only (i'm gonna try to encourage smart playing)... I have new players so i decided not to show them any of the books, told them they could be anything they wanted and that's what they chose... I didn't want to talk one of them into playing a cleric or druid so they would own the game with healing and general badassness. Their first choice is usually the most fun... especially in the beginning of their DnD career. Now two other character concepts are as follows: The first, Gorin "Kneeblaster" Dwarfhold, a crazy dwarf who wears gnome-made goggles, and smokes cigars (you could almost think Cid's, from Final Fantasy 2/4, character portrait) , personality is a cross between Ivan and Pikel from RA Salvatore's Cleric Quintet. Uses a large gun-type weapon, may act as a club (or greatclub since it'll be iron worked, no self respecting dwarf would make it out of wood) in melee. I'm thinking maybe a few levels in Expert so he can learn to make everything thats needed for his 'invention', then maybe go fighter/rogue to rogue. Although Gorin loves a good melee, he delights in getting a giant's attention- then BLAM! buckshot to the face. So, rogue will help him get into position much easier. Rules on a good type of rifle would be nice. The second, Gorin's sidekick, Namfoodle Waywocket, aka "Noodles" by family and party members, aka "Shinkicker" by Gorin. You gotta have a cool gnome to help invent ****. My thinking is he will be an arcane spellcaster, not that bastardized version of the Gnome now appearing as a bard, but a true Illusionist or Arcane Trickster (who will focus on Illusion spells). I will have Noodles choose Necromancy(dead things are scary) and Divination(being the DM i want to do the least amount of the player's work) as the barred schools. Noodles' job will be to distract the enemy while Gorin gets into a good 'sniping' position. The wizard levels may even help Gorin in improving the 'design' and power/ammunition used. If anyone would like to post some short build ideas that'd be cool. Stats shouldn't matter i'm not looking to overpower my NPCs besides smart role-playing is way cooler than optimizing everything. Example: I don't care how badass you think your amazing half ogre/half minotar Vow of Poverty Monk/Forsaker BBEG is i will still throw him off the side of a mountian with a half-orc psion using telekinesis. Dysfunctional Duo's (help with a neato name for the pair would be nice.. nothing comes to mind) introduction to the party: A horrifing scream is heard to your left, and a goblin suddenly erupts from the foliage. Then an explosion is sighted from the treeline. You turn just in time to see a fountian of blood spew forth from wear the creature's head and left shoulder used to be. "Did i get him, did i get him?" cries a dwarf barreling down the field towards the corpse. "Yeah, I'd say you got him this time," a small gnome appears and prods the gore with his wand. "Schweet," the dwarf decries defiantly standing over the mangled body. P.S. If you really like the Gorin/Namfoodle concepts feel free to use them in your campaign. Keep their personalities alive, all I ask is you e-mail me at arithan@hotmail.com I'd be intersted in how they fair in the parallel universes. I'm in college now so I will soon be required to write short stories, if i write anything or you people want to hear more (if any) bother me about it... maybe i'll stop being lazy and do something.
Trydan 11-12-03, 07:23 AM	Gorin sounds like he needs to be a Chaotic-Neutral ranger. Favoured enemy = Giant. Take feats to improve his "missile" combat, like Point-Blank Shot. I agree a level of rogue would help with a sneak attack bonus, but I don't think that it should dominate the build (he'll not be a skills expert, at any rate!). Namfoodle (cracking name!) sounds like a Chaotic-Neutral rogue/wizard. Take the item creation feats as top priority, but also pick up some of the rogue skills like Disable Device, etc. However, the build should be dominated by the wizard levels, with a strong emphasis on skills like Craft, Knowledge (arcana) etc.
Arithan 11-12-03, 11:39 PM	Hey, thanks Trydan. About your idea on Gorin though, I know Wizards gave the ranger their own little niche and it fits Gorin somewhat but... from the feel i'm getting about the dwarf, Gorin, he doesn't righty care enough about the forest to run around and protect it.
Sephraem 11-12-03, 11:39 PM	You can find rules on guns in the section on 'Building a Different World' beginning on page 144 in the DMG (3.5). In 3.0 it begins on page 161. Hope this helps.
Arithan 11-12-03, 11:44 PM	thanks, seph, its always good to have people post a reply, even if its to post page numbers thanks.
Arithan 11-13-03, 08:05 PM	Any other suggestions? Maybe I should move this post to another Board to get a couple more hits...
Santini 11-13-03, 11:22 PM	OK Arithan, here's a couple of my thoughts... Gorin - Obviously Chaotic Neutral.. Sounds like a good Rogue/Barbarian to me - maybe a level of Ranger (urban) as well. Focus on his quickness.. Key fighting weapon would be a repeating crossbow... I'd also equip him with spiked gauntlets (i.e. brass knuckles). Ideally, "Noodles" will be able to figure out how to merge a repeating crossbow with a quiver of Ehlona... I'd make his intelligence lower than usual here (for roll-play purposes... ** Not quite Ivan/Pikel** Noodles - Go with 100% Wizard here - pick up the disable device, etc at a penalty... I wouldn't disgard Necromancy - he could build things with dead guys too... I'd drop evocation if you aren't trying to min-max here... Jack his intelligence scores as high as you can go here... Name thoughts - Master/Blaster (from Mad Max) -or- Pinky and the Brain - or - (if you want to FOCUS on necromancy) The Quick and the Dead. Trying to get across a pair like George and Lenny from "Of Mice and Men" Good luck!
Santini 11-13-03, 11:25 PM	Originally posted by Arithan from the feel i'm getting about the dwarf, Gorin, he doesn't righty care enough about the forest to run around and protect it. You don't have to "play" him like a conventional ranger -- he can use his abilities in an urban environment.. I seemed to remember somewhere there being a template for an Urban Ranger..
Arithan 11-14-03, 01:47 AM	I don't know, Santini. I like that you took the time to answer the post, but I'm dead-set on Gorin using a gun... He's not dumb unless he HAS to be (ie I roll TWO ****** stats...) But maybe, he'll use some kind of auto-crossbow machinegun thingy. I'm not sure why everyone wants Gorin to be a ranger... He's a dwarf, just because he hates giants and goblinoids (all dwarves do) doesn't mean he's a ranger. About Namfoodle's barred schools im sticking with Divination (me being the DM it doesnt help at all) and Necromancy (dead things are icky). Now UNLESS some one can persuade me to change my mind AND offer a good alternative to another school worth sacrificing i might consider it. I don't mean to harsh on you, Santini, but I don't wanna rework my duo's concept, it would only add to the many kinks in there already. My thanks to Trydan, Sephraem, and Santini. Its cool when people view the post and reply.
Lokahn Mandrake 11-14-03, 03:04 PM	Not to sound like a rules lawyer, but 3.5 changed specialist mages so that they cannot choose divination as one of their prohibited schools. I think necromancy is a good choice for the gnome to prohibit, and perhaps conjuration would be another possibility. I'd focus on illusions, abjurations, and the occasional zap (evocation) or transmutation. Alternatively, if you did not want the gnome to part with conjuration, I would suggest dropping evocation (after all you said that one of the PCs will be a wizard, if this PC wizard is not specialized then he/she will have access to fireballs and the like later on).