Post/Author/DateTime	Post
jack haas 07-15-04, 02:32 PM	i posted this once before but the game got shelved so the post has slid quite far down the board. incidentally, does anyone have the same problem with the search function where it just kinda stalls out on you and never, ever presents the threads it found? i don't think it's my puter, it's mostly decent. anyhow, we're starting an evil monstrous campaign. the party will be a troll fighter (possibly barbarian), an ilithid wizard and a vampire ranger. my character is a jackal lord (la +4) and i plan to continue on with cleric levels which stack with the creature's 8 racial hd, so i could get up to 16th level caster in the long run. this is not set in stone though. the racial hd also stack with rogue levels and i've not played a rogue-type character in 3.5 yet.... stats are: str 13 (+2 racial) dex 18 (+4 racial) con 16 (+4 racial) int 18 (+2 racial) wis 24 (+8 racial) cha 24 (+6 racial) (please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong on the racial adjustments since i can't search and i don't have the books with me) with the cleric levels i intend to play an iago-like villain; sneaky, in the shadows, great guy to your face but totally stabs you in the back when it serves his purpose. also he will not be a stand up fighter so i want to focus on the social skills and summoning. i need feats and equipment, if anyone has any suggestions. i would also consider any recommendations for rogue-type builds that would fit the bill for a manipulative, behind the scenes mastermind who rarely engages in physical combat. thanks a bunch :tiphat:
Sisyfos 07-16-04, 10:59 AM	So you want to be a skilled cleric. I designed a build for that, but it was of good alignment. Also for summoning cleric is not optimal, but druid is a lot better. Your stats are great! You could build a very nice druid or a monk with those. Take a look at the monkish assassin builds out there if you are interested. Those fit your theme quite nicely. Losing 4 caster levels in the spot will hurt you and you will not be a primary spellcaster. Keep your martial skills high so you can be useful to the party all the time. Summon monster V is terrible when Summon monster VII would be called for, so the summons won't help you much in this. The mechanics for jackal lord are unknown for me so I cannot sadly help you more with this. I hope the bump gains the attention of people who know more ;) Sisyfos
PhoenixInferno 07-16-04, 11:05 AM	Actually, if you're neutral evil, you qualify for Spontaneous Summoner. Combine that with the ever-popular Rashemi Elemental Summoning, you can spring up high powered elementals when you need them. The Animal domain (which fits thematically with your character) will get you the Summon Nature's Ally spells you need. Snow Savant mentioned something about this once - it was an epic work of min/max-fu.
jack haas 07-16-04, 11:42 AM	the trouble with using a druid is that the racial hd for the jackal lord stack only with cleric (i got my hands on the book and it doesn't even stack with rogue as i had previously said). if i chose to go with druid (normally an excellent suggestion due to the superiority of sna) i would be down 12 caster levels rather than a mere 4; the best i could do would be clr8/drd8 before hitting epic which strikes me as fairly suboptimal, swagloads of low level spells but that's about it. am i mistaken? i will also look into the monkish assassin builds as my search function seems to operating today. sadly, i don't appear to qualify for the animal domain as a worshipper of set. i could speak to my dm about a generic cleric build that would include the animal domain since it is not too far from the theme of the character however. thanks for the suggestion, pheonixinferno. not that i don't appreciate this advice (or the bump sisyfos, i was horrified yesterday as my post slid right off the board :( ) but i'd like to put a call out to the rogue-builders out there. in theory, i could gain up to 8 levels of rogue before epic...am i nuts to even consider a split cleric/rogue build? i gain a fair bit of spellcasting before i even consider class levels--cleric spells as a clr8 plus: racial and spell like abilities: -alternate form (polymorph self): jackal -curse of the jackal -summon jackals -dominate animals -change self at will -cat's grace at will -detect magic at will -detect good at will -suggestion -shadow walk 3/day could these innate, racial abilities be used to round out a roguish build rather than lay the ground work for a cleric build? i could switch the stats around if something different would be more appropriate. clr8/rog8...am i on crack, or what? *offers nachos and mountain dew in supplication to the gods of rogue-builds*
Khazra Reborn 07-16-04, 11:55 AM	Great choice on jackal lord, a very cool race. Have you got BOVD because theres a few Prcs in there which fit your need quite well. Disciple of asmodeous is a charmer & can cast greater planar ally once a day & dread might is nasty at 10th level. You also advance 6 caster levels. Disciple of baalzebul is a more combat orientated (due to SA & 1 more BaB), has better saves, int to bluffs & at level 10 you get +4 inherit charisma (think how much a tome of +4 cha costs). Thrall of grazzt has +6 caster levels, a spell version of sneak attack & bonuses on cha based skills against evil creatures. Note that no thrall or disciple prcs can be combined with each other.
jack haas 07-16-04, 12:06 PM	i'm uncertain if the dm will allow the use of bovd...i suspect the answer will be no on a related note, since those are all prc's that khazra's recommended, can someone tell me if i can enter straight into a prc if i qualify for the pre-req's with the racial hd? or is there some esoteric rule somewhere that states a monstrous character must have level(s) in a base class prior to entering a prc?
PhoenixInferno 07-16-04, 01:05 PM	If you can qualify with racial HD, then its good enough to qualify for a PrC - for instance, a werewolf can qualify for Warshaper if it has enough BAB. As for the Animal domain, if you can get an extra domain, you can use that to grab Animal - that's how Snow Savant did it. I think she used a cleric of Mystra, or some such thing.