Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Wizu 08-11-05, 05:57 PM	Title name should say it all, my dm decided to become a witty kitty and throw out a campaing for us where we, the party, are needed to endure the role of npc guards in an adventurer filled town. I expect much getting our collective ***ses kicked and dragging unconcious barbarians behind the bars. Were gonna be underpowered, were not gonna have any magical abilities whatsoever, access to nursery is granted, but aside from that were going to be level 1 guards built with 25 pointbuy. Kinda interesting, for it limits the possibilities to optimize greatly. What were talking about here is relatively low powered optimization geared towards not only survival, but going out the flashy way. Race is restricted to humans, no spell-like abilities or magic in any shape form or flesh. Even divine is banned. Priorities include... * Escaping MAD. * Relying on one stat completely * Being a skillmonkey * ... with good hd... * And seriour fighting capabilities First I thod, fsck were screwed, but then I figured, I might aswell milk out everything I can and asked DM permission for taking a certain prestige class called survivor... the game is 3.5, tho I'm allowed to aim/use this prestige class, and just something about the campaing wants me to make an optimized survivor... Any ideas? Sure you have some. Atleast to say and whine about the unfairness of my DM, and how I should change playing group, how survivor is not optimized and all. I accept everything to the point where someones touching my nipples, thats where I draw my line. >.<
Wizu 08-11-05, 06:36 PM	Mmm, as an sidenote, it wouldnt hurt to get additional ideas without including survivor in the build. Acces to books is all xept UA, in short span of time the campaing will hit level 6 or 7. I'm thinking abusing complete warrior for its worth. Cmon the book costs like peanut butter, it has to be of some use in such a desperate situation!
catharz 08-11-05, 08:15 PM	If you want to play a 'nodwick,' you can't really do better than Commoner 1/Survivor 5. However, it might be a lot more fun to accomplish something and go out with a *BANG*. Think about that carefully. The best way to optimize Survivor is with Champion of Legacy. CoL can basically turn Survivor into a 1/2 BAB class (although it also extends the class somewhat). However, CoL doesn't fit at all with the idea of hirelings, unless you're talking 'hireling who turns out to be Heir to England.' Whatever.
PhaedrusXY 08-11-05, 08:49 PM	Sounds hilarious. Here are my tips for making an effective town guard. 1) Use a guisarme. There is absolutely no better weapon for controlling people. You have reach, so you get to hit them before they hit you. You can disarm and trip them without drawing an AoO, and if you're counter-tripped, you can just drop it and draw your sword. 2) For feats, any of the following are great I think: Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Improved Disarm. At all levels of the game, Initiative is important. But I think it is especially important at the lowest and highest levels of the game, because combats are much more lethal at those levels. With that point buy, Combat Expertise will be a tough feat to purchase, however. If you have a decent Dex, Combat Reflexes is great with a reach weapon. If the DM allows it, and you don't want to spend the points on Int 13, I'd see if you can be a barbarian and take the Wolf Berzerker lodge feat. It's in the Unapproachable East book, and is supposed to be a regional feat in Forgotten Realms, so depending on the DM and game, this may or may not fly. If it does, you can use it to get Improved Trip without Combat Expertise or the 13 Int. 3) Have at least one backup weapon. I'd advise on having several weapons, actually. I'd have a guisarme, a sap, a longsword, a dagger, and a ranged weapon of some kind. Don't overlook the lowly sling as a ranged weapon, as it is actually quite good before you gain access to iterative attacks. It has a 50 foot range increment, and lets you add your Str mod to damage. You might consider a buckler, also. 4) If you can, get a light warhorse. They are better combatants than most PCs are at the lowest levels. Trained dogs are a great option too, and are very much in character for a watch to have. Someone could even play a ranger and be the local "tracker" for the guard. Trained animals with the Scent ability are very, very good for detecting hidden and invisible foes long before you can really afford to always have a potion of Detect Invisible or lenses of True Seeing handy all the time.
Wizu 08-12-05, 07:46 AM	Champion of legacy, where exactly can I find it? I tried Crystalkeep a bit to no success... Awesome low level guard suggestions! I think my thus far most succesful idea might be human swashbuckler/barbarian with wolf berserker lodge, going with guisarme/spike chain and tripin the hell outta em. Guards are all about crowd control, right? ^^ How to implement it might then be a bit of a problem. First level barbarian... stats str 14 dex 16 con 14 int 11 wis 8 cha 8... Ouch. Just now I start to realize the true restrictions of low pointbuy. Spose best melee that you can make with low pointbuy is something related in becoming frenzied berserker, something like ranger, or dexterity skillmonkey. Most fulfilling of these could be the frenzied berserker wannabe or the skillmonkey. Both for the flipsides of the same coin, one knows one thing real well (smashing) and second knowing a bit of everything and hoping that he rolls well. <.<