Advice on creating characters [Archive] - Wizards Community

Advice on creating characters [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mywurld
02-02-04, 01:28 PM Looking for some advice. I am some what new to the game and have a limited knowledge of making characters. I need to create a 15th level character and I don't know what to do.

Since my character can't be evil I wanted to use the BoED. I tried to convince my DM to let me start off as a Saint but he won't let me, I can eventually achieve sainthood, but is it worth it?

Here are the requirements: (3.5e)
I have to be a material planes creature, humanoid or monster humanoid, I can't be evil, LAs apply and my base stats are 17, 16, 15, 13, 13, 10 (can be assigned in any order). I can pick basic equipment (non-magical). There is already a Ranger, multi-classed Fighter(4)/Cleric(11) and Arcane Trickster in the campaign.

With that said, what should I do?
strenoth
02-02-04, 07:41 PM Holy.. 15th level, but no equipment? part of me is tempted to tell you to go take Vow of Poverty...
Lord_Fergus
02-02-04, 08:20 PM VoP Monk with the Half-Celestial template. You will have a +2 LA so will be a 13th level Monk. Take a look and see if ya like it.
Dartanel
02-02-04, 09:38 PM From a party balance standpoint, you've got a well-rounded group of generalists already.

This leaves you with two options:

Play a specialist (Pure tank, spellcaster, etc.)

or play a generalist too.

If you decide to play a generalist, I'd recommend a bard. Bards make excellent exalted characters, and the party would benefit greatly from the group buffing the songs provide.
Myrddin_Silvermane
02-03-04, 12:01 AM Or you could go with a VoP sorcerer and take Eschew Materials, which allows you to cast spells that have material components that cost up to 1 gp without using said components, and Arcane Preparation, so that you could cast metamagic-ed feats without the full round casting time.
Mywurld
02-03-04, 12:26 AM I should clerify the equipment better. The DM wants us to choose our basic equipment ourselves and the DM will assign the magical items if any, I think hes doing a random die roll for what we get, which could be nothing. So if I take the VoP I would not be losing out necessarily cause I might not get anything any way.

I think I could convince the DM to allow the VoP and doing so with a monk sounds real tempting. That would also allow me to role play a character towards Sainthood much easier, I think.

I posted on the Character Optimization (http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=339) board too and got a pretty good suggestion for an Arcane Knight, have a look at this gish thread by JosephKell (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150451) I like the Knight of the Eldritch Order the most. But I don't know if I want to multi-class so many times, doesn't that defeat the purpose of high level characters?
Aramas
02-03-04, 02:54 PM Well, since your DM is ganking you on equipment, I would definitely go VoP. A 5th Level Monk / 10th Level Shintao Monk is a very good build. Even a straight monk is powerful with VoP.
Massawyrm
02-03-04, 06:27 PM First of all the Exalted Arcanist...What a great focused spellcaster this is. The additional divine spells he gets access to are fantastic and the ability to cast ANY Sanctified spell spell as a known spell is great for dire situations when something bizarre is called for. To make this guy really fun, rather than a Sor 10/Exa Arc 5...you could got for an Exalted Arcanist/Thaumaturgist (from the DMG). The Thaumaturgist gets all sorts of extra things for conjuration spells (extended summoning, Augment summoning, and a fantastic little ability called Contingent Summoning that allows you to cast conjuration spells in advance, denote a trigger (when you're attacked, when you draw your sword, ext.) that will cast the spell automatically). You could achieve this with Sor 6/Exa 5/Thau 4. This build requires that you take lesser planar ally as a 4th level spell, available from the spell list provided to exalted arcansists. You would cast spells as a 14th level Sor (7th level spells) be able to use the above enhancements, cast purified and consecrated spells at their normal casting times, as well as getting two extra exalted feats. This build rocks.

However, if you want something really kooky and you have access to the Miniatures Handbook, there's the Favored Soul. Exalted Favored souls are nifty characters (they cast cleric spells spontaneously, like a Sorcerer) plus they get a bunch of great resistances and a Bonus Weapon Focus feat. To make things Kookier, try a Favored Souls 4/Sorcerer 4/ Mystic Therge 7. The Mystic Therge (DMG) gives you spell advancement in two different caster types, thus you could cast both Divine and Arcane spells as an 11th level spell caster. This gives you access to 5th level spells in both classes and you could cast 6/6/6/6/6/4 spells per day IN EACH CLASS! That's 68 spells per day. Spontaneously.

Or if you want to be more of a martial character, try the Fist of Raziel. You can be Clr 1/Ftr 6/Fist 8 or Clr 2/Ftr5/Fist 8...OR you could substitute Favored Soul for the Cleric Levels and cast the spells spontaneously OR you could sub in Paladin levels for Fighter levels, depending on whether you want Paladin abilities or Bonus feats (However, I'd reccomend against a straight Palidin, as you want those divine caster spell levels, not Pali levels). This build allows you to cast as either a 8th or 9th level spellcaster (8th level casters get a bonus fighter feat with that 6th level of ftr), plus have a BAB of +14/+9/+4, Smite Evil 4 times a day, with all sorts of nasty bonus effects on those smites (including a chain smite effect that nails up to 5 other targets, on your next level up).

For the Exalted Arcanist I reccomend these stats 10/15/16/13/13/17. Use the +3 ability points from 4th/8th and 12th level on CHA, making it 20.

For the Fav/Sor/Myst I reccomend 10/13/15/13/16/17 with a bumb of either CHA to 20 (for the bonus spells) or 18 with the other 2 going to WIS (for equal spell save scores on both classes).

Either way, I recommend the Improved Toughness feat from Complete Warrior for both these Characters to help beef up the sorry HP scores they'll have.

For the Fist of Raziel, I'd go 17/15/16/10/13/13 bumping STR to 18, DEX to 16 and either CHA or WIS to 14 (depending on whether you want an extra bonus spell or a higher save (I'd go for saves myself)).

But those are a couple ideas to chew on.
Ogre4Hire
02-04-04, 08:03 PM A Sorcerer10/ Exalted Arcanist 5 is very powerful, plus you can start taking levels of Arcmage from the DMG, which is even better for sorcerers than wizards because you have more spells but less selection, and the arcmage's abilities greatly increase your flexability.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mywurld 02-02-04, 01:28 PM	Looking for some advice. I am some what new to the game and have a limited knowledge of making characters. I need to create a 15th level character and I don't know what to do. Since my character can't be evil I wanted to use the BoED. I tried to convince my DM to let me start off as a Saint but he won't let me, I can eventually achieve sainthood, but is it worth it? Here are the requirements: (3.5e) I have to be a material planes creature, humanoid or monster humanoid, I can't be evil, LAs apply and my base stats are 17, 16, 15, 13, 13, 10 (can be assigned in any order). I can pick basic equipment (non-magical). There is already a Ranger, multi-classed Fighter(4)/Cleric(11) and Arcane Trickster in the campaign. With that said, what should I do?
strenoth 02-02-04, 07:41 PM	Holy.. 15th level, but no equipment? part of me is tempted to tell you to go take Vow of Poverty...
Lord_Fergus 02-02-04, 08:20 PM	VoP Monk with the Half-Celestial template. You will have a +2 LA so will be a 13th level Monk. Take a look and see if ya like it.
Dartanel 02-02-04, 09:38 PM	From a party balance standpoint, you've got a well-rounded group of generalists already. This leaves you with two options: Play a specialist (Pure tank, spellcaster, etc.) or play a generalist too. If you decide to play a generalist, I'd recommend a bard. Bards make excellent exalted characters, and the party would benefit greatly from the group buffing the songs provide.
Myrddin_Silvermane 02-03-04, 12:01 AM	Or you could go with a VoP sorcerer and take Eschew Materials, which allows you to cast spells that have material components that cost up to 1 gp without using said components, and Arcane Preparation, so that you could cast metamagic-ed feats without the full round casting time.
Mywurld 02-03-04, 12:26 AM	I should clerify the equipment better. The DM wants us to choose our basic equipment ourselves and the DM will assign the magical items if any, I think hes doing a random die roll for what we get, which could be nothing. So if I take the VoP I would not be losing out necessarily cause I might not get anything any way. I think I could convince the DM to allow the VoP and doing so with a monk sounds real tempting. That would also allow me to role play a character towards Sainthood much easier, I think. I posted on the Character Optimization (http://boards1.wizards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=339) board too and got a pretty good suggestion for an Arcane Knight, have a look at this gish thread by JosephKell (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150451) I like the Knight of the Eldritch Order the most. But I don't know if I want to multi-class so many times, doesn't that defeat the purpose of high level characters?
Aramas 02-03-04, 02:54 PM	Well, since your DM is ganking you on equipment, I would definitely go VoP. A 5th Level Monk / 10th Level Shintao Monk is a very good build. Even a straight monk is powerful with VoP.
Massawyrm 02-03-04, 06:27 PM	First of all the Exalted Arcanist...What a great focused spellcaster this is. The additional divine spells he gets access to are fantastic and the ability to cast ANY Sanctified spell spell as a known spell is great for dire situations when something bizarre is called for. To make this guy really fun, rather than a Sor 10/Exa Arc 5...you could got for an Exalted Arcanist/Thaumaturgist (from the DMG). The Thaumaturgist gets all sorts of extra things for conjuration spells (extended summoning, Augment summoning, and a fantastic little ability called Contingent Summoning that allows you to cast conjuration spells in advance, denote a trigger (when you're attacked, when you draw your sword, ext.) that will cast the spell automatically). You could achieve this with Sor 6/Exa 5/Thau 4. This build requires that you take lesser planar ally as a 4th level spell, available from the spell list provided to exalted arcansists. You would cast spells as a 14th level Sor (7th level spells) be able to use the above enhancements, cast purified and consecrated spells at their normal casting times, as well as getting two extra exalted feats. This build rocks. However, if you want something really kooky and you have access to the Miniatures Handbook, there's the Favored Soul. Exalted Favored souls are nifty characters (they cast cleric spells spontaneously, like a Sorcerer) plus they get a bunch of great resistances and a Bonus Weapon Focus feat. To make things Kookier, try a Favored Souls 4/Sorcerer 4/ Mystic Therge 7. The Mystic Therge (DMG) gives you spell advancement in two different caster types, thus you could cast both Divine and Arcane spells as an 11th level spell caster. This gives you access to 5th level spells in both classes and you could cast 6/6/6/6/6/4 spells per day IN EACH CLASS! That's 68 spells per day. Spontaneously. Or if you want to be more of a martial character, try the Fist of Raziel. You can be Clr 1/Ftr 6/Fist 8 or Clr 2/Ftr5/Fist 8...OR you could substitute Favored Soul for the Cleric Levels and cast the spells spontaneously OR you could sub in Paladin levels for Fighter levels, depending on whether you want Paladin abilities or Bonus feats (However, I'd reccomend against a straight Palidin, as you want those divine caster spell levels, not Pali levels). This build allows you to cast as either a 8th or 9th level spellcaster (8th level casters get a bonus fighter feat with that 6th level of ftr), plus have a BAB of +14/+9/+4, Smite Evil 4 times a day, with all sorts of nasty bonus effects on those smites (including a chain smite effect that nails up to 5 other targets, on your next level up). For the Exalted Arcanist I reccomend these stats 10/15/16/13/13/17. Use the +3 ability points from 4th/8th and 12th level on CHA, making it 20. For the Fav/Sor/Myst I reccomend 10/13/15/13/16/17 with a bumb of either CHA to 20 (for the bonus spells) or 18 with the other 2 going to WIS (for equal spell save scores on both classes). Either way, I recommend the Improved Toughness feat from Complete Warrior for both these Characters to help beef up the sorry HP scores they'll have. For the Fist of Raziel, I'd go 17/15/16/10/13/13 bumping STR to 18, DEX to 16 and either CHA or WIS to 14 (depending on whether you want an extra bonus spell or a higher save (I'd go for saves myself)). But those are a couple ideas to chew on.
Ogre4Hire 02-04-04, 08:03 PM	A Sorcerer10/ Exalted Arcanist 5 is very powerful, plus you can start taking levels of Arcmage from the DMG, which is even better for sorcerers than wizards because you have more spells but less selection, and the arcmage's abilities greatly increase your flexability.