Beginner seeking advice.. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Beginner seeking advice.. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 04:35 PM I am fully aware that i am going to be flamed, and im first to admit i am new to d&d hense the phrase "N00B noob newb nublet n00blet" so on.. so forth.. so if thats all you're going to do please dont respond to this.. with that said.

This will be my second ever character made, the DM though is not familiar with drow and he can not help me, so i thought i might take a gander at the forums and i didnt find what i quite needed. perhaps i was going to enquire some help from one on these forums.

So what is a player to do?

Me, the player wants this.

I start out at level 3, im a drow sorcerer, i may multi class into something, not sure, but i doubt it. my stats i rolled are 11 11 11 14 16 17.

I was wondering if someone could give me a build for a sorcerer drow of the 3rd level tell me reasons why it's strong and what about it thatm akes it work so if i need to i can tweak with it and make it unique , the campaign settings are the pits basicaly, whether it freedom honor being a prisoner, my character is in the pits, it's a campaign with myself and 2 other players, and they are all a lot better then myself, so it would love advice for my character i want to make. and i will tell them i acquired it from this forum and wont say i made it myself.

Thanks in advance to those whom help.
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 05:06 PM I am fully aware that i am going to be flamed, and im first to admit i am new to d&d hense the phrase "N00B noob newb nublet n00blet" so on.. so forth.. so if thats all you're going to do please dont respond to this.. with that said.

You'll only be flamed if you act stupidly. Anyone who flames someone because they're new is stupid. Very stupid.

This will be my second ever character made, the DM though is not familiar with drow and he can not help me, so i thought i might take a gander at the forums and i didnt find what i quite needed. perhaps i was going to enquire some help from one on these forums.

It's probably not best to take a character who you don't fully understand, unless someone in your campaign knows how to play them, and can give you advice.

I start out at level 3, im a drow sorcerer, i may multi class into something, not sure, but i doubt it. my stats i rolled are 11 11 11 14 16 17.

First question - are you a Drow Sorceror 3, or a Drow Sorceror with an ECL of 3?
Because Drow are a more powerful race than standard races, they are two levels lower than their experience says they are. This is called Level Adjustment (LA).
It's my guess that you'll be a Drow with 1 level of sorceror.

Your stats are excellent. Since you're a Sorceror, you'll want to put your best stat into Charisma. Combine this with the Drow racial bonus to charisma, you'll start off with 19 CHA, which is very, very nice.

OK, if you're in the pits, you'll need to be a tough character. Sorcerers have REALLY bad HP. Put your next highest stat into CON, this will help fix that, as well as the nasty problem of Elves having a -2 to CON. You'll have 14 CON, for +2 HP/level.

Then, your next stat. My personal advice is take Dex. Since you can't wear much armour, dex will be extremely useful. It'll also increase your initiave, which will be a major bonus.

This is all theory though. What you should be thinking of is what sort of person your Drow is. Drow are traditionally CE, but Evil players are a bit miffy. Find an excuse/plot hook for you to be CN.
Then, figure out what sort of Sorceror your character is. Since Sorcs have a limited amount of spells, you'll need to figure out what sort of area he specializes in, or what he does. My personal favourite is Enchantment (But mind you, I go for Bards for that). In the situation you're in, it could be useful to chuck off Charm Person on a lot of your fellow fighters; you'd have an army. Combine this with you incredibly high Charisma, you've got a winning team.

Assuming this is the case, you'll want to take Spell Focus: Enchantment as your first level feat, or ask your GM if he knows of any feats that would suit a character who would get people as allies rather than killing them.
Try for a leader type. At 6th level, grab Leadership.

A couple of things to watch out for with your Drow is that you have Light Sensitivity. Ask your GM if he knows of any items or feats that can negate this. However, you do have Spell Resistance (v. v. useful), and 120 ft Dark Vision.

If you decide to go with the leader-type/enchanter sorceror, you can't go wrong with grabbing Diplomacy. Intimidate and Bluff would be useful too, however you'll only be getting 2+INT skills a level. This could be a problem if you want ranks in Arcanna and Spellcraft.

I'll have more to ramble about when I have time to think.

EDIT: Remember, as a Drow, you get the following:

+2 INT, CHA, DEX
-2 Con

Immunity to Sleep

+2 Saving Throw vs Enchantments

+2 Racial bonus to Listen, Search, Spot, and automatic Search checks when in 5ft of a door.

120 DV

SR 11+HD

+2 on Will Saves vs. Spells/Spell-like Abilities

(SP) Dancing Lights, Darkness, Faerie Fire 1/day

Proficiency with Hand Crossbow, Rapier and Short Sword

Common, Elven, Undercommon

Light Blindness

LA +2
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 05:14 PM yea my dm mentioned that he has an LA of +2 but he is a level 3 so he will act as a level 5.

My character i want him to be the leader-type/ sorceror

Your advice is awesome.
p.s merry christmas..

Also what is the hp for drow when they start? d8?
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 05:36 PM Your HP is based off your class levels. Sorcerors have a d4 hit dice. This is why I recomended you to take lots of constitution; you're going to need it. If you're a 3rd level Sorceror, that makes things a bit easier. You get an extra feat. If worst comes to worst, and your GM doesn't know of any nice feats for you, take Spell Focus (Enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment). This will (I'm assuming you're in 3.5) give you a +2 to the DCs of your Enchantment spells. Combine this with your 19 Charisma (which you should increase to 20 once you hit next level), you'll have a DC of 16+Spell level, 17+Spell level next level.
Assuming you use one of your 11's for INT, you'll have 13 INT, which gives you a +1 INT bonus. You can max out 3 skills; if you're taking the leader type, I'd advise taking Diplomacy, Bluff and Sense Motive. Talk to your GM about letting you take them as class skills rather than cross-class skills (As it's definately incharacter for you).

The next thing for you to do is choose your spells. As a 3rd level Sorc, you'll get 5 cantrips and 3 1st level spells known. Take all the enchantment spells you can, except Sleep; while Sleep may be useful at lower levels, you're in a 5th level campaign; Sleep only effects 4th level and under. Instead, I'd advise to take Mage Armour, to cast before every battle.
Use Charm Person on whoever you can. Get as many friends as possible. Your DC should be 10+1+4+2 (17), assuming you take greater spell focus. This means on average the NPCs will need a will save of +7, which at your level, I'd expect a Monk and Divine spellcasters to have... but not anyone else.

Merry christmas to you too. Hope I've been of help. If you need anything else, I've got this thread on subscription, so post here and I'll read it.
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 05:39 PM it's 3.0 = (
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 05:42 PM ....*grins evilly*

3.0 is even better. I may not have the sourcebooks, but I know that Spell Focus works twice as good in 3.0. Your DC will be 19, 20 next level ^_^
No-one your level will have a +10 will save.
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 05:43 PM oops Well, nevermind apparently im level 4 now so i get that little bonus of +1 hehe. my dm is reading this thread too.
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 05:46 PM Oh dear ^_^

Right.

You, my friend, have an evil (not really evil. Just evil in terms of stats) character. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will be to charm the pants (not literally, unless your DM allows it =P) off the rest of the group, with a DC 20 Charm Person.

*snicker*

Have fun. And Mr. GM, I'm sorry ^_^
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 05:50 PM hahaha, nice, In terms of fighting though what method should i partake, the blast the crap out of them while LOOKING AWESOME (20 cha) ?

whats spells should i learn? i am a sorcerer after all.
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 05:53 PM GM: I have a question i am uncertain about. One of my players wants to be a monk barbarian, he wants to be able to have unarmed melee combat, while wearing heavy spiked armor, saying this. he would like to be able to "bear hug" his opponent as a grapple. A) is he able to do this? B) which feats does he need for this? C) how would damage be decided? D) What str checks would i have to do for opponent to get out, or vice versa.

Thanks.
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 06:15 PM As a note: Everything I say, unless I say otherwise, is for 3.5, so doublecheck everything with your GM.

Remember, a lot of people look down on sorcerors, as they aren't very 'tough'. Perhaps try to hide the fact you're a sorceror. Use your weapon proficiencies to your advantage - Use a rapier. Eventually get yourself a Scabbard of Keen Edges, and some way to cast Improved Critical, and you've got a weapon with a crit range of 12-20. Shove a Flaming Burst or the like on it, and you'll be doing a lot of extra damage.
Spells where you blast people are noisy and obvious. If you want to be the noisy/obvious type, then go for Evocation. Enchantment is usually a lot quieter.

...right, now that I'm back with some books, I'll see what spells you might like.

This is the only spell I can find that you might find of use that isn't in the PHB:

Yoke of Mercy, 2nd level Wiz/Sorc. Page 112, BoED. Compells the target to only deal nonlethal damage (this will also make them take a -4 penalty, unless they can also deal nonlethal at no penalty).
In order to use this spell, you can't have dealt damage in the last 8 hours.

As a 4th level Sorc, you'll have 6 cantrips, 3 1st levels and 1 2nd level spell up your sleeve.
For your 2nd level spell, take Tasha's Hideous Laughter. We're talking a DC 21 will save, or they can't control themself for 4 turns. Touch of Idiocy is also useful...d6 damage to all of the person's mental stats; deadly against spellcasters. The other option is to take Eagle's Splendor - It'll increase your CHA, making your spells harder to resist. I'd personally stick with Tasha though, and get Eagle's Splendor next level. =)

Then you've got 3 1st level spells. Charm Person's a given. My person advise would be for your own protection, take Mage Armour. Shield is useful too, but it lasts only 1min/level. Summon Monster would suit your character, and you can never go wrong with True Strike. Ray of Enfeeblement is always great.

As for Cantrips...they aren't the greatest in combat, unless you're really inventive, so take them for more out of combat use; Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation, Mage Mand, Mending, Message, Detect Magic, Read Magic...they're all useful. Read and Detect Magic are VERY useful, but your character might not find them very useful in the situation he's in.

Yeah. That's it, I suppose.

EDIT:

GM: I have a question i am uncertain about. One of my players wants to be a monk barbarian, he wants to be able to have unarmed melee combat, while wearing heavy spiked armor, saying this. he would like to be able to "bear hug" his opponent as a grapple. A) is he able to do this? B) which feats does he need for this? C) how would damage be decided? D) What str checks would i have to do for opponent to get out, or vice versa.

Try not to doublepost; edit your last post if it's still last.
Check out the PHB, Armour Spikes. In 3.5 it says: 'You can have spikes added to your armor, which allow you to deal extra piercing damage (see Table 7-5: Weapons) on a successful grapple attack. The spikes count as a martial weapon. If you are not proficient with them, you take a -4 penalty on grapple checks when you try to use them. etcetcetc.'

First problem - Monk Barbarian? That's a really nasty one. By being lawful, he loses his ability to rage. By being unlawful, he can no longer advance as a monk.
Second problem - By wearing the heavy armour, he loses most of his monk benefits.
Third problem - He's not proficient with Heavy Armour, and loses his Fast Movement ability by using it, combined with the massive armour check penalty to it.

A) is he able to do this? - Yes. Just at massive penalties.

B) which feats does he need for this? None. Just a lot would be helpful. Improved Grapple, Martial Weapon Proficiency (which he has) Heavy Armour Proficiency, some overpowered feats that let him use Heavy Armour while keep both monk and barbarian abilities, some other powered feats that let him retain raging as a lawful barbarian/retain the ability to gain levels as a monk.

C) how would damage be decided? He makes a touch attack to initiate a grapple (Melee attack vs. touch AC). Then makes an opposed grapple check (BAB + STR + Size modifiers). If he wins that, he can then attempt to attack in the grapple. He does damage for his unarmed attack plus his strength bonus, plus the damage for the spikes (d6 for a medium creature).

D) What str checks would i have to do for opponent to get out, or vice versa. Normal checks, as for a grapple check. The spiked armour just lets him do more damage in a grapple.
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 06:24 PM My GM also wants to know if you have any opinions on his question about the barbarian monk dealie, and he said he is only allowing 3.0 =( way to be a grinch eh? :P
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 06:31 PM I can't really guarantee much for 3.0, my core books are 3.5. But common sense goes a long way. If you want to be cheap, use 3.0 to your advantage.
In 3.0, DCs go a lot higher. In 3.0, you can make your critical range very high. In 3.0, Haste lets you cast an extra spell per turn.
Make your GM go to 3.5 ;P
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 06:35 PM haha, apparently the GM doesnt have the books nor the money to afford them xD!!

So with that said, it'll have to be make do with 3.0, and the gm wants 3.5, but he cant afford it any time soon.
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 06:40 PM *grins, nods*
I hope your GM caught the answer to his monk/barbarian question, it's at the end of my last long post.

If you or your GM have any questions, feel free to PM me, or grab my email/MSN/Yahoo/AIM etc or whatever, I'll be happy to help out ^_^
ACdarkfate
12-25-04, 06:44 PM I added you to messenger actually i am curtisbure@hotmail.com

Gm says ty.

Also i am now thinking of doing monk lvl 2 and be a sorcerer at level 2 and continue with sorcery, opinions?

my stats would be something like

str:16
dex:16
con:10 (Gm says no stats can be under 9)
int: 13
wis: 13
cha: 20
WihHizwind
12-25-04, 06:53 PM I start out at level 3, im a drow sorcerer, i may multi class into something, not sure, but i doubt it. my stats i rolled are 11 11 11 14 16 17.
+2 dex, -2 con, +2 int, +2 cha, +1 cha (4th level)

17 goes into CHA, giving you 20 CHA.

16 goes into CON for HP, giving you 14 CON.

14 goes into DEX, giving you 16 DEX

11 goes into INT, giving you 13 INT

11 goes into WIS, giving you 11 WIS

11 goes into STR, giving you 11 STR

That's my reccomendations.
Bringslite
12-25-04, 10:57 PM WihHizwind

Use a rapier. Eventually get yourself a Scabbard of Keen Edges, and some way to cast Improved Critical, and you've got a weapon with a crit range of 12-20. Shove a Flaming Burst or the like on it, and you'll be doing a lot of extra damage

Improned crit does not stack with keen in 3.5. I believe that it does in 3.0 though sp if they are usimg those rules, it's all good.
WihHizwind
12-26-04, 03:56 AM My GM also wants to know if you have any opinions on his question about the barbarian monk dealie, and he said he is only allowing 3.0 =( way to be a grinch eh?

They're in 3.0.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 04:35 PM	I am fully aware that i am going to be flamed, and im first to admit i am new to d&d hense the phrase "N00B noob newb nublet n00blet" so on.. so forth.. so if thats all you're going to do please dont respond to this.. with that said. This will be my second ever character made, the DM though is not familiar with drow and he can not help me, so i thought i might take a gander at the forums and i didnt find what i quite needed. perhaps i was going to enquire some help from one on these forums. So what is a player to do? Me, the player wants this. I start out at level 3, im a drow sorcerer, i may multi class into something, not sure, but i doubt it. my stats i rolled are 11 11 11 14 16 17. I was wondering if someone could give me a build for a sorcerer drow of the 3rd level tell me reasons why it's strong and what about it thatm akes it work so if i need to i can tweak with it and make it unique , the campaign settings are the pits basicaly, whether it freedom honor being a prisoner, my character is in the pits, it's a campaign with myself and 2 other players, and they are all a lot better then myself, so it would love advice for my character i want to make. and i will tell them i acquired it from this forum and wont say i made it myself. Thanks in advance to those whom help.
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 05:06 PM	I am fully aware that i am going to be flamed, and im first to admit i am new to d&d hense the phrase "N00B noob newb nublet n00blet" so on.. so forth.. so if thats all you're going to do please dont respond to this.. with that said. You'll only be flamed if you act stupidly. Anyone who flames someone because they're new is stupid. Very stupid. This will be my second ever character made, the DM though is not familiar with drow and he can not help me, so i thought i might take a gander at the forums and i didnt find what i quite needed. perhaps i was going to enquire some help from one on these forums. It's probably not best to take a character who you don't fully understand, unless someone in your campaign knows how to play them, and can give you advice. I start out at level 3, im a drow sorcerer, i may multi class into something, not sure, but i doubt it. my stats i rolled are 11 11 11 14 16 17. First question - are you a Drow Sorceror 3, or a Drow Sorceror with an ECL of 3? Because Drow are a more powerful race than standard races, they are two levels lower than their experience says they are. This is called Level Adjustment (LA). It's my guess that you'll be a Drow with 1 level of sorceror. Your stats are excellent. Since you're a Sorceror, you'll want to put your best stat into Charisma. Combine this with the Drow racial bonus to charisma, you'll start off with 19 CHA, which is very, very nice. OK, if you're in the pits, you'll need to be a tough character. Sorcerers have REALLY bad HP. Put your next highest stat into CON, this will help fix that, as well as the nasty problem of Elves having a -2 to CON. You'll have 14 CON, for +2 HP/level. Then, your next stat. My personal advice is take Dex. Since you can't wear much armour, dex will be extremely useful. It'll also increase your initiave, which will be a major bonus. This is all theory though. What you should be thinking of is what sort of person your Drow is. Drow are traditionally CE, but Evil players are a bit miffy. Find an excuse/plot hook for you to be CN. Then, figure out what sort of Sorceror your character is. Since Sorcs have a limited amount of spells, you'll need to figure out what sort of area he specializes in, or what he does. My personal favourite is Enchantment (But mind you, I go for Bards for that). In the situation you're in, it could be useful to chuck off Charm Person on a lot of your fellow fighters; you'd have an army. Combine this with you incredibly high Charisma, you've got a winning team. Assuming this is the case, you'll want to take Spell Focus: Enchantment as your first level feat, or ask your GM if he knows of any feats that would suit a character who would get people as allies rather than killing them. Try for a leader type. At 6th level, grab Leadership. A couple of things to watch out for with your Drow is that you have Light Sensitivity. Ask your GM if he knows of any items or feats that can negate this. However, you do have Spell Resistance (v. v. useful), and 120 ft Dark Vision. If you decide to go with the leader-type/enchanter sorceror, you can't go wrong with grabbing Diplomacy. Intimidate and Bluff would be useful too, however you'll only be getting 2+INT skills a level. This could be a problem if you want ranks in Arcanna and Spellcraft. I'll have more to ramble about when I have time to think. EDIT: Remember, as a Drow, you get the following: +2 INT, CHA, DEX -2 Con Immunity to Sleep +2 Saving Throw vs Enchantments +2 Racial bonus to Listen, Search, Spot, and automatic Search checks when in 5ft of a door. 120 DV SR 11+HD +2 on Will Saves vs. Spells/Spell-like Abilities (SP) Dancing Lights, Darkness, Faerie Fire 1/day Proficiency with Hand Crossbow, Rapier and Short Sword Common, Elven, Undercommon Light Blindness LA +2
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 05:14 PM	yea my dm mentioned that he has an LA of +2 but he is a level 3 so he will act as a level 5. My character i want him to be the leader-type/ sorceror Your advice is awesome. p.s merry christmas.. Also what is the hp for drow when they start? d8?
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 05:36 PM	Your HP is based off your class levels. Sorcerors have a d4 hit dice. This is why I recomended you to take lots of constitution; you're going to need it. If you're a 3rd level Sorceror, that makes things a bit easier. You get an extra feat. If worst comes to worst, and your GM doesn't know of any nice feats for you, take Spell Focus (Enchantment) and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment). This will (I'm assuming you're in 3.5) give you a +2 to the DCs of your Enchantment spells. Combine this with your 19 Charisma (which you should increase to 20 once you hit next level), you'll have a DC of 16+Spell level, 17+Spell level next level. Assuming you use one of your 11's for INT, you'll have 13 INT, which gives you a +1 INT bonus. You can max out 3 skills; if you're taking the leader type, I'd advise taking Diplomacy, Bluff and Sense Motive. Talk to your GM about letting you take them as class skills rather than cross-class skills (As it's definately incharacter for you). The next thing for you to do is choose your spells. As a 3rd level Sorc, you'll get 5 cantrips and 3 1st level spells known. Take all the enchantment spells you can, except Sleep; while Sleep may be useful at lower levels, you're in a 5th level campaign; Sleep only effects 4th level and under. Instead, I'd advise to take Mage Armour, to cast before every battle. Use Charm Person on whoever you can. Get as many friends as possible. Your DC should be 10+1+4+2 (17), assuming you take greater spell focus. This means on average the NPCs will need a will save of +7, which at your level, I'd expect a Monk and Divine spellcasters to have... but not anyone else. Merry christmas to you too. Hope I've been of help. If you need anything else, I've got this thread on subscription, so post here and I'll read it.
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 05:39 PM	it's 3.0 = (
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 05:42 PM	....grins evilly 3.0 is even better. I may not have the sourcebooks, but I know that Spell Focus works twice as good in 3.0. Your DC will be 19, 20 next level ^_^ No-one your level will have a +10 will save.
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 05:43 PM	oops Well, nevermind apparently im level 4 now so i get that little bonus of +1 hehe. my dm is reading this thread too.
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 05:46 PM	Oh dear ^_^ Right. You, my friend, have an evil (not really evil. Just evil in terms of stats) character. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, will be to charm the pants (not literally, unless your DM allows it =P) off the rest of the group, with a DC 20 Charm Person. snicker Have fun. And Mr. GM, I'm sorry ^_^
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 05:50 PM	hahaha, nice, In terms of fighting though what method should i partake, the blast the crap out of them while LOOKING AWESOME (20 cha) ? whats spells should i learn? i am a sorcerer after all.
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 05:53 PM	GM: I have a question i am uncertain about. One of my players wants to be a monk barbarian, he wants to be able to have unarmed melee combat, while wearing heavy spiked armor, saying this. he would like to be able to "bear hug" his opponent as a grapple. A) is he able to do this? B) which feats does he need for this? C) how would damage be decided? D) What str checks would i have to do for opponent to get out, or vice versa. Thanks.
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 06:15 PM	As a note: Everything I say, unless I say otherwise, is for 3.5, so doublecheck everything with your GM. Remember, a lot of people look down on sorcerors, as they aren't very 'tough'. Perhaps try to hide the fact you're a sorceror. Use your weapon proficiencies to your advantage - Use a rapier. Eventually get yourself a Scabbard of Keen Edges, and some way to cast Improved Critical, and you've got a weapon with a crit range of 12-20. Shove a Flaming Burst or the like on it, and you'll be doing a lot of extra damage. Spells where you blast people are noisy and obvious. If you want to be the noisy/obvious type, then go for Evocation. Enchantment is usually a lot quieter. ...right, now that I'm back with some books, I'll see what spells you might like. This is the only spell I can find that you might find of use that isn't in the PHB: Yoke of Mercy, 2nd level Wiz/Sorc. Page 112, BoED. Compells the target to only deal nonlethal damage (this will also make them take a -4 penalty, unless they can also deal nonlethal at no penalty). In order to use this spell, you can't have dealt damage in the last 8 hours. As a 4th level Sorc, you'll have 6 cantrips, 3 1st levels and 1 2nd level spell up your sleeve. For your 2nd level spell, take Tasha's Hideous Laughter. We're talking a DC 21 will save, or they can't control themself for 4 turns. Touch of Idiocy is also useful...d6 damage to all of the person's mental stats; deadly against spellcasters. The other option is to take Eagle's Splendor - It'll increase your CHA, making your spells harder to resist. I'd personally stick with Tasha though, and get Eagle's Splendor next level. =) Then you've got 3 1st level spells. Charm Person's a given. My person advise would be for your own protection, take Mage Armour. Shield is useful too, but it lasts only 1min/level. Summon Monster would suit your character, and you can never go wrong with True Strike. Ray of Enfeeblement is always great. As for Cantrips...they aren't the greatest in combat, unless you're really inventive, so take them for more out of combat use; Arcane Mark, Prestidigitation, Mage Mand, Mending, Message, Detect Magic, Read Magic...they're all useful. Read and Detect Magic are VERY useful, but your character might not find them very useful in the situation he's in. Yeah. That's it, I suppose. EDIT: GM: I have a question i am uncertain about. One of my players wants to be a monk barbarian, he wants to be able to have unarmed melee combat, while wearing heavy spiked armor, saying this. he would like to be able to "bear hug" his opponent as a grapple. A) is he able to do this? B) which feats does he need for this? C) how would damage be decided? D) What str checks would i have to do for opponent to get out, or vice versa. Try not to doublepost; edit your last post if it's still last. Check out the PHB, Armour Spikes. In 3.5 it says: 'You can have spikes added to your armor, which allow you to deal extra piercing damage (see Table 7-5: Weapons) on a successful grapple attack. The spikes count as a martial weapon. If you are not proficient with them, you take a -4 penalty on grapple checks when you try to use them. etcetcetc.' First problem - Monk Barbarian? That's a really nasty one. By being lawful, he loses his ability to rage. By being unlawful, he can no longer advance as a monk. Second problem - By wearing the heavy armour, he loses most of his monk benefits. Third problem - He's not proficient with Heavy Armour, and loses his Fast Movement ability by using it, combined with the massive armour check penalty to it. A) is he able to do this? - Yes. Just at massive penalties. B) which feats does he need for this? None. Just a lot would be helpful. Improved Grapple, Martial Weapon Proficiency (which he has) Heavy Armour Proficiency, some overpowered feats that let him use Heavy Armour while keep both monk and barbarian abilities, some other powered feats that let him retain raging as a lawful barbarian/retain the ability to gain levels as a monk. C) how would damage be decided? He makes a touch attack to initiate a grapple (Melee attack vs. touch AC). Then makes an opposed grapple check (BAB + STR + Size modifiers). If he wins that, he can then attempt to attack in the grapple. He does damage for his unarmed attack plus his strength bonus, plus the damage for the spikes (d6 for a medium creature). D) What str checks would i have to do for opponent to get out, or vice versa. Normal checks, as for a grapple check. The spiked armour just lets him do more damage in a grapple.
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 06:24 PM	My GM also wants to know if you have any opinions on his question about the barbarian monk dealie, and he said he is only allowing 3.0 =( way to be a grinch eh? :P
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 06:31 PM	I can't really guarantee much for 3.0, my core books are 3.5. But common sense goes a long way. If you want to be cheap, use 3.0 to your advantage. In 3.0, DCs go a lot higher. In 3.0, you can make your critical range very high. In 3.0, Haste lets you cast an extra spell per turn. Make your GM go to 3.5 ;P
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 06:35 PM	haha, apparently the GM doesnt have the books nor the money to afford them xD!! So with that said, it'll have to be make do with 3.0, and the gm wants 3.5, but he cant afford it any time soon.
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 06:40 PM	grins, nods I hope your GM caught the answer to his monk/barbarian question, it's at the end of my last long post. If you or your GM have any questions, feel free to PM me, or grab my email/MSN/Yahoo/AIM etc or whatever, I'll be happy to help out ^_^
ACdarkfate 12-25-04, 06:44 PM	I added you to messenger actually i am curtisbure@hotmail.com Gm says ty. Also i am now thinking of doing monk lvl 2 and be a sorcerer at level 2 and continue with sorcery, opinions? my stats would be something like str:16 dex:16 con:10 (Gm says no stats can be under 9) int: 13 wis: 13 cha: 20
WihHizwind 12-25-04, 06:53 PM	I start out at level 3, im a drow sorcerer, i may multi class into something, not sure, but i doubt it. my stats i rolled are 11 11 11 14 16 17. +2 dex, -2 con, +2 int, +2 cha, +1 cha (4th level) 17 goes into CHA, giving you 20 CHA. 16 goes into CON for HP, giving you 14 CON. 14 goes into DEX, giving you 16 DEX 11 goes into INT, giving you 13 INT 11 goes into WIS, giving you 11 WIS 11 goes into STR, giving you 11 STR That's my reccomendations.
Bringslite 12-25-04, 10:57 PM	WihHizwind Use a rapier. Eventually get yourself a Scabbard of Keen Edges, and some way to cast Improved Critical, and you've got a weapon with a crit range of 12-20. Shove a Flaming Burst or the like on it, and you'll be doing a lot of extra damage Improned crit does not stack with keen in 3.5. I believe that it does in 3.0 though sp if they are usimg those rules, it's all good.
WihHizwind 12-26-04, 03:56 AM	My GM also wants to know if you have any opinions on his question about the barbarian monk dealie, and he said he is only allowing 3.0 =( way to be a grinch eh? They're in 3.0.