Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kaalan 07-10-04, 12:21 AM	My DM is writing up a 3.0 campaign for the Sea of Fallen Stars area...And I'm at a loss what I should play because a large part of the game will be on the sea/underwater. My initial idea was to be a druid and just shapeshift into whatever is needed, but another character is already doing a water genasi druid. Full caster's seem pretty much out of it as many spells require verbal components. So what are some good options that could be effective underwater? Monk? Horizon walker/ranger something? Rogue/Telflamm Shadowlord? Any other ideas? Any templates/races or classes that could be good?
Edward 07-10-04, 02:32 AM	Ship to ship combat is often at extreme range. A primary caster is devastating against ships and several are needed to defend a ship. Mele fighters tend to have to wait a long time until the ships get to boarding range. Edward
Vexxan 07-10-04, 04:44 AM	You could choose to be an aquatic elven character if your DM allows use of Races of Faerun. Any cleric with the Water domain would be useful. Any caster should work just fine if you're willing and able to apply Silent or Still metamagics. A ranger with the King of the Sea prestige class might have an easier time if you were sufficiently advanced in levels. Windrider, also a PrC from Masters of the Wild, or the Aglarondan Griffonrider, from Unapproachable East, will give you aerial abilities over the sea although it will be wasteful if much of the adventure is below the surface. If your DM is prepared to outfit the characters with the proper items/circumstances to adventure underwater, I don't see why any race/class shouldn't be feasible.
Sensei Gith 07-10-04, 10:48 PM	Why can't the windrider mount be a dire shark? Archer would be nice. Archer with flaming arrows is even better. On a boat, one spells pwnage D-R-U-I-D. Great nuking (fire spells will kill crew members, boil water, burn ships), great battlefield control (control weather, entangle if kelp is nearby, whirlpool), perfect environmental adaptation (breath water, master air, wild shape) and a twinked giant squid. One is good, two is even better. :mage: :88E:
PhaedrusXY 07-11-04, 03:34 AM	Clerics do pretty well in general in aquatic adventures. If you were to tailor yours around the fact that you'd be in the water all the time, it could do very well. I'd look into some of the cleric/archer ideas on the Character Optimization board. Alot of combat on boats is going to at least start out as ranged combat. And the ability to cast any spell on your list is a huge boon. The spell Control Water is ridiculously powerful in ship to ship combat.
Contrast 07-11-04, 10:42 AM	Check Savage Species for the Waverider prestige class. You have to have the aquatic subtype to get it, but it looks like a very good idea for this sort of campaign. Also, checkUnearthed Arcana (not Arcana Unearthed) for Aquatic variants on the base races; +0 LA, almost all the original features, and everything you'd need to be in a water campaign.
ajmastrean 07-12-04, 10:38 AM	for a more pirate-y type character you could take swashbuckler from complete warrior and the dread pirate prestige class from song and silence. if you can get an aquatic race, this would all even out for the sailing and swimming. or, strictly PHB/DMG/MM stuff, go with one of the amphibious races and take cleric classes (invaluable in all situations).
UMCorian 07-12-04, 12:02 PM	My initial idea was to be a druid and just shapeshift into whatever is needed, but another character is already doing a water genasi druid. A druid would be an excellent choice, not just for the shapeshifting aspect but for the nature effecting stuff. Imagine standing from the bow of a ship, staff over your head, and sending Call Lightning bolts at the mast of another ship at extreme range for 10 minutes, or doubling your ship's speed by gusting wind into its sails, or summoning a bunch of octopuses to grapple enemy ships and slow them down, or summoning away horrible weather to save your own ship, or casting Fog Cloud and cloaking an away team of longboats in the mists until it's within firing distance of an enemy ship? The posibilities are endless. A cleric with access to Air and Water domains would be a close second as far as what I'd like to play, followed by a swashbuckler, and finally, I'd be happy to play a sorcerer or wizard with a few well picked spells.
ninjarabbit 07-12-04, 05:53 PM	A rogue/barbarain or ranger could work.
IceFractal 07-13-04, 02:52 AM	Druid with Natural Spell Then Wildshape into a giant squid Its the next best thing to the Feral Insectile Anthropomorphic Giant Squid cheese you see on the Min/Max board.
satyrgrrrrl 07-13-04, 03:07 AM	I think this would be an excellent chance to play a unique Paladin. You could throw out the "tin can" notion and play up the Dex and such. And you could get a water-based mount (which is the real reason this jumped to mind for me :D). If you're not into that, I'd suggest a Ranger with a focus on archery. You mentioned verbal components: are your characters going to be expected to actually *function* underwater? Water is a hazard in D&D: the classes are not made to function normally in the water (obviously, the class that can change into a fish *can* function in the water, but it's not the normal mode of function). If your GM is expecting a "naturally occuring" underwater (like, swimming and holding your breath) adventure, I think there should be some adjustments to classes (such as the spellcasters and definitely the armor-wearing classes). If he's going to make it all "magically sealed cities under the sea" deal, then just stick to the cities. ;) If he's expecting you to swim everywhere, then you should *all* play Druids. If he's making it a ship-based game, then you can play anything; just go for lots of ranks in Swim, and do what all sailors do: AVOID going in the water. ;) :angel:
Astanphaeus 07-13-04, 04:16 AM	My suggestion: An Istishian Seeker of Mysteries. Start out as a cleric of Istishia, the Water Lord. View water as the most sublime element, and seek to emulate it (check out Istishia's dogma in Faiths and Pantheons). Be a weird, aloof intellectual immersed in philosophy and enamored with the mysteries of life. Your god is strange and alien, so you should reflect that. Your faith is obscure, so many people wouldn't know quite what to make of you, and that could be fun, roleplay-wise. You could take some levels of ranger (seeker of mysteries) or wizard (seeker of mysteries) if you wanted, and then aim for Horizon Walker or Elemental Archon as a PrC. Story benefit: You'd be opposed to followers of Kossuth (elemental god of fire), who happen to be in the neighborhood (Thay). The DM could hook you and the group into a lot of stuff via that angle. You'd mesh well with the druid. I'd say be a genasi, but he's already doing that... so instead I'll suggest a human with a Bloodline (from Unearthed Arcana)... probably Water Elemental... but a Marid Bloodline might be cool. ~ A.