I came across this idea yesterday, and thought I'd come up with a build:
Original Thread: Material Component Shenanigans
The premise is that a grappled enemy's items can be used as material components for your spells. A fairly well-known example is a Cone of Cold cast of a fighter's sword/armor. This can get particularly nasty with certain vile feats or spells (the names and locations of which escape me at the moment) that let you use severed heads/eyes/blood/body parts to increase the CL or DC of a spell. Wail of the Banshee cast off the enemy's head? Insta-pop the mook (even if he makes his save) and everything within 40 ft that fails an increased Fort save
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What can be done turn this into a viable build?
I was thinking a Wizard or Archivist or possibly Duskblade as the base class, possibly with 3 levels of Factotum. 3 CL is a heck of a lot, but that's what Practiced Spellcaster is for, right?:smallwink: Then you get INT to grapple checks, which, when coupled with some spells, can get you a reliable grapple mod. A level of Monk might also be an option for IUS and Imp Grapple, but that's sacrificing a bit much.
What other classes/feats/spells can improve this concept build?
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Shenanigans?
Anything like Body of the Sun, Babau Slime, Balor Nimbus, etc...that automatically damages anyone in a grapple with you each round is certainly good.
I think there's also a Fearsome Grappler spell that causes you to grow tentacles. Gives a +4 hentai bonus, I believe.
I fell silly mentioning it, but it's a lot easier to win an arm wrestling match if you've already hit your foe with Ray of Enfeeblement.
For classes, you want full BAB but also casting progression. Abjurant Champion 5 is a good start. Eldritch Knight is a good old fashioned stand-by, as well as a small dip into Spellsword if you want to wear armor, maybe.
Most important feats would be Eschew Materials and Still Spell. Oh, and Improved Grapple.
Perhaps levels in Swiftblade and Abjurant champion?
Or maybe just go Duskblade/Factotum.
Here is a link to a grappling wizard idea by Frank (one of the authors of the Tome series, the best 3.5 homebrew there is): brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.p...
First, as far as I was aware, in D&D an 'item' and a creature are generally two very different things. If the grappling rules specifically say the grappled creatures items, I don't think you can use the creature itself. If there is a passage in the rules that proves me wrong please point it out to me.
Second, if the components you need are "severed heads/eyes/blood/body parts" wouldn't one still attached to a creature not count anyway? It is a technicality, but I feel like it is a valid one to point out. Especially because you are trying to get a no save kill spell out of it, which could be unbalancing. To get this past a DM your reasoning for it working would need to be flawless, and even then some might tell you no. If you DM does allow it, you can expect him to start using it against you.