"Push" based character - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

"Push" based character

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
mltryman
Feb 22, 2009 2:52:51 Well i know this is seriously fad'ish but oh well. I just saw Push and it was absolutely wicked cool. Now i'm itching to play a character based off of his telekinetic abilities, but narrowed down to focus on exactly that while still maintaining the martial feel to it in the end combat scene. I've read over the telekinesis spell as well as Master of the Unseen Hand, both of which have the correct feel for what i'm looking for but sadly aren't available until much later levels and only in limited quantities.
So here is where you all at the Char Op come into play: i need help with a build that focuses on the unarmed combat aspect as well as utilitizing telekinetic "pushes" to inflict more damage, affect things at a distance with said pushes as well as deflect incoming ranged attack / absorb some of the impact of melee. All of this hopefully kicking into effect fairly early in his career of critter bashing (5-8th).
Sources are pretty much anything you can get your hands on, mostly 3.5 although some 3.0 splash is do-able as is dragon magazine and other things.

THANKS!
#2
agahi_renem
Feb 22, 2009 2:58:32 psy warrior that picks all pushy style powers, or a warlock that does some finangleing to make his eldrich blast into force.
#3
jameswilliamogle
Feb 22, 2009 9:42:15 I haven't seen the movie, but this might be a start:
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=409126
#4
mltryman
Feb 22, 2009 10:59:32 Agahi - I thought about the psi-warrior with pushy type powers and having him focus on unarmed combat but he wouldn't really get alot of the OoOOoOomph from what powers are available to them, will try to optimize that angle.

jameswilliamogle - thanks for the insight, but i've already read over the jean grey thread which is why i stated that i'd like to keep a martial feel to him, and try and get his powers to start manifesting themselves around levels 5-8 so that he's useful and fun without having to wait until who knows when.

On those two notes, i thought about trying to come up with a 1/2 Ghost kind of build ..or a full fledged ghost .. using their telekinesis SLA although i believe they can only use it once every 1d4 rounds or some such. Grr and rargh and stuff, the itch continues.
#5
playswithfire
Feb 22, 2009 17:26:31 What about an Ardent with, among others, the Force mantle, maybe going into slayer and possibly dipping swordsage or fighter?
#6
Balthanon
Feb 22, 2009 17:28:43 With Master of the Unseen Hand, it doesn't matter that a ghost can only use telekinesis every 1d4 rounds-- they can sustain their telekinesis for extended periods of time. If you want martial, I would probably go with a ghost 5/martial adept 5/master of the unseen hand 5/martial adept 5. Take Superior Unarmed Strike to pick up decent unarmed attacks and you should be in good shape.

Alternatively, if you want to emphasize the unarmed aspect more, you could add in some monk or shou disciple to the build (or unarmed swordsage variant) and reduce the master of the unseen hand a bit.

If you're starting at 6th or 7th level, so long as you have malevolence to pick up a body and telekinesis, you'll probably have a decent ability to match some of those tricks-- just watch out for the glass jaw caused by losing 5 levels to LA and your Con. (Though given that you keep the hit points of the host with malevolence and don't die when the body dies, you're not that badly off unless you run into an exorcist.)
#7
mltryman
Feb 22, 2009 19:22:14 Martial Adept source? Thats a VERY good idea there, and something i'm almost completely sprung on soon as i can figure out where its from so i can look over it.
#8
DragonGhoula
Feb 22, 2009 20:59:35 If your DM doesn't mind homebrew material, LordPendragon's Telekineticist looks pretty awesome, though I haven't seen the movie.
#9
Balthanon
Feb 22, 2009 22:16:09
Martial Adept source? Thats a VERY good idea there, and something i'm almost completely sprung on soon as i can figure out where its from so i can look over it.

Tome of Battle. Either Swordsage, Warblade, or Crusader-- they're all considered martial adepts (and all get the concentration skill you need for Master of the Unseen Hand).
#10
mltryman
Feb 23, 2009 23:29:16 Ok so i'm thinking of running either a telekineticist / unarmed swordsage variant to get it to work. But due to my DM being a notorious butt about allowing homebrew content i'll more then likely go ghost 5 / Unarmed Swordsage X / Master of the unseen hand 5 / Swordsage the rest of the way. Biggest thing now is i need to actually figure out which levels are going where and help with picking stances / maneuvers etc. Keep in mind this will be utilizing very heavily on the actually telekinesis as well as force themed abilities / imitations.
So we know the first 5 levels are written off to being a ghost, probably at least 2 more for unarmed swordsage before going into Motuh for 5 and finishing out the rest of swordsage. So yea, need stances and maneuvers for the ghost 5 / swordsage 2 / motuh 1 build as that's where he'll start off at. Beyond that just a progression template to follow would be helpful. Also need to figure out what body he's going to possess at level 8. I was thinking something with a nice hefty strength and con .. as he'll keep his own mental scores, perhaps an ogre or something civilization friendly for town excursions with the party.
#11
Balthanon
Feb 24, 2009 6:02:00 You'll need 5 levels of Swordsage before you can go into MotUH-- it has a prerequisite skill that requires 8 ranks, which means you need 5 hit dice before your skill cap is high enough to get the ranks. (Ghost levels don't actually give you the benefits of having a class level, just the powers.)
#12
true_shinken
Feb 24, 2009 9:47:32 Be a githyanki and get telekinesis as a spell-like ability? Only +2 LA.
#13
Balthanon
Feb 24, 2009 18:59:46
Be a githyanki and get telekinesis as a spell-like ability? Only +2 LA.

Only once per day too-- that can be upped to 3/day with Magic in the Blood, but it's still not enough for consistent use.
#14
true_shinken
Feb 25, 2009 19:12:03
Only once per day too-- that can be upped to 3/day with Magic in the Blood, but it's still not enough for consistent use.

But as a MotUH, can't you mantain it for as long as you want? Sure, you wouldn't be able to use the other SLA, but you could stop/resume your telekinesis 3 day. I think it's pretty doable.
#15
Balthanon
Feb 25, 2009 19:59:57 So long as you maintain concentration, which means using a standard action each round. If you want to intersperse some unarmed combat into that, it isn't really going to be feasible for multiple combats.
#16
true_shinken
Feb 25, 2009 20:04:00
So long as you maintain concentration, which means using a standard action each round. If you want to intersperse some unarmed combat into that, it isn't really going to be feasible for multiple combats.

There is some kind of trick to concentrate on a spell as a swift action, I'm pretty sure of it.
#17
Balthanon
Feb 25, 2009 20:17:27 There are a few actually, the easiest one to pick up is Extraordinary Concentration typically, but that requires 15 ranks of spellcraft. Familiar Concentration requires being a 9th level caster and there is a class ability along those lines as well I believe, but it requires spellcasting. In general, they aren't designed for melee oriented characters and they still don't address people hitting you-- the concentration checks for damage can get fairly high.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mltryman Feb 22, 2009 2:52:51	Well i know this is seriously fad'ish but oh well. I just saw Push and it was absolutely wicked cool. Now i'm itching to play a character based off of his telekinetic abilities, but narrowed down to focus on exactly that while still maintaining the martial feel to it in the end combat scene. I've read over the telekinesis spell as well as Master of the Unseen Hand, both of which have the correct feel for what i'm looking for but sadly aren't available until much later levels and only in limited quantities. So here is where you all at the Char Op come into play: i need help with a build that focuses on the unarmed combat aspect as well as utilitizing telekinetic "pushes" to inflict more damage, affect things at a distance with said pushes as well as deflect incoming ranged attack / absorb some of the impact of melee. All of this hopefully kicking into effect fairly early in his career of critter bashing (5-8th). Sources are pretty much anything you can get your hands on, mostly 3.5 although some 3.0 splash is do-able as is dragon magazine and other things. THANKS!
#2 agahi_renem Feb 22, 2009 2:58:32	psy warrior that picks all pushy style powers, or a warlock that does some finangleing to make his eldrich blast into force.
#3 jameswilliamogle Feb 22, 2009 9:42:15	I haven't seen the movie, but this might be a start: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=409126
#4 mltryman Feb 22, 2009 10:59:32	Agahi - I thought about the psi-warrior with pushy type powers and having him focus on unarmed combat but he wouldn't really get alot of the OoOOoOomph from what powers are available to them, will try to optimize that angle. jameswilliamogle - thanks for the insight, but i've already read over the jean grey thread which is why i stated that i'd like to keep a martial feel to him, and try and get his powers to start manifesting themselves around levels 5-8 so that he's useful and fun without having to wait until who knows when. On those two notes, i thought about trying to come up with a 1/2 Ghost kind of build ..or a full fledged ghost .. using their telekinesis SLA although i believe they can only use it once every 1d4 rounds or some such. Grr and rargh and stuff, the itch continues.
#5 playswithfire Feb 22, 2009 17:26:31	What about an Ardent with, among others, the Force mantle, maybe going into slayer and possibly dipping swordsage or fighter?
#6 Balthanon Feb 22, 2009 17:28:43	With Master of the Unseen Hand, it doesn't matter that a ghost can only use telekinesis every 1d4 rounds-- they can sustain their telekinesis for extended periods of time. If you want martial, I would probably go with a ghost 5/martial adept 5/master of the unseen hand 5/martial adept 5. Take Superior Unarmed Strike to pick up decent unarmed attacks and you should be in good shape. Alternatively, if you want to emphasize the unarmed aspect more, you could add in some monk or shou disciple to the build (or unarmed swordsage variant) and reduce the master of the unseen hand a bit. If you're starting at 6th or 7th level, so long as you have malevolence to pick up a body and telekinesis, you'll probably have a decent ability to match some of those tricks-- just watch out for the glass jaw caused by losing 5 levels to LA and your Con. (Though given that you keep the hit points of the host with malevolence and don't die when the body dies, you're not that badly off unless you run into an exorcist.)
#7 mltryman Feb 22, 2009 19:22:14	Martial Adept source? Thats a VERY good idea there, and something i'm almost completely sprung on soon as i can figure out where its from so i can look over it.
#8 DragonGhoula Feb 22, 2009 20:59:35	If your DM doesn't mind homebrew material, LordPendragon's Telekineticist looks pretty awesome, though I haven't seen the movie.
#9 Balthanon Feb 22, 2009 22:16:09	Martial Adept source? Thats a VERY good idea there, and something i'm almost completely sprung on soon as i can figure out where its from so i can look over it. Tome of Battle. Either Swordsage, Warblade, or Crusader-- they're all considered martial adepts (and all get the concentration skill you need for Master of the Unseen Hand).
#10 mltryman Feb 23, 2009 23:29:16	Ok so i'm thinking of running either a telekineticist / unarmed swordsage variant to get it to work. But due to my DM being a notorious butt about allowing homebrew content i'll more then likely go ghost 5 / Unarmed Swordsage X / Master of the unseen hand 5 / Swordsage the rest of the way. Biggest thing now is i need to actually figure out which levels are going where and help with picking stances / maneuvers etc. Keep in mind this will be utilizing very heavily on the actually telekinesis as well as force themed abilities / imitations. So we know the first 5 levels are written off to being a ghost, probably at least 2 more for unarmed swordsage before going into Motuh for 5 and finishing out the rest of swordsage. So yea, need stances and maneuvers for the ghost 5 / swordsage 2 / motuh 1 build as that's where he'll start off at. Beyond that just a progression template to follow would be helpful. Also need to figure out what body he's going to possess at level 8. I was thinking something with a nice hefty strength and con .. as he'll keep his own mental scores, perhaps an ogre or something civilization friendly for town excursions with the party.
#11 Balthanon Feb 24, 2009 6:02:00	You'll need 5 levels of Swordsage before you can go into MotUH-- it has a prerequisite skill that requires 8 ranks, which means you need 5 hit dice before your skill cap is high enough to get the ranks. (Ghost levels don't actually give you the benefits of having a class level, just the powers.)
#12 true_shinken Feb 24, 2009 9:47:32	Be a githyanki and get telekinesis as a spell-like ability? Only +2 LA.
#13 Balthanon Feb 24, 2009 18:59:46	Be a githyanki and get telekinesis as a spell-like ability? Only +2 LA. Only once per day too-- that can be upped to 3/day with Magic in the Blood, but it's still not enough for consistent use.
#14 true_shinken Feb 25, 2009 19:12:03	Only once per day too-- that can be upped to 3/day with Magic in the Blood, but it's still not enough for consistent use. But as a MotUH, can't you mantain it for as long as you want? Sure, you wouldn't be able to use the other SLA, but you could stop/resume your telekinesis 3 day. I think it's pretty doable.
#15 Balthanon Feb 25, 2009 19:59:57	So long as you maintain concentration, which means using a standard action each round. If you want to intersperse some unarmed combat into that, it isn't really going to be feasible for multiple combats.
#16 true_shinken Feb 25, 2009 20:04:00	So long as you maintain concentration, which means using a standard action each round. If you want to intersperse some unarmed combat into that, it isn't really going to be feasible for multiple combats. There is some kind of trick to concentrate on a spell as a swift action, I'm pretty sure of it.
#17 Balthanon Feb 25, 2009 20:17:27	There are a few actually, the easiest one to pick up is Extraordinary Concentration typically, but that requires 15 ranks of spellcraft. Familiar Concentration requires being a 9th level caster and there is a class ability along those lines as well I believe, but it requires spellcasting. In general, they aren't designed for melee oriented characters and they still don't address people hitting you-- the concentration checks for damage can get fairly high.