Character ideas for a Half-ling - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Character ideas for a Half-ling

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
werehobbit
Sep 20, 2010 18:49:27 Not so sure this is the correct forum to post in but seeing as optimizing a character at this point would include beginning him.. thought this would be a decent starting place.

Basically my DM is running a game off of a long series of characters. He and many of us at the tables have played a type of "chickenchaser" which is a family of adventurous and ADD prone halflings. After a late night at the table we decided to make a game based completely around the clan.

The ChickenChaser sir name is granted only to the first born of the leader whom is the only pure spell caster in the community.

The story starts off after a midnight ambush on our caravan. Our ChickenChaser (leader) was killed and we lost our divine herd of chickens. (Yes herd... they are only a flock to outsiders! >.>) Our story will begin with the more capable youngsters of the clan (us players) to travel out and find the Golden Chicken of Ishtaar (a 'legendary' item that somehow all of our characters in past games have obtained) which will reveal the new leader of the clan who will receive the sir name of 'ChickenChaser'.

As for Party dynamics we have in the party thus far...
Halfing Sorcerer (Spell caster)
Halfling Fighter (Damage soak-er)
Halfing Rogue (Damage dealer)
War Forged scout Rogue (Was built as a replacement for one of the elders dead son and is in thinks it is a real half-ling with terrible insomnia.)

I almost always play the party healer or divine type. Cleric and Paladin are both out of the question for me.

I was toying with the Idea of either being a Bard or a Beguiler.

Either way I am more in the role of keeping up with Party dynamics and story but still have some capabilities in battle.

I was leaning more to beguiler and playing a more silver tongued type but the class is all ready close to rogue and i don't want to have 3 players at the table competing for hiding and stealth leaving the glass jawed sorcerer exposed.

I also have no clue how to make a worth-while bard.

Campaign restrictions: All half-lings have to be from the 3.5 PH since that is the entire clans racial type.

All of the following class restrictions are up to debate with the DM if I can give him a good reason why I have such abilities.

No Monks
No Rangers
No Druids
Nothing with a ton of discipline or restrictions such as Knight ect...

Any suggestions?
#2
bigk1
Sep 21, 2010 13:50:59 Halfling Fighter then prestige into halfling outrider for a mounted halfling is fun and there is even a mini specific to this build. Since your a halfling you can use a medium mount most likely a riding dog which happens to be dungeon friendly. You can take monkey grip so you can use medium sized lances to keep charging damage as high as possible. At medium levels you'll be putting out 3d8+mods per charge if you grab a valorous lance it jumps to 4d8+(modsx4).

I am playing pretty much the same build except I am a pure pally and I am utilizing the strongheart halflings for the extra feat. Currently I am at 7th level but at 9th when I can take monkey grip my damage is going to spike from 3d6+12 to 3d8+12. This is where the pally starts to outpace the outrider since a pally gets charge specific spells. At 8th level a paladin gets his first 2nd level spell if you have the appropriate wis score. You can basically cast find the gap and your melee attacks become touch attacks for 4 rounds. Which turns your 3d8+12 into 3d8+60 (1.5str bonus+2xpowerattack damage) x 3. Thats 72 points of damage on average with a min of 63 and a max of 84. Not too shabby for a 35 pound halfling and his trusty hound.
#3
hsien
Sep 21, 2010 15:21:39 Party really needs some sort of healing.
Bard minors in that, with some healing spells and using a wand of cure light wounds.
Check out the CharOp Bard's Handbook
Also check out Alt Class Features, to replace some of the bard's less useful skills

OR....
Go bizarre and talk to DM about a Dragon Shaman varient, The (Fowl) Dragon Shaman
Some of the metallic dragons (bronze/brasss/copper) used to be known for being pranksters....iirc
One of DS standrad aura's has a healing property, if below half hp's.
He who Cluck's last Cluck's loudest.

Heck go for aura mania and be a Bard/Fowl Shaman
#4
Maat_Mons
Sep 21, 2010 17:37:04
In this case, monkey grip imposes a -2 to hit for an average +1 to damage. It would be better to take an extra -2 to hit with power attack for an extra +2 damage. Additionally, strongarm bracers (Magic Item Compendium) give the same benefit as monkey grip without the -2 to hit for 6,000 gp.

If healing up to half normal maximum HP is desirable, healing touch (Complete Champion) is another way to accomplish that.

Assuming cleric is out because you view it to be too “disciplined” for your character, you could try favored soul (Complete Divine). It's basically a divine sorcerer that uses the cleric spell list.

Tangentially, you should suggest that at least one of the rogues takes the penetrating strike alternate class feature (Dungeonscape). That trades trap sense for the ability to deal half sneak attack damage to creatures normally immune. Only one rogue needs to deal with traps, and even for the rogue that does, I think it's a good trade. Later on, demolition and truedeath crystals (Magic Item Compendium) are also good.
#5
dandu
Sep 21, 2010 18:21:27 Half-ling. Is that some sort of Zerg/Human hybrid?
#6
bigk1
Sep 21, 2010 21:38:09 Interesting never heard of the strongarm bracers before.
#7
thywolf
Sep 22, 2010 1:53:51 Deathskrike bracers are suggested, along with the feat darkstalker for the rogues.

Darkstalker is one that every rogue wants, while hiding all those evil things that find you with out spot check get kicked in the face by being made to make a spot or listen check vs your hide
#8
werehobbit
Sep 23, 2010 22:03:08 Wow, thanks for all the great input everyone. This game doesnt start for another month so I'm still playing with Ideas.

Matt_Mons - It isn't that clerics are too "diciplined" I have just played them so many times in the past that I am looking for something new. Infact I've nearly played ONLY clerics so I have little knowledge on other classes.
#9
Christof_Romulus
Sep 25, 2010 9:54:05
If you have another month then we have plenty of time to create a bard that rocks. You just have to answer a few questions -

What type of bard do you want to be? Bards can do so much so very well that it's hard to narrow down just what kind ob bard you wanna make without first determining what you want to do.

Healer, damage dealer, crowd control, team spirit - all are amazing when done properly.
Also good / evil alignment also has some effect.
#10
werehobbit
Sep 25, 2010 23:14:33 I'd love to try it out! Though our FIgher may convert to Cleric instead. I'd love to be a more skill type and team face. Combat would just be a minor role for me probably. The sad part is when we roll our stats we have ti roll 4 D6 and take the 3 highest dice. And we cant assign stats. We have to roll in order. First Str then Dex then Con ect....

#11
werehobbit
Sep 25, 2010 23:15:35 And definitly a good / neutral type.
#12
Christof_Romulus
Sep 26, 2010 4:47:38 Well, it sounds like you should roll your stats first, then decide the class you're going to be. It would be somewhat odd to be a cleric without a wisdom score, for example. In reality any class is playable if you have a 13 in a stat, though, so you could be a bard with an 18 wisdom and 8 charisma and manage, possibly.

So if you're going to be a good-aligned bard you should definately check out the abilities that improve your bardic music - song of the heart from the ebberon campaign setting increases your inspire courage by 1, the bard spell Inspirational boost from the spell compendium gives an additional +1, Badge of valor (1400 gp from the magic item compendium) to add another +1 3/day, and if you're lucky and manage an int and charisma of 15, once your base will save gets to +5 you can get the words of creation which doubles the effect of your bardic music - in this case +8 to hit, +8 to damage, +8 to saves vs charm and fear as early as level 3 (if you're lucky).

Not a bad buff for your whole party.

As a healing bard you might want to consider healing hymn. Any affected ally by this song gets a +1 sacred (if good) or profane (if evil) bonus on their conjuration healing spells equal to ranks in perform that you posess.

Additionally it may be a good route to go with improved disarm - because the whip isn't an exotic weapon for Bards.
#13
werehobbit
Sep 27, 2010 19:19:35 That is what I wanted to do, but my DM is kinda being wierd about this game. Says we have to pick our class then roll.... I have no clue why he is being so stupidly finiky about it. If the story ideas he and I have been creating weren't so damned good I probably wouldn't play due to the picky-ness of it all.
#14
Gavinfox
Sep 27, 2010 22:53:25 If you have to pick your stats and then roll, then you need to choose a class that is mostly stat independent, and good at doing stuff even with very low stats!
#15
dandu
Sep 28, 2010 0:11:24 I'd recommend a Warlock or a Wildshape Ranger.
#16
werehobbit
Sep 28, 2010 18:34:55 I had actually initially thought of Wildshape druid or ranger but both classes are outside our choices unfortunatley. Warlock may be fun... but as I have looked over them they seem to leave alot to be desired. Is that just me?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 werehobbit Sep 20, 2010 18:49:27	Not so sure this is the correct forum to post in but seeing as optimizing a character at this point would include beginning him.. thought this would be a decent starting place. Basically my DM is running a game off of a long series of characters. He and many of us at the tables have played a type of "chickenchaser" which is a family of adventurous and ADD prone halflings. After a late night at the table we decided to make a game based completely around the clan. The ChickenChaser sir name is granted only to the first born of the leader whom is the only pure spell caster in the community. The story starts off after a midnight ambush on our caravan. Our ChickenChaser (leader) was killed and we lost our divine herd of chickens. (Yes herd... they are only a flock to outsiders! >.>) Our story will begin with the more capable youngsters of the clan (us players) to travel out and find the Golden Chicken of Ishtaar (a 'legendary' item that somehow all of our characters in past games have obtained) which will reveal the new leader of the clan who will receive the sir name of 'ChickenChaser'. As for Party dynamics we have in the party thus far... Halfing Sorcerer (Spell caster) Halfling Fighter (Damage soak-er) Halfing Rogue (Damage dealer) War Forged scout Rogue (Was built as a replacement for one of the elders dead son and is in thinks it is a real half-ling with terrible insomnia.) I almost always play the party healer or divine type. Cleric and Paladin are both out of the question for me. I was toying with the Idea of either being a Bard or a Beguiler. Either way I am more in the role of keeping up with Party dynamics and story but still have some capabilities in battle. I was leaning more to beguiler and playing a more silver tongued type but the class is all ready close to rogue and i don't want to have 3 players at the table competing for hiding and stealth leaving the glass jawed sorcerer exposed. I also have no clue how to make a worth-while bard. Campaign restrictions: All half-lings have to be from the 3.5 PH since that is the entire clans racial type. All of the following class restrictions are up to debate with the DM if I can give him a good reason why I have such abilities. No Monks No Rangers No Druids Nothing with a ton of discipline or restrictions such as Knight ect... Any suggestions?
#2 bigk1 Sep 21, 2010 13:50:59	Halfling Fighter then prestige into halfling outrider for a mounted halfling is fun and there is even a mini specific to this build. Since your a halfling you can use a medium mount most likely a riding dog which happens to be dungeon friendly. You can take monkey grip so you can use medium sized lances to keep charging damage as high as possible. At medium levels you'll be putting out 3d8+mods per charge if you grab a valorous lance it jumps to 4d8+(modsx4). I am playing pretty much the same build except I am a pure pally and I am utilizing the strongheart halflings for the extra feat. Currently I am at 7th level but at 9th when I can take monkey grip my damage is going to spike from 3d6+12 to 3d8+12. This is where the pally starts to outpace the outrider since a pally gets charge specific spells. At 8th level a paladin gets his first 2nd level spell if you have the appropriate wis score. You can basically cast find the gap and your melee attacks become touch attacks for 4 rounds. Which turns your 3d8+12 into 3d8+60 (1.5str bonus+2xpowerattack damage) x 3. Thats 72 points of damage on average with a min of 63 and a max of 84. Not too shabby for a 35 pound halfling and his trusty hound.
#3 hsien Sep 21, 2010 15:21:39	Party really needs some sort of healing. Bard minors in that, with some healing spells and using a wand of cure light wounds. Check out the CharOp Bard's Handbook Also check out Alt Class Features, to replace some of the bard's less useful skills OR.... Go bizarre and talk to DM about a Dragon Shaman varient, The (Fowl) Dragon Shaman Some of the metallic dragons (bronze/brasss/copper) used to be known for being pranksters....iirc One of DS standrad aura's has a healing property, if below half hp's. He who Cluck's last Cluck's loudest. Heck go for aura mania and be a Bard/Fowl Shaman
#4 Maat_Mons Sep 21, 2010 17:37:04	In this case, monkey grip imposes a -2 to hit for an average +1 to damage. It would be better to take an extra -2 to hit with power attack for an extra +2 damage. Additionally, strongarm bracers (Magic Item Compendium) give the same benefit as monkey grip without the -2 to hit for 6,000 gp. If healing up to half normal maximum HP is desirable, healing touch (Complete Champion) is another way to accomplish that. Assuming cleric is out because you view it to be too “disciplined” for your character, you could try favored soul (Complete Divine). It's basically a divine sorcerer that uses the cleric spell list. Tangentially, you should suggest that at least one of the rogues takes the penetrating strike alternate class feature (Dungeonscape). That trades trap sense for the ability to deal half sneak attack damage to creatures normally immune. Only one rogue needs to deal with traps, and even for the rogue that does, I think it's a good trade. Later on, demolition and truedeath crystals (Magic Item Compendium) are also good.
#5 dandu Sep 21, 2010 18:21:27	Half-ling. Is that some sort of Zerg/Human hybrid?
#6 bigk1 Sep 21, 2010 21:38:09	Interesting never heard of the strongarm bracers before.
#7 thywolf Sep 22, 2010 1:53:51	Deathskrike bracers are suggested, along with the feat darkstalker for the rogues. Darkstalker is one that every rogue wants, while hiding all those evil things that find you with out spot check get kicked in the face by being made to make a spot or listen check vs your hide
#8 werehobbit Sep 23, 2010 22:03:08	Wow, thanks for all the great input everyone. This game doesnt start for another month so I'm still playing with Ideas. Matt_Mons - It isn't that clerics are too "diciplined" I have just played them so many times in the past that I am looking for something new. Infact I've nearly played ONLY clerics so I have little knowledge on other classes.
#9 Christof_Romulus Sep 25, 2010 9:54:05	If you have another month then we have plenty of time to create a bard that rocks. You just have to answer a few questions - What type of bard do you want to be? Bards can do so much so very well that it's hard to narrow down just what kind ob bard you wanna make without first determining what you want to do. Healer, damage dealer, crowd control, team spirit - all are amazing when done properly. Also good / evil alignment also has some effect.
#10 werehobbit Sep 25, 2010 23:14:33	I'd love to try it out! Though our FIgher may convert to Cleric instead. I'd love to be a more skill type and team face. Combat would just be a minor role for me probably. The sad part is when we roll our stats we have ti roll 4 D6 and take the 3 highest dice. And we cant assign stats. We have to roll in order. First Str then Dex then Con ect....
#11 werehobbit Sep 25, 2010 23:15:35	And definitly a good / neutral type.
#12 Christof_Romulus Sep 26, 2010 4:47:38	Well, it sounds like you should roll your stats first, then decide the class you're going to be. It would be somewhat odd to be a cleric without a wisdom score, for example. In reality any class is playable if you have a 13 in a stat, though, so you could be a bard with an 18 wisdom and 8 charisma and manage, possibly. So if you're going to be a good-aligned bard you should definately check out the abilities that improve your bardic music - song of the heart from the ebberon campaign setting increases your inspire courage by 1, the bard spell Inspirational boost from the spell compendium gives an additional +1, Badge of valor (1400 gp from the magic item compendium) to add another +1 3/day, and if you're lucky and manage an int and charisma of 15, once your base will save gets to +5 you can get the words of creation which doubles the effect of your bardic music - in this case +8 to hit, +8 to damage, +8 to saves vs charm and fear as early as level 3 (if you're lucky). Not a bad buff for your whole party. As a healing bard you might want to consider healing hymn. Any affected ally by this song gets a +1 sacred (if good) or profane (if evil) bonus on their conjuration healing spells equal to ranks in perform that you posess. Additionally it may be a good route to go with improved disarm - because the whip isn't an exotic weapon for Bards.
#13 werehobbit Sep 27, 2010 19:19:35	That is what I wanted to do, but my DM is kinda being wierd about this game. Says we have to pick our class then roll.... I have no clue why he is being so stupidly finiky about it. If the story ideas he and I have been creating weren't so damned good I probably wouldn't play due to the picky-ness of it all.
#14 Gavinfox Sep 27, 2010 22:53:25	If you have to pick your stats and then roll, then you need to choose a class that is mostly stat independent, and good at doing stuff even with very low stats!
#15 dandu Sep 28, 2010 0:11:24	I'd recommend a Warlock or a Wildshape Ranger.
#16 werehobbit Sep 28, 2010 18:34:55	I had actually initially thought of Wildshape druid or ranger but both classes are outside our choices unfortunatley. Warlock may be fun... but as I have looked over them they seem to leave alot to be desired. Is that just me?