| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
|---|---|
| #1EyeHunterJul 30, 2010 21:45:47 | I'm going to play a one-shot adventure soon, and I'm tired of playing ineffective spellthieves, ninjas and healbots. I want to try out being powerful for this one-shot. I'd like to copy off a build here, as there are so many pretty ones, but my DM is restricting me to only Oreintal Adventures and Core. So I need to request a 4th level character with only those books. I assume Cleric is best, but I have no idea how to play a low-level cleric to great effect, especially without Divine MetaMagic. Thanks! |
| #2BalthanonJul 31, 2010 7:47:41 | If it's a one shot adventure (meaning no leveling up), I think you're best off going with a warrior of some type at 4th level unless your DM is in the habit of only giving you 1 or 2 encounters before allowing for rest. 1st and 2nd level spells can be useful, but you've got a good shot at feeling pretty useless due to rationing of spells or not having any in later encounters. Warriors on the other hand just work and are likely to contribute heavily for damage and the like at lower levels. Something simple like Ranger 2/Fighter 2 could give you a nice amount of skills to contribute out of combat and pure brawn for in combat. For Core, is that strictly the PHB? Not the SRD, for instance (which includes some nice alternate class features.) You might also want to check out the Core Coliseum for builds-- they specialize in Core only builds geared for combat and they start out at low levels. |
| #3aelryinthJul 31, 2010 13:29:39 | I'm going to play a one-shot adventure soon, and I'm tired of playing ineffective spellthieves, ninjas and healbots. I want to try out being powerful for this one-shot. I'd like to copy off a build here, as there are so many pretty ones, but my DM is restricting me to only Oreintal Adventures and Core. So I need to request a 4th level character with only those books. I assume Cleric is best, but I have no idea how to play a low-level cleric to great effect, especially without Divine MetaMagic. 4th level Fighter, Lion Clan. Take Way of the Lion twice as your general feats, take weapon focus and weapon spec, Power Attack. For Human feat, take either Death Trance, Improved Initiative or Iron will. Your character will be +4 Th anything with armor or nat Armor, +1/+2 with his katana, Power Attack when needed for 'no effective penalty' using Way of the Lion. In short, he'll hit everything. take your next level as OA samurai, treasure the will save, and upgrade your katana with Ancestral Daisho. COntinue to get way of the Lion at every possible level, and use Fighter feats to pick up the killer Clan feats. Upgrade your Iajitsu Focus if there isn't someone in the party who can do so. If you can take manuvers from Book of 9 Swords, Grab Moment of Perfect Mind. It's basically a once a fight auto-save for you. Alternately, make a warblade, use your feats to grab the Lion feats, focus on the diamond mind strikes and counters. There's nothing that great at low levels, but Blade Meditation just ups your TH even more, and a Diamond Mind weapon, if you can swing it, is another +3 th. The strength of a Lion Samurai build is that it always hits,a nd converts tht to Power Attack as needed. Play up that part. Good luck! ==Aelryinth |
| #4EyeHunterAug 01, 2010 23:04:29 | Thanks for the replies, Balthanon, good points, I will look at a Warrior-type. It's strictly PHB+OA only. I'm not sure if the updated classes in the complete series are allowed or if we're going with the 3.0 versions. Aelryinth, I can't find the Way of the Lion feat, where is it? This character you're sescribing sounds amazing. I can't use any tome of battle stuff. |
| #5phaedrusxyAug 02, 2010 13:43:58 | I'd say you definitely want to go with Iaijutsu Focus, if you can tweak it enough. It might not be easy in a Core + OA only game at that level, though. I suspect Aerylinth has mixed up OA and the Rokugan campaign setting book. I think Way of the Lion is from the latter. (I have both, but haven't opened them in a while...). |
| #6BalthanonAug 02, 2010 16:10:42 | If you want more specific help, I would post things like stats, maybe a sample build, or at least which classes caught your attention. Clarifying 3.0 vs. 3.5 is important as well-- there have been a couple 3.0 questions lately, which is rare. We don't get many of those. |
| #7EyeHunterAug 02, 2010 19:42:44 | Thanks for all the help, but the game got canceled at the last moment. (Sigh) |
| #87he_professorAug 02, 2010 20:00:44 | I'd say you definitely want to go with Iaijutsu Focus, if you can tweak it enough. It might not be easy in a Core + OA only game at that level, though. This was my initial thought as well and, as such, immediately began jotting down a few calculations to see if it's worth it. This is by no means optimal, but here are my results: Human Samurai 2/Sorcerer 1/Fighter 1 Relevant Feat: Skill Focus: Iaijutsu Focus +7 skill ranks +5 Charisma (18 base +1 middle aged +1 4th lvl ability point) +3 Skill focus: Iaijutsu Focus +3 Circlet of persuasion (4,500 of your 5,400 gp) +2 Aid another action used by your familiar = +20 If you roll a one you're adding +3d6 damage on one attack against a flat-footed opponent. If you roll a 20 that's +7d6 bonus damage dice. Hardly seems worth it for such a focused investment. Especially when you have very limited options for making your opponent flat-footed. The build does have its choice of two first level arcane spells so perhaps there's some trickery available there (Silent Image?). Ultimately, I don't believe this to be a viable tactic for a Core + OA game. I'm going to play a one-shot adventure soon, and I'm tired of playing ineffective spellthieves, ninjas and healbots. I want to try out being powerful for this one-shot. I'd like to copy off a build here, as there are so many pretty ones, but my DM is restricting me to only Oreintal Adventures and Core. So I need to request a 4th level character with only those books. I assume Cleric is best, but I have no idea how to play a low-level cleric to great effect, especially without Divine MetaMagic. Thanks! So we know what you do not want to play, but could you be a little more specific as to what you do want to play? Since I have some free time, here is a sample build for your consideration that is very simple, yet highly effective at level four. Human Fighter 4 Feats: Dodge (Human), Karmic Strike (1), Combat Reflexes (Ftr1), Combat Expertise (Ftr 2), Improved Trip (3), Exotic Weapon Proficiency: kusari-gama Stas (elite array): Str 15 (+1 @4th) = 16 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 10 Cha 8 Karmic Strike from the Oriental Adventures handbook allows you to sacrifice 4 points of armor class in exchange for an Attack of Opportunity against an opponent that strikes you in melee. I recommend using your Improved Trip feat on this AoO to keep your opponent prone. Combat Reflexes will allow you to do this to multiple opponents that hit you in any given round and the 10ft. reach of the kusarmi-gama will allow you to generate even more AoO's should this tactic fail you. Not nearly as much damage potential as your typical Barb/Ftr-power-attacking-beast-of-doom, but it's absolutely viable. Either way...just my 2 cp |
| #9aelryinthAug 05, 2010 18:14:15 | Way of the Lion is the first feat in the Lion Clan feat line. +2 TH vs Armor/Nat AC. General feat, you can take it multiple times, it stacks. Starts getting wickedly strong with all the stuff the Lion clan learns to do with Power Attack. The other Killer feat is way of the Crab...+1 Nat Ac, take multiple times, stack, etc. Then you take Hide Elite Guard, and the Nat AC benefit TRIPLES. that's right, +3 Nat AC per Way of the Crab... Might indeed be in the Rokugan book. I tend to blur them in remembrance. No way of the LIon in OA? Feh. ==Aelryinth |
| #10tytalusAug 06, 2010 18:22:14 |
None of that is in OA. |