Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Andarious-Rosethorn Feb 22, 2014 10:20:01	A lot of people come looking for help with a build, or even looking for a from scratch build and don't give the community the information they need to get the job done. I'm looking to provide a tool for the community to streamline these requests. So I pitch to you, the members of the community to help build this master post.   Don't forget to check the Handbook Index before requesting a build, it might already be in there. Dictum Mortuum's Handbooks are also a great resource.     What do we need from someone before we can help with their build?   1.  Starting level and possibly level range for an expected long term campaign. This will help us make sure your build comes online when you need it to, and remains relevant as long as you play it! 2.  Build Goals:  What are you trying to do with the character.  Tell us about your "character" from a "non-game" point of view. Only include game mechanics if you're asking for a character that intentionally showcases a particular class, feat, or other game element. 3.  Build Material and House Rules:  Knowing what you have to work with is very helpful.  Knowing what to stay away from is equally as important.  Knowing how the system is getting turned on its head is CRITICALLY important.   If you provide those things you should be able to get some good help.  Other things can also be helpful to know but are often assumed.   4.  Starting Wealth/Equipment and even an overall treasure outlook.  Alternative equipment can have a character performing far above or below expected for the character's level. 5.  Party Composition:  Especialy when trying to fit into a group to make the strongest whole although #2 already should help show what you are shooting for. 6.  Ability Score considerations:  Only important when they are truely LOW.  High scores simply make a character better no matter what the build looks like which is why they are UNIMPORTANT!   Incidentals:  These may shape build suggestions but aren't actually part of the build.   7.  DM's style:  Some are HIGHLY confrontational and play the game as DM vs. PC.  Although it may fall under "house rules" some are so lack with the rules they might as well not be there because they will get ignored; an example of this would be making a Super Diplomatic character when the DM doesn't care about those things as you use "roleplay" any social interaction as players regardless what the characters can do.   8. Noting gaming experience. If you're a big 3.5 geek already it's good to know, if your experience is other (say WOW) mostly then we need to know this too because it will prejudice your view of how a party should operate.      What else? Just general nicities, attention to spelling, grammar and the source(s) of your information, especially if it's not from published WoTC material. Tell us the whole story!    Credits Thanks to StevenO, Tempest_Stormwind, Lashius, and Slagger_the_Chuul for input!
#2 StevenO Feb 22, 2014 12:26:45	Andarious-Rosethorn wrote:
#3 Tempest_Stormwind Feb 22, 2014 15:29:37	Only thing I'm able to add to this is "Tell us the whole story".   Basically, if you have a goal in mind, be up front about it.   Rephrasing the long form (edited from this thread):   Tempest_Stormwind wrote:
#4 Lashius Feb 22, 2014 18:45:59	Noting gaming experience would also be helpful (though not as necessary as what has already been listed). It would be good to know if a person has had 6 years of game experience, it would be better to know if someone had 6 years of 4th edition with three sessions worth of 3.5 play, who now needs to build an epic level 3.5 druid. Over all play preference may help as well ( I.E “I mostly role play/number crunch hack and slashes/ classic dungeon crawlers/long haul story line combat adventures/max level 6 one shot sessions” and so on).
#5 Andarious-Rosethorn Mar 07, 2014 8:35:14	Edited to include the input thus far.
#6 Slagger_the_Chuul Mar 07, 2014 11:17:54	I think "build goals" should allow for the possibility of specific game elements if they're what the person is after.  A mechanical concept (like using a specific prestige class or feat) is just as valid an optimization goal as a character concept. I'd probably include it with something like "Only include game mechanics if you're asking for a character that intentionally showcases a particular class, feat, or other game element."  You want to make the goal clear without simply excluding that entire mechanic-specific aspect of optimization.
#7 StevenO Mar 07, 2014 15:35:19	Andarious-Rosethorn wrote:
#8 Andarious-Rosethorn Mar 07, 2014 16:23:38	Addressed.
#9 Lashius Mar 15, 2014 16:51:45	Another thought just came to mind, maybe also a direct link to the current handbook index would be in order to encourage independent study, or even save time on linking people to relevant material.
#10 Andarious-Rosethorn Mar 16, 2014 20:50:12	Can someone share that link with me?
#11 Lashius Mar 17, 2014 0:58:05	Unless I'm mistaken, this should contain all of the most up to date handbooks and guides (though I may be wrong, things get ported and re-edited very often these days it seems).   well I'm at it, you probably couldn't go wrong with a direct link to Dictum Mortuum's blog with his works on it as well.
#12 Andarious-Rosethorn Mar 17, 2014 8:26:26	Updated.
#13 Lashius Apr 24, 2014 17:51:34	Just posting a small bump to keep this on the front page. Maybe it should be seen too that this gets stickied for future reference? Also, an extremely small and unimportant side note that my user name is misspelled in the credit/thanks portion. Feel free to fix it at your leisure Andarious :-), otherwise I think this mini guide seems solid to me.
#14 Andarious-Rosethorn Apr 24, 2014 20:42:16	fat finger corrected. Yes how do we get this stickied?
#15 StevenO Jul 01, 2014 12:07:07	That is a very good question Andarious-Rosethorn.  Just saw a thread today that REALLY could benefit from reading this and following the advice given within.