Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 genuine Oct 20, 2009 20:48:52	Well, I'm starting to put together a high level, complicated character and I've come here to the boards for help.  Anything questions, comments, or details that I've missed would be welcome. Generally all WotC material is accepted, though Dragon Mag other than Dragon Compendium is iffy. Concept to start with: The character is a level 18 Raptoran Airship Captain. He is to be something of a cross between the loud swashbuckler type and the mysterious sage sort. He will fight with twin daggers and liberal use of Shadow Hand and Tigerclaw maneuvers.  (Blade Mage is a homebrewed prestige class that boosts both arcane spellcasting and initiator level, hence beguiler.) In general, I'd rather not switch up the PRCs much, though increasing levels of Blade Mage would be nice (It has a requirement of 9 concentration, level 2 arcane spellcasting and level 2 maneuvers).  I would also like to keep legendary captain.  If ther are better feat options, say so, or if there are better class selections to basically get what I have, let me know. (I am seriously considering lion totem barbarian for the sake of pounce). This is the build: Level 1 - Beguiler >Improved Flight Level 2 - Beguiler Level 3 - Beguiler >Weapon Finesse Level 4 - Beguiler Level 5 - Swordsage Level 6 - Swordsage >Two weapon fighting Level 7 - Swordsage Level 8 - Swordsage Level 9 - Bloodclaw Master >Leadership Level 10- Bloodclaw Master Level 11- Bloodclaw Master Level 12- Legendary Captain >Adaptive Style Level 13- Legendary Captain Level 14- Legendary Captain Level 15- Legendary Captain >Shadowblade Level 16- Blade Mage Level 17- Blade Mage Level 18- Blade Mage >Gloom Razor What I mostly would like help with is in maximizing my gold - equiping myself to be a respectable combatant while also having a decent airship.  Spending gold is 602,100gp - at least 162,100 of which must be spent on the ship.
#2 genuine Oct 21, 2009 16:00:53	No bites yet, so I'm going to get more specific, based on what I've been working out on my own so far. I'm happy with the character himself, so now I'm focusing on the ship and crew. Again, total gold is still 162,100. Zeppelin is the base ship - I'd like to make it masterwork and add masterwork controls, along with 4 ballista and bolts - including some enchanted bolts if it becomes worth the cost.    I have a level 16 cohort to play with, ideally who will be responsible for keeping the ship in good repair - I was thinking a gnome artificer - he will have a 38 pointbuy and 130k gold to spend on himself. I'm going to cram 14 followers onto the boat as well - 1 lvl 6, 2 lvl 5, 3 lvl 4, & 6 lvl 3 - the followers all will have the NPC stats and equipment given in the DMG tables (beginning pg. 112 DMG).   Questions: Given no planar travel, what magic items or other accoutraments for the airship would be worthwhile - eldritch exhoust looks interesting? Would I be better off enchanting the ballista themselves or the ammunition, or both? What classes/makeup would be ideal for the followers? Obviously, four will be built with an eye to manning the ballista, the rest for archery and general manning of the ship.  I was thinking just ranger for most of them, with a couple rogues for skill monkeys.
#3 pyro_azer Oct 21, 2009 16:25:55	Questions: Given no planar travel, what magic items or other accoutraments for the airship would be worthwhile - eldritch exhoust looks interesting? Would I be better off enchanting the ballista themselves or the ammunition, or both? What classes/makeup would be ideal for the followers? Obviously, four will be built with an eye to manning the ballista, the rest for archery and general manning of the ship.  I was thinking just ranger for most of them, with a couple rogues for skill monkeys.        1 Actually you would be better off with spell turrets. I believe they are in the arms and equipment guide. However, failing that enchant the ballistas echanting ammunition is a gigantic waste of money considering ammunition is destroyed on impact. 2 Unfortunately followers gained from leadership need to be NPC classes. For your purpose the people manning the ballistas should be warriors and everyone else be experts.
#4 genuine Oct 21, 2009 16:55:25	1 Actually you would be better off with spell turrets. I believe they are in the arms and equipment guide. However, failing that enchant the ballistas echanting ammunition is a gigantic waste of money considering ammunition is destroyed on impact. 2 Unfortunately followers gained from leadership need to be NPC classes. For your purpose the people manning the ballistas should be warriors and everyone else be experts. 1) I don't remember spell turrets from the A&E anywhere - I'll go look again. 2) Actually, I'm being allowed core classes for followers as well by my DM - sorry for not being explicit about that as a houserule.
#5 Endarire Oct 21, 2009 17:08:25	Check Player's Handbook II for Spell Turrets. Also, Leadership cohorts and followers need not be NPC classes, though for NPCs at least, this imposes a level penalty.
#6 genuine Oct 21, 2009 17:51:08	Ok, found them in the DMG II - they'll be great except for very unclear rules regarding things like caster levels, spell DCs, and the cost of different levels. It's ok, though. A more thorough reading of traps in general will net me the answers, I am sure (Never looked at them terribly closely before), and I'll ask my DM for other details.