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herrhauptmann
2008-12-29, 01:45 AM
Heyo,
Reworking the equipment list of a character who wields an animated shield, a 2 handed weapon, and wears armor.
My question is this, do you think it's better to have Called shield and armor (MIC 2000gp each). Or have a ring of arming (mic 5000), which allows me to call armor, shield AND weapon, but also costs a body slot.

RTGoodman
2008-12-29, 01:57 AM
Well, are you using your Ring Slot for anything else right now? If not, I'd probably suggest the ring, since it's (1) cheaper and (2) works for everything at once. If you're already using your Ring Slots for other things (protection +X, featherfall, sustenance, etc.) that more important, though, the called armor/weapon idea isn't that bad (though slightly more expensive).

herrhauptmann
2008-12-29, 02:09 AM
Current rings:
sustenance
climbing, jumping, and swiming 5 (swap those 3 out as needed).
Also have 2 ioun stones (+2 str, and +2con) but mildly afraid DM will find some way to screw me with those. Especially the con one, got a class feature which gives me con to AC instead of dex.

edit: Don't think I can put 'called' on my weapon separately. Also trying to find other rings that would be useful.

Curmudgeon
2008-12-29, 02:40 AM
It's expensive but versatile: a Glove of Storing will hold your weapon for you, and both store and retrieve are free actions.

Darrin
2008-12-29, 09:08 AM
Current rings:
sustenance
climbing, jumping, and swiming 5 (swap those 3 out as needed).


Go with the ring. It takes fewer actions to use. Putting called on both your armor and shield would require two standard actions to call them both. The ring requires only one standard action, *and* draws/readies your weapon as well.

Sustenance is nice, but most of its effects can be duplicated with other equipment, including at the very least just a waterskin and some rations. A Goodberry Bracelet, for example, is cheaper (2000 GP), could be carried in your pack, and feeds up to five people. For the sleep effect, pick up Heward's Fortifying Bedroll (Complete Mage, 3000 GP) to get 8 hours of rest for only 1 hour of sleep.

The Ring of Arming doesn't have an attunement duration, so you could swap it out with your climbing/jumping/swimming rings once you've armed yourself. Just make sure whenever you take off your armor, you put the Ring of Arming back on.

There's also a third option: Buy a Hand of Glory for 8000 GP, and wear three rings.

If you need a Glove of Storing, don't pay 10000 GP for it. Buy a Glove of the Master Strategist instead (Ghostwalk, p. 71, 3600 GP). Does everything a Glove of Storing does, plus true strike 1/day. And yes, there's a 3.5 Update for Ghostwalk, and the 3600 GP is still the 3.5 price.

Keld Denar
2008-12-29, 10:42 AM
Well, if you are playing the build I think you are, then you should have endurance. That means you can sleep in your armor, and the only situation you wouldn't have your armor on is if you were in a delicate social situation, and really, dwarves should be except from that. Just claim that in dwarven culture, your armor doubles as a posh tuxedo, blood stains and all, and that asking you to remove it is an insult.

There, armor solved.

As far as your weapon, there are 2 things you can do. I assume since you are using my build, you have the Urgrosh. Put Eager on the spike end, which you use less often. This will give you a +2 to init AND allow you to quickdraw the weapon. Thats about as good as it gets. A little more expensive than Called, but then again, you get the init bonus and its not on the serious business end of your urgrosh, so it doesn't affect your damage much. If in another delicate social situation, insist on peace tying your weapon. That normally requires a full round action to draw it then, but Eager trumps this, so if you really need the weapon, its in your hand in a blink. I mean, Gimli still had his axe in hand during the councel of Elrond, just be stubborn dwarfly when someone wants to disarm you.

Or if you want to appear unarmed, get a Glove of Storing. Those are expensive, but very nice.

There, weapon solved.

Shield is a little more tricky, but face it, it doesn't make a terribly huge difference. If you are in situation where you'd need your shield, you'll probably already have it readied, and if you aren't, it often won't be worth the actions or resources to ready. The +3ish AC is nice, but not gonna cripple you if you have to leave the shield in a HHH or something. Also, since while "wielding" the shield, it doesn't touch you, you could probably "wield" the shield while sleeping, especially since you have Endurance. It would just float above you while you snore away.

Don't use the ring. Ring slots are awesome. You should look into getting a Ring of Freedom of Movement asap, simply because they are awesome. For your other ring, there are lots of good choices. I've had good luck with a Ring of Invisibility. Starting encounters invisible is pretty awesome, especially since you have a weapon that can be set for a charge. Surprise surprise when the baddie charges on of your allies and you get 2 attacks on him from Hold the Line and your normal AoO. Otherwise, Spellguard Rings are nice if you have a party wizard who likes to willy nilly toss out Evards or similar. Fearlessly wading into an Evards to dispatch grappled foes is all kinds of awesome.

Sustinence is kind of crap. Unless you spend a LOT of time on watch, it really isn't much worth it. The food/water part is very seldom kept track of as well, simply because it takes a lot of effort with little results. I dunno if your DM keeps track of food/water. If you notice he only keeps track of it at certain times, you can always keep it around and slip it on when you notice you have ~7 days of food/water left, though with extradimensional space, and magic, they aren't really an issue. You are almost to the level where Hero's Feast is a daily occurance, which, per the spell description, takes care of the food/water issue. If you don't want to sleep any more as well, get either an Eternal Wand or a regular wand of Lesser Restoration made by a paladin (I dunno, could happen?). That makes it a 1st level spell, which would cost you I think about 1500g, because of the Paladin's min caster level. Then, just stay up all night, and tap yourself with the wand each morning. Hell, when you get your Pious Templar levels, cast your own Lesser Restoration off the Paladin spell list. Not sleeping only makes you fatigued, and fatigued is a condition specifically cured by Lesser Restoration.

kalt
2008-12-29, 10:46 AM
Especially the con one, got a class feature which gives me con to AC instead of dex.

ahh playing a deepwarden?

Keld Denar
2008-12-29, 10:51 AM
Yea, per my suggestion in a previous thread, he's playing a build similar to this (http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=15422232&postcount=1).

Solid build, IMO, but I might be biased since I created it.

only1doug
2008-12-29, 11:36 AM
If you don't want to sleep any more as well, get either an Eternal Wand or a regular wand of Lesser Restoration made by a paladin (I dunno, could happen?).

Eternal wand couldn't, they specifically have to be arcane spells and Pallys cast divine magic.

herrhauptmann
2008-12-30, 02:31 AM
@Curmudgeon: Can't use the glove of storing because my hand slot is already taken up by a frickin locked gauntlet. Apparently that makes it impossible to use my handslot for a magic item, even a rusting gauntlet. (DM Fiat)

@Darrin: Was gonna do the goodberry thing until I found a set of bracers that gave +2 sacred armor bonus. Think DM's ruling is that I can't just swap out bracelet and bracers at start of day.
Throat slot is already taken with an amulet of health.
Normally would do rations and a haversack so I essentially have infinite. But DM is a jerk about that. We did a low level game with him, after 12 days we started taking penalties for subsisting on just rations. Warriors got it far worse than casters (Neanderthal, jotunbrud human, goliath). Though the neanderthal minimized that with maxed out survival.

@Keld: Our party is my dwarven defender, a paladin, a psion, and a catfolk scout. So no easy access to extradimensional space (my wizard got emasculated too many times to make him worth playing).
My shield is an animated +1 tower. Using a d. waraxe because of the issues I pointed out to you previously.
Also enchanting the ends of the urgrosh separately got to be a bit too expensive. Plus I found an effect I can use with a piercing weapon, lets me treat a piercing weapon as readied against a charge at all times, complete with double damage.
But yes, I'm using something similar to your build. Uncanny dodge keeps my flatfooted AC nice and high. Endurance and mithral locking plate means I can sleep in my armor. Got boots which give me haste as a standard action(27k), intend to just keep myself hasted at all times.
Mask of synesthete, helm of recovery, healing belt....

I'll repost my completed build since DM has declared the retribution amulet (BoED) is a minor artifact which only the paladin is allowed to wear, because only he found it. And when he dies, it is destroyed and no one can use it.....



Question: Does an Ioun stone of Str+2 stack with a belt of giant strength? Or not?

:edit: Deleted a quote

Keld Denar
2008-12-30, 02:42 AM
No, IWIN Stones are enhancement bonuses, same as gauntlets or belts of strength, and thus don't stack. Sad, but true. They would stack with something that might give you a sacred bonus to strenght though, if you could find something like that. I believe there is a relic that does.

Hunter Noventa
2008-12-30, 06:55 AM
I too would go for the ring and drop sustenance. There are a couple of items around the same price in the MIC that can feed multiple people, but I can't remember the names off the top of my head.

You can also get Everlasting Rations and a Replenishing Skin for 1350gp.

Adumbration
2008-12-30, 07:02 AM
About the penalties for eating just rations... Buy a bag of Endless Oranges(TM).

If he still gives you penalties, hit him over the head with a book. And you should get rid of the locked gauntlet, or at least use just one of them - then you can use a gauntlet of rust or glove of spellstoring in the other hand.

Field Provisions Box is also good. For 2 000, you can feed fifteen humans or five horses for a day. Usable once per day. It's in the Miniatures Handbook.