AutumnChakra
2009-01-11, 12:06 PM
Very new here, and so new this is actually my first post.
I DM and play games all the time. I tend to make fairly simple enemies when I DM, and I tend to play very complex PCs when I am on that side of the table. So, I've basically burned through all of the core classes and simple prestige classes available to me, and now I'm looking for something new and interesting to play while I run as a player in a friend's campaign. That being said, playing in my games is very easy, not because I craft easy scenarios or money-haul (in fact a couple games I've rewarded so little that PCs actually greatly fell behind the money curve), but because dice absolutely positively hate me. You all have your friends who surprisingly roll natural 20s like it was their job, and no matter rolling conventions you put them through they still manage to roll with a natural luck that would make a leprechaun poop his pants. Well, for everyone like that, there is someone like me who in an average night rolls natural ones twos and threes like they were going out of style. So, to overcome this when I play and when I run the game I find feats that makes things unfair... I optimize everything as much as possible, within roleplaying reasons.
tl;dr version: Autumn plays a lot, but the dice hate him, so he almost min/maxes. Oh, and I play in 3.5 still.
My current character is a Swordsage/Soulknife. The idea I have for him is to be the Rogue's best friend/Harrier. His stats are:
Str: 10, Dex: 20, Con: 18, Int: 16, Wis: 14, Cha: 10
(Our rolling style is roll four, drop lowest, reroll ones once, and move two points. He's a Xeph.)
His first level is Swordsage, and he focuses heavily on Shadow Hand, including Island of Blades and Shadow Blade. This allows me to focus fully on my Dex later on (Weapon Finesse, Shadow Blade, Normal AC is +atk, +dmg, and +AC from one stat). The idea is that I want him to be in combat as support and tactical advantage rather than pure muscle or destructive abilities (DM gives props to anyone who finds a new or interesting way to defeat scenarios). I am allowed to use PHB, XPH, the Complete series, Heroes of Battle, Cityscape, and Tome of Battle. (Mostly because that is what I own. He also accepts some others, but I don't personally have access to those books)
Class progression will go as follows:
1st Swordsage feat: Shadow Blade, Discipline Focus(Shadow hand)
2nd Swordsage
3rd Soulknife feat: Weapon Finesse
4th Soulknife
5th Soulknife
6th Soulknife
... etc.
I get Discipline focus from Swordsage, that pretty much gives me Weapon Focus with a short sword (my preferred weapon, and the only one I'll be using). I get Weapon Focus from soulknife which is also with a short sword. My DM has decided to be very lenient, and offered to let me take another feat in place of that second effective focus into the short sword (though I would have preferred them to stack). This feat has to be the sort of feat a Fighter would consider a Bonus feat (even though I don't qualify as a Fighter for things like Specialization)
Now that I have set the stage here is the problem: I have no idea what feat would work best. So far I have come to three options:
Combat Reflexes - This feat opens up a lot of flanking abilities, and since that is what I plan to focus on in my character's career it could handle very nicely (Vexing Flanker and what not later on)
Combat Expertise - Wouldn't be bad either. With my left hand always open I could get into all sorts of fun if I started focusing on disarming my enemies (DM doesn't use as much monsters as I have noticed other DMs might)... which would force them to either retreat (provoking Attacks of Opportunity) or go unarmed (provoking Attacks of Opportunity (heaven forbid a monk))
Two Weapon Fighting - I just thought up this one as I sat here and was typing. It would fit the idea of being an "Island of Blades", but again my focus would be on support and not direct damage.
I also plan to spend a lot of time Psionically focused, so anything that causes me to lose focus commonly would not be preferred.
So, thoughts?
I DM and play games all the time. I tend to make fairly simple enemies when I DM, and I tend to play very complex PCs when I am on that side of the table. So, I've basically burned through all of the core classes and simple prestige classes available to me, and now I'm looking for something new and interesting to play while I run as a player in a friend's campaign. That being said, playing in my games is very easy, not because I craft easy scenarios or money-haul (in fact a couple games I've rewarded so little that PCs actually greatly fell behind the money curve), but because dice absolutely positively hate me. You all have your friends who surprisingly roll natural 20s like it was their job, and no matter rolling conventions you put them through they still manage to roll with a natural luck that would make a leprechaun poop his pants. Well, for everyone like that, there is someone like me who in an average night rolls natural ones twos and threes like they were going out of style. So, to overcome this when I play and when I run the game I find feats that makes things unfair... I optimize everything as much as possible, within roleplaying reasons.
tl;dr version: Autumn plays a lot, but the dice hate him, so he almost min/maxes. Oh, and I play in 3.5 still.
My current character is a Swordsage/Soulknife. The idea I have for him is to be the Rogue's best friend/Harrier. His stats are:
Str: 10, Dex: 20, Con: 18, Int: 16, Wis: 14, Cha: 10
(Our rolling style is roll four, drop lowest, reroll ones once, and move two points. He's a Xeph.)
His first level is Swordsage, and he focuses heavily on Shadow Hand, including Island of Blades and Shadow Blade. This allows me to focus fully on my Dex later on (Weapon Finesse, Shadow Blade, Normal AC is +atk, +dmg, and +AC from one stat). The idea is that I want him to be in combat as support and tactical advantage rather than pure muscle or destructive abilities (DM gives props to anyone who finds a new or interesting way to defeat scenarios). I am allowed to use PHB, XPH, the Complete series, Heroes of Battle, Cityscape, and Tome of Battle. (Mostly because that is what I own. He also accepts some others, but I don't personally have access to those books)
Class progression will go as follows:
1st Swordsage feat: Shadow Blade, Discipline Focus(Shadow hand)
2nd Swordsage
3rd Soulknife feat: Weapon Finesse
4th Soulknife
5th Soulknife
6th Soulknife
... etc.
I get Discipline focus from Swordsage, that pretty much gives me Weapon Focus with a short sword (my preferred weapon, and the only one I'll be using). I get Weapon Focus from soulknife which is also with a short sword. My DM has decided to be very lenient, and offered to let me take another feat in place of that second effective focus into the short sword (though I would have preferred them to stack). This feat has to be the sort of feat a Fighter would consider a Bonus feat (even though I don't qualify as a Fighter for things like Specialization)
Now that I have set the stage here is the problem: I have no idea what feat would work best. So far I have come to three options:
Combat Reflexes - This feat opens up a lot of flanking abilities, and since that is what I plan to focus on in my character's career it could handle very nicely (Vexing Flanker and what not later on)
Combat Expertise - Wouldn't be bad either. With my left hand always open I could get into all sorts of fun if I started focusing on disarming my enemies (DM doesn't use as much monsters as I have noticed other DMs might)... which would force them to either retreat (provoking Attacks of Opportunity) or go unarmed (provoking Attacks of Opportunity (heaven forbid a monk))
Two Weapon Fighting - I just thought up this one as I sat here and was typing. It would fit the idea of being an "Island of Blades", but again my focus would be on support and not direct damage.
I also plan to spend a lot of time Psionically focused, so anything that causes me to lose focus commonly would not be preferred.
So, thoughts?