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View Full Version : The Shopkeeper from ADOM. [3.5e]



Adumbration
2009-06-03, 03:04 AM
I'm interested in playing a shopkeeper, as presented in ADOM and Nethack: a coin-tossing, wand-wielding, grumbling killing machine that can drop a thief from 50 ft away with a flick of a coin.

The problem is, I'm not certain how to go about it, so I bow to the wisdom of the Playgrounders.

The specifications are: ECL 10, free LA 2, WBL for 12th level characters, 36 PB, any source goes except Homebrew or Dragon Magazines.

So far I've only figured that maybe a level in Drunken Master for Improvised weaponry would be in order, and that Master Thrower might be useful. Also some class with UMD available. Any ideas/builds?

Doc Roc
2009-06-03, 03:14 AM
Factotum 10?

Adumbration
2009-06-03, 03:15 AM
One of the few classes that I don't have access to. :smallfrown:

JellyPooga
2009-06-03, 03:23 AM
Drunken Master doesn't actually give you proficiency with Improvised Weapons, it just improves your damage, so I (personally) wouldn't bother with it. RAW a gold coin isn't heavy enough to do damage as an Improv Weapon either, so on the coin front you're looking at something homebrew right off the bat...unless you use shuriken and flavour them as Martial Currency or somesuch.

With that as your schtick, I'd suggest wither a straight Rogue 10 with Exotic Weapon Proficiency or something like a Rogue 3/Fighter 2/Master Thrower 5.

Not amazingly detailed I'm afraid, but it's the sort of thing I'd Hombrew a Prestige Class for rather than try to build from the available materials...

Doc Roc
2009-06-03, 03:26 AM
I... What?

No, seriously... What? What does that have to do with what the OP wants?

JellyPooga
2009-06-03, 03:34 AM
I... What?

No, seriously... What? What does that have to do with what the OP wants?

He's looking for a "a coin-tossing, wand-wielding, grumbling killing machine that can drop a thief from 50 ft away with a flick of a coin."

Sure, I've neglected to give any advice on race (but neither did you), but a Rogue 10 max ranks UMD gets the Wand-Wielding down pat. ExProf: Shuriken gives you Martial Currency to fling around and Sneak Attack lets you do decent damage with them. Grumbling can be done by anyone! Fits the bill perfectly (and you know what they say: Send a Thief to Catch a Thief).

As for the Master Thrower build...same deal, but focuses more on number of "coins" being thrown than the Precision Damage.

Adumbration
2009-06-03, 04:19 AM
Good ideas so far - for the coin-tossing part. But it should also be a viable merchant, and for that, I'm considering Chameleon: it allows you to scribe scrolls of both divine and arcane, and with a Blessed book, you can allow a wizard to copy your spells - for a price, of course.

Bags of Holding, maybe Handy Haversacks, should be bought... Is Craft Item line useful enough to be taken?

Just tossing some ideas around. A merchant should be versatile. (And just remembered: no, I don't have access to Artificer, either. Eberron campaign setting and Dungeonscape, along with some Monster Manuals and Magic Item Compedium are missing from my collection of books.)

magellan
2009-06-03, 04:29 AM
Where did you get the wand wielding from? Merchanst specialize in rings, potions, scrolls *or* wands ;P

Adumbration
2009-06-03, 04:35 AM
Where did you get the wand wielding from? Merchanst specialize in rings, potions, scrolls *or* wands ;P

Have you never encountered the dreaded Wand of Far Slaying wielding shopkeeper? :smallbiggrin:

elliott20
2009-06-03, 04:46 AM
why is it that whenever people think "merchant" character, they automatically reach for the magical stuff? isn't it commonly accepted wisdom that MOST peasants simply will not be able to afford to buy magical items? Or at least, not items of a really obscene nature.

Unless, of course, he runs a store that specifically caters to, and somehow markets to people with the wealth to buy this sort of thing.

JellyPooga
2009-06-03, 04:49 AM
why is it that whenever people think "merchant" character, they automatically reach for the magical stuff? isn't it commonly accepted wisdom that MOST peasants simply will not be able to afford to buy magical items? Or at least, not items of a really obscene nature.

Unless, of course, he runs a store that specifically caters to, and somehow markets to people with the wealth to buy this sort of thing.

because in the game ADOM, shopkeepers don't buy in their merchandise, they summon it using magic! The 'random' shops can have anything from a loaf of bread to an artifact summoned using the same "summon stock" spell!

elliott20
2009-06-03, 04:52 AM
really? huh... I'm not familiar with the game and all but... that sounds like a variation of your basic mage wall of iron + fabricate abuse.

You could, of course, just go wizard, re-flavor some of the spells to visually fit the coin theme, and there you go.

Adumbration
2009-06-03, 05:00 AM
why is it that whenever people think "merchant" character, they automatically reach for the magical stuff? isn't it commonly accepted wisdom that MOST peasants simply will not be able to afford to buy magical items? Or at least, not items of a really obscene nature.

Unless, of course, he runs a store that specifically caters to, and somehow markets to people with the wealth to buy this sort of thing.

The campaign I'm trying to enter is Planescape with tippy-esque traits. :smallwink:

EDIT: I'm considering Warlock 4/Rogue 1/Chameleon 5 at the moment. Fill up with dozens of cheap magical trinkets.

Any suggestions on how to use that LA?

JellyPooga
2009-06-03, 06:04 AM
The campaign I'm trying to enter is Planescape. :smallwink:

Sweet! :smallbiggrin:

Chameleon is a good idea (though I've never, to be honest, much liked the PrC) for the versatility. A Bard or Divine Bard (or a Bard/Divine Bard multiclass, if your GM allows it) might give a similar feel.

Another option might be the Singer of Concordance PrC (Races of the Dragon) re-flavoured to give access to an extra-dimensional shop instead of one of the Spheres that the PrC takes its name from. Change the Entry Requirements so that you don't have to be Dragonblooded, no requisite deity and you need Profession (Shopkeeper) 8 ranks instead of Knowledge (Religion). If your DM doesn't agree to those requirements, you could suggest that you require membership in some kind of Magical Shopkeepers Guild in place of having to be Dragonblooded, which would require a certain amount of tithes per month/year or whatever. It gives divine spellcasting progression (though you could arguably change it to Arcane and it wouldn't be broken) and a number of abilities that are appropriate to those a shopkeeper might want; bonus vs. compulsion (so your customers don't Charm you into a cheaper price), an ability that prevents people from getting violent (no-one wants breakages, especially you), etc. and as a capstone, you get to (effectively) take your shop wherever you go! Enter at level 8 via Divine Bard (level after Bard gets 3rd level spells) and you get a bunch of skill points at early levels to boost Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate (for haggling) and a fairly respectable BAB and HP and at ECL 10 should have 3 levels of SoC, giving you Aspect of Peace and Refuge and a Bonus Domain. Grab ExProf(Shuriken) for the coin thing (still) and magic them into effective weapons. You could also, expanding upon elliot20s suggestion, take the Spell Thematics feat (I forget which book it's from) and pick 'coins' as the theme making all your magic currency-related.

Adumbration
2009-06-03, 06:09 AM
Actually... That might be a good idea, although I do have a few improvements in mind.

3 levels in Chameleon gives 3rd level divine spells (and arcane, too, but that's beside the point :smallwink:). This means that I can take class X 5/Chameleon 3/Singer of Concordance 2. Interesting.

EDIT: Make that Dragonwrought Kobold, and I don't have to even ask many changes in the requirements.

EDIT 2: In the other hand, it wouldn't be until level 18 that I gained the main class feature I'm after. Going to have to think about it.

JellyPooga
2009-06-03, 06:33 AM
Actually... That might be a good idea, although I do have a few improvements in mind.

3 levels in Chameleon gives 3rd level divine spells (and arcane, too, but that's beside the point :smallwink:). This means that I can take class X 5/Chameleon 3/Singer of Concordance 2. Interesting.

EDIT: Make that Dragonwrought Kobold, and I don't have to even ask many changes in the requirements.

EDIT 2: In the other hand, it wouldn't be until level 18 that I gained the main class feature I'm after. Going to have to think about it.

Don't forget that there's no reason why you can't Plane Shift to your extradimensional shop...that'll give you access to it a certain number of times a day from level 12 (Class-X 5/Chameleon 3/SoC 4 should give you 5th level Cleric spells)...it's just at Level 18 you get unlimited acces to it. You've got "guidance or prior knowledge' of it from Guild Membership, so you won't automatically get shunted to a random Outer Plane using Plane Shift.

Zaq
2009-06-03, 11:06 AM
This might be inferior to the other suggestions, but, since flavor is always mutable, what about a metacreativity-focused psion? You can totally refluff Crystal Shard as a coin, the Creation line of powers fits nicely, and you can take it from there...

(Besides, everyone knows the best Merchant is the potion one, because they get Alchemy as a known skill. I once beat the game with a potion-merch whose favored method of offense, other than coin-slinging, was to mix two useless potions together and create a giant explosion, which she was immune to thanks to her fire resist ring!)

magellan
2009-06-03, 11:36 AM
@ elliot20
It's a roguelike. One of the "big 3" (or 4) actually: www.adom.de

And yes: potion merchants are the best.

woodenbandman
2009-06-03, 11:38 AM
Monk2/Psychic Rogue18 + tashalatora.

If you don't want to use psionics, that's okay. Monk1/Rogue14/Master Thrower5, with Ascetic Stalker form Complete Adventurer. Make sure to take some Two Weapon Fighting in there with your throwing. You'll be able to toss a ton of shuriken (preferably get your friendly neighborhood batman to cast Fire Shuriken), you'll have UMD, you'll have acrobatics should you so desire, free shuriken proficiency, and hey, look! Free monk unarmed strike damage! Also you get a bonus feat, and that can be bumped up to 2 if you want.

So start out with, like Monk1/Rogue7/Master Thrower 2, and you don't really need to get many levels of Master thrower. in fact, one would probably do it for ya.

Quincunx
2009-06-03, 12:53 PM
(slinks in, yoinks the Martial Currency idea for the next time reflavored currencies are a favorite topic, and slinks out again--

--only to keel over .5m from the door with a Masterwork Silver Coin (30g piece with a sharpened steel border) lodged in the back of her skull)

Adumbration
2009-06-03, 01:00 PM
That reminds me: adamantine coins should be a laugh. (When you use them to do Ranged Sunder, that is.)