Helping the PC's in OOTS

[Itous]

i have come to realise the group might be in need of some help. and me helping could be entirely possible.

in a previous strip, redcloack researched monsters in D&D books, in which case consider me an extra-planar entity, perhaps some kind of celestial trying to pitch in some good advice for the group.

V should take the following feat - Practiced Caster (complete arcane) this raises your caster level by 4

example if you take this at first level and you cast magic missile, it works as if it was cast by a 5th level caster. this might help him achive his overall goal of arcane might and brilliance. this also means spell duration is increased by 4 levels worth, so its an awesome feat

Roy naturally has power attack, cleave, great cleave etc, how ever he should think about taking "improved sunder", this could be largely useful if he should come across a golem also seeing as he is hunting a lich Undead Bane as a feat which is in the Libris Mortis ok its only an extra 2d6 but given that he is in the works of taking the mage slayer feat, it could work out really well for him.

Xykon on the other hand should be taking Mortal Bane from the book of vial darkness if he hasn't already, not really seen alot of Xykon's powers and feats and such, he seems to have the right idea but you can apply mortal bane to spells from what i understand so that should be useful.

Belkar i assume at this level would of taken all the two weapon fighting feats he needs

Durkon i have no advice other then maybe practiced caster (as its not restricted just to arcane casters)

Hayley once again no advice at all.

Elan maybe something new such as "discover subplot" as we all know in movies the bad guy can trick us into thinking something is the real plot and then suddenly we find out its not and the hero has only seconds to save the day, sometimes not always doing it.

maybe Nale could take a feat called "plot twist" if he should ever return which is like Austin Powers a bit, where the hero gets put into a dilema, save the world or save the girl.

thats all i got for now, have fun with it, lol might be useful

[Draconi Redfir]

something tells me we dont really have any say in the goings on of the comic.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

V should take the following feat - Practiced Caster (complete arcane) this raises your caster level by 4
V is a straight wizard. Therefore all its HD goes to Wizard. As such, Practiced Caster has no worth as it only boosts your CL to your HD, up to a total of +4 (whichever is less).

V would have had to multi-class, have racial HD, or similar, to benefit.

Practiced Spellcaster feat (http://www.realmshelps.org/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Practiced_Spellcaster)

[mucat]

First, as Tribble says, you badly misunderstand how Practiced Caster works. It would be no help for V or Durkon.

Secondly...what is the purpose of this thread? Just to speculate about how the OOTS could have optimized their builds (which could go on for quite a long time, because they're not meant to be even vaguely optimized.) Or did you actually think Rich might say "Hey, thanks for the suggestions. I'll make those changes right away"?

[Calmar]

I'm confused...

[Lord Loss]

Is this a theoretical optimization exercise? We don't have any say in what happens in-comic...

[derfenrirwolv]

I have come to realise the group might be in need of some help. and me helping could be entirely possible.


The group is exactly as optimized at any given moment as they need to be for the plot. Some of the humor is how UNoptimized this group is, particularly belkar.


V should take the following feat - Practiced Caster (complete arcane) this raises your caster level by 4


It's a little more complicated than that. It raises your caster level by UP TO 4, to the limit of your hit dice (or class level?) A strait wizard like V has 14 HD and 14 caster levels, so the feat does him no good. The feat is designed for multiclass casters to put a little more OMPH into their spells without letting them be overpowered by accessing the higher level spells.



Roy naturally has power attack, cleave, great cleave etc, how ever he should think about taking "improved sunder", this could be largely useful if he should come across a golem

A golem is a type of artificial creature with HP and AC. You can't sunder it as its not an object in D&D terms. You can't sunder it any more than you can draw and quarter a monk my dis arming him.




also seeing as he is hunting a lich Undead Bane as a feat which is in the Libris Mortis ok its only an extra 2d6 but given that he is in the works of taking the mage slayer feat, it could work out really well for him.

Roy's dad may have already shown him something similar to mage slayer for interupting the casting of spellcasters.

*hmmmm... if its hit dice i think i have a new favorite feat to give dragons.

[Ron Miel]

V is a straight wizard.

Are you sure? I think he might be bi.

[TriForce]

seems like you need more help then the Oots Itous :) especially with regards to how the rules work

[Itous]

lol aye apparently so, to be honest i supper from really bad chronic depression i felt kinda good and was just spreading the love really XD wasn't expecting any kind of response to tell you the truth.

right someone please explain to me 100% and completely how practiced caster works, i have 2 characters i am using in a game that have this feat and if i'm using it wrong then i'm making a serious mistake bare in mind i'm dyslexic so things might not be 100% clear first time i read through stuff or even on the 50th time i read through. so can someone please throw a little slack my way and explain.

the point of this thread wasn't about optimising builds it was more of a "hey if they can look through D&D books in the comic then these bits and peices might intrest them at some stage" but meh, forget it like i said i was in a good mood and decided just to spread the love a bit XD. forget i said anything to being with....

i feel kinda stupid now but i figured what the hell in my own random way i was trying trying to do some good in one world or anyother, in relaity i don't seem to be able to help people much but in D&D i'm able to cure diseases and other such..


i'm going to stop talking now......


if someone can explain to me how practiced caster works please i would be very greatful.


Itous

[Kish]

If a character's total hit dice are higher than its caster level (for example, the character is a dragon, or a multiclassed fighter/wizard, or a paladin), then Practiced Spellcaster will increase the character's effective caster level by four or to be the same as that character's hit dice, whichever is less.

Vaarsuvius is a single-classed elven wizard. His/her hit dice, character level, and caster level are all the same. Practiced Spellcaster would increase his/her effective caster level by +0, bringing it to the same as his/her hit dice. Durkon would similarly gain +0 effective caster levels from it. O-Chul, whose caster level is one-half his paladin level and whose hit dice are equal to his total paladin level plus his total fighter level, would gain +4 to his caster level if he took the Practiced Spellcaster feat.

[mucat]

If someone can explain to me how practiced caster works please i would be very grateful.

All right. Practiced caster can raise a character's caster level by 4, but -- and this is the part you're missing -- cannot raise caster level higher than his/her hit dice. (And for most PC races, hit dice is the same as character level.)

So the only time Practiced Caster can be useful is when your caster level is already lower than your hit dice. This usually happens only for multiclassed characters...so Practiced Caster is a way to improve the power of a multiclassed caster a bit. For a single-classed caster, whose caster level is already equal to their hit dice, it doesn't help at all.

EDIT: Ninja'd by Kish, but I'll leave this post in place in case it helps to see both explanations.

[Itous]

right so lets say i'm a 6th level wizard and i take practiced caster at 6 level but then take 4 levels in monk, it will increase my caster level by +4 to match my levels in monk? this way i can increase my caster level as i multiclass?

[Kish]

That is correct. If you do it in the precise order you described:
Sixth level single-classed wizard with Practiced Spellcaster feat: Casts as sixth-level wizard. Feat currently does nothing.
Wizard 6/Monk 1 with Practiced Spellcaster feat: Casts as seventh-level wizard.
Wizard 6/Monk 2 with Practiced Spellcaster feat: Casts as eighth-level wizard.
Wizard 6/Monk 3 with Practiced Spellcaster feat: Casts as ninth-level wizard.
Wizard 6/Monk 4 with Practiced Spellcaster feat: Casts as tenth-level wizard.
Wizard 6/Monk 5 with Practiced Spellcaster feat: Casts as tenth-level wizard, and will always and forevermore get +4 caster level from the feat (barring somehow losing the monk levels, of course).

[Itous]

awesome! but i've spoken to my DM he says its cool to leave it as it is, ah well i know for next time anyways XD.

cheers guys, well i think this post should be closed for its semi pointlessness XD thanks for bringing the pointlessness of this thread to my attention guys XD!!!

please close this thread


Itous

[TriForce]

also, and sometimes people confuse this too:

it only increases caster lvl, it will not give the benefit of higher lvl spells or more spell slots.

so a lvl 6 wizard/lvl5 warrior will throw a fireball that does 10d6 damage, becouse he has a caster lvl of 10. however, he will not be able to cast any 4th or 5th lvl spells, something a normal lvl 10 caster CAN do. he will still be able to cast as many spells as a normal lvl 6 wizard can

[Ancalagon]

Did not know about that feat before... but it seems like a cheat to me. Let's talk about unbalanced and too powerful things, yes? Again, there is truth in the rule: "Just because someone wrote it in a sourcebook it does not have to mean it's a good idea". ;)

[Dr.Epic]

something tells me we dont really have any say in the goings on of the comic.

Yeah I also doubt Rich is taking advice from fans.

Also, Itous, what's to say those characters don't have said feats/abilities and we just haven't noticed it, or that said characters haven't already tried to gain those powers and have failed.

[Ancalagon]

Also, "If the characters were more powerful, they would solve the plot easier..." - a told story does not work that way.

Even if they had 20 more levels, they would struggle the very, very same they do right now. It's just how stories work, everything is always relative.

[Dr.Epic]

Even if they had 20 more levels, they would struggle the very, very same they do right now. It's just how stories work, everything is always relative.

Well, if they all had twenty more levels, either the comic would be over much faster with much less anticipation, or Rich would have to throw ridiculous plot devices which would surely anger many fans to slow the story down.

[mucat]

Did not know about that feat before... but it seems like a cheat to me. Let's talk about unbalanced and too powerful things, yes? Again, there is truth in the rule: "Just because someone wrote it in a sourcebook it does not have to mean it's a good idea". ;)

Naw, it's useful but not overpowered. Again, there are two key things limiting it:


- It will raise your caster levelby up to four, but it will not raise your caster level higher than your hit dice...so it only helps casters who have already "lost" levels due to multiclassing.

- It does not improve your spell progression, only the caster level of your spells.

So the Level 6 Wizard / Level 4 Monk discussed above will cast the same number of spells as any other Level-6 Wizard (4 first-level spells, 3 second, and 2 third, plus bonus spells) but will cast these spells at caster level 10. He won't be able to cast the 4th and 5th level spells that a level-10 Wizard would.

So overall, the multiclass caster is still significantly weaker than a single-class one; this feat just helps close the gap a little.