Talbot
2010-07-27, 02:38 AM
Ok... I'm making progress on my Swashbuckler/Unarmed Swordsage/Master of Nine. I've go the class levels pretty much figured out (I'm amenable to dropping the last Swordsage level for something good, and the only things really super set in stone are the first three levels and the general prevalence of Unarmed Swordsage):
1)Swashbuckler 1
2)Swashbuckler 2
3)Swashbuckler 3
4) Unarmed Swordsage 1
5) Unarmed Swordsage 2
6) Unarmed Swordsage 3
7) Uncanny Trickster 1
8) Unarmed Swordsage 4
9) Unarmed Swordsage 5
10) Unarmed Swordsage 6
11) Unarmed Swordsage 7
12) Master of Nine 1
13) Master of Nine 2
14) Master of Nine 3
15) Master of Nine 4
16) Master of Nine 5
17) Uncanny Trickster 2 (Advancing Master of Nine)
18) Uncanny Trickster 3 (Advancing Master of Nine)
19) Unarmed Swordsage 8
20) Unarmed Swordsage 9
The Character Concept: He starts out a well-bred but rebellious noble's son, choosing to use his education and fencing training (Swashbuckler 1) to adventure, save damsels, and such rather than doing anything terribly productive. This goes well enough for a while before a life-changing event (may or may not be dramatic, to be finessed with DM) leads him to cast aside both his wealth and material possessions and train under the world's greatest martial artists, scholars, and philosophers, seeking to improve his mind and body in the service of good. Eventually, his youthful fervor gives way to contemplation, and he retreats into the mountains for a period of years to train and meditate before returning (think Pai Mei if he were Neutral Good and not a douche) and taking up the life of a wandering hero; doing good and trying to enrich the minds of those he encounters. Above is the skeleton of the best build I've come up with so far to represent him.
The Pros: Gets me maneuvers from every school, as many as six level 9s (I'll probably only take four or five, though). Pretty solid saves, and he's got Evasion. I rolled pretty solid too (that's all I've done so far... I don't have the paper here (it's at the DM's), but I know the top four are 18, 17, 17, 16 and there's nothing below 11), so Insightful Strike + Shadow Blade + Insightful Strikes means with certain strikes I'll be tagging on Str + Int + Dex + Wis, so that doesn't suck. Plenty of skillpoints is hugely important, so it's a good thing he'll have those.
The Cons: Badly feat starved (considering what I want), BAB tops out at 14, probably too weak to survive in an optimized party the first few levels.
Feats I Have to Have: Educated, Knowledge Devotion, Shadow Blade, the various pre-reqs for Master of Nine, Martial Study: White Raven (to be taken early so as to get Diplomacy as a class skill).
Feats I'd really like to have: Kung-Fu Genius, Vow of Poverty (which means Sacred Vow as well, by default), Snap Kick, Martial Study x2 (picking up more maneuvers from Iron Heart/White Raven/Devoted Spirit), Keen Intellect
Now, he'll either be in a campaign with bonus feats at 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th or a campaign that allows two flaws at first level, as well as a (minor) bonus feat at first level (I think the DM will let Educated be that feat). That means I have either 14 or 11 available feats... but I want/need 15. I don't know yet what level he'll be starting at, so I'd like him to be playable from 1-20. Further complicating matters is the fact that I'd really like to snag Knowledge Devotion ASAP, and I'm not super flexible on moving entry to Master of Nine back at all as it'd mean I couldn't start snagging Level 9s till level 19, meaning I need all four of those pre-req feats early. Factor in the fact that Educated, Keen Intellect, and Kung Fu Genius all need to be taken at either level 1 or level 1 of Unarmed Swordsage, and those early feat slots are Sophie's Choice every time.
What I would like from the Playground is:
A) Build tweaks that improve the number of feats I can rack up without hurting my character concept, skills, maneuvers, or initiator level.
B) Good/strong arguments for why some feats should be taken earlier/instead of others so I can feel better about putting off, say, Snap Kick till 15 or so.
C) Suggestions on which skill tricks (since the build gets seven) I should take. So far Collector of Stories and the Mosquito Bite one seem like the only slam-dunks, but I don't know the Skill Tricks well.
D) Advice on which Stances to take for each discipline, since I'd *prefer* to have them be from as many disciplines as possible (although unless my math is bad, I only get 7 so two schools are left out of that party).
E) Any other cool suggestions that let me have my cake and eat it too.
Feats with time preferences:
ASAP: Educated, Keen Intellect, Kung Fu Genius, Knowledge Devotion, Martial Study (White Raven)
Somewhere between 6 and 12: Vow of Poverty
18 or later: Last two Martial Studies
Special Note: Character Concept really is the most important thing here. Even if he doesn't end up with Vow of Poverty, I really don't want him running around with any meaningful possessions, so please spare me the magic item suggestions.
1)Swashbuckler 1
2)Swashbuckler 2
3)Swashbuckler 3
4) Unarmed Swordsage 1
5) Unarmed Swordsage 2
6) Unarmed Swordsage 3
7) Uncanny Trickster 1
8) Unarmed Swordsage 4
9) Unarmed Swordsage 5
10) Unarmed Swordsage 6
11) Unarmed Swordsage 7
12) Master of Nine 1
13) Master of Nine 2
14) Master of Nine 3
15) Master of Nine 4
16) Master of Nine 5
17) Uncanny Trickster 2 (Advancing Master of Nine)
18) Uncanny Trickster 3 (Advancing Master of Nine)
19) Unarmed Swordsage 8
20) Unarmed Swordsage 9
The Character Concept: He starts out a well-bred but rebellious noble's son, choosing to use his education and fencing training (Swashbuckler 1) to adventure, save damsels, and such rather than doing anything terribly productive. This goes well enough for a while before a life-changing event (may or may not be dramatic, to be finessed with DM) leads him to cast aside both his wealth and material possessions and train under the world's greatest martial artists, scholars, and philosophers, seeking to improve his mind and body in the service of good. Eventually, his youthful fervor gives way to contemplation, and he retreats into the mountains for a period of years to train and meditate before returning (think Pai Mei if he were Neutral Good and not a douche) and taking up the life of a wandering hero; doing good and trying to enrich the minds of those he encounters. Above is the skeleton of the best build I've come up with so far to represent him.
The Pros: Gets me maneuvers from every school, as many as six level 9s (I'll probably only take four or five, though). Pretty solid saves, and he's got Evasion. I rolled pretty solid too (that's all I've done so far... I don't have the paper here (it's at the DM's), but I know the top four are 18, 17, 17, 16 and there's nothing below 11), so Insightful Strike + Shadow Blade + Insightful Strikes means with certain strikes I'll be tagging on Str + Int + Dex + Wis, so that doesn't suck. Plenty of skillpoints is hugely important, so it's a good thing he'll have those.
The Cons: Badly feat starved (considering what I want), BAB tops out at 14, probably too weak to survive in an optimized party the first few levels.
Feats I Have to Have: Educated, Knowledge Devotion, Shadow Blade, the various pre-reqs for Master of Nine, Martial Study: White Raven (to be taken early so as to get Diplomacy as a class skill).
Feats I'd really like to have: Kung-Fu Genius, Vow of Poverty (which means Sacred Vow as well, by default), Snap Kick, Martial Study x2 (picking up more maneuvers from Iron Heart/White Raven/Devoted Spirit), Keen Intellect
Now, he'll either be in a campaign with bonus feats at 1st, 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th or a campaign that allows two flaws at first level, as well as a (minor) bonus feat at first level (I think the DM will let Educated be that feat). That means I have either 14 or 11 available feats... but I want/need 15. I don't know yet what level he'll be starting at, so I'd like him to be playable from 1-20. Further complicating matters is the fact that I'd really like to snag Knowledge Devotion ASAP, and I'm not super flexible on moving entry to Master of Nine back at all as it'd mean I couldn't start snagging Level 9s till level 19, meaning I need all four of those pre-req feats early. Factor in the fact that Educated, Keen Intellect, and Kung Fu Genius all need to be taken at either level 1 or level 1 of Unarmed Swordsage, and those early feat slots are Sophie's Choice every time.
What I would like from the Playground is:
A) Build tweaks that improve the number of feats I can rack up without hurting my character concept, skills, maneuvers, or initiator level.
B) Good/strong arguments for why some feats should be taken earlier/instead of others so I can feel better about putting off, say, Snap Kick till 15 or so.
C) Suggestions on which skill tricks (since the build gets seven) I should take. So far Collector of Stories and the Mosquito Bite one seem like the only slam-dunks, but I don't know the Skill Tricks well.
D) Advice on which Stances to take for each discipline, since I'd *prefer* to have them be from as many disciplines as possible (although unless my math is bad, I only get 7 so two schools are left out of that party).
E) Any other cool suggestions that let me have my cake and eat it too.
Feats with time preferences:
ASAP: Educated, Keen Intellect, Kung Fu Genius, Knowledge Devotion, Martial Study (White Raven)
Somewhere between 6 and 12: Vow of Poverty
18 or later: Last two Martial Studies
Special Note: Character Concept really is the most important thing here. Even if he doesn't end up with Vow of Poverty, I really don't want him running around with any meaningful possessions, so please spare me the magic item suggestions.