strider24seven
2010-08-11, 09:58 AM
Alright, playgrounders... the DM has decided to throw us at the Tomb of Horrors. I don't know, however, if he is trying to TPK us (I've never played the Tomb before, but I've heard tales). Here's the party status:
~Faerun Campaign, Gestalt, 36 pt buy, 4 players, all level 9, 2 Traits, 2 Flaws
~Any material is allowed, provided it is run by the DM beforehand
~We are standing just outside of the Tomb, at the very beginning of the module
~We have 10,000 gp to spend, and an Artificer to craft with
~At the end of the previous session, we had to each draw 3 cards from The Deck of Many Things. We each got a Moon (!), so we have 11 Wishes to spend.
~The Artificer drew a Sun card, and the DM ruled that the 50k XP was to be added as a bonus to his craft reserve, ignoring his normal limit.
The Party Fluff:
We are a group of mercenaries, whom I (the Factotum) cobbled together from the School of Broad Horizons and the wilds of Rashemen. We have been utterly ruthless in our missions/jobs, with no good characters until now. We've survived a short urban campaign and 2 treks through the Underdark. We raided a Spirit Bear's barrow (DM stole the idea from NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer) and started a war between Amn and Tethyr. We have functioned well as a group or in "Let's split up, gang!" moments. We are also awesome.
The players are all using former characters of mine after an early near-tpk:
The Artificer (yes the DM allowed Eberron material in a Faerun campaign:
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Naked Stats: 10/12/14/22/10/14
Class: Artificer 9//Warlock 4/Psion (Shaper) 1/Cannith Wand Adept 3/Chameleon 2
Deck Draws: Sun (Portable Hole+50k Craft Reserve), Moon (3 wishes), Star (+2 INT)
Tactics: WAND ABUSE!!! Other than that, he's the party crafter, so we get oodles of stuff. He is a secondary skillmonkey. He can heal and battlefield control with wands and scrolls. He can also create lots of stuff between the Mark of Making and Creation, Minor Psionic, like Black Lotus Extract.
Future build: Unknown. Full Artificer on one side, but the other is up in the air.
The Dwarf
Race: Duergar
Alignment: Chaotic Good (switched from CE)
Naked Stats: 16/10/24/12/12/10
Class: Duergar LA 1/Ex-Monk 2/Lion Totem Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Warshaper 1//Ranger 1/Dwarf Paragon 3/Dragonfire Adept 2/Crusader 2/Fighter 1
Deck Draws: Balance (from CE to CG), Star (+2 CON), Moon (3 wishes)
Tactics: He's a bear that tanks and hits things. He can battlefield control with Thicket of Blades and Entangling Exhalation. He can also charge with Shock Trooper+Leap Attack. He also has the longest full-attack sequence of the party, with Unarmed Strike+Natural Attacks.
Future Build: Frostrager, then 4 more levels in Bear Warrior. Otherwise unknown.
The Pouncer
Race: Strongheart Halfling
Alignment: Neutral
Naked Stats: 14/18/14/12/14/12
Class: Lion Totem Barbarian 1/Fighter 4/Crinti Shadow Marauder 5//Swordsage 9
Deck Draws: Moon (4), Skull (we ended up fighting 4 Dread Wraiths, because we helped him out), Key (A really good Spiked Chain)
Tactics: He just charges things and teleports. He abuses mounted charges and teleport+Battle Jump to get lots of Full Attacks. He specializes in Shadow Hand maneuvers and uses Gloom Razor to consistently flat-foot his enemeies. He gets Shadowpounce next level, so he can just annihilate things by teleporting on top of them. Oh, and he rides an Advanced Magebred Warbeast Fleshraker.
Future Build: Finish CSM, then possibly take Jaunter. Otherwise unknown. Possibly a Monk dip for Sun School+Snap Kick.
The Factotum (me!)
Race: Changeling
Alignment: Neutral
Naked Stats: 12/12/12/22/8/15
Class: Factotum 9//Changeling Rogue 1/Marshal 2/Fighter 2/Master of Masks 1/Master Thrower 1/Chameleon 2
Deck Draws: Star (+2 INT), Flames, Moon (1 wish)
Tactics: 5-fold: Poison, Fear, Tripping, Iajutsu, and Versatility. He uses Master of Poisons and Virulant Toxic Assassination Gnome Quickrazers to poison foes with Black Lotus and make them cower through Imperious Command and Intimidating Strike. He trips people with Master Thrower's Trip Shot and Gloves of Tarnahirn the Vigilant, and he can destroy them with Iajutsu Focus. If none of that works, he can use any martial or exotic weapon through Master of Masks 1, so he can whip out something for the job.
Future Build: 7 more levels in Chameleon, 1 level dip in Exemplar, possibly finish Master Thrower.
So, we can function really well as a group. We are all versatile; 3 of us have some form of healing (wands, opportunistic piety, crusader strikes), 3 of us have battlefield control (wands, fear/tripping, entangling exhalation), and all of us have some form of nova ability (wands, iajutsu, pouncing charges).
We have really good equipment.
We can reliably take on creatures 3-4 CR above our ECL. We defeated 4 Dread Wraiths from the Skull Card, using our Shirts of Wraith Stalking.
My questions are:
1) Are we ready for the Tomb of Horrors, or is the DM trying to kill us off?
2) What should we spend our money/wishes on? We're all at a loss with 11 wishes to burn. My only idea was to wish for 4 Collars of Umbral Metamorphosis (continuous) or 4 Psychoactive Skins of Proteus.
3) Any advice on the future of these characters, builds, tactics etc. is welcome and appreciated.
~Faerun Campaign, Gestalt, 36 pt buy, 4 players, all level 9, 2 Traits, 2 Flaws
~Any material is allowed, provided it is run by the DM beforehand
~We are standing just outside of the Tomb, at the very beginning of the module
~We have 10,000 gp to spend, and an Artificer to craft with
~At the end of the previous session, we had to each draw 3 cards from The Deck of Many Things. We each got a Moon (!), so we have 11 Wishes to spend.
~The Artificer drew a Sun card, and the DM ruled that the 50k XP was to be added as a bonus to his craft reserve, ignoring his normal limit.
The Party Fluff:
We are a group of mercenaries, whom I (the Factotum) cobbled together from the School of Broad Horizons and the wilds of Rashemen. We have been utterly ruthless in our missions/jobs, with no good characters until now. We've survived a short urban campaign and 2 treks through the Underdark. We raided a Spirit Bear's barrow (DM stole the idea from NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer) and started a war between Amn and Tethyr. We have functioned well as a group or in "Let's split up, gang!" moments. We are also awesome.
The players are all using former characters of mine after an early near-tpk:
The Artificer (yes the DM allowed Eberron material in a Faerun campaign:
Race: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Naked Stats: 10/12/14/22/10/14
Class: Artificer 9//Warlock 4/Psion (Shaper) 1/Cannith Wand Adept 3/Chameleon 2
Deck Draws: Sun (Portable Hole+50k Craft Reserve), Moon (3 wishes), Star (+2 INT)
Tactics: WAND ABUSE!!! Other than that, he's the party crafter, so we get oodles of stuff. He is a secondary skillmonkey. He can heal and battlefield control with wands and scrolls. He can also create lots of stuff between the Mark of Making and Creation, Minor Psionic, like Black Lotus Extract.
Future build: Unknown. Full Artificer on one side, but the other is up in the air.
The Dwarf
Race: Duergar
Alignment: Chaotic Good (switched from CE)
Naked Stats: 16/10/24/12/12/10
Class: Duergar LA 1/Ex-Monk 2/Lion Totem Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Deepwarden 2/Bear Warrior 1/Warshaper 1//Ranger 1/Dwarf Paragon 3/Dragonfire Adept 2/Crusader 2/Fighter 1
Deck Draws: Balance (from CE to CG), Star (+2 CON), Moon (3 wishes)
Tactics: He's a bear that tanks and hits things. He can battlefield control with Thicket of Blades and Entangling Exhalation. He can also charge with Shock Trooper+Leap Attack. He also has the longest full-attack sequence of the party, with Unarmed Strike+Natural Attacks.
Future Build: Frostrager, then 4 more levels in Bear Warrior. Otherwise unknown.
The Pouncer
Race: Strongheart Halfling
Alignment: Neutral
Naked Stats: 14/18/14/12/14/12
Class: Lion Totem Barbarian 1/Fighter 4/Crinti Shadow Marauder 5//Swordsage 9
Deck Draws: Moon (4), Skull (we ended up fighting 4 Dread Wraiths, because we helped him out), Key (A really good Spiked Chain)
Tactics: He just charges things and teleports. He abuses mounted charges and teleport+Battle Jump to get lots of Full Attacks. He specializes in Shadow Hand maneuvers and uses Gloom Razor to consistently flat-foot his enemeies. He gets Shadowpounce next level, so he can just annihilate things by teleporting on top of them. Oh, and he rides an Advanced Magebred Warbeast Fleshraker.
Future Build: Finish CSM, then possibly take Jaunter. Otherwise unknown. Possibly a Monk dip for Sun School+Snap Kick.
The Factotum (me!)
Race: Changeling
Alignment: Neutral
Naked Stats: 12/12/12/22/8/15
Class: Factotum 9//Changeling Rogue 1/Marshal 2/Fighter 2/Master of Masks 1/Master Thrower 1/Chameleon 2
Deck Draws: Star (+2 INT), Flames, Moon (1 wish)
Tactics: 5-fold: Poison, Fear, Tripping, Iajutsu, and Versatility. He uses Master of Poisons and Virulant Toxic Assassination Gnome Quickrazers to poison foes with Black Lotus and make them cower through Imperious Command and Intimidating Strike. He trips people with Master Thrower's Trip Shot and Gloves of Tarnahirn the Vigilant, and he can destroy them with Iajutsu Focus. If none of that works, he can use any martial or exotic weapon through Master of Masks 1, so he can whip out something for the job.
Future Build: 7 more levels in Chameleon, 1 level dip in Exemplar, possibly finish Master Thrower.
So, we can function really well as a group. We are all versatile; 3 of us have some form of healing (wands, opportunistic piety, crusader strikes), 3 of us have battlefield control (wands, fear/tripping, entangling exhalation), and all of us have some form of nova ability (wands, iajutsu, pouncing charges).
We have really good equipment.
We can reliably take on creatures 3-4 CR above our ECL. We defeated 4 Dread Wraiths from the Skull Card, using our Shirts of Wraith Stalking.
My questions are:
1) Are we ready for the Tomb of Horrors, or is the DM trying to kill us off?
2) What should we spend our money/wishes on? We're all at a loss with 11 wishes to burn. My only idea was to wish for 4 Collars of Umbral Metamorphosis (continuous) or 4 Psychoactive Skins of Proteus.
3) Any advice on the future of these characters, builds, tactics etc. is welcome and appreciated.