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View Full Version : New to game, just discovered skill techniques.



Nick_mi
2010-08-14, 12:01 AM
Found them in scoundrel, and I'm now wondering if there are any other sweet little things like that that I'm missing and should know about. I'm playing with a lot of players who never played outside of our group, and never really read the books through and through, for example most of my group did not know that you get a lot of synergy bonuses to skill checks when you have +5 in a skill(how they did not know that after playing for years blows. my. mind.) they also did not know about skill techniques, and so I am wondering if there is any other things that I should know about that I have not gleaned from general rules, or skimming books.

Hirax
2010-08-14, 12:17 AM
Variant class rules (http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/variantClasses.htm).

Nick_mi
2010-08-14, 03:19 AM
Awesome, just gave my ranger wild shape. Anything else I should know about or a recommendation for good morph feats?

Edit: For example, I just spent 2 hours reading up on the martial stances from book of 9 swords. Everyone said that book was awesome, but wow, after reading it, I wish somoene would of said "stances and maneuvers are ridiculous, multiclass into one of those 3".

Eldan
2010-08-14, 10:12 AM
It's very much a balance thing, but the Tome of Battle is not unbalanced in a group which optimizes it's play. The thing is, experienced things can do absolutely ridiculous things with just the players handbook and a wizard. The Tome of Battle is far behind that and doesn't even let the fighters catch up entirely. On the other hand, it does leave a normal fighter in the dust, both in terms of versatility and power.
The thing is, killing someone instantly with a level 9 maneuver seems awesome, but the wizard can do that with a level 7 spell levels earlier, and he doesn't have to hit with a melee attack. At that level, he can level cities, slow down time and travel to other worlds to hit you from.

Now, if you want to know about how to make strong characters, the first thing you should do is read the spell section of the players handbook front to back and for every spell think a minute: "What can I do with this? What's the most ridiculous thing?"

Which, if you think enough, will soon leave you with immortal, untouchable wizards throwing antimatter bombs from orbit a few seconds before you attack them.

dspeyer
2010-08-14, 10:38 AM
Other stuff to know about for a ranger?

Multiclass feats, especially swift hunter. They let two related classes stack for important features. I think from Complete Adventurer.

Spell Compendium -- read the full ranger spell list, there's some awesome stuff.

Divine Metamagic. Spend turn undeads instead of increasing levels. Hard to get as a ranger, but very, very powerful.

Nick_mi
2010-08-14, 11:14 AM
Well, rangers and barbains at the moment, but also looking for any sweet niches. I would love to do a wizard but my DMs haven't really allowed for one yet. They don't like dealing with magic users as they are "complicated".

Eldan
2010-08-14, 11:32 AM
I see. In that case, stay away from Tome of Battle as well.

For a ranger, your most important books are the spell compendium and Complete Adventurer/Warrior for more feats.

Hirax
2010-08-14, 11:36 AM
You might find some feats in complete champion that you like too. Devotion feats are pretty handy.

Nick_mi
2010-08-14, 11:52 AM
Well, I got rid of my weapon mastery in form of a wild ranger, and so I am going into wild shape build. I'm going to get some levels in warshaper, and it looks like I just found a sweet prestige class in complete adventurer that will allow me to become a dragon at 10th level and basically allows me to become different types of animals quicker then leveling in ranger(druid) levels which is what my plan was originally. Any recommendation on some feats for something along those lines or books I would want to look into?

Also, why stay away from the tome of nine swords? I'm only multiclassing into crusader for 1 level to get maneuvers and stances(I'm a barbian, and convientantly crusader works into our story very well) with the intention of going bear warrior into shape master, so both of my guys(I'm controling two in this campaign) will both be shape shifters.

Eldan
2010-08-14, 11:55 AM
THe thing is, of your DM thinks wizards are too complicated, he'll most likely also think that Swordsages are. Also, multiclassing too much generally doesn't help much, though the ToB classes are an exception.

For wildshapers, you just want general combat feats. Power Attack is a must, of course, or your damage output will be too low. If you are a barbarian, Complete Champion has a variant which gives you pounce, the ability to make a full attack on a charge, which is very valuable.

Nick_mi
2010-08-14, 12:16 PM
Also, recommended animals to shapeshift into would be lovely. I'm hopefully looking for a flying type of unit(like fae, but that's awhile down the road) that can ideally use my boy and fly, as well as an evasive, yet hopefully hard hitter. Though if I'm correct, I believe my health points change depending on what animal I am, so maybe evasive is not necessary.

Greenish
2010-08-14, 12:23 PM
Though if I'm correct, I believe my health points change depending on what animal I am, so maybe evasive is not necessary.They don't.

Of animals, big cats and dinosaurs are the usual suspects for bouncing.

TooManyBadgers
2010-08-14, 12:27 PM
Also, recommended animals to shapeshift into would be lovely.
Check this (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19528526/updated_Master_of_Many_Forms_Bible__official_wild_ shape_rules)out.

Nick_mi
2010-08-14, 01:47 PM
ugh, wow, that is a lot of reading. But sweet utility, a dire badger right away to burrow anywhere for my party? sounds fun.

true_shinken
2010-08-14, 01:58 PM
I rarely see the girdle of hate, from Dragon Magazine 314, mentioned for Ranger builds. But it rocks.
The girdle doubles your bonus against a particular favored enemy. If you have favored enemy (evil) or (arcanists), it's already very good. Since it doubles 'all bonuses', you even double the +3 to damage from Improved Favored Enemy. Even if you have the weakest possible favored enemy progression, with only a +2 bonus to call yours, adding Improved Favored Enemy and girdle of hate would mean you are dealing +10 extra damage.
It's only 16,000 gp. Sure, it's more expensive than a belt of battle and not as versatile, but it's really interesting.

Also, Mystic Ranger loves you.

Prime32
2010-08-14, 02:52 PM
If you want to use ToB, print out the maneuver cards (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20061225a) first. Put your readied maneuvers in front of you on the table, and turn them sideways when they've been used. If you're a crusader you can literally shuffle them.

That should make things easier for your DM to follow.