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View Full Version : Weird Concept Questions <3.5>



Tokuhara
2010-10-25, 02:02 PM
I have an upcoming campagn centered in the cities of Eberron. The story ceters around a Fable III-esq plot of helping a hero reclaim the crown from a corrupt government official. It starts (probably) around Lv5

My character concept is this:

Name: Cyllian Timak, the King of Fools, the Gentleman Thief
Race: Forestlord Half-Elf (a race I wanted to play ever since I got Dragon Magicor ) or Spellscale
Class: Jester 9/Virtuoso 1/Sublime Chord 10 (BtB )/Jester 8/Sublime Chord 4/Magical Trickster 3/Refluffed Divine Prankster (removing Gnome and Divine Casting Prerequisites for deity requirements and arcane casting. Based on Bardic Music/Jester Preformance uses instead of Turn Undead)
Weapon: Rapier

House Rules: 1 Background Feat, Feats every 3rd level, stat bonuses every 2 levels, [B]Leadership is banned
Starting Stats: 18, 17, 16, 16, 15, 15

My Quesions:

1. As a DM, would you allow Jester's Preformance to count as Bardic Music for the sake of PrC prerequisites?

2. Optimally speaking, which race is "better"

3. What background/Ancestor/ect. feat should I choose

4. I plan on taking a Homebrewed feat called "Connections," which gives the PC a contact in major cities. As the probable party face, is this a worthwhile investment? The contact could be anyone from the local constable to a crime boss to a "lady of the night." DM chooses who my contact is and what I did to earn a favor from them

5. My character was an ex-vampire hunter turned thief. How could I accomplish this in a role-play aspect? He prefers to make 2 dishonest gold instead of 1 honest gold.

6. What sorts of spells should I choose, considering I'm a debuff machine with some aggressive casting capabilities.

7. I plan on being part skill monkey, part party face, and part secondary caster, since we should have a cleric and a focused necromancer. Is this too many roles for a bard rip-off?

Calmar
2010-10-25, 03:07 PM
Where is the jester class from?

Tokuhara
2010-10-25, 03:24 PM
Where is the jester class from?

Dragon Magazine Compendium

Foryn Gilnith
2010-10-25, 03:25 PM
Where is the jester class from?
The Dragon Compendium, home to such classes as the Battle Dancer and the Savant. Unfortunately, as I lack the book, I can't give much help to the OP.

1) If you're refluffing Divine Prankster, I see no reason not to shift prerequisites for other prestige classes.

2) Half-elves are generally mediocre, and I don't think the Forestlord abilities change that too much; however, I'd advise you to play the half-elf. Eberron offers RP opportunities for a half-elf that other settings don't.

4) There are rules in DMG2 and Cityscape for connections that don't involve feats; see if you can get your DM on-board with those.

nedz
2010-10-25, 03:58 PM
Starting Stats: 18, 17, 16, 16, 15

I was going to say that your DM has been very geneous with the stats, but when I looked more closely I see that the've actually been quite stingy: you only have five numbers ?


My Questions:

1. As a DM, would you allow Jester's Preformance to count as Bardic Music for the sake of PrC prerequisites?

I Probably would, not that thats relevant.


2. Optimally speaking, which race is "better"

Gnome possibly if your debuffs are illusions; otherwise I don't know.
If your going to do offensive spellcasting then you really want to pump Cha.


3. What background/Ancestor/ect. feat should I choose

Bards are quite narrow in spell choice. You might want to consider Heratage feats for SLAs, just for options. This would commit you to several feats though so they are probably other options to consider. Have you considered what other feats you want?


4. I plan on taking a Homebrewed feat called "Connections," which gives the PC a contact in major cities. As the probable party face, is this a worthwhile investment? The contact could be anyone from the local constable to a crime boss to a "lady of the night." DM chooses who my contact is and what I did to earn a favor from them

5. My character was an ex-vampire hunter turned thief. How could I accomplish this in a role-play aspect? He prefers to make 2 dishonest gold instead of 1 honest gold.

6. What sorts of spells should I choose, considering I'm a debuff machine with some aggressive casting capabilities.

If your going down the offensive caster route then you need to bump your save DCs. This generally means choosing one school of spells, which with Bard is difficult.


7. I plan on being part skill monkey, part party face, and part secondary caster, since we should have a cleric and a focused necromancer. Is this too many roles for a bard rip-off?
[/QUOTE]
You seem to have the Bard down to a tee.

Tokuhara
2010-10-26, 01:19 PM
I was going to say that your DM has been very geneous with the stats, but when I looked more closely I see that the've actually been quite stingy: you only have five numbers ?

I Probably would, not that thats relevant.

Gnome possibly if your debuffs are illusions; otherwise I don't know.
If your going to do offensive spellcasting then you really want to pump Cha.

Bards are quite narrow in spell choice. You might want to consider Heratage feats for SLAs, just for options. This would commit you to several feats though so they are probably other options to consider. Have you considered what other feats you want?

If your going down the offensive caster route then you need to bump your save DCs. This generally means choosing one school of spells, which with Bard is difficult.


You seem to have the Bard down to a tee.[/QUOTE]

1.Fixed. I plan on using my 18 for my Cha, since I'm picking up a combat feat called Weapon panache, which adds Cha to your weapon attack with a finessable weapon (in my case: a shortsword)

2. DM has allowed it

3. My debuffs are primarily from abjuration and enchantmet on the sorc/wiz side and the Jester side

4. It has to be an ancestor or background feat. there's actually a HUGE list the DM gave us, and am liking Criminal and Mage Academy, which adds I think a +1 to CL from a chosen school at a cost of 250 less gold at start. Am open to suggestions however

5. Jester's casting is primarily abjuration, enchantment, a few illusions, a couple transmutations, and evocation/conjuration (mostly point & kill spells)

Keld Denar
2010-10-26, 01:28 PM
Why Jester over Bard? I seems to me that Bard just brings more to the table (especially with all of the support for Inspire Courage).

Also, check out Races of Destiny for the Half Elf Bard racial sub. Its pretty sweet IIRC.

If you do go Bard, you can seldom go wrong with a 2-3 level dip in Lyric Thamateurge. Poaching low level spells off the wizard list is delicious (hellooooooooooooooooooo Benign Transposition!).

Tokuhara
2010-10-26, 01:32 PM
Why Jester over Bard? I seems to me that Bard just brings more to the table (especially with all of the support for Inspire Courage).

Also, check out Races of Destiny for the Half Elf Bard racial sub. Its pretty sweet IIRC.

If you do go Bard, you can seldom go wrong with a 2-3 level dip in Lyric Thamateurge. Poaching low level spells off the wizard list is delicious (hellooooooooooooooooooo Benign Transposition!).

The Jester seems more like how I want to play the character. He isn't a buff machine, he's a demoralizing character. Plus, DM banned bard... So sad

Will look into Half-Elf Bard subclass, and maybe refluff for Jester

Lyric Thamateurge had peaked my interest, mostly though because I had never seen it in an op.


So, since the DM has allowed Jester's Performance to count as Bardic Music, would LT be a good ending point over Arcane Prankster?

nedz
2010-10-26, 05:02 PM
... Plus, DM banned bard...
WHAT :confused::confused:

Why ?

It just seems quite strange.

AslanCross
2010-10-26, 08:19 PM
WHAT :confused::confused:

Why ?

It just seems quite strange.

Some DMs ban classes for being weak. I'm not sure how bards can be banned in Eberron, though, because that kind of leaves House Phiarlan out of a job. :smalleek: Apart from espionage and cloak-and-dagger operations.

Tokuhara
2010-10-27, 02:26 PM
Some DMs ban classes for being weak. I'm not sure how bards can be banned in Eberron, though, because that kind of leaves House Phiarlan out of a job. :smalleek: Apart from espionage and cloak-and-dagger operations.

Correction: Banned from PC use. Besides, none of us are from noble houses

Shadowleaf
2010-10-27, 02:38 PM
Bards just do not fit some campaigns. I hardly ever allow bards, and when I do, it is only if the character make sense in relation to the setting and the campaign world.
Most of the PHB classes are like this, actually. The only really universal class (from my point of view) is the Fighter - and even then, it might be banned from political campaign games.

Tokuhara
2010-10-27, 02:49 PM
Bards just do not fit some campaigns. I hardly ever allow bards, and when I do, it is only if the character make sense in relation to the setting and the campaign world.
Most of the PHB classes are like this, actually. The only really universal class (from my point of view) is the Fighter - and even then, it might be banned from political campaign games.

DM made fighter use some maneuvers, minus they don't learn the Upper Tier maneuvers, using Iron Heart, Devoted Spirit, Stone Dragon, and Diamond Mind as their disciplines. They recover maneuvers on a critical hit (1/crit) or an extended rest (all). They use Crusader's maneuvers known for their maneuvers known. Thus, my DM made fighter not suck. And yes, he still gets Bonus Feats.