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View Full Version : STARBUCK- d20 final fantasy (?) setting - challenge/advice please!!



SylvanPrincess
2011-01-12, 10:05 PM
ok. game starts in 2 weeks. ive been all across the board gish-advice-wanting-wise. i need to fill 2 roles in the party. both roles are ones ive done before (not awesomely), and really dont want to do. arcane/psion caster, and trapfinder.

i love battlestar gallactica, and was weening myself off it until all of a sudden i find the first season on netflix. you know that urge you get when you see a cool character in a new movie? that i-wanna-base-a-character-offa-him/her sorta feeling? well i just got it bad. (and not for the first time with this character)

the campaign we are about to start is loosely final fantasy based. the world has a mako-like energy, but it is dissipating-magic cuts out in some places unexpectedly, etc. the overall view is that the world church is behind it (committing crusade-type genocides (most against orcen/half-orcen), and trying to "unifiy" the world in a pseudo-hitler youth way (forgive me, im not trying to belittle that period in time and what people went thru AT ALL).
the world is in a just-prior-to industrial revolution state.

I want to be kara thrace(as close to) in dnd terms. storyline(dm approved) is that i am from another plane. i jumped and found myself burning up on re-entry, and losing flight control, crash land. the ship runs off of a battery that runs off the mako-type energy. in this world that energy is falty at best, and disappearing fast. so im stranded and have been here for awhile.

The mission:
i want to make starbuck as a starting level 5 character. i want to cover the arcane caster party role with technology/mechanic work, and i want to have trapfinding from a class(over a level 20 build). how can i design her in this situation, with existing classes? d20 modern MAY be incorporated, but i dont have it, and it would be seriously impeded in this world. i want my weapon to be made from assault rifle parts. it will have been adapted (thru feats perhaps?) to have wands socketed into it that it can fire. i go on the overall quest/mission to heal the planet to get my ship running again to somehow leave. who knows what happens at that point.

i know this is a weird concept, but i am thinking about this a lot, and would love any advice or build ideas. i think this is a fun one to build and play :)

thanks *high five!*

ps: the gnome artificer build, for idea purposes is open to a human. though the dm wants be to be aasimar.

pss: talking about the more recent BSG

Starbuck_II
2011-01-12, 10:13 PM
The mission:
i want to make starbuck as a starting level 5 character. i want to cover the arcane caster party role with technology/mechanic work, and i want to have trapfinding from a class(over a level 20 build). how can i design her in this situation, with existing classes? d20 modern MAY be incorporated, but i dont have it, and it would be seriously impeded in this world. i want my weapon to be made from assault rifle parts. it will have been adapted (thru feats perhaps?) to have wands socketed into it that it can fire. i go on the overall quest/mission to heal the planet to get my ship running again to somehow leave. who knows what happens at that point.

i know this is a weird concept, but i am thinking about this a lot, and would love any advice or build ideas. i think this is a fun one to build and play :)

thanks *high five!*

ps: the gnome artificer build, for idea purposes is open to a human. though the dm wants be to be aasimar.

Artificer works: disable trap (why was it renamed from trapfinding?), arcane role, etc.
What about her are you trying to recreate?

SylvanPrincess
2011-01-12, 10:35 PM
Artificer works: disable trap (why was it renamed from trapfinding?), arcane role, etc.
What about her are you trying to recreate?

basically her exactly. what would she be? shes a brawler, a pilot, a sharpshooter, in touch with the god(S)but doesnt believe, a techie, sexual badass. PLUS the roles i want her to fill, trapfinder/skill monkey, and arcane user (via technology).

Hawk7915
2011-01-13, 01:28 AM
Starbuck doesn't scream "Arcane caster" to me; since piloting (her chief claim to fame) isn't part of D&D I'd see her as a Fighter/Rogue with a decent array of skills and some feats that make her a competent sniper and unarmed fighter. The problem with what you've outlined is that you basically want a character good at everything: you want an arcane spellcaster who's also a skillmonkey who's also a decent fighter at both range and melee.

Artificer is a good bet for you. I think a better bet is a Factotum (from Dungeonscape); while Kara doesn't strike me as particularly brilliant it's the class that can literally do anything especially with Chameleon levels. Another okay option might be Spellwarp Sniper (complete scoundrel) build. You couldn't start at 5th with levels in it, but you could start as a Wizard 3/Rogue 2, take 2 levels of Unseen Seer, and leap into Spellwarp Sniper for 5 levels before hopping back into Unseen Seer and/or Arcane Trickster and/or Human Paragon.

My final, oddball choice might be a Psychic Rogue (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b); you get decent skills, some powers, and decent secondary fighting stats. Hope that helps!

SylvanPrincess
2011-01-13, 11:55 AM
Starbuck doesn't scream "Arcane caster" to me; since piloting (her chief claim to fame) isn't part of D&D I'd see her as a Fighter/Rogue with a decent array of skills and some feats that make her a competent sniper and unarmed fighter. The problem with what you've outlined is that you basically want a character good at everything: you want an arcane spellcaster who's also a skillmonkey who's also a decent fighter at both range and melee.

Artificer is a good bet for you. I think a better bet is a Factotum (from Dungeonscape); while Kara doesn't strike me as particularly brilliant it's the class that can literally do anything especially with Chameleon levels. Another okay option might be Spellwarp Sniper (complete scoundrel) build. You couldn't start at 5th with levels in it, but you could start as a Wizard 3/Rogue 2, take 2 levels of Unseen Seer, and leap into Spellwarp Sniper for 5 levels before hopping back into Unseen Seer and/or Arcane Trickster and/or Human Paragon.

My final, oddball choice might be a Psychic Rogue (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b); you get decent skills, some powers, and decent secondary fighting stats. Hope that helps!

yeah, no arcane usage per se, but i want to cover it thru the use of technology if i can somehow maybe. nothing crazy that is going to make other members get annoyed, idk.

the first thing you said there, what do you feel about this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9986183#post9986183) a concept i thru together at one point, but using the psychic rogue to qualify for the feats daring outlaw and swift ambusher (dm approved). that way i would get limited manifesting (4th, not great i know), as well as sneak attack 6d6 and skirmish 5d6/4ac, as well as good ref and doge bonuses. i could always have an item that doesnt do anything, but i can use a power while looking at an item say the power corespond while looking at a small screen object and fluff it as if it was tech. again, i dont know lol