fracas
2011-03-19, 03:56 AM
My DM offered me a chance to play a mind flayer for my next character. He's allowing me to take it for only the +7 LA (not using the 15-level Savage Species progression... and yeah I know it's 8HD for 7 levels, but that's how the DM offered it to me) and he asked me to take 2 levels of monk for an ECL of 9. Flurry of Blows was tweaked to instead give me what amounts to greater multiattack: all four tentacles are considered primary attacks with no attack penalty and do monk unarmed damage+str (not 1.5str or 0.5str).
I'd like to focus on making the character as aberration-flavored as possible, but I'm not sure how to go about it. We aren't using psionics so I can't play the psi variant in XPH (full casting would be horribly broken anyway considering I could easily boost my caster stat to 30 and have all the mind flayer SQs and such on top of everything a normal caster would have).
Here's my build so far.
Mind Flayer 7/Monk2/Feat Rogue1-2/Paladin of Slaughter2/Feat Rogue3-9
Racial adjustments: +2str +4dex +2con +8int +6wis +6cha
Base ability scores: 18 16 15 14 12 10
Str18 +2 racial = 20
Dex15 +4 racial = 19
Con12 +2 racial = 14
Int14 +8 racial = 22
Wis10 +6 racial = 16
Cha16 +6 racial = 22
Level
01 Mind Flayer Feat: Power Attack
02 Mind Flayer
03 Mind Flayer Feat: Cleave
04 Mind Flayer
05 Mind Flayer
06 Mind Flayer Feat: Supernatural Transformation: mind blast (SS, makes mind blast a supernatural ability rather than an SLA)
07 Mind Flayer
08 Monk Bonus: Improved Grapple
09 Monk Bonus: Combat Reflexes Feat: Extended Reach tentacles (SS, +5' reach)
10 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: Stand Still
11 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: Hold the Line
12 Paladin of Slaughter Feat: Multigrab
13 Paladin of Slaughter
14 Feat Rogue
15 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: Improved Multigrab Feat: Quicken SLA: Suggestion
16 Feat Rogue
17 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: ?
18 Feat Rogue Feat: Ability Focus: Mind Blast (+2 save DC)
19 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: ?
20 Feat Rogue
It's a start, but I've got MAD up the wazoo... exactly zero of my stats are dump. I need Str for Improved Grab, Dex for AC/archery/Ref save (evasion!)/skill bonuses, Con for staying alive, Int for skill points (wanna make the most of the few levels of Rogue I'll have to start with), Wis for monk AC bonus and Will save, and Cha for SLA save DCs/skill bonuses/save bonuses with Pally. Ouch.
Strengths:
-Save DCs on my SLAs will be very high
-Massive cha bonus to saves, wis and dex to AC
-Awesome skill monkey gaining 8+6=14 skill points per level of Rogue
-Against less physical opponents, has good grapple check to extract brains reliably (helping negate low damage output), and can grapple several foes at once without penalty at higher levels.
-Against more physical opponents, can take advantage of probably low Will save.
-Tons of skill points, and social skills, disguise, and UMD are all class skills for most of my career.
Weaknesses:
-Crappy attacks, even with custom Flurry adaptation. At lvl 11 where I'm starting the character, I'll have 4 attacks at +15 (BAB 8, str7 assuming a +4 item) dealing 1d6+5 damage. The strikes are nonmagic and highly vulnerable to any kind of DR.
-Low mobility.
-Could be a lot more flavorful.
-Little ranged damage capacity even with a composite longbow (1d8+6 or so). Can be compensated for to some extent with UMD and wands.
Questions:
-Suggestions to improve my feeble melee attacks? I'm pondering Kensai levels, but it's the wrong flavor and doesn't fit the build well. Something more aberration-like would be great. I used tactical feats to fill in the gaps, but would really like more monstrous enhancement with just a couple choice tactical feats.
-Instead of worrying about my weak melee, I could make it a decently capable archer. Maybe sub Ranger2 for a couple rogue levels. I'll have good hide and move silently checks, and I could intersperse sniping with suggestions and mind blasts and UMD wand use. Levitate would help keep me out of melee. Thoughts?
-More than the above, I want to make the character creepier and more 'alien' with more monstrous abilities and less fightery stuff. Extra mobility is also high on my list.
The above build with or without archery adaptation seems like a decent way to go (although I see much room for improvement), but what does everyone else think? How would you build a mind flayer that only cost you 7 levels instead of 15?
I'd like to focus on making the character as aberration-flavored as possible, but I'm not sure how to go about it. We aren't using psionics so I can't play the psi variant in XPH (full casting would be horribly broken anyway considering I could easily boost my caster stat to 30 and have all the mind flayer SQs and such on top of everything a normal caster would have).
Here's my build so far.
Mind Flayer 7/Monk2/Feat Rogue1-2/Paladin of Slaughter2/Feat Rogue3-9
Racial adjustments: +2str +4dex +2con +8int +6wis +6cha
Base ability scores: 18 16 15 14 12 10
Str18 +2 racial = 20
Dex15 +4 racial = 19
Con12 +2 racial = 14
Int14 +8 racial = 22
Wis10 +6 racial = 16
Cha16 +6 racial = 22
Level
01 Mind Flayer Feat: Power Attack
02 Mind Flayer
03 Mind Flayer Feat: Cleave
04 Mind Flayer
05 Mind Flayer
06 Mind Flayer Feat: Supernatural Transformation: mind blast (SS, makes mind blast a supernatural ability rather than an SLA)
07 Mind Flayer
08 Monk Bonus: Improved Grapple
09 Monk Bonus: Combat Reflexes Feat: Extended Reach tentacles (SS, +5' reach)
10 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: Stand Still
11 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: Hold the Line
12 Paladin of Slaughter Feat: Multigrab
13 Paladin of Slaughter
14 Feat Rogue
15 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: Improved Multigrab Feat: Quicken SLA: Suggestion
16 Feat Rogue
17 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: ?
18 Feat Rogue Feat: Ability Focus: Mind Blast (+2 save DC)
19 Feat Rogue Bonus Feat: ?
20 Feat Rogue
It's a start, but I've got MAD up the wazoo... exactly zero of my stats are dump. I need Str for Improved Grab, Dex for AC/archery/Ref save (evasion!)/skill bonuses, Con for staying alive, Int for skill points (wanna make the most of the few levels of Rogue I'll have to start with), Wis for monk AC bonus and Will save, and Cha for SLA save DCs/skill bonuses/save bonuses with Pally. Ouch.
Strengths:
-Save DCs on my SLAs will be very high
-Massive cha bonus to saves, wis and dex to AC
-Awesome skill monkey gaining 8+6=14 skill points per level of Rogue
-Against less physical opponents, has good grapple check to extract brains reliably (helping negate low damage output), and can grapple several foes at once without penalty at higher levels.
-Against more physical opponents, can take advantage of probably low Will save.
-Tons of skill points, and social skills, disguise, and UMD are all class skills for most of my career.
Weaknesses:
-Crappy attacks, even with custom Flurry adaptation. At lvl 11 where I'm starting the character, I'll have 4 attacks at +15 (BAB 8, str7 assuming a +4 item) dealing 1d6+5 damage. The strikes are nonmagic and highly vulnerable to any kind of DR.
-Low mobility.
-Could be a lot more flavorful.
-Little ranged damage capacity even with a composite longbow (1d8+6 or so). Can be compensated for to some extent with UMD and wands.
Questions:
-Suggestions to improve my feeble melee attacks? I'm pondering Kensai levels, but it's the wrong flavor and doesn't fit the build well. Something more aberration-like would be great. I used tactical feats to fill in the gaps, but would really like more monstrous enhancement with just a couple choice tactical feats.
-Instead of worrying about my weak melee, I could make it a decently capable archer. Maybe sub Ranger2 for a couple rogue levels. I'll have good hide and move silently checks, and I could intersperse sniping with suggestions and mind blasts and UMD wand use. Levitate would help keep me out of melee. Thoughts?
-More than the above, I want to make the character creepier and more 'alien' with more monstrous abilities and less fightery stuff. Extra mobility is also high on my list.
The above build with or without archery adaptation seems like a decent way to go (although I see much room for improvement), but what does everyone else think? How would you build a mind flayer that only cost you 7 levels instead of 15?