Draz74
2011-06-24, 11:34 AM
So one day I said, "I want to build a party of four characters that are all swashbuckler types, but very different from each other mechanically." So I did. And I decided they should be (good-hearted) pirates, because hey ... why not?
They're not terribly optimal and I don't know if I'll ever have time to flush out all the build details. But I thought I'd share them anyway, just because I think they sound like a lot of fun, and maybe someone will want to run them as NPCs or something.
Several ideas were shamelessly cribbed from the Playground.
Dulcinea
Captain of the ship, and the "primary melee" of the party. Other than some skill adjustments, she is taken straight from OMG_Ponies' Iron Chef contribution.
Gnome Binder 3 / Paladin 4 / Blade Bravo 10 / Knight of the Sacred Seal 2 / Marshal 1
Basically uses the vestige Paimon to qualify for Blade Bravo and become very mobile, the Blade Bravo features to tank, and the Divine Might and Staggering Strike feats to make the Charisma-based melee style pack a punch.
Why is she awesome?
Well, I really like the idea of a pirate captain who's a tiny woman, surrounded by Medium-sized cohorts. Especially since she's not a Halfling (Halfling pirates are a little overdone).
Jerik of Hyrule
"The Big Guy" of the party, this tall, well-muscled fellow fights with a cutlass (scimitar or falchion) rather than a sabre (rapier). He's kind of the "fifth wheel" of the party (even though there are only four of them), with an odd mix of melee, healing, and skillful abilities. Skill-wise, he's good at filling in wherever the rest of the party lacks, especially Knowledge skills, and might end up as the primary Face.
Half Elf Half-Elf Paragon 1 / Human Paragon 3 / Crusader 7 / Eternal Blade 9
Basically manages to be an elf, so he can go into Eternal Blade, and a Human, so he can pick up pirate-y skills with Able Learner and Human Paragon, at the same time. Key feats include Human Heritage (unless it's houseruled to not be needed!), Able Learner, Weapon Focus (unfortunate prereq), Extra Granted Maneuver, and Knowledge Devotion.
For the first four levels of the game, this character is admittedly just a crappy skillmonkey, with little combat power at all. But at Level 5 the Crusader levels bring him up to speed quickly (and he can skip the lame Level 1 Maneuvers). He doesn't get the fun Eternal Blade capstone, but he gets all its other excellent features; and he does manage to pick up Strike of Righteous Vitality.
Not sure whether to make him a Forestlord Half-Elf and pick up Draconic Aura (senses) for some extra "party buffing" flavor.
Why is he awesome?
Because every pirate crew needs a big tough guy, and anyway ... Eternal Blade. With pirate skills. Like "Zelda: Triforce Rum-Running." (That's a game, right? Well, it should be.)
Tia Velma
An islander woman (human) with lots of strange jewelry, who moves around the ship gracefully or floats creepily, depending who you ask. She doesn't look like a warrior type, but she carries a sabre, and you've heard rumors that she knows how to kill with it pretty well. Tends to mutter a lot of witch-doctor mumbo-jumbo to herself.
Human Wilder 10 / Elocator 10
The party's main mage-type. Fights with Dissipating Touch (channeled through her sabre for fluff) at low levels, before Elocator turns her into a decent melee skirmisher. Tends to be extremely good at ship-to-ship combat, mostly by making the opposition sail right through an Energy Wall (sonic). Picks up enough Clairsentience to carry that creepy witch-doctor vibe. Gets Bend Reality at Level 20 (which is better than the Level 9 version, since it is much less expensive in XP). Elocator means she's actually a pretty decent skillmonkey (all four party members are. Pirate!).
Why is she awesome?
Because psionics are awesome, both in abundance of mechanical tricks and in how many crazy ways you can fluff them. (I've never seen them used for witch-doctor fluff before ... and that's a shame.) And because she has Scorn Earth.
Haberdash the Masked
He's a human, but it's hard to tell more than that under his bandana-style masks and constant changes of wardrobe. Sure carries a lot of weapons strapped to his back, though.
Human Factotum 8 / Master of Masks 1 / Chameleon 5 / Uncanny Trickster 3 / Swordsage 1 / Incarnate 2
You guys know how this one works. Iaijutsu Focus, normal Factotum awesomeness, and eventually a golf bag of exotic weapons. Add in the most flexible of low-level spellcasting in the game through Chameleon, numerous minor personal buffs through soulmelds, and all-around Jack of All Trades status, and you have the party's main healer and skillmonkey.
This version of Haberdash is terribly MAD, though, even after dumping Charisma. I'm thinking about focusing him a bit more ... for example, dumping Dexterity and letting Jerik take over Dex-based skillmonkeying.
Why is he awesome?
Eh. Let's just say there's a reason he's one of the Playground's most iconic builds.
They're not terribly optimal and I don't know if I'll ever have time to flush out all the build details. But I thought I'd share them anyway, just because I think they sound like a lot of fun, and maybe someone will want to run them as NPCs or something.
Several ideas were shamelessly cribbed from the Playground.
Dulcinea
Captain of the ship, and the "primary melee" of the party. Other than some skill adjustments, she is taken straight from OMG_Ponies' Iron Chef contribution.
Gnome Binder 3 / Paladin 4 / Blade Bravo 10 / Knight of the Sacred Seal 2 / Marshal 1
Basically uses the vestige Paimon to qualify for Blade Bravo and become very mobile, the Blade Bravo features to tank, and the Divine Might and Staggering Strike feats to make the Charisma-based melee style pack a punch.
Why is she awesome?
Well, I really like the idea of a pirate captain who's a tiny woman, surrounded by Medium-sized cohorts. Especially since she's not a Halfling (Halfling pirates are a little overdone).
Jerik of Hyrule
"The Big Guy" of the party, this tall, well-muscled fellow fights with a cutlass (scimitar or falchion) rather than a sabre (rapier). He's kind of the "fifth wheel" of the party (even though there are only four of them), with an odd mix of melee, healing, and skillful abilities. Skill-wise, he's good at filling in wherever the rest of the party lacks, especially Knowledge skills, and might end up as the primary Face.
Half Elf Half-Elf Paragon 1 / Human Paragon 3 / Crusader 7 / Eternal Blade 9
Basically manages to be an elf, so he can go into Eternal Blade, and a Human, so he can pick up pirate-y skills with Able Learner and Human Paragon, at the same time. Key feats include Human Heritage (unless it's houseruled to not be needed!), Able Learner, Weapon Focus (unfortunate prereq), Extra Granted Maneuver, and Knowledge Devotion.
For the first four levels of the game, this character is admittedly just a crappy skillmonkey, with little combat power at all. But at Level 5 the Crusader levels bring him up to speed quickly (and he can skip the lame Level 1 Maneuvers). He doesn't get the fun Eternal Blade capstone, but he gets all its other excellent features; and he does manage to pick up Strike of Righteous Vitality.
Not sure whether to make him a Forestlord Half-Elf and pick up Draconic Aura (senses) for some extra "party buffing" flavor.
Why is he awesome?
Because every pirate crew needs a big tough guy, and anyway ... Eternal Blade. With pirate skills. Like "Zelda: Triforce Rum-Running." (That's a game, right? Well, it should be.)
Tia Velma
An islander woman (human) with lots of strange jewelry, who moves around the ship gracefully or floats creepily, depending who you ask. She doesn't look like a warrior type, but she carries a sabre, and you've heard rumors that she knows how to kill with it pretty well. Tends to mutter a lot of witch-doctor mumbo-jumbo to herself.
Human Wilder 10 / Elocator 10
The party's main mage-type. Fights with Dissipating Touch (channeled through her sabre for fluff) at low levels, before Elocator turns her into a decent melee skirmisher. Tends to be extremely good at ship-to-ship combat, mostly by making the opposition sail right through an Energy Wall (sonic). Picks up enough Clairsentience to carry that creepy witch-doctor vibe. Gets Bend Reality at Level 20 (which is better than the Level 9 version, since it is much less expensive in XP). Elocator means she's actually a pretty decent skillmonkey (all four party members are. Pirate!).
Why is she awesome?
Because psionics are awesome, both in abundance of mechanical tricks and in how many crazy ways you can fluff them. (I've never seen them used for witch-doctor fluff before ... and that's a shame.) And because she has Scorn Earth.
Haberdash the Masked
He's a human, but it's hard to tell more than that under his bandana-style masks and constant changes of wardrobe. Sure carries a lot of weapons strapped to his back, though.
Human Factotum 8 / Master of Masks 1 / Chameleon 5 / Uncanny Trickster 3 / Swordsage 1 / Incarnate 2
You guys know how this one works. Iaijutsu Focus, normal Factotum awesomeness, and eventually a golf bag of exotic weapons. Add in the most flexible of low-level spellcasting in the game through Chameleon, numerous minor personal buffs through soulmelds, and all-around Jack of All Trades status, and you have the party's main healer and skillmonkey.
This version of Haberdash is terribly MAD, though, even after dumping Charisma. I'm thinking about focusing him a bit more ... for example, dumping Dexterity and letting Jerik take over Dex-based skillmonkeying.
Why is he awesome?
Eh. Let's just say there's a reason he's one of the Playground's most iconic builds.