Low level survivable characters

[Olo Demonsbane]

I have two 4th level characters that I'm designing an adventure for. One is a Human Factotum 4//Monk 1/Ninja 1/Spellthief 1/Wizard 1, using Kung Fu genius to apply to both Monk and Ninja, Abrupt Jaunt, and Master Spellthief. The other is a Changeling Martial (variant that gives ToB maneuvers instead of combat style) Mystic Ranger 4//Scout 3/Warshaper 1 with Swift Hunter, Improved Skirmish, Sword of the Arcane Order, and that fun stuff.

The Factotum can get 4 shots a round (2 against 2 foes) with decent chance of hitting that do at least 3d6+6 damage, has high AC and Abrupt Jaunt. The Ranger has Skirmish of +4d6/+4, 2nd level spells, 2nd level maneuvers, and can generally lay down a lot of hurt once per turn, with fairly good defenses.

I am pitting them against a 9th level wizard with all of his resources, including lesser planar bindings, dominated people, magical traps, and, of course, his cohort and followers.

Mainly, I need suggestions for followers that can both survive a couple rounds against this these guys and have enough chance of doing something that the players might decide to concentrate on them instead of the bound Barbazu or whatever. He has 25 1st level followers, 2 2nd, and 1 3rd.

For the first level guys, I though of Crusaders with Stone Power, Wizards with Abrupt Jaunt, and Bards with a little IC optimization. Any ideas are welcome.

[Glimbur]

A feat on Shape Soulmeld: Rage Claws gives normal action from 0 hp to -10 hp. If the first level chump minion has essentia this can increase to -13 or even further with more feats/levels/etc. This requires use of Magic of Incarnum.

Warriors with long spears can aid another and be... annoying. Not really threatening, though, unless they also have a chance to hit with AoO's. That's where the bards come in, and maybe Magic Weapon (but that's kind of wasteful, honestly).

Warlocks might threaten the Ranger, but the other one probably has too much touch AC for that to be viable.

Wizards with wands of magic missile will just plain hit, but this could be too good... 25d4+25 could just murder both of them.

[Olo Demonsbane]

Completely forgot about Rage Claws; nice catch! I'll definitely be giving that to at least some of the followers.

The other thing to note is that they won't all be fighting the characters at the same time. For example, maybe a Charmed Ogre Warblade 1, a Succubus, and 5 followers will attack the characters from ambush after a trap. And the wizard will have some melee followers to ensure he doesn't immediately get charged. It's going to end up being a proper dungeon, not just one huge fight that they'd almost certainly lose.

[dextercorvia]

Maybe an Elan Ardent with the Pain and Suffering mantle. Share Pain would make a decent swap for the level 2 power. Give him a Psicrystal and the Psionic Meditation.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Both of those characters are breaking the rules:

Monk/Ninja AC bonuses do not stack, this was directly addressed by WotC. Both classes grant an "AC Bonus" class feature which adds an unnamed bonus to the character's AC; multiple unnamed bonuses from the same source do not stack. Since both class features have the same name, despite any subtle internal differences, they will not stack. Tell him to get Spellsword 2 instead, and he can wear light armor and still get the AC bonus.

Warshaper requires a +4 BAB prior to entering it, you cannot take your Warshaper level at the same level at which you gained the +4 BAB.


As for the wizard's followers:
1st: Mongrelfolk Dragonfire Adept, Entangling Exhalation, full plate and tower shield.
1st: Desert Kobold Stalwart Battle Sorcerer, Toughness, Toad familiar, Power Word: Pain, Draconic Rite of Passage for Benign Transposition, chain shirt and tower shield.
1st: Whisper Gnome Fighter, Dodge and Titan Fighting, breastplate and heavy steel shield.
2nd: Venerable Dragonwrought Desert Kobold Loredrake, Battle Sorcerer 2, Toughness and Toad familiar, Power Word: Pain, Grease, Wings of Cover, Draconic Rite of Passage for Benign Transposition, chain shirt.
3rd: Whisper Gnome Druid 3, Greenbound Summoning and Wild Cohort, Warbeast Wolves for companion and cohort, Lesser Rod of Extend, use Extended Enrage Animal, SNAII for Greenbound Dire Bats, and SNAI for Greenbound Dire Rats. Greenbound summons should Wall of Thorns as soon as they appear and then either spam Entangle or just go melee.

[Olo Demonsbane]

Both of those characters are breaking the rules:

Monk/Ninja AC bonuses do not stack, this was directly addressed by WotC. Both classes grant an "AC Bonus" class feature which adds an unnamed bonus to the character's AC; multiple unnamed bonuses from the same source do not stack. Since both class features have the same name, despite any subtle internal differences, they will not stack. Tell him to get Spellsword 2 instead, and he can wear light armor and still get the AC bonus.

Warshaper requires a +4 BAB prior to entering it, you cannot take your Warshaper level at the same level at which you gained the +4 BAB.

Heh, yeah, I know. The Monk/Ninja thing is houseruled to work, and the Warshaper had a nice level 8 Bard playing when he advanced a level.



As for the wizard's followers:
1st: Mongrelfolk Dragonfire Adept, Entangling Exhalation, full plate and tower shield.
1st: Desert Kobold Stalwart Battle Sorcerer, Toughness, Toad familiar, Power Word: Pain, Draconic Rite of Passage for Benign Transposition, chain shirt and tower shield.
1st: Whisper Gnome Fighter, Dodge and Titan Fighting, breastplate and heavy steel shield.
2nd: Venerable Dragonwrought Desert Kobold Loredrake, Battle Sorcerer 2, Toughness and Toad familiar, Power Word: Pain, Grease, Wings of Cover, Draconic Rite of Passage for Benign Transposition, chain shirt.
3rd: Whisper Gnome Druid 3, Greenbound Summoning and Wild Cohort, Warbeast Wolves for companion and cohort, Lesser Rod of Extend, use Extended Enrage Animal, SNAII for Greenbound Dire Bats, and SNAI for Greenbound Dire Rats. Greenbound summons should Wall of Thorns as soon as they appear and then either spam Entangle or just go melee.

As for this, though, quite nice. I'll definitely throw a couple DFAs among them, and I'll add in some Kobold Sorcerers for kicks. What's the template that makes Sorcerer casting in dragons go to Wizard casting? Something to do with Scribing, IIRC. Some Venerable Dragonwraught Loredrake Spellscribed (?) Desert Kobold Battle Sorcerer 1s would be very useful.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It's Spellhoarding.

Giving them Power Word: Pain means each of them will be able to cast that on each PC once, and it will probably last for 4d4 rounds. That means each PC will be taking 1d6 per round per 1st level Sorcerer. Giving them tower shields (since that's a verbal-only spell) means they can just crowd around the characters using the shields for cover and stop them from being able to reach anyone else while they slowly die.

The 2nd level Sorcerers are better left as actual Sorcerers, since Wizards can't learn Wings of Cover. That will allow them to block what few attacks the PCs get to make.

[Doc Roc]

Oooolloooooooo.

I second the suggestions regarding Rage claws.

[Olo Demonsbane]

Hey Jake :smallsmile:


It's Spellhoarding.

Giving them Power Word: Pain means each of them will be able to cast that on each PC once, and it will probably last for 4d4 rounds. That means each PC will be taking 1d6 per round per 1st level Sorcerer. Giving them tower shields (since that's a verbal-only spell) means they can just crowd around the characters using the shields for cover and stop them from being able to reach anyone else while they slowly die.

The 2nd level Sorcerers are better left as actual Sorcerers, since Wizards can't learn Wings of Cover. That will allow them to block what few attacks the PCs get to make.

Heh, I'm not trying to KILL the PCs...PW:P is one of those things that I generally avoid, especially in mass numbers, unless I want show those PCs not to insult the kobold's mother :smalltongue: Sending even 5 of these guys at them would just massacre them.

Wings of cover, now that's a fun one. I'll be using that.

I think I may just use one of my recent "3rd level character that has a prestige class" builds for the 3rd level guy; nice, easy, and quite deadly.

[Philistine]

Do you really want the minions to be tough, though? I get that they're supposed to be legitimate threats, but if the PCs find them too difficult to drop, it seems like that would tend to steer them toward your BBEG instead. It might be better to make the minions a little more fragile, so that the PCs don't decide the caster in the back is not only the biggest threat on the field but also the easiest to dispatch.