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Ursus the Grim
2011-07-08, 03:38 PM
Hello again, its me. Yes, yes, I know you're sick of me, but its something everyone likes to do! Tell me what to do!

The premise of this is that we were playing level 5 characters with NPC classes. We recently, as a quest reward, were 'promoted' to PCs, with an allowance to convert those five levels, reselect feats, recalculate all class-related numbers, and even shift alignment by one step. However, the DM stipulated that it had to "make sense."

My friend has an easy task. He was a warrior.

I, however, played a Witch. The fluff was that I was an herbalist, the town healer. Toying with the fluff presented to me, I decided that as a beautiful medicine woman, I was also a lawful evil follower of Wee Jas who occasionally allowed patients to die as a sacrifice of sorts. I chose my spells with my appearance in mind and grabbed spell focuses for Enchantment, with an alter self for combat when necessary. I was actually planning on charming the main enemy, as he's a necromancer and I'm a beautiful follower of Wee Jas.

Now I don't know what to do with those levels. My ability scores are 10/10/10/13/16/13. The most obvious answer is to go Cleric of Wee Jas. However, its a magic-phobic campaign and bearing the symbol of a goddess of death and magic is going to attract too much attention. Most arcane casters are right out. Going any necromancer variant will also be too obvious, not covert enough.

Essentials
LE alignment (can shift to NE or LN)
16 Wis, 13s Int and Cha, 10s in the physicals.
Human, age 26.
Previously 'herbalist' class, with Witch spells.
Previously skilled in Knowledge (Herbs, Physiology) and Heal.
Previous feats were Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus (Enchantment) and Skill Focus (Heal)
Previously preferred spells were Charm Person, Command, Cure Light Wounds, and Alter Self.
5 Levels to use, possibly 6 after new experience.


Possible directions:

Shapeshifter. I've used alter self already and would find it fits the character to use it again. Maybe the beautiful woman is just a guise. Maybe the character has used alter self to slip away from authorities when she was young.

Problem: Most shapeshifters use either polymorph (arcane) or Wild Shape. Druid's possible but not really where I was originally looking to go. And I always play druids.

Trickster. Anyone's a fool for a pretty face. Sure, her charisma's only 13, but her spells have felled even the stronger wills of the village. She's used to having people eat out of her hand.

Problem: Charisma is only 13, and she'd need to be a cleric of Trickery (and bear a symbol) or an Arcane caster. I'd also like to keep the life/death aspect in play.

Spirit Shaman. She acknowledges there is a spirit of all things, and with her newly revealed Vulture Guide, she guides the passage of spirits from one vessel to the next, from life to death to life again. This is what I'm leaning towards.

Problem: That charisma is pretty important for a spirit shaman, and the fluff is a stretch. Plus, Shaman's abilities are pretty situational.

I know there's a hedge witch or something out there, but I haven't been able to find it, and I'm not even certain what its called.

Thrice Dead Cat
2011-07-08, 04:09 PM
Cleric is honestly the easiest answer. There should be either an ACF, feat, or even spell somewhere that allows you to bypass the normal requirements of having a holy symbol.

erikun
2011-07-08, 04:39 PM
A cleric of Wee-Jas with high ranks in Craft: Alchemy, Heal, and the appropriate Knowledge skill would make the most sense. You don't need to walk around in ceremonial robes all the time - you just need your holy symbol when casting spells. You could just hold it in your hand and keep it out of view from most people, although I think your party members would notice eventually. Cloistered Cleric is an option if you don't like the weapon/armor proficiencies.

I don't know if the Spell Focus feats would be that useful, although they couldn't hurt. I'd think that Craft Potion would be more useful than Skill Focus: Heal, but I'm not sure how much those checks come up.

Temet Nosce
2011-07-08, 06:11 PM
I don't see a problem there but rather an opportunity, instead of avoiding it, run with it. You're a persecuted minority, start coming up with ways to conceal your affiliation and your acts of worship (what you've already stated contains some of this) but keep your faith in secret.

Maybe talk to your DM about picking up the Spell domain to grab Any Spell for Alter Self and the like to complement the flavor.

Thrice Dead Cat
2011-07-08, 06:43 PM
Another option on the holy symbol is that you could have it ritually tattooed onto your body. I want to say the rules for such are in Complete Divine.

Zaq
2011-07-08, 07:13 PM
Invest in feats and skill tricks to make your spells less noticeable. Cityscape has Invisible Spell and Deceptive Spell, which can be useful. Still and Silent are obvious choices. There's also that skill trick (Conceal Casting? False Theurgy? I forget the name, and my book's closed) that lets you conceal or disguise your casting with a Sleight of Hand check, so if you can find a way of getting those ranks, that might be useful.

I'm pretty sure that you don't have to hold a holy symbol in your hand to use it. You could have it concealed on your person somewhere, if I'm not mistaken.

Dragonsoul
2011-07-08, 08:02 PM
If DM is ok with it Pathfinder had the witch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch) which has the fluff down to a tee..

IthroZada
2011-07-08, 08:06 PM
If DM is ok with it Pathfinder had the witch (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/witch) which has the fluff down to a tee..

The Witch has the issue of focusing on the entirely incorrect ability score for spell casting. Intelligence, while the OP needs Wisdom.

DiBastet
2011-07-08, 08:16 PM
isn't there a feat on the book of religions of eberron that allow you to ignore the holy symbol? Maybe the dm can let you take it for wee jas. BTW wee jas is a great goddess. You should look into finding the dragon magazine that explains more on the goddess. Awesome reading.

Dragonsoul
2011-07-08, 08:21 PM
of course you get found out much quicker once you meet some undead

"Why are those Zombies bowing in adoration?"

EDIT: 13 int isn't not double for an arcane caster, a headband of intelligence will solve all your problems, and its a mighty cruel DM who screws you over for trying to make the Crunch fit the fluff.