Fizban
2011-08-30, 07:25 PM
After thinking of builds for World's Largest Dungeon and branching off from there, I've got a few fun class feature swap and obscure PrC builds rolling around in my head that I feel like sharing. As would be expected of alternate feature chains and obscure PrCs, some of these have disputable rulings, so no need to point that out. Just go with it and have fun!
The "I got rid of nearly all my class features" Ranger/Traspsmith: Combine Trap Expert and Wild Shape Ranger, then take a page out of Druidic Avenger to swap animal companion for some rage and top it off with Champion of the Wild for a bonus feat since you won't be bothering with ranger casting [Edit: and dump Wild Empathy for Spiritual Connection to speak with plants/animals without bothering to roll!]. Ask the DM or otherwise snag Open Lock on your list, then go into Trapsmith after 5 levels of ranger. You now have 2 favored enemies, trapfinding, rage, wild shape, a bonus feat, and Trapsmith booby traps/spellcasting. You're an angry bear who lays traps. Really, I just wish there was something to swap out favored enemy. To finish the build you'll probably want either more rage or more shapeshifting. Mater of Many forms will give you large size with just 2 more levels so you don't spend too much time catching up, or Primeval gives you "hybrid" shaping, though you'll need a lot of int to avoid losing your spells to regression.
Dragon Ranger: starting with Wild Shape Ranger again, trade that out for Aspect of the Dragon (Dragon Magic) and season with rage/bonus feat to taste. You are now a ranger that breathes fire/flies/claws things to death. You could really try this with just about any alternate wild shape, but Aspect of the Dragon plays nice and has hour durations.
Dragon Samurai shenanigans (Miniatures Handbook): the only thing I've seen to increase the damage dice of a breath weapon that doesn't already do so automatically. Use with Half-Dragon and Draconic Breath for 7d8 every 1d4 rounds at ECL 9 (and increasing at every level!). Alternatively, combine with fire or acid Mephlings so you only have to deal with +1 LA, at the cost of limited breaths per day. *We'll need a favorable ruling on either plan since both examples in the PrC are of altering 1/day weapons, but the class is a little weak otherwise so it seems reasonable to allow it to apply to all uses of an existing breath weapon. Might as well use the greater of available ranges and DCs too. Don't let Dragonborn use it unless you want seriously big breath weapons. Dragonfire adepts and Dragon Shamans should be okay though, it'd be nice to give them a PrC that actually focuses on breath.
Ultimate Master of One-shot Raging: take a standard barbarian/frenzied berserker build, then drop in a level of Berserk (Deities and Demigods). FB sets a precedent for stacking rage-like abilities, so you now have Battle Fury to stack on top of your Rage and Frenzy for a total of +16 str and +10 con. You'll also need two different will saves to avoid attacking allies, so stay far, far away. If you can get alignment restrictions waived then you can grab Sohei (Oriental Adventures) as well, for an extra +2 strength and flurry of blows to go with your extra attack from Frenzy.
The "I got rid of nearly all my class features" Ranger/Traspsmith: Combine Trap Expert and Wild Shape Ranger, then take a page out of Druidic Avenger to swap animal companion for some rage and top it off with Champion of the Wild for a bonus feat since you won't be bothering with ranger casting [Edit: and dump Wild Empathy for Spiritual Connection to speak with plants/animals without bothering to roll!]. Ask the DM or otherwise snag Open Lock on your list, then go into Trapsmith after 5 levels of ranger. You now have 2 favored enemies, trapfinding, rage, wild shape, a bonus feat, and Trapsmith booby traps/spellcasting. You're an angry bear who lays traps. Really, I just wish there was something to swap out favored enemy. To finish the build you'll probably want either more rage or more shapeshifting. Mater of Many forms will give you large size with just 2 more levels so you don't spend too much time catching up, or Primeval gives you "hybrid" shaping, though you'll need a lot of int to avoid losing your spells to regression.
Dragon Ranger: starting with Wild Shape Ranger again, trade that out for Aspect of the Dragon (Dragon Magic) and season with rage/bonus feat to taste. You are now a ranger that breathes fire/flies/claws things to death. You could really try this with just about any alternate wild shape, but Aspect of the Dragon plays nice and has hour durations.
Dragon Samurai shenanigans (Miniatures Handbook): the only thing I've seen to increase the damage dice of a breath weapon that doesn't already do so automatically. Use with Half-Dragon and Draconic Breath for 7d8 every 1d4 rounds at ECL 9 (and increasing at every level!). Alternatively, combine with fire or acid Mephlings so you only have to deal with +1 LA, at the cost of limited breaths per day. *We'll need a favorable ruling on either plan since both examples in the PrC are of altering 1/day weapons, but the class is a little weak otherwise so it seems reasonable to allow it to apply to all uses of an existing breath weapon. Might as well use the greater of available ranges and DCs too. Don't let Dragonborn use it unless you want seriously big breath weapons. Dragonfire adepts and Dragon Shamans should be okay though, it'd be nice to give them a PrC that actually focuses on breath.
Ultimate Master of One-shot Raging: take a standard barbarian/frenzied berserker build, then drop in a level of Berserk (Deities and Demigods). FB sets a precedent for stacking rage-like abilities, so you now have Battle Fury to stack on top of your Rage and Frenzy for a total of +16 str and +10 con. You'll also need two different will saves to avoid attacking allies, so stay far, far away. If you can get alignment restrictions waived then you can grab Sohei (Oriental Adventures) as well, for an extra +2 strength and flurry of blows to go with your extra attack from Frenzy.