Help with Character Concept

[systmfailure37]

Long time reader, first time poster. I was hoping some ppl who know the rules a helluva lot more than i do could help me save a lot of researching time. Any advice on the race, class, equipment (within 49,000gp for a starting Lvl 10), or potentially spells would be great!

Concept: Lvl 10 Gestalt, "Firefighter" He leaves his post at a town as public servant to find of life of adventure. Being a volunteer firefighter myself, I feel that playing such a character will be a breeze.

My DM: Hates homebrew rules but if it's in a book, he'll allow it. He'll allow anything from 3.0 and 3.5, usually whichever ruling on a subject yields a better result.

Concept so far: I was thinking a Construct or Fire subtype Lvl 10 fighter/Lvl 10 caster that can cast cold and water spells (and maybe the occasional fire spell due to knowing the element so well). Whatever gives him the ability to do tasks a modern day firefighter can do (maybe even better since magic is possible); such as exinguishing flames, surviving in fire and smoke filled environments, finding and taking to safety potential victims, etc. I think that such a skill set can easily be utilized in many aspects of adventuring. Thanks in advanced for any advice. :smallbiggrin:

[BlueInc]

Warforged for construct?

[Zaq]

I'd go for a skill-heavy character over a Fighter for your non-casty side. An Incarnate would be an unusual but fun choice (and they're awesome in gestalt games), especially since they can get relatively easy resistance to fire, and what would make you better able to charge fearlessly into a burning building? Well, OK, poison immunity and some way to see through smoke, but they have ways to do that, too (the Flame Cincture gives you near immunity to fire, the Strongheart Vest and/or Pauldrons of Health will help mitigate nasty effects from breathing smoke, and the crown bind of the Diadem of Purelight lets you see through it. If you want actual poison immunity, you have to be evil, unfortunately). So hey, now you no longer have to be a construct or have the [Fire] subtype, and they make strangely good skillmonkeys, as well.

If incarnum's not your thing, maybe Ranger or Rogue would be better? Rogue's definitely the stronger choice, but if you're dead-set on having full BAB, Ranger's kind of an OK substitute, weak though it is. It's better than Fighter, at least.

As for the cold/water bit . . . well, I'm sure you've heard of Quench (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/quench.htm), so maybe something with Druid casting (Druid, Spirit Shaman, or Archivist) just for that? The various environment books (in this case, specifically Sandstorm, Frostburn, and Stormwrack, or as a lot of people like to call them, It's Hot Outside, It's Cold Outside, and It's Wet Outside) have a lot of good material. Frostburn, in particular, is your go-to source for cold magic, including a few PrCs (which tend to range from decent to lackluster, but hey, sometimes thematics are worth it). Don't neglect Sandstorm, despite it being more aligned with deserts and fire and that sort of thing, since it's got some good water spells in it.

Does that help at all?

[Hirax]

A cleric strikes me as the best firefighter. Their spell list lends itself nicely to the task and you could even take the fire and water domains, though they're not very good mechanically.

One one side, consider cloistered cleric (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#clericVariantCloistere dCleric)7/prestige paladin (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm#prestigePaladin)3/ Consider the contemplative class from Complete Divine for level 11 onward.


On the other side, for simplicity consider just sticking to warblade from tome of battle, they're a nice melee class that will give you lots of good combat abilities.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

For spellcasting, Druid and maybe Spirit Shaman (CD) are pretty good at the water/cold category, and have plenty of fire spells to boot. You can summon one or more Water Elementals (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elemental.htm#waterElemental) to use their Drench ability to extinguish fires. Summon Nature's Ally gets access to bigger elementals sooner than Summon Monster, and then there's the Ring of the Beast from Complete Champion. Definitely also get the Summon Elemental reserve feat in Complete Mage. Neither Spirit Shaman nor Druid really jumps out as fitting for this type of character, but you could use Archivist (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20051007a&page=3) and gain access to the same spells. Since you can learn higher level spells than you can cast with that, pick up Haze of Smoldering Stone from Dragon Magic, just knowing the spell gives you Fire Resistance 3 which stacks with any other resistance you would otherwise have. Definitely get a Blessed Book (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#blessedBook). Get Knowledge Devotion (CC), with the Collector of Stories skill trick (CS).

For the other side of your gestalt progression, I'd probably use something like Urban Ranger (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#rangerVariantUrbanRang er)5/ Horizon Walker (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/prestigeClasses/horizonWalker.htm) 5. Lots of skills, good BAB, you'll have all three good saves for a while, and you can pick Fiery, Shifting, and Cavernous planar terrain mastery once available. There are some variant Ranger combat styles in Dragon magazine 326, the Strong-Arm style grants Power Attack, Improved Sunder, and Great Cleave at 2, 6, and 11, which would be suitable if his weapon of choice is the classic fireman's axe (greataxe?). Consider taking six Ranger levels instead of five to get Improved Sunder, and use the variant from CW that doesn't gain spells to get Fast Movement at 6th level, in which case you should definitely use an adamantine axe. Make it a greataxe version of the Frost Brand (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#frostBrand), and a Necklace of Adaptation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#necklaceofAdaptation) would work for avoiding smoke problems.

[Godskook]

Dragonfire Adept 10 gives you good Fort/Will, a strong elemental focus, and caster-like power.

Combine that with Factotum 8 on your otherside and this is completely not what you're expecting for the original concept, but it still *FITS*. Dip into Master of Masks and then Chameleon, planning to end your career as a Chameleon, which will net you significant spellcasting for a 'non-caster'. Be sure to focus Dex/Con/Int

Your feats are:
Tactile Trapsmith
Able Learner
Entangling Exhalation
Weapon Finesse

What this allows you to do:
-Search for traps, hazards and other dangerous environmental issues with checks
-Breath cones of cold damage *EVERYWHERE*
-Be a decent melee-ist, via Iaijutsu Focus and heavy exotic weapons, like say a spiked chain. Or an Axe, if you prefer.

[systmfailure37]

Wow thanks guys! This info was exactly what I needed for pointing me in the right direction.

[nedz]

Consider the 3rd level arcane spell Primal Form [SpC]. IIRC the Water elemental form gves you Quench. Well that's the firefighting sorted.

[systmfailure37]

Looking back at it, it looks the spell Quench pretty much covers all fire extinguishing needs. Is there any way that's cheap and/or easy, either magic item or SLA, that allows for as much use of that particular lvl 3 druid spell as possible? ("There's a fire? Not anymore.") I'm not sure how cheap it would be to build a fireaxe (greataxe/heavy pick) that is use activated. (should make for some entertaining visuals. ha!)

[systmfailure37]

or even Primal Form like nedz suggested or just the Drench ability from water elementals.

[Hirax]

Hold the phone, I have a brilliant idea. Get a decanter of endless water (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#decanterofEndlessWater). Hook the decanter of endless water up to a hose, and put a nozzle on it of course. Now strap your decanter of endless water to the back of a cart, or if you have a mount (prestige paladin could get you a horse, hippogriff, or other cool things as a mount) strap it to the back of your mount. You now have a firetruck and fire hose!

[nedz]

I like the Decanter on a Cart idea, but you would still need an escape.

With Primal Form you can also become an air elemental - so you could fly up and rescue people.
You can also become a fire elemental: which would allow you to start the fire in the first place.

[systmfailure37]

Ha Ha Hirax i can just picture it now. However i had no intentions of going to unnecessary lengths (the water can shoot a geyser out of the bottle itself without having to modify it) to make it look like a modern firefighter; just function like one. But thanks for the good laugh.