Anthropomorphic Leopard Attempt

[AspectOfNihil]

After a recent unfortunate character death (a Critical hit with a greataxe, dealing 69 damage to a 30hp Character, yeah, it hurt.) I have decided to try my hand at anthropomorphic animals. I went with leopard, because, well, it's a freaking leopard. Plus the stat boosts don't hurt. My question to all you Forum goers is this, how can I help him survive with access to ONLY Savage Species, Core, and Sandstorm. I have thought about Tactical fighting (Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Spiked Cheese etc), Archery, and dual wielding, but nothing seems to have stuck. Any help would be much appreciated.

[NineThePuma]

Define survival.

Do you want an unkillable Determinator or do you want someone that is shutting people down so they don't even have a chance to try and kill them?

Also, something to keep in mind is that leopards have a climb speed. I can't remember if you get that in Anthropomorphic Leopards, but something to consider.

Can I ask what your stat mods look like? Oh, and movement modes.

[AspectOfNihil]

Not particularly fussy, could even be a tank. There are some very competant damage dealers in the party though, so that isn't very high on the list.

Anthro Leopard gives you 30ft Speed, 20 ft climb. +6 Str, +8 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Wis, +1 nat armour, pounce, 2 claws and a bite, and improved grab with bite. Plus some sweet skill bonuses (+8 Climb, Balance and Jump, +4 Hide and Move Silently)

I'm not looking for anything particularly optimised (not that there's much to be done with limited splat access), just reasonably powerful.

Plus the rule of cool is never out of place :D

[Anarchy_Kanya]

I don't know about Improved Grab with bite, but he definitely doesn't get Pounce, unfortunately.

[AspectOfNihil]

Why does he not get pounce? It is a special attack that does not rely on body shape. From a cursory glance, pounce should be gained. Rake is specifically out, but pounce should be there.

[Anarchy_Kanya]

It doesn't get it because it's not the same pounce that you get from Spirit Lion Totem. That one is a pounce specifically for a humanoid that uses weapons. The animal pounce is different.
And because Wizards says so. look up the FAQ.
I was disappointed also. I houserule it my way, but RAW it doesn't get it.

[AspectOfNihil]

Ah bugger. I guess Dual wielding barbarian is out then.
Still gives a fair amount to work with though.

Cheers for the heads up, good to know what you have to work with.

[Elric VIII]

Just keep in mind that the FAQ is basically houserules and opinions of the DMs at custserv.

You can, in fact, make a dual-wielding barbarian with pounce, however. Barbarians get this nifty ACF in CompChamp called Spirit Lion Totem that trades Fast Movement for Pounce (You can even rename it to "Spirit Leopard Totem").



ToB is a great way to add survivability to melee:

From what I can tell, RHD even count as 1/2 level for IL, so you get some more benefit out of those than with another class.

The Leopard has 2 RHD, so if you grab 1 level of Barbarian (with pounce ACF if your DM rules with the FAQ) and 1 level of Fighter, you can make your 5th level (ECL 7) an initiator and start with 2nd level maneuvers.

Warblade has a nice d12 HD and some great maneuvers for survival. Ironheart Surge removes negative conditions, while there are Diamond Mind maneuvers that let you replace saves with concentration checks, and Wall of Blades lets you substitute an attack roll for your AC. Plus, Tiger Claw discipline, yeah.

If you want to go for a more mobile warrior (+8 dex is nice for that) you can take Swordsage. Although it only has a med BAB and d8 HD, it gets the Tiger Claw and Diamond Mind maneuvers. You can also play some BFC with Setting Sun throws that allow you to make opposed Dex checks to throw enemies arround that battlefield.

Crusader is quite hard to kill with its delayed damage pool and it makes a great chain tripper/lockdown, since you get Thicket of Blades.

[AspectOfNihil]

I did have a look at ToB, but unfortunately limited to Savage Species, Core and Sandstorm bookwise.

The ToB classes would fit with his character concept perfectly (created by a wizard as a test subject for a race of soldiers to sell to the highest bidder, taught special techniques to test his intelligence. So ToB would be perfect... If I had access).

Rather restricting yeah, but c'est la vie I guess.

[Elric VIII]

I did have a look at ToB, but unfortunately limited to Savage Species, Core and Sandstorm bookwise.

The ToB classes would fit with his character concept perfectly (created by a wizard as a test subject for a race of soldiers to sell to the highest bidder, taught special techniques to test his intelligence. So ToB would be perfect... If I had access).

Rather restricting yeah, but c'est la vie I guess.

Wow, totally missed that, sorry. Is the restriction based on the books you own or DM rule? Because Warblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060802a&page=2) and the various maneuvers (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20061225a) are available online.


You could go for a Barbarian/Ashworm Dragoon wielding a Lance. The class is quite solid and chargers can be excellent for staying alive in combat due to Ride-By attack. Pounce even nets you a full attack with a lance for 2x damage on each attack or the class allows you to full attack on a non-charge movement, eventually.

[AspectOfNihil]

Based on DM restrictions, he wanted us to try and focus a bit more on the story and less on optimisation, which is fair enough.

Barbarian Ashworm Dragoon? That could work, might have to give that a look, the idea of a leopard riding a magical armour plated killing machine is too awesome to pass up.

[MagnusExultatio]

Based on DM restrictions, he wanted us to try and focus a bit more on the story and less on optimisation, which is fair enough.

Putting aside the fact that your DM's premise is utter bunk...

If he wanted to focus more on "story" then ToB should be allowed because as you've said it fits with the character.

[AspectOfNihil]

I'll have to talk to him, Swordsage seems perfect, but I don't think the DM likes ToB so I doubt it'll do much. May be able to convince him to allow a few abilities though, so hopefully it all works out.

Atm it looks like a Fighter with spiked cheese, Combat Reflexes and Improved Trip, going for Imp Disarm etc. Thicket of Blades and things of that ilk would be perfect.

Though the Ashworm Dragoon is still looking fairly appealing :smallwink:

[Elric VIII]

Putting aside the fact that your DM's premise is utter bunk...

If he wanted to focus more on "story" then ToB should be allowed because as you've said it fits with the character.

I would have to agree with this. Removing options, most of which are less powerful than core stuff, is not the best way to promote story and character building. Swordsage even has the "slightly magical" maneuvers that fit well with the "a wizard did it" background.

You could try showing* him how Cleric/Druid/Wizard can be easily optimized in core and asking him to allow non-core stuff on a case-by-case basis. After all, Spellcasting Dinosaur with Extra Dinosaur as a class feature, and the ability to shoot Dinosaurs at your enemies is pretty powerful.


*I am niether suggesting nor advocating rolling up a super powerful T1character to spite him, I simply mean that you can direct him to these forums or the Tier List in order to give some perspective. Basically, about 1/2 of the most powerful classes are straight from PHB.

[AspectOfNihil]

Yeah, casters just make most melee types look like the mouse facing down a lion.

Desert Wind and Diamond Mind seem to fit pretty well, being a desert based campaign. Seems like there's a fairly good case for fitting a Swordsage into the setting. Should be able to convince him. Cheers for all the help guys, much appreciated.