An exercise in Darkness & Silence. (3.5)

[Alcopop]

Hey guys,

I need a bit of help with a 9th level character i'm trying to build. The idea i'm running with is of a cleric/assassin who uses sensory suppression to confuse and isolate her foes.

Silence was the first thing I looked at, and then Blacklight, an advanced version of the darkness spell from the spc.

With both of these active (cast on small stones so you can tactically throw them/leave them) you essentially create a void zone of 20tf (rad) that fully suppresses light and sound. Throw in some sneak and you're golden, at least that's the plan.

(I mean darkstalker/hips is probably better in general, but this is a fun idea and I want to look into. :))

So, so far this is what I have

Cleric 5 / Shadow Bane Stalker 3 (maybe church inquisitor 1 for free knowledge devotion)

Spontaneous Domain ACF?
Darkness Domain/??? (knowledge devotion here instead maybe)
Feats:
1 Martial Study (something shadowhandy)
1 Martial Stance (Assassins Stance)
3 Shadow Blade
6 Craven
9 Razing Strike? (thematics, but maybe domain spontaneity if I don't want to ACF)
b Silent Spell* (so I can cast a few spells while silenced)

*Flaw: Vunerable
And fey craft weapon for weapon finesse.

Full casting, 3d6 sneak + craven, dex to hit and damage.

So it's looking pretty decent so far, but lacks a bit in the action economy department. I need a way to not spend two rounds getting these spells up, one round is cool. No rounds would be amazing.

Any general advice / rebuilds are also welcome!

Whatever you can throw at me really. :)

Forum powers, activate!

[Quietus]

Just to throw out there, to get Assassin's Stance you need an initiator level of 5. You won't have that until level 10, so that's the earliest you'll be able to pick that up via martial stance.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Divine Metamagic: Quicken?

Remember that you probably need to be able to penetrate the void yourself. A one level dip into Warlock gets you the Devil's Sight invocation to give yourself darkvision that works in magical darkness.

[Alcopop]

Just to throw out there, to get Assassin's Stance you need an initiator level of 5. You won't have that until level 10, so that's the earliest you'll be able to pick that up via martial stance.

Yes, very true. I suppose I will have to dip in rogue to meet the sneak attack prerequisites then. The only other way I can think of getting sneak is binding Andromalius from the Bind Vestige and Improved Bind Vestige feats, but I don't think that can be used to meet prerequisites.

Unfortunately losing a caster level will also lose me dark bolt, a spell that works very well with sneak attack.



Divine Metamagic: Quicken?

Remember that you probably need to be able to penetrate the void yourself. A one level dip into Warlock gets you the Devil's Sight invocation to give yourself darkvision that works in magical darkness.

DMM: Quicken is the obvious choice. but it's feat intensive and you can only pull it off a few times per day. Probably what i'll end up doing though.

Oh, and Blacklight allows you to see through it as part of the spells effect.


Edit: Okay, perhaps going in an arcane direction is the thing to do. Unseen Seer gets me Silent for free as well as extra sneak attack from the Hunter's Eye spell. It would take a dip to qualify and my BaB would suffer, but perhaps this is the best way to go.

Perhaps sacred exorcist for DMM: quicken. Ugh, now things are getting thematically messy which is something I don't like. Also I lose silence. ughuhfugh. :(

[JKTrickster]

Didn't Person_Man create a build that was really similar to this? WIth the idea of blinding and keeping your foes in Darkness while you pick them off one by one?

[Alcopop]

Didn't Person_Man create a build that was really similar to this? WIth the idea of blinding and keeping your foes in Darkness while you pick them off one by one?

I wouldn't be surprised, Person_Man does a great multitude of things! Do you have a link to this one? I am intrigued.

Edit: I think i found what you are talking about. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57352
Interesting combination and one I have used before. but only really suitable for warlock/dragonfire builds (or dips). Darkness in 3.5 is also shadowy illumination so it doesn't really work for this thematically, which is dumb but *shrugs*. Blacklight fortunately is pitch black dark.

[ILM]

Whisper Gnome, Extra Silence, Silencing Strike?