What to buy with exp?

[pwykersotz]

So here's the setup. I'm playing in a limited magic campaign with slow exp progression. Anyone who has a magic/psionic class is requred to take a level of a non magic/psionic class every other level to keep things low. Our GM though, being the generous sort, still hands out bonus exp for bribes and other such things. He has the rule though, that for these characters, no more than 10% of any given bonus exp can be put toward leveling.

Now I have a pool of 100800 bonus exp that's sitting unused. Yes, I can give it to another one of my characters in the same campaign, but I kind of want to use it for this one. And yes, I could take some magic item crafting feats and start making them with the bonus exp, but I don't really see our campaign going in a direction where I can afford the time.

What I am interested in, is the GM's houserule that a feat can be purchased for 10000 exp and a skill rank can be purchased for 1000 exp. No, I'm not worried about breaking the campaign, this one already gets out of hand in various ways. What I am worried about, is getting the most bang for my buck.

Currently, my character is a Fighter 3/Erudite 2/Slayer 1 with the Phrenic template. It's a modern setting, so guns are my weapon of choice for the fighter side. I will eventually be taking a few levels of Kensai (flavor choice) as a PrC for Fighter. Oh, and my alignment is Lawful Evil (fits with the party).

The stat block is below. My current feats are
1. Magic in the Blood (Makes my Phrenic PLA's all work 3/day)
2. Hidden Talent - Astral Construct
3. Combat Expertise (Prereq for Kensai)
4. Practiced Manifester
5. Weapon Focus (Heavy Handgun) (Prereq for Kensai)
6. Track (Prereq for Slayer)
7. Point Blank Shot

Stats: Str - 17 Dex - 16 Con - 18 Int - 27 Wis - 19 Cha - 22

So here's the question, what feats/skills would you guys purchase?

[flabort]

Interesting...
It's dumb that the Cleave line only applies to Ranged Weaponry, so while I would have started off with that...
Hmm...
Get Rapid shot, if you can, and if crossbow sniper applies... No, wait, 16 dex. Is 3 extra damage per hit worth 10,000 xp?
I'm going to ask if you have any capability to raise dead. No? Rats, the corpse crafter line would have been great with this... whatchemacallit.

[Coidzor]

I recall Godzook posited a system by which one can improve one's Point Buy with XP. You might see about that.

[pwykersotz]

Hmmm...Psionic Necromancy...I'll have to explore that.

[deuxhero]

10 feat equivalent?

Uh, become a pesudo initiator?

[Coidzor]

Speaking of imitating a class using feats... (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19862398/The_Incarnum_Handbook?pg=4) Meldshaping (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215723) is your friend!

You can, with, I believe, 5 feats, become a better meldshaper than soulborns, and fairly respectable at it as well. 10 feats would allow you to gain most of the blenderizing power of a totemist (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050907a).

Especially if extra essentia is allowed to be taken multiple times.

viz necromancy.. necrocarnum zombies. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20050907a&page=6)have a zombie slave that scales to your level.

[deuxhero]

Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118x) is nice as a feat for anyone

[flabort]

Wild Cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118x) is nice as a feat for anyone

Ooh, yes! Go with That one! That one is awesome! Especially when "free"!

[NichG]

Maybe try to do something with those feats that give you a bonus that scales with how many other feats of the same type you have? There are some for aberrations, but the dragon ones are better I think.

Another possibility is to go for some Savage Species feats. There's one, 'Roll with it', that gives you a stacking DR 2/- every time you take it, but I don't think you make the Con prerequisite (it was 20 or 21 or something). I believe there's also a feat that improves existing SR, so you could bump up your phrenic PR if you're in a cross-compatible game.

Psionic meditation, Psionic shot, and Fell Shot to get a desperation Wraithstrike equivalent if you're unable to hit that would normally be too expensive to be worthwhile?

Maybe even add Return Shot for kicks? Then take Psionic Body for a moderate boost to hitpoints for all the psionic feats you've been taking.

Or just ten copies of Psionic talent for 2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11=65 extra power points.

[pwykersotz]

Wild Cohort is definitely great, but I already have my Psicrystal and while having extra helpers is great, I'd rather not manage them with this character.

The Incarnum feat chain is a phenomenal idea though, and one I'm inclined to investigate further. I never even gave it a thought before now, but as extra feats they spice things up enormously. Especially since I'm inclined to use these feats for things which I normally can't do as easily with my main classes.

The extra psionic feats will come at later levels, I think, that will be taken normally. Still, the case for 65 extra power points at level 6 is attractive to say the least.

Keep em coming if you have em, guys, I really appreciate the insight!

[Godskook]

I recall Godzook posited a system by which one can improve one's Point Buy with XP. You might see about that.

Who's that? Don't think I've seen him around the forums, like *EVER*. :smallconfused:

-------------------------

Anyway, the system I use is thus:

Cost per feat: 1k xp for the first, scaling at 1k xp per feat bought, so your 2nd feat would be 2k xp, your 3rd would be 3k xp, and so on. I cap this at 1 feat per 2 levels.

Cost for point-buy: The cost for the next point of point-buy is your current point-buy squared. So if you're at 30 point-buy, your next point costs 900 xp. I cap this at (level+30) point-buy

Cost to max a HD: 250xp to max your 2nd level HD, scaling at 250xp per HD, so your 3rd level HD would cost 500xp, and so on.

Since your DM is using much higher xp awards for this purpose, I'd probably multiply all numbers by something between 5 and 10.

And I also reward survival in my system by making newly generated characters roll stats and only take 'normal' feats, giving the 'old-timers' of a party a stronger feel to them by default.