Soul Eater/Character Help

[Goggalor]

Hidee ho PG-ers!

Like the thread title suggests, I am looking for some help making a character that is fun to play (I tend to shy away from spellcasters as I dislike the Vancian spell system), with leanings towards making a Soul Eater. My real aim is to create a character with nice saves across the board, as the current 3.5 gaming group that I am in has seen the death of three of my characters all to failed saving throws that missed by three or less (my bardblade died due to failing a fort-save from picking up a trapped phylactery, my first beguiler died due to a failed fort-save from a Medusa hunter's gaze, and my second beguiler died due to a failed will-save and failed fort-save from an aboleth mage's Phantasmal Killers spell).

The character would need to be level 12, with all Wizards-approved books available, though, I may only use one piece from UA (i.e. if I choose to use flaws, I may only use flaws and would not be allowed to use alternative class features). A character may only have one inherited template and one acquired template at any one time. Our DM does enforce standard multi-classing experience penalties. Additionally, instead of a new feat every third character level, it is every other level. WBL is straight from DMG. It would be nice if the character were able to cover rogue skills (search, disable device, etc.) as we do not currently have anyone with said skills (the main reason I played two beguilers (that and they're fun!)), but not a necessity as seen with my leanings toward Soul Eater.

My (very) rough outline for the character is a feral (acquired), half-minotaur (inherited) human with Tomb-Tainted Soul, with two levels in monk, one of the LAs bought off (making that my use of UA), and grappling feats. However, as mentioned, the real goal is a fun character with good saves, so many of you may ignore that last sentence.

P.S. I would like to apologize in advance if there is not enough information provided in this initial post. :smalleek:

P.S.S. I know bad rolls will always happen, but watching another guy in our group with a 20-something will save and 15+ fort-save shrugging everything off gets to you after a while (though, I tend to think he fudges his dice rolls as he has never failed a save that would screw him)...

[JeminiZero]

A couple of tips
-Soul Eater needs BAB +5, so you are going to need at least 7 monk levels before you qualify.

-Take a look at the Concentration-To-Saves Diamond Mind Maneuvers from Tome of Battle. They are available to every Martial Adept class, and can let you pull off very high saves (as Concentration boosting gear is cheaper than save boosting gear), but you need to recover them between use.

-Just as important as high saves, is outright Immunities. Consider something like Necropolitan (-3000 XP if done at the earliest) with Evolved Undead template applied once (1 LA, bought off for another -3000 XP), leaving you with LA 0, and 6000 XP short of level 12. This nets you undead immunities, while the evolved undead provides fast healing to keep you in good health (along with some small stat bonuses).

-Another similiar possibility is Warforged going into Warforged Juggernaut.

-Look up the Able Learner feat from Races of Destiny. This lets you splash 1 level in any trap finding class, and then keep Search/Disable/Open Lock maxed out. It requires you to be human, but that is fine since they also help ignore multiclass penalties. (incidentally, Necropolitan + Evolved Undead can be applied to human, and they still qualify for Able Learner/any favored class).

Example build: Evolved Necopolitan Human (6k XP short of level 12), 1 Rogue / 7 Swordsage / 1 Warblade / 2 Swordsage with Able Learner.

The 1 warblade splash at level 9 can net you Iron Heart Surge (you must take an Iron Heart Stance to qualify), as well as 2 Concentration to Save maneuvers (Take the Will and Fort one), which you can use whenever your undead immunities DO NOT apply. And you can prepare and recover these in a seperate Maneuver pool from your Swordsage maneuvers. The 1 warblade stacks with rogue, granting you effective +1 initiator level to Swordsage, so it will not (further) delay your swordage manuever progression.

[Waker]

If your goal is to get into Soul Eater quickly and with high saves, I would suggest something along the lines of
Warforged Rogue 3/Hexblade 3/Soul Eater 10/Warforged Juggernaut 4
With that build you would get the always fun Evasion/Mettle combo, trapfinding, full progression of Soul Eater and most of Juggernaut. Though you miss out of immunity to ability drain/damage.

A similar build though could substitute the levels of Rogue with a Trap Expert Ranger (Dungeonscape), which would give you full attack progression, good fort and refl svs while still maintaining trapfinding. The downside is the lack of Evasion, but that can be purchased in the form of a ring. The final upside is that the build would only require two levels of Ranger, allowing you to finish out Juggernaut.
You could also use a Trapkiller Barbarian (DS) to accomplish this.

[VGLordR2]

Hmmm... Imagine this PrC on an Insectile Thri-Kreen. Eight arms could be pretty useful.

[Waker]

Hmmm... Imagine this PrC on an Insectile Thri-Kreen. Eight arms could be pretty useful.
If you really wanted to make a Soul Eater absurd, you would take levels of Totemist as well.

[Goggalor]

Thanks for the replies Waker and Jemini. Since you both mentioned it, the Juggernaut PrC is not for me as there was a key part that the PrC is missing as compared to a true construct that killed a character concept I had been working on (I do not recall the key part off the top of my head, though :smallsigh:).

Jemini, the Evolved Necro with Able Learner may just be what I need in order to cover the rogue skills.

Waker, I saw a similar build of rogue and hexblade that also picked up Warshaper before going into Soul Eater. Seeing another person mentioning the combo of rogue/hexblade, though, reaffirms that the build would be viable.


Hmmm... Imagine this PrC on an Insectile Thri-Kreen. Eight arms could be pretty useful.

LA/RHD hell, but it would make for nice shenanigans... maybe the DM will look into it if we keep eating all his snacks. :smallbiggrin:

[NomMon5ter]

Might be slightly off topic, but I've got one of my PC's playing a full-HD Minotaur/Soul Eater. Went right from Monster to PrC, though he's 15th, and pulled off 9 levels of Soul Eater. Still...it's a wrong combo. >.< I'm really considering banning Soul Eaters from this point forward in my games. Beautiful, but -DANGEROUS-, abilities.

[VGLordR2]

You may want to check out this (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19867486/Soul_Eater_Handbook) link. It's hardly a complete handbook, but there is useful stuff in there.

[Red_Dog]

First =>Talk to your DM. If he/she lets you use soul eater as "I attack and do damage, I also bestow level" as some people read it differently. I take a middle ground and say it must be a successful melee hit or grappling to que in soul eatings. But again, its a DMs call.

Second => Get your hands on Librid Mortis. It has 2 greatest feats for your character. Improved Energy Drain and Life Drain.

First lets you get +1 on attacks/saves/ability/skill checks for an hour. I ruled that it stacks if its the same creature you are feeding on. When you attack a new creature it overlaps until you drain more levels from it. But again, a DM's call.

Second gets you totally stack-able [I use same rule, but temp HPs go away quickly from people trying to kill you, so not a giant concern] and you get 5+Cha mod. This is also a damage you will deal[instead of just 5points as per normal level drain] with each level stolen in addition to normal penalties and damage.

So there you have my basic advises for soul eater ^^. I love the class, and you can have all kinds of cool back story [Perhaps you were a weapon that a tribe/city/country used to get rid of a great foe and now you don't really know what to do as after a war and your countrymen/tribesmen hate and fear you? You know all kinds of dark things you can make with this class that are not necessary Chaotic Evil "simplicity" ^^]

[Waker]

Well, let's see. The differences between a true construct and a warforged juggernaut are:
TC have low-light and darkvision, no constitution score, not subject to anything requiring a Fort sv unless it also affects objects (WJ not immune to stunning or massive damage), cannot be raised, destroyed at 0hp, bonus hp based on size.

[Featherman]

Soul Eaters get core class abilities at level 1 (Energy Drain 1), 6 (Soul Radiance) and 7 (Energy Drain 2). You get more saves at level 4. There might be other ways to get just the Energy Drain 1 and (IMHO, of course) it is perhaps not the main draw of the PRC. You could get 6 or even 7 levels of Soul Eater at level 12 but it might make the character a bit one-dimensional and too reliant on Soul Radiance. As you need 5 bab and a natural weapon for Soul Eater you would be pretty restricted if you wanted to get it that high. Soul Eaters have some roguish skills and even though you could take the Thug variant fighter from UA for more rogue skills I don't think it is worth losing flaws if you can use only 1 UA option.

I prefer to use items and spells/psionics for immunities and saves. Besides having undead or construct as a race or some exceptional cases getting immunities via classes doesn't seem to be that efficient. Also being undead creates a huge game-ending risk of getting turned as that can be pretty fatal. Soul Radiance Shapechange can get you defenses but the reading suggests that you have to kill someone by draining their levels which can make it more complicated to get good immunities with it. I don't think you lose the ongoing bonuses of Soul Enhancement/Strength/Endurance/Agility/Power when you use Soul Radiance which would make it an even better defensive option.

I think a monster race with a natural weapon and 0-1 LA, 5 levels in a full bab class such as Warblade or Crusader / Soul Eater 6 would be good and straight. If you manage to get 0 LA race you could take that seventh level of Soul Eater which would give more impact to the Energy Drain. That is also a good build for starting a character as you have lots of good options for advancement. If Soul Radiance lets you enter Warshaper then that could be very useful as you would get another natural weapon (or multiple weapons, but I think that would be against RAI and not cool if you get permission to enter with Soul Radiance), immunity to some character killing effects, more impact for your Soul Eater abilities and a good path for advancement. If I were the DM I would let you enter but it doesn't explicitly fill the requirements.

You also have to be a living creature in order to be a Soul Eater which makes it more difficult to enhance or stack Energy Drains.

[gorfnab]

(the main reason I played two beguilers (that and they're fun!)), but not a necessity as seen with my leanings toward Soul Eater.

Beguilers make great Soul Eaters (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?;topic=1276.0) :smallbiggrin: