motoko's ghost
2012-07-09, 12:05 AM
Okay, I'm gonna say we're going to go ahead and post up the builds now
Blind you with Science
I WILL BLIND YOU WITH SCIENCE
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407620/Science.jpg
Science!
Some sell their souls for power.
I don't have a soul.
Souls are a relic of an outmoded belief system.
Here is what I believe:
Give me a long enough lever and I can blow up the world.
Purpose:
The scientist makes ranged touch attacks to deal large amounts of damage in a variety of energy types. Their main method of attack is sneak attacking with alchemical items. While sneak attack can be blocked, there are many ways to get around sneak attack immunity. The main advantage over a normal warlock is that the scientist can make multiple attacks per round, six of them per round by 20th level before haste. All of these attacks are extraordinary attacks that work even in anti-magic fields. The scientist also never runs out of spells per day, as their spells are directly based off of the spells of their opponents. As a full spell thief, the Scientist can steal six spells per round up to 9th level, as well as stealing spell like abilities and energy resistance. With the right party, they can help break the action economy by casting the spells of allies as well.
But the scientist doesn't stop with poking things with alchemist fire, the scientist can do better. The scientist can make explosive packs. Explosive packs can be set ahead of time, and can be set while stealthing. The scientist usually sets the explosive packs to have a one round detonation timer. Explosive packs automatically go off when taking damage. Most alchemical items are splash weapons. Set up the explosive packs ahead of time while stealthed and invisible, and then when you enter combat itself, set them off with your splash weapon, in addition to taking the sneak attack + craven damage six times per round, your opponent will also take explosives damage, and might suddenly find that the floor underneath them (which took double damage) no longer exists. As non-mobile items, explosive packs are perfect targets for invisibility spells.
And if you need to do damage in a hurry, you can always nova. Your two novas in this case are Minor Creation and Fabricate cast as a standard action. Minor Creation lets you create 10 cubic feat of oil in a single casting. When ignited, each flask of oil does 1d6 fire damage per pint. If that isn't a big enough flame, you can fabricate 10 cubic feat of explosive packs instead.
The Schema
Human Spellthief
I WILL BLIND YOU WITH SCIENCE
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features
1st|Spellthief 1|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Craft SCIENCE* 4, Profession Siege Engineer 2, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Spellcraft 4, UMD 4, K. Arcana 4, Bluff 4, Spot 4|Two Weapon Fighting, Craven|Sneak Attack 1d6, Steal Spell 1, Trapfinding
2nd|Spellthief 2|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Craft SCIENCE* 5, Profession Siege Engineer 2.5, Hide 5, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 5, UMD 5, K. Arcana 5, Bluff 5, Spot 5||Detect Magic, Spellgrace +1, Steal Spell Effect
3rd|Spellthief 3|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+3|Craft SCIENCE* 6, Profession Siege Engineer 3, Hide 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 6, UMD 6, K. Arcana 6, Bluff 6, Spot 6|Quick Draw|Steal Energy Resistance 10
4th|Spellthief 4|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Craft SCIENCE* 7, Profession Siege Engineer 3.5, Hide 7, Move Silently 7, Spellcraft 7, UMD 7, K. Arcana 7, Bluff 7, Spot 7||Steal Spell 2
5th|Spellthief 5|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+4|Craft SCIENCE* 8, Profession Siege Engineer 4, Hide 8, Move Silently 8, Spellcraft 8, UMD 8, K. Arcana 8, Bluff 8, Spot 8||Sneak Attack 2d6, Steal Spell Like Ability
6th|Spellthief 6|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+5|Craft SCIENCE* 9, Profession Siege Engineer 4.5, Hide 9, Move Silently 9, Spellcraft 9, UMD 9, K. Arcana 9, Bluff 9, Spot 9|Least Dragonmark: Making: Make Whole|Steal Spell 3
7th|Spellthief 7|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+5|Craft SCIENCE* 10, Profession Siege Engineer 5, Hide 10, Move Silently 10, Spellcraft 10, UMD 10, K. Arcana 10, Bluff 10, Spot 10||Absorb Spell
8th|Spellthief 8|
+6|
+2|
+2|
+6|Craft SCIENCE* 11, Profession Siege Engineer 5.5, Hide 11, Move Silently 11, Spellcraft 11, UMD 11, K. Arcana 11, Bluff 11, Spot 11||Steal Spell 4
9th|Spellthief 9|
+6|
+3|
+3|
+6|Craft SCIENCE* 12, Profession Siege Engineer 6, Hide 12, Move Silently 12, Spellcraft 12, UMD 12, K. Arcana 12, Bluff 12, Spot 12|Improved Two Weapon Fighting|Arcane Sight, Sneak Attack 3d6
10th|Spellthief 10|
+7|
+3|
+3|
+7|Craft SCIENCE* 13, Profession Siege Engineer 6.5, Hide 13, Move Silently 13, Spellcraft 13, UMD 13, K. Arcana 13, Bluff 13, Spot 13||Steal Spell 5
11th|Spellthief 11|
+8|
+3|
+3|
+7|Craft SCIENCE* 14, Profession Siege Engineer 7, Hide 14, Move Silently 14, Spellcraft 14, UMD 14, K. Arcana 14, Bluff 4, Spot 14||Spellgrace +2, Steal Energy Resistance 20
12th|Spellthief 12|
+9|
+4|
+4|
+8|Craft SCIENCE* 15, Profession Siege Engineer 7.5, Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Spellcraft 15, UMD 15, K. Arcana 15, Bluff 15, Spot 15|Lesser Dragonmark: Making: Minor Creation|Steal Spell 6
13th|Spellthief 13|
+9|
+4|
+4|
+8|Craft SCIENCE* 16, Profession Siege Engineer 8, Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Spellcraft 16, UMD 16, K. Arcana 16, Bluff 16, Spot 16||Discover Spells, Sneak Attack 4d6
14th|Spelltheif 14|
+10|
+4|
+4|
+9|Craft SCIENCE* 17, Profession Siege Engineer 8.5, Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Spellcraft 17, UMD 17, K. Arcana 17, Bluff 17, Spot 17||Steal Spell 7
15th|Spellthief 15|
+11|
+5|
+5|
+9|Craft SCIENCE* 18, Profession Siege Engineer 9, Hide 18, Move Silently 18, Spellcraft 18, UMD 18, K. Arcana 18, Bluff 18, Spot 18|Greater Two Weapon Fighting|Steal Spell Resistance
16th|Spellthief 16|
+12|
+5|
+5|
+10|Craft SCIENCE* 19, Profession Siege Engineer 9.5, Hide 19, Move Silently 19, Spellcraft 19, UMD 19, K. Arcana 19, Bluff 19, Spot 19||Steal Spell 8
17th|Spellthief 17|
+12|
+5|
+5|
+10|Craft SCIENCE* 20, Profession Siege Engineer 10, Hide 20, Move Silently 20, Spellcraft 20, UMD 20, K. Arcana 20, Bluff 20, Spot 20||Sneak Attack 5d6
18th|Spellthief 18|
+13|
+6|
+6|
+11|Craft SCIENCE* 21, Profession Siege Engineer 10.5, Hide 21, Move Silently 21, Spellcraft 21, UMD 21, K. Arcana 21, Bluff 21, Spot 21|Greater Dragonmark: Making: Fabricate|Steal Spell 9
19th|Spellthief 19|
+14|
+6|
+6|
+11|Craft SCIENCE* 22, Profession Siege Engineer 11, Hide 22, Move Silently 22, Spellcraft 22, UMD 22, K. Arcana 22, Bluff 4, Spot 22||Steal Energy Resistance 30
20th|Spellthief 20|
+15|
+6|
+6|
+12|Craft SCIENCE* 23, Profession Siege Engineer 11.5, Hide 23, Move Silently 23, Spellcraft 23, UMD 23, K. Arcana 23, Bluff 23, Spot 23||Absorb Spell (Immediate Spellcasting) Spellgrace +3[/table]
Sources and Equipment
Alchemist Fire
Oil
Alchemist Frost (Eberron Campaign Setting p. 120)
Alchemist Spark (Eberron Campaign Setting p. 120)
Acidic Fire (Eberron Campaign Setting p. 120
Explosive Pack (Secrets of Sarlonna p. 138
Spellthief (Complete Adventurerer p. 13
Craven (Champions of Ruin p. 17
Making alchemical items:
There are two main methods of mass producing alchemical items. Eternal Wands of the Unseen Crafter give you two castings of Unseen Crafter per day. Each Unseen Crafter gives you a weeks worth of crafting. A single eternal wand gives you 14 weeks of crafting time in a single week. Additional Eternal Wands improves this by 14 weeks each. Once you get to 15th level you can steal the fabricate spell like ability. If you got permission first that might cost you 500 gp each time. You can then use the spell like ability with a skyforge to multiply the result by 10. Which means either 10 cubic feet of alchemical items crafted per casting, or 100 cubic feet of alchemical items per casting depending on composition. Once you reach level 18 you can do this on your own without outside help.
Skyforge (Eberron Campaign Setting p. 253
Unseen Crafter (Races of Eberron p. 191
Eternal Wand (Magic Item Compendium p. 139
Other potentially useful things:
Spare Hand (MIC 137 (Lets you temporarily hold wands and such in your third hand while you use your main hands for other things, switching is free action)
Wand of Golem Strike (Spell Compendium 106
Wand of Grave Strike (Spell Compendium 107
Wand of Vine Strike (Spell Compendium 230
Wand of Sniper's Shot (Spell Compendium 194
* Craft SCIENCE = Craft Alchemy
Horm of the Blades
Horm of the Blades
I could always feel it inside of me... the power of a pitspawned wyrm, just waiting to be unleashed.
-Horm of the Blades, the Year of Rogue Dragons (1373 DR)
Horm began life as the outsider in his enclave. Raised in one of the few secret enclaves of the illumian people, he lived a sheltered life. Rubbed raw by the restraints of the lawful enclave, he began rebelling whatever fashion he could. He soon found that in addition for a talent for mundane thievery, he could somehow steal the arcane power of others.
The elders, horrified at his new and strange powers, excised the location of his enclave, stripped him of his name, and cast him out.
Alone and adrift in a strange new world, he eventually gravitated towards a nearby city. Little did he know that there where agents of the great fiendish wyrm Heptrophaseus in the city. Seeing the arcane sigils flying around his head, they kidnapped him and brought him to their master. The fang dragon saw him, and felt a distant connection. He was apparently the ancestor of one of the original illumians, and his bloodline had been mingled in with the entire population. He taught the young humanoid to harness the power of his blood, and even helped him establish his power through a blood pact.
Years came to pass, and Horm, now a mighty sorcerer, outgrew the confines of his winged ancestor’s abode. He joined an elite group of spellcasting rogue-spys, and, using his connections to his draconic forbearer, quickly rose in the ranks.
He eventually returned to Heptrophaseus, flush with power. The old wyrm taught him the secrets of dragonpacts, how to twist the arcane energy to his will and fool lesser dragons into an unfair exchange of energy. As a final gift, he gave Horm the location of the enclave that had banished him so many years ago.
Filled with a lust for vengeance that cannot be described in mere words, he took off not seven heartbeats after the location was revealed. He flew long into the night, but it was worth it. As dawn broke across the smooth marble walls of the enclave, Horm found it fitting to break globules of acid across the walls as well, leaving deep, pitted scars in the once pristine marble. As the defenders reacted to the horrified screams, they arrived and recognized him as the one that they’d banished so long ago.
As they plead for mercy, something inside of horm seemed to snap. His eyes, once reptilian from the blood pact, became a pure silver-grey as he smiled.
“Mercy? You wish for mercy? There is only one kind of mercy that a lord dragon shows his inferiors. That of a clean death.”
With not a word of warning, a bright streamer of rainbow colours came from his hand and plowed through the guards, killing most but making some vanish into thin air and others left alive to babble incoherently.
Horm smiled as he looked upon the devastation wrought by his spell. With a flick of his wrists, he summoned a pair of glowing green orbs to his hands.
“Do not think that I’ve forgotten everything that I went through growing up in this golden prison. If there’s one thing that a dragon always does, it is this; a dragon always repays his debts.
His feral smile only grew wider once the screaming rose anew.
Build Information
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features
1st|Spellthief 1|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Concentration 4, Disable Device 2, Hide 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 2, Spellcraft 4, Spot 4, Tumble 4, UMD 4|Able Learner|Trapfinding, Steal spell (0 or 1st), SA +1d6
2nd|Sorceror 1|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+4|Concentration 5, Hide 5, Search 5, Spot 5, UMD 5||Metamagic Specialist
3rd|Sorceror 2|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+5|Concentration 6, Hide 6, Search 6, Sense Motive 3, Spot 6| Draconic Heritage (Fang)|Charisma +1
4th|Sorceror 3|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+5|Concentration 7, Hide 7, Search 7, Spot 7, UMD 6| |
5th|Sorceror 4|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+6|Concentration 8, Hide 8, Search 8, Sense Motive 4, Spot 8| |
6th|Unseen Seer 1|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+8|Concentration 9, Disable Device 3, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Spellcraft 5, Spot 9, Tumble 5, UMD 7|Acidic Splatter|Damage bonus +1d6 (SA +2d6)
7th|Unseen Seer 2|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+9|Concentration 10, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 6, Spellcraft 6, Spot 10, Tumble 6, UMD 8|Silent Spell (B) |Advanced Learning (Find Traps)
8th| Unseen Seer 3|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+9|Concentration 11, Disable Device 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 7, Spellcraft 7, Spot 11, Tumble 7, UMD 9| |Divination Spellpower +1, Charisma +1
9th| Unseen Seer 4|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+10|Concentration 12, Disable Device 7, Knowledge (Arcana) 8, Spellcraft 8, Tumble 7, UMD 10|Master Spellthief|Damage bonus +2d6, Steal Spell (0-4th)
10th| Unseen Seer 5|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+10|Concentration 13, Disable Device 9, Knowledge (Arcana) 9, Spellcraft 9, Tumble 8, UMD 11||Advanced Learning (Hunter’s Eye), Guarded Mind
11th|Pact-Bound Adept 1|
+5|
+2|
+4|
+12|Concentration 14, Knowledge (Arcana) 10, Spellcraft 10, Tumble 9, UMD 12||Improved pact +1
12th|Pact-Bound Adept 2|
+6|
+2|
+5|
+13|Concentration 15, Knowledge (Arcana) 11, Spellcraft 11, Tumble 10, UMD 13|Practiced Spellcaster (Spellthief)|Dragoncast 3/day, Steal Spell (0-5th), Charisma +1
13th|Pact –Bound Adept 3|
+6|
+3|
+5|
+13|Concentration 16, Knowledge (Arcana) 12, Spellcraft 12, Tumble 11, UMD 14|Eschew Materials (B)|
14th|Pact-Bound Adept 4|
+7|
+3|
+6|
+14|Concentration 17, Knowledge (Arcana) 13, Spellcraft 13, Tumble 12, UMD 15| |Improved pact +2
15th|Pact-Bound Adept 5|
+7|
+3|
+6|
+14|Concentration 18, Knowledge (Arcana) 14, Spellcraft 14, UMD 16|Empower Spell|Bonus dragonpact, Steal Spell (0-6th)
16th| Unseen Seer 6|
+8|
+4|
+7|
+15|Concentration 19, Disable Device 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 16, Spellcraft 15, UMD 18||Divination Spellpower +2, Charisma +1
17th| Unseen Seer 7|
+9|
+4|
+7|
+15|Concentration 20, Disable Device 11, Knowledge (Arcana) 18, Spellcraft 16, UMD 20||Damage bonus +3d6, Steal Spell (0-7th)
18th| Unseen Seer 8|
+10|
+4|
+7|
+16|Concentration 21, Disable Device 12, Knowledge (Arcana 20), Spellcraft 18, UMD 21|Arcane Thesis (Wings of Flurry)|Advanced Learning (Greater Scrying)
19th| Unseen Seer 9|
+10|
+5|
+8|
+16|Concentration 22, Disable Device 13, Knowledge (Arcana) 22, Spellcraft 20, UMD 22||Divination Spellpower +3, Steal Spell (0-8th)
20th| Unseen Seer 10|
+11|
+5|
+8|
+17|Concentration 23, Disable Device 15, Knowledge (Arcana) 23, Spellcraft 23, UMD 23||Damage bonus +4d6, Charisma +1[/table]
Spells per day
Spells per day
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
2nd|5|4|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
3rd|6|5|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
4th|6|6|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
5th|6|7|3*|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
6th|6|7|4*|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
7th|6|7|6|3*|-|-|-|-|-|-
8th|6|7|7|4*|-|-|-|-|-|-
9th|6|7|7|6|3*|-|-|-|-|-
10th|6|7|7|7|4*|-|-|-|-|-
11th|6|7|7|7|4*|-|-|-|-|-
12th|6|7|7|7|6|2*|-|-|-|-
13th|6|7|7|7|7|3*|-|-|-|-
14th|6|7|7|7|7|3*|-|-|-|-
15th|6|7|7|7|7|4*|2*|-|-|-
16th|6|7|7|7|7|5*|3*|-|-|-
17th|6|7|7|7|7|5*|5|2*|-|-
18th|6|7|7|7|7|5*|6|3*|-|-
19th|6|7|7|7|7|5*|6|4*|3|-
20th|6|8|7|7|7|6*|6|5*|4|-[/table]
*Beginning at 5th level, Horm gives up one of his spell slots per day (and a certain measure of gold) to enter into a dragonpact (DrM, page 87), specifically, the Master of Magical Defense pact. He is able to ‘upgrade’ his sacrificed spell slot as he advances level by paying additional gold to make up the difference between the new sacrificed spell level and the previous. Once he hits 15th level (Pact-Bound Adept 5), he is able to enter into a second dragonpact. Horm sacrifices a 5th level slot for the Elusive Discipline of Dusk pact. Due to his Pact-Bound Adept class feature, he gets the benefits for sacrificing a spell slot 2 levels above the actual sacrificed slot (for effective sacrificed slots of 9th and 7th level).
Spells Known
0- Acid splash, arcane mark, detect magic, light, mage hand, mending, message, prestidigitation, read magic
1- Guided shot, lesser orb of acid, persistent blade, protection from evil, sniper’s shot
2- Find traps, glitterdust, hunter’s eye, mirror image, rope trick, spider climb, wings of cover
3- Fly (replaced with greater magic weapon once overland flight is learned), haste, major image, unluck
4- Black tentacles, dimension door, greater invisibility, wings of flurry
5- Baleful polymorph, hold monster, overland flight, wall of force
6- Acid fog, greater dispel magic, greater scrying, true seeing
7- Forcecage, prismatic ray, reverse gravity
8- Mind blank, superior invisibility
Thanks to Advanced Learning, XXX knows three additional divination spells over their normal limit of spells known, these spells are find traps (2), hunter’s eye (2) and greater scrying (6).
General Information
Horm Greensneak, LE male illumian (vaulkrau)
Spellthief 1/Sorceror 4/Unseen Seer 10/Pact-Bound Adept 5
Starting abilities;
STR 8, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 16, WIS 8, CHA 16, all level-up points into CHA
Gameplay and how Horm imitates a Warlock
Early levels, you’re basically an LA’d sorcerer – you’re a level behind normal sorcerers, so a full two levels behind the wizards. However, you’ve likely got a lot more skill points than a wizard, in addition to a respectable UMD score. Once he hits 6th level, however, he starts to really resemble a warlock. With the Acidic Splatter [reserve] feat, he gets an at-will, acid damage ranged touch attack (albeit for a mere 1d6) that doesn’t offer a save, nor SR. Sound familiar yet? He also picks up a dragonpact, giving him some SLAs to complement his spells that function much like a warlock’s invocations, albeit not at will (though usually more powerful).
By 12th level, his path has become clear. With (the veritable gouda known as) Master Spellthief in addition to his vaulkrau illumian sigils, his effective sorcerer caster level is 16 for divinations and 14 for everything else at ECL 12. A minor side effect is, of course, the ability to cast spells in light armor, as well as Steal Spell advancement. He’s also picked up Find traps and the all-important Hunter’s eye from his advanced learning feature, giving him a sweet SA total of +8d6 for usage with his Acidic Splatter feat, dealing 9d6 no save/SR acid damage. He makes sure that he gets the SA with the spells Persistent blade and Greater invisibility. He’s also long since picked up Wings of Flurry, giving him a nice 14d6 force AoE.
It’s when he hits high levels that he really hits his stride. At 18th level, he can use a 5th level spell slot (with Arcane Thesis) to empower a Wings of flurry spell for 36d6 force AoE. In addition, he’s picked up Acid fog, the highest level spell with an [acid] tag to enable his acidic splatter attack to deal 6d6 base damage, or 18d6 acid with full sneak attack damage.
His spell selection through the levels has tried to emulate the Warlock invocations list. He’s picked up spider climb, baleful polymorph, black tentacles, fly/overland flight and major/mirror images, while other spells merely evoke the flavour of Warlock (like unluck, hold monster and dimension door. He’s also got full ranks in UMD, for a total bonus of +28, nearly guaranteeing a success. And although he is technically not fiend- or fey-touched, as mentioned in his fluff, his ancient draconic ancestor is a fiendish fang dragon. He’s got a huge pool of SLAs and spells, which, along with his [reserve] feat, lets him spam his abilities pretty much all day.
Sources
Player’s Handbook
Player’s Handbook 2
Races of the Dragon
Complete Mage
Complete Adventurer
Dragon Magic
Races of Destiny
Spell Compendium
Bat country
Strongheart Halfling Totemist 15 / Incarnate 3 / Combat Wizard 1 / Druid 1
starting attributes:
Str 6, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10
Background
Sung to the tune of "Girlfriend in a Coma", with apologies to The Smiths:
Halfling on a dire bat, I know
I know - it's frivolous
Halfling on a dire bat, I know
I know - it's really frivolous
Or maybe we could go with "God's Country", with apologies to Ani DiFranco:
Inevitable thinks I fly to fast
plane shifted here to tell me so
I say out here on the Playground
too many dips is still a build that flows
I miss new gaming books I miss mud dice
let's start over
I want to reshape my melds
I guess I just forgot
that this is kiss and tell
Guess I'm stuck here on the Material
Plane with a horde of bats
I mean, I have telepathy
so I have the last laugh
this may be Bat Country
but this is my country too
move over Mr. Spellcaster
and let the meldshaper through
Build
progression
Bat Country
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Eldritch Blast|Feats|Class Features
1st|Incarnate 1|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|2d6|Dragontouched, Expanded Soulmeld Capacity|Detect Law
2nd|Totemist 1|
+0|
+4|
+2|
+2|3d6|-|-
3rd|Combat Wizard 1|
+0|
+4|
+2|
+4|3d6 * 2|Share Soulmeld, Martial Study (Steely Strike; bonus)|familiar (bat)
4th|Totemist 2|
+1|
+5|
+3|
+4|3d6 * 2|-|Totem chakra bind (+1 capacity)
5th|Totemist 3|
+2|
+5|
+3|
+5|3d6 * 2|-|-
6th|Druid 1|
+2|
+7|
+3|
+7|4d6 * 3|Natural Bond|animal companion (dire bat)
7th|Totemist 4|
+3|
+8|
+4|
+7|4d6 * 3|-|-
8th|Totemist 5|
+3|
+8|
+4|
+7|4d6 * 3|-|chakra binds (Crown, Feet, Hands)
9th|Totemist 6|
+4|
+9|
+5|
+8|4d6 * 3|Mindsight|-
10th|Totemist 7|
+5|
+9|
+5|
+8|4d6 * 3|-|-
11th|Totemist 8|
+6|
+10|
+6|
+8|4d6 * 3|-|-
12th|Totemist 9|
+6|
+10|
+6|
+9|5d6 * 3|Double Chakra (Crown)|chakra bind (arms, brow, shoulders)
13th|Incarnate 2|
+7|
+11|
+6|
+10|5d6 * 3|-|chakra bind (Crown)
14th|Incarnate 3|
+7|
+11|
+7|
+10|6d6 * 3|-|expanded soulmeld capacity (+1)
15th|Totemist 10|
+8|
+12|
+8|
+10|6d6 * 3|Double Chakra (Throat)|-
16th|Totemist 11|
+9|
+12|
+8|
+10|6d6 * 3|-|-
17th|Totemist 12|
+10|
+13|
+9|
+11|6d6 * 3|-|-
18th|Totemist 13|
+10|
+13|
+9|
+11|7d6 * 3 * 2|Open Chakra (Throat)|-
19th|Totemist 14|
+11|
+14|
+10|
+11|7d6 * 3 * 2|-|chakra binds (Throat, Waist)
20th|Totemist 15|
+12|
+14|
+10|
+12|7d6 * 3 * 2|-|Totem chakra bind (+2 capacity)
[/table]
meldshaping progression
{table]level|soulmelds|essentia|chakra binds
1st|2|1|0
2nd|4|2|0
3rd|4|2|0
4th|5|3|1
5th|5|3|1
6th|5|3|1
7th|6|4|1
8th|6|4|1
9th|6|5|2
10th|7|6|2
11th|7|6|2
12th|7|7|2
13th|8|8|3
14th|8|9|3
15th|9|10|4
16th|9|11|4
17th|9|12|4
18th|10|13|4
19th|10|14|5
20th|10|15|5
[/table]
default soulmelds
{table]slot|soulmeld|bind?|class|info
arms|Kraken Mantle|no|Totemist|swim speed
brow|Disenchanter Mask|no|Totemist|Detect Magic
crown|Frost Helm|yes|Totemist|energy resistance (cold); Will or stun
crown|Shedu Crown|yes|Totemist|telepathy
feet|Acrobat Boots|no|Incarnate|boost Balance, Escape Artist, Jump, and Tumble
hands|-|-|-|-
heart|Dragon Mantle|no|Totemist|energy resistance
shoulders|Shadow Mantle|yes|Totemist|blindsight in a globe of darkness
soul|Incarnate Avatar|no|Incarnate|bonus to ranged attacks
throat|Dissolving Spittle|yes|Incarnate|"Eldritch Blast"
throat|Winter Mask|yes|Totemist|"Eldritch Cone"
waist|-|-|-|-
[/table]
feats
* Double Chakra (Crown): allows two soulmelds to occupy this chakra simultaneously
* Double Chakra (Throat): allows two soulmelds to occupy this chakra simultaneously
* Dragontouched: to qualify for the Dragon Mantle soulmeld
* Expanded Capacity: one soulmeld can be invested with an additional essentia
* Mindsight: blindsense via telepathy
* Natural Bond: better animal companion
* Open Chakra (Throat), applied to the Incarnate class
* Share Soulmeld: like Share Spells for soulmelds
notable items
* Adamantine Skin warforged graft. Three more warforged grafts of your choice will yield a total DR/adamantine 5.
* Incarnum Focus items: gain the ability to invest one additional essentia in the given slot. This raises the Dissolving Spittle damage to 8d6, times three for an animal companion and a familiar, times two for repeating next round from the chakra bind (168 average damage/round). Incarnum Focus items have the special property of being compatible with occupying a single slot with both a magic item and a bound soulmeld. A generous DM might let you improve on the items, but for the most part learn to enjoy paying extra for slotless items. This allocation only occupies the head, shoulders, and throat magic item slots, but buying necessary items restricts your versatility if you want to bind to a different chakra tomorrow.
* Constitution booster. Everyone needs one, but Constitution governs save DCs and caps total soulmelds shaped. The build presented requires a +2 item at or before level 15.
* Horizon Goggles: spittle things 45' away instead of 30'.
* Soulstone: free brow bind. In the example soulmeld selection, this allows the Detect Magic effect of the Disenchanter Mask to start at round three. Shaping other soulmelds would allow darkvision, See Invisibility, or Mindlink (as the psionic power).
* Iron Heart Vest: Iron Heart Surge
* Buy a mule for those early levels - a Strength of six is pretty painful until you can sling a haversack on a dire bat.
notes
* Stats are 32 point buy, including racial adjustment for a Strongheart Halfling. Strongheart Halfling appears in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting; the book is 3.0, but the race is specifically referenced by 3.5 material and to the best of my knowledge was never updated. Think "human small enough to ride a dire bat". Sadly, none of the incarnum races are Small (well, Duskling has no listed size, but they are described as "about 5 feet tall", so presumably they are Medium creatures).
* Several ambiguities with the incarnum system bear brief discussion. I have interpreted the Share Soulmeld feat to work as much like the share spells ability as possible. This means that much like you cannot use a single casting of the Heroics spell to give yourself Improved Initiative while your familiar gets Combat Reflexes, essentia investment must be identical for the character and the familiar - a single soulmeld manifested at two loci. Both get the same armor bonus from the Ankheg Breastplate and both do the same damage with Dissolving Spittle, including the repeated damage for the chakra bind. I can see a reasonable DM ruling that binds or essentia investment are not shared by means of the feat, or contrariwise that the familiar must allocate their own essentia (limiting the usefulness of sharing with an animal companion). The latter interpretation I think does not match RAI, and the former interpretation feels like a nerf for no purpose.
* The Shape Soulmeld feat is not used in this particular build, partly because as I interpret it the feat does not allow class features to be applied to the selected soulmeld (for instance, the maximum investment would not be increased by the Incarnate's expanded capacity class feature). In any case, total number of melds is limited by Constitution and this build is already quite short on slots.
* This build assumes that the Open Chakra feats give the ability to bind a soulmeld to a chakra in the same sense that a driver's license gives the ability to drive: i.e. it makes it legal but it does not provide the class feature or the automobile. Additional binds, unlike additional soulmelds, would be very useful. Chakra availability is segregated by class; this build opens the Throat chakra for the Totemist using levels but for the Incarnate using a feat.
* The Blink Shirt soulmeld allows a short range self-only Dimension Door effect. Strictly speaking, teleporting around like a dragonrider of Pern is not supported by the rules, but I would allow it if both rider and bat spend the standard action.
* I have omitted the traditional column for skills, as they are completely irrelevant to the build except one rank to unlock UMD and enough Handle Animal to get through the day (it is a Totemist class skill). Pick some face skills and some stealth skills and choose melds to enhance whatever role the party needs.
* I have also omitted for the sake of brevity (read: laziness) class features not relevant to the secret ingredient. Rapid Meldshaping, for instance, is great fun, but the poor Warlock gets no comparable ability to change invocations in the middle of the day.
* Feats exist for extending the range of the Share Spells ability for both familiars and animal companions. It would be not unreasonable to see if your DM likes the idea of a similar feat for Share Soulmeld.
* Mindsight is on page 126 of Lords of Madness, separate from most of the feats in the book. I am using the telepathy granted by the Shedu Crown to qualify. I believe that the use is legitimate, but I would certainly point out both before springing it on a DM.
* The build's BAB is pretty terrible at the outset, precisely when touch attacks are the most difficult. The Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat can be assigned daily. It might be worthwhile to assign it to the Incarnate Avatar in the early levels for a higher chance of dealing 1d6 less damage.
* Steely Strike is selected as a bonus feat pretty much purely to qualify for buying a vest of Iron Heart Surge later. This is inelegant, but the Scribe Scroll and a crafting feat traded away by the ACF were not doing anything for the build anyway. If PHB II retraining rules are in effect, try to select something useful.
* Halfling Totemist substitution levels are presented in Magic of Incarnum. They are pretty decent, but irrelevant here.
* This build assumes that the multiclass XP penalty is not in effect.
* Sadly, Werebat has too much level adjustment and too many racial hit dice to really work with the rest of the build.
sources
* Complete Adventurer: Natural Bond (feat)
* Complete Mage: Horizon Goggles (item)
* Dragon Magic: Dragon Mantle (soulmeld); Dragontouched (feat)
* Faiths of Eberron: warforged grafts
* Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting: Strongheart Halfling (race)
* Lords of Madness: Mindsight (feat)
* Magic Item Compendium: Incarnum Focus items; Soulstone
* Magic of Incarnum: Double Chakra (feat); Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (feat); Incarnate (class); Open Chakra (feat); Share Soulmeld (feat); Totemist (class); all listed soulmelds except Dragon Mantle
* Monster Manual I: Bat; Dire Bat; Riding Dog
* Player's Handbook: Druid (class); Wizard (class)
* Tome of Battle: Iron Heart Vest (item); Martial Study (feat); Steely Strike (maneuver)
* Unearthed Arcana: Combat Wizard (variant class)
Benchmarks
6th level
Sixth level is possibly the most fun for this build. A second bat shows up, and this one can be ridden. Damage output doubles (+1d6 from the improved capacity available with leveling, *1.5 from adding a third source) - an average of 42 points if three touch attacks hit. That is pretty decent damage for the level (a sight better than the Warlock's 3d6 for sure), acid resistance is uncommon, spell resistance is almost unheard of, and flying is still a big deal rather than a requirement. The Frost Helm gives a DC 17 area effect stun (for Bat Country; the save is Constitution based and lower for the bat horde). You have a total of six soulmelds, four from Totemist and two from Incarnate - half again what a single classed meldshaper gets. Saves are already pulling away from the natural Warlock, but several melds will boost them higher if you like. The skill boosting melds are giving between +6 and +12, so you can excel in whatever secondary role you choose. Essentia is in short supply, but the tension between maxing out one big gun vs. shoring up several weaknesses is an intentional design feature of the system; superior mobility and clever use of re-allocation of essentia as a Swift action help alleviate the crunch.
12th level
The second chakra bind finally comes online at level 9 (the incarnum system strongly discourages dipping), and at level twelve we finally qualify for the Double Chakra feat (meldshaper level 9). The answer to the question "do you want to stun things or see them" is yes. Flying around zapping things still works wonders, and now it can be done from within a globe of (semi) impenetrable darkness. The Shadow Mantle also trades sight for sonar, making this meld superbly thematic for both bats and Warlocks. If acid resistance is a problem, the Yrthak Mask deals sonic as an alternative "eldritch blast". The pile of d6 damage dice is as large as a level 20 Hellfire Warlock, though less binary. Wealth by level is high enough to afford at least one Incarnum Focus item, though as always some care is necessary in allocating essentia. Soul Boon is on the Wizard list, but as it carries the [Incarnum] tag I think it is not actually on BC's list of spells available without a UMD check; having two companions alleviates the action cost of carrying a wand for an extra few points of essentia just in case. The Open Least Chakra spell is a regular Wizard 4 spell, though.
20th level
The lack of 9th level spells is a bit limiting, but not really more so here than for the natural Warlock. BC now always has the option of dishing out a satisfying handful of d6s of acid or cold damage (or both), can always see non-mindless foes from 100' away (depending on how telepathy interacts with immunity to mind-affecting), and generally has options for most expected encounters. Much of the gold saved by not buying a magic weapon will need to be invested in keeping the Dire Bat flying; The Spellward Shirt soulmeld gives a relevant spell resistance to help with survivability, but then we are running into the unsinkable Monk problem (being difficult to hurt does not by itself overcome encounters). Flying at this level is less an advantage than a requirement, and energy resistance 30 and high spell resistance have a good chance of shutting out his damage potential. Bat Country would probably still be fun to play in a party of martial adepts, factotums, and warlocks, but it is hard to see a solid niche at this level if a real wizard or druid is involved.
Use of secret ingredient
d6 HD: Incarnate shares this. Wizard is down a step, and Druid and Totemist are up a step; Bat Country averages fifteen more hit points than a natural Warlock. With save DCs being Constitution based, BC has more reason than most to pump the stat.
3/4 BAB: Totemist is a 3/4 BAB class, though all the dipping brings the build down to +12. Iterative attacks are irrelevant, and the Incarnate Avatar (Chaos) soulmeld gives up to +5 to ranged attacks.
good Will save: +12 at level 20, check. The other two saves are too high from spending 19/20 levels in classes with two good saves. Oh well.
Eldritch Blast: Dissolving Spittle shared with a familiar and an animal companion for 8d6 x 3 x 2 acid damage as a ranged touch attack (times three for three sources, times two for repeating next round; includes an Incarnum Focus item). Damage outstrips the natural Warlock at every level, though the range is only 45' (with Horizon Goggles). If you want to focus on this aspect alone, the Beastmaster PrC in Complete Adventurer gains four additional bats per the Druid class feature; presumably this is good enough for Share Soulmeld. This route decreases each shot by 1d6 but gives 7d6 * 7 * 2 damage per round - just shy of 350 damage against a foe with a low touch AC and no acid resistance. Sadly, psicrystals and symbionts are not good enough for the feat without houseruling.
Detect Magic at will: Disenchanter Mask; the Totem chakra bind would allow a targeted Dispel Magic similar to the Warlock invocation, but is not selected in the example build.
DR 5/cold iron: Adamantine Skin + three other warforged grafts of your choice gives DR 5/adamantine. This is slightly weaker than damage reduction overcome by cold iron and comes online significantly later. A few soulmelds give DR/magic (most notably the Astral Vambraces, available online), but there is still a hole where pretty much everything has magic strike but the graft is too expensive.
UMD skill mastery: Bat Country can provide spell trigger activation services for two lists right out of the box. For Cleric, Bard, and suchlike spells, the Mage's Spectacles or Elder Spirit soulmelds can give a hefty enough bonus to beat out taking ten (just remember to take a cross-class rank to unlock the skill).
fast healing: shaping Lifebond Vestments and binding Phoenix Belt gives free out of combat healing to the whole party as long as fire is available (and all good adventurers love setting things on fire). Neither is shaped in the example lay out above. The Vitality Belt soulmeld can give a pure Incarnate 120 bonus hit points as a Swift action, but is less useful here.
energy resistance 10 vs. two energy types: Dragon Mantle gives four.
Imbue Item: Bat Country can easily be the go to halfling for UMD, but really I have nothing for this.
invocations:
The Warlock gets twelve options, three of each type of invocation, chosen while leveling. Bat Country gets 10-15ish options (not all chakras are open and the powers come in chunks of bind+shape rather than being individually selectable). Especially with the weaker invocations, there are a number of soulmelds or tricks that replicate the functionality of various invocations. Soulmelds can be chosen daily, so there is never any risk of wishing you had chosen something else at a lower level. Indeed, it is necessary to vary the options selected so that low level abilities come into play in a timely fashion. With the more powerful invocations, the options drop and the degree of correspondence between this build and the model drops. Other configurations are possible for replicating other Warlocks.
3 least
* Devil's Sight: Shadow Mantle comes with its own darkness to boot.
* Leaps and Bounds: Acrobat Boots give up to +14 Balance, Escape Artist, Jump, and Tumble checks.
* Swimming the Styx (CM): Kraken Mantle gives a swim speed. Water Breathing is available on the cheap with an Auran Mask (CM) or more permanently at higher levels. This is not worth a Totem bind.
3 lesser
* Eldritch Chain: BC's "Eldritch Blast" works a bit like this by default, but is in parallel instead of in series.
* Hellrime Blast: Winter Mask provides the option of cold damage.
* Ignore the Pyre (DrM): Dragon Mantle resists up to 18 points (21 with an Incarnum Focus item) of any non-sonic energy damage. Even better, this is special stacks-with-everything resistance, including the several soulmelds granting more specific energy resistance.
3 greater
* Bewitching Blast: Frost Helm gives an area stun effect (save DC is Constitution based), a similar but less randomly dangerous effect.
* Eldritch Cone: Winter Mask deals damage in a (small) cone.
* Vitriolic Blast: obviously. Unfortunately, Dissolving Spittle allows spell resistance; there is an incarnum feat that helps with this that a more realistic build would do well to select.
3 dark
* Binding Blast (CM): Frost Helm gives an area stun effect (save DC is Constitution based)
* Caster's Lament (CM): Iron Heart Surge (item based, qualifying via Martial Study) is a similarish effect, though it is self-only and does not allow counterspelling.
* Dark Foresight: Shedu Crown gives 100' of telepathy and Mindsight lets you see anything that is not mindless in this range. This covers a lot of the invocation, but the duplication is imperfect. Immunity to being bull rushed and a competence bonus vs. mind affecting effects come along for the ride.
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