Good spells for a character idea

[umbergod]

One of my concepts was always to make a "jedi" in dnd. yeah, I could just play star wars d20, and I have, but I like the idea of making a spell list that mimics abilities used by jedi/sith, wielding a longsword, and being at least semi decent in melee.

I know there are a few ways go to about the build, and optimization is low on my list of concerns. This campaign the idea is for is a low t3, to mid t4 campaign, where fighters are still relevant and useful. My first option is often considered a trap. Battle Sorcerer from UA. Less spells, more combat ability, free MWP so I don't have to either pick a race that gets free proficiencies, or dip a level in a martial class. This would allow me to progress into Abjurant Champion easily enough.

Another option is to dip a martial class for proficiencies, and take 4 levels of spellsword, as my DM has houseruled that spellsword only has 2 dead caster progression levels, at 5 and 10. The ignore spell failure will allow me to wear light mithral armor, which could easily be fluffy to be woven into a heavy jedi like robe

[AWiz_Abroad]

Just spells or feats, equipment etc? Going off of the thread title,

Spells off hand I'd say. . .

Currently all from the Sor/Wiz list.

Blades of Fire from Complete Arcane
Suggestion PHB
Command PHB
Mage armor (refluff the +AC as deflecting things with your blade)
Telekinesis
Returning Weapon (For those lightsaber tosses)

I'm AFB, so thats just off the top of my head.

What sort of level are you starting at? I'd like to suggest you building yourself an "alien" so you could get telekinesis at will. Talk with your DM.

[umbergod]

It's starting at 3rd level. I noticed a few spells that would be handy, for me, there is one in the dragon compendium with the force missile mage that is an invisible blast of force that has a chance for knockdown. fitting with a really hard force push

[Toliudar]

For the Jedi feel, you might also go psychic warrior or psion. Refluff Force Screen, Inertial Armour, Psionic Daze, Far Hand, etc

[JeminiZero]

Spells:
*Telekinesis: Mentioned above, but bears repeating. Takes care of force push and force throw
*Jump: Force Jump, but largely made redundant by any kind flight
*Lesser Orb of Electricity / Lightning Bolt / Orb of Electricity / Chain Lightning: Sith Lightning. Also consider the Storm Bolt [reserve] feat.
*Brilliant Energy Weapon: Available as both spell (Brilliant Blade/Aura) and weapon enhancement.

Powers:
*Telekinesis: the psionic version of the above.
*Any energy power has the option of dealing electric damage.

Maneuvers
*Wall of Blades: Deflect stuff with your weapon
*Lightning Throw: Saber throw

If homebrew is allowed, the link in my sig might be of interest.

[umbergod]

For the Jedi feel, you might also go psychic warrior or psion. Refluff Force Screen, Inertial Armour, Psionic Daze, Far Hand, etc

Strictly avoiding psionics. While it would fit easier thematically, and probably even mechanically, my DM has never messed with psionics and I have only a brief experience with it and the extra stuff that come with it

[Saintheart]

If you want to remove the evil aspect of it, Friendly Fire from Exemplars of Evil handles the whole "deflect blaster bolts with your weapon" aspect rather nicely.

[Roguenewb]

Soulknife 2/Monk 2/Psychic Warrior 16 with Tashalatora. You get a good deal of manifesting, decent fists, and a personal sword made of energy. Take stuff like Snap Kick and you can tumble around the battlefield, striking with blade and fist, all while being able to force jump, push, suggest and so on.

If you wanna be less powerful, Soulknife 5/Monk 2/Psywar 13. You get a lot less manifesting and AC Fist from monk, but you get a much bigger laser sword, quick draw it, gets +1, and you can throw it and invest it with more damage.

[Roguenewb]

Soulknife 2/Monk 2/Psychic Warrior 16 with Tashalatora. You get a good deal of manifesting, decent fists, and a personal sword made of energy. Take stuff like Snap Kick and you can tumble around the battlefield, striking with blade and fist, all while being able to force jump, push, suggest and so on.

If you wanna be less powerful, Soulknife 6/Monk 2/Psywar 12. You get a lot less manifesting and AC Fist from monk, but you get a much bigger laser sword, quick draw it, gets +1 and an enhancement, and you can throw it and invest it with more damage.

Either way, take feats like Psionic Weapon and such so you can deliver a well-meditated super blow to finish off your foe. Deep impact lets you get the "glowing blade through the armor" feel.

[umbergod]

Strictly avoiding psionics. While it would fit easier thematically, and probably even mechanically, my DM has never messed with psionics and I have only a brief experience with it and the extra stuff that come with it

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[sonofzeal]

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Lawl. Perhaps you should edit it into the first post. Or, hey, give it a try - it's actually a lot easier to pick up than Divine/Arcane magic, for the most part, and is generally better-balanced too. And "Jedi in D&D" really does scream for psionics, so this is likely to be the best excuse you'll get.

[Randomguy]

Would you be O.k. with taking paladin levels? Jedi are a bit paladin-ish, after all. You can make a variation of the standard sorcadin with 4 levels of spellsword, instead of just the 1.

There are a lot of Jedi-ish spells: Blades of flame and Wraithstrike both give your weapon some lightsaber-y qualities. Whirling blade is a neat "lightsaber throw" spell.

There are tons of evocations that bullrush the opponent which could be refluffed as a force push. Some examples include Battering Ram, Blast of Force, and at higher levels Cyclonic Blast and Force Wave,
Spells like Nerveskitter and Bladeweave can also be used, since they can represent the Jedi's heightened awareness and using his mind control in combat.

You could start at Paladin 2/Sorc 1, with two of Blades of Fire, charm person and Lesser Deflect as your spells known.

[umbergod]

I guess I should have specified, not so much jedi, as force user. Not everyone who plays dnd watches star wars, and Jedi is known by everyone XD but force user could confuse someone who didnt actually really know anything about star wars.

Psionics is easy by itself, but incorporating all its extra crap into a campaign with players and a dm with no experience with it before can be a headache. I myself have only ever had one dealing with psionics, and that was for a 1 shot 3rd edition campaign I played in.

I want to avoid paladin if only because one of the players may be a bit evil. May have settled on an alternate character idea anyway XD

[sonofzeal]

I guess I should have specified, not so much jedi, as force user. Not everyone who plays dnd watches star wars, and Jedi is known by everyone XD but force user could confuse someone who didnt actually really know anything about star wars.

Psionics is easy by itself, but incorporating all its extra crap into a campaign with players and a dm with no experience with it before can be a headache. I myself have only ever had one dealing with psionics, and that was for a 1 shot 3rd edition campaign I played in.

I want to avoid paladin if only because one of the players may be a bit evil. May have settled on an alternate character idea anyway XD
There's your problem. It's widely known that 3.0 psi was a horrible mess with some critical design flaws. By contrast, 3.5 psi is actually pretty easy to port in. Just use the default Transparency rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm#psionicsMagicTransparenc y), and there's really no "extra crap" to incorporate beyond whatever any particular character/monster chooses to use.

I'm obviously not intending to shove it down your throat or anything if you're not interested, but if your previous experience was with 3.0 psi, then you might find that 3.5 psi gives you what you want without the downsides, which is win-win in my book.

[umbergod]

Oh I get ya. I will check out 3.5, and maybe mention it to my DM, but I am leary to jump into something I have little experience with XD Heck, it took me since ToB to come out til a few months ago for me to finally admit that fighters suck XD

[sonofzeal]

Oh I get ya. I will check out 3.5, and maybe mention it to my DM, but I am leary to jump into something I have little experience with XD Heck, it took me since ToB to come out til a few months ago for me to finally admit that fighters suck XD
Have you ever played an RPG that used a mana/spellpoint system? Then you should take to psi pretty easily. Especially if you've played 3.0 psi. Each power has a base cost, and you can spend more points (up to your level) to make it stronger. There's no conservation of spell slots, but you're limited by power points per day, making you much more flexible in certain ways. And powers tend to be more flexible, though often less powerful or more restricted in who can get them, than their spell equivalents. But this flexibility of access and of use makes them great for modelling more universal magical abilities, like "I can move things with my mind", or "I can bend the will of the weakminded". Otherwise you get strange situations where you're completely out of your signature trick while still having unrelated powers.


"Why can't you lift that boulder with your awesome telekinetic powers?"

"Sorry, nope, out of juice... ooo, but I can make you five times as strong, or disintegrate the boulder outright!"

"So... you're out of juice... but not out of juice?"


Anyway, a PsiWar makes an excellent Jedi, and a Kineticist or Telepath Psion makes an excellent Force User depending on how you want to take it.

[umbergod]

Yeah, I always liked the power point system, as opposed to spells per day. However, I think the character I am gonna go with is a transmutation specced wizard/alchemist savant.

[Roguenewb]

Soulknife 2/Monk 2/Psychic Warrior 16 with Tashalatora. You get a good deal of manifesting, decent fists, and a personal sword made of energy. Take stuff like Snap Kick and you can tumble around the battlefield, striking with blade and fist, all while being able to force jump, push, suggest and so on.

If you wanna be less powerful, Soulknife 6/Monk 2/Psywar 12. You get a lot less manifesting and AC Fist from monk, but you get a much bigger laser sword, quick draw it, gets +1 and an enhancement, and you can throw it and invest it with more damage.

Either way, take feats like Psionic Weapon and such so you can deliver a well-meditated super blow to finish off your foe. Deep impact lets you get the "glowing blade through the armor" feel.

[umbergod]

You've said the same thing 3 times, ignoring that I won't be using psionics.