Bone Knight Dilemmas

[mistformsquirrl]

Alrighty, so - I recently finished up the design for a character, and that put me in the mood to make another. This time I'm aiming at a Cleric necromancer with the Bone Knight prestige class.

There's just a few issues that keep me from being done with this character...

1) Exoskeleton of Death - A VERY powerful ability that grants a ton of immunities.

There's just one catch - after you get that ability, you can never again remove your armor. This... is a problem, as the campaign this character is most likely to be in will require some measure of going undercover, and I just plain old don't like it when classes/prestige classes modify my character physically.*

So I've been trying to think of a compromise to offer my DM to keep the armor removable.

Here's what I've come up with so far - what I'm asking here is if anyone sees a problem with these options, or has a better idea...

A) Armor is removable, but the immunities are only in effect while it's worn. - This is my first choice (for obvious reasons); but I also suspect it's the most likely to get kiboshed given the shear power of Exoskeleton of Death.

B) Give up a few of the immunities (say, Sleep, Poison and Disease immunities) in order to keep the armor removable. - This seems more likely to fly, but it does sting losing out on some of the immunities. I'm willing to do that if required though.

C) Sacrifice XP, gold or something else for the ability to remove the armor when necessary. Also a reasonable enough option depending on what and how much the DM would ask - the only question is, what's a fair price?

Basically if you were DMing for a Bone Knight, what would it take for them to be able to remove their armor at level 8 and beyond without ill effect?

2) What do I take after I've finished up Bone Knight? I'm figuring I enter Bone Knight at level 6 or so, so I finish it up at 16. That leaves me with 4 levels that need to be filled. I could of course just go back to Cleric; but I don't like the lack of abilities that option provides.

Here's the catch:

I looked through the books, and didn't see any other divine based prestige classes that had anything to do with commanding or controlling the undead, except Master of Shrouds. Master of Shrouds sadly looks like a poor choice as it costs me another caster level and the abilities you get aren't going to be all that useful at level 16.

The problem is the other prestige classes for Clerics either require an alignment I don't have (I'm Chaotic Neutral), or feel like a total non-sequitur to the them of the character. I mean just as an example - sure I could qualify for Divine Oracle, but what ties it together with Bone Knight? Likewise on that one, if I remember right I'd be losing some Rebuking ability, which is perhaps not ideal.

Does anyone have a good suggestion of a PrC or other cleric-casting advancing option I could take for those last 4 levels that could be shoehorned to fit in with a Chaotic Neutral Cleric necromancer?

3) Feats/Domains

Character is Human, just to clear that up beforehand

Domains, I was thinking Deathbound and Undeath. Deathbound is fairly obvious - but I was thinking Undeath for a second domain for the free Extra Turning for Divine Metamagic. Does this seem like a decent choice?

Feats, Divine Metamagic Persistant Spell - good idea for this type of character? I mean I'm thinking it would be, but is there some flaw in that route that I'm not seeing?

Other than that I'm figuring Corpsecrafter, and then that leaves me a few slots to play with (possibly to use for another PrC).

Basically my question for this section is - does this seem like a reasonable basic set up? Or am I overlooking something important?

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Anyway, I really appreciate any help that can be offered; since I'm kinda out of ideas on the first two points. < . .>;

*Unless that is the reason I'm taking the class in the first place.

[God Imperror]

As I've been designing a bone knight for an eberron campaign in this past weeks I have come to some of the same problems this is how I would deal with them.

Glammered (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#glamered) armor would allow it to look like normal clothing if you go undercover, it is true that enemies with true seeing will see through it but it covers most situations.

On removing exoskeleton of undead... I would personally go with first option, but give some penalties to you if you are not wearing it, maybe tie all your bone knight class features (not only the immunities) to the armor. And make you appear hurt and damaged when you remove it.

Another item you might want (if you finally decide to not remove the armor) is a tooth of dahlver nar of savnok it would make you unable to remove your armor, you already are, but would allow you to move at normal when wearing it or when carrying a heavy load.

On the domain options I personally found necromancer to be a good domain to have around, command undead can be really handy, and adds other typically wizard spells to your list. You might want to make this spontaneous and use substitute domain (from complete champion) to get the extra turning from the death domain. The blood of vol offers the 3 domains (deathbound, death and necromancer)

On PrCs...

I personally like Cleric 4 / Ordained champion 2 / Prestige paladin 1 / Bone knight 10 / Ordained champion 3.

But that is totally nonviable to your character unless refluff (alignment prerequisite changes) are allowed.

I can't think off any PrC that will actually help you, as most of the ones that I can think off do not advance spellcasting or do not advance rebuking and you want both of those.

[mistformsquirrl]

Glamored armor is definitely a good idea if I don't have any other choice <._.>b it shall be kept firmly in mind! Hoping I can avoid that though. Like I said, it just bugs me when classes/prestige classes decide to physically modify my character >.< which is something you really can't get away from if you want any class-based boosts to commanding undead critters.*

Necromancy domain you say? *looks up* Hrm, that is interesting... I suppose I could just spend the feat for Extra Turning.

Prestige-class wise... I've been doing some looking and I saw a couple that might actually work, though they aren't perfect.

Dweomerkeeper and Shadow Adept both look interesting. They at least give some useful abilities instead of dead levels. Still wish I could find something a bit more thematic though. (I mean Shadow Adept fits to a point, but still...)

Appreciate the ideas!

*Why did WoTC assume that because I wanted to command undead, I also must want to BE one? I think the only exception to that setup is True Necromancer, if I'm remembering right.

[Mari01]

Isn't this why things like Hats of Disguise exist? It seems kinda lame if the armor that signifies your power and prestige just becomes something you put on every day. Especially given the fluff behind what it means.

[mistformsquirrl]

Under normal circumstances, I would agree - but in this case Bone Knight was kind of the only option by process of elimination.

It's not so much that I want to be a Bone Knight, and much more that I want to be a Cleric necromancer, and would like a prestige class that reflects that... preferably without forcing me to take arcane caster levels or turn into an undead creature.*

So while traditionally if I take a prestige class, it's usually the fluff that draws me to it... in this case it's the other way around and I'm finding the fluff to be as much an obstacle as an inspiration.

It all comes down to lacking a better option. So I'm trying to get around the areas that bother me, since the other option is to homebrew a class - and getting that balanced and approved is liable to be a headache. Likewise using someone else's homebrewed class, even if I can find one I like, is liable to be similarly difficult.

Thus I felt rather stuck, and when I get stuck, I find the people here are usually knowledgeable and helpful enough that I rather quickly become unstuck after asking for assistance. < . .> Part of why I appreciate these forums so much.

All of which is a longwinded way of saying "I have an idea for a character and want to make it be both enjoyable and workable; but the rules as written are constraining me so I'm going to try to work around them - but I could use an assist in doing so."

*The only option other than Bone Knight is Master of Shrouds, but they focus entirely on incorporeal undead; which doesn't have much appeal to me at all.

[Keld Denar]

What's wrong with more cleric? I mean, at that level, the little perks you get from a non-10 level PrC are nothing compared to 8th and 9th level spells. Take you're class features as"I don't have to spend feats on prereqs, so I can take the feats I want".

Really, just about nothing is gonna be a big deal, not compared to those spells. Focus on that, and more cleric levels aren't that boring. It gives you the two things you want, casting and rebuking. That's good.

[mistformsquirrl]

I suppose there's nothing really 'wrong' with it...

I guess it's mostly just about how it feels when leveling up. < . .> Marking up some HP and extra spell slots doesn't feel like much; even if it is the most important thing. I suppose I'm probably over thinking it all, the campaign won't be for awhile yet and 16 levels is a long way to go before I even have to worry about it. Just a little OCD on my part I guess.

[Keld Denar]

Don't think of them as "just some more spell slots". They are 8th and 9th level spells. They are the most ridiculously powerful forces in the multiverse. Think of it like that. It's not a disappointment.