Dwarf hole digger

[Zanthy1]

So I recently discovered an obsession I have with digging holes and such during a campaign. I would like to make traps with them and such, but I decided that a dwarf who is a miner would be super fun to play.

What class would suit the "going underground" life, and maybe alternative races, I was thinking dwarf because, well dwarf lol. It makes sense to me.

This class doesn't necessarily need to dig as part of combat, maybe digging before combat as in, setting up traps and pit falls. Are there any things that could dig a giant pit fall super fast? Or maybe other hole related things lol.

All thoughts are appreciated, however I do not have access to many books, so if possible keep it slightly simple.

Thanks!

[eggs]

Here (http://web.archive.org/web/20080117020004/http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=961599)'s an old burrowing handbook. A notable omission is the Mobile Spellcasting feat from Complete Adventurer, which allows staying burrowed during other characters' actions while popping up and casting at them with your own.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I believe this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR7EAdPUqvQ) is obligatory for this thread.

Also, Lyre of Building, Horn of Blasting, and Mattock of Titans are all good ways to excavate large quantities of dirt quickly.

[Zanthy1]

The mattock of the titans seems perfect! if only I could use it and not be a Huge person, I was aiming for Medium, seeing as dwarf. The Lyre of building is pretty awesome, should probably take a level in bard if im gonna use that. Not sure about the Horn of blasting though.

Also Eggs, I couldnt open the link you posted :smallfrown:

[Dr.Epic]

So I recently discovered an obsession I have with digging holes and such during a campaign.

Do you by any chance have a pet pig-mole?:smallwink:

[nedz]

Also Eggs, I couldnt open the link you posted :smallfrown:

Yeah - my antivirus software threw a wobbly at the wayback machine site, but I went in anyway and the was nothing to see. It was like looking into the time vortex only to see IEF404.

Its a shame because the mole build was quite fun.

Back on target

There's Earth Dreamer from RoS, but that lets you glide through stone - which may not be what you are after.

There are several spells which are useful, but these don't get going until about 4th level (that's spell level).

Real Dwarves just use Pick-axes of course.

[Zanthy1]

My ideal tool (maybe even weapon?) would be a pickaxe and shovel fusion. I know they exist, but idk what sort of stats they would have, and also I'd probably want to enchant it or something.

4th level spells were mentioned, but from what list? (divine or arcane) and what class would you recommend to get such spells.

[Slipperychicken]

The mattock of the titans seems perfect! if only I could use it and not be a Huge person, I was aiming for Medium, seeing as dwarf.

Use Magic Device. The DC should be around DC 25, same thing as emulating race.



My ideal tool (maybe even weapon?) would be a pickaxe and shovel fusion.

For base nonmagical cost, add the costs of Pickaxe and shovel together, then multiply it by like 1.5 because it's more efficient. In combat, treat it like a double axe, but only use one side so you don't take penalties. Add its highest enhancement bonus to Profession (Miner) checks. It's more thematic (and much more Dwarvenly) to two-hand an actual Dwarven weapon like Axes, Pickaxes, or your Beard.

[Emperor Tippy]

There are a few ways.

1) Shapechange into a Beholder and use your Disintegrate eye ray to remove 10 foot cubes of dirt and stone.
2) Be a spellcaster who has Disintegrate, Wall of Stone, and Stone Shape as spell choices and buy an automatic resetting trap of Mage's Lubrication so that you can recover your spells.

Those two tend to be my primary methods of tunneling. It's fast, easy, and cheap.

[Coidzor]

My ideal tool (maybe even weapon?) would be a pickaxe and shovel fusion. I know they exist, but idk what sort of stats they would have, and also I'd probably want to enchant it or something.

4th level spells were mentioned, but from what list? (divine or arcane) and what class would you recommend to get such spells.

That reminds me of this one homebrew thread where it had a number of very dwarfish combination weapons including an Engineer's sword which doubled as a ruler and level and some other things.

[Zanthy1]

Those all sounds pretty sweet. What I do in the current campaign i'm in is, well im an elf monk lol. But I have a shovel and just want to dig holes around our camp, dig giant pit falls then light them on fire with oil and alchemist fire. Ideally I just want to dig dig dig. However blasting could be cool, however idk if I want to go wizard or sorcerer, as a player I really like hitting stuff with weapons. What about druid or cleric?

Does anyone know of a feat that gives burrowing or would improve digging? That would rock!

[eggs]

Also Eggs, I couldnt open the link you posted :smallfrown:

Now I can't either. Frustrating.

But the link was to a handbook called the "Mole Handbook" which was partially reposted in a couple spots, but never in its entirety or with the original discussion of the tactic. I hate to try to redo material that's already out there, but since it's a really cool idea and the thread is hard to access, I'll sketch out the gist of it:
The basic premise of the thread is that it's hard to deal with characters who are underground (they're tough to perceive and they're tough to target), so making a character who's able to effectively fight from underground is a pretty effective way to protect your character while fouling with its opponents.

The first part is just acquiring an underground movement speed (the three main methods of which are Burrow, Earth Glide and Incorporeality).

BEING THE MOLE:
Burrow:

Badger Hengeyokai (race, Oriental Adventures, updated to 3.5 in Dragon Magazine #318) - A race defined by being able to shapeshift into a specific animal or a hybrid form with that animal. Shapeshifted Hengeyokai get 20ft Burrow speeds, iirc. 0 LA.
Mineral Warrior (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20031003e) (template, Underdark) - The character has to have been some spellcaster's servant for a year, but comes out with some nice features including Burrow = 1/2 land speed (so with something fast like Oriental Adventures' Nezumi, it ends up really burrowing well)
Ashworm Dragoon (prestige class, Sandstorm) - Martial PrC which is able to ride a giant worm underground.
Alter Self/Polymorph/Wild Shape effects - Many casters can do this with enough forms that it's not worth listing them all.
Burrow (spell, Spell Compendium) - Gives a creature exactly what it says, available on most of the major spell lists.
Elemental Warrior (prestige class, Planar Handbook): A pretty crummy martial PrC, but the Earth path adds 30ft burrow at level 4. If you're using it, you'll probably want to put it on a Tome of Battle class to failsafe the build.
Burrowing Claws (graft, Lords of Madness) - Flat speed, but pretty respectable for burrow.


Earth Glide:

Asherti (race, Sandstorm) - Sand-specific Earth-Glide. 0 LA.
Underdark Knight (Paladin alternate class feature, Dungeonscape) - Doesn't kick in until high levels and replaces the mount.
Xorn Movement (spell, Spell Compendium) - Short duration and a relatively high level spell (Wiz 5), but it gets the job done.
Stone Flyer (mount, Underdark) - Conveys Earth Glide to its rider. Available as a magic item.
Earth Dreamer (prestige class, Races of Stone): Available at a relatively late level for the core of a build (ED 5), but Earth Dreamer is a very accessible and fairly usefl PrC for most casting classes and also solves the problem seeing through stone.
Enhanced Wild Shape (spell, Spell Compendium) + Elemental Wild Shape (Druid class feature)
Earth Glider (graft, Magic of Eberron) - Probably the most universally accessible option, but I believe it comes with a time limit. (I'm away from books, so can't double-check)


Incorporeality:

Ghost (template thing, Ghostwalk): The up-side is it's a really easy to become incorporeal this way. The downside is that Ghostwalk's rules are a complete pain in the ass. Probably pass on this one.
Ghost Savage Progression (class, web (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a)) - You pretty much take 1,2 or 4 levels in this to get Incorporeality. See the Ghost guide (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=2658) for more details.
Telthor Template (template, Unapproachable East) - See the miniguide (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3287.msg102108#msg102108) for usage tips.
Psion Uncarnate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/psionUncarnate.htm) (Prestige class, Expanded Psionic): A weak prestige class that can go temporarily incorporeal by ECL 7. Focusing on manifesting and grabbing Meditant (below) is usually better in the long run.
Meditant (Prestige class, web (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827c)): Mostly for Psychic Warriors, but a Psion who wants to grab incorporeality could do so by ECL 15 without much trouble.
Permeable Form (spell, Lords of Madness) - 1-round Incorporeality for a level 3 slot. With metamagic abuse (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9876) (specifically finagling Persist Spell onto it), it's a relatively easy way to become incorporeal without interfering with caster progression.
Ghostform (spell, Spell Compendium) - High level, but grants Incorporeality pretty smoothly
Shapechange/Greater Metamorphosis (spell/power, PHB/Expanded Psionics): Take an incorporeal form, use its powers. Very high level effects for this kind of thing.

Then, to turn that into a usable basic trick, the character needs a way to locate and affect targets without giving the creatures line of effect. The easiest way to do that is with the spring attack-like abilities, where the character pops out of the ground, lays out some nasty effects, then jumps back into the ground at the end of its turn. A few of the methods that can be used.

WHACK-A-MOLE:
Spring Attack (feat): A normal attack action is a really weak full round's action. Unless there's some real tricksiness going on, one weapon attack per round is normally a pretty poorly used round.
Shot on the Run (feat): Same as the above, but ranged attacks tend to be even worse individually.
Hustle (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/hustle.htm) (power, Expanded Psionics Handbook): Allows psions to take an extra move action to come out from underground, spend a standard action to manifest a power and spend another move action hiding back underground.
Mobile Spellcasting (feat, Complete Adventurer): Allows a spellcaster to pop out of hiding, cast a spell at something, and move back into hiding. Low-level use requires cranking your Concentration score. Fortunately, that's not too difficult for an Air Gnome (which will be addressed in a second)
Burrowing Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#burrowingPower) (feat, Expanded Psionic): Allows a psion to manifest a power from underground without ever surfacing.
Earthbound Spell (feat, PHB2): Allows spells to be cast as traps in adjacent squares, meaning the caster never has to surface or adopt a target in order to affect above-ground creatures, so long
Flyby Attack (feat): Probably the most efficient of any of these, but requires a character to be flying, which basically means incorporeality - generally harder to get than just a burrow speed.
Mounted Combat (tactic): Move your mount before and after casting a spell or making an attack. Requires specific mounts or classes like the Stone Flyer mount from Underdark or the Ashworm Dragoon prestige class from Sandstorm.
Focused Movement (Musteval Guardinal special quality, Book of Exalted Deeds): Easily available for long durations via Lesser Planar Binding+Magic Jar. It works like Flyby Attack, but without the flying qualifier. The Musteval also burrows, so it should be especially easy to put this together.

There are two major difficulties that crop out of this tactic: above-ground awareness and subterranean breathing.

AWARENESS:
The easiest way to deal with perception is to use a spring attack-like tactic, moving in and out of view. You might want to choose a random direction to move before surfacing, and hope you catch your opponents off-guard with it This is not the most reliable method.

More reliable strategies generally involve alternate sensory modes. I'm not going to spell these out because that work's already been done (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19871954/Lists_of_Stuff):

Blindsense
Dragon Disciple 5 (ECL 10), DMG, 30 feet, 60 feet at level 10
Scout 10, Complete Adventurer
Blindsense, wild feat, Complete Adventurer, 30' limited duration
Warlock 6, Complete Arcane, voidsense invocation, 30'
Dungeon Delver 5, ecl 12, Complete Adventurer, 30 feet
Sacred Fist 6, ecl 11, Complete Divine, 10 feet
Geomancer 9 (stage 5 drift), ecl 15, Complete Divine, 30'
Focused Perception, feat, Complete Psionic, 60', see text
Ardent Dilettante 9, ecl 14, Planar Handbook
Dragonborn template (mind aspect), Races of the Dragon, at 15 HD gain blindsense 30 feet
Disciple of the Eye 5, ecl 10, Races of the Dragon, 30 feet or plus 30'
Glaring Eye, graft, Races of the Dragon, 30'
Atavist 5 (insightful spirit), ecl 10, Races of Eberron, 5'
Ardent Dilettante 9, ecl 14, Planar Handbook, 10 feet
Willing Deformity (Tongue), vile feat, Heroes of Horror, 30'
Yrthank Mask, soulmeld, Magic of Incarnum, 10' or more, see text
Soulsight, incarnum feat, Magic of Incarnum, 5' or more, use as move action, see text
Elder Spirit, soulmeld, Dragon Magic, 5'/essentia
Voidsense, Dragonfire Adept invocation, ecl 6, Dragon Magic, 30'
Cyre Scout 7, ecl 10, Eberron: Dragonmarked, variable range and duration, see text
Wildhunt Elite, shifter feat, Races of Eberron, 30', while shifting
Dream of Perception, dreamtouched feat, Eberron: Secrets of Sarlona, no range given
Eye of Lloth 1, 4, 7, 9/10, ecl ?, Drow of the Underdark, 10' each
Ebonmar Infiltrator 9, ecl 14, Cityscape, 5'

Special Mention
Lifesense, feat, Libris Mortis, living creatures provide points of illumination
Mindsight, feat, Lords of Madness (not really blindsense... arguably better, but requires telepathy)
Thief of Life 1, ecl 3(?), Faiths of Eberron, gains "lifesense"
Dragonstalker 9, ecl 14, Draconomicon, foil blindsense 1/day
Killoren Hunter, feat, Races of the Dragon, pinpoint location within 30' if have line of effect



Blindsight
Eye of Gruumsh 5, ecl 11, Complete Warrior, 5', 10' at level 8
Scout 20, Complete Adventurer, 30'
combat awareness, feat, PHB2 - 5'
Henshin Mystic, PrC, Oriental Adventures
Shade Hunter 10, ecl 15, FR: Champions of Ruin, 30'
Slime Lord, PrC, Player's Guide to Faerun
Blindsighted, weapon enhancement, Underdark
Blindfold of True Darkness, item, Arms and Equipment Guide, p.130, Grants 60' Blindsight and immunity to gaze attacks, but negates all

other vision
Tentacle whip, symbiote, Eberron Campaign Setting - the symbiote has blindsight 60 feet and can communicate what it "sees" telepathically
Cerebral hood, symbiote, Fiend Folio - see above
Necrocarnum Circlet, soulmelt, Magic of Incarnum, 30' for undead only
Shadow Mantle, soulmeld, Magic of Incarnum, 5' or more, see text
Orthos, vestige, ecl 17, Tome of Magic, 30'
Umbral Disciple 7, ecl 12, Magic of Incarnum, 10' per essentia
Scorpion Wraith 4, ecl 9, Eberron: Secrets of Xen'drik, 60' limited use, see text
Devil's Sight, feat, Fiendish Codex II, grants darkvision and limited use blindsight 30', see text

Tremorsense
Tremor Graft, elemental graft, Magic of Eberron
Darkrunner 4 (LoM) (ecl 8)
Earth Dreamer 3 (RoS) (ecl 10), lesser tremorsense: 10 feet only
Horizon Walker 6 (DMG), 30 feet
Insectile Template (Savage Species), LA+2
Scorpion Sense, ecl 1, feat, Sandstorm, 10' or 20'
Scorpion Carapace, armour, Sandstorm
Geomancer 9 (stage 5 drift), ecl 15, Complete Divine, 30'
Landshark Boots, soulmeld, Magic of Incarnum, 10' or more
Cavelord 7, ecl 12, FR: Underdark, 30'
Favoured Soul 5, drow substitution level, Drow of the Underdark
Arachnomancer 3, ecl 8, Drow of the Underdark, 20', 60' at 6th level, limited use
Cavestalker 8, ecl 13, Drow of the Underdark, 30'

Dipping a level of Complete Arcane's Mindbender and picking up Mindsight would probably be the default.

BREATHING:This is a problem mainly for Earth Gliders.

Again, the easiest way not to make suffocation a problem is to not bring it up as a problem: only dip underground when needed. But that takes out some of the fun stealthy applications and lets your opponents just levitate for a bit to wait you out.

So to actually ignore the need to breathe:

Air Gnome (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/elementalRacialVariants.htm#airGnomes) (racial variant, Unearthed Arcana): Loses the Constitution bonus, but a very straightforward way of ditching your pesky oxygen addiction.
Warforged (race, Monster Manual 3/Eberron Campaign Setting): Has the Living Construct subtype (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/glossary&term=Glossary_dnd_livingconstructsubtype&alpha), which obviates the need to breathe air.
Necropolitan (template, Libris Mortis): Grants Undead type for player characters in exchange for some experience (less than a point of LA).
Polymorph effects to assume Elemental type.
Veil of Undeath (spell, Spell Compendium): Gives undead benefits, but it's a really high level for this (Cleric/Wizard 8).

[Slipperychicken]

2) Be a spellcaster who has Disintegrate, Wall of Stone, and Stone Shape as spell choices and buy an automatic resetting trap of Mage's Lubrication so that you can recover your spells.

I guess it could help if you need to get down your hole really quickly... :smalltongue:

But yeah, childish humor aside, turning into a Beholder and blasting your way through solid rock for hours on end is pretty damn awesome.


"Oh, this? It's just my burrowing-form. No one's survived to see my combat forms yet. It's such a shame..."

[Ksheep]

Well, if you could get your hands on it, there's always the Moaning Diamond. Allows you to affect up to 5,000 cu. ft. a day as if by stoneshape and summon an elder Earth Elemental with max HP. Too bad it's a major artifact :smalltongue:

[Zanthy1]

Shapechange might be what i end up doing lol. Tell me more about this diamond though, specifically what book is it in?

[Zanthy1]

I also notice that shapechange is a 9th lvl spell, what would be the fastest way to get access to it? I'm thinking some sort of wizard?

Note: I would love to be able to be a melee fighter as well, but digging is most important

[Ksheep]

Shapechange might be what i end up doing lol. Tell me more about this diamond though, specifically what book is it in?

It is a major artifact in the DMG. No price attached to it, since it's literally priceless, being one-of-a-kind and quite powerful. It looks like an uncut diamond about the size of a human fist, and it makes a constant wailing sound. The abilities are as described above.