Lvl3 Start. 3.5e

[Hiro]

I'm about to join a game where we all start at lvl 3 with *roll a d10+8* for stats, but I'm an optimizer and would like to have an interesting concept I can stick with as well as bein functional.

Help? As far as I know: all books are allowed save the obscure ones.

[Rubik]

Make a ToB character with a level of ghost (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a) and take a few more ghost levels until you can grab the Malevolence ability. Then start taking more ToB levels. Possess enemies and use their bodies to lay the smack down using overpowering stats and special abilities. Take the Illithid Heritage feat from CPsi and Illithid Grapple; now whenever you enter a new body you can make it explode into tentacles and eat face.

Just make sure you get the Ghostly Grasp feat or a weapon crystal that grants ghost touch so you can whack your enemies and gain XP prior to possession.

[edit] Alternately, be a factotum. Ethereal skillmonkey, ho!

[HunterOfJello]

You're going to have to give us more than that to start out with.

Do you have a particular racial archetype that you'd like to start out with? Big strong guy? Small person? Normal bland race? Highly exotic race?

What type of role would you like your character to fill in this sort of party? Divine Caster? Arcane Caster? Big mean hard hitting tough guy? Precision attacker/Flanker? Sneaky sneaky? Skill monkey? Know-it-all? Tank? A mix of any of those?

What are the other players playing?

Do you have any ideas about the character's personality?

~

If you have 0 idea about any of this, I'd go read the PHB 2 section on develeoping character concepts. Work through and build up a roleplaying concept for the character, and then come back here and we'll see what we can do with it.

[ericgrau]

That's a bit vague. You can do almost anything with that info. Sure 6 high stats helps MAD, but you don't necessarily need to go with that.

But I'll throw out one possible concept to consider. It's low level so let's stick in a decent melee. MAD so paladin. How about a TWF extra smiting (complete warrior, +2 smites/day) paladin? For more smites per round to pile on the damage. Wield a scimitar plus a kukri to exploit critical smites and because they look cool. Feats: TWF, extra smiting. For future feats take extra smiting at least 1 more time then ITWF, then dual strike (complete adventurer, TWF as a standard action but only 2 attacks). You probably want to be human to get it all earlier. The draconic template might be nice too for the str, con and cha; all extremely important for this build. You mainly lose 1/5th of your hp at first from the LA, and this problem goes away later. For gear try to get 2 spell storing weapons to pile on an even bigger round 1 boom. Normally paladins with cha > str annoy me, but that's probably a good idea for this build as long as you don't skimp on getting more extra smiting as you get more attacks.

If you allow shocktrooper then that ruins everything though, along with all other melee damage builds.

[limejuicepowder]

Well your stats are probably going to be pretty good, since the lowest is a 9 and the average is 14.5. You also have a 10% chance of getting an 18, which is way better than normal rolls.

Have you actually rolled yet? Having the numbers would help.

If you do end up with strong stats, I think you should play a MAD character that needs 'em to be good. Paladin, hexblade, duskblade, or a gish all come to mind.

What other rules are you using? Flaws, traits, any other noteworthy house rules?

My vote is for a hexblade debuffer. Ask your DM if you can use this (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19547530/Contacting_Wizards_of_the_Coast_about_Hex_Blades?p ost_id=332210466#332210466) version, suggested by the writer of the original class (hexblades kinda suck otherwise).

feats
1st) power attack, dreadful wrath
3rd) (open)
At 4th level, trade in your familiar for the dark companion ACF in PH2
6th) imperious command
9th) obtain familiar
12th) improved familiar

I would use this as a base build. Between the curse, dreadful wrath, imperious command, and the dark companion you have a lot of different ways to lower your opponent's effectiveness. Not only will party spellcasters love you, but your own spells and power attacking will become that much more potent. Consider taking a combat maneuver feat like imp trip at level 3; debuffing makes that better too.

[Hiro]

Sorry for the lack of information. I'm operating on only like 4.5 hours of sleep here and 2 cups of joe.

But I usually play melee types or "savage rangers" you could call them )find a way to get natural weapons like claws and build around using them for obscene damage and ****.)

But I'd like to try something fairly different and exotic this time.

As for race: with it being a low level game without buyoff, only LA+0 races I think.

and actually I don't like Paladins' I can't get around the LG CoC they have (it seems way too restraining for my taste.)

I was thinking perhaps a Druid of an exotic race. But I do like me sum optimized hexblades. :3

[docnessuno]

Race: Dreamsight shifter

Stats: Wis => Con ===> Int => Dex - Cha => Str

1: Shifter druid racial substitution level [Ashbound]
2: Druid
3: Druid [Greenbound summoning]
4: Druid or Shifter druid racial substitution level
5: Druid
6: Druid [Natural spell]
7: Druid
8: Druid
9: Druid [Natural bond]
10: Moonspeaker
11: Moonspeaker
12: Moonspeaker [Dragon Wild Shape]
13: Druid or Moonspeaker
14: Druid or Moonspeaker
15: Druid or Moonspeaker [Rashemi elemental summoning]
16: Druid or Moonspeaker
17: Druid or Moonspeaker
18: Druid or Moonspeaker [Quicken spell]
19: Druid or Moonspeaker
20: Druid or Moonspeaker

The build assumes that Natural Bond works with the Shifter's beast spirit (debtable). If the DM rules otherwise, delay Moonspeaker till level 13, take rashemi elemental summoning at level 9, quicken spell at lvl 15 and whatever you prefer at lvl 18.

Get your hand on a ring of the beast (Complete divine), completing the set is optional but not an awful idea, provided the DM lets you upgrade named magic items.
Get a monk's belt if the DM lets you add Wis to AC with it, remember that wild armor keeps the AC bonus while wildshaped, but you are not wearing it. A Wildshape amulet (Magic of faerun) is also a nice pick.
Wilding clasps are your friends.

[Hiro]

Well it's a three level build for the moment. so I'm looking for ways to squeeze as much as i can into those to make them worthwhile and fun to play;

So far the "fixed" hexblade is most appealing.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Start out with the Feral Creature template from Savage Species, once you've gained another level you can buy off (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) the +1 LA for 3,000 xp. After that point you'll be considered a level lower than the rest of the party and you'll be getting more xp per encounter, so you should catch up fairly quickly.

I'd use Totemist, from Magic of Incarnum. That can gain a bunch more natural weapons, and should be quite similar to a "savage ranger" type of character.

[Hiro]

That's the thing; how do you justify it to a DM? As a starting character? *chuckle*

Just say

I built a char using a template givin me a +1 LA but I exchanged 3k XP to reduce it to 0 and have three char levels ontop of it?

[Rubik]

That's the thing; how do you justify it to a DM? As a starting character? *chuckle*

Just say

I built a char using a template givin me a +1 LA but I exchanged 3k XP to reduce it to 0 and have three char levels ontop of it?Actually, you'd be 2nd level with 1 LA bought off.

[Hiro]

Ahh ...so what's the point of buying it off then? If you dont' get a replacement level instead of the template level? I guess the template itself is worth it.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You would start off at 2nd level with a +1 LA. Once the party reaches 4th level and you gain your 3rd class level, you can buy off that +1 LA. You would then be 3rd level with no level adjustment, while the rest of the party is 4th level. From then on you'll be getting more XP per encounter because you're lower level, so you'll eventually catch back up to the rest of the party's level. Feral is worth a +1 LA anyway, being able to buy it off and catch up to the party level is just icing on the cake.

[Rubik]

Ahh ...so what's the point of buying it off then? If you dont' get a replacement level instead of the template level? I guess the template itself is worth it.The point is that the LA no longer takes up a level slot; instead of being considered a level 3 character you're a level 2 character and can make up for the LA that would've eaten one of those character levels.

Now you gain XP at a faster rate and can catch back up, eventually becoming the same level as your party, with a few extra abilities from the LA you bought off.

[Hiro]

Oohh! Well Feral is an awesome template but I've run into DM's that demand you play that out RPwise which stifles interaction to a degree (and it does say taht ferals can overcome that and be semi-civilized.)

[Rubik]

Oohh! Well Feral is an awesome template but I've run into DM's that demand you play that out RPwise which stifles interaction to a degree (and it does say taht ferals can overcome that and be semi-civilized.)Have you ever played Final Fantasy VI? Gau would be Feral.

Feral can be played in any number of ways, ranging from "Me Tarzan" to standard barbarian/ranger/druid/totemist behavior. It can even be refluffed to other things, so long as whatever it is fits the mechanics of the template. Coming up with a backstory to fit the default fluff shouldn't be too hard, especially since you're wide open for character concepts at the moment.