"Be good or be dead" awkward build

[Uncle Pine]

Dear playgrounders, I need your help.
During the last session two characters died. One of the players decided to roll a plain and simple glaive-lock, but the other one asked me for a very unconventional build: he'd like to play a character who is able to strike really hard (potentially bringing down an opponent with a single blow). The problem is that he also wants to be potentially useless in case if he fails to kill (or disable) his opponent. Sounds like a kamikaze-like build without the suicide part to me, but I frankly don't know how to build such a character. :smallconfused:

Any thought? He clearly said he won't play a commoner armed with a net (my first and only idea).

EDIT: Party composition:
- lv 6 feral half-ogre barbarian/fighter (future primeval)
- lv 8 human duskblade/ur-priest
- lv 8 human warlock
- free slot

[XmonkTad]

Commoner with a lasso then:smalltongue:
I saw a build posted on here a while back that combined black flame zelot and assassin to maximize death attack DC. That guy would fit the bill pretty well, since anything that survives the first shot wont be happy (and will have a wicked fort save).

[Morithias]

Commoner with a lasso then:smalltongue:
I saw a build posted on here a while back that combined black flame zelot and assassin to maximize death attack DC. That guy would fit the bill pretty well, since anything that survives the first shot wont be happy (and will have a wicked fort save).

I'd like to see that build, see how it measures up to the Deathstalker/Legacy Champion (at level 20, death attack is 36 + Charisma + any other bonuses)

[Urpriest]

A Shock Trooper-based charger either kills its opponent or gets annihilated in the next round due to its AC plummeting. Will that suffice.

[Hirax]

A Shock Trooper-based charger either kills its opponent or gets annihilated in the next round due to its AC plummeting. Will that suffice.

Add rage, the reckless rage feat, and even frenzy if desired, and you can pretty reliably hit a negative AC.

[MadCowDisease]

If you want to keep it simple you could tweak the Barbarian to where their rage lasts only one round, but to balance that you give them a bonus to-hit and/or damage. Then when the rage is finished make him fatigued for ?d4 rounds

[Andezzar]

A Shock Trooper-based charger either kills its opponent or gets annihilated in the next round due to its AC plummeting. Will that suffice.He can also be annihilated in the same round, if more than one opponent is in range.

[eggs]

A sneak attack build with a ton of ambush feats could do minimal damage while laying out an array of debuffs and disablement effects. With Subduing strike, the damage it does do could be shifted to nonlethal.

Something like:
Strongheart Halfling Rogue 2/Sleeping Tiger Monk 2/Rogue 1/Avenger 8/Unseen Seer 2/Ninja of the Crescent Moon 5
Feats: Darkstalker, Subduing Strike (1) Carmendine Monk, Weapon Finesse (3), Deflect Arrows (4), Sickening Strike (6), Deep Poisoning (9), Snap Kick (12), Aleval School (15), Terrifying Strike (18)

Important equipment: Bracers of Murder, Necklace of Natural attacks with Assassination and Toxic weapon properties, Serpent Arm graft, reasonable investment in Intelligence boosts.

Important spell known: Increase Virulence.

You could pop out of hiding and punch someone twice to affect them with Silenced, Shaken, Sickened and save-debuffed effects and a Con poison (DC around 38; effectively 6 higher considering save debuffs) and a chance to Death attack (DC around 30, but practically much higher considering the debuffs and possibility of Con poison).

But I'd have to think about this longer to find a good binary "leave someone almost dead or leave it unscathed" without running into this sort of pile of immunities... maybe Transmutation save-or-loses? That doesn't sound like the concept you're after, though.

[Malroth]

High Cha,High Dex Rokugan Samurai with able learner->Swordsage-> Iaijutsu Master Gauranteed to go first and even gets to automaticly act in the surprise round and adds 10xCHA mod to damage as long as the opponent is flat footed.

[Almaseti]

A sorcerer with only touch attacks?

[Uncle Pine]

Thank you all for the replies!

@Malroth: Unfortunately, Samurai don't exist in the world the campaign is set. Also, Oriental Adventures and ToB are banned at the moment.

@eggs: A very solid build: I'll think about this and eventually propose it to the player even if he didn't really enjoy the last Lawful characters he played (he's more the Chaotic kind of person).

@Urpriest/Hirax: A Barbarian with Shock Trooper would indeed fit the bill! I'll try with this even if there's already a big (dumb) half-ogre in the party. :smallsmile:

I added the party composition to the OP. Do you have any other idea?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Thank you all for the replies!

@Malroth: Unfortunately, Samurai don't exist in the world the campaign is set. Also, Oriental Adventures and ToB are banned at the moment.

@eggs: A very solid build: I'll think about this and eventually propose it to the player even if he didn't really enjoy the last Lawful characters he played (he's more the Chaotic kind of person).

@Urpriest/Hirax: A Barbarian with Shock Trooper would indeed fit the bill! I'll try with this even if there's already a big (dumb) half-ogre in the party. :smallsmile:

I added the party composition to the OP. Do you have any other idea?

You don't have any battlefield control, so my suggestion would be:

A Sorcerer who specializes in Save or Lose type area-effect spells. Basically, if the spells land, he wins. If they get resisted, he's screwed. It gives you a different dynamic, and fills a party role which is largely absent in this group.

Spells like Grease, Glitterdust, Stinking Cloud...

[Malroth]

except with a few save boosting tricks and spells that target all 3 saves he'll eventually be completely unstoppable and render your entire party invincible against everything that doesn't have optimized dispelling partnered with uberchargers.

[Uncle Pine]

except with a few save boosting tricks and spells that target all 3 saves he'll eventually be completely unstoppable and render your entire party invincible against everything that doesn't have optimized dispelling partnered with uberchargers.

Well, Save or Lose spells are good and can be really useful, but I think I'll accept the challenge to handle such a character. It seems to suit the player's idea really well. Plus he has never played a spellcaster, so I'm pretty confident that he won't break the game. :smallwink:

[Wise Green Bean]

A wizard or sorcerer who uses nothing but save-or-dies would either take something out or be useless. Enchanter comes to mind in particular. Unless you really want it to be a literal blow, that sort of thing fits.

[Uncle Pine]

We had a session today: save or Lose sorcerer worked out really well. The player rolled up a middle-age human prisoner escaped during the big commotion caused by the other characters (they set on fire the blacksmith's house). It was awesome to see the face of the other player when a half-naked, half-starved man ran across the battlefield screaming and engulfing four guards inside a Stinking Cloud. :smallbiggrin:

Again, thank you all.