3.5 Darker than Black build

[Zanthy1]

Was walking through the Zoo yesterday, and for some reason started thinking about Darker than Black, and had the urge to ask the playground, how would you build Hei? (BK201)

If you can do it Core only, you get super duper special bonus points. Also, if you use a book not Core, just include the name and not just the abbreviation, I am still attempting to learn them all lol.

Also, the control over lightening is not as important as the cable and hook ropey thing he does, but is also a cool idea.


I was thinking mostly Fighter, just because of the crazy amount of feats one would need.

Thanks!

[Aegis013]

To completely accurately represent Hei's full potential...

Spoiled because it contains spoilers relating to the show!
Pun-Pun, since Pai/Bai's ability wasn't to control electricity but to control electrons, which allows for sub-atomic reconstruction of the target, even without full comprehension of the thing - ie, making Hei into a "contractor" despite there being no physical sign of being a contractor, thus suggesting it's more a metaphysical transformation, but still within the limits of the ability.

In order to accurately represent the dagger and cord plus tugging device, I'd think a spool of endless rope or a trollgut rope (both in MiC I think) with a grappling hook (improvised weapon) or a dagger tied to the end plus some ability to traverse it exceptionally fast (spider climb maybe?) would be reasonable, although certainly not perfect.

In order to get the electric shock through the weapon, you simply make it a spell-storing weapon and add shocking grasp, or whatever the +1 enhancement for +1d6 electricity damage is called on the grappling hook or dagger.

[limejuicepowder]

I have no idea who that character is, but after some quick research it I have come to this conclusion:

Main feats: EWP kasuri-gama (DMG), combat expertise, imp trip. From here you could go full tripper, or branch out somewhere else.

The wiki entry says he channels electricity through his weapon, and that's exactly what a duskblade (PHB2) does with arcane channeling and shocking grasp.

My intuition tells me he is quite adept at general martial arts as well, so you might want to branch out to something like swordsage or factotum (swordsage if you want a real martial artist, factotum if you want to trip. Or do both). Taking the practiced spell caster feat will keep his spells viable.

I'll make him a level 8 character, just because. And no this isn't core only, but the books aren't that crazy (factotum is in dungeonscape, which is available online I think). My original build had factotum 3 and swordsage 2, but some don't like Tome of Battle - it's great for a martial artist though, since now the character can do something besides 1) move, and 2) attack.

human duskblade 3 factotum 5

str 16
dex 16
con 14
int 18 + 2 for levels
wis 12
cha 12

feats: exotic weapon prof kasuri-gama (1), combat expertise (b), combat reflexes (3), practiced spellcaster (duskblade) (6)

skills: need 4 ranks in spellcraft for practiced spellcaster, but besides that it's up to you. High intelligence means lots of skillpoints, so go to town. Since he's a special OP kind of guy, I would imagine ranks in bluff, sense motive, jump, climb, move silently, and hide would all be appropriate.

The main reason for factotum is brains over brawn, adding your intelligence modifier to all str and dex checks. This gives him a +11 trip check, which is respectable.

Kasuri-gama's suck for damage since they can't power attack, but shocking grasp helps a lot. Played to higher level you're going to need something else though - maybe switch to a spiked chain just so you can power attack. They are almost entirely the same weapon.

[Feralventas]

Going to base my suggestions on a quick review (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH7VTC_szRw) since it's been a while since I've seen the series whole.

So, we're looking at
-Acrobatics involving a whip-knife as a swinging device as well as a weapon.
-Local and Close-range combat with the weapon.
-Fairly solid acrobatic capacity even without the weapon.
-Unarmored or at least Light armored.
-Mask.

For the weapon itself, I'd suggest a Hideaway Kusarigama. Hideaway is an enchantment from Races of the Wild which lets a weapon fold up into a handle. The kusarigama is available as an alternative weapon in the DMG, page 145, and can easily be interpreted as the lash-knife.

For the acrobatic aspect, I don't recall Hei doing anything Ridiculously acrobatic, but I'd still suggest Swordsage for the Tiger Claw discipline and Leaping Dragon Stance in particular (+10ft to jump). This will let you hop around where you want how you want. (Tome of Battle) The Two-weapon fighting maneuvers can be ignored unless you want to spend money on a second lash-knife, but a lot of the maneuvers are essentially "Do something acrobatic, get above your opponent, deal extra damage." This should help keep a feel of astounding feats of physical capacity as part of his combat style. (Make sure to max out Tumble as well).

Two levels in sword-sage grants Wisdom to AC while in Light armor, which can be covered with an over-coat.

For the Lightning on the weapon, I'm tempted to suggest a sub-par ability; the Warlock's Invocation "Hideous Blow." This lets them channel an eldritch blast into their weapon. The issue with this is that it's a standard action to Charge the weapon, so it's Charge one round, hit the next for a little extra damage; really not worth it. The only reason it comes to mind is the idea of channeling the electricity through the weapon, though the contract aspect of the Warlock might be fitting.

Alternatively, Warblade5/Sorcerer1/Abjurant Champion. You still have the acrobatic combat via Tiger Claw, but you'll need to Glamour (DMG +1 enchant) some armor if you want any for the first five levels while keeping the Look of not wearing armor. Then you dip Sorcerer for Shocking Grasp and proceed into Abjurant Champion (Complete Mage), using defensive buffs to replace your armor, Diamond Mind maneuvers to make use of your Concentration check while also preparing as a fighter/caster, and burn spell-slots for buffs to damage and such. Picking up the Energy Substitution feat (Complete Arcane) to make all damage spells you pick up deal Electric damage, while making sure to pick touch-range spells.

I'm afraid I don't have it to check for myself, but it might also be worth taking a look at the Lasher prestige class (Sword and Fist, old 3.0 content, but still good) as it focuses entirely on whip-based combat.

[Talionis]

I have no idea who that character is, but after some quick research it I have come to this conclusion:

Main feats: EWP kasuri-gama (DMG), combat expertise, imp trip. From here you could go full tripper, or branch out somewhere else.

The wiki entry says he channels electricity through his weapon, and that's exactly what a duskblade (PHB2) does with arcane channeling and shocking grasp.

My intuition tells me he is quite adept at general martial arts as well, so you might want to branch out to something like swordsage or factotum (swordsage if you want a real martial artist, factotum if you want to trip. Or do both). Taking the practiced spell caster feat will keep his spells viable.

I'll make him a level 8 character, just because. And no this isn't core only, but the books aren't that crazy (factotum is in dungeonscape, which is available online I think). My original build had factotum 3 and swordsage 2, but some don't like Tome of Battle - it's great for a martial artist though, since now the character can do something besides 1) move, and 2) attack.

human duskblade 3 factotum 5

str 16
dex 16
con 14
int 18 + 2 for levels
wis 12
cha 12

feats: exotic weapon prof kasuri-gama (1), combat expertise (b), combat reflexes (3), practiced spellcaster (duskblade) (6)

skills: need 4 ranks in spellcraft for practiced spellcaster, but besides that it's up to you. High intelligence means lots of skillpoints, so go to town. Since he's a special OP kind of guy, I would imagine ranks in bluff, sense motive, jump, climb, move silently, and hide would all be appropriate.

The main reason for factotum is brains over brawn, adding your intelligence modifier to all str and dex checks. This gives him a +11 trip check, which is respectable.

Kasuri-gama's suck for damage since they can't power attack, but shocking grasp helps a lot. Played to higher level you're going to need something else though - maybe switch to a spiked chain just so you can power attack. They are almost entirely the same weapon. .

Agree with Duskblade being a great option. But as another idea would be Ordained Champion in Complete Champion. You can get into it very early and may have better spell selection as most of the electricity just killed or stunned people so maybe you can use many of the damaging spells and save or suck spells with a weapon.

Ordained Champions channelling is better than Duskblade until Duckblade gets full channel.

[Talionis]

Also the Skill Trick Whip Climber seems appropriate. You might even use Uncanny Trickster to get multiple uses of Skill Tricks.

A Lynxpaw from Races of Wild may make a better analog.

The is an actual Whip-knife in Arms and Equipment, I'm not sure it would substantial enough knife, but it will work with Whip Climber.

[Zanthy1]

These are all really helpful!

Personally I really like the Shocking +1 enchantment bonus, and a step up would be the +2 Shocking Burst (Same thing but with added 1d10 on a crit) In terms of the classes, will still need to read through what everyone has said and attempt to figure it out.

Please keep the ideas coming! Focusing less now on the lightening, an more on the acrobatics and weapons. Although what has been previously posted seems very good :)

[limejuicepowder]

For anime-style acrobatics, ToB is the way to go. It won't be perfect, but it'll be decent - sudden leap and leaping dragon stance are exactly what you want. Setting Sun also has a number of maneuvers that suit the martial artist idea well.

Alternatively, you can go ninja 4 (complete adventurer) and be able to make running jumps from a standing position (the same thing that leaping dragon stance does, IIRC).

Either way, check out the skill tricks from complete scoundrel. Pretty much all of the movement ones would have use for such a character.

[Talionis]

For anime-style acrobatics, ToB is the way to go. It won't be perfect, but it'll be decent - sudden leap and leaping dragon stance are exactly what you want. Setting Sun also has a number of maneuvers that suit the martial artist idea well.

Alternatively, you can go ninja 4 (complete adventurer) and be able to make running jumps from a standing position (the same thing that leaping dragon stance does, IIRC).

Either way, check out the skill tricks from complete scoundrel. Pretty much all of the movement ones would have use for such a character.

Martial Stance feat is a good way to grab just one stance from Tome of Battle that you like without having to incorporate the whole book.

On my non-caster builds I like to dip a level or two or three in Tome of Battle classes to give me some utility and options that can be hard to find. Often to do something similar to a maneuver would take multiple feats.

[Zanthy1]

Hmmm ninja does seem pretty cool, with a dip in Tome of Battle for those stances....and tools i like!