Bones and Magic: Making the most of the Osteomancer

[ScrambledBrains]

Now, the Osteomancer(Dragon Compendium pg. 82) has long been a favorite prestige class of mine, flavor wise, one I have not yet had the chance to play.

And yet...looking over the class, I admit I feel the class to not actually come out all that great, mechanically speaking. I mean, it's a 5/10 casting class, which means no 8th or 9th level Sorceror spells(Since I assume that's the intended entry), and that doesn't get into the required Heal ranks(Cross-class if Sorceror.) and Toughness as a Feat Pre-req.(:smallyuk:). They do get some...interesting class features, but none of those actually do anything with their spells, and further, the offensive features target Fortitude, which as we all know, is often the strongest save for most creatures the average adventurer faces.

With all this in mind, I turn to the Playground, with one simple request. Assuming medium to low-high practical optimization, how would you make the most of the Osteomancer assuming a non-gestalt game where you would take all 10 levels?

P.S. And the fact that they don't get the ability to fire their bones as ranged weapons...why? Cause they should have that option. :smallsigh:

[Psyren]

Seems to be meant to be a gish of some kind given the BAB and bone weapons you get, and all the DR-overcoming riders they eventually pick up. Free cold iron/silver/aligned armor spikes could be handy for a gish. The casting progression royally sucks though.

Maybe combine it with a gish class like Suel, or Hexblade? They're Cha-based too and would benefit. Hexblade should be able to get in at level 6 or so.

[zoobob9]

I'm looking into making an Osteomancer a BBEG for a campaign. He's Epic Level, and uses Abjurant Champion. It may be useful, given it's great potential for Gishness, but it's a full 20 level build to use both PrC's, and you'd have to pull some prereq shenanigans to get them all in.

Also, it synergizes well with the Lich Template, but I'm curious as to how you think the Skeletal Shift ability works as a lich. Would the bones just become squishy, or would the kind of detach and allow flexible movement?

[Khatoblepas]

Looking at them, the Bone Spurs seems like an interesting class feature, what with them acting "Like spiked gauntlets and armor spikes", but also being a single natural weapon. Does this mean that you get iterative attacks with them? Can you take TWF and dual wield the gauntlets and the spikes? The wording is very vague.

I guess you could take the Bone Spurs and Thayan Gladiator?

And if you really, truly wanted, you could probably take Ur-Priest and advance osteomancer with that. X 5/Ur-Priest 5/Osteomancer 10 gets you 9th level spells a level or two after you should normally get them? Hmmm.

Human Ranger 1/Duskblade 3/Osteomancer 1/Ur-Priest 2/Osteomancer 9/Ur-Priest + X

1) Apprentice (Criminal)
B) Spell Focus (Evil)
3) Toughness
Get Iron Will through the Otyugh Hole.

You could probably scrape by with this, though it'll be comparatively weak and very messy in the beginning. You need to assign Transmutation cantrips to your duskblade, and take one Transmutation spell as a Duskblade, but you can do it. Looks awful, though.

[Gotterdammerung]

Now, the Osteomancer(Dragon Compendium pg. 82) has long been a favorite prestige class of mine, flavor wise, one I have not yet had the chance to play.

And yet...looking over the class, I admit I feel the class to not actually come out all that great, mechanically speaking. I mean, it's a 5/10 casting class, which means no 8th or 9th level Sorceror spells(Since I assume that's the intended entry), and that doesn't get into the required Heal ranks(Cross-class if Sorceror.) and Toughness as a Feat Pre-req.(:smallyuk:). They do get some...interesting class features, but none of those actually do anything with their spells, and further, the offensive features target Fortitude, which as we all know, is often the strongest save for most creatures the average adventurer faces.

With all this in mind, I turn to the Playground, with one simple request. Assuming medium to low-high practical optimization, how would you make the most of the Osteomancer assuming a non-gestalt game where you would take all 10 levels?

P.S. And the fact that they don't get the ability to fire their bones as ranged weapons...why? Cause they should have that option. :smallsigh:

The best thing you could do for the Osteomancer prestige class, is to work with your GM to redesign it from the ground up. It is a horribly designed class which is a massive shame because the theme is so enticing.

Having said that, I will try building something for you (using the class as is) after my Iron Chef entries for this round are done. If your interested I could also provide some homebrew solutions for boosting the mechanics while keeping the fluff.

[ScrambledBrains]

Seems to be meant to be a gish of some kind given the BAB and bone weapons you get, and all the DR-overcoming riders they eventually pick up. Free cold iron/silver/aligned armor spikes could be handy for a gish. The casting progression royally sucks though.

Maybe combine it with a gish class like Suel, or Hexblade? They're Cha-based too and would benefit. Hexblade should be able to get in at level 6 or so.

Huh...that makes sense, and nothing wrong with free ways to slip by DR. Still, if I was building a gish, I'd be more apt to look at something with better casting, since as you said, the half-casting blows chunks.


I'm looking into making an Osteomancer a BBEG for a campaign. He's Epic Level, and uses Abjurant Champion. It may be useful, given it's great potential for Gishness, but it's a full 20 level build to use both PrC's, and you'd have to pull some prereq shenanigans to get them all in.

Also, it synergizes well with the Lich Template, but I'm curious as to how you think the Skeletal Shift ability works as a lich. Would the bones just become squishy, or would the kind of detach and allow flexible movement?

I'd be curious to see the build, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, unless the campaign is PBP here, in which case I understand you not posting it. As for shenanigans, depends how shenaniganny they get. :smalltongue:

Eh, if I was gonna go with an undead, I'd rather play a Dread Necromancer. As for the ability, no idea. :smallsigh:


Looking at them, the Bone Spurs seems like an interesting class feature, what with them acting "Like spiked gauntlets and armor spikes", but also being a single natural weapon. Does this mean that you get iterative attacks with them? Can you take TWF and dual wield the gauntlets and the spikes? The wording is very vague.

You could probably scrape by with this, though it'll be comparatively weak and very messy in the beginning. You need to assign Transmutation cantrips to your duskblade, and take one Transmutation spell as a Duskblade, but you can do it. Looks awful, though.

Yet another issue. :smallannoyed:

Thanks for the build idea, though I am beginning to wonder if jumping through so many hoops is worth it, even for a class I like so much.


The best thing you could do for the Osteomancer prestige class, is to work with your GM to redesign it from the ground up. It is a horribly designed class which is a massive shame because the theme is so enticing.

Having said that, I will try building something for you (using the class as is) after my Iron Chef entries for this round are done. If your interested I could also provide some homebrew solutions for boosting the mechanics while keeping the fluff.

While I think it could slide by in most average op. campaigns, I do agree with the gist of what you're saying, and will probably do so if I ever do actually play it.

If it wouldn't be too much trouble. If so, then please don't bother yourself. If not so, thanks!

[Gotterdammerung]

Honestly, it is difficult to build anything with the class, because very few things will enhance the class, most things will overshadow the class, and anything you end up doing with osteomancer could be done better another way. But as long as you are aware of that, then your best bet would be to use either a cleric bruiser build, a paladin bruiser build, a divine crusader build or a melee build/Ur-priest.

Blood-spiked charger is a feat worth looking at. Veil of allure from sandstorm will boost your supernatural class DC's by 2.

Example build:
Human
Paladin 4 /Fighter 2/ Barbarian 1 (Lion Totem ACF)/ Divine Crusader 1/ Osteomancer 10/ Divine Crusader 2

You qualify for Osteo's casting requirements at 4th lvl pld. (pld spell list has tons of 1st lvl transmutation spells)

You have to worship on of the few deities that have spiked guantlets as their favored weapon (Baghtru, Beltar, Thard Harr, Bane). By taking Weapon Focus (Bone Spurs) you should simultaneously meet the requirements for Divine Crusader and half the requirements of Blood Spiked charger, because bone spurs are treated as armor spikes and spiked guantlets. But check with your DM, because some people like to get hung up about stuff like that.

You can easily pick up all skill requirements via cross class ranks.

You end with a 16 Bab with pounce.

1st lvl pld spells (namely Rhino's rush since its a charging build)

1st- 8th lvl spells of off 1 domain. (have to choose 1 single domain and that is your spells known list). Since u need access to a spike gauntlet god that leaves you the choice of Chaos, Evil, Orc, Strength, Earth, War, Animal, Dwarf, Good, Plant, Civilization, Tyranny, Destruction, Hatred, or Law Domain.

Charisma to saves makes it easier to keep charisma high for your class abilities.

@ 18 you can consider taking quicken spell like ability Enlarge person, but at its limited use per day I dunno if i would do it.

Utilize Rhino's Rush, Power attack, Bloodspike charger, and Pounce to do massive dmg on a charge.

That is the basics. Plenty of stuff to tack on to make it nastier. Just scavenge from any charger build handbook.

Essentially 4 armor spike attacks. They do the normal 1d6+ str with a bonus of 2x str + power attack dmg then rhino rush doubles it all. so 2d6 strx6 + double the power attack dmg per swing.


and 1-4 heavy spike shield attacks (depending on how many 2 weapon fighting feats u nabbed). 1d6 +1/2 str base +2x str bonus+ power attack> then triple it all (valorious weapon enhancement and rhino's rush together). 3d6+7.5 str+ 3x power attack dmg + 3x weapon enhancement bonus)


Veil of allure for +2 (Su) DC's

for a medium optimized group, its not a horrible build. It's at least playable. But the same build done without Osteomancer would be loads more powerful.

[Psyren]

Wow, I'm a dope. I didn't even notice that it advanced any spellcasting class, not just arcane ones. So yeah, a weird bony Ur-Priest seems the way to go.

[Gotterdammerung]

As for homebrew fixes, the lazy quick way would be to make it full casting. Nothing it gets justifies the loss of 5 casting lvls.


Some alternatives would be to keep it at 5 casting out of 10 lvls but swap out the useless abilities for adequate ones. And increase the times per day on some of the existing SU's.

Some possible abilites based on bone function in the body and translated into D&D terms.

Immunity to poison as well as disease. Bones can help the body detoxify by pulling harmful substances out of the blood stream.

Immune to bleeding effects. Bones create blood cells for your body, perfect bone control will allow for perfect clotting.

Immunity to critical hits and death from massive dmg. Ability to have unbreakable bones and even extra bones coating important parts of the body would certainly achieve these effects.

No aging penalties and extremely long life. Perfect bone control very easily translates to perfect health irl.

Possibly some form of fast healing, maybe fast healing 5. Your overall healthier body might be able to deal with wounds faster.


(You can use all of these if you want but I was just listing a bunch so you have options.)

As for the Bone spurs ability. It should not of been so limited. And the whole cold iron, silver, adamantine, aligned thing was just wierd and outside the fluff of the class. Instead I would take inspiration from warshaper and change bone spurs to a standard action that allows you to grow a bone based natural attack ( limited to a bite, a gore, 2 claws, or body spikes). You could use the ability multiple times to achieve all 5 natural attacks.

[ScrambledBrains]

Thanks for all the advice, Gotterdammerung. If I ever get a chance to actually play the class, I'll either impliment one or several of those homebrew fixes or try that build you made.

In the meantime...:smallannoyed: *Throws Osteomancer concept on top of pile of stuff I wanna make homebrew about.*