Satyr PC

[TheAtomicSoul]

Hello all, tis' my first post on this board, so please be patient with me. ;)

My local group is prepping for another D&D 3.5 campaign, and all the other players are masters at mixing classes, skills, spells, and abilities to make ubber characters.

And then there's me.

I wind up making the weakling characters, or if they're strong physically, they get their life force taken down to near nothing in one or two shots.
Admittedly I do NOT MIN/MAX my characters- I try not to have a zero in any modifier and try to keep their skills across many fields.

SO- this game we're about to start: We'll be starting as level 5 (or 7?) characters. Whatever the case, it's the first higher starting level we've done, and I've been ITCHING to play a Satyr for a long time!
I've got my character build, but I feel he's still severely lacking in many areas. Due to the +2 LA I will start the game with NO class skills beyond the default 5 levels of Fey they get. And I think it'll be two more levels before I do get any level. (And yes, despite this I still want to play a Satyr.)

Now i'd like for the character to live past the first game, and I hope some here may know a few things that would help my character live!
Here's the stats so far: I'm building him as an Archer, and would like his design to be a "you can't hit me" type.

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STR 16 Mod 2
DEX 20 Mod 5
CON 15 Mod 2
INT 15 Mod 2
WIS 14 Mod 2
CHA 13 Mod 1
(Above includes the racial +2 to everything but Str)

Fort 3
Reflex 9
Will 6

HP 40 (DR5/ Cold Iron)
AC 25 , Touch 16, Flat 20
(10+ 4 Armor, 5 Dex, 5 Nat, 1 Defl)

Above includes
mithril chain shirt +4 Armor
Nat Armor 4
ring of protection (+1 Deflection)
amulet of natural armor (+1 Nat Armor)

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Attack Bonus: +4 Melee, +7 Range

Masterwork Mundane Crystal Composite Longbow +2Str
- Attack Bonus: +8 / +9 under 30 ft
- Damage: 1D8 +2 / +3 under 30 ft

Feats
Precise Shot No -4 penalty when shooting into melee
Point Blank Shot +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with ranged weapons at ranges of up to 30 feet.

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I have 8000 gold to spend, and picked the following:

1250 Mytheral Chain shirt
2000 Ring of Protection
2000 amulet of natural armor
1800 Efficient Quiver
600G Masterwork Mundane Crystal Composite Longbow +2Str = +1 attack, +2 damage
350 Gold Left (Thinking Arrows and maybe a custom helmet (due to horns)

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I'm also in debates as to what class I should go into, once I get the chance. I was thinking of aiming towards SoulBow, but not sure if the build is right OR if I'd be stepping on the toes of another player who I think is playing a SoulBlade.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

[Almagesto]

Why waste your time with monstrous characters? Just play a Druid - easy and powerful. Or play a war forged saint with WHATEVER class - tons of resistances. That's if you're going munchkin on the whole game, of course.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Why waste your time with monstrous characters? Just play a Druid - easy and powerful. Or play a war forged saint with WHATEVER class - tons of resistances. That's if you're going munchkin on the whole game, of course.

Seriously? Constructive advice would be nice. We're here to help, not tell him his entire idea is a waste of time and to play a T1 character.

If it fits your character concept, you could make a Charisma-based character. There's an online feat, Charming the Arrow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fey/20030815a) (scroll down) that lets you use your Charisma modifier in place of your Dexterity (it requires type: Fey). Charisma is the easiest thing to add to well, anything, so it's worth considering.

As for equipment, Why the crystal bow? You're not a psionic character, so is it merely a flavour thing? There's a couple of good Archer Handbooks here on GitP, all of which list more interesting materials (such as Dragonbone or Serrenwood).

[Telonius]

Your strength would be +3, unless there's a typo there.

What is it about Satyr that you really like, and what is it that draws you to Soulbow? Is it the "stand back and snipe" thing, or do you like the psionics, just as psionics?

If it's just "stand back and snipe," you could look into some of the archery handbooks, as mentioned. Another option would be to be a Warlock. They can be CG, and the description mentions "fey forces" as one of the possible sources of a Warlock's power. You'll never be super-powerful, but if you have an unmodified Soulknife in the party you're probably not going to be overshadowed regardless.

[Sith_Happens]

I don't see "pan pipes" anywhere in your equipment list. The pipes are by far the single best thing about being a satyr, so make sure you have some.

[babus]

It looks like they have 5 Racial Hit Dice, so check savage species to see what's attached to what, and consider employing the wonderful magic that is having a Wight attack in your background. You can't do anything about that Level Adjustment without buyoff, but if you were level drained, you can go all the way down to your first racial hit dice and then trade it for a class level.

Now, this is extreme cheese for a lot of races, but if you were to hypothetically trade in all your hit dice (which you don't have to), you'd be left with Attune Pipes and a +2 to Wisdom and Con, which isn't even remotely imbalanced. Granted, you'd look like a shriveled prune, probably, but again, you don't need to have all the RHD drained unless you want to.

As an added bonus, while this method of losing RHD is probably not RAI, even if it's RAW, there's no reason to assume you're supposed to learn the same exact levels you lost to a Wight attack. I'm fairly certain that it's RAI in fact for it to allow the option of a character reconsidering his options and taking a new course.

Edit: I should probably link this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monstersAsRaces.htm) as a reference for the trading of your final hit dice in for a class level if indeed you take that route.

[TheAtomicSoul]

Almagesto:
I make characters for the characters sake; I admit i'm not the best at RP, but I try. Power is ok, but I like a little story in the game. ;)

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Kuulvheysoon

"Charisma is the easiest thing to add to well, anything..."
How so? With the exception of mages I haven't seen it used for much.

Since the Masterwork Crystal Bow cost the same amount as a Masterwork Wood bow, I figure why not go fancy? ;)
(I may need to double check the price from the books, as now I find it showing 375 gp)

I'm trying to keep to items in the books rather then ones just posted on line so there are no worries over weather it'd be allowed in game or not. The game we're in doesn't have dragons and only a few races available. We're playing with each person getting a randomly drawn option and mine was to play any race I want. ;)

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Telonius:
Yea- it was a typo; Str is 15.

Truly, I like comming up with character concepts, which includes races. I don't know why, but I've wanted to play a Satyr for a while. :3

As far as the SoulBow goes... there really doesn't seem like many good options for an archer class. (Ranger seems rather underpowered and limited in how it helps you - everything I see says to multiclass to improve it.)


"Stand back and snipe" - not really what I hope to go for; I'd just as well have this character to be one that moves around the board- I made him with a very good AC compared to my prev characters.

As the character is meant to be a quick moving one, I designed him with a high Dex. Archery is the only thing I know of fighting wise that uses Dex instead of strength, and as i've played too many mages I don't want to solely go that route.
(Maybe think of Ishida from Bleach?)

There's also a warlock in the game already. :(

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Sith_Happens
I got the pan pipes on my papers, but didn't list here because they only work on L4 or under characters; I figure I can use them to clear an area of lesser monsters, but overall won't be good in a battle as we rarly fight equal or lower monsters in the games.

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babus
I doubt our DM would go for this, as even I think it sounds a bit broken and cheesy. :/

[ZamielVanWeber]

I don't see "pan pipes" anywhere in your equipment list. The pipes are by far the single best thing about being a satyr, so make sure you have some.

Combine this with warlock's blast effects and have fun. Cha follow by Dex should be your highest stats, with Str trailing behind.

Also, if you max charisma make a Marshall Diplomancer. Minor auras scale strictly with Charima (just like your pipes).

[babus]

babus
I doubt our DM would go for this, as even I think it sounds a bit broken and cheesy. :/

Pan Pipes and +2 Wisdom/Dex for a +2 LA is actually pretty bad, but I do agree it's a weird way to go about it.