Drakhanis
2013-03-25, 10:48 AM
Hello fellow playgrounders,
I've been playing an AH in a mid-level campaign for a few months now. I'm looking at tweaking it a bit to take better advantage of the abilities I use often.
My original Build was a strongheart halfling Drd4/Conjurer3/AH7, with a fleshraker CF, and standard feats (Natural Bond, Natural Spell, blah blah blah) I took Exalted Wild Shape so I could have a little more versatility with WS, as well as Fast Wild Shape. Basically, I wanted to try to be able to do all of the AH's stuff at least decently, without sacrificing too much in one area or another.
After playing the Character for several sessions now, I've found that my go-to move in combat is riding around on my CF and either buffing or BCing while the CF does the bulk of the physical attacking. Or, sometimes, I kinda forget that the beastie gets to attack because with the rest of the party so good at decimating enemies, there isn't a lot of call for me to get that close to an enemy. Other times, I will send the CF away a bit and use benign transposition if any nasties get too close to me.
I don't really wildshape that much, I think I've only done it for situational things to help with BC, like WSing into a Blink Dog and teleporting around dropping entangles and EBT's on the enemy. Oddly enough, I've actually used spells to get around more than I use wildshape, which really is more forgetfulness on my part than anything else. I would love to Wildshape more often, but the issue I have is that if I'm anything that can't use tools, then I lose some of my versatility (I got lots of wands and scrolls because I can't be bothered to waste spell slots on silly things like CLW or "Heal," stop bleeding on my boots please), and if I'm anything that *can* use tools, what's the point of wildshaping to begin with? Though to be honest, when I originally built the character, I intended it to be someone that could toss out a spell or two in the beginning of combat and then wild shape into something nasty and wade into combat with everyone else, tossing spells as needed (hence natural spell and fast wild shape). So far I just haven't really used the character like that.
I don't have a good handle on the whole Channel Animal ability (or plant, for that matter), so I don't really use it that much (read: ever). My spells seem to be my main focus, but only because with the CF and the boost I give it, I don't really need to worry about being squishy. That and I have oodles of spells that I can burn on a daily basis for "Cast and forget" spells that last all day long (like the Heart series, for example)
Basically, I come to you good folks looking for advice about strategy/tactics and a potential rebuild of the character (with regards to feat selection, gear, spell selection, etc). I don't want to abandon the character because I love the idea of him, I just feel that I could be doing things a bit better, or using my resources a little more efficiently.
I've already played around with the idea of going Drd3/Conjurer3/MT2/AH6 for the better spellcasting. The only real downside I see from it is that my wildshapes only last 9 hours (oh no!) and my CF only gets the abilities of a 9th level caster (again, on no!). Even with those limitations, the increase in spellcasting and slightly earlier access arcane spells is a bit better than what I give up. And that's one of those subtle rebuilds that don't drastically change a character.
Like I said, I like the character, but now, after playing it for a while, I'm looking for ways to improve on what I have.
Basic info (again):
Strongheart Halfling
Level 14
Not opposed to taking certain item creation feats (CWI, for example), but charged items don't seem worth it.
I really don't use metamagic enough for it to be worth a feat.
I like the versatility of Wildshape, but need a bit of help using it more effectively.
Any assistance or advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated!
I've been playing an AH in a mid-level campaign for a few months now. I'm looking at tweaking it a bit to take better advantage of the abilities I use often.
My original Build was a strongheart halfling Drd4/Conjurer3/AH7, with a fleshraker CF, and standard feats (Natural Bond, Natural Spell, blah blah blah) I took Exalted Wild Shape so I could have a little more versatility with WS, as well as Fast Wild Shape. Basically, I wanted to try to be able to do all of the AH's stuff at least decently, without sacrificing too much in one area or another.
After playing the Character for several sessions now, I've found that my go-to move in combat is riding around on my CF and either buffing or BCing while the CF does the bulk of the physical attacking. Or, sometimes, I kinda forget that the beastie gets to attack because with the rest of the party so good at decimating enemies, there isn't a lot of call for me to get that close to an enemy. Other times, I will send the CF away a bit and use benign transposition if any nasties get too close to me.
I don't really wildshape that much, I think I've only done it for situational things to help with BC, like WSing into a Blink Dog and teleporting around dropping entangles and EBT's on the enemy. Oddly enough, I've actually used spells to get around more than I use wildshape, which really is more forgetfulness on my part than anything else. I would love to Wildshape more often, but the issue I have is that if I'm anything that can't use tools, then I lose some of my versatility (I got lots of wands and scrolls because I can't be bothered to waste spell slots on silly things like CLW or "Heal," stop bleeding on my boots please), and if I'm anything that *can* use tools, what's the point of wildshaping to begin with? Though to be honest, when I originally built the character, I intended it to be someone that could toss out a spell or two in the beginning of combat and then wild shape into something nasty and wade into combat with everyone else, tossing spells as needed (hence natural spell and fast wild shape). So far I just haven't really used the character like that.
I don't have a good handle on the whole Channel Animal ability (or plant, for that matter), so I don't really use it that much (read: ever). My spells seem to be my main focus, but only because with the CF and the boost I give it, I don't really need to worry about being squishy. That and I have oodles of spells that I can burn on a daily basis for "Cast and forget" spells that last all day long (like the Heart series, for example)
Basically, I come to you good folks looking for advice about strategy/tactics and a potential rebuild of the character (with regards to feat selection, gear, spell selection, etc). I don't want to abandon the character because I love the idea of him, I just feel that I could be doing things a bit better, or using my resources a little more efficiently.
I've already played around with the idea of going Drd3/Conjurer3/MT2/AH6 for the better spellcasting. The only real downside I see from it is that my wildshapes only last 9 hours (oh no!) and my CF only gets the abilities of a 9th level caster (again, on no!). Even with those limitations, the increase in spellcasting and slightly earlier access arcane spells is a bit better than what I give up. And that's one of those subtle rebuilds that don't drastically change a character.
Like I said, I like the character, but now, after playing it for a while, I'm looking for ways to improve on what I have.
Basic info (again):
Strongheart Halfling
Level 14
Not opposed to taking certain item creation feats (CWI, for example), but charged items don't seem worth it.
I really don't use metamagic enough for it to be worth a feat.
I like the versatility of Wildshape, but need a bit of help using it more effectively.
Any assistance or advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated!