No pain no gain! (Pain-Based Warrior)

[matten17]

Hi, Playground!

So, I am planning on building a character for an upcoming campaign, and i thought about a character concept that is rather common for shounen animes and things like that. A guy that gets stronger the more you beat him, but I am having some problems to transfer that into a viable build since I am not finding the classes or feats to deal with that. So I come to you guys to help me out...

The main concept of the character is to be some kind of an damage sponge, so he can take a very large amount of damage and benefit from it and proceed to kick some asses later... The character is obviously a melee kind of warrior, don't know any classes yet or feats, but so far I have this:

Race: I am going for Aasimar, as strange as it may sound, but it is for story reasons. But I would like to hear about something else if one of you find something.

Class: Don't know yet, but so far I am going for Warblade(ToB) (don't have any reason for it, I just like it because it fits well with the character theme, but if you guys have another one that fits the concept, throw at me and i'll have a look at it.)
PS: Don't really like barbarians, but if thats the way to go, well, let's do it...

Feats: Pain Mastery(Savage Species), and Involuntary Rage(Savage Species). Was thinking about Diehard but, it's a really crappy feat :smallyuk:

So... thats it. Not much, but I actually was very surprised when I didn't found anything that benefits from getting injured and buffed from it.

That's it... Another reminder: I am looking for something durable and that benefits from taking huge amounts of damage, surviving, and becoming a beast for having so many buffs later in a fight.

About books allowed, don't worry about that, because everything is kinda allowed, but the GM will look at it and judge if its ok to go, so nothing to cheesy i think...

[Piggy Knowles]

There's always Masochism from BoVD - a second level spell, IIRC, that gives you a +1 luck bonus to attacks, saves and skill checks for every ten points of damage you take. It does have the [Evil] tag, though.

[limejuicepowder]

You said you don't like barbs, but there is a berserker rage variant in UA that changes rage to kick in automatically when the character's hit points drop to 5 x level. It's a fairly terrible ACF, but it would model what you're trying to do. The main advantage of using it is that it would only take 1 level of barb to get it. After that, you can take anything.

You could also do something like this with strictly role playing by having the character only use certain tactics when they get hurt. For example, a warblade might only use his 3rd and higher level maneuvers after he drops to 1/2 hit points.

[matten17]

Masochism is a good one, but it is a personal range spell, and I would rather not put caster levels on this character, plus, that [Evil] Descriptor does kinda mess it all up, since I am looking at a good guy. But, if there could be a way to cast this without needing to take those caster levels, then it might work.

Thanks!

[limejuicepowder]

Masochism is a good one, but it is a personal range spell, and I would rather not put caster levels on this character, plus, that [Evil] Descriptor does kinda mess it all up, since I am looking at a good guy. But, if there could be a way to cast this without needing to take those caster levels, then it might work.

Thanks!

Well there's the masochism "trait" from the same book. Just declare the character to be a masochist and he gains all the benefits of the spell. He also generally travels around at approx 80% health from self-inflicted wounds, but that's just detail :)

[Piggy Knowles]

Masochism is a good one, but it is a personal range spell, and I would rather not put caster levels on this character, plus, that [Evil] Descriptor does kinda mess it all up, since I am looking at a good guy. But, if there could be a way to cast this without needing to take those caster levels, then it might work.

Thanks!

Well, it does also appear on the assassin and blackguard list, so you could pick it up without being a full caster, but neither class seems like it fits your character concept. And a hellbred could cast it and remain good, but it seems like you're already pretty set on aasimar.

Anyhow, as an arcane spell, if you get any arcane casting on your build you can just keep an eternal wand of it in a wand chamber on your weapon and activate it as needed.

[Asgardian]

Take a look at MIC -202:Bands of Blood Rage

[Der_DWSage]

I find it just slightly odd that you've got the ToB for this concept...and chose Warblade over Crusader. Crusader is the 'I eat damage for a living' class. They have class features designed around taking damage. :smalltongue:

You may also want to look into taking the Stone Power feat from the same book-10 temporary HP every round is nothing to sneeze at if you're going into that particular line of work.

Aside from that, I can't say there are many ways to actually get stronger as you get hurt-aside from taking a one-level dip in Barbarian just for that ACF that was mentioned earlier.

[matten17]

Yeah... Crusader IS better themed for this, I just liked the way Warblades are and their maneuver lists :smalltongue:. But I might go Crusader.
As for that Stone power feat. That can really help me out, might as well take it! It can benefit from Pain mastery (Not a good feat but, eh! you get what you get), and maybe who knows masochism, and hopefully not die before it all kicks in :smallbiggrin:.

Bands of Blood rage may help me get those bonus quickly but i'll need some extra survivability, but i'll look if I pick that up in the future!

Thanks guys! keep the suggestions coming! :smallsmile:

[ddude987]

Also crusaders are generally religious I think so you may have to worship an evil god if you're a masochistic zealous rampaging meat head.

[Piggy Knowles]

Also crusaders are generally religious I think so you may have to worship an evil god if you're a masochistic zealous rampaging meat head.

Unless you worship Ilmater.

[Der_DWSage]

Or Kord. Or Cuthbert. Or Sharess. Or just not have a deity. In fact, being an evil Crusader would make him less likely to show his worship through pain, and more on inflicting that pain on others.

[bcg737]

How about a home brew class?:
http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Raging_Hulk_%283.5e_Prestige_Class%29

[The Viscount]

Martyred Champion of Ilmater is a class that gains power from pain through their 5th level ability, +1 to attack, skills, and damage for every 10 points of damage you take in a round if you took 50 or more points of damage.

[Menzath]

okay so this requires a little bit but combined with the masochism above
PAIN MASTERY [GENERAL]
Injuries send you into a fury, increasing your physical
power.
Prerequisite: Con 20, Toughness.
Benefit: You take damage normally, but every 50 points
of damage you take (if you survive the attack) automatically
increases your Strength by +2. This bonus lasts until the
end of the encounter, after which you are exhausted. See
the Condition Summary in Chapter 3 of the DUNGEON
MASTER’s Guide for the effects of being exhausted.On page 37 of savage species.
un-typed bonus, lasts till end of encounter, works well I'd say.
Now you have to note... these feats just say that you have to "take damage" would your GM count temp HP as damage still taken? if yes there are some tricks you could pull. If not try and get fast healing either Via spell or some other easy means since you will need it.
If you do the Battle Sorc. variant from unearthed arcana you get 3/4 BaB and D8 HD for a few less spells known/per day but that lets you get things like Bite spells and other buff spells for stats, also a Sorc only self heal from ..dragon..magic?(it is called Udying Vigor of the dragon or something long winded). Also the beast thing is having This feat if your DM counts temp HP
MINOR SHAPESHIFT [RESERVE]
Your mastery of shapeshifting magic allows you to reshape
your flesh in small but significant ways.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast 4th-level spells.
Benefit: As long as you have a polymorph spell of 4th level
or higher available to cast, you can spend a swift action to
grant yourself one of the following benefits:
Might: +2 bonus on melee damage rolls.
Mobility: +2 competence bonus on Balance, Climb, Jump,
and Swim checks.
Savagery: Primary claw attack dealing ld6 points of damage
(assuming Medium size).
Speed: +5-foot enhancement bonus to any one movement
mode you already possess.
Vigor: Temporary hit points equal to your HD.
The chosen benefit lasts for a number of rounds equal to the
level of the highest-level polymorph spell you have available
to cast. If you activate this feat a second time while a previous
benefit is still in effect, the first benefit ends immediately.
As a secondary benefit, you gain a +1 competence bonus to
your caster level when casting polymorph spells. See page 91
for details on the new polymorph subschool of spells.
If that doesn't Boat his Float a better bet may be a DMM Cleric or something like that for a persisted Vigor spell(which... why WOULDN'T any DMM cleric do that?)

Ah noticed something funny. Pain mastery and being a Masochist just specify that you take damage, regardless of source or healing. You could do this funny combo if you have the spells for it(Or someone to cast em on you)
LORD OF THE UTTERCOLD [METAMAGIC]
Through careful study of the Elemental Planes and their
interactions with the Negative Energy Plane, you have learned
to wield the uttercold.
Prerequisites: Knowledge (the planes) 9 ranks, Energy
Substitution (cold), ability to cast a spell with the cold
descriptor.
Benefi t: You can turn spells with the cold descriptor into
uttercold spells. Half the damage dealt by an uttercold spell
is cold damage, and the other half is negative energy damage.
The spell’s saving throw remains unchanged, but creatures
can apply cold resistance or immunity to cold only to the cold
portion of the damage. An undead creature can be healed by
the negative energy damage of an uttercold spell, though if
it doesn’t have resistance to cold, the effects of damage and
healing cancel each other out.
An uttercold spell uses a spell slot of the spell’s normal
level


TOMB-TAINTED SOUL [GENERAL]
Your soul is tainted by the foul touch of undeath.
Prerequisite: Nongood alignment.
Benefi t: You are healed by negative energy and harmed by
positive energy as if you were an undead creature. This feat gives
no other penalties or benefits of the undead type.
And those are Complete Arcane Pg.80 And libris Mortis Pg.31


Edit: my terrible spelling, And yes I did mean beast in that sentence.

[Rhaegar14]

You said you don't like barbs, but there is a berserker rage variant in UA that changes rage to kick in automatically when the character's hit points drop to 5 x level. It's a fairly terrible ACF, but it would model what you're trying to do. The main advantage of using it is that it would only take 1 level of barb to get it. After that, you can take anything.

Actually, it's 5 x Barbarian level, so it's pretty much worthless if you leave the Barbarian class for a significant amount of time.

[limejuicepowder]

Actually, it's 5 x Barbarian level, so it's pretty much worthless if you leave the Barbarian class for a significant amount of time.

Ah didn't realize that. That ability just dropped from poor to completely awful.