TPK, A New Beginning~

[akinra]

Yaya! TPK to 50+ mites with a level 2 party! So the GM Baton is passed on to another in our little group. . .

Anyhow. . .


The entire party is from the same small village. All forest gnomes. Something has infected the forest, undead etc. Along the lines of Fangwood for those familiar with J.R.R.T. Our mission, should we choose to accept, it to clease the infestation, curb the undead, and bring sanctity back to the old forest. Once done with part one, part two will involve bringing the evil (I assume necromancer) to justice, a dungeon crawl. Part three will be to track down the puppet master behind the evil. Entire campaign is expected to take us from 1 to 15.

Houserule: Bonus Level 0 spells.


1) Race must be Forest Gnome, or some other thematically appropriate race. Likely only one character will be allowed to be non-forest gnome.
2) 2 traits. Any Paizo 3.5 campaign trait, or official published trait.
4) 2 Flaws. Flaws must be from a published source, or subject to GM approval.
5) Total stats to add up to 78, before racial modifications.
6) Feats from any official source.


1) Wizard (Conjuration) Depending on development, plot, etc. will become Malconvoker.
2) Paladin of Pelor.
3) Factotum (Iajitsu Focus allowed) Chameleon levels planned.
4) Me, see below.


I see this cleric as the face of the party. I plan to use DMM to fuel party wide buffs. I will pick up Combat Reflexes and Power Attack so when the need (real not imagined) for a panicked rescue arises, I can use the Divine MetaMagic Quicken to Divine Power and Righteous Might or the like.


Forest Gnome
Cleric (Cloistered)
8 Strength
14 Dex
14 Con
10 Int
18 Wis
14 Cha

Flaws: Shaky (-2 Ranged Attack Rolls); Noncombatant (-2 Melee Attack Rolls)
Traits: Dangerously Curious (+1 UMD; UMD a class skill), Bully (+1 Intimidate; Intimidate a class skill)

Domains: Knowledge (All Knowledge skills class skills), Planning (Extend Feat as Bonus Feat), Undeath (Extra Turning as Bonus Feat)

Feats: Extend (Bonus), Extra Turning (Bonus), Persistant (Flaw), Divine Metamagic (Flaw), Improved Initiative (Level 1).

Feats I want:
Power Attack
Combat Reflexes
Quicken Spell
Divine Metamagic (Quicken)
Extra Turning for all others since (1) powers DMM, and (2) undead heavy campaign.

Level 1 Spells: Bless, Protection from Evil.

Skills:
Concentration (Max)

Diplomacy (Max)

Intimidate (Max). Plan to take Imperious Command ASAP. Plan to take Never Outnumbered Skill Trick ASAP.

K. History for 5 Ranks (for the bonus to Lore) then to K. (Local) to Max.

Spellcraft (Max)

Use Magic Device (Max)

[Helcack]

I like it, definitely good for a level one build who won't be going anywhere near combat and gives good support.

[jguy]

You need 13 strength to take power attack.

Edit* Also, as a cleric you will be walking around in full plate all the time, you only really need 12 dex.

[TuggyNE]

Why do you have Extend and Persistent Spell at level 1, but not DMM:Persist? Neither of those feats is useful without mitigation until you get some more spell levels.

Me, I'd suggest maybe toning down the persistomancy; Quicken is fine on its own, even if it is still fairly powerful.

[akinra]

Power attack is off the list. DMM Persist is in there, under one of the feats granted by taking a Flaw. Maybe I should cut out all the combat type feats and roll into the realm of summoning to help as needed?

Since I plan on dropping persistent (insert main buff for level here) every morning with breakfast, maybe the thing to do in combat would be either Heal or Summon. Healing is a waste in combat though, or so I am told. . .

[ArqArturo]

Scratch that party from all clasess, and everyone roll for bards. One performs with drums, two with strings, and one with voice. Different archetypes so there's more versatility. Oh, and black and white facepaint, don't forget the facepaint :smallbiggrin:.

[Person_Man]

My suggestions:

Combat Reflexes is not very useful for a Cleric without a melee combo which generates additional attacks of opportunities. At best, it might generate one or two extra attacks per combat, and those attacks will deal minimum damage and no secondary effects (Trip, Bull Rush, etc). This is especially true if you have 8 Str.

Quicken Spell + Divine Metamagic (and pretty much any Metamagic + Divine Metamagic) is quite powerful and arguably game breaking, but it's not really that useful until mid-high levels, when you have plenty of spells to use. I feel the same way about Improved Initiative. Acting slightly earlier in the Initiative count is not that big of a deal until mid-higher levels, when you can cast a spell which basically wins combat. You can certainly take them now and they will be very useful later. But you should probably take Feats that are useful now, not Feats that are marginally useful now that will become potent later.

Imperious Command will be similarly useful, but only when you can Demoralize as a Move Action (or quicker), which takes a magic item you may not be able to afford at low levels.

Since you're a Gnome, you might want to consider the Illusion and Gnome Domains. Each Domain adds +1 to your caster level for Illusion spells, and it adds many useful spells to your spell list, like Silent Image, Major Image, Displacement, Persistent Image, Mislead, and Weird.

Other Feats to consider: Travel Devotion, Dark Speech, Dark Whispers, Intuitive Attack or Zen Archery, Mobile Spellcasting, Undermountain Tactics.

[Safety Sword]

Scratch that party from all clasess, and everyone roll for bards. One performs with drums, two with strings, and one with voice. Different archetypes so there's more versatility. Oh, and black and white facepaint, don't forget the facepaint :smallbiggrin:.

So, the forest gnome version of KISS? :smallamused:

[akinra]

My suggestions:

. . .

Since you're a Gnome, you might want to consider the Illusion and Gnome Domains. Each Domain adds +1 to your caster level for Illusion spells, and it adds many useful spells to your spell list, like Silent Image, Major Image, Displacement, Persistent Image, Mislead, and Weird.

Other Feats to consider: Travel Devotion, Dark Speech, Dark Whispers, Intuitive Attack or Zen Archery, Mobile Spellcasting, Undermountain Tactics.

I am not sure we can invoke variant rules, but the evil forest gnome has me intrigued enough to ask. Dark Speech + Dark Whispers would make fore quite a boon especially if I had a means of curing the Cha drain readily available . . .

[danzibr]

I'm very glad I read this post because I now know of Dangerously Curious! What a great trait.

[akinra]

So I have re-constructed based on community feedback to the following:
Book of Vile Darkness variant rules have been nixed by GM just to keep his life easier. Too bad, I like the idea of creating a hive mind :smallsigh:

Fearsome Armor property has been approved! SO I should be good on the skill trick/feat just in time to be able to afford the armor.

Forest Gnome
Cleric (Cloistered)
8 Strength
14 Dex
14 Con
10 Int
18 Wis
14 Cha

Flaws: Shaky (-2 Ranged Attack Rolls); Noncombatant (-2 Melee Attack Rolls)
Traits: Dangerously Curious (+1 UMD; UMD a class skill), Bully (+1 Intimidate; Intimidate a class skill)

Domains: Knowledge (All Knowledge skills class skills), Planning (Extend Feat as Bonus Feat), Undeath (Extra Turning as Bonus Feat)

Feats: Extend (Bonus), Extra Turning (Bonus), Persistant (Flaw), Divine Metamagic Persist (Flaw), Improved Initiative (Level 1).

Feats I want:
Extra Turning
Quicken Spell
Divine Metamagic (Quicken)
Chain Spell
Divine Metamagic (Chain)

Level 1 Spells: Bless, Protection from Evil.

Skills:
Concentration (Max)

Diplomacy (Max)

Intimidate (Max). Plan to take Imperious Command ASAP. Plan to take Never Outnumbered Skill Trick ASAP.

K. History for 5 Ranks (for the bonus+2 synergy to Lore) then to K. (Local) to Max.

Spellcraft (Max)

Use Magic Device (Max)

[Equinox]

While I don't have any comments on the build as such [seen too many DMM builds to care to tweak this one], I'd like to ask if you considered the roleplaying aspects of a character dedicated simultaneously to the ideals of Planning and Undeath?

[akinra]

While I don't have any comments on the build as such [seen too many DMM builds to care to tweak this one], I'd like to ask if you considered the roleplaying aspects of a character dedicated simultaneously to the ideals of Planning and Undeath?

Yes, Yes I have. In fact, I was pondering the psyche of the Malconvoker. The goal is to overcome the power of undeath by enslaving evildoers evil minions and sending them back upon their own evil masters.

I realize that this is a super tight RP path, but it is a potentially fun as heck path.