lizardfolk knight idea

[Ringtail69]

i am about to join a game that will be starting up shortly and i have been told that i would be allowed to make a lizardfolk idea. we are starting at level 3 or 4 last i heard.

my knights backstory/motivation would be that he was adopted by a human noble (hence why i am a knight) after getting left behind by my tribe when they launched a disastrous raid against the lord. i was raised as one of his own children and when i learned of the condition of other lizardfolk i swore to try and make a land where lizardfolk would be free from outside hostilities and they can begin to work to rise above a primitive society and become more like the standard races with established societies and stuff.

can anyone recommend any good prestige classes or feats for my knight to take (i am thinking leadership would be a good one if my dm allows it)? right now i am told that the complete books, phb 1&2, and dmg 1&2 are all ok to take things from right now, the other books we have to ask him about. so any tips to help me get towards this land of enlightened lizardfolk society?

[ArcturusV]

Well, at 3 or 4 you're still in your Racial Hit Dice mode, I believe. So you don't really have a class locked in yet, or anything like that. If I'm mistaken, or your DM is waiving RHD and/or Level Adjustment.... well, let me know.

But as the "Savior of the Lizardfolk", a civilized wo/man raised by human nobles, and taught their ways... I'm almost thinking Cleric as a class chassis for this. Divine power, Cleric of a cause trying to bridge Lizardfolk beliefs and worship with the human ideals you learned? Something like Community and Law domains for flavoring reasons rather than Raw Power?

That's the direction my own mind would go towards. Once you have Cleric locked in, it's pretty much up to Spellcasting PrCs of choice. I'm presuming you're on the more Good side of life than Evil, otherwise I might have suggested Diabolist as it's not bad on a Cleric chassis and could fit the image of an evil Lizardfolk Cleric bettering his people by using the ways of the "civilized" people and their dark powers to raise the Lizardfolk up over the broken bodies of their enemies...

If you wanted to go near the Good Side of Life. I actually like Celestial Mystic. Lose a level of spellcasting, but for some nice features. Hell, a free constant can't be removed Magic Circle against Evil isn't exactly a stick in the eye for losing a level of spellcasting. It's not really bad and something that is often off the radar.

But sticking to Completes? Void Disciple is a favorite of mine. You lose out some caster levels for ungodly powerful knowledge gathering. Honestly I'm fine losing those levels considering I can scout with perfect safety from thousands of miles away if I wish. Combine with domains that allow you to Teleport and you have a vastly superior form of "Scry and Die" that normal nondetection can't stop.

[Ringtail69]

as far as i have been told so far, racial hit dice is waved away and i am definitely going for the good alignment here (personally i am going to try for LG or at least NG). void disciple has some interesting class features indeed and i will take a look at celestial mystic to see what that has to offer.

[ngilop]

There is a great build on WoTC site in the previous edition forum about a knight build

I do not know the specifics but it goes your first 4 levels are in Knight and the rest are in Crusader. It end sup doing a lot of 'hey im here to protect and defend my allies" and a bunch of cool " sup? time ot use cool white raven stuffs to make my allies go "OHHH YEAH!"

[Kuulvheysoon]

There is a great build on WoTC site in the previous edition forum about a knight build

I do not know the specifics but it goes your first 4 levels are in Knight and the rest are in Crusader. It end sup doing a lot of 'hey im here to protect and defend my allies" and a bunch of cool " sup? time ot use cool white raven stuffs to make my allies go "OHHH YEAH!"

Note the booklist. There's no access to ToB.

+1 to ArcturusV's suggestion of a Cleric. Maybe toss on the Scalykind domain, if you can.

[Ringtail69]

is there a place that i can look at all of these domains to see which ones i want and thus ask for them?

[ArcturusV]

Spell Compendium is pretty good for having a nice list of domains. Don't cover the PHB ones, but most of the others I believe.

[Zombulian]

If racial hit dice are waived and you can buy off the LA, straight Knight is one of the more solid ways to do a Knight build. It's the capstone that really makes it worth it.

[Gwendol]

Knight or Paladin seems like a good fit if you don't want to go full caster. Clerics can fit nearly every role in the game, of course, so can't really go wrong with that.

[Ringtail69]

i have never really played clerics before so when i found out that they can wear heavy armor and have no spell failure my eyes lit up. i think i will give cleric a try, worst comes to worse i can always cross class or something. thanks everyone for your advice.

[ArcturusV]

Yeah, worse comes to worse, you can take your Cleric into a PrC like the Prestige Paladin for a more "Knighty" feel if you're not feeling it as a Cleric. It's also one of the few caster classes that never really feels THAT painful to PrC/Multiclass out of if it's not your thing. You don't really lose much for ditching it, other than spell progression. But if you're not into spell slinging of one nature or another, then you're not losing out. And even having say... level 3-5 Cleric Casting on a mostly Fighter/Knight/Samurai base for example if you wanted to go more purely martial isn't exactly a stick in the eye.

But yeah, normally I'd recommend sticking to Cleric, or PrCs that advance casting as much as possible. One thing I'd watch out for? PrCs that advance defensive stuff. You might look at it, think it's very Knighty and good that way... but most of them are just horribly written (I'm thinking of stuff like Knight Protector here...)... plus DnD is... a game of offense. Even if you want to roll out as an armored holy man, a paladin, or a fighter/knight/etc, you're not "The tank". You're "The hammer". The game doesn't really support "The tank". The closest to "The tank" that they get to is "The Trapper", the guy who alters the battlefield to hinder movement. Usually wizards dropping things like Walls of Force/Fire/Chains or Webs or Solid Fog or Stinking Clouds, etc. Sometimes a fighter who's focused on things like Trippery. But the closest you get to "Tank" is in the historical military term of "Heavily armored thing that breaks a stalemate by running over and smashing face" as opposed to the MMO term of "Sitting there and taking damage for my teammates".

[Ringtail69]

i have begun to notice that as well with dnd. and i will keep my out for the PrC that focus on defense rather then offense liek you said arcturus.

[gurgleflep]

I'm sorry, lizardfolk knight? Only one thing came to mind and I had to post it - sorry. No I'm not, I'm proud of what I've done!
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b259/GabrielAviles/Final%20fantasy/Monsters/350px-SC4_Lizardman.jpg