Building a Transhumanist character?

[Guyver87]

Lately, I've had this weird idea, about creating a character following a Transhumanism ideas for D&D 3.5.

Generally in my vision, such a character would be a scholar convinced, that humanity needs to "evolve" to match other races, which posses many abilities setting them above humans. This character would preach about his ideas, trying to convince others to embrace the idea of magically modifying their bodies, and at the same time would try to change himself into something better, than a plain human.

I've decided, that character like that would be fun to play, but don't really know how to build one. I have some ideas, but I'm not sure which one would be the best.

So far, I've thought about:

I. Necropolitan Spellcaster [Probably Wizard, or Dread Necromancer]/Fleshwarper.

Here I would get a character, who is reasonably powerful thanks to his Grafts, and spells, and is technically immortal, does not need to eat or drink, is immune to diseases, and poisons etc.

II. Elan Ardent/Meditant (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827c)

In this case I would get a "mind over matter" Transhuman, who gets more powerful by expanding his self awareness, and training his mind. And who already is an immortal Abberation.

III. Necropolitan Xenoalchemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205119).

In this case I would use a Homebrew, so I'm not sure how my DM would react, but both fluff, and Class Abilities are perfect for my visions of the character.

Do You think one of this ideas could work? Or maybe know something better to use?

I would be grateful, for any input.

[Maginomicon]

There's also the Renegade Mastermaker (transform into living construct) form of transhumanism similar to that seen in Deus Ex.

[Vaz]

What about Master Transmogrifist? Or Planar Shepherd?

[Blueiji]

The Xenoalchemist is a great class, one of the players is using it in the IRL campaign I'm running.

Remember that if you make a Necropolitan Xenoalchemist you'll barely be able to give yourself any grafts since the number of slots you have are dependent on your CON score, which Necropolitans don't have.

[Epsilon Rose]

If you're going with official material, I'd recommend some flavor of necromancy. Turning undead works well for Transhuman style self-upgrades and the mindless undead you control work for the kind of automation you'd see in a Transhuman society. Depending on the type of caster you are, your other spells and magic items could probably go a long way towards replicating a near-singularity society.

In terms of homebrew, I'd look at the Evolutionist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13115715) and Gramarist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291019).

The Evolutionist is all about making yourself better. It does exactly what you described your character doing, but I don't think it can really spread it's benefits to others without a prc. It works by selecting bonuses from menus when it levels and these bonuses can be anything from better bab or saves to SU and SLA abilities.

Conversely, the Gramarist is the scientist of Magic. He's how you'd design a post-singularity world. The Gramarist's abilities are split into colleges and one of them does focus on biology. That said, it would probably be less about internal self improvement and more about building cool things and making a better world. PrCs might change that, however.

[Guyver87]

As always, guys from GiTP never fail to amaze me...


There's also the Renegade Mastermaker (transform into living construct) form of transhumanism similar to that seen in Deus Ex.

I really had forgotten about Renegade Mastermaker, even though it does fit the theme I'm interested in... It could work, but as my group is mainly playing in Forgotten Realms I would have to sit with my DM, and rework class fluff a bit. Still, a solid idea, so thanks for reminding me of it.


What about Master Transmogrifist? Or Planar Shepherd?


I've only just read about Master Transmogrifist, but I'm not sure what to think about this Prc. Manifest Qualities, and Infinite Variety look very nice, yet appear quite late, to be honest. Not to mention the loss of casting progression... Still, I've seen several builds making use of this prestige class, so maybe I'm just prejudiced about it.

As for Planar Shepherd, I don't really think it fits the theme I'm thinking about. Sure, it changes the character into an Outsider, and makes them quite powerful, but it just doesn't feel right to me...

Still, thanks for Your suggestions.


Remember that if you make a Necropolitan Xenoalchemist you'll barely be able to give yourself any grafts since the number of slots you have are dependent on your CON score, which Necropolitans don't have.

Erm... Yeah, I kinda missed that. So, I would have to find some other way, to make this character immortal, I guess...


In terms of homebrew, I'd look at the Evolutionist and Gramarist.


Evolutionist looks quite nice, and fits the fluff, so I'll surely look deeper into it.

As for Gramarist, I does not fit my idea of Transhumanist character, but the ideas behind this class, and related ones are quite interesting, so I'll probably use them sometime in the future either way.

Thanks for informing me, about them.

Once again thank You all for replying, and sharing Your knowledge with me.

[ShurikVch]

Dragon Magazine #332 have Aberrant Paragon class.
For worshipers of Xoriat/Far Realm.
Unlike UA paragon classes, not a race-dependent. Just non-lawful and non-good alignment.

At 1st level, gain darkvision 60 ft.
At 2nd level gain +2 Cha or +2 Str & -2 Cha.
At 3rd level, change type to aberration, +2 Con and +60 ft. darkvision

Also, at 1st and 3rd levels get +1 to class feature, Uncanny Trickster-style. Just more restricted. Can be added to:
• Alienist, cleric, favored soul or sorcerer - caster level, spells known and spells per day. Divine casters must worship Dragon Below or something related to Far Realm
• Barbarian - rage per day and other rage abilities, such as Greater Rage and Tireless Rage
• Psychic Warrior or Wilder - manifester level, power points per day and powers known
• Soulknife - enchantment bonus of Mind Blade
• Warlock - Eldritch Blast and CL of invocations

[subject42]

If you're going with official material, I'd recommend some flavor of necromancy.

Bone knight might not be a bad idea if you use that theme. That or the one prestige class that gives you a zombie arm.