A whaling i shall go

[shylocke]

My DM is running a sword coast seafaring campaign and the char I wanted to play was a whaler. My current ideas is mnk1/fighter?/reaping mauler/throwing prestige class. The mauler class is for character style, not max efficiency. Any ideas on feats or a good throwing class?

[chainer1216]

you want to be a whaler? then you sir want a Harpoon! (rule are in stormwrack, among other places) then you want brutal throw and power throw, from complete adventurer, they allow you to pretty much drop dex and deal a decent amount of damage.

my recommended build is barbarian1/fighter6/???X
1st: EWP harpoon
Ftr1(2):brutal throw
Ftr2(3):power attack
3rd:power throw
Ftr4(5): WF harpoon
6th:PBS
ftr6(7): WS harpoon
9:ranger weapon mastery(from PHBII)

this build will suit a low-mid OP game. if you use ToB then this would be better, though it'll require a lot of working things out with your DM as the bloodstorm blade has abilities that are um... interesting with harpoons.

fighter2/Warblade3/bloodstorm blade10/warblade5
1:EWP: harpoon
ftr(1):PBS
ftr(2):WF: harpoon
3:aquatic shot? (from stormwrack)
6:W.S harpoon
9:ranged weapon mastery


anyway, with both builds i'd an orc for the str bonus, and there are some 10gp goggles in dragon magic(i think) that protects you from your vulnerability to sunlight. But if thats not your thing, that just means you get an extra feat.

[nedz]

It's one thing being able to throw a Harpoon, but you have to find your Whale first. You need a good spot skill for this, which Fighter just doesn't provide you with.

Ranger seems to fit this archetype quite well, especially if you take this ACF

Aquatic Ranger (Stormwrack p51): Track in water, apply woodland stride to aquatic terrain instead of woodland terrain.

Now you can use your Survival skill to track your Whales across the Ocean, and your Spot skill to find them. Throwing a Harpoon is easy.

[Gavinfoxx]

You know Reaping Mauler makes you worse at grappling, right?

Read this:

http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=585
http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/2109491

[Joe the Rat]

Favored Enemy (Cetacean)?

Mm... The proper sailor needs Rope Use, and would benefit from Balance, and I suppose could take Profession(Sailor) or (Whaler)... So you'd want something with a few extra skill ranks to start on.

Oh, and don't forget ranks in Craft(Scrimshaw)!

Brutal Throw does fit the harpoon whaler better... so you'll need fighter to cover the feats to pull that off. (PA, BT, PT).

The first thing that comes to mind on Prestige is Master Thrower, but that's not a good fit (Palm throw with harpoons? The heck?). Harpoon is listed as Exotic (there goes another Feat). Exotic Weapon Master is some thrown weapon tricks.

[Gavinfoxx]

Also the best way to take down a whale is Ray of Stupidity.

[Urpriest]

Leviathan Hunter might be useful. Oddly enough, it helps you get in to Reaping Mauler without the usual problems.

[shylocke]

I don't know if we will be fighting lots of whales or other stuff similar. Starting at lvl 2. The koa to a harpoon says u can use it in melee, but what about regular harpoon. Also is there a way to increase my size without spells so I can take hulking hurler and throw huge harpoons? Starting as human

[shylocke]

Slightly off topic question, but it may be a good backup tactic. What happens if I throw an eversoaking sponge at a water elemental?

[WhamBamSam]

Kayzan's Jason Swordrider (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16698735&postcount=444) from last round's Iron Chef brought my attention to the Hurling Charge feat and to the fact that harpoons do the same damage coming out as going in, bonus damage included. Those facts might be useful.

[shylocke]

I was planning on using just the basic books and faerun books. Staying away from time of battle/magic of incarnum etc. What book is hurling charge in?

[WhamBamSam]

Miniatures Handbook.

[Red Fel]

Not that it's the best in terms of optimization, but few PrCs say "vengeful spear-chucking sea god" like the Stormlord from CDiv. Your spears/javelins become shocking/thundering/shocking burst weapons for free. Combine that with a magic item that creates new ones, and you've got your own Captain Ahab - but with lightning storms.

Alternatively, I second Bloodstorm Blade. Being able to chuck the same thrown weapon repeatedly, using each of your iteratives, is great.

[WhamBamSam]

He said no ToB, and I'm not sure how Bloodstorm Blade/returning weapons work with harpoons anyway, since they stick in the stick in the target when they hit if said target fails a Ref save.

I'm guessing Factotum is out of bounds as well, which is a shame, as they're good for ranged builds, and could pull off some harpoon specific shenanigans as well. 3 levels would let you add your Int mod to the Str check to keep the harpooned creature from moving beyond the limits of the harpoon's rope, 4 would let you make big, lethal Sneak Attacks which apply double if the creature tries pulling the harpoon out, and 8 levels gets you extra standard actions which are just generally awesome.

On a tangentially related note, it might be worth looking at Piggy Knowles' Archer Build Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284283) which is full of good advice for ranged combatants in general.

[shylocke]

Blood storm is a cool class. But it would negate the harpoon removal DMG. Comdiv I will look at tho. Gonna take monkey grip and carry one big ass harpoon and a bunch of holding sized ones. See if my DM will allow multi throw with harpoon.

[shylocke]

Also. Is there a feat or other nonmagical way to increase size while staying human

[Gavinfoxx]

Blood storm is a cool class. But it would negate the harpoon removal DMG. Comdiv I will look at tho. Gonna take monkey grip and carry one big ass harpoon and a bunch of holding sized ones. See if my DM will allow multi throw with harpoon.

Don't take monkey grip. There is a strictly better version of it in a magic item, which does not stack with the actaul feat.

[nedz]

Also. Is there a feat or other nonmagical way to increase size while staying human

No, there are plenty of Spells and Psionic means of doing this.

[shylocke]

Don't take monkey grip. There is a strictly better version of it in a magic item, which does not stack with the actaul feat.

This DM is light on the magic items.

[Urpriest]

This DM is light on the magic items.

Then he's probably giving you something magic item-equivalent to balance things out, since he gets that WBL is part of game balance. In many cases that system will give you what you need, depending on how it's set up.

[shylocke]

Then he's probably giving you something magic item-equivalent to balance things out, since he gets that WBL is part of game balance. In many cases that system will give you what you need, depending on how it's set up.

WBL? sorry still new to forums.

[Gavinfoxx]

Wealth By Level. It's a chart in the Dungeon Master's Guide that shows you how much useful magic item-based wealth-worth of gear that each class needs at a given level is baked into the math game for the player characters to be able to hit at par.

[shylocke]

Wealth By Level. It's a chart in the Dungeon Master's Guide that shows you how much useful magic item-based wealth-worth of gear that each class needs at a given level is baked into the math game for the player characters to be able to hit at par.

I see. I don't DM so I haven't looked at too much in the DMG books

[shylocke]

One last question. I've been going through all the god books and can't seem to find one that uses a harpoon as favoured weapon. Am I just blind or is there not one

[Red Fel]

I think that Ulutiu, Faerunian god of glaciers, favors the harpoon.

Alternatively, you could just pretend that "javelin" or "spear" includes harpoon; the weapons are similar enough, after all. I think Hoar (Revenge, Faerun) and Laogzed (Troglodytes, misc) favor javelins, and I imagine that plenty favor spears.

[Joe the Rat]

I'd focus on spear-using gods for this. Harpoons are statted as being rather... robust - more spear-like in profile, if not in use.

[nedz]

I think that Ulutiu, Faerunian god of glaciers, favors the harpoon.
Longspear or Shortspear

Alternatively, you could just pretend that "javelin" or "spear" includes harpoon; the weapons are similar enough, after all. I think Hoar (Revenge, Faerun) and Laogzed (Troglodytes, misc) favor javelins, and I imagine that plenty favor spears.
I agree, but it's a DM call really.

[hamishspence]

A whaleboat crew may have used harpoons to fasten to the whale (causing it to tire itself towing the boat for a while) - but they used a lance to kill the whale.

A whaler lance looks rather like a Roman javelin in some respects.

So "javelin" might be a good Favored Weapon for a god of whaling.

[shylocke]

I'm just one part of the crew. Do smaller harpoons cause the same amount of speed reduction as larger? And can you stack the reduction by hitting with multiple harpoons?

[nedz]

What caused the speed reduction was the boat tied onto the other end of the rope than the harpoon.

[shylocke]

What caused the speed reduction was the boat tied onto the other end of the rope than the harpoon.

The harpoon rules state that someone with a harpoon in them moves at half speed. No mention of a boat.