Nettlekid
2014-05-20, 11:51 AM
About a year ago I posted a similar thread, and that campaign STILL hasn't started, but we've finally got enough players and so we're likely to start at the end of the summer. The campaign is level 21, and the basic plot is an intrigue adventure among dragons playing Xorvintaal (from MMV). I've also been advised that there will be gods just kind of scattered around in dragon and human disguise. So far the two other players seem like they're going to do something ranged and something tanky, so any level of healing or spellcasting (or anything else) would fall on my shoulders.
I've thought of a ton of kinds of characters I'd like to try to play, but can't narrow down my list nor think of anything that's *just right*. I've thought about a lot of little niche roles or gimmick characters that I think I'd get bored of too fast. In addition to that, there are a few factors about the DM and the game that should be taken into account.
-This is the DM's first time DMing, though he's an experienced player.
-He has little to no experience with the use of spells. He doesn't really know how strong spells can be, but is aware that he's unaware. As such there will be no Epic Spellcasting, but just about anything else is on the table. I feel like if I don't have any spellcasting support then the party will outright die immediately, but if I properly prepare a slew of defensive spells and complete battlefield lockdown to protect against any attack, I'll look too OP. Also as per MMV all Xorvintaal dragons lost their racial spellcasting, so there won't be all that many casters.
-He has stated that there will be times (like a single dungeon each) that he'll just fiat some weird mystical thing that nerfs one party member from time to time. Like a dungeon where there is a mystical "no stealing" rule and the thief can't steal anything, or one where no healing can occur, that kind of thing. So I need to be prepared for that and have options.
-The cosmology is significantly changed, with the Ethereal Plane instead being more of a parallel Material Plane, all the afterlife is combined into a neutral "hell" which is much like the normal Ethereal Plane, and then there exists a darker hell and a secret heaven. No Great Wheel and all that. He says outsiders still exist, but are all in that neutral "hell."
-The gods will be a part of this, and gods in the "these are all-powerful beings" sense, not the "This is a Outsider 20/Fighter 20/Cleric 20" sense, and so there will sometimes be random unbeatable NPCs. Also it's been hinted that any or all gods may die at some point, so be careful about Divine casters or anything that relies on a god's power for itself.
With those things in mind, I need help trying to pick a character which is strong enough to pull through Epic level challenges while not stepping on the toes of the other players, one that can provide the support needed in an Epic level campaign without seeming obviously overpowered, one that is versatile enough to survive having some tricks removed, and one that is fun enough to play without getting tired of it. I can also have a cohort, so I'm thinking about making a martial character with a caster cohort.
Some ideas I've had in the past are:
Dragonfire Adept with a slew of magic items making him nearly impervious to harm, insisting he's a real dragon, for BC and minor damage.
Monk/Apostle of Peace/Sacred Fist for healing and a lot of roleplaying.
Wizard/Malconvoker as general summoner and taxi.
Ur-Priest/Master of Shrouds as undead minionmancer.
StP Erudite for pure brokenness.
Thri-Kreen Frenzied Berserker for THF TWF.
Shadowcraft Mage because Illusions are pretty fun.
Bloodstorm Blade because ranged melee is kind of neat.
Paladin/Gray Guard for roleplaying mainly.
Ruby Knight Vindicator with a level of Sanctified One of Wee Jas to be REALLY hard to kill.
Changeling Chameleon to be anyone.
Spymaster/Psibond Agent to be secretly stealthy and manipulative.
Swiftblade (several builds) for some magic but mostly melee, gishy goodness.
Truenamer because why not, using Rebuild Item to be a Golemmancer.
Nightmare Spinner/Dread Witch to make everything terrified.
Archivist/Runecaster to buff the team with runes of Persisted spells.
Eternal Blade (several builds) because I love Island in Time.
Eternal Blade/Revenant Blade for THF TWF high damage martial character.
Spelldancer/Spellguard of Silverymoon with Persist, Reach, and Chain Spell to buff everyone (maybe as a cohort)
Lockdown Crusader or Warblade because BC is interesting.
Fiendbinder because it's interesting and flavorful.
Stalker of Kharash since it has a very interesting ability.
Wu Jen/Jade Phoenix Mage for Body Outside Body fun with Transcend Mortality and Emerald Immolation.
Fine Half-Giant Barbarian or Monk /Drunken Master for silly tiny high damage smackdowns.
Argent Savant/Force Missile Mage because Force damage is fun and hard to block.
Anima Mage (several builds) because it has great flavor, versatility, and free metamagic.
Telflammar Shadowlord because shadowpouncing is awesome.
Shadowcaster/Ur-Priest as a master thief.
Kaorti Fiend of Possession/Thrallherd with two thralls, because it's subtle and flexible.
Serene Guardian because it's not overpowered and it's flavorful, but it's a bit slow to act.
Zhentarim Skymage for a super powerful mount.
Bard/War Weaver/Sublime Chord/Spellguard of Silverymoon for lots of buffs to the whole party.
Master Transmogrifist because it's fun and at this level you can still get 9th level spells.
Those are most of them. Of those I think I'm most drawn (currently) to the Eternal Blade/Revenant Blade with a Spelldancer/Spellguard of Silverymoon cohort, the Master Transmogrifist with a kind of Ben 10 feel, the Dragonfire Adept because it's got one of my most fleshed out backstories and I just like the character, and the Bard/War Weaver because it also has a lot of backstory and definitely makes the party stronger. But I don't know, I have a lot of thoughts. And I'm looking for more! Given all that, what are some suggestions that the forum has for what might make a fun, flavorful, effective but by no means overpowered character? And to be clear, I'd like the character itself to be optimized, but not the idea behind the character to be optimized. Like if someone suggests a Knight then I'd want to optimize a Knight's abilities to be the strongest Knight it could be, but I'm not looking for someone to just say Incantatrix 10 because that's optimized. The way that the Iron Chef builds are optimized unoptimized builds.
I've thought of a ton of kinds of characters I'd like to try to play, but can't narrow down my list nor think of anything that's *just right*. I've thought about a lot of little niche roles or gimmick characters that I think I'd get bored of too fast. In addition to that, there are a few factors about the DM and the game that should be taken into account.
-This is the DM's first time DMing, though he's an experienced player.
-He has little to no experience with the use of spells. He doesn't really know how strong spells can be, but is aware that he's unaware. As such there will be no Epic Spellcasting, but just about anything else is on the table. I feel like if I don't have any spellcasting support then the party will outright die immediately, but if I properly prepare a slew of defensive spells and complete battlefield lockdown to protect against any attack, I'll look too OP. Also as per MMV all Xorvintaal dragons lost their racial spellcasting, so there won't be all that many casters.
-He has stated that there will be times (like a single dungeon each) that he'll just fiat some weird mystical thing that nerfs one party member from time to time. Like a dungeon where there is a mystical "no stealing" rule and the thief can't steal anything, or one where no healing can occur, that kind of thing. So I need to be prepared for that and have options.
-The cosmology is significantly changed, with the Ethereal Plane instead being more of a parallel Material Plane, all the afterlife is combined into a neutral "hell" which is much like the normal Ethereal Plane, and then there exists a darker hell and a secret heaven. No Great Wheel and all that. He says outsiders still exist, but are all in that neutral "hell."
-The gods will be a part of this, and gods in the "these are all-powerful beings" sense, not the "This is a Outsider 20/Fighter 20/Cleric 20" sense, and so there will sometimes be random unbeatable NPCs. Also it's been hinted that any or all gods may die at some point, so be careful about Divine casters or anything that relies on a god's power for itself.
With those things in mind, I need help trying to pick a character which is strong enough to pull through Epic level challenges while not stepping on the toes of the other players, one that can provide the support needed in an Epic level campaign without seeming obviously overpowered, one that is versatile enough to survive having some tricks removed, and one that is fun enough to play without getting tired of it. I can also have a cohort, so I'm thinking about making a martial character with a caster cohort.
Some ideas I've had in the past are:
Dragonfire Adept with a slew of magic items making him nearly impervious to harm, insisting he's a real dragon, for BC and minor damage.
Monk/Apostle of Peace/Sacred Fist for healing and a lot of roleplaying.
Wizard/Malconvoker as general summoner and taxi.
Ur-Priest/Master of Shrouds as undead minionmancer.
StP Erudite for pure brokenness.
Thri-Kreen Frenzied Berserker for THF TWF.
Shadowcraft Mage because Illusions are pretty fun.
Bloodstorm Blade because ranged melee is kind of neat.
Paladin/Gray Guard for roleplaying mainly.
Ruby Knight Vindicator with a level of Sanctified One of Wee Jas to be REALLY hard to kill.
Changeling Chameleon to be anyone.
Spymaster/Psibond Agent to be secretly stealthy and manipulative.
Swiftblade (several builds) for some magic but mostly melee, gishy goodness.
Truenamer because why not, using Rebuild Item to be a Golemmancer.
Nightmare Spinner/Dread Witch to make everything terrified.
Archivist/Runecaster to buff the team with runes of Persisted spells.
Eternal Blade (several builds) because I love Island in Time.
Eternal Blade/Revenant Blade for THF TWF high damage martial character.
Spelldancer/Spellguard of Silverymoon with Persist, Reach, and Chain Spell to buff everyone (maybe as a cohort)
Lockdown Crusader or Warblade because BC is interesting.
Fiendbinder because it's interesting and flavorful.
Stalker of Kharash since it has a very interesting ability.
Wu Jen/Jade Phoenix Mage for Body Outside Body fun with Transcend Mortality and Emerald Immolation.
Fine Half-Giant Barbarian or Monk /Drunken Master for silly tiny high damage smackdowns.
Argent Savant/Force Missile Mage because Force damage is fun and hard to block.
Anima Mage (several builds) because it has great flavor, versatility, and free metamagic.
Telflammar Shadowlord because shadowpouncing is awesome.
Shadowcaster/Ur-Priest as a master thief.
Kaorti Fiend of Possession/Thrallherd with two thralls, because it's subtle and flexible.
Serene Guardian because it's not overpowered and it's flavorful, but it's a bit slow to act.
Zhentarim Skymage for a super powerful mount.
Bard/War Weaver/Sublime Chord/Spellguard of Silverymoon for lots of buffs to the whole party.
Master Transmogrifist because it's fun and at this level you can still get 9th level spells.
Those are most of them. Of those I think I'm most drawn (currently) to the Eternal Blade/Revenant Blade with a Spelldancer/Spellguard of Silverymoon cohort, the Master Transmogrifist with a kind of Ben 10 feel, the Dragonfire Adept because it's got one of my most fleshed out backstories and I just like the character, and the Bard/War Weaver because it also has a lot of backstory and definitely makes the party stronger. But I don't know, I have a lot of thoughts. And I'm looking for more! Given all that, what are some suggestions that the forum has for what might make a fun, flavorful, effective but by no means overpowered character? And to be clear, I'd like the character itself to be optimized, but not the idea behind the character to be optimized. Like if someone suggests a Knight then I'd want to optimize a Knight's abilities to be the strongest Knight it could be, but I'm not looking for someone to just say Incantatrix 10 because that's optimized. The way that the Iron Chef builds are optimized unoptimized builds.