mildly optimising a pixie

[sideswipe]

hello playground,

i'm currently DMing a 3.5 game where i have 7 players, it was originally 6, they are all new or of low experience. i need help with the 7th.

i built with them some mildly optimised characters to make them at similar power levels. these are the original 6, they have just reached level 5 with the warblade about to hit 6th.

a illumian cloistered cleric - buffer type (DMM persist) persisting mass lesser vigor and prayer. knowledge devotion, will eventually when they get more turn attempts persist a few personal buffs to become more useful in combat.

a strongheart halfling warmage - liked the idea of upping his ranged damage, along the lines of the mailman but not so powerful, a very clever player and hold his own well, going routes of meta magic and reducers + sudden meta magics. allowing advanced learning to give any one spell of any level they know not just evocation.

a water halfling beguiler - one of the two faces, and the best passive face with a diplomacy of 17 and a very decent bluff too. spell focus (allowing all beguiler spells to be focused at once). likes being the main face and likes mind effecting and illusions.

a human disciple of mym c'sil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?175468-Ancient-Spice-3-5-Base-Class-Artifact-and-Unique-Monster) mym c'sil is a god in my setting of pleasure and manliness. this is essentially a factotum base homebrew with no spell casting and the ability to pull magic weapons with varying enchantments on it. lots of font of inspiration.

a strongheart halfling transformagist focused specialist, no access to polymorph yet, and no shenanigans to keep spells persisted, so spends a couple rounds buffing up then joins in the melee and is competent. though about to reach the time it kicks off in power.

a desert dwarf warblade 3/fighter 2 (to get a 3rd level stance at warblade 4) the melee tank, reliable damage that others can match but not regularly. letting him take as many martial stances as he wants, and i homebrewed that weapon focus gives +1 hit and +2 damage, he has taken a shadowhand manouver to gain invisibility.

so with basicly all bases covered - healing, melee, ranged, arcane, divine, skills....

i gave the new player a pixie, she loved the idea and is chaotic evil and playing it well enough. i have allowed weapon finesse without +1 base attack and allowed a feat i called dexterous strike which replaces dex for str on melee damage, she is competent melee but squishy.
she has just reached level 5, so the last level of pixie, high in most stats (+2 and up) but strength is dumped to dumpville.

she liked the idea of becoming a sorcerer type (arcane caster not the class) so im guessing a gish type would work for her. i dont want her far behind in the casting so im trying to think of a prestige class she could take for accelerated casting progression, or enough casting power to keep up with a mid-op party.

failing that i will put her into iaijitsu master because she has a rapier fluffed as a samurai sword (katana).

any suggestions on casting classes and tactics.

[Crake]

allowing advanced learning to give any one spell of any level they know not just evocation.

I felt compelled to stop reading and mention this once i read that line: There's already an ACF for that in the player's handbook II called eclectic learning, but it has 1 caveat, the spell takes up a spell slot 1 higher than it would normally take.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Dragonfire Adept, easy to play, easy to be useful in any situation, and doesn't require a hundred splat books.

[geekintheground]

are you allowing LA buy-off?

glaivelock or clawlock makes a good gish. i like the idea of a pixie factotum. or theres the gish-in-a-can duskblade.

[sideswipe]

I felt compelled to stop reading and mention this once i read that line: There's already an ACF for that in the player's handbook II called eclectic learning, but it has 1 caveat, the spell takes up a spell slot 1 higher than it would normally take.

never knew of it, but its done now, the beguiler gets the same as the warmage.


are you allowing LA buy-off?

no LA buyoff. plus its class levels in pixie.

thank you for the suggestions

[Xelbiuj]

Isn't weapon finesse a racial feat anyways?
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/sprite.htm#pixie

Not much to add, evil pixies are cool as hell.

[sideswipe]

Isn't weapon finesse a racial feat anyways?
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/sprite.htm#pixie

Not much to add, evil pixies are cool as hell.

not the class from savage species. i have stated im using the race class not the race.

[nedz]

Rogue or Warlock should work; perhaps a Rogue with a Warlock dip ?

Alternatively: how about Spellthief ?

[emeraldstreak]

Does she have racial hit dice (been awhile can't recall)

[Bad Wolf]

A Pixie Warlock might be useful, both fluff-wise and crunch. Your Small size, constant Greater Invisibility, and flying (is there a penalty for attacking flying enemies) will make you more untouchable then MC Hammer.

Plus, you're a tiny evil fey blasting your opponents with magical energy from pacts made with demons. Hellfire Warlock is almost a must, given the character.

[MilesTiden]

As a note, the reason the racial class doesn't have weapon finesse is because it's a 3.0 class. 3.0 had a... wonky way with dealing with feats for monsters, and 3.5 standardized the rules across all monsters. Also note that 3.0 Pixie gets Polymorph and Confusion, which makes it very different from 3.5 Pixie.

[sideswipe]

As a note, the reason the racial class doesn't have weapon finesse is because it's a 3.0 class. 3.0 had a... wonky way with dealing with feats for monsters, and 3.5 standardized the rules across all monsters. Also note that 3.0 Pixie gets Polymorph and Confusion, which makes it very different from 3.5 Pixie.

also gets irresistible dance for free.

warlock sounds good, i will run it past the player. though im still worried they will be too far behind, its why martial or sped up casting jumped out at me.