Best +2 LA race or template for an Underdark campaign

[Andry]

My Dm is going to be running the Super-Module Rise of The Drow (3.5 version). He is going to place it in the Forgotten Realms setting He is also ramping up the challenge of it. So he is going to be offering us a free +2 LA. The adventure starts out at 6th level. My question is what would be a good template or race to help navigate the challenges of the Underdark? Also I am looking advice on what class would be fun.

[Deadasadoor]

If you're looking for a melee type, Mineral Warrior would be excellent. Adds darkvision, burrow speed, CON boost, and 8 DR/adamantine. You take a hit to your mental stats though, and need to serve a spellcaster for a year.

[dantiesilva]

Saint template... you normally can't get much better. Be a DMM persist cleric and laugh at the tiny drow who thought they could stand against you.

I personally enjoy human paragon 1/cleric 1/ +2 human paragon/RSoP 2.

This gets you two turning pools a bonus +2 to any stat (cha), bonus feat and a good amount of skill points.

[torrasque666]

Saint template... you normally can't get much better. Be a DMM persist cleric and laugh at the tiny drow who thought they could stand against you.

I personally enjoy human paragon 1/cleric 1/ +2 human paragon/RSoP 2.

This gets you two turning pools a bonus +2 to any stat (cha), bonus feat and a good amount of skill points.

I think you have to be Good in order to be a saint.

[Know(Nothing)]

Are two +1's allowed?

The Dark template from ToM is only +1 and gets you Hide in Plain Sight, among other nice things. That plus a Ring of the Darkhidden and Darkstalker on a rogue or factotum could be a lot of fun, since you are nigh-imperceptible by anything living down there. Add the Chameleon template for a climb speed and ridiculous hide bonus. Being a Whisper Gnome would make this terrifyingly good.

For a slugger, Half-Minotaur is also only +1, and gets you a size increase among other nice things. The Mineral Warrior template is also +1, if I remember correctly. Lolth-Touched also adds obscene Str and Con for a +1.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Dark Creature Template applied to:

Tiefling, outsider and darkness sla
Air Mephling, flight!
Earth Mephling, burrowing!

[gorfnab]

Dark Shadow Walker Whisper Gnome with the feats Magic in the Blood, Darkstalker, and Silencing Strike

Shadow Whisper Gnome with same feats as above

[Rebel7284]

+2 LA templates
Saint - Requires a bunch of exalted feats and good alignment, but otherwise is amazing.
Phrenic - Become a gestalt Psion! Psy-like abilities auto augment to the max and you get a bunch of good ones.
Half Fey - Similar to phrenic, but you get wings and spell likes.
Shadow - Shadow blend makes your virtually untargetable 99% of the time in the underdark.
Lycanthrope - Without the LA, the stats you get can be worth having to take animal HD.

+1 LA templates
Mulhorandi Divine Minion - Wildshape as a free action is nice, even if your forms are limited.
Half-Minotaur - Gives nice stat boosts and a size increase.
Half Ogre - weaker version of half-minotaur. Can be used together to make a small creature large though.
Mineral Warrior - Great for early game survival.
Feral - Great for ripping into other people's viscera.
Draconic - Nice stat boosts.
Lolth Touched - Str and Con bonuses.
Dark Creature - weaker version of shadow. Still very good.
Vecna Blooded - Great for optimized spellcasters to hide from other optimized spellcasters.

+1 Races
Goliath
Half-Giant
Catfolk
Uldra

+2 Races
Fey'Ri
Githzerai

[(Un)Inspired]

It's not the most absolutely powerful option but the gloura are incredibly cool at LA+2 and are actually from the underdark. They also Orinoco Flow pretty smoothly into Sublime chord with a few levels of bard.

EDIT: damn i just saw that you're starting at lvl 6 and gloura have 7 hd

[Rebel7284]

It's not the most absolutely powerful option but the gloura are incredibly cool at LA+2 and are actually from the underdark. They also Orinoco Flow pretty smoothly into Sublime chord with a few levels of bard.

EDIT: damn i just saw that you're starting at lvl 6 and gloura have 7 hd

Oooh! Good idea! Ask your DM if he will let you start as a level drained Gloura!

Great stats, charisma to AC and Saves, and racial bard spellcasting allows for a very flexible character.

Also see my build here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?329389-Random-Gloura-Build

[(Un)Inspired]

Oooh! Good idea! Ask your DM if he will let you start as a level drained Gloura!

Great stats, charisma to AC and Saves, and racial bard spellcasting allows for a very flexible character.

Also see my build here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?329389-Random-Gloura-Build

Hey not bad! I like the build. I actually did one incredibly similar save I used hexblade instead of paladin and battle dancer instead of monk.

[atemu1234]

Half-Minotaur and Half-Ogre on a Kobold. Because why not?

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Dark Shadow Walker Whisper Gnome with the feats Magic in the Blood, Darkstalker, and Silencing Strike

Shadow Whisper Gnome with same feats as above

Whisper Gnomes are not a Forgotten Realms race. Plus the OP did not say the campaign was in the Realms, and Magic in the Blood is a FR regional feat.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

+2 LA templates
Phrenic - Become a gestalt Psion! Psy-like abilities auto augment to the max and you get a bunch of good ones.


Most DM's will go with the fluff and only allow Phrenic on characters that do not take class levels.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Half-Minotaur and Half-Ogre on a Kobold. Because why not?

Cause most DM's say two halves make a whole.

[Know(Nothing)]

He meant a Half-Minotaur and Half-Ogre STANDING on a Kobold.

[(Un)Inspired]

He meant a Half-Minotaur and Half-Ogre STANDING on a Kobold.

Hehe thats pretty good

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Shadow Creature in Lords of Madness, hands down. You get the Shadow Blend (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shadowMastiff.htm) ability, which is almost always going to be active in the underdark, on top of fast healing, evasion, cold resistance, and absurd bonuses to hide and move silently. Shadow Blend is basically unbeatable invisibility, you can't be targeted by any abilities that don't make an attack roll and hit an area, though opponents can still pinpoint your location with ease.

[Andry]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions! I am leaning towards a Half-Fey Warlock or Hexblade, a gloura that will keep advancing as a bard, or fey'ri rogue/wizard/unseen seer.

[TypoNinja]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions! I am leaning towards a Half-Fey Warlock or Hexblade, a gloura that will keep advancing as a bard, or fey'ri rogue/wizard/unseen seer.

Warlock and Fey just work well together, I usually try and squeeze Fey Heritage feats into any warlock build, though slightly redundant if you are already half fey.

[Know(Nothing)]

Also I can't stress enough how good a Ring of the Darkhidden is in an Underdark campaign, no matter what build you take. It is dirt cheap and amazing.

[Inevitability]

If you're looking for a melee type, Mineral Warrior would be excellent. Adds darkvision, burrow speed, CON boost, and 8 DR/adamantine. You take a hit to your mental stats though, and need to serve a spellcaster for a year.

That 'serve spellcaster for a year' is completely meaningless. Just make sure your creator is high level with his own Fast Time demiplane. Sure, you still served him for a year, but it was only a single round in 'real' time.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions! I am leaning towards a Half-Fey Warlock or Hexblade, a gloura that will keep advancing as a bard, or fey'ri rogue/wizard/unseen seer.

Don't forget to put Unseelie on top, no LA and it loves CHA builds.

[Yael]

Why not Drow? Why no one has mentioned Drow? They are the best!

[atemu1234]

Why not Drow? Why no one has mentioned Drow? They are the best!

With LA buyoff, they aren't that bad. Or Lesser Drow, who are less sucky, sometimes.

[Psyren]

With LA buyoff, they aren't that bad. Or Lesser Drow, who are less sucky, sometimes.

He's getting +2 LA free, no need to buyoff.

I suggest Phrenic and saying you escaped from an Elder Brain or something down there.

[Rebel7284]

Wow thanks for all the suggestions! I am leaning towards a Half-Fey Warlock or Hexblade, a gloura that will keep advancing as a bard, or fey'ri rogue/wizard/unseen seer.

Half-Fey Warlock should be a fun build. Your SLAs help augment your limited invocations and you can play a classic evil fey quite well!

Half-Fey Hexblade, on the other hand, is probably not worth it. Hexblade is a notably weak class when you take it for more than 2-3 levels and a Half-Fey's penalty to Con makes melee a bad idea.

As I mentioned before, I love Gloura. I would suggest going for Sublime Chord eventually, even if you skip out on all the dips in the middle. The Fey racial HD make you a bit on the fragile side, so staying back and casting make sense and Sublime Chord is a very nice boost to your casting ability.

Unseen Seer is the most powerful of your ideas, especially as you level and gain more spells. Fey'ri's Alter Self gives you a lot of interesting and powerful options both for utility (Alternate movement modes, boost to skills, natural attacks for multiplying sneak attack, etc) and for roleplaying purposes.

edit:

Shadow Creature in Lords of Madness, hands down. You get the Shadow Blend (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shadowMastiff.htm) ability, which is almost always going to be active in the underdark, on top of fast healing, evasion, cold resistance, and absurd bonuses to hide and move silently. Shadow Blend is basically unbeatable invisibility, you can't be targeted by any abilities that don't make an attack roll and hit an area, though opponents can still pinpoint your location with ease.

While I agree that Shadow is probably the most powerful template mentioned for exactly these reasons, I also feel that it may make the character too good and not fun to play. If nothing can hit you or even target you, that seems like it would make encounters very frustrating for the DM and combat overall more of a coinflip.

[Inevitability]

Seconding Gloura. Racial HD 7 / Bard 1 / Sublime Chord 10 / Paladin 2 can be a very nice build. You get charisma to AC, double charisma to saves, 9th-level spells, damage reduction, permanent flight, and other goodies.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

I am fairly certain that Shadow Creature is a +3 LA template.

[Rebel7284]

I am fairly certain that Shadow Creature is a +3 LA template.

http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/shadowcreature.shtml

[Tarlek Flamehai]

*Double-checks 3.5 Update pdf* Well color me embarrassed, Shadow Creature is a +2 LA. I was wrong (see everyone....I can admit it).

[Andry]

Thanks for the help everyone. Half-fey warlock it is. Now I just have to pick a good base race. I am thinking either a human or a whisper gnome. Thoughts?

[Know(Nothing)]

Depends on how hard you want to lean into the sneaking thing versus that extra feat. Work out a build and then see if you're desperate for any feats, or need them sooner. If Flaws are allowed, I would go Whisper Gnome and take two flaws, personally. The bonuses for sneaking are just that beastly. Though keep in mind the do take a hit to Charisma.

[TypoNinja]

Thanks for the help everyone. Half-fey warlock it is. Now I just have to pick a good base race. I am thinking either a human or a whisper gnome. Thoughts?

I'll say the same thing I always say when people ask about races.

Its hard to regret going human. Extra feat, extra skill point. Skill point is really nice since warlock is a 2+int class.

Depending on what exactly you are doing some racial things might work out better for you, but in terms of LA 0 races, the free feat keeps humans near the top of any list of choices.