Build challenge (of sorts)

[justiceforall]

This one is for the Iron Chef types, I figured I'd put it out there for the people who like building to strange requirements.

I came up with a character idea for my latest game, and whilst I've pretty much decided on what I want to do I was kind of curious to see what other people on the board would do in my shoes.


Basically the idea for the character was "Second Skin" - a character who wore heavy armour like it was part of them. I had a picture in my head that I tried to build to (and taking my two group members and GM preferences into account), the design aims of the character I settled on being:

- Human (or variants) or half-orc
- Wears heavy armour (obv)
- Moves in heavy armour without penalty
- Uses the feat "Deflective Armour"
- Has full BAB (or at most, missing only one BAB from full)

Bonus points:
- if the character never has to take the armour off
- bonus points if the character can get around with reasonable skill whilst wearing said armour (eg: jump, climb, etc)

The other restriction I placed was the same I put on all my character builds, the core themes of the character cannot rely on magic items, or other characters/NPCs.

This isn't some sort of scoring exercise, I'm just curious to see what people come up with that I didn't think of.

[Deox]

First thoughts are Binder with Savnok (Called armor goodness) and Bone Knight (Exoskeleton of Undeath)

If time permits, I'll try and put something together.

[Hellborn_Blight]

Bone Knight (Exoskeleton of Undeath)

Bone Knight is of delicious flavor for what he wants. I usually take care of this problem with magic myself though. Early on I try to get the Knight Unburdened spell cast on me, then eventually will use the halfweight armor enhancement (+3) to make the armor actually weigh 50 percent less, but also because it makes it count as light armor in all other ways, meaning you can sleep in it. If you end up with endurance some how, then making your heavy armor out of mithral is also a good way to not have to take it off.

[WeaselGuy]

Dread Commando comes to mind. Probably entering with Sneak Attack Hit & Run Fighter. It's 5 levels long, and I think it requires BAB 5 to enter, so would lend itself well to finishing off with 10 levels of another PrC. Blackguard maybe? Would offer a little more SA progression, full BAB, a handful of spells and some other useful abilities.

Champion of Correlon Larethian also has a few neat armor tricks, but also has some steep entry requirements.

[nedz]

Silverbrow Human with Dragonscale Husk (DrM, p 12) should fit this role, however the ACF is very dysfunctional and requires house-rules to work.

[Vizzerdrix]

Fiend of Possession. Become one with your armor in ways you never thought you could.

Or maybe a Warforged with unarmored body and a set of mountain plate. Bonus points for shapesand mountain plate.
SHAPESAND IS ALWAYS A BONUS!
Make the armor an ancestral Relic, item familiar, etc.

[dysprosium]

The Deflective Armor feat speaks of being psionically focused so unless you want to go into a manifesting class (which you would seem to want to steer clear of) take the Hidden Talent feat. Gets you one 1st level psionic power but you get to be psionically focused.

For what you want to do I think the prestige class you want to enter would be Vengeance Knight from Champions of Ruin. It is a full BAB prc all about lessening the acp of heavy armor and eventually you get to even sleep in heavy armor without penalty. It also gets some neat features with doing damage to those who hurt you and if you save versus spells, the original caster takes damage.

Vengeance Knight has WF (sword) and Iron Will as prerequisites though. You could go Knight (the base class from PHB II) and at 5th level pick up Iron Will as a bonus feat. Then you can go straight into Vengeance Knight.

[justiceforall]

Cool, I got a few responses :).


The Deflective Armor feat speaks of being psionically focused so unless you want to go into a manifesting class (which you would seem to want to steer clear of) take the Hidden Talent feat. Gets you one 1st level psionic power but you get to be psionically focused.

War Mind and Sanctified Mind both are valid choices I looked at for that particular path.


For what you want to do I think the prestige class you want to enter would be Vengeance Knight from Champions of Ruin. It is a full BAB prc all about lessening the acp of heavy armor and eventually you get to even sleep in heavy armor without penalty.

Doesn't actually totally remove the movement penalty though, which is highly annoying given it does almost everything else you want.


Dread Commando comes to mind. Probably entering with Sneak Attack Hit & Run Fighter.

A level of Ranger is also a possible solution.


Bone Knight

Never seen this one, where's it from?


Champion of Correlon Larethian also has a few neat armor tricks, but also has some steep entry requirements.

One of the entry requirements being "must be an elf"?


then making your heavy armor out of mithral is also a good way to not have to take it off

Unfortunately doesn't work, as then its not longer heavy armour and disqualifies use of Deflective Armour.


Silverbrow Human with Dragonscale Husk (DrM, p 12)

Hrm, unless I'm misreading the ability it doesn't work for this?

Your dragonscale husk is treated as medium armor for the purpose of determining your speed and whether you can use class features or other special abilities.

Your husk isn't treated as armor for the purpose of being affected by spells or other abilities.

[Deox]

Never seen this one, where's it from?

Eberron - Five Nations.

[justiceforall]

Hrm, its not full BAB. It also doesn't clearly state you ignore the penalties of the armour? Or am I missing something.

[WeaselGuy]

One of the entry requirements being "must be an elf"?

Or a Half-Elf, yes.

[Deox]

Hrm, its not full BAB. It also doesn't clearly state you ignore the penalties of the armour? Or am I missing something.

Correct - neither full BAB nor not ignoring armor penalties. The main thing that stuck out to me was the Exoskeleton of Undeath, which fits the:

Bonus points:
- if the character never has to take the armour off
...mainly because the armor fuses to your body and cannot be removed without killing you.

Off the cuff:
Paladin of Tyranny / Crusader / Ur-Priest / Bone Knight

Full BAB can be gained through Divine Power.
Pick up Hidden Talent (Maybe Dimension Hop or Expansion?) -> Deflective Armor
Skill checks can easily be circumvented via Divine Insight + Guidance of the Avatar (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a).
Flight also becomes a thing with spell access (Fly via Travel Domain / Air Walk / Lord of the Sky) and with minimal persistomancy (DMM:Persist) can easily be kept up all day without need of magic items.

[Sith_Happens]

Bonus points:
- if the character never has to take the armour off
- bonus points if the character can get around with reasonable skill whilst wearing said armour (eg: jump, climb, etc)

Since these are listed as "bonus points" rather that main design aims I'm going to assume that they can be fulfilled via item. Especially considering that I don't know of many good ways of fulfilling them besides throwing money at the problem.

+1 Restful Glamered Mithral Full Plate with Least Crystal of Aquatic Action (14950 gp total)

Mithral Full Plate (10500 gp): The gold standard of heavy armors. The main benefit of mithral that you care about is the ACP reduction from -6 ("good luck using any armor-penalized skill ever") to -3 ("if you're actually investing in movement skills you'll still be pretty good at them").
+1 enhancement bonus (+1000 gp): Necessary before you can add other magic properties.
Restful (+500 gp) (Dungeonscape): Lets you sleep in medium or heavy armor.
Least Crystal of Aquatic Action (250 gp) (MIC): Attaches to your armor and makes it not penalize Swim. Sleeping and swimming are the two main things you ever have to take off your armor for, and now they are both non-issues.
Glamered (+2700 gp): Because it'd be a shame if you went through all this expense for armor you can wear forever only for some high society a-hole to tell you you can't wear it to their party.
Optional:

Hellforged (+1000 gp) (DMGII): Reduces ACP by 1, but also reduces max DEX bonus by 1. Oh, and if you're Good you get -1 to attack for as long as you wear it.
Durable (+500 gp) (Dungeonscape): Armor with this ability is immune to oozes and rust monsters.
Ring of Sustenance (2500 gp): Let's just say that for many styles of full plate it's either this or some strategically-placed flaps...

[Ruethgar]

Dragon #355 p92: Eldritch Warrior alternate class level one feat substitution allows you to: Ignore encumbrance from armor weight, count it as one category lighter, +1 Max Dex, Spell Fail divided by 2. Take it on mithril full plate.

There are a couple others of interest, but not for the investment in the Fighter class you would have to take.

[justiceforall]

Since these are listed as "bonus points" rather that main design aims I'm going to assume that they can be fulfilled via item. Especially considering that I don't know of many good ways of fulfilling them besides throwing money at the problem.

There are ways I've found, but yes item is ok.


+1 Restful Glamered Mithral Full Plate with Least Crystal of Aquatic Action

No can do, Mithral disqualifies you for using the Deflective Armour feat.

I do love that you pointed out "Durable" though, because my frickin GM thinks rust monsters/acid spiders/etc are the greatest things ever.

[Extra Anchovies]

Dragon #355 p92: Eldritch Warrior alternate class level one feat substitution allows you to: Ignore encumbrance from armor weight, count it as one category lighter, +1 Max Dex, Spell Fail divided by 2. Take it on mithril full plate.

There are a couple others of interest, but not for the investment in the Fighter class you would have to take.

waitwaitwait is that an ACF that can be taken at 1st level?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Desert Half-Orc (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/environmentalRacialVariants.htm#desertHalfOrcs), use the Half-Humans and Humanlike Races variant in Races of Destiny p150 so you count as a human instead of as an orc.

Half-Orc Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#halfOrcParagon) 1/ Binder 1/ Zhentarim Fighter (archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060327a) 9/ Scarlet Corsair (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20050805b) 9. Get Dead Levels (archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) class features, and trade Ride for Tumble as a class skill (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) for all classes. Bind Aym so you can now move at normal speed while wearing medium or heavy armor, among other benefits, which also enables you to tumble in heavy armor.

Say you visited the Otyugh Hole in CS to get Menacing Demeanor without spending a feat on it. Feats should include Hidden Talent, Heavy Armor Optimization, Greater Heavy Armor Optimization, Deflective Armor, Shield Specialization, Shield Ward, Focused Shield, Weapon Focus/Specialization, Melee Weapon Mastery, and Imperious Command. Put max ranks in Intimidate, and get the Never Outnumbered skill trick in CS but retrain it away if possible once you reach Scarlet Corsair 5.

Get heavy armor with a Restful Crystal in MIC so you can sleep in it, thus you never have to take it off. Get it upgraded with the Fearsome property in Drow of the Underdark, which was printed more recently than MIC and is the most current version of that armor property.

Your intimidate check is max ranks + Cha +2 synergy +4 half-orc paragon +4 menacing demeanor +3 skill focus, which will easily succeed against most opponents. Imperious Command makes affected targets cower for a round and then be shaken the following round, if you use it repeatedly on the same creature(s) that lingering shaken condition will escalate to frightened and then panicked. Per the Rules Compendium if multiple fear effects combine to cause an escalated condition, that escalated condition lasts until every fear effect that contributed to it has elapsed. With Never Outnumbered you can use this on every opponent within 10 ft. once per encounter, with Scarlet Corsair 5 you can affect every opponent within 30 ft. every time you use it. Zhentarim Soldier 9 allows you to use intimidate as a swift action each round, and the Fearsome armor allows you to use intimidate as a move action so you can do this up to three times per round, or you can intimidate twice and still make an attack.

[justiceforall]

Haha, looks awesome. I am a huge fan of the scary half-orc character. I once played a half-orc paladin with racial sub levels in that theme.

I'm totally unfamiliar with Binders (or anything from that book at all) so I'd have to go check into that to understand it.

Where do you get the sneak attack to qualify for Scarlet Corsair?

Also... multiclass penalty :P

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Haha, looks awesome. I am a huge fan of the scary half-orc character. I once played a half-orc paladin with racial sub levels in that theme.

I'm totally unfamiliar with Binders (or anything from that book at all) so I'd have to go check into that to understand it.

Where do you get the sneak attack to qualify for Scarlet Corsair?

Also... multiclass penalty :P

Sorry, I forgot to mention you can pick up Improved Binding and bind Andromalius to get 2d6 sneak attack, and just bind that every day until Scarlet Corsair 2 when its own sneak attack meets its own prerequisite, and switch back to Aym.

Most educated groups I've encountered ignore the multiclassing xp penalties, since they only serve to stifle creativity.


A much simpler method and build would be a Warforged with Adamantine Body, the feat itself is what reduces his speed and not the fact that he's considered to be in heavy armor. So he's not slowed down by armor and can use tumble, and you can take the Quick trait (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm#quick) to put your speed back to 30 ft. In this case, go Warblade 1/ Zhentarim Fighter 9/ Warblade 9/ Fighter 1, you can even get Weapon Supremacy at 20th with your Fighter 10 bonus feat. You can swift action intimidate one target, move action intimidate another, and make both cower with Imperious Command, then use a standard action strike with your natural slam attack and add 1.5x Str to the damage.

[Rebel7284]

Really the main part of the concept sounds like wearing heavy armor with ACP 0.

Here are some ideas:

- DMG2 has a bunch of armor templates, I am sure one or more of them would help with ACP.
- While Dragonscale Husk is technically medium armor, it fits the concept really well...
- Ruby Knight Vindicator, in addition to being a great class, has armored stealth ability.
- I think there are some exotic armors that remain heavy even when made out of Mithral. Check races of stone.
- Tooth of Savnok is a cheap magic item that allows you to move at full speed when wearing heavy armor. Tome of Magic pg. 78-79.

[justiceforall]

Really the main part of the concept sounds like wearing heavy armor with ACP 0.

It's only part of it.

Some of you guys seem to be missing the point of the thread - this isn't a thread asking for help with an idea that I'm going to use or anything like that. Like I said already I've built my character.

This is a build challenge, the requirements of which were put in the OP. Whilst I appreciate the other ideas, if they don't match the reqs in the OP, they aren't really what I put this up for.

[Ruethgar]

waitwaitwait is that an ACF that can be taken at 1st level?

It is attainable at level 1, yes.