Mole

[badgerman]

Hey there,

I tried to create a mole.
Rulebooks not allowed in my group: Dragon Magazine, Players Handbook 2, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, campaign specific rulebooks other than forgotten realms such as dragonlance, ravenloft etc.
Races allowed: This is a tough one since one of the best races for creating moles in my opinion is from the Oriental Adventures rulebook and this s not a Faerun race so not allowed in our group
I am looking forward for more builds.
Since the rules noted above are specific for me an my friends feel free to ignore them.

Race: Ghostwise Halfling
Important because of the racial telepathy which qualifies for the "Mindsight" feat in my opinion. Only 20 ft. but much more flavor than dipping Mindbender in my opinion.

Abilities 32 Buy-Points:
Str 13 +3 when leveling
Dex 14 +2 when leveling
Con 14
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 15

Classes:
Barbarian 2 - fast movement +10 is the most noteable ability gained besides that this is the ghostwise halflings favored class so no xp-penalty for this one
Scout 9 - 3d6 skirmish, fast movement +10, 2 bonus feats and improved uncanny dodge due to synergy with barbarian class
Spirit Shaman 9 - most important is the ability to cast Burrow, Rapid Burrow and Soften Earth and stone. Having a nice set of abilities against hostile spirits (for example earth elementals) is a nice bonus + spirit form

Feats:
1 hd: Expeditious Dodge (RotW p.150)
3 hd: Mobility
6 hd: Mindsight (LoM p.126) - due to this feat you know the exact positions of intelligent beings in a 20 ft. radius. priceless when moving underground.
9 hd: Mobile Spellcasting
12 hd: Practiced Spellcaster
15 hd: Point Blank Shot
18 hd: Quick Reconnoiter (could be good if reaching surface and not knowing the situation on the grid because mindsight didn't help for example)

Scout 4: Spring Attack
Scout 8: Shot on the Run

The regional-feat "Fleet of Foot"(PGtF p.38) would fit very nicely but since it's not for halfling-regions I dumped it.

Equipment:
Spiked Gauntlet and Skiprocks: Ok this is a matter of opinions. In my opinion a mole can't wield a weapon when burrowing so he either has to take the "Quick Draw" feat (which is no solution for dropping the weapon when burrowing again in the same round) or use weapons like the spiked gauntlet you don't have to draw, or the skiprocks which can be drawn like ammunition as a free action. I have to admit that I am not sure if a halfling has to take the Exotic Weapon Proficiency [skiprock] Feat. If, he has to skip Quick Reconnoiter, add this one or maybe the "Quick Draw" feat and change the feat-order.
A magic item with Burrow and Rapid Burrow would be very nice maybe the gauntlets, but I am not much into the create item rules so I don't know if possible.
Boots of Tremorsense - for not burrowing into an ooze :smallwink:

So basically thats it.
Other options I thought about were:
Paladin 15 Knight of the Underdark variant (CC p.49) race maybe Gold Dwarf
and
Cleric 4 / Fighter 3 / Earth Dreamer 5 (RoS p.110) race maybe Lesser Earth Genasi

[Jack_Simth]

Does Underdark count as campaign-specific? It has the Mineralize Warrior spell (page 59), that grants a +1 LA template to the subject (Mineral Warrior, page 97), which grants a straight-up burrow speed. Instant, so not dispellable if someone happens to catch you with a readied action.

[badgerman]

Underdark is fine cause it belongs to the forgotten realms.
Thanks for this one

[Venger]

make sure it's part of your backstory though and you don't try to get the template during gametime, since you have to serve the caster for a year and a day.

[Karl Aegis]

Is a mole really relevant at level 20?

[Pluto!]

You could dip 2 levels of the Ghost Template class (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a), take Flyby Attack, and use your other 18 levels for something more impactful than the Scout/Spirit Shaman thing, say, Master of the Unseen Hand, Sorcerer or Psion.

[Jack_Simth]

Is a mole really relevant at level 20?
Not many creatures are capable of zapping you when you're underground. A burrow speed is crazy-useful as long as you can get through the surrounding materials. With a standard five-foot step, this means you're only subject to your opponents every other round, despite doing full attacks every round yourself (barring readied actions and the like, of course).

If you can arrange to get extra move actions (Travel Devotion)? It becomes MUCH better.

[Venger]

Not many creatures are capable of zapping you when you're underground. A burrow speed is crazy-useful as long as you can get through the surrounding materials. With a standard five-foot step, this means you're only subject to your opponents every other round, despite doing full attacks every round yourself (barring readied actions and the like, of course).

If you can arrange to get extra move actions (Travel Devotion)? It becomes MUCH better.

mobile spellcaster/spring attack actually become viable if you've got a burrow speed.

[ShurikVch]

I tried to create a mole.
Rulebooks not allowed in my group: Dragon MagazinePity. #310 have Mole PrC

Races allowed: This is a tough one since one of the best races for creating moles in my opinion is from the Oriental Adventures rulebook and this s not a Faerun race so not allowed in our groupIsn't Kara-Tur an "Oriental Adventures in Faerûn"?

How about to play as Elemental? They have Earth Glide or burrow speed...
Earth Elemental Creature template (Manual of the Planes) burrow as Xorn; LA +4
Thomil template applied to Medium Earth Elemental (Unapproachable East) have LA +5; since template itself add only +1, it strongly suggesting Medium Earth Elemental is playable with 4 HD and LA +4
Large Earth Elemental have monstrous class in Savage Species
Galeb Duhr (Monster Manual II) have burrow speed 10' and Stone Shape at will; 8 HD and LA +5

Earth Minion is from Bestiary of Krynn (sorry, Dragonlance!), but have burrow speed 40'; 6 HD and LA +3

Also, there are ways to turn into Earth Elemental permanently (Elemental Savant/Elemental Archon of Earth) or temporally (Wild Shape, Shapechange)

Lycanthropy from Dire Badger or Wolverine give you burrow speed 10', and in Faerûn afflicted lycanthrope is only LA +1

Umber Hulk is able to burrow through solid rock, and even leave tunnel behind (if he wish so). Savage Species have monstrous class for UH, and Aberration Wild Shape feat allow to take UH's form temporary

[Saintheart]

Pity. #310 have Mole PrC
Isn't Kara-Tur an "Oriental Adventures in Faerûn"?

Basically, but the setting hasn't been supported formally since 2nd edition. James Wyatt's own comments -- from this page (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/ps/ps20011006a) -- are as follows:


Wizards: So, where is Kara-Tur headed?

James: I know there are Kara-Tur fans out there asking what's going to happen to their favorite campaign. The easy answer is, right now, nothing. The beauty is that the new Oriental Adventures really gives you everything you need to use your old Kara-Tur material with D&D. If you're a Kara-Tur fan, you have the setting material -- the boxed set, the modules -- and in the new Oriental Adventures, you'll find third edition D&D versions of the races, classes, spells, and monsters referenced in that setting material.

i.e. It's basically "we can't be bothered issuing a FR sourcebook specific to Kara-Tur, make one up for yourself." Which rather makes the ruling that "you don't get no setting-specific books outside Forgotten Realms" worthy of an eye-roll, but hey, it's the DM's game.

[BilltheCynic]

If you want a more flavorfull option of detecting opponents underground than Mindsight, you could pick up Scorpion Sense (Sa 53). Its only prerequisite is having the feat Scorpion's Resolve (no prereq, same book, gives +4 to saves against mind affecting). Scorpion Sense basically gives you tremorsense of 10 ft, though this increases to 20 ft if you are in an area with at least an inch of ash, sand, etc. Fun fact: though Scorpion Sense basically gives you tremorsense, it does not explicitly label it as tremorsense, so by RAW it is not foiled by Darkstalker (however IMHO any sane DM would let Darkstalker counter it.)

Comparison to Mindsight:

Scorpion Sense: Can detect mindless creatures, fits the flavor better, has a very easy prereq that does not restrict you to specific classes or races (hello Strongheart halfling)

Mindsight: Has a longer range on Ghostwise halflings (unless you are in a sandy or volcanic area), also tells you some basic information about the creature, requires telepathy which can help you communicate with your party

[badgerman]

@ ShuikVch
Wow cool options, thanks for that. In my specific case the lycanthropy would be the only option, cause LA+1 is max for our PCs. But generally I love all the other options too.

@BilltheCynic
In general you are right, the scorpion sense is more flavorful for the burrower. I like it.
But I don`t like the prereq.
In my opinion this is one of the few cases being able not to take one of the usual suspects (human or strongheart halfling) because the bonus feat is wasted for the prereq anyway.
Besides a wildernes-race like the ghostwise-halfling is more flavorful than a human or strongheart for a mole in my opinion, but that should nothing to be discussed anymore :smallsmile:

To be honest I want to create a Sand Warrior at the moment, thanks :smallbiggrin: