Help me build Toph!

[Bluuegg]

Hello forums,

My gaming group has begun a second session every month and we are going for a very fun and easy going campaign (Our main game is quite the opposite and we thought this would be a good balance). We the PCs have decided to come up with renditions of well known characters from other sources and I drew Toph! While I am not well versed in "The Last Air Bender" I do know who Toph is and have watched some Youtubes to get a better idea on the character.

I could use some help in actually building this character to be fully effective but keeping her flavor true. We can use almost all of the 3.5 material for these builds. We have been warned that the setting and obstacles will be higher then our set levels (to keep from complete spoof builds).

So far I have thought to make a Sorcerer and draw upon the entire library of spells to grab as much "earth" effecting spells as I can. I am not sure of the feats that would make the most sense, and I am sure that there is a better class or class-combination out there to make this awesome! Also I am presenting these blind rules for my DM's approval!(http://community.wizards.com/forum/whats-player-do/threads/1140386)

I appreciate anyone's suggestions and help on this project!

[AvatarVecna]

If I were doing it, I'd just make a Druid 7/Earth Dreamer 5/Druid +X; take the "Deadly Hunter" ACF from Unearthed Arcana to get Wild Shape traded away for some more in-character traits. Take Earth Sense (both to qualify for Earth Dreamer and for its own merits) and refluff your blasting/utility spells as being earth-bending effects. It's not a perfect fit, since you're still capable of those other, less earthbendy spells (like summoning, teleportation, airbendy stuff, and so on), but it's a decent mix.

[Elric VIII]

Well, I've tried to build a seismic mage before and I can tell you that there is an unusual scarcity of earth/rock-based spells. I found the best way to simulate this was actually with a psionic blaster (I used a psion, but a wilder's more limited power selection might be easier to keep on-theme). I focused of the various crystal powers like crystal chard, swarm of crystals, etc refllavored as conjuring or manipulating the earth. I would talk to your DM about ignoring the terrible ruling in CPsi that makes DR apply to these.

The power touchsight even works like her tremorsense.

[gorfnab]

Is homebrew an option? This Avatar The Last Airbender D20 (http://www.scribd.com/doc/58731271/Avatar-the-Last-Airbender-D20) Book from this site (https://sites.google.com/site/avatard20/) provides a decent way to incorporate bending into d&d.

[khadgar567]

well path finder actually has a toph class ready called kineticts you can even grab bolin from the same class

[Oberon Kenobi]

If you're sticking with official 3.5 material, I'd dip at least one level in Sand Shaper; it adds a boatload of sand- and earth-themed spells to your spells known. The core Sand Shape ability can be very cool, too, depending on how it's interpreted. Sand as opposed to stone isn't Toph's usual shtick, but she bends the stuff to great effect in the desert arc.

Spell Thematics can make pretty much anything look like earthbending. Turn your Mage Armor into a suit of marble! Your magic missiles are high-impact pebbles! Bigby's Hands are carved from stone!

[Chronos]

I wouldn't make her a spellcaster at all. I'd go with Warblade or possibly Swordsage, and give her mostly Stone Dragon maneuvers. That's also how I'd go for firebending (though, of course, Desert Wind in that case).

[AvatarVecna]

I wouldn't make her a spellcaster at all. I'd go with Warblade or possibly Swordsage, and give her mostly Stone Dragon maneuvers. That's also how I'd go for firebending (though, of course, Desert Wind in that case).

I'd definitely go Swordsage; it's more Wis-focused than Int-focused, which strikes me as a lot more "Toph" in feel.

[Prime32]

I wouldn't make her a spellcaster at all. I'd go with Warblade or possibly Swordsage, and give her mostly Stone Dragon maneuvers. That's also how I'd go for firebending (though, of course, Desert Wind in that case).This, and maybe the Deepstone Sentinel PrC.

Consider urdunnir dwarf (Races of Faerun) as your race, if you can get the DM to lower its +4 LA to something more bearable - it gets the Stone Walk ability, and stone shape and shape metal as at-will SLAs.

The Scorpion's Sense feat from Sandstorm gives you tremorsense 10ft, increasing to 20ft on sand or loose earth. The book also has the scorpion carapace armor enchantment, which grants it and its prereq feat as bonus feats for +32,000gp.
There's also the Tremor Graft from Magic of Eberron which grants 20ft tremorsense but requires a move action to use. Costs 6,000gp, reduces your HP by 2 and your speed by 5ft.
If you're using Magic of Incarnum then the landshark boots soulmeld grants a similar effect when bound to the Feet chakra, but it starts at 10ft and scales up to 30ft or more if you invest essentia.
The Horizon Walker and Cavelord (Underdark) PrCs grant 30ft tremorsense, but at rather high levels.

Try to stick to abilities that rely on saves rather than attack rolls, to avoid suffering a miss chance for not being able to see your opponent.

[Bluuegg]

Thank you all for the suggestions and help!

Sadly I may not use homebrews, but thank you for the suggestion.

Our starting level is 8 so I am going to look into how I can build a Swordsage to feel as close to the character as I can. I didn't think of any sort of tremorsense so that is a big help! Studying up on the swordsage and then working the feats is the next step!

[marphod]

The problem with Swordsage is that there are almost no ranged effects in the schools the sword sage has access too, and pretty much every bending attack is at reach, if not
range.

Given that, I'd probably go with a Sorcerer selecting earth based spells, or possibly a Wood or Metal Wu Jen. (Is there an Elemental-based ACF for Wizards or Sorcerers? I can't think of any.)

Alternatively, a Binder, Warlock, or Dragonfire Adept carefully selecting Visages/Invocations with a re-skin for the appropriate flavor, could also work.

[Bluuegg]

The problem with Swordsage is that there are almost no ranged effects in the schools the sword sage has access too, and pretty much every bending attack is at reach, if not
range.

Given that, I'd probably go with a Sorcerer selecting earth based spells, or possibly a Wood or Metal Wu Jen. (Is there an Elemental-based ACF for Wizards or Sorcerers? I can't think of any.)

Alternatively, a Binder, Warlock, or Dragonfire Adept carefully selecting Visages/Invocations with a re-skin for the appropriate flavor, could also work.

Im running into this Swordsage issue youre speaking of...While it has the CQC feel of the character, then "Bending" aspect of Toph just isnt there. The issue with Sorcerer is there just isnt very many earth based spells. its staggering actually. I'm actually considering homebrewing spells that match other ones but are just more earthy.

[AvatarVecna]

Just go Deadly Hunter Druid, with a monk or swordsage dip if you can't get past the lack of martial arts skill, going into Earth Dreamer. You'll have Wis to AC (maybe twice), and you can use Spell Thematics to make non-earth spells look like Earth-bending.

EDIT: Alternatively, a Swordsage/Druid using one of the magic/maneuver theurge classes and focusing on Stone Dragon can be awesome both in melee combat and with the BFC stuff.

[Xerlith]

Something along the lines of Iron Heart/Stone Dragon/Setting Sun Unarmed Swordsage4/Warblade1/Bloodstorm Blade with Deepstone Sentinel could probably work. The blindness part is tough to reproduce, though.

Bloodstorm Blade 2 or 4 to reproduce ranged attacking (with unarmed strikes) refluffed as hurling stones. Deepstone Sentinel for, well, stone goodness.


Flaw: Murky-Eyed, grab the Blind-Fight feat. I had a build that sorta kinda worked.

[GreyBlack]

The blindness, you'll probably have to recreate that just using flavor (unless your DM is willing to toss you a blindness flaw in exchange for tremorsense of X range).

If I may make a suggestion, though, perhaps something along the lines of Spirit Shaman might work? Toph is rather charasmatic and seems to have learned her bending from the badgermoles (spirit guide: Badger) for her bending abilities, plus something along the lines of Swordsage/Warblade for her martial arts abilities. So perhaps build into Spirit Shaman 6/Swordsage 2/gestalt PrC 10/X 2?

[Nifft]

Our starting level is 8 so I am going to look into how I can build a Swordsage to feel as close to the character as I can. I didn't think of any sort of tremorsense so that is a big help! Studying up on the swordsage and then working the feats is the next step!

Swordage Tremorsense: refluff the Diamond Mind stance Hearing the Air (level 5 stance, so next level for you).

Other Toph maneuvers could steal heavily from Setting Sun. Just flavor them as "use the Earth & Stone to ..." do whatever the maneuver does.

Like:
- Counter Charge - disrupt the terrain to ruin a charge attack and push your opponent around
- Mighty Throw - a pillar of earth hurls your opponent 10 ft.
- Step of the Wind - manipulate the terrain so it doesn't hinder your movement; gain bonus against foes in difficult terrain