LoL Kindred as a 3.5 character.

[Tree Tower]

Hi folks

I seem to have stumbled in to a bit of trouble with this one. The character concept is Kindred, an upcoming champion from League of Legends. Basically a ranged bow wilder with a bit of healing and shadow wolf companion. Now I do realise that this sounds like any druid, but having never actually played one I am stumped with weather that would work or is there a better class to make Kindred with.

I would appreciate any advice on classes, feats, character progression, pretty much anything. Any book/source material can be used other than Tome of Battle and Psionics


This is a link to Kindred’s champion spotlight if anyone wants to check them out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e2NfvtAZvQ

[Boci]

Between Champions of Ruin and I think the Spell Compendium rangers got some cool spells that synergies well with archery. There a load of swift action spells that effect the next shot made. Auto crit, ignore wood (trees grant no cover), limited sneak attack, one arrow becomes 1d4+1. At least one is necromantic in feel, although its 4th level. Negative energy levels if the target fails a fort save I think, I'd need to check. If you want more necromantic spells you'll need to take sword of the arcane order to gain wizards spells, but then you'll also need int.

Rangers already get animal companions, so that is sorted, plus healing spells. This build will be fairly feat intensive since you will want some bonus artery feats, plus you need practiced caster to make up for 1/2 CL.

[Maxrim]

You could be an Anthropomorphic Sheep. You'd get +2 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Wis, and -2 Cha, and have to take 2 Monstrous Humanoid HD.
The Wisdom bonus is nice for casting. You could either be a Druid or a Shaman. They both get animal companions. Alternatively, you could be a Hexblade, and take the Dark Companion Alternate Class Feature. You can gain Kindred's Ult by casting a Chain Spell Delay Death, either by, as a Druid or Hexblade, taking Extra Spell (Delay Death), or by choosing the Destiny domain as a Shaman.

I'd go Shaman, as it makes Delay Death easier, and you can take advantage of the update to it in Dragon Magazine 318 on page 34 in combination with your +2 BAB from your Monstrous Humanoid HD from being an Anthro Sheep to make a not-bad melee character, especially while you're catching up on spells.

Unfortunately, while Kindred will gain their ult at level 6, you won't gain yours till level 7 without some serious shenanigans.

Sheep stats are here: http://www.ericlboyd.com/dnd/realms_bestiary_v1.pdf.zip
Anthropomorphic Animal template is in Savage Species.
Dark Companion ACF is in the Player's Handbook 2.

[Troacctid]

The Hunter class from Pathfinder seems like a great fit. More combat-focused than a Druid, but with a stronger animal companion than a Ranger. And if you use the Divine Hunter archetype, you gain access to a domain of your choice, so you can take the Destiny domain and snag Delay Death for the ult.

[Yael]

Be sure to also build a deity named Riot Games, and whose purpose is to nerf your dps.

[TheifofZ]

Be sure to also build a deity named Riot Games, and whose purpose is to nerf your dps.

But only if you're Irelia.

If it's not to duplicate Kindred down to the letter (4 abilities, ult at 6, and so on), I'd say go Druid with the Anthropomorphic Sheep. Pick up the Zen Archery feat.
Blow a feat to change your wolf into something intelligent, like a Warg.
Spend more feats to keep your archery up to snuff. You don't care, you're a druid. You could be a druid with Toughness in all your feat slots and you'd still be solid.
Look into ways to imbue spells into arrows.
Be TN.

[Yael]

But only if you're Irelia.

No, if you're Irelia, make your portfolio to include nerfing her.

Anyway, as said, Druid covers most of it, it isn't specifically a hunter class, but it serves the kit.

[Essence_of_War]

I find Hexblade trading familiar for Dark Companion then taking Obtain Familiar and Improved Familiar to be really saucy.

Obtain Familiar makes your familar not-terrible since you use your Hexblade class levels rather than your caster level to determine its power. Improved Familiar lets you take a Winter Wolf. Winter Wolves are great.

As far as feats go, I'd take a look at:

Dreadful Wrath (PGtF, regional ask your DM)
Imperious Command (Cowering is a good condition to inflict, a nice match for Mounting Dread!)
Minor Shapeshift (CM) (Esp. the vigor mode)
Power Attack (obvs)

I know Kindred is a ranged champion, but you can duplicate some of the effect of Dance of Arrows with the Whirling Blade spell (lvl2, SC). The Hound of Doom spell (lvl 3, CW) can let you sort of emulate Wolf's Frenzy. It summons a fairly powerful shadow Dire Wolf. I'm amused by the idea of unleashing your Winter Wolf familiar, Dark Companion, and Hound of Doom on a single opponent. Wolf's Frenzy indeed. You don't have Delay Death, which is a perfect match for Kindred's ultimate, and even if you did, you probably don't have the feat slots or spells slots for Chain Spell and chaining it to all allies. You do have crazy useful spells. Like Polymorph. Also, Solid Fog, Stinking Cloud, Enervation, Dispel Magic, Charm Monster, Alter Self, Slow (hey look! There is another Mounting Dread effect!)

There is an unoffical-but-from-official-source Hexblade fix, since the Hexblade came out very early in 3.5, and is sort of overshadowed in comparison to things like the Duskblade that came out later:



From WotC_Mearls (D&D Lead Designer)
The hexblade suffers a little because he came on the scene relatively early in 3.5's life. As R&D pushes the boundaries of the game, we learn that some things we thought were risky or potentially broken aren't. Other times, we learn things that look fine don't actually work in play.

Armored mages fall into the first category. Them seem really powerful, but in the long run they aren't. Spells and magic items allow an unarmored mage to build great defenses. The spell mage armor is as good as medium armor, and its duration allows most mages to keep it active at all times. If you compare the hexblade to the duskblade from PH 2, you can see how the thinking has changed.

If you want to boost the hexblade, I'd try the following changes:

Good Fortitude save
Curse ability usable 1 + the hexblade's Cha modifier per day
Curse ability usable as a swift action
Curse ability does not count as used if the target makes his saving throw
Ability to cast in light or medium armor and while carrying a light shield or buckler
At 6th level, the hexblade can cast one hexblade spell per day as a swift action, as long as its original casting time is a standard action or faster. He gains an additional use of this power at levels 8, 11, 14, and 18.

The key to the hexblade is his curse ability, but it's a little un-fun to have it so limited in use. The hexblade also has trouble casting spells and using his melee attacks, so shifting spells to swift actions fits in with the idea of an armored mage.

[Tree Tower]

Thank you for all the advice.

We are starting as lvl1 characters so what I’m thinking so far:
Str 10
Dex 12(+2)
Con 16 (-2)
Int 10
Wis 18
Cha 8

Elf, to get the longbow proficiency (As fun as it would be to play Anthropomorphic Sheep there is no way my GM will ever let that happen.)
Druid
Disadvantages: Haunted Past, Cold-Blooded
Feats: Point Blank Shot, Improved Animal Companion, Enchanted Animal Companion (Worg)

Picking up Zen Archery at lvl3. Then Precise Shot and Rapid Shot later on.

Alternatively I can take Precise Shot instead of Improved Animal Companion and have a normal wolf until lvl4 and then get worg.

Any thoughts.

[Xerlith]

If you don't plan on Wildshaping, you may want to trade it for Aspect of Nature (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#wildShapeVariantAspectOfN ature) or simple druid varant (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#druid) instead.

Early on, precise shot is way better than Worg. The normal wolf fares just fine.

[Tree Tower]

I do like the idea of simple druid variant as I’m not the greatest fan of wildshape and it would bring me down to a closer tear level as the other characters in the group. Also it’s very characterful.