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JEntropy
2007-05-25, 10:54 AM
Hey everyone, new to the forums and excited to be here!

I'm hoping you guys can give me a little help. After wrapping up the last campaign a few months ago, one of my DM's will soon be starting a new campaign within the same world setting, albeit with different characters and time period. He's having us start (at least, and probably spend a significant amount of time) in a rainforest type environment, and strongly emphasized the rain element of it. When I joked that he was placing us in monsoon season, he disagreed, saying "monsoon season implies that the rain will stop." Further, he suggested that metal-reliant characters may struggle, due to the rust-friendly environment.

I need help rolling up a character for the game. I had originally planned on a Vow of Poverty oriented monk, who was also generally nonviolent. I was planning to work towards Defensive Throw (CW) and generally disable opponents rather than dealing lethal damage. However, it struck me that a monk focusing on trip attacks might not be the best suited to a forest environment, with all its quadripedal menaces. Back to the drawing board...

Characters start at 5th level. Everything Core is allowed, and non-core books are admitted on a case-by-case basis. This being said, he's generally amenable as long as he has the chance to see it, so feel free to use your imagination with sources.

I had a few ideas bouncing around in my head:

- Druid: obviously great for any wilderness campaign, and suddenly their metal restriction doesnt seem like such a bad thing...only problem is I am drawing a blank on any exciting character concepts that are druid-oriented.

- Ranger: another "duh" class, but I was reading through an old issue of Dungeon Magazine and saw the Runner of Elhonna PrC, and thought that could be interesting...

- After reading a Gish thread, building a Swashbuckler3/Wizard2 and working towards Bladesinger seemed like an intriguing concept. Won't worry as much about metal armor, but my poor rapier...

- Reading through PHB2 last night, I was looking over the Barbarian information (I'm playing one in another campaign, but that's fodder for another post) and was intrigued by the Whirlwind starting package. Light armored character would be good, definitely tough, but I'm not sure I should play the same class in two different campaigns at once.

- Shugenja? The elemental focus makes the class very naturally based, and the name sounds cool. Maybe that's what drew me to it.

Obviously, my ideas haven't amounted to much. Interested to see what you guys have in mind, because I'm definitely struggling with this one...

Yuki Akuma
2007-05-25, 10:59 AM
You don't really have to worry about metal items rusting, unless it's magical rain. A little rain (even a LOT of rain) never hurt metal. You need otherfactors, and overpowering rain would jsut wash those away. Just take care of your weapons and armour and try to cover them up when you're not using them!

Or carve your stuff out of wood and get someone to cast Ironwood.

Perhaps get everything made of crystal (it functions exactly like steel, and doesn't rust). You can find it in the psionic section of the SRD.

JEntropy
2007-05-25, 11:09 AM
You don't really have to worry about metal items rusting, unless it's magical rain. A little rain (even a LOT of rain) never hurt metal. You need otherfactors, and overpowering rain would jsut wash those away. Just take care of your weapons and armour and try to cover them up when you're not using them!

Or carve your stuff out of wood and get someone to cast Ironwood.

Perhaps get everything made of crystal (it functions exactly like steel, and doesn't rust). You can find it in the psionic section of the SRD.

Knowing my DM, it will be magical rain if that's what it takes.

The Ironwood idea was something I considered before (in addition to woodshaping things for myself, if I don't feel like investing in craft), but it will be a while before I can do that for myself (11th level, starting at 5th) and, again knowing my DM, he likes to get us stranded or alone, so relying on someone else to cast it for me may not be wise.

Thanks for the input, any other ideas?

warty goblin
2007-05-25, 11:12 AM
Here's a possible Druid character idea- concept only, no class info:
Be a druid that only really cares about one or two types of creature- say oak trees and squirrells, and approaches every other element of nature roughly as a squirrell would. So trees would be good, and you would have a strange and irrational fear of lots of relatively weak predators. You would also be a complete packrat, and would be fiercely territorial, defending your percieved territory from others of your kind- in this case druids. See if you can get your DM to OK a squirrell animal companion (or a dire squirrell) to complete the package.


For Ranger you could do a similar thing and instead of going for some "defender of nature" archtype, instead be an active participant in nature- always hunting the weakest animals in a herd. As the character levels up he could move up the food chain as well- so at first he would have the hunting patterns etc of some smallish predator, but by level ten he would be more closely associated with a bear or something.

Hope this was of some use.

Smiley_
2007-05-25, 11:39 AM
A druid build might be interesting. I have had a concept for some time of a druid that specializes in trees, you may take it and run if you want.

Said druid takes weapon focus (slam) and combat reflexes. be sure to take some levels in Natures Warrior described in the Complete Warrior book. as you progress, you should have some nasty plant forms you can take. Tree-like monsters can be nasty in combat. by 15th level, you can turn into a plant that no one can get close to due to the long reach and combat reflexes with the 4 or so slam attacks. Also take augmented critical and improved natural weapon (slam) to deal truly massive amounts of damage.

You can tweak other aspects of the druid as you see fit.

B!shop
2007-05-25, 11:50 AM
I would give a try also to an elemental (water) cleric, worshipping the cloud/rain god, maybe built around some simil-shamanic barbarian cult.
He will dress light and primitive and get ranks in survival, knowledge (nature) and profession(alchemy/Herbalism).

TheThan
2007-05-25, 12:15 PM
You might want to look into the Shugenja in complete divine. Elemental magic is the class’s specialty

edit
you might also want to take a look at the spirit shaman (also in complete divine).

Jasdoif
2007-05-25, 12:37 PM
You could use dragonhide (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialMaterials.htm#dragonhide) armor. It's not metal, so it doesn't rust.

DreadArchon
2007-05-25, 12:54 PM
Perhaps get everything made of crystal (it functions exactly like steel, and doesn't rust). You can find it in the psionic section of the SRD.
I can't find it (though I didn't look all that thoroughly). Link?

Jasdoif
2007-05-25, 12:55 PM
I can't find it (though I didn't look all that thoroughly). Link?Here you go (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/specialMaterials.htm). It's under Psionic Items, probably why you didn't find it.

DreadArchon
2007-05-25, 01:15 PM
Here you go (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/specialMaterials.htm). It's under Psionic Items, probably why you didn't find it.
Ah, thanks! The website I use for the SRD (here (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/home.html)) doesn't seem to have it (not the only thing it's missing, but I like the layout), and my Ctrl-F of the WotC RTF files got tedious enough that I figured it would be quicker to just ask.

goat
2007-05-25, 01:30 PM
Sounds like he's planning on damaging melee based characters even more than normal.

Jasdoif
2007-05-25, 02:43 PM
Ah, thanks! The website I use for the SRD (here (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/home.html)) doesn't seem to have it (not the only thing it's missing, but I like the layout), and my Ctrl-F of the WotC RTF files got tedious enough that I figured it would be quicker to just ask.It's not missing, I found it there. (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicItems.html#special-materials)


Sounds like he's planning on damaging melee based characters even more than normal.Depends, really. RAW, rain in a dense forest environment restricts the maximum given range for spot checks to detect someone is 60 feet; by the time you can see an opponent you're almost certainly in melee or charge range.

Koji
2007-05-25, 04:01 PM
Convince the party to roll up all wizards, clerics, and druids and teach him why gimping melee classes is a bad idea.

goat
2007-05-25, 04:12 PM
Ape Totem Barbarians.

Classic Gorrila fighting.

(sorry)

But really, in a tree-heavy environment, a climb speed could be nice, makes for mobility and provides options. Equip them with a greatclub, some hide armour... It could work.

Is he going to be punishing archers too? A rainforest environment would be murder on a bow kept strung. A quick ambush and any archer could be in trouble.

Edit - Oh, and will the wizards spellbook get wet and have the ink run? The Clerics holy symbol start to rot? Will animal companions get bogged down, or catch strange diseases? If he's going to pick on someone, he should really pick on everyone...

DreadArchon
2007-05-25, 05:23 PM
It's not missing, I found it there. (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/psionicItems.html#special-materials)
Ah, thank you. (I'm, ah, rather embarrased that I didn't think to look at the header link's own page. :smallredface: )

Okay, perpetual rain? Play an aquatic race and carry around a bucket to take breaths with. And be a Cleric to Make Whole anything that the rain damages (or even Prestidigitation, if your DM would allow it to be enough).

Edit: Though I fail to see why perpetual rain does things that adventuring underwater doesn't, like rust magic armor at speeds exceeding those of real life metal rusting in real life situations.

JEntropy
2007-05-25, 10:12 PM
Ape Totem Barbarians.

Classic Gorrila fighting.

(sorry)

But really, in a tree-heavy environment, a climb speed could be nice, makes for mobility and provides options. Equip them with a greatclub, some hide armour... It could work.

Is he going to be punishing archers too? A rainforest environment would be murder on a bow kept strung. A quick ambush and any archer could be in trouble.

Edit - Oh, and will the wizards spellbook get wet and have the ink run? The Clerics holy symbol start to rot? Will animal companions get bogged down, or catch strange diseases? If he's going to pick on someone, he should really pick on everyone...

You're one of several people to make comments about how this would impact other classes/items. I'll definitely raise the question with him when I talk to him next, but I apologize for not having a better answer for you now.

Still, I love the Ape Totem Bbn idea, I never would have thought of that. I really appreciate the ideas from everyone, from using alternate materials in equipment to different character concepts. So a big thanks to everyone so far, and hopefully there's more on the way :smallsmile:

SpiderBrigade
2007-05-25, 10:25 PM
Hmm, I thin it depends a lot on if your party is native to this rainy area, or is arriving from outside. If the latter, it might be entertaining to go through a (brief! it must be brief!) period where your gear rots away in the oppressive humidity. Sort of a "US Army in Vietnam" kind of situation :smallbiggrin: Then your DM should quickly allow you to find/learn about items that are locally-made and designed to stand up to such conditions, and you go from there.

If the former, there should be regional variations on equipment that you are familiar with which provide all the same choices as the standard dry-weather gear. Otherwise, yes, the equipment-reliant classes will be unnecessarily gimped. And, really, a fighter from a jungle setting needs armor just as much as a desert fighter (because he is mechanically identical) and the culture would therefore find a way to build non-rusting, non-rotting armor.

Yeah, talk with your DM about it. I think his idea is really cool, and plays with the basic assumptions of what a D&D setting is like in an interesting way. But he needs to be very aware of what could happen mechanically because of his decisions. Find a way to get the interesting flavor, without hurting balance.

vanyell
2007-05-25, 10:35 PM
either in complete adventurer, or in the 3.0 book song and silence, is the magical goo waterproofing. does exactly what it says. buy a jar or two, and make any character you want

iceman
2007-05-26, 01:10 AM
Ape Totem Barbarians.

Edit - Oh, and will the wizards spellbook get wet and have the ink run? The Clerics holy symbol start to rot? Will animal companions get bogged down, or catch strange diseases? If he's going to pick on someone, he should really pick on everyone...

Wizard spell books, due to their magical nature, and the dire need for a wizard to have one are resistant to fire and water damage (not sure how much but I think fully)

It doesn't due to have your only source of power destroyed by a fireball or a light drizzle.

MellowMelon
2007-05-26, 02:21 AM
Brachiation, a feat from the Complete Adventurer, allows a swinging speed equal to base land speed in dense forsts/jungle.

You have the opportunity to create Tarzan right at your fingertips.:smallbiggrin:

Seriuosly though, a swinging Ape totem barbarian would be awesome.

Also, if you really need rust proof weaponry that doesn't lack in flavor, look in Frostburn. Most of the weapons detailed are primitive exotic weapons. (I personally love the tiger skull club)

They can be wielded without the -4 penalty, but may break without EWP.