Need help making some high damage mercs/followers

[KHillBox]

First time posting here so please be gentle :P

A little fluff (sorry don't know how to put those "spoiler" thingys in). The next part of the D&D 3/3.5 campaign I'm in is going to be a massive battle and my DM is letting me make a squad of soldiers, 18 level 5's to be exact. Our epic characters killed a quasi-deity that was trying to merge several artifacts into one. Killing her tore open a portal that couldn't be closed that connected to the Abyss and Baator. Now the blood feud is starting to spill out onto Oerth. So the massive battle is going to be against the temporarily aligned devils and demons looking to get a foot hold on our plane. There will also be lots of undead as we were also in the process of trying to destroy a very powerful demi-lich :S lol.

So I'm looking for help making some of the 18 mercs, I've already written out some crusaders to be the tanks of the squad and they're pretty beastly. I was thinking some clerics to back them up for spell countering via divine defiance, and some healing/dealing with the undead. All I'm missing now is some damage dealers. I'm open to suggestions but I think to round out the little group having something ranged would be best.

restrictions;
-has to be human
-level 5
-any class available to 3.5
-all 3rd edition and 3.5 edition books for feats, we also have pretty much all third party stuff so nothing is necessarily off the table feats wise.
-flaws are allowed
-not really a restriction but preferably ranged
-able to deal good damage(single target or AoE) over a very long combat, so if it can only do the damage or trick you're suggesting a few times a day that wont work.

Any items you can think of to go with them that will help would be good to mention too.

Any help would greatly appreciated :) thanks in advance!

[yellowrocket]

Druids with animal companions would be of use. That's am extra meat shield, they deal a decent amount of damage, as does the druid who can heal by wild shaping and adds battlefield control skills as well with entangle and obscuring mist.

Ps summon nature's ally for extra allies.

[Esprit15]

Barbarians with Extended and Extra Rage should do some serious damage, but may not be long enough lasting for you, depending on just how long you need them to fight.

If those don't have the staying power you would like, Warblades (focusing on White Raven, Iron Heart, and Tiger Claw) would be a good choice for melee damage, while Scouts running around the back of the lines would be good for ranged damage. Combined with the Crusaders keeping them alive and doing some damage of their own, you should have a formidable group of soldiers.

[Iku Rex]

... epic characters ...

... level 5's ...

... very long combat ...

http://abload.de/img/bender-laughingv3j53.gif


My suggestion would be to focus on survival rather than damage-dealing. Try to find ways for your guys to stay behind cover and away from the main fighting while still being useful.

Stack as many area buffs as possible. (You need to keep track of the bonus types to avoid unintentional redundancy.)

Some ideas:

* Paladin(s) with Expanded Aura of Courage (HoB) feat and/or Crest of Bravery (MIC).
* Marshalls (MinH). Save bonuses in particular. Commander’s Pennant (FoW)? Helm of Tactics (MIC)? Horn of Resilience (MIC)? Rearguard's Cape (MIC)?
* Bards with boosted Inspire Courage. Badge of Valor (MIC), Song of the Heart feat (ECS), Resounding Voice spell (HoB), MW drums, horn (CAdv), Dragonfire Inspiration (DrM), etc.
* Dragon Shamans (PHBII).
* Feats. Good Devotion (CCha). Protection Devotion (CCha). Draconic Aura (DrM). No doubt more.
* Spells. Many options. Elation (BoED) is a good one. Mass Conviction (SpC)? Cloak of Bravery (SpC)? Recitation (SpC, Purification domain lv3)?
* Items. Sphere of Awakening (MIC)? Wands of Cure Light Wounds. Amber Amulets of Vermin (SpC) are cheap and lots of vermin could make a good distraction.

[KHillBox]

There will be plenty of things for the lower levels soldiers to do, not all the enemies are epic they still have 'foot soldiers' too. Survival is covered in the clerics and crusaders, just need something to deal damage out of that group. But I'll go through your ideas, at a quick glance seems pretty good.

Good suggestions so far though, only concern I have is potential flying opponents and having melee damage dealers break formation and not be behind the wall of crusaders and cleric protection. Not sure if spellcasters will be as useful in this in the long run though I'll have to look at summon natures ally, and scouts only get their skirmish out to 30ft right? that might be enough though.

[MisterKaws]

Get tons of Druids, then get some friendly mage to use epic spell levels to chain polymorph any object on their animal companions, then just turn them into something OP, maybe get them all some lizard/dinossaurs and turn them into juvenile bronze dragons(exactly the maximum of 15 hd, permanent for being same kingdom, same class(reptiles), and related), the druids should continue being humans to preserve the animal companion feature, otherwise all those dragons would disperse.

[ben-zayb]

Rogue 1 / Warlock 1 / Marshal 1 / Sneak-Attack Hit-and-Run Fighter 1 / Spellthief 1

Feats: Able Learner (1), Craven (B), Precise Shot (F), Point Blank Shot (F), Blend into Shadows (3)
Hide: 17+DEX+CHA = 8(ranks) +5(Boots of Elvenkind) +2(masterwork tool) +2(Shadow Silk armor) +DEX +CHA(Motivate Dexterity)

Eldritch Blast + Sneak Attack + Craven + Point-Blank Shot:
4d6+5+1 = average 20 damage; 30ft-range ranged touch + flat-footed AC

Bard 5

Feats: Invisible Spell (1), Heighten Spell (B), Talfirian Song (F), Metamagic Song (F), Fiery Burst (3)


Fiery Burst (7th level fire spell)
7d6 = average ~24 fire damage; 30ft-range 5ft-radius DC17+CHA Reflex Half

Savage-Progression Ghost 2 / Marshal 1 / Hit-and-Run Dungeoncrasher Fighter 2

Feats: Jotunbrud (1), Flyby Attack (B), Ghostly Grasp (F), Lifesense (F), ??? (Fighter), ??? (3)


Dungeoncrasher:
4d6+2*CHA damage = average 14+2*CHA damage; 880ft-range, Bull Rush modifier: 4+2*CHA = CHA +CHA(Art of War) +4(Jotunbrud)

Violent Thrust (12 projectiles to target, assuming Greatsword as an example):
2d6*12 = average 84 damage; 880ft-range, attack modifier 12+CHA per greatsword, 1d4-round cooldown
Special: Add +DEX to damage rolls vs flat-footed opponents within 30ft-range

Violent Thrust (<300lbs-target to 120ft up in the air):
12d6 = average 42 damage; 880ft-range, DC15+CHA Will Negates, 1d4-round cooldown

[KHillBox]

MasterKaws That's a good plan and I'll have other characters backing them up but I want them to be able to hold their own as much as possible, thanks for the idea though, actually have an epic transmutation wizard in our group that can probably do that.

ben-zayb, those are some pretty sweet builds thanks! although I'm not sure what book the savage progression ghost is from?

[MisterKaws]

Savage-Progression Ghost 2

This seems to be a common misconception, you cannot, under any circumstances, jump out of a savage progression before it is finished, and AFAIK, ghost is a 5-level progression.

[ben-zayb]

Savage Progression of Ghost (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a)


This seems to be a common misconception, you cannot, under any circumstances, jump out of a savage progression before it is finished, and AFAIK, ghost is a 5-level progression."Characters are not required to complete all the levels of a given template class in uninterrupted succession. For example, a character who takes a level of wereboar could then take a level of fighter and a level of rogue (or any other combination of other class levels) before taking another level of wereboar. A character must still take the first level of wereboar before taking the second, just as with a normal class"

Yes, you can jump out and and take it later. And by later, it can mean "after I have taken everything else".

[MisterKaws]

Savage Progression of Ghost (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sp/20040117a)

"Characters are not required to complete all the levels of a given template class in uninterrupted succession. For example, a character who takes a level of wereboar could then take a level of fighter and a level of rogue (or any other combination of other class levels) before taking another level of wereboar. A character must still take the first level of wereboar before taking the second, just as with a normal class"

Yes, you can jump out and and take it later. And by later, it can mean "after I have taken everything else".

I swear I had seen it somewhere, mind's playing tricks on me...

[Iku Rex]

I swear I had seen it somewhere, mind's playing tricks on me...

"A monster character may not multiclass until it completes the full progression in its monster class. This rule keeps characters from gaining the benefits of a monster’s type and then quickly switching to a standard class." -- Savage Species page 152.

I'm guessing the web-articles are based on an earlier draft of the rules. Or SKR came up with his own (poorly balanced) rule.

(KHillBox, you may want to ask yourself if you're in the kind of campaign where ben-zayb's "characters" and rule interpretations are appropriate. Also, based on a quick check I suspect the bard is not actually RAW-legal. There's some other fishy stuff as well.)

[J-H]

There's going to be lots of DR floating around; archers are the easy way to get both cold iron & silver weapons done cheaply via ammo. Add a Lesser Fiend-Slayer weapon crystal (3000gp) onto a bow and it's good-aligned and does +1d6 vs evil outsiders. Haste is a key buff because it gives an extra attack.

A 5th-level fighter with STR 16 & DEX 16, a str+3 masterwork composite longbow and no magical gear, with Wpn Focus, Wpn Spec, IPS, Haste, and Rapid Shot will fire 3 attacks per round at +9/+9/+9 (+5 bab +3 dex +1 wf +1 masterwork +1 haste -2 rapid shot) doing 1d8+5+1d6 and penetrating all evil DR. Add +1 to-hit and +1 damage for IPS under 30'. If they can pick up Woodland Archer (ROTW), they get a +4 on any subsequent attacks in a round if they miss their first shot.

The big trick is to take advantage of range - they are still shooting +4/+4 at 400' distances. Assuming a triple move speed of 90' per round, they get 4-5 rounds to shoot at anything before it's in melee range. Even Bebeliths (CR 10) have an AC of only 22 and 150hp.

At standard range, the archer hits on a 14 (7/20 shots); if the first shot misses, then the archer hits on a 10 for the other two shots. Lazy math says let's just say 40% of the shots hit. Average damage per shot is 13, so it takes 12 hits to bring down a Bebelith. In 2 rounds, 5 archers fire 3 shots each, for a total of 30 arrows. 30 x 40% = 12 hits, 12 hits x 13/shot = 156hp.

As long as Haste keeps up, 10 archers can kill a CR 10 bebelith every round, all day long.

I'm sure that there are some other ways to optimize this (Wanded Bless for +1 to-hit, White Raven something or other, making the bows +1 for +1 damage per hit, etc).... but massed archers is both effective and simple, as long as:
1) You have fortifications that let them stay out of melee and
2) They are facing a stream of enemies instead of a massed assault (20 bebeliths at once is a much larger threat than 40 bebeliths coming 2 at a time)

[KHillBox]

J-H great suggestions, thanks! I think I am leaning towards archers (since as long as they have arrows they can keep going). I was looking at warlocks for EB all day but its difficult to find things that increase its damage more than just a few times a day, so I think the archers would be a better bet. I was trying to find a way to increase precision based damage range to make a scout work, cause I think their skill set would compliment the group better, but that's proving difficult, so I might end up going fighter so I can have the increased HD/to-hit/feats.

Don't worry Iku, I look through and check if things actually work or not instead of just copying it to a sheet and saying someone on the internet said it was good lol but thanks for the heads up.