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Zim
2007-07-05, 10:38 AM
Hey all,

My kobold artificer has left the party in our STAP campaign after the Lotus Dragon warren delve. There were cultural and moral issues that could not be resolved without PvP combat. My character tried to save the life of the kobold cook (unarmed and not agressive) and the dragon (in the negatives and bleeding out) that hung out with the BBEG(or BBEW since it was a woman), but the other characters killed one out of hand and prevented my character from stabilizing the other. Completely disgusted with these murderous humans, he took his share of the treasure and left the party, taking his tale back to his people to further fuel their hatred of humanity.

That being said, our party is now down a character, and I'm at a loss on what to create as a replacement. My dice rolls were great (17 16 13 17 11 9), so I can pretty much make anything viable. Unfortunately, the huge number of options available have left me stymied as to what to choose. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the following character types and any experiences they've had playing or DMing them:

Half Orc Druid
Sun Elf Duskblade
Wood Elf Dragon Shaman -bronze?
Human Swashbuckler/scout

There seems to be a lot of water involved in this campaign, so I think the heavily armoured tank type is out, (so is a Paladin, what with the party's lack of moral fibre), but does anyone have any better suggestions?

Draz74
2007-07-05, 01:14 PM
Half Orc Druid
Sun Elf Duskblade
Wood Elf Dragon Shaman -bronze?
Human Swashbuckler/scout

I assume you want something that can kind of replace the Artificer role in the party? Which is "do anything, or blast really well."

The Druid and the Dragon Shaman will be well-rounded characters like the Artificer. The Druid will be a powerful one, while the Dragon Shaman will be useful but will certainly not be the one who gets the most attention in combat. (I think Dragon Shaman is a very fun class, but really, it needs to have some extra abilities house-ruled into it so that it can do more to an opponent than whittle away at their HP at an unimpressive speed.)

The Duskblade is probably a good replacement for a blaster Artificer, if that's what you had. Duskblades deal lots of damage, melee and magic both.

So, in terms of flexibility: Druid and Dragon Shaman are best, followed by Duskblade, followed by Scout/Swashbuckler.

In terms of raw power and damage capability: Duskblade is best, then Druid, then Scout/Swash, then Dragon Shaman.

In terms of how fun they would be to play, IMHO: Scout/Swash, then Dragon Shaman, then Duskblade, then Druid. (I guess I dislike playing cheesy classes ...)

In terms of creativity of character concept ... I dunno. Not enough info. What is Wood Elf culture like in this setting? What is the backstory behind the unusual Scout/Swash combo?

Oh, and if you go with the Scout/Swash combo ... it might be more powerful to make him Swashbuckler 3 / Scout 4 / Rogue 13. Then take the Daring Outlaw and Swift Ambusher feats, so that your Rogue levels add to some of your Swashbuckler abilities and some of your Scout abilities (Skirmish).

Zim
2007-07-05, 01:39 PM
The kobold was a general support character with scrolls of blastyness. He did the traps and provided ranged/arcane support. The character will need to be pretty front line though as the other melee dudes are fragile or squishy. The full spell caster will also be good 'cause we've only got a warlock and a cleric-soon-to-be-true-necromancer.

My leaning is towards the druid for utility and 'urty goodness right now. The whole potential to turn into Druidzilla is something I plan on avoiding if I can. More of a battle tank, charge and smoosh kind of build than an "I win D&D!" plan. Probable PrC 3 levels of Nature's warrior, but that's it.

The scout/swash would be a member of a privateer's crew from Aglarond. His old captain's commission was to harrass the Red Wizard's shipping lanes. That would have ended up...badly. PrC into Dervish and/or Dread pirate.

Sun elves are the fair-elves of FR. They have really old cities and mythals, so a duskblade would be one of their elite guards.

The Woodelves of the Yuirwood/Aglarond would have a lot of access to the sea and it's likely that they would have contact with bronze dragons. This is my second choice of character, but doesn't seem more than a semi-useful support character in a party that needs a keystone hitter and caster.

(So in honour of the character decision, new avatar seems right)