Encouraged to "Go Crazy" at Level 3

[DragonBaneDM]

Hi guys!

It's been about a year since I've 3.5'd, but I'm falling off the wagon today! Playing a level 3 one shot today alongside a spirit lion totem barbarian, an optimized bard, and a druid. What would you suggest to help fit into that party that would be strong and fun to play at 3rd level?

[John Longarrow]

Whisper gnome beguiler that's taken Word of Pain as their third level advanced learning.

You sneak in, cast it on someone, and watch as they drop. You'll be able to kill an ogre per casting on average. Plus odds are your move silent and hide will be high enough no one will find you.

[Eldariel]

This sounds like a situation tailormade for a good ol' Wizard. Wizard 3, you get 2nd level spells and are free to enjoy life - Invisibility, Glitterdust, Web, Enlarge Person, Ray of Enfeeblement, Ray of Stupidity, Alter Self, all the good stuff. Conjuration Specialization, perhaps Abrupt Jaunt, and yeah, the mentioned Power Word Pain is also available to you if you want the most broken low level spell in the game. There's nothing particularly tricky to it. You can run Strongheart Halfling, Whisper Gnome, Gray Elf or Lesser Tiefling - Elf has the Elf Wizard substitutions, while Whisper Gnome comes with built-in stealth options + SLA Silence, Strongheart Halfling has the feat + decent defensive/stealth options and Lesser Tiefling just has plain solid stats.

Artificer is also always desirable - Imbue weapons with the Bane-ability with your Infusions, craft items, all the good stuff. Could play Warforged and imbue yourself - though that mostly applies to the Cure-effects, which are unlike to be a problem for you.

[Inevitability]

Whisper gnome beguiler that's taken Word of Pain as their third level advanced learning.

You sneak in, cast it on someone, and watch as they drop. You'll be able to kill an ogre per casting on average. Plus odds are your move silent and hide will be high enough no one will find you.

That's basically telling the GM 'Power Word Pain is on the table, go ahead and use it against us'.

[DragonBaneDM]

That's basically telling the GM 'Power Word Pain is on the table, go ahead and use it against us'.

It's a one shot. Unless it's hanging out in the module already, I think I'm getting away with it.

And Wizard seems good! Gotta decide on a race though, you've given me a bevy of options.

[TheBrassDuke]

There's also one of my favorites:

The Human Wizard (Transmuter)/Master Specialist (early entry at I think lv 3 or 4..? Or maybe I'm forgetting myself; away from sources)

Pretty damn powerful.

Ban [Enchantment and Evocation]

[AnachroNinja]

I like the DMM cleric with cloud of knives and lesser vigor persisted. For a low level build it's very hard to kill, gives you a bunch of things to do, and you can just grab power attack and go in swinging at the same time. If flaws are on the table you might even be able to get bulls strength in there. It's not super crazy, but it is fun.

[Inevitability]

There's also one of my favorites:

The Human Wizard (Transmuter)/Master Specialist (early entry at I think lv 3 or 4..? Or maybe I'm forgetting myself; away from sources)

Pretty damn powerful.

Ban [Enchantment and Evocation]

One's fourth level can be in Master Specialist, and with Snowcasting cheese that can be further reduced to third.

I don't see what's so 'pretty damn powerful' about it, though, aside from usual wizard strength. Having spells stick around for a single round after being dispelled is nice, but it's not incredible.

[Doctor Awkward]

Human Crusader 1/Incarnate 2
32 PB: Str 16, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 8

Maneuvers: Crusader's Strike, Charging Minotaur, Stone Bones, Leading the Attack, Douse the Flames

Stance: Martial Spirit

Soulmelds: 3 per day, Choose from Astral Vambraces (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a), Crystal Helm (bonus to Will saves), Airstep Sandles (Fly for 10 ft. per round) or Impulse Boots (Uncanny dodge), Therapeutic Mantle (increased effect for incoming healing), Vitality Belt (bonus HP per point of essentia)

Feats: Combat Reflexes, Extra Granted Maneuver, Stand Still (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#standStill)


The result? You're a tank of tanks.

With Astral Vambraces shaped, you have DR 2/magic. At this level almost nothing has magic weapons so it's pretty much DR to everything. Shifting a single essentia point makes it DR/4, which will cut the damage of most attacks in half. The rest will go into your Crusader Steely Resolve pool to be healed off by Martial Spirit on your turn. Shaping Therapeutic Mantle grants you an additional points of healing for all incoming effects equal to the level of the effect healing you plus an additional 2 per point of essentia invested. So with a single point of essentia, Martial Spirit can heal you 5 points of damage per successful melee strike. Crusader's Strike likewise would heal you for 1d6+4 for a single point of essentia. Stone Bones can grant you even more damage reduction if your essentia is needed elsewhere. Binding the Crystal Helm can grant you additional deflection AC as needed (say for closing in on ranged targets).

When wielding a reach weapon, you can stop dead anything that attempts to move past you in order to reach your allies. You can then grant your allies a bonus on attack rolls to hit things with Leading the Attack, or enable them to retreat with Douse the Flames.

If the DM allows flaws, you can play an Azurin instead for an extra point of essentia and use a flaw to pick up one of those feats, and make better use of Vitality Belt for additional hit points. If the enemies refuse to engage you and hit the melee allies, you can simply use the crusader abilities to heal them instead. They won't get the enhanced healing effects you do, but it makes you a much more tempting target, and you are incredibly difficult to kill. Airstep Sandles provides increased mobility, while Impulse Boots grants you Uncanny dodge against larger groups of flankers and rogueish types.

Not the most powerful choice, but it will fit in to the group quite well.

[Swaoeaeieu]

wasnt one punch halfling a low level trick?

[Inevitability]

wasnt one punch halfling a low level trick?

It requires a Crusader 6 maneuver. So no, unless you can somehow get 20 HD at ECL 2 (which isn't completely impossible)

[Swaoeaeieu]

It requires a Crusader 6 maneuver. So no, unless you can somehow get 20 HD at ECL 2 (which isn't completely impossible)

my bad. forget i said anything

[WbtE]

From the thread title, I thought your DM wanted to run a Chaotic Neutral campaign. :smallcool:

[ayvango]

half-fey dragonborn incarnated warforged as race
abyssal focused specialist palanar eidetic wizard as class
go deep into chaos with abyssal feats, take two flaws to pick them early. But never become evil, or you would lose dragonborn bonuses.

[barakaka]

You're low level, so an Eidoloncer could be fun. It's about as weird as you can get at that low a level. It won't be incredibly offensive, but it's doubtful that you'll ever be in danger. IIRC you don't sleep, so you could jack up your craft alchemy and craft while everyone's asleep.
If your DM waives the rule that forces you to take Eidoloncer levels, you could do Binder with Improved Binding to make up for your level loss from dying. If you feel like you're not contributing enough, Iunno, just like throw Aboleth Mucus or something.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Human Crusader 1/Incarnate 2
This build is in my signature; it's very nice. You can also do monk 1/incarnate 1/crusader 1, which will allow you to pick up Karmic Strike and Improved Trip with a single flaw (Combat Expertise from the monk level, bypasses the int requirement), using azurin & Midnight Dodge to fill out your essentia pool, Decisive Strike to make those AoOs bite, and IUS to threaten adjacent targets.

Your feats would be: Midnight Dodgeflaw, Combat Expertisemonk, Karmic Strikelevel 3, Combat Reflexeslevel 1, Improved Unarmed Strikemonk, Improved Tripazurin. Requires 13 wis, 13 dex, 13 con, and high str to be effective at tripping.

Karmic Strike drops your AC badly, but you have DR and self-healing, so you don't care.