Help with a buffing/Battlefield Control/Utility Character?

[Matwal1]

Hi, I'm getting ready to do a 3.5 campaign and its a party of 8. There are a lot of Melee, Ranged, and one Buffer. So I was hoping to try to make a Character that can either Buff/Control/Or Utility Magic. But Im not sure what classes are good at that or races. Any help is appreciated. The following is the only guidelines:

Starting at 1st level Gestalt.

You may use all books and third party sources. Homebrew may be accepted, but you must provide a link to the desired item.

[legomaster00156]

All of those at once? Wizard. As usual for gestalt, you'll want a "passive" side to accompany the active side that is Wizard.

[Matwal1]

It doesnt have to be all of them but Id like 2 at least. But if you can only fill one of those roles then that is ok

[Matwal1]

There is also the LA rule if I did a monster race

[Rebel7284]

Wizards are typically the best type of characters for Buffling/Battlefield Control/Utility, although Archivist and Spell to Power Erutide do it well enough too. What level do you expect to play to?

Perhaps something like:
Wizard 5/War Weaver 5/Incantatrix 10//
Factotum 5/Wizard 1/Factotum+6/ Whatever 8

[Matwal1]

As far as I know we don't have a end game plan. Its just gonna keep going till everyone is done or dead I am guessing

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

All books and third party allowed?

I'm not very familiar with third party content, but Dragon Magazine and Dragon Compendium have a lot of cool stuff.

Feral-Kind Cyclopean (base race, Dragon Magazine 323, p95) are +0 LA, medium size giants, which is important. Str +2, Dex -2, Con +2, Int -2
Primordial Giant (template, Secrets of Xen'drik, p81) has +0 LA, you get huge bonuses to Int and Cha, Invisibility at will, and some other minor benefits. Str -4, Con -2, Int +4, Cha +4
Unseelie Fey (template, Dragon Compendium, p222) has +0 LA, you get wings and several other benefits, pick Winter Chill for your season. Str -2, Dex +2, Con -2, Cha +2 If possible get tremorsense or blindsight, because...
Magic-Blooded (template, Dragon Magazine 306, p64) has +0 LA, not many benefits but it also increases Cha. This replaces any (lack of) sight with Low-Light Vision, which comes with normal vision. Wis -2, Cha +2

That's total ability score adjustments of Str -4, Dex +0, Con -2, Int +2, Wis -2, Cha +8, plus you get flight, at-will Invisibility, adjacent creatures take a penalty to saving throws equal to your Cha bonus, and a huge list of other benefits, for +0 LA.

Go Savage Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantSavageBard)//Stalwart Sorcerer (Complete Mage p36) and plan to get various prestige classes as follows:

1. Savage Bard 1// Stalwart Sorcerer 1
2. Savage Bard 2// Stalwart Sorcerer 2
3. Savage Bard 3// Stalwart Sorcerer 3
4. Savage Bard 4// Stalwart Sorcerer 4
5. Dread Witch 1// Stalwart Sorcerer 5
6. Savage Bard 5// Mindbender 1
7. Nightmare Spinner 1// Stalwart Sorcerer 6
8. Savage Bard 6// Nightmare Spinner 2
9. Savage Bard 7// Nightmare Spinner 3
10. Savage Bard 8// Nightmare Spinner 4
11. Sublime Chord 1// Stalwart Sorcerer 7
12. Nightmare Spinner 5// Stalwart Sorcerer 8
13. Dread Witch 2// Stalwart Sorcerer 9
14. Dread Witch 3// Stalwart Sorcerer 10
15. Dread Witch 4// Stalwart Sorcerer 11
16. Dread Witch 5// Stalwart Sorcerer 12
17. Incantatrix 1// Stalwart Sorcerer 13
18. Incantatrix 2// Stalwart Sorcerer 14
19. Incantatrix 3// Stalwart Sorcerer 15
20. Incantatrix 4 or Sublime Chord 2// Stalwart Sorcerer 16

Any level you're not taking Stalwart Sorcerer has a prestige class level that will advance your Sorcerer spellcasting. This ends up with Sorcerer 20 spellcasting, Bard 8 spellcasting, Sublime Chord 10 spellcasting, and tons of prestige class features. The +2 hp/level from Stalwart Sorcerer gets added onto whatever HD you get per level.

Take a look at the Fear Handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809). Trade Inspire Courage for Inspire Awe from Dragon Magic, swap Bardic Knowledge for Bardic Knack in PH2, and replace Countersong with Spellbreaker Song from CM. Get Haunting Melody instead of Suggestion (ECS), Healing Hymn instead of Fascinate (CC), and Hymn of Fortification instead of Inspire Competence (CC). Yes, that's every core Bard song getting replaced.

Your first level feat is Melodic Casting in Complete Mage, no exceptions. Get two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) (UA) for two extra feats at 1st level, those should be Murky-Eyed and City Slicker (Dragon Magazine 324, p93). Your two extra feats are Toughness (prerequisite) and Troll Blooded (Dragon Magazine 319, p61), which gives you Regeneration (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#regeneration) 1 that's overcome by fire and acid, and you're fatigued whenever in sunlight (carry a parasol). Get two traits (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm) (UA), which should be Abrasive and Unnatural Aura (Dragon Magazine 356, p89).

Your 3rd level feat should be Item Familiar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm) (UA), which will preferably start as a Ring of Protection +1 or a Ring of Sustenance. A deflection bonus to AC can be an additional effect on any magical ring for the same price as a Ring of Protection with the same bonus (MIC p234). Upgrade that yourself to probably a Ring of Freedom of Movement, and give it intelligent item special abilities that it can use its own actions to activate during combat. Always wear a glove or gauntlet over the ring so opponents never have line of sight or line of effect to it and cannot target it directly or Slight of Hand it. Invest as many skill points as possible into it for the greatest return, and put as much of that as you can into Intimidate.

Get Ancestral Relic (BoED) at 6th level, which requires a good alignment but not an exalted status. Make it an Elvencraft (RotW) Composite Longbow with Masterwork three times and three Wand Chambers (Dungeonscape). Make it a custom Runestaff (MIC p224) and you'll effectively circumvent the normally limited number of spells known. Also be sure to pick up Versatile Spellcaster (RotD) at some point. You'll want Extend Spell and Persistent Spell and max Spellcraft ranks if taking Incantatrix.

Take Imperious Command (DotU) at 9th, Mindsight (LoM p126) at 12th, and I'd get Fell Frighten Spell as well. Use the Otyugh Hole in CS to get Iron Will without spending a feat on it.

Max out your Intimidate skill, plan to get the Never Outnumbered skill trick (CS) along with any other skill tricks that look interesting. Eventually get a Feycraft (DMG2) Mithral Chain Shirt with a Thistledown Suit (RotW) for 0% arcane spell failure, and get it made +1 Fearsome (Drow of the Underdark version, it's more recent than MIC and significantly better).

You can use fear effects (Inspire Awe, Intimidate checks, Haunting Melody, etc.) and crowd control spells (Wall of Smoke, Color Spray, Grease, Web, Glitterdust, Cloud of Bewilderment, etc.) in combat, and utility spells and skill checks outside of combat. You'll be extremely fragile for both AC and hit points, especially considering the Unseelie Fey vulnerability to metal, but you should easily recover due to your regeneration. Adjacent opponents will take a fairly huge penalty to their saving throws, so get right up next to them and cast defensively with a perform check when using save-or-lose crowd controls.

[Matwal1]

Awesome dude! Thank you so much this is perfect

[Matwal1]

32 point buy
Max HP per lvl
2 flaws and 2 traits allowed
200gp starting gold fund

With these guide lines What would you recommend I do for stats and things like that for a Primordial Giant with those classes? I am not familiar with creating a 3.5 character sheet. The one time I did it was just a basic Elf Rogue and we didn't do the point buy system or flaws/traits that I know of.

[Rebel7284]

I have some pretty mixed feelings about that build. I feel like it involves a lot of cheese for comparatively little reward. Certainly ask the DM before using it!

Race concerns:
1. It's unclear if cyclopeans count as giants or humanoids. Their racial traits block is missing a type, and while they are descendant from giants, their physical description section says "these extremely tall humanoids..."

2. You are supposed to roll randomly for Unseelie Fey traits which can be a problem, and also the template technically lacks LA, although people have reverse engineered it from the sample gnome.

3. It's unclear if the Magic-Blooded template is only supposed to apply to races in the PHB.

Class concerns
1. Mindbender class requires non-good aliment, while Ancestral Relic requires good.

2. The request was for a buffing/bfc character, while this character clearly focuses on debuffs.

Feat concerns
1. Troll blooded is pretty silly. You are immune to damage against unprepared opponents and can trivially become immune to all damage. This may not be acceptable for some games....

2. Ancestral relic trick assumes the ability to make a custom runestaff AND the ability to constantly upgrade it by sacrificing items worth 0gp. Check with the DM if this works.

Overall power concern
Considering how much cheese is put into the character, besides the whole immune to damage thing, it doesn't seem that much more powerful than a straight Wizard//Zhentarim Thug Figher. Your Incantatrix levels are WAY too late in the build and ultimately you are still casting from the Sorcerer/Wizard list with a delayed (Sorcerer) progression. A couple of Bard spells here and there don't change much. The HP boost is nice, but all your classes are d4/d6...

[Rerednaw]

Without going too crazy...I'd try a wizard/warblade gestalt. Wizard domain wizard (conjuration)...features of specialist without the downsides.

Item-wise you need to consider: ability damage, level drain, death effects, stun and daze. There's a good guide on this, but not sure what your budget is.

Psion/Warblade is also a good combo.