Optimizing an ECL 7 Combat Trapsmith

[Uncle Pine]

IT'S SO NICE TO SEE THE FORUMS BACK :smallsmile:

Anyway, one of my players asked me to help him build his character for an upcoming one-shot this Wednesday EDIT: Tuesday night. They'll be at 7th-level and he asked me for a "freedom fighter", or the sort of guy who spent half his career clearing the countryside around his hometown from bandits, wild creatures and other invaders using guile, traps and good ol' violence, while spending the other half travelling and experiencing the world.

What's required: human race, being able to use traps in combats, sickle or kusari-gama as a weapon (because commoners work with sickles, I guess), Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a), plus the ability to function underwater*.
*I have warned the players that their characters need to not be completely helpless in water, although they don't know that they'll be exploring a sunken temple.

What I had in mind: Base class 2/Wereboar 5 (cured)**/Combat Trapsmith 5 to use (among others) scorcher traps as sea mines, Swim and Ride ranks along with a shark companion for underwater mobility, UMD ranks and at least an Instant Locksmith wand to be able to sabotage enemy weapons mid-combat (see City of Stormreach p140).
**The lycanthropy cheese will make some people frown, but considering one of the other players is bringing a Jade Phoenix Mage I have no regrets.

I'm currently a bit clueless about what base class would be the best for the build (although straight Rogue would probably work just fine), what feats to take and how to make the fact that the character is wielding a sickle any relevant compared to the traps he'll be flinging around. Any help would be much appreciated!

[daremetoidareyo]

Quick fingers rogue will help drive sabotage time down. Survival checks at dc 20 can get materials for booby traps in ten minutes dmg2 p.40 or 41.

Improved web from savage species can allow you to set dex bonus web traps as a full round action

[Uncle Pine]

Quick fingers rogue will help drive sabotage time down. Survival checks at dc 20 can get materials for booby traps in ten minutes dmg2 p.40 or 41.

Improved web from savage species can allow you to set dex bonus web traps as a full round action

Quick fingers is a 3rd level ACF so it's impossible to get it without giving up the various Combat Trapsmith's capstones (expert setter and greater scorch traps). Moreover, Instant Locksmith already allows one sabotage attempt/round as a swift action with a +2 insight bonus, so that should be enough.
This being a one-shot and with the players having 19,000 gp to spend on gears, looking for booby traps materials instead of just writing down a couple extra kits for 100 gp each is most likely not going to be an issue, but I'll keep that in mind.
I'm not sure Improved Web works with Combat Trapsmith. Sure, combat traps are extraordinary effects and Combat Trapping is (Ex), but being able to create a trap that creates a web and being able to create a web ought to be different things. :smallconfused: Still, the mental image of wipping out several spiderweb traps and throwing them around in 6 seconds flat is incredible, I'll give you that.

[Fouredged Sword]

If I remember right you can take a sizing crossbow and use it to place colossal crossbow traps for something like 8d6 damage or some such.

[ATHATH]

You could replace the Lycanthrope cheese with Bloodline cheese, if you'd like. X 1/Bloodline 3/Changeling Rogue 1/Combat Trapsmith 5 should be a valid build, and being a Changeling fits with the "vigilante" concept (being able to change your appearance at-will really helps keep up your secret identity). Plus, IIRC, Changelings can adopt a water-breathing form to (temporarily, albeit indefinitely) gain the abiliity to breath water themselves, which would help a lot in an aquatic campaign.

[Uncle Pine]

If I remember right you can take a sizing crossbow and use it to place colossal crossbow traps for something like 8d6 damage or some such.
You're thinking about Trapsmith (Dungeonscape p53), which I doomed inferior than Combat Trapsmith (CS p34) in an underwater environment, even though Trapsmith is overall better PrC since it gets spells and can qualify for Swiftblade and other neat stuff. The character is using the Combat Trapsmith PrC, which doesn't have traps that can benefit from Colossal crossbows.


You could replace the Lycanthrope cheese with Bloodline cheese, if you'd like. X 1/Bloodline 3/Changeling Rogue 1/Combat Trapsmith 5 should be a valid build, and being a Changeling fits with the "vigilante" concept (being able to change your appearance at-will really helps keep up your secret identity). Plus, IIRC, Changelings can adopt a water-breathing form to (temporarily, albeit indefinitely) gain the abiliity to breath water themselves, which would help a lot in an aquatic campaign.
The player asked for a human character specifically. We're also not using bloodlines, sorry.


I've also realised that the session is Tuesday night rather than Wednesday's, which means I'm probably just going to have a quick look to a couple Rogue handbooks tomorrow morning and pick whatever feat looks fancy and useful if I can't come up with anything better, and it looks like wand chamber boomstick sickles will need to work as far as non-trap weapons go. :smallwink:

[ATHATH]

You're thinking about Trapsmith (Dungeonscape p53), which I doomed inferior than Combat Trapsmith (CS p34) in an underwater environment, even though Trapsmith is overall better PrC since it gets spells and can qualify for Swiftblade and other neat stuff. The character is using the Combat Trapsmith PrC, which doesn't have traps that can benefit from Colossal crossbows.


The player asked for a human character specifically. We're also not using bloodlines, sorry.


I've also realised that the session is Tuesday night rather than Wednesday's, which means I'm probably just going to have a quick look to a couple Rogue handbooks tomorrow morning and pick whatever feat looks fancy and useful if I can't come up with anything better, and it looks like wand chamber boomstick sickles will need to work as far as non-trap weapons go. :smallwink:
You don't HAVE to be a Changeling (Rogue)- you could dip some other high-skill point class, like Factotum.

Also, why NOT allow bloodlines, if only for this one game?

[Uncle Pine]

You don't HAVE to be a Changeling (Rogue)- you could dip some other high-skill point class, like Factotum.

Also, why NOT allow bloodlines, if only for this one game?
Because bloodlines are an extremely known abusable variant rule none in the group has ever read in its entirety and we don't want to open a new can of worm for a 4-6 hours gaming night. Same reason for why we don't use taint rules, for example.

I ended up rolling a Rogue 2/Combat Trapsmith 5 with Weapon Finesse, Wild Cohort, Martial Study and Martial Stance (for Assassin's Stance).

On a slightly related note, does anyone know of a spell like Instant Locksmith, but for Craft checks? It would be nice for setting two combat traps in a single round.