3.5 Gestalt Shadow Sorcerer

[etrykoronath]

So I'm playing in a campaign with a few friends, and some of them are relatively new. It is a gestalt campaign, and we're all using Savage species as one half.

I talked to the DM and we're trying to make a character for me, as I am one of the more experienced players, that is (kind of) broken, but not offensively staggering. That way the party isn't as likely to die for the new people, but we can still have powerful fun stuff he wants to do going on and not worry about everyone dying.

The character I'm thinking of now is going to be a Shadow (undead, plus incorporeal is fun.) // Sorcerer. I'm planning on having him focus on Abjuration type things, IotSFV, Abjurant Champion, Argent Savant, that kind of thing, focused on just casting lots of mage armour type things on himself and allies.

I'm hoping it won't be too stupid, since he can't even touch anything until level 13 (When he takes ephemeral exemplar) and he can be turned and rebuked by clerics if the DM needs to hit him with something like that, but since the one thing that really hits him is force attacks and he focuses on negating those and making himself even harder to hit on top of that, I worry that it might be just too broken defensively to ever take damage normally.

We are starting at level 1, but he intends to level us up to around level 5-7 very quickly (As in within 3-4 sessions.) then progress relatively quickly to the low teens, then normally from there.

What are people's thoughts? Is it too strong? Not strong enough? Utterly broken?

Thanks for the help and suggestions!

[Gildedragon]

Well your character is already pretty sturdy v. attacks. Abjuration might be a weak choice.
May i suggest illusionist or necromancer? The former lets you make more shadow stuff (super thematic) and the latter would let you buff and heal yourself.

An incorporeal buffer... prolly some focus on transmutation? Go into warweaver... stay in the background (pass as one of the folk's shadow)

[mabriss lethe]

If your Charisma is above 15, you can take the feat Ghostly Grasp from Libris Mortis as early as lvl 1. Let's incorporeal creatures wear/wield/use corporeal items as if they were themselves corporeal creatures.

[etrykoronath]

If your Charisma is above 15, you can take the feat Ghostly Grasp from Libris Mortis as early as lvl 1. Let's incorporeal creatures wear/wield/use corporeal items as if they were themselves corporeal creatures.

He is a Sorcerer with 20 CHA total (18 nat, +2 from Shadow) I considered taking that at level 1 honestly, but with being really strong already (defensively speaking and compared to the rest of the players) I wanted to leave it as a weakness until higher levels.

[ATHATH]

Open up your copy of Complete Champion, and take a look at the Paragnostic Apostle. One of the available choices for the Knowledge is Power ability is the following:
"Mind over Matter: Whenever you cast a spell that creates a solid object, its hardness and hit points each increase by 2. When you cast a spell that provides an armor bonus, that bonus to AC also increases by 2. (Knowledge [architecture and engineering] 5 ranks)"

Note that, while you CAN select this ability multiple times (by some interpretations), you can't select it twice in a row. I recommend focusing on something else to develop alongside it, like, say, See Through the Veil (double your turning progression!).

Now, you may be wondering to yourself, "But ATHATH! That's all very well and good and all, but I want to stack up these bonuses to ludicrous levels, and Paragnostic Apostle is only 5 levels long!" Well, I have a solution: Legacy Champion and Uncanny Trickster can progress your Paragnostic Apostle abilities beyond (effective) level 5. Go wild.

[Caelestion]

"By some interpretations"? Exactly what sort of interpretation do you need to pretend that that ability allows you to take it more than once?

[etrykoronath]

I am thinking I want to focus (for the sorcerer side) on maybe being kind of a storm or Necromancer type character, just for thematic fun.

I love lightning, and being (basically) a moving shadowy storm cloud just sounds fun, but I do also love necromancers, and it seems like the synergy between necro and shadow is pretty good, and it fits thematically as well.