Character Idea: Alex Louis Armstrong. Help.

[PacMan41000]

This is purely D&D 3.5.

I already have my idea of how I want to make him. Monk base class, and prestige into Enlightened Fist. What I want feed back on is which spell caster class I should use and how many of each level I should get to have an optimal character. I don't want to fully min/max, but I want to try to do the character justice.

[Gildedragon]

Couple options.
Things we know: casting, transmutation specialty (esp self buffing), Cha and Str oriented.

I'd probably go Crusader/Sorcerer into JPM

Or monk/sorcerer with the Ascetic Mage feat

[Waker]

This is purely D&D 3.5.

I already have my idea of how I want to make him. Monk base class, and prestige into Enlightened Fist. What I want feed back on is which spell caster class I should use and how many of each level I should get to have an optimal character. I don't want to fully min/max, but I want to try to do the character justice.

Wu Jen? I believe it has a fair number of stony-related spells that could help emulate some of Armstrong's more showy attacks. As an int-based caster, getting Kung Fu Genius might be a good idea.

[zergling.exe]

Couple options.
Things we know: casting, transmutation specialty (esp self buffing), Cha and Str oriented.

I'd probably go Crusader/Sorcerer into JPM

Or monk/sorcerer with the Ascetic Mage feat

One post in and already ignoring the OP? Why does this not surprise me.

Sorcerer is probably your best bet. Charisma focus fits nicely with Armstrong's flamboyant displays. Warmage potentially also, though it's more a straight blaster and misses a few aspects including his creation of a giant wall.

Now depending on just how much Armstrong you want to be will determine the breakdown of Monk/Sorc levels. Armstrong relies heavily on straight physical strength augmented by alchemy, so you don't need a whole lot of spellcaster levels to get him online. A few buffs and some blasts would probably cover most of your bases. You could potentially get by with just 1 level of Sorcerer if you take Practiced Spellcaster.

[PacMan41000]

One post in and already ignoring the OP? Why does this not surprise me.

Sorcerer is probably your best bet. Charisma focus fits nicely with Armstrong's flamboyant displays. Warmage potentially also, though it's more a straight blaster and misses a few aspects including his creation of a giant wall.

Now depending on just how much Armstrong you want to be will determine the breakdown of Monk/Sorc levels. Armstrong relies heavily on straight physical strength augmented by alchemy, so you don't need a whole lot of spellcaster levels to get him online. A few buffs and some blasts would probably cover most of your bases. You could potentially get by with just 1 level of Sorcerer if you take Practiced Spellcaster.

Looking at the requirements, I'll have to get 2 levels in sorcerer but that's not a problem. Thanks for the help!

[Gildedragon]

For your build one'd want to enter into EF asap
We need a minimum of 5 levels (Concentration 8), Combat Casting, caster level 3 (sorc), and Monk 1 (for stunning fist and IUS). Monk at first level may be best because of its greater skill points
Ascetic Mage (moving wis to cha) needs Sorc 4.

Monk 1/Sorc 4/EF X is a solid build

For sorcerer may I suggest Arcane Reabsorption OR Blood of Siberys OR Metamagic Specialist (as you probably have no use for a familiar)

For level 1 feat: Combat Casting
For level 3 feat: Practiced Spellcaster
For level 6 feat: Ascetic Mage

[Gruftzwerg]

my prefered combo would be a warlock which builds into a clawlock (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?518880-Almighty-Claw-of-Malar-(v2-0)-a-monk-warlock-gish).

Clawlocks are simple to play and powerful. You don't need to waste actions/turns on buffing for combat. You buffs work for 24h (e.g. fly). You'll never lose your claws and will have em always ready when needed. Sure not as flexible as other caster combos for this build, but those can't compete in terms of combat power to a clawlock.
If build right, the dmg can achieve insane values. Depending on your needs, make sure to not overdo it (as you mentioned not to fully min/max).

Imho clawlocks are fun and flavorful. You can build nice background stories around em and feel stylish and cool :smallbiggrin:

[inuyasha]

Although it's a little weird, I've always thought that the flexibility of the show's alchemy could be done with Dreamscarred Psionic classes, with multiclassing between Psion, Wilder, Psychic Warrior, and the occasional Soulknife doing the trick, just disallowing (or refluffing) certain telepathic abilities. Fear effects and damaging telepathic things could be refluffed into startling and horrific revelations that occur throughout the show, certain precognition and prescience powers could be refluffed into Alchemist's ingenuity etc.

Of course, turning lead into gold (and other material alterations, but especially that one) are hard, and I'd make Chimeras from a hacked version of Encyclopedia Arcane: Crossbreeding (a pretty good 3rd-party book from Mongoose), while doing Homunculi as Eidolons from Encyclopedia Arcane: Constructs (Read: Superhuman lifelike construct template) based off of NPCs with Wilder levels, to replicate their potent but very focused powersets.

I've been thinking about this stuff for a long time, it's not perfect, but it's the best I can come up with.