Vehicle Optimization

[Blackhawk748]

So i was paging through the AaEG and i was looking over Chariots and other vehicles, and i got to wondering: How would you best go about optimizing a vehicle user?

Now clearly, the vehicle is a big part (and we can talk about that too) but what do you do as the driver? I mean, you're limited to a single attack as you have to use a Move Action to drive, and you're not actually charging, so no mounted combat. So what do you do?

Now please, i know "Just be a spellcaster" is a rather obvious option, but i wanna see what we can do with Martials on this. So please keep the build to Martials or perhaps gishes.

[daremetoidareyo]

Here's the vehicles that I've tapped the gaintitp groupthink on

Cargo kite
(http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?526503-Optimize-this-vehicle-2-the-cargo-kite-from-races-of-the-wild-p-169&p=22065777#post22065777)

Iceburg (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?494813-Optimize-this-vehicle-1-Iceberg-from-Frostburn)

Here is a list of all of the vehicles in the game that I've found thus far:



Name
Source
Page


Carriage
PHB
132


Cart
PHB
132


Galley
PHB
132


Keelboat
PHB
132


Longship
PHB
132


Rowboat
PHB
132


Sailing Ship
PHB
132


Sled
PHB
132


Wagon
PHB
132


Warship
PHB
132


Two Person Chariot
S&F
78


Halfling War Wagon
S&F
79


Astral Skiff
PlHB
72


Ethereal Tunneler
PlHB
73


Gate Zeppelin:
PlHB
73


Living Astral Ship:
PlHB
73


Planar Sailer
PlHB
73


Cargo Kite:
RotW
169


Keelboat
A&EG
52


Launch
A&EG
52


Catamaran
A&EG
52


Sailing Ship
A&EG
53


Longship
A&EG
53


Yacht
A&EG
53


lronclad
A&EG
53


Gnome Submersible
A&EG
54


Barge
A&EG
54


Galley
A&EG
54


warship
A&EG
54


Hang Glider
A&EG
54


Ornithopter
A&EG
54


Zeppelin
A&EG
55


Dirigible
A&EG
55


Carriage
A&EG
55


Cart
A&EG
55


Chariot, Single:
A&EG
56


Chariot, Double:
A&EG
56


Mobile Redoubt:
A&EG
56


Siege Tower, Large
A&EG
56


Siege Tower, Small:
A&EG
56


Sled
A&EG
57


Stagecoach
A&EG
57


Wagon:
A&EG
57


Worg Warsled:
A&EG
57


Halfling War Wagon
A&EG
57


Siege Tower War Wagon
A&EG
58


Dwarven Tunneler
A&EG
58


Forest Crawler:
A&EG
58


Kanto’s Lament:
A&EG
59


Nautilus
A&EG



Shadow Carriage:
A&EG
59


Sled:
FB
81


Worg Warsled:
FB
81


Ice Sled-Wagon:
FB
82


Sailing Ice Ship:
FB
82


Sailing Ice Warship:
FB
82


Iceberg:
FB
82


Skyberg:
FB
82


Coldfire Ship:
FB
82


Cloudskate:
SSt
104


Frame Wheel:
SSt
104


Sand Skiff:
SSt
104


Sand Schooner:
SSt
104


Sand Galley:
SSt
104


Sledge:
SSt
104


Drogue Wing:
RoF
159


Barge
StW
98


Caravel (Sailing Ship)
StW
98


Cog
StW
98


Coracle
StW
99


Dhow
StW
99


Dromond
StW
99


Dugout
StW
100


Elf Wingship
StW
100


Galley
StW
100


Greatship
StW
100


Ironclad
StW
100


Junk
StW
100


Keelboat
StW
101


Launch
StW
101


Longship
StW
101


Pinnace
StW
101


Raft
StW
102


Rowboat
StW
102


Theurgeme
StW
102


Trireme
StW
102


War Canoe
StW
103


Cable Spool, Cable & Harness System
SS
46


WitchBoat/Warboat
Unapproachable East
57


Soarwood
ECS
124


AirShip
Explorer's Handbook
30


Elemental Land Cart
Explorer's Handbook
33


Lightning Rail
Explorer's Handbook
33


StormShip
Explorer's Handbook
38


Undersea Ship
Explorer's Handbook
40


Wind Galleon
Explorer's Handbook
40


Lhazar Sea Galleon
Explorer's Handbook
42


Lyrandar Sailing ship
Explorer's Handbook
42


Orien Coach
Explorer's Handbook
42


Firesled
Secrets of Xendric
146


Squidship
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ae/20030821a




Tradesman:
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ae/20030821a




Halruan Skyship
Shining South



Felucca
unapproachable east
132





Anyways, I have some ideas on this.

An urban druid 4 can get an animated single person chariot with their urban companion ability to get a medium animated object. That way you don't need to be blowing your move action, you can use a ride check to guide with your knees.

Urban druid 1 with natural bond (if DM allows) can do the same. Urban druid with natural bond into barbarian and take the mounted fury feat (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031125a) or the shared fury feat. Then you can do all kinds of weird stuff like take blazing berserker and or frozen berzerker. If you're a gnoll, you can take gnoll ferocity and give your chariot a bite attack. Plus, you can use your mounted combat feat to protect your chariot.

If you'de rather go totemist or incarnate, You can also take share soulmeld and give your animated cart the ability to shape the same soulmeld as you. I don't feel like digging through all the soulmelds, but you get the idea.

On a chariot, my weapon of choice would be a couple of harpoons. Tie them off to the chariot and drag the spellcasters away from combat. Another good option is a net or lasso.

There is a teamwork benefit from heroes of battle that could be amazing to use here:

Benefit: To close their formation, the team members and their mounts first line up in adjacent squares, then move closer together so that each takes up a square half as wide as usual. For example, a Medium character mounted on a horse or other Large creature normally takes up a 10-foot square, and a team of four such characters would occupy a rectangle 40 feet wide and 10 feet deep. By contrast, if the same team had trained together and acquired this teamwork benefit, they could compress their line into a unit only 20 feet wide and 10 feet deep, making it harder for anyone they overrun to dodge between the horses’ hooves. All team members must act on the same initiative count, so some members must delay to match the initiative count of the slowest member in the team. As long as the characters remain in a cohesive set of squares and move at least their speed every round, they gain the following benefits: They don’t take the –4 penalty on attack rolls and to AC for squeezing (described on page 29 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Opponents can’t avoid overruns from team members; they must attempt to block. The team members’ mounts count as one size category larger for purposes of resolving overruns. For example, a horse counts as a Huge creature (+8 bonus to overrun) rather than a Large creature (+4). For the purposes of area spells and determining position on the battlefield, each Medium character on a Large mount is considered to be occupying a space 5 feet wide and 10 feet long.

Another idea is to use the wrong creatures to pull your chariot. You can use intimidate to have slaves pull your chariot.


If you can’t go where you need to by camel—whether because of excess gear or distance—you’ll need some other form of transport. Some vehicles, such as the frame wheel and sledge, are moved by muscle power. The Handle Animal skill is used only if that power comes from a team of draft animals. When the team consists of creatures with Intelligence scores of 3 or higher, the operative skill is Diplomacy. When they are forced labor, the operative skill is Intimidate.

There are chariot feats in sword and fist on page 78 that allow some cool trample maneuvers.


But lets talk tricking out your ride:

you got the "Coldfire Engine: This item, typically constructed on the Elemental Planes, propels any vehicle at a speed of 80 feet.
Strong universal; CL 17th; Craft Wondrous Item, animate objects, wish; Price 200,000 gp; Weight 1,000 lb." FrostBurn page 81

You got wagon shields.

And then there are things like planar sails.

If you make your chariot out of stone, there are some weird things that you can do with the magimorphic rocks of the underdark.


Slickstone: This rock is very smooth to the touch. Although
it is natural stone, it functions at all times as if it had a grease
spell cast upon it. An actual grease spell cast upon slickstone has
no additional effect.

Photogenerative Rock: These rocks grow quickly when
exposed to light. In each round of exposure, a photogenerative
rock doubles in size until it’s sixteen times as large as it was when
unlit (4 rounds). Eliminating the light halts its growth, and each
hour of darkness reverses the effect of 1 round of light. Some
Underdark undead use photogenerative rock in their demesnes to
stall light-bearing adventurers until the undead can ready their
defenses. Photogenerative rock can also be used to seal a doorway
and divert light-bearers into more trap-ridden or better-defended
areas.

Photostatic Rock: Events that happen in the presence of this
rock imprint upon it for a short time. One cubic foot of photostatic
rock picks up impressions in a 10-foot radius and automatically
relays them to anyone who touches it later. The effect
is similar to that of a stone tell spell, except that the photostatic
property reveals only what happened within its radius in the past
hour. Every additional cubic foot of photostatic rock provides 1
more hour of memory and expands the radius of sensitivity by
10 feet. A photostatic rock records only what it witnesses (treat
its perspective like a burst), so it cannot record what goes on
beyond a closed door.



If you make your chariot out of livewood, you might get a free dryad buddy.

[PhantasyPen]

I actually played a chariot-user once. She was a paladin styled after Iskander from Fate/Zero. I think the best way to optimize it might just be to treat them like a mounted ubercharger, with the chariot itself being the weapon of choice.