Suggestions To Make A Level 4 Character

[Bartmanhomer]

Well I got some bad news my character that I play for over a year is dead. My former character that I play is Eric Spade, a Neutral Good Lesser Drow Rogue 3/Ranger 1 and he got killed by an creature that I think is looks like a blob with feelers. To be honest he was a garbage character from the very start. He always get clobbered in melee, he wasn't fully optimized. He was a joke character. And one of the players didn't like my character at all but whatever. I was thinking of playing a level 4 paladin paladin but one player already have a saw blade so Paladin is out of my list. My second suggestion was a bard. One player said that I could play a warlock. So I'm thinking of playing a bard. So any suggestions and advice to play a Level 4 Bard? :smile:

Edit: I'm going to play a Warlock which one player suggestions is a bad idea to play a bard. Any suggestions to play a Level 4 Warlock?

[DMVerdandi]

Well I got some bad news my character that I play for over a year is dead. My former character that I play is Eric Spade, a Neutral Good Lesser Drow Rogue 3/Ranger 1 and he got killed by an creature that I think is looks like a blob with feelers. To be honest he was a garbage character from the very start. He always get clobbered in melee, he wasn't fully optimized. He was a joke character. And one of the players didn't like my character at all but whatever. I was thinking of playing a level 4 paladin paladin but one player already have a saw blade so Paladin is out of my list. My second suggestion was a bard. One player said that I could play a warlock. So I'm thinking of playing a bard. So any suggestions and advice to play a Level 4 Bard? :smile:

Edit: I'm going to play a Warlock which one player suggestions is a bad idea to play a bard. Any suggestions to play a Level 4 Warlock?

I was going to suggest that you look at joshuaD's bard handbook. Bard is really cool, but requires a bunch of system mastery to really shine. A lot of people aren't used to the buffing that it requires, and playing passively.


Warlock is a lot more... Basic, but it's got a high floor and low ceiling. Here is my suggestion, and it's different, but it's cool and has very similar flavor.


Alright, so Human Sorcerer 4, At the 5th level take anima mage.

As for feats, take Bind Vestige and Improved Bind vestige at level 1, and at level 3 Take Extend spell.


From there, Anima mage is going to increase your spell casting for 10 levels. You end being able to bind as a 15th level binder.


Binding is essentially summoning vestige [Essentially demon spirit] into your body and getting supernatural powers from it. I find them a bit more flavorful than warlock, and a lot more variable and exchangeable than eldritch invocations.



Read sorcerer and binder handbooks so that you know what you are doing.


Finish up last 6 levels fiend blooded.


So at the end it looks like [B] Sorcerer 4/Anima Mage 10/Fiend-blooded 6





Pick up general spells that let you do a lot and have very expansive uses like shadow spells, heroics, etc.
For useful spells, but not so useful you'd spend a lot on it, use magic items like rune staves, Eternal Wands or Schema.


The binder abilities alone are going to give you a lot of variety and having full casting just makes it better.

[Bartmanhomer]

I was going to suggest that you look at joshuaD's bard handbook. Bard is really cool, but requires a bunch of system mastery to really shine. A lot of people aren't used to the buffing that it requires, and playing passively.


Warlock is a lot more... Basic, but it's got a high floor and low ceiling. Here is my suggestion, and it's different, but it's cool and has very similar flavor.


Alright, so Human Sorcerer 4, At the 5th level take anima mage.

As for feats, take Bind Vestige and Improved Bind vestige at level 1, and at level 3 Take Extend spell.


From there, Anima mage is going to increase your spell casting for 10 levels. You end being able to bind as a 15th level binder.


Binding is essentially summoning vestige [Essentially demon spirit] into your body and getting supernatural powers from it. I find them a bit more flavorful than warlock, and a lot more variable and exchangeable than eldritch invocations.



Read sorcerer and binder handbooks so that you know what you are doing.


Finish up last 6 levels fiend blooded.


So at the end it looks like [B] Sorcerer 4/Anima Mage 10/Fiend-blooded 6





Pick up general spells that let you do a lot and have very expansive uses like shadow spells, heroics, etc.
For useful spells, but not so useful you'd spend a lot on it, use magic items like rune staves, Eternal Wands or Schema.


The binder abilities alone are going to give you a lot of variety and having full casting just makes it better.
Thanks and again my apologies for making too many threads in this Sub-Forum. It just so happens that I'm a D&D 3.5 fan.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Bards can be highly effective if you know what you're doing with them. Great skills, many great spells available, and with a little book diving Inspire Courage can be horrifically powerful.

Warlocks are... honestly, in my experience, a little dull. Every turn you'll Eldritch Blast for a reliable but tiny amount of damage. Outside of that, you'll have maybe one or two neat tricks, some of which you're probably spending to make your blast less ineffective. If you're good with rolling like 2d6 damage a turn all day long, they're alright, but if you want more than that...

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

A Bard is honestly a much stronger character than a Warlock, especially if most of your party makes physical attacks.

Use Silverbrow Human from Races of the Dragon, and go Savage Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantSavageBard) from UA. Start out Savage Bard 3/ Sorcerer 1, plan to go Savage Bard 8/ Sorcerer 1/ Dragon Devotee 1/ Sublime Chord 2/ (prestige classes that advance SC spellcasting) 8.

Use the Dragonblood Sorcerer 1 substitution level to get Draconic Heritage, selecting Battle Dragon which uses Sonic for its energy type. That Sorcerer level allows you to use wands of Sorcerer spells, such as Wings of Cover. For your Sorcerer spells known pick Benign Transposition and Feather Fall, neither has a somatic component so there's no spell failure chance if wearing armor. Those are utility spells that will remain useful throughout your character's career.

Your Bard spells should include Inspirational Boost in Spell Compendium, and you'll need a Badge of Valor in MIC. Your feats should be Melodic Casting in Complete Mage, Dragonfire Inspiration in Dragon Magic, and Words of Creation in BoED (which requires Int 15, Cha 15, base Will save +5, your Sorcerer level was taken at 3rd to meet that will save prerequisite). You'll cast Inspirational Boost (swift action), start your Inspire Courage with Dragonfire Inspiration and Words of Creation (standard action), then activate the Badge of Valor (Immediate Action). This will add +5d6 sonic damage to everyone's attacks, including ranged weapon attacks. Words of Creation is an exalted feat, so you'll need to be good aligned and adhere to a goody-good code of conduct similar to a Paladin.

You should take two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) from UA to get two extra feats, I'd get Love of Nature and No Time For Book Learning (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?258440-The-quot-Best-quot-Flaws#30), both from Dragon Magazine 324 page 93. One of those extra feats should be Wild Cohort (archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a), pick an animal that makes three or more natural attacks since it also benefits from Dragonfire Inspiration. I'd also get Point-Blank Shot so you can later take Precise Shot.

You're going to use a lot of alternate class features (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444354-3-5-Alternative-Class-Features-(ported-from-Wizards-community-boards)) for Bard. Bardic Knack instead of Bardic Knowledge, Healing Hymn instead of Fascinate, Spellbreaker Song instead of Countersong (optional), and you'll trade Suggestion at Bard 6 for Song of the Heart per ECS. At Bard 6 (7th level) your Dragonfire Inspiration will increase to +7d6 sonic damage, at Bard 8 (9th level) it will increase to +9d6 sonic damage. After Bard 7 (8th level) you can learn the spell Creaking Cacophony in SC to make opponents vulnerable to sonic damage, increasing that damage by 50%.

Get an Elvencraft (RotW) composite shortbow with two wand chambers from Dungeonscape. One wand chamber should have a wand of Wings of Cover (RotD), the Rules Compendium says that spell trigger and spell completion items take the same action to use as the spell's casting time, so as long as you're holding that bow you'll be able to use the wand as an immediate action to block an attack. The other wand chamber can have something like an Eternal Wand (MIC) of Hound of Doom (CW), but you won't be able to afford that just yet.

In combat you'll basically want to start inspiring your party first thing, have your animal companion attack (move action), then on the second and subsequent rounds you can just shoot your bow for 1d6 piercing plus 5d6 sonic damage. You may want to cast a few combat spells like Grease, Glitterdust, etc. but I would pick mostly utility spells like Silent Image, Improvisation, Suggestion, Alter Self, Dispel Magic, etc. Definitely take Glitterdust as it's way too good to skip, and Haste is a must-have for buffing your party, probably more important than Creaking Cacophony.