Zaq
2018-05-28, 02:13 PM
I'm tinkering with the Truenamer guide again (which, for the record, I do from time to time; if I may be so bold as to advertise, there's a bit more material there than there was a month or two ago, though I haven't done a complete rehaul or anything), and I'm trying to put together some sample builds for various character concepts that aren't necessarily the "standard" know-it-all Truenamer. I'm trying to see right now if I can come up with a way to make a "blaster" Truenamer who actually deals utterance-based HP damage as their primary job. I'm pretty sure that this is a doomed effort and that there's just going to be a hard cap on the Truenamer's DPR without hardcore shenanigans, but dammit, sometimes we've just gotta try.
Anyway, with that out of the way, is anyone aware of Truenamer-friendly game elements that can increase the HP damage dealt by arbitrary SLAs, in this case utterances? Feats, items, races, and other elements that don't cost class levels are going to be the priority here, but if there's a ridiculously appropriate dip (let's not get into the inevitable Nosomatic Chirurgeon argument, pretty please) that makes the rest of the build do its stated job better, I'm willing to listen. I'm also willing to listen to spells (UMD is a class skill for 'namers) if they're really interesting, but they have to be more interesting than just casting an offensive spell and being done with it.
So far I've got the obvious feats: Knowledge Devotion, Mortalbane, Empower Utterance, Empower/Maximize SLA, and Sudden Empower/Sudden Maximize, not that all of those are likely to fit on one character. I haven't gone item diving in forever, so I don't remember if there's any useful items that could help with this particular task. I don't think that there are any races that are going to directly be able to increase arbitrary SLA damage, but that's also weird enough that I wouldn't be shocked to see some obscure FR race or something that fits the bill. (Ideally I'd like to keep the LA to a minimum to the extent possible.)
Worth mentioning is that the direct damage-dealing utterances are mostly single-target, rarely allow saves, never involve attack rolls (they are not, unfortunately for this specific build/discussion, "weaponlike"), almost always apply over multiple rounds, and are semi-evenly split between dealing energy damage (Reversed Energy Negation, Energy Vortex, Agitate Metal) and dealing typeless damage (Shockwave, the six different Reversed Words of Nurturing). I'd prefer not to focus too much on game elements that only affect, for example, the energy-based utterances, but at the same time, I'm open to almost anything and everything, within reason. This is a brainstorming session, after all, and even if not everything makes it into the final product, the conversation itself is valuable.
Thoughts?
Anyway, with that out of the way, is anyone aware of Truenamer-friendly game elements that can increase the HP damage dealt by arbitrary SLAs, in this case utterances? Feats, items, races, and other elements that don't cost class levels are going to be the priority here, but if there's a ridiculously appropriate dip (let's not get into the inevitable Nosomatic Chirurgeon argument, pretty please) that makes the rest of the build do its stated job better, I'm willing to listen. I'm also willing to listen to spells (UMD is a class skill for 'namers) if they're really interesting, but they have to be more interesting than just casting an offensive spell and being done with it.
So far I've got the obvious feats: Knowledge Devotion, Mortalbane, Empower Utterance, Empower/Maximize SLA, and Sudden Empower/Sudden Maximize, not that all of those are likely to fit on one character. I haven't gone item diving in forever, so I don't remember if there's any useful items that could help with this particular task. I don't think that there are any races that are going to directly be able to increase arbitrary SLA damage, but that's also weird enough that I wouldn't be shocked to see some obscure FR race or something that fits the bill. (Ideally I'd like to keep the LA to a minimum to the extent possible.)
Worth mentioning is that the direct damage-dealing utterances are mostly single-target, rarely allow saves, never involve attack rolls (they are not, unfortunately for this specific build/discussion, "weaponlike"), almost always apply over multiple rounds, and are semi-evenly split between dealing energy damage (Reversed Energy Negation, Energy Vortex, Agitate Metal) and dealing typeless damage (Shockwave, the six different Reversed Words of Nurturing). I'd prefer not to focus too much on game elements that only affect, for example, the energy-based utterances, but at the same time, I'm open to almost anything and everything, within reason. This is a brainstorming session, after all, and even if not everything makes it into the final product, the conversation itself is valuable.
Thoughts?