Raolin_Fenix
2007-10-03, 12:13 AM
Studious readers of Raolin-posts will have come to the conclusion that I have poor fortune when it comes to, uh, keeping characters alive.
But just on the off chance that not everyone on this forum is familiar with me (:smallbiggrin: ), I'll specify: between miserable luck with the dice, poor decisions on my part, and bad character-building skills all around, I have managed to kill nearly every D&D character I've ever played. To date, one of them has survived to retirement, and a second survived from three sessions prior to the end of the campaign to the end of the campaign. (The latter was a near thing.) Every other character I've had has died (with the exception of the characters I'm playing right now), usually within a few sessions of their conception.
Needless to say, I'm tired of dying. Death has become too inconvenient to bear further.
So, I'm playing in two different campaigns right now. Both are gestalt. One is Forgotten Realms, one is Planescape. In FR, I'm currently playing a fighter/ranger, archer, animal companion horse; with any luck, he may survive for a while by virtue of staying off the front lines, having fair hit points, and not doing enough damage to warrant special consideration by the enemies, while still inflicting enough damage to be useful to his teammates. My Planescape character is a Wizard/Warlock, who has thus far fallen unconscious in nearly every encounter; I'm nevertheless hoping he'll stay alive by virtue of defensive buffs and being less immediately threatening than everyone else (he's useful rather than threatening). In FR, I'm level 6/6; in Planescape, 4/4.
While I'm hoping these characters will live, judging by my track record, it's only a matter of short time before they drop horribly, horribly dead. I already have several more characters lined up on that contingency, but honestly, it's getting redundant.
So I've pretty well decided that my next character will go all out. Since we're gestalted, I see no reason to become a Clericzilla or Druidzilla, when I can be both at once. I feel after watching a thousand characters drop like as many mosquitoes in a RAID-ed room, I've bloody well earned this privilege.
The problem is thus:
In my Forgotten Realms campaign, we're pretty stoked for healers. We've got a paladin/favored soul, a bard/cleric, and a wizard/cleric. Sure, I could go Cleric/Druid and dominate the fighting line with a wildshaped, spellslinging monster with Divine Everything and Righteous Might, but with two classes with full divine caster progression, I'd kind of, y'know, be stepping on a few toes.
My Planescape campaign, on the other hand, has exactly the opposite problem: no healers at all, in a party of seven. We used to have a healer, but he ended up quitting. So naturally, it's much better for me to save the CaDzilla for Planescape -- but that's where the problem comes in. The Planescape campaign has a house rule. The cleric class has been split up into two piddle-classes: the Priest and the Crusader.
The Priest is sort of a cleric-***-wizard: d6 hit die, good Will save, poor BAB progression. Proficient with simple weapons and light armor. Bonus feat every five levels (metamagic, item creation, or divine), Turn Undead, and Scribe Scroll; no other class features. But full spellcasting progression, ending with spells per day as follows (from 0-level to 9-level): 6/5/5/5/5/5/4/4/4/4. His alignment restricts the spells he can access (so a good cleric can't have evil spells). Cure spells can be spontaneously cast, all others are prepped, per normal cleric. Most importantly, however, he has access to the entire cleric spell list -- EXCEPT Divine Power and Righteous Might, as well as any other spells that buff only the cleric's own personal combat abilities (as opposed to general buffs that work on anyone).
The Crusader is sort of paladin-esque: d8 hit die, good Fort and Will saves, medium BAB progression. Proficient with simple weapons, all armor, and all shields (except tower shields). Turn undead, bonus feats at second level and every three levels thereafter (Divine or Fighter-feat, except for feats that are fighter-specific like Weapon Specialization). Spontaneous casting for any spell on their spell list (spoilered below). However, his spell list is limited (obviously, as he's spontaneous), and most importantly, he only gets spells up to sixth level. Notably, however, Divine Power and Righteous Might are on his spell list.
CRUSADER SPELLS:
0th level spells (Orisons)
Create water, cure minor wounds, detect poison, guidance, inflict minor wounds, light, resistance, virtue
1st level spells
Bane, bless, bless water, cause fear, command, cure light wounds, curse water, detect chaos/evil/good/law, detect undead, divine favor, doom, entropic shield, hide from undead, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, shield of faith
2nd level spells
Aid, align weapon, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cure moderate wounds, darkness, death knell, eagle’s splendor, inflict moderate wounds, owl’s wisdom, resist energy, shield other, undetectable alignment
3rd level spells
Bestow curse, blindness/deafness, contagion, cure serious wounds, daylight, deeper darkness, dispel magic, inflict serious wounds, invisibility purge, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, magic vestment, prayer, protection from energy, searing light, water breathing, wind wall
4th level spells
Air walk, cure critical wounds, death ward, dismissal, divine power, freedom of movement, inflict critical wounds, magic weapon (greater), neutralize poison, poison, spell immunity
5th level spells
Command (greater), cure light wounds (mass), dispel chaos/evil/good/law, disrupting weapon, flame strike, inflict light wounds (mass), righteous might, slay living, spell resistance, symbol of pain, symbol of sleep, true seeing
6th level spells
Banishment, bear’s endurance (mass), blade barrier, bull’s strength (mass), cure moderate wounds (mass), dispel magic (Greater), eagle’s splendor (mass), harm, heal, heroes’ feast, inflict moderate wounds (mass), owl’s wisdom (mass), symbol of fear, undeath to death, word of recall
Which brings me, at long last, to my question: is it worth it?
Should I say "screw it" and bring in a CaDzilla to Forgotten Realms, in spite of the multitude of healers? (Seriously, half the party heals.) Or should I bite the bullet, go for it in Planescape, and take up a gimped class which I took one look at and made a solemn vow never, ever to touch?
Now, to reiterate, I know a CaDzilla should never, ever be played. But if anyone's entitled by this time, it's me. :P
Edit: AVAILABLE RESOURCES:
Planescape:
a. Player’s Handbook (Exceptions: the Cleric and Sorcerer classes have been rewritten. The Cleric has now become the Crusader and Priest classes, and the Sorcerer has been rewritten to make it less gimpy.)
b. Dungeon Master’s Guide (equipment exceptions: animated shields, bead of karma, ioun stones granting spell immunity.)
c. Player’s Handbook II
d. Expanded Psionics Handbook
e. Complete Adventurer
f. Complete Arcane
g. Complete Divine (spell exceptions: Brambles, Quillfire, Spikes)
h. Complete Psionics
i. Complete Warrior (class exceptions: frenzied berserker (allowed, but with some modification); feat exceptions: Improved Rapid Shot.)
j. Custom material: A PC version of the Noble class. I'm not putting it in here because I don't want to be one. :P
Forgotten Realms: (pretty much the same, a couple minor differences)
a. Player’s Handbook
b. Dungeon Master’s Guide (equipment exceptions: animated shields, bead of karma, ioun stones granting spell immunity, any item granting a magical bonus to skills other than Climb, Jump, and Swim (just because a potion of fly is a hundred times better than +10 to jumping and climbing, anyway). The exception to this last is potions, which are available normally.)
c. Expanded Psionics Handbook
d. Player’s Handbook II
e. Complete Adventurer
f. Complete Arcane
g. Complete Divine (spell exceptions: Brambles, Quillfire, Spikes)
h. Complete Psionics
i. Complete Warrior (class exceptions: frenzied berserker (allowed, but with some modification))
j. Custom material: PC version of the Noble class
k. Forgotten Realms books, including the Campaign Setting, Player’s Guide to Faerun, Faiths and Pantheons, Magic of Faerun, Races of Faerun. (DM's approval required for most of these, but generally granted.)
But just on the off chance that not everyone on this forum is familiar with me (:smallbiggrin: ), I'll specify: between miserable luck with the dice, poor decisions on my part, and bad character-building skills all around, I have managed to kill nearly every D&D character I've ever played. To date, one of them has survived to retirement, and a second survived from three sessions prior to the end of the campaign to the end of the campaign. (The latter was a near thing.) Every other character I've had has died (with the exception of the characters I'm playing right now), usually within a few sessions of their conception.
Needless to say, I'm tired of dying. Death has become too inconvenient to bear further.
So, I'm playing in two different campaigns right now. Both are gestalt. One is Forgotten Realms, one is Planescape. In FR, I'm currently playing a fighter/ranger, archer, animal companion horse; with any luck, he may survive for a while by virtue of staying off the front lines, having fair hit points, and not doing enough damage to warrant special consideration by the enemies, while still inflicting enough damage to be useful to his teammates. My Planescape character is a Wizard/Warlock, who has thus far fallen unconscious in nearly every encounter; I'm nevertheless hoping he'll stay alive by virtue of defensive buffs and being less immediately threatening than everyone else (he's useful rather than threatening). In FR, I'm level 6/6; in Planescape, 4/4.
While I'm hoping these characters will live, judging by my track record, it's only a matter of short time before they drop horribly, horribly dead. I already have several more characters lined up on that contingency, but honestly, it's getting redundant.
So I've pretty well decided that my next character will go all out. Since we're gestalted, I see no reason to become a Clericzilla or Druidzilla, when I can be both at once. I feel after watching a thousand characters drop like as many mosquitoes in a RAID-ed room, I've bloody well earned this privilege.
The problem is thus:
In my Forgotten Realms campaign, we're pretty stoked for healers. We've got a paladin/favored soul, a bard/cleric, and a wizard/cleric. Sure, I could go Cleric/Druid and dominate the fighting line with a wildshaped, spellslinging monster with Divine Everything and Righteous Might, but with two classes with full divine caster progression, I'd kind of, y'know, be stepping on a few toes.
My Planescape campaign, on the other hand, has exactly the opposite problem: no healers at all, in a party of seven. We used to have a healer, but he ended up quitting. So naturally, it's much better for me to save the CaDzilla for Planescape -- but that's where the problem comes in. The Planescape campaign has a house rule. The cleric class has been split up into two piddle-classes: the Priest and the Crusader.
The Priest is sort of a cleric-***-wizard: d6 hit die, good Will save, poor BAB progression. Proficient with simple weapons and light armor. Bonus feat every five levels (metamagic, item creation, or divine), Turn Undead, and Scribe Scroll; no other class features. But full spellcasting progression, ending with spells per day as follows (from 0-level to 9-level): 6/5/5/5/5/5/4/4/4/4. His alignment restricts the spells he can access (so a good cleric can't have evil spells). Cure spells can be spontaneously cast, all others are prepped, per normal cleric. Most importantly, however, he has access to the entire cleric spell list -- EXCEPT Divine Power and Righteous Might, as well as any other spells that buff only the cleric's own personal combat abilities (as opposed to general buffs that work on anyone).
The Crusader is sort of paladin-esque: d8 hit die, good Fort and Will saves, medium BAB progression. Proficient with simple weapons, all armor, and all shields (except tower shields). Turn undead, bonus feats at second level and every three levels thereafter (Divine or Fighter-feat, except for feats that are fighter-specific like Weapon Specialization). Spontaneous casting for any spell on their spell list (spoilered below). However, his spell list is limited (obviously, as he's spontaneous), and most importantly, he only gets spells up to sixth level. Notably, however, Divine Power and Righteous Might are on his spell list.
CRUSADER SPELLS:
0th level spells (Orisons)
Create water, cure minor wounds, detect poison, guidance, inflict minor wounds, light, resistance, virtue
1st level spells
Bane, bless, bless water, cause fear, command, cure light wounds, curse water, detect chaos/evil/good/law, detect undead, divine favor, doom, entropic shield, hide from undead, inflict light wounds, magic weapon, protection from chaos/evil/good/law, shield of faith
2nd level spells
Aid, align weapon, bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cure moderate wounds, darkness, death knell, eagle’s splendor, inflict moderate wounds, owl’s wisdom, resist energy, shield other, undetectable alignment
3rd level spells
Bestow curse, blindness/deafness, contagion, cure serious wounds, daylight, deeper darkness, dispel magic, inflict serious wounds, invisibility purge, magic circle against chaos/evil/good/law, magic vestment, prayer, protection from energy, searing light, water breathing, wind wall
4th level spells
Air walk, cure critical wounds, death ward, dismissal, divine power, freedom of movement, inflict critical wounds, magic weapon (greater), neutralize poison, poison, spell immunity
5th level spells
Command (greater), cure light wounds (mass), dispel chaos/evil/good/law, disrupting weapon, flame strike, inflict light wounds (mass), righteous might, slay living, spell resistance, symbol of pain, symbol of sleep, true seeing
6th level spells
Banishment, bear’s endurance (mass), blade barrier, bull’s strength (mass), cure moderate wounds (mass), dispel magic (Greater), eagle’s splendor (mass), harm, heal, heroes’ feast, inflict moderate wounds (mass), owl’s wisdom (mass), symbol of fear, undeath to death, word of recall
Which brings me, at long last, to my question: is it worth it?
Should I say "screw it" and bring in a CaDzilla to Forgotten Realms, in spite of the multitude of healers? (Seriously, half the party heals.) Or should I bite the bullet, go for it in Planescape, and take up a gimped class which I took one look at and made a solemn vow never, ever to touch?
Now, to reiterate, I know a CaDzilla should never, ever be played. But if anyone's entitled by this time, it's me. :P
Edit: AVAILABLE RESOURCES:
Planescape:
a. Player’s Handbook (Exceptions: the Cleric and Sorcerer classes have been rewritten. The Cleric has now become the Crusader and Priest classes, and the Sorcerer has been rewritten to make it less gimpy.)
b. Dungeon Master’s Guide (equipment exceptions: animated shields, bead of karma, ioun stones granting spell immunity.)
c. Player’s Handbook II
d. Expanded Psionics Handbook
e. Complete Adventurer
f. Complete Arcane
g. Complete Divine (spell exceptions: Brambles, Quillfire, Spikes)
h. Complete Psionics
i. Complete Warrior (class exceptions: frenzied berserker (allowed, but with some modification); feat exceptions: Improved Rapid Shot.)
j. Custom material: A PC version of the Noble class. I'm not putting it in here because I don't want to be one. :P
Forgotten Realms: (pretty much the same, a couple minor differences)
a. Player’s Handbook
b. Dungeon Master’s Guide (equipment exceptions: animated shields, bead of karma, ioun stones granting spell immunity, any item granting a magical bonus to skills other than Climb, Jump, and Swim (just because a potion of fly is a hundred times better than +10 to jumping and climbing, anyway). The exception to this last is potions, which are available normally.)
c. Expanded Psionics Handbook
d. Player’s Handbook II
e. Complete Adventurer
f. Complete Arcane
g. Complete Divine (spell exceptions: Brambles, Quillfire, Spikes)
h. Complete Psionics
i. Complete Warrior (class exceptions: frenzied berserker (allowed, but with some modification))
j. Custom material: PC version of the Noble class
k. Forgotten Realms books, including the Campaign Setting, Player’s Guide to Faerun, Faiths and Pantheons, Magic of Faerun, Races of Faerun. (DM's approval required for most of these, but generally granted.)