Piggy Knowles
2019-07-03, 03:23 PM
Welcome back!
INTRODUCTION
With more than a decade and a half of toying around with 3.5, I’ve accumulated a lot of spare builds and ideas. While I don’t have an active game going right now, I still like to pop open my builds folder and try to refine things. Recently I decided to make a dedicated effort to flesh out some of these builds into full write-ups, and reached out to some friends in the CO community who might be interested in doing the same. In the spirit of Tempest Stormwind’s Weekly Optimization Showcase (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), I thought I’d showcase the end results here.
The goal is (usually) not to show off any fancy new TO trick, but to showcase effective, playable builds and spur discussion. While each of us has a different build philosophy, in general the intent is to create something that can be played in most groups from level 1 to level 20. Again, the goal is discussion, so feel free to discuss the build, talk about other options, make suggestions or tear it all to shreds. Also, feel free to use anything showcased here in any of your campaigns—and let us know how they work out if you do!
Right now the group consists of myself, the Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger and WhamBamSam, with a couple of other folks hopefully on their way. Typically one of us writes up the build concept and possibly a stub, the others share feedback on Discord or in some of the shared documents we have, and together we refine things until we’re happy with the final product.
Buffsader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559259-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Buffsader) (ToB/Gish/Party Support)
The Utility Belt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560988-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Utility-Belt) (Psionics/Stealth/Utility)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569004-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-War-Mind) (ToB/Psionics/Melee Damage)
The Melding Pot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579458-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Melding-Pot) (Incarnum/Utility)
That’s So Raven (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581950-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-That%92s-So-Raven) (Gish/Ranged/Debuff)
Dancing in the Dark (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582528-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Dancing-in-the-Dark) (ToB/Stealth/Lock-down)
Gladys Knight and the Pips (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583657-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Gladys-Knight-and-the-Pips) (Arcane/Face/Utility)
I Choose You! ("]Zen in the Art of Archery[/URL]
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/431937476010180610/596072872217149490/rsz_ww43gczdcdgaaaabjru5erkjggg.png[/IMG]
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
BACKGROUND
Sometimes when we’re discussing builds, we just get stuck on a concept and have to see exactly how far we can take it. That’s about where this one comes from: we started toying with this idea originally after looking at some under-utilized spells and running across giant’s wrath. While the spell itself is pretty underwhelming, it did make us think about rock throwing and how much better it is than your typical options for thrown weapons. The biggest difference is that rock throwing (whether obtained via the giant’s racial ability or the giant’s wrath spell) has an absolutely phenomenal range, often exceeding that of a composite bow. Throwing boulders can also allow you to bypass some of the more common “Nope!” options that shut down archery and other ranged attacking methods, such as wind wall.
After a few days of riffing on the idea, we started talking about a ranged build with Vow of Poverty that only throws rocks. Ranged combat is particularly unsuited to VoP’s restrictions, beating out TWFing as the most equipment-reliant combat style around, but anyone can collect some rocks and stuff them in a sack without violating their vow. From there we hit on using Nemesis and Favored Enemy (evil) to make them into holy smiting boulders and… well, I’m not going to pretend that this is the strongest build of all time, but it’s one we had a lot of fun writing up. While the build by its nature is Good with a capital G, it should hopefully be a bit more party-friendly than your typical exalted paladin, and the final product does bypass many of the limitations inherent in Vow of Poverty. I hope you enjoy.
THE BASICS
Race: Human. You need a bonus feat to take VoP at first level, though you could certainly run with a different race if you don’t mind delaying it until 3rd. The various human subraces are also options; silverbrow in particular lets you get a little bit of extra mileage out of the primal line of ranger spells and disguise as a class skill. The primal benefits are minor and likely not worth the loss of the skill point, but disguise is actually an interesting skill for a shapechanger.
Build Stub: Ranger 10/Master of Many Forms 7/Stalker of Kharash 2/Nature’s Warrior 1
ACFs: Wild shape ranger (UA), urban companion (Cityscape web enhancement), arcane hunter (CMage).
Alignment: Neutral Good, with an emphasis on the Good - you’re exalted, with all the baggage that comes along with that.
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders
Level
Class
Feats
Class Features
VoP Benefits
Notes (Click to Expand)
1st
Ranger 1
Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, TrackB, NemesisP
Favored enemy (arcanists), Track, wild empathy, fast movement
AC bonus +4, bonus exalted feat
Wild shape ranger is no stranger among optimization circles: you give up your combat style for a barbarian’s fast movement and a druid’s wild shape (but restricted to small and medium forms). This is a great trade for any ranger planning on spending more than a few levels in the class, and key to the build.
Without a dedicated combat style, at these levels your best option will be to focus on melee. Pick a simple weapon (I suggest a spear, since it can be used in melee two-handed or thrown as necessary) and go at it. You also have excellent skills, good movement and a very unique way of tracking enemies in Nemesis. This exalted feat, which you take as your first VoP bonus feat, allows you to automatically detect the presence of a favored enemy within 60’ and pinpoint their exact location, even through barriers. This combines quite nicely with arcane hunter, which gives you favored enemy (arcanists), giving you an automatic detection method for anyone capable of casting arcane spells or using invocations, and a way to find out if anyone you encounter has said abilities. Very handy, and also a wider swath of foes than your typical favored enemy would provide. You also get a bonus +1d6 damage against evil casters.
2nd
Ranger 2
Nymph’s KissP
Bonus exalted feat
You’ve traded away your combat style, so not much happens at this level. You aren’t a diplomancer, but Nymph’s Kiss gives you a solid bonus to Charisma-based skills and some extra skill points for the entire rest of your career.
3rd
Ranger 3
Brutal Throw, EnduranceB
Endurance
AC bonus +5, endure elements
Brutal Throw will become pretty key later, but right now it helps you transition between melee and ranged attacks fairly seamlessly. Again, I recommend choosing a spear as your simple weapon for its ability to serve in this dual role.
4th
Ranger 4
Favored of the CompanionsP
Urban companion
Exalted strike +1 (magic), bonus exalted feat
I love urban companions in general, acting more like familiars than traditional animal companions and sharing your skill ranks, but it’s especially important here as it grants you Alertness, a required feat for your prestige options. Speaking of filler feats, Favored of the Companion is another pre-req that you get for “free” thanks to VoP. A +1 luck bonus to just about anything certainly isn’t bad, but it’s probably not going to make a huge difference in most cases.
You get exalted strike at this level, though, which gives all of your attacks a +1 enhancement bonus and lets them overcome DR as though they were magic weapons. This is a pretty key ability for you, so enjoy. You also get your first taste of spellcasting here. I’ll touch a bit more on ranger spells in a bit, but there are a surprising number of really good options, though you only get one a day at this point and can’t expand that with wands. Entangle is still very nice at this level thanks to its range and area. Primal hunter gives you some nice skill bonuses on the mobility skills that last all day long; it won’t be very useful once wild shape comes online, but it can certainly help in these levels. Raptor’s sight is great for scouting.
5th
Ranger 5
2nd favored enemy, wild shape (1/day)
Sustenance
I’m always hesitant to dictate the ideal favored enemy in builds like this, since that’s going to be really campaign-dependent. You have FE (arcanists) already and you’ll soon grab FE (evil), so consider what will be particularly useful to complement those two abilities. Keep in mind that you’re going to get Nemesis for this enemy as well, so there are some advantages to nabbing otherwise hard-to-spot foes.
Of course, wild shape is what’s really key about this level. While you’re restricted to small and medium forms, that’s still a huge boon for you, especially since your VoP bonuses apply in wild shaped form. Turn yourself into a pouncing cat with magic paws and a surprisingly high AC, and enjoy the significant boosts in combat you’ll get accordingly.
6th
Master of Many Forms 1
Quick Draw, Exalted Wild ShapeP
Shifter’s speech, improved wild shape (humanoid)
AC bonus +6, deflection +1, bonus exalted feat
MoMF and wild shape ranger go together like peanut butter and bananas. Everything about your wild shape improves: you get an extra use every level, expanded forms to take on, your HD cap increases and you get the very nice shifter’s speech ability. This mostly gets ignored, but it not only allows you to speak while in wild shape form, it also lets you communicate with creatures of the same kind that you turn into. That’s actually really nice, especially with the ability to take humanoid forms that you get at this level. It’s not quite tongues, but it’s super flexible and lets you communicate with almost anything.
Humanoid forms will mostly be useful for social settings at this point, but animal forms are still quite good… especially because you nab Exalted Wild Shape with your VoP bonus feat. This gives you several new forms, including the celestial version of any animal, and [u]lets you take advantage of the (Ex) and (Su) qualities of those forms. While this often gets thought of as Blink Dog Wild Shape (and for good reason - at-will teleportation and an improved version of the blink spell is huge, especially for someone with VoP), celestial animals are quite possibly even better. The real kicker here is that you get access to their special qualities, meaning you can pick up (for example) the excellent blindsight of the desmodu hunting bat or the skill bonuses of your cat forms.
7th
Master of Many Forms 2
Improved wild shape (giant; Large)
Resistance +1, Strength +2
Ah, here we are. With giant forms, you can finally start tossing around your holy boulders. Large and larger giants get rock throwing, which was the inspiration for this build. While there aren’t many large giants with under 7 HD, there is one good option: the fensir from Fiend Folio. As a fensir you can hurl small boulders up to five range increments with a 120’ range. Thanks to Quick Draw and the fact that you also get an extra attack at this level, you can toss out a couple of these a round, turning you into a mini-catapult. You use your very nice Strength (further boosted by VoP) for attack and damage, and get exalted strike and potentially favored enemy/Nemesis bonuses to boot. While you lack Precise Shot, you should have an excellent attack, and you can use guided shot once a day to ignore concealment, cover or penalties due to range: go ahead and fling boulders from 600 feet away if that’s what you’re into.
8th
Stalker of Kharash 1
Nemesis
Scent of evil
Natural armor +1, mind shielding, bonus exalted feat
A two-level dip into Stalker of Kharash puts a brief pause on your wild shaping, but it’s worth it. Scent of evil is kind of an odd ability, basically a scent-based detect evil spell, but unlike detection magic, this is passive and always on. And since you have two favored enemies, it’s worth it to take Nemesis for your second enemy too. You get another 1st-level spell, too, so that’s an extra guided shot each day.
9th
Stalker of Kharash 2
Point Blank Shot
Favored Enemy (Evil)
AC bonus +7
Adding it all up, your AC is now +9 higher than a typical creature. Not too shabby.
Favored Enemy (Evil) is the real draw for taking Stalker of Kharash. While this only provides half the bonus of your typical favored enemy, it applies to every evil creature and explicitly stacks with other favored enemy bonuses. This would be pretty good on its own, but when you add in Nemesis, it becomes absolutely incredible.
It’s late in your career but go ahead and take PBS, which is not particularly useful for you but you know, them’s the breaks when you want to use ranged attacks in 3.5.
10th
Nature’s Warrior 1
NemesisP
Nature’s armament (wild growth), wilding
Exalted strike +2 (good), damage reduction 5/magic, bonus exalted feat
A lot of neat things happen at this level. First, let’s talk prestige class: nature’s warrior stacks with ranger for wild shape abilities, while also keeping your BAB high and giving you wild growth for fast healing. It’s just 1 HP per round, but as you’re limited in how you can heal yourself, this can go a really long way to keeping you up and fighting throughout the day. Second, with 8 HD forms you get a higher damage rock throwing option in the skullcrusher ogre. While the fensir has an effective +7 AC as compared to the skullcrusher between natural armor and Dex, the skullcrusher’s extra 5 points of Strength can definitely make a difference in tough fights. Third, your enhancement bonus to attack and damage also increases, you can bypass DR/good and you pick up damage reduction. And finally, to make things even better, you deal an extra +1d6 damage against all evil creatures thanks to Nemesis, and can automatically detect them when they’re within 60’. Just an all around great level.
11th
Master of Many Forms 3
Fast wild shape, improved wild shape (monstrous humanoid)
Strength +4, Dexterity +2
Jumping back into MoMF provides a good swath of abilities. Fast wild shape makes it reasonable to shift forms as needed in combat, in case it’s not convenient to hang out as a giant all day long. You also get a very nice bump to Strength and Dex that applies in your wild shaped forms. And if you aren’t in a situation where rock throwing is your best option, with 9 HD forms available you can also turn into a cave troll for some phenomenal combat.
12th
Master of Many Forms 4
Rapid Shot, Gift of DiscernmentP
Improved wild shape (fey, Tiny)
AC bonus +8, deflection +2, greater sustenance, bonus exalted feat
Your wild shape forms are all about utility at this level. Tiny forms and fey forms are going to be the gold standard for scouting and mobility; I’m especially fond of the bog imp for its 60’ burrow speed.
Gift of Discernment is certainly handy, effectively acting as a Phylactery of Faithfulness and making sure you don’t accidentally fall. Being Exalted is hard, but Gift of Discernment makes it just a little bit easier.
Oh, and with +11 BAB and Rapid Shot, you’re now tossing four rocks in a single full attack. Not too bad.
13th
Master of Many Forms 5
Improved wild shape (vermin)
Resistance +2, energy resistance 5
Vermin forms are another tool in your toolbox, I suppose, but are mostly outclassed by your other options. Speaking of, you can also turn into a jungle giant at this level, which not only has all the giant goodness you’d expect but also has ridiculously good AC thanks to that 28 Dexterity (improved to 30 thanks to VoP). Note that the entry doesn’t list that this has rock throwing, but the Monster Manual/SRD states that any giant of Large size or larger should get the ability. Check with your DM.
14th
Master of Many Forms 6
Vow of ObedienceP
Improved wild shape (aberration; Huge)
Exalted strike +3, freedom of movement, bonus exalted feat
Another major bump. First, for your exalted feat, another Vow may seem like a pain in your giant-sized rear end, but Vow of Obedience isn’t too bad; the Five Companions are about as chill as you can be while still being exalted, and the +4 bonus versus compulsion effects will definitely come in handy. Your exalted strike also improves, and you get a perpetual freedom of movement ability, which is honestly one of the best things in the whole VoP list.
As for your wild shaping, you get access to aberrations and Huge forms. I’m actually not a big fan of staying Huge-sized for long periods of time - in my experience a Large creature can usually get around places mostly built for the Medium (perhaps not comfortably, but they can do it), but Huge can’t. Luckily, with more than half a dozen uses of wild shape a day, you can switch around as needed. That said, the lesser dusk giant is honestly good enough that you don’t even really need to go huge, with a 34 Strength and +11 natural armor. (We’ll ignore the cannabalize ability, as that feels quite distinctly non-exalted.)
15th
Master of Many Forms 7
Dragon Wild Shape
Extraordinary wild shape, improved wild shape (plant)
AC bonus +9, Strength +6/Dexterity +4/Constitution +2, damage reduction 5/evil
Dragon Wild Shape is primarily for the special abilities and immunities, letting you nab immunities to various elements and even to things like energy drain via shadow dragon. As a lack of immunities is one of the key flaws to VoP builds, this is pretty important. Speaking of the defensive utility of wild shape, wild shaping into a plant is a great way to pick up immunity to mind affecting (as well as lockdown effects like stun), another weakness of VoP builds. Extraordinary qualities in general are just amazing, giving you everything from racial bonuses to a variety of immunities.
For rock throwing forms, your best bet will be either the sun giant or the firbolg. Both have very similar stats, with the main difference being Huge versus Large. Huge is better for both range and damage, but firbolgs have the same Strength score with better defenses and without the baggage of being Huge-sized. Either one is a great option.
16th
Ranger 6
Touch of Golden IceP
Wild shape (+1/day)
Natural armor +2, bonus exalted feat
While you could finish out MoMF, the last three levels have diminishing returns for you. The remaining forms aren’t ones you’re desperate to see unlocked (and in some cases, are forms you’ve had access to this whole time), and switching back to ranger still advances your HD cap without losing any BAB, and also improves your skills and casting to boot. Touch of Golden Ice mostly comes in as a filler feat, as you’ve mostly run out of decent exalted feats; the save DC is laughably low, but it’s not too bad if you take a form with multiple natural attacks. Feel free to replace with another Vow if that’s more your speed. (Vow of Purity is honestly pretty nice, though be aware that atonement is harder for you than most characters due to your Vow of Poverty.)
17th
Ranger 7
Woodland stride, wild shape (+1/day)
Exalted strike +4, resistance +3, regeneration
While it’s hard to beat the sun giant or firbolg for rock throwing forms, access to 15 HD forms provide some interesting utility options. I’m particularly fond of the delver for its ability to destroy or reshape massive amounts of rock, but there are other cool options like the gulguthydra from Monsters of Faerun, which provides a huge area debuff.
You also get 2nd-level spells here. Guided shot is still the gold standard for a long range rock thrower, but spells like swift haste are handy for an extra attack when you need one. My favorite option, however, is primal instinct: a +5 bonus to survival checks (yawn) and initiative (now THAT’S more like it) and a 24 hour duration. Better still, if you use both this and primal hunter or primal senses, you also get the uncanny dodge ability.
18th
Ranger 8
Swift Wild Shape, Sanctify Natural AttackP
Swift tracker
AC bonus +10, deflection +3, true seeing, bonus exalted feat
Swift Wild Shape requires fast wild shape to take. While I believe the intention was to require the feat from Complete Divine, MoMF offers an identical ability with the same name, so it should qualify as well. Changing forms as a swift action can go a long way toward letting you switch between offensive and defensive forms as needed.
Constant true seeing is actually pretty great for you on top of your excellent perception skills. Combined with scent of evil and Nemesis, you should be able to spot just about anything. As for your exalted feat, again we’re running a bit short on options, but Sanctify Natural Attack can be OK if you decide to close to melee range.
19th
Ranger 9
Evasion
Strength +8/Dexterity +6/Constitution +4/Wisdom +2, damage reduction 10/evil
3rd-level spells offer a couple of interesting options. Mark of the hunter is sadly Will negates, but gives you a +4 damage bonus and eliminates cover and concealment against a foe. No idea why they thought this needed a Will save to balance it when it’s a 3rd-level spell, but here we are. Other spells like find the gap will likely be more useful overall. That said, I still like the primal line as a good use of your limited spell slots: primal senses gives you a hefty bonus to two very relevant skills in listen and spot, plus short range blindsight if you decided to go with silverbrow as your race. Add on primal instinct and you’ve got uncanny dodge to boot. Not a bad use of spell slots.
20th
Ranger 10
Nemesis
3rd favored enemy, wild shape (+1/day)
Exalted strike +5, energy resistance 15, bonus exalted feat
You’ve got a couple of nice capstones to close things out with. First, another favored enemy not only means an extra opportunity for Nemesis shenanigans, it also lets you improve a previous FE by +2. Go ahead and improve FE (evil), which is normally restricted to a lowly +1 bonus. Remember that FE (evil) bonuses explicitly stack with other favored enemy bonuses, so don’t be afraid to double up against common foes when you’re picking your favored enemy.
Second (and most importantly), the ability to take on 18 HD forms means you now can grab the one of the greatest giants of them all: the greater dusk giant. This thing’s stats are absolutely bananas for am 18 HD form, including a 48 Strength (improved to 56 thanks to VoP), giving you a whopping +23 Strength bonus. You also get a couple of other interesting thrower options in the ocean giant and the shadow giant. Neither have anywhere near the raw power of the greater dusk giant, but the ocean giant has a very respectable Str 39, an 80’ swim speed and gives you total immunity to bludgeoning weapons, while the shadow giant has blindsight, some racial bonuses to hide that almost-but-not-quite make up for the fact that it’s the approximate size of a mack truck, and +4d6 sneak attack. Ever sneak attacked someone with an 80 pound boulder before? Neither have I, but it sure sounds fun.
I’m going to include stat suggestions based on the idea that you’re starting the game at level 1. Notably, that means I’ll be putting a bit more into Strength than I would for anyone starting at level 6 or higher, at which point you’ll be spending most of your time wild shaped. Feel free to dump Strength if you’re starting later.
You’ll definitely want to start with a 16 Wisdom and improve that to 20 via your level-up bonuses, since that improves your weakest save, most of your relevant skills and your ranger casting. You also need to hit Wisdom 19 by ECL 15 in order to qualify for Dragon Wild Shape.
SAMPLE STAT ARRAYS:
28-point buy: Str 14/Dex 12/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 10
32-point buy: Str 14/Dex 12/Con 15/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 10
Despite the middlin’ Intelligence score, you should have quite a few skills. You spend most of your time in classes with 6 skill point per level, and with Nymph’s Kiss and your human bonus, that gives you a ton of wiggle room. I’d prioritize knowledge skills and perception skills. Survival isn’t a bad one to keep up in the lower levels when tracking is still relevant. If you’re silverbrow, disguise isn’t a bad idea either.
You’ll need at least 8 ranks in hide and move silently for Stalker of Kharash, 15 in knowledge (nature) for Dragon Wild Shape, 8 ranks in survival and knowledge (nature) for Nature’s Warrior. All of these are super doable and should leave you plenty to spare. Feel free to build out stealth (you lack Darkstalker but you’ve got a lot of cool Tiny forms for stealth), or take skilled city dweller for tumble, or work on your acrobatics. You’ve got options, is what I’m saying.
Get a sack. Fill it with big rocks. A simple melee weapon like a spear is probably OK to cart around too. Wear some clothes if you’re feeling prudish.
BUILD SUMMARY
While the inspiration for the build is rock throwing, don’t forget that you’re a shapeshifter to put most druids to shame: you can take on 18 HD forms of Tiny through Huge size, including animals, humanoids, giants, monstrous humanoids, fey, vermin, aberrations and plants. You can do this as a swift action 11 times per day, and you even get the extraordinary abilities of these forms. And while Vow of Poverty is usually a trap, it actually works in your favor here, since all of those VoP bonuses apply even when you change forms. That means your forms will all have +8 Strength, +6 Dex, +4 Con, energy resistance 15 to all major energy types, fast healing and regeneration, +15 to AC (not counting the improved Dex) and DR 10/evil. Plus, every attack you make has a +5 enhancement bonus. You’ve also got excellent skills, the ability to pick up a large variety of immunities via your wild shaping and the ability to automatically detect and pinpoint evil creatures, arcane spellcasters and other favored enemies via the Nemesis + favored enemy (evil)/favored enemy (arcanists) combo. Oh, and all this is on top of a decent combat chassis, including a +18 BAB.
As far as your rock throwing goes, by level 20 your best combat form can hurl five medium-sized boulders in a full attack from as far as 700 feet away (using guided shot to ignore range penalties as well as cover/concealment). Despite the penalties from being Huge-sized and using Rapid Shot, you have a very respectable +43/+43/+38/+33/+28 attack routine. Against evil foes, each rock will do at least 2d8+1d6+31 damage, giving you an average of 217.5 damage per full attack. If your enemy can cast arcane spells or is one of your other favored enemies, this average damage goes up to 227.5-237.5 average damage. While you could put out even more impressive numbers by closing to melee, the fact that you can do this from hundreds of feet away without violating your Vow of Poverty makes this particularly impressive.
VARIANTS
One of our original ideas is something we really tried hard to retain: using the giant’s wrath spell to fire off these holy boulders. Giant’s wrath is basically magic stone on steroids, letting you enchant a handful of pebbles as a swift action so that they turn into giant’s boulders when you hurl them. There are two particularly nice aspects to this: first, you get the full range of the rock throwing ability without actually needing the ability, and second, you get +CL to attack and damage (max +10). Also, since they’re pebbles when you throw them, they probably count as light weapons for TWF if you want to eke in extra attacks. We built some fairly standardish thrower gishes that used this spell, and it’s certainly not a bad route to take. (My favorite of these non-VoP takes was a Fochlucan Lyrist with Dragonfire Inspiration for flaming boulders of doom; see the spoiler block for a build stub.)
Silverbrow Human, Bard 7/Master Thrower 2/Druid 1/Sublime Chord 2/Fochlucan Lyrist 8
1 Bard1- Brutal Throw, Point Blank Shot
2 Bard2-
3 Bard3- Precise Shot
4 Bard4-
5 Bard5-
6 Bard6- Song of the Heart, Weapon Focus (rocks)
7 Bard7-
8 Master Thrower1- Quick Draw
9 Master Thrower2- Dragonfire Inspiration
10 Druid1-
11 Sublime Chord1-
12 Sublime Chord2- Words of Creation
13 Fochlucan Lyrist1-
14 Fochlucan Lyrist2-
15 Fochlucan Lyrist3- Rapid Shot
16 Fochlucan Lyrist4-
17 Fochlucan Lyrist5-
18 Fochlucan Lyrist6- Two-Weapon Fighting
19 Fochlucan Lyrist7-
20 Fochlucan Lyrist8-
The problem is, this spell is surprisingly awkward to fit onto the kind of build we were looking for. It works as an option for a non-VoP thrower, but alongside a VoP build, options were limited, and anything we made that got access to the spell mostly ended up inferior to a build that just embraced MoMF wild shaping nonsense. The spell appears on the druid or sorc/wizard spell list, which seems like it would leave some promising options, but in practice turned out to be surprisingly awkward. Sword of the Arcane Order, for instance, was right out, due to the spellbook requirement violating VoP. (You could maybe make something like this work if you campaign with a wizard, however, since SotAO states that you can share another character’s spellbook.) We found a workaround involving Chameleon, but the timing of the build was awkward skills were almost impossible without using Planar Touchstone, which, again, violates VoP. A druid base could pull this off, and one of our early build stubs was druid 18/warshaper 2, but a druid base lacks favored enemy for the various Nemesis tricks (unless you use the swift and deadly hunter druid, but then you lose wild shape).
Still, it’s an interesting play on the same concept, and you can do a lot more with fancy wild shape forms if you aren’t just restricted to giants. I think there’s definitely a way to make it work, and we’ll probably keep fiddling until we find one we like.
SOURCES
Book of Exalted Deeds: Vow of Poverty, Nemesis, Exalted Wild Shape, Stalker of Kharash, and all the random little exalted feats except Gift of Discernment
Complete Champion: Swift Wild Shape
Complete Warrior: Nature’s Warrior
Complete Adventurer: Master of Many Forms, Brutal Throw
Complete Mage: Arcane Hunter ACF
Cityscape: Urban companion ACF
UA/SRD: Wild shape ranger
Draconomicon: Dragon Wild Shape
The build also references several creatures as potential wild shape options. Of particular note are the rock throwing forms. Any Large or larger giant should have rock throwing, but in particular this build references the dusk giant line (Heroes of Horror, with the greater dusk giant in particular being the absolute best combat form for rock throwing), the fensir (Fiend Folio, the lowest HD giant with rock throwing), the firbolg (MM2, best Large-sized giant) and the sun giant (MM2, best Huge-sized giant below 18 HD).
***
And that’s that! Please let us know what you think in the comments!
INTRODUCTION
With more than a decade and a half of toying around with 3.5, I’ve accumulated a lot of spare builds and ideas. While I don’t have an active game going right now, I still like to pop open my builds folder and try to refine things. Recently I decided to make a dedicated effort to flesh out some of these builds into full write-ups, and reached out to some friends in the CO community who might be interested in doing the same. In the spirit of Tempest Stormwind’s Weekly Optimization Showcase (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), I thought I’d showcase the end results here.
The goal is (usually) not to show off any fancy new TO trick, but to showcase effective, playable builds and spur discussion. While each of us has a different build philosophy, in general the intent is to create something that can be played in most groups from level 1 to level 20. Again, the goal is discussion, so feel free to discuss the build, talk about other options, make suggestions or tear it all to shreds. Also, feel free to use anything showcased here in any of your campaigns—and let us know how they work out if you do!
Right now the group consists of myself, the Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger and WhamBamSam, with a couple of other folks hopefully on their way. Typically one of us writes up the build concept and possibly a stub, the others share feedback on Discord or in some of the shared documents we have, and together we refine things until we’re happy with the final product.
Buffsader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559259-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Buffsader) (ToB/Gish/Party Support)
The Utility Belt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560988-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Utility-Belt) (Psionics/Stealth/Utility)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569004-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-War-Mind) (ToB/Psionics/Melee Damage)
The Melding Pot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579458-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Melding-Pot) (Incarnum/Utility)
That’s So Raven (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581950-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-That%92s-So-Raven) (Gish/Ranged/Debuff)
Dancing in the Dark (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582528-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Dancing-in-the-Dark) (ToB/Stealth/Lock-down)
Gladys Knight and the Pips (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583657-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Gladys-Knight-and-the-Pips) (Arcane/Face/Utility)
I Choose You! ("]Zen in the Art of Archery[/URL]
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/431937476010180610/596072872217149490/rsz_ww43gczdcdgaaaabjru5erkjggg.png[/IMG]
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
BACKGROUND
Sometimes when we’re discussing builds, we just get stuck on a concept and have to see exactly how far we can take it. That’s about where this one comes from: we started toying with this idea originally after looking at some under-utilized spells and running across giant’s wrath. While the spell itself is pretty underwhelming, it did make us think about rock throwing and how much better it is than your typical options for thrown weapons. The biggest difference is that rock throwing (whether obtained via the giant’s racial ability or the giant’s wrath spell) has an absolutely phenomenal range, often exceeding that of a composite bow. Throwing boulders can also allow you to bypass some of the more common “Nope!” options that shut down archery and other ranged attacking methods, such as wind wall.
After a few days of riffing on the idea, we started talking about a ranged build with Vow of Poverty that only throws rocks. Ranged combat is particularly unsuited to VoP’s restrictions, beating out TWFing as the most equipment-reliant combat style around, but anyone can collect some rocks and stuff them in a sack without violating their vow. From there we hit on using Nemesis and Favored Enemy (evil) to make them into holy smiting boulders and… well, I’m not going to pretend that this is the strongest build of all time, but it’s one we had a lot of fun writing up. While the build by its nature is Good with a capital G, it should hopefully be a bit more party-friendly than your typical exalted paladin, and the final product does bypass many of the limitations inherent in Vow of Poverty. I hope you enjoy.
THE BASICS
Race: Human. You need a bonus feat to take VoP at first level, though you could certainly run with a different race if you don’t mind delaying it until 3rd. The various human subraces are also options; silverbrow in particular lets you get a little bit of extra mileage out of the primal line of ranger spells and disguise as a class skill. The primal benefits are minor and likely not worth the loss of the skill point, but disguise is actually an interesting skill for a shapechanger.
Build Stub: Ranger 10/Master of Many Forms 7/Stalker of Kharash 2/Nature’s Warrior 1
ACFs: Wild shape ranger (UA), urban companion (Cityscape web enhancement), arcane hunter (CMage).
Alignment: Neutral Good, with an emphasis on the Good - you’re exalted, with all the baggage that comes along with that.
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders
Level
Class
Feats
Class Features
VoP Benefits
Notes (Click to Expand)
1st
Ranger 1
Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, TrackB, NemesisP
Favored enemy (arcanists), Track, wild empathy, fast movement
AC bonus +4, bonus exalted feat
Wild shape ranger is no stranger among optimization circles: you give up your combat style for a barbarian’s fast movement and a druid’s wild shape (but restricted to small and medium forms). This is a great trade for any ranger planning on spending more than a few levels in the class, and key to the build.
Without a dedicated combat style, at these levels your best option will be to focus on melee. Pick a simple weapon (I suggest a spear, since it can be used in melee two-handed or thrown as necessary) and go at it. You also have excellent skills, good movement and a very unique way of tracking enemies in Nemesis. This exalted feat, which you take as your first VoP bonus feat, allows you to automatically detect the presence of a favored enemy within 60’ and pinpoint their exact location, even through barriers. This combines quite nicely with arcane hunter, which gives you favored enemy (arcanists), giving you an automatic detection method for anyone capable of casting arcane spells or using invocations, and a way to find out if anyone you encounter has said abilities. Very handy, and also a wider swath of foes than your typical favored enemy would provide. You also get a bonus +1d6 damage against evil casters.
2nd
Ranger 2
Nymph’s KissP
Bonus exalted feat
You’ve traded away your combat style, so not much happens at this level. You aren’t a diplomancer, but Nymph’s Kiss gives you a solid bonus to Charisma-based skills and some extra skill points for the entire rest of your career.
3rd
Ranger 3
Brutal Throw, EnduranceB
Endurance
AC bonus +5, endure elements
Brutal Throw will become pretty key later, but right now it helps you transition between melee and ranged attacks fairly seamlessly. Again, I recommend choosing a spear as your simple weapon for its ability to serve in this dual role.
4th
Ranger 4
Favored of the CompanionsP
Urban companion
Exalted strike +1 (magic), bonus exalted feat
I love urban companions in general, acting more like familiars than traditional animal companions and sharing your skill ranks, but it’s especially important here as it grants you Alertness, a required feat for your prestige options. Speaking of filler feats, Favored of the Companion is another pre-req that you get for “free” thanks to VoP. A +1 luck bonus to just about anything certainly isn’t bad, but it’s probably not going to make a huge difference in most cases.
You get exalted strike at this level, though, which gives all of your attacks a +1 enhancement bonus and lets them overcome DR as though they were magic weapons. This is a pretty key ability for you, so enjoy. You also get your first taste of spellcasting here. I’ll touch a bit more on ranger spells in a bit, but there are a surprising number of really good options, though you only get one a day at this point and can’t expand that with wands. Entangle is still very nice at this level thanks to its range and area. Primal hunter gives you some nice skill bonuses on the mobility skills that last all day long; it won’t be very useful once wild shape comes online, but it can certainly help in these levels. Raptor’s sight is great for scouting.
5th
Ranger 5
2nd favored enemy, wild shape (1/day)
Sustenance
I’m always hesitant to dictate the ideal favored enemy in builds like this, since that’s going to be really campaign-dependent. You have FE (arcanists) already and you’ll soon grab FE (evil), so consider what will be particularly useful to complement those two abilities. Keep in mind that you’re going to get Nemesis for this enemy as well, so there are some advantages to nabbing otherwise hard-to-spot foes.
Of course, wild shape is what’s really key about this level. While you’re restricted to small and medium forms, that’s still a huge boon for you, especially since your VoP bonuses apply in wild shaped form. Turn yourself into a pouncing cat with magic paws and a surprisingly high AC, and enjoy the significant boosts in combat you’ll get accordingly.
6th
Master of Many Forms 1
Quick Draw, Exalted Wild ShapeP
Shifter’s speech, improved wild shape (humanoid)
AC bonus +6, deflection +1, bonus exalted feat
MoMF and wild shape ranger go together like peanut butter and bananas. Everything about your wild shape improves: you get an extra use every level, expanded forms to take on, your HD cap increases and you get the very nice shifter’s speech ability. This mostly gets ignored, but it not only allows you to speak while in wild shape form, it also lets you communicate with creatures of the same kind that you turn into. That’s actually really nice, especially with the ability to take humanoid forms that you get at this level. It’s not quite tongues, but it’s super flexible and lets you communicate with almost anything.
Humanoid forms will mostly be useful for social settings at this point, but animal forms are still quite good… especially because you nab Exalted Wild Shape with your VoP bonus feat. This gives you several new forms, including the celestial version of any animal, and [u]lets you take advantage of the (Ex) and (Su) qualities of those forms. While this often gets thought of as Blink Dog Wild Shape (and for good reason - at-will teleportation and an improved version of the blink spell is huge, especially for someone with VoP), celestial animals are quite possibly even better. The real kicker here is that you get access to their special qualities, meaning you can pick up (for example) the excellent blindsight of the desmodu hunting bat or the skill bonuses of your cat forms.
7th
Master of Many Forms 2
Improved wild shape (giant; Large)
Resistance +1, Strength +2
Ah, here we are. With giant forms, you can finally start tossing around your holy boulders. Large and larger giants get rock throwing, which was the inspiration for this build. While there aren’t many large giants with under 7 HD, there is one good option: the fensir from Fiend Folio. As a fensir you can hurl small boulders up to five range increments with a 120’ range. Thanks to Quick Draw and the fact that you also get an extra attack at this level, you can toss out a couple of these a round, turning you into a mini-catapult. You use your very nice Strength (further boosted by VoP) for attack and damage, and get exalted strike and potentially favored enemy/Nemesis bonuses to boot. While you lack Precise Shot, you should have an excellent attack, and you can use guided shot once a day to ignore concealment, cover or penalties due to range: go ahead and fling boulders from 600 feet away if that’s what you’re into.
8th
Stalker of Kharash 1
Nemesis
Scent of evil
Natural armor +1, mind shielding, bonus exalted feat
A two-level dip into Stalker of Kharash puts a brief pause on your wild shaping, but it’s worth it. Scent of evil is kind of an odd ability, basically a scent-based detect evil spell, but unlike detection magic, this is passive and always on. And since you have two favored enemies, it’s worth it to take Nemesis for your second enemy too. You get another 1st-level spell, too, so that’s an extra guided shot each day.
9th
Stalker of Kharash 2
Point Blank Shot
Favored Enemy (Evil)
AC bonus +7
Adding it all up, your AC is now +9 higher than a typical creature. Not too shabby.
Favored Enemy (Evil) is the real draw for taking Stalker of Kharash. While this only provides half the bonus of your typical favored enemy, it applies to every evil creature and explicitly stacks with other favored enemy bonuses. This would be pretty good on its own, but when you add in Nemesis, it becomes absolutely incredible.
It’s late in your career but go ahead and take PBS, which is not particularly useful for you but you know, them’s the breaks when you want to use ranged attacks in 3.5.
10th
Nature’s Warrior 1
NemesisP
Nature’s armament (wild growth), wilding
Exalted strike +2 (good), damage reduction 5/magic, bonus exalted feat
A lot of neat things happen at this level. First, let’s talk prestige class: nature’s warrior stacks with ranger for wild shape abilities, while also keeping your BAB high and giving you wild growth for fast healing. It’s just 1 HP per round, but as you’re limited in how you can heal yourself, this can go a really long way to keeping you up and fighting throughout the day. Second, with 8 HD forms you get a higher damage rock throwing option in the skullcrusher ogre. While the fensir has an effective +7 AC as compared to the skullcrusher between natural armor and Dex, the skullcrusher’s extra 5 points of Strength can definitely make a difference in tough fights. Third, your enhancement bonus to attack and damage also increases, you can bypass DR/good and you pick up damage reduction. And finally, to make things even better, you deal an extra +1d6 damage against all evil creatures thanks to Nemesis, and can automatically detect them when they’re within 60’. Just an all around great level.
11th
Master of Many Forms 3
Fast wild shape, improved wild shape (monstrous humanoid)
Strength +4, Dexterity +2
Jumping back into MoMF provides a good swath of abilities. Fast wild shape makes it reasonable to shift forms as needed in combat, in case it’s not convenient to hang out as a giant all day long. You also get a very nice bump to Strength and Dex that applies in your wild shaped forms. And if you aren’t in a situation where rock throwing is your best option, with 9 HD forms available you can also turn into a cave troll for some phenomenal combat.
12th
Master of Many Forms 4
Rapid Shot, Gift of DiscernmentP
Improved wild shape (fey, Tiny)
AC bonus +8, deflection +2, greater sustenance, bonus exalted feat
Your wild shape forms are all about utility at this level. Tiny forms and fey forms are going to be the gold standard for scouting and mobility; I’m especially fond of the bog imp for its 60’ burrow speed.
Gift of Discernment is certainly handy, effectively acting as a Phylactery of Faithfulness and making sure you don’t accidentally fall. Being Exalted is hard, but Gift of Discernment makes it just a little bit easier.
Oh, and with +11 BAB and Rapid Shot, you’re now tossing four rocks in a single full attack. Not too bad.
13th
Master of Many Forms 5
Improved wild shape (vermin)
Resistance +2, energy resistance 5
Vermin forms are another tool in your toolbox, I suppose, but are mostly outclassed by your other options. Speaking of, you can also turn into a jungle giant at this level, which not only has all the giant goodness you’d expect but also has ridiculously good AC thanks to that 28 Dexterity (improved to 30 thanks to VoP). Note that the entry doesn’t list that this has rock throwing, but the Monster Manual/SRD states that any giant of Large size or larger should get the ability. Check with your DM.
14th
Master of Many Forms 6
Vow of ObedienceP
Improved wild shape (aberration; Huge)
Exalted strike +3, freedom of movement, bonus exalted feat
Another major bump. First, for your exalted feat, another Vow may seem like a pain in your giant-sized rear end, but Vow of Obedience isn’t too bad; the Five Companions are about as chill as you can be while still being exalted, and the +4 bonus versus compulsion effects will definitely come in handy. Your exalted strike also improves, and you get a perpetual freedom of movement ability, which is honestly one of the best things in the whole VoP list.
As for your wild shaping, you get access to aberrations and Huge forms. I’m actually not a big fan of staying Huge-sized for long periods of time - in my experience a Large creature can usually get around places mostly built for the Medium (perhaps not comfortably, but they can do it), but Huge can’t. Luckily, with more than half a dozen uses of wild shape a day, you can switch around as needed. That said, the lesser dusk giant is honestly good enough that you don’t even really need to go huge, with a 34 Strength and +11 natural armor. (We’ll ignore the cannabalize ability, as that feels quite distinctly non-exalted.)
15th
Master of Many Forms 7
Dragon Wild Shape
Extraordinary wild shape, improved wild shape (plant)
AC bonus +9, Strength +6/Dexterity +4/Constitution +2, damage reduction 5/evil
Dragon Wild Shape is primarily for the special abilities and immunities, letting you nab immunities to various elements and even to things like energy drain via shadow dragon. As a lack of immunities is one of the key flaws to VoP builds, this is pretty important. Speaking of the defensive utility of wild shape, wild shaping into a plant is a great way to pick up immunity to mind affecting (as well as lockdown effects like stun), another weakness of VoP builds. Extraordinary qualities in general are just amazing, giving you everything from racial bonuses to a variety of immunities.
For rock throwing forms, your best bet will be either the sun giant or the firbolg. Both have very similar stats, with the main difference being Huge versus Large. Huge is better for both range and damage, but firbolgs have the same Strength score with better defenses and without the baggage of being Huge-sized. Either one is a great option.
16th
Ranger 6
Touch of Golden IceP
Wild shape (+1/day)
Natural armor +2, bonus exalted feat
While you could finish out MoMF, the last three levels have diminishing returns for you. The remaining forms aren’t ones you’re desperate to see unlocked (and in some cases, are forms you’ve had access to this whole time), and switching back to ranger still advances your HD cap without losing any BAB, and also improves your skills and casting to boot. Touch of Golden Ice mostly comes in as a filler feat, as you’ve mostly run out of decent exalted feats; the save DC is laughably low, but it’s not too bad if you take a form with multiple natural attacks. Feel free to replace with another Vow if that’s more your speed. (Vow of Purity is honestly pretty nice, though be aware that atonement is harder for you than most characters due to your Vow of Poverty.)
17th
Ranger 7
Woodland stride, wild shape (+1/day)
Exalted strike +4, resistance +3, regeneration
While it’s hard to beat the sun giant or firbolg for rock throwing forms, access to 15 HD forms provide some interesting utility options. I’m particularly fond of the delver for its ability to destroy or reshape massive amounts of rock, but there are other cool options like the gulguthydra from Monsters of Faerun, which provides a huge area debuff.
You also get 2nd-level spells here. Guided shot is still the gold standard for a long range rock thrower, but spells like swift haste are handy for an extra attack when you need one. My favorite option, however, is primal instinct: a +5 bonus to survival checks (yawn) and initiative (now THAT’S more like it) and a 24 hour duration. Better still, if you use both this and primal hunter or primal senses, you also get the uncanny dodge ability.
18th
Ranger 8
Swift Wild Shape, Sanctify Natural AttackP
Swift tracker
AC bonus +10, deflection +3, true seeing, bonus exalted feat
Swift Wild Shape requires fast wild shape to take. While I believe the intention was to require the feat from Complete Divine, MoMF offers an identical ability with the same name, so it should qualify as well. Changing forms as a swift action can go a long way toward letting you switch between offensive and defensive forms as needed.
Constant true seeing is actually pretty great for you on top of your excellent perception skills. Combined with scent of evil and Nemesis, you should be able to spot just about anything. As for your exalted feat, again we’re running a bit short on options, but Sanctify Natural Attack can be OK if you decide to close to melee range.
19th
Ranger 9
Evasion
Strength +8/Dexterity +6/Constitution +4/Wisdom +2, damage reduction 10/evil
3rd-level spells offer a couple of interesting options. Mark of the hunter is sadly Will negates, but gives you a +4 damage bonus and eliminates cover and concealment against a foe. No idea why they thought this needed a Will save to balance it when it’s a 3rd-level spell, but here we are. Other spells like find the gap will likely be more useful overall. That said, I still like the primal line as a good use of your limited spell slots: primal senses gives you a hefty bonus to two very relevant skills in listen and spot, plus short range blindsight if you decided to go with silverbrow as your race. Add on primal instinct and you’ve got uncanny dodge to boot. Not a bad use of spell slots.
20th
Ranger 10
Nemesis
3rd favored enemy, wild shape (+1/day)
Exalted strike +5, energy resistance 15, bonus exalted feat
You’ve got a couple of nice capstones to close things out with. First, another favored enemy not only means an extra opportunity for Nemesis shenanigans, it also lets you improve a previous FE by +2. Go ahead and improve FE (evil), which is normally restricted to a lowly +1 bonus. Remember that FE (evil) bonuses explicitly stack with other favored enemy bonuses, so don’t be afraid to double up against common foes when you’re picking your favored enemy.
Second (and most importantly), the ability to take on 18 HD forms means you now can grab the one of the greatest giants of them all: the greater dusk giant. This thing’s stats are absolutely bananas for am 18 HD form, including a 48 Strength (improved to 56 thanks to VoP), giving you a whopping +23 Strength bonus. You also get a couple of other interesting thrower options in the ocean giant and the shadow giant. Neither have anywhere near the raw power of the greater dusk giant, but the ocean giant has a very respectable Str 39, an 80’ swim speed and gives you total immunity to bludgeoning weapons, while the shadow giant has blindsight, some racial bonuses to hide that almost-but-not-quite make up for the fact that it’s the approximate size of a mack truck, and +4d6 sneak attack. Ever sneak attacked someone with an 80 pound boulder before? Neither have I, but it sure sounds fun.
I’m going to include stat suggestions based on the idea that you’re starting the game at level 1. Notably, that means I’ll be putting a bit more into Strength than I would for anyone starting at level 6 or higher, at which point you’ll be spending most of your time wild shaped. Feel free to dump Strength if you’re starting later.
You’ll definitely want to start with a 16 Wisdom and improve that to 20 via your level-up bonuses, since that improves your weakest save, most of your relevant skills and your ranger casting. You also need to hit Wisdom 19 by ECL 15 in order to qualify for Dragon Wild Shape.
SAMPLE STAT ARRAYS:
28-point buy: Str 14/Dex 12/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 10
32-point buy: Str 14/Dex 12/Con 15/Int 10/Wis 16/Cha 10
Despite the middlin’ Intelligence score, you should have quite a few skills. You spend most of your time in classes with 6 skill point per level, and with Nymph’s Kiss and your human bonus, that gives you a ton of wiggle room. I’d prioritize knowledge skills and perception skills. Survival isn’t a bad one to keep up in the lower levels when tracking is still relevant. If you’re silverbrow, disguise isn’t a bad idea either.
You’ll need at least 8 ranks in hide and move silently for Stalker of Kharash, 15 in knowledge (nature) for Dragon Wild Shape, 8 ranks in survival and knowledge (nature) for Nature’s Warrior. All of these are super doable and should leave you plenty to spare. Feel free to build out stealth (you lack Darkstalker but you’ve got a lot of cool Tiny forms for stealth), or take skilled city dweller for tumble, or work on your acrobatics. You’ve got options, is what I’m saying.
Get a sack. Fill it with big rocks. A simple melee weapon like a spear is probably OK to cart around too. Wear some clothes if you’re feeling prudish.
BUILD SUMMARY
While the inspiration for the build is rock throwing, don’t forget that you’re a shapeshifter to put most druids to shame: you can take on 18 HD forms of Tiny through Huge size, including animals, humanoids, giants, monstrous humanoids, fey, vermin, aberrations and plants. You can do this as a swift action 11 times per day, and you even get the extraordinary abilities of these forms. And while Vow of Poverty is usually a trap, it actually works in your favor here, since all of those VoP bonuses apply even when you change forms. That means your forms will all have +8 Strength, +6 Dex, +4 Con, energy resistance 15 to all major energy types, fast healing and regeneration, +15 to AC (not counting the improved Dex) and DR 10/evil. Plus, every attack you make has a +5 enhancement bonus. You’ve also got excellent skills, the ability to pick up a large variety of immunities via your wild shaping and the ability to automatically detect and pinpoint evil creatures, arcane spellcasters and other favored enemies via the Nemesis + favored enemy (evil)/favored enemy (arcanists) combo. Oh, and all this is on top of a decent combat chassis, including a +18 BAB.
As far as your rock throwing goes, by level 20 your best combat form can hurl five medium-sized boulders in a full attack from as far as 700 feet away (using guided shot to ignore range penalties as well as cover/concealment). Despite the penalties from being Huge-sized and using Rapid Shot, you have a very respectable +43/+43/+38/+33/+28 attack routine. Against evil foes, each rock will do at least 2d8+1d6+31 damage, giving you an average of 217.5 damage per full attack. If your enemy can cast arcane spells or is one of your other favored enemies, this average damage goes up to 227.5-237.5 average damage. While you could put out even more impressive numbers by closing to melee, the fact that you can do this from hundreds of feet away without violating your Vow of Poverty makes this particularly impressive.
VARIANTS
One of our original ideas is something we really tried hard to retain: using the giant’s wrath spell to fire off these holy boulders. Giant’s wrath is basically magic stone on steroids, letting you enchant a handful of pebbles as a swift action so that they turn into giant’s boulders when you hurl them. There are two particularly nice aspects to this: first, you get the full range of the rock throwing ability without actually needing the ability, and second, you get +CL to attack and damage (max +10). Also, since they’re pebbles when you throw them, they probably count as light weapons for TWF if you want to eke in extra attacks. We built some fairly standardish thrower gishes that used this spell, and it’s certainly not a bad route to take. (My favorite of these non-VoP takes was a Fochlucan Lyrist with Dragonfire Inspiration for flaming boulders of doom; see the spoiler block for a build stub.)
Silverbrow Human, Bard 7/Master Thrower 2/Druid 1/Sublime Chord 2/Fochlucan Lyrist 8
1 Bard1- Brutal Throw, Point Blank Shot
2 Bard2-
3 Bard3- Precise Shot
4 Bard4-
5 Bard5-
6 Bard6- Song of the Heart, Weapon Focus (rocks)
7 Bard7-
8 Master Thrower1- Quick Draw
9 Master Thrower2- Dragonfire Inspiration
10 Druid1-
11 Sublime Chord1-
12 Sublime Chord2- Words of Creation
13 Fochlucan Lyrist1-
14 Fochlucan Lyrist2-
15 Fochlucan Lyrist3- Rapid Shot
16 Fochlucan Lyrist4-
17 Fochlucan Lyrist5-
18 Fochlucan Lyrist6- Two-Weapon Fighting
19 Fochlucan Lyrist7-
20 Fochlucan Lyrist8-
The problem is, this spell is surprisingly awkward to fit onto the kind of build we were looking for. It works as an option for a non-VoP thrower, but alongside a VoP build, options were limited, and anything we made that got access to the spell mostly ended up inferior to a build that just embraced MoMF wild shaping nonsense. The spell appears on the druid or sorc/wizard spell list, which seems like it would leave some promising options, but in practice turned out to be surprisingly awkward. Sword of the Arcane Order, for instance, was right out, due to the spellbook requirement violating VoP. (You could maybe make something like this work if you campaign with a wizard, however, since SotAO states that you can share another character’s spellbook.) We found a workaround involving Chameleon, but the timing of the build was awkward skills were almost impossible without using Planar Touchstone, which, again, violates VoP. A druid base could pull this off, and one of our early build stubs was druid 18/warshaper 2, but a druid base lacks favored enemy for the various Nemesis tricks (unless you use the swift and deadly hunter druid, but then you lose wild shape).
Still, it’s an interesting play on the same concept, and you can do a lot more with fancy wild shape forms if you aren’t just restricted to giants. I think there’s definitely a way to make it work, and we’ll probably keep fiddling until we find one we like.
SOURCES
Book of Exalted Deeds: Vow of Poverty, Nemesis, Exalted Wild Shape, Stalker of Kharash, and all the random little exalted feats except Gift of Discernment
Complete Champion: Swift Wild Shape
Complete Warrior: Nature’s Warrior
Complete Adventurer: Master of Many Forms, Brutal Throw
Complete Mage: Arcane Hunter ACF
Cityscape: Urban companion ACF
UA/SRD: Wild shape ranger
Draconomicon: Dragon Wild Shape
The build also references several creatures as potential wild shape options. Of particular note are the rock throwing forms. Any Large or larger giant should have rock throwing, but in particular this build references the dusk giant line (Heroes of Horror, with the greater dusk giant in particular being the absolute best combat form for rock throwing), the fensir (Fiend Folio, the lowest HD giant with rock throwing), the firbolg (MM2, best Large-sized giant) and the sun giant (MM2, best Huge-sized giant below 18 HD).
***
And that’s that! Please let us know what you think in the comments!