You just gained a level in real life: 2020 edition!

[Troacctid]

A new year, a new level!

You can choose any class to gain a level in, and you gain the benefits of that level for yourself in real life. What would you choose?

Rules:
3.5e or Pathfinder, whichever you're most familiar with. By popular demand, 3rd party material (for either edition) is allowed and counts as a separate, third category. If you're familiar with multiple editions, you can do all of them individually if you like, and have two or three different versions of your build.

Treat yourself as having your choice of the nonelite array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8) or the standard array (11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10), arranged as you like, for this purpose. You gain the normal benefits of being a human. In Pathfinder, that includes the ability score bonus, and you can choose variant traits if it suits you. In 3.5e, you can still get the +2 ability bonus to one score by trading away your bonus feat and skill points via the Unsheltered Human variant. Aging modifiers apply as normal.

For those of you who participated in this exercise in previous years, you keep the levels you had before, meaning you may now be as high as level 5! Those levels are locked in as of now. However, if you didn't post in the thread that year, you did not level up. Here is a handy-dandy spreadsheet to track what levels everyone already has: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1F9_HAZgHMTlsurJUs96IzO2_VVq8rZmZaKpbjC3Y2YA/edit?usp=sharing

Bonus points if you stat out a whole character sheet!

Previous threads:
2019 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577453-You-just-gained-a-level-in-real-life!-What-class-would-you-take)
2018 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?546315-You-just-gained-a-level-in-real-life!-What-class-would-you-take)
2017 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?510641-You-just-gained-a-level-in-real-life!-What-class-would-you-take)
2016 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?476465-Every-year-starting-now-you-gain-a-level-IRL-What-is-your-build)

FAQ:
Q: Do magic abilities work? I mean, magic isn't real, right?
A: Yes, magic abilities work.

Q: Are other people in the world leveling up too? Am I going to be the only magic-user?
A: Assume that you do not have this information when making your decision.

Q: Will I be leveling up again in the future? If so, when?
A: If this is your first time round, then assume you don't have this information. If it's your second time, you now have two data points to extrapolate from. By the third time, you will probably notice a pattern.

Q: I am a hotshot and I think my ability scores would be higher than that.
A: This isn't about simulating your real-world characteristics in a D&D character. In this exercise, everything you gain from your new abilities is layered on top of whatever you can already do. So you gain a new stat array, and you can arrange it however you like. Think of it as a gestalt, if that helps.

Q: Do I have to spend my skill ranks on things I'm already good at or risk losing the ability to do them well?
A: Similar answer as above. You have the skills that you have, and then you also gain however-many skill points, which you can spend to improve your skills on top of that. If you took a -1 penalty to Charisma, then sure, that will carry over into making you slightly worse at playing the guitar, but you won't suddenly unlearn how to play it.

Q: Can I take flaws?
A: Yes, you can gain flaws according to the normal rules for flaws. Said flaw will apply on top of whatever "flaws" you might already have had before gaining the level. For example, if you're using the 3.5e rules, you could take Poor Reflexes as a flaw to gain a bonus feat, and it would make your reflexes worse, just like taking Lightning Reflexes as a feat would have made them better. If you already had poor reflexes, then they'd now be even worse than before.

Q: Is retraining allowed?
A: Yes. Use the normal rules for it under your chosen system.

Q: How do gp costs work?
A: They use up money or material wealth at a reasonable exchange rate. Specifics aren't important; we're not here to do math.

Q: How do xp costs work?
A: You accumulate experience by literally gaining experience. In other words, you have to do stuff. But, like, meaningful stuff that helps you grow as a person. Spending the xp you gain this way doesn't cause you to lose the experience, but it prevents you from using it again to pay another xp cost, so if you want to use abilities with xp costs on a regular basis, you'll want to live life to its fullest.

Q: How fast does xp accumulate?
A: Just to give a sense of scale for xp expenditures, you can figure a maximum of about 20 xp per level per week, assuming you are having meaningful life experiences. The amount of xp you can hold at a time is limited to your level x 1000. (This is based on the xp a character of your level could have in-game.) This is only used for xp costs, not for leveling up; to level up, you just post in the yearly thread, and that's it.

Q: I get that I have to be a human, but can I take a template?
A: Template classes are fair game as long as you have at least one real class level first. Use savage progression rules for them, even if the template class wouldn't normally work that way. Any template that can't be taken as a template class is probably going to be unavailable, unless you can somehow gain it via class features.

Q: What about setting-specific material, or regional requirements?
A: Assume they are adapted to another, similar requirement that makes sense in our world.

Q: I have a question about how a particular rules interaction would work under this model.
A: You can ask in the thread, but here are two general rules of thumb. First, most things work the way they'd be expected to work in an actual fantasy world, so if one interpretation of a rule would break established D&D canon if it were true, and another wouldn't, the latter one is more likely to be correct. Second, if you would normally have to consult with your DM about how it works, you can assume you don't know the answer as you make your decision—you'd have to try the interaction and find out for yourself.

[El Dorado]

Woo hoo! Level 4 Pathfinder wizard! Boost Intelligence up. Retrain feats and skills as needed to embrace that wizard lifestyle. Hopefully my fellow wizards and I have gotten around to researching and trading spells to build up our repertoires.

Human Transmuter 4
Init -1; Senses Perception +4
DEFENSE
AC 9, touch 9, flat-footed 9 (-1 Dex)
hp 20
Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +4
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee club +2 (1d6)
Ranged none
Arcane School Spell-like Abilities (CL 4th; concentration +7)
6/day—telekinetic fist (1d4+2)
Transmuter Spells Prepared (CL 4th; concentration +7)
2nd—2 + 1 (bonus) + 1 (school)
1st—3 + 1 (bonus) +1 (school)
0 (at will)—-4
1/day—-cast any spell in spellbook
Opposition Schools: Enchantment, Necromancy

STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 9, Con 12 (11), Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 9 (age-adjusted)
Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 11
Feats: Eschew Materials, Extend Spell, Scribe Scroll [b], Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
Skills: Knowledge (arcana, geography, history, local) +10, Linguistics +10, Perception +4, Spellcraft +14
Traits: Avid Reader (arcana), Classically Schooled
Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Russian, Spanish
SQ arcane bond (amulet), physical enhancement +1
Gear: spellbook, masterwork spellcraft tools

As far as my Dreamscarred psion, take another level in telepath, making him a Telepath 4. Lots of cool stuff there but haven't worked out a build for him yet.

edits: typo, added spoiler

[Powerdork]

The return!

As a shadow being, I grow in power, subtly. Also, Mixed Blood (water) made no sense. It's been replaced with Life of Toil, to better represent my background. If it matters, retraining half of a feat (the intent of traits) would take 3 days, rounded up, and this would cost 10 gold per level per day, so like 60 gold pieces worth. Given how much I actually get paid for the work I do, that feels appropriate.

New choices: aether bolt as a shape known, reveal your secrets as a clause (so I can read books in an instant and clone documents freely), and Pactbound Guardian as a bonus feat, because a shadow red panda would be a cool buddy.
Skill ranks up.

Human shadow avowed 2
Medium outsider (human, native, psionic)
Move 30 (+10 if in shadow, useable only at end of move), constant detect magic, night watch (see below)
Abilities: Strength 13, Dexterity 8, Constitution 11, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 9, Charisma 12.
AC 9 (+4 after moving 30 feet), CMD 11, Fort +4, Ref -1, Will +2. HP 9-16 (2d8).
Traits: Mixed Blood (Outsider) (Dreamscarred Press's Bloodforge), Life of Toil
Feats: Unlocked Talent (expansion), Ancestor's Breath (cone of sonic 2d6, DC 11, Bloodforge), Pactbound Guardian (red panda familiar)
Pulse Shapes: aether beam 1d6 (Ref 12 half), aether blade +2 touch (1d6+1 untyped; crits: 20/3d6+2 untyped), aether bolt +0 ranged touch in 60 ft. (1d6 untyped).
Clause: lock and key (creates an explosive-if-bypassed arcane lock), reveal your secrets (basically dragonfire adept's magic insight crossed with scholar's touch and amanuensis), bonus clause night watch (touch: subject can see in darkness, even magical darkness, for 24 hours)
Skills (12 + 2 Int + 2 favoured class + 2 human): Acrobatics +6, cross-class Climb +1, cross-class Disable Device +3, Disguise +6, Linguistics +6, Perception +4, Sense Motive +4 (add +1 when seeing their shadow), Spellcraft +6, Stealth (pact skill) +7.

As for the 3.5 AU: Oh dang, I've got 0-7 more hit points and blue scales over parts of my body. That's gender euphoria.

Human dragonfire adept 2
Medium humanoid (human, dragonblood)
Abilities: Strength 13, Dexterity 8, Constitution 11, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 9, Charisma 12.
AC 11 (-1 Dex, +2 natural), Fort +1, Ref -1, Will +2; +2 on saves against magic sleep, paralysis, electricity. HP 8-15 (2d8).
Flaws: Frail (-2 hp)
Feats: Dragontouched (+1 hp, sense skill bonus), Draconic Heritage (blue) [Draconic], Draconic Knowledge +2 [Draconic]
Class feature: breath weapon 1d6 fire (Ref 11 halves), breath effect (line: lightning breath)
Invocation: Draconic Knowledge
Skills (4 + 1 human per level): Listen +5, Search +6, Spot +5, Jump +6, Climb +6
Untrained (but counts as trained): Knowledge (each) +8 (buffed)

[Menzath]

Woop Woop.
I'll be taking my 3rd level of stp erudite.

Maybe I'll pick my feats/attributes/powers/etc next year.

[Endarire]

Druid+1 for Druid2. We'll reach Planar Shepherd eventually.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

I'll be taking my second level of Sha'ir, please.
Still following the same plan :

@Troaccid is great and should feel great. I like this thread idea a lot!


Currently : Level 2 Sha'ir

Stats: Str 8, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 11, Cha 13

Skills: Concentration 5 ranks (+5), Diplomacy 5 ranks (+6), Sense Motive 5 ranks (+5), Spellcraft 5 ranks (+6)

Feats: Wedded to History (Wanderer), Silent Spell, Flaw (noncombatant), Improved Counterspell, Flaw (vulnerable) and Iron Will.

Spells known: Detect Magic, Daze, Ghost Sound, Launch Item, Mending, Prestidigitation; Charm Person, Scholar's Touch, Unseen Servant,

Languages: Common, Ignan

Familiar will be an Earth Gen.

The plan, written here so I don't have to think it through again next January if I come back here:

At level 3, take Sha'ir again. Craft Wondrous Item. +1 Concentration, +1 Diplomacy, +1 Knowledge (arcana), +1 Spellcraft. Learn Disguise Self.
At level 4, take a level of Durthan (https://www.realmshelps.net/charbuild/classes/prestige/realms/durthan.shtml). I would argue that Ireland fits Rashemen thematically (Rashemen definitely feels pseudo-Celtic as much as anything, IMO), and that thus I can qualify. +1 Cha. +1 Concentration, +2 Knowledge (arcana), +1 Spellcraft. Learn Light, Alter Self, Master's Touch (the one from the PHBII that grants +4 to a skill). But due to Place Magic "spells known" suddenly became a far less pressing feature: Place Magic lets me get a look at pretty much all spells, and so I can cast them as a Sha'ir normally from then on.
At level 5, take Cloistered Concept Cleric with the Magic domain, and Healing and Knowledge Devotion. +2 Diplomacy, +5 Knowledge (arcana), +1 Spellcraft.
At level 6 (so in 2024) take 1 level in Dweomerkeeper. Feat should be Leadership, picking someone I care about as my cohort as Troaccid has confirmed they'll level too when my Leadership cap goes up.
From then on, go into Dweomerkeeper (take Bluff and Intimidate instead of Spellcraft and Knowledge (arcana) once you get Flexible Mind at level 9) but dip Mindbender at 15. Then simply add more levels in Sha'ir to keep spells for up to 7 hours instead of 3. If that isn't an issue, go Ruathar for easy skill points.



At level 1 I've become ageless (which is great!) and got Unseen Servant and similar utility spells (Prestidigitation)
Level 3 will bring crafting! Awesome! XP will be limited though. It's been confirmed I can't "overspend" XP and am somehow aware of how much I have if I manage to earn any. Try to sell items of Endure Elements, Prestidigitation, Disguise Self for huge prices, as discreetly as possible.
Level 4 brings the awesome Place Magic feature, which works very well with the Sha'ir's massive spell list (all wizard spells, and no spellbook limitation). As long as I'm in Ireland, I should be able to get around the "must have seen a spell to retrieve it" limitation. This is when this build really begins to shine, with access to every wizard spell in the game without compromising on social skills! Here it is, as clarified on page 47 of Unapproachable East:
Hathrans and durthans possess a special bond to the land of Rashemen that lets them draw upon the power of the spirits to cast spells without preparing them. When a hathran or durthan uses place magic, she can cast any arcane or divine spell known to her. (Spells on her hathran or durthan spell list can be cast as either arcane or divine spells, as she desires.) In effect, she can use any spell on any of her spell lists when she wishes, as long as she is within the borders of Rashemen. A place magic spell uses an unassigned spell slot of the appropriate type (arcane or divine) and level. If the caster does not have an open spell slot, she may spontaneously lose a prepared spell of the appropriate type and level to cast her place magic spell. Using place magic takes longer than casting a spell normally; any spell that takes 1 standard action to cast requires 1 full round to cast with place magic. Spells with casting times longer than 1 standard action simply add 1 round to the casting time.
Level 5 brings some basic healing, and the necessary domain to get into Dweomerkeeper next year.
Dweomerkeeper will eventually bring the ability to cast Permanency (replicated by Limited Wish to get around 1 round casting time limitation) or Heal (again through Limited Wish) at no XP cost..

Notes:

Use Dweomerkeeper to cast Acorn of far Travel regularly. Mantle of Spells should probably be emergency spells that I wouldn't want prepared all the time, but that I can't wait to call up when I really need them. Maybe Alter Fortune (or Gaseous Form?), Celerity, Teleport, Greater Dispel Magic (I get this at the level where I get Divine Defiance), and finally Limited Wish.
Feats : Flexible Mind (Bluff, Intimidate) at 9, Divine Defiance (I already have Improved Counterspell after all) at 12, Mindsight at 15, and Repeat Spell at 18. Or maybe Otherworldly Countenance out of vanity.
High-level crafting. Making a Dedicated Wright is possible, but would require Craft Magic Arms and Armor and Craft Construct. Polymorphing into a Midgard Dwarf gives all Craft Feats, but the spell doesn't last long enough. Make an item of continuous polymorph first? XP is only useful for crafting but can still be earned, so I shouldn't run out. Worst case I can Thought Bottle or use a Restoration trick. My main problem will probably getting enough reagents, honestly.

[NontheistCleric]

I think I'll gain a level of the Half-Fey savage progression.

[RatElemental]

Well this is interesting.

Alchemist, surely. Very tempted to go metamorph but I'd have to give up extracts which means I'd have to give up infused extracts which I'm not prepared to do.

So, onto the build.

Alchemist 1 (Vivisectionist+Chirurgeon (I think those can stack anyway...)) I'd add mindchemist too but alas, it replaces poison use so I can't stack it.

I'll take the non elite array, like so:
13 Int, 10 Con, 9 wis, 8 Str, 12 Dex, 11 chr

+2 to Int from being human and that gives me:
15 Int, 10 Con, 9 wis, 8 Str, 12 Dex, 11 chr

Assuming it even matters, I'll take Sylvan and Elven as my bonus languages.

I'll take the fey magic alternate racial trait, replacing skilled. I'll take urban as my favored terrain, with Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Stabilize and Diagnose Disease as my spells for it. It also lets me add Disguise and Bluff to my list of class skills.

For my feats I'll take Extra Discovery (Infusion) and Extra Discovery (Cognatogen)

For Skills, I put one point into each of Disguise, Bluff, Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Arcana), Perception, and Craft (Alchemy), and a point into Spellcraft for my favored class bonus.

For my extracts known I'll take Vocal Alteration, Cure Light Wounds, Recharge Innate Magic and Polypurpose Panacea. There are a bunch more I'd want to get if possible but those are just the free level up ones.

I'm pretty sure that about covers it. Tons of utility that I can easily leverage into helping a lot of people and making a lot of money doing it, with a few personal benefits on the side.

Edit: Alchemical Adept and Arcane Researcher as traits. I figure since alchemists can copy wizard spells directly into their formula books, researching new extracts makes sense as a thing you can do (and if not I can just research a new spell, then copy it into my book as is normal for wizard spells). Changed a couple of my skills too because I realized this possibility.

[thethird]

*laughs omniously*

[sleepyphoenixx]

Druid 1

Stats: Str 8, Dex 9, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 11

Bonus Languages: Auran, Aquan, Terran
Flaws: Love of Nature, Curious

Skills: concentration 4, diplomacy 4, handle animal 4, knowledge:nature 4, listen 4, spellcraft 4, spot 4, survival 4

Feats: Ashbound, Snowcasting, Greenbound Summoning

Animal Companion: Riding Dog

[SangoProduction]

Ah shucks. Why not. What's the worst that can happen?
Level 1 Incanter (Spheres of Power), with Life Specialization. EDIT: And 1 level of artificer, I guess.
I can now cure the most grievous of wounds and remove fatigue, letting me never sleep again. Since in real life, people gain muscle and improve constitution by exercise, I can use the fatigue removal to go extra long stints of exercise and muscle building.
Then I sell my services to hospitals, gyms, or just freelance. Spend the money to visit disaster sites to help there as well.
And then I prop up my original business of selling solar energy with this extra money.

Scores Int 18; Dex 15; Con: 13; Cha 12; Str 10;Wis 10

Templates Young: -4 str, con. +4 Dex; -1 level adjustment
Half-Celestial: 4 Con, int, Str. +2 wis, cha, dex; Oh, and flight speed, so no more fear of heights. Yes, even if I account for the fact that I can literally raise myself if I fall to my death. That'd hurt.

Incanter Specializations:
-Sphere Specialization (Life): +1 HP / 2 HD (min 1); +1 CL to Life sphere
-Fey Servant: Because having a magic pet that lives as long as you is fun. A cute hedgehog. +2 to will saves so I can power through the work day. And it's cute.

1) Base Sphere: melee touch range
^Cure: Std act, spell point, 1d8 + CL positive energy heal
^Invigorate: std act, temp hp = CL, max of total hp, 1 hour
^Restore... : Std act, spell point. Removes or lessens conditions
^^Mind: Remove dazzled, and staggered, lessens fear 1 step,
^^Body: Remove battered. Reduce fatigued or sickened by 1 step
^^Soul: Heals 1d4 ability damage. (Whatever that translates to.)

2) Resuscitate: A heal within 1 round of death brings them back to life.

3) Self-Renewal: Cast self-healing quickly. Even immediately after incapacitation. So...resuscitate. Man that's got to be painful. But better than dead.

4) Restore Health: +1d8 to Cure, and can Restore Health to attempt a caster level check against the disease / poison's DC. Even if you ignore the overuse of the term "disease" in today's culture, 'tis very useful.

5 [Extra Magical Talent] ) Restore Mind: +1d8 to Cure, and cures Alzheimer's.

6 [Extra Magical Talent] ) Sustaining Vitality: Bonus to AC and saves. Improves will power and health. Stick with that exercise routine! And it's free, with Invigorate.

7 [Tradition] ) Water of Life: Can imbue fluids or a portion of food with Life sphere abilities, which remains as a "health potion" until I rest. Yes. I will bring about video game logic of eating donuts to cure bullet wounds.



General Drawbacks: 5 drawbacks. +1 Spell point per level.
-Wild Magic: 10% chance of wild magic occurring on cast. Variety is the spice of life. ha ha.
-Narcoleptic Casting: Spending spell points has a chance of putting me to sleep for about 6 seconds. It's a power nap. Counts as two drawbacks.
-Magical Signs: When casting: glow brilliantly, with the chorus of angels at my back. What? I can't be fanciful?
-Prepared Caster: Must assign spell points to the spheres before their use. Pretty easy for a mono-sphere.

Life Specific Drawback:
-Medicinal: Can't directly cast on creatures. Instead can use liquids to transfer...get your head out of the gutter!

[Malphegor]

Binder. With a single level I can call up Naberius, and at the mild risk of Batman voice and having a ego problem, I can take 10 on all dialogue checks. Hello coasting through a life of sales work!

Aym can make me resistant to fire damage. Great for cooking and pyrography which I've started doing!

Amon gives nightvision which means my chronic fear of the dark is not a problem, plus the ram horns is a neat party trick.

Ronove gives me Jedi telekinesis, at the risk of feeling exactly as inadequate as I already do in life, haha. Oh and I can do semi-suicidal leaps off tall things without harm, which is gonna be great for my thrill-seeking desires and completely mess up my knowledge of what is safe to do.

And Leraje... honestly I have no use for archer skills. Would be funny to do a bad pact with leraje AND Naberius though.

You're quiet and unassuming... BUT MUST TAKE THE STAGE!

[StSword]

I'll take a second level in Chef (from the Flavour Handbook )- another first level spell I can make an edible potion of, a bigger bonus to profession: chef so more money rolling in on a regular basis, and I earn a culinary art.

I'll choose comfort food- I gain a bonus to heal rolls, people I treat heal twice as quickly, and I can make food that gives people fast healing to up to 1/2 their total hit points.

So I can now dole out medical miracles on a daily basis.

[Fable Wright]

One level from which to base my future capacities? Hm.

I think I'll go for Precocious Apprentice Wizard, boosting that elite array's 13 via Unsheltered Human. Taking a Flaw for the Apprentice feat to establish a Druid + Wizard mentor, to clear the way for a possible Arcane Heirophant entry down the line, since access to that would be big. Access to Reincarnate and wizard capacity leads to an eternal life of pretty substantial capacity.

I think this gives me pretty decent level 1 capacities, the potential to become a ridiculously potent spellcaster down the line... and at worst, I have Scribe Scroll to make second level spell scrolls at caster level 1, which I have to imagine would be valuable to people.

[Vizzerdrix]

Time for that second Mystic Ranger level! Who all else has hit 5th?

[SirNibbles]

Q: Is retraining allowed?
A: Yes. Use the normal rules for it under your chosen system.

Does this include rebuilding? I assumed they were different sides of the same coin, so I did a rebuild in 2017, with a real life rebuilding quest to boot. (The spreadsheet still shows my original Archivist level, which I'm hoping is just due to the fact that you have to update it for hundreds of people).

Either way, I'll be taking my 4th character level which will be Mystic Ranger.

___

Retconning slightly due to rebuilding being denied, still going in same order as before (Archivist -> Ranger)

Human
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 9
INT: 11
WIS: 12
CHA: 8


Archivist 1

Mystic Ranger 1/Archivist 1
ACF: Voice of the City (replaces Wild Empathy)
Granted Feat: Track

Mystic Ranger 2/Archivist 1
Favoured Enemy: Human

Mystic Ranger 3/Archivist 1
Combat Style Feat: Two Weapon Fighting
DEX: 13 -> 14

[Buufreak]

Still don't know how all these years I only thought about posting in this thread. Maybe I would write the post and get distracted or something along those lines...

Well anyways, cloistered cleric 2!

[Quertus]

So, apparently, last year's "On a related note, as I retrain and continue Arcane Spellcaster" was not explicitly enough. Let me try again: I retrained Crusader for Arcane Spellcaster, and continued taking Arcane Spellcaster last year. And I take it again this year, while pumping my XP into Sculpt Self (TARDIS).

My wealth and time should allow me to have invented a more dynamic version of Cantrip by now, to test if inventing new custom spells is a possibility under the rules.

[Kalkra]

You know, yesterday I kept of reloading the page, and I didn't see this thread. Today I wake up and log on, and it says it was posted sometime yesterday. Not sure what's up with that.

Anyway, naturally I have many, many more questions, but I'll need some time to go back and make sure I don't ask one of the same ones I asked last time, and none of them are really important for my build anyway, which is pretty simple.

I'll retrain something into Old Blood (Gnome) and take a level of Gnomish Illusionist with all the ACFs (not gonna list them all). My one level of Artificer is enough to make scrolls of any first or second level spell, and if I put Practiced Spellcaster on it (assuming that works, which I think was clarified last thread) then I can also get thirds out of it, and by that point Sculpt Self should be able to take care of the rest.

Speaking of Sculpt Self, it's kinda hard to say what I do with it, given that I don't know how much xp I'm getting and whatnot, but it occurs to me that the easiest thing to do with it would be to boost my craft checks and make a living as an artist. Which is funny, because I'm not the slightest it artistic.

Anyway, if I cheese things enough I should be able to get three levels of Shadowcraft Mage by level five, which seems the soonest I'd be able to get phenomenal cosmic power short of Omnicificer, and a lot less risky.

[aerilon]

3PP 3.x "Elements of Magic" from EN Publishing Mage

Str 8
Dex 10
Con 11
Int 12
Wis 9
Cha 15 (13+2)


Traits:
Finding Haleen/Finding Your Kin (Pathfinder)
Fate's Favored (Pathfinder)

Feats:
Create Charged Item (Elements of Magic)
Uncertain at this moment

Spell Lists Known (Elements of Magic style)
Heal Life
Charm Humanoid
Evoke Lightning
Infuse Shadow
Move Force
Transform Animal

[Elricaltovilla]

I'm taking a 4th level of Tactician. I'll have to find my old build stub and see if I can update it when I get the chance. Finally approaching the levels where I can start to do real stuff. Still working towards discovering the ritual to turn myself into an Elan so I don't have to worry about dying.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

Who all else has hit 5th?
From the sheet : ben-zayb will hit Telepath 5 if they post here again, Esprit15 will hit Factotum 5, GrayDeath will hit Avowed 5, Jack_Smith will hit Oracle 5, Karmea will hit Archivist 5, Shalist will take another level (I'm guessing in some sort of Theurge class? They're currently a Sorcerer/Artificer), same thing for Telonius (currently arcane/Warlock), thethird will get Psionic Artificer 5, Vizzerdix will also reach level 5 but I can't guess what they'll take (they're currently a Mystic Ranger/Human Paragon).
Oh, and Troaccid is obviously level 5.

[Kalkra]

So I went back and read my old questions (and fixed a typo), and naturally I have many more, because D&D really resists attempts to translate into the real world.

Without any further ado, (or adon't), here's the first question post:

1. Do people in real life have the limit of only 18 in any stat? I ask specifically because a non-elite stat array gets things up to 13, and if John von Neumann was the most intelligent human possible with 18 INT, then either intelligence scales exponentially with INT, or each point of increase represents a huge jump. Either way, if I were naturally (before getting D&D powers) an elite arrayed person (15 INT) and I slap a non-elite array on that for +3, then suddenly I'm Neumann. If I'm a really smart person in real life, and I naturally have 16 INT, then I'm not sure what would happen if I tried to add +3 to that. Also, Fox's Cunning is OP. Unless people in real life can have more that 18 of any stat.

2. In a similar vein to the previous question, if there really is such a huge jump when you increment an attribute by 1, or even if there isn't, do you round up or down, and if I end up with, say, 10 STR, does that make me exactly as strong as anybody else with 10 STR?

3. For that matter, am I even aware of my attribute values, before and after I add D&D powers to the mix? (I mean immediately before, when I'm choosing what level to take and whatnot.) Can I see my character sheet?

As an aside, there needs to be something better than saying D&D powers. PC and NPC work, but that kinda implies that everybody else (including real me typing this) aren't people. Isn't people? Neither sound right.

4. What's the process of gaining a level for the first time like anyway?

5. Can I still work out and increase my STR without leveling up? Will my muscles still atrophy if I don't work out?

6. Do my real-life skills count towards prereqs? Do they stack with my D&D skills? If they do count, do they have the level + 3 limit? If I'm proficient with a weapon and I Proficient with it? Could I retrain either?

7. Do other people have levels? A CR? I'm assuming I'd get more xp for beating a Navy Seal than I would for beating up an accountant, but does that mean that I couldn't cast Sleep on some people? If somebody's really skilled at something, does that force his level to be higher?

8. Do I perceive time in rounds, and space in 5' cubes? Do I perceive my actions as rolls, and do I know the numerical values of those rolls?

9. Does getting stabbed through the heart to as many hitpoints of damage to me as getting stabbed in the foot? Would it do as many hitpoints of damage to somebody else if I did it to them?

10. Does nonlethal damage work on other people. Can I have 100 STR and hit people as hard as I can with a sap and not do any permanent damage to them?

11. If I cast Plane Shift and go to another plane, can I Plane Shift back. If so, does that mean that other people from those planes could Plane Shift here? Why don't/haven't they?

12. Suppose a new book is released, within the confines of 3.5/PF. Does the content from that become legal?

[Telonius]

Level up to 5! Stats from before:



Cloistered Cleric 3/Warlock 1.

Nonelite array.
Str: 8
Dex 9
Con 10
Int 12
Wis 13 14
Cha 11

Human
Feats:
1: Extra Turning (fuel for later), Able Learner (I like skill points)
3: Augment Healing (less worrying about injuries)

Deity: Olidammara. Domains: Trickery, Luck, Knowledge (from Cloistered)
Alignment: CN

Skills
Level 1: Know (Religion) 4, Know (Planes) 4, Heal 4, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 4, Decipher Script 4, Concentration 4, UMD 2, Balance 2
Level 2: Know (Religion) 5, Heal 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Decipher Script 5, Concentration 5, Know (History) 2
Level 3: Know (Religion) 6, Heal 6, Bluff 6, Diplomacy 6, Concentration 6, UMD 3, Balance 3, Know (History) 3
Level 4: Know (Religion) 7, Heal 7, UMD 4, Know (History) 4

Level 4 means a stat bump! Increasing Wisdom to 14.

Chosen Invocation: Beguiling Influence. Hooray for making friends and influencing people!

Will fill in this year's level when I have a few spare minutes.

EDIT: So, on to level 5. Taking another level in Cloistered Cleric. A few more spells per day, and lots of skill points.
Level 5: Know (religion) 8, Heal 8, UMD 5, Know (History) 5, Diplomacy 7, Bluff 7, Sense Motive 2

Should set up next year nicely.

[RatElemental]

Wait, how do pathfinder traits work? 0 unless we take flaws to get them?

[El Dorado]

Wait, how do pathfinder traits work? 0 unless we take flaws to get them?

By RAW, your character can start out with two traits, unless your GM indicates otherwise.

[Troacctid]

Ah shucks. Why not. What's the worst that can happen?
Level 1 Incanter (Spheres of Power), with Life Specialization.


Binder. With a single level I can call up Naberius, and at the mild risk of Batman voice and having a ego problem, I can take 10 on all dialogue checks. Hello coasting through a life of sales work!
FYI, you both posted in previous threads, so you're level 2. I believe you were an artificer and a sorcerer, respectively.


Does this include rebuilding? I assumed they were different sides of the same coin, so I did a rebuild in 2017, with a real life rebuilding quest to boot. (The spreadsheet still shows my original Archivist level, which I'm hoping is just due to the fact that you have to update it for hundreds of people).

So, apparently, last year's "On a related note, as I retrain and continue Arcane Spellcaster" was not explicitly enough. Let me try again: I retrained Crusader for Arcane Spellcaster, and continued taking Arcane Spellcaster last year. And I take it again this year, while pumping my XP into Sculpt Self (TARDIS).
Pathfinder allows players to retrain class levels. 3.5 does not, except by visiting special magical locations that probably don't exist on this planet.


My wealth and time should allow me to have invented a more dynamic version of Cantrip by now, to test if inventing new custom spells is a possibility under the rules.
It is possible, yes, following the guidelines laid out in the core rules. Specific spells may or may not work.


I'm taking a 4th level of Tactician. I'll have to find my old build stub and see if I can update it when I get the chance. Finally approaching the levels where I can start to do real stuff. Still working towards discovering the ritual to turn myself into an Elan so I don't have to worry about dying.
The spreadsheet has links to posts, if that helps.


So I went back and read my old questions (and fixed a typo), and naturally I have many more, because D&D really resists attempts to translate into the real world.

Without any further ado, (or adon't), here's the first question post:

[Questions]
D&D levels use the d20 system. Your real-life "stats" do not. That should cover all of your questions except...


12. Suppose a new book is released, within the confines of 3.5/PF. Does the content from that become legal?
...Yes.

[Kalkra]

Pathfinder allows players to retrain class levels. 3.5 does not, except by visiting special magical locations that probably don't exist on this planet.

The PHB II specifically says that the two rebuild quest are just examples, and the DM can make campaign appropriate rebuild quests based on the examples given.

[Troacctid]

The PHB II specifically says that the two rebuild quest are just examples, and the DM can make campaign appropriate rebuild quests based on the examples given.
Correct, so you would need something on the scale of *checks notes* an ancient mystical portal with legendary transformative properties, or an interdimensional rift where the universal forces of creation and destruction converge.

Or take the anarchomancer prestige class, I guess.

[Kalkra]

Correct, so you would need something on the scale of *checks notes* an ancient mystical portal with legendary transformative properties, or an interdimensional rift where the universal forces of creation and destruction converge.

Or take the anarchomancer prestige class, I guess.

Excellent point. Not sure what Anarchomancer has to do with anything, but it did remind me of Darklight Wizard, another way to retrain levels, sort of.

[Troacctid]

Anarchomancer lets you spend xp to take the form of a completely new, rebuilt character. You can reverse the effect at any time. It's pretty powerful.

Hey, that's also another way to become an elan, isn't it? There you are, whoever asked about that, more options.

[Kalkra]

Anarchomancer lets you spend xp to take the form of a completely new, rebuilt character. You can reverse the effect at any time. It's pretty powerful.

Hey, that's also another way to become an elan, isn't it? There you are, whoever asked about that, more options.

My bad, I was looking at Arachnomancer. Dang, Anarchomancer 's good, although it is a (Su) ability, so if you use it to become an Elan, live 200 years, and then enter an AMF, some would claim that you immediately die of old age (I personally would think that aging is suspended when you're in a different body). Unless you say the ability has an instantaneous duration, which it might.

Also, with regards to the whole "only level up at the beginning of the year" thing, if you lose levels, you can get them back immediately, right?

And speaking of changing you race, if you get some RHD or something somehow, does that count?

[Troacctid]

Also, with regards to the whole "only level up at the beginning of the year" thing, if you lose levels, you can get them back immediately, right?
You don't have this information when making your decisions.


And speaking of changing you race, if you get some RHD or something somehow, does that count?
Count as what?

[Kalkra]

Count as what?

Count as leveling up. i.e. if I Wish myself into a giant dragon, do I get all of its RHD, or do I need to wait that many years, or what?

[VoltsofEight]

Sage again

[Troacctid]

Count as leveling up. i.e. if I Wish myself into a giant dragon, do I get all of its RHD, or do I need to wait that many years, or what?
You don't have this information when making your decisions.

[Endarire]

Troacctid: Are you implying you're GMing for all these characters?

[Ruethgar]

Pathfinder 3PP
Human(Azlanti): Ranger 2( Dual Sphere Spellsinger replacing Scout and Woodland Spellcaster)

Str 11
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 13
Wis 17
Cha 10

Major Drawback: Spell Vulnerability(Enchantment)
Major Drawback: Nearsighted
Drawback: Umbral Unmasking
Drawback: Fey-Taken
Trait: Unorthodox Casting(Spellsinger:Wis)
Trait: Natural Ritualist
Trait: Feral Speech(Druidic)
Trait: Holy Tattoo
Flaw: Spell Dabbler
Flaw: Spell Adept
First: Adept Progression(SoC)
Human: Cantrips
Retrain: Spellcrafting

Prime Creator Unified Tradition
Alchemy(Panacea)
Traps
Trapsmith
Spell Trap
Creation: Practiced Creation

Salve

Focus Casting(Holy Symbol), Witchmarked, Rigorous Concentration, Mental Focus, Extended Casting, Somatic Casting, Easy Focus

Sphere Talents
Nature(Plant): Grow Plants
Weather
Severe Weather



Endless Human
Human Paragon 1

Str 8
Dex 10
Con 11
Int 15
Wis 11
Cha 12

Flaw: Murky Eyed: Laborious Training
Flaw: Noncombatant: Discipline
First: University Education
Taint: Skill Focus(Know:Arcana), Skill Focus(Concentration)
Dendar: Sculpt Self(All Sanctum Cantrips at will, significant array of low level spells to Druidic taste plus Legendary skill bonus to Know:Arc, Conc, Spellcraft)

Lucid Ritually Evil.

Endless Kobold
Human Paragon 1/Sorcerer 3

Str 10
Dex 16
Con 17
Int 10
Wis 10
Cha 21

Flaw: Murky Eyed: Able Learner
Flaw: Noncombatant: Magical Affinity(None because I was stupid)
First: Human Heritage
Dendar: Dragonwrought
Third: Sculpt Self
Lucid Shuffle Racial during retrain: Dragon Wings, Dragon Tail

Rebuild to Sorcerer from Bloodline. Retrain to Stalwart Battle. As a True dragon, add idealized Black Dragonspawn Abomination to myself(5 sorc Dex and Con).

[SirNibbles]

Correct, so you would need something on the scale of *checks notes* an ancient mystical portal with legendary transformative properties, or an interdimensional rift where the universal forces of creation and destruction converge.

If we assume that magic exists in this world, then there are definitely magical locations that would serve as places to complete quests. Either way, the Rebuilding section makes no mention of needing a magical location for a rebuilding quest, especially for a level 1-3 quest:

"To accomplish a character rebuild, your PC must complete a significant and challenging quest." - Player's Handbook II, page 196

"As long as the changes don't significantly disrupt the game, though, players should play characters that they find enjoyable, and if swapping out a couple of class levels accomplishes that goal, then doing so is well worth the effort." - Player's Handbook II, pages 197-198

The locations you mentioned were examples for "making these locations serve particular needs that suit their ambiance", i.e. to fit the idea of whatever class you're changing to or altering in some way. (Player's Handbook II, page 199) I doubt you really need a big golden light to go from being a scholar to being a warrior of nature.

Who knows, maybe the quest I completed wasn't enough to rebuild, and maybe there's still something I need to do. But I think there's a way in this world to do it.

[Jopustopin]

Jopustopin has had a crazy year. What with his sudden crazy good acrobatic abilities and his Otherwordly Countenance he quickly rose to stardom and by December was putting out his first blockbuster movie, Scorcher VII. Voted sexiest man in People's magazine, Jopustopin has put his sudden abilities to good use.

Still, Jopustopin has crazy weird dreams, and has knowledge that he shouldn't have (nor should any man). Occasionally he roams famous libraries trying to discern what this knowledge is...

Then suddenly, Jopustopin gains a level! It's in Warblade and his stunt man abilities get even better...





https://www.jerrysartarama.com/blog/images/2013/08/selfie.jpg
Jopustopin

male middle aged human warblade 2
CN medium humanoid (human)
Init -8; Senses spot +1, listen +1
Languages Common, Ancient SuloiseAC 11 (+4 armor, -2 Dex, -1 Flaw), Touch 7, Flat-footed 11; Uncanny Dodge
HP 16/16 (2d12-2)
Fort +3, Ref -2, Will +1Speed 30 ft.
Melee longsword +1 (1d8-1/19-20)
Ranged dagger +0 (1d4-1/19-20)
Base Atk +2; Grp +1Maneuvers and Stances Known (IL 2nd):

Stances-Bolstering Voice
Strikes-Wolf Fang Strike, Stone Bones
Boosts-Sudden Leap
Counters-Moment of Perfect Mind
Abilities Str 9, Dex 7, Con 8, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 16
Skills Spellcraft +8, Concentration +4, Jump +4, Tumble +3, Balance +3, Knowledge (History) +2, Knowledge (Local) +2, Knowledge (The Planes) +4, Martial Lore +2, Profession (Actor) +4
Skill Points Spellcraft 5, Concentration 5, Jump 5, Tumble 5, Balance 5, Knowledge (History) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Knowledge (the planes) 1, Martial Lore 1, Profession (Actor) 1
Feats Keeper of Forbidden Lore, Otherwordly Countenance (Beauty), Great Fortitude
Flaws Unreactive, Vulnerable
Possessions trusty longsword, dagger, chain shirt, Net Worth ($135,000.00 USA)

[Jack_Simth]

Still going Oracle.

[Quertus]

Pathfinder allows players to retrain class levels. 3.5 does not, except by visiting special magical locations that probably don't exist on this planet.


The PHB II specifically says that the two rebuild quest are just examples, and the DM can make campaign appropriate rebuild quests based on the examples given.


Correct, so you would need something on the scale of *checks notes* an ancient mystical portal with legendary transformative properties, or an interdimensional rift where the universal forces of creation and destruction converge.

Or take the anarchomancer prestige class, I guess.

Isn't there both the option for "rebuild quest" and "retraining" in 3e? Unless this is just my senility talking again.

Oh, hey, look, I actually found my PH2. Looks like it has both… but, for the most part, only rebuild quests can change your class. And they can also change your race. So Elan (maybe).

Also, I'm not exactly planning on staying on this planet, but, even so, there's things more wondrous than that in the raw creation & destruction of Dream… and I'd imagine that the Birthplace of Universes (D&D/Paizo HQ, or even Hollywood) could (over)qualify. Also, Ed Greenwood's house.


It is possible, yes, following the guidelines laid out in the core rules. Specific spells may or may not work.

That's fair. My goal is to use a variety of spells to test out the nature of reality.


...Yes.

Clearly, once we gain sufficient power, we need to storm Paizo/WotC headquarters, and Mindrape / Diplomacy (aka "Mindrape") some custom publications. :smallwink:

[Troacctid]

If we assume that magic exists in this world, then there are definitely magical locations that would serve as places to complete quests. Either way, the Rebuilding section makes no mention of needing a magical location for a rebuilding quest, especially for a level 1-3 quest:

"To accomplish a character rebuild, your PC must complete a significant and challenging quest." - Player's Handbook II, page 196

"As long as the changes don't significantly disrupt the game, though, players should play characters that they find enjoyable, and if swapping out a couple of class levels accomplishes that goal, then doing so is well worth the effort." - Player's Handbook II, pages 197-198

The locations you mentioned were examples for "making these locations serve particular needs that suit their ambiance", i.e. to fit the idea of whatever class you're changing to or altering in some way. (Player's Handbook II, page 199) I doubt you really need a big golden light to go from being a scholar to being a warrior of nature.

Who knows, maybe the quest I completed wasn't enough to rebuild, and maybe there's still something I need to do. But I think there's a way in this world to do it.
It's possible that such things exist, but you probably wouldn't know whether they do or, if they do, where they would be. Not without divination magic or a reasonably high Knowledge DC, at least.

[Kalkra]

a reasonably high Knowledge DC, at least.

You say DC, I say how high? Because Wieldskill and Skillful Moment are first level spells, and skill-boosting items are cheap.

[Maat Mons]

Put me down for +1 of my current class for both my 3.5 and Pathfinder selves.

[DungeonUsurper]

I have always wanted to do this, and after being primarily a lurker for over the first 4 years, I'm finally just going to do it, instead of saying "Man, wish I had done this last year..." So here it goes-

Seeing as how I wouldn't know if this was to ever happen again I wouldn't go the tier 1 Wizard route, instead making use of this crazy spontaneous power up to garner as much as I could right away. The way to do that in this world of business, politics and mass communications is by far and away utilizing some crazy social shenanigans, so that is the direction that I would start off towards, with a little bit of magic sprinkled in.

Firstly I take the elite array and Unsheltered Variant. This gives me the scores of

Str: 11
Dex: 8
Con: 10
Int: 12
Wis: 9
Cha: 15

I take 2 Flaws- Inatentive and Slow.
This nets me a -4 on my Listen and Spot checks and a Base speed of 15'.

This then gives me access to 3 Feats, so I take Spawn of the Dark Prince (15 Cha req.), Nymphs Kiss & Persuasive.
This gets me +2 on all Cha based checks, +1 vs Spells & Spell-Like-Abilities, +2 on Bluff & Intimidate and with an action an additional +10 on Bluff that lasts 2 minutes. I also get an additional -2 to Spot.

As for my actual class, I dug deep and went with Warlock (my favorite 3.5 class).

My HP would become 6, so I would be 1.5x as hale as common people, which I am good with.
I'd end up with BAB +0, Fort +0, Ref -1 & Will +1. Not the most amazing, but I'm not aiming for martial or mental prowess.

For Skills I would go with +4 to Bluff, +1 to Intimidate and use the remaining 8 points on Speak language, getting 4 more languages.

My Invocation of choice would be Beguiling Influence, giving me another innate bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy and Intimidate at +6/

For these Languages I would Start with English (My regions common), Spanish (for my Int. bonus) and Mandarin Chinese, Hindustani, Russian and Japanese. These give me a relatively good chance to be understood almost anywhere I go.

This build garners me a +10 to Diplomacy, +12 to Intimidate and +12 to Bluff at a moments notice, but with 6 seconds to prepare my Bluff jumps to +22. I do take a -4 to Listen and a -6 to Spot, but the rewards far outweigh the risks.

I would now be able to bluff, cajole and intimidate my way into and out of just about any situation, traveling the world. Getting rich would be quick, easy and most likely fun. I could run scams, plain old ask people for cash and favors, or even eventually start up my own cult with this sort of silver tongue. If there was any sort of legal trouble, which is unlikely with liberal use of "Hey, you don't want to make a big deal out of this- trust me." in any such tone as I pleased, and most likely talk my out of any convictions if they did happen. And to top all of this crazy off I can shoot untraceable bolts of magic to defend myself in the most dire of cases (which would only help solidify the whole cult angle). All in all one heck of a way to start a new year.

Sorry this post is crazy stupid long. I got really into it.

[Quertus]

For these Languages I would Start with English (My regions common), Spanish (for my Int. bonus) and Mandarin Chinese, Hindustani, Russian and Japanese. These give me a relatively good chance to be understood almost anywhere I go.

You get everything you know (including, presumably, English) for free. It just doesn't show up on your character sheet.

[Kalkra]

I'd swap out Persuasive for Hidden Talent (Conceal Thoughts), or ideally Sculpt Self, because every build is improved by the addition of Sculpt Self, especially skill-focuses builds. I mean, it's not like you were gonna be doing anything else with your xp.

[MultitudeMan]

Another level of Cloistered Cleric for me! Looking forward to level 2 spells next year!

[Coventry]

A new year, a new level!

Yea! One more level in Pathfinder Summoner (Synthesist 4), please!

New spells: Haste, Invisibility
Stat Boost: Charisma

[Elvensilver]

Second level Bard (Pathfinder) for me!
Now getting a lot of skill points and… (drum roll) versatile Performance!

[Celestia]

If I remember correctly, I'm Bard 1/Warlock 2. I guess I'll just tack on another Bard level. Inspire Competence will probably be helpful when I get it next year.

[Quertus]

I'd swap out Persuasive for Hidden Talent (Conceal Thoughts), or ideally Sculpt Self, because every build is improved by the addition of Sculpt Self, especially skill-focuses builds. I mean, it's not like you were gonna be doing anything else with your xp.

The few, the proud, the mutinate. Welcome to the team!

[Vizzerdrix]

I'd swap out Persuasive for Hidden Talent (Conceal Thoughts), or ideally Sculpt Self, because every build is improved by the addition of Sculpt Self, especially skill-focuses builds. I mean, it's not like you were gonna be doing anything else with your xp.

Where is Sculpt Self from? My google-fu is weak today.

[StSword]

Where is Sculpt Self from? My google-fu is weak today.

Multiple places actually.

It was started in Oathbound Seven third party setting for 3x and later Pathfinder, it's a high powered setting where a god bound locally leaves stray magic in the area allowing people to mutate themselves, so it's a place where Spider-Orc can do whatever a spider can, or you can run into an Elf with claws and fangs.

The version most people are referring to is an adaptation of that feat in Dragon magazine, since it leaves it open for people to enchant themselves as magic items, so any ability one could put in a magic item is up for grabs.

[Troacctid]

It's actually OGL, so you can see the article online for free. Here you go: https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Publication:Dragon_(magazine)/Dragon_304/Prestige_Races

[Karmea]

Archivist 5.

There's another way to change race btw. Shaper of Form's Modify Self (Renaissance) from Dragon Magazine Compendium, although it's 0 LA and within type only.

[Jack_Simth]

Still going Oracle.
... and between my real-life savings, snagging a few of the rewards for proof of the supernatural (while disguised!!), and savings via things like Dream Feast to avoid the need to eat, I've got seed money for crafting. A Greater Hat of Disguise (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/h-l/hat-of-disguise/) makes hiding who I am very easy (and doesn't have the interaction save that a regular Hat of Disguise does), and there's a lot of sports folks who'd pay big bucks for things like a Belt of Physical Might (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/a-b/belt-of-physical-might/) (and do note that strength changes are VERY verifiable). Worried about testing? Just don't wear the belt for an hour before you take the test. It's not chemical, even the lingering aura of the underlying spells will have gone away by that time, and so there should be no traces of any kind in the body at that point.

[Eldest]

In pathfinder? Continue the bard streak. Bard 4, granting me that all crucial second level slot. Suggestion and something else (Gallant Inspiration, maybe?) would be the picks.

For 3.5, retrain the one errant bard level to factotum, if possible, and take another in factotum. Gets me int to several things, a second spell, but no level 2 spells yet. Next year, dammit.

[digiman619]

At this point, I'm Monk [Beastsoul Monk (the Spheres of Power archetype) | Monk of the Four Winds] I've got some cool shapeshifting powers and will become immortal in another 15 years/levels.

[Kris Moonhand]

I joined the forums in February last year, so I didn't know this was a thing. But I think I'll take a level of Vitalist (Pathfinder 3pp). I want to be a healer, really help people.

Kristal Moonhand

Female Vitalist (mender) 1
CN Humanoid (human, beastblood, shapechanger, psionic)
Init +0; Senses Darkvision 60 ft; Perception +2
DEFENSE
AC 10, touch 10, flat-footed 10
hp 6
Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +4
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee dagger +1 (1d4-1)
Ranged none
Vitalist Powers (ML 1st; concentration +3); 3 PP
1st—natural healing, 2 others
0 (at will)—halt death, 2 others

STATISTICS
Str 8, Dex 11, Con 10, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 9
Base Atk +0; CMB -1; CMD 9
Feats: Enlarged Collective, Psicrystal Affinity
Skills: Autohypnosis +6, Heal +9, Spellcraft +5
Traits: Awakened from Stasis, Adopted (catfolk): Bakaneko
Languages: English, Japanese
SQ change shape (Tiny black cat), collective (Long range), collective healing, medic powers, psicrystal (therapeutic), transfer wounds (1d6)
As a Vitalist, I get the ability to change my powers known daily, allowing me to prep for any kind of situation that may arise in only 2 hours thanks to my Awakened from Stasis trait (seems I was abducted by aliens). In addition, I was raised by cats (only a slight exaggeration from real life), which apparently grants the ability to transform into a cat. So that's cool. Now if I get captured by the government, I can turn into a cat to escape. My healing abilities aren't the best right now, unless most people are level 1 Commoners, Aristocrats, etc. Then I could probably heal 1 critically injured, or 2-3 moderately injured people per day. And next level I get the amazing Spirit of Many ability, plus I can use my Health Sense to instantly diagnose any disease or poison! And I've got a psicrystal. Her name is Rock. She knows a thing or two about medicine.

Oh, and I took Dimdweller to get Darkvision. I'm basically nocturnal IRL anyways, might as well make it official.

EDIT: Oh, silly me! How could I forget my FCB? Gotta take that sweet Human bonus: +1/3 of a bonus Vitalist power known. Must be one level lower than the highest I can use, doesn't change daily like normal for Vitalist. That'll let me fill out certain staple powers necessary for my work, leaving some open for more niche abilities.

[Aniikinis]

Continuing from last year! Also adding some clarifications.

+1 Bonus Feat, +1 Clause, and +1 Shape, also some health and BAB

Race: Human(Heart of the Snows)
Class: Avowed(Weaver Pact (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23592372&postcount=1)) 2
Attributes: Str 12,Dex 9, Con 10, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 13
BAB: +1
HP: 16
Feats: Additional Traits, Intuitive Recitation, Silent Recitation, Point-Blank shot
Traits: Blood of the Dragon(Low-Light Vision), Pragmatic Polytheist
Flaws: Light Sensitivity
Clauses: I Go Where I Please, Resonant Pulse (M)
Shapes: Aether Bolt I, Aether Breath (cone) I, Aether Burst I

[Shalist]

Annual reminder that the 'magical training' feat lets you choose 2 or 3 (spontaneous vs. prepared) cantrips, for 3 castings per day (total), so you can take any class you want and still have prestidigitation and mend.

For 2020, (3.5) Artificer 4 => Artificer 5


I can't give up spontaneous quality-of-life spells, but I am changing my 2nd level to artificer (3.5, since I'm less familiar with PF). Besides, one could always use Dark Souls playthroughs as rebuild quests for retaking these levels.

Bestow Curse is a 2nd level spell on the demonologist list (Consolidated List of "Bargain Bin" Spells for Artificers (http://bg-archive.minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=12661)), meaning an artificer could be scribing it at level 1. You get 2 UMD attempts per scroll, would only be out $3 if you fail both, and further success will be trivial after the first scroll.

Sorc1/art1. 13/12/11 int, cha, wis; 10/9/8 con, str, dex.
Versatile spellcaster and heighten spell for my initial feats.

Arcane spells:
1) endure elements: To greatly increase my travel options and comfort.
1) feather fall: For some incredible skydiving.
0) mending: Convenience and financial freedom.
0) prestigidation: Cleaning, pranks (i.e. changing how things taste), etc.
0) launch item: ("Challenge -me- to a water balloon fight?")
0) stick: Everything is Velcro! ("I have -what- stuck to my back?")

Artificer infusions:
1) skill enhancement: Realistically, +2 to any specific skill for 10 minutes/lvl would be a fairly noticeable boost.
1) weapon augmentation, personal: Grants a weapon any +1 enhancement (or up to +10,000 i.e. spellblades are +6,000g) for 10 minutes/lvl; that's a pretty big list ('silent strike' to silence yourself, 'merciful' firearms, 'wrecker' to ignore hardness, or a 'bane' for any situation).
For now, I'll be exploiting bestow curse to help with medical and energy research (i.e. 'cursing' researchers with +6 int / wis and +4 to all skill and ability checks); and, naturally, using it to 'max myself out' for my current resources (numerical bonuses, extra feats, youth, total anonymity, etc.).


The scrolls cost 3x what I thought (Artificers can craft items 2 levels early but still pay as if the CL were normal), but that's trivial. Assuming the previous year of bestowing benign curses (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?524235-You-will-always-be-first-level&p=21994096#post21994096) went well, I'll be continuing in this vein for another year.

Sorc1/Art1 -> Sorc1/Art2.


You found that any attempts to bestow a purely beneficial curse failed. Experimentation revealed that it was possible to include beneficial effects in a curse, but only if they were accompanied by negative side effects. In the process, you and/or anyone else you tested this on probably acquired some curses that were more uncomfortable than intended, which you'll probably want to remove.


Sorc1/Art2 -> Sorc1/Art3. Retrain to Art4. Gaining two flaws (shaky / vulnerable). 1 point into int.

Feats (some retraining): 6x 'exceptional artisan' (crafting time * 0.75), 1x 'magical artisan (all crafting costs * 0.75); (2 feats for level 1, 2 for flaws, 1 for level 3, 1 for artificer 4, and occasionally 1 for bestow curse). For a total multiplier of 0.133 for time, and 0.75 for $$ cost.

I'll start plucking more low-hanging fruit for personally staying out of the news: magical disguises, relying on wealthy sponsors / organizations to make various arrangements, etc..

====

4th level artificer nets me 'craft homunculus,' i.e. 'dedicated wright,' which builds magic items for me while I'm busy being lazy.

I can now craft wondrous items, and emulate 3rd level spells* (http://bg-archive.minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=12661.0) (or up to 6th level domain spells via 'divine crusader' class spell list i.e. heal of the healing domain) for the purpose of item creation. I will initially focus on items to help my UMD ('circlet of persuasion' combined with an 'admiral's bicorne', 'cloak of charisma +6' for a total +8 UMD/charisma checks).

Beyond that, while there's a ton of things I'd like to make, I'll focus on healing items. Somehow I doubt automatically resetting traps of cure disease, remove blindness/deafness, etc., will work, but I'll give 'em a shot. Otherwise I'll create 'trumpets of healing,' which can heal one person per day, and 3x/day can perform various healing spells (CSW, remove blindness/deafness, cure disease, neutralize poison) on all non-evil folks within 360'. With a base cost of 116k, it'll take 16 days to make each one, so I'll have 20 of them in circulation in the first year.

Note that a sphere with a radius of 360' has a volume of 195 million cubic feet, or 1.6 million 5' cubes; I'll let the insurance companies and/or charitable organizations figure out the logistics of milking that for all it's worth.

Alternately (additionally), I'd craft items with significant outside-context benefits: 'third eye sense' (MIC, clairvoyance) for space exploration (or teleportation if I can restrict/deweaponize it a bit), 'decanters of water' for Red Cross or engineers/NASA, and so on.

Dragoneye runes (arcane mark / GPS tracker) on expensive items wouldn't hurt, though there's enough divination resources available to aid in retrieval.

====

On curses, giving permanent benign curses with a minor negative side affects is kosher (per 2018 spoiler); adding clauses to break or suppress the curse (kissing a frog // hopping on one leg while saying "Waffles!" // etc.) is trivial (RAW it's a weaker curse, and it's largely established in lore). One hiccup I didn't notice years ago is "Same spell, different results (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#stackingEffects)," which means someone can only have one curse active at a time.

Still, a sizable number of researchers and engineers have likely accepted a '+6 to all knowledge (or craft, or profession) skills' curse, which is a huge deal. That large of a bonus could turn anyone into a leading expert, much less people who're already leaders or seasoned veterans of their fields. I'll likely focus on medical, energy, recycling, and software design.

My own curse will either be be a bonus (time/cost reduction) feat, or something to boost UMD if I'm working on cheaper items where I've only a couple chances to make the DC 20 - 26 UMD check with my +16 modifier.

[Quertus]

I don't know much about Pathfinder, but, just to play that side of the game… anything prevent me from hoping/believing that I will become a god of time, and, in that hope/faith, leveling up as a Cleric of myself? Is PF Cleric 20 a particularly dumb build?

[SirNibbles]

Sorc1/Art2 -> Sorc1/Art3. Retrain to Art4.


That's rebuilding, which is pretty much not possible (see page 1 of this year's thread).

[thethird]

I just became a psionic artificer 5.

My 5th feat is psionic tattoo mastery (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20031225a) and the first thing I do is craft myself a tattoo of psychic reformation as well as capacitators to power it.

Then I retrain into a normal artificer (this should be pretty similar to retraining an archetype). My feats are going to be changing quite often as having free access to psychic reformation means I don't need to worry too much about them. I cannibalize (retain essence) my old teleport spelltrap and craft myself a spelltrap of greater teleport (greater teleport is a 7th lvl spell of the travel domain, so an artificer can access it from the divine crusader spell list) then I travel the world further. I am using ludicrous disguise self + alter self + tongues (from my spell trap of spell storing item) when traveling. I am mostly traveling for the experience.

By the way, @Troactid, how did my trans planar experiments come out?


Then when I have some homunculi to get my back I am going to try an experiment (arming the critters with self made spears) I am going to carve a magic circle against good, a dimensional anchor, and then I am going to lesser planar bind an elysian thrush. Yes, an elysian thrush is a CR 1/4 bird that cannot add much value. But if I can get one called, it is clear that other planes exist. And can be accessed. As a bird I can surely use handle animal to get it to be my pet, hopefully the nice vegetables and fruits will give a good enough circumstance bonus... I have severe problems sleeping, so a bird that sings and makes sleep easy sounds like not the worst pet to have.

[Asmotherion]

I'll get a Wizard Level.

[Troacctid]

I just became a psionic artificer 5.

My 5th feat is psionic tattoo mastery (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20031225a) and the first thing I do is craft myself a tattoo of psychic reformation as well as capacitators to power it.

Then I retrain into a normal artificer (this should be pretty similar to retraining an archetype). My feats are going to be changing quite often as having free access to psychic reformation means I don't need to worry too much about them. I cannibalize (retain essence) my old teleport spelltrap and craft myself a spelltrap of greater teleport (greater teleport is a 7th lvl spell of the travel domain, so an artificer can access it from the divine crusader spell list) then I travel the world further. I am using ludicrous disguise self + alter self + tongues (from my spell trap of spell storing item) when traveling. I am mostly traveling for the experience.

By the way, @Troactid, how did my trans planar experiments come out?
You'll find that emulating divine crusader spells doesn't seem to work, and also that traps cost more to create if they are designed to be portable. (Per Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, use the normal price for traps that are not movable at all, and double the normal price if the trap is bulky, but movable with some effort, like a statue or a couch. Anything that is easy to carry on your person is considered a custom wondrous item, not a trap. None of this should be a big obstacle for you, of course.)

The calling spell works as expected.

[Quertus]

I cannibalize (retain essence) my old teleport spelltrap and craft myself a spelltrap of greater teleport (greater teleport is a 7th lvl spell of the travel domain, so an artificer can access it from the divine crusader spell list) then I travel the world further. I am using ludicrous disguise self + alter self + tongues (from my spell trap of spell storing item) when traveling. I am mostly traveling for the experience.

By the way, @Troactid, how did my trans planar experiments come out?

So, sounds like we have similar early games - my Sculpt Self (TARDIS) would be working on almost exactly the same ability set :smallwink: (I'm also "bigger on the inside" and "flying", IIRC).

But tell me more about these "trans planar experiments"…

[Troacctid]

So, sounds like we have similar early games - my Sculpt Self (TARDIS) should have given me almost exactly the same ability set :smallwink:

But tell me more about these "trans planar experiments"…
That's, uh, that's probably gonna take a long time with Sculpt Self. You typically need 10x as much xp compared to crafting a similar magic item, and you can't use a craft reserve or transference for it either. Plus, some of the effects you want are going to require custom research, and you don't gain xp while researching, which is gonna slow you down even more. I mean, you can probably get there eventually, but it won't be in the early game by any stretch.

[Kalkra]

You'll find that emulating divine crusader spells doesn't seem to work, and also that traps cost more to create if they are designed to be portable. (Per Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, use the normal price for traps that are not movable at all, and double the normal price if the trap is bulky, but movable with some effort, like a statue or a couch. Anything that is easy to carry on your person is considered a custom wondrous item, not a trap. None of this should be a big obstacle for you, of course.)

The calling spell works as expected.

Wow, that's a lot of banhammering. Kinda makes me regret my one level of Artificer if I can't get Tongues and Air Walk. Also, where in Stronghold Builder's Guidebook does it say that moveable traps cost extra?


That's, uh, that's probably gonna take a long time with Sculpt Self. You typically need 10x as much xp compared to crafting a similar magic item, and you can't use a craft reserve or transference for it either. Plus, some of the effects you want are going to require custom research, and you don't gain xp while researching, which is gonna slow you down even more. I mean, you can probably get there eventually, but it won't be in the early game by any stretch.

I'm not the most clear on the rules, but as I understand it, a level 1 character that beats a CR 3 opponent gets 900 xp (assuming I read that chart correctly). Lions are CR 3, and can be beaten pretty easily if you're optimized for it. It takes 8 hours to process 1000 xp using Sculpt Self, so if you beat a few lions a day, time is the only bottleneck, not xp.

Admittedly, time is a heck of a bottleneck for something like becoming a TARDIS. Without any form of cheese, 1/day Greater Teleport would cost 13,104 xp, which would require years of meditation.

[Troacctid]

Wow, that's a lot of banhammering. Kinda makes me regret my one level of Artificer if I can't get Tongues and Air Walk. Also, where in Stronghold Builder's Guidebook does it say that moveable traps cost extra?
You can get tongues and air walk just fine off the bard and cleric lists respectively. 🤷

Traps are a subset of wondrous architecture. Page 70.


I'm not the most clear on the rules, but as I understand it, a level 1 character that beats a CR 3 opponent gets 900 xp (assuming I read that chart correctly). Lions are CR 3, and can be beaten pretty easily if you're optimized for it. It takes 8 hours to process 1000 xp using Sculpt Self, so if you beat a few lions a day, time is the only bottleneck, not xp.

Admittedly, time is a heck of a bottleneck for something like becoming a TARDIS. Without any form of cheese, 1/day Greater Teleport would cost 13,104 xp, which would require years of meditation.
For this exercise, you don't gain xp for defeating enemies, you get it gradually over time by having meaningful life experiences. Luckily the meditation time isn't quite that bad, as it's only one day per 1,000 xp—it's accumulating the necessary xp that'll be the problem.

[Kalkra]

You can get tongues and air walk just fine off the bard and cleric lists respectively. 🤷

First of all, I only have one level of Artificer, so I could only get Air Walk off of the Telflammar Shadowlord list, which I'm guessing you wouldn't approve of, given that you don't like Divine Crusaders. Admittedly, it wasn't clear and I just kinda assumed. Glad to know you can get spells at lower levels from the Bard list, at least.

Also I have no idea what those emojis mean.


Traps are a subset of wondrous architecture. Page 70.

Ah, missed that. I was foolishly looking at the section about traps for information about traps.


For this exercise, you don't gain xp for defeating enemies, you get it gradually over time by having meaningful life experiences. Luckily the meditation time isn't quite that bad, as it's only one day per 1,000 xp—it's accumulating the necessary xp that'll be the problem.

I thought roleplaying xp was in addition to combat xp. Huh. That changes everything. "Meaningful life experiences"? I don't recall ever having one of those, nor would I know how to get one. I could try LSD, I suppose. People have called that a "life-changing experience". More seriously, I still magically got enough xp to level up at the beginning of the year, right?

That makes all the combat-related aspects of D&D (which is most of it) more or less completely unimportant.

Also, when I was doing the math, I forgot to divide by 1000. Yeah, 13 days isn't nearly as bad.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

That makes all the combat-related aspects of D&D (which is most of it) more or less completely unimportant.

Hey, there are other reasons to have combat abilities than XP!

It's entirely possible that another person with character levels took enough ranks in Knowledge(religion) to use the BOVD sacrifice rules, or took a build that enters Illithid Savant at level 8. Fear those madmen.
Because you're afraid of being killed for all the reasons IRL people die. Wars, accidents, murder, a mugging gone wrong... Self-defense is popular for a reason, and a PC can be very good at it without compromising their more generally useful skills and abilities.
Because you're afraid you'll suck at hiding your abilities and don't want to get kidnapped by an ominous unspecified government agency
Because you intend to use your powers for crime or freedom fighting and expect to get into gunfights on the regular
Because you're a crazy thrillseeker and you intend to Plane Shift out and get into punching matches with various monsters while wandering the Planes
This forum sometimes has weird posters who seem oddly interested in world domination. Once one of them starts getting a few wizard levels, I'd like to be able to escape when they start "getting rid of the competition"
Because you don't want to die instantly once the devils or Efreet start opening Gates and try to invade the world.


And this is just the first few things I thought of!

[Troacctid]

I thought roleplaying xp was in addition to combat xp. Huh. That changes everything. "Meaningful life experiences"? I don't recall ever having one of those, nor would I know how to get one. I could try LSD, I suppose. People have called that a "life-changing experience". More seriously, I still magically got enough xp to level up at the beginning of the year, right?

That makes all the combat-related aspects of D&D (which is most of it) more or less completely unimportant.
Try new things, learn new skills, make new friends, have adventures, live your life, grow as a person. That sort of stuff.

You level up with milestones, not xp, but you accumulate xp faster if you're higher-level.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

Try new things, learn new skills, make new friends, have adventures, live your life, grow as a person. That sort of stuff.

You level up with milestones, not xp, but you accumulate xp faster if you're higher-level.
Wait, you can level up with this XP gained from personal growth? I thought you could only level up from the yearly threads, and that this XP was just there for crafting, losing a familiar, spell costs or whatever.
Am I wrong?

[Troacctid]

Wait, you can level up with this XP gained from personal growth? I thought you could only level up from the yearly threads, and that this XP was just there for crafting, losing a familiar, spell costs or whatever.
Am I wrong?
You can't level up with xp, only with milestones (i.e. once a year). The xp is used strictly for xp costs.

[Quertus]

That's, uh, that's probably gonna take a long time with Sculpt Self. You typically need 10x as much xp compared to crafting a similar magic item, and you can't use a craft reserve or transference for it either. Plus, some of the effects you want are going to require custom research, and you don't gain xp while researching, which is gonna slow you down even more. I mean, you can probably get there eventually, but it won't be in the early game by any stretch.

10x? My recollection is 2x. Oh. You're (not) counting GP cost. Got it. Yeah, it's horribly inefficient in that regard. But I'll call "citation please" on Sculpt Self requiring research. It's not a caster item creation feat. Heck, while we're on the topic, because I'd like to make "normal" items, too, some day, I'll ask for a citation on items requiring research. I mean, for item creation, it at least could make sense. I say "could" rather than "does" because I don't normally need a "research" phase when writing code - if I meet the prerequisites, I just start "crafting", so I could go either way on research making sense… actually, that's a good question for this exercise: if I seem to have a "doesn't require research" ability IRL, does it carry over to my "character sheet" powers?

Regardless, if my XP is accumulating far more slowly than I'd expect, there are plenty of ways to farm XP (and I'm planning on inventing new one to boot), so I'm not terribly worried on that particular front.


Admittedly, time is a heck of a bottleneck for something like becoming a TARDIS. Without any form of cheese, 1/day Greater Teleport would cost 13,104 xp, which would require years of meditation.


For this exercise, you don't gain xp for defeating enemies, you get it gradually over time by having meaningful life experiences. Luckily the meditation time isn't quite that bad, as it's only one day per 1,000 xp—it's accumulating the necessary xp that'll be the problem.

Wait, one day per 1,000 xp, not one day per 1,000 GP effective price? I didn't realize that Sculpt Self had that speed advantage. If that's right, that's bloody awesome!

[Quertus]

you accumulate xp faster if you're higher-level.

Well, that makes acknowledging that I took a level of Arcane Spellcaster last year when I said I "continue Arcane Spellcaster" even more important. :smalltongue:

EDIT: and, in case I somehow didn't say it this year, I continue taking Arcane Spellcaster again this year, too.

[Kalkra]

I go play some MtG, and suddenly this thread explodes? Anyway...


Try new things,

What constitutes trying new things? I'm assuming it's not "Gee, never had this brand of Mac'n'Cheese before". If it's something like "never done hallucinogens before" I could do that, I suppose, but I can't image it would be worth that much, given that it's only new once, and you said that a week of meaningful experiences was worth about 20 xp.


learn new skills,

You gain xp by spending skill points? Wild. If I retrain, do I get more xp, or do I lose the xp I got from learning those skills?


make new friends,

Do Diplomacy and Charm person count? If so, I've got 7 billion sources of xp. Otherwise, probably not gonna happen.


have adventures,

Just not combat-related adventures. Or rather, if it is a combat related adventure, the xp I get isn't linked to the strength of my opponents. If I could go on a "defeat a bunch of lions" adventure and get some xp from that, I suppose I'd manage, even if I wasn't getting that much xp. Not sure what other sorts of adventures there are. Even Google says that adventures are typically hazardous.


live your life,

I'm assuming you don't mean that I get xp just by existing, because otherwise you would have said so in the OP.


grow as a person.

...You mean, by gaining xp and leveling up? But seriously, every time I realize that the power was within me all along a get a bit of xp? How often does that happen?


You level up with milestones, not xp, but you accumulate xp faster if you're higher-level.

Does all the growing as a person I've done since (and possibly before) birth count? Because it would kinda stink if all my xp-able moments happened before I was eligible.



Hey, there are other reasons to have combat abilities than XP!

It's entirely possible that another person with character levels took enough ranks in Knowledge(religion) to use the BOVD sacrifice rules, or took a build that enters Illithid Savant at level 8. Fear those madmen.

I'm feeling attacked. Also, they don't need to sacrifice me, and if they want to eat my brains, three years from now I would hopefully be able to whip up a Delay Death and healing effect, if not outright regeneration. After all, I just need to eat some troll brains before tehy eat my brain, and it all works out, and we happily eat each others' brains.


Because you're afraid of being killed for all the reasons IRL people die. Wars, accidents, murder, a mugging gone wrong... Self-defense is popular for a reason, and a PC can be very good at it without compromising their more generally useful skills and abilities.

I have hp, which should cover a lot, unless guns randomly do 50 damage or something. (Do they?) I really don't leave my house that often, and I live in a pretty safe neighborhood, so I'm not that worried. I mean, I wasn't worried about being killed in a war or a mugging gone wrong before I got magic powers, so it seems silly to worry now. Also, Dimension Door should cover a lot of that



Because you're afraid you'll suck at hiding your abilities and don't want to get kidnapped by an ominous unspecified government agency
If I can do it with a Bluff roll, I'm not worried about hiding my powers. And if they do find out, there's not a lot I could do against any sufficiently evil organization. They could just take hostages, or do something else which would require a ton of Divinations just to learn the details of, and who knows what else to actually stop. I mean, seriously, no evil organization is going to kidnap people for their powers, and not plan around the fact that they have powers.



Because you intend to use your powers for crime or freedom fighting and expect to get into gunfights on the regular

If I were to fight crime, I'd probably do it in more of a Leverage style, which ideally would involve little to no physical danger. If I can juice my Bluff and Hide checks enough, I could be a crime-fighting machine without ever needing to fight, which honestly is a really inefficient way of dealing with things.


Because you're a crazy thrillseeker and you intend to Plane Shift out and get into punching matches with various monsters while wandering the Planes

...I'm not. At least, not if I'm not getting xp for it.



This forum sometimes has weird posters who seem oddly interested in world domination. Once one of them starts getting a few wizard levels, I'd like to be able to escape when they start "getting rid of the competition"

I'm feeling attacked again. Anyway, in the case that some person wants to kill everybody else with powers, a head-on fight would be pretty stupid. I mean, presumably they'd only attack me if their level was higher than mine, or if for some other reason they expected to be able to beat me. Even if I don't have a lot of combat spells, I could have them and people don't know what spells I have, so they would presumably only attack once victory was assured. It's the GiantITP way to play a Wizard, after all.


Because you don't want to die instantly once the devils or Efreet start opening Gates and try to invade the world.

That was one of the questions I asked in the beginning of this thread, but only one of those was answered, so I stopped thinking about it. That being said, ignoring the fact that it doesn't really make sense, that's a good reason for combat powers. Unless guns randomly do 50 damage or something. (Seriously, if a headshot can fell an elephant, which has over 100 hp on average, doesn't that mean that guns are just scary good?)

[RatElemental]

Jeez, all these world shattering builds and all I'm building for is the ability to cast personal spells on other people, have lots of buffs, healing and polymorph effects, capping off with agelessness at 20.

[digiman619]

Jeez, all these world shattering builds and all I'm building for is the ability to cast personal spells on other people, have lots of buffs, healing and polymorph effects, capping off with agelessness at 20.
I'm with you. I'm a monk build that gets immortality at 20th. I don't need much.

[Sinner's Garden]

I thought roleplaying xp was in addition to combat xp. Huh. That changes everything. "Meaningful life experiences"? I don't recall ever having one of those, nor would I know how to get one. I could try LSD, I suppose. People have called that a "life-changing experience". More seriously, I still magically got enough xp to level up at the beginning of the year, right?

That makes all the combat-related aspects of D&D (which is most of it) more or less completely unimportant.

I dunno what you're smoking (life experience!) that you think hunting dangerous wildlife, especially protected wildlife, doesn't count as an adventure or even a meaningful life experience, but I promise you that it is one.

Oh, and since I'm posting in this thread for once, I guess I should put something down for levels.

[Zehinoc]

Late to the party, but I’ll keep going as a Warblade. I need my Iron Heart Surge asap against all you nefarious magic users!

[Troacctid]

10x? My recollection is 2x. Oh. You're (not) counting GP cost. Got it. Yeah, it's horribly inefficient in that regard. But I'll call "citation please" on Sculpt Self requiring research. It's not a caster item creation feat. Heck, while we're on the topic, because I'd like to make "normal" items, too, some day, I'll ask for a citation on items requiring research. I mean, for item creation, it at least could make sense. I say "could" rather than "does" because I don't normally need a "research" phase when writing code - if I meet the prerequisites, I just start "crafting", so I could go either way on research making sense… actually, that's a good question for this exercise: if I seem to have a "doesn't require research" ability IRL, does it carry over to my "character sheet" powers?
I'm just thinking about TARDIS powers. I'm pretty sure some of them would require custom spells? And even the spells that do exist don't necessarily have items that can cast them at will (assuming that's what you're after), so you'd either have to start crafting a custom item without knowing the price or spend time and effort doing preliminary research to figure out what would be possible at what cost.


Regardless, if my XP is accumulating far more slowly than I'd expect, there are plenty of ways to farm XP (and I'm planning on inventing new one to boot), so I'm not terribly worried on that particular front.
Are there? The only ones I can think of are distilled joy and liquid pain, which only work for creating magic items (not Sculpt Self), and the thought bottle, which preserves xp if you already have it (but doesn't help you gain xp any faster).


[xp questions]
I added another FAQ entry about xp. For the record, you're definitely overthinking it. You'll be fine.

[Quertus]

I'm just thinking about TARDIS powers. I'm pretty sure some of them would require custom spells? And even the spells that do exist don't necessarily have items that can cast them at will (assuming that's what you're after), so you'd either have to start crafting a custom item without knowing the price or spend time and effort doing preliminary research to figure out what would be possible at what cost.

Again, Sculpt Self isn't a caster item creation feat - it doesn't require the individual to know the spell, or even to know any spells whatsoever. The individual is simply evolving to become more ______-like (in my case, more TARDIS-like).

And, really, most every effect I'll be taking has a corresponding item (Hat of Disguise, Ring of Invisibility, Helm of Teleportation, Winged Cloak, Portable Hole, Teleporting/Flying/Plane Shifting fortresses, Wondrous Architecture, etc) or obvious price calculation (skill boosters) somewhere along the path. The outliers might include things like the TARDIS senses, or Teleport Through Time (EDIT - I suppose a "Magnificent Mansion" or Stronghold effect may qualify, too - although one could argue that simply several castings of Genesis might be more apt…).

Now, the "not knowing the price" bit may be an odd, unexpected issue of using Sculpt Self… but that's somewhat mitigated by looking at the "HUD" / "character sheet", and utilizing incremental evolutions (ie, starting at "1/day", before upgrading to a full Hat of Disguise, to allow to calculate unknown prices).

I can see me inventing a custom divination (colloquially referred to as "poke the GM") to divine information regarding the underlying rules of reality :smallwink:


For this exercise, you don't gain xp for defeating enemies, you get it gradually over time by having meaningful life experiences.


Try new things, learn new skills,


you don't gain xp while researching,

These statements seem to contradict one another. Do I gain XP by learning new things, such as through research, or not? :smallconfused:

[TalonOfAnathrax]

I'm feeling attacked. Also, they don't need to sacrifice me, and if they want to eat my brains, three years from now I would hopefully be able to whip up a Delay Death and healing effect, if not outright regeneration. After all, I just need to eat some troll brains before tehy eat my brain, and it all works out, and we happily eat each others' brains.
That's actually really clever.



I have hp, which should cover a lot, unless guns randomly do 50 damage or something. (Do they?) I really don't leave my house that often, and I live in a pretty safe neighborhood, so I'm not that worried. I mean, I wasn't worried about being killed in a war or a mugging gone wrong before I got magic powers, so it seems silly to worry now. Also, Dimension Door should cover a lot of that
To each their own. I'm not especially terrified of dying in my day to day life, but if I'm getting magic powers then I'll certainly be using a few spells per day to protect myself from most accidents. Eventually Foresight + having Celerity and Teleport accessible will protect you from literally anything, but even from level 5 onwards it'd be nice to be able to cast Heart of Water before you get on a boat, etc. Have a healing effect (Healing Devotion, etc) on hand in day-to-day life, etc. I know people who've died from construction and vehicle accidents which by D&D rules would both have done enough damage to instantly kill a level 5-8 full caster, for example.
And most situations in which you'd get shot won't be a single bullet. Unless you can escape or make yourself bulletproof, whoever is shooting you will probably just shoot again.

I'm not saying that everyone should live in terror or anything, but I don't think that having a few PC levels makes you immortal just yet. And on the long term, making sure your choices have enough defensive utility to make sure you don't die seems important.
A bunch of people are getting agelessness without ways to fix disease or survive a bad accident, for example (building collapse during an earthquake, avalanche while skiing, etc). Maybe I'm insane, but I don't expect agelessness to keep people alive for more than a century or two without being able to escape such things. And then there's always crazy **** ("nuclear war involving your country", etc) but there's not much to do against that other than being a paranoid wizard.



If I can do it with a Bluff roll, I'm not worried about hiding my powers. And if they do find out, there's not a lot I could do against any sufficiently evil organization. They could just take hostages, or do something else which would require a ton of Divinations just to learn the details of, and who knows what else to actually stop. I mean, seriously, no evil organization is going to kidnap people for their powers, and not plan around the fact that they have powers.
Five sentences later you were saying that people couldn't possibly know all your powers or their limitations, so how well could they really plan for them?
And although you are correct in that any low to mid-level PC would lose a conflict against such an organization, that's not the case for high-level PCs. At high level, if your build puts any effort into keeping you alive, I think you can win. Of course full casters can manage it easily (Divinations from a bound Elemental Weird, Teleportation, etc) but superhuman skills backed by a few weirder abilities (so a Monk, a Rogue with Ancestral Relic, a Wild Shape Ranger, etc) could do a good job too. Indeed there are many magical things a Tier 1 class would do in such a situation that could be replicated by difficult skill checks (mind reading, infiltration, etc).
There are real life human beings who have managed to "beat" alphabet soup organizations, usually through a mix of personal skills, allies and finally deterrents. Oh, and running away. If an exceptional normal human can do it, then why couldn't a level 20 Monk or Rogue with good skills manage it?



If I were to fight crime, I'd probably do it in more of a Leverage style, which ideally would involve little to no physical danger. If I can juice my Bluff and Hide checks enough, I could be a crime-fighting machine without ever needing to fight, which honestly is a really inefficient way of dealing with things.
I agree that it is inefficient.



I'm feeling attacked again. Anyway, in the case that some person wants to kill everybody else with powers, a head-on fight would be pretty stupid. I mean, presumably they'd only attack me if their level was higher than mine, or if for some other reason they expected to be able to beat me. Even if I don't have a lot of combat spells, I could have them and people don't know what spells I have, so they would presumably only attack once victory was assured. It's the GiantITP way to play a Wizard, after all.
Your current point relies on having a deterrent : their lack of knowledge of your abilities. However such a lack of knowledge can be remedied (spying through magical or technological means, etc). Therefore I think that relying on such a deterrent is good, but isn't sufficient : you'll want some sort of escape and/or combat ability anyway.

tl;dr : I wouldn't say that combat ability is entirely useless. By taking a pile of PC levels, you're making yourself into an exceptional individual with exceptional abilities. Hiding will only work for so long, and while remaining discreet is a good idea I'd suggest making sure that high-level you isn't a complete pushover. IRL "key people" often get bodyguards, and for that same reason adding in some self-defense seems useful. It's not like normal bodyguards will remain useful for long against the sort of threats that a world with high-level D&D PCs can produce, anyway...

[Elricaltovilla]

Late to the party, but I’ll keep going as a Warblade. I need my Iron Heart Surge asap against all you nefarious magic users!

Well I got no beef with you so don't worry that much. I'm just trying to unlock the secret to immortality and get off this rock before it all goes to hell.

Anybody else want to help me build a spaceship?

[TalonOfAnathrax]

Well I got no beef with you so don't worry that much. I'm just trying to unlock the secret to immortality and get off this rock before it all goes to hell.

Anybody else want to help me build a spaceship?
Why build a spaceship? I was mostly thinking of using Greater Scrying followed by double castings of Greater Plane Shift to get around. Once you get enough levels in a spellcasting class, surviving in space is easy enough, and so is finding a habitable planet to visit.

[Jack_Simth]

Well I got no beef with you so don't worry that much. I'm just trying to unlock the secret to immortality and get off this rock before it all goes to hell.

Anybody else want to help me build a spaceship?

I plan on a demiplane, myself. Can manage a permanent one at 10th if I cheat slightly (Pages of Spell Knowledge from other class's lists), which is also when I can reasonably have Plane Shift.

Additionally, I've got a few flavors of immortality in my build, the first of which comes online at merely tenth.

Although a spaceship is much easier once you've got a few each of:

Decanter of Endless Water
Necklace of Adaptation (or Bottle of Air)
Ring of Sustenance (or Sustaining Spoon)
Air: Covered (Necklace or bottle). Water: Covered (Decanter). Food: Covered (Spoon). Propulsion: Covered (Decanter). You just need to get a shell and that'll deal with radiation and such in orbit (oh yes, and water stops radiation OK when you have enough of it), know your orbital mechanics, and have a power supply fit to keep it warm. OK, It's slightly more than that, but NASA would pay you great gibbering gobs of cash for those, as they're some of the most expensive problems in space travel, once you're looking at anything manned beyond about the moon.


Why build a spaceship? I was mostly thinking of using Greater Scrying followed by double castings of Greater Plane Shift to get around. Once you get enough levels in a spellcasting class, surviving in space is easy enough, and so is finding a habitable planet to visit.

Timing. My above list can be built by an Artificer at 5th. Greater Scrying takes a bit longer.

Also: Greater Scrying targets creatures only.

[Quertus]

Well I got no beef with you so don't worry that much. I'm just trying to unlock the secret to immortality and get off this rock before it all goes to hell.

Anybody else want to help me build a spaceship?

I plan on being the spaceship :smallbiggrin: - XP donations are always welcome. :smallwink:

Perhaps we should coordinate our efforts - if we can do so without risking getting discovered, captured, and dissected, that is. :smallfrown:

[Elricaltovilla]

Why build a spaceship? I was mostly thinking of using Greater Scrying followed by double castings of Greater Plane Shift to get around. Once you get enough levels in a spellcasting class, surviving in space is easy enough, and so is finding a habitable planet to visit.

Because I want a spaceship. What other reason does one need?

[DungeonUsurper]

You get everything you know (including, presumably, English) for free. It just doesn't show up on your character sheet.


Ah, thanks. I guess at our table we are just odd for always writing down Common in Languages. It makes sense for it to be more of a "ghost language" though. XD

[Kris Moonhand]

I'm down for helping with the spaceship. Psionicists belong in space, it's our natural environment. Though it'll be a few years before I'm good for anything besides fixing purely physical injuries. I can cure poison in 2 years (also feed people with sustenance), heal any disease in 4, and reverse aging in 6.

[DungeonUsurper]

I have a quick question. It may have been answered in previous years, so if I am repeating I apologize.

Anyways, I have noticed that some people have mentioned magic items. Does this game have magic items available using the wealth by level, or is it strictly for those that can make their own (ie Artificers)?

[RatElemental]

I have a quick question. It may have been answered in previous years, so if I am repeating I apologize.

Anyways, I have noticed that some people have mentioned magic items. Does this game have magic items available using the wealth by level, or is it strictly for those that can make their own (ie Artificers)?

I'm assuming the answer is either no, or you don't know magic items are available when leveling up. But many classes can craft things, and there are rules in place for gp costs to get converted to modern currency, and ways to get exp. And if you chose to build in pathfinder you don't even need the exp.

[Troacctid]

I have a quick question. It may have been answered in previous years, so if I am repeating I apologize.

Anyways, I have noticed that some people have mentioned magic items. Does this game have magic items available using the wealth by level, or is it strictly for those that can make their own (ie Artificers)?
We haven't been including WBL, no. I thought about adding it to the game, though. Would people be interested in that, or would it distract from class levels?

If we did have magic items, it would be MIC style, using item levels.

[Kalkra]

tl;dr version right off the bat:

I don't think I'm overthinking it, because my goal is complete immersion. I'm really doing my best to put myself in hypothetical me-with-powers's shoes, and any time I can't because I don't know something, I ask.

My point with the evil organization was that if they took hostages my ability to escape wouldn't matter, because I wouldn't want to.

Not-dying powers are useful, I'll admit. Killing powers, much less so (barring planar invasion).

I generally feel that you could get TARDIS powers using mostly existing spells, and I don't see why custom items that grant any given spell at-will would be a problem. That being said, the hard cap on how much xp you can have is a problem, and the lack of clear guidelines for how to get xp makes planning without being able to actually experiment difficult.

Spaceships are cool.

Admittedly, I only skimmed a lot of the stuff since last I posted, because I probably would make a much longer post if I read it all thoroughly, and nobody wants that.

[Red Fel]

I always enjoy this exercise. Okay, since I like bringing in my old posts (for my reference as much as anyone else's) and since they're starting to take up space, I'm going to slap a spoiler around these bad boys first.



In a world where I am the only PC, this is me.Red Fel
Psion (Telepath) 1
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 261
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity (Psion bonus feat).
PP/day: 2+42
Powers Known: Charm, Psionic; Inertial Armor; Mindlink.

1 The 15 in the Elite Array is here replaced by Red Fel's natural Int score, which has previously been established as 26.
2 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
In a world where PCs are a thing:Red Fel
Erudite (Spell to Power variant) 1
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 261
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity2.
PP/day: 2+43
Powers Known4: Attraction; Demoralize; Far Hand; Inertial Armor; Matter Agitation; Mind Thrust; Missive; Synchronicity; Synesthete; Vigor.

1 The 15 in the Elite Array is here replaced by Red Fel's natural Int score, which has previously been established as 26.
2 The Spell to Power variant Erudite gains Psicrystal Affinity as a normal Erudite, but loses its bonus feat.
3 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
4 An Erudite starts play with two 1st-level powers known, plus one for every point of INT modifier. Red Fel has an INT modifier of +8.

So, one level later, I have:

Red Fel
Psion (Telepath) 2
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 261
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity (Psion bonus feat).
PP/day: 6+42
Powers Known: Attraction; Charm, Psionic; Demoralize; Inertial Armor; Mindlink.

1 The 15 in the Elite Array is here replaced by Red Fel's natural Int score, which has previously been established as 26.
2 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
When a Psion levels up, he gets two new Powers. Attraction and Demoralize will do well to keep people doing what I want, covertly.

Red Fel
Erudite (Spell to Power variant) 2
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 261
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity2.
PP/day: 6+43
Powers Known4: Attraction; Demoralize; Disable; Far Hand; Inertial Armor; Matter Agitation; Mind Thrust; Missive; Synchronicity; Synesthete; Telempathic Projection; Vigor.

1 The 15 in the Elite Array is here replaced by Red Fel's natural Int score, which has previously been established as 26.
2 The Spell to Power variant Erudite gains Psicrystal Affinity as a normal Erudite, but loses its bonus feat.
3 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
4 An Erudite starts play with two 1st-level powers known, plus one for every point of INT modifier. Red Fel has an INT modifier of +8.
An Erudite, likewise, gets two powers, here Disable and Telempathic Projection. Ideal for expanding my repertoire of tools to manipulate the feeble masses.

Sadly, it will be another year before I get a new feat, but I'll bide my time. In either event, at this point, I can pretty much get anybody to do pretty much anything I like.

Alright, I'm back. And in an attempt to appeal to this so-called "fair play" thing I keep hearing about, I will adjust my INT - the stat, not my natural brilliance - back to its proper place in the Elite Array. (I'm keeping the bonus Powers, though.) First, nested quotes from the past two threads.
So, in 2019, I have:

Red Fel
Psion (Telepath) 3
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 15
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity (Psion bonus feat); Extend Power.
PP/day: 11+31
Powers Known: Attraction; Charm, Psionic; Demoralize; Inertial Armor; Mindlink; Share Pain; Vigor.

1 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
When a Psion levels up, he gets two new Powers. Vigor and Share Pain will allow me to dump some damage onto my Psicrystal, which may be useful if I start drawing attention to myself. I'm also taking Extend Power for my level 3 feat, because obviously.

Red Fel
Erudite (Spell to Power variant) 3
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 15
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity1, Extend Power.
PP/day: 11+32
Powers Known3: Attraction; Demoralize; Disable; Far Hand; Inertial Armor; Matter Agitation; Mind Thrust; Missive; Psionic Tongues; Share Pain; Synchronicity; Synesthete; Telempathic Projection; Vigor.

1 The Spell to Power variant Erudite gains Psicrystal Affinity as a normal Erudite, but loses its bonus feat.
2 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
3 An Erudite starts play with two 1st-level powers known, plus one for every point of INT modifier. Red Fel has an INT modifier of +8. Red Fel's INT score has been reduced to its appropriate level. However, I'm keeping the bonus Powers.
An Erudite, likewise, gets two powers, here Share Pain and Psionic Tongues. The former, as above, keeps me hardy; the latter is a valuable tool in a global world. And again, Extend Power.
That said, let's go to work.

Red Fel
Psion (Telepath) 4
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 161
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity (Psion bonus feat); Extend Power.
PP/day: 17+62
Powers Known: Attraction; Charm, Psionic; Demoralize; Inertial Armor; Mindlink; Read Thoughts; Share Pain; Suggestion, Psionic; Vigor.

1 Level 4 includes an ability score increase. Obviously I am upgrading my INT.
2 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
When a Psion levels up, he gets two new Powers. Frankly, I'm running low on options if I want to stay subtle. Some really fun ideas - like Cloud Mind - simply don't work in an age when everyone is armed with tiny cameras. Know Direction and Location is useful, but again, you probably have GPS in your pocket - I know I do. And while Telempathic Projection is neat, Attraction fulfills much the same role, with a longer duration. So it's a tricky choice.

Eventually, I settled on Read Thoughts and Suggestion. They fit my subtle methods, and help me with my social engineering goals. Read Thoughts keeps me from saying The Absolute Wrong Thing, which is a legitimate concern, while Suggestion helps me motivate people - and demotivate others - which contributes to my image as an effective and charismatic leader.

Red Fel
Erudite (Spell to Power variant) 4
STR: 8
DEX: 10
CON: 12
INT: 161
WIS: 13
CHA: 14

Feats: Overchannel (Human bonus feat), Psicrystal Affinity2, Extend Power.
PP/day: 17+63
Powers Known4: Attraction; Demoralize; Disable; Far Hand; Inertial Armor; Matter Agitation; Mind Thrust; Missive; Psionic Tongues; Read Thoughts; Share Pain; Suggestion, Psionic; Synchronicity; Synesthete; Telempathic Projection; Vigor.

1 Level 4 includes an ability score increase. Obviously I am upgrading my INT.
2 The Spell to Power variant Erudite gains Psicrystal Affinity as a normal Erudite, but loses its bonus feat.
3 INT grants a bonus to PP/day.
4 An Erudite starts play with two 1st-level powers known, plus one for every point of INT modifier. Red Fel has an INT modifier of +8. Red Fel's INT score has been reduced to its appropriate level. However, I'm keeping the bonus Powers.
Same powers, same reasoning as above. Subtlety.

[DungeonUsurper]

We haven't been including WBL, no. I thought about adding it to the game, though. Would people be interested in that, or would it distract from class levels?

If we did have magic items, it would be MIC style, using item levels.

I think it would be cool, but at the same time, would really change the game. I enjoy the set-up how it is, but also think this would be a really cool mechanic, so... I am both for and against? XD

[Vizzerdrix]

Because I want a spaceship. What other reason does one need?

I plan on dumping points into craft: hyperdrive until I make something functional.

[Malimar]

Oh sweet, Seer Psion 4. 2 new powers known.

Hmm, what do I already know...

Int my only non-dump stat. Too lazy to put in the work of being a wizard or archivist. I'd go factotum, but they don't start getting anything good until a couple levels in. Tempted by warlock (30% better at diplomacy (I hardly ever bluff or intimidate) sounds nice, or speak with animals + wild empathy could be fun), I dunno about the wisdom of making eldritch pacts with dark forces, I don't think I'm clever enough to make that work out in my favor in the end, plus my alignment disqualifies me, so I'm leaning towards psion. Seer, probably, mostly for clairvoyant sense a couple levels down the line.

My first thought is to take attraction, but that's a little abusive. Far hand would be a bit useful. Maybe even precognition -- I usually disdain +1s and +2s, but making any task 10% easier sounds like something I could use in my life.

Woo, now I'm a Psion(seer) 2! I don't get anything at this level other than two more powers known and the ability to use them more per day.

I already knew far hand, precognition, and maybe attraction. Now I learn, hm, empathy and, hm, let's go with call to mind (that would probably have been more useful before I graduated, but it's still useful).

Next year, when I learn clairvoyant sense, will be the really fun one.

Yay, I'm now a Psion(seer) 3! Learning two 2nd level powers! Clairvoyant sense and tongues, psionic. Let's go ahead and pretend my intended usage of clairvoyant sense involves more "science" and less "locker rooms". And tongues is just plum useful.
So far that's far hand, precognition, attraction, empathy, call to mind, clairvoyant sense, psionic tongues.

Learn... psionic knock and sustenance?

[ben-zayb]

Telepath 5 opens up the door for two things: 25ft Telepathy and access to 3rd level powers.

@Troacctid
1. What happens when I activate a Power Stone of Forced Dream, then immediately use up the effect to return to the start of that same round? By RAW, the Power Stone should be back to its pre-used state as expected but this is pretty much your homebrewed world so I have to clarify.
2. Does activating Forced Dream allow the user to retain memories from the "erased" future?
3. Are we really supposed to list all the crunch breakdown?
Telepath 5
STR 8
DEX 9
CON 12
INT 16 = 13 + 2 (Unsheltered Human) + 1 (4HD)
WIS 11
CHA 10

TRAITS
Polite (+1 Diplomacy, -2 Intimidate)
Quick (+10ft, -1HP/lvl)

FLAWS
Murky-Eyed
Non-combatant

FEATS
1 Hidden Talent [Minor Creation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444927-Minor-Creation-and-You-a-Small-Guide)]
1 (Flaw) Burrowing Power
1 (Flaw) Psicrystal Affinity
1 (Psion) Imprint Stone
3 Craft Universal Item

POWERS KNOWN
1st: Psionic Charm, Attraction, Empathy, Skate, Vigor, Minor Creation (feat)
2nd: Psionic Suggestion, Read Thoughts, Share Pain, Detect Hostile Intent
3rd: Forced DreamMoE, Time Hop

SKILLS
Bluff 8, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Sense Motive 5, Psicraft 1
all 11 Knowledge skill: (1 rank each)


While the advantage of gaining more powers and power points can't be ignored, 2019 isn't as exciting as getting a new power level last year.

Also, the annual tradition of nesting quotes continues!
I like how this became some sort of New Year tradition. Telepath 3. My plan will not be derailed.

Just gonna repost this, with the additional plan that I'd start spreading stories about certain "strange people" amongst conspiracy circles, which especially easy in this day and age. It'd be just like before with most conspiracies and hoaxes, but we'll now get actual solid evidences that will make even the skeptics pay attention.

Seriously, I'd prefer something that blends well into ordinary urban society. As much as possible, no big and flashy effects, ridiculous transformations (except disguises for blending in), eerie chants/gestures, crapton of props/items, and pulling stuff out of thin air.

So given those, I'd go first for a Telepath 5 with the Telepathy ACF, picking up Mindsight ASAP. This nets me practical uses IRL like Bluff/Diplomacy/Gather Info/Sense Motive ranks, and powers like Psionic Charm, Catfall, Synesthete, Sustenance, Psionic Tongues, Detect Hostile Intent, and Touchsight. It will be followed with Slayer 10 for immunity to being located using devices and getting Listen/Spot ranks. I'll get more nifty powers like Temporal Acceleration, Psychic Reformation, Psionic Divination, Psionic FoM, Psionic Dominate, Psionic Modify Memory, Mind Probe, Psychometry, and Mass Cloud Mind, maybe spending a feat to get Metamorphosis too for dire situations where I'll need it, or for just being in disguise. Thrallherd would be redundant if I could pick up Leadership anyway, so I'll finish it of with just more Telepath levels. By now, I'll also be having Mind Seed and True Mind Switch for virtual immortality, Psionic Greater Teleport for easy transportation (but making sure nobody sees me popping in and out), and Bend Reality.

TL;DR: Telepath 10 / Slayer 10 for subtle powers, unlocatability, leadership, and social skill suite. Basically, a build most suited for those in "suits".
!

Q: Are other people in the world leveling up too? Am I going to be the only magic-user?
A: Assume you don't have this information when you make your decision.It wouldn't hurt to assume that an entire psionic system just suddenly didn't become available solely for me. And, yes, I know you are already reading this thread, Super Secret Organization People. (https://xkcd.com/525/) The witch hunt/conspiracy continues!

[Troacctid]

@Troacctid
1. What happens when I activate a Power Stone of Forced Dream, then immediately use up the effect to return to the start of that same round? By RAW, the Power Stone should be back to its pre-used state as expected but this is pretty much your homebrewed world so I have to clarify.
2. Does activating Forced Dream allow the user to retain memories from the "erased" future?
3. Are we really supposed to list all the crunch breakdown?
1. Doesn't it specifically say that if the effect is used in the same turn it was manifested, the psionic energy used to manifest it is still expended?
2. 🤷
3. You don't have to, but you get bonus points if you do.

[ben-zayb]

1. Doesn't it specifically say that if the effect is used in the same turn it was manifested, the psionic energy used to manifest it is still expended?
2. 🤷
3. You don't have to, but you get bonus points if you do.
1. The way its wording was done was:
The only exception to this is that any power points spent to manifest forced dream are not recovered (meaning that if you manifest the power and activate its effect in the same turn, you return to the start of the turn but you do not get back the power points you spent to manifest the power.)That's fine for me, because I didn't spend power points for manifesting that power, and any power points I spent to craft the Power Stone can't be recovered in the first place anyway.
2. I really don't use enough social media outlets to know what that emoticon means, but what I meant was my character is experimenting how Forced Dream works by manifesting it himself. Being able to tell whether the memories were retained should be easy, because he only needs to confirm whether or not he has recollection of why he is missing power points.

EDIT: To clarify if it wasn't, #1 is different from #2. #1 utilizes magic items, while #2 is straight up manifesting a power

[Skysaber]

D&D 3.5, I'd go with Cleric 1. The list of ACFs would be long.

Pathfinder? Straight up Wizard 1, with extras.

D20? Now there I'd have some fun. Definitely go with Empyrean 1

Since I suppose very few will have heard of Empyrean, it is a 20 level base class found in the Complete Guide to Fey. A Cha-based spontaneous caster with access to 9th level spells, gaining spell levels as fast as a wizard, with D6 hit points and 6 skill points per level. The hit points aren't bad, and skill points are excellent for a full caster, but those are not the best part. Being a spontaneous caster is often a detriment, but these guys have their entire spell list memorized at once. That's 25 cantrips, 59 1st level spells, and so on, with spells drawn from druid, wizard, cleric and bard lists.

They may not get all of the flagship spells, but such gems as Entangle and Glitterdust are definitely there. With Dispel Magic even discounted a level, made available as a 2nd level spell. The list is far from useless. It's a good list, and they have things like Modify Memory. Very powerful, and normally restricted to bards.

Best of all, they get to add spells of their choice to the class list, one for each point of Cha bonus they have, to each spell level they have access to. So if you really want Fireball and Magic Missile, grab 'em!

Anyway, all of those would be good enough, but there are a few more real gems about this class. Their class skills are far from useless, and they get to choose three of them, so if you want Lucid Dreaming or Truespeak, go right ahead. They also get DR 1/cold iron at first level, rising by a point per level over the first ten levels.

Now DR/cold iron is a favorite of mine, since virtually nothing bypasses it. Every sword-swinger in the universe gets himself an adamantine blade as soon as he can afford one, so that type of DR is useless. Alchemical silver is a thing, so any weapon can be silvered on demand. But cold iron? The only thing harder to bypass is DR/-. It's going to be effective unless you have an especially knowledgeable enemy who has gone out of his way to be prepared against you. Without a DM to blurt out, "Oh, yeah. He has DR/cold iron" most folks may never know you have a way to bypass it.

And last, but certainly not least, Empyreans get a bonus feat of their choice at first level, and every two levels thereafter. These can be general, metamagic, or fey feats. That's a lot of options. Nice!

Now I have a bunch of flaws in RL. It would be nice to get feats for them. But I can easily make do with these three I start with: One from being human, one at first level, and my class one.

For the class metamagic feat I'll choose Ritual Spell from Ultimate Feats, allowing me to cast a spell of a level one higher than I'd normally have access to, provided I spend a six hours ritual casting it, or two levels higher if I do that on sacred ground (and I hold keys to my local church, where no one would mind me praying in an unused classroom for six hours), or three if I can do so in the presence of an artifact (or relic, as I've recently been reminded, and my church has plenty of relics around. They'd require some travel, but I could get to them).

Anyway, next we pick up the Arcane Craftsman character concept out of Quintessential Wizard, which allows one to select Craft Wondrous Item as a feat starting at 1st level, and offers a permanent 10% reduction in costs in gold and xp for any items you craft. So take that, and the Craft Wondrous Item feat it makes available.

Lastly, the Heart of the Forest feat allows one to sacrifice wealth to the forest in order to get crafting xp.

Now there are several ways to do this. One amusing note is nowhere in D&D does it care what you paid for an item, you could pick it up off of a monster you killed, craft it yourself, find it in the woods, buy it at discount using a feat to do so, or whatever. None of that changes its value. Magic item creating, and all things associated with it, only care about the worth. Aaaand, it just so happens there are tons of collectibles out there whose official 'worth' is far different from their purchase price. I was just reading an article about collectors of Beanie Babies and their woes, as the items have a listed worth that could easily be a thousand times greater than the sale price. Those, or junk bonds which have the same flaw, could make for an interesting sacrifice.

Or I could go for the Transmute Water to Wine spell (aka, the 'Transmute Wizard to Wino' spell) out of Redhurst, and sacrifice the wine I make.

I've done this using Make Whole on classic cars to make money to fuel my item crafting. That would be an option.

But what I think I'll do is talk to some friends, who know some people, and sell a few castings of Remove Scars, out of the Critical Hits supplement by Bastion. Specifically, I'll disguise myself to conceal my identity and go to Hollywood and fix up celebrity plastic surgery disasters. I'll even do the first couple free, then let word of mouth do my advertising for me. Anyone who's seen some of those freak show photos knows that I will never have to worry about money again. Disfigured actors paying a quarter mil to look normal and go back to work again? Absolutely!

I'll label myself as a "Spiritualist Healer" since everything else even remotely medical gets regulated out the wazoo, and *snicker* that's close enough to actually what I'd be doing.

Having the money also means having the craft xp I'll need. So everything is set up to do an item blitz, first optimizing my crafting ability, then my skills, then branching out into defenses, as I'd detailed in my post on this thread. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?605171-Which-class-would-you-pick-in-the-real-world-low-powered-edition/page4

I'll have no need to do much of a shop this time. In fact, I think I'd avoid it and just do house calls - let them consider that a perk of their elite status (and another way to justify my price tag). But I'll still want to create at least one homunculus. Why? Because they are possibly the single most useful overlooked item in all of D&D/Pathfinder! Seriously!

It is easy to overlook under an adventuring context, where players and DMs alike skip over the boring nonsense of travel and camping. Setting up tents, breaking camp, gathering wood for cookfires, etc, is all boring and so we eliminate any mention of that from most games. However, in real life we must attend to it anyway. So having a homunculus around becomes the most useful thing ever! I knows everything you know, and it never sleeps, so it can fix breakfast for you, do your laundry, wash your sheets, tidy up your room... EVERYTHING that you know how to do, but never have time for!

So it can use an air pressure gauge to check all of the tires on your car, check the fluids, replace the wipers, give it a nice car wash and wax, all while you are asleep or otherwise occupied. It can fix lunches for your kids while you are in the shower, check the shingles on your roof for any damage after a hailstorm, shovel your drive and walkways in the middle of the night, and all of that stuff it would be neat to do that you'd never around to.

Since it knows what you know it could even go through and organize all of your junk, throw out that shirt you never wear anymore, organize your pics and vids the way you'd want them to be, and since it, unlike a familiar, still transmit to you everything it sees and hears, it can even empathically ask you what you want done with that box in the garage it found while cleaning.

So all of your ironing, computer upgrades, dusting behind the cabinets and under the fridge, that you could do but never do? This is your handy helper to do it all - and be your watchdog as well. Constructs never sleep, and it has every chance of detecting, locating, and identifying an intruder that you do.

People rant and rave over how cool it would be to have a loyal AI servant. But this one has HANDS!

[vasilidor]

this level I will be taking a second level in arcanist, and gaining the benefits (and penalties) of middle aged.
race:Human
classes:Arcanist 2, Investigator 1 (Empiricist)
Strength 11 Dexterity 12 Constitution 11 Intelligence 16 Wisdom 14 Charisma 13
Base Attack 1 CMB 2 CMD 13 Speed 30
saving throws
Fortitude +0, Reflexes +3 will +7
Class Abilities
Ceaseless Observation (intelligence to gather information, sense motive, use magic device, Disable device, Perception, in place of usual modifiers) Inspiration 3/day, trapfinding +1, Arcane reservoir 3/4, Cantrips, Consume spells
Exploits: Item Crafting
Feats
Scribe Scroll, Improved Initiative, Point Blank shot, Deadly Aim
Spells Known:mage armor, sleep, obscuring mist, disguise self, heightened awareness, snowball, summon monster 1
extracts known: cure light wounds, ant haul endure elements, crafter's fortune, expeditious retreat
Extracts per day lv1:3
spells prepared per day 0:5 1:2
cantrips, spells cast per day 1:5
prepared Extracts :crafters fortune, Cure Light Wounds, Endure Elements
Spells Prepared: Obscuring Mist, expeditious retreat
Attacks
short sword MW, +2 hit, 1d6 damage 19-20 *2 crit
Light Cross Bow +1, +2 hit, 1d6+3 damage, 19-20 *2 crit
Skills
History 2r +3int +3cc = 8
Arcana 2r +3int +3cc = 8
Stealth 3r +1dex +3cc = 7
Perception 3r +3int +3cc = 9
Story telling 1r +1cha +3cc =5
survival 1r +2wis +3cc = 6
Drawing 2r +1cha +3cc = 6
Geography 1r +3int +3cc = 7
Sense Motive 1r +3int +3cc = 7
Diplomacy 1r +1cha/+3int +3cc = 5/7
Use Magic Device 1r +3int +3cc = 7
Gear: Wilderness survival kit (everything you need to last 3 days lost in the woods), Chevy Caprice (it's a purple station wagon)

[Fuzzy McCoy]

I pick up my third level of wizard and boost my intelligence. If it wasn't obvious, I'm headed for unseen seer.

[Troacctid]

1. The way its wording was done was:That's fine for me, because I didn't spend power points for manifesting that power, and any power points I spent to craft the Power Stone can't be recovered in the first place anyway.
2. I really don't use enough social media outlets to know what that emoticon means, but what I meant was my character is experimenting how Forced Dream works by manifesting it himself. Being able to tell whether the memories were retained should be easy, because he only needs to confirm whether or not he has recollection of why he is missing power points.

EDIT: To clarify if it wasn't, #1 is different from #2. #1 utilizes magic items, while #2 is straight up manifesting a power
Just as I thought. So the power stone would be expended, as it has already been drained.

I don't know if you're supposed to keep your memories or not, that's why I responded with a shrug.

[StSword]

We haven't been including WBL, no. I thought about adding it to the game, though. Would people be interested in that, or would it distract from class levels?

If we did have magic items, it would be MIC style, using item levels.

If you'd like people to have access to magic items, perhaps go with something like Complete Gear (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/complete-gear) from Dreamscarred Press?

Instead of wealth by level representing magic items bought and sold, characters have the ability to enhance their equipment via meditation.

[thethird]

You'll find that emulating divine crusader spells doesn't seem to work, and also that traps cost more to create if they are designed to be portable. (Per Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, use the normal price for traps that are not movable at all, and double the normal price if the trap is bulky, but movable with some effort, like a statue or a couch. Anything that is easy to carry on your person is considered a custom wondrous item, not a trap. None of this should be a big obstacle for you, of course.)

The calling spell works as expected.

Mh, interesting.

The divine crusader nerf is annoying but I guess that then I stick to a sanctum teleport for the time being. I probably realize that as I start the crafting and not much is lost.

I will use the spellstoring trap (or simply use infusions) to make a complete lists of the spell lists I can access, trying to identify any trends or similitude that I can infer and test.

The Stronghold Builder's Guidebook ruling is interesting, I wouldn't call it a primary source, for that matter you can make traps in portable items explicitly in dungeon master's guide II which is a 3.5 book and I would have expected to take precedence over a 3.0 one. Still it's money, and my sonic screw driver (my spellstoring item trap is well worth it). Given that I can reset all feats thus basically I am schrodinger's artificer it's not too much money as I can stack all the obscure and rules bending discounts I can think of no matter how limited in scope they are.

Speaking of money by this point I have 'free' access to Augury (thanks to spellstoring item) I have access to daily stock market. I have access to money. I also have access to cheat and online gambling (but that can explicitly be suspected by observers so I rather play the stock market).

I am also starting to sleep well thanks to my awesome pet.

[Felyndiira]

For 3.5, I'll take another level of warlock.

For PF, another level of Rajah.

[Troacctid]

Mh, interesting.

The divine crusader nerf is annoying but I guess that then I stick to a sanctum teleport for the time being. I probably realize that as I start the crafting and not much is lost.
Metamagic items use the spell's adjusted spell slot. I feel like this is pretty well established in the rules, so hopefully that's not a surprise. (Else you'd have already been trying to craft schemas of persistent spells, I'm sure.) Sanctum Spell doesn't make an item cheaper or easier to craft. So as a 5th level artificer, you can't emulate teleport yet. That said, you can probably emulate a calling spell to borrow a creature who can help you with the prerequisite.


I will use the spellstoring trap (or simply use infusions) to make a complete lists of the spell lists I can access, trying to identify any trends or similitude that I can infer and test.
Spell lists of all base classes are available. Domain spells are available. Classless spells like sanctified spells should work too. Spells from prestige class spell lists are only available if the prestige class is listed in the spell entry itself (like the assassin spells in CM).


Speaking of money by this point I have 'free' access to Augury (thanks to spellstoring item)
Spell-storing item still requires you to pay the spell's xp and expensive material components, unless I'm missing something.

[Kaiwen]

I'll take a level in Pathfinder Eberron (3pp) Artificer, thanks.
If no 3pp, then a level in Pathfinder Pact (Haunted Heroes) Scryer with the Shadow patron and the Covetous curse.

[Kalkra]

I've been kinda busy, but having looked at it, it seems like the soonest way I can get into Shadowcraft Mage is by taking Flexible Mind, which I believe has chaotic alignment as a prerequisite. Given that I'm extremely lawful, I guess that's what I'll be spending the next year on. I could delay it by a year and take a level of something with Bluff as a class skill, but now that I know that my level of Artificer and Sculpt Self are both pretty much useless, I want something with some actual power ASAP.

[Andor13]

Well no reason not to build on my plan from last year, so for 2020 I level up to Vizier 2, now with Chakra binds!

Not many choices to make here, I'll just bump the same skills. Actual choices next year. :D

[Crichton]

Ok! Here comes Erudite 3!


Human
STR 9, DEX 11, CON 12, INT 13, WIS 10, CHA 8

Erudite 3
ACF: Convert Spell to Power
Level 1 Feat: Extend Power
Human Bonus Feat: Hidden Talent
Level 3 Feat: Linked Power

[thethird]

Metamagic items use the spell's adjusted spell slot. I feel like this is pretty well established in the rules, so hopefully that's not a surprise. (Else you'd have already been trying to craft schemas of persistent spells, I'm sure.) Sanctum Spell doesn't make an item cheaper or easier to craft. So as a 5th level artificer, you can't emulate teleport yet. That said, you can probably emulate a calling spell to borrow a creature who can help you with the prerequisite.

That's the whole reason for Sanctum, yes. Sanctum spells when not cast from the sanctum are cast at one level lower. I could bind a Void Walker (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20031219a) to get greater teleport, but binding an evil creature (or an intelligent creature for that matter) seems like a BAD IDEA. I don't want outsiders with access to magic realizing that there is a full world that cannot defend against magic. Nope. So if sanctum doesn't work at all, I am sticking to dimension door.


Spell lists of all base classes are available. Domain spells are available. Classless spells like sanctified spells should work too. Spells from prestige class spell lists are only available if the prestige class is listed in the spell entry itself (like the assassin spells in CM).

Spell-storing item still requires you to pay the spell's xp and expensive material components, unless I'm missing something.

That's an interesting approach to setting the power levels, of spells, I dig it. Will probably play around with that on my house games.

Spell-storing item does have an xp component, but it's being cast from a trap. I am also using 3.pf rules so I dunno what would really happen with xp cost.

On the manner of testing spells, does anything that can be discussed under the forum rules, happen if I cast cleric spells that have different effect based on the god revered by the caster? (I assume not, and probably would be best to be leaven at that, but would probably test it).

[thethird]

Metamagic items use the spell's adjusted spell slot. I feel like this is pretty well established in the rules, so hopefully that's not a surprise. (Else you'd have already been trying to craft schemas of persistent spells, I'm sure.) Sanctum Spell doesn't make an item cheaper or easier to craft. So as a 5th level artificer, you can't emulate teleport yet. That said, you can probably emulate a calling spell to borrow a creature who can help you with the prerequisite.

That's the whole reason for Sanctum, yes. Sanctum spells when not cast from the sanctum are cast at one level lower. I could bind a Void Walker (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20031219a) to get greater teleport, but binding an evil creature (or an intelligent creature for that matter) seems like a BAD IDEA. I don't want outsiders with access to magic realizing that there is a full world that cannot defend against magic. Nope. So if sanctum doesn't work at all, I am sticking to dimension door.


Spell lists of all base classes are available. Domain spells are available. Classless spells like sanctified spells should work too. Spells from prestige class spell lists are only available if the prestige class is listed in the spell entry itself (like the assassin spells in CM).

Spell-storing item still requires you to pay the spell's xp and expensive material components, unless I'm missing something.

That's an interesting approach to setting the power levels, of spells, I dig it. Will probably play around with that on my house games.

Spell-storing item does have an xp component, but it's being cast from a trap. I am also using 3.pf rules so I dunno what would really happen with xp cost.

On the manner of testing spells, does anything that can be discussed under the forum rules, happen if I cast cleric spells that have different effect based on the god revered by the caster? (I assume not, and probably would be best to be leaven at that, but would probably test it).

[Arael666]

Aw man, can't believe I missed the previous 3 threads :smallfrown:

Guess I'll just lvl up to wizard 2 and keep up with my plan

[Troacctid]

On the manner of testing spells, does anything that can be discussed under the forum rules, happen if I cast cleric spells that have different effect based on the god revered by the caster? (I assume not, and probably would be best to be leaven at that, but would probably test it).
Sure. What god do you revere?

[thethird]

Mmmmh good question...

Is that something that I would put on my character sheet? After all skills and feats do not translate between real life and D&D game.

In real life I probably revere the christian god, I am not the most pious of followers, and wouldn't qualify for the true believer feat but I do pray and attend to the rites on occasion. If I can "game" the system though I am going with Mystra.

(Interestingly spiritual weapon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spiritualWeapon.htm) can also be used to check for alignments. Do we set our own alignment too?)

[Firebug]

Continuing with Wizard, to Wizard 4.

[Troacctid]

Mmmmh good question...

Is that something that I would put on my character sheet? After all skills and feats do not translate between real life and D&D game.

In real life I probably revere the christian god, I am not the most pious of followers, and wouldn't qualify for the true believer feat but I do pray and attend to the rites on occasion. If I can "game" the system though I am going with Mystra.
It'll key off of your sincere belief. Does that prove the existence of deific beings? Ask the people of Eberron, I guess. AFAIK they're still arguing about it.


(Interestingly spiritual weapon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spiritualWeapon.htm) can also be used to check for alignments. Do we set our own alignment too?)
You set your alignment by acting in accordance with an alignment. Boy, the philosophers are gonna have a field day with this, aren't they?

[ExLibrisMortis]

Troacctid very kindly put down "erudite or wizard" from my less than informative post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23606074&postcount=13) last year. I suppose that means the choice was put off until this year.

Hell, let's go full Mind Mage. Of course, since I'm not an illumian, and I didn't think to take the wizard level first, early entry is a bit troublesome. I can use Eldritch Corruption, though...



Human erudite 2/wizard 1/erudite +1
Feats: Eldritch Corruption, Extend Spell, Dual-Plane Summons, Psicrystal Affinity.


I'm really shaping up to be an upstanding citizen!


Oh, and an ability increase, so Intelligence gets to be 14! Next three years should be Cerebremancer levels, since I need a second psi-spell feat to enter Mind Mage.

[Quertus]

It'll key off of your sincere belief. Does that prove the existence of deific beings? Ask the people of Eberron, I guess. AFAIK they're still arguing about it.

So, once my Pathfinder "Cleric of me" believes in myself enough, he'll get spells?

[digiman619]

So, once my Pathfinder "Cleric of me" believes in myself enough, he'll get spells?
Believe in the you who believes in you!

[Troacctid]

So, once my Pathfinder "Cleric of me" believes in myself enough, he'll get spells?
A cleric's power stems from a deep, sincere conviction. As a cleric of an ideal, you have to truly have faith in whatever ideal you venerate, and devote yourself to it. That's not the same as having self-confidence, as the idiomatic phrase "believe in myself" typically connotes, but self-confidence would be important if you have an ideal like Pride. Does that make sense?

[Thaneus]

Hey Happy new year everyone!

Like last year I am still going with Psion Telepath now to level 4

Here the stats again:
STR 9
DEX 8
CON 10
INT 13+1 (due to level 4)
WIS 11
CHA 12

Feats:
(Human): Skill Focus Concentration, (1st Level): Overchannel, (1st Level Bonus): Talented, (3rd Level): Psionic Endowment

Skills:
Concentration 7
Diplomacy 7
Knowledge Psionics 7
Knowledge Tech 7
Knowledge Local 1

[Bad Wolf]

Time ro become religious and pick up a level of Paladin of Freedom. Angling for a sorcadin.

Sorcerer 2/Paladin of Freedom 1

[RatElemental]

I feel I should ask just to make sure, but when cultivating magical plants you can still increase the DC to ignore spell prerequisites, right? Otherwise my plan to take do that is a bit sunk. Current plan is to take Material Mastery discovery then use master craftsman to qualify for craft wondrous item (and thus cultivate magical plant). Got a trait bonus to my alchemy that will counteract the +2 to the DC from ignoring spells thanks to material mastery.

[Troacctid]

I feel I should ask just to make sure, but when cultivating magical plants you can still increase the DC to ignore spell prerequisites, right? Otherwise my plan to take do that is a bit sunk. Current plan is to take Material Mastery discovery then use master craftsman to qualify for craft wondrous item (and thus cultivate magical plant). Got a trait bonus to my alchemy that will counteract the +2 to the DC from ignoring spells thanks to material mastery.
I don't know Pathfinder well enough to say. Whatever it says in the rules, I guess?

[Hish]

This is my first thread, so this is an important choice. I'm going to have to go with Artificer 1. Artificer has plenty of day-to-day versatility with the infusions, and I can get the important stuff like teleport and invisibility on magic items. I tried to avoid having a spellbook because that's a huge amount of money, and I assumed that I would be on my own.

Artificer 1
Abilities: 8, 10, 9, 13, 12, 11
Traits: Absentminded
Flaws: Vulnerable
Feats:
1st: Magical Training (Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Mending)
Flaw: Hidden Talent (Psionic Minor Creation) (it's a staple for a reason)
Human: Extraordinary Artisan
Skill ranks: Concentration 4, Know(Engineering) 4, Open Lock 4, Spellcraft 4, UMD 4

edited so I can actually manifest my psionic minor creation

[Kalkra]

This is my first thread, so this is an important choice. I'm going to have to go with Artificer 1. Artificer has plenty of day-to-day versatility with the infusions, and I can get the important stuff like teleport and invisibility on magic items. I tried to avoid having a spellbook because that's a huge amount of money, and I assumed that I would be on my own.

Artificer 1
Abilities: 8, 11, 9, 13, 12, 10
Traits: Absentminded, Polite
Flaws: Vulnerable
Feats:
1st: Magical Training (Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Mending)
Flaw: Hidden Talent (Psionic Minor Creation) (it's a staple for a reason)
Human: Extraordinary Artisan
Skill ranks: Concentration 4, Know(Engineering) 4, Open Lock 4, Spellcraft 4, UMD 4

If you haven't been reading the previous posts, I'll just mention that xp isn't a river. More specifically, you'll be limited to a maximum of 20 per week at level 1, and an unspecified amount more at higher levels. That's fine for a few scrolls a week, but crafting Wondrous Items will really tax that. All the other cool stuff Artificers do should still work, though.

[Troacctid]

If you haven't been reading the previous posts, I'll just mention that xp isn't a river. More specifically, you'll be limited to a maximum of 20 per week at level 1, and an unspecified amount more at higher levels. That's fine for a few scrolls a week, but crafting Wondrous Items will really tax that. All the other cool stuff Artificers do should still work, though.
I specified 20 xp per level per week, up to a maximum total of 1000 xp per level stored at a time. Which is pretty generous, honestly. You only need 1/25 the item's market price in xp, so that's 25,000 gp's worth for your first year. It's a meaningful limitation, but you should have more than enough to work with.

It's Sculpt Self that really has to worry about xp. The xp cost for prestige races is significantly higher: to duplicate existing magic items with it, you need 20–40% of the item's market price in xp rather than 4%. (20% for slotless items, 40% for slotted items.)

[RatElemental]

Meanwhile pathfinder builds don't have to worry about exp at all.

[Hish]

If you haven't been reading the previous posts, I'll just mention that xp isn't a river. More specifically, you'll be limited to a maximum of 20 per week at level 1, and an unspecified amount more at higher levels. That's fine for a few scrolls a week, but crafting Wondrous Items will really tax that. All the other cool stuff Artificers do should still work, though.

I did read those posts. Honestly, I'm more worried about gold costs. I'm fine with spending my PC's entire WBL on magic items, but IRL I have more important things to spend money on. Plus I can't loot a dragon's hoard so I have to actually work for my money.

[Pyromancer999]

To note down now and expand upon at a moment when most of my free time is not being devoured by various commitments:

3.5: Another level of Factotum, for Factotum 4!

Pathfinder: Another level of Investigator, for Psychic Detective Investigator 4. Still going the same old game and appreciating that extra point of Inspiration.

Question,though: Is having Automatic Bonus Progression allowed, and if so, how would it affect my real-life income/wealth, since it calls for making a character have 1/2 WBL?

3PP: Another level of Prodigy, for Scholar 2/Prodigy 2. I can now temporarily pick up whatever talent I like, if only for a minute a few times a day. Also, assuming the gold cost is equivalent for calculating costs, I'd like to enter into an Oath of Poverty, because while it'd certainly prohibit me from making use of/owning magical items, it allows for a reasonable level of non-magical-item-filled living, at least at this level, and I'm not much for magic items anyway. Plus it technically doesn't prevent you from having money saved, so one doesn't have to worry as much about having to beg for the money to pay rent or have food to eat.

[Troacctid]

Question,though: Is having Automatic Bonus Progression allowed, and if so, how would it affect my real-life income/wealth, since it calls for making a character have 1/2 WBL?
Campaign-level variant rules that would normally apply to all characters are not in play.

[StSword]

T
Question,though: Is having Automatic Bonus Progression allowed, and if so, how would it affect my real-life income/wealth, since it calls for making a character have 1/2 WBL?

Ultimate Covenant Magic from Purple Duck Games has a transactional shamanistic magic system- you make a deal with an outsider, or undead, or fey, that sort of thing, and you get supernatural feats out of it.

One of these feats is to get ABP but you have to sacrifice your wealth to do so.

[el minster]

1st level of Dragon Shaman(Copper)
Human
13 Charisma
12 Constitution
11 Strength
10 Dexterity
9 Wisdom
8 Intelligence
Auras: Vigor, Toughness, and Power


I picked Dragon Shaman because it doesn't rely on good scores and will help others who don't have good scores.

[Kalkra]

I think I'll try to research an xp version of Fabricate. i.e. a spell with a scaling xp cost that makes something akin to Distilled Joy or Liquid Pain, but ideally also usable for Sculpt Self. I'd like a good conversion rate, but even 1:1 could work if a) I could cast it on other people or I had an item that cast it at-will that I gave to people and b) random people on the street have xp, and ideally won't be affected by having it drained.

This seems like the only way to farm xp short of Plane Shifting to Dal Quor or something.

[EndlessKng]

New for me, but I saw the homage thread someone else posted, so glad to find this!

So... level one for me... hmm...

Well since Pathfinder 3PP is permitted, I'm doing what I promised I'd do there: I'm starting out as a level 1 Bladewalker Armiger. I usually don't go combat but I love the idea of the Warp Sphere and summoning weapons to me. And the ability to teleport for free (within a close area) every turn has a lot of use for someone who can't normally walk well due to an injured leg.

I'll grab Spellfire Wielder still to let me use magic that I run into to heal myself, if only a bit. And Weapon Finesse so I can rely on Dexterity instead of Strength.

I'll probably start Dexterity 13, Intelligence 12, Charisma 11, Constitution 10, Strength 8, Wisdom 9. As it's Pathfinder, I'll get a +2 to an Attribute... probably Charisma, because I wouldn't mind a bit more charm in life.

[Relonious]

Ok, I guess ill reflect a bit of me in the character:

Human Wizard (Instructor archetype)

Str 8
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 15
Wis 11
Cha 9

Language: common, varisian, skald

Feats:
Apprentice (adjutant student)
Universalist
Scribe scroll (writing academic papers)
Endurance
Magical aptitude

Trait: Magical talent

Skills: 5
Diplomacy 1+0-1
Profession (teacher) 1+3+0
Knowledge (arcana) 1+3+2
Knowledge (nature) 1+3+2
Spellcraft 1+3+2+2

Magic:
CL:1
DC: 12+Spell level
Spells per day:
Level 0: 3
Level 1: 2
Spells known (magic book):
Level 0: all
Level 1: 5

(I Teach physics, so it is like a kind of magic)

[Troacctid]

For my part, I'm going to continue as a bardic sage in my 3.5 incarnation. Since I can cast 2nd level spells now, I have access to the ever-useful locate object and heroism. Meanwhile, over in 3PP, I've gained another spherecasting level, giving me some more Warp and Alteration abilities, with Cursed Form as my 5th level feat so that I can make alterations permanent.

[tterreb]

Taking my third level in Factotum. I'm now well on my way to getting int to everything.

[Stoic]

Third-party Pathfinder


Human Wizard - First Level

Nonelite array:
Stats: Str 8, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 9, Cha 10

+2 to Int from being human:
Stats: Str 8, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 9, Cha 10


Favored Class: Wizard (+ 1 hit point per level)


Skill Ranks per level: 6
(2 (from Wizard) + 2 (from Int Modifier) + 1 (from Skilled Human Racial Trait) + 1 (from Finding Your Kin Trait)


Hit Points per level: d6 +3
(1 (from Favored Class) + 1 (from Con Modifier) + 1 (from Finding Your Kin Trait)


Feats:

Auspicious Birth (Apparent Retrograde)
Island Blood (Granted Class Skills: Bluff, Intimidate)



Traits:

Skilled (Human Racial Trait) (gain + 1 skill rank at first level and + 1 rank per level)

Finding Your Kin (Campaign Trait, Favored Class: Wizard) (gain additional +1 hit point and 1 additional skill point per level)
Second Chance (Religion Trait)


Skills:

Spellcraft 1 Rank
Bluff 1 Rank
Intimidate 1 Rank
Knowledge (Arcana) 1 Rank
Knowledge (Engineering) 1 Rank


** Last Rank to be decided



https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/auspicious-birth/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/hermean-blood

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/Human/#Standard_Racial_Traits
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/campaign-traits/legacy-of-fire/finding-haleen/
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/religion-traits/lessons-of-chaldira-chaldira-zuzaristan/

[FaerieGodfather]

Technical question, but what's the difference between 3.5 3PP and Pathfinder 3PP?

Especially if it was published by Paizo.

I really want Kung Fu Genius from Dragon Magazine Compendium.

[Kalkra]

Technical question, but what's the difference between 3.5 3PP and Pathfinder 3PP?

Especially if it was published by Paizo.

I really want Kung Fu Genius from Dragon Magazine Compendium.

There's arguably no difference, as one could consider Pathfinder a massive 3rd Party addition to 3.5.

Also, Dragon Compendium is first party, so it's all moot in that case anyway. Anything from Dragon Magazine not in a Dragon Compendium is 3rd Party, which is still fine for this.

[Wildstag]

Oh ****, looking at the spreadsheet, I participated in 2016, holy cow. Ugh I made myself a Barbarian. Honestly, I've changed enough that I'd probably go Druid instead of Ranger. I kinda don't like the Barbarian pick either, but I'd rather only rebuild one thing about me, and I'll choose Ability Scores for that.

Level 2 Neutral Good Human Barbarian/Shapeshift-Druid

Strength 12
Dexterity 8
Constitution 10
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 13
Charisma 11

Skills: Climb 4 ranks, Survival 4 ranks, Swim 4 ranks, Listen 4 ranks, Knowledge (Nature) 2 ranks, Spot 2 ranks

Spells: I would prepare Light, Mending, and Cure Minor Wounds on a regular basis. As a side note, Know Direction is hot garbage. For my 1st level spell, Endure Elements, Goodberry before an expedition, Pass Without Trace if need be.

Feats: Extra Rage, Reckless Rage, Wild Cohort

Flaw: Wild (Dragon 329)

Class Features: Fast Movement, illiteracy, Rage 3/day, Nature Sense (+2 Knowledge (Nature) and Survival), Wild Empathy, Shapeshift (Predator Form: Puma)

Wild Cohort: It's a tough choice. I feel like a Hawk would be really fun, but ultimately I think a Light Horse would be more practical.

With Predator Form and Rage, I get 22 Strength. Pretty good for level 2 and the non-elite array.

[Kalkra]

The whole "other planes of existence" thing never really made the most sense, but I was thinking about it a bit more, and I realized that in this particular thought experiment, there is no GM, and therefore nobody to stop anybody from doing things to you which you can't handle at your ECL. The problem with this is that as I understand it, the multiverse is infinite, and contains an infinite number of sentient creatures. Now I'm no math expert, but if a non-zero percentage of all creatures cast Destroy Multiverse, I think we're in trouble.

[Xar Zarath]

Pathfinder 1st edition Generalist Wizard all the way.