Chameleon dips

[Breakman]

I'm joining a friends campaign soon and I'd appreciate some advice.

I'm joining at 7th level and I'm planning to play a Changeling Chameleon, but I'm unsure what to do with some of my levels.
Changeling Rogue 1 is pretty much set and I'm obviously entering Chameleon at 6th, so I have four levels to play with.

So far I've narrowed it down to several dips, but they just don't all fit in the build:
-Incarnate 1-2 (soulmeld versatility)
-Totemist 2 (more soulmeld shenanigans + teleport)
-Cloistered Cleric 1 (works well for roleplay reasons and cleric dips are awesome)
-Warblade 1 (because I don't want to suck if pretending to warrior)

I'm planning on playing this build as an infiltrator who pretends to be other people on a daily basis, really capitalising on the mutability of the Chameleon.
What do you guys think?

[Doctor Despair]

It's funny you posted this now, because I was literally just fine-tuning this a bit in another thread.



Magic-Blooded Changeling



ECL /Lvl
Class
BAB
Base Fort
Base Ref
Base Will
Notable Skills
Feats
Class Features
Notes


1
Half-Elf Paragon
+0
+0
+2
+0
Bluff 4
Racial Emulation, Able Learner
Elven Vision
The build starts as a Changeling with 1 Humanoid hitdie and the Racial Emulation feat. Then, upon becoming an adventurer, the Changeling exchanges the hitdie for its first class level, using Racial Emulation to qualify, and using Racial Emulation to qualify for Able Learner. In addition to the bonus feat, this gives us Bluff as a class skill (which is important later).


2(3)/2
Wildshape Ranger (Elf substitution level, Urban Tracker ACF, Voice of the City ACF)
+1
+2
+4
+0
Bluff 5, Disguise 2, Sense Motive 2, Spellcraft 2
-
Elf Favored Enemy (Undead +3), Track, Wild Empathy, Fast Movement
We use Racial Emulation to qualify for the substitution level; it grants us extra skill points in exchange for a lower HD (which will be swapped for a d12 later). Notably, the skill point adjustment should arguably persist for future Ranger levels, too. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?313513-Racial-substitution-levels)

Upon reaching level 3, we apply the Necropolitan template. This sets us back to halfway through the last level (2000xp) -1000xp (or, in other words, the beginning of level 2). We then fluff the character's backstory with a century or two of wandering the wilds to gain the Evolved Undead template, making it an ECL 3 character. This is when it would begin play. This is also when we can afford a Chameleoweave Vestment of Many Styles, conveniently enough.

The fast healing is meant to offset the key weakness of being undead: low hp. Additionally, through the use of Racial Emulation, we should register as a living creature to any Detect Undead spells or abilities, so we should have much less to worry about with regard to Command Undead/Greater Turning/etc, while still reaping all the benefits of being undead (such as an immunity to mind-affecting abilities, helping to cover our weak will save, and immunity to many abilities that require fort saves).


4/3
Wildshape Ranger
+2
+3
+5
+0
Bluff 6, Disguise 3, Sense Motive 3, Spellcraft 3
Improved Unarmed Strike
-
Depending on our disguise, we may not be able to carry a weapon on us; additionally, adding unarmed strikes into our attack routine when we have multiple natural weapons to use as secondaries could be helpful later on.


5/4
Wildshape Ranger
+3
+3
+5
+1
Bluff 7, Disguise 3, Sense Motive 3, Spellcraft 3
Endurance
-
-


6(5)/5
Wildshape Ranger (Urban Companion ACF)
+4
+4
+6
+1
Bluff 8, Disguise 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 4
Alertness (with our familiar secreted away on our person somewhere outside of LoE/LoS from others)
Urban Companion, Level 0 Spells
If level-buy-off is in play, at this level we could reduce our level-adjustment by 1 and proceed with our ECL equal to our HD.

At this level, we are punished a little if we don't have at least 10 wisdom to allow us to cast our Ranger spells. If we have less wisdom than that, we can compensate a little by trading it out with the Champions of the Wild ACF for a bonus feat. None of them are particularly useful to us, but it's the thought that counts.


6
Wildshape Ranger
+5
+4
+6
+1
Bluff 9, Disguise 4, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 4
Extra Wildshape
Wildshape, Elf Favored Enemy (Undead +6)
As Wildshape comes on, we officially stop being punished for dumping physical stats. We take Extra Wildshape to allow us to turn this into an all-day buff (15-hours instead of 5 hours, then 24 hours next level).


7
Master of Many Forms
+5
+6
+8
+1
Bluff 10, Disguise 8, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 4
-
Shifter's speech, improved wild shape (humanoid)
At last, disguise is a class skill for us! Just in time to qualify for Chameleon next level, too.

Here, we have the WBL to purchase a Ring of Misdirection. Between Racial Emulation and this ring, our disguise should be more or less fool-proof save for:

1. Urban Savants, and

2. Situations where those who try to detect our alignment both know the alignment our persona should have and have a different alignment than that of the person we are impersonating and a different alignment than us (as we could just remove the ring to register appropriately).


8
Master of Many Forms
+6
+7
+9
+1
Bluff 11, Disguise 11, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 4
-
Improved wild shape (giant; Large)
We get access to large forms at this level, expanding our ability to disguise ourselves to anything medium or medium-adjacent. We also have the WBL to purchase an Eternal Wand of Cloak of Khyber, further perfecting our disguise.


9
Chameleon
+6
+7
+9
+1
Bluff 12, Disguise 12, Sense Motive 12, Spellcraft 4
Natural Spell
Aptitude focus 1/day (+2), level 0, 1, and 2 spells
Here we are again punished a little for having less than average stats if we don't have at least a 12 in Int and Wis respectively to allow us to use our new spells. With that said, by this point in the game we'll have had two new attribute points to distribute, so providing we had at least one 10 to use (presumably for wisdom), we can drop those in to qualify for our level 2 spells.


10
Chameleon
+7
+7
+9
+1
Bluff 13, Disguise 13, Sense Motive 13, Spellcraft 6
-
Daily adaptive bonus feat
Our floating feat can let us take Assume Supernatural Ability for any of our forms, Frozen Wild Shape, or anything else we'd like.


11
Chameleon
+8
+8
+10
+2
Bluff 14, Disguise 14, Sense Motive 14, Spellcraft 7
-
Mimic class feature 1/day
Here, we get native access to Cloak of Khyber (protecting our disguises from Trueseeing and its cousins) in the event that we are unable to get an Eternal Wand of the spell at an earlier level. This is assuming, of course, we have at least a 16 in our intelligence. Our ability to mimic class features gives us even greater ability to emulate specific individuals who may have distinctive class features.

For the last 9 levels, we'll probably fit in 8 levels of MoMF and 1 level of something else (maybe Chameleon for build elegance, and to advance our divine and arcane casting? Mindbender would probably advance our arcane casting at least, although arguably it might advance our divine casting as it comes from our "arcane spellcasting class.")



With that said, there are some alternate rules you can benefit a lot from if your DM is willing.

1. Flaws. If you can take at least 1 flaw, you can avoid taking the Half-Elf Paragon level and just go straight into Wildshape Ranger

2. It's suggested that Changelings from Eberron should be able to take Chameleon, which presumably means they should be able to take Able Learner. If your DM will waive the regional requirement, or let your character be from Eberron, you don't need the Half-Elf level and can just wait to take Racial Emulation until level 3.

3. In Races of Destiny, there's a variant rule that would give all humanoids the (human) subtype; this might allow Changelings to take Able Learner at level 1, which would allow you to skip the Half-Elf Paragon level.

4. As just a generic power boost, Heroes of Horror describes the variant rules for and effects of taint. With a low enough wisdom score and high enough charisma, your character, upon becoming Necropolitan, will reach moderate and/or severe depravity, gaining one bonus feat for each stage reached. This doesn't advance your levels, but it's pretty strong.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Built one a ways back that was a changeling rogue 1/ incarnate 4/ chameleon 1 before he was killed horribly by an ECL +5 encounter. The Incarnum flexibility pairs beautifully with chameleon. Probably would've added a dip in swordsage at some point, had he lived a bit longer.

[TalonOfAnathrax]

You might want to think about stats, too. I usually want to play Chameleons using Divine focus (Gish, better spell access, no need to pay for a spellbook) during my first few Chameleon levels, so I want a decent Wis. Dipping Monk for two levels (for Invisible Fist and Wis to AC) makes sense in this situation. Monk also has the advantage of being useful when you're in disguise and can't go around wearing physical armor.
If that won't be a problem for whatever reason (maybe you don't expect to ever need nonmagical disguises in your campaign), then I suggest taking two levels of Moon-Warded Ranger (Wis to AC in light armour, Track, Two-weapon fighting) or Swordsage (Wis to AC in light armour, some maneuvers, access to Scent stance). The monk's Invisible Fist ACF is insanely good defensively, but the Ranger has a few more skill points and also has good ACFs (favored enemy (arcanists) is amazing, especially when paired with the Nemesis feat from BoED).

Getting Wis to attack just costs a Feat, which isn't much of a problem. If you take a class with BaB +1 at first level (like Ranger, which has lots of skill points and good BaB) then you can get it at level one!

This sort of thinking was necessary for me because my first Chameleon attempt felt MaD. I wanted decent Int, decent Wis, but also decent physical stats to be useful in combat at low levels... It was a mess. Wis to attack and damage really helped me get through the first five levels!

Note that Chameleons will often want spellcasting feats, but that they can't use Chameleon spellcasting to qualify for them. You may want to dip Cleric (Cloistered Cleric?) before level 5. I'd also consider Abrupt Jaunt wizard if no Domains or Devotion feats seem necessary to your build.

This is two levels to get Wis to attack and AC (along with other fringe benefits), one level as a spellcaster to qualify for Feats and grab some more goodies like immediate action movement/healing/teleportation, and then two levels that can do anything. You'll want a high-skills class, of course, but I would advise against taking Incarnate or Totemist. Soulmelds are extremely noticeable and hard to hide, which makes any disguises difficult.

[Gruftzwerg]

Since you are going for a Changeling, a Warshaper would be easy to enter for dipping. gives nice immunities and natural weapons of all kind (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?286497-101-Natural-Weapons).