Doctor Despair
2021-02-19, 07:11 PM
Hello, friends! My regular DM wanted to spice things up a bit with this next one, so he's doing some amalgamation of D20 modern and 3.5. Here's the gist of what he's doing:
1. You must be human.
2. There are no SLAs or spells; there are only ex and su abilities.
3. You select a 3.5 base class at first level.
4. You do not gain levels; instead, you gain a homebrew take on "bloodline levels." I believe he's having them act thusly:
Each bloodline level confers some unknown ability
Each bloodline level increases your max skill cap and confers some amount of skill points
Each bloodline level stacks with your one base class level to determine class level-based abilities (much like regular bloodline levels)
Bloodline levels do not confer HP or feats, or act in any other way like HD
5. There are some modern skills added as options
6. There will be undead included in this campaign; nothing else about the setting is known, save that it uses some take on our real-world map and includes our real-world countries.
So far, all I know about the party is that a friend is playing a Warblade. I helped him build the character to get native access to healing to increase his effective HP as a front-liner and add out-of-combat utility (i.e., Martial Study/Martial Stance to get access to Crusader's Strike/Martial Spirit).
I was thinking a powerful option would be a Binder, as all their abilities are supernatural and the bloodline levels should increase our effective binder level.
I rolled 10, 11, 13, 13, 16, 16.
Given I may only ever get two feats, it seems like Improved Binding is a must, and maybe Expel Vestige? I'm not sure about the latter given it's once/day limit and the requirement that you make a good pact to successfully use it, but I haven't played extensively as a binder. Is Expel Vestige worth taking? If not, what is a superior option worth considering?
For stats, I was thinking keeping 16s in cha and dex, as initiative should be more important than ever with the party and enemies being kept at lower HP amounts. I dropped the 13s in Int and Con (for skill points and hp respectively), and kept the 10 in wisdom, as the odd number does at least help with our encumbrance. Does this stat allocation seem optimal given the circumstances?
Lastly, I was wondering if anyone with experience playing Binders had any advice for general walking-around vestiges if the day's activities and enemies are unknown. Malphas seems like a generically good choice for the scouting utility, especially as magical scouting won't be available. What do you think?
...
Ok, actually lastly, does anyone have any suggestions for other party members wrt classes? Dragon Shaman offers healing, but I think the Martial Spirit route is more optimal (especially as Vigor is worth less with our lower max HPs). Marshal offers some non-zero buffs. Druids offer animal companion still, and the Deathmaster offers an undead version of that (which could be notable depending on the undead we face). If it's modern, the feat rogue might be appropriate for fire arm use (I haven't played modern, but I assume fire arms exist). Apart from that, I'm not sure if Shadowcasters or Incarnum classes count as casting or supernatural abilities, but maybe there's something there?
1. You must be human.
2. There are no SLAs or spells; there are only ex and su abilities.
3. You select a 3.5 base class at first level.
4. You do not gain levels; instead, you gain a homebrew take on "bloodline levels." I believe he's having them act thusly:
Each bloodline level confers some unknown ability
Each bloodline level increases your max skill cap and confers some amount of skill points
Each bloodline level stacks with your one base class level to determine class level-based abilities (much like regular bloodline levels)
Bloodline levels do not confer HP or feats, or act in any other way like HD
5. There are some modern skills added as options
6. There will be undead included in this campaign; nothing else about the setting is known, save that it uses some take on our real-world map and includes our real-world countries.
So far, all I know about the party is that a friend is playing a Warblade. I helped him build the character to get native access to healing to increase his effective HP as a front-liner and add out-of-combat utility (i.e., Martial Study/Martial Stance to get access to Crusader's Strike/Martial Spirit).
I was thinking a powerful option would be a Binder, as all their abilities are supernatural and the bloodline levels should increase our effective binder level.
I rolled 10, 11, 13, 13, 16, 16.
Given I may only ever get two feats, it seems like Improved Binding is a must, and maybe Expel Vestige? I'm not sure about the latter given it's once/day limit and the requirement that you make a good pact to successfully use it, but I haven't played extensively as a binder. Is Expel Vestige worth taking? If not, what is a superior option worth considering?
For stats, I was thinking keeping 16s in cha and dex, as initiative should be more important than ever with the party and enemies being kept at lower HP amounts. I dropped the 13s in Int and Con (for skill points and hp respectively), and kept the 10 in wisdom, as the odd number does at least help with our encumbrance. Does this stat allocation seem optimal given the circumstances?
Lastly, I was wondering if anyone with experience playing Binders had any advice for general walking-around vestiges if the day's activities and enemies are unknown. Malphas seems like a generically good choice for the scouting utility, especially as magical scouting won't be available. What do you think?
...
Ok, actually lastly, does anyone have any suggestions for other party members wrt classes? Dragon Shaman offers healing, but I think the Martial Spirit route is more optimal (especially as Vigor is worth less with our lower max HPs). Marshal offers some non-zero buffs. Druids offer animal companion still, and the Deathmaster offers an undead version of that (which could be notable depending on the undead we face). If it's modern, the feat rogue might be appropriate for fire arm use (I haven't played modern, but I assume fire arms exist). Apart from that, I'm not sure if Shadowcasters or Incarnum classes count as casting or supernatural abilities, but maybe there's something there?