Gruftzwerg
2022-11-17, 03:34 AM
Croesus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croesus), the Merchant Prince
-a "PAY2WIN" build/guide-
Welcome to my newest TO build. Did you had enough of DMs that don't drop enough gold/magic items?? This build's main goal is to win the game by becoming filthy rich. The other goal is make good use of the money by crafting items that are heavily abusable with UMD to an extend which sole warlocks can handle without error. A warning as always that this build is not intended for play. Even if you sole go for the money and discard all the other cheese of the build, the amount that you basically multiply your WBL will still break the game imho. So be aware of that or bribe your DM with lots of snacks and drinks if you really wanna PAY2WIN :smallcool:
Warlock 12 / Chameleon 2 / Marshall 1 / Merchant Prince 5
We'll combine a craftlock base (includes the Chameleon dip) with a further dip into Marshall for the extra UMD push. Finally, you guessed it, we end the build with Merchant Prince to fully break the WBL.
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 10
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 16 (all boost go in here: +5 lvl; +5 whish, +6 item = 32max)
Skill "Profession: (Merchant / Shopkeeper)"
Imho this is an oversight in the rule books, but your opinion may vary here. In the PHB Profession types are not defined, but "Profession: (Merchant)" is a very common one in the rules over several books.
The Dungeon Master Guide 2 on the other hand starts to define business Profession types and one of em is "Shopkeeper" which includes all kinds of merchants. Even those without a settlement who are moving around with their "shop". As such I treated these as interchangeable since it makes imho no sense that "Shopkeeper" is defined as merchant, but should be a distinct profession. Really.. the 3.5 authors are giving me a headache here. If you/r DM have/has a problem with that, max Shopkeeper and keep Merchant at a minimum of 8 ranks (to enter merchant prince). I still did use the distinctions in the writeup for those who care/argue about it. For everybody else, assume that they are the same thing here.
Level
Class
BAB
For
Ref
Wil
Skills
Feats
Class Features
1st
Warlock
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff: 4
Disguise: 4
Profession (M/SH): 4
Sense Motive: 4
Spellcraft: 4
UMD: 4
Able Learner
Favored in Guild
(Mercantile)
Eldritch Blast 1d6
Summon Swarm
2nd
Warlock
+1
+0
+0
+3
Appraise: 1
Disguise: 5
Diplomacy: 1
Profession (M/CH): 5
Sense Motive: 5
UMD: 5
Detect Magic
Spiderwalk
3rd
Warlock
+2
+1
+1
+3
Appraise: 2
Disguise: 6
Diplomacy: 2
Profession (M/CH): 6
Sense Motive: 6
UMD: 6
Negotiator
Eldritch Blast 2d6
DR: 1 / cold iron
4th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Appraise: 3
Disguise: 7
Diplomacy: 3
Profession (M/CH): 7
Sense Motive: 7
UMD: 7
Deceive Item
Entropic Warding
5th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Appraise: 4
Disguise: 8
Diplomacy: 4
Profession (M/CH): 8
Sense Motive: 8
UMD: 8
Eldritch Blast 3d6
6th
Warlock
+4
+2
+2
+5
Bluff: 6 (+2)
Disguise: 9
Profession (M/CH): 9
Sense Motive: 9
UMD: 9
Craft Wand
- Spiderwalk
+ See the Unseen
Fell Flight
7th
Warlock
+5
+2
+2
+5
Appraise: 5
Disguise: 10
Diplomacy: 5
Profession (M/CH): 10
Sense Motive: 10
UMD: 10
Eldritch Blast 4d6
DR: 2 / cold iron
8th
Warlock
+6
+2
+2
+6
Bluff: 8 (+2)
Disguise: 11
Profession (M/CH): 11
Sense Motive: 11
UMD: 11
Fiendish Resiliance
Walk Unseen
9th
Warlock
+6
+3
+3
+6
Appraise: 6
Disguise: 12
Diplomacy: 6
Profession (M/CH): 12
Sense Motive: 12
UMD: 12
Craft Wondrous Item
Eldritch Blast 5d6
10th
Warlock
+7
+3
+3
+7
Bluff: 10 (+2)
Disguise: 13
Profession (M/CH): 13
Sense Motive: 13
UMD: 13
Energy Resistance 5
Crawling Eye
11th
Warlock
+8
+3
+3
+7
Appraise: 7
Disguise: 14
Diplomacy: 7
Profession (M/CH): 14
Sense Motive: 14
UMD: 14
Eldritch Blast 6d6
DR 3 / cold iron
Devil's Whispers
12th
Warlock
+9
+4
+4
+8
Bluff: 12 (+2)
Disguise: 15
Profession (M/CH): 15
Sense Motive: 15
UMD: 15
Obtain Familiar: ---
(see Familiar section)
Imbue Item
13th
Chameleon
+9
+4
+4
+8
Appraise: 8
Bluff: 14 (+2)
Disguise: 16
Diplomacy: 8
Profession (M/CH): 16
Sense Motive: 16
UMD: 16
Aptitude Focus:
1/day (+2)
14th
Chameleon
+10
+4
+4
+8
Bluff: 16 (+2)
Disguise: 17
Profession (M/CH): 17
Sense Motive: 17
Spellcraft: 6 (+2)
UMD: 17
Bonus (Floating) Feat
15th
Marshall
+10
+6
+4
+10
Appraise: 9
Bluff: 18 (+2)
Disguise: 18
Diplomacy: 9
Profession (M/CH): 18
Sense Motive: 18
UMD: 18
Skill Focus
(Profession:[Merchant])
Skill Focus (Diplomacy)
Minor Aura:
"Motivate Charisma"
16th
Merchant Prince
(set Floating Feat
to "Business Savvy"
to qualify)
+10
+6
+6
+10
Appraise: 14 (+5)
Bluff: 19
Disguise: 19
Profession (M/CH): 19
Sense Motive: 19
UMD: 19
Master of Commerce
Mercantile Knowledge
17th
Merchant Prince
+11
+6
+7
+10
Appraise: 19 (+5)
Bluff: 20
Disguise: 20
Profession (M/CH): 20
Sense Motive: 20
UMD: 20
Lliira's Heart
18th
Merchant Prince
+12
+7
+7
+11
Appraise: 21 (+2)
Bluff: 21
Disguise: 21
Diplomacy: 12 (+3)
Profession (M/CH): 21
Sense Motive: 21
UMD: 21
Craft Rod or Forge Ring
(see Floating Feat section)
Gond's Forge
19th
Merchant Prince
+13
+7
+8
+11
Appraise: 22
Bluff: 22
Disguise: 22
Diplomacy: 16 (+4)
Profession (M/CH): 22
Sense Motive: 22
UMD: 22
Shaundakul's Cloak
20th
Merchant Prince
+13
+7
+8
+11
Appraise: 23
Disguise: 23
Diplomacy: 20 (+4)
Profession (M/CH): 23
Sense Motive: 23
UMD: 23
Wuakeen's Coin
We start as a simple Warlock who just wants to survive the early levels mostly safe until we hit the main power spike of the build.
Summon Swarm is a powerful early game tool in the hands of a warlock, since the invocation is sole a standard action. The swarm does dmg at the end of the turn, thus no need to keep up the concentration in the next round and to risk that that they move and friendly-fire. The bleeding of the batswarm is also nice to kill anything that tries to escape.
Spiderwalk allows the warlock to remain save from grounded melee enemies and allows you to easily get to otherwise difficult to reach positions. Handy in any non plain environment.
Entropic Warding helps a bit against ranged attacks and makes it harder for others to track the warlock.
Later we extend our mobility with Fell Flight. This makes Spiderwalk obsolete and thus it gets exchanged into See the Unseen. This is especially handy since humans lack Darkvision (which is also included in the invocation).
Walk Unseen combos well with our Summon Swarm ability (summoning doesn't break invisibility!). While the dmg is low, bleeding and/or poison will ensure that most stuff will die over time without any chance to fight you back. They would need to be able to see invisible targets, have an option to fight flying enemies, and would still need to deal with the swarm effects (save roll or be distracted. The DC is low but you get a chance every turn).
Crawling Eye is mostly there for a later combo when we pick a familiar (@ lvl 14). In the meanwhile it can be used with Invisibility and Fell Flight as a "stealthy scouting drone"^^.
Devil's Whispers is for dealing with non-combat encounters. Since you can spam it all day long, most people will fall for your suggestions and even "think it was their own idea". This is pure GOLD in the hands of a merchant.^^
While picking up Obtain Familiar, we don't pick a familiar immediately. We'll delay it to lvl 14 for reasons (see below).
Imbue Item finally gives the build access to crafting. Maybe you are wondering why I didn't go for an artificer. There are some reasons behind it:
First let me explain what I mean here. Artificers also have some nice gadgets compared to craftlocks, so don't get me wrong here. But I sole want to focus here on the things where the craftlock shines in a direct comprehension:
1) Warlock don't need to provide a spell's material component nor any possible XP costs for the spell
(! I'm not talking about general XP costs for crafting here !)
While both "fake" the spell needed via UMD, sole the Artificer has the specific exception that he still needs to provide the material components and xp costs. The warlock does not. He fakes the entire "spell cast", which includes material and xp costs according to the general rules to "casting spells". This is especially handy for things that rely on spells with extra costs (e.g. Whish scrolls).
2) Artificer use their own caster level to meet requirements. The warlock does not
The warlock's ability sole works via UMD to "fake" his spell. E.g. if the warlock wants to fake a divine spell he rolls UMD to emulate class features. This has several benefits. First you can access higher lvl spells earlier. Further you can reach higher clvl requirements much faster (e.g. +5 weapon/armor). Finally, you sole need 12 warlock levels (and a 2 lvl dip into chameleon..^^) and can then pick other stuff. An artificer is much more bound to his class due to the crafting feats he gets. If he wants to craft everything, he has to pick 14 lvls of artificer and still needs Infusion progression for the remaining levels. This is much more limited then a craftlock who can ignore his caster level for crafting and thus even go for non spell/invication progressing PRC like Merchant Prince (which has it's own niche spell casting ability).
3) Sole Warlocks can take 10 on UMD
While not a part of crafting, it affects how good you can use the stuff you have crafted. Anybody else who tries to (ab)use UMD has a constant 5% chance to roll a natural 1, which as result forbids the use for the next 24h (not even next day, it's 24 *f**king* hours!!!). Do you really wanna face a 5% chance of failure when each ongoing item requires 24 rolls for the day (1 UMD roll/hour)? I guess not. Items with ongoing effects are out of the league of anyone but warlocks. Same goes for stuff you want to use constantly (combat/healing wands). You don't wanna waste an action for a failed attempt and you don't wanna deny the use of that item for the next 24h. If you wanna master UMD, you have to be a warlock.
Imho the Artificer wins in the early game, since warlocks can't craft until lvl 12-14. But once the craftlock hits his powerspike, he will outshine most Artificer when it comes to crafting. Especially when it comes to abusing stuff (ignoring additional spell costs is a big plus as said).
We can finally start to craft some lil gadgets for our build (wands + wondrous items). See the crafting section for more info on that.
Chameleon is really hard to pass as craftlock. While the Aptitude Focus ability offers some lil gimmicks, we are mainly here for the floating Bonus Feat here. It basically gives access to any crafting feats we don't have yet and allows for metamagic for those thing where we have the needed crafting feat (e.g. wands). I will refer to the "Floating Feat" on several of the build.
While we are at the Floating Feat. Improved Familiar is the first thing to do here, since it is sole needed to pick an improved familiar but not to sustain it (that is done by Obtain Familiar). This gives the option to pick a "Dread Bloom Swarm" (see Dragon #329 page 98 for the option as familiar and MMIII page 45 for the stats) as familiar.
These are some formidable familiars for a warlock. They have swarm and plant traits which already make em very strong. Added CON dmg on the swarm attack is very nice to have. Further is has another poison ability with its pollen abiltiy which paralyzes (primary & secondary). Add the common Distraction ability for swarms and you have some fearsome offensive familiar. Regeneration 5 makes it very strudy combined with "half damage from slashing and piercing". And if all that wouldn't be awsome enough, its master is immune to all of its effects. Finally it can be healed via "Summon Swarm" (surpesses the "normal" effect of the spell when used as heal) which we can spam all day long. A truely OP familiar in the hands of a warlock.
Well, this wouldn't be a TO build of mine, if I wouldn't include any possible cheese that lies on the way. With our Crawling Eye we can apply a Symbiotic template on our swarm. This gives it the warlocks mental stats and all of its abilities! (Note this cheese is not needed for the main build to work, but it opens up a lot of other cheese. Thus the reason why I included it into the build). Now our swarm can finally use its otherwise unused standard action to use invocations (e.g. Summon Swarm for extra havok or for constant healing^^). Also note that it has double the masters ranks (once for being a familiar and getting the same value as bonus from the Symbiotic template). A truly fitting familiar for a TO build.
Familiar Feats:
Normally Dread Blossom Swarms have "INT: -" and can't pick any feats due to HD. But as familiar they get a fixed INT score according to their master's level. Thus our familiar can pick 3 feats for its 7HD. We'll pick Flyby Attack, Great Flyby Attack (GFA) & Weapon Finesse. Now our swarm can use a Full Round Action to fly in a straight line and attack up to its "DEX modifier" (+3). GFA is more specific than the swarm attack and thus we need to make a single attack roll and compare it to the AC of each target. It further denies AoO from those "targets" which is really handy to move into their spaces for a swarm.
With this feat the swarm can basically attack those "targets" twice a turn. First from GFA and later at the end of its turn the regular swarm attack. Combined with the added poison dmg this is really a deadly combo.
Finally note that all ability DCs scale with the master's HD (DC= 10base + 1/2 HD + CON).
The single lvl dip into Marshall will boost our CHA skills by basically doubling your CHA modifier to those skills. The main purpose here is for UMD. Especially important for combat since you don't wanna waste actions to push your UMD via spells to be able to use stuff.
Finally we enter Merchant Prince. Master of Commerce is the sole reason why we pick it. It gives "a 10% reduction in your capital costs per class level" which is just insane for this build. Crafting stuff yourself already cuts the price in half, but now you sole have to pay a quarter of the original base price of an item (@lvl 20). This has the potential to quadruple the "effective wealth" of each party member (also affecting the "extra wealth" created by the build itself).
MONEY IN MY POCKET
1) Be in a Trading Guild
We want to get filthy rich. So what could be better then to start as the favored member of a trading guild? Favored in Guild (mercantile) gives the option to spell one item/character level for double the base price. While not much, this should give you some extra income compared to the regular adventurer. Try to sell the most expensive item that drops. Even if someone needs it. You can buy it back later and still make profit. A lil advice here, make a lil bookkeeping and note which parts of your income are related to your character abilities/business and which parts are your regular WBL.
2) Become a "Shopkeeper" (business as in DMG2)
We won't bother with the small fishes here. Unless you have the luck to get enough wands with +skill boosts, it makes not much sense to make an early game shop. A shop in the wilderness may be cheap, but very risky when it comes to the profit checks. As such it is recommended to wait until you have saved up 32k gold for the initial investment needed to get a shop in a metropolis. Later when we can craft wand ourself (at lvl 12), we can boost the profit check as much as possible via spells (e.g. Divine Insight, Guidance of the Avatar..).
2.1) Hire 5 Specialists
Make sure that they have ranks as "Profession: (Shopkeeper)" so that you get a +2 bonus for each. The reason why we sole get 5 are the increasing costs for each one more that you hire (first 10g/month, each additional costs +20g more). The +2 bonus will earn us +100g more per month. As such, the 5th specialist will sole provide a neat gain of 10g (+100g gain - 90g cost). A 6th one would cost more then it benefit your income (110g cost > 100g extra income).
2.2) Abuse your Familiar for you business
Either as business partner (since it has the same skill ranks as the warlock) or by making him the owner (and working the min. 8h per week to not face a penalty for the profit check). More details on how to make the swarm the owner can be found in the UMD - Magic Item section below.
3) Expand into the Airship business
Starting at lvl 12 we can craft Halruaan Skyships (400k gold base price). While we might (?!) lack the finances at lvl 12 according to general WBL, there is the possibility we have earned enough extra cash already via Favored in Guild. Finally, finding investors shouldn't be a problem at all. We have good connections in the Trading Guild and have superior social skills (appraise + bluff + diplomacy + "Suggestion/Devil's Whispers" at will) when it comes to making money. Favored in Guild allows us to sell a ship per character level without the stressful RP needed normally to obtain the DM's fiat for such an act. So, by investing 200k, we make 600k profit. Enough to pay the investors. Even if we should have borrowed all the money needed. We already have almost as much WBL as a 20th lvl character (up to 600k + 88k base wbl for lvl12 + what else you earned via Favored in Guild) as a 12th lvl character!
3.1) Abuse your Familiar to sell more Airships
Starting at lvl 14, when we pick our familiar, we can start to sell 2 ships per lvl. This requires the before mentioned Symbiotic template. With that, our familiar also has Favored in Guild and can sell a ship too. This increases our income per lvl to 1,200,000g. Which means by the end of lvl 14 we have already sold 4 ships and thus have earned roughly ~ 2,400,000g extra compared to a reguar character at that lvl.
4) Increase profit margin via Merchant Prince
With Master of Commerce we gradually reduce our crating costs down to 25% of the original base price of the item. This means that by lvl 20 we make 700,000g profit per ship (= +1,400,000g extra profit).
5) Make even more business
Turn your familiar into a full time businessman. Make him own 7 business shops. One for each day of the week to work off the 8h minimum per week (to not face penalties for the profit check).
Final Tip: Unless you are in a decades lasting campaign, I wouldn't focus to much on the business. A business in a metropolis needs 1-3 years at least to pay off. Same goes for upgrading a business. It takes almost 2 years to pay off. Favored in Guild is the main income of the build and there is nothing that can compete with it.
Now you know all the important dirty lil tricks to get filthy rich. But what to do will all that money...?
a Craftlock's way to abuse UMD/crafting
I already explained above why "Take-10" is so important when it comes to UMD (5% failchance due to natural 1, which prevents the use of the item for the next 24h). With that we can abuse many items with ongoing effects without any chance of error (1 UMD roll per hour per ongoing magic item..). It also makes the roll result predictable which further ensures the chance of success. Now lets start with a small but very powerful collection of items to use with UMD: (I'm sole mentioning build specific stuff that is worth mentioning. Assume any items that you would normally pick)
Monk's Tattoo
I have mentioned this one very often. Note, you get (sole) the unarmed damage, not the monks US ability! Via emulate class feature you pretend to be a monk of "X.th" lvl (UMD roll -20) and get the unarmed dmg , movementspeed and AC bonus of a monk of "X+4th lvl".
Wild Shape Amulet
This one has 2 effects. The first adds +4 to your Wild Shape ability, the second gives you the Wild Shape ability as 5th lvl druid if you shouldn't already have it. Nothing in the items description prevents both effects to be active at the same time. As such you can pretend to be a druid of "X.th lvl" to get the +4HD bonus and also get the Wild Shape ability as a 5th lvl druid. The second effect gives the ability while the first effect increases your effective HD by your UMD roll (-20) +4. Now you have the Wild Shape ability of a 20th lvl druid (hardcap on the item).
Rags of Restraint
Heals you for expanding a daily use of your Stunning Fist ability (monk) or Ki ability (ninja). Heals for your class level. Thus we can heal for UMD-20 at will. Swift action activation!
Vest of the Archmagi
This is also for healing and has the same slot as the before mentioned Rags. It offers some other bonuses like +8 AC
and +5 to saves. The healing is measured by the "prepared spell's or spell-slot's level". As such, we pretend to spent spell slots (since "prepared spells" is a status and not a class feature). Again sole a swift action to heal (at will..).
Robe of Mysterious Conjuration (can be worn together with the vest/rag)
3/day spent a spell slot for Summon Monsters of the same lvl. Not gamebreaking but still nice to have.
Wand: (Sanctum Spell) Arcane Fusion
Via Sanctum Spell we can fit the 5th lvl spell Arcane Fusion as 4th lvl spell into a wand. I hear you saying "but you don't know any sorcerer spells..". Well that might be true, but UMD can take care of that. "Spells Known" is a class feature and thus emulatable. And the real great part is, you have to reroll it on every charge used. This allows you pretend other "Spells Known" every time you active it. Cast any (!!!) 1st and 1-4th Sorcerer spell for a single charge of your wand. This lil tool itself increases our power lvl immense.
Wand: (Sanctum Spell) "Any other 5th lvl spell that is important"
E.g. Teleport and other useful spells you want to use from a wand.
Rod of Absorption (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rods.htm#absorption)
This rod is a gamebreaker in the hands of warlock. It has 2 effects. The first absorbs any targeted spells (or SLA!) and rays directed at you. The spell lvls fuel the rod with charges (up to 50 charges can be absorbed). The charges can then be expended for "prepared spells or spells known". While we can emulate the ability to prepare spells, we can't emulate "spell(s) prepared", since that is a status effect (after you use the ability) and not the class ability itself. but as perviously shown, we can pretend to be spontaneous casting class and thus get access to all their spells. Basically this rod gives us access to any spontaneous castable spell there is as long as we have charges. Note that the rod's charges can sole be filled once and may not be recharged afterwards. But who cares. It sole costs 50k gold base price (25-12.5k gold for us, depending on Merchant Prince lvl). We can pay that from our "pocket money"^^. Craft enough of em to have a multiple backup rods. And with Invocations at will we can even charge em up for free if needed.
Floating Feat options
The floating feats fits multiple purposes for the build.
1) It saves us a feat to enter Merchant Prince
2) Can be used to get any crafting feat we didn't pick ourself.
2.1) Craft Contingent Spell is normally a really expensive "consumable", but in this build we can abuse it like no other. We have access to all spells and our familiar can use its own floating feat to assist with metamagic if needed. Like when you want to abuse a "Greater Arcane Fusion: (Sanctum Spell: Greater Arcane Fusion + ...) + ..." infinite loop to cast infinite 1-4th lvl spells. While we are at Greater Arcane Fusion. Get 2 sorcerer spells for the price of a single 8th lvl contingent spell. The options with this feat are endless. Abuse it for the entire party and any relevant NPC that you need to protect.
3) Metamagic for wands (mostly for Sanctum Spell)
4) "Eldritch Claws" if you wanna pimp your Wild Shape forms
5) "XXX Shape" to get other wild shape forms for the "amulet". (e.g. Dragon Wild Shape to get Alternate Form (humanoid); especially useful for our familiar. It can turn into a human/ourself and interact socially easier when it comes to business stuff.)
6) "Enhance Item" (if you have picked "Craft Rod") is from the EHB but doesn't has the epic tag. Now you can apply your CHA mod to the DC of items your craft.
7) "Extra Rings" (if you have picked "Forge Rings" as 18th lvl feat) allows you to wear 2 more rings then usual.
Purpose of the Disguise skill
Our character uses dozens of fake identities to make divination spells that need familiarity harder to use on him. Croesus is just one of em. And with his familiar being able to access humanoid forms, it can also disguise as the same fake identities to make it even more confusing. Running a big business needs the higher standards of secrecy. This also helps to differentiate private life, business life and the life as adventurer. Only a few selected people should know this secret and even they shouldn't know the full extend of your identities. Maybe even pretend to run competing businesses. Change your identities more often than others change their underwear^^.
Option: Let your familiar craft
If you are lazy (and have used the Symbiotic template trick), you can let your familiar do the dirt work when it comes to crafting. You just need a wand of the TRANSFERENCE spell (https://web.archive.org/web/20150102055807/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060526a)to transfer the XP needed to your familiar.
Still not enough money???
Craft cheap simulacrum scrolls and use em on your familiar. Due to being a familiar it overcomes the regular downside of simulacrum. It still has HD, BAB and skills as dictated by its master's ability (by applying the effects in the most favorable order). Now each simulacrum can open and maintain 7 shops. Flood the market with your shops everywhere!
END
We end with a filthy rich and very strong build who has more money then the entire epic party next door..^^
We have made several million gold and can craft items for 1/4 of the base cost. The world of magic items belongs to us.^^
I hope that you enjoyed this lil dirty build and that you leave some feedback. Be it critique, question, suggestion or just your impression.
PS: On a sidenote. I'm still struggling with the fact that warlocks have been put into "Tier 3" by the community. I said it back then and I'll say it again. "Warlocks can be build to be T1" if you really go all out. I've multiple TO builds that rely on warlock and all of em are on a gamebreaking power level.
If we would have a Tierlist for Skills, UMD would be the sole Tier 1 skill. And warlocks are the best UMD users there is.
If we should ever make a new Tierlist for classes, I demand a better Tier for warlocks!^^
-a "PAY2WIN" build/guide-
Welcome to my newest TO build. Did you had enough of DMs that don't drop enough gold/magic items?? This build's main goal is to win the game by becoming filthy rich. The other goal is make good use of the money by crafting items that are heavily abusable with UMD to an extend which sole warlocks can handle without error. A warning as always that this build is not intended for play. Even if you sole go for the money and discard all the other cheese of the build, the amount that you basically multiply your WBL will still break the game imho. So be aware of that or bribe your DM with lots of snacks and drinks if you really wanna PAY2WIN :smallcool:
Warlock 12 / Chameleon 2 / Marshall 1 / Merchant Prince 5
We'll combine a craftlock base (includes the Chameleon dip) with a further dip into Marshall for the extra UMD push. Finally, you guessed it, we end the build with Merchant Prince to fully break the WBL.
STR: 10
DEX: 14
CON: 10
INT: 16
WIS: 10
CHA: 16 (all boost go in here: +5 lvl; +5 whish, +6 item = 32max)
Skill "Profession: (Merchant / Shopkeeper)"
Imho this is an oversight in the rule books, but your opinion may vary here. In the PHB Profession types are not defined, but "Profession: (Merchant)" is a very common one in the rules over several books.
The Dungeon Master Guide 2 on the other hand starts to define business Profession types and one of em is "Shopkeeper" which includes all kinds of merchants. Even those without a settlement who are moving around with their "shop". As such I treated these as interchangeable since it makes imho no sense that "Shopkeeper" is defined as merchant, but should be a distinct profession. Really.. the 3.5 authors are giving me a headache here. If you/r DM have/has a problem with that, max Shopkeeper and keep Merchant at a minimum of 8 ranks (to enter merchant prince). I still did use the distinctions in the writeup for those who care/argue about it. For everybody else, assume that they are the same thing here.
Level
Class
BAB
For
Ref
Wil
Skills
Feats
Class Features
1st
Warlock
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff: 4
Disguise: 4
Profession (M/SH): 4
Sense Motive: 4
Spellcraft: 4
UMD: 4
Able Learner
Favored in Guild
(Mercantile)
Eldritch Blast 1d6
Summon Swarm
2nd
Warlock
+1
+0
+0
+3
Appraise: 1
Disguise: 5
Diplomacy: 1
Profession (M/CH): 5
Sense Motive: 5
UMD: 5
Detect Magic
Spiderwalk
3rd
Warlock
+2
+1
+1
+3
Appraise: 2
Disguise: 6
Diplomacy: 2
Profession (M/CH): 6
Sense Motive: 6
UMD: 6
Negotiator
Eldritch Blast 2d6
DR: 1 / cold iron
4th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Appraise: 3
Disguise: 7
Diplomacy: 3
Profession (M/CH): 7
Sense Motive: 7
UMD: 7
Deceive Item
Entropic Warding
5th
Warlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Appraise: 4
Disguise: 8
Diplomacy: 4
Profession (M/CH): 8
Sense Motive: 8
UMD: 8
Eldritch Blast 3d6
6th
Warlock
+4
+2
+2
+5
Bluff: 6 (+2)
Disguise: 9
Profession (M/CH): 9
Sense Motive: 9
UMD: 9
Craft Wand
- Spiderwalk
+ See the Unseen
Fell Flight
7th
Warlock
+5
+2
+2
+5
Appraise: 5
Disguise: 10
Diplomacy: 5
Profession (M/CH): 10
Sense Motive: 10
UMD: 10
Eldritch Blast 4d6
DR: 2 / cold iron
8th
Warlock
+6
+2
+2
+6
Bluff: 8 (+2)
Disguise: 11
Profession (M/CH): 11
Sense Motive: 11
UMD: 11
Fiendish Resiliance
Walk Unseen
9th
Warlock
+6
+3
+3
+6
Appraise: 6
Disguise: 12
Diplomacy: 6
Profession (M/CH): 12
Sense Motive: 12
UMD: 12
Craft Wondrous Item
Eldritch Blast 5d6
10th
Warlock
+7
+3
+3
+7
Bluff: 10 (+2)
Disguise: 13
Profession (M/CH): 13
Sense Motive: 13
UMD: 13
Energy Resistance 5
Crawling Eye
11th
Warlock
+8
+3
+3
+7
Appraise: 7
Disguise: 14
Diplomacy: 7
Profession (M/CH): 14
Sense Motive: 14
UMD: 14
Eldritch Blast 6d6
DR 3 / cold iron
Devil's Whispers
12th
Warlock
+9
+4
+4
+8
Bluff: 12 (+2)
Disguise: 15
Profession (M/CH): 15
Sense Motive: 15
UMD: 15
Obtain Familiar: ---
(see Familiar section)
Imbue Item
13th
Chameleon
+9
+4
+4
+8
Appraise: 8
Bluff: 14 (+2)
Disguise: 16
Diplomacy: 8
Profession (M/CH): 16
Sense Motive: 16
UMD: 16
Aptitude Focus:
1/day (+2)
14th
Chameleon
+10
+4
+4
+8
Bluff: 16 (+2)
Disguise: 17
Profession (M/CH): 17
Sense Motive: 17
Spellcraft: 6 (+2)
UMD: 17
Bonus (Floating) Feat
15th
Marshall
+10
+6
+4
+10
Appraise: 9
Bluff: 18 (+2)
Disguise: 18
Diplomacy: 9
Profession (M/CH): 18
Sense Motive: 18
UMD: 18
Skill Focus
(Profession:[Merchant])
Skill Focus (Diplomacy)
Minor Aura:
"Motivate Charisma"
16th
Merchant Prince
(set Floating Feat
to "Business Savvy"
to qualify)
+10
+6
+6
+10
Appraise: 14 (+5)
Bluff: 19
Disguise: 19
Profession (M/CH): 19
Sense Motive: 19
UMD: 19
Master of Commerce
Mercantile Knowledge
17th
Merchant Prince
+11
+6
+7
+10
Appraise: 19 (+5)
Bluff: 20
Disguise: 20
Profession (M/CH): 20
Sense Motive: 20
UMD: 20
Lliira's Heart
18th
Merchant Prince
+12
+7
+7
+11
Appraise: 21 (+2)
Bluff: 21
Disguise: 21
Diplomacy: 12 (+3)
Profession (M/CH): 21
Sense Motive: 21
UMD: 21
Craft Rod or Forge Ring
(see Floating Feat section)
Gond's Forge
19th
Merchant Prince
+13
+7
+8
+11
Appraise: 22
Bluff: 22
Disguise: 22
Diplomacy: 16 (+4)
Profession (M/CH): 22
Sense Motive: 22
UMD: 22
Shaundakul's Cloak
20th
Merchant Prince
+13
+7
+8
+11
Appraise: 23
Disguise: 23
Diplomacy: 20 (+4)
Profession (M/CH): 23
Sense Motive: 23
UMD: 23
Wuakeen's Coin
We start as a simple Warlock who just wants to survive the early levels mostly safe until we hit the main power spike of the build.
Summon Swarm is a powerful early game tool in the hands of a warlock, since the invocation is sole a standard action. The swarm does dmg at the end of the turn, thus no need to keep up the concentration in the next round and to risk that that they move and friendly-fire. The bleeding of the batswarm is also nice to kill anything that tries to escape.
Spiderwalk allows the warlock to remain save from grounded melee enemies and allows you to easily get to otherwise difficult to reach positions. Handy in any non plain environment.
Entropic Warding helps a bit against ranged attacks and makes it harder for others to track the warlock.
Later we extend our mobility with Fell Flight. This makes Spiderwalk obsolete and thus it gets exchanged into See the Unseen. This is especially handy since humans lack Darkvision (which is also included in the invocation).
Walk Unseen combos well with our Summon Swarm ability (summoning doesn't break invisibility!). While the dmg is low, bleeding and/or poison will ensure that most stuff will die over time without any chance to fight you back. They would need to be able to see invisible targets, have an option to fight flying enemies, and would still need to deal with the swarm effects (save roll or be distracted. The DC is low but you get a chance every turn).
Crawling Eye is mostly there for a later combo when we pick a familiar (@ lvl 14). In the meanwhile it can be used with Invisibility and Fell Flight as a "stealthy scouting drone"^^.
Devil's Whispers is for dealing with non-combat encounters. Since you can spam it all day long, most people will fall for your suggestions and even "think it was their own idea". This is pure GOLD in the hands of a merchant.^^
While picking up Obtain Familiar, we don't pick a familiar immediately. We'll delay it to lvl 14 for reasons (see below).
Imbue Item finally gives the build access to crafting. Maybe you are wondering why I didn't go for an artificer. There are some reasons behind it:
First let me explain what I mean here. Artificers also have some nice gadgets compared to craftlocks, so don't get me wrong here. But I sole want to focus here on the things where the craftlock shines in a direct comprehension:
1) Warlock don't need to provide a spell's material component nor any possible XP costs for the spell
(! I'm not talking about general XP costs for crafting here !)
While both "fake" the spell needed via UMD, sole the Artificer has the specific exception that he still needs to provide the material components and xp costs. The warlock does not. He fakes the entire "spell cast", which includes material and xp costs according to the general rules to "casting spells". This is especially handy for things that rely on spells with extra costs (e.g. Whish scrolls).
2) Artificer use their own caster level to meet requirements. The warlock does not
The warlock's ability sole works via UMD to "fake" his spell. E.g. if the warlock wants to fake a divine spell he rolls UMD to emulate class features. This has several benefits. First you can access higher lvl spells earlier. Further you can reach higher clvl requirements much faster (e.g. +5 weapon/armor). Finally, you sole need 12 warlock levels (and a 2 lvl dip into chameleon..^^) and can then pick other stuff. An artificer is much more bound to his class due to the crafting feats he gets. If he wants to craft everything, he has to pick 14 lvls of artificer and still needs Infusion progression for the remaining levels. This is much more limited then a craftlock who can ignore his caster level for crafting and thus even go for non spell/invication progressing PRC like Merchant Prince (which has it's own niche spell casting ability).
3) Sole Warlocks can take 10 on UMD
While not a part of crafting, it affects how good you can use the stuff you have crafted. Anybody else who tries to (ab)use UMD has a constant 5% chance to roll a natural 1, which as result forbids the use for the next 24h (not even next day, it's 24 *f**king* hours!!!). Do you really wanna face a 5% chance of failure when each ongoing item requires 24 rolls for the day (1 UMD roll/hour)? I guess not. Items with ongoing effects are out of the league of anyone but warlocks. Same goes for stuff you want to use constantly (combat/healing wands). You don't wanna waste an action for a failed attempt and you don't wanna deny the use of that item for the next 24h. If you wanna master UMD, you have to be a warlock.
Imho the Artificer wins in the early game, since warlocks can't craft until lvl 12-14. But once the craftlock hits his powerspike, he will outshine most Artificer when it comes to crafting. Especially when it comes to abusing stuff (ignoring additional spell costs is a big plus as said).
We can finally start to craft some lil gadgets for our build (wands + wondrous items). See the crafting section for more info on that.
Chameleon is really hard to pass as craftlock. While the Aptitude Focus ability offers some lil gimmicks, we are mainly here for the floating Bonus Feat here. It basically gives access to any crafting feats we don't have yet and allows for metamagic for those thing where we have the needed crafting feat (e.g. wands). I will refer to the "Floating Feat" on several of the build.
While we are at the Floating Feat. Improved Familiar is the first thing to do here, since it is sole needed to pick an improved familiar but not to sustain it (that is done by Obtain Familiar). This gives the option to pick a "Dread Bloom Swarm" (see Dragon #329 page 98 for the option as familiar and MMIII page 45 for the stats) as familiar.
These are some formidable familiars for a warlock. They have swarm and plant traits which already make em very strong. Added CON dmg on the swarm attack is very nice to have. Further is has another poison ability with its pollen abiltiy which paralyzes (primary & secondary). Add the common Distraction ability for swarms and you have some fearsome offensive familiar. Regeneration 5 makes it very strudy combined with "half damage from slashing and piercing". And if all that wouldn't be awsome enough, its master is immune to all of its effects. Finally it can be healed via "Summon Swarm" (surpesses the "normal" effect of the spell when used as heal) which we can spam all day long. A truely OP familiar in the hands of a warlock.
Well, this wouldn't be a TO build of mine, if I wouldn't include any possible cheese that lies on the way. With our Crawling Eye we can apply a Symbiotic template on our swarm. This gives it the warlocks mental stats and all of its abilities! (Note this cheese is not needed for the main build to work, but it opens up a lot of other cheese. Thus the reason why I included it into the build). Now our swarm can finally use its otherwise unused standard action to use invocations (e.g. Summon Swarm for extra havok or for constant healing^^). Also note that it has double the masters ranks (once for being a familiar and getting the same value as bonus from the Symbiotic template). A truly fitting familiar for a TO build.
Familiar Feats:
Normally Dread Blossom Swarms have "INT: -" and can't pick any feats due to HD. But as familiar they get a fixed INT score according to their master's level. Thus our familiar can pick 3 feats for its 7HD. We'll pick Flyby Attack, Great Flyby Attack (GFA) & Weapon Finesse. Now our swarm can use a Full Round Action to fly in a straight line and attack up to its "DEX modifier" (+3). GFA is more specific than the swarm attack and thus we need to make a single attack roll and compare it to the AC of each target. It further denies AoO from those "targets" which is really handy to move into their spaces for a swarm.
With this feat the swarm can basically attack those "targets" twice a turn. First from GFA and later at the end of its turn the regular swarm attack. Combined with the added poison dmg this is really a deadly combo.
Finally note that all ability DCs scale with the master's HD (DC= 10base + 1/2 HD + CON).
The single lvl dip into Marshall will boost our CHA skills by basically doubling your CHA modifier to those skills. The main purpose here is for UMD. Especially important for combat since you don't wanna waste actions to push your UMD via spells to be able to use stuff.
Finally we enter Merchant Prince. Master of Commerce is the sole reason why we pick it. It gives "a 10% reduction in your capital costs per class level" which is just insane for this build. Crafting stuff yourself already cuts the price in half, but now you sole have to pay a quarter of the original base price of an item (@lvl 20). This has the potential to quadruple the "effective wealth" of each party member (also affecting the "extra wealth" created by the build itself).
MONEY IN MY POCKET
1) Be in a Trading Guild
We want to get filthy rich. So what could be better then to start as the favored member of a trading guild? Favored in Guild (mercantile) gives the option to spell one item/character level for double the base price. While not much, this should give you some extra income compared to the regular adventurer. Try to sell the most expensive item that drops. Even if someone needs it. You can buy it back later and still make profit. A lil advice here, make a lil bookkeeping and note which parts of your income are related to your character abilities/business and which parts are your regular WBL.
2) Become a "Shopkeeper" (business as in DMG2)
We won't bother with the small fishes here. Unless you have the luck to get enough wands with +skill boosts, it makes not much sense to make an early game shop. A shop in the wilderness may be cheap, but very risky when it comes to the profit checks. As such it is recommended to wait until you have saved up 32k gold for the initial investment needed to get a shop in a metropolis. Later when we can craft wand ourself (at lvl 12), we can boost the profit check as much as possible via spells (e.g. Divine Insight, Guidance of the Avatar..).
2.1) Hire 5 Specialists
Make sure that they have ranks as "Profession: (Shopkeeper)" so that you get a +2 bonus for each. The reason why we sole get 5 are the increasing costs for each one more that you hire (first 10g/month, each additional costs +20g more). The +2 bonus will earn us +100g more per month. As such, the 5th specialist will sole provide a neat gain of 10g (+100g gain - 90g cost). A 6th one would cost more then it benefit your income (110g cost > 100g extra income).
2.2) Abuse your Familiar for you business
Either as business partner (since it has the same skill ranks as the warlock) or by making him the owner (and working the min. 8h per week to not face a penalty for the profit check). More details on how to make the swarm the owner can be found in the UMD - Magic Item section below.
3) Expand into the Airship business
Starting at lvl 12 we can craft Halruaan Skyships (400k gold base price). While we might (?!) lack the finances at lvl 12 according to general WBL, there is the possibility we have earned enough extra cash already via Favored in Guild. Finally, finding investors shouldn't be a problem at all. We have good connections in the Trading Guild and have superior social skills (appraise + bluff + diplomacy + "Suggestion/Devil's Whispers" at will) when it comes to making money. Favored in Guild allows us to sell a ship per character level without the stressful RP needed normally to obtain the DM's fiat for such an act. So, by investing 200k, we make 600k profit. Enough to pay the investors. Even if we should have borrowed all the money needed. We already have almost as much WBL as a 20th lvl character (up to 600k + 88k base wbl for lvl12 + what else you earned via Favored in Guild) as a 12th lvl character!
3.1) Abuse your Familiar to sell more Airships
Starting at lvl 14, when we pick our familiar, we can start to sell 2 ships per lvl. This requires the before mentioned Symbiotic template. With that, our familiar also has Favored in Guild and can sell a ship too. This increases our income per lvl to 1,200,000g. Which means by the end of lvl 14 we have already sold 4 ships and thus have earned roughly ~ 2,400,000g extra compared to a reguar character at that lvl.
4) Increase profit margin via Merchant Prince
With Master of Commerce we gradually reduce our crating costs down to 25% of the original base price of the item. This means that by lvl 20 we make 700,000g profit per ship (= +1,400,000g extra profit).
5) Make even more business
Turn your familiar into a full time businessman. Make him own 7 business shops. One for each day of the week to work off the 8h minimum per week (to not face penalties for the profit check).
Final Tip: Unless you are in a decades lasting campaign, I wouldn't focus to much on the business. A business in a metropolis needs 1-3 years at least to pay off. Same goes for upgrading a business. It takes almost 2 years to pay off. Favored in Guild is the main income of the build and there is nothing that can compete with it.
Now you know all the important dirty lil tricks to get filthy rich. But what to do will all that money...?
a Craftlock's way to abuse UMD/crafting
I already explained above why "Take-10" is so important when it comes to UMD (5% failchance due to natural 1, which prevents the use of the item for the next 24h). With that we can abuse many items with ongoing effects without any chance of error (1 UMD roll per hour per ongoing magic item..). It also makes the roll result predictable which further ensures the chance of success. Now lets start with a small but very powerful collection of items to use with UMD: (I'm sole mentioning build specific stuff that is worth mentioning. Assume any items that you would normally pick)
Monk's Tattoo
I have mentioned this one very often. Note, you get (sole) the unarmed damage, not the monks US ability! Via emulate class feature you pretend to be a monk of "X.th" lvl (UMD roll -20) and get the unarmed dmg , movementspeed and AC bonus of a monk of "X+4th lvl".
Wild Shape Amulet
This one has 2 effects. The first adds +4 to your Wild Shape ability, the second gives you the Wild Shape ability as 5th lvl druid if you shouldn't already have it. Nothing in the items description prevents both effects to be active at the same time. As such you can pretend to be a druid of "X.th lvl" to get the +4HD bonus and also get the Wild Shape ability as a 5th lvl druid. The second effect gives the ability while the first effect increases your effective HD by your UMD roll (-20) +4. Now you have the Wild Shape ability of a 20th lvl druid (hardcap on the item).
Rags of Restraint
Heals you for expanding a daily use of your Stunning Fist ability (monk) or Ki ability (ninja). Heals for your class level. Thus we can heal for UMD-20 at will. Swift action activation!
Vest of the Archmagi
This is also for healing and has the same slot as the before mentioned Rags. It offers some other bonuses like +8 AC
and +5 to saves. The healing is measured by the "prepared spell's or spell-slot's level". As such, we pretend to spent spell slots (since "prepared spells" is a status and not a class feature). Again sole a swift action to heal (at will..).
Robe of Mysterious Conjuration (can be worn together with the vest/rag)
3/day spent a spell slot for Summon Monsters of the same lvl. Not gamebreaking but still nice to have.
Wand: (Sanctum Spell) Arcane Fusion
Via Sanctum Spell we can fit the 5th lvl spell Arcane Fusion as 4th lvl spell into a wand. I hear you saying "but you don't know any sorcerer spells..". Well that might be true, but UMD can take care of that. "Spells Known" is a class feature and thus emulatable. And the real great part is, you have to reroll it on every charge used. This allows you pretend other "Spells Known" every time you active it. Cast any (!!!) 1st and 1-4th Sorcerer spell for a single charge of your wand. This lil tool itself increases our power lvl immense.
Wand: (Sanctum Spell) "Any other 5th lvl spell that is important"
E.g. Teleport and other useful spells you want to use from a wand.
Rod of Absorption (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rods.htm#absorption)
This rod is a gamebreaker in the hands of warlock. It has 2 effects. The first absorbs any targeted spells (or SLA!) and rays directed at you. The spell lvls fuel the rod with charges (up to 50 charges can be absorbed). The charges can then be expended for "prepared spells or spells known". While we can emulate the ability to prepare spells, we can't emulate "spell(s) prepared", since that is a status effect (after you use the ability) and not the class ability itself. but as perviously shown, we can pretend to be spontaneous casting class and thus get access to all their spells. Basically this rod gives us access to any spontaneous castable spell there is as long as we have charges. Note that the rod's charges can sole be filled once and may not be recharged afterwards. But who cares. It sole costs 50k gold base price (25-12.5k gold for us, depending on Merchant Prince lvl). We can pay that from our "pocket money"^^. Craft enough of em to have a multiple backup rods. And with Invocations at will we can even charge em up for free if needed.
Floating Feat options
The floating feats fits multiple purposes for the build.
1) It saves us a feat to enter Merchant Prince
2) Can be used to get any crafting feat we didn't pick ourself.
2.1) Craft Contingent Spell is normally a really expensive "consumable", but in this build we can abuse it like no other. We have access to all spells and our familiar can use its own floating feat to assist with metamagic if needed. Like when you want to abuse a "Greater Arcane Fusion: (Sanctum Spell: Greater Arcane Fusion + ...) + ..." infinite loop to cast infinite 1-4th lvl spells. While we are at Greater Arcane Fusion. Get 2 sorcerer spells for the price of a single 8th lvl contingent spell. The options with this feat are endless. Abuse it for the entire party and any relevant NPC that you need to protect.
3) Metamagic for wands (mostly for Sanctum Spell)
4) "Eldritch Claws" if you wanna pimp your Wild Shape forms
5) "XXX Shape" to get other wild shape forms for the "amulet". (e.g. Dragon Wild Shape to get Alternate Form (humanoid); especially useful for our familiar. It can turn into a human/ourself and interact socially easier when it comes to business stuff.)
6) "Enhance Item" (if you have picked "Craft Rod") is from the EHB but doesn't has the epic tag. Now you can apply your CHA mod to the DC of items your craft.
7) "Extra Rings" (if you have picked "Forge Rings" as 18th lvl feat) allows you to wear 2 more rings then usual.
Purpose of the Disguise skill
Our character uses dozens of fake identities to make divination spells that need familiarity harder to use on him. Croesus is just one of em. And with his familiar being able to access humanoid forms, it can also disguise as the same fake identities to make it even more confusing. Running a big business needs the higher standards of secrecy. This also helps to differentiate private life, business life and the life as adventurer. Only a few selected people should know this secret and even they shouldn't know the full extend of your identities. Maybe even pretend to run competing businesses. Change your identities more often than others change their underwear^^.
Option: Let your familiar craft
If you are lazy (and have used the Symbiotic template trick), you can let your familiar do the dirt work when it comes to crafting. You just need a wand of the TRANSFERENCE spell (https://web.archive.org/web/20150102055807/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060526a)to transfer the XP needed to your familiar.
Still not enough money???
Craft cheap simulacrum scrolls and use em on your familiar. Due to being a familiar it overcomes the regular downside of simulacrum. It still has HD, BAB and skills as dictated by its master's ability (by applying the effects in the most favorable order). Now each simulacrum can open and maintain 7 shops. Flood the market with your shops everywhere!
END
We end with a filthy rich and very strong build who has more money then the entire epic party next door..^^
We have made several million gold and can craft items for 1/4 of the base cost. The world of magic items belongs to us.^^
I hope that you enjoyed this lil dirty build and that you leave some feedback. Be it critique, question, suggestion or just your impression.
PS: On a sidenote. I'm still struggling with the fact that warlocks have been put into "Tier 3" by the community. I said it back then and I'll say it again. "Warlocks can be build to be T1" if you really go all out. I've multiple TO builds that rely on warlock and all of em are on a gamebreaking power level.
If we would have a Tierlist for Skills, UMD would be the sole Tier 1 skill. And warlocks are the best UMD users there is.
If we should ever make a new Tierlist for classes, I demand a better Tier for warlocks!^^