PDA

View Full Version : Help Developing a character



BRC
2008-01-02, 06:58 PM
So for the next campaign I'm playing my character has a somewhat intresting cohort, a half-dragon sorceror. Thats not the intresting part, the intresting part is that said sorceror is really 100% dragon, just an unstable polymorph spell caused him to get stuck as a half dragon (he polymorphed himself into a human and the spell didn't wear off all the way). Because of this I decided that in terms of weapons he will try to augument his natural weapons as much as possible, since he's been killing things with tooth and claw for his entire life and he dosn't feel like stopping now. He's not stupid, he knows his limitations, he'll stick to spells when he can but he resents the new form he's stuck in and would prefer to be able to take things down the old-fashioned way. So three questions
1: What should I do with this character in terms of magic items and feats, he'll be starting at 16th level (ECL 19), I'm already going to give him Craft Wand so he can get Master Wand at level 21 (good for a sorceror).
2: I'll probably end up roleplaying as him in addition to my main character, any thoughts on that.
3: A train leaves denver at six oclock and arrives in chicago five hours later, but half an hour after it was expected to arrive, should the man in car 3 take a nap or try to do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

Ent
2008-01-02, 07:07 PM
What flavor (color) dragon is it?

BRC
2008-01-02, 07:08 PM
What flavor (color) dragon is it?
Not sure yet, probably red, its an evil campaign but my DM is preety lose in terms of alignment stuff and would probably let me get away with a mettalic dragon type. Note that eventually I hope to have him turned back into a full dragon.

Tweekinator
2008-01-02, 07:09 PM
You might want a look at the battle sorcerer variant from UA, I believe. It gets a d8 hit die, medium BAB, can cast in light armor(which can later be upgraded to medium with a feat). This is at a cost to the spellcasting, though.

Iku Rex
2008-01-02, 07:09 PM
Books available?

Do you want suggestions for spells and prestige classes as well as feats and items?

Are you willing to use polymorph cheese?

Bag_of_Holding
2008-01-02, 07:12 PM
1: What should I do with this character in terms of magic items and feats, he'll be starting at 16th level (ECL 19), I'm already going to give him Craft Wand so he can get Master Wand at level 21 (good for a sorceror).

Dragons are very proud creatures. You might want to look at a feat from Draconomicon (I can't remember the name) that allows a half-dragon to use its breath weapon once every 1d4 rounds instead of once per day.


2: I'll probably end up roleplaying as him in addition to my main character, any thoughts on that.
Right; that's an interesting idea. If you are going epic, then who plays what suddenly doesn't really matter that much anymore.


3: A train leaves denver at six oclock and arrives in chicago five hours later, but half an hour after it was expected to arrive, should the man in car 3 take a nap or try to do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.
Try Sudoku, not crossword. :smallbiggrin:

BRC
2008-01-02, 07:13 PM
Books available?

Do you want suggestions for spells and prestige classes as well as feats and items?

Are you willing to use polymorph cheese?

My DM has alot of books but all I have is the SRD, if you suggjest somthing I like I'll show it to him to see if he approves. Ive already got some spells in mind but I'm open to suggjestions, same with prestige classes.
Depends how cheesy it is.

RTGoodman
2008-01-02, 07:19 PM
Is there a specific reason that he wouldn't be able to change back into his original form?

If he can't, you might want to take a look at the Aspect of the Chromatic Dragon spell from Dragon Magic if you can get a copy of it. It's an 8th or 9th level Sorcerer spell, I believe, that lets you polymorph into an Aspect of Tiamat. It would be cool that a dragon that can't return to his real form would at least be able to, for a while each day, turn into a living embodiment of Tiamat, queen of the chromatic dragons.

Ganurath
2008-01-02, 07:27 PM
The dragon should be blue, aka the land shark from hell. Given what I know about your character, the dragon helping the evil army should probably be lawful, and blue dragons have the manipulative mindset from their illusions appropriate for working with legions.

His feats should be geared toward improving his transmutation magic so he'll be able to buff himself for the draconic glory combat or to boost the front line to break the enemy. After all, imagine how that math in the thread about the 'hobgoblin' equipment would look if the hobs had +4 enhancement bonuses to all their physical stats. Multiattack wouldn't hurt, either.

No problem with roleplaying as your cohort, since it's just one. This is especially true in an epic campaign.

In conclusion, a half-hour isn't enough time for a crossword. He should take a nap so he'll be well rested for the Bears game.

BRC
2008-01-02, 07:32 PM
Is there a specific reason that he wouldn't be able to change back into his original form?

If he can't, you might want to take a look at the Aspect of the Chromatic Dragon spell from Dragon Magic if you can get a copy of it. It's an 8th or 9th level Sorcerer spell, I believe, that lets you polymorph into an Aspect of Tiamat. It would be cool that a dragon that can't return to his real form would at least be able to, for a while each day, turn into a living embodiment of Tiamat, queen of the chromatic dragons.
There is, It's involved with my character's backstory, which I'll post in a spoiler here

Alright, so my character was the heir to a hobgoblin empire. however at some point heroes happened to it, a group of powerful adventurers at the head of an army attacked the capital and stormed the palace, killing the emporer in the process. One of the emporers advisors/magisrates was a dragon who realized that getting paid a large government salary was just as good if not better than the standard method. Well said dragon gets hurt pretty bad in the attack on the castle and, as the emporers last wish, takes the heir and escapes. Since a dragon and a hobgoblin will attract alot of attention they can't afford, said dragon polymorphs himself and the prince into humans and they escape by joining the crowds of humans "Liberated" from the city. However due to his wounds and a spell that he got hit with during the battle for the palace, the dragon's magic is unstable and the polymorph spell has some odd effects when it wears off, leaving said dragon as a half-dragon, and giving the prince four arms. I know that rule-wise it makes no sense, but it serves my purposes.
Short version, a wizard did it.

BRC
2008-01-03, 02:06 PM
Alright so heres his spell sheet.
0th level spells, Prestidigitation., Resistance, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Message
Dancing lights, Arcane Mark, Detect Poision
1st level spells. Magic Missle, Ray of enfeeblement ,Mage Armor, Grease, Identify
2nd level spells, Scorching Ray, Blur, Cats grace, Bulls Strength, Bears Endurance
3rd level spells, Fireball, Displacement, Vampiric Touch, Haste
4th level spells: Polymorph, Wall of fire, Greater Invisibility, Arcane Eye
5th level spells: Permanency ,Cone of Cold, Passwall, (one More)
6th level spells: Disintegrate, Chain Lightning, Transformation
7th level spells: Limited Wish, Mages Magnificent Mansion
8th Level Spells: Irresistible Dance
And some feats (His base creature is human so he gets 7)
Maximise Spell
Craft Wand
Extend Spell
Imp Natural Attack
Heres how I see him working, when the situation calls for it he spends a few rounds buffing himself up with 2nd level spells, giving him a 20% miss chance, +4 Dex, +4 str and +4 con, then he turns himself into a juvinile blue dragon with an extended polymorph, then he casts Transformation on himself and gets down to buisness.

BRC
2008-01-04, 09:51 PM
Nobody has any thoughts on this?

Solo
2008-01-04, 09:55 PM
.
3: A train leaves denver at six oclock and arrives in chicago five hours later, but half an hour after it was expected to arrive, should the man in car 3 take a nap or try to do the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

He should join the WAAAGH!!!

MCerberus
2008-01-04, 10:23 PM
Well he'd be very very combative when people talk about his racial identity, slighty if not very arrogent, and you should give him a kind of obsession with collecting coins and (insert chromatic color here) gems/magic items. Your cohort may be slowly going insane due to the weakness of his new form, and would likely be looking at whatever could change him back.

He may be afraid to disguise himself to blend in with a population now.

BRC
2008-01-04, 10:29 PM
Well he'd be very very combative when people talk about his racial identity, slighty if not very arrogent, and you should give him a kind of obsession with collecting coins and (insert chromatic color here) gems/magic items. Your cohort may be slowly going insane due to the weakness of his new form, and would likely be looking at whatever could change him back.

He may be afraid to disguise himself to blend in with a population now.
He proably used polymorph or somthing similar to take a huminoid form before when he was working as an imperial advisor, and its been a few years, so he won't be super-disoriented by his new form but his #1 goal will definetally be to get his form back. Since with the resources of a renewed hobgoblin empire behind him the chances of that increase markedly (Also, Imperial governmental salaries are a great way to accumulate an impressive horde with which to impress the ladies, as was his motivation for working for the empire before), he'll work for my character. Though the prospect of him slowly going insane is intruiging, I don't know how well that would work, he resents his new form, but I don't think it will cause him to go insane. He will definetally have an obsession with collecting large amounts of gems though.