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kjones
2008-01-10, 01:20 AM
I've played a lot of 3.5e D&D, but most of it's been as the DM. So when one of my friends announced that he was looking for players in an Urban Arcana game, I jumped at the opportunity. However, I'm unfamiliar with both the system and being on the other side of the screen, so I'd appreciate some feedback.

I liked the idea of playing a non-magical character in a world full of magic, so my character, Hope, is sort of a "street tough", a high school student who basically works as a runner for street gangs because she's bored. She's the sort of character who would beat up the other characters and take their lunch money.

She's a Fast Hero 2/Tough Hero 1, with an emphasis on both melee combat (the sort of streetfighting not represented by the crappy feat) and physical-type skills (Climb, Tumble, etc.)

Anyway, I'm having trouble figuring out what feats I should take. I get a grand total of 5 (1 from Athletic occupation, 2 at level 1, 1 at level 3, and 1 bonus feat from Fast Hero 2) and there's several possibilities I've been considering.

First of all, the Athletic occupation feat has to be either Archaic Weapon Proficiency or Brawl, and I picked Brawl because it fits better with the flavor of the character. I also like the idea of combining this with brass knuckles, but even then, her unarmed attacks still provoke an attack of opportunity. (I would take Combat Martial Arts, but it doesn't really make sense for the character.) So, I'm left with 4 feats. Here's my options:

Weapon Finesse: pretty useful since her Dex is much better than her Str
Improved Initiative: fits well with the "street fighting" theme - going first can make the difference
Improved Grapple: another good street-fighting feat.
Run: fits with her background as a drug runner (and as an athlete)
Dodge/Agile Riposte/Mobility: Here's my logic behind this combo. Hope makes an unarmed attack, with something like +5 to hit. Since it's unarmed, it provokes an attack of opportunity. However, her AC against attacks of opportunity is 24 - so this will most likely miss. She then gets another free attack from Agile Riposte. It's a neat little trick, but I need to burn three feats in order to do this one thing, and that's a little more specialized than I'd like to be.

Given these possibilities, which four would you pick? Are there other options that I should consider? (The flavor of Streetfighting is just what I want - unfortunately, it's a worthless feat.)

Furthermore, I'm not sure which advanced class, if any, I should be building towards. The Street Tough has decent flavor, but worthless mechanics. I like the looks of the Infiltrator, but I'm not sure how useful it will be for my kind of character.

So, any advice on my character, either mechanically (since I'm new to d20 Modern) or thematically?

Dhavaer
2008-01-10, 05:00 AM
No. 1: Combat Martial Arts is your friend. If you're making an unarmed focused character it's pretty much mandatory unless you're a dragonblood or half-dragon. Taking the name of the feat as gospel will get you killed.
This can be your level 3 feat.

Since your Dex is higher than your Str, I agree with you on Weapon Finesse. Good for your level 2 Fast feat.

Improved Grapple probably isn't a great idea; with lower Str and fairly average BAB for a melee fighter Escape Artist would be a better investment.

Note that Mobility only applies to AoOs provoked through movement; it won't apply to AoOs provoked when Brawling.

Two feats left over, and what you take depends on which Advanced Class you want. There are two good choices for an unarmed character: Soldier and Martial Artist. Both boost your damage, which will otherwise be sorely lacking given the absence of mastercraft equipment. Martial Artist also has full BAB, which is handy for Power Attack if you want it.
Soldier requires Personal Firearms, and Martial Artist requires Defensive Martial Arts as well as CMA, both of which can be taken as your first level feats.

An alternate route to go instead of Soldier would be Swashbuckler, which is probably a better class to go to 10 in. The second level ability would unfortunately be useless to you (you can't draw a fist, after all) but +3d6 damage at the cost of an action point is worth it more often than not.

Splashing a few levels of Strong is also a decent idea; 3 levels will get you +2 damage and Power Attack.

sixpence
2008-01-11, 02:51 AM
Hey, d20 modern! I recently just worked out a character for that, so let's see if I can be of assistance.

Going with Weapon Finesse seems like a wise move. You don't have to rely on your Str stat more than Dex, so you're playing to your strengths (no pun intended). I think it may require you to choose a weapon rather than unarmed attack; the description is a little fuzzy on that point, so I'd check it out with your DM and see what he allows.

I really like your idea for the three feat combo. Sure, it takes up a lot of feat-space, but for the kind of character you're playing, it makes sense. If you're looking to be more conservative with your feat portfolio, though, I'd recommend highly cutting Mobility out. I mean, think about it: Dodge and Agile Riposte will serve you well in melee, which is where you'll be spending most of your time. Mobility will help get you out of melee unscathed, but if you have a semi-competent healer in your party, you'll probably be able to rely on them to fix you up without you leaving melee or needing to retreat.

Run, honestly, I don't see the pressing need to use a feat up for. You're already athletic, aren't you? Improved Grapple sounds like one barrel of fun after another, but do you have room for it? No.

Okay, so my choices for you are: Weapon Finesse (check the weapon thing out, beforehand, though), Dodge, Agile Riposte, Improved Initiative (you're not a Fast Hero for nothing), and Brawl, since you seem pretty keen on unarmed fighting.

What I really don't understand is your choice of starting occupation. Mechanically, it seems like you're trying to compensate for not taking any levels in Strong Hero, but a lot of the extra class skills it offers you already have. If you're going for the extra competence in physical skills or your aim is to reinforce your character's background in being a gang runner, then no problem. If not, then pick an occupation that better suits your needs.

I think that's just about all the help I'll be able to provide, as I'm not terribly familiar with Modern's prestige classes myself either. I suppose your choice of advanced and prestige classes might also be affected by the group of people you're playing with as well. Hope you have fun getting to be a player again!

SpikeFightwicky
2008-01-11, 11:45 AM
Combat Martial arts could be an option. It doesn't necessarily have to represent any kind of Asian style fighting. Stuff like boxing and wrestling are also martial arts. Heck, it could be something learned in gym class that she practices in her spare time.

As for advanced classes, do you mean Street Warrior instead of Street Tough? ( I couldn't find Street Tough anywhere) I wouldn't say Street Warrior is completely worthless. For one, it's one of the few classes that has full BaB (in d20 Modern core and Urban Arcana, only Strong Hero, Martial Artist, Street Warrior and Holy/Unholy Knight get full BaB). It has a decent array of bonus feats and weapon spec. Other than that, if 'Hope' is a bit of an action junkie (possible since her current occupation is gang runner), Daredevil may be a possibility.

Crow
2008-01-11, 11:18 PM
In my group's D20 Modern experience, going melee is the easiest way to get yourself killed, especially if you end up in a gunfight (then it's time to run).

Pump your CON.

kjones
2008-01-13, 09:20 PM
Thanks for the help, everyone; I'll address these in reverse order.

Crow: I've got a decent Con, and good HP; this is sort of what I was going for by taking a level of Tough hero. I took the ability that lets me spend an action point to heal my Con mod worth of HP; do you think it would be worth it to swap that out for "Die Hard" or whatever it's called, the one that lets you remain conscious while in the negatives?

Spike: I did mean Street Warrior, and it's not a terrible class mechanically (though it's certainly not very good) but it doesn't fit very well with my character... although giving it another look-see, it doesn't seem as bad as I thought at first glance. I think I was just turned off by the feat prereq (streetfighting) and the 1st level ability (+4 to Survival in urban areas). I'll consider it further, but I think I'll hold off on making a decision until I get a better feel for the campaign.

As for Combat Martial Arts... see the Simple Q&A by RAW thread, but I'm unclear as to how, if at all, Brawl stacks with Combat Martial Arts. Since I'm pretty much taking Brawl no matter what (see below) I'm not sure how useful this would end up being.

Sixpence: Your feat suggestions are pretty much what I settled on myself, and I think I'll stick with something similar, for the time being. As for occupation, it's both a background thing and the fact that I also want Hope to be a somewhat skill-focused character, namely good physical skills. Surprisingly, the Fast Hero has neither Climb nor Jump for class skills, and I wanted those, so there you go. Even if I went with Criminal, though, I'm not really interested in Personal Firearms Proficiency, so I'd end up taking Brawl anyway.

Dhaever: Thanks for calling me on that Mobility thing, I had totally forgotten. See above for my problems with Combat Martial Arts; though I like the possibility of Martial Artist, I'm not sure I want my character to be purely focused on unarmed combat, but Defensive Martial Arts would likely be a good choice anyway. I also like the prospect of taking levels in Strong Hero, especially for Melee Smash and full BAB.

I'll let you guys know how this turns out. Thanks for the suggestions.

Crow
2008-01-13, 09:23 PM
I think Die Hard will be more useful to you. The ability to stabilize at will is hard to pass up. You'll get milage from both abilities though, so it's sort of a toss-up.

sixpence
2008-01-14, 12:38 AM
Alright! Melee Smash is definitely one of those fun talents to have (my character's got it, too, and I am madly in love with the massive damage it lets me accrue), so if you level in Strong, go for it.

One thing that still seemed sort of weird: if you do decide to take levels in Strong Hero later, though, you'll get Jump and Climb as class skills, so will your starting occupation switch to giving you extra competence bonuses in them or just lose its effect? I haven't run into this before, so I'm not sure. Though, I see your point for wanting them as class skills right away. As long as you're happy with your choices when you play, that's all that matters.

Looking forward to hearing about how this goes!