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View Full Version : Me no stupid, me can cast spells! (Build Critique [and story], 3.5e)



SoD
2008-12-05, 08:16 AM
OK, here's the situation. Some of you may remember me posting a thread ages ago asking what to play with brilliant rolls (16 15 16 17 18 10). Then on advice for making a wizard character with said stats, going for a warrior type wizard. For roleplaying reasons, he became no longer possible (he was disigned to be all high and mighty, thinking he was sent to Dome City to train in magic under the master drow. However...magic in Dome City turns out to be outlawed for non-drow, and he is not training in the sewers!). I talked with my DM, and he said that "Yes, I may use those stats for my new character, and you may make as many characters as you want with those stats, but only one of them will be used in the campaign." Phew! No way I wanted to waste those stats.

After tossing up between many different ideas (ranging from Changeling Rogue [with 14 maxed skills!] to gnomish sorcerer to Warforged Fighter) I eventually decided to create a Dwarven monk/cleric, to be the brother of another character (it was going to be his first time, he rolled up a dwarven barbarian). I was looking forward to telling him "No, that's not the Dwarven way, what would our ancestors think, no wonder you were banished from our Dwarven town, etc.". I'd talked with him (the player) beforehand, asking if he would mind me playing this character, and that I'm not trying to annoy him, it's just the idea I had. He said it was fine, and he understood it would all be in character, and yes, fine, he'll tell me if I begin to overstep the mark. All fine. But now...due to a complex situation involving said player, the DM and the DM's (now)ex-girlfriend, said player is no longer going to be part of the campaign. And I don't want to be a Dwarfs Dwarf without a Non-dwarfy Dwarf in the party!

So now I've created a Water Orc spellcaster. I'm not looking at an amazingly optomised character (for the love of Hextor, I'm a wizard wading into melee!), just wondering what we think of this. It's this guys first time DMing, he's spent a long time planing this, so I don't want to Batman the campaign to the nine hells. The other players aren't huge optomisers either (although I can be, occasionally...). Here he is, Glunk, backstory and all!

Glunk, LG Water Orc(!)

I: Phychic Warrior 1. Flaws: Feeble, Innatentive. Feats: EWP (Sugliin), Illithid Heritage, Illithid Grapple, Spell Focus (Transmutation). CL 0. Str: 21 (17), Dex: 16, Con 17 (15), Int 16 (18), Wis 14 (16), Cha 8 (10). PP: 1 (MF 1). Power known: Bite of the Wolf.
II: Focused Transmuter 1. Feat: EWP (Great Crossbow). CL 1. Barred schools: Illusion, Enchantment, Necromancy. ACF: Wizard with fighter bonus feats instead of scribe scroll/bonus metamagic/item creation feats.
III: Focused Transmuter 2. Feat: Combat Casting. CL 2.
IV: Focused Transmuter 3. CL 3. Con: 18.
V: Master Transmuter 1. CL 4. Feat: Skill Focus (Spellcraft).
VI: Master Transmuter 2. CL 5. Feat: Craft Magical Arms and Armour. CF: Expanded Spellbook.
VII: Master Transmuter 3. CL 6.Feat: Greater Spell Focus (Transmutation).
VIII: Spellsword 1. CL 7. Str: 22. CF: Ignore Spell Failure 10%
IX: Eldritch Knight 1. CL 7. Feats: Sugliin Mastery, Illithid Grapple.
X: Eldritch Knight 2. CL 8.
XI: Abjurant Champion 1. CL 9. CF: Abjurant Armour, Extended Abjuration.
XII: Eldritch Knight 3. CL 10. Feat: Illithid Grapple. Int: 17.
XIII: Eldritch Knight 4. CL 11.
XIV: Eldritch Knight 5. CL 12.
XV: Eldritch Knight 6. CL 13. Feat: Illithid Grapple.
XVI: Eldritch Knight 7. CL 14. Int 18.
XVII: Eldritch Knight 8. CL 15.
XVIII: Eldritch Knight 9. CL 16.Feat: Illithid Extraction.
XIX: Eldritch Knight 10. CL 17.
XX: Abjurant Champion 2. CL 18. Int 19. CF: Swift Abjuration.

Now, it was near midnight when I started actually stating this build...I'm hoping like everything it's viable legal.

Backstory: Far, far back in Glunks family tree lies an unusual relative...an elemental. And even further, an illithid. But enough about that far back in the past, it's DnD, they can justify a half-red-dragon-half-white-dragon black dragon! Just roll with it, OK? Capishe? Good. Now moving on, when Glunk was an ugly little orcish baby, he went swimming downstream, away from his tribe, out exploring, as babies are wont to do. He ends up getting picked up a few miles down by a traveling...something. Ranger? Druid? Horizon Walker? Yeah, we'll go with a Horizon Walker. Trying to do the right thing, the Horizon Walker, not knowing about the orcish tribe upstream, takes him to the nearest settlement, where he leaves Glunk to be raised by the local paladin order. He is told that the paladins are out hunting a local evil, or something along those lines, by the local mage, who, being a kindhearted old man, takes Glunk himself. A few days later, the paladins return from hunting evil (read; killing Glunks tribe), the mage makes up some story about him being his cousins child, and his cousin recently died, and his cousin was human, but was raped by an orc, and gave birth to this adorable little half-orc, and he was left to me. Honest. He's not from that tribe, never. Thank god I bought that ring of glibness 3/day the other day...but moving on. Glunk, as he grows older, learns to walk (yeah, water orcs swim before they walk) and talk, ends up as the old mans apprentice, and swiftly turns out to be a lot smarter than the average Joe Orc. He swiftly masters the theory behind magic, but struggles casting even a cantrip. Nevertheless, his martial studies with the paladins go well, he even makes his own effective, if primitive, weapon (sugliin). A few years later, it becomes obvious that Glunk is even more unusual than first expected...a tentacle appears to be growing from his mouth, or something. The Magi guesses the reasoning, and tells him that he cannot let the paladins learn of it, as he knows that they'll assume he'll go to the 'dark side' so to speak, and cast him out. Soon after, the Horizon Walker wanders back, and the Magi talks with him, and convinces him to take Glunk with him, to find someone else to teach him magic, and to get him out from the paladins. He thinks that he can't master magic because of the teaching methods. So, packing his spellbook, his weaponry and other assorted items, Glunk heads off for Dome City, for his first adventure...

JeminiZero
2008-12-05, 09:57 AM
Remind us again, what books are permitted?

I believe Illithid grapple (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/cgi-bin/feats.pl?Illithid_Grapple,CoP) requires Illithid heritage and one other Illithid feat.

Blackfang108
2008-12-05, 10:50 AM
Glunk, LG Water Orc(!)

I:Feats: EWP (Sugliin), Illithid Heritage, Illithid Grapple, Spell Focus (Transmutation).

How did you get 4 feats at level 1 as an Orc?

Heliomance
2008-12-05, 10:51 AM
Flaws. Feeble and Inattentive.

jcsw
2008-12-05, 10:53 AM
How did you get 4 feats at level 1 as an Orc?

*technically* he could do it with 2 flaws and the psychic warrior bonus feats.

GAH ninja'd.

Blackfang108
2008-12-05, 11:02 AM
Flaws. Feeble and Inattentive.

I saw the flaws.

That makes 3. it wasn't the having more than one that made me wonder.

AmberVael
2008-12-05, 11:04 AM
I saw the flaws.

That makes 3. it wasn't the having more than one that made me wonder.

1st level you gain a feat.
Two flaws nets 2 more feats.
Being a Psychic warrior at level 1 grants another.
Total: 4

Keld Denar
2008-12-05, 11:15 AM
Illithid Grapple requires Illithid Herritage, which you have, and 1 other Illithid feat, which you don't. I'd nab that. Also, a better use of your tenticles would be to take the Multiattack feat, so you don't suffer a -5 to hit with them. Multiattack would reduce them to -2 each.

Also, why only 2 levels of AbChamp? As long as you qualify, you might as well take all 5. Better than the equivalent 3 levels of EldKnight. And finish AbChamp before heading into EK, so you get the better class features earlier. EldKnight just doesn't have any features other than full BAB and spellcasting, but AbChamp has a ton, including Swiftcasting Abjurations at 3.

Also, I'm pretty sure Spellsword has a BAB requirement. Unless you are using fractional BAB, you only have a BAB of +2 heading into Spellsword. WITH fractional BAB, you have (3/4 + 3x1/2 + 3x1/2) or 3.75, which I'm thinking rounds down to 3. Yea, you might need to modify that. Changing PsyWar to Fighter will net you 4, but I think you need a bit more for SS. Also, IIRC, SS requires Weapon Focus (Any). I could be wrong on this, but I can't look it up atm.

Also, EWP requires a BAB of 1. You can't take EWP: Sugliin at first level. Or EWP: Great XBow at 2, unless you are using fractional BAB.

Thats about all I can come up with atm. Looks like a straight gish with PsyWar as a base. I assume you intend to do something like Enlarge or Expand (missing Expansion power?) and grapple and eat brains? I'd take