Cool Character Combos

[Vorpal word]

Have you ever had a character who had a near-perfect sequence of moves worked out in combat? Or played something that just had an awesome way of combining abilities?

To start the thread, here are my two:

a) Saigon, LN Kobold Rogue/Cleric/Sorcerer. Str 6, but +1 or +2 in all other scores. Battle plan: Color spray, next round sneak attack opponent with sling. Repeat (I got him a wand). Works twice as well when paired with another rogue or a spellthief.

b) Thanathos, NE Human Ranger/Assassin/Horizon Walker. Hasn't actually been made yet, so this is all planning. Key points: Death attack+Improved Unarmed Strike. This will be used in a campaign where the players work for a goblin smuggling ring/thieves guild.

Basic Battle Plan:

Round 1: Warn rest of party to hide, approach enemy camp in a casual manner.
Round 2: Introduce yourself as a bounty hunter to enemy leader. Since he IS actually a bounty hunter and works for goblins because they pay him, the enemy is unlikely to recognize him as a threat.
Round 3: Enter the enemy leader's hut/tent/house/whatever to work out details. If refused, give signal to attack and run back to party.
Round 4: If allowed into enemy's dwelling, offer your hand to enemy. When he shakes it, smack him across the face and death attack him :)
Then run. As fast as you can.

[Katrascythe]

I managed to have a BBEG that had a series of illusions placed in the center of the room. He created a major illusion, then hid himself in the corner of the room without buffs. Party walks in, silent still greater invis. He moves behind the wizard with a stupidly huge hide check and blasts his with 12d6 from scorching ray + an additionalo 8d6 hit dice. He then went and hid again since he was still invisible.

The guy was a rogue 2 + levels in wizard + PrC, fyi.

[Harperfan7]

I had a Rogue/Evoker with +2's in str, dex, & int who had the improved unarmed strike feat and shocking grasp spell (slot/scrolls/wand). He would have sucked at higher levels, though my DM let me cast shocking grasp on each hand, so I could cast it twice and use it twice (once each on two separate attacks). He almost never missed, and had good stealth and initiative, so unless there was a bunch of guys, he usually beat his enemies before they ever got to go.

Not my favorite character, but definetly fun while it lasted.

[FMArthur]

Almost everything you ever do as a Psychic Warrior is some kind of combo.

[Catharsis]

I had a Rogue/Evoker with +2's in str, dex, & int who had the improved unarmed strike feat and shocking grasp spell (slot/scrolls/wand). He would have sucked at higher levels, though my DM let me cast shocking grasp on each hand, so I could cast it twice and use it twice (once each on two separate attacks).

You can do that even better with a Rogue/Druid using Produce Flames. By RAW, you should be able to make iterative attacks. Also, if you have enough druid levels, you can do your sneak attacking in fly-by as a bird.

[Baalthazaq]

I once made an "antagonist" who had some pretty cool mind bending skills.

Focused Master Specialist Illusionist with enchant/illusion combos.

I'd do greater invisibility, non-detection, etc as you'd expect, but then in addition I'd use silent suggestion to make enemies hear footsteps to mask his own (not RAW, but I think it's fair use).

Spells were "invisible" and/or "deceptive" from cityscape so I could make it seem they were being attacked from anywhere.

He was actually one of the good guys in an ongoing campaign. I had a one off where my players got to play the bad guys because I needed them to see some stuff from the other side of the fence. They played 3 ECL 16 characters. They ended up just running away in different directions, with one character utterly confused as to how the hell the footsteps were following him as he was flying away. :)

Much later on in the "final battle" after a year and a half of running my campaign, I brought him back on the players side, with his 3 brothers who effectively pretended to be his mirror images. (which confused the hell out of the people with True Seeing on).

We had cultists(10), a "Jahi" with the Creature of Legend Template, centaur guards(10), Ninja Warlocks(20), Paladin Warforge(20), Pirates(30), Vampires (4) (Cleric, Druid, Assassin, Paladin), Demons (10), Ghouls (20), Nymph, Celestial Being, Mindbender, Dread Pirate, Him and his brothers, Pheonix, Warforge Artificer, Half-Orc Centaur, Half Dragon, actual Dragon (1), Mystic Theurge, and maybe some others I've forgotten, so a pretty big final battle.

When one of the bad guys finally put true seeing on, he only caught the 3 brothers, unaware that the "real" Baharai Brittlewisp had already left the room. They only discovered this mistake when the vampires were "killed", turned to gas, and went back to their coffins to regenerate. At which point they opened their eyes, looked at their coffin lids, and read "I prepared explosive runes this morning".

[SurlySeraph]

Monk/Rogue/Enlightened Fist. Before attacking, cast Chill Touch. Now all of your attacks for a while do +1d6 damage and possibly drain strength. Take the Fell Drain metamagic feat, which makes your damaging spells give targets negative levels. Congratulations, you just got a better version of the 5th-level spell Spectral Touch for a 2nd-level slot, and can use it more effectively than a pure-class wizard could because you don't die when you go spend a few rounds punching people in melee.

[Catharsis]

--double post, please delete--

[Assassin89]

Normally a greatsword does 2d6, but I know someone who plays as a psychic warrior and does this combo to increase damage potential through the use of a deep crystal sword.

1. Expansion to increase greatsword damage to 3d6
2. Spend two power points to give an additional 2d6 to the greatsword
3. Uses some ability to give another boost to damage and grants acid damage
4. ???
5. Attacks enemy and rolls 6d6 on successful attack, I think.

My current character is a half elf cleric of St. Cuthbert (formally Corellon Larethian). Although this combo hasn't been used yet, it might work.

1. Use Granted power of strength domain to increase strength by cleric level
2. Use Granted power of destruction domain to get bonus to damage equal to cleric level.
3. ???
4. Heavy Mace gets 4 + BAB + Strength Bonus on attack roll and does 1d8 + Cleric Level + Strength bonus on hit.

[Harperfan7]

This was like 6 years ago when my crew and I only had core.

Besides, this thread is about characters you actually played.

[Catharsis]

--triple post, please delete--

[Rhiannon87]

I've been helping my brother put together a psychic warrior 5/psychokinetist 5, STR 20. If it's a big enough battle and he has prep time...

- Cast Claws of the Beast
- Cast Expansion (1d8 claw damage, twice per round)
- Cast Dissolving Touch (4d6 acid damage)
- Concentrate to focus
- Activate Hands Afire (2d6 fire damage)

So, assuming he hits both times, that's...

1d8+5+2d6+2d6+4d6/1d8+5+2d6+4d6

Average damage = 65 points, give or take

Granted, that's a one-round thing, as most of those powers get used up (expending focus and whatnot), but still, it's enough to make a DM cry. Especially if the target of this happens to be a wizard or something.

[Eldariel]

This was actually an arena character, but it was the only time I've truly gotten to flex my optimization muscles in game knowing that I can go all the way without a worry of victory so it kinda stuck to my mind:
Wood Elf Ranger 2/Fighter 1/Barbarian 1/Warblade 6/Eternal Blade 10, most importantly with Whirling Frenzy from the Barbarian.

The basis of the build Alastar's Gatling Bow Gun with few additions of my own. Most importantly the Fighter-level (Targeteer from Dragon Magazine) gave him 2 extra attacks and the Barbarian-level 1. This meant that his total attack sequence was:

4 standard iteratives
+1 rapid shot
+1 barbarian
+2 arrow swarm
+1 haste

=9 base attacks (at -9 penalty, but who cares)

Then he uses maneuver Time Stands Still, doubling this for 18 attacks in one full-round attack. Then he uses Belt of Battle and Eternal Training to Time Stands Still a second time. Finally, he ends his turn and immediately afterwards activates Island in Time. This results in one more full attack (albeit without Time Stands Still-buffs unless using a loose reading of Martial Scripts). It either results in 5 or 6*9 attacks, or a total of 45-54 in a round. Now, this isn't the whole story. Add Splitting-enchantment from Champions of Ruin and suddenly each of his arrows makes for two attacks or a total of 90-108 attack rolls. Add Woodland Archer and he'll soon be making those attacks at +Whatever hits opponent at 1.

It's funny to have your enemies wonder if there's a platoon of archers raining death upon them when in reality it's only one man (or Elf, to be precise). Oh, and yes, to recoup, that's 45-54 arrows in 6 seconds. Without expending any daily stuff, he can only fire 36 though. But yeah, martial nova is fun. One of the very few ones in existence too, and this doesn't even bend any rules!

[Hida Reju]

I had fun with a character once, used a reach weapon and stacked the following feats.

Combat reflexes
Dodge
Karmic Strike
Defensive Throw
Evasive Reflexes
Hold The line
Stand Still
Mage Slayer

Pretty much anything you did provoked an attack of opportunity. Also I never get hit by a charge or full attack ever. Since every attack provokes an attack of opportunity with karmic strike I move out of the way by 5ft with Evasive reflexes or hit you with stand still.

Pretty much a variant lockdown build with movement abuse but a lot of fun.

[Kaiyanwang]

I had fun with a character once, used a reach weapon and stacked the following feats.

Combat reflexes
Dodge
Karmic Strike
Defensive Throw
Evasive Reflexes
Hold The line
Stand Still
Mage Slayer

Pretty much anything you did provoked an attack of opportunity. Also I never get hit by a charge or full attack ever. Since every attack provokes an attack of opportunity with karmic strike I move out of the way by 5ft with Evasive reflexes or hit you with stand still.

Pretty much a variant lockdown build with movement abuse but a lot of fun.

Add Suprnatural Instinct from FCII. Now, even (Sop) provoke AOOs.
BTW, I love these AOOs too. Maybe With dual strike from MH or superior combat reflexes from Dragon MAgazine.

[Dogmantra]

I've got an idea for a build knocking about.
A fighter/rogue with improved trip, EWP: Spiked Chain, and combat reflexes. It's a caster killer.

1. Go and trip a caster. Stand right next to them, even though you have reach.
1a. If you have iterative attacks - sneak attack.
2. They're going to use a move action to get up, attack of opportunity! And because technically AoOs happen before the action, they're still helpless, so more sneak attack.
3. They can't move away now, only take a 5-foot step, so they do, but they're still in reach, so when they try to cast a spell, attack of opportunity!
4. Rinse and repeat.

It's almost definitely not original, but ah well...

[Lycanthromancer]

I've got an idea for a build knocking about.
A fighter/rogue with improved trip, EWP: Spiked Chain, and combat reflexes. It's a caster killer.

1. Go and trip a caster. Stand right next to them, even though you have reach.
1a. If you have iterative attacks - sneak attack.
2. They're going to use a move action to get up, attack of opportunity! And because technically AoOs happen before the action, they're still helpless, so more sneak attack.
3. They can't move away now, only take a 5-foot step, so they do, but they're still in reach, so when they try to cast a spell, attack of opportunity!
4. Rinse and repeat.

It's almost definitely not original, but ah well...

Sorry, but this doesn't work. Prone opponents don't lose their Dex to AC, they're not flat-footed, and they're not helpless.

So just being prone doesn't allow for sneak attacks.

My psychic warrior build has Darkstalker, metamorphosis, a psicrystal, some psychoactive skins of proteus, Metamorphic Transfer, and Assume Supernatural Ability (pixie/greater invisibility). It only has a couple of feats that a standard martial character would have, but it kicks arse anyway.

The build.

Also, an egoist with Psicrystal Affinity, several iterations of Improved Psicrystal, and lots of self-buffs. Once you have a psicrystal of level 11 or above, you can share buffs on it, metamorphosis the hell out of it, and send it out to kick ass for you.

[Lycanthromancer]

Also, a rather complicated combo that can be pared down considerably and still work...

Energy conversion + Chain Power + Split Psionic Ray + Point Blank Shot + Greater/Psionic Shot + Psicrystal Affinity + Psicrystal Containment + Aligned Attack (Chaotic or Evil) + greater chasuble of fell power + metamorphosis + schism + energy wall.

Early in the day, manifest a Chained, Split Ray'd energy conversion, which is shared with your psicrystal, then charge it WAY up with an energy wall. Later, manifest metamorphosis on your psicrystal to turn it into something not-immune-to-mind-affecting-effects, then share schism between the two of you. Now you, your schism, your psicrystal, and IT'S schism can each fire two rays that deal 3x your manifester level in energy damage each round to a single creature, with a bunch of additional targets taking 1/2 of that amount of energy damage. You can also expend one psionic focus for +4d6 damage to one ray using Greater Psionic Shot, and another focus for +3d6 aligned damage using Aligned Attack and the greater chasuble of fell power.

So, that's 8 rays dealing ML x 3 in damage (with additional rays dealing half that amount, to up to your ML in targets), with one of those dealing an additional +7d6 points of damage. And this can be done every round, practically all day, psionic focus permitting, so long as you recharge with an energy wall every now and again.

Very pp-efficient, and though it IS build-intensive, psychic reformation can move feats in and out as needed.

(And after level 17, every shot will force a Fort-save-or-die, though Overchanneling will allow you to do so at 15.)