4 elements

[nysisobli]

I was wanting to make a character similar to the avatar in avatar the last airbender, but my gm does not like homebrewed things. Out of any book except tome of battle, can anyone help me? I imagine a spellcaster though.

Also no dragon magazine, i prefer a human,but thats just preference if another race fits im all for it, but no LA. and also it will probably go from level 1-20

[Yora]

If it's any book, I would go with Shugenja, which should be in Complete Divine. Probably not power optimized, but they are pretty much benders.

[nysisobli]

that sounds good, im not looking for crazy optimization

[Starsinger]

The problem with Shugenja is that it's really only 3 elements out of 4.

[The Glyphstone]

You might be thinking of Wu Jen there. Shujenja are more accurately 5 elements out of 4...Air, Earth, Water, Fire, and Void.

Never mind, Prohibited element. Oops. Still, that shouldn't be too bad - unless the OP actually wants to make a full-on Avatar expy, they don't need control of all four elements. Personally, I'd take a look at Wu Jen as well...like Shujenja, they only get access to three 'elements' (specifically Earth, Water, and Fire, with the addition of Void and Metal, but they're probably a little bit more powerful, and Shujenja are spontaneous casters, which fits the 'bending' feel a bit better. Then again, Wu Jens get to become giants and throw scarves at people that then try to cut their heads off, which is sweet.

[nysisobli]

i was kind of wanting to make a full on all 4 elements bender

[Yora]

Shugenjas are mostly like Sorcerers, but their spells count as divine and not arcane. Half their spells known have to be from their main element, but they can also learn spells from other elements, if they want to.
Only problem is that, as written, a shugenja has to read every spell he casts from a prayer book he has to hold in his hand. But I think your gm can be convinced to let you ignore that aspect, as the class doesn't seem very strong as it is anyway.

I'm not sure, but I think an element focused psion would also make a pretty good bender. Just reflavor some of the powers. A healing power can work exactly as presented in the rules, but you could just add, that your character needs to have some clear water to manifest this power. Or make a force push a flying rock, that behaves exactly like a force effect.

[The Glyphstone]

He's still flatly prohibited from learning his opposed element, unless he gets it houseruled....at which point he's basically playing a Sorcerer or Favored Soul with the 'Detect Elements' ability and a much weaker spell list.

@OP: I'd say just be a Sorcerer and pick only elemental-related spells like Scorching Ray, Orb of Cold, Wall of Stone, and Fly. If you decide you want to 'focus' on a specific element, Elemental Savant will get you that specialization without cutting off your access to the others.

Edit: Or a psion. A psion would work Ok, actually, though most of their 'elemental' abilities are just damage attacks with different types. Unless he burned all his feats on Expanded Knowledge, he's going to have to specialize though....Psionic Fly is in a different discipline than Empathic Transfer, so he wouldn't be able to fly and heal other people at the same time for example.

[nysisobli]

any prcs that go well with it?

[ZeroNumerous]

You're better off playing a Sorcerer with Energy Sub(Cold), (Electricity) and.. (Acid), I guess.

Just pick up Rapid Metamagic or any other method of Metamagic without increasing casting time then refluff your spells as Bending.

[The Glyphstone]

For a Sorcerer, Nothing that plays up the Elemental connection too well except Elemental Savant, and that's really a "I like this element the best, but I can still use other elements" PrC.

[Artanis]

If you want to be a straight-up blaster, there's also the Warmage. They get damn well near every nuke you can think of, covering a good six or seven elements. Energy Substitution gives you even more elemental versatility by letting you change the element of otherwise one-element spells like Scorching Ray.

[AstralFire]

Gish Wilder, focus on Energy Spells, reflavor the Crystal Shard line of spells as Shards of Rock.

Psionics: Making everything better since 3.5.^(tm)

[Tempest Fennac]

Are Shugenjas really that weak compared with other casters? I thought they were roughly equal to Sorcerers powerwise due to the Schools giving them some extra versatility (and they get more skill points while being slightly more durable).

[AstralFire]

Are Shugenjas really that weak compared with other casters? I thought they were roughly equal to Sorcerers powerwise due to the Schools giving them some extra versatility (and they get more skill points while being slightly more durable).

They can heal, and that's about it; they miss a lot of the stuff that propels a Sorcerer in play from T3 to T2. You can't focus on showy and really cool visual spells for that kind of power.

By no means is Shugenja a bad class, however. But I think Wilder wins this one.

Spins on her head HEYYO!

[ZeroNumerous]

Are Shugenjas really that weak compared with other casters?

Yes.

Even ignoring the hilarity inherent in the fact that the shugenja(in CD) gets 9th level spells at 16th level and then don't learn any 9th level spells until 18th..

The shugenja spell list is actually a trap. In reality, they have merely 3/4ths the actual choices compared to sorcerer. On top of that, half their choices are locked in based on their elemental specialization. Sure, they get 1 more spell known per spell level than Sorcerer, but they actually get less flexibility because of it.

That isn't to say a shugenja is useless. I mean, he's still a full caster. But compared to sorcs, they have the sorcerer's problem of flexibility without the freedom to pick things usable in 90% of situations facing them. Shugenja is like someone said "Well, the only thing I have on hand is a hammer.. So time to start trying to twist these screws."

[Burley]

While definitely on the lower end of power, I've dreamed of a Dragonfire Adept would make a pretty good Avatar. You get all your "bending" without having "cast". It's got a more fluid, organic feel, like the martial arts in the show. (One of my favorite shows, by the way. Don't care that it's for kids.)

Plus, there are invocations and breath effects to cover all the major bending forms. Just say this to your DM: "I'm not changing the mechanics, I'm just changing the way it looks."

Y'know... A Warlock would be really great for this, too. Brimstone and Hellrime essenses are like Fireballs and Waterwhips/Ice Shards. Earthen Grasp is pretty close to earth bending. You can take the various flight and teleportation powers as air bending.

Warlock would be what I'd do. But, I choose warlock for everything ever.

[Artanis]

Yeah, Avatar is a lot like Invader Zim and Ren & Stimpy in that it's so good that you wonder how the HELL it wound up on Nick.

[AstralFire]

In general the issue with the Shugenja is that it's extremely lazy design, retrofitting a bunch of Wizard, Druid, and Cleric spells onto an elemental frame htey do not support; you're really stretching into philosophy of an element moreso than that element when you're counting 'Spell Turning' as Earth (just so you actually have a spell to put on Earth's list (and I have trouble buying Disintegrate there at all) or 'Cause Fear' as Fire just for the sake of giving fire more spells besides damage. It needs its own system or a lot more custom spells.

While definitely on the lower end of power, I've dreamed of a Dragonfire Adept would make a pretty good Avatar. You get all your "bending" without having "cast". It's got a more fluid, organic feel, like the martial arts in the show. (One of my favorite shows, by the way. Don't care that it's for kids.)

Plus, there are invocations and breath effects to cover all the major bending forms. Just say this to your DM: "I'm not changing the mechanics, I'm just changing the way it looks."

Y'know... A Warlock would be really great for this, too. Brimstone and Hellrime essenses are like Fireballs and Waterwhips/Ice Shards. Earthen Grasp is pretty close to earth bending. You can take the various flight and teleportation powers as air bending.

Warlock would be what I'd do. But, I choose warlock for everything ever.

Warlock is a pretty decent fit, though I still lean towards Wilder myself, in part because of the 'surge' mechanic which can functionally resemble bending strain.

And I clearly like Avatar, given that I've contributed to and compiled a 3.5 adaptation of it and am one-manning a (nearly complete) Saga Edition adaptation. You can check my sig for the latter, links to the former on request. :D

[Kaiyanwang]

Actually, Shugenja becomes better if you use spell compendium (and its guidelines to expand the class spell list).Don't understimate sense elements. Don't make my mistake.

Remember that Shugenja was made to be a class for a specific setting, with specific rules for magic, honor and such (OAdv).

Said this, even if I LOVE the class, I don't suggest it to the OP: as said, The Shugenja inerhently bans one of the 4 elements.

I'd go for sorcerer, maybe looking for some PRC helping in an "elemental" build.

Arcane spell bind elements Conjuring them as Orbs or Elementals, Evoking them, and so on.
Take a look on Reserve feats in Complete Mage, too - you could find someone fitting in flavour, like "mastering the element X so much that you are able to throw it from your hands almost all day". Just an idea.

[AstralFire]

If you go as a Sorcerer instead of a Wilder, the number of spells that you will have that are directly related to stone or easily reflavored as earthbending is low, hence my suggestion.

[Kaiyanwang]

If you go as a Sorcerer instead of a Wilder, the number of spells that you will have that are directly related to stone or easily reflavored as earthbending is low, hence my suggestion.

Well, at high level you can fix it with Undermaster. 500 gp to cast in 5 rounds, as you want: earth lock, earthquake, excavate, flesh to stone, meld into stone, move earth, reverse gravity, soften earth and stone, statue, stone shape, stone tell, stone to flesh, transmute mud to rock, transmute rock to mud, tunnel swallow, wall of stone, and xorn movement.

Not to say that your suggestion is not valid, anyway. Matter o tastes, I guess.