Stat this character! (3.5)

[WarKitty]

I could use some help converting a character over to 3.5 from a homebrew. Here's the backstory:

Kiara was a daughter of a noble house. As a child she showed some magical talent and received training in the arcane arts, along with the binding of her very spoiled feline companion. A civil war broke out in her homeland, resulting in her being placed in a temple for training. She made good use of her noble training and natural beauty and charm in her new home to find herself work as a courtesan, as well as bringing peace and healing to those around her.

Requirements:
- Charisma should be a casting stat.
- familiar class ability
- arcane casting
- either divine casting or divine/temple-related abilities
- CG alignment
- starting level 7

Preferences:
- bard/some sort of music based abilities
- human
- ability to cast cure spells

I'd like her to not be totally useless but it's not an optimized game. Also the game tends to end up with a LOT of individual quests so a fairly self-sufficient character build is better.

[Shpadoinkle]

Looks to me like Bard/Ranger is the only thing that fits. I think there's an option UA that lets rangers get an animal companion.

Edit: If you're looking for "moderately optimized" you're going to have to sacrifice a couple things from that list.

[WarKitty]

Looks to me like Bard/Ranger is the only thing that fits. I think there's an option UA that lets rangers get an animal companion.

Edit: If you're looking for "moderately optimized" you're going to have to sacrifice a couple things from that list.

Ok I'm an idiot, meant "familiar" not "animal companion."

[Snake-Aes]

I was thinking of a Fey Druid, but the alignment kinda gets in the way. This way you could even have your familiar also be your animal companion.

[Devils_Advocate]

Available material? Setting? (Why do I see so many requests for help with divine characters with no mention of available deities?) Ability scores? Wealth and equipment purchasing guidelines?

So far, I'm seeing a Chaotic Good human Bard 7 with Obtain Familiar feat from Complete Arcane, maxxed Knowledge (religion), and a wand of cure light wounds.

Mostly could use some faith-related feat(s) and/or spell(s). If anyone knows a convenient way to give her all cure spells or the Healing domain as spells known, that would be good. But getting everything else listed should be easy; looks like what's needed is mostly just to flesh it out.

I'd prioritized a Bard's stats as follows: Cha > Int > Dex > Con > Str > Wis.

[WarKitty]

Available material? Setting? (Why do I see so many requests for help with divine characters with no mention of available deities?) Ability scores? Wealth and equipment purchasing guidelines?

So far, I'm seeing a Chaotic Good human Bard 7 with Obtain Familiar feat from Complete Arcane, maxxed Knowledge (religion), and a wand of cure light wounds.

Mostly could use some faith-related feat(s) and/or spell(s). If anyone knows a convenient way to give her all cure spells or the Healing domain as spells known, that would be good. But getting everything else listed should be easy; looks like what's needed is mostly just to flesh it out.

I'd prioritized a Bard's stats as follows: Cha > Int > Dex > Con > Str > Wis.

It's make-your-own deity. Equipment is severely limited (don't count on much past a spell component pouch and a dagger). All sources available so far as I know, I'll need to know what book to look in when you post.

[Ajadea]

Bards have healing. Grab Obtain Familiar, and learn healing and buffing spells. Maybe a spells known list that looks something like this:

6 Cantrips: Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Know Direction, Read Magic, Open/Close, Prestidigitation
4 1st Level: Cure Light Wounds, Grease, Remove Fear, Tasha's Hideous Laughter
4 2nd Level: Calm Emotions or Enthrall, Cure Moderate Wounds, Eagle's Splendor, Suggestion or Sound Burst
2 3rd Level: Cure Serious Wounds, Gaseous Form, Good Hope or Glibness (just pick two)

[CyMage]

I think there's an option UA that lets rangers get an animal companion.

Actually that option is in the PHB and is called 'Ranger 4'.

[Crossblade]

Does she have to be a certain race?
If not, she can be a gnome and go bard/priest/divine prankster/mystic theurge.
Failing that, there's sorcerer/cleric/mystic theurge.
The PrC, Singer of Concordance (Races of Dragon, p91), it's really a cleric PrC but you can throw arcane into the mix.

[Milskidasith]

Interesting concept: Refluffing! You can stay in one class (sorcerer, maybe?) but have it fluffed so that, say, your buff spells are divine and your blastey spells are arcane, or the other way around, it doesn't really matter. You don't have to be unoptimized to fit your concept.

[Temotei]

I'd prioritized a Bard's stats as follows: Cha > Int > Dex > Con > Str > Wis.

Really? I'd put Intelligence lower (after Constitution, probably), simply because the only things they get out of it are skill points and bardic knowledge bonuses.

Of course, it depends on the bard. Multiclassing changes things, as do prestige classes. If they're using Knowledge Devotion, their reliance on Intelligence would bump up a little.

[Roc Ness]

Try to be Neutral Good. I can't think of any way to meet your preferences and requirements if one of your requirements is Chaotic Good. Besides, your character's backstory sounds Neutral Good anyway.

If you can be Neutral Good:

Spoiler

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Then you could set yourself up with Bard 4/Druid 1/Green Whisperer 2. You would get 6th level Bardic Music, 6th level Bard Casting, 3rd level Druid Casting. You could take the Obtain Familiar feat for your familiar, which would also be 6th level.

If you are going to eventually reach 10th level or higher, then you should instead take Rogue 2/Bard 2/Druid 1/Green Whisperer 2. Then you could eventually enter Fochlucan Lyrist PRC at 11th level, after you finish your five levels of Green Whisperer. Like this, your build would become Rogue 2/Bard 2/Druid 1/Green Whisperer 5/Fochlucan Lyrist 10 at level 20, and you would get 17th level Bardic Music and Bard Casting, and 16th Druid Casting.

[BobVosh]

What is green whisperer in?

[HunterOfJello]

Divine Bard

[Mystic Muse]

So, question about the name. Did you steal it from Lion king 2?

[Kaww]

I'd like her to not be totally useless but it's not an optimized game. Also the game tends to end up with a LOT of individual quests so a fairly self-sufficient character build is better.

You can achieve that via vow of nonviolence and vow of peace. With high enough charisma nobody wants to attack you, and with decent constitution weapons shatter when they hit you. You party might hate you for it... If you take vow of poverty you are eligible for apostle of peace and lvl 9 divine spells.

[Roc Ness]

Green Whisperer is in a Dragon Magazine (forgot which one, had a 33 in it though). Its main requirements are 8 ranks in a skill or two, Bardic Music and something else druidic, and the abilities it gives you don't really come into play often. However, it dual progresses your Druid and Bard casting, and also advances your Bardic Music.

[JaronK]

The obvious choice is just a Bard with the Obtain Familiar feat, and then play it as a religious character. UA Fey Variant Divine Bard works too, but that's an animal companion instead of a familiar. There's also Foculyn (sp?) Lyricist, which isn't very powerful but does give everything you've asked for (need to enter it a bit late for most games though).

JaronK

[WarKitty]

So, question about the name. Did you steal it from Lion king 2?

Never even seen it.

I'm a bit concerned about a bard's...survivability in the game, although I suppose escape spells would handle that. Bufffing abilities that have a range other than self are basically useless in this particular world, and those are the bard's forte. A way to get actual divine casting would be nice if it can be done without totally nerfing the character.

Also, no druid-y stuff please, the divine fluff is specifically temple related.

[Prime32]

What about a halfling sorcerer with the Dragonmarked Sorcerer feat [mark of healing]?

EDIT: Maybe Bronze Solaris Member too, though Education would be more efficient.

[WarKitty]

What about a halfling sorcerer with the Dragonmarked Sorcerer feat [mark of healing]?

Really do want to stay human, would there be a way around the halfling bit? I know I put human under "preferences", but halfling just does not fit her.

[Prime32]

Really do want to stay human, would there be a way around the halfling bit? I know I put human under "preferences", but halfling just does not fit her.

The mark of healing has fluff ties to a halfling noble house... in Eberron. If it's not Eberron, ask your DM for a refluff.

A cloistered cleric dip might also help, though you probably won't have enough skill points for the Education + Knowledge Devotion combo.

[Roc Ness]

Also, no druid-y stuff please, the divine fluff is specifically temple related.

That makes it a bit harder... there's plenty of bardy-druidy stuff, but not really all that much bardy-diviny-in-generally stuff...

Of the few choices left you've got Divine Bard (No Familiar), Mystic Theurge (No Good Music, late entry), Divine Prankster (Gnome Only), Heartfire Fanner (Low Casting, No Familiar if high casting, late entry) and... that's all I can think of.

Actually...

Spoiler

Show

Try using Bard 2/Cleric 5 right now. Use feat Practised Spellcaster (Bard) to qualify for Obtain Familiar (for your familiar). Don't forget to take the melodic casting feat to let you Bardic Music and Cleric cast at the same time. Then when you level up, take Heartfire Fanner. It will improve your Bardic Music, give you several incredibly useful musics to play with (off the top of my head, one of them gives the listeners a temp. bonus feat, another grants a caster the ability to tack on a free metamagic to a spell), and can advance one of your spellcasting classes. Once you hit level 10, take a two level dip into Seeker of the Song to dual play your useful Bardic Music abilities. Then take whatever (Just Cleric? Mystic theurge? More Heartfire Fanner?) 'till level 20.

So, for example at 20th level: Bard 2/Cleric 11/Heartfire Fanner 5/Seeker of the Song 2. You get: Caster level 6 Bard (only 1st level spells), Effective level 6 Familiar, 7/day (more with Extra Music feat) level 7 Bardic Music, Nifty Heartfire Fanner Bardic Performances, the ability to use two Bardic Music abilities at a time and cast spells(!), and 16th level Cleric casting.

[mcl01]

Cha focused Bard/Paladin of Freedom. Paladin 4 for turn Undead, divine grace, and lay on hands. Use them to fuel divine feats/domain feats. You also gain access to paladin spell scrolls/wands. Then pure bard using obtain familiar. You can recover your lost CL with practiced spellcaster. She can also now go for being a gish-light or a buffer/ICer.

[WarKitty]

Bard 4/Favored Soul 1 with alternative spell source to qualify for Theurge? I don't need too many of the class abilities beyond spellcasting from what I see.

[ShadowsGrnEyes]

Requirements:
- Charisma should be a casting stat.
- familiar class ability
- arcane casting
- either divine casting or divine/temple-related abilities
- CG alignment
- starting level 7

Preferences:
- bard/some sort of music based abilities

My sugestion. . . Beguiler 6/Rainbow Servant 10/ Beguiler 1/whatever you want 3. (refluff for personal diety requirments as listed under Adaptation)

Refluffed rainbow servant: Detect law (replace detect chaos). Whatever you want to use for your diety replaces couatl, domains: healing + any other 2 appropriate to your diety. Refluff the wings as celestial wings granted by diety.

Feats:
Human:??
1: Cosmopolitan: perform (music)
3: Obtain familiar
6:??

This meets all your requirements but 1. Int would be your casting stat rather than CHA, but a high Cha would still be important. I'd Prioritize like so:
Int> Cha > Dex > Con> Wis > Str

Awsome point: Because Beguilers know all spells on their spell list and can cast those spells Spontaneously, this means at 16th level you will suddenly have spontaneous access to the entire Cleric spell list. It's like being a charm based sorcerer. . . only COMPLETELY AWESOME. Sure, beguilers have a limited spell list but full accress to the cleric list makes up for it And with careful Domain choice, you can get most of the good arcane spells you'd want anyway.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Use Sorcerer for spellcasting. Take Paladin of Freedom with the Harmonious Knight substitution level, which trades your Detect Evil ability for Inspire Courage.

For the 20-level build go Paladin of Freedom 2/ Sorcerer 4/ Spellsword 1/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Sacred Exorcist 8, mostly in that order but you'll want to take Sorcerer first to cover your background. Your feats should be Power Attack, Arcane Preparation, Practiced Spellcaster, Combat Casting, Arcane Strike, Minor Shapeshift, Arcane Disciple: Healing, and Divine Might. Trade Ride for Tumble as a class skill. See if you can research Inspirational Boost as a 1st level Sorcerer spell, as per the DMG rules for researching new spells.

A familiar is more of a liability than anything, and your kitty is far too precious to take along on a dangerous adventure anyway. Role-play it as a familiar, but trade your familiar class feature for the PH2 ACF Metamagic Specialist.

Your items should include at least one Rod of Bodily Restoration, at least one Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend, and an Eternal Wand of Hound of Doom (CW). You can say the hound is actually a cat and role-play it as being somehow tied to your cuddly pet lounging at home. Maybe the cat tragically died, and the wand summons its spirit to aid you, whatever works. You can use wands of any Paladin spells as long as your Wisdom score is high enough (10 + spell level), so get some wands of cure light wounds and maybe lesser restoration. With Arcane Preparation you'll be able to prepare and cast Sanctified spells from BoED, namely (Greater) Luminous Armor. Use the Rod of Bodily Restoration to fix up the ability damage you must sacrifice whenever you cast it. Get a Circlet of Rapid Casting as soon as possible.

Your spells known should include Power Word: Pain, Shield, Inspirational Boost, Grease, Glitterdust, and Wraithstrike. Note that anyone can use a Lesser Rod of Extend when spontaneously casting Wraithstrike without increasing the casting time, since that only applies to spells whose casting time is a standard action or longer. Plan to trade out a spell for Greater Magic Weapon at one of your later even-numbered levels, probably 12th. Use two-handed Power Attack with Wraithstrike and eventually add Arcane Strike and Divine Might to that to put out a lot of damage. With spells for buffing and crowd control, an amazing long-lasting combat pet from Hound of Doom (its stats should be unchanged even if it is played off as a cat), and little need for items due to spells, this character will be a force to be reckoned with.

[WarKitty]

Use Sorcerer for spellcasting. Take Paladin of Freedom with the Harmonious Knight substitution level, which trades your Detect Evil ability for Inspire Courage.

For the 20-level build go Paladin of Freedom 2/ Sorcerer 4/ Spellsword 1/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Sacred Exorcist 8, mostly in that order but you'll want to take Sorcerer first to cover your background. Your feats should be Power Attack, Arcane Preparation, Practiced Spellcaster, Combat Casting, Arcane Strike, Minor Shapeshift, Arcane Disciple: Healing, and Divine Might. Trade Ride for Tumble as a class skill. See if you can research Inspirational Boost as a 1st level Sorcerer spell, as per the DMG rules for researching new spells.

A familiar is more of a liability than anything, and your kitty is far too precious to take along on a dangerous adventure anyway. Role-play it as a familiar, but trade your familiar class feature for the PH2 ACF Metamagic Specialist.

Your items should include at least one Rod of Bodily Restoration, at least one Lesser Metamagic Rod of Extend, and an Eternal Wand of Hound of Doom (CW). You can say the hound is actually a cat and role-play it as being somehow tied to your cuddly pet lounging at home. Maybe the cat tragically died, and the wand summons its spirit to aid you, whatever works. You can use wands of any Paladin spells as long as your Wisdom score is high enough (10 + spell level), so get some wands of cure light wounds and maybe lesser restoration. With Arcane Preparation you'll be able to prepare and cast Sanctified spells from BoED, namely (Greater) Luminous Armor. Use the Rod of Bodily Restoration to fix up the ability damage you must sacrifice whenever you cast it. Get a Circlet of Rapid Casting as soon as possible.

Your spells known should include Power Word: Pain, Shield, Inspirational Boost, Grease, Glitterdust, and Wraithstrike. Note that anyone can use a Lesser Rod of Extend when spontaneously casting Wraithstrike without increasing the casting time, since that only applies to spells whose casting time is a standard action or longer. Plan to trade out a spell for Greater Magic Weapon at one of your even-numbered levels. Use two-handed Power Attack with Wraithstrike and eventually add Arcane Strike and Divine Might to that to put out a lot of damage. With spells for buffing and crowd control, an amazing long-lasting combat pet from Hound of Doom (its stats should be unchanged even if it is played off as a cat), and little need for items due to spells, this character will be a force to be reckoned with.

I can't count on rods or wands in this campaign, magic items tend to be unavailable. I wouldn't worry too much about the familiar, it tends to be a low-combat campaign where my strategy of "if it looks powerful run away" is actually quite optimal. My strategy of "talk to it first" is probably better.

[Ilmryn]

Requirements:
- Charisma should be a casting stat.
- familiar class ability
- arcane casting
- either divine casting or divine/temple-related abilities
- CG alignment
- starting level 7

Preferences:
- bard/some sort of music based abilities
- human
- ability to cast cure spells

I'd like her to not be totally useless but it's not an optimized game. Also the game tends to end up with a LOT of individual quests so a fairly self-sufficient character build is better.

I would suggest going sorcerer, taking the divine sorcerer ACF from complete champion. Choose the healing domain. This fulfills all your requirements except the music abilities.

[hamishspence]

The verbal components could be sung (or played on instruments), and the somatic components could be conductor gestures (or instrument movements).

Basically, ordinary sorcerer with refluffing.

Maybe some spells could use Circle Magic- like the DMG Red Wizard ability- and thus you have a whole group playing.