Chameleon build

[Gnaritas]

In an effort to build a new character i came across the Chameleon (Races of Destiny).
I found it interesting and started looking for entry ways.
Factotum 5
Cleric 1/Human Paragon 3/whatever 1
....

But as i started building i thought it would be fun to take 1 class for each of the 5 focuses.
I want to optimize this a bit, what i came up with was this:

Divine Focus: Cloistered Cleric
I get 3 domains, Turn Undead and some level 1 spells.

Combat Focus: Swordsage
I take this as the 5th level. I think i will try to take the Concentration to saves maneuvers and other non-combat related maneuvers (Cloak of Deception, Shadow Jaunt, Baffling Defense?, Windstride).
Stance: Hunter's Sense

Stealth Focus: Martial Rogue
Trapfinding, Fighter Feat (improved toughness), skills

Wilderness Focus: Deadly Hunter/Druidic Avenger Druid
Wis to AC, Favorite Enemy, Swift Tracker, Track, +10 ft movement, Rage, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy and some level 1 spells.

Arcane Focus: Focused Specialist Wizard
Perhaps exchanging the Scribe Scroll for Improved Initiative. Also Familiar and some 1st level spells.
Would the dropped schools prohibit me from casting those spells with Divine or Arcane focus?

I am building it at level 10, so 5 Chameleon levels will be added.

I will focus on WIS to get a decent AC.

Feats: i have considered Martial Study for Concentration to Fort Saves at level 9. I haven't really spend time on looking for feats yet.

The character will have a split personality, every focus will have a different one.

I will mostly be in Divine Focus. I will probably not have any fighting capability with a BaB of 3 in 10 level...but with lots of (1st) level spells i should be able to pull through the day. I will not worship a deity, well not really at least. I could claim to be a Cleric of Pelor one day and a Cleric of Lathander the next.

Skills:
Bluff, Disguise, Sense Motive, Search, Spot, Listen, Disable Device, Concentration.

Anyone have any advice to offer while i continue to build this character? Could be some optimization advice or a flavorful or fun thing to add.

[kestrel404]

I would think that if you're going into Chameleon, you would want to pick up abilities that the chameleon doesn't already get? Also, I'm a big fan of Human Paragon, so I'd recommend something along the lines of:
Scout 1 or Factotum 1
Archivist 1 or Psion 1 or other Full Caster 1
Human Paragon 3

Do not pick up a level of incarnum class - if you do that, you can't take advantage of the chameleon bonus feat to make as many soulbinds as your con score allows - you'll be limited based on your class.

[Thurbane]

I quite like Beguiler 2/Human Paragon 3/Chameleon 10. Maybe fill up the last five levels with more Beguiler, or something kooky like Master of Masks.

[Person_Man]

There are two big tricks with the Chameleon.

One is that they have a "floating" feat that they can reassign every morning. Plus he has easy access to the Heroics spell (Spell Comp), which gives you a bonus Fighter feat. The base classes which benefit most from this are classes which can gain new class abilities from feats - Crusader/Warblade/Swordsage (Martial Stance and Maneuver), Totemist/Incarnate (Shape Soulmeld/Open Chakra), and to a lesser degree psionic builds (Expanded Knowledge - though they should only dip 2 levels into Chameleon, or their progression is totally nerfed).

The other is that they can cast spells from any list. This includes Cleric, Druid, Blackguard, Paladin, Ranger, domain, PrC, etc. Many 3rd and 4th level Blackguard/Paladin/Ranger/PrC spells are the equivalent of 5th or 6th level Cleric spells (the easiest example is Holy Sword, but the splat books are filled with them).

For example:

Echo the Active

Human Factotum 3/Warblade 2/Chameleon 5/Warblade 3

At this ECL you get:

• +8 BAB
• All Skills as Class Skills
• Int bonus applied to tons of different checks (Str/Dex Skills, Trip/Bull Rush/Disarm/Grapple, critical confirmation, Saves, etc).
• 4th level maneuvers (and you can choose a different one every morning using Martial Study or Martial Stance as one of your floating feats)
• 4th level divine or arcane spells.

Take the Exotic Weapon proficiency feat, and learn what it can do. You can swap this out to be any exotic weapon each morning using the Warblade's Weapon Aptitude ability. If you want, you can add a level of Master of Masks, as it gives you access to every Exotic Weapon at the same time, instead of just one each morning.

Also note that the Chameleon is strongest at ECL 8-12ish, when it hits the sweet spot of spells. Above that ECL there are better builds for endless flexibility (any full caster, Binder, etc).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you're set on going with your one level of many classes idea, the Wizard level should definitely be a Conjurer and you should get Abrupt Jaunt from PH2 in place of your familiar. Definitely use the martial wizard variant from UA/SRD to get a Fighter feat in place of Scribe Scroll. Spells from prohibited schools still appear on your class spell list, so you can still use wands and scrolls of them for example. Your prohibited schools only limit what Wizard spells you can cast, it has absolutely no affect on spellcasting from any other class. You should have Benign Transposition prepared at least twice. Don't ban Enchantment, you can get Charm Person and dip a level into Mindbender later.

It looks like a clever idea, though you should see if you can use the Fractional BAB variant from UA in the sidebar on page 73. Otherwise your BAB won't even get to +1 until 7th level, and it will always be prohibitively short thereafter. Swap the Knowledge domain for Knowledge Devotion in Complete Champion. For your other two domains I'd get Celerity and maybe Time or Travel or even Wrath for the 1st level spell. For your Martial Rogue and Martial Wizard feats I'd probably get something like Power Attack and Cleave, or Combat Expertise and Improved Trip to get Knock-Down at 3rd level, or even Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot. Get feats that will actually make you good at something, since it's already a suboptimal build but it definitely looks enjoyable.


If you're going to use Factotum to qualify, you'd be much better off going something like Factotum 8/ Chameleon 2/ Factotum 10. Not exactly what you had in mind, but Chameleon isn't a very strong class to begin with.

[Gnaeus]

Try to convince your DM that you can use your focus to meet prereqs for your floating feat, that the text in the front of the class is referring to permanent options. RAW, it is a bad argument, but it works OK if your DM is flexible, and it lets you use your floating feat for item creation or reserve feats. If your DM says no, you REALLY want at least CL 3, if not 5, in a casting class (Cloistered cleric or Beguiler), so that you can use your floating feat to craft during downtime. (although you may be able to do this with practiced spellcaster).

Cloistered Cleric/Swordsage is a good way to enter the class. Factotum is probably better, but my Chameleon is a CC/SS, and he works out allright. You really want at least 2 levels of Swordsage. As you point out, Divine Focus is awesome, and you want to be able to add your wisdom to your AC. As Thurbane notes, Beguiler works well also, maybe Beguiler 3/SS.

Wilderness focus is sadly useless. It gives at most a +4 bonus to Climb, Jump, Handle Animal, Survival, and Knowledge Nature. If you are in the wilderness, you instead cast Primal Hunter and Primal Instinct (Dragon Magic) first thing in the morning, and you get +5 Climb, Jump, Swim, Survival, Initiative, and uncanny dodge like a barbarian, and you still have spells left over. Pretend Wilderness Focus doesn't exist and take an extra level in Cleric, Swordsage, or arcane caster.

I disagree with Biffonacus that Chameleon isn't a strong class. In my experience, Chameleon builds (by which I mean mostly chameleon builds, not 2 level dips) live in tier 3. The floating feat and open ended divine spell list are big advantages. The big problem is how few spells per day you get. A chameleon can effectively duplicate most of the mid level tricks of a full tier 1 caster, but he has to guess which trick to use in a given day. For example, at Chameleon 3, I was contributing to fights with Fly, Haste, and Slow, only one spell level behind where a wiz or Sorc 8 would be, but a large % of effectiveness came from guessing which one I needed that day, whereas a Wizard 8 can prepare all 3. Fill the gap with wands and maneuvers.

[Cirrhosis]

given that you're making the character at level 10, would the GM allow you to take a LA? the flexibility of the chameleon can be restricted somewhat by MAD issues, in my experience...given that you actually want to utilize more than just one or two of the aptitude focuses. you could, for instance, take the +4 LA hit of the doppelganger. failing that, you could take the doppelganger monster class in the races of destiny.

either option will give you the prerequisites of chameleon out of the box without any other class levels at all. your hit points, skill points, and saves will suffer, but the attribute bonuses for taking the race are rather beautiful, and make switching between the four different roles (fighter, rogue, cleric, wizard) much easier to handle effectively.

granted despite the +2 to all stats and +4 to wisdom, the loss of 4 levels of saves, hit dice, and skills is still painful, so this build has some severe drawbacks. even so, a doppelganger chameleon can be insanely fun to play. at least until you run out of chameleon levels to take at 18th level and have to pick something else for the last two.

[Tokuhara]

I think Factotum and Beguiler in tandem with Human Paragon and Chameleon is the "ultimate trickster"

Personally, I adore Changelings in a build like this

Human Version:

Beguiler 2/Human Paragon 3/Chameleon 10/Factotum 5

Changeling Version:

Factotum 5/Chameleon 10/Cabinet Trickster 5

[Human Paragon 3]

Your idea looks fun and sound. I say go for it!

[FMArthur]

*cough* Maybe there would be some other similar and simpler solution that would be more appealing to you, Gnaritas. Perhaps if certain Chameleon-related homebrew were allowed...

[Gnaritas]

As a DM i allow anything that i feel has the right powerlevel and flavor.

The DM when i play is more strict, he allows only certain books, and i have no problem with that.

[Tytalus]

There are two big tricks with the Chameleon.

There are at least two more:

Divine metamagic (somewhat related): without any shenanigans you can persist any divine spell (up to max. chameleon spell level) you like, not just cleric spells. There are a few extremely nice ranger, paladin and druid spells that make this very worthwhile.

Inflated caster level: a "normal" chameleon has a caster level of 20 (both divine and arcane) at ECL 15. That's nice. Now add your favorite CL enhancers and boost it through the roof. If you take your first five levels in Spellthief and the Master Spellthief feat, for example, you have a caster level of 25 at ECL 15 (arcane spells only). That's before any items etc.

A (cloistered) cleric 1 / spellthief 4 / chameleon 10 is a good basis for a spellcasting chameleon.