Munchkin

[Letums Gate]

So once again I come to the playground for help, here is the story.

I am going to be playing Dnd 3.0 in a couple of days and I know the DM. He is VERY good at killing his players, last time we played I died first session.....ya.....any ways we have accses to the DMG and the PHP as well as Tome and Blood. I want to live this time so what would be the best class race and feats for living longer this time?

I know if any one can help it is you guys.

Thanks in advance.
Letums Gate.

[Gavinfoxx]

So once again I come to the playground for help, here is the story.

I am going to be playing Dnd 3.0 in a couple of days and I know the DM. He is VERY good at killing his players, last time we played I died first session.....ya.....any ways we have accses to the DMG and the PHP as well as Tome and Blood. I want to live this time so what would be the best class race and feats for living longer this time?

I know if any one can help it is you guys.

Thanks in advance.
Letums Gate.

Any particular reason you are playing 3.0e rather than 3.5e? Also, have you talked to your DM and saying that you don't really like the adversarial gameplay style? AD&D and other more limited games like Hackmaster are better suited to that style than D&D 3.Xe...

Oh, and Cleric or Druid.

[Dr.Epic]

What class did you play last time? Also how did you die? If you were a tank and died in battle, maybe play something that stays back away from the action. For whatever you want to be, a druid doesn't really suck at anything, and I would say that's your best bet to stay a live based on what info you gave (animal companion=decoy).

edit: ninja'd.

[Letums Gate]

Any particular reason you are playing 3.0e rather than 3.5e? Also, have you talked to your DM and saying that you don't really like the adversarial gameplay style? AD&D and other more limited games like Hackmaster are better suited to that style than D&D 3.Xe...

Oh, and Cleric or Druid.

Becuse it is the only sorce books he has at the time.

[Letums Gate]

What class did you play last time? Also how did you die? If you were a tank and died in battle, maybe play something that stays back away from the action. For whatever you want to be, a druid doesn't really suck at anything, and I would say that's your best bet to stay a live based on what info you gave (animal companion=decoy).

edit: ninja'd.

I was a sorrcerer and I died when we faced the undead thanks to level drain so we fought in this order

:Tylens
:A baby Red Dragon
:Flying Heads
:And lastly some screaming savge human like undead (cant rember there name)

[Gavinfoxx]

Okay. Here is what you do. Be a druid, get a high handle animal. Advise the DM that most of the 3.5e SRD at www.d20srd.org.

Buy lots of mules, as in the animals, and use those as tanks. Train them up yourself in your backstory, with tricks that you find useful, like various attack and tactical tricks.

Anyway, always trade out your animal companion for a stronger one when you can. Be a human. get Augmented Summoning. Read through the list of animals you can summon, know what they can do. Look through the Monster Manual for the forms you can change into. Look at the battlefield control options that Entangle and other spells give you. Read your spell list, and understand the spells, and use them tactically with your mule army. Get Extend Spell and use it for buffs. Use summons regularly to solve problems.

[Kaww]

What lvl are you starting the campaign?
Do you know the lvl with which you will end the campaign?
I'd go with druid as said above if it gets to middle lvls. Take some nice battlefield control spells, a tank companion and fly most of the time and have a high AC. I prefer non conspicuous shapes like raven when in a town. You may sneak past anything.

My .02$

[grimbold]

druid has that handy decoy.. i mean animall companion, the barbarian lasts a good long time, he is almost impossible to kill at low levels, unless youre fighting mages. More info would be helpful

[Bharg]

Mule tanks? Are you serious?

[Greenish]

Mule tanks? Are you serious?

They're Large, with good strength and constitution, two hoof attacks and +3 NA.

And best of all, completely expendable at 8 gp each.

[Gavinfoxx]

Mule tanks? Are you serious?

Utterly serious! Look at the tanking ability of a level 1 PHB only fighter versus a mule.

[thubby]

frenzied berserker+iron heart cheese.
at high enough level you can basically be killed several times per day.
so long as the resident cleric can get you above -10 before you butcher the party anyway...

[Gavinfoxx]

Butcher the party?? Don't they have any bags of marbles?

[Tyndmyr]

Yeah, druid is always solid. Or a sneaky, sneaky rogue.

If starting at a low level, abuse mundane items. Mules. Dogs. Marbles.

If at a higher level, branch out into magic items.

[Psyx]

Mule tanks? Are you serious?

Would YOU like to get kicked by a mule?!


I'd talk to the GM first. 'very good at killing players' is not normally the sign of a good GM!

[Yuki Akuma]

War-trained mules!

Genius!

[darkpuppy]

Would YOU like to get kicked by a mule?!


I'd talk to the GM first. 'very good at killing players' is not normally the sign of a good GM!

Yeah, if the GM is a player-killer, then politely requesting he tone it down is a really good idea. I've not met the GM yet who both had the "adversarial" style and a long-lasting player-base... Unless he ran Paranoia one shots week after week, but even that would get boring.

As to the war-trained mules, it's really amusing that you mention that, because KoDT ran an entire story arc based on that very premise... and ended up destroying most of Garweeze Wurld as a result of their actions. As a GM, I'd find the very idea "violent depowering" gold.

[Soranar]

have to admit, mules are cheaper than dogs

but if you really want to have fun

war trained cats (more attacks, they're also small enough to have several per 5 ft square)

so instead of 1 mule blocking 4 squares you have 16 cats doing the same thing (they can't penetrate DR though so some encounters will be problematic)

[Tyndmyr]

Yeah, if the GM is a player-killer, then politely requesting he tone it down is a really good idea. I've not met the GM yet who both had the "adversarial" style and a long-lasting player-base... Unless he ran Paranoia one shots week after week, but even that would get boring.

Yeah, they usually have lots of gripes about why campaigns end prematurely. Adversarial CAN be fun, but only if that's what everyone wants, and you use a system that is designed to handle such. D&D 3.5 does many things, but that's not something it's really meant to do.

[BeholderSlayer]

tell your DM you aren't playing gygaxian philosophy foolishness...I mean 2.0 and earlier. The adversarial DM vs. Players philosophy was tossed out in 3.0.

[Seffbasilisk]

*Nitpick* Munchkins are cheaters. The ones who drop dice instead of rolling them, 'misremember' class abilities, and never seem to run out of crucial items, even when only purchasing one.

What you're looking for, is Powergaming.

Powergaming is finding synergistic combos to maximize effectiveness.

Admittedly, some powergaming is more combat effective than others, see example: A druid who works around cracking out the 'Heal' skill.


That aside, I'd recommend a Ranger type. Specialize in survivability, pick up a longbow, and plink from a distance. Make sure you've a few tricks for mobility, so you don't get swarmed, and can extricate yourself from any melee you find yourself in.

[thubby]

Butcher the party?? Don't they have any bags of marbles?

thrown melee weapons still sting quite a bit

[Tengu_temp]

*Nitpick* Munchkins are cheaters. The ones who drop dice instead of rolling them, 'misremember' class abilities, and never seem to run out of crucial items, even when only purchasing one.

Actually, no. A munchkin can cheat, but doesn't have to. The most important thing that defines a munchkin is the mindset: I want to win the game, all the treasure and magic items are mine, I want to have the strongest character possible (even though I often don't know how to make one), I want to dominate all the other players. And if I don't get what I want, I'll whine that you don't let me have any fun!

[Chipp Zanuff]

Mule tanks? Are you serious?

At 1st-2nd level, they are very powerful tanks. And easily replaced.


Really, a little bit of cash and the right training could turn a pack of mules into a Blitzkrieg (let's say 5 mules to a single tamer, and have the tamer act as the squad leader).


Hell, this is reason 1 why Druids can survive Level 1 play: Animal Companions are much stronger than their CRs indicate.