Fluff This!

[shadowolf]

Hello, I'm looking for help with a character's back ground story. The plan is to go with an elf wizard1/barbarian6/arcane archer1
I do plan on taking AA to 10

[VacantPsalm]

Do you have any starting idea? Just from the class choices, maybe you started as a normal elf then something happened that made you want brutal revenge on someone. Not the magic kind, but the smashing in of their skull kind. Might not quite work since AA doesn't quite fit in with that kind of anger. Maybe you got em and got over it? Meh, I can't really see roleplaying that, too lazy to delete it though.

If you want something a little more subtle, you can say you were a part of some arcane school, then after a teleport mishap you got lost in a jungle. You eventually found yourself away from your party and without your spell book, so to survive you ended up having to learn more savage arts. After however long it would take you to get 6 levels of barb, you find your way back to civilization and chose to continue with you arcane training in a way that implements the martial skills earned the time you were lost.

Do you have to start with Wizard? I can say from experience that begin raised by wolves can be hilarious, especially even when your DM starts to threaten you when you keep bringing it up. [/halfjoking]

[BenInHB]

Maybe the character was an ambassador or emissary from a group of high elves to a group of more wild feral wood elves. He had to adapt to there society to get them to accept him (Think Avatar or 13th Warrior) and then he starts to blend there ways with his arcane training (enter arcane archer)

[true_shinken]

So you were an elven wizard, became disillusioned with elven society. Maybe their stagnation. Something about reproducing too slow. Imagine the look on their faces when you say "Elves are not wild anymore. They forgot how to mate. I had to leave." You are looking for a revolution - for elves to become more primal, more feral, wild. You think elves were like that once. You want to change the elven race by showing them the error of their ways. Point out that there are very few elves - if they engage in a long war with orcs, even if they kill more orcs than the orcs kill elves, they lose in the long run because orcs reproduce a lot faster. Play with the D&D rules and the lifespan: "I'm trying to save elves from extinction through stagnation. When was the last time elves created something? I spent a hundred years mastering magic. An 18 year old human can do much the same. A 30 year old dedicated human can be better at magic than I am now. That needs to be changed."

[woodenbandman]

What if instead you were a barbarian 6/wizard 1?

You are the elf protector, tracking enemies of your elf-lands and slay's them with your bear hands and bows'.

When you learned there was a way to make your arrows explode, how could you say no?

[Eldariel]

Nomadic Elven warrior who, in long tradition of his folk, learns to weave magic into arrows. Really, you could fluff that in any number of ways; the more important question is "Who do you want to play?"

[Loki Eremes]

Do you have any starting idea? Just from the class choices, maybe you started as a normal elf then something happened that made you want brutal revenge on someone. Not the magic kind, but the smashing in of their skull kind. Might not quite work since AA doesn't quite fit in with that kind of anger. Maybe you got em and got over it? Meh, I can't really see roleplaying that, too lazy to delete it though.

If you want something a little more subtle, you can say you were a part of some arcane school, then after a teleport mishap you got lost in a jungle. You eventually found yourself away from your party and without your spell book, so to survive you ended up having to learn more savage arts. After however long it would take you to get 6 levels of barb, you find your way back to civilization and chose to continue with you arcane training in a way that implements the martial skills earned the time you were lost.

Do you have to start with Wizard? I can say from experience that begin raised by wolves can be hilarious, especially even when your DM starts to threaten you when you keep bringing it up. [/halfjoking]

JUMANNNJIII !!!!!

[VacantPsalm]

JUMANNNJIII !!!!!

Turning good wizards into barbarians since 1995?

[Xiander]

JUMANNNJIII !!!!!

So how would you stat up Van Pelt?

[Psyren]

Why barbarian and not ranger? You can get just as much "wild man" flavor out of the latter, along with free archery feats and a boatload more skill points. Rage won't hurt your archery but won't really help either (I'm uncertain if it prevents the use of spell-like abilities too.)

[true_shinken]

Rage (specially whirling frenzy) is atually pretty good for archery

[Prime32]

Rage (specially whirling frenzy) is atually pretty good for archery

Not so good for spells. You can't use most of your arcane archer class features while raging. And AA is weak as hell anyway, unless your DM is screwing with your treasure so much that you can't get magic weapons at lv7.

Think about it. Everyone has magic weapons with an enhancement bonus anyway, your spellcasting sucks so you don't have anything good to imbue your arrows with... When you're lv17 you get arrow of death. Now look at slay living and similar spells, and note the following:

• A single-class wizard got that spell back at lv9
• A wizard can use that spell multiple times per day
• Slay living has a higher saving throw DC even at lv9 (minimum DC 20 for a caster with Int 20, before taking into account things like Spell Focus, increases to Int from levelups, or magic items of +Int)
• A lot of enemies at lv17 are immune to death effects
• A wizard has area spells which hit more targets than Hail of Arrows
• A wizard's spells are touch attacks which are more accurate than your "ranged attacks that ignore cover", and he can use them more often
• An lv17 wizard can cast 9th-level spells, allowing him to stop time and rewrite reality

The Pathfinder version is a bit better, since your spellcasting is advanced and you can benefit from someone casting greater magic weapon on you.

[Psyren]

Rage (specially whirling frenzy) is atually pretty good for archery

You get an extra attack, sure, but you're giving up free Rapid Shot and Manyshot, plus the aforementioned buttload of skill points. Is it worth it? I say no, so I'm asking the OP if there's anything specific about the barbarian choice that can't be adapted to a particularly wild Ranger.

[Prime32]

You get an extra attack, sure, but you're giving up free Rapid Shot and Manyshot, plus the aforementioned buttload of skill points. Is it worth it? I say no, so I'm asking the OP if there's anything specific about the barbarian choice that can't be adapted to a particularly wild Ranger.

Or switch barbarian 6 for barbarian 1/ranger 5. But you still run into the rage/concentration problem.


I'd use duskblade as a base for this (full-BAB class with some spellcasting, can channel spells through melee weapons, common among elves), or ranger with Sword of the Arcane Order (feat that lets you prepare wizard spells in ranger slots). Though really, if you're using duskblade then all it takes is the DM's permission to switch its Arcane Channeling from melee to ranged attacks and you can be an arcane archer from lv1.

[Greenish]

Hello, I'm looking for help with a character's back ground story. The plan is to go with an elf wizard1/barbarian6/arcane archer1
I do plan on taking AA to 10

You're a valenari.

Hey, you didn't specify a setting.

[true_shinken]

You get an extra attack, sure, but you're giving up free Rapid Shot and Manyshot, plus the aforementioned buttload of skill points. Is it worth it? I say no, so I'm asking the OP if there's anything specific about the barbarian choice that can't be adapted to a particularly wild Ranger.

In this situation, all we know for sure is that the OP wants to be an Arcane Archer. Ranger is a very obvious fit, so I believe he just wanted a Barbarian's greater damage or the oddity of a Barbarian/Wizard multiclass. The whole point could very well be he wants a Barbarian/Wizard/Arcane Archer multiclass. The OP is not asking for build critique, he wants fluff for his intended build. A Barbarian archer is not unplayble (it's pretty good, even) so I really don't think it's worth not doing hat you want for some skill points. Of course, YMMV.

I'd use duskblade as a base for this (full-BAB class with some spellcasting, can channel spells through melee weapons, common among elves), or ranger with Sword of the Arcane Order (feat that lets you prepare wizard spells in ranger slots). Though really, if you're using duskblade then all it takes is the DM's permission to switch its Arcane Channeling from melee to ranged attacks and you can be an arcane archer from lv1.

I agree completely on Duskblade, but as I mentioned before, I believe the OP simply wants a Barbarian/Wizard. If he wanted to optimize, he probably wouldn't use Arcane Archer (or if he did, he'd dip it for 2 levels).
Also, Sword of the Arcane Order qualifying you for anything is highly debatable and it's a can of worms that I usually wouldn't try to open in an actual game (dunno about the OP).

[Loki Eremes]

So how would you stat up Van Pelt?

Now his DM got his recurrent random encounter

[shadowolf]

Thank you for all the suggestions. I chose barbarian largely because a former DM said that it couldn't be role played, and I had thought of being an elf sent to a barbarian tribe as a punishment/diplomatic mission.
My current DM restricts books to PHB, DMG, MM. Anything outside of that is on a case by case basis. Our group doesn't optimise much: currently myself as a cleric (I never seem to prepare the correct spells), a fighter, and a monk. I intend to ask for the barbarian-ranger ACF and wizard-fighter ACF from UA.

[Psyren]

In this situation, all we know for sure is that the OP wants to be an Arcane Archer. Ranger is a very obvious fit, so I believe he just wanted a Barbarian's greater damage or the oddity of a Barbarian/Wizard multiclass. The whole point could very well be he wants a Barbarian/Wizard/Arcane Archer multiclass. The OP is not asking for build critique, he wants fluff for his intended build. A Barbarian archer is not unplayble (it's pretty good, even) so I really don't think it's worth not doing hat you want for some skill points. Of course, YMMV.

Which is why I'm asking him what he wants to do. If his heart is set on barbarian then I'm all for it - I'm not a "stop-having-fun guy." ("No rage! Bows ONLY! Final Destination!") But if all he wants is "Arcane Archer with only minor magical ability" then there's a multitude of roads to get there.

EDIT: OP posted as I was responding. If it's a fluff challenge the DM should know better, anything can be fluffed (even if it's a mechanically iffy choice.)

Or switch barbarian 6 for barbarian 1/ranger 5. But you still run into the rage/concentration problem.

Ranger 6 is where you get your second free feat; I can't in good conscience recommend breaking at Ranger 5.

And I agree - everything I'm reading says SLAs are no-go in rage as well.