Asking for ridiculous character ideas

[Serke_Turinqui]

I've been invited to join a D&D 3.5 game that's starting at level 15 with no class or race restrictions, we'll be fighting quasi-lovecraftian critters so he recommends not using similar creatures, but other than that I have free reign. Now the question is what to do with all the power, I personally want to make a character that's just as abnormal as I can make it. I was going to make a marilith barbarian but I can't find anywhere that has them as a playable race so I don't know what the level adjustment would be.

So basically what I want from you kind people is the strangest classes and races you can come up with and preferably links or instructions on how you would make them.

Thanks in advance to everybody who even considers this crazy idea.

[dsmiles]

How ridiculous do you want?

[Brendan]

Dino-RANGER
I'm using this one in a campaign of my own already. awakened megaraptor/ranger. Very fun.

[Frog Dragon]

If homebrew is on the table, then have a look at this. Tons of monsters made playable, which will help in your quest to make a weird/ridiculous character.

For starters, how about a Kython swordsage? An Imp bard? The sky's the limit here.

[Volthawk]

Pile on the aberrant/deformity/etc feats, perhaps?

[Gralamin]

I'm a fan of the Tentacled Sandwich. Personally I go for a Jam Sandwich, but there is no statistical advantage between type. Maybe you prefer Peanut butter.

Anyway, The basic idea of the build is to use the Sandwich Mind-switch Trick, then use some combination of spells/powers and retraining to enter the Impure Prince Prestige Class from Magic of Eberron. You then employ LoP Dirty tricks #4 to the point you feel comfortable.

[Elric VIII]

Enjoy.

EDIT: Well, of all the things to be ninja'd on...

[Serke_Turinqui]

Dsmiles: I want them as ridiculous as you can think of, be-tentacled-sky's the limit!

Everybody else: these sound fantastic, I think I might make the DM regret his lack of restrictions

Gralamin: I really like the sandwich idea but maybe with a pie instead...

[Eiko]

You want the build for a man who rides a wyvern through the skies with his four butlers strapped to the side. He also throws Katana's that magicly reappear in his hands where he passes them to his butlers to resheath that he might draw them again.

Hardcore.

[Daftendirekt]

Savage Species has quite a few neat templates in it, if you're going for that.

[Joshinthemosh]

Ogre Mage with the Saint Template. Make everyone hate you.

[Greymane]

It's Lovecraftian in the sense: Tentacles, but... Mindflayer.

Take levels in Mindflayer Savant. You now steal peoples powers when you eat their brains. Make sure to eat a Warlock (Eldritch Blast is important).

Now, gird yourself in as much blue armor as possible.

Call yourself Mega Man.

[dsmiles]

Since I just finished watching Dune...How about an Ashworm Dragoon?

Seriously, though. Beholder Mage, Aboleth Savant, or Illithid Savant are all very solidly Lovecraftian choices. Alternatively, a Wizard can be game-breakingly silly all by him/her-self.

My personal choice, however, would be a (insert alliteration joke here) Psurlon Psion (Shaper or Telepath)/Shadow Mind (Mind's Eye Version). If a Telepath, I'd use the Telepathy ACF (also in Mind's Eye), and throw in some levels of Thrallherd. If a Shaper, I might throw in some Ectopic Adept (CPsi) levels.

[icantsavemyself]

Be an Ettin bard.

[randomhero00]

Gotta use robots i mean warforge for race. By far the strangest in a fantasy setting. Then get shapeshifting (druid, acl ranger, wiz/sorc spells) and then transform into a metal (or whatever) version. So then it gets really weird. Especially if you can shapeshift into a swarm.

"OMG thousands of mechanical bees!! Runaway!!

Oh, and to make it even odder, I think you can add on hellbred or hellborn or whatever its called to change out racials. Now you're a mechantical shapeshifting hellraiser!

Ridiculous does not equal tentacles. Seems like there's a lot of tentacle fans on here (stop watching those animes. you know who you are)! :D

[Saint GoH]

I've been invited to join a D&D 3.5 game that's starting at level 15 with no class or race restrictions, we'll be fighting quasi-lovecraftian critters so he recommends not using similar creatures, but other than that I have free reign. Now the question is what to do with all the power, I personally want to make a character that's just as abnormal as I can make it. I was going to make a marilith barbarian but I can't find anywhere that has them as a playable race so I don't know what the level adjustment would be.

So basically what I want from you kind people is the strangest classes and races you can come up with and preferably links or instructions on how you would make them.

Thanks in advance to everybody who even considers this crazy idea.

As much as I love this, it IS slightly open ended. My first instinct is to ask what type of character do YOU want to play? You mentioned marilith Barbarian (likely grabbing pounce amirite?) but Marilith is a 17 level monster class, which means you won't even get a barbarian level in. Sad day. Might I suggest something perhaps with similar affect, but less ECL?

Dragonblooded Obah-Blessed Half-Minotaur? Basically end up Large size (with all the nifty benefits including increased strength and CON) with I believe up to 4 additional arms, all for half the LA of a marilith. Go barbarian, get some pounce and rage, then go Warblade and go to town on baddies.

Note: Obah-Blessed I am unsure about. I read it somewhere but Im at work right now (i.e. away from books) so I'll have to get back to you. I am almost certain it exists, and if not there is one from Savage Species you can use.

[Frozen_Feet]

Paladin of Freedom 3 / Sacred Prostitute 5 / Something else to make the build playable.

[herrhauptmann]

half minotaur barbarian (pouncing) warhulking hurler (SS/CWar). Well for a start.
ALSO, take Stoneblessed (RoS), and bloodstorm blade (ToB). If you find your AC is too low, squeeze in two levels of deepwarden.
Remember to take warhulk for your later levels, it zeroes out your int/wis/cha skills except for intimidate, and some DMs may use that to mean you can't qualify for another PrC that uses a mental skill.

What does this give you?
A nine foot tall dwarf with a gore attack. Who can throw castles at people, castles which return to hand instantly allowing a full attack. And he uses his chest to deflect attacks rather than trying to avoid it like everyone else.

If you need to do lots of power attack, make sure to get a 'skillful' weapon, it grants proficiency and gives you BAB as a cleric with levels equal to your hit die. This becomes more important as you take levels in warhulk, you get strength boosts, but no increase to bab, which really hurts your power attack.

Also buy a belt of wide earth (MiC), which doubles your carrying capacity.

[The Glyphstone]

Warforged Druid. You're a transformer!

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you want both ridiculous and silly-unkillable, make a Fiend of Possession. It's found in the Fiend Folio, you'll need to be an Outsider (Evil) to qualify. Common methods include the +0 LA Aasimar or Tiefling (you can delay taking the level adjustment indefinitely) with the Ritual of Alignment from Savage Species to gain the evil subtype, which costs only money. I'd take Warlock and/or Psion to qualify for Fiend of Possession, and probably Legacy Champion from Weapons of Legacy afterward to have a significantly higher effective FoP level for its abilities.

You can possess an empty suit of armor, or a statue, or a puddle of water, or a pile of sand, or a rug, etc. and fight that way while invulnerable to pretty much everything in the game. You can enchant its attacks while you're possessing it, so +X Bane Speed Wounding is probably the best way to go. You can use personal-range buffs on whatever you're possessing, so use Inertial Armor or See the Unseen or whatever else you can do with your initial class levels. Once that object gets destroyed, you'll be ethereal and immune to most effects so just go possess something else.

You could also take Leadership, or Undead Leadership, or Dragon Cohort, etc. and be possessing your cohort the whole time. Build your cohort as a powerful melee combatant, possess him, give him a +4 Profane bonus to all of his stats, give his weapon tons of special properties, he takes his own actions and then you use Eldritch Blast or Walk Unseen or something on the same turn so it looks like he's getting to act twice.

Going on your original idea of a Marilith, that would be far too high an ECL for a level 15 game (16 racial HD, plus whatever level adjustment it would get). I'd go with an Anthromorphic Giant Constrictor from Savage Species as the base creature (humanoid creature with snakelike features, snake tail instead of legs), and add the Arachnid Creature template from Underdark (gains four additional arms, immunity to mind-affecting, and some skill bonuses). That would have 3 racial HD and a +1 LA (arachnid has no listed LA, but this is a cohort anyway). You can say it bought off the level adjustment for both its base race and whatever the template would give anyway. It would be large size, with total ability score adjustments of Str +6, Dex +12, Con -2, Int -4, Wis +4, Cha -4, with +6 natural armor. I would describe it as a great serpent with a chitinous ridge down its back, multiple eyes like a spider's, and six segmented, bug-like limbs ending in powerful three-fingered claws.

If you're level 15, it can be up to level 13, so you have ten class levels to play with if it bought off all the LA. Make it fight like a six-armed Kratos, using six Kusari-Gamas detailed on page 144-145 of the DMG. Its three racial HD get Monstrous Humanoid BAB and Saves (Fighter BAB, Bard saves), and Aberration skill points. Being large size, I'd give it Fighter 6/ War Hulk 4 starting out, and it should work on getting all ten War Hulk levels (Miniatures Handbook). With the 4th level ability from that, every attack he makes can hit three adjacent squares, so his chains can sweep across multiple foes at once. You should definitely give it the Dungeoncrasher alternate class feature from Dungeonscape for Fighter, giving it significant bonus damage when it bull rushes an opponent into a wall or other solid obstacle. With the feat Knock-Back from Races of Stone every attack it makes gets a free Bull Rush attempt to knock the opponent away, thus potentially giving it this extra damage on every attack it makes, so its feats should be as follows: Multiweapon Fighting (flaw), Combat Reflexes (flaw), Power Attack (1), Cleave (3), Improved Bull Rush (F1), Knock-Back (6), EWP: Kusari-Gama (F4), Improved Multiweapon Fighting (9), and Travel Devotion (12). If its Dex is high enough it may as well wear a Monk's Belt instead of using armor, considering it gets a nice Wis bonus as well. All of its weapons should be just +1 so you can add multiple abilities via Fiend of Possession.

You should give all its weapons both Marrowcrushing from BoVD (+3, deals 1 point of Con damage per hit) and Wounding (+2, 1 point Con damage per hit which stacks), along with Speed. It can't Power Attack with light weapons, so it should just focus on hitting as many foes as possible. It can knock everything back to a corner and then keep knocking them into the wall three at a time per hit for some ridiculous enemy-juggling fights from which there's no escape (AoO, knock them right back again).

[Jair Barik]

Half Golem, half vampire Thri-Keen Ninja Dread Priate Paladin with a dinosaur as your special mount.

[Lord.Sorasen]

Awakened horse paladin with human as special mount.

Awakened half-nymph Owlbear.

Or there's always human fighter 5: theoretically by being really normal in a bizarre campaign you would end up being the weird one.

[veven]

I can't remember where i first heard this idea but it's in a similar vein is the post above.

Awakened St. Bernard Paladin of Freedom with the Charging Smite ACF and a halfling outrider cohort.

[Saint GoH]

Or there's always human fighter 5: theoretically by being really normal in a bizarre campaign you would end up being the weird one.

Somehow, this strikes me as pretty amazing. Then again we don't want the OP to feel useless (which, given we are talking about fighter here, she would).



Another idea I had was Beholder Mage/Ur Priest/Mystic Theurge for double 9's and a wicked cool body. Not cheesy enough to get a book pitched at you but still significantly powerful.

[Warlawk]

Be an Ettin bard.

And you could sing a duet with yourself, bonus!

Warforged Druid. You're a transformer!

I was going to suggest warforged warlock, Ironman!

Seriously though... just look at any of the optimization threads, they're chock full of completely ridiculous combinations of Half Minotaur, Half Golem, Half Demon, Half Celestial, Hellbred, Celestial, mineral warrior Water[race] suggestions. Honestly, it makes me wonder how many of these people just own the books and have never actually sat down at the table to play with a real group, cause 90% of this garbage would just be laughed out of the session.

/rant off

If you do want to get really silly, the above tentacle sandwich is good for a laugh, while the beholder mage is good for making your DM cry.

[Frog Dragon]

Not cheesy enough to get a book pitched at you but still significantly powerful.

I dispute that.

[Necro_EX]

15 levels, eh? I think that's just enough to make a half-dragon spell-touched minotaur with one class level. Barbarian seems fitting.

[Saint GoH]

I dispute that.

In comparison to casting 9th level spells by ECL 6, leaving room for plenty of other shenanigans to reach triple 9's by 20th?

I think not good sir.

Seriously though... just look at any of the optimization threads, they're chock full of completely ridiculous combinations of Half Minotaur, Half Golem, Half Demon, Half Celestial, Hellbred, Celestial, mineral warrior Water[race] suggestions. Honestly, it makes me wonder how many of these people just own the books and have never actually sat down at the table to play with a real group, cause 90% of this garbage would just be laughed out of the session.

I'm not sure what kind of gaming group you are in, but its not that uncommon to see such builds at the table I'm at. It's gotten difficult to DM because we can no longer open the MM and say "this one", we have to handcraft each encounter. Its basically rocket tag by level 11. Which, granted, is quickly losing its merits.

[Show]

If you don't mind completely outclassing the rest of the party, you could play a build I made for fun quite some time ago...
It's built around basketweaving! That is the core of its power. However, it still gets some spellcasting and stuff, so it is mostly okay.

At level 15: Psion 5/Thrallherd 4/Exemplar 5/Thrallherd 1(5)
Any race.
Feats needed: Skill focus: Basketweaving, Inquisitor
Skills needed: Craft: Basketweaving, Diplomacy 6 ranks

At level 15, by my calculations, you could easily have craft: basketweaving score of
18 ranks
+2 artisan's tools (50 GP, I think)
+4 exemplar
+10 taking 10(exemplar)
+7 intelligence
+1 illiterate trait, buy back with 2 skill points
I'm sure there are still a few bonuses which could also be applied, but I'm not willing to do the research. This causes a problem, as there is still +8 worth of modifiers needed to get to DC 50.
Fourtunately, in the DMG it gives the rules for creating items which give skill bonuses. The formula is, if I remember correctly (bonus squared)*1000. This puts the price of a +8 at only 64,000 GP. What a bargain! I recommend some fancy gloves.

I've never tried it, but the build seems to me to be actually playable since you still get 10 levels of psion casting and a thrall of 13th level. Probably even more so if you can get some people to watch you weave for 2 minutes... instant fanatical followers(you can even convince kings, gods, and perhaps even a batman wizard. GASP)
Actually, now that I think about it, seeing as it is a psion, after getting into epic levels a bit, you could end up with your mind control pie/sandwhich thingy.

The only problem with the build is that the basketweaving does suffer from not having any commoner levels in the build. If you really, really want to break this character, you could replace the psion and thrallherd levels with ones from expert, commoner, and human paragon...

[Serke_Turinqui]

Wow, these are all great.

As to game breaking, I'm expecting the game to implode anyway because it's being run by a guy that (as far as I know) has never run a game before and is most likely going to have a party where at least 50% of the people have never played before. So really feel no remorse about giving me ideas that will break the game/make the DM cry.