Replacing a Character in a running campaign

[DoomsdayBadger]

So my party lost an important member and the DM told me I could change my character in order to make up for what we lost.

My character had been a level 5 Druid and a level 6 sorceror. It gave me a character that could do alot of things in the game, but wasn't good at anything in particular (I had planned on making a Geomancer).

I know I'll receive a bit of flak for this, but I found my druidic spells mediocre at best (I was evil so I couldn't heal), so this led me to multiclass.

The player we lost was a level 11 warlock, and a considerable amount of our firepower. So without him I need to make a better sniper essentially. I still want to make a sorceror, but I was wondering if there was a particular prestige which would be useful.

I found the Alienist, acoylte of the skin and the alienist to be interesting. What do you guys think I should do?

Our campaign's main features are lots of undead (Which can not be controlled, raised by PCs and are hurt by negative energy spells), and lots of extraplanar creatures.
The party is as follows:
Level 10 Cleric of Hextor (Destruction/War domains)/level one prestige paladin of tyranny
Level 10 Paladin of freedom (Fallen)/ Level one Blackguard
Level 11 Monk

[Yechezkiel]

I know I'll receive a bit of flak for this, but I found my druidic spells mediocre at best (I was evil so I couldn't heal),

What? Why couldn't you heal?

[Starsinger]

(I was evil so I couldn't heal)

WHAT?! Windmills don't work that way, evil people can heal.

Alienist is better for a summoner crunch wise. Acolyte of the Skin, IIRC doesn't do anything either way for a blaster.

[Jack Mann]

First off, evil druids can still heal. Second, yes, the druid spell list isn't as good as the sorcerer wizard class. The true strength in druids is their ability to wildshape, making them one of the two best melee classes (the other being cleric).

In some ways, you're better off without the warlock. Overall, they're not that good at damage. Don't be fooled by the d6s or the touch attack. The amount of damage they can do in a given round just doesn't add up fast enough.

Sorcerers and wizards aren't very good at damage either (what makes them so powerful is their other spells), but sorcerer is the better class for a blaster build, so you're okay there.

For blaster prestige classes... Well, pretty much anything that grants full caster progression is useful. Look for things that let you do things beyond blasting. You won't be doing much damage in any case, so you should be looking to maximize your other abilities.

[Damionte]

HAhahahahahaa you guys have a "Monk" in the party and they're makign the druid/Sorc reroll. Hahahahah OMG that is awsome !

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LOL

Ohhhh


Oh man I'm crying from laughing....

Ohhh wow

ok I'm good...

I'm calm

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Hahahah he has good saving throws hahahahahahaaaaaa..... !

[DoomsdayBadger]

Even though I'm evil? It isn't the same dealie as for clerics?

Oh well, that would have made so many more encounters easy.

But I still hold to my point, I'd rather use the Sorceror spells. The druidic list is useful, but far too many of the spells are speicifically for animals, most of which in this world are dead.

What would be a decent sniper prestige for a sorceror?

[Jack_Simth]

Probably have some rather good roleplaying in the party.

At 11th?

I'm fond of a Sor-5/Mage of the Arcane Order-X, personally. Many only take Mage of the Arcane Order to 7th level (for Spellpool III), but I usually prefer it when PrC's are taken all the way before moving on to the next.

All the Sorcerer endurance goodness with the ability to bring up a utility spell you don't have on a round's notice. And you get your feats back. Without flaws, the build requires you to be human, though (Need three feats: Arcane Preparation, Cooperative Metamagic, and one other metamagic feat).

[Yechezkiel]

Even though I'm evil? It isn't the same dealie as for clerics?

Oh well, that would have made so many more encounters easy.

Evil Clerics can cast healing spells, Good ones can cast inflict spells, neiter of these spells have alignment types. The restriction lies with the spells that actually have alignment types in their spell description (good/evil/chaos/law).

[Douglas]

Even though I'm evil? It isn't the same dealie as for clerics?

Evil clerics can heal too. They just can't spontaneously heal with spell slots that weren't prepared that way. A good cleric can prepare Bless and then decide later that he doesn't need it and a Cure Light Wounds would be more useful. An evil cleric has to decide ahead of time that the spell is going to be Cure Light Wounds instead of Bless, but he can still cast CLW just fine if he has it prepared.

[DoomsdayBadger]

Yeah the roleplaying is pretty dynamite. The origins of the party: The Monk is the bodyguard of the cleric, and they helped the druid/sorc kill the loggers in order to get him to join. The Warlock met up with them in a tavern along with the paladin of freedom. Due to his low intelligence score (and a bit of intentional ignorance by his player) he came along with us for quite a while. Eventually we holed up in an air ship city to escape the zombie hordes for five years, where the paladin finalluy discovered we were evil, fell and became a blackguard.

The storyline was good, and the DM loved the idea of the paladin not realizing our alignment.

[ClericofPhwarrr]

Because really, what paladin ever uses Detect Evil?

@ Jack_Simth: I think you've just given me the reason needed to run a sorcerer, as I've been meaning to do. For some reason, I've only ever looked at Mage of the Arcane Order as a Wizard PrC.

[Jack_Simth]

Because really, what paladin ever uses Detect Evil?

@ Jack_Simth: I think you've just given me the reason needed to run a sorcerer, as I've been meaning to do. For some reason, I've only ever looked at Mage of the Arcane Order as a Wizard PrC.

That would probably be because the PrC is basically written for a wizard; it's easier for a wizard to enter (only two feats, rather than three - Sorcerers need Arcane Preparation to meet the "Prepare and cast" 2nd level spells requirement, Wizards get that by default - and a Wizard gets a bonus feat at 5th to help with the need for Cooperative Metamagic and an arbitrary metamagic feat), the class features are all useful for a wizard (Sorcerer can't make much use of the two free spells - as it's a free look at another's spellbook).

It's crazy-useful for a Sorcerer, though, as it goes a long way towards mitigating some of the Sorcerer's biggest weaknesses (lack of Knoweledge(All), the inability to have "the perfect spell" when you know what's coming; sure, it's effectively once per day, but still...). As a bonus, Arcane Preparation lets the Sorcerer use Quicken Spell. The PrC then pays back it's requirements (there's two bonus metamagic feats in the 10 level PrC - which make up for the lost feats to Arcane Preparation - which is useful in and of itself - and Cooperative metamagic - which is basically useless unless your party collaberates, or you get Leadership) and makes many other PrC's easier to qualify for - like Loremaster, which merely requires you be able to CAST seven different divinations (which you technically can, through the Spellpool, even though you don't actually know them), as well as having some skill and feat requirements. Archmage is a little fuzzier - says "knoweledge of" - but if you can identify the spell on a roll of 1 (which you can, with max ranks in Spellcraft and Skill Focus(Spellcraft) and an Int of 10), and cast it, how do you not fit?

It also gives the DM built-in plot hooks.

[Yechezkiel]

and Cooperative metamagic - which is basically useless unless your party collaberates, or you get Leadership)

I'm still confused about Cooperative Spell... if there are two casters trying to use this, are two spells cast (with each caster losing a spell) or is it merely one with the higher DC and CL?

[ClericofPhwarrr]

As a bonus, Arcane Preparation lets the Sorcerer use Quicken Spell.

The PHBII normal metamagic class variant is far better, though; taking Arcane Preparation with it is just painful (minus feat retraining, but then Cooperative Spell is no burden). All your other points I agree with.

[Jack Mann]

Granted, but I think Jack the Lesser's point was simply that since you have to have the feat anyway, at least it's giving you some benefit.

[Jack_Simth]

The PHBII normal metamagic class variant is far better, though; taking Arcane Preparation with it is just painful (minus feat retraining, but then Cooperative Spell is no burden). All your other points I agree with.

Yeah, but then you lose your familiar. For most people, that's not a problem. At low levels, though, your familiar may very well have the best Spot/Listen check in the party. Likewise, if you lose the familiar, you don't have much use for Imbue Familiar with Spell Ability, and can't cast Mental Pinnacle (Sor/Wiz 6, in the Psionics section of the SRD) on your familiar for extra blastyness for three rounds - works on the round you cast it (Familiar takes actions on your initiative count), and thereafter doesn't cost you an action (as your familiar does the blasting).

Further, a Bat Familiar gets 20 foot blindsense - which is great for finding invisible foes to Glitterdust once you've hit 5th level (so your familiar can give you direction and distance well enough to target the spell).

Granted, a familiar is quite the target under some DM's, at which point it becomes a liability.

[Iku Rex]

DoomsdayBadger, can you provide some more information? The form from the Character Builder Thread is useful for this sort of request. (I know you've already answered some of the questions in it.)

A character can be built:
From scratch to a certain level (showing the end result character at the level you specify)
Level by level (showing what you should take at each level)
Based on an existing character (taking a character you provide to the next level or whatever level you specify)

Asking for a Character (You may want to use the Sample below as a template for your request):
1. Which of the above are you asking for?
* * *a. If it’s the third one please provide the vital stats of your current character.
2. In your request specify whether you have requirements, preferences, or no limits on the following:
* * * * *a. Books that can be used to build your character
* * * * *b. Race (including any Level Adjustment Limits)
* * * * *c. Class
* * * * *d. Ability Scores (fixed or generation method)
* * * * *e. Alignment
* * * * *f. House Rules: are there any other requirements or unusual rules imposed on you/your character (e.g. no single level dips, no item creation feats, Track is being given to you as a class skill, etc.)
* * * * *g. Concept: what requirements or preferences do you have regarding concept?
* * * * *h. Other: Is there any other information that might help someone make your character all she can be (e.g., what are others playing, the setting is largely wilderness, the DM is threatening to use a lot of undead, or the campaign will be heavy on combat and light on intrigue)?

One thing I didn't understand: Are you making a new character, or will your current character suddenly start showing off fancy new abilities?

Also, what do you mean by "sniping"?

[Indon]

HAhahahahahaa you guys have a "Monk" in the party and they're makign the druid/Sorc reroll. Hahahahah OMG that is awsome !

You may well die laughing if you realized just how few people played D&D the way online forums would have you think it's always played.

[ocato]

Isn't there a PrC... like, Jade Pheonix Mage or something, and all you do is blow crap/stuff/people/yourself up all day? What book is that in? Because if it's a zombie campaign, that seems valuable.

[Pauwel]

Isn't there a PrC... like, Jade Pheonix Mage or something, and all you do is blow crap/stuff/people/yourself up all day? What book is that in? Because if it's a zombie campaign, that seems valuable.

It's in ToB. It's a Martial Adept/Arcane Caster gish prestige class. Its capstone ability (at level 10) is the one that allows you to blow up and regenerate afterwards, but it can only be used once a week, and OP wouldn't even be able to get it at level 11 to begin with.

All in all, JPM isn't a blaster class, it's a gish class with a really awesome capstone ability.

[Yakk]

Pure-SRD proposal.

Ranger 1/Wizard 5/Eldrich Knight 5

+8 BaB, 38+ConB*11 HP, casts as L 9 Wizard.

Favoured Enemy: Undead.

Human.

5 Feats.

Stats: Int, Dex, Con, Str, Wis, Cha

Saves: 9F 5R 6W

Feats: Archery based.
5 generic
1 fighter bonus
scribe scroll
1 wizard bonus

Archery: (5)
Point-Blank
ManyShot
Weapon Focus (longbow)
Precise Shot
Rapid Shot

1 generic and 1 wizard bonus feat left.

Skill points: 42 + IntBonus*14

Damage is hailing arrows at target -- aim for bonus dice abilities for bow and arrow enchantments. This means you can save your spells for important purposes.

You gain 1 BaB and 1 Wizard casting level every level from now on up, so you don't lag that far behind in terms of Spells or Archery from a pure-class.

Your Ranger Track, Wild Empathy and skills provide you with a nice ace in the hole -- probably more useful than the 2 HP and combat feat a level of fighter would give you. Going with a Paladin variant would be another option, but you already have a Paladin. And this also gives you a neat backstory: you where in the wilderness when the Zombies came, and you hooked up with a Wizard and Paladin pair. They taught you what you needed to survive, even if they died.

Alignment: Neutral (but not as in "balance", but rather "I don't personally like killing babies -- that's ikky, and I'd rather stay away from it -- but I don't sacrafice myself to save them. Because in a world of Zombies, you have to look out for yourself first.") The Paladin and Wizard taught you lots about how to survive, but they died because they risked themselves needlessly. You survive first, and worry about others after that.

Neutral also lets you have many different alignment arrows, eventually.

He isn't that munchkiny -- but he would be a fitting replacement for a Warlock.

...

Note you can swap a Knight level for a Wizard level for:
-1 HP, +1 all saves
or you can do it later. (Wizard 6 gives +1 BaB, +1 all saves, and d4 HP).

[DoomsdayBadger]

So I ended up with a level 5 sorcerer/ level 6 Bloodmage.

It gives me a caster level of 10.

It gives me better HP and eventually some cool abilities.

It's a lot better in the complete arcane than in the tome and blood. I guess I wanted a prestige so wouldn't feel like I was wasting levels in a class where I could just as easily gain levels and fringe benefits somewhere else.

And a quick question, what does ToB stand for?

[Jasdoif]

And a quick question, what does ToB stand for?

Tome of Battle.

Or more precisely, Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords.