[3.5] Midnight Peddler Optimization

[Thurbane]

So, in the excellent 3rd party Tome of Horrors Revised (the only 3rd party book I regularly use in my game), there is a creature called a Midgnight Peddler.

It's a CR 6, 7HD Neutral Outsider whose schtick is they Plane Shift into cities on foggy nights with a cart of goods to sell (any mundane item form the PHB 50gp or less). They also answer question as per a Divination spell to anyone who buys something from their cart.

It advances by class levels.

I'm wondering what class levels I could put on one of these to make it a more interesting non-combat encounter for PCs. I'm thinking something crafter/merchant based, or maybe something oracle-ish. Also wondering about feats (default feats are Alertness, Dodge and Improved Initiative)

Dex +2, Con +4, Int +6, Wis +8, Cha +4, if that helps.

All suggestions welcome, with my usual disclaimers of no PF, no 3rd party (other that ToH itself), and would prefer to avoid Dungeon/Dragon material, except for Dragon Compendium.

We tend not to use psionics or incarnum in our games.

Cheers - T

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Artificer maybe? It can use the caster level of any racial spell-like abilities to qualify for item creation feats and meet caster level prerequisites of items.

Fleshwarper from Lords of Madness? It requires a summon familiar class feature and advances spellcasting, so Wizard or Sorcerer or even Adept can work, as can Demonologist in BoVD or Nar Demonbinder in UE if you can easily meet their spellcasting prerequisites.

[Thurbane]

I should have mentioned Artificer as a class we don't use in our games. Sorry.

Fleshwarper might be interesting - although I wasn't really planning on an evil NPC, more a neutral one.

Maybe Bard (perform: poetry) so that he only speaks in rhymes, and then into Sublime Chord?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I should have mentioned Artificer as a class we don't use in our games. Sorry.

Fleshwarper might be interesting - although I wasn't really planning on an evil NPC, more a neutral one.

Maybe Bard (perform: poetry) so that he only speaks in rhymes, and then into Sublime Chord?

Fleshwarper requires a nonlawful alignment, it's neither good nor evil.

[Nifft]

Too bad about Artificer.

Shadowsmith (Tome of Magic) might be a fit.

[gorfnab]

Looks like it might qualify for the Dungeon Lord (Dungeonscape) prestige class fairly easily. You could make its "dungeon" a mystical bazaar or mall/arcade of some kind. Since it gains Leadership its followers could be other unique merchants, maybe even some mercanes and djinns. The cohort could be some big beefy tank whose job is "asset protection".

You could set it up that the PCs have to find a specific rare item in the maze like bazaar, haggle with the Midnight Peddler for it, and find their way out. Throw in some different social encounters or obstacles in the bazaar to trip them up to or have some other being tailing them trying to get the same item, basically following the plot of the movie Jingle All the Way. You could also include a Gruen Transfer effect by making the bazaar its own demi-plane with the Flowing Time, Erratic Time, Light Gravity, Wild Magic, Strongly Neutral Aligned, or other such traits. The bazaar could also serve as a location for one of the entrances to the World Serpent Inn, make it appear on the outside to be a tacky kitschy sports bar similar to a TGI Fridays or Applebees that you would normally find attached to a mall.

EDIT: Build Idea: Midnight Peddler 7/ Dungeon Lord 5/ Merchant Prince 5/ Jaunter 4

[AvatarVecna]

Any level adjustment?

EDIT: Hmm, that might matter less if it's not for combat...

[daremetoidareyo]

Diviner makes sense. Candlecaster might be worth a consideration.

Knowledge devotion rogue or urban adept work too.

Jaunter might be worth it, if you're going less sagely and more traveler who's rough and tumble.

Set the scene, what's his cart like?

[Thurbane]

Great suggestions.

I don't really know what I'm going for - maybe expanding the merchandise he can sell, or offer casting services? Something that would interesting or useful for a typical party.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Psion (Seer) or even an Ardent considering Practiced Manifester gives him access to higher level powers early on.

[daremetoidareyo]

Where is he planeshifting from? Fog is making me think ethereal. And ethereal means ethergaunt tech?

Also planeshifting could be a service.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Hmm, for an NPC, maybe waive the racial requirements for Gnomish Artificer, to give the Peddler some bizarre gear to sell in the form of mundane stuff that nonetheless replicates magical effects?

[Sinner's Garden]

Great suggestions.

I don't really know what I'm going for - maybe expanding the merchandise he can sell, or offer casting services? Something that would interesting or useful for a typical party.

He needs a gimmick to distinguish him from usual services if you want the players to remember him. Yes, appearing in random towns is a bit gimmicky, and it might stand out in your games, but in my experience, that's really not very distinct from any other shopkeeper, given the common nature of adventurers as itinerant mercenaries. My suggestion is that you give him crafting or networking abilities, so he can upgrade items, for a fee, and then the catch is that they have to find him in order to get their items back. He'll hold it in reserve until they find him, but he's not going to plop shop arbitrarily and change his business plans for them. Maybe you could have some item or another that an ancestor or deceased relative of one of the PCs commissioned to introduce this service (and its risks).

Incidentally, I'm reminded of the Sha'ir class. Initially printed in Dragon issue 315, but reprinted in Dragon Compendium, it's a spellcaster that obtains great flexibility through bargaining with the djinn and wandering the planes. The transactional nature of the class is significantly dimmed from 2e, which makes it easier to play, and it can provide spellcasting services roughly on demand by fetching the spell you need when you need it

[redking]

How about a factotum? That would make it a jack of all trades. Fits the fluff.