Pixie PC

[Hario]

Ok tonight I couldn't make it to my groups DnD session because my boss scheduled me yesterday w/o my knowing, and I have a sneaking suspicion my current character could have died given we were in the middle of a tough dungeon. To pass the time away I'm thinking if he does die to make a pixie character, we are ECL 8 right now, so I was thinking Pixie Rogue 2/Marshall 2, I don't think my DM minds cross classing. I think with the pixie's high charisma and dex a marshall is a good 2 or 3 level dip for the PC giving me huge potential as being the party face. I am wondering, when I hear of the marshall aura's I only read it as applying them to your allies and not you, but when I read the list of diplomancers they always add a level of marshall for motivate charisma. Is this build fairly good or should would a normal 0LA character do better? Too bad there is no way this character can't go chameleon. Any suggestions for feats/builds/possibilities or what-not to take.

[Seffbasilisk]

More information on what you want, and what books are OK'd would be good. LA +4 is never fun for a skill-focused creature (as party faces often are.) I'd go pure rogue, but that's just me.

Marshalls auras apply to you as well, as you count as an ally of yourself.

[SadisticFishing]

Haha, do you count yourself as an ally for White Raven things in the ToB? Namely the charging stance.

Errr... thread hijack

Pixie have too much of an LA to be all that awesome, having 4 less hit dice than your party will make you unbelievably easy to kill :(

[Mewtarthio]

Try and get LA buyback in as well. It'll mitigate your problems somewhat.

[13_CBS]

Warlock is a good choice for pixies, apparently. Small size, excellent Dex for Eldritch Blast, etc.

According to a certain handbook at Gleemax...

Pixie (Monster Manual 1) by mjung
I personally like the pixie warlock. Sure, you pay 4 LA, but you more than make up with it with versatility and utter ridiculousness.

Pixie gives you:
- +8 dex and +6 cha (amongst other stat adjustments)
- Small size. Harder to hit and easier to hit others
- 60 foot (good) fly speed
- Dodge as a bonus feat
- +1 natural armor
- DR 10/cold iron, Spell resistance 15+levels and persistent (suppressible) greater invisibility.
- Some nice SLAs.

This race was made for warlocks. You can fly around, invisible and hurl little eldritch blasts at your enemies. Best thing is, you are virtually guaranteed damage and you are virtually untouchable.

- Because Eldritch Blast is a ranged touch attack, your target gets no armor or natural armor bonuses to their AC.
- Unless your target can see invis, they further get no dex or dodge bonus to AC and you get a +2 on your attacks against sighted targets.

So let's see...they don't get dodge, dex, armor or natural armor bonuses...they still get um...size...and um...deflection. With +8 to your dex, some BAB, +2 for being invis and +1 for being small, you can virtually guarantee a hit EVERY TIME.

So what about when they strike back? Oh well, first they have to find you (invisible). Then they have to reach you somehow (flying). Then they have to hit you (small size and high dex). Then they have to overcome either your spell resistance or your damage reduction. Not very likely they'll be hitting you much.

You can see where all this is going. Sure, a fighter could dish out more damage in one round. But your steady once per round 7d6 and nigh untouchability will certainly make you a force to be reckoned with. With the right feat selection and items, I truly believe this character would be just about invincible unless the DM specifically is trying to take you down. You can outlast just about anything in the game.

[Temp]

Pixie have too much of an LA to be all that awesome, having 4 less hit dice than your party will make you unbelievably easy to kill :(

Greater Invisibility, High Dex and Tiny size do quite a bit to counteract this.

And Marshal Auras do apply to the Marshal itself:

Unless otherwise noted, a marshal's aura affects all allies within 60 feet (including himself)...


Link

[SadisticFishing]

That doesn't answer the White Raven quesiton, I knew Marshals did but.. yeah.

I personally also thought of Warlock when I read pixie - then I realized, they already get Greater Invisibility, on top of very good chance to hit and being very hard to kill. Why waste 4 levels?

[Temp]

That doesn't answer the White Raven quesiton, I knew Marshals did but.. yeah.

Oh, sorry about that, I was trying to respond to:

I am wondering, when I hear of the marshall aura's I only read it as applying them to your allies and not you

For ToB, I don't think there's been an official ruling yet. Ruling that you aren't your own ally would be less than unfair, given maneuvers like White Raven Tactics and War Master's Charge.

[SadisticFishing]

The +init damage on charge stance seems worded to not include yourself, but other than that I'd agree.

Errr, actually, I don't know what you mean by "less than unfair". Less than unfair, like, very unfair? Or like, mostly fair?

The ToB is such a cool book, I wish they'd notice it was the most influencial book to making melee characters playable, and actually proof-read it and posted their damn erratas =\

[Dalboz of Gurth]

Pixies would rule. Make a Ninja Pixie that'd rock :D They are already pretty freakin small and unnoticeable.

I have a Brownie Paladin in my 2nd edition rules, as long as he avoids crushing damage from being stepped on, he can kick serious booty (low HP and all) :D

[tyckspoon]

I'd probably go straight Rogue. Marshall is nice with the Pixie's Cha bonus, but the LA means that you're far enough behind in levels that splitting your focus by multiclassing will hurt quite a bit. Hmm.. Rogue 3/Marshall 1? That'll give you a second sneak attack die, which is how you're going to be getting most of your damage. If you're concerned about being a face, well, Rogue skill points and a Pixie's Cha bonus are going to give you an excellent Diplomacy check anyway. Adding a Marshall aura to that is going to be improving on something that is already quite functional, and the Marshall level probably won't be giving you much else useful.

[Temp]

Marshall level probably won't be giving you much else useful.

Multiclass penalties don't help either...

[Doresain]

for flavor, you should try a pixie dread necromancer...you dont see too many fairies running/flying around animating hordes of zombies nowadays

[TheOOB]

Rogue is always a good bet with pixies. Their greater invisibility, high dex, and small size means you will be getting a lot of sneak attacks, and because they are not a spellcaster the LA doesn't hurt as much, however the rogue doesn't do much to help the frail pixie not die. Sure invisibility and DR is nice, but if you fight an opponent who can beat those you are screwed.

To that end a pixie makes a great warblade. Their invisibility combined with their dex bonus(and a finessable weapon) ensures their attacks will usually hit, even with their lessened BAB, and the d12 hit die and the defensive manuvers and stances go a long way twords keeping you alive. A few levels of swordsage don't hurt(the sneak attack stance is a good idea), but the hp is really important for that build.

[Fishy]

for flavor, you should try a pixie dread necromancer...you dont see too many fairies running/flying around animating hordes of zombies nowadays

I'm imagining Tinkerbelle perched on the rotting shoulder of a shambling zombie.

Yes.

I think I have a new BBEG now.

[Doresain]

I'm imagining Tinkerbelle perched on the rotting shoulder of a shambling zombie.

Yes.

I think I have a new BBEG now.

your welcome?

[brian c]

Try and get LA buyback in as well. It'll mitigate your problems somewhat.

Even then, the way LA buyback works he can't start it until lvl12 :-/

[MCerberus]

Actually that pixie is too great to pass up and I needed a sub-boss for a dungeon. Won't the PCs be surprised.

[Reel On, Love]

Pixies make HORRIBLE warlocks, actually. The LA further nerfs the Warlock's very lackluster damage, and the main draws of the pixie are flight and invisibility... which the Warlock will eventually pick up anyway!

[Doresain]

Pixies make HORRIBLE warlocks, actually. The LA further nerfs the Warlock's very lackluster damage, and the main draws of the pixie are flight and invisibility... which the Warlock will eventually pick up anyway!

all the more reason not to waste the invocations on them, and pick up something better

[Reel On, Love]

all the more reason not to waste the invocations on them, and pick up something better

If you think trading 4 class levels for 2 invocations is a good deal, I've got a bridge in space I'd like to sell you.

[Doresain]

well if youre going to be playing a warlock in the first place, better to be saving your invocations for something else if you can use said abilities at will (and potentially better)

[Reel On, Love]

well if youre going to be playing a warlock in the first place, better to be saving your invocations for something else if you can use said abilities at will (and potentially better)

...therefore, you should get some LA to delay your invocation level and progression?

No. Pixies make crappy Warlocks. Sure, they won't die, but no one will care because they contribute, like, 2d6 a round when everyone else is doing stuff.

[Kaelik]

Even then, the way LA buyback works he can't start it until lvl12 :-/

Actually, he can't buy back the first LA until ECL 16. And the second buyoff is epic.

A Pixie Warlock really is pretty suboptimal, at higher levels you could have those abilities plus some, At lower you aren't doing enough damage to really be helping your party.

Since you are always invisible, rogue works much better. First of all, evasion helps. Secondly, you can add a little bit of Str damage, weapon damage, and enhancement damage. (Not much, but better then nothing.) And secondly, you can Rapid Shot, and eventually get extra attacks. Sure you aren't hitting touch AC. But you are getting multiple attacks that all do more damage then a Warlocks blasts.

[Khanderas]

for flavor, you should try a pixie dread necromancer...you dont see too many fairies running/flying around animating hordes of zombies nowadays

There must be a reason for that. But I can't think of one. If he gets tired of flying, he could furnish out some animated large creature and be carried in style (in skull)

[tyckspoon]

There must be a reason for that. But I can't think of one. If he gets tired of flying, he could furnish out some animated large creature and be carried in style (in skull)

For PCs, it's probably because LA are horribly damaging, especially for a casting class like Dread Necromancer. For NPCs, it's cause Pixies are always Good, and incompatible with being Necromancers of any sort (thanks to the decision of Wizards to make Animate Dead and similar spells [Evil].) Doesn't make the image any less cool, but you have to have a pretty twisted Pixie to make it a necromancer.

[Lord Lorac Silvanos]

Rogue (or other sneak attacking class) is the obvious choice, which can be combined with a level of sorcerer or wizard to qualify for Arcane Trickster.

Just stay far away from Spirit Shamans!

[deadseashoals]

well if youre going to be playing a warlock in the first place, better to be saving your invocations for something else if you can use said abilities at will (and potentially better)

Wow, seriously? I mean, +4 LA will lose you those two invocations (and more). Your two highest-level invocations. Seems bad.

Actually, I recommend against playing a pixie. It's no fun. Every encounter basically comes down to one of two options:

Aww man, they have see invisibility/blindsight/true seeing/whatever? I lose. This +4 LA character sucks.

OR

Party: They can't see/reach the pixie? What the hell are we doing here? We leave and let the pixie deal with it.

Pixie: I slaughter them all mercilessly. They can't hope to retaliate, can we fast forward this combat?

At least, this is my experience in playing a pixie.

[JellyPooga]

Pixie PC's are, generally speaking, a bad idea...as has been mentioned, they're either too good or too bad...win or lose, no middle ground...my advice, if you wanted to play a Sprite would be to play one of the "Pixie-Lites", either a Nixie or a Grig...both get some cool SLA's and abilities, but neither has that 'win-or-lose' aspect that the Pixie has...true, they're both somewhat more challenging than a Pixie to play, but surely that can only be a good thing...

[Duke of URL]

Pixies make HORRIBLE warlocks, actually. The LA further nerfs the Warlock's very lackluster damage, and the main draws of the pixie are flight and invisibility... which the Warlock will eventually pick up anyway!

Pixies make great Gestalt Warlocks, though, if you put the LA on the non-Warlock side. (refer to: Pixie Warlock 15 // LA +4 / Marshal 1 / Rogue 10)

Plus, don't forget that you're getting more than just the greater invisibility and the (non-dispellable) flight, you also get impressive spell resistance (15 + HD), good across-the-board stat increases (except for -4 STR), damage reduction 10/cold iron, and some skill bonuses.

Eldritch Glaive + Sneak Attack + Combat Reflexes + Weapon Finesse = pretty impressive damage potential. Even a non-gestalt pure Warlock of that build does OK at level 11 (ECL 15) -- 2 near auto-hit touch attacks per round for 5d6 damage + eldritch essence effect, plus threaten 10' for AoOs, and potentially a lot of them, high SR, good DR (unless the opponent happens to have cold iron), decent AC with good items and high DEX.

The only thing you'd really have to worry about is spell resistance (the gestalt version doesn't, that's what the Marshal level is for). And, of course, it only works at higher ECLs.