Welcome to Amadi's Build Clinic [ABC]. This thread's purpose is to help people build characters, as i have noticed that a lot of new people here are set back because they are not sure how to build a given character, or because whatever they do it ends up horridly inefficient.
Post here if:
A: You need help with your character, finding good feats for the concept etc.
B: You want to help other people build their characters.
C: You want general advice about character creation.
What i'd want you to supply me:
A: Allowed sourcebooks, this way i don't end up suggesting feat X from book Y just to find out that your DM doesn't allow book Y.
B: Character Concept. This helps me think what you are aiming for, if you don't supply this i really can't think of anything suitable for the character.
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Interesting idea Amadi. I hope you don't mind i other people chime in when someone asks for help as well (not that you'd be able to stop us :evillol:).
While I do I like the idea, I will make the suggestion that you try to keep it simple with really newer players. Help them generate a character they can understand (and remember how to use). Otherwise they'll just get horribly confused and not understand what happened or how to level up, which kind of defeats the purpose of this thread.
If they player has a little more experience, you can reasonably stray farther from the core books and regular ideas to make something more interesting.
Interesting idea Amadi. I hope you don't mind i other people chime in when someone asks for help as well (not that you'd be able to stop us :evilgrin:-).
Post here if:
A: You need help with your character, finding good feats for the concept etc. B: You want to help other people build their characters.
C: You want general advice about character creation.
Emphasis mine, no, i don't mind it at all. It's all good if people help each other out, i mean i can't be around all the time. (But well, with my last period in school only having 24 hours / week.. I pretty much can. But well, not on holidays etc.) And i'm not perfect, no matter how much i'd want to be.. Therefore i make mistakes too, and it's good that there's someone to point them out.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Critique my 3rd level build. then. I play this in Savage Tide adventure path in Dragon magazine. Stats were roll 4d6 6 times, drop the lowest, roll two brackets and pick one.
Psychic Warrior 3
Human
str 18
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 15
Cha 8
HP 30
AC 16 (5 armor, 1 Dex) (20 with Force Screen in effect)
BAB/Grp: +2/+6
Attack: +1 greatsword, +8 melee, 2d6+7
Feats: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades; going by UA's weapon groups); Power Attack; Improved Bull Rush; Cleave; and Speed of Thought
Powers Known: Expansion, Force Screen, Offensive Precognition
PP: 6
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
I'm not familiar with the campaign in question, but i assume that it'll stay relatively low-level for quite a while. Usually the only reasons to be psi-gish (Especially PsyWar..Erudite 4 / Ranger 1 / Slayer 10 is just another piece of cake.) is the Psionic Weapon/Fist/Shot feats. Psywars do this well by using swift actions as hustle to regain focus with psionic meditation, allowing them to use these each and every round for nice boost in damage.
Also, really often it's worth getting a psicrystal, it is one feat and it grants you alertness and say, +2 to initiative (Subject on what you want to choose, but +2 initiative is the one that scales best with level.) and allowing you to manifest Vigor (Temporary HP.) and share it with your psicrystal, then cast Share Pain on it. Share Pain is not available to PsyWars unless your DM allows you to research it (This is option listed somewhere in XPH, and costs some exp. Really cheesy tho.) Or you want to waste a feat, which could well be worth it later on. Vigor on the other hand is one of the better powers there is.
Judging by your build, your main focus is to go for Psi-Gish, and as such i'd have to recommend going for Ardent, they are a lot stronger with more PP, interesting power list and all of that stuff. Usually it's also good to dip ranger for one level and go for Slayer, but that's not a must-do. You would only be left one feat behind this way, assuming you'd go for Conflict Mantle (Free Weapon Focus.). On the other hand, you'd have to admit that Complete Psionic exists then.
Either Way, get at least one offensive power in your list, this is for use later on with Psion-storing weapons and adds a great bunch of damage to you every now and then. Dissipating Touch is 1st-level and deals 1d6/pp damage, making it a good candidate. Dissolving Touch is 2nd level, and deals 4d6+1d6/2pp damage, making it usable as well. I would drop Precognition for Vigor, and fit either one of these in your build.
Apart from the damage-increasing stuff for PsyWar's, they make succesfully good trippers with Expansion and usage of Spiked Chain or other such weapon. This requires a decent amount of feats invested, however.
EDIT: If you followed these, it would've helped and i could've helped you better.
Quote from Amadi »
What i'd want you to supply me:
A: Allowed sourcebooks, this way i don't end up suggesting feat X from book Y just to find out that your DM doesn't allow book Y.
B: Character Concept. This helps me think what you are aiming for, if you don't supply this i really can't think of anything suitable for the character.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Allowed books: Just about everything I own, except ToB. That's a pretty extensive list.
What I'm going for: A beatstick of extreme proportions; someone who will keep up with the fighter/wizard who's going for Swiftblade as this campaign stretches on till epic.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
Allowed books: Just about everything I own, except ToB. That's a pretty extensive list.
What I'm going for: A beatstick of extreme proportions; someone who will keep up with the fighter/wizard who's going for Swiftblade as this campaign stretches on till epic.
In that case... PsyWar's are mostly good for shadow pouncing for few thousand damage every now and then, but that'd get even me as a DM pissed off, so let's see about this:
BaB 17 - Epic Ready
Manifesting as 19th level Ardent, meaning good access to 9th level powers.
Favored Enemy variant for Arcanists (CM) is really good. (See if your DM would allow it for your Slayer Favored Enemy, even though it specifies *psionic foe*)
While Ardent levels past 5th are a total waste (No mantles got..) there is no good psionic PrCs to get either, if you can get your DM to allow some custom content, go for it. (Psionic version of Incantatrix.. )
PsyWar pales in comparision, having access to less powers, lower level powers, less power points and worse BaB. Only thing it really has going for it over this build, is the number of feats.
For mantles, choose from the following: Conflict - Free Weapon Focus, some rather nice powers. (Psionic Lion's charge for full-attacks when charging, Offensive Prescience and Dimension slide. Later on - Spirit of War.) Creation - Astral construct, 'nuff said. Also holds Minor/Major/True creation line, which can be nice. Destruction - Dissolving Touch / Dissolving weapon. Assuming that at level 20 you'd fully charge your weapon with these (Power-storing..) you could get +17d6 damage on first strike in combat, that's pretty nice. Also contains Ultrablast for going nova if needed. (Also disintegrate against undead..) Freedom - Free Speed-of-thought, except untyped. Not bad at all. Also holds Hustle, which is good for swift-focusing with the Psionic Weapon-feat (From which you're getting rid of later with psychic chirgurgency.) Also stuff like, Freedom of Movement, Teleport and Fly.
Feats that will prove useful for you: Power Attack: For obvious reasons.. Psionic/Greater Psionic Weapon: 4d6 damage by expending focus on attack is great early. Sucks later on though, so get rid of it by then. (Chirgurgency - 5th level power to re-choose feats.) Psychic Meditation: Focus as move action, combine with hustle for the win.
And so on, i'm sure you can figure out. Metapowers + Metapsionic feats for some stuff is awesome.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
And yes, no incantatrix for you. Or anyone. That class makes puppies cry. Mostly because they are the former Big Bads who have been Baleful Polymorphed into said puppies. By you. Because you're an incantatrix.
Quote from Yukora »
This is Deraxas we're talking about.
Remember, the girl that just killed an aspect of herself before literally consuming her?
Yeah, I don't see her handling a pissing match in any way other than a duel.
Quote from RedDwarfian »
Yes mistress...
Quote from About epic-level D&D »
There are only so many epic, psuedonatural barbarian/blackguard half-dragon akutenshai vampire balor paragons they can throw at you, right?
Quote from Concerning breeding habits of humans in fantasy games »
I suppose it's true. Though the logistics implied in a human/Great Wyrm Prismatic Dragon pairing makes me shudder.
...Something tells me that even should all arcane casters in the world unite, that the Grease spell would NOT be sufficient.
Yeah, obviously. It's better in just about every way as far as i recall. However, i made a mistake there, it's only manifesting as 18th level Ardent.
Then again, only reason to really go for ranger is the track-feat. Ardent 10 / Slayer 10 might be worth it seeing these. Dominant Ideal - Freedom Mantle seems like a nice idea overall. (Also, substitute powers is nice. Just ask your DM to come up with stuff on the mantles with too little stuff in them, i don't expect him/her to give anything useful but hey, something > nothing.) You'll have to burn a feat on the track this way though..
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Post here if:
A: You need help with your character, finding good feats for the concept etc.
B: You want to help other people build their characters.
C: You want general advice about character creation.
What i'd want you to supply me:
A: Allowed sourcebooks, this way i don't end up suggesting feat X from book Y just to find out that your DM doesn't allow book Y.
B: Character Concept. This helps me think what you are aiming for, if you don't supply this i really can't think of anything suitable for the character.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
While I do I like the idea, I will make the suggestion that you try to keep it simple with really newer players. Help them generate a character they can understand (and remember how to use). Otherwise they'll just get horribly confused and not understand what happened or how to level up, which kind of defeats the purpose of this thread.
If they player has a little more experience, you can reasonably stray farther from the core books and regular ideas to make something more interesting.
P.S. (I think you know why. :p)
Winner of the Weekly Signature & Avatar Contest Weeks 51, 59, 78, & 118.
I don't care if I was framed for murder if I only got a warning I would let it go.
Emphasis mine, no, i don't mind it at all. It's all good if people help each other out, i mean i can't be around all the time. (But well, with my last period in school only having 24 hours / week.. I pretty much can. But well, not on holidays etc.) And i'm not perfect, no matter how much i'd want to be.. Therefore i make mistakes too, and it's good that there's someone to point them out.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
Psychic Warrior 3
Human
str 18
Dex 12
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 15
Cha 8
HP 30
AC 16 (5 armor, 1 Dex) (20 with Force Screen in effect)
BAB/Grp: +2/+6
Attack: +1 greatsword, +8 melee, 2d6+7
Feats: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blades; going by UA's weapon groups); Power Attack; Improved Bull Rush; Cleave; and Speed of Thought
Powers Known: Expansion, Force Screen, Offensive Precognition
PP: 6
Skills
Autohypnosis +5
Climb +4 (includes ACP)
Concentration +5
Heal +2
Jump +7
Knowledge: Psionics +5
Knowledge (Local) +4
Ride +2
Search +4
Survival +3
Swim +0
Tumble +0
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
Also, really often it's worth getting a psicrystal, it is one feat and it grants you alertness and say, +2 to initiative (Subject on what you want to choose, but +2 initiative is the one that scales best with level.) and allowing you to manifest Vigor (Temporary HP.) and share it with your psicrystal, then cast Share Pain on it. Share Pain is not available to PsyWars unless your DM allows you to research it (This is option listed somewhere in XPH, and costs some exp. Really cheesy tho.) Or you want to waste a feat, which could well be worth it later on. Vigor on the other hand is one of the better powers there is.
Judging by your build, your main focus is to go for Psi-Gish, and as such i'd have to recommend going for Ardent, they are a lot stronger with more PP, interesting power list and all of that stuff. Usually it's also good to dip ranger for one level and go for Slayer, but that's not a must-do. You would only be left one feat behind this way, assuming you'd go for Conflict Mantle (Free Weapon Focus.). On the other hand, you'd have to admit that Complete Psionic exists then.
Either Way, get at least one offensive power in your list, this is for use later on with Psion-storing weapons and adds a great bunch of damage to you every now and then. Dissipating Touch is 1st-level and deals 1d6/pp damage, making it a good candidate. Dissolving Touch is 2nd level, and deals 4d6+1d6/2pp damage, making it usable as well. I would drop Precognition for Vigor, and fit either one of these in your build.
Apart from the damage-increasing stuff for PsyWar's, they make succesfully good trippers with Expansion and usage of Spiked Chain or other such weapon. This requires a decent amount of feats invested, however.
EDIT: If you followed these, it would've helped and i could've helped you better.
What i'd want you to supply me:
A: Allowed sourcebooks, this way i don't end up suggesting feat X from book Y just to find out that your DM doesn't allow book Y.
B: Character Concept. This helps me think what you are aiming for, if you don't supply this i really can't think of anything suitable for the character.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
What I'm going for: A beatstick of extreme proportions; someone who will keep up with the fighter/wizard who's going for Swiftblade as this campaign stretches on till epic.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
In that case... PsyWar's are mostly good for shadow pouncing for few thousand damage every now and then, but that'd get even me as a DM pissed off, so let's see about this:
Ardent 4 / Ranger 1 / Slayer 10 / Ardent 5 / Epic Slayer =>
Good things:
BaB 17 - Epic Ready
Manifesting as 19th level Ardent, meaning good access to 9th level powers.
Favored Enemy variant for Arcanists (CM) is really good. (See if your DM would allow it for your Slayer Favored Enemy, even though it specifies *psionic foe*)
While Ardent levels past 5th are a total waste (No mantles got..) there is no good psionic PrCs to get either, if you can get your DM to allow some custom content, go for it. (Psionic version of Incantatrix.. )
PsyWar pales in comparision, having access to less powers, lower level powers, less power points and worse BaB. Only thing it really has going for it over this build, is the number of feats.
For mantles, choose from the following:
Conflict - Free Weapon Focus, some rather nice powers. (Psionic Lion's charge for full-attacks when charging, Offensive Prescience and Dimension slide. Later on - Spirit of War.)
Creation - Astral construct, 'nuff said. Also holds Minor/Major/True creation line, which can be nice.
Destruction - Dissolving Touch / Dissolving weapon. Assuming that at level 20 you'd fully charge your weapon with these (Power-storing..) you could get +17d6 damage on first strike in combat, that's pretty nice. Also contains Ultrablast for going nova if needed. (Also disintegrate against undead..)
Freedom - Free Speed-of-thought, except untyped. Not bad at all. Also holds Hustle, which is good for swift-focusing with the Psionic Weapon-feat (From which you're getting rid of later with psychic chirgurgency.) Also stuff like, Freedom of Movement, Teleport and Fly.
Feats that will prove useful for you:
Power Attack: For obvious reasons..
Psionic/Greater Psionic Weapon: 4d6 damage by expending focus on attack is great early. Sucks later on though, so get rid of it by then. (Chirgurgency - 5th level power to re-choose feats.)
Psychic Meditation: Focus as move action, combine with hustle for the win.
And so on, i'm sure you can figure out. Metapowers + Metapsionic feats for some stuff is awesome.
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.
"I am in the arcane, and the arcane is in me."
Official Matron Mother of Clan Planar Chaos
Awesome Avatar and signature by DarkNightCavalier
Deraxas, Dark Maiden of Shimia,, still oddly obsessed with a mindmage.
Then again, only reason to really go for ranger is the track-feat. Ardent 10 / Slayer 10 might be worth it seeing these. Dominant Ideal - Freedom Mantle seems like a nice idea overall. (Also, substitute powers is nice. Just ask your DM to come up with stuff on the mantles with too little stuff in them, i don't expect him/her to give anything useful but hey, something > nothing.) You'll have to burn a feat on the track this way though..
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.