Character Optimization request thread.

Dean · Post by **Dean** » Mon Mar 24, 2014 7:05 pm

Yeah beastmorph and vivisectionist turn Alchemist into a pretty badass melee force.

Archmage Joda · Post by **Archmage Joda** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:43 pm

One more inquiry about the dragon synthesist summoner: would it be better to use biped base form or quadruped base form for the dragon eidolon?

Silent Wayfarer · Post by **Silent Wayfarer** » Tue Mar 25, 2014 11:23 pm

Quad form gets pounce. Biped gets bigger reach and +2 Str.

Go quad. I only went biped because I'm playing mythic where mythic haste gives a free move action every round and I'm making a Nosferatu Zodd lookalike.

Archmage Joda · Post by **Archmage Joda** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:11 pm

So, here's a question I've had on occasion: Blasting is not a very good route for a wizard to go, be it pathfinder or 3e/3.5, so then how does a wizard take their enemies out if they're solo and without a party to do the hp killing for them?

wotmaniac · Post by **wotmaniac** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:13 pm

Archmage Joda wrote:So, here's a question I've had on occasion: Blasting is not a very good route for a wizard to go, be it pathfinder or 3e/3.5, so then how does a wizard take their enemies out if they're solo and without a party to do the hp killing for them?

Blasting is quite viable, as long as you make liberal use of MM-cost-reducing abuse.

Sans blasting? Conjuration is your friend. Also, you could go the route of minionmancer.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:23 pm

Coup de grace is a thing you can do if you've shutdown the enemy hard enough. Otherwise, I guess you'd conjure/necromancy/charm up some friends to do the finishing up for you.

Whipstitch · Post by **Whipstitch** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:15 am

Coup de grace is definitely part of why I've long rolled my eyes at the notion of Ray of Frost ever mattering even if PF lets you cast it an unlimited number of times. Letting loose with Color Spray followed by juicing yourself up with Enlarge Person and smacking everyone for 2d6x3 with your enlarged longspear isn't a titanic amount of damage by any means, but it's still enough to murder orcs just fine. The most awkward time for low level solo wizards would probably be levels 2 to 4--your range is bad, you kinda suck against things that sport more than 2 hd, your summons don't last very long and you can't afford to just blow your 2nd level slots on Scorching Rays. You would definitely want a party if you could swing one, but that goes for everyone.

tussock · Post by **tussock** » Fri Mar 28, 2014 4:45 am

Why are you killing things again? Because as a Wizard you can just go around them, which gives you the exact same XP in the actual rules of the game. I mean, I guess if they turn up at your house repeatedly or something, but how did they even find it?

The thing is that hit point removal, or even fights in general, are things that only happen when you chose to make them happen. And when you do, use the spells that just fvcking kill people.

http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?p=31962

Or drop bricks from 200' up all day. Or start a big fire and seal the fuckers in if they won't come out. Divert a river and drown them all. Stop fluffing around worrying about a few hit points, just get to where you're going, grab the MacGuffin, and go home.

RedstoneOrc · Post by **RedstoneOrc** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:11 am

Wait a tic.. this is a thing? Now i feel bad for making that dumb bard thread. Instead of helping on some other build I think are all done for the most part I in my nigh infinite neediness shall ask how to make an apocalypse (x-men) tier shapeshifter. A list of his abilities are typical size changing from colossal to fine ( and stretchy but that can be skipped), telepathy, changes to elements (fire, ice, gases, etc) and objects, great use of technology (use magic device), and literally giant wall of defenses hit points, damage reduction, hardness, probably spell resistance, and immunity to all energy.

Doing all this sorta means around 14-16th level and I pretty much have no experience at this level. I know a wizard can do all this pretty easily and I can totally fluff the book into a connection to planar overlords that gave me powerful powers, but I really want the ability to do it all day and spontaneously without preparing every day.

Thanks in advance.

Seerow · Post by **Seerow** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:17 am

RedstoneOrc wrote:Wait a tic.. this is a thing? Now i feel bad for making that dumb bard thread. Instead of helping on some other build I think are all done for the most part I in my nigh infinite neediness shall ask how to make an apocalypse (x-men) tier shapeshifter. A list of his abilities are typical size changing from colossal to fine ( and stretchy but that can be skipped), telepathy, changes to elements (fire, ice, gases, etc) and objects, great use of technology (use magic device), and literally giant wall of defenses hit points, damage reduction, hardness, probably spell resistance, and immunity to all energy.

Doing all this sorta means around 14-16th level and I pretty much have no experience at this level. I know a wizard can do all this pretty easily and I can totally fluff the book into a connection to planar overlords that gave me powerful powers, but I really want the ability to do it all day and spontaneously without preparing every day.

Thanks in advance.

So you point out you know a Wizard can do it, and say the one thing you want is to do it spontaneously without preparation....

Sounds like you want a sorcerer to me.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:46 am

RedstoneOrc wrote:Wait a tic.. this is a thing? Now i feel bad for making that dumb bard thread. Instead of helping on some other build I think are all done for the most part I in my nigh infinite neediness shall ask how to make an apocalypse (x-men) tier shapeshifter. A list of his abilities are typical size changing from colossal to fine ( and stretchy but that can be skipped), telepathy, changes to elements (fire, ice, gases, etc) and objects, great use of technology (use magic device), and literally giant wall of defenses hit points, damage reduction, hardness, probably spell resistance, and immunity to all energy.

Doing all this sorta means around 14-16th level and I pretty much have no experience at this level. I know a wizard can do all this pretty easily and I can totally fluff the book into a connection to planar overlords that gave me powerful powers, but I really want the ability to do it all day and spontaneously without preparing every day.

Thanks in advance.

Can you get away with playing a monster? A Phasm should be able to do most of that, more if it has a few PC levels for long-term buff spells.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:59 am

NineInchNall · Post by **NineInchNall** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:40 am

That sounds like

Max ranks UMD
Max ranks Knowledge (wtfever)
multiple uses of giant size
overlapping instances of energy immunity
a replenishing source of temp HP; e.g., Minor Shapeshift
a level of Mindbender for telepathy
ring of telekinesis (optionally boosted to CL 20)
various other buffs

Seriously, it's a stereotypical Incantatrix that poaches a spell or two from non-Sor/Wiz lists.

RedstoneOrc · Post by **RedstoneOrc** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 11:24 pm

On phone so this is gonna be brief. @ubernoob that thread is made of awesome and make me wanna play level all the time. But I find gnomes distasteful because old horrible groups raping a friends gnome after he showed up late.

So can this be done with the book of ED instead of shadowcraft mage? You know channeling fake solars for cleric spells and better mental stats.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:28 am

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:29 am

Exalted Deeds, I suspect.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:53 am

RedstoneOrc · Post by **RedstoneOrc** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 5:13 am

No book of exalted deeds has possession rules where you can be possessed by a solar for full cleric casting and all other goodies. Use simulacrum to make a fake solar with full casting get possessed and start the miracle/ wish looping into the wish economy.

Also sanctified spells are prepped not spontaneous.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 5:16 am

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:12 am

RedstoneOrc · Post by **RedstoneOrc** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:26 pm

ubernoob wrote:
RedstoneOrc wrote:No book of exalted deeds has possession rules where you can be possessed by a solar for full cleric casting and all other goodies. Use simulacrum to make a fake solar with full casting get possessed and start the miracle/ wish looping into the wish economy.

Also sanctified spells are prepped not spontaneous.
My bad. Clerics specifically get to spontaneously cast exalted spells, not all divine casters. Page 84 BoED.

As far as the possession rules go, the possession rules reference the channel celestial spells, which both have the abstinence component of "Cannot be the subject of any other fucking spells you fucking munchkin" in them. So you can't really combo channeling with anything.

Just read all seven paragraphs of the channeling ruling and the channel spells. The channel rules don't mention anything about the no running spells and even if you add that in a celestial possession a solar make it can last forever if it initiated the possesion.

Did not know about the spontaneous sanctified clerics though, god damn.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:23 pm

RedstoneOrc · Post by **RedstoneOrc** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:03 pm

Simulacrum you make your own. Guess that's my fault for be lazy and not looking up the spelling for the first post.

Edit: It seems that I accidentally hit ignore on ubernoob and can't take him off with my phone. Now to find an actial computer.

ubernoob · Post by **ubernoob** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:50 pm

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 1:25 am

RedstoneOrc wrote:Edit: It seems that I accidentally hit ignore on ubernoob and can't take him off with my phone. Now to find an actial computer.

Ignore someone else as well, and follow the link from there to your ignored list.