Replacement character decisions...

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virgil
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Replacement character decisions...

Post by virgil »

I've been playing in a three DM cooperative campaign and my wizard got killed by the barbarian in the party. Apparently, attempts at keeping him from pillaging/rampaging/burning towns or random ships or enemies pleading mercy (only once, and I agreed that they would die if they tried to go hostile) was too restrictive to his chaotic lifestyle and thusly had to die.

The sun god cleric and bard (both NG) pretty much shrugged and realized they couldn't bring me back and attempts to control the barbarian to be pointless, so they looted my body and buried it and continued on with the adventure.

There was a druid in the party, but he told the party he didn't feel safe and left. There's a possibility the druid will sneak in and murder the barbarian (eye-for-eye) before leaving for good. Either way, both the druid and I are making new characters.

I've been trying to decide what to make for the party. It's likely the druid will be coming back as another druid, and there's going to remain the cleric (who's really bad at actually doing anything) and the bard. The player for the soon-to-be-dead barbarian is likely to stick to something fighter-y.

Here's what I've been thinking...
Beguiler: Played as an infiltration rogue with wizard spells.
Binder: Not sure what route to take with him.
Melee Rogue: Fighter 2/Rogue 5 with TWF and Anvil of Thunder style (if both weapons hit, Fort save or dazed for a round)
Specialist Wizard: Different style from the old one (generalist), but capable of using the old player's spellbook and getting a nice boost in spells known.
Archer: Not sure, but the ultimate goal would be the king of ranged combat

If I could have suggestions or help with my decision, that would be swell.
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the_taken
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by the_taken »

Frank's Grappler Wizard
My every attempt to play one has been squashed, but I'm hoping someone could tell me how it goes.
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Judging__Eagle
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Judging__Eagle »

Oh shit yes. Play the Grapple Wizard.

Make it the grey elf version if you can and then seek to earn Purple Worm bodies as trophies. Trophies from kills that you fulfilled with your awesome grapple powers!

Also, it means that even if the barb remains, you'll fucking kill him.

His massive potential damage while raging or frenzying will mean dick-all if you can literally shove him out of RNG territory with regards to grappling.

Also, dress up as a hulking Luche Libre wrestler; cape, loud mask, shorts and lace-up leather boots.

Call yourself : Whatever First Name ''The Kraken'' Whatever Lastname

If people ask why you're called The Kraken, tell them it's b/c you've grappled one to death when it tried to attack your fishing boat. You then realized that The Kraken had come to show you your totem animal (The octopus familiar) and to show you the path of glorious ''Free Fighting'' that you now engage in. You named yourself ''The Kraken'' out of respect for the might creature that sought to turn you into a glorious fighter.

Note, you might not want to actually call it luche libre, call it Free Fighting, as in free of armour and weapons aside from your body...and spells.

Also, keep playing up the fact that your character is a fighter that uses special moves to win the day.
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Maxus
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Maxus »

PULPO!

Call yourself El Pulpo!

Or...Al Pulpo. Or Make up an elven definite article. Anything.

Pulpo is Spanish for 'octopus'.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.

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the_taken
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by the_taken »

With the tentacle feats/spells, call them manifested aspects when the barb asks about it, and never let him see the character sheet.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by CalibronXXX »

You seriously have to do this. It'll be awesome.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Koumei »

Wrestling characters are always fun.

See if you can become a lich later on down the track, then call yourself The Undertaken.

Make sure to have plenty of catch-phrases and poses and the like, posing being the somatic components for spells, or something.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by the_taken »

Koumei at [unixtime wrote:1196472554[/unixtime]]Make sure to have plenty of catch-phrases and poses and the like, posing being the somatic components for spells, or something.
More specifically for when you cast Fear and other moral spells.

Man, now I want to play this build even more.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Koumei »

Same here. My last wrestler was The Urak' Guy, an ork (with half Red dragon added when another player decided we should all be half-dragons). He was a mere fighter, back in my learning days, yet oddly I fared much better than both of the others. I think it's because the Cleric/Wizard was a multiclassed caster (thus sucked) and also specialised in Enchantments, and half of what we fought were constructs.

If I was to remake him, I'd probably change him to a ROW class (Monk or Barbarian, I suppose) or a Swordsage (for the throwing moves. Or I could steal one or two with feats and be a ROW Fighter). Maybe add Feral as well (before half-Dragon), for fast healing and MOAR STRENGTH as well as Rake and Rend.

Good old Urak' Guy. So many NPCs were completely suckered in.

"Hi, I'm the Urak' Guy. What's your name?"
"They call me-"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!"

I did it rarely enough that the DM forgot and walked into it every time.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by platonicuniversal »

If you do a grapple-mancer, would Leadership work as far as having a sidekick to tag in (or just jump in and take advantage of the flat-footed target)?
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by JonSetanta »

It would work, but the follower would make for an easy target once you first begin battle... unless they could remain hidden, or Scry and pop in when you've locked down your foe.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Koumei »

Heheh, you grapple, then they Sneak Attack with a crowbar. Nice. Or they help perform the double-team move of your choice.

OoH! And the followers can be your fans, and pass tables and chairs to you!
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by virgil »

Well, we're starting at level 7, and while I'll go ahead and make a grapplemancer; I'm not going to make him a corny wrestler. I'll have him own a ship from It's Wet Outside, probably the 4kgp Pinnace.

It's a 32 point buy, so I'll make a human with...Str 14, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 10.

Feats, not sure. I'm looking at Improved Grapple, Unarmed Strike, & Craft Wondrous. I still have two more feats. I'm tempted to choose Leadership for a rogue with a wand of benign transposition for various tricks and to come in when the time is right (keep a few zombie ravens around so she'll have something to teleport with). I'm also tempted to get Corpsecrafter to help any undead I have to generally keep the heat off me while I grapple the main monster to death.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Surgo »

Just chiming in to say that the wizard wrestler is the greatest character idea ever, and we totally need to hear some reports about how it goes when you play it.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by the_taken »

Koumei at [unixtime wrote:1196478271[/unixtime]]Heheh, you grapple, then they Sneak Attack with a crowbar. Nice. Or they help perform the double-team move of your choice.

OoH! And the followers can be your fans, and pass tables and chairs to you!


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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by JonSetanta »

I'd like to see this wiz-grappler fight an equal level warrior grappler optimized for the task, one on one, with the wiz entering the fight buffless.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Koumei »

Why? Because you still think it'd be in favour of the Wiz or they're about equal, or as a stupid "SEE? Fighters are just fine as long as the wizard has their arms and legs cut off first!" thing you see all the time on the boards?

And hour/level spells should be allowed for those "no buffs" things, seeing as there reaches a point (early on) where you can basically cast the spell a couple of times per day to last the whole active day.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Neeek »

sigma999 at [unixtime wrote:1196489726[/unixtime]]I'd like to see this wiz-grappler fight an equal level warrior grappler optimized for the task, one on one, with the wiz entering the fight buffless.


You really, really don't. I once played a weaker variation (I didn't use polymorph) of this concept that had my GM asking "Where exactly do all your bonuses come from?" when I had a >+30 grapple check as an 8th level character.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by virgil »

I'll need to finagle a bit to make sure I'm allowed to use the elven substitution level or even the aberrant blood feats. If not, I'll have to live with a grapple bonus of only +33 at the absolute maximum at this level (fearsome grapple, polymorph, bull's strength), rather than the possible +37. If anything, I wouldn't need to cast as many buffs before going into the fight.

Of course, having either a rogue or a cleric for a cohort would be its own reward, and definitely more versatile that way. Although, I wonder how well it would work if I made myself a necromancer cleric cohort...*ponders*...
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Neeek »

See if you can get some Gloves of Titan's Grip from the XPH.
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by JonSetanta »

No Kouimei, I want to see the wiz operate in a situation common for low level dungeoning: the surprise attack.
In this scenario of "OH SHIT I don't have time to buff or they'll be all upons" the noncaster really does have the advantage, and that's only as long as the caster doesn't use Persistent spell that morning. At, say, level 5 that's fuckin hard to do.

Guaranteed, the wiz grappler will win. The numbers say so.. unless the warrior gets a great lucky break. Really, reaaaally lucky.
Or the warrior's rogue cohort stabs the magical monstrosity in the crotch while it chokes the warrior.

So yeah, maybe your idea would work, to disallow all round per level and minute per level, simulating an encounter that could occur after a major battle in which the wiz just blew some buffs, has more left over, but figures it's safe and the coast is clear.
How much time would it take to get this grappler-engine up and runnin', from the surprise round to finish?
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by virgil »

If my grapple-mancer had the time for ideal circumstances and all that jazz, one round covers what I need if I'm fighting a mundane wrestler. Immediate action for fearsome grapple, and standard action for polymorph. At the moment, if I had to fight a mundane grappler with a rogue cohort, then his cohort would just fight mine since I plan on having one as well; still undecided as to whether it'll be a necromantic cleric or a TWF-ing rogue.

Any other enhancer would be dealing with monsters that could actually keep up with the bonus (bull's strength & possibly enlarge person before changing into a remorhaz depending on how the rules work).

As for how well a mundane grappler would fare, if I can cast bladeweave, then he's screwed since he doesn't have a Will save.
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How do you confuse a barbarian?
Put a greatsword a maul and a greataxe in a room and ask them to take their pick
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Re: Replacement character decisions...

Post by Neeek »

sigma999 at [unixtime wrote:1196566888[/unixtime]]
How much time would it take to get this grappler-engine up and runnin', from the surprise round to finish?


No rounds. Trust me. You do it right, you don't run out of grapply-ness
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