The Gaming Den

Okay, so there's a game that someone in our group is DMing. According to the DM, it's gestalting two classes, one of which *must* be a caster. He mentioned this was mostly to have fun, and partially to playtest some stuff.

-Starting at level 5, and he plans to go to about level 10 over 9-12 sessions. Only, he says there's a twist, and from what I've heard of this guy, it could be anything, but since the setting is that magic is reviled, I'm bet it's going to have something to do with us all being casters.

-Starting stats are our personal choice of:

18 16 14 12 10 8
or...
16 16 14 14 12 10

-I've gotten approval to use a Dungeonomicon Monk, and I'm thinking about going for Cleric as the other class (because the group looks like it'll need a healer), and if I do that, he's said I can pick up Celestial Beacon at level 7, because maybe that'll let me cross it off my To-do list.

I get three Fighting Styles, and they seem to be shaping up to be:

- +4 Dodge to AC/Saves
- +30 Ft/ No AoO's.
- Not sure about the final fighting style. It'll either give me some AoO's, or it'll contain that 10-foot movement reduction, or I'll just have it as my DR/Hardness bypass.

-So far the rest of the party looks like...

1) Duskblade/Druid, played by someone has, quite truthfully, proven he can be high and still write up a level 5 build that'll put you in awe by, for example, being pretty much immune to anything requiring an attack role (On a semi-related unrelated note, he says that one time was the obligatory teen experimentation with drugs, much to my approval)

2) Fire Mage/Fighter dwarf, played by someone's who's pretty good.

3) This isn't confirmed, but the last guy mentioned something about Bard as his casting class. Oh, the horror.


-I'm thinking this guy's melee shtick will be getting past the enemy lines to get at whoever the important baddie is.

Other than that, he'll probably be breaking out buffs on the party and making some use of those spells.

-I'm pretty sure RoW-style feats aren't going to be used in this, though.


So I ask the gurus here: Any suggestions for feats and skills and fun tricks to pull with up 3rd Spell level casting?

I used Concealment on my Tome Monk-thing, since there's a statement in the Hide skill that you may use the Concealment at any time... although you still can't attempt while being observed.

Hide skill wrote:You need cover or concealment in order to attempt a Hide check. Total cover or total concealment usually (but not always; see Special, below) obviates the need for a Hide check, since nothing can see you anyway.

The movement boost counteracts the movement penalty for sneaking, allowing the Monk to travel normal speeds while hiding. I think.

I would move yourself off the front lines. You have a fighter/Fire Mage and a Duskblade/Druid to hold that down for you.

I think my fighting style preferences would be:
30'Move/Concealment - so you can play the scout role
+4 AC/AoO tripping - for whenever someone is engaging you in melee
(Stunning Fist)/bonus to your slam attack - #3/#8

The 3/8 combo will make it so that any attack that hits will force the opponent to Save or Stun. Note that this includes attacks from Bows.

Now, proceed to make a Cleric Archer that will own. Ask to take the Zen Archery feat only. Compromise to make it count as 2 feats. At level 6, you can make 2 attacks, one of which has a Touch spell in it, using your Wisdom bonus in place of your Dex, and forcing both opponent to make a Save or be Stunned.

SunTzu wrote:Now, proceed to make a Cleric Archer that will own. Ask to take the Zen Archery feat only. Compromise to make it count as 2 feats.

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the WotC version of Zen Archery do?

I was referring to trying to strike a deal with your DM for the F+K Zen Archery.

The proposed deal was that you spend 2 feats for the single F+K feat (which is a decently fair deal).

The WoTC Zen Archery feat allows you to use your Wis mod for ranged attacks, and is a decent feat to take by itself.

SunTzu wrote:I was referring to trying to strike a deal with your DM for the F+K Zen Archery

Ahhh. Forgive my density. In that case, I'll ask him. He likes some Frank and K stuff, and he's tends to take the view of "Eh, you're doing it to have fun".