The Gaming Den

I just got invited to a game; 3.5 core +savage species. the rest of the party has already started. they have a ranger, a fighter, and "something charismatic and sneaky" (the DM couldn't remember what) I was invited specificly because the need a healer.

the characters are level 1. the stats are 4d6 then arrange, starting equipment is some kind of wonky DM fiat for setting reasons.

any suggestions on optimising? I was pretty happy hearing they wanted a cleric or Druid, (CODzilla FTW)

I was thinking cleric, because Natural spell isin't in the approved materials and spontaous casting will let me maintain the pretense of healbitch without tanking my spell selections.

any other suggestions?

Natural Spell is core in 3.5.

If Savage Species is allowed, one of the best things from it is the Feral template. YOu could talk to your DM about starting out as a 1 HD Feral (whatever) and try to convince your party to tough out the first level. It'll bring down your Int, but actually raises Wis, you could then logically go Druid, picking up Natural spell at 3rd (or better, 6th) level.

Another option (that I didn't think of at first) is Drider, they cast as your choice of Cleric, Wizard or Sorcerer of your hit dice, right from level one.

Ghaele's cast as clerics of their class level, so it's another decent choice.

Honestly, the ECL system is incredibly broken, not as in "over powered" or anything, but rather "doesn't work." Your best bet is to ignore Savage Species, and play like it were a core only game. You could also try to get your DM to understand why ECL doesn't work, and fix it, but that's not likely to happen in my experience.

Aren't those incredibly poorly conceived furries in Savage Species? As I recall, you can be an anthropomorphic bat and get something stupid like +6 to your Wisdom for zero level adjustment.

-Username17

that's true, I'd forgotten about the anthropomorphic template.

The anthro bat has +6 wis, -4 str, -2 cha, a 5' land speed and a 20' fly speed. with an ECL of 1 for the starting Hit Die, which most humanoids drop for a class so you might be able to slip that by your dm.

yeah, I was thinking of using savage species to grab a huge wisdom bonus. didn't realize natural spell was core. that is pretty big.

also, I just found out that they're also using Complete Arcane and the guy the DM couldn't remember is a WarMage, I'm assuming there's nothing inthere relevant to this thou, unless theres some arcane based healing class that's any good. or feats that can help CoDs

Also, Newbie DM, so I probly can't educate the group on the crappiness of ECL, but I think they're doing something differently anyway; the group is offically level one, but one of the guys has an ECL and the DM told me he just won't gain another class level untill the rest of the group catches up. which strikes me as wrong in a couple of differetn ways.

EDIT: also, the race selection is limited to Human, Elf, HalfElf, and the Anthro animals from savage species, I'm not sure if the rest of SS is allowed

norms29 wrote:yeah, I was thinking of using savage species to grab a huge wisdom bonus. didn't realize natural spell was core. that is pretty big.

also, I just found out that they're also using Complete Arcane and the guy the DM couldn't remember is a WarMage, I'm assuming there's nothing inthere relevant to this thou, unless theres some arcane based healing class that's any good. or feats that can help CoDs

Also, Newbie DM, so I probly can't educate the group on the crappiness of ECL, but I think they're doing something differently anyway; the group is offically level one, but one of the guys has an ECL and the DM told me he just won't gain another class level untill the rest of the group catches up. which strikes me as wrong in a couple of differetn ways.

EDIT: also, the race selection is limited to Human, Elf, HalfElf, and the Anthro animals from savage species, I'm not sure if the rest of SS is allowed

Well, the way they're doing ECL is actually what was first suggested in the DMG and Oriental Adventures, before they got into the monster class bullshit. It's better, but still wonky. You could see if the templates are allowed and play a feral elf (or something), or you could just go for something like the anthro bat.

With a newbie DM you don't want to break the game too hard. That said, you can still use a powerful build and hold all your power in reserve. That might actually be wise; a newbie DM might accidentally drop a powerful monster on you.

Anthro Bat Druid with Natural Spell is probably the most powerful option you've got, in your constraints.

Druids make fairly kickass healers, what with their ability to spontaneously summon unicorns. Just play a normal everyday dog-riding (later bat-riding) forest gnome druid. Alternatively, if you DM does allow Savage Species in most of its glory, the ghaele eladin make great cleric-casting healer/archers. Just don't overdo it.

Okay, given the the LA situation is completely fubarred, you probably have a couple of options:

Option 1 - pure metagaming bullshit - not recommended - Pick the highest LA thing you possibly can and run the campaign over with a truck. Bonus points if you ARE a truck:
Selection - Antropomorphic African Elephant (Large Size, 3d8 hp, +2 LA, +TWELVE Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con, +4 Wis, +SEVEN Natural Armor). You might as well ask if you can get a gore/tusk attack, and if you trunk can count as a third hand.
You 28 point buy character looks something like this:
STR - 38 (+14)
DEX - 12 (+1)
CON - 32 (+11)
INT - 10
WIS - 14 (+2)
CHA - 10
You swing a Large Greatsword at +17 (+3 BAB) for 3d6+21 (avg31.5) damage.
You have Natural Reach.
Side Note: You don't completely suck at ranged weapons (+4 ranged with Large Darts (d6+13) ).
Your AC is 10+7(NA)+1(Dex)-1(size) = 17. Naked.
You have FIFTY (50) hp, on average.

Now you ELEPHANT STOMP everything though CR 5 fairly easily (you can two-shot the 5-headed hydra at AC 15, hp 50).

Option 2 - Keep it reasonable but powerful. Play something like an anthropomorphic bat (mentioned above). Bonus points if you play a Cloistered Cleric for some arcane spells, or a Druid. You don't do this as a normal cleric because you never get heavy armor. You don't need natural spell at level 1 because you are anthropomorphic and can talk.

Option 3 - Standard badass cleric archer. Elf Cleric (bow proficiency), Zen Archery. Congratulations, you are now likely the best archer in the party. Bonus points if you can worship the Elven War God (Solonor Thelandira, God of the Hunt, justify it!), snag the War Domain (WF(longbow), decent spells), and the Elf Domain (Point Blank Shot, good spells). You probably then take SF(conjuration) and take the Thamaturge PrC because you notice that cleric gives you nothing, and a free Contingent Augment Summon is worth every one of 16 hp and one feat that it takes to get it.

Option 4 - Standard Badass Druid - you take SF(Conjuration), Natural Spell, and Augment Summoning, because most core feats suck.

Option 5 - Play what you want (feral elephant!). Buy a Wand of Cure Light Wounds (not as good as a Wand of Lesser Vigor, but it'll do). You party REALLY doesn't need a healer at this point. Give everyone an 'emergency' potion, and 3 people a wand and your healing is seriously taken care of until level 20.

Option 6 - Suck. Take 1 level in cleric, and a number of levels in things 'not cleric'. Now you get free cleric wand usage, some nifty tricks, and you get to do what you want (feral elephant!).