Hi,

I'm in a long running D&D 3.5 campaign where we're currently cleaning out (Return to) The Temple of Elemental Evil. Our gamemaster have asked us to create back-up characters, so that character deaths won't bug down play.

I would like to make a summoner/conjurer & a "tank" but I'm not very well-versed in D&D 3.5 and would like to ask if any of you would like to create the characters for me. Please Min/Max them as much as possible and feel free to be very creative about it. However, describe your creative ideas so that I can give to the GM for his approval.

Both characters should be level 11 and you're free to use any published material for prestige-classes etc. We have the normal pr. level gold and it's fair deal to "create" magic items for the characters prior to game-start.

I've yet to roll up the stats for them; I'll do it later today.

The Conjurer/Summoner/Demon-worshipper:
* He's very much into extraplaner beings
* He's primary mode of attack is to summon creatures to fight for him; he doesn't fight, - they do.
* Alignment: L.N, T.N. or C.N. (he can be evil but it would require a non-detection amulet on him (which is fair enough, given the setting). Not C.E.
* Any race will do
* Any prestige-class; just make him mean


The "Tank"
* He can take damage
* He can physically hurt people
* High AC
* High Hitpoints
* Many Attacks
* Strong against creature with damage reduction and immunities


I don't know specifically which prestige classes that are allowed, but if it isn't to obscure or un-balanced our GM usually allows it. You're also allowed to all kinds of templates. I'd prefer that you make them humanoid of sorts (no beholders or mindflayers) and not to obviously evil.

Please feed me questions and characters

Anders

adhoc, have you checked out the complete scoundrel book? There's a prestige class for your summoner you may want to take a look.

I'll see what I can do.

Off the top: Conjuror/Summoner guy sounds like Alienist would be perfect for him, possibly with some fatespinner in there. I think druid summons are stronger than the wizard/cleric ones, but druids don't fit the extraplanar/demon theme. (They do fit the extraplanar/elemental theme ). Recommend human (bonus feat) or grey elf (+2 int) for race, as you don't usually want a +ECL race for casters (loss of spell levels is bad.)

Tank man - Hard to top the Deepwarden, IMO. Good saves, d12 hit die, can replace DEX with CON for AC, and 6 skill points for kicks! Gotta be a dwarf though, which isn't that bad for the tank role anyway.

My experience is mostly in the Complete X and Races of X books. I'm sure there's some stranger stuff out there that might be better.

Ah, the alienist, that's from the the complete arcane, right?

The complete scoundrel prestige one is a summoner who uses evil creatures to further his own stuff, though he may be a good character. Something along the lines of 'I use the evil for good purposes' etc...

For your tank, I can't think of many reasons not to keep things simple and just toss together a straight-up Barbarian or sturdy Dwarven Fighter. Fancy schmancy Prestige Classes aren't always the answer, sometimes the answer to "hmm, I need a Tank" is sitting right in front of you.

Yeah, Alienist is Complete Arcane. Take levels until you would lose a caster level progression (it takes a whole lot to make it worth a caster's while to lose a caster level.) A dip into Mindbender would be good too, that way you can telepathically communicate with things (plus it gets you a nice fort/will save boost.) Actually, with a setting like ToEE, going far into Mindbender might be worth losing some caster levels - nothing like taking the big baddy from one fight and making him your personal meatshield forever (or until a bigger baddy comes along and kills him - then you take over this new bigger baddy.)

Alright, here's my tank: Dwarf Barbarian2/Ranger1/Fighter2/PiousTemplar3/Exotic Weaponmaster1/Deepwarden2.
Stats (unkown, but I'd rank them Str, Con, Wis, Int, Dex, Cha).
Feats: Extra Rage, Power Attack, Focus (Urgrosh), Specialization (Urgrosh), Melee Weapon Master (Slashing), True Believer, Endurance, Track.
Abilities: Rage 3/day, +4 Str/Con, -2 AC, Uncanny Dodge, Fast Movement, DR 1/-, Favored Enemy (your choice, +2), Flurry of Strikes (extra attack, -2 to all attacks), Mettle, Smite 1/day (+4 attack, +3 damage), Stone Warden (Con bonus to AC instead of Dex.)
Gear (I don't know what level 11 gear table is like, so this might be wishlistish) : Celestial Armor (+3 mithral chainmail with +8 max dex (er..Con ) with some fly ability or something) [25k], +1 Animated Large Mithral Shield[9k], +1/+1 Cold Iron Dwarven Urgrosh[6k, pesky cold iron], Ring of Adamantine Touch[6k], Belt of Strength +4 [16k], Amulet of Health +4 [16k], Armbands of Might[?2k?], Boots of Speed [12k], Vest of Resistance +3[9k], Cloak of Displacement, minor [25k], Ring of Freedom of Movement [40k, expensive]. If you've got more cash, put Holy on your Urgrosh axehead [+16k]. Probably some other good stuff to have too.

When I see an 11th level character with six different classes, I (1) throw up a little bit in my mouth, and (2) remember why I'm glad I only play D&D with a very few people. Christ.

Well, he did say "Please Min/Max them as much as possible and feel free to be very creative about it." Melee/ranged combat characters are horribly easy to cheese with the 3.5 multiclassing system. One big reason I'm interested in 4th edition.


As for the summoner guy, Wizard5/Alienist6 is an arcane route (pick up SF(Conjuration), Augment Summoning, and Rapid Summoning, plus Metamagic School Focus (Conjuration) or maybe the conjuration Reserve feat in Complete Mage. Not sure which one that is offhand.) The PHBII alternate specialist ability for Conjuration is quite nice (a 10' personal d-door as I think a swift action, 1/round.)

Cleric7/Thaumaturgist4 is a divine route, if you want to make use of Planar Ally spells. (And next level, you would get a Planar Cohort. ) Only requires SF (Conjuration) and gives Augment Summoning as a bonus feat. Have a deity with the Summoning domain, and either take PHBII Spontaneous Domain Caster alternate cleric ability (and then take Spontaneous Healer as a feat if you want it) or Domain Spontenaity (Summoning) from Complete Divine (possibly wanting Extra Turning as well), and you can spontaneously cast Summon Monster/Planar Ally spells off your domain list. He's also a good candidate for Rapid Summoning or Rapid Spell, and with SF Conjuration can take Metamagic School Focus in it.

Either summoner type also has the typical range of abilities that an arcane or divine caster provides. So you can also nuke things or crowd control with the arcane, or heal and buff as a divine caster.

This thread is very amusing.

It's getting me pumped up wanting to play some D&D 1st edition. Damn, I have got to get myself the 1st edition rule set and 1st edition Oriental Adventures. I'll just take a year to study them and then I'll be able to try and pull together an online game.

I found the prestige class I was thinking about, it's the malconvoker in the complete scoundrel. You should take a look at that.

It's been well... almost a year now since I played anything other than shadowrun, but I feel I would be remiss if I didn't offer a "Tank" Suggestion or two.


One goes something like Sorceror 4/Fighter 2/Spellsword 4/Abjurant Champion 1, progression included throwing in Spellsword and AC levels to taste.

Twilight Mithril Full Plate + Twilight Mithril Animated Shield + Various spells(Dragonskin, ring of deflection) + Dex of 16 or so = Really high AC for level 11.


10+8+5(shield spell or a couple less that never goes away with the shield)+ 5 DS+2 RoD+ 3 Dex = AC of 33 + Whatever else enhancement you can put on the armor and resist energy 20 to one type from Dragonskin.

You generally only attack once a round, but let's do a little calculation shall we?

BAB of 10 + 5 from STR(not hard to get it higher, but we'll go low right now.) +1 from Spellstoring Greatsword, so attack of +16, not shabby but not good either right? Well, your "swift" action is spent casting Ghoststrike so it's a touch attack now, looking better? Well, go ahead and throw a level 3 spell into Arcane Strike(feat) so that's another +3 and +3d4 damage.

So, we are looking at roughly +19 with a touch attack to land with 2d6+8+3d4+two spells of your choosing. I would suggest energy sub and Scorching Ray or Combust. If you have the chance get Arcane Thesis and Empower Spell. Hitting something for 2d6+8+3d4+36d6 at level 11 tends to make things very very dead.(Average Damage of 7+8+7+126=148. At this point DR is mostly moot, with Arcane Thesis and Practiced Spellcaster you have a caster level of 13, so only need a 12 to get through illithis SR which is the hardest you should find anywhere around level 11.


Chris

And that one only has 4 classes not six =-P.

Another tankish character is Fighter 4/Ranger 1/Kensai 1/Exotic Weapon Master 1/Kensai 2-5. Or skip the level of ranger and go Fighter 5 or throw something else in there. Be lawful. Use the armor tips I gave you earlier except minus dragonskin. This character wields a bastard sword, has a HUGE attack bonus and kills things with several attacks. Get Uncanny Blow from Exotic Weapon Master.


Let's say start with 16 Str. Get +4 item, so 20. +2 from levels so 22. So, Attack bonus is 11+6+5 Bastard Sword(Kensai Signature Weapon) + 1 from haste(spell or Boots of Speed). So a relatively hefty AB of 22, that will hit most level 11 opponents on a 5 or so, or lower. So, add Weapon Focus as a feat and the tome of battle feat.... what was it.... adds +2 attack and +2 damage to all weapons of one type. Has huge prereqs. Anyway it, so you have another +3 so AB of 25. With the Kensai's Power Surge your strength skyrockets up to 30 and you get another 4 AB. So, power attack off all 11 of that BAB and have fun hitting for 1d10+20 from str + 22 from PA with two attacks at +18/1 at +13/ and one at +8. If you are willing to take the AC hit get a ring of Giant Size(Enlarge spell in ring, turn on and off at will. According to book tables costs 4k gold.)

So, less preposterous than the first character, though neither are hard to believe. Not quite as good at avoiding damage from attacks, his AC will be a little bit smaller(high 20's low 30's), but he has the potential for alot more damage especially if you use more ToB stuff and get the Pounce Maneuver and the Shock Trooper feat.(take your BAB away from your AC for attack at full AB+2 for Charging and getting a Full Attack.)

Anyway, just wanted to chime in. I've got some other way more insane ones, but these two are easily playable, and most GMs would allow them, maybe with a little tweaking. Oh, with this character Keep putting point in Concentration and buy the Third Eye of Concentration from Expanded Psionics(8k), that should allow you to Power Surge by not rolling a 1 like 4 or more times. Then you actually have to roll for it.

When I played this character I generally just Power Surged and walked up next to my opponent, then Full Attacked the crap out of them the next round. When I played the Spellsword I just charged, Power Attacked, channeled spells and Arcane Struck, generally would 1-shot whatever I hit then have to spend a round re-channeling spells. Make sure someone has teleport or Rope Trick to rest securely on a regular basis.


Chris

Dude, you are going to play the SAME character for both in carnations. Both are going to be clerics or druids.

Heck depending on what rules are allowed you can probably do *both* with the *same character*

Oh heck everything is allowed, well, you want to throw down rashemi elemental summoning and some other random summoning goodies with your feats to make you an awesome summoner, then you can buff yourself up to awesome with the rest of your spells and feats.

IF you are a druid, same plan, except you wild shape into something awesome first, preferably a dragon via draconic wildshape, then buff yourself into crazy town.