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Messages - Nifft

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1
Abrupt Jaunt is great and usually well worth the cost, but for your build it may be expensive in an inconvenient way.

I expect your DM will require you to have a Familiar in order to partake of the Familiar Companion class feature of AH, and IMHO that's a superior benefit. You can somewhat replace Abrupt Jaunt with an Anklet of Translocation.

Often a Conjurer will take Abrupt Jaunt and then Arcane Familiar at level 3, but you won't have level 3 Wizard casting until you're deep into AH levels. (I'm assuming your level 6 feat will be spent on Natural Spell, as all the gods intended, and your level 3 feat would have to be Alternative Spell Source -- but even if you take Practiced Spellcaster [Wizard] at level 6, you wouldn't have a slot for Arcane Familiar until 9, which is after you'd want to have started AH.)

If your DM will allow you to gain Companion Familiar without having a Familiar, then Abrupt Jaunt is fantastic.


Not sure I understand the difficulty with Mage Armor. I think you will get to pick a bunch of spells to learn at Wizard 1, and you can pick Mage Armor at that time. Presumably that would be allowed?


Also, not sure how you can continue AH progression until after you're level 20. You need to spend levels 18, 19, and 20 on something else, which is currently MT. That's fine -- for this purpose MT isn't terrible -- but take a look at Uncanny Trickster for those 3 levels, and see if you like how it gives you an absurd number of skill points and also progresses your AH class features (like Wild Shape) while giving you 2/3 the benefit of MT.

I totally agree that when you get to Epic levels you'll want Epic Arcane Hierophant.


In terms of spells, some of the usual suspects aren't as good for you when you get them. Grease is always nice and gets nicer when you start to fly, and Mage Armor is going to be extra good if you can't spam Luminous. Silent Image is surprisingly great if you have excellent stealth (which you could in some Wild Shape forms). Benign Transposition is amazing once you're a Wild Shape'd tank (level 6+), and quite decent before that if you have a fragile archer or sorcerer to protect, or if you don't find stellar armor and you need to hide behind your bear. Comprehend Languages never gets old, and has great synergy with sneaking into the enemy's camp as an animal, but some DMs won't put you in the situation of not knowing the target's language so yeah. Fist of Stone is pretty good for someone in Wild Shape (+6 Str for 1 minute), but not particularly great before.

Will you ever want to do Craft-type stuff? If so, Magecraft (Eberron) might be useful at those times. Good synergy with Fabricate at higher levels, too, and even has some applicability for high-level stuff like making golems. If you're going to be in a Seven Samurai situation ("protect a village") then being able to Craft fortifications and such might be solid.

Will you ever want to do Diplomamcy? If so, Alibi (Exemplars of Evil) and one of the social-helper spells like Friendly Face (Races of Destiny) can get you a lot of access, and since Diplomacy is on your Druid list you're better placed to leverage that access than the typical Wizard, so that pair of spells may be a stand-out (if you are a Face), and the bonus will remain relevant up through mid-levels.

If 3.0e material is allowed, consider Fetid Breath (Ghostwalk) which is basically Stinking Cloud except 2 levels early. The area of effect stinks but after level 6 you may prefer to be on the front-lines, so it's going to stay useful to you longer than it would to the average arcane caster.

Personally I like Parching Touch (Sandstorm) for the Instantaneous dehydration debuff (and the -1 Con, and the untyped damage), and it becomes even more interesting when you're in a Large form with significant reach (so you can delivery more touch attacks). Not the best spell, but it's interesting and it leverages one of your future strengths.

2
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Theurge Casting Spells from Other Class's Slots
« on: April 15, 2020, 06:03:00 PM »
From your other thread, your early entry trick is Alternative Spell Source, which allows you to prepare Druid spells in Druid slots as Arcane spells.

I think between that and your PC having both Wizard and Druid levels you would be able to meet both the spirit and letter of the rules in creating Arcane scrolls from your Druid slots (albeit at a caster level cost but whatever).

AFAICT, the only restriction on creating Arcane or Divine scrolls comes from this line in the SRD:
Quote from: SRD
The spell must be of the correct type (arcane or divine). Arcane spellcasters (wizards, sorcerers, and bards) can only use scrolls containing arcane spells, and divine spellcasters (clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers) can only use scrolls containing divine spells. (The type of scroll a character creates is also determined by his or her class.)
(bold added)

Since you have two classes the only restriction seems to not apply to you. That'd be the RAW argument.

From a spirit-of-the-rules argument: When you took Alternative Spell Source you turned Druid into a syzygy of Divine and Arcane casting. "Determined by your class" now means either, since your class can do both. (You also turned Wizard into a syzygy of Arcane and Divine casting, of course.)

Another spirit-of-the-rules argument might be that you can create Arcane scrolls from Druid slots after you take a level of Arcane Hierophant, since that's one class which advances both types of spellcasting. It's now "your class" in a significant way since you built for it and you intend to take all 10 levels, so once you have AH as "your class" then the restriction disappears in a poof of logic.

A third spirit-of-the-rules argument would be: If you were a Wizard with a Druid friend of the appropriate level, you could use your friend's spells to cooperatively create a magic item. Being your own friend shouldn't hinder the possibility of cooperation.


tl;dr - I can show you where the base game's rules stop applying to your PC, but only your DM can tell you what happens after that point.

3
That reasoning is legit.

-- -- --

Regarding theurge performance, IMXP it's all about the sorts of solutions your DM allows.

Theurges are not great at direct combat, and they're not great if you need a specific level-appropriate spell to solve an encounter, but they can be very good at utility & problem-avoiding.

That said, you're only going to be one level behind a single-class Druid in casting and such, and Druids are ahead of the game for most of the game. So it seems like you're optimizing for combat as a Druid, and then adding some exceptional utility from the Wizard list. You won't have the sorts of performance issues which would plague a core MT.

You'll be quite self-sufficient with spells like mage armor on your pet, too.

-- -- --

Your total build prefix would be Druid 6 / Wizard 1, then Arcane Hierophant 10, for a total of 17 levels you actually want.

Consider taking Uncanny Trickster 3 for your last levels (and advancing the class features of AH). Compared to MT 3 you'd lose one level of spellcasting, but you'd advance all your AH class features -- including wild shape, your companion, and so on. You'd end up casting as a Druid 18 / Wizard 13, so you wouldn't lose a Wizard spell level.

4
Min/Max 3.x / Re: Single Cleric vs Global Pandemic?
« on: April 11, 2020, 02:08:20 AM »
Level up and cast a variety of spells (and make relevant items) to remove disease AND prevent the spread of it.  (Confining people may work via wall of stone.)

"Hello stranger, sorry but I need to stab you in the face. Don't feel bad though! The XP you provide is going to help me save the world."

5
Why not dip into Mystic Theurge before Arcane Hierophant?

IIRC with Alternate Spell Source and fractional BAB you can get away with Wizard 1 / Druid 3 -> MT 3 -> AH

6
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Cast Spells Through Minion?
« on: September 01, 2019, 04:42:59 PM »
Is there a spell which let's me cast spells and see and interact remotely or through my minion?  I'd like to hang out safe in my den while I adventure and battle remotely by myself or through my minion.

Magic Jar isn't entirely safe, but it can be safer than going in person.

Your den would need to be rather close to your minion, though.

7
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: January 07, 2018, 12:24:36 AM »
Ehh ... err ... I think that tweet-rata just about does it.


Indeed. Apparently the designers agree that the thing needs nerfing, and thus they tweet-nerf'd it.

Hope Sore_Loss isn't too sore about the loss.  :lmao

8
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: December 11, 2017, 03:28:30 PM »
What's your goalpost here?
Trying to figure out what you're saying.

If this was somehow difficult to understand:
Combat is one of the 3 major pillars of 5e. It's not the only thing, but it's an important thing, and getting it right is difficult. That is why I am paying for this game. Do your damn job, Mearls.
... then, uh, you may want to set easier goals for yourself.


Level 17 Sorcerers can and do cast spells of higher than 5th level.
Yeah they do, but the Craplock
The what now?

Please explain this new term you're using, and explain how it prevents 6+ level slots from being available for an appropriately leveled Warlock/Sorcerer.

I think it's pretty clear that level 6+ slots are in fact available, so... yeah. You're just reaching now.

9
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: December 09, 2017, 09:59:40 PM »
Well, it's because a 40% damage increase isn't the problem. ... Stockpiling spell slots to unlimited quantities during downtime is the most blatant current problem.
Ok so I did understand you correctly, dominating combat isn't a big deal.
What's your goalpost here?

Is there anything that would qualify as a big deal in your opinion?

Besides, it's hardly as effect as you make it out to be. Go ahead and try to beat Season One of the Adventures and let me known how fast you realize the inherent problem with being limited to 5th level Slots with no other useful Actions can be.
3 levels of Warlock gets your Sorcerer unlimited level 5 slots during downtime, but it does not limit you to level 5 slots.

You're still a level 17 Sorcerer.

Level 17 Sorcerers can and do cast spells of higher than 5th level.

If your argument was supposed to be that being limited to level 5 slots would balance the unlimited stockpiling, then you're going to need a better argument.

10
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: December 08, 2017, 09:38:24 PM »
giantitp forums are really in a Tizzy about the coffeelock.
Seems to be dying down a bit now.

Should be compared to the Glyph of Warding find , or say crafting a Very Rare item.
Can you expand on what you mean by this?

11
D&D 5e / Re: Thought Experiment: Character Builds
« on: December 08, 2017, 04:56:48 PM »
Am I allowed to post what you get? If so, I’ll post some stuff.

You are not allowed to reproduce the entire work.

You are certainly allowed to post the ideas, as long as you use your own words -- copyright only refers to a specific expression of a work, not to all possible expressions.

Under the Fair Use laws, you are also allowed to copy-paste a few excerpts from a work.

tl;dr - Yes, yes you are.

12
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: December 06, 2017, 11:23:37 PM »
Quote
Mike Mearls: If a PC being too good at combat is messing up your campaign, the issue might be that your campaign is too combat driven.
Disagree strongly. ... Combat is one of the 3 major pillars of 5e.
I'm not following you here.

So if combat is one of the three pillars that means Mc UberGod dominating combat is only dominating 33.3% of the game. Well, actually significantly less really. Since Adventures allow up to seven players, even if Mc UberGod deals four times as much damage as everyone else he only makes up 40% of the party's total damage. His total share & contribution to the campaign's advancement is an equivalent of 13.3%.

Assuming everything was split up, each person is expected to have a median value share of about 14.25% (100/7) with some scoring higher in some pillars at the cost of not performing well in others (aka balance). If anything, your three pillar approach is exactly what Mearls is talking about and the existence of those inherently lessens the impact of someone being better in combat than the rest of his follow players. A character must also focus on other things, otherwise he'll end up being subpar.

This is why Wizards in 3rd were ultimately pegged as broken. It's not that they can deal more damage than an ubercharger, but in their downtime they create minions, castles, items, cure cancer, solve world hunger, and turn turtles into ninjas. It doesn't cost them anything to temporarily master any given pillar.
Well, it's because a 40% damage increase isn't the problem.

Stockpiling spell slots to unlimited quantities during downtime is the most blatant current problem.

Here's an example: a so-called Coffeelock at character level 12 can stockpile roughly 50 level 5 slots every 10 days, increasing the stockpiled slots at that rate without limit so long as downtime persists.

This isn't at the level of 3.x Wizards -- I suspect nothing else is at that level -- but it's in the same direction, and it's for the same reason that you bring up as if it were a distinction.

If downtime exists in a game, there's currently a character who can stockpile resources without limit.


Those resources are not limited to combat, of course. The so-called Coffeelock could stockpile slots for a season, and then keep nine separate level 5 Animate Dead spells active for 10 days. Quantity has a quality all its own, and all that, and what a Coffeelock brings is unbounded quantity -- or plot-bounded, I suppose.


This is not going to be fixed by DMs caring less about combat.

This is the sort of thing that Mearls should be fixing.

13
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: December 05, 2017, 05:52:08 PM »
Hell, it was even built on the back of a miniatures wargame with the exploration tacked on in the form of an entirely different game made by another company.

"If one mini in our tactical skirmish wargame seems to be so strong that combat is unbalanced, maybe it's your fault for using our tactical skirmish wargame for tactical skirmish wargaming."

I'm paying you to balance the minis. Do your damn job Mearls.

14
General D&D Discussion / Re: The DM/MMX Controversy?
« on: December 05, 2017, 02:06:51 PM »
Quote
Mike Mearls: If a PC being too good at combat is messing up your campaign, the issue might be that your campaign is too combat driven.

Disagree strongly.

A game with occasional combat shouldn't excuse a poorly designed game whereby only one PC is good at combat.

Ideally, every player has some way to engage with every encounter, and combat -- occasional or frequent -- should be a situation where everyone feels both pressing danger and the thrill of victory.

Combat is one of the 3 major pillars of 5e. It's not the only thing, but it's an important thing, and getting it right is difficult. That is why I am paying for this game. Do your damn job, Mearls.

15
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: "Feats are nice but should not be necessary."
« on: November 16, 2017, 01:21:13 PM »
Monks lose Tashalatora.

Monks lose the ability to be replaced by not-Monks?!  :)




IIRC the conversations around "feats should be nice-not-necessary" were more about feat taxes.

4e contained the best example -- every character needed a specific feat to maintain attack accuracy starting around level 12 -- but there were probably examples from 3e as well.


Darkstalker might be a valid example. "Take this feat or those skill points you spent were wasted."

16
Min/Max 3.x / Re: [Practical Opt] Eberron Sovereign Crusader
« on: November 06, 2017, 01:10:43 AM »
I wonder if wrangling in turning for divine metamagic is too feat intensive for this build.

You could take Extend Spell and Persistent Spell in the prefix, before you get any spellcasting, then DMM: Persist any time after Sacred Exorcist 1 (which requires no feats to enter).


EDIT: The main penalty is that the Good domain is very common among the Sovereign Host, so obtaining Dispel Evil is potentially a fairly nasty restriction on Domain choices.

17
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: [3.5] Swordsage feat chains
« on: October 20, 2017, 11:02:59 PM »
With those stats and a presumption of Wis+Dex focus for future stats, I think you might prefer a spiked chain.

It's a two-handed weapon (for Power Attack, if you put one more point in Str), it's Finesseable, and it's a Shadow Hand weapon so it's good with Shadow Blade.

You don't need TWF go be a good Swordsage. You can get 2 attacks per round with Flashing Sun (Desert Wind 2) starting at level 3 -- same attack penalty as TWF but full 2-handed damage, but only once per refresh.

I'd suggest getting more level 1 feats. Be a Human, take Flaws, be a Halfling of the Hair Feat tribe -- heck, bribe your DM with a pizza and a nice whiskey.

Feats You Want (which you can get at level 1 with 2 Flaws):
- Adaptive Style
- Shadow Blade
- Darkstalker

... then at level 3 take Weapon finesse, then take Exotic Weapon (Spiked Chain) at level 6.

If you can't use Flaws, then be a Human and delay Shadow Blade:

L1: Adaptive Style, Darkstalker
L3: Weapon Finesse
L6: Spiked Chain

18
Min/Max 3.x / Re: [Practical Opt] Eberron Sovereign Crusader
« on: October 20, 2017, 09:02:36 PM »
Same start :

X 7 / DC 1 / SS 1 / LC 10 / Y 1
LC advances the class at 8/10 so you'd get all 9 levels of SS this way.
If Y is a +1 caster level prc (like DC too) that would be all of the DC casting.
My swords will kill you, or my Lords will kill you.

LC advances SS 8/10, but SS only advances casting 7/9.

So you're losing 4 total caster advancements over 12 levels.

Even with straight Sovereign Speaker advancement, we need 2 additional PrC levels to get all 10 levels of Divine Crusader casting.

Maybe my CO rust is showing... but how about the oft forgotten Dragon Disciple? You need one more single level PrC dip to advance your Divine Crusader to 9th level spells, but then using two levels at the end with Dragon Disciple nets you two L9 spells rather than using a PrC to net one L8 and one L9. Duskblade would be the easiest entry and flavourwise you've all all the dragon schtuff happening.

edit: or actually, use a PrC for two more casting levels to max out Divine Crusader casting, then for your last level take Dragon Disciple to nab one more 9th level spell.
Yep, I'd totally forgotten Dragon Disciple.

You're right that 1 level at ECL 20 could be great, because more level 9 spells are great.

Also, the Sovereign Host has some kind of connection with the various dragons of Eberron, so it's even got a decent flavor-fit.


In that vein, the next best thing would be, I dunno... maybe Dread Witch 1, for +1 spell at each level, but only an Illusion...  (are there even Illusions on the Domain lists?)


Anyway, thanks!

19
Gaming Advice / Re: Warforged Senses
« on: October 19, 2017, 03:44:03 PM »
Any Psion could experience the taste of anything visible, just by manifesting Cinnamonaesthesia.

20
Min/Max 3.x / Re: [Practical Opt] Eberron Sovereign Crusader
« on: October 18, 2017, 04:39:05 PM »
New thought: Warshaper 4 as part of the prefix.

One Changeling plus four levels of any full-BAB class ought to be sufficient to get in; we'd get all the good stuff from Warshaper, but delay casting by 1 level, and remove 1 level of non-casting slack from the post-fix.


Legacy Champion prc advances a 1 level dip of Sovereign Speaker, by 8/10.
Then ToB +1 early or late, or any +1 caster prc.
Not necessarily down a tier, via the build + weapon synergy.

I wonder about Ur-Priest 2 working with Eberron cosmology
otherwise subbing straight into the Div Crusader 1.
Nar Demonbinder basically doesn't fit Eberron.
Sublime Chord if you stretched in a little Bard 3 or 4.
Same with Ardent 3 or 4 with the typical tricks.

Ur-Priest: fuck all the gods.

Sovereign Speaker: love all the gods.

That seems like a conflict in motivation, unless you're using the Book of Erotic Fantasy.

But seriously, no, the alignment conflict alone would kill that match-up -- I'm sure there are ways to fit Ur-Priest into Eberron, but it's not going to mesh with Sovereign Speaker.


Legacy Champion seems interesting, what's that full build look like? (From level 8+, after Divine Crusader 1.)

I think you'd lose out on a level of spellcasting, but maybe I'm counting wrong.

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