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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Having trouble with subtle support-optimization in a high powered gestalt game
« on: March 09, 2017, 09:20:06 PM »
Quote from: Nifft on March 08, 2017, 09:00:36 PM
How are you getting "no Psionics" while the DMPC is half Divine Mind? That's like a Wookie on Tatooine.

Hax, I presume.  It's a dedicated healer anyway, so that's exactly the right kind of DMPC to let somebody join the game for RPing, and I'm not inclined to rock the boat.

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Min/Max 3.x / Re: Having trouble with subtle support-optimization in a high powered gestalt game
« on: March 08, 2017, 08:54:59 PM »
Separated out, what I was considering:

There's really no way around the fact that dedicated tripping is going to at least equal the Knight for battlefield control, especially with all the bonuses I can start applying, but there's a handy way to avoid this: staying near the squishies and serving as a second line of defense, letting the knight have his day keeping the front line at bay.  As an added bonus, this will mostly be mobile things rather than the tough stuff, so I'm more likely to succeed on my trip checks.  Once they're down, the rogue will have a pretty easy time flanking and landing tons of sneak attacks, giving her a chance to shine, and I can look for the ability to apply other status effects with attacks to further the takedown potential.  I believe the fifth party member, the one whose build I'm unsure of, is archery-focused, so pretty much by default he has his own role.

The other option I was looking at is to branch out from my current tanking/control set into the one thing our party lacks: blasting.  A highly defensive artillery piece standing between the enemies and the rest of the back line would be entertaining and not step on anybody's toes, but I can't see a good way to go about it anytime soon - Incarnate is best taken straight, and there's no reason to drop Factotum before level 8 (and really with this campaign, probably 11).

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Min/Max 3.x / Having trouble with subtle support-optimization in a high powered gestalt game
« on: March 08, 2017, 08:29:24 PM »
4th level play by post, two DMs, three parties, and the DMs have plans to take this into high levels (from comments, I recognize that we'll eventually be dealing with Kyuss...)

The most important house rules, from a character building perspective, are:

1) Additional bonus feat at every level (!)
2) Heavy doses of wild magic, both arcane and divine, discouraging spellcasters
3) No ToB, no psionics - more for flavor than balance concerns, I believe
4) No homebrew, but nearly all official sources are valid, including web enhancement and Dragon magazine (with permission), and a few third party are allowed

The rest of my party is a Knight/Fighter, a Bard/Rogue, some kind of fightan man who I don't have a build on, and a Cleric/Divine Mind (secretly the co-DM's PC, intended to serve a healing role).  I'm an Incarnate/Factotum, currently invested in tripping (secondary tank, secondary damage dealer) and Handle Animal (I have a Warbeast Riding Dog and permission to apply Wild Cohort to it), and have already agreed with the two DMs that Cunning Surge was intended to be 1/round.

My issue is that, as the classes quickly show, the optimization level is pretty low.  The Cleric/Divine Mind has a lot of potential power but is a dedicated healer, and the other three are all mechanically unimpressive.  I'm a pretty good optimizer and statted my character out before I learned just how mechanically weak the rest of the party is, and so I toned things down a little (put off Wild Cohort, delayed Shape Soulmeld: Reaping Gauntlets, sword and board  instead of a ranseur, etc.) but I'd like ideas for creative ways to make the rest of the party shine brighter.

Neither DM seems to be much of an optimizer, so I'd rather avoid shocking them with just how strong some combos can be.  I'd much prefer to avoid prestige classes for now, and I'm less worried about making sure the rest of the party can shine at higher levels, so any suggestions that focus more on the 5-9 range are most appreciated.

Build notes: My feats are Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Azure Expertise, Knowledge Devotion, and 3x Font of Inspiration (though note no Cunning Surge mega-novas), 18 Int and other stats all low-positive modifiers (+1s and +2s), Azurin race.  I'm committed to my riding dog long-term for RP reasons, but don't want to optimize her too heavily (she's already a Warbeast and will have Wild Cohort later.)


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D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / The Restless Dead, CR 3
« on: September 23, 2012, 06:30:58 AM »
The Restless Dead

DMs, please be aware, under no conditions whatsoever should a single Restless Dead be put up against a third level party.  The party will die, quickly and painfully, regardless of any preparations they may have made.  This is a monster intended to appear in multiples, or intended to provide an extremely dangerous accomplice for the primary villain.

Perhaps the Restless Dead have turned bitter and hateful, or perhaps they merely seek to protect their remaining homes.  For whatever reason, they now stand in opposition to the party, and have a surprising variety of tactics available, ranging from intimidation to lethal force.

(click to show/hide)


Tactic: Varied.  With impressive Listen and Spot checks and the Incorporeal subtype, the Restless Dead should always be able to ambush the party by suddenly appearing from within an object.  When seeking peaceful solutions, the Restless Dead are inclined to make use of their Intimidate skill to convince the party to retreat, and rely on obstructing the party's advance through Telekinesis if they press onward.

If violence is required, they rely primarily on the Telekinesis power to throw large objects at party members.  Due to the low challenge rating, taking full advantage of the ghost's caster level on Telekinesis is not advised, though the option remains for more powerful parties (the Gestalt rule, extremely high point buy, very generous equipment budgets, etc.).  Throwing a few boulders every time the Telekinesis power is available remains a rather potent attack, however.

The Restless Dead also have a DC 14 Corrupting Gaze attack (Fortitude negates, 2d10 damage + 1d4 Charisma damage) for the party to deal with every round, and make active gaze attacks whenever the Telekinesis ability is unavailable.  If the party casts a spell that poses an exceptional threat, the Restless Dead can retreat back into a solid object, either to wait out the spell's duration or to retreat unseen.  This tactic is also effective at repositioning during the battle to escape a dangerous melee threat.

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D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Cruel Creations: Optimized Encounters for Optimized Players
« on: September 23, 2012, 06:29:54 AM »
Welcome to Cruel Creations, an old project of mine from the Wizards.com boards.  I'll port over my Devoted Choker (my best creation from the original series) next, but I wanted to start this generation with a freshly devised engine of death and destruction.

These NPCs are intended to serve as powerful and memorable challenges for an optimized party.  Each Cruel Creation is capable of quickly killing off an ill-prepared party, and each is extremely dangerous for its CR; these are not your average Monster Manual patsy!  Interested DMs should carefully consider their party's ability to handle the challenge before using anything found in this series, and may wish to consider presenting two or more Cruel Creations together to challenge a higher level party.

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Gaming Advice / Darkvision 120'
« on: August 14, 2012, 05:22:39 AM »
I'm going to be playing in a mostly-underground game where I expect plenty of drow to threaten the party.  I've been scouring sources, and while it's not too hard to get Darkvision 60' (I can afford the magic item for it), I'd like to extend that to 120'.  I can spare a single feat if really required, though I'd rather do this through items.  I have a pretty good UMD score and most of my gold is still free.

Anybody have any ideas?

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You Break it You Buy it / Re: 100^10 Elite Optimization Challenge by Lord of Procrastination
« on: August 14, 2012, 05:19:31 AM »
I've been hoping to find this somewhere!  I'm Lusden Veharo from the bad old boards, so that Silly Literalist is my baby.  I'm reasonably certain that errata since then have rendered it null and void, but honestly I can't be bothered to try and recreate it.

I have a week off work coming up, and it might be fun to try this one again.  I used to have details on the Dextrous Improbability somewhere; a single classed Wilder who used hyper-boosting of his Dexterity score to achieve the improbable.  I think I had the Dex into the mid-80s; might be able to do better now, with more books released.  I'll have to think about it.

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Introduce Yourself / Standard uninteresting introduction
« on: March 04, 2012, 03:31:34 AM »
Was Lusden Veharo way back on the old WotC boards, not that many are likely to remember me.  Only notable stuff was the Silly Literalist from the 100^10 challenge, a few monsters (Choker Crusader was my favorite), and a little work with premade NPCs.

If anybody happens to have the old 100^10 challenge saved somewhere, I'd love to see the old boy.

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