Author Topic: Free LA +5. What are some options?  (Read 5026 times)

Offline Tonymitsu

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Free LA +5. What are some options?
« on: February 08, 2013, 11:04:56 AM »
I was invited to play in a local game with some interesting rules.

The DM is good at large crowds and said he has a fondness for bizarre and exotic creatures as player characters.  As such, each person is permitted to have a free Level Adjustment of up to +5 without it counting against the character.  As a trade-off, you can't go over +5, either with one creature or template, or with the sum of base creature and templates.  As far as I know, racial hit dice are still counted normally.

-Starting stats are 16, 16, 14, 14, 12, 12, placed however you would like
-All sources are open as long as the DM has access to it (which he said is pretty much anything)
-Standard WBL, I would enter the group as a level 9.
-Level bumps are also done differently.  I get a +1 at level 4 and a +2 to two different stats at level 8.
-Flaws are probably not permitted (I forgot to ask, but there are at least two group members who have never played before).

The group currently consists of a Hexblade/Spellsword, a Druid, a githzeri Wizard, a githzeri psychic warrior, a half-fiend kender rogue, and a paladin.  This is the wizard and the psychic warrior's first game, and none of them are terribly optimized, except the kender (who is the skill monkey).  Everyone in the party is generally neutral or evil, except the paladin, who is wearing an amulet to hide his alignment from Ravenloft so he doesn't get eaten alive.

My first thought was the Unholy Scion template(HoH), since it's neat flavor but terrible to actually use at LA +5.  But then he mentioned that party is currently in a city (in Ravenloft) where there had been temples to Vecna which had been burned down and worship of him had been outlawed.  So then I drifted towards a Vecna-blooded Factotum.  Doing a stealth type guy the dark template (ToM) would be another +1, leaving +3 left over.  Which... I dunno... what's a good +3 race?

As far as I know the group could really use a tank, a battlefield control arcanist, or someone that kill things.

Are there any really good options I might have overlooked?
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Offline Amechra

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #1 on: February 08, 2013, 11:23:46 AM »
Play.
A.
Sylph.

3 Racial HD, +5 LA, cast as a Sorcerer 4 levels higher than their HD.

Which means that you'd have access to 6th level spells at level 9.

This is a perfect chance to grab any of those PrCs you've wanted to try that limit/remove your spellcasting advancement.
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Offline Ithamar

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #2 on: February 08, 2013, 11:54:28 AM »
Bladerager Troll (MMV) has 6 HD, +5 LA.  It has amazing stats, regeneration, pounce, rend, and immunity to mind-affecting.  So just stick on 3 levels of whatever you want (I'd say Warblade) and you have an awesome tank.

Or for the battlefield control, consider 9 levels of Dragonfire Adept, and just tack on +5 LA worth of CON boosting templates:

Mongrelfolk - +0 LA / +4 CON
Dragonborn - +0 LA / +2 CON
Mineral Warrior - +1 LA / +4 CON
Draconic - +1 LA / +2 CON
Lolth-Touched - +1 LA / +6 CON (Might conflict with the paladin!)
Etc.

You might be dumb and ugly, but you'll never fail a Fort save. ;)
« Last Edit: February 08, 2013, 11:57:02 AM by Ithamar »

Offline zook1shoe

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2013, 12:10:22 PM »
+1 slyph

Or you could play a sharn

But Ith's tank idea is good too.
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #4 on: February 08, 2013, 12:26:37 PM »
Vecna-blooded doesn't cost an LA -- you can lose the template and keep the best ability.
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Offline zioth

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #5 on: February 08, 2013, 12:41:32 PM »
Ghost is +5LA and gives you some nice stuff. You can also get a free dump stat (CON) for being undead. Very nice for charisma-based spellcasters. Death Knight (MM2) is also kind of nice for undead. Normally, its +5 LA is ridiculous, but if it's free...

If you'd rather not be undead, half-celestial (+4) isn't bad. Or you could combine Multiheaded (MM2) with half-dragon for two simultaneous breath weapons. Add the Cryo adjustment to Multiheaded (an extra +1 LA), and you get a very good breath weapon.

If your base form is an aberration or a magical beast, Air Element is a good template. Fly at your land speed, +6 dex, elemental immunities, and all for just +1 LA.

For races, I've always liked Pixie -- +4 LA and no racial HD. Very nice stat bonuses, flight and greater invisibility at will. A pixie warlock or rogue with no LA would be very nice.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2013, 12:43:06 PM by zioth »

Offline sirpercival

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2013, 12:46:41 PM »
Pixie is excellent.  Also, no need to stick to just one template, right?

If you're going for a cha-based class, Fire-Souled is nice, as it gives you Leadership as a bonus feat.  :D
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Offline Rebel7284

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2013, 01:41:30 PM »
Many options.

Stealth
Vecna Blooded +1, Dark +1, Shadow +2, Chameleon +1 Whisper Gnome

Uber Stealth
Vecna Blooded +1 Pixie +4 (good luck seeing through invisibility)

Smash!
Half Minotaur +1, Feral +1, Lloth Touched +1, Mineral Warrior +1, Goliath +1

The good charimaster
Magic Blooded +0, Primordial +0, Saint +2, Draconic +1, Half Giant +1 (needs another +1)

The caster without casting classes
Vecna Blooded +1, Phrenic +2, Half-Fey +2, Whisper Gnome with magic in the blood.


Offline ZhonLord

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2013, 03:13:35 PM »
Pixie (MM p.236) with Draconic Template (RotD p.74)

+5 LA: +4 from pixie, +1 from Draconic

Small size, -2 str (-4+2), +8 dex, +2 con, +6 int, +4 wis, +8 cha (+6+2)
Flight, greater invisibility, DR and SR, spell-like abilities, several useful bonuses to skills and saves, and dragonblood subtype to qualify for feats


Excels at anything that casts spells and/or uses dexterity-based feats/attacks, and with dodge as a bonus feat it allows early qualification for a number of feats.
« Last Edit: February 08, 2013, 03:21:11 PM by ZhonLord »

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2013, 03:52:38 PM »
Pixie ... oh double ninja'd !
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Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2013, 04:41:21 PM »
Shadow Creature, Lords of Madness, +2 LA.  Fast Healing 2, other goodies, and 50% miss chance (total concealment) in anything but full Daylight.  DM interpretation on whether the total concealment basically causes you to auto-succeed at hide checks or not.

Offline muktidata

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2013, 05:03:50 PM »
Human.
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Offline Tonymitsu

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2013, 11:00:50 PM »
Good stuff.  Thanks guys
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Offline Soft Insanity

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2013, 11:48:00 PM »
Evolved Undead x3 phrenic magicblooded necropolitan grey elf:  Sorcerer into tainted sorcerer.  Elf for dark chaos tricks. 

Use the old blacksand shoes trick, watch your casting get stronger with each spell cast.  I forget if there is a way to get cha mod to hps, but you should look into it.  Convince the dm to let your creator have used corpsecrafting, unhallowed tricks (there's a few), and other things.  This way you'll have huge cha, which won't matter.

To get the VERY most out of this free LA, take templates like phrenic, half-celestial, etc which give racial casting, then combine with the feat: magic in the blood.(this is my serious advice, DO NOT play a tainted sorc undead).

Offline muktidata

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2013, 03:54:17 AM »
I love the Monster of Legend template, but it's +7LA. If you like it as well, ask your DM if he would be willing to clip 2 off it or just tank the extra 2.
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Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2013, 04:08:40 AM »
Be careful with Magic in the Blood since it is a regional feat that's race-dependent and from Faerun.

Offline zook1shoe

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #16 on: February 09, 2013, 04:21:33 AM »
I'm afb, but Champions of Valor opened up a lot of the regional feats. That MAY be one of them.
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Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #17 on: February 09, 2013, 05:09:36 AM »
From the looks of it, CoV's influence on regional feats was introducing regional backgrounds which are pretty much an official way to say "I'm from X place or background, but currently reside in Y."

At the moment I don't feel like spending the time to cross-reference Magic in the Blood with my CoV PDF (due to lack of a search feature because the text isn't actually searchable text, plus I'm about to go to bed) so I can't comment on whether MitB gets any love from it.

Offline JohnnyMayHymn

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #18 on: February 09, 2013, 05:19:00 AM »
Divine Minion +1, Ghost Savage Progression +2 or +4,

Binder/KoSS or Binder/Caster/Anima Mage

if bloodlines can be taken as LA,
Bloodline +3, Ghost +2,
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Offline zook1shoe

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Re: Free LA +5. What are some options?
« Reply #19 on: February 10, 2013, 01:56:14 AM »
They're only on pages ~22-25

Edit: I looked in my book and I guess I was thinking of Arcane Schooling and Magical Training, instead of Magic in the Blood.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2013, 02:20:33 AM by zook1shoe »
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