Mundanity and how to overcome it handbook

[Waazraath]

or: how mundane do the mundanes really have to be?

Introduction

Tl;dr-version: this is a handbook on how to get cool abilities for non-casters. God (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1570) knows they need them.

This board and its predecessors have had plenty of discussions on the magical versus the mundane. In short, the conclusion is mostly that the 'mundanes' (what's in a name?) suck and the magic users got all the good stuff. At one time, it was illustrated by someone with this list: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StoryBreakerPower - with the comment that all those things mentioned are spells. And indeed, all of them are. And after all, how can somebody who is good at swinging a sword compete with invisible, flying, fire shooting, teleporting mages that can stop time and change into a great beast at will?

Well... non-casters might not be able to compete with magic users (in an optimized game environment), but usually they don't have to compete with a wizard, but with stock Monster Manual monsters, and they have to be useful additions to the party. And more importantly: many of the game breaking super powers are there just for the taking for the non-casters as well, they don't need to merely swing their sword. In D&D, even Bob the dim witted fighter can fly: by having some dubious ancestors, by being devoted to a god or for other reasons (though 'dubious ancestors' ranks high when wanting something out of the ordinary, as this handbook will show). And the same goes for a lot of special powers: magic users get them easily through spells, but anybody can get them, in lots of different ways. And sometimes even earlier in the game and in more powerful or permanent versions then when given by spells.

This handbook will look into a number of abilities that are powerful, make a character more versatile and which are easily available by spells. Think of abilities like flying, invisibility, shape changing, teleportation, buffing, debuffing, getting extra actions, et cetera. Discussed is how these abilities can be gained by mundane classes and prestige classes, or by choosing the right race, feat, alternate class feature or skill. They are benchmarked against spells that give the same ability, regarding the way the abilities function, and the time (written as character level, not spell level) they are available. This should be an indication on how useful / necessary an ability is at the level it is available. 

Note: I've used stuff that I'm familiar with; I didn't go through extensive research in the list of stuff http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1412, for example. I'm pretty sure I miss both spells as alternatives for spells, feel free to add.

Magical items will be ignored, even though they offer a lot, if not all, the abilities discussed. In the first place, many campaigns don't have a ye old magic item shop and players don't have that much influence on what items they get. In the second place, items are often expensive. Although it's nice that Joe the expert (level 13) can teleport 3/day and fly at will with his boots of teleportation and wings of flying... that takes almost all his wealth by level and won't make him a Very Useful Member To Any Adventuring Group. For the same reasons, other equipment and grafts are ignored.

The almost but not quite spell casting classes, like binder, truenamer, incarnum classes, warlock, etc. will be ignored mostly as well. They don't cast spells, but aren't exactly mundane either. This handbook will focus on how to add some abilities to improve mundane classes (though this might happen through a feat like 'bind vestige' or 'bind shakra' or whatever). Tome of Battle is included, even though it falls a bit in between imo - but better to include too much then too little. Because the focus is 'alternatives for spells', I'll mostly use examples of spell-less variants of e.g. paladins and rangers.

On with the question: how to overcome mundanity, or how to compensate for 'not being a caster'.

For discussion on this thread: post here please: http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=11384.0
For additions, suggestions and corrections, please post here: http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=11385.0

[Waazraath]

Index

- Introduction
- Index
- Flight
- Teleportation
- Extra planar travel
- Buffing
- Extra actions
- Debuffing
- Healing
- Invisibility
- See invisibility (and other detection powers)
- Shapechange / transformation
- Other stuff (summoning, hit incorporal, anti magic)
- Conclusions
- Sample 'mundane' builds

[Waazraath]

Flight

Being able to fly is one of the important abilities in the game. It's crucial for combat mobility from early to mid level and onwards, in all but dungeon focused campaigns. It also provides the ability to overcome challenges like cliffs and chasms that usually involve climbing, jumping, etc. The lack of flight is one of the reasons Vow of Poverty is considered a trap. This is a 'must have' in all but few campaigns.

Magic users access:

Wizards have access to swift fly on level 3, fly on level 5 and overland flight from level 9. They can also use alter self (from level 3) and polymorph self (from level 7) to gain access to flight. A cleric usually has to do it with air walk from level 7, though might be able to use something like fly 1/day with access to spells from the travel domain. Swift fly has a duration of only 1 round,  fly of 1 minute/level, air walk of 10 min/lvl and overland flight of 1 hour/lvl.

Mundane access:

Race: raptorians and dragonborn - wings allow flight from level 5 and 6; pixies can fly from level 5 (starting level), half-fey from level 3, antropomorphic bats and ravens from level 1. Unseelie fey could be taken at level 1 with 50% chance on flight in the past, but the errata gave it a +1LA, so no earlier than 2nd level.

Feats: animal devotion can give flight from level 1 onwards; only a character with turn undead can use it more then 1/day, which makes it mostly an asset for mundane builds that include paladin 4 (or other classes which can turn undead). Paladin 5 can use their special mount to fly for them, with the dragon steed feat (from Draconomicon) for example. Other characters can take dragon steed as well, though it will lose its usefulness over the levels, since for other characters the creature won't improve. Paladin and ranger have access to initiate of Horus-Re  (CoV) which allows 1/day shapechange in a hawk, from level 4 if retraining allowed, else from level 6. Dragon wings and improved dragon wings (Dragon Magic) allow dragonblooded creatures to fly from level 6 onward. Dragon Magic has dragonblood variants of most PHB races. Starspawn from LoM grants flight as well (1 round + con modifier), but requires two feats as prereq. Greater dragonmark (passage) gives overland flight 1/day.

Acf's: drakkensteed from Dragon Magic allows a paladin to have a flying mount, without having to spend a feat. Unearthed Arcana has a ranger variant that can wildshape in animal form, from level 5 onward.

Classes: Master of Many Forms (CAd) gives access to a lot of flying forms, and can be entered by both paladin and ranger as early as level 6 (with the initiate of Horus-Re feat, the ranger also with the above mentioned ACF), battle dancer gives fly from level 17 (w00t), dragon shaman from level 19 (even w00ter). Dragon Disciple (DMG) grants wings no earlier than character level 14.

Conclusion:

Flying is easy to get; any mundane character can get it with only a small investment through race or feats. Compared with the time spells start to give reliable access to it (level 3-7), some mundane ways are better (allowing permanent flight from level 1-3 through race, or from level 1 with feats). Even at level 5, when the wizard gets access to fly, that takes up one of the highest level spell slots, while a paladin can have a flying mount for hours, without any real investment. Fly at level 17 or 19 is obviously a joke though, unless it is the starting level of the campaign that is played. But the end conclusion is that it isn't that hard to get access to it as a mundane character.

[Waazraath]

Teleportation


Teleportation is powerful. Short range, it gives supreme mobility in combat, the opportunity to escape a fight, and is (sometimes) a defense against grappling or other attacks (especially when used as immediate action). It provides great utility as well, being able to enter difficult to reach places, and long range teleports make it possible to travel between different locations hundreds of miles apart.

Magic users access:

Wizards are king of the short range teleportation; conjurers, to be precise, with abrupt jaunt ACF. It's an immediate action teleportation effect at level 1 can't be topped, simple as that. Benign transposition is another 1st level teleportation option. There is dimension door at level 7, and for long range teleport at level 9 and greater teleport at 13. Clerics can use these spells as well 1/day, if they have the travel domain. Lightning leap (9) teleports a short range and does damage, and PHBII knows several teleportation spells, dimension hop (available from level 3, 5 feet/2lvl's) a short range teleportation effect and dimension step (from lvl 5) and dimension shuffle (from lvl 9), both short range effects that target multiple creatures. Shadow walk is available for 11th level wizards.

Mundane access:

Feats: Tome of Battle has a number of maneuvers (shadow jaunt/blink/stride) that can be learned by the martial study feat from that book.  Shadow jaunt, (ex) ability that allows a 50 feat teleport, is available for all characters from level 6 onwards (being initiator level 3 for a non-ToB class, enough to take the lvl 2 maneuver). It can be used several times/day, but only once every combat (without a recovery mechanic). From Magic of Incarnum is the blink shirt soulmeld, that can be taken by any character with the feat Shape soulmeld (blink shirt) from level 1 onward. It allows a 10 feet teleport, +10 feet per invested essentia, though using it ends your turn (no actions anymore till the beginning of next turn). It has unlimited uses though. A character that already has access to wildshape can use the feat exalted wildshape for the blink dog form. With the fiendish and fey heritage feats it's possible to get either teleport or dimension door 1/day, 3/day in combination with the magic in the blood feat. The passage dragonmark feats (least lesser and greater) give dimension leap, dimension door and teleport respectively (all 1/day).

Acf's: underdark knight paladin acf (complete champion) gives (among a lot of other stuff) dimension door 3 or 4 times/day to a paladin when underground.

Classes: the all powerful monk can use abundant step (dimension door) once/day already at level 12 (!!1!). The shadowdancer from the DMG allows a small number of short shadow jumps, starting earliest at (character) level 11 (not too impressive, and an unimpressive class altogether). Much better is the Horizon Walker from the same book: the shifting planar domain, at character level 11 earliest, allows a dimension door once every 1d4 rounds. The crinti shadow marauder (Shining South) gets the ability to dimension door for 50 feat per level, with a minimum of 25 feat, when mounted; available earliest at character level 6. Two levels later it can use shadow walk 1/day. Definitely worth mentioning is the mountebank (complete scoundrel), which from 4th level can use sideslip, an immediate action teleport, and use it one time/day extra every two levels. First available from character level 9. Jaunter (Expedition to the Demonweb Pits) is king of the mundane teleporters; at the first class level it gets acces to benign transpostion, at 3rd to dimension door and teleport. At what character level jaunter can be accessed varies, due to the prereq "must have visited two or more planes other then home plane", but with access for example at level 6, this can be pretty amazing.

Conclusion:

As for short distance teleporting, it's not possible to compete with abrupt jaunt. Immediate action teleports are a masterful defense against almost every attack, and specialist wizards get it at the very first level. The only mundane way to get that ability is with the mountebank prestige class (but much later than level 1). Then again, any character can teleport short distances at will, with either martial study (shadow jaunt) or shape soulmeld (blink shirt), which can be extremely useful. This hardly has a spell equivalent. (note: I don't deal with equipment in this handbook, but if you play in a campaign where all items are freely available, then an item of shadow jaunt costs only 3000 gc; no use to waste a feat then). The unlimited uses of dimension door Horizon walker offers is also pretty strong. Jaunter can access powerful teleport-like abilities, teleport often earlier then a full wizard. There are several other ways to get teleport-like abilities, of which the Crinti Shadow Marauder deserves special mentions, since its shadowpounce ability changes any teleportation-like effect in a full attack (telflammar shadowlord also has shadowpounce). Final conclusion: a short distance teleport-like ability is really easy to get, at the cost of only one feat (even a fighter bonus feat!), with the investment of some class levels teleport and dimension door are available for mundane characters.

[Waazraath]

Extra planer travel

On the one hand, extra planar travel serves as way to travel from one place to the other. On the other hand it also has other uses. Etherealness brings you to the ethereal plane, but also allows you to bypass walls, escape from prison or spy on somebody.

Magic access:

Plane shift is the most common spell, being cleric 5 and wizard 7 (so respectively available at level 9 and 13. Shadow walk is a sor/wiz 6 spell, so available at level 11 at first. Ethereal jaunt, 1 round/lvl etherealness, is available at level 13 for both. Astral projection and etherealness both are 9th level spells.

Mundane access:

Race, feats, acf's: nope, you really need to have a special class for this one, unless you go for certain bizar races like ethergaunts with huge LA's and lots of racial HD.

Classes: Jaunter level 4 gives access to plane shift, several times/day. Other classes that grant planeshift are the Hell Breaker (Fiendisch Codex II) (1/day immediate action plane shift at level 15 earliest), Elemental Warrior from the Planar Handbook (plane shift to chosen elemental plane 1/day at level 11 earliest), Gate Crasher (plane shift 1/day at level 14 earliest) and Planar Champion (rip portal 1/day at level 13 earliest) (last two classes from Manual of the Planes). The Crinti Shadow Marauder can use shadow walk 1/day as early as character level 8, which is 3 levels before a wizard can do this. Ethereal jaunt is accessible with the classes Beloved of Valarian at level 9 (Book of Exalted Deeds) (ethereal jaunt 1/day) and Planar Champion at level 12 (Manual of the Planes) (ethereal jaunt 3/day). The ninja (CAd) can step a number of times on the ethereal plane as a swift action, from level 10, for 1 round. From level 8th, it has the unique ability to attack foes on the martial plane when ethereal. The Ghosed faced killer prestige class (CAd) can become swift ethereal from character level 11.

Conclusion:

Planar travel is hardly possible without spells and requires heavy level investment in a class that specializes in it. Even then, most classes like gate crasher, hell breaker and elemental warrior allow it 1/day at best. Exception is jaunter. Another good option for mundane planar travel is the planar champion, that allows both planeshift and ethereal jaunt (3/day) at levels when casters get access to it approximately as well. Extra  special mention deserves a ninja 8 / jaunter combo 4, because a character that can plane shift to the ethereal and (sneak) attack creatures from there, is a wicked assassin (also see the builds section).

[Waazraath]

Buffing

With buffing, meant is here "buffing other characters". There are numerous classes, feats, races etc. that have abilities that could be counted as a self buff, that increase ability scores, give resistances, immunities, freedom of movement, damage reduction etc. That is relevant for a character, but far too much for this handbook to describe. I don't want to write 3 pages about this. You don't want to read it. So I'll stick to buffs that buff both self and allies.

Magic access:

this is far too much to describe as well (I don't want to write 100 pages about it, you don't... you know). Spellcasters are excellent buffers, on all levels.

Mundane access:

Race: The saint template (at character level 7 earliest possible) gives a double strength magic circle against evil and lesser globe of invulnerability, permanently, as well as bless at will. The half-fey template gives protection from law, 1/day or 3/day with the magic in the blood feat. Races with the dragonblood subtype can use draconic aura's to buff self and allies.

Feats: draconic aura's (in combination with dragonblood subtype) give +1 to +4 over the levels to all within 30 feet, e.g. untyped bonus to initiative, spot + listen, or resistance to energy, or to fort saves & constitution checks. The feats martial study and martial stance also give interesting options, see below under 'classes'. Protection devotion from Complete Champion can give the entire party an AC bonus from +2 (at lvl 1) to +7 (at lvl 20) as an immediate action.

Classes: The Dread Commando (Heroes of Battle) gives a competence initiative bonus equal to level, max +5; dragon shaman (phb2) gives with draconic aura's bonuses from +1 to +5 on a number of abilities (e.g. melee damage, DR X/magic, fast healing X, when under half hp, bonus on bluff, diplomacy & intimidate).  Dragon lord (from Dragon Magic) also works with the draconic aura's mentioned above under 'feats' and the dragon shaman, up to a +3 bonus over 10 levels. The brilliant tactician (Dragonlance campaignsetting) gives bonusses to attack and damage in several ways, gives resistance against fear (2nd save and one step less 'scared'). The Marshal also works with aura's, most powerful is the minor aura, that adds the marshal's charisma to something, for example on all ability checks (including initiative when using 'motivate dexterity'). It's major aura gives a bonus between +1 and +4 on stuff like AC, attack or damage. The paladin's aura of courage gives a +4 bonus on saves vs fear. Quite some prestige classes project a magic circle against evil, like the risen martyr, fist of raziel and defender of sealtiel (all from the BoED). Tome of Battle gives a lot of options to buff the party, too much to mention them all. In general, a lot of stances give a flat bonus to allies (for example an (initiator) level dependent damage bonus when they charge or flank) or make it easier to flank, or give a bonus on attack against adjacent enemies. But there are also several strikes that give allies a bonus on attack or damage (leading the attack, lion's roar, war master's charge). In general, white raven is the best school to grant this kind of maneuvers, though it should be mentioned that quite some maneuvers give extra actions, which is discusses below. Other schools can offers small buffs as well, but not as good as the white raven school.

Conclusion:

if you want to buff other characters, there are a lot of ways, but unfortunately many of them are passive: aura's, stances and the like. Though a mundane character that gives the entire party +15 on initiative isn't that hard to make (dragonblood subtype marshal 1 / dread commando 5 / anything 14, with a good cha and the draconic aura feat) and is very useful, the buffing is rather boring. But still, it's quite possible, also to use the other 14 levels for something more exciting. The most viable option to buff other characters through mundane ways is to include levels of a martial adept that has access to the white raven school. So: it's possible to add some buff-power to non-casters, but casters are way better at this.

[Waazraath]

Extra actions

Actions are among the most valuable currency in the game. There are ways to give extra actions to either yourself or to allies. Both are described here (even though giving extra actions to allies can be considered as a way of buffing, which is described above).

Magic access:

The iconic way of getting extra actions is time stop, which is a 9th level spell (accessible at level 17 for a wizard). The other (in)famous way of getting extra actions from arcane spells (as an immediate action!) is the celerity tree: lesser celerity gives a move action and is a level 2  spell, celerity a standard action and gives a standard action, and greater celerity is 8th level and gives an extra full round action. All leave you dazed though.

Psionics give an extra move action as swift action (hustle), Psychic warrior 2 (from 4th level) or Egoist 3 (5th level).  Extra actions can also be gained with the telepath 4 power Schism (7th level), the Egoist 7 power fission (13th level) or the Psion 6 power temporal acceleration (11th level). The metapsionic feat 'linked power' allows an extra power to be used on the next turn, without spending an action. Combine with synchronicity for total abuse.

Both arcane casters and manifesters can abuse polymorph-like stuff to become a choker or chronotyryn.

Mundane access:

Race: The (ch)easiest way of doubling your actions continuously is by playing a dvati from Dragon Compendium. This +1 LA race consists of 'twins' which you can play both. Permanent double actions: hell yeah. The problems: hp from hit dice are shared, and each 'twin' gets the full constitution modifier. So they are a lot squishier. Besides, dvati can only cast spells as the other 'half' does nothing. This makes them useless for caster builds, but for example strong archers (less threat from melee/hp damage, but double actions). Another (late game) racial option to get extra actions is the phrenic creature template from Expandes Psionics Handbook: it gives fission 1/day to a creature with 17 HD. The magic in the blood feat (PGtF) makes this 3/day.

Feats: martial study (ToB) can give several options, see below under 'classes'. The travel devotion feat (Complete Divine) is available from level 1 and gives a minute long a move action for a swift action. This is very strong, classes with turn undead can use it several times/day at the cost of 2 turn attempts.

Classes: The Atavist (Races of Eberron) can at 10th level (not earlier than character level 15) spend its psionic focus to gain extra move or standard action, which can result in a number of extra standard actions in one turn. Tome of Battle classes give a lot options to get extra actions, or to give them to allies. For example, there are the sudden leap maneuver at level 1 (jump as a swift action), the flanking maneuver (free attack for flanking ally when you hit) available at character level 9, swarming assault (free attack for all allies that threaten) at char level 13, clarion call (free attack or move action for allies when you drop a foe) at level 13, and war masters charge (free charge attack for all allies) at char level 17. Level 10 in the eternal blade prestige class gives a full round action as an immediate action, though it's available at lvl 20 at its earliest.

A special mention is there for the pounce ability. Though this not exactly an ability that gives extra actions, effectively it does: move and full attack in one round is more then what is normally possible. It is a psychic warrior 2 power (available from level 4), spells don't give it (unless through polymorph). There are a lots of mundane ways to get it, e.g. lion spirit totem (acf) barbarian 1, Battle Dancer 11, Wildrunner 6 (Races of the Wild). A level 5 tiger claw maneuver (pouncing charge) does the trick as well.

Another special mention should be given to cohorts, special mounts and animal companions: these also provide extra actions, though not directly. Listing all those options here goes too far.

Conclusion: 

casters and manifesters count as kings of the action economy. There are plenty of ways for 'mundanes' to getting extra actions though, also earlier in the game then magic offers them. Travel devotion and maneuvers are very strong options, available as early as level 1. The dvati is an obscure, though very strong option, that is only relevant for non-casters, available from level 2: permanent double actions. Comes at a price though. The white raven tactics maneuver, granting an ally an extra action as a swift action, is very, very powerful and available as early as character level 5. Worth mentioning: magic and psionics breaks the action economy only for the caster/manifester himself, but several maneuvers give other players extra actions. As a comparision: hustle is a 2nd level psionic warrior power (3rd level egoist power), that can be used one or two times at character level 4; it gives a move action, costs a swift action. Lesser celerity (available for wizard 3 or bard 4) can be used as an immediate action, which is much better than a swift action, but leaves the caster dazed. A paladin 4 with travel devotion has move actions for swift actions an entire minute, several times a day, while a crusader or warblade can give an ally an entire extra turn at level 5. At the lower levels, 'mundanes' can be stronger in this regard then arcane casters and manifesters (though of course, nothing prevents a cleric from taking travel devotion as well, and a cleric has access to turn undead at level 1, compared with a paladin at level 4).

[Waazraath]

Debuffing

Here is meant: blinding, dazing, doing ability damage, drain ability scores or levels, paralyzing, slowing, or impeding an enemies in any way that isn't doing hp-damage.

Magic access:

far too much to mention, for all casters, on all levels.

Mundane access:

Race: The dragonborn (heart) gives a breath weapon, in combination with entangling breath it is a very nice debuff that is accessible at level 1. The half-fey template gives access to several very good debuffs  (e.g. glitterdust at level 3, later confusion, 1/day or 3/day with magic in the blood). Pixies and creatures with the woodling template can entangle creatures, while a nereid (stromwrack) has the ability to drown creatures at will (maybe more a save or die than a debuff, but well, pretty cool in any case). A hellbred (body) gets bonus feats and thus can get easier access to the devil-touched feats that can debuff (fear and daze effects).

Feats: some examples are: staggering strike (stagger), death devotion (level drain), animal devotion (poison), brutal strike (daze), entangling breath (entangle), poison talons - abyssal heritor feat (poison), devil's tongue (swift action daze), devil's aura (fear effect). Also, plenty of maneuvers have debuff effects (see under 'classes')

Classes: the soulknife knife to the soul ability (lvl 13) substitutes psychic strike damage for ability (int wis or cha) damage, 1 die for 1 point of ability damage (no save). Together with a level of soulbow, manyshot and fell shot, a standard action can get almost any monsters and characters down, if the right ability is targeted. Classes that grant maneuvers have (again) plenty of options, from speed penalties (-20 feet, char level 7), denying attacks of opportunity (douse the flames, char lvl 1, covering strike, char lvl 7) ability damage (at several levels, strength and con damage with shadow hand and stone dragon maneuvers), stun (shadow noose at char level 11, white raven hammer at char level 15), etc.

Special mention: Fear. It's a very common debuff, and non-casters have very many ways in which they can specialize it. Describe them all would be a bit too much at this point, so for this debuff I'll simply link to the Fear Handbook - Caedrus' Art of War. http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=3809

Special mention 2: Tripping. This is an excellent way to impede opponents for mundanes. Large size, reach weapon, stand still / improved trip, combat reflexes and the thicket of blades stance and you're good to go.

Conclusion:

debuffing as a role is for casters. Non casters can learn serveral good debuffing tricks, but they often should be seen as additions to the arsenal of a mundane, not as its primary concern. It's hard to learn more than a few tricks as a non caster, and plenty of creatures are immune to the effects.

It is possible though to specialize in it with some effort though and a specific build, for example by using a combination of race (dragonborn), feats (entangling breath, staggering strike) and / or class (swordsage/crusader with  a focus on shadow hand, stone dragon and white raven). As for fear and trip builds, it's as easy for a mundane to specialize in these as it is for a caster. Mundanes are well suited for these kinds of builds.

[Waazraath]

Healing

Magic access:

primary the domain of divine casters, from the level 1 vigor and cure light wounds spells, to mass heal at cleric level 17, an everything in between. Divine casters can heal a lot, weather we're talking cleric, healer or druid. With some effort, it's possible for a wizard to get 'heal' as well.

Mundane access:

Race: There are races that can do it, but most at a very high LA, like the Astral deva, the Bralani Eladrin and the Half-celestial (all from the MM).

Feats: Just as divine magic provides the best healing, divine and domain devotion feats take care of the healing, like sacred healing and healing devotion. Healing devotion (CCh) gives fast healing 1-6 (level dependent) to self or an ally for one minute; it can be used again with a turn attempt. It auto activates if you're between 0 and -9 hp. The sacred healing feat (CD) gives all living creatures in 60ft radius fast healing 3, for 1+cha rounds. Besides those, the stigmata feat (from BoED) allows healing others, but at the cost of constitution damage. Martial study and Martial stance give access to healing ToB-style; Crusader's strike heals 1d6 + initiator level, Martial spirit heals 2 hp per successful attack. The draconic aura 'vigor' (PhB2) is available for characters with the Draconic Aura feat (dragon magic): it gives fast healing 1, up to half hp, in a 30 feat radius. The amount of fast healing gained is higher for creatures with the dragonblood subtype, or certain classes (see below). The least, lesser and greater dragonmark feats give cure light wounds, cure serious wounds and heal 1/day.

Acf's: Paladin Divine Spirit acf (from Dungeonscape), replaces mount, provides healing from level, and fast healing 10 to self and adjacent allies (including a revivify effect is someone goes below 0 hp) at level 20.

Classes: The crusader class (ToB) is a decent healer, since it has access to the devoted spirit martial discipline. Next to the healing stance and healing maneuver described above, it can heal 3d6+ initiator level at char lvl 5, a mass variant of that at level 11, and a heal effect at level 17. The dragon shaman (phb2) can use touch of vitality at level 6; it's a lay on hands variant, that can heal 2x dragon shaman level x charisma bonus. Dragon shamans can also gain the draconic aura 'vigor' as a class ability, more powerful than other characters. Same goes for the prestige class Dragon Lord (dragon magic). An obvious healer is the paladin; next to lay on hands, it can use above mentioned divine and devotion feats. Several prestige classes advance lay on hands. A very good 'mundane' healing class for a good aligned party is the Hellreaver (Fiendish Codex 1). It's ability divine succor lets you heal within a small range (20 feet) on self or a good aligned ally, for 10, 20 or 30 points (level depended) as a swift action.

Note: everything mentioned here includes the ability to heal others. For self healing, a lot of other stuff applies, from the monk 'wholeness of body' ability to (more important) all kinds of fast healing.

Conclusion:

nothing heals as good as a full, divine caster. Nevertheless, plenty of mundane classes allow for some healing, even in combat. (In combat?!? Yeah, in combat: http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=6656 - shameless plug). Even without playing a class like paladin, hellreaver, dragon lord or dragon shaman, being of the dragonblood subtype and taking 'draconic aura - vigor' by feat, can be a big boost to your parties healing capacity at early levels.

[Waazraath]

Invisibility

Magic access:

a bard can be invisible for 1 round at level 2 (swift invisibility), and cast invisibility at level 4, while a wizard can cast invisibility at level 3, improved invisibility at level 7, mass invisibility at level 13 and superior invisibility at level 15.

Mundane access:

Race: The mother of all invisibilityness, the pixie, has +4 LA and can be played from level ecl 5. It has permanent improved invisibility, unless it doesn't want to. Half-fey gives mass invisibility late game, at level 15 (13 with LA-buyback).

Feats: martial study (cloak of deception); this one gives invisibility for 1 round as a swift action.

Classes: The Swordsage can easily become invisible with the maneuver mentioned above. The Ninja class specializes in invisibility like effects, and can become (swift, 1 round) invisible from level 2 onward. The Ghost faced killer prestige class can use swift invisibility as well, the earliest from character level 6.

Special mention: etherealness includes being invisible. That means that classes like Beloved of Valarian and Planar Champion can become invisible as well (see under 'planar travel').

Conclusion:

any character can use swift invisibility once/encounter, with a feat. That's quite an investment though. Beyond that, a specialized race (pixie, most likely) or class (like ninja) is needed to become invisible. For arcane casters it's really easy to become invisible (wizard character level 3), for divine casters it's much harder. The invisibility spell is much stonger then most mundane options (ninja class ability and shadow hand maneuver last only 1 round). A dedicated mundane (pixie) has a big advantage over casters in the invisibility department though, at least up mid high levels.

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See invisibility and other visual / perception-like effects

Note: I'll mostly ignore normal 60 ft darkvision/low light vision, since they are so common it's obvious they are easily accessible. I'll focus on blindsight, blind sense, tremorsense, see invisibility, and the like.

Magic access:

A wizard can cast glitterdust and see invisibility at level 3, true seeing at level 11; clerics can cast invisibility purge at 5, true seeing at level 9. Feary fire is a druid 1 spell.

Mundane access:

Race: half-fey are very good at this: from the first possible level where you can play one (level 3), they have access to glitterdust or feary fire (1/day). A drabonborn - mind gets (extended) darkvision at early levels and blindsense 30 at level 15). A hellbred - spirit : gets up to 120 feet darkvision, can see in darkness (level 12) and telepathy at level 15 (which gives access to mindsight). The shifter race has access to a number of racial feats that can be used to detect invisible creatures (see below under 'feats').

Feats: bind vestige is a very powerful feat for visual powers. It's a way to get darkvision if you can't get it by other means, but more importantly the feat chain bind vestige - improved bind vestige - practiced binder gives either birds eye viewing (plus poison use) or see invisibility at will (plus some skill bonuses and auto-detect sleight of hand). Birds eye viewing is: get a bird through whose eyes you can watch, without duration, without range! Broken good. This feat chain is accessible from level 3 onward, with flaws from level 1. The feat Devil's sight gives or improves darkvision with 60 feet, as well as blindsight 30 feet a few times day, at level 1 at its earliest. The feat Mindsight is from Lords of Madness, it 's a kind of 'see everything' for creatures with telepathy. This works very well with for example hellbred (spirit) lvl 15. The shifter feat Dreamsight elite gives a +5 on spot and see invisibility when shifting, Wildhunt elite gives blindsense while shifting (both from Races of Eberon) (level 1 earliest). Also the dragonmark (detection) feats can be used for enhanced detection, lesser see invisiblity (2/day) and greater true seeing (1/day).

Acf's: Barbarian can get the view the spirit world acf at level 5, it gives see invisibility, darkvision & several minor bonuses to search/spot for  1 round per 1/2 lvl, 1/day.

Classes: Ninja 16 gives see invisibility, as does planar champion 2 (available at level 8) and the arcanopath monk 6, (available at level 11). An easy way to detect the presence of evil creatures is the at will detect evil ability of the paladin, which goes through walls. Same goes of course for other 'detect' variants'. Horizon walker 6 (at earliest char level 11) allows tremorsense, and the insightful variant of the atavist (RoE) gives blindsense 5 feet at 5th level (char level 10). Martial classes can get access to the stance hearing the air, which gives blindsight 30 feet at earliest at char level 9.

The scent ability deserves a special mention. It doesn't always work, for example it isn't useful against ethereal creatures (but tremorsense isn't either). It works sometimes though to detect invisible creatures and is easy to get through bear warrior 3(complete warrior), fist of the forest 3, animal lord (wolflord 3), beastmaster 8, the hunter's sense stance or lots of races.

Conclusion:

The ability to notice invisible things can be very handy, depending on the campaign. It's quite easy to get, at least a few times/day, with the right race, feat or class. Casters get it around level 3 to 5, and around that time, it's nice to have it. After all, some monsters at these CR's can have it. The 'see invisibility' class abilities come rather late for that: arcanopath monk, horizon walker, atavist, all round level 10. Planar champion is a bit better, with access at level 8, and see invisibility at level 16 (ninja) is a bad joke. If you want your mundane character to have some special visual powers, better go get them through race or feats.

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Shapechange / transformation

Magic access:

alter self is there for a wizard 3, polymorph for a wizard 7, polymorph any object for a wizard 15 and shapechange for a wizard (or druid) 17. Psionics has metamorphosis, which does about the same as polymorph. There are several other spells that grant transformation in one specific kind of creature, like aspect of the wolf (druid 1), spiderform (drow domain 5th lvl spell), trollshape (lvl 4 wizard spell) and dragonshape (9th level wizard spell).

Mundane access:

Race: The Irda (Dragonlance campaign setting) can use a shape change ability (humanoid only) 3/day - including large humanoids; +2 LA is too much for this race though. The changeling can use a minor shape change to alter its appearance from first level onward, without limits. For 'real' shape changing into a totally different form, lycanthropes are a good option - an afflicted wererat can be played from level 4 onwards, stronger animal forms have more hd and can be played only in higher level games. An option suggested by Oscelamo: "The Hengeyokai race from Oriental Adventurers gets to transform into an animal or hybrid form right away, and with the Dragon 318 update it's LA 0. I particularly like badger for burrow or crane/sparrow for flight. The sparrow is also diminutive sized. Definetely helps noncasters get some exotic options of their own."

Feats: A paladin  4 or ranger 4 can take the feat initiate of horus-re, from Champions of Valor, to wildshape in a hawk for one hour 1/day. With retraining, this can be done at level 4, without, only at level 6. This could give them access to the Master of Many Forms prestige class that specializes in wildshape, which allows mundane builds that specialize in wildshaping.

Acf's: a Ranger variant from Unearthed Arcana gives a ranger wildshape at level 5, only in medium animal forms though. Fortunately, it's enough to give access to the master of many forms prestige class (see below).

Classes: already mentioned is the Master of Many Forms, from Complete Adventurer. It doesn't advance casting, but gives another use of wildshape at every level, in ever more powerful and different forms. Ranger and Paladin builds using this prestige class can be very powerful and versatile, even at the high level with the right feats. There are other prestige classes that offer strong transformative powers. The Initiate of the draconic mysteries (10) gives shapechange into a medium dragon 1/day, for one hour (earliest at level 15). Cabinet trickster 5 (char lvl 11) allows change shape in any small or medium humanoid at will. The Mountebank can use alter self in one form (character level 8) at will, and in a few more at later levels (especially strong for non standard races that are outsider, aberration, fey, etc.). Powerful combat forms can be accessed through Bear warrior (char lvl 8 black bear, 12 brown bear, 17 dire bear) and the Primeval (character level 9 for an improved animal form).

Conclusion:

wizards and druids are king here, no doubt about it. It is possible to use shapechange-like powers as well for mundane creatures. The only way to really compete with casters is by using the Master of many forms prestige class, that can be accessed with both ranger and paladin. But also for characters that don't take this route, there are options to change shape. A race like changeling offers at will change of appearance, within limits, but useful for a rogue-like character. Other good options for characters that favor deceptions are classes like cabinet trickster or mountebank. Fighter types can change in powerful forms using lycantropic races, or classes like bear warrior or primeval.

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Not yet included (but nevertheless possible)

So far I haven't included the following abilities (though I'll give some suggestions between brackets)
- summoning (races like pixie, Nereid, the woodling template, and the water devotion feat)
- hitting incorporal creatures (awesome smite feat, ninja, planar champion)
- anti magic abilities (occult slayer, divine mind, witch slayer)

This is mostly because of time: I want this handbook to be published. These are relevant abilities though, and like the ones above, accessible for mundanes. Maybe I'll get to it to add them later.

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Conclusion: how to save yourself from mundanity

As it is, D&D 3.5 mechanics highly favors casters. For a large number of reasons, people will want to play non-casters, and still contribute to their party. The higher the optimization level you play on, the harder this is. But three general conclusions:

1) 'Mundanity' can be avoided for non-casters. There are a great many options for martial or skillful characters to do out of the ordinary stuff. Almost all powerful, magical abilities that are a necessity from mid levels onwards, are available to 'mundanes' with the right feats, racial and class abilities. There is no reason whatsoever for a fighter 20 to be ' mundane', let alone for paladins, ToB-classes or ninja's.

2) At some points, especially the early levels, many abilities from feats, classes and race > spells. For example, a lesser aasimar aasimar half-fey warblade 1 with magic in the blood as feat choice has permanent fly 60 ft, charm at will, glitterdust 3/day, and some other stuff; hell, next to being an armored, martial weapon wielding melee character, it is a better wizard then most wizards are at lvl 3 - without any caster levels. A paladin 5 with the dragon steed acf has more hours of flying available then any caster has due to spells. A something 5 / jaunter 3 can teleport before the wizard has access to the spell. At higher levels though, most mundanes will only have a few special 'tricks', while a wizard at level 18 can do almost all the stuff mentioned above, and much more.

3) Some choices of feats and templates are better for 'mundanes' then for casters, since the latter e.g. prefer not to lose caster levels (which rules out most templates, creatures with racial hd and prestige classes that don't advance casting), or because a race like Dvati doesn't really work for casters. Further, for casters in general there are better ways to spend their feats. Since spells are the most powerful feature in the game, it's more logical they use feats to enhance their casting, with e.g. DMM and metamagic.

It's good to keep in mind though that none of this will uplift a non-caster to the same power level as an optimized full caster.

So, when playing a so called mundane character that you don't want to be too mundane, keep the following list in mind:
•   Templates like phrenic, saint and half-fey are your friend (and with that, level buy back)
•   The dragonblood subtype opens up possibilities, like draconic aura or wings
•   Less common races like hellbred, raptorian and dragonborn offer nice possibilities
•   Races and templates with racial hit die and / or a level adjustment are often worth it; you don't have to worry about losing caster levels, since you don't have 'em, and they give powerful abilities. A good example is the pixie. http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1570
•   Feats are important! Since you need to get your abilities from another source than spells, and feats are such a source. Because of this, the use of flaws is also highly convenient.
•   Turn undead is very powerful, especially since it can fuel devotion feats, your easy ticket to fly, extra move actions, buffing, debuffing or healing (or at least to using this abilities several times/day).
•   Tome of Battle is your friend as well, even if only used for martial study / martial stance.
•   Adding interesting and powerful abilities doesn't make a viable character in itself! A sword & board fighter 20 that focuses on spring attack and the weapon specialization chain doesn't get good by the ability to fly and/or teleport 50 feat every now and then. A martial character still needs some main way to be useful, be it übercharging, lockdown, mounted charging, archery, or whatever. A fighter that can übercharge, and fly, and use a breath weapon that entangles foes, and teleport every now and them, might be good though, and quite a bit better/useful/fun then the same fighter that can only übercharge and does a little bit more damage.

For some inspiration, some builds are given below.

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Sample builds

These builds are my own, stuff I made that happens not to have caster levels (ok, maybe 1 level cleric dip somewhere) but can do plenty of out of the ordinary stuff. I think they illustrate the point that I try to make, even though there are on these and other boards more than enough stronger builds that can illustrate the same point (among others a lot of strong half-fey and pixie builds that Carnivore made, like Inferna Draxa, some trip-builds like Jack B Quick, and the mundane builds in the Art of War - fear handbook).

Human ninja 8 / jaunter 4 / crusader 8

1 Dodge, mobility
3 spring attack
6 craven
9 power attack
12 staggering strike
15 ready extra maneuver
18 *free*

Maneuvers/stances (at each level)

13 divine surge, revitalizing strike, white raven tactics, mountain hammer, entangling blade, leading the charge (stance),
14 martial spirit (stance)
15 elder mountain hammer
16 tide of chaos for entangling blade
17Rallying strike
18 irresistable mountain strike for revitalizing strike
19 clarion call
20 aura of chaos, castigating strike for mountain hammer

Special abilities:
- teleport, planeshift, dimension door, etc. with Jaunter
- planeshift to the ethereal plane an make attacks from there (with the ninja 8 ghost strike ability)
- become invisible for a short while with ninja
- debuff enemies with staggering strike, poison use, entangling blade, castigating strike, irresistable mountain strike
- give extra actions with white raven tactics & clarion call
- optional: minor healing with revitalizing strike, later rallying strike (with different maneuver selection)

Shadowbane paladin

LG Human paladin 4 / sneak attack fighter 1 / shadowbane inquisitor 10 / swordsage 2 / warblade 2 crusader 1

Feats:
1 Dreadful wrath
H Power attack
3 animal devotion
4B Extra turning
6 Staggering strike
8B improved sunder
9 craven
12 Divine might
15 frightful presence
18 ready extra maneuver

ACF: holy warrior, sneak attack fighter, replace 'aura of courage' acf (to allow craven) i.e. Lion legionaire substitute level 3 --> 'firemane aura'

Special abilities:
- debuff with staggering strike, animal devotion, dreadful wrath and frightful presence
- fly from lvl 3 onwards with animal devotion
- late game maneuvers can give short range teleport, pounce, extra actions and swift invisibility

Hellbred Hellreavin übercharger

Barbarian 1 / paladin of freedom 4 / fighter 1 / hellreaver 10 / paladin +4

acf / variants: Paladin of freedom, charging smite, lion spirit totem, whirling frenzy, holy warrior

Relevant feats / abilities:
1) pounce, extra rage
2) detect evil
3) travel devotion
5) power attack
6) improved bull rush, shock trooper
8) divine succor (swift action healing) 10
9) martial study (shadow jaunt)
11) divine succor 20
12) leap attack
14) divine succor 30
15) telepathy, mindsight
18) awesome smite
20) extra smite
 
Special abilities:
- telepathy lvl 15
- visual: see everything (mindsight) lvl 15, detect evil at will
- ubercharging , including pounce
- Extra actions: travel devotion from lvl 3
- teleportation 50 feet from lvl 9
- healing: swift action, from lvl 8, healing 30 swift action lvl, lay on hands (meh)
- attack incorporeal with seeking smite (ghost touch)

Note: I limited myself a bit on the number of classes I used, ending the build with some martial adept levels adds loads of other options.

Lesser aasimar half-fey archer

Fighter 20, LA buyback, no flaws.

1) magic in the blood, charming the arrow ; charm person at will, hypnotism 3/day, feary fire or glitterdust 3/day
2) point blank shot
3) rapid shot ; detect law 3/day, sleep or enthrall 3/day
4) precise shot
5) Prot from law 3/day, tasha’s hideous laughter or suggestion 3/day
6) fly-by attack, manyshot
7) confusion 3/day
8) weapon focus
9) martial study: shadow jaunt ; Eyebite or lesser geas 3/day
10) weapon specialization
11) dominate person or hold monster 3/day
12) improved rapid shot, ranged weapon mastery
13) Mass invisibility 3/day
14) greater weapon focus
15) greater weapon specialisation ; geas/quest or mass suggestion 3/day
16) resolute (complete champion acf)
17) Insanity or mass charm 3/day
18) ancestral relic, improved toughness
19) Otto's irresistable dance 3/day
20) martial study: shadow stride

Special abilites:
- see invisibility (glitterdust)
- fly (half-fey)
- debuff (glitterdust, tasha's hideous laughter, otto's irresistable dance, confusion, etc.)
- teleportation (shadow jaunt, shadow stride)


**more to follow later**

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