New character suggestions

[Kaliban]

My warforged warblade was recently scrapped by a pillar of fire, now I need a new character (barring DM resurrection). The current party is level 11 with a homebrewed Necromancer (don't ask) who provides cannon fodder and a nice semi tank companion, an evocation specialized sorcerer, a druid whose specialty is getting us into trouble with a bit of crowd control thrown in. The DM is fond of grapplers, sneak attack insta killers, and god casters. Any ideas as to what would complement this madness? (I'm leaning towards high dps sneak attacker, I'm tired of drawing all the agro).

Thanks in advance
 

[CaptRory]

What do you like to play? I would suggest something fireproof since your warforged got a little meltie. XD
Which ruleset are you using? That will also determine what is suggested.

[Maat Mons]

With 3 full casters in an 11th-level game, I'd say the best addition is … another full caster. 

I notice you used the name of one class when describing each of the other characters.  Does your group like single-classed builds? 

I'm leaning towards high dps sneak attacker, I'm tired of drawing all the agro

You're getting hurt too much, so you want to become frailer?  Does your DM direct all the attacks at the toughest guy as a matter of course? 

How about a tibbit (Dragon Compendium, 21) psion (Expanded Psionics Handbook, p19)?  Tibbits can transform into ordinary cats whenever they want and stay that way as long as they want.  Psions can manifest all their powers without moving or making noise.  If they make a concentration check (DC 15 + power level), they can manifest powers without their displays too.  So, when an area erupts in fire (or whatever), there won't be much of anything implicating the cat minding his own business in the corner.  The telepathic communication alternative class feature would let you talk to your allies without tipping off your enemies that you're not a normal cat.  Just stay in cat form all the time.  Maybe even take vow of poverty (Book of Exalted Deeds, p48).  Heck, you don't even need to tell the other players that you can change form. 

[Kaliban]

What do you like to play? I would suggest something fireproof since your warforged got a little meltie. XD
Which ruleset are you using? That will also determine what is suggested.

We're running a 3.5 game with almost every book allowed. Unfortunately, per Maat Mons suggestion, Psions aren't allowed, neither is an artificer warforged combo. I just started playing recently, so I haven't really gotten a feel for what I like playing yet. The warforged warblade has been my favorite so far, mostly because of all the immunities he got and the decent damage output.

[Kaliban]

With 3 full casters in an 11th-level game, I'd say the best addition is … another full caster. 

I notice you used the name of one class when describing each of the other characters.  Does your group like single-classed builds? 

For about half the group yes. I almost always multiclass and the sorcerer just started doing it. She is a weird multiclass that lets her get full plate, a 5% arcane failure chance, and whole bunch of other shenanigans that boosts her caster level. Once she starts rolling she's pretty effective.

I'm leaning towards high dps sneak attacker, I'm tired of drawing all the agro

You're getting hurt too much, so you want to become frailer?  Does your DM direct all the attacks at the toughest guy as a matter of course? 

The DM doesn't necessarily direct the attacks at the toughest guy but I end up taking them trying to get the others out of sticky situations or because I'm up front leading the way in a dungeon.

How about a tibbit (Dragon Compendium, 21) psion (Expanded Psionics Handbook, p19)?  Tibbits can transform into ordinary cats whenever they want and stay that way as long as they want.  Psions can manifest all their powers without moving or making noise.  If they make a concentration check (DC 15 + power level), they can manifest powers without their displays too.  So, when an area erupts in fire (or whatever), there won't be much of anything implicating the cat minding his own business in the corner.  The telepathic communication alternative class feature would let you talk to your allies without tipping off your enemies that you're not a normal cat.  Just stay in cat form all the time.  Maybe even take vow of poverty (Book of Exalted Deeds, p48).  Heck, you don't even need to tell the other players that you can change form.

Sorry no psions, our DM considers them broken (I can't blame him). No warforged/artificer combos either . The idea of the tibbit does amuse me though, I've always wanted to be Death Cat destroyer of worlds. You're also probably right that another caster is the way to go. Any particular suggestions as to where to take it? I was working on an Iron Man Artificer that might do the trick... btw we're running an evil campaign (don't know if that helps at all).

[ZhonLord]

Eldritch Theurge (Complete Mage 57).  On one side you obviously have warlock, giving you free flight, see invisibility, detect magic at will, and an always-reliable eldritch blast.  Then you add in the ability to put aoe spells on your blast, invocations on your single-targets, and finally deliver touch spells at a distance without having to rely on mage hand.  The other side gives you plenty of arcane spells (I recommend sorcerer and grab a bunch of good damage spells from all schools) up to 8th level, which is still pretty damn awesome.

Alternatively a Hellfire Warlock build, reliably dealing more damage than most spells could in the same amount of time.  You'd need to dip a level of Binder or grab Strongheart Vest soulmeld (depending on what your DM allows), but with Quicken and/or Empower SLA you will be able to do a TON of damage when crunch time happens.

In either case you get the Warlock's natural ability to stay out of range in most fights, while still contributing a considerable amount of damage. 

[linklord231]

I've always been partial to divine gishes. A cleric focused on persistomancy can whack things pretty dang hard, plus have several key immunities like Death Ward and Freedom of Movement. Grab Ice Axe and (Greater) Luminous Armor, and wade in to melee with the best of them.

[Kaliban]

Eldritch Theurge (Complete Mage 57).  On one side you obviously have warlock, giving you free flight, see invisibility, detect magic at will, and an always-reliable eldritch blast.  Then you add in the ability to put aoe spells on your blast, invocations on your single-targets, and finally deliver touch spells at a distance without having to rely on mage hand.  The other side gives you plenty of arcane spells (I recommend sorcerer and grab a bunch of good damage spells from all schools) up to 8th level, which is still pretty damn awesome.

Alternatively a Hellfire Warlock build, reliably dealing more damage than most spells could in the same amount of time.  You'd need to dip a level of Binder or grab Strongheart Vest soulmeld (depending on what your DM allows), but with Quicken and/or Empower SLA you will be able to do a TON of damage when crunch time happens.

In either case you get the Warlock's natural ability to stay out of range in most fights, while still contributing a considerable amount of damage.

Good idea! I'm leaning more towards the Eldritch Theurge right now, even though I like the Hellfire Warlock thematically, I like the extra flexibility that a sorcerer dip would give me.

[Kaliban]

I've always been partial to divine gishes. A cleric focused on persistomancy can whack things pretty dang hard, plus have several key immunities like Death Ward and Freedom of Movement. Grab Ice Axe and (Greater) Luminous Armor, and wade in to melee with the best of them.

Sounds good but getting into melee has been my downfall too many times for me to want get back into it immediately. My characters second to last battle was spent mostly being pinned by a large sized dire lion.

[phaedrusxy]

Sorry no psions, our DM considers them broken (I can't blame him). No warforged/artificer combos either . The idea of the tibbit does amuse me though, I've always wanted to be Death Cat destroyer of worlds. You're also probably right that another caster is the way to go. Any particular suggestions as to where to take it? I was working on an Iron Man Artificer that might do the trick... btw we're running an evil campaign (don't know if that helps at all).

Oh god... So a party of full casters is OK, but a psion isn't? Psions are considerably less "broken" than wizards, druids, clerics, artificers, and archivists. I'd guess that he saw someone play a psion using the rules incorrectly (forgot about the manifester level limit on augmentation, etc), and had a knee-jerk reaction to it instead of investigating further... (Happens all the time). Anyway... that's off topic I guess. It's just a pet peeve of mine (and one likely to start a flame war...).

Pretty much any warlock build is going to be considerably weaker than a druid, sorcerer, or necromancer. I'd actually suggest a "god caster" of your own. Focus on battlefield control and damage/condition mitigation and removal. You could do this as a wizard, but an archivist might be best. However, with enough tricks you can basically get almost every spell on your class list and cast a bunch of them spontaneously as a wizard, as well as being a very good skillmonkey... Here is a build I made a while back that does this.

[Kaliban]

Oh god... So a party of full casters is OK, but a psion isn't? Psions are considerably less "broken" than wizards, druids, clerics, artificers, and archivists. I'd guess that he saw someone play a psion using the rules incorrectly (forgot about the manifester level limit on augmentation, etc), and had a knee-jerk reaction to it instead of investigating further... (Happens all the time). Anyway... that's off topic I guess. It's just a pet peeve of mine (and one likely to start a flame war...).

Hahaha probably, I know he had some sort of experience with his previous DM that made him turn against them.

Pretty much any warlock build is going to be considerably weaker than a druid, sorcerer, or necromancer. I'd actually suggest a "god caster" of your own. Focus on battlefield control and damage/condition mitigation and removal. You could do this as a wizard, but an archivist might be best. However, with enough tricks you can basically get almost every spell on your class list and cast a bunch of them spontaneously as a wizard, as well as being a decent skillmonkey... Here is a build I made a while back that does this.

Hmmmm...I will have to investigate the archivist, I have basically zero experience with them. I'll have to check with my DM as well, everything I have read about the archivist points to it being potentially to powerful. And he's the type to let you create something insane then make you fight a god just for the challenge.

[phaedrusxy]

An archivist is basically a divine wizard, but they can learn any divine spell. So if you can find someone with a divine version of a spell, and get a scroll from them, then the archivist can learn to cast it. This really only gets crazy when you're allowed to run wild cherry-picking domains, odd casters (Hexer, divine bard, etc) and the like. Even barring that stuff, it's still quite nice when you throw in the ranger and paladin spells, though. They also have a class feature that lets them apply "debuffs" to creatures based on knowledge checks, ultimately allowing them to stun them.

The class is available in an online preview for Heroes of Horror right here.

[Kaliban]

An archivist is basically a divine wizard, but they can learn any divine spell. So if you can find someone with a divine version of a spell, and get a scroll from them, then the archivist can learn to cast it. This really only gets crazy when you're allowed to run wild cherry-picking domains, odd casters (Hexer, divine bard, etc) and the like. Even barring that stuff, it's still quite nice when you throw in the ranger and paladin spells, though. They also have a class feature that lets them apply "debuffs" to creatures based on knowledge checks, ultimately allowing them to stun them.

The class is available in an online preview for Heroes of Horror right here.

Which works really well when paired with our party's druid. Anyway of getting arcane spells as well?

[linklord231]

The power of an Archivist is extremely dependent upon the DM.  If he only allows you to walk in to a shop and buy scrolls that appear on these tables, you're going to be pretty OK.  If he allows scrolls of spells from other books, you're going to be great.  If he allows things like Divine Bard to get divine scrolls of Bard spells, or Sword of the Arcane Order to get divine scrolls of Wizard spells, you're going to be fantastic. 

Technically, an Artificer has access to*:

• Any Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Adept, Healer, Shaman, or Shugenja spell
• Any Domain spell
• Any Bard spell (via the Divine Bard varian)
• Any Divination, Necromancy, or Abjuration spell from the Sorc/Wiz list (via Divine Magician ACF)
• Any Wizard spell of 4th level or below(via Sword of the Arcane Order)
• Any Sorc/Wiz spell of 6th level or below via the Favored Soul of Bahamut ACF
• Any Sorc/Wiz spell of any level, via Hexer or possibly the Southern Magician or Alternate Spell Source feats
• Any spell of any level from any list, via a scroll made by a 12th level Warlock
• Various other spells, via certain Initiate feats or prestige classes that add spells to your list

Also, remember that you can cherry pick which version of a spell to learn.  For instance, Lesser Restoration is a 2nd level Cleric or Druid spell, but a 1st level Paladin spell, which means an Archivist can get it as a 1st level spell. 

The big question is, how many of those tactics are going to be allowed?  If the DM severely limits your access to scrolls, you might wish you'd been a Cleric after all. 

*Some of these tactics are debatable, especially the Warlock one or the Hexer/Southern Magician/Alternate Spell Source one. 

[Maat Mons]

all the immunities he got

You could gain a lot of immunities by being a necropolitan (Libris Mortis, p114).  It's a +0 LA template.  The upside is you become undead.  The downside is you become undead. 

btw we're running an evil campaign (don't know if that helps at all).

Well, you could gain bonus feats by swearing service to an elder evil (Elder Evils, p10), sell your soul for any of a number of benefits (Fiendish Codex II, p23), gain a bonus to the save DCs for your spells as a cleric of Tharizdun (Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, p161), or become immune to mind-affecting effects via the deformity (madness) feat (Elder Evils, p13). 

[Hades]

Archivist is one of the best divine caster classes.

To get "arcane" spells on your list is quite simple: you can just look the list of other divine classes that gets non standard divine spells.

For example, the adept (yes, the humble npc class) list: scorching ray at 2nd, lightning bolt at 3rd, heal at 5th... Direct damage spells may be not the most optimized thing to take, but it's nice to have them.

About sneak attacks, is quite easy to became immune to them. Besides the "become immune to criticals", even some concealment do the job. A 3rd level wizard with blur is immune to sneak attacks. And if you can't/don't wanna cast the spell, get a minor cloak of displacement and you can be blurred 24/7.

I remember a very high level assassin hitting my gish with a death attacks... A gish that has on him elemental body and superior resistance. That "death attack" became just 10ish damage... at 18th level. On my turn... "assasin, meet my full attack with greater mighty walloped executioner's mace (it was worthless to waste any spell slot on such a pathetic enemy)".

[Kaliban]

The power of an Archivist is extremely dependent upon the DM.  If he only allows you to walk in to a shop and buy scrolls that appear on these tables, you're going to be pretty OK.  If he allows scrolls of spells from other books, you're going to be great.  If he allows things like Divine Bard to get divine scrolls of Bard spells, or Sword of the Arcane Order to get divine scrolls of Wizard spells, you're going to be fantastic. 

Technically, an Artificer has access to*:

• Any Cleric, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Adept, Healer, Shaman, or Shugenja spell
• Any Domain spell
• Any Bard spell (via the Divine Bard varian)
• Any Divination, Necromancy, or Abjuration spell from the Sorc/Wiz list (via Divine Magician ACF)
• Any Wizard spell of 4th level or below(via Sword of the Arcane Order)
• Any Sorc/Wiz spell of 6th level or below via the Favored Soul of Bahamut ACF
• Any Sorc/Wiz spell of any level, via Hexer or possibly the Southern Magician or Alternate Spell Source feats
• Any spell of any level from any list, via a scroll made by a 12th level Warlock
• Various other spells, via certain Initiate feats or prestige classes that add spells to your list

Also, remember that you can cherry pick which version of a spell to learn.  For instance, Lesser Restoration is a 2nd level Cleric or Druid spell, but a 1st level Paladin spell, which means an Archivist can get it as a 1st level spell. 

The big question is, how many of those tactics are going to be allowed?  If the DM severely limits your access to scrolls, you might wish you'd been a Cleric after all. 

*Some of these tactics are debatable, especially the Warlock one or the Hexer/Southern Magician/Alternate Spell Source one.

Well it sounds like archivist is the one to go with. Thanks for all the advice guys!