Magina, the Anti-Mage

[muktidata]

I'm looking for help with a "flavor build"   

BUT REALLY! 

I am striving for mildly useful, but understand that I'll probably never get there. Here is the background for the character I'm trying to build and the parameters:

- ECL 11
- Classic DnD Races Only
- No LA
- WotC Material Only
- Entering into a game with mostly tier 4-5 characters.

Here's what I'm hoping to adapt into DnD mechanics. Magina has five defining attributes:

1) TWF - He uses two glaives in the game, but any light weapon will be fine, here.
2) Blink - Magina can teleport offensively, defensively, all of the above!
3) Mana Break - Magina does extra damage to heroes with spellcasting abilities.
4) Mana Shield - Magina has extra spell defense.
5) Mana Void - A giant single target nuke with a huge cooldown. It also has a minor stun effect.

Those are the simplified versions of his abilities. I'm trying to figure out how to adapt these to DnD mechanics in 11 levels. Some ideas I've had:

Blink - Anklet of Translocation (MIC), Abrupt Jaunt (CMg)
Mana Break - Ranger 1 Fav. Enemy Variant (CMg?), Occult Slayer 1 (CWr)
Mana Shield - Hexblade 2 (CWr), Occult Slayer 1, 3, 5 (CWr)
Mana Void - Shadow Garrote? (ToB)

Any advice on abilities would be great and if anyone would like to offer up a build, it is welcome. Just try not to go above level 11 because I'll promptly ignore what you do with level 12 and beyond. And, yes, I realize that a character like this having the title "Anti-mage" is a complete joke. 

[weenog]

TWF swordsage with a ranger dip for favored enemy: arcanists and bonus feats (the useless ones swapped out via dark chaos feat shuffle), using shadow hand maneuvers to teleport around, and having picked up Mage Slayer, Pierce Magical Protection, and Pierce Magical Concealment, maybe?

Defending yourself from spells more effectively could be easily accomplished with the Diamond Mind maneuvers that substitute Concentration for a saving throw.  Higher modifiers and no auto-fail on a natural 1.

If it weren't for the race and level limits, I'd suggest Spell Drain, but good luck getting energy drain as a supernatural ability onto a standard race and without picking up so much LA from a template that you can't work within the levels allowed.

[Tshern]

Blink with a Ring of Blinking. Continuing from weenog's Swordsage idea, there are several teleportation effects in the Shadow Hand discipline that can be used as well.

Edit: Several teleportation effects already mentioned by him apparently.

[muktidata]

My only issue with Swordsage is that it takes a freaking Standard and then Move action just to teleport and it takes a ton of levels. It's a 5th level maneuver to teleport 50 ft. as a move action. Ouch. One top of that, if you want to teleport around in combat and still have your full attack available, you can't be using your actions like that.

Abrupt Jaunt with an Int of 20+ and an Anklet of Translocation appear to serve better here, although I remember something about a Dragonmark from Eberron granting teleport.

[McPoyo]

Telflammar Shadowlord or Crinti Shadowmarauder PrCs if you want to teleport and attack in the same round.

[Tshern]

Shadow Blink's a swift action, seventh level though.

[TenaciousJ]

...I remember something about a Dragonmark from Eberron granting teleport.

Mark of Passage.  It's normally limited to humans, and it will take a couple feats to make it useable more than once per day and to make it quickened.

[TeslaWolff]

Probably not what you are looking for but there's the Ritual of Shadow Walking in Lords of Darkness (p. 125).

Basically you pay 2,000 XP and a piece of jet worth 500gp, and you can
as a standard action move through shadows up to a distance of 100' at a time.
You can also remain in the shadows indefinitely if you so choose. Doing this has
a high cost though, 2 temporary CON damage and 1d4 hit point damage for the
travelling ability, and 4 temporary CON and 3d4 hit point damage for every round you remain
in the shadowstuff.

If you can make yourself immune to the temporary CON damage or heal it fast enough though it can be
very useful. I know when I mentioned it on the old boards JaronK got pretty excited about it combined
with using Naberious.

EDIT: OH yeah this is usable at-will and it's Supernatural.

[rot42]

1) TWF has Greater and Improved versions. Look at Dervish (CWar) and Tempest (CAdv) for getting the most out of this. Kusari-gama + Exotic Weapon Master could also be fun. You are going to want some form of bonus damage to pull this off, though.

2) I am in love with Dimension Hop from Complete Psionic. It is only available to Ardents (or any ML 3 character with a feat to burn), but gives tactical teleportation as a Swift action. An Ardent can make a great gish - take the Dominant Ideal and Substitute Powers ACFs and Linked Power, sprinkle over a generous helping of Share Pain + Vigor + Hustle and your favorite buffs. Then open Complete Psionic to the bottom of page 78 and read about Anticipatory Strike to be able to interrupt your foes' actions by attacking or teleporting away or anything else you want.

Also worth considering: the Shadow Cloak from Drow of the Underdark is similar to Abrupt Jaunt, as is the Flicker mystery (should also be available as an item).

3) The Mage Slayer line Weenog describes is probably the way to go, but you might want to look at the Supernatural Crusader feats in Tome of Magic (pp 72) if you are likely to fight more monsters with supernatural abilities than spellcasters. Totemists, Dragonfire Adepts, and Warlocks all gain some kind of at will Dispel Magic, which could come in handy when hunting mages.

4) The Spellward Shirt soulmeld with three at least levels of Incarnate gives you Spell Resistance 21 (SR 25 next level; requires: class level + character level + feat, and 4 essentia). You can also have access to Concealment (vs. non-adjacent foes), Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, and light Fortification, among other options. Can be combined with psionics using the Soul Manifester (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a).

5) Taking a maneuver here works well. With no initiator levels, you can have a level 3 maneuver, which can be bought back with Psychic Renewal.

[muktidata]

... runs off to check out Mark of Passage... 

Quick sample build I was just musing over:

(click to show/hide)

Dragonborn of Bahamut (Heart) Human (Phoenix Clan)

Conjurer 1/Fighter 2/Sleeping Tiger Chaos Monk 2/Paladin of Freedom 2/Shiba Protector 1/Occult Slayer 3

Feats (flaws allowed):
Intuitive Attack (Human)
Alertness (Flaw; UGH!)
Iron Will (Flaw; UGH!)
TWF (Fighter)
Improved TWF (Fighter)
Improved Initiative (Sleeping Tiger Monk)
Weapon Finesse (Sleeping Tiger Monk)
Combat Expertise (1; UGH!)
(3) WF: Dagger
Sun School (6)
Serenity (9)

Equipment:
Anklet of Translocation 1,400 (MIC)
Periapt of Wisdom +4 (DMG)
Probably other stuff

That would give:

BAB +8
Medium HD
High saves (GOGO x2 of each class!)
Stats will be rolled.

Blink:
Conjurer: Immediate Action Teleport Int times/day
Anklet of Translocation: Swift Action Teleport 3/day

Mana Shield:
Paladin 2
Occult Slayer 3

Mana Break:
Weapon Bond

Mana Void:
Well, hmm...  ... can't win em all.

X stat to Y:
Wisdom to Saves, Hit x2, Damage, AC (24 Wis easily achieved)
That's +14 to hit, +7 to damage, AC, and Saves (another +7 to Will saves)

That's about the most all-over-the-place character I've ever thought up. I bet if I cut out the Monk and Fighter levels it'll smooth out.

[X-Codes]

Undead -> Energy Drain -> Improved Energy Drain -> Spell Drain -> Dual-Wield Necrotic Focus weapons?

Actually, I suppose Undead type isn't necessary.

[muktidata]

I've read a lot about Telflammar Shadowlord, but never looked at it. Checking him out now. Does he gain momentum at level 11?

Edit: Checked him out. That's exactly what I was looking for. Use the move, swift, and standard actions to teleport and full attack thrice.

[zioth]

1) TWF - He uses two glaives in the game, but any light weapon will be fine, here.

You can get a large number of attacks from Monk, Exotic Weapon Master, TWF or Dervish -- or all four if you want to go crazy, but your damage will be low...

2) Blink - Magina can teleport offensively, defensively, all of the above!

Horizon Walker 7 gives you dimension door at will (every d4 rounds). Get Quicken Spell-Like Ability once or twice, and you're set. Also wear an Anklet of Translocation and the MIC items that let you take swift move actions.

3) Mana Break - Magina does extra damage to heroes with spellcasting abilities.

Occult Slayer helps with this. Or just get a Magebane weapon (+2 to hit, +2d6 damage).

4) Mana Shield - Magina has extra spell defense.

It may sound silly to some of the optimizers here, but for a melee-focused build, monk has excellent spell defense. Even one level of monk gives you +2 to all saves. Another option is to pick a race with good SR. Pixie gets 15+level, but is 4 LA and doesn't match your concept very well.

5) Mana Void - A giant single target nuke with a huge cooldown. It also has a minor stun effect.

Monk has Stunning Fist and eventually Quivering Palm, but that's not quite a "giant single target nuke." I don't think you're going to get a satisfying nuke on a melee-focused build.


Monk 2 / Horizon Walker 7 / Occult Slayer 1 / Dervish 10 -- with the TWF tree. You'll need a monk weapon to make this work. Kama seems the best suited to your concept.

BaB=19, and every attack gets a -4 penalty. Full attack chain:
+14/+14/+14/+9/+9/+4/+4/-1/-4
You can move between each attack, and once per day, you can double your number of attacks. Combine with a Belt of Battle to triple the number for 27 attacks in one round.

[Noliar]

Hexblade 3/Paladin of Freedom (no need to stay non good once you've finished advancing as hexblade)2/Ranger (FE arcanists)1/Totemist 4

Feats: Blind fight, Mage slayer (human bonus or flaw)
Pierce magical concealment
Pierce magical protection
open (?battle jump)

BAB 10
Fort 10 + con + cha + cha vs spells + 4 vs magical beasts
Ref 8 + dex + cha + cha vs spells + 4 vs magical beasts
Will 4 + wis + cha + cha vs spells + 4 vs magical beasts
and mettle

keep Blink Shirt totem bound for 40' move action teleport

[Look]

Soul Eater is fantastic vs Casters, assuming you can tolerate being a non-humanoid and evil. Full BAB, All Good Saves, and Energy Drain at the first level. Stacked with Shadowlord it is possible to blink in, deliver about 4 negative levels (8 at Soul Eater 10). This gives you stat bonuses, a ranged negative energy attack, and assuming you have Spell Drain...their spells. Conversely it puts them at approximately -4 to attacks, saves, and skills, and down about 8 to 16 spells.

[weenog]

4) Mana Shield - Magina has extra spell defense.

It may sound silly to some of the optimizers here, but for a melee-focused build, monk has excellent spell defense. Even one level of monk gives you +2 to all saves.

It sounds silly because it is silly.  If all you're going for is a saving throw improvement, at least make it a worthwhile one.

A 1-level warblade dip gets you 3 maneuvers, and if your warblade initiator level is high enough (5), all 3 of them can be the diamond mind maneuvers that replace saving throws with Concentration checks.  So you can have a +2 to all saving throws, or you can replace all saving throws with level+3 (ranks) +Con +any bonuses you have to that skill (laughably cheap*), and natural 1 doesn't fail if the check result still meets or beats the DC.  Plus you get a 1st-level warblade stance out of the dip, probably Hunter's Sense for the ever-handy Scent ability if you really don't care about being a martial adept.

*: Masterwork tools for a +2 circumstance bonus are merely +50 gp in cost.  Magical competence bonuses to skill checks cost a mere bonus^2 x 150 gp.  +10 to Concentration checks (+2 circumstance, +8 competence) costs 9,650 gp, excluding price of the base item if any, and modifications to the price depending on body slot it's put in, whether the item does anything else, etc.

[X-Codes]

Soul Eater is fantastic vs Casters, assuming you can tolerate being a non-humanoid and evil. Full BAB, All Good Saves, and Energy Drain at the first level. Stacked with Shadowlord it is possible to blink in, deliver about 4 negative levels (8 at Soul Eater 10). This gives you stat bonuses, a ranged negative energy attack, and assuming you have Spell Drain...their spells. Conversely it puts them at approximately -4 to attacks, saves, and skills, and down about 8 to 16 spells.

Killoren Ranger 2/Warblade X/Soul Eater X (Warblade until you can afford a graft to get a natural weapon, preferably a bite attack, then you can shift your existing Weapon Focus over to it and go straight into Soul Eater, take it as long as you like, and then finish out with whatever).

For teleportation, pick up Shadow Jaunt (move action version) with a Shadow Hand item from ToB.  You can recover it normally with your Warblade recovery mechanic.  Dual-wield Necrotic Focus weapons and follow up with your Bite attack.

[Look]

Soul Eater is fantastic vs Casters, assuming you can tolerate being a non-humanoid and evil. Full BAB, All Good Saves, and Energy Drain at the first level. Stacked with Shadowlord it is possible to blink in, deliver about 4 negative levels (8 at Soul Eater 10). This gives you stat bonuses, a ranged negative energy attack, and assuming you have Spell Drain...their spells. Conversely it puts them at approximately -4 to attacks, saves, and skills, and down about 8 to 16 spells.

Killoren Ranger 2/Warblade X/Soul Eater X (Warblade until you can afford a graft to get a natural weapon, preferably a bite attack, then you can shift your existing Weapon Focus over to it and go straight into Soul Eater, take it as long as you like, and then finish out with whatever).

For teleportation, pick up Shadow Jaunt (move action version) with a Shadow Hand item from ToB.  You can recover it normally with your Warblade recovery mechanic.  Dual-wield Necrotic Focus weapons and follow up with your Bite attack.

I'd strongly advise Tefflemar Shadowlord, to fill the blinking niche, as well as getting the awesome Shadow Pounce ability.

The prerequisites are a bit rough. The Feats are pretty easy, 3 natural feats and a flaw will get your there. The dimention door power is easily attained via magic item (I believe there is a cheap 5/day short range jumping item in the MIC). The real trick is Shadowlord requires sneak attack, 2d6. This can be accomplished with Assassin's Stance, or one level in Rogue (or better, SA Fighter Variant) with a finger blade. Shadowlord will fulfill all its own prerequisites by lvl 5, and get you the CL 5 pre-req for Spell Drain. This makes the following build possible.

SA Fighter 1/Hexblade 4/Soul Eater 2/Tefflamar Shadowlord 5/Soul Eater 8

Race: Something non-humanoid with a natural attack. A bite attack is best, and easy to get (grafts do work well)

Feats: Natural Weapon Focus, Blind-Fight, Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Improved Energy Drain, Spell Drain

Items: Finger Blade (for +1d6 Sneak Attack), Something of Dimension Door (you only need this till the first level of Shadowlord, then it meets its own prereq).

Results:
-Almost Full BAB (that improves with each level drained)
-Drain 2 levels with each hit (which means they lose 4 spells every time you strike)
-Pounce
-Respectable Damage
-Great Saves (that improve as levels are drained), Charisma to saves vs magic, mettle. (A Ring of evasion would complete the trifecta of fearless saving.)
-Ability to cast spells reaved from enemies

[X-Codes]

I didn't use Shadowlord.

[Look]

I didn't use Shadowlord.

Too true. Posted edited.