Anti-ambush build

[Xelights]

I am currently playing in a combat-focused D&D 3.5 campaign, we are currently level 4.

The GM loves to ambush us and does not allow us a roll against the ambush or the traps we walk into. Instead he expects us to use detect spells and spot checks which seem to fail 99/100 times. 

Here are summaries of some of the experiences so far :

during level 2 - we were ambushed by kobolds on top of a hill as we investigated a corpse with a sleep trap on it.
during level 2 - we went into a thieves den and triggered traps and got ambushed by archers that were around a corner.
during level 2 - we got ambushed while we sleep, the person watching didn't get checks to counter the ambush.
during level 3 - as we see corpses around a campfire we use hawks to spot enemies, the hawks do spot the ghasts but the GM does not reveal where they are on the map. The paladin gets ambushed as he slowly moves forward.
during level 3 - we got ambushed by a large-sized ettercap in the middle of a forest, the GM reveals the ettercap and gives it a surprise round the moment the paladin detects evil him (we knew something was up because there were spiderwebs everywhere). the rogue took so much dexterity damage he was useless for that fight. The paladin wasn't allowed to take part in the surprise round.
during level 3 - a knowledge nature 17 and spot 21 does not reveal anything weird about a plant where a corpse is lieing, hiding inside the plant is an assassin vine that ambushes the paladin, the paladin got constricted/grappled and was useless the entire fight.
during level 3 - an invisible wizard revealed himself as he casts glitterdust on the paladin and rogue, who were useless the rest of the fight.
during level 4 - a wraith raises from beneath the ground and steals constitution from the rogue.

This is getting out of hand. I already roll a +11 on my spot and listen checks. I have declared to be taking 10 at all times for these checks while out of combat since the ettercap ambush and yet I have not spotted any creature that is hiding yet.

The GM just likes strategic monsters more, and does play ogres and orcs a bit more stupid than this. It should also be noted that we just go where we please and that we are not lured in a trap or something when these scenario's happen. The enemies do not know we are comming but just get their ambush rounds the moment we walk close.


From my point of view, I have two options :
1) Talk to the GM about it.
2) Be annoying and create a character specifically designed to counter the GM's repeated strategy.

I prefer option 2 and would like tips on this. I already know about uncanny dodge but instead of taking medicine I prefer to not get sick in the first place if you know what I mean.


Please give me build ideas against a GM who loves to ambush the players.

[vaz]

Necropolitan Cloistered Cleric of Vecna/Divine Oracle 10/Shadowcraft Mage 4/Contemplative 1

Destiny, Knowledge and Tyranny (or Magic) Domains, with Whispered Secrets as your 1st level feat. Fell Conspiracy gives you the ability to make your entire party provide bonuses to listen checks (don't forget to include minions and  and provide telepathy, which you could then possibly use to gain access to Mindsight. As a Necropolitan you can pick up Lifesight if Mindsight is not allowed.

Knowledge and Destiny domains are full of scrying abilities and other divinations. Tyranny gives you some nice minion creating abilities through Dominations etc, and you can get some undead minions as well if you need it. Whispered Secrets gives you Spot and Listen, and you've got a Wisdom focus to aid those. Divine Oracle lets you at ECL15 take actions even when surprised.

Shadowcraft Mage and Contemplative can be chosen as you will - Heretic of the Faith lets you decide on whichever Domain you desire, such as those which improve your Skill list (City or Trickery), but skill points are probably beginning to get a bit sparse now.

Alternatively, a Psion, Wilder, Psychic Warrior or Ardent with Substitute Powers ACF can manifest Sense Danger, a 10 minute/ML duration power, which lets you use one Standard action power as an Immediate Action at the start of each combat (maximum PP of IA power limited to 1+the number of pp augmented Sense Danger).

If your DM is continually springing traps on you, combine with Dominant Mantle Ardent and Linked Power Synchronicity and tell Time Stop to pipe the fuck down as you proceed stab it to death with unlimited PP from Bestow Power and Manifester Arrow hacks.

[Xelights]

Thanks for your answer, Vaz! 

-Mindsight and Lifesight seem to be exactly what I need! Thank you very much for the idea.

-We are currently only level 4 though and prestige classes are subject to his will. So many of the things listed are impossible to do as of now, but I will remember them for the future!

-The GM does not allow us to roll Listen and Spot checks to oppose hide checks. He assures he takes it into concideration but so far my take 10 - 21 spot checks have never prevented getting ambushed. Gaining bonusses to spot and listen won't help.

-I checked out the domains and they do not have what we need for a level 4 character. Only Augury from Destiny Domain is okay but the GM will play around it and ambush us anyway.

-Sense Danger is pretty good, I will keep that one in mind. Time Stop is out of reach for lvl 4. A combo that gives unlimited anything is probably not allowed.

[Triskavanski]

Yeah there isn't much that you could get with a DM that basically goes "Ha! Gotcha, you're ambushed!"  Because nothing you do will make it so you can be able to detect his ambushes.

I'd have to say you'd need to talk to him. Either that or make a character that excepts to be ambushed. And work on what you can do to ambush the ambushers or something like that.

[Frogman55]

Do you have access to pathfinder material? There's a monk variant there, the Sohei. With a 1 level dip you get everything a normal monk gets at level (bonus feat, +2 to all saves, unarmed strike, flurry of blows, and Wis to AC (the last two require you to be unarmored as normal). You also get this gem:

Devoted Guardian:

At 1st level, a sohei can always act in a surprise round even if he does not notice his enemies, though he remains flat-footed until he acts. In addition, a sohei gains a bonus on initiative rolls equal to 1/2 his monk level. At 20th level, a sohei’s initiative roll is automatically a natural 20.

You always act in the surprise round. Always. If you have a high initiative, you'll almost never be flatfooted.

The Diviner specialist wizard gets to do this too, though frankly 1 level of wizard isn't as great a dip as 1 level of monk.

[Xelights]

@Triskavanski
The thing about "ambush the ambushers" is that you can't justify casting some spell when nothing peculiar is going on e.g. the wizard appearing out of thin air or the wraith coming from the ground.

On another note, for any movement this GM does not go "that was a move action, you see two archers around the corner, what you want to do with your standard action?" or "as you slowly approach two archers are around the corner they appear to not have noticed you as they have no reason to believe someone is near". he goes "As you go look around the corner you immediately get two arrows fired on you, one of them hits, 5 damage. roll initiative."

@frogman55
We have no access to pathfinder material, though that is one cool alternative class I will remember!
We play with tier1 massban, let alone divine wizards, lol.

[Snowbluff]

Monk sucks. Foresight Divination Wizard is where it's at.

Forewarned (Su)

You can always act in the surprise round even if you fail to make a Perception roll to notice a foe, but you are still considered flat-footed until you take an action. In addition, you receive a bonus on initiative checks equal to 1/2 your wizard level (minimum +1). At 20th level, anytime you roll initiative, assume the roll resulted in a natural 20.

Prescience (Su): At the beginning of your turn, you may, as a free action, roll a single d20. At any point before your next turn, you may use the result of this roll as the result of any d20 roll you are required to make. If you do not use the d20 result before your next turn, it is lost. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier.

Now, Wizard 1 isn't as good for some things, but an Eldritch Knight is a really good option if you forgo the requirements by playing an Aasimar.

[ketaro]

This is a pretty good example of a DM metagaming his NPCs, which is a concept people don't seem to believe is possible for a DM to do.
Because half of those encounters started with the enemies having no idea or reason to believe the PCs were coming.

Talk to your DM, ask him to tone it down on the complete unfairness he is being in making ever. single. fight. a surprise.

[Frogman55]

Monk sucks. Foresight Divination Wizard is where it's at.

Just gonna say that it depends on the build. Sometimes the two bonus feats and bonuses to your saves are better than a single caster level of wizard. Sometimes.

Two other possibilities: The first is hard - ensure that your character is effective even when flat-footed. It takes some effort to be able to take immediate actions, or have your dex bonus to AC, and so on while flat-footed, but if you can manage then ambushes won't be such a big deal.

The other: Start preparing counter-ambushes. Have a scout, or a probe, constantly ahead. Buy a hireling and tell him to scout ahead. Get a ridiculous stealth score, etc.

The problem with both of these, still, is what ketaro said. If the GM really is metagaming against you, then he'll metagame against any tactic you come up with.

[ketaro]

And buy a 10ft pole and poke it around every corner before you proceed 

[Triskavanski]

@Triskavanski
The thing about "ambush the ambushers" is that you can't justify casting some spell when nothing peculiar is going on e.g. the wizard appearing out of thin air or the wraith coming from the ground.

On another note, for any movement this GM does not go "that was a move action, you see two archers around the corner, what you want to do with your standard action?" or "as you slowly approach two archers are around the corner they appear to not have noticed you as they have no reason to believe someone is near". he goes "As you go look around the corner you immediately get two arrows fired on you, one of them hits, 5 damage. roll initiative."

@frogman55
We have no access to pathfinder material, though that is one cool alternative class I will remember!
We play with tier1 massban, let alone divine wizards, lol.

Thats what I'm saying though.. The DM pretty much isn't going to allow you to avoid the ambushes from what I see. You're going to get ambushed.

You'll have to eat the surprise round. They come at you, they try to attack you. You'll need something to turn that around, make it so the ambush they had against you is suddenly reversed.

But really, the best course of action is talk to the DM. I know I've had some that metagamed around us, always trying to be "one step" ahead of us, by basically doing things like this, or ignoring immunities or giving creatures immunities to things that there is no immunity to. (Like for example, a Sand-Scorpion golem thing, that had elemental resistance to /everything/. )

[Xelights]

@Ketaro
I think I will bring this issue up next time we get ambushed that common sense says we should roll normal initiatives when eyes lock instead. However he has been upfront about playing his monsters as characters and that its a hard campaign so I cannot fault him for this.

@Triskavanski
All enemies so far have been fairly unmodified. Yes I do need something against that surprise round, which is why I am asking for build suggestions. I need ways to get passive detection that works against 90% of all monsters. I need simular features to Uncanny Dodge. I need a cheap way to become ethereal to scout ahead. These type of things.

[phaedrusxy]

And buy a 10ft pole and poke it around every corner before you proceed 

Funny you say that... I've used an Unseen Servant + a "scarecrow" in much the same way.

[skydragonknight]

How about a 10 ft polearm and Steadfast Boots? That'll protect your lead melee party member from chargers, even in the surprise round. Easily affordable too.

[ketaro]

And buy a 10ft pole and poke it around every corner before you proceed 

Funny you say that... I've used an Unseen Servant + a "scarecrow" in much the same way.

That is a fairly golden and cheap idea.
I support this.

[Vorpal_Bunny]

You might also consider using flash stepping (http://community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3563506) to backtrack against enemy attacks.  Check out the article, it might be useful.

VB

[phaedrusxy]

One thing I feel compelled to mention: you cannot take 10 on spot checks to locate hidden opponents, as those are opposed checks (which you can never take 10 on... I forget where this is stated, though).

You also always get a reactive Spot check to find hidden opponents. You don't have to specifically tell the DM about this. It happens automatically. If he feels it will spoil the "surprise" out of character, he could insist on making such rolls himself behind the screen, etc, but given what you've described... I'd probably try to push for doing it yourself. 

[Triskavanski]

There is a feat that you can make a free spot and listen check once per round. Just is there and keep rolling those dice~
http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-adventurer--54/quick-reconnoiter--2318/

[DaCraw]

Not relevant at your level, but look into the Summon Elemental feat once you're able to cast 4th level spells. It lets you summon small elementals at will provided you have a summoning spell of 4th level or higher remaining. These don't last long (4-9 rounds) and are pretty worthless in combat, but they are excellent short range scouts. Who cares if your disposable minions get hit by the ambushing archers?

I'm particularly fond of earth elementals, as their earth glide ability lets them see what's in a room without you having to open the door.

[Xelights]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

@DaCrow
Wow thats a neat trick, do you share vision with your summons though? I guess summoning wolves that move 50 ft is good to trigger traps and ambushes as well... The duration is what kills it at lowlevel though, need ways around it.

@Triskavanski
That sounds very effective but that might be a bit too much spamn, Also you pretty much do this already out of combat.

@Phaedrusxy
Yeah I know, I mentioned i was taking 10 while we were investigating the area before combat started. The GM hasn't made us roll opposed checks once.

@Vorpal_Bunny
Thats a great feat for my backup AoO spearfighter! thanks, I will write that one down.

@skydragonknight
Wow, just looked at steadfast boots from the Magic Item Compendium, those are really cool! cheap too!
Though normal characters won't get AoO while flatfooted, readying against a charge doesn't count as an AoO!