[3.5] Making a Warlock - My DM has gone crazy: Free +10LA

[faeryn]

My DnD group is putting our current campaign on hold while our DM gets things prepared for the transition into the epic campaign. So while that goes on, we are doing a short evil campaign. We're starting at 10th level and may have up to +10 LA at no cost. Insane... I know... we are not allowed to go past that +10 LA though. All 3.5 and several 3.0 source books except for ToB are permitted.

I'm thinking about playing as a Warlock... beyond that I haven't a clue... the campaign starts 2 weeks from today. I've never played the class before so I'd like some help.

Ideas? Suggestions? Feats? PrCs? Items? Race? Templates?

Race: Tibbit
Templates: Phrenic +2 | Half-fey +2 | Unholy Scion +5 | Draconic +1
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Classes: Battle Dancer:1/Fighter:2/Warlock:6/Hellfire Warlock:3/X:?
Flaws: Shaky & Feeble
Traits: Quick
Feats: Magic in the Blood | Dragon Tail | Eldritch Claws | Beast Strike | Rend | Multiattack | Improved Multiattack | Shape Soulmeld [Strongheart Vest] | Practiced Invoker | Weapon Panache | Rapidstrike | Improved Rapidstrike
Items: Beast Claws, Monks Belt, The Fanged Ring, Tailbands of Impact, Bracers of Armor+8, Poison Fangs - Graft
Base Attributes: Str:14-2+2 | Dex:16+2+2+2 | Con:18-2+2 | Int:16+2+6 | Wis:16+2+2+2 | Cha:18+4+4+4+2+X

At this point in time, the character is now in play and I only need some idea on how to continue the build from here... I'm building heavy in a couple areas.

1) High Charisma - Anything that benefits from high charisma or makes high charisma more beneficial to the character is highly welcome.

2) Unarmed Strikes & Natural Weapons - Improving existing Natural Weapons and Unarmed Strikes is highly welcomed, though I already do ungodly amounts of damage with each attack.

3) Poisons - preferably natural poisons, DCs that scale with HD and Con are far more appropriate than static DCs from manufactured poisons. I already do 1d6 Con poison with my Bite, it would be nice to gain a natural poison with my claws as well.

4) Enjoying the pure humiliation of paladin's being slaughtered by a kitty.

Our party is a bit interesting... we have a Warlock Kitty, a Werefrostwolf Crit-fiend Fighter who likes to throw Kukris, and a Sentient Mountain... We all have absurd amounts of AC, DR, SR/PR, and natural Fasthealing so we don't actually need a support class character... not to mention our Mountain has an ability that forces everyone within 30ft to attack him.

So the mountain just tanks everything, the Wolf destroys people with Crits, and the tiny little Cat shreds and poisons everything... Due to house rules regarding permanency I got Venomfire permanced on me... I may or may not have "accidentally" melted a villager with a very acidic bite after we decided to let him go and see how long he survives a couple poisonous bites...

[Maat Mons]

Monster of legend (Monster Manual II, p213) was given +7 LA in the update booklet.  For the selectable abilities, I'd probably go with spells (casting as a 5th-level cleric), reflective hide (continuous spell turning), and either fast healing (5 hp/round) or enhanced attributes (+4 to spell save DCs).  Remember, casting granted by race stacks with casting granted by class, so with 10 levels in cleric you get 15th-level casting. 

A psionic mind flayer (Expanded Psionics Handbook, p204) manifests powers as a 9th-level psion (telepath).  They have 8 HD and +7 LA.  With 2 levels in psion, you get your manifesting up to that of an 11th-level psion. 

You could be a necropolitan (Libris Mortis, p114) with 10 instances of the evolved undead template (Libris Mortis, p99).  That gives you +20 strength, +20 charisma, and +10 natural armor.  (Also fast healing and some spell-like abilities.)  This would make for a nice sorcerer.  The strength bonus makes it tempting to go gish, but you'd have trouble boosting your hit points without a constitution score. 

[faeryn]

I'm still looking to play a Warlock... I'm not going psionic and I don't want to be undead. Monster of Legend looks interesting... I'll keep it in mind...

[Jackinthegreen]

A Phrenic Primordial (Secrets of Xen'Drik page 79-81) Half-giant of Legend comes to mind for a warlock.  Its stats would be

+0 LA Primordial Giant:  -4 str, -2 Con, +4 Int, + 4 Cha
+1 LA Half-giant: +2 Str, -2 Dex, +2 Con
+2 LA Phrenic: +2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha
+7 LA Monster of Legend: +10 Str, +6 Dex, +10 Con, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha

for a total of

+8 Str, +4 Dex, +10 Con, +8 Int, +4 Wis, +12 Cha.  And a slew of other abilities.

As far as warlocks go, the guide at http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?265455-The-Newest-Warlock-Handbook-3-5 might be useful to you.

[7h39]

ok no Undead? but starting @lv10 you may chose Vampire LA+8 +Evolved Undead(optional)² LA+2 + Vampire Lord LA+0 (2)

[Rebel7284]

You can't apply phrenic to a naturally psionic creature.

[phaedrusxy]

You can't apply phrenic to a naturally psionic creature.

Eneko is another LA +1 medium sized giant, and IIRC it isn't naturally psionic. I think it's from the Secrets of Sarlona book.

[SorO_Lost]

Maybe round your stats a hair? God-Blooded, Quasilycanthrope, Dark, Dragonspawn, Saint, and so on.

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MMV, +1/+0 LA.
you'll just want Vecna's which makes you immune to Divination and such. The rest isn't bad either if you keep the LA.

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Online,+1 LA.
DR 10/Silver because yeah they printed it.

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ToM, +1 LA.
+8 Hide, +6 Move, HiPS, +10 Speed, Cold Resist 10. It's the perfect stealth addition.

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DL's Campaign Setting, +4 LA.
Yeah I said Red not White. +7 NA-Armor, flight, 1 Bite & 2 Claws, 4d10 Breath Weapon, +1 Sorcerer Spellcasting, +8 Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con, +2 Int/Wis, +4 Cha. White is +1 and downsizes the Breath and ability bonuses (you still get +2 charisma) which if your wanting to really optimize is the better choice.

Bonus

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DL:Bestially of Kyrnn, +1 LA & 2nd party.
You can roll 3 times on a random table, I think it's a 5% chance to score a double roll too. There are +4 Str/Dex/Con boosts, natural weapons, more Sorcerer Spellcasting, and Fast Healing on the table. All of them pretty nice.

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BoED, +2 LA.
Requires you to be uber good, but +4 Charisma and bonuses to Save DCs, plus Fast Healing & double strength Circle of Protection Evil to help prevent mind control and provide party bonuses.

[Ithamar]

Voidmind is a good one for lots of immunities, though just make sure you don't have to be enslaved to any mind flayers.  Since you're doing an evil campaign, Lolth-Touched seems like it might be a good choice.  You don't need STR as a warlock, but the +6 CON is very nice of course.

For something kind of off the wall, but actually works pretty well as a warlock, be a:
Hairy Spider (Monsters of Faerun, +0 LA) - Fine size (+8 to hit & AC)
Air Element Creature (Manual of the Planes) - +4 LA for +6 DEX & 100' perfect fly speed & FlyBy Attack bonus feat
Orglash (Unapproachable East) - +1 LA to set your INT to 10, Cold subtype, fast healing, +4 CON

Then fill up the rest of the LA with something like Dark or Shadow so that you can hide all you want while sniping at people.  You're a flying, invisible laser spider.

[phaedrusxy]

Wow... I'd forgotten just how dumb that Quasilycanthrope template was... 

[faeryn]

Ok, I'm still not settled on a race/template yet... but I think I might have a possible build in mind for the first 10 levels...

Battle Dancer:1/Warlock:4/Demonbinder:4/Hellfire Warlock:1

Feats: Eldritch Claws
Items: Beast Claws, Monks Belt, The Fanged Ring, Slippers of Battledancing
Base Attributes: Str:14 | Dex:16 | Con:18 | Int:16 | Wis:16 | Cha:18

Racial requirement for Demonbinder is ignored by houserules.
Battle Dancer for IUS & Cha to AC... treated as 6th level with Monks Belt
Slippers of Battledancing for Cha to Attack & Damage... might take a level or so of Scout for skirmish synergy
I'm planning to capitalize on Natural Attacks... so ways of gaining more and further improving them would be greatly appreciated.

As for the race/template... even though we are permitted up to +10LA free I'd like to avoid making something ridiculous... Stuff that focuses on Cha & Natural Attacks would be real good... I might pick up the Nymph Child template for 1/2 Cha to saves & deflection bonus to AC, plus various Cha based SLAs... +3LA

[phaedrusxy]

Half-fey is ridiculous for LA +2.

[faeryn]

Half-fey is ridiculous for LA +2.

Half-fey does look pretty good for a +2 LA... If I go the fey route then I'm totally playing a small or tiny race... Which wouldn't be out of the ordinary for me... I'm almost always playing small characters...

So... putting the race/template aside for a moment... any suggestions on the actual build? Any particular feats I should invest in? Items that I should look into acquiring? Classes I should look at taking?

While we're at it... I actually wanted so see about getting a few things cleared up that I've been a little confused on...

OK so, I'm going to be using Eldritch Claws combined with Beast Claws (Savage Species) to perform my attacks... does this allow me to apply my Eldritch Claws damage to iterative attacks performed with the Beast Claws weapon? If so, do I still get a separate secondary weapon attacks with the Eldritch Claws after my Iterative attacks with Beast Claws? And, does unarmed strike damage affect damage from natural weapons? If so, how would it factor into Eldritch Claws?

The reason for the questions is I'm trying to figure out exactly how my attack progression should look... I imagine that Beast Claws if used for my iterative attacks would add Eldritch Claws damage, but prevent a secondary attack with them... If I'm completely misunderstanding anything though, please correct me...

[Rebel7284]

Talking about fey:

4 Pixie: –4 Str, +8 Dex, +6 Int, +4 Wis, +6 Cha. (constant invisibility)
2 Phrenix: +2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha. (tons of psy-like abilities)
1 Draconic: +2 Str, +2 Con, +2 Cha.
3 Spellwarped: +4 Str, +2 Dex, +4 Con, +4 Int. (Spell Absorption)

Total stats: +2 Str, +10 Dex, +6 Con, +12 Int, +6 Wis, +12 Cha

[phaedrusxy]

Binder 1 is a typical dip for Hellfire Warlocks, for Naberius' fast ability healing. This also opens up the possibility of taking some/lots of Vile feats which inflict ability damage for using them. Some of them are quite decent, though, like Dark Whispers.

[Snowbluff]

Someone hashed it out, and I'd say Shape Soulmeld: Strongheart Vest would better seve you if you have a feat available.

Ok, I'm still not settled on a race/template yet... but I think I might have a possible build in mind for the first 10 levels...

Battle Dancer:1/Warlock:4/Demonbinder:4/Hellfire Warlock:1

Feats: Eldritch Claws
Items: Beast Claws, Monks Belt, The Fanged Ring, Slippers of Battledancing
Base Attributes: Str:14 | Dex:16 | Con:18 | Int:16 | Wis:16 | Cha:18

Racial requirement for Demonbinder is ignored by houserules.
Battle Dancer for IUS & Cha to AC... treated as 6th level with Monks Belt
Slippers of Battledancing for Cha to Attack & Damage... might take a level or so of Scout for skirmish synergy
I'm planning to capitalize on Natural Attacks... so ways of gaining more and further improving them would be greatly appreciated.

As for the race/template... even though we are permitted up to +10LA free I'd like to avoid making something ridiculous... Stuff that focuses on Cha & Natural Attacks would be real good... I might pick up the Nymph Child template for 1/2 Cha to saves & deflection bonus to AC, plus various Cha based SLAs... +3LA

You've made a crucial error. Hellfire Blast does not function with Eldritch Claws.

Beast Strike would be a good feat to take.

I fully condone a Phrenic Half Fey. SLAs for days. Magic in the Blood would increase your uses per day. For Phrenic, I think that you have full ML, and you may augment your powers in this manner.

I suggest Warlock 1/AnimaMage10 (requires flaws and tricky stuff) if you want to do a blaster, for additional Supernatural Abilities to add to all of the SLAs.

[wotmaniac]

+1 for Binder 1. 
Which may or may not necessitate Improved Binding (I know, I know -- "necessitate" is such a strong word).

You got the CHA, so you might as well scoop up Imperious Command and the skill trick Never Outnumbered.


/2cp

[faeryn]

Binder 1 is a typical dip for Hellfire Warlocks, for Naberius' fast ability healing. This also opens up the possibility of taking some/lots of Vile feats which inflict ability damage for using them. Some of them are quite decent, though, like Dark Whispers.

A Binder's vestages won't conflict with the Demonbinder prC in anyway would it?

Someone hashed it out, and I'd say Shape Soulmeld: Strongheart Vest would better seve you if you have a feat available.

I've actually never used anything from Magic of Incarnum before... and neither has anyone in my DnD group for that matter... it's uncharted territory for us... For this reason it might be best to avoid Incarnum stuff for now...

You've made a crucial error. Hellfire Blast does not function with Eldritch Claws.

I was unaware of this... however, looking over Hellfire Warlock and Eldritch Claws I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to use Hellfire Blast with Eldritch Claws. If there is a strong reason that I am somehow missing, it still does not remove Hellfire Warlock as a good dip for 3 total levels. There are moments when having a strong ranged attack is crucial with my DM. So even if I can't combine Hellfire Blast and Eldritch Claws, I can still make use of Hellfire Blast.

Beast Strike would be a good feat to take.

Indeed it would, adding to my Feats list... Looking at Eldritch Claws again I noticed something though that begs a question... The claw damage from Eldritch Claws is equal to your Unarmed Strike + Eldritch Blast, so would that make your damage with an Unarmed Strike with Beast Strike equal to your US*2 +EB? (I know looping is impossible, so Eldritch Claws would still only be original US+EB)

I fully condone a Phrenic Half Fey. SLAs for days. Magic in the Blood would increase your uses per day. For Phrenic, I think that you have full ML, and you may augment your powers in this manner.

I've looked at Phrenic and doublechecked the rulings on PLAs and it's actually incredibly powerful. Your ML is indeed equal to your HD, and your PLAs are automatically augmented as if manifested with powerpoints equal to your ML.

I suggest Warlock 1/AnimaMage10 (requires flaws and tricky stuff) if you want to do a blaster, for additional Supernatural Abilities to add to all of the SLAs.

First off, early entry shenanigans are not allowed. Secondly, I'm not looking to build a blaster, but I'm also not abandoning capability of blasting. I'm looking more to build a Natural Attacker using Warlock as the basis.

[Snowbluff]

Eldritch Claws are not Eldritch Blast, therefore Hellfire Blast does not apply to Eldritch Claws. It's a common mistake. 

[faeryn]

Eldritch Claws are not Eldritch Blast, therefore Hellfire Blast does not apply to Eldritch Claws. It's a common mistake. 

Either way, I can still use Hellfire Blast to enhance my ranged damage when necessary.