[Discussion] The Nameless discussion thread

[Nanshork]

Venn, have you decided what you'll be combining with Choker?

[VennDygrem]

You know, I'm going to be hard-pressed to find a more intriguing choice than Dragonheart Adept, even despite its small number of circles known, and despite the fact that since he's small size, his natural weapons are a die-step lower. I've been toying with the idea of multiclassing in a level of Half-Ogre to get large size, even, but then I'll only start with 2nd level maneuvers and won't start with all the goodies from 4th level of DhA. Maybe I can just take the feats and then multiclass in next level, if I survive til then, and claim that overall he's just one big magical experiment gone wrong.

I mean, he pretty much is anyway.

[ShadowViper]

Osle, after studying the Racial Class a little more closely, I have a couple of questions.

1. Why is WIS focused on over INT, DEX, and/or CHA?

2. Why the specialization towards melee/grappling aside from the bite/constrict/improved grab abilities? It's my understanding that Yuan-Ti attempt to avoid melee whenever possible and only enter melee engagements as a last resort or when it's the proper tactic to employ(especially true of Abominations).

I've always thought of the Yuan-Ti as intelligent, agile, charismatic, cold, calculating, careful schemers.

I know I'm probably just overthinking things too much, not to mention asking too many questions.  No one else seems to be having this much trouble with their builds. Sorry guys, this could just be really awesome if it can get all ironed out.

[oslecamo]

1-Because their original Dex isn't anything special, while their their top stats are Int and Wis. And since they have the whole jungle/religion/cleric vibe going for them, then Wis seemed like the stat to focus on them.

2-They're still snake-people, and that specialization is  optional anyway. Movement as an immediate action and attacking from hiding can be used to avoid melee pretty well, and ignoring enemy size advantage while grappling plus Wis to grapple makes you harder to pin down should the enemy get too close. Not to mention repulsion and entangle helping you keep enemies at bay.

Again Yuan-Ti never were very agile to begin with.  They're smart, but their religious fanatism is stronger. And Wisdom is the stat for mental coolness  if anything. It's wizards  that dumped Wis that go around building phalic towers and wearing pointy hats that atract everybody's atentions.

[ShadowViper]

Aye, I see where you're coming from. Thank you for explaining. After looking at the MM again, I guess all they ever get is a +2 to Dex, could've sworn it was more.

Mostly was just getting irritated/disappointed with self-imposed MAD. 

[ShadowViper]

Alrighty SirP this post should have any remaining questions, that way hopefully you don't have to go hunting through the last couple pages of the thread.


1) For the purposes of the Yuan-Ti Cultist Prestige Class, would it be okay for the Yuan-Ti's Monster Class' SLAs to count as "Psionic" ?

For example

Psionic Focus (Su): At 4th level, a yuan-ti cultist’s psionic ability becomes more focused. He adds +2 to the DC for all saving throws against his innate psionic powers.

His innate psionic powers being the SLAs.

The Yuan-Ti Cultist is on Page 98 of Savage Species.


2) Also, can the Yuan-Ti Racial Levels also count as cleric levels for the purposes of the abilities/powers granted by the Yuan-Ti Cultist class?

For exmaple

(snippet) Sticks to Snakes (Sp): At 2nd level, a yuan-ti cultist
gains the ability to transform inert pieces of wood, such as arrows, torches,
or staffs, into snakes. Once per day, he can transform 1d4 sticks + 1 per class level (including cleric levels) within medium range (100 feet + 10 feet/level).


3) Looking around I found a listing of Domains for Merrshaulk in LG_Deities(from Wizards) which can be downloaded from this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrshaulk

Chaos, Destruction, Domination* (CD), Evil, Mind* (CD), Plant, Tyranny* (CW)

For going into Cleric(when the time comes at level 8), at this point I'm looking at Evil and Dmonination as my two Domains, would that be okay?


4) As a dedicated follower of Merrshaulk who is attempting to corrupt and overthrow the Dark God/Imperium through the "aid" of the Dark God's power, planning on/thinking Chaotic Evil(smart, & party friendly of course). Is that okay?


Alrighty that should do it, think that's all of the still relevant questions I have, hopefully this helps make it easier, and less time consuming to answer having them in one place/post. 

[ShadowViper]

And one question, & one rules confirmation for Osle.

1). Craft an intentional non-class skill for Yuan-Ti?

2). This is more just to confirm proper understanding. Level 4, Half-Blood Body, choose Snake Body. Then Level 6 rolls around with Abomination Body, gain Snake Head as part of transformation/ritual(thus becoming an Abomination), correct? Fairly certain the answer is yes(after all what's an Abomination without the body & head of a snake heh?  )., but still thought I should make sure.

[sirpercival]

Alrighty SirP this post should have any remaining questions, that way hopefully you don't have to go hunting through the last couple pages of the thread.

Yay!

1) For the purposes of the Yuan-Ti Cultist Prestige Class, would it be okay for the Yuan-Ti's Monster Class' SLAs to count as "Psionic" ?

For example

Psionic Focus (Su): At 4th level, a yuan-ti cultist’s psionic ability becomes more focused. He adds +2 to the DC for all saving throws against his innate psionic powers.

His innate psionic powers being the SLAs.

The Yuan-Ti Cultist is on Page 98 of Savage Species.

No problem whatsoever.  It's always nice when you don't have completely useless class features, at least in my opinion.

2) Also, can the Yuan-Ti Racial Levels also count as cleric levels for the purposes of the abilities/powers granted by the Yuan-Ti Cultist class?

For exmaple

(snippet) Sticks to Snakes (Sp): At 2nd level, a yuan-ti cultist
gains the ability to transform inert pieces of wood, such as arrows, torches,
or staffs, into snakes. Once per day, he can transform 1d4 sticks + 1 per class level (including cleric levels) within medium range (100 feet + 10 feet/level).

Yes, that's fine as well.

3) Looking around I found a listing of Domains for Merrshaulk in LG_Deities(from Wizards) which can be downloaded from this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrshaulk

Chaos, Destruction, Domination* (CD), Evil, Mind* (CD), Plant, Tyranny* (CW)

For going into Cleric(when the time comes at level 8), at this point I'm looking at Evil and Dmonination as my two Domains, would that be okay?

No problem, once more.  Yay for easy-to-answer questions!

4) As a dedicated follower of Merrshaulk who is attempting to corrupt and overthrow the Dark God/Imperium through the "aid" of the Dark God's power, planning on/thinking Chaotic Evil(smart, & party friendly of course). Is that okay?

Yes, as long as you play well with the rest of your team.  Minimal intra-party conflict is the goal here.

Alrighty that should do it, think that's all of the still relevant questions I have, hopefully this helps make it easier, and less time consuming to answer having them in one place/post. 

It made it tremendously easy, since my answers were all "yes".

[Nanshork]

I'm trying to decide on my circles for the Anchorite.  I know I want Nature's Balance and Astral Essence.  I get two more, and I've narrowed them down to: Brilliant Dawn, Blustering Gale, Eternal Moment, and Roaring Tide.  Here's a link to the index.  Any input?

[ShadowViper]

Thank you!

Would it be considered shenanigans for my Yuan-Ti to milk his own venom and proceed to coat his arrowheads in it(a standard Yuan-ti Tactic)?   

Character sheet link posted everything look okay? (SLA #/day figured correctly?) Still Work in Progress of course

Can't seem to find Yuan-Ti aging tables, anyone know of any? Serpent Kingdoms doesn't seem to hold them.

Edit: Heh found this, Yuan-ti FR Wiki though not sure if I'd call it official. For now I think I'll just label his age as adult.

[VennDygrem]

Nanshork, I was actually going to ask you about your choice of circles, since I get access to another beyond the totemic one and don't want to overlap too much with you. Luckily, the ones you're picking from, mostly, are not the ones I've been considering.

Roaring Tide gives you an option that bypasses spell resistance, which could be invaluable. It's more damaging, and causes physical conditions like nauseating, fatiguing, drowning, blinding, etc. Not useful against constructs/undead, except the extra damage.

Eternal moment is good for getting around energy resistance. It also offers a good balance of buffing and debuffing options. I personally think this one complements your other circles well.

Blustering Gale has some of the benefits of Roaring Tide, though the damage is typed as slashing rather than piercing. Combines the physical debuffing potential of Roaring tide with some decent buffs, though it seems a bit more limited to me in long-term usefulness.

Brilliant dawn is fairly decent, though far better if there will be a good amount of undead. Gets a lot of dazing attacks, though, which is nice.

All-told, I'd personally go with Eternal Moment, but the others are still enticing.
------------------------------
Now, for my circles, my initial thoughts were to go with Detereorating Corrosion as my totemic circle, and Devouring Shadow as secondary, mixing the two for optimal debuffing, but it's not so simple now. Perfect Freeze and Shocking Current offer good BFC potential, while Searing Flame has the potential to add a lot of damage for all of us.

Furthermore, my second circle is open to all of them. Again, Devouring Shadow is definitely in the mix, but Fleeting Image provides some very fun things to do in combat, and the fact that its damage type changes from nonlethal to that of my primary circle, it's all that much better.

Any thoughts?

[Nanshork]

Roaring Tide has been added to the definite list so now I have: Nature's Balance, Astral Essence, and Roaring Tide.  One choice go go.

I'm just not excited by Eternal Moment.  I think it has more to do with the concept of Time Manipulation than anything else really.  I think I'm only interested in Blustering Gale because it lets me fly.  Then again, that's probably meh as a spellshape.  Brilliant Dawn doesn't excite me either.  Maybe I should get a good damaging circle?  I don't know, any suggestions out of things I haven't listed?


For you: Devouring Shadow is pretty nice.  Massive breath weapon debuffs do sound very very nice.  I don't think you need BFC with this group, though I could be wrong on that.  Fleeting Image does have fun options.  Sorry, I don't really have much advice, I only started seriously looking at Spellshaping since I agreed to make a character for this pbp.

[VennDygrem]

Well, do you have any sort of theme thought up for your character? Something in their background that might nudge you toward one circle or another? For instance, someone that is storm-themed could pick Shocking Current, Roaring Tide, Blustering Gale, and Screeching Roc, and have lightning, rain, wind, and thunder to make the perfect storm.

Or, is there some type of abilities you feel lacking in?

[Jackinthegreen]

Crash is coming along decently.  I'm having trouble deciding on what kind of rage to give him though.

Normal rage has been buffed to grant +2 str from the start and an extra attack at +0 at 3 barb levels.  Crash effectively has those 3 thanks to proto-creature.  So it basically comes down to:

Normal rage: +6 str, +4 con, -2 AC, +0 extra attack
or
Whirling Frenzy: +4 str, +2 AC, +2 ref, -2 extra attack.

It's mostly offense versus defense, so I'm wondering if I want to shore up some defenses or just go full-on offensive might.  Decisions, decisions.  lol

[oslecamo]

And one question, & one rules confirmation for Osle.

1). Craft an intentional non-class skill for Yuan-Ti?

2). This is more just to confirm proper understanding. Level 4, Half-Blood Body, choose Snake Body. Then Level 6 rolls around with Abomination Body, gain Snake Head as part of transformation/ritual(thus becoming an Abomination), correct? Fairly certain the answer is yes(after all what's an Abomination without the body & head of a snake heh?  )., but still thought I should make sure.

1)Non-intentional, the kind of minor skill that's usually in there more for flavor than anything else. Added if you insist.

2)Tecnically no, but you're right, it should gain it. Changed it so that you get a second snake part of your choice when you become an abomination.

[Nanshork]

@Venn: I have no theme at all above buffing and then debuffing/whatever else looks cool.  Damage is tertiary. I'm an Anchorite, we'll study anything.   

I assume that you're not wanting to take up the role of Ardent Spellshaper since you also have auras?

[VennDygrem]

I only get access to one aura unless I take feats for more (would be nice if I at least got to switch the aura between the two circles I get, but what'll ya do). Plus, I only have access to two circles, so I'd have to take another feat to gain a single formula from one different circle just to qualify.

It's a bit of an investment for not enough return, I think. Sticking with DhA is a much better option for me, given all the class features.

Right now I'm trying to pick my 2 circles, and I've also been trying to figure out which Affiliation to go with. Chorrun Charr makes the most sense thematically, but I can't qualify unless I take Dragontouched as a feat since I don't have the dragonblood subtype (which is funny to me since my background involves my character's blood being replaced with dragon's blood as part of the experiments that "made" him, to explain the DhA class levels) or Dragon type. Plus, there's little benefit I get out of it. Right now, Magi is the affiliation I qualify for the easiest (since it's the only one that includes spellshaping), but I'm not sure I care for the fluff as it pertains to my character. I can get into some of the other spellcasting affiliations if spellshaping counts as arcane spellcasting, but otherwise it's still harder to get ahead, even many levels down the line.

[Nanshork]

Ardent Spellshaper only requires one aura and doesn't give any extra bonuses for more auras.  The two circles thing is a problem though, don't worry I'm not going to try to make you take it.   

I'm having issues with Affiliations as well, I'm saving that for very last.

[sirpercival]

Don't worry about the Affiliations unless they're ones I've edited.  The requirements and benefits are likely to change somewhat.

[ShadowViper]

And one question, & one rules confirmation for Osle.

1). Craft an intentional non-class skill for Yuan-Ti?

2). This is more just to confirm proper understanding. Level 4, Half-Blood Body, choose Snake Body. Then Level 6 rolls around with Abomination Body, gain Snake Head as part of transformation/ritual(thus becoming an Abomination), correct? Fairly certain the answer is yes(after all what's an Abomination without the body & head of a snake heh?  )., but still thought I should make sure.

1)Non-intentional, the kind of minor skill that's usually in there more for flavor than anything else. Added if you insist.

2)Tecnically no, but you're right, it should gain it. Changed it so that you get a second snake part of your choice when you become an abomination.

1) Thank you! I did alter my skill set-up after noticing that, but still wanted to point it out/let you know incase it was like *cough*Hide*cough*

2) Thank you!!!!!      Technically is what I was concerned about