Need some ideas for pregens

[Noliar]

I will be running a game at a con (Dragonmeet in London) and I've decided to go for a D&D 3.5 dungeoncrawl with 7th level characters. It's   a shortish slot so I'm going for pregen characters. Ideally I'd like 7 distinct builds with distinct feels where any group of 4-6 can be an effective but not overwhelming dungeoneering team.

[sirpercival]

Allowed sources?  What are the enemies going to be like? (If it's a bunch of undead and oozes, a Beguiler will be nigh-useless)

1. DFI Bardsader
2. Wildshape ranger
3. Dungeoncrasher Totemist
4. Factotum
5. Spirit Shaman
6. Ardent
7. Dragonfire Adept

[Noliar]

Interesting picks.

Spirit shaman does look like an excellent dungeoneer but in reading it I've realized a difficulty I'm going to have. The good divine caster classes get to pick their spells for the day from their whole class list. Which will slow us right down if there is any rest and refresh opportunity.

[Risada]

Then pick those that don't do that - Sorcerer (it's Arcane, but does what you want), Favored Soul, Archivist... Any of these are limited to the spell they know or have at hand.

[brujon]

Allowed sources?  What are the enemies going to be like? (If it's a bunch of undead and oozes, a Beguiler will be nigh-useless)

1. DFI Bardsader
2. Wildshape ranger
3. Dungeoncrasher Totemist
4. Factotum
5. Spirit Shaman
6. Ardent
7. Dragonfire Adept

These are all great suggestions, but since the game's going to be run at a Con, you'd have players with varied experience with 3.5, not all of which may have read Magic of Incarnum, Dungeonscape, and other supplemental books that those builds will require. You also have a lot of bookkeeping with that set up, because basically every class pulls stuff up from a different book. There's psionics, incarnum, ToB, variants from UA, etc... Explaining all of those to a noobish player will bog the game down just as well as anything else...

I'd suggest a rather more core-centric approach, with a couple more advanced builds. Not enough time to make suggestions, though, so i'll just let this hanging in the air...

[Risada]

1) Dungeoncrasher Fighter OR Classic Trip Fighter OR Barbarian
2) Sorcerer
3) Favored Soul
4) Ranger (archery style) OR Scout OR Swift Hunter
5) Paladin (with a few Devotion and/or Divine feats)
6) Bard
7) Rogue

Also, for each character, get a piece of paper with common tactics and other info of each character. For example: the Classic Trip Fighter uses his guisarme to trip enemies from a safe distance. His piece of paper would include the trip modifier, and quick explanations of any other ability it might have, such as Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, etc...

[brujon]

Couldn't agree more with Risada. His are very good suggestions, and you most certainly can spice the builds with feats and weapons from other sources if they're easy enough to explain, since the cards make it much much easier to get new players on par with more veteran players.

[sirpercival]

I amend my suggestion to this: have two versions of each party role, one for a less experienced player and one for a more experienced player.  Then if a vet shows up, you can break out the more interesting build

[brujon]

I amend my suggestion to this: have two versions of each party role, one for a less experienced player and one for a more experienced player.  Then if a vet shows up, you can break out the more interesting build

Depending on the difference in power level between them, the more noobish players may feel outshined by the vets... I'd say to "break it even" and have 3 more experienced builds (These can include something with their own different mechanics, like psionics, incarnum etc...) and 4 vanilla builds, spiced up with something from other books, but keeping it mostly core (avoiding stuff that has their entirely different mechanics, like Incarnum, Psionics, Truenaming(ew), Maneuvers...). Try to keep it all Tier 3. Limit the amount of versatility available to full casters by making fixed lists of spells, themed (Summoner, Healer, Blaster, etc...) that they can choose to give a certain amount of personality to their builds.

[Solo]

Here, have a fighter.

[Lord Slasher]

I would recommend throwing some martial adepts (Warblade in particular)

[Captnq]

Uhhhhh... Setting? Mission? Purpose? Background? Location? History? Gods? Time Period? Nation? State? City?


Here's one:

Vort Shipwright

Vort is a halfling who is the son of a shipwright. Vort had a tendency to accidentally injure other halflings on the worksite all the time. It's because of the high rate of injury on the job that his father finally told Vort, "Son, you have a real knack for injuring people. I think you should become a professional killer." Thus Vort Shipwright was sent off to work for the gods of death.

Vort is a follower of the God of death and damn cheerful about it too. He's Lawful Good, fast as hell and just happens to be really into killing things. He became an adventurer so he could kill things. He's nor morbid about it, he's just thinks it's his calling in life... to end it. He hates undead, because his goal is to send things onto their just rewards and undead hang around too much. After all, when you die, you go to the place you deserve to be, so gosh darn it, why put off until tomorrow what you can do today!

So, lets see... Base stats... 15,14,13,12,10,8

Str: 12 (14 -2 for race)
Dex: 18 (15 base +2 Race, +1 at 4th level)
Con: 13
Wis: 8
Int: 12
Chr: 10

Feats:
Level 1 (Fighter 1)
Exotic weapon focus: Crescent Blade
Combat Reflexes
Level 2 (Swashbuckler 1)
Weapon Finesse (Crescent Blade)
Level 3 (Fighter 2)
Dodge
Two handed weapon fighting
Level 4 (Fighter 3)
Level 5 (Fighter 4)
Karmic Strike
Level 6 (Fighter 5)
Improved Two handed Weapon Fighting
Level 7
Double Hit

Total Levels: Swashbuckler 1/Fighter 6

Equipment (WBL 17,000)
+1 Crescent Knife (Shocking) 4,000
+1 Crescent Knife (Sonic) 4,000
[See Dragon Mag #275, New Exotic Weapons)
the other 9k in gold is for armor and other defensive stuff.

If someone tries to hit you, you get to attack first (Karmic strike) and use your off hand (Double hit) with your crescent knives (two attacks for every one) for 4 attacks at 1d3 + 1d6 + 2 for an average of 7 a hit, and you have a chance to hit of (BAB 7 + Dex 4 + Weapon Bonus 1 - Two handed fighting -2) of 10.

You have 4 AoO, a BAB of +7, and Improved two weapon fighting, so, in theory, if there are four different attacks against you and you do all your attacks in a round, you will get 24 attacks a round. Against an AC of 20, you hit 50% of the time, assuming the enemy doesn't have electrical or sonic resistance, you do an average of 84 points of damage a round, give or take.

He's a one trick pony, but a fun trick none the less.

[Noliar]

The adventure will be a group of professional dungeoneers hired to explore some secret tunnels in a newly captured castle from which keep emerging hobgoblin insurgents.
I'm going with 33 points and 1 flaw

I've started building a warblade leader type. I haven't chosen feats, equiptment or all his manoeuvres yet - suggestions would be welcome:

Roderick Fitzangelos
Lesser Aasimar male (planetouched humanoid)   Warblade 7   
Str 16   +3                  HP 72
Dex 12   +1                     base   stat mod   misc   total
Con 16   +3                  Fort   5   +3      =+8
Int 14   +2                  Ref   2   +1   +2   =+5
Wis 12   +1                  Will   2   +1      =+3
Cha 13   +1                  Move 30’   Size M
   Natural   armour   enhance   other
AC 10               =
BAB 7, Grapple +15

Weapon      attack      damage   crit   range   notes
               x2      


Feats:

Class abilities: Battle clarity, ardour and cunning (Int bonus to reflex saves*, critical confirmation and damage vs flat footed or flanked opponents).
Weapon aptitude, uncanny dodge, improved uncanny dodge
Manoeuvres known 7 manoeuvres readied 4 stances known 2
*already figured in

Racial abilities: Darkvision:up to 60 feet.
Special Attacks : Daylight 1/day CL 7 (sp)
Special Qualities: Resistance to acid 5, cold 5, and electricity 5.

Skill      ranks   stat   misc         total
Diplomacy   10   +1   +2         
Sense Motive
Balance   5               
Jump                      
Swim                     
Climb                     
Tumble
Pr: soldier                     
Kn: Nobility   5   +2            
Kn: History   4   +2            +6
Martial Lore   1   +2            +3
Spot            +2 racial
Listen            +2 racial         
                  
Languages: Common, Celestial, Dwarven, Draconic

Items:

Description
Roderick is a tall, golden haired, blue eyed, handsome man in his mid 20s. His non-human heritage is not immediately apparent on his face but it is well known among the nobility (he just about counts as such although he has neither land nor legitimate birth) and those who follow the exploits of adventurers. He is confident, well spoken and keeps his armour shiny.
Roderick adventures to gain the money and reputation that will enable some social climbing. He denies having an instinctive impulse to hunt down evil in the dark places of the world - perhaps he denies it too much.

Party Role
Roderick makes an imposing front man and typically takes the lead in negotiations. It is also his call as to when negotiations have broken down and it’s time to fight (or run) which is fair enough as he will be at the sharp end of any combat.
In a fight he will try to assess the biggest threat and engage it in melee. He uses his own positioning, his White Raven manoeuvres and his leadership to help the party fight effectively as a team, concentrating their attacks to methodically take down enemies.

Manoeuvres Known:
Iron Heart Surge IH 3
White Raven Tactics WR 3
Covering Strike WR 4
Mountain Hammer Strike SD 2


Stances Known: