Test of Ice and Mettle

[Drammor]

I've got here a challenge, if anyone wants to take it up. The goal is to design builds for an adventuring group that will enable them to survive from level 9 until level 14 in a campaign of increased difficulty. The trick is that there are certain immutable facts about each of the characters in this group, and although any first party material is admissible, the options available to them are limited.

So, the characters... the following things are true about all of them:
• All of them use a 28 point buy.
• They are all living humans.
• None of them are dragonborns.
• They all have a single bloodline of minor, intermediate or major strength.
• They have all bought all of the bloodline levels currently available to them.
• None of them multiclass.
• They are each allowed to have up to 1 trait and 2 flaws.
• None of them can have attained LA greater than +1 from anywhere.
• No single item from their WBL may cost more than one third of their total wealth allotted.
• They may not share WBL when determining their starting gear.
• None of them can have cohorts or followers, and none of them may hire NPCs to travel with them.

And those characters are...
Arvid Kjetil Omdahl. The most limited of the characters. He is twenty-five years old, six foot four, with blond hair and green eyes. He wears armor and wields a wide iron bastard sword he prizes so greatly that he's named it Sif. Anagakok 9. His abilities are Str 15, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 13 and Cha 10. His bloodline is intermediate cloud giant. He is Lawful Neutral. He has the Vulnerable and Weak Will flaws and has no Traits, but has taken EWP (bastard sword) with the bonus feat from one of the flaws. His familiar is a raven.

Baldr Adamsen. Knight 9.

Maiken Nass. Healer 9.

Agathe Raske. Sniper 9 (the variant of Scout).


Now about the campaign...
• The party will have limited access to civilization; no city they encounter will have a community wealth GP limit greater than 1,500.
• The party will be spending at least 4/5ths of their time outside of cities.
• Most of the places they'll be going are of the sorts you can expect to find in Frostburn and Stormwrack, and none of their venues will have an average yearly outdoor temperature higher than 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Any encounters the party comes across will have a CR of 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 greater than their group ECL, but will provide experience for overcoming them of only 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 CRs greater than their group ECL, and wealth of only 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 CRs greater than their group ECL, respectively.
• No infinite loops are allowed, no genies may be conjured or summoned, and no one may ever acquire a candle of invocation. Cheese of a similar nature is likewise banned.

Are there any takers for this?

[Maat Mons]

The int 10 wizard will have some difficulty casting his highest-level spells.  A headband of intellect +2 fits within the gear restrictions.  He could make a Faustian pact (Fiendish Codex II, p23) for +1 to int.  Would it be allowable to have the character start out having rolled a 71 or 72 after being infected with warp touch (Book of Vile Darkness, p32)? 

Serving an elder evil (Elder Evils, p10) gets you 2 bonus vile feats at this level.  Willing deformity and deformity (madness) are nice.  The grant immunity to mind-affecting effects. 

For the knight, some tripping feats would be nice: combat expertise, combat reflexes, deft opportunist (Complete Adventurer), exotic weapon proficiency (spiked chain), improved trip, and jotunbrud (Races of Faerun).  Either the mineral warrior (Underdark) or Lolth-touched (Monster Manual IV) template would help. 

[Drammor]

Oh marvelous. I've always been a fan of Faustian pacts. As a ruling, I would say that starting with a previous warp touch infection is fine, but must be rolled for normally, so you'd be running a serious risk by doing so. Since the warp touch is admissible but random, I've taken the liberty of rolling 1d100 to find out what Arvid would get. [68] So far, he's casting 3rd and lower level spells.

Arvid cannot, however, swear allegiance to an elder evil. That requires an evil alignment, and Arvid is (as stated) Lawful Neutral. Although it's certainly possible that one or more of his companions may have sworn such an insane thing.

Hmm. Jotunbrud is thematically highly appropriate. Very nice.

It's very interesting how quickly you gunned straight for the most evil of options, Maat. The short road to power, eh?

[sirpercival]

int 10 wizard should buy 2 scrolls of PAO and polymorph himself into a Black Ethergaunt.

[Mithril Leaf]

int 10 wizard should buy 2 scrolls of PAO and polymorph himself into a Black Ethergaunt.

Can't do black, too many HD. White most certainly though.

[Drammor]

int 10 wizard should buy 2 scrolls of PAO and polymorph himself into a Black Ethergaunt.

Wouldn't Arvid need to pass a DC 33 UMD check to use one of those scrolls? ...despite that UMD is not a class skill for wizards and that even with max ranks, he can't produce more than a 27 on that check?

Edit: Oh wait, no. He's got good fortune from anagakok. He could get up to a 31.

[sirpercival]

Does he have a masterwork tool for UMD?  Otherwise, Guidance of the Avatar.

[Halinn]

Caster level check if it's on his spell list at a later level, iirc.

[Maat Mons]

I just reread the rules for activating a scroll.  You still need the requisite ability score.  Can we just pay for NPC casting? 

[Drammor]

Paying for NPC casting is an option. Just barely, too, since an 8th level spell costs 1200+ to acquire. One more spell level and it would have been beyond the community value of the cities they have access to.