The Character Workshop

[Rahzeil]

dnd 3.5 cleave.

You must have missed the links. It's a gitp monster class.

Here's a more obvious link.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showp...&postcount=920

As mentioned before we are level 7.

[Cancer]

Interesting. Many of my suggestions are DM dependent. So they may not fly if your's is a strictly RAW judge.

Trade out detect good for Inspire Courage as per the bardic ability (Harmonious Knight CoV). If you can convince the DM to allow flaws then pick up dragonblooded and Dragonfire inspiration. Not only will you get +2d6 fire damage (This is with the Badge of Courage. You might get other elemental types, talk with your DM) on your attacks, so will all of your allies who can hear you.

Never mind on that. This would require further investment into the feat Requiem, as Bardic music is a mind effecting ability.

Last suggestion is fitting Combat Brute and Shock Trooper into your build somewhere, as your undead progression has some nifty abilities dependent on charging.

Possible combo : After round of debuffing, charge with Shocktrooper and lay into the opponent.

As per gear : Hexbands(MIC). Vest of Resistance. A better scythe. The Fearsome armor enchantment (DotU). Badge of Valor(Swift Action, increases Inspire Courage bonus by 1, MIC). Warning weapon enhancement.

Are there any casters? Because they'll love you for your debuffing skills.

Also, does your DM rule the Entropic Weapon effect as "dropping?"

[Rahzeil]

We are bound to have at least one necromancer, and I think we will also have a charmer. I'm not sure the necromacer has many DC based spells, but the charmer almost definitely does. Combat Brute ad Shock Trooper are both on my wish list. I know most of that gear, but not hexbands. I will havee a look at them. I haven't talked to my DM about the dropping issue, but you can go ahead and tell me your thoughts now, and I will reserve them for when we actually start building. I'm jumping the gun a little bit. We are mainly supposed to be in background work right now, but I am planning ahead. Incidentally, both my aura, my hex, and my companion can be utilized without affecting the character's turn economy, allowing him to charge round one. It's one of the advantages that made the build look appealing.

Keep in mind, I am also trying to figure out how to go from here. I think I need a better long term plan, because what I have is mostly immediate value to me, rather than longevity.

[Cancer]

Do you plan on leaving hexblade any time soon?

Also after you cap out the 12 HD of the Entropic Reaver, might I suggest Sorcerer then level Into Abjurant Champion.

So what you have going may look like this:

Entropic Reaper 1/ Paladin of Tyranny 1
ER 2/PoT 2
ER 3/PoT 3 - Is this third level necessary? - Improved Bullrush
ER 4/ Hexblade - The curse is tasty, though its uses are limited. Be sure to target those with crap will saves such as fighters and the like.
ER 5/H 2 - 2 times your CHA to saves versus spells and SLAs is tasty.
ER 6/ H 3 - Don't remember what they get here.
ER 7 / H 4 - Access to mobile Hex. Debuff opponents like a monster.
ER 8 / H 5 - Access to more spells
ER 9/ H 6 - Take Improved Sunder or Improved bullrush.
ER 10/ H 7
ER 11/ H 8
ER 12 / H 9 -Take Combat Brute or Shocktrooper (I believe you have access to alter self now)
Sorc 1 / H 10
Sorc 2 / H 11
Sorc 3 / H 12 - Arcane Strike
Sorc 4 / H 13 -Pick up wraithstrike. Nothing says awesome like using touch attacks versus those High AC targets. (when debuffed, their touch is going to be around 1, power attack away!)
Sorc 5 / H 14
Sorc 6 / H 15 - Pick up haste, Combat brute or shocktrooper
Abjurant Champion 1/ H 16
Abjurant champion 2/ H 17

Hexblades curse at DC = 10 + 8 + CHA. 4 times per day. -6?
Arcane Strike in combination with Wraitstrike = Win. You can deal an extra 4d4 damage per hit with an additional +4 bonus to hit.
Access to Polymorph = Win

Also, you need to pick up Battle Jump. Use the teleportation ability of the Entropic Reaper to be 5 feet above your opponent, get full attack, then initiate a second attack.

Level into Abjurant Champion till level 5 into the epics after that, it's up to you.

If you could figure out a way to fit in a level of Lion Totem barbarian, you'd be set.

Though if you want to be silly and abuse the action economy : Instead of sorcerer, pick up 8 levels of factotum and take font of inspiration 3 times. Enjoy the extra 4 standard actions per encounter.

You could actually ditch sorc after level 1 and level straight into Abjurant Champion, which is really nice.

[Rahzeil]

Third level of PoT gives me -2 to enemy saves which stacks with dark companion and hex and is an aura and thus free to the action economy. I like that. I think it will be useful for getting the Entropic blade in. Ufortunately, as mentioned before, one side of the progression must be racial. So, even after I'm done with entropic reaper, I will have to find some sort of template like evolved to keep the progression going rather than a class. I know that limits possibilities, but don't worry too much about it. I was actually more concerned with the class progression.

So you would suggest sticking with straight hexblade. I'm not particularly attached, as four levels really gives me pretty much what I was after (CHA to saves twice, dark companion), but I want the character to be mechanically viable.

By the by, Factotum has been effectively baned, along with "broken" spells (which I realize is a very vague term, but it's what we were given).

[Cancer]

Your hexing ability looses capability around the higher levels because it's based on half of your Hexblade levels.

what else would you level into? I can see duskblade playing a nice roll here as well.

So PoT 3/Hexblade 4/Duskblade 13 nets you some nifty attacks.

In combo with battle leap and the one level of barbarian, you can get off an attack that deals:

2d6+8+6d6 (Vampiric Touch) four times. So, 8d6 + 32 + 24d6 for a cumulative 32d6 + 32. You also gain half of the vampiric touch damage as HP. So its not that bad of an ability.

If you have the money, consider picking up an item of Lion's pounce.

[Rahzeil]

Duskblade huh? I'll look into it. I shied away because it's INT based casting but I guess I should have a look-see before judging harshly.

[Cancer]

Well, you have a nice int scrore, so I figured you might want to invest a little into it.

[Kaito Asuke]

You could also go the demoralizing/fear route, add in a few barbarian levels, intimidating rage and imperious command feats along with maybe dreadful wrath (player's guide to faerun) and the never outnumbered skill trick and you got an unholy terror that curses and terrorizes your foes. If you continue this concept, you could go sorcerer after maxing the 12 racial hit dice and then go dread witch and truly become the embodiment of terror. If they're cowering, they you can coup de grace everything in sight, while you may not be an uber damage dealer as per using say the duskblade or some other means I figure this may at least show that there are other means of being an supreme melee character.

[Cancer]

Wolfoh, you can cancel my previous question, I have already solved the issue, thanks to everyone who thought about it.

Alright guys, I need some people with master Incarnum-fu to lend in some advice on this build idea. I'm looking for a good mixture of usefulness while still maintaining the usefulness levels of Factotums. In general, which build am I presenting would be the best route to go?

In an upcoming game, I have considered many different build options, some of which are a little silly and verge on the absurd side of builds. I will lay them out in an orderly fashion hidden by spoilers to keep this thread nice and tidy. The DM has stated that this game will be gestalt, one side of this combination must include "Monk-like" classes so, here goes the nose dive.

 

The first concept uses no Incarnum and focuses on sorcerer spellcasting and the swiftblade.

Class 1	Class 2	Feat
Monk 1	Barbarian (Lion Totem) 1	Power Attack, Improved Sunder(Flaw 1), Improved Bullrush(Flaw 2), Improved Trip(Monk Bonus)
Monk 2	Sorc 1	-
Monk 3	Sorc 2	Ascetic Mage
Monk 4	Sorc 3	-
Monk 5	Sorc 4	-
Monk 6	Sorc 5	Arcane Strike
Fist of the Forest 1	Sorc 6	-
FotF 2	Swiftblade 1	-
FotF 3	Swoftblade 2	Combat Brute
Monk 7	Swiftblade 3	-

Understand that this DM is allowing PrCs to exist simultaneously on both sides of the gestalt, or that is what I as lead to believe. I could vary the monk with unarmed swordsage and fit in Warblade for 2 levels to grant a little flexibility in the options available.

Though the usual combo is 1)Swift Haste, 2)Charge opponent, 3)blow a 4th level slot for arcane strike, 4) Flurry in the opponents face with 4 attacks at 3d8+4d4 each. Next round, using Inerita Strike, move and flurry again, this time at full penalty and using Wraithstrike for 4 attacks at 3d8+13, with a possible sacrifice of another 4th level slot for an additional 4d4 damage per hit.

 

This concept centers on the usage of Incarnum through the incarnate class itself.

Class 1	Class 2	Feat
Monk 1	Incarnate 1	Shape Soulmeld(Mauling Gauntlets), Expand Soulmeld Capacity(Flaw), Cobalt Power(Flaw)
Monk 2	Bloodline(Titan) 1	-
Monk 3	Bloodline(Titan) 3	Cobalt Precision
Monk 4	Incarnate 2	-
Monk 5	Incarnate 3	-
Monk 6	Ironsoul Forgemaster 1	Bonus Essentia
Fist of the Forest 1	IF 2	-
FotF 2	IF 3	-
FofF 3	IF 4	Bonus Essentia?
Monk 7	IF 5	-

This build will probably work better with the unarmed swordsage in combination with gauntlets and taking 2 levels of warblade for armor proficiency. The idea was to use Swordsage for access to a nice list of skills and Incarnate to help those skills along with the various skill enhancing soulmelds. A more generalist build centering on using skills to get to places that others could not.

 

This last build is another incarnum build that uses Unarmed Swordsage in combination with the Totemist class.

Class 1	Class 2	Feats
Unarmed Swordsage 1	Barbarian(Lion Totem) 1	Multi-attack, Cobalt Charge(Flaw), Battle Jump(Flaw)
US 2	Totemist 1
US 3	T 2	Double Chakra(Totem)
US 4	T 3	-
US 5	T 4	-
Warblade 1	T 5	Bonus Essentia
Warblade 2	T 6
US 6	T 7
US 7	T 8	Leap of the Heavens
US 8	T 9

This combination of abilities nets a decent amount of attacks per round, especially if I ditch Leap of the Heavens for Snap Kick. With ability to get about 14 to 18 attacks in a round on one target.

TL;DR : I want to make a character who can do plenty within combat, and out of combat. I can handle the background story on my own.

[CE2JRH]

I'm a fan of the sorcerer/swiftblade since it generates arcane casting, and is more familiar to the vast majority of players tha incarnum, plus utility magic becomes an option, which incarnum has some of.

[Cancer]

I figured you'd be a fan of the Swiftblade gestalt CE, it was you who introduced it to me.

The only other magic I think I would use other than Haste is Bull's Strength and Wraithstrike, both of which grant significant bonuses. I might even pick up Stone Fist just for the bonus to damage and a slam attack.

If this game continues, or I get selected at all, do you think it would be worth the time and effort to continue leveling into Swiftblade, or would it be more beneficial to level into Abjurant Champion?

[ShadowcatX]

That depends on what you want out of your build. Abjurant Champion doesn't loose the casting levels, and is very nice, but the swift blade has ZOMG powerful abilities at the cost of caster levels. If you need to focus on your magic, I'd go abjurant champion, if you are fine with melee, stay swift blade.

[CE2JRH]

Swiftblade 3/Abjurant Champion 3/Swiftblade +3/Abjurant Champion +2/Swiftblade +3-4.

You want swift haste fast, you want swift abjurations fast, then you want the boosted blur effects before your next CL loss, then you want higher level abjurations, then you decide if you finish swiftblade or not.

[Cancer]

That's a nifty setup, but I think I might emphasize more on Incarnum and gaining as many attacks as possible via Maneuvers and Soulmelds. Though I do see where you are coming from CE.