14. Sample characters: COMPLETE BUILDS from various Iron Chef challenges:Hugo Clopin, by Akal-Saris.NE Strongheart Halfling Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1/Psionic Assassin 1/Psibond Agent 10/Magical Trickster 3. See post #174 for the build - it uses poisons while being almost undetectable and mentally controlling minions and opponents at-will from 100ft away.
Danny and Rusty, by
FishAreWet.
Changeling Rogue 1/ Psion (Shaper) 7/ Black Dog 2/ Psibond 8 / Ghost 2. See post #187 for build. It uses true mind switch and psionics to make poisons and the minions to deliver them.
Jorath, the Hand of Annihilation, by
Akal-Saris. LE Human Paladin of Tyranny 4/Hexblade 4/Blackguard 7/Entropomancer 5. See Post #116. A tank build. Debuffs saving throws by about -8 to -14 so that opponents are almost guaranteed to fail their saving throws against poisons.
Nicolo Egidi, by
Amphetyron. LE Halfling Rogue 1/Hexblade 4/Black Dog 5/Green Star Adept 10. See Post #155. A jack-of-all-trades build. Was empower poisons, dhurinda's touch, and poison spell, he can apply poisons in several different ways (including a slam attack), and he has a wide array of resistances and armor from green star adept.
Jungle Halfling Factotum 12 by
JaronKWith Darkstalker, Poison Expert, Font of Inspiration X2, Poison Master, Sickening Strike, Terrifying Strike, using a Feycraft +1 Splitting Compound Longbow of Assassination. Cast Greater Magic Weapon on your bow and go to town. Use Inspiration Points to generate the necessary sneak attack, and Minor Creation for plenty of Black Lotus Poison. It's DC 25, does 3d6+3 Con damage, and when you use your ambush feats the enemy is at -4 to saves, plus two attacks per turn force saves... so it's effectively DC 29 fort save on most attacks (and after one failure, the enemy won't stand a chance of succeeding). And Splitting is of course an awesome enchantment for this as it effectively doubles your poison shots (plus you can poison your arrows in advance). It might be advisable to take two levels of Swordsage for Assassin's Stance and other manuevers.
Saintx's Master of Shrouds Human Cleric 1/Human paragon 2/Master of Shrouds 10
Notes: Uses the shadows that you can summon for shadow essence (from the DMG), which deals permanent str damage. (Editor's note: Start with human paragon levels for the skills!) Overall looks like a simple and very fun build to me. I've played with a variant of this: Human Conjurer 1/Cloistered Cleric 2/Master of Shrouds 2. Add in the Lolth's Caress feat to burn Turn Undead attempts to force immediate secondary effect saves for 2d6 more Str damage from Shadow Oil!
Saintx's StormlordHuman Ranger 11/Stormlord 9
Notes: takes a lot of feats to qualify. I also spent a lot of feats on twf and throwing. Uses javelins. Get a big snake animal companion to milk. Apply to all javelins which also count at +3 lightning burst thundering weapons for 2gp each.
The Simple DruidHuman Druid 19/Contemplative 1
Role: Unspecified, probably healer/tank
Use of poisons: at 1st level takes Master of Poisons, allowing him to use poisons from an animal companion or found using survival. Starting at 11th, he has the Artifice domain, allowing him to create poisons magically, and he is immune to poisons starting at 9th level. All feats are open (except Natural Spell and Skill Focus...).
The "I can apply 10 poisons in a round, what can you do?" Duskblade.Human Duskblade 20
Role: party tank/damage
Feats:
1st hmn: Master of Poisons
1st char: Poison Spell
3rd char: Obtain Familiar
6th char: Improved Familiar
9th char: Smiting Spell
12th char: Arcane Strike
15th char: Arcane Disciple (Artifice domain)
18th char: Open
Use of poisons: at early levels can apply one dose of poison over multiple rounds with chill touch. Then at 3rd can use his familiar's poisons as raw materials, and hit an opponent with 2 doses of poison in 1 round using Channel Spell with a poisoned touch spell and with a poisoned sword. At 6th he can have a combat familiar or one with a stronger poison, who can also deliver a poisonous touch spell for him.
At 9th he gains smiting spell, allowing him to release an extra touch spell in a fight (also carrying poison), and at 13th every opponent hit with the poisoned touch spell from channel spell in a full attack action is poisoned. Later he rounds out the abilities with some common gish picks. With channel spell, smiting spell, a spell storing weapon, a poisoned blade, and quick cast, he can hit 1 opponent with 5 poisons (and 4 touch spells) in a single round, and then apply 1 touch spell and poison to anyone else hit in that round. Talk about going nova!
The Bag o' Potions RogueHuman Rogue 1/Diviner 5/Unseen Seer 9/Alchemist Savant 5
Role: Skills/trap-finder
Feats:
1st hmn: Able Learner
1st char: Master of Poisons
2nd diviner bonus: Quick Draw (UA Fighter feats ACF)
3rd char: Two-weapon Fighting
6th char: Favored in House (Cannith)
6th diviner bonus: Rapid Shot (ACF)
9th char: Poison Spell
12th char: Brew Potion
15th char: Craven
18th char: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
BAB +9, CL 19, SA +4d6+20.
Use of poisons: actually uses alchemy instead of poisons. He can use his familiar's poisons as raw materials starting at 2nd level, and later can fabricate poisons himself. Basically, his schtick is throwing vials of poisons and alchemical substances with ranged touch attacks along with sneak attacks. At 20th level with a BAB of +9, he can throw 5 spellvials a round, each one containing a 3rd level spell laced with poison from poison spell as well as a poison or alchemical substance mixed with it, as well as dealing 4d6+20 sneak attack on each hit (10d6 with hunter's eye or whatever that ranger spell is). Plus, he casts as a 19th level wizard, you know - just for kicks.
The SummonerHuman Conjurer 3/Master Conjurer 2/Malconvoker 7/Master Conjurer +8
Role: Battlefield control
Feats:
1st hmn: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
1st char: Master of Poisons
1st conjurer bonus: Augment Summoning (UA ACF)
3rd char: Obtain Familiar (Sea Snake)
4th bonus: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
6th char: Open
7th bonus: Skill Focus (Bluff)
9th char: Open
12th char: Open
15th char: Open
18th char: Open
Use of poisons: has a sea snake familiar, giving +3 to Bluff checks for Malconvoker, and providing a source of poison for the conjurer and his party early on. He can handle the snake's venom without trouble, giving him a little extra boost in combat when he runs out of Grease spells early on. Starting at 3rd level, the character can summon tanar'ri, which are immune to poisons, and give them poisoned weapons. At 7th, he can start creating much more potent poisons for free with minor creation. In short, with a minimum of investment (ranks in Craft, a feat, and possibly a familiar), the character makes his PrC much more threatening.
Divine SummonerHalf-Drow Cleric 5/Malconvoker 7/Contemplative 8
Role: Battlefield control, healing
Feats:
1st char: Master of Poisons
3rd char: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
6th char: Augment Summoning
9th char: Lolth's Caress
12th char: Skill Focus (Knowledge: Religion)
15th char: Open
18th char: Open
Notes: Lolth's Caress is the highlight over an arcane build here - the cleric can force a secondary save as a standard action using a turn undead attempt. This makes poisons such as Nitharit (0 initial/3d6 secondary) and Shadow Essence (1 str initial/2d6 str secondary) much more useful.
The Bad ToucherHuman Necromancer 3/Master Specialist 10/Red Wizard 5/Archmage 2
Role: Damage Dealer
Feats:
1st hmn: Tattoo Focus
1st char: Master of Poisons
1st bonus: Scribe Scroll
3rd char: Spell Focus (Necromancy)
4th bonus: Skill Focus (Spellcraft)
6th char: Poison Spell
6th bonus: GSF: Necromancy
9th char: Quicken Spell
12th char: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
15th char: Open
18th char: Open
18th bonus: Open
Use of poisons: uses Poison Spell infused touch spells from 60ft away, combining with circle magic to make the save DC for Poison impossibly high, as well as all the standard high level wizard tricks. And you can coat your summoned undead in poisons too. Would make a decent BBEG actually.
The Master Trap-FinderStrongheart Halfling Wilderness Rogue 5 (UA variant)/Trapsmith 5/Scorpion Heritor 10
Role: Skills Master, especially trap-finder (8 skills/level from rogue and scorpion heritor, 6/level from trapsmith), with a ton of bonuses and spells to trap-finding and disarming.
Feats:
Just 1 required feat and Master of Poisons really.
Poison usage: can Fabricate poisons starting at 10th level. Also becomes immune to scorpion venom and has some poison-related abilities at 5th and 9th level of scorpion heritor. Sneak attack: +8d6.
The 1-Hit KillHuman Rogue 5/Assassin 9/Dread Fang of Lolth 6
Role: Damage and skills
Feats:
1st hmn: Master of Poisons
1st char: Poison Expert (Injury)
3rd char: Venomous Strike
6th char: Poison Master (Injury)
9th char: Craven
12th char: Sickening Strike
15th char: Terrifying Strike
18th char: Open
Use of poisons:
Gains: +8d6+20 sneak attack and 3d6 sudden strike, +12 (+16) to poison DCs (+2 Dread Fang, +2 Poison Expert, +2 Venomous Strike, +2 Increase Virulence, -4 to saves from sickening and terrifying strike).
The character ambushes foes, reducing their saves by 4. Then the poison (let's say it's Black Lotus) deals its Con damage, and then after that the death attack goes off, with -4+Con damage to saves from sickened/terrified and whatever con damage the opponent took. And then damage, of course.
The Sword & Crossbow This is a character I designed for the GITP forums to effectively fight with a sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other, but it makes pretty effective use of poisons.
[spoiler]
Kalimor Srune'lett, NE Half-Drow Fighter 1/Rogue 3/Swashbuckler 14/Swordsage 2
Actual levels: Rogue 1/Swashbuckler 1/Fighter 1/Rogue +1/SB +1/Rogue 1/SW +14
ACFs: Drow swashbuckler 7, Drow Rogue 1, Drow fighter 1 (All from Drow of the Underdark), Spell Sense (C. Mage Rogue 3)
Note: suffers from multi-class penalties - sorry, there's no avoiding this if you actually use those in your game.
Total BAB: +18, total sneak attack: 9-11d6+20 per hit, total HD: 15d10+3d6+2d8
Stats: 32 PB
Str: 12
Dex: 18
Con: 14
Int: 14
Wis: 8
Cha: 8
Feats:
1st: Versatile Combatant (DoTU)
1st flaw: Point Blank Shot
1st flaw: Precise Shot
2nd bonus SB: Weapon Finesse
3rd fighter: Crossbow Sniper (PHB II)
3rd: Hand Crossbow Focus (DoTU)
6th: Daring Outlaw (C. Scoundrel)
9th: Craven (Champions of Ruin)
12th: Improved Critical (Rapier)
15th: Staggering Strike (DoTU)
18th: Improved Critical (Hand Crossbow)
Skills: 8+2 = 10 skills from the rogue list. Probably Hide, Move Silently, Tumble, UMD, Listen, Spot, Search, Craft (Poison), Balance, Sleight of Hand.
Starting equipment (estimates): Composite Shortbow (35g), Studded Leather (30g), Rapier (20g), self-crafted drow poison x3 (75g)
How it all comes together:
1st level: You have Poison Use from your Drow rogue substitution, plus the feats to use a ranged weapon efficiently - so you basically just snipe with a short bow and pretend you don't have versatile combatant or a hand crossbow yet. You also have 3 poisoned arrows which can potentially end an encounter by putting an opponent to sleep.
2nd level: Now you have weapon finesse and +1 BAB, so you can use a rapier without missing consistently. So you become the party tank! You can also afford a masterwork chain shirt, masterwork tools (mostly for crafting poisons and searching for traps, I'd assume), and lots more poisons.
3rd level: Now suddenly you have Dex to damage against flat-footed opponents (Drow fighter), as well as 1/2 Dex to damage with crossbows (Crossbow sniper), plus weapon focus and rapid reload with a hand crossbow.
So at this point the tactic of charging in with a crossbow and rapier actually becomes viable - assuming no magical bonuses and a pair of masterwork weapons, you should be attacking at +5 for 1d6+2 and 1d6 SA (1d6+4 against flat-footed) with the rapier, and +6 for 1d4+2 and 1d6 SA (1d6+4 against flat-footed foes) with the crossbow. In addition to whatever poisons you've applied to your bolts and rapier - I like Roach Paste and Drow Poison on most things.
For equipment, a pair of MW weapons is good, as is picking up a str-based composite longbow and some more varied and higher DC poisons.
4th-5th level: Nothing special here, Dex gets bumped. For items, I'd get the Gloves of Dexterity ASAP, and some weapon crystals for quickdraw on your weapons is very helpful (MIC).
6th level: Daring Outlaw kicks into play, so you suddenly gain +1 Dodge to AC, but more importantly Sneak attack jumps from +1d6 to +3d6 damage. A Ring of the Darkhidden (MIC) is a great asset to stealth at this point.
7th: Now you add your Int to damage with the rapier. Adding the Assassination or Toxic/Virulent properties to your rapier to keep your poisons competitive is a good idea at this point.
8th: Dex gets bumped, adding to your damage, attacks, reflex, AC, and initiative. If you can use the online addition to SB, you can also use Bluff to seduce people =) The Ring of Anticipation (DoTU) is a good pick by this point, allowing you to roll 2x for initiative, helping to catch opponents flat-footed.
9th: Craven adds your character level to damage with sneak attacks, so you'll be dealing +4d6+9 (+4d6 +14 against flat-footed) with sneak attacks.
The Bracers of Murder (DoTU) are a great pick at this point, allowing you to reroll 1's on sneak attacks, as well as gaining +2 to att/dmg against flat-footed foes.
11th: Drow swashbuckler kicks in, allowing you to 5-ft step as a swift action whenever you hit once with at least each weapon in a round. Or you can keep Acrobatic Charge, but drow swashbuckler is a much more stylish effect in my mind.
12th: You now gain +4 on flanking from swashbuckler, and improved critical with the rapier
15th: Now whenever you critical with a rapier, the opponent is automatically slowed with no save, which should cut down on the mobility of anything trying to do Flyby Attack, or the deadliness of anything with nasty iterative attacks - such as practically every opponent you face by this point.
18th: Now your criticals with the hand crossbow will also slow opponents! Also, Weakening Critical from SB kicks in, allowing you to deal 2 Str damage to a creature every critical - combine it with 3d6 Str damage from Dragon Bile or another Str-based poison and anything not immune will drop fast.
19th: Swordsage adds nicely to Will and reflex, along with Weapon Focus (Rapier) from Diamond Mind Focus, +1 Init, and 6 maneuvers and a stance. Blood in the Water stance, Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Pouncing Charge, Dancing Mongoose, Swift Invisibility, and Shadow Stride.
20th: Adds Assassin's Stance (or a mobility/senses ones) and probably Rabid Bear Strike.
Character roles and tactics:
The primary role is damage-dealer, which should be strong from 1st to 20th, but really increases in power at 3rd, 6th, and 9th level. The character is also a strong skills-monkey and scout from 1st-6th, but will be less efficient in that role afterwards due to the SB's mediocre skills list. The character is also a very solid tank, with 17d10+3d6 HP over the course of 20 levels - and as she gets weaker as a skills character her tanking should improve.
Finally, the character has more versatility in tactics than most damage-based classes - he can switch between melee and ranged combat easily, and poison use allows him to attack ability scores directly instead of just damage, or deal Con damage along with HP damage to drop a foe even faster than normal. Ideally, the character will function as the scout and tank, initiating every combat at the front line against flat-footed foes.
In PF, the character can maintain his role as skill-monkey from 1st to 20th.
Other good feats to take:
Quick Draw (also opens up some skill tricks)
Apprentice (Craftsman or Criminal)
[/spoiler]
Sample followers:Human Wizard 1Stats: let's be optimistic and assume that the follower has a 14 int.
Skills: Craft (Poisonmaking) 4 ranks
Feats:
Skill Focus (Craft (Poisonmaking))
Master of Poisons
Familiar: Sea Snake
Spells:
Magecraft
Items: Masterwork tools
Check: take 10 for a DC 26 poison - enough to create any poison in the DMG except for Dragon Bile and Black Lotus extract.
Human Psion 1Stats: let's be optimistic and assume that the follower has a 14 int.
Skills: Craft (Poisonmaking) 4 ranks
Feats:
Skill Focus (Craft (Poisonmaking))
Master of Poisons
Spells:
Psionic Minor Creation
Items: Masterwork tools
Check: take 10 for a DC 21 check, enough to magically create a cubic foot of Sassonne Leaf residue (DC 16 to resist, 2d12 damage/1d6 Con).
Human Expert 1 (For games with only NPC followers)Stats: let's be optimistic and assume that the follower has a 14 int and 12 charisma.
Skills: Craft (Poisonmaking) 4 ranks, Handle Animal 4 ranks
Feats:
Skill Focus (Craft (Poisonmaking))
Vermin Trainer
Items: Masterwork tools
Check: take 10 for a DC 21 check, or take 10 on a handle animal check for a 15, enough to convince a trained vermin to bestow its poison.
Missing books:Dragon Magazine
3rd party sourcebooks