Author Topic: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!  (Read 3911 times)

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Cannotthink

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Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« on: July 27, 2011, 02:31:26 PM »
I'm trying to gather ideas to create a character that is the best listener ever, but I've kinda hit a roadblock. After three levels and three feats (four after grabbing quick reconnoiter) there isn't a whole lot of direction to go in terms of listening. The character so far...

Anthropomorphic Bat
Totemist 2/ Wizard 1
Feats: Mourning Mutate (warped ears), Skill Focus (listen), Keen Eared Scout, Scribe Scroll (still looking for a good fighter bonus feat to swap this for), open
Flaws: Non-Combative, Vulnerable
Bat Familiar
Soulmelds: Yrthak Mask (bound to totem chakra), open, open
Items: Masterwork Listening Item (some sort of earpiece)

All that would provide a listen check of +38 (6 ranks + 7 wisdom [18 starting, +6 for being a bat] + 3 skill focus + 3 mourning mutate + 8 competence bonus from mask + 4 racial bonus + 3 familiar bonus + 2 alertness + 2 masterwork earpiece)

I'm thinking the best way to advance would be taking prestige classes that advance my wizard casting and help along the broader idea of gathering all the information.

-Mindbender plus Mindsight gives some telepathic senses including hearing peoples thoughts

-Urban Savant gives everything anyone would want to know about a creature

-Unseen Seer grabs a few slightly out of reach divination spells (listening coin plus chain of eyes effectively lets the guy be in two places at once, and then listening lorecall being an obvious option)

-Soulcaster gets some advancement for the totemist meldshaping

-Exemplar if I really want to sacrifice a little casting for taking 10 on listen checks

I haven't found much else worth while to give to this character. Other feats I've found are either redundant because of Keen-Eared Scout or provide a tiny +1 bonus to the check. I'm open to pretty much any idea. Whenever I get around to using this guy, the people I generally play with are willing to allow pretty much anything.

PhaedrusXY

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2011, 02:42:26 PM »
Anything you say? What about homebrew feats from/based on Frank and K's Tome series?

From Races of War:
Quote
Zen Archery [Combat]
You are very calm about shooting people in the face. That's a good place to be.

Benefits: This is a combat feat that scales with your Base Attack Bonus.

    * +0: You may use your Wisdom Modifier in place of your Dexterity Modifier on ranged attack rolls.
    * +1: Any opponent you can hear is considered an opponent you can see for purposes of targeting them with ranged attacks.
    * +6: If you cast a Touch Spell, you can deliver it with a ranged weapon (though you must hit with a normal attack to deliver the spell).
    * +11: As a Full Round Action, you may make one ranged attack with a +20 Insight bonus to hit.
    * +16: As a Full Round Action, you may make one ranged attack with a +20 Insight bonus to hit. If this attack hits, your attack is automatically upgraded to a critical threat. If the threat range of your weapon is 19-20, your critical multiplier is increased by one.

From a big list of "unsorted materials":
Quote
Alertness [Skill]
Your ears are so sharp you probably wouldn't miss your eyes. (This is a Skill feat that scales with your ranks in Listen.)

Benefits: You gain a +3 bonus to Listen checks.

4: You can make a Listen check once a round as a free action. You don't take penalties for distractions on your Listen checks.

9: You gain blindsense to 60 feet. You don't take penalties for ambient noise, such as loud winds. Divide any distance penalties you take on Listen checks by two.

14: You gain blindsight to 120 feet.

19: You can hear through magical silence and similar effects, but you take a -20 penalty on your check. Divide any distance penalties you take on Listen checks by five.
[spoiler]
A couple of water benders, a dike, a flaming arrow, and a few barrels of blasting jelly?

Sounds like the makings of a gay porn film.
...thanks
[/spoiler]

Nachofan99

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2011, 03:32:37 PM »
I like trading Scribe Scroll for Improved Initiative.

Cannotthink

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2011, 04:09:32 PM »
Those two feats sound fantastic for this bat. I'll probably fit them in as well.

As for swapping Scribe Scroll for Improved Initiative; I've thought of doing it as it is far from a bad choice. However, I could also grab Martial Study to grab a first level shadow hand maneuver so I can get Assassin's Stance off of Heroics if I  decided to take some levels in Unseen Seer.

Maat_Mons

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2011, 06:29:54 PM »
If you can make the use magic device check to emulate a halfling, the Yonalla's cape of halflingkind gives you a +4.  (Nevermind, it overlaps with your existing racial bonus.)  Since you're not a humanoid, the ring of gnomekind doesn't cause you to shrink or look like a gnome, but you still get the +2 to listen checks.  You may as well buy the listening cone.  It's quite situational, but it's only 10 gp.  
« Last Edit: July 27, 2011, 06:35:50 PM by Maat_Mons »

Tr011

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2011, 06:35:34 PM »
Dragon Magazines (please double check the feats first):
Mourning Mutate (#359)
Frenzied Hunt (#342)
Passive Reconnoiter (#346)
Superior Hearing (#324)

weenog

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2011, 06:59:27 PM »
I like trading Scribe Scroll for Improved Initiative.

This reminds me, if you can pick up the Dragonblood subtype somehow (possibly use the Ritual of Association at some point since you're obviously using Savage Species material), grab Draconic Aura and pick the Senses aura.  Aura bonus applies to Listen, Spot, and initiative.  Girls will love you for being a good listener, your party will love you for giving everyone nearby Improved Initiative that stacks with actual Improved Initiative.

If you're too short on feats to do this, what you could do is move Skill Focus (listen) into your 3rd level feat slot, then retrain Skill Focus (listen) into Draconic Aura once your character level is high enough that the bonuses to Listen checks are equal.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2011, 07:01:54 PM by weenog »
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Tshern

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2011, 07:53:42 PM »
With high enough a charisma modifier a Marshal could be decent at this. Assuming there is a Motivate Wisdom aura, of course.

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Shiki

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #8 on: July 27, 2011, 08:08:15 PM »
With high enough a charisma modifier a Marshal could be decent at this. Assuming there is a Motivate Wisdom aura, of course.

There is.
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Tshern

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #9 on: July 27, 2011, 08:21:23 PM »
With high enough a charisma modifier a Marshal could be decent at this. Assuming there is a Motivate Wisdom aura, of course.

There is.
I see. Then, I suppose, one step of handling this would be to balance the Wisdom and Charisma bonuses and see if that yields something better than the one standing here. I doubt that would help too much though, SAD tends to prevail over MAD.

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Cannotthink

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #10 on: July 27, 2011, 08:34:00 PM »
I have thought about using a little Marshall in the build, but I was immediately turned off of the idea because A) Bats have a CHA penalty and B) It's another class delaying any wizard advancement. Totemist gives a far greater bonus to listen with far less hassle and brings along some other goodies to the table like short range teleportation, cold or fire resistance, and armor.

Tshern

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2011, 08:46:00 PM »
Sorry, for some reason I thought this was not going to advance its Wizard casting. No idea why.

However, just for additional support, you may want to look into Improved familiar at some point in case there are some dandy listeners. Quick reconnoiter feat gives a bonus as well, I believe, and allows you to make a check each round as a free action.

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Mixster

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2011, 08:48:49 PM »
You forgot the +2 bonus from your familiar using Aid another on listen checks.
Monks are pretty much the best designed class ever.

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Tshern

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #13 on: July 27, 2011, 08:50:37 PM »
You forgot the +2 bonus from your familiar using Aid another on listen checks.
Now we just need a bunch of other creatures. Symbionts? Item familiar could work, too.

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CantripN

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #14 on: July 27, 2011, 09:01:14 PM »
Speaking of Item Familiar, it can also be used to boost your Listen check. ...and get you +10% XP, among other things.
Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to be always part of unanimity.

Tshern

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #15 on: July 27, 2011, 09:09:42 PM »
Speaking of Item Familiar, it can also be used to boost your Listen check. ...and get you +10% XP, among other things.
Despite my bad writing this is what I meant. The first part anyway.

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Cannotthink

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #16 on: July 27, 2011, 10:05:39 PM »
Heh, completely forgot about item familiars. Should definitely add that into here.

I could probably also create some sort of legacy item as well. Of course the competence bonus overlaps with what I get from having soulmelds, but a +15 bonus for just having an item is too much to pass. A +8 bonus is nice for quite a while, but I can always choose a new soulmeld to take the place of the mask.

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #17 on: July 27, 2011, 11:38:11 PM »
Your biggest enemy...will be fey.
[spoiler]"Hey!" "Listen!"[/spoiler]
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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #18 on: July 27, 2011, 11:41:32 PM »
Noone has mentioned the Marruspawn? Tis a collective group of 3 races that all have a +4 racial bonus to listen and a hearing based version of scent. The best one is the Marrulurk, 3 Monstrous Humanoid HD, +6 Wisdom, 2d6 Sneak attack and a Death Attack (amongst others) with only 1 LA.

They are in Stormwrack page 169. But if your going to be a caster the 3HD and +1LA probably is not going to work for you.
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Shiki

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Re: Hearing Things...TO THE MAX!
« Reply #19 on: July 27, 2011, 11:42:43 PM »
Your biggest enemy...will be fey.
[spoiler]"Hey!" "Listen!"[/spoiler]

Nice one. :lmao +1 Internets to you, sir.
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