Oh, ye Masters of Optimization, I need your help. 'Tis a simple thing to optimize when there are no restrictions -- 'tis the mark of a true artist, however, when one can optimize inside a virtual pressure-cooker of build constraints.
(oh, btw -- this got to be much longer than I had planned)
I'm currently looking to potentially get rid of my current character (rogue/warlock), and bring in another. I absolutely LOVE the flavor of the Animal Lord, and think that there is the potential for a lot of fun. I've looked through all of my options, and have decided on:
Human Ranger 6/Animal Lord 10/Beastmaster X (in that order) (btw -- each element of this is necessarily fixed for a reason)
The concept is a jungle-dwelling melee combatant, with skills focused towards filling a scouting role (which also double as ambushing skills) -- in other words: "
KING OF THE JUNGLE".
My typical play style is kind of a "man of action" (meanwhile, the rest of the group likes to "play it safe", and severely over-plan); with my philosophical approach to character building is more of a "plan for the worst-case scenario" type thing (e.g., can I still fill my role in an AMF; what if I lose all my stuff (similar to "what if the DM is a total dick about treasure"); what if my character is all alone; etc).
Important Notes:
[spoiler]
The setting-specific stuff is too convoluted to detail here -- I've just decided to simplify my life by just having him be one of the
LIP's living in the jungle of the primitive tropical island that the party is helping to colonize (think New Guinea).
The character will most likely start at 4th level; and the rest of the group consists of:
Cleric (worships some air god)
Wizard Specialist (I think Evoker, but I'm not sure ; also has a level of rogue and "able learner")
Fighter (doing some generalist thing -- he actually
wants the "golf-bag o' weapons"
)
Me.
I wish I knew more about them, but the players of the cleric and wizard are pretty closed-mouth about their characters (this kinda baffles me, and is actually kinda annoying)
The DM is very anti-CO; and the rest of the group doesn't much concern themselves with such. (typical comfort level for the group is at about a Tier 3-5 game)
books allowed = anything in print (as long as you can justify it, story-wise, to the satisfaction to the DM) -- stuff that is considered "broken" will be rejected outright (of course, this DM's ideas of "broken" can be a bit odd, swinging wildly in both directions).
Other rules notes:
- can only advance 1 PrC at a time (and must finish one before moving on to a second)
- casters experience random "wild surges", no matter what (there are certain ways around this, but the minutia is too much to detail)
- story/background explanation for
everything (don't worry too much about this, as I can handle that part -- just try to stay in theme)
[/spoiler]
Okay -- on to my current considerations:
PrC options:[spoiler]
Apelord:Pros:
- Rend -- this basically doubles my damage potential for my natural attacks.
- am allowed to use "improved toughness" in place of "toughness" for the prereq -- I like the feat, so no real "feat tax" here
- eventual STR bonus for what is gonna amount to a STR-based character
Cons:
- sub optimal animal companion (though there can be some situational benefits -- human-like hands shouldn't be under-rated)
- I can see some "logic" arguments occurring over the AC -- but I'll just have to hash those out before this character comes in to play
- despite what I previously said about a lack of "feat tax" earlier, this still leaves me with one less feat to put elsewhere
CatlordPros:
- Pounce
- my favorite option for AC
- DEX bonus is nothing to scoff at
Cons:
- serious "feat tax" -- "weapon finesse" will basically be worthless to me, as I need focus on STR to milk-out as much damage-per-hit as possible
I know that there are better mechanical options to go with; but I don't have any interest in them thematically.
[/spoiler]
Variant considerations:[spoiler]
Champion of the Wild
CC -- Otherwise, I'll be getting a whopping 2 1st-lvl spells per day (though, if I keep the spells, I'll be able to much more easily able to use a "cure stick" when I need to). This becomes much more attractive if I can convince the DM to add "natural bond" the list of available bonus feats; also not a bad option to overcome the Catlord's "feat tax".
Beast-Wrestling combat style -- "imp grapple" really fits the theme. downside = IUS eventually becomes largely irrelevant.
Strong-arm combat style -- flanking makes Power Attack better ; but I'm really
under-whelmed with Imp.Sunder
Wild Shape -- not sure how useful this would be since I'll be dropping-out at 6th level (if nothing else, this at least gives me 2 extra uses of Wild Aspect per day). While this will make me feat-starved, I don't really see this character being so feat-dependent that he can't make due without them.
I had taken a second to think about then switching that out for the shapeshifter variant, but I'm not too keen on losing my AC (an not to sure how that would interact with my Wild Aspect)
[/spoiler]
Feats:[spoiler]
definite:
- imp. toughness -or- wpn finesse (depending on the AC/PrC focus)
- quick reconnoiter (with most of our adventuring consisting of sneaking through the jungle, I'm sure that this will be quite useful)
- natural bond
- rapidstrike (but only if I can actually get my DM to houserule and expansion of the racial prereqs)
for consideration:
- coordinated strike
- brutal throw (after all, I will probably be STR-based, and most likely be carrying a spear)
- adaptable flanker
- vexing flanker
- the "combat focus" chain
- extra wild shape (DM has approved "wild aspect" as the prereq) -- this would only be taken en lieu of the wild shape variant
- darkstalker (though, this will be heavily dependent upon the direction of the campaign)
[/spoiler]
Animal Companion:[spoiler]
with my PrC focus and my AC being inextricably linked, I'm not sure which is the "dog" and which is the "tail" (or, "cart/horse", if you prefer that analogy).
Felines are, by far, my favorite AC's. Pounce, imp. grab, rake, all-round solid offense -- what more could you want (besides stronger defenses), right? But by doing this, my personal offense takes a nose-dive -- relegating me to being support for my AC, not the other way around.
While apes are sub-optimal, this allows me a stronger offensive option for my PrC focus. I have just one question about this one: why, from everything I have read, is the ape considered a superior AC to the dire ape? Is it really all because of the extra HD -- because that's the only thing that I can come up with. I would rebut this by saying that "rend" is much better than 1 whole HD -- what am I missing here?.
[/spoiler]
Other potential follow-on PrC options (other than beastmaster)[spoiler]
The only thing that I am interested in about Beastmaster is pimping-out my AC; but I started to think that may there were some other viable options (as I am playing a human with an animal follower -- not the other way around .... this time
)
the DM has ruled that both of the following PrCs are made available by the AL's "wild aspect" ability:
WarshaperPros:
- AWESOME boosts to combat effectiveness -- don't know what else there is to be said on this
Cons:
- no advancement in anything else
- average HD
- average BAB
Nature's WarriorWhile not necessarily as powerful as Warshaper, it still has some pretty useful stuff.
I've narrowed the options for
nature's armament down to:
- armor of the crocodile -- +1/class level natural AC improvement (unnamed)
- claws of the grizzly -- +3 damage/attack
- earth's resilience -- DR 3/-
not necessarily in that order (will take whatever would be most useful/needed at the time)
Pros:
- extra caster levels (
always useful)
- stacks for wild shape
- solid additions to combat effectiveness
- good HD
- full BAB
Cons:
- abilities are much weaker than Warshaper (I'm unsure that even the 2 extra caster levels can make up for it?)
Both classes have crap for skill points and under-whelming skill sets.
[/spoiler]
Also, if I decided to keep my spells, what do I do with only 2 1th-lvl slots per day? the only thing that really excites me is
entangle. Another upside of keeping my spells is the ability to use a cure-stick without a UMD check.
well, that's what I've got (and with so many options to filter through, I feel like I'm actually
inside a game of
Infernal Contraption). What do you guys recommend?
Thanks a bunch