3.5 Power Play- Assassin
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What’s changed?
Assassins are basically the same as they used to be, however, they have a great new ability: hide in plane sight! The sweetest of hiding skills is now part of the assassin class… huzzah and double huzzah!
- So long as the assassin is within 10 feet of shadow, he can hide. How sweet is that?
- As with all spellcasters, there has been some minor tweaking to the assassin’s spell list.
General tactics
In terms of powergaming, assassins exist for three purposes: to give a non-rogue sneak attack, to get a non-caster spellcasting, or to give a rogue death attack.
Death attack is powerful, but extremely difficult to make use of. It takes careful planning to set up for a death attack. However, setting it up can make for an encounter that ends with one attack, which is always nice.
The ability to use poison cannot be underestimated. Arcane spellcasters have notoriously low fortitude saves… and poison is relatively cheap at higher levels. Let’s just say that poison and arcane spellcasters don’t get along.
Hide in plane sight is a standard ability for assassins now, and this ability can get you out of a huge number of tough spots. Need to get away from the guards or avoid salesmen? Hide in plane sight works like magic.
Speaking of magic, never forget that you have access to a small but extremely effective spell list. True strike, cat’s grace, invisibility, dimension door, freedom of movement, and greater invisibility are all great spells.
And speaking of magic again, use magic device is a class skill. Do not underestimate the power of this skill… it is extremely good for filling in the holes in your casting repertoire.
How far to take this prestige class?
There are three schools of thought on assassin. The first one says to take assassin at least until level 8 or 9 for good sneak attack and hide in plane sight. The second says to only get five levels so you can qualify for arcane trickster with it. The third says to just grab one for poison use and death attack.
What are the basic ways to build an assassin?
An assassin can be used to make an extremely interesting enemy, and it can also be used for the most unlikely of heroes. The trick is to take full advantage of the sneak attack, spells, and death attack the class has to offer.
- The Darklord- A blackguard/assassin? Talk about your big bad evil guys…
- The Nightrider- No, not the car. The mounted archer assassin.
- The Ripper- A gentleman who would never brutally kill someone… or would he?
The Darklord
“Your angel of death has come.”
If you want a fun big bad evil guy, then look no further! This build offers two variants, depending on how you want the character to develop. For those career evil-doers, there’s the quick fighter 4/rogue 3/blackguard 4/assassin 9. But for the drama-lovers out there, there is the considerably more powerful rogue 1/blackguard 10/ex-paladin 1/assassin 8. In general, the builds are the same in terms of feats, but obviously the layout and character development. The career evil-doer (fighter/rogue to blackguard) starts out evil, and remains evil throughout his career. No alignment shifts. However, the fallen paladin/blackguard is a much sadder story about a heroic knight who became corrupted by the same evil he sought to destroy. Weapon of choice for this character is (for sheer style) a scythe. Preferably at higher levels, this scythe should have the frost and frozen burst enchantments. Style doesn’t really mean a lot, but in this case it pays off. Our assassin is wielding a farming tool, so that makes it fairly easy for him to disguise himself as a farmer or the like. Not only that, but the scythe plays into the requirements for blackguard (power attack, cleave, and improved sunder). Other feats of choice are weapon focus (scythe), and never underestimate a blackguard/assassin spring attacking from the shadows (though this becomes an expensive tree to invest in). Now this build is powerful in melee… +17 base attack bonus is nothing to sneeze at. This character is a combat rogue… he gets into melee and can stand there with some staying power. Coupled with his fiendish servant and his assassin skills, this character is an extremely difficult to beat enemy, especially when you can’t find him. And with the Darklord, you can never find him… he finds you.
The Nightrider
“Shoot him right between the eyes, then ride like the wind!”
Admittedly, I am a fan of mounted builds. While this will probably lead to my downfall some day, I will nevertheless push ever forward and come up with another neat idea to take advantage of the 3.5 system with. And to that end, I humbly present the Nightrider. Designed to make his way into an enemy military camp and deliver the killing blow, the Nightrider presents himself as a simple mounted archer, and a member of the enemy army. He proves himself in battle… indeed, few can equal his skills with a bow. He is a good rider, as well. He can do both at once. And then one morning the soldier is missing and the general is dead with a poisoned blade stuck in his back. The build here is a pretty simple ranger 11/assassin 9. Ranger feats are used to build up archery, mounted combat, and mounted archery. Weapon focus is good, as always. In combat, your advantage is mobility. You can move and shoot very easily. Indeed, combined with manyshot, you are more than capable of hitting multiple foes quickly then galloping away to safety. And now we get to a somewhat questionable idea: technically speaking, an assassin can make a death attack with a thrown melee weapon. The description of death attack requires the assassin to make a death attack with a melee weapon, but not as a melee attack. Now this goes entirely against the spirit of the rules, and I would encourage DMs to house rule that the assassin must make a melee attack do deliver a death attack, but should you elect not to heed my advice, assassins out there can sit back and use throwing axes or daggers from the shadows to make death attacks. Again, I definitely recommend that any DM reading this house rule that assassins must make death attacks with a melee attack, but rules-wise this is an option for the Nightrider. Another option is to qualify for spirited charge and use that in conjunction with death attack, though this becomes extremely costly in terms of feats, although gaining the opponent’s trust and then sliding a blade into his back is the classic way to get a death attack, and one that will work more often than not.
The Ripper
“Heed my warning: never turn your back on the Ripper.”
Nocturnal and nameless, a depraved man wanders the streets of the city. He meets lovely ladies under the guise of a refined gentleman seeking companionship for the evening. Then, when the victim least expects it, she feels a blade pierce her back, and then… darkness. The Ripper claims yet another victim. This build is open to a lot of interpretation in terms of character, making for a very usable character for just about anyone, but the character I will describe here is a kind of terrorist, who butchers people in the streets to make it clear to the local government that they are no longer welcome here. What he hates about them will never be known clearly. What is known about this character is that he is a highly skilled rogue 11/assassin 9. This build optimizes sneak attack (rounding out at +11d6 at level 20) while maintaining a respectable +14 base attack bonus. Social skills, hide, and move silently are the keys for this character. He needs to speak like a gentleman before he slaughters like a madman. For weapons, a hidden knife or even his cane (perhaps it’s really a masterwork club) will do the trick. He gets his target alone, then uses death attack to kill them off in a single blow. If that is unable to destroy his foe, 11d6 points of sneak attack damage should be more than enough. And if that still fails, the poison on the blade should prove most unfriendly for the assassin’s victim. And if all that is unable to kill the victim, then perhaps the Ripper picked the wrong victim. But the Ripper is no fool: he will survey a victim for several days before he moves in for the kill. Then he sneaks away to continue living whatever cover he has chosen… perhaps a foreign noble in the city, or a young merchant lord, or maybe just a courtier trying to make his way in the local politics. But who would think that such a fine gentleman would ever commit such awful crimes? Nobody, if the Ripper plays his cards right…
Conclusion
Assassins can make some extremely deadly villains (and even some extremely unlikely heroes). The key in designing them is to make good use of their spells, sneak attack, and death attack feature. You’d be surprised what interesting characters you can make with this rather straight-forward class, and it’s also surprising how powerful they can be sometimes.
3.5 Power Play- Blackguard
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What’s changed?
The blackguard has changed a bit in terms of how valuable their requirements are, in addition to a slight mechanics change on a few of their abilities.
- Power attack and paladin levels are both much more valuable than before (note that paladin levels are not requirements, but give very nice perks.
- A few blackguard abilities have been tweaked and moved about. Also note that the blackguard now has an aura of evil, continuing 3.5’s habit of making alignment much more important for the holy casters.
- As with all spellcasters, there has been some minor tweaking to the blackguard’s spell list.
General tactics
Blackguard is a way for an evil character to gain paladin-like bonuses and also a fair amount of sneak attack.
The spell list of the blackguard is nothing spectacular, but it does carry some bite in combat (cure, inflict, buff, and some decent summons to set up sneak attacks).
Poison, as for the assassin, is a lovely choice for the blackguard. It is and remains a great way to deal with enemies with low fortitude saves.
Blackguards have the same notoriously good saves that paladins do, making them relatively resilient to spells (especially with eagle’s splendor).
Aura of despair, coupled with the staying power of a blackguard, makes them an excellent way to drop an opponent’s saves for allied casters.
Your fiendish servant is nothing special, but combined with command undead and summon monster, you can have a fair number of companions at a moment’s notice.
How far to take this prestige class?
Blackguard, like the paladin, gets most of his goodness from his first two levels. However, do not think that the blackguard up to level ten is a bad idea. Sneak attack and smite are a deadly combination…
What are the basic ways to build a blackguard?
The blackguard is a frontline damage-dealing machine with the twist of having tons of tricks up his wicked little sleeves. Sneak attack, poison, summoning spells, a fiendish servant… all make for nasty surprises to catch foes with.
- The Brute- This guy loves killing, and he knows how to do it… very very well.
- The Fallen One- A strong build designed around the slow decline of a paladin to evil. Great character and still a strong build.
- The Storm- A classic sneak attack two-weapon fighting build, but with an evil twist.
The Brute
“Just die already, dammit!”
The strong guy, who probably isn’t terribly bright, but knows how to hit really hard, and really well. The goal with this character is to get some nasty damage potential, and between rage, smite good, power attack, and sneak attack, you should have little trouble doing this. Our build is barbarian 5/fighter 4/blackguard 10/assassin 1. You will want to go for blackguard as soon as possible. Pre-blackguard, I would recommend going fighter 4/barbarian 2. This will get you rage, uncanny dodge, weapon specialization, and enough feats to qualify for blackguard with plenty of feats to spare. Your feats should be invested in the classics: weapon focus and it’s ilk are always worth the investment. For this character, you might also using those extra fighter feats to invest in the dodge/spring attack tree. In my mind, it is almost definitely worth it (especially with your enhanced movement). You could also go for a mounted warrior, with the spirited charge tree multiplying damage even more, but only if you decide to go mounted with your fiendish servant. In combat, your job is to dish out damage. Your blackguard spells should help back up this role pretty easily and allow you some nasty damage potential. Regardless of whether or not you go mounted, you are probably one of the more mobile characters in the group, so be sure to make use of this by keeping on the move. This is the reason I suggested spring attack: with it you will be able to spring in and out of melee, using allies to flank long enough to make use of that sneak attack bonus. You have four main sources of damage: power attack, rage, smite good, and sneak attack. You can, of course, use all this more often than not at once if you manage to set yourself up correctly. To cap off your build, I recommend a level of assassin. You should have little trouble qualifying for it after 19 levels, and the death attack is a very sweet ability to tie into the rest of your selection of skills. So when something nasty goes down… go in and start slaughtering. That’s what you do. Just make sure to use your damage dealing capabilities when they are needed or when you can pull it off successfully.
The Fallen One
“I know the depths of my wickedness… and gods above help me, but I like it.”
Again, this is a pure damage build. But this one is designed around the classic story of a paladin’s fall from grace. Numerically, this is helpful because paladin levels translate to sweet blackguard powers after the fall. This character stats as a fighter, a mercenary in the king’s army. But after he slaughters ten prisoners of war, he recanted his money-hungry ways. He devoted himself to the church, spending five levels as a paladin, hunting down and destroying the wicked men from his past. His tremendous strength was more than capable of crushing many of the scum he had once called friends and allies. He knew of so much corruption, so much evil, and so much wickedness. To repent, he destroyed all that he had once embraced. But his zeal to destroy began to outweigh his righteousness. His fall began swiftly after five levels of being a paladin. He retreated to the wilderness, hoping to not fall victim to the abject cruelty that once defined his very way of life. The rage he unlocked in his heart sparked the old hatred of his past, and when he slew his former best friend (who had begged him for mercy), he was brought down to join the forces of evil. All who had wronged him would be made to pay. He knew all along that he was walking down the road to evil, but not once did he stop. His only regret: never again would he be able to see the woman who brought him into the light and believed that he had a good heart. The whole build is fighter 4/paladin 5/barbarian 1/blackguard 10. Feats for this build are what you would expect, weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc. The character gains plenty of goodies from being a fallen paladin (extra smites and an extra point of sneak attack damage). Not only is the build good in and of itself, it’s a good character too. A tragic person whose fall should make sense with his class development, one who tastes the finest fruits of righteousness and loses it all to his fall into evil. This build is an example of how a character can be a strong build but still be a very fun character to roleplay, with a character development that few DMs will be able to say “no” to.
The Storm
“The faster I swing, the sooner you die.”
Now a good old two-weapon fighting sneak-attack build. This character is designed around decent sneak attack, good base attack bonus, and be able to fight with two weapons. Our build is ranger 6/rogue 1/assassin 3/blackguard 10. The ranger levels give us our base in two-weapon fighting. The assassin levels and rogue levels pad this build with 3d6 extra sneak attack damage (for a total of +6d6). The character also still has a base attack bonus of an impressive +18, which is excellent for a character with 6d6 sneak attack. Your options for weapons really come down to three choices: dual-wielding small weapons (such as short swords) to save feats, getting a big weapon and a small weapon (more damage but more feat-intensive), or go with a double weapon (usually requires a feat investment, but might be overall less than two different weapons). For this character I describe, I am assuming a double sword (style points don’t count for a lot, but I just like the feel of a double sword). Feats of choice are weapon focus in your weapon of choice, as well as getting extra two weapon fighting feats (such as greater two weapon fighting when you qualify for it). Consider dodge to boost your armor class. Power attack, cleave, and improved sunder are required, but when you decide to wield your double weapon as a single weapon two-handed, you can get some versatility out of it in terms of extra damage and a good chance to break some enemy weapons. In melee, use your ability to summon a monster to flank with you, then deliver a flurry of sneak attacks. You can use poison very well, so feel free to do so, if you want a little extra “oomph”. In addition to all this, you have a little stealth, you have decent spells, you have a helpful fiend, and you can command the undead. Well, use these things! Set up sneak attacks, do some damage, poison the enemy, and have fun. Trust me… everyone likes a little damage, and everyone likes to be a little evil. If that speaks to you, the storm has you covered.
Conclusion
The blackguard is a wonderfully versatile class. From a frontline stomper for the bad guys to a sneak attack build to a tragic fallen hero storyline, the blackguard has you covered. The trick to getting the power out of this class is simple: make a build designed to do damage, then proceed to wail on your foe. Alternatively, you can splash blackguard with an evil character much as a good fighter-type splashes levels of paladin.
3.5 Power Play- Dragon Disciple
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What’s changed?
The dragon disciple’s former potential for a very nasty and very cool bigger-than-average hero (*rim shot*). But now that enlargement is a thing of the past, and we have a new dragon disciple to consider.
- No more size increase. Now this is something that really hurts the class, but we can deal with it.
- Your breath weapon is equal in strength no matter which dragon type you pick.
- Wings are bow available for all dragon disciples, regardless of size.
General tactics
Dragon disciple is a way for a character to greatly enhance their attributes and grab some natural armor
Breath weapons are a pretty nice perk for anyone who gets stuck in with the bad guys, especially ones with poor reflex saves.
Wings are arguably one of the sweetest abilities of this class. Never underestimate the power of flight.
While often overlooked, blindsight is an ability that is capable of basically shutting down illusions, darkness, and blindness. Fighting in the dark becomes a great advantage for you.
Bonus spells mean that you have access to a wide variety of useful low-level spells.
While definitely not a prime ability, claws and bite are an excellent way to surprise a foe.
How far to take this prestige class?
Dragon disciple is basically good all the way through. In the past, the enlargement bonus was the pinnacle of development. Now, you really don’t have a definite stopping point. Fit in what bonuses you can for your build.
What are the basic ways to build a dragon disciple?
Taking advantage of the dragon disciple is a matter of using the ability boosts and the other abilities granted by this prestige class. You can do so best with a caster-light melee build, though more caster-heavy builds are possible.
- The Disciple of the Scale- A medium-caster build focused on an effective unarmed dragon disciple.
- The Draconic Trickster- A very nasty flying archer who is more than a little dangerous.
- The Slayer- The blood of a wicked dragon sire and the heart of a hero.
The Disciple of the Scale
“You’ll find my Dragon Furioso stance most interesting.”
Remember how I said that monks and sorcerers make a great multiclass? It’s still true. We will take a good old build, the disciple from waaaayyyy back in the sorcerer power play and modify it a bit to make it more of a warrior build. The build is going to be monk 6/sorcerer 4/dragon disciple 10. This build will give you access to the sweet low-level sorcerer buff spells, like shield, mage armor, the animal buffs, invisibility, blur, and the like. Overall, plenty of sweet stuff to be had at low levels, eh? The monk levels get us flurry of blows at only a –1 penalty (which of course quite nice), all three monk bonus feats. And dragon disciple grants you… well… dragonhood. Feats to go for are grapple feats: you will have a sick strength score, so why not take advantage of it. Improved grapple should be your first monk bonus feat, with deflect arrows at second level and improved disarm at level 6 (to level the playing field with those big bad fighters). Your base attack bonus isn’t anything special at +13, but it’s better than the average caster. Your strength more than makes up for it, and your breath weapon is nasty. Your role become that of a precision-based tactical warrior. You swoop into the battle where needed, dealing death with your breath weapon. You should have a good armor class thanks to your spells and natural abilities, so even in an antimagic field, you’ll be a formidable foe. When the time comes to fight with a strong enemy, cast true strike, then disarm the guy. Weapon of choice is your sai here, so grab weapon focus in it. I’d also recommend dodge, mobility, and spring attack, as this character is definitely not as durable as other fighters early on (though you come back strong as you progress). Once your foe is disarmed, you use your great strength to grapple them and remove them from the fight. Prior to battle, buff yourself up with spells, and try to open the fight by catching your foes off-balance and clumped together with a breath weapon. Above all else, make use of your spells: getting brew potion to make yourself some potions for battle isn’t a bad idea.
The Draconic Trickster
“Nice shot? Well of course it was, you poor fool.”
One of the more dominant character types against unprepared foes is a flying, invisible ranged attacker. Why do you think those spellcasters like fly so much (aside from the obvious imitation of superheroes like Superman, Storm, or Powdered Toast Man)? This character is a bit more on the mundane side, but is still very deadly. Our build is bard 6/fighter 4/dragon disciple 10. I’d recommend keeping bard and fighter levels as equal as possible as long as possible to avoid the XP penalties. But moving on, our character here is going to be a flying, invisible archer some day. In the mean time, we stack him up with archery feats (far shot and manyshot are essential for this build), weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc. We also use bard levels to qualify for dragon disciple. Bard has the lovely ability to wear light armor and still cast spells, so that mithryl breastplate is practically screaming to you. Their bardic music is also always helpful to every group, and their skills are invaluable. As we progress this character, keep in mind the goal of being a skilled archer. Bard spells should be used to get those nice little buff spells like cat’s grace. Prior to going dragon disciple, you will act as the standard bardic archer, and you will continue to do this as you progress through the class (buying better and better strength bows, of course). Not only this, but unlike the typical bardic archer, you are a monster in melee with your obscene strength score. So don’t hesitate to pull out your longsword and darkwood shield and charge into battle to assist the real fighters. And when you finally get your wings, use invisibility combined with flight to rain some carefully selected death down upon your foes. An equally viable alternative build here is fighter 4/sorcerer 5/arcane archer 1/dragon disciple 10. You miss out on better armor class, hit points, and base attack bonus (+14 versus +15) in exchange for a bit more offense on your arrows. Though being a skill point junkie, I’d say go bard. I guess I’m just crazy that way.
The Slayer
“Through the river of steel we’ll go… when the dragon lies bleeding.”
And since I already reminded you of one good multiclass with sorcerer, I’m sure you remember the other one. Come on… I know you can get this. Charisma is good for sorcerers and?… Paladins! I can’t believe you didn’t get that. Anyway, our build has two variants: paladin 5/sorcerer 1/fighter 4/dragon disciple 10 or paladin 9/sorcerer 1/dragon disciple 10. The former is the unmounted slayer, while the later is a mounted warrior. Both are fairly straight forward, but I will focus on the non-mounted slayer. Unbeknownst to this character, he was sired by a hideously evil red dragon. As he grew, he came to devote his life to the task of hunting down and slaying dragons, especially evil ones. He had early martial training as a fighter before he joined the paladin order to gain a divine advantage in hunting evil foes. He knows the power dragons can unleash, for he felt it burning in his own veins. One day, this power erupted in the form of sorcerous magic. This was the revelation of a horrible truth to him: the true nature of his father. He would use the curse of his draconic father’s blood to hunt down and destroy this monster once and for all. Our non-mounted paladin build enjoys a significant boost to his armor class in the form of a shield and extra feats. This build goes fighter 4/paladin 5/sorcerer 1/dragon disciple 10. Feats of choice here are exotic weapon proficiency (bastard sword), weapon focus and weapon specialization in the same, as well as power attack. Dodge and mobility, and even spring attack, are quite useful against dragons (to avoid their otherwise deadly reach. Also, flyby attack becomes a wonderful feat, again considering how dangerous a dragon’s reach makes him. But your saves and immunity to fear make you a good candidate to lead the charge against him, and with a few choice sorcerer spells, you should have good defenses and access to the occasional true strike (just to make sure your smite hits). Our mounted warrior does not come as highly recommended, because getting a horse into a dragon’s lair is a bit difficult, and eventually you will be able to fly, so it almost seems a waste to me, but if it floats your boat, definitely grab the traditional mounted feats, as a spirited charge is a great way to bring a dragon down.
Conclusion
The dragon disciple is not what he used to be, but he still makes for an excellent warrior. The trick is to take advantage of the wings you have access to regardless of your size and your breath weapon, and make sure your build will benefit from the attribute boosts and natural armor. If you can do this, you can make fine use of the dragon disciple.
3.5 Power Play- Duelist
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What’s changed?
One of my other favorite fighter-type prestige classes, and like the dragon disciple, it’s gotten it’s fair share of nerfing. Nevertheless, we will make something interesting out of it yet!
- Prerequisites are much easier and are definitely more useful for the character (no more ambidexterity).
- Intelligence bonus to AC depends on your level.
- Precise strike is delayed in class development. Oh well… things could be worse.
General tactics
The duelist is a class chock-full of defensive abilities, so you should be relatively safe in melee.
Precise strike at level 10 of this class basically gives you an average of 7 extra damage with each attack, and if you use it consistently, it really adds up.
The improved reaction ability is a fairly sweet way to put your initiative through the roof, though this ability is often overlooked.
Generally speaking, your character has a high enough armor class to stand toe-to-toe in melee relatively .
Your prerequisite feats set you up just one feat away from spring attack, so it’s usually a good idea to grab it.
Your reflex saves are excellent, so you have little to fear from area of effect spells.
How far to take this prestige class?
Duelists are basically good all the way through (especially now that you need to take multiple levels to use your full intelligence bonus to AC). Level 7 is the only really nice level in terms of abilities, so if you’ve already gotten to a high enough level to make full use of intelligence, holding out until you get elaborate parry is nice.
What are the basic ways to build a duelist?
Defense is what duelist gives you. Offense is nice too, but the defensive bonuses this class can grant are absolutely great. Two of these builds will be defensive and a third one will be built for offensive power.
- The Acrobat- A former circus star who knows a thing or two about stabbing where it hurts.
- The Fencer- A classic swashbuckling swordsman who is well versed in fencing.
- The Wandering Master- The absolute master of defensive martial arts.
The Acrobat
“Tuck and roll, tuck and roll, roll and stab.”
Let’s get things started with our offensive build. Our goal is to get a character who can drop enemies quickly and easily, but also has some staying power in melee. That said, the build we’ll be working with a very simple rogue 10/duelist 10. Don’t let the simplicity deceive you: it’s a good, solid build. In addition to winding up with a +17 base attack bonus, +5d6 sneak attack, and +2d6 sneak attack. Our feats of choice (in addition to the prerequisites) are weapon focus (rapier), spring attack, improved critical (rapier), and improved initiative. Assuming a dexterity bonus, you have a standing +8 bonus to initiative. Your rogue special ability should be crippling strike (2 points of strength damage whenever you deal sneak attack damage? Yes please). Your combat scene should start with you spring-attacking your opponent, dealing normal damage, sneak attack damage, and spring attack damage (as well as some strength damage if you’ve gotten that tenth level of rogue under your belt). You will threaten a critical on a 15-20 (25% of the time). Your style of combat is to rely on your decent armor class to protect you from one attack at a time from an opponent (your spring attack should prevent a foe from getting full attack against you unless you want them to). While moving about, keep your defenses up and keep springing in to flank an opponent for some nice sneak attack damage. If that isn’t possible, you can use your precise strike anyway. Skill ranks in use magic device are very worth it, because your other hand can’t be used for off-hand attacks or a shield, but a wand is neither of these things. Investing in a cheap wand of magic missile is a nice way to get some ranged damage in against a well-defended enemy, those few foes you can’t reach to melee, anyway.
The Fencer
“A bit of steel and a bit of magic… what a delightful combination.”
The big problem with fighter/mages in 3.5 is the lack of a class that provides for use of armor (aside from bard). So our alternative is a duelist, whose armor bonus for a wizard’s prime ability is a sweet deal. Now let’s look at our build: fighter 4/wizard 6/duelist 10. This will get us the feats we need to qualify for duelist very easily, level 3 wizard spells (which means plenty of fun defensive spells), weapon specialization, and even a +17 base attack bonus by level 20. Our feats of choice here are more defensive: combat expertise, for example, is thrown into the mix, and I would also recommend grabbing combat casting (because your concentration checks will be horrible otherwise) to further your abilities to cast in combat. Weapon focus and specialization in your weapon of choice are no-brainers, and you should pick defensive spells. In combat, your job is to outlast the enemy: you will be able to hit him when he can’t hit you. You will chip away at your foe and wear him down. If needed, blast away with a nice little spell or two if it’s needed (magic missile definitely comes to mind). Save money by making utility scrolls for yourself to cover the odds and ends of adventuring, and in combat don’t hesitate to get stuck in. Stab away until the enemy drops, then move on to the next one. Spring attack really isn’t worth it, because you will be strolling into melee and poking away with your weapon. Use breaks between kills to cast needed spells on yourself and on enemies. Be conservative with your magic, but try to make sure you don’t forget about it! That measly +4 bonus from mage armor might be the thing that keeps you from being the one who’s pushing up daisies.
The Wandering Master
“Your blows are like so many noisy flies: all I must do is swat them away.”
And yet another monk build. This one is designed around defense, but a more mundane defense than the fencer. This build also features a higher volume of attacks (thanks to flurry of blows and monk weapons) and an excellent standing armor class, though it is fairly stat-intensive (needs a good intelligence, wisdom, and dexterity). Monk feats should be invested in stunning fist, deflect arrows, and improved disarm. Other feats should go into combat expertise, weapon focus (siangham), weapon focus (sai), improved initiative, and perhaps spring attack if you’re so inclined. Even without any sort of magic, your armor class is excellent. You should spend your time trying to disarm your opponent with that sai. Once this is done… well, roll to cackle evilly. You will almost definitely be faster than your opponent, so you can just run away with the weapon, or you can switch over to you siangham and start dealing some precise strike damage. Whenever you sit in melee for any extended period of time, sit in a defensive posture (using your duelist abilities to their fullest) until your opponent is disarmed. Stunning fist against an opponent with a low fortitude save is like a disarm too, and it has the fun added bonus of making your opponent flat-footed (and thus easier to hit) than normal. Remember, you can technically flurry with your siangham, getting seven precise strikes off in a round (which isn’t too shabby). Hold your sai off-hand to be ready if your opponent grabs another weapon (or the one lying on the ground). You are definitely not a damage machine, but you are very capable of disarming an enemy, and then winning the easier match against an unarmed foe. For you, the name of the game is defense, and once your foe is disarmed, victory is yours. Now if you could just do something about those danged locking gauntlets…
Conclusion
The duelist has lost a lot of steam, but it is still a nice class when used for a strong defensive build overall, and it offers interesting combos for defensive characters (and even the occasional offensive character) when done right.
3.5 Power Play- Dwarven Defender
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What’s changed?
Now for everyone who likes their characters to have a bit of meat on their bones! The dwarven defender is basically the same tank to end all tanks that we all know and love, except for a few changes.
- Defensive awareness is now “uncanny dodge”, primarily for the purpose of continuity.
- Mobile defense takes this tank to a whole new level of tankness.
- Endurance is now a much more desirable feat than it was in 3.0
General tactics
Defensive stance is this class’s bread and butter. If you aren’t holding the line, you aren’t earning your keep.
6/- damage reduction is better than you can get with a straight barbarian, and basically lets you wade through weaker enemies like they aren’t there.
All dwarves may use dwarven waraxes as martial weapons, meaning you won’t have to skimp on weapons to adequately use a shield.
Between your armor, shield, armor bonus, and defensive stance, your armor class should enable you to adequately fight most enemies with relative safely. And if you do start taking hits, your d12 hit die and damage reduction can take quite a bit of punishment.
Trap sense is the new extension of uncanny dodge, and that +2 bonus to save against traps is huge for class that has a poor reflex save (and will almost definitely have a base class with poor reflex saves).
Never underestimate uncanny dodge as a way to avoid the nastier affects of a rogue’s sneak attack.
How far to take this prestige class?
Dwarven defenders are, quite simply, the best choice for a tank character in the 3.5 core rules. That said, a character focusing on building a tank is well advised to take as many levels of dwarven defenders as possible. Otherwise level 8 is the level to aim for, because mobile defense is absolutely the pinnacle of this class’s development.
What are the basic ways to build a dwarven defender?
Dwarven defenders are clearly all about defense, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have some bite to them too. These builds are primarily about defense, but show how to squeeze some offensive strength out of the class too.
- The Bodyguard- Your devoted protector and all-around unkillable warrior.
- The Shieldsman- A bit of axe and board action for a former ranger.
- The Wrestler- Your classic grappling monk who is quite a nasty character indeed.
The Bodyguard
“I take the hit, be it axe or bolt or spell.”
Starting things out with the most defensive build, let’s take an often-overlooked class for the dwarf: the paladin. Our build will go something like this: paladin 6/fighter 4/dwarven defender 10. Simply put, this build is designed to make for a strong character designed to support a primary spellcaster (especially a sorcerer or wizard). Your role is to provide unflinching defense for your charge, no matter what comes. And you can do this in 3 main ways. First, you will have an excellent armor class, meaning hitting you will be difficult in the first place. Second, your saves (between divine grace and dwarven bonuses) will be very formidable. Third, you have the ability to extend your own hit points with a decent amount of healing (lay on hands and a wand of cure light wounds are a sound investment). To take advantage of your healing, investing a feat in diehard (in addition to your other requirements) is a good idea to ensure that even if an opponent manages to drop you, the ability to heal yourself and diehard working together mean you will be back on your feet in a round, swinging away once more. You are also a decent offensive threat with a pair of smite evils per day. Evil enemies beware: the bodyguard can deal a nasty bit of damage if you challenge him. Other important feats to get for this build are weapon focus, weapon specialization, and combat expertise (to boost that armor class up). If you’d like to up your damage, power attack is a good consideration as well, as is cleave (as you are well-designed for mowing through masses of enemy grunts). Most important, though, is to coordinate with the party’s caster. The two of you are even tighter of a team than normal, and through working together, the two of you should be quite an effective team. Every wizard loves having a nice, thick dwarf to stand behind.
The Shieldsman
“A good shield kills just as well as a sword.”
Well it’s time for the classic two-weapon fighting build, and again I present a good old shield expert who uses his shield as his off-hand weapon. The only twist here is the use of the dwarven defender as our prestige class of choice. Overall, this build again focuses on defense, but the combination of ranger favored enemy and fighter weapon focus provides the boost to damage a two-weapon fighter needs to keep up with other fighter types in terms of damage. As a ranger 6/fighter 4/dwarven defender 10, this character manages 7 attacks by level 20 (3 with his shield). This build is a bit feat-intensive, but still doable. Our feats need to be invested in greater two-weapon fighting (meaning you’ll need a good dexterity to use this build), weapon focus and specialization in dwarven war axe and shield bash. Improved shield bash is of course a must, and your final feat is probably best invested in something like power attack, though it’s up to you. In a defensive stance, you will be an extremely tough nut to crack. Your increased strength coupled with your weapon focus should make up for your attack penalty from two-weapon fighting, and the added damage from your strength, favored enemy, and weapon specialization should allow for some extremely nasty damage when you get your axe and shield going. Plus, the main disadvantage of a defensive stance (immobility) actually meshes well with two-weapon fighting. Since two-weapon fighting uses a full-round action, standing still isn’t going to horribly affect your strategy too much. Before you are able to invest fully in your feats, you might consider using a handaxe as an off-hand weapon early on. Though as soon as you can use improved shield bash, do so. It will pump your armor class up quite respectably. In combat, take a defensive stance in a key position of the battlefield (a choke-point like a door is a good choice) and swing like there’s no tomorrow.
The Wrestler
“I am making with the crushing now, yes?”
Another monk build? This is getting a little repetitive. But this one offers a slight variation in strategy. Most monks require the ability to move quickly to avoid a fight. This dwarven monk does just the opposite: he moves quickly to get into a fight. But wait… if the monk has to stand still, then isn’t he putting himself at risk? Why would a monk stand still? Well, if he’s grappling, he’s not moving. So our build here Is designed to take advantage of the monk’s grappling abilities and use them in conjunction with the dwarven defender’s defensive stance (to ensure strong defense and a good boost to strength and hit points in melee). The build is monk 11/dwarven defender 9. Your monk bonus feats should be used to get you improved grapple, combat reflexes, and improved trip. Your other feats should be used to boost up your grappling skills: weapon focus (unarmed strike) and combat expertise help your offense and defense respectively. Also consider diehard: you already have the prerequisite feat for it, and wholeness of body will let you heal 22 hit points every day (which isn’t too bad), and this will let you stay on your feat, and probably give you the time you need to get to a friendly healer to get back into the fight. In combat, you should use your respectably speed (especially for a dwarf) to close with a caster. Then, go into a defensive stance and start grappling with your opponent. With an increased strength and better base attack bonus than the average monk, you are a downright dangerous grappler. So get in melee, start the grappler, and get squishin’. If you really want to complete the look, get yourself a belt of giant strength, a mask or two, and give yourself a stupid name (like El Dwarfo Magnifico). Then talk in English that no is good, and be breaking things greaterly. Being great wrestler no is easy, but this build is making wrestler gooder and nicely and SMASHING.
Conclusion
Yeah! Finally, a fighter prestige class that actually got a modest boost in power. This class is designed to be a strong, defensive class, but with a bit of tweaking and a new look at how to put defensive stance to use, and the classic “brick wall dwarf class” can make for some interesting builds.
3.5 Power Play- Eldritch Knight
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What’s changed?
The eldritch knight is sort of like the old Spellsword, but it offers full base attack bonus, a fighter bonus feat and nine caster levels. Wow. Just wow. The only “weakness” of the class is the inability to cast in armor.
General tactics
Eldritch knight exists to make the good old fighter/mage character concepts doable.
Full base attack bonus makes the old problem of hitting with otherwise powerful touch attack spells much easier.
You need to take advantage of your “wasted” level in a fighter class by using those martial weapon proficiencies well. Packing a good old fashioned longbow can be very helpful.
There are some very nice armor enchantments out there, so still spell is a great feat for the fighter/mage on the go.
At most this class allows you 18 caster levels (assuming just one level of a fighter-type). Don’t forget that you lose at least two caster levels.
An eldritch knight’s skill points and hit points are fairly weak… don’t forget what you are giving up for this class!
Invest heavily in defensive items if you want to melee for extended lengths of time.
How far to take this prestige class?
Take as much as you want here. Eldritch knight is effective if taken by itself or as a segue into a more powerful class at a later point.
What are the basic ways to build an eldritch knight?
Your goal with an eldritch knight is to make an effective fighter/mage. How you do this is up to you, but here are a few sample builds to show what versatility you can get out of such a vanilla class.
- The Dark Fang- Another two-weapon fighting sneak attack build of the fighter/mage persuasion.
- The Magic Defender- What you get when you cross a brick wall with a wizard.
- The Sacred Skald- An ex-bard who has devoted his life to battle in the name of his god.
The Dark Fang
“Feel the icy grip of the darkness.”
In case you haven’t gotten my line of thinking yet: two-weapon fighting + sneak attack = good. So here’s a fun little fighter/mage example that includes just one level of wizard and no fighter levels. The build is very convoluted, but is plenty of fun: ranger 3/wizard 1/fighter 1/assassin 5/eldritch knight 8/arcane trickster 2 (though we will actually go ranger 2/wizard 1/fighter 1/ranger 1/assassin 5/eldritch knight 8/arcane trickster 2 to get the skills we need). Now this certainly looks like it’ll be a bit ugly. I mean, this doesn’t even make sense, right? Actually, it does, those it certainly is a stretch. This build will give us a +16 base attack bonus by level 20, +4d6 sneak attack, death attack, 3rd level assassin spells, casting as a tenth level wizard, ranged legerdemain once per day, a decent spread of skills, hit points slightly better than that of a rogue (average hit die is 6.2). Feats of choice include weapon focus (shortsword), improved two-weapon fighting, greater two-weapon fighting, dodge, craft magic arms and armor, and craft wondrous item. Other feats are basically up to you. At level 20, this build has 7 attacks each round, and if you hit with every one while flanking an enemy, you can end up rolling 35d6 for damage. And as a reminder, you can cast as a level 10 wizard and can cast 3rd level assassin spells, meaning you have excellent troubleshooting abilities and you can give yourself some healthy buffing with defensive spells. You have some decent stealth abilities, meaning you can avoid some less observant enemies altogether. With defensive spells like mirror image, displacement, you should be able to make up for your weak armor class and hit points. With your item creation feats, you can make some decent magic items to keep yourself safe (rather cheaply as well). When it comes to it, you can even track your enemy through the woods (not terribly well, but you can always make yourself glasses of tracking or some similar magic item to boost this if need be). In combat, your decent magic lets you chose when the fight begins and where it takes place. Strike from hiding and be ready for anything, then dash in and deliver a deadly flurry of slashes to crush your foe.
The Magic Defender
“Who ever said dwarves didn’t make good mages?”
Build suggested by no interference
How would you like a wizard who almost has as many hit points as the average fighter, can increase his armor and hit points without casting a single spell, and doubles as an extremely effective tank? Our build this time is fighter 1/wizard 8/eldritch knight 10/dwarven defender 1 (though the order of the build will be fighter 1/wizard 8/eldritch knight 2/dwarven defender 1/eldritch knight 8) . Feats of choice will include still spell, combat expertise, craft magic arms and armor, and craft wondrous item. If the party lacks a primary spellcaster, this character can fill in by investing in spell focus, greater spell focus, spell penetration, and greater spell penetration. Otherwise, this character stands in the middle of the battlefield in his heavy armor casting with impunity. This character is also extremely effective at working with a weaker spellcaster as a personal meatshield. Before going into casting mode, go into a defensive stance. With still spell, you can cast even in the heaviest armor in the game and while holding a big old tower shield, keeping your armor class at a healthy level while you cast. You can also make your own armor and shield with the item creation feats, saving yourself a healthy bit of money for other items. Invest your time and money towards getting or creating defensive items, and use the money you save to buy things like metamagic rods (extremely awesome magic items for the wizard who is tight on feats). In combat, your job is to protect weaker characters (especially mages who just aren’t as tough as you are) and still remain a viable caster while doing so. If you have another arcane spellcaster in the group, focus on utility and area of effect spells. You are best suited to act as a support caster, or one who deals with weaker enemies (like the hordes of goblins) while the other caster focuses on using save or die spells on the tougher enemies. You are an extremely tough cookie… and you cast as a level 17 wizard with a +16 BAB! Not bad, all things considered…
The Sacred Skald
“For the glory of the gods above!”
Once this character was just a simple bard, one who played for his supper at inns and supported his party in battle. But through his journeys, he became more and more religious, turning to the gods for help and assistance. Then one day he heard the call, abandoned his bardic way of life, and took up the more martial life of a paladin. This character is designed to be a melee-focused bard who supports his allies in the thick of battle with bardic music and spells. The build is bard 9/paladin 2/eldritch knight 9. The character casts as a 17th level bard (which isn’t too bad), achieves a +17 base attack bonus, manages to get inspire courage +2, inspire greatness, divine grace, a bit of back-up healing in the form of lay on hands, and even a single use of smite evil every day. A fairly decent accomplishment, eh? For this character, I’m assuming a classic sword & board build with some focus on offense and defense (in essence a build for a standard melee type). You will be more effective in melee than the average bard and will be a better support spellcaster than the average paladin. You will be able to boost your fighting ability with wands of paladin spells if need be, and your bardic music will be extremely effective (since you’ll be able to stay in the middle of the fight, affecting as many allies as possible with your singing). Remember that as a bard, you can cast in light armor (which includes a mithral breastplate, and a mithral light shield has no arcane spell failure. You should be able to maintain a healthy armor class, and your saves by level 20 will be very nice (especially with divine grace), meaning you should have some amount of protection from spells. Your feats should go into weapon focus (longsword), dodge, and maybe into the mounted combat tree. If you elect to go with mounted combat, consider focusing in the lance instead. Leadership is also a nice feat (if your DM will allow it… many don’t). This character makes an excellent diplomat or leader of a small army, and he’s no pushover in combat either.
Conclusion
The eldritch knight might not be the most flavorful prestige class ever, but you can manage to use its abilities effectively while still creating an interesting character at the same time. Just make sure to invest in defensive items and remember to keep your constitution nice and high to avoid an unpleasant dirt nap.
3.5 Power Play- Hierophant
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What’s changed?
The folks over at Wizards of the Coast decided to play fair and weaken spellcasting PrCs too. The Hierophant has lost the option to pick spellpower +2 as a special ability and his blast infidel ability (which used to be based on patron deity) is now based on allignment. Faith healing got a boost (since it is now based on allignment as well), but overall the class is weaker than it was before, meaning it is a very weak class overall.
General tactics
If you want to be able to cast miracle and other level 9 spells by the end of your build, do not take more than three levels of this class.
Remember that while your spell progression halts with this class, you still increase caster level, which means a cleric 15/hierophant 5 will still cast his lower level spells as if he were a cleric 20.
The good news: this class is dirt-easy to get into. A metamagic feat and 15 ranks in knowledge (religion)? Not a bad price.
Blast infidel is not a bad ability, but it is heavily reliant on your ability to detect allignments easily.
Divine reach is easily the best ability of the bunch. Harm with a nice 30 ft. reach? Not bad at all…
Faith healing is a good ability for a healer-type cleric, especially when you are a LG cleric with a cadre of paladins and you’re throwing out free maximized mass cure critical wounds. It’s improved mainly because the odds are bettern that you’ll share an allignment than a patron deity.
Gift of the divine isn’t bad, but it isn’t particularly good either. If you fight a lot of undead, it’s nice to be able to create a backup cleric.
Mastery of energy is a nice deal for any cleric who likes to tangle with the undead.
A free metamagic feat is rarely worth taking, unless you’re really trying to squeeze to get the requirements for a class or feat you really need, especially since you’re effectively giving up a level of spellcasting progression for it.
Power of nature is pretty nice, but requires forthought to use properly. Don’t want to get caught with your pants down because you gave the fighter your wildshape ability today…
Spell power is the old standby, and it’s a fairly nice choice for the average cleric (who with this and a bead of karma can boost his effective caster level by 5).
As with the archmage, spell-like ability is an odd-man out. It’s a decent ability, but picking the right spell can be tough. A buff-a-holic cleric will probably be quite pleased to give up a spell-slot to be able to cast one of his spells two times per day.
How far to take this prestige class?
As I said before, I’d recomend against taking more than 3 levels of this class if you want access to level 9 spells.
What are the basic ways to build an hierophant?
The hierophant’s purpose is to trade a few levels of spellcasting progression for a few abilities you can’t get anywhere else. Get what you need out of it then go on your merry way.
- The Lightbringer- A dedicated healer and a person who really is the backbone healer of any party.
- The Hunter of the Damned- A cleric dedicated to snuffing out the unholy spark that powers the walking dead.
- The Scourge- The druid who yearns to blanket the world with the dark claws of the true power of nature.
The Lightbringer
“I come bringing hope, bringing life, bringing light!”
The cleric got an overhaul in 3rd Edition to create a class that wasn’t just a walking band-aid. But to be honest, sometimes being the healer can be fun. If you want to make a really strong healer, you can push out a pretty decent amount of healing if you work at it, even moreso than the average cleric. Our build is simple enough: cleric 17/hierophant 3. We want to gain access to level 9 spells with this character (mircale is just way too nice to pass up). Domains of choice are healing and protection (keep the party healthy and safe). Healing is a prime choice for the reason that you are able to cast all healing spells at +1 caster level. This means your cleric will be curing an extra point of damage with every spell. Feats of choice for this character are metamagic feats (such as the ever-popular extend spell) and defensive feats (like dodge and expertise) to extend your own survival. Craft magic arms and armor is also atractive for the ability to make yourself some impressive magic armor to keep yourself safe. When you start taking levels of hierophant, invest first and foremost in spell power +1 (meaning that you now cast healing spells at your own caster level +2, which translates into another two hit points every time you cure someone). Not bad. Now throw in the classic bead of karma (expensive, but not prohibitively so). With this, you can use healing spells at an impressive 26 caster level by level 20. This is very nice for a few castings of some mass cure spells. Couple this with the faith healing ability (if your group shares allignment with you) to automatically maximize your cure spells. Regardless, also make sure you grab divine reach so you can heal allies from a distance. This build isn’t exactly Mr. Kill-a-lot, but it certainly isn’t a bad twist on the healer.
The Hunter of the Damned
“My task is simple: send the dead back to where they belong.”
Dealing with the undead has always been one of the cleric’s fortes. Aside from the paladin, nobody else can turn undead, and nobody can do it as well as the cleric. Our build is again the relatively simple cleric 17/hierophant 3. The variance is in the feats, domains, and special abilities we chose for this character to make him the bane of any walking dead. Domains will have to include sun (the domain for someone fighting undead). Good is another strong domain, as it will do a good job protecting you from the evil undead who would love to eat some part of you for breakfast. Feats will definitely include extra turning for this character (a top choice once divine feats start rolling out again in 3.5), and will probably also include some metamagic feats like extend spell to make sure your buff spells last an appropriate amount of time. You can also grab things like the ever-popular spell focus and greater spell focus to bump up your save DCs. If you get involved in melee often (which isn’t hard for a cleric), definitely consider weapon focus. Regardless of your feats, your hierophant abilities are absolutely key. Divine reach lets you “snipe” evil undead with cure spells while mastery of energy will net you a +4 bonus to your turning checks (which will give you the edge against more powerful foes with turn resistance). Your last hierophant ability is up to you: if you’d like to cement your spellcasting, grab spellpower. If you’d rather reinforce the turning power of the party, gift of the divine is a way to let your entire party turn if need be. They use your cleric level and their own charisma modifier (the sorcerer and bard will love that part). If you do this, extra turning is definitely worth it because it means that your party won’t lose your support in other areas during a turning check. The sorcerer in the back can cover for you while you are smashing away the walking dead in the front of the party.
The Scourge
“The weak will be culled to make room for the strong.”
This harkens back to the good old days of the General Druid who had a horde of animal companions with him at all times, but adds a new twist. Our build is very simply monk 1/druid 18/hierophant 1. Our character is the unseen enemy, and he makes a great Big Bad Evil Guy. This character is not someone who likes to get his hands dirty: that’s what cohorts and summoned animals are for, my dear boy! So this character is going to be a modified summoner druid with the leadership feat. Spell focus: conjuration, augmented summoning, and extend spell are all very desirable for this character. Natural spell and leadership are also great (especially for our plans for this character). The trouble for this character: the knowledge skill requirement is tough for a druid to meet. So that is why we have that stray level of monk thrown in. This serves a few purposes for a druid. First, it lets us meet that requirement for 15 ranks in knowledge (religion). If you can manage at least a 12 in intelligence (or you play a human), you can manage the requiremen. Monk also adds wisdom to your armor class when you wearing no armor (which you rarely will be in wildshape) and it can net you improved grapple (which is awesome for many of your high strength and large size wildshapes). What to do with that one level of hierophant? Well let’s just go with a gift of nature. This isn’t a particularly deadly ability, but for the behind-the-scenes manipulator, this is a great ability. Imagine you have a group of meddling adventurers causing trouble in a nearby city. They need to die. So you have one of your cohorts dress up like a druid, give him your use of wildshape. Then they’ll wonder how you keep coming back from the dead to give them grief. With a horde of cohorts, summoned animal, your beloved dire bear animal companion, and your ability to “lend out” druidic powers while you watch your enemies and learn. If you get into a fight, polymorph into something big and show off that nice trick you picked up during your time in the monastery. The hierophant doesn’t have to be a cleric or a good guy. An evil old druid can do it too.
Conclusion
The hierophant is not a strong class, but you can get some interesting characters out of it. The class provides some interesting abilities you can’t get anywhere else, but the lack of spellcaster progression is painful to a dedicated spellcaster like the cleric and the druid. If you have a need for a specific ability of the hierophant, the trade-off of a caster level might just be worth it.
3.5 Power Play- Horizon Walker
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What’s changed?
Brand new class to play with, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s get right down to it by emphasizing what it introduces to the whole powergaming thing we’re trying to do.
- Easy way to get dimension door (at will, even).
- Many easy skill bonuses.
- Immunity to fatigue is awesome for a barbarian.
General tactics
Horizon Walkers start out being a so-so class to boost your skills in certain areas, but later blooms to provide extremely powerful abilities you can’t get outside spellcasting.
Terrain bonuses are generally small, +1 bonuses to attack and damage rolls, enhanced skills, and generally better abilities for the terrain (darkvision for underground, faster swim speed for aquatics, etc.)
Desert terrain mastery is great for anyone who can rage. Immunity to fatigue is extremely sweet.
You got darkvision? Make it better. The underground terrain mastery is awesome for doubling your darkvision range, making use of ranged weapons very feasable.
Shifting planar mastery is insane. Dimension door at will every 1d4 rounds. WOW. Take this ASAP.
Fiery and cold planar masteries are nice. You get great resistance to energy and bonuses against creatures of this subtype.
Aligned planar mastery is nice, but not great. If you spend a lot of time plane hoping and don’t want to get weakened in a strongly aligned plain, but the other ability is only questionably useful against spells.
Cavernous planar mastery takes second place for best ability with 30 ft. tremorsense. That is like blindsight so long as your opponents are touching the floor, even in magical darkness. Quite sweet.
How far to take this prestige class?
This class is fairly good, but don’t take more than you need. Most builds will only need one or six levels of this class, so don’t worry about filling this class out if you only want a few abilities.
What are the basic ways to build an arcane archer?
Arcane tricksters can do amazing amounts of damage with a single spell. Your spells of choice will be touch and ranged touch spells so that you can apply sneak attack damage to them to do extremely high amounts of damage. Your other spells depend on your choice of a build.
- The Drow Hunter- Master archer of the dark, this dwarven hunter seeks to end the threat of drow to the world.
- The Scorched Fist- A heart of evil and a desire to bring total destruction to the celestials.
- The Zweihander- He’s got a big freaking axe and tons of mobility. Stay on his good side.
The Drow Hunter
“Call me crazy, but them drow gotta die.”
Let’s build us an archer. To start, we’ve got a dwarf here to take advantage of the darkvision ability he gains. He’s tough, no two ways about it. Let’s start with our build. We want an archer whose effectiveness revolves around mobility (dimension door… just too sweet to pass up). So let’s go ranger 5/fighter 8/horizonwalker 7. Good, clean, and simple. Levels one to five should go ranger/fighter/ranger/fighter/ranger. First, you will get two bonus feats from fighter to sure up your archery skills. You will be able to keep your ranger skills up as well (since your are starting with ranger and your are “capping” your early build with ranger, keeping your early skills high and your skills up to par with high max skill ranks). Favored enemy is obviously drow, and you’ll increase this again later on when you take your fifth level of ranger. Ranger level two should grab you rapid shot. Fighter levels early on should grab you weapon focus and precise shot, and you should get point blank shot at level 1 and improved initiative at level 3 (you gotta get the drop on these guys, after all). You should grab forest, hills, marsh, plains, and underground terrain mastery (undergound first). These will give you bonuses to hide, move silently, spot, and listen checks, as well as boosting your darkvision to 120 feet. Later feats should be bow feats like manyshot, improved precise shot, etc. Your level 6 and 7 horizon walker abilities should definitely be shifting planar master and cavernous planar mastery. The former will let you shift your position easily (awesome for a hidden sniper), the latter will ensure that even if you are enshrouded by magical darkness, you can tell where your opponents are if they chose to close. After horizonwalker, finish of 2 levels of ranger (grabbing more favored enemy bonuses against drow), and 6 more levels of fighter (for weapon specialization and greater weapon focus). If you have extra feats to spend, grab defensive feats, or weapon focus in dwarven war axe (great weapon you basically have for free… nice backup if you get into melee). In battle, sneak around while scouting ahead. Take shots at your foes early and fade with dimension door. Don’t get into a fair fight… if the drow won’t play fair, then neither will you…
The Scorched Fist
“Nothing you can say will spare you from my fury.”
This is a late-horizon walker build, and provides a neat use of the blackguard prestige class. Why? Because this is a monk build, baby. We’ve got monk 9/blackguard 4/horizon walker 7. This build again stresses mobility, but moreso than the last build. We will focus on using the quarterstaff as an effective weapon. Our character was once a monk in a LE monastary that often consorted with fiends to acquire new secrets. So the celestials swooped down and leveled the monastary, slaying all the important members and those who resisted, while allowing the younger initiates to live to repent. One monk decided to get his revenge. Our monk will take improved grapple, deflect arrows, and improved trip as his monk feats. We’ll need at least a 13 strength to grab power attack, cleave, and improved sunder as his early feats after taking weapon focus in quarterstaff to pull it off. Your feats are tied up in requirements til level 12, but after that point grab diehard (because as a blackguard you can heal yourself) and probably consider something like combat expertise if your armor class isn’t quite hight enough. This character has sworn to take out the angels with his abilities, and that’s just what he’ll do. Using his mobility, this character darts from fight to fight. His horizon walker abilities will buy him the standard stuff along with the aligned ability. This will let your blackguard use his abilities and spells against celestials while protecting himself from similar problems his enemies can wield. If denied his quarterstaff, he can fight unarmed easily, and a monk’s belt will give him an added boost very, very easily and cheaply. In battle, this character moves from place to place, providing support in key areas with his high mobility, delivering a power attack where needed. Against other foes, he can stand and flurry as needed, and can deliver smites and sneak attacks as well. Considering his high mobility, this character can take advantage of many opportunities that might be missed by others. And then those damned celestials will pay…
The Zweihander Shaman
“Smash smash smash. All I ever do is smash...”
Let’s get our rage on, baby. Our character is a shaman warrior for his tribe, a knowlegable man who is practiced in the arts of warfare and is still a pasable spellcaster. He is primarily there to support the party, and to lend his huge axe in battle when needed. And when push comes to shove, he can still fly into a rage when needed. Our build is barbarian 4/bard 9/horizon walker 7. The character supports his party through bardic music (primarily shamanist chants and the like) and by providing magical buffs. Aside from the prerequisite endurance, this character is well advised to take advantage of his huge axe with power attack, weapon focus, and the like. Diehard is also nice, especially with access to some cure spells in his host of abilities. Versatility is key for this character: he should be able to support the party where it is needed whenever it is needed. Pick the standard horizon walker abilties, but also grab desert terrain mastery. This build offers us another option: if we go horizon walker light, we can change it to barbarian 4/bard 9/horizon walker 1/eldritch knigh 6. This build gives you 14 effective caster levels of bard while maintaining that nice +17 base attack bonus. Your are primarily a warrior who is able to support himself and his allies with a bit of spellcasting and magical support in the form of bardic music. Spells to grab are spells for versatility and the obvious buff spells. In combat, you are a warrior first and foremost, so don’t be afraid to stay near the front lines. Your HD is only slightly worse than a d8 on average, and with a good constitution score and your rage, it is probable comparable to the fighter’s HP total. You’re good at dealing damage, though your staying power needs your magic to bolster it. Be judicious in using your spells and rages, and make sure to think before going into combat. Just remember that you can rage early, because you won’t have to worry about getting tired afterwards. Variations on this idea might use a barbarian/dwarven defender to take advantage of this immunity to fatigue, but for now I’ll leave you with this shaman.
Conclusion
The horizon walker has a few neat abilities that can be used by many different characters to achieve many different ends. If you’ve ever wanted to be the master traveler, this class is for your. And if you’ve ever wanted to be the master of mobility, then this class is still for you. Keep moving and hit hard and you’ll be doing well.
