Fun Character Builds

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by Rudy, Mar 19, 2015.

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  1. Rudy

    Rudy Established Member

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    I thought I'd make a thread for people to post fun character builds. Not necessarily "optimized", but effective and interesting. If there is already such a thread, feel free to merge if you like, but I didn't see one.

    To start with:

    Switch-Hitter
    Skill monkey; party bargainer, scout and trapsmith. Effective at ranged and melee combat; leads with archery, switches to melee in the thick of it, angling to flank.

    Human

    25 pt: Str 14 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 10 Cha 8
    30 pt: Str 14 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 12 Cha 8
    35 pt: Str 14 Dex 17 Con 14 Int 14 Wis 12 Cha 8

    1: Rogue 1. Feats: Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot.
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 4, Disable Device 4, Hide 4, Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 4, Tumble 4, one other 4

    2: Rogue 1/Fighter 1. Fighter Bonus Feat: Weapon Focus (Longbow).
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 5, Disable Device 4.5, Hide 4, Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 4, Tumble 5, one other 4

    3: Rogue 1/Fighter 1/Ranger 1. Feat: Improved Initiative
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 5, Disable Device 4.5, Hide 6, Listen 5, Move Silently 6, Open Lock 4, Search 6, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 6, Tumble 5, one other 4

    4: Rogue 1/Fighter 1/Ranger 2. Ranger Feat: Rapid Shot. Increase dexterity.
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 6, Disable Device 5, Hide 7, Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 4, Search 7, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 7, Tumble 5, one other 4

    5: Rogue 2/Fighter 1/Ranger 2.
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 8, Disable Device 8, Hide 7, Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 7, Search 7, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 7, Tumble 8, one other 4

    6: Rogue 2/Fighter 2/Ranger 2. Feat: Quick Draw, Fighter Bonus Feat: Weapon Finesse
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 9, Disable Device 8.5, Hide 7, Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 7, Search 7, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 7, Tumble 9, one other 4

    7: Rogue 3/Fighter 2/Ranger 2.
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 10, Disable Device 10.5, Hide 9, Listen 7, Move Silently 9, Open Lock 10, Search 7, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 7, Tumble 10, one other 4

    8: Rogue 3/Fighter 2/Ranger 3. Increase dexterity.
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 10, Disable Device 10.5, Hide 11, Listen 7, Move Silently 11, Open Lock 10, Search 11, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 8, Tumble 10, one other 4

    9: Rogue 3/Fighter 3/Ranger 3. Feat: Weapon Focus (Rapier) [OR Iron Will]
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 12, Disable Device 11, Hide 11, Listen 7, Move Silently 11, Open Lock 10, Search 11, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 8, Tumble 10, one other 4

    10: Rogue 3/Fighter 4/Ranger 3. Fighter: Weapon Specialization (Longbow)
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 13, Disable Device 12.5, Hide 11, Listen 7, Move Silently 11, Open Lock 10, Search 11, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 8, Tumble 10, one other 4

    11: Rogue 4/Fighter 4/Ranger 3.
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 13, Disable Device 13.5, Hide 12, Listen 7, Move Silently 12, Open Lock 14, Search 11, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 8, Tumble 14, one other 4

    12: Rogue 4/Fighter 4/Ranger 4. Feat: Any
    Skill Ranks: Appraise 13, Disable Device 13.5, Hide 15, Listen 7, Move Silently 15, Open Lock 14, Search 14, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 8, Tumble 14, one other 4

    Levels 13+: Straight Rogue for increasing Sneak Attack

    Items: Dex (+6) and Str (+4 or more) boosters; enchanted composite longbow, enchanted rapier, enchanted mithral shirt, enchanted darkwood or mithral buckler. +2 appraise item, MW lockpicks (switch out with strength belt as needed).

    Notes:
    * 13 ranks in Appraise should be more than enough to get you to the +19 skill bonus you need for maximum benefit. 13+2 int+2 item + 2 (fox's cunning OR item OR inspire competence). If you have multiple sources of bonus (e.g. bard and fox's cunning), you can stop at 11 ranks.
    * Not sure if one actually needs as much in Disable Device/open locks as I put above. Could alternately put more in spot/listen or sleight of hand.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2015
  2. marc1967

    marc1967 Established Member

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    Looks great, I'll post one here and update as I play.

    I'm going to start another run through shortly with a solo Rogue/Wizard. I'll probably start with R1, then go mostly Wizard with a few rogue levels thrown in for stealth/tinker/social skills, and evasion. I won't be using the sneak attack at all probably.
     
  3. Dreamteam

    Dreamteam Member

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  4. Rudy

    Rudy Established Member

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    Another one. It goes without saying that you can always get better stats via rolling, but I'm going with point buy here for consistency.

    Dwarven Trapmaster/Battlerager
    Dwarf. Fighter/Barbarian/Rogue

    This fellow knows his way around a trap or lock, can tell you the value of a gem, and can bear the brunt of an attack only to put his axe in some poor Hobgoblin's face. Just don't ask him to skulk around like some kind of elf.

    The build is a meant as a tank with considerable hitting power (via both rage and sneak attack) that can also deal with traps and locks, as well as be your survival guy for random encounters. Can wear medium armor (aka mithral fullplate) while moving at 30 feet speed, gets the dwarf's nice +2 save versus spells and poisons. Give him a shield as well, and he should be durable in the extreme while remaining mobile.

    The feats for this build are pretty flexible; there is nothing absolutely crucial here. Change as desired for what you want your focus to be, or change the weapon.

    25 pt: Str 15 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 6 (after racial adjustments)
    30 pt: Str 16 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 12 Cha 6 (after racial adjustments)
    35 pt: Str 17 Dex 14 Con 16 Int 12 Wis 14 Cha 6 (after racial adjustments)

    1: Rogue 1. Feat: Dodge
    Skills: Appraise 4, Disable Device 4, Hide* 4, Listen 4, Move Silently* 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Spot 4, Survival 2
    *Hide/Move Silently is for lack of better options. This build will be armored, and thus not great at sneaking. Note that putting points in Tumble is useless, because the character will be wearing medium armor. Dwarves should be able to Tumble in Medium armor by PnP, but they cannot in ToEE, sadly.

    2: Fighter 1* Bonus Feat: Mobility**
    Skills: Appraise 5, Disable Device 4.5, Listen 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Spot 4, Survival 2
    * The level of fighter gets heavy armor proficiency (for mithral fullplate), as well as tower shields, in addition to getting the bonus feat. Note that as a dwarf, this character will ignore the fighter level for multiclass penalties.
    ** The choice of mobility here allows this character to be extremely hard to hit with AoO's. Since he will not Tumble, this both allows him to move with relative safety, AND allows him to draw AoO's in order to let other characters pass when needed.

    3: Barbarian 1. Feat: Iron Will
    Skills: Appraise 5, Disable Device 4.5, Listen 5, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Spot 4, Survival 6

    4: Rogue 2. Bump Strength.
    Skills: Appraise 7, Disable Device 6.5, Listen 5, Open Lock 7, Search 5, Spot 5, Survival 6

    5: Barbarian 2.
    Skills: Appraise 7, Disable Device 6.5, Listen 8, Open Lock 7, Search 5, Spot 5, Survival 8

    6: Rogue 3. Feat: Improved Initiative
    Skills: Appraise 9, Disable Device 8.5, Listen 8, Open Lock 8, Search 9, Spot 5, Survival 8

    7: Barbarian 3.
    Skills: Appraise 9, Disable Device 9, Listen 10, Open Lock 8, Search 9, Spot 5, Survival 10

    8: Rogue 4. Bump strength.
    Skills: Appraise 11, Disable Device 11, Listen 10, Open Lock 11, Search 11, Spot 5, Survival 10

    From here, just continue alternating rogue and barbarian. By level 10 you probably don't need much more in survival, or much more in appraise, so you can boost other stuff, like spot/hide/move silently, if you like.

    Equipment: Mithral Fullplate, Hero's Shield, Dwarven Waraxe. Stat boosters.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2015
  5. ithildur

    ithildur Established Member

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    Fun stuff, but to be fair... kind of hard to make a really bad or ineffective build with something like 35 point buy... I mean, 32 points is considered high powered characters in 3.xe... for a game like TOEE (which was designed for standard 20-something point buy or rolled stats) you should absolutely wipe the floor with most enemies with 35 point characters, especially if they're equipped with crafted +6 and +4 stat items... which is overkill, really, not very fun or challenging.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2015
  6. Rudy

    Rudy Established Member

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    Okay... that's really irrelevant to the builds, though. I already had a 30 pt. option, and I added a 25 point option (the lowest option for ToEE) if that makes you happier.
     
  7. Rudy

    Rudy Established Member

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    Human Face/Archer
    Human Bard/Ranger

    This gal can talk her way out of a tight spot, as well as split an apple on a man's head at 50 paces. She's a nice support caster to boot, and can raise the spirits of a fighting force.

    25 pt: Str 12 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 14
    30 pt: Str 12 Dex 15 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 15
    35 pt: Str 13 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 10 Cha 16

    1: Bard 1 Feats: Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot
    Skills*: Appraise 4, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 4, Gather Info. 4, Listen 2, Perform 4, Sense Motive 4, Spot 2, Tumble 4
    *If Appraise is handled by another character, swap out for Use Magic Device, Sleight of Hand, or other skill of choice

    2: Ranger 1. : Favored Enemy: Human (helps with both combat AND face skills)
    Skills: Appraise 4, Bluff 4, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 4, Gather Info. 4, Listen 2, Perform 4, Sense Motive 4, Spot 5, Tumble 4

    3: Bard 2: Feat: Improved Initiative (or other of choice)
    Skills: Appraise 6, Bluff 5, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Gather Info. 5, Listen 2, Perform 6, Sense Motive 5, Spot 5, Tumble 4

    4: Ranger 2: Ranger feat: Rapid Shot
    Appraise 6, Bluff 5, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 5, Gather Info. 5, Listen 6, Perform 6, Sense Motive 5, Spot 7, Tumble 4

    5: Bard 3
    Appraise 8, Bluff 5, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 5, Gather Info. 5, Listen 6, Perform 8, Sense Motive 5, Spot 7, Tumble 8

    6: Bard 4. Feat: Weapon Focus (Longbow) (or other of choice)
    Appraise 9, Bluff 6, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 6, Gather Info. 6, Listen 6, Perform 9, Sense Motive 7, Spot 7, Tumble 9

    7: Bard 5.
    Appraise 10, Bluff 7, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 7, Gather Info. 7, Listen 6, Perform 10, Sense Motive 9, Spot 7, Tumble 10

    8: Bard 6.
    Appraise 11, Bluff 8, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 8, Gather Info. 8, Listen 6, Perform 11, Sense Motive 11, Spot 7, Tumble 11

    9: Bard 7. Feat: Choice
    Appraise 12, Bluff 9, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 9, Gather Info. 9, Listen 6, Perform 12, Sense Motive 12, Spot 7, Tumble 12


    Just continue with Bard after that.

    Regarding skills, This character will not make much use of Spot/Listen; they are selected here mainly because they are class skills for the Ranger level, and the alternative is spending ranks on cross-class skills. Feel free to ditch them, though. Increasing Perform past 12 ranks continues to increase the DC for your fascinate ability, so if you use that a lot, keep that skill maxed.* Third, my distribution of social skills was meant to keep them about equal; I put more ranks into Sense Motive because the character has a lower wisdom. Change that to taste.

    *Thanks to Vexagar for correcting my statement that Perform past 12 ranks was useless.

    Strategy:

    This character is not intended as an offensive caster, though Tasha's Hideous Laughter is always a good 1st level bard spell. In most serious combats, you will begin by Inspiring Courage (preferably *before* combat begins), and then proceed to use archery. The character also makes a good pre-combat buffer.

    Not recommended as a character if you are running with a party of less than 5; the efficiency of bardic song relies on moderately sized, or large sized, parties.
     
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2015
  8. Vexagar

    Vexagar Member

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    Once you can get G. Invis, going Ranger 2/Rogue 3/Bard x looks quite attractive - high reflex saves with evasion and more damage.

    Increasing Perform should increase Fascinate will-check DC afaik... It seems to be far more reliable than casted enchantments at any rate.

    Does the Favoured Enemy really add to conversation skills? I had assumed it was for combat only - feinting (bluff) & resisting a feint (sense motive) basically.
     
  9. Rudy

    Rudy Established Member

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    True, though it's Bard 10 before you can get G. Invis, and even then only 1/day (1 4th level spell per day, assuming a charisma bonus of at least +4, which you would definitely have at that point)

    Oh! After checking the manual and the PHB, I stand corrected on that. I'll make a note. Thanks!

    According to both the PHB and the ToEE manual, yes. He would get the bonus to "Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot and Survival" for checks against that creature type. Now, whether or not it is implemented correctly in the game I haven't figured out a way to test, because I'm not sure you can see check results for conversation trees.
     
  10. Rudy

    Rudy Established Member

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    This one is quite straightforward, but nonetheless effective.

    Fury of Nature
    Human Druid/BarbarianFighter

    This guardian of the forest taps into the fury of nature, both to summon beasts to do her bidding, as well as to give her strength in times of conflict. Additionally, she will handle all of a party's needs regarding travel in the wilderness.

    This is a build best in a small party, when you need someone to be a frontliner and to summon creatures. For a large party, you are likely better off with a pure druid to get to the higher summons sooner due to slower xp.

    25 pt. Str 16 Dex 12 Con 13 Int 8 Wis 14 Cha 8 (boost WIS)
    30 pt. Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 8 (boost STR twice, then WIS)
    35 pt. Str 17 Dex 14 Con 14 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 8 (boost STR once, then WIS)

    Level 1 - Druid 1. Feats: Skill Focus (Conjuration), Augment Summoning
    Skills: Concentration 4, Listen 4, Spot 4, Survival 4

    Level 2 - Barbarian 1.
    Skills: Concentration 5, Listen 5, Spot 5, Survival 4

    Level 3 - Druid 2. Feat: Power Attack
    Skills: Concentration 6, Listen 6, Spot 6, Survival 5

    Level 4 - Druid 3.
    Skills: Concentration 7, Listen 7, Spot 7, Survival 6

    Level 5 - Fighter 1*. Fighter Bonus Feat: Cleave
    Skills: Concentration 8, Listen 7, Spot 7, Survival 6
    *Recommended only for parties of 3 or less. For parties of 4 or more, you will likely have another frontliner, and I would stay straight Druid here.

    Level 6 - Druid 4. Feat: Craft Wondrous Item*
    Skills: Concentration 9, Listen 8, Spot 8, Survival 7
    *I like all of my casters to have at least 1 crafting feat, to share the xp load, but you could switch out for something else if you like.

    The rest of the levels are straight Druid.


    Strategy:

    Summon creatures. Attack things. Use your single rage in tough combats when you don't have any more spells you want to cast.

    Equipment: Because you will not be an offensive caster, but rather a summoner and buffer, you do not need super high wisdom. So, save the neck slot for either a Constitution booster or, if you have a cleric who can craft it, the wonderful Periapt of Wound Closure.

    You'll want either light or medium armor, but are restricted due to Druid levels. Probably something like Masterwork Leather Scale will be your best choice for the majority of the game. Grab a two handed weapon of choice, a sling (used only as a backup), and a buckler. You will never have excellent AC, but you have good hp and a fantastic fort save, so it's not terrible.
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2015
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