Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

Sure thing, I'll be around.

[Anastasia]

Yuth, is Friday good for you this week? I may also be able to swing Saturday, next week's schedule goes up tomorrow (allegedly). Dunno if I have it off or not yet.

[Yuthirin]

Friday...friday...should be good?

[Anastasia]

Sounds good. I'll update about Saturday possibilities tomorrow evening.

[Anastasia]

Friday and Saturday are both good this week, Yuth.

As for next week, between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, the only day that looks plausible is Wednesday or Saturday of next week. For next week, how do those strike you?

[Yuthirin]

I'm in California from Thursday-Sunday next week. Game will be...unlikely.

[Anastasia]

That's just as well. Thanksgiving+Black Friday=uguu.

[Yuthirin]

Built three character sheets today. Going through slight withdrawal.

[Anastasia]

One of those reasons I do things for the Bestiary still. I feel ya.

[Anastasia]

Next week I have Tuesday and Saturday free. Can we do those days, Yuth?

[Anastasia]

Lief may see action soon, so I'm catching him up from 18 to 21.

Lief reaches level 19!

- Fighter 10 and Avenger 2.
- 3 on a d10 for a total of 11 and a grand total of 255 hp.
- +1 bab for a total of +18.
- Spell resistance rises by 1 to 34.
- Lief's caster level for his SLAs rises by 1 to 19. 
- +1 to saves vs poison. Not great, but hey, a boost is a boost.
- Uncanny dodge which is long since obsolete for him.
- Lief's avenger spellcasting rises to level 2! He gains another spell charge and another spell known. Lief selects true strike.
- +1 fort and +1 ref.
- Skills go up as normal.
- Greater Weapon Focus(F10) as a new feat.

Eh level. Nothing really came home for him this level.

[Anastasia]

Lief reaches level 20!

- Fighter 11 and Avenger 3.
- 1 on a d10 for a total of 9 and a grand total of 264 hp.
- +1 bab for a total of +19.
- Spell resistance rises by 1 to 35.
- Lief's caster level for his SLAs rises by 1 to 20.
- Sneak attack rises by 1d6 to 7d6. Yay.
- Lief's avenger spellcasting rises to level 3! He gains a 1st level spell charge and access to level 2 spells. His int mod gives him 2 2nd level bonus spells and he gets 2 spells known. He'll grab near horizon and spellslayer arrow.
- +1 fort and +1 will.
- +1 Dex for a total of 35. He'll need to switch over to better armor options or bracers of armor soon. In a world where B3 continued, Afina probably would've done the former. I'll likely do the latter here out of convenience.
- Skills go up as normal.

Good level. More SA and two useful spell options both highlight a solid level 20 for Lief.

[Anastasia]

Lief reaches level 21!

- Fighter 12 and Avenger 4.
- 10 on a d10 for a total of 18 and a grand total of 282 hp.
- +1 bab for a total of +20.
- Spell resistance rises by 1 to 36.
- Lief's caster level for his SLAs rises by 1 to 21.
- +2 to saves vs poison. It's something.
- Lief's avenger spellcasting rises to level 4! He gains a 1st and 2nd level spell charge plus a new 1st and 2nd level spell known. Lief selects lightfoot and fell the greatest foe.
- Saves do not increase.
- Skills go up as normal.
- Epic Toughness(21) and Greater Weapon Specialization(F12) as new feats. This bumps him up to 324 hp.

Solid level but nothing super good.

[Anastasia]

Since Iddy may be running Lief, I'm going to do a deep analysis of him and how everything works. I'll start by going down his sheet and then explaining how it all fits together afterwards. Note that his updated sheet is here: http://www.soulriders.net/forum/index.php/topic,102879.msg1047672.html#msg1047672

Size/Type: Small Fey

Lief is small sized, which grants various modifiers versus medium size. These are factored into his statblock and can be reviewed here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/movementPositionAndDistance.htm#bigandLittleCreaturesInCombat A quick summary is as follows: +1 bonus to attack rolls and armor class, -1 to CMB/CMD and a +4 bonus to hide checks. Note that the CMB/CMD changes are the result of houserules and do not follow the chart in the link.

In addition to the above, Lief is a fey and not a typical humanoid. This means effects that specifically target humanoids, such as hold person, don't affect him. Conversely, he's vulnerable to anti-fey effects, such as a feybane weapon. This isn't a big deal, just keep it in mind.

Hit Dice: 6d8+3d6+12d10+147+21+42 (324 hp)

Lief has excellent hit points, better than average for the other NPCs of this level. It plays against type, as who expects a pixie to have a lot of hit points? An enemy might be surprised at how much abuse it takes to down Lief and he's generally a tough little bastard.

Initiative: +21

Make no mistake, Lief's fast as hell. He has excellent odds of going first in combat and is only eclipsed by a select few allies and enemies in this area. His speed plays to type, but he's faster than any typical pixie by a large margin.

Speed: 20ft, fly 60ft (good)

Lief's not fast on the ground but he should rarely bother to walk. His fly speed is much better and he has good maneuverability. This means he's a fairly agile flier who can hold his own in aerial combat. You may want to review how aerial combat and maneuverability works: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm#movingInThreeDimensions

Armor Class: 33 (+1 size, +1 natural, +8 dex, +1 dodge, +5 deflection, +7 armor)

In comparison, Lief's armor class is generally unacceptable for this level. This will probably change soon as I tweak his magical items. But as a rule of thumb, past about level 10 or so, you want your AC to be a bare minimum of double your total level. That would be 42 for Lief, so he's way behind. Eating attacks is not a good idea, since Lief is an easy target for pulverizing, PA-bolstered attacks.

Base Attack/CMB/CMD: +20/+20/48

Lief has a good base attack bonus. It's +20 at level 21, so he's only missed a single level of BAB. In other words, he's good at hitting things. As for CMB and CMD, they function as in Pathfinder. More information can be located in the houserules topic. In essence, if Lief attempts a combat maneuver, he rolls his CMB (+20) against the target's CMD. +20 is rather mediocre for his level, though various bonuses to attack rolls also increase CMB. His CMD is better and around average to slightly above average, which means he's not an easy mark for combat maneuvers.

Attack: Defiance+44 (1d6+24 plus 7d6 sneak attack plus +2/2d6 evil outsider bane x3)

To be clear, Defiance is a small-sized longbow. Check it out in the gear tab on his character sheet. I'll go over it in more detail down there.

Lief's attack is good. +44 is a strong attack mod for his level and has good chances of hitting. He can't peak as high as others do when they go full buff-up, but his base is better than theirs. A typical attack with a decent attack roll should hit for him the large majority of the time.

As for damage, Lief's base damage is 1d6+24. That's enough to deal damage through the various damage reductions he'll run into at this level. In addition to that, he can potentially deal 7d6 points of sneak attack damage with every attack. Sneak attack's complicated and the description for it is under the rogue tab on his sheet. The one salient point is that he has to be within 30ft of a target to deal sneak attack damage. I'll go into this more later, but this means that Lief's generally restricted to staying within close range of his target.

On top of that, his weapon is an evil outsider bane weapon. When he attacks evil outsiders, the enhancement bonus of the weapon is two points higher. That means his attack and damage rolls rise by 2, to +46 and 1d6+26. On top of that, he deals an extra 2d6 points of damage to them. That stacks with the previous bonus from an undead bane weapon. So an ideal, sneak attack enabled strike against a fiend deals 1d6+26+7d6+2d6 damage. That deals an average of roughly 60 damage.

It's worth noting that Lief's bow is ghost touch. That means it can strike incorporeal opponents with impunity. More on this in the bow's description further on in this post.

Finally, the x3 means Lief deals 3 times damage on a critical hit. Note that sneak attack damage doesn't multiply on a critical hit. You can review the rules for critical hits here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#attack (scroll down slightly to critical hits, it's just above the cast a spell section.)

Full Attack: Defiance Rapidshot+44/+44/+39/+34/+29 (1d6+24 plus 7d6 sneak attack +2/2d6 evil outsider bane x3)

Lief's full attack routine is routine except for one thing. He has the rapidshot and improved rapidshot feats. That means he gets an extra attack at his full attack bonus for free. That's why he has 5 attacks instead of 4. This means using a full attack action is even more incentivized than normal for him.

Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft

Nothing remarkable here. Review the rules on space/reach if needed and bear in mind he's using a ranged weapon.

Special Attacks

Doing these one by one.

Spell-like abilities,

Lief has several spell-like abilities since he's a pixie. I'll summarize them and what they do below. They can all be used once per day. Click the name of the ability for a link to the spell.

Lesser Confusion: Confuses an enemy for one round, the DC is 18. This isn't much use, as it only lasts for one round, has a crap DC and gets stopped by lots of things in epic. He should almost always have been options than this.
Dancing Lights: Creates minor, glowing lights. This is pure utility and has limited combat applications.
Detect Evil: Allows Lief to detect evil. This is pure utility, and the other three detect spells are the same thing for law, chaos and good. Rarely sees use.
Detect Thoughts: Reads the surface thoughts of a nearby creature, the DC is 19. This has some useful applications for stealth and information gathering, but immunity and the low DC is a concern.
Dispel Magic: Dispels magic. The problem is that the dispel check modifier is capped at +10, so it's not that useful at this point. It can still have some spotty utility.
Entangle: Causes the plants in the area to entangle creatures within the area, the DC is 18. While most creatures will easily make the DC now, it still halves their movement while going through it. So this has some selective utility. Do note that you need plants in the area for this to work, such as being in a forest, a field or the like. Also creatures that can fly can merely fly right over it.
Permanent Image: Creates a highly realistic, illusory image that lasts forever. This one can be as useful as your imagination makes it, though creatures with true seeing and illusion immunity aren't that rare at this level. Note that as an SLA, the expensive material component and focus aren't needed. You may also wish to review the rules about illusions and disbelieving them: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#illusion

At this point, Lief's SLAs are generally outdated. A creative player can wring some use from them, however. Permanent Illusion is by far the cream of the crop.

favored enemy (evil outsiders+4+4, construct+2+4)

Favored enemy means Lief deals extra damage to the type of creature noted as well as other bonuses. Review favored enemy in the ranger tab of Lief's sheet. Note that the +4 at the end of each favored enemy is not a typo but a result of Lief's bow having the hunting special quality. It's added to the first number. So Lief's total favored enemy modifier against evil outsiders is +8 and +6 against constructs.

More in the next post as this one is getting long.

[Anastasia]

spells

Lief has two sets of spells and we'll review them one at a time. They can be found in the spell tab on Lief's sheet. Click on a spell's name to find a link to the spell description.

Ranger spells

Sniper's Shot: This spell is a swift action, so Lief can use it as part of a move+attack action or a full attack action. Anyway, Sniper's Shot removes the distance requirement from sneak attack for one round. It means Lief doesn't need to be within 30ft to deal sneak attack damage for that round. This lasts for 1 round, so it's basically for one attack string. This is highly useful for Lief when he can't or doesn't want to get in close to his target. Note that this doesn't mitigate the penalties for range increments for using a ranged weapon.
Fell the Greatest Foe: This spell adds bonus damage dependent on the size difference between Lief and his target. Considering Lief is small and most creatures are at least medium sized, the usefulness of obvious. This is great against giants, dragons and other things that are way too big. It's easy bonus damage and worth casting against them. It's usually not worth passing up a full attack over, but it can be worth using instead of a single attack against a bigger opponent.

Avenger spells

Critical Strike: This spell is a swift action, see above about swift actions. This spell grants you a bonus 1d6 sneak attack damage, doubled critical hit threat ranges and a +4 bonus to confirm critical hits. Useful when Lief wants to pour on as much damage as possible, such as on a full attack against an enemy that's flatfooted.
Ebony Eyes: Allows Lief to see in darkness and in magical darkness. Obviously useful for a stealth character. Do note it only helps in a limited band of conditions so read the spell carefully. This spell has a good duration so you can cast it well in advance of problems.
Lightfoot: This spell is a swift action, see above about swift actions. This spell allows Lief to move without provoking AoOs for one round. Handy if he's caught in a pinch. This doesn't negate AoOs from other sources, such as firing a ranged weapon in melee range. This is Lief's get out of jail free card if something big manages to close in with him.
True Strike: Gives a +20 insight bonus to the next attack roll you make within a round. Useful for when you absolutely have to hit something or for combat maneuvers.
Fell the Greatest Foe is above. He took it here too so he has access to more uses of it.
Near Horizon: Eliminates the penalty for range increments when using a ranged weapon. This combos well with Sniper's Shot. As long as you can see an opponent within the range of your bow, no matter how dimly, you can attack it without range increment penalties. Note that if you can't see the enemy that this doesn't help(such as it being behind a wall) and doesn't eliminate concealment penalties(such as hiding in bushes).
Spellslayer Arrow: Adds bonus damage against creatures with lots of active spells on them. Handy for taking down buffed up targets.

distracting attack

This ability's under the ranger tab. In short: Hit something and it's counted as flanked until an ally hits it or until the start of your next turn. This allows Lief to enable other allies with his arrows and adds something more than raw damage. Note that the flanking doesn't apply to Lief's own attacks so he can't use this to get free sneak attack. Allies can, however.

sneak attack+7d6

I assume you know how sneak attack works. If not, read up under the rogue tab on Lief's sheet.

disruptive attack

This one's under the rogue tab. When you hit an enemy that is flatfooted or flanked, you can choose to sacrifice your sneak attack damage for that hit. If you do, the target suffers a -5 penalty to AC for one round. This is good to make enemies easier targets for yourself and your allies. Lief can pop this on his first attack on a full attack and then gain the benefits for the rest of his full attack routine. This can also apply to enemies immune to sneak attack, so you can gain this for nothing against those enemies. This isn't always worthwhile, such as an opponent that won't survive Lief's attack or has shit AC anyway, but it's a good option to keep in mind.

Note that if you want to use it as part of a full attack, you have to declare it right after rolling the successful hit. You can't roll your entire full attack and then declare it applies to one of the previous attacks.

paralyzing attack.

Sucks.

This allows Lief to paralyze an opponent, but the DC is shit (20) and he has to study them for three rounds. You can try it if you want, but there's generally better ways to deal with enemies than this for him. It isn't the reason he went into avenger. Note that it also requires a melee weapon and Lief uses a bow, so there's an obvious problem right there.

Special Qualities

One by one just like special attacks.

Low-light vision

See here: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Low-Light_Vision In essence, Lief's better at seeing in dim illumination than a typical human. This doesn't help in true darkness or magical darkness, but it does help in shadowy illumination. http://www.d20srd.org/srd/exploration.htm#visionAndLight This provides more information about visibility and light. It shouldn't come up often.

damage reduction 10/cold iron, damage reduction 5/-

If you're not familiar with damage reduction, read here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#damageReduction

Damage reduction applies to physical attacks but not energy damage. So it applies to being stabbed by a sword but not burned by fire. Lief has two types of damage reduction and they work together as follows. If any enemy isn't using a cold iron weapon, Lief subtracts 10 damage from the attack. His other damage reduction doesn't apply. If the enemy is using a cold iron weapon, it bypasses his first damage reduction. His second damage reduction then applies and subtracts 5 damage instead.

Just remember it's one or the other. If the enemy doesn't bypass damage reduction/cold iron, it's -10 damage per strike. If they do, it's -5 damage per strike.

greater invisibility

This ability's under the racial tab. It means that Lief is naturally invisible and attacking does not disrupt his invisibility. He can choose to be visible or invisible as a free action. So Lief wants to be invisible? He can do that. He wants to be visible? No problem. Note that if Lief attacks a target that can't perceive him, that target is flatfooted against him. Which means he gets sneak attack on all of his attacks. This is limited by the fact that many creatures at this level have see invisibility, true seeing or other ways of foiling invisibility. However, see the feat darkstalker.

As a note, free actions can only be done of your turn. So Lief can't go from visible or invisible except on his turn.

More in the next post.