Random DM nagging.

[Anastasia]

<Iddy> So if we get absolutely face smashed by Secretus, I think I want to revisit Horizon Walker. Suggestions on classes to couple with it?
<Iddy> I'm thinking something like Ranger/Rogue.

The rebuild over in homebrew, for reference.

Anyway, it offers a lot of support and utility but not a main offensive or defensive gimmick. Suggestions as follows.

1. Swift Hunter. Something like Scout 24//Ranger 10/Horizon Walker 14. Obviously more tailored to fit with a bit of dipping as needed as well as an LA race if desired. Dragon Devotee would go great in the upper teen levels where you're done with horizon walker so you can take another PrC. Anyway, it's all about skirmish enabling via manyshot and swift hunter. Horizon Walker gives you mobility and useful options to fill out your character.

2. Cleric (any deity with the travel domain) 24//Melee Class 10/Horizon Walker 14. Same caveats about tailoring as the previous. In this case, you use the class to fill out the traveling part. Pair with travel devotion and all the movement tricks you'll get from the PrC. You'll get a character who has every mode of travel in the game. Consider pairing with monk for the movement speed bonus to further bolster the class.

3. Fighter 10/Planar Champion 9//Whatever 14/Horizon Walker 10. Kind of an Adrian remix, but pair all this for strong movement, options and planar survival. Would take a lot of tweaking to get just so, but has potential if you do.

[Ebiris]

For her prizes from Yggdrasil Afina learns the following two Druid spells:

Frostfell (Frostburn p95, 8th level)
Stone Skewers (homebrew, 10th level)

[Anastasia]

For her prizes from Yggdrasil Afina learns the following two Druid spells:

Frostfell (Frostburn p95, 8th level)
Stone Skewers (homebrew, 10th level)

I turned Yuth down for Frostfell, so please select another spell.

[Anastasia]

<Iddy> I remember having a char with skirmish before, and it not working well or not being easy to trigger. I'm not sure if it was because my build was bad, or it was just too low level to really do it well.

Well, skirmish all depends on being able to activate it and get a worthwhile amount of attacks from it. First of all, skirmish requires you to move 10ft before it triggers. You can't 5ft step it so it requires taking a move action. Effectively using it, especially at higher levels, requires working around that limitation. There's a few ways around it.

1. Manyshot. Popular for swift hunters, it lets you fire a big volley of arrows as a standard action. Normally you can only apply precision/skirmish to the first arrow in the volley, but greater manyshot allows you to bypass that. Upside: Lots of arrows and precision. Can get crazy in epic with improved manyshot removing the 4 arrow limit. Downside: Feat intensive, requires lots of to hit to compensate for manyshot.

2. Travel devotion. Lets you move as a swift action so you can do that then make a full attack. This is useful but has limited uses per day and really demands some cleric levels of another source of turning to fuel the devotion feat. Upside: Full attack after a move. Downside: Resource issues, requires high Charisma or Extra Turning feat(s) to fuel.

3. Pounce. This is used sparingly in my campaigns, but it does work. It's basically travel devotion without the hangups. Listed mostly for the sake of noting I generally don't allow it, so don't pursue it. Upside: Full attack after a move. Downside: You have to charge to -2 to AC. Yeah, that's not a real downside.

4. Spring Attack/Bounding Assault/Rapid Blitz/Final Blitz. Lets you do multiple attacks while moving. Afina uses this style, ask her for details. Just as feat intensive as archery, maybe moreso. Pack some fighter into your build if you go this way.

There's a few other ways, but those are the most popular. Skirmish also progresses slower than sneak attack, so keeping that progression moving and improving is critical. Plus you run into stoppers who immune precision damage anyway. However, that's where Swift Hunter comes into it. If you attack a favored enemy, you can deal skirmish damage to them even if they're immune. Therefore you choose favored enemies that are generally immune to precision damage, like undead or constructs.

As such, having favored enemies is also critical. Unless you're hyper focused or compensating for it some other way, I consider 2 favored enemies the minimum to make it work. More the better to get around the various immunes. Since this is gestalt, swift hunter's dual progression aspects aren't functional, so carefully planning your build is important.

[Ebiris]

I have no complaints about skirmish/bounding assault as a combo. I only get two attacks a round but they hit hard and consistently. The -10/-15 penalties you get for the later attacks on your full attack mean they tend to miss a lot anyway so it's no big deal to give them up.

[Anastasia]

So do you plan to ever grab rapid blitz for a third attack on the move, Afina? I swore you had it before, but I could be wrong.

[Ebiris]

Unlikely. I can't fit it in pre-epic and it's not worth giving up an epic feat for it.

[Anastasia]

You could always go to the dark side and dip fighter.

[Ebiris]

Afina learns the following two druid spells, superseding the previous post:

Call Avalanche (frostburn p90, 5th level)
Blood Snow (frostburn p89, 2nd level)

The two combo really well together. Bury hordes of scrubs under snow that then suffocates/nauseates/inflicts con drain. DCs aren't enough to use against boss types but it's an army-killer.

Y'know, if for some reason I feel like just blowing them all up in contagious firebursts isn't enough.

Is it possible to have too much army-killing magic?

[Anastasia]

That's a good question, Afina. I'm sure you'll let us know if you ever find that out.

[Anastasia]

Sidebar: Should Mei be able to take the blood of Sehanine Moonbow with VoP?

It's certainly arguable that it's a magical item and possession of value. After all, a drop of deific blood is worth a great deal of money to the right seller. However, in this case, I feel there's no reasonable attachment of value. It's given as a religious relic and not meant to be sold. As a matter of fact, Jaela would get severely chastised if she'd decided to sell them. So eh.

[Nephrite]

Here's a follow-up question: Would the Triune have any objections to this at all? If no, then there you go.

[Anastasia]

Generally not, since part of the Triune gave it out. It's just a weird situation since really, no one's blood has real value, but at the same time it does.

[Nephrite]

I think since it's one of those cases where the value in it is the religious sort and that's its intended use, there's no real issue , like you said.

[Corwin]

Technically there would be an issue, but I feel direct power ups from deity to follower should be an exemption. Otherwise, you'd have weird shit like VoP preventing the Triune from elevating Mei to outsider or what not, if it involves imbibing something symbolic. Price-wise, even stale bread and a cup of water from a goddess will sell for a lot, after all.  :)