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Started by Anastasia, August 06, 2011, 10:56:41 AM

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Anastasia

Quotespell resistance 36

Spell resistance is a chance to stop some (but not all) spells fired Lief's way. If you're not familiar with it, read here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#spellResistance

SR36 is pretty good for the level! It stops creatures with below average caster levels cold and is a solid defense against caster levels matching your level. While particularly strong creatures can punch through it, it's easier said than done. This is an asset and should save Lief some pain.

Quoteimproved uncanny dodge,

This is detailed under the rogue tab. It means that Lief can't be caught flatfooted or otherwise denied his Dex bonus to armor class. Even if Lief is caught off guard and surprised, he wont' be completely defenseless.

Quoteimproved evasion,

If you succeed on a Reflex save against a spell that does damage, you negate the damage entirely. If you fail this save, you still only take half damage. This means that Lief is tremendously difficult to put down with spells like fireball or a dragon's breath weapon. He can generally ignore them with impunity, especially if the effect allows spell resistance on top of it.

Quotewild empathy,

Lief can influence wild animals. Not really of any particular use except as utility. Not much to say. The modifier will be low(+15), so it'll struggle with DCs that are appropriate for your level.

Quotetrapfinding,

Lief can find traps above and beyond the norm by using the search skill. Note that Lief hasn't invested in disable device, so he can't remove or bypass traps even when he finds them. He's more inclined to fly around or otherwise try and circumvent them. So this ability isn't all that useful to him.

Quotefeign death,

You can find this ability under the rogue tab.

This is an immediate action so you can do it any time, even during another person's turn. You keel over in a coma that appears like death to anyone else. This is utility if Lief is caught in a pinch. It'll fool most creatures and give you a heap of immunities, so it can be good in certain situations to temporarily delay certain effects (such as poison). The downsides are obvious so use it wisely.

Quotepenetrating strike,

When you flank an enemy and they're immune to sneak attack, you deal half your sneak attack damage anyway. The catch is that Lief doesn't flank enemies since he uses ranged attacks (barring distracting attack, but he doesn't need the benefits of that himself), so this is useless to him.

Quotewoodland stride,

Useful utility and nothing else. The thing is, a lot of the time Lief can just fly over or around problems anyway.

Quoteswift tracker,

Lief can track faster and without penalty. Useful when Lief's tracking a target and works in conjunction with the Track feat+survival checks. You may want to review how track and survival work together, as explained here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/survival.htm and here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#track

Quoteteam initiative bonus+5,

Lief and every ally within 30ft that can see him gains a +5 competence bonus to initiative. This synergizes well with sneak attack and gives Lief even more reason to stay close to his allies. He makes his allies faster so they can lay into enemies before they can react. It lets him further enable his allies along with distracting and disrupting attack.

Quotearmored ease 4,

This reduces the armor check penalty of any armor Lief wears by 4 points. Useful and Lief wears light armor already, so armor won't reduce his skills at all.

Quotestealthy movement

Lief's better at sneaking and moving. Affects how hide and move silently checks work, so see here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/hide.htm and http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/moveSilently.htm

Quotepoison use.

Lief can safely use and apply poison. This isn't terribly useful - most enemies are immune to poison or can easily pass the saves in epic. Unless he gets his hands on some damned potent poison, it's not a serious factor.

QuoteSaves: Fort +30, Ref +37, Will +23 (+2 vs poison)

Lief has a very good fortitude save, a superb reflex save and a solid will save. Overall his saves are good and aren't a weak point at all. Reflex, combined with improved evasion, is a strong point. Failing saves shouldn't be a problem unless Iddy luck is alive and well.

QuoteAbilities: Str 12, Dex 35, Con 24, Int 23, Wis 27, Cha 25

Lief's scores are good for what he has to do. The only low one is Strength and that doesn't matter for him.

QuoteSkills: Bluff+31, Disguise+15, Concentration+31, Escape Artist+36, Handle Animal+31, Hide+40, Knowledge(Nature)+30, Listen+32, Move Silently+36, Search+30, Spot+32, Survival+32, Use Magic Device+31, Use Rope+32

Skills aren't a problem for Lief, just make sure you know which ones he has and doesn't have and what class abilities modify them.

Rest tomorrow.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

Quote from: Anastasia on November 28, 2013, 12:09:28 PM
Next week I have Tuesday and Saturday free. Can we do those days, Yuth?

Also add Monday to that, Yuth. Let me know.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

QuoteFeats

One at a time. Any feat with a static stat boost, such as toughness or dodge, is already factored in. Situational feats like point blank shot or woodland archer aren't.

Dodge: A bonus racial feat for pixies. Houseruled to grant a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC at all times.
Weapon Finesse: A bonus racial feat for pixies. Allows Lief to sub in his Dex mod in place of his Str mod for attack rolls (but not damage rolls) with some melee weapons. He's an archer so this isn't a huge deal.
Toughness: His level 1 feat. Houseruled to grant +1 hp per level and it grows as he gains levels. So it's +21 hp right now.
Track: Bonus feat for ranger 1. Lets Lief track creatures with the survival skill. See swift tracker for a review of track and survival.
Rapid Shot: Bonus feat for ranger 2. Grants Lief an extra arrow attack on a full attack, but that and all other attacks that round suffer a -2 penalty. See improved rapid shot.
Point Blank Shot: His level 3 feat. Grants Lief a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls with ranged weapons so long as he's within 30ft. Synergizes well with sneak attack.
Endurance: Bonus feat for ranger 3. Grants bonuses to certain types of checks. These won't come up, but if you're curious, see here: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Endurance
Weapon Focus: Longbow: His level 6 feat. Grants a +1 bonus to attack rolls with longbows. Unexciting but useful.
Manyshot: Bonus feat for ranger 6. This opens up a type of archery Lief doesn't use. See here if you're interested in it: http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Manyshot
Deadeye(Longbow): His level 9 feat. Allows Lief to add his Dex modifier to his longbow damage rolls. This is in addition to his Str mod and anything else. Technically this is limited to within 30ft and functions like precision damage, but I tend to just have it work on anything. I should houserule that one of these days.
Improved Rapid Shot: Bonus feat for fighter 1. Eliminates the -2 penalty to rapidshot. This basically allows rapidshot to be a free attack and makes full attack archery highly appealing to Lief.
Improved Initiative: Bonus feat for fighter 2. Grants a +4 bonus to initiative. Handy.
Mobility: His level 12 feat. Grants a +4 dodge bonus against attacks of opportunity provoked by moving. Nice, but he's better off casting lightfoot. He may retrain this soon.
Precise Shot: Bonus feat for fighter 4. Eliminates the penalty for shooting into melee. Needed for any serious archer.
Darkstalker: His level 15 feat. See here: http://dndtools.eu/feats/lords-of-madness--72/darkstalker--512/ It allows Lief to possibly defeat things like blindsight and mindsight. Extremely useful in high level play, since many opponents have extra-sensory perception like those.
Weapon Specialization(Longbow): Bonus feat for fighter 6. Grants a +2 bonus to damage rolls with longbows. Unexciting but useful.
Ranged Weapon Mastery(Piercing): Bonus feat for fighter 8. Grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with piercing ranged weapons - including longbows. This isn't the most exciting feat but it's useful as hell.
Woodland Archer: His level 18 feat. See here: http://dndtools.eu/feats/races-of-the-wild--84/woodland-archer--3165/ This feat opens up three tactical options. I'll cover them briefly here and you can see the feat writeup for the exact details. Adjust for range: After you miss a shot in a round, the rest of your shots against that opponent gain a +4 bonus. Lasts for the rest of the round. Useful to bolster his later attacks, especially if he whiffs one of his full BAB arrows. Pierce the foliage: If he hits an enemy despite the miss chance of concealment, he can ignore that concealment next round. Situationally useful. Moving sniper: This one is complicated, so read the link in the feat and understand how sniping works.
Greater Weapon Focus(Longbow): Bonus feat for fighter 10. Grants a +1 bonus to attack rolls with longbows. Unexciting but useful.
Greater Weapon Specialization(Longbow): Bonus feat for fighter 12. Grants a +2 bonus to damage rolls with longbows. Unexciting but useful.

QuoteEpic feats

These get a separate tab, even though Lief only has one so far.

Epic Toughness: His level 21 feat. Houseruled to grant +2 hp per level and it grows as he gains levels. Stacks with toughness. So it's +42 hp right now and +63 with toughness.

QuoteAlignment: Neutral

Lief isn't aligned in any one direction. Most pixies are neutral good, but he's seen too much to buy into that mindset. The fall of Lifasa rotted away the child-like innocence pixies are known for. In its place comes a boisterous confidence and braggadocio. He has his demons, but he does a good job at keeping them in check. All it took was the sacrifice of his basic pixie nature. He's become a tough bastard who doesn't go down without one hell of a fight in place of that.

---

Combos

Improved Evasion+High Reflex save+Greater Invisibility. Not only is Lief able to stymie foes who can't see the unseen, improved evasion and his generous reflex save shuts down attempts to get him via radius attacks. Baiting a frustrated enemy into throwing fireballs or the like is a winning strategy for Lief. This also applies to when he's using hide or the enemy otherwise can't find him. Spell resistance makes his combo nastier, but not ever radius attack allows spell resistance.

Sniper's Shot+Near Horizon+Sneak Attack. This combo requires a round to set up effectively, but allows Lief to attack from anywhere within range of his longbow and deal sneak attack damage. For reference, a longbow's maximum range increment is 1000ft (10 range increments of 100ft). So at the extreme, he can fire lethal arrows from almost a quarter of a mile away. While many encounters don't have the distance to take advantage of it, this can still be devastating at a mere couple of hundred feet away. If the target is large enough, adding Fell the Greatest Foe is a winning addition, though it requires an extra round of preparation.

Disruptive Attack+Distracting Attack. Give up sneak attack for a +2 bonus to the next attack your allies make (through flanking, which has other effects) and a -5 to the enemy's AC. This is a big swing that really take a bite out of the baddie's defenses. This requires the target to be flatfooted, so greater invisibility or hiding enables this combo. Works best when Lief is proving impossible to damage through invisibility+evasion.

---

For all of this, Lief's big damage is from staying still and firing off devastating full attacks. He needs to have sneak attack enabled somehow or another. If not, he's best aiding allies by weakening the enemy's AC and trying to draw attacks. Winning initiative is critical for him and surprise rounds are even better.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

After being away from computer for 4 days, I have returneded! Tuesday & Saturday should be fine!
What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

I may be a few minutes late. Just relax and chill if I'm not there right away.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

1. We're still on for Saturday, right?
2. Next week looks like Tuesday and Friday. This may change since the schedule usually gets jiggered, so we'll see. I may also be able to manage Thursday as needed, I'm working early that day.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

Next week is a test week! Test is at 8am Saturday! Gonna have to be non-game. Sorry!
What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

Righto then. I'll talk to you about next session on Saturday and see what's realistic the week after. I'd like to get in at least one more before Christmas starts up, if possible. We'll see how it goes.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

Yuth: Remind me to talk to you about Iddy tomorrow.
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Yuthirin

Talk to me about Iddy tomorrow.
What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Anastasia

Yuth: Next week the following days are good for me.

Sunday the 15th, Tuesday the 17th and Saturday the 21st.

What sounds good for you?
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?

Anastasia

Quick update: Tuesday's out barring word otherwise. So it's just Sunday and next Saturday as open days now. Can we pull this off?
<Afina> Imagine a tiny pixie boot stamping on a devil's face.
<Afina> Forever.

<Yuthirin> Afina, giant parasitic rainbow space whale.
<IronDragoon> I mean, why not?