/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

Have you read the Tome of Battle?
Swordsages are really, really good.

>>150504
No, but I have downloaded it now.
I'll make a Unarmed Swordsage version and a Drunken Master version of this character.
We can actually start with Swordsage since you have posted about it already. Let me build this crossclass version first:
>Monk 2, Unarmed Swordsage 3, Shadow Sun Ninja X is a classic build.
Okay, I'll read up on crossclasses.

>>150505
Shadow Sun Ninja advances most of what you want out of Monk, unarmed damage and flurry of blows.
Shadow Hand and Setting Sun maneuvers will aid you well in combat.
Desert Wind Maneuvers may also be flavorful, since Flame is in your name.

Sacred Fist is also worth looking at. It's both simple and powerful.

>>150506
>Shadow Sun Ninja advances most of what you want out of Monk, unarmed damage and flurry of blows.
>flurry of blows
Yeah, I read in one of the links you posted. The guy there jokingly refered to "Flurry of Blows" as "Flurry of Misses" due to Monk's mediocre attack bonus (I think it was) and also because that feat gives a penalty to the attack bonus for lower levels.

>>150509
Yes, the Monk's base attack bonus is one of its weaknesses.
Which is why Sacred Fist is one of the best prestige classes for it, being full BAB.

>>150510
>being full BAB.
I can see that.
>Desert Wind Maneuvers may also be flavorful, since Flame is in your name.
Cool I'm looking into right now.

>>150511
Flashing Sun and Distracting Ember are two of my favorites.
Leaping Flame goes well with Sun School.
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/magic/bladeMagic/maneuvers.html

So for this build:
>Monk 2, Unarmed Swordsage 3, Shadow Sun Ninja X is a classic build.
So which numbers on the ability scores would be fitting? Let's use the 27 total points in point buy here as well.

It seems as swordsages and monks both have similar pirorities when it comes to abilitiy scores. 1) Dex and Wis. 2) Str and Con. 3) Int. 4) Cha.
Does this seem about right?

>>150513
If you use Weapon Finesse and Shadow Blade, you can drop your Str as low as 10, in favor of maxed Dex.
Charisma is a dump stat. Int is low priority.

Swordsage Handbook:
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?259783-3-5-Swordsage-Handbook-This-one-ll-walk-the-whole-Way-WIP-PEACH

It seems like fate that my swordsage would be a pony; It's called Maneuver.

>>150528
Yes.
The Sublime Way can be fluffed Differently in different settings, and different cultures may know the nine martial disciplines by different names.
For example, Swordsages who worship Celestia might know the Desert Wind Discipline as "The Searing Light of Celestia", or Swordsages who worship Luna might know the Shadow Hand Discipline as "The Dark Side Of The Moon".

Setting Sun's name works well in a pony setting, and I could imagine Shadow Sun Ninjas as Monks dedicated to the teachings of both Celestia and Luna and disciples in the meditations of war.

>>150529
Virgin Flame (Second Build)

Monk Level 2
BAB: +1
Fort: +3
Ref: +3
Will: +3
Unarmed Damage: 1d6
Class Feats:
Flurry of Blows
Unarmed Strike
Evasion
Bonus Features (Might change later):
Stunning Fist
Combat Reflexes
Health Points: 2d8

Swordsage Level 3
BAB: +2
Fort: +0
Ref: +2
Will: +2
Maneuvers Known: 8
Maneuvers Readied: 5
Stances Known: 2
Class Features:
Quick to Act +1
Discipline Focus (Weapon Focus)
AC Bonus
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: As a swordsage, you are proficient with simple weapons, martial melee weapons (including those that can be used as thrown weapons), and light armor, but not with shields.
Heatlh Points: 8+2d8

I know I don't work the fastest but this is what I got so far. I'm gonna get started with skills after I have put down her ability scores for this build.
It seems it's better to start of as a swordsage because you get more skillpoints to spend at level one as a swordsage than as a monk.
>Pics

>>150529
Yeah, they could definitely be disguised as something that exists within the universe.

>>150531
Or not, tbh. A lot of the more Warlike Maneuvers, like Diamond Mind, Setting Sun, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw, Ironheart, and White Raven are exclusively extraordinary abilities, indistinguishable from the martial feats that Fighters use in any way except for their mechanics. You're free to flavor your martial Adept as a simple martial artist who just happens to actually be good at martial arts.

>>150530
http://www.propelled.de/extern/chargen and with 27 total
Str: 10
Dex: 16
Con: 12
Int: 12
Wis: 14
Cha: 9 (bacause I couldn't gain any modifiers from it might as well make her a little bit less uncharismatic)

>>150532
Instead of one of my bonus feats I could use this. You mentioned this earlier, I remember.

>>150534
Superior Unarmed Strike is indeed a good feat for Monks concerned with damage.
Improved Natural Attack too.

Oh yeah, if you want to be a Swordsage, the Adaptive Style feat is considered to be practically mandatory.

>>150536
Btw, ou said this:
>You should gain one feat at lvl 1 (three, if you take two flaws), and another feat at lvl 3.
Here: >>150495 →
I looked for this in the PHB 1 but I couldn't find what you based this on. Is it perhaps in the second PHB?

>>150537
You gain a feat at lvl 1, lvl 3, lvl 6, and every 3 levels after that. This is a basic rule of character creation.
It should be in the PHB somewhere.

>>150538
It sure was. Just found it. It was actually obivious where it was-.(\

How are you calculating these ability scores? How many points are you using?

>>150661
>>150533
>27
And this http://www.propelled.de/extern/chargen

>>150875
Well, you don't have very much to work with there... I would strongly recommend a single-stat dependent casting build.

I would advise going for a Monk 2 / Cleric 3 build to be a Sacred Fist, and then put as much as you can Into Wisdom.

You can use Wisdom for attack rolls with the Intuitive Attack feat. This will allow you to attack with the same stat you cast with.
Clerics have very good buffing spells, so you can use your Cleric buffs to substitute for lower physical stats. It has the issue of power-up-dance syndrome, but Clerics are notoriously better at fighting than actual martial classes (see: CodZilla).

Sacred fist will advance everything you want from Monk, while giving you full Cleric casting. The Sacred Flames feature is also rather thematic for your build.

Iirc, the game you are playing in affords Earth Ponies +2 Str, +2 Con, and a bonus feat at lvl 1, so apply those accordingly.

A Monk / Paladin Argent Fist with Serenity and Intuitive Attack could also be a very potent low-stat Wisdom build, although spellcasting is generally stronger. The Argent Fist also gains flaming fists, so that fits your theme.

Then again, so does the Swordsage, and the Sun Soul Monk, and the Sacred Fist. 3.5e writers seem to be obsessed with fiery fists for some reason.

>>150877
>Iirc, the game you are playing in affords Earth Ponies +2 Str, +2 Con, and a bonus feat at lvl 1, so apply those accordingly.
I think you might confuse it with this >>106507 →
>Earth Ponies:
>+2 Str +2 Con
, or maybe you're completely right.

So, have you settled on a build?

>>150908
Yes, for that campaign I decided to go with this, >>150640 →

But for this alternative I do for fun, I haven't been building on it since last time.

>Codzilla
is a cleric and a monk multiclass, yes?

>>150921
>Codzilla
"Cleric Or Druid - Zilla"

>>150921
>decided
Alright then. I guess my work here is done.
If you ever want to RP, chat or ask questions, just give a shout. I'm always lurking.
I like your character. I would love to play with her some time.

>>150930
>If you ever want to RP, chat or ask questions, just give a shout. I'm always lurking.
Yeah, I will. Thanks for the help. It's been insightful: [1d20 = 2]

I've been trying to make an ubermount build, but I became really interested in how to make use of those feats, especially with ACF chains.

Has anybody else combined Devoted Tracker with Holy Mount for an ubermount build? I'm pretty interested in it, since I realized the Light Cavalry ACF for Scout gives them access to a paladin's special mount, which could make it great for Swift Hunter or even Swift Avenger builds if you combine those feats. You just have to wrangle in Smite Evil, which I guess can be gained with the Planar Touchstone feats.

I found a handbook:
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?210550

I once wanted to try a high-level Druid/Sha'ir/Scout build that used Arcane Heirophant to combine a familiar with an animal companion, and devoted Tracker to combine the animal companion with a special mount, combining Holy Mount, Devoted Tracker, Theurgic Bond (twice), Devoted Tracker, and Theurgic Mount, although that game never actually manifested..

Hey, just a question: are there any combinations of feats and spells that can get anywhere close to the scale of the locate city bomb and also works completely RAW for sorcerors? Asking for a friend of course

>>165358
LCB doesn't work RAW.
Tbh, if you want to max out your direct damage, just look up "The Mailman" sorcerer build.

>>165358
>LCB
Idk why people keep bringing up this 18 year old joke. Some youtuber must have made a video recently, because I keep hearing about it on discord. It never worked RAW, and had no practical game application even if it did.

Anyway, if LCB type stuff if your first thought, you're approaching Sorcerer builds in a way that might be unrewarding down the line. Spending 6 feats just to do an enormous amount of damage is beneath you as a mage; that's a martial character's job.
But you've peaked my interest. There are lots of ways to approach Sorcerers, but what style did you want to play? Were you interested in vast AoEs (War Magic Study; War Weaver, Widen/Enlarge Spell, etc), or just direct damage in combat (Mailman build)? Were you interested in combining different metamagic effects for cataclysmic combinations of arcane might (Mind Mage + Psi-Spell feats, Incantatrix), or just wanted to commit more efficient warcrimes (no limit to the options here, although I'm partial to defiling Mahou Tsukai and the Taint of evil).
And if your idea was "I want to exploit loopholes to blow up the world", there are lots of old theoretical optimization threads I can point you to, many of which actually work RAW. I'm kind of bored of absurdist TO builds though; and I wouldn't really reccomend using them in actually games because all you'll do is piss off the table and get yourself kicked out, and even if you don't you might find that spending all of your resources on one world-destroying gimmick isn't that fun down the line when you could instead spend a quarter of your resources on village-razing gimmicks and the rest of your resources on other cool stuff that you can actually play.

Imo, the best and most gratifying Sorcerer is a Sorcerer that fits to a theme or style of some kind. As a Sorcerer, the spells you choose are an extension of your personality and define you as a character. With so many spell options to choose from, you'll seldom be forced to choose between power and flavor, so long as you know where to look.

>>165362
>Idk why people keep bringing up this 18 year old joke
I just looked around for ways to commit hilariously gratuitous mass murder and I'm already playing a DPS-focused sorceror, so I figured that having some way in my skillset to replicate the detonation of a nuclear bomb would be hilarious. As for what I want to do, I just want to become a living weapon of mass destruction (or alternatively be capable of waging a successful campaign of genocide on my own.) I'll definitely look into yours and >>165359 's suggestion of the mailman build, since big numbers are always fun.

>>165372
>Mass destruction
Up your metamagic game, but in that case consider area over damage. Widen Spell and Enlarge Spell could be your friends. Pick spells with large areas, such as Firebrand, and apply metamagic to make them bigger.
The mailman is an example of a single target damage build.

That being said, all Sorcerers have access to mass destruction. Even a 10th level mage can reduce fortresses to rubble.

Have you considered War Magic Study? It could help you write versions of other spells with the [War] descriptor, which are naturally widened and affect more targets. It's expensive, and is subject to additional ad hoc limitations by the DM (note how the sample [War] version of magic missile prohibited attacking the same target with all missiles, and the sample version of [War] Animate dead caused the legion to crumble after the end of the duration), but it might be what you're looking for.

If you just want TO optimization for the joy of reading it, check out the old Giantintheplayground threads. I think minmaxforums also archived a lot of the brilliant gamologists threads, and a few of the ones on the old WotC site forums before that was torpedoed (because Hasbro fucking hates its fans).

Anybody here have an opinion on how Midnight Augmentation is supposed to work?
Does it reduce the total power point cost, or reduce the cost per augmentation?