I posted this in the character builds thread just before it got locked up, so I'm reposting it here and hoping for some comments.
This build is intended to be playable from 1-40 for PvM more than PvP. If anyone feels like streamlining it for PvP, feel free, I'd be curious to see the results.
This is also my first "official" build, so feel free to tear it to shreds.
(b)Shadow Shifter(/b)
Ever see a chameleon?
Think really, really big chameleon. That breathes fire.
Starting stats:
Human
Str 8 Dex 13 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 18 Cha 8
Ending stats:
Str 8 Dex 14 Con 12 Int 14 Wis 30 Cha 8
Final levels: 14 druid/19 shifter/7 shadowdancer
AE stands for Animal Empathy, MS stands for Move Silently, Con (the first one) stands for Concentration, SP stands for Skill Points (the amount of skill points you'd have at that level).
You've got 18 extra skill points at the end, toss them into Open Lock and Disable Trap just so you can use those skills (dex bonus and other skill bonuses in KC or dragon will be enough in general). You can also put them into any other SD class skills, such as pick pocket (dragon claws are surprisingly good at purse snatching, apparently).
Now what do we end up with...
You're a shifter with all the shapes except for undead and construct. You've got outsider shape for rakshasa when dealing with mages. All your non-epic shapes are upgraded.
ALL your shapes have HiPS, Defensive Roll (fairly worthless, but hey), Slippery Mind, Uncanny Dodge, and Evasion. You also get Shadow Daze, which can be surprisingly useful with the dragon (we'll get to that in a second). Your shadow summon and shadow evade are downright useless.
Let's run a few calculations now.
Buff up with One with the Land, Camoflauge, Mass Camoflauge. Shift to dragon.
With no other buffs, you now have a 90 hide and a 70 move silently. If you're in a wilderness area, Trackless Step from being a druid will give you 94/74.
If you toss down a vine mine you'd get another +4 to hide... and if you took Stealthy as a pre-epic feat you'd hit 100 hide without any magic items. Just a fun thought.
Your Shadow Daze DC will be 10 + 7 SD levels + 13 dex = 30. Not stellar, but it can come in handy.
Tumble provides you with +8 AC, +2 from Armor Skin, and you've got expertise/improved expertise if you need them. Dragon gets a base AC of 43, so that's 43 + 8 + 2 = 53 AC, buff up with barkskin for +4 more for 57. Improved Expertise will give you 67 if you really need it.
IKD lets your AB as a dragon reach +52 against medium creatures, +56 against small (+54/+58 if you're outdoors). Your AB is +44 (+46 outdoors).
All your other shapes will in general have a massive capability for stealth. I won't go through the calculations, but if true seeing is nerfed (or if you're up against a mage that's silly enough not to have it), mages are completely screwed as you hide from sight as a rakshasa and wait for their precious round/level buffs to wear out.
Concentration isn't required, but there wasn't much left that was useful. It'll be nice to have in rakshasa form if you start getting beaten on while trying to fling ice storms, and it'll help if you're casting in your normal form I suppose, but that's the first skill to go if you want another. Discipline is the one thing that's sorely lacking, but cross class and without any focuses in it, it won't help much. On the other hand, you should be able to keep away from anyone with knockdown by either your high AC in dragon form or just by using special abilities from a distance (manticore spikes work wonders).
If you want construct or undead shape and don't mind waiting a bit for dragon shape, replace dragon shape with either construct or undead and then take dragon shape on the druid level where you'd normally take the epic skill focus in move silently (and replace the epic skill focus in hide with move silently... it needs a boost far more than your hide score, given that you can get +20 from camo and mass camo combined).
Anyway...
Pros: You've got HiPS with a ginormous hide and move silently in pretty much every shape You've got a high AC from tumble and armor skin You've got IKD You've got most of the shifter shapes, all of which are upgraded You've got Outsider Shape for rakshasa goodness You've got +8 vs. spells with spellcraft (38 ranks +2 intelligence)
Cons: You're not a monk You're missing undead and construct for nice immunities True Seeing hurts (though you're still a powerful druid/shifter, so it's not going to kill you) Missing elemental shapes from druid No discipline _________________ "Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
Edited By griphook on 03/26/05 17:29
Looks like a very nice build
If you want Elemental Shape you could probably drop 2 SD levels, I don't think it'll hurt much. For Improved Elemental Shapes you'll need to rearrange some more, either drop SD to 1 (HIPS only) or you go to 16 shifter levels and level 4 SD, losing 1 epic bonus feat (probably Epic Skill Focus in hide or so).
I don't know if the (Improved) Elemental Shapes are really worth that, but should be possible to fit them in and still have the hiding stuff. Maybe I'll try it tonight if I have some time to spare .
Unfortunately I goofed somewhat on the shadowdancer prerequisites, as it's 8 move silently, not 7. Just bump it up to 8 on the level before you take the SD level and take 2 away from concentration and it should work.
You'd lose Slippery Mind if you went 16/19/5, but might be worth it for elemental shapes, since you don't have construct. If you go all out with 20/19/1, the elder shapes are nice, but you also lose Evasion and Uncanny Dodge. You also lose out somewhat on the playability from 1-40, but might be something to consider for a pure 40 build.
(edit)
Another slight goof: you get +5 from barkskin at that point, not +4... so that's 58 AC buffed, not 57. _________________ "Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
Edited By MA Sword on 08/17/04 09:39
Slippery mind isn't a big loss in this build. You should have a pretty solid will save as it stands with your WIS as high as it is and druid's saves. Keep in mind your epic greater wildshape levels. Also your dragon breath is based on your total druid and shifter levels.
Good call on the dragon breath, had almost forgotten about that.
I still like Slippery Mind since your will saves aren't going to be incredible (though your 30 wisdom makes sure they're not too bad either, that's true). With 8/8/4 druid/shifter/SD pre-epic, your will save is going to be +9 at 20, +19 at 40. +10 wisdom minimum gives you +29. So on second thought... yeah, it's not the most needed/useful thing.
Defensive roll definitely isn't worth the 5 SD levels, so the only real reason for having so many is the playability factor from 1-40. For a pure 40 build, going 2 SD (get one around 20 or so so you can bump up your move silently for the epic skill focus) would probably be best. 19 druid/19 shifter/2 SD for more druid power or 16 druid/22 shifter/2 SD for another epic shape feat would be the way to go in this case. _________________ "Intelligence is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
Edited By MA Sword on 08/17/04 20:48
I hope this is ok to do. I went ahead and built the version with only 2 SD levels. Also I noticed an irregularity.
) What irregularity did you find?
Wisdom = Start (18) + Adding points (8) + GW I-V (5) = 31