The knight entered the cemetery gate at sunset. For more than a week he had tried to track down the evasive elf. The daylight had lost some of its brightness and soon it would be dark. He saw the silhouette of the elf between two headstones and walked up towards him. He looked forward to finally putting an end to his unholy rituals. The elf was dressed in a dark robe. His long, greyish white hair flowed down over his shoulders, and made it difficult to see the features of his sickly pale face. As the knight approached, his vision of the elf blurred, and the next moment the elf had vanished. A sad melody filled the air. A dark feeling of loss grew inside the knight, disheartening and draining, as if he no longer had the will and power to lift his sword. He focused his will, and tried to shrug off the sad feeling. Suddenly there stood a mean looking skeleton in front of him where the elf had disappeared. It had lifted its heavy sword to swing against him. He blocked the heavy blow with his shield as he drew his sword and split the skull of the attacker in a single motion. The skeleton fell shattered to the ground. Next, he could spot a shadow moving in narrowing circles around him. He swung his sword after it, hitting nothing but air. Someone tapped his shoulder. He spun around and faced the elf. Seemingly he had appeared out of nowhere. The elf smirked, and the knight reacted with a blow at his neck with his blade. It would have cut the head off anyone. But suddenly the elf seemed to be ethereal, the sword unable to harm him. Once more the elf vanished in the thin air, to reappear the next moment, poking the knight from his unguarded side with a narrow rapier. As the elf kept attacking the knight in this fashion, an unnatural darkness filled the cemetery. The elf cried out as he intensified his attacks, now making the knight bleed badly. The knight panicked as he felt the draining grip of a skeletal hand around his neck. He fled staggering and stumbling over the graves trying to reach the gate. When the darkness lifted, the sky was still red from the setting sun – red as the blood pouring out of the knight’s chest as he drew his last breath.
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The idea of this build is to make a stealthy character combining the powers of Shadowdancer and Pale Master. He is immune to sneak attacks and critical hits, has 50% permanent concealment, epic dodge and a reasonably high AC. From the long list of defensive class feats I’ll mention uncanny dodge, improved evasion, tough as bone and deathless mastery. Bard song and spells up to level 5 are also important for the character, as are his skills. The reflex saves are good. The will and fortitude saves are bad. This is to some degree compensated by slippery mind, bard spells granting immunity to mind spells and his immunity to devastating critical. The hitpoints are low. In part this is compensated by the evasiveness of the character, making him hard to hit. But he’s vulnerable to some non save spells like the IGMS. He will also lose much of his edge against true seeing. It felt natural to focus on the defensive feats with this character. In the end there wasn’t much room for feats boosting the attack. The high DEX, the song and spells helps the AB, but I wish there were room for the weapon focus feats.
The character wears robes and can use high standard monk gear. He can attack with bows, rapier, mace or any other simple or elf specific finesse weapon. His main fighting style is to dart in and out of stealth, attacking from everywhere. But he can also stand and fight as a tank against melee fighters, tumbling and dodging most blows. To aid him in this, he sometimes uses a shield. His high UMD allows him to cast all possible spells from scrolls. He can also summon different undead creatures to serve as a distraction.
The Ghost
Race: Elf
Alignment: NN, CN, NE or CE
Attributes : STR 10 DEX 19 (31) CON 10 INT 13 WIS 8 CHA 14 (15)
Ability points at level up go to DEX except at level 40, that goes to CHA
Hitpoints: 290 (maxed at every level) Can temporarily be raised to 306 with Bard Song
Saves: Fortitude 16 Reflex 34 Will 19
AB: 35/30/25 46/41/36 with buffs (Greater magic weapon, Cat’s grace, War Cry and Bard Song) The AC of opponents can be lowered with 3 from Curse Song
Damage: Mundane Rapier 1d6 (18-20/x2) GM Weapon +4 piercing (rapier) War Cry +2 slashing Bard Song +3 blunt Can add Flame Weapon from scrolls
AC: 34 in robes, no buffs or active feats: Base 10, DEX +10, Tumble +8, Bone Skin +6 65 in robes with mundane tower shield, fully buffed: Base 34, T shield +3, Improved expertise +10, Cat’s Grace +3 (DEX 36), Haste +4, Mage Armor +4, Bard Song +3, Shadow Evade +4 The AB of opponents can be lowered with 2 from Curse Song
Summons: Shadow, Skeletal Chieftain, Wraith and Spectre
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... griphook ..Corrected HP Typo _________________ I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it...
Edited By griphook on 10/14/05 21:24
AT level 36 you add 1 to you dex to get no benefit. If you put it to INT or CHA you will get a bit more than if you put it in dex.
AT level 36 you add 1 to you dex to get no benefit. If you put it to INT or CHA you will get a bit more than if you put it in dex.
Other than that I like this one.
Syrath
That's true:
It makes sense changing
STR 10 DEX 19 (31) CON 10 INT 13 WIS 8 CHA 14 (15)
To: STR 10 DEX 18 (30) CON 10 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 15 (16)
OR
STR 12 DEX 18 (30) CON 10 INT 14 WIS 8 CHA 14 (15)
And keeping the same levelling sequence. _________________ HEAD KNIGHT: Shh shh. We are now the Knights Who Say Ekke ekke ekke ptang zoo boing! RANDOM: Ni!
Edited By fernandooa on 10/14/05 15:30
That extra point in DEX may come in handy if you are not maxing out your +12 stat bonuses with equipement. An ODD roll on a Cat Grace spell would benefit from that ODD base stat.
(If you are factoring in buff spells at all in this build).
AT level 36 you add 1 to you dex to get no benefit. If you put it to INT or CHA you will get a bit more than if you put it in dex.
Other than that I like this one.
Syrath
If I add 1 to INT, I gain 5 skillpoints. If I add 1 to CHA, I gain 1 lvl 3 spellslot and +1 to the CHA based skills. I chose 1 to DEX to allow DEX 36 with a lucky Cat's Grace with no magical items. In a high magic setting providing +12 DEX from spells and items, I would have chosen differently.
BTW. hitpoints with bard song is 306, not 316. _________________ I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it...
Edited By Mick Dagger on 10/14/05 20:12
*to fernandooa
If I start with DEX 18 as you suggest, I'll have to drop either Epic Dodge or SC V.
Edit: Typo _________________ I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it...