Among those of his kind, Fuli knew of no others who worked in the cities. He was an agent for the Harpers, one of the few of the K'ghaz, the Leaf Dwarves as they were called in the common tongue. His life had been one of harsh living, hunting in the wild for food and aiding those whom he deemed fit to help. It was on one of these missions of mercy which he himself had needed rescue. None other than an Elf, a Harper as it turned out, came to his aid. While fighting a great mob of orcs, those who had slaughtered those in the village nearest his dwelling, a small assassin slipped a poison dagger into his thigh. Only his great dwarven fortitude saved him from death, but the effects upon his strength were still deliterious. Fuli would ahve perished had it not been for a song and a twirling figure coming into sight. A Bladesinger had seen his plight and decided to even the odds. The assassin perished, as did many of the orcs before they realized the peril they were in. With the host retreating deeper into the forest, Fuli was at last overcome by the poison. He awoke some time later, and found himself in a Harper safehouse, surrounded by Elves cleaning his wound with strange blue liquid. While no lover of order, it was clear to Fuli that a debt earned is a debt paid. His life was owed to the one who had saved him. The end result...working for the Harpers. And now, Fuli found himself crouching in the shadows of the city, waiting outside a warehouse. He was to meet a stranger here, to gain the information the Harpers relied upon to execute their plans. Why he was sent, he still wondered. True, he had since undergone their strange training, but still... there are others with a more golden tongue than a dwarf from the forest... Preparing himself for the worst, Fuli made sure his axes were tucked securely in his belt, and his broad shield was slung carefully over his back, for easy removal. The troll hide armor he wore was softer than the chain he sometimes wore, but it made for greater stealth. Before leaving his spot in the shadows, Fuli chanted the words he had learned years ago from druids deep in the forest. He felt more agile. Further encantations increased the feeling, and smoothed over his hair and straightened his beard. He was ready. Moving slowly from his hiding spot, he made his way around the warehouse, and carefully set his traps outside each exit. His memory would allow him to dive through windows and doors at need, and yet leave the traps outside them for whomever decided to follow. Getting into trouble was Fuli's area of expertise. Getting out of it was a part of his survival training. Finished with his traps, Fuli proceed to sneak around back to his hiding spot. From there, he pulled his cloak on, and with great charisma for a dwarf, sauntered up to the entrance. The evening was about to begin. Inside, the warehouse was empty. But...not empty. Fuli's beard began to bristle around the edges, where his hair had already begun to turn grey. Any seasoned woodsman knows when he is no longer the hunter. "Show yerself, " he grunted "...please." This was after all a diplomatic mission. He might need to be persuasive. A figure appeared in front of him, out of thin air. More like fat air. The figure was nearly twice Fuli's height, yet clearly as wide as Fuli was tall. Luckily intimidation is something a less civil person need not be taught. "You came alone?" The voice was monotone. Something about it seemed odd. As if it was..not...really...its own! Realizing his plight, Fuli sprang at the creature, withdrawing both axes as he went. The blades of his well-honed axes met their target, and neatly cleaved the zombie's head from its body. The body grabbed him anyways, and they both went down. The head laughed in a dead voice. Fuli broke free, and gathered his bearings...was it a door he wanted, or a window... The corpse picked up its head, and jammed it back on the neck with a sickening crack. The beast advanced. This time Fuli was fully prepared. His anger, while often aiding him in his specialty, sometimes helped him survive just as much. The rage burst forth, and he attacked again, this time taking off an arm with one swipe of his right, while cutting a leg off below the knee with his left. At this point Fuli noticed the darkness around him was full of moving shadows. Now was as good a time as any. Without another thought, Fuli ran for the door across the warehouse, slashing madly left and right in front of him as he went. Once through the crowd of undead, he let himself set off the trap. His magic would buffer him from the worst of the effects. This one was a fire trap, which activated the other fire traps as well. The lurching undead were soon caught in a burning house of their doom. Fuli was too busy putting out his beard in a nearby storm barrel to notice if any inside could be persuaded for information. Life with the Harpers was never dull. Sometimes Fuli missed the excitement of the wild, but it was nights like this that made it a little more bareable.
21 Ranger5 Great Con I, EWF 22 HS1 Great Dex I 23 Ranger6 24 Ranger7 Great Con II 25 Ranger8 26 Ranger9 27 HS2 EDR I 28 Ranger10 EP 29 Barbarian17 30 HS3 Great Str I 31 Barbarian18 32 HS4 33 Barbarian19 Great Str II 34 Barbarian20 35 Barbarian21 36 Barbarian22 Great Str III 37 HS5 Great Dex II 38 Barbarian23 39 Barbarian24 Great Str IV, EDR II 40 Ranger11
Basically this one is a decent tank. nice HP, some DR to help extend warranty and a few skills and spells to round out the char. Can sneak well enough, and set all but epic traps (and gas traps...DC 45?!?!). Taunt can be great help in finishing off tough opponents. If things get really bad can disappear with Invis and retreat to fight another day.
Comments and suggestions welcome. I wanted to get more DR and such , but I was happy with the end result anyways. Obviously, more Rage wouldn't hurt. Trading EDR 2 for Mighty Rage or Thundering Rage is also a good idea. Maybe better than what I made...up to you to decide!
-c _________________ "Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things." - Miyamoto Musashi
Edited By christian.schnabel on 11/06/05 08:00
Well done Chris! A nice build and using HS too
Regarding rages: In a mid-high magic world you won't need mighty rage to hit the caps probably. Personally, I'd go for thundering rage or maybe terrifying...or maybe even both at the cost of EDR. Scare 'em, smite 'em..and deafen 'em Once more, well done
Cheers, Kail _________________ Dilegua notte Tramontate stelle Tramontate stelle All'alba vinceṛ Vinceṛ Vinceṛ
Well, Christian, long time no build. It seems a good build, but still seem to lack something I cannot put my finger on. 1 thing to consider though, drop two Great strengths for EDR 3 and Armor skin. It costs you 1 AB and 1 damage for 2 AC and 3 more DR. Other than that it seems to be a versatile build, a bit jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none.
I like the story. It gives good flavour.
Ehm, another thing, you will suffer xp penalty from lvl 4 an all through his career. It might not mean much to some, just thought it should be mentioned.
Terrifying rage is truly an excellent ability. Against any enemy that isn't immune to fear it will put the odds of a battle decisively in your favor, since over the course of a fight they are going to have a lot of chances to fail their saves against it, and you can get a pretty darn high save DC on it too.
I'd shed 2 strength feats for terrifying rage and EDR 3 also
Mighty rage is a great feat for low magic worlds but in medium or high magic worlds it unfortunately loses a lot of its luster. I like it in certain instances so that I can swap strength gear for other gear in boss fights, but with only 3 uses per day it can't be run in every battle so you'd need strength gear anyway. _________________ Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.
Great story Christian and very unique build.
One thing that keeps coming back to me: is Harper Scout really worth it in this build? In essence, you're trading two pre-epic Feats (Iron Will, Alertness) for two Epic Feats (Great Dex I & II) and a few spells. Admittedly Cat's Grace is of great benefit to this lightly-armored build, but I'm not sure if the trade-off is worth it.
Maybe if you had Fighter levels to provide bonus feats I'd feel more comfortable with HS (and let's face it - all the builds posted here are for MY comfort ).
I'm not sure what I'd suggest in place of HS. I don't want to say it's a bad build (and that is NOT what I'm saying). Maybe I need to understand more what HS brings.
I keep thinking 5 levels of Shadow Dancer would be a nice complement to this build - imagine coming out of HIPS with raging fury....
Meh, maybe it's just me
Again: Great story and gratz on a really one-of-a-kind build!
Kaliban _________________ I want my two dollars!
thanks for the congrats. i have to confess, this build was made to goof around with the idea. i changed to dwarf at the last minute since i wanted to get EDR in there more easily.
kail: terrifying rage would be nice, but would require losing skill points, probably from taunt and putting them into intimidate. not a bad trade off really. up to the player.
grimnir: yes it has been a little while. the thing lacking is talent! GS I,II is a good idea to drop. the extra AC and DR is worth it, i would say. thanks. i was aiming for a versatile barbarian. otherwise, why bother with spells and skill points? and yeah, thanks for pointing it out. XP penalty ahoy off the port bow!
xylophone: yes, terrifying rage kicks butt. i don't have too much experience playing barbs, but i think that you are right. fear immunity is less common than strength enhancing gear. a good point to note in most modes and PWs.
kaliban: i think that HS really adds a little versatility in RP and gives tumble as a class skill, w/o multiclassing. but since persaude needs to be multiclassed, there is little trade off in not going for SD. i think SD is better. i was also considering rogue for a sneak attack.
well, thanks for all the help with EDR. if anyone else see some other interesting changes that can be made, please mention them. this char is obviously not terribly uber, but isn't half bad. any further pointers are appreciated.
