It is nighttime, at the great city of Tirmek, place where a vicious creature has made home, silent and deadly, another victim falls prey to his power, quenching his hunger for just one more day...
Man: "This time it was Fargus." Bartender: "Again? how many people have to die... just what are the guards doing?" Another man: "Easy for you to say." Man: "So, how goes the investigation, Krithnaya?" Krithnaya: "Not good, so far all I know for sure is every other morning there's a decapitated head somewhere, there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it." Bartender: "That's why I tell you, someone should just stay alert at night to catch the guy." Another man: "Problem is, apparently the killer is pretty strong. I heard that last week 3 guards were scouting town at night as bait to lure the guy out, and the next day there was again a bloody head out there while the other two bodies disappeared, we can be pretty sure they're dead." Woman: "Oh that's true, right after that happened, the next two days nobody was found dead, we thought the guards managed to kill him, but it seems we were wrong." Krithnaya: "Two days exactly?" Bartender: "You figured out something?" Krithnaya: "Probably, if he had two extra bodies and didn't kill in two days, then he needs to kill one per day." Man: "What for? it's not like you need to kill just like you need to go to the bathroom, eat or sleep every day." Krithnaya: "Or maybe it is, nobody has seen the actual killer, as far as I know, it could be some carnivore monster that devours human flesh." Another Man: "If that was the case, then why is there always a decapitated head at the scene? the heads are cut clean." Krithnaya: "Heads aren't tasty?" Bartender: "That's not funny." Krithnaya: "Sorry." Another man: "Anyway, do you not have a plan yet?" Krithnaya: "Almost, but I can't be careless as to place myself as bait, my theory is he decapitates from the shadows so that the victim can't run or yell for help, and that's supposing it's only one enemy." Man: "You think there's more than one?" Krithnaya: "The possibility is there, one person or creature would find it difficult to carry a body without leaving a trail, at least two to carry and one to erase the tracks, maybe." Woman: "We should just leave this creepy town, I'm not jeopardizing the lives of my family like that." Bartender: "And there she goes." Another man: "At this rate, we'll all get murdered in a few months, maybe leaving is a good choice." Krithnaya: "And letting the murderer go unpunished?" Man: "What else can we do? I'm not staying to find out if I can survive." Krithnaya: "Hmmmm, leaving town."
Krithnaya leaves the bar with a thought in his mind, he runs around town restlessly all day long, whatever plan he devised, a head was found again the next day.
Mayor: "I've gathered you all here today to give an important announcement!" Crowd: "Mumble mumble - did they catch the killer? - another man was found dead - mumble mumble - this is the end - we have to do something - when ---" Imperial General: "Silence!" Crowd: ... Mayor: "Due to recent events, I am sorry to say that the city is no longer safe, a serial murderer has defeated our militia, and I can't guarantee your safety anymore. I advice all civilian population to leave the city for a season. Reinforcements from the capital will come soon to take control of the streets, and they will provide safe conduit to the town of Everjot." Crowd: "But what about my house - and my belongings - and my fields - and my work ---" Imperial General: "Silence! the town will be sieged by our military and the killer will be disposed of ASAP, when everything is safe again we'll send a notice, that is all."
The crowd disperses.
Krithnaya: "Thank you mayor, it was a difficult measure..." Mayor: "You better not disappoint us now Krithnaya, or you'll be facing court martial." Krithnaya: "Trust me, I'll catch him soon." Imperial General: "Why do you need to evacuate all the town? when word gets that the reinforcements are fake the people will panic." Krithnaya: "The killer needs one person per day, I'm certain he eats their corpses, but I can't track him down whatever creature he is. The only way to leave him unguarded is to limit his supply, when facing starvation he'll definitely act rashly, enough to target him." Imperial Guard: "I can stay here to help you fight." Krithnaya: "Thanks, but I can't risk you too, if I fail, someone needs to know about this and send reinforcements for real."
The day was peaceful, and all the citizens left town, protected by the guards... no one was left in the entire city, other than Krithnaya.
So, it's just you and me now, Krithnaya speaks to himself, let's see how long you can last.
A day went through, then two days, three days, and nothing seem to happen... there are no signs of anybody roaming town.
I'm in deep trouble if he escaped along with the civilians... at this rate, I'll starve before him, my supplies won't last more than a few days. It's time to take action.
Krithnaya sets his backup plan in motion, there's nothing else to do but to use a bait, I wonder if he can recognize a human in the dark when he's so hungry he thought, while he summoned an air elemental and ordered him to walk around town.
"Come on, come on, I know you're there". Krithnaya was following his servant from the shadows with his bow ready. But Krithnaya overlooked that his poor sneaking skills would falter against a real shadow lurker.
A blade struck from behind directly to his neck, which Krithnaya managed to avoid almost entirely, knocking him down.
I'll be damned he's good, a little closer and I'd be dead, he thought, as he resisted the pain from the wound in his neck but his enemy was not going to stay idle contemplating his prey, he's very hungry after all, so he jumps over Krithnaya to repeat his mortal strike.
Krithnaya casted a Flame Strike on himself, in order to blow him off and make his Air Elemental notice the battle. Now Krithnaya is burnt and wounded, but it's not over yet. The bright light of the Flame Strike revealed a terrifying secret, allowing him to see for the first time the body of his attacker: a Shadow Slayer.
Horrified by its demonic appearance, a black humanoid monster with blades as hands and teeth like spikes, Krithnaya remembered a picture of that creature in old mythic texts, which tell that the Shadow Slayer is the very incarnation of carnage, a creature surely born in the dark depths of some unknown plane which we don't even want to know about.
The Flame Strike altered the Shadow Slayer long enough for the Air Elemental to come, so Krithnaya took the oportunity to shoot an Arrow of Death. At no real surprise, it had no effect, the arrow barely penetrated through its hard skin, not even injuring it enough to distract him from fighting the Air Elemental.
"The light seemed to bother him somehow, so I'll cast a Sunbeam".
As predicted, the Air Elemental was defeated, but just in time to let Krithnaya use his spell. The light flash blinded the Shadow Slayer affecting his movements, but it seem to have no effect on his body...
"It didn't work either, but it gave me time for my next action".
Krithnaya casted Creeping Doom, a giant mass insects to attack the Shadow Slayer, and then he used a Flame Leash on his feet to stop his movement, my critters will devour him, he thought, but the Shadow Slayer didn't scream or show any pain, maybe his skin is too hard for little insects to bite. The Shadow Slayer broke the Flame Leash, though blinded he walked towards Krithnaya ready to kill, slowed down by the Creeping Doom.
"He's smelling me now... so that's why my bait didn't work, he can recognize a human by its smell."
Krithnaya casted then Bombardment, in an attempt to knock down his enemy. The Shadow Slayer had no way of avoiding the huge boulders being blind, but he only seem to get more angry instead of more wounded.
Krithnaya felt out of resources, but he had another backup plan in mind, another which could only be performed when there was no one around to watch, he felt relieved that everyone left the city as it was his wish, so that he could fight without reserve. At last, when everything else failed, he shifted into a mighty Blue Dragon, the change in scent confused the Shadow Slayer, dragons just don't match his tastes.
But that was irrelevant, with all his power released, Krithnaya jumped over his enemy and slashed him with his claws frenetically, finally, it worked pretty well, and the Shadow Slayer died.
A few weeks later, the city was back to normal, but Krithnaya didn't get any recognition, everyone thought the militia came in and killed an assassin. It's for the best, he thought, that thing was really scary after all.
The Wise Shooter is a build made for all type of combat, he's specialized in fighting with a bow, but he can stand his ground with spells or even in melee using his shifted form. He ends with the full Druid spell list, Dragon Shape and Enchant Arrow X.
I've always found Druids very playable, since the Animal Companion and the Wild Shapeshift are very powerful on low levels, so I'll assume the build is fairly playable, I haven't played it yet to confirm.
I know probably taking both Listen and Spot is useless, but he's an Elf with really high Listen and Spot scores, I kind of like how that looks, it'll be hard to be hit by a hidden enemy.
Saving Throws: Fortitude: 23 Reflex: 22 Will: 33
Status: HP: 346 AC (naked / Heavy Armor): 16 / 23 (10 Base +2 DEX +4 Tumble / -1 DEX +8 armor) BAB: 26 AB (longbow, Rapid Shot): +50/+45/+40/+35/+50 Damage (longbow): 1d8 +9; Critical 19-20/X3 Spell Slots: 6/8/8/8/8/7/6/6/6/5
Buffed Status (True Sight, Owl's Wisdom, Barkskin, Empowered Bull's Strength): HP: 346 AC (naked / Heavy Armor): 21 / 28 AB (longbow): +75/+70/+65/+60/+75 Damage (mighty Longbow): 1d8 +12; Critical 19-20/X3
Dragons have a very useful DR 40/+6, so for low magical environments he has a very strong melee presence, other than that, the dragon abilities are regular, it has a decent AB and AC, though it's much weaker in AC than my usual monk dragons.
Unshifted AC is an issue, he has no DEX, no Monk WIS AC, and only Barkskin to improve it. I'm not sure there's much to do about it, avoid unshifted melee combat and use Premonition all the time, having a Heal spell or two ready to use should work too. Fortitude and Reflex also suck, except on dragon shape again.
My Buff List: Premonition, Energy Buffer, Owl's Insight, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Bull's Strength, Barkskin, True Strike.
Spellpower:
The spell DC is 22 + spell level, for a max of 31 on Storm of Vengeance, which is not really bad.
As for damage spells, Call Lightning, Ice Storm and Fire Storm are usually pretty effective, Empower Spell works cool for those.
Spell Penetration is ovbiousl not very good, Nature's Balance can lowers it by 4d4, which could work on some cases. Earthquake and Creeping Doom breach SR, but Earthquake is weak if you notice you can use those slots for Empowered Fire Storm or Storm of Vengeance. I wouldn't worry about a high SR Monk anyway, this build has too much AB to have troubles against magic-immune enemies.
What I'd recommend is having at least one of Creeping Doom and Storm of Vengeance just in case (Stonehold could also work, but SoV gets a higher DC and deals some damage), stunning or slowing the enemies is very useful for an archer.
That should cover everything up. _________________ "My name is Thaxll'ssyllia, but you simians may refer to me merely as "Sir", if you prefer a less... syllable intensive workout."
Edwin Odesseiron - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Edited By FinneousPJ on 03/18/08 06:47
Hmmmmm, I'm bumping this to see if I can get a reply (yeah, I've fallen that low). Wonder why nobody replied, I'd expect at least mods to look at builds... _________________
Quote: Posted 12/19/06 19:54 (GMT) -- FinneousPJ
Thax the Shadow Dragon sez: MONKS USE KAMAS. Just ask him.
Hmmmmm, I'm bumping this to see if I can get a reply (yeah, I've fallen that low). Wonder why nobody replied, I'd expect at least mods to look at builds...
I don't see any issues, Thax. Versatile, with a nice complimet of Druid spells with decent ranged potential, and then topped with the signature Dragon Shape at Level 33.... I would play this. It fits my style of having many different options and findind more than one way to skin a cat. _________________ Got Hommlet? World of Greyhawk Action Server (with 1/2 price ales on Mondays!)
Ariel, Ookla, RIDE!
Thanks grizz, glad to hear you like it.
I just noticed my post says "Edited By FinneousPJ on 03/18/08 00:47", so I wasn't completely ignored, but I don't know why, I guess I'll have to ask him. _________________ "My name is Thaxll'ssyllia, but you simians may refer to me merely as "Sir", if you prefer a less... syllable intensive workout."
Edwin Odesseiron - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
Edited By Thaxll'ssyllia on 03/30/08 16:43
Druid 25-26/AA 13-14/Wiz 1 could be an option too. Druid 25 for undispellability an dmore caster power and to keep the same amount of bonus feats, Druid 26 for infinite elemental shape at the cost of one bonus feat (EP?). It costs -3 AB, but it could be worth it. Personally I always like to see 25+ caster lvls.
Nice build anyhow, pity there's no room for Monk. _________________ They can't stop us Let them try For Heavy Metal We will die
Undispellable is a good variant, I always forget about that, normally I'd take 24 Druid levels to max out Owl's Insight, but that's useless without the Monk level, 20 isn't really that bad though it's true I use a lot of buffs so dispel would be awful.
I never found the lack of Infinite Elemental Shapes to be a problem. For the versatility side it could be nice, since this build should strive to shift and de-shift often depending on the situation, I just thought I needed a lot of Arcane Archer to make the bow worth it, and the dragon shape is the one that really makes his melee stance powerful, as it is he's gaining Dragon Shape before Elder Elemental Shapes anyway. _________________ "My name is Thaxll'ssyllia, but you simians may refer to me merely as "Sir", if you prefer a less... syllable intensive workout."
Edwin Odesseiron - Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
I, for one, really enjoys reading the stories that come along, and should perhaps have made a comment just to adress that.
That aside, I rarely make comments about builds unless I have something creative to add to it. Good build though. _________________ We are sons of Odin, and the fire that we burn inside is the legacy of warrior-kings who reign above in the sky I will lead the charge, my sword into the wind Sons of Odin fights to die and live again