What is this creature that can lift huge rocks yet is hardly visible. Is it an ant? A beetle? A plane? No, it’s poisonous paralyte to the rescue. More poisonous than an ooze; able to swim long currents of acid. Fast enough to slide across grease. Small enough to run through nasty tentacles. Stinky enough to make Deekin put his head in bucket of water--- Wait who wrote that? --- An epic adventure must begin with great hero - Deekin (Disclaimer – the above may not represent BioWare’s depiction of its characters in NWN)
Hitpoints: 364 (max) 299 (average) Skillpoints: 301 Saving Throws (Fortitude/Reflex/Will): 24/22/20 Saving Throw bonuses: +2 vs. spells, +9 vs. poison, +2 vs. traps, +2 vs. fear, immunity: grease, web, entangle BAB: 24 AB: 38 (mundane), 45 (kobold with blade), 50 (kobold with blade, bull’s strength, blood frenzy, in wilderness) AC: 18 (naked), 39 (kobold), 42 (kobold buffed with brewed barkskin (+4) and blood frenzy (-1))
Death Attack: 9d6, paralysis DC 30 Death Attack with kobold blade: 16d6, paralysis DC 30, poison DC 24 (yes, both paralysis and poison can trigger on the same blow and ISA feats improve the sneak damage on the blade)
SKILLS Animal Empathy 32 (31) Disable Trap 1 (3) Hide 43 (43) (78 in wilderness with camouflage, one with the land, and kobold shape) Lore 43 (45) Move Silently 43 (53) (78 in wilderness with one with the land and kobold shape) (8 ranks were cross-classed) Set Trap 40 (40) Spellcraft 8 (10) Tumble 40 UMD 43 (42)
Pros: Ultravision + Darkness, Infinite Invisibility, undispellable 50% concealment from assassin Improved Invisibility (still subject to invisibility purge), and Hips with high hide and move silently skills, makes this build devastating against those without true-seeing. It has a decent strength for damaging crit immune as well.
Cons: Not much versatility in shifting; does not have trueseeing or a method for detecting stealth or invisibility.
Edited By Kail Pendragon on 05/08/09 09:49
Whiz, nice way around the assassin ISA thing! I am assuming that the kobald has a sneak attack, or, according to another post, we are all left wondering the same thing about death attack.
The thing i wonder though, you take power attack; you have 30 base str on a dex build (am i mistaken that str is overridden in kobald form?? yet no devastating critical?
Quote: Posted 05/07/09 22:23 (GMT) -- avado
Whiz, nice way around the assassin ISA thing! I am assuming that the kobald has a sneak attack, or, according to another post, we are all left wondering the same thing about death attack.
The thing i wonder though, you take power attack; you have 30 base str on a dex build (am i mistaken that str is overridden in kobald form?? yet no devastating critical?
Strength is not overridden in kobold. In fact the strength exceeds the dex override giving better AB than a dex build could. Dev crit. is nice but seemed a little hard to manage in such a build. Nevertheless, 16d6 sneak is nothing to scoff at either. Kobold has a 5d6 sneak on its blade to which the ISA II attaches for a total of 7d6 sneak which is added to the 9d6 death attack.
Edited By WhiZard on 05/08/09 00:02
Related Builds:
Shaper of Death High Wisdom
Nature’s Dark Avenger High Int
Death says Yip High Strength- surprisingly similar to mine, except it has no epic form and thus lower AB, damage, and AC, no access to level 3 druid spells, no brew potion (1.69 wasn't out then) for a quick protection against a hellball as well as maintaining blood frenzy, no resistance to acid (making it inferior at taking down mages), no improved evasion (making its higher reflex saves inferior to mine), however, it does have higher HP and a more developed skill set. I overlooked this one completely when I designed mine, because I thought with that few levels of shifter it wouldn't be comparable to an epic form build, and thus didn't read it. I was heartily surprised.
Edited By WhiZard on 05/08/09 03:30
Great build. I have been meaning to do a STR based kobold assassin forever! Kudos on the brew potion as a way around not being able to buff shifted.
I actually ( ) agree with Avado on the point of devcrit. It would cost you some feats, but how sweet is instant death on top of paralasys, sneak/death damage and a strong arm?
As for lack of detection, why are you holding on to massive lore, set trap and especially animal empathy in place of being able to out a hidden foe? Do most servers or modules even have animals that are that hard to charm?
Great build. I have been meaning to do a STR based kobold assassin forever! Kudos on the brew potion as a way around not being able to buff shifted.
I actually ( ) agree with Avado on the point of devcrit. It would cost you some feats, but how sweet is instant death on top of paralasys, sneak/death damage and a strong arm?
As for lack of detection, why are you holding on to massive lore, set trap and especially animal empathy in place of being able to out a hidden foe? Do most servers or modules even have animals that are that hard to charm?
Lore and UMD for compatibility in higher magic settings. Animal empathy for quick snagging of a meat-shield. Set traps for bunching up traps that are detectable only by rogues, for a surprise boat-load of damage and negative effects.
While a high spot or listen might be able to detect some stealth builds, most of the problems will come from invisible and sanctuary casters, because they won't lose track of him when he hides. High UMD and Lore will hopefully improve this characters chance at getting a true-seeing item which can be merged into the shape (thus remaining a property immune to dispel).
The kobold does have a defense against his own trick. Freedom of movement grants immunity to the death attack paralysis. Though HiPS is almost impossible to detect,most level 40 builds that can detect invisibility also have true-seeing. As a shifter, there is a form (wyrmling shape) that can fly around as an observation post, using true-seeing to inform you of dangers and potential targets.
Quote: Posted 05/10/09 21:28 (GMT) -- Deltutammatre I actually ( ) agree with Avado on the point of devcrit. It would cost you some feats, but how sweet is instant death on top of paralasys, sneak/death damage and a strong arm?
The thing about dev crit is you will be using up three additional epic feats if you want to keep weapon focus as well. The problem is because neither druid nor shifter has either move silently as a class skill or weapon proficiency martial as a selectable feat you are delayed in take weapon proficiency martial until level 15 on an assassin level (13 levels of druid/shifter is needed to meet the move silently criterion.
So that leaves level 18 for improved crit or weapon focus and the other is taken epic. However, neither assassin, druid, nor shifter gets any of the weapon focus or weapon critical feats as an epic bonus feat. Therefore, if you want dev crit. I would suggest taking away one ISA feat and two great strength feats for a strength of 28 which deals one less damage and has one less AB.
The earliest dev crit can come with this race, class, and starting ability score combination is level 36.
Edited By WhiZard on 05/11/09 01:03
So your going setting specific. I get that. You need less than half of the exixting animal empathy unless you are playing a mod with epic animals. I still like the build despite your approach.
So your going setting specific. I get that. You need less than half of the exixting animal empathy unless you are playing a mod with epic animals. I still like the build despite your approach.
Actually the androsphinx (level 18 magical beast) has a DC of 37. My skill roll is 32 + 1d20. So my animal empathy isn't drastically to high.
Quote: Posted 05/08/09 03:28 (GMT) -- WhiZard
Related Builds:
Shaper of Death High Wisdom
Nature’s Dark Avenger High Int
Death says Yip High Strength- surprisingly similar to mine, except it has no epic form and thus lower AB, damage, and AC, no access to level 3 druid spells, no brew potion (1.69 wasn't out then) for a quick protection against a hellball as well as maintaining blood frenzy, no resistance to acid (making it inferior at taking down mages), no improved evasion (making its higher reflex saves inferior to mine), however, it does have higher HP and a more developed skill set. I overlooked this one completely when I designed mine, because I thought with that few levels of shifter it wouldn't be comparable to an epic form build, and thus didn't read it. I was heartily surprised.
Here are koolthursdays thoughts on why he chose the level split 7/7/26 over 7/17/16 when he made "Death says Yip!":
Quote: It's possible to switch the level split up to Druid 7/ Shifter 17/ Assassin 16, which would gain you a +6 shortsword w/ 2d4 acid damage and 2d6 massive criticals, Improved Evasion, +3 AC, 3d6 additional Kobold SA damage, and 2 (epic shifter) bonus feats (Great Wis I & II and you have access to 3rd and 4th level druid spells). However, you would lose 10 to the death attack DC, 5d6 DA damage, and 3 epic assassin bonus feats (which are slightly better than the epic shifter bonus feat choices, imho). I prefer the version posted mostly because a 50% increased chance of success to the Death Attack is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you only get one shot, even though the Epic Kobold Commando does have some clear advantages (higher average damage, for one, whether or not sneak attacks are being landed).
edit: corrected level split
Edited By Mick Dagger on 05/12/09 10:58
Quote: Posted 05/12/09 10:55 (GMT) -- Mick Dagger
Quote: Posted 05/08/09 03:28 (GMT) -- WhiZard
Related Builds:
Shaper of Death High Wisdom
Nature’s Dark Avenger High Int
Death says Yip High Strength- surprisingly similar to mine, except it has no epic form and thus lower AB, damage, and AC, no access to level 3 druid spells, no brew potion (1.69 wasn't out then) for a quick protection against a hellball as well as maintaining blood frenzy, no resistance to acid (making it inferior at taking down mages), no improved evasion (making its higher reflex saves inferior to mine), however, it does have higher HP and a more developed skill set. I overlooked this one completely when I designed mine, because I thought with that few levels of shifter it wouldn't be comparable to an epic form build, and thus didn't read it. I was heartily surprised.
Here are koolthursdays thoughts on why he chose the level split 7/7/26 over 7/17/16 when he made "Death says Yip!":
Quote: It's possible to switch the level split up to Druid 7/ Shifter 17/ Assassin 16, which would gain you a +6 shortsword w/ 2d4 acid damage and 2d6 massive criticals, Improved Evasion, +3 AC, 3d6 additional Kobold SA damage, and 2 (epic shifter) bonus feats (Great Wis I & II and you have access to 3rd and 4th level druid spells). However, you would lose 10 to the death attack DC, 5d6 DA damage, and 3 epic assassin bonus feats (which are slightly better than the epic shifter bonus feat choices, imho). I prefer the version posted mostly because a 50% increased chance of success to the Death Attack is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you only get one shot, even though the Epic Kobold Commando does have some clear advantages (higher average damage, for one, whether or not sneak attacks are being landed).
edit: corrected level split
I have read this analysis. Many comments assume starting at wisdom 12 and thus using shifter bonus feats for great wisdom instead of epic energy resistance. While he is more concerned about getting a paralysis on the first go; my build is concerned with doing better against damage shields and raking out better damage, AB, and having a higher AC. His analysis of a net loss of 2d6 sneak damage was in part due to the build he was comparing to, and in part due to him not taking into account the ISA feats. In fact, my build does more sneak damage than his. I also did not take armor skin, as he would have anticipated, and still have a higher AC than his build. I realize his concern for getting paralysis quickly, but HiPS builds are not completely ruined if they mess up. Had this build not had HiPS, I would agree wholeheartedly that higher DC is better.
Further koolthursday did not mention (as this was not a feature then) the effect of brew potion and how access to third level druid spells greatly improved the self-buffing and removal of negative effects. A quick protection from elements is able to resist a hellball after it has been cast. Remove poison and disease have tremendous value. Further the epic kobold feat improved evasion makes my reflex saves on a failure take just as much damage as his reflex saves on a success.
I was amazed when I first saw koolthursdays build, but now when I have had time to take a better look at it, I start to like yours too WhiZard _________________ I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it...
) agree with Avado on the point of devcrit. It would cost you some feats, but how sweet is instant death on top of paralasys, sneak/death damage and a strong arm?