Leah, Kadi's Dhampir Wilder

[Kadi]

Shaelia Racless "Leah Gart" "Shae" ir'Gart

"Life is a game, freedom the wager, thrill the spice. And I just can't stop playing."

"Men are for fun, girls are forever"

Full birth name: Shaelia Racless ir'Gart
Current identity: Leah Gart
Stage name for dancing and companioning: Shae

Roles: Social, Single-target blasting
Planned roles: some control, some summoning, limited AoE




Image: http://imgur.com/sBeKlkh (Those are not red eyes you are seeing there.)

[Zanaikin]

Giving you this for free since you're new =P

Penumbra Bracelet
* Penumbra [PaizoBlog](constant effect): Keeps the wearer always slightly in shadow. The wearer does not suffer any penalties or blindness caused by bright light, such as those from Light Sensitivity and Light Blindness. This does not affect the dazzling or blinding effects of Light spells.
(Cost: 3,000gps = 2,000 x 0.5 splvl x 3 CL x 1.5 duration )


also background stuff:
(trait): Once per day when using Diplomacy to improve a creature's attitude towards you, you may reroll your check; you must take the second roll, even if it's worse.
(feat): may Take-20 on Charisma-based checks to charm, convince, persuade, or seduce people who are at least warm in attitude.

[Kadi]

Alright. Except for the thousand tiny things I must've overlooked, I at least feel ready.

[Kadi]

Seeing how crowded melee combat is going to get in the future (I just didn't find a good path this time) and how we're lacking some in pure, unadultered firepower, it somehow turned into me rebuilding Leah into a Wilder for after Mission 2. It'll just be the same old secretly-half-vamp Leah, just now with more psionics and less sneak and stab. I'm not changing because I'm not hitting a thing, btw. Definitely not. If I say I'm not, I'm not.

That being said, I'm open to suggestions and criticism regarding the necessities I'm not taking, the flaws that I am taking and what else might be good or nice or, especially, awesome.


For now, my plans include Psionic Meditation, Astral Constructs and some other nice discipline powers via Expanded Knowledge (Energy Missile?).
Wilder Leah (WIP): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kPx ... sp=sharing



Current questions:

Feat Selection: (especially for lvl 1)
Persistent Power - How many "poofs on save"-powers am I going to pick anyway? (Mind Thrust, Time Hop, ?Mind Control?, ?no Touch Sight?, no Decerebrate)
Extend Power - How many powers with decent durations am I going to pick anyway? (Astral Construct? Many defenses seem to fall into the gap "long enough for one combat, not long enough for more even at double length")
Empower Power - Better Blasting. At least I know I'll have enough powers it applies to.
Improved Initiative - Blast and wall (later) before anyone else

Split Psionic Ray - almost a certain pick, just later.
Echoing Power - Echoed Split Disintegration + 1 Hero point = Quattro Death Beaming?

Which feats/kinds of feats am I overlooking?
Psionic Meditation (focus as a move action), Boost Constructs (extra menu option), Improved Metamorphosis (extra menu option) and Expanded Knowledge (Discipline Powers) are on my radar, too.

Energy Missile vs Energy Ball:
Energy Ball - Good AoE, comes late (level 11)
Energy Missile - smaller Area, limited number of targets, no friendly fire, earlier
Cones, lines, self-centered bursts, crystal effects - friendly fire, limited area, friendly fire, scales not as nicely.

Defensive Measures:
Inertial Armor - I can wear armor myself, but it would augment nicely
Force Screen - Good shield bonus, but doesn't augment as nicely
Vigor - Very cheap HP, especially if surged. Helps not just against attacks. Lowers requirement of true healing (=>Dhampir)

Level 2 power selection:
Cloud Mind - Mind Affecting, SR-affected, poofs on save => very unreliable. Persistent Power would help, but still. Fun power nonetheless.
Concealing Amorpha - Another defensive option unneeded? Greater version would give full concealment => better?
Control Sound - Plain but useful, especially with creative use. Not augmentable.
Energy Adaption, Specified - Postponed for the general version... which I might never take.
Energy Push - Overlaps with Energy Missile as an Energy attack power. Can use Split Psionic Ray.
Metamorphosis, Minor - So many uses. Might get retrained later if I pick higher versions via feats, though, so what to replace it with?

Psicrystal Personality:
+2 Fort - Low save
+2 Will - Is the good save anyway
No reflex
+3 Concentration - difficult to raise, potentially very useful
+3 Sense Motive/+3 Diplomacy/+3 Perception/+2 Initiative
Note that Ultimate Psionics introduced a staff that, as long as the crystal connects to it, doubles the bonus personalities give.

[Squall255]

Feats:
Interesting choice with Persistent Power, I like the idea of using your Wild Surge to apply a Metamagic feat instead of just increasing damage. I'd note that you currently only have 1 power that allows a saving throw, but don't really have any better suggestions for a Metapsionic feat.

Persistent Power will also help with your Energy Missle/Energy Ball powers, making it more likely to deal full damage. Good as a proof against bosses rolling well on their saves. (Also, from a balance perspective, it will seem more fair and help avoid NOVA problems)

Extend: don't bother.

Empower: this gets better as your levels get higher. Right now it's no more efficient than just using those 2PP to augment for more damage. It would be a late game choice, I see it as roughly equal to Persistent Power.

Improved Initiative: while blasting early in the round is nice, I think you'd be better served picking up something that actually affects your blasting.

I approve of all the things on your "to get" list. Probably in that order as well.

For some fun flavor: would allow you to capture people pretty easily.




Powers:
Mind Thrust is a great opening plan for damage.
Minor Metamorphosis is an amazing buff

Crystal Shard is a good way to avoid Elemental damage.

is also a good choice.

Note: with all Energy spells, when you start your Psionic Focus, you will pick 1 energy type [Cold/Electric/Fire/Sonic] and that is the element that your Energy spells will use. You can change your choice by regaining psionic focus (full round action until you get that Psionic Meditation you plan on getting).

Energy Ball vs Energy Missile: I'd honestly say get both. Energy Missile is going to be your go-to for AOE damage for a while, but Energy Ball is Long range which will allow you to potentially open up with a volley or two before the group can close.

I'd say consider the Energy Bolt, but honestly it probably won't be that useful. You have the right idea about the other attack patterns.

Defensive Measures:
Inertial armor is a very nice and cheap armor buff. it already matches +1 Chain Shirt if you Surge it. 1PP for 6 hours of a +1 armor sounds worth it to me.

Note: when you Wild Surge your Manifester level is increased, so your buffs also increase in duration. Inertial Armor would also be augmented for an additional point of armor with Wild Surge at this level (1PP for 5 Armor for 6 hours is VERY efficient)

Force Screen: not bad, but since you can wear a normal shield, and the duration is only min/level I'd avoid it.

Vigor is not that great. You have a Vitalist in the party to handle healing, and your PP would be better spent on buffs I can't give you, or that patented Wilder DPS. Actions spent manifesting this are actions NOT spent killing bad guys.

Level 2 powers: Stick with Minor Metamorphosis. It scales, and I want to steal it from you starting next level

Psicrystal: Concentration or Fortitude. Skills are cheap to raise. Fortitude is more expensive, and tends to be costly to fail. Concentration is even harder to raise. (15+(2 to 18) vs 1d20+ level + Charisma is your main concentration check, and you should be looking to boost your Charisma to a +9 before we hit the high end of those DC's. so DC 33 vs 1d20+17(level when you need to make this check)+9 is a win on a 7) There's a feat that gives +4 for Manifesting Defensively, which wouldn't be the worst idea. Though you should avoid being in melee if possible


Next level plan: take either or with your Expanded Knowledge bonus feat. Use your HD5 feat to pick up Psionic Meditation


items to look for: Cognizance Crystals! they're basically rechargeable PP batteries. Note: when manifesting a power, all of the PP has to come from the same source (the Crystal, or your PP pool, not both).

feats to look at: if you're looking to go Astral Construct at some point. This would probably make a good HD7 feat.


With Surging Euphoria, you would most likely want to open combat with a Saving Throw spell (such as Mind Thrust) and then follow up with Ray type spells afterwards (assuming 1 important target) to make use of the Morale bonus on attack rolls. At average BAB progression, and with a decent Dex, you should be able to hit a lot of your ranged touch attacks. Talk with Dai about Warmage's Gloves (or something like that, can't remember the name/source at the moment) that give a bonus on attack/damage with Rays.

Hope that helps!

[Zanaikin]

I'd say Inertial Armor is probably better than Force Screen. Not only does Inertial Armor augment better, but (1) it's duration is considered a daily buff and (2) you'll want to spend the opening round casting AOE/disabling effects, rather than buffs. A +2 Mithral Heavy Shield (no ACP) only costs 5k and does the same as force screen; a +5 Mithral Heavy Shield costs 26k and is as good as casting a ML13 Force Screen every battle

Control Sound is great if you keep up good bluff ranks; I do simulate enemy morale, which means faking circumstances can do a lot.
Energy Adaptation is best left to the magic users and their superior Communal Resist Energy.
Energy Push isn't that useful in the current party composition (need a Field Control/Zoning specialist to make that really work well; aka pushing people into conjured pits, black tentacles, etc)

For Psicrystal, get Fortitude saves or Concentration checks. Against encounters from a GM like me who believes in prodding with every type of attacks to find a weak spot, you want to shore up your weaknesses =P You're a primary 'caster' that isn't divine, which means you will be the preferred target for Fortitude save effects.

[Kadi]

Alright. Thanks for all the advice and ideas so far. The problem with Defensive Measures may actually be me, refusing to have Leah strap a shield to her arm for aesthetic reasons. No matter the kind. But we'll see.

Energy Ray... there's little this can do that Missile couldn't, so I'll probably skip it. Bolt... if you can line the enemies up, it can be amazing I suppose, but few enemies will present themselves as such silver... linear platters. Right, Dai? Ball feels like too big an investment to me. Every Expanded Knowledge takes away other useful feats, and if I take Expanded Knowledge I can also take powers that increase my versatility more than Energy Ball. Teleporting, Scrying, Mind Reading/Controlling, "Illusions"...


P.S.: Planned out my advancements a bit in the doc.

[Squall255]

I was suggesting you use one of your Free expanded Knowledge from Student's Advanced Bond or whatever it's called. If you have something else at that level that seems more appealing, go for it

[Zanaikin]

In the end, all I can say is that as a blaster build (or as I prefer to call it: arty build), you want to have some form of AOE. Not multi-targeting, but lay down an area and hit everything in it, no matter how many targets there are in it. It is one of the most crucial responsibilities of that role. This will not be the first game where PCs might get swarmed by say, dozens of low Challenge Rate (1-3) kobolds, or goblins, or a few locust swarms.

The higher level the game gets the more noticeable this will get, since I'm one of those GMs who focus on designing good 'template NPCs' and simply scale up the numbers as the party rises in power, rather than keep throwing you against unique, high CR foes (only bosses will get that distinction) that takes hours to design, build, and stat out.

So, what AOE power you decide on is up to you. Concussive Onslaught? Energy Wave? Coordinate with Gorin for a Communal Resist Energy buff before unleashing Energy Blast? Just make sure you have at least one by mid-levels.

[Kadi]

Okay, I see your point. I fail to see how a classic Energy Bolt would even make a dent in those hordes, but I see the point. I suppose I'll have to make room for Energy Ball then. Or maybe I'll be stubborn and try to make do with terrain, Energy Walls, Ectoplasmic Shamblers and all that jazz. Ectoplasmic Shambler to take their sight + Control Sound to take their morale? UMD with a Wand of Fireballs? If the market is helpful, a Mind Stone with an appropriate power would do. (I still cannot imagine surviving against hundreds of enemies at once)

[Laharl]

A wand of fireball is highly unlikely to be much use against all but the weakest enemies, since it's limited to 5d6 unless you shell out for an increased caster level. More importantly, it's limited to a DC13 save unless you sacrifice a bunch of feats.

As to surviving huge masses of enemies, if only one in 20 can hit, and only one in 400 can crit, it's totally doable. If nobody in the party has big AOEs, though, we'll be in trouble. In all seriousness, I doubt we'll see more than a dozen enemies at a time. Dai's tried running mass combat in d20 systems with varying levels of hackery - we had one back in...late HS or early college for me that we had to play on a Go board to make it fit. Each stone was 9 enemy units. I don't think we're going to be dealing with that scale again anytime soon because the rules simply don't work.

[Zanaikin]

No we're never doing mass combat again. So okay hundreds is an exaggeration. But I can certainly send you up against two dozen easy; Pillars has actually shown me this works quite well to challenge powerful parties P= and seeing it used in a DnD5.0 precon showed me that it's actually not too troublesome if the variety is low enough. Even in WotR we've exceeded one dozen when we opened the barracks door...

[Sajuuk]

[Zanaikin]

Before the days when we figured to use Google spreadsheets to do maps...

Many ridiculous things were done xD (like hand-drawn maps updated by the round via cell-phone camera @_@)

[Kadi]

And an (yeah, that doesn't sound nearly as well) with Wilder-Leah's equipment, weight, moneys, everything.

I declare much of the finished as well, for now I'll stay sub-optimal and keep rejecting physical shields. Energy Ball decision is on hold, won't come up for 7-9 levels anyway. Thanks for the feedback, people.


Now I only need to update... the fluff. Character Background and stuff, but it should generally stay very, very similar. I wonder if I can fluff up how she Wild Surges exactly?
The "issue" I see is that Wild Surging doesn't necessarily take you over the limit. A level 4 Wilder has Wild Surge+2, so I can spend 1PP on a level 1 power, Wild Surge it to get 2 free PP for an effective 3, but that's still below my natural limit of 4PP so I'm not exactly supercharging. I'm just getting free PP to augment with from "nowhere". Thus I thought it could work if I said Leah draws in latent supernatural energy from around her to add to her powers, which comes with the danger of Enervation.
With her scholar's surge, that might just be the topic she's scholarly about. Or it can be seen as a regular old scholarly Psion neglecting his studies of different powers to specialize in tapping into more energy. Cripples the power selection for more fuel and punch. Mechanically a Wilder, but mechanics are meta...-physical in this case?