Post by maudlin27 on Sept 19, 2006 20:23:49 GMT
Since I've had alot of fun with this build I thought I'd post it here to see what other people thought of it. The basic idea of it was to create a character that would be so versatile it'd be useful in almost every situation. Enter the Mediocre Pixie!
Obviously this build requires the pixie secret subrace. If you don't have this you could attempt a substitute such as the Gnome - Svirfneblin, or PT - Air Genasi. These would miss out on several of the benefits of pixie, but would have some advantages, such as higher health.
I'll post the original build I used, and then mention a few improvements I might make to it if re-doing it again at the bottom:
"Pixie" (secret subrace) - requires Human (changes Appearance)
STR -2, CON -2, DEX +2, INT +2, WIS +2, CHA +2, +2 listen, +2 search, +2 spot, increased base movement rate - very fast, sr 10 + 1/lvl, free feat: Low-Light Vision, free feat: Dodge, reduces character size to small, able to walk on quicksand
Abilities (starting):
(8) 6 Str, (16) 18 Dex, (14) 12 Con, (15) 17 Int, (12) 14 Wis (8) 10 Cha
Feats (pre-epic):
Weapon Finesse
Toughness
Expertise
weapon focus: kama
Improved Critical: Kama
Extend Spell
Empower Spell
Maximise Spell
Imp Expertise
Combat Casting
SF: Enchantment
Epic feats:
Epic weapon focus: Kama
Epic Prowess
Great Dex I-IV
Wiz bonus epic feats:
Epic Warding
Great Int I-III
Improved Combat Casting
GSF: Enchantment
LL Feats:
Great Dex V-X
Spell book: Divination
Epic spell: Contingency:
Once the spell is cast, the next time the caster dies, he will instaneously be brought back to full health, cured of all ill effects, and then instantly buffed with every spell stored in his autocaster.
Level progression:
1 - monk
2-10 - wiz
11-12 - barb
13-17 - wiz
18 - monk
19-39 - wiz
40 - monk
I think the skills I chose were discipline, concentration, spellcraft, open lock, pickpocket, disable trap, and then some skills in search. Originally I also put some in taunt as well with my barbarian level, but I've never actually used it!
This char uses a kama and a torch as his weapon and 'shield'
Pro's:
Incredibaly versatile
Can melee almost as effectively as most other melee builds
Can cast a wide range of caster spells effectively against enemies without high spell res
Extremally high survivability:
-Decent AC (also have uncanny dodge so dont lose most of this when flatfooted)
-Very good damage resistance+reduction, along with 50% cold+fire immy from ele shield
-Good conceal
-Has contingency for the rare occasions where you might die
Access to other wiz buffs such as mind blank+shadow shield, providing useful immunities, as well as spell mantles for protection from spells
decent Spell Res
Can survive when unbuffed much more easily than other casters or even most staffmaster builds.
Decent ab (can get the +20 max ab bonus with ease with tensers+gmw, so can hit most enemies without too much trouble)
9 attacks per round at lev60
Less reliance on your rest ring charges (providing you've got a mord ring equiped so you dont need to rest just to rebuff, you can use up all of your spells, then melee effectively until you feel you need to rest, rather than hanging around feeling useless as a normal caster often would if you didn't have the charges to spare on your rest ring)
One of the fastest builds possible (excluding near-pure monks of course!)
Cons:
Is not as good a melee as a pure melee char in some situations (but can often be better than other melees in other situations)
Isn't as good a caster as a pure caster
Poor DCs on spells
AC not enough to survive on alone in some areas
AB isn't enough to hit some of the harder to hit enemies
Low health
Relatively low melee damage
Basically this character can handle almost any area thrown at it, better than a pure melee or pure caster build overall - for areas that casters would normally struggle in such as the maze due to high enemy spell res you can melee, while in areas that melees will usually suffer as they can't cast aoe spells, you can cast MS to your hearts content. In the unlikely event that both of these tactics fail (e.g. you're up against enemies with both high spell res and ac), you've always got your damage shields to fall back on, while your ac+conceal will ensure you take damage at a nice measured pace allowing you to heal in time.
One key feature of this build I like is your ability to mass areas much more effectively than other casters when your spells can damage the enemies. For example in the desert with my pure caster build I would often have trouble getting petrified, or killed quickly, despite being able to wipe the enemies out v.fast with my meteor showers. However this character is able to run into the middle of a group of enemies and cast ms and usually live to tell the tale! I think I've currently got my char to lev48 and have 113 AC when buffed, which increases to 123 with imp expertise. This would obviously increase as I gain more levels. My ab is currently 64 I think (when buffed, and going by combat logs - its more like 84 if i use the deceitful char sheet), which would again increase with more levels.
The only area I've had problems with so far has been on a dusty run, and this was more down to lack of equipment and lag spike problems than anything else. While I was able to absorb/resist all of the fire damage coming my way when buffed, my character would frequently die due to the magic damage, as the best resist he had at the time was only 5 (I had about 4 rare+UR items equiped at the time giving elemental+exotic resist and thought at least one had resist 10, but only realised after examining more closely). My poor health meant I therefore would die fairly quickly, while the lag spikes I was getting at the time meant i often couldn't get a heal off in time. My character's been able to fare much better off in the desert than my other immos though, hardly ever getting petrified or being filled with living sand, with the implosions being the only thing that seem to kill him that often. However these wont be a problem as you gain levels, as your spell res will increase enough to resist most implosions, while your saves will usually save you from the others.
Improvements I might make to this build if re-doing it:
I'd drop the sf and GSF: enchant, and replace them with the spell penetration feats, as my biggest annoyance is not being able to harm enemies with moderate spell res (it still wouldn't be enough to touch high spell res enemies like the maze guardians or the devariels probably though)
I'd also reduce my starting wisdom, and put the points into con, as at the time I didn't realise there was a +20 cap to natural armour, meaning with +16 ac from an UR ammy and +6 bonus from your spell wis buff you can get away with 6 Wis (though I'd still advise 8-10 min incase you can't get that UR ammy or want to have an easier time leveling until you can use it, as well as having a better unbuffed ac).
I'd also probably drop the improved critical: kama and swap that for a spell penetration feat, allowing me to take [edit - correction in feat] Epic Spell Penetration [/Edit]. The difference the imp crit makes isn't that great as the kama has a poor crit range anyway, and alot of enemies are immune to crits as well.
Oh, a few notes on my level choice incase anyone was wondering - I chose barb and monk levels to get access to monk ac, flurry of blows, evasion, uncanny dodge and speed bonus. I chose monk at lev 1 for the bonus skill points, as well as 40 to max out skills. The barb levels also had the bonus of giving me higher hp than if I'd gone for a monk/rogue build instead, as 2d6 sneak attack wouldn't make much difference anyway given my build would have low physical damage output.
Obviously this build requires the pixie secret subrace. If you don't have this you could attempt a substitute such as the Gnome - Svirfneblin, or PT - Air Genasi. These would miss out on several of the benefits of pixie, but would have some advantages, such as higher health.
I'll post the original build I used, and then mention a few improvements I might make to it if re-doing it again at the bottom:
"Pixie" (secret subrace) - requires Human (changes Appearance)
STR -2, CON -2, DEX +2, INT +2, WIS +2, CHA +2, +2 listen, +2 search, +2 spot, increased base movement rate - very fast, sr 10 + 1/lvl, free feat: Low-Light Vision, free feat: Dodge, reduces character size to small, able to walk on quicksand
Abilities (starting):
(8) 6 Str, (16) 18 Dex, (14) 12 Con, (15) 17 Int, (12) 14 Wis (8) 10 Cha
Feats (pre-epic):
Weapon Finesse
Toughness
Expertise
weapon focus: kama
Improved Critical: Kama
Extend Spell
Empower Spell
Maximise Spell
Imp Expertise
Combat Casting
SF: Enchantment
Epic feats:
Epic weapon focus: Kama
Epic Prowess
Great Dex I-IV
Wiz bonus epic feats:
Epic Warding
Great Int I-III
Improved Combat Casting
GSF: Enchantment
LL Feats:
Great Dex V-X
Spell book: Divination
Epic spell: Contingency:
Once the spell is cast, the next time the caster dies, he will instaneously be brought back to full health, cured of all ill effects, and then instantly buffed with every spell stored in his autocaster.
Level progression:
1 - monk
2-10 - wiz
11-12 - barb
13-17 - wiz
18 - monk
19-39 - wiz
40 - monk
I think the skills I chose were discipline, concentration, spellcraft, open lock, pickpocket, disable trap, and then some skills in search. Originally I also put some in taunt as well with my barbarian level, but I've never actually used it!
This char uses a kama and a torch as his weapon and 'shield'
Pro's:
Incredibaly versatile
Can melee almost as effectively as most other melee builds
Can cast a wide range of caster spells effectively against enemies without high spell res
Extremally high survivability:
-Decent AC (also have uncanny dodge so dont lose most of this when flatfooted)
-Very good damage resistance+reduction, along with 50% cold+fire immy from ele shield
-Good conceal
-Has contingency for the rare occasions where you might die
Access to other wiz buffs such as mind blank+shadow shield, providing useful immunities, as well as spell mantles for protection from spells
decent Spell Res
Can survive when unbuffed much more easily than other casters or even most staffmaster builds.
Decent ab (can get the +20 max ab bonus with ease with tensers+gmw, so can hit most enemies without too much trouble)
9 attacks per round at lev60
Less reliance on your rest ring charges (providing you've got a mord ring equiped so you dont need to rest just to rebuff, you can use up all of your spells, then melee effectively until you feel you need to rest, rather than hanging around feeling useless as a normal caster often would if you didn't have the charges to spare on your rest ring)
One of the fastest builds possible (excluding near-pure monks of course!)
Cons:
Is not as good a melee as a pure melee char in some situations (but can often be better than other melees in other situations)
Isn't as good a caster as a pure caster
Poor DCs on spells
AC not enough to survive on alone in some areas
AB isn't enough to hit some of the harder to hit enemies
Low health
Relatively low melee damage
Basically this character can handle almost any area thrown at it, better than a pure melee or pure caster build overall - for areas that casters would normally struggle in such as the maze due to high enemy spell res you can melee, while in areas that melees will usually suffer as they can't cast aoe spells, you can cast MS to your hearts content. In the unlikely event that both of these tactics fail (e.g. you're up against enemies with both high spell res and ac), you've always got your damage shields to fall back on, while your ac+conceal will ensure you take damage at a nice measured pace allowing you to heal in time.
One key feature of this build I like is your ability to mass areas much more effectively than other casters when your spells can damage the enemies. For example in the desert with my pure caster build I would often have trouble getting petrified, or killed quickly, despite being able to wipe the enemies out v.fast with my meteor showers. However this character is able to run into the middle of a group of enemies and cast ms and usually live to tell the tale! I think I've currently got my char to lev48 and have 113 AC when buffed, which increases to 123 with imp expertise. This would obviously increase as I gain more levels. My ab is currently 64 I think (when buffed, and going by combat logs - its more like 84 if i use the deceitful char sheet), which would again increase with more levels.
The only area I've had problems with so far has been on a dusty run, and this was more down to lack of equipment and lag spike problems than anything else. While I was able to absorb/resist all of the fire damage coming my way when buffed, my character would frequently die due to the magic damage, as the best resist he had at the time was only 5 (I had about 4 rare+UR items equiped at the time giving elemental+exotic resist and thought at least one had resist 10, but only realised after examining more closely). My poor health meant I therefore would die fairly quickly, while the lag spikes I was getting at the time meant i often couldn't get a heal off in time. My character's been able to fare much better off in the desert than my other immos though, hardly ever getting petrified or being filled with living sand, with the implosions being the only thing that seem to kill him that often. However these wont be a problem as you gain levels, as your spell res will increase enough to resist most implosions, while your saves will usually save you from the others.
Improvements I might make to this build if re-doing it:
I'd drop the sf and GSF: enchant, and replace them with the spell penetration feats, as my biggest annoyance is not being able to harm enemies with moderate spell res (it still wouldn't be enough to touch high spell res enemies like the maze guardians or the devariels probably though)
I'd also reduce my starting wisdom, and put the points into con, as at the time I didn't realise there was a +20 cap to natural armour, meaning with +16 ac from an UR ammy and +6 bonus from your spell wis buff you can get away with 6 Wis (though I'd still advise 8-10 min incase you can't get that UR ammy or want to have an easier time leveling until you can use it, as well as having a better unbuffed ac).
I'd also probably drop the improved critical: kama and swap that for a spell penetration feat, allowing me to take [edit - correction in feat] Epic Spell Penetration [/Edit]. The difference the imp crit makes isn't that great as the kama has a poor crit range anyway, and alot of enemies are immune to crits as well.
Oh, a few notes on my level choice incase anyone was wondering - I chose barb and monk levels to get access to monk ac, flurry of blows, evasion, uncanny dodge and speed bonus. I chose monk at lev 1 for the bonus skill points, as well as 40 to max out skills. The barb levels also had the bonus of giving me higher hp than if I'd gone for a monk/rogue build instead, as 2d6 sneak attack wouldn't make much difference anyway given my build would have low physical damage output.
