Sneaky Palemaster Suggestions

[Chiangtao]

Hi gang, long time, no see!

I'm looking to create a sneaky palemaster, but I'm having trouble settling on the build. I keep falling into the trap of building a "Jack of all Trades," rather than a specialist. Some examples:

• Wiz / Pale / Assassin (maybe with Monk for flurry)
• Sorc / Pale / BG

In most of the above, I'm hoping to utilize some of the Palemasters cool defensive feats in combat. But the BAB makes me suspect it will be worthless.

Have any of you built decent sneaky palemasters? Any ideas? I'm not looking for a power build, but I would like something that is functional.

Thanks

[Dihydrogen Monoxide]

Never seen a PM prestige mixed in with a melee class.. in my opinion, it seems a little counterproductive, especially if your focus is sneaking. It's a cool concept, but why sneak when there's a bunch of cool spells out there which could make you completely undetectable?

Of course, unless someone around you has Dragon Sight or something on.. but in that case, you're probably just as screwed as if you were sneaking.

Just my two cents.

[Kirin]

In my experience you really have to specialize, even as a hybrid. Since your AB is always going to be sub-par, I recommend grabbing Practiced Spellcaster and keeping your non-caster classes to that 4-level cap.

You'll get fewer spells and get them slower, but you can keep your DCs at a normal level. Your physical attacks will not be that good, but they can serve as a backup or for taking care of weaker enemies.

If you want to do both melee and magic extremely well, roll a cleric!

[Dihydrogen Monoxide]

If you want to do both melee and magic extremely well, roll a cleric!

QFT! Looks like Kirin beat me to it.

[Chiangtao]

Yeah, I agree. Sounds like I should just max out spellcasting classes. I like the idea of HIPS as an escape mechanism though. Maybe I try four levels of SD?

[[DM] Grinning Death]

Or you could take advantage of that high INT and go with assassin. It'd be minimizing your spellcasting to fourth level spells, but your Death Attack DC would be around 28 (which is....well, pretty good). It would play more as a rogue than a caster, though, and would have all kinds of funky weaknesses.

But give him a shortbow and some buffs? Talk about one hit kill with a 7d6 sneak attack.

Not to mention the 204 skill points!

[Chiangtao]

Yeah I was thinking that too. 8 Assassin is a lot of spell slots to give up though. Spellcasting would actually get to level 6 spells with the new Palemaster spell rules.

But in builds like that, there's little point in having palemaster at all. I sorta like the idea of a HIPS / Blackstaff guy, since most people are buffed to the nines.

[Kirin]

Have you thought about a Bard/Palemaster?

Not all bards are happy little minstrels, you know, and there is some synergy there as the bard is a bit more melee-capable. Grab the Battlecaster feat for medium armor, wade into battle with armor, shield, longsword, immunity to crits, extra AC from palemaster, and support your allies with bard spells.

Have him compose requiems.

[Chiangtao]

I did that with an old character and found it kinda boring. I definitely want to focus on fear and terror as a tool. Bard spells are always sorta "eh."

[[DM] Grinning Death]

Bards are teh sexah.

And they really do have that whole "fear and terror" thing down with curse song, intimidation being a decent skill, and UMD for access to spells otherwise unattainable for bards. Plus, they're pretty nifty in a fight.

[Chiangtao]

Curse song relies on the Perform Skill and Caster Level. I'm wondering if that includes Palemaster levels? Would a 10 Bard / 5 Pale = 15 caster levels for curse song?

Thanks for the help

[[DM] Grinning Death]

I'm guessing it would, seeing as PM levels are still bard casting levels. But I'm still at work, and can't test squat.

[Seheren]

Pretty sure Curse song goes on *Bard* levels, not Caster level.

[OnyxTigress]

I had a bard/shadowdancer, and curse song relied on my bard levels. If I recall correctly, it caps out at 16th level of bard, so you should be fine going just 15 levels.

[Chiangtao]

The feat states Caster Level in the script, from what I read in the NWN2 wiki. Oh well, not doing bard anyway

I'm wondering if one level of assassin with high INT would be worth it. That'd be about 17 DC on the fort save, which isn't AWFUL, but would be worthless on a lot of targets. That being said, it lets me get to level 9 spells.