Hello again, planning to return need help with new char.

[Lord Osadam]

Hey, I've been away for some time but I am planning on coming back as soon as I can figure out how to make my new char.
I want to play a pirate type character.

This is what I've come up with so far.

Name: Jonathan Portnoy

Bio: He has been a sailor almost his whole life. When he was a boy his village was attacked by pirates, many died, he survived. The pirate captain was surprised by the boy’s instincts for survival, so he took him and raised him as his own son. Upon the captain’s death, he declared Jonathan to be his successor. This didn’t go well with the crew and they manifested their disagreement by throwing him overboard with a cannonball tied to his feet. Somehow he managed to free himself and drifted for days until he washed ashore.

Race: Human

Weapon of choice: Scimitar

Alignment: Neutral or Neutral Evil

Classes: Mix of fighter/rogue or barb/rogue, undecided...

Stats and skills: not sure what to pick

Personality traits: opportunistic, clever, distrustful

That's about it... I need someone to help me with this build.

[undeadsteak]

O_o.


No more Ego?


Damn!

*Shrug.* As for build, just let RP be your build.

[PinguThePenguin]

I suggest going Fighter/Rogue, as I've never been a fan of barbarian/rogue, since the flavor of the two classes clash (barbarians scream and bash in the door, rogues sneak). 13 Fighter/7 rogue's not too bad, nor is 10/10, or 13 rogue/7 fighter.

[Lord Osadam]

Got tired of playing Ego for the 2nd time after the wipe. I seriously need a build though.

[Lord Osadam]

I suggest going Fighter/Rogue, as I've never been a fan of barbarian/rogue, since the flavor of the two classes clash (barbarians scream and bash in the door, rogues sneak). 13 Fighter/7 rogue's not too bad, nor is 10/10, or 13 rogue/7 fighter.

Yeah I think it is the best choice too. I just don't know how to mix the lvls up, do i need to go fighter first for martial weapons proficiency? I also don't know what feats to pick.

[Boadicea]

My thoughts

A pirate fighter rogue, a great RPer and build:

dex 15 (min) for duel weapon fighting (if you want to be a dex er)

Int 14 for your skill points

If you go as a dex er take rapier (crit range 18-20) and light mace (off hand + dif damage type) or Kukri (off hand crit range 18-20 + dif damage type )

Important - your 1st lvl as rogue no matter what, so all those skill points are put to good use.

Only take as many fighter lvls as you need to get the feats needed to duel weild and weapon focus in chosen weapons and improve the crit ranges, but you can do this with rogue lvls as well (improving the crit ranges that is).

Consider a path to invisible blade, then all you need is 4 lvls (roughly) of fighter to get the needed feats because you only have one weapon to get feats for dagger..yuk or kukri...ya(see above crit range)

Dont forget the requirement feats (and dex 15 min and intel 13 min) needed for invis blade, get them early rather then later, but Invis Blade wont be seen till higher lvl regardless. But worth it.

So many paths to take RP wise and how you distribute skill points and charateristic points is up to you...mostly, minus the requirements.

The rogue class and Invis Blade in my book offer so many more options for RP and build, so I only use the fighter class to get the needed feats, but its not abusing it in any way, you take 4 or more in that class at least.

Consider one of the Hall of training modes to test a build out prior to jumping in and dedicating play time and finding a mistake later.

Good Luck.

[Blue_Wyrm]

If it helps you, you may also consider a Duelist build like I've done for Roger (he's a pirate, if you're young enough we could even tie our storylines somehow...). It has very similar requirements to Boadicea's Invisible Blade build except you need higher intelligence (as it will add to your AC when unarmored later) and absolutely need the Improved Parry feat, as you'll be tapping Parry as soon as an hostile turns towards you and otherwise be positionning yourself for backstabbing with your weapons.

Even if some of the Duelist's features encourage you to use a single weapon (+1D6/2D6 damage), I think you beneficiate more from dual-wielding since the Two Weapon Defense series give you much needed Parry and AC bonuses; you also get twice as much Parry opportunities per round when dual-wielding if you take the Two Weapon Fighting series , making you not only good against a single meelee opponent but against 2-3 without taking many hits.

To re-explain how parry works (and how it is awesome for meeleers who invest enough in it): Up to your number of attacks per round, you can do a Parry skill roll against an attacker's total attack roll. If you beat him, your regular AC doesn't matter, you still block him. If you beat him by 10 or more (5 with Imp Parry), you get a free counterattack against him with the attack bonus of the attack you used to Parry his. Roger currently has +24 to Parry at the 9th level, which means up to 4 times per round, he has 25 to 44 AC against melee attacks directed at him when in Parry Mode. Keep in mind that many combat feats like Knockdown also CAN be parried, so the skill is quite functionnal. However, building yourself for parrying with the Duelist class will leave you hitting like a kitten and very vulnerable against archers, be warned (until you get Deflect Arrow... at Duelist 9 ... you really need a team to be functionnal).

[ipsissimus]

the word "build" should be removed from your vocabulary at least for Sundren. (gosh I'm starting to sound like a dm)

I'd suggest ranger/rogue, fighter's great but as a sailor/pirate somehow suriving drifting at sea...are you ever really going to want to use heavy armor or a tower shield?

Plus you can always opt to take ranged ranger feats, and melee regular feats. imo PrC's aren't always the way to go, yes the invisible blade has some perks but so does the rogue's special abilitites at 10th and beyond. Never was a big fan of the duelist myself, it sounds cool but in actuality I'd much favor a straight up rogue with 2-4 fighter levels.

Parry does rock btw if you invest in it...and I'd recommend rogue first so you can captilize on all the extra skill points.

[Lord Osadam]

Hey guys thanks for your help, I created my char yesterday without really knowing what I was doing feat and skill wise. I'll probably redo him using your suggestions.

At first I was aiming at making a pirate like Blue Wyrm suggested using a single weapon because I don't really like to dual wield because almost everyone is doing it, but now I'm more inclined to be a dual wielder but with a smaller weapon off hand like Boadicea suggested. It still looks cool it fits the pirate style (having a smaller dagger\kukri besides main weapon) and it isn't the regular dual sword dual wielder type.

Blue Wyrm my char is 35 yr old I'd like to tie our story lines if you want. Also wasn't parry broken? I never got it to work...

ipsissimus I really like playing ranger types I played the oc and MOTB with a RANGER/Arcane ARcher but, in this case I don't think using bow and arrow really fits the pirate persona, keep in mind that my char has been at sea his whole life, I use throwing darts for ranged attacks but nice suggestion none the less.

I'm relatively good at roleplaying Excentric chars ask anyone around here that remembers Caleb or Ego's antics, but I'm not good at building chars, I want to rp the hell out of my char but at the same time have a functional char that can hold his own in battle without being insanelly uber.

So I think that I'm going to follow Boadicea's advice this time but using the fighter/rogue combo exclusivelly using light or medium armor with a scimitar (I like scimitar for my pirate) and kukri offhand probably. So please PM me or post here to give me advice on how to make this char work as a build and if you have the patience give me a step by step guide on what feats are essencial and what skills I should pick and how I should distribute my stats I'd be very thankful for this. (I am a utter noob at bonuses and multiclassing and things of that nature)

Thanks for all the replies guys

LO

[Waverider10]

I suggest going Fighter/Rogue, as I've never been a fan of barbarian/rogue, since the flavor of the two classes clash (barbarians scream and bash in the door, rogues sneak). 13 Fighter/7 rogue's not too bad, nor is 10/10, or 13 rogue/7 fighter.

Ever heard of a fantasy character named Conan? No, no... not Arnie but the real book version. Its not a scream/sneak build as much as a break-you-neck-off/steal your money (and women) build.

[Blue_Wyrm]

I saw the french version of many Conan movies, and this makes me piss my pants ever time. Arnold introduces himself to others exactly like this:

"I am Conan, Archer and Thief."

Yeaaah I really trust you now, Mr. Conan. >_>

Sorry for the off-topicness, but Arnold is ever so awesome.

[Waverider10]

That's not too much off topic... if he goes that route with a low int and wis, that could be his RP.

[ipsissimus]

I saw the french version of many Conan movies, and this makes me piss my pants ever time. Arnold introduces himself to others exactly like this:

"I am Conan, Archer and Thief."

Yeaaah I really trust you now, Mr. Conan. >_>

Sorry for the off-topicness, but Arnold is ever so awesome.

Isn't that "Subodai's" line? ...thief and archer. Or did the French version just do a poor dubbing/subtitle job?

I love the "Give me food..." line.

As for thief/barbarian favorites? Why, who could forget Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

[Blue_Wyrm]

Ooooh right it's Subota?'s line, sorry, I mixed it all up.
But you gotta agree it still sounds very stupid, even though it does not come from a 7'18'' fitness star with 18/00 strenght. >_>

[Feydakin]

Welcome back Ego!