The adventures of the Hellfire Chicken (chp 1)

[cozmo]

So, after tweaking the PRC so that warlocks invocation levels count as spell levels for the shifter pnp, I have started a new character.  The Hellfire Chicken (or she will be eventually).

She is a Pixie Warlock.  And the plan is to be a Warlock/Hellfire Warlock/Shifter pnp.

Started her out in CHP 1 of the OC, I skipped the prelude as it tends to bug w/PRC.  I just gave her the XP she would have got from the prelude.

Starting stats S6/D18/C10/I20/W14/CH24.  Some notes on the stats.  Silly me did not know when I rolled her that she would NOT need natural spell. I took the xtra Wis for that . Its not mentioned in the manual or in the menus, but u need at least a WIS of 13 for natural spell.  But oddly... Warlock 'invocations' dont need it.  Oh well.

 I left her DX at 18 since there is a bug of some sort w/shifter pnp.  If you have high DEX some shapes will lag for like 2 mins when you try and shift into them.  No idea what the bug is.  I've just started to delve into the code.  Took me a while to figure out that it was the stats causing the problem

I want the high INT for all the skills she will eventually need. and of course, 'lock needs that high CH.

Now as to her race.  Pixies are FUN and Cute.  Here are the positives :
Natural SR that goes up as she levels.  Natural DR.  So she can shrug off many spells and many hits.  Down side , as a 'lock she starts out with a so/so AC.  So some bosses WILL hit her hard. But... She has a natural entangle spell that can sometimes keep things at a distance.  Or, i that done work, she can always use her natural polymorph and just put on her fur coat (ie, Bear form).  One downside to that, whenever she uses her natural polymorph may spells and stuff that were on her toolbar will just dissapear and need to be re-assigned later.  And as a last resort, if she really needs help , she can always hire a bodyguard.  I'm partial to that Utgard Barbarian 

She also has a natural INVISIBILTY spell.  That amazingly can be cast UNLIMITED times.  Handy for quick escapes or to just skip a bunch of useless trash that wont give her any real XP.  Which leads to...

Her biggest downfall. As a Pixie , with all these wonderful perks she takes a major XP hit.  I keep the ECL settings at normal. 

OTOH its not really too bad.  I'm at the end of CHP1 at level 5 with 11.6k XP.  With a non ECL character I can usually get a few more levels just by grinding the Mummies from the sarcophagus in the warrens of the damned.  oh well, If i want I could always have the guardian of helm give me a few levels when I reach him soon (cough cough exploit).

So that is where the (eventually) Hellfire Chicken is at so far.  I'll post more in a while.  She is about to take part in the ritual to get the plague cure.  I'm sure nothing will go wrong.  Fenthick says everything is all set 

Will post more later, hope you enjoyed hearing about this exciting little fey.

l8r g8rs

[ThE LoSt BoY]

Consider Expertise & Imp Expertise for AC. EB is a touch att (Dex), so you usually only get boned on 1's. You can mitigate a little with good feats.

On the way to the big time: Vitriolic Blast Essence
"Your eldritch blast does acid damage, and ignores spell resistance. Any creature hit automatically takes 2d6 acid damage every round. This effect lasts for one round for every 5 invoking levels you have." Dissolve the uber class (chosen of Bozo-ware) with ease.

Once you hit the big time, consider Eldritch Sculptor. It just doubles the EB damage, gives +2 to EB's & boosts the E-Chain range to 60 - that's all.
http://www.athasreborn.com/prc/manual/english/content/class_epic_feats/4469.html

[cozmo]

Consider Expertise & Imp Expertise for AC. EB is a touch att (Dex), so you usually only get boned on 1's. You can mitigate a little with good feats

On the way to the big time: Vitriolic Blast Essence
"Your eldritch blast does acid damage, and ignores spell resistance. Any creature hit automatically takes 2d6 acid damage every round. This effect lasts for one round for every 5 invoking levels you have." Dissolve the uber class (chosen of Bozo-ware) with ease.

Once you hit the big time, consider Eldritch Sculptor. It just doubles the EB damage, gives +2 to EB's & boosts the E-Chain range to 60 - that's all.
http://www.athasreborn.com/prc/manual/english/content/class_epic_feats/4469.html

Not sure about exp helping.. atm I get some lousy roles and really miss my target alot.  Which is why as I'm leveling i'm using Hogger ... oops i mean Dire Boar shape.   

Ayup,  I test leveled her , and around 21 she will have Lord of essences which also means she will have BOTH vitrolic and brimstone blasts so DOT of both acid and fire.  And along with eldritch doom , dex wont matter.  Add in Hellfire and yeah, she gonna be one heck of a killer chicken (:   (btw, i am SLOWLY trying to port the pnp shifter to nwn2.. gonna take a while.)

[Shalvan]

So you are leveling as pure warlock until epic levels and only then entering pnp shifter?

[cozmo]

So you are leveling as pure warlock until epic levels and only then entering pnp shifter?

Nope, she took 6 levels of warlock, then took 3 levels of shifter pnp, and now is working on Hellfire warlock.   The 3 levels of shifter was to get her chicken and other shapes. From now on she will get her other 2 HFW levels and then just continue as Warlock. 

[ThE LoSt BoY]

"eldritch doom , dex wont matter" Vit Blast dissolving uber-class. Yup.

You gotta post that build when max Lev.

[Shalvan]

Nope, monk has great touch AC and has evasion. With all blast shapes you either have to hit the touch ac or make them fail their ref save. Not gonna happen.

[ThE LoSt BoY]

E-Doom. "Your eldritch blast becomes a 20' cloud around you instead of a ray. Those within can make a reflex save for half damage."

Forgot the uber-class "get out of damage free" exception. WTF was I thinking? Dodge a cloud = WotC geniuses!

Guess E-Doom would nerf Vit Blast into not damaging uber-class-ness. What a loss. So, just like all other boss attacks, it wipes the battlefield, except for all monks.

Dodging a bleeping 20 foot radius cloud . . . . . . No uber-class.

Nope.

[Shalvan]

Except for all monks, rogues, shadowdancers, ninjas, swordsages etc.

[ThE LoSt BoY]

Dodging a cloud attack is indefensible. Even by atrocious WotC  standards. If I were a coder, I would change E-Doom to none. What the hell do you do with Vit Blast (no SR, no save). Apply E-Doom & it gets nerfed to Flex (none / Half w/ Imp Evasion) under E-Doom ? 110% BS!

Monk crutches has been effing up the DnD world since the beginning.
https://idiscepolidellamanticora.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/tsr2010-players-handbook.pdf
Page 31: Monk gets 4 att / round @ 8-32 (Fighter types only has 2 att/ round p25, longsword was 1-10/1-12). Thieves (closest thing to current Rogue) had back stab, but that was truly for surprise only (rare as a unicorn back then).

Monks are the origin for the Dex-Flex Evasion damage dodge. The "collateral" cousin classes just got a free ride on another failed monk-competitive crutch mechanic.

[ThE LoSt BoY]

Back to OP.

Don't forget Path of Shadow. Full heals for party . . . . forever.