Scimerang Slinger (3.5e Optimized Character Build)
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Contents
Introduction
The Scimerang Slinger abuses Aptitude weapons with the critical abilities of Lightning Mace and the attack duplicating abilities of Boomerang Ricochet, Chakram Ricochet and the Master Thrower's two with one blow to do potentially limitless attacks.
References
- Tome of Battle (Swordsage 15, Warblade 20, Martial Study 31, Bloodstorm Blade 100, Aptitude 148)
- Complete Warrior (Master Thrower 58, Roundabout Kick 105, Lightning Mace 113)
- Races of Eberron (Boomerang Daze, Boomerang Ricochet 108)
- Champions of Ruin (Chakram Ricochet 17)
- Eberron Campaign Setting (Boomerangs 120)
- Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (Chakram 97)
Game Rule Components
Threats
You score a threat when you make a natural attack roll within your weapon's threat range. These threats are used to determine when to roll for critical hits as well as for some other mechanics, such as the Construct Lock feat from Races of Eberron which includes, "If you roll a critical threat against a construct,...". More importantly, there is no current rule that you do not score threats against foes immune to criticals, and the rules as written say that you do. At one point in time the FAQ extolled that only the critical damage was stopped by critical immunity and that effects such as flaming burst still functioned on a confirmed critical hit against a foe immune to criticals, so at the time the official opinion must have been that threats are scored against critical immune foes. The FAQ was revised to indicate that these effects do not work because there was no successful critical hit due to the immunity negating the critical hit. The revision did not touch on threats, therefore we follow the triple consensus of the rules as written, the rules as needed to work, and the unrevised past opinions of the FAQ.
Feats
Two with One Blow does not mean anything as written, because a Master Thrower can't get the ability to attack two adjacent foes from the Master Thrower class. It can be interpreted to mean she is granted this ability, but a much simpler solution is to insert the words "one of" before "two opponents" in the first sentence to read, "If a master thrower with this ability uses a thrown weapon to attack one of two opponents adjacent to each other,...". There is no known errata or FAQ on this, and this functions in almost exactly the same way as granting the ability, but doesn't completely disregard the structure of how the text was written.
Items
A progression of +1 aptitude and +1 aptitude keen 18-20 one-handed and light weapons like scimitars and kukris
Progression
Starting Ability Scores (Before Racial Adjustments): Dex 18
Race (Templates): Strongheart Halfling
| ECL | Class/HD/LA | Base Attack Bonus |
Saving Throws | Feats | Class Features |
Maneuvers, Stances, and Tricks | Special | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort | Ref | Will | |||||||
| 1st | Warblade 1 | +1 | +2 | +0 | +0 | Martial Study (Distracting Ember), Two-Weapon Fighting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Chakram)1,2, Chakram Ricochet1 | Battle clarity (reflex saves), weapon aptitude | Punishing Stance, Steel Wind, Steely Strike, one other maneuver | |
| 2nd | Monk 1 | +1 | +4 | +2 | +2 | Stunning Fist, Improved Unarmed Strike | AC bonus +0, flurry of blows -0/-0, unarmed strike damage 1d6 | ||
| 3rd | Monk 2 | +2 | +5 | +3 | +3 | Point Blank Shot, Combat Reflexes | Evasion | ||
| 4th | Fighter 1 | +3 | +7 | +3 | +3 | Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Any)2,3 | Dex +1 | ||
| 5th | Swordsage 1 | +3 | +7 | +5 | +5 | Weapon Focus (Desert Wind)4 | Quick to act +1 | One of Claw at the Moon, Wolf Fang Strike or Rabid Wolf Strike, Blood in the Water, 5 more maneuvers. | |
| 6th | Bloodstorm Blade 1 | +4 | +9 | +5 | +5 | Boomerang Ricochet3, Throw Anything | Returning attacks | ||
| 7th | Bloodstorm Blade 2 | +5 | +10 | +5 | +5 | Martial throw, thunderous throw | You should be able to afford at least one +1 aptitude 18-20 weapon. | ||
| 8th | Bloodstorm Blade 3 | +6/+1 | +10 | +6 | +6 | Precise Shot | Dex +1 | ||
| 9th | Bloodstorm Blade 4 | +7/+2 | +11 | +6 | +6 | Lightning Mace | Lightning ricochet | Your thrown weapons return instantly, build starts to work. You're barely able to afford a +1 aptitude keen weapon. | |
| 10th | Master Thrower 1 | +8/+3 | +11 | +8 | +6 | Quick Draw | Two with One Blow | ||
| 11th | Master Thrower 2 | +9/+4 | +11 | +9 | +6 | Improved evasion | |||
| 12th | Master Thrower 3 | +10/+5 | +12 | +9 | +7 | Optional Feat5 | Optional thrown weapon trick | Dex +1 | |
| 13th | Master Thrower 4 | +11/+6/+1 | +12 | +10 | +7 | Snatch arrows | |||
| 14th | Master Thrower 5 | +12/+7/+2 | +12 | +10 | +7 | Critical throw | Weak Spot | Hit on touch attacks, no longer need keen weapons | |
| 15th | Bloodstorm Blade 56 | +13/+8/+3 | +12 | +10 | +7 | Optional Feat5 | Blood wind ricochet | ||
| 16th | Bloodstorm Blade 6 | +14/+9/+4 | +13 | +11 | +8 | Optional Fighter Feat5 | Dex +1 | ||
| 17th | Bloodstorm Blade 7 | +15/+10/+5 | +13 | +11 | +8 | Eye of the storm | |||
| 18th | Bloodstorm Blade 8 | +16/+11/+6/+1 | +14 | +11 | +8 | Optional Feat5 | Blood rain | ||
| 19th | Bloodstorm Blade 9 | +17/+12/+7/+2 | +14 | +12 | +9 | Optional Fighter Feat5 | |||
| 20th | Bloodstorm Blade 10 | +18/+13/+8/+3 | +15 | +12 | +9 | Blade storm | Dex +1. You can attack everything in range once as a full-round attack. | ||
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Much of the build is prerequisites; the goals are in bold-face.
Skills
- Balance 8 is required before level 6.
- Slight of Hand 4 (cross class) is required before level 10.
Highlights
Tactics
In levels 1-6 enjoy having no clear plan and convincing your DM and fellow players that this character was a bad idea and that you're crazy. You can leave off Chakram Ricochet till level 3 and mess around with exotic weapons for a while, or two-weapon flurry of blows with flanking bonuses and an extra d6 of damage.
Level 7
Throw you aptitude weapon. Two things happen if the initial attack hits. First it generates a second attack from Chakram Ricochet which can strike any foe within 5' of the original target at -2. This attack gets any extra sneak-attack damage if any. Second, it spawns an extra adjacent attack at -2 from Boomerang Ricochet, this one without sneak-attack damage. If the Boomerang Ricochet hits, it ricochets again from Chakram Ricochet, and hits another foe within 5', again with a -2 penalty to attack. You can throw out your distracting ember to be the target of a ricochet to bounce the second Chakram Ricochet back if necessary. You can use Steely Strike to get +4 to attack at the expense of -4 AC.
Level 9
Lightning Mace, Lightning Ricochet and Keen weapons. Each of your throws or ricochets that hits threatens 6/20ths of the time, generating an extra attack. On rounds with a distracting ember, throw your attack at it with both Boomerang and Chakram ricochets directed at your opponent, with the Chakram Ricochet off the Boomerang Ricochet directed back at the ember. To keep your ember alive to try to do unlimited damage, which is unlikely at this stage, choose to use non-lethal damage first.
Level 10
With Two with One Blow, you can make a thrown attack against two adjacent foes at -4 when you would have attacked one. Toss out an ember and attack it and the enemy next to it. You use only one attack roll, but roll critical confirmations separately. Chakram Ricochet causes a ricochet at -2 within 5' for each one you hit; when it does, you can choose to instead attack both again with Two with One Blow at an additional -4 for a total penalty of -6. If you hit either target on the original attack, you get a Boomerang Ricochet at -2 against something adjacent to one you hit. If the Boomerang Ricochet hits, you get another Chakram Ricochet at -2, which can again be used to hit two adjacent targets with Two with One Blow at -6. For each threat made you get to start over with another original Two with One Blow+Boomerang Ricochet attack at the same bonus. You can hit your opponent up to five times per throw if you hit consistently, and your ember 4 times, giving you up to 9 chances to make threats.
Other Powers
- Once you get an aptitude weapon you can Stunning Fist with it.
- Blood wind ricochet lets you ignore some cover and concealment by attacking targets from a previous target in a full round attack
- At level 20 you can attack every target in range as a full round attack with Blade Storm. It uses one Iron Heart strike each time you do.
Further Optimization
- Stop provoking AOs when attacking. The Defensive Throw trick can do this at level 14.
- Find a way to deny Dex bonuses to AC. The Sneaky Shot trick can do that, but slight of hand is a cross-class skill for the other classes.
- Increase range by picking up Far Shot. You could also specialize in throwing slashing weapons, pick up Weapon Specialization in a slashing ranged weapon (your scimitar with Throw Anything might qualify), and grab Ranged Weapon Mastery – Slashing (PHB II, p82) for +2 attack, damage, and +20' range increment. Or you could start throwing aptitude rapiers instead using your existing piercing thrown weapon focus in spear.
- Increase attack bonus or attacks per round. Crank up that dex with extra attribute points, an inherent bonus, and Gloves of Dexterity.
- Gain more control over throwing to work around allies and obstacles. Improved Precise Shot can do some of this.
- Become more resistant to enemy attacks.
- Find a way to do only fire damage.
- Get freedom of movement to avoid being grappled, and combat acrobat (PHB II) or Lightning Reflexes and prone attack (Complete Warrior) to avoid being tripped or recover quickly from it.
- Pick up Versatile Unarmed Strike (PHB II p85) and permanently change damage type of a weapon between bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing as a swift action.
- Get Roundabout Kick and force your DM to use only critical immune enemies.
- Pick up Boomerang Daze or other similar feats that let you add other effects to your attacks.
- Use Martial Strike to grab some extra mid-level power from any discipline to use on your recharge round or Martial Stance to get a stance to use against critical immune foes.
Side Notes
Limitations
- Very technical for what it accomplishes
DM Counters:
- Dispelling
- Cover and Concealment
- Summoned creature counters like Antimagic Field
- Critical Immunity stops Blood in the Water.
- Critical Immunity + Damage Reduction
- High dex defense
- High defense, overcome by Weak spot
- Snatch Arrows, overcome by having lots of extra weapons
- Limitless AOs, overcome by taking Defensive Thow
- Nonlethal Immunity, overcome by divergence
- No-save surprise spellcasting, other perceive or die situations
Variants
- Stunning Strike could be traded for improved grapple to try to escape grapples more easily
- Fighter or Psychic Warrior levels can be used instead of monk levels
- There are other possible orders to take the first few classes and feats in, including taking warblade later to get better abilities but fewer hitpoints.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Homebrew → Character Optimization
| Article Balance | Very High + |
| Author | Cedges + |
| Final Class Progression | Warblade 1 +, Monk 2 +, Paladin 1 +, Swordsage 1 +, Master Thrower 5 + and Bloodstorm Blade 10 + |
| Identifier | 3.5e Optimized Character Build + |
| Race | Strongheart Halfling + and Human + |
| Rating | Unrated + |
| Summary | The Scimerang Slinger abuses Aptitude weapons with the critical abilities of Lightning Mace and Roundabout Kick and the attack duplicating abilities of Chakram Ricochet and the Master Thrower's two with one blow to do potentially limitless attacks. + |
| Title | Scimerang Slinger + |
