Classes
Tarina is a hedge mage, a witch. Her concept is that of a lone magic user of humble origins and mannerisms who has had to learn as she goes along. She has limited understanding of how she does what she does and is reliant on associations and pacts with supernatural entities that both aid her and lead her to temptation. All of my character choices are made with this in mind. Therefore, for classes, I've gone with spirit shaman and thaumaturge.
Other class combinations I've considered for the character are Shaman/Sorcerer/Blood Mage, Shaman/Warlock, and Shaman/Sorcerer/Thaumaturge.
Essentially, the classes I associate with the character are shaman, sorcerer, warlock, blood mage, and thaumaturge, and any build considerations I have made are done with those classes in mind. Anything outside of those is not acceptable, because other classes do not fit the character concept I am playing (such as warpriest and hierophant, which while useful for divine casters like shamans, represent a place within an established religious hierarchy and so do not fit the hedge mage concept).
Attributes
Points are spread out between most stats to maintain a relatively "mundane" character. I tend to view 12 as the 'baseline' for adventurers in the same manner that 10 is the baseline for NPCs, as DnD considers adventurers a cut above NPCs by default. Natural stats at level 1 for my build are 12Str, 12Dex, 15Con, 12Int, 15Wis, 12Cha. Even at 30, no single stat gets higher than 20 before equipment (two points go into Wis, the rest into Constitution). Cha is the one stat that feels a bit high for the character, though I've still left it very low for the class.
Feats
- Metamagic:
Tarina is quiet and soft-spoken, being afraid to speak loudly, so Silent Spell is a must. Empower Spell is also desirable, because the character tends towards brute force responses to situations and can be explosive in temper. Extend Spell is the one that has little real RP purpose and is only there for quality-of-life, and is the first feat I'm likely to drop if I feel something more ICly suited comes along.
- Spell Focuses:
Conjuration, Evocation, Divination, and Necromancy make up Tarina's favored schools, and so I try to take Focus feats for at least two of these to represent her, well, focus. With such low cha there's no way I can really pump my DC even with blood magic, so spell focus feats are kind of wasted, but they are a good way of saying something about the character so I take them anyway.
- No Spellcasting Prodigy:
Tarina is a sorcerer who didn't have the strength of personality to actually manifest sorcerous powers to any great degree and turned to essentially begging spirits and using blood magic to get magic in other ways. There's nothing prodigal about that, so there is no sense in taking prodigy regardless of how mechanically useful it is.
- Blood Magic:
Actually the biggest reason why I chose to focus on shaman instead of going warlock or sorcerer/blood mage, as blood magic was one of the essentials for my concept and I likely would have ditched spirit magic before ditching blood magic if I had had to make the choice. I'm very happy that BG offers this feat, it's one of the more significant feats for my RP and something that I so far use in RP more than I use in combat (as summons and buffing party members are my main combat tools).
- Telthor:
A natural pick for a character focused on communing with spirits, though I do dislike how the feat doesn't give any options for customizing the spirit companion.
- Fiery Burst:
The one part of Tarina's sorcerous heritage that comes through. Used in RP any time her emotions rise and she lashes out with uncontrolled bursts of magic. Though not particularly useful in PvE, it's an essential feat for my RP concept.
Spells
No water or ice spells, because the character is a divine caster whose primal patron is Kossuth. This means no Greater Creeping Doom and no Ice Storm, despite being some of the better attack spells for SS.
Multiple spells are also chosen specifically for RP, even in spite of taking up my very precious Spells Known slots. More or less mechanically useless spells I've taken include Omen of Peril, Sleep (though I do wonder why druid list gets Sleep but not Deep Slumber or Hiss, which would allow me to actually have a
useful sleep spell...), Detect Charm, Detect Scrying, Greater Scrying, and so on.
Skills
Skill points are spread out according to the character's actual skills, not for maximizing checks. Few skills have more than 5 ranks. The only skill other than Listen/Spot that gets higher than 20 points by level 30 is Concentration, though I'm debating lowering this as the character has had difficulties with concentration in RP.
Spellcraft is left at 5, despite being a class skill with obvious benefits (saves at every 5 ranks, ability to take epic spells...). The character has no understanding of magical theory or how spells work. She knows just enough to apply the magic she gets from the spirits. More spellcraft than this would not make sense.
UMD
is taken, but this is because as a shaman I feel it is very important to the concept to be able to coax out the magic in items. For a shaman with animist beliefs, making a magic item work means appealing to its spirit and convincing it to aid you. Think fetishes, charms, talismans, and the like. For this reason I am also debating taking Craft Wand and/or Craft Wondrous Items later (as well as Imbue Item spells once/if they are made available), to represent the inverse of binding spirits to physical objects.
Listen and Spot are where I pump skill points, as this represents the greater perception afforded by having spirits always whispering secret knowledge in your ear (there's a reason why level 1 of shaman gives the Alertness feat).
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