Character Build - "Bad Luck" Theme

Question

I'm trying to build a character who suffers a strange and inexplicable stigma that attracts misfortune to all the people around him. (In South America it's called "mufa"; in colloquial language, "moopha.") My idea was to make a cowardly kobold, more roguish than arcane but with maybe some levels as a sorcerer to make all potential builds apply.

In the Forgotten Realms, where I usually play, I was thinking of something like an unwilling Chosen of Beshaba, with both the good and bad aspects of that.

Luckstealer (RotW) has Curse of the Fatespurned and Curse of the Black Cloud which are similar to my idea, but I want it to affect friend and foe randomly, like a black cloud that's always present, and give the character a sort of "Mr. Magoo" kind of luck.

There is also Auspician (F&P), Fatespinner (CArc), and Fortune's friend (CScoundrel)... and even this Luck amateur build that I like.

Any ideas of how could I get closer to what I intend? How should I plan the 20 level progression? Which feats should I take — are luck feats useful? (Elements from Pathfinder are also usable for this build.)

Answer 1

Well I thought someone was going to propose a build with the classes i've exposed. That didn't happen, but heres what I've been collecting, and my idea:

The data:

Dragons of Eberron LOREDRAKE(Page 31)

Magic flows through every dragon’s blood. The loredrake devotes her life to harnessing this power and understanding the mysteries of magic. The most accomplished priests of the Dragon Gods and students of the draconic Prophecy are typically loredrakes, and it is the dragons of this path that uncovered the greatest mysteries of arcane magic. Most dragons have great respect for loredrakes, but not all loredrakes are noble creatures. Darkness abides in magic along with light, and a loredrake must decide whether he answers the call of the Shadow. Sovereigns: Aureon, The Shadow. Benefit: Spellcraft is added to the list of class skills. Once the dragon has the ability to cast spells, his effective sorcerer level is increased by two. For example, an adult gold loredrake cast spells as a 9th-level sorcerer. In exchange, the dragon’s racial Hit Dice are reduced to d10s.

Kobolds: Playing to Their Strengths - Web Enhacement

Kobold Ritual

The Draconic Rite of Passage (see page 43 of Races of the Dragon) is a ritual that grants any kobold who completes the rite a 1st-level sorcerer spell-like ability of their choice, usable once per day. To recharge this ability, a kobold must complete the Searching for the Dragon meditation each day, which equates to same amount of time a sorcerer must spend concentrating to replenish their spells. The following ritual (and associated feat) are extensions of the Draconic Rite of Passage. Greater Draconic Rite of Passage The Greater Draconic Rite of Passage is a powerful ritual handed down from dragons to kobolds as a reward for their undying loyalty. In the same way that chromatic and metallic dragons gain integrated levels of sorcerer spellcasting as they age, this ritual allows kobolds to awaken a small amount of their own arcane might. Prerequisites: Only kobolds of 6 Hit Dice or more, sorcerer level 1st, who have successfully completed the Draconic Rite of Passage, and taken Draconic Reservoir (1) can undergo the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage. A kobold requires no one else to perform the rite; it is a solitary activity. (1) See below for feat description. Benefit: Upon completing this rite, a kobold gains new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known) as if also gaining one level in the sorcerer class. The kobold does not, however, gain any other benefit a sorcerer would have gained (familiar abilities, and so on). The benefit of this ritual is automatically factored into the 15 minutes that a kobold sorcerer spends concentrating to ready their daily allotment of spells. No kobold can benefit from this rite more than once. Time: A kobold who undergoes this rite must first endure nine days of fasting (the equivalent of three days for a kobold in a region above 40 degrees F). Immediately thereafter, the kobold must succeed on a DC 20 Concentration check to enter a deep trance that lasts for 24 hours. If the check fails, the rite must begin a new. Cost: This rite requires sacrificing a gem of at least 1,000 gp in value. The kobold also permanently loses 3 hit points upon completion of the rite, the price of unlocking latent draconic energy within their soul.

Slight Build: The physical stature of kobolds lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category smaller. Whenever a kobold is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as Hide), the kobold is treated as one size smaller if doing so is advantageous to the character. A kobold is also considered to be one size smaller when "squeezing" through a restrictive space. A kobold can use weapons designed for a creature one size smaller without penalty. However, the space and reach of a kobold remain those of a creature of their actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject's size category.

Table 6–9: Kobold Fighter Racial Substitution Levels

lvl bab f r w Special

1st +1 +2 +0 +0 Spear focus, Dodge

2nd +2 +3 +0 +0 Constitution boost (Con +2)

4th +4 +4 +1 +1 Strength boost (Str +2)

Kobold Paragon (rotd)

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Now my idea:

Sorcerer 1(+2 paragon)(+1 rite)(+2 Loredrake)/ Paragon 3/ Warrior 4/ SoulEater 2/ Haply Warrior 5

CL: 6

BaB: 2+4+2+4 = 12/7/2

TSBase:FRV=(002+133+411+333+144)= 9-11-13

Race: Earth Kobold(-2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Con)

Warrior Replace: +2 Str, +2 Con)

Great Wyrm Add (+3 Int, +3 Wis, +3 Cha)

Paragon Add (+2 Cha)

Characteristics:

Str+0 Dex+2 Con+0 Int+3 Wis+3 Cha+5

Feats: Dragonwrought, Alertness, Weapon Focus(Claw), Draconic reservoir

So, this way I would be using Soul Eater (BoVD) abilities as "luck stealing" in a necromantic kind of way

Still don't know how to resolve the "unluck aura" though...

Answer 2

Hmm, if you want to inflict some generic bad luck to everyone around the person the fun stuff would have to be mostly a DM fiat because mechanical rules would not be able to encompass the wanted results right. If you just want a class based on bad luck then at low levels have some -1 luck modifiers to stuff like combat that affects everyone within a certain range, say like 5' at first level. Give the class very good saving throws because you must be hardy to survive all the bad luck you get. Finally allow the player to negate the penalty for himself and friends for a number of rounds every day. A rough mark up would be at 1st level 5' range bad luck field of -1 luck penalty to all within range for attack rolls, saves, and skill checks; has monk saves; and can negate penalty for himself and friends a number of rounds a day equal to level. Increase the radius every odd level and increase the penalty 3rd level and every 3 after. Maybe throw in some interesting luck related ability at 10th level.

Answer 3

There is a Pathfinder prestige class Jinx.

One of their main class abilities is:

Radial Curse (Sp)

Bad luck lingers and spreads. Anyone, friend or foe, who comes within 30 feet of a jinx suffers a -1 penalty to hit and -1 penalty to AC. A jinx cannot turn off radial curse, although it can be repressed in an antimagic field or by dispel magic.

As they advance, the Radial Curse gets wider and more severe.

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There is also a Halfling alternate racial trait Halfling Jinx

Halfling Jinx

Halflings with this racial trait gain the ability to curse another creature with bad luck at will as a standard action. This curse has a range of 30 feet, and you must be able to see the target and have line of effect to it. The target gets a Will saving throw to resist this jinx (DC = 10 + 1/2 your level + your Charisma modifier). If your target makes this saving throw, it is immune to your jinx ability for 24 hours. A jinxed creature takes a –1 penalty on all saving throws. This jinx lasts for 24 hours or until you attempt to use your jinx again. A jinx is a supernatural ability, is not mind-affecting, does not allow spell resistance, and can affect any kind of creature not immune to luck effects. This replaces halfling luck.

Note that this is targeted rather than affecting everyone.

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I'm not going to post a full character progression, as there are too many options. But, depending on what type of character you want, you can qualify for Jinx PrC after 5 levels. And, using a Halfling with their Jinx racial trait seems very compatible with the concept.

Answer 4

There are loads tons of flaws, traits, and feats that grant "bad luck" using them all is painful and hilarious. Here is a build based off of the pathfinder(3.5) gnome jinx and internet flaws/feats that sounded too good to pass up. There are some holes, because I passed the character onto another, but you can rebuild and make it stronger.

First ask if your DM will allow action or hero points; racial traits; arcane casters; and regular traits: If YES prepare the character bomb shelter!

Second be a human and take the racial traits: "raised by other race" the race is Gnome; "Gnome jinx" --> a Gnome jinx is almost a hexblade, but the bad luck comes from within.

3rd) Now add 8 flaws of bad luck, any that you can find on the net that add any -1 1) Bad luck, 2) worst luck, 3) No luck, 4)jinxed, etc...can't remember all of them off hand Most don't have a benefit, but 2 add either 3 quricks(sp) or 1 feat(choose feat)

4th) add 5 feats 1)Area jinx, 2)Metamagic: widen spell(a prereq), 3)blast of jinx, 4) The 4th feat is where you can spend your action/hero points to pass your, 5) can't remember

5th) Have your Deity/God be of travel/ luck/ thievery - basically any that allows you to state that you are rolling a pair of dice to take the best, instead of just one! You should be able to roll about 4 to 6 dice, just by activating your deity/god. Then take the best pair, but take the worst roll out of the best pair

All together you have about 60-70 feet diameter of bad luck you can now pass to anyone at a penalty of -13 to -14

Then just to be really bad add on top of this abomination the 9th; 10th; 11th trait of: 9)"Born under a bad sign" which is -1 to all saves and -1 hp/lvl, but no auto death and nothing below 1 hp the return of this is that you get a 4th, 9th, 15th lvl invocation that is not eldritch, unless you have a warlock class; then you can choose a +1d6 eldritch blast instead 10)"Corruption at level 3" --> this you will have to work with your DM to understand, but it states: "however the outcome of the roll is, it comes out at the least likely way" Think of this as a "who lines is it anyway: scenes from a hat", but the more unlikely it is, the more the DM can apply an up to a -3 penalty as long as there is no auto-deaths or fails and the DM applies them where the negatives are likely to be. 11) "Wrath of God/Goddess/Deity/etc" First set this to "bad/strange luck" -1 to rolls no auto-death/fails, but you have managed to incurred someones ire

Finally add the feat: "Bad Mojo" from the fortune's fool - Not only do you get 3 more luck rolls, but you can spend those rolls to cast a curse or your own bad luck on to a target and that is full bad luck per effective character level!

This creates -19 to rolls (mostly saves) and about 9 times you can literally shoot your bad luck on any choice.

To start the jinx you need about a 4th level arcane caster(any type), can't have any lucky traits, and the fool part you need a 4th level too.

Sorry for the long wind, but I wish I could credit others for this crazy concoction and loved explaining as best as possible.

Answer 5

Many sources were used, d&d wiki, regular wiki, 3.5 list and April fools' list, some home-brewed/reworded traits and flaws from around the internet, there is also pathfinder stuff in here, because pathfinder is 3.5 and the Hex-blade. The are 2 mistakes though; the calculation in the original diameter post. This is fixed and which will be explained in under the character explanation and the other is actually a liberal use of the Bad Mojo trait by having 1 level in thief. If you read the "no luck" racial trait and "Corruption" and "Strange" trait you will see that bad luck happens around the character, never to, but you can end all the bad luck by taking any GOOD Luck __ <-- fill in the blank.

BTW a diameter is something that bisects a circle from the center outward to the circle itself, but since d&d is suppose to be 3 dimensional I converted the diameter to cubic feet

Bad Luck Brian Human

D&D character for “those” campaigns

Level 1 fighter; Level 4 wizard; Level 1 Arcane Spell Thief
AP / Hero pts: 6
God: Fharlargan - the traveler (effect: Declare before roll, take 2 rolls, take the best of the rolls; wiki/3.5e equipment/older print 3e & original 3.5e)

Racial Traits:

• No Luck - draw backs: can’t take good or lucky feats/traits, ends if a lucky feat/trait is taken, excluding bad luck. Benefit: can take extra racial trait
• Raised By Other Race - can take a racial trait from another race.(tomshardware.com)
• Gnome Jinxer - draw back: 30’ diameter of bad luck in the form of -1 to all rollers(pathfinder/3.5e)
• Born Under A Bad Sign - “supernatural bad luck” -1 luck to all saves and hp at all (3.5e d.wikia) levels (Never below 1 or auto fail). Benefit: 4th level invocation, 9th single lesser, 15th single greater No Eldritch, but if warlock choose +1d6 eldritch blast.

Traits 1-8 are bundled together and explained at the ~. Any differences are listed at the side of the trait.

Traits:

1. Jinxed - 30’ of bad luck (-1 to all rolls) spend AP or Hero points to swap to another(Never below 1 or auto fail; pathfinder/3.5e)
2. Bad Luck (wikia) ~~ à -1 to rolls(-7 total) spend AP or Hero points to swap “luck” to another
3. Worst Luck (wiki flaws)
4. Fickle Luck (4e)
5. Jinxed /Unlucky 30’ diameter (90’ total)
6. Cursed Luck (3.5e feat/wiki/kender curse 3.5e template)
7. Hexed Luck (pathfinder witch)
8. Horrible Luck ~~ (To all of these: Never below 1 or auto fail)(Giant in the playground)
9. Misfortunate -1 all saving (Unearthed arcane*/wiki; Never below 1 or auto fail)
10. Wrath of God -1 all rolls (Never below 1 or auto fail) (brought by strange ways by the ire of Gods/Goddess/Deities/ High Spirits/Etc. "Snitchcat wiki")
11. Corruption Level 3 Rolls are unaffected by modifiers, only the method with up to -3 to the set up (3.5e wiki)
12. Unlucky Bastard -4 any misc. roll, - 2 AC, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information (Never Below 1 or auto fail) spend AP or Hero point to swap “luck” to another
13. No Mojo -1 “luck” roll for Diplomacy against gender is into spend AP or Hero point swap “luck” to another (fortune fool)
14. Strange Luck The roll is the roll, no modifiers are applied, only the method maybe modified (enworld.org)
15. (Only if truly dick-ish moments) Breaker - any material is treated as ½ hp &/or ½ hardness ("Snitchcat Wiki")

Feats:

1. Bad Mojo: Gain 3 luck rolls to announce before rolling to make a target suffer bad luck per effective level___ Level_LevelLevel___ (current = 6; fortune fool)
2. Jinxed 30’ -1 luck to rolls, Crit fail is now 1-4; Benefit: get 1 More feat or trait (pathfinder/3.5e; 120’ total)
3. Meta Magic Widen Spell (any d&d book)
4. Area Jinxer 30’ diameter bad luck area -1 to all rolls (pathfinder/2.5e;150’total)
5. Blast Jinxer 10’ diameter bad luck area blast for a -1 to all rolls (pathfinder/3.5e;160’total)
6. Cursed Luck Immediate action - re-roll any 1 roll and take the result;no other re-rolls allowed after (3.5e Divine Feats / 3.5e wiki)
7. Simple Weapon Pro (standard free feat)

(Feat #6 is traded in from the combat bonus feat of the warrior.)

Any normal roll: has a -20(-21) modifier Any Misc: has -24(-26) Any Saves: has -21 (-22) Any Skills -21 (-23)

Rolls that must take place after announced: 2 for use of Deity or 6 for Deity and Bad Mojo

160 feet diameter of bad luck or 53.3 about 54 cubic feet of bad luck. Basically walk into any room and watch the horror start!

HP: d10: 10 HP: d4: 16 HP: d6: 6 @ current total = 56 HP (try to take Born under a Bad Sign as a last racial trait you earn.

Using the 75 point buy system and + 1 for 4 levels of 1 class:

Str 11 +0
Dex 11 +0
Con 16 +4
Int 12 +1
Wis 12 +1
Charm 14+ 2

4*(2+ int mod for fighter level 1) = 12 BAB: 1
4*(2+ int mod for wizard level 1) = 12
(2+ int mod for wizard level 3-4) = 9 BAB:4
4*(2+ int mod for spell thief level 1) = 12 BAB: 0

Required: Sleight of Hand 8 ranks; Use Magic Device 4 Ranks; Spell Craft 2

Get/ Abilities: sneak attack: +3d6 backstab damage, Detect Magic 5’ radius, Steal magic (up to arcane level+ magic points)

12d4 Gold coins: 48

Base Magic point 5 and radius 5’ (radius = 1/2 diameter)

Saves:

• Will: 4 +2 +1
• Fort: 1 +2 +4
• Reflex: 1 +2 +0

Spells:

• All Level 0
• Level 1: Identify; Animate Rope; Magic Missile; Sleep (3 +1 bonus)
• Level 2: Shatter (1d6 sonic); Arcane lock; Summon swarm (2+1 bonus)
• Level 3: Dispel
• Level 4: Can’t cast yet Bestow Bad Luck -1 per -1 bad luck feature (including this spell) can be cast upon 1 person can only be cast once per level for a total of -24 (-26)points of bad luck (not including the AP / Hero Point spending)

To add for more fun:

• Haunted/Family Cursed “Luck”: Trait -1 to all rolls (Never below 1 or auto fail) (brought by different ways by the ire of Family/ High Spirits/Etc.)
• Bad Luck Tattoo: unknown if trait or curse -1 to all skill rolls (Never below 1 or auto fail)

Answer 6

Casters usually have familiars too, so give the bad luck Brian build a Pugwampi Gremlin as his companion as an improved familiar or from the Leadership feat.

It's from pathfinder bestiary 2 p 144 and now everyone around will have to roll 2 dice and take the lowest.