Joy Phillip said: Gary M said: Joy Phillip said: Gary M said: If you check the new player's checklist on arrays it has, in bold, something that should clarify why I am going to say you should not put your level 4 bump into Charisma. It isn't because we are all min-maxing munchkins, but rather you are crippling yourself for no reason. Starting with 10/14/11/14/17/10 pre racial, giving the bumps that you gave gets you to 10/17/11/14/17/11. If you instead give that to Wis/Con and change your starting array all of the end result numbers stay the same, except the fact that you have 3 extra points to put in Charisma rather than 1. So if you want to bump your charisma, it makes no sense not to bump it at character creation. Starting array of 10/14/11/16/13 pre racial gets you to 10/17/11/14/17/13. All the same, higher Cha. Please do not unnecessarily cripple yourself. Similarly there is no reason to take Weapon Expertise (Spear). Please refer to the post on expertise feats for more information. Please breakdown your gold expenditure in the wealth section. At a glance it looks like you spent money on a bunch of mundane items which you do not need to do. You have "Leaves of Death" listed as a neck slot item. It is a holy symbol. You also are not proficient in holy symbols and gain no benefit from that item so I don't know why you are wearing it. Also you need to purchase a neck slot item. While it is not incorrect I would make a note that Lifedrinker weapon requires you to make the attack with that weapon in order to gain the benefit. So you cannot get the benefit of that weapon on any power that you have as none of them are powers that you can use through that weapon as those powers are implement powers and do not have the weapon keyword and you cannot use spears as an implement. Your voice of battle is also a wisdom based implement attack and on your attack and damage workspace I am a little confused. It seems like you are not getting any of your bonuses including your wisdom modifier. If you are having problems figuring out what all goes in your attack and damage workspace I would suggest looking at the video, page 274 in the PHB or by asking a question in guild chat on Skype. I noticed you took 2 backgrounds (which is fine) but you did not take a theme. While not required a theme can give you additional benefits and help round out a character. Please label your feats based on when you got them (Free, 1, 2 4 etc) I had done the Cha bump pretty much at random, mostly because adventurers/normal people don't get to choose things like that. However, you make a good point here and I will most likely do what you suggest. It is reasonable and I don't see how it is much of a change. The array I did choose at random, so, uh... yeah. :) Shamans don't get a lot of choice in their weapons. I didn't want to go with the standard weapons-for-clerics. Spear seemed like a choice that would work to avoid club/mace... The first choice I made was a Scythe to be honest. Too much encumbrance. Spear was the same damage in case the enemy closes and it's one handed wieldable. Other than that, the bonus feat from the guild is useless to me. I guess I could take it in Dagger, but that's the only other thing I can think of. No, I took only magic items with the wealth. I'll list them however. Easy enough. Worshipers of a deity can't wear the symbol of their goddess as a necklace? I got it for the effect of the extra savings throw. As for purchase of the neck slot item, is there a reason it's required? There's not a lot that my character needs to wear there, she's an aesthete and only has enough clothing to cover her loins and breasts (because others need them covered for some reason) and that's handled by the armor. She doesn't even wear boots. As I see her, she has her totem wrapped around her wrist, armor on, spear in her fist, and her Bag of Holding inside her armor, and that's literally it. I can change it to a regular non-magical holy symbol I suppose, but that leaves me with extra money. That's fine. I knew that the lifedrinker was a "hit" power. This isn't crippling, it's me trying to play something I don't normally. All said and sorted, I WANT to have a Silver Sword from her people, but that's 9th level item at a start, and it's also a quest item, and a unusable weapon class for the Shaman. The powers she have aren't touch oriented, she lets most of the melee be done by her Spirit, and the others around her, while she supports from the rear, takes opportunity hits with her spear or daggers, while staying out of the way of the hack-and-slashers. I will do my best to clarify it. I didn't really understand the Themes, and I've done some looking and reading and don't see it. I'll keep looking though. I didn't see any way to find information on it within the guild as there's no search option. These are listed under the "Feats" section on the sheet. I don't really know what you mean by not picking things as you level up. The array is legal and isn't a problem anymore, but I was curious about that mentality. Normally I think of leveling up as going out and getting better at whatever it is that you do. The fighter's strength is the most likely thing for him to improve at because he is bashing things in the head and growing physically stronger as he levels. I always saw the stat bumps being something that was representing this mentality. I think there is a primary misconception here. Shamans do not get a big choice of weapons because they are not a weapon class for the most part. Their powers are through their implements. If you look on the list, for example, Spear Expertise is 100% better in every way than Weapon Expertise (Spear). That being said, both of those are for weapons and as an implement user neither of them is very handy for you. Instead it is one of the implement expertise things you might want to look at. You are proficient in using totems as an implement, you have a magic totem as an implement, all your powers (including the ones through your spirit companion) would benefit from Totem Expertise. If you do the math, that isn't what you did though. You took a number that was all GP and ended with a number that had silver and copper pieces in it. 4500-4,460 =/= 35.482. Thanks for putting in the math for me though. You have to be proficient in an implement to use it. It will provide you no benefit. And yes there is a reason you are required to purchase a neck, it is listed in the New Player Checklist as it says explicitly that it is a requirement. The reason for this is that it is as important to wear an amulet as it is to be wearing some form of armor. If you are looking for saving throw stuff, you can check out Amulet of Double Fortune or Amulet of Elegy. As long as you know it doesn't work with your powers, you are free to hold the spear. It was a clarification not a correction. You did not correct Voice of Battle. It is still listed incorrectly in both attack and damage worskspaces. Go to "Character Themes" in the portable compendium. You will see them listed there and can search through them for any one you like. They are not mandatory, just something a little extra that comes with some flavor, typically an entry power, a small bonus to a skill or skills and some options for powers if you choose to take those options. They are not labeled based on when you get them. One of them says Bonus, one says level 2, the other 2 say Racial and Lv0. Now I'm confused, I didn't say anything like that. Nevermind. Array done Totem implement taken. Spear deselected Okay, I went over math 5 times. 35 gp, 48 sp and 20 cp. 10 cp = 1 sp. that means 48 sp + 2 sp (20 cp) is 50 sp. 10 sp = 1 gp. so, yeah, that equals 40 gp and when added to the 4460 gp spent on magic items.... Totem implement taken. holy symbol discarded. amulet purchased. mods to various fort, ac and saves modified. okay I believe it is correct now. no theme taken. None seemed to work with the character labeled now. If you scroll up in this very post you see what I'm replying to with that comment. "I had done the Cha bump pretty much at random, mostly because adventurers/normal people don't get to choose things like that." K Fair enough. I honestly cannot remember the last time I did math that was in silver or copper pieces, so I was using 1/100 for both SP and CP. Check Check It is not yet correct. You included the bonus for your feat in the attack calculations but did not include the bonus from your totem in either the attack or damage workspaces. You also have a Misc bonus of +3 instead of having it as your ability bonus. K K Once we get the attack and damage workspaces sorted I can toss you a journal entry.