thanks for the concern, and thanks TGT for the explanations.  *s*  everything's cool.<br/><br/>I think what did me in was that i made a character the only way i know how and with the impression that she'd be good at sneaking, breaking into shit, and shooting damage at a distance.  when i realized that, comparably, she was horrible at all those things, then I kind of felt like i wanted a break.<br/><br/>I'm looking at a few options.  With TGT's approval, I'll probably use some Umbragen stuff from Dragon Magazine in combination with some negative-energy-plane stuff.  I still don't think I'll find anything as heavy-hitting as what you guys are swinging around, but my next character should be more capable at something useful to the party and not yet made obsolete.<br/><br/>Most importantly, I think it's going to make the character cooler.  I had the character listed as CN before, but was playing her more as TN/mercenary.  I think that the character interaction will be fun and that the concept will be more interesting with an extra-weird transformation going on.<br/><br/>Anyway... I apologize for creating any undue upset.  Thanks again for your concern.  I think it's actually great that TGT's being so flexible with this character in giving me a chance to re-frame it with some story, because if it was 100% dice and luck at this point then she'd be in the grinder right now.