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Duke of URL
2010-11-04, 11:29 AM
REVENGE OF THE GESTALT BUILD CHALLENGE I: RECURRING NIGHTMARE

"I can never die." - Captain Jack Harkness

"Gestalt Build Challenge" General Rules

Unless otherwise specified in the specific challenge, the following rules and guidelines are always in effect:
Gestalt builds; 28-point buy; use any WOTC 3.5 product (including Dragon magazine) except where noted (only 3.0 products with an official upgrade to 3.5 are allowed). Use fractional BAB and fractional saves (good saves only get the +2 bonus once).
Make all builds to ECL 20. However, indicate the minimum ECL the build is playable at (the level at which all LA and/or racial HD, if applicable, are accounted for) and label any level that indicates a "power break" where the build has a significant jump in power level. Provide a detailed description of how the build operates.
Any race with a listed level adjustment is allowed (no racial progressions from Savage Species). LA and HD each apply to one side of the gestalt; you may include LA and HD on the same side as each other, or on other sides. No LA buyoff. Racial LA and LA from inherited templates are always applied before racial HD, which must be paid off before class levels on that side. Examples: LA X / RHD Y / class Z / ... // class A / ... -OR- LA X / class Y / ... // RHD A / class B / ...
Multiclass at will, but excessive or nonsensical multiclassing may warrant elegance penalties. Only one prestige class may be taken at any particular level. Dual-progression PrCs are banned. Multiclassing feats (such as Daring Outlaw) are banned.
Up to two flaws are allowed, but might warrant elegance penalties, especially if they aren't real drawbacks.
Templates are allowed, but excessive or nonsensical templates may warrant elegance penalties. Tauric has a level adjustment equal to the sum of the parent creatures' total level adjustment. Feral applies to RHD only.
Voting: Each challenge will have a specific list of voting categories, with each category having its own general criteria. Individual judges may apply this general criteria at their own discretion, so be sure to present your builds to appeal to the judges. Typical categories, however, include:
Overall: The best entry when taking all of the factors into account. Functionality: How well the build succeeds at the primary challenge goal Elegance: How well the build works on the whole, how much synergy the choices have with each other, and how playable it is over the full 1-20 range; rampant use of multiclassing, excessive templates, etc., should generally be penalized, as should illegal builds or dependence on build-inspecific tricks, such a Leadership, Diplomacy, and Use Magic Device shenanigans. Creativity: Succeeding in the primary challenge goal with an unusual set of choices "Party Animal": The build you'd most like to see at your gaming table as a PC or NPC.
Submissions: Borrowing from the Iron Chef series of challenges, all submissions should be sent to me via PM. At the contest deadline, I will post the submissions without submitter's names in a random order for discussion and voting.
Discussion: PLEASE REFRAIN FROM DISCUSSING POSSIBLE BUILDS BEFORE THE SUBMISSION DEADLINE. There will be an open discussion period after builds are published; to remain anonymous, submitters can PM me their comments and questions. After the open discussion period, voting will begin.


"RECURRING NIGHTMARE" Specific Rules
Entries may be submitted and edited up until noon PST on Friday, November 12, 2010 Monday, November 15, 2010. (new date!).
Create an NPC adversary who relies primarily on dreams, enchantment, and/or illusions and who can be beaten, but who is difficult, if not impossible, to permanently destroy.
The adversary should scale well against an average party of PCs over a large level range in order to be a recurring thorn in their side. Figure that the adversary will generally be 3-4 levels ahead of the PCs, and be a challenging opponent when played intelligently, but not a guaranteed TPK unless the party is playing extremely dumb.
Judging Categories:
Recurring Nightmare: the overall best entry
Very Bad Dream: the build that best (and most reliably) meets the primary challenge goal
Tranquility: the most elegant build, relying on the fewest cheap tricks
Hallucination: most original choices of races, classes, feats, etc., to get the job done
One Upon a Dream: the adversary you'd most enjoy working against as a player



Submission Form

Please format entries similar to:



Name: My Entry Name
Build: Feral Hobgoblin LA +2 / Fighter 18 // Rogue 10 / Assassin 10
Starting Ability Scores: based on a 28-point buy, with racial/template modifications
Minimum Playable Level: ECL 3
Power Break: describe levels at which significant increases in power are obtained

(optional flavor text goes here)

{table]Level | Side A | Side B | Feats | Special abilities
1 | Hobgoblin LA | Rogue 1 | Dodge | Hobgoblin traits, trapfinding, sneak attack +1d6
2 | Feral LA | Rogue 2 | - | Feral traits, evasion
etc. | | | |
[/table]

Offense: Primary offensive abilities and tactics

Defense: Primary defensive abilities and tactics

Weaknesses: Known weakness of the build


Please indicate interest if you would like to be an official judge, along with your interpretation of the general judging criteria.

Edit: and yes, I'm looking for a better quote up top.

Duke of URL
2010-11-08, 08:25 AM
Post-weekend bump.

Submissions are due by this Friday. And I'm still looking for judges.

kestrel404
2010-11-08, 11:40 AM
I'm interested, but I probably won't have time during the week. We'll see.

Kesnit
2010-11-08, 02:14 PM
Sounds like fun. I'll judge.

My take on criteria to come.

Duke of URL
2010-11-10, 02:31 PM
Deadline is just over 48 hours away. As of now, I have only one entry, so hurry up, folks!

kestrel404
2010-11-10, 03:38 PM
Wow, did someone else manage to submit a build already? Because I haven't even started.

Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-10, 06:56 PM
I have interest, but I need to know first if magical items will be included as part of this challenge. If so then I may not enter because magical items usually give me the most trouble as far as making builds go and I usually have to consult others for advice when choosing magic items for a BBEG not because I don't know what items to chose but rather have a VERY small pool of knowledge when it comes to magic items and thus simply don't know whats out there to chose from. I still may send an entry if magic items are indeed a part of this challenge but I would have to think hard on whether or not I would want to in that case.

Duke of URL
2010-11-10, 07:30 PM
If an item is crucial to the build, include it. Otherwise, there's no need to fully kit out your creation.

Be on the lookout for the next challenge. Just sayin'.

Fishy
2010-11-12, 01:20 AM
The suspense!

Tvtyrant
2010-11-12, 01:42 AM
I am so sad I just saw this thread.

Kurald Galain
2010-11-12, 03:52 AM
I am so sad I just saw this thread.

Me too, I hadn't noticed it before.

Adumbration
2010-11-12, 06:04 AM
Me too, I hadn't noticed it before.


Thirded. :smallfrown:

Duke of URL
2010-11-12, 06:28 AM
As I only have two entries submitted so far, I'm willing to extend the deadline to Monday if it'll mean greater participation.

kestrel404
2010-11-12, 07:54 AM
That would be great. I've had a busy week but I've got half a build and I should be able to finish it on saturday.

Maho-Tsukai
2010-11-12, 08:36 AM
As you have most likely guessed, I am holding out for the 2nd challenge. I came in too late so I am withdrawing interest in this challenge and holding out for another one. Just thought I should let you know.

Duke of URL
2010-11-15, 10:26 AM
Last call! Entries due in appx. four and a half hours...

... and closed. We have three entries. Open comment period begins now and ends at noon PST on Thursday, Nov. 18. If contestants wish to respond directly to a critique or question, please send me a PM and I'll post the response for you.

Duke of URL
2010-11-15, 03:45 PM
Name: The House on Hafstorm Hill
Build: Ghost Kalashtar: LA 5/Fighter 2/Master of the Unseen Hand 5/Quori Nightmare 1/Fighter +4/Lurking Terror 3//Wilder 13/Quori Nightmare +4/Wilder +3//

{table]Level|Class|Class|Features|Feats|Powers
1|Wilder|Ghost|Wild Surge +1, Ghost Traits|Live My Nightmare|Deja Vu
2|Wilder|Ghost|Elude Touch, Suggestion||Decelerate
3|Wilder|Ghost|Wild Surge +2, Rejuvenation|Overchannel|Vigor, Deja Vu
4|Wilder|Ghost|Surging Euphoria +1, Telekinesis||Waking Dreams
5|Wilder|Ghost|Educated Wilder, Major Image|Expanded Knowledge|Ego Whip, Astral Construct
6|Wilder|Fighter||Gestalt Anchor, Improved Initiative|Body Adjustment
7|Wilder|Fighter|Wild Surge +3, Dungeoncrasher I||Project Quori Spirit
8|Wilder|MoUH|Improved CL, Versatile TK||Correspond
9|Wilder|MoUH|TK Wielder|Expanded Knowledge, Psionic Body|Death Urge, Mental Turmoil
10|Wilder|MoUH|Full Attack TK||Psionic Plane Shift
11|Wilder|MoUH|Wild Surge +4, Improved Violent Thrust||Psionic Major Creation
12|Wilder|MoUH|Surging Euphoria +2, Fling Skyward|Quicken Power|Temporal Acceleration
13|Wilder|Nightmare|Disturbing Touch|Expanded Knowledge|Fuse Flesh, Mind Probe
14|Nightmare|Fighter|Nightmare Shroud||Insanity
15|Nightmare|Fighter|Nightmare Touch|Twin Power, Danger Sense|Energy Wave
16|Nightmare|Fighter|Terror||Recall Death
17|Nightmare|Fighter|Embodiment of Nightmares, Dungeoncrasher II||Shadow Body
18|Wilder|Terror|Deathly Power|Expanded Knowledge|Stygian Conflagration, Dream Travel
19|Wilder|Terror|Wild Surge +5, Improved Darkvision||Microcosm
20|Wilder|Terror|Hide in Plain Sight||Timeless Body[/table]

Starting Ability scores (After Ghost template): STR 8, DEX 12, CON -, INT 12, WIS 12, CHA 22

Description:Like many Kalashtar, Karhugar was fascinated by dreams. A man of science, he devoted his life's work to understanding the imagination, and conducted a decades long study of nightmares- how they could be induced, what made some children more prone to them than others, and whether or not there were any anatomical differences in their brains. True genius is never understood in its day, and he was eventually tortured, lynched, and burned at the stake by the villagers he abducted his test subjects from. Karhugar is no more, but the manor where he carried out his hideous experiments is said to be haunted by his evil and the restless innocent dead.

Predictably, Karhugar has become a Ghost, eternally haunting The House on Hafstrom Hill. The twist is that he doesn't haunt the physical house- Mechanically, he's been Dream Walk-ed into the realm of dreams, and then Haunt Shift-ed into a Haunting Presence that inhabits the house's nightmare-mirror. Karhugar's spirit will not die as long as people have nightmares about the house- effectively, he has become the sum of all the House's nightmares.

Unhinged in life and now an undead dream, The House is now quite mad, but its goals are simple. Its wants revenge, to wipe the town off Hafstrom of the map by killing everyone and their descendants- but it is aware that if it does too good a job, it will cease to exist.

Minimum Playable Level: ECL 5:On their way through on another adventure, the PCs hear about the legend of The House on Hafstrom Hill, and learn about the spate of villagers suffering from horrible nightmares.

Enter the PCs, who show up, investigate the physical House, also haunted by minor undead. It's a wreck, with broken and decayed furniture, peeled paint, cobwebs- and conveniently crumbled walls that allow easy access to the remnants of the secret experimentation rooms. The details of the House, the rooms, and the instruments inside are left to the DM's imagination and the group's collective squick level, but it should culminate in an obvious 'end room': Perhaps a library, with shelves stacked high with abominable research notes and a convenient fireplace. The PCs should be able to go through it without too much trouble.

The real fun begins that night, when they dream, and visit the house again.

The nightmare version of the house is in much better shape than the real version. Instruments that were old and broken down in reality could very well be either clean and shiny, or recently used and still messy. Holes in walls are noticeably absent, so the PCs will have to find a different path to the 'exit', being harassed all the time.

The House has Major Image at will, Telekinesis every 1d4 rounds, and Suggestion once an hour. It can see, hear and speak to the PCs wherever they go, and it can control doors, locks, traps, and objects with moving parts. It also manifests as a 5th level Wilder, but I've deliberately held back on offensive powers in favor of dreamlike ones- the House will occasionally manifest Deja Vu or Deceleration for no tactical advantage, simply to freak the PCs out. The House is crazed and murderous, but its real goal is to terrorize the PCs, not to kill them cleanly. And if it can crack open their skulls and take a peak at their brains, more the better.

When it's time to change gears, the House will use Wild Surge and Overchannel to create a rather ludicrous Astral Construct- The House is rather liberal with both abilities, given that it can't be hurt unless the PCs make a DC20 Knowledge: Religion check to exorcize it. Instead, the PCs win if they make it to the final room and burn the books again. If instead, they TPK, the party wakes up screaming. The House has the power to kill them for real, but they're far too useful alive.


Power Break: ECL 8:The PCs are perfectly welcome to write the experience off as a bad dream that is over and done with, and go about their adventure- until the House gets 4th level powers, and Correspond. Anyone who has ever dreamt of the House starts hearing voices. The House is real. The House is still out there. It's still alive, and it's started to kill.

The House's goal is to get more people more frightened of it, and to have more nightmares. If the legend spreads far enough, the House can safely murder off Hafstrom without worrying about paradoxing itself out of existence. It uses Correspond to unnerve, threaten, intrigue and generally haunt the population, to pull them back into its nightmare.

If the PCs come and visit, either in a dream or through planeswalking, the house can and should have a different layout from the previous visits. It's a nightmare, not a factual recreation, and should include a healthy mix of fresh and familiar horrors.

Among these fresh horrors, a number of tsoreva and tsucora quori are scuttling around. The Quori are known for creating dreams to further their own agenda- but in this case, the dream has created the quori, using the Project Quori Spirit power, backed up by Major Images. In addition to the new minions, the House has slightly improved its telekinetic powers with Dungeoncrasher- which is slightly less impressive than usual, given that the House has no strength score.

Once again, the PCs can end the dream by making it to the final room and burning the books, or exorcizing and destroying Karhugar's ghost. The House will also spawn tsoreva quori in various rooms- if the PCs find and beat them all, followed by the Boss Fight with a tsucora, the House will play dead and let them into the library.


Power Break: ECL 13:Between Wild Surge and Overchannel, the House can now push its manifester level up to 19- enough to summon a dream master quori using Project Quori Spirit. Finally, the House doesn't have to wait for mortal dreamers to come to it- it can use the Quori's Dream and Nightmare abilities to go to them. Furthermore, unlike Correspond, all it needs is a name. The Quori uses Nightmare, the dreamer is dragged to an experimentation room in the House, the House uses Mind Probe to rip out a list of names of loved ones, and then repeat.

(Meanwhile, the Wizard has had Dream and Nightmare for 6 levels now. Apparently, visiting people in dreams isn't something Psions do.)

In addition to the 'targeted' campaign, the House also has Psionic Plane Shift. The House can only keep a physical form for 10 minutes at a time, but that could well be long enough to pop into the Material Plane and abduct someone into the dreamworld at random.

On its home plane, the House is even more of a monster. Even if it devotes all of its power points per night on expanding its influence, it can fill itself with Animated Objects, make telekinetic full attacks at +17 BAB, or just make 10 attacks per round with Improved Violent Thrust. The House has changed from a spooky experience to a full on splatterhouse, and now that it has a reliable way of spreading the nightmare, it doesn't need the PCs alive.


Power Break: ECL 15:The House now automatically succeeds at the level check to rejuvenate. You've probably been fudging the dice roll on its behalf, but now it's official.

Also, the House has the Nightmare Touch ability- melee touch attacks don't really fit neatly into the House's fighting style, but it's a decent backup plan, that could force its victims to keep coming back night after night.


Defense: [I]Major Image at will. Can be used to draw fire and burn up the PC's resources by spoofing Astral Constructs, Quori, Animated Objects, or the manifested form of the ghost of Karhugar. It's also very useful for hiding behind, concealing doorways, summoning up traumatic childhood memories, creating evil duplicates of the PCs, dreaming-that-you've-woken-up, and generally being annoying.

Undead immunities and d12 HD, Psionic Body and lots of delicious psionic bonus feats, and ridiculous Psionic temp-hp and self-healing.

Divination spells cast at The House or in The House trigger Live My Nightmare, which is very helpful when you depend on illusions.

The House is also very hard to get to. Leading an assault on the dreamworld is a lot more involved than storming the local evil castle, and once the PCs make it there, they still can't hurt the House until they perform the Exorcism ritual.

Rejuvenation, the ultimate defense. How do you kill a story? Particularly when it starts reaching out and telling itself to people?


Offense: Summons and Telekinesis. In the early levels, the PCs won't have a hope in hell of forcing the House to play fair, and if the House successfully passes itself off as a Quori plot, they might not get a chance at later levels. I've picked the House's offensive abilities with this in mind- "Wild Surged Energy Ray from nowhere, you die" just isn't fun. Summons give the PCs something to punch or run away from, and Telekinesis starts off tricky and suspenseful, and scales up to deadly with MoUH and Dungeoncrasher.


Weaknesses: Exorcism + Disintegrate. The Ethereal Plane isn't coterminous to the Dreamworld, so Karhugar's ghost is fully corporeal when it's forced to materialize. It still has all its undead immunities, but is extremely vulnerable to spells that affect objects and allow a Fort save.

Also, living in a distant and quasi-real plane is great for defense, but severely limits the House's activities. It can't really molest the PCs during the daytime, and it has only a vague and partial understanding of what is happening in the real world. If the PCs mount a large-scale logistical campaign and start stuffing the entire population of Hafstrom into Magic Circles, the House won't even know until it's too late.

Also, Elves, Kalashtar, Warforged and Undead, curse them.


Bibliography:Libris Mortis: Haunting variant Ghost, Haunt Shift spell, Haunting Presence rules, Lurking Terror PrC
Races of Eberron: Gestalt Anchor feat, Kalashtar race, Quori Nightmare PrC
Magic of Eberron: Project Quori Spirit and Waking Dreams powers
Expanded Psionics Handbook: Wilder class, miscellaneous powers and feats
Complete Psionic: Gestalt Anchor feat, miscellaneous powers and nerfs
Complete Adventurer: Danger Sense feat
Complete Warrior: Master of the Unseen Hand PrC
Unearthed Arcana: Live My Nightmare feat
Dungeonscape: Dungeoncrasher variant Fighter
Heroes of Horror: General advice on dreamscape adventures, and the Dream Walk spell, which I guess I technically didn't end up using.

Inspirations: Nightmare On Elm Street, Room 1408, Eagle Eye, Lost, the Ghost Houses from Super Mario, Psychonauts, Portal, that time I worked for an eMarketing company, and many other horrible scary things.

Duke of URL
2010-11-15, 03:46 PM
Name: Darth Henson
Race: Unbodied
Build: Psion (telepath) / thrallherd // factutum / divine crusader (summoning) -- but all mixed around to make the prerequisites work.
Stats: Dex: 10, Con: 16, Int: 22, Wis: 12: Cha 18
Playable from: ECL 4

Wait, since when does this campaign have a central villian?

The players should spend a while facing Henson's stooges, thralls, dominees and summoned creatures before they realize he exists. Once they do, they'll realize that every NPC without a very high will save is against them. He never fights directly unless he has to (which requires both dimensional anchor and forcecage).

Classes:
{table]1|rhd|la
2|rhd|la
3|rhd|la
4|rhd|la
5|psion|factotum
6|psion|thrallherd
7|factotum|thrallherd
8|factotum|thrallherd
9|psion|divine crusader
10|psion|divine crusader
11|psion|divine crusader
12|psion|divine crusader
13|psion|divine crusader
14|factotum|thrallherd
15|factotum|thrallherd
16|factotum|thrallherd
17|factotum|thrallherd
18|factotum|thrallherd
19|factotum|thrallherd
20|psion|thrallherd[/table]

Necessary Feats: Summon Elemental (for eternal minions), Overchannel (for early dominate-everything and high DCs later), Weapon Focus (for divine crusader), repeated Expanded Knowledge

Necessary Powers: Mindlink, Dominate, False Sensory Input, Alter Memory, Teleport, Astral Construct

Equipment: Actual equipment would be awkward for an incorporeal being, so he spends his wealth on Tomes, Castings of Permenance, Castings of Psychic Chirurgery to grant additional power, and bribes to government officials. Alternatively, if alignment permits, he could take Vow of Poverty.

Offense: Whatever his minions have. He can strike directly at his enemies' minds, but prefers to wear them down with an endless supply of disposable puppets.

Defenses: You usually don't know he's there. You wouldn't recognize him if you did. He may be in the middle of a large boulder, and will teleport away if he gets in trouble.

Vulnerabilities: Nearly helpless in actual combat if forced into it. May have a tendency to gloat.

Duke of URL
2010-11-15, 03:47 PM
Name: Beleth, the unending terror
Build: Pixie Ghost Erudite 1/Anarchic Initiate 10//Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1/Nightmare Spinner 5/Unseen Seer 9
Stating ability scores: 4 18 - 24 12 22
Minimum Playable level: ECL 5
Power Breaks: 5 (Ghost, manifest, invisibility), 6 (telepathy & telekinesis at will), 7 (rejuvenation - effectively unkillable), 9 (super fear stacking abilities, malevolence), 10 (psionic abilities), 12 (psionic powers from the etherial plane!),

{table=head]Level|Side A|Side B|Feats|Skills|Features/Abilities
1|Pixie LA|Beguiler|Education|Bluff 4, Diplo 4, Intim 2, Sense Motive 4, Hide 4, Search 4, Spot 4, Spellcraft 4, Know(arc) 4, Know(planes) 4, Know(Psi) 4, UMD 4, Concentration 4|Armored casting, trapfinding
2|Pixie LA|Beguiler||Bluff 5, Diplo 5, Intim 2.5, Sense Motive 5, Hide 5, Search 5, Spot 5, Spellcraft 5, Know(arc) 5, Know(planes) 5, Know(Psi) 5, UMD 5, Concentration 5|cloaked casting(+1 DC), surprise casting
3|Pixie LA|Beguiler|Fell FrightenB|luff 6, Diplo 6, Intim 3, Sense Motive 6, Hide 6, Search 6, Spot 6, Spellcraft 6, Know(arc) 6, Know(planes) 6, Know(Psi) 6, UMD 6, Concentration 6|Advanced Learning
4|Pixie LA|Beguiler||Bluff 7, Diplo 7, Intim 3.5, Sense Motive 7, Hide 7, Search 7, Spot 7, Spellcraft 7, Know(arc) 7, Know(planes) 7, Know(Psi) 7, UMD 7, Concentration 7|
5|Ghost LA|Beguiler||Bluff 8, Diplo 8, Intim 4, Sense Motive 8, Hide 8, Search 8, Spot 8, Spellcraft 8, Know(arc) 8, Know(planes) 8, Know(Psi) 8, UMD 8, Concentration 8|silent spell, Manifestation, Ghost skills +2, ghost equipment
6|Ghost LA|Mindbender|Undead Leadership|Bluff 9, Intim 6, Sense Motive 9, Spellcraft 9, Know(arc) 9, Know(planes) 9, Know(Psi) 9, Concentration 9|Telepathy, Telekinesis, +2 cha, +2 turn resist
7|Ghost LA|Nightmare Spinner||Bluff 10, Intim 7, Sense Motive 10, Search 9, Spellcraft 10, Know(arc) 10, Know(planes) 10, Know(Psi) 10, Concentration 10, UMD 9|Bonus spells, inspire fear, Rejuvenation, ghost skills +4
8|Ghost LA|Nightmare Spinner||Bluff 11, Search 11, Spellcraft 11, Know(arc) 11, Know(planes) 11, Know(Psi) 11, Concentration 11, UMD 11|Nightmare Phantasm, Malevolence, +2 cha, +2 turn resist, ghost skills +6
9|Ghost LA|Nightmare Spinner|Frightful Presence|Bluff 12, Search 12, Spellcraft 12, Know(arc) 12, Know(planes) 12, Know(Psi) 12, Concentration 12, UMD 12, Intim 9|Spirit Chill, ghost skills +8
10|Erudite|Nightmare Spinner|Overchannel|Bluff 13, Search 13, Spellcraft 13, Psicraft 6, Know(planes) 13, Concentration 13|Psicrystal
11|Anarchic Initiate|Nightmare Spinner|Bluff 14, Search 14, Spellcraft 14, Psicraft 12, Know(planes) 14, Concentration 14|Deadly nightmare, Chaotic Surge
12|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer|Transdimensional Power|Bluff 15, Search 15, Spellcraft 15, Psicraft 15, Know(planes) 15, Concentration 15, Hide 11, UMD 15|Anarchic Grace, 1d6 sneak attack
13|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer||Bluff 16, Search 16, Spellcraft 16, Psicraft 16, Concentration 16, Hide 16, UMD 16, Move Silent 5|Wild Surge +1, psychic enervation, Advanced learning
14|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer||Bluff 17, Search 17, Spellcraft 17, Psicraft 17, Concentration 17, Hide 17, UMD 17, Know(Arch&Eng) 3, Know(Nobility) 3, Know(Religion) 3|Clarity of Confusion, divination power +1
15|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer|Practiced Manifester (Erudite)|Bluff 18, Search 18, Spellcraft 18, Psicraft 18, Concentration 18, Hide 18, UMD 18, Know(Arch&Eng) 5, Know(Nobility) 5, Know(Religion) 5, Know(Nature) 3|2d6 sneak attack
16|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer||Bluff 19, Search 19, Spellcraft 19, Psicraft 19, Concentration 19, Hide 19, UMD 19, Know(Nature) 5, Know(Dung) 3, Know(Psi) 12, Know(Arc) 12|Minor chaotic breach, advanced learning, guarded mind
17|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer||Bluff 20, Search 20, Spellcraft 20, Psicraft 20, Concentration 20, Hide 20, UMD 20, Know(Psi) 20, Know(arc) 13|wild surge +2, divination power +2
18|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer|Psicrystal Containment|Bluff 21, Search 21, Spellcraft 21, Psicraft 21, Concentration 21, Hide 21, UMD 21, Know(arc) 20, Know(Dung) 6|Postpone enervation, 3d6 sneak attack
19|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer||Bluff 22, Search 22, Spellcraft 22, Psicraft 22, Concentration 22, Hide 22, UMD 22, Intimidate 18|advanced learning
20|Anarchic Initiate|Unseen Seer||Bluff 23, Search 23, Spellcraft 23, Psicraft 23, Concentration 23, Hide 23, UMD 23, Intimidate 23, Know(nature) 10|Complete chaotic breach, divination power +3[/table]

Offense: As a Beguiler, your primary offensive capabilities lie in your illusions and enchantments, sowing fear and confusion amongst your enemies. While you don't have a lot of directly damaging spells, your selection of spells provides you with a wide variety of options for subtly misdirecting your enemies, turning their allies against them, and using their environment against them. As your spells become more powerful, you get more options, especially with the ability to use several different options to sow fear (Fell Frighten metamagic, Frightful presence feat, several options from the nightmare spinner Prc, and the fear spell) - any foe who is not immune to fear will be running very quickly - and taking damage thanks to your spirit chill ability. At higher levels, your erudite abilities and anarchic initiate abilities come into play - giving you a multitude of offensive options. With Transdimensional spell, you can even snipe at your enemies from another plane of existence! Your undead leadership feat is there to provide you with muscle, footsoldiers, and mooks, so that you can back up any threats you need to make.

Defense: While your offense may be impressive, it is your defenses that are really spectacular! As a pixie, you're tiny and invisible. As a ghost, you're incorporeal and you're only on the material plane when you want to be - when you need to flee you can escape to the ethereal plane. At level 7, you also become effectively unkillable, with the Rejuvenation ability bringing you back to unlife if you do manage to get yourself destroyed. If that's not enough, between unseen seer and beguiler, you'll be hiding and using indirect spells/abilities against your foes at all times. And when you get Malevolence, you need not ever show up to fight your enemies in your own form again - just take over some patsy and show up in their body, then when you fail, let them take the fall for you!

Weaknesses: In a direct confrontation, you're unlikely to come out victorious. The undead leadership feat is there to make up for this, but you're still not a real threat once things come down to a direct confrontation. Fortunately, you've got so many options for running away that this shouldn't really be an issue.

Salanmander
2010-11-15, 08:24 PM
Is it just me, or does the House on Hafstorm Hill sound like a haunt from Betrayal at House on the Hill (yeah, the name might be part of the reason I think this...) made epic and very awesome? I kinda want to run that now.

Jack_Simth
2010-11-15, 08:42 PM
Name: Beleth, the unending terror
Build: Pixie Ghost Erudite 1/Anarchic Initiate 10//Beguiler 5/Mindbender 1/Nightmare Spinner 5/Unseen Seer 9
Unless I'm missing something, this build is illegal:
The Pixie (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/sprite.htm#pixie) is type "Fey", while the Ghost (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ghost.htm) "is an acquired template that can be added to any aberration, animal, dragon, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, or plant." - Fey is not on the list. Now, you can fix that by putting some Half-Dragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm) between the two, but I didn't see that in the build.

Fishy
2010-11-18, 08:55 AM
So, this is kind of lame.

Is anonymity important for this contest? I'd like to talk about my build and make comments and such, but I sort of feel like I can't do that without either being dishonest or making it obvious which is mine.

Duke of URL
2010-11-18, 08:57 AM
I was actually hoping that anonymity would encourage participation (see the Iron Chef challenges). Didn't really work out as planned. :smallannoyed:

kestrel404
2010-11-18, 09:06 AM
Anonymity was important in the Iron Chef challenges because having open postings tended to get the judges and contestants arguing about rules quibbles. Having to go through a middle man (the person running the contest) made for a much friendlier atmosphere.

But there aren't all that many contestants and only one 'judge' has posted interest, so I'm not really seeing the need here.

Kesnit
2010-11-19, 07:43 PM
Sorry I haven't posted anything. My fiancee got word her cat has cancer and isn't expected to live past tomorrow. Needless to say, this has put a damper on my Internet time. I'll get to it as soon as I can.