Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground XXXII

[Amphetryon]

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef XXXII. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present a write-up of your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20-level build in the table below. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Menu: For most challenges, the "special ingredient" will be drawn from Core plus Completes. There will, from time to time, be special challenges that showcase secret ingredients from other books--for example, the XPH.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method, but we have generally allowed other levels of point-buy.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em. This comes up often enough to bear mention in the rules: Dragon Compendium is allowed.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 11:59PM GMT on Sunday, April 29, 2012 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, Amphetryon. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 11:59PM GMT on Saturday, May 12th, 2012 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted. If you do not have access to the current challenge's Secret Ingredient, please do not volunteer to judge this round.

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient.

Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points. Please note the following change: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using too many sources may be an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not.
Presentation: Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.NAME OF ENTRY
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

7th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

8th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

9th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

10th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

11th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

12th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

13th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

14th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

15th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

16th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

17th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

18th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

19th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

20th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities[/table]

CodeNAME OF ENTRY
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

2nd|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

3rd|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

4th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

5th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

6th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

7th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

8th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

9th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

10th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

11th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

12th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

13th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

14th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

15th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

16th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

17th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

18th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

19th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities

20th|New Class Level|
+x|
+x|
+x|
+x|Skills|New Feats|New Class Abilities[/table]

For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

15th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

CodeSpells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

15th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.
Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until the "reveal," in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

This week's special ingredient is:
Complete Divine's Temple Raider of Olidammara!
We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM.

Allez optimiser!

Contestants

Judges

The Builds

Past Competitions

Iron Chef I: Entropomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142470)
Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146583)
Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148584)
Iron Chef IV: Stonelord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150595)
Iron Chef V: War Chanter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152543)
Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156876)
Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158633)
Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160266)
Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162702)
Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164381)
Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166539)
Iron Chef XII: War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9426386)
Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172233)
Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174434)
Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176049)
Iron Chef XVI: Assassin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178202)
Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182492)
Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186097)
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190607)
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10976416)
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198921)
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206576)
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210071)
Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214198)
Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217441)
Iron Chef XXVI: Shadowdancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220956)
Iron Chef XXVII: Mindbender (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224008)
Iron Chef XXVIII: Cryokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227304)
Iron Chef XXIX: Consecrated Harrier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229688)
Iron Chef XXX: Initiate of Pistis Sophia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233346)
Iron Chef XXXI: Shadow Sentinel (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236908)

[Amphetryon]

FAQ:
Is Dragon Compendium Allowed? Yes, but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

What about 3.0 materials? 3.0 materials, whether online or in printed form, are allowed unless they've been officially updated to a 3.5 edition.

Are Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, or Kingdoms of Kalamar allowable sources? The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but the subsequent books for Dragonlance are considered 3rd party, and are therefore not eligible, despite the "WotC approved" status of those books. The same holds for Oriental Adventures (1st party) and the subsequent Rokugan books (3rd party). Similarly, materials from Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Kingdoms of Kalamar are considered 3rd party for purposes of this contest, and are therefore not allowed.


What about online sources in general? If the online source is a) published by WotC, and b) not replaced by an updated version at a later time, it is eligible. Use it, link it.

Where's the line drawn with "acceptable/unacceptable" for Unearthed Arcana? This will likely vary a bit from Chairman to Chairman. Item Familiars have always been verboten, since before IC migrated to GitP; don't expect that to change. Flaws have similarly always been noted as warranting a deduction; while I am Chairman, I'm extending that to Traits, though they warrant 1/2 the penalty in Elegance that a Flaw would because they're roughly 1/2 as useful. Alternate spell systems, alternate skill systems and alternate crafting rules all create an uneven playing field, and as such, will be disallowed for as long as I am Chairman. Bloodlines are ripe for abuse, and will be strongly discouraged as long as I am Chairman. Note that judges are allowed to look askance at any use of Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above, at their discretion, and otherwise penalize Elegance according to their preference.

What about the Adaptation section for Temple Raider? Because Olidammara is setting-specific, entries may use the Adaptation section, provided their entry has a patron deity who is: 1)Chaotic and 2)Grants access to the Chaos or Trickery Domain(s) AND the Luck Domain. Worship of an ideal along those lines is NOT sufficient because it widens the field too greatly for IC purposes; entries without an appropriate patron deity will not be presented. Unless the setting from which you draw the deities specifically allows for polytheism (such as Eberron's option to worship the Sovereign Host), you may not worship multiple gods in order to circumvent this requirement. In the case of the Sovereign Host specifically, special attention to the given Alignment of the Sovereign Host as a worshiped body should be paid. . . .

[Kuulvheysoon]

Dude, Temple Raider?

Awesome. I'll try to put a build together, but if I can't find anything that I like, I'll totally judge this one.

Huh - might be fun to hunt down alternate divine patrons for this one.

Also, Amph, how are Rokugan Campaign Setting materials treated? A-okay?

[mattie_p]

I know I just signed up for Zinc Saucier, but I'll be in on this one too. No ideas yet, need to read the PrC again, but I'm certain I'll come up with something.

[Amphetryon]

The Oriental Adventures book is 1st party. All the other Rokugan materials are not.

[Toy Killer]

I've already got an idea...

[Aeryr]

Oh crap... I did a build while thinking on possible ingredients during the last IC. So... I might hold it and decide to judge if there are not to many entries (no promises).

[Piggy Knowles]

Hmm... I love skill builds, and this PrC, so hopefully I'll come up with something worth submitting. Got some ideas already, but nothing concrete yet.

[Jeriah]

I think I might enter this one.

[Venger]

Cool! I've always wanted an excuse to use this class. count me in as a chef.

[Fearan]

Well, at least, it's no Lightsaber of Heironius

[Zaq]

Once again, I weep for my lack of enough sustained (and not already earmarked) free time to be likely to compete. That said, I approve of the ingredient.

[BobVosh]

I don't remember this at all. How do you keep finding stuff in books I never remember.

[TroubleBrewing]

Under the "Adaptation" section of the class, it makes note that any deity of "rogues, thieves, or secret knowledge could be a patron of a temple raider".

Are we limited to worshiping Olidammara, or is this note a license to choose another rogue-flavored deity?

[Zaq]

Under the "Adaptation" section of the class, it makes note that any deity of "rogues, thieves, or secret knowledge could be a patron of a temple raider".

Are we limited to worshiping Olidammara, or is this note a license to choose another rogue-flavored deity?

Post number two.

[TroubleBrewing]

*Facepalm...*

And I always promised myself I'd never be the guy who clearly didn't read through the whole thread...

[SilverLeaf167]

I love IC and the class isn't too bad, I'm in as a contestant.

[Golden Ladybug]

Hmm...I think I can do this. Count me in as a Chef :smallsmile:

I think I have a pretty cool idea to use as well.

[Roguenewb]

I want to try my hand at this. I will devise a Temple Raider

Edit: Are characters allowed to worship multiple deities as long as the alignments don't conflict?

[mattie_p]

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef XXX.

Just noticed this. Need to update to XXXII. Otherwise, Chairman, continue to perform your excellent works! Allez Optimizers!

[Menteith]

I'm planning to compete. Looks like an interesting ingredient, here's hoping inspiration strikes!

[Amphetryon]

I want to try my hand at this. I will devise a Temple Raider

Edit: Are characters allowed to worship multiple deities as long as the alignments don't conflict?

As I've now gotten something like 6 queries about this particular issue, I've addressed it in the FAQ. Please note that the FAQ answer may seem at odds with private conversations I may have had with a contestant; I apologize for any confusion resulting from earlier discussions.

[Roguenewb]

Sorry, I hate being the guy who's bad at reading.

[Amphetryon]

Sorry, I hate being the guy who's bad at reading.

My response should be read as "Since a bunch of y'all asked me about this, let me go edit an official answer into the FAQ. You know, so I have enough room in the PM box for entries and such." :smallwink:

[Amechra]

Shall I squee? I shall.

SQUEE!

I'm in, by the way.

[OMG PONIES]

I'll say, Amph--I didn't expect this as a Secret Ingredient. Well played, sir. Well played.

[gbprime]

I'll volunteer for judging again.

I'm worried about the trend, though. The last 3 contests have seen 1 or 2 judges and a steady increase in entries. I like the idea of lots of entries and even multiple entries per contestant, but how to get more judges? IC works so much better with 3-4 judges.

[Empedocles]

Withdrew my interest, and would rather judge.

[Venger]

I'll volunteer for judging again.

I'm worried about the trend, though. The last 3 contests have seen 1 or 2 judges and a steady increase in entries. I like the idea of lots of entries and even multiple entries per contestant, but how to get more judges? IC works so much better with 3-4 judges.

I wouldn't worry too much, personally. consecrated harrier and shadow sentinel both had 17 entries which scares a lot of people away, and initiate of pistis sophia is sort of a yucky class, so judges thought they'd just have to read a bunch of monks.

since this is in one of the completes, I dont think we'll get such a large volume of entries, and I think the class's requirements, while sort of steep, don't shoehorn you into one method of entry. one way to incent judges is judging trophies, but we've got that taken care of thanks to hunter killer, so there's always that.

I do agree it works best with a couple of judges since that way the spreads aren't as drastic.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'll volunteer for judging again.

I'm worried about the trend, though. The last 3 contests have seen 1 or 2 judges and a steady increase in entries. I like the idea of lots of entries and even multiple entries per contestant, but how to get more judges? IC works so much better with 3-4 judges.

I'll submit what I have when the deadline rolls around, and I can probably ask Amph to pull my submission if we need more judges, or simply present them as 'bonus' builds.


I doubt that having an ingredient from the Completes will reduce the amount of entries; I could see it affecting the number of judges, though (familiarity with the PrC).

[Thurbane]

I've got a definite idea in mind for this one...gonna try my best to get an entry in this time.

[Sgt. Cookie]

Sign me up. I already have a couple of ideas floating around. May even get more than one build in.

[Z3ro]

Ugh, what and ingredient; it's barely rogue+. Putting an original build together is gonna be tough, so I think I'll judge this round. (side note, sorry about not judging last round, I was busy recovering from surgery (I'm OK)).

[Menteith]

Ugh, what and ingredient; it's barely rogue+. Putting an original build together is gonna be tough

I keep making rough builds, then realizing that Temple Raider is there only because I'm forcing it. I really, really wish that their Spell List either had early entry for an interesting spell or was much, much larger.

[Xodion]

Yeah, Temple Raider, a class I have not only heard of but really like! I saw this thread last night but didn't get time to post, and I've already nearly finished a build for it. Maybe I'll make more :smallbiggrin:

[Yorrin]

Color me interested. I'll work on a submission.

[Cieyrin]

Hmm...Temple Raider, eh? I've had a character build in mind involving it for a long while, though it's probably not terribly original. We'll see what I can do about an entry. In the likely event that my time investment doesn't end up in an entry, I may sidle to making this my 4th judging, which should be the first time since IC:Assassin many moons ago. For now, contemplating whether my submission idea will work and getting it typed up, especially now that the convention I was preparing events for is over as of yesterday...

[Z3ro]

And some judging criteria:

Originality: This category has two main components; was your build similar to any of the other builds submitted, and was it similar to any well-known builds. In addition, I will penalize your build if it uses obvious tricks in obvious ways or well-known exploits in expected ways. Bonus points for things that haven't been thought of before (or at least with respect to the secret ingredient) and for using known tricks in unusual ways.

Power: How does your build stack up, power wise, to other builds focusing on similar objectives. Power in this category includes flexibility and versatility as well as straight combat power. This category will also measure power from level 1-20; a build will be penalized if it is excessively weak or unplayable at lower levels but ramps up later. Bonus points will be given if most or all of a build's power come from tricks involving the secret ingredient. For the purpose of this IC, the baseline power level will be rogue 20; if your build isn't stronger than a plain rogue, it will lose big points.

Elegance: The toughest category to judge and assess. Dipping will be penalized, but dips that make thematic sense (ranger dipping barbarian) will be penalized less than dips that do not (rogue dipping paladin). More importantly, the build should make sense at all levels, 1-20. Abilities that are useless at the level they are taken, but come on line later, will be penalized. Maintaining flavor and flow through the build will be rewarded, while taking out of place levels/abilities will be penalized. This is also the category that will see deductions for questionable use of rules/illegal builds. Expect points lost if you utilize something that most DMs would rule against.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: In the effort of clarity, I'm going to make this category a little simpler. Did you take all 10 levels? How many of the abilities granted did you use, and how essential are they to your build? Would your build be better off achieving its goal with another class, rather than the secret ingredient (using this ingredient for example, would your sneaky thief build be better off as 20 levels of rogue)?

[TroubleBrewing]

... especially now that the convention I was preparing events for is over as of yesterday...

You were at C2E2?

[Toy Killer]

I've already got an idea...

[Cieyrin]

You were at C2E2?

Right state, wrong convention. I was at Egypt Wars 3, a small young con that ran this past Friday through Sunday in Carbondale, IL. We had a smaller than expected turnout, which I blame mostly on gas prices. Despite that, while some events didn't happen (notably all of mine, due to lack of players :smallfrown:), other events had record numbers of players, so mixed results overall.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Hmmm I am not really impressed with Temple Raider, which I guess it is why it was chosen as a SI :smalltongue:; but meh I don't even have an idea in mind so I will wait and see what the chefs can come up with this time.

[dantiesilva]

I have not been here long but i was wondering if you have to write a back story for your character? If not I have a build made up and ready to pm, but if so well yea, so i just wanted to get that clarified. Thank you

[Aeryr]

Look at past contests, you will see that people do write backstories. Good luck with that, I am sure you come with something interesting!

[Cieyrin]

I have not been here long but i was wondering if you have to write a back story for your character? If not I have a build made up and ready to pm, but if so well yea, so i just wanted to get that clarified. Thank you

Judges appreciate a build to have story behind it and tend to score better if your crunch and fluff blend into a seamless whole. You don't have to write a novella by any means but some fluff isn't a bad thing by any means.

[Menteith]

I've tentatively finished the crunch of a build, but I'm still not sure. Temple Raider fits the theme of it really well, and it's not exactly going to under power the build, but it could easily be dropped without a problem and that bugs me. Well, off to stare at it some more and hope that something really unique jumps out.

[Feytalist]

Oooh, I've actually played a Temple Raider once. (It was underwhelming.) I'm going to review my old build and maybe compete.

What an interesting ingredient.

[The Gilded Duke]

Are there any limitations on Temple Raider alignment? Is it considered to be like a cleric who must be within one step of the god in question?

[Xodion]

I've nearly finished two builds already, and we've still got a week - is there a limit to how many builds we can enter? I'm running out of good ideas now though. We also seem to have a lack of judges :smallfrown:


Are there any limitations on Temple Raider alignment? Is it considered to be like a cleric who must be within one step of the god in question?

You have to be chaotic to qualify for it.

[The Gilded Duke]

Ahh haha, thought I was missing something.

[Cieyrin]

I've nearly finished two builds already, and we've still got a week - is there a limit to how many builds we can enter? I'm running out of good ideas now though. We also seem to have a lack of judges :smallfrown:

We haven't limited it before, I don't really see a reason to do so now. Just keep in mind that you'll be competing with yourself, which may negatively reflect on your scores than if you had focused on one build.

[Venger]

We haven't limited it before, I don't really see a reason to do so now. Just keep in mind that you'll be competing with yourself, which may negatively reflect on your scores than if you had focused on one build.

the larger problem is making sure you don't use any of the same elements in your builds so as not to hurt either originality score. I did this with claire and pumpkinhead back in shadowdancer, and it was really difficult. best of luck

[Xodion]

Yeah, the only reason I've done two is because they were such completely different ideas. I won't do any more, we will probably already have lots for the judges to do. I should probably judge a contest soon, then I know what I'm putting people through :smalltongue:

[The Gilded Duke]

I've got an idea almost finished now. Just have to polish it and explain the tactics. It is not my best, but should still be pretty unexpected.

[OMG PONIES]

I, too, have an idea (though a bit of an underwhelming one).

[nedz]

I'm struggling to find any ideas for this one. They're like a rogue, but without the skillpoints to support that. They're like a cleric, but only very limited halfcasting. They're quite MAD, requiring Int and Wis now I guess. I especially like the way that their capstone adds Freedom of Movement to their spell list, which already has Freedom of Movement.

Unless I come up with an idea, any idea really, I may sit this one out.

[Piggy Knowles]

I have an idea that I like, but I'm having trouble getting the last pieces to click together. We'll see how it goes.

If I don't get this build to come together, I will throw in my hat for judging...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

You know, based on the results on another thread, I was considering running an Iron Chef Optimization Challenge: Fluff Edition! The challenge was to make your builds fluff fit the Campaign Setting Ingredient.

Unfortunately, I will be moving over the next few weeks, so not only will I not be able to participate here, but I will not be able to host such a thing either. But if anyone wants to take that idea and run... go for it.

[Sgt. Cookie]

I think I am going to enjoy this challenge. I had to go through a few revisions of the build, but all in all I think it will work well.

[Amechra]

Just out of curiosity, for future class competitions, can you adapt Forgotten Realms-specific Substitution levels to other settings by changing which gods they use?

I'm just asking because I just thought about how cool some of them are, and how many of them could easily be adapted for other settings.

[Amphetryon]

Just out of curiosity, for future class competitions, can you adapt Forgotten Realms-specific Substitution levels to other settings by changing which gods they use?

I'm just asking because I just thought about how cool some of them are, and how many of them could easily be adapted for other settings.

While technically allowed, I would suspect such adaptations might get hit with Elegance penalties from several of the judges.

[Cieyrin]

Fixing new page bug. :smallwink:

[Amphetryon]

How goes the process, folks?

[Sgt. Cookie]

I have all the levels, feats, skills etc all decided. All I need to do is write it up. I also need to write up a background.

[Xodion]

I've done all the number-crunching for both entries, and mostly written up one. I had hoped to get least one entry finished by now, but I got drawn into the fighter vs swordsage contest :smalltongue:

[Amphetryon]

Just a few more days now, folks.

[Feytalist]

It's been strangely quiet this challenge. Think everyone's too deep into their rulebooks to comment? Heh.

I had to study for my silly Advanced Stochastic Processes qualification, so I'm out this round. Still very firmly in the viewer's seat, though.

[gbprime]

Betcha we still get a dozen entries or more. :smallwink:

[Sgt. Cookie]

Maybe, maybe not. It is somewhat of a hard PrC to optimise to though. I wouldn't be surprised if many people simply use it as a "rogue gish" more than anything else.

[Menteith]

I have a build I'm reasonably happy with. I statted it up last week, but I've been finishing up my semester and haven't had time to write a decent backstory. Should be able to finish that this weekend, and turn it in before the deadline.

[Yorrin]

I think Sgt. Cookie is right in the sense that you start working with it and from a mechanical standpoint you start asking... why does this thing exist? Why not be a Rogue 13/Cleric 7 and be more powerful? I think that's something that should be taken into consideration as we approach the judging of this round.

[mattie_p]

Well, I, for one, finally came up with my concept today. This was a beast, and well worthy of an Iron Chef competition. Despite the challenges of working with this ingredient, I finally worked out a (what I think is) decent build and theme for the backstory. We will see, I guess.

Can we confirm that only one judge has posted judging criteria? I'm reviewing the thread, and one Z3ro has posted. gbprime and vilpich have also volunteered, unless their criteria is posted in other threads (and if so, linky linky) please post again? I need to do all I can to improve after my mediocre performance last time.

[Empedocles]

Originality: High scores here will be awarded to interesting class/ingredient combinations or interesting ways of combining more obvious ones. I won't penalize you if your build is similar to another person's unless said build isn't...original. Bonus points for neat combos and tricks, and penalties if you use blatantly obvious and well known tricks (in which case they're hardly tricks anymore, anyways).

Power: Basically, I won't give a good score here unless the power level remains at approximately mid tier 4 or higher through all 20 levels. It's great if he's semi divine at 20th level, but pretty much useless if he already died at 2nd. The most important thing for me is just keeping the power constant. The best scores will go to people whose power is based off of the secret ingredient, not just their base class.


I have nothing to add to Z3ro's criteria for elegance and use of the secret ingredient. Just know I think I'm going to be harsh on elegance, and if something about it doesn't feel right thematically or mechanically, I will deduct points.


Elegance: The toughest category to judge and assess. Dipping will be penalized, but dips that make thematic sense (ranger dipping barbarian) will be penalized less than dips that do not (rogue dipping paladin). More importantly, the build should make sense at all levels, 1-20. Abilities that are useless at the level they are taken, but come on line later, will be penalized. Maintaining flavor and flow through the build will be rewarded, while taking out of place levels/abilities will be penalized. This is also the category that will see deductions for questionable use of rules/illegal builds. Expect points lost if you utilize something that most DMs would rule against.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: In the effort of clarity, I'm going to make this category a little simpler. Did you take all 10 levels? How many of the abilities granted did you use, and how essential are they to your build? Would your build be better off achieving its goal with another class, rather than the secret ingredient (using this ingredient for example, would your sneaky thief build be better off as 20 levels of rogue)?

[Akal Saris]

It might also be quiet because of the timing. This is finals week for a lot of graduate schools in the United States, and maybe for most colleges as well. That's probably a lot of our usual contestants who are under stress right now!

On another note, I haven't been doing IC for ages because I've been super busy with work for the past 6 months...and now I just got a promotion! *happy dance*

[Thurbane]

I just couldn't get the first two concepts I had to work properly, and I've been crazy-busy both with work and social life, so unlikely I'll get an entry in. :smallconfused:

[Jeriah]

I have a great entry, but it keeps falling apart around level 15... I just can't seem to quite pull it together.

[kestrel404]

While I've been too busy recently to compete this time, I'd be happy to be a judge this round.

[gbprime]

I have a great entry, but it keeps falling apart around level 15... I just can't seem to quite pull it together.

It's no good, I can't maneuver!
Stay on target.
We're too close!
Stay on target!
Loosen up! [boom]
Gold Five to Red leader, lost Tiree, lost Dutch.
I copy, Gold Leader.
It came from... Iron Chef!

...

[Yes, it's that kind of day at work today. :smallbiggrin: ]

[Yorrin]

finals week for a lot of graduate schools in the United States

This. This is why I got my entry in early and havent been really talkative.

Grats on the promotion, btw:smallbiggrin:

[Xodion]

I have been too busy preparing and writing up both builds :smalltongue: only the backstories to finish now, which I probably shouldn't have left until last. How many points do you think I'll lose if I don't finish one of them?

[Amphetryon]

I have been too busy preparing and writing up both builds :smalltongue: only the backstories to finish now, which I probably shouldn't have left until last. How many points do you think I'll lose if I don't finish one of them?

I would suspect (without making this a decree or recommendation to the judges of any sort) it would be enough of a deduction to make the fully finished build the only one likely to have a chance to win, place, or show.

[Amphetryon]

Only 4 entries so far, with a little over 11 hours to go. Good luck, folks.

[OMG PONIES]

Only 4 entries so far...

May be slim pickings this round. I stopped my building when I couldn't get my pony to do any tricks beside the one. Leaving for vacation on Thursday, but may be able to sneak in some judging if the field of entries is small.

[Cieyrin]

In my typical IC fashion, didn't get around to making a build. BUT. Gonna make this my 4th judging (IC 5, 13, 16, 32? Definitely no pattern in that, sounds like something a football quarterback would say, though.), since we need to bring back a healthy number of judges providing critique and making contestants cringe in anticipation. Looking at my last guidelines, I think I'll be sticking to 'em.

My Judging Guidelines:
Originality: What sets you apart from the pack? Is this character cookie-cuttered from a guide/based off of legend or comic book hero? While homages are great and all, making your own super hero with his own back story is better than rehashing Batman/Kickass.

Speaking of story, having a story helps give your build a cohesiveness that a simple build may not otherwise convey. It only helps your score, though excessive size of story or lack there-of will not penalize your score. Not all of us are the next great fantasy writer, after all.

A final note is using obscure sources isn't necessarily a boost to originality. i.e. Incarnum and Binding aren't instant Originality points.

Power: How does your character compare to what his role would suggest he be able to do? If he's supposed to be a tank, how well does he soak up damage and keep threats on himself? If he's a support character, how well does he boost his friends so they can trounce the opposition and/or solve situations? D&D is largely combat-based but that doesn't mean that you'll do combat all the time, so having some way to contribute when you're not smashing faces is also a measure of staying power to the campaign in general.

Notes and tactics on your capabilities is a plus here, as, while I'm well versed in much of the game system, I can't claim to be competent in every aspect and I'm only human. If you have a unique trick that may not be apparent, point it out!

Elegance: How well does the character work mechanically? Does it flow reasonably with class and feat choices?

Cherry picking from classes is frowned on, though if you need such to get into a PRC, that's not the same. Flaws and LA buyoff aren't elegant, though mentioning them as an option is perfectly appropriate. Having LA and/or racial HD isn't an automatic Elegance hit, though it may take away from other categories if taken unwisely. Taking material from multiple settings isn't an Elegance hit, as that's merely a matter of appropriate fluff to mesh things together. I'm sort of a stickler for multiclass penalties, so having them does not make for an elegant character. Citing your sources makes this easier to adjudicate and helps in the Elegance category as well.

Final Note: If your build turns out to be illegal for some reason, you'll take a hit, but I'll judge it on the merits of what still works. Your scores won't automatically be 0'd because you forgot that you don't have Heavy Armor Proficiency to qualify for a PRC.

Use of Secret Ingredient: Is the SI vital to the build or would it have been better off with something else? Is the character built with the PRC in mind or is it tacked on to qualify to enter? How well do you use the features of the PRC?

MAJOR NOTE: Having all levels of the SI does not mean you used it well. It typically helps but not having all levels is not an automatic reduction in UoSI.
So *puts on his long dusty judging hat and cleans his judging monocle* bring on your dishes, and I will give my skewed opinion on whether you used too much salt! :smallbiggrin:

[Piggy Knowles]

I've got a build in mind, I have the levels and feats and tactics worked out and a story in mind, but I haven't even begun writing it up. Work conference took me out of the loop for a while, unfortunately. If by some miracle I get enough time to put it together today, I'll still try to submit. However, there's a much better chance I won't have an entry this round.

I will try to judge if I can't submit, though!

[Sgt. Cookie]

And, submitted.

[Yorrin]

5, 13, 16, 32? Definitely no pattern in that

y = 3 x^3 + -20.5 x^2 + 48.5x + -26

Your next contest will be number 79 :smallbiggrin:

[DeAnno]

y = 3 x^3 + -20.5 x^2 + 48.5x + -26

Your next contest will be number 79 :smallbiggrin:

Number of data = Degrees of Freedom does not a significant fit make :smallwink:

[Yorrin]

Number of data = Degrees of Freedom does not a significant fit make :smallwink:

Oh look! You speak math! I am found out :smallredface:

[mattie_p]

And submitted, good Chairman. I had a new thought today which I had to incorporate, which definitely caused me to re-work a few things.

[Amphetryon]

And now it's time for the reveal! Please refrain from posting in this thread until I give the all-clear. Thanks.

Builds:
1.Star (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150860&postcount=92).
2.Dolus Praeto (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150882&postcount=93).
3.Unnamed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150889&postcount=94).
4.Durbein Stoneknock (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150901&postcount=95).
5.Aasterninian's Thief (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150922&postcount=96).
6.Zed (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150932&postcount=97).
7.Aundair Yannedge-Owens (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150945&postcount=98).
8.Eglath (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150950&postcount=99).
9.Arminel Rayne (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150964&postcount=100).
10.Theodore Logan (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13150994&postcount=101).
11.Tia the Fox (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13151009&postcount=102).

[Amphetryon]

When you think your name is Star/Makes no difference who you are. . . . -J.C.

Fluff:


http://castlesandcooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Eva-Widermann-Doppelganger.jpg

"Know your limits! Shamus drilled that into me from day one, always. You have to be sure that you can do something, and do it right. Don’t chance it, or else it’s your fault when you screw up. Don’t play a game of cards if you can’t stack the deck.”

Star was born to a loving family…well, loving before she came along. Her mother was blissfully unaware about the fact that her husband was a Changeling. It had been blind chance that Star’s two older brothers had been born as normal humans, and it had shocked Star’s father as much as anyone when his third child emerged from the womb as a genderless mass of grey flesh.

Star’s mother was enraged that her husband had never told her the truth about himself, and he was upset that his offspring forced him to acknowledge his species; many Changelings prefer to live only one life, shunning their heritage to fit in with the community they choose to live in. Star grew up in a broken home, the rift between her parents caused entirely by her own existence. She ran away when she was 7, after her father had a particularly bad night. One benefit about being able to change your shape was that there was never any problem hiding the bruises.

Star was found by an old man named Shamus, a former pickpocket and acolyte of the god Olidammara, who’d been “retired” by the City Guards when he made a slip up. Since then, he’d become bitter and slightly cynical, but he still revered the God of Rogues, and spent his time looking after a pack of street rats. He taught them his art as best he could, and made sure they all had food to eat, wine to drink and a place to hole up in out of the cold.

He was proud of Star; her abilities made her invaluable to him, as she could serve any number of roles in any number of schemes. Sometimes she would be the face, fooling the mark Shamus pointed out for her while one of the others pocketed his valuables. Sometimes she would be picking the locks of a Nobleman’s house. And sometimes, she would go with Shamus to shake down one of his competitors. She could be very scary when she wanted to be.

Level 1
Changeling Rogue 1

Taking the substitution level to trade Trapfinding for Social Intuition, which gives Star the ability to take 10 on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate and Sense Motive, so already the core idea of the Build is taking shape. Her bluff checks of 18 are pretty respectable at this level, and she can demoralise in combat for the same

Shamus was getting old, and he began to rely on Star more heavily than she liked. He trusted in her abilities, and he began grooming her as his successor. He encouraged her to do more and more, and soon she was running the group, with Shamus little more than an Advisor. She had to think of new and better ways to do things, not just relying on the same old tricks.

She became known throughout the city underworld for bursts of insight, trying new things and getting results. Her band of misfits became a more respectable outfit than what it had been under Shamus, and was a legitimate thieves’ guild by the time Star was 21, with her at the head. Shamus died quietly, proud of what his protégé.

Star kept true to what he’d taught her as best she could; don’t rely on being lucky, make your own luck, and always know what your limits are...she added a little bit of wisdom of her own to his teachings however, when she passed those words on to the next generation of street rats and apprentice thieves she took in.

Know your limits, but also know when to push past them.

Level 5
Changeling Rogue 2/Factotum 3

Star’s Int Mod is now doing triple duty on the skills front, and her three Inspiration Points can give her some nice boosts when she needs them. They let her break the cap on her Take 10 Skills and give her a little boost in combat and such. Craven keeps her damage output relevant when she needs it, but her Diplomacy and Bluff should keep her out of trouble most of the time.

Most of her skill points have been invested into the prerequisites for her Prestige Classes, and while the progression of Skill Points I have further down is serviceable, it can certainly be done better so that her skill based abilities remain consistently useful throughout, rather than dropping and rising in power at random points, but that's my fault for not organising skills better, not an inherent flaw of the idea.

Diplomacy is always getting a skillpoint each level, however, which means she always has her most potent trick up her sleeve.

There is a problem with running a fully-fledged thieves’ guild when compared to leading a small gang of street urchins. The main thing is that you start showing up on the radar of those in power. Star had inadvertently forced the hand of the city watch, as her group was too big and too established to ignore. Her guild house was stormed by the watch, and most of her friends were arrested. Star, however, escaped. She ran, and hid and lied, but she got away.

And, with nothing left, she started anew. She tried a new tactic, and began to break into houses and pocket valuables, and used the rooftops and the alleyways as her new home. The streets didn’t belong to her anymore, but she’d created a power vacuum. Someone else took over the remnants of her guild, but she wasn’t invited. She was hunted by both sides, and if it weren’t for her abilities, she’d have been chased down in days.

But even the best make mistakes.

They caught her a year after the bust on her Guild House, and they threw her into the darkness, and threw away the key. She became twisted and angry, shifting her shape to reflect that. Just as Shamus had used her to scare people in the past, she became something worth fearing.

It was only then that she met the God of Rogues.

Level 10:
Changeling Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/Temple Raider of Olidammara 1

Her first level of Temple Raider coincides with acquiring Skill Focus: Intimidate, and Star is well on the way to becoming a scary, scary person. Thief-Acrobat gives her the very useful Defensive Roll and the ability to take 10 on even more skills.

Star has also finally found the time to take Two-Weapon Fighting, so I would also propose that now is a great time to purchase some Gloves of the Balanced Hand, to gain Improved Two-Weapon Fighting without having to spend the feat

Freeing herself from the darkness was easy enough with Olidammara’s blessing; he had given her abilities beyond the normal, and the guards were not equipped to deal with them, and meeting her in the dark was the stuff of nightmares. Star took a measure of vengeance on those who had imprisoned her.

Following the instructions of her deity, Star left the city she had grown up in, and began to travel. And as she did, she started becoming more than just a thief and a manipulator. She needed to become more dangerous

Level 15:

Changeling Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/Temple Raider of Olidammara 6

Not much in the way of notable changes at this point, but overall, its a very simple idea. Get as many instances of Skill Mastery and Take 10 on everything.

Star does get a few more Sneak Attack dice from her Temple Raider levels, along with some spellcasting (none of the spells are that great though; Temple Raider has a rather rubbish list).

She tried her best to rely only on her own skill, but as time went on, it became harder and harder. It was getting harder to talk her way out of things, and she wasn’t as strong or as fast as many of her competitors. Still, she survived by the skin of her teeth, and kept on doing what she could to be true to her teacher, her friends and her god. A skin of wine for the dead and the divine after a successful job, and a grin for happy memories of better times.

Know your limits, know when to push them, know when to hang it all and trust that Olidammara is watching over you.

Level 20:

Changeling Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/Temple Raider of Olidammara 10/Exemplar 1

Capping off the Build, Star finishes Temple Raider and takes a level of Exemplar to grab some more Skill Mastery. By now she has access to the Luck Domain, which is pretty nifty and gives her 4 decent spells and a good domain power, and a boost to her Intimidate Score.

At this point, she can take 10 on 24/35 of the skills that she can actually use, and many of the ones she doesn't she can take 10/20 on naturally. She won't need to be rolling dice very often.

Crunch:
The Build:

Star, Skill Master of Olidammara
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Feats|Class Features
1st| Rogue 1|
+0|
+1|
+5|
-1|Able Learner|Sneak Attack +1d6, Social Intuition (Bluff, Diplomancy, Gather Information, Intimidate, Sense Motive)
2nd|Rogue 2|
+1|
+1|
+6|
-1|-|Evasion
3rd|Factotum 1|
+1|
+1|
+8|
-1|Craven|Inspiration (2 Points), Cunning Insight, Cunning Knowledge, Trapfinding
4th|Factotum 2|
+2|
+1|
+9|
-1|-|Arcane Dilettante (1 Spell)
5th|Factotum 3|
+3|
+2|
+9|
+0|-|Brains over Brawn, Cunning Defence
6th|Thief-Acrobat 1|
+3|
+2|
+11|
+0|Weapon Finesse|Fast Acrobatics, Kip Up, Steady Stance
7th|Thief-Acrobat 2|
+4|
+2|
+12|
+0|-|Agile Fighting +1/+2, Slow Fall 20ft
8th|Thief-Acrobat 3|
+5|
+3|
+12|
+1|-|Acrobatic Charge, Defensive Roll 1/day
9th|Thief-Acrobat 4|
+6|
+3|
+13|
+1|Two-Weapon Fighting|Agile Fighting +2/+3, Skill Mastery (Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble)
10th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 1|
+6|
+3|
+15|
+3|Skill Focus: Intimidate (Otyugh Hole)|(Trapfinding), Trap Sense +1
11th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 2|
+7|
+3|
+16|
+4|-|Sneak Attack +2d6
12th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 3|
+8|
+4|
+16|
+4|Imperious Command|Uncanny Dodge
13th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 4|
+9|
+4|
+17|
+5|-|Trap Sense +2
14th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 5|
+9|
+4|
+17|
+5|-|Sneak Attack +3d6
15th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 6|
+10|
+5|
+18|
+6|Telling Blow|Improved Uncanny Dodge
16th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 7|
+11|
+5|
+18|
+6|-|Trap Sense +3
17th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 8|
+12|
+5|
+19|
+7|-| Sneak Attack +4d6
18th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 9|
+12|
+6|
+19|
+7|Agile Athlete|Skill Mastery (Disguise, Heal, Hide, Move Silently, Spellcraft, Swim, Use Magic Device, Use Rope)
19th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 10|
+13|
+6|
+20|
+8|-|Trap Sense +4, Luck Domain
20th|Exemplar 1|
+13|
+6|
+20|
+10|-|Skill Artistry (Intimidate), Skill Mastery (Appraise, Escape Artist, Forgery, Listen, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Spot) [/table]

Star is based around utilising Skill Mastery-esque Abilities, supplemented by the small amount of casting granted by Temple Raider (which I haven't listed, seeing as it is the exact same thing here as it is in the book).

Seeing as she is a skill-based build, her potential is constrained by item use. By using her WBL, she can utilise her abilities to take 10 on practically everything to her advantage in different ways. Catch all items like Wands of Divine Insight or Guidance of the Avatar would be things she'd use often, which makes her Skill Based powers much more effective.

Her damage is mostly going to be coming from Craven and Crit-Fishing...that is, if she ever needs to fight. Her Diplomacy Score can make someone with a Hostile Attitude go straight to friendly by spending an Inspiration Point.

Overall, while she can be pretty effective out of the box, she really shines when she has access to the right gear.


Ability Scores:

Base: Str 8 Dex 16 Con 12 Int 16 Wis 8 Cha 15

@ 20 w/Items: Str 8 Dex 26 (+4 Inherent, +6 Item) Con 12 Int 32 (+5 Level Up, +5 Inherent, +6 Item) Wis 14 (+6 Item) Cha 15


Skills Progression and Skill Tricks:


Bluff (4), Diplomacy (4), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (4), Intimidate (4), Jump (4), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (4), Move Silently (4), Open Lock (4), Search (4), Tumble (4), Use Magic Device (4)
Balance (2), Bluff (4), Climb (2), Diplomacy (5), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (5), Intimidate (5), Jump (5), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (4), Move Silently (5), Open Lock (4), Search (4), Tumble (5), Use Magic Device (5)
Balance (3), Bluff (4), Climb (3), Diplomacy (6), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (6), Intimidate (6), Jump (6), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (4), Move Silently (6), Open Lock (4), Search (4), Tumble (6), Use Magic Device (6)
Balance (5), Bluff (4), Climb (5), Diplomacy (7), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (6), Intimidate (7), Jump (7), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (4), Move Silently (7), Open Lock (4), Search (4), Tumble (7), Use Magic Device (7)
Balance (8), Bluff (4), Climb (8), Diplomacy (8), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (6), Intimidate (7), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (4), Move Silently (7), Open Lock (4), Search (4), Tumble (8), Use Magic Device (8)
Balance (8), Bluff (4), Climb (8), Diplomacy (9), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (6), Intimidate (7), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (4), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (9), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (1), Tumble (9), Use Magic Device (9)
Balance (8), Bluff (4), Climb (8), Diplomacy (10), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (8), Intimidate (9), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (10), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (2), Tumble (10), Use Magic Device (10)
Balance (8), Bluff (5), Climb (8), Diplomacy (11), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (10), Intimidate (11), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (11), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (3), Tumble (11), Use Magic Device (11)
Balance (8), Bluff (6), Climb (8), Diplomacy (12), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (11), Intimidate (12), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (12), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (4), Tumble (12), Use Magic Device (12)
Balance (8), Bluff (7), Climb (8), Diplomacy (13), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (13), Intimidate (13), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (12), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Tumble (13), Use Magic Device (13)
Balance (8), Bluff (10), Climb (8), Diplomacy (14), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (14), Intimidate (14), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (14), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Tumble (14), Use Magic Device (14)
Balance (8), Bluff (10), Climb (8), Diplomacy (15), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (15), Intimidate (15), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5) Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (15), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Tumble (15), Use Magic Device (15)
Balance (8), Bluff (13), Climb (8), Diplomacy (16), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (16), Intimidate (16), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (16), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Tumble (16), Use Magic Device (16)
Balance (8), Bluff (16), Climb (8), Diplomacy (17), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (17), Intimidate (17), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (17), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Tumble (17), Use Magic Device (17)
Balance (8), Bluff (17), Climb (8), Diplomacy (18), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (18), Intimidate (18), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (18), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Tumble (18), Use Magic Device (18); Never Outnumbered (2)
Balance (8), Bluff (19), Climb (8), Diplomacy (19), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Hide (19), Intimidate (19), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (19), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Spellcraft (1), Tumble (19), Use Magic Device (19), Never Outnumbered (2)
Balance (8), Bluff (20), Climb (8), Diplomacy (20), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Forgery (1), Hide (20), Intimidate (20), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (20), Open Lock (4), Search (8), Sense Motive (5), Sleight of Hand (1), Spellcraft (1), Tumble (20), Use Magic Device (20); Never Outnumbered (2)
Balance (8), Bluff (21), Climb (8), Diplomacy (21), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Forgery (1), Hide (21), Intimidate (21), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (21), Open Lock (4), Search (9), Sense Motive (5), Sleight of Hand (1), Spellcraft (1), Tumble (21), Use Magic Device (21); Never Outnumbered (2)
Balance (8), Bluff (22), Climb (8), Diplomacy (22), Disable Device (4), Disguise (4), Forgery (1), Hide (22), Intimidate (22), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (22), Open Lock (4), Search (9), Sense Motive (5), Sleight of Hand (1), Spellcraft (1), Spot (4), Tumble (22), Use Magic Device (22); Never Outnumbered (2), Acrobatic Backstab (2)
Balance (8), Bluff (23), Climb (8), Diplomacy (23), Disable Device (4), Disguise (10), Forgery (1), Hide (23), Intimidate (23), Jump (8), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) (5), Knowledge (Religion) (1), Move Silently (23), Open Lock (4), Search (9), Sense Motive (5), Sleight of Hand (1), Spellcraft (1), Spot (5), Tumble (23), Use Magic Device (23); Never Outnumbered (2), Acrobatic Backstab (2)

NOTE: I have NOT factored in the Int boost from the Wishes/Tome of Clear Thought +5, so depending on when that is used, additional skill points might appear.

Skill Checks at Lv20:


Appraise 21
Balance 37
Bluff 38
Climb 35
Concentration 1d20+1
Craft 1d20+11
Decipher Script 1d20+11
Diplomacy 42
Disable Device 35 (Take 20)
Disguise 35
Escape Artist 27
Forgery 22
Gather Information 13
Handle Animal 1d20+3
Heal 12
Hide 50
Intimidate 47
Jump 37
Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1d20+16
Knowledge (Religion) 1d20+12
Listen 12
Move Silently 50
Open Lock 41 (Take 20)
Perform 1d20+3
Profession 1d20+2
Ride 27
Search 40 (Take 20)
Sense Motive 19
Sleight of Hand 30
Spellcraft 22
Spot 17
Survival 1d20+2
Swim 20
Tumble 52
Use Magic Device 36
Use Rope 27



Sources Used:

Champions of Ruin
Complete Adventurer
Complete Divine
Complete Scoundrel
Drow of the Underdark
Dungeonscape
Eberron Campaign Setting
Player’s Handbook II
Races of Destiny
Races of Eberron
Races of the Wild


This has the potential to be either a really, really disappointing entry or a curious but still kind of cool idea. Here's hoping its the latter.

[Amphetryon]

Declaring a war on locks.


Dolus Praedo: The Mystic Con-man

Level 1


Dolus grew up in the slums of a large town, the son of a fence for the local thieves guild. Having hung around theives his entire life it came as no surprise to anyone when the lad soon began picking up the skills of a thief himself.

CN Human
Human Paragon 1
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 12

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Human Paragon|
0|
0|
0|
2|Bluff 3, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, UMD 4|Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot|Adaptive Learning(Search)[/table]

Gear: Leather Armor, Light Crossbow with 50 bolts, Dagger, Masterwork Thieves Tools


Level 5


But where his father was the more traditional roguish type, Dolus took a more mystical bent to thievery. Dolus knew that there were many thieves stronger or smarter than he, but he also knew that power was always available to those who seek it. So he went directly to the source- the gods. While not possesed of a particularly clerical bent, Dolus knew that Olidammara was a deity used to the unconventional. With this in mind he bribed a sufficiently high level Cleric of the Laughing God into summomoning a servant of the deity, with whom he made a pact- power in exchange for service to the god. The skills gained from this pact instantly made a huge impact on the local thieves guild. Dolus suddenly became very popular as a sniper, he became quite skilled at verbal misdirection, and his newfound ability to scale walls made him immesurably useful in infiltration.

Human Paragon 1/Warlock 4
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 12

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Human Paragon|
0|
0|
0|
2|Bluff 3, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, UMD 4|Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot|Adaptive Learning(Search)

2nd|Warlock|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+4|Bluff 5, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 5, UMD 5|---|Eldrich Blast 1d6, Spider Climb

3rd|Warlock|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+5|Bluff 6, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 1, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 6, UMD 6|Weapon Finesse|Beguiling Influence, Detect Magic

4th|Warlock|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+5|Bluff 7, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 2, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 7, UMD 7|---|Eldrich Blast 2d6, DR 1/Cold Iron

5th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 8, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 3, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 8, UMD 8|---|Decieve Item, Entropic Warding[/table]

Gear: +3 Leather Armor, Masterwork Dagger, Masterwork Thieves Tools


Level 10


As Dolus became more and more skilled at the art of thievery he became more and more addicted to the idea of a big heist. And as Olidammara's power manifested itself more and more powerfully his ability to enact such acts of larceny became greater and greater, until he had set his sights on none less than the coffers of the local temple of Pelor. And so, after much planning, Dolus enacted a scheme against the temple. His method of entry was simple- he simply had a "friend" rough him up rather severly, and then drop him off in a public place close to the temple in the wee hours of the morning. As the town awoke he was discovered and brought to the temple for healing, and once in he bluffed his way into the inner courts of the temple, used his talent in stealth to search the rooms for valuables, and finally he left what was to become his calling card- he carved the holy symbol of Olidammara on the celing of the high preist's chambers before making his careful escape.

Human Paragon 1/Warlock 7/Human Paragon +2
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 15

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Human Paragon|
0|
0|
0|
2|Bluff 3, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, UMD 4|Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot|Adaptive Learning(Search)

2nd|Warlock|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+4|Bluff 5, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 5, UMD 5|---|Eldrich Blast 1d6, Spider Climb

3rd|Warlock|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+5|Bluff 6, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 1, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 6, UMD 6|Weapon Finesse|Beguiling Influence, Detect Magic

4th|Warlock|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+5|Bluff 7, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 2, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 7, UMD 7|---|Eldrich Blast 2d6, DR 1/Cold Iron

5th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 8, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 3, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 8, UMD 8|---|Decieve Item, Entropic Warding

6th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 9, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 9, UMD 9|Combat Expertise|Eldrich Blast 3d6

7th|Warlock|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+7|Bluff 10, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 5, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 10, UMD 10|---|Flee the Scene

8th|Warlock|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+7|Bluff 11, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 11, UMD 11|---|Eldrich Blast 4d6, DR 2/Cold Iron

9th|Human Paragon|
+6|
+2|
+2|
+8|Bluff 12, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 4, Search 12, UMD 12|Improved Feint, Spectral Skirmisher(Bonus)|Walk Unseen

10th|Human Paragon|
+7|
+2|
+3|
+8|Bluff 13, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 10, Open Lock 4, Search 13, UMD 13|---|Eldrich Blast 5d6, Ability Boost (+2Cha)[/table]

Gear: +5 Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt, Masterwork Dagger, Masterwork Thieves Tools, Wand of Cure Light Wounds, Wand of Knock, Bag of Holding Type 2, Ioun of Light


Level 15


As a result of this little stunt at the temple Dolus began to attract a whole new type of attention. Any of those who had a bone to pick with Pelor seemed to want to hire his services, though most of them were small-time. One night jobs at best. However he also attracted the notice of those more practiced at temple theft: The Temple Raiders. With little trouble he was recruited into thier ranks, and soon began traveling much more extensively to raid temples far and wide, and his new selection of spells allowed him to pull of heists even more elaborate and dangerous than ever before.

Human Paragon 1/Warlock 7/Human Paragon +2/Temple Raider of Olidammara 5
Str 10, Dex 22, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 22

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Human Paragon|
0|
0|
0|
2|Bluff 3, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, UMD 4|Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot|Adaptive Learning(Search)

2nd|Warlock|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+4|Bluff 5, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 5, UMD 5|---|Eldrich Blast 1d6, Spider Climb

3rd|Warlock|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+5|Bluff 6, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 1, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 6, UMD 6|Weapon Finesse|Beguiling Influence, Detect Magic

4th|Warlock|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+5|Bluff 7, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 2, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 7, UMD 7|---|Eldrich Blast 2d6, DR 1/Cold Iron

5th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 8, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 3, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 8, UMD 8|---|Decieve Item, Entropic Warding

6th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 9, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 9, UMD 9|Combat Expertise|Eldrich Blast 3d6

7th|Warlock|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+7|Bluff 10, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 5, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 10, UMD 10|---|Flee the Scene

8th|Warlock|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+7|Bluff 11, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 11, UMD 11|---|Eldrich Blast 4d6, DR 2/Cold Iron

9th|Human Paragon|
+6|
+2|
+2|
+8|Bluff 12, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 4, Search 12, UMD 12|Improved Feint, Spectral Skirmisher(Bonus)|Walk Unseen

10th|Human Paragon|
+7|
+2|
+3|
+8|Bluff 13, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 10, Open Lock 4, Search 13, UMD 13|---|Eldrich Blast 5d6, Ability Boost (+2Cha)

11th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+7|
+2|
+5|
+10|Bluff 14, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 13, Open Lock 4, Search 14, UMD 14|---|Trapfinding, Trap sense +1

12th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+8|
+2|
+6|
+11|Bluff 15, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 2, Move Silently 15, Open Lock 4, Search 15, UMD 15|Craven|Sneak Attack 1d6

13th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+9|
+3|
+6|
+11|Bluff 16, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 4, Move Silently 16, Open Lock 4, Search 16, UMD 16|---|Uncanny Dodge

14th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+10|
+3|
+7|
+12|Bluff 17, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 6, Move Silently 17, Open Lock 4, Search 17, UMD 17|---|Trap Sense +2

15th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+10|
+3|
+7|
+12|Bluff 18, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 8, Move Silently 18, Open Lock 4, Search 18, UMD 18|Touch of Healing|Sneak Attack 2d6[/table]

Gear: +5 Greater Blurring Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt, Masterwork Dagger, Masterwork Thieves Tools, Wand of Cure Light Wounds, Wand of Knock, Bag of Holding Type 4, Ioun of Light, Wand of Web, Cloak of Charisma +6, Gloves of Dexterity +6, Vest of Resistance +5


Level 20


As Dolus continued to hone his skills as a thief and con artist he began to develop a reputation, even amonst his fellow Temple Raiders, as a man with a way out of any sticky situation. While he didn't have the lock picking skills that many of his fellow thieves had, his powers and early training, not to mention his growing collection of magic items, earned him a uniquie niche in the organization. These days Dolus leads a team of temple raiders, mostly young bucks recent to the organization and eager to prove themselves.

Human Paragon 1/Warlock 7/Human Paragon +2/Temple Raider of Olidammara 10
Str 10, Dex 24, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 22

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Human Paragon|
0|
0|
0|
2|Bluff 3, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, UMD 4|Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot|Adaptive Learning(Search)

2nd|Warlock|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+4|Bluff 5, Disable Device 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 5, UMD 5|---|Eldrich Blast 1d6, Spider Climb

3rd|Warlock|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+5|Bluff 6, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 1, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 6, UMD 6|Weapon Finesse|Beguiling Influence, Detect Magic

4th|Warlock|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+5|Bluff 7, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 2, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 7, UMD 7|---|Eldrich Blast 2d6, DR 1/Cold Iron

5th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 8, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 3, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 8, UMD 8|---|Decieve Item, Entropic Warding

6th|Warlock|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+6|Bluff 9, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 9, UMD 9|Combat Expertise|Eldrich Blast 3d6

7th|Warlock|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+7|Bluff 10, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 5, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 10, UMD 10|---|Flee the Scene

8th|Warlock|
+5|
+2|
+2|
+7|Bluff 11, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 11, UMD 11|---|Eldrich Blast 4d6, DR 2/Cold Iron

9th|Human Paragon|
+6|
+2|
+2|
+8|Bluff 12, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 4, Search 12, UMD 12|Improved Feint, Spectral Skirmisher(Bonus)|Walk Unseen

10th|Human Paragon|
+7|
+2|
+3|
+8|Bluff 13, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 10, Open Lock 4, Search 13, UMD 13|---|Eldrich Blast 5d6, Ability Boost (+2Cha)

11th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+7|
+2|
+5|
+10|Bluff 14, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 1, Move Silently 13, Open Lock 4, Search 14, UMD 14|---|Trapfinding, Trap sense +1

12th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+8|
+2|
+6|
+11|Bluff 15, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 2, Move Silently 15, Open Lock 4, Search 15, UMD 15|Craven|Sneak Attack 1d6

13th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+9|
+3|
+6|
+11|Bluff 16, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 4, Move Silently 16, Open Lock 4, Search 16, UMD 16|---|Uncanny Dodge

14th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+10|
+3|
+7|
+12|Bluff 17, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 6, Move Silently 17, Open Lock 4, Search 17, UMD 17|---|Trap Sense +2

15th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+10|
+3|
+7|
+12|Bluff 18, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 8, Move Silently 18, Open Lock 4, Search 18, UMD 18|Touch of Healing|Sneak Attack 2d6

16th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+11|
+4|
+8|
+13|Bluff 19, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 10, Move Silently 19, Open Lock 4, Search 19, UMD 19|---|Improved Uncanny Dodge

17th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+12|
+4|
+8|
+13|Bluff 20, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 12, Move Silently 20, Open Lock 4, Search 20, UMD 20|---|Trap Sense +3

18th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+13|
+4|
+9|
+14|Bluff 21, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 14, Move Silently 21, Open Lock 4, Search 21, UMD 21|Trickery Devotion|Sneak Attack 3d6

19th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+13|
+5|
+9|
+14|Bluff 22, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 16, Move Silently 22, Open Lock 4, Search 22, UMD 22|---|Skill Mastery(Bluff, Knowledge(Religion), Move Silently, Search)

20th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+14|
+5|
+10|
+15|Bluff 23, Disable Device 4, Intimidate 6, Knowledge(Religion) 18, Move Silently 23, Open Lock 4, Search 23, UMD 23|---|Luck Domain, Trap Sense +4[/table]

Gear: +5 Glammered Greater Blurring Twilight Mithral Chain Shirt, Greater Armor Crystal of Glancing Blows, +5 Defeniding Parrying Impedance Dagger (not accounted for in defensive stats), Masterwork Thieves Tools, Wand of Cure Light Wounds, Wand of Knock, Bag of Holding Type 4, Ioun of Light, Wand of Web, Cloak of Charisma +6, Gloves of Dexterity +6, Vest of Resistance +5, Warlock's Scepter, Belt of Many Pockets, Greater Chasuble of Fell Power, Wand Bracelet, Mask of Lies, Boots of Teleportation, Hat of Disguise, Ring of Telekinesis, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Rod of Absorption, Wand of Dispel Magic (CL10), Portable Hole, Immoveable Rod


Spells per day

{table=head]Level|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

11th|2|-|-|-

12th|3|-|-|-

13th|3|2|-|-

14th|3|3|-|-

15th|3|3|1|-

16th|3|3|2|-

17th|4|3|2|1

18th|4|3|2|2

19th|4|4|2|2

20th|4|4|3|2[/table]


Notes about the build:
Dolus is not neccesarily intended to be in combat much. In fact- he's got lots of tricks specifically for the purpose of avoiding combat (Wand of Web, Boots of Teleportation, Ring of Freedom of Movement, Walk Unseen, Flee the Scene, Spider Climb, etc.). But in combat he's still got some options. His offense consists primarily of his Eldrich Blast and Sneak Attack. His defenses can be boosted by drawing his dagger and using combat expertise, and his armor provides a nice miss chance, especially when combined with Walk Unseen. The biggest weakness he would have here is True Seeing, which would negate both miss chances, but that is somewhat situational since most foes he'll be interacting with will likely be lower level and/or non-casters. Against casters, which are the only thing that should really give him any serious problems, he has a Rod of Absorption, and if neccesary the Impedance property of his dagger. In terms of being good at his chosen profession- his spells and invocations are his primary tools when getting into and out of a temple complex, and his Skill Mastery skills are also of great use in that respect, as well as for searching around once inside. Plenty of extradimensional storage is, of course, indispensable for any thief of his caliber, and a goodly amount of that is provided here. He normally keeps most of his gear in his belt, unless he's expecting to need it quickly, in which case he'll put it on his bracelet. And in case anything goes wrong, Touch of Healing provides an easy way to patch up afterwards.

A strong priority for this build was playability at all levels, which I hope is apparent. Another priority was to take what Temple Raider was apparently built for- the typical roguish tricks, and do it entirely differently. This is not intended to be your typical Open Lock/Disable Device rogue. That's entirely on purpose. As evidenced from the backstory he's intended to work well with others who do that, but that's not his schtick. The Temple Raiders are an organization, and one that would promote teamwork, thus an atypical member such as Dolus would bring invaluable skills to such a team. If he's going solo for some reason he's got the trapfinding and ranks in search to find it, and the teleportation to get past most traps. Taking 20 on Open Lock/Disable Device is also an option for most lesser challenges, especially since invisibility affords him some time.

Overall Dolus makes a competent tier 3 character who is fairly decent at a variety of things, but especially his chosen profession. He would fit well in any party as the "fifth man," or "the UMD guy," though with his high bluff score and later skill mastery thereof he would make an interesting take on a "party face."

[Amphetryon]

You know I've been to the challenge on a build with no name. - America (paraphrased)


The Temple Raider of Mammon is a feindish thief who is capable of sneaking past any guard, into any vault, and away with any treasure. He is a follower of the demon lord, Mammon, and is thus granted supernatural abilities of theft and deciet.

THE BUILD

Race:Tiefling
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Diety:Mammon
STATS
10 STR, 22 DEX, 8 CON, 18 INT, 14 WIS, 15 CHA
Temple Raider of Mammon
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Rogue 1st|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+0|Appraise+4, Open Lock+4, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+4, Search+4, Spot+4, Listen+4, Hide+4, Move Silently+4, Tumble+4, Use Magic Device+4, Knowledge(Religion)+2|Disciple of Darkness|Sneak Attack+1d6, Trapfinding

2nd|Rogue 2nd|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+0|Appraise+5, Open Lock+5, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+5, Search+5, Spot+5, Listen+5, Hide+5, Move Silently+5, Tumble+5, Use Magic Device+5, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+5|None|Evasion

3rd|Rogue 3rd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+1|Appraise+6, Open Lock+6, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+6, Search+6, Spot+6, Listen+6, Hide+6, Move Silently+6, Tumble+6, Use Magic Device+6, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+6|Weapon Finesse|Sneak Attack+2d6, Trapsense+1

4th|Rogue 4th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+1|Appraise+7, Open Lock+7, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+7, Search+7, Spot+7, Listen+7, Hide+7, Move Silently+7, Tumble+7, Use Magic Device+7, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+7|None|Uncanny Dodge

5th|Rogue 5th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+1|Appraise+8, Open Lock+8, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+8, Search+8, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+8, Move Silently+8, Tumble+8, Use Magic Device+8, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Sneak Attack+3d6

6th|Rogue 6th|
+4|
+2|
+5|
+2|Appraise+9, Open Lock+9, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+9, Search+9, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+9, Move Silently+9, Tumble+9, Use Magic Device+9, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|Willing Deformity|Trap sense +2

7th|Disciple of Mammon 1st|
+5|
+2|
+7|
+4|Appraise+10, Open Lock+10, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+10, Search+10, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+10, Move Silently+10, Tumble+10, Use Magic Device+10, Knowledge|None|Lie

8th|Disciple of Mammon 2nd|
+6|
+2|
+8|
+5|Appraise+11, Open Lock+11, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+11, Search+11, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+11, Move Silently+11, Tumble+11, Use Magic Device+11, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Cheat

9th|Disciple of Mammon 3rd|
+7|
+3|
+8|
+5|Appraise+12, Open Lock+12, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+12, Search+12, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+12, Move Silently+12, Tumble+12, Use Magic Device+12, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|Deformity(gaunt)|Thief, Steal

10th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 1st|
+7|
+3|
+10|
+7|Appraise+13, Open Lock+13, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+13, Search+13, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+13, Move Silently+13, Tumble+13, Use Magic Device+13, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Trapfinding, Trap Sense+3

11th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 2nd|
+8|
+3|
+11|
+8|Appraise+14, Open Lock+14, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+14, Search+14, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+14, Move Silently+14, Tumble+14, Use Magic Device+14, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Sneak Attack +4d6

12th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 3rd|
+9|
+4|
+11|
+8|Appraise+15, Open Lock+15, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+15, Search+15, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+15, Move Silently+15, Tumble+15, Use Magic Device+15, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|Deformity(gaunt)|Uncanny Dodge

13th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 4th|
+10|
+4|
+12|
+9|Appraise+16, Open Lock+16, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+16, Search+16, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+16, Move Silently+16, Tumble+16, Use Magic Device+16, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Trap Sense+4

14th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 5th|
+10|
+4|
+12|
+9|Appraise+17, Open Lock+17, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+17, Search+17, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+17, Move Silently+17, Tumble+17, Use Magic Device+17, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Sneak Attack +5d6

15th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 6th|
+11|
+5|
+13|
+10|Appraise+18, Open Lock+18, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+18, Search+18, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+18, Move Silently+18, Tumble+18, Use Magic Device+18, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|???|Improved Uncanny Dodge

16th|Temple Raider of Olidimmara 7th|
+12|
+5|
+13|
+10|Appraise+19, Open Lock+19, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+19, Search+19, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+19, Move Silently+19, Tumble+19, Use Magic Device+19, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Trap Sense +5

17th|Disciple of Mammon 4th|
+13|
+6|
+13|
+10|Appraise+20, Open Lock+20, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+20, Search+20, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+20, Move Silently+20, Tumble+20, Use Magic Device+20, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Divert Attack

18th|Disciple of Mammon 5th|
+14|
+6|
+13|
+10|Appraise+21, Open Lock+21, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+21, Search+21, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+21, Move Silently+21, Tumble+21, Use Magic Device+21, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|Dark Speech|Summon Osyluth

19th|Disciple of Mammon 6th|
+15|
+7|
+14|
+11|Appraise+22, Open Lock+22, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+22, Search+22, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+22, Move Silently+22, Tumble+22, Use Magic Device+22, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Take Object

20th|Disciple of Mammon 7h|
+16|
+7|
+14|
+11|Appraise+23, Open Lock+23, Pickpocket(sleight of hand?)+4, Disable Device+23, Search+23, Spot+8, Listen+8, Hide+23, Move Silently+23, Tumble+23, Use Magic Device+23, Knowledge(Religion)+2, Climb+8|None|Enhance Value[/table]

SPELLS KNOWN
Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|2|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|2|2|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

15th|2|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

16th|2|2|1|0|-|-|-|-|-|-

17th|2|2|1|0|-|-|-|-|-|-

18th|2|2|1|0|-|-|-|-|-|-

19th|2|2|1|0|-|-|-|-|-|-

20th|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]

LEVEL 5
At this point,there isn’t very much setting this apart. Plenty of skills, but not much else.

LEVEL 10
Getting good at sneaking around and stealing things(emphasized by the steal ability), slightly better BAB than most rogue types, and good at weaseling by traps

LEVEL 15
Some spellcasting, otherwise the same path as before, not much new aside from increased abilities
LEVEL18
A lot of very high skills, Dark Speech to (literally) crack safes for you, and the ability to summon a little mook that takes your hits. Pretty nifty

LEVEL 20
With all the stats maxxed out and a slew of fun abilities, you are a master thief

GEAR
Items that increase your Dexterety/AC are useful, wands are a good addition to your arsenal as well;invisibility, web, knock, flight, and dispel magic are all good choices

[Amphetryon]

"What's your party role?" "I push the big red button." :smalleek:


Durbein "Trap Bait" Stoneknock, an 'Unusual' Paladin.


http://images.epilogue.net/users/jon%20hodgson/angrydwarf.jpg

"Contrary to popular paladin belief, sometimes, just sometimes, it's not the best idea to throw caution to the wind and charge in to save a hostage or recover a dangerous artifact. While it may be the simplest way, and the honorable way it's also, how do we say, Lawful stupid.

we're not putting up with them shenanigans here, lad.

Don't give me that 'Oh, it's the right thing to do!' shin-dig either, cause when the big baddie decides he can't win the fight without putting the hostages in harms way, You're the one holding the bill with why things went from bad to worse.

------

Every paladin answers to a calling. Durbein Stoneknock was no different, albiet a little more unsual. Durbein had always looked for the new way to do things, even though he often lacked the experience to do so. His small community was under a tyrnannical leadership of the local baron. The baron had a bit of an underhand deal with a nearby slave ring and often times unattended children would go missing.

Durbien, in his youth, decided one day to step up and directly oppose these kidnapping personal, and proudly defied the Baron's men admist the Market place.

It didn't work out so well. in fact, it went pretty poorly. After a week of the stockades and a few tender beatings later and he learned a valuable lesson. sometimes doing the right thing hurts. well, that, and You can't just go charging in head first. sometimes you gotta outsource to some unmentionable people and Fight injustice with... well, Justice?

He found that the thieves guild wasn't to found of the New Baron, and let the Slavers get a little too much leeway for thier comforts. albiet his skills were raw, and his nature was outlandish, they didn't mind getting a helpful tip off about the Baron's movements and where and how the slaver's operated. within due time, his strangely helpful skills were noticed by a group of Temple Raiders.
-------

Initially invited as "Trap Bait" for the Group, the Hollow Hand started testing what Durbien could potentially do. He wasn't anything graceful, that was for sure, but he did his best to keep up and had little intrest in keeping himself safe along the run. Selfless and Enduring, a quick study and a good heart, he was a natural pawn to play with, although he was a little bit too goody two shoes for their tastes.

When asked about why he let the Hollow Hand use him like so, he would be quick to say that he was using them. Indeed, he may not have always recieved his fair share of the loot or been treated nicely, and might have, once or twice, been locked in a chest when he was ramblin' a bit too much, but Olidimmara certainly did have a special place in mind for him. And the skills he learned he would return to good use, keeping an ear to the ground for reports of missing persons cases and bounties or anything else that may test his skills and allow him to do more good for the communities they fenced their items for. Such experience is Priceless to a man harty enough to take a beating and come back kickin'.

After many years, a few hard earned scars and countless adventures later, Durbien grew to be an accepted member of the team. He started to become more graceful in and intuned to the chaos of an unexplored ruin or dungeon and once he had felt he had seen it all and been everywhere, he moved onward to his original goal. He has since been nothing shy of rumors and hopeful prayers of a dark shadow that keeps those who would impede freedom and simple liberties. though iron clad in a heavy pair of boots, you'd never see him, but the sudden absence of slaves, Vital phylactries gone missing, and the kidnapped princess vanishing back home, are all signs that Durbien Stoneknock is still around.

---------------


Desert Dwarf Paladin of Freedom 3/The Master Inquisitive 2/temple raider of Olidimmara 10/Deepwarden 5
Str: 13
Dex: 13
Con: 18
Int: 12
Wis: 20 (+5 for level advancement)
Cha: 5

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skill points|Feats|Class Features

1st|Paladin of Freedom|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Sense Motive 4, Search 2, Gather Information 4|City Slicker|Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day

2nd|Paladin of Freedom|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Sense Motive 5, Search 2 1/2, Gather Information 5|N/A|Divine Grace, Lay on Hands

3rd|Paladin of Freedom|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Sense Motive 6, Search 3, Gather Information 6|Investigate|Aura of Resolve, Divine Health

4th|Inquisitive|
+4|
+3|
+3|
+1|Open Lock 3 1/2, Disable Device 3 1/2, Search 3, Sense Motive 6, Gather info 6|N/A|Zone of Truth

5th|Inquisitive|
+5|
+3|
+4|
+1|Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather Infor 6|Improved Iniative|Bonus Feat

6th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+5|
+3|
+6|
+3|UMD 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather Info 6|Serentity|Trap Finding, Trapsense +1

7th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+6|
+3|
+7|
+4|UMD 10, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|N/a|Sneak Attack +1d6

8th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+7|
+4|
+7|
+4|Climb 4, Heal 1/2, UMD 10, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|n/a|Uncanny Dodge

9th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+8|
+4|
+8|
+5|Climb 4 Heal 3, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|Combat Reflexes|Trap Sense +2

10th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+9|
+5|
+8|
+5|Climb 4, Heal 5, UMD 11, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6||Sneak Attack +2d6

11th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+10|
+6|
+9|
+6|Jump 5 Climb 4, Heal 5, UMD 11, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|n/a|Improved Uncanny Dodge

12th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+11|
+6|
+9|
+6|Survival 5, Jump 5 Climb 4, Heal 5, UMD 11, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6||Trapsense +3

13th|Temple Raiders Of Olidimmara|
+12|
+6|
+10|
+7|climb 5, UMD 14, Survival 5, Jump 5, Heal 5, UMD 11, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|Sneak Attack +3d6

14th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+13|
+7|
+10|
+7|climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 5, Jump 5, Heal 5, UMD 11, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|n/a|Skill Mastery

15th|Temple Raiders of Olidimmara|
+13|
+7|
+11|
+8|climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 5, Jump 10, Heal 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6, Swim 2|Devoted Inquisitor|Luck Domain, Trap sense +4

16th|Deepwarden|
+14|
+9|
+11|
+10|Swim 8, climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 5, Jump 10, Heal 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|n/a|Track, Trap sense +5

17th|Deepwarden|
+15|
+10|
+11|
+11|Swim 8, climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 12, Jump 10, Heal 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|N/a|Stone Warden

18th|Deepwarden|
+16|
+10|
+12|
+11|Swim 8, climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 19, Jump 10, Heal 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|Pact Tactics|Animal Messanger

19th|Deepwarden|
+16|
+11|
+12|
+12|Swim 8, climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 22, Jump 10, Heal 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|n/a|Trap sense +6, Uncanny dodge levels

20th|DeepWarden|
+17|
+11|
+12|
+12|Swim 8, climb 10, UMD 15, Survival 21, Jump 10, Heal 5, Search 8, Open Lock 4, Disable Device 4, Knowledge (religion) 1, Search 8, Sense Motive 6, Gather infor 6|n/a|[/table] Stubborn Mind

City Slicker[1]
Investigative [3]
Improved Initiative
Serenity[6]
Combat Elusiveness[9]
Double Team[12]
Endurance[15]
Pact Tactics[18]


Suggested Magic items:

Rod of Negation
Rod of Security
Staff of passage
Handy harversack
Scroll of antimagic
Scroll of silence
Wand of Baleful Transposition
Rod of Ropes
Potions of Glibness
Eggshell Bombs


Tactics:
Significantly less then Your typical tank, Mr. Stoneknock performs an unusual Niche in the party. He is classed as a paladin, but is more like a Divine Bard. Fittingly, (who hasn't wanted to kill the party bard?) absurdly hard to kill, with (Pre-Magic Items) saves of +20Fort/+17Reflex/+22Will, he can charge first, and ask questions later (Like A paladin!.. wait..) A combination of Deepwarden and the Feat Serenity helps him ignore a bit of MAD while Skill Mastery lets him ignore the chance of poor rolling from keeping him from keeping up with the rest of the Raiders. Even a finger of death trap will have to think twice on Durbin, as he gets a staggering +25 to fortitude saves against traps. Again is stands to be stated this is Before Anything that can add to his Wisdom and therefore to all of his saves.

He can be a wrecking ball in any typical dungeon, any spells or special attacks are bound to be laughed off especially Poisons, Traps, or... Poison traps? His AC is sufficient, depending on how the DM rules The max Dexterity bonus to AC in heavy armor, as Deepwarden adds Consitution to his AC instead. It's worded that whenever he would lose his dexterity bonus, he loses the Constitution bonus but unlike Monk AC bonus, there is no limit to what kind of armor he's allowed to wear. I would personally rule that he has a max Con Bonus to AC, but it still bears to be asked.

However, he truly Shines when paired with a couple Rogues. His feats were selected later on to allow him to wade past traps and jump into the midst of combatitive folk, and automatically counting them all as flanking. With the right selection of Magic items, he can do so more easily without provoking more AoOs and Combat Elusiveness was chosen over Combat reflexes, as it allowed him to better position himself with fellow Temple Raiders of Olidimmara.

His skill mastery is set to Climb, Jump, Swim and UMD. with a total of 15 ranks invested in Use Magic Device, he can 'blindly' use any magic device he finds and activate it. It should be higher, but Deepwarden has UMD as cross class and he had too many ranks to put more into it. I decided to fill out survival rather then put it into the more proactive Spot/Listen, just because it seemed more fitting to the idea of the character, tracking down kidnapped and lost mcGuffins after leaving the Temple Raiders.

---------------------

Source list:

[B]+Unearthed Arcana+
Desert Dwarf, Paladin of Freedom,
+Complete Divine+
Temple Raiders of Olidimara
+Eberron Campaign book+
Master Inquisitive, Investigate
+Dragon Magazine Compendium+
Double Team, Serenity, Pact tactics
+Races of Stone+
Deepwarden
+Races of Destiny+
City slicker
+Tomb Of Battle+
Combat Elusiveness

[Amphetryon]

Aas you like it.

Build makeup: Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Urban ranger 3/TRoO 10

Ability score layouts:

Strength: 10 (+0)
Dexterity: 18 (+4) (19 (+4) at level 4, 20 (+5) at level 8)
Constitution: 18 (+4)
Intelligence: 8 (-1)
Wisdom: 18 (+4) (19 (+4) at level 12, 20 (+5) at level 16)
Charisma: 8 (-1)

Final level ability point is left floating

Race: Silverbrow Human

Alignment: Chaotic Good (Assuming that Temple raider can be within one step)

Aasterinian's thief
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Swordsage|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+2|Open lock 2, Disable device 2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 4, Move silently 4, Speak language (Draconic)|Dragon wings, Shadow blade|Quick to act +1, discipline focus (Weapon Focus) (Shadow hand)

2nd|Swordsage|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+3|Open lock 2 1/2, Disable device 2 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 5, Move silently 5, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 1||Wisdom to AC

3rd|Swordsage|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+3|Open lock 3, Disable device 3, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 6, Move silently 6, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 2|Weapon finesse|

4th|Swordsage|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Open lock 3 1/2, Disable device 3 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 7, Move silently 7, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 3||Discipline focus (insightful strike) (Shadow hand)

5th|Barbarian|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Open lock 4, Disable device 4, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 7, Move silently 7, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 5|New Feats|Fast movement, Ferocity 1/day

6th|Barbarian|
+5|
+5|
+4|
+4|Open lock 4, Disable device 4, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 7, Move silently 7, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 9|Improved dragon wings|Uncanny dodge

7th|Barbarian|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 7, Move silently 7, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10||Trap sense +1

8th|Urban Ranger|
+7/+2|
+7|
+7|
+5|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 7, Move silently 7, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 5|Track (Bonus)|Rival Organization (Church of Tiamat), Wild empathy (1/2 class levels)

9th|Urban Ranger|
+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+5|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 8, Move silently 8, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8|Draconic Cohort, Two weapon fighting (Bonus)|Combat style (Two weapon fighting)

10th|Urban Ranger|
+9/+4|
+8|
+8|
+6|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 11, Move silently 10, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8|Endurance (Bonus)|

11th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+9/+4|
+8|
+10|
+8|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 14, Move silently 10, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Trapfinding, Trap sense +2

12th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+10/+5|
+8|
+11|
+9|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 14, Move silently 13, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8|Improved unarmed strike|Sneak attack +1d6

13th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+11|
+9|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 16, Move silently 14, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Improved uncanny dodge

14th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+12/+7/+2|
+9|
+12|
+10|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 17, Move silently 16, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Trap sense +3

15th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+12/+7/+2|
+9|
+12|
+10|Open lock 5, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 18, Move silently 18, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8|Superior unarmed strike|Sneak attack +2d6

16th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+13/+8/+3|
+10|
+13|
+11|Open lock 6, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 19, Move silently 19, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Improved uncanny dodge +4

17th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|[center]+14/+9/+4/center]|
+10|
+13|
+11|Open lock 7, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 20, Move silently 20, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Trap sense +4

18th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+15/+10/+5|
+10|
+14|
+12|Open lock 8, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 21, Move silently 21, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8|Versatile unarmed strike|Sneak attack +3d6

19th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+15/+10/+5|
+11|
+14|
+12|Open lock 9, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 22, Move silently 22, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Skill mastery (Hide and Move silently)

20th|Temple Raider of Olidammara|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+11|
+15|
+13|Open lock 10, Disable device 4 1/2, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Hide 23, Move silently 23, Speak language (Draconic), Intimidate 10, Search 8||Luck domain, Trap sense +5[/table]

Manoeuvres known/readied:


Swordsage 1: 6/4
Swordsage 2: 7/4
Swordsage 3: 8/5
Swordsage 4: 9/5


Stances known:


Swordsage 1: 1

Island of blades

Swordsage 2: 2
Swordsage 3: 2
Swordsage 4: 2


Manoeuvre/Stance note:


Apart from Island of blades, which is needed for Shadow Blade and, the actual maneuvers and second stance are largely irrelevant


Level 5:


From level 5 onwards, we don't really look like a rogue. But instead more like a front line fighter, which is the intention. Stealth will be worked on, but if all goes to hell, at least he has the benefit of not being useless in a frontal assault.

The feat choices have pretty much killed the need for strength, not all that useful for a thief, since he can't lug stuff out, but less ability scores to focus on, the better. Four levels of swordsage also gives us wisdom to AC in light armour and to damage. This is assuming that bonuses to damage stack, as I have found no evidence to the contrary.

The ferocity ACF was chosen because it gives a bonus to dexterity.

Dragon wings is useful, because free (almost) unlimited flight by 12th level is too good to pass up. And because weapon finesse can wait till level 3.


Level 10:


Urban ranger variant, for a concept like this, pretty much needed. Church of Tiamat was chosen for fluff reasons, but can be changed to any other church instead.

Improved dragon wings is a must, really, so was picked up.

Dragonic cohort is both A: Really cool and B: The only cohort type that can fly. See below for more information on the Dragonic Cohort.


Level 15:


So, by now we can fly. We have taken our first few steps into Temple Raiding and we have developed our unarmed abilities. Why? Because an unarmed strike is a shadow hand weapon.

Stealth has not been ignored, of course.

Since we already have a high wisdom score, the spell casting is not lost.

Level 15 is also the sweet spot, since the stealth side is not wasted, and the martial one is still helpful.


Level 20:


At level 20, all of the Temple Raider's skills come to light. Skill mastery, since we do have an Int penalty, only lets us choose two skills. Good thing we only rely heavily on two.

Versatile unarmed strike was chosen, simply because that feat slot was free.



Dragonic cohort:


At level 9 the Dragonic cohort feat was added. We still have to make use of the leadership stats in the DMG, but only for a cohort.

Since the build's alignment is chaotic good, focus on chaotic good dragons. Eventaly, assuming all bonuses, a Juvenile Copper dragon will be your companion and ally.



Sources:



Tome of Battle:
Swordsage
Shadow blade
superior unarmed strike.

Cityscape:
Ferocity ACF

Unearthed Arcana:
Urban Ranger

Complete divine:
Temple raider of Olidammara

Player's Handbook II:
Versatile unarmed strike

Dracomonican:
Draconic cohort

Races of the dragon:
Dragon wings
Improved dragon wings

Dragon magic:
Silverbrow human

[Amphetryon]

Kneel before Zed!. . . or something.


Sky Raider Zed
Lockpicks, where we are going we don't need lockpicks!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/407620/Zed.jpg

What is a thief?
Do they wear black?
Do they mess about with tools?
Do they climb skinny ropes?
No says Zed.

A thief is someone who takes.


The Perfect Man ECL 7

Zed has begun his journey on his two roles, the burglar and the mounted warrior. He hasn't yet reached a true synthesis of the roles, but is good at both of them. He doesn't have trapfinding yet, but he can still use detect magic to detect auras. His familiar also has the same skills as him giving him two search checks, two disarm checks and so on. The familiar can also serve as a secondary scout, as it shares Zed's hide and move silently ranks.

He usually uses whatever mount he can afford, a hippogriff for the fly speed if at all possible. While he doesn't have Spirited Charge, that is only one eternal wand of heroics away.


The Temple Raider ECL 15

By now Zed has become one with his role, he is the thief, and he is the charger. Locks have never been much difficulty to one with an adamantine longsword, but by this point even walls are irrelevant.

Zed's mount is a hippogriff familiar. It shares Zed's skill checks, Zed's spells, and even Zed's Soulmelds. Zed has the Phase Cloak bound to his shoulders. When he or his mount take a move action they become temporarily ethereal allowing them to ignore difficult terrain, touch based traps, and even walls. That is when he uses Ride by Attack.

Now the usual difficulty with any flying through solid objects build is seeing just what is on the other side of the wall. Zed can cast Clairvoyance. Clairvoyance lets him scry on a specific location, no save, no sr, and it does not require concentration but instead lasts minutes per level. This is plenty of time to mounted charge a room full of temple monks. Blur and charging through the very walls helps to make sure he gets his sneak attacks in.

Now the difficult part about cavalry charging your way through a temple is the traps. Magical traps are usually the ones that cause the greatest worry. There is a limited number of triggering methods for magical traps.

Location - Must stand in particular square. Bypassed by being ethereal and flying.

Proximity - Usually activated with either an alarm spell or a detect x spell. Temple Raider gives undetectable alignment. Alarms are bypassed by a spoken pass code. These can be learned through Clairvoyance.

Sound - Defeated by move silently and the silence spell.

Visual - Defeated by Hide, Invisibility and so on.

Touch - Ethereal and flying.

Zed also doesn't need to come in charging from the get go. He and his hippogriff are perfectly capable of sneaking around corridors and searching for traps. It is also significantly harder to find a scout that can move through walls. Trapfinding combines well with detect magic to discover magical traps. Trap Sense helps him survive the few traps that he doesn't discover.

Lastly, Temple Raider has the best spell list ever... for a front line meleer. Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Spell Immunity, Delay Poison, Resist Energy. All very useful spells (that are of course shared with his mount). And uncanny dodge never hurt.


The Uber Raider ECL 20

A few final Temple Raider levels and a Warblade dip finish off the build. The luck reroll can save lives, although the spell list itself isn't that impressive. Skill Mastery helps insure that he makes his UMD, Trap, and Ride checks. Zed can now reliably emulate other alignments. While previously he was using portable holes for ransacking temples, now he can use the much superior enveloping pits. A fifty foot deep storage space at just 3,600 a piece. And if anything valuable is attached to a wall, thats just a few adamantine longsword swings away.

Warblade gets him two major things, White Raven Tactics to let him charge twice a round, and Leading the Charge Stance, giving all of his group members +10 damage on all charge attacks. Craven gives him an additional +20 damage on all sneak attacks. With a good Valorous Collision Lance that is a bonus 35 damage on all his attacks. All that damage is then multiplied by four.

Full attacks on charges are easily gained by a wand of Lion's Charge kept in a wand compartment in the lance. Lion's charge like all his other spells is shared with his hippogriff familiar.


Kitchen Ingredients

Useful gear
"Masterwork Lockpick" Adamantine Longsword
Eternal Wand (MIC 159) of Heroics (Spell Compendium 113)
Adamantine Lance of Collision and Valorous (Unapproachable East 54)
with a wand chamber (Dungeonscape 34)
Wand of Lion's Charge (Spell Compendium 133)
Belt of Magnificence (Miniature Handbook 42)

Other Sources:
Lore Song, Mimicking Song (Dungeonscape 42)
Darkstalker (Lords of Madness 179)
Obtain Familiar (Complete Arcane 81)
Human Paragon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon)
Shape Soulmeld (Magic of Incarnum 40)
Open Lesser Chakra (Magic of Incarnum 40)
Share Soulmeld (Magic of Incarnum 41)
Phase Cloak (Magic of Incarnum 82)
Improved Familiar Hippogriff (Complete Warrior 100)
Craven (Champions of Ruin 17)


Zed's Stats

Sky Raider Zed
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Bard 1|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+2|Hide 4, MS 4, UMD 4, K. Arcana 4, K. Religion 1, Ride 2, Sing 3, Search 2, Open Lock 2, Disable Device 1, Diplomacy 4|Darkstalker, Mounted Combat (b)|Bardic Music, Inspiring Courage+1, Lore Song, Mimicking Song, Fascinate

2nd|Bard 2|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+3|Hide 5, MS 5, UMD 5, Disable 2, Search 2.5, Open Lock 2.5, Diplomacy 5||

3rd|Bard 3|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+3|Hide 6, MS 6, UMD 6, Disable 3, Search 3, Open Lock 3, Diplomacy 6|Obtain Familiar|

4th|Bard 4|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Hide 7, MS 7, UMD 7 Ride 3, K. Geo 1, K. Local 1, Diplomacy 7||

5th|Human Paragon 1|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+6|Disable 4, Open Lock 4, Search 5, Ride 6, Hide 8||Adaptive Learning (Ride)

6th|Human Paragon 2|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+7|Disable 6, Search 7, Ride 8, Hide 9|Shape Soulmeld (Phase Cloak), Ride By Attack (b)|

7th|Human Paragon 3|
+5|
+2|
+5|
+7|Disable 8, Search 9, Ride 10, Hide 10||+2 Wisdom

8th|Temple Raider 1|
+5|
+2|
+7|
+9|Disable 9, Search 10, Ride 11, Hide 11, MS 9, UMD 8||Trapfinding, Trap sense +1

9th|Temple Raider 2|
+6|
+2|
+8|
+10|Disable 10, Search 11, Ride 12, Hide 12, MS 10, UMD 9|Share Soulmeld|Sneak Attack +1d6

10th|Temple Raider 3|
+7|
+3|
+8|
+10|Disable 11, Search 12, Ride 12, Hide 13, MS 11, UMD 10||Uncanny Dodge

11th|Temple Raider 4|
+8|
+3|
+9|
+11|Disable 12, Search 14, Ride 13, Hide 14, MS 12, UMD 11||Trap Sense +2

12th|Bard 5|
+8|
+3|
+9|
+11|Disable 14, Search 15, Ride 14, Hide 15, MS 13, UMD 12|Improved Familiar (Hippogriff)|

13th|Temple Raider 5|
+8|
+3|
+9|
+11|Disable 16, Search 16, Ride 15, Hide 16, MS 14, UMD 13||Sneak Attack +2d6

14th|Temple Raider 6|
+9|
+4|
+10|
+12|Disable 17, Search 17, Ride 16, Hide 17, MS 15, UMD 14||Improved Uncanny Dodge

15th|Temple Raider 7|
+10|
+4|
+10|
+12|Disable 18, Search 18, Ride 17, Hide 18, MS 17, UMD 15|Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders)|Trap Sense +3

16th|Temple Raider 8|
+11|
+4|
+11|
+13|Disable 19, Search 19, Ride 18, Hide 19, MS 19, UMD 16||Sneak Attack +3d6

17th|Temple Raider 9|
+11|
+4|
+12|
+14|Disable 20, Search 20, Ride 19, Hide 20, MD 20, UMD 18||Skill Mastery (Ride, Search, Disable, UMD)

18th|Temple Raider 10|
+12|
+4|
+13|
+15|Disable 21, Search 21, Ride 20, Hide 21, MD 21, UMD 20|Craven|Luck Domain, Trap Sense +4

19th|Warblade 1|
+13|
+6|
+13|
+15|Ride 22, Diplomacy 11||Battle Clarity (Reflex), Weapon Aptitude

20th|Warblade 2|
+14|
+7|
+13|
+15|Ride 23, Diplomacy 16||Improved Uncanny Dodge[/table]

Zed, Chaotic Evil Human Sky Raider
Strength 14 +6 Enhancement, +3 Level, +5 Inherent
Dex 14 +6 Enhancement, +4 Inherent
Con 14 +6 Enhancement, +1 Level
Int 14 +6 Enhancement
Wis 12 +6 Enhancement, +2 Class
Cha 12 =6 Enhancement, +1 Level


Zed's Spells and Manuevers


Bard

Bard Spells per Day
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|3|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|3|2|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|3|2|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|3|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|3|3|2|0|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]
Bard Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

1st|4|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|5|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|6|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|6|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|6|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|6|4|3|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|6|4|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-[/table]
Level 0:
Detect Magic
Ghost Sound
Prestigitation
Read Magic
Light
Dancing Lights

Level 1:
Remove Scent
Inspirational Boost
Identify
Crabwalk

Level 2:
Blur
Silence
Mirror Image
Glitterdust

Level 3:
Clairaudiance / Clairvoyance
Allegro

Raider Spells

Raider Spells per Day
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th

8th|-|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|-|1|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|-|1|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

12th|-|1|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

13th|-|1|1|0|-|-|-|-|-|-

14th|-|1|1|1||-|-|-|-|-

15th|-|2|1|1|0|-|-|-|-|-

16th|-|2|1|1|1|-|-|-|-|-

17th|-|2|2|1|1|-|-|-|-|-

18th|-|2|2|2|1|-|-|-|-|-[/table]


Zed's Power Moves

Leading the Attack
Battle Leader's Charge
Douse the flames
White Raven Tactics
Leading the Charge Stance

[Amphetryon]

Prying open the archives.

Aundair Yannedge-Owens
ONE of the greatest explorers of our time, a legend in his own lifetime and feted hero of Khorvaire, Henry "Aundair" Yannedge-Owens, has died at the age of 124 after a short illness.

Best known for his sensational recovery of the Cup of Resurrection from a ruined giant temple in the bowels of Xen'drik - which granted both Yannedge-Owens and his father (the respected scholar Henry Yannedge Sr.) a lifespan beyond the normal human range - Yannedge-Owens had had a long and colourful career from his acceptance as a teenager into the archaeology faculty at Morgrave University. His old professors remembered him as a bookish, devout student, who on joining the university intended to focus his researches in the distinctly quiet field of the translation, editing and study of ancient magical texts, and who proved a bright but somewhat unreliable talent.

Yannedge-Owens' student career took a turn for the action-oriented, however, when a field trip to examine some antique magical stelae in a lizardfolk community in Q'barra saw the university party ambushed by bandits. The young scholar put the riding skills learned in his farmstead upbringing to good use, catching a horse, bringing the bandit leader to bay with a whip and bringing the cache of valuable ancient items safely back to the university museum.

"Having once tasted drama," his official biographer, Spee L. Burg, wrote in Volume I of the compendious /Adventures of Henry Yannedge-Owens/, "young Henry developed a palate for risk and danger that rapidly became an addiction." The technical side of his magical studies, though never fully abandoned, fell by the wayside as he pursued a career in the field, braving cavernous mountains and sweltering jungles to seek out shrines closed off by rockfall or long since overgrown.

Always a devout follower of the Sovereign Host, Yannedge-Owens took as a central tenet of his archaeology the belief that the gods of distant or long-extinct races were emanations of the same divine source, and sought to rescue the holy treasures of such lost temples with an eye to returning them to civilisation where they could be used and reverenced by the faithful. Considering the trajectory of his career, it is possible to trace the burgeoning and strengthening of this belief, from its first roots in the simple but heartfelt religion of a backcountry boy, through the undoubtedly heroic acts of his middle career (but which were still undertaken largely for their own sake), to the absolute conviction in his later life that his career was not merely a profession but a holy calling, which he could no more refuse than he could refuse to breathe or sleep.

This steadfast faith in the essential unity and, moreover, essential goodness of all races - which manifested in a reluctance to join combat and, once joined, a refusal to kill or injure unless fighting for his life - saw him come into conflict on more than one occasion with those of differing opinions, most notably the more militant offices of the Church of the Silver Flame. His retrieval of the lost Casket of Angels from far beneath the Valenar desert - on which expedition he met the druidess Mariel Woodraven, whom he would later marry - was hotly contested by the inquisitors of that faith. What happened to those exorcists present has never been adequately explained, but the word "melted" figures prominently. The Cup of Resurrection was similarly contested, with a high-ranking cleric of the Flame lost in the ensuing avalanche, and in that case the artefact in question could not be retrieved, being lost forever under a million tons of stone.

In his last interview, granted to this newspaper late last year, Yannedge-Owens cited the latter loss as the single greatest disappointment of his entire career, lamenting that an artefact of such wondrous potential and divine grace would go for another aeon unused. Asked, perhaps incautiously, what the second-greatest disappointment was, he replied with typical laconic charm that it was being banned from all House Lyrandar airship services after having been caught without a ticket.

Such a flippant reply, neatly deflecting attention from what one suspects was the real answer - the sad death of his wife Mariel some twenty years ago - encapsulates in a nutshell the unique contradictions of the man behind the inexplicable nickname: the devout priest who spent his career stealing from holy places, the fearless explorer who loathed combat and (legendarily) ran screaming at the sight of a snake, the serious-minded scholar never short of a barbed remark, and the famed lothario who nonetheless only ever seems to have loved one woman.

He will be sorely missed.

//Brother Professor Henry "Aundair" Yannedge-Owens, born 973, d. 1097; survived by his only son, Henry Yannedge-Owens junior.//

Abilities & Race
STR 10
DEX 15 (20)
CON 12
INT 16
WIS 12
CHA 14
32 point buy, +1 Dex at levels 4, 8, 12, 16 & 20

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Race: Human
Humanoid (Human)
Extra Skill point
Bonus feat at 1st level

Level Progression
AUNDAIR YANNEDGE-OWENS
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Archivist 1|
+0|
+2|
+0|
+2|Decipher Script +4 (4), Disable Device +2 (2), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +4 (4), Knowledge (history) +4 (4), Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +4 (4), Knowledge (religion) +4 (4), Open Lock +2 (2), Search +4 (4)|Education, Action Boost|Dark knowledge (tactics) 3/day, Scribe Scroll

2nd|Archivist 2|
+1|
+3|
+0|
+3|Decipher Script +1 (5), Disable Device +0.5 (2.5), Knowledge (dungeoneering) +1 (5), Knowledge (history) +1 (5), Knowledge (nobility & royalty) +1 (5), Knowledge (religion) +1 (5), Open Lock +0.5 (2.5), Search +1 (5)||Lore mastery

3rd|Ranger 1|
+2|
+5|
+2|
+3|Climb +2 (2), Disable Device +0.5 (3), Jump +1 (1), Open Lock +0.5 (3), Search +1 (6), Survival +3 (3), Use Rope +1 (1)|Weapon Finesse|Favored enemy (animals), Track, Wild empathy

4th|Ranger 2|
+3|
+6|
+3|
+3|Climb +2 (4), Disable Device +0.5 (3.5), Jump +2 (3), Open Lock +0.5 (3.5), Search +1 (7), Survival +1 (4), Use Rope +2 (3)||Combat style (archery)

5th|Ranger 3|
+4|
+6|
+3|
+4|Climb +1 (5), Disable Device +0.5 (4), Jump +2 (5), Open Lock +0.5 (4), Search +1 (8), Use Rope +2 (5)|Skill trick - Collector of Stories|Endurance

6th|Extreme Explorer 1|
+4|
+6|
+5|
+4|Balance +1 (1), Disable Device +2 (6), Open Lock +2 (6), Search +1 (9), Tumble +2 (2), UMD +2 (2)|Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Whip)|Additional action points, Trap sense +1

7th|Extreme Explorer 2|
+5|
+6|
+6|
+4|Balance +1 (2), Disable Device +2 (8), Open Lock +2 (8), Search +1 (10), Tumble +2 (4), UMD +2 (4)||Dodge bonus +1, Evasion, Extreme hustle

8th|Extreme Explorer 3|
+6|
+7|
+6|
+5|Balance +1 (3), Open Lock +2 (11), Search +1 (9), Tumble +2 (6), UMD +2 (6)|Skill Trick - Whip Climber|Trap sense +2, Action Surge

9th|Extreme Explorer 4|
+7|
+7|
+7|
+5|Balance +1 (4), Disable Device +2 (10), Open Lock +2 (12), Search +1 (12), Tumble +2 (8), UMD +2 (8)|Combat Expertise|Dodge bonus +2, Extreme action

10th|Extreme Explorer 5|
+7|
+7|
+7|
+5|Balance +1 (5), Disable Device +2 (12), Search +1 (13), Tumble +2 (10), UMD +2 (10)|Skill Trick - Clever Improviser|Trap sense +3, Heroic Spirit

11th|Temple Raider 1|
+7|
+7|
+9|
+7|Disable Device +2 (14), Knowledge (history) +2 (7), Open Lock +2 (14), Search +1 (14), UMD +1 (11)||Trapfinding, Trap sense +4

12th|Temple Raider 2|
+8|
+7|
+10|
+8|Disable Device +1 (15), Knowledge (history) +2 (9), Knowledge (religion) +2 (7), Open Lock +1 (15), Search +1 (15), UMD +1 (12)|Improved Disarm|Sneak attack +1d6

13th|Temple Raider 3|
+9|
+8|
+10|
+8|Disable Device +1 (16), Knowledge (history) +2 (11), Knowledge (religion) +2 (9), Open Lock +1 (16), Search +1 (16), UMD +1 (13)||Uncanny dodge

14th|Temple Raider 4|
+10|
+8|
+11|
+9|Disable Device +1 (17), Knowledge (history) +2 (13), Knowledge (religion) +2 (11), Open Lock +1 (17), Search +1 (17), UMD +1 (14)||Trap sense +5

15th|Temple Raider 5|
+10|
+8|
+11|
+9|Disable Device +1 (18), Knowledge (history) +2 (15), Knowledge (religion) +2 (13), Open Lock +1 (18), Search +1 (18), UMD +1 (15)|Arterial Strike|Sneak attack +2d6

16th|Temple Raider 6|
+11|
+9|
+12|
+10|Disable Device +1 (19), Knowledge (religion) +2 (15), Open Lock +1 (19), Search +1 (19), Tumble +2 (12), UMD +1 (16)||Improved uncanny dodge

17th|Temple Raider 7|
+12|
+9|
+12|
+10|Disable Device +1 (20), Knowledge (religion) +2 (17), Open Lock +1 (20), Search +1 (20), UMD +1 (17)|Skill Trick - Acrobatic Backstab|Trap sense +6

18th|Temple Raider 8|
+13|
+9|
+13|
+11|Disable Device +1 (21), Knowledge (history) +2 (17), Knowledge (religion) +2 (19), Open Lock +1 (21), Search +1 (21), UMD +1 (18)|Razing Strike|Sneak attack +3d6

19th|Temple Raider 9|
+13|
+10|
+13|
+11|Disable Device +1 (22), Knowledge (religion) +2 (21), Open Lock +1 (22), Search +1 (22), UMD +1 (19)|Skill Trick - Nimble Charge|Skill mastery (Disable Device, Open Lock, Search, Tumble, Use Rope, UMD)

20th|Temple Raider 10|
+14|
+10|
+14|
+12|Disable Device +1 (23), Knowledge (religion) +2 (23), Open Lock +1 (23), Search +1 (23), UMD +1 (20)|Skill Trick - Twisted Charge|Luck domain, Trap sense +7[/table]

Spells
Archivist Spells per Day
{table=head]Level|0 lvl per Day|1 lvl per Day

1st|3|3

2nd|4|4

3rd|4|4

4th|4|4

5th|4|4

6th|4|4

7th|4|4

8th|4|4

9th|4|4

10th|4|4

11th|4|4

12th|4|4

13th|4|4

14th|4|4

15th|4|4

16th|4|4

17th|4|4

18th|4|4

19th|4|4

20th|4|4[/table]

Known Spells (free spells from Archivist levels only):
0 - Amanuensis, Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Guidance, Inflict Minor Wounds, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Resistance, Virtue
1 - Comprehend Languages, Cure Light Wounds, Divine Favour, Guiding Light, Lesser Vigor, Resurgence, Shield of Faith, Sign

Spells Prepared:
0 - Amanuensis, Detect Magic, Light, Read Magic
1 - Cure Light Wounds, Lesser Vigor, Resurgence, Sign

Suggestions for Divine Spells to Learn:
1 - Arrow Mind (ranger), Find Temple (paladin), Guided Shot (ranger), Snake's Swiftness (druid), Sniper's Shot (ranger), Vine Strike (druid), Warning Shout (paladin)

Temple Raider Spells per Day
{table=head]Level|1 lvl per Day|2 lvl per Day|3 lvl per Day|4 lvl per Day

1st|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-

5th|-|-|-|-

6th|-|-|-|-

7th|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-

10th|-|-|-|-

11th|1|-|-|-

12th|2|-|-|-

13th|2|0|-|-

14th|2|1|-|-

15th|2|1|0|-

16th|2|1|1|-

17th|3|1|1|0

18th|3|1|1|1

19th|3|2|1|1

20th|3|2|2|1[/table]

Spells Prepared:
1 - Detect Secret Doors, Entropic Shield, Protection from Law
2 - Cat's Grace, Lesser Restoration
3 - Remove Curse, See Invisibility
4 - Airwalk

Tactics and Highlights
LEVELS 1-5:
At first Aundair has to rely on his archivist spells and (with his high Dex) ranged weapons, but as a spellcaster able to wear some armour he shouldn't have too much difficulty surviving. Weapon Finesse and the Ranger's abilities give him more options, and Action Boost means he can add d8s instead of d6s to his heroic hijinks for some extra help.

LEVELS 6-10:
At level 6 Aundair gets to use a whip properly, which is a great battlefield control weapon if not great for dealing damage. Sticking with ranged weapons is probably the best combat plan, and at least with its reach using the whip doesn't mean you have to get close in. Additional action points from Extreme Explorer and Heroic Spirit are great, especially when combined with Extreme Hustle and Action Surge, which let you burn them for extra actions in a round! Attack and disable in a single round!

LEVELS 11-15:
This is where the build really starts to come together, with the whip and Improved Disarm making it a breeze to ruin the day of most foes without even having to risk engaging them in melee (especially with a Disarming enhancement on the whip). Aundair also gets some sneak attack online, which he can then use to power Arterial Strike for some sneaky extra damage with the whip. You see, Arterial Strike is one of the few ambush feats that does not specify the attack has to deal damage, just that it has to hit. This means that you should be able to apply the bleeding wounds even to enemies in armour if you can sneak attack them, which even makes sense given how whips are normally used, and you can give them plenty of lashes as the bleeding wounds stack! Flick their weapon away, then watch them slowly bleed to death as they try to get back into a position to threaten you at all, at which point you do it again.

LEVELS 16-20:
The final levels give Aundair some more sneak attack dice and Razing Strike which lets him burn his Archivist spells to sneak attack undead. After getting Skill mastery he is also able to auto-succeed pretty much all UMD checks, allowing him to use the power of the artefacts he discovers in his adventures, and spend the loot to buy useful wands and staves. His required skills are all maxed out and his other useful skills have plenty of ranks, and some skill tricks picked up along the way let him fight more capably in the dungeons and temples he visits.

Sources
Heroes of Horror - Archivist
Complete Divine - Temple Raider
Complete Warrior - Arterial Strike
Complete Adventurer - Razing Strike
Complete Scoundrel - skill tricks
Eberron Campign Setting - Extreme Explorer, Action Boost, Action Surge, Heroic Spirit, Education
Spell Compendium - spells

[Amphetryon]

"What did you say the intruder looked like, ma'am?" "Um, well, y'see. . . ."

Eglath


http://www.mrgreen.am/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/plenty-of-fish-ads.jpg

Sometimes a job calls for stealth, and sometimes for brute strength. You never know when it takes a cat, or even an octopus, to steal the relic from a temple. Usually it don't, but when it does, they call me. I get it done.

From the deepest caverns to long abandoned ruins, adventurers for centuries are familiar with the dungeon crawl. But what happens when the original builders of the dungeon are still using it? And the dungeon is actually a temple? Well, it is still a dungeon crawl. There are the normal variety of traps, both magical and mundane, and a large cadre of guards and clergy. There are basically have two ways of dealing with this, brute force and stealth. The ideal temple raider has both, in spades. This is the story of Eglath.

I was always fascinated with dungeons. The ruins of a temple, with a deep underground labyrinth, holds treasures unimagined, regardless of how many people have been through there before. There are always scraps of books and parchment which some mage or priest would pay dearly for, some secret door that has yet to been discovered, traps that no one has yet disabled. So when I took a job to raid a temple of Nerull, who I had just happened to have a history with, I was hooked. Time to stop being a bottom feeder and start living the high life. It is the active temples that have all the gold, gems, and artifacts. Why not make a profit off of a rival's misfortune?

Unfortunately, while we met our objectives on the small shrine, resistence and casualties were higher than expected. Time to learn some new tricks. I had already mastered the basics of wildshaping, but it was time to pursue that, all the better to get the loot. I eventually learned to wildshape into larger creatures, like the giant octopus, which is useful both underwater and on land. Ever been grappled by a giant octopus? You don't really want to. But most important was when I learned to shape into tiny creatures, like that bane of commoners everywhere, the housecat.

So I've been seeking exciting new opportunities, new destinations, and in the process, making new ruins for you to enjoy later, or in another life.

You're welcome.


The Build
Eglath Gathakanathi, CN Goliath Ranger 5/Temple Raider 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Divine Seeker 2
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Wildshape Ranger 1|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+0|Search 4, Open Lock 2, Disable Device 4, Move Silently 4, Hide 4, Spot 4, Listen 4, |Improved Unarmed Strike|1st rival organization (temple of Nerull), wild empathy, fast movement, Trap Expert ACF

2nd|Ranger 2|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+0|Knowledge (Rel) 1, Search 5, Open Lock 2.5, Move Silent 5, Hide 5, Spot 5|N/A|N/A

3rd|Ranger 3|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+1|Search 6, Open Lock 3, Move Silent 6, Hide 6|Alertness, Endurance (Bonus)|N/A

4th|Ranger 4|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+1|Search 7, Open Lock 3.5, Move Silent 7, Hide 7|N/A|Urban Companion (Cat)

5th|Ranger 5|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+1|Search 8, Open Lock 4, Move Silent 8, Hide 8|N/A|2nd rival organization (temple of Erythnul), Wildshape

6th|Temple Raider 1|
+5|
+4|
+6|
+3|Hide 9, Know Rel 2 |Improved Grapple|Trapfinding, trap sense +1

7th|Master of Many Forms 1|
+5|
+6|
+8|
+3|Anything stealth/disguise |N/A|Shifter’s speech, improved wild shape (humanoid)

8th|Master of Many Forms 2|
+6/+1|
+7|
+9|
+3|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Improved wild shape (giant; Large)

9th|Master of Many Forms 3|
+7/+2|
+7|
+9|
+4|Anything stealth/disguise|Natural Spell|Fast wild shape, improved wild shape (monstrous humanoid)

10th|Master of Many Forms 4|
+8/+3|
+8|
+10|
+4|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Natural Spell|Improved wild shape (fey; Tiny)

11th|Temple Raider 2|
+9/+4|
+8|
+11|
+5|Know Rel 3, Hide 10,Anything stealth/disguise |N/A|Sneak attack +1d6

12th|Temple Raider 3|
+10/+5|
+9|
+11|
+5|Anything stealth/disguise|Savage Grapple|Uncanny dodge

13th|Temple Raider 4|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+12|
+6|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Trap sense +2

14th|Temple Raider 5|
+11/+6/+1|
+9|
+12|
+6|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Sneak attack +2d6

15th|Temple Raider 6|
+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+13|
+7|Anything stealth/disguise|Craven|Improved uncanny dodge

16th|Temple Raider 7|
+13/+8/+3|
+10|
+13|
+7|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Trap sense +3

17th|Temple Raider 8|
+14/+9/+4|
+10|
+14|
+8|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Sneak attack +3d6

18th|Divine Seeker 1|
+14/+9/+4|
+10|
+16|
+8|Anything stealth/disguise|Extra Wildshape|Sanctuary, Thwart Glyph

19th|Divine Seeker 2|
+15/+10/+5|
+10|
+17|
+8|Anything stealth/disguise|N/A|Sacred defense +1, sneak attack +4d6[/table]

Spellcasting (Note, includes bonus spells for wis at level 20, without inherent and item enhancement bonuses)
Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th
1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Ranger 4)

5th|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Ranger 5)

6th|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 1)

7th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

11th|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 2)

12th|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 3)

13th|2|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 4)

14th|2|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 5)

15th|2|2|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 6)

16th|3|2|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 7)

17th|3|2|2|2|-|-|-|-|-|(Temple Raider 8)
[/table]

Ranger spells
Level 1-Alarm, animal messenger, calm animals, charm animals, delay poison, detect animals or plants, detect poison, detect snares and pits, endure elements, entangle, hide from animals, jump, longstrider, magic fang, pass without trace, read magic, resist energy, speak with animals, summon nature's ally I.

Temple Raider spells
Level 1-detect law, detect secret doors, disguise self, invisibility to undead, obscuring mist, protection from law.
Level 2-augury, cat’s grace, darkvision, delay poison, invisibility, lesser restoration, undetectable alignment.
Level 3-locate object, magic circle against law, nondetection, obscure object, remove curse, resist energy, see invisibility.
Level 4-air walk, confusion, death ward, freedom of movement, neutralize poison, restoration, spell immunity.


Ability Scores, final skill checks, saves:
Ability scores:
32-point buy-Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 12
Racial-Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 12
Levels-Str 18, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 12
Inherent-Str 22, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 26, Cha 12
Items-Str 28, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 32, Cha 12

Saves: base + stats + items = total
Fort: 10 + 4 (or wildshaped creature) + 5 = 19
Reflex: 17 + 1 (or wildshaped creature) + 5 = 23
Will: 8 + 11 + 5 = 24

Skills: I didn't calculate all the skills, just ensured that each skill had enough to meet the pre-reqs for my prestige classes. Focus on stealth and you won't go wrong.


Recommended magic items:
This character is not terribly reliant on magic items. Of course you want cloak of res, stat boosters, etc. Magic Light armor is nice for when you are not wildshaped (but when would that be? I guess if he has a girlfriend...) dunno if wilding clasps make the armor fit octopus form. I'm gonna say no.

Main this this guy is going to want is a portable hole, as he is scoring big when he makes a run through a temple.


Playing notes/recommended tactics:
As mentioned in the story, wildshaping into a giant octopus is particularly unpleasant for the victims. Savage grapple allows sneak attack damage to be done with each successful grapple, and specifically does NOT cost wildshape uses, as opposed to other wild feats. For stealth, it is hard to beat a cat, although other tiny creatures are also useful. Most of his skills are designed around stealth for the initial insertion, but shaping into an octopus or bear is always useful when things hit the fan. Honestly, are there any problems that don't get better if you throw a bear, or an octopus, at it?

Craven + 4d6 sneak attack + savage grapple is an extra 33 damage on a successful grapple, which is why octopus is so great (base 2d8 +6 on a grapple, and you get 8 of them a round without using iterative attacks). Grappling is assisted by race, with Powerful build specifically not being lost with wildshape, getting another grapple bonus. Out of water? You can hold your breath for 2x con rounds, or way longer than combat should last. Once we start getting limbs sundered, shape into bear for a while, and if we need to run away, there are numerous fast, stealthy creatures, both with or without flight, to shape into, without denting the number of wildshapes per day significantly.

It was a tough decision to forgo the last 2 levels of Temple Raider, but getting the glyph bonus is potentially a lifesaver in some of the larger temples. Another sneak attack die was a bonus. Wildshaping through MoMF also allows humanoid shaping, allowing for additional potential in disguise and bluffing past mooks.

All in all, we've got stealth, we've got strength, we've got temples in ruins after we're finished with them.

The character is viable at all levels, I considered trading away ranger spellcasting but decided to keep it as they have a large and useful list of spells. Trading it would have hurt me at higher levels when access to wands and such is better. Pass without trace was, in particular, extremely difficult to give up.

If LA buyoff is allowed, I think it is time to go into Warshaper, getting the capstone of multimorph would be extremely useful for this character, but comes, obviously, post-epic


References:
Wildshape Ranger - SRD
Urban Companion/Favored Organizations - Cityscape Web Enhancement
Champion of the Wild - Complete Champion
Trap Expert - Dungeonscape
Imp favored Enemy - Complete Warrior
Master of Many Forms, Savage Grapple - Complete Adventurer
Divine Seeker - Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

[Amphetryon]

"Trust me. I'm a paladin. Kind of."

Sir Arminel Rayne
CG Human Paragon 1/Paladin of Freedom 5/Temple Raider of Olidammara 10/Divine Seeker 4

Backstory
From "A Child's Encyclopaedia of Gods and Heroes: T is for . . . Tymora, Temples and Tombs"

Arminel Rayne would likely have been the first to admit that she wasn't a great example of what people think of when they think of paladins - or more likely, she would have been about the fifty-third to admit it, the queue of disgruntled priests, clerics, acolytes, initiates, novices, neophytes and adepts being (by the end of her career) rather long.

Rayne was born in a small village in western Faerun to poor parents, who had too many children to easily support, and so didn't hesitate to hand their youngest and unruliest daughter over to the local monastery. (Don't mention this to your parents, in case it gives them ideas.) The monastery tried their best to teach her to be a proper paladin, but gave up in the face of her tendency to want to be out fighting the forces of darkness face to face, and stealing their stuff, without really bothering with little things like training, preparation, allies, or a plan.

Their best attempts at discipline failed thanks to the two things that would later make Arminel a hero: first, her utter conviction that the Goddess Tymora was commanding her to go out and steal the most powerful evil magical items out from under their owners' noses, and second, a developing talent for breaking into and out of all sorts of interesting places - beginning with, her abbot wrote in her last year at the monastery, "the pantry and the kitchen, and ending in a locked reliquary cupboard in the concealed cellar of the guarded townhouse of a local nobleman nobody had ever suspected was a demon cultist".

Despite getting a reputation for trickery to rival a rogue's, Arminel was allowed to take her final paladin vows as normal, albeit years later than usual - it's not a stretch to imagine that after that length of time the monastery probably just wanted to get rid of her. She celebrated with a holiday to a beautiful scenic island off the nearby coast - where she found, infiltrated and robbed a hidden temple to an obscure scorpion god. She carried on like this for years, until one night when she had a vision of Tymora, commanding her to stop messing about and get down to her real divine mission - to go to the temples dedicated to Tymora's arch-enemy and other half, Beshaba (the god of bad luck, from chapter 2), and bring back the assorted evil idols, magic swords, and other horrible things back to be purified or destroyed.

Arminel took to her new career like a duck to water, to the point where clerics of more law-abiding gods wondered snidely whether she'd actually had divine visions or made the whole thing up in order to have a good excuse for what she'd been doing already. (Sadly, claiming you had a vision of Tymora telling you to bunk off school probably won't get you very far.) All in all, over her lifetime she claimed to have robbed more than 150 temples to Beshaba (and a few other evil gods) and delivered more than two thousand evil magical gems, swords, rings, wands and other odd things to Tymoran priests. She never got much better at planning, though, preferring just to break into a temple and go from there - sometimes she would sneak in quietly, sometimes charge in screaming and sometimes do a little bit of both. (Although she did say that sneaking was better for getting in, and charging off screaming was better for getting out.)

She's still revered as a great servant of Tymora, but she never really caught on as a patron or exemplar in the way that some great heroes did. Clerics tend to be a little uneasy with a holy warrior who makes a career out of robbing temples - even evil temples. Most people haven't heard of her, even in the region she came from. (Have you?) It doesn't help that she doesn't have a shrine or a tomb for people to visit - nobody knows where she was buried. In fact, nobody even knows how she died. It's said that one powerful cleric of Beshaba put a curse on her, saying that Tymora might have her soul but Beshaba would keep her body - and sure enough, one day, she went alone (as usual) into a heavily guarded and defended temple (as usual) and simply never came back.

The Build
{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Human Paragon 1|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Disable Device 4, Hide 4, Jump 4, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Spot 4|Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush|Adaptive Learning (Search)

2nd|Paladin of Freedom 1|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+2|Jump 5, Search 5, Spot 5||Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day

3rd|Paladin of Freedom 2|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+2|Jump 6, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Search 6|Stealthy|Divine Grace, Lay on Hands

4th|Paladin of Freedom 3|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+3|Jump 7, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Search 7||Aura of Resolve, Divine Health

5th|Paladin of Freedom 4|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+3|Jump 8, Knowledge (Religion) 6, Search 8||Turn Undead

6th|Paladin of Freedom 5|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+3|Knowledge (Religion) 8, Move Silently 5, Search 9|Divine Might|Smite Evil 2/day, Charging Smite

7th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 1|
+5|
+4|
+3|
+5|Disable Device 7, Hide 5, Move Silently 6, Open Lock 5, Search 10||Trapfinding, Trap Sense +1

8th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 2|
+6|
+4|
+4|
+6|Disable Device 10, Hide 6, Move Silently 7, Open Lock 6, Search 11||Sneak Attack +1d6

9th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 3|
+7|
+5|
+4|
+6|Disable Device 12, Hide 7, Move Silently 8, Open Lock 8, Search 12|Shock Trooper|Uncanny Dodge

10th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 4|
+8|
+5|
+5|
+7|Disable Device 13, Hide 8, Move Silently 9, Open Lock 11, Search 13||Trap Sense +2

11th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 5|
+8|
+5|
+5|
+7|Disable Device 14, Hide 9, Move Silently 10, Open Lock 14, Search 14||Sneak Attack +2d6

12th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 6|
+9|
+6|
+6|
+8|Disable Device 15, Hide 11, Move Silently 12, Open Lock 15, Search 15|Leap Attack|Improved Uncanny Dodge

13th|Divine Seeker 1|
+9|
+6|
+8|
+10|Hide 13, Knowledge (Religion) 11, Move Silently 13, Search 16||Sacred Stealth, Thwart Magical Trap

14th|Divine Seeker 2|
+10|
+6|
+9|
+11|Hide 14, Knowledge (Religion) 15, Move Silently 14, Search 17||Sacred Defense +1, Sneak Attack +3d6

15th|Divine Seeker 3|
+11|
+7|
+9|
+11|Hide 16, Knowledge (Religion) 17, Move Silently 16, Search 18|Improved Buckler Defense|Locate Creature 1/day, Locate Object 1/day

16th|Divine Seeker 4|
+12|
+7|
+10|
+12|Hide 18, Knowledge (Religion) 19, Move Silently 18, Search 19||Divine Perseverance, Sacred Defense +2

17th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 7|
+13|
+7|
+10|
+12|Disable Device 18, Knowledge (Religion) 20, Open Lock 17, Search 20||Trap Sense +3

18th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 8|
+14|
+7|
+11|
+13|Disable Device 20, Knowledge (Religion) 21, Open Lock 20, Search 21|Divine Shield|Sneak Attack +4d6

19th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 9|
+14|
+8|
+11|
+13|Disable Device 22, Hide 19, Knowledge (Religion) 22, Open Lock 22, Search 22||Skill Mastery (Disable Device, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search)

20th|Temple Raider of Olidammara 10|
+15|
+8|
+12|
+14|Disable Device 23, Hide 20, Knowledge (Religion) 23, Move Silently 20, Open Lock 23, Search 23||Luck Domain, Trap Sense +4[/table]

Spells
Spells per Day
{table=head]Level|Paladin 1st level per Day|TRoO 1st level per Day|TRoO 2nd level per Day|TRoO 3rd level per Day|TRoO 4th level per Day

1st|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-

5th|1|-|-|-|-

6th|1|-|-|-|-

7th|1|1|-|-|-

8th|1|2|-|-|-

9th|1|2|0|-|-

10th|1|2|1|-|-

11th|1|2|1|0|-

12th|1|2|1|1|-

13th|1|2|1|1|-

14th|1|2|1|1|-

15th|1|2|1|1|-

16th|1|2|1|1|-

17th|1|3|1|1|0

18th|1|3|1|1|1

19th|1|3|2|1|1

20th|1|3|2|2|1[/table]

Prepared Spells:
Paladin 1 - Rhino's Rush
Temple Raider of Olidammara 1 - Detect Secret Doors, Invisibility to Undead, Obscuring Mist
Temple Raider of Olidammara 2 - Invisibility, Lesser Restoration
Temple Raider of Olidammara 3 - Magic Circle against Law, See Invisibility
Temple Raider of Olidammara 4 - Freedom of Movement

Additional Build Information
Attributes:
STR 14
DEX 14
CON 10
INT 14
WIS 12
CHA 15 (20 with all bonus stat points)

Alternative Class Features:
Charging Smite – replaces the Special Mount feature to let you use Smite Evil on a charge attack

Level Highlights
Level 6:
At level 6 Arminel is already becoming a formidable melee combatant with Power Attack, Divine Might and the ability to smite on a charge attack. Decent Strength and good Charisma means combining all three on a charge she hits at +7 before equipment at max PA, dealing 2d6+21 damage with a greatsword.

Level 12:
Shock Trooper and Leap Attack adds to the powerful charging build, with a max PA smiting charge now hitting at +17 (at a cost of 11 AC) and dealing 2d6+34 or 2d6+43 with a greatsword, depending on your interpretation of Leap Attack. Temple Raider has added +2d6 sneak attack at this point too and given Arminel the skill points for decent sneaking skills, making it likely that she can get a surprise round and add the sneak attack damage to the charge too.

Level 20:
Improved Buckler Defense and Divine Shield can counteract some of the AC penalties Arminel will be taking from Shock Trooper, and with standard equipment can almost negate it completely, so even when charging carelessly at her foes she are not entirely defenceless. Divine Perseverance gives her more healing on top of Lay On Hands to keep her hits up when they do land a blow, and Sacred Stealth combining Skill Mastery and high ranks in Move Silently mean her Move Silently check is 22 before equipment whilst taking a -20 for running. Use the luck domain reroll to re-do a charge attack or to get a high initiative, so her can sneak/charge out of the shadows and get two rounds of max PA and sneak attack before they even know what's happening.

Notes
Yes, it's a Paladin who steals from temples! I wanted to find a class with full BAB to get into Temple Raider as soon as possible that wasn't Ranger, and once I thought of Paladin I had to do it for the irony alone. Paladin of Freedom works well, being chaotic and themed around liberty, and the enmity between Tymora and Beshaba made for a good story. The only thing missing was Search, which was picked up along with some useful skill points from Human Paragon.

Divine Seeker seems tailored for Temple Raider, the only down side being the lack of Disable Device and Open Lock, which is why there are a few more levels of Temple Raider afterwards to bring the important skills up to maximum rank. The rest of its class features blend well with Temple Raider - spell-like abilities for locating the items and people you want, large bonuses to sneaking and avoiding traps, as well as more sneak attack to stack with Temple Raider.

Craven is a standard damage-booster for sneak attack builds, but as well as not fitting so well with the fluff of this build I think the charging feats are more potent and usable more frequently given the lack of any improvements to feinting. You could replace Improved Buckler Defense and Divine Shield with Craven and an ambush feat, at the expense of more AC, but in my opinion a better option would be other charging/PA feats like Combat Brute. Alternatively, if you're worried about your AC being too low you could swap out Improved Bull Rush and Shock Trooper to add Shield Specialization and Shield Ward, adding your improved Shield AC (including the Divine Shield bonus) to your Touch AC. Any of these options are also available if you are allowed flaws, although if you are this time you might not be next time...

Equipment Suggestions
The weapon enhancements Warning (+1 bonus) and Blurstrike (+2 bonus) give Arminel a high chance of going first and getting a sneak attack in, as they respectively grant +5 to initiative and 10 charges per day of rendering your opponent flat-footed for your first attack.

Other useful items include Deathstrike Bracers for getting sneak attacks or criticals against those normally immune, Boots of Swift Passage to let you teleport short distances into a good position to charge, and the always controversial Nightsticks for more Turn Undead attempts.

Sources
Complete Warrior - Divine Might feat, Divine Shield feat, Shock Trooper feat, Improved Buckler Defense feat
Complete Adventurer - Leap Attack feat
Complete Divine - Temple Raider of Olidammara class
Player's Handbook II - Charging Smite variant
Player's Guide to Faerun - Divine Seeker class
Unearthed Arcana - Human Paragon class, Paladin of Freedom class
Spell Compendium - Rhino's Rush paladin spell
Magic Item Compendium - equipment suggestions

[Amphetryon]

Excellent.

http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k485/boygenius1991/What-if-everyone-is-a-dragon-but-they27re-always-just-using-alternate-form3F.jpg
8/12/14/18/14/8 (increases to int)
Dark Templated CN Human

Theodore Logan

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Factotum 1|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+0|Appraise 4, Bluff 4, Decipher Script 4, Diplomacy 4, Escape Artist 4, Hide 4, Intimidate 4, Move Silently 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 4|Darkstalker, Font of Inspiration|Inspiration 2, cunning insight, cunning knowledge, trapfinding

2nd|Factotum 2|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+0|Appraise 1 (5), Bluff 1 (5), Decipher Script 1 (5), Disable Device 1 (5), Hide 1 (5), Move Silently 1 (5), Search 1 (5), UMD 4||Inspiration 3, arcane dilettante (1 lvl 0)

3rd|Factotum 3|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+1|Appraise 1 (6), Disable Device 1 (6), Forgery 4, Hide 1 (6), Move Silently 1 (6), Search 1 (6), UMD 2 (6)|Brew Potion|Brains over brawn, cunning defense, AD (1 lvl 1)

4th|Factotum 4|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+1|Appraise 1 (7), Disable Device 1 (7), Forgery 3 (7), Hide 1 (7), Move Silently 1 (7), Search 1 (7), Spellcraft 2, UMD 1 (7), ||Arcane dilettante (1 lvl 1), cunning strike

5th|Factotum 5|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+1|Appraise 1 (8), Forgery 1 (8), Disable Device 1 (8), Hide 1 (8), Know (arcana) 2, Move Silently 1 (8), Search 1 (8), Spellcraft 3 (5)||Opportunistic piety, inspiration 4, arcane dilettante (1 lvl 2, 1 lvl 1)

6th|Mindbender 1|
+3|
+3|
+4|
+3|Know (arcana) 6 (8), Know (religion) 1|Mindsight|Telepathy

7th|Hoardstealer 1|
+3|
+3|
+6|
+3|(skilltrick) Collector of Stories, Balance 5, Hide 2 (10), Move Silently 2 (10)||Darkvision +30ft, trapfinding

8th|Hoardstealer 2|
+4|
+3|
+7|
+3|Bluff 6 (11), Disable Device 3 (11), Search 3 (11) ||hide from dragons 1/day

9th|Hoardstealer 3|
+5|
+3|
+7|
+3|Decipher Script 4 (9), (Hide 4 (12), Move Silently 4 (12)|Delay Potion|trap sense +2, deep pockets

10th|Temple Raider 1|
+5|
+3|
+9|
+5|Disable Device 2 (13), Hide 1 (13), Move Silently 1 (13), Open Lock 4 (8), Search 2 (13)||Trapfinding, trap sense +1

11th|Temple Raider 2|
+6/+1|
+3|
+10|
+6|Use Magic Device 10 ||Sneak attack +1d6

12th|Temple Raider 3|
+7/+2|
+4|
+10|
+6|Hide 2 (15), Move Silently 2 (15), Spot 6|Practiced Spellcaster (Temple Raider)|Uncanny Dodge

13th|Temple Raider 4|
+8/+3|
+4|
+11|
+7|Hide 1 (16), Listen 4, Move Silently 1 (16), Spot 4||Trap sense +2

14th|Temple Raider 5|
+8/+3|
+4|
+11|
+7|Hide 1 (17) Listen 4 (8), Move Silently 1 (17), Spot 4 (8) ||Sneak attack +2d6

15th|Temple Raider 6|
+9/+4|
+5|
+12|
+8|Hide 1 (18), Listen 4 (12), Move Silently 1 (18), Spot 4 (12)|Font of Inspiration 2|Improved uncanny dodge

16th|Temple Raider 7|
+10/+5|
+5|
+12|
+8|Hide 1 (19), Listen 4 (16), Move Silently 1 (19), Spot 4 (16)||Trap sense +3

17th|Temple Raider 8|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+13|
+9|Hide 1 (20), Listen 4 (20), Move Silently 1 (20), Spot 4 (20)||Sneak attack +3d6

18th|Temple Raider 9|
+11/+6/+1|
+6|
+13|
+9|Decipher Script 2 (11), Disable Device 4 (17), Search 4 (17)|Practiced Spellcaster (Temple Raider)|Skill Mastery

19th|Temple Raider 10|
+12/+7/+2|
+6|
+14|
+10|Decipher Script 8 (19), Hide 2 (22), Move Silently 2 (22)||Luck domain, trap sense +4[/table]




Temple Raider Spells per day
{table=head]Level|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

10th|0|-|-|-|

11th|1|-|-|-|

12th|1|0|-|-|

13th|1|1|-|-|

14th|1|1|0|-|

15th|1|1|1|-|

16th|2|1|1|0|

17th|2|1|1|1|

18th|2|2|1|1|

19th|2|2|2|1|[/table]

Temple Raider Spells per day
{table=head]Level|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

7th|0|-|-|-|

8th|1|-|-|-|

9th|1|0|-|-|
10th|1|0|-|-|
11th|1|0|-|-|
12th|1|0|-|-|
13th|1|0|-|-|
14th|1|0|-|-|
15th|1|0|-|-|
16th|1|0|-|-|
17th|1|0|-|-|
18th|1|0|-|-|
19th|1|0|-|-|
[/table]

Backstory


SEVEN AM, WAKIN' UP IN THE MORNING!

Ted rolled over in bed and delivered a merciless karate chop to the top of his custom alarm clock. It wasn't anything you could buy in a store, he was sure that it would be labeled a weapon of mass destruction. It was reinforced to survive plummeting off his nightstand and to keep ticking after being hit. He loaded it up with something he'd want to stop listening to as soon as possible.

He caught his reflection in the glass of the clock face. He looked far from presentable for any sort of job that his mind could come up with at this early hour. This was one of the many reasons he was so glad he worked from home.

His muscles traced him through his comfortable morning routine. It was as though his brain didn't fire a single synapse as he made his coffee and sat down in front of his byzantine computer. It was a work of art. He had built it from the skeleton up with his own two hands. Every morning when he inevitably asked himself what he had done with his life, he had his answer when he looked at his computer.

Its three monitors were positioned in a perfectly symmetric semicircle around him, looking down comfortingly at him as the beamed to life as he sat in his chair, his slim body tripping the sensor that told his machine to wake up.

There was little work to be done today, the same as every day. As he had honed his trade, he needed to pull jobs less and less often. After all, nowadays, the sorts of things Ted did drew lots of unwanted attention. Government drones wouldn't descend upon him for a few wayward pdfs, but the scale of the things he had been up to over the last few months might motivate them off their asses and out the door any day now.

He had enough money to tend to his day to day needs, but just like the fella once said, man doesn't live by bread alone. When he'd been in school, before he'd realized the skills he'd acquired through his own "independent study" had prepared him from a life of hacking and cracking more than a few more seminars with professors almost as old as the equipment they were using could have, he'd always heard that a job was more than money, that it was the fulfillment that came from what one did. At the time, he'd dismissed it as sentimental junk, but now he was beginning to be bothered by his sense of ennui.

While intellectually, he knew that to go back online to trawl for more poorly protected passwords and badly blocked up bank accounts was to paint a target on his own back, his sense of self-preservation was no match for his boredom at having the whole world at his fingertips.

His eyes flicked to the boxes surrounding his custom rig. It blocked all the signals he'd be sending out. It took up a fair amount of power, but his landlord collected enough from him every month not to ask too many questions. His tetchy brain imagined for a moment the g-men of the world flying through the skies like superman, looking in vain for him in his lead-lined room.

He checked his messages, his brain unspooling the code like spaghetti, the word substitutions his network used changing every week to buffalo the government filters and scanners: banknotes to boomerangs, passwords to pincushions. Was it a lot to keep up with? Yes. Did he have anything better to occupy his time? Not really.

There was an intriguing proposition from an affiliate, who Ted knew only as All_that_Glitterz. Apparently, according to the message, a very big fish was swimming into Ted's pond. From the intel, a foreigner who was immigrating and just now getting his assets transferred from gold doubloons and awkward fist-sized precious stones to electronic money. Probably because his grandkids had talked him into thinking it was safer, more practical.

Ted had a cocky smirk on his face. He did love going whale hunting. The bigger they were the harder they fell and all that. It was almost as though they thought they were too big to fail. Where had he heard that before? Oh yeah.

Ted logged in as JohnnyMnemonic and let Glitterz that he was in and that he'd cut him in if he could patch him in to his network of rerouters to bounce Ted's ping around. The Man shouldn't've been able to triangulate his location, but it never hurt to be too careful. It was how he'd avoided seeing the inside of a jail cell up until now, a combo he didn't plan on having broken any time soon.

JohnnyMnemonic: kk. deal me in, send me the deets.
All_that_Glitterz: watch out, guys, we're dealing with a badass over here. that's it? u don't need to know anything else?
JohnnyMnemonic: nah, they don't call me teh best for nothing. sides, less u know, better 4u. dunno if they got same laws about internet stuff where u at.
All_that_Glitterz: lol, i wouldn't worry about it if i were u. this guy's a real deevdru di vi riika, love if u could take him down a peg
JohnnyMnemonic:pfft. keep an eye on reddit, you'll hear about it. probably see "police baffled" there
All_that_Glitterz:kk

From that point, making the money disappear had been a simple enough matter. He usually didn't like to take it all from one person at a time, too risky, but the bonus Glitterz was offering was too good to pass up.

Like so much on the internet, it was over too soon, and Ted felt himself sinking back into his default state of boredom. He shifted back into his cycle and to an outside observer, nothing extraordinary had all would have just taken place. Just a man at his computer.

When he heard a knock at the door, he was surprised. He hadn't ordered anything, which was more or less the only reason anyone would stop by his place.

He opened the door and three people stood there, all dressed in black leather jackets and wearing ridiculous sunglasses.

"I think you want the guy across the hall, I don't do that stuff."

The one in the center, clearly the leader, thought Ted, if Saturday morning cartoons had taught him anything, spoke first.

"We know who we're looking for, Mr. Logan. Or should I say, Johnny Mnemonic?"

Ted's eyes widened before he could stop them.

"Before you waste our time saying you don't know what we're talking about, let me just say that we're not here to punish you. Quite the opposite, in fact."

Ted was becoming distinctly uncomfortable.

"We don't look like your police, do we?"

Ted shook his head.

"What do you mean 'your' police? Are you guys interpol?"

"No, nothing like that. We're from rather further away from that. But as we said, there is little time. The police of your locale are going to be on their way any second now, doubtless tipped off by your friend All_that_Glitters."

"How could you know that?" There was no point pretending now. He could hear sirens in the distance.

"Magic. Now are you coming with us or not? If you do, we can guarantee our protection. If not, good luck against the police."

Ted didn't have time to draw objections.

"Fine, just let me wipe my hard drive. It'll look bad enough that I'm running."

"No time," said the leader. He nodded to the bony woman on his left who hadn't spoken a word since the door had opened. "Thri?"

She nodded and withdrew a short ebony stick. She pointed it at Ted's machine and the lights on it dimmed to darkness.

"What?" was all Ted could say.

"Magnetism, it's a Wu Jen thing. Come on, we gotta go." The leader said as Thri put the stick away.

Ted stepped into the hallway, not bothering to lock up. He could always start over somewhere else. Before they had taken two steps, the other of the leader's henchmen stepped back inside.

"What are you doing?" Ted asked.

"You're going to die resisting arrest," he said, lowering his sunglasses with a wink. By the time he'd pushed them back up, Ted stared into his own face, the man's face shifting like dough rising. Before he could even ask, the door was shut and they were moving down the hall.

Thri shoved a steel flask into his hand as she and the leader bustled him onto the elevator.

"Here, drink this."

"Hey now, I don't take candy from strangers."

Thri murmured some kind of foreign curse under her breath. "Look, if we'd wanted to do anything to you, we would've done it back at your place, just drink the damn thing, it'll disguise your appearance."

Ted knocked it back, trying not to taste it. He saw his reflection in the wall of the elevator. He looked the spitting image of the man who had walked up and taken his place.

"How long?"

"Long enough," Thri said casually.

They got into the parking lot and were on the road before the cops got to his apartment. Ted let out a sigh of relief.

"Now that we're out of the danger zone, you want to tell me what the hell's going on here?"

Thri was at the wheel, so the leader turned around in the passenger seat, awkwardly pivoting his torso to talk to him.

"What exactly do you know about the man you stole from?"

Ted shrugged. "Not much. Just what Glitterz fed me."

"Did you have any reason to question that information?"

"Not really, he's been a liaison of mine for years."

"It's always the ones you least expect, isn't it?"

Ted narrowed his eyes. "Where are you going with this?"

"Have you heard any of the theories over the last few years that the ruling elite are reptiles?"

Ted rolled his eyes. Nothing was so good at making the internet look bad like a conspiracy theorist with a cracked copy of dreamweaver.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"What would you say if I told you they weren't theories?"

"I don't think I'd say anything you could repeat in polite company."

The leader smirked. "I can tell we're going to get along just fine. But your disbelief aside, that's just what's happened. Over the last few decades in your world, creatures have been infiltrating your financial system in disguise as humans. Where they're from, the economy still uses the barter system. There's only 1 worldwide currency."

"What is it? Seashells? Math problems? Pictures of Dave Coulier?"

"Nothing so esoteric. Gems, precious metals, same stuff you used to use. But it's nothing compared to your world. It's much easier for someone with a lot of money to make more here. They can put it in a bank and watch it grow."

"Won't grow much, interest rate sucks lately."

"That matters less for a creature that lives many times longer than a mortal man."

Ted blinked. "Wait. They don't have banks where they're from? What do they do, just shove it in a cave like a dragon?"

The leader said nothing.

"Oh, no way."

"Way."

"How do you know all this?" Ted asked. "About their world, I mean."

"We're from there too," said Thri as the car slowed. "We're here."

They climbed out and walked into a warehouse past a pair of armed guards that made Ted very uncomfortable. They went down a freight elevator and he saw a strange assortment of what looked vaguely like computer equipment, but with components he'd never seen. One looked something like a dentist's chair with a mess of restraints on it.

"What's that one for?" he asked.

"Training," said Thri.

"Why am I here?"

"Training." He could have sworn he detected a smile as she said so.

The leader and a few others milled around. He stood at a makeshift pulpit and raised his arms up as though to deliver a sermon.

"We've been waiting for this day for a while. It looks like we've finally found someone with the knack. As soon as his training is done, we can all go home!"

Cheers echoed through the building and Ted wondered at the integrity of the soundproofing.

"Don't worry. Permanencied silence on the walls," Thri said.

Could she read his mind?

"You say that like it's hard. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

The leader finished up his sermon and stepped over to Ted.

"Are you ready to begin?"

"I guess so… what should I call you?"

The leader chuckled. "Names are power here. Same as anywhere. Perhaps later. I need to ask something of you though."

"What?"

"You've got to take your oath before we can proceed."

"Oath?"

"Nothing too drastic, just put your hand over this book and pledge that you'll do your part for the Laughing Rogue when he calls upon you for his service, like now."

He did so. Ted didn't want to over think the implications, so changed the subject.

"What's gonna happen to me when I'm in that chair?"

"Just a little VR with a touch of illusion magic. Not too different from a rousing game of skyrim. Our world works differently from yours, and you'll need to adapt before we take you over. We needed an environment where your mind could deal with consequences but your body wouldn't suffer any adverse effects. Shall we begin?"

Ted nodded. It wasn't as though he had much choice.

He sat in the chair and it wrapped itself around him. He found himself in a smoky underground corridor, many inexplicably lit torches burning away on the walls with the leader beside him. He looked down and saw he was wearing a black shirt with a laced up chest and a hood over his head. He had a variety of junk hanging from his belt, most of it made of metal.

"Who lights all these things? Does someone live here?"

"No, this is a simulation. In our world, dragons have to protect their hoards in a more hands-on manner, so to speak. You can't just brute force your way in with a dictionary attack or sneak in with a key logger."

Ted smirked. "I knew this bat utility belt was missing something."

The leader seemed to more or less ignore him.

"Now, we've got to proceed carefully. What's the first thing you do when you're trying to get in somewhere you don't belong?"

"Cover your tracks?"

"Exactly. Look on your belt."

Ted did so and saw a number of sticks carved of differently hued woods, recognizing now that they were literal magic wands. They had those bright red metal labels from a label maker gun on them, doubtless part of this tutorial. One of them was labeled "nondetection" which seemed the logical choice. He waved it at himself in a way that felt instinctual.

"Good. Proceed."

Ted took a few steps forward and heard a high-pitched whining noise, like when you turned on a gas grill. His eyes caught a seam between two stones on the wall and saw metallic nozzles poking from between them. His eyes widened and he somersaulted forwards, the sheet of flame behind him barely missing him.

The leader was somehow still by his side.

"Don't tell me. Firewall?"

"More or less. The idea is to express unfamiliar concepts in a context you're familiar with, one way or the other."

"Is that how you acclimated your medieval members into wearing ray bans?"

"More or less."

"How'd you pick all this up?" Ted was approaching the end of the hall. The far wall looked like a bank vault made of rock. He walked up to it and let his hands trail over it until he found something that looked like a dial.

"This makes no sense," he said as he turned it, pressing his ear to the wall.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The leader grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back just as a spike came out of the wall where his ear had been. "I could hardly give you a stone keyboard. That wouldn't help at all."

"Whatever." Ted pushed the dial into the wall and the door magically disappeared, revealing a vast room of gold coins with the occasional gem shining out from the mass.

"Whoa."

"Yes. Whoa indeed." The leader said. He clapped his hands twice and the scene dissolved around them. Ted sat up from the chair and rubbed his eyes, the darkness of the underground base hitting him suddenly.

"Nice job." The leader patted him on the back.

"Can we go again?"

He broke into a smile. "I had a feeling you might say that."


Playtips
Lvl 5: You function as a factotum here, albeit with your skill points spread a little on the thin side. Use inspiration on damage here when it is relevant, as it will no longer be when you get out of the low levels. Cunning knowledge is a real lifesaver on knowledge checks since they're seldom made more than once/skill/day. Brew potion can be used to carry around odd or situational things via your arcane dilettante ability, so build up a nice larder while you can. Sneak around with darkstalker and disable all the traps.

Lvl 10: You have your first temple raider level and mind sight. It is very hard for a foe to get the drop on you. Mindsight lets you know there is an intelligent enemy, what its int is, and how close they are if they're within range. With darkstalker (and later your hide from dragons ability) you can walk right up to them and they'll never know the difference. Undead being the one hole in this strategy, temple raider is kind enough to provide 3.0's invisibility to undead, so that takes care of that, especially with a duration of 10 min/lvl. This is another good candidate for a brewed potion since your CL is kind of bad at the moment.

Lvl 15: Imp Uncanny dodge is online now, so your back's a little more covered than it normally would be in case someone sees through your stealth (they shouldn't) As far as offense goes, make sure you've got a few wands in your hands (due to the 5k prereq for hoard stealer, you should have a nice nest egg for consumables like wands)

Lvl 20: luck domain is online in case anything goes *really* wrong and you need to reroll. entropic shield is a good anti trap thing that'll make you even more of a trap smith's nightmare than you already are. keep up your stealth and they'll never see you coming
Sources
draconomicon (hoardstealer), complete divine (temple raider), dungeonscape (factotum), lords of madness (Darkstalker), SRD (brew potion) complete mage (delay potion, favored magic foe) web (font of inspiration) http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/frcc/20070606 , tome of magic (dark template)

[Amphetryon]

Making a carrere out of it.

Tia the Fox

A Dagger Hidden amongst the Folds

The two hobgoblin guards were speaking in soft voices as they stood guard outside the Dhakaani shrine. The Kech Shaarat, true descendants of the ancient Empire, had discovered this shrine to the Dark Six nearly two weeks beforehand and were waiting on the Kech Volaar to send one of their fabled duur’kaala, dirgesingers and keepers of the histories.

“Warriors!”

The two looked up and saw a figure wearing a weather-beaten cloak. As they moved to assist the traveller, they noticed her fine metal plate armor and the superior quality of her gear. Rando, the older guard flicked his ears and gave a quick nod to his younger companion. This must be the duur’kaala that we’ve been expecting.

The guards escorted her into the shrine, where she requested to be alone with the artifacts, asking for complete silence. The guards watched her begin humming a tune that Rando placed as Riin Dynasty and they walked back to their posts to guard the historian.

The historian waited until she could no longer hear the footsteps of the goblinoids. Pulling back her hood, she shook her hair free from its former constraints. As her hair moved, it lengthened and lightened in color, becoming a fine silvery-grey. Her features melted together and smoothed, leaving her with a plain face. The changeling smiled as she picked up the artifact.

Her superiors in the Church of the Sovereign Host had commanded her to retrieve the artifact before it could be reclaimed by the Kech Volaar. It apparently had ties to ancient rituals that allowed the Dhaakani to hold their own against the elves of Aerenal in the days of yore.

She heard voices raised in confusion near the entrance hall, including a woman’s voice which resonated with arcane power. The changeling realised with a start that the actual historian had just arrived. With a smirk, she broke the seal on a wooden scroll case and pulled out the weathered paper. She read off the word scribed on the paper, and as the guards came barreling down the hall, she blew them a kiss and vanished into thin air.

Career Choices

{table=head]Level|Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills|Feats|Class Features

1st|Changeling Rogue 1|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+0|Bluff 4, Decipher Script 2, Diplomacy 4, Disable Device 4, Disguise 4, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Open Lock 4, Search 4, Sense Motive 4, Speak Language 2, Use Magic Device 4|Able Learner|Sneak Attack +1d6, Social Intuition

2nd|Rogue 2|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+0|Bluff 5, Decipher Script 3, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 5, Gather Information 5, Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Search 5, Sense Motive 5, UMD 5| |Evasion

3rd|Divine Bard 1|
+1|
+0|
+5|
+2|Bluff 6, Diplomacy 6, Disguise 6, Gather Information 6, Perform 1, Search 6, Sense Motive 6|Dragontouched|Bardic music, bardic knowledge, countersong, fascinate, inspire courage +1

4th|Divine Bard 2|
+2|
+0|
+6|
+3|Bluff 7, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 7, Gather Information 7, Perform 2, Search 7, Sense Motive 7||

5th|Divine Bard 3|
+3|
+1|
+6|
+3|Bluff 8, Diplomacy 8, Disguise 8, Gather Information 8, Perform 3, Search 8, Sense Motive 8||Inspire competence

6th|Divine Bard 4|
+4|
+1|
+7|
+4|Bluff 9, Decipher Script 4, Diplomacy 9, Disguise 9, Gather Information 9, Perform 3, Sense Motive 9|Draconic Heritage (Battle)|

7th|Divine Bard 5|
+4|
+1|
+7|
+4|Bluff 10, Decipher Script 5, Diplomacy 10, Disguise 10, Gather Information 10, Perform 4, Sense Motive 10||

8th|Divine Bard 6|
+5|
+2|
+8|
+5|Bluff 11, Diplomacy 11, Disguise 11, Gather Information 11, Perform 5, Sense Motive 11, UMD 6|Song of the Heart (B)|

9th|Divine Bard 7|
+6|
+2|
+8|
+5|Bluff 12, Diplomacy 12, Disguise 12, Gather Information 12, Perform 6, Sense Motive 12, UMD 7|Dragonfire Inspiration|

10th|Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 1|
+6|
+2|
+10|
+7|Bluff 13, Diplomacy 13, Disguise 13, Gather Information 13, Sense Motive 13||Trapfinding, trap sense +1

11th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 2|
+7|
+2|
+11|
+8|Bluff 14, Diplomacy 14, Disguise 14, Gather Information 14, Sense Motive 14||Sneak Attack +2d6

12th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 3|
+8|
+3|
+11|
+8|Bluff 15, Diplomacy 15, Disguise 15, Gather Information 15, Sense Motive 15|Persona Immersion|Uncanny dodge

13th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 4|
+9|
+3|
+12|
+9|Bluff 16, Diplomacy 16, Disguise 16, Gather Information 16, UMD 8||Trapsense +2

14th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 5|
+9|
+3|
+12|
+9|Bluff 17, Diplomacy 17, Disguise 17, Gather Information 17, UMD 9||Sneak Attack +3d6

15th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 6|
+10|
+4|
+13|
+10|Bluff 18, Diplomacy 18, Disguise 18, Gather Information 18, UMD 10|Draconic Senses|Improved uncanny dodge

16th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 7|
+11|
+4|
+13|
+10|Bluff 19, Diplomacy 19, Disguise 19, Gather Information 19, UMD 11||Trap sense +3

17th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 8|
+12|
+4|
+14|
+11|Bluff 20, Diplomacy 20, Disguise 20, Gather Information 20, UMD 12||Sneak Attack +4d6

18th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 9|
+12|
+5|
+14|
+11|Bluff 21, Diplomacy 21, Disguise 21, UMD 14|Draconic Aura (Presence)|Skill Mastery

19th| Temple Raider of the Sovereign Host 10|
+13|
+5|
+15|
+12|Bluff 22, Diplomacy 22, Disguise 22, UMD 16||Luck domain, trap sense +4

20th|Divine Bard 8 |
+14|
+5|
+16|
+13|Bluff 23, Diplomacy 23, Disguise 23, UMD 18||Inspire courage +2[/table]


Spellcasting

Spells per day (Divine Bard)

{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd

3rd|2|-|-|-

4th|3|1|-|-

5th|3|2|-|-

6th|3|3|1|-

7th|3|4|2|-

8th|3|4|3|-

9th|3|4|3|1

10th|3|4|3|1

11th|3|4|3|1

12th|3|4|3|1

13th|3|4|3|1

14th|3|4|3|1

15th|3|4|3|1

16th|3|4|3|1

17th|3|4|3|1

18th|3|5|3|1

19th|3|5|3|1

20th|3|5|4|2 [/table]
 
Spells Known (Divine Bard)

{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

3rd|4|-|-|-

4th|5|2|-|-

5th|6|3|-|-

6th|6|3|2|-

7th|6|4|3|-

8th|6|4|3|-

9th|6|4|4|2

10th|6|4|4|2

11th|6|4|4|2

12th|6|4|4|2

13th|6|4|4|2

14th|6|4|4|2

15th|6|4|4|2

16th|6|4|4|2

17th|6|4|4|2

18th|6|4|4|2

19th|6|4|4|2

20th|6|4|4|3[/table]

Spells chosen:
0- Prestidigitation, Light, Read Magic, Detect Magic, Message, Resistance
1- Inspirational Boost, Grease, Unseen Servant and one more (choice)
2- Glitterdust, Shatter and two more (choice)
3- Glibness, Haste, Blink

 
Spells per day (Temple Raider)

{table=head]Level|1st|2nd|3rd|4th

10th|1|-|-|-

11th|2|-|-|-

12th|2|1|-|-

13th|2|2|-|-

14th|2|2|0|-

15th|2|2|1|-

16th|3|2|1|0

17th|3|2|1|1

18th|3|3|1|1

19th|3|3|2|1

20th|3|3|2|1[/table]



At a glance...

Tia the Fox
Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/Temple Raider (of the Sovereign Host) 10
Medium Humanoid [shapechanger, draconic]
HD: 20d6+41 (121 hp, assuming 1/2HD+1 per level)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+14
Saves: +7 Fort, +18 Reflex, +15 Will (+6 vs. sleep effects, +4 vs. paralysis and sonic effects, +2 vs. charm effects)
Stats: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 20
Feats: Able Learner(1st),Dragontouched (3rd), Draconic Heritage (Battle) (6th), Song of the Heart (B) (8th), Dragonfire Inspiration (9th), Persona Immersion (12th), Draconic Senses (15th), Draconic Aura (Presence) (18th)
Skills: Bluff 23 (+34), Decipher Script 5 (+6), Diplomacy 23 (+33)), Disable Device 4 (+5), Disguise 23 (+28), Gather Information 20 (+25), Knowledge [Nobility and Royalty] 5 (+6), Knowledge [Religion] 1 (+2), Open Lock 4 (+6), Perform 6 (+11), Search 8 (+13), Sense Motive 15 (+17), Speak Language 2, Use Magic Device 18 (+23, +25 with scrolls)


The life of a changeling...

Early levels (1-5)

In early life, Tia is the quintessential social rogue. With Social Intuition (changeling rogue ACF) allowing (effectively) Skill Mastery on 4 important skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information and Sense Motive), as well as enhanced uses for these skills, she’s easily capable of not only being the party face, but also at scouting. Her racial shapechange ability lets her infiltrate nearly any enemy stronghold, when combined with ranks in Disguise and the appropriate aforementioned skills.

Her greatest flaw at this level is her low combat ability: with only +1d6 SA at 5th level and a low BAB (+3 at 5th), Tia tends to focus on avoiding combat entirely with infiltration and social skills.

Early-mid levels (6-10)

Bard 7 (ECL 9) brings us perhaps our greatest weapons: Dragonfire Inspiration (sonic) and Glibness. With a duration of just over an hour, it makes quick infiltrations easy with an nearly unbelievable Bluff result of 56 (Social Intuition allowing her to take 10), she’ll be able to bluff her way past nearly any guard.

Dragonfire Inspiration allows us to contribute to party damage in a measurable way – with the spell Inspirational Boost taken as one of your 1st level spells and Song of the Heart, you give +3d6 sonic damage to each of your allies’ attacks.

Late-mid levels (11-15)

Half of the Temple Raider levels have been picked up, and Tia slowly becomes more of a presence in combat (again if necessary) with more SA dice (+3d6) and Dragonfire Inspiration (+4d6 if you pick up a Vest of Legends, DMG2).

Temple Raider gives medium armor proficiency, and since Divine Bards like Tia cast her spells as Divine, say hello to your new best friend – mithral full plate. Her Temple Raider spells are used to supplement her natural abilities and to help hide her cover (along with Persona Immersion) with spells like Undetectable alignment, while her Bard spells are more supportive.

She also picks up Draconic Senses here, giving her +4 to Search, and, more importantly, 60’ darkvision and 20’ blindsense.

End game (16-20)

Finishing off Temple Raider and adding another Bard Level (for another point of DFI, assuming Vest of Legends). She’s able to slip into (and out of) nearly any enemy encampment undetected, with an insane Bluff result of 74 (with Glibness up). Her (mundane) result of 43 Diplomacy serves as an acceptable backup method, on the off chance that Bluff somehow fails, automatically making Hostile enemies Friendly.


Temple Raider features

Spells: Mainly used as support and to help with her cover, with spells like Invisibility, Nondetection, Locate Object, Air Walk, etc...
Trapfinding: Not needed. Why should you sneak in and be mindful of the traps when they’ll invite you right in?
Trap sense: In case you have to leave in a hurry, this will help keep you alive.
Sneak Attack: For increased melee presence.
(Improved) Uncanny dodge: Do you want to get flanked? I didn’t think so. A rogue needs to be 16th level or higher to sneak attack you now.
Skill Mastery: Funny enough, not needed as badly as you’d think, considering you already get effective Skill Mastery for your important social skills at first level. It’s very helpful, however, in maintaining a stable Disguise check, and gets even better on the (unlikely) assumption that this can apply to UMD.
Luck Domain: While the spells aren’t that great, the reroll chance is golden.


Equipment Wish-list

A Harmonizing Morphing feycrafted weapon would be preferred, and a Vest of Legends raises your effective Bard level by 5 for the purposes of Bardic Music for only 16k. Morphing is to change up your weapon to aid in quick disguise changes (and overcoming specific damage reduction types).


Sources Used

PHB
Races of Eberron
Unearthed Arcana
Dragon Magic
Races of the Dragon
Eberron Campaign Setting
DMG2
Races of Destiny
Magic Item Compendium (Optional)

[Amphetryon]

Unless I missed something in my inbox, that's the last of them. Ready, set, JUDGE!

[Aeryr]

I might not be very good at counting, but there are more than four. I am happy that people made it before deadline. :smallsmile:

[Amphetryon]

I might not be very good at counting, but there are more than four. I am happy that people made it before deadline. :smallsmile:

Two submitted whilst I was fighting with the forum bugs. :smallannoyed:

[DemonRoach]

Foiled by my own sloth! And sleep. Lots of sleep.

Was going to throw in a Human Paragon 3/Jester 7/Temple Raider 10. Clearly you can never have enough HUman Paragon after all :smallamused:

[Amechra]

Damn it! I just had my fluff left to write when you finished posting. Why!?

I was going to for a Diabolus Paladin 4/Feat Rogue 2/Temple Raider of Kord 8/Ordained Champion 5, using the Chaotic subtype that Diaboli have to qualify for everything.

Her fluff was essentially being a female and good Kratos (from God of War, natch.)

I was also thinking of going ahead and entering a Purple Dragon Wurmling Temple Raider of Aasterinian, due to how their breath weapon can be used as a sword for touch attack heaven.

[OMG PONIES]

An interesting crop of competitors this round. I was thinking of going with a Human Paragon 2/Warblade 8/Temple Raider 10, using Skill Mastery to take 10 on Concentration checks, along with a slew of Diamond Mind maneuvers (particularly the save-replacing manuevers). At 15th-level, you'd be able to auto-succeed on any save with a DC of 30 or lower once per round. A few luck feats meant that, even on higher saves, you'd have a shot at a reroll a few times per day. I'd use the Luck Domain capstone and Third Time's the Charm to get one last-ditch effort if my reroll went awry.

However, I couldn't really think of anything it could do besides "make one ridiculously high save every round." I was toying with the Temple Raider's recharge mechanic of refreshing daily spells after an hour of quiet supplication, especially since the text mentioned that you didn't need to rest. A warforged Temple Raider who kept casting spells and recharging while his friends slept seemed like a cool idea at first, but I couldn't really make anything out of it.

[Menteith]

I didn't get mine in on time, but I had a Ranger 3/Stealthy Fighter 1/ Ranger 1/Stealthy Fighter 2/Temple Raider 1/Sanctified One 5/Temple Raider 7 set up for my build, using the Savage Progression Drow (LA:0, +2 Dex, -2 Con, +2 Int, other stuff including Hand Crossbow Proficiency) to qualify for Drow Fighter Racial Substitution. Had +16 BAB, all the neat Sanctified One abilities, maxed Stealth abilities, 2.5x Dex to damage with a Fierce (+2) Weapon, and 10/10 Temple Raider spell casting. Lousy finals getting in the way of my actual work!

[Kuulvheysoon]

I was also thinking of going ahead and entering a Purple Dragon Wurmling Temple Raider of Aasterinian, due to how their breath weapon can be used as a sword for touch attack heaven.

No... Way....

One of my possible ideas was a CE Very Young Shadow Dragon TR of Mask (FR). Toss on entangling exhalation, constant total concealment, and +6 to all mental abilities (crazy, I know), and you have an interesting concept. It's a shame I ran out of time. Although I learned that dragons count UMD as a class skill for their racial HD.

[BobVosh]

I still haven't even had time to look at what the dang class does. Anyway off to work (again)

[Piggy Knowles]

Some interesting entries! Can't wait to read over them in detail!

I had two ideas. One was an infiltration focused changeling rogue/shadowcaster/spymaster, who started out as a wizard, became Vecna-blooded, and then used the Creeping Darkness rules to turn those wizard levels into shadowcaster levels. The fluff was going to be a thief so good, she stole the blood of a god.

The second was a muckdweller druid, using the deadly hunter UA variant, going into wild plains outrider, who rode atop an eagle. Both he and the eagle had Darkstalker, and shared stealth abilities via the wild plains outrider ability. This one focused on poison use and ability score debuffing.

[The Gilded Duke]

I really wanted to make Androminus the rogue who stole his own soul from Ollidarma. Wasn't sure exactly how to portray it though. There was always the Dead + Freedom of Movement, or Dead + Iron Heart Surge as well as a few True Speaking prestige classes. There might be some possibilities with various soul trap spells and materials, and potentially time travel.

But none of it seemed to fit well with Ollidarma outside of fluff.

[Soranar]

I had a deadly hunter druid2/human paragon3 (Iaijutsu focus)/temple raider of beshaba 10/Nar demonbinder 5 build focused on iaijutsu focus through dagger throwing (and a quasit familiar that did the same while using my skills) but the build got so complicated to create I didn't have time to finish it.

And, in the end, it really didn't do much. Was too MAD to actually accomplish anything well (scouting, damage dealing, skillmonkey ability) and its BAB was just plain terrible.

[Amechra]

You know, there is no "Drow Fighter" substitution levels. You can take those ACFs without actually being a Drow.

[Menteith]

You know, there is no "Drow Fighter" substitution levels. You can take those ACFs without actually being a Drow.

Technically speaking, no, you don't need to be a Drow Fighter to take the Drow Fighter unique option. But that's a really sketchy interpretation, and it would almost certainly be a significant elegance hit, so I didn't push it. It also doesn't specify that you're a Fighter, instead saying only that you give up proficiency with heavy armor and tower shields. I don't think that there's a good argument to be made you can take a Drow Fighter ACF without being either a Drow or a Fighter.

[Venger]

I really wanted to make Androminus the rogue who stole his own soul from Ollidarma. Wasn't sure exactly how to portray it though. There was always the Dead + Freedom of Movement, or Dead + Iron Heart Surge as well as a few True Speaking prestige classes. There might be some possibilities with various soul trap spells and materials, and potentially time travel.

But none of it seemed to fit well with Ollidarma outside of fluff.

that's a pity, I would've voted honorable mention just for you having the balls to build "iron heart surge away death" into your backstory.

I'd initially planned on a couple of levels of bereft into my guy's build, since there was no minmum utterance level required, but it's just somehow even more worthless than straight truenamer. I know they can be done well, like milo brushscrubber, but they kinda have to be the "meat" of the build due to how many crutches they need, and that didn't end up being possible with the number of skills temple raider requires that aren't on the truenamer list.


You know, there is no "Drow Fighter" substitution levels. You can take those ACFs without actually being a Drow.

are you talking about hit and run tactics? because yep, you're right. it's a common mistake since it was introduced in Dotu, and most of the stuff there is drow-only.

[Thurbane]

First build I was working on was a Faerie Dragon, but I couldn't make the Search ranks required. Then I tried to make a (templated) Illumian with uber high DEX, taking 4 levels in Jaunter, and using his DEX for TRoO bonus spells through his sigils. Couldn't get to work as well as I would have liked, either. One of these days I'll get an entry in! :smalltongue:

[Venger]

First build I was working on was a Faerie Dragon, but I couldn't make the Search ranks required. Then I tried to make a (templated) Illumian with uber high DEX, taking 4 levels in Jaunter, and using his DEX for TRoO bonus spells through his sigils. Couldn't get to work as well as I would have liked, either. One of these days I'll get an entry in! :smalltongue:

TroO? what's that an acronym for?

jaunter is wonderful, but the spring attack chain is painful. cobra strike monk helps mitigate a little (seems the easiest entry anyway)

sneakiest thing with illumian is taking bonus spells from str and going momf. get zillions of bonus spells.

[Thurbane]

TRoO = Temple Raider of Olidammara.

[Amphetryon]

Menteith, I'd edit your most recent post in the name of anonymity.

EDIT: nevermind

[OMG PONIES]

I'd initially planned on a couple of levels of bereft into my guy's build, since there was no minmum utterance level required, but it's just somehow even more worthless than straight truenamer. I know they can be done well, like milo brushscrubber, but they kinda have to be the "meat" of the build due to how many crutches they need, and that didn't end up being possible with the number of skills temple raider requires that aren't on the truenamer list.

Milo didn't use any truespeak. My Truenamer entry was Sortes, but I also recall a halfling that used feats to pick up a few utterances entered by someone else.

[Kesnit]

Aundair Yannedge-Owens gets my vote for Honorable Mention. Indiana Jones is a perfect basis for the SI.

[Menteith]

Menteith, I'd edit your most recent post in the name of anonymity.

I didn't get a chance to submit my build....what do you mean?

[gbprime]

Okay folks, the Judger-naut is rolling. I should have scores by the weekend. Good luck all. :smallcool:

[Amphetryon]

I didn't get a chance to submit my build....what do you mean?

I mean that posting before coffee is bad. :smallredface:

[Menteith]

I mean that posting before coffee is bad. :smallredface:

Oh. Good point : D.

[Amphetryon]

Eglath has sent the following errata:


My apologies for any confusion this is going to cause. As I was reviewing my build I discovered some discrepancies in which I am technically illegal. This is easily rectified, and I will attempt to do so now. The changes I am posting in this errata should be the minimal to make the build legal. I know that judges may take this into account in their judging, but I want to get it on record that these discrepancies were inadvertent and unintended, as well as correct the record before questions are asked about it. Please append this note to the end of Eglath's build, or add a chairman's note in any fashion you desire. Thank you in advance.

Secondly, upon reviewing Sir Arminel Rayne's build I noticed that Divine Seeker was updated to 3.5 in Player's Guide to Faerun, which I overlooked while constructing the character. The updated class requires the Stealthy feat as a prerequisite. Eglath should take Stealthy as a feat at level 9, replacing Natural Spell. This change makes the build legal again, and actually fits the feel of the character better than natural spell does.

Improved Grapple requires dex 13, Eglath's dex is only 12 when not wildshaped. While he qualifies when in wildshape (and he already has wildshape at level 6 when he takes the feat), this may leave a sour taste in some judges' mouths. First level-up stat boost should go towards dex, not wis. Replace Tome of Understanding +4 with Tome +5 and we have the same final wis score and dex 13.

Finally, Eglath does not take the Champion of the Wild ACF in the final, submitted build. Please disregard this portion of the sources, as it is not utilized.

Just an FYI to the judges, the same poster did not submit both listed builds.

[kestrel404]

As no one has done so yet, here's a quick reference to the entries this round:

{table=head]Name|Race|Classes
Star|Changeling|Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/TRoO 10/Exemplar 1
Dolus|Human|Human Paragon 3/Warlock 7/TRoO 10
Unnamed|Tiefling|Rogue 6/Disciple of Mammon 7/TRoO 7
Durbein|Desert Dwarf|Paladin 3/Master Inquisitive 2/TRoO 10/Deepwarden 5
Aasterinian|Silverbrow Human|Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/TRoO 10
Zed|Human|Bard 5/Human Paragon 3/TRoO 10/Warblade 2
Aundair|Human|Archivist 2/Ranger 3/Extreme Explorer 5/TRoO 10
Eglath|Goliath|Ranger 5/TRoO 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Dvine Seeker 2
Arminel|Human|Human Paragon 1/Paladin 5/TRoO 10/Divine Seeker 4
Theodore|Dark Human|Factotum 5/Mindbender 1/Hoardstealer 3/TRoO 10
Tia|Changeling|Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/TRoO 10[/table]

[Cieyrin]

My proposed build would have been Halfling Rogue/Fortune's Friend/Luckstealer/Temple Raider, though, as usual, I didn't get much beyond the initial idea.

Judging will commence at a steady rate this evening, with at least 1 build judged per day selected at random (I don't get to use my d12 that often :smalltongue:) to further mix things up. I'll consider the errata posted when I get to the affected builds.

[Venger]

Milo didn't use any truespeak. My Truenamer entry was Sortes, but I also recall a halfling that used feats to pick up a few utterances entered by someone else.

whoops! sortes was your enter for divine crusader, right? I think I just mixed up the names. was milo your entry for mindbender?

[Amphetryon]

Like, Theodore Logan noticed that his most excellent entry had a totally bogus error:

I noticed a typo on my chart. both spell progressions are labeled "temple raider" the second one should be "Hoardstealer" could you please correct it before I inadvertently confuse a judge? Thanks.:smallsmile:

[Toy Killer]

Very interesting round, I'm hoping for 20's, but Expecting 1's.

Lots of humans this time around, but I guess since my first round had a required race, it really shouldn't surprise me that Human's are the norm here...

And no Kobalds... I was very expecting at least one to try to combine with Dracolexi, but maybe that was just my first knee-jerk reaction.

[OMG PONIES]

whoops! sortes was your enter for divine crusader, right? I think I just mixed up the names. was milo your entry for mindbender?

Nope--Mythic Exemplar.

[Venger]

Nope--Mythic Exemplar.

derp. thanks for the correction. I must've thought milo was a mindbender because of milo minderbinder from catch22. my bad. It was a surprise to see a truenamer in IC though.

[Z3ro]

Got my judging done, I just need to get home to my books and check some abilities I'm not 100% familiar with. Should have scores posted tomorrow.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Got my judging done, I just need to get home to my books and check some abilities I'm not 100% familiar with. Should have scores posted tomorrow.

Damn, Z3ro. Another speedy judging.

Colour me impressed.

[mattie_p]

Damn, Z3ro. Another speedy judging.

Colour me impressed.

Let's not get too hasty before the scores are actually posted...

I appreciate all the judges who take time out of their probably busy schedules to rate all the entries. For all the time it took us to enter, it probably takes the judges twice that to evaluate, check, and rate all the entries.

[Venger]

Let's not get too hasty before the scores are actually posted...

I appreciate all the judges who take time out of their probably busy schedules to rate all the entries. For all the time it took us to enter, it probably takes the judges twice that to evaluate, check, and rate all the entries.

as someone who's been on both sides of the curtain, you're definitely right. my entries usually take the better part of an evening, same for backstory. I had no idea how long judging would take, and I just did cryokineticist, which had rather fewer builds than the norm, so I can only imagine how long it'll take for a field of 11. best of luck to all the judges.

[Cieyrin]

as someone who's been on both sides of the curtain, you're definitely right. my entries usually take the better part of an evening, same for backstory. I had no idea how long judging would take, and I just did cryokineticist, which had rather fewer builds than the norm, so I can only imagine how long it'll take for a field of 11. best of luck to all the judges.

It definitely varies by entry, ingredient and number of contestants. I'd gander 1-3 hours an entry, with variances if I have to look things up to see how they work or if I decide to think about how I feel about the way a build handled a tactic. A good example of an extended entry examination that comes to mind was in IC:Assassin when I had to figure out the CL math of an Assassin/Master Spellthief/Unseen Seer with a couple other things and then confirm my math was right with others before providing judgement. More complex tricks definitely elicit bigger judging time investments.

[Venger]

It definitely varies by entry, ingredient and number of contestants. I'd gander 1-3 hours an entry, with variances if I have to look things up to see how they work or if I decide to think about how I feel about the way a build handled a tactic. A good example of an extended entry examination that comes to mind was in IC:Assassin when I had to figure out the CL math of an Assassin/Master Spellthief/Unseen Seer with a couple other things and then confirm my math was right with others before providing judgement. More complex tricks definitely elicit bigger judging time investments.
oh, yeah, definitely. in cryokineticist, bjorn alone took me an entire day because I had to learn how incarnum worked before I could properly judge about half of what he could do. on the plus side, now I know how to soulmeld, so that's something.

[Golden Ladybug]

I learnt how to Soulmeld so that I could teach one of my new players how to :smalltongue:

And now I know what all the Totemist Soulmelds do, so that's something. I have also come to the conclusion that they simply don't have enough Totem Chakras. Never enough.

Also, thanks to all the judges for putting in time for this. I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

[Feytalist]

How do you guys go about judging, by the way? Do you check skill point distribution, feat choices and so on level by level? Do you actually "build" each character from the bottom up? Obviously, with a high enough system mastery, one should be able to spot discrepancies and such relatively easily. I'm asking, because I'd like to try my hand at judging, but I'm always worried I won't be thorough enough.

[Venger]

How do you guys go about judging, by the way? Do you check skill point distribution, feat choices and so on level by level? Do you actually "build" each character from the bottom up? Obviously, with a high enough system mastery, one should be able to spot discrepancies and such relatively easily. I'm asking, because I'd like to try my hand at judging, but I'm always worried I won't be thorough enough.

What I did when I judged cryokineticist first of all was make sure I had at least a 2 hour block of time free. if you have less time than that at each sitting, you won't get much done. even if you do have a high degree of system mastery (I'm no tippy, but I usually only need to look to references when it comes to stuff like prereqs for classes/feats) a lot more of your judging time is spent checking the chefs' sources than it is actually writing down your reactions.

what I did first was, as you said, check skills/feats level by level. scroll down to each chef's list of sources and open all of those up to save yourself a little time. checking skills doesn't take as long as you think, even for skillful characters. just calculate how many points they get at each level and look at what their class at the moment gets as class skills. make sure everything there adds up and if it does, great, if not, make a note of it depending on what exactly you deduct for. this is probably the part that takes the longest, but it's important since many feats have skill prereqs, and IC classes usually have some weird skill that needs a bunch of ranks to get in, which entrants sometimes forget (ardent dilettante had the most entrants that didn't qualify at one point or another) once you're in the swing, it goes faster, so I strongly suggest doing just skills first then moving to feats. if you try to switch back and forth, you slow way down.

next: feats. same as when you're building a character, check the prereqs for all the feats in an entry by looking them up in the listed sourcebook and compare them to what the dish has at that level. people qualify for stuff more often than not, but everyone makes mistakes sometimes. the feats that most often are thrown in without meeting prereqs are the ones people usually get for free without having to meet them (monk feats, for example) so when you see a build with, for example, improved grapple, make sure they meet the stupid prereq of IUS and dex 13.

looking up the prereqs for the classes/prcs that they're in is the same and often takes up less time. red flags are classes/prcs that require a specific alignment. depending on whether or not you care about alignment changes in order to fulfill a certain build (ex: being lawful for a monk dip early on and then changing to chaotic for the rest of the build) you may or may not deduct for this. some prcs are mutually exclusive with respects to alignment, so watch out for them when you are noting possible alignment bumps.

it may seem like something you don't need to check, but make sure the entrants' saves/BAB make sense. you generally don't need to go and add everything up the way you do with skills, but if you are looking at it and it doesn't make sense, check the math, the chef may have just made a mistake. (I got a major headache trying to figure out how the antipodes had such a good BA when I realised this was not in fact the case) this can be important for, say, a melee oriented character, since they want to ideally at least keep all 4 iteratives, or for an entrant who touts their survivability (like, say monty back in mindbender) if the character has divine grace and arcane resistance, but due to weird multiclassing doesn't have the saves to back them up, this may merit a deduction to you.

judging is essentially looking at what an entry says it can do vs. what it can actually do. if it fails to perform, note how in your notes. I found that phrasing things in the form of a question helped me organise my thoughts better when it came to stuff the build said it would do but didn't. (ex: you built a pouncer. why didn't you give him power attack?) because writing out declarative statements about a build can sometimes make structuring stuff properly a little weird.

backstory is obviously subjective. I am a fiction writer by trade and understand the pressure of performing under a time crunch, so always keep it in mind when evaluating them, and also that not everybody enjoys the writing part as much as I do. as a result, and also because it's a character building contest rather than a writing contest, I view backstory as a kind of "bonus" where you can only gain points rather than lose them. possible additions include to originality (I never would have imagined a paladin as a spetsnaz officer, way to throw me a curveball), elegance (antipodes's writeup of how exactly their entry merged fire/cold made the transition feel a lot more natural than if I'd just seen the bare bones of the build without the explanation), or even UotSI (explaining in-story why they are a member of, say, the temple raiders is sort of important, especially when the class imposes a certain restriction on your backstory as this one does)

personally, I like to just skim over a build first so I can have a quick breakdown of the levels and keep them distinct in my mind at least enough to have a mental callback for which one that was. (who am I judging next? oh yeah, sue. that's the duskblade) and then read their backstory. once I'm done with the backstory, I'll go back and do all the skills/feats/prereqs (do you qualify for x,y,z) stuff. reading the skeleton of the build also, for me, piques my curiosity a lot sometimes (how the hell do you get from black dog to green star adept?!)

as far as worrying about not being thorough enough, you don't really need to. if you make any kind of mistake worth worrying about (saying someone doesn't qualify for such and such when they really do or misunderstanding how one of their tricks works) then the chairman will PM you with a dispute and you'll have a chance to fix it.

as far as scoring goes, almost all the judges start everybody at straight 3s and give merits/demerits based on what they see in each category.

judging isn't hard, it just takes a lot of time. as far as not noticing everything, don't worry about that too much. no judge can spot every single slip-up, so don't feel too bad if you do.

spoiler your judgings too, so people who go after you don't accidentally contract a bias, and don't read other judgings before you do yours so you make sure each dish gets your opinion of it and nobody else's.

best of luck with it. hope you like my entry. :smallbiggrin:

[mattie_p]

And... bookmarked for future reference, Venger.

[Feytalist]

Yeah, that helps a lot. Thanks.

Thing is, I don't have a lot of time to devote to this in general, and especially not in the next week or so. And what I'm getting from this is "it takes all of the times".

We'll see. Next one, maybe. :smallsmile:

[Venger]

And... bookmarked for future reference, Venger.

wow, thanks.



Yeah, that helps a lot. Thanks.

Thing is, I don't have a lot of time to devote to this in general, and especially not in the next week or so. And what I'm getting from this is "it takes all of the times".

We'll see. Next one, maybe. :smallsmile:

judging's not due till the 12th, but I know that everybody's doing finals this week (me included) if you can judge this time, super, if not, I look forward to hearing what you have to say next time. if you get a little time, practice judging one of the entries either in your head or writing stuff as it comes to you so when you do judge for real it's not a completely new experience to you.

[Z3ro]

Let's not get too hasty before the scores are actually posted...


Pffff, as if there was ever any doubt.

Star: 11.0

Originality: 1.5 Not a terribly original build, either in crunch or fluff. Several other builds saw use of both rogue and factotum, both of which were expected for this build. Making a skill-focused character was also expected. You took one level of Exemplar, which was interesting, but without further advancing the class I can’t give you a higher score.

Power: 3.5 The power of your build is hard to judge. You focus on skill use rather than strictly combat, which is not a negative in itself. In your chosen focus you manage to do well, remaining strong throughout the build. But combat is included in this category, so you lose points for starting off extremely weak, and only reaching average near the end of the build, resulting in an average score.

Elegance: 2.5 You dipped rogue, but don’t lose too many points on a skill focused build. Where you really lose points is using the Otyugh hole to gain a feat; I know it says you can, but very few DMs will allow it. The build follows the theme fairly well. You also lose points for being more gear dependent than I’d like.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 3.5 You took all ten levels, and used the skill mastery to compliment your existing skills. All the sneaky things, like sneak attack, stack with your existing levels. However, the spells and luck domain are viewed almost as an afterthought, and are not really a part of your build. You basically left out one of the only things that make this prestige class unique, so I can’t give you a better score.


Dolus: 14.0

Originality: 3.5 I liked the way you laid out your character’s backstory, and wisely noted that the temple raiders are an organization, giving your character’s place in it. Warlock was unexpected and refreshing, though human paragon was used by several other builds. I’d give a higher score if you had taken an interesting race and tied it all together, but overall not bad.

Power: 3.5 Skill focused builds are always tough to judge power on, but you’ve got several bases covered and bring a competent package. UMD is a strong skill, but hard to rate as it’s based on having the right items, which you may not. You’ve got enough eldritch blast and sneak attack to give at least a decent showing, with craven shoring up your damage output. You lose points for not having a strong enough focus; while diversity is good, I think your build would have benefited from picking one or two things and focusing on them.

Elegance: 3.0 Can’t say it’s not elegant; you don’t have any dips, and the build flows fairly well together. You do lose points for having human paragon levels, which don’t really fit in with the concept thematically, and for having them at seemingly random points. Also, the heavy reliance on items in the build, items that a DM may not give or allow you to buy (and you have no means of crafting) lose you points in this category.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 4.0 You take all ten levels, and use most of the abilities given. The abilities fit well with what you are trying to create. The thing that loses you points is, again, not utilizing the spells the build provides, one of its only unique features.


Unnamed: 9.0

Originality: 4.0 Interesting…don’t think I’ve seen a build without a name before. Tiefling is interesting and unexpected, as is Disciple of Mammon. Rogue loses you points in this challenge, however.

Power: 2.0 Power level is fairly weak, given the standard of the contest. You don’t have much going on in combat; sneak attack is ok, but you don’t take the TWF route and leave off any other damage increaser, such as craven. You’ve got a decent set of skills and abilities, but nothing that a straight rogue couldn’t have done. The Disciple of Mammon levels are interesting, but not enough to up your score in this category. While interesting, too many of the Disciple of Mammon abilities are extremely limited in their usage, often only 1/day. This leads to a situation where you either go on one mission a day, or you can’t use some of your abilities when you need them.

Elegance: 1.5 You left off your level 15 feat, take deformity (gaunt) twice (they don’t stack) and appear to assume the use of LA buyoff, which I always take off points for, as not all DMs allow it. In addition, I feel that while Disciple of Mammon is interesting, it doesn’t fit in thematically with a temple raider build. Temple raider tends more towards neutral, while Disciple of Mammon is distinctly evil.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 1.5 You do not take all ten levels, and do not use many of the abilities the levels grant you (beyond things like sneak attack, which stack with existing abilities). In addition, I don’t see much here that couldn’t be accomplished with more rogue levels.


Durbein: 10.0

Originality: 3.5 Desert Dwarf was interesting, as were the paladin and master inquisitive levels (you’d get a bigger bonus if a fellow competitor didn’t also use paladin). I enjoyed your backstory and how it tied the build together.

Power: 2.0 I’ll be honest, I’m a little confused as to what role in the party your character is supposed to be filling. As near as I can tell, you’re a trap-setter-offer, a role usually reserved for a summon monster 1 wand. It looks like you can take a lot of punishment, but can’t really dish it out. You don’t even max UMD like many builds did, an easy bump to the power score. As it stands you’re hard to kill but easy to ignore.

Elegance: 2.5 The dip in master inquisitive nets a penalty, as did you not taking a feat at level 12. On the whole, the build doesn’t really seem to flow; your goal appears to be making yourself hard to kill, but temple raider doesn’t really aid in that, making achieving it awkward.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 2.0 This category is tough to judge as well. You take all ten levels, which is good, but don’t really use many of the abilities. It seems you’d rather just set off the traps and make your save than disarm them, which is kinda the opposite of what a temple raider normally does. The levels just feel shoe-horned in here, rather than something chosen to help the build.


Aasterinian: 11.5

Originality: 3.0 Swordsage and ranger were expected, so you lose points there, but barbarian was not, so a bonus there. Silverbrow human in a nice touch, but the focus was predictably on dragon wings. Interesting to see a build that basically abandons Intelligence. In all, a wash.

Power: 3.0 I really like what you have going here (and is the type of build I normally enjoy playing) but I can’t give you a higher score because while the idea is solid, you make some mistakes and leave out much. You don’t list your maneuvers and stances beyond island of blades, so I have no idea what direction these are going in. In addition, you waste three feats on unarmed strike, when you’d be better off just following the TWF tree; heck, you could have just gone unarmed variant of swordsage and saved some feats. I can’t give you better than an average score given these problems.

Elegance: 3.0 No dips, and nothing I can see in the way of questionable rules issues. The real problem is the theme of the build; You abruptly transition from what is a decent melee fighter into a sneak thief, and have little in the way of fluff or crunch to justify it. You also lose points for not listing maneuvers and stances.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 2.5 You take all ten levels and make decent use of skill mastery, but that’s all you really having going on in this build. Opening locks, spells, and trapfinding are essentially left out, in a build that would have accomplished its goals (melee) much better with just more levels of swordsage.


Zed: 16.0

Originality: 4.0 I really didn’t think I’d like your build at first, but it’s kinda grown on me. Bard was anticipated, and human paragon levels were used elsewhere, but warblade was interesting. More than that, attempting to make a flying, charging, temple raider was extremely original and rather delightful.

Power: 4.0 This build has a lot going on in the power department. You diversify rather nicely, dishing out damage and acting as a superb scout. I love the phase cloak/charge trick; picturing it in my head makes me happy. This score could have been higher if you’d been able to fit in spirited charge (maybe instead of craven). The other thing you lose points for being weaker at low levels; not unplayable weak, but the build does ramp up significantly later.

Elegance: 3.5 The warblade dip at the end seemed kind of out of place, but otherwise decent. The biggest problem with the build is that it seems all over the place, then comes together later. Taken as a whole I’ve got no problems with it, but as a progression it could have been neater.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 4.5 Temple raider really compliments this build. The sneak attack help up your damage, and the skill mastery makes ride checks a breeze, which really helps. You take all ten levels and use all of the abilities; if you’d made a bigger point out of the spell casting, you could have gotten a 5.0


Aundair: 12.5

Originality: 3.5 An archivist that focuses on the whip? Not something I expected. But ranger and extreme explorer were both classes that I anticipated being used (and ranger was very popular). So the end result is a decent, not great score. I’m not sure how I feel about the Indiana Jones basis, so I’ll ignore that for this judging.

Power: 2.0 Like many other builds, you’ve got plenty of skills, and UMD in particular is a power by itself. But your other trick is just not impressive. You won’t be able to reliably disarm opponents at high levels (many of whom won’t even be carrying weapons). And while bleed damage is fun and interesting, even 10 or 20 points of bleeding damage is not an impressive benchmark at later levels.

Elegance: 3.0 You start off archivist, then immediately jump into ranger. I just don’t see why you couldn’t have dropped those levels, or started off with something that fit the theme a bit better. The build flows from there, but towards the end I don’t see why you selected some of the skill tricks you did. Overall an average build, the start of which just killed.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 4.0 You take all ten levels, and razing strike actually gives you options with regards to sneak attack, something no one else really focused on, so you get extra points for that. You don’t get the full score as I feel other classes could have done just as well here for you.


note: Eglath is my vote for honorable mention
Eglath: 15.5

Originality: 4.5 You used ranger, as did others, but you took the wildshape variant, so that’s something. Everything else is brilliant, what with the grapple focused octopus thief and all. Well done.

Power: 4.5 Oh wildshape, is there anything you can’t do? You’ve really managed to kick up both the utility and the combat potential with Master of Many Forms, up to a level that most others don’t even approach. In addition, combining sneak attack with craven and savage grapple was extremely inspired. The only reason this isn’t a 5.0 is that the build starts off weak until it gets wildshape, a common problem with ranger builds.

Elegance: 4.0 I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure how to rate this build with regard to elegance. No dips, no questionable rule readings, but it just doesn’t flow well to me. I’m not sure what exactly it is. You do receive a deduction for not listing skill selections; on a challenge such as this, skills factor heavily into the builds, and a small penalty for the updating errata that was posted (it was that or a bigger penalty for an illegal build).

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 2.5 Didn’t take all ten levels, losing points. More than that, I’m not sure why you would take temple raider in this build. You use most of the abilities (natural spell would actually give you a little boost here, letting you cast temple raider spells while wildshaped), including creative use of sneak attack, but there’s nothing here that couldn’t be done with straight rogue.


Arminel: 10.0

Originality: 2.0 Human paladin, focused on charging? I think I’ve seen this before. Penalties for the unoriginal concept, as well as others using paladin and human paragon in the contest.

Power: 2.5 You’re a charger alright, though the lower BAB of temple raider weakens it somewhat, meaning you’re not that good of a charger. You’ve got the rogue skills, sure, but those only really come on line later, just as traps start to be much less relevant. And you don’t take UMD; while a common skill, it’s common because it’s really, really good.

Elegance: 3.5 You dip human paragon, but other than that the build is ok. You would score higher except thematically things don’t quite fit; you transition from charging paladin to temple raider for no reason that is apparent, ruining any flow the build had.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 2.0 All ten levels taken, which is good, but you don’t really do anything with them. Since you’re mostly charging sneak attack isn’t used often, spells and trap-finding largely go to the wayside, and nothing in the SI boosts your main charging stick. More levels of paladin would have served you better.


Theodore Logan: 12.0

Originality: 2.5 ???What did I just read??? Anyway, human factotum, we’ve seen that before. Mindbender was interesting, and hoardstealer was the type of thing I was looking for (you get lucky, as no one else thought of it).

Power: 2.0 Like a couple other’s, your build is great at fulfilling the sneak/thief role, but not much else. Mindbender is a nice one level dip that ups the power, but outside of the sneak/thief role, you’re not really doing much. And at later levels, when you should really be ramping up, it’s just kinda more of the same, and not in a good way. Way too defensive for me.

Elegance: 4.0 Fairly elegant, has a theme and sticks with it throughout. I do not understand the practiced spellcaster for temple raider; you’re really only going to be casting a few spells per day, why not take something like font of inspiration instead?

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 3.5 Takes all ten levels, but you don’t really do much with them. There’s a focus on spell casting which is nice, but you don’t really do anything else with the abilities, like sneak attack, making me question why you took the SI at all.


Tia the Fox: 11.5

Originality: 2.0 Changeling rouge/bard? Both completely expected and done by other contestants. You get some points for divine bard, but in both appearance and theme your build is hardly breaking new ground.

Power: 3.5 Not bad in the power department, overall. You really trick out the skills, with more social power than just about anyone. On top of that, DFI helps both your character and the rest of the party, something no one else really does. You lose points, however, for being exceedingly weak at lower levels, as well as topping off early; you reach a point at about 15 were you don’t get appreciably more powerful. I see what you were trying to do with the dragon feats, but your build could have been more powerful if you had picked a single direction, such as IC optimization, and stuck with it.

Elegance: 4.0 Small penalty on the rogue dip, but the classes are otherwise okay. I’m not sure why you went changeling instead of silverbrow human; it would have been stronger mechanically and flavor-wise, so you lose points for that.

Use of the Secret Ingredient: 2.0 All ten levels taken, but several of the important abilities are not really used. You leave out trapfinding and skill mastery, don’t really use your spells, and sneak attack is only an afterthought. You’d have been much better off with more levels of bard.

[Amphetryon]

Questions for Z3ro from Arminel, for what they're worth:

Just a couple of things - you say twice that trapfinding is largely ignored or comes on too late, but I gain Trapfinding at level 7, have Search at max ranks throughout the build, and Disable Device and Open Lock at max or near max for pretty much the whole build.

Also, you say as a charger I won't sneak attack much, but that's what Sacred Stealth is for - getting the jump on them, so you charge AND sneak attack before they get to act.

[Z3ro]

Just a couple of things - you say twice that trapfinding is largely ignored or comes on too late, but I gain Trapfinding at level 7, have Search at max ranks throughout the build, and Disable Device and Open Lock at max or near max for pretty much the whole build.

Level 7 is about where traps start to become less relevant; not entirely, sure, but less so. Regardless, if I changed my mind I wouldn't bump your UoSI score any, as I only use .5, and that's not enough in my mind for a bump by itself (and divine seeker is what really hurt you here, forcing you to leave behind DD/OL for several levels).



Also, you say as a charger I won't sneak attack much, but that's what Sacred Stealth is for - getting the jump on them, so you charge AND sneak attack before they get to act.

You can only charge/sneak attack when you win initiative/surprise someone (and you have nothing to boost initiative). That's too situational (even with abilities to boost hide/move silently) to be considered anything but a rare bonus.

[Amphetryon]

And from Theodore Logan:

On originality, you mentioned mindbender and hoardstealer were standouts (ted was the only of either) so why did he lose points in this category?

as far as power, darkstalker and HiPS with move silently/hide maxed throughout mean that he'll flat out avoid combat most of the time. mindsight lets him see if there are any enemies nearby and maxing int lets him lessen the chance of being stunned.

font of inspiration was avoided so as to not get a deduction in elegance/originality. practiced spellcaster is there to help with duration on some of the stealth spells from temple raider. mindless undead, for example, do not detect on mindsight, so the "invisibility to undead" would gain more use by being 40 minutes longer per casting, especially since as you said temple raider doesn't give many spells/day

[Z3ro]

On originality, you mentioned mindbender and hoardstealer were standouts (ted was the only of either) so why did he lose points in this category?

Because the rest of the build was a skill focused human/factotum, which is about as unoriginal as you can get for this contest. Without those your score would have been even lower.



as far as power, darkstalker and HiPS with move silently/hide maxed throughout mean that he'll flat out avoid combat most of the time. mindsight lets him see if there are any enemies nearby and maxing int lets him lessen the chance of being stunned.

Sure you can avoid fights, but in them you're really weak and that's part of what I judge on. Remember that power also includes versatility; it's great that you can avoid a fight, but if you can't end one, you lose points (and as almost everyone in the contest has at least some stealth, good avoidance is not enough to get a power bump).



font of inspiration was avoided so as to not get a deduction in elegance/originality. practiced spellcaster is there to help with duration on some of the stealth spells from temple raider. mindless undead, for example, do not detect on mindsight, so the "invisibility to undead" would gain more use by being 40 minutes longer per casting, especially since as you said temple raider doesn't give many spells/day

Oh, I understood what it did, but not why you took it over font of inspiration. Ironically, I would not have deducted for font of inspiration (and might have even given another bump for elegance for following the theme). Such is why we have multiple judges.

Is it just me, or are a lot of people questioning my judging this time around?

[mattie_p]

Z3ro, I had no doubts you would come through. I do appreciate the rapid judging.

At this point I'm looking over past IC competitions, and then attempt to guess (and probably fail to) the next SI. Any hints you wish to reveal, Chairman?

[Venger]

Is it just me, or are a lot of people questioning my judging this time around?

I'd chalk it up to timing more than anything else. you were the quickdraw again this round, so people were anticipating your judgings. plus it's reading week for the chefs in college/high school, so less of the pool is in school.

it's also because you're the only judge so far, probably. I'm sure there'll be questions asked of other judges too.

[mattie_p]

Z3ro, you are a complete volunteer, and you seem to know your stuff. IMHO, your responses have been appropriate, and the time lapse between Chairman PM postings and your response indicate that you put some thought into the judging and have a perspective of the build at hand when you respond(at least by my point of view). You seem to have anticipated questions. Don't let the haters (which may or may not include me) get you down.

We all want our entries to win (otherwise, why enter?) and if we, as competitors, feel slighted we want justice to be done.

In other words, rock on, good judges, rock on!

[Amphetryon]

Is it just me, or are a lot of people questioning my judging this time around?My experience as chairman thus far would indicate two contestants out of eleven asking for a clarification is a pretty small number, honestly. I believed your rationales for your scores were as you explained before I posted the concerns, if it makes any difference.

[Z3ro]

My experience as chairman thus far would indicate two contestants out of eleven asking for a clarification is a pretty small number, honestly. I believed your rationales for your scores were as you explained before I posted the concerns, if it makes any difference.

Alright, I feel better then. Just never had such questions about my judging before.

[Xodion]

Alright, I feel better then. Just never had such questions about my judging before.

I think the most important thing is to remember that they aren't personal. Everybody has a different idea about how rules work, what is and isn't important, etc, so a few people wanting to make sure everyone is on the same page interpretation-wise seems fairly reasonable to me. I congratulate you on your previous judgments if you managed to avoid any questions at all, as there always seem to be a few for every judge, and mostly they just come down to misunderstandings that are easily resolved.

This is one of the reasons I am wary about having a go at judging, but I will be bearing this all in mind. I'm also worried that I will 'get it wrong' somehow, though I'm not actually sure how you would do this :smallconfused:

[Kesnit]

This is one of the reasons I am wary about having a go at judging, but I will be bearing this all in mind. I'm also worried that I will 'get it wrong' somehow, though I'm not actually sure how you would do this :smallconfused:

I wouldn't worry too much about that. I've had people question my judging, but no one has been hostile.

No judge judges the same way; everyone has their own criteria, what we look for, what we do/don't like. As long as you are consistent for all entries, there is no way to get it "wrong."

[mattie_p]

Thanks, kestrel404, for making the table that I am now updating with the results of the first round of judging:

{table=head]Rank|Name|Race|Classes|Score
1st|Zed|Human|Bard 5/Human Paragon 3/TRoO 10/Warblade 2|16.0

2nd|Eglath|Goliath|Ranger 5/TRoO 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Divine Seeker 2|15.5

3rd|Dolus|Human|Human Paragon 3/Warlock 7/TRoO 10|14.0

4th|Aundair|Human|Archivist 2/Ranger 3/Extreme Explorer 5/TRoO 10|12.5

5th|Theodore|Dark Human|Factotum 5/Mindbender 1/Hoardstealer 3/TRoO 10|12.0

6th|Aasterinian|Silverbrow Human|Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/TRoO 10|11.5

7th|Tia|Changeling|Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/TRoO 10|11.5

8th|Star|Changeling|Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/TRoO 10/Exemplar 1|11.0

9th|Durbein|Desert Dwarf|Paladin 3/Master Inquisitive 2/TRoO 10/Deepwarden 5|10.0

10th|Arminel|Human|Human Paragon 1/Paladin 5/TRoO 10/Divine Seeker 4|10.0

11th|Unnamed|Tiefling|Rogue 6/Disciple of Mammon 7/TRoO 7|9.0[/table]

[TerrickTerran]

Thanks for the table, I like being able to see the characters and their classes without having to refer back to their builds.:smallsmile:

[Empedocles]

Just a heads up, I'll be judging this weekend (sorry it's taken me so long :smallfrown:).

[Amphetryon]

Random survey question: What's everyone's opinion on having the next contest be for a setting-specific ingredient?

[Aeryr]

Works for me.

Even if I cross my fingers that it doesn't have a lot to deal with dragon marks, I am really unfamiliar with those. But of course, I trust your choosing capabilities as a SI, so go ahead :smallsmile:

[DemonRoach]

Random survey question: What's everyone's opinion on having the next contest be for a setting-specific ingredient?

Adaptions allowed at all?

Regardless, Chairmans choice :smallsmile:

[Venger]

Random survey question: What's everyone's opinion on having the next contest be for a setting-specific ingredient?

That would be fine.

[Occasional Sage]

Setting-specific? Sexy.

[Menteith]

Random survey question: What's everyone's opinion on having the next contest be for a setting-specific ingredient?

Good with me. Looking forward to it!

[Zeb]

A Forgotten Realms SI would compel me to stop lurking and start working on a build...

[Kuulvheysoon]

So long as it's Eberron, Forgotten Realms or Oriental Adventures, bring it on!

[TerrickTerran]

setting specific should be fun.

[mattie_p]

If I have the setting available and I find the time, rock on, good chairman!

*Note to self, start diving through setting splatbooks for obscure classes that get no love*

[Venger]

So long as it's Eberron, Forgotten Realms or Oriental Adventures, bring it on!

maybe it'll be yakuza. that'd be fun

[Aeryr]

Wait no, it's going to be the inquisitor, from the dragonlance campaign setting.

[mattie_p]

Wait no, it's going to be the inquisitor, from the dragonlance campaign setting.

Ooo, Dragonlance, the bane of my existence! I'd have to pass on that.

[Toy Killer]

I spose Bone Knight is out of the question, huh? since the Full casting progression and being a little too friendly for just full cleric builds?

[Amphetryon]

I spose Bone Knight is out of the question, huh? since the Full casting progression and being a little too friendly for just full cleric builds?
It's also been discussed an awful lot on various forums. The one I have in mind sees a bit less discussion.

[Venger]

It's also been discussed an awful lot on various forums. The one I have in mind sees a bit less discussion.

solar channeler?

[Yorrin]

I've no objections to setting-specific. FR, Eberron, Dragonlance, and OA are the only ones I think would get any significant volume of entries, though.

[Kuulvheysoon]

If I have the setting available and I find the time, rock on, good chairman!

*Note to self, start diving through setting splatbooks for obscure classes that get no love*

The worst part about setting-specific PrC stacking is the fluff. Trying to make multiple fluff requirements fit can be a nightmare.

[Amphetryon]

I've no objections to setting-specific. FR, Eberron, Dragonlance, and OA are the only ones I think would get any significant volume of entries, though.

Two of those would be limited to one source book apiece, and there are no other official settings by the contest's parameters, so that's sort of a given, isn't it? :smallwink:

[Yorrin]

Two of those would be limited to one source book apiece, and there are no other official settings by the contest's parameters, so that's sort of a given, isn't it? :smallwink:

::facepalm::

You'll have to excuse me. What with this being my first IC I forgot about the "official" settings clause on the first page.

[Aeryr]

Isn't Ghostwalk technically also a setting?

[Aeryr]

Isn't Ghostwalk technically also a setting?

[Amphetryon]

Isn't Ghostwalk technically also a setting?

1) It's a single, standalone book dealing primarily with a CITY (Manifest), rather than a world - although that city opens up the possibility of other places - so calling it a "setting" is stretching things a mite.

2) It wasn't included in Yorrin's example at all, which makes your question read just a bit like a "gotcha" comment. Was that your intent?

[Aeryr]

No, I just stumbled into it while searching for spirit/dream stuff for a homebrew class that I am working on so it was wait I didn't account for that. Sorry if it sounded like a gotcha' I was more checking that I got things straight.

BTW are there any other stretched city settings or similar? Can't remember atm if manual of the planes goes into different settings.

[Cieyrin]

Hmm, I posit Gnomish Artificer as a possible ingredient, as it looks so cool in concept, comes up not that often and is so clunky in execution. :smallwink:

[Amphetryon]

No, I just stumbled into it while searching for spirit/dream stuff for a homebrew class that I am working on so it was wait I didn't account for that. Sorry if it sounded like a gotcha' I was more checking that I got things straight.

BTW are there any other stretched city settings or similar? Can't remember atm if manual of the planes goes into different settings.

Ptolus is a massive city-setting from Monte Cook, but it's technically for his Arcana Unearthed/Arcana Evolved d20 product.

[Amphetryon]

Hmm, I posit Gnomish Artificer as a possible ingredient, as it looks so cool in concept, comes up not that often and is so clunky in execution. :smallwink:

Gnome Artificer is an interesting theory. It has minor issues with being a 3.0 class, though - check the pre-reqs.

[Aeryr]

I restumbled today into Yathrinshee I hope that never makes it to a SI

[Kuulvheysoon]

I restumbled today into Yathrinshee I hope that never makes it to a SI

There's some pretty odd/terrible PrCs out there in setting-specific land. Reforged and a few FR ones spring to mind.

Guys, I just figured out what the next SI is going to be:

Iron Chef Optimization XXXIII: Illithid Body Tamer (Underdark) :smallbiggrin:

[mattie_p]

Serpent Kingdoms Fang of Sseth.

[Feytalist]

I'd like to see Gnome Artificer as well. Shame it's 3.0, but I'm sure it can be updated to 3.5 with very little trouble. It's just the skill requirements, after all.

I'm also down with Illithid Body Tamer, heh. But isn't Underdark 3.0 as well?


Although I bet the setting is going to be Greyhawk :smalltongue:

[TerrickTerran]

Gnome Artificer would definitely be cool. I really like the PrC despite its flaws.

[Amphetryon]

I'd like to see Gnome Artificer as well. Shame it's 3.0, but I'm sure it can be updated to 3.5 with very little trouble. It's just the skill requirements, after all.

I'm also down with Illithid Body Tamer, heh. But isn't Underdark 3.0 as well?


Although I bet the setting is going to be Greyhawk :smalltongue:

Underdark is 3.5 (references to Survival instead of Wilderness Lore abound).

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'd like to see Gnome Artificer as well. Shame it's 3.0, but I'm sure it can be updated to 3.5 with very little trouble. It's just the skill requirements, after all.

I'm also down with Illithid Body Tamer, heh. But isn't Underdark 3.0 as well?


Although I bet the setting is going to be Greyhawk :smalltongue:

IIRC, it was one of the first 3.5e books after the 'conversion'.

[Feytalist]

Cool. I haven't actually taken a look at it for some time. Is that also the one with the Prime Underdark Guide? I've always liked the look of that class. Got its own spell list too.

[Venger]

Cool. I haven't actually taken a look at it for some time. Is that also the one with the Prime Underdark Guide? I've always liked the look of that class. Got its own spell list too.

yep. page 40.

how're 3.0 local knowledges handled? do you need local (region) as a class skill, or do you just need local and can pick whatever region?

[Cieyrin]

yep. page 40.

how're 3.0 local knowledges handled? do you need local (region) as a class skill, or do you just need local and can pick whatever region?

The region thing was never an official rule, that was specific to settings like FR and Greyhawk, where it worked that way.

[Venger]

The region thing was never an official rule, that was specific to settings like FR and Greyhawk, where it worked that way.

ah, okay then.

[Aeryr]

I'm also down with Illithid Body Tamer, heh. But isn't Underdark 3.0 as well?


Wow Illitid body tamer is awesome, changeling warshaper with racial emulation, anyone?

(Racial emulation shouldn't work illithid aren't humanoid :smallannoyed:)

[Venger]

Wow Illitid body tamer is awesome, changeling warshaper with racial emulation, anyone?

(Racial emulation shouldn't work illithid aren't humanoid :smallannoyed:)

depends on your definition of "illithidkin" which doesn't have any real in-game designation.

while half-illithids are aberrations and alhouns/illithiliches are undead, debatably voidmind would work, so you could enter as a changeling without even having to burn a feat on racial emulation, even if you'd have to eat the LA of 3, but we see pixies all the time in these, so it's not like it's the highest ECL booster thus far (highest I think was the drider in shadowdancer)

[Amphetryon]

Wow Illitid body tamer is awesome, changeling warshaper with racial emulation, anyone?

(Racial emulation shouldn't work illithid aren't humanoid :smallannoyed:)

There's at least one other work-around.

[Yorrin]

There's at least one other work-around.

If 3.0 is allowed there's a workaround for any racial requirement. The Old Blood feat in Bastards&Bloodlines :smalltongue:

[Kuulvheysoon]

There's at least one other work-around.

I think that we're thinking of the same thing - do you think so? IT's that thing, with the book, and that other thing in the book, right?

:smalltongue:

[Venger]

There's at least one other work-around.

since bloodlines are, at best, frowned upon in IC historically (think the only one I saw was glum in cancer mage), I think you're referring to the illithid heritage feat from complete psionic.

good idea. then you can get in without any LA. you'd obviously need to take illithid grapple, to get a tentacle attack to put the weapon focus on, and some other illithid feat besides illithid heritage to qualify for that, so that's 3 already, then illithid body tamer requires great fortitude, PA, and WF(tentacle), so that's 6. assume a martial class for quickest entry to get the 6BA, human for the extra feat. 2 flaws gets you in at 7 on time, without them, you must wait until level 13 and be unable to finish the class.

brutal.

best case scenario, you've got 3 levels to kick around. I never thought I'd say this, but flayerspawn psychic might work to kill that time. you're in the unlikely circumstance of already having the feat tax paid, and can get another lame tentacle for free, at least.

real question is, do any of the psionic classes have full BA? I know psions and lurks have half, wilders and psyrogues and ardents and psywars have avg. anyone have full? expanded knowledge for psycharm gets you flayerspawn psychic (if you want it) even if just for the mind blast. you can ax the 3rd lvl and dip mindbender at that point since you'll have the hard parts out of the way

[Zombimode]

real question is, do any of the psionic classes have full BA? I know psions and lurks have half, wilders and psyrogues and ardents and psywars have avg. anyone have full? expanded knowledge for psycharm gets you flayerspawn psychic (if you want it) even if just for the mind blast. you can ax the 3rd lvl and dip mindbender at that point since you'll have the hard parts out of the way

Lurks have 3/4 Bab.
(Ilithid) Slayers progress psionics at 9/10 rate and have full bab.
Warminds have their own progression (with accelerated PP, compared to PsiWar at least) and come with full bab.

Thats all I've got.

[mattie_p]

real question is, do any of the psionic classes have full BA? I know psions and lurks have half, wilders and psyrogues and ardents and psywars have avg. anyone have full? expanded knowledge for psycharm gets you flayerspawn psychic (if you want it) even if just for the mind blast. you can ax the 3rd lvl and dip mindbender at that point since you'll have the hard parts out of the way

The only other psionic class that I have been able to find with full BAB is the psychic weapons master (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827d), a 5/10 manifesting PrC. Technically, the 3.0 diamond warrior (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20020927b) gets full BAB with unarmed attacks, but medium with all else. But no Ranger/Paladin type manifesting base classes, that I have been able to find.

[Aeryr]

you'd obviously need to take illithid grapple, to get a tentacle attack to put the weapon focus on, and some other illithid feat besides illithid heritage to qualify for that, so that's 3 already, then illithid body tamer requires great fortitude, PA, and WF(tentacle), so that's 6. assume a martial class for quickest entry to get the 6BA, human for the extra feat. 2 flaws gets you in at 7 on time, without them, you must wait until level 13 and be unable to finish the class.


WF and PA are fighter bonus feats, since you are already taking martial class levels... Or that could be a plus to be a psychic warrior.

Ps. Illithid body tamer is quite an awesome class, I'll check bastards and bloodlines once I get back to my books.

[Amphetryon]

If 3.0 is allowed there's a workaround for any racial requirement. The Old Blood feat in Bastards&Bloodlines :smalltongue:

There is no "If 3.0 is allowed" as that's addressed specifically in the rules and FAQ for the contest. Bastards & Bloodlines is a 3rd party book, and therefore not allowed, so that would not be the workaround I'm referencing.

[Venger]

There is no "If 3.0 is allowed" as that's addressed specifically in the rules and FAQ for the contest. Bastards & Bloodlines is a 3rd party book, and therefore not allowed, so that would not be the workaround I'm referencing.

I wasn't right with illithid heritage? darn.

[Amphetryon]

Fixing End of Page glitch.

[Aeryr]

Ritual from savage species probably, but expensive as hell. Or polimorph any object abuse, that is cheaper.

Voidmind (if you consider that illithidkin) creature is a pretty strong template considering that the body tamer grants quite a lot of extra HP and that the template grants one of the feats needed for the PrC. Also it grants nice tentacle bonuses.

[mattie_p]

Ritual from savage species probably, but expensive as hell. Or polimorph any object abuse, that is cheaper.

The only ritual that would get a humanoid there is the ritual of unlearning, but upon gaining the ECL of the target creature, loses all class levels and starting race and converts in entirety to the target creature.

In other words, why bother? Just start as the target creature.

[Aeryr]

If Illithidkin is a subtype a ritual of association would do. But whatever Illithidkin is it is not clear.

[Venger]

Ritual from savage species probably, but expensive as hell. Or polimorph any object abuse, that is cheaper.

Voidmind (if you consider that illithidkin) creature is a pretty strong template considering that the body tamer grants quite a lot of extra HP and that the template grants one of the feats needed for the PrC. Also it grants nice tentacle bonuses.


debatably voidmind would work, so you could enter as a changeling without even having to burn a feat on racial emulation, even if you'd have to eat the LA of 3

I guessed voidmind already, so that wasn't it. as useful as the template is, the LA of 3 is kind of a pain. you'd need 6 lvls of some full BA class, then presumably complete illithid body tamer and only have 1 level left to play with.

But whatever Illithidkin is it is not clear.
with you there. it doesn't appear to be a real rules thing, it appears nowhere else in underdark, nor in the MMs, nor LoM, so I think that it's some kind of fake thing.

[Empedocles]

Really sorry, but for a little while I'll have less then an hour of internet access a day :smallfrown: I won't be able to judge for at least 2 weeks.

[mattie_p]

If Illithidkin is a subtype a ritual of association would do. But whatever Illithidkin is it is not clear.

I addressed this partially in the Simple Questions Q & A XX thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13169425&postcount=1654), but Ritual of Association only grants humanoids a valid humanoid subtype. The guy there thought he could get dragon as a subtype. Illithids/Mind Flayers are aberrations, which is not a valid subtype. I would rule that Illithid heritage feats from Complete Psionic would be sufficient to qualify as Illithidkin (although they do not grant a subtype), but that is not explicitly set out. Therefore, illithidkin would have to be defined by the DM for this competition, aka the Chairman, in the rules as set out in the posting for the next competition (should it be that class).

[Menteith]

I'm still holding out for a different class. Underdark is one of the books I don't have.

[Aeryr]

Oh, good to know. Even if a little nitpicking, dragon is a type not a subtype, and since we don't really know what illithidkin actually is it might be a humanoid subtype if the DM says so. Yeah I suppose that its quite hard to qualify for the body tamer without being an actual illithid or DM intervention.

Ps. DM intervention also would allow illithid bloodline from DMC

[Piggy Knowles]

The only ritual that would get a humanoid there is the ritual of unlearning, but upon gaining the ECL of the target creature, loses all class levels and starting race and converts in entirety to the target creature.

In other words, why bother? Just start as the target creature.

A Wish and a high enough Spellcraft check would get you there without that being a problem, per the expanded use of Wish on p150 of Savage Species. But I like to pretend that whole passage doesn't exist....

[gbprime]

The judger-naut very nearly got derailed by a couple killer weeks at work. But here we are, less than 48 hours before the judging deadline. Enjoy.

Star - 14.00

Originality - 3.0 - Rogue was expected (-0.5), and a 2 level dip is worth a slight penalty as well (-0.25). Factotum was also expected, but there are less of them in the contest (-0.25). You're the only one to use Thief-Acrobat (and it's one of my favorites) (+0.5) as well as the only one to use Exemplar (+0.25), even if it's just a single level. Not the only changeling either, so no bonus or penalty there, but the background story is solid, so small bonus for that (+0.25).

Power - 4.0 - Craven is a bit overused, but reliable (+0.25). It would be worth more if you developed the "crit fishing" you mentioned in the build. You also develop Intimidate as a way of life (+0.25), and with the mention of Gloves of the Balanced Hand you net 5 attacks a round with [4d6+Craven] in precision damage (+0.5). You've also got significant out of combat skill ability going for you, but those bonuses are two categories below this one. =)

Elegance - 3.5 - Otyugh Hole actually fits for the background of the character (+0.25), and Thief Acrobat just works to tie in a skill heavy build to the theme (+0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 3.5 - One of my standards for the UoSI category is skill points, and when I saw "skill Master of..." in the build title, I thought you were going to clean up here. But I give bonuses/penalties for the prerequisite skills of the Special Ingredient class... and those weren't the skills you cranked up. =(

The prerequisite skills of Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), and Open Lock you took the minimum required ranks and never added a rank again (-0.25 each, for -0.75 total). Search is barely developed past the minimum, but since I clobbered you on the other 3 prereq skills, I'll leave this one alone (+-0). You do however have max ranks in seven skills by 20th level (+0.25 per skill past the fifth, total of +0.5), and this synergizes nicely with the Skill Mastery ability (+0.25). And you further add to Skill Mastery by taking it AGAIN with a level of Exemplar (+0.5).


Dolus Praeto - 12.0

Originality - 3.5 - Warlock was unexpected (+0.5), and Human Paragon would be worth something if other builds hadn't also leveraged it.

Power - 3.25 - There's that Craven again, overused but useful (+0.25). You give up the opportunity to do 9d6 Eldritch Blast damage for 5d6 EB plus [3d6+Craven] precision damage, but you're really only optimized to do that damage once a round (-0.5). You do, however, make some effort at feinting (+0.25) and have a lot of invisibility going on to deliver that precision damage (+0.25) (which would be worth more if it came earlier than the Special Ingredient could provide the Invisibility spell anyway).

Elegance - 2.75 - A warlock being used for something other than a blaster sounds a bit like Elegance (+0.25), but I know more about his selection of magic items than I do about his tactics (-0.25). You make mention of him not being an Open/Disable kind of guy, which is good for the skillset you took, but then you mention that you can always take 20 and do it anyway... which at high levels is just a great way of getting yourself killed, especially since you don't have Evasion. So... yeah (-0.25).

FYI, Having a list of sources would be nice, and I would have penalized you a bit for it if you had used something unexpected.

Use of Special Ingredient - 2.5 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You take maximum ranks in one by 20th level (+0.25), you develop one well, and you totally ignore two others after you meet the PrC requirement (-0.5). You do a minimal amount of synergizing with the class abilities by hooking his spell list to the Touch of Healing feat, so small bonus there (+0.25).

And you're not really using the Skill Mastery class feature, though. Sure, you take the only 4 skills with it that you need to bother rolling dice on, but it's just THERE. For example... if you take 10 with Knowledge (Religion), you get a 29. That's one point shy of useful, and a lousy +1 to that roll from the myriad of magic items you had listed would have changed my opinion and avoided the penalty. (-0.5)


Unnamed - 11.5

Originality - 3.0 - Rogue was the expected entry point (-0.5), but I'm giving that right back for Discuple of Mammon (+0.5) which is a very flavorful way to approach the skillset.

Power - 2.5 - Weapon Finesse and 5d6 of Precision damage are pretty much the norm for the contest. You do gain a bit of oomph by hitting a +16 BAB by the end of the build (+0.5), but you really don't develop any other tricks or synergies that would increase your overall prowess (-1). (Skill-monkey-ism is covered below.)

Elegance - 1.75 - You take Willing Deformity (Gaunt) twice. Both provide named bonuses which do not stack with each other. So your 12th level feat is useless (-0.5). Likewise, you did not select a feat at 15th level (-0.5), nor did you provide a background story (-0.5). (I'll assume his nickname is "unnamed" and won't penalize you for that.) Having a single base class to 6th level and no other base classes is a bit elegant, though, and is worth a small bonus (+0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 4.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You max out 3 of the four (+0.25 times 3 for a total of +0.75) and put at least 1 more rank in the other. You also have 23 ranks in 8 skills by 20th level, which nets you a +0.25 bonus for each skill beyond the fifth (total of +0.75).

The Thief, Steal, and Take Object class abilities of Disciple of Mammon are good synergy with the Temple Raider abilities (+0.5). You do not, however, take all 10 levels of Temple Raider, and that's a quarter point for every level shy (-0.75).


Durbein Stoneknock - 10.25

Originality - 4.0 - A dwarf (+0.25) paladin (+0.25) is definately not the starting point I'd see for a Temple Raider, and Master Inquisitive is a unique entry point as well (+0.5). (Paladin would have been worth more had you been the only build based on it.)

Power - 2.5 - You do hit a +17 BAB (+0.25), but with only 1 smite per day and only 3d6 of precision damage, you're a bit shy on power (-0.5). You're a bit short on non-combat skills, except for Track, but you don't get that until 16th level, which is a bit late for an ability that any Ranger can pull off (-0.25).

Elegance - 2.0 - I'm confused... should I be looking at the list of feats in the Build Table, or the list of feats under it? The list below the table has feats you don't qualify for without using the feats on the table instead, but you don't get that many feats. So... eh? (-1.0)

Use of Special Ingredient - 1.75 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You completely neglect all four after qualifying for Temple Raider, netting a 0.25 penalty for each one (-1.0). You also don't seem to USE any of the Temple Raider's abilities, you just kind of have them, with the exception of using Devoted Inquisitor to chain Smite and Sneak Attack together... assuming I'm supposed to be looking a the table and not the list for which feats you took. If that is your intent, though, you can only do it once a day, which is pretty weak (-0.25), but it IS technically a use of a class feature.


Aasterninian's Thief - 9.0

Originality - 3.5 - There's a swordsage in every contest, but in this case there's only one, so no penalty from me. =) Barbarian is unexpected (+0.25) and I'd give it more if you hadn't mixed in equal parts of Ranger for the raw skill points. Silverbrow is worth an uptick, though (+0.25).

Power - 1.75 - You hit a 16 BAB (+0.25) and have two weapon fighting (+0.25), but I don't know why you spend feats on Improved Unarmed when you're not getting more than 1d8 out of two feats on it (-0.25). Nor is your damage output all that fantastic, and I can't really count your martial maneuvers since you told us they were irrelevant (-0.5). So you end up with ... 5 attacks per round that do 1d8 damage (plus 3d6 sneak attack), OR a single attack that adds some cold damage. At level 20, you can practically be ignored (-1.0).

Elegance - 2.25 - Draconic Cohort is a bit of an end run around the "no leadership" rule, and I'm subtracting a bit for it (-0.5). You'd be better off breaking up your swordsage levels so taht you gain some of your maneuvers later in your career when your initiator level is high enough to take some devastating ones. You also dont' develop your tracking skill at all, and have no skill required to use it (-0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 1.5 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You take additional ranks in Open Lock (and I suppose a half rank in Disable Device counts), but you don't improve the others at all after meeting requirements (-0.5). You have max ranks in a few skills, but not so many as to get a bonus from it. Nor do I see where you hooked any of your other abilities up to the Temple Raider's class features for synergy. You need to do more than take the class levels, you have to USE them to enhance other things you've got (-1.0). This build would be better served by some other sneaky class.


Zed - 10.75

Originality - 2.5 - Bard was also one of the expected entry points, but with only 2 in the contest, the penalty is small (-0.25). A 2 level dip in Warblade is worth a hit too (-0.25).

Power - 4.0 - Craven again (+0.25). Two charges at high level for +35 times four is definately hard hitting (+0.5) I'd give you more points for power if you had Spirited Charge and Pounce on your own rather than relying on wands. The Shared Soulmeld for ethereal movement on your hippogriff is a nice trick (+0.25).

Elegance - 2.75 - A "craven" cavalry charger (-0.25)? Bardic Charging Raider, and none of those abilities overlap, but I'll leave that discussion for the next category.

Use of Special Ingredient - 1.5 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You give plenty of love to half of them, but two of the skills are not developed past the minimum (-0.5). What you don't do is use any of the Temple Raider's class abilities. You HAVE them, but you're not hooking them up to other class features for awesome synergy. (There's Craven, but you get a bonus for that in the Power category.) You too would be better off with another sneaky class that goes better with either bard or charging (-1.0).


Aundair Yannedge-Owens - 15.5

Originality - 3.25 - Small hit for a 2 level dip in a base class (Archivist) (-0.25), but a larger bonus for the flavorful Extreme Explorer (+0.5).

Power - 3.75 - Arterial and Razing strike make for some passable bonus damage options in combat (+0.25), and you make better than full use of a small sea of action points (+0.25), and Improved Disarm makes up for a relative lack of damage (+0.25).

Elegance - 3.5 - However, I disagree with the idea that you can cause bleeding wounds even though you did no damage. The Arterial Strike feat specifies "each wound caused", and if you do no damage, you're not really wounding them (-0.5). The backstory adds to the overall image of the build, though (+0.25), and the Indiana Jones parallels are well played (+0.25). There's also something that just flows... archivist - extreme explorer - temple raider, all with near max ranks of UMD and Skill Mastery in same. (+0.5)

Use of Special Ingredient - 5.0 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You max out all four (+1.0) and also use 3 of the 4 with Skill Mastery (+0.25). Razing Strike makes synergistic use of the class spells (+0.25), Arterial Strike hooks up the class sneak attack to somehting else (+0.25), And the bevy of skill tricks makes good use of class skills (+0.25).

Congratulations, you have acheived a 5.0 in Use of Special Ingredient. This build IS a Temple Raider.


Eglath - 14.0

Originality - 4.0 - A Goliath was definately unexpected (+0.5), as was a Wild Shape Ranger slash MoMF (+0.5). Divine Seeker would be worth a bit had you been the only one using it.

Power - 4.25 - Craven again (+0.25). The Savage Grapple and Improved Grapple combo is a great way to get a lot of bonus damage and use it reliably (+0.5), especially as a giant octopus (+0.5), good lord.

Elegance - 3.5 - Two rival organizations that are temples is a nice touch (+0.5), and nothing says "infiltrate" like a shapeshifter, so bonuses for that (+0.5). But Divine Seeker has a prereq of Stealthy, which you either overlooked or are using a 3.0 edition copy (it was updated to 3.5, as pointed out on the thread), so I have to ding you for that (-0.5).

Use of Special Ingredient - 2.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. Your skill list is far from complete, but its clear that you add a few ranks of Knowledge Religion later on and totally neglect the other skills after the minimums (since they're not stealth or disguise) (-0.75). You also don't finish all 10 levels of Temple Raider, and that's a deduction of a quarter point for each level shy (-0.5). Savage Grapple, however, is a lovely way to synergize your sneak attack into your overall motif (+0.25), and Natural Spell allows you to utilize your spells as well (+0.25), so you've integrated Temple Raider into your concept.


Arminel Rayne - 14.25

Originality - 3.25 - Paladin is a bit rare as a start point (+0.25) and would have been worth more were there not two builds using it. The other supporting classes are also used elsewhere in the competition.

Power - 3.5 - Quite respectable charge damage (+0.5), and the bonus would be higher if you had Pounce.

Elegance - 3.25 - Charge, Stealth, and Temple Raiding... again, they don't really overlap. You fit them all into the build nicely, but there is little synergy there. A good backstory gets the concept across though, and is worth a bonus (+0.25).

Use of Special Ingredient - 4.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You max out all four (+1.0). Locate Creature and Locate Object are good synergy for the whole Temple Raider concept (+0.25), and gets you the bit of synergy you need, since you otherwise don't stack too many abilities.


Theodore Logan - 14.25

Originality - 3.75 - Ah, there's the Dark Template, and being the only one to use this most excellent of sneaky templates nets a small bonus (+0.25). Factotum was one of the expected entries (-0.25), but a Mindbender dip was not (+0.25). And Hoardstealer fits VERY well (+0.5).

Power - 3.5 - Man this guy is sneaky (+0.5), and between Mindsight, Delay Potion, and all those Inspiration points, you have a heck of a bag of tricks (+0.5). You lack raw damage (-0.5), but with so many options and given the motif of the character, that's not what you're there for.

Elegance - 3.75 - I was all ready to dock you a half point for trying to stack Practiced Spellcaster on top of itself... but I'll be darned, it's an untyped bonus so taking it twice DOES work. Bonus for teaching me something(+0.25). And the backstory was nothing like I expected, but it was well written and served to define the character (+0.5).

Use of Special Ingredient - 3.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You give 3 of them some love after you meet the minimums, but Knowledge Religion stays with but a single rank (-0.25). I can see Brew Potion and Practiced Spellcaster as synergizing with the Temple Raider spellcasting ability (+0.5), but what I don't get is why you needed CL18. That seems like one feat too many, and there's a lot of things you can spend a feat on that are better at lvl 18 (-0.25). The Deep Pockets ability is just brilliant, though (+0.25).


Tia the Fox - 10.5

Originality - 2.25 - Not the only changeling in the contest, so no bonus or penalty there. Rogue, however, was not only entirely expected (-0.5) but you took a 2 level base-class-dip in it (-0.25). Bard was also an expected entry (-0.25), but the Divine Bard variant is more flavorful in this case (IMO) and offsets the penalty (+0.25).

Power - 4.0 - Multiple dice of bonus sonic damage to an entire group is an impressive add-on (+0.5), and combined with your sneak attack dice, you're actually not helpless in the combat department (+0.25). And disguise plus massive bluff/diplomacy works for this kind of character (+0.25).

Elegance - 2.0 - You have no ranks in Knowledge Religion, so you don't meet the qualifications for Temple Raider (-1.0)

Use of Special Ingredient - 2.25 - Disable Device, Knowledge (Religion), Open Lock, and Search are the required skills of this build. You gain the bare minimums on three of them and then never advance any of the skills again (-1.0). You double up on skill mastery thanks to your Social Intuition feature, which is a bit of synergy (+0.25). You're otherwise pretty light on hooking up other class features to other things you do.

[mattie_p]

And gbprime has judged second!

Here are rankings now, for those of you keeping score at home...

{table=head]Rank|Name|Race|Classes|z3ro|gbprime|Average

1st|Eglath|Goliath|Ranger 5/TRoO 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Divine Seeker 2|15.5|14.0|14.75

2nd|Aundair|Human|Archivist 2/Ranger 3/Extreme Explorer 5/TRoO 10|12.5|15.5|14.0

3rd|Zed|Human|Bard 5/Human Paragon 3/TRoO 10/Warblade 2|16.0|10.75|13.38

4th|Theodore|Dark Human|Factotum 5/Mindbender 1/Hoardstealer 3/TRoO 10|12.0|14.25|13.13

5th|Dolus|Human|Human Paragon 3/Warlock 7/TRoO 10|14.0|12.0|13.0

6th|Star|Changeling|Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/TRoO 10/Exemplar 1|11.0|14.0|12.5

7th|Arminel|Human|Human Paragon 1/Paladin 5/TRoO 10/Divine Seeker 4|10.0|14.25|12.13

8th|Tia|Changeling|Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/TRoO 10|11.5|10.5|11.0

9th|Aasterinian|Silverbrow Human|Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/TRoO 10|11.5|9.0|10.25

9th|Unnamed|Tiefling|Rogue 6/Disciple of Mammon 7/TRoO 7|9.0|11.5|10.25

11th|Durbein|Desert Dwarf|Paladin 3/Master Inquisitive 2/TRoO 10/Deepwarden 5|10.0|10.25|10.13[/table]

[Amphetryon]

Thanks for pulling through, gbprime.

EDIT:

Incidentally, a build that I've tooled around with for TRoO is Wu Jen (water) 4/Factotum 3/TRoO 10/Uncanny Trickster 3. Take Snowcasting/Flash Frost/(Greater) Cold Focus/Sculpt Spell. Use UT to advance Wu Jen's class features to 6, while TRoO allows a caster focused on Fog and Poison effects to largely circumvent their downsides. Factotum fits the theme of an esoterica-seeking TRoO and grants Trapfinding, while adding to the Wu Jen/TRoO motif of mixing luck with style.

[Cieyrin]

Judging completed. My plan of attack didn't work as planned, so I just dozed through, since I won't have time tomorrow to work on judgings.

Star
Originality: 4.5 Changeling Rogue/Factotum/Thief-Acrobat/Exemplar? Just Rogue or Factotum would be normal but you push the envelope of skill mastery to make a regular Exemplar cry tears of joy. (+1) Changelings would probably be common worshippers of Olidammara in non-Eberron settings but not as many as humans. (+.5)
Power: 3 You make no qualms about where your strengths lie and that's in your skills and being the skill monkey's skill monkey and a job you do with it. Skill Mastery from level 1, Cunning Knowledge to boost a skill as needed, further boosts from Thief-Acrobat, Temple Raider and Exemplar. (+1) Imperious Command and Never Outnumbered could have come much earlier and some other feat reorganizations could be warranted (why TWFing so late? For that matter, why is Agile Athlete so late?). (-.5) Craven and Telling Blow work well together, though again some what late, at least Telling Blow. Makes me think you could have focused more on Skill Tricks and really pushed your skill monkeydom to epic proportions. (-.5)
Elegance: 2.5 Skill Points Overspent (a shame on such a skill focused character. :smallfrown:) (-.5) Technically, Able Learner can't be taken by Changelings but, given they're the offspring of Humans and Dopplegangers, I think that can probably slide, at least more so than it does for Illumnians, so no score change there. Otyugh Hole would probably warrant a deduction but it was gained at a late level and worked seemlessly in that I think I can also allow that to slide.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3 You make some use of sneak attack and Uncanny Dodge (+.5), though you aren't particularly great when it comes to traps or locks (-.5). You make excellent use of Skill Mastery (+.5) but you ignore spellcasting entirely (can't even cast without a major Wisdom booster). (-.5) Overall, Star makes good of half and ignores the other half, so it averages out.Total Score: 13 I really liked the idea, just it needed more polish.

Dolus Praesto
Originality: 3.5 Mystic Trickster types aren't a new concept, though going at it from Warlock is a slight spin on an old trick. (+.5)
Power: 4 Bonus spells are from Wisdom, not Charisma, so your spells per day is wrong. (-.5) As your build notes say, you're aimed at being an infiltration expert that gets the rest of your team inside, which you do admirably. (+1) Your invocations are well chosen (+.5), though some of your feats and equipment leaves something to be desired, especially given you expect to have certain equipment available, which can vary significantly by campaign. I'm especially curious why your later level mithral chain shirt has Twilight on it, since neither Warlock or Temple Raider casting is impeded by light armor, so that's just a waste of money. Weapon Finesse and Trickery Devotion don't seem to serve a purpose either. (-.5) You can handle single infiltration if necessary and, provided your invisibility isn't pierced, can get the drop on enemies reasonably well with Sneak Attack enhanced Eldritch Blasts + Craven and have decent tricks up your sleaves for getting into and out of trouble, which makes you not a drag on party resources. (+.5) Well done.
Elegance: 3 Bluff is cross-class for Temple Raiders (why, I have no idea), so you overspent skill points. (-.5) Otherwise, the build is efficient and clever (especially Human Paragon to pick up Spectral Skirmisher) (+.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2 You get in at the last possible moment but with good reason, for finishing up Human Paragon, so no score change there. You enhance Sneak Attack and make use of most of your class features, though spells and the Luck Domain are fairly forgotten in favor of Invocations (-.5). Kinda makes me think you could have performed better with regular Rogue, given you could have got more Sneak Attack, skill points and the rest of the class features. (-.5)Total Score: 12.5

Unnamed
Originality: 3.5 Rogue is a pretty normal entry, though Tiefling Disciple of Mammon is somewhat off the beaten path. (+.5)
Power: 2 I'm...not exactly sure what you're supposed to be good at. Disciple gives a bunch of random spell-likes and abilities that are fairly situational. You have some skills but nothing exotically impressive. You don't use any of your casting and you get Dark Speech 9 levels later than when it first becomes available and would be actually useful. (Score eyeballed)
Elegance: 1.5 Overspent skill points. (-.5) Has 2 instances of Deformity(Gaunt), which can't be taken multiple times. (-.5) Missing feat at 15th. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 Honestly, no idea what you're using Temple Raider for other than to enter the contest. (-1) You don't really use any of the abilities, you would have been better as a Rogue/Disciple, I think. (-1)Total Score: 8

Durbein Stoneknock
Originality: 5 Dwarf Paladin of Freedom/Master Inquisitive? Definitely not expected entry...(+2)
Power: 1 ...Because it doesn't work that well at all. The skills aren't there to support the class, you don't qualify to enter either Temple Raider or Deepwarden. He can only smite once to power Devoted Inquisitor, he has Combat Reflexes and a crap Dex and Pack Tactics is not a worthwhile feat. It's just a mess, the only good things going for him are his saves, as Serenity boosts them quite a bit. Unfortunately, having good defenses only goes so far, if you can't contribute, you're just a waste of space and a target for Barbarian trapfinding. (-2)
Elegance: 1 Gross overspending of skill points to qualify for Temple Raider (spent 14 when you had 7 when entering Inquisitive on cross class skills). (-.5) Doesn't qualify to enter Deepwarden (No Knowledge(Dungeoneering)). (-1) No 12th level feat. (-.5) Master Inquisitive isn't full BAB, so it's impossible for this build to enter Temple Raider at 6th. (-1)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 No idea what this has to do with Temple Raiders other than the theme and having levels just to make an entry. Doesn't do anything with the features that couldn't be done with Rogue levels. (-2)Total Score: 8 The story was nice, it's just the rest of the build that fell apart. Rework, refactor, reenter.

Aasterian's Thief
Originality: 4 Swordsage/Barbarian/Urban Ranger? Not one of the usual suspects, certainly, for a Temple Raider. (+1)
Power: 1 Unusually high point buy, AT is built on 50 point buy compared to the more usual 32. (-.5) Seems to be built like a skirmisher, though the details of how it's supposed to be achieved are rather lackluster. Knowing what maneuvers and spells you're using would have helped with that. (-.5) Unarmed Strike training starts late and for no apparent reason other than because it seemed a cool idea; would have benefited by going Unarmed Swordsage from the get-go. (-.5) Only gets Ferocity 1/day, so that doesn't help in most fights and ignoring maneuvers makes Insightful Strike never come up. (-.5) Permanent Flight isn't bad and is achieved as early as possible. (+.5) Favored Enemy of a Temple that may never show up seems a bad idea. If there was some back story to support it or why you serve Aasterian, it could make sense but there isn't. (-.5)
Elegance: 1 Again, unusually high point buy and for no reason I can fathom, which probably wouldn't fly at most tables. (-.5) Overspent Skill Points, not to mention that awkward half rank of Disable Device that's just hanging out there, serving no purpose. (-.5) Swordsage just for Shadow Blade, Wis to AC and some skills, Barbarian for 1/day Ferocity. (-1) Dragon Cohort is a derivation of Leadership, which is banned from IC (-1)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 Seems really tacked on just to make an entry. (-1) Doesn't really make use of any class features, though it has the Wisdom to make use of Raider spells, which is probably a side effect of the unusually high point buy. (-.5) Gets in at last possible moment. (-.5) Probably would have benefited from not going into Temple Raider and pursuing more Swordsage.Total Score: 7

Sky Raider Zed
Originality: 4. A hippogriff rider who phases through doors, walls and into vaults to rob temples blind? That's certainly different. (+1)
Power: 1 A lot of your assumed power draws from equipment and access to purchase of said equipment, which is a dangerous assumption to make. (-.5) Especially where it comes to stats, as you try to go in several directions and strain your ability scores well beyond their limits, as without your precious Belt of Magnificence or Manuals, you can't cast any of your 3rd level bard spells (no Clairvoyance) and you can barely cast all your Temple Raider spells with your Human Paragon boosted Wis. (-.5) You do secure your hippogriff mount but late and it's pretty squishy (half your hp and all those d6 HD is doing you no favors there).
This isn't to mention the limitations of Clairvoyance that (a) it doesn't extend your magical or extraordinary vision you may possess, so if it's magically or naturally dark, you don't get to see much of anything on the other side and it's blocked by lead (any secure temple will keep their good stuff protected with it) or if it's warded against scrying (major temples or especially secretive ones, like those devoted to Vecna). (-.5)
The Hippogriff isn't terribly great indoors, since it can't hover and it being large means that when it's not phased it may end up squeezing in human sized temples (temples aren't typically designed with mounts in mind, so them tight passages may be an issue), so you may end up losing it and suffering XP losses from multiple familiar losses. Also the issue of charging in-doors after combat has started can be a problem, which will often nullify your mounted strengths, even with sneak attack charges with a lance possibly taking a target out, since you don't have Spirited Charge without a wand you may or may not have, especially since Heroics isn't a Spell Known on your Bard list. (-.5)
On the skill side, you have some investment in place, though your dependence on adamantine weaponry to deal with locks for you does crunch on your style. You are stealthy and a trap spotter but that's pretty much all you got going for you (not to mention that your Hippogriff lacks Darkstalker, meaning extraordinary senses will notice it, if not you). So, in a dungeon setting (or temple, given the PrC), you can work out well, but outside it and you'll have to depend on everyone else.
As for your ethereal charging, it doesn't work nearly as well as you'd claim, at least for sneak attacking with it, as while you're ethereal, you're invisible AND insubstantial, meaning you can't affect creatures on the Prime Material. So, either you charge in and can't stab anybody or you stop, become visible and substantial but then you don't have anything going that's denying your target's Dex (concealment from Blur is not good enough to elicit that), so no Sneak Attack. I will grant you'll likely have Surprise for ethereal charging, so you'll get one round of sneak attacking but after that, you're kinda screwed, especially if your target doesn't have a space for you to materialize into since you're riding a large creature in enclosed spaces, not to mention Ride-By requires straight line movement, so better hope there's some place beyond the wall on the other side for you to be, as otherwise you may get spit somewhere you don't want to be. (-.5)
Elegance: 1.5 Dipped Warblade purely for the maneuvers in the last levels. (-1) Skill points are all over the place in spending more or less than what you have. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3.5 You find a use for almost every part of the PrC and, despite power flaws, you are definitely a raider, though significantly different from the norm. (+1) Your dependence on your high level Temple Raider spells when you only get 1 each day doesn't work terribly well without boosting your Wis with magic items you may never get. (-.5)Total Score: 10 Neat idea, though execution left something to be desired.

Aundair Yannedge-Owens
Originality: 4 Ranger is expected, Archivist is not. (+.5) Adapting Indiana Jones to Eberron and shaping the story to it fits Temple Raider rather well and you've essentially made the character work well as him, though the lack of pistol/hand crossbow was somewhat irksome. Extreme Explorer isn't something that seems to come up that often, either. (+.5)
Power: 4 You're certainly a skill monkey and have the spread and skill tricks to make it work. (+1) You make your Sneak Attack work well, even with a whip, which is a feat unto itself. (+.5) Your limited spellcasting is more limited than you posit, though, as you don't have the Wisdom to use your high level Temple Raider spells, which does impede your versatility. (-.5) Razing Strike is genius for dealing with undead, though you don't have any counters to constructs and it comes on rather late.
Elegance: 5 It all went smoothly and in character for an Indiana Jones expy, like clockwork. Temple Raider came up at the last possible moment but for good reason. A pleasure to read. (+2)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 4 Sneak Attack was well utilized and expanded on (+.5), Trap Sense was thoroughly used (+.5) and Uncanny Dodge was presumably taken advantage of, given the Dex emphasis. (+.5) The faux pas with Wis for TR casting does crunch on spellcasting (-.5) and Luck domain wasn't mentioned at all.Total Score: 17

Eglath
Originality: 3.5 Ranger was expected, (-.5) Goliath Master of Many Forms definitely was not. (+1)
Power: 4 Wild Shape in general is pretty powerful by itself, let alone boosted by Master of Many Forms (+1), further enchanced by Savage Grapple and Craven for a murderizing machine (+.5). You have adequate numbers of spells to enhance yourself but your lack of Natural Spell (since you seem to be in an alternate form most of the time) makes it kinda moot, since they're mostly not long duration. Not to mention that technically don't get Powerful Build, as it requires a specific feat to keep it while wildshapaed (Powerful Wild Shape) (-.5). It's difficult to judge your skills, given you kinda half-assed them and making an assumption on what your grabbing isn't fair to the other competitors that went to the trouble, so I'm not going to score you on it here. Elegance, however...
Elegance: 1.5 Unfinished skills (can't judge what isn't there, Sturgeon's and Murphy's Laws willing) (-1). Applying errata after posting isn't very kosher in my book. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1 I don't know why Temple Raider is here, other than flavor and qualifying for the contest. You could probably have done better with just Rogue and more MoMF for what you were doing. (-2)Total Score: 10

Sir Arminel Rayne
Originality: 4 Paladin of Freedom is straight out of right field. (+1) I have a soft spot for stealth paladins, too, though that's not worth extra points. :3
Power: 3.5 Stealth, breaking and entering and charging power attacks give you a decent mix of abilities. (+1) Your low Wis does deny you your high level Temple Raider spells, though, so you're somewhat limited when it comes to dealing with threats that are out of reach or are resilient against sharpened lengths of steel. (-.5)
Elegance: 5 It flows reasonably well, with skills and feats selected at decent points for their power. No messed up prereqs, skill points all match out, ability scores appropriately on the point buy. I don't see any table really saying no to this. (+2)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2.5 You get in almost at the earliest point possible. (+.5) You enhance the features with Divine Seeker (+.5), though the Temple Raider abilities don't seem particularly used and you favor strengths despite the Temple Raider, not because of it. (-.5) The low Wis detracts from using your spells as well. (-.5) You'd probably would have been better to pursue something like Shadowbane Inquisitor for what you were going for. (-.5)Total Score: 15

Theodore Logan
Originality: 2.5 Factotum is the new Rogue, so it's a natural entry into Temple Raider. Not innovative, though. (-1) Hoardstealer isn't something that comes up too often and is kinda the arcane brother to Temple Raider and they complement each other. (+.5)
Power: 3.5 You're stupidly stealthy and generally aware of others around you, between Darkvision 90', Superior Low-Light Vision, Mind Sight and generally high Spot and Listen, so you work well as party scout, which seems to be your schtick. (+1) You don't have enough invested in Knowledges to pull off Cunning Knowledge + Collector of Stories shenanigans, since you need 1 rank in a skill to use Cunning Knowledge and Knowledges are trained only. (-.5)
Elegance: 1 Factotums don't actually cast, so you can't use Arcane Dilettante to pick up Brew Potion. (-.5) Dip Mindbender for telepathy and Mindsight, dip Hoardstealer for Deep Pockets. (-.5) Your skillpoint selection is all over the place, like picking up 5 ranks of Disable Device at 2nd level out of nowhere and buying ranks of UMD and Spot in Temple Raider. (-.5) You take Practiced Spellcaster for Temple Raider twice. (-.5)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2 You get in at the last possible moment while you're dipping other classes for goodies. (-.5) You don't really capitalize on Temple Raider spellcasting besides the CL boosting, which isn't apparent for the reason for. You have just enough Wisdom to use the spells but otherwise give lip service to them. You probably would have been better off continuing to pursue Hoardstealer. (-.5)Total Score: 9

Tia the Fox
Originality: 2 Rogues and Bards are both expected entries, as noted in the PrC's intro. (-1) Changeling is somewhat different, though, as is going Divine Bard. (+.5) Dragonfire Inspiration off of Battle Dragon Heritage is pretty old hat, though. (-.5)
Power: 3 Inadequate ranks in Perform are gained to use most Bardic Music when they'd normally be acquired. You can't use any of your bardic abilities till 6th, so in the mean time you're like a underpowered sorcerer with skills. Not to mention you don't meet the prerequisite ranks for Song of the Heart when you acquire it, the Eberron Bard ACF doesn't void meeting the prereqs. (-1) You're an impressive face, though, between spells, Changeling Rogue and Draconic Presence. (+.5) Impressive detection senses as well. (+.5)
Elegance: 2 Proficiency with medium armor doesn't give you proficiency with mithral heavy armor. (-.5) Otherwise, it all works together pretty well. (+.5). Doesn't qualify for Temple Raider, as lacks Knowledge(religion). (-1)
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2 You make decent use of the spells and Uncanny dodge but that's about it. Skill Mastery gets some lip service but you have it for most of your used skills already. Probably would have been better off with Exemplar or more Rogue. (-1)Total Score: 9

My vote for Honorable Mention goes to Sky Raider Zed. The build had the guts to go for something unusual and could have achieved it with some more refinement, for which the entrant should be commended. Plus, c'mon, Ethereal Flying through temples, that's just not something you see everyday. :smallbiggrin:

[Cieyrin]

And new scores means new totals:

{table=head]Rank|Name|Race|Classes|z3ro|gbprime|Cieyrin|Averag e

1st|Aundair|Human|Archivist 2/Ranger 3/Extreme Explorer 5/TRoO 10|12.5|15.5|17.0|15

2nd|Eglath|Goliath|Ranger 5/TRoO 8/Master of Many Forms 4/Divine Seeker 2|15.5|14.0|10.0|13.167

3rd|Arminel|Human|Human Paragon 1/Paladin 5/TRoO 10/Divine Seeker 4|10.0|14.25|15|13.083

4th|Dolus|Human|Human Paragon 3/Warlock 7/TRoO 10|14.0|12.0|12.5|12.833

5th|Star|Changeling|Rogue 2/Factotum 3/Thief-Acrobat 4/TRoO 10/Exemplar 1|11.0|14.0|13|12.67

6th|Zed|Human|Bard 5/Human Paragon 3/TRoO 10/Warblade 2|16.0|10.75|10.0|12.25

7th|Theodore|Dark Human|Factotum 5/Mindbender 1/Hoardstealer 3/TRoO 10|12.0|14.25|9|11.75

8th|Tia|Changeling|Rogue 2/Divine Bard 8/TRoO 10|11.5|10.5|9|10.33

9th|Unnamed|Tiefling|Rogue 6/Disciple of Mammon 7/TRoO 7|9.0|11.5|8|9.5

10th|Durbein|Desert Dwarf|Paladin 3/Master Inquisitive 2/TRoO 10/Deepwarden 5|10.0|10.25|8|9.416

11th|Aasterinian|Silverbrow Human|Swordsage 4/Barbarian 3/Ranger 3/TRoO 10|11.5|9.0|7|9.167[/table]

Oh, and a note to gbprime: in reference to Theodore and Practiced Spellcaster, it has a clause that says it has to be applied to different classes, so it can't be stacked on the same class.

[Amphetryon]

Note for Cieyrin:

Something I'd like to bring to the attention of one of the judges:

Cieyrin marked off my build (Dolus) half a point for using Charisma instead of Wisdom in my spells per day table. But I didn't, or my spells per day would be a lot higher

In other news, I'll be out of town until about 3 hours after our traditional reveal time.

[Cieyrin]

Note for Cieyrin.

If Dolus didn't use Charisma, I have no idea how the spells per day were generated, as Wis 14 does not give that many spells per day as the build suggests. Going by the Charisma score perfectly fits the spells per day, hence why I went by that assumption and thus the deduction. Look at the bonus spells from ability scores table, 14 provides 1 bonus 1st and 2nd, 22 gets you 2 bonus 1st and 2nd levels, 1 bonus 3rd and 4th.

[OMG PONIES]

There's at least one other work-around.

Is our chairman pimping Dragon Magazine Compendium's Shaper of Form again? I'm AFB so I forget the specifics.

[Invader]

How often are there competitions like this or competitions in general for different things?

[Amphetryon]

Final Tally time! While I received other disputes, they would not have changed the final standings regardless of their merits. A big round of applause, as usual, for all contestants and judges.

Aundair Yannedge-Owens: Xodion - 1st place
Eglath: mattie_p - 2nd place
Sir Arminel Rayne: Xodion - 3rd place
Dolus Praedo: Yorrin
Star: Golden Ladybug - Honorable Mention
Sky Raider Zed: The Gilded Duke
Theodore Logan: Venger
Tia the Fox: Kuulheysoon
Unnamed: _flint_
Durbein Stoneknock: Toy Killer
Aasterinian's thief: Sgt. Cookie

Iron Chef Challenge in the Playground XXXIII will be up shortly.

[Venger]

congrats to eglath! I liked your build a lot.

[Amphetryon]

Tada (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243052).
Two posts ninja'd in between the contest announcement and the FAQ. :smallsigh:

[Golden Ladybug]

Whoo, I like getting mentions. Honourable ones are even better :smalltongue:

Anyway, congratulations to Xodion and mattie_p. Aundair, Elgath and Arminel were all very cool characters, and I really liked reading over them.

This was a pretty cool first Iron Chef, and I'm looking forward to the next one. Hopefully I'll talk more in that one.

[Menteith]

Tada (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243052).
Two posts ninja'd in between the contest announcement and the FAQ. :smallsigh:

Sorry : (. I get excited....

[Xodion]

Wow, I was hoping for one, but getting two trophies? Thanks to the judges :smallbiggrin:. I'm surprised Aundair won so hard, he was actually more of a joke build - I genuinely expected some more Indiana Jones style builds. Well done to everyone, though, we got an amazing amount of variety out of what seemed like a very restricting class.

To the next round!

[Aeryr]

Is our chairman pimping Dragon Magazine Compendium's Shaper of Form again? I'm AFB so I forget the specifics.

Already thought on that renaissance requires that the creature you are turning into doesn't have LA

[Venger]

Already thought on that renaissance requires that the creature you are turning into doesn't have LA

you are correct. whatever workarounds might exist, shaper of form is not one of them.

[mattie_p]

Hooray! 2nd place in my 2nd IC competition. I really enjoyed this one. A really tough one.

Master of many forms inspiration came very, very late into the competition, like 6 hours before submission time. I do have some questions for Cieyrin, but I'll pm them. Overall I am satisfied with the results, even if my questions had an impact on his judging I doubt it would bump me to first place.

Looking forward to adding a trophy to my sig, and looking forward to the next competition!

EDIT: there are to be trophies, right?

[Cieyrin]

I do have some questions for Cieyrin, but I'll pm them. Overall I am satisfied with the results, even if my questions had an impact on his judging I doubt it would bump me to first place.

I'll be happy to take any questions via PM, as my scorings did kinda squeak in in the last minute, from any contestant. This week is a bit crazy for me due to job interviews but I'll try to be timely.

[mattie_p]

I'll be happy to take any questions via PM, as my scorings did kinda squeak in in the last minute, from any contestant. This week is a bit crazy for me due to job interviews but I'll try to be timely.

OK, pm submitted. By the way, good luck with interviews. I wish you well in your search for a job.