Theoretical Anti-Optimization challenge!!!

[bobthedragon]

I'm bored so I'm submitting a challenge to the playground, what is the absolute worst level 20 character concept you can come up with?
For example:
Vow of Poverty Artificer 20/
Blind and Deaf Bard 10/ Seeker of the Song 10
Monk 20/ ( :smallbiggrin: )
Shadow(template) half dragon Human Paragon(epic template) ECL 20

[Twilightwyrm]

Vow of Poverty Commoner 20, no traits or flaws, comes to mind.

[Zaq]

A spellcaster without the requisite stat to cast their spells is always a classic. The 8 INT Wizard and what have you. Of course, an 8 INT Wizard still has a better Will save than a Commoner, so you could also just be a (non-Chicken-Infested) Commoner and call it a day.

Then you get builds with minimum CON, the Quick trait, and the Frail flaw, ending up with 0 max HP, so any action you take will knock you down to negatives and possibly make you bleed out.

[bobthedragon]

the 0 Max HP idea is brilliant :smallbiggrin:
I think I'm going to compile a list and pitch them to my DM as character proposals.

Might as well make the wizard a half ogre(-2 int) gully dwarf(-4 int) with the pathetic flaw (-2 int)

[Divide by Zero]

Frenzied Berserker/Apostle of Peace

[sideswipe]

Vow of Poverty Commoner 20, no traits or flaws, comes to mind.

then again in low op VOP is top.....

[EisenKreutzer]

Multiclass Monk 10 / Commoner 10, then change alignment to chaotic.

[Divide by Zero]

Also, Anything/Risen Martyr. You can't multiclass, the capstone is permanent death, and the class features aren't even very good.

[sideswipe]

the 0 Max HP idea is brilliant :smallbiggrin:
I think I'm going to compile a list and pitch them to my DM as character proposals.

Might as well make the wizard a half ogre(-2 int) gully dwarf(-4 int) with the pathetic flaw (-2 int)

still do-able, start with an 18 and middle age for an overall int of 11. by the time you hit level 3 you do lose 2nd level spellcasting for a level but at level 4 you put +1 int, and can cast them. by the time you hit 5th level you can get items with your WBL to up int.

[bobthedragon]

Half ogre jermlaine(-6 Ch total) Fighter with Vow of poverty, vow of nonviolence, vow of peace. Put all Ability boosts from VoP into Str, Dex, Con.

Vow of Chastity Succubus/Incubus

Vow of Abstinence Drunken master

[bobthedragon]

quick, Gaunt, pathetic(con) venerable Jermlaine barbarian 20

[sideswipe]

Half ogre jermlaine(-6 Ch total) Fighter with Vow of poverty, vow of nonviolence, vow of peace. Put all Ability boosts from VoP into Str, Dex, Con.

it might not be high op but that can make a very decent build, either a punch-fu fighter that only deals non lethal damage to incapacitate foes for capture, or for a grapplemancer.

yes yes VOP is not the most optimal thing blah blah, but that character you mentioned is still viable in a low op game.

[Extra Anchovies]

Truenamer 19/Commoner 1. You don't even get Say My Name And I Am There. This build works best/worst without any ranks in truespeak.

ETA: For the race: Venerable non-dragonwrought Kobold.

[Kurald Galain]

Vow of Chastity Succubus/Incubus

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120814070606/torment/images/thumb/a/ad/Fall_from_Grace_full.jpg/250px-Fall_from_Grace_full.jpg

Grace says hello. (http://torment.wikia.com/wiki/Fall-from-Grace)

[Svata]

TN Paladin 10/AOP 10?

[Tvtyrant]

Commoner with 4 constitution and the frail flaw. 1 HP per level!

[Irk]

Commoner 20 with the Dead flaw.

[Gemini476]

Then you get builds with minimum CON, the Quick trait, and the Frail flaw, ending up with 0 max HP, so any action you take will knock you down to negatives and possibly make you bleed out.
Ah yes, Nup-Nup. Wasn't there some trickery involved that still let him act in some fashion despite all that?

[Extra Anchovies]

Ah yes, Nup-Nup. Wasn't there some trickery involved that still let him act in some fashion despite all that?

Well, you can still get in a single move action every turn without taking damage. And anything that gives fast healing would have you constantly falling down and getting back up again.

[Pan151]

Multiclass Monk 10 / Commoner 10, then change alignment to chaotic.

Changing alignment does nothing in that case...

[Thurbane]

Buomman Truenamer 20?

[Extra Anchovies]

Also, Anything/Risen Martyr. You can't multiclass, the capstone is permanent death, and the class features aren't even very good.

Well, you could do this, in an E6 game.

Race: White Dragonspawn Kobold
Starting Ability Scores (after racial adjustments): Str 8, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 17
Level 1: Monk 1; Favored, Primary Contact, Frail -> Nimbus of Light
Level 2: Sorcerer 1
Level 3: Sorcerer 2; Celestial Familiar
Level 4: Sorcerer 3; Ability Score Increase (Charisma)
Level 5: Sorcerer 4/Risen Martyr 0
Level 6: Risen Martyr 1; Ascetic Mage
Final Ability Scores: Str 8, Dex 16, Con —, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 20
Sometime before sixth level, take the Draconic Rite of Passage. Take Draconic Reservoir as your next feat after sixth level. Undergo the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage to get your third level spells.
Thanks to Ascetic Mage and Risen Martyr, you get (1 untyped + Cha untyped + Cha deflection) added to your AC, for an AC of 32 [Dex +3, Natural +8, Untyped +6, Deflection +5] (touch 24, flat-footed 32). Before magic items.

You cast as a sixth-level sorcerer. All of your hit dice are d12s, for 42 hit points (too bad you can't get Cha to HP, that would be 72). Because you're of the Deathless type, you're immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, and mind-affecting spells and abilities, as well as critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, ability damage, fatigue, exhaustion, and anything that requires a Fortitude save that doesn't also affect objects.

Until 6th level, you're essentially just a sorcerer with slightly better defenses, but once you hit sixth level you're probably more of a tank than the party tank. And since it's E6, you don't ever have to take another level of Risen Martyr.

[Spore]

Isn't the worst PC the one that foils the party's plan on every turn by actively failing at everything rather than a comatose commoner?

[Jack_Simth]

the 0 Max HP idea is brilliant :smallbiggrin:
You can get that lower.

Minimum Con (8, on point buy).
Race with a Con penalty (Elf, say, for -2)
Venerable (-6)
- Aging can't reduce a stat below 1, so that gives you a Con of 1. Take any class with a d4 hit die (Wizard, Sorcerer, Commoner, whatever) and your -5 HP/level ensures you're hitting the minimum of 1 hp/level regardless of the roll. Add the Quick Trait, and you're at 0 HP/level: That's your max.


Many of the Draconic Grafts in Races of the Dragon permanently reduce your HP. Buffeting Wings lose you 8 HP, Dragonbone Legs lose you 4, Dragonheart Presence loses you 4, Frightful Crest removes 6, Glaring Eye removes 2, Gleaming Scales removes 4, Metabolic Fire removes 6, Resilient Scales removes 6, Smashing Tail removes 4, and Taloned Arm removes 2. Sure, you can only have 5 of them, but if you combine max 0 with a few of those, you can get a max HP of something like -30 (Buffeting Wings, Frightful Crest, Metabolic Fire, Resilient Scales, and Dragonbone Legs).

If someone slips a +6 Con item on you, your Con penalty changes to -2. If you rolled all 4's on your hit dice, you'll have at most 20 HP... before the -30 in Grafts, still leaving you at -10 and dead.

It's really hard to get you on your feet as you (Draconic Grafts can only be removed from a LIVE specimen, but resurrect with the target).

[Silva Stormrage]

Isn't the worst PC the one that foils the party's plan on every turn by actively failing at everything rather than a comatose commoner?

Are there any debuff auras that only affect allies or ways you can get a negative bardic music modifier?

Unseelie Fey's Winter Aura (-Cha on Saves) only works on living non fey. So in a party of living humans in a campaign against only undead constructs and fey and it will be more detrimental than good.

Edit: Or rerolls. Whenever an ally succeeds on a roll make him reroll it :smalltongue:

[Friv]

I feel like you could get a lot of mileage out of ridiculous ECL and template-stacking to create some bizarre 1 HD creature at Level 20.

I can't imagine that a sanctified half-dragon half-fiendish phrenic voidmind tauric goblin saint who's also a Level 1 commoner would be able to actually do much.

*EDIT* Although if we're going by messing the party up, having a ghost in the party with a horrific appearance and their Charisma dialed up to crazy degrees would just slowly murder anyone who tried to travel with them.

[Gemini476]

You can get that lower.

Minimum Con (8, on point buy).
Race with a Con penalty (Elf, say, for -2)
Venerable (-6)
- Aging can't reduce a stat below 1, so that gives you a Con of 1. Take any class with a d4 hit die (Wizard, Sorcerer, Commoner, whatever) and your -5 HP/level ensures you're hitting the minimum of 1 hp/level regardless of the roll. Add the Quick Trait, and you're at 0 HP/level: That's your max.


Many of the Draconic Grafts in Races of the Dragon permanently reduce your HP. Buffeting Wings lose you 8 HP, Dragonbone Legs lose you 4, Dragonheart Presence loses you 4, Frightful Crest removes 6, Glaring Eye removes 2, Gleaming Scales removes 4, Metabolic Fire removes 6, Resilient Scales removes 6, Smashing Tail removes 4, and Taloned Arm removes 2. Sure, you can only have 5 of them, but if you combine max 0 with a few of those, you can get a max HP of something like -30 (Buffeting Wings, Frightful Crest, Metabolic Fire, Resilient Scales, and Dragonbone Legs).

If someone slips a +6 Con item on you, your Con penalty changes to -2. If you rolled all 4's on your hit dice, you'll have at most 20 HP... before the -30 in Grafts, still leaving you at -10 and dead.

It's really hard to get you on your feet as you (Draconic Grafts can only be removed from a LIVE specimen, but resurrect with the target).

If you're a Kobold, you could undergo one of the Draconic Rites of Passage to lose a hit point, IIRC.

I think there's some more things like that as well.

You could then also have some item that gives you +11 temporary HP or whatever so that you can waddle around at 0 hp until you take it off and die instantly.