President of Smack build? [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Darrin

2015-06-27, 06:44 PM

Found it.

https://web.archive.org/web/20090708052833/http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-519517

I'm afraid the time has come for LordShade's build (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=227556) to be outdone.

Necessary Elements

Girallon Arms
This totemist soulmeld can be found on p. 68 of Magic of Incarnum. The key here is the arms chakra bind, which grants you an effective rend attack. You latch onto your enemy's body and tear the flesh for double claw damage, including double your strength bonus. This can be used with claws gained from any source.

Claws of the Beast
This psionic power can be found on pages 83-84 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook. It grants you two claw attacks, the base damage of which can be augmented by spending more power points.

Multiple full attacks through the Shadow Pounce ability (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=444438)
See DisposableHero's thread for all the details - I'm specifically using the powers Dimension Shift and Inconstant Location along with the Crinti Shadow Marauder PrC.

Other things that help are:
Open Chakra, Psionic - this 4th level psionic power from Magic of Incarnum will allow a multiclassed manifester/meldshaper much quicker access to chakra binds possibly not open to them otherwise. Vital in my build for opening up the arms chakra.
Midnight Augmentation - very useful and flexible feat from Magic of Incarnum; can be applied to Open Chakra to get you even faster access to the augment-required chakra binds, or to Dimension Shift to drastically reduce the move-action augment cost (I like a move-action teleportation effect for only 6 pp, it would be 7 pp with my build though), or used to squeeze one more level out of your augmentation cap for Claws of the Beast.
Claws of the Vampire - Also from the Expanded Psionics Handbook, a very useful power that will heal you as your claws deal damage. I'm unsure if RAW allows you to heal from the rend attacks of Girallon Arms with this power. It's fuzzy but seems to favor that interpretation. This might be less useful to the President than it did the original King, as the ambush tactics the President prefers (in my build anyways) won't give foes much of any chance to hit back. Optional but useful.
Illithid Slayer - You know, that prestige class from the Expanded Psionics Handbook that is the meat and bones to many a psygish build.

The Possible Build
Human
Totemist - Track, Mounted Combat
Totemist
Telepath - Overchannel, Stealthy
Telepath
Telepath
Telepath - Expanded Knowledge (Expansion)
Telepath - Midnight Augmentation
Telepath
Illithid Slayer - Improved Natural Attack (claws)
From here on acquire 5 more levels of Crinti Shadow Marauder as soon as you qualify for the PrC (just the skills, you have all the feats), and as many more levels of Illithid Slayer as you can manage. The feats you will want to grab next are Expanded Knowledge (Claws of the Beast), Expanded Knowledge (Dimension Shift), Expanded Knowledge (Claws of the Vampire). A 20th level build should look like:
Totemist2/Telepath6/Crinti Shadow Marauder5/Illithid Slayer7
BAB +16, ML 12
Important Powers: Inconstant Location, Schism, Dimension Shift, Expansion, Claws of the Beast, Psionic Open Chakra. At the early levels Offensive Precognition might help you hit things. Vigor can buffer you from your Overchannel problems.
If you're playing with fractional BAB, drop one level of Telepath for one more level of Illithid Slayer. This will speed up your entry into Illithid Slayer nicely, and increase your final BAB by 1.

The Combat Advantages and Disadvantages
You're probably thinking "Huh? This guy can't fully augment Claws of the Beast, has no Warshaper levels? Can multipouncing hold up to the extra attacks from Rapidstrike, and won't the KoS still do more damage?"
Allow me to explain. The President of Smack is only three size categories behind LordShade's KoS. Every morning he uses Midnight Augmentation (-1 to augment cost) and Overchannel (+2 to ML) to get the 15 pp Claws (4d6 base). Expansion ups this to 8d6, I.N.A. to 12d6. Prez is only a size category behind the King with Warshaper levels, who is operating at 16d6 (we'll leave out the ring and potential Polymorph abuse for the moment). Yes, that's half the damage, I know. Bear with me.
If the Prez does only two full attacks a round (extremely easy with Inconstant Location), he can make the equivalent of 8 claw hits: 4 from actual attacks, and two double claw damage rends. All the actual attacks are made at your full attack bonus, without Rapidstrike's penalty - considerably more accurate. That leaves the Prez a little ahead assuming all the King's attacks hit - King's 96d6 + 6xStr vs. the president's 96d6 + 8xStr.
But wait! The Prez can pull 3 full attacks in a round if he's willing to burn the pps on Dimension Shift and augments, or 4 if he's got Schism up (that's why the Telepath choice). May I introduce you to the Prez's 4 full attacks with rends in a round, the Nova With Sharp Edges, a whopping 192d6 +16xStr. Sure the Prez can't do it all day, but the King has his own stamina problems too (unless you're talking the psion build, who takes a while to get into things).
Last Note: Hasting the King gets one extra claw attack a round. Hasting the Prez gets 2 to 4, assuming those odd claws don't trigger rends.
Thanks to Chaos for the correction on the claw size increase. Thanks to DisposableHero for pointing out the Blink Shirt (although some clarification from WotC on the 'missing parts' of MoI would be nice; the Necrocarnate has some typoes too).

Dispelling Issues
Dispelling is as big a problem for the Prez as it is for the King. He can't afford Dispelling Buffer and the ML isn't too high. A proper dispel will cook his claws, temporarily undo his soulmeld and even unbind his arms chakra - waste of pps, and death in the middle of combat.
The answer? Best defense is a good offense. Due to the range-fixing and obstacle-overcoming nature of Shadow Pounce, the Prez provides an incredibly strong offense to make up for his lack of ML. A little Sudden Strike doesn't hurt for ambushes. The Prez is entirely capable of ending combats within the surprise round alone, and if that looks unlikely, settle for only 3 full attacks in a round and use your 4th teleport to vanish away. Your astounded victims will be wondering what turned their party members into sushi when you shred them again next round.

The Early Game
The Prez is considerably stronger at the low levels than the King. In case you're wondering, I put EK Expansion in the build before EK CotB so that you could bind Girallon Arms to your totem chakra for four claw attacks, then Expand and boost that damage. That's very nice at the low-to-mid levels.

Why Not Elan?
Simple answer: too feat-hungry. If you're willing to wait until Epic to get this stunt done, might as well just buy a Polymorph Any Object to become an Elan and get the Abberation type.
That said, you can trade out Multipouncing for Rapidstrike if you want. Perhaps Totemist2/Psion5-6/IS8-9/Sanctified Mind4, depending on whether or not fractional BAB is used. We could call it the Prime Minister of Smack. The text on Girallon Arms seems to indicate you only get one rend per single target per full attack (so attack your foes in triplets). It's a more stable and defensive build than the Prez, with more pps and Dispelling Buffer being an option.

Going Epic
Epic is good for the Prez - he has a lot to look forward to. E.K.-ing Dispelling Buffer, upping his ML and pp pool, increasing his essentia capacity and maybe grabbing Bonus Essentia. Since all the extreme abuse available to the King is also an option for the Prez (polymorphing into a humungous form, grabbing that ring that increases natural weapon size category, maybe an Amulet of Natural Attacks keyed to claws with Vengeful Healing on it...) it all looks good. Going even further into Totemist for a chakra bind for the Totem Avatar is a definite option - the shoulders bind is another size increase. Warshaper levels are likewise an option. Of course, nothing's stopping the King from going into Totemist and Crinti Shadow Marauder when he goes epic. What would we call the conglomerate incredibly powerful Epic build? The Emperor of Smack?

Anyway, I hope you all know who you want to elect for President. Any feedback for improving the Prez would be appreciated. :)

Also, there's the Tashalatora God of Smack by WyvernSlayer:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090708054529/http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-883674

Half Giant Insane Tashalotora of Smack

Monk2/Pw10/Warshaper1/SM6/Pw1

1: TWF Monk1: Monastic Training pw
Monk2: Combat Reflexes
3: OTWF PW1: Ex Wpn Prof- Heavy Gauntlets
PW2: Mantled Warrior- Natural Mantle

6: Tashalatora
PW5: Superior Unarmed Strike

9: Practiced Manifester
PW8: Don Mantle

12: Iron Will
WS1: Morphic Weapons

15: ITWF

PW11: Robillar's Gambit
18: GTWF

Necessary Powers

1: Expansion
1: Offensive Precognition
2: Psionic Lion's Charge
3: Vampiric X
4: Metamorphosis
5: Anticipatory Strike
6: Dispelling Buffer

I really was interested in putting together something that could make good use of the Tashalatora feat from Secrets of Sarlona. 3.0 had an interesting array of Psychic Warriors that actually were unarmed fighters. That disappeared in version 3.5 without resorting to Claws of the Beast and whatnot. This version as listed is pretty reasonable, getting

20d8+Con Mod HP
BAB:15
Fort: 15
Refl: 8
Will: 13 (11+2 Iron Will)
20th manifester level with Practiced Manifester (17th without)
6th Level powers known (1)
20th Level Monk Unarmed, Flurry, and AC bonus with a Monk's Belt (shoring up two levels).
Evasion.
Powerful Build.

This design assumes a few things: Unearthed Arcana level adjust buyout for one level, using a Monk's Belt, a Fanged Ring, Vampiric Weapon Power (liberties taken depending on GM, independent research), and *keen, Impact ?* Body Feeder, or various other healing per hit enchant/spells/powers.

You can net the same numbers with Human and Monkey Grip feat.

This is the more offensive version I had in mind, utilizing the TWF tree to net extra attacks. The reason for this is that the build implements Heavy Gauntlets, and you are unable to Flurry with them. Redundant... to a point...>8D. We'll get to that later though. This build is all about maxing out that juicy 2d10 Base Unarmed Damage you get at Monk 20th. I'll cut to the chase-

Unarmed Damage at Monk 20: 2d10
Improved Natural Attack/Fanged Ring: 4d8
Powerful Build, Gauntlets: 6d8
Heavy Gauntlets: 8d8
Polymorph Large: 12d8
Polymorph Huge: 16d8
Expansion 1: 24d8
Expansion2: 32d8
Morphic Weapons: 48d8

6d8 +Str Mod base damage in antimagic zones.

This is the base, here are the bonus points:

Mighty Wallop- Learn this Via research or get it on an Item. It's +1 Size Category on a bludgeoning weapon. 64d8
Sharptooth- standard, sorc/wiz4, 1round/lvl research or item. 96 d8
Earth Hammer- swift, cleric 5, 1 round/lvl research or item. 128d8

Figure in Haste item, and you are swinging for 128d8 + STR Mod x7 and additionals every round, or 896d8. Flurry is Possible with 64d8 x9 swings per round barring the use of the Heavy Gauntlets, or 576d8.

This doesn't count anything you get from Robillar's Gambit.

You heal, and/or gain ridiculous hp's and thp's all the time.

MK2, PW5, IS9, WS1, PW3

This nets you 16 BAB, and access to one 6th level power, as well as 20th manifesting.

1: Track
1: Dodge Monk1: Monastic Training
PW1: Tashalatora
3: Combat Expertise PW2: Natural Mantle
Monk2: Combat Reflexes
6: Improved Natural Attack
PW5: Karmic Strike
9: Superior Unarmed Strike

12: Don Mantle

15: Practiced Manifester

18: Robillar's Gambit
PW8- Greater TWF

Feat Layout here is designed to handle incoming foes, allowing you to make use of both Karmic Strike and Robillar's Gambit, as opposed to the straight away attacking method of the prior build. Just take the TWF tree to gain 128d8x8 per round, or 1024d8.

Kalishtar

MK2/PW5/IS9/WS1/PW3

1: TWF Monk1: Monastic Training
PW1: Tashalatora
3: OTWF PW2: Exotic Weapon Proficiency Heavy Gauntlets
Monk2: Combat Reflexes
6: Improved Natural Attack
PW5: Superior Unarmed Strike
9: Monkey Grip

12: Practiced Manifester

15: Expanded Knowledge- Metamorphosis

18: Improved TWF

PW8: GTWF

Finishes with 16 BAB, nets 10 Attacks per Round counting Haste.

2d10
4d8 imp nat atk
Poly Huge 8d8
Exp2 16d8
WS1 24d8
Ectoplasmic Fist Shard 32d8
Larger Sized Heavy Gauntlets 48d8, 64d8
Sharptooth item, research, 96d8
Earth Hammer, item, research, 128 d8
MIghty Wallop, item, research, 192 d8

You get 192d8x8/per round damage with this setup (1536d8). You can lose Improved Natural Attack and use a Fanged Ring to free up Room for robillar's Gambit later on. Especially if Psychic Reformation is an option, or retraining.

For you old King of Smack Fans I believe his damage caps out at 96d6, and he stops at 7 swings. He's also pretty useless in anti-magic, as most things are.

5d6 claws
6d6 Improved Natural Attack
Poly Huge 12d6
Expansion2, 24d6
Morphic Weapon 32d6

Sharptooth item 48 d6
Earth Hammer item 64 d6
Mighty Wallop item 96d6

That's 96d6 7x per/round or 672d6 per/round.

The Old Prime Minister of Smack would get

8d6 base claw after Exp 2, and Impr Nat Atk
Sharptooth12d6
Earth Hammer 16d6
Mighty Wallop 24d6

24d6 , not counting rend per swing, or 24d6 per full attack without rend (per full attack), or 24d6x4 full attacks (maximum output nova) per round or 96d6. if you give it another full attack, which is possible, you get 120d6.

I hope you enjoy the Tashalatoran God of Smack, for all unarmed fans out there. I've been dying to get my hands on a good unarmed psychic fighter in version 3.5 that wasn't claw based. This boy holds up even in antimagic, and still performs admirabley with minimum item investment.

I'll see if we can add these to the list of Famous Optimized Character Builds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?258580).