Jormengand
2015-07-08, 06:16 PM
What am I doing to myself? What I'm doing is making a disciple of the word. Full ten levels of disciple of the word. And optimising it. Yeah. This is a thing. Please, someone, help me.
Okay, let's run down the Disciple of the Word. It's a class which tries to theurge Monk and Truenamer and doesn't advance truespeak, or half the monk's stuff, either. Also, all its class features are terrible except two of them, and they're the last two. Its sole saving grace is that it's badly written and therefore gives you Stunning Fist uses as though it were a monk, and then more as though it weren't (Unless you're not a monk, in which case it only gives them as though it were a monk). So 8 levels of it gives you 10 SF uses, not 8. I'm not complaining. Oh, and actually the prerequisites all being things you wanted anyway is pretty neat. It can be entered at fifth level for no good reason, but we're not actually going to do that.
Let's have a closer look before we work out what we're doing with this thing.
Entry requirements: Like I said, this is easy enough. Base Attack bonus of 4 is the rate determining step of this reaction, with Any Lawful being something we were gonna do anyway, and Truespeak 4, IUAS (Which is free) and Stunning Fist (Which is free and we need it to use all our class features anyway).
Class skills are decent. We can skip the Truename Training feat and simply not put any ranks in truespeak for our monk levels, and then put them in on our first DotW level. This means we'll have an extra skill on our monk levels and lose out on all our skills on our DotW level, but whatever, that's okay. The real kicker is that it shares barely any class skills with either truenamer or monk, which - as you will see, makes for an utter mess of skills later.
Known Personal Truename you already have, and Monk Abilities advances some of your monk stuff. It both does and doesn't alter your FoB penalty, but I'm gonna assume it does.
Word of Movement Sublime is a Stunning Fist and a swift action to use Truespeak instead of Jump, Balance or Tumble. Honestly, that's just something you keep in your back pocket in case you want to jump stupidly high. But thanks, I guess, DotW?
Word of Stance Unyielding is the same deal to prevent trips, bull rushes, and disarms. Disarm me of what, my fists?
Health Restored is like a bad Lay on Hands that can only be used on you. That said, even if you only ever use your Stunning Fists on that, you do restore level^2 * 2 hit points - and it's character level, not DotW level. The trouble is, it's a full action. But oh well.
Movement Perfected is literally Speed of the Zephyr, only somehow worse. Good job.
Reflexes Exalted is Movement Sublime/Stance Unyielding for reflex. For fortitude or will might have been nice (It's basically an auto-pass) but for reflex? Ehh, sometimes useful.
Strike Unstoppable is Ki strike only it requires a Stunning Fist and a truespeak check, but will affect anything up to epic. No word on how this works on things not on the list.
Word of the Fist Unraveling is like Reversed Spell Rebirth, only you get it way, way later, and it costs SFs. Wow.
Word of Harm Avoided can only be used 1/day and needs a SF use, but allows you to dodge one melee attack as an immediate action (with reminder text just in case you didn't know what one of them was) but can't prevent unusually large weapons (2+ sizes bigger than you) or spell effects. I can see possibly wanting to use this on an ubercharger to ruin his day, but really?
Word of Mystic Deflection. My saviour. Counters a spell that only targets you, and no-one else, as an immediate action. That's quite handy. Needs an SF use and a truespeak check, but what doesn't? Also, you're going Truespeak vs CL, you're gonna win.
Word of Speed Unfettered. My other saviour. Why? Okay, it allows you to take a move action right away. The example of what this might let you do is move and full attack in the same turn - pretty neat, given your high movement speed. But, this ability is far, far meaner than it gives itself credit for. Why? Because it's not a swift action, it's an immediate action. You wanna fireball me? Nope, I'm outta here. You're going to charge my friend? You, my good sir, just wasted your full action. This is a pretty sweet capstone, it just doesn't know it yet.
Multiclass note. I can keep monking afterwards. Cool.
Now that we know better than we really ought to about what we're getting into, let's get building. We'll go 32 point buy. Illumian (RoD) is my choice of race most of the time, but Lesser Tiefling doesn't seem so bad here. Funny as anthrobat would be, I'm not sure it'd be that useful with the strength penalty. Let's go 14/14/12/16/14/8 which will immediately bump to 14/16/12/18/14/6. So, everyone hates our character already. Sweet.
So I guess our first port of call is to take two Truenamer levels, then four monk levels? Four truenamer and two monk? Ugh, normally I'd take Truenamer over Monk, but DotW doesn't actually advance truenamer levels at all. So let's start with Truenamer 2/Monk 4/Disciple of the Word 10/Monk 4 as our plan. Aww yiss.
Now, feats. Feats get interesting. We get IUAS, Stunning Fist, Deflect arrows, and, oh, let's say Improved Disarm as bonus feats. Although we don't get the Improved Disarm for ages. Oh well. Monks, by the way, might not be proficient in their own unarmed strikes but Truenamers are, so let's have none of that.
Now, Word Given Form is an ability that anyone, anywhere, who has Truespeak 12, Tumble 12, Combat Expertise, Dodge, IUAS, Mobility and Spring Attack just simply gets. They don't need to spend another feat or skill points, they just get it. But what could be worth such a horrific feat tax? Total Concealment. That's what. You can select a new dodge target on any action, and word given form also gives you total concealment against them. Given that you can talk as a free action even when it's not your turn, you can just mumble under your breath to declare a new dodge, and then bam, instant tower shield, I mean, word given form. That means that the target of your dodge cannot attack you. This is hilariously powerful. And worse, "Attack" includes any spell that could possibly harm you, although that doesn't stop them fireballing you - Word of Speed Unfettered does. You know what's even more horrid? The icing on the cake is the fact that there is only one ability, to my knowledge, in the entire game that can actually get past your ability, and it's Archer's Eye. You're welcome. And one last thing? You can use that total concealment you have to hide. HiPS can suck it. Seriously, I think that they just accidentally put one of the most powerful abilities that no-one realised existed into the game, and the fact that it costs most of your feats is a price I'm willing to pay for something that overpowered.
So, now that we realise that your most powerful ability isn't a class feature, an utterance, or even a feat, we get to see just what a dire situation this is. But at least it is a powerful ability.
Anyway, feats. We just sank 4 on that, and that leaves us with 3 left. You're taking Item Familiar. It's just a thing that's happening. You need those Truespeak bonuses. Taking a feat to give you a third utterance is... tempting. That said, there's not a lot you want. Archer's Eye is powerful against you, but not actually useful for you (You already have Deflect arrows, so there's less point having Protection From them by reversing it), Hidden Truth is fun for truenamers but you're not really a truenamer, Perceive the Unseen is like a bad version of Word Given Form, Silent Caster doesn't last long enough to be useful, Speed of the Zephyr you might want but can kinda do anyway, Strike of Might just deals 10 damage or prevents 5, unless you use it to CdG, Temporal Twist is only useful if you can quicken it which you can't, and we're not desperate enough to take Lesser Word of Nurturing; Fortify Armour and Keen Weapon are both useless because we don't have armour or weapons; Fog from the Void is a pretty useful escape but might not be worth the feat, Shield of the Landscape and Shockwave are bad). But, it's a bit difficult to find anything better to do with our time so, what the hell, Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the Void) it is. I guess we take Improved Initiative at some point so that we can get to declare our dodge faster.
So our feat line-up is Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Deflect Arrows, Improved Disarm as bonus and Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, Item Familiar, Improved Initiative, Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the Void). That doesn't even look good. Yeuch. Okay, fine, we can handle this. Ayup.
Right, we brought this upon ourselves. Let's get it over with.
Desiplava Ward, LE Female Tiefling Truenamer 2/Monk 8/Disciple of the Word 10
Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features
1st
TrN 1
+0
+1
+3
+4
Concentration 4, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 4, Profession (Rudisplorker) 4, Truespeak 4
Dodge
Known Personal Truename, Lesser Word of Nurturing
2nd
TrN 2
+1
+1
+3
+5
Concentration 5, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Profession (Rudisplorker) 5, Truespeak 5
-
Knowledge Focus (Arcana), Universal Aptitude
3rd
TrN 2/Mnk 1
+1
+3
+5
+7
Concentration 6, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Profession (Rudisplorker) 6, Truespeak 5, Tumble 6
Mobility, IUAS, Stunning Fist
FoB, UAS
4th
TrN 2/Mnk 2
+2
+4
+6
+8
Concentration 7, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Profession (Rudisplorker) 7, Spot 5, Truespeak 5, Tumble 7
Deflect Arrows
Evasion
5th
TrN 2/Mnk 3
+3
+4
+6
+8
Concentration 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 2 Profession (Rudisplorker) 8, Spot 8, Truespeak 5, Tumble 8
-
Fast Movement, Still Mind
6th
TrN 2/Mnk 4
+4
+5
+7
+9
Concentration 9, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6 Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 5, Tumble 9
Spring Attack
Ki Strike (Magic), Slow fall 20ft
7th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 1
+4
+7
+9
+11
Concentration 10, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 1, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 10, Tumble 10
-
Word of Movement Sublime
8th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 2
+5
+8
+10
+12
Concentration 11, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 11, Tumble 11
-
Word of the Stance Unyielding
9th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 3
+6
+8
+10
+12
Concentration 12, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 11, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 12, Tumble 12
Combat Expertise
Word of Health Restored
10th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 4
+7
+9
+11
+13
Climb 3, Concentration 13, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 13, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 13, Tumble 13
-
Word of Movement Perfected
11th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 5
+7
+9
+11
+13
Climb 7, Concentration 14, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 14, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 14, Tumble 14
-
Word of Reflexes Exalted.
12th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 6
+8
+10
+12
+14
Climb 11, Concentration 15, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 15, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 15, Tumble 15
Item Familiar
Word of the Strike Unstoppable
13th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 7
+9
+10
+12
+14
Climb 15, Concentration 16, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 16, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 16, Tumble 16
-
Word of the Fist Unraveling
14th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 8
+10
+11
+13
+15
Climb 17, Concentration 17, Escape Artist 2, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 17, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 17, Tumble 17
-
Word of Harm Avoided
15th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 9
+10
+11
+13
+15
Climb 18, Concentration 18, Escape Artist 5, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 18, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 18, Tumble 18
Improved Initiative
Word of Mystic Deflection
16th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 10
+11
+12
+14
+16
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 19, Tumble 19
-
Word of Speed Unfettered
17th
TrN 2/Mnk 5/DoW 10
+11
+12
+14
+16
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 15, Truespeak 20, Tumble 20
-
Purity of Body
18th
TrN 2/Mnk 6/DoW 10
+12
+13
+15
+17
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 21, Truespeak 21, Tumble 21
Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the void), Improved Disarm
Slow Fall 30 ft
19th
TrN 2/Mnk 7/DoW 10
+13
+13
+15
+17
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 11, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 22, Truespeak 22, Tumble 22
-
Wholeness of Body
20th
TrN 2/Mnk 8/DoW 10
+14
+14
+16
+18
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 16, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 23, Truespeak 23, Tumble 23
-
Slow Fall 40 feet.
Desiplava Ward, Aspiring Champion
Size/Type: Humanoid (Planetouched)
Hit Dice: 2d6+3d8+4 (27 HP)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armour Class: 14 (2 Dex, 2 Wis) Touch: 14 Flat Footed: 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5
Attack: Unarmed Strike +5 1d6+2
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +5 1d6+2 or Flurry of Blows +3/+3 1d6+2
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, Universal Aptitude, Word of Nurturing
Special Qualities: Known Personal Truename, Still Mind
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +8
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Concentration +9, Knowledge (Arcana) +12, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +9, Knowledge (Nature) +9, Knowledge (Religion) +9, Knowledge (The Planes) +9, Listen +4 Profession (Rudisplorker) +10, Spot +10, Truespeak +9, Tumble +11
Feats: Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Stunning Fist,
Alignment: Lawful evil
Advancement: By Character Class
Level Adjustment: 0
At this point, Desiplava is a bit awful. She can utter easily enough with an amulet of the silver tongue and a masterwork tool, and 2d6+4 damage will hurt - it's just a pity that the average fighter will do more in a single swing. Oh well. We're just getting warmed up, and anyway, it's not as though that obscenely long list of skills and 3/day Stunning Fist is going to hurt us too much. She might want to wear bracers of armour, too.
Desiplava Ward, Disciple of the Win
Size/Type: Humanoid (Planetouched)
Hit Dice: 2d6+8d8+10 (55 HP)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 50 ft (10 squares)
Armour Class: 14 (2 Dex, 2 Wis 1 Monk) Touch: 15 Flat Footed: 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+9
Attack: Unarmed Strike +9 1d10+2
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +9/+4 1d10+2 or Flurry of Blows +8/+8/+3 1d10+2
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of Blows, Ki Strike (Magic), Unarmed Strike, Universal Aptitude, Word of Nurturing
Special Qualities: Known Personal Truename, Slow Fall (20 ft), Still Mind, Word of Health Restored, Word of Movement Perfected, Word of Movement Sublime, Word of Reflexes Exalted, Word of the Stance Unyielding, Word of the Strike Unstoppable
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +13
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +5, Concentration +14, Knowledge (Arcana) +13, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +10, Knowledge (Nature) +10, Knowledge (Religion) +10, Knowledge (The Planes) +10, Listen +8, Move Silently +16, Profession (Rudisplorker) +11, Spot +11, Truespeak +18, Tumble +16
Feats: Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Stunning Fist,
Alignment: Lawful evil
Advancement: By Character Class
Level Adjustment: 0
Right, so this is how the average combat with Desiplava will pan out.
Fighter McFighterton: Aha! I see you, vile monk! Your fists are no match for my blade!
Desiplava Ward: I DECLARE MY DODGE ON YOU! (http://www.goblinscomic.org/02042006/)
Fighter McFighterson: Oh my god, where did she go? How did she do that? She was there, and now she's gone! I suppose she could be exactly where she was a moment ago... but oh, that's just too crazy, she's gotta be somewhere else! (https://youtu.be/mQHCEUvc4Q0?t=15m19s)
Desiplava: *Punch punch kick whack pow*
Fighter: Hmm, where could these mysterious kicks and punches be coming from? I just don't know; I just don't know at all. *Dies*.
Stick a monk's belt on her to up her to 2d6 per whack, knock her AC up by one, and give her another Stunning Fist, and you're golden.
I might do the level 15 and 20 statblocks later, but the pertinent details are that by level 16, she can ignore single-target spells and just walk out of area spells before they can hit her. You're welcome.
EDIT:
Okay, this is what I've come up with:
Equipment: Belt of Giant Strength +6 (36,000 GP), Boots of Teleportation (49,000 GP), Bracers of Armour +8 (64,000 GP), Gloves of Dexterity +6 (36,000 GP) Headband of Intellect +6 (36,000 GP), Monk's Tattoo (80,000 GP), Necklace of Natural Weapons (Throwing Returning Wounding Speed Ghost Touch Shock +1) (200,600 GP), Ring of Permanent Greater Mighty Wallop CL 16 (96,000 GP), Ring of Truespeak Competence (10,000 GP), Vestments of the Silver Tongue (15,000 GP), Wings of Flying (54,000 GP).
That's not even all my money.
Desiplava Ward, Disciple of the Win
Size/Type: Humanoid (Planetouched)
Hit Dice: 2d6+18d8+20 (110 HP)
Initiative: +10
Speed: 100 ft (20 squares) Fly 60 ft (Good) (12 squares)
Armour Class: 29 (5 Dex, 2 Wis 4 Monk 8 Bracers of Armour) Touch: 21 Flat Footed: 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+19
Attack: Unarmed Strike Melee +20 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution or Unarmed Strike Ranged +21 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike Melee +20/+20/+20/+20/+15/+10 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution or Unarmed Strike Ranged +21/+21/+21/+21/+16/+11 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of Blows, Fog from the Void, Ki Strike (Magic), Stunning Fist (21/day) Unarmed Strike, Universal Aptitude, Word of Nurturing, Word of the Fist Unraveling, Word of the Strike Unstoppable
Special Qualities: Known Personal Truename, Purity of Body, Slow Fall (40 ft), Still Mind, Word Given Form mastery, Wholeness of Body Word of Harm Avoided, Word of Health Restored, Word of Movement Perfected, Word of Movement Sublime, Word of Mystic Deflection, Word of Reflexes Exalted, Word of Speed Unfettered, Word of the Stance Unyielding
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +19, Will +18
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 22, Con 12, Int 29, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +24, Concentration +20, Escape Artist +14, Knowledge (Arcana) +17, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +14, Knowledge (Nature) +14, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Knowledge (The Planes) +14, Listen +18, Move Silently +25, Profession (Rudisplorker) +11, Spot +25, Truespeak +68, Tumble +29
Feats: Combat Expertise, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Item Familiar, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Spring Attack, Stunning Fist, Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the void)
Alignment: Lawful evil
Advancement: By Character Class
Level Adjustment: 0
This isn't just a monk. This is an untargetable flying monk of doom and lightning and infinite fists and punching. Fear her, for she is Desiplava Ward!
Please feel free to add comments, suggestions, etc.
Okay, let's run down the Disciple of the Word. It's a class which tries to theurge Monk and Truenamer and doesn't advance truespeak, or half the monk's stuff, either. Also, all its class features are terrible except two of them, and they're the last two. Its sole saving grace is that it's badly written and therefore gives you Stunning Fist uses as though it were a monk, and then more as though it weren't (Unless you're not a monk, in which case it only gives them as though it were a monk). So 8 levels of it gives you 10 SF uses, not 8. I'm not complaining. Oh, and actually the prerequisites all being things you wanted anyway is pretty neat. It can be entered at fifth level for no good reason, but we're not actually going to do that.
Let's have a closer look before we work out what we're doing with this thing.
Entry requirements: Like I said, this is easy enough. Base Attack bonus of 4 is the rate determining step of this reaction, with Any Lawful being something we were gonna do anyway, and Truespeak 4, IUAS (Which is free) and Stunning Fist (Which is free and we need it to use all our class features anyway).
Class skills are decent. We can skip the Truename Training feat and simply not put any ranks in truespeak for our monk levels, and then put them in on our first DotW level. This means we'll have an extra skill on our monk levels and lose out on all our skills on our DotW level, but whatever, that's okay. The real kicker is that it shares barely any class skills with either truenamer or monk, which - as you will see, makes for an utter mess of skills later.
Known Personal Truename you already have, and Monk Abilities advances some of your monk stuff. It both does and doesn't alter your FoB penalty, but I'm gonna assume it does.
Word of Movement Sublime is a Stunning Fist and a swift action to use Truespeak instead of Jump, Balance or Tumble. Honestly, that's just something you keep in your back pocket in case you want to jump stupidly high. But thanks, I guess, DotW?
Word of Stance Unyielding is the same deal to prevent trips, bull rushes, and disarms. Disarm me of what, my fists?
Health Restored is like a bad Lay on Hands that can only be used on you. That said, even if you only ever use your Stunning Fists on that, you do restore level^2 * 2 hit points - and it's character level, not DotW level. The trouble is, it's a full action. But oh well.
Movement Perfected is literally Speed of the Zephyr, only somehow worse. Good job.
Reflexes Exalted is Movement Sublime/Stance Unyielding for reflex. For fortitude or will might have been nice (It's basically an auto-pass) but for reflex? Ehh, sometimes useful.
Strike Unstoppable is Ki strike only it requires a Stunning Fist and a truespeak check, but will affect anything up to epic. No word on how this works on things not on the list.
Word of the Fist Unraveling is like Reversed Spell Rebirth, only you get it way, way later, and it costs SFs. Wow.
Word of Harm Avoided can only be used 1/day and needs a SF use, but allows you to dodge one melee attack as an immediate action (with reminder text just in case you didn't know what one of them was) but can't prevent unusually large weapons (2+ sizes bigger than you) or spell effects. I can see possibly wanting to use this on an ubercharger to ruin his day, but really?
Word of Mystic Deflection. My saviour. Counters a spell that only targets you, and no-one else, as an immediate action. That's quite handy. Needs an SF use and a truespeak check, but what doesn't? Also, you're going Truespeak vs CL, you're gonna win.
Word of Speed Unfettered. My other saviour. Why? Okay, it allows you to take a move action right away. The example of what this might let you do is move and full attack in the same turn - pretty neat, given your high movement speed. But, this ability is far, far meaner than it gives itself credit for. Why? Because it's not a swift action, it's an immediate action. You wanna fireball me? Nope, I'm outta here. You're going to charge my friend? You, my good sir, just wasted your full action. This is a pretty sweet capstone, it just doesn't know it yet.
Multiclass note. I can keep monking afterwards. Cool.
Now that we know better than we really ought to about what we're getting into, let's get building. We'll go 32 point buy. Illumian (RoD) is my choice of race most of the time, but Lesser Tiefling doesn't seem so bad here. Funny as anthrobat would be, I'm not sure it'd be that useful with the strength penalty. Let's go 14/14/12/16/14/8 which will immediately bump to 14/16/12/18/14/6. So, everyone hates our character already. Sweet.
So I guess our first port of call is to take two Truenamer levels, then four monk levels? Four truenamer and two monk? Ugh, normally I'd take Truenamer over Monk, but DotW doesn't actually advance truenamer levels at all. So let's start with Truenamer 2/Monk 4/Disciple of the Word 10/Monk 4 as our plan. Aww yiss.
Now, feats. Feats get interesting. We get IUAS, Stunning Fist, Deflect arrows, and, oh, let's say Improved Disarm as bonus feats. Although we don't get the Improved Disarm for ages. Oh well. Monks, by the way, might not be proficient in their own unarmed strikes but Truenamers are, so let's have none of that.
Now, Word Given Form is an ability that anyone, anywhere, who has Truespeak 12, Tumble 12, Combat Expertise, Dodge, IUAS, Mobility and Spring Attack just simply gets. They don't need to spend another feat or skill points, they just get it. But what could be worth such a horrific feat tax? Total Concealment. That's what. You can select a new dodge target on any action, and word given form also gives you total concealment against them. Given that you can talk as a free action even when it's not your turn, you can just mumble under your breath to declare a new dodge, and then bam, instant tower shield, I mean, word given form. That means that the target of your dodge cannot attack you. This is hilariously powerful. And worse, "Attack" includes any spell that could possibly harm you, although that doesn't stop them fireballing you - Word of Speed Unfettered does. You know what's even more horrid? The icing on the cake is the fact that there is only one ability, to my knowledge, in the entire game that can actually get past your ability, and it's Archer's Eye. You're welcome. And one last thing? You can use that total concealment you have to hide. HiPS can suck it. Seriously, I think that they just accidentally put one of the most powerful abilities that no-one realised existed into the game, and the fact that it costs most of your feats is a price I'm willing to pay for something that overpowered.
So, now that we realise that your most powerful ability isn't a class feature, an utterance, or even a feat, we get to see just what a dire situation this is. But at least it is a powerful ability.
Anyway, feats. We just sank 4 on that, and that leaves us with 3 left. You're taking Item Familiar. It's just a thing that's happening. You need those Truespeak bonuses. Taking a feat to give you a third utterance is... tempting. That said, there's not a lot you want. Archer's Eye is powerful against you, but not actually useful for you (You already have Deflect arrows, so there's less point having Protection From them by reversing it), Hidden Truth is fun for truenamers but you're not really a truenamer, Perceive the Unseen is like a bad version of Word Given Form, Silent Caster doesn't last long enough to be useful, Speed of the Zephyr you might want but can kinda do anyway, Strike of Might just deals 10 damage or prevents 5, unless you use it to CdG, Temporal Twist is only useful if you can quicken it which you can't, and we're not desperate enough to take Lesser Word of Nurturing; Fortify Armour and Keen Weapon are both useless because we don't have armour or weapons; Fog from the Void is a pretty useful escape but might not be worth the feat, Shield of the Landscape and Shockwave are bad). But, it's a bit difficult to find anything better to do with our time so, what the hell, Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the Void) it is. I guess we take Improved Initiative at some point so that we can get to declare our dodge faster.
So our feat line-up is Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Deflect Arrows, Improved Disarm as bonus and Dodge, Mobility, Spring Attack, Combat Expertise, Item Familiar, Improved Initiative, Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the Void). That doesn't even look good. Yeuch. Okay, fine, we can handle this. Ayup.
Right, we brought this upon ourselves. Let's get it over with.
Desiplava Ward, LE Female Tiefling Truenamer 2/Monk 8/Disciple of the Word 10
Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features
1st
TrN 1
+0
+1
+3
+4
Concentration 4, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 4, Profession (Rudisplorker) 4, Truespeak 4
Dodge
Known Personal Truename, Lesser Word of Nurturing
2nd
TrN 2
+1
+1
+3
+5
Concentration 5, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Profession (Rudisplorker) 5, Truespeak 5
-
Knowledge Focus (Arcana), Universal Aptitude
3rd
TrN 2/Mnk 1
+1
+3
+5
+7
Concentration 6, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Profession (Rudisplorker) 6, Truespeak 5, Tumble 6
Mobility, IUAS, Stunning Fist
FoB, UAS
4th
TrN 2/Mnk 2
+2
+4
+6
+8
Concentration 7, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Profession (Rudisplorker) 7, Spot 5, Truespeak 5, Tumble 7
Deflect Arrows
Evasion
5th
TrN 2/Mnk 3
+3
+4
+6
+8
Concentration 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 2 Profession (Rudisplorker) 8, Spot 8, Truespeak 5, Tumble 8
-
Fast Movement, Still Mind
6th
TrN 2/Mnk 4
+4
+5
+7
+9
Concentration 9, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6 Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 5, Tumble 9
Spring Attack
Ki Strike (Magic), Slow fall 20ft
7th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 1
+4
+7
+9
+11
Concentration 10, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 1, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 10, Tumble 10
-
Word of Movement Sublime
8th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 2
+5
+8
+10
+12
Concentration 11, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 11, Tumble 11
-
Word of the Stance Unyielding
9th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 3
+6
+8
+10
+12
Concentration 12, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 11, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 12, Tumble 12
Combat Expertise
Word of Health Restored
10th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 4
+7
+9
+11
+13
Climb 3, Concentration 13, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 13, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 13, Tumble 13
-
Word of Movement Perfected
11th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 5
+7
+9
+11
+13
Climb 7, Concentration 14, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 14, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 14, Tumble 14
-
Word of Reflexes Exalted.
12th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 6
+8
+10
+12
+14
Climb 11, Concentration 15, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 15, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 15, Tumble 15
Item Familiar
Word of the Strike Unstoppable
13th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 7
+9
+10
+12
+14
Climb 15, Concentration 16, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 16, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 16, Tumble 16
-
Word of the Fist Unraveling
14th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 8
+10
+11
+13
+15
Climb 17, Concentration 17, Escape Artist 2, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 17, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 17, Tumble 17
-
Word of Harm Avoided
15th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 9
+10
+11
+13
+15
Climb 18, Concentration 18, Escape Artist 5, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 18, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 18, Tumble 18
Improved Initiative
Word of Mystic Deflection
16th
TrN 2/Mnk 4/DoW 10
+11
+12
+14
+16
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 9, Truespeak 19, Tumble 19
-
Word of Speed Unfettered
17th
TrN 2/Mnk 5/DoW 10
+11
+12
+14
+16
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 15, Truespeak 20, Tumble 20
-
Purity of Body
18th
TrN 2/Mnk 6/DoW 10
+12
+13
+15
+17
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 6, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 21, Truespeak 21, Tumble 21
Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the void), Improved Disarm
Slow Fall 30 ft
19th
TrN 2/Mnk 7/DoW 10
+13
+13
+15
+17
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 11, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 22, Truespeak 22, Tumble 22
-
Wholeness of Body
20th
TrN 2/Mnk 8/DoW 10
+14
+14
+16
+18
Climb 19, Concentration 19, Escape Artist 8, K (Arc/Eng/Nat/Pla/Rel) 5, Listen 16, Move Silently 19, Profession (Rudisplorker) 9, Spot 23, Truespeak 23, Tumble 23
-
Slow Fall 40 feet.
Desiplava Ward, Aspiring Champion
Size/Type: Humanoid (Planetouched)
Hit Dice: 2d6+3d8+4 (27 HP)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40 ft (8 squares)
Armour Class: 14 (2 Dex, 2 Wis) Touch: 14 Flat Footed: 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+5
Attack: Unarmed Strike +5 1d6+2
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +5 1d6+2 or Flurry of Blows +3/+3 1d6+2
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, Universal Aptitude, Word of Nurturing
Special Qualities: Known Personal Truename, Still Mind
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +8
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Concentration +9, Knowledge (Arcana) +12, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +9, Knowledge (Nature) +9, Knowledge (Religion) +9, Knowledge (The Planes) +9, Listen +4 Profession (Rudisplorker) +10, Spot +10, Truespeak +9, Tumble +11
Feats: Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Stunning Fist,
Alignment: Lawful evil
Advancement: By Character Class
Level Adjustment: 0
At this point, Desiplava is a bit awful. She can utter easily enough with an amulet of the silver tongue and a masterwork tool, and 2d6+4 damage will hurt - it's just a pity that the average fighter will do more in a single swing. Oh well. We're just getting warmed up, and anyway, it's not as though that obscenely long list of skills and 3/day Stunning Fist is going to hurt us too much. She might want to wear bracers of armour, too.
Desiplava Ward, Disciple of the Win
Size/Type: Humanoid (Planetouched)
Hit Dice: 2d6+8d8+10 (55 HP)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 50 ft (10 squares)
Armour Class: 14 (2 Dex, 2 Wis 1 Monk) Touch: 15 Flat Footed: 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+9
Attack: Unarmed Strike +9 1d10+2
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +9/+4 1d10+2 or Flurry of Blows +8/+8/+3 1d10+2
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of Blows, Ki Strike (Magic), Unarmed Strike, Universal Aptitude, Word of Nurturing
Special Qualities: Known Personal Truename, Slow Fall (20 ft), Still Mind, Word of Health Restored, Word of Movement Perfected, Word of Movement Sublime, Word of Reflexes Exalted, Word of the Stance Unyielding, Word of the Strike Unstoppable
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +11, Will +13
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +5, Concentration +14, Knowledge (Arcana) +13, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +10, Knowledge (Nature) +10, Knowledge (Religion) +10, Knowledge (The Planes) +10, Listen +8, Move Silently +16, Profession (Rudisplorker) +11, Spot +11, Truespeak +18, Tumble +16
Feats: Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Stunning Fist,
Alignment: Lawful evil
Advancement: By Character Class
Level Adjustment: 0
Right, so this is how the average combat with Desiplava will pan out.
Fighter McFighterton: Aha! I see you, vile monk! Your fists are no match for my blade!
Desiplava Ward: I DECLARE MY DODGE ON YOU! (http://www.goblinscomic.org/02042006/)
Fighter McFighterson: Oh my god, where did she go? How did she do that? She was there, and now she's gone! I suppose she could be exactly where she was a moment ago... but oh, that's just too crazy, she's gotta be somewhere else! (https://youtu.be/mQHCEUvc4Q0?t=15m19s)
Desiplava: *Punch punch kick whack pow*
Fighter: Hmm, where could these mysterious kicks and punches be coming from? I just don't know; I just don't know at all. *Dies*.
Stick a monk's belt on her to up her to 2d6 per whack, knock her AC up by one, and give her another Stunning Fist, and you're golden.
I might do the level 15 and 20 statblocks later, but the pertinent details are that by level 16, she can ignore single-target spells and just walk out of area spells before they can hit her. You're welcome.
EDIT:
Okay, this is what I've come up with:
Equipment: Belt of Giant Strength +6 (36,000 GP), Boots of Teleportation (49,000 GP), Bracers of Armour +8 (64,000 GP), Gloves of Dexterity +6 (36,000 GP) Headband of Intellect +6 (36,000 GP), Monk's Tattoo (80,000 GP), Necklace of Natural Weapons (Throwing Returning Wounding Speed Ghost Touch Shock +1) (200,600 GP), Ring of Permanent Greater Mighty Wallop CL 16 (96,000 GP), Ring of Truespeak Competence (10,000 GP), Vestments of the Silver Tongue (15,000 GP), Wings of Flying (54,000 GP).
That's not even all my money.
Desiplava Ward, Disciple of the Win
Size/Type: Humanoid (Planetouched)
Hit Dice: 2d6+18d8+20 (110 HP)
Initiative: +10
Speed: 100 ft (20 squares) Fly 60 ft (Good) (12 squares)
Armour Class: 29 (5 Dex, 2 Wis 4 Monk 8 Bracers of Armour) Touch: 21 Flat Footed: 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+19
Attack: Unarmed Strike Melee +20 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution or Unarmed Strike Ranged +21 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike Melee +20/+20/+20/+20/+15/+10 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution or Unarmed Strike Ranged +21/+21/+21/+21/+16/+11 12d6+6 +1d6 electricity +1 constitution
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Flurry of Blows, Fog from the Void, Ki Strike (Magic), Stunning Fist (21/day) Unarmed Strike, Universal Aptitude, Word of Nurturing, Word of the Fist Unraveling, Word of the Strike Unstoppable
Special Qualities: Known Personal Truename, Purity of Body, Slow Fall (40 ft), Still Mind, Word Given Form mastery, Wholeness of Body Word of Harm Avoided, Word of Health Restored, Word of Movement Perfected, Word of Movement Sublime, Word of Mystic Deflection, Word of Reflexes Exalted, Word of Speed Unfettered, Word of the Stance Unyielding
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +19, Will +18
Abilities: Str 20, Dex 22, Con 12, Int 29, Wis 14, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +24, Concentration +20, Escape Artist +14, Knowledge (Arcana) +17, Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) +14, Knowledge (Nature) +14, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Knowledge (The Planes) +14, Listen +18, Move Silently +25, Profession (Rudisplorker) +11, Spot +25, Truespeak +68, Tumble +29
Feats: Combat Expertise, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Item Familiar, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility, Spring Attack, Stunning Fist, Utterance of the Perfected Map (Fog from the void)
Alignment: Lawful evil
Advancement: By Character Class
Level Adjustment: 0
This isn't just a monk. This is an untargetable flying monk of doom and lightning and infinite fists and punching. Fear her, for she is Desiplava Ward!
Please feel free to add comments, suggestions, etc.