1001 Fun and Optimized(Or just nonsuckish) character ideas!

[MatrixStone93]

Let's list 1001 optimized (Or just non-suckish) builds that will be fun to play as! Sure, uber-high numbers are cool, but what is it like to play the game using them?

Starting level 6, no books disallowed, maximum cheese accepted, but minimal cheese and acceptance from the GM preferred. Post what the build will be like at 10, 15, and 20, too. It'd be neat to make a competition like this, but for now, let's focusing on getting a whole bunch of fun characters together.

>inb4 "level 20 commoner, skill focus: tumble, playable Tarrasque, lel"
>inb4 "The other contest is better"
>inb4 OP cant inb4
>tfw you see the pony thread simulators and accidentally learn how to type like this
>mfw

[AvatarVecna]

Race: Half-Minotaur Goliath
Classes: Warblade 5/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Hulking Hurler 2/Master Thrower 5/Fighter 2.
Necessary Feats (other than pre-reqs): Natural Heavyweight
Items: Belt of the Earth, Armbands of Continuous (Arms of Stone), +1 Adamantine pointy improvised object, +1 Adamantine Bowling Ball

At level 13 and onward, you're working with Str 42 including items; combined with Full BAB and a magic weapon, this makes for a devastating full attack even without improvised weapons. For your entire career (from the very beginning), you can wield an object as a weapon as long as it's less than 40 lbs according to the rules in Complete Warrior (since you're Large sized and have the Powerful Build feature; we'll assume your DM is operating on RAI rather than RAW for this); such an object deals 4d6 base damage (assuming it's pointy; make sure it's pointy). So that way, you can get multiple attacks with that powerful weapon; you can get even more attacks, if you go the TWF route. At ECL 11, you can start attacking with your pointy object at range, making you more versatile in-combat. Finally, if you're not facing multiple opponents, or opponents who can mitigate up to one attack a round (such as by using Wings of Cover, or some sort of Missile Deflection ability that works on small boulders, like a Giant's rock-catching ability), you can whip out your magical adamantine bowling ball.

This little baby, like your normal weapons, is enchanted through an interesting path of loopholes: normally, improvised weapons can't be enchanted, because only masterwork weapons can be enchanted; however, any object can be made out of adamantine, and any adamantine weapon (including improvised weapons) counts as masterwork for the purposes of enchantment. You now have a +1 Adamantine Boulder Bowling Ball weighing up to your Medium Load; for real play, I suggest actually making it weigh a good deal less than your actual Medium Load, in case the enemy tries to shrink you or zap your Strength. Assuming you're Large instead of Huge, and have a 30 Str instead of a 42 Str, we end up with an 8512 lbs adamantine bowling ball; assuming adamantine weighs about as much as steel, your big bowling ball is roughly 38 inches in diameter...and, when you take a full round action to toss it, deals 45d6 damage, plus bonuses. That's an average of 157.5 damage per hit, or over 300 on a crit. Add on layers as your Strength increases over the levels...or just start with it bigger and assume your allies will keep you safe from those nasty effects.

BTW, if you find a way to make sure your Str can't be drained and your size can't be reduced (likely through magic items or helpful allies), you can wield a much bigger bowling ball at all times...one weighing in at 88576 lbs. That sucker is just over 7 ft in diameter and deals 445d6 damage to whatever poor soul gets in its way...assuming they can't mitigate it once per round. Incidentally, allies finding ways of granting you extra full round actions could be very useful.This build is heavily dependent on one easy-to-make RAI decision by a DM: magic and/or adamantine ammunition is not automatically destroyed on a hit.

Race: Halfling
Classes: Rogue 1/Halfling Paragon 3/Warblade 1/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Master Thrower 5/Rogue 6
Necessary Feats (other than pre-reqs and obvious ones): Weapon Finesse, Power Attack
Items: 2 +something Adamantine Shuriken w/ TBD enchantments (4066.2 gp each for the equivalent of a +10 weapon)

Here's a link to the Shuriken Handbook. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=10419.0) If your DM agrees that magic adamantine ammo is destroyed on contact with soft flesh, this doesn't work so well; if your DM is a bit more realistic, and doesn't mind giving nice things to non-mages, this works out just fine. With the TWF tree, Rapid Shot, and Far Shot, you'll be a right terror within 30, even without proficiency.

Let's say you're wielding a pair of +5 Adamantine Shurikens with the Distance, Seeking, Wounding, and Collision enchantments. Your attack routine against creatures larger than you that don't have a phenomenal touch AC is going to ignore miss chance, have no range penalties up to 40 ft, and attack Touch AC at +12/+12/+12/+7/+7/+2/+2, dealing 25 damage (+1d6 if SA) or 75 on a crit (again, +1d6 if SA). And that's all at 14th level, with a couple of very generic shuriken; with a Batman-esque utility belt full of shuriken tailor-made to take out your opponents, you get even deadlier.

[MatrixStone93]

Race: Half-Minotaur Goliath
Classes: Warblade 5/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Hulking Hurler 2/Master Thrower 5/Fighter 2.
Necessary Feats (other than pre-reqs): Natural Heavyweight
Items: Belt of the Earth, Armbands of Continuous (Arms of Stone), +1 Adamantine pointy improvised object, +1 Adamantine Bowling Ball

At level 13 and onward, you're working with Str 42 including items; combined with Full BAB and a magic weapon, this makes for a devastating full attack even without improvised weapons. For your entire career (from the very beginning), you can wield an object as a weapon as long as it's less than 40 lbs according to the rules in Complete Warrior (since you're Large sized and have the Powerful Build feature; we'll assume your DM is operating on RAI rather than RAW for this); such an object deals 4d6 base damage (assuming it's pointy; make sure it's pointy). So that way, you can get multiple attacks with that powerful weapon; you can get even more attacks, if you go the TWF route. At ECL 11, you can start attacking with your pointy object at range, making you more versatile in-combat. Finally, if you're not facing multiple opponents, or opponents who can mitigate up to one attack a round (such as by using Wings of Cover, or some sort of Missile Deflection ability that works on small boulders, like a Giant's rock-catching ability), you can whip out your magical adamantine bowling ball.

This little baby, like your normal weapons, is enchanted through an interesting path of loopholes: normally, improvised weapons can't be enchanted, because only masterwork weapons can be enchanted; however, any object can be made out of adamantine, and any adamantine weapon (including improvised weapons) counts as masterwork for the purposes of enchantment. You now have a +1 Adamantine Boulder Bowling Ball weighing up to your Medium Load; for real play, I suggest actually making it weigh a good deal less than your actual Medium Load, in case the enemy tries to shrink you or zap your Strength. Assuming you're Large instead of Huge, and have a 30 Str instead of a 42 Str, we end up with an 8512 lbs adamantine bowling ball; assuming adamantine weighs about as much as steel, your big bowling ball is roughly 38 inches in diameter...and, when you take a full round action to toss it, deals 45d6 damage, plus bonuses. That's an average of 157.5 damage per hit, or over 300 on a crit. Add on layers as your Strength increases over the levels...or just start with it bigger and assume your allies will keep you safe from those nasty effects.

BTW, if you find a way to make sure your Str can't be drained and your size can't be reduced (likely through magic items or helpful allies), you can wield a much bigger bowling ball at all times...one weighing in at 88576 lbs. That sucker is just over 7 ft in diameter and deals 445d6 damage to whatever poor soul gets in its way...assuming they can't mitigate it once per round. Incidentally, allies finding ways of granting you extra full round actions could be very useful.This build is heavily dependent on one easy-to-make RAI decision by a DM: magic and/or adamantine ammunition is not automatically destroyed on a hit.

Race: Halfling
Classes: Rogue 1/Halfling Paragon 3/Warblade 1/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Master Thrower 5/Rogue 6
Necessary Feats (other than pre-reqs and obvious ones): Weapon Finesse, Power Attack
Items: 2 +something Adamantine Shuriken w/ TBD enchantments (4066.2 gp each for the equivalent of a +10 weapon); Permanancy'd Reduce Person (? gp)

Here's a link to the Shuriken Handbook. (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=10419.0) If your DM agrees that magic adamantine ammo is destroyed on contact with soft flesh, this doesn't work so well; if your DM is a bit more realistic, and doesn't mind giving nice things to non-mages, this works out just fine. With the TWF tree, Rapid Shot, and Far Shot, you'll be a right terror within 30, even without proficiency.

Let's say you're wielding a pair of +5 Adamantine Shurikens with the Distance, Seeking, Wounding, and Collision enchantments. Your attack routine against creatures larger than you that don't have a phenomenal touch AC is going to ignore miss chance, have no range penalties up to 40 ft, and attack Touch AC at +12/+12/+12/+7/+7/+2/+2, dealing 25 damage (+1d6 if SA) or 75 on a crit (again, +1d6 if SA). And that's all at 14th level, with a couple of very generic shuriken; with a Batman-esque utility belt full of shuriken tailor-made to take out your opponents, you get even deadlier.

I love you.

[AvatarVecna]

I love you.

It's well known that the game doesn't like mundanes, and likes ranged combatants even less; thrown weapon combatants get the short end of both sticks. As it's an underdog competing for worst place with things like Core!Monk and Core!Fighter, I've gained an appreciation for thrown weapon combat...and picked up a couple interesting tricks along the way. Neither of these builds will be breaking any particular records, even in DPR, but for actual gameplay, they're fairly decent combatants, and one of them has a pile of skill points as well. And of course, one of them fights with a magic bowling ball. The visuals that gives me are incredibly amusing.

Incidentally, I'm working on another thrown weapon build for this called "Meteor Swarm"; the basic idea is a halfling sling-master whose "sling bullets" are actually boulders with a continuous "Shrink Item" cast on them. It's wonderful. And if you've got any concepts of your own (even those unrelated to thrown weapon combat) that you'd like to see come to life mechanically, shoot them at me and I'll see if I can whip up a build skeleton for them.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Do you want complete builds, or do stubs satisfy?

[AvatarVecna]

Do you want complete builds, or do stubs satisfy?

I've been providing stubs, mostly because I think the things my builds do can be adapted to different games. Play-ability is something that seems a bit more important for this thread: sure, we could submit Pun-Puns and Hulking Hurlers whose DPR is most easily measured in scientific notation, but those are just thought experiments that will never see a game table unless Tippy's sitting at it. Partial builds that show off a char-op trick and showing the path to reach it, while still allowing for some personal touches and flexibility, could let somebody browsing this thread get an idea or two for their own build.

So uh...I guess whatever you feel is best. I'd say build stubs that are enough to show off what the build wants to do, while still having enough holes not filled in the build for others to adopt it, but if you want to provide a complete build with every GP and XP accounted for, that's great too. This thread could use the interest, honestly.

[MatrixStone93]

The next one shall be about Clerics that become awesome without needing DMM!

[AvatarVecna]

The next one shall be about Clerics that become awesome without needing DMM!

Clerics were awesome before DMM existed and they can be awesome without it. It's just that, with it, they're even more awesome than ever before!

EDIT: I'll see if I can whip up a couple interesting Cleric builds...

[AvatarVecna]

It's not exactly a cleric build, and it's not a personal creation, but it bears mentioning, because it's awesome. The second one is definitely a cleric build, though...even if it spends a good deal of time punching things.Race: Human
Classes: Warmage 1/Rainbow Servant 10/Sacred Exorcist 1/War Weaver 5/X 3
Feats (other than pre-reqs): Versatile Spellcaster, Heighten Spell, Sanctum Spell

Boost your Charisma into the stratosphere through all means available*. With this build, you are capable of using your slots to cast any spell on the Warmage and Cleric spell lists spontaneously, and have access to DMM: Persist cheese via Sacred Exorcist; furthermore, War Weaver lets you target a group of friends with single target buffs, and even drop several such buffs on the group in a single round if you're really good at it. If you want more Metamagic cheese, make those last 3 levels Incantatrix; if you want more War Weaver cheese, make them Uncanny Trickster levels. Incantatrix can make metamagic much easier, while Uncanny Trickster will let you drop single-target 6th and 7th level spells on the whole party...like Energy Immunity, Heal, or Superior Resistance. Combining standard DMM: Persist awesomeness with Warmage makes for a powerful combatant all-around; hell, the one thing Clerics aren't super-good at is blasting, and Warmage covers that just fine.

*: When I say all means available, I mean it. If your DM is willing to allow this, take Leadership for a Vermin Lord 10 cohort with Wasp Swarm familiars. Polymorph yourself into a Wasp (or Wasp Swarm, if possible), and join his swarms...right as he turns them (and you) into a hivemind. Enjoy your +three hundred and something bonus to Int and Cha.Note: this build is only really viable if you're playing with gestalt, tristalt, or LA buyoff. Here's the regular version using LA Buyoff:

Race: Venerable Human
Templates: Telthor; Saint
Classes: Monk 2/Cleric 4/Sacred Fist 10/X 4
Feats (other than pre-reqs): Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Intuitive Attack

This works best if you're starting at least at level 6-8, and preferably at leve 11; at ECL 11, you've bought off the Telthor template, and can become a Saint. Saint's "Fast Healing" cancels out the damage you take from leaving your main haunting ground, letting you go adventure. At this point, you have 2*Wis mod to AC, Wis to hit, your fists of fury targeting Touch AC, VoP benefits, Fast Healing, Flight, Insubstantial-ness, a bunch of immunities, and casting as a Cleric 7...and that's just at ECL 11. By the time your reach ECL 18, your new Saint LA will be bought off, and you'll be a casting like a Cleric 16. It's a fairly powerful build that ultimately uses the cleric casting for group healing and buffing.

[Dread_Head]

Heres a (few) fun one

I'll present three variations of this one, all use tibbit from dragon compendium as the race. Basic concept is that you are a cute little cat who unleashes the pain on unwitting enemies.
First a dextrous build: Rogue 6 / Warshaper 4 / Rogue +10. Maybe take Psychic Rogue, Factotum, Swordsage or Daring Outlaw Swashbuckler instead of Rogue or maybe even some Monk levels with useful ACF's. You have a few natural attacks to deliver sneak attacks with which get better/more from warshaper. Key feats will be Underfoot Combat and Confound the Big Folk from Races of the Wild. Fairly standard rogue stuff otherwise.

Now a Strength based build: Ferocity or Whirling Frenzy Wolf Totem Barbarian 2 / Soulborn 2 / Warshaper 4 / X 12. Here X can be anything really, maybe more barbarian, a PrC of your choice or some ToB classes all work. The core of this build is the fact that when you turn into a housecat the reduction to strength is a penalty. And Soulborn 3 (with the right alignment) means you are immune to strength penalties. So you end up as a tiny creature with your standard strength. Rage and warshaper boost this up and along with the beefed up natural attacks of warshaper you can deal decent damage. You're probably going to want underfoot combat and confound the big folk as above but with the reach from warshaper this can be unnecessary.

Now a silly one: Soulborn 2 / Stoneblessed (Goliath) 3 / Goliath Barbarian 1 / Warshaper 4 / X 10.
This is similar to the previous one but with one major adjustment. Stoneblessed qualifies you for the goliath substitution barbarian level. This gives you mountain rage which makes you large (note it explicitly says your size increases to large not you increase one size category) but only increases your size by ~1ft. So you are an angry tiny but large housecat who can shred enemies in combat. Consider finishing with War Hulk or similar.

[Red Rubber Band]

A couple of builds that caught my eye while trolling through the forums these past few years.

Level 13
Classes: Hexblade 4 / Paladin of Tyranny 3 / Blackguard 3 / Binder 3
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Binding

A mobile debuffing fortress.
At 4th level take the Hexblade ACF which gives you Dark Companion. Your shadow can now move around and gives adjacent opponents -2 AC and saves.
3rd level of Paladin of Tyranny gives you Aura of Despair at 10ft, another -2 to AC and saves.
3rd level of Blackguard opens up another Aura of Despair. Same name, same debuff, different class.
And lastly we have Binder 3. With Improved Binding you gain access to Focalor. He gives exactly what you'd expect. A -2 to AC and saves aura.

A sudden bonus appears!
Did I mention you get Charisma to saves three times? Admittedly, one of those times is only against spells and SLAs.
And if that wasn't enough, Mettle from Hexblade gives you a sort of "rogue space" for Will/Fort saves by negating any lesser effects when you pass a save.


Add Unseelie Fey template for the Winters Chill ability to reduce enemy saves by your Cha modifier.

Level 10
Fighter 2 / Factotum 3 / Shadowcaster 5
Feats: Combat Expertise, Able Learner, Improved Bullrush, Improved Trip, Improved Disarm, Favoured Mystery (Quicker than the Eye)
Apart from Able Learner and Improved Bullrush I don't believe these are all needed. Just working off a build stub I have here :smallconfused:

What does it look like you're doing?
You're a Jedi using your mind powers. Alternatively you're Fus Ro Dah'ing a person.

What are you doing?
Casting Umbral Fist and bullrushing people into walls.

Notes
Umbral Fist substitutes the STR part of bullrush for INT, Dungeon Crasher's bonus damage can be argued to do the same.
Ask if Practised Spellcaster gives you +4 CL to your shadow casting.


Level 14
Classes: Healer 8 / Knight of the Raven 3 / Prestige Paladin 2 / Beloved of Valarian 1
Feats: Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Vow of Chastity, Mounted Combat, Wild Cohort, Exalted Companion, Leadership

You have ALL the unicorns!
Healer 8 - Unicorn Companion
Prestige Paladin 2 - Special Mount
Beloved of Valarian 1 - Call Unicorn
Feat - Wild Cohort transformed with Exalted Companion
Feat - Leadership
Spell - Valiant Steed (Santified Spell, Level 6)
Spell - Summon Nature's Ally IV (I think this is the one)

Now, admittedly, Summon Nature's Ally won't work if you use the original Healer spell list. But I'm not a big fan of it, so in our games it's changed.


There might be a domain that could nab you SNA IV via Contemplative if your DM isn't agreeable with respect to changing the Healer Spell List.

... Extra Spell...

[WhamBamSam]

Heres a (few) fun oneMy favorte Tibbit Soulborn build is CE Tibbit Spirt Bear Totem Barbarian 1/Soulborn 2/Binder 10 to bind Zagan giving you Improved Grapple and letting you Grapple as if large, then tacking on Weight Focus from the Fabulous Cats article for an extra boost.



Level 14
Classes: Healer 8 / Knight of the Raven 3 / Prestige Paladin 2 / Beloved of Valarian 1
Feats: Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Vow of Chastity, Mounted Combat, Wild Cohort, Exalted Companion, Leadership

You have ALL the unicorns!
Healer 8 - Unicorn Companion
Prestige Paladin 2 - Special Mount
Beloved of Valarian 1 - Call Unicorn
Feat - Wild Cohort transformed with Exalted Companion
Feat - Leadership
Spell - Valiant Steed (Santified Spell, Level 6)
Spell - Summon Nature's Ally IV (I think this is the one)

Now, admittedly, Summon Nature's Ally won't work if you use the original Healer spell list. But I'm not a big fan of it, so in our games it's changed.
There might be a domain that could nab you SNA IV via Contemplative if your DM isn't agreeable with respect to changing the Healer Spell List.

Now for a few of mine.

Somewhat cross-setting, as Shadowlord has Faerun specific fluff and also Dragonmarks. Uses flaws though you could get around one with a Feat Rogue dip. Honestly, I'd just as soon go in the opposite direction and get some extra feats from somewhere to sneak in a few more (Craven if you can get a Sneak Attack dice from a class level somewhere, a 4th Momentary Alteration, etc.)

Human Swordsage 2/Cobra Strike Monk 2/Totemist 2/Hit-and-Run Fighter 2/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/Warblade 1/Shadow Sun Ninja 6
1. Swordsage 1 - Shadow Blade, Darkstalker, Weapon Finesse, Least Dragonmark (Mark of Passage: Dimension Leap)
2. Monk 1 - Improved Unarmed Strike, Dodge
3. Monk 2 - Mobility, Momentary Alteration (Blink Dog)
4. Fighter 1 - Blind Fight
5. Totemist 1
6. Totemist 2 - Lesser Dragonmark (Mark of Passage: Dimension Door)
7. Fighter 2 - Spring Attack
8. Swordsage 2
9. Telflammar Shadowlord 1 - Sun School
10. Telflammar Shadowlord 2
11. Telflammar Shadowlord 3
12. Telflammar Shadowlord 4 - Assume Supernatural Ability (Blink Dog's Dimension Door)
13. Warblade 1
14. Shadow Sun Ninja 1
15. Shadow Sun Ninja 2 - Momentary Alteration (Blink Dog)
16. Shadow Sun Ninja 3
17. Shadow Sun Ninja 4
18. Shadow Sun Ninja 5 - Momentary Alteration (Blink Dog)
19. Shadow Sun Ninja 6
20. Shadow Sun Ninja 7

The big trick here is that Momentary Alteration doesn't can get around the type restriction of Alter Self so long as you've assumed the form with Alter Self before. So you use a scroll of Polymorph or Displacer Form or whatever to gain the Magical Beast type, then a scroll of Alter Self to turn into a Blink Dog, and you can then set that as a permanent "Alter Self" form via Momentary Alteration. You then snag that sweet, sweet 1/round free action teleport with Assume Supernatural Ability and with various options to cover the usual swift/standard/move teleports you can pull off 4 Shadow Pounces/round. Relevant items include Dragonmark Shards and Channeling Rods of Quicken.


NE Venerable Dragonwrought Aquatic Kobold Feat Rogue 2/Binder 8/Stalwart Sorcerer 1/Knight of the Sacred Seal (Paimon) 5/Crusader 1/Aquatic Ferocity Barbarian 1/Battle Dancer 1/Hit-and-Run Sneak Attack Fighter 1
1. Kobold Feat Rogue 1 - Dragonwrought, Combat Reflexes
2. Feat Rogue 2 - Expeditious Dodge
3. Binder 1 - Mortalbane
4. Binder 2
5. Binder 3
6. Binder 4 - Swim By Attack, Improved Binding
7. Stalwart Sorcerer 1 - Weapon Focus (Rapier)
8. Knight of the Sacred Seal 2
9. Crusader 1 - Sahuagin Flip
10. Knight of the Sacred Seal 2
11. Knight of the Sacred Seal 3
12. Knight of the Sacred Seal 4 - Maximize SLA
13. Battle Dancer 1 - Improved Unarmed Strike
14. Aquatic Ferocity Barbarian 1
15. Knight of the Sacred Seal 5 - Extra Granted Maneuver
16. Binder 5
17. Binder 6
18. Hit-and-Run Sneak Attack Fighter 1 - Craven
19. Binder 7
20. Binder 8

The important trick here is the Races of the Dragon spell Ghostly Tail, taken as our Draconic Rite of Passage SLA, which is just the gift of bad writing that keeps on giving. First off, as a 1st level it has an hour/level duration. The CL for your Draconic Rite of Passage SLA is your character level, so it won't take long for it to be lasting pretty much the whole adventuring day. Second, it explicitly works even if the person provoking does so when you aren't wielding a weapon that threatens them, so if the provoking action is attacking your allies after being Defensive Rebuked, that's fair game for (Maximized Mortalbane) Ghostly Tail, even if you're no longer there to dole out the punishment. To that end, we're looking to lay the rebuke on as many enemies as possible. Enter Paimon, whose Dance of Death ability lets you move your speed and attack anyone you pass by as a standard action. But wait there's more! Sahuagin Flip lets us Withdraw as a move action, moving double our speed. Swim By Attack lets us put our standard action Dance of Death anywhere during that move. Rapid Retreat, from the Kobold Rogue sub-level, increases move speed by 5 while Withdrawing (which, as the Dance of Death is happening during our move action, includes both the Withdraw movement and Dance of Death movement). We've also got a +10 to swim speed from Aquatic Barbarian's variant Fast Movement, and +30 from Wings of the Sea via the Sorcerer level or a wand. All totaled, the little guy moves 255ft slicing up people for 85ft of it, ends his turn in some patch of paralytic plant (for Clownfish flavor and to actually do something with the Dragonwrought paralysis immunity, might not be worth it relative to the extra feat being a vanilla kobold would give, honestly), then, should they attack anyone else, smacks them for 4d6 (maximized)+[Character level]+[Precision stuff which applies even from beyond 30ft, as it's technically a melee attack] Force damage.

[Inevitability]

There might be a domain that could nab you SNA IV via Contemplative if your DM isn't agreeable with respect to changing the Healer Spell List.

How about taking Extra Spell? Seems like it'd be easier.

[Azoth]

Tibbit Fighter2/SwordsageX

Feats:
1st: Don't Mind Me
Fighter1 : Combat Expertise
Fighter2:Improved Trip
3rd: Twinning Step
6th:
9th: Underfoot Combat
12th: Confound The Big Folk

You stay in cat form, and can walk up to any enemy you like and trip them forcing them to use Dex to resist the trip, and negating all positive size modifiers in their advantage. Comboing this with Setting Sun's throw maneuvers that run off of trip checks is mean. You can easily judo toss a Great Wyrm or Big T a considerable distance...as a house cat.

[AvatarVecna]

A while back, in the Iron Chef round for the Assassin class, there was a Cat entry where the cat used its poison immunity to rub undetectable contact poison into its fur, then used those Cat rules to mind-control people into petting it.

[BioCharge]

I have one. I'd actually really like to play it sometime, too.

Level: 20
Cleric 1/Rogue 4/Ur-Priest 5/Black Flame Zealot 10
Feats: Sacred Outlaw (slightly modified), Iron Will, Spell Focus (Evil)
Cleric Domains: War (Kukri) and Trickery
Note: This build may require a slightly flexible DM, for two reasons:
1. They allow Sacred Outlaw to count Up-Priest levels as Cleric levels for sneak attack.
2. They use the Pathfinder rule that Clerics are proficient with their deity's favorite weapon.

This build gives you 8d6 sneak attack, on top of 9th-level casting, plus a death attack, evasion, limited spell resistance against divine spells, rebuke undead to power divine feats, and a couple other minor tricks. It's full of flavor, something like "The gods have forsaken me (hence ex-cleric) now I take their power so that they BURN!" The Black Flame Zealot Levels can begin at any point after Ur-Priest 2, so it's up to the individual on how to about it. This build works with any other 10-level divine casting PrC, so long as it has its own spell progression, instead of +1 caster level. I chose Ur-Priest for the 9ths. The best part? After you start taking BFZ levels, you aren't progressing much slower (or any, depending on where you begin) compared to a normal Cleric.

[Solaris]

Race: Human (or anything barbarian-appropriate with a flaw)
Class: Wild Rogue (Any BAB+1 class) 1 / Barbarian 1 / Warblade 4 / Frostrager 2 / Bear Warrior 1 / Warshaper 4 / +4 Bear / +3 Frost
(Bear Warrior and Frostrager levels gained after Warshaper's complete can be in any order, really)

The character is playable the whole way through as a competent melee combatant, and winds up turning into an icy brown bear of death with warshaper's bonuses making for a right proper abomination.

Warblade is for things like Iron Heart Surge, and because the recovery mechanic works quite well with the Polar Barbearian's advantageous full attack in bear form (three natural attacks with the bonuses from Frostrager and a good unarmed strike).

1: Power Attack, Improved Unarmed Strike
3: Frozen Berserker
6: Leap Attack (or if you're like my wife and give every character a high Charisma, Imperious Command)
9: Extra Rage
12: Superior Unarmed Strike
15: Snap Kick
18: Mad Foam Rager

Race: Human (or any appropriate with a flaw; aasimar works pretty well. I took the flaw Chivalrous Courtesy to get a -4 penalty on attack rolls against women and the Mounted Combat feat with a human)
Class: Divine Bard 2 / Paladin 5 / Divine Bard +2 / Fist of Raziel 10 / Divine Bard +1?

A reasonably competent backup spellcaster, he's also a good front-line fighter thanks to the fact that divine bard spells can be cast in heavy armor (because they're divine spells) and is pretty good at inspiring his allies. What he loses in BAB gets made up with bard casting and inspire courage - and of course, he has the paladin's iconic mount. I recommend a griffon, because they're awesome.
The healing hymn ACF to replace fascinate isn't a bad idea, and is probably better in keeping with the theme of the class. Be sure that his ranks in Perform are in inspiring speeches.

A badge of valor (Magic Item Compendium p 208, 1,500 gp) is invaluable for boosting the effects of the inspire courage, as is the spell inspirational boost (Spell Compendium).

1: Power Attack, Servant of the Heavens
3: Devoted Performer
6: Song of the Heart (from Eberron Campaign Setting)
9: Holy Mount (be sure to advance divine bard spellcasting with the Fist of Raziel so that the character has the mount of a 19th-level paladin)
12: Divine Might

[Red Rubber Band]

Race: Warforged
Classes: (1) Ranger (Wild Shape Variant) 5 / Master of Many Forms 6 or (2) Ranger (Wild Shape Variant) 4 / Crusader 1 / Master of Many Forms 6
Feats: (1) Mithral Body or (2) Adamantine Body, Alertness (prereq), Endurance (prereq)

Apply Beastskin (+2) property to your armour, which happens to be your mithral/adamantine "skin".
Wildshape into a T-Rex.
You are a mithral/adamantine T-Rex.


I see this suggestion all the time except that people forget that Rangers are not proficient with heavy armors (which Adamantine Body counts as). It would work but a class proficient with heavy armor is needed (maybe Crusader) taken at Level 4 to get better maneuvers available. Either that or make the 1st level warforged feat be Mithral Body which counts as light armor which Rangers are proficient in.



Race: Orc
Classes: Fighter 20
Feats: Any that improve your trip capabilities.

You're taking two archetypes. Dirty Fighter and Mutation Warrior.
Additionally, you're also taking the Barbarian Variant Multiclass option which is in the Unchained book.
Mutation Warrior's Mutagen Discovery's: The stat increase (+2 AC, +4 physical, -2 mental); Feral Mutagen; Infuse Mutagen; Greater Mutagen; Grand Mutagen.

What happens
You down a mutagen at the start of the day. With Infuse mutagen the effects of it are persisted. (It's been a while since I've looked at this, so I may be incorrect)
You are a bit more buff/tough/agile than before. You also have claws and fangs.
Entering combat you rage. Even more buff and tough!
Trip someone and use their newly neutered CMD to Dirty Trick them into uselessness. Or just Dirty Trick them. I mean, have you seen your stats?

You can chose not to go Feral Mutagen, and try Spontaneous instead. This takes out a bit of the savageness of the build and replaces it with some healing.

Consider taking the Mutagen buffs that increase Dex, as this gives a neg to Wis, and go a Dex CMB based build. Infuse Mutagen gives you a -2 Int while persisting a mutagen. There's a limit to how high you want to put Int as a Fighter.



This is more of a "hey that would be cool" thought.

Sorcerer 6 / Incantatrix 10 / Sorcerer +1 - Pros: Spontaneous casting (Also, if PF you get a feat (hence the +1 Sorcerer) and can Quicken Spells)
Wizard 5 / Incantatrix 10 - Pros: Can Quicken Spells (if 3.5)

Feats: ALL the metamagic feats! Main one is Retributive Spell. Ocular Spell also keeps with the theme. Invisible, Still and Silent are needed. Explosive Spell is amusing. Oh, and Arcane Thesis will be needed too.

The theme is a divinely protected being. This doesn't really work against people who can see the flow of magic or True Seeing or any of that jazz.

Effectively the character will cast Retributive Spell on themself. They get in to combat and do nothing except look harmless. They get hit. Retributive Spell goes off and the person who hit them gets smacked in the face with your (Arcane Thesis'd) spell of choice. The character has an action ready that when they are struck they cast another Retributive Spell. Which is, of course, a Still, Silent, Invisible, etc spell. So they make no movements. Nothing happens. They continue to walk through battle until struck again. Rinse and repeat.

Perhaps they aren't doing nothing. Perhaps they are taunting everyone, or having a "FEAR ME MORTALS" moment.

Rapid Metamagic, Quicken Spell, etc will probably help. But I haven't done enough reading into the feats/spellcasters to actually put this all together.



Another one that I've had written down for a while. So will be a bit rusty on what it does.

Sorcerer 4 / Dread Witch 3 / Nightmare Spinner 3 / Shadowcraft Mage 3
I believe I went Sorcerer for the CHA synergy...
Note that this will delay your 9th level spells til level 20.

Feats: Spell Focus (Illusion), Dreadful Wrath/Frightful Presence, Fearsome and Fearless, Fell-Frighten Spell

Now let me see if I can put it together...
Cast a spell, add the fear descriptor, make it an illusion of a fireball (for arguement's sake), fell-frighten shakens them, it's a figment so it shakens the enemy, the illusory fireball deals damage, dealing damage causes a fear effect, and they take extra damage from being feared/shaken/etc each time.

I've probably missed a bunch of things, or doubled up. But the premise is that there is a tonne of fear hitting them and therefore a tonne of damage. There's also the possibility of a lockdown and not just on them. You've got a fear aura yourself from Dreadful Wrath/Frightful Presence (or two, por que no los dos?) so every time you do something you're scaring people.

[WhamBamSam]

Some undead to liven things up (or, y'know, the opposite of that).

Gravetouched Ghoul Human Passive Way Monk 2/Warblade 8/Crusader 3/Drunken Master 5
1. Warblade 1 - Contagious Paralysis, Dodge (Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Steel Wind) (Hunter's Sense)
2. Monk 1 - Contagious Paralysis, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat Expertise
3. Monk 2 - Great Fortitude, Improved Trip
4. Warblade 2 (Wall of Blades)
5. Crusader 1 (Mountain Hammer, Crusader's Strike, Leading the Attack, Tactical Strike, Foehammer) (Iron Guard's Glare)
6. Drunken Master 1 - Combat Reflexes
7. Drunken Master 2
8. Drunken Master 3
9. Drunken Master 4 - Power Attack
10. Crusader 2 (Thicket of Blades)
11. Crusader 3 (Defensive Rebuke)
12. Drunken Master 5 - Deceptive Dodge
13. Warblade 3 (Iron Heart Surge, White Raven Tactics, or Mithral Tornado)
14. Warblade 4 (Trade Wolf Fang Strike for Pouncing Charge) (Leaping Dragon Stance)
15. Warblade 5 - Ironheart Aura, Stormguard Warrior (Iron Heart Surge, White Raven Tactics, or Mithral Tornado)
16. Warblade 6 (Trade something for Manticore Parry)
17. Warblade 7 (some maneuver)
18. Warblade 8 (Trade something for Scything Blade)

If multiclass penalties aren't an issue, take Crusader 4 instead of Drunken Master 5 and get WRT that way. If LA buyoff is allowed, take two more levels of Warblade to get your Adamantine Hurricane on.

Wield a length of troll intestines as an improvised weapon. Outside of combat, chew on it with your bite constantly to keep it paralyzed and forestall the regeneration (it also freaks out other players and NPCs). Might also not be a bad idea to have a friendly caster lay down a few long term debuffs to its Fort save (Bestow Curse and the Greater version, etc) so it stays paralyzed and drain its Dex away as a fail safe. The Contagious Paralysis feat now lets you convey your Paralysis attack through it with iteratives and reach and everything. From there it's basically just a standard ToB AoO tripper but with a few neat wrinkles. Against natural attacks, use Deceptive Dodge or Manticore Parry to redirect an attack into an already paralyzed enemy or (more reliably and hilariously) your still alive length of intestine to make them trigger Contagious Paralysis. Stormguard Warrior also gets a good deal scarier when the touch attacks can paralyze.

Necropolitan Silverbrow Human Savage Bard 1/Psychic Warrior or Psion 1/Warblade 1/Thrall of Juiblex 4/Bard +3/Dirgesinger 4/Virtuoso 6

Practiced Manifester gets ML up to 5 for Metamorphic Transfer, granting access (Su) abilities from your undead Alter Self forms, like Create Spawn from Wights and Shadows for unlimited minions (not very good ones, but that's what all the Bard is for, the Shadows at least stay potentially threatening into high levels if you've got enough of them because of how badly Touch AC scales), Tomb Mote's Quickness (you need to take an intermediate small form, but you've got Alter Self at will, so whatever) to throw out multiple Bardic Music effects or whatever. Pick up Desecrate from Arcane Disciple (Evil) and the Corpsecrafter line might not go amiss either. Nab a Least Rod of Fell Energy Spell for your Desecrates.

Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold Dracolich Soulbound Weapon Psychic Warrior 16
1. Dragonwrought, Zen Archery, Weapon Focus (Longbow)
3. Point Blank Shot
5. Rapid Shot
6. Expanded Knowledge (Psionic Minor Creation)
8. Linked Power
9. Ability Focus (Paralyzing Touch)
11. Metapower (Linked Hustle)
12. Woodland Archer
14. ?
15. ?

The last two feats depend on some things, like whether you can voluntarily lower mind-affecting immunity for Schism, and what the hell actually happens when a Dracolich's Schismed mind attempts to possess a corpse. That's all weird grey area.

For most of the build, it's much simpler. The Dracolich Paralyzing Touch is awesome, and applies to any physical attack. That includes firing a bow. Proto-Dracolichdom preventz you from casting spells, but regular Transparency rules are insufficient for it to keep you from using powers. So if one body gets smashed, you just hop into a new one from your phylactery, manifest your fancy Soulbound Weapon version of Call Weaponry, and carry on shooting your Paralyzing arrows. Other magic items beside your bow are a little trickier to retrieve, but at least being able to reliably get the bow back is nice.

With the undead immunity to poison, free time to craft due to not sleeping, and ammunition being more efficient to apply poison to than regular weapons, I decided to throw in Psionic Minor Creation for some Black Lotus Extract as well.

[nolongerchaos]

A Naenhoon Dread Necromancer 8/Dread Witch 5 can Persist a Moilean Fell Frightened Aura of Terror, giving them a 15 foot Fear Aura that overcomes immunity to fear with a +2 to the save DC that auto-panicks anyone who fails their save.

[Dread_Head]

Race: Illumian (Krau Sigil is the important one here)
Cleric 1 / Wizard 3 / Master Specialist 6 / Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7 / Archmage 1 / Master Specialist +2
Feats: 1. Spell Focus (Abj), 3. Divine Defiance, 6. Arcane Mastery, 9. Spell Focus (Any), Skill Focus (Spellcraft) and Greater Spell Focus (Abj) from Master Specialist and the rest are up to you.
Take the Inquisition Domain for the bonus on dispel checks. Obviously specialise as an Abjurer, consider focused specialist as well ditching Evocation, Enchantment and Necromancy.

Basically you focus in abjurations, particularly in dispelling. You can counterspell as an immediate action with a hefty bonus on the check in addition to whatever dispelling you do on your turn. Any opposed caster is going to struggle to achieve anything with you in the vicinity. You also have stellar defences from Iot7V and plenty of offensive power from your spells. At higher levels with Mastery of Counterspells and Kaleidoscopic Doom you add some offensive power to your counterspells/dispels but even at low levels you should be using Arcane Turmoil and Slashing Dispel for the rider effects.

Half Dragon Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale.

Thats the main trick here tbh, you get most of a large dragons abilities (sans casting) for 3 RHD and 3 LA. A Huge bonus to Str, more moderate ones to Con and mental stats, immunity to an element, flight, bite/claw/claw/tail attack routine and an admittedly sucky breath weapon. Works best for emulating dragons with a swim speed as you get one from anthro baleen whale. Take the Dragon Breath feat to use your breath weapon more than once per day and the Dreadful Wrath feat for a frightful presence.

A build like RHD 3 / LA 3 / Duskblade 3 / Suel Arcnamach 10 with the above suggested feats would be a decent emulation of an adult black dragon.


A couple of builds that caught my eye while trolling through the forums these past few years.

Level 13
Classes: Hexblade 4 / Paladin of Tyranny 3 / Blackguard 3 / Binder 3
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Binding

A mobile debuffing fortress.
At 4th level take the Hexblade ACF which gives you Dark Companion. Your shadow can now move around and gives adjacent opponents -2 AC and saves.
3rd level of Paladin of Tyranny gives you Aura of Despair at 10ft, another -2 to AC and saves.
3rd level of Blackguard opens up another Aura of Despair. Same name, same debuff, different class.
And lastly we have Binder 3. With Improved Binding you gain access to Focalor. He gives exactly what you'd expect. A -2 to AC and saves aura.

A sudden bonus appears!
Did I mention you get Charisma to saves three times? Admittedly, one of those times is only against spells and SLAs.
And if that wasn't enough, Mettle from Hexblade gives you a sort of "rogue space" for Will/Fort saves by negating any lesser effects when you pass a save.

Add Unseelie Fey template for the Winters Chill ability to reduce enemy saves by your Cha modifier.

[Red Rubber Band]

Add Unseelie Fey template for the Winters Chill ability to reduce enemy saves by your Cha modifier.

Will add that in, thanks. I didn't think about it at the time because I currently am unable to use the source it's from. (Dragon Mag, isn't it?)


I believe there will be a few edits to this, as I'm sure there's a lot more people can squeeze out of healing.

Even though it's considered a trap, in-combat healing can lead to some epic moments. Just make sure to mix it up with buffs/debuffs/control spells.

Class: Bard 1 / Cleric X
Feats: Augment Healing, Magic of the Land, Melodic Casting (not needed, but nice)
Skills: Knowledge Nature, Perform.

Take the bard ACF Healing Hymn. This gives a bonus equal to your perform check to heal spells cast by any who hear the song.
Augment Healing gives you an extra 2 hit points per spell level of healing, as does Magic of the Land.

Using Cure Critical Wounds at level 10 (1 Bard / 9 Cleric) will heal: 4d8 + 9 (caster level) + 8 (Augment Healing) + 8 (Magic of the Land) + 10 (Perform). This averages out to be 53.
Using spells like Mass Cure Light Wounds works wonders. Once again at level 10 you have 1d8 + 9 + 10 +10 +10 for an average of 43-44 to each person.
Even a normal Cure Light Wounds is 1d8 + 5 + 2 +2 +10, an average of 23-24.

This is a 3.5 base, but if you can add PF it gets better as the Healing Domain for Clerics in PF increase any healing done by your Cure spells by 50% once you hit level 6. This doesn't stack with Empower.

If your DM accepts a Healer fix (running it purely off CHA, giving them Healing Domain) then Healing Hands is awesome and Cleric can be swapped out.

As expected, and holy hell I can't believe I forgot about Mastery of Day and Night.


I prefer Bard 1 (Healing Hymn ACF)/Healer5/Healing Hand of Mishikal5/Combat Medic5/Contemplative4

Feats:
Flaw: Dodge
Flaw: Combat Casting
Human:Extra Music
1st: Dynamic Priest
3rd: Magic of the land
6th:Maximize Spell
9th: Mastery of Day and Night


Gives CHA to heals twice, +ranks in perform, is auto empowered/Maximized/silenced, and carries either a sanctuary rider effect, +5 Reflex saves, or 13 temp HP. It eats 2 feats (dodge + combat casting), but is overall worth it.

[daremetoidareyo]

NE Azurin
str: 8 dex:10 con: 16 wis: 12 int:14 cha:16
Get infected by a mind leech From Fiend Folio.
1: Bard: Shape Soulmeld (strongheart Vest) & Martial Study (moment of the Perfect Mind)

2: Bard
3: Bard: Skill focus Concentration (Retrain at 10th Level into Negotiator (or skill focus diplomacy which you then retrain into Negotiator at level 11. Thus giving any free feat from Marshal)

4: Bard
5: Bard
6: Bard: Inspire Spell power

7: Bard
8: Bard
9: Bard: Music of the outer spheres
10: Sublime Chord
11: Marshal
12: Evangelist Doomspeak
13: Evangelist
14: Evangelist
15: Evangelist: Extend Supernatural ability (doomspeak lasts 2 rounds!)
16: Evangelist
17: sublime chord
18:sublime chord (melodic casting)
19: sublime chord
20: sublime chord

Free dominate or suggestion every turn. + spells + debuffing.

[Azoth]

Will add that in, thanks. I didn't think about it at the time because I currently am unable to use the source it's from. (Dragon Mag, isn't it?)


I believe there will be a few edits to this, as I'm sure there's a lot more people can squeeze out of healing.

Even though it's considered a trap, in-combat healing can lead to some epic moments. Just make sure to mix it up with buffs/debuffs/control spells.

Class: Bard 1 / Cleric X
Feats: Augment Healing, Magic of the Land, Melodic Casting (not needed, but nice)
Skills: Knowledge Nature, Perform.

Take the bard ACF Healing Hymn. This gives a bonus equal to your perform check to heal spells cast by any who hear the song.
Augment Healing gives you an extra 2 hit points per spell level of healing, as does Magic of the Land.

Using Cure Critical Wounds at level 10 (1 Bard / 9 Cleric) will heal: 4d8 + 9 (caster level) + 8 (Augment Healing) + 8 (Magic of the Land) + 10 (Perform). This averages out to be 53.
Using spells like Mass Cure Light Wounds works wonders. Once again at level 10 you have 1d8 + 9 + 10 +10 +10 for an average of 43-44 to each person.
Even a normal Cure Light Wounds is 1d8 + 5 + 2 +2 +10, an average of 23-24.

This is a 3.5 base, but if you can add PF it gets better as the Healing Domain for Clerics in PF increase any healing done by your Cure spells by 50% once you hit level 6. This doesn't stack with Empower.

If your DM accepts a Healer fix (running it purely off CHA, giving them Healing Domain) then Healing Hands is awesome and Cleric can be swapped out.



I prefer Bard 1 (Healing Hymn ACF)/Healer5/Healing Hand of Mishikal5/Combat Medic5/Contemplative4

Feats:
Flaw: Dodge
Flaw: Combat Casting
Human:Extra Music
1st: Dynamic Priest
3rd: Magic of the land
6th:Maximize Spell
9th: Mastery of Day and Night


Gives CHA to heals twice, +ranks in perform, is auto empowered/Maximized/silenced, and carries either a sanctuary rider effect, +5 Reflex saves, or 13 temp HP. It eats 2 feats (dodge + combat casting), but is overall worth it.

[MatrixStone93]

Needs more cowbell.

Can the next one utilize Anthropomorphic Cow in some way?

[dysprosium]

Race: Warforged
Classes: Ranger (Wild Shape variant) 5 / Master of Many Forms 6
Feats: Adamantine Body, Alertness (prereq), Endurance (prereq)

Apply Beastskin (+2) property to your armour, which happens to be your adamantine "skin".
Wildshape into a T-Rex.
You are an adamantine T-Rex.


I see this suggestion all the time except that people forget that Rangers are not proficient with heavy armors (which Adamantine Body counts as). It would work but a class proficient with heavy armor is needed (maybe Crusader) taken at Level 4 to get better maneuvers available. Either that or make the 1st level warforged feat be Mithral Body which counts as light armor which Rangers are proficient in.



NE Azurin
str: 8 dex:10 con: 16 wis: 12 int:14 cha:16
Get infected by a mind leech From Fiend Folio.
1: Bard: Shape Soulmeld (strongheart Vest) & Martial Study (moment of the Perfect Mind)

2: Bard
3: Bard: Skill focus Concentration (Retrain at 10th Level into Negotiator (or skill focus diplomacy which you then retrain into Negotiator at level 11. Thus giving any free feat from Marshal)

4: Bard
5: Bard
6: Bard: Inspire Spell power

7: Bard
8: Bard
9: Bard: Music of the outer spheres
10: Sublime Chord
11: Marshal
12: Evangelist Doomspeak
13: Evangelist
14: Evangelist
15: Evangelist: Extend Supernatural ability (doomspeak lasts 2 rounds!)
16: Evangelist
17: sublime chord
18:sublime chord (melodic casting)
19: sublime chord
20: sublime chord

Free dominate or suggestion every turn. + spells + debuffing.


Martial Study requires you to be able to take the maneuver based on your initiator level. At Level 1, a non-initiator has an initiator level of 0.5. Switch this feat out with the suggestion at Level 3 and you should be fine.

[Inevitability]

Needs more cowbell.

Can the next one utilize Anthropomorphic Cow in some way?

I believe the Divine Minion template stated cow stats to be identical to bison stats, so anthropomorphic cow is definitely possible. You'd lose four levels (two if LA buyoff is allowed) but you wouldn't gain much from such a choice (unless you buy a herd of cows and use them to trample enemies).

[Red Rubber Band]

I prefer Bard 1 (Healing Hymn ACF)/Healer5/Healing Hand of Mishikal5/Combat Medic5/Contemplative4

Feats:
Flaw: Dodge
Flaw: Combat Casting
Human:Extra Music
1st: Dynamic Priest
3rd: Magic of the land
6th:Maximize Spell
9th: Mastery of Day and Night


Gives CHA to heals twice, +ranks in perform, is auto empowered/Maximized/silenced, and carries either a sanctuary rider effect, +5 Reflex saves, or 13 temp HP. It eats 2 feats (dodge + combat casting), but is overall worth it.




I see this suggestion all the time except that people forget that Rangers are not proficient with heavy armors (which Adamantine Body counts as). It would work but a class proficient with heavy armor is needed (maybe Crusader) taken at Level 4 to get better maneuvers available. Either that or make the 1st level warforged feat be Mithral Body which counts as light armor which Rangers are proficient in.

Edited in both of your suggestions :smallsmile:

[AvatarVecna]

Race: Venerable Grey Elf
Templates: Necropolitan (after level 3)
Class: Wizard 20
ACFs: Elf Wizard Racial ACF Level 1 (Races of the Wild); Eidetic Spellcaster ACF (Dragon Magazine #357)
Stats (32 PB before adj.): 14/8/9/18/15/9
Stats (Lvl 1): 6/4/1/23/18/12
Stats (Lvl 20): 6/4/-/28/18/12
Flaws: Feeble; Pathetic: Constitution
Feats: Collegiate Wizard (ECL 1); Greyhawk Method (Flaw); Faerie Mysteries Initiate (Flaw); Nymph's Kiss (ECL 3); Extend Spell (Wizard 5); Eschew Materials (ECL 6); Vatic Gaze (ECL 9); Quicken Spell (Wizard 10); Extraordinary Concentration (ECL 12); Still Spell (ECL 15); Silent Spell (Wizard 15); Arcane Manipulation (ECL 18); Craft Wondrous Item (Wizard 20)

Eidetic Wizard means you have your "spellbook" memorized for free, and you can buy new spells by smoking incens; this gets rid of the top two liabilities a wizard faces: their physical spellbook, and their familiar. Collegiate Wizard changes your free Wizard spells to "6+Int mod" 1st lvl spells at 1st lvl, and 4 additional spells of whatever level you can cast at every other Wizard level. Elf Wizard Racial ACF means you get one extra spell in your "spellbook" at every wizard level, and can cast one additional spell of your highest level every day; this is an addition, so it stacks. Technically speaking, the RAW of Greyhawk Method is that you gain 4 additional spells from every Wizard level, not that it replaces the normal outright, so it stacks. Final result from all of this: at level 1, you have 17 first level spells in your mental "spellbook", and you add another 9 of any level you can cast at every subsequent Wizard level.

Faerie Mysteries Initiate lets you use your Int mod in place of your Con mod for HP, and Nymph's Kiss (which ties in thematically) grants an extra skill point at every level after you take it (inclusive). Necropolitan makes you undead; this gives you a stack of immunities (many of which are Fort save effects), and sets your Con to - (which, for anything that still uses your Con mod, counts as +0). Eschew Materials takes away the third-most common liability a wizard faces (his spell component pouch), Vatic Gaze is at-will Detect Magic, Extraordinary Concentration lets you cast spells while concentrating if you make a tough Concentration check, and Arcane Manipulation lets you change a high-level spell into multiple low-level spells. The rest are metamagic and item creation feats, so their use should be fairly obvious.

How effective this wizard is depends on the spells in your "spellbook" and what you prepare. A way to make this less of an issue is to pick up some rings: early on, a Ring of Sustenance turns your "re-prep spells" time frame to 2 hours; later on, Ring(s) of Wizardry give you lots of extra spells you can prepare each day.

EDIT: Also, OP: if you're still checking this thread, maybe it would be best to spoiler the builds into the first post, or maybe link to the posts they're in, if full copy-pasts would be too wordy?

[AvatarVecna]

Race: Halfling
Class Levels: Warblade 6/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Master Thrower 5/Warblade +5
Flaws: Frail; Vulnerable
Feats: Point-Blank Shot (ECL 1); Rapid Shot (Flaw); EWP: Crescent Knife (Flaw); Weapon Focus: Crescent Knife (ECL 3); Combat Reflexes (Warblade 5); Weapon Specialization: Crescent Knife (ECL 6); Precise Shot (ECL 9); Quick Draw (Master Thrower 1); Melee Weapon Mastery: Slashing (ECL 12); Slashing Flurry (ECL 15); Far Shot (ECL 18); Improved Initiative (Warblade 10)
Relevant Class Features: Deadeye Shot; Palm Throw; Weak Spot
Necessary Maneuvers: Raging Mongoose; Blood In the Water
Necessary Items: (4) +1 Distance Wounding Kaorti Resin Crescent Knife; Boots of Speed; Gloves of Dexterity +6; Otyugh Hole+Dark Chaos Shuffle for TWF, ITWF, and GTWF

This build is only decent until level 10, when the blades you throw start auto-returning to you. Up until that point, you mostly use non-magic Crescent Knives, only busting out your magic ones when you need to. After that, you can go straight to two magic ones and never look back. Incidentally, the very next level, you can pick up Palm Throw; now you need 4 of them to operate at full capabilities, but what capabilities they are: with 4 +1 Kaorti Resin Crescent Knives at 11th level, after DCSing TWF and ITWF into your feats section, you're making 24 attacks every round (6 base attacks doubled twice over; because this is real numbers rather than abstract stuff like damage, two doubles make a quadruple). Sure, each attack doesn't do much damage, so DR can screw you over, but you're damage should be good enough that it doesn't totally negate your ability to contribute.

Later on (20th level), you've reached your pinnacle: every round, you're getting 36 attacks; each attack has a range increment of 40 ft, targets Touch AC unless the target is smaller than Medium, crits on a 19-20, deals x5 damage on a crit, and deals 1 Con damage on a hit/crit. If you're in your Blood In The Water stance, you've activated your Boots of Speed, and you use your Raging Mongoose maneuver, you get 48 attacks instead, and every crit you get adds +1 to your attack and damage.

GET REKT.

[Thealtruistorc]

Bard 4/Crusader 16 who dual-wields keen maces and has the lightning maces and song of the white raven feats, alongside max ranks in perform (drums). I assume that there would be other ways to get a better chance of critical hits. Try and select maneuvers that enable a lot of attacks.

Result: The greatest drum solo in D&D history

[AvatarVecna]

Bard 4/Crusader 16 who dual-wields keen maces and has the lightning maces and song of the white raven feats, alongside max ranks in perform (drums). I assume that there would be other ways to get a better chance of critical hits. Try and select maneuvers that enable a lot of attacks.

Result: The greatest drum solo in D&D history

Using your enemies skull. If only they had more HP, it could go on longer than 6 seconds...

Wait, you're using actual maces, not Aptitude Kukris with Lightning Mace and Roundabout Kick for 55% chance of infinite attacks. Nevermind...

[MatrixStone93]

This is great!

[AvatarVecna]

Much obliged. Anything in particular you'd like to see optimized for an interesting build?

[MatrixStone93]

Much obliged. Anything in particular you'd like to see optimized for an interesting build?

Yeah, taking 2 levels in the Ghost savage progressions class grants you telekinesis, how can one build a character that exploits that like a Legion slave?

[noob]

[QUOTE] Starting level 6, no books disallowed, maximum cheese accepted, but minimal cheese and acceptance from the GM preferred. Post what the build will be like at 10, 15, and 20, too. It'd be neat to make a competition like this, but for now, let's focusing on getting a whole bunch of fun characters together.[QUOTE]
I have something 100% core and it kicks in at very low level:
You take wizard levels(or of any other caster) up to level X where you have reliable access to reincarnation.
Then you take one monk level(it is very cool) then you die and you are reincarnated and you willingly loose 2 monks level becoming of level -1 in monk which actually gives you the AC bonus and +1 to all the saves(but also -1hd)
Then take a dip in each class with many boosts at level -1
then keep stacking negative levels in commoner and gaining positive levels in your main caster class.
You can do all that while staying of level 6 and have 20 levels in all caster classes and all caster PRC you wish and so on.

[MatrixStone93]

[QUOTE] Starting level 6, no books disallowed, maximum cheese accepted, but minimal cheese and acceptance from the GM preferred. Post what the build will be like at 10, 15, and 20, too. It'd be neat to make a competition like this, but for now, let's focusing on getting a whole bunch of fun characters together.[QUOTE]
I have something 100% core and it kicks in at very low level:
You take wizard levels(or of any other caster) up to level X where you have reliable access to reincarnation.
Then you take one monk level(it is very cool) then you die and you are reincarnated and you willingly loose 2 monks level becoming of level -1 in monk which actually gives you the AC bonus and +1 to all the saves(but also -1hd)
Then take a dip in each class with many boosts at level -1
then keep stacking negative levels in commoner and gaining positive levels in your main caster class.
You can do all that while staying of level 6 and have 20 levels in all caster classes and all caster PRC you wish and so on.

Is this... legit? Because I think we may have a winner for Overall Power.

Though for Savage Ghost's Telekinesis Abuse, we're still waiting.

[Drezius]

Why you dont lose 1 monk lv, and another lv in spellcaster class?

[noob]

Why you dont lose 1 monk lv, and another lv in spellcaster class?
Loosing the first monk level is great(Because you get all the class features which does not needs a precise level in monk(like the wisdom based armor bonus)) but the second one is not as much good to loose as a commoner level(because you loose a D4 and very few saves(yes monk at the beginning of the negative levels have positive saves but after some time it lowers down faster than commoner).
If you are speaking of directly loosing a level of monk without gaining one in the first place it is impossible because before taking one monk level your level of monk is not "0" it is "_"(because 0 levels of monk gives a lot of bonuses: ac bonus and +2 to all saves(by completion of the table))

[ben-zayb]

Halfling crit-fisher
Alternatively, this could use Aptitude + Boomerang Daze / Ricochet + Two with One Blow.

[Dread_Head]

Though for Savage Ghost's Telekinesis Abuse, we're still waiting.

Hmm lets see.

Spirit Shaman 1 / Ghost 2 / Dungeoncrasher Fighter 2 / Spirit Shaman +2 / Master of the Unseen Hand 4 / Spirit Shaman +7.

From level five you can use Telekinesis to bull rush someone into a wall for lots off damage. From level 10 you can do this as many times as you have attacks on a full attack. And finally at level 18 you get spirit shamans ability to concentrate on a spell like ability as a free action, enjoy having two Telekinesis's running.

You have Blockade on your spell list, make good use of it to provide solid obstacles to bullrush people into. At higher levels you can use wall spells to bullrush people into but blockade has the advantage of being a swift action.

[Doorhandle]

I found this one which is similar to a few builds (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Inhuman_AoO-er_(3.5e_Optimized_Character_Build)). Basically, go fighter and/or crusader with aberrant feat: inhuman reach, get karmic strike and robilar's gambit, plus combat reflexes, and of course improved trip, and go nuts with AoEs. You're basically Lankey Kong if he was wielding nunchucks,and you do more damage when it's NOT your turn!

[AvatarVecna]

Is this... legit? Because I think we may have a winner for Overall Power.

Reincarnation loops are a pretty old kind of 3.5 Theoretical Optimization, right up there with abusing a Candle of Invocation. For that reason, it's going to be pretty mindblowingly powerful...but it's also going to make any sane DM go "no, you can't have free class levels, that's not how I'm allowing it to work" (or alternatively "no, ritual suicide is not the path to ultimate power"). At least Hivemind swarms isn't Core...

[MatrixStone93]

Ok, now optimize a fast-talking smexy sorceror.

[AvatarVecna]

Ok, now optimize a fast-talking smexy sorceror.

Does it have to be a sorcerer, or could any magician with a silver tongue do the trick?

[GilesTheCleric]

Does it have to be a sorcerer, or could any magician with a silver tongue do the trick?

I'm fairly certain that only a sorcerer king (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?414050-Who-is-better-Optimized-Wizard-or-Optimized-Sorcerer-Yes-Sorcerer-is-a-GOD) can be a combat master, spy, leader, bluffer at the same time.

[AvatarVecna]

I'm fairly certain that only a sorcerer king (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?414050-Who-is-better-Optimized-Wizard-or-Optimized-Sorcerer-Yes-Sorcerer-is-a-GOD) can be a combat master, spy, leader, bluffer at the same time.

Sorcerer Queen. I'm fairly certain that, although the official contest never took place, the winner in the fight between Sorcerer and Wizard was Khepri.

[MatrixStone93]

Does it have to be a sorcerer, or could any magician with a silver tongue do the trick?

Any magician with a silver tongue could do the trick.

[AvatarVecna]

Any magician with a silver tongue could do the trick.

Straight Bard or Beguiler could do the trick: both get lots of skills that lend themselves to social manipulation, and have useful manipulation-related/based casting. Dipping Warlock or Binder could boost their Diplomancy early on at the expense of their regular casting, but that's about it. As for an actual build...

Race: Venerable Human
Stats before adjustment (32 pb): 8/8/14/17/8/17
Stats after adjustment: 2/2/8/20/11/20
Classes: Bard 6/Mindbender 1/Virtuoso 1/Spymaster 2/Sublime Chord 2/Virtuoso 8

You get 9th level spells, tons of skill points to spend on social manipulation skills, short-range telepathy, immunity to alignment-reading, a cover identity, and enhanced bardic music. Toss UMD onto that build (it's got the skill points for it), and you've got a wonderfully versatile character this can be adjusted to most any power level depending on the spells/items chosen.

[ben-zayb]

Minister Chandler
Whisper Gnome, Wu Jen 5 / Candle Caster 2 / Shadowcraft Mage 3 / Candle Caster +5 / Shadowcraft Mage +2 / Candle Caster+3

Bring forth shadows using candles. Pretty darn simple, isn't it?

Feats
1 Heighten (B), Great Fortitude, Earth Sense, Earth Spell
3 Spell Focus (Illusion)
6 Spell Rehearsal
9 Residual Magic
12 Sanctum Spell
15 Echoing Spell
18 Repeat Spell
Magical Locations Chaos-Shuffle (Optional): Arcane Thesis (Silent Image), Proteus

Background:
1. A candle caster can store a spell in a candle, similarly crafted like, and functioning as, a spell in a (spell-)scroll. A candle is activated by lighting it, which is then assumed to be best done by taking a standard action to use tindertwig. Of course, some optimizers don't eat that crap suggestion up. Also, the spell effect is delayed by 1 round until Candle Caster 7.

2. Drawing material components (like a candle, for Summon Monster spells) and dropping items to an adjacent square are both free actions. One of the assumptions here is that either you don't need to cast the spell you are drawing components for, or that you will cast the Summon Monster spell much later. Another assumption is that your Craft(Candlemaking) skill enables you to craft miniscule candles that always lands upright (*blah* center of gravity *blah*).


You are a Wu Jen with possible higher spell save DCs. You also have a massive stock of Fire Shuriken stashed somewhere, I suppose.
By pre-casting Fiery Eyes (as either a last-minute prep, a rod-quickened spell, or done in the surprise/1st round), you can ignite all combustibles in one spot (assumed to apply to a 5ft-square area). Candles' combustible parts are the wicks, which means you can ignite all candlewicks in said area and activate #X amount of spells using only a full-round action. The spells set off a round after, though. If any of these spells are identical, you get a stacking DC/SR-penetration bonus due to Spell Rehearsal. If you also pre-cast spell <A> a round before using this trick, you get to use your default CL and apply one metamagic (like Heighten) from the pre-cast spell to any spell <A>s cast using the candles, courtesy of Residual Magic.

You are also a shadowcraft mage with Spell Rehearsal and Residual Magic, which means you get to spam Silent Images with increasing DC and free Heighten once every 2 rounds. Your maximum capacity is CL 14 8th-Heightened Silent Image that mimics a 5th level Sor/Wiz Evocation/Conjuration(Creation/Summoning) spell. Combining this with Candle Caster and Spell Rehearsal will lead to ridiculous DC/SR-penetration increase.
For starters, you now have Echoing Spell, which means effectively having ALL your spells prepared (at a lower CL) because of it due to having no time limit. If Wizard is "Batman: The Class", this feat is practically "Batman: The Metamagic Feat". All your spells 5th-level or lower are now available to be cast at a -4 CL as if you have them prepared. Everytime you recast such spells, they will Echo (aka can be recast again) with another -4 CL penalty available 1 hour thereafter, until you no longer have enough CL (but isn't specifically defined anyway).

With Earth Spell, and optionally by staying at your sanctum/church*, you can cast a [CL 22 8th-Heightened (Sanctum) Silent Image that mimicked any 8th(9th) level Sor/Wiz Evocation/Creation/Summoning spell]. Now, you have two options:

A. If combat practically ended in the round where you fired-off that spell, then congratulate your party and cast an Echoing Silent Image. Residual Magic turns this into the above bracketed line, minus the parentheses and with the normal Echoing CL decrease, and will start of its Echoing Spell chain. Of course, every Echoing Silent Image spell you cast in conjunction with any casting from the first Echoing Heightened Silent Image chain will also start off its own Echoing Heightened Silent Image chain via Residual Magic.

B. If combat didn't end on the 1st/2nd round with your spell], you can "Nova" next round by igniting a crapton of cheap <CL1 (Sanctum) Silent Image> Candles that now work as the above bracketed line, adjusted depending on if you imbued Sanctum Spell on your candles. You then also get a crapton of DC and SR-penetration increase for these; even assuming a paltry amount of 10 candles, will give the last candle a +10 bonus. If you want more expensive ammunitions that have higher bigger pay-offs, a CL1(or 7) Echoing Silent Image candle comboed as above will set-off its own CL 22 8th-Heightened (Sanctum) Silent Image echoing spell chain.

You can also either blow some of your WBL to "Nova" with any other spell candles, or pre-cast other heightened lower-level spells and let Residual Magic do its work. Minor benefits include making "specialty candles" (notably Silent Image ones) applied with Enlarge/Empower, and making Unfettered Candles (effectively a Potion) used by others by specific methods of lighting via Tindertwig, Flint & Tinder, or Magnifying Glass.

One more trick for this level: You can cast/spam Shalintha's Delicate Disk (LEoF) (via Shadow Illusion, possibly combined with Echoing Spell chains), which makes a disk where you can store any <5th-level spell of yours. Stock all of those disks with all sort of spells of yours, then use the Violent Thrust option of your Telekinesis to throw up to 15 disks at your opponent (debuff/poisons/SoD), ally(buff), or area of your choice, for another multiple-spell-per-turn trick. Yo dawg, interestingly, you can store a telekinesis spell in a Disk, so in reality, you aren't really limited to throwing 15 disks at a time. Of course, this more of a native Shadowcraft Mage trick, so it's a bit unthematic for your candle caster, unless you fluff those disks as Hosts or something.


* You are a candle caster. Where exactly do you think you will likely come from?
The access to higher spell level will get you the ability to "Nova" with those spells too, and allows a higher heightened spell cap for those who abuse Heighten/Earth spell (likely with Residual Magic).

You also get Repeat Spell, which increases your "Nova" when used as Repeat spell candles (notably Silent Image ones). Residual Heighten + #X Repeat spell candles will give #X Repeat Heightened spells. On the next round, your recast (via normal candle Repeat) #X Heightened-Spells will combine with the Residual Repeat, so that you effectively cast #X Repeat-Heightened spells. On the next round, your recast another (via the residual Repeat) #X Heightened Spells. You now effectiely did your "Nova" thrice. Alternatively, instead of doing a nova, you may just use prepared Repeat spells to recycle steps 3 to step 1. This chain also likely ends with an Echoing Spell chain, appended at the last residual Heighten.

Step 1: !H + X-R = X-RH
Step 2 !R + X-H = X-RH
Step 3 !H + X-E = X-RH

Legend: !-Residual, H-Heighten, R-Repeat, X-Spell of Choice

[MatrixStone93]

Great! Now, something melee-based that can be entertaining, cool, and fun, and a caster under level 10 that has their caster level/amount of spells and overall versatility and power boosted as much as possible.

[Dread_Head]

Those ones are a little vague.

Here's a build for maximum caster versatility.

Desert Gnome Beguiler 5 / Sand Shaper 2 / Beguiler +2 / Shadowcraft Mage 5 / Beguiler +6
Feats: 1. Heighten Spell, 3. Touchstone, 6. Spell Focus (Illusion), 9. Shadow Weave Magic, 12. Mastery of Dreams, 15. Greater Spell Focus (Illusion), 18. Shape Soulmeld (Illusion Veil)
With Flaws move SF and GSF earlier and add Versatile Spellcaster and Arcane Disciple at some point.

Basically you are a caster with solid skill points as a base. You cast any spell you know which includes plenty of illusion and enchantment spells but also some nice BFC, summons and utility from Desert Insight. Your Illusons should be exceptionally hard to resist, having an additional +6 to the DC. Which is excellent as due to Shadowcraft Mage you will be using them a lot to mimic spells from other schools.

[AvatarVecna]

Race: Half-Minotaur Half-Fey Half-Ogre Primordial Giant Grey Elf
Classes: Martial Rogue 2/Fighter 2/Ranger 2/Swashbuckler 3/Martial Wizard 1/Elf Paragon 3/Ranger +1/Martial Rogue +1/Fighter +2/Martial Rogue +1/Wizard +2
Flaws: Meager Fortitude, Shaky
Starting Stats (before adj.): 10/16/16/16/8/8
Starting Stats (after adj.): 22/18/14/18/10/14
Stats (lvl 20): 25/20/14/18/10/14
Feats: Aberration Blood (ECL 1); Deft Opportunist (Flaw); Inhuman Reach (Flaw); Combat Reflexes (Martial Rogue 1); Combat Expertise (Martial Rogue 1); Extended Reach (ECL 3); Improved Trip (Fighter 1); Power Attack (Fighter 2); Track Weapon Focus: Battleaxe (Ranger 1, DCS'd at ECL 11 almost 12); Two-Weapon Fighting (Ranger 2); Hold The Line (ECL 6); Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (ECL 9); Double Hit (Martial Wizard 1); Weapon Focus: Longsword (Elf Paragon 2); High Sword Low Axe (ECL 12); Endurance Robilar's Gambit (Ranger 3, DCS'd ASAP); Cleave (ECL 15); Great Cleave (Fighter 4); Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (Martial Rogue 4); Two-Weapon Rend (ECL 18)
Items: Str/Dex/Con/Int boosting items/books, in that order of importance; Bracers of Opportunity; a good magic longsword; a good magic battleaxe; custom item of continuous "Wraith Strike"

At ECL 4 (lvl 1), you have Str 22, Dex 18, 30 ft reach with a longspear, Combat Reflexes, and +4 to AoOs, as well as a good pile of skill points.

At ECL 12 (Lvl 12 with all LA bought off), you have 20 ft reach with your longsword/battleaxe, and each AoO provoked from you is two attacks (and if those both hit, a trip attempt and another attack). Make sure to DCS Track into the right WF right before leveling, and you should probably pick up a Str-boosting item (maybe a custom continuous "Fist of Stone"). Furthermore, people provoke from charging into your threatened area (in addition to normal triggers, like standing from prone)...and you're also getting Int to damage, in addition to your ridiculous Str and potential Power Attack.

At ECL 20, you're targeting Touch AC with your attacks, have 20 ft reach with your weapons, you've increased all your relevant stats by 6, you're a full dual-wielder, and you've got Great Cleave (so if somebody dies during your ridiculous attack routine, you can just attack someone else within reach; I suggest tripping them with this, although I'm not 100% sure that's a legal option). You've even got a couple decent buffs from your wizard casting!

In summary: this build combines four powerful melee options together (reach monster, dual-wielder, Jack B. Quick, and continuous "Wraith Strike"), and it all comes together in a nice melee lockdown build. It's not the best at any individual style, but the combination of the three fighting styles results in a fairly powerful opponent who acts as mundane BFC.

[MatrixStone93]

Awesome. Now do a plot-wrecking game-breaking deceptively-strong powerhouse, the kind of thing that can one-up those Old Man Henderson/Alphonse Kapown stories I read.

[GilesTheCleric]

Great! Now, something melee-based that can be entertaining, cool, and fun, and a caster under level 10 that has their caster level/amount of spells and overall versatility and power boosted as much as possible.


Awesome. Now do a plot-wrecking game-breaking deceptively-strong powerhouse, the kind of thing that can one-up those Old Man Henderson/Alphonse Kapown stories I read.

"Please?" 10 characters

[AvatarVecna]

"Please?" 10 characters

In his defense, I asked for requests.

[MatrixStone93]

"Please?"

You make an entirely valid point. I'm sorry, I've had a lot on my mind lately. I probably shouldn't post exactly what's been going on into this thread, but if anyone wants to PM me and ask what it is, go ahead. I'll tell you what it is quickly, so you know I'm not some vaguebooking loser on DeviantArt.

[Uhtred]

I built "Nolan, the Needlessly Complicated" when a fellow DM needed a gladiator for his arena. He was an homage to my buddy Nolan who could never figure out which way he wanted to go with a build, so he'd end up with a bunch of classes and feats because he couldn't make up his mind. So he was a Human Barbarian 4/Fighter 4/Rogue 4 who fought with a meteor hammer and wore piecemeal armor, so everything was as complicated as it could possibly be. He had two-weapon fighting feats, two-handed fighting feats, the spring-attack tree, and improved initiative so that he would go first, but then get to agonize over what he wanted to do. Fight defensively, for a +1 to AC from the meteor hammer's fortress mode and add +1 to AC from Two-Weapon Defense and increased reach for AoO's? Rage, two-hand the meteor hammer for power attack and then spring-attack away? Go invisible and sneak attack? Get all the attacks with TWF? The DM had a great time, the rest of the players had a fun time watching the match, and I got to see an interesting build in action. I'd like to see a lvl 16 version that has 4 levels of Ranger, too.

[MatrixStone93]

How could fighting with three swords be made optimal?

[MatrixStone93]

How could fighting with three swords be made optimal?

[WhamBamSam]

How could fighting with three swords be made optimal?There are a number of ways to get a third hand which can be used for sword wielding. Thri-kreens natually have 4 hands, A Silverbrow Human (or other dragonblooded creature, but given how feat intensive this is, especially on what is already going to be a TWF-esque build...) can take Dragon Tail and/or Shape Soulmeld (Dragon Tail) and the Prehensile Tail feat to gain extra tails usable as hands for MWF. If your DM allows Cohort LA for PCs, the LA+0 (Cohort) Beguiler from Shining South is an excellent race with, among other things, a tail in which it can explicitly wield weapons. From there, it's the same as with most TWF builds, which is to say you need a way to reliably full attack, and a lot of bonus damage.

If you loosen the restriction from "swords" to allow for other weapons, specifically spiked gauntlets, then I'm fond of using Osteomancer 3 and Blood Wind in conjunction with the Dragon Tail set up. Osteomancer gives you spiked gauntlets on each hand and armor spikes which count as natural weapons. Blood Wind lets you attack at range with all your natural weapons, so you can double dip on a given appendage (ie, you don't need to decide between making a weapon attack and making a claw/tail attack with the "hand" wielding the weapon. Osteomancer also makes MWF more cost effective, if you can bear to be without the non +x enhancements, since you can use an Amulet of Mighty Fists to cover all of your natural weapons. For an example, check out Lucy "Legs" Silvertail from my sig.

[noob]

And how you fight when compared to someone using a multi handed weapon and armor spikes on each of the armor bracers of each of his hands using multi-weapon fighting like you?
Maybe it would be better but I do not know how it works to have multiple armor spikes on multiple handless shields.

[WhamBamSam]

And how you fight when compared to someone using a multi handed weapon and armor spikes on each of the armor bracers of each of his hands using multi-weapon fighting like you?
Maybe it would be better but I do not know how it works to have multiple armor spikes on multiple handless shields.Er, what? Bracers of armor aren't armor* so you can't put armor spikes on them and there's no reason to believe creatures with extra arms get extra "arm" slots for magic item purposes anyway so you can probably only use one set of Bracers of Armor at a time anyhow.

You could, however, MWF with a multi-handed weapon (using the rules for weapons designed for people with extra hands in Savage Species), a Mouthpick Weapon (requires a bite attack, but Thri-kreen have one natively and it's never more than a feat away), armor spikes, and unarmed strikes, making use of all the "THF while TWF-ing" workarounds at once.

*The MIC says this:
Armor (Chapter 1): This category includes both specific, preconstructed magic suits of armor or shields as well as the various properties that can be added to any appropriate suit of armor or shield (such as fortification or acid resistance). It doesn’t include robes (or other items worn in the same body slot as armor), since most of those items don’t offer the same kinds of effects, nor does it include bracers of armor or other items that provide similar protection—those are both clothing items.Emphasis mine. Bracers of Armor are not armor in the technical sense and you can't put spikes on them.

[noob]

Armor (Chapter 1): This category includes both specific, preconstructed magic suits of armor or shields as well as the various properties that can be added to any appropriate suit of armor or shield (such as fortification or acid resistance). It doesn’t include robes (or other items worn in the same body slot as armor), since most of those items don’t offer the same kinds of effects, nor does it include bracers of armor or other items that provide similar protection—those are both clothing items.

Dastana: (Arms and Equipment Guide pg.15) This pair of metal bracers can be worn in addition to some other types of armor to provide in addition armor bonus that stacks with both the foundation armor and any shield worn. You can wear Dastana with padded, Leather, or chain shirt armor. You need the armor proficiency (light) feat to wear dastana without penalty.
25gp - +1 armor bonus , Max Dex Bonus -- , Armor check penalty -1 , Arcane failure of 5% , 5 lbs

I was speaking of this.

[Xethik]

I would be interested in seeing a Chameleon build. One that boasts casting versatility, making use of the incredibly wide spell selection to ideally have the exact spell for any combat or non-combat situation. I'm really not sure how to enter (Wizard 1 for Uncanny Forethought and then..?) or what to do after Chameleon 10.

In my case, I would prefer to ignore gaining Chameleon spells above 6th. And I'm personally a bit sick of Factotum, but I think they are really key for optimizing a character like this.

Edit: actually, Chameleon is not necessary. Any versatile spell build, even more than your standard (or EZ Bake) Wizard. Something not cliche and overdone like Rainbow Servant would make me happy.

[gawwy]

Awesome. Now do a plot-wrecking game-breaking deceptively-strong powerhouse, the kind of thing that can one-up those Old Man Henderson/Alphonse Kapown stories I read.

I havent read any Alphonse Kapown stuff but i feel like you've mis-interpreted old man Henderson.

Henderson doesnt destroy his campaign with massively overpower attacks or magic. He does it by meta-gaming against a ****ty dm and justifying the meta with a huge and convoluted backstory and the character being certifiably insane.

He sees the dm set up traps and story line and nopes out by just walking in and blowing away the npcs he was meant to interact with before they can trick him into a trap. He avoids the story line by making up his own insane story before the dm can railroad him to follow a plot to trap.

in DnD 3.5 the feat Willing Deformity(Madness) is basically enough mechanical justification by itself to do a Henderson putting the word paranoid on your background gets you a decent chunk further. the rest is a question of style and flavor.

Personally i like the optimization showcases Storm warrior. will link later during lunch break

[MatrixStone93]

I havent read any Alphonse Kapown stuff but i feel like you've mis-interpreted old man Henderson.

Henderson doesnt destroy his campaign with massively overpower attacks or magic. He does it by meta-gaming against a ****ty dm and justifying the meta with a huge and convoluted backstory and the character being certifiably insane.

He sees the dm set up traps and story line and nopes out by just walking in and blowing away the npcs he was meant to interact with before they can trick him into a trap. He avoids the story line by making up his own insane story before the dm can railroad him to follow a plot to trap.

in DnD 3.5 the feat Willing Deformity(Madness) is basically enough mechanical justification by itself to do a Henderson putting the word paranoid on your background gets you a decent chunk further. the rest is a question of style and flavor.

Personally i like the optimization showcases Storm warrior. will link later during lunch break

Yeah, you're right. You can find both on the 14d wiki. Alphonse Kapown was the story of a smart badass guy playing a smart badass mech-building technomage forced into a crappy "Humans evil, dragonkin good" story where a literal DM's Wife was playing as the Dragon Princess Queen. He was supposedly the bad guy in her narrative, but he undoubtedly won. He drew up cost-effective rationing charts that gave even peasants square meals, used undead labour, made a town badass and his, and ended up pwning the game through basic logic. Also, he had a few friends from his site over, including some Kornate Berserker in all but name in whatever dnd game they were playing (I forgot) and some wizard in magic-enhancing plate magitech armour or something, though these friends didn't really do much.

[TheifofZ]

Assuming LA buyoff is an option:
Half Minotaur Ogre (4 RHD), Fighter 6 (Dungeoncrasher Variant), Warhulk 10
Feats: Power Attack, Improved Bullrush, Knockback, Shock Trooper, Improved Sunder, Combat Brute, Combat Reflexes if you have the Dex to make it worthwhile.
Goliath Greathammer weapon. Preferably Adamantium.

Really not alot that needs to be said here. At level 20, you have over 60 Str, and get +17 minimum on top of that to bullrushing. Charge with Power Attack, trigger Knock Back and send an enemy anywhere you want him to go in a cone in front of you. Combat Brute means you get an even bigger bonus after the first turn, and Dungeoncrasher gives you 8d6+3*Str (that's 8d6+75 damage at least) if the enemy collides with anything after you bullrush him. Since you don't need to follow your enemy, and Shock Trooper lets you direct the bullrush up to 90 degrees, this means the bullrush can knock an enemy up into the air (or down to the ground if they're flying already). You get falling damage, your base damage, and Dungeoncrasher bonus damage. Shout 'Fore!' when you do this, and laugh all game long.
Even funnier, you can get the Knockback proc (It's an optional free action whenever your power attack hits) to apply to the Massive Swing from Warhulk to send everything near you flying.
Also, as long as you've applied power attack on your turn, you can also get free bullrushes whenever you get an AoO. In theory, because you're large and have reach, as long as you aren't moving with them on the Knockback, the bullrush will proc your own AoO too.
Not as great an option as trip-tank, but it's funny, has fairly decent damage that combos well with both itself and other party members, and is still a great draw for aggression. (4d6+38+18 (power attack)+8d6+75+falling damage = ~155+Fall damage on turns you charge, not including Combat Brute bonuses from later turns)
The downsides of course are: Limited Ranged options. (Boulder Throwing: still strong, but not as great as 1. Giant Goes Bowling.)
Limited BaB. Warhulk doesn't actually grant BaB ever, instead giving +2 Str at every level. Ogre RHD give 3/4ths BaB as well.
DM aggro: You're big, deal fairly large damage, and have strong battlefield control. DMs tend to get salty about this in low optimization games.

[MatrixStone93]

Awesome! Also, I've been looking at the technomage/artificer classes. Which is better (In the sense of being stronger and having more combat and noncombat options), and which can let me go Alphonse Kapown on any story?

[Uncle Pine]

Is there already a Bardsader/Bardblade build with Perform (tea ceremony) in this thread? If not, it could be a fun 38th entry.

[AvatarVecna]

Is there already a Bardsader/Bardblade build with Perform (tea ceremony) in this thread? If not, it could be a fun 38th entry.

I think there's a more generic Bardblade, but not one based around Perform: Tea Ceremony.

EDIT: Can't imagine what inspired you to think of that...

*glances meaningfully at the signatures in this thread*

:amused:

[Uncle Pine]

*glances meaningfully at the signatures in this thread*

:amused:

Hey, it wasn't a signature in this thread. :amused:
Still, no generic Bardblade will ever be able to recreate this:
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crocker_break_1799.jpg

[AvatarVecna]

Hey, it wasn't a signature in this thread. :amused:

I was referring to the sig two posts above the one I responded to, which references that exact mechanic.

[TheifofZ]

I think there's a more generic Bardblade, but not one based around Perform: Tea Ceremony.

EDIT: Can't imagine what inspired you to think of that...

*glances meaningfully at the signatures in this thread*

:amused:

Amusingly, that thread was actually a discussion on how to make a super orcy bard.
I'd used most of the info to make an orcish Bardbarian that never actually took levels of barbarian.
But there were divergent discussions on silverbrow/DFI bards, and perform (Tea Ceremony) came up...

Edit: Upon rereading that thread, I am deeply saddened. I never did find someone to draw a polka orc for me...

[Uncle Pine]

I was referring to the sig two posts above the one I responded to, which references that exact mechanic.

And I was joking about the fact that I read TheifofZ's signature in another thread, not this one. But enough of that.

I'll have a look at the base Bardblade build posted earlier and then decide whether that build can be adapted or another build needs to be done from scratch to achieve maximum tea power.

[Uncle Pine]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Crocker_break_1799.jpg

Race: Desert kobold (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a). Because you could be something else or a kobold.
Age: Venerable. Wyrmlings these days are too busy killing each other over gold and will never have the patience to appreciate tea. Also, free stats.
Classes: Bard 4/Crusader 16 or Bard 4/Warblade 16, in this order. I prefer the former because I imagine Crusaders to be more disciplined than Warblades, but either is really good.
Feats: Dragonwrought (1st), Dragonfire Inspiration (F), Extra Music (F), Improved Dragon Wings (3rd), Song of the Heart (3rd, bonus), Words of Creation (6th), Song of the White Raven (9th), 12th, 15th and 18th level feats to taste.
Or, if flaws aren't allowed: Dragonwrought (1st), Dragonfire Inspiration (3rd), Song of the Heart (3rd, bonus), Words of Creation (6th), Song of the White Raven (9th), 12th, 15th and 18th level feats to taste.
Skills: Maxed ranks in Perform (tea ceremony). Other skills to taste.
Racial abilities adjustment (1st level): -4 Str, +2 Dex, +3 Int, +1 Wis, +3 Cha.
Racial abilities adjustment (20th level, see here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/dragonAdvanced.htm)): +8 Str, +2 Dex, +12 Con, +9 Int, +7 Wis, +9 Cha.
Relevant equipment: Ring of Undersong, badge of valor, vest of legends, Small (eventually Colossal, eventually Colossal+) masterwork tea service.
Misc info: IL 18, CL 14 (sadly, 2nd level or lower spells only), size Colossal+, base natural armor bonus +19, fly 130 ft. (clumsy), optimized Dragonfire Inspiration (exact amount of d6 added to attacks varies based on your DM's interpretation of what is doubled by Words of Creation).

He's a 64+ ft. great wyrm who set his claws, teeth, weapons and his allies' weapons on fire by serving tea. Thanks to Undersong and Diamond Mind maneuvers he can hold his composure even when hit by a fireball, or avoid getting distracted by illusions during afternoon tea. Thanks to how Perform works (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#perform) he can also easily convince hostile creatures to take a Mid-Battle Tea Break as pictured above.
He pours the milk after the tea.

I think it would be really helpful if the first post had a list linking to all the builds that have already been posted. I'll try to make a template and post it later.

[tgva8889]

Level 13
Classes: Hexblade 4 / Paladin of Tyranny 3 / Blackguard 3 / Binder 3
Feats: Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Improved Binding

A mobile debuffing fortress.
At 4th level take the Hexblade ACF which gives you Dark Companion. Your shadow can now move around and gives adjacent opponents -2 AC and saves.
3rd level of Paladin of Tyranny gives you Aura of Despair at 10ft, another -2 to AC and saves.
3rd level of Blackguard opens up another Aura of Despair. Same name, same debuff, different class.
And lastly we have Binder 3. With Improved Binding you gain access to Focalor. He gives exactly what you'd expect. A -2 to AC and saves aura.

A sudden bonus appears!
Did I mention you get Charisma to saves three times? Admittedly, one of those times is only against spells and SLAs.
And if that wasn't enough, Mettle from Hexblade gives you a sort of "rogue space" for Will/Fort saves by negating any lesser effects when you pass a save.



As someone who now desperately wants to make this character, I checked and sadly, the Aura of Despair only gives a -2 to saves, not AC. Still, presuming abilities with the same name stack, you can in fact destroy your enemy's saves pretty handily. Still not sure when exactly I want to take all these class levels, though...

[Uncle Pine]

Here it is! Ctrl+F if you're looking for a specific build, class and/or author.
1. A Giant Goes Bowling, Warblade 5/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Hulking Hurler 2/Master Thrower 5/Fighter 2, AvatarVecna.
2. Shooting Stars (not to be confused with Meteor Swarm), Rogue 1/Halfling Paragon 3/Warblade 1/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Master Thrower 5/Rogue 6, AvatarVecna. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19852765&postcount=2)
3. Rainbow Warsnake Weaver, Warmage 1/Rainbow Servant 10/Sacred Exorcist 1/War Weaver 5/X 3, AvatarVecna.
4. The (Pimp) Hand Of God, Monk 2/Cleric 4/Sacred Fist 10/X 4, AvatarVecna. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19861465&postcount=9)
5.1. Housecats of murder, Rogue 16/Warshaper 4, Dread_Head.
5.2. Housecats of murder, Ferocity or Whirling Frenzy Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Soulborn 2/Warshaper 4/X 12, Dread_Head.
5.3. Housecats of murder, Soulborn 2/Stoneblessed (Goliath) 3/Goliath Barbarian 1/Warshaper 4/X 10, Dread_Head. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19864700&postcount=10)
6. Many sads, such grief, Hexblade 4/Paladin of Tyranny 3/Blackguard 3/Binder 3, Red Rubber Band.
7. An actual, real-life Jedi, Fighter 2/Factotum 3/Shadowcaster 5, Red Rubber Band.
8. It's like MLP, but then... unicorns, Healer 8/Knight of the Raven 3/Prestige Paladin 2/Beloved of Valarian 1, Red Rubber Band. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19866978&postcount=11)
9. Blink Doggy Dogg, Swordsage 2/Cobra Strike Monk 2/Totemist 2/Hit-and-Run Fighter 2/Telflammar Shadowlord 4/Warblade 1/Shadow Sun Ninja 6, WhamBamSam.
10. The Clownfish Dragon, Feat Rogue 2/Binder 8/Stalwart Sorcerer 1/Knight of the Sacred Seal (Paimon) 5/Crusader 1/Aquatic Ferocity Barbarian 1/Battle Dancer 1/Hit-and-Run Sneak Attack Fighter 1, WhamBamSam. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19868153&postcount=12)
11. ???, Fighter 2/Swordsage X, Azoth. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19868309&postcount=14)
12. Assassin Cleric, Cleric 1/Rogue 4/Ur-Priest 5/Black Flame Zealot 10, BioCharge. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19869638&postcount=16)
13. Polar Barbearian, X 1/Barbarian 1/Warblade 4/Frostrager 5/Bear Warrior 5/Warshaper 4, Solaris.
14. Inspiring Paladin, Divine Bard 5/Paladin 5/Fist of Raziel 10, Solaris. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19871443&postcount=17)
15.1. Beast Wars, Ranger (Wild Shape Variant) 5/Master of Many Forms 6, Red Rubber Band.
15.2. Beast Wars, Ranger (Wild Shape Variant) 4/Crusader 1/Master of Many Forms 6, Red Rubber Band.
16. (PF) Barely recognisable fighter, Fighter 20, Red Rubber Band.
17.1. Retribution!, Sorcerer 7/Incantatrix 10, Red Rubber Band.
17.2. Retribution!, Wizard 5/Incantatrix 10, Red Rubber Band.
18. Fear my imaginary spells!, Sorcerer 4/Dread Witch 3/Nightmare Spinner 3/Shadowcraft Mage 3, Red Rubber Band. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19879714&postcount=18)
19. Blood Drunk/You're a Tank Bro, Passive Way Monk 2/Warblade 8/Crusader 3/Drunken Master 5, WhamBamSam.
20. Good Day, My Name is Necropolis..., Savage Bard 4/Psychic Warrior or Psion 1/Warblade 1/Thrall of Juiblex 4/Dirgesinger 4/Virtuoso 6, WhamBamSam.
21. Keeping a Cool Mind, Soulbound Weapon Psychic Warrior 16, WhamBamSam. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19887069&postcount=19)
22. No Thunderbolt or Lightning, But Very Very Frightening, Dread Necromancer 8/Dread Witch 5, nolongerchaos. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19887138&postcount=20)
23. Just say no (to magic), Cleric 1/Wizard 3/Master Specialist 8/Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7/Archmage 1, Dread_Head.
24. Whale I'll be damned; it's a dragon, Duskblade 3/Suel Arcnamach 10, Dread_Head. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19888568&postcount=21)
25.1. In-Combat Healer *gasp*, Bard 1/Cleric X, RedRubberBand.
25.2. In-Combat Healer *gasp*, Bard 1 (Healing Hymn ACF)/Healer 5/Healing Hand of Mishikal 5/Combat Medic 5/Contemplative 4, Azoth (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19888870&postcount=22)
26. Mind Leech Bard, Bard 9/Sublime Chord 5/Marshal 1/Evangelist 5, daremetoidareyo. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19889463&postcount=23)
27. Easy-Bake Wizard (full build), Wizard 20, AvatarVecna. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19943496&postcount=29)
28. Bloody Bladestorm, Warblade 11/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Master Thrower 5, AvatarVecna. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19950606&postcount=30)
29. ???, Bard 4/Crusader 16, Thealtruistorc. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19951106&postcount=31)
30. Violent Spirit, Spirit Shaman 10/Ghost 2/Dungeoncrasher Fighter 2/Master of the Unseen Hand 4, Dread_Head. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20046463&postcount=41)
31. Something from dandwiki, Fighter 9/Crusader 15, Doorhandle. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20046542&postcount=42)
32. SORCERER KING. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?414050-Who-is-better-Optimized-Wizard-or-Optimized-Sorcerer-Yes-Sorcerer-is-a-GOD) Hehe, inside jokes.
33. Diplomancer, Bard 6/Mindbender 1/Virtuoso 9/Spymaster 2/Sublime Chord 2, AvatarVecna. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20047950&postcount=49)
34. "Candles in the Dark", Wu Jen 5/Candle Caster 10/Shadowcraft Mage 5, ben-zayb. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20048953&postcount=50)
35. Desert Illusionist, Beguiler 13/Sand Shaper 2/Shadowcraft Mage 5, Dread_Head. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20053270&postcount=52)
36. Aggro-Machine, Martial Rogue 4/Fighter 4/Ranger 3/Swashbuckler 3/Martial Wizard 3/Elf Paragon 3, AvatarVecna. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20053416&postcount=53)
37. Nolan, the Needlessly Complicated, Barbarian 4/Fighter 4/Rogue 4, Uhtred. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20065060&postcount=58)
38. Golfing with the Big Guy, Fighter 6/Warhulk 10, TheifofZ. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20069809&postcount=68)
39.1. Let's get this partea started, Bard 4/Crusader 16, Uncle Pine.
39.2. Let's get this partea started, Bard 4/Warblade 16, Uncle Pine. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20074481&postcount=76)

Notes: I used X for unspecified classes/levels and ??? for unnamed builds. I condensed levels (i.e. Rogue 2/Fighter 1/Rogue+2 is listed as Rogue 4/Fighter 1) for ease of reading and listed "variant builds" as .x for completeness. I'm sorry I didn't list races, but since many templates and races combination are really long it saves a ton of space and I felt races to be less relevant than class levels.
Template is "[number].[variant, if present]. [name], [class levels], [poster].
You've been doing a great job so far people, keep being awesome. :smallsmile:


At first I thought I'd make a table, but I scrapped that idea as soon as I realized that it took way more space than a simple list and that I didn't know how to make sortable column. Here's a stump if you're interested:


#
Build's name
Classes
Author


1.
A Giant Goes Bowling (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19852765&postcount=2)
Warblade 5/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Hulking Hurler 2/Master Thrower 5/Fighter 2
AvatarVecna


2.
Shooting Stars (not to be confused with Meteor Swarm) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19852765&postcount=2)
Rogue 1/Halfling Paragon 3/Warblade 1/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Master Thrower 5/Rogue 6
AvatarVecna


3.






EDIT: @TheifofZ: Your "Golfing with the Big Guy" build is actually the 38th build in the thread, if we count Nolan as 37th. You may want to edit your post accordingly.

[TheifofZ]

39. Let's get this partea started
He's a 64+ ft. great wyrm who set his claws, teeth, weapons and his allies' weapons on fire by serving tea. Thanks to Undersong and Diamond Mind maneuvers he can hold his composure even when hit by a fireball, or avoid getting distracted by illusions during afternoon tea. Thanks to how Perform works (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#perform) he can also easily convince hostile creatures to take a Mid-Battle Tea Break as pictured above.
He pours the milk after the tea.[/SPOILER]

I think it would be really helpful if the first post had a list linking to all the builds that have already been posted. I'll try to make a template and post it later.

Kobolds with Dragonwrought count as Dragons, but just like plenty of other monsters with the [Dragon] type, don't actually grow larger, lack a breath weapon, and so on. Meaning, IIRC, they also don't get the free stat advancements.
And any DM that does let that slide is probably willing to allow the level 1 'Ancient Wyrm' kobold epic feats too, due to Ancient Wyrm auto-qualification.
Because that's some pretty stinky cheese already.
Also, I did edit it.

[Uncle Pine]

Kobolds with Dragonwrought count as Dragons, but just like plenty of other monsters with the [Dragon] type, don't actually grow larger, lack a breath weapon, and so on. Meaning, IIRC, they also don't get the free stat advancements.
Actually, any creature with the Dragon type and age categories will grow larger, get improved breath weapon (if present), get improved SR (if present), etc. as shown here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/dragonAdvanced.htm) regardless of whether they're True Dragons or just any other kind of Dragon. Dragonwrought kobolds just happen to be the only Dragons with age categories beside True Dragons that I'm aware of.


And any DM that does let that slide is probably willing to allow the level 1 'Ancient Wyrm' kobold epic feats too, due to Ancient Wyrm auto-qualification.

That's exactly how it works, since you only need to be an old Dragon (not necessarily an old True Dragon) to qualify for Epic feats even though you actually need to satisfy the other requirements so your choice is limited unless you add even more cheese.

[TheifofZ]

I'm just going to drop the subject, because RaW/RaI arguments, discussions about loophole abuse, and tiffs about excessively rank cheese don't belong in this thread.
Just let it be known I generally disagree with this, because it doesn't actually make sense, even if rules allow it.

[Perturbulent]

Dual-Cursed (Aged; Child) Oracle of Time
I came up with this the other day and intend to play it next new campaign. There's a bunch of interesting time mechanics, but the fun here is really just playing a wrinkly old kid.

Most of the Revelations have interesting options, but Aging Touch is of particular interest. At 6th level, it deals 3 strength damage, big whoop, but it gets more interesting with the spell Oracle's Burden. The Aged half of the curse makes them venerable (which unless poking a dragon) means -6 to physical stats (and the wording might suggest they don't get the +3 to mental stats too). With both effects, their strength essentially drops by 9...which is pretty gnarly at level 6 (and possible as early as level 4 to drop it by 8). But there's also the complicated Child Curse which if nothing else tacks on a -4 strength mod penalty, and explicitly makes them unable to wear whatever armor they had on before. It's a messy 2 actions, but when it works you cripple people with a touch. At level 10 their strength drops by 11, at 20 it drops by 16. There are lots of other cool little oddities, but those particular oracle's burdens combine hilariously.

[MatrixStone93]

Is it possible to make a bard that plays only either the ocarina or kazoo?

[Uncle Pine]

Is it possible to make a bard that plays only either the ocarina or kazoo?

If only Perform (wind instruments) was a thing...

[MatrixStone93]

How about Anthropomorphic stuff? Owl and Elephant seem pretty powerful. And Skunk would be, if its spray could be used in combat, I can't remember if it can be used or not.

[AvatarVecna]

How about Anthropomorphic stuff? Owl and Elephant seem pretty powerful. And Skunk would be, if its spray could be used in combat, I can't remember if it can be used or not.

Anthropomorphic animals tend to be weird to use properly in a setting, and they range from fairly broken (the anthropomorphic bat, which gives a huge wisdom boost and flight with no RHD or LA) to absurdly useless (like most of the largest animals, which have many RHD and LA but not much to show for it). Most of the stuff in between in "meh" enough that it rarely comes up at all. Although a literal Puss In Boots character could be interesting, that's more of an expy than an optimized build (probably).

[Lhurgyof]

40: Just A Stone's Throw Away

Strongheart Halfling PsyWar 7/ Master Thrower 1/Exotic Weapons Master 1/Master Thrower 4

This build is pretty easy. Psychic Warrior unlocks the amazing "Telekinetic Boomerang" power (Complete Psionic), which gives your thrown weapons instant-returning properties. The goal is to use Halfling Skipping Stones and cause havoc. You're doing low per-hit damage, but you are pelleting foes with the same rock over and over again. This build allows you to invest in one thrown weapon (instead of needing to buy a heaping load of throwing weapons). Exotic Weapon Master is thrown in to make it so you can use ranged attacks in melee, though it is not necessary. This build is rather vanilla compared to some of these other ones, but I always thought it was pretty fun. Get an aptitude Halfling Skipping Stone to apply Boomerang Ricochet and Boomerang Daze. This means that every thrown stone hits three foes and can stun all three. Dang that's nasty.

[ben-zayb]

For better or worse, this thread sure loves throwers!

[AvatarVecna]

For better or worse, this thread sure loves throwers!

I'm addicted to thrown wespon builds, because they're the rdd-headed step-children of the martial styles; making it function despite most every rule of combat saying it sucks means you're an awesome optimizer.

[TheifofZ]

20 Wu-jen. Race doesn't matter.
Feats: Sudden Empower, Sudden Maximize, Spell Focus (Evocation), Greater Spell Focus (Evocation), Fiery Burst (Reserve), Blistering Spell, Metamagic School Focus (Evocation)
Specials: Elemental Specialization [Fire].
Items: Ring of Mystic Fire.
It's a blaster mage build. At 6th level, you can cast a Fireball spell for the maximum 10d6 damage, Empower it 1/day to 15d6, maximize it 1/day to either 60 or 90 damage, and boost it with the ring to 14d6/21d6/96/126 damage. This lets you, 1/day, instantly win any encounter not immune to fire damage at 6th level.
Use Blistering Spell to overcome immunities and resistances in late game, and use higher level spells for even larger amounts of damage.
Even without most of the 1/day options early game, there are plenty of strong options in the Wu-jen spell list.

[MatrixStone93]

Anthropomorphic animals tend to be weird to use properly in a setting, and they range from fairly broken (the anthropomorphic bat, which gives a huge wisdom boost and flight with no RHD or LA) to absurdly useless (like most of the largest animals, which have many RHD and LA but not much to show for it). Most of the stuff in between in "meh" enough that it rarely comes up at all. Although a literal Puss In Boots character could be interesting, that's more of an expy than an optimized build (probably).

Wait, how broken can anthropomorphic bat actually be? (And where on the anthro scale must we be? Can the char be a cool ugly monster thing, or a lame prettyboy with bat wings on the sides of his head?)

[WhamBamSam]

Wait, how broken can anthropomorphic bat actually be? (And where on the anthro scale must we be? Can the char be a cool ugly monster thing, or a lame prettyboy with bat wings on the sides of his head?)It's an LA+0 race with a +6 Wis bonus. It's also non-humanoid, and so qualifies for Fangshields Druid sub-levels. The only thing that could potentially keep them from being the undisputed best Druid race is that being non-humanoid means no Aberration Blood and in turn, no Aberration Wild Shape, but if Dragon Magazine is allowed, then Morning Mutate solves that problem.

[MatrixStone93]

It's an LA+0 race with a +6 Wis bonus. It's also non-humanoid, and so qualifies for Fangshields Druid sub-levels. The only thing that could potentially keep them from being the undisputed best Druid race is that being non-humanoid means no Aberration Blood and in turn, no Aberration Wild Shape, but if Dragon Magazine is allowed, then Morning Mutate solves that problem.

Sorry, I don't have Dragon Magazine. What does Aberration Wild Shape do?

[WhamBamSam]

Sorry, I don't have Dragon Magazine. What does Aberration Wild Shape do?Aberration Wild Shape is in Lords of Madness, not Dragon Magazine. Simply put, it lets you Wild Shape into Aberrations, and is generally regarded as the most powerful form-adding Wild Shape feat (see eggynack's handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439991-Being-Everything-Eggynack-s-Comprehensive-Druid-Handbook) for more info). It requires Aberration Blood as a prereq, which in turn requires the humanoid type. However, in some Dragon Magazine or other, there's a feat called Morning Mutate which counts as Aberration Blood and is available to other creature types. So with Dragon Magazine available a (most likely Dragonborn) Anthropomorphic Bat could enjoy the benefits of having a racial +6 to Wis, access to the Fangshields Druid substitution levels (Champions of Valor), and be able to qualify for Aberration Wild Shape.

[AvatarVecna]

Wait, how broken can anthropomorphic bat actually be? (And where on the anthro scale must we be? Can the char be a cool ugly monster thing, or a lame prettyboy with bat wings on the sides of his head?)

How broken can it be? "Anthropomorphic Animal" is a template, so it alters to base animal, which is important to keep in mind. That means that Anthropomorphic Bat...
is a 0 RHD, LA +0 race
gets Wisdom +6
is Small sized
has 60 ft darkvision
has low-light vision
has blindsense
has 40 ft flight with good maneuverability
has access to a wonderful druid ACF without shenanigans

If you can find a way to suck up the resulting -10 to Str, you can start the game with Wisdom 27 on a Wis-based caster. Cleric and Druid are already two of the best classes in the game, they don't need the help.

[TheifofZ]

If you play a cleric or druid, you don't really need str to be above 6.

[AvatarVecna]

If you play a cleric or druid, you don't really need str to be above 6.

the accompanying -6 Con is a bigger issue, but still not insurmountable, especially if you're starting above ECL 1; hell, if you're starting above ECL 9, you can throw Feral, Half-Minotaur, and Blooded One templates on there and buy off the LA to offset the penalties.

[SwordChucks]

I had an idea for a druid that was basically a pokemon trainer followed around by his mons.



Race:
Human or for bonus points use Strongheart Halfling

Classes:
Druid 5/ Beastheart adept 1/ beastmaster X/ +X druid or beastheart adept

Feats:
first level - natural bond
human bonus feat - wild cohort
flaw 1 - skill focus (handle animal)
flaw 2 - animal affinity
level 3 - item familiar: a magic bestiary/pokedex
level 6 - leadership: bard/marshal/dragonfire adept

The result is a druid that still has a lot of versatility from spells and wild shape, a bunch of animals that fight for you (including one really strong companion), and you can use leadership to pickup Misty or Brock. If the DM lets you take natural bond for different animal companions it gets even better and if you plan on using wild shape often you can grab natural spell and extra wildshape.

[Lhurgyof]

Female Asherati Cleric 1/Maiden of Pain 3/Walker in the Wastes X


This is another fun build. Maiden of Pain is a prestige class that requires you to have Violate Spell and 4 ranks of intimidate to enter. It gives you whip proficiency, the Pain domain for free, a stunning touch attack, 9/10 casting, and the ability to use touch attacks and touch spells using your whip.

This means you can heal, buff, and shivering touch from 15 feet away! Add in Walker in the Wastes for another Channeled touch attack!

Start as cloistered cleric and take the sand domain (along with any other, you'll be getting knowledge and pain for free) and grab some fun cleric touch spells. Pro Tip: you can spontaneously cast inflict spells, so prepare some cures to hit from a distance.

Here's the feat/level progression:

1. Cleric 1: Violate Spell, Heat Endurance (racial), Apprentice: Warrior (flaw, gives you intimidate as a class skill and +2 on fort saves)
2. Maiden of Pain 1: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Whip (bonus)
3. Maiden of Pain 2: Empower Spell (or maximize spell)
4. Maiden of Pain 3: Improved Trip (bonus, might be useful with the competition domain)
5. Walker in the Wastes 2
6. Walker in the Wastes 3: Divine Metamagic: Empower or Maximize

A fun cleric build that doesn't rely on DMM: persist. All in all you get four domains, two touch attacks, get 9th level spells, and get to avoid the front lines of combat.

[AvatarVecna]

I've had an idea for a fun and optimized anthropomorphic animal build that isn't too overpowered, although it's mechanical reliance on being an anthropomorphic animal is limited (and it might not even have the template). In terms of the fluff, though, being an anthropomorphic animal (somehow) is incredibly important and cannot be changed.

For similar reasons, I shall be putting together Warforged Ranger/MoMF. Let's see if anybody knows what I'm going for...

[AvatarVecna]

Female Asherati Cleric 1/Maiden of Pain 3/Walker in the Wastes X


This is another fun build. Maiden of Pain is a prestige class that requires you to have Violate Spell and 4 ranks of intimidate to enter. It gives you whip proficiency, the Pain domain for free, a stunning touch attack, 9/10 casting, and the ability to use touch attacks and touch spells using your whip.

This means you can heal, buff, and shivering touch from 15 feet away! Add in Walker in the Wastes for another Channeled touch attack!

Start as cloistered cleric and take the sand domain (along with any other, you'll be getting knowledge and pain for free) and grab some fun cleric touch spells. Pro Tip: you can spontaneously cast inflict spells, so prepare some cures to hit from a distance.

Here's the feat/level progression:

1. Cleric 1: Violate Spell, Heat Endurance (racial), Apprentice: Warrior (flaw, gives you intimidate as a class skill and +2 on fort saves)
2. Maiden of Pain 1: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Whip (bonus)
3. Maiden of Pain 2: Empower Spell (or maximize spell)
4. Maiden of Pain 3: Improved Trip (bonus, might be useful with the competition domain)
5. Walker in the Wastes 2
6. Walker in the Wastes 3: Divine Metamagic: Empower or Maximize

A fun cleric build that doesn't rely on DMM: persist. All in all you get four domains, two touch attacks, get 9th level spells, and get to avoid the front lines of combat.

A lovely build, all around, and certainly useful. Only thing worth bringing up is the numbering issue: the guy right before you is also claiming build 42.

[Dread_Head]

Female Asherati Cleric 1/Maiden of Pain 3/Walker in the Wastes X


This is another fun build. Maiden of Pain is a prestige class that requires you to have Violate Spell and 4 ranks of intimidate to enter. It gives you whip proficiency, the Pain domain for free, a stunning touch attack, 9/10 casting, and the ability to use touch attacks and touch spells using your whip.

This means you can heal, buff, and shivering touch from 15 feet away! Add in Walker in the Wastes for another Channeled touch attack!

Start as cloistered cleric and take the sand domain (along with any other, you'll be getting knowledge and pain for free) and grab some fun cleric touch spells. Pro Tip: you can spontaneously cast inflict spells, so prepare some cures to hit from a distance.

Here's the feat/level progression:

1. Cleric 1: Violate Spell, Heat Endurance (racial), Apprentice: Warrior (flaw, gives you intimidate as a class skill and +2 on fort saves)
2. Maiden of Pain 1: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Whip (bonus)
3. Maiden of Pain 2: Empower Spell (or maximize spell)
4. Maiden of Pain 3: Improved Trip (bonus, might be useful with the competition domain)
5. Walker in the Wastes 2
6. Walker in the Wastes 3: Divine Metamagic: Empower or Maximize

A fun cleric build that doesn't rely on DMM: persist. All in all you get four domains, two touch attacks, get 9th level spells, and get to avoid the front lines of combat.

Oooh if you are taking maximise anyway then take Mastery of the Day and Night! Free maximise on your inflict spells (which you an spontaneously cast). Pretty reliable damage especially when you are attacking with 15ft reach.

Edit: Also take some levels in Ordained Champion to get the ability to channel spells into a weapon as a move action. This will let you channel two spells per round. Also gains you a 5th domain (War) and a bunch of other nifty abilities depending upon how long you stick with it. other

[ben-zayb]

Reviving this a bit with something a little more old-school...
The Undertaker

Lawful Evil Silverbrow Human Monk 2 / Sorcerer 1 / Savage Ghost Progression 2 / Fighter 2 / Master of the Unseen Hand 3 / Earth Dreamer 5 / Warlock 1 / Mindbender 1 / Marshal 3

ACF: Monk (Overwhelming Attack, Invisible Fist), Fighter (Hit and Run, Dungeoncrasher), Sorcerer (Dragonblood)
Aura: Motivate Charisma, Art of War, Motivate Urgency
Invocation: Beguiling Influence, Summon Swarm
Feats:
1: Able Learner, JotunbrudB, Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Power AttackB, Earth SenseFlaw, Evil's BlessingFlaw
2: Improved Bull RushB
3: Draconic Aura (Vigor)
4: Improved GrappleB
6: Ghostly Grasp
9: Imperious Command
12: Ascetic Mage
15: Mindsight
18: Dark Speech


Level 5: His main trick is to use Violent Thrust to either throw his enemy 120ft into the air (DC15+CHA, 12d6 falling damage) or throw up to 12 objects (for 12 large greatswords, that's 3d6*12) at that enemy. Once per 3 rounds, he can turn invisible, and thus make his enemies flat-footed against his attacks. He also has Cha to attack (Telekinesis), AC (Incorporeal), and Saves (Evil's Blessing).


Level 10: Same as above, except his Violent Thrust's damage becomes (weapon die + CHA)*12 when used against a flat-footed enemy within 30ft. Additionally, he can now Bull Rush 3x per round (modifier of CHA+8), each dealing 4d6+2*CHA when pushed against solid surfaces; One of his favorite trick, the "Tombstone Piledriver", involved flying atop his enemies and Bull Rushing them to the ground. He can also demoralize foes really well, with maxed-out Intimidate (19+CHA), and Never Outnumber skill-trick to demoralize in a 10ft-radius 1/encounter.

Most importantly, he can now do his signature move of burying his enemies alive. With Telekinesis being maintained using only a move action, he can Grapple 3x per round (modifier of 23+CHA) and use his remaining standard action to Move, in order to drag his grappled enemies 5ft underneath the ground. Furthermore, if he can see his enemies (such as via Ring of X-Ray Vision, which never harms him), he can dungeoncrash-Bull-Rush them underground because there's literally nowhere else to go. This is doable partly due to Supernatural Abilities not necessarily requiring Line of Effect.

Alternatively, another trick of his is the "Choke Slam", where he uses this grapple option while hovering 200ft or so off the ground, dragging his enemies to that altitude, and then dropping them off at the next opportunity for 20d6 damage.


Level 15: Same as above, except he just no longer bury his enemies 5ft underground: he practically drags them to the deepest domains of the underworld. He does this using Earth Glide to move further underground, Earthsight to perfectly see through 30ft of earth with the help of his Darkvision, and using the Move option of Telekinesis to move up to half his move speed (15ft unmodified).

Additionally, he now has 6th-level Sorcerer casting for whatever that's worth, and an additional CHA to AC via Ascetic Mage. His demoralization further improves with an Intimidate modifier of 24+CHA, and Imperious Command to turn demoralized creatures Cowering.


Level 20: Same as above, except he can now detect (via Mindsight) and speak telepathically to anyone (such as those being buried) with an Int score within 100ft. He finishes off with a Grapple modifier of 29+CHA, a Bull-Rush modifier of 8+2*CHA, and an Intimidate modifier of 35+2*CHA. He now has access to Dark Speech and Summon Swarm, too, for whatever that's worth.

[MatrixStone93]

Reviving this a bit with something a little more old-school...
The Undertaker

Lawful Evil Silverbrow Human Monk 2 / Sorcerer 1 / Savage Ghost Progression 2 / Fighter 2 / Master of the Unseen Hand 3 / Earth Dreamer 5 / Warlock 1 / Mindbender 1 / Marshal 3

ACF: Monk (Overwhelming Attack, Invisible Fist), Fighter (Hit and Run, Dungeoncrasher), Sorcerer (Dragonblood)
Aura: Motivate Charisma, Art of War, Motivate Urgency
Invocation: Beguiling Influence, Summon Swarm
Feats:
1: Able Learner, JotunbrudB, Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Power AttackB, Earth SenseFlaw, Evil's BlessingFlaw
2: Improved Bull RushB
3: Draconic Aura (Vigor)
4: Improved GrappleB
6: Ghostly Grasp
9: Imperious Command
12: Ascetic Mage
15: Mindsight
18: Dark Speech


Level 5: His main trick is to use Violent Thrust to either throw his enemy 120ft into the air (DC15+CHA, 12d6 falling damage) or throw up to 12 objects (for 12 large greatswords, that's 3d6*12) at that enemy. Once per 3 rounds, he can turn invisible, and thus make his enemies flat-footed against his attacks. He also has Cha to attack (Telekinesis), AC (Incorporeal), and Saves (Evil's Blessing).


Level 10: Same as above, except his Violent Thrust's damage becomes (weapon die + CHA)*12 when used against a flat-footed enemy within 30ft. Additionally, he can now Bull Rush 3x per round (modifier of CHA+8), each dealing 4d6+2*CHA when pushed against solid surfaces; One of his favorite trick, the "Tombstone Piledriver", involved flying atop his enemies and Bull Rushing them to the ground. He can also demoralize foes really well, with maxed-out Intimidate (19+CHA), and Never Outnumber skill-trick to demoralize in a 10ft-radius 1/encounter.

Most importantly, he can now do his signature move of burying his enemies alive. With Telekinesis being maintained using only a move action, he can Grapple 3x per round (modifier of 23+CHA) and use his remaining standard action to Move, in order to drag his grappled enemies 5ft underneath the ground. Furthermore, if he can see his enemies (such as via Ring of X-Ray Vision, which never harms him), he can dungeoncrash-Bull-Rush them underground because there's literally nowhere else to go. This is doable partly due to Supernatural Abilities not necessarily requiring Line of Effect.

Alternatively, another trick of his is the "Choke Slam", where he uses this grapple option while hovering 200ft or so off the ground, dragging his enemies to that altitude, and then dropping them off at the next opportunity for 20d6 damage.


Level 15: Same as above, except he just no longer bury his enemies 5ft underground: he practically drags them to the deepest domains of the underworld. He does this using Earth Glide to move further underground, Earthsight to perfectly see through 30ft of earth with the help of his Darkvision, and using the Move option of Telekinesis to move up to half his move speed (15ft unmodified).

Additionally, he now has 6th-level Sorcerer casting for whatever that's worth, and an additional CHA to AC via Ascetic Mage. His demoralization further improves with an Intimidate modifier of 24+CHA, and Imperious Command to turn demoralized creatures Cowering.


Level 20: Same as above, except he can now detect (via Mindsight) and speak telepathically to anyone (such as those being buried) with an Int score within 100ft. He finishes off with a Grapple modifier of 29+CHA, a Bull-Rush modifier of 8+2*CHA, and an Intimidate modifier of 35+2*CHA. He now has access to Dark Speech and Summon Swarm, too, for whatever that's worth.


Beautiful.

What is Silverbrow Human from? And what does the Feral template do, again?

[Darrin]

Here's my Three Mountain Stars build, updated slightly to work in Pounce and a dash of Dragonborn.


Race: Human.
1) Simple Barbarian 1. Feat: Power Attack. Human: Cleave. Pounce (Spirit Lion Totem). Favored Enemy: Arcanist.
2) Fighter 1. Bonus: Improved Bull Rush. Bonus: Exotic Shield Proficiency (lost via Dragonborn)
3) Fighter 2. Feat: Three Mountains Style. Bonus: WF Morningstar.
4) Simple Barbarian 2. Bonus: Improved Trip (Wolf Totem). Bonus: Rapid Shot -> Dragon Tail (via Dragonborn).
5) Fighter 3.
6) Fighter 4. Feat: Prehensile Tail. Bonus: MWF.
7) Fighter 5.
8) Fighter 6. Bonus: Oversized TWF.
9) Fighter 7. Feat: Improved MWF.
10) Fighter 8. Bonus: Shock Trooper.
11) Fighter 9.
12) Fighter 10. Feat: Knock-Down or Leap Attack. Bonus: WS Morningstar.
13) Fighter 11.
14) Fighter 12. Bonus: MWM Morningstar.
15) Fighter 13. Feat: Greater MWF.
16) Fighter 14. Bonus: GWF Morninstar.
17) Fighter 15.
18) Fighter 16. Feat: Crushing Strike. Bonus: GWS Morningstar.
19) Fighter 17.
20) Fighter 18. Bonus: Weapon Supremacy.

Or if you prefer a "pure" Fighter 20 build, see this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18367975&postcount=68).

Simple Barbarian variant from UA trades Rage for the Ranger's Favored Enemy and Combat Style, which gets us Rapid Shot at Barbarian 2. We can also trade away Fast Movement for Pounce (Spirit Lion Totem from Complete Champion) and all the rest of our Barbarian class features for Wolf Totem, giving us Improved Trip at Barbarian 2 as well.

Go through the Ritual of Rebirth after level 4. As per Races of the Dragon p. 10: "If your original race granted you a nonspecific bonus feat (such as the one gained by a human at 1st level), any feat can be lost, so long as it is not a prerequisite for another feat you have." There's an optional rule in Races of Stone that allows Fighters to take Exotic Shield Proficiency (p. 139) at 1st level instead of Tower Shield Proficiency. Actually, since Fighters already have Tower Shield Proficiency as a bonus feat, you don't need to swap it... you can just drop that feat instead. We can also trade an existing feat for a dragonblood feat (Races of the Dragon p. 10), so swap Rapid Shot for Dragon Tail. Take the Wings aspect for Flight.

At 6th level, you've got Three Mountains, Prehensile Tail, and four attacks: two primary, two offhand. Primary/offhand penalties are -4/-4, but Oversized TWF at 8th level will bring those down to a more manageable -2/-2. Every time you hit a creature twice, Fort save vs nausea for 1 round (DC = 10 + half char level + Str bonus). Once Knock-Down comes online, every hit that does 10+ damage gets a trip attempt as a free action. So not only do you get to put your opponent on the ground, nausea restricts them to a single move action and all they can do is stand up or crawl.

After that, mostly you're just filling out the Melee Weapon Mastery/Weapon Supremacy tree. Shock Trooper (and Leap Attack if you prefer) lets you Ubercharge with the rest of the two-handers, but it's mostly just gravy. You don't get as many damage multipliers out of Power Attack, but you do get to apply Power Attack damage to your offhand attacks, since your offhand weapons are one-handed instead of light. Crushing Strike isn't entirely necessary, but hopefully the +1 attack bonus for each hit should help land some additional hits at the tail end of your full attack. If you prefer, you can replace Crushing Strike with something else, like Overwhelming Assault. Once you reach the capstone, you've got 12 attacks (4 primary, 8 offhand) and the WF/WS/MWM/WSup tree gives you:

+4 attack, +6 damage, +5 attack bonus on one attack after your first, one "take 10" on an attack roll per round, +1 AC, +4 to resist disarm attempts, and you can full attack with your morningstars in a grapple without penalty.

[Inevitability]

Here's my Three Mountain Stars build, updated slightly to work in Pounce and a dash of Dragonborn.


Race: Human.
1) Simple Barbarian 1. Feat: Power Attack. Human: Cleave. Pounce (Spirit Lion Totem). Favored Enemy: Arcanist.
2) Fighter 1. Bonus: Improved Bull Rush. Bonus: Exotic Shield Proficiency (lost via Dragonborn)
3) Fighter 2. Feat: Three Mountains Style. Bonus: WF Morningstar.
4) Simple Barbarian 2. Bonus: Improved Trip (Wolf Totem). Bonus: Rapid Shot -> Dragon Tail (via Dragonborn).
5) Fighter 3.
6) Fighter 4. Feat: Prehensile Tail. Bonus: MWF.
7) Fighter 5.
8) Fighter 6. Bonus: Oversized TWF.
9) Fighter 7. Feat: Improved MWF.
10) Fighter 8. Bonus: Shock Trooper.
11) Fighter 9.
12) Fighter 10. Feat: Leap Attack. Bonus: WS Morningstar.
13) Fighter 11.
14) Fighter 12. Bonus: MWM Morningstar.
15) Fighter 13. Feat: Greater MWF.
16) Fighter 14. Bonus: GWF Morninstar.
17) Fighter 15.
18) Fighter 16. Feat: Crushing Strike. Bonus: GWS Morningstar.
19) Fighter 17.
20) Fighter 18. Bonus: Weapon Supremacy.

Or if you prefer a "pure" Fighter 20 build, see this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18367975&postcount=68).


Maybe quickly explain what it does and how it works? That would be nice for people who don't want to look up all those feats?

[Darrin]

Maybe quickly explain what it does and how it works? That would be nice for people who don't want to look up all those feats?

I added some explicationary text inside the spoiler. Mostly it's "hit things with morningstars, and they have to save vs. nausea".

I'm still peeved that the PHBII errata put the kibosh on taking Melee Weapon Mastery twice for the same weapon.

[yellowrocket]

How about someone who ran a foster home for children whos parents were killed by adventurers? As they get older they can enter a school for tactics becoming smarter and more dangerous. As he teaches he gained recognition and be came a master of the nine styles. Gestalt with 2 levels of monk and some kind of spell casting for high saves. His purpose as he gained his mastery is to hunt down the racist adventurers who kill on race alone.

[Morphic tide]

Race: Half-Minotaur Goliath
Classes: Warblade 5/Bloodstorm Blade 4/Hulking Hurler 2/Master Thrower 5/Fighter 2.
Necessary Feats (other than pre-reqs): Natural Heavyweight
Items: Belt of the Earth, Armbands of Continuous (Arms of Stone), +1 Adamantine pointy improvised object, +1 Adamantine Bowling Ball

At level 13 and onward, you're working with Str 42 including items; combined with Full BAB and a magic weapon, this makes for a devastating full attack even without improvised weapons. For your entire career (from the very beginning), you can wield an object as a weapon as long as it's less than 40 lbs according to the rules in Complete Warrior (since you're Large sized and have the Powerful Build feature; we'll assume your DM is operating on RAI rather than RAW for this); such an object deals 4d6 base damage (assuming it's pointy; make sure it's pointy). So that way, you can get multiple attacks with that powerful weapon; you can get even more attacks, if you go the TWF route. At ECL 11, you can start attacking with your pointy object at range, making you more versatile in-combat. Finally, if you're not facing multiple opponents, or opponents who can mitigate up to one attack a round (such as by using Wings of Cover, or some sort of Missile Deflection ability that works on small boulders, like a Giant's rock-catching ability), you can whip out your magical adamantine bowling ball.

This little baby, like your normal weapons, is enchanted through an interesting path of loopholes: normally, improvised weapons can't be enchanted, because only masterwork weapons can be enchanted; however, any object can be made out of adamantine, and any adamantine weapon (including improvised weapons) counts as masterwork for the purposes of enchantment. You now have a +1 Adamantine Boulder Bowling Ball weighing up to your Medium Load; for real play, I suggest actually making it weigh a good deal less than your actual Medium Load, in case the enemy tries to shrink you or zap your Strength. Assuming you're Large instead of Huge, and have a 30 Str instead of a 42 Str, we end up with an 8512 lbs adamantine bowling ball; assuming adamantine weighs about as much as steel, your big bowling ball is roughly 38 inches in diameter...and, when you take a full round action to toss it, deals 45d6 damage, plus bonuses. That's an average of 157.5 damage per hit, or over 300 on a crit. Add on layers as your Strength increases over the levels...or just start with it bigger and assume your allies will keep you safe from those nasty effects.

BTW, if you find a way to make sure your Str can't be drained and your size can't be reduced (likely through magic items or helpful allies), you can wield a much bigger bowling ball at all times...one weighing in at 88576 lbs. That sucker is just over 7 ft in diameter and deals 445d6 damage to whatever poor soul gets in its way...assuming they can't mitigate it once per round. Incidentally, allies finding ways of granting you extra full round actions could be very useful.

For added Fun, make the Bowling Ball Returning, Ghost Touch and Keen, then make it give max bonus to Strength and become Colossal, getting you the biggest Bowling Ball possible. If Epic items are allowed, then make it a +10 with every enhancement you can get on it. Make it a conventional intelligent magic item, item familiar, ancestral relic and animated object if you want the best of the best in Bowling Balls. In Gesalt, have Artificer on the other side of the build to make your Bowling Ball the best it can be faster.

[AvatarVecna]

For added Fun, make the Bowling Ball Returning, Ghost Touch and Keen, then make it give max bonus to Strength and become Colossal, getting you the biggest Bowling Ball possible. If Epic items are allowed, then make it a +10 with every enhancement you can get on it. Make it a conventional intelligent magic item, item familiar, ancestral relic and animated object if you want the best of the best in Bowling Balls. In Gesalt, have Artificer on the other side of the build to make your Bowling Ball the best it can be faster.

Returning is superfluous, that's what Bloodstorm Blade 4 is for (so I can make full attacks with the bowling ball); Ghost Touch is viable, but Keen is not (since it can't apply to bludgeoning weapons...for that, I need the bludgeoning weapon equivalent from Magic Item Compendium the name of which escapes me). There's some other really good ranged weapon enchantments you could put on it (my favorite pre-epic one is Distance, followed by Seeking if it can apply). Making the bowling ball Colossal makes it weigh so much that I can't full attack with it anymore, and if by "max bonus to Strength", you mean +6 Enhancement to Str, my armbands of continuous "Fist of Stone" already give me that. And if I was gestalting this, Artificer's my go-to...and the sooner I can get an item of continuous "Giant Size", the better.

Also, this wasn't about optimizing the bowling ball, but rather the bowler's combat ability.

Finally, BURN THE FOUL NECROMANCER!!!

[Morphic tide]

Returning is superfluous, that's what Bloodstorm Blade 4 is for (so I can make full attacks with the bowling ball); Ghost Touch is viable, but Keen is not (since it can't apply to bludgeoning weapons...for that, I need the bludgeoning weapon equivalent from Magic Item Compendium the name of which escapes me). There's some other really good ranged weapon enchantments you could put on it (my favorite pre-epic one is Distance, followed by Seeking if it can apply). Making the bowling ball Colossal makes it weigh so much that I can't full attack with it anymore, and if by "max bonus to Strength", you mean +6 Enhancement to Str, my armbands of continuous "Fist of Stone" already give me that. And if I was gestalting this, Artificer's my go-to...and the sooner I can get an item of continuous "Giant Size", the better

Also, this wasn't about optimizing the bowling ball, but rather the bowler's combat ability.

Finally, BURN THE FOUL NECROMANCER!!!

Not 45 days later, sucker. And my Idea is the Sneak Attack Armored Mage(Sorcerer) Fighter/Wild Shape Champion of the Wilds Distracting Attack Ranger// Arcane Unarmed The weirdness is that you have Rogue Sneak Attack bonuses, with every attack after the first being a Flanking attack and you have most of the things of Rogue on a FAR better chassis. Arcane Unarmed Swordsage is there to let you have a bunch of mobility and attack count buffs. Focus on Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand manoeuvres and buff spells. You Wildshape for mobility and attack number, and the Sneak Attacks make it so you deal good damage. The Fighter alone is actually able to qualify for Arcane Trickster at level 6, which could get weird. And yes, several things say Armored Mage is actually a Fighter variant and it costs armor proficiency, not bonus feats. The goal is to Wildshape Sneak Attack everything, preferably jumping between targets like a loon. For spells, True Strike, the Celerity line, Haste, Time Stop and stat boosts, which will eat a decent number of slots but will make you shatter the action economy. For manoeuvres, mobility, more action economy wreaking and attack count are the name of the game. Feats are all about boosting unarmed, casting, action economy wreaking and mobility Is wrong, will make new post with corrected layout

[Rookwood]

Here's one I have been toying with.
Human, Cha/Dex/Con/Str/Int/Wis (order of importance)
Sorceror 6 (Metamagic Specialist ACF)/ Fighter 1/ Eldritch Knight 1/ Abjurant Champion 5/ Eldritch Knight +7.
Feats:Combat Reflexes, Quicken Spell, Combat Casting, Hold the Line, Close Quarters Combat, Arcane Strike, +2 spare feats.
Gets Base Attack Bonus 17 and 18th level Sorcerer caster by level 20. Spells include Shield, Lesser Orb of Sound, Dimension Hop, Lesser Celerity, Regroup, Celerity, Orb of Force, Arcane Fusion, Teleport, Plane Shift, Greater Teleport, Greater Celerity, and Greater Arcane Fusion. Something bothering you? Use a Greater Arcane Fusion to cast an Orb of Force and an Arcane Fusion casting an Orb of Force and a Lesser Orb of Sound, that's 25d6 that gives no save and is unaffected by SR. It's not dead? Greater Celerity, and do it again, that's 50d6. Still not dead? Quicken an Arcane Fusion for another 15d6. Is it something that is going to take more than 65d6 damage to kill? Pull out the greatsword, wait for it to charge, smack it and smack it if it tries to grab you. If it still succeeds, quicken a Dimension Hop next to it, drop a 9th level spell as a free action into Arcane Strike, Drop another into Arcane Boost (Abjurant Champion Level 4), and attack with +9 to hit and +9d4+18 Damage per strike. If it ever seems like you or any of your party members is threatened in some irrevocable way, like some epic theurge is going to destroy everything within a hundred and fifty mile radius, Greater Celerity, Quicken a Regroup, and teleport to the other side of the planet.

[Cerefel]

Not 45 days later, sucker. And my Idea is the Sneak Attack Armored Mage(Sorcerer) Fighter/Wild Shape Champion of the Wilds Distracting Attack Ranger//Druidic Avenger Druid/ Arcane Unarmed Swordsage. The weirdness is that you have Ranger AND Rouge Sneak Attack bonuses, with every attack after the first being a Flanking attack and you have most of the things of Rouge on a FAR better chassis. Arcane Unarmed Swordsage is there to let you have a bunch of mobility and attack count buffs. Focus on Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand manoeuvres and buff spells. You Wildshape for mobility and attack number, and the Sneak Attacks make it so you deal good damage. The Fighter alone is actually able to qualify for Arcane Trickster at level 6, which could get weird. And yes, several things say Armored Mage is actually a Fighter variant and it costs armor proficiency, not bonus feats. The goal is to Wildshape Sneak Attack everything, preferably jumping between targets like a loon. For spells, True Strike, the Celerity line, Haste, Time Stop and stat boosts, which will eat a decent number of slots but will make you shatter the action economy. For manoeuvres, mobility, more action economy wreaking and attack count are the name of the game. Feats are all about boosting unarmed, casting, action economy wreaking and mobility.
Why is the Armored Mage ACF keyed to sorcerer when you didn't say anything about taking levels of sorcerer?

[Morphic tide]

Why is the Armored Mage ACF keyed to sorcerer when you didn't say anything about taking levels of sorcerer?
Armored Mage says to pick the casting of a class, the Sorcerer bit is signalling that the chosen classes casting is Sorcerer, meaning Sorcerer casting progression and spell list. Weirdest thing I realized is that it can let you get Arcane Trickster prerequisites at level 5 on one base class that gets loads of weapon proficiencies. I was wrong.

[Cerefel]

Armored Mage says to pick the casting of a class, the Sorcerer bit is signalling that the chosen classes casting is Sorcerer, meaning Sorcerer casting progression and spell list. Weirdest thing I realized is that it can let you get Arcane Trickster prerequisites at level 5 on one base class that gets loads of weapon proficiencies.

Armored mage doesn't give you casting. All it does is allow you to use casting you already have without ASF.

[Morphic tide]

Armored mage doesn't give you casting. All it does is allow you to use casting you already have without ASF.

Then I have derped, will change posts accordingly

[Morphic tide]

As before, it's a Gestalt
Scout 3/Champion of the Wild Wild Shape Ranger 17//Druidic Avenger Druid 17/Fighter 3

The goal is the same: assloads of precision damage and jumping and running and flying all over the place like a loon. You use Wild Shape for mobility and (Ex) abilities. Unlike most Scout/Ranger builds, you're going mostly Ranger, for your Wild Shape uses. The Fighter levels are to get full BAB on the other side for your non-Ranger levels to get full BAB all the way through. The feat selection is Ubercharge and Full Attack Skirmish, but those extra feats from giving up your animal companion as a ranger will help with the feat needs. As a Druid who fights in Wildshape, you can do a lot more than almost anything else. On any single round, you Full Attack Skirmish or Ubercharge, with some overlap. The fact you have 3 levels in Scout giving you a 10ft move speed bonuses is intentional, because you get to charge farther, allowing you to spend less time getting to enemies to claw their faces off. Same goes for Druidic Avenger, with the added bonus of Raging when needed and the lovely spells, which get to 9th level just in time for pre-Epic

[Morphic tide]

Skills to keep maxed: Concentration, Autohypnosis, Spot and Survival
Final Level Layout: Druid 20//Psychic Warrior 5/Elocator 8/Wilder 1/Elocator +2/Wilder +4

Level 1: Druid 1//Psychic Warrior 1
Feat: Psionic Fist
Psychic Warrior Bonus Feat: Psionic Body
Power: Claws of the Beast

Level 2: Druid 2//Psychic Warrior 2
Psychic Warrior Bonus Feat: Combat Manifestation
Power: Biofeedback

Level 3: Druid 3//Psychic Warrior 3
Feat: Speed of Thought
Power: Vigor

Level 4: Druid 4//Psychic Warrior 4
Power: Strength of my Enemy

Level 5: Druid 5//Psychic Warrior 5
Feat: Up the Walls
Psionic Warrior Bonus Feat: Ghost Attack
Power: Sustenance

Levels 6-20 will come later

[MatrixStone93]

As before, it's a Gestalt
Scout 3/Champion of the Wild Wild Shape Ranger 17//Druidic Avenger Druid 17/Fighter 3

The goal is the same: assloads of precision damage and jumping and running and flying all over the place like a loon. You use Wild Shape for mobility and (Ex) abilities. Unlike most Scout/Ranger builds, you're going mostly Ranger, for your Wild Shape uses. The Fighter levels are to get full BAB on the other side for your non-Ranger levels to get full BAB all the way through. The feat selection is Ubercharge and Full Attack Skirmish, but those extra feats from giving up your animal companion as a ranger will help with the feat needs. As a Druid who fights in Wildshape, you can do a lot more than almost anything else. On any single round, you Full Attack Skirmish or Ubercharge, with some overlap. The fact you have 3 levels in Scout giving you a 10ft move speed bonuses is intentional, because you get to charge farther, allowing you to spend less time getting to enemies to claw their faces off. Same goes for Druidic Avenger, with the added bonus of Raging when needed and the lovely spells, which get to 9th level just in time for pre-Epic


This is the greatest and best build in the world.

[Voidstar01]

if you've got any concepts of your own (even those unrelated to thrown weapon combat) that you'd like to see come to life mechanically, shoot them at me and I'll see if I can whip up a build skeleton for them.

I've always wanted to see Lancelot from the fate series, he catches weapons people throw at him and throws them back, he can pick up anything and wield it proficiently (i'd understand if you couldn't get everything) while bestowing a small magical effect on those things, he wears full plate, and rages.

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Dispel Threadcromancy!