Rubbish Arena Challenge I [3.5]

[LordOfCain]

Your Task: Create a character with the chassis provided capable of killing a threat 5 CR higher than the character's level
Chassis: Commoner 6
Approved Sources: All 1st Party 3.5 (and un-updated 3.0) sources and Dragon Compendium
Deadline: September 1st 2016
Get building, post builds in this thread, if you have the same concept/basic build as a previous poster you will lose points unless it is deemed suitably unique. Builds will be scored on a 1-10 scale on the points of Originality, Power, and Versatility. I would be happy if anyone else volunteered to help be judge. NOTE: You must be a 6th level commoner with all levels in commoner. You may have a LA of 1 due to LA buyoff, but may not have a race with an LA greater than 1 as then you would not have 6 levels in commoner.

[ComaVision]

Chicken-infested commoner with a spell pouch. He just creates infinite chicken until he blots out the sun or crushes his foe or makes a chicken tower that reaches the sun and lights up or something.

[LordOfCain]

Chicken-infested commoner with a spell pouch. He just creates infinite chicken until he blots out the sun or crushes his foe or makes a chicken tower that reaches the sun and lights up or something.
Originality: 1
Power: 9
Versatility: 4
Total: 14

[Endarire]

Pun-Pun. He doesn't even need all the Commoner levels to do the "Pazuzu, Pazuzu, Pazuzu" summoning. Whatever you need him to do to win, he probably has already done. Not original, but in before anyone else says it!

[ben-zayb]

Aside from PunPun, you mean?
There's not much to "find", because I didn't make a thread for it as it's elegantly simple and self-explanatory enough: Symbiotic (Hagunemnon guest + <insert your starting symbiote-compliant race> host) Commoner 1.

EDIT: Since naming builds is a thing, let's try that...Dr. Jekyll? Course, you might have to change it to another NPC class to be more flavor-appropriate.
Note that the Hagunemnon has a Whatever X / Fang of Lolth 10's capstone as Ex, to qualify as a guest.

Now you get the capability to be the 2nd most powerful build next to PunPun.

[LordOfCain]

Pun-Pun. He doesn't even need all the Commoner levels to do the "Pazuzu, Pazuzu, Pazuzu" summoning. Whatever you need him to do to win, he probably has already done. Not original, but in before anyone else says it!

Originality: 1
Power: 10
Versatility: 10
Total: 21


Aside from PunPun, you mean?
Note that the Hagunemnon has a Whatever X / Fang of Lolth 10's capstone as Ex, to qualify as a guest.

Now you get the capability to be the 2nd most powerful build next to PunPun.

Originality: 7
Power: 9
Versatility: 9
Total: 25

[Soranar]

Be a raptoran

take the dragonborn of bahamut template at level 5 with the heart aspect

you keep your fly speed and you lose your inability to keep flying for as long as you want

flight + a breath weapon means you can handle just about any non flying threat that lacks ranged attacks as long as you take the flyby attack feat at level 6

(say a stone golem)

when you can't use your breath weapon, shoot a crossbow (who knows you might get lucky and crit)

you might want to invest in the education feat to get knowledge skills to identify a creature's elemental weakness since you can choose what energy to use in each breath

[Extra Anchovies]

The "Kobold Age Categories" table on page 39 of RotD tells us that Kobolds 121 years of age or older are of the great wyrm age category. Dragonwrought kobolds in that age range, then, are great wyrm dragons. Whether or not Dragonwrought Kobolds are true dragons is irrelevant to this trick; let's not go down that rabbit hole. But they are dragons, and they are of the great wyrm age category.

Age Category: A standard dragon gains one “virtual age category” for every 3 Hit Dice it gains beyond the great wyrm stage.
This applies to all dragons with [wyrmling, very young, ... wyrm, great wyrm] age categories, including Dragonwrought Kobolds. A Great Wyrm Dragonwrought Kobold Commoner 6 gained one virtual age category at 4th level.

When advancing a dragon, consider its basic size group: smaller (black, brass, copper, and white dragons), normal (blue, bronze, and green dragons), or larger (gold, red, and silver dragons). A dragon that is Tiny as a wyrmling is in the smaller group, a dragon that is Small as a wyrmling and never reaches Colossal size is in the normal group, and a dragon that is Small to Large as a wyrmling and reaches Colossal by the great wyrm stage is in the larger group.
Kobolds are Small at any age, including wyrmling. As dragons that are Small as wyrmlings, Dragonwrought Kobolds are in the normal group.

A normal-sized dragon becomes Colossal when it gains one age category (3 Hit Dice) beyond great wyrm.
As a normal-sized dragon, a Great Wyrm Dragonwrought Kobold becomes Colossal at 4th level, along with the accompanying +36 Strength, -6 Dexterity, +18 Constitution, and a +14 increase to natural armor (total +15).
But wait, there's more!

Armor Class: An advanced dragon’s natural armor bonus increases by +1 for every Hit Die it gains beyond the great wyrm stage.
Our Great Wyrm Dragonwrought Kobold is a great wyrm at 1st level, so it gets another +5 natural armor, for a total of 20.

Ability Scores: A great wyrm’s Strength and Constitution scores both increase by 2 points for every virtual age category the dragon gains. Its Dexterity remains unchanged. Its Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma increase by 2 points for every two virtual age categories the dragon gains.
Up one virtual age category means another +2 Strength and Constitution. We fall short of the mental stat boost by one HD.

Special Abilities: Dragons do not gain additional spell-like abilities. When a dragon gains one virtual age category beyond the great wyrm stage, its damage reduction improves to 20/epic.
The fun just doesn't stop, does it? Going from no DR to DR 20/epic would indeed be an improvement, so we're now incredibly resistant to hit point damage from anything we'll be going up against in this challenge.

Feats: Like ordinary dragons, advanced dragons receive one feat for every 4 Hit Dice they have. Any feats gained after the dragon reaches old age can be epic feats (see the descriptions earlier in this chapter).
We also get an extra feat at 4th level! And we can take epic feats that we manage to qualify for.

Assuming 10 in all ability scores (because we're a filthy commoner), applying racial and size modifiers gives us these ability scores:
Strength 44 (+17)
Dexterity 6 (-2)
Constitution 28 (+9)
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
We have an armor class of 20 (20 natural, -2 dex, -8 size) (FF 20, touch 0 :smallfrown: ) and 70 HP. Not the greatest defenses, but the DR 20/epic means getting hit hardly matters. We're a solid 20 HP above the sample NPCs in the DMG, to boot.

This article (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a) gives us two claws and a bite. That makes our attack routine two claws at +12 (2d6+17) and a bite at +7 (2d6+8).

After Dragonwrought, we have three open feats gained at levels 3, 4, and 6. Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain) is a good one - our attack routine becomes spiked chain +12 (6d6+25) and a bite at +7 (2d6+8). Fast Healing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#fastHealing) lets us survive flying enemies with long-ranged non-weapon attacks, e.g. a Warlock with Fell Flight and Eldritch Spear. With Stand Still, we can put our one attack of opportunity to work, locking our enemy in place if they get inside our 60-foot reach and provoke an AoO.

We can put some ranks into Craft (Weaponsmithing) to make our own masterwork spiked chain - easily affordable with our 6th-level NPC budget of 5,600 GP. A final attack bonus of +13 is pretty good, better than any of the 6th-level NPCs in the DMG, even the raging barbarian.

It's got some vulnerabilities, for sure - not much it can do against flyers other than tank hits and hope they come into reach, and the will save is pitiful - but against, say, a Roper, an 11th-level Barbarian, or a Stone Golem (whose DR can be overcome with DR/epic and natural attacks IIRC), it can win pretty easily.


Be a raptoran

take the dragonborn of bahamut template at level 5 with the heart aspect

you keep your fly speed and you lose your inability to keep flying for as long as you want

Wow, that is a sick combo. Might have to use that sometime.

[LordOfCain]

The "Kobold Age Categories" table on page 39 of RotD tells us that Kobolds 121 years of age or older are of the great wyrm age category. Dragonwrought kobolds in that age range, then, are great wyrm dragons. Whether or not Dragonwrought Kobolds are true dragons is irrelevant to this trick; let's not go down that rabbit hole. But they are dragons, and they are of the great wyrm age category.

This applies to all dragons with [wyrmling, very young, ... wyrm, great wyrm] age categories, including Dragonwrought Kobolds. A Great Wyrm Dragonwrought Kobold Commoner 6 gained one virtual age category at 4th level.

Kobolds are Small at any age, including wyrmling. As dragons that are Small as wyrmlings, Dragonwrought Kobolds are in the normal group.

As a normal-sized dragon, a Great Wyrm Dragonwrought Kobold becomes Colossal at 4th level, along with the accompanying +36 Strength, -6 Dexterity, +18 Constitution, and a +14 increase to natural armor (total +15).
But wait, there's more!

Our Great Wyrm Dragonwrought Kobold is a great wyrm at 1st level, so it gets another +5 natural armor, for a total of 20.

Up one virtual age category means another +2 Strength and Constitution. We fall short of the mental stat boost by one HD.

The fun just doesn't stop, does it? Going from no DR to DR 20/epic would indeed be an improvement, so we're now incredibly resistant to hit point damage from anything we'll be going up against in this challenge.

We also get an extra feat at 4th level! And we can take epic feats that we manage to qualify for.

Assuming 10 in all ability scores (because we're a filthy commoner), applying racial and size modifiers gives us these ability scores:
Strength 44 (+17)
Dexterity 6 (-2)
Constitution 28 (+9)
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
We have an armor class of 15 (15 natural, -2 dex, -8 size) and 70 HP. Not the greatest defenses, but the DR 20/epic means getting hit hardly matters. We're a solid 20 HP above the sample NPCs in the DMG, to boot.

This article (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a) gives us two claws and a bite. That makes our attack routine two claws at +12 (2d6+17) and a bite at +7 (2d6+8).

After Dragonwrought, we have three open feats gained at levels 3, 4, and 6. Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain) is a good one - our attack routine becomes spiked chain +12 (6d6+25) and a bite at +7 (2d6+8). Fast Healing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#fastHealing) lets us survive flying enemies with long-ranged non-weapon attacks, e.g. a Warlock with Fell Flight and Eldritch Spear. With Stand Still, we can put our one attack of opportunity to work, locking our enemy in place if they get inside our 60-foot reach and provoke an AoO.

We can put some ranks into Craft (Weaponsmithing) to make our own masterwork spiked chain - easily affordable with our 6th-level NPC budget of 5,600 GP. A final attack bonus of +13 is pretty good, better than any of the 6th-level NPCs in the DMG, even the raging barbarian.

It's got some vulnerabilities, for sure - not much it can do against flyers other than tank hits and hope they come into reach, and the will save is pitiful - but against, say, a Roper, an 11th-level Barbarian, or a Stone Golem (whose DR can be overcome with DR/epic and natural attacks IIRC), it can win pretty easily.



Wow, that is a sick combo. Might have to use that sometime.
Originality: 9
Power: 8
Versatility: 7
Total: 26


Be a raptoran

take the dragonborn of bahamut template at level 5 with the heart aspect

you keep your fly speed and you lose your inability to keep flying for as long as you want

flight + a breath weapon means you can handle just about any non flying threat that lacks ranged attacks as long as you take the flyby attack feat at level 6

(say a stone golem)

when you can't use your breath weapon, shoot a crossbow (who knows you might get lucky and crit)

you might want to invest in the education feat to get knowledge skills to identify a creature's elemental weakness since you can choose what energy to use in each breath
Originality: 7
Power: 6
Versatility: 8
Total: 21

[Darrin]

Note: this is based on my Apocalypse Martini (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=15634823&postcount=19) trick.

Commoner 6.
Race: Human.
Ability Scores: Int 18, Wis 15.
Feats: Education (1st), Iron Will (1st), Hardened Criminal (3rd), Sacrificial Mastery (6th).
Skills: 9 ranks in Knowledge: Religion.

1. Buy a goat (trade good). 1 GP.

2. Buy an altar case (20 GP, Defenders of the Faith p. 21). If you want, you can splurge on a granite case (40 GP), maybe get some incense, black candles, etc.

3. Sacrifice goat with evil "We hate goats!" kind of ritual (BoVD). Knowledge: Religion roll = 10 (Hardened Criminal) + 9 (skill ranks) + 4 (Int) + 4 (Sacrificial Mastery) + 2 (altar) + 1 (Education) = 30.

4. DC 30: Gain the services of an evil outsider for 1 hour, as per planar binding. Why hello, Mr. Efreet!

5. Wish #1: Fully charged Staff of Power (DMG).

6. Wish #2: Collar of Perpetual Attendance (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c).

7. Wish #3. Dry martini with three cocktail onions.

8. Give Staff of Power to unseen servant.

9. Back up 30'.

10. Direct unseen servant to stand next to target and break Staff of Power in half. Target takes 400 damage, Ref save DC 17 for half.

11. Drink martini.

[Darrin]

Race: Gray Dwarf (LA +1)
Ability Scores: Str 16, Dex 16
Feats: Hidden Talent: dimension hop (1st), Willing Deformity (Elder Evil), Deformity: Obese (Elder Evil), Martial Study: Wolf Fang Strike (3rd), Martial Study: Shadow Jaunt (6th).
Skills: Jump 9 (Martial Study), Tumble 9 (Skilled City-Dweller ACF)

1. Max weight for a male gray dwarf is 174 lbs. Tripled (Obese) is 522 lbs. Use racial PLA expansion to multiply weight by 8 = 4176 lbs.

2. Swift action to dimension hop 10' above opponent. Opponent takes 20d6 falling object damage. (No save in Core, although there may be a Ref save DC 15 if using the aerial bombardment rules from Heroes of Battle.)

3. Use Jump and/or Tumble check DC 15 to reduce falling distance to zero. Skill Check is 1 (lowest roll) + 9 (ranks) + 2 (synergy) + 3 (Str/Dex) = 15. (Boots of Landing will also reduce this to zero for only 500 GP.)

4. Standard action to Shadow Jaunt 10' above opponent. Opponent takes another 20d6 falling object damage.

5. Use move action to stand up and give any remaining opponents the People's Eyebrow.

[LordOfCain]

Note: this is based on my Apocalypse Martini (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=15634823&postcount=19) trick.

Commoner 6.
Race: Human.
Ability Scores: Int 18, Wis 15.
Feats: Education (1st), Iron Will (1st), Hardened Criminal (3rd), Sacrificial Mastery (6th).
Skills: 9 ranks in Knowledge: Religion.

1. Buy a goat (trade good). 1 GP.

2. Buy an altar case (20 GP, Defenders of the Faith p. 21). If you want, you can splurge on a granite case (40 GP), maybe get some incense, black candles, etc.

3. Sacrifice goat with evil "We hate goats!" kind of ritual (BoVD). Knowledge: Religion roll = 10 (Hardened Criminal) + 9 (skill ranks) + 4 (Int) + 4 (Sacrificial Mastery) + 2 (altar) + 1 (Education) = 30.

4. DC 30: Gain the services of an evil outsider for 1 hour, as per planar binding. Why hello, Mr. Efreet!

5. Wish #1: Fully charged Staff of Power (DMG).

6. Wish #2: Collar of Perpetual Attendance (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c).

7. Wish #3. Dry martini with three cocktail onions.

8. Give Staff of Power to unseen servant.

9. Back up 30'.

10. Direct unseen servant to stand next to target and break Staff of Power in half. Target takes 400 damage, Ref save DC 17 for half.

11. Drink martini.
Originality: 8
Power: 8
Versatility: 9
Total: 25


Race: Gray Dwarf (LA +1)
Ability Scores: Str 16, Dex 16
Feats: Hidden Talent: dimension hop (1st), Willing Deformity (Elder Evil), Deformity: Obese (Elder Evil), Martial Study: Wolf Fang Strike (3rd), Martial Study: Shadow Jaunt (6th).
Skills: Jump 9 (Martial Study), Tumble 9 (Skilled City-Dweller ACF)

1. Max weight for a male gray dwarf is 174 lbs. Tripled (Obese) is 522 lbs. Use racial PLA expansion to multiply weight by 8 = 4176 lbs.

2. Swift action to dimension hop 10' above opponent. Opponent takes 20d6 falling object damage. (No save in Core, although there may be a Ref save DC 15 if using the aerial bombardment rules from Heroes of Battle.)

3. Use Jump and/or Tumble check DC 15 to reduce falling distance to zero. Skill Check is 1 (lowest rolll) + 9 (ranks) + 2 (synergy) + 3 (Str/Dex) = 15. (Boots of Landing will also reduce this to zero for only 500 GP.)

4. Standard action to Shadow Jaunt 10' above opponent. Opponent takes another 20d6 falling object damage.

5. Use move action to stand up and give any remaining opponents the People's Eyebrow.
Originality: 10
Power: 7
Versatility: 5
Total: 22

[Endarire]

NOTE: The old version used a feat to bind Naberius, but it turns out I can't choose what bound ability Naberius grants me unless I'm a Binder.

Be an Elan (for LA0 immortality) and boost your Heal skill to at least +5 so you can take 10 and provide long-term care for yourself. (Optionally, find something fun to do while you're in bed for centuries at a time.)

Develop Festering Anger. (Get mad at politics? Injustice? <insert topic here>). Use long-term care via the Heal Skill, you can recover 4 points of abiltiy damage per day (which outpaces the d3 CON damage per day) and get +2 STR per day. This can go on indefinitely. What do you do with nearly infinite STR? You hit something.

Preferably, you also have a means of doing so with reach (like your Commoner-granted Longspear proficiency) and the feats Combat Reflexes and Hidden Talent (expansion) so you can hit things farther away and you can hit off-turn more often.

Substitute Elan for a Raptoran or a Dragonborn (Wings) version of many races for a similar effect, except you can also dive bomb foes to start a charge with your very high STR. Such races will have a much lower potential STR due to not being immortal natively. (Battle Jump may be a spiffy level 1 feat to take with dive bombing characters for an additional charge trigger condition, but that's probably overkill when you have a 95% chance per hit of insta-gibbing anything. Per hit.)

[Incarnum Method - Assuming I Understand This Correctly] Alternatively, take the feats Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) and Bonus Essentia (and invest all your essentia into Strongheart Vest) to negate 3 points of ability damage whenver you take ability damage. This method is more feat-intensive, but allows a character to do more than stay in bed all day.

[Extra Anchovies]

Be an Elan (for LA0 immortality) and take the feat Bind Vestige for Naberius. Choose the ability to quickly heal ability damage/drain.

Alas, Bind Vestige doesn't let you choose the ability you want - there's a set list on page 74 of Tome of Magic, and Naberius grants his skills (and his silver tongue with Practiced Binder).

[Endarire]

This one is more original, but requires enemies fail their saves and that you have a cooperative GM.

-Be a Star Elf from Evermeet. Max your CHA. (Preferably add the Magic-Blooded template for no LA but +2 CHA/-2 WIS.) Be Venerable for +3 CHA. Use your L4 level up stat on CHA. (This means, without items, 24 CHA untemplated or 26 CHA with Magic-Blooded.)

-Ensure your INT is also high so you can learn bonus languages at character creation and invest ranks in Speak Language as prudent.

-Take the regional feat called Magical Training and learn to cast spells like a Sorcerer. The most useful cantrip you can learn is probably ghost sound.

-Take 2 flaws (Murky-Eyed and Noncombatant, preferably).

-Take the feat Precocious Apprentice (suggestion). You learn the Bard's level 2 version and cast off CHA.

-Take the feat Spell Penetration (or Spell Focus: Enchantment, depending on how important SR breaching is).

-Take the feats Arcane Mastery (@3) and Practiced Spellcaster (@6). These are useful if you ever need to overcome a foe's SR since you can auto-win against SR 17 or less. If you could boost your CL somehow, you could overcome proportionately higher SR.

-(Alternatively, take feats to boost your DC if you anticipate SR being a non-issue, like against a CR11 Cloud Giant.)

-Find your target and cast suggestion on it. Perhaps suggest that you aren't a threat, but something notably more powerfu is the real threat. For example, tell a Cloud Giant (preferably in a position of notable authority) that some red dragons are conspiring against Giantkind and should be dealt with. <provide them directions/names/etc.>

-You do a sorta Uriah Gambit and get the relevant target killed, but not directly by you. Doing this may get you killed or labeled as a hero (or otherwise).

-I'm aware that CR11 creatures who negate this trick are plenty, but so are those who can be affected.

-If you can add the Unseelie Fey (http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/unseeliefey.shtml) template, take Winter's Chill and add a your-CHA-bonus-to-their-saves-penalty-within-5' aura. With this, you're far more likely to succeed, basically doubling your spell DC's CHA bonus contribution!

[LordOfCain]

This one is more original, but requires enemies fail their saves and that you have a cooperative GM.

-Be a Star Elf from Evermeet. Max your CHA. (Preferably add the Magic-Blooded template for no LA but +2 CHA/-2 WIS.) Be Venerable for +3 CHA. Use your L4 level up stat on CHA. (This means, without items, 24 CHA untemplated or 26 CHA with Magic-Blooded.)

-Ensure your INT is also high so you can learn bonus languages at character creation and invest ranks in Speak Language as prudent.

-Take the regional feat called Magical Training and learn to cast spells like a Sorcerer. The most useful cantrip you can learn is probably ghost sound.

-Take 2 flaws (Murky-Eyed and Noncombatant, preferably).

-Take the feat Precocious Apprentice (suggestion). You learn the Bard's level 2 version and cast off CHA.

-Take the feat Spell Penetration (or Spell Focus: Enchantment, depending on how important SR breaching is).

-Take the feats Arcane Mastery (@3) and Practiced Spellcaster (@6). These are useful if you ever need to overcome a foe's SR since you can auto-win against SR 17 or less. If you could boost your CL somehow, you could overcome proportionately higher SR.

-(Alternatively, take feats to boost your DC if you anticipate SR being a non-issue, like against a CR11 Cloud Giant.)

-Find your target and cast suggestion on it. Perhaps suggest that you aren't a threat, but something notably more powerfu is the real threat. For example, tell a Cloud Giant (preferably in a position of notable authority) that some red dragons are conspiring against Giantkind and should be dealt with. <provide them directions/names/etc.>

-You do a sorta Uriah Gambit and get the relevant target killed, but not directly by you. Doing this may get you killed or labeled as a hero (or otherwise).

-I'm aware that CR11 creatures who negate this trick are plenty, but so are those who can be affected.

-If you can add the Unseelie Fey (http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/unseeliefey.shtml) template, take Winter's Chill and add a your-CHA-bonus-to-their-saves-penalty-within-5' aura. With this, you're far more likely to succeed, basically doubling your spell DC's CHA bonus contribution!

Originality: 8
Power: 5
Versatility: 9
Total: 22

[LordOfCain]

NOTE: The old version used a feat to bind Naberius, but it turns out I can't choose what bound ability Naberius grants me unless I'm a Binder.

Be an Elan (for LA0 immortality) and boost your Heal skill to at least +5 so you can take 10 and provide long-term care for yourself. (Optionally, find something fun to do while you're in bed for centuries at a time.)

Develop Festering Anger. (Get mad at politics? Injustice? <insert topic here>). Use long-term care via the Heal Skill, you can recover 4 points of abiltiy damage per day (which outpaces the d3 CON damage per day) and get +2 STR per day. This can go on indefinitely. What do you do with nearly infinite STR? You hit something.

Preferably, you also have a means of doing so with reach (like your Commoner-granted Longspear proficiency) and the feats Combat Reflexes and Hidden Talent (expansion) so you can hit things farther away and you can hit off-turn more often.

Substitute Elan for a Raptoran or a Dragonborn (Wings) version of many races for a similar effect, except you can also dive bomb foes to start a charge with your very high STR. Such races will have a much lower potential STR due to not being immortal natively. (Battle Jump may be a spiffy level 1 feat to take with dive bombing characters for an additional charge trigger condition, but that's probably overkill when you have a 95% chance per hit of insta-gibbing anything. Per hit.)

[Incarnum Method - Assuming I Understand This Correctly] Alternatively, take the feats Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) and Bonus Essentia (and invest all your essentia into Strongheart Vest) to negate 3 points of ability damage whenver you take ability damage. This method is more feat-intensive, but allows a character to do more than stay in bed all day.
Originality: 6
Power: 9
Versatility: 4
Total: 19

[Inevitability]

I feel like this might be relevant. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?365674-Madness-Tarrasquekiller-Slaying-the-Tarrasque-as-a-1st-level-commoner)

The build is a 1st-level commoner capable of casting Miracle once per day. Add another 5 levels, gaining Practiced Spellcaster at level 3 and Extra Slot at 6, and you can do it twice a day. That's got to be enough to slowly cover yourself with layers of permanencied buffs, then take out monsters with save-or-dies.

[Ortesk]

Just as a thought, with 6 levels commoner couldn't you do fred the diplomancer? Wouldn't be quite as powerful, but still strong enough to solo anything just by smiling.

[Extra Anchovies]

I feel like this might be relevant. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?365674-Madness-Tarrasquekiller-Slaying-the-Tarrasque-as-a-1st-level-commoner)

The build is a 1st-level commoner capable of casting Miracle once per day. Add another 5 levels, gaining Practiced Spellcaster at level 3 and Extra Slot at 6, and you can do it twice a day. That's got to be enough to slowly cover yourself with layers of permanencied buffs, then take out monsters with save-or-dies.

Permanency (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm) has minimum caster level requirements for all of its valid targets in core. Not sure about splats.

Extra Slot gives us an 8th-level spell slot, actually, which is good - we can only cast one Arcane Disciple spell of each level per day.

So, how much can we pull out of one 9th- and one 8th-level spell slot from the same domain, both with a CL of 5? We don't need the Precocious Apprentice, so perhaps the Summon Elemental reserve feat? A Large elemental buddy would be quite helpful as an at-will summon.

[LordOfCain]

I feel like this might be relevant. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?365674-Madness-Tarrasquekiller-Slaying-the-Tarrasque-as-a-1st-level-commoner)

The build is a 1st-level commoner capable of casting Miracle once per day. Add another 5 levels, gaining Practiced Spellcaster at level 3 and Extra Slot at 6, and you can do it twice a day. That's got to be enough to slowly cover yourself with layers of permanencied buffs, then take out monsters with save-or-dies.
Power: 9
Versatility: 8
Originality: 9
Total: 26

[Bucky]

Large elementals can't go toe-to-toe with CR 11 enemies.

[ben-zayb]

Considering I'm yet to see a single person optimize the Protean + Symbiotic template the way I do, I'm not sure why it's not a 10 on Originality. YMMV I suppose.

[Jowgen]

Human commoner (Mulan background, Worship's Galaedros).

Abilities: Speced for Dex and Cha
Skills: Speced for stealth

Human Magical Training
Flaw1 Precopious Apprentice (any 2nd level acid spell)
Flaw2 Acid Splash
Level1 Southern Magician (Races of Faerun)
Level3 Circle Magic (Ghostwalk)
Level6 Leadership (score of at least 10)

The character in question relies soley on a maxed out Acid Splash reserve feat. Magical Training and Precopious Apprentice allow access to the 2nd level acid type spell needed to qualify for it. Southern Magician then allows him to qualify for the Ghostwalk version of Circle Magic. Leadership followers (1 HD adepts with the circle magic feat) are used to power Circle Magic is used to heighten the 2nd level acid spell to level 10. As a result, the Orb of Acid created by Acid Splash has a range of 50 ft and deals 10d6 of acid damage upon a ranged touch attack.

Acid is a good damage type for resistance, 10d6 is more than a run of the mill Warlock can do at level 20. Focusing on stealth should allow for a good number of flat-footed touch attacks against unsuspecting enemies, plus keep the squishy commoner at least 50 ft out of harms way. Out of combat, stealth and followers should come in handy, and throwing lots of acid at things solves most of lives problems.

For the less stealth inclined and more mass-mayhem favoring, this build also comes in Fiery Burst reserve feat flavor; which replaces precision orbs of acid with mini fire balls to burninate the countryside with.

Character concept: a hippy cult leader who travels the land with his hippy posse, preaching about nature and **** dude while being very liberal in distributing Acid. :smalltongue:

[Inevitability]

Permanency (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/permanency.htm) has minimum caster level requirements for all of its valid targets in core. Not sure about splats.

Extra Slot gives us an 8th-level spell slot, actually, which is good - we can only cast one Arcane Disciple spell of each level per day.

So, how much can we pull out of one 9th- and one 8th-level spell slot from the same domain, both with a CL of 5? We don't need the Precocious Apprentice, so perhaps the Summon Elemental reserve feat? A Large elemental buddy would be quite helpful as an at-will summon.

Actually, it says nowhere a faustian pact gives you a level 9 spell slot max, and it is possible to prepare lower-level spells in higher-level ones. I can therefore take a 10th-level spell from the pact and use Extra Slot for a 9th-level slot.

Another trick: being elf instead of human (and not taking precocious apprentice) lets you slowly DCFS your own racial feats into more useful stuff, such as more extra slots and spells.

[ben-zayb]

Unless you take the Improved Heighten Spell or Sanctum Spell + Heighten Spell, you can't cast 10th level spells.

[Big Fau]

Kalashtar with Hidden Talent for Astral Construct, and the Practiced Manifester feat. An ML5 Astral Construct is still decent against some CR 6s. Works up to 2/day if you take Wild Talent/Hidden Talent again, or some other PP-granting ability.

Warforged with Hidden Talent (Psionic Minor Creation), Practiced Manifester and Psiforged Body. Run up and hug someone with 900 doses of Black Lotus Extract that you created a while before the encounter starts.

[Jowgen]

Unless you take the Improved Heighten Spell or Sanctum Spell + Heighten Spell, you can't cast 10th level spells.

Not sure whether that was a nitpick at my entry, but in case it was, the Ghostwalk Circle Magic is explicit:


The circle leader may add the feats listed to a spell even if he does not know the feat, or if the addition of the feat would raise the spell level past the highest level of spell the circle leader can normally cast (maximum spell level 10th).

[ben-zayb]

Not sure whether that was a nitpick at my entry, but in case it was, the Ghostwalk Circle Magic is explicit:
Oh, I was responding to dire stirge. Circle Magic works, too.

[Inevitability]

Unless you take the Improved Heighten Spell or Sanctum Spell + Heighten Spell, you can't cast 10th level spells.

A Faustian Pact grants you a 'spell slot'. Nowhere is it specified it must be between 0th and 9th-level. We know 10th-level spell slots are a thing that exists. Ergo, we can make a Faustian Pact and get a 10th-level spell slot out of it.

[ben-zayb]

A Faustian Pact grants you a 'spell slot'. Nowhere is it specified it must be between 0th and 9th-level. We know 10th-level spell slots are a thing that exists. Ergo, we can make a Faustian Pact and get a 10th-level spell slot out of it.
Certainly. It's just Extra Slot would still give you a spell slot one level lower than the highest level of spell that you can cast, which definitely won't be a 10th level spell even if you have a level NI spell slot

[Inevitability]

Certainly. It's just Extra Slot would still give you a spell slot one level lower than the highest level of spell that you can cast, which definitely won't be a 10th level spell even if you have a level NI spell slot

That is a very good point.

[Jowgen]

That is a very good point.

Personally, I discount the granting of 10th level spell slots based on how the Wish SLA of Pit Fiends (the defacto big Faustian pact granter in my book) is only 9th level equivalent (and certainly not capable of granting 10 level slots itself). I know it's more fluff than crunch, since Faustian Pacts aren't just Wish-based, but I thought I'd give my two cents while we wait on further submissions/scorings.

[Calthropstu]

Normal human commoner with ring of three wishes. Because nothing says "screw you" like being wished to death by a commoner.

(I saw no item restrictions, nor do I see a clause where it has to beat it repeatedly)

[LordOfCain]

Human commoner (Mulan background, Worship's Galaedros).

Abilities: Speced for Dex and Cha
Skills: Speced for stealth

Human Magical Training
Flaw1 Precopious Apprentice (any 2nd level acid spell)
Flaw2 Acid Splash
Level1 Southern Magician (Races of Faerun)
Level3 Circle Magic (Ghostwalk)
Level6 Leadership (score of at least 10)

The character in question relies soley on a maxed out Acid Splash reserve feat. Magical Training and Precopious Apprentice allow access to the 2nd level acid type spell needed to qualify for it. Southern Magician then allows him to qualify for the Ghostwalk version of Circle Magic. Leadership followers (1 HD adepts with the circle magic feat) are used to power Circle Magic is used to heighten the 2nd level acid spell to level 10. As a result, the Orb of Acid created by Acid Splash has a range of 50 ft and deals 10d6 of acid damage upon a ranged touch attack.

Acid is a good damage type for resistance, 10d6 is more than a run of the mill Warlock can do at level 20. Focusing on stealth should allow for a good number of flat-footed touch attacks against unsuspecting enemies, plus keep the squishy commoner at least 50 ft out of harms way. Out of combat, stealth and followers should come in handy, and throwing lots of acid at things solves most of lives problems.

For the less stealth inclined and more mass-mayhem favoring, this build also comes in Fiery Burst reserve feat flavor; which replaces precision orbs of acid with mini fire balls to burninate the countryside with.

Character concept: a hippy cult leader who travels the land with his hippy posse, preaching about nature and **** dude while being very liberal in distributing Acid. :smalltongue:

Originality: 7
Versatility: 7
Power: 8
Total: 22

[LordOfCain]

Kalashtar with Hidden Talent for Astral Construct, and the Practiced Manifester feat. An ML5 Astral Construct is still decent against some CR 6s. Works up to 2/day if you take Wild Talent/Hidden Talent again, or some other PP-granting ability.

Warforged with Hidden Talent (Psionic Minor Creation), Practiced Manifester and Psiforged Body. Run up and hug someone with 900 doses of Black Lotus Extract that you created a while before the encounter starts.

No. 1
Originality: 6
Versatility: 6
Power: 6
Total: 18

No. 2
Versatility: 7
Originality: 9
Power: 8
Total: 24

[LordOfCain]

Normal human commoner with ring of three wishes. Because nothing says "screw you" like being wished to death by a commoner.

(I saw no item restrictions, nor do I see a clause where it has to beat it repeatedly)
Power: 9
Versatility: 9
Originality: 3
Total:21

[Darrin]

Note: I was going to steal the basic idea from the ultimate Commoner build, Sofawall's The Cube (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=8187767&postcount=7). But it's illegal, because the Landlord feat requires at least 9th level.

However, I like the idea so much, I'm going to try it anyway:

1. Find a 10th level cattle rancher who has recently been endowed with the Landlord feat but hasn't spent any of his funds yet (50,000 GP).

2. Ingratiate yourself into his good graces by offering your services as a flying stronghold designer, or marry/kidnap his daughter, or if you get desperate: Magical Training (1st), Precocious Apprentice (1st), Extra Slot (3rd), Extra Spell (6th) to pick up charm person as a 1st level spell. He's a 10th level commoner, so we can assume his Will save is for crap.

3. Build a 10' x 10' flying platform. Nothing fancy, just something for you stand on... something small, like a half-space. Let's see... tavern has already been used, and office/study or guardroom sounds a little boring... might as well be comfortable, so let's go ahead and get a flying bath. Speed... hmm. Let's say "fleet", which is 48 miles per day, and that's twice the speed of a human, so 60' fly speed. 14450 GP.

4. Build a large cattle pen with an open space but one end of it funnels down into 10' x 10' bottleneck. All we need are wooden fences, so cost should be dirt cheap... call it 500 GP to purchase the land and put up the fencing.

5. Fill cattle pen with 350 bison. These are trade goods, and cost 15 GP each (PHB p. 112), so about 5250 GP.

6. Pay a spellcaster to create a permanent teleportation circle at the bottleneck. Put the receiving end on the underside of the flying bath. Throw up a permanent image around the choke point so it looks like open terrain. 27000 GP.

7. Build a one-shot trap of predator's cry (Forge of War) inside the cattle pen that can be triggered from inside the flying bath. 2800 GP. CL 20, so 20 animals, DC 13, bison's Will save is only +1, so let's assume on average 12 of those bison will fail. This should be sufficient to start a stampede.

8. Position flying bath 150' over target, then trigger the trap. The stampeding bison will run into the teleportation circle, teleport underneath the flying bath, and then fall on the target from above. They are still stampeding (vertically, let's say), so anything underneath the flying bath takes 70d12 stampede damage (average 455). Each bison weighs 1,800 to 2,400 lbs... call it 2,100 lbs on average, so as a falling object they do 10d6 falling object damage + 14d6 for distance. If each bison hits, that's 8,400d6 falling object damage (average 29,400).

[LordOfCain]

Note: I was going to steal the basic idea from the ultimate Commoner build, Sofawall's The Cube (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=8187767&postcount=7). But it's illegal, because the Landlord feat requires at least 9th level.

However, I like the idea so much, I'm going to try it anyway:

1. Find a 10th level cattle rancher who has recently been endowed with the Landlord feat but hasn't spent any of his funds yet (50,000 GP).

2. Ingratiate yourself into his good graces by offering your services as a flying stronghold designer, or marry/kidnap his daughter, or if you get desperate: Magical Training (1st), Precocious Apprentice (1st), Extra Slot (3rd), Extra Spell (6th) to pick up charm person as a 1st level spell. He's a 10th level commoner, so we can assume his Will save is for crap.

3. Build a 10' x 10' flying platform. Nothing fancy, just something for you stand on... something small, like a half-space. Let's see... tavern has already been used, and office/study or guardroom sounds a little boring... might as well be comfortable, so let's go ahead and get a flying bath. Speed... hmm. Let's say "fleet", which is 48 miles per day, and that's twice the speed of a human, so 60' fly speed. 14450 GP.

4. Build a large cattle pen with an open space but one end of it funnels down into 10' x 10' bottleneck. All we need are wooden fences, so cost should be dirt cheap... call it 500 GP to purchase the land and put up the fencing.

5. Fill cattle pen with 350 bison. These are trade goods, and cost 15 GP each (PHB p. 112), so about 5250 GP.

6. Pay a spellcaster to create a permanent teleportation circle at the bottleneck. Put the receiving end on the underside of the flying bath. Throw up a permanent image around the choke point so it looks like open terrain. 27000 GP.

7. Build a one-shot trap of predator's cry (Forge of War) inside the cattle pen that can be triggered from inside the flying bath. 2800 GP. CL 20, so 20 animals, DC 13, bison's Will save is only +1, so let's assume on average 12 of those bison will fail. This should be sufficient to start a stampede.

8. Position flying bath 150' over target, then trigger the trap. The stampeding bison will run into the teleportation circle, teleport underneath the flying bath, and then fall on the target from above. They are still stampeding (vertically, let's say), so anything underneath the flying bath takes 70d12 stampede damage (average 455). Each bison weighs 1,800 to 2,400 lbs... call it 2,100 lbs on average, so as a falling object they do 10d6 falling object damage + 14d6 for distance. If each bison hits, that's 8,400d6 falling object damage (average 29,400).
Power: 8
Versatility: 8
Originality: 10
Total: 26

[LordOfCain]

I rule that Extra Anchovies wins, Dire_Stirge gets second, and Darrin gets third.

[Darrin]

I rule that Extra Anchovies wins, Dire_Stirge gets second, and Darrin gets third.

Minor math issue:



Originality: 9
Power: 8
Versatility: 7
Total: 26


9 + 8 + 7 = 24

[LordOfCain]

Minor math issue:



9 + 8 + 7 = 24

That's what happens when I don't check my BASIC ADDITION. Ughhh.... Dire_Stirge wins, Darrin comes in second and... Ben_Zayb comes in third.

[Inevitability]

That's what happens when I don't check my BASIC ADDITION. Ughhh.... Dire_Storage wins, Darrin comes in second and... Ben_Zayb comes in third.

So that would be one of these (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/livingVault.htm), right? :smalltongue:

[LordOfCain]

So that would be one of these (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/livingVault.htm), right? :smalltongue:

Yep. 100%. No way that a Dire_Stirge wins. One of these days I've GOTTA start double-checking stuff.