Villainous Competition XVIII: This is Heresy [Archive]

Thurbane

2017-01-13, 12:45 AM

Welcome to Round 18 of the Villainous Competition!

Previous Competitions
Round One: Leader of Armies (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395046)
Round Two: Nature's Revenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400517)
Round Three: Double Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406015)
Round Four: Grave Keeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?413480)
Round Five: Crime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420704)
Round Six: Ultimate Predator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430650)
Round Seven: Wicked Witch (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444478)
Round Eight: Master of the Tundra (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?461482)
Round Nine: The Power of Villainous Thinking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474230)
Round Ten: Henchman Are Villains Too (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?478068)
Round Eleven: The Higher They Rise The Harder They Fall (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483052)
Round Twelve: Power Comes at a Price (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488846)
Round Thirteen: The Gadgeteer - You Are Not Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491932)
Round Fourteen: The Thing That Should Not Be (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?496091)
Round Fifteen: The Horsemen Are Drawing Nearer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500829)
Round Sixteen: Burn Baby Burn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503974)
Round Seventeen: It's Alive! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?507768)

We're a little different than most of the optimization threads. We run on CR instead of ECL.

Contestants:
You will need to present a write-up of your build with at least one of the following points: 5 CR, 10 CR 15 CR, 20 CR, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20 CR build in the table below. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Secret Laboratory:
Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Compendium is allowed, but Dragon magazine is disallowed. Unearthed Arcana is allowed. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Item Familiars and Taint are also banned from the competition. Leadership and all similar abilities are banned for sanity reasons.
Builds that are fully monstrous are allowed at no penalty. All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels.
Elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) is the assumed ability score generation method.
Some monstrous characters can technically qualify for Epic feats as soon as their ECL is over 20. While regular Epic feats will be allowed, Epic Spellcasting and all other Epic feats that affect spells, psionic powers, or item creation are not permitted. Including these would give an unfair advantage over standard characters. For Incarnum characters, Epic Open Chakra feats are allowed; other Epic Incarnum feats are not. The Essentia Capacity increases for Epic capacity as described on p. 212. For all characters, please note that Racial Hitdice do not count towards Epic Progression; use the regular progression even if the BAB ends up higher than 20.

Deadlines:
Contestants will have until 23:59 GMT Monday February 6th to create their builds and PM them to the Supreme Chancellor. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 23:59 GMT Tuesday February 21st* to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted. *Judging deadline is subject to extension as/if required.

Judging:
Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Build Elegance, Competence and Power, Memorable Villainy.
Keep these questions in mind when judging each category:
Originality - Is it unexpected?
Build Elegance - Is it mechanically pretty?
Competence and Power - Can it do what the concept asks of it? Is this a powerfully-built character?
Memorable Villainy - Is this a villain with style? Will it be the BBEG players long to finally kill and then talk about for weeks?
Unearthed Arcana can be penalized for elegance if the specific feature seems unnecessary or makes the playing field unfair (In this case, you can give a 1 if it makes the field unfair.)
Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. As the Iron Chef competition states, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
You may not judge if you entered the contest, unless you withdraw your submission.

Presentation:
Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Note:
There is now a hard limit on two (2) entries per competitor.

Using the table below, the easiest way to use it is to go to the top left of the private message, and click the little a/A icon. It allows you to see what you're writing.
Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

2
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

3
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

4
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

5
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

6
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

7
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

8
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

9
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

10
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

11
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

12
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

13
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

14
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

15
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

16
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

17
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

18
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

19
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

20
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

Code immediately below (spoiler).

Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

2nd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

3rd
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

4th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

5th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

6th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

7th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

8th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

9th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

10th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

11th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

12th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

13th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

14th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

15th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

16th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

17th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

18th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

19th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

20th
New Class Level
+x
+x
+x
+x
Skills
Feats
New Class Abilities

You can use the table below for Spells.

Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

11th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

12th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

13th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

14th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

15th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

16th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

17th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

18th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

19th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

20th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Code Immediately Below,
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

11th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

12th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

13th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

14th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

15th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

16th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

17th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

18th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

19th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

20th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Speculation:
Please don’t post or speculate on possible builds until the reveal, in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.
Once builds are revealed, please do not comment on errors or rules issues on entries unless you are a judge. If you have such a comment, wait until the final reveal to post it.

Get ready to share those Evil thoughts. This edition’s villain is:

This is Heresy!

Limitations

Must be an Evil worshipper/servant of a non-Evil deity (i.e. Deity must be Good or Neutral in alignment) [A Good aligned deity is more likely to net you a higher score if you can pull it off than a Neutral deity]
Deity should be from an officially recognised source (i.e a 1st party WotC source), and not homebrew or headcanon. For purposes of this competition, the Living Greyhawk Deities pdf is an official source, in addition to the normally allowed sources (just to clarify).
A deity, in the context of this competition, is any being that can grant divine spells to worshippers.
As always, must be Evil in alignment

We will award 1st through 3rd places, and a possible Honorable Mention.
So, start your evil plotting!

Submission:
To standardize Entries, please use this format when sending it in:

PM: Thurbane
Subject: Villainous Competition 18, Name of your Entry
For Revisions and disputes, do the same thing. It makes it easier for me finding the entries in my mail box.
More questions? PM me with Villainous Competition 18 Questions in the header.

Tips for submitting your entry, provided by Weaselguy:

- Use capitalization and punctuation, correctly.
- Make good use of Spoilers, for cleanliness.
- Don't forget your sources. If it's something that can be found in the contents section, then book title seems to be fine. Obscure stuff, may want to include page number too.
- DeviantArt has about 9 billion pictures that you can reference, I can almost guarantee you can find one there to fit your character.
- Make good use of tables. In addition to the Build table and the Spells table, I like doing on e for my Ability Scores, just to keep it neat.
- Do a build stub at the top of your Build Table, something like Wizard 2/Fighter 3/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 10

As always: let's keep it nice.

I'll mention that again - LET'S KEEP IT NICE! Bickering, name calling and nasty comments on the entries or other forum members are not tolerated.

Thurbane

2017-01-13, 12:46 AM

On the subject of messaging the chair (me), a few guidelines:
- I am not here to give critiques on your build or guess how the judges might score it! I tend to get quite a few messages of this nature each round.
- For entries, please keep the entry to no more than 2 message, if at all possible.
- For entries, don't expect me to search through your entry and edit in or out material. Entries should be sent to me complete - if there is a later revision, re-submit the full build. PLEASE DON'T INCLUDE TEXT IN YOUR SUBMISSION YOU WANT ME TO EDIT OUT FOR THE POST - SUBMIT IT TO ME EXACTLY HOW I WILL POST THE FINISHED PRODUCT.
- Please make sure the name of your entry is clearly present in the message.

THIS ROUND'S ENTRIES:

Tahlessrail, The Bloody Blade of Corellon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681763&postcount=196)

Darkpaw (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681766&postcount=197)

Camellia, Keeper of the grove (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681772&postcount=198)

Valentine Lion-heart (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681774&postcount=199)

Zojan, of the Burning Hate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681780&postcount=200)

Kappikyrie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681782&postcount=201)

The Silverblood Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681783&postcount=202)

Torquemada (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681786&postcount=203)

Gareth Z’Von: The Voice of Reason (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681787&postcount=204)

Gaspar Macoute, The Bag Man (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681792&postcount=205)

Korahir

2017-01-13, 12:49 AM

So you went with heresy :smallbiggrin: and a very open theme again. Might come up with something.

danielxcutter

2017-01-13, 12:52 AM

Heresy... do you play Warhammer 40,000, Mr. Thurbane?

Thurbane

2017-01-13, 12:56 AM

Heresy... do you play Warhammer 40,000, Mr. Thurbane?

No, I don't. The title was more in-keeping with my theme of using song titles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSffLmJ99PY)! :smallbiggrin:

danielxcutter

2017-01-13, 12:57 AM

No, I don't. The title was more in-keeping with my theme of using song titles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSffLmJ99PY)! :smallbiggrin:

Oh wait, then all the comps chaired by you were all based on song titles? Didn't know that.:smallredface:

Jormengand

2017-01-13, 01:07 AM

Aww, only two? Much sad. :smalltongue:

But I only made 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,00 0,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 entries last time! :smalltongue:

Thurbane

2017-01-13, 01:07 AM

Oh wait, then all the comps chaired by you were all based on song titles? Didn't know that.:smallredface:

All except It's Alive, which was an iconic move quote. :smallwink:

...The Horsemen Are Drawing Nearer is a lyric, rather than a title, too.

Buufreak

2017-01-13, 01:15 AM

As promised, I'm here to judge. As for my personal tastes and style of judging, I will post that or edit it in later. Got a long funeral filled day ahead.

danielxcutter

2017-01-13, 01:18 AM

As promised, I'm here to judge. As for my personal tastes and style of judging, I will post that or edit it in later. Got a long funeral filled day ahead.

Ouch... :smalleek:

Inevitability

2017-01-13, 01:26 AM

I've been looking forward to this for a very long time. Time to get cooking!

ben-zayb

2017-01-13, 03:12 AM

Muggins

2017-01-13, 05:15 AM

Oh, thank the benevolent gods, it's not a multiheaded monsters round! Hopefully I can get an entry with this.

I'm not sure how to do this, either, though. Should the worshipping part really be core to its identity? I'm guessing we're not restricted into getting divine-flavored crunch?
You can worship and revere a god without actually being a divine supplicant. In some settings it's even possible to get divine spellcasting (or similar benefits) from a deity that doesn't share your alignment.

The crux of this round, I think, is that the character should be some kind of warped, malevolent representation of a non-evil god. Think theme and flavour, not necessarily mechanics (though, as always, good mechanics beget good thematics).

Technetium43

2017-01-13, 05:19 AM

Well... this is like the one idea I have NOTHING for. At all. I'll see if something jumps out at me though.

AvatarVecna

2017-01-13, 05:20 AM

Well, I have an idea of at least some of the mechanics I want to use, but how to fluff it...

khadgar567

2017-01-13, 06:43 AM

I thing i have a idea but i am not competing for know

Tiri

2017-01-13, 07:00 AM

Well, this will be a challenge.

Nothing bad about that, though. I think I have an idea for an entry already, but it needs some refinement.

LordOfCain

2017-01-13, 07:23 AM

MWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA! So many choices...

khadgar567

2017-01-13, 07:43 AM

MWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA! So many choices...
yup and all of them are probably good ( damn it deckard you just give me a new idea)

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-13, 08:19 AM

Oh yes time to plot the demise
Non-evil, ok....

PrismCat21

2017-01-13, 08:39 AM

So, we have to be a worshipper servant of the deity, but does the deity have to accept us as a follower? Do they have to be willing to grant divine power, regardless of whether they do or not!

I assumed yes at first, but didn't see anything about it.
Cheers!

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-13, 09:34 AM

just a little something i would like to add to this round
https://media.giphy.com/media/yYMGPRQsDcnHG/giphy.gif

Red Fel

2017-01-13, 09:43 AM

Keep in mind that, in order to be build-legal, any class with Cleric-type alignment restrictions (must be within one step of deity's alignment) can only worship a Neutral deity. However, not all classes with divine flavor - or without, for that matter - have that restriction.

Just throwing that out there, because I'd hate to see a good idea get penalized for missing any relevant alignment restrictions.

I won't be judging this round, but as a strong proponent of heresy...

http://pm1.narvii.com/6261/f6a2bb9140c568bfe3214c7ca265decacfb8ba56_hq.jpg

Telonius

2017-01-13, 10:29 AM

I think I'll be competing this time. Got a few good ideas already. :smallamused:

Strigon

2017-01-13, 10:52 AM

Well, I can't say I have any clever ideas for this one. As such, I'd like to formally offer my hand at judging, provided there are no objections.

Elegance: How easy is your build to understand? If I were running this build at my table, will I need a folder of mechanical notes, or is it something that's intuitive and meshes well together? Points will be deducted for having too many disparate elements to your build. This doesn't mean it has to be one-dimensional, but try to keep everything logical. Rules issues will also be deducted here. Dips won't necessarily be penalized, but see above regarding intuitiveness and logical progression.
Also note: I will not be penalizing monsters with class levels.

Edit: In general, that is. If there are ridiculous restrictions that make no sense, then a penalty will be applied in that one case. I don't think it needs to be said, but better to be clear up front.

Power & Competence: How well does your build hold up against your standard party (beatstick, rogue, wizard, healer)? Are there any glaring oversights that, if exploited, will trivialize your encounter (no way to deal with flying enemies, for example)? If so, expect a fairly significant hit based on how easy it is to exploit. A decent build with no huge weaknesses will do better here than Achilles.
Also note: I have limited experience with optimizing. If I'm missing something that makes your build more powerful, by all means, set up a dispute.

Originality: Do I think this build is clever? Am I surprised, in a good way? Does this make use of an otherwise little-seen race/class/template/what have you?
This is a mix between fluff and crunch. In general, to get a decent score, you only have to be really original with one - though obviously, the truly high scores will require originality in both. Picking an obvious choice will hurt you here, but unlike the previous two categories, I'll be looking at the build as a whole for originality, so having one or two bland areas won't hurt your score if the rest is original.

Memorable Villainy: Does your villain have style? Again, a mix of fluff and crunch, but you will absolutely need both. A stylish villain that just walks up to the PCs and hits them with a stick isn't particularly memorable. Neither is a bland villain with cool mechanics. Obviously, there will be some overlap with originality, but there are some differences. In general, originality deals with the GM's side of the table, while memorable villainy deals with all the things the players will see.

If there are any concerns or questions, please feel free to raise them.

Xaroth

2017-01-13, 11:26 AM

Tiri

2017-01-13, 11:40 AM

I think that I might actually join in on submitting for this one. It sounds fun.

I haven't submitted for one of these before but I've looked through some of the posts of edition XVII and I'd just like to make sure of a few things:

I noticed that it was stated not to speculate, but does that also mean that you cannot ask whether a certain monster is allowed due to, perhaps, power issues with the monster?
Are you allowed to be creative beyond what is written for the monster? For example, if it's stated a certain monster is known for worshipping a certain deity with little/no known exceptions, are you allowed to change that for the purpose of this?

If you're concerned about power, you can always PM the Chairman to ask if he would allow that monster in particular. In general, though, all official materials are allowed.

Of course you're allowed to write a villain as being different from the rest of his race - it'd be pretty boring if all the entries were completely typical members of their species.

Xaroth

2017-01-13, 11:40 AM

If you're concerned about power issues, you can always PM the Chairman on whether or not he allows that monster in particular. In general, all official materials are allowed.

Of course you're allowed to write a villain as being different from the rest of his race - it'd be pretty boring if all the entries were completely typical members of their species.

Two more questions, if that's okay:

How has equipment ever been handled, if at all? WBL, or via some other means?
We're allowed to improve monsters (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm), correct?

Edit: And thanks for the quick answer!

Tiri

2017-01-13, 11:44 AM

Two more questions, if that's okay:

How has equipment ever been handled, if at all? WBL, or via some other means?
We're allowed to improve monsters (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm), correct?

Edit: And thanks for the quick answer!

Entries tend not to specify any equipment, and I think in the past builds have been penalised for relying on a particular item, but a list of suggested equipment shouldn't hurt.

Improving monsters has always been allowed as far as I can remember, but note that according to D&D 3.5 rules it is illegal to intermix Racial Hit Die advancement with class levels. The RHD advancement should always be applied first.

Xaroth

2017-01-13, 11:51 AM

Entries tend not to specify any equipment, and I think in the past builds have been penalised for relying on a particular item, but a list of suggested equipment shouldn't hurt.

Improving monsters has always been allowed as far as I can remember, but note that according to D&D 3.5 rules it is illegal to intermix Racial Hit Die advancement with class levels. The RHD advancement should always be applied first.

Thank you for that second point about intermixing, I wasn't aware. And alright, thank you! I have a good idea in mind now.

The Viscount

2017-01-13, 01:31 PM

Keep in mind that, in order to be build-legal, any class with Cleric-type alignment restrictions (must be within one step of deity's alignment) can only worship a Neutral deity. However, not all classes with divine flavor - or without, for that matter - have that restriction.

Just throwing that out there, because I'd hate to see a good idea get penalized for missing any relevant alignment restrictions.

Well I suppose one might lean on setting-specific rules to sidestep this issue, though that raises the question of whether judges would judge it along rules for that setting.

Tiri

2017-01-13, 01:41 PM

It might result in an Elegance penalty.

GrayDeath

2017-01-13, 02:04 PM

Well, phew. If it had been the Two Headed or Ooze one I would have drawn a blank, but this....I can work with this. :D

Oh yes, ( although I expect a third+ of the builds to follow one specific meme^^) me likes. :nale:

Troacctid

2017-01-13, 03:14 PM

If you're using worship rules from one setting to worship a deity from a different setting, I'd probably penalize your Elegance. Use the rules for the setting you're in. Mixing and matching is inelegant.

I don't remember any builds being penalized in this competition for overreliance on a specific item. I don't see much issue with it, either. Iron Chef frowns upon it because it requires some amount of DM cooperation, but in this contest, you are the DM and you get to choose the character's items, so, whatever. What would earn a penalty from me would be if your villain is supposed to be a badass but is really only powerful because she's tricked out with overpowered gear that would be just as good on a Commoner of the same CR.

Strigon

2017-01-13, 03:44 PM

I don't remember any builds being penalized in this competition for overreliance on a specific item. I don't see much issue with it, either.
...
What would earn a penalty from me would be if your villain is supposed to be a badass but is really only powerful because she's tricked out with overpowered gear that would be just as good on a Commoner of the same CR.

I agree with this reasoning in principle, but I'm not sure it should be applied to this competition; people have avoided using items for so long, I'd hate to see a great build with no items be outperformed by a decent build with one or two items to accentuate it.
It's true that I don't think it's explicitly stated anywhere, but one should always be careful when adding or removing something that's been around for so long, even if it was only implicitly.

Troacctid

2017-01-13, 04:19 PM

The important thing is that, like many aspects of a build presentation, gear is optional—not required, but not forbidden. An entry without gear is assumed to have access to whatever generic items are appropriate, and should never suffer a penalty as a result.

LordOfCain

2017-01-13, 04:26 PM

Huh, what's with the new limit of 2 villains per participant?

Doctor Awkward

2017-01-13, 04:45 PM

I agree with this reasoning in principle, but I'm not sure it should be applied to this competition; people have avoided using items for so long, I'd hate to see a great build with no items be outperformed by a decent build with one or two items to accentuate it.
It's true that I don't think it's explicitly stated anywhere, but one should always be careful when adding or removing something that's been around for so long, even if it was only implicitly.

You know, this sentiment, along with the events that transpired in the previous contest has inspired me to share a little story my favorite philosophy professor shared with us the second day of class during a discussion regarding how human beings react to the concept of tradition:

Before Hawaii was one of the 50 of the United States, they had a system of strict religious tenants that governed almost every aspect of life, known as the "kapu". It roughly translates to English as "taboo". They were not laws, per say, but rather an extensive list of customs regarding everything from which types of food you can eat and when, how you behave in front of the king (including not coming into contact with his toenail clippings), the idea that men and women could not eat food together, and so on.

This system persisted until a monarchy came about that ruled the kingdom of islands from 1810 through 1893. One of them, born Liholiho, was to sit on the throne as King Kamehameha II. One of his stated edicts was that he was going to abolish the kapu. A huge number of priests and citizens railed against this. They claimed it would send the entire kingdom spiraling into anarchic destruction. But he was the king, and his word as absolute. He ascended the throne in 1819, and six months later, during and event called 'Ai Noa, the taboo was no more.

And then nothing happened.

...That's the end of the story.

Now the point of the story isn't to sway people in regards to any particular tradition one way or another. It's simply to point out that the way things usually go is that an idea will start with someone as a stated belief. If that belief gets repeated often enough that more people start to ascribe to it, then that belief becomes commonly held. When a commonly held belief sticks around long enough, it becomes a tradition. And eventually as that tradition is passed through the ages, it becomes right.

And the moment it becomes right, everything else becomes wrong. And it becomes so firmly ingrained in the minds of the people who adhere to it, they don't even stop to think about why.

Strigon

2017-01-13, 05:08 PM

[Snip]

Perhaps you misunderstand (or, alternatively, perhaps I do); I don't think allowing items would harm the competition as a whole - I'm in favour of giving builds equipment, in general.
But I think that, if we do switch, it should be done at the very beginning of a round; building a villain that is meant to function fine with only basic or generic gear is very different to building a villain that can use specific items to augment its abilities.

My concern is that, if we don't make it very clear from the beginning that items are now 100%, indisputably allowed, then inevitably there will be some builds who didn't give a list of gear and so must be assumed to have generic gear. These builds will be going up against competitors who have specific items tailored to their fighting style, and thus - through no fault of their own - will be at a disadvantage.

The only ways I can think to solve this problem, once it has arisen, is to either have the judges assume the disadvantaged builds gain useful items - in which case the build's power level will only be increased by whatever the judge thinks should be given, rather than what the competitor was able to come up with - or you can have the judges ignore the specific items, in which case why bother having them?

Add to that the... volatility... of recent rounds, and I don't think now is the time to change this particular rule.

Xaroth

2017-01-13, 05:30 PM

If you're using worship rules from one setting to worship a deity from a different setting, I'd probably penalize your Elegance. Use the rules for the setting you're in. Mixing and matching is inelegant.

Worship rules?

...I didn't know there were worship rules. Whoops. Is there anything in particular I should really know about them?

Also, are lengthy backstories welcome? Naturally, within spoiler tags, of course.

Strigon

2017-01-13, 05:35 PM

Worship rules?

...I didn't know there were worship rules. Whoops. Is there anything in particular I should really know about them?

Also, are lengthy backstories welcome? Naturally, within spoiler tags, of course.

Well fleshed-out villains that aren't just a bundle of stats are always helpful in building a competitive entry. I don't think lengthy backstories are frowned upon; in truth, they usually are a mark of a lovingly-crafted build, and those are always fun to read!
Now, of course, you should only make it as long as it needs to be; unnecessary details that just pad out the length don't help anyone, and while they can't directly affect your score, I doubt the judges will be happy to read 12 pages of filler for a page and a half of backstory :smalltongue:

Make it as long as it needs to be, and not much longer.

Xaroth

2017-01-13, 05:42 PM

Well fleshed-out villains that aren't just a bundle of stats are always helpful in building a competitive entry. I don't think lengthy backstories are frowned upon; in truth, they usually are a mark of a lovingly-crafted build, and those are always fun to read!
Now, of course, you should only make it as long as it needs to be; unnecessary details that just pad out the length don't help anyone, and while they can't directly affect your score, I doubt the judges will be happy to read 12 pages of filler for a page and a half of backstory :smalltongue:

Make it as long as it needs to be, and not much longer.

That's fair. I would probably be better writing it as a tale from the past rather than a third person adventure as it was happening, in that event.

Troacctid

2017-01-13, 05:50 PM

Perhaps you misunderstand (or, alternatively, perhaps I do); I don't think allowing items would harm the competition as a whole - I'm in favour of giving builds equipment, in general.
But I think that, if we do switch, it should be done at the very beginning of a round; building a villain that is meant to function fine with only basic or generic gear is very different to building a villain that can use specific items to augment its abilities.

My concern is that, if we don't make it very clear from the beginning that items are now 100%, indisputably allowed, then inevitably there will be some builds who didn't give a list of gear and so must be assumed to have generic gear. These builds will be going up against competitors who have specific items tailored to their fighting style, and thus - through no fault of their own - will be at a disadvantage.

The only ways I can think to solve this problem, once it has arisen, is to either have the judges assume the disadvantaged builds gain useful items - in which case the build's power level will only be increased by whatever the judge thinks should be given, rather than what the competitor was able to come up with - or you can have the judges ignore the specific items, in which case why bother having them?

Add to that the... volatility... of recent rounds, and I don't think now is the time to change this particular rule.
It's really not as big a deal as you're making it out to be. There are a lot of things competitors could do that would improve their scores that they already don't do. Are people really going to do extra work putting together a gear section even though it probably won't offer a meaningful power boost and might even hurt you on thematic cohesion if the judge thinks the gear doesn't mesh well with your standard combat tactics? I certainly wouldn't if I were writing up an entry.

Not all entries follow the same format. It's been like that in every round (except for XIII, where they actually did all follow the same format, but that doesn't count). As a judge, you take that into account in whatever way you feel is best.

Personally, if I were to change one thing about how most people present their builds, I'd have them choose their CR spotlights more carefully. A lot of builds lately have been doing a weird thing where they kind of assume the players will fight the villain once at CR 5, and then they'll come back at CR 10, and then they'll come back again at CR 15, etc. Which isn't actually how Big Bads normally work! Usually they start at a higher level than the party, and the party has to level up to get strong enough to face them. If it doesn't make sense to encounter your villain at CR 5 and have them level up along with the party...then don't present your build that way! You're only required to present one spotlight, according to the contest rules. It's good to present suggested lower-level encounters too, or offer a general outline of how the campaign might progress, but it's totally fine if the lower levels don't involve fighting the villain directly. And it's also totally fine to use lower CRs to present an adaptation of the villain that you could use in a lower-level campaign without assuming that they will come back later after they're initially defeated. Contestants have done this in past rounds (and I've done it in every round I entered), and I'm pretty sure nobody ever got penalized for it, but people have gotten penalized for presenting a villain as a recurring threat when that didn't make sense with their story. I know they've gotten penalized for it because I was the one penalizing them.

Anyway, that's Troacctid's Villainous Tip of the Week.

Worship rules?

...I didn't know there were worship rules. Whoops. Is there anything in particular I should really know about them?
Depends on the setting. Eberron and the Forgotten Realms have very different cosmologies, for example. But if you aren't placing your character explicitly within a specific setting (for example, by taking one of the setting-specific prestige classes from Faiths and Pantheons), then you probably don't need to worry about it.

Also, are lengthy backstories welcome? Naturally, within spoiler tags, of course.
Yes, although you tend to get diminishing returns on them—quality is more important than quantity. Personally, I like fluff to be useful for the DM running the character, so in my opinion, backstory should always inform the character's motivations and personality in the present day. Also, your entry needs to fit in a single post, IIRC, so if you use too many characters, you will run out of room for the crunch. :smallwink:

Xaroth

2017-01-13, 06:06 PM

It's really not as big a deal as you're making it out to be. There are a lot of things competitors could do that would improve their scores that they already don't do. Are people really going to do extra work putting together a gear section even though it probably won't offer a meaningful power boost and might even hurt you on thematic cohesion if the judge thinks the gear doesn't mesh well with your standard combat tactics? I certainly wouldn't if I were writing up an entry.

Not all entries follow the same format. It's been like that in every round (except for XIII, where they actually did all follow the same format, but that doesn't count). As a judge, you take that into account in whatever way you feel is best.

Personally, if I were to change one thing about how most people present their builds, I'd have them choose their CR spotlights more carefully. A lot of builds lately have been doing a weird thing where they kind of assume the players will fight the villain once at CR 5, and then they'll come back at CR 10, and then they'll come back again at CR 15, etc. Which isn't actually how Big Bads normally work! Usually they start at a higher level than the party, and the party has to level up to get strong enough to face them. If it doesn't make sense to encounter your villain at CR 5 and have them level up along with the party...then don't present your build that way! You're only required to present one spotlight, according to the contest rules. It's good to present suggested lower-level encounters too, or offer a general outline of how the campaign might progress, but it's totally fine if the lower levels don't involve fighting the villain directly. And it's also totally fine to use lower CRs to present an adaptation of the villain that you could use in a lower-level campaign without assuming that they will come back later after they're initially defeated. Contestants have done this in past rounds (and I've done it in every round I entered), and I'm pretty sure nobody ever got penalized for it, but people have gotten penalized for presenting a villain as a recurring threat when that didn't make sense with their story. I know they've gotten penalized for it because I was the one penalizing them.

Anyway, that's Troacctid's Villainous Tip of the Week.

Goddamn. Duly noted, I hadn't even considered that.

Depends on the setting. Eberron and the Forgotten Realms have very different cosmologies, for example. But if you aren't placing your character explicitly within a specific setting (for example, by taking one of the setting-specific prestige classes from Faiths and Pantheons), then you probably don't need to worry about it.

Well, I don't really have anything in particular in mind yet, but I guess that rules out those classes.

Yes, although you tend to get diminishing returns on them—quality is more important than quantity. Personally, I like fluff to be useful for the DM running the character, so in my opinion, backstory should always inform the character's motivations and personality in the present day. Also, your entry needs to fit in a single post, IIRC, so if you use too many characters, you will run out of room for the crunch. :smallwink:

Ah, fair enough. Would the backstory count as an entry, though? If you decided to put it as its own thing, for people to read if they so wish.

Also, you said it's required to fit into a single post. Does this mean you're allowed to post your villain into the thread?

Strigon

2017-01-13, 06:20 PM

Also, you said it's required to fit into a single post. Does this mean you're allowed to post your villain into the thread?

That's a big no-no. Or, at least, it's a pretty significant no-no, as people seem to take anonimity of builds quite seriously here.
PM the chairman - our own ever-patient Thurbane, in this case - exactly how you want him to post it. He will copy and paste it and, as is made very clear in the first post, will not go through the hassle of spell checking it, or making corrections. Understandably, since that would be a ton of work with so many builds.

Also, @Troacctid, you might be right. In fact, I'd say you probably are, but I'm still one to err on the side of caution. Fairness is important, and I don't think anyone would deny that choosing your own magic items is a significant advantage.

Thurbane

2017-01-13, 06:33 PM

Huh, what's with the new limit of 2 villains per participant?

There have been some noncerns raised that if there is a literal flood of entries, woth entrant posting 3 or more each, judges would be scared off.

I'm trialling the two-per-entrant suggestion this round to see how it goes.

On the subject of gear: I agree with the sentiment others have raised. There is nothing wrong with suggesting items for a build or even making them a central part of the entry, but it's up to individual judges to apply any penalties they think might apply for over reliance on items, or bonuses if they think it's a brilliant use of an item.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-13, 07:02 PM

There have been some noncerns raised that if there is a literal flood of entries, woth entrant posting 3 or more each, judges would be scared off.

I'm trialling the two-per-entrant suggestion this round to see how it goes.

On the subject of gear: I agree with the sentiment others have raised. There is nothing wrong with suggesting items for a build or even making them a central part of the entry, but it's up to individual judges to apply any penalties they think might apply for over reliance on items, or bonuses if they think it's a brilliant use of an item.

what if we sent 2 in as you say, and then stub some more build at the end.

the main point of this comp is to have fun, for everybody. The method stated above gives the competitors a chance to show off there builds(no matter if they are judged or not) and the judges only have 2 per person to judge, making it a lot easier (and honestly less time consuming) letting the do what they want.

Also if we do what is above, you could say that players are allowed to give feed back to each other about only those non-judged builds, then there will be less open comments on how the judge does his part and less bickering all together.

On the subject of gear: What you are saying is that giving your entries magic items is fine, but if you use more commonly know magic items trickes, judges are allowed to take points of Originality or something like that, right?

Also (because i haven't said it) THANK YOU FOR BEING CHAIRMAN THURBANE!! :elan::xykon::sabine::elan: :durkon:

Aka-chan

2017-01-13, 07:13 PM

Hmm, I've got an idea that I think is interesting. Let's see if I get around to actually building it...

Muggins

2017-01-13, 10:01 PM

what if we sent 2 in as you say, and then stub some more build at the end.

the main point of this comp is to have fun, for everybody. The method stated above gives the competitors a chance to show off there builds(no matter if they are judged or not) and the judges only have 2 per person to judge, making it a lot easier (and honestly less time consuming) letting the do what they want.

Also if we do what is above, you could say that players are allowed to give feed back to each other about only those non-judged builds, then there will be less open comments on how the judge does his part and less bickering all together.
If you have a stub then you should post it in the thread yourself after the reveal. We already do this, both in Iron Chef and Villainous Competition. If you're not submitting something to be judged by the judges, you leave it and post it while judges work on their scores and while the contestant twiddle their thumbs.

Like what this guy did (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21507158&postcount=193), if you want a recent example.

Thurbane

2017-01-13, 10:05 PM

Absolutely: more than happy for people to post stubs after the first reveal. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/images/sand/icons/icon_thumbsup.png

Tiri

2017-01-13, 10:31 PM

I don't remember any builds being penalized in this competition for overreliance on a specific item. I don't see much issue with it, either. Iron Chef frowns upon it because it requires some amount of DM cooperation, but in this contest, you are the DM and you get to choose the character's items, so, whatever. What would earn a penalty from me would be if your villain is supposed to be a badass but is really only powerful because she's tricked out with overpowered gear that would be just as good on a Commoner of the same CR.

Just to clarify, I was referring to how, in VC XVI, the Azer build was initially penalised by a judge for reliance on the equipment listed in the entry.

Later, it was clarified that the equipment was just a suggestion and not strictly necessary to the build, so said judge increased the score.

I can't remember exactly who the judge in question was, but I distinctly remember it happening.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-13, 10:41 PM

When i found this it made me laugh so hard because of what this round is.

http://38.media.tumblr.com/4bdd1204e04f6206e0c9f7344b1ce68a/tumblr_n6yncwjrTn1ql55zvo1_500.jpg

Technetium43

2017-01-14, 01:18 AM

Inevitability

2017-01-14, 01:32 AM

When i found this it made me laugh so hard because of what this round is.

I'm currently running a PbP game where one of the characters has literally that as his theme song.

Tiri

2017-01-14, 09:28 AM

Phew, that sure was a thing. I managed to produce a build in one day in some sort of bizarre fugue state. Inspiration just struck, I guess.

Also, I think this is my first time writing something that actually managed to make me genuinely uncomfortable while writing it, which I figure is a success as far as this contest is concerned. :smalltongue:

Good for you. I've never managed to make myself feel uncomfortable while writing villain entries.

For purposes of this competition, the Living Greyhawk Deities pdf is an official source.

Does this mean that Living Greyhawk Deities is the only official source for this competition, or that it is not normally official and is being treated as such for the competition?

Muggins

2017-01-14, 10:07 AM

Does this mean that Living Greyhawk Deities is the only official source for this competition, or that it is not normally official and is being treated as such for the competition?
The latter, I'd wager, since otherwise we'd have no way of making builds. We've had similar exceptions before.

Buufreak

2017-01-14, 12:20 PM

Hokay! Finally getting a chance to sit down and type on something bigger than a cellphone. Now, I usually type erratically, so if I seem all over the place, just roll with it, but I am going to try to explain in the best way possible how I will be doing the judgments.

First and foremost, I love a good debate, and if you want to dispute anything on a score that has been submitted by you, feel free to explain everything. I see it as a learning experience. However, please keep it to your own builds; I don't really feel up to defending my judgment against the entire peanut gallery.

Second, I want to try and be fair to everyone, and remain impartial in all manners. As such, from the time I start scoring until the time this contest ends, I am going to avoid every other post possible, other than disputes directed towards me. This is to ensure that I am not being swayed in any fashion by either the banter of the participants/spectators nor the scores and disputes posted by other judges. By doing this, I hope to be as fair as possible to not only the competitors, but also myself and the other judges.

Edit: This means the argument of "so and so gave me this score for this reason" is entirely invalid to me.

With those things in mind, lets cover the criteria:

Originality - Does the build stand out against the crowd? Is it a concept that is well known and has been poked at thousands of times before? Is it another Drow Ranger? These are the general things I will be looking at for originality, and this applies not only to concept, but also build as well.

Elegance - Does the character as a whole have a sense of mechanical flow? Has it tried to shoehorn in every possible thing to make it shine? Does it make sense, without having to use 10 dips? Elegance is all about a level breakdown that makes sense, to me, and as such I want these builds to hold together without 10 rolls of duct tape.

As a side note, on the topic of the item argument, I won't be docking anything for seeing items. I recognize them as a suggestion, not a need. If your entire build DOES teeter off the use of item(s), and is only mechanically sound based on said item(s), elegance might see a bit of docking. Nothing major, but be aware that the possibility stands.

Competence/Power - We all know the shenanigans a wizard 20 can pull off, so I might split a few hairs here. I want to look more at competence than anything: Does the villain do what he is intended to do? Can he accomplish any actual villainy as presented? I'm not going to slam someone for being straight marshal/mundane when put up against a caster if the point you were going for was to be capable without magic.

Memorability - This is something I always look forward to in any build. Does it wow me? Will I remember this character tomorrow? A week from now? Month? Year? Is this going to be the next character that I am always telling my gaming circle about, because of just how cool he/she/it is? This is the wow factor, through and through, and I think it all comes down to just how much the concept can jump off the page. To quote a friend's build, anyone can make an old insane wizard, but his was senile beyond age to the point his familiar had died, but he believes the empty turtle shell is still his friend, and "pissing of Sheldon" resulted in it being mage handed in your general direction with a comical Mario Bros sound effect. For me, memorability is the little things, the subtle nuances that brings a character to life.

So that's it. I hope I covered everything in enough depth. If you have any questions, I am all ears for now, I won't be exiling myself until the official reveal comes out.

Happy builds, and to all may we have a good clean competition!

Tiri

2017-01-14, 10:27 PM

The latter, I'd wager, since otherwise we'd have no way of making builds. We've had similar exceptions before.

I think you misunderstood me. I was asking whether or not Living Greyhawk is the only source we're allowed to get our deities from, since there are other official books with deities in them.

Technetium43

2017-01-14, 10:29 PM

I think you misunderstood me. I was asking whether or not Living Greyhawk is the only source we're allowed to get our deities from, since there are other official books with deities in them.

No. It's in addition to the other sources, not the only source. All it does is define extra domains for existing Greyhawk deities, basically.

Tiri

2017-01-14, 11:01 PM

No. It's in addition to the other sources, not the only source. All it does is define extra domains for existing Greyhawk deities, basically.

Well, I was actually asking the Chairman, since different non-Chairman people could have differing opinions on the subject, as you and Muggins seem to.

Thanks, though.

Thurbane

2017-01-14, 11:06 PM

Does this mean that Living Greyhawk Deities is the only official source for this competition, or that it is not normally official and is being treated as such for the competition?

Sorry for any confusion - LGD is certainly not the only source for deities in this round. I didn't even stop to think that sentence could be read that way. Deities from all the normal sources allowed for the Villainous Competition are also fair game.

As to its status as an approved source: it may well have already been kosher, but I guess I was just confirming.

Troacctid

2017-01-14, 11:11 PM

Living Greyhawk is web material (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/welcome), which has always been allowed.

Thurbane

2017-01-14, 11:18 PM

Living Greyhawk is web material (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/welcome), which has always been allowed.

I believe the actual (official) link to the pdf is dead, though. It's still available online, but only on third party sites that I'm aware of.

Nope, it's working...huh.

daremetoidareyo

2017-01-15, 04:33 PM

What do we do with monster bonus feats? We can just change those, right?

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-15, 05:04 PM

What do we do with monster bonus feats? We can just change those, right?

No i do not believe so, its like replacing the diehard feat you get from frenzied berserker.

Xaroth

2017-01-15, 06:39 PM

Technetium43

2017-01-15, 06:50 PM

Thurbane

2017-01-15, 06:54 PM

Starting at CR 5 or lower is not a requirement of the competition, but as Technetium43 points out, some judges may apply a penalty for entries that start at a higher CR.

Strigon

2017-01-15, 07:18 PM

Out of curiosity, what would anyone suggest as far as asking for advice goes? I'm unsure about a few things that are specific to the character I'm making, as far as what I should do with them.

Also, there are sweet spots at CR 5, 10, 15, and 20. Does this mean at the very least, the character should begin at CR 5 or lower?

Well, if you have any particular rules questions, there's a thread for that (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?497153-Simple-RAW-Thread-for-3-5-32-More-Seasons-than-the-Simpsons), but in terms of advice I don't know that there is a procedure for it. The best I can say is to read over the previous competitions' builds, see what goes over well with most judges.

The best advice I can give is to figure out who your villain is - what they're all about. From that, you should be able to figure out how they should fight, in a rough sense. Once you've got that, it's just a matter of finding which class(es), race and possibly template(s) combine your fluff (any roleplaying aspects of the villain, if you aren't familiar with the terminology) and crunch (any mechanical aspects) in the right ways. Often, villains will multiclass so that they're competent with more than one fighting style; one of my own previous entries that scored... well, completely average... was a Cleric/Warblade that summoned monsters and supported them with White Raven Tactics, while rushing in to deal massive damage. It could've been more effective, but I think you get the point.

In terms of actual optimizing, there are hundreds of articles online - any class you can name, chances are someone's made a guide for it. Read them rather than asking questions; if you ask about a particular build, the judges might have it in the back of their minds, hurting your Originality score.
Also, something to keep in mind is that, whatever your concept is, there's almost certainly a prestige class that fits it. They offer unique abilities, and also are pretty good for fluff - many of them also mix 2 classes, progressing both to a certain extent, so keep that in mind if you decide to multiclass.

And, your second part of the question implies a slight misunderstanding. There aren't sweet spots at CR 5, 10, 15 and 20.
You are asked to submit a write-up of your build at one or more of those CRs. You don't need all four, but you do need at least one. You are also asked to submit another write-up at the CR which you think is the sweet spot; this could be at CR 5, 10, 15, or 20, but it could also be any other time. Whenever you think the build hits its peak.
So, no, you don't need it to come online by CR 5. Technically, you only need it to come online at CR 20. But, as mentioned earlier, you may take an Elegance hit if it doesn't work together until late in your build, since it doesn't make much sense for a villain to make it to level 20 if his build only works properly at level 17; how did he manage to make it to that level if he wasn't a threat, you know?

Xaroth

2017-01-15, 10:08 PM

That last bit is actually technically speaking, not true. You need to have a sweetspot level, which can be any level, as well as AT LEAST ONE of 5, 10, 15, or 20. However, being playable through most levels is (for some reason) a common judging criteria, so it's a tradeoff. Despite the fact that I usually do all 4, and combine one of them with the sweetspot, that's not the only way to do it at all.

That was mostly my fault for bad phrasing, I was just wondering if CR 5 was a requirement, but thank you for letting me know about that too! I didn't consider that.

Starting at CR 5 or lower is not a requirement of the competition, but as Technetium43 points out, some judges may apply a penalty for entries that start at a higher CR.

Thanks for answering!

Well, if you have any particular rules questions, there's a thread for that (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?497153-Simple-RAW-Thread-for-3-5-32-More-Seasons-than-the-Simpsons), but in terms of advice I don't know that there is a procedure for it. The best I can say is to read over the previous competitions' builds, see what goes over well with most judges.

The best advice I can give is to figure out who your villain is - what they're all about. From that, you should be able to figure out how they should fight, in a rough sense. Once you've got that, it's just a matter of finding which class(es), race and possibly template(s) combine your fluff (any roleplaying aspects of the villain, if you aren't familiar with the terminology) and crunch (any mechanical aspects) in the right ways. Often, villains will multiclass so that they're competent with more than one fighting style; one of my own previous entries that scored... well, completely average... was a Cleric/Warblade that summoned monsters and supported them with White Raven Tactics, while rushing in to deal massive damage. It could've been more effective, but I think you get the point.

In terms of actual optimizing, there are hundreds of articles online - any class you can name, chances are someone's made a guide for it. Read them rather than asking questions; if you ask about a particular build, the judges might have it in the back of their minds, hurting your Originality score.
Also, something to keep in mind is that, whatever your concept is, there's almost certainly a prestige class that fits it. They offer unique abilities, and also are pretty good for fluff - many of them also mix 2 classes, progressing both to a certain extent, so keep that in mind if you decide to multiclass.

And, your second part of the question implies a slight misunderstanding. There aren't sweet spots at CR 5, 10, 15 and 20.
You are asked to submit a write-up of your build at one or more of those CRs. You don't need all four, but you do need at least one. You are also asked to submit another write-up at the CR which you think is the sweet spot; this could be at CR 5, 10, 15, or 20, but it could also be any other time. Whenever you think the build hits its peak.
So, no, you don't need it to come online by CR 5. Technically, you only need it to come online at CR 20. But, as mentioned earlier, you may take an Elegance hit if it doesn't work together until late in your build, since it doesn't make much sense for a villain to make it to level 20 if his build only works properly at level 17; how did he manage to make it to that level if he wasn't a threat, you know?

That does make sense, yeah. Thanks!

Xaroth

2017-01-16, 11:13 AM

Leadership has been disallowed for sanity reasons, what if there's something that would subsequently grant Leadership amongst other benefits if I were to take it? Can I remove Leadership from it, or is there a process, or is it simply not allowed?

Troacctid

2017-01-16, 11:17 AM

Basically just ignore it. (I assume, since that's how Iron Chef does it.)

All villains can be assumed to have henchfolk anyway, so it's not like you even need Leadership.

Xaroth

2017-01-16, 11:20 AM

Basically just ignore it. (I assume, since that's how Iron Chef does it.)

All villains can be assumed to have henchfolk anyway, so it's not like you even need Leadership.

Sweet! Racial stuff is all sorted, in that case. Onto the real fun: Class levels.

Doctor Awkward

2017-01-16, 11:33 AM

What do we do with monster bonus feats? We can just change those, right?

I'm not sure if this is has been sorted or not, but I wanted to throw my 2 cp at it.

When you are examining a monster entry, you will occasionally see feats marked with the superscript capital "B". Like DodgeB, or Weapon FinesseB. On monsters without class levels, these are racial bonus feats and cannot be changed. The rest of the feats should add up to feats gained by hit dice, or (HD/3)+1. These are the ones that can be changed. Make sure you check erratas, especially for 3e sources like Monster Manual II and Book of Vile Darkness.

daremetoidareyo

2017-01-16, 02:38 PM

I'm not sure if this is has been sorted or not, but I wanted to throw my 2 cp at it.

When you are examining a monster entry, you will occasionally see feats marked with the superscript capital "B". Like DodgeB, or Weapon FinesseB. On monsters without class levels, these are racial bonus feats and cannot be changed. The rest of the feats should add up to feats gained by hit dice, or (HD/3)+1. These are the ones that can be changed. Make sure you check erratas, especially for 3e sources like Monster Manual II and Book of Vile Darkness.

Thanks! That was the clarity I needed

Xaroth

2017-01-16, 03:17 PM

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-16, 03:17 PM

I'm not sure if this is has been sorted or not, but I wanted to throw my 2 cp at it.

I see what you did there.....

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-16, 03:19 PM

Are pairs allowed for a single entry? Or is it single monsters only? I'm wondering because I feel like I might have a neat idea for a duo, but there may be a tiny bit of reliance from one to the other and I'm not sure if I would get an elegance penalty for such a thing.

I would like to know as well, there is no rules i see against it, as long as they are a CR 20 battle at the end, not CR 20 each though.

Xaroth

2017-01-16, 03:23 PM

I would like to know as well, there is no rules i see against it, as long as they are a CR 20 battle at the end, not CR 20 each though.

Hm, I guess so. They'd definitely be able to stand on their own without the other, but I could probably get some fun things done if they were together, at CR 20 each.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-16, 03:27 PM

Hm, I guess so. They'd definitely be able to stand on their own without the other, but I could probably get some fun things done if they were together, at CR 20 each.

This actually gave an idea. It reminds me of a (insane) difficult boss in a game i play.

Technetium43

2017-01-16, 03:31 PM

It's a CR 20 BUILD. Not a CR 20 encounter. Very different. There's nothing expressly permitting more than one build, so as far as I can tell it's not allowed.

Inevitability

2017-01-16, 03:36 PM

There's been multi-monster entries in the past, though I'm not sure how rules-legal those were. Last round's Junk Crew comes to mind.

Troacctid

2017-01-16, 03:37 PM

I'm not the chair, but one build per entry please? Judging is hard enough already.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-16, 03:48 PM

maybe i could enter 2 separate builds and add a encounter for a recommendation to Dm who wants to use the 2 in a final battle as BBEGs. No problem with that right?

Thurbane

2017-01-16, 03:52 PM

Unless a competition specifically mentions having two beings in the entry (as the Horseman round did), it is assumed an entry is a single CR 20 creaturee, not an EL 20 encounter.

Familiars, Special Mounts and Animal Companions are allowed as appropriate to classes. The entry is still based on a CR 20 main "character".

You may add extra entries as "fluff" to your main entry, but it does put an extra strain on judges; one build per entry is the preferred method.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-16, 04:44 PM

Xaroth

2017-01-16, 06:02 PM

You may add extra entries as "fluff" to your main entry, but it does put an extra strain on judges; one build per entry is the preferred method.

I'm not the chair, but one build per entry please? Judging is hard enough already.

That's fair, sorry about that, I kinda let myself get carried away with ideas without really considering how much harder I might end up making it on the judges.

Thurbane

2017-01-16, 06:52 PM

I'm going to guess yes but, what bout thing like what I put bold.

Yes indeed. :smallwink:

Xaroth

2017-01-16, 07:04 PM

Buufreak

2017-01-16, 07:04 PM

remetagross

2017-01-16, 07:07 PM

Ooooh I have one of a neat idea :) I'll get one entry in, this time! :smallbiggrin:

daremetoidareyo

2017-01-16, 07:22 PM

That said, I do smell the makings of a potential future round with this idea.

evil Pokemon master? "It's her pet that you have to watch out for"

ben-zayb

2017-01-16, 08:20 PM

Pokemon master? "It's her pet that you have to watch out for"

Fixed the redundancy for you. I actually would love to have a round like that in the future

Strigon

2017-01-16, 08:36 PM

Sorry for asking a lot of questions by the way, this is just my first time entering a competition like this and I'm somewhat nervous, I just want to make sure of things.

With how open the current theme is, I'm not entirely sure how focused on the theme the build should be, if at all. For example, I know that it's based on worshipping a good/neutral Deity, but I don't know if that good/neutral Deity should factor in deciding what classes you choose for it, if that makes sense at all. I don't know if there's a penalty for not really having anything much related to the deity you choose in your build.

I'll try to just wing it after this to stop plaguing this thread with questions, I just feel like with an open theme I should make sure, but essentially: Should the classes you choose revolve around the theme/deity you choose, or factor into it at all?

I would say that, for this competition, the character's main motivation should be to further his god's causes; either for the sake of the god, or because it's a cause he believes in.
So, by my reckoning, for a bare minimum, have the class do something that directly helps with whatever cause your villain is championing. Unfortunately, I can't give you any direct examples - there's strict rules against discussing potential builds - so all I can say is to either gain power from your chosen deity, or use powers that directly further the cause of the deity. Heck, the class itself doesn't have to do anything with that, either; if you find a race, template or feat that does something godly, and then the class simply makes that more effective, that works too.

The classes don't have to revolve around the deity; it's not as though exclusively Divine magic builds are allowed this round. As long as your powers are either supported by, or are useful for supporting whatever your motivation is, it should make sense.

For example, if we were having a Dragon-themed round (can we do that sometime, please?), having a Fighter who just dresses up in dragonscale armour wouldn't be good. Having something with the Dracolyte prestige class would be good. Having a character specifically built to kill dragons, even if he had no dragon themed classes or gear, would likewise be good.
For me, at least. This sort of thing is up to the judge's discretion, but I think everyone's answer to this question would be within the ballpark of what I just said.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-16, 08:47 PM

Fixed the redundancy for you. I actually would love to have a round like that in the future

yes and it will be called Gota Chem' all, because it has to be a song....

Xaroth

2017-01-17, 09:50 AM

Thurbane, I've been looking at your Filia as a reference on how a character should be laid out, but there's one thing that I'm having a lot of trouble with. No matter how I try to calculate it, I can't seem to come to your average HP total at all. Did you use a certain method or did you simply roll for your HP? I've even looked around to see if there's any actual method of calculating NPC HP, to no avail.

Thurbane

2017-01-17, 02:47 PM

From memory, I believe I used max HP for first level, then average for other HD. I'm not 00% sure that the formal rule, but it's how I build most of my NPCs.

Inevitability

2017-01-17, 03:31 PM

From memory, I believe I used max HP for first level, then average for other HD. I'm not 00% sure that the formal rule, but it's how I build most of my NPCs.

That may explain the confusion, as NPC's normally don't get max HP for their first HD.

Zancloufer

2017-01-17, 03:36 PM

Monster HP IMHO really depends on what kind of HP you let your players use. All default sources generally assume around ~half HD+Con mod per level for HP though.

On the competition rules itself: I have an idea for a build, but one it uses a PrC that has a Deity requirement, but the character belief is in a DIFFERENT setting's deity. Would it be penalized or otherwise marked down for not strictly following worship requirements? Would the fact that the two deities fill similar roles in their respective pantheons give me a pass on elegance/fluff?

Inevitability

2017-01-17, 03:45 PM

Zancloufer

2017-01-17, 03:58 PM

Is it one of those prestige classes that already has some alternate deity suggestions (such as Radiant Servant of Pelor)? That might reduce or eliminate the penalties in question.

It does mention that the class can be adapted "to almost any other deity" and mentions a handful afterwards. Didn't think to look further down for that at first though. While that might be more "DM Fiat" territory, I suppose being a "Villain Making" competition means a little more leeway in these cases?

Also on the note of pictures: There any particular rules or suggestions for getting and posting/linking them?

Strigon

2017-01-17, 04:21 PM

On the competition rules itself: I have an idea for a build, but one it uses a PrC that has a Deity requirement, but the character belief is in a DIFFERENT setting's deity. Would it be penalized or otherwise marked down for not strictly following worship requirements? Would the fact that the two deities fill similar roles in their respective pantheons give me a pass on elegance/fluff?

Personally, this wouldn't be a huge deal to me; if I read it in a way that implies to me other deities could be made to fit, but it would technically be a houserule - even if it is one the game suggested - then I'd have to give it a token hit to Elegance. Not huge, but I would consider you ineligible for a perfect score. If it seems to me that there are other deities that could work, but the individual deities are per DM discretion (in the same way that it is implied other spells than merely those listed can be Permanencied), and it fit, then I would give you a pass on Elegance.

For the sake of clarity, I would give a moderate penalty if there were no acknowledgements in the rules about other deities, but the one you chose filled a similar role, and a fairly harsh penalty if there were no acknowledgements and the deity didn't make sense.

This is just my judging, though; bear in mind that others may be more or less lenient, and until I see the build and read the class, I can't say for certain how I feel about it.

Doctor Awkward

2017-01-17, 04:22 PM

It does mention that the class can be adapted "to almost any other deity" and mentions a handful afterwards. Didn't think to look further down for that at first though. While that might be more "DM Fiat" territory, I suppose being a "Villain Making" competition means a little more leeway in these cases?

Also on the note of pictures: There any particular rules or suggestions for getting and posting/linking them?

Some judges consider most fluff mutable, but having adaptation guidelines built into the thing in question is useful.

I alternate between broad google searches and DeviantArt to get my pictures.

There aren't any explicit guidelines for linking images that I know if, but out of respect I try to hyperlink the picture itself to the source when I insert it into the entry, and include a link to the artists profile beneath it.

You can do this by nesting the IMG tag containing the link to the picture inside of a URL tag pointing to the location.

Like this:
[ URL="http://artsdemon.deviantart.com/art/The-Four-Horsemen-Famine-525958458"]
[ IMG]http://img09.deviantart.net/29db/i/2015/100/1/5/the_four_horsemen___famine_by_artsdemon-d8p5456.jpg[/IMG]
[/URL]
[ URL="http://artsdemon.deviantart.com/"]artsdemon - DeviantArt[/URL]

With the extra spaces, [ URL], removed, it looks like this:

http://img09.deviantart.net/29db/i/2015/100/1/5/the_four_horsemen___famine_by_artsdemon-d8p5456.jpg
(http://artsdemon.deviantart.com/art/The-Four-Horsemen-Famine-525958458)
artsdemon - DeviantArt (http://artsdemon.deviantart.com/)

Clicking the picture will take you to the exact page the picture is from, and at the bottom is a link to the artists general profile.

Jormengand

2017-01-17, 04:53 PM

With the extra spaces, [ URL], removed,

NOPARSE is your friend:

For example,

http://img09.deviantart.net/29db/i/2015/100/1/5/the_four_horsemen___famine_by_artsdemon-d8p5456.jpg
(http://artsdemon.deviantart.com/art/The-Four-Horsemen-Famine-525958458)

Gives:

http://img09.deviantart.net/29db/i/2015/100/1/5/the_four_horsemen___famine_by_artsdemon-d8p5456.jpg
(http://artsdemon.deviantart.com/art/The-Four-Horsemen-Famine-525958458)

(Yes, you can use two sets of NOPARSE tags to demonstrate NOPARSE's effects. :smalltongue: )

Xaroth

2017-01-17, 07:13 PM

From memory, I believe I used max HP for first level, then average for other HD. I'm not 00% sure that the formal rule, but it's how I build most of my NPCs.

How's the average determined? I wanna say it's just half, but I'm not sure.

daremetoidareyo

2017-01-17, 07:26 PM

How's the average determined? I wanna say it's just half, but I'm not sure.

The average die roll is the minimum number on the die plus the maximum number of the die, divided in half. So for a d6, the average roll is (1+6)/2 = 3.5

Then you multiply the average roll by the hit dice, and then add consititution modifier * number of HD. Boom: average HP.

Xaroth

2017-01-17, 07:30 PM

The average die roll is the minimum number on the die plus the maximum number of the die, divided in half. So for a d6, the average roll is (1+6)/2 = 3.5

Then you multiply the average roll by the hit dice, and then add consititution modifier * number of HD. Boom: average HP.

...it was that easy?!

Holy crapbaskets that's incredible. Thanks!

Do you round down, after multiplying average roll by the hit dice, if applicable?

daremetoidareyo

2017-01-17, 07:37 PM

...it was that easy?!

Holy crapbaskets that's incredible. Thanks!

Do you round down, after multiplying average roll by the hit dice, if applicable?

Yeah, Id expect folks to round down if they have an odd number of HD.

Troacctid

2017-01-17, 07:52 PM

Buufreak

2017-01-17, 09:31 PM

You don't have to calculate the villain's HP. Just give their hit dice. "10d8+10d6" is easier to parse anyway.

I guess you can do it if you want to include a statblock. (If you do include a statblock, do it in the Monster Manual V style, since that's the best style.)

Is that somewhere in the contest rules, or just a general opinion? It's a correct opinion, but I want to be certain of rules.

Xaroth

2017-01-17, 10:06 PM

You don't have to calculate the villain's HP. Just give their hit dice. "10d8+10d6" is easier to parse anyway.

I guess you can do it if you want to include a statblock. (If you do include a statblock, do it in the Monster Manual V style, since that's the best style.)

I was confused for a moment, then I realised MMIV and MMV both use the exact same stat block outline. But yeah, I was thinking I might include a statblock at either CR 20, the sweet spot, or possibly even both.

Troacctid

2017-01-17, 11:38 PM

Is that somewhere in the contest rules, or just a general opinion? It's a correct opinion, but I want to be certain of rules.
It's just my opinion, but since I am always right about everything, that's basically the same as being a rule. :smallwink:

LarwisTheElf

2017-01-18, 02:44 PM

Technetium43

2017-01-18, 02:47 PM

The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but no other Dragonlance content.

Muggins

2017-01-18, 02:49 PM

I've been reading these things for a while, and I figured I'd finally throw my hat into the ring. So far I've got my build mostly worked out, but I do want to clarify something real quick: is Dragonlance material allowed? The answer could change my build quite a bit, so I figure I should ask now.

Thanks in advance, and here's to a good competition!
Nice to have you. Sorry to say, but the Dragonlance Campaign Setting is the only book allowed; the others weren't published by WotC and aren't the purview of this competition.

So you can certainly set your villain in Dragonlance, but don't try to use material from the Bestiary of Krynn or anything.

Edit: Swordsaged.

LarwisTheElf

2017-01-18, 02:50 PM

The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but no other Dragonlance content.

Thanks for the quick reply. While that does throw a wrench in my plans, it's not all too bad. Time for plan B.

Venger

2017-01-19, 09:08 PM

Absolutely in to cook this round. Very excited to see what we get.

The Viscount

2017-01-20, 05:59 PM

I might whip something up for this one. Definitely down to see what people come up with.

Tiri

2017-01-21, 11:45 AM

I hope I have time to finish an entry, having what I think is a good idea.

Buufreak

2017-01-21, 11:55 AM

I hope I have time to finish an entry, having what I think is a good idea.

If it makes you feel any better, there hasn't been a build yet in the VC that I didn't like, regardless of how unplayable it might have turned out. I really am looking forward to all the characters that this out produces!

Tiri

2017-01-21, 12:19 PM

If it makes you feel any better

Not really, since if I'm feeling bad about anything it's probably my lack of time, but thanks.

I enjoy reading all the entries too, although I admit that in one or two cases the enjoyment might have been more along the lines of amusement at how badly written the entry in question was.

Troacctid

2017-01-21, 01:12 PM

There have been builds that I didn't like!

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-21, 01:26 PM

There have been builds that I didn't like!

I to have build i don't like

Telonius

2017-01-21, 07:46 PM

I ran into a few hiccups, but I think my build is starting to come together. Now, for the description...

Xaroth

2017-01-23, 06:20 AM

-snipped-

Edit: Removed. Was more of a general question but realised it may cause some things to be affected.

zergling.exe

2017-01-23, 07:38 AM

-snipped-

That's a question you may want to ask the chairman via pm, as it may wind up signally out your villain. Though it may be too late for that.

Xaroth

2017-01-23, 08:17 AM

That's a question you may want to ask the chairman via pm, as it may wind up signally out your villain. Though it may be too late for that.

Thanks, removed it just in case.

Telonius

2017-01-24, 05:57 PM

Build is in! Can't wait to see some of the others.

Venger

2017-01-24, 10:26 PM

Build is in! Can't wait to see some of the others.

Good luck to you. Can't wait to see yours.

Xaroth

2017-01-26, 05:13 AM

Build is completed at this point...only problem now is that my brain is fried due to illness, so formatting it and sorting out the CR bits won't be as bad, but and deciding on a sweet spot - basically things that require brain power - is gonna be a pain.

Tiri

2017-01-26, 07:06 AM

Oh dear. Only eight days to the deadline and all I've done is mentally write a backstory and fill out the class section of the build table. I need to speed up.

That said, though, I consider myself early if I can get the build in even a few hours before the deadline.

Build is completed at this point...only problem now is that my brain is fried due to illness, so formatting it and sorting out the CR bits won't be as bad, but and deciding on a sweet spot - basically things that require brain power - is gonna be a pain.

Well, just remember that according to the rules you really only need one CR out of 5, 10, 15 and 20. That should make your job a bit easier if you're feeling poorly.

I hope you don't die.

Xaroth

2017-01-26, 09:39 AM

Oh dear. Only eight days to the deadline and all I've done is mentally write a backstory and fill out the class section of the build table. I need to speed up.

That said, though, I consider myself early if I can get the build in even a few hours before the deadline.

Well, just remember that according to the rules you really only need one CR out of 5, 10, 15 and 20. That should make your job a bit easier if you're feeling poorly.

I hope you don't die.

Honestly that's more accurate to what I have done at the moment than whatever I said. And I'll keep that in mind, I feel better after sleeping for a few hours. If anything I think I might get points for originality on this one, even I didn't expect to end up with this.

I feel like I'm at -2 hit points, but I think I'll live. :smallwink:

Inevitability

2017-01-26, 10:23 AM

I feel like I'm at -2 hit points, but I think I'll live. :smallwink:

There's a 57% chance of that, yes. (1 - 0.9 to the power of 8) x 100

Telonius

2017-01-26, 10:32 AM

Full bed rest, and avoid taking standard actions.

Tiri

2017-01-26, 10:33 AM

Unless you're a boar.

Xaroth

2017-01-26, 10:34 AM

There's a 57% chance of that, yes. (1 - 0.9 to the power of 8) x 100

Full bed rest, and avoid taking standard actions.

Nah, when you have a mother that's a cleric she can restore you to positive hit points in no time.

Xaroth

2017-01-27, 05:30 AM

I just now noticed that the provided code below the displayed table doesn't match the CR table, Thurbane.

Thurbane

2017-01-27, 02:01 PM

I just now noticed that the provided code below the displayed table doesn't match the CR table, Thurbane.

I'll fix it next comp.

For now. just modify it as needed.

danielxcutter

2017-01-30, 03:18 AM

*listens to crickets* Well... Is this thread being so quiet a good thing or a bad thing? Although I suppose it's going to get nice and busy after the builds come out...

Tiri

2017-01-30, 03:32 AM

There hasn't really been much to discuss, I suppose. It's a fairly straightforward round.

Xaroth

2017-01-30, 05:51 AM

Due to unfortunate progressions in my life/illness I'm gonna have to withdraw from entering this round. Which sucks, I was really looking forward to it, too. :/ I could give the level progression to someone and see if they can find anything fun to do with it barring entering it into the competition, my brain is way too fried for optimization any more.

Buufreak

2017-01-30, 12:29 PM

Thurbane

2017-01-30, 10:01 PM

I must say, there hasn't been quite the rush of entries this time around as in the previous few competitions. Maybe the reqs/category is too open? I was thinking some of the peeps who prefer "non-monstrous" rounds might be all over this one.

Anyway, hoping there might be a rush leading up to the deadline.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-01-30, 10:23 PM

..."non-monstrous" rounds....

Oh...... never would have a round like that. well lucky me i had 2 builds

Tiri

2017-01-30, 10:36 PM

Oh...... never would have a round like that. well lucky me i had 2 builds

You submitted two builds for this round?

Xanyo

2017-01-30, 10:47 PM

I had a very flavorful idea, but try as I might I couldn't get it to work, mostly due to alignment requirements of Half-Fiend and Half-Celestial. Plus having two Half- templates is iffy.

daremetoidareyo

2017-01-30, 10:56 PM

having two Half- templates is iffy.

It's only iffy if the judges are feeling like the bang aint worth the buck.

Troacctid

2017-01-30, 10:57 PM

Some of them don't literally require you to be half, so it depends on the template.

Tiri

2017-01-30, 10:59 PM

I had a very flavorful idea, but try as I might I couldn't get it to work, mostly due to alignment requirements of Half-Fiend and Half-Celestial. Plus having two Half- templates is iffy.

There are a number of ways to accomplish it rules-legally, which many people listed in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?513580-Half-Fielestial-Possible-3-5) created for that purpose.

Jormengand

2017-01-30, 11:03 PM

I'm considering an entry but it's unlikely due to personal stuff that's making me feel unable to create. Then again, I have a lot of spare time at night due to being psychologically averse to even going to bed right now.

Inevitability

2017-01-31, 05:20 AM

Process is somewhat delayed by illness, but I'm confident I'll have a submission before the deadline.

remetagross

2017-01-31, 10:41 AM

For me it' laziness, but I'm confident I'll make it in time.

GrayDeath

2017-01-31, 11:43 AM

Buufreak

2017-01-31, 12:50 PM

A lot (and I mean LOT) of work sadly keeps me from doing anything with my Idea....might post the stub after the reveal though.

If I find the time (atm it looks like starting february tenth I will have a lot of free time, relatively speaking) I would like to try my hand at judging though, I REALLY dig the theme. ;)

One of us, one of us! I say the more judges the better, honestly. From a statistical standpoint, it definitely makes the data more viable.

LarwisTheElf

2017-02-02, 05:00 PM

Unfortunately I have to withdraw myself from the competition this time. I'm sick and I won't be able to finish my entry in time (all I really needed was to finish the skills and the fluff). I may post a stub after the judging is complete though. Anyways, I definitely will get one submitted for the next competition, whatever it may be.

Cheers and good luck to all the competitors and judges!

daremetoidareyo

2017-02-02, 10:35 PM

What's the deal with ability bonuses for every 4 hd? We don't do that right?

Troacctid

2017-02-02, 11:16 PM

The ability increases every 4 HD are factored into the base creature's racial ability adjustments for the hit dice it starts with. When you advance beyond that, you get ability score increases normally. For example, an avoral has 7 HD. It doesn't get a +1 at the 4th HD because that's factored into its racial +10 Con or whatever. When it hits 8 HD, however, it does get an ability score increase.

Tiri

2017-02-02, 11:32 PM

What's the deal with ability bonuses for every 4 hd? We don't do that right?

Why wouldn't we?

Telonius

2017-02-03, 08:43 AM

I've definitely factored it in - especially important if you're increasing Intelligence (and get an additional skill point after a certain level).

Inevitability

2017-02-03, 04:39 PM

Yeah, I just won't be able to make it. Illness took up quite a bit of my time, and general business only amplified the problem.

I'll post my build stub after the reveal, though. I'm fairly sure it'll have one or two usable tricks.

Thurbane

2017-02-03, 07:02 PM

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-03, 07:27 PM

48 hours to the official deadline!

Although factoring in time zone difference and me getting home from work, the actual deadline is closer to 65 hours.

I will consider extending the deadline slightly if it will produce more entries...

What about add 5 hours, i since a lot of work in the next 24 hours for me. This is personal but if you (and the other Playgrounders) are okay with it I would greatly appreciate it.

Happy building to all.

Thurbane

2017-02-03, 07:36 PM

What about add 5 hours, i since a lot of work in the next 24 hours for me. This is personal but if you (and the other Playgrounders) are okay with it I would greatly appreciate it.

Happy building to all.

I'm calling a 24 hour extension in the interests of more entries, and amending the OP.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-03, 07:42 PM

I'm calling a 24 hour extension in the interests of more entries, and amending the OP.

Thank you!!

Troacctid

2017-02-04, 06:08 AM

Why wouldn't we?

I've definitely factored it in - especially important if you're increasing Intelligence (and get an additional skill point after a certain level).
You're not supposed to for the racial hit dice a monster starts with, because they're factored into racial ability modifiers. You do get them once you start advancing beyond the starting statistics.

Tiri

2017-02-04, 07:14 AM

You're not supposed to for the racial hit dice a monster starts with, because they're factored into racial ability modifiers. You do get them once you start advancing beyond the starting statistics.

I know that, but I was working under the assumption that we all have a fairly thorough knowledge of the rules, and so came to the conclusion that daremetoidareyo, for some reason, thought that there was some competition rule in effect that stopped entries from using the HD-based ability increases.

Which is why I asked him what I asked him.

ben-zayb

2017-02-04, 08:47 AM

My problem going back and forth between two entries is that I end up with two incomplete submissions. I better start wrapping up at least one!

daremetoidareyo

2017-02-04, 10:22 AM

I know that, but I was working under the assumption that we all have a fairly thorough knowledge of the rules, and so came to the conclusion that daremetoidareyo, for some reason, thought that there was some competition rule in effect that stopped entries from using the HD-based ability increases.

Which is why I asked him what I asked him.

I assumed the fact that we are dealing with Npc monsters and using a stat array covered the stat increases, but then I lost points on a previous entry where I omitted extra stat increases.

Korahir

2017-02-04, 01:49 PM

After mauling an idea for weeks I finally got something worth submitting together. That was way warder than I initially thought.

Tiri

2017-02-04, 03:30 PM

I assumed the fact that we are dealing with Npc monsters and using a stat array covered the stat increases, but then I lost points on a previous entry where I omitted extra stat increases.

I see. Well, all characters, including NPCs, get the stat increases and whether or not you use an array for your scores has no bearing on the increases either.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-04, 04:43 PM

Messages are limited to 25000 characters, I ran out of room:smallfrown:(i used 27404). Would it make since to do it in 2 parts.

Thurbane

2017-02-04, 04:50 PM

Two messages is fine. I can join them when posting (I think forum posts allow more characters than messages).

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-04, 05:01 PM

Two messages is fine. I can join them when posting (I think forum posts allow more characters than messages).
Hopefully! man that was a lot of work.

LordOfCain

2017-02-04, 05:03 PM

Couldn't someone count how many characters are in each build to figure out which one is D&DPrince's?

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-04, 05:05 PM

Couldn't someone count how many characters are in each build to figure out which one is D&DPrince's?

Of course they can. Now if they would spend the time just to reveal its me is another question that i do not have the answer to, and if they accuse me of any specific build I will just respond with It doesn't matter if it is or is not my build. not that big of a deal.

The Viscount

2017-02-04, 06:46 PM

Not if I make a build with exactly 27404 characters as well. :smallwink:

Strigon

2017-02-04, 08:19 PM

Really, you've just broken the whole competition.
The only way to fix it is to have everyone use 27,404 characters. Alternatively, you could add or remove one character and not tell us which, so that nobody has that many.

Venger

2017-02-05, 01:15 AM

Two messages is fine. I can join them when posting (I think forum posts allow more characters than messages).

cap for pms is 25k, cap for a forum post is 50k, so if your build is less than 2 full PMs long, it will show up normally.

thanks for the extension, thurbane, I'll get something in, I've been looking forward to this round for a while.

remetagross

2017-02-05, 07:54 PM

Same as me, I'll make good use of that extra time :)

Thurbane

2017-02-06, 07:10 PM

Official deadline is up...however, I will accept entries up to the reveal (which will be when I get home from work, approx. 7 hours from now :smallwink:

remetagross

2017-02-06, 07:15 PM

Rushing through it :)

Venger

2017-02-06, 07:18 PM

Official deadline is up...however, I will accept entries up to the reveal (which will be when I get home from work, approx. 7 hours from now :smallwink:
Putting on the finishing touches myself. Thanks a lot.

Rushing through it :)

Best of luck to you. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Vaz

2017-02-06, 08:42 PM

I had an idea but ran out of time to polish it.

More than happy to judge however. Looking forward to reading them!

daremetoidareyo

2017-02-06, 08:54 PM

I'm sorry, but could I please request for one more day extension? I have a really good idea and I'm almost done but I can't work on it more today. I just need one more day, please.

You have like 5 more hours. Get crackin'!

zergling.exe

2017-02-06, 11:20 PM

I mean, I don't have any more time available to work on it now, but if the deadline is extended I will.

It was already extended by 55 hours (48 on a previous request and a further 7 for Thurbane getting off work). Isn't that already enough if an extension?

zergling.exe

2017-02-06, 11:54 PM

It was extended by 24 only

My mistake, but it's still a 31 hour extension due to the additional 7 hours Thurbane gave.

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 12:00 AM

Yeah, sorry, going to stick with the new deadline.

People have had several weeks to get an entry organized. I was happy to do 24 hours to accommodate a couple of more entries, but I have to draw a line somewhere.

Tiri

2017-02-07, 12:14 AM

Sadly, I squandered my time dealing with real-life issues. I may try judging, though.

ben-zayb

2017-02-07, 12:29 AM

I had to do some minor rebuilding yesterday after realizing I was missing an integral part of the crunch, and the build didn't really work by RAW at all. The good thing is that fluff is 90% the same!

Looking forward to see what everyone else brought to the table

Venger

2017-02-07, 12:30 AM

Buufreak

2017-02-07, 12:44 AM

Novolin, you have been asked before. Please stop deleting your posts. It can cause confusion and makes conversations look one-sided and redundant.

remetagross

2017-02-07, 01:02 AM

Got it in time! :smallbiggrin:
Thanks for the added duration, Thurbane! Now, I need a shut-eye, the Sun will rise in about an hour :smalltongue:

Best of luck to you. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
Hey thanks Venger, hope you'll like it :smallsmile:

Venger

2017-02-07, 01:21 AM

Got it in time! :smallbiggrin:
Thanks for the added duration, Thurbane! Now, I need a shut-eye, the Sun will rise in about an hour :smalltongue:

Hey thanks Venger, hope you'll like it :smallsmile:

I'm sure I will. Got mine in with time to spare. Can't wait to see the builds

The Viscount

2017-02-07, 02:28 AM

That extra 24 hours was just what I needed to get mine in. Looking forward to seeing everyone's entry.

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:35 AM

Time for the reveal...please refrain from posting until I say otherwise.

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:36 AM

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/e7/bf/16/e7bf16666ad3aed8f14c252a105ba0ba.jpg

"I gave those poor, uneducated savages a chance. I truly did. But we will never realize the true glory of the elven race while these monsters stand in our way. Corellon's priesthood think they know better than me, but they haven't been down there, among the truly wretched, and seen what they are capable of. They live in their tree palaces, preaching about kindness and understanding, but I am the only one who truly understands our Lord of the Stars. It lies on me to exercise the will of Corellon Larethian, and I will bloody my sword arm so that the rest of our great race does not have to mar their eternal soul.

For my dearest Ephinia, I will make the Elven Race Great Again!"

- Tahlessrail, The Bloody Blade of Corellon

CE Grey Elf Fighter 2/Warblade 6/Champion of Corellon Larethian 2/Eternal Blade 10

Attribute
Base
Racial
Level
Total

Strength
13
-2
-
11

Dexterity
15
2
5
22

Constitution
12
-2
-
10

Intelligence
14
2
-
16

Wisdom
10
-
-
10

Charisma
8
-
-
8

Level
Class
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Fighter 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
Concentration 4 (2), Diplomacy 4 (2), Knowledge (Religion) 4 (2), Jump 4 (4), Ride 4 (4), Tumble 4 (2)
Combat Expertise, Dodge
-

2nd
Fighter 2
+2
+3
+0
+0
Balance 4 (2), Jump 1 (5), Ride 1 (5)
Mounted Combat
-

3rd
Warblade 1
+3
+5
+0
+0
Balance 3 (5), Concentration 4 (6), Diplomacy 1 (3)
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Elven Courtblade)
Battle Clarity, Weapon Aptitude

4th
Warblade 2
+4
+6
+0
+0
Concentration 1 (7), Diplomacy 1 (4), Jump 2 (7), Tumble 4 (6)
-
Uncanny Dodge

5th
Warblade 3
+5
+6
+1
+1
Concentration 1 (8), Diplomacy 4 (8), Jump 1 (8), Tumble 2 (8)
-
Battle Ardor

6th
Warblade 4
+6
+7
+1
+1
Concentration 1 (9), Diplomacy 1 (9), Intimidate 4 (4) Jump 1 (9), Tumble 1 (9)
Weapon Finesse
-

7th
Warblade 5
+7
+7
+1
+1
Concentration 1 (10), Diplomacy 1 (10), Intimidate 4 (8), Jump 1 (10), Tumble 1 (10)
Ironheart Aura
-

8th
Warblade 6
+8
+8
+2
+2
Concentration 1 (11), Diplomacy 1 (11), Intimidate 3 (11), Jump 1 (11), Knowledge (History) 1 (1), Tumble 1 (11)
-
Improved Uncanny Dodge

9th
Champion of Corellon Larethian 1
+9
+10
+2
+4
Concentration 1 (12), Diplomacy 1 (12), Ride 4 (9)
Elusive Target (or Mobility, see Equipment), Weapon Focus (Elven Courtblade)
Corellon's Blessing

10th
Champion of Corellon Larethian 2
+10
+11
+2
+5
Concentration 1 (13), Diplomacy 1 (13), Ride 4 (13)
-
Elegant Strike

11th
Eternal Blade 1
+11
+13
+2
+5
Concentration 1 (14), Diplomacy 1 (14), Ride 1 (14), Tumble 3 (14)
-
Blade Guide, Eternal Training 1/day

12th
Eternal Blade 2
+12
+14
+2
+5
Concentration 1 (15), Diplomacy 1 (15), Jump 2 (13), Ride 1 (15), Tumble 1 (15)
Stormguard Warrior
Guided Strike

13th
Eternal Blade 3
+13
+14
+3
+6
Concentration 1 (16), Diplomacy 1 (16), Jump 2 (15), Ride 1 (16), Tumble 1 (16)
-
Armored Uncanny Dodge, Eternal Training 2/day

14th
Eternal Blade 4
+14
+15
+3
+6
Concentration 1 (17), Diplomacy 1 (17), Jump 2 (17), Ride 1 (17), Tumble 1 (17)
-
Eternal Knowledge (Arcana, History)

15th
Eternal Blade 5
+15
+15
+3
+6
Concentration 1 (18), Diplomacy 1 (18), Intimidate 1 (12), Jump 1 (18), Ride 1 (18), Tumble 1 (18)
Robilar's Gambit
Eternal Training 3/day

16th
Eternal Blade 6
+16
+16
+4
+7
Concentration 1 (19), Diplomacy 1 (19), Intimidate 1 (13), Jump 1 (19), Ride 1 (19), Tumble 1 (19)
-
Defensive Insight, Eternal Knowledge (Nature, The Planes)

17th
Eternal Blade 7
+17
+16
+4
+7
Concentration 1 (20), Diplomacy 1 (20), Intimidate 1 (14), Jump 1 (20), Ride 1 (20), Tumble 1 (20)
-
Eternal Training 4/day

18th
Eternal Blade 8
+18
+17
+4
+7
Concentration 1 (21), Diplomacy 1 (21), Intimidate 1 (15), Jump 1 (21), Ride 1 (21), Tumble 1 (21)
Improved Trip
Eternal Knowledege (Geography, Local), Tactical Insight

19th
Eternal Blade 9
+19
+17
+5
+8
Concentration 1 (22), Diplomacy 1 (22), Intimidate 1 (16), Jump 1 (22), Ride 1 (22), Tumble 1 (22)
-
Eternal Training 5/day

20th
Eternal Blade 10
+20
+18
+5
+8
Concentration 1 (23), Diplomacy 1 (23), Intimidate 1 (17), Jump 1 (23), Ride 1 (23), Tumble 1 (23)
-
Eternal Knowledge (Dungeoneering, Nobility and Royalty), Island in Time

Skill Totals: Balance 5, Concentration 23, Diplomacy 23, Intimidate 17, Jump 23, Knowledge (History) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Ride 23, Tumble 23

Initiating Table

Level
IL
Maneuvers Known
Maneuvers Readied
Stances Known
Maximum Level

1st
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
1
-
-
-
-

3rd
2
3
3
1
1

4th
3
4
3
1
2

5th
4
5
3
1
2

6th
5
5
4
2
3

7th
6
6
4
2
3

8th
7
6
4
2
4

9th
7
6
4
2
4

10th
8
6
4
2
4

11th
9
7
4
2
5

12th
10
7
4
2
5

13th
11
8
5
2
6

14th
12
8
5
2
6

15th
13
9
5
3
7

16th
14
9
6
3
7

17th
15
10
6
3
8

18th
16
10
6
3
8

19th
17
11
7
3
9

20th
18
11
7
3
9

Maneuvers Known: (Level Acquired)
1st - Moment of Perfect Mind (3), Steel Wind (3, traded out for Bounding Assault at 8), Steely Strike (3, traded out for Iron Heart Surge at 6)
2nd - Action Before Thought (5), Emerald Razor (7), Foehammer (11), Wall of Blades (4)
3rd - Iron Heart Surge (6)
4th - Bounding Assault (8)
6th - Moment of Alacrity (13)
7th - Quicksilver Motion (15)
8th - Diamond Nightmare Blade (17)
9th - Time Stands Still (19)

Stances Known: (Level Acquired)
1st - Punishing Stance (3)
3rd - Pearl of Black Doubt (6), Thicket of Blades (15)

"The following letters are one of the best kept secrets of the Elven historians. They were found in the residence of one Ephinia Moonglimmer, who was discovered deceased when she had failed to report in to her weekly performances at the palace. She had reportedly committed suicide. The letters are the only known correspondence from the noted heretic and murderer known only as 'The Bloody Blade of Corellon'. They reveal his name to be Tahlessrail, and further searching of the records shows a soldier by that name registered into the force at approximately the correct time to be the selfsame person. Despite this, the church maintains that the letters are just a fiction, created by a madman, or perhaps a copycat killer. The later letters are reportedly penned exclusively in Orcish blood, though all we have are these recreations, as the originals were 'misplaced'. We leave it up to the reader to determine the veracity of these letters for themselves.

(Please note that the enclosed contents do not in any way represent the beliefs of Woodshear publishing, nor do we endorse such language or behaviors)"

- Foreword to 'The Orcish Genocide', by Elenian Woodshear

To my dearest Ephinia, light of my life

Though it has only been but a scant few moons since I last laid eyes upon your face, my heart aches like nothing else to see you again. It is nothing at all like our homeland out here. There is no beauty to be found in these arid hills, nor love in the hearts of these men. Our company has been forced into working with these absolutely Infernal dwarves, and were it not for the Orcs poisoning these lands with their very presence, I'm sure that the alcohol dripping from their matted beards would mar the land just the same. Our human allies are less... reprehensible, but make me uneasy nonetheless.

Still, I cannot deny their skill in battle, and with their aid we have made great advances into the Orcish frontlines, though describing it in such terms is perhaps giving them too much credit. They do not even fight like animals, they fight like... something I cannot, perhaps no one can describe. What could possibly provoke them into such fury, that they give no care to their own lives, or that of their brethren? I had thought that the tales of these berserkers were exaggerated, but now I see that if anything, it underepresented their savagery. I shudder to think what would happen if these fiends were to make their way to our beautiful homeland. Sometimes, when I'm fighting, all that keeps me going is the thought that if I fail, you may be forced to see them with your own, beautiful eyes. Be safe, light of my life, and I hope life in the capital treats you better than battle treats me.

By Corellon's Grace, your lover and guardian Tahlessrail.

To my dearest Ephinia, light of my life

Today is a joyous day, for my superiors have finally seen fit to give me the position I deserve! Apparently all it takes for the priesthood to take notice is to take out an Orcish platoon nearly singlehandedly. I suppose I should thank my cowardly allies, were it not for their pathetic display of 'bravery', I would perhaps have never gotten a chance to show off my skill. What a shame they got themselves killed. I must admit, I was initially apprehensive about this position, but to be entirely honest, I don't imagine how I could live without the feeling of the wind through my blade, and the cleaving of filthy Orcish flesh. Of course, I would give it all up in a heartbeat, just for a moment with you my dear.

Tomorrow, we march upon their capital 'city', though it more resembles a pit in the earth than any proper Elven town. All the more fitting for them to wallow around in. Some of my greener compatriots have concerns about the civilian population, but, as I informed them, there's no such thing as a civilian Orc. Only dead ones, and ones that I have yet to kill.

By Corellon's Grace, your lover and guardian Tahlessrail.

To my dearest Ephinia, light of my life

I can not believe the insolence of these false believers! They have sided with my human 'allies', and have wholeheartedly swallowed their false reports about my actions! This is absolutely untenable. To think that ones I once held in such high regard would take the words over these sniveling humans over one of their own. The priesthood's heads have been filled with all sorts of garbage about the 'rights' of these Orcs. Hah! They would rather betray their god and their people than let me take proper credit for cleansing their world of the filth that inhabits it.

But I know that am in the right here. They dared to strip me of my position as a Champion, but I know that our Lord of Stars supports me. He has appeared to me in a vision, and offered his services as a trainer as recompense for his priesthood's sinful acts. With his spirit by my side, no filthy Orc will ever make it to our fair city. Apparently, the Humans and Orcs have begun to refer to me as 'The Bloody Blade of Corellon' in their lesser tongue. Yet more proof that they are one and the same. Please, take care my love, and do not be deceived by the faithless.

By Corellon's Grace, your lover and guardian Tahlessrail.

To my dearest Ephinia, light of my life

Do not worry my love. Never again will one of these filthy savages lay a hand on you. I will make sure of it.

The Bloody Blade of Corellon

************************

Okay, so now that you've experienced the joy of a racist elf going off the deep end, let's go into how this build functions as a villain. The reason I don't have full writeups for any of the previous CR benchmarks is that those are more of a nice shorthand for describing how he changes and loses his grip on his faith as he grows in strength. If you were to run him as a villain from earlier levels, he still functions just fine, but loses much of his motivation, unless you're running an Orcish party, in which case he makes for a nice recurring villain. However, this breakdown is specifically set up for him as a genocidal, implacable threat, that can work against almost any party with the right build up. Let's get on to the mechanics, however.

He starts off with some levels of Fighter, due to the ridiculous prerequisites of Champion of Corellon Larethian (or CoCL, as I will be referring to it from now on), requiring three 'throwaway' feats, an exotic weapon proficiency, martial weapon proficiency, and heavy armor proficiency (which is why I can't enter through straight Warblade without extensive shenanigans). From there, he goes into Warblade, picking up a number of notable defensive tools, such as Wall of Blades, Moment of Perfect Mind, and Action Before Thought. Pearl of Black Doubt also comes online around this time, which is part of the setup for his main style of fighting later on. Otherwise, with the aforementioned Warblade defenses, high hit dice, as well as Dodge and Combat Expertise, he can be an absolute defensive wall. He picks up Iron Heart Surge (for obvious reasons), as well as Bounding Assault (for reasons that will soon be obvious), before heading into CoCL.

At level 9, the first level of CoCL, he gains a soon to be irrelevant ability (his alignment changing to Chaotic Evil means that Corellon's Blessing is no longer usable, but his Charisma is bad enough that it isn't relevant anyways), but more importantly, two feats: Weapon Focus for qualifying for Eternal Blade, and Elusive Target (assuming Armor of Mobility is available, see the Equipment section). Elusive Target has three benefits, the most commonly noted one being immunity to the extra damage from Power Attack, but Tahlessrail is mostly in it for the third ability, Cause Overreach. Whenever he provokes an attack of opportunity by moving out of an opponent's threatened space and they miss, he immediately gets a trip attempt against them. Again, this is all leading up to a point, I swear. At level 10, he takes his second level of CoCL, which gets him Dex to damage with his main weapon.

Now we come to the meat of the build. Tahlessrail enters Eternal Blade at level 11, resuming his maneuver progression. He picks up Foehammer at this level, in preparation for later, as none of the 5th level maneuvers are particularly important to him. He also gets Eternal Training, adding his Intelligence to attack and damage versus one type of enemy (usually Humanoid (Orc) if it wasn't obvious) for a whole encounter once per day. At 12th level though, the real meat of his build comes online. Not with Guided Strike, though that is nice, but with Stormguard Warrior. With Stormguard Warrior, Pearl of Black Doubt, Mobility, and Elusive Target, he can move around with Bounding Assault or just simple single moves, put a ton into Combat Expertise, and set his AC sky high the more he gets missed, and trip everyone who attempts to attack him, not to mention free positioning. Stormguard Warrior is well known for its ability to set up huge damage, so I don't feel like I need to go into to much detail on that front.

After this, he picks up Quicksilver Motion and Moment of Alacrity, meaning he basically always goes first and has even more opportunities to provoke AoOs. Speaking of AoOs, he also picks up Robilar's Gambit, meaning that each missed AoO against Tahlessrail provokes an AoO from him in return, which he will usually sacrifice to power Channel the Storm. He also gets access to Thicket of Blades at 15th, meaning he can set up lose/lose situations for his enemies incredibly easily.

Going into the last stretch of the builds, Tahlessrail doesn't exactly slow down on gaining new tricks. With Improved Trip we finally cycle back around to Elusive Target, where he can get extra Channel the Storm charges very easily by moving past someone. Diamond Nightmare Blade pumps up his single target damage to kind of ridiculous levels, and once he hits 20th level, he gets access to one of the more terrifying combos in Tome of Battle: Island In Time + Time Stands Still. As an Immediate action once per encounter, he can spontaneously take two full attack actions. And this can be AFTER taking his turn and pumping his AC and damage up with Pearl of Black Doubt and Stormguard Warrior.

Put this all together, and you have a highly mobile and defensive opponent who can weave in and out of combat with ease, punishes you both for attacking him and for not attacking him, adds two different abilities to hit, and three to damage, can make up for his bad Will save incredibly easily with Moment of Perfect Mind, and is all around a well balanced, and powerful enemy. Perfect for a climactic and dramatic fight. Plus, he absolutely and unambiguously believes that he is channeling his god's will, and does in fact gain direct power from worshiping his god from the levels in CoCL.

The most notable item for Tahlessrail is a set of Mithral Breastplate with the Mobility enchantment (MiC pg. 13). This frees up a feat, meaning his entire build comes online three levels earlier, negates some of the ridiculous feat tax that 3.5 loves so much, AND is actually a great feat for him in its own right. It should be easily available, but for a game that doesn't use MiC or Draconomicon (where the enchantment was previously printed), he can still function, just shift his feats up one slot. Missing out on Improved Trip isn't too much of a big deal. Other notable items include a Keen Elven Courtblade (probably with some variety of Orcbane, for flavor), some sort of method of flight, enhancements to Dexterity and Intelligence, and AC Bonuses. Tahlessrail actually benefits MUCH more from the AC Bonuses than a standard build, due to his fighting style, so feel free to stack up on those as fits the numbers of your group. Another important thing is some sort of access to Haste. Amusingly, not for the extra attack, but for the extra movement speed and AC, though the extra attack certainly doesn't hurt when Time Stands Still comes into play.

Flaws: If Flaws are allowed, this greatly frees up Tahlessrail's feat selection, allowing him to pick up all of his major feats much earlier, as well as add other thematic or effective feats (Karmic Strike, Improved Combat Expertise, etc.).

Gestalt: In Gestalt, Tahlessrail's build would probably look something like Warblade 20//Fighter 2/Elven Wildshape Ranger 6/Champion of Corellon Larethian 2/Eternal Blade 10, drastically expanding his combat ability and versatility, as well as adding some thematic favored enemy abilities.

Custom Items: Tahlessrail would benefit greatly from a custom item that gives a large Competence bonus to Concentration, built as described in the DMG and Magic Item Compendium. Additionally, giving him a Legacy weapon is a good way to add to the orc-slaughtering/blatant racism flavor. Consider adding some levels of Legacy Champion if going down this path.

No Tome of Battle: If not using Tome of Battle, it may be better to focus more on Tahlessrail's efficiency versus the races he despises, with levels of Ranger and whatnot. A sample build might look something like Fighter 2/Elven Wildshape Ranger 5/Champion of Corellon Larethian 10/Foe Hunter (Orc) 3. Alternatively, he could be retooled into a ranged fighter while keeping much of the same flavor, such as a Ranger/Deepwood Sniper/Peerless Archer/Justice of Weald and Woe build, or something in the same vein.

Complete Warrior - Elusive Target, Karmic Strike
Player's Handbook 2 - Robilar's Gambit
Races of the Wild - Champion of Corellon Larethian, Elven Courtblade
Tome of Battle - Eternal Blade, Ironheart Aura, Maneuvers and Stances, Stormguard Warrior, Warblade

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:37 AM

Darkpaw
http://purrfectcatbreeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/black-cat-breeds.jpg

“You know why you’re here don’t you, human? Something has been taken from me. No, don’t protest; I know you didn’t take anything from me personally. But your kind has taken too much from the Feline races. Hunting us. Enslaving us. Tormenting us for your pleasure. Stealing our young. Oh, yes, don’t try to deny it. That was you with that sack full of kittens by the river last month. Six of them, weren’t there? Our mother Bast teaches that evildoers must be hunted down like the vermin they are, and that injustice must be met with vengeance. Now, you only have two children – that’s them over in the sacks. I’m not one for being too focused on the letter of the law, though. We have so many more deaths to avenge, what’s a few here and there?”

Given nickname: Darkpaw
Important Chosen surnames: Lost-home, Thiefslayer, Kinfinder, Humanbane
NE Tibbit Ranger 5/Animal Lord (Catlord) 8/ Unarmed Swordsage 7

Darkpaw is a Tibbit. In both cat and Tibbit form, he has short, dark hair and a small scar on his left cheek. When he was young, his family befriended a family of elf peasants devoted to the Pharaonic deities. He learned of Bast from a young age. Before his education could continue past the very basics, a group of humans had raided the elvish settlement, killing the elves and looting anything they could find. Darkpaw escaped the raid, but the rest of his family was not so lucky. Now he has sworn to bring death to all who have wronged the feline races, and hopes to herd enough followers into making a decisive strike against their oppressors.

Note that this backstory can be changed to fit the needs of the campaign. If your adventurers’ party is full of elves, dwarves, or some other race, they can be used as the culprits behind the raid.

Bast is a Chaotic Good deity, but Darkpaw has chosen to emphasize the Vengeance of her portfolio to the exclusion of Chaos and Good.

Str 8 ->6
Dex 15 ->17
Con 10
Int 13
Wis 12
Cha 14

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Ranger 1
+1
+2
+2
+0
Climb 4, Handle Animal 4, Hide 4, Jump 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Move Silently 2, Tumble 4, Knowledge (Religion) 1
Craven, Track (B)
First Favored Enemy* (Humanoid: Human), Wild Empathy, Bonus Feat

2nd
Ranger 2
+2
+3
+3
+0
Climb 5, Handle Animal 5, Hide 5, Jump 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Move Silently 3, Tumble 5
-
Combat Style (Two Weapon Fighting)

3rd
Ranger 3
+3
+3
+3
+1
Handle Animal 6, Hide 6, Jump 6, Move Silently 4, Tumble 6, Balance 1
Weapon Finesse, Endurance (B)
Bonus Feat

4th
Ranger 4
+4
+4
+4
+1
Handle Animal 7, Hide 7, Jump 7, Move Silently 5, Tumble 7, Balance 2.5
-
Animal Companion, +1 Int

5th
Ranger 5
+5
+4
+4
+1
Handle Animal 8, Hide 8, Jump 8, Move Silently 6, Tumble 8, Balance 4
-
Second favored enemy* (+2 vs humans)

6th
Catlord 1
+6
+6
+6
+1
Handle Animal 9, Jump 9, Move Silently 7, Tumble 8.5, Balance 5
Combat Expertise
Animal Bond, Detect Animals, Wild Empathy

7th
Catlord 2
+7
+7
+7
+1
Handle Animal 10, Jump 10, Move Silently 8, Hide 9, Tumble 9
-
First Totem (+4 Move Silently), Low-light vision

8th
Catlord 3
+8
+7
+7
+2
Handle Animal 11, Jump 11, Hide 10, Tumble 10
-
Wild Aspect 1/day, +1 Dex

9th
Catlord 4
+9
+8
+8
+2
Handle Animal 12, Jump 12, Survival 4
Underfoot Combat
Speak With Animals 1/day

10th
Catlord 5
+10
+8
+8
+2
Handle Animal 13, Jump 13, Survival 8
-
Summon Animal

11th
Catlord 6
+11
+9
+9
+3
Handle Animal 14, Jump 14, Survival 12
Lightning Reflexes (B)
Second Totem (Bonus Feat), Wild Aspect 2/day

12th
Catlord 7
+12
+9
+9
+3
Handle Animal 15, Jump 15, Survival 15, Move Silently 9
Confound the Big Folk
Animal Growth, +1 Dex

13th
Catlord 8
+13
+10
+10
+3
Handle Animal 16, Jump 16, Survival 16, Move Silently 12
-
Animal Telepathy

14th
Swordsage 1
+13
+10
+12
+5
Jump 17, Move Silently 14, Hide 11, Intimidate 1, Know (Local) 1, Know (History) 1, Know (Nobility) 1
-
Quick to Act +1, Discipline Focus (Weapon Focus): Tiger Claw, Unarmed Strike

15th
Swordsage 2
+14
+10
+13
+6
Jump 18, Move Silently 17, Hide 14, Intimidate 2
Shadow Blade
AC Bonus

16th
Swordsage 3
+15
+11
+13
+6
Jump 19, Move Silently 19, Hide 17, Intimidate 4
-
+1 Dex

17th
Swordsage 4
+16
+11
+14
+7
Jump 20, Move Silently 20, Hide 20, Intimidate 5, Know (Nature) 7
-
Discipline Focus: Insightful Strike (Tiger Claw)

18th
Swordsage 5
+16
+11
+14
+7
Jump 21, Move Silently 21, Hide 21, Intimidate 8, Handle Animal 17
Darkstalker
Quick to Act +2

19th
Swordsage 6
+17
+12
+15
+8
Jump 22, Move Silently 22, Hide 22, Intimidate 9, Handle Animal 19
-
Sense Magic

20th
Swordsage 7
+18
+12
+15
+8
Jump 23, Move Silently 23, Hide 23, Intimidate 10, Handle Animal 21
-
Sense Magic, +1 Dex

* Either Favored Enemy can be changed to meet the needs of the campaign. They should be the first- and second-most common race within the adventuring party.

CR
Maneuvers Known
Maneuvers Readied
Stances Known
New Maneuvers and Stances

14
6
4
1
Sudden Leap, Claw at the Moon, Soaring Raptor Strike, Cloak of Deception, Shadow Jaunt, Counter Charge, Child of Shadow (s)

15
7
4
2
Strength Draining Strike, Assassin’s Stance (s)

16
8
5
2
Dancing Mongoose Lynx

17
9
5
2
Shadow Stride

18
10
6
3
Stalker in the Night, Leaping Dragon Cat Stance (s)

19
11
6
3
Wolf Lion Climbs the Mountain, swap Shadow Jaunt for Bloodletting Strike

20
12
6
3
Swooping Dragon Cat Strike

CR 5
Darkpaw is a Dexterity-based ranger. He’s quite a bit weaker than most other rangers of his level. His biggest advantage is his ability to blend in as a cat. He is a scaredy cat at heart (thanks to his childhood trauma), but Craven’s weakness will later turn into a strength. His wisdom score allows him to prepare Pass Without Trace once per day. If the DM rules to allow a Cat (CR 1/8) as an animal companion, he would take it on as a fellow resistance fighter. Otherwise he would not summon a companion.

At this level, the party might find Darkpaw behind a series of grisly murders (targeting Commoners) that leaves the symbol of Bast painted in blood, or plotting to install a Bestow Curse trap of sterility on the town well. The local authorities are baffled, and need the PCs’ help to track down the culprit.

CR 10
Darkpaw has taken his role as feline champion seriously now, and is able to summon Animals to help him. His Catlord level stacks with his Effective Druid Level, allowing him to have a more powerful animal companion (a Leopard or Tiger) or improving his Cat companion (if allowed). Underfoot Combat allows him additional options in very close melee range.

At this level, Darkpaw might be found conducting raids on local villages, trying to incite Catfolk settlements into attacking humans, or plotting a sneak attack against a major settlement. Rumors of some sort of bandit lord have reached the PCs.

All of Darkpaw’s important features have now turned on. He has finished his eighth level of Catlord, granting him a telepathic connection to all cats (even those with less than Int 3 who can’t be reached with Feline language). Confound the Big Folk lets him be a truly obnoxious pest when he’s up close. He’s blended the two disciplines of Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand (which he refers to as Shadow Paw) to create a style well-suited to a murderous feline. Assassin’s Stance gives him access to Sneak Attack, and Craven now starts hurting quite a lot. Shadow Blade plus unarmed strike (from Swordsage) let him add his considerable Dexterity to damage. Note the usual rules debates about natural attacks and unarmed strike. To simplify things, use one or the other, not both; unarmed strike would work even in cat form.

At this level, Darkpaw might be found recruiting Rakshasas to his feline supremacist movement, inciting an entire jungle against the surrounding communities, or toppling a human shrine and re-dedicating it to Bast – leaving gifts of dead humans on the doorstep. The movement has grown large enough to concern local political authorities and some Clerics of Bast, who have contacted adventurers to track down the threat and destroy it at its source.

Swooping Dragon Strike have given Darkpaw some potent offensive weapons. Darkstalker allows him to hide from all but the most careful enemies.

At this level, Darkpaw might have built a following large enough to greatly concern the Church of Bast. Some within the Church are proposing a purge of the heretics, but the High Priestess is willing to let the PCs try their hand (and give the Church plausible deniability if things go sour). But has Darkpaw gained enough followers to give birth to a new, darker aspect of Bast?

Tibbit: Dragon Compendium
Bast: Deities and Demigods
Animal Lord: Complete Adventurer
Underfoot Combat, Confound the Big Folk: Races of the Wild
Darkstalker: Lords of Madness
Swordsage, Shadow Blade, stances and maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Craven: Champions of Ruin

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:40 AM

Camellia, Keeper of the grove

NE Petal (3 HD) Urban Druid 7 Divine Disciple 4 Contemplative 6
Patron deity: Chauntea
Languages: Sylvan, Common
Bonus languages: pick three languages you need for identities you want Camellia to assume: goblin, gnoll, orcish, elven, dwarven could be contenders.

Stats:
Str: 2
Dex: 22
Con: 12 +1 (4th Class Levels increase)
Int: 17
Wis: 14
Cha: 23 +3 (8th, 12th, 16th Class Levels increase)

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

2
Petal (3 HD)
+1
+1
+3
+3
Diplomacy 3, Escape Artist 6, Hide 6, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (religion) 6, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spot 6, Tumble 6
1 HD: Knowledge devotion (religion), Weapon Finesse (Petal Bonus Feat), 3 HD: Martial Study (Shadow blade technique)
DR 5/Cold Iron, Sleep Songs

3
Urban Druid
+1
+3
+3
+5
Bluff 1, Concentration 1, Diplomacy 4, Escape Artist 6, Hide 7, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (religion) 7, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 1, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
City sense, favored city 1, urban companion

4
Urban Druid
+2
+4
+3
+6
Bluff 2, Concentration 2, Diplomacy 5, Escape Artist 6, Hide 8, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 7, Knowledge (religion) 8, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 2, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Crowdwalk

5
Urban Druid
+3
+4
+4
+6
Bluff 4, Concentration 3, Diplomacy 6, Escape Artist 6, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 8, Knowledge (religion) 8, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 3, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Darkstalker
Alley fighting

6
Urban Druid
+4
+5
+4
+7
Bluff 6, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 7, Escape Artist 6, Hide 10, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 9, Knowledge (religion) 8, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 4, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Disease immunity, favored city 2

7
Urban Druid
+4
+5
+4
+7
Bluff 8, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 8, Escape Artist 6, Hide 11, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 10, Knowledge (religion) 8, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 5, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Urban shape (1/day)

8
Urban Druid
+5
+6
+5
+8
Bluff 9, Concentration 6, Diplomacy 10, Escape Artist 6, Hide 12, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (religion) 11, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 6, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Shape Soulmeld (shedu crown)
Urban shape (2/day)

9
Urban Druid
+6
+6
+5
+8
Bluff 10, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 12, Escape Artist 6, Hide 13, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (religion) 12, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 7, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Urban shape (3/day)

10
Divine Disciple
+6
+8
+5
+10
Bluff 10, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 13, Escape Artist 6, Hide 14, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 7, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Divine Emissary

11
Divine Disciple
+7
+9
+5
+11
Bluff 10, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 14, Escape Artist 6, Hide 15, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 8, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Open least chakra (Crown)
Sacred Defense +1

12
Divine Disciple
+8
+9
+6
+11
Bluff 10, Concentration 10, Diplomacy 16, Escape Artist 6, Hide 16, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 9, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Imbue with spell ability

13
Divine Disciple
+9
+10
+6
+12
Bluff 10, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 17, Escape Artist 6, Hide 17, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Spellcraft 11, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Domain (Protection), Sacred defense +2

14
Contemplative
+9
+10
+6
+14
Bluff 10, Concentration 12, Diplomacy 18, Escape Artist 6, Hide 18, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 1, Spellcraft 12, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Mindsight
Bonus Domain (Earth), Divine health

15
Contemplative
+10
+10
+6
+15
Bluff 10, Concentration 13, Diplomacy 19, Escape Artist 6, Hide 19, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 2, Spellcraft 13, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Slippery mind

16
Contemplative
+10
+11
+7
+15
Bluff 10, Concentration 14, Diplomacy 20, Escape Artist 6, Hide 20, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 3, Spellcraft 14, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Divine wholeness

17
Contemplative
+11
+11
+7
+16
Bluff 10, Concentration 15, Diplomacy 21, Escape Artist 6, Hide 21, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 4, Spellcraft 15, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Heretic of the faith (Pride Domain)
-

18
Contemplative
+11
+11
+7
+16
Bluff 10, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 22, Escape Artist 6, Hide 22, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 16, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Divine body

19
Contemplative
+12
+12
+8
+17
Bluff 10, Concentration 18, Diplomacy 23, Escape Artist 6, Hide 23, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 17, Spot 6, Tumble 6
-
Bonus Domain (Plant; Heresy: Pride)

20
Contemplative
+12
+12
+8
+17
Bluff 10, Concentration 20, Diplomacy 24, Escape Artist 6, Hide 24, Knowledge (arcana) 1, Knowledge (local) 1, Knowledge (nature) 6, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (planes) 1, Knowledge (religion) 13, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 18, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Quicken Spell
Divine soul

Spells per Day/Spells Known

CR
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

3
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5
4
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6
5
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7
5
3
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

8
5
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-

9
6
4
3
2
1
-
-
-
-
-

10
6
4
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-

11
6
4
4
3
2
1
-
-
-
-

12
6
4
4
3
3
2
-
-
-
-

13
6
5
4
4
3
2
1
-
-
-

14
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
-
-
-

15
6
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
-
-

16
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
-
-

17
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
-

18
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
-

19
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1

20
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2

I started by looking for a spell list that included animate object and flesh to stone. I had the idea for using those two in the specific way shown in the forbidden grove section for a long time. This is how I stumbled across Urban Druid. From there I was looking for a heresy to follow but nothing really stood out until a read about petals and there weird skill craft (flower arranging) and then I realized that I want to go the route of overprotection turning into blind pride and focus on plants. So the main concept was that a naturally good creature turns into a pretty nifty villain because of pure fascination with beauty. I chose Chauntea as the patron deity but I think Camellia can safely be ported to Eberron (Arawai) or any other setting as all of them usually have a goddess of fertility. The heresy lies in the soil: Camellia uses humanoid bodies as soil for her plants. Something Chauntea would never allow. Camellia thinks she is doing nothing wrong because all she does is protect a dangerous but beautiful species (dread blossom swarms) from extinction. Like an animal keeper who shelters aggressive animals he considers beautiful and marvelous, Camellia shelters the dread blossom swarm. Over time she loves these plants more than humanoids and doesn't really care for their well being anymore. In the end her pride overtakes and she commits atrocities in the name of beauty. Camellia isn't exactly interested in dominating the world but she does need a lot of bodies to feed to her beloved swarm, which should turn her into a villain worth noticing and plotting to gain a lot of influence.
How does Camellia get away with it? Well, she is an urban druid so she is not relying on a deity to fuel her divine powers. Nature itself is granting her that power. Maybe the PCs are guided by Chauntea to finally bring down Camellia?

Urban Shape allows Camellia to assume different Identities over time which is why i highly recommend using her above CR 8 so you can get a great story out of her. Here are just some ideas how she can live close to her grove and still assume another role:
The healer: Camellia shapes into a regular humanoid form which is often met in one of your favorite cities (human, elf, whatever you like). She establishes herself as a herbalist and healer (the spell list has plenty of healing spells). This way she gets access to rare herbs and flowers and has a nice front for her illegal activities. To criminals the "healer" is also known as the "dump". If you want someone gone, render them helpless and/or unconscious and bring it to her. Of course you'll pay a hefty price in GP. Camellia gladly takes the living helpless victims and stuffs them into a bag of holding. She then rushes to the lair in 10 minutes or less, to present living food to the dread blossom swarm.
The shady figure: Camellia shifts into a Dark Stalker and assumes the role of an assassin or street brawler who works only at night. Choose a fitting animal Companion like a Light warhorse or a Dire Bat and go to town with 3d6 sneak attack and Weapon finesse on top of a lot of casting. Again she can either gather bodies this way or grow her influence and wealth.
the shaman: Shifting into a more vicious humanoid (any goblinoid, Orcs, stat wise best is the Flind Gnoll) Camellia assumes the role of a shaman that demands sacrifices for her services. She can goad them with blessings (i.e.: imbue with spell ability) and thereby gathers muscle for using them to capture victims or expanding her sphere of influence.
All those forms can be used for multiple plot hooks and make Camellia a recurring villain without the PCs noticing until you want them too. Pick her favored city also with those identities in mind.

The lair of Camellia called the forbidden grove evolves together with her rising in CR. I'll try to give it a run down just like the character in showing options early on and how to improve it. The basic idea is that Camellia protects a hidden grove of rare plants which formerly belonged to a temple of Chauntea. She grows more and more proud of her selection of wonderful plants and art gathered in it.
The hidden grove is an underground cave with a very narrow entry. At very low CR a 5 feet broad entry should do, so the heroes may actually reach it. Later on I recommend narrowing the entry via stone shape(earth domain, so sadly really late) or wall of stone (or DM fiat) until it is approximately 2x2 feet so you can fit through and drag a bog of holding (type I) along with you. The bag of holding ways 15 lb. which sadly is more than your heavy load in Petal form, so you'll literally have to drag it. You'll need the bag to carry food for you and your precious plants as well as corpses and statues into the cave.
To make room for the statues and for you to have enough room to fly a height of 15 feet could be ideal. You should plan the whole thing regarding multiple forbiddance spells (casted at CL 18= 1080 ft³) to shut it off from teleportation. Example measures for a cave segment could be 15x5x15 (=1125 ft³) and reduce the height of the cave in certain places to spare the missing 45 ft³. You should also include air shafts small enough so only a tiny monster like you can enter and leave through them. Colonize every entry with poisonous and/or disease spreading fungi or monsters. Early on this can be simple violet fungi, shrieker or phantom fungi which sadly are all medium sized creatures but make for nice entry guards at every air shaft. Nurture diseases in the air shafts. This may be a little weak regarding RAW, as I don't know of any ways to "buy" diseases but regarding your assumed roles in society (healer) you may have lots of corpses ridden with diseases. Just smear their remains all over those air shafts. At high CR you can cover the floor, walls and even ceiling with stone spikes if you want.

The beauty of the grove stems from 3 things and all should be relevant for the villainy of Camellia:
The plants nurtured by Camellia here are the first thing and you can put as many non magical non monstrous flowers you like (and you think are actually able to survive in an underground environment). These flowers can be a good plot hook, maybe even Camellia herself sent the heroes to retrieve a rare flower. The key piece of the grove should always be at least one dread blossom swarm as it is the perfect meld of beauty and danger. If you want to use Camellia and the forbidden grove at CR 8 simply swap the feat for poison Immunity (poison pollen) (drop the mindsight combo) and Camellia can safely coexist with the dread blossom swarm. Even if the swarm attacks her, she is almost guaranteed to escape (equal flight speed, immunity to the poison, swarm damage is reduced by 5 and always have a warm body :P). At CR 9 antiplant shell is available for emergency exits. You'll need a door at all entries and air shafts to keep the dread blossom swarm from simply leaving by the way.
The second piece of beauty should be multiple statues of humanoid shape or beast shapes. Depiction of Hunters fighting monsters, trying to capture them with huge chains. Before CR 11 they are just for show, showing how the humanoids tamed the wild and made it possible for farmers to live. At CR 11 and thereafter they are your targets for animate object and should be made out of Adamantium if you can afford it. The hunters and monsters are humanoid medium animated objects, the humanoids have 2 legs so are at 40 feet move speed and the beasts all should have at least 4 legs giving them 50 feet base land speed. The chains should be large animated objects (and your players might realize that the chains are way to big for the depiction of the hunter and the beast) which have a climb speed and constrict but are slow (20 feet). A usual "group" of statues would consist of 3 medium constructs (either 2 beasts or 2 hunter) and 1 chain so you need 10 CL to animate them. Now none of them are powerful except the chain can be a pain when it succeeds at grappling but while Camellia showers the heroes with debuffs, they are your frontline. At CR 20 a quickened animated object may be worth considering (but not in a high OP game which Camellia isn't really designed for anyway).
The third pieces of beauty also are statues and also depict medium humanoids but this time, these are simply people who were so beautiful that Camellia decided she needs them for her "gallery" and used flesh to stone on them. Since they are petrified creatures you can not animate them but they are great plot hooks and can be really annoying when a fight erupts and the heroes try to save them (any damage they take is conferred to the creature).

So what is this all together: after an unpleasant crawl through very narrow tunnels the PCs arrive in a really beautiful room that immediately shows his true face with attacking statues, flying flower swarms, grappling chains and a lot of BFC spells. Here is a possible grid for the grove at high levels requiring 15 castings of forbiddance. Replace any number of flowers with dangerous species as you wish:

Flowers Empty Flowers
Adamantium statues Empty Flowers
Flowers Empty Adamantium statues
Empty Flesh to stone victim Empty
Flowers Empty Flowers
Flowers Empty Dread blossom swarm on top of a corpse or corpses
Adamantium statues Flesh to stone vctim Empty
Flowers Empty Flowers
Empty Flowers Flowers
Flowers Empty Adamantium statues
Flowers Empty Camellias sleeping place hidden in flowers
Empty Flowers Flowers
Adamantium statues Empty Flowers
Flowers Empty Adamantium statues
Flowers Empty Flowers

A list of possible allies:
necromancers: Since Camellia works a lot with bodies a necromancer is a great fit. Since Camellia wouldn't let him enter the forbidden grove, it is highly likely he is a trope called "the dragon". A possibility is also to have this necromancer fight the PCs alongside Camellia in Dark Stalker form and have her escape although I am never a fan of the BBEG escaping the PCs at all cost.
Tribes (goblins, gnolls, orcs): Basically any humanoid "tribe" who falls for her shaman identity can be her ally. Camellia could hide her forbidden grove in their camp if you don't want to focus on playing in cities (although Camellia loses some advantages this way).
a Tibbit, second grove keeper: If you want to add another keeper for the grove a Tibbit is an ideal choice: it can change into a house cat using the same tunnels and air shafts as you to enter and leave. Class wise choose whatever you like. If you go for a class with low Will saves Insane defiance (Elder Evils p. 11) might be worth a look to redirect the Will save to a flesh to stone victim (still a creature).

CR 5 and below: At these levels Camellia is a little more than a Petal. Petals are capped at 3 HD, so you basically miss 2 HD to really justify the CR 2. You don't lose too much. A very sneaky, annoying petal whose most dangerous feature is of course the 60 feet flight combined with an astronomical hide skill. Offensive casting is pretty much limited to hold person, summon swarm and possibly a well prepared scatterspray (destroy a poison vial and cast scatterspray on it). The real danger at this level would be your urban companion. Riding Dog is probably your best choice. Weapon finesse and Martial study allow you to do something in melee, but something may already be a stretch.
CR 6 to 10: At CR 7 Urban Shape is the absolute key to a lot of options. It allows for so many social shenanigans (see identities) and Bluff, Diplomacy and Glibness basically turn you into any kind of face character you want. Your usual combat form will be Dark Stalker before revealing yourself as a petal. At these levels you should choose a Light Warhorse as your companion as it is a pretty decent option for your Dark Stalker form as a flanking buddy and I think is a little superior to the riding dog at these levels. At CR 9 4th levels casting kicks in and as with every full caster this is the level where spells get bonkers. Sadly you miss out on Polymorph, but Scrying, Minor Creation, Dominate Person and Freedom of Movement should be sufficient. Rusting grasp and the late dispel magic may be worth preparing if you have enough information on your enemies. I decided to prestige out of Urban druid as the animal companion does not outshine 3 bonus domains immunity to poison and more goodies. I stopped adding ranks to bluff as glibness is pretty much autowin regardless of ranks.
CR 11 to 15: Mindsight combo is finished at CR 14. If you (and your group) think Mindsight works with Divine Emissary alone replace shape soulmeld and open chakra with martial stance (child of shadow) and shadow blade to further your combat potential in melee if you want that or extend spell and persistent spell if you want to focus more on buffs (which is what i would do if Camellia is used at CR 15 or higher). You should also switch the stat increase from Con to Cha if you drop the soulmeld feats. The protection domain offers antimagic field and Mindblank, the earth domain stone shape (which i miss sorely on the urban druid list), stone spikes and earthquake, which may be a decent way of Camellia saying: "You may have destroyed my grove but you want leave here alive." Also your Animal companion is probably better off as a large animated object from now on. Use it as another chain as described in the forbidden grove section. The combination of Mindsight, Darkstalker and very high hide check, tiny flying creature and full caster should give everyone a little headache. Divine health sadly is redundant.
CR 16 to 20: Finally we pick up our heresy not only in fluff but crunch. The way I read the feat I don't have to swap a domain immediately. If you disagree simply swap Earth Domain for plant domain at CR 15 and swap Mindsight and Heretic of the faith and pick Earth Domain at CR 19. Pride gives us 8 new spells including Forbiddance and Divine Power. Divine Body is key as a way to be immune to the dread blossom swarms poison. As already mentioned if you use Camellia earlier swap a feat for Poison Immunity (pollen poison). Divine Soul is a little late but SR is always nice to have.
Overall I'd say Camellia is decent at every level, she is slightly behind in casting compared to PC full casters but makes up for it in sneakiness, enhanced sense (mindsight), quite a lot of defensive abilities (DR 5/Cold Iron, SR, Immunities to disease and poison) and a very good social chassis.

Petal: MM III
Urban Druid: Dragon Compendium
Divine Disciple: Players Guide to Faerun
Contemplative: Complete Divine
Darkstalker & Mindsight: Lords of Madness
Shape Soulmeld and Open least Chakra: Magic of Incarnum
Heretic of the Faith: Power of Faerun
Martial Study: Tomb of Battle
Dark Stalker: Fiend Folio
Gnoll, Flind: MM III

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:41 AM

This Character is taken from inspiration of the House of night Book series's Neferet, hope you like it

Valentine lion-heart

kick butt, drink blood, take names, and worship The Eternal Love

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/f4/5c/b8/f45cb810fe91730f2743a9f3b76694ca.jpg

I attempted not to do so much minionmancy bt it really wasn't working out, it is a dread necromncer but it stops lvling in this at lvl 7 so it never gains Undead mastery. Though this is still ofset by the fact that i am a Vampire after Cr 7, Instead of taking master Vampire she took Life drinker from Book of vile darkness

Silverbrow Human Vampire (Savage) (spell-stiched)
Dread Necromancer 7, Life Drinker 10
Str 15 +1 (leveling) +6 (vamp) +10(savage) = 32
Dex 10 + 4 (vamp) +4 (savage) = 18
Con - (undead/ was my 8)
Int 12 +2 (vamp) -2 (savage) = 12
Wis 14 +2 (vamp) +2 (savage) = 18 +6 (MI) = 24
Cha 13 +4 (vamp) = 17 +3 (leveling) = 20 +6 (MI) = 26

Final Score
Final Modifier

(STR) 32
11

(DEX) 18
4

(CON) ---
---

(INT) 12
1

(WIS) 24
7

(CHA) 26
8

CR/LVL
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
this is blank because no is spesificaly needed

Feats
Class Features/Racial Ability

1
Dread necromancer 1
+0
+0
+0
+2

SB human:
Profane Life leech
Lvl 1:
Necromantic Presence
Charnel Touch
Rebuke Undead

2
Dread necromancer 2
+1
+0
+0
+3

Lich Body Dr 2

3
Dread necromancer 3
+1
+1
+1
+3

3lvl:
Necromantic Might
Negative Energy Burst 1/day

4
Dread necromancer 4
+2
+1
+1
+4

Advanced Learning: Kelgores Grave mist
Mental Bastion +2

5
Dread necromancer 5
+2
+1
+1
+4

Fear Aura

6
Dread necromancer 6
+3
+2
+2
+5

6lvl:
Alertness
Scabrous Touch

7
Dread necromancer 7
+3
+2
+2
+5

Lich body Dr 4
Summon Familiar: Ghostly Visage

8/7
Vampire 1
+3
+2
+2
+5

(alrt alt): Life Drain
Combat reflex
Claws (neg levels)
+6 NA
Blood drain
Child of the night
Create spawn
Energy drain
Alternate form
DR 10/ magic and silver

9/7
Vampire 2
+3
+2
+2
+5

10/7
Spell stitched
+3
+2
+2
+5

SLA, +2 profane to saves, DR 15/ magic and silver

11/8
Life Drinker 1
+3
+4
+4
+7

Life well
Invigorate

12/9
Life Drinker 2
+4
+5
+5
+8

9lvl:
Improved Energy Drain
Spell boost (empower)

13/10
Life Drinker 3
+5
+5
+5
+8

Spell boost (heighten)
Speacial attack boost (empower)

14/11
Life Drinker 4
+6/1
+6
+6
+9

Speacial attack boost (heighten)

15/12
Life Drinker 5
+6/1
+6
+6
+9

12lvl: Necrotic Reserve
Blood servant
Boost defence

16/13
Life Drinker 6
+7/2
+7
+7
+10

Spell boost maximize

17/14
Life Drinker 7
+8/3
+7
+7
+10

Greater blood drain
Speacial attack boost (maximize)

18/15
Life Drinker 8
+9/4
+8
+8
+11

15lvl:
Spell Drain
Spell boost (quicken)

19/16
Life Drinker 9
+9/4
+8
+8
+11

Greater Invigorate

20/17
Life Drinker 10
+10/5
+9
+9
+12

Blood reavel

Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

1st
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
5
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
6
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
6
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-
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-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

Spell
stitched
-
4/2
4/2
2/2
2/2
2/2
1/1
-
-
-

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

-
-
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-

Dread Necromancer:
1st Level: Bane, bestow wound, cause fear, chill touch, detect magic, detect undead, doom, hide from undead, inflict light wounds, ray of enfeeblement, summon undead I, undetectable alignment
2nd Level: Blindness/deafness, command undead, darkness, death knell, false life, gentle repose, ghoul touch, inflict
moderate wounds, scare, spectral hand, summon swarm, summon undead II, Kelgores Grave Mist (advanced learning)
3rd Level: Crushing despair, death ward, halt undead, inflict serious wounds, ray of exhaustion, speak with dead, summon undead III, vampiric touch

Spell Stitched
1st Level: (3/day) Blood wind, (1/day) Snilloc's Snowball
2nd Level: (3/day)decastave, (1/day) Bonefiddle
3rd Level: (1/day)Fireball, (1/day) Vision of the Omniscient eyes
4th Level: (1/day)Animate undead, (1/day) Votex of teeth
5th Level: (1/day)Lord of the sky, (1/day) Stop Heart
6th Level: (1/day)Animate dread warrior

+1 Necrotic, Profane burst, Speed, Scythe
Cloak of cha +6
Periapt of Wisdom +6
Tome of leadership and command +5
Rod of undead mastery (affects both her Vampire control, command undead, and her Spells due to wording)

At this moment Val doesn't have a lot she can do at the moment, She uses the little undead she has control over to protect her as meat shields, then using her Profane life leech to bring her foes to 0 health, after this she send her "reproducing undead"(most likely a wight) to make her a bigger army later. Then she uses her new minion to kill the allies of said minion. Her political power isn't has strong in a necropolitan community, she goes town from town to make her army bigger. How i would play her is that she has a Necroplitan Wizard that is level 6 under her control this Wizard has Craft wondrous item who make there more wise undead become Spellstitched. Her wights would have spells like Animate Dead, Summon undead 1, 2, 3, Control undead, and Fireball. That way she can keep 1 or 2 of these by her side to attack the enemy and revive the unfortunate souls who die from her zombies/skeletons. When she finds a Graveyard she stays there and has her minions dig up the bodies, then her minions make more minions which are spider webbed under her control. Should onlookers come to close her Wizard will take care of them. She gives her Necklace of Wisdom +6 to her undead Wights that are being stitched so they are more powerful allies (they only need the high wisdom when they are being stitched) This is how she builds her army as a Villain, should heroes get too close though...

She's a vampire. She still likes to use her Profane life leech when she has time to avoid killing the enemy quickly, when she gets the enemy to 0 health she has her weakest undead do 1 attack against it to disable and then finally turn it into a vampire (above 4 HD) or a Wight (Below 5 HD) If she does not have time she uses her Children of the night to summon Bat swarms (which would deal damage to her enemies over time without having to deal with miss chance), then she throws some fireballs (Spell Stitched), releases her undead (mostly Spell stitched Zombies that had her +6 necklace when they were created making it a 16 so they can cast up to 4th level SLA (fireballs, animate undead), and kills as many of them with her hands (NL with each attack making more vampires when they are buried (by zombies of course) Now she is a Full fledged Vampire, being the villain she is she hides in the shadows like any other great and powerful villain, she puts up residence in a large city so she can stay for a time and have her undead being worthy heroes to her so she can feast and create followers of her beloved goddess, Being a vampire she seeking help and when none was given she went to The church of the Eternal Love, where she prayed for salvation... She got an answer... but it wasn't from The Eternal one. It was from a demon from the abyss. though She didn't know this show she continued on her quest given to her by this Demon (graz'zt, Rhyxali (my favorite), Pale night, or Malcanthet)

Val with her ever growing power has now the ability to call Outsiders to her world. She chooses Erbin (Demigod form) as her primary seeing how he can cast spells of 9th level, and he's a god for crying out loud. Valentine has chosen Erbin to be her eternal Warrior to show how love can never die just as Eternal love teaches, She also has a Consort which is Under her control A Wizard that Does spell stitches. In her city she lives in she has a spider web group of minions moving through the sewers, sneaking into houses and and show eternal love to all by turning them and there loved ones into either vampires or Wights, but always keep them together, for that's what her goddess would want. She also like to Call her special Servant Guecubu (to bring her new meals like children of the city she lives in), Steel Devils (her warriors companions that protect her she lives like gaurds), Black/White Abishi (can summon more and Have a reliable healing factor, they can also be ordered to drop there Bracers which basically gives her a Economic advantage were she cna sell an unlimited amount of Items she got for free, also she cna put these items one her minons) and finally the Kalbon (6 at a time and they can slowly grow into a large group useful during battle- in 6 rounds she can have 36 of them in a pile thath is huge and has 4 tentacles that reach out at huge range and deal 2d6 +18 ascid damage)

Her standard round she uses her Profane life leech as always but now she can Empower it. If things get crazy in battle and she drops to her necrotic reserve she Eminently takes on her gaseous form to escape, leaving everyone behind (live to fight another day), the wizard cast Gaseous from on himself and Erbin Alter forms to gain wings and fly way with the others. It would deal 1d6 x 1.5 dmg, Remember Erbin is under her command so he is commanded to attack as well. She likes to use Him as a main source of power, she has him cast invisibility on her, Summon Monster 9 to summon 1d5 +1 Bone devils or 1d4+1 Babua Demons, Unholy Aura for protection of from the good, Inflict Critical wounds to heal her, Desecrate the building they live at to ward of intruders, and a combo of Time stop and Create undead to amass a formidable army.
When outside of combat Eribus is used as well, for guilty pleasure, Alerting her of intruders (Divine senses up to 1 mile and 1 mile of any of his worshipers (most of his portion of the army)) Creates magic items like +1 Daggers that are also Evil shrines to him or Eternal love.

The wizard is also of use to her because He can cast spells that she cannot. In battle he usually casts a fell animate fireball to protect her and Fell animate Vortex of Teeth which usually centers around him Erbin and Valentine. He cast Fell animate on everything hoping to gain from every battle. those strong enough to live are those strong enough to become Vampires from Val's powers.

Oh sweat Ertenal mother of Love how we are blessed to play our eyes on your creation
Now she has Power unimaginable, she still has many allies and her quest is only over until ALL have found the blessing of her goddess, to eternally love. But love who you say. Valentine Has thought of it for some time and has concluded who better to love than Herself, so now she Allows (forces) them to love her.
She has gotten rid of most of her weak undead minions. Now she has As many dread necromancer that are lvl 10 or above as possible so she can have a maximum amount of Undead gifted with her goddess power to love. As always she Spider webs her power. She has a group of 5 lvl 18 Dread necromancer Necropolitan Silverbrow humans under control and they are called the Council of Love, the control the various sub groups by level so she has 11 Councils (each lvl(18-8) of dread necromancer Vampires (some controlled by her control undead spell others controlled by her natrual vampire ability) layers to her spider web and 5 lines out (each Dread necromancer in the Council of love). Her quest is a far of mission to have the world awakened to the goddess love and be Eternal. As she gets closer to her goal she Gains more notice in the world which means heroes will rise and fall to stop her. But when she can summon a GOD it kinda hard to destroy her.
Oh yea and she can steal spells (8/day) from spellcasters which is always a bounce to have sense what you would be fighting now would be some formitable aponnents

As far as battle she does the same as Cr15 but with more powers now. She uses her energy draining claws or her Sythe more freely now and she heals some from this due to life drain (+8 dmg so its a +13 to health per Lvl drained) and each energy drain gives her a +1 unnamed type bonus to skills. Ability checks, Attacks. and saving throws for an hour. Her sythe allows for an extra attack in a round which means she can get a maximum of 6 negitive levels in a round granting her a +6 to Skills, Ablity checks, Attack and saving thows for an hour. She also heals 73 dmg in a round. 1 Round! this is without magic. Each attack with her Sythe deals 2d4+1d6 dmg with each attack and and when she crits her dmg is multiped by 4 and she also deals an extra 3d10 dmg. She aims to end her enemy with her Negitve levels in hope that thay would becom Vampire spawn later. When in a hurry she always has her trump card. Which would be her New Consort Dread Necromancer (lvl 20, a lich) deadly spell called fell animate Crushing fist of spite which deals 20d6 per round for 20 rounds, an area that is a 5ft radius 3 feet high. This is used to kill armies that are then raised as undead under Her consorts control (which is basically under her control), She uses her Guecubu and Black Abishi more freely now that she has more power than ever so she can gain the blood points possible to summon them (10 each). She still uses her Guecubu to gather the living so she can feed. She mostly now sends them for farm animals which are easier to eat off of. She will always have her Warrior Erbin which she now calls Erubus.

She owns a church now that worships both Erbin and Eternal love, but Eternal love mostly. Secretly some even worship Valentine herself....

Each of these all have
(5)Council of Love(lvl18)
(37)Council of Adoration(lvl17)
(259)Council of Wrath(lvl16)
(1,813)Council of Greed(lvl15)
(12,691)Council of Envy(lvl14)
(88,837)Council of Lust(lvl13)
(621,859)Council of Sloth(lvl12)
(4,353,013)Council of Gluttony(lvl11)
(30,471,091)Council of Pride(lvl10)
(213,297,637)Council of Controllers(lvl9)
(1,493,083,459)Council of Message(lvl8)
In all this one branch has 1,741,930,701 residence 1/7 the earth population....but look what comes next

(4)1st High Royals(lvl 14 Dn Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery Cha 30/10)(use both magic and vampire abilties)
All below here have a Cha of 20/5
(28)2nd Noble (lvl 14 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(393)3rd Noble (lvl 13 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(5,488)4th Noble (lvl 12 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(76,832)5th Noble (lvl 11 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(1,075,648)6th Noble (lvl 10 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(15,059,072)7th Noble (lvl 9 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(210,827,008)8th Noble (lvl 8 Dread necromancer Master vampire 3 Rods of Undead mastery)
(7,378,945,280)9th Subordinantes (spell Stiched Evolved (x2 both gain Unholy Blight) Savage Vampire Spawns)
When you only weakest undead of your elite Group (only one group!) can reach the population of the world, you are kinda a minonmancer by acident :smallwink::smalltongue::smalltongue:

:P

{C means class, F means feat, R means race, S means spells, O means others}
Players handbook (human{R}, Alertness{F}, Combat reflex{F}, Improved Initiative{F}, Dodge{F}, Lightning reflex{F})
Dragon magic (Silverbrow human{R})
Monster manual (vampire{R})
Libris Mortis (vampire: savage{R}, Profane life leech{F}, Necromantic Presence{F}, Necromantic Might{F}, Life Drain{F}, Improved energy drain{F}, Necrotic Reserve{F}, Spell Drain{F})
Complete Arcane (Spellstitched {R})
Heroes of horror (Dread necromancer {C})
Book of vile Darkness (Life Drinker {C})
Spell compindum (spells {O})
Unaprotcable East (spells {O})

Book of vile darkness:
Sacrifice ruling: When she reaches CR 15 she "needs" to a couple of sacrifices to summon Erbin, how she acts she would most defnentlalty make it greusome and public for all eyes to see that her "goddess" (aka: any elder evil/Arch devil/Evil god/ Demonlord that contacted her before Eternal love could get to her and disguised as Eternal love) loves her so deeply that she grant her powers to make the dead rise, and even summon lesser Gods as her lovers. You can even give her a Sacrificial knife from the same book. To reach maximum bonus she would have to have maximum ranks in K Religion. Other than that she can conduct it publicly, summon a demon/devil to watch from the last days left overs, conduct it on an altar, make it last an hour, Unhallow it, and many more.

Lingering evils: this ties into the last one because the Sacrifice cite might be like this and the subjects could be the creatures effected, If she did a mass genocide that killed thousands she could possibly Grant everyone of her vampires created from the sacrifice Evil brand and/or Willing deformity, the place could developed evil weather like Blood rain which would be most appropriate of this build being a vampire who drinks blood during this event, She is Bringing powerful fiends to an evil temple on the Material Plane (ebrin) which kinda makes it a Great and powerful Malevolence area, Some of the people watching the scene could gain the Fiendish or half fiend template as a result, and objects can even translate Diseases like Warp Touch or Soul rot.

Souls as power: has nice flavor and goes with who the character is based off of, This way she can send souls to her goddess (again not actually her goddess but she doesn't know that)

Pain is power: same as above

(cr5): the harvester, wearer of masks
A woman of sorts has been gathering children who disappear just to be sent back and kill there own family. Only moments later These family rise from the dead and follow the children back into the woods on the north side of the city
--Behind the scenes--
Valantine is taking the kids and turning them into wights, leaving them at there homes for a day or 2 going about there regular workings, then she sudenly takes them back to her layer and has her Necroplitan under her control turn them into Spell stitched undead, when this is happening she places her necklace around there neck and says that they are going to join the goddess so they won't be afraid. These ones are armed with Wave of teeth Animate dead, and fireball

(cr10): Ghostly White, bloody snow
_best setting is in the winter_
Strong warriors of said town is being abducted and turned into vampires, either no one knows a thing or there to scare to tell, which is a reasonable level or fear as if they tell anyone (even each other) they are (and sometimes there family is) haunted with horrible dreams (Nightmare SLA) and then taken away to become even worse than vampires, they become there spawn....

When the party reach Valentine she has feasted on her last victim only moments before, at max health and super hungry for more.
--twist--
You could also randomly pick one of the Players to be abducted. If he/she are turned into a vampire hen it will become the groups quest to free it.
--Behind the Scenes--
As with The harvester this one focuses on the Creation of more undead to join the Eternal Love's Clergy and worship said goddess, She also has these ones Turned into Spell stitched and they are armed with Animate dead, Fireball, control undead, and Wave of Teeth if possible.

(cr15): Vampires Warrior, Erbin around the corner
_best setting is a large town to a large city_
Wandering the streets at night is dangerous all together but when valentine walks the street nobody is safe, on her side her faithful Warrior and the demigod Erbin, Val has become a tyrant of this town/city and is slowly turning it into some type of Necropolis were she is the head leader and all bow before her. It has been leaked that she need a sacrifice to call her warrior every 24hours and she makes it gruesome and Public. She gains power as she does so and if she isn't stopped she will turn the town into her play thing.
-hint for the players-
Hint to them the Erbin is gone during the ceremony, so when the god is not there she is vunriable

(cr20): Queen Vampire; All hail the great and powerful Valentine Lion-Heart
by now the party knows of her eminence army and goes on a quest to stop this evil before its to late... If it isn't the end already

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:45 AM

ZOJAN OF THE BURNING HATE

http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/images/ph2_gallery/97107.jpg

As a child, Zojan was an orphaned street urchin in the city of Four Winds. Like the other urchins, he survived by begging, and occasionally stealing food or other goods from the merchants stalls. Unlike the others, Zojan was not particularly adept at stealth or sleight of hand, and so got caught pilfering some small items from the stall of the merchant Ikram. Ikram was well renowned as a man not to be trifled with, and one of cruel temperament. Rather than turn the boy over to the authorities to deal with, he decided to make an example of young Zojan. He had his guards take the boy out of the city limits, and stake him out in the desert. He instructed them to leave a waterskin just beyond the boy’s reach.

Zojan laid there for several days, burned and blistered by the sun, and tormented by a terrible thirst. All he could do while he lay there waiting to die was stare at the burning hot sun as it made its way across the sky, and dream of revenge on Ikram. In his heat and thirst filled delirium, he prayed to the blazing sun each day to deliver him his vengeance. A wandering holy man came across the boy, hours before he would have expired. Galen, cleric of Pelor, released the boy and gave him water. He also took the young orphan in, and taught him in the ways of being an acolyte in his church.

Years passed, and Zojan proved to be an able study in the clerical ways. Galen was always concerned though, that the boy never let go of his hatred from his ordeal as a child. Moreover, Galen always suspected the lad was a bit…”off”. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Zojan left the monastery where he had studied, and roamed the lands spreading the "good word" of Pelor. Some questioned his interpretations of Pelor’s teachings, but through persuasion, or less subtle means, Zojan usually managed to bring them around.

His wanderings led him back to Four Winds. He looked up his old acquaintance Ikram. The merchant didn’t recognise Zojan, of course; not until Zojan reminded him. By the time Ikram thought to call for his guards, it was already too late. With a few muttered words and gestures, Zojan caused the merchant to fall helpless, gasping with an insatiable thirst and begging for water. With another incantation, he caused the merchants hand to painfully rip itself from his arm, and then attack him. After Ikram had succumbed to his wounds, Zojan brought him back as a terrible undead mockery of his former self, and they both departed the town to look up the guards who’d taken the young boy out into the desert all those years ago…

* * *

Male NE Vashar Cleric (Divine Magician) 20

Ability
Point Buy Base Score
4HD
8HD
12HD
16HD
20HD
Final

Str
12

12

Dex
8

8

Con
13

13

Int
10

10

Wis
15

+1
+1
+1
18

Cha
14
+1
+1

16

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1
Cleric 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Concentration 4, Knowledge (religion) 4, Diplomacy 4
Heretic of the Faith, Enemy of GoodB
Divine magician, rebuke undead

2
Cleric 2
+1
+3
+0
+3
Concentration 5, Knowledge (religion) 5, Diplomacy 5

3
Cleric 3
+2
+3
+1
+3
Concentration 6, Knowledge (religion) 6, Diplomacy 6
Extend Spell

4
Cleric 4
+3
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 7, Knowledge (religion) 7, Diplomacy 7

5
Cleric 5
+3
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 8, Knowledge (religion) 8, Diplomacy 8

6
Cleric 6
+4
+5
+2
+5
Concentration 9, Knowledge (religion) 9, Diplomacy 9
Persistent Spell

7
Cleric 7
+5
+5
+2
+5
Concentration 10, Knowledge (religion) 10, Diplomacy 10

8
Cleric 8
+6
+6
+2
+6
Concentration 11, Knowledge (religion) 11, Diplomacy 11

9
Cleric 9
+6
+6
+3
+6
Concentration 12, Knowledge (religion) 12, Diplomacy 12
Divine Metamagic (persistent spell)

10
Cleric 10
+7
+7
+3
+7
Concentration 13, Knowledge (religion) 13, Diplomacy 13

11
Cleric 11
+8
+7
+3
+7
Concentration 14, Knowledge (religion) 14, Diplomacy 14

12
Cleric 12
+9
+8
+4
+8
Concentration 15, Knowledge (religion) 15, Diplomacy 15
Violate Spell

13
Cleric 13
+9
+8
+4
+8
Concentration 16, Knowledge (religion) 16, Diplomacy 16

14
Cleric 14
+10
+9
+4
+9
Concentration 17, Knowledge (religion) 17, Diplomacy 17

15
Cleric 15
+11
+9
+5
+9
Concentration 18, Knowledge (religion) 18, Diplomacy 18
Malign Spell Focus

16
Cleric 16
+12
+10
+5
+10
Concentration 19, Knowledge (religion) 19, Diplomacy 19

17
Cleric 17
+12
+10
+5
+10
Concentration 20, Knowledge (religion) 20, Diplomacy 20

18
Cleric 18
+13
+11
+6
+11
Concentration 21, Knowledge (religion) 21, Diplomacy 21
Spell Focus (evil)

19
Cleric 19
+14
+11
+6
+11
Concentration 22, Knowledge (religion) 22, Diplomacy 22

20
Cleric 20
+15
+12
+6
+12
Concentration 23, Knowledge (religion) 23, Diplomacy 23

Spells per Day*

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
Domain (thirst)
Divine Magician

1st
3
2 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Parching Touch
Death Grimace

2nd
4
3 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
4
3 + 1
2 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Desiccate
Spectral Hand

4th
5
4 + 1
3 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
5
4 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
-
Tormenting Thirst
Negative Energy Burst

6th
5
4 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
6
5 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
1 + 1
-
-
-
-
-
Dispel Water
Grim Revenge

8th
6
5 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1
2 + 1
-
-
-
-
-

9th
6
5 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
2 + 1
1 + 1
-
-
-
-
Desiccate, Mass
Night's Caress

10th
6
5 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
-
-
-
-

11th
6
6 + 1
5 + 1
5 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
1 + 1
-
-
-
Symbol of Thirst
Eyebite

12th
6
6 + 1
5 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
-
-
-

13th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
5 + 1
5 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
1 + 1
-
-
Mephit Mob
Kiss of the Vampire

14th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
5 + 1
5 + 1
3 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
-
-

15th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
1 + 1
-
Horrid Wilting
Avascular Mass

16th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
-

17th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1
1 + 1
Energy Drain
Wail of the Banshee

18th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
3 + 1
2 + 1

19th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1
3 + 1
3 + 1

20th
6
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
6 + 1
5 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1
4 + 1

* Excluding enhancement and inherent bonuses to Wisdom (it can be assumed that by the time Zojan hits 17th level, he has, at the very least, a periapt of wisdom +2)

Zojan, of the Burning Hate

Size/Type
Medium Humanoid

Hit Dice
13d8+26 (85 hp)

Initiative
-1

Speed
20 ft. (4 squares)

Armor Class
22 (-1 Dex, +9 armor, +3 shield, +1 deflection), touch 10, flat footed 22

Base Attack/Grapple
+9/+10

Attack
Heavy mace +11 melee (1d8+2, +1d6 fire)

Full Attack
Heavy mace +11/+6 melee (1d8+2, +1d6 fire)

Space/Reach
5 ft./5 ft.

Special Attacks
Charm person, enervation, spells, vampiric touch

Special Qualities
DR 10/magic, gaseous form, rebuke or command oozes, rebuke or command undead

Saves
Fort +10, Ref +3, Will +13

Abilities
Str 12, Dex 8, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 16

Skills
Concentration +18, Diplomacy +19, Knowledge (religion) +16

Feats
Divine Metamagic (persistent spell), Enemy of GoodB, Extend Spell, Heretic of the Faith, Persistent Spell, Violate Spell

Environment
Any

Organization
Solitary

Challenge Rating
13

Alignment

Neutral evil

Level Adjustment

+ 0

Spells: (DC 15 + spell level)0 - detect magic (x3), detect poison, read magic (x2)
1st - command, death grimace (x2), divine favor, doom (x2), entropic shield, parching touchD
2nd - death knell, desiccateD, hold person, silence, spectral hand, undetectable alignment
3rd - animate dead, bestow curse, dispel magic (x2), negative energy burst, tormenting thirstD
4th - divine power, freedom of movement, searing light (violated) (x2), tormenting thirst (extended)D
5th - mass desiccateD, night’s caress, slay living, spell resistance, summon monster V
6th - antilife shell, harm, mass desiccate (violated)D
7th - kiss of the vampire (persisted) {already cast}, mephit mobD

Gear: +2 belt of health, +1 full plate, +1 heavy steel shield, +1 flaming mace, +4 periapt of wisdom, +1 ring of protection

CR 5 – Zojan is a fairly standard full casting cleric. He only has one domain, but adds unique spells to his repertoire from the divine magician ACF. Access to the thirst domain (available through heretic of the faith) adds the ability to rebuke or command oozes, which isn’t at all bad for minionmancy. Enemy of good makes his spells harder for creatures with an aura of good to resist.
CR 10 – With persistent spell and divine metamagic to fuel it, Zojan’s power level increases significantly. Persisted righteous might makes him a formidable melee combatant, for example.
CR 15 – Violate spell makes half the damage from Zojan’s spells vile (which can be hard to cure), but more importantly, gives them the evil descriptor, which ties into other feats to boost the DC (such as malign spell focus). Zojan can also persist more powerful spells, including kiss of the vampire, a personal favourite.
CR 20 – Zojan is at the pinnacle of his powers. His spells, particularly those with the evil descriptor, have a high DC to resist (those used against good outsiders or creatures with a good aura are higher still). He would commonly call a greater planar ally (such as a pit fiend), and command a small army of undead (and, potentially, oozes). He is truly a worthy emissary of The Burning Hate.

Suggested gear - wisdom boosters, constitution boosters, charisma boosters, night sticks

BV - Vashar, malign spell focus, enemy of good, violate spell, death grimace, grim revenge
CAr - persistent spell
CD - divine metamagic, spell focus (evil)
CM - divine magician
ElE - enemy of good
PF - heretic of the faith
Sa - thirst domain, parching touch, desiccate, tormenting thirst, dispel water, mass dessicate, symbol of thirst, mephit mob
SC - night's caress, kiss of the vampire, avascular mass
TB - negative energy burst
Context - http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?443306

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:47 AM

Kappikyrie
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5vBaFIRQijE/VX-n3iIDnaI/AAAAAAAEclE/WvkFpCjErvs/w530-h398-p-rw/pablo-fernandez-valkyrie.jpg

CE Valkyrie (ToB p.157) Swordsage 1/Assassin 8/Swordsage 1/Assassin 1

Str 12+14: 26,
Dex 14+16: 30,
Con 13+12: 25,
Int 15+4: 19,
wis 10+2: 12,
Cha 8+6: 14
Stat bonuses go to intelligence.

CR
HD
Class
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Skills
Feats
Class Features

9
11
Valkyrie (ToB p.156)
11
7
7
8
Balance 5, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 10, Hide 14, Intimidate 10, Knowledge (the planes) 14, Listen 14, Sense Motive 14, Spot 14, Tumble 12, Move silently 7, Disguise 4, UMD 4, Knowledge (religion) 3, decipher script 2

Skill Tricks: Acrobatic Backstab, Twisted Charge, Never outnumbered, Clarity of Vision, Swift Concentration
flyby attack 1 (MM1), power attack 3, greater flyby attack (Savage Species p.35) 6, Combat Intuition 9 (Com Adv p.106), TWF (bonus), ITWF (bonus)
Aligned Strike (Su), Electricity Attacks (Su), Lighting Gaze (Su)
Martial Maneuvers (initiator level 10th), Sonic Burst (Su), 2 slam attacks, Immune cold, electricity, fear, sonic. SR 17, DR 10/cold iron, 40 ft. (8 squares); fly 60 ft. (perfect)

10
12
Swordsage
11
7
9
9
move silently 15, hide 15, spot 15
12: Adaptive Style
initiator level 11, Quick to act +1, discipline focus (Weapon Focus), 6 maneuvers, 4 can be readied, 1 stance, +1 intelligence

11
13
Assassin 1
11
7
11
9
move silently 16, hide 16, spot 16, UMD 8, Craft Alchemy 1

Sneak attack +1d6, death attack, poison use, spells

12
14
Assassin 2
12
7
12
9
move silently 17, hide 17, spot 17, Sense motive 17, UMD 10, Craft Alchemy 3

initiator level 12, +1 save against poison, uncanny dodge

13
15
Assassin 3
13
8
12
10
move silently 18, hide 18, spot 18, Sense motive 18, Intimidate 12 UMD 12
15 Favored in Guild: Jaezred Chaulssin (Knowledge Religion), +4 to death attack DCs. (Dragons of Faerun web enhancement p.5 (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070425a))
Sneak attack +2d6

14
16
Assassin 4
14
8
13
10
move silently 19, hide 19, spot 19, Sense motive 19, Intimidate 14 UMD 14

initiator level 13, +2 save against poison

15
17
Assassin 5
14
8
13
10
move silently 20, hide 20, spot 20, Sense motive 20, Concentration 15

Improved uncanny dodge, sneak attack +3d6

16
18
Assassin 6
15
9
14
11
move silently 21, hide 21, spot 21, Sense motive 21, Concentration 19
18 Ability Focus (Death Attack)
initiator level 14, +3 save against poison

17
19
Assassin 7
16
9
14
11
move silently 22, hide 22, spot 22, Sense motive 22, Craft alchemy 5, UMD 16

Sneak attack +4d6

18
20
Assassin 8
17
9
15
11
move silently 23, hide 23, spot 23, Sense motive 23, Craft Alchemy 7, UMD 18

initiator level 15

19
21
Swordsage 2
18
9
16
12
move silently 24, hide 24, spot 24, Sense motive 24, Tumble 18
21 Epic Speed
initiator level 16, ac bonus, 1 maneuver, 1 stance

20
22
Assassin 9
18
10
17
13
move silently 25, hide 25, spot 25, Sense motive 25, UMD 22

Sneak attack +5d6

Maneuvers: Racial (IL 10th) Disciplines: Setting Sun, Stone Dragon, Tiger Claw:
Stances—prey on the weak (Tiger Claw 7th)
Strikes—charging minotaur (Stone 1st), clever positioning (Setting Sun 2nd), devastating throw (Setting Sun 3rd), mountain avalanche (stone 5th), pouncing charge (Tiger Claw 5th), wolf fang strike (Tiger Claw 1st)
Boosts—boulder roll (Stone 4th)
Counters—baffling defense (Setting Sun 2nd), counter charge (Setting Sun 1st)

Maneuvers: Swordsage CR 10
scorpion parry (Setting Sun 6th)
Cloak of deception (Shadow Hand 2nd)
Shadow Blade technique (Shadow Hand 1st)
mirrored pursuit (Setting Sun 5th)
Elder Mountain Hammer (Stone 5th)
Wolf Climbs Mountain (Tiger 6th)
Stance: Child of Shadow (Shadow Hand 1st)

Maneuvers: Swordsage CR 19
Stance: Ghostly defense (setting sun 8th)
Raging Mongoose (Tiger Claw 8th)

Assassin Spells Known

CR
1st
2nd
3rd
4th

11
Spells: Spring sheath (Song and silence) 10 min/level quickdraw
Shadow double (Dotu): weird shadow double attacker
-
-
-

12
Sniper's Shot (complete Adv): Swift; no range limit to sneak attacks
-
-
-

13
-
Swift Ready (Forge of War p.117): swift action equipped.
Animate Weapon (Comp Mage p. 95): weapon becomes animated object
-
-

14
Distract Assailant (Spell Comp p.69) Swift; will negates, opponent is flatfooted
Swift Invisibility (Spell Comp p.125): swift action 1 round invisibility
-
-

15
-
-
Wraithstrike (Spell Comp p.243): swift action, use touch attacks to attack.
Sadism (BOVD): +1 luck bonus per each 10 pts of damage done.
-

16
-
Fell the greatest Foe (Spell Comp p.90): deal more damage against bigger critters
Toxic Tongue (Comp mage)
-

17
-
-
-
Sniper's eye (Spell comp p.193): make sneak attacks with ranged weapon
4th: deathsight (comp mage): Next normal attack is a death attack.

18
-
-
Fangs of the Vampire King (spell comp)
Shadow Phase (Spell Comp p185): Concealment.

20
-
-
-
-

Valkyries are Asgardian Angels of Battle charged with delivering the souls of the Midgard/Primematerial Heroes into Valhalla to swell the ranks of Einjariar with tough MoFos to defeat the forces of Frost Giants in Ragnarok one day. Valkyrie comes from the old norse "Choosers of the Slain." According to the Ancient Tome of Battle, Valkyries arise from the blood of deities that has been spilled in combat and dropped upon the soil of Ysgard. During a particularly nasty incursion into Nidavellir by an aspect of Lolth chasing after the souls of spoiled brat male drow elves (CN instead of CE), her carapace was brought to the surface for triumphant display and immolation before the Vanir gods. Her demonblood juices dropped to the ground, mingling with the blood of heroes and gods who fought battles that day...Thus born was Scab Kappikyrie "Chooser of Champions." A devout follower of Odin, Kappikyrie has made it her mission to bring the mightiest and best heroes from the prime to assure the defeat of the Frost Giants during Ragnarok.

From Kappikyrie's perspective, the most effective way to collect thost champions is to literally kill them and literally bring them to Ysgard. Kappikyrie doesn't even particularly target "Heroic" people. Anyone with a ton of martial prowess (CR 10 or greater) of any alignment is fine by her. Odin is disgusted by Skab's approach. Odin is also shamefully pleased with her results and has allowed her to continue her project of devotion, just in case he needs that much of an extra edge during the fight to come. He uses intermediary gods to secretly deliver her equipment and means to plane shift / open & use portals to the prime material.

Encounters with Kappikyrie
At every Level: Greater flyby attack allows Kappikyrie to attack 10 times while using their movement in a straight line. A gaze attack out to 30' affects would be attackers and targeters. One any turn where there is an unused swift action, Kappikyrie can use the Sonic Burst for 4d6 sonic damage to everyone within 30' reflex DC 17 for half. Kappikyrie doesn't need to land if they don't need to and shouldn't in a battle. Using the Rules for Sense Motive found in Complete Adventurer and her Combat intuition feat, Kappikyrie should know the biggest challenge in any party and direct her pouncing charge and initiator moves on them after a greater flyby attack. A number of quickdraw crystals will allow Kappikyrie to employ a number of different weapons during a greater flyby attack. Consider using the locking garrote (Song and the silence) during the first pass to clamp down on all of the spellcasters, or a mister (DotU p.92) or sprayer (A&EG) filling up squares with poisons/specific potions (oil of gaseous form/bestow curse to take out biggest person...or perhaps any good old fashioned poison). Kappikyrie should have a handy haversack, a net, 150' rope, 3-5 harpoons, thinaun weapons, thunderstones, and all kinds of weird equipment. She should be a bit of a macguyver for equipment and as a personality note, will approach wielders of weird and exotic weapons and ammunition about their techniques and weapon designs. Kappikyrie is an outsider with a secret bankroller for her gear, so when she dies, she just returns to Ysgard. This leaves her gear behind. Kappikyrie will return to attempt to steal any thinaun weapons that she used to store high quality souls. This aspect makes Kappikyrie a possible loot drop encounter every time she’s on the prime material, and thus she becomes useful if the players have had to deal with rust monster and disenchanters or slavers.

Kappikyrie is evil because she does not care at all about the means by which she goes about pursuing her goals, killing all resistant and inconvenient obstacles as readily and parleying with them. Kappikyrie will elder mountain hammer inanimate objects towards the goal of destroying architecture, trees, bridges, even crumbling it down on herself just to slay her opponents.

CR 10
Kappikyrie at this level can be encountered en route to killing a specific high level NPC and brings many tools to the job to do so. At this level, Kappikyrie has it's racial maneuvers as well as 4 swordsage readied maneuvers depending on the task. Kappikyrie carries a number of thinaun daggers that they use to store souls to bring to Ysgard for binding. A suggested clue or encounter should be built around Kappikyrie seeking out direct stewardship of a thinaun mining/excavation operations. Kappikyrie could even hire the PCs to deliver the metal to herself.

Another option is putting her on a quest to prove herself to Odin that includes her hunting down and destroying a lich who odin thinks will absolutely help in ragnarok, and subsequently returning the phylactery to Ysgard. The relationship of the lich to the PCs goals could bring them into allyship or conflict with Kappikyrie. Although not stat out for lich hunting, kappikyrie could easily be convinced to target lich phylacteries instead of hunting mortals for a few CR/encounter levels, if PCs convince her that this recourse guarantees some help retrieving powerful souls for ragnarok.

CR 13 Sweet spot.
This is the level where the best parts of the build are all online. Kappikyrie has a death attack with a DC 22 fort save attached to it (int boosting items will boost the DC more) as well as pounce, Improved two weapon fighting, greater flyby attack, a tiny bit of sneak attack damage, great sneaking skills. Against an opponent who is a target of the death attack, Kappikyrie uses a thinaun Heavy Aspergillium (Libris Mortis) filled with Atramen Oil (Planar Handbook) which confers a -4 to fort saves. Animate Weapon is great for pairing with a dispelling (PGTF) etherblade (Fiend Folio).

NOTE: Assassin's death attack sucks for PCs to fight against. They hate it because the DM has a huge advantage. If you are going to use Kappikyrie well in these encounters, you need to give the PCs high level targets for Kappikyrie to womp on. You demonstrate that she is dangerous and deadly, but you don't outright kill your PCs. If you're PCs have been adequately warned and offered anti-sneaking defense abilities, maybe you can target a PC with Kappikyrie, but I wouldn't advise it unless your party is cool with your sneak death attacking their character. Further making this feel like a railroading encounter is the fact that pcs can’t revive until you get their soul back from the thinaun weaponry.

At this level, Kappikyrie should be busy using the drow in the underdark assasssin's guild to find the most worthwhile allies for odin during ragnarok and has decided to aboleth or mindflayer or drider hunting. Whichever is decided as Kappikyries target, she should have gear that represents their intended quarry and a handful of extra weird obscure weapons that they use to do the job and cover a few likely contingencies.

CR 20
By CR 20, Kappikyrie should have access to a portal to Ysgard from the Prime material plane. Kappikyrie should be collecting Legendary heroes that she kills however she possibly can. Military Generals, Blood war operatives, the PCs. Kappikyrie, at this level, should be needing a ton of thinaun, and some artisans to handle it and turn it into her weapons. And thus she can be diverted from her quest by drying up her local sources of the material or the beings who refine it into weapons. At this level, she has a death attack with a DC of 31, and a fourth level spell to use a death attack without the 3 round wait. She has ragin mongoose maneuver which can grant her 4 extra attacks on her sneak attack victim, and anyone who is avoiding her gaze attack or when she casts shadow phase has to deal with her ghostly defense stance. Her UMD is crazy high.

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:48 AM

The Silverblood Knight
LG Half-Celestial Silverbrow Human Monk 1 / Kensai 5 / Occult Slayer 5
http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/daily/td/td197_ang.jpg (http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/top-decks/mad-props-2012-05-30)
"Angel of Glory's Rise", original art by James Ryman, © Wizards of the Coast 2012

The Silver Bloodknight
LE Werebattletitan Half-Celestial Tarnished-Dragonborn Silverbrow Human Monk 1 / Kensai 5 / Occult Slayer 5
http://img02.deviantart.net/dd9f/i/2015/092/0/f/sea_guardian_by_renepolumorfous-d8o37zo.png (http://renepolumorfous.deviantart.com/art/Sea-Guardian-524190516)
"Sea Guardian", fan art by Rene Polumorfous
[stats are in hybrid form, unless otherwise stated]

Female LE Huge Humanoid (Human, Dragonblood, Shapechanger, Native)
Init +10; Senses Low-Light Vision, Darkvision 60ft., Scent, Auravision (Detect Magic); Listen +42, Spot +42
Languages Common, Damaran, Celestial, Giant, Draconic
Armor Class 39 (+6 Dex, -2 Size, +2 Wis, +23 Natural), Touch 16, Flat-Footed 33; DR 10/magic
Hit Dice 37HD (42d8+5d10+141) 361 HP + 47 temp HP (renewed each round)
Special: 4/day, immediate action, bring back to 180HP instead of being reduced below 0HP
Immune Disease, Mind-Affectng; Resist Acid 10, Cold 10, Electricity 10
Fort +36, Ref +30, Will +24; SR 35
Special: +5 luck vs necro (no partial effect on save), +10 luck vs death effects or massive damage, with reroll on 1; +3 vs spell/sla; Spell Turning 2/day, free action
Speed 30ft. (6 squares), fly 60ft. (good), 60ft. (animal form)
Attack +1 Dragonbane Magebane Wounding Unarmed Strike +53 (1d6+19, 1 Con damage); -2 attack roll w/ Snap Kick (1d6+10, 1 Con damage)
Special: +2 enhancement vs dragons, +2 enhancement vs casters; +2d6 damage roll vs dragons, +3d6 damage roll vs casters; double damage on a round with successful Decisive Strike; double damage on readied attack to disrupt casters
Full Attack Unarmed Strike +53/+48/+43/+38 (1d6+19, 1 Con damage) and Bite +48 (3d6+9) and 2 Claws +48 (2d6+9) and Tail Spike +48 (2d6+9)
Space 15ft.; Reach 10ft.
Base Attack Bonus +35; Grapple +65
Abilities STR 46 (+18), DEX 22 (+6), CON 34 (+12), INT 22 (+6), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 17 (+3)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL43, up to CL64 with Greater Consumptive Field):
10/day--Feather Fall; 3/day--Protection from Evil, Holy Aura (DC21); 1/day--Bless, Aid, Detect Evil, Cure Serious Wounds (DC16), Neutralize Poison, Remove Disease, Dispel Evil, Holy Word, Hallow, Mass Charm Monster (DC21), Summon Monster IX (celestials only), Resurrection; 1/day(shared, Nexus of Many Lives)--Limited Wish, Control Weather, Barghest's Feast, Greater Consumptive Field, Veil of Undeath
Supernatural Abilities
at will--Daylight; 1/day--Smite Evil; 1/day(shared, Nexus of Many Lives)--The Warrior
Special Attacks Decisive Strike, Improved Grab (animal form), Swallow Whole (animal form)
Special Qualities Alternate Form, Battletitan Empathy, Power Surge, Nondetection Cloak (CL5)
Feats Jotunbrud, Human HeritageB, Improved Unarmed Strike, Combat ExpertiseB, Iron WillB, Power Attack, Improved Initiative, Mage Slayer, Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike), Dodge, Snap Kick, Evasive Reflexes, Robilar's GambitB, Improved Combat Reflexes, Epic Destiny (Eternal Hero), Karmic Strike
Skills Appraise +6, Balance +15, Bluff +52, Climb +18, Concentration +17, Craft +6, Decipher Script +6, Diplomacy +42, Disguise +3[+9 acting], Escape Artist +6, Forgery +6, Gather Information +5, Handle Animal +3, Heal +2, Hide +6, Intimidate +11, Jump +22, Knowledge (arcana) +31, Knowledge (religion) +7, other Knowledge skills +6, Listen +42, Martial Lore +6, Move Silently +6, Open Lock +6, Perform +3, Ride +11, Search +6, Sense Motive +52, Sleight of Hand +12, Spellcraft +13, Spot +42, Survival +2, Swim +18, Tumble +40, Use Magic Device +3, Use Rope +6
Special: When really needed, the Limited Wish SLA can duplicate Divine Insight (+15 insight bonus to skill check), Improvisation (+21 luck bonus to skill check roll), or other skill-boosting spell; Epic Bluff DC70 enables the display of false alignment. By CR14, this can be done by taking 20 on a Bluff modifier of +51 (29 ranks, +3 Cha, +2 Passive Way, +2 Ki Projection, +15 Divine Insight from Limited Wish)
Elite Array: STR 10, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 15, WIS 8, CHA 13
Template Adjustment: STR +4, DEX +2, CON +4, INT +2, WIS +6, CHA +4
Template Adjustment (Alternate Form): STR +32, CON +18
HD Increase Adjustment: DEX +6 (24-44), INT +5 (4-20)
Final Score: STR 14 (+2), DEX 22 (+6), CON 16 (+3), INT 22 (+6), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 17 (+3)
Final Score (Alternate Form): STR 46 (+18), DEX 22 (+6), CON 34 (+12), INT 22 (+6), WIS 14 (+2), CHA 17 (+3)

CR
Class
BAB
FS
RS
WS
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1
Half-Celestial
-
-
-
-
-
-
Outsider (Native), 60ft fly (good), +1 to Natural Armor,
Resistance to Acid/Cold/Electricity 10, Darkvision 60ft,
Disease Immunity, Su[Daylight at will, Smite Evil 1/d],
DR5/magic, SR11, SLA[Bless 1/d, Protection from Evil 3/d]

2
Monk 1
+0
+2
+2
+2
Balance 4,
Concentration 4,
Decipher Script 0.5,
Diplomacy 4,
Knowledge (arcana) 4,
Knowledge (religion) 1,
Open Lock 0.5,
Sense Motive 4,
Tumble 4,
Use Magic Device 0.5
Jotunbrud,
Human HeritageB,
Improved Unarmed StrikeB,
Combat ExpertiseB
Decisive Strike, Passive Way (+2 to Bluff),
Unarmed Damage 1d6, AC Bonus

-
Dragonborn
-
-
-
-
-
-
Breath Weapon [13d8 fire/acid/cold/elec, 100ft. line]
Immunity to Frightful Presence, +2 to AC vs Dragon types,
lose Human Heritage feat, retain Humanoid type

8
Lycanthrope
(Battletitan)
+27
+22
+22
+14
Balance 5(+1),
Bluff (29),
Concentration 5(+1),
Diplomacy 15(+16),
Handle Animal 0.5,
Knowledge (arcana) 25(+21),
other Knowledge in SRD 4.5,
Listen 40,
Martial Lore 0.5,
Ride 5,
Sense Motive 5(+1),
Sleight of Hand 0.5,
Spellcraft 3,
Spot 40,
Tumble 15(+11)
Iron WillB,
Power Attack1,
Improved Unarmed Strike3,
Improved Initiative6,
Mage Slayer9,
Weapon Focus12,
Dodge15,
Snap Kick18,
Thunderclap21,
Great Dexterity24,
Great Dexterity27,
Combat Reflexes30,
Evasive Reflexes33,
Robilar's Gambit36,B
(Shapechanger), +36HD, Alternate Form, Battletitan Feats,
Scent, Low-Light Vision, DR5/silver, +2 to Natural Armor,
Animal Form (Bite + 2 Claws + Tail Spike on a full attack,
Improved Grab, Swallow Whole, 60ft. base land speed)

-
Tarnished
Dragonborn
-
-
-
-
-
-
lose Dragonborn

10
Half-Celestial
-
-
-
-
-
-
SLA (1/d unless noted): Aid, Detect Evil, Cure Serious Wounds,
Neutralize Poison, Holy Smite, Remove Disease, Dispel Evil,
Holy Word, Holy Aura (3/d), Hallow, Mass Charm Monster,
Summon monster IX (celestials only), Resurrection; SR35

11
Kensai 1
+27
+22
+22
+16
Sense Motive 15(+10)

Signature Weapon (Unarmed Strike, feet): +1,
Skilled City Dweller (Replace Ride with Tumble)

12
Kensai 2
+28
+22
+22
+17
Sense Motive 25(+10)
Epic Destiny*
Signature Weapon: +1 Dragonbane, Power Surge

13
Kensai 3
+29
+23
+23
+17
Diplomacy 25(+10)

Signature Weapon: +1 Dragonbane Magebane

14
Kensai 4
+30
+23
+23
+18
Tumble 25(+10)

Ki Projection

15
Kensai 5
+30
+23
+23
+18
Sense Motive 26(+1),
Tumble 34(+9)
Improved Combat Reflexes
Signature Weapon: +1 Dragonbane Magebane Wounding

16
Occult Slayer 1
+31
+23
+23
+20
Sense Motive 34(+8)

Magical Defense +1, Weapon Bond (Unarmed Strike)

17
Occult Slayer 2
+32
+23
+23
+21
Bluff 37(+8)

Mind Over Magic 1/d, Vicious Strike

18
Occult Slayer 3
+33
+24
+24
+21
Sense Motive 42(+8)
Karmic Strike
Magical Defense +2, Auravision

19
Occult Slayer 4
+34
+24
+24
+22
Bluff 45(+8)

Mind Over Magic 2/d, Nondetection Cloak

20
Occult Slayer 5
+35
+24
+24
+22
Sense Motive 50(+8)

Magical Defense +3, Blank Thoughts

Cross-class skills are italicized
* Epic Destiny also takes the place of feats for 21st (Thunderclap), 24th (Great Dexterity), 27th (Great Dexterity), and 30th level (Combat Reflexes)

Nexus of Many Lives (Epic Destiny: Eternal Hero)
The Warrior (Su): +8 Speed Vicious Ghost-Touch Unarmed Strike
The Arcanist (Sp): Limited Wish
The Disciple (Sp): Control Weather
The Traitor (Sp): Barghest's Feast, Greater Consumptive Field, Veil of UndeathIn a nutshell, The Silverbloodknight is basically a souped-up AoO + mundane magehating combatant with few more tricks up her sleeves, which is pretty interesting considering the low optimization level used except for the whole werebattletitan. She's a tough lightning bruiser, backed up with skills and abilities that enable her to either hunt enemies (especially dragons) or gather allies.

Identifying even the oldest chromatic dragons shouldn't be a problem for her considering her Knowledge (arcana) modifier. Due to how she can easily merc non-Good creatures that would be normally way above her weight class, she would be brought up against a party with minimal non-Good PC. Doing as suggested would also present an interesting dynamic that can't easily be replicated when pitted against a considerably morally grey party.

At all levels, she'd also be inclined to gather as much support as possible for her cause, which is to rightfully slaughter all evil dragons, their (alleged) servants, and everyone else who stands in her way. This is mainy accomplished with Mass Charm Monster, going as far as turning charmed (i.e. Friendly) creatures Helpful, and good Bluff/Diplomacy modifiers, for continuous and systematic indoctrination. She'd even offer quests for PCs, with each quest having varying degrees of importance based on how much she trusts the PCs--although, do note that her Sense Motive skill will vastly improve later in the game.

Do note that some of her skills will give multiple synergy bonuses--Bluff with minimum 45 ranks give +6 bonus to Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sleight of Hand, and Sense Motive with minimum 45 ranks gives another +6 bonus to Diplomacy.

The dragonslayer Grechke desperately limped towards her, mace and shield raised against the one they called the Silver Bloodknight. The vassals of Bahamut claimed she was once a once-gallant devotee of Bahamut who got accursed with madness. She must've been one of Bahamut's elite, seeing as how she managed to effortlessly dispose of the adult red dragon that's been setting the whole town on fire. It was no ordinary red dragon, verbal theatrics aside, and with its kobold henchmen would've easily killed him had she arrived a second too late to give the dragon a piece of her own verbal assault.

"Surrender yourself", Grechke blurted out with as much authority as he can muster against the towering silver monster. Actually, he wasn't exactly sure what she is--angelic wings, dinosaur body, and her blood faintly smelled draconic.

She just looked at him and laughed wholesomely. "You're clearly not in any condition to do the arresting. Help me take the surviving children to our refuge, so they'll at least stay warm and fed for tonight. You could use some bandaging, too."

Without any town in sight as far as his eyes can see, the dragonfire adept begrudgingly obliged and made some makeshift saddle and harness to help the Silver Bloodknight carry the few surviving children. He found the rest of the trip to be pretty uneventful--she tried to cheer them up and take their minds away from the tragedy, but nobody really responded. After some thought, he realized that her demeanor, her way of talking, and the way laughs actually reminded him of his great-grandmother, a great hero coincidentally known then as the "Silver Knight".

The high-priest of Bahamut once told him that the road to the lower planes is paved with good intentions, so he still kept his eyes on the Silver Bloodknight, who by then already introduced herself as Lucia. He found out that the refuge is basically an orphanage for those who survive dragon attacks, funded by the very treasure she took from the fallen spawns of Tiamat. He found that to be utterly ridiculous, that this must clearly be a front for some heinous scheme that he will soon uncover.Note: First off, mechanically, she gained and then lost Dragonborn. It's an odd thematic-based crunch that was an artefact of an earlier stub that used it to qualify for Lycanthrope because the build didn't have Human Heritage back then.

It will be very hard going toe to toe with a 36HD Werebattletitan Half-Celestial Decisive Strike Monk in martial combat, what with high HP, AC, attack, damage, AoOs, and even DR. Spells and SLAs will also have some difficulties due to her SR, energy resistances, high saves, Mage Slayer, and Thunderclap. She even has a pretty good flight speed. Thus, one of the best options to deal with her would be to either hit her with ranged attacks, use battlefield control, or use alterate non-HP attacks like ability damage to keep her down. Even then, she'll just likely get minions with Summon Monster IX, or she probably already did before combat with Mass Charm Monster + Diplomacy.

As mentioned, noncombat solutions would still be very much an alternate way to overcome her challenge, as she is generally cordial and accomodating. You can still do agressive noncombat solutions like held her orphans hostage, blackmail her, or trick her into doing or believing in something, but expect such kinds of approach narrowing down future options.
Katja protested, "Did you just say, 'slaughter them all'? Aren't we just supposed to kill the wyrmlings, loot the vault, and lure the big dragon out? I can blast them with flames hotter than the sun, but indiscriminate attacks and collateral damage doesn't sound so right to me."

The dragonslayer Grechke has heard such protestations before, and this kind of ignorance really riles him up. Who knows if the spawns of Tiamat already impregnated them or tainted them with evil? For all we know, some of them are just dragons in disguise! How dare she questions The Silverblood Knight's morality!

Thunder started to rumble as dark clouds start to form. She lightly tapped him on the back before his emotion can overtake his well-composed stature. "Come now, Grechke, we are counting on you. Don't mind Katja, I'll explain everything to her."

Amidst the oncoming storm, Lucia's smile shined like a bright, sunny, day. She always seemed so optimistic, always willing to explain her perspective and make people understand what she fights for. He find those qualities admirable, and it's such a shame that the world vilified and hated her for something so noble. Grechke's great-grandmother once told him that she's reincarnated from great champions of the past, including Bahamut's first Platinum Knight. And he knew now, that Lucia is the current reincarnation. She's a hero, just ask the kids. She's actually running an orphanage, for Bahamut's sake!

Raindrops began to pour as Gretchke and his brethren, Katja included, descended the dragon's lair. Soon, this place will be nothing but ruins, with Bahamut's blessing of rain washing away the foul stench of evil inside.Plenty of improvements, so let's start by imbuing her feet to become a +1 Dragonbane Magebane Wounding Unarmed Strike, which is a massive attack/damage boost against dragons, especially with Decisive Strike + Snap Kick. She can also get massive Str boost for at least 1/day for 2 rounds.

Her Sense Motive, Diplomacy, and Tumble skyrocketed here, too, the last one enabling her to do 10-foot steps with a DC40 tumble check. She gets Improved Combat Reflexes, allowing unlimited AoO for her to hop around the battlefield towards her next vulnerable victims whenever she gets attacked. Basically, provoking AoOs from her will be more dangerous than ever.

Lastly, she gets Epic Destiny (Eternal Hero), which massively boosts her survivability (and resurrection, failing that), battlefield control (Control Weather), and versatility (Limited Wish). Greater Consumptive Field would raise Half-Celestial SLA CL to 57, which is crazy when used for Holy Word.
Verrat pulled the sacred artifact out of the fallen dragon's heart. It took them an entire night to organize this hunt, and the monster took twelve of his siblings down with it. He observes the monster's neither chromatic nor metallic, exactly, but he thinks there are clear signs of red dragon heritage that can be easily detected. It's evil anyway, so the hunt last night was entirely justified, not to mention sister Lucia herself joined. And tonight, bigger things are in store for them.

"Brothers and sisters, I can't thank you enough for taking up this divine burden that not every servants of Bahamut can bear. I just hope that this great quest that we are about to embark on will open their eyes, to see what sister Lucia sees. For our champion, the Silverblood Knight!"

"For our champion, the Silverblood Knight!", the rest echoed.

Lucia beamed happily and nodded at Verrat. The snotty lad from the orphanage five years ago's all grown up, and he grew up to be a virtuous young man. Those five years were some bittersweet memories for Lucia, as some of the children grew up to be too rebellious, too chaotic, and a few even threatened to expose everything to the Church of Bahamut. Some of the kids, like Verrat, were more than happy to put their own rebellious siblings down in order to prove themselves, and it made her really proud.

"Tonight, great sacrifices must be made for the greater good. People perish in wars, and that's the said reality of it. My prayers go to those poor souls. Thousands of innocent lives may die, but we will be saving millions of them in turn! For the Platinum Dragon, Bahamut! For our champion, the Silverblood Knight!", the ex-vassal of Bahamut exclaimed.

"For our champion, the Silverblood Knight!", the rest roared in frenzied unison.BAB and saves continue to increase. At this point, you are rocking a +42 to Diplomacy, enough to hit some Helpful to Fanatic Epic DC, while your Epic Sense Motive has at least 60% chance to detect partial alignment.

Detect Magic and Nondetection are great bonus perks from Occult Slayer, but Blank Thoughts really gives you that long-awaited immunity. Finally, Karmic Strike basically doubles your AoO fun, enabling you to either make 4 attacks per successful attack against you, or make a 20ft. movement for free!
Fluff: Bahamut, aka The Platinum Dragon, is the LG God of Good Dragonkind. He is the sibling and chief foe of Tiamat, and is to metallic dragons what his sister is to chromatic dragons. His domains are Air, Dragon, Good, Luck, Protection, Nobility, and Storm. Plenty of Bahamut's worshippers join the Dragonfall war, which is basically them mercilessly killing any chromatic dragon, possibly including even descendants like half-dragons. Some exemplary humanoids devoted to Bahamut's cause can become chosen as Dragonborn. Lastly, Damaran humans tend to act based on their strong moral beliefs.

Crunch: Silverbrow Humans are descended from silver dragons, which is one of the metallic dragons that most hold Bahamut in high regard. The god's lawful inclination is matched by lawful inclination of Monk and Kensai. Many worshippers. The Silverbloodknight is also really good at putting the hurt on and defending against chromatic dragons, especially those that gain spellcasting, due to +1 Dragonbane Magebane Wounding Unarmed Strike and the Occult Slayer class. A half-celestial's thematically-good spell-like abilities are effective against evil creatures, the most notable of which is the deadly Holy Word. Her Eternal Hero abilities Death Denied and Nexus of Many Lives: Arcanist used to emulate Improvisation represent Bahamut's luck domain. Thunderclap and Nexus of Many Lives: Disciple used to emulate Control Weather represent Bahamut's storm domain. Her Kensai oath is show no mercy to and never back down against evil and/or chromatic dragons. And lastly, Lucia used to be a legitimate LG worshipper, but became a tarnished-dragonborn after contracting lycanthrope incurred an Evil alignment (because an animal bred specifically for helping take lives sounds more like is associates to evil better than other animals' reasons for their associations to evil).
Monster Manual III: Battletitan38
Dragon Magic: Silverbrow Human6
Races of the Dragon: Dragonborn8
Races of Faerun: Jotunbrud
Races of Destiny: Human Heritage152
Complete Warrior: Karmic Strike102, Kensai49, Occult Slayer66
Complete Arcane: Mage Slayer81, Magebane143
Player's Handbook II: Decisive Strike51, Robilar's Gambit82
Tome of Battle: Snap Kick32, Evasive Reflexes30, Martial Lore28
Savage Species: Thunderclap40
Web Enhancements: Epic DestinyLink (http://web.archive.org/web/20090218080723/http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080428), Skilled City-Dweller(Tumble)Link (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)
Spell Compendium: Barghest's Feast24, Greater Consumptive Field51, Veil of Undeath229, Divine Insight70, Improvisation121

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:49 AM

Torquemada
http://yoskhaz.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Angel-fantasy-31530382-1280-1024-860x688.jpg

Torquemada is a Justice Archon Antiquarian Rogue 1/ Paladin 4 -> Blackguard 4/ Shadowbane Inquisitor 7/ Blackguard +2. His alignment is Lawful Good -> Lawful Evil. Torquemada's fall happens between CR 18 and CR 19, that is, CR 19 is when he takes his first level of Blackguard.
Torquemada starts off at CR 6 with 6 HDs and ends up at CR 20 with 20 HDs and 14 class levels. He is a follower of Heironeous (Lawful Good deity).

The description of the Shadowbane Inquisitor class states:
Should an inquisitor who also has paladin levels ever gain levels in the blackguard class, his shadowbane inquisitor levels stack with his paladin levels when determining the number of extra abilities that the blackguard gains for having paladin levels. For example, if a 5th-level paladin/1st-level rogue/5th-level shadowbane inquisitor takes a level of blackguard, he gains extra blackguard class abilities as if he were a fallen paladin of 10th level.
This means that when Torquemada is a Rogue 1/ Paladin 4/ Shadowbane inquisitor 7, he has 11 effective levels of Paladin. Relatively to those levels, the Blackguard description reads:
11 or more: Favored of the dark deities. Evil deities like nothing more than to see a pure heart corrupted, and thus a fallen paladin of this stature immediately gains a blackguard level for each level of paladin he trades in. For example, a character who has twelve levels of paladin can immediately become a 10th-level blackguard with all abilities if he chooses to lose ten levels of paladin.
So Torquemada's Paladin levels are eligible for a trade in. We note however that only true Paladin levels can be exchanged, since the Shadowbane Inquisitor description explains that the levels only count towards the added benefits. They are not considered full-fledged Paladin level; as such they can't explicitly be traded in, or at least the RAW errs towards this interpretation. Compare with the Gray Guard class, where a more exhaustive formulation is employed:
Levels of gray guard are treated as levels of paladin for the purpose of advancing in the blackguard prestige class.
Hence, only 4 levels are exchanged. The 7 levels of Shadowbane Inquisitor then confer the benefits of 7 levels of ex-Paladin.
Moreover, thanks to the Absolute Conviction class feature that Shadowbane Inquisitors gain at first level, Torquemada retains all the clas features and benefits of those seven levels even when his alignment changes to Lawful Evil, despite the fact that it makes him fail to meet the Lawful Good alignment prerequisite of the class.

Since Paladin is the favored class of Justice Archons, Torquemada does not suffer from Exp penalty, in case it would be played as a PC rather than a villain.

The natural ability modifier array of the Justice Archon is Str + 6, Dex +2, Con +10, Wis +2, Cha +4.
The elite array is then applied as follows: Str 12 Dex 10 Con 8 Int 14 Wis 13 Cha 15.

CR
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha
Notes

6
18
12
18
14
15
19

8
18
12
18
14
15
20
8 HD +1 Cha

12
18
12
19
14
15
20
12 HD +1 Con

16
18
12
20
14
15
20
16 HD +1 Con

20
18
12
20
14
16
20
20 HD +1 Wis

Torquemada is of Lawful good alignment from CR 6 to CR 18 included, then shifts to Lawful Evil. He then carries on from CR 18 to CR 20.
Torquemada speaks Celestial, Draconic, Infernal, Common, Abyssal and is under the effect of a permanent Tongues spell.

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Racial/ Class Features

6
Justice Archon (6 HD) (MMIV)
+6/+1
+9
+6
+7
Hide 4.5 (cross-class), Diplomacy 9, Bluff 4.5 (cross-class), Disguise 4.5 (cross-class), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 4.5 (cross-class), Gather Information 4 (cross-class), Knowledge (Religion) 4 (cross-class), Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4 (cross-class), Knowledge (Local) 2 (cross-class), Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Power Attack, Cleave, Planar Touchstone: Catalogues of Enlightenment (Courage Domain) (PlH)
Darkvision 60ft, Low-Light Vision, Aura of Menace, Immunity to electricity and petrification, permanent Magic Circle against Evil and Tongues, at-will Aid, Continual Flame, Detect Evil, Teleport (self only plus 50 pounds), +4 to saves against poison, DR 10/evil, Fly 60ft (good), Aligned Strike (Lawful and Good), Justice Strike

7
Rogue 1
+6/+1
+9
+8
+7
Hide 4.5, Diplomacy 10, Bluff 4.5, Disguise 8.5, Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 9.5, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 4, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Sneak Attack +1d6, Antiquary ACF (trade out Trapfinding; CC)

8
Paladin 1
+7/+2
+11
+8
+7
Hide 4.5, Diplomacy 11, Bluff 4.5, Disguise 9 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 10 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Detect Evil, Smite Evil (1/day), Aura of Good

9
Paladin 2
+8/+3
+17
+13
+12
Hide 4.5, Diplomacy 12, Bluff 4.5, Disguise 10 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 10.5 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Awesome Smite (CC)
Divine Grace, Lay on Hands

10
Paladin 3
+9/+4
+17
+14
+13
Hide 4.5, Diplomacy 13, Bluff 4.5, Disguise 11 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 11 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Divine Health, Aura of Courage

11
Paladin 4
+10/+5
+18
+14
+13
Hide 5 (cc), Diplomacy 14, Bluff 4.5, Disguise 12 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 11 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Turn Undead

12
Shadowbane Inquisitor 1 (CAdv)
+11/+6/+1
+20
+14
+13
Hide 5, Diplomacy 14, Bluff 5 (cc), Disguise 12, Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 12.5 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Skill trick: Assume Quirk (CSco), Travel Devotion (CC)
Absolute Conviction, Pierce Shadows

13
Shadowbane Inquisitor 2
+12/+7/+2
+21
+14
+13
Hide 5, Diplomacy 15 (cc), Bluff 5, Disguise 13 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 13.5 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Sacred Stealth (+4), Smite Anyone (1/day)

14
Shadowbane Inquisitor 3
+13/+8/+3
+21
+15
+14
Hide 5, Diplomacy 15, Bluff 8 (cc), Disguise 13, Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 13.5, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Improved Sunder (Shadowbane Inquisitor 3 bonus)

15
Shadowbane Inquisitor 4
+14/+9/+4
+22
+15
+14
Hide 5, Diplomacy 16 (cc), Bluff 9 (cc), Disguise 13.5 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 14 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Mask of Gentility (EoE)
Sneak Attack +2d6

16
Shadowbane Inquisitor 5
+15/+10/+5
+22
+15
+14
Hide 5, Diplomacy 17 (cc), Bluff 9, Disguise 14.5 (cc), Sense Motive 8, Use Magic Device 15 (cc), Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Merciless Purity

17
Shadowbane Inquisitor 6
+16/+11/+6/+1
+23
+16
+15
Hide 5, Diplomacy 19 (cc), Bluff 9, Disguise 15.5 (cc), Sense Motive 8,Use Magic Device 15, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Smite Anyone (3/day)

18
Shadowbane Inquisitor 7
+17/+12/+7/+2
+23
+16
+15
Hide 5, Diplomacy 20 (cc), Bluff 9, Disguise 17.5 (cc), Sense Motive 8,Use Magic Device 15, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Staggering Strike (CAdv)
Sacred Stealth (+8), Sneak Attack +3d6

18
Paladin 4 ->
Blackguard 4
+17/+12/+7/+2
+23
+16
+15
Hide 5, Diplomacy 20, Bluff 9, Disguise 17.5, Sense Motive 8,Use Magic Device 15, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Loses:
Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil (1/day), Divine Grace, Lay on Hands, Divine Health, Aura of Courage, Turn undead, Paladin spellcasting.

Gains:
Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Smite Good (1/day), Poison Use, Dark Blessing, Aura of Despair, Command Undead, Sneak Attack +1d6, Blackguard spellcasting.

Additional gains for 10 effective levels of ex-Paladin:
Smite Good +2/day, Lay on Hands, Sneak Attack +1d6, Fiendish Summoning.

19
Blackguard 5
+18/+13/+8/+3
+23
+16
+15
Hide 5, Diplomacy 22, Bluff 9, Disguise 19.5 (cc), Sense Motive 8,Use Magic Device 15, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

Fiendish Servant, Smite Good (4/day).

20
Blackguard 6
+19/+14/+9/+4
+24
+17
+16
Hide 5, Diplomacy 23, Bluff 9, Disguise 22 (cc), Sense Motive 8,Use Magic Device 15, Gather Information 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4 , Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 5, Knowledge (Local) 2, Knowledge (The Planes) 8

The following table includes the bonus spells per day granted by a high Wisdom score.

CR
CL
1st
2nd
3rd

11
2
1
-
-

12
2
1
-
-

13
2
1
-
-

14
2
1
-
-

15
2
1
-
-

16
2
1
-
-

17
2
1
-
-

18
4
2
2
-

19
5
2
2
0

20
6
3
3
2

Commonly prepared spells:

CR 11-17: Divine Sacrifice (SC)

CR 18-20, 1st level: Corrupt Weapon, Blade of Blood (PHBII), Divine Sacrifice (SC).
2nd level: Investiture of the Bearded Devil (FCII), Investiture of the Chain Devil (FCII), Hand of Divinity (SC).
3rd level: Fangs of the Vampire King (SC), Investiture of the Steel Devil (FCII).

Beginning at CR 19, Torquemada summons a Fiendish Bat, Lago, as his servant. The advancement of the Blackguard's servant is based off character level, not class level. As such, as a CR 19 character, the Celestial confers Lago with the maximum possible bonus.

Size/Type: Diminutive Magical Beast (Evil, Augmented)
Hit Dice: 8d10 (44 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 5ft, fly 40ft (good)
Armor Class: 23, touch 16, flat-footed 21 (+4 size, +2 dex, +7 natural)
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/-7
Attack: -
Full Attack: -
Space/Reach: 1 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Smite Good 1/day
Special Qualities: Blindsense 20ft, Low-Light Vision, Darkvision 60ft, Improved Evasion, Share spells, Share saving throws, Blood bond, Speak with Blackguard, SR 13, Resistance to fire 5 and cold 5, DR 5/magic
Saves: Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +4
Abilities: Str 5, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 9, Wis 14, Cha 4
Skills: Hide 25, Listen 8, Spot 8
Feats: Alertness, Martial Study (Shadow Blade Technique) (ToB), Martial Stance (Island of Blades) (ToB)

CAdv: Complete Adventurer
CC: Complete Champion
Csco: Complete Scoundrel
EoE: Exemplars of Evil
FCII: Fiendish Codex II
MMIV: Monster Manual IV
PHBII: Player's Handbook II
PlH: Planar Handbook
SC: Spell Compendium
ToB: Tome of Battle

All items for which the source is not mentioned where they first appear come from the SRD.

Torquemada is a villain devised towards the concept of a character turning to evil in the greatest of stealth.
Though it might seem dubious that an Archon, a being of pure Good and Law, might turn to darkness, there are actually more than a few precedents in D&D cosmology. First, Asmodeus himself used to be a Celestial, wasn't he? And with him each an every demon that has known the cosmos before the Pact Primeval. Demons and devils did not all spring up from nowhere. Second, the Justice Archons are described, in the MMIV, as short-tempered and borderline self-righteous Celestials. Other Archons do not completely trust them because their anger at the sight of evil makes them sometimes act too rashly to be Good. The archetypical Justice Archon given in the MMIV, Hanzuriel, is even stated out as a Lawful Neutral Celestial unaware of his alignment shift. Not only that, but he is accompanied by two Hound Archons, still Lawful Good, and potentially unaware of this fact too. This example also shows us that is it possible to unwittingly undergo an alignment change. And finally, certain beings of pure Good and Law turn out not to be so. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0290.html)
So guessing that Torquemada has come to the lower end of the alignment pool is very difficult for an outside eye, even more so that at the beginning, the Archon does not know it himself either. As such, he fights for Heironeous with the fullest of his ill-placed might yet with the earnest endeavour. How is this feat achieved? Let us review together what is lost by the alignment change and how Torquemada can be oblivious to these changes.

The most iconic Paladin feature, at-will Detect Evil, is lost. But Justice Archons possess at-will Detect Evil as a racial class feature. Thus, the Blackguard does not notice the loss.
Speaking of which, Torquemada could actually realise that he himself triggers Detect Evil whenever he uses it! But since Shadowbane Inquisitors are loath to be stupidly flushed out by their aura of good when they are in an undercover mission, they take care to hide it. Items of Nondetection and the likes are very cheap and common, for example a Ring of Mind Shielding (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rings.htm#mindShielding) costs 8000 gp. But these devices can be Dispelled. The Mask of Gentility feat, however, is an Ex effect that allows Torquemada to ping off as True Neutral. Since the feat has no alignement prerequisite, it works fine whether the Archon is Good or Evil. And that means that Torquemada does not seem to have changed alignment, fooling even himself. Since the Auras of the Paladin and the Blackguard, be they good or evil, are detected by the same divination spells that are foiled by the feat, they are taken care of as well.
Divine Grace is replaced by Dark Blessing for exactly the same bonus.
Lay on Hands as well. The amount of healing is the same when the conversion occurs: Paladin level 4 times Cha bonus 5 = 20 = Blackguard level 4 times Cha bonus 5.
Smite Evil. For one, Torquemada only loses Smite Evil 1/day, gains Smite Good 1/day, but at the same time retains Smite (anyone) 3/day from Shadowbane Inquisitor. So he can still Smite here and there; and he usually spends one Smite per day or so to power his Awesome Smite feat. This feat conveniently asks for "a Smite attempt", and does not specify whether it has to be a Smite Evil or a Smite Good. Hence, the difference in the two Smite disappears as they are both used the same way for the feat.
Turn Undead: the Archon knows that given his poor effective Cleric level, using his attempts to effectively try and turn some undeads is a waste of resource. So instead, he fuels his Travel Devotion feat with them (which can be powered by either Turn or Rebuke attempts too). And when he gains Rebuke Undead instead, he does not see the difference.
Paladin spellcasting. The only spell that Torquemada prepares throughout his Lawful Good carrier is Divine Sacrifice. When he becomes a Blackguard, the spell still is on his list of known spells. His conversion occurs between levels and as such he does not expect his powers to change before he gains another level. This means he does not know that he suddenly got three more spell slots, and unknowinlgy lets them empty when he prays for his spells. Another thing of note is that the fact that Clerics of evil gods only usually pray for spells at dusk. It is not mandatory. Since Paladins and Blackguards prepare their spells as Clerics, Torquemada can pray at dawn for his spells without any problem...except for the fact that Heironeous won't grant him spells anymore. Here, I have to admit that I will use something more of a fluff reasoning that a RAW one. The fallen Archon still receives spells because, unbeknownst to him and just to piss off his half-brother, Hextor will grant them to him instead of Heroneous. Of course, Torquemada is still chasing after Hextor followers before he realises his change of heart. But the god of tyranny knows that sooner or later, the Celestial will discover his new nature. In the meantime, he does more damage to Heironeous' reputation by pretending to be one of his followers that to Hextor's ocean of minions.
Aura of Courage: to be fair, Torquemada is not really immune to fear as a Blackguard. But since he traveled to the Clockwork Nirvana of Mechanus, paradise of any creature of pure law, he got access to the Catalogues of Enlightenment planar touchstone. As normal for a follower of Heironous, he chose to benefit from the Courage domain. The aura is actually the same as the Aura of Courage of the Paladin (10ft radius, +4 morale bonus against fear), except in regard to himself. He gains the +4 as well instead of being flat-out immune to fear. So when the Celestial embraces the path of the Blackguard, his aura remains, and so his comrades don't see the difference. As to him, he went from a fear immunity to a respectable +19 Will save against fear, so he likely won't see the difference either.
Divine Health: Ok, for this one, no workaround. Torquemada flat-out loses his immunity to diseases. However, he boasts a +23 Fort save, which means that he will only fail on a 1 against each and every disease that I know of. Moreover, people assume he is, as a Paladin, immune to disease...

And how about what he gains rather that replaces? Namely, Detect Good, Poison Use, Aura of Despair and as said before, a few spell slots. Well, since he does not know that he obtained those abilities, he will simply not use them. No one told him that he could now safely handle poison, so he won't!

To sum it up, there are only a few ways to make Torquemada realise that something is very wrong: hit him with a sufficiently powerful fear effect, make him catch a disease, or use a non-divination effect to detect his alignment or his aura, like a Smite Evil to the face or a Holy Word.
But even when that happens, well, Torquemada won't stop believing in Heironeous. This is what it is all about: the Justice Archon fluff, the Shadowbane Inquisitor fluff. The latter class is practically designed exclusively towards an entry into Blackguard: it gives Improved Sunder as a bonus feat, has Hide as a class skill, advances Sneak attack, counts as Paladin levels for the purpose of Blackguard bonuses and retains its class features when you are not Lawful Good anymore. The Celestial will still display courage, as is expected to a servant of Heironeous; simply, he now feels unbound by the cumbersome Paladin code of conduct. After having slowly verged towards the limit between Good and Neutral, all that is needed is one particularly horrendous commandment, and the earnest opinion that it was the best thing to do, tp push Torquemada over the edge directly from Good to Evil. Upon this realisation, the fallen discovers the extent of his newfound powers, and uses them to the fullest to destroy evil whenever it is found, even if it is in the Celestial's imagination.

What follows at once fleshes out Torquemada, gives suggestions as to how play him out as an archvillain, and gives a special focus on what he can and cannot do in combat at CR 18 and CR 20, the former being his sweet spot.

Since Torquemada is an evil opponent only beginning at CR 18, a direct confrontation with the PCs is not the best way to introduce him as the villain. I suggest the following ideas to harmoniously fit him into a campaign.

The PCs have been tracking down a cult of Hextor for several weeks now. They are looking for a particular Necromancer who is said to lay devastation in its path looking for a certain magic item. They are rejoined on their hunt by a squad of followers of Heironeous, led by CR 12 Torquemada. This Shadowbane Inquisitor has been assigned to this mission as a specialist of religious items of relevance (Antiquarian Rogue ACF). In the party of Heironeous happens to be present a Lawful Good Malconvoker.
Torquemada proves to be very convincing in his ask for help (Diplomacy +23). Teaming up, the allies catch up with the servants of Hextor on a rocky hill and dispatch them. The PCs are unnerved by two things: the devils conjured by the Malconvoker, and the unorthodox technique of Torquemada. They show him disguising (+19) as an Erinyes and accompany the actual summoned Erinyes to approach the Hextorites. When he has come to the necromancer, he reveals himself as a servant of Heironeous and attacks him up front, but the PCs are baffled to see a Paladin even using a disguise. He even flanks some henchmen with the Erinyes and, after they have refused to surrender, resorts to Sneak Attacks on them.
After the fight, they part ways. The Necromancer is dead, but the item he was looking after remains unknown.

This is not a fight against the Celestial, because at this point, with only 2 levels in Shadowbane Inquisitor, Torquemada only starts to have a dubious behaviour. Torquemada having a Malconvoker in his squad allows him to fight alongwith summoned and called evil outsiders, and to begrudgingly recognise their combat abilities. Thus, he has "made peaceful contact with an evil outsider who was summoned by him or someone else". That rounds off the prerequisites for the Blackguard class, though the DM can easily wave away this kind of RP requirements when creating his own monsters.

Hextor's church still appears to be the archnemesis of the campaign. The party knows that a secret altar is hidden in the basement of a house in a small thorp, in which the magical item is said to be contained, having been finally found by the Hextorites. Enter a warband of Heironeous. Their leader explains he is mandated by Torquemada himself to root out the cultists and seize the forbidden artifact. Fair enough, think the PCs. But before they have the chance to enter the hamlet and investigate the population, the leader orders his men to burn the whole place to the ground, to force the cultists to evacuate and thus reveal the item. At the very same moment, Torquemada falls, though no one knows yet, not even himself. His force of persuasion and his charisma have easily allowed him to convince his church to delegate him a sizable task force. Blinded by their leader's persuasiveness, the henchmen start to verge towards evil themselves.
Of course, the PCs won't allow that to happen. After a a battle against Rogues of Hextor that spring up to defend their temple, as well as Torquemada’s minions, of whom several have Shadowbane Inquisitor class levels, the PCs manage to save the village. But they can't prevent the artifact from being retrieved by one of Torquemada’s followers from a smoldering hole in the remnants of a house: two scrolls in a glass case.

The PCs still haven't found against the Archon, but they have experienced his style of fight, with Sneak Attacking frontline fighters. They have also understood that Torquemada, driven by his blind conviction, has become a threat and must be stopped as surely as the Hextorites he is facing.

The party rushes to the closest of Heironeous' churches to explain what they saw. They are answered that they are making a very serious accusation towards one of the most devoted and effective members of their church, and have to prove their claim. The PCs are then flabbergasted to discover that Torquemada has managed to hide his corruption in the middle of a church of Paladins! The Celestial is to be found in the middle of a guerilla operation where a commando of Hextor has launched a raid on one of Heironeous' vault to take back the scroll. The PCs arrive in the middle of the fray. They can see an angel that hides and sneaks around, hitting his opponents in the back. The trick here is that they are supposed to face a CR 18 Torquemada, or at least be themselves significantly weaker than him. They succeed not if they defeat him, but if they find a way to show his corruption, in the middle of the battle. Here, they see that Detect Evil fails to reveal him, that his allies are bolstered by an aura of courage, that he heals his own wounds by a Lay on hands, that he casts spells and Smites opponents...The Celestial, recognises his courageous one-time allies, unaware of the fight they picked with his men. He asks for their help, in the name of Heironeus! The PCs thus realise that Torquemada is unaware of his own fall. During the battle, the glass case is shattered, and the PCs grab one of the scrolls. When they finally manage to make the Angel realise his change of heart, they flee with their prize. One of Heironeous' clerics, who was Scrying on the battlefield to witness the attempt of the party, confirms that Torquemada has gone astray and must be dealt with. The scrolls appears to be a political weapon with which Hextor's high priest wants to leverage his church into a position of influence throughout the country: a half-completed scroll of Apocalpypse from the Sky. The angel, severly shaken in his faith, is left reeling when they depart.

The PCs now have to directly confront the Celestial and fight with a crusade of Heironeous to bring down the fallen Paladin. They have experienced the extend of the stealth of his alignment rather than his power in battle

The Archon is, of course, judged by his church. But he feels resentful to hear all of the good deeds he accomplished discarded because of his sole alignment. He decides that only Heroneous can judge, and needs his might if not his purity. By a combination of Diplomacy (+31) and Use Magic Device (+20) in order to use a hidden wand of Conceal Thoughts, he obtains to be put under surveillance as having a potential for redemption. He then quickly befriends his jailor and escapes, determined to resume working. So many adepts of Hextor around, how could one swiftly terminate them all?

Torquemada is found again in a frontal city hosting a rather minor branch of the church of Heironeous. His ability to use Teleport at-will makes him extremely mobile. Why did he come here? Few know that this unremarkable parish actually holds deep down a sacred artifact of the church: the Tear of the Chalice. A vial containing the tears of the daughter of Heironeous that Hextor sent to his half-brother to taunt him after he had kidnapped her. Indeed, the Chalice is actually the name of the long-abducted daughter of the God of Chivalry. It does not take long for the PCs to remember that to complete the casting of the dreaded Apocalypse from the Sky, an artifact of the powers of good is needed as a material component. But when they enter the city, they discover that Torquemada has Disguised his way (+24) past the guards who know his now outcast figure. And he has promptly turned the population against them: who would not believe the words of a shining champion of the God of Honor, an Angel in armor whose mere presence warms the heart? He is still in the process of persuading the local clergy to hand him overthe artifact. The PCs and the crusade they lead have to struggle to a citywide uprising against them, while knowing that by every moment, Torquemada could Teleport away, the artifact in his possession. After having mowed through the city and the exalted Paladins and Clerics in the temple, they face. An allied Wizard drops a well-placed Dimensional Anchor that will force the Archon to fight for a few minutes. He will, helped by a few Paladins and Cleric turned Diplomcy-fanatic.

Showtime. Torquemada has, at this point, embraced his darkness to the fullest, for the greater good. He has realised that he has become a Blackguard, and he won't pull his punches with all the added power and flexibility he gets. What can a CR 18 Torquemada do, apart Disguise, Teleport and Diplomacy?
He is very mobile, thanks to his Ex flight of 40ft per round (reduced from 60ft because of heavy armor). Pouncing each round with Travel Devotion, he can do a solid full-round attack. A high Str and the use of Aid, Divine Sacrifice and Smite deal some good damage. Awesome Smite can trip a grounded opponent, or cancel a miss chance so as to make the 5d6 worth of Sneak Attack valid again. A particularly nasty thing would be to actually Sunder a player's weapon (only for him to retrieve the exact same in the vaults of the church, of course). Power Attack combined with a Dive attack and a Smite (anyone) can deal some damage. Also, the higher power of the Catalogs of Enlightenment allows to cast up to 3 times in total any spell of (Wisdom - 10) level or lower of the chosen domain: for Courage, it means a very solid buff like Valiant Fury and Heroism at levels 5 and 4. The Celestial has also gained the Aura of Despair, which makes it even harder to save against the Aura of Menace, which will in turn lower the saves again. -4 to saves, and -2 to attack rolls and AC. He also has Poison Use, and according to the power level of the party, you can put a poison of varying potency on his blades. It's for an NPC, so basically it's free!
Torquemada can begin already buffed with Investiture of the Bearded Devil which grants an additional attack (so more Sneak Attack), Divine Sacrifice, Investiture of the Chain Devil, etc. Plus, those Investiture spell really give off a vibe of "the end justifies the means, I treat with Devils"
This opponent is actually rather weak without support: he has, for example, no way to natively render an opponent liable to a Sneak Attack. But with allies, he can set up flanks, buff them with his aura of courage, Magic Circle against Evil and at-will Aid, use Staggering Strike and the Aura of Menace of his Archon subtype (save DC 26) to significantly debuff opponents. Something amusing: in case a PC uses a very potent magic weapon with a rider effect like Marrowcrushing, the Justice Strike ability of the Justice Archon punishes him for this.
Defensively, the Justice Archon nabs a protection against mind control with the permanent Magic Circle against Evil, has high saves thanks to Divine Grace. The DR 10/Evil will help a little with the OK HPs, but the low AC and touch AC make the Justice Archon liable to shameless Power Attacks or Enervations.

The party gets a rehearsal before the final battle. Torquemada has no qualms being evil as long as he thinks he still serves Heironeous as the best of his abilities. That would include setting of the scroll to eradicate as many Hexorites as possible; innocents who die in the blast would just end up on one of the upper planes anyway, nothing to complain about. He quickly teleports out of harm's way when the Dimensional Anchor expires, the artififact in his Bag of Holding.

Apocalypse from the Sky has a 24 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_(TV_series))-hour long casting time. That says it all.
The battle occurs in the air, a few dozen meters above the country's capital. There are only 5 Dragon Ball-time minutes left before the end of the casting time. Heironeous churchs loyal servants try as hard as they can to evacuate the place. A Rope Trick connects the extradimensional space to the tip of Heironeous church's bell tower. Inside, the Malconvoker is incanting, the consumed Tear of the Chalice in one hand, the second, completed scroll in the other. Outside, CR 20 Torquemada and his minions face the party. What did he gain? Two things. First, Torquemada has also discovered he could summon a Fiendish Servant, the bat Lago. Though possessing very few HPs, it is not meant to attack but just to stand in the square next to the Archon, benefit from all his buffs with Share spells since he is within 5 feet, and flank anyone before them thanks to the Island of Blades stance. By RAW, this works even though Lago has no reach and no attack. So, easy flanking for Torquemada. And then, 5d6 dice of Sneak Attack with Staggering Strike (and a very high save because of the two debuffing auras).
Second, the Archon now gets Fangs of the Vampire King for another attack to add to his routine, as well as Investiture of the Steel Devil for a solid combat buff. As well as one extra 1st and 2nd level spell slot. Now that the Wisdom is 16, the greater power of the Catalogues of Enlightenment gives Heroes' feast for another buff.

Even until the very last moment, Torquemada will not recognise his mistakes nor recant his faith to the God of Courage. Despite the church of Heironeous and the party's best efforts, his legacy will remain largely a lie. The masses of peasant that were impressed by this charismatic and driven beacon of honor won't readily accept that what he did does not matter as much as how he did it.

When devising an encounter with Torquemada, you can tweak his threat level through different means.

As said above, the use of poison. Thematically appropriate since the Archon boasts Poison Use. Combined with the two debuffing auras of the villain and the Increase Virulence spell, the save DC can be altered by a factor of 6, which is not insignificant. Poisons can range from their non-use to scary things like Megapede venom, save DC 44 -> 50, 2d6 Con + 1d4 Dex.
The Fiendish servant. The bat Lago used above, if buffed up through Share Spells to make it more resilient and using Island of blades, can give an automatic flanking to Torquemada. Combined with the ease to deliver full-round actions thanks to Travel Devotion, this flanking can make a certain difference. Taking a rat or a cat instead will weaken Torquemada.
The buff spells. Between the various good buffs on the Blackguard spell list and the buffs on the Courage domain available through the greater power of the planar touchstone, the Blackguard can heavily alter his combat performances. Beginning the fight with or without those will alter his power, though since all those spells have a very low caster level, there are very prone to Dispel Magic.
Equipment. Sneak attack guys' damage output relies heavily on what they can get their hands on. Torquemada would kill for a pair of Gloves of the Balanced Hand, Bracers of the Hunter, Rogue's Vest, etc. Not to speak about a pair of Shadow gloves to get a 1/encounter Greater Invisibility, etc. On the defensive side, AC needs to be shored up, etc. If there is one permanent item to pick: any Con or Cha enhancer. Since his Use Magic Device skill is cranked up, Torquemada will happily grab a bunch of wands of Greater Invisibility, Wraithstrike, Glibness etc. just as any Rogue does. Moreover, he can let them behind him when he flees for the PCs to loot them. For utility, a Hat of Disguise would do wonders, those wings are rather difficult to hide otherwise. In fact, as any non-caster, the Archon's power level is very closely linked to the items he gets.
Allies. The Blackguard is a team players, what with his auras buffing teammates and debuffing foes. Plus, he needs flanking buddies. With a couple other Justice Archon and a spellcaster, things add up quickly. Plus, his Diplomacy score makes having a team logical and not out of place from the viewpoint of the players.

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:50 AM

Gareth Z’Von: The Voice of Reason

http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/red-riding-hood-movie-image-gary-oldman-01.jpg

I was expecting a great many things when I was dispatched to my eccentric aunt’s manor, but being embroiled in a murder (a most foul one, even) was not anywhere near the top of my agenda.

My wife held a handkerchief close against her face as we and the other guests crowded around the contessa. The drawstrings on her bodice had fallen open, but fortunately there was no hint of impropriety amongst our company, as some savage beast had ensured the same had happened to her chest.

Her effluvia stained dark the beautiful carpet where her supine form lay. I felt the malign impulse to comment, but kept it in reserve. There would be plenty of time for that later.

Someone had to be the first to speak. Blessedly, it was not me.

“What do we do now, exactly?” the viscount asked as he sat in a chair far enough away for his shoes to avoid becoming bloodied. “I should think it fair to say none of us has any expertise in this grisly area.”

I nodded gamely.

“Well, perhaps we should call in an expert,” my wife said. Brilliant as ever.

“Who does one call about such things?” I asked.

“There’s always the church,” the viscount said.

“I’ve heard things,” I said. I tucked my hands into my waistcoat so I wouldn’t wring them. “They can be overzealous, you know.”

“Yes,” my wife said “but what do you think that’ll mean if they come across her and find out we didn’t tell them right away?”

I swallowed. I went over to the davenport, withdrew a sending scroll, and called for help.

There wasn’t much any of us had to say after that. We shivered as we waited for judgement to come. The embers in the fireplace were guttering, but none of us wanted to step over the contessa to tend the fire. Disrespect aside, we didn’t want to do anything to spoil the scene of the murder. I’d heard the church was quite particular about such things.

Before long, the doors to the drawing room burst open, a man covered neck to ankle in heavy silks, his cufflinks emblazoned with the symbol of the silver flame.

By the host, he’d come in unannounced!

I commented on this irregularity, which seemed to amuse him. He replied with an insouciant smirk.

“Rest assured, your grace, your servants know I am here. All is well.” He spoke in a honeyed, oiled voice. I blinked darkness away from the edge of my vision. The church wouldn’t be ensorcelling people before they’d even asked any questions, after all. It must’ve just been all the elven goldenwine we’d had with dinner.

The stranger knelt in the contessa’s filth and dipped a gloved finger into her stomach. My wife turned away when he brought the slime within to his nostrils.

“Is that necessary, Mr…” the viscount trailed off, clearly affronted that this man hadn’t even announced himself if he wasn’t going to go through proper channels.

“Z’Von.” He licked the blood off his glove and gave a grim nod. “I’m afraid it is. As much as I’d like to say otherwise, this is the work of a werewolf. By the decree of the church, no one is allowed to leave this place.” I grimaced.

“Until the culprit has made himself clear, no one is allowed in or out of this estate.”

“Or herself,” my wife saw fit to comment, judging this moment as the opportune time to showcase her incessant pedantry.

“Yes,” Z’Von said. He rubbed at his goatee, though the motion was somewhat stiff. “Or herself.”

The viscount actually took a quaff from his flask, a church official not ten steps away.

“Shouldn’t we get this over with? Ask us your questions and we’ll tell you our lies,” he punctuated his odious statement with a wink.

“Rest assured, my lord, I will get to you in due time. For now, you had all better retire. I trust you can put yourselves to bed without the aid of your servants downstairs.” He threw his coat over the wingback chair opposite the viscount and threw another log on the fire, seemingly oblivious to the contributions his own boots were making to the carpet.

My aunt deigned to speak to this man, though they hadn’t even been introduced.

“And what exactly are they doing that’s more important than attending to their duties?” she demanded.

“Nothing you need concern yourself with,” he said and snuffed the candles on the mantel. “Now leave me alone with the body.”

We found we had precious little choice and retired immediately.

Our accomodations, as we’d appraised them earlier, were more than adequate, but in light of recent events seemed to take on a sinister pall. The lighting which my wife had earlier described as cozy was now apparently anything but.

In our haste to get out to the country, I’d neglected to bring my spare pack of slumber sticks, so as a gentleman was obligated to offer my wife the final one laying forlornly in its pack.

To my chagrin, she cheerfully accepted.

I spoke the little magic word on the back of the box the manufacturer had been good enough to print phonetically, broke the stick under her nose, and she was asleep in an instant, leaving me to my own devices.

Though it was certainly irregular for me to be fetching my own victuals at this hour, in my estimation I had little choice. I brought a small glowstone from the pocket of my nightshirt and held it in my teeth to light the way rather than take any of these torches from their sconces. If I heard anything, I’d just shut my mouth, a trick from my days at Morgrave.

I found the kitchen easily enough and availed myself of the foodstuffs there. Though I know it sounds ghoulish to hear, my appetite hadn’t left me even after the evening’s events.

On my way back to my room, a sliver of light stood out to me, barely visible from the edge of a door. It was to the drawing room. Was that dreadful man still in there?

Against my better judgement, I knelt by its side. After all, there wasn’t any noise coming from inside, though somehow this failed to bring me any comfort.

I peered through the keyhole and saw Z’Von sitting on the floor with his back to the fireplace, his legs crossed and his wrists resting on his knees. He faced the contessa, and she looked worse for the wear than when I had last seen her. Z’Von’s gloves were spattered with gore, as though he had rooted around inside her like an overburdened valise.

Feeling my gorge rise, I went back to my room, though I was hardly hopeful as to the possibility of an undisturbed night’s sleep.

When I came in and locked the door, I saw my wife was, as ever, a step ahead of me. She was murmuring something and tossing and turning dreadfully beneath the covers.

I caught the odd word about wolves here and there before making a vain attempt to get some sleep myself.

Before I could lower my head, she awoke.

I went through the expected inquiries of what was wrong, but she seemed oddly calm.

“I’m sure the church knows what it’s doing, dear. Everything will be fine,” she queerly reassured me, even though it was my duty to be providing comfort.

Thinking no more on the matter, she permitted me to go to sleep.

I dreamt fitfully.

I found myself again in the drawing room, but I wasn’t myself. I supped from a bone china cup that rested somewhat more heavily upon my thumb that I was accustomed to.

My fingers were far more delicate, even than they had been as a boy. I wore the contessa’s ring on my left hand. On the wall, the calendar displayed the prior day’s date.

Little details about the room seemed off. The chair opposite me—or should I say the contessa— was slightly the wrong color, more ochre than pumpkin, and the stout legs that supported its frame, wrought to look like gryphon’s claws, occasionally rapped the floor.

None of this perturbed me in this dream.

I raised my cup and in it glimpsed a reflection of some large, dark shape behind me just before it crashed through the glass doors overlooking the landscape.

Once in my college years, I recall a visiting lecturer, a dusty old man who had chosen to expend his years studying the magics of the mind, who spoke at great length about the impossibility of feeling pain in a dream.

As I felt the contessa knocked to the floor, and the infernal beast’s fangs sink into her belly, it suddenly dawned on me that the old fellow might’ve been a bit off the mark.

The blood leached from from the contessa and I was unable to move any further, or even turn her head to see what became of the beast who’d done this terrible deed.

Still she lay for hours until I saw, of all things, myself come in, alongside the rest of the guests. Their conversation was hazy and indistinct, but soon enough, I was left with Z’Von.

He knelt over the contessa and invoked some dark prayer before touching his filthy glove to the contessa’s face and shutting her eyes forever.

Here, I awoke as myself once more. Z’Von sat in a rude, wooden chair by my side and removed a damp washcloth from my forehead.

He proffered a bowl of thin broth, which I grudgingly accepted.

“Don’t worry, your grace. It’s always darkest before the dawn.” He smirked as I took a spoon of broth to my lips.

Strangely, it inspired no scorn in me.

“We’ll all be just fine, dear,” my wife said as she puttered about putting on her face. “Just fine.”

I saw no reason to argue.

CE human factotum 5/evangelist* of the silver flame 5/exemplar 10

Evangelist’s alignment is “as cleric,” which in Eberron allows any alignment to follow any church or deity

str 10
dex 12
con 13
int 15 (increases here)
wis 8
cha 14

Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Factotum 1
+0
+0
+2
+0
autohypnosis 4, balance 4, bluff 4, diplo 4, gather info 4, lucid dreaming 4, k (religion) 4, perform (oratory) 4, sm 4
skill focus (diplomacy), wanderer’s diplomacy
Inspiration, cunning insight, cunning knowledge, trapfinding

2nd
Factotum 2
+1
+0
+3
+0
autohypnosis 1 (5), balance 1 (5), bluff 1 (5), diplo 1 (5), gather info 1 (5), lucid dreaming 1 (5), k (religion) 1 (5), perform (oratory) 1 (5), sm 1 (5)

Arcane dilettante (1 spell)

3rd
Factotum 3
+2
+1
+3
+1
bluff 1 (6), lucid dreaming 1 (6), perform (oratory) 1 (6), tumble 5, umd 1
persuasive
Brains over brawn, cunning defense

4th
Factotum 4
+3
+1
+4
+1
bluff 1 (7), diplo 2 (7), forgery 1, lucid dreaming 1 (7), umd 5 (7)

Arcane dilettante (2 spells), cunning strike

5th
Factotum 5
+3
+1
+4
+1
bluff 1 (8), diplo 1 (8), lucid dreaming 1 (8), sleight of hand 6, umd 1 (8)

Opportunistic piety

6th
Evangelist 1
+3
+1
+4
+3
bluff 1 (9), diplo 1 (9), disguise 3, perform (oratory) 3 (9), social recovery
master manipulator
Great orator (inspire dread or inspire hope)

7th
Evangelist 2
+4
+1
+4
+4
bluff 1 (10), diplo 1 (10), disguise 3 (6), listen 4, perform (oratory) 1 (10)

Fast talk

8th
Evangelist 3
+5
+2
+5
+4
bluff 1 (11), diplo 1 (11), disguise 3 (9), listen 4 (8), perform (oratory) 1 (11)

Great orator (inflame
the righteous)

9th
Evangelist 4
+6/+1
+2
+5
+5
bluff 1 (12), diplo 1 (12), disguise 1 (10), listen 4 (12), perform (oratory) 1 (12), listen to this
dive for cover
Skill mastery: bluff, diplomacy, disguise, sense motive

10th
Evangelist 5
+6/+1
+2
+5
+5
bluff 1 (13), diplo 1 (13), disguise 3 (13), intimidate 3, listen 1 (13), perform (oratory) 1 (13)

Great orator (convert the unfaithful)

11th
Exemplar 1
+6/+1
+2
+5
+7
lucid dreaming 6 (14), sm 1 (6), umd 6 (14)

Skill artistry: lucid dreaming, skill mastery: listen, lucid dreaming, sleight of hand, spot, tumble

12th
Exemplar 2
+7/+2
+2
+5
+8
lucid dreaming 1 (15), sleight of hand 9 (15), sm 3 (9), umd 1 (15)
font of inspiration
Lend talent (one-half penalty)
sm: balance

13th
Exemplar 3
+8/+3
+3
+6
+8
lucid dreaming 1 (16), sleight of hand 1 (16), sm 3 (12), spot 8, umd 1 (16)

Bonus feat: improved initiative, sm: autohypnosis

14th
Exemplar 4
+9/+4
+3
+6
+9
disguise 2 (15), lucid dreaming 1 (17), sleight of hand 1 (17), sm 3 (15), spot 4 (12), umd 1 (17), clarity of vision

Skill artistry: sleight of hand, sustaining presence, sm: perform (oratory)

15th
Exemplar 5
+9/+4
+3
+6
+9
bluff 5 (18), sleight of hand 1 (18), sm 3 (18), spot 4 (16), umd 1 (18)
font of inspiration
Persuasive
performance, sm: gather info

16th
Exemplar 6
+10/+5
+4
+7
+10
bluff 1 (19), diplo 6 (19), intimidate 2 (5), sleight of hand 1 (19), sm 1 (19), spot 3 (19)

Bonus feat: skill focus: bluff, sm: k(religion)

17th
Exemplar 7
+11/+6/+1
+4
+7
+10
bluff 1 (20), diplo 1 (20), intimidate 7 (12),sleight of hand 1 (20), sm 1 (20), spot 1 (20), never outnumbered

Skill artistry: bluff, sm: forgery

18th
Exemplar 8
+12/+7/+2
+4
+7
+11
bluff 1 (21), diplo 1 (21), intimidate 7 (19), listen 2 (15), sleight of hand 1 (21), sm 1 (21), spot 1 (21)
combat panache
Intellectual agility,
lend talent (equal to
penalty), sm: jump

19th
Exemplar 9
+12/+7/+2
+5
+8
+11
bluff 1 (22), diplo 1 (22), intimidate 3 (22), listen 6 (21), sleight of hand 1 (22), sm 1 (22), spot 1 (22)

Bonus feat: blind-fight, sm: survival

20th
Exemplar 10
+13/+8/+3
+5
+8
+12
bluff 1 (23), diplo 1 (23), disguise 8 (23), intimidate 1 (23), listen 1 (23), sleight of hand 1 (23), sm 1 (23), spot 1 (23)

Perfect self, skill artistry: disguise, sm: swim

At this stage, you act more or less like any factotum with a heavy social bent. You are extremely adept at charming your adversaries and talking your way out of scrapes, so use that to your advantage as you lay groundwork for evangelist

Congratulations, you’re in evangelist! Enjoy your ability to make your social skills even stronger, protect your allies with the holy fire of the silver flame, demoralize heretics, and convert naysayers to your way of thinking as quick as thinking. master manipulator shores up your abilities and makes it harder to outtalk you, and skill mastery lets you easily gain the upper hand in any opposed social check

You’re in exemplar and it’s paying off immediately. If for whatever reason you can’t change people’s minds out in the world, you can always come to them in a dream to persuade them to looking at things your way, or if that fails, chucking them into the dreamheart. The check is flat, so once you’ve got skill artistry and skill mastery online, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop you. Thanks again, exemplar. Font of inspiration lets factotum pull more than its share of weight, so enjoy using its tricks more often

You have transcended your mortal form and become an outsider. By this point, you have mastered all your skills and then some, so your smallest action is infused with the essence of perfection itself. More social tactical combat feats are up allowing you to use your large modifiers to your advantage both in and out of combat.

He is more than at home in any social or intrigue-based game. Due to his numerous social powers, even if he isn’t able to wend his way into your party’s good graces, he should be more than capable of insinuating himself within their support network of friendly NPCs.

Before he’s ever encountered, you can have him haunt your PCs’ dreams and provide clues that are prophetic, misleading, frightening, or whatever the story calls for. The bonuses to his lucid dreaming skill in place, he can strike from any time in any form within the dream world.

While throwing a PC into the dreamheart isn’t exactly sporting, once they figure out Z’Von’s weapon of choice, that threat will be ever-present in your party’s plans and worries, so having him pick off npcs in this fashion could be an avenue to introduce mystery elements to the game.

It’s also possible that he is able to present himself to the party as a friend or ally in the outside world, and this too will allow him to appear to be helpful before he moves in for the kill.

The church of the silver flame offers him the perfect front to scourge through the countryside and create trouble as he sees fit, so remember his social manipulation abilities when it comes time for the party to try to turn the town against him.

srd: persuasive, skill focus, blind-fight, improved initiative
dungeonscape: factotum, font of inspiration
complete scoundrel: never outnumbered, social recovery, listen to this, clarity of vision
complete divine: evangelist
complete adventurer: exemplar, dive for cover
phb2: combat panache, wanderer’s diplomacy, master manipulator
manual of the planes: lucid dreaming

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:51 AM

Gaspar Macoute, The Bag Man
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/origins_keyser_soze_the_unknown_foreigner_397373.p ng
LG-> LE Hobgoblin Spellthief 1/Paladin 5/Shadowbane Inquisitor 10/Blackguard 9

Stats (with racial mods)
Str 14 (increases at 8 on)
Dex 13 (15)
Con 12 (14)
Int 10
Wis 8
Cha 15 (increase at 4)
Build

Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features

1st
Spellthief 1
+0
+0
+0
+2
Gather Information 4, Hide 4, Knowledge (Local) 4, Move Silently 4, Tumble 4, Use Magic Device 4
Dynamic Priest
Sneak Attack +1d6, Steal Spell (0 or 1st), trapfinding

2nd
Paladin 1 Blackuard 1
+1
+2
+0
+2
Knowledge (Religion) 2 Intimidate 2

Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/dayAura of Evil, Detect Good, Poison Use, Lay on Hands, Fiendish Summoning

3rd
Paladin 2 Blackguard 2
+2
+3
+0
+2
Sense Motive 2 Indimidate 4
Power Attack
Divine Grace, Lay on Hands Dark Blessing, Smite Good 4/day

4th
Paladin 3 Blackguard 3
+3
+3
+1
+3
Sense Motive 4 Intimidate 6

Aura of Courage, Divine HealthCommand Undead, Aura of Despair

5th
Paladin 4 Blackguard 4
+4
+4
+1
+3
Sense Motive 6 Ride 2

Turn UndeadSneak Attack +2d6

6th
Paladin 5 Blackguard 5
+5
+4
+1
+3
Sense Motive 8 Intimidate 7, Ride 3
Staggering Strike
Smite Evil 2/day, Special Mount (Drakkensteed Mount)Fiendish Servant, Undead Companion, Smite Good 5/day

7th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 1
+6/+1
+6
+1
+3
Hide 6, Move Silently 6

Absolute Conviction, Pierce Shadows

8th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 2
+7/+2
+7
+1
+3
Hide 8, Move Silently 8

Sacred Stealth (+4), Smite 1/day

9th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 3
+8/+3
+7
+2
+4
Hide 10, Move Silently 10
Shape Soulmeld (Blink Shirt), (B)Improved Sunder
Improved Sunder

10th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 4
+9/+4
+8
+2
+4
Hide 12, Move Silently 12

Sneak Attack +2d6

11th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 5
+10/+5
+8
+2
+4
Hide 14, Move Silently 14

Merciless Purity

12th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 6
+11/+6/+1
+9
+3
+5
Hide 15, Knowledge (Religion) 4(to 2), Move Silently 15
Persistent Refusal
Smite 2/day

13th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 7
+12/+7/+2
+9
+3
+5
Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Sense Motive 10

Sacred Stealth (+8), Sneak Attack +3d6

14th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 8
+13/+8/+3
+10
+3
+5
Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Sense Motive 12

Righteous Fervor

15th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 9
+14/+9/+4
+10
+3
+5
Hide 18, Move Silently 18, Sense Motive 14
Cleave
Burning Light

16th
Shadowbane Inquisitor 10
+15/+10/+5
+11
+3
+5
Hide 19, Move Silently 19, Sense Motive 16 (to 8)

Smite 3/day, Sneak Attack +4d6

17th
Blackguard 6
+16/+11/+6/+1
+12
+4
+6
Hide 20, Intimidate 8

Sneak Attack +6d6

18th
Blackguard 7
+17/+12/+7/+2
+12
+4
+6
Hide 21, Intimidate 9
Improved Fiendish Servant (Dire Bat)
Sneak Attack +7d6

19th
Blackguard 8
+18/+13/+8/+3
+13
+4
+6
Hide 22, Intimidate 10

20th
Blackguard 9
+19/+14/+9/+4
+13
+5
+7
Hide 23, Intimidate 11

Spells
Spells per Day/Spells Known

Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th

17th
-
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

18th
-
2
1
1
0
-
-
-
-
-

19th
-
2
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-

20th
-
2
2
1
1
-
-
-
-
-

Backstory
Before he was the Bag Man, Gaspar Macoute was a poor alley thief growing up in the city slums. Quick fingers and an imposing hobgoblin face meant he managed well enough to stay alive and out of the worst of trouble. He stole what he needed to survive, but he always stole from those that seemed like they could stand to lose it, and he never stole from the local Church of Hieroneous. He believed even then that there were some people who were too good to steal from.

When late one market day he spotted an aging man dressed in glowing white with rings on every finger, he knew he had spotted his target. He approached and pulled the classic “accidental” run-in to knock him off balance, then steadied him as he surreptitiously picked the fattest pocket for the jingling gold he heard within. He waited until the man had said his pardons and moved away a good distance before moving to a darker alley to examine his bounty, and was shocked to find it was the holy symbol of the Church of Hieroneous. It may have been made of gold, but there were some lines that he would not cross. In a panic he ran back to where he encountered the man, and fortunately was able to see him in the distance, still walking unhurriedly.

Trembling with fear, he approached the man and said “Excuse me, sir, but when we bumped into each other you dropped this.” He held up the amulet with trembling fingers, noticing as the priest took it back that he had smudged it with the grime that caked his hands. The priest took it back and pocketed it without haste before fixing the young boy with a surprisingly weighty stare.
“No I didn’t. You took it right from my pocket. But you have come to return it. Why is that, young master?”
“It’s a holy symbol of the Church of Hieroneous. It would be wrong to take it. I’m sorry. I thought it was just some normal gold or jewels. I would never have taken it if I knew and -“
The priest held up a callused hand. “You’ve apologized, there’s no need to grovel, son. You’re clearly in need of a good meal and, by the looks of it, some shoes. Why don’t you come to the church kitchen so we can find you something to eat, shall we?”

This was Gaspar’s introduction to the church and to the High Priest. He was a fair man, capable of great kindness and understanding, and he took Gaspar under his wing, taking him away from the alleyways and teaching more in the ways of the church. With the passing years Gaspar was eventually able to find a place as a servant of the church, mostly tending to the kitchens and chopping firewood, but it was serving a better purpose and they fed and clothed him well. When he came of age he learned of the elite warriors that served the cause of Hieroneous by opposing evil directly. His time in the confines of the church had been a welcome change from the streets but he knew that as a young man he longed for excitement, and fighting evil seemed the most exciting thing possible. With the High Priest’s blessing he applied for enlistment in the order of paladins. The recruiting board was concerned to see a hobgoblin applying for holy orders, but the High Priest’s recommendation carried enough weight to compensate for Gaspar’s background, and he was accepted and sent to learn and fight in the wars.

It was nearly a decade before Gaspar returned from the wars to the town of his youth, and they had changed seemingly everything while he was gone. The High Priest had passed on and been replaced with a climber in the church hierarchy, the stern and calculating man by the name of Farran. He was leading the church to more active roles, finding wickedness in the world and campaigning as much for stamping out evil as he was for forgiving the penitent. He requested audience with Gaspar soon after he had returned to the church complex, before many knew he was even back. Gaspar entered with lowered eyes and tried not to notice as the man started at the sight of his craggy and slightly toothy face.
“You requested to see me, High Priest?”
“Yes, Gaspar. I heard from those around here that you worked under my predecessor, and that you have been championing the cause of good by fighting against evil.”
“I wish it were always that noble, sir, but yes I’ve finished my tour of duty and now I’ve come back to serve the church in my city.”
“Your devotion to service is a credit to your mentor. Tell me, would you be prepared to serve your church with the blade if necessary?”
“I owe my life to the church and to Hieroneous, sir, I would do whatever it needed of me.”
“Splendid. I asked you because there are growing reports of evil seeping into the streets of our city, and I need men who know it like you do to root it out. Driving out evil is not always a pretty business, and there are some places that the church cannot openly go without attracting the wrong attention. Do you understand what I’m saying, Gaspar?”
“No need to beat around the bush, sir. You’re talking about covert missions. I took part in a few during my tour. I know the church doesn’t condemn without good reason. If you need someone to bring the hammer down, I’m your man.”

And so it was that Gaspar was appointed as lieutenant in the city’s new policing force. In the speeches of the church Farran gave to the public they were the Luminous Order, shining a light into the shadows to find corruption and malice where it hid. In the fearful whispers of the criminal element behind closed doors they were called many less flattering names. If Farran gave the word, they were sent out to snatch you up, and that was the end of you. They never admitted any wrongdoing, and it was rarely announced that they had carried out any specific operation, but when someone went missing and there wasn’t an explanation, it could be assumed Gaspar had bagged them. So it went for some years, until the fateful morning Farran called Gaspar into his chamber for the last time.

“Gaspar, you have more than exceeded my expectations for you. From the most ignominious of origins you have risen to my right hand and together we have changed the city for the better. It is with a heavy heart that I called you here today to speak about a grave development.”
“You’re not giving a speech now, sir. It’s just me. What’s happened?”
“What do you know of the Voice of Hieroneous?”
“He’s the highest ranking member of the church! After you, of course. When Hieroneous sees fit to speak to the church directly, he chooses one man to be the voice for as long as he shall live. We are only given one voice, and we must heed it lest we stray from the path he sets.”
“Always reassuring to see you have learned your doctrines. However, I regret to inform you that Hieroneous can no longer speak to us directly.”
“What do you mean by that? Has the speaker died?”
“No, worse than that. The voice of Hieroneous has been struck down by terrible illness. He survived, but the damage has already been done. He’s still alive, yes, but he may as well be dead to the world. He’s been sleeping since the worst of it for 3 days now, and we don’t know that he’ll ever wake up.”
“But doesn’t that mean that Hieroneous will choose the next speaker for us to heed?”
“No my son, if only it were that simple. Once given, the gift of the Voice cannot be rescinded, and it cannot be given to another until the current host has died. We are stuck without guidance from Hieroneous for as long as this poor soul survives, and who knows how long that may be? It could be years before he succumbs to the damage. He might have another attack and die tonight.”
As Farran’s voice trailed off, his eyes remained fixed on Gaspar, until he raised his eyes to meet the High Priest.
“I understand you, sir.”
“Gaspar, I could never ask you to violate the church’s doctrine on innocent life. It would stand counter to everything that my position stands for.”
“I know, sir. That’s why you don’t have to ask me.”

Gaspar went to his room to be alone for several hours, praying for guidance over what he knew he had to do. In the late night hours he removed his armor, put aside all of his regalia, and crept to the church infirmary where the Voice of Hieroneous lay insensate in an overstuffed bed. He looked up to the heavens and prayed one final time for forgiveness as he pressed the pillow down over the face of the holiest man in the city and held until the rattling sounds of breath ceased. He sank onto the bed as he wept in shame. Indulged in his moment of self-pity he did not hear one of the nurses approaching to check on their patient until she was in the room, close enough to see him there, pillow still clutched in his hands. She gasped, then froze as she locked eyes with the church’s bag man. He fled before she found the breath to scream in horror.

By the next morning the whole city had heard that the Voice of Hieroneous had been murdered by one of the church’s most trusted soldiers. People were confused, angry, and most of all frightened. If the holiest man in the city could be struck down by Gaspar, nobody was safe. Late into the morning Farran entered the square to address the public. He informed them that Gaspar had gone rogue, that he had succumbed to the forces of corruption and killed the Voice in an unthinkable act of evil late last night. The Luminous Order was currently scouring the city for any trace of the criminal, and they would bring him to justice.

With the address concluded, Farran returned to his quarters. He shut the door behind him and sat at his desk to pour himself a glass of port wine. Morning it may be, but grave times weigh on a man, and wine steadies the wavering will. He looked up from pouring to find Gaspar stepping out of the shadows in the corner of the room.

“Gaspar! How did you get in here? There are guards everywhere, and this compound is the most secure in the city!”
“I helped you to make it secure, sir. I know its weaknesses. Don’t try to distract me. You know why I’m here.”
“I can’t reinstate you, Gaspar. You killed the Voice of Hieroneous in full view of a witness. I have the authority to pardon any act, but the public would have my head!”
“You’re afraid of the public right now? You don’t understand the severity of the situation, do you? You sent me on this mission, you share the consequences of its failure. If I am evil, then you are tainted by association. If you are corrupt, then the whole church has been tainted by your leadership. It can only be restored by removing you.”
“You expect me to step up on the gallows next to you? You’re mad! I never told you to do anything! You acted on your own, and you killed an innocent man. You are stripped of your position in the church, and you have been condemned in the public sphere. You have no authority to accuse me. I am innocent!”
“Innocent? Let us put that to the test, Farran. I’m going to smite you. If I cleave through your rotten heart in one blow, we will know that Hieroneous is still guiding my hand.”
CR 5
Hobgoblin’s a fun starting race with a bonus to 2 useful stats, darkvision, and a +4 bonus to Move Silently, just enough to balance the deficit you pick up at the tail end of levels. We begin with a level in spellthief for the sneak attack it provides, and the ability to steal a low level spell isn’t bad. We don’t necessarily have to start LG at 1, but clean up your act before you enter paladin. Little special stuff to do here, Dynamic priest means you can focus on Cha, and you don’t care about Wis for DCs, since your spells are buffs. They aren’t on the chart, but you have 1 1st level spell per day, not too hard to track. Devastating Smite and Rhino’s Rush are good choices. Smash stuff with Power Attack, Smite what you can, and use sneak attack when it applies. Greatsword is your best bet for regular fighting to amplify Power Attack’s effect. Also worth having in your golf bag is the Duom, which is a reach weapon that can also attack adjacent foes, worth it for certain encounters, and still two-handed. Healthy Cha protects your saves, and you have some self-healing.

At this point you can have Gaspar easily working alongside the PCs to hunt down some sort of evil, or maybe running up against them if they break the law.
CR 10
After the last level of paladin it’s time for Shadowbane Inquisitor, the best way to slowly fall into evil. That last paladin level granted a mount for 10 hours, long enough to do a fair amount of your adventuring. I’ve chosen Drakkensteed for some flying if need be.

Shadowbane Inquisitor can generate some light at will with a wide spread for a long time. It can also burn a prepared spell to gain +4 on Hide/MS for Cha minutes, which is a pretty acceptable deal. You might be able to burn a stolen spell for this, if so all the better. Sneak attack goes up, and Improved Sunder is a free feat you needed for Blackguard. You get an additional smite ability, except this works on whatever you judge to be deserving of the smite, so use it whenever you deem necessary. You have Hide and MS, so invest heavily in those. The other points go into Knowledge (Religion) and Sense Motive, the reason being, besides the benefit of investment, that when you lose those paladin levels, you can still be qualified for those who are strictest about qualifying.

In terms of feats, Staggering Strike reduces enemies to a move or standard when hit by a sneak attack with no save. Blink Shirt obtained via Shape Soulmeld allows you to teleport 10 feet as a standard action, even a blind jump, so you can use it whenever you like.

At this point you can still have Gaspar working along with the PCs to achieve something, but it will pretty much only be to hunt down targets. You can begin to work in his extremism to unnerve the players as much as you like.
CR 15
We’re coming up to the end of Shadowbane Inquisitor, and with it, Gaspar’s career on the side of good, at least as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Righteous Fervor gives you +1 to attack and damage for the rest of the encounter against a creature you smite, so it’s in your best interest to start with one. Merciless Purity gives you +1 to Fort and Ref saves for 24 hours after you (or anyone) kill a creature that you smite. This means you’ll always have this bonus, as you should be able to kill 1 creature a day. Sacred Stealth is now a bonus of +8, well worth the slot. Burning Light gives you a reason to put up the light aura, burn a turn attempt to deal 4d6 damage to everything in the area, with no save. At level 10 that’s an area of 70 feet in every direction, so you can cover a number of foes.

Persistent Refusal allows you to burn a turn attempt to make another save against an ongoing effect. This combined with Divine Grace (later Dark Blessing) means you’re unlikely to be affected by anything for more than a round, if that. Cleave is the last prerequisite for Blackguard, you might get to use it now and then.

At this point Gaspar is still LG, but he’s on the cusp of falling. Demonstrate this in his full blown zealotry in hunting down his impure targets. It’s highly unlikely he will be working alongside the PCs at this point unless they are as eager as he is to hunt the evil he sees as so pervasive, and he has likely put them off with his unsettling attitudes. You may even have him begin to oppose the PCs at this point because they lived in some shades of gray or did not punish evil as harshly as he would.
CR 20
One last Shadowbane Inquisitor level gives another use of smite anything and another die of sneak attack. At level 17, the build drastically changes, and there’s no easy way to represent that; I did so by overwriting the paladin levels. Because Shadowbane Inquisitor stacks with Paladin for determining Blackguard benefits, you can trade in your 5 paladin levels for 5 levels of Blackguard, and you still have all the benefits of 10 levels of paladin, which is why you gain so many smites per day at the first level. The replaced paladin levels means you have different skills and class features, so let’s discuss.

You now have detect good which you use to identify targets for your smite good. (Devastating Smite is still on the list, and applies here, too.) Dark blessing replaces Divine Grace, rebuke replaces turn, and you regain Lay on Hands. Aura of Despair is a delicious -2 on enemy saves within 10 feet. Poison use means if you can spare the money you can smear something nasty like black lotus on your sword. Blackguard gives you a spell list of its own, and remember you can use wands of any spell on the list without rolling, so have plenty on you.

In place of your mount, you now have a fiendish servant, which is always present. Horse is a good holdover before improved kicks in. At 18 we replace it with a dire bat, for a few reasons. First, it’s a mount that a paladin still could have access to (as in DMG), second it makes for an ominous entry and image, third it’s a source of good fly speed which means hovering, and fourth, the bat has blindsense to counter stealth in the area. As a fiendish servant it’s got the fiendish template making it a magical beast so immune to x animal spells. It's got 12 HD, AC 27, SR 17, improved evasion, shares your spells, and is about as smart as a human. It may not be strong enough for frontline combat on your side, but you can still use it for scouting and as a mount safely.

Though Gaspar has fallen and has been shunned by his order, he will still hunt the deserving wherever he sees them, it’s just that his view of this has shifted somewhat. He is either unaware of or refuses to admit his fall from grace, and he insists all the more fervently he serves Hieroneous by punishing evil. He will certainly be opposing the party at this point, likely due to their collaboration with organizations that he sees as corrupt and wicked, including his former church hierarchy.
Sources
Spellthief, Shadowbane Inquisitor, Staggering Strike: Complete Adventurer
Drakkensteed Mount: Dragon Magic
Dynamic Priest: Dragonlance Campaign Setting
Shape Soulmeld: Magic of Incarnum
Perstistent Refusal: Fiendish Codex II
Improved Fiendish Servant: Champions of Ruin
Hobgoblin, Paladin, Blackguard, Power Attack, Cleave, Improved Sunder, Dire Bat: srd

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 02:53 AM

...and I believe that's the lot!

Have to say, congrats to all those who got an entry in for the extended deadline.

Also, very impressed with the quality of entries, people. :smallbiggrin:

I've put a link to the entries in the 2nd post.

Buufreak

2017-02-07, 03:07 AM

Looks like 10 builds it is! I can't wait to dig in. Now, as promised, I am sequestering myself for fairness and sake of my sanity. See you all in about a week!

ben-zayb

2017-02-07, 03:50 AM

We got some really nice array of entries again, as what I expect from VC!

I'm really surprised to not see a St. Cuthbert worshipper, which is what my second build--a spirit of justice, vengeance, and retribution--should be. Then again, he's LN, so it may not be as challenging as making a Good Deity worshipper.

EDIT:
@Thurbane It seems like you missed adding Valentine to the entries on the second post. (Or did you add Valentine, then deleted it?)

Korahir

2017-02-07, 04:11 AM

I am glad to see that all ideas I had but didn't follow through where done by other competitors. I like the flavour of the villains this round, i think a lot of them are actually quite easy to use.

Thurbane

2017-02-07, 06:26 AM

EDIT:
@Thurbane It seems like you missed adding Valentine to the entries on the second post. (Or did you add Valentine, then deleted it?)

So I did - thanks for the heads up. Fixed.

Strigon

2017-02-07, 09:40 AM

Haven't really had time to go over the builds yet, but it looks like we've got some fluffy entries this time around!

Better get cracking on the judging; 10 builds is a lot of work!

Inevitability

2017-02-07, 09:41 AM

I was going to go with a NE cloistered purple staff cleric 20 of Lathander, which packed two strong tricks.

Firstly, the build would have Snowcasting to make any spell [Cold]. This would be changed to [Fire] with Energy Substitution. Finally, Heretic of the Faith and Initiate of Amanautor would allow the character to spontaneously cast any [Fire] spell on their list... which meant all of them. That's right, spontaneous casting off the cleric list, with stuff like Haste and Time Stop added on.

The second trick used the 9th-level ability of Purple Staff cleric to allow the character to turn everything, as long as they were within the Holy Realm. With the Glory domain, Quicken Turning, Divine Energy Focus, Empower Turning and some more boosters, they'd be effortlessly turning two or three equally-leveled heroes per round, without having to spend any actions.

In addition, the idea was to have the character take over leadership of the Holy Realm somewhere during the progression (using Crown of Glory and diplomancy to sway the population). There's a fair point to be made that if the incredibly powerful leader of a nation declares the patch of ground he's standing on annexed and will use force to back up that claim, it's 'his country'. If the DM chose to rule this way, basically the only limitation on the turning ability would be gone.

PrismCat21

2017-02-07, 09:45 AM

Looks like some fun entries. Mine just wasn't a high enough priority on my list to spend the necessary time on to finish.

He was a Midgard Dwarf, unwitting Cleric of Kas turned Cleric of Garl Glittergold. Focusing primarily on spiteful tricks and vengeance, with heavy use of Runes, Gem magic, and Runic Circles. At least 8 levels in Runecaster.
Oh well. He'll be a fun recurring villian for my players now. :elan:

Tiri

2017-02-07, 10:18 AM

I would say what my build was going to be, but it's a fairly repurposable concept that I'm still itching to use in the future.

In news that actually contributes to the thread, I think I'll give judging this round a try.

remetagross

2017-02-07, 10:24 AM

khadgar567

2017-02-07, 10:26 AM

my favorite is kitty of dead kudos to who is its creator

Tiri

2017-02-07, 10:30 AM

I can already tell who one of the builds is by, but the cat one might take a bit more cross-referencing with previous builds.

Not that that's a perfect system, but it's worked in certain cases before.

zergling.exe

2017-02-07, 10:53 AM

Firstly, the build would have Snowcasting to make any spell [Cold]. This would be changed to [Fire] with Energy Substitution. Finally, Heretic of the Faith and Initiate of Amanautor would allow the character to spontaneously cast any [Fire] spell on their list... which meant all of them. That's right, spontaneous casting off the cleric list, with stuff like Haste and Time Stop added on.

I don't think that would actually work, since Snowcasting only adds the [Cold] subtype when you are casting the spell and using snow as a material component. Otherwise the spells don't have the [Cold] subtype. Additionally, wouldn't Energy Substitution also not work for the spontaneity since you add it while casting as well?

Telonius

2017-02-07, 02:38 PM

The build I didn't submit: Some sort of Ranger/Scout/Dread Commando combination. He's a worshiper of Kord. He's taken Survival of the Fittest a bit too far, and is hunting down victims, "Most Dangerous Game" style.

Strigon

2017-02-07, 05:33 PM

Official Judging:

Let me preface this with my own personal opinion. This build is a pain to face, especially to an "average" group.
I'm trying to think of how I would handle him, even knowing his full build, and my options are limited. Granted,
I'm not the greatest player, but the point is this guy's a jerk.

Now, onto the actual judging, eh?

Elegance:
I like this build for elegance. Mostly.
Everything seems to work together, toward one common goal: be impossible to hit, and punish enemies for not hitting you.
It's cool. Rude, but cool. I do have a small number of... nitpicks, though. The first is - correct me if I'm wrong - he doesn't seem particularly devoted to his god. I mean, he hates orcs, but that seems to be his own personal feelings more than an overzealous duty to his deity. Secondly, he comes online a little bit late. Until CR 10, he's hard to hit, but not particularly threatening, either. Until CR 10, it's just a very annoying encounter with limited lethality. Of course, if you give him buddies, this is reduced - he plays a good support role. And you did write him with buddies. But those buddies are probably Warriors, or no more than level 3. So, in terms of damage dealing, that's still not much. CR 10 isn't that bad, though, so this doesn't lead to much of a hit.
Finally, there's the CoCL levels. Let's be honest, you knew you were going to take an elegance hit here. Now, I know I said I wouldn't punish dips, or builds with lots of classes melded together - and I'm not. What I must object to is taking 2 levels of a class like that, and then (fluffwise) throwing it away.

But like I said, those are nitpicks. I've got to say, I'm having trouble deciding between 4.25 and 4.5. I'll go with a conservative 4.25, fully expecting that it'll be somewhat increased once you address my concerns in the form of a dispute.

Power:
Let's be honest, once this build comes online, it comes online hard. Especially for something with no caster levels.
I mean, it's a Warblade, and they're hard to screw up, but you've got some vision here that turns out nicely. For starters, he has no particular weaknesses that I can see, aside from his Reflex and Will saves. Those are shored up nicely by his maneuvers, though, which helps. But repeated saves could be an issue.
The only other weakness I can find is that he doesn't do well if you can immobilize him - although, to be fair, the same can be said for pretty much every martial build. So that doesn't exactly count (although, when combined with the last two, it means that a well-timed spell can end the encounter quite handily. Again, though, the same can be said for every martial build).
He even deals with the action economy quite neatly.

Well done, friend. 4.75.

Originality:
In terms of thematics, there's not much here. A quick Warblade with a couple Fighter levels and taking Eternal Blade. Nothing particularly interesting until we get to his fighting style, which is novel. To me, at least, since it focuses on making the enemy attack you. That's a neat trick, but I still can't feel justified in giving you too high a score here.
You've taken a bunch of things that work well together and put them into a build. I appreciate the legwork you've done, and the idea of turning the action economy against foes who outnumber you, but the idea of a nimble, bloodthirsty warblade isn't exactly a new one. 3.5.

Memorable Villainy:
This is sort of the same issue; a racist elf is something we've all seen before. Maybe not one quite as terrifyingly vicious as this one - which gets you points - but I think we can both agree it's not groundbreaking territory.
Having said that, he'll definitely throw your players for a loop with his tactics. I honestly can't say whether they'll enjoy it, since he seems very annoying, but the category is called memorable villainy, and memorable it is.

Altogether, I can't justify anything higher than a 3 in my eyes. Now, if I'm missing something unique, let me know, of course.

Total Score: 15.5

Elegance:
Everything in here seems pretty straightforward, and well-suited to your chosen race and archetype. I don't like giving out a solid five just like that, but I can't see any reason not to, other than the principle of the thing. So, take your 5 and go.
Power:
You seem to be very focused on survival and on weakening your enemies for a very long time. And don't get me wrong, he's a real pain to kill, but once he's isolated it's just a matter of how long he can run around before finally dying. Until around CR 15, pretty much all of your damage is coming from the cats you call to your side, but even those aren't all that tough; by the time you're getting Dire Lions (A CR 5 creature), you're CR 10 yourself! I can't see a good argument for you getting rakshasas, either. He might want to ally with them, but I see no reason for them to agree. Since this is a GM-run character, there's a bit more leeway, but all these together mean I have to give a 2.75. Let me know if I missed anything.
Originality:
Well, it's a cat-man, worshipping a cat-god, trying to create a Utopia for cats. Bonus points for the cat theme, which is somewhat novel, but I can't see any interesting spins you've put on it. You're taking the basic features of each class, but not doing anything particularly creative with them; you do exactly what I'd expect each class to do, and no more. Having said that, this particular combination is somewhat new, so I'm okay with giving a 3.5 here.
Memorable Villainy:
"Hey, guys, remember that time Steve was shredded by Puss in Boots?"
"He had Swordsage levels and a Dire lion attacking me. Besides, as I recall, most of the damage was done by your fumbling attempts to hit him."
"Yeah, good times..."
4.5, just because I'm having trouble imagining a full campaign based around him.

Total: 15.75

Elegance:
Wow, you really took the whole "servant to a deity" thing and ran with it, huh? That's good, I like that. Bonus points to you.
There are a couple things that don't make sense to me. Urban Druid, for example. Am I missing something here? Is your garden in the middle of a city?
Granted, I realize that you use the city to get your... fertilizer... but it strikes me as odd that a flower fairy, whose whole life revolves around her perfect garden, would be an urban druid. The second thing is the prestige classes require some form of contact with your chosen deity, which... doesn't seem particularly likely. She's a petal, she's a nobody. They're meant to be servants to bigger fey, certainly not the type of people a deity or a Solar or what-have-you would waste time on. And by the time she is worth their time, she's a heretic.

All in all, 4. If I'm wrong about the Urban Druid/Divine meetup, then this could get a 5, if only because I like how much you focused on the theme of this round without it seeming forced.

Update: With the Urban Druid clarification, Elegance has been improved to 4.5.

Power:
I'm going to start by saying that you're a full spellcaster, based on a Fey (so pretty significant bonuses on ability scores); if you can't make that powerful, you can't make anything work. Which unfortunately means I'm going to have to judge you quite harshly in light of that. The good news is, even taking into account you're based off a T1 class, you're doing pretty well for yourself.
You put a lot of emphasis on the traps and guardians you have lying around your lair. This would be bad if you relied on them to put up a fight, but you don't! They're extra stuff to make the fight more engaging, so good on you for not using them as a crutch. You're also a decent combatant fairly early on. I mean, you won't be causing any TPKs, but you'll grow into that. Plus, you're hard to identify, and all those extra customization things you've left in help quite a bit.

Still, I can't help but feel that you've opened a can of worms with your class choices. When you use Druid, and supplement it with divine prestige classes, I have to assume the PCs are packing similar punches, and I just don't know if you can compete. You seem to be very effective against T3 characters, but against opponents of a similar class I can't see you standing up well.

It's a tough call, because against an "average" party, you're a great opponent, and one that can be a fantastic encounter to finish a gripping plot. But against opponents who are using the same things you are...
3.75. I feel guilty even going that low, but I also can't fairly go 4 or higher.

Don't be upset, though - this is very clearly a labour of love, and that will be reflected in the next 2 scores!

Originality:
You've played to a couple tropes here - the healer who's also a butcher, seeing the beauty in monsters, we've all seen those before - but darn it if they aren't effective! Ugh, I get this gleeful feeling just thinking about what this villain would be like in an actual game. You really like this concept, and it shows.
And you've avoided the trap - well, I say trap. What I really mean is common idea - of an Evil Druid hating humanity and trying to destroy it. Granted, she is working on destroying it, but that's not her goal; she doesn't want to destroy civilization for encroaching on the wilds, she just wants to tend to her own little garden. It's a fresh new spin, and one I can appreciate.

I still feel like the particularly genre-savvy would have red flags going up around any of her personas, but I really, really love the thought of playing this villain - and with your permission, I'd very much like to someday!
4.75.

Memorable Villainy:
I said I'd love to play this villain, but I'd love to face her just as much!
This really has everything; a link to draw them in, intrigue, plenty of opportunities for recurring villainy, and a thematic final confrontation. It has trouble being made into a full campaign, but a clever GM could make it work.
Take your perfect 5, you've earned it.

Overall score is an impressive 17.5!

Updated score is an even more impressive 18!

Elegance:
Pretty simple build, large focus on undead control, and lots of creepy vampire stuff.
There's a couple issues, though; first off, I'm pretty sure the Savage Vampire ability modifiers are in place of being an actual vampire, not in addition to. First off, because it says "a savage vampire has none of the traditional vampire's personality of persuasiveness", which would seem to be untrue if it keeps the +2 Charisma. Secondly, because it says to "increase from the base creature as follows". Now, since this is a vampire variant, it's being applied at the same time as the vampire template, which means the base creature is your Dread Necromancer.
I'm willing to listen to counterarguments, of course, but that seems to me how it should be interpreted.
All in all, a 3.

There are a couple other things I take issue with, but they're not an official part of the build, so they'll go under power. Because they do reduce the power quite a bit.

Power:
All right, cool. A minionmancy vampire. I'm not sure the savage type was the best choice for this, but it's your call. Minions are powerful, so it shouldn't matter to much.
But let's talk about a couple things. First off, from CR 5.

"She gives her Necklace of Wisdom +6 to her undead Wights that are being stitched..."

She gives her what? Necklace of Wisdom +6? Even giving her PC WBL, that's way, way beyond a fifth level character. She does no such thing, because she has no such thing.
And speaking of having no such thing:

"How i would play her is that she has a Necroplitan Wizard that is level 6 under her control..."

Also at CR 5. Look, I get that you're a minionmancer, but you just can't do that!
Not only because you simply don't give an explanation about how you managed to find a necropolitan Wizard 6 that stupid, but because it's a full level higher than you. I'm sorry, I can't let that fly.

And, finally, how are you summoning a demigod again? I just can't work that out.
All in all, a 2. I'm not convinced by much of what you have, and what's left kind of falls apart.

Originality:
Well, you're a vampire making a horde of undead. Not exactly groundbreaking.
I like the Savage idea, because having charismatic vampires is always done and having a monstrous, savage beast would be fresh, but then you completely ignore everything it means and you just go with the standard necromantic vampire with a host of thralls.
I can't see much in here that's innovative, so I have to say it's another 2.

Memorable Villainy:
I don't see any way for this to go down other than the PC's hear about killings, find out there's a vampire amongst the townspeople, and find her and combat her. Maybe things could get a bit more interesting under the right circumstances, but as it stands she just seems like a nice distraction.

2.25

That makes a total score of 9.25.

It would work better in practice, I think, since the DM can just handwave things to make the build work, but if he's confined to the rules of the game it doesn't hold up all that well.

Elegance:
All right, a straight Cleric 20 build. The most "inelegant" thing you have, mechanically, is an ACF. That's saying something, especially considering how complicated these builds can get.
Enemy of Good, though? Not entirely convinced. Being Evil doesn't automatically mean you hate Good - heck, this guy hates evil! His whole life is dedicated to removing the cruel, those who hurt him and innocents. He has no reason to hate Good people, save for that they may stop him from killing bad people - that's nothing worth devoting a feat to.
4.5. This is a fluff issue, not a rules one, so the penalty was pretty soft.

Power:
The flipside of having a straight Cleric 20 build is that you don't get any neat features to optimize heavily.
In truth here, you've taken fairly basic power options. Boosts to the save DC of your spells, metamagic, fairly standard choices. You're pretty much as powerful as a standard cleric, so you'll get a pretty much standard score. Devoting so many resources to dessication leaves some interesting opportunities for synergy, though, so I'm all right with a 3.25

Originality:
A round based on evil followers of non-evil deities, and you've built a Cleric with heretic of the faith. This strikes me as being the most obvious choice, if you'll forgive me saying so. But, on the other hand, you've done a couple things differently. First off, working to uproot Evil is worth something. It's not an entirely new motivation for a villain, but it's not done to death. The thirst focus, though, is what's really new. I like it; he was traumatized by thirst as a child, so now he uses it as his weapon. Very Batman. I like Batman, points to you.
But you still are a Cleric 20 with Heretic of the Faith, so I can't say more than "acceptable". That's a 3. If you want to use this guy in a real game, I'd take a look at using Walker in the Waste for a few levels. I get that it's not groundbreaking, either, but it goes extra well with your whole bit here, which is really what this whole character seems to hinge on. Just something to think about, if you plan on using him for real.

Edit: With further clarification, Originality has been updated to 3.25

Memorable Villainy:
I'll need you to help me out here. I can't judge this guy's memorable villainy, because I just don't know enough about his villainy. I mean, I know how he fights - he summons, he uses thirst, I get that. But how will the players encounter him? What's he doing? How does he react to the players challenging what he's doing? These things matter, but I can't find them. I get that he's going to people he thinks deserve to die, and sucking them dry like a tax collector. But I don't know if that's enough for me to say how memorable he is, because a villain is more than just what they do and how they fight. So, please, go over this for me.

Edit:
With further clarification, Memorable Villainy has been decided to be 2.5

Total: 13.5

A couple personal notes before we begin:
First, where did you come up with the name? It sounds like a portmanteau of something and valkyrie, but for the life of me I can't think what the first part would be. Kappa, maybe? But that would be strange.
Secondly, I'm gonna be 100% honest, I didn't even know ToB came with races. I only ever looked at the classes and feats.

Anyway, pointless tangent over with; let's get to judging. First, Elegance:
All right, a neat race, a mix of Assassin and Swordsage, and a focus on sneaky killing. I'm a bit put off by your claim of favoured in guild, first off because I don't think it's technically a feat. Secondly, because the guild says something about draconic heritage (unless the deity who bled to spawn her was Bahamut or Tiamat, I'm not seeing it), and because they're all about a war on Lolth. Which this valkyrie has no reason to care about. It just doesn't fit.

I also can't say I approve of your combat tactics, combined with race and motivation. Valkyries are all about martial prowess, your skill. Having one collect souls for Odin makes sense. Having one get a little too into that duty is also cool. Making her an assassin? I can't see it. Being sneaky seems to me to completely undermine her motivation, especially since she has no real way of telling how powerful someone is without fighting them properly. It just seems out of place, is all.

Those are only 2 issues, but I can't help but feel they're pretty significant ones. a 3.5 seems justifiable. It's well-built, but the fluff surrounding your choices just doesn't make sense to me.

Update: After dispute, Elegance is made to be

Power:
Pretty gutsy move, taking a CR 9 creature as your base race. I won't penalize it directly, but those lost levels might end up hurting some - although 10 ML certainly helps.
I will say, though, that you're pretty vulnerable to immunities. Someone can't be caught flat-footed, or can't be sneak attacked/death effected, suddenly those assassin levels aren't looking like such a great idea. This would be less of a problem at lower levels, but at CR 13 - your peak - they're not out of the realm of possibility.

On the other hand, you're pretty fast, and if they are vulnerable to sneak attack and the like, it's gonna hurt. I'm leaning toward another 3.5 here, because a properly kitted party will laugh at you, but woe betide the unprepared character who faces this villain.

Originality:
Never seen a valkyrie used before. Never seen a charging, flying assassin before. The whole "collecting souls for Ragnarok" thing, I've never seen before. It's original, no doubt. 4.5, only because - while it's original - there's nothing that really shocks me. I never could have predicted this, but neither would I have laughed in the face of somebody who did.

Memorable Villainy:
Norse Mythology, in my humble opinion, is not overdone yet, despite Thor taking off recently. Ragnarok's a cool idea, and there's plenty of opportunity for interesting developments. I've no doubt the story arc to which she belongs will be memorable.
But I can't help but feel that's not 100% a good thing; that she'd be overshadowed by the rest of what goes on. I have to imagine that, in order for her to work properly, Odin would need to feel that Ragnarok was on the horizon. The whole situation would just seem too... arbitrary. Pointless, maybe, if Ragnarok were still far away. But then, if Ragnarok approaches, that would be what the PC's latched onto the most. I'll give it a 4. I like the character, I definitely don't think she'll be forgotten, but I also don't think it's what the players would think of when they think about this campaign.

Total: Updated to 16.25

What in the heck. This might take the #1 spot on "things I was not expecting to see".
Elegance:You're not elegant. Sorry. You take Dragonborn, only to lose it and everything it gave you. Why? For the fluff? Cool, if that's the case. But cool isn't elegant. Next, you take Werebattletitan as a template. First off, not legal, because - and I quote - "This animal can be any predator, scavenger, or omnivore whose
size is within one size category of the base creature’s size (Small,
Medium, or Large for a Medium base creature)."
Battletitans are Huge, Silverbrow humans are medium. Jotenbrud only makes you considered large for attacks. So that's not legal. Even if it were, it wouldn't be elegant. Because it's a Werebattletitan. So, uh, yeah. That. Also, you took Human Heritage as a Silverbrow Human! You were already 99% human! Sure, you get a couple extra things, but... it's not elegant.

Whatever, though; you went for a cool concept, not an elegant one. I hope you don't think I'm being too harsh on this, because I do like the character, but mechanically it isn't pretty. Most of the things aren't actually illegal (aside from the lycanthrope issue), so I won't give you a 1, but I cannot in good conscience go any higher than a 2.

Update: Having clarified why Werebattletitan is technically legal, and why HH was an acceptable choice, the Elegance score has been increased to 3.25.

Power:
What good would all those fancy-schmancy templates be if they didn't give you some oomph? You've got your power; you hit hard, you're unexpected, despite not being massively optimized you're really good at what you do, which is basically hitting things. You've got some ways to shut down magic, and you have pretty impressive ability scores. There isn't much synergy beyond making you punch very hard and shrug off attacks, which would be nice, but I can give a nice round 4 here.

Update: Having stopped being so blind, and actually read the powers achieved with the cheesy use of Lycanthrope, Power has been updated to 5.

Originality:
I mean, yeah, she's original. If I were to use one word to describe what you've done, "original" would definitely be a contender. Was any of this expected? Maaayyyybe the silverbrow human. But that's just because it's so well-known for optimization, and you use it for fluff, so good job there. A beefy woman turns into a dinosaur to kill evil dragons? I'd watch that movie.

But you haven't really done anything new, other than the fluff. No flashy new combos, fairly standard feat progression. So I can't give you a full five. Have a 4.75

Memorable Villainy:
If the players get the full story, she's cool. She's awesome. She won't be forgotten. And she has the social skills to ensure the PC party will probably get to know her before the big fight. So, like I said, if that works, it's great.
If it doesn't, the whole "turning into a giant raging dinosaur" is cool, but I don't know if it's "remember forever" material on its own. I'm okay with a 4.5 here, because she seems easily quite memorable if the DM playing with her has a brain.

Total score: 15.25.
Would definitely play.

Update: With the increase in Elegance and Power, total score is now 17.5

Elegance:
Let's start simple; simple class progression, they all blend together, race fits the character concept nicely, and even the fluff works - I appreciate the time you've taken to justify mechanically how he didn't notice his fall. I was initially worried about the combination of Rogue and Paladin, but upon further reading in the SI prestige class, it's apparently fairly common. I can't think why I wouldn't give a 5 here.

Power:
Well, as you freely admit, he's not super powerful on his own. Sure, he has some tankiness to him, those RHD give him some nice survivability, but he's most powerful when he's flanking, and kind of middle-of-the-road any other time. Now, that's fine of course; everyone has a role they fit best into, but I did say that I'd be looking for weaknesses. And while reliance on flanking isn't exactly kryptonite, it's still not too hard to take advantage of. All in all, a 3.75. Quite comfortable in his chosen role, merely competent elsewhere.

Originality:
First off, the class choices. I don't think blackguard is a shock for this theme - maybe a bit because of how low-OP it is, but for fluff it's pretty obvious. The Inquisitor bit I haven't seen much of, but it's almost built for Blackguard, so neither original nor tired, in my eyes. The rogue dip for Inquisitor is absolutely textbook, as far as that prestige class goes. The fallen angel bit is a tale as old as time, although maybe not as common as it could be. What's interesting is that he hasn't noticed he's fallen. The whole bit of "being the villain the world needs" is a bit more common, literally not noticing when you've fallen is kind of new. 3.5, I think. Nothing screams "innovation" to me, but there are a couple interesting tidbits.

Update: Mask of Gentility's pretty interesting, and it merits a total score of 3.75.

Memorable Villainy:
Well, a lot of this is much the same as originality, so I won't repeat it, but you've got one interesting thing going for you.
He does an about-face pretty far into the build, which means there's plenty of opportunity for the players to interact with him while he's on their side. Chances are, too, that they'll appreciate some of his cavalier attitudes towards the removal of evil. I think a lot of your write-ups assume an awful lot of very specific reactions on the part of the PC's, but the point is that they might not see this coming. Having a traitor isn't uncommon, but I feel like a trusted ally turning to Evil isn't done often enough. Depending on how things go down, this could be a tragic story, and tragedy is memorable.
4.5.
Total score: 16.75!

Update: Total score is now 17.00

Interesting concept, going all out on the social skills. I like it!

Well, he certainly fits the bill for an Evil follower of a non-evil deity. His classes mesh well, and everything's solely focused on being the best smooth talker/manipulator around. Very sleak, very lean, worth a 5.

He's certainly competent at what he does, and despite the fact that I leave it out, competence is half the name of this category! There's no question that he can lie, manipulate, and spread dissent with the best of them. Of course, this comes at a price of being useless in a straight fight. Of course, he wasn't designed for that, so I can't hit it too hard, but if the PC's get him alone, and really want to end things right there, what's to stop them from Vaarsuvius on him?
Still, though, that's somewhat like saying a tank's useless in naval combat, since it immediately sinks. Technically true, but you should never be in a position where it's useful. PC's will be PC's, though, and without serious magical items he's not going to last long if they get fed up. 4.

Well, the Inquisitor archetype isn't exactly new, but building a D&D BBEG off of it is unexpected. None of the classes are shocking, but the whole dream thing? I've never seen that used before, and I quite like it. He's a familiar character with some extra goodies, so a 4.25 seems reasonable.

Would the PC's be likely to forget not sleeping because their very dreams weren't safe? I doubt it. However, he's kind of a one-trick-pony in that regard. Aside from that, he's just a smooth talker with little else going for him. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a cool trick, but it's still more or less his only trick; everything else is what he can get other people to do for him. Once they've gotten past his dream sequences, it's just a matter of political maneuvering; admittedly, it is his forte, but it's not that memorable. 3.75.

Total score: 17!

Well, no wonder the priest knew what happened to his holy symbol; this guy has absolutely no ranks in Sleight of Hand or Bluff! :smalltongue:
Well, it's a clean enough build, and everything fits, except spellthief. Which is a class about stealing arcane power, not being an actual thief. There's no good reason for it to be there instead of a different class that fills the Rogue's place. Still, it's only one level, so I'm all right with a 4.5.
This guy seems reasonably powerful for a Blackguard. Admittedly, he's got some hefty Sneak Attacking going on, and his saves and HP mean he won't go down in a round, but I don't know if I'd say he goes above a "standard" CR fight at any point. He can put up a reasonable fight, but I don't know if the players are likely to have to pull out all the stops to take him down. 3.5 here.
Well, like I told Torquemanda, Blackguard isn't the most shocking class for this competition, and having SI is not often seen, but still hardly innovative. What is interesting, though, is the hobgoblin part of your build; a Hobgoblin Paladin is not seen very often, one that turns into a fully-fledged villain is likewise uncommon. Beyond that, though? Fairly standard classes and feats, typical fighting style for its chosen role. A solid 3.25
I don't know how well remembered this fellow will be. He's a pretty standard Sneak-Attacking opponent, and aside from the Hobgoblin bit I don't think he'll be talked about for years to come. An ex-paladin removing the corruption in his church would be an interesting quest, but not the sort of thing I'd expect from a major villain. 2.5.
Total score: 13.75

Edit: I'm going to try to average 1 build per day, and post them as I finish, adding each judgement to my original post (this one) as well as in the new post I made.

So all my judgements can be found here, once I'm done.

Buufreak

2017-02-07, 10:57 PM

Hey all. Breaking the silence because I started to approach the post limit. Now, lets see if I can figure out how to spoilers...

Originality – Well, right off, I’m seeing the “Sorry” build. Ya know, from the old board game with the tag line “You get me, I’ll getcha back!” Obviously, double dipping with karmic and rombilar to get the most out of that hit you are definitely taking with the overall -8 to defense. Meh. I just see it overall as a counter productive build choice. See, when you tank, you either want to avoid as many hits as possible, or make it so they don’t mean diddly when they do succeed. Sure, a decent dex is helping this guy dodge some, as is elusive target. Which, btw, never seen it used, I like the dancing feel of it. Definitely blends well with the elf fighter deal. You aren’t going for the big brutal tough guy, you are the lithe blade dancer that tears down their opponent instead of overpowering them. So why the Sorry build? Again, feels counter productive. Overall, .25 for each feat, with ET helping to keep it from being worse.

We have elf class for the elf god. But 2 levels seems a little... Well, we will look more at that in elegance. Then we have the elf/warblade PrC that everyone takes. Further, IHS, TSS, pretty much the Warblade’s greatest hits. I am very happy you didn’t take the stack of counter maneuvers for your saves (though I do see MoPM). At that point you would have been so cookie cutter warblade that I wouldn’t have any words to critique with other than just that: Cookie Cutter. I like the idea of using the evil blade guide, because it gives me that same fun feel I had when playing 4e where items were sentient and gradually pushed influence onto their wielders. That said, it’s definitely been done. Gonna say .5 for the class, a .25 for maneuvers, and another .5 for the cliché.

-1.75, for a 3.25.

Elegance – Alright, so like I said before, 2 levels of a prestige class. I definitely get that you weren’t doing it for some ability and dipping out. Its story. Good. I’ll leave it without deduction. This time. That said, besides not actually qualifying for feats (because you definitely did get into CoCL, and screw what that one source book says about disqualifying for things!) I can’t really find anything that doesn’t flow. He starts with a sword, he finishes with a sword. He works his way all the way to the top, and for the most part it all meshes well. Do gotta ping ya on the feat prereqs though. We also have an issue in items. Most of them you said were suggestions. However, a good bit of this build (a full 3 level difference) hinges on using a breastplate with an ability. I’m in NO way a fan of allowing an item to qualify for anything. That armor comes off. It’s not like retraining a feat somewhere down the line and losing access. This is a freaking item! It grants a feat, and by gods it can take it away too. I can in no good conscience justify qualifying for anything with something so flighty and temperamental.

4.0 here.

Competence/Power – To quote, “[he] can work against almost any party with the right build up.” You might be talking about him as a character, and that is fine, but in the same paragraph talking about his CR and level progression, I am having to assume that you mean power wise, he can stand against almost any party. Well, he has a blade, and maneuvers with IL 18. He has armor, which helps him not take hits, which I’ve covered already. I do like suggesting items, for the most part, because that at least helps say he doesn’t need x, y, and z to function. He can certainly function with only courtblade in hand. He can probably hold his own for a round or two against an equal level party. See, the trouble here is you painted quite a bit of a loner, and so any final showdown against him will be just that: party vs loner. While he does have the power to get a few good hits, he lacks the battlefield knowhow of any real martial master that simply states numbers win. You can have your 20bab, your saves, your ac. Those are all numbers. You don’t have the action economy on your side. I mean, TSS can maybe 1 turn a player, but then what? Resources are used, and really, a decent SOD or SOS would drop him rather quickly. Even your main trick of stormguard is just numbers, ones that aren’t in your favor. You set up all these AoO, don’t use them, and then what? +4 attack and damage? Besides that, how are you getting all of these AoO? I see no combat reflexes anywhere in the build, or anything close to it. Further, you can’t get Rombilar without it. So we can toss that completely out. Side note, Karmic nor Rombilar neither give you extra AoO, only opportunities to use them. So as far as I see, you have 1. A very static 1 chance to boost attack and damage with all your dancing around. To be totally certain, I did a page search for the word “reflex” in hopes I was missing the feat buried somewhere. I didn’t.

Rombilar simply doesn’t work here, ignoring it (point deduction included). Karmic is 1 per round, that’s a paddlin’. Stormguard really feeds off of Karmic to work, which feeds of combat reflexes, which you don’t have, and that’s a paddlin’ and a half. TSS will help kill that one guy at the start, but beyond that, he isn’t staying in the fight long, and not going to dish out the damage. I think this is more of a competence argument than a power argument, because this guy was supposed to do 1 thing super well, and missing the key feat for that makes it crash and burn.

2.

Memorability – I can definitely see what you were going for here. In the right campaign, even taking your suggestion of an orc game, I could really see this guy as a villain to the villains. I like that premise. I always like pitting an alignment against itself, especially if that means turning people against a church, not because of the church, but the people running it. That’s been one of my favorite themes for a long time, mostly because it makes people think. This guy? I like him, but I don’t. And by that, I will like him today. Maybe tomorrow. Come the next campaign? He is forgotten. He’s another elf, another warblade, another hater of orcs... just another soldier on the battlefield. If he was the military genius that we strive to fight against him and his platoons for (in game) decades, I’m probably going to be telling my grandkids about it. As a lone soldier, probably the best memory I would have would be finding Ephinia and telling her the deed is done.

2.5.

All tallied, 11.75. Not a bad character, but needs fine tuning, and a few things need to be reconsidered, and hard.

Score updated to 13.25.

Originality – Well, I will definitely remark that using an Egyptian god isn’t a normal as far as D&D goes, so good for that! I also like the idea of being a heretic, but also keeping the faith strong, even so much as to bring in as many as possible to making his cause seem like a real sect. The very idea of eventually reforming the entire church to his way is exactly what I think this contest is here to do.

Now we look at the not so remarkable. Cat man, doing the cat thing of being small and roaming in a pack with other cats. We even have the backstory of X did a raid for Y reason, and now he hates X for Z reason. I dig the character. I do. But as someone who has seen starwars (and even the rehash known as episode 7), I gotta say I’m not a big fan of the Uncle Owen deal. I just feel like it’s been done to death, but also the idea of “whelp, family is dead, now what’s holding me back?” is just as overplayed. We also have the coward rogue thing going, which I will touch on again here in a bit, but for now, I’m seeing a good idea of a character built on cliché on top of cliché.

Definitely at least 3 for the Bast link. Dig it much, I do. The village burned to the ground story kinda turns me off, and in a harsh way. I’m comfortable with a 4 here. Not perfect by any means, but did some good.

Elegance – Easy build. Base + Prestige + Finisher. Definitely works, definitely flows. Here is where I’m hitting up craven, though. It’s a feat all about boosting SA at the cost of fear. The thing is, you are taking it as early as lvl 1 (which would fit backstory) but SA isn’t online for you until 15. That’s 14 levels of incompetence. Sure, you do more than SA, but it feels like a massive waste of resource in a game where most every feat slot is a precious gift from the gods (pun intended). Flavorful for backstory, just suboptimal.

Outside that, I got nothing. It flows. It works. I can’t find anything that stands out as a big neon sign saying “does not belong.”

Let’s call it a 4.5. Works well all together, just takes forever for a gimmick to become a gimmick while hanging onto the drawback for ¾ of the levels.

Power/Competence – Alright, so all the power is going to come from his pets here. A simple fortification enchantment or type change shuts down all the precision damage (and arguably the favored enemy and shadow blade, though I’m not the type of DM who would turn off class features like that). You end up with 21 in HA, +2 for Cha. That’s pretty up there without skill shenanigans, which I simply don’t like seeing in these things (it is PO after all, not TO!), and the list of cats to control are decent. Dire lion and tiger definitely stick out as powerhouses, but let’s be honest here, you aren’t getting Rakshasa. These are magical outsiders who happen to take on a form that is similar to cats. Literally nothing in their flavor even mentions that fact, it’s just kinda there. Further, even if they were related to felines, how are you planning on recruiting them? They are intelligent beings, not animals, and without any investment in diplomacy, you aren’t getting past their sense motive.

The feats that you have that revolve around the small tactics are really defensive, which while good, it furthers the point that you’re striking power comes from animals. Sure, maneuvers are coming online and giving you capability to start dealing some damage, but sighting your CR 15 sweet spot, you gain maybe 3 strikes, while having 4 more defensive (or admittedly mobility) abilities. Simply, this guy is more of the distraction as far as I can tell, leading the assault without Leading the Attack or Leading the Charge. You have one thing right. In melee, this little bugger would be obnoxious, so you are hitting that head on. Points! But to call him a murderous feline is hyperbole, in a big way.

This furry feline felon is getting a 3. He can grab animals and even dire, but that’s where the line is well drawn. Further, besides getting them to work with him in battle, he isn’t really pulling his own weight.

Memorability – As someone who to this day still makes Super Trooper jokes, I can see this guy coming up in future plays. He has a certain charm to him that would make him stand out as a grey against a black background. He isn’t neon orange. But definitely not onyx trying to luster against the black either. Certainly I can hear a specific someone in my playing circle saying something along the lines of “man, **** that cat.” I call that a win, because he got the job done and could still be heard about in the (not too distant) future.

I’ll call it a 3.75. Not a jaw dropper, but definitely not forgotten tomorrow.

I do gotta say, I didn’t see an alignment anywhere, but assuming by Catlord, its NE. That’s fine, just thought it could be mentioned.

Tallied, 15.25. Nice job, mate! MEOW!

Originality – Alright, we got a fairy. Albeit, one that I know jack and squat about. And we are making an urban fairy. That is certainly different. I often see use of the UA urban ranger, so it’s nice seeing its more magically inclined cousin getting some attention. Also never really heard of divine disciple, so it’s nice seeing that. Contemplative. Pretty sure that has come up in a handbook or three over the years. Nothing major, no biggie. It’s also interesting to see someone willing to give up All the Druid ThingsTM. That’s usually such a no no. Eggynack would be so ashamed, and I say let ‘em! Different and theme is always more important to me.

So I can’t fault you on the classes or race. What else we got here... Well, from level 1 you are diving head first into shadow blade. Gods, I am quickly hating that feat. You can’t find a single dex build without it! Same goes for darkstalker. Now, I do want to give props for a shape soulmeld that isn’t the one for easy access evasion. Honestly, I’ve only dabbled with a totemist, so I have no idea what this one does. Pardon me... Holy crap, it is for a totemist? How the hell have I missed this before?! Wow, that is a roundabout for telepathy. I’m not crying about it at all. Not here, anyways.

Holy crap, I love HotF! That is PERFECT for this game! Geez, it seems like there is really no idea WotC hasn’t covered, at least one, no matter how obscure the source might be. Tying up the end of the build with quicken. Not bad. Little late, but that just keeps up with the whole “this is a crazy build I’ve never seen the likes of before” theme that you have going. One, I might add, you have done well.

Fluff, we have a little bugger who wants to pretty the world to death. Honestly, I think I’ve only heard of 1 other who did it first, and he is the ultrafab leader of team blaze in XY. So as long as you don’t mind sharing the spotlight even this tiny bit, you are golden.

Overall, great going here. Take your 4.5, and try not to dwell on that half a point too much.

Elegance – I’m having trouble understanding your levels. At CR 2, a petal by the table has 1 HD and LA 2, for an ECL of 3. This is far different than 3 HD. It changes HP, saves, BAB, and a number of other things. Yes, it says you can advance it up to 3 HD, but that would still be a ECL of 5 then, and certainly not a CR 2. Maybe 3. Maybe 4. I’m not the best at calculating these sorts of things.

What I am good at is calculating the things you get at each ECL, which when using class levels is important to put up against your CR. In this case, they are pretty parallel after a point. Assuming you using the 3 RHD, you are losing 2 levels somewhere else, and that isn’t exactly clear where it would logically come from. I could assume to knock them off the end, but you might want to take less UD or DD. That’s not really my call to make. What is my call is how it causes problems. This was an otherwise solid build, though you obviously went for 9ths above all else. See, with the 1 RHD and 2 LA, you would get a CL of 18. 3 RHD, and you drop to 16, losing out on the lvl 9 spells. I would see that as a cost well paid for a flavorful character. You? Not so sure.

Or it could be a silly typo and we are talking about a 1 RHD, 2 LA caster with a CL of 18 at CR 20. I haven’t a clue, because it isn’t clear to me at the moment.

For now, I’m calling this a 3.5. Let’s chit chat later, and we can see if you can clear this one up for me. Given, you aren’t getting this up to 5. But I’m definitely willing to come back up.

Power/Competence – So, for many of these, I have seen a reliance on outside power to (potentially) get the job done. You don’t need that. You have spells. You can blast all day. You even have this fun blurb about your personal dungeon garden and all the possible toys in there. See, I really appreciate that. Seeing what it could be, and possible adaptations. That’s nice. Keep doing that.

What I see that is lacking is a defined sweet spot. You called out CR 7 for urban shape, which I can see is important for quite a bit of the fluff. Good. That said, there is still plenty more build to go after it, with a lot more power after it. Somewhere around 19 it looks like you have another spike, but I can’t really tell you which one you want me to focus on more. So I’m going to look at the higher end. Yup, got spells. Those are powerful. But this needs to be about competence then. Do you use the power to an affective level? You certainly have them flavored out, looks like you thought significantly over all the domain powers and spells that you will be eventually getting, and how they can benefit your schemes and goals. I like the shapeshifting, even though it is somewhat limited, it does what it is supposed to do. You didn’t need MomF for this one, that would be freakin’ overkill. You got just enough to get the point across, and called it good. That’s something a lot of people end up messing up on, not only in comps but just in general. I’m glad to see you didn’t.

Not only powerful, but capable too. 4.5 again.

Memorability – Ya know, if I didn’t know better, I would say you are my brother in disguise, but he has a profile on here somewhere and I haven’t seen him post in the thread. So unless he snuck one in here, I’d say this is his. He made a “tooth fairy” necromancer. It definitely stuck with me. Just like this build could. It has the evil feel. It also has the misunderstanding. You know what I mean? This person is evil by circumstance. Those are usually my favorite kinds of villains. Also, the very idea of a villainous fairy is really out there, in the memorable kinda way. I like it. However, at the end of the day, it’s a blight druid. A fairy, urban, blight druid, but a blight druid none the less. They aren’t common, but they aren’t unheard of either. That said, I think this one could definitely stand out as the quintessential blight druid if played well.

I’m comfy with a 4 here. If anything, mostly because it’s an evil freakin’ fairy, and besides the gothed out tinkerbell I used to see a lot in highschool, you don’t see those often.

Tallied, I believe you have a 16.5. I like this guy. I want to like it more, but I have my reasons for knocking it where I did.

Score updated to 17.5 after discussion.

Originality – As someone who has literally drowned for years in the oversaturation of the world in the tidal wave of blood soaked vampirephilia, I gotta be honest. I’m not going to remember just any vampire. I’ve played VtM, ravenloft, homebrewed innistrad to the point of creating my own book on how to play vampires, acfs and the whole shebang included. I’m sick of vampires. I officially (for the next few months while I finish playtesting and running my party with half them vampires) hate the bloody blood suckers.

Great, that rant out of the way, we have a vampire. WOO! Awesome! Oh look, it also has a class revolving around undead and magic there in, and a prestige class all about making vampires better! Extra woo!

Okay, sarcasm aside, I have never seen anyone actually run a life drinker, for whatever the reason may be. I tried statting one out once upon a time for edgar markov (look him up). It went okay. Just okay. I guess the point is we all have seen vamps, to levels of nauseum. The issue you encounter with that is they are usually paired with straight sorc or something melee. I’m glad to see using this obscure class that, for the most part, I feel is long forgotten. A+ for that.

Also using Silverbrow, I see. Definitely never seen that in a comp or TO before. I definitely like the vamp variants, just wish I could have seen one used other than savage, seemingly the only one anyone ever uses. At least you didn’t go web enhancement and grab vamp lord (or whatever it’s called). That would have been overkill, I think.

Oh boy, he uses a scythe too. A nectrotic, profane burst, speed scythe. If that wasn’t the nail needed for this guy’s coffin, I have no idea what possibly could be.

Let’s call this a 2.0. Vamp, using (albeit uncommonly used) vamp prc, undead base class, common vamp template. I think the only thing I haven’t really seen here is spell stitching a vamp, but that might only be because my playground avoids using so many books on a single character.

Elegance – I always find the freaking metric ton of crap you get from vampire for the low low cost of CR +2 as astounding. Then again, I’m the kind of guy who finds the great taste of a little coke and a lot of Jamaican rum astounding, so YMMV. That said, we have booboos. The vampire variants presented in the book of bad latin are much like the ones you would find for any template. The things it mentions are changed, everything else stays the same. You don’t get the +6 str from vamp, and an extra +10 piled on top. Like, think about it for a second. Savage doesn’t alter CR any. Do you think that an extra net of 14 stats, extra 40 skill points, and an extra natural weapon at the cost of dominate is worth 0 CR? Come on, man. I think we are all better than thinking that. No, the listed things replace. Hard stop. As a savage, you trade the charisma for strength. Good for melee, not so much for caster, which it looks like you were building for, at least somewhat.

Speaking of casting, we need to recalculate that charisma. 26 sounds great, but then we remove the item, because shame on you for relying on it, and -4 because that’s what happens when you are a bloody savage (YAY puns, where is patrick when you need him?), we end up with 16. With life drinker not actually progressing casting, I’m not worried about having a score too low that you won’t get all your spells out there, but this is still a bit low. Which, of course, is why we would use the item, but as has been argued to hell and back, as well as many judges have warned before, we reserve the right to ping a score for relying on items. Consider this a ping.

Now we need to look at your book list. PHB. Cool. MM. Also cool. LM. What undead could exist without?! And ya know, I’m even willing to overlook BoVD and HoH. Can you please explain to me what the “O” means when you say “other,” and just how important it was to go digging into a book relating to Kara-Tur? Don’t get me wrong, I love the Japanese themed land that is the far east of faerun. But digging out that book for something that is defined as “other” to me is in no way imperative to this build, this character, or probably even the campaign it would be used in! Even the mention of all the alt rules from BoVD are just... Wow, dude. Wow. If you need an alt template to your base template, a prestige class, and a bunch of further alt rules all centering around things that would make his mechanics a possibility? It’s time to go back to the drawing board. Take the first one, set it on fire, and throw it out the window. We need to start the hell over.

Woah. Just caught this in your build as well, under the CR5. “... has a necroplitan wizard that is level 6 under her control...” This. I don’t care how you are doing it. I don’t know the exact anything about it, because it seems about as shoehorned in as anything else presented here. But you know what it sounds like? It sounds an awful lot like leadership. As such, this isn’t just a mistake of missing a prereq, this isn’t a typo of some sort. This is an illegal move, against the very blatant rules of the contest, and if I remember correctly against EVERY contest here on the board.

I can’t see anything redeemable here. I tried with originality, and gave what I could. This? This is pretty low balled. I’m throwing a 1 here. This is one that needs discussed, in length.

Power/Competence – Okay, had a drink, listening to some music. I’m chill. I can finish this! That’s what I’m telling myself, at least...

Base, you got a vamp. It has power. It is pretty damn hard to kill, to be honest. It can BS its way out of a paper bag. That’s what they do, by RAW. You also are taking all 10 levels of life drinker, which does admittedly have some gems that I personally enjoy tooling around with in my spare time. Are they powerful? Nah. Are they fun? Sure. So this is another competence test. Is this character going to do what is intended? Let’s look at the sweet spot.

“But to love who you say” oh, if you only knew. If only. So, we are going with control people who control people who control people logic. Well, sure, you could do that. And a DM could also throw his DMG at you with malicious intent, but let’s try to stay within a realistic world here. I’ve got to say, I’m really only seeing an undead melee that has some blood based abilities. If you wanted to show off how to count to big numbers, then you have sorta succeeded. A googolplex is still bigger, and so is a googolplexian, by literal magnitudes.

I mean, at level twenty, your best hope is swinging and hitting for 6 negative levels because “her scythe allows for an extra attack.” At 20th, the epitoal capstone of so many games, you should be hoping for far far more than a single extra negative level accompanied by 2d4 + 1.5str.

This is weak sauce. This is a undercooked, bloody steak smothered in weak sauce. 2.

Memorability – I’ve tried to look this one over, and think of redeeming qualities, but least of all with this be remembered. This is a bag of numbers controlling a bag of numbers worth of bags of numbers. The best you can hope for is the party being down the road saying “remember when the whole world was undead? Yea, me neither.”

2.

Please, come back with something that can explain to me why I shouldn’t rock bottom this score, because I hate to hand out a bare minimum score without reasonable cause. The thing is, so far I have reasonable cause, and none to the contrary.

For now, it’s a 7.

As a disclaimer, my recent bias against vampires has little to nothing to do with this score. If you wish to petition this score to anyone, including but not limited to the chairman, understand that I will tell him the exact same thing, as well as giving a list of reasons why the score is what it is, well beyond what I have already stated.

Originality – Okay, so a Vashar. Gotta admit, I had to look it up to even remotely remember what it is. Good start. Cleric 20. Well, you aren’t going to be showing off anything huge with that, but at least divine magician is something a bit different, and you aren’t going to be using the same rehashed prc’s that I see every freakin’ day.

Also saw you managed to get some of that heretic of the faith goodness in there. Good. Honestly, I’m going to be far more disappointed if I see a divine caster without it in this go around.

Let’s see... Persist. Mhm. DMM: Persist. Yup, that’s a thing. Enemy of good. That definitely fits... kinda. Seems like you are gonna get the violate/malign combo rolling. Overall a +3 DC on all spells (for higher level and effect). Thing is, these are all pretty well known and exploited tricks, from low, mid, and high op. A few of the CR write ups are bugging me too, but to a far less extent. You wasted zero time saying CR 10 = DMM: persist righteous might. You aren’t bringing anything to the table that hasn’t been on the menu for years. I am liking your use of thirst and dehydration. Desiccation is truly a nasty thing, as I found out years back during a senior project, so a build working around it is nice.

Also have the caught thief getting punished bit. I’m almost sad the merchant dude wasn’t named Hakeem, wore a turban, and got swindled by a monkey. Another thing: as much as I love the burning hate story, it dates back quite a ways. It’s nothing that hasn’t been seen before, is what I’m saying.

Side note, for those who want to know, this kid would be dead in a day. The blistering sun would have done most of the work, but carrion birds don’t wait for something to die if it’s as good as dead. That isn’t weighing into your score, just thought I would throw it out there.

Out of love for the original, I want to go higher, but integrity is keeping that from happening. Persistomancer cleric really hurts, and going into a suggested gear section calling out night sticks isn’t going to help your case. The desiccation motif is really your saving grace. 2.5 here.

Elegance – Well, it’s really hard to screw up straight 20 cleric! A good ole KISS build. That’s great. Where I am having a problem, and this one is somewhat minor to be honest. It’s the race and a feat. So, this is some street rat that got thrown out into the sun until saved. Where exactly is the justification for the vile race? I mean, this is human by a different name with the bonus feat locked into a vile feat. While in some cases that seems mildly flavorful, this just seems... something. I can’t find the right word for it, but we will use “wrong” as a place holder. Then we have the feat enemy of good. I mean, besides your race and a grudge against this one d-bag, what point is there to having that? I mean, as the heresy grew, sure, but you have this from level 1. And honestly, his grudge against this guy wouldn’t make him hate good. That guy was a prick! He wasn’t good! He was ill-tempered and cruel, for crying out loud, that isn’t the defining factor that gives way to a good character. Which, of course, feeds back into this idea of using a vile race “because reasons.”

I can’t knock you too much for a feat, even digging into ElE to find it, and a (extremely minor, not really anything) racial choice. I’m okay with a 4 here.

Power/Competence – Said it before, I’ll say it again. Hard to screw up a straight 20 build. Even better when it’s a tier 1 class, eh? That said, you aren’t breaking the breaks off anything with spell focus. I mean, you really hit both ends of the spectrum with DMM and SF in the same build. If it was part of it earlier on as a prereq, that would be one thing, but level 18? Really? I mean, yea, you are now getting that tiny boost to all spells because of the violate/malign combo mentioned earlier, but +1 DC this late in the game is a joke, especially considering you just got ahold of 9th level spells 1 full level ago. Which, btw, without items, shenanigans, etc., you aren’t casting those 9s.

Your skills are killing me, too. Straight 23 for concentration, religion, and diplomacy? Let’s be honest, with the race you chose, this guy isn’t doing anything diplomatic. The very flavor text says they don’t even understand the concept of mercy, and the thought of taking a hostage would take years of study to even comprehend that leaving someone alive is a tactic of exploitation. Your race is murder here, for a whole different reason than before. This isn’t a guy who would think. This isn’t a guy who would comprehend. And most importantly, this isn’t a guy who would pray, considering his is a race that historically hates all gods and tried to commit deicide. So power? Yea, the stats have power. The numbers have power. The character? Nah. Straight 10 Int screams that he isn’t going to think of half the possible tactics and tricks you have as a builder.

Power yes(ish). Competence hardly. 2.5.

Memorability – I’m sad to say, but I think this guy actually leaves a sour taste in my mouth for the original burning hate. He isn’t special. He isn’t a unique snowflake. He is a cleric. A rather weak, wimpy, dim cleric that isn’t even going to pull off the best things a cleric can do. If he was the first heretic the party ever encountered, that would get him somewhere in their gaming history, but in a game like this, where everyone is bringing the A game, pulling out all the stops? He definitely needs more.

3.

All tallied, 12.0. Needs work, but could be something great. Honestly, I think ditching the race for something that would have something more dynamic would be great, even with RHD or LA considered. Who the hell needs those lvl 9s when you won’t even have the wisdom to cast them?! I get it, Pelor is generally a human god, but who is really going to turn down worship?

Score updated to a 13.5 after discussion.

Originality – Oh cool, a battle maiden! I feel like these are super buried in ToB, and never seen one actually in use. I’m totally down for this dealio. Bouncing around with some swordsage and assassin. Nothing too new, nothing too old either. However, it is common enough that we have a meme about it (i.e. edit:swordsage’d). That said, the idea of a valkyrie that works as an assassin is pretty off from true north. Uses stealth skills too, something that seems pretty out of the ordinary for a large sized, stereotypically brawler type of flying outsider known for singing her way onto the battlefield.

Yea, ya got me. This is almost straight out of left field. Race, class that doesn’t mesh, tactics... Yup, you can have the 4.5. Only docked for the SS/Ass combo.

Elegance – I’m having a hang up here. Those feats you get out of the tin from all the RHD and LA? Ya know, the things in the original monster stat block? I’m fairly certain those are locked in. If literally anyone can correct me on this (and I mean a citation of rules, not a citation of an example that leans in the other direction. I’m a scientist, damnit, correlation isn’t causation!) please do! In fact, feel free to do that for all my critiques! This is a learning experience for me too!

Cool, moving on. I like the flyby and still being able to work in other feats and maneuvers. Really looking like she can manage using all available tools without an issue of there being gears failing to mesh. I am troubled by the word “should” in your encounters block. No one “should” have items. I mean, yea, they should, but this is the comp, and you should know better! Needing quickdraw crystals, haversack, net, rope, harpoons, thinaun weapons, thunderstones, and “all kinds of weird equipment” seems pretty off the beaten path here. I’m not saying I am a scholar of Norse heathenry, but I’m almost certain there is no tale of the valkyrie flying about, toting her Acme bag-o-****. And ya know what? There shouldn’t be! Because the weapon isn’t going to make the character good here, she already has that pretty well covered. It’s a fairly strong base creature, there isn’t a need for all this crap. Now, keeping soul stealing weapons is one thing, but the rest can simple be left out. The maneuvers, we could take or leave really. They are there from race alone, they aren’t going to wow me anymore than what was already present. And then of course we have a feat from a web enhancement from a book that is in about as different of a set as you can manage. You mention Odin, and Midgar, but then try to fish something out of dragons of faerun, all to get a bonus to death attack? Yea, no dice pal. Further investigation is showing me that isn’t even a feat. It’s a bonus for being a member of an assassin’s guild.

The wall of text all about gear is really killing me here. I’m also unsure about the feats issue. We can park this at a 2.5 for now. When I hear back more about the starting feats and if they are free for retraining without actually retraining (because that’s just a sloppy mechanic that seems tagged on anyway) I will gladly bump this one up based on findings.

Power/Competence – Okay, went straight to the sweet spot, and stopped cold, yelling “where tf are you getting pounce?” Then I hit ctrl + f and still didn’t see it. So it simply isn’t there. Then we have more item specific mumbo with death attack jumbo that needs some numbers shifted, considering your misunderstanding of the not feat. So let’s call it what it is. A CR 13 critter that is trying to force a DC 18 save or die. I’m flat out ignoring the oil, because it simply should be. You even throw in this great note about how great death attacks are, and how they are going to wreck parties.

Sorry mate, without all this fluffing up that you are doing (some improperly, some WBL), it’s really not a thing. I mean, did you read death attack? You need to study a target for 3 rounds then make an attack that can proc sneak attack. And even if all this wonderful tech would possibly work together as you are hoping, there is still the laundry list of things that make someone immune to fort saves, death effects, precision damage, etc. Then you have that sudden blurb of “oh holy crap, UMD!” and all I can think of is that “yea, I guess” meme. It’s such an out of place statement, I had to bring it up if only to ask why?

So a swift insta-killer, this lady isn’t. A capable brawler, she still has the potential for with all her other features. A 3 feels right here.

Memorability – Its often thought that angels are good. Valkyries are kinda angels, and given their lore they definitely have that heavenly feel. Having one going off the deep end like this is a cool idea. The woman that carries souls to valhala is actually an assassin and is hellbent on doing some collecting. Definitely something I would like to revisit in the future. That said, she doesn’t exactly have the final boss feel that BBEGs have. Like you said, she is prepping for ragnarok (which, side note, there is way more to it than the jotun), and that is far more likely to be the big fireworks show at the end of the campaign.

She can have a 4. A nice, memorable 4.

Rounding out with a solid 14.0. Like I said, if we can talk a bit more about those feats, we can take this one up a bit, but please don’t expect to get all 5 out of elegance.

Awesome. Its amazing what I can do on my few days off.

Edit: the rest of my scores can be found here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21688584&postcount=234

Troacctid

2017-02-08, 12:46 AM

I expect I won't be judging this time, since I'm going to be busy DMing a lot of games this week. But the builds look pretty cool.

Thurbane

2017-02-08, 01:50 AM

First round of disputes:

I do gotta say, I didn’t see an alignment anywhere, but assuming by Catlord, its NE. That’s fine, just thought it could be mentioned.

Thanks for the judging! The alignment is listed just a bit under the picture:

NE Tibbit Ranger 5/Animal Lord (Catlord) 8/ Unarmed Swordsage 7

Hey there, thank you very much for judging, and in such a timely manner too. I guess being the first to submit does actually have some perks. :smalltongue:

I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty of the fluff, but you do make a number of valid points. I feel like I should clarify a bit what I was going for here, though. For any of you who've played Neverwinter Nights 2, the first companion you get is Khelgar Ironfist, a Dwarven Fighter who wants to become a Monk (because they punch things good). Khelgar is basically... an exaggeration of a lot of the negative traits of Dwarves, he's rowdy, kinda racist, a drunkard, constantly spoiling for a fight, and lacks many of the 'positive' qualities that are associated with Dwarves. I wanted to bring that same thing to play with Tahlessrail, an exaggeration of the negative traits of Elves, without any of the positives to balance it out. He's racist, elitist, detached, and remarkably slow to change his mind. Like Kelghar, he wants very badly to be an 'ideal elf', but can't quite cut it. Tahlessrail just never gets, ya know, actual character development in a positive way.

As for mechanics, I KNEW something got left out when I was re-doing the build table. Ugh. :/

Regardless, there are a number of ways around that problem. For one, none of his abilities actually require Combat Reflexes to work. As he's passing up an arbitrary number of AoO's, he never has to actually 'use up' his one AoO. The actual problem, therefore, is the requirement for Robilar's Gambit. There are three pretty easy ways around this, considering this is coming from the DM side. The first, is to give him a flaw (which you already seem to be doing by bringing up Karmic Strike, which is just a variant anyways?), second, just add it into his feat progression at the end, pushing Improved Trip off, or third, as you've mentioned, is to retrain a feat. So one way or another, it will work out. Still, good catch.

As for item qualification, that would absolutely be a valid argument!... if he were a PC. However, as the GM running this theoretical character, I feel like it only matters if you're going for Super Ultra Realism. A villain having a magic item that grants them a large part of their strength is absolutely a common trope for a reason, and it kinda props up the fact that without his stuff he really is just kinda incompetent.

Those are the main things I can think of to comment on, but if you want more explanation on any given topic, feel free to ask!

Hey buufreak. thanks for judging.

Normally I'd wait for all your scores but I think my dispute is vital to your other scores: This contest runs on CR. So you can ignore LA all together and RHD are important for the determination of CR.
The relevant table can be found in the monster manual (sadly away from books, it is at the end). For Camellia the starting point is a 1 HD fey creature listed as CR 1. Since this contest runs on CR, I chose to advance her HD to speed up my feat progression and gain an extra feat (I have 21 HD overall) and sacrifice 1 CL (dropping my casting class levels from 19 (1 CR + 19 levels) to 18 (3 HD + 18 levels). How does this work? Fey HD increase the CR of the monster for 1 per 4 HD added. How much you can add is listed in the monster entry. Also if they increase in size if you add HD. Sadly petals are capped at 3 HD (in their entry) so I am actually losing 2 HD of fey by doing it this way. I have done both tables and the one with 3 HD works much in Camellia's favor.
So overall I am of course happy with my score, but I hope I could clear up the whole "This contest runs on CR" thing for you and make your judging a little easier.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-08, 09:02 AM

Entries
Buufreak, Judging
Strigon Judging

Total points*

Tahlessrail (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681763&postcount=196)
11.75
15.5

Darkpaw (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681766&postcount=197)
15.25

Camellia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681772&postcount=198)
16.5

Valentine (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681774&postcount=199)

7

Zojan (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681780&postcount=200)
12

Kappikyrie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681782&postcount=201)
14

The Silverblood Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681783&postcount=202)

Torquemada (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681786&postcount=203)

Gareth Z’Von (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681787&postcount=204)

Gaspar Macoute (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681792&postcount=205)

*When all judging for each judge is in total will be calculated

Tiri

2017-02-08, 09:35 AM

Stirgon Judging

You might want to correct that, as his name is Strigon. Not Stirgon.

Strigon

2017-02-08, 10:00 AM

You might want to correct that, as his name is Strigon. Not Stirgon.

You know, I have absolutely no idea why that's such a common mistake. I guess the lowercase i and r look vaguely similar?

Tiri

2017-02-08, 10:03 AM

You know, I have absolutely no idea why that's such a common mistake. I guess the lowercase i and r look vaguely similar?

It's possible your name makes them think of Stirges or something like that. You know, the magical insect thing.

ben-zayb

2017-02-08, 10:16 AM

It may be easier to just remember that "Trigon" is a real word.

Strigon

2017-02-08, 10:24 AM

It's possible your name makes them think of Stirges or something like that. You know, the magical insect thing.

That explains it here, but everywhere I go it's the same thing.
Even when I play Naval Action - a Napoleonic era sailing simulator - I get it.

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-08, 11:20 AM

That explains it here, but everywhere I go it's the same thing.
Even when I play Naval Action - a Napoleonic era sailing simulator - I get it.

Okay i got a way to remember it STR-i-gon

Secret identity is strength i gonna.... but what will you do?:smallbiggrin:

Troacctid

2017-02-08, 04:16 PM

Yeah, I get "Troaccid" a lot for some reason. I'm like, how is that supposed to rhyme with "Protracted"? Come on.

Jormengand

2017-02-08, 04:25 PM

I usually get "Jormengard" because I'm apparently a plane of exsitence.

Strigon

2017-02-08, 04:43 PM

Second judging up:

Darkpaw

Elegance:
Everything in here seems pretty straightforward, and well-suited to your chosen race and archetype. I don't like giving out a solid five just like that, but I can't see any reason not to, other than the principle of the thing. So, take your 5 and go.
Power:
You seem to be very focused on survival and on weakening your enemies for a very long time. And don't get me wrong, he's a real pain to kill, but once he's isolated it's just a matter of how long he can run around before finally dying. Until around CR 15, pretty much all of your damage is coming from the cats you call to your side, but even those aren't all that tough; by the time you're getting Dire Lions (A CR 5 creature), you're CR 10 yourself! I can't see a good argument for you getting rakshasas, either. He might want to ally with them, but I see no reason for them to agree. Since this is a GM-run character, there's a bit more leeway, but all these together mean I have to give a 2.75. Let me know if I missed anything.
Originality:
Well, it's a cat-man, worshipping a cat-god, trying to create a Utopia for cats. Bonus points for the cat theme, which is somewhat novel, but I can't see any interesting spins you've put on it. You're taking the basic features of each class, but not doing anything particularly creative with them; you do exactly what I'd expect each class to do, and no more. Having said that, this particular combination is somewhat new, so I'm okay with giving a 3.5 here.
Memorable Villainy:
"Hey, guys, remember that time Steve was shredded by Puss in Boots?"
"He had Swordsage levels and a Dire lion attacking me. Besides, as I recall, most of the damage was done by your fumbling attempts to hit him."
"Yeah, good times..."
4.5, just because I'm having trouble imagining a full campaign based around him.

Total: 15.75

Buufreak

2017-02-08, 07:31 PM

Hey all, poking in to drop off two more. This might take me one more day, but we will just have to see. When all is done, I'm going to link my two posts together, so it can be easier (at least I think) to view all the scores together.

First half of scores found here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21685426&postcount=221

Originality – My first few thoughts are as follows: What the hell is a werebattletitan? Holy crapbaskets, you made dark lugia! Admittedly, I take a lot at first glance. I usually change the opinion as I read on, but I’m glad that second chances exist. I saw half celestial and 11 class levels and immediately thought “hey. yo. you need some help with that CR.” Then I open the first tab and KABOOM! That’s the kind of nice surprises I like. It kinda reminds me of the lion of urik from darksun. That’s definitely a good thing, because he was my favorite of the sorcerer kings.* So I find it really interesting that you can remind me so much of lord hamanu, who was an actual dragon, and instead you are a dragon slayer. It’s the right kind of plot twist that leads me in with something somewhat familiar, but then tears me away from that notion and replaces it with something completely different, warped even.

I’ll also admit I’ve never heard of a tarnished dragonborn. I think one of the biggest things you have going for this guy is I’m sitting here scratching my head and asking what the hell is it? It’s such a hodgepodge of things that I don’t know what really takes precedence as far as type and subtype goes. I mean, most of these guys that are made can be best represented on a table of 1-20ish. This guy? This guy right here? No freaking chance. The table only made it worse! And that’s okay. It not only has originality in whatever the hell it is, but also in presentation. That’s awesome.

I’m giving you a solid 4.0 here. The half point is for karmic/rombilar combo, because I knocked someone else for it and I would be a dillhole for not doing the same here, and then a bit more for the monk/kensai with snapkick; I’m pretty sure that is straight from the handbook. Then I saw the GSF. Don’t do that! That’s a bad.

*disclaimer, lorddraco is not now nor will he ever be in the same league as the kings of athas.

Elegance – Well, bad news. As awesome as it was to see just how much crap could be piled onto a single character and still make it visible as a character, well... I did mention a table making it more confusing, right? So I’m going to pick this apart and see what all I can find that works great together, and sorta categorize it all. So base, you have human monk/kensai/occult slayer. Very straight forward melee, with that hatred of mages that I generally like. “There’s got to be a better way”, eh? I actually didn’t know OC was a 5 lvl, so good job getting it all in there. We also have a mountain of feats that all help with the melee dealio, some of the classics that go on well with. I can dig it.

Then we have the monster of templates.

Okay, I have to mention this before I continue. I finally opened MM3, and my only thoughts were “of course it’s a f’ing dinosaur,” and “omg, look at that thing, it’s so derpy!” Just had to get that out.

Right, templates. So you are a were-dino, half celestial, with some jotun and dragon ancestry for good measure. Really, I got nothing. That is such a freaking mess, man. I like it, I really do, and that’s why originality is so high, but damn. So at the very least, you are always large, with transformation into huge. Then I went and saw there isn’t any control shape!!! NO! That would have helped make it a little pretty! At least then you could control when the can of whoopass was coming, and not lose it for 9/10 of the month. I mean, you could give it a shot anyway with your okay wis score, but man I wanted to see that! Like, I like lycanthropes a lot, they are my preferred gothic horror critter. But nothing says awesome like one who doesn’t care about the moon cycle.

I’m also seeing not a whole lot about doing god’s work. Like, yea, the silverbrow and dragonborn gives some links to the platinum flying lizard, but... idk. Just feels a little forced.

Okay, so does it blend? Well, definitely better than the chuck norris doll. But it doesn’t make a smoothie, mate. As I will cover more in power, monk + templates that give strength = good. God, this is actually the part I hate when I want to score something higher because I like it, but integrity won’t allow it. It’s like an inner conflict as gridlocked as the senate. However, I can compromise at a 2.5. This thing isn’t pretty. Not in the slightest. But pieced out, it has some shiny bits. I’m doing what I can to stay focused on those pieces, so please just take that score at face value.

Power/Competence – Oh, it do what it do. They don’t think it be like it is, but it do. A total powerhouse of melee that procs a mountain of swings, with all kinds of templates made to help make those hits land and sting? Yea, that’s probably the best anyone can do with a monk. And ya know what? You did it well. You have a handful of spell-likes in there, and really, I’m just overlooking them. Yea, they are nice to have, but that’s not what this guy is all about. This guy is the massive monster that turns into the spinning vortex of hits and effects, and I like that. The mental image only makes it better.

He is made to do a thing. He does that thing. Can’t ask for much more. Between melee presence and other things to keep him relevant, I’m cool with a 4.5 here.

Memorability – I gotta admit, I’m still reeling over the freaking dino, and the mental image of it with its tiny arms doing a flurry of blows is making my side hurt from laughter. So there is that. I also think I will really remember the mechs. Like, dude, seriously? An evil were-dino that has protection from evil? For real? That’s just funny. Like, I keep minimizing this, checking facebook, sending a few emails, coming back, and then I still get that stupid grin on my face. That’s so cool, man. That’s the thing that players will remember. It doesn’t have to be the epic battle, it can simply be “hey, remember that one guy?” This is that one guy. I’m probably going to keep laughing about this one, and even share it with friends, much like I did with sir bearington and the fur heresy (great stories, look them up).

You get my best recommendation here with a big ole 5. Way to freaking go.

Tallied, got a 16.0. I really like it. This dragon/not dragon thing is pretty damn cool. Keep things like this coming and I can see a future of gold medals.

Originality – So, I’m pronouncing that /tork-ma-da/. Is that about right? Cool. Archon. Kinda an angel, but isn’t exactly. Definitely a divine servant, and I’m liking seeing it out here. Could always go kinda meta and pick the demon/devil that was an angel (the name escapes me), but you didn’t, and I’m cool with it. It’s even a justice archon, which I think helps drive the idea home a bit harder. Good for you.

You’ve also got a level of rogue in there, which feels a bit out of place, but for originality I can dig it. One usually doesn’t think a stealth based character when the thought of angel or archon comes up. They are usually battlefront brawlers, shining with the light of gods. This guy has all kinds of reason not to, and that’s great. The fallen paly thing isn’t so new, and really they are a dime a dozen, but you are doing it in an interesting way, so that helps to soften the blow.

Not the biggest fan of travel devotion. When I can’t go a day without seeing it mentioned on the forum as a way to move and hit, well, we are really in a category of... what is the opposite of originality? That. Whatever that word is.

We are working with Heironeous. Don’t really see him or even Hextor all that often. No, its usually reserved for whenever I open PHB1 and go, “oh yea, they exist,” before immediately forgetting them all over (yes, this means I have never used his one war based prestige class). So, I’m cool with branching out into some foreign territory there.

Overall, nothing super new, but nothing so old it needs demolished. The archon helps, and making a divine stealth helps a crapton too. I’m comfy with 3.5 in originality.

Elegance – To begin with, and this is a nitpick, not so much a deduction: when listing your sources, its helpful to list what is coming from each source. Page numbers are also helpful. I hate having to fumble through 8 books, searching through indexes, trying to rely on ctrl + f (which doesn’t work on all pdfs), etc, in an attempt to find a source that I really only need to look at for 10 seconds. This alone will change my time needed to review from an hour to a lot more than an hour. Just a heads up. Again, no deduction. Yet. Another thing, Asmodeus is a devil. Please don’t lump him in with those hideously stupid creatures called demons.

So, trading in paly for BG. It happens. I’ve tried to come up with my own builds that would utilize it to the fullest. I think it’s totally doable with greyguard 10/blackguard 10. But using shadowbane to piggyback it? That’s nice. Didn’t know it existed, never fooled much with CAv, so it’s nice to see something come out of it that isn’t how to make a ranger less gimped. I’m also just liking the class in general. Some stealth, some bulk, some holy feel. It’s cool. It even helps set you up for BG with the freaking bonus feats! I might need to work it into my own gaming circle somehow.

I do have an issue with your table, right at CR 18 or 19, kinda a grey or in this case black area. When trading in levels of paly, you LOSE those levels of paly. That’s the definition of trading, mate. Shadowbane counts as those levels for the sake of BG, but by this point it is the only thing counting. So you would only gain what you normally would for 7 levels of ex-paly, not the 11+ category. I’m also seeing a lot of cross-classing with skills. That isn’t intrinsically bad, but in a score for elegance, it definitely pings on the radar. I’m also not seeing anywhere about him having a friendly get together with an evil outsider. I mean, there’s himself, but that doesn’t really count...

Let’s see. All your feats seem to be a few of the standard. Given, some are locked for prereqs, which is fine. But at this point I’m grasping at straws. The build is solid, it flows well, not a damn thing seems out of place, besides an argument of what your effective paly level is and some crossclassing. And honestly, that first one is only me pointing something out, it doesn’t affect the build for much of anything besides 1 less skelly minion. OH NOES! (which looking, I don’t even see here, so maybe I’m misreading).

Take your 4.5. Don’t tell anyone Buu is being nice.

Power/Competence – Alright, so maybe I am ignorant and unable to find the relevant thing, but I don’t get what a planar touchstone has to do with anything. Please explain that one to me, I’m drawing a blank and unable to find anything worth mention in PLH.

That aside, I’m really liking looking at the sweetspot for these power checks. Gives me a feel of what you really think a character can do when he does it best. Well, from the looks of it, his sweet spot isn’t just combative. That’s okay. It’s a breath a fresh air. Let’s see... TD pounce. Check. Can smite. That’s cool. Diving attacks. I’ve always been a fan, and it seems somewhat underutilized. Eh, an aura to lower saves a few points and AC even fewer isn’t that much to brag about. Also, we were just talking about this guy not embracing his darkness until recently, so would he really have bothered to grab poison while also dodging PCs, town guards, church officials, etc.? Nah, not really. I’m also not seeing him coming to battle prepped with all these evil spells. He’s new to evil. He just embraced it 30 seconds ago. There is no chance in the nine hells he is rocking all that. The improved SA is believable, considering he has always had it as a tactic, but the bill stops there, or damn close to it.

Now, I do thank you for noticing that at the end of the day, he’s a beat stick. A rather underwhelming beat stick. You can recognize that, and I can too. So you have ideas as how to help back him up. That’s awesome. That’s some kinda fiber that more villains need in their diet. And trust me, I know as much as the next guy that it can be hard to swallow, but getting over that is huge. This guy gets it. As a lone heretic, he sucks. Heaven is infinite, and he is very finite. He needs some backup, stat! And he knows it. That is a level of competence that means something to me. Thank you for recognizing the need for it.

Overall, not the strongest, and I question a good few things about what could be considered power, but for knowing what it means to call for backup speaks the world to me. Far more than having an army of minions at your back to shore up defenses, this guy instead seeks help. That speaks some levels. For that, and almost that alone, he is competently a 4.

Memorability – Ya know, I’m not too sure if I will remember this guy all that much. The fallen angel has been done before. You also argue that people looking in wouldn’t be able to tell if he had fallen, but I argue the opposite. It’s often difficult for people to see their own faults, but they are quick to notice the folly of others. Since this is ultimately a game designed by people and played by people, the same can be said of its creatures. Chances are, this guy still gallivants about, completely convinced he is doing the right thing for the greater good, while all his prior accomplices are thinking “wow, this guy must be smoking the good stuff.” Really, he is an old story with a new spin, but still suffers from common narcissism, by how I’m reading it. Nothing too bad for a character to do, but isn’t the most memorable thing on the internet.

I think he has the sticking power of a 3.

Looks like a 15.0 to me. Pretty good, liking the fluff and the story so much more than the flavor. Because it isn’t black cherry limeaid, and that is my jimmy-jams.

Originality – So, a church official who doesn’t divine cast. At all. I like it, out the gate. I’m noticing this guy is all about the diplo. Points, feats, more points, more feats. Diplomacy is your deal. I’ve actually not seen many like that in actual play, usually theory craft, so it’s a nice breath to see it completely thought out. Also, usually when we are talking BBEG, there is a battlefield presence. This guy isn’t that guy. Truth be told, I like that. This is the kind of guy that when caught and shut down, he would go quietly. He would walk his happy self to confinement without a fuss. He almost has a hannibal lector thing going, and he is probably one of my favorite killers from the movies. He is smart, has a sway over people, he’s totally capable of working over the mind, just with a few words or with any of his special abilities.

Like I said, I like it. Classes I never see, a playstyle that isn’t overdone or really is hardly ever used. Makes me feel comfortable with him in all the right ways without putting a neon sign on him. The only thing I can see was I wasn’t immediately floored by it. So let’s say 4.5, skimming only a bit for that reason alone.

Elegance – So, I really like how you’ve done your skills. Have points allotted AND total per level? That’s awesome. Keep that up. It helps. Now, I gotta tell ya, I know diddly about factotum. I really like how you use it to get into an assumedly divine class, meanwhile having no divine casting. And you managed to take both of them and completely fill them out. I’m a fan of not dipping around. I’m a fan of something else that sounds like dipping around, but this is the giant, and I might get in trouble for mentioning that.

I definitely like the application of dream walking, it seems like a neat idea. It also can play an important part for the diplomatic angle, subliminally throwing wrenches into the inner workings of man, and all that jazz. I think something that feels out of place is he is using the church as a front. He is less a member of the clergy (despite what ranking he might actually hold), and also less a follower of the way, and more like a church mouse. He is there for convenience, and potentially something to nibble on, but not much else. That’s Gareth. Information comes in and out, he uses it to his advantage, and it’s a bed to sleep in overnight.

As a character flow, he works. As fitting in with this comp? Eh, a bit iffy. 3.5.

Power/Competence – So I said it before, this dude isn’t a battle kinda guy. That’s aokay with me, the bigger question is does he do what he is intended to do. However, I am kinda iffy on the dream stuff. I like the fluff, and it seems like a cool hook, but strictly speaking it is coming from the alternate rules appendix of a book. It isn’t exactly somewhere within the realm of properly canon d&d. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate something new and different, but the idea of sneaking into a dream and hauling people to their deaths seems... Borked, maybe? It doesn’t sit well. It feels somewhere along the lines of the lame as can be optimization for epic diplo skills where you can talk people into slitting their own throats. I said it before, I’m no fan of deus ex machina, and this could be interpreted as that.

What he does, he does well. Very well, in fact. I prefer that much more than the ones who are supposed to move the earth but can’t even move a cardboard box. Still kinda thrown off by the idea of throwing people into a swirling dreamy vortex of chaotic doom, though. 4.0

Memorability – I seem to be having this problem this go around. I am liking a few of the characters, but I’m not sure if they have the staying power. And here is why: we are currently pretty gridlocked in a world that is constantly shining a spotlight on political and religious corruption. As such, someone straight outta the church being corrupt isn’t the biggest wow factor. I know, I know, I wanted this to be the theme. I think it is still a good theme. I guess I just thought that it could be somewhat taken in a different direction.

That is in no way saying my expectations are a mark against you, or against any competitor for that matter. Just a bit of mindless rambling from a guy who doesn’t sleep much. However, it does say a little bit about what we have here. This somewhat feels like a paper, as we called them. Someone who joins an organization, regardless of what that organization really means or stands for, just to say that he is part of it. It benefits to have the ability to say it, but as far as other members and outsiders looking in go, they can likely see the guy for who he is. I feel like he will be about as well known as Joel, but when he dies, he will be about as well remembered.

I’m feeling a 3. Remembered in circles, but not much beyond that.

Tallied, seems like a 15.0. Not a bad bad guy. I especially like the little blurb you have written up for him. It really set the mood of it all. Kinda a chance to show off what he does while also giving a presentation of his skills at work. It was really nice.

Score updated to a 16.0.

Originality – Well, this is just some kinda bad timing. Two shadowbane users trying to bootleg into blackguard. Who’d of thunk it? Difference being you are rocking the hobagob. See, I like that. You never really see a gob much past the first few levels unless you are playing we be gobs. A hob that gets all the way to freaking 20? That’s pretty righteous. In the cool way. Not the holy way. That’s not what we are doing here, silly!

I even find it funny that you both took bat with fiendish servant. The biggest thing is they both come across different. I see the archon having this little floating fur ball following it around, somewhat unaware as to why it’s there. Gaspar has a direbat, which if I recall makes for a great flying mount. So, similar, yet totally different application. It’s cool that something almost identical on paper is completely different off paper.

Oh crapcakes, you even have Heironeous? Alright, now this is just eerie. Let’s try what we have different, then? It’s no surprise that hobs are thugs, and can do the thief thing well enough. If I remember, spellthief is subpar, or was that hexblade? One of those sorta magic, sorta stealth classes was. Point is, it’s not something you see often. Or at least I haven’t. Dynamic Priest also feels new, though looking at it, it’s a discount feat from bastards & bloodlines, don’t ya think?

He has a bit of sorcadin feel, ya know? That desperate attempt to make everything Cha based SAD. It’s definitely nothing new. Hells, there are handbooks on how to do it, and how to do it well, and how to cheese it. You grabbed the only 1st party way that I know of off the top of my head, and it shows. But despite the feat being out there, the plan of action isn’t. 3.0.

Elegance – It fits the backstory a bit, sure, and even the race. But spellthief? Nothing about him before the church really feels spellthiefy. Rogue, sure. I could totally see that. Even though it isn’t the most elegant thing to start a build off with a dip, at least it would have made sense. Also feeling dirty looking at an alternate casting feat, an incarnum feat, a dragon magic feat... I mean, I like alternate sources as much as the next guy, but it feels like you were kinda dipping around more with feats than with classes. It’s certainly more acceptable, but it isn’t going unnoticed. I mean, it’s drakkensteed and blink shirt, the discount dragon mount and miss chance the forum loves to rant and rave about.

It’s sad to say, but this hob is kinda ugly on paper, despite how much I was really liking the initial idea and how straight forward the build was, level wise. I mean, I get that you can call him a thief for that first bit, and it can be just written off with backstory. I really think a bit of a more concise feat selection and leaving out the spellthief for shadowmane 10/BG 10 would have turned out better.

I gotta go with my gut here, 2.75.

Power/Competence – So, I didn’t see a sweet spot, so I’m going off the CR 20 for this. Given the class features, I’d say this guy is great at the backstabby shenanigans that hobs are famous for (at least to me they are!). I like that you pointed out the “if you can” of using poison. Too many have assumed that poison use = stacks and stacks of gold to spend on obscure poisons. That said, I’m not looking for what wands you could have. Yea, you got a spell list, but let’s keep this minimalist.

I definitely like the amount of SA he wracks up, while still being able to wear heavy armor and have a melee brawler presence. Assumedly, your bat might act as a flanking buddy, helping you to proc it more often. That’s neat. I’m somewhat ignoring despair simply because this guy isn’t much of a caster, and like I said, you shouldn’t be relying much on poisons in this case, nor any saves the weapon might proc.

Cool, I did just get to the part where you use it as a mount! Me gusta. Something about riding a warbat sounds cool to me. Idk. I’m odd. However, that definitely leaves me at a letdown that you spend an entire feat on drakkensteed, and then ditch it. That’s resource down the drain, mate!

Besides all that, you have pretty basic BG build, with a few extra tricks. Nothing to really ooh and ahh at, but its solid enough. Looks like a 3.0 here.

Memorability – So, I have this weird collection of mine. Some people have books, others model kits. Me? I do crazy awesome goblins who show up in games, are usually going to be downplayed, but end up being the crowd favorite. There was Hobs, the goblin butler who served an elven princess. There was chobs, the enemy who was seduced by and eventually married our bard. There was crap, who was exploded in combat, and then when someone asked where he went, we had the cliché comical answer “there, and over there, and some under your boot.” I could definitely see this guy fitting in with the shelf of misfit gobs. Sadly, that definitely means that he has a feeling of side character to him. So out of my love for goblinoids, I’ll hold onto him and squeeze him “ ‘til he don’t move no more,” but it’s not exactly like he will be the show stopper.

Gaspar gets a 3 here. Wrapping it all up with him, my final tally comes to a 11.75.

A very broad disclaimer to all. I have been somewhat harsh on gold spending, item usage, and item reliance. There is a reason for that. I want to see what your character can do. I generally assume the bare essentials, and that’s it. If you go out of your way to tell me about the magic, uber, anointed, blah blah blah that he is swinging, I’m literally going to ignore the entire paragraph and move on. Why? Because any dingbat can swing that weapon! Tell me why your character is special, and not the sack of crap he is hauling around! A weapon is fine. A suit of armor is somewhat fine. The handyhaver sack filled with wands, poisons, and a bunch of other magical crap is NOT FINE. Any argument against me to the contrary will be likely met with the patience of Job, and the stubbornness of a mule. You’ve been warned.

Inevitability

2017-02-09, 03:41 AM

I used to have a bunch of people refer to me as 'Dirge Stirge', with the underscore as often removed as present.

remetagross

2017-02-09, 05:57 AM

Aha is that why you changed your username ? :)

As to me, people keep typing it without a lowercase "r" at the beginning.

Vaz

2017-02-09, 06:13 AM

I know what you mean, people sometimes forget to capitalise mine.

ben-zayb

2017-02-09, 08:48 AM

As to me, people keep typing it without a lowercase "r" at the beginning.
So much this, although I can see why people (or autocorrect) would like to use uppercase for such a common name.

Technetium43

2017-02-09, 10:00 AM

People spell mine right, but tend to pronounce it 'tek-net-ee-uhm', when it's actually 'tek-neesh-ee-um'.

Tiri

2017-02-09, 10:03 AM

People spell mine right, but tend to pronounce it 'tek-net-ee-uhm', when it's actually 'tek-neesh-ee-um'.

How do you know that's how they pronounce it, since it's an Internet name?

Technetium43

2017-02-09, 10:16 AM

How do you know that's how they pronounce it, since it's an Internet name?

One, it's the name I use for competitive smash bros., so when I go to a tournament, they have to call it out for whenever I'm up, and two, it's the name I use on Twitch, so streamers will sometimes mispronounce it if I don't show up to their stream often. Usually though, I just say to call me Tech because it's easier. :smalltongue:

Strigon

2017-02-09, 01:06 PM

People spell mine right, but tend to pronounce it 'tek-net-ee-uhm', when it's actually 'tek-neesh-ee-um'.

Tom Lehrer taught me that :smallbiggrin:

Korahir

2017-02-09, 01:17 PM

People spell mine right, but tend to pronounce it 'tek-net-ee-uhm', when it's actually 'tek-neesh-ee-um'.

'tek-net-ee-uhm' is actually pretty close to the German pronunciation which would be 'tech-nez-ee-uhm'. As I am typing this, i realize it probably doesn't help at all as we pronounce 'ch' and 'z' very differently than native english speakers (not to mention that we pronounce 'i' as you would 'e' and many things more).

GrayDeath

2017-02-09, 01:26 PM

Damn, you`re all judging so quickly, and I cant begin until Friday at the earliest....sigh....and have to resist the urge to peek into the spoilers (as I dont want my judging influenced, being new to it, regarding D&D and this forum at least....).

As for the Username thing: at least my UN here is pretty obvious regarding spelling and pronunciation....

arclance

2017-02-09, 02:51 PM

As to me, people keep typing it without a lowercase "r" at the beginning.
I get a lot of "A" instead of "a".

Buufreak

2017-02-09, 09:16 PM

WOO, done! All 10 are posted, I will get to retorts sometime in the near future. Likely Tuesday on my next day off. Until then, later kids!

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-09, 09:32 PM

Entries
Buufreak, Judging
Strigon Judging
Total points
Place

Tahlessrail (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681763&postcount=196)
11.75
15.5
11.75
8/9

Darkpaw (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681766&postcount=197)
15.25
15.75

15.25
3

Camellia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681772&postcount=198)

16.5

16.5
1

Valentine (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681774&postcount=199)
7

7
10

Zojan (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681780&postcount=200)
12

12
7

Kappikyrie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681782&postcount=201)
14

14
6

The Silverblood Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681783&postcount=202)
16

16
2

Torquemada (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681786&postcount=203)
15

15
4/5

Gareth Z’Von (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681787&postcount=204)
15

15
4/5

Gaspar Macoute (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681792&postcount=205)
11.75

11.75
8/9

Buufeak got a Honorable Mention

Strigon

2017-02-09, 09:34 PM

Entries
Buufreak, Judging
Strigon Judging
Total points
Place

Tahlessrail (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681763&postcount=196)
11.75
15.5
11.75
8/9

Darkpaw (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681766&postcount=197)
15.25

15.25
3

Camellia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681772&postcount=198)

16.5

16.5
1

Valentine (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681774&postcount=199)
7

7
10

Zojan (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681780&postcount=200)
12

12
7

Kappikyrie (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681782&postcount=201)
14

14
6

The Silverblood Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681783&postcount=202)
16

16
2

Torquemada (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681786&postcount=203)
15

15
4/5

Gareth Z’Von (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681787&postcount=204)
15

15
4/5

Gaspar Macoute (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21681792&postcount=205)
11.75

11.75
8/9

Buufeak got a Honorable Mention

I've judged Darkpaw; it got a 15.75

D&DPrinceTandem

2017-02-09, 09:36 PM

I've judged Darkpaw; it got a 15.75

Fixed it.

These some average scores so far.

Thurbane

2017-02-09, 09:38 PM

Second batch of disputes:

Hi Buufreak! Before everything, thank you for your swift and interesting judgement! I have a few remarks to make about what you said of my villain, Torquemada.

Originality:

So, I’m pronouncing that /tork-ma-da/. Is that about right? Cool. Archon. Kinda an angel, but isn’t exactly. Definitely a divine servant, and I’m liking seeing it out here. Could always go kinda meta and pick the demon/devil that was an angel (the name escapes me), but you didn’t, and I’m cool with it. It’s even a justice archon, which I think helps drive the idea home a bit harder. Good for you.

Glad you liked the name :) actually, it's a Spanish name, and it's pronounced torkemada. I did not come up with it: it's the name of this guy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom%C3%A1s_de_Torquemada). Cool and flavorful, eh? :smallsmile:

You’ve also got a level of rogue in there, which feels a bit out of place, but for originality I can dig it.

This is why I picked the Antiquarian Rogue ACF, in order to make that Rogue dip feel a bit less outlandish. Note that since Shadowbane Inquisitor asks for Sneak Attack as a class feature as a prerequisite, I couldn't get away with Assassin's Stance or a similar trick: this had to be Rogue, or Spellthief as Gaspar did.

Not the biggest fan of travel devotion. When I can’t go a day without seeing it mentioned on the forum as a way to move and hit, well, we are really in a category of... what is the opposite of originality? That. Whatever that word is.

I'd go with "Conformity" :smallbiggrin: I can't argue that this feat is extremely useful for any melee character, and as such, very commonplace. I'll simply point out that Torquemada makes more mileage out of it that many other builds do, both crunchwise and fluffwise. Not only does he have a native source of Turn Undead attempts to power the feat time and again (he begins play with 7 daily attempts, which mean he can use the feat a total of 4 times per day), but he does need a way, basically any way, to use his Turn attempts in a fashion that does not discriminate between Turn and Rebuke. Or else he would notice the difference when he unwittingly takes 4 levels of Blackguard. Actually, I started by looking at a suitable divine feat for this purpose, and only then did I remember that Travel Devotion was just perfect for the job: the crunch supported the fluff, not the other way round.

Elegance:

I do have an issue with your table, right at CR 18 or 19, kinda a grey or in this case black area. When trading in levels of paly, you LOSE those levels of paly. That’s the definition of trading, mate. Shadowbane counts as those levels for the sake of BG, but by this point it is the only thing counting. So you would only gain what you normally would for 7 levels of ex-paly, not the 11+ category.

Ah, crap. Actually, this is a typo from a previous version. I wrote down "Additional gains for 10 effective levels of Paladin", and this is indeed a mistake, since I only have 7 of them. However, said listed gains actually amount to what 7 levels of ex-Paladin are worth. I wrote the wrong figure, but the right gains. The only abilities I did not write up are the "Undead Companion" and a third daily use of Smite Good. Indeed, these abilities are gained by having at least 8 levels of ex-Paladin. Hence your remark:

it doesn’t affect the build for much of anything besides 1 less skelly minion. OH NOES! (which looking, I don’t even see here, so maybe I’m misreading).

I’m also not seeing anywhere about him having a friendly get together with an evil outsider.

I did mention it, actually, but not in this section. Look up in the "Highlights and Advice" section, under the "First encounter, CR 12" spoiler. Torquemada teams up with an Erinye summoned by a Malconvoker. I subsequently wrote
"Torquemada having a Malconvoker in his squad allows him to fight alongwith summoned and called evil outsiders, and to begrudgingly recognise their combat abilities. Thus, he has "made peaceful contact with an evil outsider who was summoned by him or someone else". That rounds off the prerequisites for the Blackguard class, though the DM can easily wave away this kind of RP requirements when creating his own monsters."

Power:

Alright, so maybe I am ignorant and unable to find the relevant thing, but I don’t get what a planar touchstone has to do with anything. Please explain that one to me, I’m drawing a blank and unable to find anything worth mention in PLH.

It's in page 41 (that'll teach me not to write the pages down). The idea is to pay 250gp for an item originating from a particular place (the books lists about 20 of them). Simply meditating for 24 hours, paying 10 exp and expanding said item gives you a small power. You don't even need to visit the place whence the object comes. If you do visit the location, and accomplish a small challenge (in the PlH, the sites are ranked by the CR of this challenge), then you gain another ability, slightly stronger, but which you can use only a fixed number of times (from 3 to 7 depending on its power). Once you have used up all your uses, you must get back to the location and perform the task again to regain an allotment of uses. The base power, however, remains active at all times.
The Catalogues of Enlightenment is a sort of sacred library on Mechanus that compiles each and every set of rules and laws from across the multiverse. The base power gives you the granted power of any Cleric domain, even if you don't believe in a deity or if this deity does not grant that domain. In the case of Torquemada, well technically Heironeous does not grant the Courage domain, but it fits perfectly. To get the higher order ability, you must travel to the city of the Catalogues of Enlightenment, and win a philosophical debate against a scholar (which amounts to a Knowledge (Religion, the Planes, or Arcana) check opposed to the scholar's check). The ability gained is the power to cast any combination of spells from your chosen domain, as a Cleric (though at which caster level is not specified), as long as you have enough Wis to cast the spells were you effectively a Cleric. You can cast 3 spells before recharging (so had Torquemada a Wis of 19, he could cast the 9th level spell of the domain 3 times).
The granted power of the Courage domain is an aura of courage, so that Torquemada does not notice he loses the one granted by his Paladin levels when he falls. The spells are useful and powerful buffs, and since a villain does whatever he wants during downtime, the DM can very easily have it refuel his allotment of uses between each encounter with the PCs.

Also, we were just talking about this guy not embracing his darkness until recently, so would he really have bothered to grab poison while also dodging PCs, town guards, church officials, etc.? Nah, not really. I’m also not seeing him coming to battle prepped with all these evil spells. He’s new to evil. He just embraced it 30 seconds ago. There is no chance in the nine hells he is rocking all that.

This is actually a very good point. I have to admit, I completely overlooked this aspect of the situation when I devised Torquemada's tactics. A thing of note, however, is that Torquemada has been using the higher order power of the Catalogue of Enlightenment for all this time, and he will keep doing so when he falls. This means that CR 18 Torquemada still has access to the powerful Heroism and Valiant Fury. And don't forget his at-will Aid. So he is not completely devoid of buffing spells either. Even so, I suppose it is more logical that Torquemada gets to unleash its full potential when at CR 20, rather than CR 18. From this viewpoint, that would shift his sweet spot at that CR. He has gotten used to his new condition, by this time.
On the other hand, from a metagame point of view, the DM could decide to use poison, spells etc or not to balance out the level of Torquemada's power, regardless of verisimilitude.

Memorability:

Ya know, I’m not too sure if I will remember this guy all that much. The fallen angel has been done before. You also argue that people looking in wouldn’t be able to tell if he had fallen, but I argue the opposite. It’s often difficult for people to see their own faults, but they are quick to notice the folly of others.

To be fair, it is indeed obvious to anyone to guess that Torquemada has turned evil just by looking at him. My intent was not to have the PCs wonder for ages what his alignment is. As I saw things, the trick was to play on D&D's very concrete enforcement of what alignment means. In a number of RPGs, the PCs can point a finger at Torquemada and state "You're evil!". In D&D, Torquemada will answer "Prove it." And here lies in my opinion the cachet of this villain: the PCs will actually very unexpectedly struggle to do so. Instead of just resorting to Detect Evil, they will have to resort to cunnier tricks, like asking to see his Paladin-powered class features - which he will. At the end of the day, the party will find a way (but remember that they have to perform this while in the middle of a battle between opponents significantly more powerful than they are). In addition to the concept of a sneaky fallen angel that uses Disguise, rather than a blunt and direct one, it is the novelty of this challenge that, in my opinion, makes Torquemada memorable.

At any rate, thanks again for the time you took :smallsmile:

Thank you for judging Buufreak. Before I launch into my dispute (rebuttal?) let me say I can appreciate judging is a difficult and sometimes thankless job.
Having said that, I feel I need to say your judging quite upset me. This is the second time I’ve entered one of these competitions, and the judging hasn’t been particularly favourable either time. At least last time, however, I managed to place, which I was quite proud of. Maybe because it was a smaller field.
I would ask judges to remember that there are actual flesh-and-blood people behind these entries. I feel like your judging of my entry was, more or less, a giant middle finger. I can certainly handle criticism and am happy to be told what I did wrong, and what I could have done better. But it’s all about the tone and wording. My feedback is that your judging seems unnecessarily snarky, and a lot of it seemed based on personal distaste for my entry rather than objective judgement. On to the categories:
Originality – OK, I can accept a 2.5 here. I wasn’t trying to re-invent the wheel. What I was going for (and what I thought was obvious from the name and picture used) was a parody of the iconic Jozan with as much evil/vile flavour and crunch injected into the build as possible, in line with the Burning Hate conspiracy theory. I can accept you think I didn’t pull it off well.
Elegance – I thank you for your score in this area. Apparently this was the only saving grace of my entry. Vashar was chosen to play up the evil/vile aspect of the character. He was an orphaned vashar in a city of humans. I definitely could have made that clearer and expanded on it in the backstory. I admit that enemy of good seems an odd pick for bonus feat. I did look at other vile feats, but I wanted to focus on feats that enhanced his casting abilities. I did consider sacrificial mastery, and in hindsight, I should have gone with that instead.
Power/competence – this is the one that I most strongly disagree with. You note in earlier comments acknowledging the power of a DMM persist cleric, but then I get hammered in this area? In regards to spell focus (evil) that was mostly a flavour choice. I strongly considered another metamagic like quicken instead, but ended up going with a thematic choice instead. I accept a hit to power for this (although I would have like some recognition of thematic feats in either originality or memorability). Diplomacy was a very deliberate skill choice – and again, maybe I should have had a more comprehensive backstory write-up to explain – he tries to talk others around to his perverted interpretations of Pelor’s dogma, and resorts to physical or magical means if this fails. Diplomacy was a core part of the character for me – a dangerous heretic spreading an unorthodox message. The focus on the character was never a skill monkey, so the other skills were chosen as the most apt for a cleric, and then maxed out. I chose to disregard the fluff of vashar being deicide obsessed psychopaths; he wasn’t raised among other of his kind, after all. I subscribe to the school of thought that not all dwarves are beer swilling mini-vikings, or all elves are aloof, tree hugging mystics. I can respect your questioning of the race, but I don’t think that should have surfaced again in the power criteria. I strongly disagree with the score for this area. Moving on.
Memorability – I suspect most of this section is just your personal distaste for DMM clerics, and offense that I had somehow perverted/corrupted the original Burning hate ideal. The comments about the character’s intellect and physical attributes seem odd, considering the character is built first and foremost as a caster. And the crack about insufficient wisdom was addressed in the spells table. Are you really telling me that a character gets to 17th level with no inherent bonuses and/or enhancement boost items to his primary casting stat? Given the elite array, I had to dedicate more points to charisma than I would have liked, so that DMM persist would work without reliance on magic items. Again, I also find these comments should have been in the power/competence section, not memorability. To me, the memorability of the character is that he is a servant of a NG deity adored by the masses, but is spreading a corruption of the faith, and his own personal aura reeks of evil. He slips inside the PCs confidence before he reveals his truly vile nature. I admit an expanded backstory and motivation section may have helped my cause here.
Anyway, that’s my dispute. Feel free to revise the score or not. I’m sorry if I come across as overly hostile, but on the two occasions I’ve put an entry into this forum, they’ve both been panned by the judges in an overly harsh manner, in my opinion. I spent several hours thinking up, researching, writing up and formatting my entry. I can’t help but feel a little disillusioned. I submitted an entry for a bit of fun and to contribute, and the underlying message I get back is simply “not good enough, try harder”. Sorry if my dispute causes any offense.