Iron Chef Optimisation Challenge in the Playground XCI

[Heliomance]

A dimly-lit library. Rows of bookshelves line the walls, and as the camera slowly pans over them, we see that they are filled with gaming books. From the original brown-cover D&D manuals to the newest fifth edition supplements, we are given a brief but breathtaking history of over four decades of gaming in visual form.

A pair of feet, clad in Converse, appear. The camera pans back to reveal the Chairwoman as she strides out into Optimization Stadium. Slowly, she looks around at the battleground. Rapidly, we are shown shots of the gaming materials here assembled: books, miniatures, maps, dice. The Chairwoman reaches down and picks up a twenty-sided die. She rolls it, then turns to the camera... and smiles.

The camera pulls back from the smile to reveal... the Iron Gamers. Row upon row they stand, clad in the uniform of their trade: t-shirts with fantasy images, buttons with obscure quotes from novels and movies, dice bags at the ready. The shot dissolves into flames and the logo:


Iron Gamer

A montage of the contestants plays, with summaries of their optimization triumphs and achievements. Interspersed are brief interviews. Finally, though, the introductions are over. The contestants stand arrayed before the Chairwoman.

Chairwoman: We unveil the ingredient!

Tense music plays as the pedestal containing the mystery ingredient rises from below. Stacked neatly on the pedestal are copies of the Planar Handbook.

Chairwoman: It's been a while, and I know you've been waiting for it, so we now present an igredient featuring its own spell list! This month's theme is... Fatemaker! ALLEZ OPTIMISER!


-----------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef LXXXIV. Here in Optimisation Colosseum, contestants will endeavour to create an optimised and flavourful character using a specified D&D3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present a full 20-level build for your entry. Also required is a rundown of how your build works at lower levels, to demonstrate that it is a functional character that could be played from 1-20 in a real game. Traditionally contestants give "snapshots" of tactics and abilities at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20, as well as a "sweet spot" of their choosing that represents what they believe to be the high point of the build. The purpose of these snapshots is not just to showcase your use of the SI, it is to demonstrate that your character is playable at every level. For this reason, it's still worth giving a snapshot before you have entered the SI.

Menu: The "special ingredient" can be drawn from any legal source. Originally, the plan was to mostly use Core and Completes, but that was a long time ago, and we've started running out of interesting classes to use if we restrict ourselves to those.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method, but we have generally allowed other levels of point-buy.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

Kitchen: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see Elegance below. 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. Also, item familiars are forbidden because I hate 'em. Please refrain from using Taint unless it's necessary for the Secret Ingredient.
NB: Official Errata and 3.5 updates to 3.0 content are considered valid regardless of whether their sources would otherwise be legal. This includes the 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures given in Dragon Magazine, and the 3.5 updates of Dragonlance Campaign Setting content given in later third party Dragonlance books.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 07:59 GMT on Tuesday, February 20th, 2018 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairwoman, Heliomance. Please put the name of your build in the subject line of your PM. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 07:59 GMT on Tuesday, March 6th, 2018 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: 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, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient.

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. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
Elegance could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is considered in poor taste, and judges are asked to take a dim view of this option, taking it into account while grading. Other things that will cause penalties here are excessive multi-classing, and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, will lose you points.Please note the following change: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using too many sources may result in a penalty to Elegance at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not. In that same vein, drawing solely from the Core 3 (and the d20 SRD) should not be punished for lacking Originality.
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!

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.NAME OF ENTRY


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



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



For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)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 (spoiler)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
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-



For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.
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.

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing!

We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honourable mention. The honourable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honourable mention via PM. If there are no votes, Honourable Mention will go to the chairwoman's favourite build.

The Builds

Past Competitions

Courtesy of some wonderful volunteers, there is a handy-dandy spreadsheet guide to all previous builds here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oyjVU5JmeCnC8YTMqDArDqE5PszHl0Ysadz630kuTGk/edit?ts=59a4835f#gid=0).

Iron Chef I: Entropomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142470)
Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146583)
Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148584)
Iron Chef IV: Stonelord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150595)
Iron Chef V: War Chanter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152543)
Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156876)
Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158633)
Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160266)
Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162702)
Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164381)
Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166539)
Iron Chef XII: War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9426386)
Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172233)
Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174434)
Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176049)
Iron Chef XVI: Assassin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178202)
Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182492)
Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186097)
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190607)
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10976416)
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198921)
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206576)
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210071)
Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214198)
Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217441)
Iron Chef XXVI: Shadowdancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220956)
Iron Chef XXVII: Mindbender (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224008)
Iron Chef XXVIII: Cryokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227304)
Iron Chef XXIX: Consecrated Harrier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229688)
Iron Chef XXX: Initiate of Pistis Sophia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233346)
Iron Chef XXXI: Shadow Sentinel (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236908)
Iron Chef XXXII: Temple Raider of Olidammara (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239786)
Iron Chef XXXIII: Drow Judicator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243052)
Iron Chef XXXIV: Dragon Disciple (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246072)
Iron Chef XXXV: Death Delver (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249542)
Iron Chef XXXVI: Acolyte of the Skin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252923)
Iron Chef XXXVII: Justiciar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13865473)
Iron Chef XXXVIII: Hand of the Winged Master (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255215)
Iron Chef XXXIX: Renegade Mastermaker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260333)
Iron Chef XL: Nightsong Infiltrator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263173)
Iron Chef XLI: Geomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266709)
Iron Chef XLII: Shadowblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270196)
Iron Chef XLIII: Bladesinger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274122)
Iron Chef XLIV: Urban Soul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279116)
Iron Chef XLV: Talon of Tiamat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15216595)
Iron Chef XLVI: Cipher Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287314)
Iron Chef XLVII: Cold Iron Warrior (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291294)
Iron Chef XLVIII: Shadow Sun Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=297327)
Iron Chef XLIX: Thrall to Orcus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=302487)
Iron Chef L: Corrupt Avenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=307823)
Iron Chef LI: Black Flame Zealot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312773)
Iron Chef LII: Anointed Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317934)
Iron Chef LIII: Zerth Cenobite (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325164)
Iron Chef LIV: Osteomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330890)
Iron Chef LV: Mountebank (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?336373-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LV)
Iron Chef LVI: Dwarven Defender (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?342807-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LVI)
Iron Chef LVII: Darkrunner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?349040-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LVII)
Iron Chef LVIII: Spellsword (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?357412-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LVIII)
Iron Chef LIX: Fleet Runner of Ehlonna (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?364667-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LIX)
Iron Chef LX: Lasher (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?371835-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LX)
Iron Chef LX(II): Acolyte of the Ego (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?372145-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LX)
Iron Chef LXII: Dungeon Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?376810-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXII)
Iron Cheff LXIII: Witchborn Binder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?382632-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXIII)
Iron Chef LXIV: Slime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?387166-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXIV)
Iron Chef LXV: Thunder Guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?394981-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXV)
Iron Chef LXVI: Dwarven Chanter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400810-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXVI)
Irogn Chef LXVII: Gnome Giant Slayer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406613-Irogn-Chef-Optimisatiogn-Challegnge-ign-the-Playgrougnd-LXVII)
Iron Chef LXVIII: Fang of Lolth (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?412530-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXVIII)
Iron Chef LXIX: Shiba Protector (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420165-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXIX)
Iron Chef LXX: Order of the Bow Initiate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?425634-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXX)
Iron Chef LXXI: Silver Key (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?431484-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXI)
Iron Chef LXXII: Spellfire Channeler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439020-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXII)
Iron Chef LXXIII: Flux Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?448596-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXIII)
Iron Chef LXXIV: Crinti Shadow Marauder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?458711-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXIV)
Iron Chef LXXV: Thief of Life (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?472831-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXV)
Iron Chef LXXVI: Legacy Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?477153-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVI)
Iron Chef LXXVII: Great Rift Skyguard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?482249-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVII)
Iron Chef LXVIII: Risen Martyr (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?487560-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVIII)
Iron Chef LXXIX: Black Blood Hunter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?492923-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXIX)
Iron Chef LXXX: Master of Many Forms (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?498359-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXX)
Iron Chef LXXXI: Serene Guardian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?502666-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXI)
Iron Chef LXXXII: Elocator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?505762-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXII)
Iron Chef LXXXIII: Winterhaunt of Iboorighu (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?510581-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXIII)
Iron Chef LXXXIV: Waverider (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?514631-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXIV)
Iron Chef LXXXV: Astral Dancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?519296-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXV)
Iron Chef LXXXVI: Twisted Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?525401-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXVI)
Iron Chef LXXXVII: Shadowsmith (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?528361-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXVII)
Iron Chef LXXXVIII: Arboreal Guardian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?533367-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXVIII)
Iron Chef LXXXIX: Thrall of Demogorgon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?536247-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXIX)
Iron Chef XC: Bloodstorm Blade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?542380-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XC)

[Heliomance]

FAQ:
Q: What's this even about?
A: I'm glad you asked, actually... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15415117&postcount=1)

Q: Is Dragon Compendium Allowed?
A: Yes (as well as its Errata), but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

Q: What about 3.0 materials?
A: 3.0 materials, whether online or in printed form, are allowed unless they've been officially updated to a 3.5 edition.

Q: Are Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, or Kingdoms of Kalamar allowable sources?
A: The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but the subsequent books for Dragonlance are considered 3rd party, and are therefore not eligible, despite the "WotC approved" status of those books. The same holds for Oriental Adventures (1st party) and the subsequent Rokugan books (3rd party). Materials from Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Kingdoms of Kalamar are considered 3rd party for purposes of this contest, and are therefore not allowed.

Q: What about online sources in general?
A: If the online source is a) published by WotC, and b) not replaced by an updated version at a later time, it is eligible. Use it, link it.

Q: Where's the line drawn with "acceptable/unacceptable" for Unearthed Arcana? This will likely vary a bit from Chairman to Chairman. Item Familiars and Gestalt have always been verboten, since before IC migrated to GitP; don't expect that to change. Flaws have similarly always been noted as warranting a deduction; while I am Chairman, I'm extending that to Traits, though they warrant 1/2 the penalty in Elegance that a Flaw would because they're roughly 1/2 as useful. Alternate spell systems, alternate skill systems and alternate crafting rules all create an uneven playing field, and as such, will be disallowed for as long as I am Chairman. In a similar vein, LA buyoff and fractional BAB are also disallowed. Bloodlines and the Retraining options presented in the PHB2 are ripe for abuse, and will be strongly discouraged as long as I am Chairman. Note that judges are allowed to look askance at any use of Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above, at their discretion, and otherwise penalize Elegance according to their preference.

Q: What, exactly, does the ban on Leadership mean?
A: As folks have started to try to work around the edges of this one, I'm forced to spell it out more plainly. No Leadership, Draconic Cohort, or Feats that grant a similar ability are allowed EXCEPT Wild Cohort while Heliomance is chairman. Any PrC you choose with Leadership or a Leadership-analog has that ability entirely ignored for this contest, as it may neither be used nor traded away via any means whatsoever.

Q: What's the minimum score in a category?
A: Assuming an entry is legal, the minimum score in any category is 1. If a judge is convinced that an entry is mechanically illegal by the RAW, the judge may give the build a score of 0 in Elegance, and proceed to judge the entry as if the offending material was not included. Failing to meet a special requirement for a prestige class does not merit a 0, but may qualify for a penalty, at the judge's discretion. Because this contest focuses on Player Characters, an entry that is not technically allowed for a PC, but is viable as an NPC, counts as a legal entry, but may receive a minimum score at the judges' discretion.

Q: Creatures and templates with no listed LA are playable, right?
A: No. No listed LA is equivalent to LA: -. It is not suitable for PCs. If you use it, expect judges to look extremely disfavourably on it.

Q: So what's the deal with equipment, anyway?
A: There is no official policy on how much equipment you should list. Historically, judges have frowned upon "item dependent" builds, but unfortunately the definition of that has been applied to mean anything from builds that don't function if you remove one very specific item, to builds that so much as mention a particular weapon. Builds that don't list gear should be assumed to buy useful generics - items to boost their primary stats, cloaks of resistance, appropriate magical weapons and armour, and so forth. If a build would find particular items useful, they should be listed, but experience suggests that the more generic you keep them, the more favourably judges are likely to look upon them, as a build being shut down because the Thundering Bagpipes of Urist McTrumpetbritches were unavailable is considered a weakness. Similarly, requiring items in order to be able to qualify for things tends to be frowned upon.

Q: Do you have any other rules and guidelines on how to judge?
A: We do, actually, designed to try and avoid unpleasantness we've encountered in past contests. The things we've come up with to avoid repeating this are given below.

One Mistake, One Penalty

Judges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.

Non-exhaustive list of examples:

Skills

Allowed:

Giving a penalty for miscalculating the number of skill points gained
Giving a penalty for not having enough ranks to meet a prerequisite
Increasing the harshness of a skill miscalculation penalty if it affects critical skills including prereqs


Not allowed:

Giving separate penalties for miscalculating skill points and for non-qualification where the non-qualification is solely caused by the miscalculation



Prereqs

Allowed:

Giving a penalty for not meeting prereqs
Scaling the penalty depending on how important the item that the build failed to qualify for is
Giving minimum score in UotSI for not qualifying for the SI
(Trial, may be disallowed later)Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes other than the SI that were not qualified for (but see below)


Not Allowed:

"Cascading" failures to qualify - declaring that because a build doesn't qualify for a feat, for example, it also doesn't qualify for anything using that feat as a prereq
Treating a build as having fewer levels than it does because of FtQ for classes



Other general things that are no longer allowed:

Penalising because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalise if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.


Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified.

Q: Do you have any contest house rules or clarifications to ambiguous rules?
A: Some that have come up in previous contests and needed answers to:

All creatures are proficient with any natural weapons they may have or acquire.
Bonus feats that are granted even if you do not meet the prerequisites do not require you to meet the prerequisites in order to use.
Able Learner's benefit applies to the level you take it.


Q: Can I submit more than one entry?
A: You may submit up to two entries into a given competition.

[WhamBamSam]

Woo, new round. Time to get my wheels turning and see what I can come up with.

[weckar]

Yikes. This one could get nasty. I'm not sure what to make of it yet, myself. Popcorn, anyone?

[Inevitability]

It's a... SA-advancing PrC-caster with an abysmal spell list? That's... interesting.

At least entering it will be easy.

[Venger]

Looks like you raided my pantry because this is my jam. I'm in.

[Darrin]

It's a... SA-advancing PrC-caster with an abysmal spell list? That's... interesting.

For an ingredient with zero dead levels... ummmmmmm-kay? Hmmm. I am really not sure what to do with this thing. Even the fluff is kinda vague... it sorta boils down to: "Be a Murderhobo A-Hole!"



At least entering it will be easy.

I'm sure a few of us could make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be.

[The Viscount]

I certainly like the components of this class, but trying to put them together I'm left rather puzzled. All the same my mind is positively thrumming. I'll likely be one of those people who makes entering complicated.

[Thurbane]

Hmm, interesting class...

[daremetoidareyo]

For an ingredient with zero dead levels... ummmmmmm-kay? Hmmm. I am really not sure what to do with this thing. Even the fluff is kinda vague... it sorta boils down to: "Be a Murderhobo A-Hole!"



I'm sure a few of us could make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be.

The Fate makers are ahold over from 2nd edition planescape. Think of them as Libertarians who insist on making it on their own, as a religious precept. Social Darwinists who believe that might makes right.

[Jormengand]

This seems... both entirely too good for ICO and completely devoid of anything I can do anything particularly silly or useful with, beyond "Sneak attack things and cast some spells". I guess I'll work something out...

[daremetoidareyo]

does the aura of confidence require an action to activate, or is it always running?

[Darrin]

does the aura of confidence require an action to activate, or is it always running?

It's a continuous ability.

My reasoning:

1) Auras are usually passive and continuous. Unless the text says otherwise, it's usually safe to assume that an aura is "always on" and requires no action to activate it.

2) "This ability functions only while the fatemaker is conscious." This text would be unnecessary and redundant if the aura was activated with a standard action, since you don't get any actions when you're unconscious. I think we can interpret this to mean "this ability functions" to mean that "this ability is active".

[Zaq]

Speaking of action costs of (Su) abilities, what about Confidence of the Fated? It kind of implies that it's just part of the action of making the roll in question, but it doesn't say that, so we might bump into that always troublesome "supernatural abilities are standard actions unless stated otherwise" clause that keeps. popping. up.

That Aura of Confidence feels like it was once decent and then underwent a few round of "oh, we better dial that one back!" nerfs for incomprehensible reasons.

I agree with the general confusion about what to do with the class. I'm not saying anything new, but it feels like it's almost well-designed, just . . . lacking something, but I'm not sure what.

Maybe the problem is that the devs forgot that it's a PrC? I think it kind of feels like the kind of weird janky base class you'd find in Dragon Magazine that isn't exactly awful but also doesn't really do much—and yet you're starting it a minimum of five levels late. I think that's aided by the fact that you get proficiencies as a Bard.

It's hard to see what a natural entry might look like. Which might be both good and bad for originality.

The spell list is at least almost decent? Still bumps into the "you're a minimum of five levels behind the curve" problem, but there's some halfway decent spells on the list. And a couple of weird stand-out exceptions (I cannot figure out what Daze Monster has in common with any other second-level spell on the list).

I'll think about this one for a while. There's not much of a stand-out feature to hang one's hat on, of course. It's hard to find something that you can point to and say "Fatemaker makes you better at this than you'd be with other classes." But that's why it's an ingredient.

[Falontani]

Well I believe I will enter into this competition! A hint for anyone looking for my build, it will have at least 1 level in Fatemaker ^_-

But in all seriousness I think I know what I'm going to do with this

[RaiKirah]

I'm having trouble finding a way to showcase Fatemaker, but I would like to get a build in. Tentatively put me down to cook

[The Viscount]

This ingredient is proving to be a little more difficult to piece together.

What is it about the planar handbook that makes all of its PrCs so suitable for Iron Chef?

And why is it that all of these limited list casters have to pull from the phb only? Just ease of reference?

[Zaq]

Yeah, basically every single PrC in the Planar Handbook is garbage on one level or another. I'm not certain I've ever seen a single one used outside of IC.

I guess Chaotician could be worse? At least its abilities come in only 5 levels (let's face it, a lot of the 10-level ones in the PlH are padded at best), and its prereqs are differently obnoxious. Miss chance is good, and Babble, while firmly weird, is a form of hard counter to several things (and has no duration?). I mean, it's basically a glorified Silence effect (minus the stealthy part), but the fact that it has no duration is, um, at least kind of interesting.

Elemental Warrior has promise and would be interesting with relatively less retooling than some of the others, but requiring +7 BAB to get in and then not offering full BAB is kind of stupid, and the abilities aren't particularly impressive outside of the movement mode.

For Fatemaker, I keep bumping into the fact that literally every thing I can think of doing with the class can be done better by my 5+ levels of qualifying classes than with the class itself.

[Thurbane]

Elemental Warrior has promise and would be interesting with relatively less retooling than some of the others, but requiring +7 BAB to get in and then not offering full BAB is kind of stupid, and the abilities aren't particularly impressive outside of the movement mode.

Despite its shortcomings, I have a soft spot for Elemental Warrior. I agree full BAB would have made more sense, though.

[WhamBamSam]

I have a stub. Vizzini is niggling me over it, but I'll probably write it up and submit it. I've got fragments of a second idea that I think is more original and would like to coalesce into a second build.

As for Planar Handbook, yeah, its PrCs are a bit of a mess. I'm really looking forward to Doomlord and Visionary Seeker though.

[daremetoidareyo]

this class is not good.

[PrismCat21]

this class is not good.

Not true. Fatemakers can be Good, Evil, or Neither.
They are not 'lawful'. :elan:

[Thurbane]

I definitely have a build in mind, but now the age old struggle to see if I can get it formatted and fluff written up by the deadline...

[Darrin]

For Fatemaker, I keep bumping into the fact that literally every thing I can think of doing with the class can be done better by my 5+ levels of qualifying classes than with the class itself.

I keep circling back to this. Every time I think I have an idea, it boils down to: "I could do this a lot better by not taking any Fatemaker levels."

[Zaq]

I . . . almost have an idea? It's a stupid idea and it doesn't really do anything terribly unique with Fatemaker, but something is preventing me from throwing it out the window entirely.

A lot will have to go right for me to actually get a build in. The build is genuinely pretty stupid, and I'm pretty busy between now and the deadline. But we'll have to see what happens.

[danielxcutter]

this class is not good.

I suppose that is kinda the point of this comp...

[Zaq]

I have identified a possibly mission-threatening flaw in my stupid build idea. It would not be a problem in a home game, but it's kind of a problem here, where we have to be at least RAWful Neutral. I have a couple workarounds, but they're either hilariously expensive in terms of build resources, dicey by RAW, or using a flamethrower as a flyswatter (completely disproportionate to the desired effect). That said, I may go for something anyway just because it's funny, or at least thematic enough to be stubborn about.

Damn shame that [REDACTED] is generally considered to be Bad Juju to feature heavily.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I -was- going to try my hand at this again for the first time in a long while but I have -no- idea what to do to polish this turd. I came up with only one idea that I immediately discarded as both too obvious and better suited to go with one of the other parts of the build at the forefront than fatemaker.

Maybe next month. :smalltongue:

[Zaq]

I -was- going to try my hand at this again for the first time in a long while but I have -no- idea what to do to polish this turd. I came up with only one idea that I immediately discarded as both too obvious and better suited to go with one of the other parts of the build at the forefront than fatemaker.

Maybe next month. :smalltongue:

It is impressive how little the class actually offers, since it doesn't look as bad as some other ingredients we've had. You can take one look at Arboreal Guardian and say "oooh, yeah, that's gonna be a stinker," but Fatemaker looks like it has potential. And yet . . . here we are.

Still trying to bludgeon something into shape before the deadline. It will not be my finest work. It may end up a semi-protest build like my Tactical Soldier entry (which was basically an extended lament about how every Tactical Soldier class feature was done better, sooner, and cheaper by ToB), but I'm trying. I won't celebrate until the deed is done, though. My time is not fully my own between now and the deadline.

[daremetoidareyo]

The fated used to be the tax collector faction of sigil. So the designers, when tasked with designing the fatemaker, asked themselves how do I translate this from 2nd edition to 3rd? Well, the faction is all about personal superiority, so obviously they would have a focus on social skills and marginal boosts to charisma. We all know that elitist cruelty-apologists just grow more charismatic through time and life experience.

They make other people change their behavior around them, whether it be by deceit, diplomacy, or the threat of violence. So obviously, the pre-requisites should be a combo of all those skills. That explains the tax thing and the personal superiority thing. But let's not do anything with those skill investments with the class features. Nope. That would be dumb. Instead, we'll make them arcane spellcasters, who sometimes take advantage of sneak attacks, and who can use a marginal boost in skills OR ATTACKS, and who can grant that boost to their allies.

In fact, the tax collectors should have slight of hand and forgery skills. Also, all of the knowledges. Basically, give them the rogue's skill set and blend them with a crappy bard with a 10th level capstone that grants a +4 to intimidate checks.

Wait, that capstone is underwhelming. Let's make it a 1/day spell like ability based on a 5th level spell that enlarges you and gives you DR.

Whew. That looks good.

What should we put on that arcane spell list? dribs of charms, stat boosters, and restorative stuff. Like a bard? Yes. Like a bard. But it doesn't advance any prior casting. To sweeten the pot, we can let them wear light armor and cast. Like a bard. No it doesn't advance anything of a bard base class.

[Zaq]

And once again, I must lament that the prereqs end up far more confining than they first appear to be.

[jdizzlean]

I'm not inspired to build anything, depending on the number of entries, I may judge. I am also judging e6, so depending on that my judging here may be likewise delayed, we'll see.

[Zaq]

I have the level progression pretty much nailed down. I have the character's fluff mostly laid out in my head, but it's not flowing nicely onto the page, and I'm a little dissatisfied with some details like my skills. I'm going to try to get it in before the deadline, but it might be a squeaker.

[Falontani]

tell me about it; skills are not coming easily and fluff is the hardest part for me

[Heliomance]

Well, at this rate the deadline's likely to have to be extended. I have no builds in thus far.

[daremetoidareyo]

Well, at this rate the deadline's likely to have to be extended. I have no builds in thus far.

extend please!

[Zaq]

Well, at this rate the deadline's likely to have to be extended. I have no builds in thus far.

I'm working on it, but an extension will take the pressure off and will let me probably not be so stressed out if I can't finish the build before my real-world obligation tonight.

[Thurbane]

I definitely have a build, but would likely need to the weekend to finish it up.

[Darrin]

I have a stub I was going to flesh out as an entry, but probably won't be able to start building until Tuesday or Wednesday. So yeah, I could use an extension.

[Falontani]

I'm on track to get it in tonight, but if that doesn't work I'd need an extension as well

[RaiKirah]

I mis-remembered the deadline and will not make it without an extension :(

[The Viscount]

Time got away from me, but with an extension of a few days I'll definitely have a build in.

[Venger]

my entry's in. this was a really fun ingredient.

[Heliomance]

Have another week, all!

[Thurbane]

Have another week, all!

Excellent news! I'm really hoping to get my entry finished on the weekend...

[RaiKirah]

Have another week, all!

Why thank you! I hope to have my build in shortly!

[Zaq]

I've ended up redoing this build in semi-major ways at least three times, and I've got the mechanical parts and the writeup basically entirely locked in place (finally). I'm absolutely hitting a wall over the fluff, though. Making it sound like it was written by a human being and not a clueless AI (and not the funny kind of clueless AI, either) is like pulling teeth for some reason. I did not think that this entry would take as much effort as it's turning out to.

[The Viscount]

I know the feeling. I thought the spell list looked pretty good at first glance until the time came to actually select my spells, thought about using the trade feature, and realized that I was already only moderately satisfied with my choices.

The class is deceptively bland, like a replica of Sunday roast made entirely out of unseasoned potato.

[Inevitability]

The class is deceptively bland, like a replica of Sunday roast made entirely out of unseasoned potato.

Can I sig this?

[Zaq]

Finally got it in. Again, perhaps not my most glorious dish, but at least I didn't let the class beat me. It came close, though.

[The Viscount]

Can I sig this?

Please, be my guest.

[Venger]

I've ended up redoing this build in semi-major ways at least three times, and I've got the mechanical parts and the writeup basically entirely locked in place (finally). I'm absolutely hitting a wall over the fluff, though. Making it sound like it was written by a human being and not a clueless AI (and not the funny kind of clueless AI, either) is like pulling teeth for some reason. I did not think that this entry would take as much effort as it's turning out to.

I dunno, reading an entry by a clueless AI sounds pretty amusing. can't wait to see what you sent in.

[daremetoidareyo]

Build completed. What a bunch of work that one was!

[RaiKirah]

Whew. First build in! Second build abandoned. Looking forward to seeing what other's came up with!

[Falontani]

got my build in even though there was a complication

[Heliomance]

Apologies for the delay in reveal. My grandmother's funeral was on Wednesday, and Things I Should Be Doing have been being put off due to a general lack of mental energy. I'll get to it.

[RaiKirah]

Not to worry; take all the time you need. Sorry for your loss.

[remetagross]

Wow, damn. I sympathize as well, Heliomance.

[danielxcutter]

Apologies for the delay in reveal. My grandmother's funeral was on Wednesday, and Things I Should Be Doing have been being put off due to a general lack of mental energy. I'll get to it.

*gives huggles*

[Thurbane]

Apologies for the delay in reveal. My grandmother's funeral was on Wednesday, and Things I Should Be Doing have been being put off due to a general lack of mental energy. I'll get to it.

Condolences. I was very close to my grandparents (I was raised by them, mostly), so I know it can be hard.

[Zaq]

No worries, Helio. We may not look like it, but we’re patient and understanding folks when it matters. Take your time and come here when you’re ready.

[Heliomance]

Holy crap, guys, I was not expecting 19 messages in my inbox.

Builds incoming.

[Heliomance]

We're all following a strange melody
We're all haunted by a tune
We're following the piper
And we dance beneath the moon for him
And we dance beneath the moon



https://i.imgur.com/iwHSfBa.jpg

Ich bin der wohlbekannte Sänger,
Der vielgereiste Rattenfänger,
Den diese altberühmte Stadt
Gewiß besonders nötig hat;
Und wären's Ratten noch so viele,
Und wären Wiesel mit im Spiele;
Von allen säubr' ich diesen Ort;
Sie müssen mit einander fort.


Rattenfänger von Hameln
NE Changeling, Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5




Into the street the Piper stept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe the while;




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


1st
Bard 1
+0
+0
+2
+2
Bluff 4 ranks (4), concentration 4 ranks (4), diplomacy 4 ranks (4), disguise 4 ranks (4), escape artist 4 ranks (4), intimidate 2 ranks (2), knowledge (nature) 4 ranks (4), perform (pipes) 4 ranks (4), sense motive 4 ranks (4)
Quick Change
Bardic music, loresong, mimicking song, fascinate, inspire awe


2nd
Bard 2
+1
+0
+3
+3
Bluff 1 rank (5), concentration 1 rank (5), diplomacy 1 rank (5), disguise 1 rank (5), escape artist 1 rank (5), knowledge (nature) 1 rank (5), perform (pipes) 1 rank (5), sense motive 1 rank (5), use magic device 1 rank (1)




3rd
Bard 3
+2
+1
+3
+3
Bluff 1 rank (6), concentration 1 rank (6), diplomacy 1 rank (6), disguise 1 rank (6),
intimidate 1 rank (3), knowledge (nature) 1 rank (6), perform (pipes) 1 rank (6), use magic device 1 rank (2)
Skill Focus (Bluff)
Inspire competence


4th
Bard 4
+3
+1
+4
+4
Bluff 1 rank (7), concentration 1 rank (7), diplomacy 1 rank (7), disguise 1 rank (7),
knowledge (nature) 1 rank (7), perform (pipes) 1 rank (7), use magic device 3 ranks (5)




5th
Bard 5
+3
+1
+4
+4
Bluff 1 rank (8), concentration 1 rank (8), diplomacy 1 rank (8), disguise 1 rank (8),
intimidate 1 rank (4), knowledge (nature) 1 rank (8), perform (pipes) 1 rank (8), use magic device 1 rank (6)




6th
Master of Flies 1
+3
+1
+4
+6
Bluff 1 rank (9), concentration 1 rank (9), disguise 1 rank (9), perform (pipes) 1 rank (9), use magic device 1 rank (7)
Dark Speech
Summon swarm


7th
Master of Flies 2
+4
+1
+4
+7
Bluff 1 rank (10), concentration 1 rank (10), disguise 1 rank (10), intimidate 1 rank (5),
use magic device 1 rank (8)

Swarm shape 1/day


8th
Master of Flies 3
+5
+2
+5
+7
Bluff 1 rank (11), concentration 1 rank (11), disguise 1 rank (11), perform (pipes) 1 rank (10), use magic device 1 rank (9)

Swarm shape 2/day, pied piper


9th
Fatemaker 1
+5
+2
+7
+9
Bluff 1 rank (12), concentration 1 rank (12), diplomacy 3 ranks (11), intimidate 3 ranks (8), use magic device 1 rank (10)
Doomspeak
Take-charge appeal


10th
Fatemaker 2
+6/+1
+2
+8
+10
Bluff 1 rank (13), diplomacy 1 rank (12), intimidate 3 rank (11), perform (pipes) 1 rank (11), use magic device 1 rank (11), Swift Concentration skill trick

Confidence of the Fated 1/day


11th
Fatemaker 3
+7/+2
+3
+8
+10
Bluff 1 rank (14), diplomacy 2 ranks (14), intimidate 3 ranks (14), perform (pipes) 1 rank (12), use magic device 2 ranks (13)

Sneak attack +1d6


12th
Fatemaker 4
+8/+3
+3
+9
+11
Bluff 1 rank (15), diplomacy 1 rank (15), disguise 1 rank (12), intimidate 1 rank (15),
perform (pipes) 3 ranks (15), use magic device 2 ranks (15)
Wanderer's Diplomacy
Aura of confidence (+1)


13th
Fatemaker 5
+8/+3
+3
+9
+11
Bluff 1 rank (16), diplomacy 1 rank (16), disguise 2 ranks (14), intimidate 1 rank (16),
perform (pipes) 1 rank (16), use magic device 1 rank (16), Never Outnumbered skill trick

Take-charge appeal


14th
Fatemaker 6
+9/+4
+4
+10
+12
Bluff 1 rank (17), diplomacy 3 ranks (17), disguise 1 rank (17), intimidate 1 rank (17)
perform (pipes) 1 rank (17), spellcraft 1 rank (1), use magic device 1 rank (17)

Sneak attack +2d6


15th
Fatemaker 7
+10/+5
+4
+10
+12
Bluff 1 rank (18), diplomacy 1 rank (18), disguise 1 rank (18), intimidate 1 rank (18),
perform (pipes) 1 rank (18), spellcraft 3 ranks (4), use magic device 1 rank (18)
Sickening Strike
Confidence of the Fated 2/day


16th
Fatemaker 8
+11/+6/+1
+4
+11
+13
Bluff 1 rank (19), concentration 2 ranks (14), diplomacy 1 rank (19), disguise 1 rank (19), intimidate 1 rank (19), perform (pipes) 1 rank (19), spellcraft 1 rank (5), use magic device 1 rank (19)

Aura of confidence (+2)


17th
Fatemaker 9
+11/+6/+1
+5
+11
+13
Bluff 1 rank (20), concentration 3 ranks (17), diplomacy 1 rank (20), disguise 1 rank (20), intimidate 1 rank (20), perform (pipes) 1 rank (20), use magic device 1 rank (20)

Sneak attack +3d6


18th
Fatemaker 10
+12/+7/+2
+5
+12
+14
Bluff 1 rank (21), concentration 3 ranks (20), diplomacy 1 rank (21), disguise 1 rank (21), intimidate 1 rank (21), perform (pipes) 1 rank (21), use magic device 1 rank (21)
Undead Empathy
Ego manifestation, take-charge appeal


19th
Master of Flies 4
+13/+8/+3
+5
+12
+15
Bluff 1 rank (22), diplomacy 1 rank (22), intimidate 1 rank (22), disguise 1 rank (22), use magic device 1 rank (22)

Swarm shape 3/day


20th
Master of Flies 5
+13/+8/+3
+5
+12
+15
Bluff 1 rank (23), diplomacy 1 rank (23), intimidate 1 rank (23), disguise 1 rank (23),
use magic device 1 rank (23)

Swarm shape (plague), insect plague




32-point buy: Str 10/Dex 12/Con 12/Int 16/Wis 10/Cha 16
Boost Charisma every 4 levels.



Bard spells known:
0- Prestidigitation, Detect Magic, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Lullaby
1- Grease, Silent Image, Improvisation, Share Talents
2- Glitterdust, Silence, Sonorous Hum


Spells per Day


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


1st
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


2nd
3
0
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
3
1
-
-
-
-
-


4th
3
2
0
-
-
-
-


5th
3
3
1
-
-
-
-




Fatemaker spells known:
1- Charm Person, Sanctuary, Expeditious Retreat, True Strike
2- Resist Energy, Invisibility, Darkvision, Bull's Strength
3- Haste, Suggestion, Nondetection, Tongues
4- Restoration, Charm Monster, Stoneskin, Neutralize Poison


Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


9th
0
-
-
-


10th
1
-
-
-


11th
2
0
-
-


12th
3
1
-
-


13th
3
2
0
-


14th
3
3
1
-


15th
3
3
2
0


16th
3
3
3
1


17th
3
3
3
2


18th
3
3
3
3






Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,
Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;


Levels 1-5:
Bard 5

Rattenfänger von Hameln spends his early levels focusing on misdirection and general utility. With the ability to change form as a move action, high bluff and disguise skills and spells and bardic music abilities focused on confusing and misleading foes, he eschews traditional combat roles entirely.

Snapshots:

+17 bluff check before items, spells or circumstance modifiers, combined with move action disguise self at will and illusion spells.
Inspire awe is quite effective at these levels, thanks to a high DC and wide area of effect, providing a sizable debuff to most foes. Fascinate combined with high bluff and perform checks can give a party an excellent advantage or even avoid encounters entirely.
Spells such as grease help against the foes not vulnerable to bluffing, fear or illusions, and while Rattenfänger is not a combat-focused character, medium BAB and decent weapon and armor proficiencies keep him from being completely vulnerable.
Excellent utility both in and out of combat thanks to wide variety of skills, further augmented by spells and abilities like loresong, inspire competence, mimicking song, improvisation and share talents.



Levels 6-10:
Bard 5/Master of Flies 3/Fatemaker 2

As the game develops, Rattenfänger von Hameln’s pied piper abilities develop further and give him several powerful new options both in and out of combat. Master of Flies is an interesting prestige class that gives Rattenfänger several swarm-based abilities right off the bat: he can summon several swarms per day, he take swarm shape himself, and he gains a pied piper ability that summons vermin to him to do his bidding.

Dark Speech deserves a mention all on its own. This is an incredibly flexible feat with several possible options. The two that Rattenfänger particularly focuses on are dread and unity. Dread provides a broad fear effect to nonevil characters who hear it, forcing weaker foes to flee outright and making those of comparable level shaken (which stacks with inspire awe and intimidation to layer fear effects). It can even be used to force stronger foes into attacking Rattenfänger, forcing them into the swarms that he surrounds himself with. Against evil foes it is perhaps even more potent, charming and improving their attitudes. The other powerful ability Dark Speech provides is unity. This allows Rattenfänger to bestow a hivemind on the swarms and vermin that flock to him, with a myriad of benefits: this gives him even greater control of vermin around him, and perhaps most importantly, by bestowing an animal cunning on normally nonintelligent creatures, they can now be affected by morale bonuses and can perform actions such as aid another.

Rattenfänger’s Fatemaker abilities have not developed much yet, but he does make good use of them: charm person and sanctuary are both excellent spells to add to Rattenfänger’s toolkit. He also now can use wands of restoration without requiring a use magic device check, helping to mitigate the ability damage he takes from his Dark Speech ability. Summoning and controlling swarms fails to break his sanctuary, forcing opponents to make Will saves if they wish to attack him. Meanwhile, charming is incredibly powerful when backed by his strong debuffs. Increases to Charisma are incredibly welcome, as that is the driving stat behind all of his abilities. Finally, as Rattenfänger remains very skill-focused, the ability to boost perform, intimidate and bluff checks is incredibly useful.

Snapshots:

Bluff and disguise remain potent parts of Rattenfänger’s toolkit, and now intimidate catches up.
Ability to layer fear effects between inspire awe, Dark Speech’s dread and intimidate can completely disable opponents.
Rattenfänger can control and constantly surround himself with swarms and vermin in combat and either prevent foes from attacking him with sanctuary or force them into these areas with Dark Speech.
Many ways to debuff opponents between fear effects, Doomspeak and the various sickening, poison and distraction effects of his swarms, as well as spells such as glitterdust and silence (seriously, casting silence on a swarm and having it surround a caster can really ruin their day). Doomspeak in particular is one of the most powerful debuffs in the game, and when combined with charm or fear effects to take advantage of the lowered Will saves becomes even more powerful.
Ability to supercharge skills, attacks and other checks by creating a hivemind to bestow intelligence on his verminous companions and instructing them to all perform aid another checks, in addition to increases from abilities such as loresong and Confidence of the Fated.
Swarm shape allows him to evade many common types of attacks and gives him incredible freedom of movement, providing flight or climb speeds and letting him squeeze through tiny spaces.



Levels 11-15:
Bard 5/Master of Flies 3/Fatemaker 7

Rattenfänger spends his next five levels focusing on Fatemaker to augment his abilities. This comes into play most significantly with his aura of confidence. This supernatural ability can remain active whenever Rattenfänger von Hameln is conscious and provides a broad morale bonus to all adjacent allies. Of course, in Rattenfänger’s case, adjacent allies often numbers in the hundreds or even thousands, as he is constantly surrounded by teeming swarms of insects and other vermin. Ordinarily many of these would not be affected by morale boosts, but Dark Speech bestows on them a cruel intelligence that allows such boosts to apply. Rattenfänger can use his own swarm shape to increase his area as well, providing the boost to even more allies.

Rattenfänger also uses the Fatemaker’s sneak attack to add a new flavorful debuff to his arsenal thanks to Sickening Strike, and his spells continue to take advantage of these debuffs with spells such as suggestion and charm monster. He also gains access to a couple of incredibly useful defensive spells: resist energy shores up one of the biggest vulnerabilities for his swarms, and restoration allows him to cure off the ability damage he takes from his Dark Speech.

Rattenfänger also adds a new way to use his social skills with Wanderer’s Diplomacy. While all of its uses can come into play, most significant is social agility. This allows him to use his supercharged bluff check in place of diplomacy to change the attitude of unfriendly foes. In addition to working off his best skill, this also takes only a standard action without any penalties, meaning it can even be used in combat situations. He can also use it in concert with charm spells to convert friendly charmed foes into fanatics, using the epic usage of the diplomacy skill.

Snapshots:

Aura of confidence works well alongside Rattenfänger’s swarm abilities and Dark Speech’s unity, allowing him to buff the swarms he is constantly surrounded with and giving them considerable bonuses to checks such as aid another.
Sickening Strike provides a new no-save debuff to work alongside his other debilitating attacks.
Fatemaker spells provide new offensive options and shore up many of the defensive vulnerabilities of his swarms.
Wanderer’s Diplomacy allows him to quickly convert unfriendly enemies into temporary allies or turn mere allies into fanatics and servants.



Levels 16-20:
Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5

Ego manifestation is a terrifying and thematic capstone to the Fatemaker class, and Rattenfänger von Hameln makes great use of it. While its combat applications are obvious, and the major boost to intimidate checks are something he loves to take advantage of, Rattenfänger also uses the fact that he doubles in size to drastically increase the area of his swarm shape ability and aura of confidence allies. Thanks to this ability he can now become a huge swarm, which is not only a terrifying threat all on its own but also gives him dozens of squares that are affected by his aura of confidence. With this bonus increasing to +2, this means that most of his verminous allies should almost always succeed on most aid another checks, allowing Rattenfänger to receive phenomenal bonuses to attacks or skills when necessary.

His final feat, Undead Empathy, gives him the opportunity to influence the attitudes of the undead. Previously his best bet against undead was to swarm shape and avoid the encounter (as most mindless undead do not have a way of attacking swarms), but now with Undead Empathy he can stop them from attacking him outright or even turn them into allies. The dread function of his Dark Speech and Wanderer’s Diplomacy both help here; as Wanderer’s Diplomacy allows you to make a standard action bluff check in place of the usual diplomacy check to influence another creature’s attitude, it should apply here as well. (Even if your DM rules that this is not the case, Rattenfänger still possesses a fantastic diplomacy check.) Under the right circumstances, Rattenfänger can even use this feat to add undead allies to his army of vermin.

Snapshots:

Incredible intimidate checks alongside his already formidable bluff checks.
Undead Empathy allows Rattenfänger to convert undead as well as vermin to his cause.
Ego manifestation alongside swarm shape lets Rattenfänger assume the shape of a huge swarm and gives him many adjacent squares for his aura of confidence ability.
Extreme aid other checks, made reliable by Dark Speech’s unity and the aura of confidence, can easily boost Rattenfänger’s skill checks into epic levels or guarantee that attacks land.



And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.

Fatemaker was a difficult class to work with, as the majority of its abilities are easily duplicated by other methods. I decided to break down ways in which it differentiated itself from similar classes such as the bard. In particular, the aura of confidence ability stood out: while the effects were smaller than you might get from bardic music, the fact that it did not need constant actions to maintain was interesting, and the “adjacent allies” presented some interesting flavor (and a fun challenge) to build around. I thought a lot about what builds specifically benefited from the lack of an additional action to maintain the ability, while not being overly restricted by the adjacent requirement. With that in mind, Rattenfänger von Hameln was born.

Rattenfänger is not restricted to merely the aura of confidence ability, however. His build benefits from every aspect of the secret ingredient:

Take-charge appeal: As a Charisma-focused build, untyped bonuses to his primary stat are a huge boon for Rattenfänger.

Confidence of the Fated: Morale bonuses are not hard to come by, but the size of the bonus is significant by the later levels of Rattenfänger’s career. Rattenfänger uses his skills offensively, such as using intimidation to debuff opponents and using Wanderer’s Diplomacy and Undead Empathy to convert enemies into temporary allies. Being able to add as much as a +10 bonus to these checks when needed is huge, potentially even pushing Rattenfänger into epic uses of said skills.

Sneak attack: While raw damage has never been Rattenfänger’s preferred way of dealing with opponents, sneak attack opens up access to Sickening Strike. In addition to being a powerful no-save debuff that works well with Rattenfänger’s typical combat tactics, this is also near-perfect flavor for the verminous Rattenfänger von Hameln.

Aura of confidence: This was the original inspiration for Rattenfänger von Hameln’s build, and influenced many of his build choices. While the “adjacent allies” restriction is normally quite limiting for this ability, Rattenfänger is constantly surrounded by teeming swarms of rats and insects, and by using the power of his Dark Speech he can even give these swarms a semblance of intelligence in order to allow vermin to benefit from his bonuses. While the bonuses themselves are fairly minor, he can still take advantage even of minor bonuses such as these by instructing his thralls to focus primarily on skills and Aid Another actions. It's also worth noting that this is only possible because of the fact that the ability does not require an action to maintain once activated; Rattenfänger is reliant on several abilities and spells with Concentration durations, and while he has some ways of mitigating these costs (Swift Concentration and sonorous hum), the near-constant nature of the aura of confidence allows him to maintain both his aura and his swarms throughout the day.

Ego manifestation: Righteous might is an excellent combat boost, but even more important is the boost to the intimidate skill, which is unique to the Fatemaker. In addition, by increasing to large size, Rattenfänger significantly increases the number of potential adjacent allies to be affected by his aura of confidence ability, and increases the size of the swarms he can shape into.

Spells: The Fatemaker’s spell list seems plain but is near-perfect for Rattenfänger von Hameln. The charm and suggestion line of spells work well with his pied piper motif, and he has quite a few tools to neutralize opponents and soften up their Will saves to make sure these spells land. Of course, these spells would have been available to him as a bard. What would not have been available is the powerful healing spell restoration. This gives Rattenfänger a reliable way to cure the ability damage he takes by using Dark Speech’s potent powers.

Skills: Fatemaker’s high skill points and huge skill list allow Rattenfänger von Hameln to keep all of his relevant skills as high as possible. It even adds intimidate, one of the major missing elements to the bard’s skill list.

Entry requirements: The Fatemaker’s entry requirements are no burden to Rattenfänger von Hameln, who uses his powerful bluff and intimidate checks to quickly neutralize or recruit opponents even in the midst of battle.


Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,


Equipment is of course important for all characters, though Rattenfänger doesn't require much. Ability score boosters are the most important, especially for his Charisma and Constitution scores. Ways to increase his Fortitude saving throw (by far his weakest point) are also important. A decent light armor that does not interfere with spellcasting is also important. Spiked gauntlets will allow Rattenfänger to still threaten foes without preventing him from playing his pipes or casting spells. Wands in general can provide general utility thanks to Use Magic Device, and wands of Restoration are particularly useful.

Sources

PHB/SRD: Bard class, Skill Focus feat
PHB2: Wanderer's Diplomacy feat
Planar Handbook: Fatemaker prestige class
Savage Species: Master of Flies prestige class
Eberron Campaign Setting: Changeling race, Undead Empathy feat
Races of Eberron: Quick Change feat
Dragon Magic: Inspire awe alternate class feature
Dungeonscape: Mimicking song alternate class feature, loresong alternate class feature
Book of Vile Darkness: Dark Speech feat, hivemind rules
Champions of Ruin: Doomspeak feat
Drow of the Underdark: Sickening Strike feat
Complete Scoundrel: Skill tricks
Spell Compendium: All spells not listed in the SRD



Please note that Sickening Strike and Doomspeak come from a Faerun source, and therefore may not be permitted in all settings (though the feats are not otherwise setting-specific, and Sigil can act as a bridge between settings). In cases where it is not permitted, replacing Sickening Strike with Complete Adventurer's Staggering Strike is an excellent alternative. Doomspeak is a bit harder to easily replace, but there are some good alternatives. Dark Whispers from Elder Evils gives you another powerful way to use your Dark Speech ability, staggering masses of foes, while Shape Soulmeld from Magic of Incarnum can give you access to the Strongheart Vest, which allows you to slightly reduce the ability damage you take from said ability.

Speaking of Elder Evils, if you have the ability to dedicate yourself to an Elder Evil, that is an excellent choice. It is thematically well in line with Rattenfänger's flavor and frees up several feats in the build. Rattenfänger would make a fantastic herald of Kyuss, the Worm that Walks, though the creeping horror of Father Llymic would also be an appropriate avenue for Rattenfänger's abilities.

Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives--
Followed the Piper for their lives.

https://fontoura.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/edb2ff60cb.jpeg?a7ec28&a7ec28

[Heliomance]

He's Maxwell the Magnificent
Undeniably, reliably magnificent!



https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/albums/peia9klq25ab8406tgn66lhg1769ka97t?pid=652448997367 6806450&oid=109481814369266731470


Maxwell the Magnificent





Maxwell taped down the stencil for the magic circle on the floor of his covered wagon. He tied a Jorasco beaked mask over his face and dusted the area with powdered silver from a metal can designed for sugaring hotcakes. He puttered around and finished his machinations, keeping an eye on the pot of soup that simmered on the potbellied stove. With the final invocation, he stepped back and poured a cup of hot tea.

“Foolish mortal! You meddle with forces far beyond your ken!” shrieked a beautiful succubus from the center of the circle, facing away from her summoner.

“You hungry, Lily?” Maxwell asked.

“Oh, hi, Max.” She turned around and dimmed the fire in her eyes since it was unneeded. “What’ll it be today? some upstart need to perform the Rite of Friendly Contact with an Evil Outsider?”

Maxwell tossed the mask onto the table and mopped at his brow with his sleeve, the air close from the heat of the fire.

“Nah, just a little shill work for right now.” He ladled up a bowl of chicken soup and levitated it over with a flick of a wand from up his sleeve.

“Show-off.” Lily accepted it and supped. “Where we doing this?”

“Small town. I’m thinking dowdy matron. Something like that.” Maxwell sat in his chair just out of her reach.

“You’re no fun.”

“I’ve left some sketches there for inspiration. I can spirit you some clothes once you decide on measurements.” Maxwell blew on his teacup.

“All right, all right.” She picked up his charcoals and shifted her form accordingly to something that wouldn’t stand out quite so much. “Did I miss anything? It’s been what, six months?”

“Three years. There’s been a few developments—“

The wagon slowed to a halt.

“Ah, we’re here. It’ll be more natural if you think on your feet. You always have had a gift for improvisation.” Maxwell tossed over a long dress and bonnet once Lily had finished graying her hair and wrinkling her brow.

“Terms of service?” she asked with something like hesitation.

“As ever, that’s up to you, my dear. The sooner you get these rubes to buy what I’m selling, the sooner you can stop enjoying my hospitality.” Maxwell gave her a smile that didn’t touch his eyes.

The cyst hidden just above the nape of her neck ached.

“That won’t be a problem, will it?”

Lily swallowed. “No, no problem.”

“Good. It’s showtime. Break a leg.” He took a final sip from his cup and tossed the dregs onto the silver circle, freeing his houseguest.

Maxwell ostentatiously opened up a copy of the Chronicle, crinkling the pages so he could be heard all across the town square. Lily stepped off after him, staying a few paces behind and waiting for the crowd to shuffle along, so it wouldn’t be quite so obvious they’d arrived together.

She found he’d left her a few pennies in the pockets of her plain apron and bought some fried fish from a vendor.

“Who’s that fellow over there with that colorful wagon?” she asked the fishmonger. “Looks like an out-of-towner to me. I wonder what exotic wares he’s got in there. Something for these old bones, I hope.” Lily kneaded at her human knuckles, miming arthritis.

“Don’t know, ma’am,” the fishmonger said. “Looks like a huckster to me. I’d steer clear.”

Lily bit her tongue, already missing its natural fork. She hoped Maxwell wouldn’t showboat too long this time. “You ought to give people a chance. They might surprise you.”

“Can you believe this!” Maxwell shouted to no one in particular as he tore through his paper, mimicking such fury that he tore the pages around the edges. “Just like that! Poof! Gone!”

Someone took the bait. A tanner from the smell of him.

“What’s gone?” he shouted to Maxwell.

“The warforged! They think they can just come in and do that to us? Who’s supposed to drive our plows?” Maxwell stepped adroitly onto a soapbox he’d parked his wagon near. No accident. Even with the wood beneath his feet, Maxwell hardly towered over the crowd, but it was the gesture that was important.

“Hmph,” muttered a blacksmith nearby. “Tending my own forge. Forge is ‘forged work you ask me.”

“Too right, sir!” Maxwell exclaimed with a rap of his silver-tipped cane on the soapbox.

Lily flinched reflexively and hoped no one noticed. She could pass it off as a chill, the kind that affected elderly humans as time wore on. Maxwell couldn’t be long for this world. His hair was all white now, the black from his youth long gone. He’d done enough to wind up in the Abyss. Lucky for him he already spoke the language.

“Who’s supposed to do our laundry?” Maxwell shouted with his eye on a washerwoman sweating in the sun. She nodded, out of breath.

“Yeah!” Lily shouted with disgust that ought to sound genuine. A few townsfolk joined her.

“And don’t think I just say this because I’m a lazy old man who doesn’t want to do his own chores! I’m perfectly well aware of the virtues of hard work. Good for the body. Good for the soul, as anyone knows. But is that where our valuable time is really best spent?” He waited for a response. The hicks standing around him didn’t comply.

He looked over their heads, a trick to make it look as though he was addressing all of them. Lily knew who he had his eye on. He could feel his gaze on her. She rolled her eyes and ducked behind the bolts of fabric on the tailor’s cart and swanned out in the form of a scrawny child.

“No way!” Lily yelled, shaking a tiny fist to the predictable awws.

“Did they think of the warforged in all this emancipation poppycock? No sir! They don’t know what to do with themselves nowadays, they’re neither fish nor fowl. It’s not like folks are falling over themselves to hire them.”

Lily shucked her next layer and quick changed again into a fat man. “There’s got to be another way!”

Maxwell pointed at her with his cane. “That’s where I have good news, my friend! There is! What if I told you today was the last day you had to muck out your stables?”

Lily looked appropriately slack-jawed.

“That’s right! There are a few little places they haven’t quite legislated us out of yet.” Maxwell grabbed a handful of colorful powder from some secret pocket or another in his waistcoat and blew it on the ground in front of him. A bloated dretch stood stupidly before the crowd.

The crowd stepped away in fear.

“Don’t worry folks, he’s quite tame. You there! What’s something you’d rather not do?” Maxwell demanded of a young man chopping wood.

“Finish this log, that’s for sure,” he said.

Max gestured to the ax. “Well? Get to it, wretch.” He kicked the dretch in the backside and sent him scampering along. The humans laughed gamely.

The dretch finished chopping the log and disappeared shortly after. Lucky.

“And that’s just a sample, just a sample of the things that can be done for you. Imagine all the time you can save! There’s only one catch:” Maxwell lowered his voice. Those in the front row leaned in.

“Keep this a secret! Don’t let your friends from out of town know how you have all this time to yourself. Keep them guessing. Why shouldn’t you get to have all the fun?” The crowd didn’t seem to have any objections to that. “Cast off the chains of drudgery and…” Maxwell gestured and a phantom drumroll began from the background. Time for the big finish.

“Stand tall!” Maxwell swelled to an enormous size, towering over the crowd, his reedy voice booming across the square. The soapbox he was standing on splintered beneath his bootheel.

“Clumsy of me. Sorry about that, sir. Tell you what, first one’s on me. Pick something out to clean up the mess and you’ll be first in line.” Maxwell handed the soaper a coupon for a free summoning to show his integrity.

He had them now.


It wasn’t long before the streets were glutted with demons from back home. Lily was running into familiar faces every other day. Once the humans were in their beds, they’d occasionally swap stories when they didn’t have any work to do, but these moments grew more fleeting by the day.

If there was one thing humans loved, it was idleness. Once their largest errands were out of the way, it wasn’t long before smaller and smaller tasks became an unimaginable burden. By now, tanner’s row didn’t have a human soul left in it. None of them could compete with Maxwell’s creatures. Dretches poured urine over hides and gadacros patrolled the skies to wring the necks of pigeons for their masters’ tables. One by one, the tradesman had taken down their shingles.

Humans hardly left home anymore. Maxwell was no exception. Though the town was small, with the money he’d made in his time here, he was staying in the inn’s largest room. Certainly an improvement over the wagon where Lily slept.

She was on her way back from the market with Maxwell’s groceries when a hand placed itself roughly upon her shoulder.

Lily seized with fear. Not because of whatever ruffian who thought he could rob her, but the thought of what would happen if Maxwell heard she broke her cover. She knew the cyst inside her let him see her when she thought she was alone. If this was more than she could handle, she hoped vainly he would come help her.

“Hey ma’am. Ma’am! Carry those groceries for you? I’ll summon you something up right quick, something good, and for less than the other guy.” Lily stepped into the shadow of the alley, her demoniac eyes drinking in the man before her.

He was young with iron rings punched through his brow and lip, his hair a sickly greenish color braided and twisted into ropes like a medusa’s. The stink of silver wafted from his trousers and pieces of its dust shone on his hands in the moonlight.

“Please, just a few coppers,” he said, leaning in close enough to show the burns around his lips from an absentia pipe.

She wasn’t in danger, so she had to act like a human would, satisfying though it would’ve been to drink him down to nothing with her touch.

“Help! Someone!” she yelled into the darkness.

A tall, handsome man appeared from the ether, his neatly trimmed beard framing a smile full of gold and jewels. He didn’t have a natural tooth left in his mouth.

“My monsters will keep you safe from this degenerate. For a price, of course.” He crudely rubbed his fingers together.

“This is my corner, man!” the man in the alley began to cast a spell.

“We’ll see about that.” The other joined in, calling some old acquaintance of hers.

Lily, forgotten, went upstairs to the inn’s top floor.

“Is it that time already?” Maxwell asked her when she got in the door. He already had his coat on. Hardly surprised.

“Yeah, looks like the second stringers are already here,” Lily said. “I guess someone broke the rule.”

“Rule? Oh, that. That’s the whole thing, you see.” Maxwell explained, as though she didn’t already understand.

“It’s how I keep myself honest. Once I’m the only game in town, well, I could charge whatever I wanted for a loaf of bread or a set of horseshoes when I was the only one making them, now couldn’t I?” he asked patronizingly.

“Yes, you could,” Lily said, shilling for an audience of zero.

“But if I did that, then these people just wouldn’t be able to pay. And when people can’t pay, well they do some pretty awful things. Remember last time?” As though she could forget.

“I remember.”

“Well if I tell these suckers to keep a secret all they can do is rub it in to their relatives off who knows where, and when some kids fresh out of Morgrave hear there’s a quick buck to be made, they’re out on the streets with their inferior product. I don’t need to compete with that. No sir. So by the time these little guppies are here to swim in my wake, well, that’s the time I figure it’s right for me to take my leave.” He cleared his throat.

Lily put her arms around him and kissed his whiskered cheek. “Safe travels,” she said, all smiles. With that, Maxwell disappeared, off to some other plane.

Lily picked a bottle up from the bar, threw it into the fireplace, and burned the building down.

Her task complete, she retreated home. As soon as she was there, she was summoned again. Not even enough time to sit down.

As she was getting into character, she took in her surroundings. A cramped room in a basement full of papers and books. It was illuminated barely by a stout candle atop a table draped with a white cloth. Two plates of chicken and dumplings sat steaming at two place settings.

Her summoner closed an enormous book and advanced hesitantly toward the circle, clad in a silk robe and a pair of pince-nez. She offered Lily a glass of wine.

“I, uh, hope you had a pleasant trip. I think I did everything right this time.”

Lily accepted it and drained it. “Rite of Friendly Contact with an Evil Outsider?”

“Yes please,” she said, barely audible over a spectral recording of soft piano music.

“Great. Let’s get started.”




CE human crusader 5/fatemaker 10/ nar demonbinder 5



str 14
dex 10
int 10
wis 14
cha 16 (increases here)





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


1st
Crusader 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
bluff 4, balance 4, diplo 4, intimidate 4, k (religion) 4
criminal background, skill focus (intimidate)
Furious counterstrike, steely resolve 5


2nd
Crusader 2
+2
+3
+0
+0
bluff 1 (5), balance 1 (5), diplo 1 (5), intimidate 1 (5), tumble 1

Indomitable soul


3rd
Crusader 3
+3
+3
+1
+1
intimidate 1 (6), tumble 4 (5)
iron will
Zealous surge


4th
Crusader 4
+4
+4
+1
+1
concentration 2, intimidate 1 (7), tumble 2 (7)

Steely resolve 10


5th
Crusader 5
+5
+4
+1
+1
concentration 1 (3), intimidate 1 (8), tumble 1 (8), never outnumbered,




6th
Fatemaker 1
+5
+4
+3
+3
spellcraft 4, umd 3
arcane disciple (summoner)
Take-charge appeal


7th
Fatemaker 2
+6/+1
+4
+4
+4
k (planes) 5, umd 2 (5)

Confidence of the Fated 1/day


8th
Fatemaker 3
+7/+2
+5
+4
+4
bluff 1 (6), k (planes) 1 (6), sm 2, tumble 3 (11)

Sneak attack +1d6


9th
Fatemaker 4
+8/+3
+5
+5
+5
concentration 6 (9), tumble 1 (12)
hardened criminal (umd)
Aura of confidence (+1)


10th
Fatemaker 5
+8/+3
+5
+5
+5
concentration 4 (13), diplo 2 (7), tumble 1 (13)

Take-charge appeal


11th
Fatemaker 6
+9/+4
+6
+6
+6
concentration 1 (14), diplo 4 (11), intimidate 1 (9), tumble 1 (14)

Sneak attack +2d6


12th
Fatemaker 7
+10/+5
+6
+6
+6
concentration 1 (15), diplo 1 (12), intimidate 5 (14)
mother cyst
Confidence of the Fated 2/day


13th
Fatemaker 8
+11/+6/+1
+6
+7
+7
concentration 1 (16), diplo 1 (13), intimidate 2 (16), k (planes) 4 (10)

Aura of confidence (+2)


14th
Fatemaker 9
+11/+6/+1
+7
+7
+7
bluff 4 (10), concentration 1 (17), diplo 1 (14), intimidate 1 (17),

Sneak attack +3d6


15th
Fatemaker 10
+12/+7/+2
+7
+8
+8
bluff 3 (13), concentration 1 (18), diplo 1 (15), intimidate 1 (18), speak language (abyssal)
spell focus (conjuration)
Ego manifestation, take-charge appeal


16th
Nar Demonbinder 1
+12/+7/+2
+7
+8
+10
concentration 1 (19), diplo 1 (16), intimidate 1 (19)

Fiendish familiar, inimical casting


17th
Nar Demonbinder 2
+13/+8/+3
+7
+8
+11
diplo 1 (17), intimidate 1 (20), sm 1 (4)

Iron sign


18th
Nar Demonbinder 3
+13/+8/+3
+8
+9
+11
diplo 1 (18), intimidate 1 (21), sm 1 (5)
practiced spellcaster (nar demonbinder)
Master summoner


19th
Nar Demonbinder 4
+14/+9/+4
+8
+9
+12
diplo 1 (19), intimidate 1 (22), sm 1 (6)

Brazen sign


20th
Nar Demonbinder 5
+14/+9/+4
+8
+9
+12
diplo 1 (20), intimidate 1 (23), sm 1 (7)

Infernal certitude




Level 1
crusader’s strike
vanguard strike
charging minotaur replace at 4
douse the flames
leading the attack

Level 2
foehammer
battle leader’s charge (gain at 4)

Level 3
white raven tactics

Stances
martial spirit
leading the charge


Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


6th
0


7th
1


8th
2
0


9th
3
1


10th
3
2
0


11th
3
3
1


12th
3
3
2
0


13th
3
3
3
1


14th
3
3
3
2


15th
3
3
3
3




Level 1
charm person
summon monster I
disguise self
true strike
necrotic awareness

Level 2
invisibility
spider climb
resist energy
summon monster II
necrotic cyst
necrotic scrying

Level 3
haste
tongues
suggestion
summon monster III
necrotic bloat

Level 4
charm monster
stoneskin
remove curse
restoration
necrotic domination



Spells per Day


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


16th
-
-
-
-
2
1


17th
-
-
-
-
2
2


18th
-
-
-
-
3
2
1


19th
-
-
-
-
3
3
2


20th
-
-
-
-
3
3
2
1




Level 4
magic circle against good
summon monster IV
lesser planar binding
dismissal
necrotic domination

Level 5
plane shift
summon monster V
dispel good
necrotic burst

Level 6
summon monster VI
planar binding
necrotic eruption

Level 7
summon monster VII
necrotic tumor




You function as a pretty normal crusader with some eclectic skill choices. Fall in with bad company, and enjoy expanding your horizons. Pick on people smaller and weaker than you and spook them with never outnumbered.

Criminal background provides access to bluff (alongside open lock and sleight of hand just for fun) to qualify for fatemaker in a timely fashion.

Skilled city-dweller allows you to transform ride into tumble.



Congratulations, you’re in the secret ingredient. Fatemaker provides access to UMD, the best skill in the game. Why so little investment? Well, at the level you get it, ranks, in addition to your charisma bonus and a minimum roll of 1 will get you to a 10, and hardened criminal allows you to take 10 on the skill (even though it’s normally not possible) so you can hit the 20 for wands, set it, and forget it.

The Great Mother has generously granted you access to the summoner domain. Since fatemaker has to pay for spells like a sorcerer, once you’ve picked up the goodies from your class, you nab the monster summoning spells from here to qualify for nar demonbinder.

Your boosted charisma will help you make better bargains with monsters down the line, and they’ll be able to enjoy your aura of confidence while fighting alongside you, and summons can give you someone to flank with, making use of your sneak attack ability.



Gain some more spells from mother cyst. I encyst. It further expands your list and adds versatility. Unlike arcane disciple, it will provide access for both your halves: fatemaker for the low level spells to encyst, scry on, and mind control people (very handy to keep summons in line with the planar binding line) and the more powerful things such as causing enemies to explode via nar demonbinder’s higher level slots.

Your conjuration spells are hitting harder making it harder to say no to you, and now ego manifestation’s on, you’re large and in charge, able to beat people up with your sweet crusader karate, taking up more squares to flank with your monsters, and making life difficult for your enemies.



Nar demonbinder is here to help you. It can summon a huge variety of monsters which give you access to a great number of spells and other effects. Practiced spellcaster juices your caster level further in addition to your fatemaker levels pulling their weight. Summon monsters, keep them on a short leash, and get what you need in life.




city of stormreach: criminal background, hardened criminal
srd: skill focus, iron will, spell focus, practiced spellcaster
complete divine: arcane disciple
libris mortis: mother cyst
tome of battle: crusader
unapproachable east: nar demonbinder
planar handbook: fatemaker
spell compendium: summoner domain
skilled city dweller: cityscape web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)

[Heliomance]

Nope, I'm out of appropriate song lyrics now



Memyadu, the Spell Embezzler

CN Dark vaulkrau illumian Spellthief 9 / Fatemaker 9 / Mage of the Arcane Order 1


"Memyadu, the Spellpool contains Barkskin and Shillelagh again. Is this your doing? Henderson account again? We talked about this. Fellow guild mates getting confused. Over."

[Response:]
"Henderson not worth effort. Gave laugh to Henderson's lackeys. Paid debt as required. Find use for spell energy; I did. Graybeards not my problem. Over."


VITALS
STR 14
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 15
All level-up increases go to CHA. Take-Charge Appeal also increases CHA.

Vaul: +2 bonus on CHA-based skill/ability checks
Krau: +2 bonus to CL for spells/SLAs, max of HD
Vaulkrau: 2/day, expend spell slot (not prepared spell) as immediate action to gain bonus to saving throw equal to level of lost slot
Dark: +10 ft movement, darkvision 60 ft, resist cold 10, Hide in Plain Sight, superior low-light vision, +8 Hide, +6 Move Silently
Multiclass penalty: No
Starting languages: Common, Illumian, Celestial, Infernal


TABLES



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


1st
Spellthief 1
+0
+0
+0
+2
K: Arcana 4, Bluff 4, Intimidate 2 cc, Diplomacy 2 cc, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Concentration 4, Tumble 4

Skill Focus (Bluff)

Sneak Attack +1d6, Steal Spell (1), Trapfinding



2nd
Spellthief 2
+1
+0
+0
+3
K: Arcana +1 (5), Bluff +1 (5), Intimidate +0.5 cc (2.5), Diplomacy +0.5 cc (2.5), Hide +1 (5), Move Silently +1 (5), Concentration +1 (5), Tumble +1 (5)

No New Feats
Detect Magic, Spellgrace +1, Steal Spell Effect



3rd
Spellthief 3
+2
+1
+1
+3
K: Arcana +1 (6), Bluff +1 (6), Intimidate +0.5 cc (3), Diplomacy +0.5 cc (3), Hide +1 (6), Move Silently +1 (6), Concentration +1 (6), Tumble +1 (6)

Sudden Extend
Steal Energy Resistance 10



4th
Spellthief 4
+3
+1
+1
+4
K: Arcana +1 (7), Bluff +1 (7), Intimidate +0.5 cc (3.5), Diplomacy +0.5 cc (3.5), Hide +1 (7), Move Silently +1 (7), Concentration +1 (7), Tumble +1 (7)

No New Feats
Steal Spell (2), Spellthief spells (1st level)



5th
Spellthief 5
+3
+1
+1
+4
K: Arcana +1 (8), Bluff +1 (8), Intimidate +0.5 cc (4), Diplomacy +0.5 cc (4), Hide +1 (8), Move Silently +1 (8), Concentration +1 (8), Tumble +1 (8)

No New Feats
Sneak Attack +2d6, Steal SLA



6th
Spellthief 6
+4
+2
+2
+5
Bluff +1 (9), Intimidate +0.5 cc (4.5), Diplomacy +0.5 cc (4.5), Hide +1 (9), Move Silently +1 (9), Tumble +1 (9), Spellcraft +1 (1), Appraise +1 (1)

Cooperative Spell

Steal Spell (3)



7th
Spellthief 7
+5
+2
+2
+5
Bluff +1 (10), Intimidate +0.5 cc (5), Diplomacy +0.5 cc (5), Hide +1 (10), Move Silently +1 (10), Tumble +1 (10), Spellcraft +2 (3)

No New Feats
Absorb Spell



8th
Spellthief 8
+6
+2
+2
+6
Bluff +1 (11), Hide +1 (11), Move Silently +1 (11), Tumble +1 (11), Concentration +2 (10), Spellcraft +2 (5)

No New Feats
Steal Spell (4), Spellthief spells (2nd level)



9th
Fatemaker 1
+6
+2
+4
+8
Bluff +1 (12), Diplomacy +2 (7), Hide +1 (12), Move Silently +1 (12), Balance +2 (2), Tumble +1 (12)

Arcane Preparation
Take-Charge Appeal, Fatemaker spells (1st level)



10th
Mage or the Arcane Order 1
+6
+2
+4
+10
Concentration +2 (12), Acrobatic Backstab skill trick
No New Feats
Guild Member, Spellpool (1st-3rd spells), [advance Fatemaker casting]



11th
Fatemaker 2
+7
+2
+5
+11
Bluff +2 (14), Diplomacy +2 (9), Hide +2 (14), Move Silently +2 (14)

No New Feats
Confidence of the Fated 1/day, [FM spells 2nd level]



12th
Fatemaker 3
+8
+3
+5
+11
Bluff +1 (15), Diplomacy +2 (11), Hide +1 (15), Move Silently +1 (15), Balance +3 (5)

Master Spellthief
Sneak Attack +3d6, [Steal Spell (5)]



13th
Fatemaker 4
+9
+3
+6
+12
Bluff +1 (16), Diplomacy +2 (13), Hide +1 (16), Move Silently +1 (16), Sense Motive +3 (3)

No New Feats
Aura of Confidence, [FM spells 3rd level], [Steal Spell (6)]



14th
Fatemaker 5
+9
+3
+6
+12
Bluff +1 (17), Diplomacy +3 (16), Hide +1 (17), Move Silently +1 (17), Sense Motive +2 (5)

No New Feats
Take-Charge Appeal



15th
Fatemaker 6
+10
+4
+7
+13
Bluff +1 (18), Diplomacy +2 (18), Hide +1 (18), Move Silently +1 (18), Sense Motive +1 (6), Concentration +2 (14)

Delay Potion
Sneak Attack +4d6, [FM spells 4th level], [Steal Spell (7)]



16th
Fatemaker 7
+11
+4
+7
+13
Bluff +1 (19), Diplomacy +1 (19), Hide +1 (19), Move Silently +1 (19), Sense Motive +1 (7), Concentration +1 (15), Social Recovery skill trick

No New Feats
Confidence of the Fated 2/day



17th
Fatemaker 8
+12
+4
+8
+14
Bluff +1 (20), Diplomacy +1 (20), Hide +1 (20), Move Silently +1 (20), Sense Motive +3 (10), Concentration +1 (16)

No New Feats
Aura of Confidence +2, [Steal Spell (8)]



18th
Fatemaker 9
+12
+5
+8
+14
Bluff +1 (21), Diplomacy +1 (21), Hide +1 (21), Move Silently +1 (21), Sense Motive +3 (13), Concentration +1 (17)

Darkstalker
Sneak Attack +5d6



19th
Spellthief 9
+12
+6
+9
+14
Bluff +1 (22), Hide +1 (22), Move Silently +1 (22), Concentration +1 (18), Spellcraft +2 (7), Back On Your Feet skill trick

No New Feats
Arcane Sight, Sneak Attack +6d6, [Steal Spell (9)]






Note: Between level-based stat boosts and Take-Charge Appeal, Memyadu always has at least one bonus spell slot at the point at which she attains a new spell level.



Level (HD)
Spellthief 1st slots
Spellthief 2nd slots
Spellthief 1st known
Spellthief 2nd known


1st
-
-
-
-


2nd
-
-
-
-


3rd
-
-
-
-


4th
0
-
2
-


5th
0
-
2
-


6th
1
-
3
-


7th
1
-
3
-


8th
1
0
4
2




Memyadu's Spellthief spells per day and spells known do not progress via class after 8 HD.



Level (HD)
Fatemaker 1st slots
Fatemaker 2nd slots
Fatemaker 3rd slots
Fatemaker 4th slots
Fatemaker 1st known
Fatemaker 2nd known
Fatemaker 3rd known
Fatemaker 4th known
[tr]
1st
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
0
-
-
-
2
-
-
-


10th
1
-
-
-
3
-
-
-


11th
2
0
-
-
3
2
-
-


12th
3
1
-
-
4
3
-
-


13th
3
2
0
-
4
3
2
-


14th
3
3
1
-
4
4
3
-


15th
3
3
2
0
4
4
3
2


16th
3
3
3
1
4
4
4
3


17th
3
3
3
2
4
4
4
3


18th
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4


19th
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4

Spells known (in order learned):
Spellthief 1: Serene Visage, Path of Frost, Appraising Touch, Nerveskitter
Spellthief 2: Quick Potion, Wraithstrike
Fatemaker 1: True Strike, Disguise Self, Sanctuary, Expeditious Retreat
Fatemaker 2: Invisibility, Eagle's Splendor, Spider Climb, Cat's Grace
Fatemaker 3: Haste, Tongues, Nondetection, Protection from Energy
Fatemaker 4: Restoration, Remove Curse, Stoneskin, Charm Monster


PREREQS FOR CLASSES AND FEATS
Skill Focus, Sudden Extend, Darkstalker: No prereqs (met immediately).
Cooperative Spell: Must have any other metamagic feat. Met after taking Sudden Extend at 3 HD.
Arcane Preparation: Must be able to cast arcane spells without preparation. Met at 4 HD with Spellthief spells.
Master Spellthief: Must have Steal Spell and be able to cast 2nd level arcane spells. Met at 9 HD with 2nd level Spellthief spells and 11 HD with 2nd level Fatemaker spells. Steal Spell is met at 1 HD.
Delay Potion: Must have 1 rank in K: Arcana. Met at 1 HD.
Fatemaker: Must have 4 BAB (met at 6 HD), Skill Focus Bluff (met at 1 HD), 8 ranks in Bluff (met at 5 HD), and 5 ranks each in Diplomacy and Intimidate (met at 7 HD), plus an alignment prereq that is met immediately.
Mage of the Arcane Order: Must have 8 ranks in K: Arcana (met at 5 HD), Cooperative Spell (met at 6 HD), any other metamagic feat (met at 3 HD with Sudden Extend), and the ability to prepare and cast 2nd level arcane spells (met at 9 HD with Arcane Preparation of Spellthief slots). Fun Fact: Since Cooperative Spell has a prereq of “any other metamagic feat,” this class’s prereqs would be functionally the same if the feat section just said “Cooperative Spell” and not “Cooperative Spell and any other metamagic feat”!


PLAYSTYLE
1-5 HD: Memyadu starts out as an unusually sneaky Spellthief. The Dark template grants her a good degree of extra mobility, crazy nice early bonuses to the stealthy skills, and early access to HiPS, making Sneak Attacks easy to come by. It’s also got a remarkably good fluff match on an illumian, considering that illumians have a stronger-than-most connection to the Plane of Shadow. Like all Spellthieves, she likes both stealing spells from enemies and borrowing spells from allies—friendly casters love the action economy advantage offered by having a Spellthief partner with them to get their spells on the field faster, after all. Even without a friendly caster around, though, she’s perfectly capable of sneaking around and shanking folks who don’t want to be shanked, possibly stealing some magic in the process. They call the Fated “takers” for a reason, after all, and Memyadu believes that she deserves your magic more than you do. Everything on the planes is fueled by belief, after all. She just also has the skills to back it up.

Speaking of not being shy, Memyadu’s better socially than the average Spellthief. With Skill Focus (Bluff) and the Vaul sigil, she’s got significantly more Bluff than most folks in her level bracket, and Vaul plus the synergy bonus from Bluff go a long way towards shoring up her cross-class ranks in the other social skills. Serene Visage is an ace in the hole for those really important deceptions.

Although she doesn’t have very many spells of her own per day, she has a better-than-average CL on them (by Spellthief standards), and Sudden Extend is remarkably useful for wringing a little extra mileage out of a spell. The Vaulkrau power word is not something that she invokes very often (Vaul and Krau are separately more powerful than the combination thereof), but it can be the difference between a close save and a bad time if things get really bad.

6-9 HD: Memyadu gets a few more levels of Spellthief under her belt, keeping up Steal Spell and getting at least a brief window where Absorb Spell is likely to be functional. Fatemaker offers as many skill points as Spellthief, a rather better skill list for our purposes, and faster advancement of spells. In particular, getting Balance, Sense Motive, and Diplomacy in-class helps a lot. Take-Charge Appeal helps her get better at talking and better at casting, both of which are rather important to this character.

She has access to Quick Potion now, which helps her satisfy the “if you can take it [i]and can hold it” aspect of the Takers’ outlook. The duration on Quick Potion is one hour per level (or, once per day, double that, thanks to Sudden Extend), which means that any leftover slots (which she has relatively few of right when QP comes online, but that doesn’t stay true for long) can easily be turned into potions that will last into the next day’s adventures. Almost more importantly, any stolen spells that happen to fit the criteria for being potionable can be stored in the same way, which offers much greater flexibility than the usual one hour duration granted by the Steal Spell ability itself (and also frees up stolen spell level storage). Yanking a spell from an opponent’s mind, storing it in a bottle, and using clever tactics to access that spell on one’s own terms? It doesn’t get much more Fated than that—but stick with me.

10-15 HD (Sweet Spot): As soon as practicable, Memyadu pays her entry fee and joins the ranks of the Arcane Order, giving her access to the Spellpool. Fatemaker offers reasonably decent slot progression by the standards of unique-casting PrCs that aren’t Sublime Chord or Ur-Priest, but the spell list leaves something to be desired. Access to the Spellpool solves this problem in a big way, and this is really where Memyadu’s Fated attitude gets to shine. Other folks might be content with the spell list written in a sourcebook somewhere, but not her—and she intends to take what she wants.

By default, the Spellpool offers access to any Sor/Wiz spell in the PHB, up to the maximum level allowed by one’s MotAO level, plus other spells in other circumstances. This is already a huge leg up on the spells listed in the Planar Handbook. You can make an argument that Memyadu’s very high Bluff/Diplomacy mods might be used to convince someone who matters in the Arcane Order to allow her to access a few spells outside of the PHB, relying on the “additional spells” clause, but this is not necessary for the build to function. It’s just a nice option if you’ve got a GM who appreciates a good blend of thematic roleplay (Fated take what they want and aren’t merely satisfied with what they’re granted!) and the mechanical stats (Bluff/Diplomacy) to back it up. Either way, this is a crazy increase in utility, especially out-of-combat utility.

Anyway, Memyadu can access any Sor/Wiz spell of levels 1-3 from the PHB. This is coincidentally the level range she cares about for making potions with Quick Potion. If you’re worried about how she doesn’t get many 2nd level Spellthief slots per day, don’t be. She can steal her own 2nd level Fatemaker spells to fuel castings of it. CAdv pg. 16: “If the target is willing, a spellthief can steal a spell with a touch as a standard action.” [. . .] “Alternatively, a spellthief of 4th level or higher can use the stolen spell power to cast any spellthief spell that he knows of the same level or lower (effectively, this gives the spellthief one free casting of a known spell).” There’s plenty of touch-range abilities that one uses on oneself, and she’s willing.

Master Spellthief also comes online in this level bracket. This feat is tricky to use and tricky to read, but it’s very powerful. Let’s talk a little bit about Memyadu’s caster level, because Master Spellthief is a little bit unclear how caster level should be calculated in a situation like this. At a bare minimum, the combination of Krau, Spellthief 8, and however many levels in Fatemaker should put Memyadu’s CL equal to her HD. (MotAO advances Fatemaker casting, but even if MotAO isn’t factored into the calculation, Krau will make up the difference.) A more generous interpretation would allow Krau to be added to the Fatemaker level and/or to the Spellthief level (neither of which is alone enough to bump into Krau’s “max of your HD” cap) before adding the Fatemaker level and Spellthief level together, possibly increasing her CL by 2 (if Krau applies once) or 4 (if Krau applies twice, once to Fatemaker and once to Spellthief). So at 12 HD when Master Spellthief comes online, Memyadu’s CL (for both Fatemaker spells and Spellthief spells) is either 12, 14, or 16. Even assuming the least generous interpretation is pretty nice, considering that very few Fatemakers will have such high CL, and that CL never stops scaling, so Memyadu ends up with a CL way above the usual “maximum” for a Fatemaker. It’s also worth mentioning that while potions that are crafted or purchased are usually made at minimum CL to save on cost, nothing about potions (or Quick Potion) says that they must have minimum CL, so the potions made with Quick Potion should have Memyadu’s normal CL, which is considerable. And of course, Fatemaker levels now count towards what spells Memyadu is able to steal. (It is unclear if her Mage of the Arcane Order level contributes to this; I wrote the table under the assumption that only Spellthief and Fatemaker levels count, not MotAO.) Remember that spells can be stolen from enemies or borrowed from friends, so this is relevant so long as there’s a spellcaster somewhere on the field (but it doesn’t much matter where on the field).

Speaking of stealing spells, the Spellpool ain’t free. Spellpool users incur a spell debt, and that spell debt has to be paid. But what savvy businessperson pays a debt with their own purse? It’s much more efficient for Memyadu to pay back her Spellpool debt with OPM: Other People’s Magic. Stolen spells have just as much energy as honest spells, after all. Even if a given spell that Memyadu steals isn’t immediately useful to her, she can just funnel it into the Spellpool to pay off a debt for some spells that ARE useful to her. This is where she moves from being a “spell thief” to a “spell embezzler.” She has access to a much wider variety of resources than she should, she takes what she wants when she wants it, she shuffles magic between accounts with some accounting sleight of hand, and she forces other people to literally pay the price for her, keeping her own account clean except when absolutely necessary. How Fated is that?

Spellthieves are very big on action economy (that’s one of their best benefits to friendly casters, after all), and Delay Potion helps with that. Any potionable spell (there are plenty in the Spellpool, and Memyadu loves making Quick Potions) can be effectively Quickened with a little bit of prep time. Sure, it’s only possible to have one at once, but one swift action Haste or Invisibility or Fly or Blink or Displacement or Heroism (need I continue?) per encounter is a pretty noticeable benefit. Even Sanctuary (accessible as a Fatemaker spell) is interesting as a swift action, since it can be used after attacking; call it a “no tagbacks” spell.

Confidence of the Fated’s primary use depends on whether it’s ruled to be a standard action or a nonaction: if it’s a standard action (because it’s a supernatural ability without a listed action type; see MM pg. 315), Memyadu can use it while hidden from a target to line up an ideal opening attack, which is a trick that most Fatemakers cannot do as well. If it’s a nonaction, it’s useful for saving throws and for really important social skill checks. Sneak Attack continues to progress, and Memyadu’s baseline tactics remain useful. Aura of Confidence is a difficult ability to use well (such a small bonus at such a small range!), but it pairs very thematically with Cooperative Spell if Memyadu happens to have an aligned spellcaster in the party, and it’s not like a stabby person will never have an ally nearby. It also works out of combat to make obligatory Aid Another checks better.

16+ HD: Memyadu finishes strong, gaining lots of spells per day, more uses of Confidence for when things just need to succeed, plenty of Sneak Attack, and very strong spell-stealing capabilities. Many characters with Master Spellthief fall into the trap of being able to steal spells that they cannot hold, but not Memyadu—she always has enough Spellthief levels to hold whatever spell she is able to steal, up to and including 9th level spells. The Fated take what they want, and they can hold onto it as well. Darkstalker keeps stealth useful, and it’ll be hard to find a Fatemaker with a higher CL.



COMMENTARY, ADAPTATIONS, DESIRED ITEMS, ETC.
Memyadu’s skills after hitting the prereqs for her classes are relatively flexible—it’s wise to keep Hide/MS maxed and appropriate to keep some social skills high, but the exact progression of Balance, Concentration, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, skill tricks, etc. are easily adjusted to the user’s taste. 12 ranks in Tumble is enough to autosucceed on a DC 15 check after factoring in DEX and a minimum roll of 1. The single rank in Appraise at 6 HD is an “I’m trained, really!” rank to be paired with Appraising Touch (learned at the same level) on days when that happens to be the best use of a spell slot; it won’t be used every day, but that’s why it’s a single rank. 5 ranks in Balance is to help with not being flat-footed, especially once you can pull Grease from the Spellpool (Path of Frost serves a similar purpose before then). It’s very odd that Spellthief doesn’t get Balance as a class skill, but that means that Memyadu gets more benefit out of Fatemaker than someone who entered as, for example, a Rogue.

If flaws are allowed, take Darkstalker and Delay Potion earlier, then take Vatic Gaze (PHB2) or Craven (CoR) in the now-free 15 HD slot. The 18 HD slot can be used for the other one of Vatic Gaze or Craven, or it could be used for another low-cost metamagic feat, Martial Study (ToB), Obtain Familiar (CArc), Eschew Materials, Subtle Sigils (RoD), or whatever you like, really.

The last level of Fatemaker is less valuable than the last level of Spellthief because Memyadu already maxed out on Fatemaker casting and does not particularly benefit from a Righteous Might effect 1/day (she has Enlarge Person from the Spellpool for when she wants to be big, but sneaky characters rarely want to be bigger), so the ability to hold stolen 9th level spells is prioritized (in keeping with the “if you can take it and hold on to it” mentality of her faction). Fatemaker 10 can be taken nonetheless if LA buyoff is allowed; the table was built assuming that LA buyoff is not in play. It should be noted that Memyadu’s favorite feature from Fatemaker is the casting, and she has the equivalent of 10 levels in Fatemaker where casting is concerned.

If you want to prioritize stealth and movement over social agility, Uurkrau is a perfectly acceptable power word. I chose not to use it to avoid any arguments about why an Uurkrau illumian would have higher CHA than DEX (and also to focus on social skills, thereby making the best of Fatemaker’s requirements and abilities).

It is entirely reasonable to start with Skill Focus (Diplomacy) rather than Skill Focus (Bluff), considering that the two skills end up with nearly the same ranks (Diplomacy ends up with a slightly higher mod than Bluff thanks to synergy bonuses). Doing so would mean that Memyadu has similar high bonuses to Bluff and Diplomacy at early levels (as opposed to passable Diplomacy and very high Bluff). Skill Focus (Bluff) was chosen because flubbing a Bluff check at low levels tends to be worse than flubbing a Diplomacy check (and it’s often easier to get circumstance bonuses to Diplomacy checks through good roleplay than it is to get circumstance bonuses to Bluff, GM depending), though it’s good to be good at both of them.

Memyadu’s spells known on the Spellthief side are chosen entirely from non-PHB sources to ensure that they do not become redundant once Spellpool access comes online. However, if having access to certain effects at lower level is more desirable than making sure that your choices are never upstaged, it’s entirely reasonable to take spells like Shield, Charm Person, or Reduce Person as spells known.

Although Memyadu cannot access the Spellpool for 4th level spells, 4th level Fatemaker spells are pretty good for getting out of jams, and they can also be traded in to the Spellpool to pay debt, if desired.

For mundane equipment, Memyadu sticks to the best her proficiencies and her budget will allow. Morningstars and daggers (thrown daggers or crossbows serving for ranged options) serve well enough until Fatemaker unlocks longswords and shortbows. Use the best light armor you can afford (likely studded leather or a chain shirt early on and a mithril breastplate later, funds allowing). All skillful/roguish characters benefit from well-chosen masterwork tools, adventuring gear, and so on, and Memyadu is no exception. Similarly, every Spellthief should carry a few spare spell component pouches (ideally including just a few of the more common expensive material components, funds allowing).

Desired magical equipment would include standard numerical boosters (stat enhancers, magic weapons/armor, and something that boosts saves), wands of useful spells (since the Spellthief spell list is directly based off of a large subset of the Wizard spell list, there are too many good wands to list here), Mementos Magica, Rings of Wizardry, Metamagic Rods (especially Extend), Healing Belts, and so on. The cost makes them a “sometimes food,” but Delay Potion works with normal (non-Quick) potions as well, so any potions of useful spells that aren’t in Memyadu’s regular bag of tricks are more useful on her than on many other characters.

This has no effect on the build, but it’s weird enough that I feel compelled to mention it somewhere: this character has more unique sources of Speak Language than any other I’ve ever built. Illumians always get Speak Language as a class skill, and all three classes in the build naturally have Speak Language as a class skill, despite how rare it is as a skill. Weird, right? In a universe with more skill points, I would have liked to max out Speak Language and learn crazy rare planar dialects from all around the Great Wheel, but that obviously wasn’t practical.


SOURCES
Complete Adventurer (Spellthief)
Complete Arcane (Mage of the Arcane Order, Sudden Extend, Arcane Preparation, Cooperative Spell)
Complete Mage (Delay Potion)
Complete Scoundrel (Master Spellthief, skill tricks)
Dragon Magic (Path of Frost)
Lords of Madness (Darkstalker)
Planar Handbook (Fatemaker)
Races of Destiny (Illumian)
Spell Compendium (Serene Visage, Appraising Touch, Nerveskitter, Quick Potion, Wraithstrike)
Tome of Magic (Dark template)

Spells/Feats/etc. not mentioned are from the PHB/SRD. Certain items in the adaptation section are from the Magic Item Compendium.

[Heliomance]

...I'm pretty sure any song I came up with that was relevant to someone called "Gar Hogchoker" would get me an infraction.



Gar Hogchoker
LN Draconic Crane Clan Illumian sorcerer 6/marshal 3/Fatemaker 10

http://images1-1.gamewise.co/112701-small.png


Crane Clan (oriental adventure p.9-10) Favored Class Samurai, Diplomacy is a class skill.

Darkvision out to 60 feet and low-light vision.

Saves: Draconic creatures have a +4 racial bonus on saves against magic sleep effects and paralysis. Illumians have a +2 racial bonus on saves against spells with the shadow descriptor:
+1 Natural armor
+2 racial bonus on Intimidate checks and Spot checks.
Draconic Claw attacks
Illumian Traits: Luminous Sigils (Su), Glyphic Resonance (Ex), Power Sigils (Su), Illumian Words (Su), Final Utterance (Ex), Superior Literacy
+2 str, +2 con, +2 cha
LA: +1

str 15,
dex 16,
con 10,
int 12,
wis 8,
cha 19

Class level ability bonuses
4th & 8th: +1 Cha
12th, 16th, 20th:+1 Str





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


1st
Dragonblood (RotD p.107) Battle Sorcerer (UA p.56)
+0
+0
+0
+2
escape artist 4, intimidate 4, diplomacy 4
Exotic Weapon proficiency (Blade Boot) (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 98) Bonus: Light Armor Proficiency, Weapon proficiency (Horned Helmet)(Races of Faerun p.156), Draconic Heritage (Etherial)
Racial:Power Sigils: Uur Rune,

Arcane insight +2, cast in light armor Spellcasting, add UMD and intimidate to class list, lose craft, profession, and bluff.


2nd
Marshal (Miniatures handbook p.11)
+0
+2
+0
+4
Bluff 5
Skill Focus Diplomacy
Minor Aura: motivate dexterity


3rd
Battle Sorcerer
+1
+2
+0
+5
escape artist 6, diplomacy 5
Aberration Blood (Lords of Madness, p. 178): Slimy Skin
Racial: Power Sigils: (Aesh), Illumian Words (Aeshuur)


4th
Battle Sorcerer
+2
+3
+1
+5
escape artist 7, intimidate 6




5th
Battle Sorcerer
+3
+3
+1
+6
escape artist 8, intimidate 8

Arcane insight +4, Grease spell like ability


6th
Battle Sorcerer
+3
+3
+1
+6
escape artist 9, Escape attack skill trick (Complete Scoundrel p. 86)
Draconic Claw (Races of the Dragon p.102)



7th
Battle Sorcerer
+4
+4
+2
+7
escape artist 10, concentration 2




8th
Fatemaker (Planar Handbook p.56)
+5
+4
+4
+9
escape artist 11, tumble 5, concentration 3

Spellcasting, cast in light armor, shield proficiency, take charge appeal +1


9th
Fatemaker
+5
+4
+5
+10
escape artist 12, intimidate 12, hide 1, move silently 1
Battlebred (Player's Guide to Eberron, p. 122)
Confidence of the Fated 1/day


10th
Fatemaker
+6
+5
+5
+10
escape artist 13, intimidate 13, Slipping Past skill trick (Complete Scoundrel p.89), hide 2, move silently 2

Sneak attack +1d6


11th
Fatemaker
+7
+5
+6
+11
escape artist 14, Quick escape skill trick (Complete Scoundrel p.88), hide 4, move silently 4

Aura of confidence (+1)


12th
Fatemaker
+8
+5
+6
+11
escape artist 15, Never Outnumbered skill trick (complete Scoundrel p.87), hide 6, move silently 6
Craven (Champions of Ruin, p. 17)
Take-charge appeal


13th
Fatemaker
+8
+6
+7
+12
escape artist 16, concentration 6, UMD 3

Sneak attack +2d6


14th
Fatemaker
+9
+6
+7
+12
escape artist 17, hide 8, move silently 8, UMD 6

Confidence of the Fated 2/day


15th
Fatemaker
+10
+6
+8
+13
escape artist 18, hide 9, move silently 9, concentration 8, UMD 8
two weapon fighting
Aura of confidence (+2)


16th
Fatemaker
+11
+7
+8
+13
escape artist 19, sleight of hand 6

Sneak attack +3d6


17th
Fatemaker
+11
+7
+9
+14
escape artist 20, sleight of hand 12

Ego manifestation, take-charge appeal


18th
Draconic Battle Sorcerer
+12
+7
+9
+14
escape artist 21, mosquitos bite skill trick (Complete Scoundrel p.87), intimidate 15
Quicken Spell like abiity (MM1 p.304)
Arcane insight +6, Bonus Spells known (good)1. bless, 2.fog cloud, 3.fly


19th
Marshal
+13
+8
+9
+15
escape artist 22, Handle animal 4

Motivate attack


20th (If LA buyoff allowed)
Marshal
+14
+8
+10
+15
escape artist 23, handle animal 8

Motivate strength



Sorcerer Spells Known


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd


1st
3
1
-
-


2nd (marshal)
3
1
-
-


3rd
4
1
-
-


4th
4
2
-
-


5th
5
2
1
-


6th
5
3
1
-


7th
6
3
1
1



0:Caltrops (Spell Compendium, p. 42), detect magic, prestidigitation
1:Grease, Reduce person, Know protections (Races of Faerun p.104), Bless (bonus)
2:Kuo-Toa Skin (stormwrack p.118), Fog Cloud (bonus)
3:Fly (bonus) Flexform (Secrets of Sarlona, p. 127)

Sorcerer Spells per Day


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd


1st
4
2
-
-


2nd
4
2
-
-


3rd
5
3
-
-


4th
5
4
-
-


5th
5
5
2
-


6th
5
5
3
-


7th
5
5
4
2



Fate Maker Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


8th
0
-
-
-


9th
1
-
-
-


10th
2
0
-
-


11th
3
1
-
-


12th
3
2
0
-


13th
3
3
1
-


14th
3
3
2
0


15th
3
3
3
1


16th
3
3
3
2


17th
3
3
3
3



Fate Maker Spells Known


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


8th
2
-
-
-


9th
3
-
-
-


10th
3
2
-
-


11th
4
3
-
-


12th
4
3
2
-


13th
4
4
3
-


14th
4
4
3
2


15th
4
4
4
3


16th
4
4
4
3


17th
4
4
4
4


Spells known
1: Expeditious Retreat, truestrike, jump, sanctuary
2: bull's strength, eagle's splendor, invisibility, spider climb
3: haste, nondetection, protection from energy, suggestion
4: charm monster, restoration, neutralize poison, remove curse

Background:
Coming from a structured society of Courtiers and Nobles and rival clans constantly in conflict, Gar was born into one of the clans who grew wealthy through the management of valuable trade routes via political acumen. The result of a dalliance between a Kakita courtier and a strange spirit with runes spewing around its head, Gar was born into an effete minor family who specialized in refining artisanship to it's keenest edge. A slimy boy with runes nearly constantly streaming about his brow, Gar was sent to opera school at an early age, where he found that his one true skill was acrobatics. More specifically, contortion.


The Kakita of the Crane Clan were known to refine talents of their ilk to the point that they become nearly supernatural. So when the boy developed some arcane powers, it was viewed as a beneficial sign. He was encouraged to develop a routine for performing for the Emperor as a way to bestow honor to his family. Gar did, and immediately was noticed by a wealthy Crane Business Shogun of the Imperial route. Not because the shogun was excited about the art of contortion and escape, but because he was interested in infiltration, most notably the infiltration of rival Scorpion holdings.

Gar continued training with a secret cabal of Crane infiltrators and one night, snuck into the wrong room at the wrong time. A room that had a scroll, a scroll reader, a super fancy diagram on the floor, and a wildmagic portal that flung those outside the protective barrier of the diagram into the planes.

To the city of Doors: Sigil.

Gar fit in at last. In a city crawling with the embodiments of planar diversity, being a slimy, stretchy, budding sorcerer didn't seem like that big a deal in comparison to Cornugons and mindflayers and whatever the planes had milling about. He was adopted into a chain cabal of fellow illumians and finally learned all the things about himself and his identity that he never even knew could be possible. He was such a primer. Apparently that’s one of many things they call people who hail from prime material planes.

If you thought illumian politics were crazy on the primes, you have not seen what level of investment it takes to attempt to lock down the power struggles of the city of doors. Joining the fated faction, who act as Sigil’s tax collectors, all as a double agent for his new illumian cabal compatriots, Gar was assigned the job of hunting down people who attempted to dodge paying their fair share of the tax. He wasn’t great at the fighting part, but the breaking and entering through chimneys and windows and such, he was great at that. His fighting style was remarked upon by a fellow illumain as that of a hogchoker, the name of a simultaneously slimy and sharp fish from his home plane.

However, the narrative of strength, take or be taken, espoused by the fatemakers drilled into his psyche. Gar quit his cabal, mostly because they needed him more than he needed them now. And so, he’s ready to take on his first bounties.

Milestones
Level 5:
Right off the bat, it’s important to acknowledge that an illumian isn’t exactly a human and that he may not be allowed to be considered of the Crane Clan. I would like to point out the humanoid type and human subtype on illumians, which qualifies them for all of the same stuff that humans qualify for. Crane clan grants diplomacy as a class skill to human members and illumians are human enough...With the right backstory...

In order to be a dragonblood sorcerer substitution levels as an illumian, you need to take the draconic template. Or do some other trick that cleverer optimizers can figure out. Draconic Heritage (Ethereal Dragon) grants Gar escape artist as a permanent class skill and some other useless stuff. But, because the ethereal dragon is neutral and Gar is neutral, his 7th level acf can be good aligned, and thus whenever you need it, you can get fly as a spell known.

This build has two tricks that it does well: Escape Artist and stacking bonuses from oily things.



Trait/Equipment/spell/feat
Bonus
Type
Source
Notes


Grease
10
competence
SRD



Kuo Toa Skin
8
untyped
stormwrack



Uur Rune
2
untyped
Races of Destiny
to dex checks


Motivate dexterity
Cha bonus

Miniature Handbook



spelunker's kit
2
circumstance
Underdark p.67



Spelunker's oil
2
Alchemical
Drow of the Underdark 93



Aberration Blood (slimy skin)
4
Racial
Lords of Madness, p. 178



SilkSlick Belt
10
Competence
Magic Item Compendium p.136



Slippery Oil
5
Untyped!
drag comp 119



Bolt of Freedom
10
Untyped!
Arms and Equipment p.101




By my calculations, that’s a +59 bonus to escape artist checks before you even roll a die. At level 5, well below wealth by level. That’s right, we are going to go epic early. Because Fatemaker gets a really crappy capstone (Righteous Might) with a really interesting hook.


If insufficient room is available for the desired growth, you attain the maximum possible size and may make a Strength check (using your increased Strength) to burst any enclosures in the process. If you fail, you are constrained without harm by the materials enclosing you—the spell cannot crush you by increasing your size.

That means that we have the opportunity to make a character that can do this:


https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mortalkombat/images/7/79/MK2STfat2.gif/revision/latest?cb=20161113000258&path-prefix=es

So let’s see how we do. At level five we cannot possibly pull a full Shang Tsung. But let me elucidate the plan.

The first part of that gif, where Shang Tsung climbs into the opponent’s mouth, can be done through an epic DC Escape Artist check (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#escapeArtist) by a creature of small size, which can fit into a space of 1 inch square. We will use that to escape right down our opponents throat, or right up their...cloaca? The details don’t matter so much, you pretty much sprint down your opponents orifice into their vittles. And then you use righteous might to burst them into square organ chunks.

Anyways, now that you can see where we are going with this, I’ll continue to elaborate on other build elements.

Gar has exotic weapon proficiency Boot Blades. If you wear two boot blades and also want to use your hands to attack, you need the multi-weapon fighting feat, but there is a weird little hoophole...


A character proficient with the blade boot can attack with a single blade boot as his primary weapon, or with two blade boots as if attacking with two weapons, provided he makes no attacks with his hands. He can choose to attack with a weapon in his primary hand and use a single blade boot as his off-hand weapon, but in this case he cannot attack with an off-hand weapon in his secondary hand. A character cannot attack with a primary weapon, an off-hand weapon, and a blade boot in the same round unless he knows the Multiweapon Fighting feat described in the Monster Manual

What about if you use your head to attack as well as both of your feet? By using your battle sorcerer weapon proficiency on horned helmet and attack with your head and feet, like some kind of spiky Russian dancer? The horned helmet (Races of Faerûn 155, 156) (25 gp; 4 lbs.) is a martial Small weapon (hence light in dnd-3.5e terms), so it qualifies for battle sorcerer weapon proficiency. The answer to this question will be important for any grapples Gar gets into...

I know what you may be thinking to yourself, “Didn’t blade boot get updated in complete scoundrel? (p.110)” And the answer is no. Complete scoundrel sell the Boot Blade. Totally different item because the boot switches from being a noun to an adjective and it is a totally different weapon that you treat as a dagger. The names are just really similar.

Further, the boot blades offer +4 to escape artist checks pertaining to rope bonds. Take that, animate rope.

These five levels will be excruciating.
Level 10
Things have changed. We have our first few levels of fatemaker. We have draconic claw, which allows us to cast our buff spells and still attack in combat as a swift action. This pairs well with caltrops. We also have battlebred, which extends any morale bonus for 2 extra rounds. That confidence of the fated ability, is a morale bonus and it only extends to a single type of check.


Once per day, a fatemaker of 2nd level or higher can add her class level as a morale bonus on any single attack roll, weapon damage roll, saving throw, or skill check.

That means that you get that morale bonus for two extra rounds on checks, so long as it is the same sort of check. Boom. Optimized.

We have the flexform spell which is amazing for escape artistry:

+10 untyped bonus to tumble and escape artist... the subject can squeeze into a space half as wide as its normal space (PH 148) with no penalties to movement, attack rolls, and AC. The subject is able to move freely through squares occupied by creatures only one size category larger than it, rather than three size categories larger

What was the answer about using your blade boots and helmet as your attack routine?

And if you're all out of flexform spell slots, use the slipping past skill trick. If you get out of a grapple, use the escape attack skill trick and hit your opponent for sneak attack damage once you get some.

Let's check in our escape artist DCs.



Trait/Equipment/spell/feat
Bonus
Type
Source
Notes


Grease
10
competence
SRD



Kuo Toa Skin
8
untyped
stormwrack



Uur Rune
2
untyped
Races of Destiny
to dex checks


Motivate dexterity
Cha bonus
circumstance
Miniature Handbook



spelunker's kit
2
circumstance
Underdark p.67



Spelunker's oil
2
Alchemical
Drow of the Underdark 93



Aberration Blood (slimy skin)
4
Racial
Lords of Madness, p. 178



SilkSlick Belt
10
Competence
Magic Item Compendium p.136



Slippery Oil
5
Untyped!
drag comp 119



Bolt of Freedom
10
Untyped!
Arms and Equipment p.101



Flexform
10
untyped
(Secrets of Sarlona, p. 127)



Confidence of the fated
fatemaker class level
Morale!
planar handbook p.50




Paired with 13 skill ranks, it looks like you hit DC 92! If you use reduce person, you can absolutely climb inside someone that you gore a hole into with your dumb helmet. Well Done.

Now, remember Shang Tsung? There was a second part of the plan, you need to be able to burst the body of your opponent using your strength score alone. I don't know what the DC is to bust open a human you just crawled down the throat of. I hope your DM does.

Time to start stockpiling some more gear.


Trait/equipment/spell/feat
Bonus
Type
Source
Notes


Aesh power sigil
+2
untyped
RoD
to strength checks


strength bonus
may vary, minimum +2
untyped




masterwork crowbar (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#crowbar)
+2
circumstance




netcutter spikes
+4
circumstance
Races of the Wild p. 167
armor add on 200gp


Confidence of the fated
+Fatemaker level
Morale
planar handbook



Third Eye Surge
+4
Insight
Magic item compendium
2100 gp


armbands of might
+2
untyped
Magic item compendium
4100 gp


eagle Claw talisman
+5
competence
Magic item compendium
1000gp



That's 19+ your fatemaker level, even before you roll.

Charisma boost helps your martial aura and bonus spells.

Level 15
Add Craven to your sneak attack damage, twf if you want to attack with your crowbar and boots and helmet and draconic claw. If you hit with a sneak attack you get +2 dodge bonus to your AC, which stack. So keep up that attacking. You have some spells to buff yourself. You can boost your charisma and thereby boost your dexterity. You can boost your strength. You can truestrike.

You grant your allies +2 morale bonus to everything in addition to the +charisma bonus to dexterity. I hope you hang out with archers.

Sweetspot Level 18
Here it is.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mortalkombat/images/7/79/MK2STfat2.gif/revision/latest?cb=20161113000258&path-prefix=es

You have righteous might! Which explicitly allows you to make strength checks to burst your surroundings from your sudden size growth. You have more than a +20 to your roll to burst whomever you climb inside. Your movement isn't hampered by tight squeezes due to skill tricks and flexform. So you can totally get 30 feet deep into their intestines. If you buy a ring of the octopus, (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040320a) you get another +10 untyped bonus to escape artist. At DC 120, which you can now hit, you can get through a wall of force. Crazy.

Anyway, back to righteous might. You are inside the opponent as a move action. You can attack without penalty while squeezing, and you are in their square, so you can helmet, double boot, and claw them, from the inside. Who doesn't like cover?

Anyway, back to righteous might. You are inside the opponent as a move action. You use a swift action to activate righteous might, expanding you to large size, granting +8 strength, and possible exploding your poor...host? Then you use the never outnumbered skill trick and make an intimidate check against everyone who just saw that.

We did it!

We can go full Shang Tsung.

Further, if you activate righteous might and you fail your strength check:


If you fail, you are constrained without harm by the materials enclosing you—the spell cannot crush you by increasing your size.


Sooooo....you get to wear your opponent like a suit of armor, making opposed strength checks to force their body around as you do stuff? That's even cooler than passing your strength check.

You may need a ring of xray vision to make that work though...

Anyway. That's my Build. Gar Hogchoker. Or the Kakita Family. In the Crane Clane. Adrift on the planes. Crawling up butts and making people explode. Just like the rest of the clan.

[Heliomance]

Something something throw off the shackles something? Yeah, I'm bad at this.


Kasia, Breaker of Chains
Chaotic Good Dark Human
Dark Template 1/Battle Dancer 1/Warlock 4/Fatemaker 9/Unseen Seer 5


I understand what you’ve been through. My earliest memory is of the collar snapping shut around my neck. A scared young girl snatched up by unscrupulous men. A dusky, otherworldly oddity for Madame Dumont’s so-called Dancehall and Lounge.

I still find my hands straying to my throat to feel for the long faded marks of my chains, nervous habit the only remaining sign of my indenture; no brand to mar my flesh because, well, you of all people know why. For many years the stage and chains circumscribed my life, such as it was.

Then one day something in me broke and the darkness within came boiling out, shattering chains and flesh alike without discrimination. In hindsight I am not proud of what I did that night before vanishing into the darkness. Satisfied, yes, but not proud.

I was angry for a long time. Rage and vengeance defined my days; a trail of broken bodies, broken lives marked my path. What little I recall of that time I don’t care to dwell upon. Eventually I came to realize that however satisfying my actions may be – and at times they were indeed, very satisfying – they were inevitably ineffectual. I needed to work on a grander scale to affect the institutions that allow for such injustice as I had been raised to. I needed to seize and shape the fates of not just individuals and myself, but of whole societies. And so I remade myself, came out of the shadows and into society. I learned the language of diplomacy and influence, and slowly I’ve worked to destroy the industry that has brought so much misery to so many. There is satisfaction in effecting systemic change, though the good I accomplish takes longer to realize than does direct action. However, when the opportunity comes to help others of us who have not yet had the fortune to escape their chains, when action can serve, I slip back into the shadows to do what must be done. Which is how I’ve come to you.

So I know what you’re feeling; you’re terrified and furious, on the brink of despair or hope, wondering how you can possibly move on from the ruins of your life left behind with the person you once were before this ordeal. The way I see it you have two paths ahead of you: you can succumb to the fear and despair, the hopelessness. You can accept that life as you knew it is over. Or you can stand and say ‘No! No I will not allow those who sought to make me less than a person succeed!’ Defy them, whether by living a full life, or perhaps by seeking to end the injustices that were visited upon you. It will be hard. Every day it will be hard, and sometimes you’ll falter, sometimes fail, but it will be your life, by your will and no other’s and isn’t that worth striving for? After all, there are two paths to take; one is easy, and that is its only reward.




Ability
Score
Final


Strength
8
8


Dexterity
13
13


Constitution
10
10


Intelligence
16
16


Wisdom
10
10


Charisma
17
23


All Fatemaker and Level Bonuses to CHA





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


1st
Dark Template
-
-
-
-
Skillname RanksGained(Total Ranks)
-
Subtype (extraplanar); Speed +10 all modes; Darkvision 60ft; Hide in Plain Sight (Ex); Resist Cold 10; Superior Low-Light Vision; +8 Hide, +6 Move Silently


2nd
Battle Dancer
+1
+0
+2
+0
Balance 4; Bluff 2; Diplomacy 4; Hide 4; Intimidate 2; Listen 4; Move Silently 4; Sense Motive 4; Spot 2; Use Magic Device 2
Able Learner; Apprentice (Entertainer) (B); Improved Unarmed Strike (B)
AC Bonus; Unarmed Strike


3rd
Warlock
+1
+0
+2
+2
Balance 1(5); Bluff 2(4); Diplomacy 1(5); Intimidate 1 (3); Listen 1(5); Hide (4); Move Silently (4); Sense Motive (4); Spot (2); UMD (2)
-
Eldritch Blast 1d6; Invocations (Least)


4th
Warlock
+2
+0
+2
+3
Bluff 1(5); Diplomacy 1(6); Intimidate 2(5); Sense Motive 1(5); Spot 1(3); Balance (5); Hide (4); Listen (5); Move Silently (4); UMD (2)
Skill Focus (Intimidate)
Detect Magic (at will)


5th
Warlock
+3
+1
+3
+3
Bluff 2(7); Diplomacy 1(7); Intimidate 2(7); Listen 1(6); Balance (5); Hide (4); Move Silently (4); Sense Motive (5); Spot (3); UMD (2)
-
Damage Reduction 1/cold iron; Eldritch Blast 2d6


6th
Warlock
+4
+1
+3
+4
Bluff 1(8); Diplomacy 1(8); Hide 1(5); Intimidate 1(8); Move Silently 1(5); Spot 1(4); Balance (5); Listen (6); Sense Motive (5); UMD (2)
-
Deceive Item


7th
Fatemaker
+4
+1
+5
+6
Bluff 1(9); Diplomacy 1(9); Hide 2(7); Intimidate 1(9); Listen 1(7); Move Silently 2(7); Use Magic Device 2(4); Balance (5); Sense Motive (5); Spot (4)
Darkstalker
Take Charge Appeal (CHA +1); Spellcasting


8th
Fatemaker
+5
+1
+6
+7
Bluff 1(10); Diplomacy 1(10); Hide 2(9); Intimidate 1(10); Move Silently 2(9); Spot 1(5); Use Magic Device 2(6); Balance (5); Listen (7); Sense Motive (5)
-
Confidence of the Fated 1/day


9th
Fatemaker
+6
+2
+6
+7
Bluff 1(11); Diplomacy 1(11); Hide 2(11); Intimidate 1(11); Listen 1(8); Move Siently 2(11); Sense Motive 2(7); Balance (5); Spot (5); UMD (6)
-
Sneak Attack +1d6


10th
Fatemaker
+7
+2
+7
+8
Bluff 1(12); Diplomacy 1(12); Hide 1(12); Intimidate 1(12); Listen 2(10); Move Silently 1(12); Spot 3(8); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7); UMD (6)
Craven
Aura of Confidence (+1)


11th
Fatemaker
+7
+2
+7
+8
Bluff 1(13); Diplomacy 1(13); Hide 1(13); Intimidate 1(13); Listen 2(12); Move Silently 1(13); Spot 3(11); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7); UMD (6)
-
Take-Charge Appeal (CHA +1)


12th
Fatemaker
+8
+3
+8
+9
Bluff 1(14); Diplomacy 1(14); Hide 1(14); Intimidate 1(14); Listen 2(14); Move Silently 1(14); Spot 3(14); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7); UMD (6)
-
Sneak Attack +26d


13th
Fatemaker
+9
+3
+8
+9
Bluff 1(15); Diplomacy 1(15); Hide 1(15); Intimidate 1(15); Listen 1(15); Move Silently 1(15); Spot 1(15); UMD 3(9); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7)
Point Blank Shot
Confidence of the Fated 2/day


14th
Fatemaker
+10
+3
+9
+10
Bluff 1(16); Diplomacy 1(16); Hide 1(16); Intimidate 1(16); Listen 1(16); Move Silently 1(16); Spellcraft 2; Spot 1(16); UMD 1(10); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7)
-
Aura of Confidence (+2)


15th
Fatemaker
+10
+4
+9
+10
Bluff 1(17); Diplomacy 1(17); Hide 1(17); Intimidate 1(17); Listen 1(17); Move Silently 1(17); Spellcraft 2(4); Spot 1(17); UMD 1(11); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7)
-
Sneak Attack +3d6


16th
Unseen Seer
+10
+4
+9
+12
Bluff 1(18); Diplomacy 1(18); Hide 1(18); Intimidate 1(18); Listen 1(18); Move Silently 1(18); Spot 1(18); UMD 1(12); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7); Spellcraft (4)
Precise Shot
Damage Bonus (Sneak Attack) +1d6; +1 level of Arcane Spellcasting (Warlock); Warlock: Eldritch Blast 3d6


17th
Unseen Seer
+11
+4
+9
+13
Bluff 1(18); Diplomacy 1(19); Hide 1(19); Intimidate 1(19); Listen 1(19); Move Silently 1(19); Spot 1(19); UMD 1(13); Balance (5); Sense Motive (7); Spellcraft (4)
SKILL TRICK: Social Recovery
-
Advanced Learning (Hunter’s Eye); Silent Spell; +1 level of Arcane Spellcasting (Warlock); Warlock: Lesser Invocation


18th
Unseen Seer
+12
+5
+10
+13
Bluff 1(20); Diplomacy 1(20); Hide 1(20); Intimidate 1(20); Listen 1(20); Move Silently 1(20); Sense Motive 2(9); Spot 1(20); UMD 1(14); Balance (5); Spellcraft (4)
-
Divination Spellpower +1; +1 level of Arcane Spellcasting (Warlock); Warlock: Eldritch Blast 4d6


19th
Unseen Seer
+13
+5
+10
+14
Bluff 1(21); Diplomacy 1(21); Hide 1(21); Intimidate 1(21); Listen 1(21); Move Silently 1(21); Sense Motive 2(11); Spot 1(21); UMD 1(15); Balance (5); Spellcraft (4)
Woodland Archer
Damage Bonus (Sneak Attack) +2d6; +1 level of Arcane Spellcasting (Warlock)


20th
Unseen Seer
+13
+5
+10
+14
Bluff 1(22); Diplomacy 1(22); Hide 1(22); Intimidate 1(22); Listen 1(22); Move Silently 1(22); Spot 1(22); UMD 3(18); Balance (5); Sense Motive (11); Spellcraft (4)
-
Advanced Learning (Locate Object), Guarded Mind, +1 level of Arcane Spellcasting (Warlock); Warlock: Eldritch Blast 5d6




Spells Per Day/Spells Known


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


1st
-
-
-
-


2nd
-
-
-
-

3rd
-
-
-
-

4th
-
-
-
-

5th
-
-
-
-


6th
0/2
-
-
-


7th
1/3
-
-
-


8th
2/3
0/2
-
-


9th
3/4
1/3
-
-


10th
3/4
2/3
0/2
-


11th
3/4
3/4
1/3
-


12th
3/4
3/4
2/3
0/2


13th
3/4
3/4
3/4
1/3


14th
3/4
3/4
3/4
2/3


15th
3/4
3/4
3/4
2/3


16th
3/4
3/5
3/4
2/3


17th
3/4
3/5
3/4
2/3


18th
3/4
3/5
3/4
2/3


19th
3/4
3/5
3/4
2/4



Spells Known:
Level 1: Charm Person, Expeditious Retreat, Sanctuary, True Strike
Level 2: Cat’s Grace, Daze Monster --> Bull’s Strength, Eagle’s Splendor, Invisibility, Hunter’s Eye (Unseen Seer lvl2)
Level 3: Haste, Nondetection, Suggstion, Tongues
Level 4: Charm Monster, Remove Curse, Restoration, Locate Object (Unseen Seer lvl5)

Invocations Known:
Least: Beguiling Influence (@ECL 3), See the Unseen (@ ECL 4), Baleful Utterance (@ ECL6)
Lesser: Flee the Scene (@ECL 17), Voidsense (@ECL 19)





Kasia starts her career with only one HD at ECL2 due to the Dark template and is thus somewhat vulnerable early on. While full BAB on Battle dancer helps not fall too far behind early, the small hit die of the class (d8) and Kasia’s low CON mean she’s going to immediately default to the play-style which will characterize her throughout – a charming sneak who avoids a fair fight wherever possible. The Dark template helps with this, giving her Hide in Plain Sight as well as +8 to Hide and +6 to Move Silently, giving her +13 and +11 modifiers respectively without gear right off the bat. With some Listen and Spot ranks she can act as a party scout fairly effectively. Additionally she’s starting to improve her social skills: Apprentice (Entertainer) gives Diplomacy as a class skill, and Able Learner will help with maximizing skill ranks later on in her career.

At this point Kasia has taken four levels of Warlock, which come with a bunch of goodies for her. See the Unseen and Detect Magic at will help round out her senses for the scouting role. Unfortunately the skills associated with sneaking (Hide, Move Silently, Spot, Listen) have all lagged somewhat behind max ranks, though the Warlock levels have been good to Kasia’s other areas of expertise. Picking up Beguiling Influence gives an un-typed bonus to the big three social skills which are also now maxed out. Add in Skill Focus (Diplomacy) and 18 CHA and she is a very capable party face. Acquiring the Eldritch Blast ability sets up Kasia’s main combat technique for the rest of her career, namely sniping with EB and HiPS. Her damage output is not high by any means, but DPS is at best her third role. The 4th level Warlock ability Deceive Item allows Kasia to take 10 with Use Magic Device, though with only 2 ranks in it so far it has not yet come online. Finally, Kasia has taken the Baleful Utterance invocation, which aside from being occasionally hilarious, allows her to open pretty much anything as long as she doesn’t care about being heard.

This is what we’ve been waiting for: the amazing, the incredible Secret Ingredient, THE FATEMAKER!! Kasia’s taken five levels at this point and it is surprisingly useful. Kasia is at heart a specialized Skillmonkey with some Charisma synergy, and the Fatemaker’s (many, largely unrelated) class features support this play style pretty well. The Fatemaker gives 6 skill points per level, which allows Kasia to max out all of her primary skills at this point (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Hide, Move Silently) with Spot and Listen maxing out next level. UMD was brought to 6 ranks at level 7, which along with Deceive Item and a +4 CHA modifier means Kasia can activate wands without fail. Take Charge Appeal gives a welcome un-typed bonus to CHA, which at this point means Kasia is sitting at a respectable 21 without items or spells. Confidence of the Fated gives a morale bonus to a role of nearly any type we want 1/day, which is useful for those social skill checks you really don’t want to fumble, or a nice boost to Hide if you need to slip away using HiPS. Sneak Attack adds a little bonus to Kasia’s damage and fits into her combat style like it was meant to be (it was), as well as qualifying for Craven at level 9 for a further damage potential increase. It is worth noting that Darkstalker was picked up at level 6, which makes her sneak attack more reliable, as well as her general scouting abilities. Aura of confidence is admittedly pretty useless for Kasia, unless she’s sneaking with a folks (fluff wise actually comes up pretty often) which will be dependent on campaign/party for utility. It could also apply if she is babysitting another ranged character, or ends up in a band I suppose. Fatemaker also gives Kasia access to spellcasting, from a list that can allow her to act as a secondary buffer, as well as supplement her out of combat abilities. Expeditious Retreat, Haste, True Strike, and Invisibility are useful for combat and sneaking activities, whereas Charm Person, Suggestion, and eveng Eagle’s splendor can help supplement her natural social abilities.

At level 15 Kasia decides that a 1/day fifth level spell for melee combat holds no appeal and jumps from the Good Ship Fatemaker. The latter four levels of the class simply improve the class features previously mentioned giving a total of +3d6 SA, +2 CHA, Confidence of the Fated 2/day, and Aura of Confidence +2. These are all just as applicable as they were at level ten. Additional spellcasting progression increases the potency of her magical support role. The Fatemaker list is rather small, but it critically contains exactly two Divination Spells (True Strike and Tongues), which qualifies Kasia for Unseen Seer at level 15. If you are a sneaky, skillful, magical character Unseen Seer is basically everything you could hope for. At level 1 it gives +1d6 SA for a total of +4d6, and the spellcasting increase can be applied to Warlock (this is WAY better than bothering to get the 10th level casting from Fatemaker), which advances Eldritch Blast damage to 3d6 and advances Invocations. At this point our sniping damage is 3d6 EB +4d6 +15 SA, which while not great also doesn’t totally suck. You can also at this point probably afford some Rods of Eldritch Power, which you can use to add rider effects to your Eldritch Blast. Hitting things is made easier by the acquisition of Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot at levels 12 and 15 respectively. Kasia has also started to rank up UMD again. At level 15 she has 12 ranks, so with Deceive Item, CHA 22, and Eagle’s Splendor that’s a solid 31 UMD check which means she can cast scrolls up to CL 11 (level 6 wizard/cleric spells) and emulate class features up to level 11 without breaking a sweat.

Kasia finishes out her build with more Unseen Seer levels. Five levels of US gives a total of +2d6 SA for a total of +5d6+19 SA. Spellcasting advancement for Warlock bumps Eldritch Blast up to 5d6, as well as gives access to two Lesser invocations, of which Kasia takes Flee the Scene for a get out of jail free card as well as all the other benefits of at will teleportation, and Voidsense which completes her senses except for mindsight which we can’t get. Five levels of US also gives access to Advanced Learning twice. The text of Advanced Learning never specifies to which spell list you must assign the new spell, so Kasia can add both Hunter’s Eye and Locate Object to her Fatemaker spells known while still applying the +1 level of arcane spellcasting to Warlock. On the skills side, Kasia has all her primary skills maxed, and UMD has 18 ranks, which is enough to guarantee casting of minimum CL 9th level spell scrolls without adding any CHA or UMD boosts save for Eagle’s splendor, which she can cast 6 times a day if necessary.




Tome of Magic (ToM) – Dark Creature (p161)
Dragon Compendium (DrC) – Battle Dancer (p26)
Races of Destiny (RoD) – Able Learner (p150)
Dungeon Master’s Guide 2 (DMG2) – Apprentice (Entertainer) (p176)
Complete Arcane (CAr) – Warlock (p5)
Planar Handbook (PlH) – Fatemaker (p50)
Lords of Madness (LoM) – Darkstalker (p179)
Champions of Ruin (CoR) – Craven (p17)
Races of the Wild (RotW) – Woodland Archer (p154)
Player’s Handbook 2 (PHBII) – Hunter’s Eye (p114)

Items not called out are either in the PHB or sub-items of higher level callouts (e.g. Warlock Invocations)

[PrismCat21]

Is it just those five?

[Heliomance]

Sorry for the gap in posts, I was posting in a quiet moment at work, and got interrupted by suddenly having things to do. Build posting will now continue.



http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-77LiShMlJL4/VKto-l7kf4I/AAAAAAAABq4/3s3in48bkXQ/s1600/Tehanu_detail.jpg
Ursula Utrennyaya



Ursula Utrennyaya loved her children, every single one.

Thinking back to the days before motherhood felt like trying to hold onto a dream. She could see those early days in flashes, could catch whiffs of the rust-red smell of blood and smoke-tinged iron of the battlefield. Then she was Utrennyaya the Raven, when she and her small Fang would cross through the Urlingwood for skirmishes with the battlemages of Narfell. She supposed then they were her children, though the thought felt alien to her now. They treated her almost as a Wychlaran, obeyed her, revered her even. In return she kept them safe.

Mostly.

The clearest memory was toward the end: the battle on the steps of the Fortress of the Half-Demon, her Fang scattered or dead, the warlord’s spear biting through leather and chain to pierce her breast. She’d managed to drag herself away into the Urlingwood, hiding herself among the twisted, grasping roots until her pursuers grew bored of the chase. She stayed there for two days, two feverish and bloody days without a healer, with her only rations the half-empty waterskin she miraculously managed to hold onto during her desperate retreat. The wound just beneath her ribcage felt hot, fetid, like something was growing there. Even small sips of water left her nauseous and retching.

And then, when all seemed almost lost, she felt something stirring. The constant hum of the woods seemed to fade until all she could hear was the pounding of her heart and then, yes, as she strained her ears, a second beating, a strange staccato rhythm pulsing from that knot of pain where the warlord’s wound had grown sour and gangrenous. She felt a stirring there, felt a small warmth, and knew that she was not fated to die. Ursula Utrennyaya pulled herself upright and began the long walk home.

That was a long time past. Now Ursula had many children. If she closed her eyes she could feel them, even see them, thrumming inside their hosts. She would do a better job of protecting her new brood than she had done with her the poor souls in her old Fang. She would build a world for them, a world where they could be safe. If it meant leaving her beloved Rashemen then so be it.

She would follow her fate.



Ursula Utrennyaya
Human, Warblade 6/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10


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


1st
Warblade 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
Balance 4 ranks, concentration 4 ranks, diplomacy 4 ranks, intimidate 4 ranks, jump 4 ranks, tumble 4 ranks
Dreadful Wrath, Skill Focus (Intimidate)
Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude


2nd
Hexblade 1
+2
+2
+0
+2
Bluff 1 rank, concentration 5 ranks (+1), diplomacy 5 ranks (+1), intimidate 5 ranks (+1)

Hexblade's curse 1/day


3rd
Hexblade 2
+3
+2
+0
+3
Bluff 5 ranks (+4)
Ironheart Aura
Arcane resistance


4th
Warblade 2
+4
+3
+0
+3
Balance 5 ranks (+1), diplomacy 6 ranks (+1), intimidate 7 ranks (+2), jump 5 ranks (+1), tumble 5 ranks (+1)

Uncanny dodge


5th
Hexblade 3
+5
+4
+1
+3
Bluff 6 ranks (+1), concentration 6 ranks (+1), diplomacy 7 ranks (+1), intimidate 8 ranks (+1)

Mettle


6th
Hexblade 4
+6/+1
+4
+1
+4
Bluff 7 ranks (+1), concentration 7 ranks (+1), diplomacy 8 ranks (+1), intimidate 9 ranks (+1)
Stormguard Warrior
Dark companion


7th
Fatemaker 1
+6/+1
+4
+3
+6
Bluff 9 ranks (+2), concentration 8 ranks (+1), diplomacy 9 ranks (+1), intimidate 10 ranks (+1), knowledge (religion) 2 ranks (+2), tumble 6 ranks (+1)

Take-charge appeal


8th
Fatemaker 2
+7/+2
+4
+4
+7
Bluff 10 ranks (+1), concentration 9 ranks (+1), diplomacy 10 ranks (+1), intimidate 11 ranks (+1), tumble 10 ranks (+4)

Confidence of the Fated 1/day


9th
Warblade 3
+8/+3
+4
+5
+8
Concentration 10 ranks (+1), diplomacy 11 ranks (+1), intimidate 12 ranks (+1), tumble 11 ranks (+1), Never Outnumberedskill trick
Mother Cyst
Battle ardor (critical confirmation)


10th
Fatemaker 3
+9/+4
+5
+5
+8
Bluff 12 ranks (+2), concentration 12 ranks (+2), diplomacy 12 ranks (+1), intimidate 13 ranks (+1), tumble 13 ranks (+2)

Sneak attack +1d6


11th
Fatemaker 4
+10/+5
+5
+6
+9
Bluff 14 ranks (+2), concentration 13 ranks (+1), diplomacy 13 ranks (+1), intimidate 14 ranks (+1), tumble 14 ranks (+1), Acrobatic Backstabskill trick

Aura of confidence (+1)


12th
Fatemaker 5
+10/+5
+5
+6
+9
Bluff 15 ranks (+1), concentration 15 ranks (+2), diplomacy 15 ranks (+2), intimidate 15 ranks (+1), knowledge (nobility & royalty) 1 rank, tumble 15 ranks (+1)
Sickening Grasp
Take-charge appeal


13th
Fatemaker 6
+11/+6/+1
+6
+7
+10
Bluff 16 ranks (+1), concentration 16 ranks (+1), diplomacy 16 ranks (+1), intimidate 16 ranks (+1), knowledge (nobility & royalty) 4 ranks (+3), tumble 16 ranks (+1)

Sneak attack +2d6


14th
Fatemaker 7
+12/+7/+2
+6
+7
+10
Bluff 17 ranks (+1), concentration 17 ranks (+1), diplomacy 17 ranks (+1), intimidate 17 ranks (+1), knowledge (nobility & royalty) 5 ranks (+1), sense motive 2 ranks (+2), tumble 17 ranks (+1)

Confidence of the Fated 2/day


15th
Fatemaker 8
+13/+8/+3
+6
+8
+11
Bluff 18 ranks (+1), concentration 18 ranks (+1), diplomacy 18 ranks (+1), intimidate 18 ranks (+1), sense motive 5 ranks (+3), tumble 18 ranks (+1)
Staggering Strike
Aura of confidence (+2)


16th
Fatemaker 9
+13/+8/+3
+6
+8
+11
Bluff 19 ranks (+1), concentration 19 ranks (+1), diplomacy 19 ranks (+1), intimidate 19 ranks (+1), tumble 19 ranks (+1), use magic device 1 rank (+1), Back on Your Feetskill trick

Sneak attack +3d6


17th
Fatemaker 10
+14/+9/+4
+6
+9
+12
Bluff 20 ranks (+1), concentration 20 ranks (+1), diplomacy 20 ranks (+1), intimidate 20 ranks (+1), sleight of hand 1 rank (+1), tumble 20 ranks (+1), Social Recoveryskill trick

Ego manifestation, take-charge appeal


18th
Warblade 4
+15/+10/+5
+7
+9
+12
Bluff 21 ranks (+2), concentration 21 ranks (+1), diplomacy 21 ranks (+1), intimidate 21 ranks (+1), tumble 21 ranks (+1)
Song of the Dead



19th
Warblade 5
+16/+11/+6/+1
+7
+9
+12
Bluff 22 ranks (+2), concentration 22 ranks (+1), diplomacy 22 ranks (+1), intimidate 22 ranks (+1), tumble 22 ranks (+1)
Improved InitiativeB
Bonus feat


20th
Warblade 6
+17/+12/+7/+2
+8
+10
+12
Bluff 23 ranks (+2), concentration 23 ranks (+1), diplomacy 23 ranks (+1), intimidate 23 ranks (+1), tumble 23 ranks (+1)

Improved uncanny dodge



Starting Stats (32-point buy): Str 16/Dex 10/Con 14/Int 12/Wis 8/Cha 16 (boost Charisma at every level)

Alignment Notes

Ursula Utrennyaya begins something close to true neutral, fighting hard for those close to her but with few strong ties beyond that. As she begins developing her mother cyst and spreading it to those around her, she drifts into neutral evil territory, though she is rarely malicious or cruel.

Fatemaker Spells

Fatemaker Spells Known
1- Charm person, expeditious retreat, disguise self, jump, necrotic awarenessB
2- Invisibility, resist energy, darkvision, spider climb, necrotic cystB, necrotic scryingB
3- Haste, suggestion, tongues, protection from energy, necrotic bloatB
4- Charm monster, stoneskin, restoration, neutralize poison, necrotic dominationB

Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th



7th
0
-
-
-


8th
1
-
-
-


9th
1
-
-
-


10th
2
0
-
-


11th
3
1
-
-


12th
3
2
0
-


13th
3
3
1
-


14th
3
3
2
0


15th
3
3
3
1


16th
3
3
3
2


17th
3
3
3
3


18th
3
3
3
3


19th
3
3
3
3


20th
3
3
3
3




Warblade Maneuvers

Warblade Maneuvers/Stances
1- Punishing Stancestance, Leading the Attack, Charging Minotaur, Moment of Perfect Mind
2- Wall of Blades
3- White Raven Tactics
5- Press the Advantagestance
6- Order Forged from Chaos, Iron Heart Endurance
7- Clarion Call

Maneuvers

[tr]
Level
Maneuvers Known
Manuevers Readied
Stances Known
Effective Warblade Level


1st
3
3
1
1


2nd
3
3
1
1


3rd
3
3
1
2


4th
4
3
1
3


5th
4
3
1
3


6th
4
3
1
4


7th
4
3
1
4


8th
4
3
1
5


9th
5
3
1
6


10th
5
3
1
6


11th
5
3
1
7


12th
5
3
1
7


13th
5
3
1
8


14th
5
3
1
8


15th
5
3
1
9


16th
5
3
1
9


17th
5
3
1
10


18th
5s
4
2
11


19th
6
4
2
12


20th
6s
4
2
13



sIndicates that Ursula can swap out a maneuver known at this level.


Hexblade Spells

Hexblade Spells Known
1- Protection from good, undetectable alignment

Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


[tr]
4th
0
-
-
-




With +17 BAB and 7th-level maneuvers, Ursula can hold her own in combat with the best of them despite not relying on common melee staples such as Power Attack. On her own side she has several ways of boosting damage such as sneak attack and Punishing Stance, as well as ego manifestation. She also has Stormguard Warrior’s combat rhythm which, when combined with her Sickening Grasp reserve feat, gives her a powerful one-two punch against strong foes. However, her true martial talents lie in her ability to lead others: with access to haste, her various auras and her maneuvers focused on positioning allies and granting them extra actions, she can make sure her allies shine. She also has a myriad of debuffs that assist both herself and her allies: dark companion gives a -2 across the board to most relevant rolls and she can shaken opponents with Dreadful Wrath or mass demoralization attempts, sicken them with her Sickening Grasp (easily activated thanks to Stormguard Warrior) and stagger them with Staggering Strike.

These same debuffs also leave her opponents vulnerable to Ursula’s necrotic infections and her charm spells. Ursula can quickly charm or suggest opponents and use her force of personality to control them, or she can bring them in as part of her brood by implanting necrotic cysts in them and later scrying and dominating them.

Mobility during combat is paramount, and with maxed out tumble checks (able to be boosted via Confidence of the Fated) and stances like Press the Advantage alongside a reach weapon and spells like expeditious retreat, Ursula should have no trouble positioning herself where she needs to be.

From a utility perspective, Ursula is surprisingly competent for a melee brute/leader. Her social skills are top-notch and further augmented by Fatemaker spells and abilities. Her powerful debuffing skills aren't restricted to combat. She has the ability to implant cysts and turn their hosts into unwitting moles, scrying on them with the no-save necrotic scrying or even dominating them outright for more than a week at a time. Her action-granting maneuvers aren't limited to simply helping her allies swing a sword, either, and she can use them to augment the movement and actions of every member of her party (including charmed, dominated or coerced allies).

Finally, Ursula was designed to remain effective at every point in the game, with her abilities scaling well from level 1 to level 20:

Level 1 (Warblade 1): Like most Warblades, Ursula starts off strong. In combat she can easily serve as the team’s brute thanks to high damage maneuvers such as Charging Minotaur and the powerful Punishing Stance. Dreadful Wrath is also fantastic in the early game, forcing weak enemies to shake with fright as she charges around the battlefield, and she can also provide some boosts to her allies with Leading the Attack. Moment of Perfect Mind shores up her weakest point, her poor Will save. Outside of combat she remains useful thanks to excellent social skills, in particular her +10 intimidate score.

Level 3 (Warblade 1/Hexblade 2): By jumping into Hexblade for a couple of levels, Ursula picks up an incredibly useful defensive ability: arcane resistanc. This allows Ursula to shake off the effects of many magical attackers as she cuts through her opposition. Ironheart Aura is a nice passive buff for her allies’ saves as well, and her good mobility should help ensure she can keep allies adjacent to benefit from its effects. Offensively she also gets access to the hexblade’s curse once a day, which she uses to further debuff strong opponents. Hexblade also lets her start training in bluff to add to her social skills.

Level 4 (Warblade 2/Hexblade 2): A quick jump back into Warblade gives Ursula access to Wall of Blades. This is a great way to mitigate some of the defensive drawbacks of relying on light armor for mobility and Punishing Stance for damage. Uncanny dodge is also a great defensive ability: despite her mediocre Dexterity, it is incredibly useful for avoiding attacks such as sneak attack.

Level 6 (Warblade 2/Hexblade 4): Ursula gets quite a lot from these two levels of Hexblade. In addition to getting another great defensive ability in the rare Mettle, she also gets access to a dark companion. This companion provides a passive debuff to all its adjacent enemies, lowering their defenses and making them more vulnerable to her attacks, curses and fear effects, as well as the attacks of her party. She also picks up an iterative attack, which is great alongside Punishing Stance and Stormguard Warrior.

Stormguard Warrior deserves special mention all on its own. Channel the Storm is a solid ability even without Combat Reflexes, as her mobility and reach means Ursula can generate attacks of opportunity almost every turn. Combat Rhythm, however, is the real draw. This is a fantastic damage engine for tougher foes, and helps make up for her lack of Power Attack (which is a far more common source of damage for martial characters). With her multiple ways of debuffing AC and her good mobility making it easy to grab flanking bonuses, touch attacks should almost always hit, giving her a sizable damage bonus for the next round.

Finally, on the social side, a decent bluff skill and access to the 24-hour duration undetectable alignment spell makes it easy to hide the necrotic cyst that has been growing underneath her rib cage, that throbbing reminder of an old war wound that seems to be growing a mind of its own…

Level 8 (Warblade 2/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 2): There are some significant changes once Ursula begins taking levels in the secret ingredient. First off, her skills see a huge improvement. Her excellent skill points allow her to catch up on all of her social skills and even start taking some other skills for synergy bonuses, and Confidence of the Fated is a nice boost to any of her checks. Second, her spells give her another powerful option both in and out of combat in charm person. With multiple ways to lower Will saves (intimidation/Dreadful Wrath, dark companion, hexblade’s curse), Ursula can easily convert enemies to allies. Take-charge appeal is another fantastic all around boost: it improves her social skills, boosts the DC of her spells, curse and Dreadful Wrath, improves her arcane resistance and makes her more likely to win the Charisma checks necessary to force charmed foes to submit to her will.

Level 9 (Warblade 3/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 2): Another hop back into Warblade lets Ursula pick up the near game-breaking White Raven Tactics. This is timely, as she can now convert enemies to allies mid-combat with charm person and then grant those same allies actions with WRT. Never Outnumbered is a great skill trick as well, letting her demoralize multiple foes with a single action (and because you only make one intimidate check for all foes, Confidence of the Fated is a great way to buff this up). She also grabs the Mother Cyst feat, which she uses to sense others with the same growing presence under their skin…

Level 10 (Warblade 3/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker3): ...until the next level, that is, when her access to second level spells gives her necrotic cyst as a spell. Now Ursula’s brood can grow, as she spreads the tumorous, malevolent mass to other foes. With the ability to dish out as much as a -6 penalty to saves, she can pick and choose how she would like to spread these cysts, then use her necrotic scrying to turn their carriers into unwitting spies and moles.

Ursula also picks up another source of damage in sneak attack, as well as some very useful utility spells in invisibility and resist energy.

Level 12 (Warblade 3/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 5): Two more levels of Fatemaker provide another Charisma boost and a passive aura for allies, assisting Ursula in buffing her companions. They also give her access to third level spells. This lets her pick up one of the all-time best combat spells in the game, haste. It also lets her qualify for the reserve feat Sickening Grasp.

Sickening Grasp is an interesting reserve feat in that it doesn’t grant any new actions or attacks, but instead applies a sickening effect on all of its user’s melee touch attacks. This is huge for Ursula, who can now apply this condition as she charges up her combat rhythm. Now Ursula can expect to reasonable dish out -6 penalties to most relevant saves and checks throughout combat, and possibly as high as -8 if she adds her curse.

Other than that, Acrobatic Backstab alongside a good tumble check gives Ursula more ways to activate sneak attack in combat. This is always nice for a damage boost, but becomes even more relevant later.

Level 15 (Warblade 3/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 8): All of Ursula’s Fatemaker abilities continue to improve. Her Confidence of the Fated, which now provides a very sizable +8 bonus to any given skill check, gets an additional use, and her sneak attack and aura of confidence improve. Her spellcasting also improves as she gets her hands on fourth level spells. Fatemaker’s fourth level spells are actually quite impressive: Ursula can now charm any creature, rather than just humanoids, and picks up some significant defensive/utility spells in stoneskin, restoration and neutralize poison. She also now gets access to the incredibly powerful necrotic domination, which allows her to temporarily dominate those she has infected with necrotic cysts. In addition to the combat utility this provides, this has incredible implications out of combat, as the spell already lasts more than a week at this level, especially when combined with necrotic scrying.

Ursula’s debuffing increases even further with access to the Staggering Strike feat. Staggered is an incredibly potent condition to apply, and now Ursula can easily leave opponents shaken, staggered and sickened, and further weakened via her dark companion.

Level 17 (Warblade 3/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10): Ursula’s Fatemaker abilities improve even further and she reaches the capstone, allowing her to manifest her ego in great and terrifying ways. In significant combat she can now use the excellent buff spell righteous might, giving her a tremendous damage boost, extending her reach, increasing the number of adjacent allies she can effect with her various auras, and providing a significant boost to her already overcharged intimidate check.

Level 18 (Warblade 4/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10): Now that her Fatemaker levels have concluded, Ursula finishes things off with Warblade. She gets an additional readied maneuver and gets to retrain Leading the Attack, which has long since diminished in usefulness, for the powerful team boost Order Forged From Chaos, which can allow her entire party to swiftly move into position before the enemy is prepared. She also gets a new stance, and chooses Press the Advantage, which she uses to keep up her mobile fighting style without sacrificing the ability to make full attacks.

Song of the Dead is an interesting feat that, for a +1 level adjustment, converts mind-affecting spells into necromancy spells and allows them to work on the undead. For Ursula this provides a dual usage: in addition to allowing Ursula to use her suggestions against undead, necromancy spells have +2 DC against those harboring a necrotic cyst. This makes charming her necrotic minions a viable alternative to using the higher level necrotic domination in many circumstances.

Level 19 (Warblade 5/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10): A mother must stay alive to protect her brood. Another level in Warblade means another maneuver, and Iron Heart Endurance lets Ursula quickly heal up without slowing down the pace of combat. A bonus feat from the Warblade list gives Improved Initiative, which is always welcome.

Level 20 (Warblade 6/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10): Finishing off with a last level of Warblade means Ursula can no longer be flanked except by high level rogues. While this level does not grant a new maneuver, Ursula is permitted to retrain one, and she gets rid of Charging Minotaur, which has long since stopped providing level-appropriate damage, for Clarion Call. This is a huge boost, easily as game-changing as Order Forged From Chaos: when you drop a foe you can have your entire party, as well as any dominated or charmed allies, immediately attack or take a move action.





PHB: Skill Focus, Improved Initiative, all non-cyst spells
Complete Warrior: Hexblade
Tome of Battle: Warblade, Ironheart Aura, Stormguard Warrior, maneuvers
Planar Handbook: Fatemaker
Libris Mortis: Mother Cyst, necrotic cyst line of spells
Dragon Compendium: Song of the Dead
Complete Mage: Sickening Grasp
Complete Adventurer: Staggering Strike
Player's Guide to Faerun: Dreadful Wrath
Complete Scoundrel: Skill tricks

[Heliomance]

The delay hasn't given me any more inspiration for songs to use



http://picsmine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/elegant-gray-color-ink-African-Tattoo-On-female-Face.jpg
Felicity Pip, Thumb in the Eye of Destiny

CN Human Marshal 6/Fatemaker 10/Exemplar 4

Stats
Str 14
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 10
Cha 16 (increases here)
Build


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


1st
Marshal 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Bluff 4, Diplomacy 4, Intimidate 4, Listen 4, Sense Motive 4, Spot 4, Tumble 4
Aberrant Dragonmark (Produce Flame), Dragontouched, (B)Skill Focus (Diplomacy)
Skill Focus (Diplomacy), Minor Aura (Motivate Dexterity), Skilled City Dweller (Ride to Tumble)


2nd
Marshal 2
+1
+3
+0
+3
Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 5, Listen 5, Sense Motive 5, Spot 5, Tumble 5

Major Aura +1 (Motivate Attack)


3rd
Marshal 3
+2
+3
+1
+3
Bluff 6, Diplomacy 6, Intimidate 6, Listen 6, Sense Motive 6, Spot 6, Tumble 6
Draconic Aura (Presence)
Minor Aura (Master of Tactics)


4th
Marshal 4
+3
+4
+1
+4
Bluff 7, Diplomacy 7, Intimidate 7, Listen 7, Sense Motive 7, Spot 7, Tumble 7

Adrenaline Boost 1/day


5th
Marshal 5
+3
+4
+1
+4
Bluff 8, Diplomacy 8, Intimidate 8, Listen 8, Sense Motive 8, Spot 8, Tumble 8

Minor Aura (Motivate Charisma), Major Aura (Resilient Troops)


6th
Marshal 6
+4
+5
+2
+5
Never Outnumbered, Bluff 9, Diplomacy 9, Intimidate 9, Sense Motive 9, Tumble 9
Martial Study (Cloak of Deception)



7th
Fatemaker 1
+4
+5
+4
+7
Balance 5, Bluff 10, Diplomacy 10, Intimidate 10, Tumble 10

Take-charge Appeal


8th
Fatemaker 2
+5
+5
+5
+8
Bluff 11, Diplomacy 11, Intimidate 11, Tumble 11, Use Magic Device 5

Confidence of the Fated 1/day


9th
Fatemaker 3
+6/+1
+6
+5
+8
Bluff 12, Diplomacy 12, Intimidate 12, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 10
Martial Stance (Island of Blades)
Sneak Attack +1d6


10th
Fatemaker 4
+7/+2
+6
+6
+9
Bluff 13, Concentration 2, Diplomacy 13, Intimidate 13, Tumble 13, Use Magic Device 13

Aura of Confidence +1


11th
Fatemaker 5
+7/+2
+6
+6
+9
Bluff 14, Concentration 6, Diplomacy 14, Intimidate 14, Tumble 14, Use Magic Device 14

Take-charge Appeal


12th
Fatemaker 6
+8/+3
+7
+7
+10
Bluff 15, Concentration 12, Diplomacy 15, Intimidate 15
Lesser Aberrant Dragonmark (Vampiric Touch)
Sneak Attack +2d6


13th
Fatemaker 7
+9/+4
+7
+7
+10
Bluff 16, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 16, Intimidate 16, Sense Motive 11

Confidence of the Fated 2/day


14th
Fatemaker 8
+10/+5
+7
+8
+11
Bluff 17, Diplomacy 17, Intimidate 17, Sense Motive 17

Aura of Confidence +2


15th
Fatemaker 9
+10/+5
+8
+8
+11
Acrobatic Backstab, Bluff 18, Diplomacy 18, Intimidate 18, Sense Motive 18, Sleight of Hand 3
Greater Aberrant Dragonmark (Enervation)
Sneak Attack +3d6


16th
Fatemaker 10
+11/+6/+1
+8
+9
+12
Conceal Spellcasting, Bluff 19, Diplomacy 19, Intimidate 19, Sense Motive 19, Sleight of Hand 5, Spellcraft 1

Ego Manifestation, Take-charge Appeal


17th
Exemplar 1
+11/+6/+1
+8
+9
+14
Bluff 20, Diplomacy 20, Iaijutsu Focus 8, Intimidate 20

Skill Artistry (Intimidate), Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate)


18th
Exemplar 2
+12/+7/+2
+8
+9
+15
Bluff 21, Diplomacy 21, Iaijutsu Focus 16, Intimidate 21
Staggering Strike
Lend Talent (One-half Penalty), Skill Mastery (Iaijutsu Focus)


19th
Exemplar 3
+13/+8/+3
+9
+10
+15
Autohypnosis 2, Bluff 22, Diplomacy 22, Iaijutsu Focus 22, Intimidate 22
(B)Improved Initiative
Bonus Feat, Skill Mastery (Autohypnosis)


20th
Exemplar 4
+14/+9/+4
+9
+10
+16
Autohypnosis 9, Bluff 23, Diplomacy 23, Iaijutsu Focus 23, Intimidate 23

Skill Artistry (Iaijutsu Focus), Sustaining Presence, Skill Mastery (Sleight of Hand)



Spells
Spells per Day


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


7th

0*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th

1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th

2
0*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th

3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th

3
2
0*
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th

3
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


13th

3
3
2
0*
-
-
-
-
-


14th

3
3
3
1
-
-
-
-
-


15th

3
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


16th-20th

3
3
3
3
-
-
-
-
-



Spells Known


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


7th

2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th

3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th

3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th

4
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th

4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th

4
4
3
-
-
-
-
-
-


13th

4
4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


14th

4
4
4
3
-
-
-
-
-


15th

4
4
4
3
-
-
-
-
-


16th-20th

4
4
4
4
-
-
-
-
-


Spells Known
1st: Charm Person, Disguise Self, Expeditious Retreat, True Strike
2nd: Darkvision, Invisibility, Resist Energy, Spider Climb
3rd: Haste, Nondetection, Suggestion, Tongues
4th: Charm Monster, Neutralize Poison, Restoration, Stoneskin
Backstory
It is said that the great dragons weave the complex tapestry of their prophecy that guides us all, and that they manifest it through the dragonmarks on select individuals. Felicity would disagree. Any prophecy that would result in Khorvaire plunging into a century of war was either fake or so monstrous it should not exist. She fought for years to defend her homeland of Cyre, only to see it become a poisoned wasteland. And for what? The whole war to determine who would be king ended with no king at all. And the business with dragonmarks was another load of nonsense too many had swallowed. Twelve marks upheld as the good and proper examples, with any mark that didn’t look or work just like they did called aberrant. And of course it had nothing to do with the fact that these “true” marks are all on the noble houses. Nuts to them.

Felicity manifested her own “aberrant” mark a short time after the Day of Mourning, an angry red snarl over her ribs she could blessedly cover with her armor. Maybe she caught some of the stray magical energy that ruined Cyre. Maybe her parentage wasn’t as plain as she thought. It certainly wasn’t the prophecy, she’d tell you that. Even according to those who buy into the prophecy, the aberrant dragonmarks were an accident, signifying nothing for the greater story. Felicity was determined that if she was a snarl in the tapestry, then she would be one big enough to jam the loom. They’d have to use the shears to get rid of her.

Felicity’s military service finally ended when the war did, and by the time she received her discharge, her mark had spread across her back and reached toward her legs. Her power had grown with the mark, and it had been the only thing keeping her alive on more than one occasion. With the war over, she found herself adrift. Her first home of Cyre was no more, and her skills in commanding troops were not something she could see herself making a meaningful life out of. Policing and mercenary forces existed, but these were just warriors with less clear instruction, and Felicity had experienced enough war for three lifetimes. Her pension could cover lodgings and memory-dulling drink for a few fortunate weeks.

Felicity was awoken from what was becoming a pattern of drunken stupors by a many-sided argument between recruiters of a few guilds and associations that had gotten their schedules mixed up and all ended up here, instead of taking turns like they usually did. She scoffed again at how utterly random or intensely incompetent the “prophecy” must be, before her attention was drawn to the most articulate and self-assured of the lot, who at that moment began shouting down the argument of his opponent, declaring that there was no fate but what we made. Felicity had not known that there was any group who shared her derision for the prophecy, much less one that offered a way forward. When the group dispersed, she followed the recruiter for the Fated out and saw about signing up.

They helped her understand that with her own will and exertion of it on the world, she could set her own course, and craft her own future. With her new outlook on life, Felicity sought to help others with marks like hers realize their value, that they had just as much power as the noble houses, they just needed organization. Her trained persuasion and skill for command made her a natural organizer, and she led ever-larger gatherings in pushing for a place at the table. Her dragonmark has spread to her face now, and she wears it proudly.
Level 5
We begin our dish with a hearty foundation of Marshal. You’ve got some good saves and HD to support survivability. It helpfully gives all martial weapons and has a good list of skills to invest in. It also provides skill focus to qualify for the secret ingredient when the time comes. Motivate Dexterity boosts initiative checks, so is the most important thing in early levels where winning initiative wins it all. Master of Tactics is the natural next choice to boost your damage, and Motivate Charisma is a great boost to your skills. Remember it will also boost your Charisma checks for charm person and charm monster when they arrive. For major auras, motivate attack helps melee and resilient troops boosts all saves. Either one is fine to have on in combat, and at a 60 foot radius you should be covering most everyone in the fight. Adrenaline Boost is a source of temporary hitpoints that can be used to stabilize someone and get them back in the fight.

On the subject of feats Aberrant Dragonmark in addition to our story also provides a useful SLA in the form of produce flame. Most enemies will have poor touch AC and you can boost it as it acts like a weaponlike spell. Dragontouched provides some nice general benefits, but the primary purpose is to gain the dragonblood subtype for our next feat. Draconic Aura provides a separate source to boost initiative, as well as spot and listen. With the dragonblood subtype, it will scale with level.
Level 10
One last level of Marshal before we enter the SI. Never outnumbered is a must for anyone who plans on using intimidate, allowing you to target multiple creatures.

Take-charge appeal is of obvious benefit to a Marshal for increasing the potency of your minor auras. Sneak attack will stack nicely with Master of Tactics, since the bulk of your sneak attacking will be done on flanked targets. Aura of Confidence helpfully is a morale bonus, so stacks with your marshal auras and draconic aura, giving people more reasons to be your friend. Confidence of the Fated is the most versatile of the class’s abilities. You can use it to offset a rushed penalty on a Diplomacy check, better cast defensively, or boost your attacks. My top pick is to throw it on produce flame for extra fire damage when sneak attacking someone.
Spells are largely self-explanatory; tongues is of particular use to ensure you get the maximum effect out of marshal auras.

Fatemaker’s class features present a bit of a conundrum. You want to flank with your allies to gain sneak attack, but you also want to be adjacent to allies to give them the benefit of Aura of Confidence. To satisfy both, we are going to be taking martial study to get Island of Blades. Now you can position yourself adjacent to your allies and place yourselves next to the enemy to also count as flanking. Of course to get access to that stance we are first taking martial study. Cloak of Deception is a natural choice for this as it gives you greater invisibility which can be used to render opponents vulnerable to sneak attack (remember this is true for invisibility regardless of whether you hide).
After this you’ll stop investing in Tumble and UMD because your mod is high enough to succeed on the DCs for both, even if you don’t have the relevant aura on.
Level 15
Almost finished with the SI and you’re generally more competent at all of the same stuff, now with 4th level spells.

From level 13 on you can cast defensively without problem so you can stop investing. Acrobatic Backstab allows you another means of rendering an opponent flatfooted for sneak attack. Confidence of the Fated will ensure your success here.

You also have more spell like abilities with the lesser and greater aberrant dragonmarks. They also give more uses of the lower versions, so you have produce flame 3/day, vampiric touch 2/day and enervation 2/day, all at the caster level boosted by greater. Vampiric touch is a good way to damage enemies and heal yourself, again a weaponlike spell so you can boost with confidence of the fated, which boosts the damage and seems like it should also increase the health you regain. You can check with your DM about how master of tactics and sneak attack work with it. They’ll definitely increase the damage, but some might not agree with improving health restored. Enervation is always good, a no save debuff to soften up enemies and weaken their casting.

You may notice that lesser and greater aberrant SLAs invoke a fort save vs daze on use. The DC for lesser is low enough that you’ll pass it. You can protect yourself against the greater with confidence of the fated, once more proving its usefulness.
Level 20
First we finish up the SI. Righteous might is a good combat buff for you; in addition to increased reach and higher strength, it gives you a bigger space to make being adjacent to enemies and allies more easily, which means more sneak attack and master of tactics. With the addition of staggering strike, these attacks debuff your enemy with reduced actions the next round.

Now to our last class. Exemplar is nice and easy to enter, especially with skill focus taken care of and the SI’s good list and skill points. Its bonus feat goes toward improved initiative, which brings our modifier up to 15, and in that first round before enemies act they’ll be flatfooted. Skill mastery lets you take 10 on your social skills, as well as autohypnosis, which is a defensive skill you nab from exemplar. With that and Skill artistry you’ll hit all of the flat DCs and have a good modifier for the opposed. Sustaining presence boosts your fort saves, especially handy for the greater aberrant dragonmark. With lend talent you can redistribute your skill points to help the less fortunate, and your ability to take 10 means you can handle the penalty when you share social skills. With the skill mastery on sleight of hand and motivate dex you’ll hit the DC 20 with no problem, and be in good standing vs the opposed spot check.

Our most important boost of mastery and artistry goes to a late addition in iajutsu focus. It boosts your damage attacking a flatfooted opponent, so your high initiative becomes very useful, as well as acrobatic backstab. With all of your resources your result is 23 (ranks) + 4 (artistry) +10 (mastery) +7 (Cha) =44 with nothing else happening, so motivate Cha or Confidence of the Fated can ensure the maximum 9d6 damage every time.

Take-charge appeal and level increases mean your cha bonus is +7, throwing it onto all of the applications makes a big difference.
Sources
Marshal: Miniatures Handbook
Exemplar, Staggering Strike: Complete Adventurer
Adrenaline Boost ACF: Players Handbook II
Skilled City Dweller ACF: Urban Class Features Web Enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)
Aberrant Dragonmark: Eberron Campaign Setting
Lesser Dragonmark, Greater Dragonmark: Dragonmarked
Martial Study, Martial Stance: Tome of Battle
Improved Initiative: srd

[Heliomance]

It's an angry drunken sonic death monkey. I don't know what I can say here to enhance that, really.


Rizzo Fitzgibbon

https://78.media.tumblr.com/34fb3b9abc9baad602cd98458b567d53/tumblr_o3ov5jDcLT1tb8cbpo1_540.jpg

Image "Sun Wukong" by jojo so, © Tencent Inc. Used without permission.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2WPyY

Race: Brood Monkey (LA +2, from Far Corners - Monsters of the Lost City (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20041126a))
Build Stub: Monstrous Humanoid 2/Battle Dancer 1/Barbarian 1/Feat Rogue 2/Drunken Master 2/Fatemaker 10
Multiclass Penalty: No.
Languages: Mostly grunting and snarling.
Alignment: CN
Ability Scores:


Ability
Score
Racial
(Points)


Strength
14
-2
(10)


Dexterity
18
+4
(6)


Constitution
18
+4
(6)


Intelligence
8
-6
(6)


Wisdom
12
+4
(0)


Charisma
14
+2
(4)


Ability Score Increases: Str 15 (4th), Str 16 (8th), Str 17 (12th), Str 18 (16th)
Take Charge Appeal: Cha 15 (9th), Cha 16 (13th), Cha 17 (18th)



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


1st
Monstrous Humanoid 1
+1
+0
+2
+2
Jump 2, Tumble 2
Great Fortitude, Alertness
Flurry of Blows (Ex), Immunity to Enchantment (Ex), Bite (1d3+2), Darkvision 60', Climb 20', SLAs: 3/day-cure minor wounds, doom; 1/day-cause fear, cure light wounds, shield of faith


2nd
Monstrous Humanoid 2
+2
+0
+3
+3
Jump 2, Tumble 3(+1)




3rd
Battle Dancer 1
+3
+0
+5
+3
Jump 2, Tumble 6(+3)
Improved Unarmed Strike, Shape Soulmeld (Thunderstep Boots)
AC Bonus (Cha), Unarmed Strike (1d4)


4th
Barbarian 1
+4
+2
+5
+3
Intimidate 3(+3), Jump 2, Tumble 6

Spirit Lion Totem (Pounce), Whirling Frenzy ACF


5th
Feat Rogue 1
+4
+2
+7
+3
Diplomacy 2(+2), Intimidate 6(+3), Jump 2, Tumble 8(+2)
Power Attack
Mimic ACF


6th
Feat Rogue 2
+5
+2
+8
+3
Bluff 3(+3), Diplomacy 5(+3), Intimidate 8(+1), Jump 2, Tumble 8
Skill Focus: Intimidate, Dodge
Evasion


7th
Drunken Master 1
+5
+4
+10
+3
Balance 1(+1), Bluff 5(+2), Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 2, Tumble 8

Drink Like a Demon, Improvised Weapons


8th
Drunken Master 2
+6
+5
+11
+3
Balance 2(+1), Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 4(+2), Tumble 8

Stagger


9th
Fatemaker 1
+6
+5
+13
+5
Balance 2, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 7(+3), Tumble 10(+2)
Open Least Chakra: Feet
Take Charge Appeal (Cha 15)


10th
Fatemaker 2
+7
+5
+14
+6
Balance 2, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 10(+3), Tumble 12(+2)

Confidence of the Fated 1/day


11th
Fatemaker 3
+8
+6
+14
+6
Balance 2, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 13(+3), Tumble 14(+2)

Sneak Attack 1d6


12th
Fatemaker 4
+9
+6
+15
+7
Balance 5(+3), Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 14(+1), Tumble 15(+1)
Leap Attack
Aura of Confidence +1


13th
Fatemaker 5
+9
+6
+15
+7
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 16(+2), Tumble 16(+1), UMD 2(+2)

Take Charge Appeal (Cha 16)


14th
Fatemaker 6
+10
+7
+16
+8
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 17(+1), Tumble 17(+1), UMD 5(+3)

Sneak Attack 2d6


15th
Fatemaker 7
+11
+7
+16
+8
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 18(+1), Tumble 18(+1), UMD 8(+3)
Ability Focus (Thunderstep Boots)
Confidence of the Fated 2/day


16th
Fatemaker 8
+12
+7
+17
+9
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 19(+1), Tumble 19(+1), UMD 11(+3)

Aura of Confidence +2


17th
Fatemaker 9
+12
+8
+17
+9
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 20(+1), Tumble 20(+1), UMD 14(+3)

Sneak Attack 3d6


18th
Fatemaker 10
+13
+8
+18
+10
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 5, Intimidate 8, Jump 21(+1), Tumble 21(+1), UMD 17(+3)
Bonus Essentia
Ego Manifestation, Take Charge Appeal (Cha 17)




Fatemaker Spells


Level
[B]1st Slots/Known
2nd Slots/Known
3rd Slots/Known
4th Slots/Known
Spells


9th
1/2
-
-
-
1st: expeditious retreat, true strike


10th
2/3
-
-
-
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, true strike


11th
3/3
1/2
-
-
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, invisibility


12th
4/4
2/3
-
-
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility


13th
4/4
3/3
1/2
-
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility
3rd: haste, protection from energy


14th
4/4
4/4
2/3
-
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility, spider climb
3rd: haste, protection from energy, suggestion


15th
4/4
4/4
3/3
-
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility, spider climb
3rd: haste, protection from energy, suggestion


16th
4/4
4/4
4/4
1/3
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility, spider climb
3rd: haste, protection from energy, suggestion, tongues
4th: charm monster, restoration, stoneskin


17th
4/4
4/4
4/4
2/3
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility, spider climb
3rd: haste, protection from energy, suggestion, tongues
4th: charm monster, restoration, stoneskin


18th
4/4
4/4
4/4
3/4
1st: charm person, expeditious retreat, jump, true strike
2nd: bear's endurance, daze monster, invisibility, spider climb
3rd: haste, protection from energy, suggestion, tongues
4th: charm monster, remove curse, restoration, stoneskin





Ravard knelt down and placed several sticks in a rough square. "Vicky, you sneak around to the back of the fort. When she's in position, Marlo, you cast a sleep spell on the guards. If they drop, then Rizzo and I will move in and drag them into this hedge over here. If they don't drop, then Vicky can shoot her silence arrow at the guards while Rizzo and I move in to engage them. So, everybody clear on the plan?"

Vicky and Marlo nodded assent. Rizzo, however, shook his head. "Don't like it."

Ravard sighed. "Ok, maybe Marlo can summon something to help me out front. Do you want to sneak around the back with Vicky?"

Rizzo shook his head again. "Not so good, me sneak-sneak."

Ravard stood up and glared at Rizzo. "What would you prefer? Full frontal assault again? Do I need to remind you how that worked out last time?"

Rizzo shrugged. "No. Why we care about stupid elven fort? No bad blood with elves, no grudge."

Ravard blinked. "So that whole thing we saw in the village, with the evil elven wizard kidnapping the mayor's daughter so he could sacrifice her to the demon lord Orcus and open up a portal to the Abyss... did you completely miss all that?"

Rizzo snorted. "Not my daughter. Why we care?"

Ravard was rendered speechless. After an awkward silence, he stammered out, "EVIL WIZARD... DEMON LORD... PORTAL TO THE ABYSS...?"

Vicky stepped between them before Ravard completely lost it. "You know, before they grabbed the girl, I think I saw those elves raiding the mayor's wine celler. They must have taken... half a dozen casks of fireplum wine."

Rizzo turned and bolted toward the fort, snarling, "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"

Marlo shook his head. "And then there's Plan B... Send in the homicidal drunken sonic death monkey to draw all the guards out front while we try to sneak in the back."



When I looked through ingredient for something interesting to build around, the best I could come up with was Confidence of the Fated as a damage buff. It's a morale bonus, but +10 damage would be really good in a charge because it could get multiplied. So I started with the idea of "make a Charge build". My next thought was, how do I tie in the other class abilities, like Sneak Attack? Well, you get Sneak Attack against stunned opponents, and you can force a save vs. stun with Thunderstep Boots. I also knew there was a way to charge every single round with Drunken Master's Stagger ability, but there's a huge alignment problem: Flurry of Blows is *almost* exclusively a monk ability. Monks must be lawful, and Fatemakers must explicitly be nonlawful. However, there's one other way to get Flurry of Blows.

Brood Monkey is a degenerate race of small-sized primates with a handful of oddball abilities: Immunity to enchantment, a smattering of SLAs, +4 racial bonus on Balance, Jump, and Tumble checks, and Flurry of Blows for some reason. There are also a few quirks to the Flurry: they can use any simple weapon in a Flurry, the attack penalty is based on HD rather than class levels, and they can also use their bite as a secondary attack on the same turn as the Flurry. Two Monstrous Humanoid racial HD with LA +2 isn't entirely ideal, but at least they get full BAB and two good saves, and the racial HD/LA won't hurt so much on a mostly melee-based build. No social skills, but since this build will be relying a lot on movement, we might as well put our four skill points in movement-related skills: Jump and Tumble to start with.

Rizzo's first class level is Battle Dancer 1 to establish his unarmed bonifides. He also gets his Cha bonus to AC, which synergizes well with Fatemaker's Charisma-based abilities. For some odd reason, a Charisma-based melee class doesn't get any social skills... just Perform, which Rizzo has no interest in. He's going to need Tumble for Drunken Master, so might as well put his skill ranks there. For his 3rd level feat, he picks up Thunder Boots to add some sonic damage to his charges. And speaking of charges, Rizzo's next level is Spirit Lion Totem Barbarian, which is pretty much mandatory for a charge-based build. He also picks up the Whirling Frenzy ACF for an additional attack he can load on top of Frenzy + Bite. Barbarian also gives Rizzo is first social skill: Intimidate! This is... not exactly useful for a small-sized homicidal drunken sonic death monkey who is already predisposed to charge anything that moves, but given his racial background it makes a lot more sense than focusing on Bluff or Diplomacy.



To get into Drunken Master, Rizzo needs Evasion. Normally you pick this up from Monk 2, but I was planning on using Incarnum so I figured I'd try Totemist 2 instead (getting Evasion from Raptor's Mask), but there are two problems with this: Thunderstep Boots is not a Totemist soulmeld, and the build doesn't have enough feats to do anything interesting on a charge. Feat Rogue 2 solves several problems at once: skill points for social skills, two Fighter bonus feats, and Evasion. Rizzo doesn't have the skill points for Trapfinding, so he'll swap that out for something slightly more interesting: the Mimic ACF (Exemplars of Evil) gives him disguise self as an SLA 1/day. I figure it might be useful for a small-sized homicidal drunken sonic death monkey to appear like a normal humanoid on certain occasions. The other ACF options were Poison Use (Drow of the Underdark), but Rizzo didn't seem like much of a poison-type guy; and Antiquarian (Complete Champion), but I just could not imagine Rizzo ever having any interest in religious relics beyond that age-old question, "Is this worth enough money to buy me a beer?"

After picking up Evasion and Dodge, Rizzo is ready for his initiation into the ranks of the Drunken Masters... and how could a small-sized homicidal drunken sonic death monkey *not* be chosen to join the Drunken Masters? Drink Like a Demon gives Rizzo the option to buff his Strength or Constitution at the expense of his Intelligence and Wisdom... but oddly enough has no effect on his Charisma, so apparently he's a very Happy Drunk. However, what we're really after is Stagger (Ex) from Drunken Master 2. This allows Rizzo to make charges that "need not be in a straight line, even though the character can still move up to twice his speed", and it has no daily limit so he can use it over and over again whenever he likes. Pounce gives him a full attack at the end of his charge, and his racial Flurry ability gives him an extra attack along with a bite, and Thunderstep Boots gives him a perfect sound effect with a little sonic damage chaser.



At 9th level, Rizzo enters Fatemaker. He also picks up Open Least Chakra, allowing him to bind Thunderstep Boots to his feet chakra. This adds a Fort save vs. stunned for 1 round to all of his charge attacks. It's a Soulborn soulmeld, so the Fortitude saving throw is based on Constitution (DC 14), and Rizzo can buff it up a little further with Drink Like a Demon (up to DC 16). He gains two 1st-level spells: true strike allows him to max out his Power Attack penalty, and expeditious retreat increases the distance he can charge. Another level of Fatemaker gets him Confidence of the Fated, adding a morale bonus to an attack roll, damage roll, saving throw, or skill check 1/day. At 11th level, he picks up 1d6 Sneak Attack, so whenever he stuns an opponent on a charge, he can circle around on the next round for additional damage.

*** SWEET SPOT *** At 12th level, Rizzo picks up Leap Attack. When combined with Stagger, Rizzo can circle around to make a leaping charge every single round on the same opponent. If his opponent gets stunned, he gets additional sneak attack damage on all his attacks, including Flurry, Whirling Frenzy, and his bite attack. If he Drinks Like a Demon and casts bear's endurance on himself, he can increase the Fort save vs. stun DC to 18. Since he doesn't have to charge in a straight line, he can come at his opponent from any angle, making sure his allies are adjacent to enjoy the benefit of his Aura of Confidence.



At 13th level, Take-Charge Appeal increases Rizzo's Charisma to 16, giving him a bonus spell and making him better at Intimidate and UMD. At 14th level, his Sneak Attack goes up to 2d6, and at 15th he gains an additional Confidence of the Fated, giving him a +6 attack or damage buff 2/day. He also picks up Ability Focus to increase the save DC of his Thunderstep Boots by +2. At 16th level, his allies can enjoy +2 from his Aura of Confidence. At 17th level, Sneak attack goes up to 3d6. At 18th level, Rizzo gets his "Capstone": Ego Manifestation (righteous might) 1/day, which means he is no longer small-sized, but a medium-sized homicidal drunken sonic death monkey, along with a +4 Str bonus, a +2 Con bonus, and a +2 natural armor bonus. Bonus Essentia both increases his sonic damage on every charge attack and increases the save DC of his Thunderstep Boots. When combined with Ability Focus, Drinks Like a Demon, and bear's endurance, the Fort save vs. stun is in the neighborhood of DC 24. UMD is now high enough that he can activate wands even on a 1, so he can UMD a wand of rhino's rush (Spell Compendium) for double damage on a charge. With righteous might active, his Str is at least 22, he can Power Attack/Leap Attack for +78 damage, he can get up to 6 attacks a round (3 iterative, 1 Flurry, 1 bite, 1 Whirling Frenzy), he adds 3d4 sonic damage to every attack, and he can crank on an additional +10 damage with Confidence of the Fated 2/day. If his target is stunned, he gets an additional +3d6 damage on each attack.



First things first, ask your DM if you can retrain Dodge into Midnight Dodge. This gives Rizzo +1 essentia a little earlier in the build. If Level Adjustment Buyoff is available, then you'll want to take advantage of that. This could give you two more class levels to add to the build, such as Fighter 2 to pick up Improved Bull Rush and Shock Trooper. If flaws are available, then that's another way to pick up Improved Bull Rush and Shock Trooper.

Some other glaring omissions from the build... no Craven or Staggering Strike. I left these out because I thought Ability Focus and Bonus Essentia would be more useful in the long run, as that save vs. stun is going to happen on every charge, and the extra sonic damage from Bonus Essentia is going to be added to every hit. My other reason for leaving them out is... this is not a build that focuses on sneakiness and sublety, so I didn't think Rizzo would worry all that much about maximizing sneak attack damage, and the "stagger" effect from Staggering Strike isn't quite as effective as the save vs. stun from Thunderstep Boots. If you're looking for additional adverse conditions, then Sickening Strike and Terrifying Strike would be ideal (both from Drow of the Underdark), as both the sicken and shaken conditions reduce the target's saves, increasing the likelihood of repeated rounds of "Stun-Lock".

Something else that could be argued is missing from the build: something more interesting to do with Intimidate. This usually requires a standard action, but I think Rizzo would consider any round that he spends not charging is a wasted round. However, the shaken condition does confer a -2 penalty on the save vs. stun, so putting in something like Never Outnumbered (Complete Scoundrel) or Imperious Command (Drow of the Underdark) might be interesting. Also, with all those charges happening, Dreadful Wrath (PGtF) or Frightful Presence (Draconomicon) could be very worthwhile, and also solve the problem of having to spend an action to unnerve his opponents.



Complete Adventurer: Leap Attack
Complete Champion: Spirit Lion Totem
Complete Warrior: Drunken Master
Dragon Compendium: Battle Dancer
Exemplars of Evil: Mimic ACF
Far Corners - Monsters of the Lost City (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20041126a): Brood Monkey
Magic of Incarnum: Shape Soulmeld, Open Least Chakra, Bonus Essentia
Monster Manual: Ability Focus
Unearthed Arcana: Whirling Frenzy ACF, Feat Rogue

[Heliomance]

One last build for you:


The Fated Zari

Azurin
Str: 16
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 12
Wis: 8
Cha: 16
Level ups go into Cha




Level


Class


Base Attack Bonus


Fort Save


Ref Save


Will Save


Skills


Feats


Class Features



1st
Human Paragon
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff + 4, Intimidate +4, Diplomacy +4, Knowledge The Planes +4, Knowledge Religion +5
Hidden Talent (Force Screen), Power Attack



2nd
Human Paragon
+1
+0
+0
+3
Bluff +5,
Diplomacy +5, Intimidate +5, Knowledge The Planes +5, Knowledge Religion +5
Skill Focus: Bluff



3rd
Paladin of Freedom
+2
+2
+0
+3
Skills
Bluff +6, Knowledge Religion +6, Knowledge The Planes +6
Sapphire Smite
Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day, Aura of Good


4th
Paladin of Freedom
+3
+3
+0
+3
Bluff +7, Knowledge Religion +7, Knowledge The Planes +7

Divine Grace, Lay on Hands


5th
Paladin of Freedom
+4
+3
+1
+4
Bluff +8, Knowledge Religion +8, Knowledge The Planes +8

Aura of Resolve, Divine Health


6th
Fatemaker
+4
+3
+3
+6
Bluff +9, Craft Leatherworking +2, Use Rope +2, Knowledge The Planes +9, Spellcraft +1
Weapon Focus Whip
Take-Charge Appeal, Spellcasting


7th
Soulborn
+5
+5
+3
+6
Bluff +10, Knowledge The Planes +10

Aura, Smite Opposition


8th
Lasher
+6
+5
+5
+6
Bluff +11, Knowledge The Planes +11, Use Rope +3

Whip Sneak Attack +1d6, Close Combat, Wound, Whip Lash


9th
Fatemaker
+7
+5
+6
+7
Bluff +12, Knowledge The Planes +12, Use Rope +4, Spellcraft +3, Use Magic Device +2
Psycharnum Infusion
Confidence of the Fated


10th
Fatemaker
+8
+6
+6
+7
Bluff +13, Knowledge The Planes +13, Use Rope +5, Spellcraft +5, Use Magic Device +4

Sneak Attack +1d6


11th
Fatemaker
+9
+6
+7
+8
Bluff +14, Knowledge The Planes +14, Use Rope +6, Spellcraft +7, Use Magic Device +6

Aura of Confidence


12th
Fatemaker
+9
+6
+7
+8
Bluff +15, Knowledge The Planes +15, Use Rope +7, Spellcraft +9, Use Magic Device +8
Improved Smiting
Take-Charge Appeal


13th
Fatemaker
+10
+7
+8
+9
Bluff +16, Knowledge The Planes +16, Use Rope +8, Spellcraft +11, Use Magic Device +10

Sneak Attack +2d6


14th
Fatemaker
+11
+7
+8
+9
Bluff +17, Knowledge The Planes +17, Use Rope +9, Spellcraft +13, Use Magic Device +12

Confidence of the Fated 2/day


15th
Fatemaker
+12
+7
+9
+10
Bluff +18, Knowledge The Planes +18, Use Rope +10, Spellcraft +15, Use Magic Device +14
Awesome Smite
Aura of Confidence (+2)


16th
Fatemaker
+12
+8
+9
+10
Bluff +19, Knowledge The Planes +19, Use Rope +11, Spellcraft +17, Use Magic Device +16

Sneak Attack +3d6


17th
Fatemaker
+13
+8
+10
+11
Bluff +20, Knowledge The Planes +20, Use Rope +12, Spellcraft +19, Use Magic Device +18

Ego Manifestation, Take-Charge Appeal


18th
Lasher
+14
+8
+11
+11
Bluff +21, Knowledge The Planes +21, Use Rope +13
Elemental Smiting*
Improved Trip, Third Hand


19th
Lasher
+15
+9
+11
+12
Bluff +22, Knowledge The Planes +22, Use Rope +14

Crack of Fate


20th
Lasher
+16
+9
+12
+12
Bluff +13, Knowledge The Planes +23, Use Rope +15

Lashing Whip


*Elemental Smite can only be taken if you have an elemental graft, so it is unfortunately item dependent and this is why I have chosen to take it at level 18 instead of a much lower level. This said if you can not obtain an elemental graft then take the feat Extra Smite instead. This will grant you 2 additional smites per day, however Elemental Smite is far superior.




Spells per Day


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


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


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


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


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


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


6th
-
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
-
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
-
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th
-
2
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
-
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th
-
3
2
0
-
-
-
-
-
-


13th
-
3
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


14th
-
3
3
2
0
-
-
-
-
-


15th
-
3
3
3
1
-
-
-
-
-


16th
-
3
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


17th
-
3
3
3
3
-
-
-
-
-


18th
-
3
3
3
3
-
-
-
-
-


19th
-
3
3
3
3
-
-
-
-
-


20th
-
3
3
3
3
-
-
-
-
-



Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


6th
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
-
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
-
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th
-
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
-
4
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th
-
4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


13th
-
4
4
3
-
-
-
-
-
-


14th
-
4
4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


15th
-
4
4
4
3
-
-
-
-
-


16th
-
4
4
4
3
-
-
-
-
-


17th
-
4
4
4
4
-
-
-
-
-


18th
-
4
4
4
4
-
-
-
-
-


19th
-
4
4
4
4
-
-
-
-
-


20th
-
4
4
4
4
-
-
-
-
-


Level 6: Expeditious Retreat, Disguise Self
Level 9: Jump
Level 10: Invisibility, Spider Climb
Level 11: True Strike, Resist Energy
Level 12: Haste, Nondetection
Level 13: Darkvision, Tongues
Level 14: Remove Curse, Restoration
Level 15: Protection From Energy, Charm Monster
Level 16: Stoneskin

By this point Zari is just a skilled paladin. Using Force Screen when needed to have a higher AC. She fights just like any other paladin of freedom. Grabbing a 2H weapon and swinging for the fences. Smiting when needed
Zari now has Psycharnum Infusion and Soulborn, she is able to smite much more often by Using Psycharnum Infusion on Sapphire Smite, granting her an additional 4 smites per day, 2 from her Smite Evil and 2 from her Smite Opposition giving her a grand total of 6 Smites. She also has begun to use her whip in combat and using her 2d6 sneak attack deals fairly decent damage on her smites.
Zari is now in her prime, dealing a good 4d6 Sneak Attack, able to use all her Fatemaker abilities to enhance her allies, and giving her Improved Trip. She definitely isn't a solo combatant but against the right enemy her Awesome Smites can trigger her Improved Trip, She has a total of 5 Smite Evil Attempts per day, 5 Smite Opposition Attempts per day, and 8 Elemental Smite Attempts per day, giving her a grand total of 18 smites that she can use in any given day. Her Smite Evil adds her huge cha mod to her to hit, and deals an additional 7 damage. Smite Opposition again adds her cha mod to hit and deals an additional 5 damage. And her Elemental Smite allows her to once again add the cha mod to hit, but gives her +22 elemental damage. Each of these smites can use Awesome Smite to either ignore 2* cha mod DR, ignore all types of miss chance, or if the target has no DR and no miss chances attempt to knock them down. And if she does knock someone down then she gets to trigger her improved trip giving her another attack against that same creature. Twice per day she can add 10 to her to hit or damage. And once per day she can grow to huge size increasing her whip's range to (I actually couldn't find just how much this increases the range! It looks like increasing by 1 size category doubles your reach, so if that is the case as a Huge creature she would have a 60 ft reach? That is insane)
Same as level 18 but now she has 5 attacks per round before awesome smite/improved trip combo, she gains one more elemental smite and deals 2 more damage with it. She adds +2 damage to all her attacks with her whip, which complements well with her +2 morale bonus to hit she got from Fatemaker.

Zari had a rough childhood. For as long as she could remember her mother was never in the picture. Her father always said that she left them, yet that never seemed like the truth. Her father was never the nicest man. He always made her do all the chores the second she was old enough to do them. He would always yell at her; if she didn’t listen then he would find a way to make her listen by not giving her food until she did or lock her inside her “room” which was really just a closet. Once she was in her late teens she had finally had enough and decided to run away to the nearby church for sanctuary. She wanted to make her life better and make her own fate. Since then she was sworn in to the paladin order and was tasked to bring freedom for all. She will not accept seeing anyone be treated the way she had been treated in her youth.

As she grew stronger she came to realize that her father had given her one thing, a silver tongue. Lies came naturally to her. She could con a guard out of his uniform if she so chose. Zari always thought that she was human, that her parents were human. It couldn’t have been further from the truth as she came to learn. Her father had the blood of a powerful psion from ages past.

She trained and trained as a paladin until one day one of the Fated appeared before Zari. The fated seemed to explain everything to Zari, and Zari bought it, hook line and sinker. She trained as one of the fated. Their classes were varied. After the first year of training as a Fated she learned who her mother was. She learned how she is an Azurin. Because her mother was a "powerful" incarnum user. Her mother died in a jungle somewhere in Xendrik. And this drove her father to despair. And her father took it out on poor Zari. Part of the training for the Fated is learning to use a whip, and Zari took particular enjoyment from the use of a whip. She trained and trained, renouncing her church but not her ways.

Zari is a powerful Knight for the forces of good. Despising any that use their rank or their position and knocking them down a peg.


Unearthed Arcana: Human Paragon, Paladin of Freedom,
Expanded Psionic Handbook: Hidden Talent
Player's Handbook: Power Attack, Skill Focus, Weapon Focus
Magic of Incarnum: Azurin, Sapphire Smite, Soulborn, Psycharnum Infusion
Planar Handbook: Fatemaker
Sword and Fist: Lasher
Complete Divine: Improved Smiting
Complete Champion: Awesome Smite
Magic of Eberron: Elemental Smite

[Heliomance]

And that's all of them! Judges, off you go!

[Falontani]

Thank you Heliomance for hosting another Iron Chef, thank you everyone that has participated thus far, and good luck to the judges!

[Thurbane]

Well done everyone!

My entry would have been an Unseelie Fey Star Elf Marshal 2/Hexblade 3/Fatemaker 10/Sandshaper 1/Dragon Disicple 4.

Pumping Cha, adding Sandshaper spells to list. DD to grab extra 4th level slots.

Nothing too exciting.

[RaiKirah]

Indeed, thank you Heliomance!

There are so many cool things here that I never considered! Really nice builds all!

A preemptive thank you to the judges as well! :)

[WhamBamSam]

This round exceeded my expectations. I see a lot of cool things I wouldn't have thought of.

My ideas were centered around Slippers of Battledancing, on account of the Cha focus, and the SI covering all the crafting prereqs save Longstrider and the Craft Wondrous Item feat itself. Though I usually don't set much store by the Rules Compendium rule about only getting Sneak Attack damage on one attack of a multiple attack standard action, but felt that a Fatemaker should endeavor to find a clear way around them. Greater Manyshot explicitly works, but it has a high Dex requirement which didn't feel right on the Cha-SAD build I was going for and unlike regular Manyshot I couldn't get it without meeting that requirement through Ranger. I thought about using Duskblade Channel+Draconic Claw+Planar Touchstone (Oxyrhynicus) to get extra attacks outside of my standard action, but couldn't come up with a build that fit together to my satisfaction. The last RC-skirting multiple-attack idea I had was just using Hustle to move as a move action and then full attack, but ended up not wanting to spend enough build resources to get that much manifesting. I ultimately settled on the easy option of just using martial maneuvers for better standard action attacks (and ultimately a usable move and full attack via Quicksilver Motion).

This was the build that I ultimately hammered out.

Unseelie Fey Star Elf Marshal 3/Swordsage 4/Fatemaker 10/Eternal Blade 3
1. Marshal 1 – Aereni Focus (Iaijutsu Focus), Skill Focus (Diplomacy)
2. Marshal 2
3. Swordsage 1 – Craft Wondrous Item, Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (Desert Wind)
4. Swordsage 2
5. Marshal 3
6. Swordsage 3 – EWP (Gnome Quickrazor)
7. Fatemaker 1
8. Fatemaker 2
9. Fatemaker 3 – Arcane Disciple (Travel)
10. Fatemaker 4
11. Fatemaker 5
12. Swordsage 4 – Ascetic Mage
13. Fatemaker 6
14. Fatemaker 7
15. Fatemaker 8
16. Fatemaker 9 – Craven
17. Fatemaker 10
18. Eternal Blade 1 – Maiming Strike
19. Eternal Blade 2
20. Eternal Blade 3

It uses Island of Blades to flank and use Aura of Confidence at the same time, like Felicity and damage multipliers to take advantage of Confidence of the Fated like Rizzo (though I was using Ruby Nightmare Blade).

I could have made more of an effort to do the write-up, but wasn't sufficiently motivated.

[Zaq]

Wow. Nice round! There’s some great stuff I didn’t expect to see. I’m fully expecting to be an also-ran this time around. We don’t mess around, do we?

I have to say that aside from one or two fairly obvious bits, there’s significantly less overlap than I would have thought. Maybe because the SI is SO bloody generic that the only obvious part is how to get in, not what to do once you get there.

Anyone committed to judging yet?

[Wolfem]

ICO Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oyjVU5JmeCnC8YTMqDArDqE5PszHl0Ysadz630kuTGk/edit?ts=59a4835f#gid=0) has been updated with the dishes for this cook.

[Venger]

ICO Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oyjVU5JmeCnC8YTMqDArDqE5PszHl0Ysadz630kuTGk/edit?ts=59a4835f#gid=0) has been updated with the dishes for this cook.

Thank you very much, Wolfem. We appreciate it.

[RaiKirah]

So....do we have any judges? Or should I just declare myself victorious and run cackling off into the sunset? :)

[Falontani]

So....do we have any judges? Or should I just declare myself victorious and run cackling off into the sunset? :)

I'll convince a RL friend to judge before I admit defeat! (although if I do convince a RL friend to judge I promise to all of you I will not tell them which build is mine!)

[The Viscount]

Was that a serious offer? Because with a round this big, it's beginning to look like we might need something like that.

[RaiKirah]

I'll convince a RL friend to judge before I admit defeat! (although if I do convince a RL friend to judge I promise to all of you I will not tell them which build is mine!)

I would like to take you up on your offer of pulling in an RL friend to judge if that's still on the table. It looks like we're not going to get a judge from the Playground this time around.

[Falontani]

Working on it, I may have to take them out to lunch, and that requires interaction *shivers*

[RaiKirah]

Epics shall be composed, monuments erected, and ballads sung to honor your sacrifice :)

[Falontani]

Bad news, they said no

[RaiKirah]

Bad news, they said no

Well nuts, that's unfortunate. Thank you for trying though!


Is there anyone who's availability has opened up from the initial deadline who would be willing to judge? It would be sad to leave these languishing. I would offer to disqualify myself and judge, but I'm not convinced I'm knowledgeable enough to do it justice.

[Falontani]

Well nuts, that's unfortunate. Thank you for trying though!


Is there anyone who's availability has opened up from the initial deadline who would be willing to judge? It would be sad to leave these languishing. I would offer to disqualify myself and judge, but I'm not convinced I'm knowledgeable enough to do it justice.

I'd do the same thing but I really don't have the time myself. Actually dropping out of the Junkyard Challenge for similar reasons

[jdizzlean]

I can judge if you still need one

[Darrin]

I can judge if you still need one

If you could, that would be greatly appreciated.

[RaiKirah]

If you could, that would be greatly appreciated.

Indeed, it would be great if you are willing! Thanks jdizzlean!

[jdizzlean]

on build 5, should get done tonight

*edit*

all done w/ the exception of Rizzo's build, which has to wait until i get home in the morning to do, as I can't check the race tonight (wizards is blocked at work). So after i can do that, i can finish that build and i'll post judgement shortly thereafter

[jdizzlean]

snuck outside to get a signal, but i need a dispute from Rizzo to judge that entry.

Fatemaker

Rattenfanger: Score 13.75
Originality: Score 4

An homage to the pied piper, but one where you become the swarm as well.

Power: Score 3.75

I’m not entirely sold on the swarms, as summoned creatures, benefitting from aura of confidence. That ability targets allies, and while summons aren’t enemies, they are controlled creatures, so I think it’s a pretty big grey area.
Hivemind is a particularly smelly variety of cheese.
Lore Song, I mean, why wouldn’t you?
Ego Manifestation combined w/ Swarm Shape is scary.
The limits of your concentration seems to be your only real scaling effect when it comes to applying all your abilities.

Elegance: Score 2

Hive mind swarm taking up a bajillion aid another actions to cheese yourself to infinity and beyond is a bit over the top.
All the skills you take as Master of Flies are cc (other than disguise), but you spend normal points to get them. Meaning among other things, you don’t qualify for Doomspeak when you take it. This of course trickles down the entire build.

Use of SI: Score 4

Fatemaker is a hard ingredient to highlight. You do a good job of applying all its individual components by using swarms. Allowing both yourself and your summons to apply all its abilities simultaneously.


Maxwell: Score 14.5
Originality: Score 4


your sweet crusader karate LOL.

Power: Score 3.5

Mother Cyst is horrible cheese, but using it to help control those demons you summon is a nice touch.
Maneuvers and Stances does give you some utility
Your saves are all fairly bad, REF is just slightly less bad.
White Raven Tactics seems a misused choice, you have no DEX bonus (which also hurts your AC), meaning you only have your straight initiative roll to go off of, so short of someone rolling extremely badly, you aren’t doing the party rogue (for example) who probably has a high initiative roll any favors by resetting them to a lower place in the order after whatever round you use this in.

Elegance: Score 4

I’m not a personal fan of suddenly gaining insight into skills that you previously had no experience with simply because a new class has them listed as class skills. You do this twice, at 6th and 7th. I believe in building a character the entire way, not just taking what is convenient, when it hurts you the least.
Other than this, your build appears legal.

Use of SI: Score 3

You do use some of the SI’s granted abilities, but you’re more focused on increasing the utility of Nar then Fatemaker. Using Hardened Criminal to boost the utility of UMD is nice, but other than the SI giving you the ability to take that skill, you’re not actually using Fatemaker for anything other than to qualify for your other options.


Memyadu: Score 15.25
Originality: Score 4

Spellthief is actually what my chassis would’ve been had I cooked this round, though likely it wouldn’t have turned out this good.

Power: Score 3.75

Quick Potion is nice, but you only get 1 use per day w/o redirecting spellpower.
Master Spellthief seems like it should be listed under the Spellthief class, a given to take (like natural spell for Druid 6..). Full Spell thievery levels despite not advancing that class, epic.
Lots of spell options, but spell power dependent on the enemy you face, if going toe to toe w/ a martial, you lose some of your shinyness.

Elegance: Score 3.5

I don’t agree that you can “steal” spells from yourself to turn into potions through spell power fueling.
Spellpool debt must be repaid w/ prepared spell slots, which means you can’t steal a spell and use that to repay your debt. (but that would be nice if you could)

Use of SI: Score 4

You combine spellcasting and sneak attack, and of course take advantage of boosting your CHA. The Dark Template is nice, and fits your theme, but I’m not sold on its synergy w/ Fatemaker.


Gar: Score 12
Originality: Score 5

I mean, really.

Power: Score 3

You don’t take concentration at all until lvl 7 (8 actually)
In order for you to get the bonus from bolt of freedom, you’d have to shoot yourself…
Silkslick belt works 1/day.
Create Water can be used to basically negate all those oily things you have going on, and that’s a lvl 0 spell.
You have almost no offensive spell ability meaning your BAB is even worse off than it appears on your sheet. Yes that’s augmented by Motivate STR, but not until your 20th level, which you can’t take due to your LA +1 template.
Assuming you could get everything to work, you’d be a god for 1 attack (against only certain sized monsters), and then you’d be smashed to bits by its vengeful party.

Elegance: Score 1

Fatemaker must be nonlawful, so you can’t take it.
Crane Clan is for humans, of which you aren’t. (having the human subtype doesn’t make you human).
This is probably the most item dependent build I’ve ever seen. It takes multiple rounds of spellcasting on top of multiple items of gear to get to your one special trick. It is an awesome trick, but there are lots of places along the way for it to fail. I have neither the time nor inclination to figure out the order in which you’d have to cast everything to get it to work the way you have listed.
Please list all your sources separately from the build. You do list most of it w/in the build, but not all of it.
You used I think like 24ish sources… that’s insane.
LA buyoff is not in play in these competitions, so your first level would be used for the template, and then you start your build from there.
I’m not seeing how you are able to fit into a 1 inch square. You have reduce person, so you can become small, you apply flexform, and you can fit into a space ½ that size. HOWEVER, in the spell text of reduce person, it specifically states that multiple magical effects that reduce size don’t stack. I’m not sure that the dc 80 escape artist check would qualify after all that, but it might.
Further, in the text of escape artist, it states that squeezing your way into a tight space takes at least 1 minute, meaning you’re going to get stabbed to death before you ever get down the gullet.
You list Uur Rune, but not the other, and therefore not your power word either. ( I find it later on, but it shouldn’t be this much work to figure out the basics of your character..)

Use of SI: Score 3

Optimizing the entire build to blow Ego Manifestation through the roof is hilarity. However you’re not really using or optimizing anything else about Fatemaker.


Kasia: Score 13
Originality: Score 4

A rogue’ish UMD/Scroll using sneak’ish thief, sniper.

Power: Score 4

That 1 level dip for Battle Dancer is nice in giving you a large boost to your AC.
Since you took Darkstalker and Craven, and warlock, it would’ve been a better use of your 3rd invocation to get Darkness instead of See the Unseen, especially since the Dark Creature Template gives you Darkvision, which would also help w/ HiPs.
Party Face, Door Smasher, Sniper. Lots of utility.
Hunter’s Eye is nasty good, giving you an extra 6d6 sneak attack, 3/day for 1 round.

Elegance: Score 1

Take care to list your sources, no listing for unseen seer.
Unseen Seer requires 8 ranks in Search, which you don’t have.
The increase to Warlock “casting” from Unseen Seer only applies to caster level. Invocations are not spells, so you don’t magically get to know 2 lesser invocations as a benefit of increased spellcasting.
Your Eldritch Blast also likewise does not increase from Unseen Seer.


Use of SI: Score 4

Sneak attack, eldritch blast, and CHA boosting for AC are all great uses of the SI’s abilities.


Ursula: Score 16.5
Originality: Score 4

A super intimidating tumbling debuffer.

Power: Score 4

Having been implanted it seems with a mother cyst from the warlock, it’s likely that you’re an unwitting pawn of another being, and at any time the DM could force you to do something against your will, or explode…
Dreadful Wrath is a nice exploitive feat, giving you basically Frightful Presence at least 5 levels before you’d otherwise be able to get it.
You do come out w/ so far I think the highest BAB, and your maneuvers and stances, as well as tactical feats all help you shine in battle.

Elegance: Score 4.75

While Leadership is banned, you are basically using Mother Cyst to surround yourself w/ a bunch of cohorts, who you then bolster with your aura’s. It may not be illegal, but it’s close.
That said, your build is legal.

Use of SI: Score 3.75

I sometimes feel as if Mother Cyst should just be banned from these competitions. It’s very difficult to make it just a component of a build and not have it completely take over all your other choices to make it shine through. I think you’ve stumbled in this regard. Most of your choices are to weaken an opponent to make them more susceptible to a cyst invasion, and not necessarily to highlight Fatemaker. Your charm and suggestion spells do benefit, but they aren’t the focus.

That said, if you take Mother Cyst away, you’re still a very competent team player, and you do use Fatemaker’s abilities to augment the rest of your build.


Felicity: Score 12
Originality: Score 3.5

Exemplar is an odd option for a finisher, but it does allow you to “give out” some of your expertise in the Fatemaker’s skill list to your allies.

Power: Score 3.5

You mention quite a few places that you’re relying on Confidence of the Fated to boost your effectiveness, but you only get 2 uses per day.
Draconic Aura is nice in that it gives those social skills to your allies as well, and it scales its benefit w/ your character level.
Adrenaline Boost seems like a weaker option to granting an extra move action to all your allies.


Elegance: Score 2

Take care to list all of your sources please. (All those things from Dragon Magic, Iaijutsu Focus, Autohypnosis, Comp Scoundrel, I’m sure there’s others.. )
Taking Skilled City Dweller for someone who’s been at war for years, and thus not in an urban environment is sketchy at best.
I’m not a personal fan of suddenly gaining insight into skills that you previously had no experience with simply because a new class has them listed as class skills. You do this repeatedly (7th, 8th, 10th, 15th, 16, 17th, 19th, at some of those levels gaining up to 8 ranks in a skill!). I believe in building a character the entire way, not just taking what is convenient, when it hurts you the least. Further, you go from no ranks at lvl 17 to 22 ranks in Iaijutsu Focus by level 19..
Iaijutsu Focus also requires you to have the Quick Draw feat in order to use it in surprise combat (OA 81) which you don’t have.

Use of SI: Score 3

Your build tends to highlight the non-SI ingredients over the SI itself. Dragonmarks, Aura’s. You synergize your sneak attacking with Marshal’s aura, but overall, I think this is a look what I can do that’s not Fatemaker.


Rizzo: INCOMPLETE
Originality: Score 4.5

Spinning death monkey. So cliché.

Power

On the entry that link takes me to, you should have Darkvision 120ft, and your base saves are F2,R5,W7, and a whole mess of skills you don’t list.

Elegance: Score 1

You list your 2 monstrous HD as levels 1 and 2, as you should, but levels 3 and 4 should be your LA, not 19 and 20 at the end of the build. This means you’d lose your last feat choice of bonus essentia.
I also see +8 to climb, that you don’t list . You list Alertness, but not Iron Will as a bonus feat. You chose to list Great Fortitude instead, which is a pre-req for Drunken Master… You don’t get to cherry pick.
I don’t see where you are getting any of these racial modifiers from either. Whatever you used to convert this from a 2HD and LA+2 creature into what you have listed, I wish you would’ve shared it with the class. As this sits, I can’t judge this.
Your point buy is seriously whacked. It’s at 48 before your supposed racial modifiers (which get applied AFTER point buy, not before).
Thunderstep Boots, assuming the enemy fails the save, would leave them stunned for 1 round, but you’d have to make your attack to apply sneak the next round as you can’t make it in the same attack as the charge. (Stagger does let you apply sneak though w/o the boots, which makes them seem like 2 wasted feats)
I don’t see Feat Rogue in UA, can you provide a page listing please?

Use of SI




Zari: Score 10
Originality: Score 4

A Harry Potteresque tribute. It’s just a closet! A whip wielding, sneak attacking paladin, yea, that’s normal.

Power: Score 3

Soulborn seems a wasted level, taken only for the 1 single extra smite you get from it.
Smite city, but no other real options. Sure you get some sneak attack, and much later on get improved trip, but you’re largely a one trick pony for a long long time.

Elegance: Score 2

Psycarnum Infusion is a psionic feat, requiring you to expend your psionic focus to use, of which you don’t have one.
Again w/ the skills only when it hurts us least, this time at lvl 6, to qualify for lvl 8. After which you never use your craft skill again.
The text of Lasher states that ex-paladins sometimes go this route, which could infer that you lose your paladin abilities in order to become a Lasher. (this is just conjecture)
Lasher does introduce an equipment dependency to function, without a whip, you can’t do anything w/ these 4 levels.
Elemental Smite requires a graft, as you mentioned. You can’t create it as you didn’t take that feat, so you’d have to find someone/something to do it for you. You are further restricted to finding an elemental to draw it from that is the same alignment to yours or you’d lose all your Pally abilities. According to the MM, elementals are “usually neutral” which would conflict w/ chaotic good from Pally on the basis that it isn’t chaotic good.
I’m likewise leery of a paladin of freedom being so comfortable with lying her pants off to everyone in sight.

Use of SI: Score 1

This is an example of optimizing the Smite ability, which appears nowhere in the Fatemaker class. Other then stacking Sneak attack, and creative interpretation of ego manifestation as it relates to a whip attack, you’re not really using the SI. You could have easily replicated this build by taking any number of other classes to make up the 10 levels that you spent in the SI.

[RaiKirah]

Thank you jdizzlean!! Much appreciated!

[Heliomance]

Rizzo: INCOMPLETE
Originality: Score 4.5

Spinning death monkey. So cliché.

Power

On the entry that link takes me to, you should have Darkvision 120ft, and your base saves are F2,R5,W7, and a whole mess of skills you don’t list.

Elegance: Score 1

You list your 2 monstrous HD as levels 1 and 2, as you should, but levels 3 and 4 should be your LA, not 19 and 20 at the end of the build. This means you’d lose your last feat choice of bonus essentia.
I also see +8 to climb, that you don’t list . You list Alertness, but not Iron Will as a bonus feat. You chose to list Great Fortitude instead, which is a pre-req for Drunken Master… You don’t get to cherry pick.
I don’t see where you are getting any of these racial modifiers from either. Whatever you used to convert this from a 2HD and LA+2 creature into what you have listed, I wish you would’ve shared it with the class. As this sits, I can’t judge this.
Your point buy is seriously whacked. It’s at 48 before your supposed racial modifiers (which get applied AFTER point buy, not before).
Thunderstep Boots, assuming the enemy fails the save, would leave them stunned for 1 round, but you’d have to make your attack to apply sneak the next round as you can’t make it in the same attack as the charge. (Stagger does let you apply sneak though w/o the boots, which makes them seem like 2 wasted feats)
I don’t see Feat Rogue in UA, can you provide a page listing please?

Use of SI
[spoiler]



Rules clarifications

LA are not actual levels, and commonly aren't included in build tables. Simply presenting an 18-level table is an entirely acceptable way of presenting a character with 2 LA. I'm not sure why Rizzo wouldn't get the level 18 feat if the LA were inserted earlier in the table?

According to that link, Iron Will isn't a bonus feat (it doesn't have the little B next to it in the statblock). That's just the standard level 1 feat, which most Brood Monkeys genned by the DM as monsters will have as Iron Will. That's absolutely OK to replace.

The racial modifiers are correctly calculated. Standard practise is to subtract 10 from a monster's scores, or 11 if the score is odd, and that's the ability modifiers. I think the rule is in the Monster Manual?

Point buy calculations also seem correct at a glance. The Scores column shows the post-adjustment values, pre-adjustment the array is 16 14 14 14 8 12. The (Points) column show the number of points spent on each stat.

Feat Rogue can be found near the bottom of the page here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm).

When reading a monster entry to make a PC, any listed skills are considered class skills. There's no obligation to spend skill points in the same places as the original monster. Also the monster's listed skills include stat and racial modifiers which are naturally not listed in the table showing how many ranks are spent. The same applies to saves - they don't match with the monster's listed saves because those include the stat bonuses. Brood Monkeys are Monstrous Humanoids, which means they get good Reflex and Will, and bad Fort, along with full BAB.

[RaiKirah]

I'm also going to take this moment to put in my HM vote for Gar because - leaving aside questions of legality and feasibility - this is flat out awesome! :)

[Thurbane]

My HM is Rizzo Fitzgibbon. :smallsmile:

[The Viscount]

Rules clarifications

The racial modifiers are correctly calculated. Standard practise is to subtract 10 from a monster's scores, or 11 if the score is odd, and that's the ability modifiers. I think the rule is in the Monster Manual?


Yes. This rule can also be found on the srd on Monsters as Races (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monstersAsRaces.htm) under the header for Ability Scores for Monster PCs.

[Karl Aegis]

Does this mean I don't have to judge anything? I was having trouble making sense of some abilities because the text doesn't match what some of the builds claim they do. Also, I have a feeling the Nar Demonbinder on the Unapproachable East got changed from the preview to the actual book because the preview says it requires Greater Spell Focus and has an ability that looks like it comes in at seventh level and no seventh level on it's table...

[The Viscount]

Does this mean I don't have to judge anything? I was having trouble making sense of some abilities because the text doesn't match what some of the builds claim they do. Also, I have a feeling the Nar Demonbinder on the Unapproachable East got changed from the preview to the actual book because the preview says it requires Greater Spell Focus and has an ability that looks like it comes in at seventh level and no seventh level on it's table...

If you'd like to judge, we would definitely welcome another person evaluating our builds.
If this is the preview (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20030502a&page=2) Nar Demonbinder was either changed since its publication, or they incorrectly copied the information for the webpage. In the book Nar Demonbinder requires Spell Focus and has a table that matches descriptions and is seven levels long, so you actually get 8th level spell slots.

[jdizzlean]

Does this mean I don't have to judge anything? I was having trouble making sense of some abilities because the text doesn't match what some of the builds claim they do. Also, I have a feeling the Nar Demonbinder on the Unapproachable East got changed from the preview to the actual book because the preview says it requires Greater Spell Focus and has an ability that looks like it comes in at seventh level and no seventh level on it's table...

as a chef in the various comps, more then 1 judge is always welcome. We all think differently after all, and d&d is by and large a subjective game. That can backfire of course, you could agree w/ the other judge/s, or you could not. Either way, 2 or more sets of scores is a better probability than 1 set of scores, unless you're already winning :) Granted there's a round of disputes, and a round of rebuttals to go.

If you're uncomfortable judging quickly this time around, and I say that as an observer, then wait til next time. This is already several weeks past the deadline and a new comp should be up and running. It'll likely take a week or so from now to resolve my judgements such as they are.


I'll work on redoing Rizzo tonight, and getting it done asap so you can start posting the rebuttals I'm sure are in your box o master of the chair.

[jdizzlean]

Sorry for the delay

EDITED to reflect last feat being ok, points only, not the entire body of text in this post..

Because this is a mess to figure out, I’ll address the chairs response first, and then interject those responses by # into the table below.
#1.


LA are not actual levels, and commonly aren't included in build tables. Simply presenting an 18-level table is an entirely acceptable way of presenting a character with 2 LA. I'm not sure why Rizzo wouldn't get the level 18 feat if the LA were inserted earlier in the table?

According to the SRD:

Characters with more than 1 Hit Die because of their race do not get a feat for their first class level as members of the common races do, and they do not multiply the skill points for their first class level by four. Instead, they have already received a feat for their first Hit Die because of race, and they have already multiplied their racial skill points for their first Hit Die by four.
To determine the effective character level (ECL) of a monster character, add its level adjustment to its racial Hit Dice and character class levels.
This means in the build table, Rizzo should have had 2 levels of RHD, and 2 levels of LA as an ECL 4 character before taking ANY classes. This pushes everything else in the build down 2 levels, meaning the feat he has listed at 18, is actually now at 20, where you don’t get a feat. Rizzo didn’t multiply his skill points, but he did pick a 1st level feat, as well as a racial bonus feat.
Also, Templates have LA, and we include those into a build table, so why not include the LA from a monstrous race if it has one in the build table?
#2


According to that link, Iron Will isn't a bonus feat (it doesn't have the little B next to it in the statblock). That's just the standard level 1 feat, which most Brood Monkeys genned by the DM as monsters will have as Iron Will. That's absolutely OK to replace.
Missed the stupid B on Alertness first time through. With respect to #1 above, and your ruling here, replacing it is ok then.

#3

The racial modifiers are correctly calculated. Standard practice is to subtract 10 from a monster's scores, or 11 if the score is odd, and that's the ability modifiers. I think the rule is in the Monster Manual?
I double checked in Savage Species as well. The correct point buy which should’ve been listed is:
S16, D14, C14, I14, W8, C12, to which the racial mod’s (which are correct) then get added, to come out to what you have listed. Kindly dumb down your entry in the future, or spell out what you did so that those of us who are less intellectually gifted can figure it out w/ a minimum of hair pulling. 
#4

Brood Monkeys are Monstrous Humanoids, which means they get good Reflex and Will, and bad Fort, along with full BAB.
Ok, the table presented is correct on these points at 2nd level.

Rizzo: Score 15.5
Originality: Score 4.5

Spinning/Grunting & Snarling death monkey. So cliché.

Power: Score 4

On the entry that link takes me to, you should have Darkvision 120ft
Thunderstep Boots, assuming the enemy fails the save, would leave them stunned for 1 round, but you’d have to make your attack to apply sneak the next round as you can’t make it in the same attack as the charge. (Stagger does let you apply sneak though w/o the boots, which makes them seem like 3 wasted feats) Since you’re investing your 1 pt of essentia into it, you do get 1d4 extra damage, and a pitiful +1 to balance/move silent from the binding, but is that worth 3 feats? I’m not sold that a 1 round stunned condition on a failed fort save is worth those 3 feats.
Further, you could probably argue that since you don’t even need a straight line to charge from Stagger, that if you make your tumble roll, you can just stagger around the enemy and charge them that way, which makes leap attack seem an odd choice to combine w/ power attack as now you’re going in an opposite direction. However, this could just be for the first charge in a round before you do what I’ve stated here I suppose…
Sure Power attack is nice for a pounce-ish build, but I’m not sure that giving up your sneak attack synergy w/ Fatemaker and Rogue is worth it in the long run.


Elegance: Score 4

You list your 2 monstrous HD as levels 1 and 2, as you should, but levels 3 and 4 should be your LA, not 19 and 20 at the end of the build. This means you’d lose your last feat choice of bonus essential (which would’ve given you 3d4 extra damage on your charges, so possibly worth the feats). See #1 above.
#3 above.
I don’t see Feat Rogue in UA, can you provide a page listing please? (chair provided)..
According to SS p. 11, you should be starting w/ 2+INTx(HD+3) skill points, which is 1x5, or 5 skill points, you list 4, we’ll let that go 
You also do the thing w/ skill points that I don’t like. But not really until 13th (15th) lvl for UMD.


Use of SI: Score 3

You get your CHA to AC from battle dancer which is nice w/ your CHA bonus’s from Fatemaker. You have Whirling Flurry of Misses, but when you charge you’re also likely outdistancing yourself from your allies, thus denying them your Aura of Confidence from helping them out until they get back in range. Whirling pounce/charge(Stagger)/Ego/Confidence/Sneak and maybe leap attack all combine to give you one or two nasty attacks a day.
Stagger is really the star of this build, and everything else is a distant 2nd.






/insert "unleash the fury Mitch!" meme here.

[The Viscount]

This means in the build table, Rizzo should have had 2 levels of RHD, and 2 levels of LA as an ECL 4 character before taking ANY classes. This pushes everything else in the build down 2 levels, meaning the feat he has listed at 18, is actually now at 20, where you don’t get a feat. Rizzo didn’t multiply his skill points, but he did pick a 1st level feat, as well as a racial bonus feat.
Also, Templates have LA, and we include those into a build table, so why not include the LA from a monstrous race if it has one in the build table?

To clarify on this point:
What this text boils down to is that RHD work rather like multiclassing. So Rizzo got a feat at 1 like normal, and he gets to choose it like anybody else. The sample Brood Monkey is like a sample character.
Very importantly, ECL 4 affects how you earn xp, but it is not the only thing you use. For the purpose of determining feats, you work just like anything else. A feat at 1st, and then at every 3 HD. When Rizzo took Shape Soulmeld this wasn't his first level feat. He took it because it's his feat for 3 HD (for monsters) just like a feat at level 3 (for regular PCs). The rules are the same. This is why Heliomance said that putting the LA at the end of the chart doesn't affect things. Rizzo still gets a feat at 18HD. It's just that 18HD for Rizzo represents ECL 20.

When chefs put the LA at the end of the chart/don't include it in the chart, it isn't saying that LA is somehow delayed. I'm sure Rizzo's chef understands that at ECL 5 he has 3HD. Putting LA at the end of the chart, or in this case only making a chart 18 levels long is just a neater way of doing it, so that skill caps and feats make sense with the level they're presented with. Including the LA would shift things in the chart down and make it more difficult for someone reading through to check things.

(I'm not Rizzo's chef, just trying to help clarify some rules about playing monsters. If the chair wants me to butt out I will.)

[jdizzlean]

fair enough, but based off my personal experience, if i had a 2hd and 2LA monster i wanted to play as a char, my DM would make me take 4 levels in that before i could apply a class level, which is what my comments are based off of. It's how I would have to play it. I would NEVER be allowed to delay LA to the end of a build, but to apply it when it applies. Doing it somewhere around 150k XP later would get nothing short of lifelong derision.

either way, if Helio specifically wants me to ignore it, then so be it, but i think that only applying 2 racial HD, and not a LA to this race at the moment that its taken is massively overpowered due to the abilities and modifiers it gets. Just looking at the Savage Species version of playing a monstrous character, it's much closer to somewhere around a +3 or +4 LA if you were to try building it from scratch.

Plus, his 3rd HD is at level 5 if you're following my logic, not at 3rd level.

so nevermind, i just realized what I'm saying and what your saying, so confused on this build, stupid monstrous character!

so he still gets the feat, just not til 20, which is his 18th HD... I'll edit my post above since it hasn't been rebutted yet...

[Heliomance]

Several disputes in my inbox, I'll post them later when I'm on an actual computer.

No one is saying the LA doesn't take effect immediately - you're quite correct, Rizzo has 2HD and 2 LA before taking any class levels. However, given that LA is not the same as actual levels, and doesn't grant anything at all, there's little reason to insert two blank rows into the table. If it helps, think of the table as showing HD, not ECL. Yes, this means that when the table shows 3,they're actually ECL 5, but as everything except XP works of HD, that's not really a problem.

Rizzo isn't trying to delay the LA until the end of the build, they're just not bothering to put two empty rows in the table. They still get all the feats shown, because feats purely run off HD.

[jdizzlean]

i amended my original scoring based off the above, and a PM from a board member.

It's probably the omission of those 2 blank rows that is messing the most w/ my ordered mindset more then anything. It basically comes down to a cite your sources issue more then a technical issue.

I believe it's been resolved.

[Zaq]

I have a dispute or two, but it’ll be this evening at the earliest before I’ll have a chance to send it in. Sorry.

[Karl Aegis]

Done with 5 of them. Going to get some sleep so I don't make any poor decisions.

[Heliomance]

Dispute time!


Thank you for stepping up to judge, jdizzlean. I would like to disagree with your assessment about Spellpool debt requiring prepared spells. There are two ways to pay Spellpool debt. I'm going to quote from Complete Arcane. I'm going to add color to this quote for the purpose of discussion.


Every time a spellcaster calls a spell, he incurs a debt. He must return an “energy packet” to the Spellpool: a spell he has prepared of a level equal level to that of the called spell, or a number of spells whose combined levels equal the level of the called spell. For instance, the Spellpool debt for a 5th-level spell is five levels, which could be paid off with another 5th-level spell or any combination of spells whose levels total five.

The blue section outlines paying off a debt with a single prepared spell, which is not in question. The red section, which is clearly delineated as being different by the comma and the word "or," states that a combination of spells (with no mention of those spells being prepared) can be used to pay off debt as well. A combination of stolen spells (or even of spells that are naturally Memyadu's) can explicitly be used for Spellpool debt. Say that Memyadu pulls Displacement (a 3rd level spell) from the Spellpool. She has a spell debt of 3 levels. She can use the Barkskin (level 2) and Shillelagh (level 1) that she stole from Henderson's lackeys to pay off that debt, because it is "a number of spells whose combined levels equal the level of the combined spell," which Complete Arcane outlines as being a black-and-white way of paying the debt.

This is my primary dispute about Memyadu's judgment. (I also believe that you are incorrect about being unable to steal from oneself, but I already laid out my case step-by-step in the build writeup, and I don't think I can make it any clearer, so if you disagree with me, perhaps that is simply how it will have to be, though I would encourage you to reread that section of my writeup if you are willing to do so. To go in another direction, an earlier draft of the build had relied on pulling QP from the Spellpool until I realized that it wasn't in the PHB, but I don't expect you to judge based on something that didn't make the final cut.) I appreciate the score you have given me and do not wish to push much farther than that.

I will, however, submit a comment in defense of Zari. I did not create Zari (or any builds other than Memyadu) and have no vested interest in that build doing well (technically, from a competitive standpoint, I have a disincentive to do this), but I believe that everyone benefits when judgement is fair across the board. Zari absolutely can gain psionic focus and spend it on Psycarnum Infusion; Hidden Talent gives her a PP pool, which is all that is needed to take psionic feats and to gain psionic focus. For that matter, Rattenfänger's swarms clearly meet the definition of "ally" on PHB pg. 304, and Ursula is not under the sway of another warlock; the Mother Cyst feat is extremely different from being implanted with a Necrotic Cyst. You don't make it clear which of your comments increase a score and which comments decrease a score, and Ursula is currently in first place anyway, but as I said, I believe that the competition benefits when everyone is judged fairly, so I'm willing to make these arguments in favor of my competition.

Thank you for your consideration.


originality: can you provide any insight at all as to what my build did to fall short of a 5?

power: I disagree that mother cyst is cheese, but your opinion may well differ. In that case, wouldn't it give me a better power score?

My saves are fantastic. they close out at 8/9/12 base , (not taking into account my indomitable soul ability, which adds on my cha, my highest ability) which are better than a single-classed caster type with a more even spread, who would ultimately end up with 6/6/12. How much better could saves be with 10 levels of fatemaker in the mix?

I don't see the connection between dex bonus (again, I'm a caster type, and we're all on a point buy, dex is not important for this character, and he has wands to use nerveskitter like anyone else, his initiative will be fine) and using WRT.

If I wanted to help out the "party rogue" for whatever reason and she beat me in initiative, then I can activate WRT and let her act again in that same round, dealing enough damage to a flat-footed enemy to kill him without waiting for the next turn. WRT is useful to end combat a round early, so "resetting" the initiative order isn't really at play.

elegance: so you're penalizing me for taking things when they're class skills? I'm sorry, but what? Also, that's not illegal by any metric. The implication if I'm reading this correctly is that I was penalized for taking things when they became class skills under the belief that doing so is illegal. If that's the case, you aren't allowed to do that, that isn't a real rule.

how exactly is one supposed to avoid this penalty? even if I did waste points in UMD cross-class during my crusader levels (for example) I couldn't possibly do this with all skills, I wouldn't be able to pay all my taxes, much less function correctly or be optimized. to say nothing of the other penalties I would've incurred by doing so

uotsi: fatemaker is largely a passive ingredient: take-charge appeal does give me more charisma for nar demonbinder spells and for bargaining with demons and for my indomitable soul ability, yes, but they also boost the social skills granted by fatemaker and fatemaker spells.

the crusader maneuvers selected, alongside the demon summoning mean the sneak attack is more likely to have triggers so it can actually be used. these also make ego manifestation more useful

having a bunch of allies through summons allows aura of confidence to actually be used


My apologies for not listing all of my sources. Autohypnosis is found on the srd under psionic skills. The SLAs from the dragonmarks are all on the srd. You've mentioned where you found the rest.

On Adrenaline Boost:
I understand why you might prefer grant move action. I personally chose Adrenaline Boost because I have options in combat that are generally a better use of my standard action than granting allies a move action, like casting spells and sneak attack.

On Confidence of the Fated:
A numerical bonus to a variety of rolls can easily get lost in a writeup. I mentioned it throughout the build to demonstrate its breadth of utility. I don't expect that you would be using every attempt in a single day; you would use it when important.

On Skilled City Dweller:Before the war Felicity was a resident of Cyre, which like most of the regions in Eberron is highly urbanized. She lived in the city for years before shipping off. This is taken at first level, representing that background.

On skills: Felicity is a character that evolves over time, starting as a soldier, later joining the Fated, and finally becoming an activist. The new classes mark new phases in her life. Building her "all the way" would mean either taking cross-class skills over class skills or ignoring the fact that new classes gain new skills. This is especially important for Exemplar, which grants every skill. You dislike it for elegance reasons, but doing this "for convenience when it hurts me the least" is what many judges expect in terms of power.

If you don't like a fluff explanation, here's a crunch one: Fatemaker has more skill points than Marshal. Exemplar has more skill points than Fatemaker. Certain skills, such as Tumble and Use Magic Device, do not reward further investment once you can hit the flat DCs, especially since you can use Auras to cover for situational modifiers. I have to spend the increased skill points on new class skills.

On Iaijutsu Focus: Yes, I gain a lot of ranks in Iaijutsu Focus in a few levels. Are you implying that there's a rule preventing me from doing so, or that I have my math wrong? In case you are, 2 points from Int, 1 point from human, 8 from exemplar. 3 points go to maintaining previous skills, so 8 are left to spend on iaijutsu focus. Once I hit the cap, I spend the points elsewhere. Iaijutsu focus has very high DCs, so I invested many points to enable me to hit those DCs.
You are correct in that I would need Quick Draw to use Iaijutsu Focus in surprise rounds. You will note that I have not mentioned surprise rounds as a source of Iaijutsu Focus damage. The paragraph after the one you are referring to, still on page 82 gives the rules for Iaijutsu Focus in normal combat, a base attack bonus of +1 allows you to draw your weapon while moving, and then you can attack an opponent if your initiative was sufficient to go before them. For this reason I mentioned and boosted initiative. Acrobatic Backstab is another means of rendering an opponent flatfooted, which is executed as part of movement (thus allowing you to draw) which is why I mentioned this as well.

On use of the Secret Ingredient: I do indeed focus heavily on Auras in this build because all of a Marshal's minor auras depend on Charisma. Fatemaker's take charge appeal results in a higher bonus from my auras, so capitalizing on them is using the SI.


First off, thank you jdizzlean for stepping up and judging!

A couple disputes as follows:

Power Score: I chose See the Unseen instead of Darkness because shadows are relatively easy to come by to trigger the Dark template HiPS, and for when they're not a wand of Darkness should suffice. On the other hand being able to see invisible folks helps with scouting completeness, and it's more important to have up all the time than darkness, as being ambushed is not great. Don't think this should make a difference to the score, just wanted to explain my reasoning.

Elgance Score: Yeah, I'll cop to forgetting Search as a requirement. Rather frustrating since I could have made it work, but ah well. However, I'm going to draw your attention to page 18 of Complete Arcane (sorry about lack of source siting by the way) under the section called Warlocks and Prestige Classes, wherein it explicitly spells out what happens for PrCs with +1 (Arcane) Spellcasting. Namely that it advances CL, EB damage, and Invocations known. So if I had qualified for Unseen Seer it would have worked as I intended.

That's it. Thanks again!



Psycarnum Infusion is a psionic feat, requiring you to expend your psionic focus to use, of which you don’t have one.






Level


Class


Base Attack Bonus


Fort Save


Ref Save


Will Save


Skills


Feats


Class Features



1st
Human Paragon
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff + 4, Intimidate +4, Diplomacy +4, Knowledge The Planes +4, Knowledge Religion +5
Hidden Talent (Force Screen), Power Attack








Level


Class


Base Attack Bonus


Fort Save


Ref Save


Will Save


Skills


Feats


Class Features



1st
Human Paragon
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff + 4, Intimidate +4, Diplomacy +4, Knowledge The Planes +4, Knowledge Religion +5
Hidden Talent (Force Screen), Power Attack




I have psionic power from my father, wanted or not. It is something I've always had.
During my time as a Fated they required me to learn of meditation for spellcasting purposes. While I'm definitely not great at it, I did learn to get my self to a peaceful state at the beginning of each day. There I prepare my limited magic, and align my ancestry. My mother's power flows into me allowing me to smite all who deserve it much more often. I am unsure exactly how it works but I believe it is a combination of my mother and father's bloodline that allows me to do it as that is what the Fated believe. They believe that it was my Fate to possess two radically different abilities that can somehow merge into one.

At the beginning of the day Zari can take 20 on concentration since there is no threat to become psionically focused. During Zari's morning meditations she is able to utilize her Psycharnum Infusion into her Sapphire Smite. This grants all of her differing Smites a bonus in numbers per day and in damage. This means at level 20 she gains a bonus of 4 uses per day of her Smite Opposition in addition to 4 additional uses of Smite Evil, and 4 additional uses of Elemental Smite.


Lasher does introduce an equipment dependency to function, without a whip, you can’t do anything w/ these 4 levels.Elemental Smite requires a graft, as you mentioned. You can’t create it as you didn’t take that feat, so you’d have to find someone/something to do it for you. You are further restricted to finding an elemental to draw it from that is the same alignment to yours or you’d lose all your Pally abilities.
While indeed I can't fight as well without a whip, I have yet to ever be caught without a whip in a battle that I could have hoped to win. The one time that I have been caught in combat without a whip I took the only reasonable option. I fled, using the magic I learned from the Fated. But with a little bit of time and some spare materials I did learn to make a whip from my time with the Fated. While it is not of great craftsmanship it will do. That and I am no longer poor, purchasing a whip is fairly simple, and I have not yet lost my whip that I use in my day to day life once.

Now let me tell you a story of this Magmin I met. His name was Rory, and "she" was a Fated as well. The only creature from the elemental plane of fire that I had ever met that was so interested in bringing down the governments of the worlds, while not out to kill the common man. "She" was something else! When I learned of the procedure from her I was hesitant at first, but the abiliites that her heritage was able to grant me are truly potent indeed. I was very glad that Fate lead her to me, and that she trusted me enough to grant me this boon.


Magmin are Chaotic Neutral, and the order of the Fated would very well bring in some unusuals. So it is not a stretch at all that a Chaotic Good Magmin could exist and would be drawn to the order of the Fated. I mean who makes laws against burning down buildings? I know it was an alternate, but if it isn't possible to have the Elemental Smite feat I did offer an alternative, although nowhere near as powerful.


Other then stacking Sneak attack, and creative interpretation of ego manifestation as it relates to a whip attack, you’re not really using the SI. You could have easily replicated this build by taking any number of other classes to make up the 10 levels that you spent in the SI.


I'll be honest, and I'll be blunt. The class didn't offer much of anything to go off of. There was hardly anything in the entire class that warranted me spending more than 5 levels, much less 10. However the theme of the class is what I chose to take from it. I utilized the fairly limited and weak abilities of the class as best I could but tried to keep with the theme of the class through the full of the build. Zari's abilities as a whole can only come from one with the ancestries and background that she has. I am sure you could change her backstory, change the way she gets her abilities, but no matter how you figure its going to be hard to make a Psycharnum Paladin that uses a whip and lies without a little bit of fate for the character.


Thank you for judging. My apologies for not being clear about how I was adapting brood monkey. The IC rules don't really cover how to include racial HD or LA.



On the entry that link takes me to, you should have Darkvision 120ft, and your base saves are F2,R5,W7, and a whole mess of skills you don’t list.


The Darkvision 60' was a mistake, it should be 120' as you noted. (Darkvision wasn't all that important to what I was trying to do with the build.)

Monstrous humanoids have good Ref and Will saves, as per MM p. 311. I have them listed on the build table without the ability score modifiers or feats, as I believe that is how they are typically listed in Iron Chef. The saves listed in the Brood Monkey entry are +0/+3/+3 with the ability scores and Iron Will added.

For skill points, the brood monkey gets a +4 racial bonus on Balance, Jump, and Tumble checks. They also get a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks. However, I don't believe I listed these racial bonuses on the build table. It's actually difficult to tell where the brood monkey's 5 skill points were placed, once you subtract feats and ability score modifiers... looks like there's only 1 rank in Listen and 1 rank in Spot. The designer have miscalculated the Str penalty on Climb/Jump (it should be -1, not -2) or forgotten to put -1 ACP on Tumble, and may have assumed Listen/Spot were cross-class skills (they aren't).

To calculate Rizzo's skill points, I used Rizzo's Int 8 = 1 skill point per level/HD. For his first HD, he gets 4 skill points, and 1 skill point for his second HD. As per MM page 7, "All listed skills are class skills, unless the creature has a character class (noted in the entry)." So for his first HD, I put two ranks in Jump and Tumble, which are class skills. For his second HD, 1 rank went into Tumble.

I assumed Rizzo would be "leveling up" in monster HD before he gained any class levels, so I picked his skill points and feats accordingly. But I didn't explain this, and other DMs might not allow this or handle it differently.



Elegance: Score 1
You list your 2 monstrous HD as levels 1 and 2, as you should, but levels 3 and 4 should be your LA, not 19 and 20 at the end of the build.


There is no standard format for listing Level Adjustment on the table. Some IC chefs list it at the beginning of the table, some at the end, and some just leave it off. Rather than list LA as a "level" on the table, I just left the table entries for 19th and 20th off the table. This makes it easier to calculate HD for feats and skill points. Sorry if I caused any confusion with this.



This means you’d lose your last feat choice of bonus essentia.
I also see +8 to climb, that you don’t list . You list Alertness, but not Iron Will as a bonus feat. You chose to list Great Fortitude instead, which is a pre-req for Drunken Master… You don’t get to cherry pick.


2 HD + 16 class levels is still enough to get a feat at 18th.

Alertness is a bonus feat, which I can't change. However, a "customized" brood monkey *can* pick a different feat other than Iron Will, as per MM page 7:

"If you wish to customize the creature with new feats, you can reassign its other feats, but not its bonus feats."

Whether or not I'm allowed to customize feats/skill points... that's something certain DMs might rule against, but I don't recall this as not being allowed in previous Iron Chef contests.



I don’t see where you are getting any of these racial modifiers from either. Whatever you used to convert this from a 2HD and LA+2 creature into what you have listed, I wish you would’ve shared it with the class.


Calculating racial ability score modifiers is explained in the MM pages 6-7: "Except where noted otherwise, each creature is assumed to have the standard array of ability scores before racial adjustments (all 11s and 10s). To determine any creature's racial ability adjustments, subtract 10 from any even-numbered ability score and subtract 11 from any odd-numbered score."

Brood Monkey:
Str 8 - 10 = -2
Dex 15 - 11 = +4
Con 15 - 11 = +4
Int 5 - 11 = -6
Wis 14 - 10 = +4
Cha 12 - 10 = +2

These are the racial ability modifiers I listed on my table, and they were applied after the point buy, as you specify.

Str 16 (10 points) - 2 = 14
Dex 14 (6 points) + 4 = 18
Con 14 (6 points) + 4 = 18
Int 14 (6 points) - 6 = 8
Wis 8 (0 points) + 4 = 12
Cha 12 (4 points) + 2 = 14

Hopefully this makes more sense than the table I provided.



Thunderstep Boots, assuming the enemy fails the save, would leave them stunned for 1 round, but you’d have to make your attack to apply sneak the next round as you can’t make it in the same attack as the charge. (Stagger does let you apply sneak though w/o the boots, which makes them seem like 2 wasted feats)


Yes, failing the save on Thunderstep Boots means the target will be stunned on Rizzo's next turn, not on the initial charge. But his next turn will very likely also be a charge, as Rizzo can back up and circle around to the same target via Stagger. There should be hardly any rounds where Rizzo is not charging. The save vs. stun gives him the possibility of some bonus damage on subsequent turns and a chance to "stun-lock" the opponent with multiple failed saves. I don't see anything in the text for Stagger that has to do with sneaking or sneak attack. Thunderstep Boots was added as a way for Rizzo to enjoy the benefits of the 3d6 sneak attack provided by Fatemaker.



I don’t see Feat Rogue in UA, can you provide a page listing please?


UA p. 58, under "Other Class Variants".



All the skills you take as Master of Flies are cc (other than disguise), but you spend normal points to get them.
Meaning among other things, you don't qualify for Doomspeak when you take it.
This of course trickles down the entire build.

This is actually incorrect. The build accounted for the increased skill cost of purchasing cross-class skill ranks.

For example, take level 6. Master of Flies provides 6 skill points per level, and von Hameln has a 16 Intelligence, providing a total of 9 skill points.

At level 6, von Hameln makes the following skill purchases:

->1 rank in bluff (cross-class, costs 2 skill points)
->1 rank in concentration (cross-class, costs 2 skill points)
->1 rank in disguise (in-class, costs 1 skill point)
->1 rank in perform (pipes) (cross-class, costs 2 skill points)
->1 rank in use magic device (cross-class, costs 2 skill points)

All told, that is 9 skill points, used to purchase 5 skill ranks (4 cross-class, 1 in-class). Because all of these have previously been in-class skill ranks for von Hameln, his skill rank cap is his level +3, so the only issue is that at these levels he must spend two points to purchase each rank, which his decent Intelligence and high class skill points allows him to do.


I'm not entirely sold on the swarms, as summoned creatures, benefitting from aura of confidence... ...I think it's a pretty big grey area.

Allies are defined in the PHB glossary (p304) as a "creature friendly to you." Not extraordinarily helpful, I know, but if we look at the creatures von Hameln is surrounding himself with, we've got:

->Vermin summoned via the pied piper ability. These vermin are considered charmed and are therefore friendly by RAW; the creature "regard(s) you as its trusted friend and ally (treat the target's attitude as friendly)."
->Swarms summoned via summon swarm and converted into hiveminds via Dark Speech. These are controlled as if via a suggestion spell rather than a charm spell.

I think that by RAW, there is no grey area regarding the first category, as they explicitly meet the definition of allies as provided in the PHB. The second category could theoretically be considered a grey area... except that if a DM rules that summoned creatures do not automatically count as allies, von Hameln has multiple ways to easily convert his swarms to friendly regardless. If the hivemind has between 5 and 10 hit die, a use of Dark Speech's dread power will master them and treat them as charmed. If not, the easiest option is diplomacy. It is a DC 15 diplomacy check to convert an indifferent creature to friendly. By taking a -10 to his check, von Hameln can perform this as a full round action, meaning he can perform this while still maintaining concentration on the swarm via his Swift Concentration skill trick (which is available out of combat every two minutes). By level 12, when the Aura of Confidence ability goes online, von Hameln possesses at minimum a +24 diplomacy check (15 ranks, +4 synergy, Cha 20 before items), so this should be literally impossible to fail. (Realistically von Hameln can reach significantly higher diplomacy scores at this point with abilities such as confidence of the fated and loresong, spells and level appropriate items, but the minimum here is sufficient.)

Thanks for judging, and for reviewing these disputes.


Thanks for judging!

I don't have any major concerns (I'm certainly happy with the score she received!), but I did have one minor clarification. You mention that it's likely that Ursula is an unwitting pawn of another being, and the DM could force her to act against her will or explode. While her backstory does imply that she was implanted with a cyst herself during her battle outside the Urlingwood, the actual cyst that she possesses is a mother cyst, which is different from a standard necrotic cyst. A necrotic cyst is vulnerable to all of the things you mentioned, but a mother cyst is not (you can see the distinctions on pages 28 and 68 of Libris Mortis where cysts are discussed). Mechanically, I don't believe there is any method in Libris Mortis to take control of a mother cyst the way you would a standard necrotic cyst.

While the fluff on cysts in Libris Mortis is fairly minimal, my intention with the backstory was to imply that while she was infected with a cyst during her raid on the Fortress of the Half-Demon, by mothering it and protecting it as she had done with the members of her Fang, it developed into a mother cyst instead (as represented mechanically by her taking of the Mother Cyst feat).

(It's not really relevant to the contest, but her inspiration was the Slavic goddess Zorya Utrennyaya, the morning-star goddess who would accompany Perun into battle and protect those warriors she favored, and who in some myths eventually gave birth to the stars. Ursula takes a bit more of a sinister approach to motherhood than the goddess who inspired her, and is not a straight analog, but that was my starting point when envisioning this character.)

[Karl Aegis]

Rattenfänger von Hameln

Originality: 3

I can't say I saw a swarm summoner coming, but several other builds have summoning capabilities. I have seen changling used to get around requirements, however. In this case it's a dexterity requirement on the Quick Change feat.
Elegance: 1.5

Mimicking Song, but no Move Silently Ranks. Sonorous Hum but only one concentration spell. Share Talents is cited to be in Spell Compendium, but is in Player's Handbook II. You've got me digging through books for minor abilities that ultimately don't do what you say they do. Notably, the feat Dark Speech does not give you the Dark Unity ability and Pied Piper doesn't let you control vermin: they just follow you around for as long as you concentrate. I won't overlook these things.
Power: 1.5

As noted above, you don't actually have the keystone of your build: Dark Unity. You only get one use of Swift Concentration an encounter, but several major components of your build require your standard action every turn: Pied Piper, Inspire Awe, Summon Swarm. Dark Speech and Doomspeak also need your standard action and, arguably, Confidence of the Fated. This is before we get to spells.

Three hit dice of vermin until level 19 that only defend themselves is not strong. You can't even use magical pipes to attract them into your thirty foot radius because they use Perform(Wind Instruments)! Speaking of 30 feet, most of your abilities require you to be at most 30 feet away from your target. You have 12 constitution and a d6 hit dice starting out, you do not want to be that close. Your bad fortitude save doesn't do you any favors, either.

To top it off, you don't have any languages listed. Most of your abilities need some form of communication to function. The planes are a wide and varied place, so your starting languages won't even cut it. I hope you have enough wands of Tongues!
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2

You tried. You really did. Lore Song plus Confidence of the Fated is the only combination of abilities that works together. Everything else is too unreliable work together. You tried making Aura of Confidence work for you, but it didn't work out.

Maxwell the Magnificent

Originality: 2
You're a human with mother cyst. Most everyone else is also some flavor of (Human). There is, in fact, another human with mother cyst.
Elegance: 2

You don't have a constitution score listed.
Necrotic Domination doesn't work on Outsiders or Elementals. You say it does, but it doesn't.
You dump intimidate like a hot can of beans as soon as you realize you need concentration to cast your 1 round action summoning spells. Your really low caster level summoning spells.
Power: 2

Ultimately, you're an amalgamation of low-level abilities that tries to tack Planar Binding on the tail end of their build. Sorry to break it to you, but suddenly being able to call 6 hit dice outsiders is not a very strong ability when you get it. Your Crusader levels get you your low level abilities, but then you restart with a completely new set of abilities that require you to ditch your armor and rely on your lack of a constitution score and merely average dexterity.
No languages, either. I don't see how you expected to use your skill in diplomacy. Or communicate with your conjured goons.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
This is very much a Nar Demonbinder build. You spend almost all of your resources getting into the class with very little payoff.

Memyadu, the Spell Embezzler
Originality: 4

It's the Delay Potion build we all wanted to see in the Arboreal Guardian round! You would have scored higher if we didn't see as many (Human) characters as we did. We also had another Dark Creature.
Elegance: 4
Besides a level here or there everything fits together nicely. The Mage of the Arcane Order level sticks out like a sore thumb because you lose quite a few skill points that level. I'm just glad I don't have to point out anything not working at a glance.
Power:3
First off, you are horrendously squishy and have a poor fortitude save. RAW, your Confidence of the Fated ability would be a standard action to activate, but it would hang around like auras do until it's expended. Probably. So it helps there in case you run face first into a group of Bodaks. You aren't losing points for not being a trapfinder, but I am disappointed you aren't. Ultimately, you are a spellthief with slightly different skills and spells. While you probably aren't slicing and dicing through everything within a single round, you are better off than most people.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 3

It's there and it's contributing. You don't take it all, but you don't really have a reason to. A +1 here or there doesn't really help much. Hey, at least you can steal Ego Manifestation from somebody else, right? Kudos for managing to include something else that manages to work with someone else. Ultimately, you are better off for taking this class than taking levels in spellthief.

Gar Hogchoker

Originality: 2
I can't even believe this is a thing. I guess that counts for something.
Elegance: 1
Crane Clan Human and Illumian are two distinct races. A Lawful character cannot be a Fatemaker. Escape Artist is not a class skill. Skills bounce around with no pattern or predictability. Etherial is not a dragon. What are these weapons are the top and two weapon fighting at the bottom. That's not what Confidence of the Fated says it does. It's all a confusing mess. I am ready to pull my hair out.
Power: 1
To be frank, your gimmick doesn't work. Escape Artist: Squeezing into a tight space requires at least a minute. Even if it didn't, you're in your target's square and provoke an attack of opportunity for trying to activate a spell-like ability. You.. have no spell-like abilities that I recognize that can be quickened. Your real power is you can use items as a sorceror. Get your hands on the right items and you can do anything. However, this competition is not about getting the right items. It's about getting a tasteful build.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 1
You have it on your sheet. Beyond using it for sneak attack, you don't use it for anything else.


Kasia, Breaker of Chains

Originality: 2
We've already seen a Dark (Human) before and nothing particularly stands out as exciting in your build.
Elegance: 2
Battle Dancer doesn't grant Sense Motive as a class skill. Battle Dancer doesn't even seem that useful. A dip doesn't do much for your build. It's more like a compost, but a compost that can't be used as fertilizer. It's.... debris. Your build feeds itself with debris. On the other end, you don't have the right skills to qualify for Unseen Seer.
Power:2
You're a face that tried to be a scout, but you spread your resources too thin. A poor save doesn't help in the front. Neither does Medium size. You don't have evasion, either. Nor trapfinding. Nor any knowledge skills. "I saw a thing!" Doesn't really cut it for a scout. Not much damage, either.
Use of Secret Ingredient: 4
You get a good score for Use of Secret Ingredient because.... there isn't much else there. The build is so unfocused there is only the Secret Ingredient to hold it all together. It doesn't build from anything. It doesn't go anywhere. It just exists by itself in the middle of the build as some sort philosophical statement that I don't understand. "Clear your build of all that is not Fatemaker. Only then can you become a Fatemaker." Or something like that.

Ursula Utrennyaya

Originality: 3
It's a Blade/Blade build. We've seen other humans this round. Mother Cyst was seen as well.

Elegance: 3
You jump between classes a few times. You start off strong with Iron Heart manuevers, but drop them in favor of White Raven. You don't list any languages despite having abilities that require interaction.

Power: 3

You do have a few skills maxed out. A few Warblade manuevers do help out in the late game, but you don't really scale into the late game. You rely on getting into your opponent's face and touching them. Stoneskin isn't enough to take a full attack from a pair of giants. You claim Charm spells can immediately turn enemies into allies, but the spell only makes them friendly. They have no reason to fight for you. The stacking save debuffs are nice.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
Your use of Fatemaker is really incidental to the build. Your build is really Stormguard Warrior plus Sickening Grasp. Fatemaker just contributes slots to the build. Any slots would have done since you use two feats just to get the sickened condition. It's very much a Warblade build with Fatemaker in there because it has to be in there.

Felicity Pip

Originality: 3
Another Human. Another Marshal. Another Build.

Elegance: 3
If nothing else it flows together. I see where you're going each level and see what you're trying to do. Just adding Iajutsu focus on the end is a little weird though. Ditto with Autohypnosis. Hmmm. No source for Iajutsu Focus. Or Autohypnosis.

Power: 2
Unfortunately, you take a low-level concept and try to bring it into the higher levels. It mostly does the same thing you've been doing the entire time, but with bigger numbers. Your BAB isn't what it could be, either. Your feats seem to be out there for what you're trying to do.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 3
Fatemaker is being used, but it isn't taking center stage. I see what you're trying to do with your auras and skill. I see you're trying to bump up a few checks later in the game. Maybe if you had showcased a few abilities more.

Rizzo Fitzgibbon

Originality: 3
It's a charger. We finally see Evasion. Some Incarnum. Not quite a human. We see some languages this time. Great Fortitude to shore up a save. Unfortunately, someone else also did a Battle Dancer and used it similarly.

Elegance: 2
While you say you have two languages, Mostly Grunting and Snarling, very few other creatures use these languages. They very well may be unique to you. You also only qualify for one of them due to having no intelligence bonus. This limits the functionality of your Charm spells. Untrained Pantomime with only a few points of charisma bonus doesn't really go very far. I'm not even sure you can survive a night reveling with Drunken Masters without being extraordinarily embarassed because you only speak one of your two very exotic lanuages. It's easy to make fun of a hairless, tailess monkey that don't speak no languages we understand.
Speaking of Drunken Master, I don't see how Stagger let's you use a charge action every turn. Sure, it says you don't have to move in a straight line, but it doesn't say you don't have to move directly toward your target.
Your skills are all over the place. They jump around too much and most of them seem only to be used for prerequisites. Same with classes.
Mimic is just there with no real use or other investment.

Power: 2
You're a standard charger with a rider effect. While you do damage, I don't really believe that's enough to give you a higher rating. Your Battle Dancer and Monstrous Humanoid levels really put you out of the skill game and you don't have anything that hits a reflex save, so I can't give you points for being able to target all three saves. Lost BAB is Lost BAB.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
It's there and has a chance to give you something, but you don't have the ability to really take advantage of anything.

The Fated Zari

Originality: 3
Another (Human), but a different (Human). I didn't expect a smite focused build, but that's because Fatemaker has nothing to do with smiting.
Whip it. Whip it good. The only build that used whip proficiency from the class.

Elegance: 2
Elemental Smiting and Elemental Smite are from two different sourcebooks and you don't qualify for one of them. Soulborn and Lasher at 7 and 8 seem odd considering you already have your first level in Fatemaker. You have 5 ranks in a skill at first level and Bluff just drops to 13 ranks at level 20 with no explanation.

Power: 3
Chain whip smiting! Whip 'em down, whip 'em hard! It's a melee build that has a chance to improve other melee builds without having to stand in melee range of some of the bigger and uglier things out there.

Use of Secret Ingredient: 2
You got the whip down. However, nothing else really has anything to do with Fatemaker.

[georgie_leech]

I'm noticing a common element to a lot of those UoSI's. As an observer, I'm not sure there is much to actually be done to make a focussed build around Fatemaker. The class itself is unfocused :smalltongue:

[Karl Aegis]

I think the key this round is to have a build so bad that you have to rely on the secret ingredient to get anywhere. Maybe starting with a weak, dead-end class like a swashbuckler or a dragon shaman.

[daremetoidareyo]

I'm noticing a common element to a lot of those UoSI's. As an observer, I'm not sure there is much to actually be done to make a focussed build around Fatemaker. The class itself is unfocused :smalltongue:

I think it may just be the judge pool. I'm seeing some fantastic UoSI.

[Zaq]

Thank you for judging, Karl! I have no complaints.

This was a difficult ingredient to use. I agree with georgie and dare. It’s correct that it’s unfocused as hell. I also believe that there was some excellent creativity on display from our fine chefs. Only through struggle can we grow.

[georgie_leech]

I think it may just be the judge pool. I'm seeing some fantastic UoSI.

Oh sure, the chefs performed admirably given the ingredient. For emphasis, given the ingredient. This particular ingredient doesn't exactly make for the tastiest dish though. :smallbiggrin:

[Zaq]

Is now a good time to put in HM votes? I vote for Rattenfänger. I’m impressed that anyone managed to make Aura of Confidence, if not the true centerpiece of the build, at least a defining characteristic of the build.

[Venger]

very thorough judging, Karl Aegis. no disputes from me.

[The Viscount]

Entry
Stub
Karl Aegis score
jdizzlean score
Total


Memyadu, the Spell Embezzler
CN Dark Vaulkrau Illumian Spellthief 9/Fatemaker 9/Mage of the Arcane Order 1
14
15.25
29.25


Ursula Utrennyaya
Human Warblade 6/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10
11
16.5
27.5


Rizzo Fitzgibbon
CN Brood Monkey Monstrous Humanoid 2/Battle Dancer 1/Barbarian 1/Feat Rogue 2/Drunken Master 2/Fatemaker 10
9
15.5
24.5


Kasia, Breaker of Chains
CG Dark Human Battle Dancer 1/Warlock 4/Fatemaker 9/Unseen Seer 5
10
13
23


Felicity Pip, Thumb in the Eye of Destiny
CN Human Marshal 6/Fatemaker 10/Exemplar 4
11
12
23


Maxwell the Magnificent
CE Human Crusader 5/Fatemaker 10/Nar Demonbinder 5
8
14.75
22.75


Rattenfanger von Hameln
NE Changeling Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5
8
13.75
21.75


The Fated Zari
CG Azurin Human Paragon 2/Paladin of Freedom 3/Fatemaker 1/Soulborn 1/Lasher 1/Fatemaker 10/Lasher 4
10
10
20


Gar Hogchoker
LN Draconic Crane Clan Illumian Sorcerer 6/Marshal 3/Fatemaker 10
5
12
17



Have a table!

Much appreciated Karl Aegis, no disputes from me.

My HM goes to The Fated Zari.

EDIT: Table now reflects adjustment for Maxwell. will mark new updates as they come.

[Zaq]

Can I just say that I actually really like all the entries that came out of this round? Every single one had something to catch my interest, whether crunch or fluff.

Also, shockingly little class overlap this time around. Hadn't quite realized just how diverse the entries were before seeing them all compiled into a table like that.

[Darrin]

Many thanks, Viscount. I logged in tonight with the intention to throw together a table, but you beat me to it.

My HM goes to Gar Hogchoker, which almost earns it just on the name alone, but what it can do... that came from a pretty warped corner of a seriously demented mind. (In other words, my kind of mind.)

[Long_shanks]

HM to Gar as well. That is a masterpiece.

[danielxcutter]

Same here for Gar as HM.

[Karl Aegis]

Noticed something recently that I didn't notice while judging. Should I edit it in? No points are going to be changing due to my negligence.


Maxwell the Magnificent doesn't have a deity listed so he doesn't match his deity's alignment for his Arcane Disciple. This has a cascading effect on the build where he doesn't have knowledge of a summon monster spell for Nar Demonbinder, he has some empty spells known for Fatemaker and, ultimately, his build doesn't work.

[The Viscount]

Can I just say that I actually really like all the entries that came out of this round? Every single one had something to catch my interest, whether crunch or fluff.

Also, shockingly little class overlap this time around. Hadn't quite realized just how diverse the entries were before seeing them all compiled into a table like that.

You're right about that. As someone mentioned Fatemaker doesn't have much in the way of focus, but it means that it allows many paths to entry. The only real overlap we saw was marshal, which was the real Vizzini choice for this round, or really any round with SF Diplo.


Noticed something recently that I didn't notice while judging. Should I edit it in? No points are going to be changing due to my negligence.


Maxwell the Magnificent doesn't have a deity listed so he doesn't match his deity's alignment for his Arcane Disciple. This has a cascading effect on the build where he doesn't have knowledge of a summon monster spell for Nar Demonbinder, he has some empty spells known for Fatemaker and, ultimately, his build doesn't work.



The Great Mother has generously granted you access to the summoner domain.

The Great Mother is mentioned in the playtips, and has a CE alignment. Checks out.

[Karl Aegis]

You're right about that. As someone mentioned Fatemaker doesn't have much in the way of focus, but it means that it allows many paths to entry. The only real overlap we saw was marshal, which was the real Vizzini choice for this round, or really any round with SF Diplo.





The Great Mother is mentioned in the playtips, and has a CE alignment. Checks out.

Hmmmm. I don't see a source for The Great Mother with both Summoner Domain and CE alignment. I thought the newest version was the LE one in Lords of Madness with the Hatred Domain.

[The Viscount]

Interesting. Deities are always kind of spotty.
The Great Mother is CE all through Complete Divine, and in Fiendish Codex I (published later) the Great Mother is in the Abyss, which would require CE alignment.

[jdizzlean]

I'm not ignoring disputes, but once again as it seems i have an essay to read/write for each one, it's going to take longer.

I'm also fighting an epic cold.

I'll try to get to it before this weekend, I may be posting on them individually instead of all at once..

[jdizzlean]

Memyadu:

a comma in a sentence does not represent an entirely different meaning in the subject of said sentence. In this case, it's simply telling you that you can pay it off w/ 1 prepared spell of the same level OR with multiple lesser leveled prepared spells that add up to a higher level.

no score change.

Maxwell:

Originality: you're not the only human, you're not the only mother cyst (and horrible cheese actually gets penalized, not awarded points)
Saves: fair enough, +.25
WRT: I'm not part of the "omg WRT breaks the game" gang. You do nothing to boost your initiative w/in the build, you do nothing to boost your DEX score to help that out either. (equipment dependencies to do so would likewise also be a penalty) So all you're doing is hoping that your init roll "might" help someone else out. I don't see that as beneficial when its very circumstantial.
Elegance/Skills: I'm penalizing you for not BUILDING a character the entire way. You set out knowing where you were going with this character, but you chose to only invest in certain things when it was most beneficial to you, rather then BUILD a character throughout. I've been quite persistent on this throughout all my judging's.
UofSI: no score change.
Summons: a summoned creature isn't friendly to you, SNA explicitly states that creatures summoned are neutral. Summon Monster doesn't state that they are friendly or not, you're assuming they are, I'm saying they're neutral...

Power. 3.75, total 14.75

[Thurbane]

Has Acolyte of the Ego ever been an ingredient, or requested?

Never mind, found it... http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?372145-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LX

[Karl Aegis]

Nah, it's around the time we do a Complete Warrior class again like Ravager or something bad like that. Book is full of bad.

D-do I have a bunch of disputes lined up for me? It is my first time judging.

[Venger]

Nah, it's around the time we do a Complete Warrior class again like Ravager or something bad like that. Book is full of bad.

D-do I have a bunch of disputes lined up for me? It is my first time judging.

That would be a blast. Personally, I prefer non-casting ingredients, since I don't have to block off huge swaths of the game as potential ingredients in my build.

Since 3 chefs said they had no disputes, it probably won't be that many, but it's usual to have at least some. If you get disputes, don't take it personally, it's all part of the process. Is it really your first time judging? It doesn't show.

[Karl Aegis]

That would be a blast. Personally, I prefer non-casting ingredients, since I don't have to block off huge swaths of the game as potential ingredients in my build.

Since 3 chefs said they had no disputes, it probably won't be that many, but it's usual to have at least some. If you get disputes, don't take it personally, it's all part of the process. Is it really your first time judging? It doesn't show.

Yeah, I've only been in one competition before. I had the wizard entry in the Arboreal Guardian round when I really, really should have entered with Eberron Adept instead because I really only used the Adept Spell List, but with Teleport. It was... embarassing. A little.

[Venger]

Yeah, I've only been in one competition before. I had the wizard entry in the Arboreal Guardian round when I really, really should have entered with Eberron Adept instead because I really only used the Adept Spell List, but with Teleport. It was... embarassing. A little.

do you mean magewright, or does eberron have special rules for adepts? I forget.

[Karl Aegis]

do you mean magewright, or does eberron have special rules for adepts? I forget.

They can choose a Cleric Domain like Plant Domain so you can cast Entangle for qualifying for Arboreal Guardian.

[Heliomance]

More disputes!



optimizing the entire build to blow ego manifestation through the roof is hilarity. However you’re not really using or optimizing anything else about fatemaker.


the elegance score i can forgive. The power score is legit too. But as far as use of si, i couldn't disagree more.

I synergized being able to cast in light armor, and chose a light armor that makes escape artist checks awesome.

I have multiple attacks per round, which takes great advantage of sneak attack. Craven expands that to huge bonus damage. The escape attack skill trick expands that even further.

Take charge appeal lends strength to charisma casting as well as marshal auras.

I can extend confidence of the fated for extra rounds with the use of the battlebred feat, not just a single roll. That's the best exploitation of that ability of all of the builds submitted.

Draconic claw allows me to cast and attack every round.

I optimize one of fatemakers little appreciated skills through the roof.

Not to mention the righteous might optimization.

Every single class feature is optimized as much as possible.

-----

you are correct that i didn't make it obvious what power sigils were chosen. It's aesh and uur. I forget what power word that is, probably because it stinks more than the pluses from the induvidual sigils. You can see that aesh was chosen in the raw strength score stacking table near the bottom. But it is tucked away.


gar hogchoker disputes!

karl aegis:

originality: 2
i can't even believe this is a thing. I guess that counts for something.

why the dismal score then?

karl aegis and jdizzlean

elegance: 1
crane clan human and illumian are two distinct races.

let me ask you a question, can a drow elf take the elf dilettante feat? Why or why not?

I ask because illumians are as human as a drow is elf.


humans are the dominant race in oriental adventures, as they are in the player’s handbook. In the featured campaign setting of rokugan, they rule the mighty emerald empire, though they are the youngest race of that young world. The humans of rokugan group themselves into seven major clans, each tracing its ancestry to one of the kami (great spirits) who fell to earth, cast out by their father the moon. The members of these clans share a divine bloodline and a strong sense of heritage and identity. Certain traits and tendencies, from physical characteristics to particular aptitudes and social roles, define each clan.


humanoid (human): Illumians are humanoid creatures with the human subtype.

with the printing of races of destiny, 'human' became a subtype shared by many races, similar to 'elf' and 'goblinoid' and many others.

From races of destiny alone we have illumians, mongrelfolk, sea kin, sharakim, skulk, and underfolk all share the humanoid (human) type and subtype. All of these races, as well as the phb human, qualify for anything that has a race prerequisite of human. All of these races are variant humans, just like the core monster manual has variant elf races, all of which qualify for anything that has a race prerequisite of elf. With the printing of races of destiny, 'human' became a subtype shared by many races, similar to 'elf' and 'goblinoid' and many others.


these limitations mean that many options available in this book are off limits to such races. At the dm’s discretion, halfhuman and humanlike races can be grouped together with humans as humanoids with the human subtype (rather than their own subtype). this means that such races qualify as human for the purpose of meeting a prerequisite for a feat or prestige class, for activating a human-only magic item, for adjudicating effects that treat humans differently from other races, and the like.

being born into the crane clan with a human subtype should be enough to be treated as a crane clan person. It's not a distinct race, it's a condition that can be applied to humans. See more text in oa about how the poor don't really get to claim to be from a clan.


clan designations, however, mean little to the masses of peasants and outcasts, lower-class humans whose only loyalty to the clans is in the form of the taxes they pay to
the lords who rule and protect them. A heimin (peasant)
farmer may live in lion lands, send tithes of food to lion
castles, and rely on the lion army for protection, but he is
not a lion—he is heimin.

karl aegis

escape artist is not a class skill.
what was gar's draconic heritage again?


skills bounce around with no pattern or predictability.
are you supposed to apply skill ranks in a pattern?


etherial is not a dragon.
it is. Draconomicon p.179

the draconic heritage feat benefits are found in races of the dragon p.103. Notably they include: Ethereal, no energy type associated with breath weapon, escape artist as a class skill if you have draconic heritage and if you have draconic legacy you get the following spells added to spells known: Blink, dimensional anchor, see invisibility


what are these weapons are the top and two weapon fighting at the bottom.
can you rephrase?


that's not what confidence of the fated says it does.


confidence of the fated (su): Once per day, a fatemaker of 2nd level or higher can add her class level as a morale bonus on any single attack roll, weapon damage roll, saving throw, or skill check. At 7th level and higher, she can do this twice per day, but only once in any given round.

gar took the battlebred feat.


when you are subject to an effect that grants a morale bonus, the duration is extended by 2 rounds. If you have the rage class feature, the duration of your rage is extended by 2 rounds.


it's all a confusing mess. I am ready to pull my hair out.
what else is confusing you? We can get this score up.



power: 1
to be frank, your gimmick doesn't work. Escape artist: Squeezing into a tight space requires at least a minute.

rules compendium p.53

quick escape
quickly escaping from rope bindings, manacles, or other
restraints (except a grappler) takes only 5 rounds of work.
Escaping from a net or an entangling spell with the quick
escape option is a standard action. Escaping from a grapple
or pin with the quick escape option is a move action.
Squeezing through a tight space takes half the time that
it normally would.

1 minute = 10 6 second rounds. Add 10 to the dc to bring the time down to 5 rounds. Add 10 to the dc to bring the time down to 2.5 rounds. Add 10 to the dc to bring the time down to 1.25 rounds. Add 10 to the dc to bring the time down to .625 rounds. That's dc 120. Which gar can make, in a what is likely to be ruled as a full round action. And then they can use the slipping past skill trick to bring it down to a move action.

Even if you for some reason rule that you can only add 10 to your dc once, that is only 5 rounds to get inside someone. And gar has access to invisibility and making an escape artist check to squeeze through a tight space is not a combat action.



even if it didn't, you're in your target's square and provoke an attack of opportunity for trying to activate a spell-like ability. You.. Have no spell-like abilities that i recognize that can be quickened.

are you sure about that?

ego manifestation (sp): At 10th level, a fatemaker's internal confidence and ego can be made physically manifest, increasing her size and power. This effect is the equivalent of the righteous might spell (caster level equals class level), except that the fatemaker doesn't gain damage reduction, but instead gains a +4 bonus on intimidate checks. She can use this ability once per day.

that is the spell like ability.


use of secret ingredient: 1
you have it on your sheet. Beyond using it for sneak attack, you don't use it for anything else.

i could not possibly disagree more. Gar is capable of using the si capstone in a way that literally no other build can. Gar optimized the confidence of the fated to last multiple rounds. Gar has multiple attacks per round and craven, so he kicks butt at sneak attacking. Gar has draconic claw, which allows a swift action attack whenever he casts a standard action spell. And he needs to cast spells to set himself up to destroy his nemeses from the inside.



elemental smiting is the feat that zari takes. She takes it at level 18 where it is more than likely she will be able to qualify for the feat due to it having an equipment restriction. The feat is very powerful for zari, but understandably hard to fit onto an iron chef character due to the equipment requirement.

Both of the skill rank numbers are typos only. Level 1 should be 4 like the rest of the skills and at level 20 it should be 23.

The soulborn level is there because in her backstory the fated teaches her about her lineage and trains her to embrace it.
Mechanically speaking, lasher taken here and given those few levels enhances her power greatly for while she is leveling her fatemaker levels, but could not be taken before fatemaker as fatemaker gives her proficiency with the whip.

Finally i don't take much mechanical power from fatemaker, but i try to keep the theme of the class throughout the build as there isn't really much to fatemaker other than it's lore and theme.



notably, the feat dark speech does not give you the dark unity ability...

...as noted above, you don't actually have the keystone of your build: Dark unity.

while the feats section in bovd only provides a fairly minimal list of what dark speech can do, it explicitly calls back to chapter 2, where it's clear that dark unity is a part of dark speech (see page 33 of bovd). Furthermore, on subsequent reprintings of dark speech (including elder evils, which is the latest published 3.5 content to include the feat), dark unity was explicitly listed in the feat description as one of dark speech's powers (see elder evils, p12). I included bovd as the source material because it provides the most detailed explanation of hive minds and dark unity, but as the book is 3.0 content, even if you do not believe that the feat as written in bovd includes the ability, it certainly does in elder evils, which takes precedence.


originality: My question regarding originality was how i was evaluated since you didn't say anything about my build. You just said "lol"

wrt: You still don't seem to understand how wrt actually works. If my initiative is higher than someone else's and i want to use wrt on them, then this is detrimental.

Once more, an example:

Party rogue rolls a 17 initiative. Maxwell gets a 10.

1) party rogue acts on a 17 and takes her actions
2) maxwell acts on a 10 and initiates wrt
3) party rogue's initiative count changes to 9, and she acts again

wrt is beneficial for helping people who do better in initiative than you do. If you try to help someone who you already beat in initiative, you do not grant them extra actions.

So if my initiative is low, i am penalized, but if i raised it, then i would also be penalized? Again, what course of action leads to not being penalized?

Skills: You did not address my dispute. Once more: You penalized me for taking skills when they became class skills. This is both unavoidable and not illegal. How is it possible for one to avoid this penalty?

Summons: yes they are (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/summonmonsteri.htm) summons do whatever you tell them. This is a very basic rule. If you deducted points from my build under this erroneous belief, then you must restore them.

Aside from my character not using the summon nature's ally spells (he uses the summon monster spells, as clearly explained in the build writeup and playtips) sna monsters obey your orders also (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/summonnaturesallyi.htm)

there is nothing in the text of either spell saying they are "neutral" in attitude toward the summoner.

...dammit, GITP. Because I originally posted MORE DISPUTES in capitals, it's gone through and stripped out almost every capital from the entire post. Ugh.

[Karl Aegis]

Races don't have mechanical prerequisites. You choose your race and that's that. I'm not going to entertain the idea you must first be a humanoid(human) before you get born into the Crane Clan. You get born into the Crane Clan as a Crane Clan Human or Human - Crane Clan. Asking me questions on your build doesn't help your judge because you're the one that's supposed to be presenting the build.
You didn't have a source for Draconic Heritage when I was judging your entry. I'm not going to retroactively give you points because you sourced it at least a month after the deadline. I'm not going to give points for typos, either. It's up to you to make sure your entry is correct and readable before judging is finished.
Confidence of the Fated still only applies to one check. You have have it last a week on a single Craft check for all I care. Forcing the morale bonus to last another 2 rounds doesn't change the fact that it only applies to a single check.
Escape Artist takes 30 seconds for every 5 feet you need to get to the other side for a DC 40 check. When you're done with the Escape Artist check you're on the other side of the obstacle. So it takes you 10 minutes to get through the 100 feet of a horse's digestive system. You are on the other side of the horse now. At no point do the rules say you are allowed to activate a spell-like ability during your Escape Artist check. This is before we get to the fact that most monsters do not have the length of their digestive system in their stat block or if they have digestive systems at all. There is no Quick Escape-Quick Escape-Quick Escape ad infinum to increase the DC to get through quicker. It happens once.
You don't meet the minimum caster level to quicken your spell-like ability.
This is before we get to the fact that you take the 4th level substitution level for Dragonblood Sorceror without listing it and changing the 7th level substitution level for Dragonblood Sorceror to Draconic Sorceror. Your build is so full of errors and typos I can't give you a good score.
Ultimately, you get a failure to qualify for the secret ingredient as what most influenced your score.


In the future make sure there are no typos in your write-up.


Please use updated 3.5 Edition content when available. Please don't use 3.0 Edition content when you know there is an updated version in 3.5 Edition. The updated version let's you make a suggestion to a swarm you already control which isn't particularly useful and breaks your concentration on the Summon Swarm ability.

[Heliomance]

Doop de doop



The updated version let's you make a suggestion to a swarm you already control which isn't particularly useful and breaks your concentration on the Summon Swarm ability.

OK, I'm sorry, this is just not correct. I'm worried now that there's a fundamental misunderstanding of what some of these abilities do and what actions are required here at play.

"The updated version let's you make a suggestion to a swarm you already control which isn't particularly useful..."

1. Yes, it is extremely useful. A hivemind is significantly more powerful than a standard swarm. Among other things, a hivemind bestows an Intelligence and Charisma on each individual member of the swarm. This is big for a lot of reasons:

---1A. In addition to the suggestion built into the Dark Unity power, it means that you can use diplomacy to influence your swarm to act far beyond what Summon Swarm would ordinarily allow. (By level 12, when his Aura of Confidence goes online, von Hameln is guaranteed to roll at least 25 on a diplomacy check without a single spell or magic item, meaning he can convert neutral parties to friendly as a full round action... which is within the bounds of what he can do while under Swift Concentration).

---2A. It allows your swarm to benefit from things like Aura of Confidence.

---3A. It makes each individual member of your swarm intelligent enough to take distinct actions such as Aid Another. Even if he stops with a single use of Dark Unity, that's 100 potential Aid Another checks by adjacent foes. (And of course there's no great reason for him to stop with a single use of Dark Unity...)

"...and breaks your concentration on the Summon Swarm ability."

2. No, it does NOT break concentration on Summon Swarm. These abilities are intended for use out of combat, where Swift Concentration can be used once per minute (Complete Scoundrel p84), giving plenty of freedom to use Dark Speech to apply a hivemind to chunks of 100 insects or other vermin at a time, another action to restore off the Constitution loss, and then still more to attempt to sway their opinions... all without giving up on concentration.

So again, Rattenfanger von Hameln's actions look something like this:

STEP 1: Use a summon swarm ability to summon a small swarm out of combat.
STEP 2: Activate Swift Concentration and use Dark Unity to convert 100 members of that swarm into a hivemind, granting each member an Intelligence of 7.
STEP 3: Continue concentrating on the swarm for a minute while Swift Concentration refreshes.
STEP 4: Repeat as many times as you are comfortable with. By using multiple uses of Dark Unity to make these all into a larger and larger hivemind, the actual Intelligence and Charisma goes up significantly, eventually granting skill points, feats and possibly even spells.
STEP 5: Active Swift Concentration to cast restoration, healing off the ability damage you took.
STEP 6: Continue concentration on the swarm for a minute while Swift Concentration refreshes.
STEP 7: Make diplomacy checks to convert the hivemind to become as friendly as possible.
STEP 8: Go about your day, maintaining concentration except as needed and surrounded by your small buzzing hyper-intelligent hivemind that is ready to defend and assist you.

In combat, you will already have used your summon swarm and Dark Unity abilities, so you will not need to do so again. From there you can either mostly focus on concentrating on your swarm, or you can concentrate for a round, use Swift Concentration for a round, then drop concentration and enjoy two more rounds of your superintelligent and extremely friendly spiders, centipedes, beetles and rats aiding you before they disperse while you can act freely. You should have enough uses of Summon Swarm to do it all over again before your next combat.

As for "not particularly useful," I'm not even going into the cheesier usages of hiveminds (though if you want me to show you how to use Rattenfanger von Hameln to turn a swarm of locusts into an 87th-level sorcerer without any adjustments to the build and minimal magic item investment, I can), but if you can't figure out a way to make going into battle with hundreds of small super friendly allies with distinct actions useful even with me mentioning Aid Another multiple times, I'm not really sure what else to say.

[Karl Aegis]

The Summon Swarm ability doesn't summon 100 individual members of a swarm. It summons a swarm. Turning 100 members into a hivemind separates them from the swarm. They are no longer part of your summoned swarm. They are individuals in a hivemind. The spell has ended for those particular creatures. They get sent back to where they came from. Now you have a swarm with less members. Less swarmy. It doesn't work.

Being 3.0 content with an updated version printed in 3.5, you are vulnerable to similar abilities. Someone can dump a bag of rats on you, use whirlwind attack and great cleave their way to victory. You already have a bag of spiders or flying beetles or centipedes dumped on you. You get great cleaved to death. They can take an extra move action with 3.0 haste and get you. There was a reason there was an edition change. Things were ridiculous. Please use the updated version.

[Darrin]

This doesn't involve my entry, but I have used hiveminds in Iron Chef before. (Nobody asked for my rules expertise, but I thought I'd throw it in anyway, because... interwebs is full of tubes.)

The rules for how they are created and how they function are... well, murky. Let me tackle your second point first:



Being 3.0 content with an updated version printed in 3.5, you are vulnerable to similar abilities. Someone can dump a bag of rats on you, use whirlwind attack and great cleave their way to victory. You already have a bag of spiders or flying beetles or centipedes dumped on you. You get great cleaved to death. They can take an extra move action with 3.0 haste and get you. There was a reason there was an edition change. Things were ridiculous. Please use the updated version.


That is not possible, and you're confusing the issue by insisting that the Elder Evils version of Dark Speech somehow trumps the entirety of the BoVD version. It doesn't. The complete rules for hive minds only appear in BoVD. There is no 3.5 version of the hive mind rules in Fiendish Codex or Elder Evils. So the only 3.5 sources we have for "Dark Unity" essentially force you to refer to a 3.0 source to get the hive mind rules. This isn't really a problem, though, as the DMG informs us that all previous 3.0 materials are still valid with some "minor adjustments". The 3.5 versions of Dark Speech/Dark Unity update the feat to 3.5, but I don't see any indication that they are replacing or superceding the hivemind rules from BoVD.

If you insist that the 3.5 versions actually *DO* supercede the BoVD rules, then forming a hivemind becomes ridiculously simple, as there is no longer any "100 creature" limit. As soon as you invoke Dark Unity then *boom* the entire swarm becomes a hivemind. You then have two possible results: 1) the hivemind is an 87th-level Sorcerer with an extremely pointed interest in making sure you maintain your concentration or 2) the hivemind is useless because there are no rules to determine its abilities.

You're insisting that the 3.0 rules for hiveminds are invalid. But the 3.5 sources themselves say Dark Unity is still possible. The rules for determining how the hivemind works is in a 3.0 source. The DMG says we can still use 3.0 sources. But you are saying we can't. If that were true, why would the designers even bother to include Dark Unity as an option?



The Summon Swarm ability doesn't summon 100 individual members of a swarm. It summons a swarm. Turning 100 members into a hivemind separates them from the swarm. They are no longer part of your summoned swarm. They are individuals in a hivemind. The spell has ended for those particular creatures. They get sent back to where they came from. Now you have a swarm with less members. Less swarmy. It doesn't work.


Ok, your first point boils down to the rules for hiveminds in BoVD are *terrible* and require some interpretation. Dark Unity mentions a 100-creature limit, but the rules for determining how you separate individual creatures from the swarm are vague and confusing. It's not clear if this is supposed to be a "hard limit" that you can't go over via Dark Unity, because almost the entirety of the hivemind rules has to do with what happens when the number of creatures goes way over 100+. The best instructions we get on how to treat the hivemind for various attacks or spell effects is essentially just vague advice: "When running a hivemind encounter, play the hivemind as a single creature as much as possible." But there's no indication in the text that the hivemind is treated as a single separate creature, as part of the original swarm, or as a separate but smaller swarm. When I put together Black Sparrow (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21197986&postcount=91), I assumed that the hivemind could be created in 100-creature "chunks", or rather, 1 hivemind + 99 more creatures = slightly larger/smarter hivemind, then rinse & repeat until all 5000 creatures are in the same hivemind. This isn't really well-supported by the rules, either. I just sorta hoped that if I said this is how it works, the judges wouldn't get to fussy about the details.

Declaring that any creatures added to the hivemind are no longer part of the summoned swarm and thus diseappear... that's an interesting interpretation! And I could see many DMs rule it that way. But I don't see anything in the text to suggest that's the only way to interpret it.

Anyway, that was my two cents. As a judge, you are entirely within your rights to say, "This stinks like cheese, and I am feeling lactose-intolerant today."

[Karl Aegis]

The 3.5 version is unambiguous in what it does.

Dark Unity: You can use the Dark Speech to establish a hive mind in any swarm of vermin or animals with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower. Thereafter, you can give the swarm one command as per the suggestion spell (caster level equals your Hit Dice). Whenever you infuse a swarm in this manner, you take 1d4 points of Constitution damage. (Elder Evils pg. 12)

You can give a swarm of vermin or animals with an Intelligence score of 2, 1, or 0 one command as per the suggestion spell. You normally wouldn't be able to give a swarm a command as per the suggestion spell because Suggestion is language-dependent and only has a target of one living creature, which a swarm is not. Oddly enough, vermin have a nonability in intelligence which makes them not a legal target without jumping through some hoops.

[Piggy Knowles]

The 3.5 version is unambiguous in what it does.

Dark Unity: You can use the Dark Speech to establish a hive mind in any swarm of vermin or animals with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower. Thereafter, you can give the swarm one command as per the suggestion spell (caster level equals your Hit Dice). Whenever you infuse a swarm in this manner, you take 1d4 points of Constitution damage. (Elder Evils pg. 12)

You can give a swarm of vermin or animals with an Intelligence score of 2, 1, or 0 one command as per the suggestion spell. You normally wouldn't be able to give a swarm a command as per the suggestion spell because Suggestion is language-dependent and only has a target of one living creature, which a swarm is not. Oddly enough, vermin have a nonability in intelligence which makes them not a legal target without jumping through some hoops.

That's true. That same language exists almost verbatim on page 33 of BoVD as well (in the section elaborating on what Dark Speech can provide). It's pretty clear that Dark Speech has the ability to create a hivemind, and thereafter issue a command as though via suggestion. We've got a two-step process: first, you create a hivemind, and then, you issue it a command as though via suggestion.

A hivemind is not just flavor text. It is an actual defined thing in the game. (Well, maybe "actual defined" isn't the best way to describe it. "Amorphous" and "poorly defined" might be a bit more on the nose.) It is defined in detail on page 34 of BoVD. Those rules don't go away just because the book was printed at the end of 2002, as the core rulebooks that were subsequently published in 2003 specifically give rules that say tell us that the content is still valid. As no subsequent rules defining hiveminds was ever printed, they are the last word on what exactly a hivemind is.

All three sources where Dark Speech exists (Book of Vile Darkness/Fiendish Codex I/Elder Evils) say that you can use Dark Speech to establish a hivemind, and thereafter can issue a command as though via a suggestion spell. Only the Book of Vile Darkness actually defines what a hivemind is.

(Of course all this back and forth just reinforces that hivemind rules are overly complicated and bad.)

[Darrin]

The 3.5 version is unambiguous in what it does.

Up until you create a hivemind, yes. After that it gets a bit dodgy.

[Karl Aegis]

Up until you create a hivemind, yes. After that it gets a bit dodgy.

Then you give a command to the hivemind and the swarm acts on your command.

[Darrin]

Then you give a command to the hivemind and the swarm acts on your command.

Actually, that's not possible without the BoVD rules. A swarm can't be targeted by a suggestion effect because it doesn't have an Int high enough to have a language or understand speech. Fiendish Codex and Elder Evils do not contain a single scrap of text, not even a single word, outside of that first sentence in "Dark Unity" that describes what a hive mind is or how it acts within the game rules. You need the BoVD rules for that.

[Karl Aegis]

Actually, that's not possible without the BoVD rules. A swarm can't be targeted by a suggestion effect because it doesn't have an Int high enough to have a language or understand speech. Fiendish Codex and Elder Evils do not contain a single scrap of text, not even a single word, outside of that first sentence in "Dark Unity" that describes what a hive mind is or how it acts within the game rules. You need the BoVD rules for that.

OR

A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind.

SRD
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#swarmSubtype

[Venger]

What are you talking about?

The primary (and only) rules are in BoVD. It's been made perfectly clear that you need to use those.

To put aside this suggestion derail, it's irrelevant whether the swarm is immune by virtue of type, because they're not being targeted by the suggestion spell. The way that you give commands is just identical to suggestion, which is why the rules text of dark unity says "as if from the suggestion spell"

[Thurbane]

It would be fun to see an ingredient with an unusual number of levels, so maybe Court Herald (12), Necrocarnate (13) or True Necromancer (14)?

[Venger]

It would be fun to see an ingredient with an unusual number of levels, so maybe Court Herald (12), Necrocarnate (13) or True Necromancer (14)?

That would really be something.

[Selene Sparks]

What are you talking about?

The primary (and only) rules are in BoVD. It's been made perfectly clear that you need to use those.

To put aside this suggestion derail, it's irrelevant whether the swarm is immune by virtue of type, because they're not being targeted by the suggestion spell. The way that you give commands is just identical to suggestion, which is why the rules text of dark unity says "as if from the suggestion spell"Sorry for butting in here, but I think I should that this is incorrect.

Not only are the Hivemind rules in BoVD explicitly referred to as variant rules, they are also always called "Hivemind," whereas the Dark Speech effect in EE(The most recent one as I recall) creates a "hive mind," which is specifically called out in core's entry on the swarm subtype. So Karl's objections are strictly correct as far as I can tell, and the Dark Speech/Hivemind thing is good and dead.

[Venger]

Sorry for butting in here, but I think I should that this is incorrect.

Not only are the Hivemind rules in BoVD explicitly referred to as variant rules, they are also always called "Hivemind," whereas the Dark Speech effect in EE(The most recent one as I recall) creates a "hive mind," which is specifically called out in core's entry on the swarm subtype. So Karl's objections are strictly correct as far as I can tell, and the Dark Speech/Hivemind thing is good and dead.

You are wrong.

All new rules are introduced as variant rules. Prestige classes are variant rules. Everything in that chapter of bovd being titled "variant rules" doesn't change the fact that it's normal RAW of the game.

Darrin and Piggy Knowles have done a more than thorough job of explaining his mistakes.

[Heliomance]

Okay, let's stop that argument right there. This is clearly an ambiguous area of ruling, which means that judges have a large amount of discretion in whether they want to score it as working or not.

Personally I'm inclined to believe that it probably does work as Rattenfanger wants it to, but I don't currently have time to pore over the books to make an official ruling I'm afraid. Nonetheless, this argument is getting acrimonious, and I've actually had a PM asking me to step in and stop it. I know it sucks, being told that your build doesn't work when you're sure it does, especially when you may well be right, but please remember that this is a silly forum contest with no actual prize and that, in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter.

My instinct is to curtail the judging process there - we have two judges, the dispute process has got as far as is likely to be useful, I think we're done here. Unfortunately, I'm away for the weekend, and won't be able to do the reveal until Sunday evening at the earliest. My apologies.

[Venger]

Fine by me.

[FoxWyrd]

Just checking, but when will the next contest be posted?

[daremetoidareyo]

Just checking, but when will the next contest be posted?

Most likely after the reveal on sunday.

[Venger]

Yeah, probably. What are you guys hoping for? I could go for a cwar type ingredient, as mentioned upthread.

[The Viscount]

CWar is very fun, I'd also be down for anything out of OA.
The nonstandard level classes could be a fun time, though a few would be difficult to enter more than one or two ways. I could go for True necromancer's Drow cousin Yathrinshee.

[Zaq]

Part of me is looking forward to Shaper of Form, though I know it’s kind of going to be a rules nightmare. And, you know, as godawful as all of the Dragon Compendium ingredients (Fleet Runner? Osteomancer? Flux Adept?) in its own special way.

I could go for a noncasting ingredient.

Do we have any interesting PrCs from Magic of Incarnum left unused?

I don’t personally feel much like cooking with what I’m about to say, but other chefs tend to create wonderful things with those “why exactly does this exist?” PrCs from Forgotten Realms books.

Maybe something 3.0? Was King/Queen of the Wild officially turned into something 3.5?

[Venger]

Part of me is looking forward to Shaper of Form, though I know it’s kind of going to be a rules nightmare. And, you know, as godawful as all of the Dragon Compendium ingredients (Fleet Runner? Osetomancer? Flux Adept?) in its own special way.

I could go for a noncasting ingredient.

I could have sworn we already did shaper of form, but that doesn't seem to conform with objective reality.

After a casting ingredient I would also like a noncasting ingredient.


I don’t personally feel much like cooking with what I’m about to say, but other chefs tend to create wonderful things with those “why exactly does this exist?” PrCs from Forgotten Realms books.

Maybe something 3.0? Was King/Queen of the Wild officially turned into something 3.5?
How dare you make me read this with my own eyes.

I don't think it was ever updated. It's like some horrible cross between horizon walker and animal lord, but is somehow even more worthless than both of them put together.

If we get that, I will post a nice neat table so you can actually compare the class features to each other and decide what you want to do.

[Zaq]

I could have sworn we already did shaper of form, but that doesn't seem to conform with objective reality.

After a casting ingredient I would also like a noncasting ingredient.


How dare you make me read this with my own eyes.

I don't think it was ever updated. It's like some horrible cross between horizon walker and animal lord, but is somehow even more worthless than both of them put together.

If we get that, I will post a nice neat table so you can actually compare the class features to each other and decide what you want to do.

It's remarkably useless. It's also one of the few PrCs where you can explicitly take the first level multiple times in multiple iterations, which seems like it has the potential to be nonsensical. You'll also notice that there's some jankiness in the rules above and beyond the features being pointless. Like Terrain Camouflage being a full-round action that, um, apparently gives you a bonus? But it's unclear how long this bonus lasts for, and it doesn't seem like actually hiding is included in that action. So you spend a full round to turn it on, and then . . . I guess it's just on forever, because nothing says that it ever stops? But yeah, just the features being useless is itself kind of glorious. And horrible. (Detect Animals and Plants is a 1st level spell. I know, let's give that out a limited number of times per day as a 6th level class feature that cannot be accessed before ECL 11!)

I was looking at Divine Agent from MotP, and while it seems far too GM-dependent for a proper SI, it’s a fascinatingly bad PrC. Half of the class features are, to be far more generous than they deserve, flavor ribbons at best, but they’re bafflingly presented as though they’re full features. Your deity can contact you in ways that you have no control over and tell you what to do! Your appearance changes in a vague way with no listed mechanical effect! You don’t have to have a specified alignment to get in, but it forcibly shifts to match your deity’s at 8th level for some reason! It feels very Thunder Guide-esque.

[The Viscount]

We do have some interesting PrCs from MoI we haven't used yet.
Most of them I'd say are too good to be proper Iron Chef ingredients, with one exception.
Spinemeld Warrior is a horrible meldshaper (thought still somehow better than an equal number of soulborn levels) and it makes me sad. It's also the only 3.5 class I've seen that thought level titles were so important they deserved a spot on the chart.

[WhamBamSam]

I have a few stubs ready for Spinemeld Warrior filed away next to my ideas for Shining Blade of Heironeous in my emergency bunker. One of them probably doesn't actually work the way I want it to, but I actually like it enough that I might throw caution to the wind and submit it anyway.

Were I not currently on my phone, I'd just copy/paste the list of classes that I post every round. I'm still looking forward to all of them. At least I made it through a round without adding two more classes that I'd like to see for once.

[Venger]

It's remarkably useless. It's also one of the few PrCs where you can explicitly take the first level multiple times in multiple iterations, which seems like it has the potential to be nonsensical. You'll also notice that there's some jankiness in the rules above and beyond the features being pointless. Like Terrain Camouflage being a full-round action that, um, apparently gives you a bonus? But it's unclear how long this bonus lasts for, and it doesn't seem like actually hiding is included in that action. So you spend a full round to turn it on, and then . . . I guess it's just on forever, because nothing says that it ever stops? But yeah, just the features being useless is itself kind of glorious. And horrible. (Detect Animals and Plants is a 1st level spell. I know, let's give that out a limited number of times per day as a 6th level class feature that cannot be accessed before ECL 11!)

I was looking at Divine Agent from MotP, and while it seems far too GM-dependent for a proper SI, it’s a fascinatingly bad PrC. Half of the class features are, to be far more generous than they deserve, flavor ribbons at best, but they’re bafflingly presented as though they’re full features. Your deity can contact you in ways that you have no control over and tell you what to do! Your appearance changes in a vague way with no listed mechanical effect! You don’t have to have a specified alignment to get in, but it forcibly shifts to match your deity’s at 8th level for some reason! It feels very Thunder Guide-esque.

Having your camo last forever is the least this awful class does for you.

I especially love the especially abhorrent, characteristically 3.0 choice of only letting me turn on my fom in one huge undifferentiated lump instead of flipping it on or off as needed throughout my day's activities. It's not like I'm expected to kill people in the woods 4 times a day or anything.

I don't really see how divine agent is too gm-dependent, but the ambiguity wafting off it is super weird. I think it's most noteworthy in your "godly gifts." it says they're slas, but only "usually." Um, what? What else can I get?

Also there's a list of what I lose when I fall, but not how I fall.

I have an idea for what to do with divine agent, but king/queen of the wild is really throwing me for a loop. I didn't think I'd find a class worse than animal lord.

[Zaq]

We do have some interesting PrCs from MoI we haven't used yet.
Most of them I'd say are too good to be proper Iron Chef ingredients, with one exception.
Spinemeld Warrior is a horrible meldshaper (thought still somehow better than an equal number of soulborn levels) and it makes me sad. It's also the only 3.5 class I've seen that thought level titles were so important they deserved a spot on the chart.

There are some unfortunate patterns that pop up in racially-locked SIs, but at least the entry prereqs are pretty much wide open aside from the racial component. Unfortunately, even with the wide-open prereqs, I'm not convinced that the class's abilities are flexible enough to let the dishes do much to stand out from one another. I've been wrong before, though.

Looking more through MotW (some really interesting and also really crappy PrCs in the Guidebook To books, my word!), Bane of Infidels is both fascinating and confusing. It'd be straight up impossible to do in Iron Chef because it has Leadership as a prereq (and it'd be kind of weird to do a 10/10 casting class), but still, look at it. To call the abilities random is to flatter them greatly. Oh boy, a 1/day ability to make targets in a single square take 1d4 fire damage per class level, save negates! The ability to grant followers a weird semi-rage buff, but with a bizarre name! The ability to "discern the affected spell and necessary sacrifice of any standing stone" as a free action? (The hell?) The Wicker Man ability is kind of interesting, and it's clearly why the Pyre ability exists, but it doesn't explain why the Pyre ability is so limited or so crappy. It's just a plain weird PrC.

Other weird 3.0 PrCs:

Knight of the Middle Circle is an unlikely candidate (if for no other reason than that Fatemaker offers unique casting as well), but it's bizarre. It's a seriously bad case of "5 level PrC (if that) being stretched out over 10 levels for some reason,” and I've never actually seen a PrC with casting quite like that. Damn shame that it doesn't actually do anything interesting or even terribly coherent. They do seem to be one of the few cases where you can have a class grant you a spell for which you have a caster level of 0 without even doing any shenanigans to tank your own CL, since a level 1 KotMC has 0 (not —) 1st level spells per day but a caster level of 1/2 his class level, and we all know that D&D rounds down.

Outlaw of the Crimson Road would be interesting if it didn't grant Leadership. It's basically a crappier Rogue in nearly every respect, so it'd be kind of frustratingly similar to Fatemaker, but Fatemaker gave us some darned interesting dishes, so that's something.

I want badly to like Royal Explorer, but everything it has is basically just a form of smallish numerical bonus or an otherwise passive ability. I feel like it would make interesting stories and less than thrilling dishes.

Master Samurai is just bloody confusing. Six (!) feats to get in, an inexplicable +2 on Tumble for some inscrutable reason, an incredibly weird and poorly worded ability in the form of "Blades of Fury," a few other minor abilities that are basically feats or close to it, and then suddenly six levels where you just get uses of two specific day-limited abilities that are underpowered in the extreme. I don't get it. At all.

Ninja of the Crescent Moon has truly obnoxious prereqs and has relatively few unique abilities, but it does at least mostly have active abilities that you can proactively show off, and the use-limited ones mostly at least have semi-decent uses per day.

Fist of Hextor is three abilities over ten levels. I don't want to cook with it, but it's worth gawking at how stupidly designed it is. One could make a not-entirely-unserious argument that it was, in fact, updated to 3.5 in the form of Shining Blade.

Gladiator doesn't do much that's unique or that's worth doing (honestly, giving out half of their abilities for free wouldn't seem overpowered), but it has amusing prereqs.

Red Avenger is basically "the Factotum, only WIS-based and way crappier." And an impressively tiny skill list, for that matter.

[Thurbane]

It's also the only 3.5 class I've seen that thought level titles were so important they deserved a spot on the chart.

I know there's at least one other. I thought it was Fochlucan Lyricist, but apparently not.

As for the mentioned ingredients, I'd be happy to see Divine Agent, King/Queen of the Wild or Shaper of Form. And, of course, my standing request for Dragon Samurai.

[Venger]

those classes are all offensively terrible, but I can at least definitively say we're safe from ninja of the crescent moon, since it was updated into 3.5 base ninja.

[Zaq]

Having your camo last forever is the least this awful class does for you.

I especially love the especially abhorrent, characteristically 3.0 choice of only letting me turn on my fom in one huge undifferentiated lump instead of flipping it on or off as needed throughout my day's activities. It's not like I'm expected to kill people in the woods 4 times a day or anything.

I don't really see how divine agent is too gm-dependent, but the ambiguity wafting off it is super weird. I think it's most noteworthy in your "godly gifts." it says they're slas, but only "usually." Um, what? What else can I get?

Also there's a list of what I lose when I fall, but not how I fall.

I have an idea for what to do with divine agent, but king/queen of the wild is really throwing me for a loop. I didn't think I'd find a class worse than animal lord.

Divine Agent is GM-dependent because Contact has something of an effect but it's an effect that you have zero control over, and more importantly, it's far too vague about what "Godly Gift" actually gives you for something that seems like a semi-major class feature. If it's ruled to just be "you get one of the domain spells of an appropriate level as an SLA 1/day," that's at least a little less ambiguous, but it sounds like the character really isn't supposed to pick the gift. (Also, bonus horribleness: it's not a spell from one of the deity's domains—it's a spell from one of the Divine Agent's domains. Meaning that you have to have access to the domain in question in order to be given a spell from it as a gift. So unless you're doing shenanigans with the spell in question being treated as a spell-like ability rather than as an actual spell, it'll be nearly impossible for the ability to be stronger than simply being able to cast the spell naturally, which the half-casting nature of Divine Agent will probably cost you.)

I agree about the FoM capstone of K/QotW being hilariously obnoxious in its "nope, only once per day, and then you're just going to have it on" parceling. And of course, because this wasn't insulting enough, it's a (Su) ability without a listed action cost, and we all know what that means. (Same with Adaptation, which doesn't seem to have a way to be turned off? It's worded such that, if you can turn it off, you can divide it up a bit, but it doesn't say if or how you can turn it off.)

I was all set to do something stupid with Terrain Movement, but then I noticed the "if the chosen terrain is land-based" clause, and then I became sad.

[Falontani]

non casting classes from Tome of Magic are always fun

[Venger]

Divine Agent is GM-dependent because Contact has something of an effect but it's an effect that you have zero control over, and more importantly, it's far too vague about what "Godly Gift" actually gives you for something that seems like a semi-major class feature. If it's ruled to just be "you get one of the domain spells of an appropriate level as an SLA 1/day," that's at least a little less ambiguous, but it sounds like the character really isn't supposed to pick the gift. (Also, bonus horribleness: it's not a spell from one of the deity's domains—it's a spell from one of the Divine Agent's domains. Meaning that you have to have access to the domain in question in order to be given a spell from it as a gift. So unless you're doing shenanigans with the spell in question being treated as a spell-like ability rather than as an actual spell, it'll be nearly impossible for the ability to be stronger than simply being able to cast the spell naturally, which the half-casting nature of Divine Agent will probably cost you.)
You've got me there. I really like how the deity won't bother you with spam when it might matter like in combat or when you're eavesdropping on the bad guy's plans "most of the time." It's like medani prophet, except it doesn't do anything.

I missed that godly gift only gave you a spell you already had. that's horrific. That said, I think it's a bit more interesting than kqotw, but I see your point.


I agree about the FoM capstone of K/QotW being hilariously obnoxious in its "nope, only once per day, and then you're just going to have it on" parceling. And of course, because this wasn't insulting enough, it's a (Su) ability without a listed action cost, and we all know what that means. (Same with Adaptation, which doesn't seem to have a way to be turned off? It's worded such that, if you can turn it off, you can divide it up a bit, but it doesn't say if or how you can turn it off.)

I was all set to do something stupid with Terrain Movement, but then I noticed the "if the chosen terrain is land-based" clause, and then I became sad.
I really like how if you pick sky, you get like a million pretty decent feats (compared to the others, I mean), but it just assumes a 3.0 character can natively fly somehow. No, it doesn't give you the ability to fly. Why would it?

[WhamBamSam]

King/Queen of the Wild is hot garbage, or I guess garbage of whatever temperature is appropriate for your chosen terrain.

Most of the rest at least give one mildly interesting thing if you look carefully enough, but yeah, I pretty much agree with the above assessments.


those classes are all offensively terrible, but I can at least definitively say we're safe from ninja of the crescent moon, since it was updated into 3.5 base ninja.Was it really? That's something of a shame. I actually sort of like Ninja of the Crescent Moon, certainly more than I do the base Ninja for most traditionally Ninja-related things. Opportunist at least is fairly unique (I was a bit disappointed in myself for not getting any of my Twist Target+Opportunist builds off the ground back in Twisted Lord).

[Venger]

Was it really? That's something of a shame. I actually sort of like Ninja of the Crescent Moon, certainly more than I do the base Ninja for most traditionally Ninja-related things. Opportunist at least is fairly unique (I was a bit disappointed in myself for not getting any of my Twist Target+Opportunist builds off the ground back in Twisted Lord).

Yeah, it was. Unless we make like crimson scourges and get special dispensation to use it, it's updated 3.0 content.

I agree that it's kind of cool since it only wastes 10 levels of your build instead of 20. Like most of the oa classes, it doesn't really do anything, but it does have a lot of cool little abilities.

opportunist is just as the rogue ability, unless I'm missing something?

[Kelb_Panthera]

Yeah, it was. Unless we make like crimson scourges and get special dispensation to use it, it's updated 3.0 content.

I agree that it's kind of cool since it only wastes 10 levels of your build instead of 20. Like most of the oa classes, it doesn't really do anything, but it does have a lot of cool little abilities.

opportunist is just as the rogue ability, unless I'm missing something?

Hate to be a nuisance but do you have a source for that? I'd really like to see it as an ingredient.

[Venger]

Hate to be a nuisance but do you have a source for that? I'd really like to see it as an ingredient.

It's fine. Perfectly reasonable question. It's part of the 3.0 to 3.5 update (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a)

I think it would be kind of a fun ingredient too

[WhamBamSam]

Yeah, it was. Unless we make like crimson scourges and get special dispensation to use it, it's updated 3.0 content.

I agree that it's kind of cool since it only wastes 10 levels of your build instead of 20. Like most of the oa classes, it doesn't really do anything, but it does have a lot of cool little abilities.

opportunist is just as the rogue ability, unless I'm missing something?Huh, I never noticed that before. Perhaps I should pay more attention to the later levels of base classes. Still, even with tricky entry requirements, Ninja of the Crescent Moon 6 represented a less steep opportunity cost than Rogue 10 in most cases. I don't suppose there's any easier way of picking up a Rogue special ability?

[Kelb_Panthera]

It's fine. Perfectly reasonable question. It's part of the 3.0 to 3.5 update (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a)

I think it would be kind of a fun ingredient too

Yeah, not seeing sword and fist in that link...?

[Venger]

Yeah, not seeing sword and fist in that link...?

here you go (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20050110x) ninja of the crescent moon -> ninja


Huh, I never noticed that before. Perhaps I should pay more attention to the later levels of base classes. Still, even with tricky entry requirements, Ninja of the Crescent Moon 6 represented a less steep opportunity cost than Rogue 10 in most cases. I don't suppose there's any easier way of picking up a Rogue special ability?

there's a couple, but I want to jealously guard them in case it's the next SI. I'll pm you

[Thurbane]

Yeah, it's not called in that link or those update booklets; there's an article somewhere in the archives that calls out what classes etc. have been updated in 3.5.

Some people take it with a grain of salt, since it's not "technically" errata.

Here we go: Feats, Prestige Classes, and Spells (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20050110x)

[Kelb_Panthera]

here you go (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20050110x) ninja of the crescent moon -> ninja



there's a couple, but I want to jealously guard them in case it's the next SI. I'll pm you


Yeah, it's not called in that link or those update booklets; there's an article somewhere in the archives that calls out what classes etc. have been updated in 3.5.

Some people take it with a grain of salt, since it's not "technically" errata.

Here we go: Feats, Prestige Classes, and Spells (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20050110x)

Thank you both. Having give it a once-over, I will now promptly ignore its existence in my own game but it's good to know for forum discussion.

Edit: Derp! I was totally thinking of the ninja spy from OA. Also, is it me or was NotCM strictly superior to the ninja base class they made it into?

[Heliomance]

There is a lot of Dragon Compendium in my potential ingredients list.

I havn't come across King/Queen of the Wild before, I shall have to look it up. What I'm hearing is I need to browse through the 3.0 books a lot more.


those classes are all offensively terrible, but I can at least definitively say we're safe from ninja of the crescent moon, since it was updated into 3.5 base ninja.

Oh my sweet summer child. That doesn't make you safe.

[Venger]

Thank you both. Having give it a once-over, I will now promptly ignore its existence in my own game but it's good to know for forum discussion.

Edit: Derp! I was totally thinking of the ninja spy from OA. Also, is it me or was NotCM strictly superior to the ninja base class they made it into?
I love ninja spy. No, it's not just you.


There is a lot of Dragon Compendium in my potential ingredients list.

I havn't come across King/Queen of the Wild before, I shall have to look it up. What I'm hearing is I need to browse through the 3.0 books a lot more.



Oh my sweet summer child. That doesn't make you safe.
Now that's what I call a culinary curveball.

I'd better dig my bamboo mat out of the kitchen drawer and think of some good side dishes.

[The Viscount]

non casting classes from Tome of Magic are always fun

They are pretty fun. We've done all the 10 level noncasters except for Disciple of the Word, which is an accursed, wretched class.

[Thurbane]

They are pretty fun. We've done all the 10 level noncasters except for Disciple of the Word, which is an accursed, wretched class.

Now I want to make a Kenku DotW and make a bunch of "bird is the word" jokes. :smalltongue:

[Zaq]

They are pretty fun. We've done all the 10 level noncasters except for Disciple of the Word, which is an accursed, wretched class.

DotW is all kinds of special. From the top, we're looking at "use TS instead of a skill" (meh, I guess that's okayish, but not really worth the cost), "use TS to resist a combat maneuver" (reactive and hard to show off), "heal yourself a trivial amount after making a TS check with an unspecified DC" (underpowered for the cost, but the fact that they didn't put in a DC is moderately amusing), "make a flat DC TS check to increase your speed a bit" (why a flat DC all of a sudden?), "make a TS check as a Ref save" (reactive), "make a TS check to overcome DR" (the table is arbitrary as hell, but I guess it's mildly interesting, if hella situational), "make a TS check to dispel something" (genuinely kind of useful, assuming that you can land a strike before you dispel their buffs), "1/day make a TS check in place of your AC" (why 1/day?), "make a TS check to negate a specifically targeted spell" (acceptable, but reactive and weirdly restricted), and "make a DS 50 TS check to move as an immediate action" (genuinely interesting). All of which cost Stunning Fist uses for some unholy reason.

So I'm seeing about two and a half genuinely decent abilities, and all of the rest cost way too much and just aren't very able to be shown off.

Add in the fact that we have to go to the errata to find out that DotW does indeed advance Flurry progression—the problem was solved, but the fact that they needed to solve the problem at all is telling—and yeah, I don't think I can really fundamentally disagree with your assessment of it as being accursed.

I think it's probably a tiny bit better than taking another ten levels in the actual Monk class, assuming that you've got enough juice behind your TS mod to succeed at the checks, but if I keep setting bars like that, my downstairs neighbors will start complaining about the bars crashing down through their ceiling.

I'd probably judge if we had a DotW round. I don't think I want to try entering in that pile of crap, but I'm pretty sure that there's something in the fine print of my contract for being The Truenamer Guy that would prevent me from sitting the round out entirely.

[The Viscount]

The lack of DC on the healing class feature confused me too. I though maybe it would default to the regular DC for affecting yourself with truespeak, or your personal truename DC?

The class seems to think that you can pump your truespeak DC up pretty high, almost like they forgot that it's just a skill like any other, but without as many feats or class features to boost it.

The table to overcome DR is ok, but became maddening once I realized several of the options are ones that normal monk gets all the time.

Having essentially every class feature use a single pool is unspeakably cruel.

[jdizzlean]

apologies for the delay and radio silence, i had an emergency out of town trip come up, i will get disputes all finalized today

[jdizzlean]

Felicity:

Skilled City Dweller: Ok, usually people take this as a means of gaining tumble and losing ride for the strict purposes of doing exactly that, and not for a theme based reason. +1

Skills: no change in score. I don't just feel this way when judging, this is a core tenant of my character building as well.

IjFocus: that's all very well and good, but why not take ONE rank of it before level 17. At the very least, then you could say you came back to it when you could "afford it". Not taking it until 17 means it's not a focus of your build, it means you ran out of things to do and thought to yourself, hmm, i can do this now, so why not spend 22 ranks on it in 3 levels... Further, as you've stated, you aren't using this in conjunction w/ sneak attack, and therefor aren't using it as a building block off of fatemaker, but merely for moar damage. no change.

etc: I chose for the most part across the board to ignore snyergy w/ CHA as a "use of the SI" use. Unless someone specifically chose things that didn't use CHA, everyone used CHA, and therefor it's not a unique use of the SI, and therefor didn't earn points.

Elegance 3, Total 13


Kasia:


Interesting, I didn't know that about warlocks. why would you ever not do that?
+1

Elegance 2 total 14


Zari:



fair enough on concentration to attain psionic focus. +.5

lasher is still an item dependency, if you are disarmed, you lose 20% of your build outright. no change

Fair enough on Magnim, but you don't bring this up in the OP. no change

use of si: if you would've been better served taking 5 levels then 10, than take 5 levels. 5 levels properly built off of is by far a better use of the SI than 10 levels spent underutilized.

Elegance 2.5 Total 10.5


Rizzo:


Under the original scoring post, there are a few back and forth posts between myself and another forum member wherein the vast majority of your original judgement is changed. with the exception of your explanation for thunderstep boots, i believe all of your dispute is already addressed. (on things like "feat rogue", try to list it as what it is in the book, so that if someone has to look for it, they can actually find it :p )

Boots: the first line of the Stagger ability states that you can make a charge attack that "surprises your opponents." if they're suprised, you get sneak attack damage.. the 2nd line states the charge doesn't need to be in a straight line, so no need to back up.

no change to my adjusted score already posted.


Ratt:


cc skills: ok, my bad. +1.5

due to the lenghty in thread discussion, and the chairs ruling on this, no change in scoring due to swarms issues.

Elegance 3.5 Total 15.25


Ursula:

I know the difference between mother cyst and otherwise, but your fluff made it confusing. So i wasn't sure if YOU knew the difference. I was trying to go with it..

no change

[The Viscount]

Entry
Stub
Karl Aegis score
jdizzlean score
Total


Memyadu, the Spell Embezzler
CN Dark Vaulkrau Illumian Spellthief 9/Fatemaker 9/Mage of the Arcane Order 1
14
15.25
29.25


Ursula Utrennyaya
Human Warblade 6/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10
11
16.5
27.5


Rizzo Fitzgibbon
CN Brood Monkey Monstrous Humanoid 2/Battle Dancer 1/Barbarian 1/Feat Rogue 2/Drunken Master 2/Fatemaker 10
9
15.5
24.5


Kasia, Breaker of Chains
CG Dark Human Battle Dancer 1/Warlock 4/Fatemaker 9/Unseen Seer 5
10
14
24


Felicity Pip, Thumb in the Eye of Destiny
CN Human Marshal 6/Fatemaker 10/Exemplar 4
11
13
24


Rattenfanger von Hameln
NE Changeling Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5
8
15.25
23.25


Maxwell the Magnificent
CE Human Crusader 5/Fatemaker 10/Nar Demonbinder 5
8
14.75
22.75


The Fated Zari
CG Azurin Human Paragon 2/Paladin of Freedom 3/Fatemaker 1/Soulborn 1/Lasher 1/Fatemaker 10/Lasher 4
10
10.5
20.5


Gar Hogchoker
LN Draconic Crane Clan Illumian Sorcerer 6/Marshal 3/Fatemaker 10
5
13
18



EDIT: Table now fully up to date, and we're ready to move on.

[jdizzlean]

bah.

Gar:


casting/armor: ok, but you also further introduced a 40488th equipment dependency in doing so. no change
SA only applies to the first attack each round assuming you are able to apply it, the same as anyone else. no change
battlebred/Dclaw: that is indeed very awesome. +1
illumian: No. a drow elf is no more an elf then an illumian is a human. they are completely different races. If you wanted to qualify as human, you take human, not digress into a page long discussion of how x = y when it clearly doesn't.

Use of SI 4, Final Score 13


Max:


originality was addressed HERE (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=22961701&postcount=129)
WRT: yes, you give them another rounds worth of actions, however from that point on, that rogue's init is now 9 for the duration of the encounter instead of it's original roll. so for one round, you are helping them out in dealing more damage, but you are screwing them for the rest of it. no score change.
Skills: it's been addressed. I'm free to judge based on my own criteria and interpretation of the guidelines, just as you are on yours of the building rules. no score change.
Summons: a summon doing "what you tell them" doesn't make them friendly. it makes them obedient, and it would be a stupid spell that let you summon anything that then did whatever it wanted to do against your wishes. that link also doesn't state specifically that they are friendly to you. no change.

final score remains the same.

[georgie_leech]

Wait, are Drow not considered Elves? :smalltongue:

[Falontani]

Wait, are Drow not considered Elves? :smalltongue:

I'm fairly sure that Favored Enemy: Elf works on them
just like Favored Enemy: Human works on Illumians; I dont know if that counts for the purpose that is being spoken about however.

The question, Arcane Archer requires Elf or Half Elf, is a Drow Elf enough of an Elf to qualify for Arcane Archer? or are Half Elves more of an Elf than Drow Elves?

[Venger]

I'm fairly sure that Favored Enemy: Elf works on them
just like Favored Enemy: Human works on Illumians; I dont know if that counts for the purpose that is being spoken about however.

The question, Arcane Archer requires Elf or Half Elf, is a Drow Elf enough of an Elf to qualify for Arcane Archer? or are Half Elves more of an Elf than Drow Elves?

it does

they do

[Karl Aegis]

The point is you cannot have more than one subrace.

[daremetoidareyo]

I was reflecting on this class and I think the method of entry is supposed to be rogue 10/fatemaker 10. You trade higher order rogue abilities for slowed sneak attack progression and access to self-buffing spells. I think they thought that the capstone was a super cool hulk smash concept. But then, they felt that having a +4 deflection bonus to AC was too powerful for a 20th level character, so they nerfed it down to an intimidate bonus.

[Falontani]

The point is you cannot have more than one subrace.

aren't half elves [human] and [elf]?

[Karl Aegis]

aren't half elves [human] and [elf]?

Not in Core, no.

[Venger]

I was reflecting on this class and I think the method of entry is supposed to be rogue 10/fatemaker 10. You trade higher order rogue abilities for slowed sneak attack progression and access to self-buffing spells. I think they thought that the capstone was a super cool hulk smash concept. But then, they felt that having a +4 deflection bonus to AC was too powerful for a 20th level character, so they nerfed it down to an intimidate bonus.
Because you know what rogues love is smashing stuff and getting real big and easy to find

aren't half elves [human] and [elf]?
No. They have elven blood, which is distinct from the elf subtype.

[Macabaret]

aren't half elves [human] and [elf]?

They are if they take the Human Heritage feat from Races of Destiny.

[Venger]

They are if they take the Human Heritage feat from Races of Destiny.

that gives you [human], but half-elves don't have [elf]

[Heliomance]

Apologies for the delay. GitP fell foul of the work firewall for a day or two, for some reason. Back now though.

Thanks for the table, Viscount.


Entry
Chef
Stub
Karl Aegis score
jdizzlean score
Total


Memyadu, the Spell Embezzler
Zaq
CN Dark Vaulkrau Illumian Spellthief 9/Fatemaker 9/Mage of the Arcane Order 1
14
15.25
29.25


Ursula Utrennyaya
Piggy Knowles
Human Warblade 6/Hexblade 4/Fatemaker 10
11
16.5
27.5


Rizzo Fitzgibbon
Darrin
CN Brood Monkey Monstrous Humanoid 2/Battle Dancer 1/Barbarian 1/Feat Rogue 2/Drunken Master 2/Fatemaker 10
9
15.5
24.5


Kasia, Breaker of Chains
RaiKirah
CG Dark Human Battle Dancer 1/Warlock 4/Fatemaker 9/Unseen Seer 5
10
14
24


Felicity Pip, Thumb in the Eye of Destiny
The Viscount
CN Human Marshal 6/Fatemaker 10/Exemplar 4
11
13
24


Rattenfanger von Hameln
Piggy Knowles
NE Changeling Bard 5/Fatemaker 10/Master of Flies 5
8
15.25
23.25


Maxwell the Magnificent
Venger
CE Human Crusader 5/Fatemaker 10/Nar Demonbinder 5
8
14.75
22.75


The Fated Zari
Falontani
CG Azurin Human Paragon 2/Paladin of Freedom 3/Fatemaker 1/Soulborn 1/Lasher 1/Fatemaker 10/Lasher 4
10
10.5
20.5


Gar Hogchoker
daremetoidareyo
LN Draconic Crane Clan Illumian Sorcerer 6/Marshal 3/Fatemaker 10
5
13
18



Congratulations to Zaq, Piggy Knowles, and Darrin for medalling! I'm afraid I've quite lost track of who the most popular vote for Honourable Mention is, sorry!

This contest is now closed - I'd like to request people stop arguing about rules at this point, please!

[daremetoidareyo]

HM is gar hogchoker.

Plus, as if that weren't good news enough, My escape artist guide is almost done.

[Falontani]

kind of sad that no one liked Zari, but she was fun to make. Thank you for letting me participate in an Iron Chef, and thank you Heliomance for being chair even through busy times!

[daremetoidareyo]

I had to construct this Escape Artist guide by searching every single one of my PDFs in order to make Gar Hogchoker. It was basically all in a spreadsheet anyway, and it seems like a resource that other future chefs may appreciate, so I figured a little polish around the edges would make it go down the windpipe.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555939-Tying-Down-Escapology-An-Escape-Artist-Reference-Guide&p=22986509#post22986509

Mighty Righteous, no?

May your futures be full of honorable mentions.

[Venger]

I had to construct this Escape Artist guide by searching every single one of my PDFs in order to make Gar Hogchoker. It was basically all in a spreadsheet anyway, and it seems like a resource that other future chefs may appreciate, so I figured a little polish around the edges would make it go down the windpipe.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555939-Tying-Down-Escapology-An-Escape-Artist-Reference-Guide&p=22986509#post22986509

Mighty Righteous, no?

May your futures be full of honorable mentions.
It's beautiful.

[The Viscount]

kind of sad that no one liked Zari, but she was fun to make. Thank you for letting me participate in an Iron Chef, and thank you Heliomance for being chair even through busy times!

Don't be discouraged. I found your build quite fun. The next round could be your round.

[daremetoidareyo]

Don't be discouraged. I found your build quite fun. The next round could be your round.

There is a pretty wide array of judges, and you don't get to pick which ones review your work before you start. I loved all of the builds this round.

[Venger]

Does anyone have a link to the new thread? I'm on mobile and the site's being weird.

[georgie_leech]

Does anyone have a link to the new thread? I'm on mobile and the site's being weird.

If anyone does, ask them for next week's lottery numbers while you're at it :smallwink:

[Heliomance]

Does anyone have a link to the new thread? I'm on mobile and the site's being weird.

It's not up yet because I'm a disorganised nitwit. It's not going up now because it's quarter past one in the morning and I need sleep. It should be up tomorrow, feel free to shout at me if it isn't.

[Zaq]

Wait, I beat not one but two builds by Piggy? The Piggy? That kinda blows my mind a bit, not gonna lie. (Good to see you around, Piggy!)

I honestly didn't expect to walk away with a medal this round. To call Memyadu "no-nonsense" is perhaps going a bit too far, but I didn't think that the build had nearly as compelling a hook as some of the others on display here. I meant it when I said that every single build had something that piqued my interest—this was a genuinely good round, despite the best efforts of the writers of the Planar Handbook!

I'm a little surprised that no one else submitted a Spellthief. Fatemaker is so similar to the actual Spellthief class, only not as good. I had to throw out several other ways of getting Quick Potion before settling on "learn it as a Spellthief and steal my own Fatemaker spell slots to cast it more," which is, if nothing else, amusing. (I had originally planned to just pick it up with MotAO's Spellpool, but then I realized that it'd require GM intervention to be in the Spellpool at all. I tried to make an argument for "my Bluff and Diplomacy are high enough to convince the Arcane Order higher-ups to put QP in the Spellpool for me," but I chickened out at the end. Probably for the best.)

Dare, that build is a thing of strikingly grotesque beauty. Your style is inimitable. I couldn't submit a dare build if I tried. (Though I guess Speeloxhuu was close. Maybe I will try imitating your style at some point just to throw people off.) The only reason I voted for Mr. von Hameln as HM over Mr. Hogchoker is because I told myself that if anyone managed to actually proactively show off Aura of Confidence (an ability that looks decent and yet is damned near impossible to really build around), they would deserve HM. Your line about the distinction between the boot blade and the blade boot got an audible laugh out of me, and yet I couldn't fault your argument.

Falontani, I thought that Zari was a really interesting direction to go in! Smiting usually takes too many levels to slot elegantly into a build where the SI doesn't give Smiting or some direct equivalent, so that was a daring tack to take. Also, I love optimizing the weird little throwaway aspects of a given SI, so using Fatemaker's proficiencies to get into Lasher definitely got an approving nod from me.

Overall though, it's really true—these builds were all excellent. Kudos to everyone who got something in, and many thanks to our judges! I eagerly await the next round.


It's not up yet because I'm a disorganised nitwit. It's not going up now because it's quarter past one in the morning and I need sleep. It should be up tomorrow, feel free to shout at me if it isn't.

No worries, Helio! We love you anyway, and this contest is rather a bit more work than most folks realize! (And you're really not disorganized.)

[Kelb_Panthera]

Ya know something funny; the thing I thought was too obvious didn't come up. I was thinking to get in some heartwarder and really push the cha, see if I could go somewhere with that. Ah well. Next time, maybe.

[Wolfem]

ICO Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oyjVU5JmeCnC8YTMqDArDqE5PszHl0Ysadz630kuTGk/edit?ts=59a4835f#gid=0) has been updated with the Chefs to their Dishes and final judging scores have been added as well. I know await the next cook. :smile:

[daremetoidareyo]

ICO Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oyjVU5JmeCnC8YTMqDArDqE5PszHl0Ysadz630kuTGk/edit?ts=59a4835f#gid=0) has been updated with the Chefs to their Dishes and final judging scores have been added as well. I know await the next cook. :smile:

I have reserved a special place at the lunch halls of valhalla for your efforts. Many thanks. May the Future techno-archaeologists of tomorrows centuries find this server and decrypt your hard work

[danielxcutter]

Wait, I beat not one but two builds by Piggy? The Piggy? That kinda blows my mind a bit, not gonna lie. (Good to see you around, Piggy!)

I honestly didn't expect to walk away with a medal this round. To call Memyadu "no-nonsense" is perhaps going a bit too far, but I didn't think that the build had nearly as compelling a hook as some of the others on display here. I meant it when I said that every single build had something that piqued my interest—this was a genuinely good round, despite the best efforts of the writers of the Planar Handbook!

I'm a little surprised that no one else submitted a Spellthief. Fatemaker is so similar to the actual Spellthief class, only not as good. I had to throw out several other ways of getting Quick Potion before settling on "learn it as a Spellthief and steal my own Fatemaker spell slots to cast it more," which is, if nothing else, amusing. (I had originally planned to just pick it up with MotAO's Spellpool, but then I realized that it'd require GM intervention to be in the Spellpool at all. I tried to make an argument for "my Bluff and Diplomacy are high enough to convince the Arcane Order higher-ups to put QP in the Spellpool for me," but I chickened out at the end. Probably for the best.)

I loooved Memyadu, especially the hook about druid spells being in the Spellpool. Honestly sniggered at that.

@dare: I voted for Gar as HM because by the Dark Six, it was hilarious.

[Zaq]

I loooved Memyadu, especially the hook about druid spells being in the Spellpool. Honestly sniggered at that.

You flatter me, sir. That said, I’m glad that the fluff had the desired effect! My original fluff writeup (same basic idea, different presentation) was absolutely awful—long-winded, stilted, boring, you name it. I came to the realization that it got better the more I cut out of it, so I tried to see just how far I could distill it down. Sending provided a convenient framing device.

While I wouldn’t call myself a particularly good fiction writer in any sense (in an absolute sense, and also compared to several of our regulars here!), I do think regular participation in this contest is forcing me to hone my technique at least a little bit. If nothing else, I’m forcing myself to acknowledge that more words do not always make things better, so short and sweet is often where it’s at!

[Piggy Knowles]

Wait, I beat not one but two builds by Piggy? The Piggy? That kinda blows my mind a bit, not gonna lie. (Good to see you around, Piggy!)

Thanks for the kind words. I loved Memyadu from the get-go and I'm not even a little bit disappointed to see it claim first place. Every now and then I see something in Iron Chef that makes me mutter, "Damn, wish I'd thought of that." Using stolen spells to repay your spell debt for MotAO was absolutely one of them. Great job on putting together such a fun build and congrats on the well-deserved first place.

[Heliomance]

New thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556092-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCII&p=22990514)