Villainous Competition XXVI Swallow Whole! [Archive]

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jdizzlean

2018-04-19, 09:03 AM

Welcome to Round 26 of the Villainous Competition!

Previous Competitions
Round One: Leader of Armies (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395046)
Round Two: Nature's Revenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400517)
Round Three: Double Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406015)
Round Four: Grave Keeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?413480)
Round Five: Crime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420704)
Round Six: Ultimate Predator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430650)
Round Seven: Wicked Witch (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444478)
Round Eight: Master of the Tundra (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?461482)
Round Nine: The Power of Villainous Thinking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474230)
Round Ten: Henchman Are Villains Too (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?478068)
Round Eleven: The Higher They Rise The Harder They Fall (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483052)
Round Twelve: Power Comes at a Price (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488846)
Round Thirteen: The Gadgeteer - You Are Not Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491932)
Round Fourteen: The Thing That Should Not Be (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?496091)
Round Fifteen: The Horsemen Are Drawing Nearer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500829)
Round Sixteen: Burn Baby Burn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503974)
Round Seventeen: It's Alive! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?507768)
Round Eighteen: This is Heresy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?511933)
Round Nineteen: He Slimed Me! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?516535)
Round Twenty: Elder Evil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?521560)
Round Twenty-One: Yarr! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527415-Villainous-Competition-XXI-Yarr!)
Round Twenty-Two: I Am The Night! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531199-Villainous-Competition-XXII-I-Am-The-Night!)
Round Twenty-Three: Two Heads Are Better Than One! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535437-Villainous-Competition-XXIII-Two-Heads-Are-Better-Than-One)
Round Twenty-Four: Wrong For The Right Reasons! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541650-Villainous-Competition-XXIV-Wrong-For-The-Right-Reasons)
Round Twenty-Five: Keeper of the Gate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?550139-Villainous-Competition-XXV-No-Solicitors!)

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

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

Secret Laboratory:
Competitors will be free to use any official 1st party (WotC) 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Compendium is allowed, but Dragon magazine is disallowed. Unearthed Arcana is allowed. Unupdated 3.0 materials, as well as web exclusives by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Item Familiars and Taint are also banned from the competition. Leadership and all similar abilities are banned for sanity reasons.
Builds that are fully monstrous are allowed at no penalty. All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels.

Elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) is the assumed ability score generation method.
Some monstrous characters can technically qualify for Epic feats as soon as their ECL is over 20. While regular Epic feats will be allowed, Epic Spellcasting and all other Epic feats that affect spells, psionic powers, or item creation are not permitted. Including these would give an unfair advantage over standard characters. For Incarnum characters, Epic Open Chakra feats are allowed; other Epic Incarnum feats are not. The Essentia Capacity increases for Epic capacity as described on p. 212. For all characters, please note that Racial Hit Dice do not count towards Epic Progression; use the regular progression even if the BAB ends up higher than 20.

Deadlines:
Contestants will have until 1800 MST Tuesdy May 8th to create their builds and PM them to the Supreme Chancellor. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 1800 MST Tuesday May 22nd 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. Deadlines are subject to extension as/if required.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Code immediately below (spoiler).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can use the table below for Spells.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get In MY BELLY!
(Swallow Whole)
om nom nom!

Limitations

Cannot use Wild Shape gained from Druid levels to qualify
As almost always, must be evil in alignment.

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

Build
Chef
GrayDeath
PrismCat21
Total
Place

Keeyusk the Ravenous
Falontani
15.5
10.7
26.2
6th

The Behemoth
Hanwalker
12.5
9.5
22
7th

Gourmandoggo
WhamBamSam
14.75
17.5
32.25
5th

Faras Alnhar
Lionheart
14.75
19.2
33.95
SILVER

TOM
Macabaret
13.5
illegal
13.5
10th

Antharyx
3SecondCultist
12.75
19.7
32.45
4th

The Virus
Jourmengand
16.25
16.8
33.05
BRONZE

The Nightstalker
Falontani
15.25
illegal
15.25
9th

A'Aron
Venger
16.5
17.7
34.2
GOLD

Clawdius
Thurbane
16.25
illegal
16.25
8th (HM)

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

PM: Jdizzlean
Subject: Villainous Competition 26, Name of your Entry
For Revisions and disputes, do the same thing. It makes it easier for me finding the entries in my mail box.
More questions? PM me with Villainous Competition 26 Questions in the header.

Tips for submitting your entry, provided by Weaselguy:

As always: let's keep it nice.

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

New competition rule: if I feel an individual has been overly disruptive during the course of competition discussion, I will not be accepting and revealing any entries from that individual, and they will also not be allowed to judge. Any judging they enter will not be taken into account for the final tally.

It's sad that it had to come to this, but here's a list of permanently banned (from this Villainous Competition) members:

Novolin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?148361-Novolin)
Yklikt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?133435-Yklikt)

jdizzlean

2018-04-19, 09:05 AM

Clarifications

Unearthed Arcana variant rules are limited: The variant character options (such as Wildshape Ranger and Thug Fighter) should not be penalized. Flaws and traits may be penalized by judges, whereas item familiars, gestalt, alternate skill systems, alternate magic systems, alternate crafting rules, generic base classes, LA buyoff, fractional saves/BAB, and bloodlines are banned. Anything not mentioned here is up to individual judges.

d20 Rokugan is not allowed material.

The Dragon Magazine update for Oriental Adventures is in use.

Leadership is banned. Any material that grants you leadership without you specifically taking it should be ignored and may not be traded away for another feat or ACF. Undead Leadership and Dragon Cohort are likewise banned. Wild Cohort and Obtain Familiar are allowed. If you are not sure if a specific feat violates the 'no leadership' rule, err on the side of caution, or ask me.

However, Leadership may be taken to qualify for another feat or class (such as the Great Captain feat or Legendary Leader prestige class), though a character still doesn't get its usual benefit in those cases. This is to allow characters to access unproblematic material that'd otherwise be made unavailable because of the Leadership ban.

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

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/89/b1/96/89b1967d5678eeb3bfb111191c108c34.jpg

Everyone, have fun!

Deadline

2018-04-19, 09:29 AM

What does it say about these competitions when the challenge on this one for me isn't "how to use Swallow Whole", but instead is "how to use Swallow Whole differently than the last few times I've used it in these competitions". :smalltongue:

Inevitability

2018-04-19, 10:45 AM

WhamBamSam

2018-04-19, 10:51 AM

I've been hoping for this one for a while. I've got an idea already and will absolutely be trying to get it submitted.

daremetoidareyo

2018-04-19, 11:03 AM

This is such a broad question that I'm pretty sure it doesn't fall under 'no build discussions', and its answer seems very relevant to other people as well, so I'm going to ask it here:

Do builds who have an ability that's not explicitly called Swallow Whole, but basically the same in effect (like a Gelatinous Cube's Engulf), count for the purpose of this contest? I assume everything's fine as long as someone gets swallowed, right?

I hope so, although i would want swarm/mobs engulf abilities prohibited, cuz that isn't exactly swallowing. regardless of the chair's decision, i would build under that assumption and let the judges do the disqualification.

Darrin

2018-04-19, 01:33 PM

This is such a broad question that I'm pretty sure it doesn't fall under 'no build discussions', and its answer seems very relevant to other people as well, so I'm going to ask it here:

Do builds who have an ability that's not explicitly called Swallow Whole, but basically the same in effect (like a Gelatinous Cube's Engulf), count for the purpose of this contest? I assume everything's fine as long as someone gets swallowed, right?

Engulf should be close enough that I don't see any functional difference between that and Swallow Whole. When I originally proposed the idea around Thanksgiving, the thought was to keep it broadly focused on eating things, Gluttony, etc. I think the Barghest/Dusk Giant "Feed" ability might have been part of the original suggestion, but I'm not sure if that's still mechanically in the same neighborhood as Swallow Whole.

jdizzlean

2018-04-19, 03:53 PM

This is such a broad question that I'm pretty sure it doesn't fall under 'no build discussions', and its answer seems very relevant to other people as well, so I'm going to ask it here:

Do builds who have an ability that's not explicitly called Swallow Whole, but basically the same in effect (like a Gelatinous Cube's Engulf), count for the purpose of this contest? I assume everything's fine as long as someone gets swallowed, right?

as long as a thing, ends up inside another thing, and the way it ended up there was through it's mouth, (a cube doesn't really have a mouth, so that would count), I'd say any words/action used that basically mean the same thing as swallowed whole would count.

Thurbane

2018-04-19, 09:34 PM

Nice! Down to cook.

I already had some ideas around this, but may need to adjust them to fit specific round requirements.

3SecondCultist

2018-04-20, 11:35 AM

Posting for sub! Also my build is already underway. :smallamused:

Sen isSaqqara

2018-04-20, 05:02 PM

I'm working on one too. Almost done, really, just working on formatting it appropriately for the contest.

Doctor Awkward

2018-04-20, 07:14 PM

as long as a thing, ends up inside another thing, and the way it ended up there was through it's mouth, (a cube doesn't really have a mouth, so that would count), I'd say any words/action used that basically mean the same thing as swallowed whole would count.

I...
am a little unclear about the criteria for meeting the theme.

Is it things where the primary threat is getting eaten alive? Is it "downed in one attack" type of eaten? Or is it just anything that focuses primarily on bite attacks?

jdizzlean

2018-04-20, 07:35 PM

I...
am a little unclear about the criteria for meeting the theme.

Is it things where the primary threat is getting eaten alive? Is it "downed in one attack" type of eaten? Or is it just anything that focuses primarily on bite attacks?

the theme is swallow whole. whatever action you're doing to emulate that in the case of not having that specific ability is ok. Someone asked about cubes, they don't have mouths, but if they "run you over" you end up in their "belly" just the same. It should not be something where you are taking bites or nibbling someone to death. In one attack, or one action you need to "swallow them whole".

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#swallowWhole

Technetium43

2018-04-25, 04:07 PM

Hey, glad to see this is back up, I think I'd like to try my hand at brewing again. I have some interesting ideas, and it'll be good DM prep anyways. :smallsmile:

jdizzlean

2018-04-30, 03:42 PM

WhamBamSam

2018-04-30, 06:53 PM

while we're waiting for the reveal, I am building a list of themes for future rounds. The next round is sure to be a doozy, and I have a few other ideas at the top of my list as well. However, aside from those things suggested at the end of the last round, what are some thoughts of things to see in the future?I'd love to see an Evil Party/Quirky Miniboss Squad/Teamwork Villain type round where instead of doing one CR 20 creature we make a number of creatures that comprise a CR20 encounter (and whatever other breakpoints we showcase, natch) all together. It'd be a bit more involved than usual, but I think there's potential for a lot of fun there.

Thurbane

2018-04-30, 07:10 PM

My concept has gone through a few changes: I think I'm settled on a final build; now just for the formatting and fluff. Should be able to get it finalized in time.

jdizzlean

2018-04-30, 07:23 PM

I'd love to see an Evil Party/Quirky Miniboss Squad/Teamwork Villain type round where instead of doing one CR 20 creature we make a number of creatures that comprise a CR20 encounter (and whatever other breakpoints we showcase, natch) all together. It'd be a bit more involved than usual, but I think there's potential for a lot of fun there.

WhamBam must clear a spot in his PM folder, or else!
(dun dun dun!!!!!)

daremetoidareyo

2018-04-30, 08:41 PM

A master swordsman villain would be fun

WhamBamSam

2018-04-30, 11:25 PM

WhamBam must clear a spot in his PM folder, or else!
(dun dun dun!!!!!)I didn't realize it had gotten full. There's space now.

GrayDeath

2018-05-01, 07:54 AM

Well, the theme does not really inspire me this time, added to job changes that would have prevented a lot of time spent cooking anyway, so I`ll be once again willing to judge. :)

3SecondCultist

2018-05-01, 11:52 PM

Thurbane

2018-05-02, 12:01 AM

Question for the chefs: under Monsters in the SRD, it says that 'any listed skills are class skills'. That's all well and good, but with the elite array if I end up with a higher Intelligence (and therefore more skill ranks), does that mean all other skills are cross-class by default until I get a class level?

That's exactly correct. Anything not listed in the monster entry are purchased as cross class skills.

There are certain feats that can add class skills, however.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491181

3SecondCultist

2018-05-02, 12:02 AM

That's exactly correct. Anything not listed in the monster entry are purchased as cross class skills.

There are certain feats that can add class skills, however.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491181

That's... irritating. I have zero room for feats, so cross-class it is for now. :smallsigh:

Thank you for your quick reply, though!

Edit: that leads me to another question. I'm assuming we don't have to buy all of the same skills, just like we don't need to take all of the same feats as the base monster?

Thurbane

2018-05-02, 12:36 AM

Edit: that leads me to another question. I'm assuming we don't have to buy all of the same skills, just like we don't need to take all of the same feats as the base monster?

You are correct - you're free to take whatever skills you like, so long as you're prepared to pay the cross class cost where applicable.

Same with feats, but obviously, anything listed as a bonus feat is locked in, and can't be swapped out for a different feat.

3SecondCultist

2018-05-02, 01:21 AM

You are correct - you're free to take whatever skills you like, so long as you're prepared to pay the cross class cost where applicable.

Same with feats, but obviously, anything listed as a bonus feat is locked in, and can't be swapped out for a different feat.

Yeah, got that. Thanks! :smallsmile:

You don't have to be the person to answer this one, Thurbane, but I have another question. I'm also a bit surprised that nobody has asked this particular question yet.

Is there a tried and true way to calculate the amount of damage that needs be dealt to the inside of a monster's tract to overcome the Swallow Whole (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#swallowWhole) ability? It seems to vary wildly based on the type of monster (and in some cases there isn't a damage listed), and I can't seem to find any specific rules on the matter. Thoughts?

Venger

2018-05-02, 01:31 AM

Yeah, got that. Thanks! :smallsmile:

You don't have to be the person to answer this one, Thurbane, but I have another question. I'm also a bit surprised that nobody has asked this particular question yet.

Is there a tried and true way to calculate the amount of damage that needs be dealt to the inside of a monster's tract to overcome the Swallow Whole (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#swallowWhole) ability? It seems to vary wildly based on the type of monster (and in some cases there isn't a damage listed), and I can't seem to find any specific rules on the matter. Thoughts?

There is no formula for it, it's completely random, unfortunately.

donpaul

2018-05-02, 01:47 AM

Thank you. Got it :)

Lionheart

2018-05-02, 10:38 AM

I have been tossing ideas around for a little while, but haven't come up with anything that really inspires me. I may just try my hand at judging depending on the chair's response to a question.

jdizzlean

2018-05-02, 03:45 PM

just over 3 days to go, 1 submission in the box. is everyone going to be able to finish in time, or do we need an extension?

WhamBamSam

2018-05-02, 03:57 PM

I'm almost finished with my entry. Should be in by tonight.

3SecondCultist

2018-05-02, 06:28 PM

My entry is also nearly finished. It should be in either tonight or tomorrow.

jdizzlean

2018-05-02, 07:20 PM

Ok,

I'll check back in Saturday afternoon and we'll see if we need a few more days

Lionheart

2018-05-03, 03:26 AM

I now have all the moving pieces of my build nailed down, just need to go through the fiddly bits now. Should be doable for the deadline.

WhamBamSam

2018-05-04, 01:01 AM

Whew. Build in. Looking forward to the reveal.

Jormengand

2018-05-04, 08:44 AM

I have an idea for this one, but no way I'm gonna be able to get it in in time without at least some extension, unfortunately.

3SecondCultist

2018-05-04, 08:53 AM

My build is in as well for this one!

jdizzlean

2018-05-04, 03:56 PM

I have an idea for this one, but no way I'm gonna be able to get it in in time without at least some extension, unfortunately.
if you had til Tuesday, could you do it?

jdizzlean

2018-05-04, 06:10 PM

ok, three more days added on

Thurbane

2018-05-06, 11:31 PM

If I'm calculating correctly (and my time zone conversions are right), we've got about 41.5 hours left?

Just want to make sure I don't miss out due to a miscalculation.

The entry is more-or-less finished, but I'm using the extra time to finalize fluff and clean up formatting.

Never mind, I WAS miscalculating: Melbourne time is approx. 16 hours ahead of MST.

Lionheart

2018-05-07, 04:39 AM

Build submitted!

This is my first rodeo, so hopefully I haven't messed it up too badly.

DrKerosene

2018-05-07, 06:14 AM

I am looking forward to seeing all of the builds. I've had a friend who wants to play a PC that can do something basically like this, and it has had me fairly stumped for a long time.

jdizzlean

2018-05-07, 07:58 AM

Thurbane

2018-05-08, 04:12 AM

as of this writing, it's 7am MST, so you have until 6 PM tomorrow night to get them in, you figure the math out for where you are LOL :)

All done and sent. :smallsmile:

Jormengand

2018-05-08, 09:17 AM

My entry is done.

I would like to express my sincere apologies to literally everyone.

Pleh

2018-05-08, 09:43 AM

Just a thought I had reading all this so far (I'm just spectating this competition, no worries).

Would future competitions possibly be open to home made (custom) monsters? In my mind, the balance point would be banning home made special qualities or abilities; you can only mix and match qualities and abilities from officially published monsters. The competition is already adjusting for CR balance, so home made monsters with too much or too little power or too "lopsided" (very weak against some tactics and nearly unbeatable against others) could lose them points in the competition.

Or maybe a Homebrew competition could be a separate series of games?

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 12:22 PM

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 12:23 PM

8 builds in my inbox, 6.5 hours to go :)

Pleh

2018-05-08, 12:51 PM

you can "homebrew" a custom creature by means of official templates and classes right now, but if you're thinking of using things like completely homebrewed abilities/templates/etc, then no. That would indeed have to be completely a seperate competition beyond any of the IC or VC or e6 as those are all based of official errata

Actually, you've missed my question on both sides. I'll try to communicate what I meznt more clearly.

I meant to ask about homebrew combinations of official content. I wouldn't call anything "homebrew" if it's totally limited to the premade published content, but totally homebrewed monster abilities (from the ground up) was way further than I was thinking.

Let me try an example.

Let's suppose I'm aiming for CR 5 entry and I'm using the guidelines for monster creation from the DMG. I want it to be a creature similar to an Orc in its general fluff, but I want to layer on some extra powers to differentiate it. I look up monsters that are CR 5 to hopefully put me in the correct power range (or close enough to fit into later when refining). Let's pick Gibbering Mouther and Wraith. Now I've got a monstrous humanoid (so far without statistics) but it will have the Gibbering and Constitution Drain abilities (only taking one special ability from each because I want it to have the best chance to end up CR 5). To balance, I'll add the Wraith's Daylight Powerlessness. From there, I'd be comparing it to other CR 5 monsters and mentally playtesting to see how close I am to my target.

Regardless your thoughts about the balance (or lack thereof) for this off hand example, I mean to suggest homebrew monsters with canon only ingredients.

Not a big deal, though. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a different kind of game.

Falontani

2018-05-08, 04:36 PM

Just submit my build in full. Of all the competitions I've entered I have both the most and the least faith in this build to win. Good luck to everyone else!

Thurbane

2018-05-08, 04:43 PM

Actually, you've missed my question on both sides. I'll try to communicate what I meznt more clearly.

I meant to ask about homebrew combinations of official content. I wouldn't call anything "homebrew" if it's totally limited to the premade published content, but totally homebrewed monster abilities (from the ground up) was way further than I was thinking.

Let me try an example.

Let's suppose I'm aiming for CR 5 entry and I'm using the guidelines for monster creation from the DMG. I want it to be a creature similar to an Orc in its general fluff, but I want to layer on some extra powers to differentiate it. I look up monsters that are CR 5 to hopefully put me in the correct power range (or close enough to fit into later when refining). Let's pick Gibbering Mouther and Wraith. Now I've got a monstrous humanoid (so far without statistics) but it will have the Gibbering and Constitution Drain abilities (only taking one special ability from each because I want it to have the best chance to end up CR 5). To balance, I'll add the Wraith's Daylight Powerlessness. From there, I'd be comparing it to other CR 5 monsters and mentally playtesting to see how close I am to my target.

Regardless your thoughts about the balance (or lack thereof) for this off hand example, I mean to suggest homebrew monsters with canon only ingredients.

Not a big deal, though. The more I think about it, the more it sounds like a different kind of game.

I could be wrong, as I don't frequent that forum as often as this one, but I believe they run similar kinds of competitions as you are describing in the Homebrew Forum (or at least, they use to).

Falontani

2018-05-08, 06:55 PM

T-5 minutes?

Venger

2018-05-08, 06:58 PM

T-5 minutes?

Yes, that is correct. Proofreading my entry like the fist of the north star

Thurbane

2018-05-08, 07:15 PM

Yes, that is correct. Proofreading my entry like the fist of the north star

I know the feels...always terrified I've made a major error somewhere.

It's even worse when you realize immediately after the reveal that you've messed up a detail.

Falontani

2018-05-08, 07:17 PM

Got super excited only to remember Jdizzlean is the chair, not Thurbane.... I will go back to watching and waiting... silently. Quietly I say.

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:22 PM

incoming builds, i have been swamped, so no snarky comments this go around :(

please hold all posts until the all clear is given!

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:28 PM

Numero Uno:

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

13

Ravenous Ulgurstasta (17 HD)

+8

+5

+5

+10

Knowledge Arcana: 20, Knowledge Religion: 20, Spot: 20, Listen: 20, Escape Artist: 10, Use Magic Device: 10, Spellcraft 10, Use Psionic Device: 10, Psicraft: 10

1: Corpsecrafter
3: Destructive Retribution
6: Multigrab
9: Greater Multigrab
12: Improved Unarmed Strike
15: Improved Grapple

Breath Weapon, Improved Grab, Necromantic Acid, Spawn Skeletons, Tendrils, Acid Immunity, Cold Immunity, 21 Spell Resistance, Undead Traits, Swallow Whole, Feed, Need to Feed

13.25

Undead HD (18 HD)

+9

+6

+6

+11

Knowledge Arcana: 21, Knowledge Religion: 21, Spot: 21, Listen: 21, Escape Artist: 10.5, Use Magic Device: 10.5, Spellcraft 10.5, Use Psionic Device: 10.5, Psicraft: 10.5

Undead Meldshaper

Size Increase

13.5

Undead HD (19 HD)

+9

+6

+6

+11

Knowledge Arcana: 22, Knowledge Religion: 22, Spot: 22, Listen: 22, Escape Artist: 11, Use Magic Device: 11, Spellcraft 11, Use Psionic Device: 11, Psicraft: 11

13.75

Undead HD (20 HD)

+10

+6

+6

+12

Knowledge Arcana: 23, Knowledge Religion: 23, Spot: 23, Listen: 23, Escape Artist: 11.5, Use Magic Device: 11.5, Spellcraft 11.5, Use Psionic Device: 11.5, Psicraft: 11.

14

Undead HD (21 HD)

+10

+7

+7

+12

Knowledge Arcana: 24, Knowledge Religion: 24, Spot: 24, Listen: 24, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 12, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 12

Superior Unarmed Strike

15

Evolved Undead (21 HD)

+13

+15

+10

+15

Knowledge Arcana: 24, Knowledge Religion: 24, Spot: 24, Listen: 24, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 12, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 12

16

Totemist (22 HD)

+10

+9

+9

+12

Knowledge Arcana: 25, Knowledge Religion: 24, Spot: 25, Listen: 25, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 18, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 12

Wild Empathy

17

Totemist (23 HD)

+11

+10

+10

+12

Knowledge Arcana: 26, Knowledge Religion: 24, Spot: 26, Listen: 26, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 24, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 12

Totem Chakra Bind

18

Incarnate (24 HD)

+11

+12

+10

+14

Knowledge Arcana: 27, Knowledge Religion: 24.5, Spot: 27, Listen: 27, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 27, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 12

Improved Natural Attack: Bite

Aura, Detect Opposition

19

Incarnate (25 HD)

+12

+13

+10

+15

Knowledge Arcana: 28, Knowledge Religion: 25, Spot: 28, Listen: 28, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 28, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 13

20

Tomb Warden (26 HD)

+13

+15

+10

+15

Knowledge Arcana: 29, Knowledge Religion: 28, Spot: 29, Listen: 29, Escape Artist: 12, Use Magic Device: 12, Spellcraft 29, Use Psionic Device: 12, Psicraft: 13

Turn Immunity

Keeyussk
Colossal Undead
Hit Dice: 26d12 (187 hp)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40 ft.
AC: 24 (–8 size, +5 Dex, +15 natural, +2 Armor), touch 7, flat-footed 19
Base Attack/Grapple: +13/+59
Attack: Bite +24 melee (8d6+19 plus Improved Grab)
Full Attack: [40 ft reach Unarmed Strike +24/+19/+14 (8d6+19 plus Improved Grab)] and [25 ft reach Claws +23/+23/+23/+23 (3d6+13 plus Improved Grab)] and [25 ft reach Bite +19 (8d6+9 plus Improved Grab)]
Face/Reach: 25 ft./25 ft.
Special Attacks: Breath weapon, improved grab, necromantic acid, spawn skeletons, swallow whole, tendrils, Feed
Special Qualities: Acid immunity, cold immunity, DR 25/+3, SR 21, undead traits, Need to Feed, Fast Healing 3, Spell Like Abilities
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +15, Will +18
Abilities: Str 48, Dex 21, Con —, Int 21, Wis 16, Cha 22
Skills: Knowledge Arcana 34, Knowledge Religion 33, Spot 32, Listen 32, Escape Artist 17, Use Magic Device 18, Use Psionic Device 18, Spellcraft 34, Psicraft 18
Feats: Corpsecrafter, Destructive Retribution, Multigrab, Greater Multigrab, Improved Unarmed Strike, Superior Unarmed Strike, Improved Natural Attack: Bite
Climate/Terrain: Any land and underground
Organization: Solitary (1, plus 12–32 skeletons of varying sizes)
Challenge Rating: 20
Treasure: —
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: 18–51 HD (Colossal)

Soulmelds: 3 Incarnate, 3 Totemist, 1 Crown Bind, 1 Totem Bind
Girallon Arms bound to Totem Chakra: gain 4 claw attacks (1d4 for medium creatures)
4 Essentia: +10 grapple and climb, +4 enhancement bonus on attack/damage rolls
Necrocarnum Circlet bound to Crown Chakra: Detect Undead within 30 ft, able to create up to 2 HD of Necrocarnum Zombie.
Necrocarnum Shroud Unbound: +1 to hit and damage whenever a living creature adjacent to me takes damage, lasts 1 round, unless they died in which case 1 round/HD of creature
Bluesteel Bracers Unbound: +2 insight bonus to initiative
Sphinx Claws Unbound: +1 bonus to all str checks and str skill checks
Ankheg Breastplate Unbound: +2 armor bonus to AC

Breath Weapon (Su): In an emergency, an ulgurstasta can regurgitate the contents of its stomach. This results in a cone of necromantic acid 60 feet long. Anyone in the cone’s path must make a Reflex saving throw (DC 29) or take 3d6 points of Constitution drain. Those who succeed take only 1d6 points of Constitution damage. Creatures killed in this manner animate in the next round as skeletons under the ulgurstasta’s control. Any dormant skeletons in the ulgurstasta’s gut (see below) are vomited up as well. These undead animate at once and attack everything in sight except the ulgurstasta. Once the ulgurstasta has vomited, it cannot do so again for one day. Creatures swallowed during this period do not take Constitution drain. An ulgurstasta unable to use its breath weapon often tries to flee until it can replenish its supply of acid.
Improved Grab (Ex): If an ulgurstasta hits an opponent that is at least one size category smaller than itself with a bite attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity (grapple bonus +59). Thereafter, the ulgurstasta has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use its bite to hold the opponent (the ulgurstasta is not considered grappled). In either case, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals bite damage.
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the ravenous creature must hit with a natural attack. If it gets a hold, it can feed.
Feed (Ex): A ravenous creature deals automatic bite damage with a successful grapple check.
Need to Feed (Ex): A ravenous creature is driven by a consuming hunger, not a lust for battle. Whenever it slays a living opponent, the ravenous undead must succeed at a DC 15 Will save or immediately stop to eat its kill. When eating, a ravenous creature can do nothing else. It loses its Dexterity bonus to AC and does not make attacks of opportunity.
Necromantic Acid (Su): Someone swallowed by an ulgurstasta is in deep trouble—the creature feeds on raw life and transforms its victims into animated skeletons that the ulgurstasta can later regurgitate. A swallowed victim takes 1d8 points of Constitution drain each round from the necromantic acid inside the creature. Upon death, the victim’s remains are infused with the acid and transformed into an animated skeleton. Skeletons remain dormant in the ulgurstasta’s gut until it vomits them up.
Spawn Skeletons (Su): As a full-round action, an ulgurstasta can regurgitate dormant skeletons. At any one time, an ulgurstasta has 2d4 skeletons of various sizes in its gut. These undead obey the ulgurstasta’s mental commands without fail and can function in the round after regurgitation. For 1d6 rounds after being vomited up, these skeletons are covered with necromantic acid. They deal 1 point of Constitution drain with each successful attack in addition to other damage dealt. Ulgurstastas are always followed by a band of previously spawned skeletons.
Swallow Whole (Ex): An ulgurstasta can swallow a single creature that is at least one size category smaller than itself by making a successful grapple check (grapple bonus +59), provided it already has that opponent in its maw (see Improved Grab, above). Once inside the ulgurstasta, the opponent is bathed in necromantic acid (see above). A successful grapple check allows the swallowed creature to climb out of the stomach and return to the ulgurstasta’s maw, where another successful grapple check is needed to get free. Alternatively, a swallowed creature can try to cut its way out with either claws or a light piercing or slashing weapon. Dealing a total of at least 25 points of damage to the stomach (AC 14) in this way creates an opening large enough to permit escape. Once a single swallowed creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; thus, another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. An ulgurstasta’s maw can hold 2 Gargantuan, 8 Huge, 32 large, or 128 medium or smaller opponents.
Tendrils (Ex): The millions of pores on an ulgurstasta’s body provide it with a deadly defense; each pore contains a coiled, 40-foot-long, hair-thin tendril. When the creature is angered, the tendrils extend to their full range and whip about in a frenzy. This storm of tendrils renders an ulgurstasta immune to Small nonmagical ranged weapons such as arrows and deals 1d12 points of slashing damage per round to any creature within 40 feet of the ulgurstasta. Anyone in this area also takes a –2 circumstance penalty on attack rolls.
Undead Traits: An ulgurstasta is immune to mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, death effects, necromantic effects (unless they specifically affect undead), and any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects. It is not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, or death from massive damage. An ulgurstasta cannot be raised, and resurrection works only if it is willing. An ulgurstasta has darkvision (60-foot range).
Spell Like Abilities: 1/day Haste Caster Level 26

Scholars of forbidden lore claim that Kyuss walked the earth in an ancient era, long before the oldest kingdoms of the modern day. This time was one of great evil, when humanity dabbled with the blasphemous arts and served the dark gods. Kyuss was either a mortal necromancer of considerable talent or an evil god’s ranking priest. (Knowledge [religion] DC 25)
The most common theory claims that Kyuss was so wicked even his decadent society exiled him, casting him out because he dabbled in forbidden arts and spoke ominous prophecies of an impending final age. Rather than languishing as an outcast, he became a prophet and drew to him followers who clamored to hear his grim words. They saw him as the gods’ servant, if not a god in his own right, and believed it they curried his favor, he would shelter them from the horrific age he promised would come. (DC 30)
Kyuss discovered the ruins of a dead civilization. The structures that remained bore many strange writings, depictions of human sacrifice, and six-armed tyrants ruling over all. Kyuss claimed this site for his own and commanded his people to rebuild the city from the wreckage. (DC 35)
Although he ruled as god and king, the disturbing visions and his own discontentment urged him to seek greater power, to find some way to transcend the mortal flesh and become more than a man, to become a true god. His path was clear when his followers discovered ancient metal plates, which held terrible secrets but also confirmed every prophetic word he had spoken. (DC 40)
Through these inscriptions, he discovered the incantation to let him transcend mortality at a terrible price—the lives of his congregation. For this prophet, no price was too high, and on one bloody night he instructed his priests to round up the followers and slaughter them all. When they finished, Kyuss murdered the murderers. With the blood of thousands staining his hands, he turned to the great obelisk his servants had pulled from the earth and intoned the words to begin his transformation. When he was finished, he stepped into the stone, fusing his essence with the foul rock, gaining and losing his divinity in one moment. He was neither mortal nor god—he was something far worse. (DC 45)

Tales speak of an old demigod by the name of Kyuss. Kyuss was a necromancer in ages past and created many unholy abominations. One such being is the mighty Ulgurstasta. A being that can create skeletons with its own stomach acid, and which grows more intelligent the more living things it eats. (DC 20)

A new cult has popped up, and apparently they worship a maggot. (DC 10)
Apparently this maggot is colossal in scale and is shown to be intelligent. The cult feeds the maggot sacrifices in exchange for skeletal guardians. (DC 15)
The maggot goes by the name Keeyussk, known to its followers only due to the fact that Keeyussk can read and write. (DC 20)

The first ulgurstasta was created ages ago by Kyuss, a powerful evil cleric turned demigod. An ulgurstasta is a nauseating creature that looks like a massive, pale-yellow maggot. Twin rows of dozens of pulpy, rudimentary legs tipped with bony spurs provide it with a surprisingly effective means of locomotion. Its head is studded with dozens of humanoid eyes, below which drools a maw filled with hooked teeth. Millions of distended pores that continually weep a foul-smelling mucus cover its body. The horror radiates a cloying stink of rotting flowers and sour milk. Vague notes surviving from Kyuss’s time indicate that the process of creating an ulgurstasta is long and dangerous.
The newly formed beast has an Intelligence of 1 and can immediately create new skeletons. It obeys the vocal commands of its creator and can think for itself only upon reaching an Intelligence score of 10. The one thing that Kyuss didn’t count on was the fact that an ulgurstasta retains some of the memories of those it consumes. Thus, the more it ate, the more intelligent it grew. By the time Kyuss vanished, most of his ulgurstastas had become at least as intelligent as ghouls. Knowing that they would be hunted down and destroyed by Kyuss’s remaining enemies, the ulgurstastas retreated deep into the wilderness. Despite their attempt at self-preservation, most of them were hunted down and slain in the coming years, until only a handful survived deep in the Wormcrawl Fissure. Recently, one or two ulgurstastas have supposedly surfaced in isolated areas far from the Wormcrawl (such as in the Pomarj or the Bone March), where the local denizens worship them as gods. The ulgurstasta is a solitary being and has no desire or need to be around others of its kind. Should two beasts of Kyuss meet, they give each other a wide berth.
Since they were created through powerful necromantic magic, these creatures cannot reproduce, nor do they need to breathe or eat. Their orders once drove them to convert living beings into skeletons, but as time wore on, this drive has been replaced by a need to become more intelligent. As a general rule, every thousand skeletons created by an ulgurstasta allow it to retain enough thoughts and memories to gain a point of Intelligence. It is not unlikely that in some forgotten corner of the Wormcrawl, there might lurk an ulgurstasta of genius level or higher; these ulgurstastas might even have mastered the school of Necromancy themselves.
Ulgurstastas understand Common, though they cannot speak it.

Ulgurstastas have grown much more intelligent over the centuries and behave accordingly. An ulgurstasta attacks with its jaws. These jaws are mounted on a flexible stalk and have a reach of 20 feet.[/QUOTE]

Keeyussk is already an incredibly potent combatant at this point. Already Colossal with ‘unarmed’ strikes. An unarmed strike can be made with any part of your body, meaning that an Ulgurstatas can use it’s Tendrils to make unarmed strikes. As a Ravenous Ulgurstatas any time that Keeyussk hits with a natural attack it may use it’s Improved Grab. At this point we have an incredible grapple score of 52. Any creature that we successfully grapple we may make a free bite attack. So with a full attack we are potentially hitting 3 times with unarmed strikes from a range of 40 ft, grappling each opponent and getting a free bite attack on them, and then biting someone within 25 ft and grappling them, to deal another batch of bite damage for a total of 5 instances of Bite Damage. At the beginning of our turn if they have not left our maw we swallow them. Then we use 3 different tendrils to make unarmed strikes. If ever we run out of opponents not grabbed then we begin to transfer them to our mouth, where we swallow them one at a time. Continually dealing bite damage to them. This is without considering the fact that Keeyussk can haste himself, and when in danger can spew out the contents of his stomach to create skeletons with Corpsecrafter. Each of these skeletons when killed explode for a handful of D6 negative energy. Depending on how challenging you want Keeyussk to be you can easily say that Keeyussk has already swallowed, and regurgitated a nigh infinite number of Skeletal Flies. Each fly when destroyed deals 1d6 damage to living foes within 10 ft, and heal Keeyussk for 1d6. Keeyussk should never be alone due to this fact. Finally if worse comes to worst Keeyussk isn’t afraid of fleeing. Regurgitate all the contents in your stomach whlie dealing some pretty dangerous con drain to the enemies. Anyone killed by it turns into a skeleton under Keeyussk’s control (with corpsecrafter and Necromantic Retribution to boot) and the freshly regurgitated skeletons deal 1 con drain on a successful hit with no save. Skeletons at this point are basically peons, however they should prove to be a good distraction as the surprisingly swift Keeyussk moving at 70 ft/round able to take the run action allowing him to move at an incredible 280 ft/round, allowing him to quickly outpace all but the fastest humanoid adventurers.
Keeyussk has spent a few levels gaining tricks. Messing about with Incarnum has given Keeyussk the ability to adapt, to gain different abilities as the situation calls. The main soulmeld that Keeyussk utilizes here is his Girallon arms. Even at 4 1d4 claw attacks it adds a large amount of damage due the Improved Grab Feed combo. However if you rule that they do increase in damage as the size of the user goes up (as is usually the case with natural attacks) we get an amazing 4 3d6 claw attacks. Add on the +10 to grapple from Girallon arms, and +1 from Sphinx claws we now have a truly awesome grapple modifier. Our level of Tomb Warden keeps us rooted in place, but with a cult to serve us we don’t ever need to leave our own abode. But we do get immunity to all turning which is definitely shoring up our biggest weakness. We will continually add to the pile of undead in our tomb. We shall sit here, always awaiting more food, more intelligence, more defenders. Our cult will grow, and occasionally one will wish us to turn them into a skeleton, all the same we get more food. We will eat anything the cult brings to us, even lesser dragons.

I chose not to take the Legendary Wrestler feat even though we could have easily qualified for it by level 24 due to the fact that I did not want to take any epic feats even though we could have. I felt that this levelled the playing field a little since we are supposed to be on the cusp of epic rather than epic, however if you truly want to make Keeyussk dangerous you should increase his escape artist a little more by taking points away from spellcraft and adding it to escape artist. Then take Legendary Wrestler instead of Improved Natural Attack: Bite.

Ulgurstasta - Fiend Folio
Ravenous - Dragon Compendium
Evolved Undead, Corpsecrafter, Destructive Retribution, Tomb Warden - Libris Mortis
Incarnate, Totemist, Soulmelds, Undead Meldshaper - Magic of Incarnum
Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple - Player’s Handbook
Multigrab, Improved Multigrab, Improved Natural Attack - Savage Species
Superior Unarmed Strike - Tome of Battle
Some quotes - Elder Evils

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:29 PM

2: The Behemoth

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

12

Purple Worm

+16

+10

+10

+5

Listen +19

1: Ability Focus: Poison
3: Multigrab
6: Improved Natural Attack: Bite
9: Greater Multigrab
12: Power Attack
15: Improved Bull Rush

Purple Worm Stuff

16

Additional Head

+18

+11

+11

+6

Listen +21

18: Shock Trooper
Improved Initiative (B), Combat Reflexes (B),

Lernean, +2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

17

Additional Head

+20

+12

+12

+6

Listen +23

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

17

Additional Head

+22

+13

+13

+7

Listen +25

Superior Initiative

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

18

Additional Head

+24

+14

+14

+8

Listen +27

Improved Toughness

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

18

Additional Head

+26

+15

+15

+9

Listen +29

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

18

Additional Head

+28

+16

+16

+9

Listen +31

Toughness

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

19

Additional Head

+30

+17

+17

+10

Listen +33

Involuntary Rage

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

19

Additional Head

+32

+18

+18

+11

Listen +35

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

19

Additional Head

+34

+19

+19

+11

Listen +37

Pain Mastery

+2 con, +1 Nat Armor, Size Increase, +2 Search, Spot, Listen

20

Champion Build

+34

+19

+19

+11

10 Headed Lernean Purple Worm
Colossal Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 34d10+717 (925 hp)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares), burrow 20 ft., swim 10 ft.
Armor Class: 21 (–8 size, +0 Dex, +29 natural), touch 2, flat-footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +34/+70
Attack: 10 Bites +46 melee (4d8+20 plus Improved Grab)
Full Attack: Bite +46 melee (4d8+20 plus Improved Grab) and sting +46 melee (3d6+10 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 25 ft./20ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, swallow whole, poison
Special Qualities: Tremorsense 60 ft.
Saves: Fort +39, Ref +19, Will +11
Abilities: Str 50, Dex 10, Con 50, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Listen +55
Feats: Ability Focus, Multigrab, Greater Multigrab, Improved Natural Attack, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Shock Trooper, Improved Initiative(B), Combat Reflexes(B), Superior Initiative, Improved Toughness, Toughness, Involuntary Rage, Pain Mastery
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 20
Treasure: No coins, 50% goods (stone only), no items
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Advancement: 16–32 HD (Gargantuan); 33–48 HD (Colossal)
Level Adjustment: —

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a purple worm must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to swallow the foe the following round.
Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 49, initial damage 1d8 Str, secondary damage 3d6 Str. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Swallow Whole (Ex): A purple worm can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of a smaller size than itself by making a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent takes 3d8+20 points of crushing damage plus 8 points of acid damage per round from the worm’s gizzard. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 17). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. A Gargantuan worm’s interior can hold 2 Huge, 8 Large, 32 Medium, 128 Small, or 512 Tiny or smaller opponents.
Skills: A purple worm has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line.

“Legend tells of a beast. A beast that comes out of the ground and begins swallowing everything in sight. It’s ten heads swallowing anything that isn’t nailed down, and some things that are. Heroes have come to fight this creature, but as they kill it, it grows more powerful. It begins growing additional heads, it gets angry, and it turns into what I have deemed a Red Worm. Just like how Red Dragons are the most powerful a Red Worm’s power far outstrips a Purple Worm’s. It’s hide is thicker than my arm is long. The beast’s name is The Behemoth. You may think it mindless, but it’s the most cunning worm I’ve ever seen. And not one I would like to ever see again.” The tale teller shivers, “Never want to see the inside of that beast again. But I’ll say it, that is the safest place when this beast rampages.”

The Behemoth is a 2 int colossal beast. It doesn’t really have a strategy when it fights, however it’s low AC and massive hit point pool works in it’s advantage. Using Involuntary Rage and Pain Mastery once a fight starts it starts hitting harder. Combined with Lernean gives it the benefit of additional heads as the combat goes on making this boss more and more dangerous with time rather than weaker and weaker. Since it fights like a hydra it gets all 10 bite attacks even after moving, so it’s fighting style is that it charges someone using Shock Trooper, sacrifice 34 AC (so our AC is -13) and bite something 10 times for an average of 72 damage per bite. Giving us an average of 720 damage per round before losing any heads. Each head will grab and hold an enemy. Each head will attempt to swallow what it has in its mouth at the beginning of the turn, if it does not have something in its mouth then it will attempt to steal another head’s food. The heads do not always work together! If fire/acid is brought to bear and they begin sealing heads then the worm will dive below ground and begin to rip it’s own heads off to grow more.

Purple Worm - Monster Manual 1
Multiheaded, Multigrab, Greater Multigrab, Involuntary Rage, Pain Mastery, Ability Focus - Savage Species
Shock Trooper - Complete Warrior
Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes - Player’s Handbook
Superior Initiative - Epic Player’s Handbook
Note: Lernean is below the Mulitheaded template, however it does not give a CR bump. I gave The Behemoth a 2 CR bump as Lernean has a 2 LA. If however The Behemoth does not need to waste 2 CR on the Lernean version then The Behemoth would instead take 6 more Magical Beast HD.

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:31 PM

3:

Gourmandoggo
CE Advanced Mivilorn Bloodhound 2/Crusader 1/Swordsage 3/Warblade 1

http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=76240&d=1460773287[/center]

Welcome one and all to Cullinary Coordinates, your foremost source for finding the finest foods from across the multiverse! From the pastries of the Pie Fiends of the Nine Hells, to the tantalizing elixirs of Elysium, we seek out the most delectable dishes from the most exotic planes. Today, we’ve got something for every taste, as we meet up with several parties of adventurers throughout the multiverse. They’ve been in various spats with some our sponsors, but we’re confident that the disputes can be resolved over dinner.

I’m your host, Ghai the Fey’ri, but we all know who you’re really here for. Allow me to introduce the real star of our show. Too wild to be tamed by the armies of the Abyss! A mighty warrior of the Sublime Way trained in the monastery of Zerth Ad’lun! He tracks down the strangest delicacies and swallows them up for your viewing pleasure! From the windswept plains of Pandemonium…

The Mighty Mivilorn!
The Bloodhound of Flavor Town!
The Great Gourmandoggo!

*Cut to Gourmandoggo and an adventuring party staring each other down*

The group have laid out quite the spread for our intrepid ingester. They’re starting off with the famous Barbarian Burger, inspired by the flavors of the tribes of the Lion Totem. Looks meaty enough to finish the meal without help, but Gourmandoggo came prepared. The Barbarian disappears down his gullet along with a side of Monk fries. Hungry for more, Gourmandoggo charges for the Factotum Fajita and Wasabi Warmage next, washing them down in his trusty Tide of Chaos. The Monk fries have a bit of a kick and look like they’re trying to come up on the beast of the feast. But it takes more than a little heartburn to stop Gourmandoggo, and for every hiccup, there’s a settling of the stomach as the flavors are mixed.

*Cut to Gourmandoggo in a fight with a different party*

What’s this? Gourmandoggo teleporting away, leaving his food behind? Is the meal too much for him? No wait! He’s coming back for seconds!

*Cut to Gourmandoggo facing off against a Psychic Warrior expanded to huge size*

Here we have an exotic dish favored by the illithids, and a sizable portion no less. Can the massive mastiff with the munchies handle it? He crunches down, and with practiced ease, makes two great gulps to swallow the entire serving!

Ability Scores
Elite Array: 13 Str, 15 Dex, 12 Con, 10 Int, 14 Wis, 8 Cha
Mivilorn Stat Adjustments: 33 Str, 17 Dex, 28 Con, 4 Int, 18 Wis, 8 Cha
The ability score increase from levels goes to Dex

Build Table

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

11
Mivilorn
+24
+14
+14
+8
Gather Information 4cc, Move Silently 1cc, Survival 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 8 (5cc prior to taking Knowledge Devotion)
Track, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Cometary Colision, Shock Trooper, Ability Focus (Charging Bite), Gape of the Serpent, Knowledge Devotion (The Planes), Planar Touchstone (Monastery of Zerth Ad’lun)
Breath Weapon, Charging Bite, Improved Grab, Swallow Whole, Darkvision 60ft, Low-Light Vision, Scent, SR 17

12
+3 Magical Beast RHD
+27
+15
+15
+9
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 2.5cc, Survival 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Martial Study (Shadow Blink)
-

13
+3 Magical Beast RHD
+30
+17
+17
+10
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4cc, Survival 4, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
Endurance
-

14
Bloodhound 1
+31
+19
+19
+12
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 7, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
-
Mark (1), Swift Tracker

15
Bloodhound 2
+32
+20
+20
+12
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 8
-
Nonlethal Force, Ready and Waiting

16
Crusader 1
+33
+22
+20
+12
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Tumble 1
Martial Study (Strength Draining Strike)
Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 5

17
Swordsage 1
+33
+22
+22
+14
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Tumble 4
-
Quick to Act +1, Discipline Focus (Weapon Focus: Desert Wind)

18
Swordsage 2
+34
+22
+23
+15
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Tumble 7
-
AC Bonus

19
Warblade 1
+35
+24
+23
+15
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Tumble 8
Martial Study (Fool’s Strike)
Battle Clarity (Reflex Saves), Weapon Aptitude

20
Swordsage 3
+36
+25
+23
+15
Gather Information 4, Move Silently 4, Survival 10, Knowledge (The Planes) 8, Tumble 8, Knoweldge (Local) 1, Collector of Stories
-
-

Maneuvers

CR
Maneuvers Readied
Maneuvers Known
Stances

12
1
Shadow Blink
-

16
1, 5 (2)
Shadow Blink, Crusader’s Strike, Tide of Chaos, Doom Charge, Strike of Righteous Vitality, Mountain Tombstone Strike*, Strength Draining Strike
Leading the Charge

17
1, 5 (2), 4
Shadow Blink, Crusader’s Strike, Tide of Chaos, Doom Charge, Strike of Righteous Vitality, Mountain Tombstone Strike*, Wind Stride, Searing Charge, Leaping Flame, Salamander Charge, Obscuring Shadow Veil, Feigned Opening
Leading the Charge, Step of the Wind

18
1, 5 (2), 4
Shadow Blink, Crusader’s Strike, Tide of Chaos, Doom Charge, Strike of Righteous Vitality, Mountain Tombstone Strike*, Wind Stride, Searing Charge, Leaping Flame, Salamander Charge, Obscuring Shadow Veil, Feigned Opening,Scorpion Parry
Leading the Charge, Step of the Wind, Ghostly Defense

19
1, 5 (2), 4, 3
Shadow Blink, Crusader’s Strike, Tide of Chaos, Doom Charge, Strike of Righteous Vitality, Mountain Tombstone Strike*, Wind Stride, Searing Charge, Leaping Flame, Salamander Charge, Obscuring Shadow Veil, Feigned Opening, Scorpion Parry, Fool’s Strike, White Raven Tactics, White Raven Hammer, War Master’s Charge
Leading the Charge, Step of the Wind, Ghostly Defense, Bolstering Voice

20
1, 5 (2), 5, 3
Shadow Blink, Crusader’s Strike, Tide of Chaos, Doom Charge, Strike of Righteous Vitality, Mountain Tombstone Strike*, Wind Stride, Searing Charge, Leaping Flame, Salamander Charge, Obscuring Shadow Veil, Feigned Opening, Scorpion Parry, Fool’s Strike, One With Shadow, White Raven Tactics, White Raven Hammer, War Master’s Charge
Leading the Charge, Step of the Wind, Ghostly Defense, Bolstering Voice

Red, blue, and green represent Crusader, Swordsage, and Warblade maneuvers, respectively. Shadow Blink is acquired through Martial Study prior to Gourmandoggo having initiator levels, and thus is available 1/encounter with no recharge mechanic.
*If you aren't using Gourmandoggo until a higher CR, then it may be slightly preferable to switch Mountain Tombstone Strike and White Raven Tactics, so that Mountain Tombstone Strike can be known as a Warblade maneuver instead of as a Crusader maneuver.

If you can use Martial Scrips, Crowns of the White Raven, et al to temporarily qualify for a maneuver (until the maneuver can help meet its own prereqs), it's possible to get a few more interesting maneuvers known, and spare the feat at Crusader 1 for Extra Granted Maneuver.

If you only want Gourmandoggo to be encountered alone, then Warblade maneuvers can focus on Iron Heart counters instead of White Raven maneuvers leading up to War Master's Charge. Manticore Parry's slight difference in wording from Scorpion Parry may allow it to redirect outside attacks to swallowed creatures.

CR 11The Mivilorn from MMIII is my favorite Swallow Whole creature. Why? Because rather than go through the whole rigamarole of taking one turn for Improved Grab and another for Swallow Whole, they have an ability called Charging Bite, which not only lets them swallow right away at the end of a charge, but also lets them charge and gobble up two adjacent creatures (of medium or smaller size, like say, most PCs) at once. We play around with feats a bit as well. There are a good number, but the ones that I want to call the most attention to are Cometary Collision and Planar Touchstone (Monastery of Zerth Ad’lun). The Higher Order power for Monastery of Zerth Ad’lun is snazzy enough to jump through the hoop of the requisite ranks in Knowledge (The Planes) if, like, say, a BBEG, you can spare the time to recharge uses, don’t have so many daily encounters that the single use/day makes it not worth it, and need a boost in action economy. It gives Gourmandoggo a free unspecified readied action, which allows him to do things like, say Cometary Collision to cut off a PC’s charge at some point (like say when they pass adjacent to another PC) with a charge of his own and swallow them up with Charging Bite, finish swallowing a PC that made the save against Charging Bite and was only grabbed, or the old standby of disrupting spellcasters.

CR 16So we’ve got a big melee brute of a Magical Beast with more than twice its CR in hit dice. What are we going to do? If you answered, “advance it a few CR worth of RHD, then go for initiator classes for some sweet high level maneuvers,” then congratulations, you win the prize. We do stop to snag a few levels of Bloodhound for another handy readied action ability. Ready and Waiting requires more specificity than our higher order Touchstone ability, but if whatever interests are sicking Gourmandoggo on the PCs offer some small hint, he can use it to pull off more of the tricks above (say: “watch out for that ubercharger” so he knows to ready Cometary Collision against him). Also, having two readied actions can allow him to bite and make the two necessary checks to swallow a Huge creature with Gape of the Serpent before they have the chance to try to escape. Then we’re into our first initiator dip, Crusader. Crusader gives Gourmandoggo a small delayed damage pool (which might delay an enemy’s attempts to escape his gullet for a turn), two fancy new charges to synergize with Charging Bite (Charging Bite can extend the extra damage to multiple targets, and Tide of Chaos’ miss chance and Doom Charge’s DR/Good to overlap with the innate DR/Bludgoening make it harder to escape through damage), Mountain Tombstone Strike for when he can’t charge or just as a good readied action, and Strike of Righteous Vitality which can (possibly on a readied action) heal Gourmandoggo when he’s severely injured, or just on the verge of a swallowed creature escaping. He also has Shadow Blink and Strength Draining Strike through Martial Study. Shadow Blink can be a bit of a double edged sword, as swallowed creatures probably don’t come along for the ride, but Gourmandoggo can just charge back and swallow them again, charge and swallow someone else, or simply have some tactical teleportation to set up his initial Charging Bite before he’s had a chance to swallow anyone.

CR 20More initiator classes, more maneuvers, more tricks. Ghostly Defense interacts with miss chances, such as from Tide of Chaos, Obscuring Shadow Veil, and One With Shadow hilariously, allowing Gourmandoggo to turn attacks from creatures attacking him from the outside, and swallowed creatures attacking in an attempt to escape on one another. One With Shadow is another maneuver that will drop swallowed enemies, but as before, there are times when that will actually be advantageous. Setting Sun counters can add to this chaos, as well, albeit in a more limited regard (Scorpion Parry requires that the new target be threatened by the attacker, which swallowed creatures probably aren’t unless the attacker has also been swallowed, and using counters against swallowed creatures seems a bit sketchy) He also picks up a few more fancy charges. Searing Charge and Salamander Charge allow for increased mobility (the latter also produces rather a lot of fire, which is fun), and War Master’s Charge allows allies to get in on the fun tenderizing Gourmandoggo’s food before he eats it when applicable.

Non-SRD Sources
Complete Adventurer: Bloodhound
Complete Champion: Knowledge Devotion
Complete Scoundrel: Collector of Stories
Complete Warrior: Shock Trooper
Monster Manual III: Mivilorn
Planar Handbook: Planar Touchstone, Monastery of Zerth Ad’lun
Player’s Handbook II: Cometary Collision
Serpent Kingdoms: Gape of the Serpent
Tome of Battle: Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade, Martial Study, Maneuvers

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:32 PM

4: Faras Alnhar

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/95/06/43/9506430fab6f4e05368815cfa20995af.jpg

Elite Array: Str: 8 Dex: 13 Con: 10 Int: 14 Wis: 15 Cha: 12
Dune Hag Racial modifiers: +10 Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +4 Cha
Half Troll modifiers: +6 Str, +2 Dex, +6 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha
Afflicted Lycanthrope (hippo) modifiers: +2 Wis
Base Stats: Str: 24, Dex: 17, Con: 22, Int: 14, Wis: 19, Cha: 14
Hybrid/Animal Form Modifiers: +14 Str, -2 Dex, +10 Con
Hybrid/Animal Form Base Stats: Str: 38, Dex 15, Con 32, Int 14, Wis 19, Cha 14

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

6
Half troll Dune Hag
+5
+1
+4
+4
Bluff 6, Knowledge: religion (CC) 4, Spellcraft (CC) 4, Knowledge: the planes (CC) 2

Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes
(Dune Hag)
Improved Grab, Enthrall, SLAs: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory Terrain (CL 7th)
DR 2/-, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 18,
+8 Natural Armour, Bite Attack (1d8)
2 Claw Attacks (1d6)

(Half Troll)
Fast Healing 5, +4 Natural Armour, Rend 2d6, Scent

10
Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippopotamus)(13D8 HD)
+11/+6/+1
+7
+10
+6
Knowledge: Religion (CC) 8 (+4)
Spellcraft (CC) 8 (+4)
Knowledge: the planes (CC) 5 (+4)
Knowledge: Arcana (CC) 5

Quick Change (replacing lycanthrope feat Improved Bullrush), Improved Natural Attack (bite)( replacing hippo feat Improved Overrun), Power Attack, Iron Will
+2 Natural Armour
Curse of Lycanthropy (DC 15), Alternate Form
DR 5/silver
Lycanthropic Empathy
Swallow Whole added ability (according to Table: Improved Monster CR increase on SRD: here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm) +2CR

11
Ur-Priest 1
+11/+6/+1
+7
+10
+8
Knowledge: Religion 12 (+4)
-
-

12
Ur-Priest 2
+12/+7/+2
+9
+10
+11
Knowledge: Religion 13 (+1), Control Shape 3
Improved Initiative
Rebuke Undead

13
Ur-Priest 3
+13/+8/+3
+11
+11
+11
Control Shape 7 (+4
-
+1 Wisdom (16HD)

14
Ur-Priest 4
+14/+9/+4
+11
+11
+12
Control Shape 11 (+4)
-
Divine Spell Resistance 15

15
Contemplative 1
+14/+9/+4
+11
+11
+14
Control Shape 15 (+4)
Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu
Divine Health, Gluttony Domain, +1 Level Ur-Priest casting

16
Contemplative 2
+15/+10/+5
+11
+11
+15
Concentration 4
-
Slippery Mind, +1 Level Ur-Priest casting

17
Contemplative 3
+15/+10/+5
+12
+13
+15
Concentration 8 (+4)
-
Divine Wholeness, +1 Level Ur-Priest Casting, +1 Dex (20HD)

18
Contemplative 4
+16/+11/+6/+1
+12
+13
+16
Concentration 12 (+4)
Gape of the Serpent
+1 Level of Ur-Priest Casting

19
Contemplative 5
+16/+11/+6/+1
+12
+13
+16
Concentration 16 (+4)
-
Divine Body, +1 Level Ur-Priest Casting

20
Contemplative 6
+17/+12/+7/+2
+13
+14
+17
Concentration 20 (+4)
-
Travel Domain, +1 Level of Ur-Priest casting

Ever since she was young, Faras Alnahr knew that she wasn’t like the other Dune Hags in her mother’s coven. Whether it was some defect in her brain, or a result of her giant heritage wasn’t clear, but even as a child she was more interested in finding the root of things rather than toying with what was. This led her to seek out knowledge of all kinds. She rooted through the ruins of the desert temples that her family sacked, and delved into the secrets of the arcane arts that let her and her kin control their domain. It seemed to her that, while deceiving, conniving and consuming for their own sake were all well and good, there must be a better way to do these things than the random violence that the other hags favoured.

It was on one of her excursions to the buried temple of Tem-Et-Nu that her life changed. Here her sistren had not been so thorough as they normally were, and one of the temple’s guardians remained. In the form of a hippopotamus, the divine protector assaulted her, and nearly destroyed her. After she triumphed, Faras limped back to her coven, and was dismayed to find that she was now both more and less than she had been. When the full moon rose above the dunes that night, she transformed into a monstrous half hag half hippo abomination, and slew and ate all who came near her. In the morning, the remaining hags banished her for the only cure for lycanthropy is belladonna, and belladonna does not grow in the desert.

Alone in the desert, Faras practised control, learning to use her affliction to her own ends. She hunted humanoids as a humanoid, and animals as an animal, swallowing her prey before they had a chance to run. Blaming Tem-Et-Nu for her downfall, Faras grew to despise the gods. She used what she had learned in her youthful exploration of the temples, and discovered that she had the ability to bluff the gods themselves, and to take their power for herself. She used this power recklessly, seeking little more for herself than to feed and grow. But always in the back of her mind, the dreams of her childhood beckoned. What if there was a better way? Instead of hunting for herself, why not create a society where others hunted for her?

To that end, she joined a herd of hippopotami and, with her superior strength and power, quickly came to be their matriarch. Any who opposed her were promptly swallowed whole, and the others fell into line, but her hunger remained.
She resolved to grow her herd, to unite all hippopotami under her leadership. She roved the deserts in search of others, and brought them all back to her fold. The humanoids she deemed worthy were spared destruction, and instead offered the gift of lycanthropy in exchange for their service. Soon, her hippo and werehippo army had grown to a point that the desert could no longer sustain them.

Following a dream, Faras led them back to the Temple of Tem-Et-Nu where she had first become a lycanthrope. She set her followers to excavate and restore the temple, and declared that it would be her base of operations. When the restoration was complete, Faras ascended the altar, and received a vision from Tem-Et-Nu himself.
He upbraided her for stealing his power for herself, and while he didn’t necessarily approve of her methods, he was grateful for her work in protecting his patron animal, and furthering their cause throughout the world. He offered her power, his blessing, if she would consent to serve him. Now knowing lycanthropy to be a boon rather than a curse, Faras’ old hatred of the gods was obsolete, and she accepted.

Tem-Et-Nu blessed with the power of dominion over all hippos, as well as further powers that her divine theft hadn’t been able to reach. She set her followers to guard her temple, raised a priesthood in Tem-Et-Nu’s name, and showed them how to use his blessing to bring food, water, and life to the desert. Using her new travelling abilities, Faras travelled to all corners of the globe, spreading the word of Tem-Et-Nu among the hippos and were-hippos, and commanding them to wait for her signal.
At her word, the normally docile hippos march. Villages along riverbanks the world over were suddenly overrun and consumed by the suddenly angry beasts. Among them were lycanthropic priests of Tem-Et-Nu, proclaiming that the time of humans was over, and the age of hippopotami was nigh.

From the sanctum of her temple, Faras watches the world succumb to the control of herself and her servants. She is pleased, but her hunger remains. When the world is mine, she thinks, I will swallow it all. She eagerly anticipates the day, and licks her drooling lips. The Hippocalypse has begun.

Faras works best as the BBEG of a campaign, at her full CR20. At this level she should have built up quite the hippo empire for herself, and will be based in a long forgotten temple of Tem-Et-Nu that her servants have restored.

The party can dragged in to the Hippocalypse in several different ways, from Level 1 they could begin investigating humanoid disappearances along riverbanks, the victims having become werehippos in Faras’ army. Alternatively, they can be approached by ‘true’ priests of Tem-Et-Nu, disturbed by great and terrible omens, the hippos are disappearing from their traditional mating grounds or similar. This can then escalate into hippo attacks on minor settlements, and eventually become all-out war with the hippos laying siege to major cities in an attempt to turn or destroy all humanoid life.
While the majority of Faras’ followers will at first be hippos (dire hippos late in the game) she will also have the support of werehippos. Most of these will become priests of Tem-Et-Nu, either Druids or Clerics, but there will also be a good number of ‘primal’ mundanes, barbarians and rangers mostly. While most of her followers will be out in open conflict, her most trusted will remain at the temple of Tem-Et-Nu to protect her. She has Word of Recall primed for the altar room, so if her assaults don’t go to plan she can easily retreat and be fully healed by the clerics there, and then set about lining the walls of the temple with various glyph and symbol spells in case of retaliatory attacks.

Faras’ end goal is to literally eat the planet, so it’s definitely possible to keep advancing her into epic levels to allow her to attempt this, so there’s plenty of scope for growth.

At CR15, Faras could also be included as part of an excursion to Giant territory, as it is the giants that she primarily seeks to carry the curse of lycanthropy for her, both due to her familial ties, and simply for their greater combat prowess.

At CRs 6 and 10 Faras will be little more than an interesting encounter, as she doesn’t really have enough power or motivation for important plots. Most likely she would be encountered at an abandoned temple in the desert that the PCs are headed to for unrelated reasons, or her lycanthropic rampage has taken her near to the PCs current location.

Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant (Half-Troll Dune Hag)
Hit Dice: 5d8+30 Con mod (Average 52) (+10 with Amulet of Health)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 24 (10 base, +3 Dex, +12 Natural, -1 size) Touch 12, Flat-Footed 21
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/+16
Attack: Claw +11 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +11 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +6 (1d8+3)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 18
Saves: Fort +7(8), Ref +7(8), Wil +7(8)
Abilities: Str: 24, Dex: 17, Con: 22, Int: 14, Wis: 17, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +6, Spellcraft +6, Knowledge: The Planes +4
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes
Equipment: Cloak of Resistance +1, Amulet of Health +2, 600gp of potions

At this stage, Faras hasn’t yet begun her journey towards the coming Hippocalypse, and is little more than a particular impressive specimen of her species. Unlike most Dune Hags, Faras would rather implement systems of evil than random acts thereof, and it is for this reason that she is LE rather than CE. Faras will cast Skin of the Cactus on herself prior to fighting, and will use Hallucinatory Terrain and Haboob to buy herself some time to do so before the PCs get to her. Once the fighting begins in earnest, she relies on her naïve spell resistance to protect her somewhat from the casters, (If the casters are able to penetrate her resistance, her saves are fairly good across the board) and her impressive attack routine to deal with beatsticks. Combat Reflexes+Improved Grab allow her to shut down anyone that triggers an AoO, and she can make short work of most PCs at this level with a full attack and rend.

Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 13d8+78 Con mod (Average 136)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 28 (10 base, +5 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size) Touch 14, Flat-Footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+22
Attack: Claw +18 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +18 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +9 (2d6+3)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 18, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal)
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +15, Wil +12
Abilities: Str: 24, Dex: 17, Con: 22, Int: 14, Wis: 19, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +10, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will
Equipment: Gloves of Dexterity +4

Hybrid Form
Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 13d8+143 Con mod (Average 201)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 27 (10 base, +4 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size) Touch 13, Flat-Footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+29
Attack: Claw +25 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +25 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +20 (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Damage Reduction 5/Silver, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 18, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Base and Animal)
Saves: Fort +18, Ref +15, Wil +12
Abilities: Str: 38, Dex: 15, Con: 32, Int: 13, Wis: 19, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +10, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will
Equipment: Gloves of Dexterity +4

Animal Form
Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 13d8+143 Con mod (Average 201)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 25 (10 base, +2 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size) Touch 11, Flat-Footed 23
Base Attack/Grapple: +11/+29
Attack: Claw +25 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +25 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +20 (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Damage Reduction 5/Silver, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 18, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Base and Hybrid)
Saves: Fort +18, Ref +13, Wil +12
Abilities: Str: 38, Dex: 15, Con: 32, Int: 13, Wis: 19, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +10, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will

Faras’ tactics at this level are fairly similar to those at CR6, but now she has a few more tricks up her sleeve. She will spend most of her time in (disguised) base form, or in Hippo form depending on the terrain, this should allow her the space to sneak up on the party without them suspecting her (she will try to hide amongst a group of hippos, using her lycanthropic empathy to make them accept her as part of the herd, so as not to be too obvious). When she’s in reach of the casters, she will quick change into Hybrid form+improved grab on the surprise round, then swallow whole on the next, giving her space to deal with the mundane threats with a Power attacking full attack and rend. Combat Reflexes still allows her to grapple a second combatant while one is in her belly.

Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 17d8+1d6+108 Con mod (Average 188)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 33 (10 base, +3 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size, +7 Monk’s Belt) Touch 19, Flat-Footed 30
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+25
Attack: Claw +21 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +21 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +16 (2d6+3)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Rebuke Hippos 5/day, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 23, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal), Gluttony Domain (Contemplative 1), Divine Health, Rebuke Undead, Divine Spell Resistance 20
Saves: Fort +17, Ref +14, Wil +22
Abilities: Str: 24, Dex: 17, Con: 22, Int: 14, Wis: 20, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +15, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Control Shape +20
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu,
Equipment: Monk’s Belt, Wildling Clasp, Daazzix’s Vest, Rod of Silent Spell, Periapt of Wisdom +2

Hybrid Form
Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 17d8+1d6+198 Con mod (Average 278)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 33 (10 base, +2 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size, +7 Monk’s Belt) Touch 18, Flat-Footed 30
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+32
Attack: Claw +28 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +28 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +23 (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Rebuke Hippos 5/day, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 23, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal), Gluttony Domain (Contemplative 1), Divine Health, Rebuke Undead, Divine Spell Resistance 20
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +13, Wil +22
Abilities: Str: 38, Dex: 15, Con: 32, Int: 14, Wis: 20, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +15, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Control Shape +20
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu,
Equipment: Monk’s Belt, Wildling Clasp, Daazzix’s Vest, Rod of Silent Spell, Periapt of Wisdom +2,

Animal Form
Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 17d8+1d6+198 Con mod (Average 278)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 32 (10 base, +2 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size, +6 Monk’s Belt) Touch 17, Flat-Footed 29
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+32
Attack: Claw +28 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +28 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +23 (2d6+7)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Rebuke Hippos 5/day, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 23, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal), Gluttony Domain (Contemplative 1), Divine Health, Rebuke Undead, Divine Spell Resistance 20
Saves: Fort +22, Ref +13, Wil +21
Abilities: Str: 38, Dex: 15, Con: 32, Int: 14, Wis: 20, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +15, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Control Shape +20
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu,
Equipment: Monk’s Belt, Wildling Clasp

Spells per Day
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
CR15 5+1 5+1 4+1 2+1 1+1 - - - -

Domain Spell List
1 – Goodberry
2 – Death Knell
3 – Create Food and Water
4 – Vampiric Touch
5 – Baleful Polymorph

This is where the build truly begins to shine. The Gluttony Domain allows Faras to increase her size, increasing claw damage to 1d8 and bite to 2d8. She can also now target the PC with the lowest save (that she can determine) with Baleful Polymorph (the goal being to turn them into hippo feed, so the rest of the herd can chow down). She also now has access to a whole host of buffs (Righteous Might, Divine Power) that will substantially increase her damage output, as well as battlefield control spells (Walls mostly) to make it easy for her to set up AoO traps. Her newfound faith in Tem-Et-Nu allows her to command hippos, and her lycanthropic empathy also helps with this, so at any time she should be surrounded by her herd (while hippos probably aren’t too dangerous to the party at this level, they can prove annoying with their impressive grapple and improved overrun). Her ranks in Control shape are high enough that she can take 10 on any attempt and auto succeed. Flying enemies are still a problem, but Dispel Magic and other offensive spells, combined with her SR (still relevant due to Daazzix’s Vest) should allow her to bring them down fairly quickly. Anyone within her reach (which is significant as she can now grow to Gargantuan size) will be quickly eaten or torn apart by her Power attack routine (which should be triggering massive damage saves if not outright putting enemies down). The Rod of Silent Spell allows Faras to continue to cast in hybrid form, and her AC and HP are more than enough to shrug off even an ubercharger’s attack.

Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 17d8+6d6+138 Con mod (Average 235)
Initiative: +8
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 38 (10 base, +4 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size, +10 Monk’s Belt) Touch 23, Flat-Footed 33
Base Attack/Grapple: +17/+28
Attack: Claw +24 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +24 (1d6+7) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +19 (2d8+3)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Rebuke Hippos 5/day, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 23, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal), Gluttony Domain (Contemplative 1), Divine Health, Rebuke Undead, Divine Spell Resistance 20, Slippery Mind, Divine Wholeness, Travel Domain (Contemplative 6)
Saves: Fort +19, Ref +18, Wil +28
Abilities: Str: 24, Dex: 18, Con: 22, Int: 14, Wis: 22, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +15, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Control Shape +20, Concentration +26
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu, Gape of the Serpent
Equipment: Monk’s Belt, Wildling Clasp x2, Daazzix’s Vest, Greater Rod of Silent Spell, Periapt of Wisdom+6, Third Eye Clarity, Ring of Counterspells, Scout’s Headband, Jaws of the Dragon, Tome of Understanding +2, 3,500GP worth of scrolls and wands, Lesser Rod of Extend

Hybrid Form
Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 17d8+6d6+253 Con mod (Average 350)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 36 (10 base, +3 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size, +10 Monk’s Belt) Touch 22, Flat-Footed 33
Base Attack/Grapple: +17/+35
Attack: Claw +31 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +31 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +26 (2d8+7)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Rebuke Hippos 5/day, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 23, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal), Gluttony Domain (Contemplative 1), Divine Health, Rebuke Undead, Divine Spell Resistance 20, Slippery Mind, Divine Wholeness, Travel Domain (Contemplative 6)
Saves: Fort +24, Ref +17, Wil +28
Abilities: Str: 38, Dex: 16, Con: 32, Int: 14, Wis: 22, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +15, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Control Shape +20, Concentration +26
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu, Gape of the Serpent
Equipment: Monk’s Belt, Wildling Claspx2, Daazzix’s Vest, Greater Rod of Silent Spell, Periapt of Wisdom+6, Third Eye Clarity, Ring of Counterspells, Scout’s Headband, Jaws of the Dragon, Tome of Understanding +2, Lesser Rod of Extend, 3,500GP worth of scrolls and wands

Animal Form
Faras Alnahr
LE Large Giant/Shapechanger (Half-Troll Dune Hag Afflicted Lycanthrope (Hippo))
Hit Dice: 17d8+6d6+253 Con mod (Average 350)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40ft
Armour Class: 33 (10 base, +3 Dex, +14 Natural, -1 size, +7 Monk’s Belt) Touch 19, Flat-Footed 30
Base Attack/Grapple: +17/+35
Attack: Claw +31 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab
Full Attack: 2 Claws +31 (1d6+14) + Improved Grab, Rend 2d6 and Bite +26 (2d8+7)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks: Swallow Whole, Curse of Lycanthropy, Improved Grab, Rend (2d6), Enthrall DC15, Rebuke Hippos 5/day, Spell Like abilities: 3/day Disguise Self, Haboob, Skin of the Cactus, 1/day Hallucinatory terrain. Caster Level 7th
Special Qualities: Damage Reduction 2/-, Fast Healing 5, Scent, Darkvision 60ft, Spell Resistance 23, Hippo Empathy, Alternate Form (Hybrid and Animal), Gluttony Domain (Contemplative 1), Divine Health, Rebuke Undead, Divine Spell Resistance 20, Slippery Mind, Divine Wholeness, Travel Domain (Contemplative 6)
Saves: Fort +24, Ref +17, Wil +25
Abilities: Str: 38, Dex: 16, Con: 32, Int: 14, Wis: 22, Cha: 14
Skills: Bluff +8, Knowledge: Religion +15, Spellcraft +10, Knowledge: The Planes +7, Knowledge: Arcana +7, Control Shape +20, Concentration +26
Feats: Spell Focus: Evil, Combat Reflexes, Quick Change, Improved Natural Attack (bite), Power Attack, Iron Will, Improved Initiative, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu, Gape of the Serpent
Equipment: Monk’s Belt, Wildling Clasp x2, Jaws of the Dragon, Tome of Understanding +2,

Spells per Day
Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
1st 8+1 7+1 6+1 6+1 6+1 5+1 4+1 3+1 2+1

Domain Spell List
1 – Goodberry, Longstrider
2 – Death Knell, Locate Object
3 – Create Food and Water, Fly
4 – Vampiric Touch, Dimension Door
5 – Baleful Polymorph, Teleport
6 – Heroes Feast, Find the Path
7 – Stone to Flesh, Greater Teleport
8 – Bite of the King, Phase Door
9 – Trap the Soul, Astral Projection

Notable spells
1 – Divine Favour
2 – +4 stat spells, Silence (with rod of silent spell),
3 – Dispel Magic (stacked into ring of counterspells)
4 – Divine Power, Death Ward, Dismissal, Freedom of Movement,
5 – Various Walls (Stone, Salt, Sand), Plane Shift, True Seeing, Scrying, Righteous Might, Flame Strike,
6 – Geas, Forbiddance, Wind Walk, Word of Recall, Greater Dispel Magic
7 – Greater Scrying, Blasphemy,
8 – Shield of Law, Unholy Aura, Greater Planar Ally, Symbols, Greater Spell Immunity, Antimagic Field
9 – Miracle, Gate, Implosion

This is truly the sweet spot of the build, and the aim of the whole thing. Faras’ various sizing buffs and Gape of the Serpent allow her to swallow basically any creature short of colossal, all while casting 9th level cleric spells. Gate allows her to ferry in Tem-Et-Nu’s (presumably Hippo based) angels, and the extent of buffs she can now cast on herself is ludicrous (thanks to hr/level most of these will last almost all day). Travel Domain gives her 1/day FoM, in the extremely unlikely case that she tries to eat someone better at grappling than she is, and more than enough mobility to threaten even prepared casters with a grisly end in her belly.

The Gluttony Domain also now gives her Bite of the King, allowing her to both physically and magically swallow people whole. 9th level casting basically gives her a tool for every situation, but her greatest strength is still her enormous bite attack. Jaws of the Dragon, Righteous Might and the Gluttony Domain take this to Colossal+damage levels, and this damage is applied when swallowed as well as when bitten. Her AC and saves are all at least respectable for this level, with only Reflex letting her down (FoM should be able to get her out of most Ref. based effects though) and her HP is high enough that HP damage shouldn’t really be an issue for her, at least not until she’s already eaten at least ¾ of the party.

If in trouble Faras will Teleport (with Word of Recall) to the altar room in her temple, and regroup. Her clerics there can heal her, and she can reinforce the building with various glyph and symbol spells. From here she can scry on the PCs and send commando squads with her teleportation magic to deal with them, though if she’s already been beaten once, she’s unlikely to go after them herself again.

So I’m not as well-versed in 3.5 as many frequenters of the forum, and I may have made a few errors here. Just a couple that I think I’ve done right but happy to be corrected on.
- Adding HD with the lycanthrope template doesn’t add any CR beyond that given by the template anyway. I’ve seen that these HD would increase the effective level of PCs but couldn’t find any ruling for CR. Obviously if I’m wrong about this it nixes quite a lot of the build
- Adding Swallow Whole as an ability. I did ask the chair about this, and they thought that CR+2 was a fair price to pay for the ability according to the SRD as linked above.
- Swapping feats of the base animal in the lycanthrope template. I know I’m able to use the Dune Hag’s HD to take different feats than those listed in the monster’s stat-block, but couldn’t find a ruling for doing the same with the lycanthrope HD.

Sandstorm – Dune Hag, Hippopotamus, Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu, Various spells
Swallow Whole – SRD: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm
Complete Divine – Ur-Priest, Contemplative
Spell Compendium – Gluttony Domain,
Serpent Kingdoms – Gape of the Serpent
Savage Species – Quick Change
Fiend Folio – Half-Troll Template
Core – everything else
Magic Item Compendium – Wildling Clasp, Third Eye Clarity, Scout’s Headband,
Draconomicon – Jaws of the Dragon

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:34 PM

5: Tom

Tom, the Taste of Magic
Neutral Evil
Balhannoth Totemist 6

Str ...15.....+18....+8....41
Dex...13.....+06....-2.....17
Con...14.....+12....+4....30
Int.....10.....-08..... ......02
Wis....12.....+02.... ......14
Cha....08.....-02 .... ......06

CR 13: +1 Str
CR 14: +1 Str
CR 16: +1 Str
CR 20: +1 Dex

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

10
Balhannoth (14 HD)
+10/5
+4
+4
+9
Spellcraft 8.5
1st: Blind-Fight; 3rd: Multigrab; 6th: Shape Soulmeld (Shadow Mantle); 9th: Bonus Essentia; 12th: Open Lesser Chakra (Shoulders)
Dweomersight; Dimensional Lock; Constrict; Improved Grab; Antimagic Grapple; Camouflage

12
Add Special Ability (MM p.294)
+10/5
+4
+4
+9
Spellcraft 8.5
--
(Augmented) Improved Grab; Swallow Whole

13
+4 HD Aberration
+13/8/3
+6
+6
+11
Spellcraft 10.5
15th: Greater Multigrab; 18th: Multiattack
--

14
+4 HD Aberration
+16/11/6/1
+7
+7
+13
Hide 1; Spellcraft 12
21st: Damage Reduction
Huge Size

15
Totemist 1
+16/11/6/1
+9
+9
+13
Hide 1; Spellcraft 13
--
Wild Empathy; Illiteracy

16
Totemist 2
+17/12/7/2
+10
+10
+13
Hide 1; Spellcraft 14
24th: Improved Multiattack
Totem Chakra Bind (+1 capacity)

17
Totemist 3
+18/13/8/3
+10
+10
+13
Hide 1; Spellcraft 15
--
--

18
Totemist 4
+19/14/9/4
+11
+11
+13
Hide 1; Spellcraft 16
--
--

19
Totemist 5
+19/14/9/4
+11
+11
+13
Hide 1; Spellcraft 17
27th: Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Chakra Binds (Crown/Feet/Hands)

20
Totemist 6
+20/15/10/5
+12
+12
+14
Hide 1; Spellcraft 18
--
Totem Chakra Bind (+1 meldshaper level)

Tom is a Huge aberration with a taste for magic. He's blind and can't see enemies, but with Shadow Mantle on Tom's shoulders, they can't see him, either.
Tom can hide in his darkness and use Dweomersight to find magic to gobble. Three attacks (slam/slam/bite) lead to Improved Grab which sets off Antimagic Grapple. Greater Multigrab keeps the grappled firmly in place while Tom uses Swallow Whole to deposit an enemy into his stomach. Once in his stomach, Tom's enemy will have to try to cut its way free through DR 15/magic (while Antimagic Grapple is still in effect) and DR 3/- (which actually stacks). With Dimensional Lock in effect as well, things end up not looking so good for the swallowed.

When Tom is really in the mood for lunch, he binds the Threefold Mask of the Chimera to his Totem chakra. This gives him a second bite attack, which should allow him to bite, grapple, and swallow two enemies simultaneously!

The PCs have established a connection with a shop that sells (creates, even?) magic items. Probably, they've equiped themselves from that very shop. But now, prices are on the rise. Several shipments to other cities have disappeared! The PCs must investigate and defend the next shipment. (And, probably, watch as a guard or two gets eaten!) Smart PCs may very well run and regroup, only to come back to the scene more prepared than before. Will they be able to handle Tom...or will they be dinner?? (Dun, dun, Duhhhnnnn!)

Balhannoth: Monster Manual IV (p.15)
(Greater) Multigrab feats: Serpent Kingdoms (p.146)
Shape Soulmeld feat: Magic of Incarnum (p.40)
Bonus Essentia feat: Magic of Incarnum (p.35)
Open Lesser Chakra feat: Magic of Incarnum (p.40)
Damage Reduction feat: Complete Warrior (p.151)
Totemist class: Magic of Incarnum (p.29)
Improved Multiattack feat: Draconomicon (p.70)
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity feat: Magic of Incarnum (p.38)

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:35 PM

6:

Antharyx, Emperor of Esmel

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag75/3SecondCultist94/e030e97a-6fb8-45eb-a85d-b2127eef8d02_zpsuc2o982d.jpg

Chaotic Evil Half-Red Dragon Banelar Focused Transmuter 5 / Spelldancer 1 / Wyrm Wizard 2 / Wu-Jen 1 / Spelldancer 3 / Focused Transmuter 1

The warrior woke up to the stench of rotting meat. Much to his surprise, he was not dead – although the wounds he'd accrued were serious, he was in no danger of succumbing to them. However, as he peered out into the dark, he noted grimly that he was the last of his companions. What remained of his friends was strewn about in bloody bones around the grotto.

"Do you know why you are still alive?" The voice came from the darkness, soft and smooth. It rested slightly on the sibilant sounds, the way a reptile might. The warrior knew in that instant that he was speaking to his captor.

"N-no… I don't. Know, I mean." His own words were scratchy by comparison, and inwardly he cursed how weak he sounded.

"I have decided to spare you for a single purpose: when we have concluded our business here, you will return to Esmeltaran – that cramped hovel you call a home – and tell my story to the people who dwell there. A true dragon ought to be feared, so it's about time you learned my name." With a sudden surge of water, what the warrior had initially taken for an entire wall of the cavern began to move. Then it came into the light cast by the opening far above.

Well over a hundred feet long from end to end, the great serpentine creature was covered in burnished scales of a crimson-amethyst. The monster had no back limbs to speak of, but it boasted a set of powerful looking arms tipped with hooked claws, and a pair of folded wings that looked large enough to actually carry its weight. In poor lighting, the creature could well pass for any wyrm of legend, except for its eyes: they were a solid yellow, not the trademark reptilian pupils of dragonkind.

"I am Antharyx," the creature spoke again, and the warrior truly knew fear. "Listen well, for you may be the only mortal to hear this tale and live to tell it true."

Ability Score
Array
Banelar
Half-Dragon
4 HD
8 HD
12 HD
16 HD
20 HD
Final

Strength
14
+16
+8

+1
+1
+1
+1
42

Dexterity
12
+2

14

Constitution
13
+10
+2

25

Intelligence
15
+6
+2
+1

24

Wisdom
8
+6

14

Charisma
10
+6
+2

18

This table does not include ability score bonuses from buffs (see the full-write ups for those).

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

7
Half-Red Dragon Banelar
+7
+12
+7
+7
Bluff +9, Concentration +17, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +12, Knowledge (Religion) +12, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +9, Spellcraft +14, Spot +12, Swim +18 (+26 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +14 (+16 for scrolls)
Combat CastingB, Snatch, Improved Snatch, Snatch and Swallow
Darkvision 60 ft, Low-Light Vision, Spells, Poison (2d4 Con / Unconscious, DC 20), Fast Healing 2, Immunity to Acid, Fire, and Poison, Magic Items, Resist Petrification +3, Breath Weapon (30 ft Cone 1/day, 6d8 Fire, DC 20), Fly 60 ft (Average)

8
Focused Transmuter 1
+7
+151
+101
+121
Bluff +9, Concentration +18, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +14, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +9, Spellcraft +16, Spot +12, Swim +18 (+26 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +14 (+16 for scrolls)
Expeditious DodgeB
School Specialization (Transmutation), Wizard of Sun and Moon, Poison (DC 21), Breath Weapon (DC 21)

9
Focused Transmuter 2
+8
+15
+10
+13
Bluff +9, Concentration +19, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +16, Knowledge (Planes) +9, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +10, Spellcraft +18, Spot +12, Swim +18 (+26 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +15 (+17 for scrolls)
Endurance

-

10
Focused Transmuter 3
+8
+16
+11
+13
Bluff +9, Concentration +20, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +18, Knowledge (Nature) +9, Knowledge (Planes) +9, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +10, Spellcraft +20, Spot +12, Swim +18 (+26 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +15 (+17 for scrolls)

-
Poison (DC 22), Breath Weapon (DC 22)

11
Focused Transmuter 4
+9
+16
+11
+14
Bluff +9, Concentration +21, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +20, Knowledge (Nature) +10, Knowledge (Planes) +10, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +11, Spellcraft +22, Spot +12, Swim +18 (+26 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +16 (+18 for scrolls)

-

-

12
Focused Transmuter 5
+9
+192
+142
+172
Bluff +9, Concentration +22, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +22, Knowledge (Nature) +11, Knowledge (Planes) +11, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +11, Spellcraft +24, Spot +12, Swim +19 (+27 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +16 (+18 for scrolls)
MobilityB, Extend Spell
Poison (DC 23), Breath Weapon (DC 23)

13
Spelldancer 1
+9
+19
+16
+19
Bluff +9, Concentration +23, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +22, Knowledge (Nature) +11, Knowledge (Planes) +11, Knowledge (Religion) +14, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +20, Spellcraft +25, Spot +12, Swim +19 (+27 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +16 (+18 for scrolls)

-
Spelldance (8 rounds)

14
Wyrm Wizard 1
+9
+19
+16
+21
Bluff +9, Concentration +24, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +24, Knowledge (Nature) +13, Knowledge (Planes) +13, Knowledge (Religion) +17, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +20, Spellcraft +26, Spot +12, Swim +19 (+27 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +16 (+18 for scrolls)

-
Knowledge of the Wyrm, Poison (DC 24), Breath Weapon (DC 24)

15
Wyrm Wizard 2
+10
+19
+16
+22
Bluff +9, Concentration +25, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +25, Knowledge (Nature) +16, Knowledge (Planes) +16, Knowledge (Religion) +19, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +20, Spellcraft +27, Spot +12, Swim +19 (+27 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +16 (+18 for scrolls)
Practiced Spellcaster (Wizard)
Spell Research (giant size)

16
Wu Jen 1
+10
+273
+16
+24
Bluff +9, Concentration +343, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +26, Knowledge (Nature) +18, Knowledge (Planes) +18, Knowledge (Religion) +21, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +20, Spellcraft +28, Spot +12, Swim +342 (+42 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +16 (+18 for scrolls)
Persistent SpellB
Watchful Spirit, Taboo, Spelldance (16 rounds3), Poison (DC 333), Breath Weapon (DC 333)

17
Spelldancer 2
+11
+27
+17
+25
Bluff +9, Concentration +35, Diplomacy +16, Intimidate +16, Knowledge (Arcana) +27, Knowledge (Nature) +18, Knowledge (Planes) +18, Knowledge (Religion) +21, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +25, Spellcraft +29, Spot +12, Swim +34 (+42 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +17 (+19 for scrolls)

-
Spelldance (17 rounds), Enthralling Dance (1/day, DC 16), Evasion

18
Spelldancer 3
+11
+28
+17
+25
Bluff +9, Concentration +36, Diplomacy +17, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (Arcana) +28, Knowledge (Nature) +19, Knowledge (Planes) +19, Knowledge (Religion) +22, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +25, Spellcraft +30, Spot +12, Swim +34 (+42 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +17 (+19 for scrolls)
Gape of the Serpent
Spelldance (18 rounds), Cooperative Dance, Poison (DC 34), Breath Weapon (DC 34)

19
Spelldancer 4
+12
+28
+18
+26
Bluff +10, Concentration +37, Diplomacy +18, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (Arcana) +29, Knowledge (Nature) +19, Knowledge (Planes) +19, Knowledge (Religion) +22, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +25, Spellcraft +31, Spot +12, Swim +34 (+42 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +18 (+20 for scrolls)

-
Spelldance (19 rounds), Sleep Dance, Enthralling Dance (2/day, DC 18)

20
Focused Transmuter 6
+13
+314
+19
+27
Bluff +10, Concentration +404, Diplomacy +18, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (Arcana) +30, Knowledge (Nature) +21, Knowledge (Planes) +21, Knowledge (Religion) +24, Listen +7, Perform (Dance) +25, Spellcraft +32, Spot +12, Swim +394 (+47 overcoming obstacles), Tumble +6, Use Magic Device +18 (+20 for scrolls)

-
Poison (DC 374), Breath Weapon (DC 374), Spelldance (214 rounds)

B: Bonus Feat
1: +3 saves from greater resistance
2: +6 saves from superior resistance
3: +40 Strength, +16 Constitution from persisted giant size (Gargantuan) and persisted bite of the werebear
4: +8 Strength, +4 Constitution from persisted giant size (Colossal)
Spells per Day

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

7th
4
5
5
3
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
3+3
5+3
4+3
3+3
1+3
-
-
-
-
-

9th
3+3
5+3
4+3
4+3
2+3
-
-
-
-
-

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

11th
3+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
3+3
2+3
-
-
-
-

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

13th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
-
-
-

14th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
3+3
2+3
1+3
-
-

15th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
3+3
2+3
1+3
-
-

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

17th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
-
-

18th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
4+3
3+3
2+3
1+3
-

19th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
4+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
-

20th
3+3
5+3
5+3
5+3
4+3
4+3
4+3
3+3
2+3
1+3

Typical Wizard Spells Prepared:
0th level - arcane mark, detect magic, mage hand, message, prestidigitation, stick
1st level - babau slime, blood wind, ebon eyes, hoard gullet, nerveskitter, ray of clumsiness, shield
2nd level - balor nimbus, fearsome grapple, increase virulence, scintillating scales, snake's swiftness, wraithstrike
3rd level - alter fortune, anticipate teleportation, girallon's blessing, greater mage armor, haste
4th level - blinding breath, dimension door, greater mirror image, greater resistance, mnemonic enhancer, stone shape
5th level - baleful polymorph, greater blink, superior magic fang, transmute mud to rock
6th level - acid fog, brilliant blade, control water, superior resistance, true seeing
7th level - bite of the werebear (Persisted), energy transformation field, ethereal jaunt, giant size (Persisted), plane shift, reverse gravity
8th level - antimagic field, greater stunning breath, mind blank, superior invisibility, wall of greater dispel magic
9th level - foresight, time stop

While it's not a full list, these are all spells that Antharyx would likely prepare at least once on a given adventuring day. Many of the stronger buffs would be prepped twice, in case of enemy dispelling. His forbidden schools are Enchantment, Evocation, and Necromancy. I didn't list the Sun and Moon spells because of space, but Antharyx is able to split his slots if he so wishes.

Spells per Day

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

7th
5
4+1
4+1
2+1
-
-
-
-
-
-

Typical Cleric Spells Prepared:
0th level - amanuensis, detect magic, guidance, mending, read magic
1st level - conviction, divine favor, entropic shield, obscuring mistD, sign
2nd level - body ward, divine insight, fog cloudD, soul ward, tyche's touch
3rd level - magic circle against goodD, spark of life, vision of the omniscient eye

D: Domain spell. Antharyx can use the Evil, Magic, and Water Domains.
Spells per Day

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

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

"As all good things must, let us start at the beginning. I was born a worm - much like yourself, only more grandiose in every way. My mother was one of the banelar, the serpent priests of Cyric. She is of little importance. My father, on the other hand, was none other than Balegos, one of the direst dragons of this age. I did not know, in my first years, what compelled a true dragon to debase himself with a lowly serpent. Eventually, I learned that he was trying to preserve his legacy. When I finally wrested that secret forth from the treacherous banelar, I knew that I wanted to be more than a mere creature. I sought to become a dragon myself, a ravenous king with nothing but subjects. Thankfully, I was born with magical gifts, even if I did not yet possess the strength of my father. Therefore, I resolved to use the former to attain the latter."

Before taking any class levels, Antharyx is still a potent foe to a group of 7th level PCs. As a Half-Red Dragon Banelar, he is quite tough in a close quarters: he has nearly 90 hp, a few energy immunities, an AC of 30 after buffs, and a Strength score of 38 with 4 natural attacks. On top of having nearly full arcane and divine casting, Antharyx can swallow Medium creatures with ease (25 damage to escape). With Improved Snatch and Snatch and Swallow, he can grapple anyone he attacks as a free action with no AoO, and swallow them on his next turn. His grapple modifier is +33 with fearsome grapple, and he can also cast one spell per turn as a free action while grappling. Balor nimbus and babau slime will help with consistent damage output in grapples (and apply to swallowed creatures). He can also cast snake's swiftness as a free action to make an additional attack to make sure that his grapples are successful.
"To adapt, to evolve and advance: these are urges you no doubt understand, despite your fragile mortal mind. These thoughts drove me far afield in search of power. The dragons of Faerun guarded their secrets jealously, so I traveled east. Beyond Thesk, beyond Thay, lie the lands of T'u Lung. There, I learned the true meaning of enlightenment. The people there respected me for what I was: a petitioner, seeking arcane knowledge. The secrets of magic I had sought were there, but it was not enough on its own. The Lung dragons are spiritual creatures, but they have no concept of what it means to defeat and devour an enemy. To be a dragon like Balegos, to apply one's intellect and savagery to a singular end, was anathema to them. So I snuck into their temples and stole the secret of one of their most powerful spells. What I wanted was finally within my reach."

This is the 'sweet spot' of the build: having traveled abroad and learned many secrets of magic, Antharyx can cast persisted bite of the werebear and persisted giant size every day without a problem. I tried not to go overboard with Spelldancer, since actively ignoring the limitations takes this build to Priya levels. At Gargantuan size with 80 Strength, Antharyx can handily grapple and swallow creatures up to Large size (35 damage to escape). Beyond the fact that he can cast 7th level Wizard spells, he can also sting people with a fairly potent poison that knocks people unconscious (allowing him to take his time swallowing and digesting his enemies). With snake's swiftness, he can sting 2 PCs per turn. If need be, he can cast increased virulence and spark of life to help out his poison, or just hammer away with spells and attacks before eating the unconscious PCs. Most of the tactics from lower levels are still viable here, although energy and poison resistant PCs mean that he'll need to get a bit more creative.
"After many long years abroad, I eventually returned home to Amn, to Lake Esmel. Here, I finally put all of my power to use. In the form you see here, I lay in wait for my father Balegos. His strength and wit were no match for mine, but he managed to put up a true and vigorous fight. In the end, I struck him down and got to work. It took me three days to fully digest his body, but I assure you there is nothing left. What you see before you is nothing less than a being whose purpose has been truly realized, mortal. Now that I have proven myself to the dragons of Faerun, I expect many will come swear fealty to me… starting with the meager humans of this kingdom. Go now, warrior. Tell your people to come and kneel before Antharyx, the new Emperor of Esmel!"

Enter the Emperor! At 20th level, Antharyx spends all day in Colossal size. His Strength is a nice round 90, and with a grapple modifier of +82, he's capable of grappling any creature in the game. Antharyx has 9th level spellcasting now, which doesn't change all that much beyond giving him three time stops to play with. His strategy when fighting PCs will probably be less reliant on poison now since immunities are so common at high levels, and more about using his incredible strength to just devour his enemies. With enough high level buffs up. it should be easy for him to knock out and eat PCs before their allies have a chance to save them. Oh, and thanks to Gape of the Serpent, Antharyx can even swallow another Colossal creature (50 damage to escape). That's right: if he managed to knock it out, he could eat the Tarrasque!
Most of my notes have to do with Elegance and Power. First is the use of Spelldancer: while using Persistent Spell this way is incredibly cheesy, note that I am not including any ways to do this infinitely. Antharyx will absolutely cast persistent giant size and persistent bite of the werebear every day, but he can only afford 1-2 more buffs. DMs who want to increase or decrease Antharyx's power level can swap out Spelldancer or actively find ways of negating the Con damage and fatigue from using that spell to give him infinite Persisted buffs.

The other notes have to do with the requirements of the contest. In a game with Flaws, I wouldn't have dipped Wu Jen. Instead, I would have picked up Persistent Spell and probably Arcane Thesis (giant size) instead of Practiced Spellcaster. Furthermore, I used the 3.0 version of the Banelar from Monsters of Faerun without applying the 3.5 errata to it. I did this because the errata might eliminate the innate Wizard progression (the layout is confusing, not listing any spells but not outright saying to remove the casting). Therefore, I elected to ignore it and risk an Elegance deduction for a more powerful and flavorful build.

Oh, and I didn't list the Wu Jen spells because of space.
Complete Arcane - Wu Jen, Spells
Complete Mage - Focused Specialist
Draconomicon - Improved Snatch, Snatch and Swallow
Dragon Magic - Wyrm Wizard
Dungeonscape - Wizard of Sun and Moon
Magic of Faerun - Spelldancer
Monsters of Faerun - Banelar
Serpent Kingdoms - Gape of the Serpent
SRD - Combat Wizard

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:36 PM

7:

The Virus

https://ep01.epimg.net/elpais/imagenes/2015/12/09/ciencia/1449684423_617874_1449684661_noticia_normal.jpg

as long as a thing, ends up inside another thing, and the way it ended up there was through it's mouth, (a cube doesn't really have a mouth, so that would count), I'd say any words/action used that basically mean the same thing as swallowed whole would count.

> No specification of which thing has to end up in which other thing.

Game on.

The party stepped over the bodies of their fallen enemies and, as was a time-honoured tradition, began to loot the corpses.

"You find 10 gold, 6 silver, the clubs they were wielding, the boss's greataxe and studded leather, the shaman's staff, and a potion in the shaman's bag," spake the great Dee Emm. And the party listened, for the Dee Em was vengeful and liable to drop rocks on people he didn't like.

"Aaron will cast identify on the potion," spake the great and noble Dave, and the Dee Em spake unto Dave, "Aaron casts his spell, and finds the potion to be a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds."

"Meh," spake the wise and glorious Jeff. "I nick the axe and studded leather. Save the potion for later."

"Later," as was foretold by Jeff, came to pass, as the psion Amelia, known to all as the Dee Em Pea Cee, was lying down unconscious.

"On a scale of minus ten to fourteen," asked Jeff, "How healthy is Amelia looking?"
"She is looking at a solid minus eight right now," replied the Dee Em solemnly.
"Ah, damn. Better use the potion then," spake Dave. And lo, Aaron the wizard did mightily pour the potion down the throat of Amelia, who swallowed the whole potion. And Dave took up the mighty Dee Eyte, and cast it twice with great aplomb. And so, Amelia was saved from certain death...

...but at what price?Lawful evil puppeteer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/puppeteer.htm) telepath psion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psion.htm) 20

Ability scores from elite array: STR 8 DEX 13 CON 14 INT 15 WIS 12 CHA 10
Ability scores after racial adjustment: STR 1 DEX 17 CON 14 INT 19 WIS 18 CHA 14Save bonuses listed are base save bonuses. Skill ranks listed are ranks, not total bonuses. Because psion has literally no class features other than bonus feats and powers, the class features column has here been replaced with a powers learned column.

CR
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Powers Learned

1
Telepath 1

+0

+0

+0

+2

Bluff 4, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 4, Knowledge (Local) 4, Knowledge (Psionics) 4, Sense Motive 4

Mindsight (LoM), Psionic Endowment

Charm, Mindlink, Sense Link

2
Telepath 2

+1

+0

+0

+3

Bluff 5, Concentration 5, Diplomacy 5, Knowledge (Local) 5, Knowledge (Psionics) 5, Sense Motive 5

-

Attraction, Create Sound

3
Telepath 3

+1

+1

+1

+3

Bluff 6, Concentration 6, Diplomacy 6, Knowledge (Local) 6, Knowledge (Psionics) 6, Sense Motive 6

Greater Psionic Endowment

Share Pain, Specified Energy Adaptation

4
Telepath 4

+2

+1

+1

+4

Bluff 7, Concentration 7, Diplomacy 7, Knowledge (Local) 7, Knowledge (Psionics) 7, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Sense Motive 7

-

Read Thoughts, Suggestion

5
Telepath 5

+2

+1

+1

+4

Bluff 8, Concentration 8, Diplomacy 8, Knowledge (Local) 8, Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Sense Motive 8

Psionic Body

Energy Burst, Hostile Empathic Transfer

6
Telepath 6

+3

+2

+2

+5

Bluff 9, Concentration 9, Diplomacy 9, Knowledge (Local) 9, Knowledge (Psionics) 9, Knowledge (Religion) 3, Sense Motive 9

Expanded Knowledge (Clairvoyant Sense)

Clairvoyant Sense, Dispel Psionics, Time Hop

7
Telepath 7

+3

+2

+2

+5

Bluff 1, Concentration 10, Diplomacy 10, Knowledge (Local) 10, Knowledge (Psionics) 10, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Sense Motive 10

-

Divination, Dominate

8
Telepath 8

+4

+2

+2

+6

Bluff 11, Concentration 11, Diplomacy 11, Knowledge (Local) 11, Knowledge (Psionics) 11, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Sense Motive 11

-

Dimension Door, Modifiy Memory

9
Telepath 9

+4

+3

+3

+6

Bluff 12, Concentration 12, Diplomacy 12, Knowledge (Local) 12, Knowledge (Psionics) 12, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Sense Motive 11, Swift Concentration (CSco)

Psionic Meditation

Crystal Body (DrM), Metaconcert

10
Telepath 10

+5

+3

+3

+7

Bluff 13, Concentration 13, Diplomacy 13, Knowledge (Local) 13, Knowledge (Psionics) 13, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Sense Motive 13, Swift Concentration (CSco)

Psymbiot (CPsi)

Mind Probe, Plane Shift

11
Telepath 11

+5

+3

+3

+7

Bluff 14, Concentration 14, Diplomacy 14, Knowledge (Local) 14, Knowledge (Psionics) 14, Knowledge (Religion) 6, Sense Motive 14, Swift Concentration (CSco)

-

Energy Barrage (CPsi)

12
Telepath 12

+6

+4

+4

+8

Bluff 15, Concentration 15, Diplomacy 15, Knowledge (Local) 15, Knowledge (Psionics) 15, Knowledge (Religion) 8, Sense Motive 15, Swift Concentration (CSco)

Expanded Knowledge (Metamorphosis)

Anticipatory Strike, Mass Cloud Mind, Metamorphosis

13
Telepath 13

+6

+4

+4

+8

Bluff 16, Concentration 16, Diplomacy 16, Knowledge (Local) 16, Knowledge (Psionics) 16, Knowledge (Religion) 10, Sense Motive 16, Swift Concentration (CSco)

-

Control Weather (SoS)

14
Telepath 14

+7

+4

+4

+9

Bluff 17, Concentration 17, Diplomacy 17, Knowledge (Local) 17, Knowledge (Psionics) 17, Knowledge (Religion) 12, Sense Motive 17, Swift Concentration (CSco)

-

Insanity, Personal Mind Blank

15
Telepath 15

+7

+5

+5

+9

Bluff 18, Concentration 18, Diplomacy 18, Knowledge (Local) 18, Knowledge (Psionics) 18, Knowledge (Religion) 14, Sense Motive 18, Swift Concentration (CSco)

Metamorphic Transfer, Improved Initiative

Mind Seed

16
Telepath 16

+8

+5

+5

+10

Bluff 19, Concentration 19, Diplomacy 19, Knowledge (Local) 19, Knowledge (Psionics) 19, Knowledge (Religion) 16, Sense Motive 19, Swift Concentration (CSco)

-

Greater Teleport, True Metabolism

17
Telepath 17

+8

+5

+5

+10

Bluff 20, Concentration 20, Diplomacy 20, Knowledge (Local) 20, Knowledge (Psionics) 20, Knowledge (Religion) 18, Sense Motive 20, Swift Concentration (CSco)

-

Assimilate

18
Telepath 18

+9

+6

+6

+11

Bluff 21, Concentration 21, Diplomacy 21, Knowledge (Local) 21, Knowledge (Psionics) 21, Knowledge (Religion) 20, Sense Motive 21, Swift Concentration (CSco)

Expanded Knowledge (Stygian Ward)

Affinity Field, Stygian Conflagration (CPsi), Stygian Ward (CPsi)

19
Telepath 19

+9

+6

+6

+11

Bluff 22, Concentration 22, Diplomacy 22, Knowledge (Local) 22, Knowledge (Psionics) 22, Knowledge (Religion) 22, Sense Motive 22, Swift Concentration (CSco)

-

Timeless Body

20
Telepath 20

+10

+6

+6

+12

Bluff 23, Concentration 23, Diplomacy 23, Knowledge (Local) 23, Knowledge (Psionics) 23, Knowledge (Religion) 23, Knowledge (The Planes) 3, Sense Motive 23, Swift Concentration (CSco)

Inquisitor

Etherealness, Reality Revision

A basic puppeteer is pretty nasty for its CR 1, capable of wrecking a party many levels higher with a little luck. The main weakness is that it only has one hit point, so if the party sees it, and aims literally any blasting spell at it, then it dies.

The immediate advantage that the virus has, then, is that even at first level, it has more hit points, and by 5th, it has 28, which isn't bad for something with 21 AC. But really, it shouldn't need those hit points, because it's going straight inside the nearest creature the moment it gets a chance. If the party somehow end up fighting it conventionally, it can absolutely spam Energy Burst and use its mental barrier PLA to defend itself against any weapon attacks with a cat in hell's chance of hitting it. If it does get damaged, it can hardly miss with Hostile Empathic Transfer which will heal it while also dishing out more pain.

The real thing it does, though, is get swallowed whole. That's the entire point of everything we're doing here, right? Once inside, it has a bit of a problem: it has no line of effect out of the creature hosting it. That's gotta be a major problem, right? Just kidding, it's mostly fine. Actually helpful in a lot of ways, because barely anything can hit it while it's inside the host (it should, on the other hand, be able to survive any hits it takes from errant flame strikes, which really aren't affected by barriers - though "A puppeteer in control of a host is treated as an attended magic item for the purpose of making saving throws, even if the puppeteer is specifically targeted" and "A magic item doesn’t need to make a saving throw unless it is unattended, it is specifically targeted by the effect, or its wielder rolls a natural 1 on his save" makes it hard to damage the puppeteer). Meanwhile, it can charm its host and, because it's touching the host (from the inside), the host acts as though dominated. As a kind, caring DM, you should probably do this to a DMPC at least initially, rather than commandeering a PC.

What do you do then? Well, there's a couple of funny things: you can read the PCs' thoughts (because read thoughts bypasses barriers), you can speak telepathically to the PCs and maybe set them against each other, and you can create sounds to mislead the party. If you ever get bored of your host, you can blow them apart from the inside because you're nice like that.At this level you can dominate someone normally, so if you dominate them, command them to make out with another PC, and crawl inside that PC's mouth, you can get inside someone else and the first person (who you're telepathically connected to) is still dominated. You can then work your magi... uh, psionics on the new host.

You also have metaconcert, which allows you to manifest powers with the help of your host, which is useful for obvious reasons, especially since you can designate them as the concert leader, they're dominated, they know all your powers, and therefore you can, say, manifest energy burst from their location, hitting their entire party, and not hitting you because the burst emanates outwards from them. At +1 manifester level. Using the enemy's power points. Not that that's useful or anything. Or, I dunno, they could always dominate someone else. Yeah, metaconcert is pretty dope.

I'm almost tempted to say that CR 9 is the sweet spot of this build just because metaconcert is hilarious if your host is psionic. CR 10 doesn't change much but let's be fair, dominating someone, dumping them on the plane of fire and then just leaving them there is a nice way of getting rid of them.Energy barrage is funny combined with specified energy adaptation because it's a spread, meaning that it can turn corners - essentially, if you blast yourself with it while inside your host, you'll resist most of the damage and the host's eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and look-you-figure-it-out will explode with energy, catching anyone nearby in the blast, which is apart from anything else an awesome mental image. 15d6 damage at level 11 is nothing to sniff at, and 18d6 at level 15 is pretty dope too.

Control weather works from inside the host, because you only have to be able to hit the centre of the effect's origin, which can totally be inside them. Aww yiss.

Personal mind blank is an upgrade to your standard detection-blocking that you get as a puppeteer.

If you need to abandon ship, by the way, consider dropping an insanity, followed by anticipatory strike and then plane shift - in one round, the host is permanently confused and you're having a grand old time in Mechanus.

Also, Mind Seed is great if no-one works out what's going on - you can be just like a real virus, well sort of!Some things to get out of the way: greater teleport is useful, true metabolism makes you really hard to kill, assimilate is hilarious. Great, onto what makes CR 18 special:

Factor 1: Stygian Ward works as Death Ward except as noted in the power, which is basically that it's a power and not a spell.
Factor 2: Stygian Conflagration deals negative levels, to which Stygian Ward makes you immune.
Factor 3: Stygian Conflagration is a cylinder effect.
Factor 4: Psionics-Magic Transparency
Factor 5: "A cylinder-shaped spell ignores any obstructions within its area. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#area)"

Conclusion: You can inflict no-save negative levels on the enemy from inside a creature.

The other thing you can do is that if someone tries to smash up your host, you can manifest true metabolism, anticipatory strike, affinity field. Immediately, they start healing hit points as you do, which is at the rate of 10 per round.If you can't find a use for reality revision, that's on you. The previous tricks still work and are still effective.

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:38 PM

8:

The Nightstalker
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/c/c1/Nightwalker.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090502205354
Half Elven Ghoul-Lich 2/Druid 5/Emancipated Spawn 2/Planar Shepherd 9/Contemplative 1

Strength: 15 Level up at level 4
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: -
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 19 Level ups at Level 8 12 and 16
Charisma: 16

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

1

Ghoul (2 HD)

+1

+0

+0

+3

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +5, Knowledge Religion +2, Knowledge Nature +2, Knowledge The Planes +1

Improved Paralysis

Ghoul Stuff

2

Druid (3 HD)

+1

+2

+0

+5

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +6, Knowledge Religion +2, Knowledge Nature +6, Knowledge The Planes +1

Ability Focus Paralysis

Wild Empathy, Animal Companion, Nature Sense

3

Druid (4 HD)

+2

+3

+0

+6

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +7, Knowledge Religion +2, Knowledge Nature +7, Knowledge The Planes +2.5

Woodland Stride

4

Druid (5 HD)

+3

+3

+1

+6

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +3

Trackless Step

5

Emancipated Spawn (6 HD)

+3

+3

+1

+8

Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Spot +8, Listen +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +3.5

Contagious Paralysis
Recalled Feat: Education
Recalled Feat: Favored In House

+2 Turn Resistance

6

Emancipated Spawn (7 HD)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

+2 Turn Resistance, Recall Class Abilities

6

Half Elf Paragon (class features)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

Half Elf Bonus Feat: Human Heritage

Divided Ancestry, Elven Vision

6

Human Paragon (class features)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

Adaptive Learning

6

Human Paragon (class features)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

Human Paragon BF: Nightbringer Initiate

+1 CL on Druid

7

Druid (8 HD)

+5

+4

+1

+10

Hide +8, Move Silently +8, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +5, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +5

Resist Nature’s Lure

8

Druid (9 HD)

+5

+4

+1

+10

Hide +9, Move Silently +9, Spot +9, Knowledge Religion +6, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +6

Natural Spell

Wild Shape 1/day

9

Planar Shepherd (10 HD)

+5

+6

+1

+12

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +7, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +7

Animal Companion, Wild Shape, Planar Attunement: Mabar

10

Planar Shepherd (11 HD)

+6

+7

+1

+13

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +7, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +7

Detect Manifest Zone

11

Planar Shepherd (12 HD)

+7

+7

+2

+14

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +9, Knowledge Nature +9, Knowledge The Planes +9

Improved Natural Attack: Bite

Wild Shape (Magical Beast)

12

Planar Shepherd (13 HD)

+8

+8

+2

+14

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +11, Knowledge Nature +10, Knowledge The Planes +11

Plane Shift 1/day

13

Planar Shepherd (14 HD)

+8

+8

+2

+14

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Planar Bubble 1/day

14

Contemplative (15 HD)

+8

+8

+2

+16

Hide +11, Move Silently +11, Spot +11, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Craft Wondrous Items

Divine Health, Hunger Domain

15

Planar Shepherd (16 HD)

+9

+9

+3

+17

Hide +13, Move Silently +13, Spot +12, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

16

Planar Shepherd (17 HD)

+10

+9

+3

+17

Hide +15, Move Silently +15, Spot +13, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Intensify Manifest Zone

17

Planar Shepherd (18 HD)

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Spot +14, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Extend Spell

Planeshift 2/day

19

Lich

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Spot +14, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Lich Stuff

20

Planar Shepherd (19 HD)

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +19, Move Silently +19, Spot +16, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Wild Shape (Elemental or Outsider)

The Nightstalker
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/c/c1/Nightwalker.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090502205354
Half Elven Ghoul-Lich 2/Druid 5/Emancipated Spawn 2/Planar Shepherd 9/Contemplative 1

Strength: 15 Level up at level 4
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: -
Intelligence: 12
Wisdom: 19 Level ups at Level 8 12 and 16
Charisma: 16

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

1

Ghoul (2 HD)

+1

+0

+0

+3

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +5, Knowledge Religion +2, Knowledge Nature +2, Knowledge The Planes +1

Improved Paralysis

Ghoul Stuff

2

Druid (3 HD)

+1

+2

+0

+5

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +6, Knowledge Religion +2, Knowledge Nature +6, Knowledge The Planes +1

Ability Focus Paralysis

Wild Empathy, Animal Companion, Nature Sense

3

Druid (4 HD)

+2

+3

+0

+6

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +7, Knowledge Religion +2, Knowledge Nature +7, Knowledge The Planes +2.5

Woodland Stride

4

Druid (5 HD)

+3

+3

+1

+6

Hide +5, Move Silently +5, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +3

Trackless Step

5

Emancipated Spawn (6 HD)

+3

+3

+1

+8

Hide +6, Move Silently +6, Spot +8, Listen +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +3.5

Contagious Paralysis
Recalled Feat: Education
Recalled Feat: Favored In House

+2 Turn Resistance

6

Emancipated Spawn (7 HD)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

+2 Turn Resistance, Recall Class Abilities

6

Half Elf Paragon (class features)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

Half Elf Bonus Feat: Human Heritage

Divided Ancestry, Elven Vision

6

Human Paragon (class features)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

Adaptive Learning

6

Human Paragon (class features)

+4

+3

+1

+9

Hide +7, Move Silently +7, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +3, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

Human Paragon BF: Nightbringer Initiate

+1 CL on Druid

7

Druid (8 HD)

+5

+4

+1

+10

Hide +8, Move Silently +8, Spot +8, Knowledge Religion +5, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +5

Resist Nature’s Lure

8

Druid (9 HD)

+5

+4

+1

+10

Hide +9, Move Silently +9, Spot +9, Knowledge Religion +6, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +6

Natural Spell

Wild Shape 1/day

9

Planar Shepherd (10 HD)

+5

+6

+1

+12

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +7, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +7

Animal Companion, Wild Shape, Planar Attunement: Mabar

10

Planar Shepherd (11 HD)

+6

+7

+1

+13

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +7, Knowledge Nature +8, Knowledge The Planes +7

Detect Manifest Zone

11

Planar Shepherd (12 HD)

+7

+7

+2

+14

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +9, Knowledge Nature +9, Knowledge The Planes +9

Improved Natural Attack: Bite

Wild Shape (Magical Beast)

12

Planar Shepherd (13 HD)

+8

+8

+2

+14

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +11, Knowledge Nature +10, Knowledge The Planes +11

Plane Shift 1/day

13

Planar Shepherd (14 HD)

+8

+8

+2

+14

Hide +10, Move Silently +10, Spot +10, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Planar Bubble 1/day

14

Contemplative (15 HD)

+8

+8

+2

+16

Hide +11, Move Silently +11, Spot +11, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Craft Wondrous Items

Divine Health, Hunger Domain

15

Planar Shepherd (16 HD)

+9

+9

+3

+17

Hide +13, Move Silently +13, Spot +12, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

16

Planar Shepherd (17 HD)

+10

+9

+3

+17

Hide +15, Move Silently +15, Spot +13, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Intensify Manifest Zone

17

Planar Shepherd (18 HD)

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Spot +14, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Extend Spell

Planeshift 2/day

19

Lich

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Spot +14, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Lich Stuff

20

Planar Shepherd (19 HD)

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +19, Move Silently +19, Spot +16, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Wild Shape (Elemental or Outsider)

Shadow creatures dwell on the Plane of ShadowMabar, sometimes crossing into other planes where the barriers between dimensions are weak. Just as parts of the Plane of Shadow resemble a strange, distorted version of the Material Plane, shadow creatures superficially resemble creatures from the Material Plane. Shadow creatures are darker, more elusive, and spookier than their material counterparts. Grays and blacks are the most common colors, with white and yellow rarely seen. They are not to be confused with shadows (undead creatures that often dwell on the Plane of shadow). Other creatures native to the Plane of Shadow exist that have stronger or weaker connections to the energies of that place (such as the shadow mastiff) and do not follow this template.

"Shadow" is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the "base creature"). The creature's type changes to "magical beast." It otherwise uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted below.
Speed: As base creature x 1 1/2.
Special Qualities: A shadow creature retains all the special qualities of the base creature and also gains the following ones:
-Cold Resistance of 5 + 1 per HD, to a maximum of 20.
-Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
-Low-light vision.
-Shadow Blend (Su): In any conditions other than full daylight, a shadow creature can disappear into the shadows, giving it nine-tenths concealment. Artificial illumination, even a light or continual flame spell, does not negate this ability. A daylight spell, however, will.

Shadow creatures also have on additional supernatural ability for every 4 HD they possess (minimum of one) chosen from the following list:
-+2 luck bonus on all saving throws.
Cause fear once per day.
-Damage reduction 5/+1.
-Evasion.
-Mirror image once per day.
-Plane shift self to or from the Plane of Shadow once per day.
-Regenerate 2 hit points per round (slain if brought to 0 hit points).

If the base creature already has one or more of these special qualities, use the better value.
Skills: Same as the base creature, plus Move Silently +6.
Feats: Same as the base Creature.

Due to the way that this template is worded, and the way that Planar Shepherd is worded you can turn into any corporeal creature sized Tiny-Large with 14 or fewer Hit Dice. In the example it actually turns a Wight into a magical beast.

The Nightstalker once was a normal half elf. If you can call half elves normal. In life he went by the name Feryl d’Lyrandar. He was a noble, and acted like it. Only the finest for Feryl. The finest wines, the finest delicacies, and the finest entertainment. As a child he went to Morgrave University to gain the finest education money could by. And he was totally a pompous brat. He always wanted what he couldn’t have. Forbidden women from other houses, animals that weren’t for sale, and yes, even forbidden foods. He became a cannibal. One that only dined on the most exquisite of flesh. Just a bite here and there. He would throw the rest out. It was cooked and prepared to such a point that it probably didn’t even taste like humanoid meat. However he ate it just the same.
This all ended when a group of ghouls decided to crash the place thinking that it was a ghoul fantasy rather than some uptown secret society. A ghast decided it was munch time and turned our dear old Feryl into a ghoul. A slave. Several years later the ghast that turned Feryl was put to the sword by some young Silver Flame initiate. Feryl didn’t really care. He was just hungry. Always hungry. But with his freedom he began learning the ways of beasts. He was like a savage. Stalking them. Oh how poor Feryl has fallen, from the highest of society to the bottom, to a hunted creature not even considered human. He began the arts of the druid. After a time Feryl began to remember. He began to remember life. And how his new life hurt him. It made him feel exactly as he was. An undead abomination. So he cleaned up. He made himself presentable. He began bathing again. And he got a message to one of his old contacts. A member from the Blood of Vol. They apparently accepted the undead. Maybe he could start life anew, a second chance. His contact messaged him back, and told him to meet up in the Eldeen Reaches. There in the Eldeen Reaches he learned that his old society disbanded after Feryl’s death. But apparently there were others of kindred mind than the Blood of Vol. He was welcomed into the Nightbringer’s society. And knowing some druidic magic they quickly made Feryl into a Nightbringer Initiate. Feryl learned of the Day of Mourning. Feryl taught what he remembered of the different Planes of Magic. He kept getting hungry but they kept him satiated. It took years. Feryl had begun to realize that he was actually immortal, but that there were problems in his current state. So he kept researching. He became able to go to Mabar and return at will. The other nightbringers thought of Feryl as a powerful ally. Feryl thought of them as tools. Pawns. And then it hit him. Lichdom. That should end his never ending hunger. He knew of one place in all the planes that would know how to turn him into a lich. He went back to Mabar, where he sought out the eldest of the undead that he knew of. A Nightwalker by the name of Shen.
Shen of course knew of more powerful undead than the ghoul, but he also knew the ritual that the young ghoul spoke of. A ritual that should be impossible for a ghoul to undertake. However something about this ghoul proved to be too… human. His ambition. This ghoul had ambition for things other than food. Unheard of in ghoulish society. So he gave the ritual over to this young ghoul by the name of Feryl, on the condition that Feryl abandon his name. Abandon it and take the name of Nightstalker. Nightstalker eagerly made the deal.
Nightstalker now knew how to become a lich, all he needed was to construct his phylactery. He began researching House Cannith’s methods. It didn’t take long for him to learn how to make trinkets like the artificers do. He kept working on it, kept learning, kept experimenting. All the while now leading the Nightbringers. He could bring aspects of Mabar to the material plane. Nightstalker did this to empower himself from time to time. He began turning the fallen into ghouls. Creating an army of minions. Finally he accomplished his goal. He became a Lich. He returned to Shen, showing him that Shen was wrong, that he could accomplish even that. Only then did Nightstalker realize that he was one of the most powerful creatures to walk the material plane. Shen gave Nightstalker one final gift. The gift to turn into the native outsiders of Mabar. A gift that Nightstalker is all too keen on using.

[SPOILER=CR 5] At this point Feryl is just beginning to remember his old life. He is desperate to live. He will do all he can to survive. Usually this entails killing animals and eating their flesh. However sometimes it requires Feryl to paralyze a target and keep them paralyzed. He sometimes uses this to his advantage by placing a paralyzed human out in a street, and when someone walks by to investigate they undoubtedly touch the paralyzed victim. Granting Feryl two meals.
His tactics in a fight are simple, he uses his paralysis to the best of his abilities and uses magic to back him up. Feryl usually does not have an animal companion, because he eats them. But sometimes he uses an animal companion as backup. Usually to allow him to sneak up on the target and paralyze them. When an enemy seems to be immune to his paralysis he flees, preferring only to fight on his own terms.
Feryl has Wild Shape now. Feryl has discovered the Nightbringers and works for them in exchange for food. Feryl uses Wild Shape to disguise himself as an animal when he needs to infiltrate a town. Usually posing as an animal companion for a druid.
When he fights he continues to use his Wild Shape unless he wishes to subdue. If he ever wishes to subdue his target he becomes his ghoulish self and quickly paralyzes the target. Feryl at this point has learned that he can apply paralysis to a handful of insects and keep them in a jar, constantly afflicting the others with paralysis. When he needs to keep someone paralyzed for a prolonged period he will pin the paralyzed insect to the target, thus constantly transferring Contagious Paralysis.
Nightstalker now has his Hunger Domain, can turn into magical beasts from Mabar, and can strengthen himself by creating a bubble of Mabar on the material plane. He fights primarily as a spellcaster, using his disposable animal companion and his ‘fellow’ Nightbringers as pawns and minions. Preferring to not fight in melee combat unless he has to. When he does wild shape it is still primarily for utility. Flight, scouting, hiding, etc. Nightstalker learned fairly early on that he can turn into a Shadow version of just about anything. Shadow Human? Done. Shadow Beholder? Done. Shadow cat, easy. So he uses this to become just about whatever he needs to be when the need arises. He uses magic mainly to make his subordinates take down the enemies more easily. He will regularly turn hostages and even allies into ghouls when he can, and he always has a wight and its’ progeny controlled via Control Undead. Wights seem to gravitate towards Nightstalker do to the negative energy that is almost always able to roil around him.
Nightstalker has ascended to lichdom. He has taken appropriate steps to hide his phylactery (Shen has hidden it near a large collection of Voidstone in exchange for access to the Material Plane on occasion). Nightstalker can now take the form of many outsiders native to Mabar, including his favored brute form of Canoloth.
While in Canoloth form he can use his tongue attack to trigger both the Canoloth’s native paralysis as well as the Lich’s paralysis. He uses his mastery of biting while in Canoloth form to increase his bite damage to 4d6. He still is a primary spellcaster, and can now take the form of Shadow Elementals to become incorporeal for hours on end. While retaining his Lich touch attack allowing him to paralyze creatures permanently. The Lich touch attack deals negative energy damage, which can be used to heal undead, so he can heal just like a Dread Necromancer at this point. Using contagious paralysis he can plant a single body in a large city and cause many creatures to become paralyzed as they in turn keep trying to save the others, until it becomes entirely too obvious not to touch, at which point he begins concentrating on his planar bubble, which will energy drain all the paralyzed creatures turning them into wild wraiths which can wreak havoc upon the cities. At this point Nightstalker’s only goal left is to bring about full coverage of Mabar by using the Mournlands and spreading them. He doesn’t know quite how to do it yet, otherwise the world would have ended. Nightstalker has truly gotten into his role of mastermind and puppeteer. Whenever he gets hungry (not usual) he can use Bite of the King to swallow his opponent whole.

Ghoul - Monster Manual
Improved Paralysis, contagious paralysis - Libris Mortis
Ability focus, Emancipated Spawn - Savage Species
Favored in House, Education - Eberron Campaign Setting
Human Heritage - Races of Destiny
Nightbringer Initiate, Planar Shepherd - Faiths of Eberron
Contemplative - Complete Divine
Hunger Domain - Spell Compendium
Improved Natural Attack - Monster Manual
Canoloth - Monster Manual 3
Shadow Elemental - Tome of Magic
Shadow Creature - Manual of the Planes
Paragon Classes - Unearthed Arcana

Apologies to the chair, apologies to the judges, and apologies to anyone that delves into the madness that is the polymorph rules, the type rules, and how Planar Shepherd works with it all.
A few notes! Emancipated Spawn gives us our class features and feats from when we were alive. I could have abused this to no end by stating that we were a ghast instead of a ghoul, or even counted myself as a wight or shadow. Thus with 2 levels able to get NI class features. However to be reasonable we are a simple 3rd level half elf paragon. Half Elf paragon 1, Human paragon 2. The whole trick of becoming an undead undead is fun, taking Human Heritage (that we undoubtedly qualify for because we have the half elf paragon class feature divided ancestry). When we get our class features back we get the bonus feats, which are class features. This allows us to change whatever the bonus feats were in life to what we want them to be now. As such I have no idea what they were in life!
So we went from Undead to Humanoid, do we get our CON score back? Answer is: No. We still have undead traits, which includes your con score. It is a feature of being a ghoul.
As a humanoid we can turn into a lich (which just requires us to be Humanoid, Craft Wondrous Items, and CL 11) which turns us back into undead (and boosts our turn resistance even higher!)
When we Wild Shape we retain our type. So we’re undead. Yet we wild shape into animals. What happens to our Con? Specific trumps general. Wild shape forces us to take the physical stats of the creature we’re changing into, which includes its Con score.
This whole thing is a huge ball of rules stepping on each others toes. I had inspiration and I took to it, but I will admit that it almost as bad as a frayed knot in the rules.

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:39 PM

9:

https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02553/hannibal1_2553735b.jpg

A’aron: Emissary of the King

Nayra swatted her husband’s hand as he smoothed his shirtfront for the hundredth time.

“You look fine. I swear,” she said.

“Sorry, I’m just nervous. I want to make a good impression on your uncle. I know how close you are,” Willem said.

“Just eat what he puts in front of you and don’t ask too many questions and you ought to be fine.” Nayra knocked on the door to her uncle’s manor.

“Ah, glad to see you, my dear,” A’aron leaned in and gave her an appropriately avuncular kiss on the cheek. He extended a hand to Willem, who took it and tried not to look disturbed at its coldness.

“Nice to finally meet you, sir,” he said.

“Oh, that’s not necessary. A’aron is fine. We’re just here to relax.” His dress certainly backed that up. He’d greeted them in a loosely tied silk robe, open to the chest. Curiously, Willem saw no hair emerging from beneath the robe. Instead, he saw bones of various creatures flush with A’aron’s skin, seemingly a part of the man’s flesh.

“Hard to accessorize with, I’m afraid,” he said and gestured for them to come in.

A ghoul lurking in the foyer offered them wine on a silver tray.

Willem blanched, but when his wife supped from her glass, it was clear he had no choice, so grudgingly accepted.

“Thank you,” he said, tensing his thighs in case the thing attacked.

“A’aron, is this thing holding you hostage?” Willem whispered once the creature’s back was turned.

“I can hear you, you know. That’s totally necrophobic,” the ghoul said.

“Now, now, don’t be so hard on him, Brian,” A’aron said. “They’re not so progressive back where my nephew’s from. He’s probably never seen one of your kind in person.”

Willem breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, you’ve got him under your thrall. I read about clerics who can do that.” He held his cloak out to Brian, but it dropped into a pool on the floor a moment later.

Brian blinked, his eyelids scraping across his dead eyes. “I was invited here, same as you. The wine’s from my vineyard.”

“Yes, oenology is a highly respected field in ghoul culture. They’re quite knowledgeable about the soil, and it’s much easier to be patient and let things age when you don’t have to worry about the vintage outliving you.” A’aron toasted them and chuckled.

“That’s not to say it isn’t hard sometimes,” Brian said with a smile. “Patience isn’t a virtue all of us have been blessed with. I know I may not be able to keep myself away from the dinner you’ve prepared much longer.”

“Sorry, there was traffic,” Willem said. Brian ignored him.

They made their way to the dining room.

An enormous sandwich was laid out on the table before them, taking up nearly its entire surface. The baguette was as wide as Willem’s shoulders, and the bread was as tall as he was. Roasted meat, fruit, and something he couldn’t identify wafted up from the table. It smelled delicious, if unfamiliar.

A’aron set down his wine glass held out his hands. “If it’s all right with our guest, I’d like to say grace before we eat.

Nayra took A’aron’s left hand. Willem was on his right. He swallowed and obliged. Brian reached for his hand.

“I’m sorry, I’m not an elf like my wife,” Willem said.

Brian laughed. “You’ll only get paralyzed if I bite or scratch you. I wouldn’t have any reason to do that, would I?”

Unable to argue, Willem took his desiccated claw in his hand.

“We gather together here in peace and friendship to feast. Wherever two or three of us come together to delight our bellies, you are there, my King. Glory be to you, Dorsein.” A’aron closed the prayer and pulled a scimitar off the wall that Willem had mistaken for decoration. With a flourish, he cleaved the sandwich into four equally sized pieces and divvied them up onto silver plates.

Brian rolled up his sleeves and began eating with surprising refinement for a ghoul. Nayra was far more enthusiastic, juices running down her chin and onto her dress.

“What’s in this?” Willem asked uneasily. His wife elbowed him.

“You’re being rude,” she hissed.

“Oh, a classic Dorseini dish. Toasted bread, peanut butter, grape jelly, roasted banana slices and, ah, meat, of course,” A’aron said.

Willem picked up his sandwich and took a bite. It was delicious.

He made his way through the sandwich and chipped his tooth on something hard. He spat out a ring with the Silver Flame’s mark on it.

“Oh, Willem got the prize!” Nayra squealed with delight. He saw a fingernail in her mouth. “Make a wish, darling!”

Willem did. He hoped it came true

CE human warblade 7/divine crusader 1/bone knight 10/hierophant 2

str 13
dex 12
con 14
int 10
wis 8
cha 15 (increases here)

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

1st
Warblade 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
balance 4, craft (armorsmithing) 4, k (religion) 4 (2), ride 4 (2), tumble 4
power attack, improved bullrush
battle clarity (reflex saves), weapon aptitude

2nd
Warblade 2
+2
+3
+0
+0
balance 1 (5), craft (armorsmithing) 1 (5), diplo 2, tumble 1 (5)

Uncanny dodge

3rd
Warblade 3
+3
+3
+1
+1
craft (armorsmithing) 1 (6), diplo 1 (3), k (religion) 2 (3), tumble 1 (6)
planar touchstone (catalogues of enlightenment: dragon lance campaign setting sun domain)
Battle ardor (critical confirmation)

4th
Warblade 4
+4
+4
+1
+1
diplo 2 (5), ride 2 (3), tumble 1 (7)

5th
Warblade 5
+5
+4
+1
+1
diplo 1 (6), intimidate 1, k (religion) 2 (4), tumble 1 (8)

bonus feat (improved initiative)

6th
Warblade 6
+6/+1
+5
+2
+2
diplo 1 (7), intimidate 3 (4), tumble 1 (9)
weapon focus (scimitar)
Improved uncanny dodge

7th
Warblade 7
+7/+2
+5
+2
+2
diplo 1 (8), intimidate 3 (7), tumble 1 (10)

Battle cunning (damage)

8th
Divine Crusader 1
+7/+2
+7
+2
+4
ride 3 (6)

Aura

9th
Bone Knight 1
+7/+2
+9
+2
+4
intimidate 1 (8), never outnumbered
shock trooper
Bonecraft armor, paladin conversion, rebuke undead

10th
Bone Knight 2
+8/+3
+10
+2
+4
tumble 3 (13)

Bone march, summon skeletal steed

11th
Bone Knight 3
+9/+4
+10
+3
+5
intimidate 1 (9), tumble 1 (14)

Master of the white banner

12th
Bone Knight 4
+10/+5
+11
+3
+5
intimidate 3 (12)
death blow
Improved bonecraft armor

13th
Bone Knight 5
+10/+5
+11
+3
+5
intimidate 3 (15)

Fill the ranks 1/day

14th
Bone Knight 6
+11/+6/+1
+12
+4
+6
intimidate 2 (17), k (religion) 1 (5)

Bonecraft weapon

15th
Bone Knight 7
+12/+7/+2
+12
+4
+6
intimidate 1 (18), k (religion) 2 (7)
empower spell
Improved bonecraft armor

16th
Bone Knight 8
+13/+8/+3
+13
+4
+6
k (religion) 3 (10)

Exoskeleton of undeath

17th
Bone Knight 9
+13/+8/+3
+13
+5
+7
k (religion) 3 (13)

Death strike 1/day

18th
Bone Knight 10
+14/+9/+4
+14
+5
+7
intimidate 1 (19), k (religion) 2 (15)
reach spell
Improved bonecraft armor

19th
Hierophant 1
+14/+9/+4
+16
+5
+9
diplo 3 (11)

Special ability: sla (bite of the king 2/day)

20th
Hierophant 2
+15/+10/+5
+17
+5
+10
diplo 3 (14)

Special ability: sla (bite of the king 4/day)

Spells per Day

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

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

9th
-
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
-
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

11th
-
2
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-

12th
-
2
2
10
-
-
-
-
-
-

13th
-
3
2
2
1
0
-
-
-
-

14th
-
3
3
2
2
1
0
-
-
-

15th
-
3
3
3
2
2
1
0
-
-

16th
-
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
0
-

17th
-
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
0

18th
-
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1

19th
-
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1

20th
-
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1

1:douse the flames, sudden leap, wolf fang strike
2: +leading the attack
3: wall of blades
4: replace wolf fang strike with rabid wolf strike
5: iron heart surge
6: replace sudden leap with white raven tactics
7: fountain of blood

stances:
1: hunter’s sense
4: +blood in the water

You’re a fairly standard warblade here with an emphasis on mobility offered through tiger claw. Jump around and cut people into tiny pieces. Sun domain provides turning for bone knight (this is dragonlance campaign setting’s sun domain, not the phb’s sun domain) to set groundwork for later.

You’ve been touched by Dorsein and have access to his hunger domain. There’s no reason to stay in divine crusader, so you hop into bone knight. Bone knight offers 9/10 casting, so its dead level doesn’t hurt you. Divine crusader’s only 10 levels long, so you get all its available spell slots along with varying immunities as your bonecraft armor is up, along with synergy in commanding and boosting undead to deal with all the ghouls you’ll be hanging out with from now on.

Shock trooper is up, and you can move people around the battlefield and into the clutches of your waiting ghoul pals. You take further advantage of this later on.

Skilled city dweller lets you trade in your ride for tumble.

Your maneuvers help you out in melee and are also extremely helpful for your ghoul allies. Tiger claw offers mobility, white raven tactics grants extra actions to paralyze or similar, and fountain of blood pulls its weight later on with your death blow. Due to the plethora of paralyzed foes, you’ll be doing coups de grace (which autocrit) left and right, as does your blood in the water stance.

Death blow’s up and running. With your spells and ghouls on the battlefield, enemies will be paralyzed left right and center, so you can coup de grace them with only a standard now, leaving your other actions available do to other things such as maneuvers. Empower spell is up since like most divine crusaders, you won’t cast all your spells every day. Eyes of the king is useful for scouting and recon, but if you’re loading out for combat that day, empowered enervation is a better use of the slot, for example, and the same logic can apply to your other spells depending on your needs.

You are now closer to Dorsein and are immune to stunning, nonlethal damage, and have fortification and can act normally while disabled or dying. You rebuke, can boss around other animated dead to complement your ghouls, you’ve got your war horse with paladin abilities who’s immune to turning, you’re granting all undead allies turn resistance, and can animate dead to fill the ranks.

You’re now immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, disease, death effects, fatigue, exhaustion, physical ability damage, ability drain, energy drain, and death from massive damage. All the goodies of being undead without the drawbacks. Your death strike is up, offering a way to instantly slay foes, and you’ve finished the casting offered by divine crusader.

You now have access to 8ths, the bite of the king. This allows you to swallow enemies whole and teleport them into your tummy dimension. Hierophant lets you do this as a sla, and provides extra uses, ultimately giving you 4 castings of bite of the king a day in exchange for just one of your slots.

Normally this would impinge upon a caster’s versatility, but since you only have one 8th level spell known, it doesn’t, so much, and you still have at least one other slot if you wanted to prepare metamagicked versions of lower spells.

While your enemy is swallowed, you can continue fighting other enemies on the battlefield (if any) and move over to your ghouls or have them move next to you, ready to attack them if they break out (since they do so next to you) and paralyze them for your death blow.

tome of battle: warblade
srd: power attack, improved bullrush, weapon focus, empower spell, hierophant
complete warrior: shock trooper
dragonlance campaign setting: sun domain
planar handbook: planar touchstone
complete adventurer: death blow
complete divine: divine crusader, reach spell
spell compendium: hunger domain
skill tricks: complete scoundrel
skilled city dweller: cityscape web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:41 PM

10. Ok, 1 snarky comment: What no FAVA BEANS???

Clawdius Buforthon

"I ate his liver with some stygian pumpkin and a nice aleeian"

CE male Human (Natural) Were-Poisonous Giant Toad Tainted Raver Animal 2/Sorcerer 18

Medium Humanoid (human, shapechanger)

http://i65.tinypic.com/av0irq.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5js82JXh.jpg

Clawdius was born in a small coastal village, and would have most likely led an uneventful life, except for two things: he inherited his father's curse of lycanthropy, and his parents were both members of a secretive doomsday cult of Leviathan, the great chaotic serpent who slumbers.
As a youngster, Clawdius was inducted into the cult: as with his father, the members were in awe of his “gift” of lycanthropy. He quickly rose in it’s ranks, often presiding over the disturbing rituals.
It’s unknown whether his unnatural craving for the flesh of sentient beings was a result of his indoctrination, the changes that the subsequent taint wrought on his mind and body, or if the desire was there all along. The rituals of the cult provided ample opportunities for him to satisfy his ghoulish desires…

Ability Scores:

Level
Array
Lycanthrope
Tainted Raver
4HD
Deformity (obese) feat (5th)
8HD
12HD
16HD
20HD
Final Score

Str
13
-
+4 (perpetual rage)

-
+1
-
-

18

Dex
12
(+4 in animal/hybrid form)
-
-
-2
-
-
-
-
10 (14)

Con
14
(+4 in animal/hybrid form)
+4 (perpetual rage)
-
+2
-
-
-
-
20 (24)

Int
10
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10

Wis
8
+2
-6
-
-
-
-
-
+1
5

Cha
15
-
+6
+1
-
-
+1
+1
-
24

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

3
Animal 1
+0
+2
+2
+0
Craft (cooking) +2, Hide +4, Jump +4
Dodge, Gape of the SerpentB, Iron WillB, Willing DeformityB
Alternate Form, Curse of Lycanthropy, DR 10/silver, Improved Grab, Low-light Vision, Lycanthropic Empathy, Posion, Scent, Swallow Whole

3
Animal 2
+1
+3
+3
+0
Craft (cooking) +2, Hide +5, Jump +5
-
Fast Healing 3, Madness, Perpetual Rage

3
Sorcerer 1
+1
+3
+3
+2
Concentration +3, Craft (cooking) +2, Hide +5, Jump +5
Earth Bloodline
Spells, Summon Familiar (toad)

4
Sorcerer 2
+2
+3
+3
+3
Concentration +6, Craft (cooking) +2, Hide +5, Jump +5
-
-

5
Sorcerer 3
+2
+4
+4
+3
Concentration +8, Craft (cooking) +3, Hide +5, Jump +5
Deformity (obese)B
-

6
Sorcerer 4
+3
+4
+4
+4
Concentration +9, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5
Multiattack
-

7
Sorcerer 5
+3
+4
+4
+4
Bluff +2, Concentration +10, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5
-
-

8
Sorcerer 6
+4
+5
+5
+5
Bluff +4, Concentration +11, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5
-
-

9
Sorcerer 7
+4
+5
+5
+5
Bluff +6, Concentration +12, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5
Silent Spell
-

10
Sorcerer 8
+5
+5
+5
+6
Bluff +8, Concentration +13, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5
Evil's BlessingB
-

11
Sorcerer 9
+5
+6
+6
+6
Bluff +10, Concentration +14, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5
-
-

12
Sorcerer 10
+6
+6
+6
+7
Bluff +10, Concentration +14, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +3
Arcane Preparation
-

13
Sorcerer 11
+6
+6
+6
+7
Bluff +10, Concentration +14, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +6
-
-

14
Sorcerer 12
+7
+7
+7
+8
Bluff +10, Concentration +14, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +9
-
-

15
Sorcerer 13
+7
+7
+7
+8
Bluff +10, Concentration +14, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +12
Chosen of EvilB, Rapid Metamagic
-

16
Sorcerer 14
+8
+7
+7
+9
Bluff +10, Concentration +17, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +12
-
-

17
Sorcerer 15
+8
+8
+8
+9
Bluff +10, Concentration +20, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +12
-
-

18
Sorcerer 16
+9
+8
+8
+10
Bluff +12, Concentration +21, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +12
Quicken Spell
-

19
Sorcerer 17
+9
+8
+8
+10
Bluff +14, Concentration +22, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +12
-
-

20
Sorcerer 18
+10
+9
+9
+11
Bluff +16, Concentration +23, Craft (cooking) +5, Hide +5, Jump +5, Spellcraft +12
Enemy of GoodB
-

Spells Per Day (Bonus Spells For Ability Score Shown):

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

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

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

3rd
4
2 (+2)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
5
2 (+2)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
5
3 (+2)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
6
3 (+2)
1 (+2)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
6
4 (+2)
2 (+2)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
7
4 (+2)
2 (+2)
1 (+1)
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
7
5 (+2)
3 (+2)
2 (+1)
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
8
5 (+2)
3 (+2)
2 (+1)
1 (+1)
-
-
-
-
-

11th
8
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
-
-
-
-
-

12th
9
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
1 (+1)
-
-
-
-

13th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
-
-
-
-

14th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
1 (+1)
-
-
-

15th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+1)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
-
-
-

16th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
1 (+1)
-
-

17th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
4 (+1)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
-
-

18th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
4 (+1)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
2 (+1)
1
-

19th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
4 (+1)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
3 (+1)
2
-

20th
9
5 (+2)
5 (+2)
4 (+2)
4 (+1)
4 (+1)
3 (+1)
3 (+1)
2
1

Spells Known (Bonus Spells From Bloodline Feat Shown):

0

Caltrops (SC)
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Launch Bolt (SC)
Mage Hand
Preserve Organ (BoVD)
Prestidigitation
Read Magic
Slash Tongue (BoVD)

1st

Expeditious Retreat
Grease
Hoard Gullet (DrM)
Mage Armor
Ray of Enfeeblement
Enlarge Person

2nd

Blade of Pain and Fear (SC)
Invisibility
Jaws of the Moray (St)
Razorfangs (SC)
Slow Consumption (BoVD)
Shatter

3rd

Fang Trap (SK)
Fly
Haste
Manyjaws (SC)
Keen Edge

4th

Doom Scarabs (PHB2)
Parboil (Sa)
Polymorph
Vortex of Teeth (SC)
Stone Shape

5th

Death Throes (SC)
Draconic Might (SC)
Illusory Feast (SC)
Teleport
Transmute Rock to Mud

6th

Greater Dispel Magic
Tenser’s Transformation
Transfix (SC)
Move Earth

7th

Barghests’s Feast (SC)
Bite of the Werebear (SC)
Whirlwind of Teeth (BoVD)
Statue

8th

Mind Blank
Polymorph Any Object
Iron Body

9th

Maw of Chaos (SC)
Summon Monster IX (earth creatures only)

Racial/template traits -

Human: bonus feat; bonus skill point per level
Lycanthrope: +2 natural AC bonus in all forms; 2 claws and a bite in hybrid form (1d4/1d4/1d6); cannot cast spells with verbal components in hybrid form.
Giant Poisonous Toad: +3 natural armor bonus, +4 racial bonus on Hide checks, +6 racial bonus on Jump checks; poison (initial damage unconsciousness, secondary 3d6 Con).
Tainted Raver: -2 penalty to AC from perpetual rage; +2 bonus on Will saves from perpetual rage; no longer gains taint

Taint/depravity traits (mild) -

Bestial: +2 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal, Ride and wild empathy checks; -1 on Cha based ability and skill checks
Skin Seeps: +2 circumstance bonus on Escape Artist checks, and on grapple checks to escape a grapple or pin; -2 on Climb and Sleight of Hand checks; opponents add +2 bonus on disarm checks

CLAWDIUS (HYBRID FORM)

Medium Humanoid (Human, Shapechanger)

Hit Dice: 2d8+7d4+66 (96hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+4 mage armor, +2 Dex, +5 natural, +1 deflection, -2 perpetual rage), touch 11, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+8
Attack: Claw +8 (1d4+4)
Full Attack: 2 claws +8 (1d4+4) and bite +6 (1d6+2)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Curse of lycanthropy, spells
Special Qualities: DR 10/silver, fast healing 3, low-light vision, lycanthropic empathy, scent
Saves: Fort +12 (+14 against poison) Ref +7 Will +16
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 14, Con 24, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 24
Skills: Bluff +16, Climb +2, Concentration +21, Craft (cooking) +5, Escape Artist +4, Handle Animal +9, Hide +7, Intimidate +6, Jump +9, Listen +0, Ride +4, Spot +0
Feats: Deformity (obese)B, Dodge, Earth Bloodline, Gape of the SerpentB, Iron WillB, Multiattack, Silent Spell, Willing DeformityB
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary (+ Gobbles)
Challenge Rating: 9
Treasure: Combat gear + 145gp
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: -

Combat Gear: cloak of charisma +2, periapt of wisdom +2, potions of cure moderate wounds (2), ring of protection +1, wand of web (10 charges), scroll of magic circle against good, scroll of nondetection

Spells: Clawdius casts spells as a 7th level sorcerer.
Spells Known (6/8/8/6, save DC 17 + spell level):
0 – caltrops, detect magic, detect poison, preserve organ, prestidigitation, slash tongue;
1st – enlarge person, expeditous retreat, grease, hoard gullet, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement;
2nd – invisibility, jaws of the moray, razorfangs, shatter;
3rd – fly, keen edge, manyjaws.
CR Highlights/Play Tips:

CR 1-5: Clawdius is primarily a melee combatant at this point. In toad form, he can grapple and swallow whole, and thanks to Gape of the Serpent, can swallow creatures of up to medium size (with some difficulty). The toad form also has a powerful poison (unconsciousness/3d6 Con) with its bite. DR and fast healing make him fairly resilient in battle. Perpetual madness boosts his Fort and Will saves, as well as its other benefits. His toad familiar (Gobbles) also adds a few hit points, and grants the Alertness feat when close. His casting is pretty limited at this point: Grease and Ray of Enfeeblement can hamper opponents; Expeditious Retreat and Mage Armor increase manoeuvrability and defence. Enlarge Person, though the Bloodline feat, carries over to toad form, allowing him to swallow creatures of large size. The Dodge feat comes from the base animal (giant poisonous toad): due to the feat reqs, it may only be available for use in toad or hybrid form. Worshipping an elder evil gives a bonus feat every 5 levels, including the thematically fitting Deformity (obese).

CR 6-10: Sorcerer casting continues to improve. Spells like Polymorph, Haste, Fly and Invisibility improve versatility and combat options. Clawdius can polymorph Gobbles into combat forms, if he's willing to risk losing his familiar. With Multiattack and Silent Spell available, he prefers to be in hybrid form, able to cast most spells and use his bite and claw attacks. Evil's Blessing is a great boost for saves, if he has time for short term buffs. Parboil is useful for preparing his enemies as meals, and debilitating to Int based casters. Jaws of the Moray and Razorfangs augment his bite attack in animal or hybrid form.

CR 11-15: Clawdius now has Arcane Preparation: this is primarily so he can make use of corrupt spells. Absorb Mind, Absorb Strength and Consume Likeness are all obvious choices. He could offset the cost with Potions of Restoration or similar methods (if Wis drops to 0, he may require someone to administer them to him: possibly Gobbles in a polymorphed form). Rapid Metamagic allows him to use Silent spells with no increased casting time, and Chosen of Evil can offer a minor boost to a roll in exchange for Con damage (not recommended most of the time). Powerful self buffs are coming online now: while there is a lot of overlap between Draconic Might and Tenser's Transformation, each has it's uses (the former also boosts his primary casting stat; the latter boosts BAB, and would be used to boost his animal or hybrid form once he is committed to melee and not casting further spells). Teleport and Greater Dispel Magic are obvious in their applications. Transmute Rock to Mud and Move Earth can help shape the battleground to his advantage. Transfix can immobilize large groups of creatures, allowing Clawdius to dine on them at his leisure. Death Throes is the ultimate "From Hell's heart, I stab at thee" spell: a nasty surprise for the party that defeats him.

CR 16-20: Quicken Spell (combined with Arcane Preparation or through Rapid Metamagic) greatly enhance action economy. Enemy of Good can be handy for the forces of good that are likely to be going up against the cult of Leviathan. Bite of the Werebear and Iron Body are yet more powerful self buffs. Mind Blank is almost a must have at these levels, and Polymorph Any Object opens up a world of options. Summon Monster X helps fill out the battlefield, even if it is only earth-based creatures, and Maw of Chaos is one of the most devastating direct damage spells out there.

General Tips/Adaptations:
Clawdius is, primarily, a thematic villain. A large chunk of his spell selection is dedicated to biting and consuming other creatures, and spells to facilitate the same. A DM could easily tweak the spell selection to make Clawdius more of a challenge for the party as an optimized caster. Earth Bloodline could also be swapped out for Water Bloodline to better fit the cult of Leviathan, if desired (Earth Bloodline offers better buffs for a melee oriented caster), or possibly Necromantic Bloodline for a more ghoulish feel.
The Domain Sorcerer ACF for either the Gluttony or Hunger domains is an option (Bite of the King is a perfect fit for Clawdius!), but, in my opinion, the cost in lost spells outweighs the benefits.
Straight Sorcerer is chosen for simplicity, but a more “gish friendly” prestige class, like Abjurant Champion, can easily be slotted in by changing some feat choices.
Clawdius works best if supported by other monsters or cult members (despite his self buffs and template-based resilience, he is relatively squishy). At lower level this would probably include Adepts, and monsters like ixitxachitl or giant toads, depending on the environment. At higher levels, krakens and aspects of Leviathan could appear.
His tactics can be tailored to a party: he can be a blaster, or a melee type. A mix of both would often be viable.

Recommended Gear:
Potions of lesser restoration (or full restoration, if you get them from a Healer) to deal with ability damage from corrupt spells etc.; runestaves to expand spell selection (if Dragon magazine is allowed, knowstones as well); raiment of the four and robe of mysterious conjuration to swap out spells on the fly; scrolls and wands of utility and defensive spells (mirror image, resist energy etc.); ability boosters (Cha mainly); a great guide for other item ideas can be found here: [3.5] Lists of Necessary Magic Items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851)
Sources:

Book of Vile Darkness: absorb mind, absorb strength, consume likeness, deformity (obese), preserve organ, slash tongue, slow consumption, whirlwind of teeth
Complete Arcane: arcane preparation

Complete Mage: rapid metamagic
Dragon Magazine Compendium: earth bloodline
Dragon Magic: hoard gullet
Elder Evils: chosen of evil, enemy of good, evil's blessing, Leviathan, willing deformity
Oriental Adventures: giant toad, poisonous (including Dragon 318 update material)
Heroes of Horror: taint and depravity traits (bestial & skin seeps), tainted raver template
Player's Handbook II: doom scarabs

Sandstorm: parboil

Serpent Kingdoms: fang trap, gape of the serpent
Spell Compendium: barghests's feast, bite of the werebear, blade of pain and fear, death throes, illusory feast, draconic might, caltops, launch bolt, manyjaws, maw of chaos, razorfang, transfix, vortex of teeth

Stormwrack: jaws of the moray

jdizzlean

2018-05-08, 07:43 PM

that's all folks,

enjoy the carnage :)

3SecondCultist

2018-05-08, 08:00 PM

Well, looks like our secret ingredient is none other than the Gape of the Serpent feat from Serpent Kingdoms! By my count, 4/10 builds used it in some way or another. :smalltongue:

ben-zayb

2018-05-08, 08:09 PM

Well, looks like our secret ingredient is none other than the Gape of the Serpent feat from Serpent Kingdoms! By my count, 4/10 builds used it in some way or another. :smalltongue:

When I think of a Swallow Whole build, that's the first ingredient that comes to mind. Unfortunately, I found out about this current comp round too late to get inspiration for an entry.

Great variation of builds all around. I didn't realize there were lots of support for this kind of theme, and so was pleasantly surprised. I'm sort of expecting a TO build trying to get its hand on a Dalmosh. Maybe on another round?

daremetoidareyo

2018-05-08, 08:19 PM

When I think of a Swallow Whole build, that's the first ingredient that comes to mind. Unfortunately, I found out about this current comp round too late to get inspiration for an entry.

Great variation of builds all around. I didn't realize there were lots of support for this kind of theme, and so was pleasantly surprised. I'm sort of expecting a TO build trying to get its hand on a Dalmosh. Maybe on another round?

I think that in a year or so, a second swallow hole round would be a good idea.

Falontani

2018-05-08, 08:32 PM

just finished reading them, and I love everyone's entry... and now I'm hungry.

Venger

2018-05-08, 08:52 PM

have some monk fries.

Falontani

2018-05-08, 09:02 PM

I kind of liked the sandwhich

Thurbane

2018-05-08, 10:06 PM

Great entries all around!

I'm not tipping my hand just yet, but I already know who my honourable mention will be (it won't be my own entry, BTW :smalltongue: ).

PrismCat21

2018-05-08, 10:33 PM

I've read through all the entries and have started judging.
I like many of the themes.
Don't expect my judgements posted until at least the end of the week.
.
I want to remind everyone to wait until all judging is concluded before making any comments on builds.
If you see a potential problem with an entry, keep it to yourself. :)
If you simply have to bring something up, become a Judge.

Thurbane

2018-05-08, 11:52 PM

I want to remind everyone to wait until all judging is concluded before making any comments on builds.
If you see a potential problem with an entry, keep it to yourself. :)
If you simply have to bring something up, become a Judge.

Couldn't agree more.

WhamBamSam

2018-05-09, 02:06 AM

I thought about doing a second build reprising Tocke of Nessus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21014310&postcount=117) from back in the Black Blood Cultist Iron Chef round, with the extra two class levels working from CR would afford him opening up Quicken SLA (Unhallow), and Gape of the Serpent in place of Quicken SLA (Desecrate), but decided it wasn't worth breaking anonymity for, especially as Swallow Whole is largely incidental to the main tricks of the build.

I'm happy with the build I did submit, and it's in excellent company. Looking forward to reading the judgments.

Lionheart

2018-05-09, 04:35 AM

Some very interesting stuff here...
Good luck to all entrants!

zlefin

2018-05-09, 08:16 AM

they all look nice; though I was hoping for an ooze. I'd have liked to see a build with gelatinous cube in particular, as that's the idea I was toying with.

Falontani

2018-05-09, 09:05 AM

I had a build that used a wyrmling Prismatic Dragon from the epic player's handbook and took 5 levels of abjurant champion to make it's native spellcasting cl = it's bab (over 20). But something felt cheesy using an epic level monster. In the same vein I had a Worm that Walks build that I was going to use, but the chair said no to consuming with thousands of bites, and it's engulf ability while extremely powerful specifically dealt it's damage through innumerable bites

GrayDeath

2018-05-09, 02:48 PM

As expected, this round is quite a bit more complicated (and weird) than the last few.

Will start judging tomorrow or Friday, and likely finish some time on/slightly after the weekend, methinks.

Thurbane

2018-05-10, 04:44 PM

I'm pretty stoked that we have two judges volunteering already!

Thank you both. :elan:

GrayDeath

2018-05-12, 04:27 AM

You are welcome.

While I am at it (judging a bit in my break, yeah, working on weekends....) I will post my detailed judging criteria in the soiler below, so that people know why I judge what I judge how I judge. ^^

1.: Originality:
Starts at 3.0 for a neither expected nor unexpected, slightly innovtive build.
This one will be split into three sub categories.

A: Was it among the first 2 concepts I thought about when I read the Comp`If yes, -0,5, if no, no change. If it wanst among ANY concepts I thought about, +0,5.

B: Is the combination one of the "Same Old Same Old" Otpimization staples? if so, -05 to 1,0 depending on how much. If not, up to +1 (if its really innovative)

C: Is it the only one in the competition. THis is the only area where I do a direct comparison. If there are 3 (or half of the entries, whichever is more) of very similar concepts/builds, each gets dunkep .5 pts.
If its the only in 80+% of its aspects, it gets +0,5 pts.

2.: Elegance:

You could say this is my central judging criteria. Why? Because doing well in the other 3 categories can be done with wildly "Unfluffy" and inelegant builds much more easily than with elegant ones. So I will be stricter here (and less likely to accept disputes) than in any other category.

Starts at 3.0 for a fully legal, cheesefree and relatively argument-free build that is not pretty at all or a pretty build with some minor cheese needed.

Gains up to +1,5 for being at most made of 2 classes or a class and 2 prestige classes.

Gains up to +1 for being "pretty", having logical and fluffy progression and not needing ANY arguing/CHeese to work.

Loses up to ,5 each for: needing medium amounts of cheese, being ludicrously complicated (4+ classes), having more than one dip.

Loses up to -1.5 for each time it directly violates one of the Competitions rules without becoming fully illegal (a build focussing around Leadership and its ilk that uses Oriental Adventures Material would be considered fully illegal, for example).
Fully illegal entries will not be judged at all. Partially illegal will only be deducted Elegance, but most often down to a minimum of 1.0.

3. Power:

This is how well the build does what its supposed to do. NOT how well it fares against a random amount of PC Builds or predefined encounters or especially the other entries!

Starts at 3.0, meanign "Does what its supposed to do reasonably well, does only have minor weaknesses" or is "excellent at what it does, but has glaring weaknesses otherwise".

Gains up to +0,5 for: having no real weaknesses, doing another thing well, general flexibility, being clearly more powerful than average, various immunities.

Loses up to .5 each for: Having more than minor weaknesses, being less powerful than average for its intended role, needing specific circumstances to "work", relying on Items/Certain limited ressources (for example: it needs a specific single spell to work, but cannot cast it itself, or only once/Day etc).

4. Memorability:

The least clearly impartial one.

Has three parts for me (and unlike any of the other three starts at 1,0)

A: Wow Effect. How much was I blown away by the bascic concept, coolness and simple style of it. Gives from 0 to 1,5 pts.

B: Usability: in how many different scenarios/Backgrounds/Settings is the concept usable well? Gives from 0 (1 specific one) to +2 (just about everywhere and everytime) pts.

c.:Porting: How easily is it to adapt to other settings/Situations. May add 0 to 1 pts.

And lastly the only totally subjective one: how much do I like it myself. Will never subtract, may add up to +0.5 pts

GrayDeath

2018-05-15, 11:28 AM

Update. only 3 done so far, more work got in the Way, but I should get it done on the coming weekend at the latest.

Venger

2018-05-15, 11:31 AM

thanks for the update.

PrismCat21

2018-05-15, 08:45 PM

I've picked up extra gigs to work these last few days. I'll be able to continue judging tomorrow. I'll have them posted by this weekend.

GrayDeath

2018-05-20, 08:02 AM

And here we go.

Took a lot longer due to 2 of the Builds (you know who you are!^^).

Originality: OK, thats some weird build right there (didnt even hear of the monster before, and combining Incarnate+ Totemnist+weird Monster is not really that … normal). Aside from the „Big thing swallowing stuff“ thats to be expected, this is pretty good.
4.00pts

Elegance: Creature, Type Progression, Evolved Type progression, 2 classes and a PRC. Thats a handful.
Nothing illegal, or cheesy mind, but not „pretty“ either.
Classic 4.00pts

Power: Whooa.... OK, giving the aim of what does it do, its extremely effective at its shtick. Aside from the fact it cannot fly, and that its undead and hence has some particular weaknesses (and Immunities) … I cant possible imagine a more terrifying grappler/Swallower Combo.
Take 4.50

Memorability: Great as a „dang that was one ugly clusterf.... Otherwise however its more a Monste rof the Month Thing. Horrificly horrifying, but with little personality/repeated appearances, and its uses are quite limited.

3.00

Total: 15.5

Originality: OK, a „Lets add Heads to a thing that already swallows stuff“ was among the most expected things I thought about pre Comp. And it does nothing even remotely new/unusual after that.
2.0

Elegance: Well, its a simple beast with added heads and thats it. Clean, elegant, concise.
5.0

Power: Hoho, a Int 2 Beast as a CR 20 Encounter? While I agree that it does its Shtick extremely well, its far too easy to dominate, trick, or simply „Fly and Snipe" this beasty. Its more akin to a natural disaster than a thinking Enemy, and hence much easier to beat than its stats would suggest. Now if anyone is stupid enough to face it with an army, oh my....^^
3.0

Memorability: Its somehting like the Tarrasque. Hard to kill/fight directly, easy to „solve“ otherwise. Its not truly memorable any more than an earthquake...unless you make the mistake of facing it in Close Combat with your whole party. ^^
2.5

Total: 12.5

Originality: The Name alone blew the snot out of my nose laughing. So why its not the most unusual thing mechanically, and again has a big mouth, the sheer fun value gices it a bonus here and in Memorability. Also the combination of RHD and Initiator is expected, still going all three ToB Classes is not.
3.25

Elegance: Half elegant Race+HD, half „obvious power grabs without fluff“ of all ToB classes, this is the easiest to score, slightly above average.
3.5

Power: Now we`re talking. Nice Interactions, lots of Maneuvers, high Stats. Aside from no natural flight, this is built about as well as it could be to do its job, yet more trickbased than other entries with large Beast parts. I like it.
4.5

Memorability: Well, it suffers a bit here, because IF you manage to introduce it along the lines as put up in the fluff it will be very memorable, otherwise it will only get the oddity bonus of being a big Dog with Maneuvers.

3.5

Total: 14,75

Originality: Bonus for the Hippo, didnt have it on the list of obvious stuff, which I should have had. Minus for the rest, as its an obvious grab all of „how to get the most magic onto a strong base creature“, Handbook like.

2.75

Elegance: Strange Race+Template+Afflicted Lycantrhope + obvious Power Grab Classes. Nothing elegant about it, but as far as I can spot (and I did some searching, sigh) nothing illegal either.

2.75

Power: And here she shines. Amazing Stats/Transfomration, Boosts, and full Ur Priest Casting+Bonuses. That thing is a Nightmare to face, has answers for most things if swallowing them does not really work, and can smash good.

4.75

Memorability: Anhother good Point. The Crazed Dune hag Hippo Troll Priest. Say that three times quickly after one another. Potential to follow the PC`s as a nemesis, even if it only works well from CR 10+. Aside from Social Campaigns widely usable as well.

4.25

Total: 14.5

Originality: Love the Name. Nothing too earth shattering otherwise, Totemnist was expected, Balhannoth is an obscure and very situational monster, and hence also rather unexpected. Not bad overall.

3.5

Elegance: Race+HD+Class. Simple. Aside from the fact that some DM`s might balk at using the add special ability (I dont) very elegant indeed.

5.00

Power: Its good, but not great, at what it does. And being blind and nonflying, has serious weaknesses, aided by the fact its focus is singular and narrow.

2.75

Memorability: Its a blind magic eating monster. More like a natural Disaster than a Villain, and additionally can only be used in quite specific cirumstances.

2.25

Total: 13.5

Originality: Ohoh, a complicated and unusual Build! (Which will bite you further below). That particular combo is nice, and a more elegant looking "Swallow Whole“ Monster than expected, but still nothing too unusual.

3.75

Elegance: Ah, we run into 2 problems here. The first being a clearly only power grabby Class Mix of „too many“, the second, and bigger, the fact that Banelear are CR 8, +2CR from half Dragon make your Starting Point for Classes Level 11, not 8, which removes the last 4 Levels from your Build. To be fair I only penalize that (in height of one full point) further down in Power, so for Elegance we have a complicated, nonpretty build with a small (because solvable) Illegality (of using a 3.0 instead of a 3.5 Version, which subtracts another .5pts).

2.25

Power: If it actually did all you envisioned, this would rock, a score of around 4.5 to 4.75ish.
Sadly, you miscalculated the CR and hence all your Spelldancer Levels and the last Focussed Transmuter Level, with all their Goodies, go away, leaving you without some of your tricks and 9th level Spells.
While it is still a powerful Creature with some nice Spellcasting, its far from being as good as it could be.

3.75

Memorability: Simple. Not bad, not great.

3.00

Total: 12.75

Originality: Well, didnt see THAT coming. At all. The actual Villain was swallowed whole, isntead of doing it. That … is an interesting interpretation of the theme if I have ever seen one, but the chairs OK is an OK. Big Bonus for the Balls it took in this score. Little deduction for it in Elegance (but you can take it)

4.5

Elegance: Aside from one minor flaw (a Puppeteer has a CR of 1, sou you cannot reach Level 20 in Psion, Deducted .5 each from Elegance and Power for it) and the fact that some DM`s might frown upon your very … RAW Interpretation of the Chairs answer to your question, this is a stright Race+CLass Combo.

4.5

Power: We dont need to discuss the amount of Pwoer a Telepath can wield. They are not for naught considered the by far strongest straigh Psions. However due to your CR Oversight of the Base Creature, you lack Reality Revision and Etheralness (and some mor PP), which put a big dunk into your otherwise excellent Powerscore at CR 20.

4.00

Memorability. This is hit or miss. If the PC`s know the … host before, its among the best. If not, they simply will not realize what their opponent is, aside froma Telepath. So the end result is middling.

3.00

Total: 16.00

Originality: Ohh....kay. That thing took a while to read through (and understand). Very unexpected, weird build.
Take almost full pts!

4.75

Elegance: Ah, your Achilles heel. Wildly complicated, 3 parts of 75% fat cheese, and everything only taken for pure power reasons (luckily you avoided the NI Stuff or you would lose another .5). If one agrees to your RAW Interpretations of the Shadow Creature PS Interaction, and does not simply shake its head at being two different Racial paragons while being undead, one is still left with a lot of … shall we say less than elegant stuff. Including that you cannot be a Lich without applying the +2 CR, which either makes it impossible to be a Lich or costs you the final Levels of PS, both lowering your Power (See below)
Nothing TRULY Illegal that would put it to a 1, so
1.75

Power: Well, its very very powerful. Reasonably transforming into most stuff it wants to, close to full Druid Casting, natural Undead Abilities. The works. Only you can either be a Lich (and add +2 CR) OR have those last 2 Levels of PS. Whichever you choose, you lose some power.

4.5

Memorability: Good. Depending if you can tie the PC`s to your Past may even be great, but even so, a Shapeshifting Undead that is usable just about everywhere (where there are no sane DM`s^^) outside of social Campaigns.

3.75

Total: 14,75

Originality: Now another different take on the Swallow Whole theme. In addition with a Class Combo thats one of my favourites for M+S (sans Hierophant usually), and that picture. Like it.
Not TOO innovative though.

3.75

Elegance: A few classes too many (and a dip) for a perfect score, but its fully legal and noncheesy, so very good.

4.25

Power: Excellent overall capabilities, with a melee focus ut not too much so. Getting a few Warblade Levels later on might have helped making him a better combattant overall, but he is scary enough as is. Amazing amount of Utility for a concept so narrow on first sight.

4.75

Memorability: Sadly, he doesnt quite measure up to the picture. ^^ A bit more on the Background than the, admittedly nice, story part would have helped. Still, he is widely usable, has variety and fits the „Scary“ theme of many a Campaign Setting.

3.75

Total: 16.5

Originality: OK, I need to stop laughing. Together with Gourmandoggo this is already a contender for HM. Really love the snarky feel to it. (or should I say croaky?^^). Nice take on the more consumptive aspects of Swallow Whole, but mechanically rather „Normal“

3.5.

Elegance: Which helps you here. A thematically fitting Race and straight Sorcerer with thematic Spells to boot. Dont get more elegant than that.

5.00

Power: He suffers from reaching his spells later than usual, even for Sorcerers, and is not a great Caster overall, but his Vile Feats and Focus make up for that, partially at least. Mopre thematic than purely for Power. Still, 9th level Casting is 9th level Casting, and the theme IS central to the Comp.

3.5

Memorability: Excellent. A Froggy Sorcerer with fitting mutated look and feel. Ideally letting the playesrs know the „Toady“ early enough. Fits well into many a Campaign, even if his main role and focus are narrow they are less so than one would think at first sight. Small Bonus for "I just like the Concept as a whole"

4.25

Total: 16.25

Venger

2018-05-20, 09:07 AM

thanks for the update. are you posting the last two entries separately?

jdizzlean

2018-05-20, 09:19 AM

I have a dispute, but I'll wait until the last 2 build's judging s are posted to post it.

GrayDeath

2018-05-20, 09:19 AM

No, I`m just an Idiot who is too dumb to copypaste correctly.

Ugh, gotta go back to copying them in once I am home., around 25 minutes or somesuch.

Sorry.

Edit: Done. ^^

@ Jiddizzlan: You`re the Chair. If you have a dispute that would mean you entered? ^^

If you mean I have done something wrong in your view, just PM me, disputes are for Judges and Cooks, no?

If you mean you already got a Dispute from one of the creators, never mind then, go ahead. :)

jdizzlean

2018-05-20, 10:06 AM

I'll take door number #3!

First of all, thank you very much for stepping up to judge! I appreciate that you take the time to look over all of our insanity and try to put some numbers on it. It can't be an easy job. That being said, I do have a few notes about my Antharyx build.

1) Looking at the Elegance category, I'm not really understanding where the score comes from. Penalizing the entry for a "clearly only power grabby Class Mix of 'too many'" is okay, but by my math you have taken away a full 3 points for it. When put together, the build amounts to Wizard with 2 PrCs and a single dip in another arcane class. Of all of them, Spelldancer is probably the most blatant 'power-gamer' class, but the rest I went out of my way to explain in a way that is consistent with the fluff of those classes.

2) I'm not sure whether this falls under the Power or Elegance category, but I straight up said in my build that I was using the 3.0 version of the Banelar from Monsters of Faerun, as opposed to the CR 8 entry in Serpent Kingdoms. The former monster has a starting CR of 5. The Illegality ding in the Elegance factor I completely understand, but I don't think it's very fair to penalize me for using an illegal source on top of judging the build by looking at an entirely different base monster.

3) The Memorability category saddens me, and I'm not really trying to increase my score here, but can I ask what about it was "Simple. Not bad, not great"? I'm hoping to improve my monster writing, and some more feedback in this area might be valuable.

Thank you again for the time and effort you've put into this. I really appreciate it.

Hello! I'd like to start by saying thanks for taking on the thankless role of judging, it's a lot of work to go through everything on all these entries and then receive pushback on your judgements, but I do feel you've been a little unfair to Faras here.

- Originality: I feel like a flying, casting, transforming hippo woman deserves a little more in this category. You say that you should have expected something along these lines, but were-hippos and Dune Hags are hardly common, and neither have Swallow Whole natively, so it seems odd that this would be in any way expected.
In addition, I feel like you've skipped over some of the nuance of the build; particularly the Blessed of Tem-Et-Nu feat which is a strong thematic choice that allows Faras to build an army of angry hippos, and I find it hard to believe that there's been many campaigns that feature such as the primary motivator for the PCs...

- Elegance: I can partly understand the low score here, but I feel having it this low is overly harsh. There are five total moving parts (2 templates, 2 classes, 1 base creature), which is less than at least one of the other builds that scored higher in this category. You also say you've penalised me here for 'obvious power grabby' classes, and while I understand that Ur-Priest is pretty much the epitome of this, I did select it primarily as a way to have effective casting and Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu. My original build was Cleric/Divine Crusader/Contemplative which was less powerful and a good deal more clunky thanks to the strict alignment restrictions on Divine Crusader and the pointless save for Turn Undead Cleric level. I'm not saying that Ur-Priest isn't powerful, just trying to explain that it was selected primarily as a thematic, and indeed, elegant, choice. I'm also not too happy with your comment in this category implying that you were trying to find illegalities in this build in order to mark it down, something that hasn't been repeated for other entries.

- Power: I have no issues here

- Originality: I have no issues here either :smallsmile:

Thanks again for your judging, please don't take these disputes as being in anyway ungrateful for your time and effort.

I just want to say that I love your judging, and only have a very slight dispute here, although it seems to have marred scores in several areas.
I paid for my lichdom with the 2 CR.

I went through the whole build again just to make sure (its why it took so long for me to get this dispute out) but the CR is correct. I took 2 levels of emancipated spawn (which is 2 CR as normal) however I separated the class features it gained since the level 2 class feature that it gains me is: "Recall Class Abilities". This ability gains me the class features of my classes before death, but does not give me actual levels, ergo none of the HD or CR. I am fully willing to take a hit in elegance (my poor poor elegance) for adding in a work around to give me effectively 3 levels of class features (the paragon classes), 5 levels worth of feats (recall feats adds all the feats from my previous life as bonus feats, and still counts as 2 HD worth of progression for normal feats), all for the price of 2 HD and 2 CR (only actually took 2 levels of Emancipated Spawn).
I only just barely am able to fit lich and that last level of PS in.

Finally on the matter of Planar Shepherd. I wanted to give an undead druid that swallows things. That was what I set out to do with Nightstalker. Everything else came about with me thinking, "How do I best serve the flavor of an Undead Druid?" Blighter was the exceedingly obvious way to do it, however it did not feel... right. I wanted it to be a druid, not an Ex-Druid. So I kept searching, and I found Planar Shepherd. Planar Shepherd is the only druidic prestige class where you can get an undead flavor without becoming an Ex-Druid. By emulating Mabar, Nightstalker very well fits the Undead Druid theme I was going for. The fact that Planar Shepherd is as powerful as it is only made the power better.

Anyways, I am kind of rambling at this point, but I am just trying to say that the Lich thing was paid for appropriately, and I didn't take Planar Shepherd for the power but for the flavor.

Thanks for judging!

I would argue that since "Creatures with 1 or less HD replace their monster levels with their character levels. The monster loses the attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, skills, and feats granted by its 1 monster HD and gains the attack bonus, save bonuses, skills, feats, and other class abilities of a 1st-level character of the appropriate class" and the CR only increases "If you are advancing a monster by adding player character class levels", (Also, "Advanced Monster Challenge Rating

When adding class levels to a creature with 1 or less HD, you advance the creature like a character. Otherwise, use the following guidelines.
Adding Class Levels

If you are advancing a monster by adding player character class levels...")

Overall, I'm pretty sure the first telepath level does not actually change the monster's CR, however counterintuitive that seems - and even if it did, it seems a little bit harsh to penalise three categories for it, especially since it's convention (if not a hard-and-fast rule in VC) only to penalise one mistake once.

GrayDeath

2018-05-20, 02:38 PM

Puh, lots of disputes in one big pile.

On towards it (only time I`ll answer disputes today, leaving for a little party soon).

Good Old SNake:

Originally Posted by Antharyx
First of all, thank you very much for stepping up to judge! I appreciate that you take the time to look over all of our insanity and try to put some numbers on it. It can't be an easy job. That being said, I do have a few notes about my Antharyx build.

1) Looking at the Elegance category, I'm not really understanding where the score comes from. Penalizing the entry for a "clearly only power grabby Class Mix of 'too many'" is okay, but by my math you have taken away a full 3 points for it. When put together, the build amounts to Wizard with 2 PrCs and a single dip in another arcane class. Of all of them, Spelldancer is probably the most blatant 'power-gamer' class, but the rest I went out of my way to explain in a way that is consistent with the fluff of those classes.

I did not take a way full 3 pts.
A page ago I posted how I judge, and mentioned that I am a bit of an Elegance Nazi as well.

Lets sum it up that a weird CLass+Template+Power Grabby Classes that are in no way pretty simply does not value more Elegance in my books. Yes, I did overlook the FLavour mreason a bit, see below.

2) I'm not sure whether this falls under the Power or Elegance category, but I straight up said in my build that I was using the 3.0 version of the Banelar from Monsters of Faerun, as opposed to the CR 8 entry in Serpent Kingdoms. The former monster has a starting CR of 5. The Illegality ding in the Elegance factor I completely understand, but I don't think it's very fair to penalize me for using an illegal source on top of judging the build by looking at an entirely different base monster.

I only have access to the 3.5 version, and aside from the sheer stupidity of a CR 5 creature with 7 HD AND full 7th Level Wizard Casting AND these Attributes....well. Cheesy as hell, no? ^^
You are however more or less correct. I should dunk Elegance further and not penalize Power. It would result in the same total Score however, at most it`d be a +.25, which I will think about. Final decision will be made tomorrow.

3) The Memorability category saddens me, and I'm not really trying to increase my score here, but can I ask what about it was "Simple. Not bad, not great"? I'm hoping to improve my monster writing, and some more feedback in this area might be valuable.

Thank you again for the time and effort you've put into this. I really appreciate it.

You are welcome.

I admit, that was a little bit short.

See, the long of it is that while the actual writing was quite good, the build and .... dont know how to better put it "Aliveness" of the Monster felt ... flat. Too much "And it has these Wizardness as well". It just didn`t click.
So cool on one hand, and multiuusable, but nonclicking" on the other resulted in a completely average score here.

On to the Happy Hippo: (^^)

Originally Posted by Faras Alnahr
Hello! I'd like to start by saying thanks for taking on the thankless role of judging, it's a lot of work to go through everything on all these entries and then receive pushback on your judgements, but I do feel you've been a little unfair to Faras here.

- Originality: I feel like a flying, casting, transforming hippo woman deserves a little more in this category. You say that you should have expected something along these lines, but were-hippos and Dune Hags are hardly common, and neither have Swallow Whole natively, so it seems odd that this would be in any way expected.
In addition, I feel like you've skipped over some of the nuance of the build; particularly the Blessed of Tem-Et-Nu feat which is a strong thematic choice that allows Faras to build an army of angry hippos, and I find it hard to believe that there's been many campaigns that feature such as the primary motivator for the PCs...

I nowhere said it was expected, rather the opposite, really. If it had had a a wee bit less And every Powerbuild with a HD/Etc as base takes Ur Priest" CLass Mix I would ahve gone much higher. It is however the fact that everyone and their uncle does it this way.
Agreed however that the actual base combo deserves a bit more pointwise.

Increase Score by .25 to a full 3.0.

- Elegance: I can partly understand the low score here, but I feel having it this low is overly harsh. There are five total moving parts (2 templates, 2 classes, 1 base creature), which is less than at least one of the other builds that scored higher in this category. You also say you've penalised me here for 'obvious power grabby' classes, and while I understand that Ur-Priest is pretty much the epitome of this, I did select it primarily as a way to have effective casting and Blessed by Tem-Et-Nu. My original build was Cleric/Divine Crusader/Contemplative which was less powerful and a good deal more clunky thanks to the strict alignment restrictions on Divine Crusader and the pointless save for Turn Undead Cleric level. I'm not saying that Ur-Priest isn't powerful, just trying to explain that it was selected primarily as a thematic, and indeed, elegant, choice. I'm also not too happy with your comment in this category implying that you were trying to find illegalities in this build in order to mark it down, something that hasn't been repeated for other entries.

The same as above, its a mix that screams everywhere (fluffy or no) "How Do I get Moar Powar!". Sadly I am more picky than elsewhere when judging Elegance. And my remark was not meant like that, merely that its a quite bit more complicated in regards to potential Illegalities than any but one other build.
No Change.

[/QUOTE]

- Power: I have no issues here

- Originality: I have no issues here either

Thanks again for your judging, please don't take these disputes as being in anyway ungrateful for your time and effort.

Dont worry, I dont. I have submitted my own share of builds that were misunderstood (iun my view) at times. ;)

Quote Originally Posted by Nightstalker
I just want to say that I love your judging, and only have a very slight dispute here, although it seems to have marred scores in several areas.
I paid for my lichdom with the 2 CR.

I went through the whole build again just to make sure (its why it took so long for me to get this dispute out) but the CR is correct. I took 2 levels of emancipated spawn (which is 2 CR as normal) however I separated the class features it gained since the level 2 class feature that it gains me is: "Recall Class Abilities". This ability gains me the class features of my classes before death, but does not give me actual levels, ergo none of the HD or CR. I am fully willing to take a hit in elegance (my poor poor elegance) for adding in a work around to give me effectively 3 levels of class features (the paragon classes), 5 levels worth of feats (recall feats adds all the feats from my previous life as bonus feats, and still counts as 2 HD worth of progression for normal feats), all for the price of 2 HD and 2 CR (only actually took 2 levels of Emancipated Spawn).
I only just barely am able to fit lich and that last level of PS in.

Finally on the matter of Planar Shepherd. I wanted to give an undead druid that swallows things. That was what I set out to do with Nightstalker. Everything else came about with me thinking, "How do I best serve the flavor of an Undead Druid?" Blighter was the exceedingly obvious way to do it, however it did not feel... right. I wanted it to be a druid, not an Ex-Druid. So I kept searching, and I found Planar Shepherd. Planar Shepherd is the only druidic prestige class where you can get an undead flavor without becoming an Ex-Druid. By emulating Mabar, Nightstalker very well fits the Undead Druid theme I was going for. The fact that Planar Shepherd is as powerful as it is only made the power better.

Anyways, I am kind of rambling at this point, but I am just trying to say that the Lich thing was paid for appropriately, and I didn't take Planar Shepherd for the power but for the flavor.

Following your BUild Table, your Lich takes up one entry in its 20 "Levels", equalling +1 CR. Its between 18 and 20, ergo 19. So unless there is another table or a different progression in the text (might be, your entry was by far the most headachingly complex^^) I stand by my assumption of "1 CR is missing from the Lich Template".

No Change.

Quote Originally Posted by The Virus
Thanks for judging!

I would argue that since "Creatures with 1 or less HD replace their monster levels with their character levels. The monster loses the attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, skills, and feats granted by its 1 monster HD and gains the attack bonus, save bonuses, skills, feats, and other class abilities of a 1st-level character of the appropriate class" and the CR only increases "If you are advancing a monster by adding player character class levels", (Also, "Advanced Monster Challenge Rating

When adding class levels to a creature with 1 or less HD, you advance the creature like a character. Otherwise, use the following guidelines.
Adding Class Levels

If you are advancing a monster by adding player character class levels...")

Overall, I'm pretty sure the first telepath level does not actually change the monster's CR, however counterintuitive that seems - and even if it did, it seems a little bit harsh to penalise three categories for it, especially since it's convention (if not a hard-and-fast rule in VC) only to penalise one mistake once.

Its a convention unless it actually does affect multiple categories. Aside from that I only deducted .5 pts from Elegance and Power each, so Categories, not 3.

However you are entirely correct, one COULD interpret it following these rules as well. Its cheesy but completely doable.

I am now using that interpretation, which increases the Elegance Deduction to .75, but removes the Power Deduction entirely, setting them at Elegance 4.25 and Power 4.5, ergo netting you a total of +.25 to 16.25pts.

PrismCat21

2018-05-20, 02:49 PM

A quick look at how I Judged the entiries.

Originality – It starts off at 3.0 for monster of the week. From there it’s tweak up/down for how you incorporate the theme of the round, and common/uncommon build elements.
Classic optimization tricks may increase Competence/Power, but it’ll probably lower Originality.

Build Elegance – This will like be the largest section. It’s starts off at the max, 5.0. There is some hard number crunching along with a bit of personal aesthetic taste. If it’s easy on the eyes and easy to wrap my head around, it will improve the score. If abilities synergize well with each other and make sense, it will improve the score.
Hard numbers – It needs to have everything it’s supposed to. If a section is missing, like Sources, 1 point will be taken off. If part of a section is missing, like the Source of a class, 0.1 point will be taken off for each instance. More things missing, lower the score.
Miscalculation of CR or other missing abilities/numbers will have at least 0.1 points taken off.
A lot of things will be listed under this section without much order to it. I typed it as I came across it or thought about it.

Competence/Power – This is mainly judged by your chosen Sweet Spot. If you did not choose one, (many this round did not), I will make an assumption of what I thought you intended it to be and judge from there. The other CR ranges of the build will be considered as well, but they’re not as important to me.
It also revolves around your chosen concept. A mechanically weaker build can score higher than a mechanically stronger build compared to what the build wants to accomplish.
Versatility as always, is a big plus.
Score starts at 2.0. A great Sweet Spot will bump it to 4.0, the rest of the build will affect the last point.

Memorable Villainy – Is this your standard monster of the week, or the BBEG that has been on the scene forever? Is this just something for the PC’s to fight, or is there an actual reason it’s in the campaign.
There’s no hard scale for this one. A big part of the score will be how well you set him up in backstory and how much he’s likely to piss off the PC’s, making them want to come back again and again until he’s taken care of permanently.
Average Villainy, average encounters, will likely be around 3.0

I’ve never paid much attention to Ulgurstastas before. They have pretty unique and fun abilities revolving around Swallow Whole and creating skeletons. I certainly didn’t expect a creature with necromatic vomit and both damages me and reanimates skeletons to tear me to shreds.
The ability, even fluff-wise, to grow more powerful the more creatures you eat is always a win. Gaining the ability to shape Incarnum can easily be tied into absorbing the life essence and intelligence of the creatures it kills.
It was good fluff surrounding it. You’ve made good use of existing fluff for Elder Evils, without being tempted into going for the mechanical benefits, and created your own for the Knowledge: Local skill. Good Job. :)
Having the theme of the round to showcase Keeyussk’s more creative abilities is a plus for me.

4.2

I have no idea where you assigned your ability scores or what they look like throughout the build. I only see what they are at CR 20 and will to try to reverse engineer it in order to check if they’re correct.
The build table lists the base saves only, no accounting for ability scores. The skills however seem to be adjusted with the bonus skill points due to Int. So what are the ability scores?
Build table starts at with a templated creature, a Ravenous Ulgurstasta. Not the base creature.
“Fully-fleshed out build” to me, means starting at the lowest CR and putting in an entry every time the CR increases. A CR of 13 also seems wrong for a Ravenous Ulgurstasta. A Ulgurstasta is CR 11, Ravenous is only CR +1, for a total of 12. - With the way the build table is made, there’s no room for Tomb Warden at the end.
Increase size at 18hd, no CR increased listed for it. I believe this is where the missing CR came from, but it was not listed. And you seem to say nothing about what the size increase actually does for you.
We don’t know skill point total without knowing ability scores. Skill points used suggest an Int score of 20.
DR is missing from the build table. It’s in your stub, but is using the 3.0 rules. Damage Reduction was updated in 3.5. I’m not at all sure what the new value should now be though.
The Corpsecrafter line of feats each refer specifically to Undead raised or created by Necromancy spells. Since neither your natural animating abilities or Necrocarnum Circlet even reference spells at all, these feats cannot affect any Undead you are able to make.
They are completely legal for you to take, but they do nothing. They’re wasted feats.
CR: 13.75, Psicraft is missing it’s half a point
On your build table, Evolved Undead seems to give you nothing except for an increase in Bab and all three saves, which you then lose with your first level in Totemist, typo :) I was able to figure out some of what it gave you by looking at your CR 20 stub. I had to do that a lot throughout your entry. Much of the time I was only guessing.
Tomb Warden requires you to have the feat: Toughness. Without it, you can’t take the Prestige Class.

CR 20 Stub: I had to keep going to this to check on things that should have been listed elsewhere.
Alignment: Ravenous requires you to be non-good. Well, you’re supposed to be Evil anyway, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Tomb Warden requires non-chaotic. Incarnate requires you to be at one alignment extreme; Good, Evil, Lawful, or Chaotic, with the other half being Neutral. The only alignment you could possibly be is Neutral-Evil. I was not able to find any alignment anywhere in your entry.
As far as I can tell, with Superior Unarmed Strike, your Unarmed Strikes only do a base 2d6 damage, not 8d6. It is not changed due to your size
Incarnate and Totemist each give you 3 soulmelds to use and your Wisdom max it out at 6 total, which fits nicely. Sphinx Claws isn’t that useful to you however since it overlaps with Girallon Arms, not stack with it as you seem to believe. If you had taken the feat to be able to bind it to your hands it would doing something great for you. It would give you the ability to pounce using all your natural weapons. As it is, there’s not much point in it.
Girallon Arms: I’m assuming you’re always investing all 4 of your Essentia into this soulmeld, since you mention a +10 bonus on grapple on you CR 20 write-up. That’ll work. (I missed it in the stub) You will not get a bonus from Sphinx Claws however since they are both competence bonuses and will not stack
You list your grapple bonus as 59. Bab(13)+Str(18)+size(16)+Imp.Grp.(4)= 51. Girallon Arms with 4 Essentia makes it 61. Is one Essentia going somewhere else? Or did I miss something?

The attack bonus for Bite is listed as 19 and seems to be a secondary attack when it is the only Natural Attack you naturally posses. That seems odd. As a secondary attack it seems like the attack bonus should be 18.
As a Ravenous Gargantuan creature you bite as if Colossal, maxing out the damage from the Ravenous chart. Then you turn Colossal. I can see increasing damage again since you physically went up a size category. Imp. Nat. Attack I do not believe would enhance it further since the language used specifically says, “as if the creature’s size had increased by one category”. You’re already at the maximum size category. There’s no size category to increase it to.
If it was taken before becoming Colossal I would not have much of a problem with it.

2 feats are missing from your stub. Improved Grapple and Undead meldshaper.

Sources: Improved Multigrab is actually called Greater Multigrab, and it has a Str and Dex requirement. We don’t know what any of your ability scores are at the level.
The only Improved Natural Attack Feat I found is in Monster Manual III, not Savage Species.

You presented the appropriate write-up at CR 15 and 20, but neglected to designate your “sweet spot”. I’m assuming it’s CR 20.
You also neglected the basic rundown of the build’s abilities and play-ability at the levels you didn’t show.
At CR 15 you mention a Grapple score of 52. By my math it should be 48. (Bab+Str+size+feat) assuming you’ve already maxed out your Str. Since we don’t know where the ability adjustments went, we don’t know the Str score at this level.
You also mention three unarmed strikes with a range of 40 feet before applying Haste. I assume you’re using the tendrils. How do you have three unarmed strikes before Haste with a Bab of only 10?

I’ve already explained why the Corpsecrafter feats don’t apply, but there’s still a problem with the Skeletal Flies. A regular Ulgurstasta has a max limit of 128 small ‘or smaller’ creatures it can have swallowed whole at one time. Increasing it’s size makes that limit 512 small or smaller creatures. 512 is hardly an infinite number. And since they won’t explode anyway, (damaging foes and healing Keeyussk), they are fairly useless.

Hard 1

If Keeyussk is faced with a situation where he has to flee, he’s already pretty much out of luck.
His strategy is to first use a standard action to regurgitate the contents of his stomach and potentially move 40 ft away. His next turn he’ll use another standard action to cast Haste and potentially move 70 ft away. Then he has two minutes to run at a rate of 280 ft/round, assuming he uses a full-round action every round and has a straight and completely clear path for a creature of his size. (The good news is he can run forever, being Undead)
Adventures of a high enough level that can challenge him or make him flee, likely won’t have much trouble with keeping him from fleeing, keeping up with him, heading him off, or just waiting until he slows down and catches up to finish him off. Keeyussk’s only movement speed is on land and he has no ranged attacks worth anything. All characters have to do is stay out of reach and shoot him from a distance and they’ve won. Easy enough to do while flying.
Their only real worry are all the other undead creatures you can potentially send after them to keep them away or delay them.

Ravenous allows Improved Grab with all natural attacks. Good.
It also potentially ends your turn early and makes you vulnerable every time you kill a living creature thanks to its Need to Feed. Not so good

It really seems like the higher in CR Keeyussk comes, the weaker it comparatively becomes. Parts of the build it relied on just won’t work or you don’t have access to.
You’re getting only the barest use out of Incarnum which takes up most of your class levels. It gives strong versatility when used wisely, which Keeyussk definitely needs, but it’s not being utilized well.
Keeyussk has impressive defenses starting out, but they tend to drop off and become less relevant the higher in CR it goes.

2.5

Keeyussk isn’t much of a Villain. It’s an obstacle that PC’s will need to overcome. They’ll remember the fight and probably have a blast with it. Once they figure the creature out, they’ll stomp it.
The motivations as a villain just aren’t there. I see Keeyussk relating well to Juiblex.
It has enough abilities for an exciting encounter, or string of encounters. Not much else.

I liked the way you used Knowledge: Local to bring up your cult, but much too little was said about them. It seems to come from out of nowhere on your last level. The cult would probably be your best bet in making everything more interesting for the PC’s.

3.0

Purple Worms are scary enough on their own. (flashbacks to Dune, Tremors, and Beetlejuise.)
A 10-headed Purple Worm should bring up the terror in anything that gets too close. But there’s not really much special about him. Really the biggest difference between it and a giant Hydra is it’s lack out limbs and ability to Swallow Whole.
The Red Worm is a classic beast with a gimmick. A monster of the week with a twist.

3.0

Missing bonus feat: Improved Multiattack from Multiheaded template.
You’ve reached CR 18 a bit early I think, you need one more additional head.
The increase in CR is missing due to increased size. The increased size is also a bit questionable due to method of acquiring the additional HD needed to reach that size. Since you chose to increase The Behemoth’s size based on HD, I’m inclined to say that a CR increase for the additional HD is needed as well. (I believe a size increase from HD advancement should be from racial HD advancement, not just bonus HD.)
What is a Champion Build and what exactly does it give you that is worth a bump in CR?
At the stub for CR 20, the feat Ability Focus is missing what it’s for. I had to refer back to the build table to figure it out.
Missing darkvision 90 ft. from Multiheaded template.
How did you figure your new size and reach when you reached Colossal? I did a quick check in the monster manual and did not see any mention on how to calculate it. In the Player’s Handbook however on page 149, for a creature like the Purple Worm, it suggests a minimum of 30 ft space and 20 ft reach. You chose a space of 25 ft. Why?
Why is your attack bonus so low? Your Bab is +34 and Str mod is +20. How’d you come to an attack bonus of +46?
A write-up was required for at least one of four CR points, and a Sweet Spot chosen. I’m going to assume that your CR20 stub was intended for that purpose, as well as the strategies section. However, there still was not a section that gave a rundown of the Behemoth’s abilities and playability at any other level.
Failed to show where you assigned your ability scores, failed to list other skills you have great bonuses in besides Listen.
No Alignment anywhere that I found. With it’s Intelligence, I’d even question if it would be anything other than Neutral.
You added 2 CR to the build for Lernean. Lernean doesn’t increase CR at least, which you discovered. It likely is a mistake of the template, but dems da rulez. Luckily, you provided an alternate option to it in the form of 6 more HD. (I probably would have gone for additional heads since HD is included.)

2.0

The Behemoth’s body is flat out immune to most conventional methods of attack thanks to Lernaean. That means you either go for the heads specifically or rely on magic. The Red Worm has no defenses to speak of against magical assault, and thanks to Shocktrooper, anyone attacking the heads are basically guaranteed to hit. At higher levels, which it seems is where he’s supposed to be used, even average characters wouldn’t have too much trouble dealing massive damage to individual heads. Or have trouble searing them shut so they can’t grow back.
Pain Mastery and Involuntary Rage work well enough for you, but I see a weakness. After any encounter that you take 50 or more points of damage from one attack, and survive, you will automatically be exhausted. They both will activate at the same time and cause fatigue, together it causes exhaustion. Involuntary Rage also specifically states that you must make your save vs. massive damage or die immediately. Most games I’ve ever played in or seen have ignored that rule. Since your using a feat that specifically requires it in order to activate, it must be used. You have a minimum of ten heads with 92.5 hit points each. To die from physical means they all must be cut off. That gives each head at least one chance to take 50+ damage, and so a 5% chance for you to die immediately from massive damage each time it happens. (Natural 1 on your Fort save.) That to me is your second biggest weakness.
The first seems to be a problem with a couple of these builds. The Behemoth just isn’t a decent threat to anything decently mobile. It’s speed is crap, it has no range other than reach, and almost no defenses other than against the most direct traditional means. If it manages to land a hit, it’ll likely tear it’s target to pieces. First it has to get close enough to hit.
He’s a huge bag of Hit Points with good physical defenses. He does one trick, and does it well. Beyond that one trick he’s target practice.

2.0

PC’s will mainly remember this fight for how tedious it is. The Behemoth is not a Villain. At best it can be a Villain’s pet or guard dog.
PC’s would be more likely to ignore it and go about their merry way than confront it. It’s best bet is to have it attack a stationary location so that the PC’s would have to stay to protect the location.
The encounter would be cheap. They’d likely whittle away at it from a distance, magic it away, or watch it drop dead for rolling a 1 on a massive damage save. If any got close enough, they’d likely die instantly or within the round.
I like the Red Worm, but mechanically he’s not great, and there’s little fluff to work with.

2.5

I love the opening story. It’s new. It’s fun. The concept works great with Gormandoggo’s abilities and theme of this round.
I suppose I should have expected someone sort of ‘Iron Chef’ themed creature to appear but it just never came up.
Every time I think of Gourmandoggo now, a picture of Guy Fieri’s head pops up in my head, and sometimes his hair is transferred to the picture of Gourmandoggo.
Finding a creature with a dual Swallow Whole ability and having it take part in a Survivor-esqe food challenge where he’s the star is just too off the frickin’ wall. :) ...and he has martial magic…
This is certainly not a monster of the week, the whole show is based around him.

5.0

I found very little wrong with Gourmandoggo’s build.
You’ve laid out everything in a nice and easy to follow way. Most everything was easy to understand and organized so I didn’t have to go out of my way to look for anything. Your rundown of abilities and playability throughout the levels were in the write-ups, which I have no problem with. The main thing missing was a lack of a clear Sweet Spot. As the Sweet Spot is supposed to be the part where you consider the high point to be, I use it as the focal point in most of my judging, especially Competence/Power.
Gourmandoggo has a pretty distinctive scent in the cheese department thanks to the Monastery of Zerth Ad’lun and the Sublime Way abilities. You kept it fairly tame and in theme for the beast, sacrificing potential power for extra flavor. (Stinky cheese is bad. Tasty cheese is tolerable :P )
I wish every build could be more organized and easy to understand like this one is. It’s just so much more simpler for Judges.
Dipping all three Tome of Battle base classes seems unnecessary, but at least you kept it to maneuver classes and didn’t bounce around too wildly.
I personally like to see a stub of the Sweet Spot in order to see everything together and get a clear picture of that CR. But since it’s nowhere in the rules, I don’t count off for it.
Labeling the spoiler tags would have been great.

4.7

Gourmandoggo is a tough cookie. He hits at his weight class, he can take a bit of a beating, and he has plenty of defenses and tricks to help him survive and chase down his meals. His low Intelligence prevents him from using his abilities in the most efficient ways, but it’ll be a good fight and can easily be a recurring foe.
The maneuvers really kick up his game at high levels, without them he’d be an interesting but largely forgettable beast.
Mid-levels he’s great, high levels he’s good, in-between he’s… eh…
Gourmandoggo does his job well and sticks to his concept.

4.0

If played right, PC’s won’t forget this guy any time soon.
He won’t make much of a Villain, but he can be used as reoccurring opponent a few times without getting too old.
He’s fun for the PC’s and I can see them scrambling every time he shows up.
If a creature like Ghai the Fey’ri can always be around to announce and provide commentary, to the PC’s displeaseure, they will be fantastic encounters fondly remembered through future campaigns.

3.8

How in the world do Hippo’s not have Swallow whole! That’s irritating to me.
You found a way to get it on her anyway and it works well. (subvert dashed preconceptions ftw)
A Hag WereHippo combo seems odd at first but clicks together nicely when I think about.
Having her be the head of an army consisting of Hippos and WereHippos is frightening to say the least.
She’s also a champion of her god that she once hated and stole power from, unwitting earning her approval through her Hippos.
Ur-Priest is a cheap optimization option that typically comes with a penalty but ends up leading into Contemplative for the same Deity.
It all makes sense in character and fits the theme well.
This isn’t just some monster of the week, she’s a potential BBEG for an entire campaign.

4.8

You gain the feats of the Animal. They cannot be exchanged for other feats, not even if it’s a feat you already posses. You mentioned you couldn’t find a ruling in your notes: It’s in the Creating a Lycanthrope section on page 177 of the Monster Manual, in the Feats area.
You have 2 ranks in the skill Knowledge: the planes at CR6, then at CR 11 add 4 ranks, giving you 5. The math doesn’t work out. I assume you meant an increase of 3 ranks because that would equal the amount of skill points available to you.
Let’s continue with your notes section. You weren’t sure about the CR ruling for the Lycanthrope template. You did it perfectly. If this was a Player Character, like in the Iron Chef Competition, you would have to include the Level Adjustment. Since this contest is based on Challenge Rating, that’s all you need to worry about. A base animal with 8 Hit Dice (Hippo) increases your Challenge Rating by only 4.

Adding Swallow Whole to your creature I have a huge problem with. In this contest we use preexisting creatures with set abilities, and work within the rules for increasing HD and/or class levels to improve them. Adding Special Abilities can only happen through use of templates, class abilities, feats, and so on. The section you looked at the in Monster Manual/SRD is a guideline mainly for DM’s. We follow recipes in creating our monsters, we don’t just make them from scratch or trade out ingredients. I would be inclined to judge your build illegal for adding the Swallow Whole ability without some source granting it to you. It makes the playing field completely uneven and unfair.
It’s not your fault though. You asked the chair and he allowed it. He gave you a huge advantage over the other contestants. I’ve looked back over the thread and can not find anywhere where it was mentioned competitors could add this ability to their Villains. In fact, just a few hours before the reveal, he mentions using official templates and classes to make a custom creature. - To me, This is Inexcusable, and I am furious about it. But Faras Alnhar will not be punished or penalized for it.

I was under the impression that Ur-Priests could no longer willingly accept a deity’s blessing or have one as a patron and retain their class abilities. Looking at them again, I seemed to have confused those qualities with Defiants. I see nothing against RAW to say they can’t start worshiping a Deity. Contemplative works just fine and offers interesting roleplay opportunities.
Since you are an afflicted lycanthrope, you are not able to pass on the disease to others. That’s not much of an issue and can be hand waved away with certain excuses. Same with becoming an Ur-Priest, you’re suppose to be trained by another one. I’m not too strict on those sorts of requirements though. Since it’s mainly for fluff reasons.

Traditionally magic items are not listed with the Villains unless their abilities specifically calls it out. This is largely because of the other competitions that specify that builds are assumed to have relevant gear for that character. Many judges will penalize if you list items, or rely on them in any way. However, I can find nothing in the rules of this competition that even mentions items. So you will not be penalized by me for listing them.

The build seems clear and organized. Everything you need to have is presented. You provide a good backstory for Faras, tips for campaign use, additional notes with explanations of why you chose certain things(that saved you), and a rad picture. Even separate stat blocks for different forms and different CR’s- I approve.

4.7

You have a firm grasp on Faras’s abilities and on what you want her to be able to do. You clearly explain her abilities and strategies and she has a wide array of options to meet just about any situation. I don’t see any obvious weakness.
Strong physical capabilities throughout the entire build. Full caster abilities. Good defenses. An army of Hippos and WereHippos that make sense both fluff and crunch wise. Full Marks.

5.0

Some people believe that their Villain should be able to be a threat to the PC’s throughout every level, I don’t. When I look at Villains in this contest, I’m concerned only with the chosen Sweet Spot and possibly the ranges directly before or after. - However...
Faras makes sense as a Villain in any level range and can hold her own at any point.
Whether as part of a short adventure or a full 1-20 level campaign, she can be a legitimate BBEG at any time.
Encounters with her are basically standard affairs with a few neat twists. The fluff around them will be what really makes PCs excited and memorable. They’ll have fun with her and her herd of Hippos. And I believe they’ll feel a sense of accomplishment when they finally defeat her.

4.7

Tom seems like a standard monster of the week. There’s not much to set it apart from from the other random critters found deep underground. (really the Underdark)
Totemist would be a fun twist for it if it could use soulmelds efficiently. Tom does have the unexpected ability to Swallow Whole which is pretty scary since creatures are still considered grappled while inside you, and so is still affected by Antimagic Grapple. Which is a plus for you.
There’s really nothing else to set it apart in my eyes and overall Tom feels rather bland.

3.0

Failed to list sources for improving your monster by increasing Hit Dice, adding special abilities, or for Feats: Blind-Fight and Multiattack.
You’re behind on your Will saves starting at Totemist Level 3
How did you receive (Augmented) Improved Grab and Swallow Whole? You list a page number in the Monster Manual, but what class ability or maybe template allowed you to take it?
At 21 racial hit dice Tom increases by one size category. That means it’s CR also increases by 1, which is not accounted for.
I have no idea where your Sweet Spot is. I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the CR 10-14 range because your 15-20 range is sorely lacking.
I also didn’t see a write-up of any of the required CR points, just the ranges of Crs which seems like the basic description of the monster.

You put nearly all your skillpoints into Spellcraft. What is Tom using Spellcraft for? Why is it important enough to devote himself to it?
The only other skill Tom has is one rank in Hide and if it wasn’t for it’s racial bonus it would be a negative modifier. Is it is, it’s only a +12. What other Skills does Tom use?

At CR 20, you have 5 essentia, 4 soulmelds, and 2 chakra binds. These are your primary actual class features and you only mention 2 soulmelds total and 1 bind. The rest are going to waste. All Shadow Mantle is doing for you is giving a negligible bonus on Listen checks.

The only soulmeld you mention binding is the Threefold Mask of the Chimera to your totem chakra. You claim that it gives you a second bite attack and that you can bite, grapple and swallow two enemies simultaneously. The only swallow whole ability you say you have specifies that a creature must already be held in your mouth at the beginning of you turn before you can attempt to swallow it by making another grapple check. Unless you can get a creature into your mouth off turn, it’ll take at least two turns to swallow any individual creature. Certainly not two at once. - Reading up on that ability again, when bound to your Totem chakra you do indeed have multiple mouths. They still need to already be in your mouth at the beginning of your turn though.

Shaping Soulmelds requires you to have a clear mind that you achieve by resting for 8 hours, just like spellcasters. I don’t see much of a problem with this.
After resting, you must meditate for 1 hour, and have a peaceful, quiet, and comfort to allow for proper concentration. - I don’t see how you’re doing this with Animal like Intelligence. A regular Balhannoth I’d be okay with since they have an Intelligence of 3. High enough to be a Player Character and take classes.
Tom has an Intelligence of 2. I don’t believe he can even take class levels to begin with. Certainly not Shaping and binding Soulmelds. (the same process for preparing Arcane Spells) – If you can find me a good example otherwise, I’ll rethink it.
-
Adding Swallow Whole and an Augmented Improved Grab to your creature I have a huge problem with. In this contest we use preexisting creatures with set abilities, and work within the rules for increasing HD and/or class levels to improve them. Adding Special Abilities can only happen through use of templates, class abilities, feats, and so on. The section you looked at the in Monster Manual/SRD is a guideline mainly for DM’s. We follow recipes in creating our monsters, we don’t just make them from scratch or trade out ingredients. It makes the playing field completely uneven and unfair.
The Chair did give another contestant permission to add Swallow Whole for a CR increase of 2. You added an additional ability on top of that for the same price.
What’s more, is that you didn’t even bother asking permission. If the Chair had announced to everyone you could add both those abilities, you’d be fine. If you had asked the Chair in a private message, you’d be fine. You did neither. - Before the reveal the Chair did specify using official templates and classes to make a custom creature, which gives more weight to not being able to add abilities on your own. The Chair made an Inexcusable mistake by allowing one contestant access without informing others. That mistake has nothing to do with your decision however.

Since adding those abilities are illegal in my eyes, and without them you do not qualify for the theme of this round. I choose to judge this entry as Illegal. You’ll get points in the other 3 areas to compare to the other builds. But Tom should not be in the rankings with the others.

0 – (1.1 for comparison to the other builds.)

Tom isn’t a huge challenge to a party of PCs. It’ll be a little scary at first when they realize that their magic doesn’t work when it grabs them. After that initial shock, I don’t see them having much trouble defeating him.
You adopted basically the same strategy a Balhannoth uses. Hide, Ambush, Attack magic auras.
There’s a reason Balhannoths have a decent Climb, Hide, and Jump modifier, it works great with their strategy. You’ve put nothing Climb or Jump, and only 1 rank in Hide. How is Tom supposed to hide and ambush effectively when even low level characters are able to easily sense it and outmaneuver it. Tom has a respectable Strength score and Grapple modifier so there shouldn’t be much trouble grabbing keeping hold of enemies that come within reach.
The generic Balhannoth abilities and the potential of the soulmelds do provide decent defenses.
Of the two soulmelds chosen, only the Threefold Mask of the Chimera really does something for you by giving a bonus bite attack(s). All Shadow Mantle does is give a small bonus to Listen checks, which is almost nonexistent for you as it is.

Since Balhannoths feed on magic auras, I wonder how they would actually react to soulmelds, which are basically magic items themselves.

2.5

Tom is not a Villain. It acts on pure instinct to survive. All it will be in the PC’s eyes is a random encounter with bonus loot.
They’ll remember Tom for its ‘scary’ antimagic abilities and the treasure.
Below average encounter. No Villainy.

1.5

This is a fun Villain. I like almost everything about him. It seems he’ll fit nicely with some classic concepts and traditional roles, but also flips a few on their heads. :)
You don’t really know what to expect from this creature. Players will likely be expecting a Dragon, and will get something even more dangerous!
The theme of the round is used right from the beginning and remains relevant throughout the entire build, though Antharyx doesn’t need to rely on it at all. He has his own well thought out reasons for everything he does.

5.0

The source for the feat Snatch was not listed. I looked through Draconomicon before seeing that it was actually in the Monster Manual. I’d forgotten all about that feat.
You do not qualify for the feat Gape of the Serpent. It’s prerequisite is the Swallow Whole special ability. Snatch and Swallow is a very similar ability, and in my eyes better, but I can’t allow it to be substituted as a prerequisite for this contest. (In my game I wouldn’t have a problem doing it though.)
Spelldancer is my go-to for Persistent builds. I don’t see it as cheesy at all. It has enough requirements just to qualify for the Prestige class, and the Spelldance has drawbacks which you’ve chosen to not make irrelevant. You’ve accepted the potential consequences.
Your big hits come from Giant Size and 3.0 Banelar. Giant Size is a Wu Jen only spell of 7th level. You have only one level in Wu Jen and can only cast level 1 Wu Jen spells. You have it on your Wizard spell list but how did it get there? There story you told about visiting the lands of T’u Lung and stealing a spell makes sense fluff wise. I can’t accept a purely fluff reason for it to be on your Wizard spell list though.
If you hadn’t mentioned the update to the 3.0 Banelar I likely would not have found it. You get points for honesty, but not enough to cover the penalty for such a blatant and intentional violation.
I submit my entries in good faith, knowing any mistakes in my builds are honest mistakes and I expect the same from everyone else.

Antharyx’s entry is well organized and easy to understand, pleasing to the eyes. The template and classes chosen all fit together thematically and it doesn’t seem like anything was taken just for power. It’s obvious that power was sacrificed for fluff in some areas. (but with some power gained in less than honorable ways.)

4.2

Antharyx punches above his weight class right from the beginning and doesn’t let up at any point in his career. He has a variety or powerful options to deal with any threat that comes his way. Powerful duel spellcasting abilities, power physical abilities, good natural defenses, and even options of wearing magical gear that normally wouldn’t be available for a creature of his form.
There’s not much that he can’t do if he wants to.
Snatch and Swallow is a little limited at times but you’ve explained ways around that just fine.
You actually held back your power in many ways and I respect that. If worse comes to worse Antharyx could always turn it up to 11.

5.0

Antharyx does his own thing for his own reason and forget what anyone else has to say about it. He’s got ‘big’ plans for himself and the means to make them happen.
With the story and background you’ve set up Pcs will not soon forget anything about him. He’s a serious threat they will have the utmost respect for.
Even with fluff alone, they will be shaking in their boots and want to run the other way. Full Marks! :)

5.0

as long as*a thing, ends up inside*another thing, and the way it ended up there was through it's mouth, (a cube doesn't really have a mouth, so that would count), I'd say any words/action used that basically mean the same thing as swallowed whole would count.
> No specification of which thing has to end up in which other thing.

https://popiplaw.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/youaretechnicallycorrect.jpg

While I appreciate and enjoy this interpretation of the theme for this round, I do not like it at all.
I feel it breaks the spirit of the intention and I want to roll my eyes at it.
Good thing my personal feelings on it don’t matter much. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve fulfilled the requirements set forth by the Chair.

This is a tried and true concept and a staple of most Sci-fi/Fantasy worlds in some form or another.
With The Virus, you’ve gone all out. You’ve subverted how Pupperteers are normally handled. You’ve made him much more dangerous with how he makes his home, spreads to others, and pure raw power.

4.5

I am irritated. I did not see a section for Sources. I gather nearly all the build is from Expanded Psionic Handbook and Complete Psionic. It was annoying having to look up everything I did without knowing where to look.
If you were going to remove the class features section and replace it with powers learned, you might as well have listed you power points per day, number of powers known, and maximum power level known as well. It would’ve helped make a complete picture of your abilities. I still had to look up the Psion Class table to be sure when you got your bonus feats, PP/day, and powers known.
Not listing the natural abilities of the Puppeteer ‘at all’ in the build table cost you a bit. - You have a justifiable reason for not including the Psion’s features(though I don’t agree), but not the Puppeteer’s.
Skill points are a little wonky. The first three levels everything matches up, level 4 begins the problem. Your using one extra skill point then you should from then on, compared with your listed Intelligence and skill points granted from Psion. At level 12 it increases to two extra points every level, and at level 20 it jumps to four extras points. It seems obvious that this comes from The Virus increasing it’s Intelligence every four levels, the problem is that I could not find this listed anywhere. I don’t know where you’re putting the ability score increases and can only assume. If that is the case, there’s still the issue at level 20 where you spend 10 skill points when you should then only have 9 available.
You’re missing the Sweet Spot of the build. You mention that you were almost tempted to make it CR 9, but don’t state what it actually is. I believe you chose CR 18 but am not at all sure on that.
You did a decent job with the write-ups and playability through most of the levels. You list strategies and fun things to do with The Virus. CR 20 is a failure though. I did not know what Reality Revision did and had to look it up, looking in the wrong book at first because no source was given. - It is not my job to figure out uses for your Villain. It is my job to judge the abilities ‘you’ve’ given to it and the uses that ‘you’ come up with.
You had most of the requirements down. The table was formatted nicely. You had decent write-ups. The single class build made it easier to check the work and helps make it look clean, but is still a little dull.
The big problem is lack of Sources. That cost an entire point.

3.2

You gain all the great powers of a Puppeteer as well as a level 20 Telepath.
Your defenses are great due to hardly anything being able to target you.
If they even could target you, they first have to figure out you even exist.
You preform you chosen concept very well and have reasoned responses to how you perform and react to a variety of situations.
I don’t agree with many of them or with how some things work, but I don’t have to.

Your biggest weakness is in finding an appropriate host. Many of your abilities and strategies rely on what your host do. - Even then, you give options on what to do with them when they’ve no longer useful.

4.6

The Virus will most certainly piss many PCs off and make others paranoid. - Sounds pretty memorable to me.
This kind of Villain has to be played delicately against Players the DM knows pretty well, or it’ll likely all go to The Nine Hells.
It’s success relies heavily on the PCs not discovering it. At least until it’s too late for what scheme it’s plotting. Once they do discover it and figure out what it’s capable of, they won’t soon forget.
I imagine The Virus will be dominating a least one PC at some point. That Player at least will remember forever. - Here’s hoping their PC somehow survives :)

4.5

The concept you had was interesting. Unfortunately, much of it doesn’t work.
You get points for what you tried to do; looking for loopholes, trying to connect things together that normally shouldn’t be.
Standard build/optimization tricks brings it back down though.
The theme of this round is almost nonexistent in this build. Without that, the build fails.
It’s essentially just a hungry Ghoul with spellcasting.

1.5

There are many, many things wrong with this build. I’m certain I will not get to them all so I will bring up the biggest ones and any others that run across my mind as I’m typing.
You seem to be confusing Ghouls with some other Undead creature. In your story, Feryl is turned into a Ghoul and so becomes a slave. Only becoming free once the Ghoul that turned him was slain. This implies that Feryl was the Spawn of that Ghoul, which is what is required for Emancipated Spawn. Ghouls do not have a Create Spawn ability. Ghoul Fever is a disease that creates free willed creatures, they are not dominated in any way except maybe by their hunger.
Ghouls also have nothing to do with the creatures they were in life. They are completely new creatures. It don’t matter what you were before. You are no longer Humanoid, you are Undead. Your stats are replaced completely with those of a Ghoul.
You meet both the Race and Bab requirements for Emancipated Spawn, but not the special requirement of being created by the Create Spawn ability. You cannot become an Emancipated Spawn. - In 3.0 Ghouls had that ability. In 3.5 they do not. This is a 3.5 competition, with use of un-updated 3.0 material.
Even if you could become an Emancipated Spawn, you could not take either the Half Elf or Human Paragon classes. You are no longer considered a Half Elf in any way. The Emancipated Spawn’s class features do not fix that, they let you remember your living life and recall abilities. If you had taken the Paragon class levels ‘before’ becoming a Ghoul, then you could probably continue taking them.
You my technically qualify to enter Planar Shepard, but you cannot use Wild Shape for anything. Wild Shape is based off Polymorph, and since you’re Undead you are unable to use Wild Shape without the appropriate feat. And even then it would no longer be Wild Shape, it would be Corrupted Wild Shape.
Becoming a Lich requires you to be Humanoid. As a Ghoul you cannot become a Lich because you are not of the type: Humanoid. You are type: Undead, with not even a subtype of Humanoid.
Contagious Paralysis is not as useful as you seem to think it is. Your Paralysis only last between 12-30 seconds. Contagious Paralysis has that same limit and if the creature makes it’s save, they are immune for 24 hours.
How are you able to get recalled feats from Emancipated Spawn if you never took those feats to begin with? Your Build starts out with Ghoul. Those feats were never taken.
The feat Improved Paralysis has a prerequisite of Ability Focus (Paralysis). You took them out of order.
The updated Shadow Creature template appears in Lords of Madness. The 3.0 version does not apply and the example you gave of a Wight with the Magical Beast type was flawed since that goes against the Type Pyramid in Savage Species. They made a mistake. - I’m still not sure how you were using it to justify Planar Shepard transformations.
The 2nd level of Human Paragon doesn’t just give you a +1 Caster Level for Druid, it’s advancing an entire spellcasting level.
How did you assign your ability scores? You list what they are and where you placed the increased points, which is good. Having to reverse engineer it to figure it out is bad.
Where is your Sweet Spot? I did not see it mentioned in any of your CR write-ups.

Sources section is a bit too wonky for me. I believe the best and easiest way to list Sources is to first list the Source, and then what you took from that source. That’s not my problem though. My problem is that it’s not uniform or clear. Mostly, if you have multiple things from the same source, they are listed together for the source. What you took from the Monster Manual is not. They are listed separately in different places. I tend to grab each sourcebook and look at everything you got from there at once. This confused me at first and I had to go back and look at the source again and make an additional note for it. - What’s unclear of parts like Canoloth and Shadow Creature. When looking for them in the sourcebooks they are difficult to find. Canoloth is a type of Yugoloth and is under the Yugoloth section, if you don’t know that then you won’t look for it there. Shadow Creature is a template and isn’t even listed in the Contents section for the sourcebook. If you don’t already know that it’s a template then you don’t know where to look for it. - Feats have a similar problem where we don’t really know what is and is not a feat in the Sources section, but that’s something I’m used to and am not too worried about.
The Source of a few of your feats are also not listed.
The whole purpose of this Round in the Competition was Swallow Whole or similar ability.
The only mention I can find is the very last sentence of your CR 20 write-up. It mentions the ability of The Nightstalker to use Bite of the King, when he get hungry. It also says that him being hungry is not usual, meaning him using that spell is a pretty rare occurrence. - The part I really can’t wrap my head round is how that spell is supposed to make him less hungry… It actually removes a source of food for him to eat.

I choose to judge this entry as Illegal a few times over. You’ll get points in the other 3 areas to compare to the other builds. But The Nightstalker should not be in the rankings with the others.

0 – (1 for comparison with the other builds)

(Also, in the future, please double check your entry so we don’t have to deal with doubles of pictures, stats, and build tables.)

You’re a high level Druid/Planar Shepard. It’s a standard high powered build for a reason.
Unfortunately, you lose out on 2/3 of the Druid’s best abilities and a good part of Planar Shepard’s.
PC’s well below your weight class have a decent chance of wrecking you at most levels.
The Ghoul formally known as Feryl has a few decent ideas of what he wants to do with himself. He struggles to implement them. The best thing he’s got going for him is Tier 1 spellcasting, which in 3.5 is certainly not insignificant.

2.5

The Nightstalker is just an odd Ghoul with spellcasting. You’ve done a decent job at setting up his backstory and motivations. PCs aren’t likely to learn about it though, and if they do, they likely won’t care.
In their minds, he’s just a standard NPC villain that they need to defeat to get to the ‘real’ bad guy.
Average encounter and Villainy at best.

3.0

PrismCat21

2018-05-20, 02:50 PM

The dinner story had me giggling. It sets A’aron up nicely for how he’s supposed to be played and general attitude and personality.
I did have a passing thought that someone might try to incorporate Hannibal Lector into this round, but never gave thought on how they would do so. You did a fantastic job.
You offered a tasty perspective on civil and high class undead experiences.
You danced around the theme a little bit but never quite got there until near the end of the build.
Some traditional power choices are for the most part offset by the use of nontraditional choices.
Bone Knight fits the character perfectly and adds a lot of flavor to a relatively simple build.

4.0

I very nearly typed up that you were missing Improved Initiative and so didn’t qualify for Death Blow, but I noticed it in the class features column. While it may not be technically required to be in the Feats column, it would probably be easier for everyone if it was listed there as well. :-/
It took me a little bit to find where Bone Knight was from and to look it up. It’s not listed in your Sources.
A more thorough explanation of A’aron’s playability throughout all levels would have be nice.
Your Sweet Spot is missing. I’m going to assume it’s CR 20 since that’s the only write-up where the theme of the contest comes into play.

The build seems very clean. I couldn’t find hardly any errors, everything seems to be in the proper place, and everything fits together thematically. The only cheese I get a whiff of is Planar Touchstone, but it’s not really being abused and fits the character and art concept. It irritates me a little that the write-ups are listed by level and not CR. For A’aron though, they are interchangeable.
You almost had a perfect Elegance Score. A few small mistakes had to bring it down.

4.7

You’re a tough melee brute that has a gang of Ghoul thugs to help fight. They fit thematically in-character and complement your style well.
Defenses and Immunities are good. Great and thematic maneuvers and spells.
You’re able to do what you want to do, and do it well. You’re not lacking in many areas at all.
The last couple levels focus on Bite of the King. The is good. :) You finally incorporate the theme of the round and you should try and display it as much as you can. Since a big part of this category for me is about your Sweet Spot, this was instrumental in boosting your score.

4.5

Memorability for A’aron will be all about how he’s played. A good DM that understands this Villain and their Player’s shouldn’t have too difficult of a time portraying the calm menace of A’aron and his hidden insidious nature.
They should see him as a high class society member, an aristocrat of sorts. As they learn more and more about him and face him in battle, the more uneasy and terrified they should be.
I’d put him at an above average encounter with above average to excellent villainy.

4.5

Clawdius makes me happy. From the very start, the theme of the round is incorporated into this Villain. Everything Clawdius chooses in his build is thematically appropriate, and his backstory and motivations simply add to this character, and explains who he is and ‘why’ he is.
The build choices are relatively common but that doesn’t matter as much ass how they are used. I especially the Poisonous Giant Giant Toad from Oriental Adventures. That book has so many great things that people often ignore.
Clawdius can be mistaken for the monster of the week, but those tat do will be sorry.

4.5

I wouldn’t think that Enlarge Person would work when transformed into your animal form. Looking at Lycantrophy, it specifically says that you retain the Humanoid type even when transformed. Good catch.
I am confused about the beginning of the build table. Class Animal 1 and Animal 2. What do they mean and why does your CR not increase at Animal 2? You’re still a Humanoid, you cannot level up by HD alone, and you seem to actually be missing your racial Humanoid HD.
You list many bonus feats throughout the build, but not where they come from. I’m particular interested in Gape of the Serpent and Willing Deformity. I’ve got a good idea of how you got them, but I need to be sure.

Clawdius’s build is fairly clean and well formatted. You have everything you’re supposed to have; Ability Scores assigned and the later improvements, clean and simple build table, lists for spells, Sweet Spot Snap Shot, write-ups and run downs for all levels, tips and adaptations, great backstory, recommended gear, complete Sources, and the very best of all, explanations for the many traits that change Clawdius’s abilties. There’s a few rows unexplained and CR seems to be miscalculated, but it’s still my favorite entry. Villain-wise and formatting.
I am not a fan of using Elder Evil material to give yourself bonus abilities for basically nothing. That is a decent hit, point wise. - Though you did use it for fluff reasons as well as crunch.
It is stated very clearly in the opening post that Taint is banned. If it was just the depravity traits I could dock you a point for each and more on. You also applied the Tainted Raver template, it seems in the 2nd or 3 CR3 rows. I can’t justify allowing it.

I choose to judge this entry as Illegal. You’ll get points in the other 3 areas to compare to the other builds. But Clawdius should not be in the rankings with the others.

0 – (4.2 for comparison with the other builds)

Clawdius does his job great. His entire build is centered around the theme, and he has so many options to improve and compliment the theme.
I Judge Power based on the chosen concept and how well it’s implemented. As well as generic competence based on average PC capabilities. This Villain meets and exceeds both in his own way.
Sorcerer was an odd choice to me but it works for him. It keeps the build straightforward and non-confusing. Always a plus :)

4.5

Clawdius has a reason for what he does. (Even if I don’t agree with it) He serves the Leviathan and leads a Cult in it’s name.
There’s no shortage of ways for a DM to incorporate Clawdius into their campaign, or make an entire campaign just about him.
It’s a toss up on if PC’s would remember him for his scary abilities in battle or as the leader of the cult. I feel too much of one may take away from the impressiveness of the other. Either way, when they finally defeat him and ruin his plans, they’ll feel a real sense of accomplishment and likely remember the adventure fondly.
I give full points for the fluff already associated with Clawdius, and the potential he has to make the PCs fearful of his very name.

5.0

No doubt I got a few things wrong. I caught myself on a couple of them before posting. If there are more, tell me.
Also, some people may very well be angry. Explain reasonably why you think something is wrong, or why you disagree, and we'll go from there.

Edit: I realized I neglected to enter the full name on a couple builds.

PrismCat21

2018-05-20, 03:13 PM

The build I had planned was an Advanced Tyrannosaurus with the Chameleon, Dungeonbred, and Symbiotic template, combined with a Fire Gnome Psion(maybe Sorcerer). Lots of jumping, some brick/wall breaking, fire abilities, and grappling with tongue attacks to pull into it's mouth. :thog:

In the same vein I had a Worm that Walks build that I was going to use, but the chair said no to consuming with thousands of bites, and it's engulf ability while extremely powerful specifically dealt it's damage through innumerable bites

I would not have had a problem with that engulf ability counting as Swallow Whole. Especially with the loose qualifications that were posted in order to emulate Swallow Whole.
If you have the time next time, I'd say to enter it anyway and see what happens.

Venger

2018-05-20, 03:15 PM

PrismCat21

2018-05-20, 03:18 PM

So did he have a gnome body and a trex head?

Symbiotic template. Not Tauric.

Wouldn't that just basically be a Kobold? :P

Venger

2018-05-20, 03:22 PM

Symbiotic template. Not Tauric.

Wouldn't that just basically be a Kobold? :P

No, the kobold has a tiny head, proportionate to his body. I assumed it would have a gnome sized body with a trex sized head.

jdizzlean

2018-05-20, 03:29 PM

For GrayDeath:

17

Planar Shepherd (18 HD)

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Spot +14, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Extend Spell

Planeshift 2/day

19

Lich

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +17, Move Silently +17, Spot +14, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Lich Stuff

20

Planar Shepherd (19 HD)

+11

+10

+3

+18

Hide +19, Move Silently +19, Spot +16, Knowledge Religion +13, Knowledge Nature +11, Knowledge The Planes +13

Wild Shape (Elemental or Outsider)

Goes from 17, skips 18 because it was a 2 CR bump and goes straight to 19, then advances to 20.
If you'd like I can make lich take up two lines that say 18 and 19, but in the end I figured this wouldn't be problematic.

jdizzlean

2018-05-20, 04:28 PM

PrismCat I assume...

Please address your disputes to a specific judge!

I want to thank you for judging, and I apologize that you had a rough time reading my build. I agree it looks like a few typos made it through, and I'm sorry about that.

Stats: I do have a bad habit of leaving those off to the end, and then why applying them just modify the end result, so I also used the CR 20 stub for most of what I did. I started out with an advanced Ulgurstasta at the beginning, and I realize my error now. I should have started out with the CR 11, applied the Ravenous Template. However adding the point buy that we are supposed to use in these competitions warrants a CR +1 so all builds should be base CR of creature +1 at the beginning. So I start at CR 13

The table in monster manual indicates that if a size increases you to "Large" you increase the CR by 1. Not if you increase your size to "Colossal". So I should not have had to pay for a CR bump for my increased size. The increased size does what it does for normal creatures, increasing str, reach, and in this case grapple

The skills throughout the table is all just ranks. No stat modifications. Starting with a 5 intelligence modifier. Indicated by my 4+int (5) = 9.

I did not indicate the DR elsewhere because I had no clue what it was! I couldn't figure it out either. I only included it in the bottom for completeness sake.

The corpsecrafter thing is lame, stupid, and all around sucks, however you are very right that it doesn't work with my abilities. This competition deals with RAW so my pleas make no difference here, however no DM in their right mind would limit it this way.

Evolved Undead is a template that an undead that has "lived" for 100+ years can take. It grants some minor stat bonuses, fast healing, and an SLA. It is in the table only for the CR bump and should not have advanced anything (my mistake in the numbers on that line) and I did forget to include what it gave in the table.

I completely forgot toughness. You are absolutely correct in this regard. Stupid feat should just go burn in a hole, but again RAW.

Alignment: Neutral Evil, in the CR 20 stub at the bottom.

Natural Weapon Damage always increases based on size. Table 4-3 in the monster manual follows the same progressions as the one in A&EG (3.0 book) which is much more filled out so I go to that whenever increasing size, 2d6 from Superior Unarmed strike is for medium creatures as it always is when they record damages from feats. 2d6 upped to colossal is 8d6. I do not understand why it would be stuck at 2d6.

A competence bonus to grapple and a competence bonus to str checks; I thought they would stack, however I'll readily say that I could easily be wrong there, and would have changed Sphinx Claws had I realized.

Again Natural Weapons always increase damage as size goes up. We start at the 4d6 (the highest on the table as you've stated) then our size increases. According to A&EG it goes up to 6d6 when we become Colossal. Improved Natural Attack states that it increases as if we move up one step on the size chart, however Colossal is as high as they decided to include on the size charts, however they continually increase, so we get Colossal ++, which we have our chart in A&EG tell us goes up to 8d6.

And more typos. Typos are the bane of my existence since the place that I can work on these is very distracting and causes me to make more than a few typos.

I definitely bungled my sources, however we easily met the prerequisites for Greater Multigrab* with out 21 dex. (why is it not called improved multigrab?)

As for the CR 15, I forgot. Plain and simple I forgot that I needed a stub of CR 15. And I went off of my own typo of BAB 13 when I said 3 attacks. Man I'm not smart sometimes.

Yes the Skeletal Flies do not work anymore. It saddens me greatly. I honestly would have gone a completely different route had I realized that corpsecrafter doesn't work with Necromantic Acid. (so stupid)

Need to Feed only ends my turn early if I kill something... with a non swallow whole. If I've swallowed it then nothing keeps me from continuing my turn. It also only ends my turn early if I roll a 1.

And more than likely we're already hasted by the time Keeyussk would need to flee.

Honestly the harshness to Keeyussk due to typos formatting errors and two legitimate mistakes (toughness and corpsecrafter line) really hurts Keeyussk's feelings.

Anyways thank you for judging, I hope you reconsider some of your judgements here.

Prismcat. What am I going to do with you? You seem to despise the whole thing. I will start from the top, and work my way through this.

1. You straight up admit that you are docking me for the same piece several times.

The one single piece that is wrong here is that Ghoul doesn't have Create Spawn, where it should; however this is a story element. Something that really should not have a baring on Feryl.

I did not take levels in either Half Elf Paragon nor Human Paragon. They were remembered with Emancipated Spawn, which just requires me to have escaped from my master, which was done through story telling. Denying me my previous life's abilities because

Ghouls also have nothing to do with the creatures they were in life. They are completely new creatures. Is like saying that just because a Livewood Tree was cut down and turned into a boat that it is no longer livewood. It is still a half elf, just turned into a ghoul. That is what undeath is. Turning one creature, into a different creature, with magic. A human reincarnated into a dwarf is still a human. They keep their feat. A hobgoblin reincarnated into a human is still a hobgoblin, they still have the racial levels of hobgoblin, even though they are a human now. Iron turned into a sword is still iron. A half elf turned into a ghoul is still a half elf, just in a new form.

you cannot use Wild Shape for anything. Wild Shape is based off Polymorph, and since you’re Undead you are unable to use Wild Shape without the appropriate feat. And even then it would no longer be Wild Shape, it would be Corrupted Wild Shape. That is wrong. Anyone can voluntarily lower their own immunities. And even if it wasn't the case Lichdom specifies that they can polymorph themselves as they please.
In the extremely long texts of wild shape, polymorph, polymorph subschool, etc the only reference they make even close to undead not being able to polymorph is the line that says, "Incorporeal or gaseous creatures are immune to baleful
polymorph."

Becoming a Lich requires you to be Humanoid. As a Ghoul you cannot become a Lich because you are not of the type: Humanoid. You are type: Undead, with not even a subtype of Humanoid.
Lichdom requires humanoid, however I have the feat Human Heritage which changes our type to Humanoid. I can take this because I was a half elf, which means that I am human descended.

Contagious Paralysis is not as useful as you seem to think it is. Your Paralysis only last between 12-30 seconds. Contagious Paralysis has that same limit and if the creature makes it’s save, they are immune for 24 hours. Neither ghoul's nor lich's paralysis grants immunity for 24 hours upon saving. So it is 12-30 seconds, and if you fail again its another 12-30 seconds. If you are constantly exposed to a ghoul's paralysis then you constantly have to make saves. Only full immunity to paralysis will protect you from a ghoul's paralysis (unless you are an elf which is a holdover from 1e).

How are you able to get recalled feats from Emancipated Spawn if you never took those feats to begin with? Your Build starts out with Ghoul. Those feats were never taken. Because I was a half Elf Paragon 1/Human Paragon in life, before I was turned into a ghoul. Turned into. I am not just some ghoul that came out of nowhere, but a creature with a past before I was killed. I was and still am a half elf. I just... have a ghoul's body now. Just like if a human were killed, and reincarnated. Different magic, same effect. If you would like I can add a build predeath, which would have no bearing on our CR after becoming an undead.

A second mistake at last, I didn't realize that Improved Paralysis required ability focus paralysis, easy switch, no real problem.

Shadow Creature, I didn't realize that it had been updated, and does indeed make the reference useless, however that whole part was just examples of things you could turn into, not parts of the build. Sad that it doesn't work.

Abilities scores were listed in the Stats section.

I am sorry that you had a rough time with my sources, they are written as they make sense to me. What feats are missing?

I choose to judge this entry as Illegal a few times over. You’ll get points in the other 3 areas to compare to the other builds. But The Nightstalker should not be in the rankings with the others.

I do not see any reason at all this build is illegal except perhaps Personal Bias.

(Also, in the future, please double check your entry so we don’t have to deal with doubles of pictures, stats, and build tables.)
In my build notes it doesn't have this issue, and in my Sent Messages it also does not seem to have this issue. I do not want to blame the chair as I doubt its his fault. So it got messed up somewhere in translation?

Power: He has all the paralysis still, he has all the wild shaping of a druid, he has all the spells of a T1 spellcasting class, the immunities of undeath, extravagant turn resistance for an undead, as well as he's a lich. A lich may be killed easily, but not so easy is to destroy it permanently.

I will not dispute your memorability as that is largely based on a per person. I personally think differently as he is the "real bad guy".

Honestly. I want to be mad at your judging. I want to call it a lack of understanding. But I think in all regards you looked at it, and said, "impossible" and scrapped the entire idea before looking at it with an open mind. If it feels like I attacked you at any point in my dispute I want to say that I am sorry. When I read your judging on Nightstalker it hurt. You ripped it to shreds without really looking at Feryl.

First of all, thanks for the judging, both of you!

I have a bit of a dispute for PrismCat21:

I wouldn’t think that Enlarge Person would work when transformed into your animal form. Looking at Lycantrophy, it specifically says that you retain the Humanoid type even when transformed. Good catch.
I am confused about the beginning of the build table. Class Animal 1 and Animal 2. What do they mean and why does your CR not increase at Animal 2? You’re still a Humanoid, you cannot level up by HD alone, and you seem to actually be missing your racial Humanoid HD.
You list many bonus feats throughout the build, but not where they come from. I’m particular interested in Gape of the Serpent and Willing Deformity. I’ve got a good idea of how you got them, but I need to be sure.

Clawdius’s build is fairly clean and well formatted. You have everything you’re supposed to have; Ability Scores assigned and the later improvements, clean and simple build table, lists for spells, Sweet Spot Snap Shot, write-ups and run downs for all levels, tips and adaptations, great backstory, recommended gear, complete Sources, and the very best of all, explanations for the many traits that change Clawdius’s abilties. There’s a few rows unexplained and CR seems to be miscalculated, but it’s still my favorite entry. Villain-wise and formatting.
I am not a fan of using Elder Evil material to give yourself bonus abilities for basically nothing. That is a decent hit, point wise. - Though you did use it for fluff reasons as well as crunch.
It is stated very clearly in the opening post that Taint is banned. If it was just the depravity traits I could dock you a point for each and more on. You also applied the Tainted Raver template, it seems in the 2nd or 3 CR3 rows. I can’t justify allowing it.

I choose to judge this entry as Illegal. You’ll get points in the other 3 areas to compare to the other builds. But Clawdius should not be in the rankings with the others.

Firstly, the character comes online at CR 3; an inherited lycanthrope starts with animal HD, then accumulates HD normally (in the case of a human, 1st class level).

Hence at CR 3, Clawdius has 2 animal HD and one level of sorcerer. The earlier HD rows are merely to show allocation of feats and skill points. Tainted raver is slotted in there (a bit inelegantly) to show it being acquired by the chaarcter at some point to, or during, his starting level. I thought that was clear on the table, but that may be an assumption on my part. There character is never intended to be encountered with animal HD only, as this is not possible. There first two rows are "reference only" in essence.

In regards to the taint: wow! Never noticed that one little clause in the comp rules before. I was aware of item familiars, but completely unaware that taint was in there too!
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/415Ed1dHnOL._SY300_.jpg
I would humbly request that Clawdius not be auto-disqualified. Taint is banned, presumably to stop such near infinite loops as tainted scholar + undead. The only reason taint is even mentioned in the entry is that the Tainted Raver template requires mild levels. The template is mainly there to make him less fragile at lower levels, and also for thematic reasons (madness and rage). I throw myself on your mercy not to rule the entry illegal, but instead apply a penalty as you see fit. Thank you.

For GrayDeath

I don't see how following the rules in the only sane way I know to interpret them merits any elegance deduction at all. And now that you've said you were only ever penalising 2 categories, I'm wondering where the originality deduction is coming in.

For PrismCat21

My sincerest apologies for rustling your jimmies. I'm an overly literal-minded sort of person.

Not sure where the originality deduction comes from.

I do list sources: each of the little things in parentheses like (CPsi) or (SoS) is a source - such as complete psionic or Secrets of Sarlona. These are fairly standard acronyms in optimisation contests.

The powers learned are listed in the table because that's the only thing I actually have a choice about.

Why would I list my racial abilities in the table? You don't seriously expect everyone who plays an dwarf to list all their fiddly racial training against giants and secret doors and whatever in the table, do you?

CR 18 is indeed the sweet spot, but I should point out that we're only meant to show...

at least one of the following points: 5 CR, 10 CR 15 CR, 20 CR, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build

Emphasis not even mine. Also, it seems relatively obvious that CR 18 is the sweet spot, so no, I wasn't explicit about it.

Falontani

2018-05-21, 09:34 AM

That is a mountain of disputes.. Thank you to the chair for getting those out so quickly, and thank you to the judges if you have the patience to read all of that.

GrayDeath

2018-05-21, 11:15 AM

For GrayDeath:

Goes from 17, skips 18 because it was a 2 CR bump and goes straight to 19, then advances to 20.
If you'd like I can make lich take up two lines that say 18 and 19, but in the end I figured this wouldn't be problematic.

I actually overlooked that, what do you know, just counted the lines maybe? Or was halfway asleep when I checked? No matter, my mistake.
Reduction for the Lich withdrawn. Increase ovberall Score by .5pts .

@ The Virus: Now please dont get petulant.
I interpret it differently than you do, and both Itnerpretationts can be valid.
I obviously think mine is more so, hence the deduction, by which I stand (and its asmall one anyway).
And there is no deduction in Originality. Read my Judging Criteria. You actually GAINED quite some extra pts above the 3.0 of Neither particularly expected nor unexpected build/Concept" in originality (and I specifically said so). It only mentions that you will in turn be DE-ducted some pts in Elegance, which has no bearing at all on Originality.
Seems I am not the only one here overlooking stuff, hm? ^^

jdizzlean

2018-05-21, 11:42 AM

once they start, they don't stop

PrismCat

First of all, thank you so much for judging all of the crazy builds in this competition! I can see you already have a whole bunch of disputes to wade through, so I apologize for adding mine to the list. But here goes!

1) Regarding the Snatch feat, I wasn’t aware that we needed to list core materials (things from the SRD). As it was, my build had hit the character limit for a single post / message, and splitting it up into two posts seemed inelegant.

2) Ah, I knew I missed something! That is a shame for the purposes of this contest, but like you I would have allowed Snatch and Swallow to qualify for Gape of the Serpent in my own games. So technically he can’t eat the Tarrasque... :smallbiggrin:

3) The giant size spell does not come from the Wu Jen level. It comes from the Wyrm Wizard PrC and its Spell Research class feature, which allows Antharyx to learn a single spell from any arcane spellcasting list, provided he is of a level to cast it. He can cast 7th level spells when he gets that feature - hence giant size.

4) On the matter of the 3.0 Banelar, I would not have used it if the 3.5 errata to Monsters of Faerun was clear about what happens to the innate Wizard casting. It does not list any spells, but the line for casting is still there, and it does not say to remove the spellcasting ability. I figured using the 3.0 version was better than getting RAI involved, and mentioned as much in my final build. I understand if this doesn’t get me any points, but I believe in transparency.

Thanks again for everything! You and GreyDeath rock. :smallsmile:

Gwachitallemall

2018-05-22, 06:47 AM

I just stopped by, and I've gotta say, I'm impressed this is still running! Who would've thought. Good job everyone, though!

Lionheart

2018-05-22, 06:57 AM

Is it just the two judges this round then? So once disputes are settled we're all done?

jdizzlean

2018-05-22, 08:32 AM

once disputes are settled, and someone makes a table for scores (so i can steal the code to do it myself later :) ) we'll be done. I have some discussion points to bring up after this ends, but I'll start a new round while that discussion is taking place in this thread.

if you have a Honorable Mention in mind, please PM me your vote. For simplicity sake, just put VC 26 HM "name" in the subject so i can tally them faster :)

PrismCat21

2018-05-22, 03:07 PM

I should have started out with the CR 11, applied the Ravenous Template. However adding the point buy that we are supposed to use in these competitions warrants a CR +1 so all builds should be base CR of creature +1 at the beginning. So I start at CR 13

Monster’s ability scores based on elite array1 +1 to CR
*1. Do not apply this increase if you advance a monster by class levels. (Monsters advanced by class levels are assumed to use the elite array.)
Argument Invalid, Score unchanged.

The table in monster manual indicates that if a size increases you to "Large" you increase the CR by 1. Not if you increase your size to "Colossal".

Size increased to Large or larger +1 to CR
Argument Invalid, Score unchanged.

The skills throughout the table is all just ranks. No stat modifications. Starting with a 5 intelligence modifier. Indicated by my 4+int (5) = 9.
That's what I figured. Without the starting ability scores though, the math couldn't really be checked.

The corpsecrafter thing is lame, stupid, and all around sucks, however you are very right that it doesn't work with my abilities. This competition deals with RAW so my pleas make no difference here, however no DM in their right mind would limit it this way.
Agreed. I'd likely allow it in my game. Unfortunately, this isn't my game..

Alignment: Neutral Evil, in the CR 20 stub at the bottom.
I completely overlooked that. My apologies. Penalty removed.

Natural Weapon Damage always increases based on size. Table 4-3 in the monster manual follows the same progressions as the one in A&EG (3.0 book) which is much more filled out so I go to that whenever increasing size, 2d6 from Superior Unarmed strike is for medium creatures as it always is when they record damages from feats. 2d6 upped to colossal is 8d6. I do not understand why it would be stuck at 2d6.
The way I understand it, Superior Unarmed Strike gives static damage dice based on Monk level. The only way to increase it is by increasing your effective Monk level. - Score Unchanged

A competence bonus to grapple and a competence bonus to str checks; I thought they would stack, however I'll readily say that I could easily be wrong there, and would have changed Sphinx Claws had I realized.
I did a little more research to find some clarification and I saw this. "Circumstance Modifier: Circumstance bonuses stack with all other bonuses, including other circumstance bonuses, unless they arise from essentially the same source."
Since competence bonuses generally stack, and they are two different soulmelds, I'll concede the issue. Penalty removed.

Again Natural Weapons always increase damage as size goes up. We start at the 4d6 (the highest on the table as you've stated) then our size increases. According to A&EG it goes up to 6d6 when we become Colossal. Improved Natural Attack states that it increases as if we move up one step on the size chart, however Colossal is as high as they decided to include on the size charts, however they continually increase, so we get Colossal ++, which we have our chart in A&EG tell us goes up to 8d6.
I spent a few minutes pouring through Arms and Equipment guide. I did not see any reference to size Colossal ++.
Colossal is as high as they decided to include on the size charts, because I believe that is the largest size. My issue isn't that the table doesn't show additional increases. My issue is that since you are already size Colossal (the largest category), and the feat says "as if the creature's size had increased by one category", you cannot increase it further. You are at the maximum size category references.
I made an allowance for the damage increase when you physically grew to Colossal. That is justifiable. With how the feat is worded, I believe it does not apply. This is a RAW argument, not RAI.
- Also, if A&EG was used, a 3.0 source, it should have been put in your Sources. - Score Unchanged

I definitely bungled my sources, however we easily met the prerequisites for Greater Multigrab* with out 21 dex. (why is it not called improved multigrab?)
I didn't count off for not being certain of the prerequisites. :) That was counted with the missing Ability Scores.

And more than likely we're already hasted by the time Keeyussk would need to flee.
Which means he'll have even less time to get away, and won't get nearly as far. :(

Honestly the harshness to Keeyussk due to typos formatting errors and two legitimate mistakes (toughness and corpsecrafter line) really hurts Keeyussk's feelings.
One of the few things Undead are not immune to. ...would that be considered mind-effecting?

Unfortunately Elegance stays at One, but a Soft One. The penalties brought it closer to 0 than 1, but 1 is the minimum and the changes did not let it pass the threshold.

Firstly, the character comes online at CR 3; an inherited lycanthrope starts with animal HD, then accumulates HD normally (in the case of a human, 1st class level).
That's the weird thing. I don't know of any source that actually says that.

Becoming a lycanthrope is very much like multiclassing as an animal and gaining the appropriate Hit Dice. ... Hit Dice and Hit Points: Same as the base creature plus those of the base animal.
Humanoids and Class Levels: Creatures with 1 or less HD replace their monster levels with their character levels. ... Other Statistics for Monsters: Creatures with Hit Dice of 1 or less have normal, class-based Hit Dice and features. They get skills and feats appropriate to a 1st-level character (even if they have a level adjustment).

Those with 2 or more Hit Dice have statistics based on these Hit Dice plus Hit Dice for class levels (if any).
Pay attention the the underlined portions. It seems like Natural Lycanthropes have their Animal Hit Dice as well as their natural Humanoid Hit Dice before taking any class levels. Because they have greater than 1 HD, Class Levels would seem to be added on top of their HD, instead of replacing the single HD of most Humanoid races.

Now I don't agree with this, and believe at the very least that it was an oversight. I believe the RAI is in replacing the Humanoid/Giant HD. But I could be wrong.
- I didn't penalize for any of this. It's something I thought about when I was going over your entry and made me go, 'Huh....!'.

You basically made a Savage Progression build for Clawdius. Clawdius as a base creature starts off with all his Animal HD and I believe his first class levels. Tainted Raver could be placed in either that first line or the next, considering it doesn't increase CR at all. I'd personally let it have it's own line.

I would humbly request that Clawdius not be auto-disqualified.
Since Taint is one of the few things outright banned and it's such a big part of your build, I feel I have no choice.
To get an idea of what your score would be like if I allowed it. Take off 1.0 for each Taint feat and the template. (Total -3.0 from current score)
If no Taint was in there at all, it would pretty severely reduce your Competence/Power.

Clawdius is my favorite entry. I highly enjoy him and the essence of the character. He makes me giggle.
That doesn't mean I think he's the best entry however. :P - He still gets my Honorable Mention.

Not sure where the originality deduction comes from.
Go back and read the first spoiler box in my post of Judgements.
The score started at 3.0.
4.5 is greater than 3.0
The score was increased, not decreased.

I do list sources: each of the little things in parentheses like (CPsi) or (SoS) is a source - such as complete psionic or Secrets of Sarlona. These are fairly standard acronyms in optimisation contests.
Notice the Sources section in every other contestant's entry. That is what you are missing. You've listed sources for some individual pieces for your build. To figure out what sources you used, we'd have to comb through every bit of your build to find all the ones you shared. I was still unable to find a reference to Expanded Psionics Handbook or Player's Handbook.
A separate section to list your sources is fairly standard in optimization contests.

The powers learned are listed in the table because that's the only thing I actually have a choice about.
You chose what class to take at every single level. You chose to exclude class features give by that class. What exactly did you not have a choice about?

Why would I list my racial abilities in the table? You don't seriously expect everyone who plays an dwarf to list all their fiddly racial training against giants and secret doors and whatever in the table, do you?
Yes. Yes I do. They could list them individually by name, or simply put down standard Dwarven racial traits. If it was a non-standard Drawf, I'd expect them to note what was different.
You're really trying to compare a Core Player Race with a specialized monster, unique to one subsystem of the game, and that is not even allowed to be used as a Player Character?
I expect you to list at least basic abilities that having this creature as a race grants you.
I expect you to list the ability Entrall considering your entire build and concept is centered around this one ability. - You did not.

CR 18 is indeed the sweet spot, but I should point out that we're only meant to show...

at least one of the following points: 5 CR, 10 CR 15 CR, 20 CR, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build
Emphasis not even mine. Also, it seems relatively obvious that CR 18 is the sweet spot, so no, I wasn't explicit about it
Emphasis mine.

No Change

1) Regarding the Snatch feat, I wasn’t aware that we needed to list core materials (things from the SRD). As it was, my build had hit the character limit for a single post / message, and splitting it up into two posts seemed inelegant.
As far as I know, all sources need to be listed.
The SRD I've always been iffy on actually, since it's not technically an official source. I've always allowed it though.

3) The giant size spell does not come from the Wu Jen level. It comes from the Wyrm Wizard PrC and its Spell Research class feature, which allows Antharyx to learn a single spell from any arcane spellcasting list, provided he is of a level to cast it. He can cast 7th level spells when he gets that feature - hence giant size.
I thought I was missing something about this. I completely missed Spell Research.
I was thinking you wanted to add it to your spellbook by learning it from a Wu Jen scroll. In my head, the stories you told about Antharyx and how he stole a scroll seemed to point to that. My bad
Penalty Removed (+0.5)

4) On the matter of the 3.0 Banelar, I would not have used it if the 3.5 errata to Monsters of Faerun was clear about what happens to the innate Wizard casting. It does not list any spells, but the line for casting is still there, and it does not say to remove the spellcasting ability. I figured using the 3.0 version was better than getting RAI involved, and mentioned as much in my final build. I understand if this doesn’t get me any points, but I believe in transparency.
And it's a good thing you do. :)
If you had not specified 3.0 and I found the 3.5 version, I would have replaced it with the updated 3.5 version and Judged from there.
I would have subtracted one whole point for the 3.0 version, but took into account your reasoning and the fact you specified the 3.0 version instead of it seeming like a mistake. So it was only half a point.

+0.5 total

Scores will be updated momentarily. Other disputes will be answered at some point soon.

PrismCat21

2018-05-24, 09:06 AM

1. You straight up admit that you are docking me for the same piece several times.
Please, show me where. That is something I make an effort to not do.
Next, since you have an issue with it, find where it says in the rules for this competition that Judges are asked to not do that. I looked at the OP and did not see it.

The one single piece that is wrong here is that Ghoul doesn't have Create Spawn, where it should; however this is a story element. Something that really should not have a baring on Feryl.
Missing a prerequisite for a Prestige class that is essential to your build, should have no baring on the character?
If you are missing requirements for abilities, you do not get those abilities. Period.
Perhaps you misunderstand what a prerequisite is.

I did not take levels in either Half Elf Paragon nor Human Paragon. They were remembered with Emancipated Spawn, which just requires me to have escaped from my master, which was done through story telling.
If your Villain did not take levels in either Paragon class, he does not get to 'remember' the benefits from those classes through taking levels in Emancipated Spawn.

Denying me my previous life's abilities because, "Ghouls also have nothing to do with the creatures they were in life. They are completely new creatures.", Is like saying that just because a Livewood Tree was cut down and turned into a boat that it is no longer livewood. It is still a half elf, just turned into a ghoul. That is what undeath is. Turning one creature, into a different creature, with magic. A human reincarnated into a dwarf is still a human. They keep their feat. A hobgoblin reincarnated into a human is still a hobgoblin, they still have the racial levels of hobgoblin, even though they are a human now. Iron turned into a sword is still iron. A half elf turned into a ghoul is still a half elf, just in a new form.
You chose the wrong kind of Undead. The mechanics for the creature you chose do not allow it.
Your creature is a Half Elf through Fluff only. There is no Crunch to back it up.

That is wrong. Anyone can voluntarily lower their own immunities. And even if it wasn't the case Lichdom specifies that they can polymorph themselves as they please.
In the extremely long texts of wild shape, polymorph, polymorph subschool, etc the only reference they make even close to undead not being able to polymorph is the line that says, "Incorporeal or gaseous creatures are immune to baleful
polymorph."
Direct me to where it says, "Anyone can voluntarily lower their own immunities."

You have learned to use the necromantic energy that powers your undead form to overcome the inability of undead creatures to wild shape. You can assume the form of an undead, rotten creature with the use of your wild shape ability.
Prerequisite: Undead type, wild shape class feature.
Benefit: You can use your wild shape ability even though you are undead.

-

Lichdom requires humanoid, however I have the feat Human Heritage which changes our type to Humanoid. I can take this because I was a half elf, which means that I am human descended.
If you had taken the feat before becoming Undead, you would have an argument.
Mechanically, you did not. It is all fluff, fluff has no mechanical benefits.
Ghoul has completely replaced your 'living' character mechanics wise. It doesn't matter what you were once before, anything that becomes a Ghoul has the exact same stats. Ghoul is not a template, it is an entirely new creature. You were once half elf in fluff only. Fluff = Crunch

Neither ghoul's nor lich's paralysis grants immunity for 24 hours upon saving. So it is 12-30 seconds, and if you fail again its another 12-30 seconds. If you are constantly exposed to a ghoul's paralysis then you constantly have to make saves. Only full immunity to paralysis will protect you from a ghoul's paralysis (unless you are an elf which is a holdover from 1e).
I never made the claim that a Ghoul's Paralysis or a Lich's Paralyzing Touch granted immunity on a save. I specifically said Contagious Paralysis did that. You even quoted it.

Because I was a half Elf Paragon 1/Human Paragon in life, before I was turned into a ghoul. Turned into. I am not just some ghoul that came out of nowhere, but a creature with a past before I was killed. I was and still am a half elf. I just... have a ghoul's body now. Just like if a human were killed, and reincarnated. Different magic, same effect. If you would like I can add a build predeath, which would have no bearing on our CR after becoming an undead.
That is your backstory. You did not build him that way.
If you had included your predeath build as part of your submitted build before Ghoul, he would be less illegal. It would have a large bearing on your CR, becoming a Ghoul reduces it to 1.
A Human reincarnated is the same creature with a different body and minus a level. Different magic, different effect. A Ghoul is a brand new creature.
I am unaware of Ghouls that just come out of nowhere. As far as I know, they all have a past and were once creatures that were alive. They are now brand new creatures.

A second mistake at last, I didn't realize that Improved Paralysis required ability focus paralysis, easy switch, no real problem.
It IS a real problem. You do not qualify for the feat. It is a small problem, but still real.

Abilities scores were listed in the Stats section.
Yes. They are. I asked how your assigned them. I said nothing about them not existing.
The issue was me having to reverse engineer it to figure it out. Which I brought up.

I do not see any reason at all this build is illegal except perhaps Personal Bias.
Personal Bias is not a reason to judge a build Illegal. If someone does that, they should be removed as a Judge.
Go look at my Judgement again and take you pick as to why. Simply not agreeing with me does not make your personal interpretation valid.

Power: He has all the paralysis still,
With limitations that go against your concept, as I've explained.

he has all the wild shaping of a druid,
He does not.

Honestly. I want to be mad at your judging. I want to call it a lack of understanding. But I think in all regards you looked at it, and said, "impossible" and scrapped the entire idea before looking at it with an open mind. If it feels like I attacked you at any point in my dispute I want to say that I am sorry. When I read your judging on Nightstalker it hurt. You ripped it to shreds without really looking at Feryl.
So you're saying I failed at my job as a judge and ruled solely on a personal bias.
How could I rip it to shreds without really looking at it?
The build is flawed at a fundamental level. Core Vampire and Wight would have worked just fine, Ghoul does not. You could have even said 3.0 Ghoul and that part would have been legal, but would have received a big penalty for being 3.0 instead of the 3.5 version.
If you use Emancipated Spawn to recall abilities from previously taken classes, you need to have first taken those classes and shown them in the build at the point they were taken. If your build starts as a living creature, you need to build it as a living creature.
The fluff is fine. It mechanically does not work.

In my build notes it doesn't have this issue, and in my Sent Messages it also does not seem to have this issue. I do not want to blame the chair as I doubt its his fault. So it got messed up somewhere in translation?
If your entry does not match what you sent to the Chair you message them and ask about it. If the Chair made a mistake they will fix it. If it's how the Chair received it they'll leave it be, unless they're feeling super nice at the time.

-

Instead of claiming personal bias from Judges and making other accusations against them, respectfully ASK for clarification. You will receive it.

jdizzlean

2018-05-24, 12:38 PM

here's the table as it stands right now. I believe all disputes have been answered. I'll wait til the end of the day to get any rebuttals if there are any coming, then post reveal and the new round tonight.

Build
Chef
GrayDeath
PrismCat21
Total
Place

Keeyusk the Ravenous
Falontani
15.5
10.7
26.2
6th

The Behemoth
Hanwalker
12.5
9.5
22
7th

Gourmandoggo
WhamBamSam
14.75
17.5
32.25
5th

Faras Alnhar
Lionheart
14.75
19.2
33.95
SILVER

TOM
Macabaret
13.5
illegal
13.5
10th

Antharyx
3SecondCultist
12.75
19.7
32.45
4th

The Virus
Jourmengand
16.25
16.8
33.05
BRONZE

The Nightstalker
Falontani
15.25
illegal
15.25
9th

A'Aron
Venger
16.5
17.7
34.2
GOLD

Clawdius
Thurbane
16.25
illegal
16.25
8th (HM)

Congrats to the winners, HM goes to Clawdius!

New round up in a minute, just check my sig

Have a few discussion things to chat about, but I won't get that posted until Sunday morning, it'll be in this thread though...

jdizzlean

2018-05-25, 01:50 PM

bump, last post edited, which doesn't show as new :)

Falontani

2018-05-25, 01:57 PM

3SecondCultist

2018-05-25, 02:31 PM

Aww, that's two comps in a row where I've come in 4th. :smallfrown:

Oh well - I'll just have to dig deep and try even harder on the next one! Any ideas as to what the Theme will be? Are we voting on it, or is our illustrious Chair going to be making that call?

Falontani

2018-05-25, 02:35 PM

was just posted

Venger

2018-05-25, 03:00 PM

Jormengand

2018-05-25, 03:10 PM

So, hands up who's surprised that the build which centres around messing around with the contest restrictions was mine? :smalltongue:

Falontani

2018-05-25, 03:14 PM

Who is Hanwalker? I've never heard him that user..

Venger

2018-05-25, 04:01 PM

Who is Hanwalker? I've never heard him that user..

I haven't either and can't find any posts by him, but it's possible he just doesn't have any. Macabaret submitted to iron chef without any posts, so it's not like it's without precedent.

Congrats to all the medalists. This was a fun round.

@Prismcat, now that the reveal's been posted, a couple things that wouldn't have affected scoring one way or the other, so I kept to myself to speed up reveal:

sorry I didn't have bone knight in my sources, I'm annoyed with myself. it was probably just a copy-paste error.

as far as the sweet spot, I was under the impression we were meant to give a snapshot at "either 5, 10, 15, 20, or a sweet spot besides those." if I've got this wrong, I'd like to correct it in future rounds. chair?

I like putting bonus feats derived from class in the class features column to help myself keep everything straight for order of operations, since you pick class first and feats last. This helps me avoid using a bought feat to qualify for a possible class feature bonus feat whose reqs I need to meet. A niche case, yes, but one I'm vaguely paranoid about. Should it arise in the future, I'll put bonus feats derived from class or similar in the feats column as well with a tag to mark them as bonus feats.

Thurbane

2018-05-25, 04:20 PM

Congrats to everyone and thanks for the HM.

So, so annoyed I missed that tiny little line about taint being banned in the OP. In all the time I've been chairing and competing in this comp, I have never noticed it before. :smallfrown: :smalleek: Oh well. Well, even if I hadn't been ruled illegal, I still would have only been 4th.

Not to sound arrogant, but I think Clawdius is a pretty solid NPC/villain, and I plan to use him in my campaign at some stage; hopefully someone else might too.

Venger

2018-05-25, 04:37 PM

Not to sound arrogant, but I think Clawdius is a pretty solid NPC/villain, and I plan to use him in my campaign at some stage; hopefully someone else might too.

Very cool. That is the ostensible purpose of vc after all. let us know how it goes.

PrismCat21

2018-05-25, 07:32 PM

I want to apologize to PrismCat for my behavior. My disputes were not good, and I realized after I had sent them that they were somewhat hostile. I want to thank you for judging, and I hope you do not feel discouraged to judge in the future due to my unsportsmanlike actions.
I'm not dwelling on any of it. Oftentimes I know I sound pretty flippant when I'm just removing emotion from my posts.

So, hands up who's surprised that the build which centres around messing around with the contest restrictions was mine? :smalltongue:
I'm not surprised at all, but I actually didn't connect you with any of them. :(

@Prismcat, now that the reveal's been posted, a couple things that wouldn't have affected scoring one way or the other, so I kept to myself to speed up reveal:

sorry I didn't have bone knight in my sources, I'm annoyed with myself. it was probably just a copy-paste error.

as far as the sweet spot, I was under the impression we were meant to give a snapshot at "either 5, 10, 15, 20, or a sweet spot besides those." if I've got this wrong, I'd like to correct it in future rounds. chair?

I like putting bonus feats derived from class in the class features column to help myself keep everything straight for order of operations, since you pick class first and feats last. This helps me avoid using a bought feat to qualify for a possible class feature bonus feat whose reqs I need to meet. A niche case, yes, but one I'm vaguely paranoid about. Should it arise in the future, I'll put bonus feats derived from class or similar in the feats column as well with a tag to mark them as bonus feats.
My impression is a snapshot of any of those four, AND a sweetspot, so that's how I judged it. I could well be wrong, but since it said 'and' a sweetspot I figured it was both.

I didn't count off for the bonus feats. I thought you hadn't listed them at all at first. I had to reference back to the builds a lot with my phone and so didn't realize where it was until later. I'm glad I caught it before posting :)

Congrats to everyone and thanks for the HM.

So, so annoyed I missed that tiny little line about taint being banned in the OP. In all the time I've been chairing and competing in this comp, I have never noticed it before. :smallfrown: :smalleek: Oh well. Well, even if I hadn't been ruled illegal, I still would have only been 4th.

Not to sound arrogant, but I think Clawdius is a pretty solid NPC/villain, and I plan to use him in my campaign at some stage; hopefully someone else might too.
I'm pretty sure you would have gotten First. If Taint was allowed I believe your score would be 34.45.
Clawdius is hands down my favorite. Antharyx I believe was the best build overall and I thought he was yours, but Clawdius is the Chosen one. :)

Aww, that's two comps in a row where I've come in 4th.
Antharyx was my second favorite, and in my opinion the best overall. This is why we have multiple Judges though. So single Judges don't have God-like powers. :smallsigh:

-
-
-
I don't know if I'll enter the next one or not. If not, I think I'll have time to Judge again, ...if y'all want me to. :)

Venger

2018-05-25, 07:36 PM

I'm not dwelling on any of it. Oftentimes I know I sound pretty flippant when I'm just removing emotion from my posts.
You and Falontani have had such a great attitude about disputes. Well done to both of you.

My impression is a snapshot of any of those four, AND a sweetspot, so that's how I judged it. I could well be wrong, but since it said 'and' a sweetspot I figured it was both.

I didn't count off for the bonus feats. I thought you hadn't listed them at all at first. I had to reference back to the builds a lot with my phone and so didn't realize where it was until later. I'm glad I caught it before posting :)

Makes sense. Chair, can you clarify? No criticism on my part, PrismCat21, I'd just like to avoid it in the future if it turns out I was making an error.

I figured as much, I just thought I'd explain my process. I'm glad too.

daremetoidareyo

2018-05-25, 07:52 PM

So, hands up who's surprised that the build which centres around messing around with the contest restrictions was mine? :smalltongue:

I knew, brother. I knew.

3SecondCultist

2018-05-25, 08:58 PM

Antharyx was my second favorite, and in my opinion the best overall. This is why we have multiple Judges though. So single Judges don't have God-like powers. :smallsigh:

Well thank you for saying so! I'm rather proud of him and may well use him as a villain, but only in a relatively high OP game where I can justify busting out the Spelldancer Persist cheese. I basically channeled Cumberbatch!Smaug levels of arrogance in my writing for him, which was fun.

Oh well. I will probably sit the next round out unless something really amazing catches my interest, but I will be watching and ready to jump in on Round 28. :smallbiggrin:

Lionheart

2018-05-26, 05:01 AM

Wow, really didn't expect to do this well with my first entry. Thank you to everyone for their hard work in organising and judging. This was loads of fun!

GrayDeath

2018-05-26, 02:17 PM

Thurbane

2018-05-26, 04:21 PM

Thank you all for the kind words about Clawdius, it makes me feel less bad about the whole taint thing. :smallsmile:

Just in case anyone missed it, new round is up: Villainous Competition XXVII - Multiple Personality Disorder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559748)

3SecondCultist

2018-05-26, 07:19 PM

Best of luck to everyone on the next round! :smallsmile:

PrismCat21

2018-05-27, 08:28 AM

I have some discussion points to bring up after this ends, but I'll start a new round while that discussion is taking place in this thread.

Let's get started on those discussion points so people can apply them when making Villains for the new round.

jdizzlean

2018-05-27, 09:29 AM

First, as you all know, I recently took over chair of this comp. There will be some growing/learning pains to deal with. I will endeavor to minimize them, and to get through them as quickly as possible. In a civil manner, please feel free to PM me about any issues you might have w/ me as the chair of VC moving forward. I will work with you to address and answer any valid issues :)

1. One chef PM'd me a rules question to a build. I answered that question. In my experience as a chef/judge in this and other comps, I have PM'd the various chairs multiple times on rules questions and none of those or their answers were ever posted in the various threads. I saw no reason to break from that and post the answer to this question this time. As it turns out, that was taken as somewhat offensive to both a judge and another competitor. The judge stated that the rule linked to add a special ability was for DM's to use. It's always been my view that in this competition specifically, the chef IS the DM for clarity's sake. We're building villains here, that are opposed by the PC's, as reflected by using CR instead of ECL as our build metric. I suppose on this point, that maybe for future rounds there could be some guidelines as to what gets posted as a conditional rule for any given round. I personally think that circumventing any rule is subjective to a judge giving elegance penalties (or whatever category) for the purposes of handling whatever comes up, and therefor doesn't need a broad or specific ruling, but that could also just be my opinion. For this discussion point, please be as specific as possible so that the conversation isn't open to interpretation as to what you mean. Would the playground like to add this option into future rounds, or remove the add special ability (or other like) options from the pool of available allowable content?

2. On the issue of build snapshots. In the regular IC, you provide snapshots at levels 5,10,15 and 20 as well as a sweet spot. In JYW, you have the option of which point to provide a snapshot as well as the sweet spot. e6 doesn't have this problem obviously. VC traditionally has been one of these points AND a sweet spot. I've always tried to just do a write up from whichever point is creation, as well as all points moving forward from there. As long as you are doing at least 1 of those points AND a sweet spot, you are within the rules set forth in the OP in any given round. More is better, but isn't required.

3. At least one of the answers I posted to a question was taken out of context (but kudos to the Virus, it's nice to be the brunt of a well thought out joke). Plus, as is already apparent in the new round, I apparently have to be super specific about answering publicly posted questions, or clarifying things as I'm not afforded that same brevity in return. I will try to be more clear and concise when posting anything to these threads in the future to prevent the same misinterpretations moving forward.

4. I had an issue with a build that I felt directly violated the restrictions set forth in this round. While i was attempting to figure out the best course of action to address it, a judging was posted. I did PM another competition's Chair and ask about the moral issue of directly DQ'ing a build. However, as there was already a judgement posted, and another judgement to come, I chose not to post about it, nor PM the judges about it. I'd like a consensus on what should be the proper path to take in the future should the same thing arise. Do you not post the build? I unfortunately did not have time to review things before posting this time as RL kept me quite busy. Do you post that the build is illegal before or during judging? Do you PM the judge about it, or see if they catch the issue themselves?

in discussing these points, and others should they arise, please first list and BOLD which point you are talking about, so that everyone can follow along on the timeline as to what is being discussed.

thanks.

Doctor Awkward

2018-05-27, 12:44 PM

On the subject of the Contest Chairperson:

In my opinion, the role of the chair is to be the primary organizer for the competition and the master of ceremonies. They should be announcing the existence of the contest, the limits on material that is permitted, the nature of the secret ingredient, setting the dates for when entries must be submitted, and acting as the middleman for the purposes of anonymously posting the contest entries and judgement disputes.

Checking for contestant eligibility has, to my knowledge, never been the purview of the contest chair. I don't think it should be either. It should be the role of the judge to review the material presented for eligibility. And judges should always be permitted to keep their own counsel and subject entries to their individual rules interpretations (and the nature of the secret ingredient as outline by the chair).

PrismCat21

2018-05-27, 02:43 PM

1.

The judge stated that the rule linked to add a special ability was for DM's to use. It's always been my view that in this competition specifically, the chef IS the DM for clarity's sake. We're building villains here, that are opposed by the PC's, as reflected by using CR instead of ECL as our build metric. I suppose on this point, that maybe for future rounds there could be some guidelines as to what gets posted as a conditional rule for any given round.
DM's working within restrictions.
The main problem is that there isn't a hard rule about adding special abilities in the Monster Manual. It gives guidelines and suggestions, and is treated similarly to Associated and Non-associated Class Levels.
The exact same ability could be added to 3 different creatures of the same CR, and each increase that CR by a different amount.
Extreme example: Tremorsense. A blind earthbound creature would rely almost exclusively on this ability to locate other creatures. Something with Blindsight makes Tremorsense largely redundant, though still situationally useful. Creatures that spend the majority of their time flying may hardly ever use it at all as they're spending their time not in contact with the ground.
The first creature may warrant an increase of +2 CR
The second and third would likely only be a +1 or +0.

- Incorporeal creatures would have no use for it at all.

Another issue would arise when a creature took a special ability that did very little for him, if anything at all, but then later in his build could drastically effect him. When he took it, it cost nothing. 5 levels later it makes him twice as dangerous.
It could even be used just as a prerequisite for something that the creature normally wouldn't be able to take.

One chef PM'd me a rules question to a build. I answered that question. In my experience as a chef/judge in this and other comps, I have PM'd the various chairs multiple times on rules questions and none of those or their answers were ever posted in the various threads. I saw no reason to break from that and post the answer to this question this time. As it turns out, that was taken as somewhat offensive to both a judge and another competitor.
The ability wasn't granted to the creature by any source; template, class, feat, ect... It was gained from out of nowhere.
The Villain that asked for it accepted a +2 increase in CR. That increase seemed reasonable for that kind of creature.
The other Villain gained two special abilities for the same price, but did not have special permission.
Both made the playing field uneven for the other contestants

Would the playground like to add this option into future rounds, or remove the add special ability (or other like) options from the pool of available allowable content?
I wouldn't have much of a problem with it being allowed if we had some hard rules for it. The best I can think of if it's allowed, is treating it like Associated/Non-associated Class Levels. The reason that all class levels are to be added on as associated class levels is to maintain an even playing field, and prevent potential abuse from someone gaining twice as many class levels as everyone else.

A list would need to be made describing what each ability/feature, and combinations of abilities/features, would cost.
I personally believe they shouldn't be allowed at all. It's much less of a headache and would be easier all around. If they are then we need restrictions.

- At the very least, I'd suggest not allowing abilities that are directly part of the theme for the round to by applied.
Using Round Sixteen: Burn, Baby, Burn as an example. One of the requirements was to have the Fire subtype. If all you needed to do was pay +1 or 2 CR to gain the Fire subtype, you could just make any kind of character you want, slap on the Fire subtype, and call it done.
A big part of the fun and interest for everyone is in seeing how people meet the requirements.

2.
That's exactly how I see it.

3.
Clear and concise is good. - The meaning of the round was obvious. The issue came when you gave an additional definition that wasn't needed and could be taken out of context.
If it wasn't for that extra definition I may have deducted Elegance a bit from The Virus. - The Virus was fun and that's what this contest is meant to be, even when I don't agree with the concept some contestants come up with :elan:

4.
Tonymitsu said everything that needs be said I think.

Thurbane

2018-05-27, 04:50 PM

Checking for contestant eligibility has, to my knowledge, never been the purview of the contest chair. I don't think it should be either. It should be the role of the judge to review the material presented for eligibility. And judges should always be permitted to keep their own counsel and subject entries to their individual rules interpretations (and the nature of the secret ingredient as outline by the chair).

Agree completely. The number of "is this legal" or "how could I improve this?" type questions I used to get prompted me, when I was chair, to create a second post as a matter of course after the OP:

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

GrayDeath

2018-05-28, 12:31 AM

1. One chef PM'd me a rules question to a build. I answered that question. In my experience as a chef/judge in this and other comps, I have PM'd the various chairs multiple times on rules questions and none of those or their answers were ever posted in the various threads. I saw no reason to break from that and post the answer to this question this time. As it turns out, that was taken as somewhat offensive to both a judge and another competitor. The judge stated that the rule linked to add a special ability was for DM's to use. It's always been my view that in this competition specifically, the chef IS the DM for clarity's sake. We're building villains here, that are opposed by the PC's, as reflected by using CR instead of ECL as our build metric. I suppose on this point, that maybe for future rounds there could be some guidelines as to what gets posted as a conditional rule for any given round. I personally think that circumventing any rule is subjective to a judge giving elegance penalties (or whatever category) for the purposes of handling whatever comes up, and therefor doesn't need a broad or specific ruling, but that could also just be my opinion. For this discussion point, please be as specific as possible so that the conversation isn't open to interpretation as to what you mean. Would the playground like to add this option into future rounds, or remove the add special ability (or other like) options from the pool of available allowable content?

That will likely help prevent misunderstandings due to unclear legality of material, yes.

On the specific case, I would simply say that the following 2 hard rules should be in place:

1.: Add Special Ability can only be used while also aquiring a template OR granting a Special ability other members of the race can have (say giving a specific Dragon an ability possessed by other Dragons)
and
2.: Should always add +1 CR unless very powerful (Judges decision).

But thats just my opinion. ^^

2. On the issue of build snapshots. In the regular IC, you provide snapshots at levels 5,10,15 and 20 as well as a sweet spot. In JYW, you have the option of which point to provide a snapshot as well as the sweet spot. e6 doesn't have this problem obviously. VC traditionally has been one of these points AND a sweet spot. I've always tried to just do a write up from whichever point is creation, as well as all points moving forward from there. As long as you are doing at least 1 of those points AND a sweet spot, you are within the rules set forth in the OP in any given round. More is better, but isn't required.

Agree completely.

[QUOTE=jdizzlean;23103659]
4. I had an issue with a build that I felt directly violated the restrictions set forth in this round. While i was attempting to figure out the best course of action to address it, a judging was posted. I did PM another competition's Chair and ask about the moral issue of directly DQ'ing a build. However, as there was already a judgement posted, and another judgement to come, I chose not to post about it, nor PM the judges about it. I'd like a consensus on what should be the proper path to take in the future should the same thing arise. Do you not post the build? I unfortunately did not have time to review things before posting this time as RL kept me quite busy. Do you post that the build is illegal before or during judging? Do you PM the judge about it, or see if they catch the issue themselves?

in discussing these points, and others should they arise, please first list and BOLD which point you are talking about, so that everyone can follow along on the timeline as to what is being discussed.

thanks.

Unless it directly contradicts special restrictions posted for the specific round, which usually come from the chair, or it applies to one of the Core "NoGoes", in which case I could see asking the chair even as judge myself, I would say its all up to the judges.
Its neverthe JOB of the Chair, mind, but having a completely impartial arbited in that specific cases that decide about legality or not, it might help.

All other judgings should be made by the judges alone.