Villainous Competition XXVIII Bad Things Come in Small Packages [Archive]

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jdizzlean

2018-07-29, 08:23 PM

Welcome to Round 28 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!)
Round Twenty-Six: Get In MY BELLY (Swallow Whole) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556705-Villainous-Competition-XXVI-Swallow-Whole!)
Round Twenty-Seven: Multiple Personality Disorder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559748-Villainous-Competition-XXVII-Multiple-Personality-Disorder)

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 23:59 GMT Saturday August 18th to create their builds and PM them to the Supreme Chancellor. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 23:59 GMT Saturday Sep 18th 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.[/SPOILER]
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:

It’s not the size that counts!
Tiny ONLY!!

Limitations

can never have a size larger than Tiny (Dimunitive, Fine, these things are also ok to be)
For THIS ROUND, you can ignore size increases from HD
CR increases from the size increase you are ignoring, will still take effect as normal
For THIS ROUND, psionics are banned

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

Entry
Competitor
Field 1
Field 2
GrayDeath Score
Final Score

The Shiv (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314581&postcount=94)
JyP

12.5
-

Tom (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314584&postcount=95)
Falontani

16
-

Zahasehsh the Tiny (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314586&postcount=96)
Sejoran

17
SILVER

Lind Loheen (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314588&postcount=97)
LionHeart

15
-

Frost (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314598&postcount=98)wrym (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314602&postcount=99)
Falontani

12.25
-

Zughor, Hand of Baalzebul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314603&postcount=100)
Thurbane

16.5
BRONZE

Ma'kee the Littlest Giant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314607&postcount=101)
WhamBamSam

17.5
GOLD

The Meerking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314608&postcount=102)
Sian

14.5
-

Krogfur the Everhealing (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314612&postcount=103)
Sejoran

15.25
HM

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

PM: Jdizzlean
Subject: Villainous Competition 28, 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 28 Questions in the header.

Tips for submitting your entry, provided by Weaselguy:

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

As always: let's keep it nice.

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

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

2018-07-29, 08:24 PM

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.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4wPC0LKFUmU/VYQ0D6MAzdI/AAAAAAAAR-c/m5LQH01QFEQ/s1600/_MG_5531.JPG

Everyone, have fun!

ben-zayb

2018-07-29, 08:35 PM

Well, this is interesting. Funny because just a few days ago, I was thinking if I could find a mechanical backbone for a specific type of gimmick character that would certainly be fitting here. I'm yet to find one, though.

Venger

2018-07-29, 08:40 PM

interesting. i'm in.

The Viscount

2018-07-29, 08:44 PM

Well well well. I'll certainly have my eye on this one.

Thurbane

2018-07-29, 08:45 PM

Interesting theme.

I'll see what i can come up with.

I have a round specific question, but not sure whether to post publically or not...

zlefin

2018-07-29, 09:01 PM

how does the CR work when you apply a template to a creature with less than 1 cr?
i.e. if you apply a +2 cr template to a 1/3 cr creature, where do you end up?

Venger

2018-07-29, 09:04 PM

how does the CR work when you apply a template to a creature with less than 1 cr?
i.e. if you apply a +2 cr template to a 1/3 cr creature, where do you end up?

then you're at 2 1/3.

NontheistCleric

2018-07-29, 09:09 PM

I'm just wondering, what is the rationale behind banning psionics? Is it because of powers like Compression?

then you're at 2 1/3.

I contend that you would end up with CR 1. Goblin and kobold NPC-class mechanics prove that fractional CR are treated as whole numbers for the purposes of the system.

unseenmage

2018-07-29, 09:52 PM

Too bad this isn't for PF, there's a itty bitty troublemaker I've been itching to write up.

jdizzlean

2018-07-29, 09:58 PM

i have amended somewhat the limitations to include specificity that it is ok to be fine/diminutive, this of course still means that you can't ever be larger than tiny.

psionics was removed in part because of the ludicrousness of emulating The Virus from a previous round.

a question was raised as to whether slight build would qualify as Tiny. My interpretation is that it doesn't actually change your size to tiny, it just gives you the beneficial effects of that size when it's convenient. Using Slight Build to qualify should incur a large Elegance penalty, but that of course would be up to the individual judge's discretion.

and on fractional CR's. unless your racial choice is a whole number, it is to be treated as 1 to which any applications then raise it. in the above example, if you are CR 1/3, you will treat that as CR 1 and go from there. (1 1/3 would be CR 2, etc)

NontheistCleric

2018-07-29, 10:19 PM

and on fractional CR's. unless your racial choice is a whole number, it is to be treated as 1 to which any applications then raise it. in the above example, if you are CR 1/3, you will treat that as CR 1 and go from there. (1 1/3 would be CR 2, etc)

Is that in the game rules, or a Chairman ruling? I don't recall fractional CR working that way. In fact, your example isn't even internally consistent. If it really worked that way, +2 CR to CR 1/3 would make CR 3.

jdizzlean

2018-07-29, 10:24 PM

it's a chair ruling. we don't deal w/ fractional rules in any other way, so why would we use them for races given that this round basically might force you to have a fractional cr rating at creation which you could exploit to apply a +1 template essentially for free in order to bring your race up to cr 1 from which to build off of.

NontheistCleric

2018-07-29, 10:32 PM

Well, I would say that it's not that we don't deal with fractional rules, but rather that they rarely come up. If it's a Chair ruling then that's all good, though.

Using that ruling would still make the example in your post CR 3, though, not 2.

PrismCat21

2018-07-30, 12:12 AM

For THIS ROUND, you can ignore size increases from HD
CR increases from the size increase you are ignoring, will still take effect as normal
So we can choose to not take the increase in size from HD. That means we wouldn't get any of the benefits from it, but it will still increase our CR as if we got some sort of benefit from it?
We'd be paying for something whether we get it or not. Is this intentional?

For THIS ROUND, psionics are banned

psionics was removed in part because of the ludicrousness of emulating The Virus from a previous round.
If the issue is with the creature that made it possible, the Puppeteer, then just say no Puppeteers.
It's overkill to ban an entire system because you don't want to see a certain monster.
What were the other reasons?

You might want to get rid of the big bold 'Tiny ONLY!!!', since smaller sizes are actually allowed.
It will confuse people.

Falontani

2018-07-30, 12:35 AM

[Redacted]

jdizzlean

2018-07-30, 01:24 AM

So we can choose to not take the increase in size from HD. That means we wouldn't get any of the benefits from it, but it will still increase our CR as if we got some sort of benefit from it?
We'd be paying for something whether we get it or not. Is this intentional?

Yes. you have to figure that into your build and make it work.

If the issue is with the creature that made it possible, the Puppeteer, then just say no Puppeteers.
It's overkill to ban an entire system because you don't want to see a certain monster.
What were the other reasons?

there are several, but in the interest of not having yet another 2+ page diatribe (and 52 revisions to the OP) about clarifying one aspect of the rounds limitations and the reasoning behind it, i'm afraid that i'm simply going to say "because".

You might want to get rid of the big bold 'Tiny ONLY!!!', since smaller sizes are actually allowed.
It will confuse people.

it's clarified in the limitations, again, I don't see the need to constantly redefine the OP.

SNIP

please refrain from speculating about build ideas. If you have specific questions, please PM them to me or another board member, or use the RAW threads to get clarification :)

---------
((apologies to anyone that reads this or the other posts as instigating. I'm still only operating at about 70%, and that will continue for quite awhile unfortunately. Clearly this affects my outlook on things. I try to reread things before posting, but while it may not seem inflammatory to me, that doesn't mean it isn't going to be taken that way :( ))

NontheistCleric

2018-07-30, 07:16 AM

((apologies to anyone that reads this or the other posts as instigating. I'm still only operating at about 70%, and that will continue for quite awhile unfortunately. Clearly this affects my outlook on things. I try to reread things before posting, but while it may not seem inflammatory to me, that doesn't mean it isn't going to be taken that way :( ))

Don't worry about it. The Chairman always has to be somewhat strict and decisive, as we can see from previous rounds, and no one is about to blame you for being ill.

zlefin

2018-07-30, 07:33 AM

sending it via pm per request;
though imho it should really more be a thread question since it's about rules and it makes more sense to let everyone know.

Venger

2018-07-30, 08:37 AM

zlefin, please pm questions like that to jdizzlean, this is speculation.

Thurbane

2018-07-30, 02:35 PM

jdizzlean

2018-07-30, 06:41 PM

Another question related to advancement/fractional CR: if a creature advance by CR +1 per X HD, what happens if the max HD would result in a partial CR. For instance, a hypothetical creature increases by CR +1 per 4 HD; it has 4 HD and it's max racial HD is 6. You add +2 RHD: do you add +1 CR, or is it rounded down to CR +0? I believe RAW leans towards rounding down, but I'd like to be sure.

let's see if i'm reading that right.

creature advances CR based on 1 for every 4HD.
you take creature to max HD which is 6
you add 2HD to total it to 8HD

if so, then you've met the thresh hold to take an additional CR of 1

i suppose if you could make a good enough argument that once you've attained max HD in a creature, that the thresh hold would reset, but that would be between you and the judge to figure out.

if you're going to 6HD in this or even 7HD in this, I don't think the fractionality of it would come into play based on your example.

Thurbane

2018-07-30, 07:16 PM

I guess the crux of my question is this: if a creature is +1 CR per 4 RHD added (as for Undead etc.), and you only add 2 RHD (maximum allowed in advancement), does that bump up the CR or not?

jdizzlean

2018-07-30, 08:13 PM

I guess the crux of my question is this: if a creature is +1 CR per 4 RHD added (as for Undead etc.), and you only add 2 RHD (maximum allowed in advancement), does that bump up the CR or not?

in that case, no cr change

liquidformat

2018-07-30, 08:47 PM

I think I might try my hand at this after stocking some of the back competitions it seems pretty cool. My first idea is already shot, silly vargouille how is a creature supposed to be the size of a human head small.... On to the next idea!

NontheistCleric

2018-07-30, 10:09 PM

You're not supposed to talk about potential build ideas until after the reveal, liquidformat. Even if you scrapped a particular idea, someone may be doing something similar.

liquidformat

2018-07-30, 10:47 PM

You're not supposed to talk about potential build ideas until after the reveal, liquidformat. Even if you scrapped a particular idea, someone may be doing something similar.

oops my bad, will keep my lips sealed.

White Blade

2018-07-30, 11:04 PM

jdizzlean

2018-07-30, 11:32 PM

If I sub in a class for HD, do I get some CR back from that, or am I still paying for the full thing?

So, say, I have Dragon 1HD/CR1 and I plug in a level of Sorcerer instead, does that increase my CR to CR2?

no, each class level is +1 CR rating in this competition, so you can't sub a class level in place of a racial HD for free

Sejoran

2018-07-31, 12:23 AM

Hmm i might actually do more in this competition. Tiny or smaller is quite a limitation, but ive got a few ideas...

GrayDeath

2018-07-31, 06:40 AM

Hmmmmm, this is intruiging.

But its soo hot over here that I dont think I`ll get the energy to do it....ah well, might or might not submit.

Lionheart

2018-07-31, 09:24 AM

I skipped the last contest due to not having a good idea to work with. I think I've worked out a shape to start from with this one.

Very much looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up wit.

BioCharge

2018-07-31, 09:01 PM

zlefin

2018-07-31, 09:10 PM

daremetoidareyo

2018-07-31, 09:32 PM

I want to make a build, but it's hard to do when the rules are unclear. I don't want to make a build only to get randomly and arbitrarily punished on scoring by judges who don't like the rules I used when I was not allowed to get a ruling to follow in the first place. it's also not so fair for the competition that different people could use different interpretations for the same question.

That's just the territory bro. Judges vary in quality and philosophical bent as well as mood. At some level you have to just take a risk.

Elegance is only like a quarter of your score anyway. Just make up for it in power and originality. Min/max with us brutha

Falontani

2018-07-31, 09:40 PM

I've got a quandary; I've spoken to the chair, and some builds I'm considering depend on something for which there is no RAW answer. and apparently the chair is not empowered to make rulings on what to do about such cases (or at least not for this one). and yet people say not to mention it in thread so as to not interfere with others' build ideas/speculation rule.
do we just discuss it anyways and come to a thread consensus?
let it die?
something else?

I want to make a build, but it's hard to do when the rules are unclear. I don't want to make a build only to get randomly and arbitrarily punished on scoring by judges who don't like the rules I used when I was not allowed to get a ruling to follow in the first place. it's also not so fair for the competition that different people could use different interpretations for the same question.

When that happens do your best, if it is really such a crux that it will make or break the build I would message one of the Titans, while they sometimes judge they are usually able to help out and remain impartial. Heliomance, Inevitability, and Thurbane are my usual go to people, however UrPriest when active is an excellent person to ask! They will not be able to say exactly how it will be judged, but will most likely tell you how something similar was judged in the past, or how they expect it would be judged, however that is an opinion garnered by experience, and I have seen them surprised in the past! I would say to ask Venger, however Venger is usually heavily involved in all of these competitions either as a competitor or as a judge.

jdizzlean

2018-07-31, 10:18 PM

I thought I answered your question, as much as it can be answered. It is unfortunate that I can't just give you a hard and fast "this is what it is". After the reveal for this round while we await judging, we can have a discussion and possibly come to a houserule agreement to standardize an answer to your issue (to be used in future rounds), but I'm loathe to have it ahead of time as it technically counts as speculation.

I also regularly message 1-2 other board members for clarifications on rules whether they be RAW or RAI, and will also use the RAW thread when I'm feeling impatient (which, let's face it, is most of the time :P )

Judging is so much personal preference anyways, which is why there is a dispute process. Just do your build w/ what you think is the proper procedure and go from there. The unfortunate downside of a game like this is that there are a million ways to look at the same rules, and by and large they are all correct depending on who is doing the looking..

jdizzlean

2018-07-31, 10:28 PM

I'm intrigued by this round, and I have a sort of idea to try out. I don't know if its a question that can be answered here and it's probably been answered in a previous round, but I don't want to sort through them all:

If a creature has an advancement line of "--" but is still intelligent like, for example, a Visilight, would it still be able to take class levels for the purpose of this competition, or are they still not allowed to, and thus effectively disqualified?

the biggest thing to remember for VC is that you are building a monster, or maybe the BBEG of a campaign. when an entry has -- for advancement/LA, it means its not suitable for a PC to play it. But for the purposes of this comp, you aren't a PC, but essentially the GM. in your example, the visilight has a CR of 5, which means you could use it at that starting point and then apply all the things to it to turn it into a build if you so chose.

Thurbane

2018-07-31, 10:32 PM

BioCharge

2018-08-01, 02:09 AM

the biggest thing to remember for VC is that you are building a monster, or maybe the BBEG of a campaign. when an entry has -- for advancement/LA, it means its not suitable for a PC to play it. But for the purposes of this comp, you aren't a PC, but essentially the GM. in your example, the visilight has a CR of 5, which means you could use it at that starting point and then apply all the things to it to turn it into a build if you so chose.

Awesome! That's what I figured, but I wanted to ask and make sure. First time I've ever actually done one of these (but have been following for a while). Now, to start the building.

zlefin

2018-08-01, 09:55 AM

If you've already run your query by the chair, I'd suggest submitting the entry, and letting the judges make their ruling on it...

the thing is, for me (i'm very neurotic), it's very painful if I do all the work of making an entry, then get penalized for something that is 100% not my fault.
I also can't even write up the build properly without a ruling.

I think there should be a rule that allows the chair to make rulings on unclear RAW issues, so that people can then make entries knowing they've complied with them, and without variation of different people using different rulings on the same thing.
While I understand the anti-speculation rule, it seems unfair that it can prevent people from getting clarification on how to handle something.

NontheistCleric

2018-08-01, 10:17 AM

I think there should be a rule that allows the chair to make rulings on unclear RAW issues, so that people can then make entries knowing they've complied with them, and without variation of different people using different rulings on the same thing.
While I understand the anti-speculation rule, it seems unfair that it can prevent people from getting clarification on how to handle something.

Unjust, perhaps, but not unfair. Everyone suffers from exactly the same uncertainty should they choose to so something RAW-ambiguous.

Besides, the Chair already has the effective power to make rulings, even if it's not officially acknowledged. One was just made last page. It is, however, the Chair's prerogative to refuse to make rulings for whatever reason they see fit.

zlefin

2018-08-01, 10:32 AM

Unjust, perhaps, but not unfair. Everyone suffers from exactly the same uncertainty should they choose to so something RAW-ambiguous.

Besides, the Chair already has the effective power to make rulings, even if it's not officially acknowledged. One was just made last page. It is, however, the Chair's prerogative to refuse to make rulings for whatever reason they see fit.

something that is unjust IS unfair. by definition.

and your second part fails to address my substantive points adequately. it does not address the problem.

WhamBamSam

2018-08-01, 10:41 AM

I have a vague mostly joke idea, but I might hammer it out after finishing my IC build.

NontheistCleric

2018-08-01, 10:53 AM

something that is unjust IS unfair. by definition.

and your second part fails to address my substantive points adequately. it does not address the problem.

Maybe I could have chosen my words better, but what I meant by unjust was that maybe, yes, we should be entitled to Chair rulings on those matters you mentioned, although do not claim to know whether or not this is actually the case. However, it is definitely fair, because the Chair does not give one person who requests such a ruling the ruling and refuse another. Both are equally in the dark, so the system is fair in that respect.

By the second part, I mean to say that the Chair already has the power to make rulings, so a rule to give them that power would be useless. It's just that in this case, they don't want to make the ruling.

zlefin

2018-08-01, 11:01 AM

Maybe I could have chosen my words better, but what I meant by unjust was that maybe, yes, we should be entitled to Chair rulings on those matters you mentioned, although do not claim to know whether or not this is actually the case. However, it is definitely fair, because the Chair does not give one person who requests such a ruling the ruling and refuse another. Both are equally in the dark, so the system is fair in that respect.

By the second part, I mean to say that the Chair already has the power to make rulings, so a rule to give them that power would be useless. It's just that in this case, they don't want to make the ruling.

that does nothing to address my point of WHY its unfair. taht's jsut using fallacy of equivocation (iirc the names) to use a different aspect of fair to make your point, which is not relevant to the case. it's not helpful arguing at all. i.e. you argue it's fair in one sense, but that's not the sense in which I was claiming it was unfair.

if the chair refuses to make a ruling, and it's not allowed to discussin the thread to make a thread ruling, then i'm prohibited from entering the contest (and/or arbitrarily punished afterward for making a guess of my own) because there's a refusal to make a ruling.
I think the rules should allow people to get necessary clarifications for their builds. and right now the rules are prohibiting that.

GrayDeath

2018-08-01, 11:24 AM

Nothing prevents you from entering but your own fear.

Might sound harsh, but its the same for everyone. YOu find a concept, check it for legality, find something unclear, and enter enyway. Most of the time we have more than one judge, and hence personal opinion will even out.

But, without knowing your specific problem, as a guy who rather often judges entries, let me tell you how I see potential RAW Interpretation problems:

Case1: RAW is unclear by a rather small degree. In that case I almost always interprete it in favour of the Creator, ergo with leniency.

Case 2: RAW is readable in exactly 2, very contrary, ways. In that case I see which one I would follow, and if its not the same as the Creators, apply an average penalty, after all, the contestant could not have known how the Judge would interprete it.

Case 3: RAW has a mostly "fitting" and a Clearly only "Strictly RAW POWER" Interpretation. In that cas eI always go for the first and strongly penalize the second.

Now I cant (and dont want to ^^) speak for all Judges, but maybe this will help you to decide if you`ll go with your original idea, or try something less potentially controversal.

Closing word: even if you get "shot down" in Elegance, as long as its not against clearly stated Competition Rules, the worst that can happen is getting only 1 point for Elegance (and to go that low it must have other problems than the interpretation of ONE RAW point, for me at least), so if the rest of your build are good to great, you still have chances of placing higher than my oftentimes very elegant but not really powerful/weird builds. ^^

Edited for Typoness^^

daremetoidareyo

2018-08-01, 11:34 AM

that does nothing to address my point of WHY its unfair. taht's jsut using fallacy of equivocation (iirc the names) to use a different aspect of fair to make your point, which is not relevant to the case. it's not helpful arguing at all. i.e. you argue it's fair in one sense, but that's not the sense in which I was claiming it was unfair.

if the chair refuses to make a ruling, and it's not allowed to discussin the thread to make a thread ruling, then i'm prohibited from entering the contest (and/or arbitrarily punished afterward for making a guess of my own) because there's a refusal to make a ruling.
I think the rules should allow people to get necessary clarifications for their builds. and right now the rules are prohibiting that.

But that position removes fairness for the judges autonomy. Not necessarily, just possibly.

I understand the risk aversion (theoretically) but every contestant has the same unknowns. Setting a precedent of demanding that judges abide by legality of certain build elements is problematic. At some level, the judges do represent an evaluation of tabletop readiness at a generic table for a specific build. Hamstringing the judge to be dragonwrought friendly, or size stacking compliant or whatever, deviates the judgement away from the median table value. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of variance between judges, so the individual comps will wiggle a bit in their value as a measure of generalized tableplay quality, but that is why we typically try to get more than a single judge.

Some of my proudest builds have been takers of last place. I typically do pretty terrible in the villainous competition. I think that's because I like fiddly mechanics that produce game glitches. Anyway, for me, the fun isnt in taking the medal, it's building the critter and receiving feedback on my ideas.

If it's risk aversion that is stopping you, I don't know if it's appropriate to poke at the system and claim that it's unfair and unjust, especially a system of random volunteer judges of highly variable game mastery, especially if some people get clarity that would ensconced their build ideas as 'safe' by official decree. In this manner, non pre-confirmed builds would be at a disadvantage, and a really fierce competitor would hammer on the confirmed admissibility of their build in disputes if the judge still thought the build characteristics were inelegant.

zlefin

2018-08-01, 11:45 AM

that doesn't address the problem of being prohibited from taking it to the thread to try to get a thread decision on what the rule should be. I'm actively barred from getting feedback on ambiguous RAW.
maybe i'll just pull out; this is getting quite stressful, and there's a few people in the thread who're being rude and making it unpleasant to be around. and people don't seem to care that much about running the contest properly anyways. and it isn't the first time i've had problems like this from this contest.

daremetoidareyo

2018-08-01, 11:55 AM

PrismCat21

2018-08-01, 11:58 AM

no, each class level is +1 CR rating in this competition, so you can't sub a class level in place of a racial HD for free

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.

The answer changes depending on if the creature has 1HD, or more than 1HD.

The question was about a 1HD creature.

and there's a few people in the thread who're being rude and making it unpleasant to be around.
...
and people don't seem to care that much about running the contest properly anyways.

You're the only one I've seen so far that has outright been rude to people and unpleasant all around.
Wouldn't it be 'unfair' to everyone else to suddenly change the processes of running the contest to fit your personal definition of 'proper'?

I believe it's best if people are nice to one another, but if you can't at least be respectful to others, it'd probably be best if you did pull out.
Find something else that you'll enjoy where you won't have to worry about other people's opinions.

NontheistCleric

2018-08-01, 12:26 PM

that does nothing to address my point of WHY its unfair. taht's jsut using fallacy of equivocation (iirc the names) to use a different aspect of fair to make your point, which is not relevant to the case. it's not helpful arguing at all. i.e. you argue it's fair in one sense, but that's not the sense in which I was claiming it was unfair.

I wasn't trying to address the fact that it's unfair. That was just me explaining what I meant by 'unjust', which I used because I felt it was a better expression of what you might have been trying to say than unfair. My point was that the rule is not unfair, but if you feel that the rule itself is wrong in its rationale in some way and thus another rule should be implemented to allow the Chair to make rulings, that rule is actually not necessary because the Chair can already do that. They just may choose not to.

that doesn't address the problem of being prohibited from taking it to the thread to try to get a thread decision on what the rule should be. I'm actively barred from getting feedback on ambiguous RAW.
maybe i'll just pull out; this is getting quite stressful, and there's a few people in the thread who're being rude and making it unpleasant to be around. and people don't seem to care that much about running the contest properly anyways. and it isn't the first time i've had problems like this from this contest.

Ambiguous RAW is just something that anyone who uses it has to deal with, though. In this competition, the only person other than the judge whose take on ambiguous RAW matters is the Chair, and if they choose not to rule on it, they have a right to. It was already a given that you couldn't post in the thread about it. Why not just take your chance with the ambiguous RAW?

jdizzlean

2018-08-01, 04:34 PM

By the second part, I mean to say that the Chair already has the power to make rulings, so a rule to give them that power would be useless. It's just that in this case, they don't want to make the ruling.

To clear this up, i was given a vague example and asked what to do about it. I provided two separate but equally valid examples of a correct answer, as well as pointed to other resources/people to use to get further clarification. After some of the posts/PM's from me from the past few rounds that have been used as RULES in build explanations, I have taken to clarifying that its in the hands of the judges regardless of what my personal lean on something would be. If i ever don't say that in a public post, then it can be taken as a round specific rule, but i am increasingly loathe to do that as that essentially constitutes a late game amendment to the rounds limitations that someone might miss because they are busy building, and not reading the relevant thread.

Some of my proudest builds have been takers of last place. I typically do pretty terrible in the villainous competition. I think that's because I like fiddly mechanics that produce game glitches. Anyway, for me, the fun isnt in taking the medal, it's building the critter and receiving feedback on my ideas.

If it's risk aversion that is stopping you, I don't know if it's appropriate to poke at the system and claim that it's unfair and unjust, especially a system of random volunteer judges of highly variable game mastery, especially if some people get clarity that would ensconced their build ideas as 'safe' by official decree. In this manner, non pre-confirmed builds would be at a disadvantage, and a really fierce competitor would hammer on the confirmed admissibility of their build in disputes if the judge still thought the build characteristics were inelegant.

In the event that a ruling is requested that i feel would benefit the entire competition, an amendment is made, such as in clarifying that it's ok to be smaller than tiny for this round. Otherwise, a specific ruling will not be made for a specific build, that is up to you to clarify in your build and to make a convincing argument for to the judge. Whichever way it falls after that is just going to happen. everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has to opportunity to have their own opinion about it.

that doesn't address the problem of being prohibited from taking it to the thread to try to get a thread decision on what the rule should be. I'm actively barred from getting feedback on ambiguous RAW.
maybe i'll just pull out; this is getting quite stressful, and there's a few people in the thread who're being rude and making it unpleasant to be around. and people don't seem to care that much about running the contest properly anyways. and it isn't the first time i've had problems like this from this contest.

you've been told you can PM various board members beyond a given comp's chair for clarification. you've been told you can goto the RAW thread, you've been given resources. here in this thread, pre-reveal is not the place for this discussion. If you want to persist in having it, we can have it, WITH SPECIFICS, after the reveal so as not to unduly influence anyone else's build either way. that is why we don't speculate..

as for running things properly, i happen to think w/ the exception of one small speed bump from a previous round that i'm doing ok (and that goes for every comp's chairman/woman on this board!). this is the internet, and you can't make everyone happy. If you can't find a way to be OK with it, this isn't for you, and I'm sorry for you. I rarely agree with judgements on my builds, and when i did judge rarely found true merit in disputes, but I find a common ground and move on. I'm just as proud as the next guy, and just as invested in whatever side of the proverbial table I happen to be on, but after all, this is just a "silly internet competition" with naught but a few colored pixels that determine the winners. If you aren't enough of a winner w/o one of these medals, you will never be enough of one with one.

I would encourage you to take a run as a judge as well, it is a great perspective change on the entire process after you've experienced that.

Thurbane

2018-08-01, 04:59 PM

End of the day, as a few people have said now, every competitor faces the same uncertainty when entering the competition.

There's been times when two judges have judged my builds completely differently, and I may felt felt one ruling overly harsh or outright incorrect. I replied with my dispute, and resolved it that way.

I've had two builds I was very proud of ruled illegal, and I was gutted - but at the end of the day, it's a "just for fun" internet competition. You either get back on the horse and try to do better next time, or you bow out and watch as a spectator.

I'll say it again: my advise is to make your entry based on your own interpretation of the relevant rules, and if you don't agree with the judging that follows, raise your disputes.

Braininthejar2

2018-08-02, 10:29 AM

Sadly, I have no time this time round. I have a twisted idea, but it remains to see if anyone else gets it.

JyP

2018-08-02, 04:56 PM

Build submitted ^^

Falontani

2018-08-02, 05:55 PM

Build submitted ^^

but we still have almost 3 weeks O.o

GrayDeath

2018-08-03, 12:18 AM

If thats really the final one, this might be a new record (never been chair, but given we usually have 3-5 submissions by the second to last day.....Oo.....)

Falontani

2018-08-03, 12:49 AM

Well I have mine mostly done, but I'm afraid of vizzini? And I'm not certain it's what I want

jdizzlean

2018-08-03, 01:02 AM

Well I have mine mostly done, but I'm afraid of vizzini? And I'm not certain it's what I want

Build submitted ^^

but we still have almost 3 weeks O.o

Plenty of time left to get a 2nd one in....

Lionheart

2018-08-03, 01:02 AM

I'm also mostly done, just needs a write up.

Sian

2018-08-03, 05:53 AM

Intriqued enough that i actually have half an idea, no clue if it’ll get longer than that but worth a try

Thurbane

2018-08-10, 04:50 AM

Sadly with my impending holiday, I only just had enough time to get my Iron Chef entry finalized and submitted.

I had the bones of a build for this, but couldn't commit the time to get it finished up.

Looking forward to see what people enter. :smallsmile:

Sejoran

2018-08-12, 12:55 PM

Just have to finish the formatting and i can submit mine. Might have enough time for a second entry.

GrayDeath

2018-08-12, 01:50 PM

Well, almost a week left and I am working on 2 entries!

SOmething HAS to go wrong now that I´ve said it ^^

jdizzlean

2018-08-13, 08:59 PM

5 days left to go, still just the 1 entry in the box, how's everyone doing?

GrayDeath

2018-08-14, 09:48 AM

Working on finalizing the entries mentioned above.

So far while its not gojng quickly, I have more free time this week than anticipated, so it should work with the deadline, methinks.

Falontani

2018-08-14, 11:40 AM

I need to format mine, and I won't be able to start the final draft until tomorrow. I will definitely try to finish it in time I have a wonderful [Redacted]

WhamBamSam

2018-08-14, 11:59 AM

Now that I've finished my IC build I might have time to hammer out the details of my idea.

GrayDeath

2018-08-16, 08:03 AM

And cursed it. Dang.

After today I`ll only have free time again starting sunday.

Can we have an extension unti tuesdayish at least, please? Would halp me a lot. :)

Thurbane

2018-08-16, 07:18 PM

Can we have an extension unti tuesdayish at least, please? Would halp me a lot. :)

If we did this, there's a chance I may get my entry in as well...

Sejoran

2018-08-16, 07:48 PM

Finally got mine in. Not sure if ill be able to do my second, if we had an extension im sure a lot of people could get their initial or secondary entry in. I dont like extensions but sometimes theyre needed.

jdizzlean

2018-08-16, 11:03 PM

Tuesday it is then, did a three week build time this go around, trying not to drag it out. here's your extension...

Lionheart

2018-08-17, 09:37 AM

Right, got my build in! Much less confident in this one than my last entry, but should be fun however it pans out.

GrayDeath

2018-08-17, 12:23 PM

Thanks! Meaning I have Modny and Tuesday (being ahead of american time helps at tiems^^) to finish up. THat SHOULD be enough.:smallcool:

Sian

2018-08-18, 06:35 AM

The extension means that i could probably get around making my build this weekend ...

jdizzlean

2018-08-19, 10:46 PM

just under 2 days left, 4 builds in the box..

that makes everyone a winner or HM at this point, how about some competition?

Thurbane

2018-08-19, 11:17 PM

just under 2 days left, 4 builds in the box..

that makes everyone a winner or HM at this point, how about some competition?

I'm furiously working on my entry.

First day back at work since my break, so I'm struggling a little.

Falontani

2018-08-20, 12:05 AM

just under 2 days left, 4 builds in the box..

that makes everyone a winner or HM at this point, how about some competition?
This makes me sad.

GrayDeath

2018-08-20, 10:43 AM

Sadly a combination of a tiring weekend and lots of work reduced my motivation (and time) quite a bit.

I MIGHT be able to get my further along one in (actually hes done except formatting and a bit of fluff, but formatting/Tables take LOONG, as does rechecking).
Or might not.

Sigh....:smallannoyed:

Sian

2018-08-20, 01:15 PM

Meh, I'm positive that I could probably find a stronger way to build my idea, but I'll just roll with what I have, making it look as nicely as possible

jdizzlean

2018-08-20, 08:15 PM

Thurbane

2018-08-20, 09:09 PM

jdizzlean

2018-08-20, 09:43 PM

Furiously working away, making good progress: mostly done, so should have it in by new deadline...

New deadline is 23:59 GMT Tuesday 22nd, yes? So, if my calculation are correct, that's just under 46 hours?

it's monday night right now, i was hoping to post tomorrow about this time, if you really need the extra day, i can post it wednesday at this time, which would be about 48 hours from now.

that's an additional 24 hours over the previous extension, making it almost a month for the build time on this round.

i base all my deadlines off of MST (Mountain Standard Time) not GMT, but i see how it still says GMT on the deadlines for this round oddly... (goes and fixes next round now..)

so sure, 48ish hours from now it is then due to chairman error :)

Thurbane

2018-08-20, 10:53 PM

it's monday night right now, i was hoping to post tomorrow about this time, if you really need the extra day, i can post it wednesday at this time, which would be about 48 hours from now.

that's an additional 24 hours over the previous extension, making it almost a month for the build time on this round.

i base all my deadlines off of MST (Mountain Standard Time) not GMT, but i see how it still says GMT on the deadlines for this round oddly... (goes and fixes next round now..)

so sure, 48ish hours from now it is then due to chairman error :)

No, I may have just been miscalculating the time zones, I shouldn't need extra time, just wanted to confirm how much time I had left. I don't want to hold things up: the entry is more-or-less finished, just wondered how much time I had to tidy it up.

I'm showing current GMT as 3:52 am Tuesday, 21 August 2018

jdizzlean

2018-08-20, 11:01 PM

No, I may have just been miscalculating the time zones, I shouldn't need extra time, just wanted to confirm how much time I had left. I don't want to hold things up: the entry is more-or-less finished, just wondered how much time I had to tidy it up.

I'm showing current GMT as 3:52 am Tuesday, 21 August 2018

at the time of your post, it is 2153 (9:53 pm) Monday Night, MST

so, 7 hours behind GMT

if no one else responds asking for the extra day, then I'll just post the reveal tomorrow night, otherwise we'll hold off the extra day if its needed to get another build in

WhamBamSam

2018-08-21, 01:07 AM

just under 2 days left, 4 builds in the box..

that makes everyone a winner or HM at this point, how about some competition?I got mine in, so there'll be at least 5.

GrayDeath

2018-08-21, 08:06 AM

Sorry, wont get it done till tonight, work work and such. But then again, only one concept was innovative(ish), and not terribly powerful at that, so yeah ^^

Sian

2018-08-21, 01:38 PM

Not entirely happy with my build, since I have that nagging feeling that there's something that could make it a lot better easily, but I just can't remember what, But submitted

Sejoran

2018-08-21, 04:32 PM

If you base your deadlines off of MST then i have more time than i thought for a second build, working on write up at the time of posting.

Thurbane

2018-08-21, 04:59 PM

If you base your deadlines off of MST then i have more time than i thought for a second build, working on write up as we speak.

Yeah, I was a bit thrown off by the reference to GMT in the OP.

All good anyway, in with some time to spare. Looking forward to the reveal. I'm expecting swarms of entries. :smalltongue:

Contestants will have until 23:59 GMT Saturday August 18th to create their builds and PM them to the Supreme Chancellor. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 23:59 GMT Saturday Sep 18th 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.

jdizzlean

2018-08-21, 08:55 PM

ok, 9 builds in and it sounds like Gray won't get it done, in a few hours when things slow down i'll post the reveal :)

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:02 AM

First off, i just thought of one hell of a doozy for an upcoming round, so I've got that going for me...

Reveal incoming, please hold responses until the all clear :)

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:04 AM

This is unorthodox in more ways than 1...

1. The Shiv

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qc1mn43n-uyForSCq8YOJ2RVB6j9x0Y9mj6MtQznrmY/edit

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:07 AM

the power of the house cat vs commoner is settled then is it?

2. Tom

Tom the Chaotic Evil Vampire Cat Fighter 4/Battle Dancer 2/Reaping Mauler 4/Marshal 3/Master Vampire 3/Lurking Terror 2

Stat

Base

Racial

Level Up

Template

Total

Strength

14

-8

16

+6

13

Dexterity

15

+4

4

+4

24

Constitution

12

+0

Set to -

-

Intelligence

8

(Ex Familiar, set to 13)

12

+2

16

Wisdom

10

+2

+2

14

Charisma

13

-4

8

+4

16

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

1

Fighter

+1

+2

+0

+0

Tumble +2, Escape Artist +2, Jump +4

Don’t Mind Me, Combat Expertise(FB), Weapon Finesse(B)

+8 Natural Armor, 21 Spell Resistance, Speak With Felines, Improved Evasion

2

Battle Dancer

+2

+2

+2

+0

Tumble +5, Escape Artist +4, Jump +4

AC Bonus, Unarmed Strike

3

Battle Dancer

+3

+2

+3

+0

Tumble +6, Escape Artist +5, Jump +6, Climb +1

Twining Trip

Dance of Reckless Bravery

4

Fighter

+4

+3

+3

+0

Tumble +7, Escape Artist +5, Jump +6, Climb +1

Improved Trip(FB)

5

Fighter

+5

+3

+4

+1

Tumble +8, Escape Artist +5, Jump +7, Climb +1

6

Fighter

+6

+4

+4

+1

Tumble +9, Escape Artist +5, Jump +8, Climb +1

Giantbane(FB), Clever Wrestling

7

Reaping Mauler

+7

+6

+6

+1

Tumble +10, Escape Artist +6, Jump +8, Climb +2

Improved Grapple(B), Mobility(B)

8

Reaping Mauler

+8

+7

+7

+1

Tumble +11, Escape Artist +7, Jump +8, Climb +3

Adept Wrestling +1

9

Reaping Mauler

+9

+7

+7

+2

Tumble +12, Escape Artist +8, Jump +8, Climb +4

Underfoot Combat

Counter Grapple, Sleeper Lock

10

Reaping Mauler

+10

+8

+8

+2

Tumble +13, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5

Adept Wrestling +2

12

Monstrous Vampire

+10

+8

+8

+2

Tumble +13, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5

Alertness(B), Combat Reflexes(B), Dodge(B), Improved Initiative(B), Lightning Reflexes(B)

Domination, Energy Drain, Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn, Alternate Form, DR 10/silver+magic, Fast Healing 5, Gaseous Form, Cold/Elec resist 10, Spider Climb, Natural Armor +6, Turn Resistance +4, +6 str, +4 dex, +2 int, +2 wis, +4 cha

13

Marshal

+10

+10

+8

+4

Tumble +14, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +5

Skill Focus Diplomacy(B)

Motivate Dexterity

14

Marshal

+11

+11

+8

+5

Tumble +15, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +10

Confound the Big Folk

Motivate Ardor

15

Marshal

+12

+11

+9

+5

Tumble +16, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +15

Motivate Strength

16

Master Vampire

+12

+13

+9

+7

Tumble +16, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +15, Hide +7

More Spawn, Turn Resistance

17

Master Vampire

+13

+14

+9

+8

Tumble +16, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +15, Hide +7, Move Silently +7

Weight Focus

Enhanced Spawn

18

Master Vampire

+13

+14

+10

+8

Tumble +16, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +12, Hide +9, Move Silently +10

Master’s Chosen

19

Lurking Terror

+13

+14

+10

+10

Tumble +16, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +15, Hide +13, Move Silently +13

Deathly Power

20

Lurking Terror

+14

+14

+10

+11

Tumble +16, Escape Artist +9, Jump +8, Climb +5, Handle Humanoid +15, Hide +13, Move Silently +13

Pebble Underfoot

Improved Darkvision

I have been a familiar for Tim for what feels like eons, however as per normal rules for a familiar, my lifespan has been lengthened considerably. To match his own lifespan. And Tim was a powerful sorcerer with demon blood running through his veins. So you know. He wasn’t gonna die. At least that’s what I thought! In a spur of the moment thing he decided to be the good guy, damn him. I had a nice gig goin for me! Now look at me, I’ll live for another couple thousand years, and I look…. Well like I did when I became his familiar. And ohhhh no he couldn’t pick me up when I was a mature cat, nope, I am a kitten. In appearance at least. But with naught but the fur on my back I have been cast off. The other “heroes” aren’t going to take a familiar in, nor are they going to give me what is rightfully mine. Nope Tim goes and becomes a martyr and I’m stuck here all by myself. Well I need to gain power, for myself now. And I’m not about to go and pick up a familiar of my own, no siree. So what path is there, but that of the warrior.

Tom
Size/Type: Tiny Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 3d10 plus 2d8+5 (37 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 25 (+8 Natural, +5 Dexterity, +2 Size), touch 17, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +5/-5
Attack: Unarmed Strike +12 (1d3-2)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +12 (1d2-2), Bite +7 (1d3-2), Unarmed Strike +7 (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2.5 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Trip, Twining Trip
Special Qualities: Low-Light Vision, Scent, Spell Resistance 21, Improved Evasion, Speak with Felines, AC Bonus, Dance of Reckless Bravery
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +9, Will +2
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 9
Skills: Tumble +13, Escape Artist +10, Jump +20, Climb +10, Hide +21, Move Silently +9, Balance +13
Feats: Don’t Mind Me, Combat Expertise(FB), Weapon Finesse(B), Twining Trip, Improved Trip(FB)

Don’t Mind Me: When Tom enters another creature’s square he does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Twining Trip (Ex): Tom may attempt a touch attack against an opponent, if successful then the two of them make opposing dexterity checks. Tom gets a +4 bonus from Improved Trip. If successful the opponent is tripped and Tom gets to make a free attack against them due to his Improved Trip feat.

When I fight them they think I must be a lion or something. Creatures are always afraid after I have held down a human to the point of exhaustion. They just don’t think it is possible for a cat to be able to do that. Yet I do. They fear me. Good.

Tom
Size/Type: Tiny Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 8d10 plus 2d8+10 (84 hp)
Initiative: +11
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 25 (+8 Natural, +5 Dexterity, +2 Size), touch 17, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+6
Attack: Unarmed Strike +17 (1d3-2)
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +17/+12 (1d3-2), 2 Claws +12 (1d2-2), Bite +12 (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2.5 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Trip, Twining Trip, Sleeper Lock
Special Qualities: Low-Light Vision, Scent, Spell Resistance 21, Improved Evasion, Speak with Felines, AC Bonus, Dance of Reckless Bravery, Adept Wrestling +2, Counter Grapple
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +13, Will +3
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 20, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Tumble +18, Escape Artist +14, Jump +21, Climb +14, Hide +21, Move Silently +9, Balance +13
Feats: Don’t Mind Me, Combat Expertise(FB), Weapon Finesse(B), Twining Trip, Improved Trip(FB), Giantbane(FB), Clever Wrestling, Improved Grapple(B), Mobility(B), Underfoot Combat

Don’t Mind Me: When Tom enters another creature’s square he does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Twining Trip (Ex): Tom may attempt a touch attack against an opponent, if successful then the two of them make opposing dexterity checks. Tom gets a +4 bonus from Improved Trip. If successful the opponent is tripped and Tom gets to make a free attack against them due to his Improved Trip feat.

Climb Aboard: Tom may attempt a climb check DC 10 as a free action when entering an opponent two size categories larger than Tom’s square, if successful the opponent gets a -4 penalty to attack Tom, and can try to shake Tom off by making an opposed grapple check against my climb check.

Underfoot Combat: When Tom is sharing a square with a creature at least 2 size categories larger than him he gains +4 AC (per soft cover) including against foes that share a square with Tom.

How could this happen?!? Let’s see. One day I was just taking out another human, per normal, except this human’s touch began draining my life energy. That was unexpected. Even more so when it bared fangs and began drinking my blood. Humans don’t drink blood! He just tossed me aside. I feel as used as a juice box. My head is spinning. Oh geez, I think I’m going to pass out…
What is this? I am alive? This night feels… good. But I’m hungry. Oh look a human. I think I’ll just…. Have a snack. I rip into him, and it just feels so… Good. I can feel his life energy entering me. I don’t know what that human did to me earlier, but I know now that I am changed. Changed for the better. As I lap up this human’s blood I will learn what must be done. What my capabilities in this new form are.

Tom
Size/Type: Tiny Undead (Augmented Magical Beast)
Hit Dice: 13d12 (96 hp)
Initiative: +11
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 35 (+14 Natural, +7 Dexterity, +2 Size, +2 Charisma), touch 17, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+11
Attack: Unarmed Strike +21 (1d3+1 plus Energy Drain)
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +21/+16/+11 (1d3+1 plus Energy Drain), 2 Claws +16 (1d2 plus Energy Drain), Bite +16 (1d3 plus Energy Drain), Slam +16 (1d3 plus Energy Drain)
Space/Reach: 2.5 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Trip, Twining Trip, Sleeper Lock, Domination, Energy Drain, Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn
Special Qualities: Low-Light Vision, Scent, Spell Resistance 21, Improved Evasion, Speak with Felines, AC Bonus, Dance of Reckless Bravery, Adept Wrestling +2, Counter Grapple, Undead Traits, Alternate Form, DR 10/silver+magic, Fast Healing 5, Gaseous Form, Cold Resistance 10, Electricity Resistance 10, Spider Climb, Turn Resistance +4
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +18, Will +7
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 24, Con -, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills: Tumble +23, Escape Artist +16, Jump +23, Climb +16, Handle Humanoid +17, Hide +27, Move Silently +9, Balance +13, Bluff +10, Listen +12, Search +11, Sense Motive +10, Spot +12, Diplomacy +5
Feats: Don’t Mind Me, Combat Expertise(FB), Weapon Finesse(B), Twining Trip, Improved Trip(FB), Giantbane(FB), Clever Wrestling, Improved Grapple(B), Mobility(B), Underfoot Combat, Alertness(B), Combat Reflexes(B), Dodge(B), Improved Initiative(B), Lightning Reflexes(B), Skill Focus Diplomacy(B), Confound the Big Folk

Don’t Mind Me: When Tom enters another creature’s square he does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Twining Trip (Ex): Tom may attempt a touch attack against an opponent, if successful then the two of them make opposing dexterity checks. Tom gets a +4 bonus from Improved Trip. If successful the opponent is tripped and Tom gets to make a free attack against them due to his Improved Trip feat.

Climb Aboard: Tom may attempt a climb check DC 10 as a free action when entering an opponent two size categories larger than Tom’s square, if successful the opponent gets a -4 penalty to attack Tom, and can try to shake Tom off by making an opposed grapple check against my climb check.

Underfoot Combat: When Tom is sharing a square with a creature at least 2 size categories larger than him he gains +4 AC (per soft cover) including against foes that share a square with Tom.

Unsteady Footing: To use this maneuver, you must first move into a square occupied by a foe at least two size categories larger than you. On the next round, you can use a standard action to attempt to trip your foe without provoking attacks of opportunity. If your touch attack to initiate the trip attack succeeds, you can attempt a Strength or Dexterity check (your choice) opposed by your foe's Strength or Dexterity check (as normal) to trip your foe. Your foe may not add any bonus on his Strength or Dexterity check to avoid the trip that he would gain from his size. If your trip check fails, your opponent may not attempt to trip you. If you have Improved Trip, you can follow a successful trip attempt with an immediate melee attack.

Domination (Su): A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save (DC 18) or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain two negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampire can use its energy drain ability once per round.

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Children of the Night (Su): Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power.) These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour.

Create Spawn (Su): A creature slain by a vampire’s energy drain rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after burial.

If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires or vampire spawn. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Motivate Dexterity (Ex): All allies within 60 ft of Tom (including Tom) gains a +2 on all dexterity checks and skill checks (including Tom’s Twining Trip). Tom may project Motivate Dexterity as a swift action and it lasts until Tom ends it as a free action, starts Motivate Strength, or becomes unconscious.

Motivate Strength (Ex): All allies within 60 ft of Tom (including Tom) gains a +2 on all strength checks and skill checks (including Tom’s grapple checks). Tom may project Motivate Strength as a swift action and it lasts until Tom ends it as a free action, starts Motivate Dexterity, or becomes unconscious.

Motivate Ardor (Ex): All allies within 60 ft of Tom (including Tom) gains a +1 bonus on all damage rolls.

I have become adept in my new form. I control a large number of progenic humans. They serve me willingly even if it is hard to teach them. I am back to acting like a familiar, although now I’m in charge. I let them go through the day to day, and only make my presence known when it suits me. My new life is amazing, and I feel so much more invigorated now. Life with Tim sucked compared to life with Tom!

Tom
Size/Type: Tiny Undead (Augmented Magical Beast)
Hit Dice: 18d12 (131 hp)
Initiative: +11
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 35 (+14 Natural, +7 Dexterity, +2 Size, +2 Charisma), touch 17, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +14/+17
Attack: Unarmed Strike +23 (1d3+2 plus Energy Drain)
Full Attack: Unarmed Strike +23/+18/+13 (1d3+2 plus Energy Drain), 2 Claws +18 (1d2+1 plus Energy Drain), Bite +18 (1d3+1 plus Energy Drain), Slam +18 (1d3+1 plus Energy Drain)
Space/Reach: 2.5 ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved Trip, Twining Trip, Sleeper Lock, Domination, Energy Drain, Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn
Special Qualities: Low-Light Vision, Scent, Spell Resistance 21, Improved Evasion, Speak with Felines, AC Bonus, Dance of Reckless Bravery, Adept Wrestling +2, Counter Grapple, Undead Traits, Alternate Form, DR 10/silver+magic, Fast Healing 5, Gaseous Form, Cold Resistance 10, Electricity Resistance 10, Spider Climb, Turn Resistance +4, More Spawn, Turn Resistance, Enhanced Spawn, Master’s Chosen, Deathly Power, Improved Darkvision
Saves: Fort +14, Ref +19, Will +13
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 24, Con -, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 14
Skills: Tumble +23, Escape Artist +16, Jump +23, Climb +16, Handle Humanoid +17, Hide +36, Move Silently +28, Bluff +10, Listen +12, Search +11, Sense Motive +10, Spot +12, Balance +15
Feats: Don’t Mind Me, Combat Expertise(FB), Weapon Finesse(B), Twining Trip, Improved Trip(FB), Giantbane(FB), Clever Wrestling, Improved Grapple(B), Mobility(B), Underfoot Combat, Alertness(B), Combat Reflexes(B), Dodge(B), Improved Initiative(B), Lightning Reflexes(B), Skill Focus Diplomacy(B), Confound the Big Folk, Weight Focus, Pebble Underfoot

Don’t Mind Me: When Tom enters another creature’s square he does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Twining Trip (Ex): Tom may attempt a touch attack against an opponent, if successful then the two of them make opposing dexterity checks. Tom gets a +8 bonus from Improved Trip and Pebble Underfoot. If successful the opponent is tripped and Tom gets to make a free attack against them due to his Improved Trip feat.

Climb Aboard: Tom may attempt a climb check DC 10 as a free action when entering an opponent two size categories larger than Tom’s square, if successful the opponent gets a -4 penalty to attack Tom, and can try to shake Tom off by making an opposed grapple check against my climb check.

Underfoot Combat: When Tom is sharing a square with a creature at least 2 size categories larger than him he gains +4 AC (per soft cover) including against foes that share a square with Tom.

Unsteady Footing: To use this maneuver, you must first move into a square occupied by a foe at least two size categories larger than you. On the next round, you can use a standard action to attempt to trip your foe without provoking attacks of opportunity. If your touch attack to initiate the trip attack succeeds, you can attempt a Strength or Dexterity check (your choice) opposed by your foe's Strength or Dexterity check (as normal) to trip your foe. Your foe may not add any bonus on his Strength or Dexterity check to avoid the trip that he would gain from his size. If your trip check fails, your opponent may not attempt to trip you. If you have Improved Trip, you can follow a successful trip attempt with an immediate melee attack.

Domination (Su): A vampire can crush an opponent’s will just by looking onto his or her eyes. This is similar to a gaze attack, except that the vampire must use a standard action, and those merely looking at it are not affected. Anyone the vampire targets must succeed on a Will save (DC 23) or fall instantly under the vampire’s influence as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th). The ability has a range of 30 feet.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a vampire’s slam attack (or any other natural weapon the vampire might possess) gain two negative levels. For each negative level bestowed, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points. A vampire can use its energy drain ability once per round.

Blood Drain (Ex): A vampire can suck blood from a living victim with its fangs by making a successful grapple check. If it pins the foe, it drains blood, dealing 1d4 points of Constitution drain each round the pin is maintained. On each such successful attack, the vampire gains 5 temporary hit points.

Children of the Night (Su): Vampires command the lesser creatures of the world and once per day can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or a pack of 3d6 wolves as a standard action. (If the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power.) These creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the vampire for up to 1 hour.

Create Spawn (Su): A creature slain by a vampire’s energy drain rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after burial.

If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or lower, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or less HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD. In either case, the new vampire or spawn is under the command of the vampire that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a vampire may have enslaved spawn totaling no more than twice its own Hit Dice; any spawn it creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed vampires or vampire spawn. A vampire that is enslaved may create and enslave spawn of its own, so a master vampire can control a number of lesser vampires in this fashion. A vampire may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a vampire or vampire spawn cannot be enslaved again.

Motivate Dexterity (Ex): All allies within 60 ft of Tom (including Tom) gains a +2 on all dexterity checks and skill checks (including Tom’s Twining Trip). Tom may project Motivate Dexterity as a swift action and it lasts until Tom ends it as a free action, starts Motivate Strength, or becomes unconscious.

Motivate Strength (Ex): All allies within 60 ft of Tom (including Tom) gains a +2 on all strength checks and skill checks (including Tom’s grapple checks). Tom may project Motivate Strength as a swift action and it lasts until Tom ends it as a free action, starts Motivate Dexterity, or becomes unconscious.

Motivate Ardor (Ex): All allies within 60 ft of Tom (including Tom) gains a +1 bonus on all damage rolls.

I will say right now, that I do not have much to say. CR 1-12 Tom is an ambusher. He will ambush a lone victim at most. Usually wizards or other low str low bab characters, and pin them. While they are pinned it doesn’t matter how little damage he deals, he just slowly kills them, I like to imagine him flexing his claws without letting you up. Flexing his claws just like your pet cat would. By the time your CR 10 your strong enough that commoners stand no chance against you, and he will terrorize the townsfolk, but he remains an ambusher. By CR 15 Tom is no longer an ambusher but a manipulator. He uses handle humanoid along with his dominating gaze to get the humans to do the dirty work, turning those he particularly enjoys into vampires. At the point that he starts taking Master Vampire levels he would have caught a wizard or sorcerer unawares and turned them into a vampire. Then he commands his army from his perch, looking like a familiar. By the time heroes have slain his progeny he’ll know whether the heroes are weak enough for him to ambush or if he should just walk away and start up elsewhere. If Tom knows that his group will undoubtedly win he’ll probably stand in an opposing wizard’s square and continually knock them down. Tom is truly the easiest villain mastermind to play, as his entire motivation is to be able to be lazy again! His combat style while seemingly convoluted is quite simple. He trips enemies and holds them down. Pinning those that he is certain he can pin. And there is just something scary thinking about your average looking cat lapping up the blood of the barbarian he just wrestled to the floor.

Death of a Master = Tome and Blood
If a master dies and the familiar survives, part of the master lives on in the familiar. It loses any extra hit points and skills it gained from the master, but retains most of its familiar abilities. It is treated as having a master two levels lower (but never below 1st level). If the master is later brought back from the dead, the bond is reestablished, and the familiar gains whatever abilities go along with the master's new level.
For example, Hennet has a cat familiar and has reached 11th level when he fails a saving throw against a lethal poison. His cat becomes a 1/2-HD magical beast with 2 hit points (average for a 1/2 d8). It now has the special abilities of a 9th-level character's familiar: +5 natural armor, Intelligence 10, and the ability to speak with felines (the other familiar abilities are irrelevant in the absence of a master). If Hennet is brought back from the dead, he returns a 10th-level sorcerer, and his cat has all the familiar abilities for a master of that level.

Cat Familiar of an 18th level wizard: +9 Natural armor, 14 intelligence, Spell Resistance 23, Speak with Felines, Improved Evasion; Master dies and familiar treated as having a master 2 levels lower: +8 Natural Armor, 13 Intelligence, Spell Resistance 21, Speak with Felines, Improved Evasion.
Cat = Monster Manual 1
Fighter, Combat Expertise, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Combat Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Finesse, Improved Grapple, Dodge, Skill Focus, Familiar Statistics - Player’s Handbook
Don’t Mind Me, Handle Humanoid, Twining Trip, Weight Focus - http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c
Battle Dancer, Pebble Underfoot - Dragon Compendium
Giantbane, Clever Wrestling, Reaping Mauler - Complete Warrior
Combat Underfoot, Confound the Big Folk - Races of the Wild
Master Vampire, Lurking Terror - Libris Mortis
Marshal - Miniature’s Handbook
Monstrous Vampire - Ghostwalk (references the Vampire Template from MM1)

Special thanks to Tom and Jerry for giving me the idea of a tiny creature beating the crap out of a larger creature and for the name Tom!

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:09 AM

Eye see you.... Eye crack myself up.

3. Zahasehsh the Tiny

Zakasehsh the Tiny

A low wind blew across the now desolate field. Various craters, rents, and scorch marks could be seen marring the landscape. In the near silence two bodies could be heard thumping wetly to the ground, exhaling for their last. Nearby a tiny creature floats on, its four eyestalks measuring the damage and the dead body of its master. It wonders what it should do.

Nearby two Gods watched the fight. "Well this is kind of a pickle, with both of them dead we're at a loss of a Magister." The female god wondered aloud.
"Hmm" the male God stroked his beard, "I have an idea, i think you'll get a kick out of this."
"You dont mean to!?"
The male God snapped his fingers, a glow could be seen popping into existence around the tiny familiar. "Precisely! this should be amusing, even better is it wont know its the Magister."
The female God sighs "You know, you can be a real ass sometimes."
The Gods disappeared elsewhere and the familiar floated on...

Years later...
"It seems you've managed to get past my minions" a small but commanding voice dripping with venom called out.
"Hah looks like Zakasehsh will entertain us yet again!, it sends another lackey at us" a heavily armored human replies walking forward with his shield and weapon drawn, the rest of the group following in behind, taking in the expansive room. Arcane runes etched into stone pillars and great scrolls adorning the walls, and magical circles gave off ambient light. From above a particularly complex circle a tiny beholderkin floated.
"You mistake me foolish human, for i am Zakasehsh!, i do not need to hide here as my power is greater than all. I will not stand your trespass. I have much work to do, and you have stepped into your DOOM!" Around one of the adventurers and Rainbow of colors fades into existence.
"A lightshow is the best you ha-AGHHH!" screamed the party's spellcaster as the light shone and then cut out, leaving a half melted pile of slag and dust.
"A lightshow you say? ill have more in store for you!, let us get this over with!" Zakasehsh all but shouted, its eyestalks in the midst of casting a complex spell.

Wizard 2/ Master Specialist 7/ Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil 7/ Magister CR 4. Eyeball Beholderkin. NE

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

1
Wizard
+0
+0
+0
+2
Concentration 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (nature) 4, Spellcraft 4
Precocious Apprentice
Summon Familiar, Scribe Scroll

2
Wizard
+0
+0
+0
+3
Concentration 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Spellcraft 5

CR 5
Magister template

Spell Focus(all)
See Special Qualities

3
Master Specialist
+0
+0
+0
+5
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1, Knowledge (Geography) 1, Knowledge (History) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Knowledge (The Planes) 1
Fell Drain
+1 int, Spellcasting, Skill Focus (Spellcraft)

4
Master Specialist
+1
+0
+0
+6
Concentration 6, Knowledge (Arcana) 7, Spellcraft 7

Expanded spellbook

5
Master Specialist
+1
+1
+1
+6
Concentration 7, Knowledge (Arcana) 8, Listen 1, Spellcraft 8

Greater Spell Focus(Abjuration)

6
Master Specialist
+2
+1
+1
+7
Decipher Script 3, Knowledge (Arcana) 9, Spellcraft 9
Corrupt Spell
Minor School Esoterica(Abjuration)

7
Master Specialist
+2
+1
+1
+7
Knowledge (Arcana) 10,Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Spellcraft 10

+1 int, Expanded spellbook

8
Master Specialist
+3
+2
+2
+8
Concentration 10, Knowledge (Arcana) 11, Spellcraft 11

Caster level increase +1

9
Master Specialist
+3
+2
+2
+8
Concentration 12, Knowledge (Arcana) 12, Spellcraft 12
Eschew Materials
Moderate School Esoterica(Abjuration)

10
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+3
+2
+2
+10
Knowledge (Nobility and Royalty) 1, Listen 2, Sense Motive 1

Warding 1/Day, Unimpeachable Abjuration, Red Veil

11
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+4
+2
+2
+11
Listen 3, Sense Motive 2

Unanswerable Strike +2, Orange Veil

12
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+4
+3
+3
+11
Decipher Script 7, Sense Motive 3
Spell Mastery
+1 int, Warding 2/Day, Yellow Veil

13
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+5
+3
+3
+12
Knowledge (Religion) 3, Listen 5

Reactive Warding, Green veil

14
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+5
+3
+3
+12
Sense Motive 6

Warding 3/Day, Blue Veil

15
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+6
+4
+4
+13
Knowledge (Arcana) 15, Spellcraft 15
Signature Spell; Greater Dispel Magic
Unanswerable Strike +4, Double Warding, Indigo Veil

16(CR20)
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil
+6
+4
+4
+13
Concentration 15, Knowledge (Arcana) 17, Spellcraft 17

+1 int, Kaleidoscopic Doom, Violet Veil, Warding 4/Day

Str-8, Dex-21, Con-12, Int-19, Wis-13, Cha-10

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

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

2nd
4
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
4
2
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

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

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

6th
4
3
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
4
4
4
2
1
-
-
-
-
-

8th
4
4
4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-

9th
4
4
5
3
2
1
-
-
-
-

10th
4
4
5
3
3
2
-
-
-
-

11th
4
4
5
4
3
2
1
-
-
-

12th
4
4
5
4
3
3
2
-
-
-

13th
4
4
5
4
4
3
2
1
-
-

14th
4
4
5
4
4
3
3
2
-
-

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

16th
4
4
5
4
4
4
3
3
2
-

+1 additional 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th
Banned schools are Illusion and Evocation.
Spell-Like Abilities
Magister
Spell-Like Abilities: At will - feather fall (automatic), levitate, read magic, true seeing; 6/day - dimension door, water walk. A Magister can also cast one spell each of levels 1 through 9 as a spell-like ability once per day; these spells are selected when she takes the office and cannot be changed thereafter.

Eyeball
Eye Rays (Su): Unlike true beholders, which can use all their eye ray attacks the same round, eyeballs can use only one of their four rays at a time. In addition, an eyeball that fires a daze ray or a ray of frost cannot fire another daze or ray of frost for 2 rounds. Each eye’s effect resembles a spell cast by a sorcerer (levels vary depending on the eye) but follows the rules for a ray (see Aiming a Spell in Chapter 10 of in the Player’s Handbook).

Cause fear: As the spell, range 35 feet. The Will save DC is 18.
Daze: As the spell, range 35 feet. The Will save DC is 18.
Mage hand: As the spell cast by a 4th-level sorcerer, except that the eyeball can use the ray without having to use a move-equivalent action to move an unattended object weighing no more than 5 pounds up to 15 feet a round. The ray has a range of 35 feet.
Ray of frost: As the spell, range 35 feet.

Special Qualities
Magister
Arcane Generosity (Su): The Magister is charged with promoting and increasing the use of magic in the world, and so whenever she gives away a magic item she created or teaches someone a new spell, she gains XP equal to 1/2 of the XP cost of that item (treat teaching a spell as giving away a scroll of that spell). This bonus is not awarded for items or spells that destroy or feed upon magic (such as dispel magic, energy transformation field, or Mordenkainen's disjunction). Many Magisters have created a legacy for themselves by leaving caches of spellbooks or magic items where people with the potential for great magic will find them.

Spellpurge (Su): When the character becomes the Magister, all existing curses, charms, and other spells and effects placed upon her by other people are removed. The new Magister is also offered an immediate teleport to a safe place where she can remain undisturbed for up to a tenday, learning more about the duties of the Magister. A new Magister is protected by spell resistance 50 and a greater ironguard spell, although these protections fade after 1d4+3 months and nine days, respectively.

Mystra's Shield (Ex): The Magister is immune to all enchantment spells and effects and psionics, and gains +2 holy bonus on saving throws against all magical effects.

Magesight (Ex): A Magister's connection to the Weave allows her to sense wild magic or dead magic areas, spellcasting, gates, portals, and ongoing spell effects within 60 feet. These are sensed automatically without concentration, and magesight operates even when the Magister is unconscious (awakening the Magister if something new enters the range of her magesight).

Mind Blank (Su): The Magister is constantly protected by a heightened (10th-level) mind blank.
Spell Immunities (Su): The Magister is immune to one spell each of levels 0 through 9 as if protected by a spell immunity spell. The spells are chosen when the Magister takes office and cannot be changed thereafter. She is also immune to all forms of magical writing (such as glyph of warding, explosive runes, sepia snake sigil, and symbol), and her presence does not trigger their effects.

Magister's Step (Su): The Magister can step through any magical barrier of 6th level or lower as if it did not exist. This does not destroy the barrier; the Magister simply passes through it.

Spell Focus (Su): The Magister casts all spells as if she had the Spell Focus feat for all schools.

Imbuement (Sp): As imbue with spell ability, except that the Magister can imbue a target with any spell she has prepared (or knows, if a sorcerer). This ability permanently costs the Magister 1 hit point each time it is used.

Name Attunement (Su): The Magister can hear her name or the title of the Magister spoken anywhere in the world, plus the next nine words spoken after it. She also gains an idea of the direction and distance of the speaker. Treat this. ability as a 9th-level divination effect.

The Magister's Sigil (Su): The Magister, like almost all powerful mages, has her own personal sigil, but can use the sigil of the Magister as well. Any other creature that writes the sigil of the Magister in a permanent manner (as opposed to tracing it in the air or on sand) must make two Will saves (DC 25 each) to negate a blindness and feeblemind (respectively) that last for ten days.

Rapid Preparation (Su): The Magister only needs 10 minutes to prepare spells instead of an hour.

Spell Resistance: 20.

Skills: Because she can mentally draw upon a link to an archive of knowledge maintained by the deities of magic, the Magister gets a +10 circumstance bonus on all Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft checks.

Eyeball
Immunities (Ex): Eyeballs are immune to charm and command effects.

All-Around Vision (Ex): Eyeballs are exceptionally alert. Their many small eyes give them a +4 racial bonus on Spot checks and a +8 racial bonus on Search checks. Opponents gain no flanking bonuses when attacking an eyeball. Once an eyeball has acted during an encounter, it's all-around vision negates any sneak attacks.

Flight (Ex): An eyeball’s body is naturally buoyant. This buoyancy allows it to fly as the spell, as a free action, at a speed of 40 feet. This buoyancy also grants it a permanent feather fall effect with personal range.

Spell Mastery
Greater Dispel Magic, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, Contingent Energy Resistance, Deflect

Spell Immunities
Level 0 - Horizikaul's Cough
Level 1 - Truestrike
Level 2 - Silence
Level 3 - Dispel Magic
Level 4 - Dimensional Anchor
Level 5 - Feeblemind
Level 6 - Disintegrate
Level 7 - Finger of Death
Level 8 - Trap the Soul
Level 9 - Energy Drain

6 CR - Zakasehsh has become the Magister, unbeknownst to itself, and its master has died. It wanders for some time trying to find a purpose. At this point its a fairly weak spell caster, it could be a minor hinderance to the party. But its Magister abilities can make it difficult against enemy spellcasters.

10 CR/LVL 6 - Zakasehsh has become a fairly competent Master Abjurer, using Fell Drain and Corrupt Spell on nasty spells. It becomes adept at dispelling spells. It has a purpose of spreading magic among evil creatures, causing a uprising of evil spell casters who cause general havoc.

15 CR/LVL 11 - Zakasehsh has started becoming a dangerous opponent, its Abjuration spells are difficult to get rid of and it now has access to the Red and Orange Veils. The Red Veil can block non-magical ranged attacks and missiles, also causes hefty fire damage to those trying to cross it. The Orange Veil halts magical ranged attacks, including spells that conjure missiles or create rays, this veil also causes a nasty amount of acid damage to those who try to cross it. Zakasehsh can make these Veils into personal sphere shapes, walls or areas.

20 CR/LVL 16 - Zakasehsh is a living nightmare. Its masterful control dispelling magic makes opponents weep over the loss of effects, items or spells, it keeps its list of Spell mastery spells to eyestalk ready to cast at a moments notice. It has access to 8th lvl spells which is nothing to sneeze at but helps make up for the loss of 9th lvls with its access to the rest of the Veils and Kaleidoscopic Doom.

Each Veil blocks certain attacks and each one does ever increasing amounts of elemental damage, save or die, and other nasty status ailments.
The Yellow Veil prevents gases or clouds from entering the warded area, and it defeats petrification attacks(and on the type of warding will grant poison immunity.
The Green Veil stops the passage of breath weapons, those crossing must save or die, otherwise are counted poisoned and take con damage.
The Blue Veil blocks all divinations and mind-affecting spells and abilities, which makes this veil not particularly useful to the Zakasehsh in its position as magister. But it uses it to petrify opponents.
The Mighty Indigo Veil prevents the passage of all spells or spell-like abilities, those who cross it may become confused.
The Dangerous Violet Veil destroys all objects and effects that cross it, as if they were disintegrated. Those who cross it may be shifted to a random location and random plane of existence.
At this point Zakasehsh can create double wards at the cost of one and cast one in response to an attack. Zakasehsh has many minions that may have caused the downfall of at least one major kingdom and a steady rise of evil-aligned magic users, it can also bestow spells on its minions at the cost of health. And its list of spell immunities can make it difficult for the party to outright kill Zakasehsh.

Beholderkin, Eyeball - Monsters of Faerun pg 23
Corrupt Spell - BoVD pg 47
Death of a master - Tome and Blood pg 12
Horizikaul's Cough - Magic of Faerun
Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil - CA pg 44
Magsister - MoF pg 185
Master Specialist - CM pg 70
Precocious Apprentice - CA pg 181(sidebar)

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:11 AM

just channel your inner Tasmanian devil.

4. Lind Loheen

http://bogleech.com/dnd/meenlock4.jpg

From an early age, Lind Loheen knew that she was destined for greatness. She was born heir to the queen of a splinter Meenlock colony, with their own traditions and customs. Unlike other Meenlocks, this colony revered their ancestors and the spirits of their past above all else. Lind was considered blessed beyond her status as future queen of the hive, she had a natural empathy with spirits, and was patronised by one such, who took her under their wing and taught her the basics of combat.
The spirit that she was linked with was a vestige, the remaining soul shard of some ancient and long dead god that sought still to exerts its influence over the world. The spirit taught her pact magic, showing her the other vestiges at hand, and tutoring her in the ways of binding and wearing and shedding the other vestiges like a temporary skin. Always though, the spirit was with her, guiding her actions and her tastes.

As she grew in power, her connection with the spirit also grew, and it revealed further secrets for her to learn. As a dead god, it required the souls of the living for sustenance. It taught Lind how to consume these souls that it might enjoy them vicariously. At the spirits’ behest, Lind introduced a new tradition to her colony. Those deemed worthy to serve the queen would be transformed into her eternal servants, wights. She consumed the souls of the faithful, and used her new creatures to hunt down and turn the rest of the colony that had escaped her grasp.
Meenlock lifespans are short, and soon Lind began to fear for her mortality. The spirit encouraged her to allow her own soul to be consumed, and to become the queen of wights.
The spirit is still not satisfied however, and now Lind leads her wight armies against the free peoples of the material plane, seeking to turn the world into the spirit’s herd, that one day, the spirit will regain its status as a true deity, and give her her final reward.

Str:10, Dex:14, Con:8, Wis:12, Int:13, Cha: 15

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

3
Meenlock
+3
+1
+1
+4
Hide +8, Move Silently +7, Spot +7, Listen +7, Wilderness Lore +8, Tumble +7

Alertness (retraining Track bonus feat), Weapon Focus (claws), Apprentice (Martial Artist)
Fear Aura, Meenlock Transformation, Paralysis, Rend Mind, Telepathy, Dimension Door, +1 Int (4HD)
[/tr]

4
Binder 1
+3 (+0)
+3(+2)
+1
+6 (+2)
+4 knowledge arcana

Soul Binding (1 Vestige)

5
Barbarian 1
+4 (+1)
+5 (+2)
+1
+6
+2 Use Magic Device CC
Improved Binding
Fast Movement, Whirling Frenzy

6
Knight of the Sacred Seal 1
+5 (+1)
+7 (+2)
+1
+6
+1 Knowledge Arcana (5), +2 Hide (10), +1 move Silently (8)

Patron vestige (Dhalver-Nar), Aligned Strike, Soul binding +1

7
Knight of the Sacred Seal 2
+6/+1 (+1)
+8 (+1)
+1
+6
+2 Hide (10), +2 Move Silently (10)

Vestige’s Protection, Soul Binding +1, (+1Cha 8HD)

8
Soul Eater 1
+7/+2 (+1)
+10 (+2)
+3 (+2)
+8 (+2)
Tumble + 3 (10), Hide +2 (12), Move Silently +1 (11)
Ability Focus: Fear Aura
Energy Drain 1

9
Soul Eater 2
+8/+3 (+1)
+11 (+1)
+4 (+1)
+9 (+1)
Tumble +3 (13), Hide +1 (13), Move Silently +2 (13)

Soul Strength

10
Soul Eater 3
+9/+4 (+1)
+11
+4
+9
Tumble +1 (14), Hide +1 (14), Move Silently +1 (14), Spot +3 (10)

Soul Blast

11
Soul Eater 4
+10/+5 (+1)
+12 (+1)
+5 (+1)
+10 (+1)
Tumble +1 (15), Hide +1 (15), Move Silently +1 (15), spot +3 (13)
Underfoot Combat
Soul Enhancement (+1 Cha 12 HD)

12
Soul Eater 5
+11/+6/+1 (+1)
+12
+5
+10
Tumble +1 (16), Hide +1 (16), Move Silently +1 (16), spot +3 (16)
Feats
Soul Endurance

13
Soul Eater 6
+12/+7/+2 (+1)
+13 (+1)
+6 (+1)
+11 (+1)
Tumble +1 (17), Hide +1 (17), Move Silently +1 (17), spot +1 (17), Listen +2 (9)

Soul Radiance

14
Soul Eater 7
+13/+8/+3 (+1)
+13
+6
+11
Tumble +1 (18), Hide +1 (18), Move Silently +1 (18), spot +1 (18), Listen +2 (11)
Confound the Big Folk
Energy Drain 2

15
Soul Eater 8
+14/+9/+4 (+1)
+14 (+1)
+7 (+1)
+12 (+1)
Tumble +1 (19), Hide +1 (19), Move Silently +1 (19), spot +1 (19), Listen +2 (13)

Soul Agility (+1 Cha 16HD)

16
Soul Eater 9
+15/+10/+5 (+1)
+14
+7
+12
Tumble +1 (20), Hide +1 (20), Move Silently +1 (20), spot +1 (20), Listen +2 (15)

Soul Slave

17
Soul Eater 10
+16/+11/+6/+1 (+1)
+15 (+1)
+8 (+1)
+13 (+1)
Listen +4 (19), Acrobatic Backstab Skill Trick
Sudden ability Focus
Soul Power

20
Wight Template
+16/+11/+6/+1
+15
+8
+13

Energy Drain, Create Spawn, Undead Traits, +4 natural Armour,+2 Dex, Str, Wis, +4 Cha

Lind Loheen
LE Tiny Aberration
HP: 29 (5d8+1D12 – 6)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft
AC: 18 (+2 size, +2 dex, +4 armour)
Attacks: 2 claws +7 melee
Damage: 1d2+1 (plus paralysis)
Space/Reach: 2 ½ feet x 2 ½ feet/ 0 feet
Special attacks: Fear Aura (DC 15), Paralysis (DC15), Meenlock Transformation, Rend Mind (DC15), Whirling Frenzy
Special Qualities: Soul Binding, Telepathy, Dimension Door (60ft), Darkvision (60ft), Fast Movement
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +7
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 15
Skills: Hide +18, Move Silently +9, Spot +8, Listen +8, Tumble +7, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Use Magic Device +4
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Focus (claws), Apprentice (martial artist), Improved Binding
Preferred Vestiges: Dhalver-Nar, Malphas

Lind Loheen
LE Tiny Aberration
HP: 51 (8d8+1D12+2D10 – 11)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft
AC: 18 (+2 size, +2 dex, +4 armour)
Attacks: 2 claws +12 melee
Damage: 1d2+1 (plus paralysis, energy drain, soul blast)
Space/Reach: 2 ½ feet x 2 ½ feet/ 0 feet
Special attacks: Fear Aura (DC 20), Paralysis (DC18), Meenlock Transformation, Rend Mind (DC18), Whirling Frenzy, Energy Drain 1, Soul blast
Special Qualities: Soul Binding, Telepathy, Dimension Door (60ft), Darkvision (60ft), Fast Movement, Patron Vestige (Dhalver-Nar), Vestige’s Protection, Aligned Strike, Soul Strength
Saves: Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +10
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 16
Skills: Hide +26, Move Silently +16, Spot +11, Listen +8, Tumble +16, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Use Magic Device +5
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Focus (claws), Apprentice (martial artist), Improved Binding, Ability Focus: Fear Aura
Preferred Vestiges: Dhalver-Nar, Malphas, Karsus, Paimon

Lind Loheen
LE Tiny Aberration
HP: 71 (13d8+1D12+2D10 – 16)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 30ft
AC: 18 (+2 size, +2 dex, +4 armour)
Attacks: 2 claws +17 melee
Damage: 1d2+1 (plus paralysis, energy drain, soul blast)
Space/Reach: 2 ½ feet x 2 ½ feet/ 0 feet
Special attacks: Fear Aura (DC 24), Paralysis (DC22), Meenlock Transformation, Rend Mind (DC22), Whirling Frenzy, Energy Drain 2, Soul blast
Special Qualities: Soul Binding, Telepathy, Dimension Door (60ft), Darkvision (60ft), Fast Movement, Patron Vestige (Dhalver-Nar), Vestige’s Protection, Aligned Strike, Soul Strength, Soul Enhancement, Soul Endurance, Soul Agility, Soul Radiance
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +9, Will +13
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 18
Skills: Hide +31, Move Silently +21, Spot +20, Listen +14, Tumble +21, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Use Magic Device +7
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Focus (claws), Apprentice (martial artist), Improved Binding, Ability Focus: Fear Aura, Underfoot Combat, Confound the Big Folk
Preferred Vestiges: Dhalver-Nar, Malphas, Karsus, Paimon

Lind Loheen
LE Tiny Undead
HP: 279 (18D12+148 Cha mod)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 30ft
AC: 23 (+2 size, +3 dex, +4 armour, +4 natural)
Attacks: 2 claws +20 melee
Damage: 1d2+2 (plus paralysis, energy drain (Soul Eater), soul blast, energy drain (Wight))
Space/Reach: 2 ½ feet x 2 ½ feet/ 0 feet
Special attacks: Fear Aura (DC 27), Paralysis (DC25), Meenlock Transformation, Rend Mind (DC25), Whirling Frenzy, Energy Drain 2, Soul blast, Energy Drain (DC25)
Special Qualities: Soul Binding, Telepathy, Dimension Door (60ft), Darkvision (60ft), Fast Movement, Patron Vestige (Dhalver-Nar), Vestige’s Protection, Aligned Strike, Soul Strength, Soul Enhancement, Soul Endurance, Soul Agility, Soul Radiance, Soul Slave, Soul Power, Create Spawn, Undead Traits, Acrobatic Backstab
Saves: Fort +15, Ref +11, Will +15
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 16, Con -, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 22
Skills: Hide +33, Move Silently +23, Spot +22, Listen +21, Tumble +23, Knowledge (arcana) +7, Use Magic Device +7
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Focus (claws), Apprentice (martial artist), Improved Binding, Ability Focus: Fear Aura, Underfoot Combat, Confound the Big Folk, Sudden Ability Focus
Preferred Vestiges: Dhalver-Nar, Malphas, Karsus, Paimon

The Meen Queen’s tactics remain pretty much the same throughout her career. She will scout on the by binding Malphas and using her impressive Hide modifier combined with invisibility and whatever magical equipment deemed appropriate (Ring of Darkhidden at low levels for instance), along with her high Spot and Listen to identify the party and potentially follow them through a dungeon, watching how they fight and getting to know their strengths and weaknesses. She can use Rend Mind to great effect, steadily dropping the party’s Wis scores (and therefore Will saves) long before their actual confrontation.
If spotted, she can Dimension Door to an area inaccessible to larger creatures (if in her home terrain) or to give her a headstart and another chance to hide from the party while she prepares herself.
When it comes down to combat, she will make use of her Whirling Frenzy, Fast Movement and high tumble skill to get in amongst the party and affect as many of them as possible with her Fear aura (later boosted by Sudden Ability Focus, and targeting will saves that should have been lowered by Rend Mind). Any opponents not effected by the aura will receive a number of hits with the goal of inflicting paralysis (targeting casters first to bypass pesky Restorations and the like). Dhalver-Nar also gives her a few more options in combat, and she can always retreat and hide again with Dimension Door.
As she becomes more powerful, the tactics remain the same, but the damage is greatly improved. Soul Eater allows her attacks to add one to start with and later a second negative level with every hit, alongside the boosted Paralysis, and to unleash a blast of negative energy to weaken a different character. The various boosts to stats from this ability are nice to have, but the real coup is the capstone of the class, increasing the DC of all Su abilities by 2. She will bind Paimon, dimension door into the middle of the party, Whirlwind attack to paralyse and inflict negative levels (4 with each attack at CR20) on them all, and then activate Fear Aura at the end of her turn to take down any enemies left standing.
It should be easy to get within reach of a good number of the party, using Dim door and Underfoot Combat/Confound the Big Folk, she can enter a caster’s square, then allow the melee characters to surround her. She should be able to avoid most of the damage through her AC and using the enemy as a shield, and has the option of binding Dhalver-Nar to force one of the enemy to take damage in her stead. Binder gives her plenty of versatility, with Malphas to spy, Dhalver-Nar for defence, Karsus to break any magic protections from fear/paralysis/negative levels on the party and finally Paimon for Whirlwind Attack. Knight of the Sacred Seal also gives the ability to increase saves by Cha modifier for a short period, which will help with these (as would a cloak of resistance)
By CR20, she will have gathered quite the army of wights and soul slaves under her command (due to both abilities having separate pools), and will use these to soften up the party before she strikes.

While she lacks the versatility of a full caster, she does have a number of tricks that can be supplemented by magic items. Her main weakness is the ease of which her most powerful tricks can be negated by equipment, but with three different sources of incapacitating enemies and Karsus/magic items, these protections shouldn’t be too hard to get around.

Whirlwind attack specifically states enemies within 5ft, not within reach, so this still functions despite the tiny reach.

Soul Eater energy drain ability isn’t clear on how it’s activated. I chose a reasonable interpretation, that it functions in the same way as the Wight’s ability of the same name. This means that both energy drain abilities are added to each natural attack separately (along with paralysis), and therefore stack. I think there is room for an unkind interpretation of this, but the wording I believe supports mine. If ruled that they don’t stack, I would swap out the Wight template for Wraith or similar (dropping a level of KoTSS to do so).

The Meenlock Queen functions well as an enemy throughout her career, but she truly shines as the BBEG at CR20, with the potential for her spirit patron to be restored to godhood and become the true BBEG in epic levels.
At CR5, she is little more effective than a ghoul encounter, but her fear aura and dimension door abilities allow her to punch a little above her weight, especially against characters with weak saves. She will be accompanied even then by other Meenlocks, and any characters incapacitated will be taken away to the colony for transformation, eventually becoming wights in Lind’s service. A good starting plot hook could be of a friend/mentor of a player being taken by the meenlocks, allowing the party to stage a rescue, giving Lind a chance to see them in person before escaping with the majority of the colony.
At CR10 and 15, Lind becomes a much greater threat with her ability to inflict negative levels and create wights under her control. This can roll out in pretty much the standard wightocalypse scenario, with Lind creating wights that beget more wights etc. She will place cabals of her followers in strategic places around the world, ensuring that any sects that aren’t dealt with quickly by the party or their allies will spiral out of control, and there will be little evidence of the true culprit. This could easily operate as a background plot while the players are busy with something else, and the clues over 3-7 levels will eventually lead back to the Meenlock colony.

At level 20, Lind is at her sweet spot, becoming a wight herself she gains undead traits and doubles the pool of wights she can control. Tracking her down should be no mean feat, and a horde of wights will need to be fought through before Lind reveals herself.

Monster Manual 2 – Meenlock
Savage Species – Wight Template
Tome of Magic – Binder, Knight of the Sacred Seal, Improved Binding, Sudden Ability Focus, Vestiges
DMG II – Apprentice
Book of Vile Darkness – Soul Eater
Complete Scoundrel – Acrobatic Backstab
Unearthed Arcana – Whirling Frenzy
Races of the Wild – Underfoot Combat, Confound the Big Folk

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:16 AM

It's getting Cold in herre...

5. Frostwrym, Part 1

Neutral Evil Spellwurm 1/Sorcerer 6/Elemental Savant 10/Cleric 1/Frost Mage 1/Cleric 1

Stat

Base

Racial

Level Up

Total

Strength

10

-4

6

Dexterity

13

+4

17

Constitution

12

+0

12

Intelligence

15

-6

4

10

Wisdom

8

-2

6

Charisma

14

+6

8, 12, 16, 20

24

CR

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features

1

Spellwurm

+0

+0

+0

+2

Knowledge Arcana +2

Snowcasting, Weapon Finesse(B)

5th level sorcerer spellcasting, Symbiont Traits, Telepathy (Host)

2

Sorcerer

+0

+0

+0

+4

Knowledge Arcana +3

Spell Shield

3

Sorcerer

+1

+0

+0

+5

Knowledge Arcana +4

Frozen Magic

4

Sorcerer

+1

+1

+1

+5

Knowledge Arcana +5, Knowledge The Planes +1

5

Sorcerer

+2

+1

+1

+6

Knowledge Arcana +6, Knowledge The Planes +2

6

Sorcerer

+2

+1

+1

+6

Knowledge Arcana +7, Knowledge The Planes +3

Energy Substitution (Cold)

7

Sorcerer

+3

+2

+2

+7

Knowledge Arcana +8, Knowledge The Planes +4

8

Elemental Savant

+3

+2

+2

+9

Knowledge Arcana +9, Knowledge The Planes +5

Cold Elemental Specialty, Resistance to Cold 5

9

Elemental Savant

+4

+2

+2

+10

Knowledge Arcana +10, Knowledge The Planes +6

Tomb Tainted Soul

Immunity to Sleep

10

Elemental Savant

+4

+3

+3

+10

Knowledge Arcana +11, Knowledge The Planes +7

Cold Energy Penetration +2

11

Elemental Savant

+5

+3

+3

+11

Knowledge Arcana +12, Knowledge The Planes +8

Resistance to Cold 10

12

Elemental Savant

+5

+3

+3

+11

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9

Lord of the Uttercold

Energy Focus +1

13

Elemental Savant

+6

+4

+4

+12

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +1

Darkvision

14

Elemental Savant

+6

+4

+4

+12

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +2

Resistance to Cold 20

15

Elemental Savant

+7

+4

+4

+13

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +3

Flash Frost Spell

Energy Penetration +4

16

Elemental Savant

+7

+5

+5

+13

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +4

Immunity to Paralysis and Poison

17

Elemental Savant

+8

+5

+5

+14

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +5

Cold Elemental Perfection, Cold Energy Focus +2, Cold Immunity, Chill Metal, Icicle (1d6 piercing +1d6 cold), DR 10/magic

18

Cleric

+8

+7

+5

+16

Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +7

Elemental Theurgy (Cold)

Rebuke Undead, Cold Domain, Winter Domain

19

Frost Mage

+8

+7

+5

+18

Knowledge Arcana +14, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +7

+1 Natural Armor

20

Cleric

+9

+8

+5

+19

Knowledge Arcana +14, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +9

Level

Cantrips

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

1st

6

6

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

2nd

6

6

5

3

-

-

-

-

-

-

3rd

6

6

6

4

-

-

-

-

-

-

4th

6

6

6

5

3

-

-

-

-

-

5th

6

6

6

6

4

-

-

-

-

-

6th

6

6

6

6

5

3

-

-

-

-

7th

6

6

6

6

6

4

-

-

-

-

8th

6

6

6

6

6

5

3

-

-

-

9th

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

-

-

-

10th

6

6

6

6

6

6

5

3

-

-

11th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

-

-

12th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

-

-

13th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

5

3

-

14th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

-

15th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

5

3

16th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

17th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

18th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

4

19th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

20th

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

6

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:17 AM

5. Frostwrym, Part 2

Level

0lvl

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

1st
6
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

2nd
7
4
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

3rd
7
5
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
8
5
3
2
1
-
-
-
-
-

5th
8
5
4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-

6th
9
5
4
3
2
1
-
-
-
-

7th
9
5
5
4
3
2
-
-
-
-

8th
9
5
5
4
3
2
1
-
-
-

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

10th
9
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
-
-

11th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
-
-

12th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
-
-

13th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
2
1
-

14th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
2
-

15th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
2
1

16th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2

17th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2

18th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
2

19th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
3

20th
9
5
5
4
4
4
3
3
3
3

Cantrips: Detect Magic, Arcane Mark, Message, Prestidigitation, Stick, Sonic Snap, Ray of Frost, Touch of Fatigue, Read Magic
1st: Chill Touch, Charm Person, Ice Dagger, Shield, Mage Armor
2nd: Wings of Cover, Blur, Blindsight, Body of the Sun, Command Undead
3rd: Greater Mage Armor, Fly, Shivering Touch, Hailstones
4th: Animate Dead, Ice Storm, Greater Invisibility, Dimension Door
5th: Boreal Wind, Dominate Person, Flesh to Ice, Vitriolic Sphere
6th: Disintegrate, Freezing Fog, Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere
7th: Energy Transformation Field, Simulacrum, Awaken Undead
8th: Polar Ray, Fimbulwinter, Greater Arcane Fusion
9th: Frostfell, Timestop, Shades

Frostwyrm
Tiny Aberration (Symbiont)
Hit Dice: 1d8 plus 4d4+5 (25 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 19 (+2 size, +3 Dexterity, +4 Mage Armor), touch 15, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/-8
Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d3-2)
Full Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells
Special Qualities: Darkvision, Symbiont traits, telepathy
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +4
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 20, Ego 8
Skills: Knowledge Arcana +6, Knowledge The Planes +2, Hide +11
Feats: Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Weapon Finesse(B)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 5 (singly) or host +1 (when worn)
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —

A thick, purplish snake undulates forward, about as long and thick as a humanoid arm. Where a head would surmount a natural serpent you see a nest of five finger-length tentacles surrounding a horribly humanlike mouth. The daelkyr create spellwurms for their servants, and they are most commonly found attached to beholders, dolgaunts, mind flayers, and daelkyr half-bloods.
A spellwurm does not speak any language, but it understands Undercommon.

Combat
A spellwurm can attach itself only to a willing or helpless host (as a full-round action). In general, a creature either seeks out a spellwurm to gain its benefits or encounters the spellwurm accidentally. A spellwurm attaches at its base, and can either take the place of a missing arm on a humanoid, or attach under the left or right arm to create a third tentacle-like appendage. In either case, the spellwurm can perform none of the natural functions of a real arm—it can only cast spells. It is usually hidden in the clothing of its host, only snaking out to gesticulate and cast its spells when combat beckons.
Attaching or removing a spellwurm deals 1d3 points of Constitution damage.
Host Benefit: A creature with an attached spellwurm gains increased spellcasting ability. Creatures that cast arcane spells spontaneously (such as sorcerers, bards, or warmages) gain mage armor, ancient knowledge*, and blur as additional spells known, even if these spells are not normally on the spell list for their class. Wizards and other arcane spellcasters who prepare their spells ahead of time can prepare those same spells without the aid of a spellbook, as if they had previously known all those spell and taken the Spell Mastery feat for each.
*New spell described on page 94.
Spells: Frostwyrm knows and can cast spells as a 9th-level sorcerer. When the spellwurm is attached to a host, this spellcasting ability is suppressed.
Spells Known: 8/5/4/3/2
Symbiont Traits: See page 299 of the EBERRON Campaign Setting.
Telepathy (Su): A spellwurm can communicate telepathically with its host, if its host has a language.

Frostwyrm
Tiny Aberration (Symbiont)
Hit Dice: 1d8 plus 9d4+5 (45 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 19 (+2 size, +3 Dexterity, +4 Mage Armor), touch 15, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/-6
Attack: Bite +9 melee (1d3-2)
Full Attack: Bite +9 melee (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells, Cold Energy Penetration +2
Special Qualities: Darkvision, Symbiont traits, telepathy, Cold Elemental Specialty, Resistance to Cold 5, Immunity to Sleep
Saves: Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +8
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 21, Ego 12
Skills: Knowledge Arcana +11, Knowledge The Planes +7, Hide +11
Feats: Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Energy Substitution Cold, Tomb Tainted Soul, Weapon Finesse(B)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10 (singly) or host +1 (when worn)
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —

A thick, purplish snake undulates forward, about as long and thick as a humanoid arm. Where a head would surmount a natural serpent you see a nest of five finger-length tentacles surrounding a horribly humanlike mouth. The daelkyr create spellwurms for their servants, and they are most commonly found attached to beholders, dolgaunts, mind flayers, and daelkyr half-bloods.
A spellwurm does not speak any language, but it understands Undercommon.

Combat
A spellwurm can attach itself only to a willing or helpless host (as a full-round action). In general, a creature either seeks out a spellwurm to gain its benefits or encounters the spellwurm accidentally. A spellwurm attaches at its base, and can either take the place of a missing arm on a humanoid, or attach under the left or right arm to create a third tentacle-like appendage. In either case, the spellwurm can perform none of the natural functions of a real arm—it can only cast spells. It is usually hidden in the clothing of its host, only snaking out to gesticulate and cast its spells when combat beckons.
Attaching or removing a spellwurm deals 1d3 points of Constitution damage.
Host Benefit: A creature with an attached spellwurm gains increased spellcasting ability. Creatures that cast arcane spells spontaneously (such as sorcerers, bards, or warmages) gain mage armor, ancient knowledge*, and blur as additional spells known, even if these spells are not normally on the spell list for their class. Wizards and other arcane spellcasters who prepare their spells ahead of time can prepare those same spells without the aid of a spellbook, as if they had previously known all those spell and taken the Spell Mastery feat for each.
*New spell described on page 94.
Spells: Frostwyrm knows and can cast spells as a 14th-level sorcerer. When the spellwurm is attached to a host, this spellcasting ability is suppressed.
Spells Known: 9/5/5/4/4/3/2/1
Symbiont Traits: See page 299 of the EBERRON Campaign Setting.
Telepathy (Su): A spellwurm can communicate telepathically with its host, if its host has a language.

Frostwyrm
Tiny Aberration (Symbiont)
Hit Dice: 1d8 plus 14d4+5 (65 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 19 (+2 size, +3 Dexterity, +4 Mage Armor), touch 15, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +7/-3
Attack: Bite +12 melee (1d3-2)
Full Attack: Bite +12 melee (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells, Cold Energy Penetration +4, Cold Energy Focus +1
Special Qualities: Darkvision, Symbiont traits, telepathy, Cold Elemental Specialty, Resistance to Cold 20, Immunity to Sleep
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +11
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 22, Ego 14
Skills: Knowledge Arcana +13, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +3, Hide +11
Feats: Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Energy Substitution Cold, Tomb Tainted Soul, Lord of the Uttercold, Flash Frost Spell, Weapon Finesse(B)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10 (singly) or host +1 (when worn)
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —

A thick, purplish snake undulates forward, about as long and thick as a humanoid arm. Where a head would surmount a natural serpent you see a nest of five finger-length tentacles surrounding a horribly humanlike mouth. The daelkyr create spellwurms for their servants, and they are most commonly found attached to beholders, dolgaunts, mind flayers, and daelkyr half-bloods.
A spellwurm does not speak any language, but it understands Undercommon.

Combat
A spellwurm can attach itself only to a willing or helpless host (as a full-round action). In general, a creature either seeks out a spellwurm to gain its benefits or encounters the spellwurm accidentally. A spellwurm attaches at its base, and can either take the place of a missing arm on a humanoid, or attach under the left or right arm to create a third tentacle-like appendage. In either case, the spellwurm can perform none of the natural functions of a real arm—it can only cast spells. It is usually hidden in the clothing of its host, only snaking out to gesticulate and cast its spells when combat beckons.
Attaching or removing a spellwurm deals 1d3 points of Constitution damage.
Host Benefit: A creature with an attached spellwurm gains increased spellcasting ability. Creatures that cast arcane spells spontaneously (such as sorcerers, bards, or warmages) gain mage armor, ancient knowledge*, and blur as additional spells known, even if these spells are not normally on the spell list for their class. Wizards and other arcane spellcasters who prepare their spells ahead of time can prepare those same spells without the aid of a spellbook, as if they had previously known all those spell and taken the Spell Mastery feat for each.
*New spell described on page 94.
Spells: Frostwyrm knows and can cast spells as a 18th-level sorcerer. When the spellwurm is attached to a host, this spellcasting ability is suppressed.
Spells Known: 9/5/5/4/4/4/3/3/2/1
Symbiont Traits: See page 299 of the EBERRON Campaign Setting.
Telepathy (Su): A spellwurm can communicate telepathically with its host, if its host has a language.

Frostwyrm
Tiny Elemental (Augmented Aberration) (Symbiont)
Hit Dice: 3d8 plus 17d4+5 (89 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 20 (+2 size, +1 Natural, +3 Dexterity, +4 Mage Armor), touch 15, flat-footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +9/-1
Attack: Bite +14 melee (1d3-2) OR Icicle +14 (1d6-2 plus 1d6 cold)
Full Attack: Bite +14 melee (1d3-2)
Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spells, Cold Energy Penetration +4, Cold Energy Focus +2, Rebuke/Command Cold Creatures, Chill Metal, Rebuke/Command Undead
Special Qualities: Darkvision, Symbiont traits, telepathy, Cold Elemental Specialty, Cold Immunity, Immunity to Sleep, Immunity to Paralysis, Immunity to Poison, DR 10/magic, Winter Domain
Saves: Fort +9, Ref +8, Will +17
Abilities: Str 6, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 6, Cha 24, Ego 22
Skills: Knowledge Arcana +14, Knowledge The Planes +9, Knowledge Religion +9, Hide +11
Feats: Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Energy Substitution Cold, Tomb Tainted Soul, Lord of the Uttercold, Flash Frost Spell, Elemental Theurgy (Cold), Weapon Finesse(B)
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10 (singly) or host +1 (when worn)
Treasure: None
Alignment: Usually lawful evil
Advancement: None
Level Adjustment: —

A thick, purplish snake undulates forward, about as long and thick as a humanoid arm. Where a head would surmount a natural serpent you see a nest of five finger-length tentacles surrounding a horribly humanlike mouth. The daelkyr create spellwurms for their servants, and they are most commonly found attached to beholders, dolgaunts, mind flayers, and daelkyr half-bloods.
A spellwurm does not speak any language, but it understands Undercommon.

Combat
A spellwurm can attach itself only to a willing or helpless host (as a full-round action). In general, a creature either seeks out a spellwurm to gain its benefits or encounters the spellwurm accidentally. A spellwurm attaches at its base, and can either take the place of a missing arm on a humanoid, or attach under the left or right arm to create a third tentacle-like appendage. In either case, the spellwurm can perform none of the natural functions of a real arm—it can only cast spells. It is usually hidden in the clothing of its host, only snaking out to gesticulate and cast its spells when combat beckons.
Attaching or removing a spellwurm deals 1d3 points of Constitution damage.
Host Benefit: A creature with an attached spellwurm gains increased spellcasting ability. Creatures that cast arcane spells spontaneously (such as sorcerers, bards, or warmages) gain mage armor, ancient knowledge*, and blur as additional spells known, even if these spells are not normally on the spell list for their class. Wizards and other arcane spellcasters who prepare their spells ahead of time can prepare those same spells without the aid of a spellbook, as if they had previously known all those spell and taken the Spell Mastery feat for each.
*New spell described on page 94.
Spells: Frostwyrm knows and can cast spells as a 20th-level sorcerer. When the spellwurm is attached to a host, this spellcasting ability is suppressed.
Spells Known: 9/5/5/4/4/4/3/3/3/3
Symbiont Traits: See page 299 of the EBERRON Campaign Setting.
Telepathy (Su): A spellwurm can communicate telepathically with its host, if its host has a language.

(yes I know that was misspelled ^_-)

Well since starting at level 1 we have sorcerer 5th level casting, and that is about to go up we fight as a sorcerer. Between Ice Dagger, Charm Person, and Chill Touch we have all that we really need in order to effectively eat. Which is all we really need to do. CR 1 encounters will go quickly with our higher than average casting and casting stat. We are actually better at casting than an adventurer equivalent! We are obviously squishy, but at level 1 our AC should be good enough to match the to hits of most min maxxed adventurers, so we need to fear the critical hit! And we get fly real soon.

Around CR 6 we get our really fun things, allowing us to deal cold damage with any spell, which combined with snowcasting pushes our casting to CL 13 with access to fifths. That is a scary fight, that I fear a DM may actually throw at someone. Since Frostwyrm is a symbiont it can cast dominate person, attach itself to the dominated humanoid, and communicate with it telepathically, to give it long bouts that it doesn’t need to worry about much of anything. Sure once the dominate person ceases the person controlled could attempt the will save to subvert control, but even if they succeed the best thing they could do is attempt to remove the symbiont, at which point it just uses it’s extremely powerful spellcasting again. As far as masterminds go it’s desires are fairly basic, eat and kill, and kill and eat. Frostwyrm continues this for as long as it desires, getting bored once it reaches CR 15.

At CR 15 he becomes a villain in his own right. Energy Transformation Fields + Frostfell + Fimbulwinter will turn any region as large as Frostwyrm chooses to become a frozen wasteland. With enough time and without someone to stop Frostwyrm he’ll turn the entirety of the world into a frozen wasteland. Our caster level at this point is 21 meaning 21 mile radius areas of perpetual winter per casting. Good allies for the Frostwyrm would be a few Winterhaunts of Iborighu, White Dragons, and Frost Giants. A Winterhaunt protecting and perpetuating each of Energy Transformation Fields by channeling their icehearts into fueling the ETFs. Frostwyrm is no stranger to danger at this point, able to throw polar rays at caster level 21 and disintegrates at CL 20. The Frostwyrm will be sure to sacrifice as many spell slots as needed to it’s Spell Shield.

If you wish for Frostwyrm’s story to continue on into epic then the easiest way to do this is to have Frostwyrm begin attempting to bring Iborighu’s avatars to the material, and perhaps awaken a Xixecal (EPH). The necromancy undertones should remain as just that, undertones, however many undead should be popping up, but not be caused by Frostwyrm directly. Entombed, Skeletons, and Bleakborn would become much more common, while Winterwights, Liches, and other powerful undead will either come out of hiding or slowly come into being. The Clerics of Iborighu will command the undead that they can bolstering Frostwyrm’s army. Frostwyrm himself may be a “leader” but his great scheme will be largely planned and executed by those that admire his power.

If you want the necromantic undertones to become much larger and pronounced then allow Frostwyrm to become a lich instead of a divine caster. Have him manipulate his followers into believing he is the bringer of winter foretold by Iborighu. Regardless, the phrase, “Winter is coming,” should be everywhere in the campaign. If Frostwyrm succeeds then the whole of the planet should be frozen leaving only deep underwater civilizations alone (perhaps you can do a water campaign next).

Spellwurm - Magic of Eberron
Sorcerer, Cleric - Players handbook
Snowcasting, Frozen Magic, Frost Mage, Iborighu - Frostburn
Flash Frost Spell - Player’s Handbook 2
Energy Substitution, Lord of the Uttercold, Elemental Savant - Complete Arcane
Tomb Tainted Soul - Libris Mortis
Spell Shield - Dungeonscape
Ice Elemental stuff - Manual of the Planes
Various Creatures named were all from: Monster Manual, Libris Mortis, Frostburn, and Epic Player’s Handbook
All spells were found - http://dnd.arkalseif.info/dndtools/spells/

I did not include the Locate City Bomb, however I almost did. If you wish for apocalyptic levels of destruction drop frost mage and cleric in favor of Lich, drop frozen magic and Elemental Theurgy in favor of Explosive Spell and Fell Animate. Cast your Locate City Bomb with Fell animate added on. You will destroy huge swaths of area and create zombies galore.

Elemental Savant links cold to water (a common occurrence) however this is due to there not being an Ice Elemental in the monster manual. Changing it from water elemental to ice elemental does not upset the balance, and is something that the class says is possible in the Adaption area. Returning it to water elemental changes very little but flavor.

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:20 AM

I will have you killed until you die from it!

6. Zughor, Hand of Baalzebul

Zughor, Hand of Baalzebul

http://i66.tinypic.com/2mfks92.png

"Have you noticed that King Rogar doesn't seem himself lately?"

LE Advanced Imp Outsider 6/Fiend of Possession 4/Uncanny Trickster 3/Disciple of Baalzebul 10

HD: 6d8+17d6+23

Ability
Array
Racial
4th
8th
12th
16th
20th
23rd
Final

Str
10
-

-
-
-
-

10

Dex
12
+6

-
-
-
-

18

Con
13
-

-
-
-
-

13

Int
14
-

-
-
-
-

14

Wis
8
+2

-
-
-
-

10

Cha
15
+4
+1
+1
+1
+1
+1
+4
28

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

2
Outsider 1
+1
+2
+2
+2
Diplomacy 4, Gather Information 2, Hide 4, Knowledge (local) 4, Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Spellcraft 4, Spot 4, Survival 4
Disciple of Darkness
Alternate Form (raven, rat), Damage Reduction 5/Good or Silver, Darkvision 60 ft., Fast Healing 2, Immunity to Poison, Resistance to Fire 5, Poison, Spell-like abilities

2
Outsider 2
+2
+3
+3
+3
Diplomacy 5, Gather Information 2, Hide 5, Knowledge (local) 5, Listen 5, Move Silently 5, Search 5, Spellcraft 5, Spot 5, Survival 4;
[Listen to This]
-
-

2
Outsider 3
+3
+3
+3
+3
Diplomacy 6, Gather Information 3, Hide 6, Knowledge (local) 6, Listen 6, Move Silently 6, Search 6, Spellcraft 6, Spot 6, Survival 4
Darkstalker
-

2
Outsider 4
+4
+4
+4
+4
Diplomacy 7, Gather Information 3, Hide 7, Knowledge (local) 7, Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Search 7, Spellcraft 7, Spot 7, Survival 4; [Point it Out]
-
-

3
Outsider 5
+5
+4
+4
+4
Diplomacy 8, Gather Information 4, Hide 8, Knowledge (local) 8, Listen 8, Move Silently 8, Search 8, Spellcraft 8, Spot 8, Survival 4
-
-

3
Outsider 6
+6
+5
+5
+5
Diplomacy 9, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4; [Collector of Stories]
Knowledge Devotion
-

4
Fiend of Possession 1
+6
+7
+7
+7
Bluff 4, Diplomacy 9, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4
-
Ethereal Form, Hide Presence, Possess Object

5
Fiend of Possession 2
+7
+8
+8
+8
Bluff 8, Diplomacy 9, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4
-
Curse, Magic Item

6
Fiend of Possession 3
+7
+8
+8
+8
Bluff 10, Diplomacy 9, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4[Spot the Weak Point]
Naturalized Denizen
Control Object

7
Fiend of Possession 4
+8
+9
+9
+9
Bluff 13, Diplomacy 10, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4
-
Animate Object, Possess Creature

8
Uncanny Trickster 1
+8
+9
+11
+9
Bluff 13, Diplomacy 10, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 10; [Social Recovery]
-
Bonus Trick, Favorite Trick (social recovery)

9
Uncanny Trickster 2
+9
+9
+12
+9
Bluff 13, Diplomacy 15, Gather Information 4, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 15; [Timely Misdirection]
Evil's Blessing
Ally or Enemy, Bonus trick, Favorite Trick (timely misdirection), Possess Noncontinuous Object

10
Uncanny Trickster 3
+10
+10
+12
+10
Bluff 13, Diplomacy 15, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 9, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 15; [Second Impression]
-
Bonus Trick, Control Creature, Favorite Trick (second impression), Tricky Defense

11
Disciple of Baalzebul 1
+10
+10
+14
+12
Bluff 17, Diplomacy 17, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 10, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 2, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 17
-
Tongue of the Devil

12
Disciple of Baalzebul 2
+11
+10
+15
+13
Bluff 18, Diplomacy 18, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 14, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 18
Mask of Gentility
Sneak Attack +1d6

13
Disciple of Baalzebul 3
+12
+11
+15
+13
Bluff 19, Diplomacy 19, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 19, Intimidate 2, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 5, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 19
-
Suggestion

14
Disciple of Baalzebul 4
+13
+11
+16
+14
Bluff 20, Diplomacy 20, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 20, Intimidate 5, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 8, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 20
-
Summon Osyluth

15
Disciple of Baalzebul 5
+13
+11
+16
+14
Bluff 21, Diplomacy 21, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 21, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 11, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 21
Trickery Devotion
Sneak Attack +2d6

16
Disciple of Baalzebul 6
+14
+12
+17
+15
Bluff 22, Diplomacy 22, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 22, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 17, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 22
-
Insect Plague

17
Disciple of Baalzebul 7
+15
+12
+17
+15
Bluff 23, Diplomacy 23, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 23, Intimidate 8, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 23, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 23
-
Beguiling Nature

18
Disciple of Baalzebul 8
+16
+12
+18
+16
Bluff 24, Diplomacy 24, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 24, Intimidate 13, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 24, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 24
Epic Reputation
Sneak Attack +3d6

19
Disciple of Baalzebul 9
+17
+13
+18
+16
Bluff 25, Diplomacy 25, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 25, Intimidate 18, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 25, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 25
-
Summon Cornugon

20
Disciple of Baalzebul 10
+18
+13
+19
+17
Bluff 26, Diplomacy 26, Disguise 9, Gather Information 5, Hide 26, Intimidate 23, Knowledge (local) 9, Listen 9, Move Silently 9, Search 9, Sense Motive 26, Spellcraft 9, Spot 9, Survival 4, Use Magic Device 26
-
King of Lies

CR/Write-ups:

CR 5: Zughor is already able to assume ethereal form and possess objects. He can also assume the forms of a raven or rat to further blend in and misdirect. He uses his social skills and suggestion to influence victims, and superior stealth skills to remain undetected (at will etherealness, invisibility, hide presence and darkstalker make him very stealthy).

CR 10: Uncanny trickster completes the Fiend of Possession levels, while providing far superior skills. Zughor can possess and control creatures, and enhance (and animate) an item he is possessing. Naturalized denizen protects against banishment or dismissal. Evil's blessing helps greatly with saving throws. Social skills continue to improve, and use magic device allows a lot of versatility.

CR 15: Zughor is an even more formidable emissary of Baalzebul. he can use suggestion more often, and also summon an Osyluth. He gains a small amount of sneak attack, and continues to hone his skills. Mask of gentility helps to further obfuscate his true nature, and trickery devotion can be used to distract and confound enemies.

CR 20: At the peak of his powers, Zulghor is indeed a force to be reckoned with. He is a master of stealth, misdirection and manipulation. As well as an impressive array of skills, he can also summon an insect plague and Cornugon, and also use a mass charm effect.

Use in Campaign:

Zulghor works best as a "behind the scenes" villain. He isn't that strong in face-to-face combat, but works well when possessing an NPC. He can be used as an elite agent of Baalzebul, and employ other diabolic agents in his cause. His end game could be to control a ruler and plunge a region into war, at the behest of his infernal master. Given his ability to remain undetected and turn ethereal, he should have the chance to escape when cornered, to become a recurring enemy. If the DM wanted to be truly fiendish (pun intended), Zulghor could possess an ally of the party, or even one of the PCs. Or maybe that magic sword they found as loot isn't all it seems to be.

Non-core Sources:

Complete Champion: Knowledge Devotion, Trickery Devotion
Complete Scoundrel:Uncanny Trickster, skill tricks
Book of Vile Darkness: Disciple of Baalzebul
Elder Evils: Evil's Blessing
Epic Level handbook: Epic Reputation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#epicReputation)
Exemplars of Evil: Mask of Gentility
Fiend Folio: Fiend of Possession
Lords of Madness: Darkstalker
Unearthed Arcana: Naturalized Denizen (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/spelltouchedFeats.htm)

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:25 AM

super sized, strike that, reverse it.

7. Ma'kee the Littlest Giant

Ma’kee the Littlest Giant
NE Primordial Half-Troll Bat Deadly Hunter Druid 5/Holt Warden 10/Divine Oracle 2/Contemplative 1

No one really knows how Ma’kee came to be.

Some fall back to the old excuse that “a wizard did it,” spinning tales of a particularly unhygienic and disorganized evoker mixing up bat guano with troll semen from his breeding experiments, but no one is willing or able to adequately describe the mechanics of this error to properly account for the creature born as a result.

Ability ScoresElite Array: 8 Str, 12 Dex, 13 Con, 14 Int, 15 Wis, 10 Cha
After Stat Adjustments for Primordial Half-Troll: 1 Str, 18 Dex, 17 Con, 8 Int, 19 Wis, 6 Cha
After Return to Nature: 1 Str, 20 Dex, 17 Con, 8 Int, 19 Wis, 6 Cha
Increase Wis at all opportunities.

Build Table

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

2
Primordial Half-Troll Bat
-
-
-
-
-
-
Blindsense 20ft, Low-light Vision, Invisibility at-will, Magical Knack, Fast Healing 5, Darkvision 60ft, Scent, Rend, Bite, 2 Claws

3
Deadly Hunter Druid 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Survival 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Concentration 4
Gatekeeper Initiate, TrackB
AC Bonus, Favored Enemy (Aberration)*, Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy

4
Druid 2
+1
+3
+0
+3
Survival 5, Knowledge (Nature) 5, Concentration 5
-
Woodland Stride

5
Druid 3
+2
+3
+1
+3
Survival 6, Knowledge (Nature) 6, Concentration 6
Skill Focus (Knowledge (Religion))
Trackless Step

6
Druid 4
+3
+4
+1
+4
Survival 7, Knowledge (Nature) 7, Concentration 7
-
Resist Nature’s Lure

7
Druid 5
+3
+4
+1
+4
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 8
-
Favored Enemy (Humanoid (Elf))*

8
Holt Warden 1
+3
+6
+1
+6
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 8, Knowledge (Religion) 3
Martial Study (Action Before Thought)
Nature Sense, Plant Affinity

9
Holt Warden 2
+4
+7
+1
+7
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 8, Knowledge (Religion) 6
-
Rebuke Plants, Woodland Stride

10
Holt Warden 3
+5
+7
+2
+7
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 8, Knowledge (Religion) 9
-
Earth’s Communion 1/day, Trackless Step

11
Divine Oracle 1
+5
+7
+2
+9
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 8, Knowledge (Religion) 10
Greenbound Summoning
Oracle Domain, Scry Bonus

12
Divine Oracle 2
+6
+7
+2
+10
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 8, Knowledge (Religion) 11
-
Prescient Sense, Trap Sense +1

13
Holt Warden 4
+7
[td]+8/td]
+2
+11
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 9, Knowledge (Religion) 13
-
-

14
Contemplative 1
+7
+8
+2
+13
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 10, Knowledge (Religion) 13
Quicken Spell
Bonus Domain (Spell), Divine Health

15
Holt Warden 5
+7
+8
+2
+13
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 13, Knowledge (Religion) 13
-
Earth’s Communion 2/day, Venom Immunity

16
Holt Warden 6
+8
+9
+3
+14
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 16, Knowledge (Religion) 13
-
Whispers of the Forest (News)

17
Holt Warden 7
+9
+9
+3
+14
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 18, Knowledge (Religion) 13, Hide 1
Craft Contingent Spell
Earth’s Communion 3/day, Web of Life

18
Holt Warden 8
+10
+10
+3
+15
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 19, Knowledge (Religion) 13, Hide 3
-
-

19
Holt Warden 9
+10
+10
+4
+15
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 20, Knowledge (Religion) 13, Hide 5
-
Earth’s Communion 4/day, Timeless Body

20
Holt Warden 10
+11
+11
+4
+16
Survival 8, Knowledge (Nature) 8, Concentration 21, Knowledge (Religion) 13, Hide 7
Sudden Maximize
Whispers of the Forest (Insights)

*Adjust Favored Enemies as desired to suit your party or campaign.

Spellcasting

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

3rd
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

4th
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

5th
4
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
5
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
5
3
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
5
3+1
3+1
2+1
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
6
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-

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

11th
6
4+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-
-
-

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

13th
6
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-
-

14th
6
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
3+1
2+1
-
-
-

15th
6
5+1
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-

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

17th
6
5+1
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-

18th
6
5+1
5+1
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
3+1
2+1
-

19th
6
5+1
5+1
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1

20th
6
5+1
5+1
5+1
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
3+1
2+1

Still others say that Ma’kee is a living magical node – a singularity concentrating the primordial power of nature into an infinitesimal point – but this is generally dismissed as too poetic and fanciful, and many scholars insist that it is simply impossible.

CR 5The +2 CR from Half-Troll puts Ma’kee a spell level behind, but otherwise we’re looking pretty good. Diminutive size and favorable modifiers, along with Invisibility at-will which can help animal friends in joining in on the stealthy fun, and even only going up to 2nd level spells, Druid casting has some gems that can make your party’s lives difficult. Because we’ve invested build resources in being extra tiny, Ma’kee won’t be Wild Shaping, so we take the usually less optimal Swift and Deadly Hunter ACF instead, adding Wis to AC and a few favored enemies.

CR 10Since we aren’t progressing Wild Shape, we PrC out. In addition to full casting progression, Holt Warden adds domain slots which can be used for spells from the Plant Domain, along with other things later on. It also gives some other nice nature abilities and makes Knowledge (Religion) a class skill so that we can get into some other nice PrCs.

CR 15Divine Oracle adds what is effectively Evasion, which in conjunction with Action Before Thought shoring up his reflex save, protects against AoE effects that enemies might use when they have difficulty locating or hitting the miniscule Ma’kee. Divine Oracle also adds the Oracle Domain, which gives more options for what to prepare in Ma’kee’s domain slots, and in conjunction with Holt Warden abilities enhance Ma’kee’s intelligence gathering capabilities, but the real winner in terms of stuff to stick in domain slots is the Spell Domain courtesy of Contemplative. The Anyspell line massively expands casting versatility. Greenbound Summoning is also online, kicking the plant theme up to 11 with some frankly absurd power boosts to SNA. As a BBEG, Ma’kee doesn’t really need to save spell slots, so Quicken Spell is a natural choice to improve action economy.

But the real highlight here, at least as it pertains to the theme of the round, comes with 7th level spells. Tucked away in Eberron Campaign Setting is a little gem called Return to Nature. When cast on a creature of the Giant type, that creature is subject to a Reduce Person effect, but what really makes it special is the fact that it has a duration of instantaneous. This means that Ma’kee’s size is now fine, forever, and not even a Dispel or AMF can ever change that.

CR 20We’re up to 9th level spells, and pick up some powerful feats along the way. Craft Contingent Spell offers huge potential, but one particular recommendation would be a Contingent Restoration in case the party manages to incapacitate Ma’kee by dealing a point of Str damage (if Craft Contingent Spell is too much for your game, this individual effect could be accomplished by a Greater Anyspell Contingency). Sudden Maximize caps things off, and as with Quicken, we don’t need to worry as much about the daily limitation, as we’re working with a BBEG, so it allows for a big emergency button on anything from a blasting spell to a mass summoning.

Finally, many simply throw up their hands and suggest that Ma’kee’s origin is nothing more than the intoxicated mishap of some troll in ancient Xen’drik, but no one seriously believes that.

Ma’kee is a minute speck unaccounted for in the grand portrait of creation. But one thing is certain. The power in that speck to distort the image as a whole is great. For within that miniscule form is the power to shake worlds, rend skies, and obliterate the civilizations that lie betwixt them.

Complete Arcane: Craft Contingent Spell, Sudden Maximize
Complete Champion: Holt Warden
Complete Divine: Contemplative, Divine Oracle
Eberron Campaign Setting: Gatekeeper Initiate, Return to Nature
Fiend Folio: Half-Troll
Lost Empires of Faerun: Greenbound Summoning
Secrets of Xen'drik: Primordial Giant
Tome of Battle: Action Before Thought, Martial Study
Everything else is in the SRD.

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:27 AM

You can't hit what you can't see

8. The Meerking

The Meerking
- "I've sampled your fear, I've savoured your pain and consumed your vigour. I've even nipped at your soul. They were all delicious dishes, might you like to try?"

Lawful Evil Advanced Corrupted Meerlock Mumia (with Aberrant Arms) Totemist 2 / Fighter 2 / Dread Commando 4 / Soul Eater 1 / Paladin of Slaughter 3

Ability
Base
Racial
Mumia
Corrupted
Total

Strength
13
-4

+4
13

Dexterity
12
+2

-2
12

Constitution
8 10
0
-
+4
14

Intelligence
14
0

14

Wisdom
10
+2

-2
10

Charisma
15
+4

-2
17

When gaining Mumia template, the Constitution ability is made an Non-ability.

When gaining the Corrupted template, Constitution is no longer a Non-ability, and to the best of my knowledge defaults to 10 before modifiers, closest I could find on a hard rule is Incarnate construct (Savage species), which simply tells you to roll 4d6 drop lowest

All stat increases (HD8,12,16) goes into Charisma.

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

3rd
Meenlock (Base Race)
4d8
+3
+1
+1
+4
Hide 7, Listen 7, Move Silently 7, Spot 7
Mindsight1st, Darkstalker3rd, TrackB
Fear Aura, Meenlock Transformation, Paralysis, Rend Mind, Dimension Door, Telepathy

4th
Advance by HD
7d8
+5
+2
+2
+5
Hide 10, Listen 10, Move Silently 10, Spot 10
Dodge6th

5th
Aberrant Arms (Template)
7d8
+5
+2
+2
+5

2 Extra Arms

6th
Mumia (Template)
7d8 7d12
+3
+2
+2
+5

Change to Undead, Natural Armor +3, Withering Touch, Fast Healing 2

8th
Corrupted Creature (Template)
7d12 7d8
+5
+2
+2
+5

Change to Aberration , Natural Armor +3 7, Natural Weapon Damage increase one size, DR5/Magic, Disruptive Attack (+3 Vile Damage on Natural Attacks), Enhanced Power (All Special Attack DC's increase by 4), Fast Healing 2 3

9th
Totemist 1
8d8
+5
+4
+4
+5
K.Arcana 2, Listen 11, Spot 11, Survival 2

Wild Empathy

10th
Totemist 2
9d8
+6
+5
+5
+5
Listen 12, Spot 12, Survival 6
Open Least Charka (Hands)9th
Totem Chakra

11th
Fighter 1
9d8+1d10
+7
+7
+5
+5
Listen 13(cc), Spot 13(cc)
MobilityB
Bonus Feat

12th
Dread Commando 1
10d8+1d10
+8
+7
+7
+5
Hide 14, Move Silently 14

Sudden Strike +1d6, Team Initiative Bonus

13th
Dread Commando 2
11d8+1d10
+9
+7
+8
+5
Listen 14(cc) Hide 15, Move Silently 15, Spot 15(cc)
Multiattack12th
Armoured Ease 2

14th
Dread Commando 3
12d8+1d10
+10
+8
+8
+6
Listen 16(cc) Hide 16, Move Silently 16, Spot 16(cc)

Sudden Strike +2d6

15th
Dread Commando 4
13d8+1d10
+11
+8
+9
+6
Listen 17(cc) Hide 17, Move Silently 17, Spot 17(cc), Survival 7(cc)

Armoured Ease 4, Stealthy Movement

16th
Fighter 2
13d8+2d10
+12
+9
+9
+6
Hide 18(cc), Move Silently 18(cc)
Weapon Focus (Claws)B, Alertness15th
Bonus Feat

17th
Soul Eater 1
14d8+2d10
+13
+11
+11
+8
Listen 19, Hide 19, Move Silently 19, Spot 19

Energy Drain

18th
Paladin of Slaughter 1
14d8+3d10
+14
+15
+1
+1
Hide 20(cc), Move Silently 20(cc)

Aura of Evil, Detect Good, Smite Good 1/day

19th
Paladin of Slaughter 2
14d8+4d10
+15
+16
+11
+11
Hide 21(cc), Move Silently 21(cc)
Sickening Strike18th
Divine Grace, Deadly Touch

20th
Paladin of Slaughter 3
14d8+5d10
+16
+16
+12
+12
Hide 22(cc), Move Silently 22(cc)

Deliberating Aura, Divine Health

CR
Soulmeld
Essentia
Chakra

9
2
1
-

10
3
2
1+1

Default Soulmelds are
Girallon Arms (Shaped to Arms, bound to totem) - Giving me Claws on my Aberrant Arms, and two additional clawed arms, giving me a total of 6 claw attacks each round
Sphinx Claws (Shaped to Hands, bound to hands) - Giving me Pounce
Kruthik Claws (Shaped to Shoulders) - Gets all of my Essentia, giving me a Competence bonus to Hide and Move Silently, making it much harder to be caught.

The Meerking aren't played like a direct threat, and never goes into an open combat unless all the opponents are scattered or drooling messes from severe Wis Damage, but rather by singling out specific enemies wittling them down by a wide range of SaveOrSuck/SaveOrDie, optionally from far away even ignoring Line of Effect, until they're incapable of defeating a wet marshmallow due to decreased stats

Quick rundown at the abilities that the Meerking have (and other than Energy drain and Sickening strike, available practically from the word go).

Telepathy at 300 feet - which parred with Mindsight makes it easy to notice just about anyone within reach

Dimension Door, 60 feet every second round - easy to relocate and sneak up on people or get to safety where they can't get to me

Rend Mind (Su) Will DC (10+½*Racial HD+ChaModifier+4(Enhanced Power)) = DC22 or 1d4 Wis Damage, any one within 300ft, after being used you have to wait 1d4 rounds to do it again - Used to soften any opponent that get within my Telepathy range, optionally nuking them down from a distance untill they get Ability Damaged to 0, becoming helpless

Fear Aura (Su) Will DC (10+½*Racial HD+ChaModifier+4(Enhanced Power)) = DC22 or become helpless for 1d4+4 rounds, Free action, 30 ft radius, after saving enemies can't be targeted by it for 24 Hours - effectively a Save Or Die

Withering Touch (su) Fort DC (10+½*Racial HD+½*ChaModifier+4(Enhanced Power)) = DC20 or take 2 Con Damage whenever my natural weapons hit Making it easier to make Paralysis hit, and a secondary win condition by draining people down to Con 0 killing them

Paralysis (Ex) Fort DC (10+Racial HD+ConModifier+4(Enhanced Power)) = DC23 or be Paralyzed for 3d6 rounds whenever my claws hit, so up towards 6 times a round can I force an opponent to make the DC,

Energy Drain - Whenever I hit someone they take 1 Negative Level (no save), making it harder for them to save against any of my other abilities,

Sickening Strike - while late in the build whenever I'm able to ambush opponents (which given the stealth and ability to pick the battles), i can trade a single Sudden Strike dice for making the opponent sickened (no save), which serves the same purposes as Energy Drain

Beyond this, between the hefty Stealth (size modifier to Hide (+8), competence bonuses to Hide and Move Silently (+8) and decreased penalties from Stealthy Movement and Armoured Ease) the Character should be able to consistently attack, and still Hide, as they only need to take a -10 to Hide/Move Silent while attacking/Charging.

Monster Manual II - Meerlock
Lords of Madness - Mindsight, Darkstalker
Dungeon Master Guide II - Aberrant Arms
Ghostwalk - Mumia Template
Book of Vile Darkness - Corrupted Template, Soul Eater
Magic of Incarnum - Totemist, Open Least Chakra
Heroes of Battle - Dread Commando
Monster Manual - Multiattack
Unearthed Arcana - Paladin of Slaughter
Drow of the Underdark - Sickening Strike

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:29 AM

You won't use me, I'll use YOU!

9. Krogfur the Everhealing

Krogfur the Everhealing

Krogfur was a wretched little devil usually summoned by adventurers to do their dirty work, Well he was sick of it! Through his travels and summons he had heard of a Being of great power, Rangorra. Even though he already had a master to serve he pledged his service to Rangorra. Since then he has been gaining power, his form is blessed by the great healing magics, why would he ever want for another like other devils?

Krogfur goes throughout the realms spreading the blessings of Rangorra, occasionally harrying adventurers, looking for the ones who kept summoning him. He looks forward to being able to summon Rangorra.

Str 8, Dex 10, Con 22, Int 10, Wis 18, Cha 18
Warlock - 6, Cleric - 3, Eldritch Disciple - 8(effective lvl 14 Warlock, lvl 11 Cleric). LE Bloodbag Imp. Worships Asmodeus, serves Glasya and the Elder Evil Rangorra(Its a devil, conniving little backstabbers)

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

CR 3
Bloodbag Imp
+4
+4
+4
+4
Concentration 5, Knowledge (religion)2, Knowledge (the planes)2, Listen 6, Spellcraft 7, Spot 6
Brand of the Nine Hells; Glasya, Mark of Malbolge
Bonus feat: Willing Deformity

Wounding Curse, Poison, Spell-Like Abilities, Transfusion

1
Warlock - 1
+4
+4
+4
+6
Knowledge (religion)3, Knowledge (the planes)3
Bonus feat;Insane Defiance
Eldritch blast 1d6, invocation (least)

2
Cleric - 1
+4
+6
+4
+8
Knowledge (religion)4, Knowledge (the planes)4
Weapon Focus(Ray)
Turn or Rebuke undead

3
Warlock - 2
+5
+6
+4
+9
Knowledge (religion)6

Detect magic

4
Cleric - 2
+6
+7
+4
+10
Knowledge (religion)8
Violate Spell like Ability
+1 Wis

5
Warlock -3
+7
+7
+5
+10
Spellcraft 9

Damage reduction 1/cold iron, eldritch blast 2d6

6
Warlock - 4
+8
+7
+5
+11
Use Magic Device 2
Bonus feat: Abominable Form
Deceive item

7
Cleric - 3
+9
+7
+6
+11
Spellcraft 11
Maximize Spell like Ability(Eldritch Blast)

8
Warlock - 5
+9
+7
+6
+11
Use Magic Device 4

Eldritch blast 3d6, +1 Wis

9
Warlock - 6
+10
+8
+7
+12
Use Magic Device 6

New invocation (least or lesser)

10
Eldritch Disciple - 1
+10
+10
+7
+14
Knowledge(Arcana)2
Empower Spell-Like Ability(Eldritch Blast)
Gift of the divine patron, turn/rebuke undead

11
Eldritch Disciple - 2
+11
+11
+7
+15
Knowledge(Arcana)4
Bonus feat:Willing Deformity(Parasite)

12
Eldritch Disciple - 3
+12
+11
+8
+15
Knowledge(Arcana)6

+1 Wis

13
Eldritch Disciple - 4
+13
+12
+9
+16
Diplomacy 2
Quicken Spell-Like Ability(Eldritch Blast)
Gift of the divine patron

14
Eldritch Disciple - 5
+13
+12
+9
+16
Diplomacy 4

Eldritch spellweave

15
Eldritch Disciple - 6
+14
+13
+10
+17
Diplomacy 6

16
Eldritch Disciple - 7
+15
+13
+10
+17
Diplomacy 8
Rapid Regen,
Bonus feat: Vile Martial Strike

Gift of the divine patron, +1 Cha

17
CR20
Eldritch Disciple - 8
+16
+14
+10
+18
Diplomacy 10

+1 spell slot for 1-4th lvl spells

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

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

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

3rd
4
2+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

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

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

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

7th
6
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-

8th
6
4+1
3+1
3+1
2+1
-
-
-
-
-

9th
6
4+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-
-
-

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

11th
6
5+1
4+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
-
-
-

Spell like Abilities
Bloodbag Imp
Spell-Like Abilities: At will—detect good, detect magic,
invisibility (self only); 1/day—vampiric touch. Caster level
6th; save DC 11 + spell level.

Invocations
8 Known, access to least and lesser

Least
Beguiling Influence: The invoker receives a bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, & Intimidate checks.
Frightful Blast:Any creature struck by the invoker’s Eldritch Blast also becomes Shaken.
Eldritch Spear: The maximum range of the invoker’s Eldritch Blast increases to 250’.
Miasmic Cloud: Creates area of mist around the invoker, which grants Concealment to everyone within it. All creatures (except the invoker) within the mist become Fatigued.

Lesser
Curse of Despair:Touched target is inflicted with a curse.
Eldritch Chain: If an Eldritch Blast hits its initial target, the invoker may attempt to hit a secondary target.
Hellrime Blast: The invoker’s Eldritch Blast does Cold damage.
Voracious Dispelling: Cancels magical spells and effects on a successful Dispel Check and deals damage.

Special Qualities
Bloodbag Imp
SR 6, DR 5/silver and good, Regen 5, Devils Sight
Polymorph (Su): An imp can assume other forms at will
as a standard action. This ability functions as polymorph self cast by a 12th-level sorcerer, except that an individual imp can assume only one or two forms no larger than Medium-size. Common forms include monstrous spider, raven, rat, and boar.

Wounding Curse (Su): Three times per day, a bloodbag imp can point at a foe within 30 feet and force that opponent to make a Fortitude save (DC 13) or suffer the effects of its wounding curse. A creature that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to that imp’s wounding curse ability for one day. Those afflicted treat every melee injury taken within the next hour as if that injury had been caused by a weapon with the wounding special ability. Such wounds bleed for 1 point of damage per round thereafter (in addition to the normal damage dealt by the melee attack). Multiple wounds result in cumulative bleeding loss (two wounds for 2 points of damage per round, and so on). The bleeding can be stopped only by a Heal check (DC 15) or the application of any cure spell or other healing spell (heal, healing circle, and so on).

Poison (Ex): A bloodbag imp delivers its poison (Fort DC 16 negates) with each successful bite attack. Initial and secondary damage are the same (1d4 Str).

Transfusion (Su): Any creature that drinks a bloodbag imp’s blood regains 1 hit point per full round of transfusion. The imp must be willing, and both the imp and the creature receiving the transfusion can take no other actions in that round. The imp takes 2 points of damage during each round of transfusion, but its regeneration ability reduces this to subdual damage, which it quickly recovers. A bloodbag imp rendered unconscious cannot use its transfusion ability until its hit points again exceed its subdual damage total.

Skills: Bloodbag imps have a +8 racial bonus on Heal checks.

CR 3 Krogfur is your basic Bloodbag Imp, occasionally summoned by adventurers, sometimes to make use of its transfusion ability other times as a distraction, its hate for the mortals grows. It uses its abilities from the Mark of Malbolge, its flesh writhes with tumors (10 to be exact), it can rip these off for a number of abilities as a swift action but mostly uses them for their healing properties or for extra reach. It regrows these tumors in 10 rounds but since it has 10 it always has access to them.

LVL 7/CR 10 Krogfur has begun his path of mastering both invocation magic and divine magic. Krogfurs abominable form gives his enemies pause and it can deflect mind affecting spells elsewhere thanks to its insane defiance. It keeps some spells handy such as Bloodwind, to make use of its bite and poison even though they dont do much. It has access to Maximize and Violate abilities, which it uses to great affect preventing enemies from healing themselves. It has researched and begins plans on helping Rangorra to touch down on the material plane.

LVL 12/CR 15 Krogfur is a pestulant flying bag of blood, tumors and writhing parasites. It makes use of any spells that boost his natural healing or regeneration, it prefers to engage from a distance with its Eldritch Blast but doesnt balk from closer forms. Using its spells or invocations to put up defences. It also uses the spells Sadism and Masochism as its healing through most of the damage it takes to make sure it always hits the enemy. Moving up within the ranks of the Malshapers, Krogfur is near the top of the group, he often harries adventurers looking for the ones who summoned them and preventing them from stopping Rangorra.

LVL 17, CR 20 Krogfur does much of the same but with access to higher level spells and invocations. Its revealed that hes only been using Rangorra all along, Rangorra is finally touched down on the material plane. Krogfur, under the impression of serving works to keep Rangorra alive so that it might keep affecting the world, slowly turning it into a flesh and tumor filled expanses.

Sources
Bloodbag Imp - FF pg 99
Brand of the Nine Hells - Fiendish codex 2, pg 81
Eldritch Disciple - CM pg 53
Insane Defiance - EE pg 13
Maximize Spell like Ability - Complete Arcane, pg 81
Serving an Elder Evil - EE pg 10

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 01:33 AM

that's a great last minute rally of entries, as always.

Hopefully there's a judge out there :)

I'd like to state that any judges may make a suggestion for a future round to me via PM and i'll work out the restrictions and add it to my list in progress.

Our next round will be one of these suggestions with my own twisted limitations set upon it :belkar:

Thurbane

2018-08-22, 03:32 AM

jdizzlean

2018-08-22, 04:41 AM

Nice entries everyone. Really not much in the way of double-ups.

And no swarms, that I can see. I was seriously expecting some kind of hivemind swarm or similar...

I have some concerns about entry via Google Document: what if it is edited after the reveal? I mean, I doubt anyone would do something like that. I leave it in the hands of the chair, of course, but I thought I'd mention it.

just for discussions sake:
on swarms, i think that by definition a swarm takes up a 10 foot space if i recall? so even if you had a swarm of dimunitive things, the swarm itself would be larger than tiny, and therefore not qualify correct? and I think hive-mind just complicates that, at least from my perspective

whatcha think?

on the google doc, i'll review it again before and during judging, but I didn't think of that as an issue honestly, any outright changes noticed (from submission) will simply result in a DQ, but again, I don't think it'll be an issue

GrayDeath

2018-08-22, 09:00 AM

OK, 2 of the builds were close conceptwise to mine, but in one case clearly "Better" and in the other somewhat cooler (and in both cases, ya know, finished^^).

So I am not sad I didn`t enter.

I am up for judging if, and thats a BIG if, I either can get it done next week, where I ahve copious free time, or after the 16th of September, as I am working full time, no stop, from 1st of September until 16th....##Edit: as for the Swarm, I agree. Which is why I did not build my first Idea of a Vampiric Bat Swarm Hivemind ...thingy.

Falontani

2018-08-22, 09:07 AM

OK, 2 of the builds were close conceptwise to mine, but in one case clearly "Better" and in the other somewhat cooler (and in both cases, ya know, finished^^).

When the judges have finished and we're done I'd like to know your concept and how you did yours

JyP

2018-08-22, 04:24 PM

Great list of tiny terrors :smallsmile:

Another idea I did not submit was about emulating Black Smurfs through Grig Barbarian / Totemist / Totem Rager - it emulated Patapons also :smallbiggrin:

Main problem was to relearn rules to make an effective pack of Lilliputians after the first 5 levels - too much to do after the first build...

Thurbane

2018-08-22, 06:41 PM

Entry
Competitor
Field 1
Field 2
Judge 1 Score
Final Score

The Shiv (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314581&postcount=94)
???

-
-

Tom (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314584&postcount=95)
???

-
-

Zahasehsh the Tiny (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314586&postcount=96)
???

-
-

Lind Loheen (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314588&postcount=97)
???

-
-

Frost (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314598&postcount=98)wrym (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314602&postcount=99)
???

-
-

Zughor, Hand of Baalzebul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314603&postcount=100)
???

-
-

Ma'kee the Littlest Giant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314607&postcount=101)
???

-
-

The Meerking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314608&postcount=102)
???

-
-

Krogfur the Everhealing (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314612&postcount=103)
???

-
-

Braininthejar2

2018-08-23, 03:26 AM

It's a pity that I didn't have the time to make an entry.

My idea was a quasit that used arseplomancy shenanigans to crawl inside important NPCs and control them by threatening to gut them from the inside out.

Thurbane

2018-08-23, 02:37 PM

I was also a little (pleasantly) surprised there were no Jermlaine, Muckdwellers or Petals, either...

GrayDeath

2018-08-23, 04:57 PM

Well, my first IDea (that I scrapped quickly) would have used a Pixie por Petal, so ^^

Thurbane

2018-08-23, 05:15 PM

Well, my first IDea (that I scrapped quickly) would have used a Pixie por Petal, so ^^

:smalltongue: I don't have anything against them as such, just was expecting some of those races as entries.

GrayDeath

2018-08-23, 05:20 PM

Yeah, I found the Petal would be used by nearly everyone (ooops^^) and my brothers Pixie influenced my view too much for it to not be a ripoff, so....well.

unseenmage

2018-08-23, 08:00 PM

If I didn't work 12 hour swing shifts at night I would have submitted a Minor Servitor ball (wad? lump?) of Quintessence and just taken the elegance hit for Minor Servitor being a 3.0 spell.

Never got past the idea phase but that it'd be awful would have been the fun part.

Thurbane

2018-08-26, 05:43 PM

May have missed it in comments, but has anyone said they might be judging?

jdizzlean

2018-08-26, 08:15 PM

I was also a little (pleasantly) surprised there were no Jermlaine, Muckdwellers or Petals, either...

petal and muck i figured would have been the goto options, i'm actually pleasantly surprised we have none this round :)

May have missed it in comments, but has anyone said they might be judging?

Gray said he'll try to get to it this week, if not it won't be until after 9/16 :(

Falontani

2018-08-26, 08:39 PM

I believe in Gray!

Sian

2018-08-26, 11:50 PM

petal and muck i figured would have been the goto options, i'm actually pleasantly surprised we have none this round :)

Meh, none of them really bring much unique to the table other than a low CR, which might as well be found other places, which have more flavour in terms of interesting special abilities

PrismCat21

2018-08-27, 06:10 PM

jdizzlean

2018-08-27, 08:46 PM

I don't have any jobs lined up after Wednesday until the next week. I'll see if I can get any judging done.
My issue is I can't view Google docs on my phone, and my phone is my only internet. I won't start any judging until I can review all the entries. So Thursday at the soonest.

i copy/pasted the text from the google doc and pm'd it to you, it's probably a little harder to read that way, but hopefully it's better than nothing and an outright no score.

Rama

2018-08-29, 12:24 PM

If y'all still need a judge I'll throw my hat in the ring. It's been a couple of years since I judged one of these comps, but I'm happy to do so.

GrayDeath

2018-08-29, 02:27 PM

Just wanted to post an update: I am judgint (slowly due to not too little workload, but still), but I`ll likely not be finished too soon.

Falontani

2018-08-29, 03:52 PM

If y'all still need a judge I'll throw my hat in the ring. It's been a couple of years since I judged one of these comps, but I'm happy to do so.

We are always loving of any and all judges. If you would like to give it a go please do so!

jdizzlean

2018-09-05, 04:52 AM

Gray, Prism, Rama

How's it going?

9 builds can be a lot for sure, especially with life getting in the way.

no rush, just curious on an update

I have a side project and my ever evolving round options to keep me busy

GrayDeath

2018-09-05, 06:35 AM

Well, I got 2 builds done (as far as I know^^) last week, but this and next week, as I stated, my shcedule is so full of PC work I cant find the energy or concentration necessary to judge. I will continue doing so around the 17th, and as I ahve multiple nfree days there, probably be done within that week.

PrismCat21

2018-09-05, 11:31 AM

If y'all still need a judge I'll throw my hat in the ring. It's been a couple of years since I judged one of these comps, but I'm happy to do so.

Please do. I'm out.
Picked up alot of gigs to work and need to find a new place to live for a few months. No time to judge.

Sian

2018-09-14, 08:44 AM

Minor bump to request an update from any prospective judges

GrayDeath

2018-09-14, 10:06 AM

Thurbane

2018-09-14, 06:27 PM

Nothing has changed.

All good. Judging is much appreciated. Whenever you get to it is fine. :smallsmile:

GrayDeath

2018-09-20, 04:43 AM

Update: After almost 4 weeks with 3 free days, I have now had a day to sleep and relax.

I will be getting to finishing my judgings this week, and in all likeliness be done by TOday in a week at the latest. :)

jdizzlean

2018-09-20, 05:58 AM

huzzah, and there was much rejoicing :)

at your leisure, if you want, shoot me a pm w/ a request for a round theme, and i'll add it to my list for the future.
the next round is an adaptation of a former judges submission :)
the round after that is all kinds of whackadoodle that came out of my brain...

daremetoidareyo

2018-09-20, 07:52 PM

RaiKirah

2018-09-20, 09:07 PM

Is it kaiju monsters? I hope it's kaiju monsters.

I might actually try to understand CR for a Kaiju monster round :)

GrayDeath

2018-09-23, 01:01 PM

Thad be a great round, if it gets a few more guidelines than "Big Mosnter"...

As for an Update. I ahve finished 4 Judgings, and barring the next few days wehre I will have to get a new Car and meet my Family that is visiting the country, will keep on judging on...and on......and oooon....^^

Thurbane

2018-09-26, 12:34 AM

I'd be down for a Kaiju round!

GrayDeath

2018-09-26, 12:14 PM

Update: massive Car Trouble and lots of other stuff to do, Judging rests at 4 finished until at least the Weekend.

Sorry guys , but I simply dont have the energy to judge after mulstiple 11. hour days.....:(

Falontani

2018-09-26, 01:56 PM

It is understandable. Please don't feel pressured to finish as quickly as possible. Take some rest, and work on it when you can do it without feeling stressed

Thurbane

2018-09-26, 04:44 PM

GrayDeath

2018-09-28, 11:23 AM

Thanks, I will.

I`ll post a "back to work" update once I am ...well, able to. ;)

GrayDeath

2018-10-04, 12:47 PM

Update: I am more or less sane and alive again (ergo no longer massively overworked) so I am getting back at it from now onward.
Maybe will get most of it done during the weekend. ;)

Thurbane

2018-10-06, 05:45 PM

If this round gets wrapped up in time, can we have a Halloween themed next round?

GrayDeath

2018-10-07, 12:38 AM

I might be still busy, but I`ll certainly have it done before Halloween, so ....;)

jdizzlean

2018-10-09, 07:43 PM

I'm on vacation until the 21st with limited internet access beyond my phone, so any responses/pm's/post's etc requiring my attention will be delayed

GrayDeath

2018-10-14, 07:26 AM

Well, since I am having car trouble (again) at the moment, I have a lot on my mind and hence little concentration for the judging (and not TOO much time anyway) so I do not expect anything to be finished before next weekend anyway.

Sorry for the delay guys! :sigh:

jdizzlean

2018-10-21, 02:14 PM

question to all:

it's about a week shy of 3 months since this round was started, 2 since judging commenced. Is the preference to wait until this round is complete, or post a new round while this one finalizes, whenever that may be?

no pressure gray, i know RL gets in the way, frequently.

GrayDeath

2018-10-21, 03:15 PM

Well, I am loathe to promise a certain Dealdine (shot me in the foot twice already ^^), but it looks like I will be able to finish this week, in case that changes how people might vote.

Thurbane

2018-10-21, 05:21 PM

As a competitor, I'm happy to wait...

Falontani

2018-10-30, 12:36 PM

bumping because I couldn't even find the threat (although I may have just been blind)

GrayDeath

2018-10-31, 10:23 AM

OK, I am very much not finding the time to do the judging (at least not "right" a short, few sentences judging after reading them over is possible ut does not really fulfill my standards...) at the moment due to RL deciding to both challenge me quite a bit and all the while dumping work on my head (9th day nonstop working today...ugh) these last weeks.

So while I hate to say it, I ahve to: its not going to be done on Halloween,and likely not on the weekend unless I get an unexpected surge of energy.....

I`m really sorry Guys and Gals....:smallfrown:

jdizzlean

2018-10-31, 10:41 AM

can you give me a realistic date when you can complete it by?

GrayDeath

2018-10-31, 11:15 AM

That .... depends, sadly.

As it looks right now, I will have a normal amount of free time starting next week thursdayish (meaning more than one Day of deep sleep and errands each work week...)..
Thats more or less a "latest date I can invest the time and concentration I need" to start to finish (though given how long I have paused I will likely have to at least partially redo the ones I did t not be unfair).

So given that, 2-5 days after that time looks realistic.

Since I however already gave times when I thought I`d be finished twice and it didnt work out, thats at most around 80%ish sure.

ALso since Is aid I would judge I didnt give it up even given my demanding RLa t the moment, which in hindsight might have been a mistake. But done is done, I will finish the judging, come what may (excepting real catastrohpies of course^^)!

Thurbane

2018-10-31, 05:29 PM

If we end up with dire straits in judging, maybe let the competitors vote on or judge other people's entries?

jdizzlean

2018-10-31, 07:26 PM

If we end up with dire straits in judging, maybe let the competitors vote on or judge other people's entries?

Gray hasn't pulled out yet, and I'm loathe to override him, but it might be a good idea if another 2-3 weeks goes by and still no finalizing of the judging.

if it comes to that, a simple PM w/ each entrant ranking the other builds from 1-8 is probably better at this point than 9 sets of 8 full judgements.

I hate waiting, I'm not good at it, but at this point we're going to be into the middle of November before anything is posted, (assuming another catastrophe doesn't happen), which is 3.5 months from when this round started.

Thurbane

2018-10-31, 07:31 PM

Well, if it's OK with the chair and everyone else, maybe we could kick off the next round while we're awaiting judging to be finished up?

GrayDeath

2018-10-31, 07:40 PM

As stated already, I for one ahve absolutely no problem with that.

jdizzlean

2018-11-09, 05:37 PM

gray?

update please?

i'll post the next round sunday while we wait.

i can post what i had planned to do, or we can do the halloween round even though it's a touch past it.

post below what you'd like to do, i'll go w/ majority on this.

Thurbane

2018-11-10, 04:55 PM

I'm happy to go with either (slightly belated) Halloween, or with originally planned concept.

Falontani

2018-11-10, 08:04 PM

Halloween sounds fun

unseenmage

2018-11-10, 09:03 PM

I'd gladly lurk a Halloween thread.

GrayDeath

2018-11-12, 06:28 AM

I am at it atm.
Fürst few free days in ages.

Expect it some time Wednesday. :)

Edit: open for most of the old suggestions, a jester would still be cool, or a duality theme.
Not opposed to Halloween either.

Edit 2: Jduging done just formatting and putting it up tomorrow. Again I am sorry for the delays horrible RL timing and the fact some entries took a LOT of looking conspiracy and such.^^

ben-zayb

2018-11-12, 09:13 AM

Obligatory link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573496-Villainous-Competition-XXIX-A-Halloween-Special) for the next round's thread

GrayDeath

2018-11-13, 11:04 AM

At long last here it is: My long awaited (thank yu all for your patience and understanding!)

Judging "Small Dosage Competition"

Originality
OK, a legacy Weapon. That is…unexpected indeed. Though am less than sure it fits the Comps sprit and rules it IS hell of original. 4.75

Elegance
Well, I for one judge the „Needs a build at varous CR rates“ as „Needs to b e able to DO thngs on itself“ as well, which the Shiv mostly is not. Mind I`d loathe to actually disqualify it, as the Idea is just so neat, but more than a 2.0 in this are would be too much, as the „Almost not really legall at all“ Penalty applies.

Power
Ist a pretty optimized legacy weapon without going overboard. Sadly the listed Factotum buld is entirely useless as it is neither the actual „Character“ nor does it fit the comp (not tiny), so not more here than honorary 3.0 for „Des what it would be supposed to do adequately“.

Memorability
Well, if the group finds/confronts the weapon as what it is, quite nice. Otherwise ist jsut another guy with an expensive Dagger. 3.0 overall

Total: 12.5. But other judges might have completely disqualified it so take that with a grain of salt.
As an addition, please do not submit entries via Google Doc as good looking and easy to read it may be but since one cannot be sure of the unodified state this does pose a problem.

Originality Love it. Both the age old Concept of the House cat as a real threat as a whole as well as the combo of classes are neat and not too often trodden. Have a very good 4.5

Elegance
Wellt hat was a harder one . First the Ex Familiar usage is a wee bit iffy secondly the Class Progression is almost exclsively following Power Reasonings. Still, aside from the Familiar nothing remotely illegal that I could find, just not really pretty, so 2.75 it is.

Power
For what Tom does this is quite, if not very due to some limits of tiny ambushers and/or Magic Item limitations, well built. A well optimized larger Brawler will wipe the floor with him pre Vampirism but afterwards ist another matter. Overall a good 3.75

Memorability Are you kidding me? This thing is going tob e the talk f the table for weeks at least!
5.00.

Total: 16.00

Originality: well, didnt see that one coming for the comp at all though I likely should have Very novel approach on the race though the quite oftenused Caster Levels even out to merely a good 3.75

Elegance: Everything is concise follows a logical progression and seems legal to me. Excellent 4.75

Power: Well, it is quite weak on lower levels but, as rightly stated by the participant nightmarish later on. While its raw power is never equal to a fully optimized Wizard oft he same CR, in ist niche it rocks hard. Still,, that was one oft he most harrowing power judgings form e, as usually casters should be more flexib to go really high (and the laterSpell levels hurt). 4.25

Memorability
A floating eyeball of doom is old news. A TINY foating yeball of doom with Veils is not. This is likely going to be memorable on most tables, though ist not usable on all of them. 4.25

Total: 17.00

Originality I had never even heard of Meenlocks before, so thats going on the pro List. Also you donnt see Soul Eaters too often, unusual progression is another plus though the wight was not unexpected seeing the other classes. Still, very good. 4.5

Elegance: 3 Dips then straight developement Cant find anything illegal, but pretty it aint.
3.00

Power: Negtive Levels, debuffs and massive scouting ability are quite nasty stuff. For what this little critter is supposed to do you would ikely have trouble building something better. Still, range is a weakness for quite some time, as are some types of enemies. Overall a very good 4.0

Memorability Depends heavily on the curousity oft he players. If they find out enough about the build/Backstory very good, otherwise (due to ist nice abilities) only above average, giving it a good total of 3.5

Total: 15.00

+

Originality Well, ist a almost classical „Evil ce Themed Caster“, the Spellwurm giving it a nice touch but not more. 3.00

Elegance: Well, making a Syymbiont its own Chracter is more than little bit iffy elegancewise. I will freely admit this entry took me longer than most. I could not find cold hard (he^^) rules that outright say it cant be done but seeing he would need symbiotic „Carrier“ until very late if ever in the game, I had to deduct a lot here. Add a little dipping done, and you remain at 2.00.

Power: Well, ist a full caster with quite some unique cpbilities a clear but not too narrow focus, so the result is amost the archetypical 4.5.

Memorability: Good, if people realize ist actuall the symbiot doing all the stuff nonexistant except somme ice theme otherwise Summing up to 2.75

Total: 12.25

Originality Well, one of 2 Imps. Each loses .25 pts for Impness (added to it ist he fact I would have built one too ^^) but other than that not much to fault here. Didnt expeect a Disciple of Balzebuul/FoP Combo at all. 3.75

Elegance: Clean, concise no dipping, nothing illegal and only minor interpreatonal issues here. Take a good 4.25

Power: its raw power is … not too impressive. Ist versatility however is amazing, as is its ability to remain hidden/in the metaphorical shadows for a long time Added tot hat the alround utility of FoP and you get 4.5

Memorability: Ver nice A Big Bad that s at first not identifiable as one (this comp teems with them^^) added to the really … nagging abilities will make players remember this guy (with grumbling^^). 4.0

Total: 16.5

Originality Oh my, a Hallf Troll Bat. Thats something you have to see. And a quite unboring build to boot Another greatly original Build in this already surprising Round. 4.75

Elegance: Puh the second entry that had me going and look for LOOONG hours. But it works. Not perfectly (pure power grab dip in the form of contemplative) yet penalizing for m y graying hair would not be fair. 4.0

Power: Now we`re talking. Greenbound summoning, Craft C. Spell, full Caster + nice scores. 4.75

Memorability: Good, if mostly fort he name and sheer absurdness oft he build ^. 4.00

Total: 17.5

Originality: Really, this comp stumped me quite a bit Another very good concept with another race I have never heard of before. Thank you all!. 4.25

Elegance: The questionable ruling oft he templates (I would probabl apply corrupted before Mumia to avoid the Con problem if that ws possible both vrsions are DM dependant) and the fact each class seems only taken for power lower this score quite a bit, yet nothing is truly illegal as far as I could find. 2.50

Power: A Stealth/Harrassment Enemy. Never as good at Power as other concept as if you take out the hiddenness they tend to suffer et powerful abilities OK synergy. Take a 3.75

Memorability: Very unusual race, very vexing playstyle and abilities. Players are gonna hate this little thing, alright. ) And hence remeber it. 4.00

Total: 14.5

Originality The second Imp. Yet a totally different concept, excellent. Interestingly the overall concept of tis build (Warlock Theurge Imp) is very similar to my concept (I would have gone elditch Disciple myself), yet in most CR Areas better executed (Mine only pulled away from CR 15/16ish). Ah well, have a 3.5.

Elegance Legal, 2 classes plus Race. Witout the Elder Evil stuff this would be a clear 5.0. Even now its a great 4.5

Power: Basic. Nothing to sneeze at but only medicore Warlockness and Clerickicity. ^^ His near unkillableness and the theme of being nasty more than powerful make it clear ist not meant to be a powerplayer, yet still, only 3.25.

Memorability Elder Evil AND Asmodeus worsiping pest. Yeah, highly memorable if found out. Even without that, ist rather unique style will keep it in memory. 4.00

Total: 15.25

WhamBamSam

2018-11-13, 12:05 PM

Thanks for sticking with it GrayDeath!

jdizzlean

2018-11-13, 01:05 PM

Entry
Competitor
Field 1
Field 2
GrayDeath Score
Final Score

The Shiv (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314581&postcount=94)
???

12.5
-

Tom (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314584&postcount=95)
???

16
-

Zahasehsh the Tiny (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314586&postcount=96)
???

17
-

Lind Loheen (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314588&postcount=97)
???

15
-

Frost (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314598&postcount=98)wrym (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314602&postcount=99)
???

12.25
-

Zughor, Hand of Baalzebul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314603&postcount=100)
???

16.5
-

Ma'kee the Littlest Giant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314607&postcount=101)
???

17.5
-

The Meerking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314608&postcount=102)
???

14.5
-

Krogfur the Everhealing (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314612&postcount=103)
???

15.25
-

Thurbane

2018-11-13, 04:00 PM

Thank you kindly GrayDeath. No disputes from me...

jdizzlean

2018-11-14, 09:22 AM

if no grievances in the next 24 hours or so, i'll post the reveal late morning tmw

i have 1 HM vote, if you'd like to weigh in, either post it or pm it to me before then

Thurbane

2018-11-14, 03:31 PM

My HM goes to Lind Loheen.

jdizzlean

2018-11-15, 05:51 PM

Entry
Competitor
Field 1
Field 2
GrayDeath Score
Final Score

The Shiv (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314581&postcount=94)
JyP

12.5
-

Tom (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314584&postcount=95)
Falontani

16
-

Zahasehsh the Tiny (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314586&postcount=96)
Sejoran

17
SILVER

Lind Loheen (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314588&postcount=97)
LionHeart

15
-

Frost (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314598&postcount=98)wrym (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314602&postcount=99)
Falontani

12.25
-

Zughor, Hand of Baalzebul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314603&postcount=100)
Thurbane

16.5
BRONZE

Ma'kee the Littlest Giant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314607&postcount=101)
WhamBamSam

17.5
GOLD

The Meerking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314608&postcount=102)
Sian

14.5
-

Krogfur the Everhealing (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23314612&postcount=103)
Sejoran

15.25
HM

Congrats to everyone, thank you Gray for sticking with it, the next round is in full swing and already a judge has come forward!

Thurbane

2018-11-15, 05:56 PM

Congrats to everyone, thank you Gray for sticking with it, the next round is in full swing and already a judge has come forward!

Congrats to all, specially WhamBamSam and Sejoran!

LionHeart, I really enjoyed Lind Loheen :smallsmile:

I'm pretty happy with bronze this round - my entry for Zughor was a little rushed, so happy to get a placing at all.

Falontani

2018-11-15, 05:58 PM

WhamBamSam

2018-11-15, 08:11 PM

Good round all. I think this is the first VC that I've medaled in, so I'm happy about that even if most of my build beyond the central smaller size trick was straight out of eggynack's Druid handbook.

GrayDeath

2018-11-16, 05:05 AM

Not enough for making this round go longer, but did you dock Frostwyrm for being a symbiont? Because there isn't anything against a symbiont in this competition and the biggest problem is sustenance which is exceedingly easy to take care of his magic, or simply dominating a creature to allow you to eat your meal for the day

Because it A: is a slightly questionable reading o allow it (no I dont want to go to the usual "it doesnt say I cant" ) and B: it gets thhe same penalties for being useless without a host for most/all o its life as a build completely dependant on a specific Item.

@ WHamBamSam: thing wrong with doing that :P

Sian

2018-11-16, 08:29 AM

Reason why I went with Mumia into Corrupted, instead of Corrupted into Mumia was that it still allowed me to go Soul Eater (you need to be living, as in, Not!Undead and Not!Humanoid to qualify), and going Mumia second would also need me to pay a feat tax in Undead Meldshaper.

In retrospect I should probably have gone Soul Eater 4 instead of Paladin of Slaughter

Sejoran

2018-11-16, 11:59 PM

I'm honestly surprised, did it more for fun. I knew initiate would not be powerful but I figured it'd be unique because I haven't seen it in these competitions. Krogfur was more for "how crazy could I make it". I don't mind it got docked, already questionable worshipping two things at once.