Game Warper's Optimization Challenge #3: Beflawed E6 Beatsticks -Dragon #310 allowed!

[daremetoidareyo]

Hello, welcome to the the

Game-Warper's Optimization Challenge!




Round 3: Beflawed E6 BeatSticks
The entirety of Dragon #310 is allowed
Up to 2 UA Flaws Are Allowed



In this round, you will build a an E6 character, but you must use one of the base class variants found in Dragon Magazine #310. Remember, there is text in that issue that you can only choose a single base class variant for any base class, much like how you can't take levels in different specialist wizards to accumulate different specialist powers and specialist schools. You may use any of the flaws found in Unearthed Arcana at no judging penalty. The theme of primary importance for your entry is strongly encouraged to be the ability to adequately smash face (not literally) in combat scenarios.

This character build will be from levels 1-6 followed by 10 epic feats.

This competition is based on the Iron Chef Competition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571065-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCV) E6 appetizer edition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572441-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIII)) rules.

Allowable Sources: Same as the Iron Chef Competition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571065-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCV).

Allowable Races: No RHD or any Level Adjustment (LA). Sorry folks, no crazy races yet.

Rules: We will follow all of the entry rules and requirements of the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge for this contest except Judging and that you are limited to a single entry. A quick recap, no leadership, only first party sources, no generic classes, no gestalt.

PAY ATTENTION THIS IS WAY DIFFERENT THAN NORMAL, WE ARE NOW USING RANKED CHOICE JUDGMENTS:

Judging: By Entering an entrant into this contest, you agree to become a judge. That's right. This is pay to play. Judging works like this:

1. Once all of the submissions are made to the chair: ME (daremetoidareyo) at the end of the challenge period, they will be posted to the forum by the chair, (me).

2. Entrants will read all of the entries and score the other builds by the following metrics:

If there are three entries: The judge will address the following 4 categories: Originality, Power, Elegance, and Use of the ingredient. Each category will need at least two sentences explaining the judge's thoughts and ideas about the build. The submitter only judges the other contestant's build. All Contestants will share the gold/silver/bronze medals.

If there are 4-6 entries: The Builds will be assessed in the following 4 categories: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of the ingredient. Each category will need at least one sentence that evaluates how the build performs in that categories.

The submitter only judges the other contestant's builds, not their own. The Judge will then rank each of the entire builds based on the insights received through the assessment of the build categories from first to last (first place, second place, third place, etc.) Don't rank each induvidual category, only use them as the axes by which you judge the quality of the build. We are ranking the entire build holistically as it were, not by individual category. If a submitter fails to provide a judgement to every other entrant, all of the scores received for their build rendered by other entrants are treated as zeros. If you want to win, you have to judge.

To determine the medalists, Each build will then receive a number of points depending on what ranks they received from judges. The point gain rubric for this formula is this:



1st place = Number of Contesants -1
2nd place - Number of contestants -2




Each of the builds will then have a tally of the total points from between the judge's rankings. The highest point total wins.

If there are 7 or more entries: Builds will be assessed by the following 4 categories: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of the ingredient. The Judge will then rank each of the entire builds based on the insights received through the assessment of the build categories from first to last (first place, second place, third place, etc.) Don't rank each induvidual category, only use them as the axis by which you judge the quality of the build. We are ranking the entire build holistically as it were. In your judgment, you are expected to achieve at least this minimum standard:

There must be at least one sentence addressing the Elegance of the Build.

There must be one sentence that begins with "What i liked most about this entry was....."

And there must be one sentence that must begin with "An area of this build that needed more attention was...."

You can write more if you wish. But you don't have to.

The submitter only judges the other contestant's builds, not their own. If a submitter fails to provide a judgement to every other entrant, all of the scores received for their build rendered by other entrants are treated as zeros. If you want to win, you have to judge. We then move to the ranked choice system explained in the "If there are 3-6 entries" section above.

OVERALL Simply use the established definitions of the rating categories (originality, power , elegance, UoSI) from the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge. Again, don't rank each category for every build, simply use them to justify your decision for what rank you give the entire entry.

3. These judgments are PMed to the chair, You can send google doc links or similar formats so long as i don't have to sign up for anything, and I will cut and paste the judgments into the thread.

4. We tally up and determine the winner There is no dispute process, so these scores may wildly fluctuate and some contestants will potentially have to manage feelings of injustice on their own. If someone actively works to game this judging system we will edit it in the future to preclude optimization that hurts the spirit of the contest.



So there it is. Show me your Beflawed E6 Beatsticks!
DEADLINE For Entry: January 7th Midnight, Eastern Standard Time in the USA.

[daremetoidareyo]

Previous Rounds
Round 1: Flawed Commoner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?568952-Game-Warper-s-Optimization-Challenge-1-E6-Flawed-Commoner)
Round 2: Dragonwrought kobolds are true dragons (http://Previous Rounds Round 1: Flawed CommonerAnnouncements I will post edits and announcements here. For example, if you didn't read the judging section of the above post, you wouldn't know that we are using a ranked choice system to determine winners. Don't worry too much about providing extensive snapshots like in Iron Chef. Tell us what your true dragon kobold does differently or better than other true dragon kobolds. That's where the real gold lies. Here are the previous comps#1: E6 Flawed commoner)


Announcements
I will post edits and announcements here. For example, if you didn't read the judging section of the above post, you wouldn't know that we are using a ranked choice system to determine winners. And even then, I have changed that text a little bit since last time. Go read it.

Don't worry too much about providing extensive snapshots like in Iron Chef. Tell us what your E6 Beatstick is capable of doing that is really neat.

I have edited the judging rubric since last competition in an attempt to be more clear. You rank the entire build, not each of the 4 judging categories per build. This doesn't need to be so fiddly.

Remember that you have agreed to have judging responsibilities if you entered.

I know there was speculation that LA would be allowed. It will not be for this competition.

I promise that LA and RHD will be allowed in the next competition, which has the working title of "Amazing and Terrible E6 werebeasts" We'll discuss after the reveal.

[Falontani]

I may enter this one

[daremetoidareyo]

I may enter this one

You better!

[Ripptor]

I know there was speculation that LA would be allowed. It will not be for this competition.

I promise that LA and RHD will be allowed in the next competition, which has the working title of "Amazing and Terrible E6 werebeasts" We'll discuss after the reveal.


Aw, that's a shame. I might be able to water down my build for a submission, otherwise I'll probably wait for the next round in February... Hopefully it'll be werebeasts with the same DragMag issue :smallsmile:

[daremetoidareyo]

Aw, that's a shame. I might be able to water down my build for a submission, otherwise I'll probably wait for the next round in February... Hopefully it'll be werebeasts with the same DragMag issue :smallsmile:

Win this comp, and you can choose which drag mag we open up. I'm looking at allowing the lycanthrope feats from dragon 313, but I ain't married to it. That goes for any gold medal winner. You can choose the dragon mag issue that we open up for the amazing and terrible werebeasts round.

[daremetoidareyo]

Can we get a sense of how many folks are interested in this round?

[Zaq]

I'll be watching, but since school is starting back up right around when the deadline is, I can't commit to judging and therefore can't commit to playing.

[jdizzlean]

i'm a maybe at this point.

holidays and switching from day shift to night shift, plus we have a new head boss at work starting on the 1st, so things are all kinds of hectic.

i hate extensions, but 1 might be necessary at this point, we'll see.

**edit**

sometimes being obsessive is annoying. I looked at it, then i had an idea, then i couldn't leave it alone. build already submitted

[Bronk]

I'm in! I've reworked my entry several times now already...

[Ripptor]

I'm in, I've found something I like after all!

Since I will be judging now, here's a heads up: I'll be adopting the consensus of the rulings against me in the prior BeFlawed competition, wherein you will be heavily penalized if your flaw does not significantly effect a core part of your build. Finding creative ways to ignore/bypass the flaw, even if 100% rules legal, will incur a significant Elegance penalty.

For those who missed the prior BeFlawed competition, I would suggest that you expect all of the judges to rule the same way again! :smallsmile:

[daremetoidareyo]

I have two entries in!

Are there any other contenders?!

[Bronk]

I have two entries in!

Are there any other contenders?!

With only two entries, are we going to just post the builds and invite comments?

[daremetoidareyo]

With only two entries, are we going to just post the builds and invite comments?

Likely. I'll mull it over and post tonight

[daremetoidareyo]

Here be the entries!


Wretch ‘Rachael’ Tacknackle, Targeteer 1 / Ranger 1 / Branch Dancer 4
True Neutral Jermlaine Forest Mercenary Sniper


Wretch was born strong - for a jermlaine - but frail and uncoordinated, the runt of the litter, and not naturally evil like the rest of her burrow. That made her a perfect target for abuse, and she was bullied and tormented from her first breath, and she was unable to fight back effectively… She was beaten into unconsciousness in front of uncaring parents and other burrowmates on the regular. One day, when Wretch could take it no longer, she ran away from their burrow, escaping her destiny as an evil fey. She lived a rough life in the woods, with only rats to talk to to keep her sane, until one day, as she was cornered by some feral cats, she was saved by a goodly elf!

The elf was an aged elven forest ranger, and he was interested in helping out the wee miserable fey, in part due to his good heart, but also for the challenge of influencing a normally evil fey towards the side of good. Wretch wasn’t ready to trust yet, but the elf took it in stride, extending his protection to her both directly and by putting in a good word with local creatures and fey. He even gave her a new name - Rachael - to reflect the worth he saw in her.

Finally allowing herself to be brought into civilization, Rachael allowed herself to trust for the first time in her life. Her adopted father spoke her praises to all around, making sure her story as a non-evil fey in their midst spread, and when she wanted to continue her training in the martial arts, eventually becoming a well respected Branch Dancer, her father spoke her praises, making it known to one and all that he desired for her to eventually be welcomed into their ranks. He meant well - just to offer her the benefit of his influence - but the pressure was on. She signed on for to become a fighter and was accepted, but her frailty and tiny size had her instructors steer her towards archery, and she began her training as a Targetteer.

It was during her first training as a Targetteer that one of the many rats she spoke with proved to be strangely knowledgeable, and began giving her advice. This didn’t seem strange to her at first, as speaking with rats was so natural to her, but this rat was up to no good, for it was an imp in disguise! The imp saw the reformed Jermlaine as an easy mark, and soon knew just how to prey on her insecurities. He gave Rachael good advice and pointers at first, to gain her trust, but then put the screws to her, pointing out her flaws and other areas where she didn’t measure up, which damaged her self esteem. Eventually the imp zeroed in one notable weakness - her strength. Though strength had been her one advantage over her siblings so long ago, it still didn’t measure up to the bigger elves of her classes. Because of this, her shots might land, but were too weak to reliably fell a housecat (which she still harbored a bit of a grudge against). However, (the imp pointed out), if she was just… just a wee bit stronger, just a little bit, she could take advantage of the Targetteer’s Vital Aim ability and catch up with and even surpass the others. So she wouldn’t be a burden to her adoptive father, and let him down. It all hit Rachael hard, and all the harder once the imp started sabotaging her training and she started to fall behind.

And so it was that the rat ‘introduced’ her to the imp, and she signed a contract for extra power… as the imp said, why not? After all (as the imp was also sure to point out), she was an immortal fey, how much would this really affect her? Now as strong as an average human, she was indeed able to progress in her training and became a well respected Targetteer, and later, to the praise of her adopted father, a forest ranger, and finally admitted into the Branch Dancers, where she became a supremely trusted protector of the elven forests.

Rachael was wary of the imp right from the start, even going so far as to focus her ranger skills upon evil outsiders, but at first the imp remained nothing but helpful. However, each time the imp appeared to her again with more offers, but these came with additional catches. In return for repeatedly enhancing her ability to hide, she began accepting alternate missions. The odd attack here or there - particular animals at first, then evil fey, even, more recently, elves... all terrible people, she was sure to confirm at first. Eventually though, after her elderly adoptive father had passed away in a freak acorn accident, the missions began to include people that it took a lot of digging to rationalize killing... but by then she rarely bothered. The new missions to use her abilities to weaken and even take down seemingly random elven trees were odd, but who really cared anymore? The imp was right… Her father died happy, she had what she wanted, and her soul was her own… she was going to live forever, wasn’t she?


In combat, Rachael specializes in sniping at close range from a forest canopy, hiding again, then darting through the foliage to line up the next shot. She has the best damage when within 30’ of the target (dex to damage from two sources), but with the maximum visibility through a forest set at 180’, unless she’s at the edge of a forest all targets are within two of her 120’ range increments. She’s got a high hide skill, and the Woodland Archer feat allows her to attack as a standard action, hide, then move, instead of just hiding. If she is found and accosted while attempting to hide, her first response would be to escape, take cover behind a tree trunk, then hide again. Her Roofwalker feat allows her to run, jump, and fall with more ease on precarious surfaces, and if necessary she can resort to using her Moss Foot ability to grant her stability and silence. If escape was not an option, she could use her Branch Dancing ability to attack with the branches around her - with a disproportionate 1d10 damage die - while incorporating her stone bones strike for chance at a brief DR5. All of her attacks ignore up to 5 hardness or DR due to the Sense Weakness feat. If all else fails, she has an emergency tree token to make her own massive tree...

As a branch dancing forester, Rachael specializes in providing a youth treatment for aging trees. Some great trees of the forest are quite important for a number of reasons, including being a dryad’s tree, or forming the basis of a home in an elven city, due to being a living portal to another realm, or even just being a highly respected elder forest denizen. Trees are mortal - they age, grow, and ultimately die - which can be quite problematic! However, when a Branch Dancer uses their Instant Fletching ability, removing a mere twenty arrows from a tree - which only takes a few seconds - decreases the age of a tree by an entire year! With regular treatments, trees can be effectively immortal, and thus Rachael has an alternate skill set that ensures she’s always welcome anywhere an elf’s house is becoming overgrown, or a dryad’s oak is starting to lose its bark, or an orchard owner is about to lose his best tree, and anywhere else the life of a tree is of importance. On the other hand, she can use this ability to ruin or kill trees as well. As a respected Branch Dancer, Rachael is allowed almost anywhere in the forest without suspicion, and the imp has methods of knowing which trees will play a part in the future of the forest...

Jermlaine: tiny fey
-8 str +6 dex, -2 con, -2 int, +6 wis, -4 cha
tiny: +2 AC, +2 attack, +8 hide
speed 40’
Racial bonus feat: Alertness
Low Light Vision
Speak With Rats at will
Wild Empathy

Original: Str17, Dex17, Con8, Int14, Wis8, Cha8

As a Jermlaine +1 str at L1 via Faustian Pact (Insidious), +1 dex at L4, and +2 from gloves of dexterity:
Str10, Dex26, Con6, Int12, Wis14, Cha4





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


-
Jermlaine
(Tiny Fey)
True Neutral
-
-
-
-
-
Alertness
Low Light Vision,
Speak With Rats,
Wild Empathy,
Speed 40’,
+2 size to attack
+2 size to AC
+8 size to hide


-
Faustian Pact (Insidious)
-
-
-
-
-
-
+1 strength
(5 points of 9)
+2 Hide
(4 points of 9)


1st
Targetteer 1
+1
2
0
0
12
Balance 4
Climb 4
Hide 4
Kn. Nature 2
Fighter: Armor Prof. Light
Fighter: Armor Prof. Medium
Fighter: Armor Prof. Heavy
Fighter: Martial Weap. Prof.
Fighter: Shield Prof.
Fighter: Tower Shield Prof.
General: Point Blank Shot
Fighter Bonus:
Flaw 1 (Frail): Sly Fortune
Flaw 2 (noncombatant):
Martial Study - Stone Bones
Prof. Greatbow,
Prof. Lasso,
Vital Aim,
Hit-and-Run Tactics ACF,
Apprentice skill points added to Kn. Nature


2nd
Ranger 1
+2
4
2
0
5
Balance 5
Climb 5
Hide 4
Kn. Nature 5

Track,
FE Outsider (evil),
Speak with Plants and Animals (Spiritual Connection ACF)


3rd
Branch Dancer 1
+3
4
4
0
5
Balance 5
Climb 5
Hide 5
Jump 1
Kn. Nature 5
Move Sil. 2
Spot 1
General: Skill Focus (Hide)
Branch Fighting


4th
Branch Dancer 2
+4
4
5
0
5
Balance 5
Climb 5
Hide 7
Jump 3
Kn. Nature 5
Move Sil. 2
Spot 2

Speak to Trees,
Instant Fletching


5th
Branch Dancer 3
+5
5
5
1
5
Balance 5
Climb 5
Hide 8
Jump 5
Kn. Nature 5
Move Sil. 2
Spot 4

Moss Foot,
Skill Mastery


6th
Branch Dancer 4
+6
5
6
1
5
Balance 5
Climb 5
Hide 9
Jump 5
Kn. Nature 5
Move Sil. 5
Spot 5
General: Woodland Archer
Improved Branch Fighting,
Instant Fletching (+1 arrows)




Epic Feats:

Agile Athlete
Bowslinger
Roofwalker
Darkstalker
Able Sniper
Rapid Shot
Manyshot
Combat Expertise
Weapon Focus (Greatbow)
Sense Weakness





Targeteer:
Fighter bonus feats and proficiencies
Two free exotic weapon proficiencies to be used for ranged weapons
Vital Aim: Give up a fighter bonus feat, in return, may use dexterity instead of strength for damage

Hit-and-Run Tactics fighter ACF: Lose Heavy Armor and Tower Shield proficiencies forever to gain +2 initiative and, when attacking flat footed opponents within 30’, gain a dex competence bonus to damage.
Note: “Levels of a specialist fighter class count as levels of the fighter class to qualify for feats like weapon specialization and other game elements.” Dragon 310, page 33
Note: “Alternative class features have no prerequisites; you simply select them at the proper levels in lieu of selecting the standard class features.” Drow of the Underdark, page 57

Spiritual Connection ranger ACF: Gain ‘speak with animals’ and ‘speak with plants’, collectively 3/day

Branch Dancer:
Weapon and Armor proficiency: Simple weapons, all bows, and tree.
Instant Fletching: Free action to take an arrow directly from a tree’s surface. Removing 20 arrows from the same tree reduces the age of the tree by one year. At level four, these act as +1 arrows.
Skill mastery: Can always take 10 on Climb, Balance, Jump, Move Silently, or Survival checks
Speak to Trees: 2/day
Branch Fighting: If within 5’ of any part of a tree, can use the tree as cover, and can use the branches and trunk of the tree as a blunt melee weapon that deals 1d8 damage, or as a double weapon that deals 1d8/1d8 damage. At level 4, the branches act as +1 weapons and the damage die increases from d8 to d10.
Moss Foot: Walk on any wood, no matter how thin and without concern for strength of the wood, as spider climb 2/day, for 100 minutes each, and with +5 to move silently.



Racial
Alertness: +2 Listen and Spot

Fighter
Armor Proficiency (Light)
Armor Proficiency (Medium)
Martial Weapon Proficiency
Shield Proficiency

[Armor Proficiency (Heavy) and Tower Shield Proficiency were traded away for the Hit-and-Run Tactics ACF, and the level 1 fighter bonus feat was traded for the Vital Aim Targetteer special ability]

Flaws

Flaw 1: Frail (-1 HP per level), gained Sly Fortune feat (1 luck reroll, use luck reroll to reroll a hide, move silently, or tumble check)

Flaw 2: Noncombatant (-2 melee attacks), gained Martial Study (Stone Bones) feat (a successful melee strike grants 5DR for one round, grants balance as a class skill)

Level 1

Point Blank Shot: +1 to ranged attack and damage within 30’

Level 3

Skill Focus (Hide): +3 to hide checks

Level 6

Woodland Archer: 1) If you hit despite concealment, ignore concealment next round. 2) If you miss, +4 to all further attacks in the round. 3) If you attack, then successfully hide, you can move then attack again, whereas normally hiding after sniping takes up the move action for the round.

E6 Epic Feats

Agile Athlete: Use dexterity instead of strength for climb and jump skills

Bowslinger: +2 to attack flat footed opponents with a ranged or thrown weapon

Roofwalker: 1) Move over a precarious surface at full speed without taking -5 to balance checks. 2) When intentionally jumping down, take damage as if falling from a height 20’ less rather than 10’ less. 3) Gain a +1 dodge bonus against any foe who is at a different elevation from you.

Darkstalker: creatures need to use spot or listen to detect you even if they have other sensory modes

Able Sniper: +2 attack vs flat footed opponents at least 30’ away, +4 to hide afterwards

Rapid Shot: 1 additional attack at your highest bonus, but -2 to all attacks

Manyshot: standard action to fire two arrows at single opponent within 30’, at -4 to attack

Combat Expertise: sacrifice from 1 to 5 points of attack to gain a +1 to +5 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round

Weapon Focus (Greatbow): +1 to weapon attacks with the greatbow

Sense Weakness: attacks ignore up to 5 hardness or DR




Forest Terrain
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.htm#forestTerrain
DC15 to climb a tree, DC0 to climb a rope ladder
being in same square as a tree grants +2AC and +1 ref
Massive trees provide cover, which doesn’t stack with cover from other sources
People in branches have cover and concealment vs people on the ground
Undergrowth provides concealment

What is a massive tree trunk? Since massive isn’t a recognized size category, and since a tree big enough to hide completely behind would offer total cover instead of regular cover, it must be a tree whose trunk is, minimum, just big enough for a character peeking at something around one side of the trunk to have his other side covered. Relative to a tiny sized jermlaine, that would be most trees in the forest. A lot more than for a medium character.

Cover:
grants +4AC and +2 reflex saves
cover protects from AoOs
improved cover grants +8AC, +4 ref, improved evasion, and +10 hide

Concealment:
regular: 20% miss chance
total: 50% miss chance if they know you’re there and target your square

Hiding:
Successfully hiding from someone makes them flat-footed with respect to you.
The character you are hidden from treats you as if you were invisible.
A flat-footed character loses their dex bonus to AC.
Attacking from invisibility grants a +2 attack bonus

Takeaway:
Being near a tree grants +2AC and +1 to reflex saves
Being behind a trunk of a massive tree grants cover which only doesn’t stack from other sources
People in the branches of a tree have cover and concealment vs. people on the ground, as do people in undergrowth beneath a tree, both of which are improvements over just cover.
Improved cover grants +8AC and +4 to reflex saves, improved evasion, and +10 hide
Concealment grants a 20% miss chance

Therefore: A sniper behind a massive tree trunk in the canopy of a tree or in the undergrowth beneath a tree has a +10AC, +5 to reflex saves, a 20% miss chance for attacks against themselves, and is safe from attacks of opportunity. If the character is also hiding, they gain +2 to attack, and their foe is flat-footed and are denied their dexterity bonus to AC.



Note: Can always take 10 on Climb, Balance, Jump, Move Silently, and Survival checks due to Targetteer Skill Mastery ability, and add dexterity modifier to climb and jump skills due to Agile Athlete feat.

Balance 15 (5 ranks + 8 dex + 2 masterwork item)

Climb 15 (5 ranks + 8 dex + 2 masterwork item)

Hide 49 (9 ranks + 8 dex + 8 size + 10 improved cover + 3 skill focus (hide) + 2 MW item, +5 magic cloak, +4 pact)
+4 to hide after shooting at a flat-footed foe

Jump 19 (5 ranks + 8 dex + 2 masterwork item + 4 speed beyond 30’

Listen 6 (0 ranks + 2 alertness +2 wisdom + 2 masterwork item)

Move Silently 18 (5 ranks + 8 dex + 5 magic cloak)
+5 to move silently when using ‘moss foot’ ability

Kn. Nature 6 (5 ranks + 1 int)

Spot 11 (5 ranks + 2 alertness + 2 wisdom + 2 masterwork item)



Hit Points: 10 + 5d8 - 12 con - 6 flaw (minimum 12, maximum 32)

Stats while caught in melee away from a tree and not hiding - defensive, and attempting escape:

If cornered, will first use a standard action to manyshot the opponent, and if that fails, use a standard action to make a Stone Bones melee attack in an attempt to get 5DR before another escape attempt

Initiative +10
Fort +4, Ref +13, Will +3
AC = 10 + 8 dex + 1 armor +5 combat expertise = 24
Attacks: longsword +1 (1d4) 19-20 X2
lasso +11 (no magic or weapon focus bonuses, no damage but inflicts -2 AC and -4 dex)
greatbow + 13 (1d6+20) X3 (ignores up to 5 hardness or DR)
Manyshot: 2 attacks at +9
Rapidshot: 3 attacks at +11/+11/+6



Stats while hiding and sniping from a tree

Initiative +10
Fort +4, Ref +15, Will +3
AC = 10 + 8 dex + 1 armor + 10 tree and tree cover + 1 dodge from roofwalker = 30
Special: Improved Evasion from improved cover, 20% miss chance from concealment
Attacks: longsword +6 (1d4 + 1d6 + 8) 19-20 X2
branches +6 (1d10 + 1d6 + 8) X2
lasso +19 (no magic or weapon focus bonuses, no damage but inflicts -2 AC and -4 dex)
greatbow +23 (2d6+8) X3 (ignores up to 5 hardness or DR)
Manyshot: 2 attacks at +19
Rapidshot: 3 attacks at +21/+21/+16
+4 to attack to all subsequent shots in a round on a miss (woodland archer)
-1 attack and +8 damage if within 30’



Jermlaine: MM2, MM2 update booklet
Rules for hiding and invisibility: Rules Compendium
Bowslinger Feat: Underdark
Targetteer, Branch Dancer: Dragon 310
Roofwalker feat: Cityscape
Martial Study feat, Stone Bones Strike: ToB
Sense Weakness feat: Draconomicon
Darkstalker Feat: LoM
Able Sniper feat, Woodland Archer feat: Races of the Wild
Greatbow: CW
Hit-and-Run Tactics ACF: Drow of the Underdark
Lasso: BoED
Faustian Pacts: FCII
Magic items: SRD, Magic Item Compendium, Tome of Magic
Spiritual Connection ranger ACF: CC
Sly Fortune feat: CS
Everything else: SRD

Personal thoughts about my attempts at Originality, Power, Elegance, and Use of the Ingredient.

Originality:

I tried to make as fun a backstory as I could, worked in a Faustian Pact, and made an archer in a ‘beatstick’ competition. I liked how it came out! I thought the more obvious race would have been Whisper Gnome, and the more obvious second level would have been Fox Totem Barbarian...

Power:

Well, it’s a not sky high damage ubercharger, jumplomancer, or whatever. Still, this character can snipe very well: hide, attack twice with manyshot, hit, penetrate DR, do quite a bit of damage for a tiny character, hide again, relocate, and repeat, and she can use Rapidshot instead if she needs to, or if forced into melee, she can use branches as weapons with a d10 damage die despite being a tiny creature. At close range, she gets her high dex to damage twice. When hiding, she also gets multiple bonuses to hit, and an extra 1d6 on top of the base damage of whatever range she’s at.

Elegance:

Everything this character can do is due to build, with equipment and the pact making upgrades to existing abilities. I thought about including the Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis, which offers Hide in Plain Sight and would have been within WBL. That version had two levels of Targetteer to snag the Arrow Swarm ability, which would have given me four attacks. The attacks would have been at an additional -5 beyond the -2 for Rapidshot alone, but with HiPS active, a character could just hide and attack without breaking cover at all. However, the ability to stay hidden while making full attacks would have made sniping obsolete, and would therefore make her entire build and strategy dependent on a single magic item.

I worked her flaws into her backstory and her character. I doubled down on the Frail flaw by giving her a terrible con score on top of it, and the Noncombatant flaw by choosing a race with a hefty strength penalty of -8 and making her a Fighter. The Noncombatant flaw is a rough penalty for a Fighter as well... She specializes in ranged attacks, but she relies on melee combat whenever she's not sniping or whenever she's found and confronted when sniping.

One aspect of the Branch Dancer’s Instant Fletching ability that I thought of trying to work with was the line, “The arrows have wooden arrowheads, but they act as arrows for all purposes when used by a branch dancer.” If the arrows are ‘for all purposes’, I thought they could rationalize making any type of arrow - at least non-magical ones like Flight arrows, Blunt Arrows, Swiftwing Arrows, and even Razorfeather Ammunition - but but with the shorter range of visibility in a forest and the Sense Weakness feat to ameliorate DR, ultimately none of those were required for my build. I didn't go with a 'dragonbone' greatbow for extra range for the same reason.

Use of Ingredient:
All classes and class combinations are listed in Dragon 310, including the Branch Dancer, the Targetteer, and, because the Targetteer is a variant fighter, the Ranger/Fighter multiclass as well.

[daremetoidareyo]

And here is the rest of the entries



Cassandra The Red

https://cdnb.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/003/595/137/large/bluezima-dong-wook-shin-.jpg?1475547589


Dragon 310 Base Class Variants: Fighter – Corsair (page 34)
Flaws: UA 92: Frail – 1 less HP/lvl gained, Shaky - -2 to ranged attack rolls
Weapon: Rapier, Natural Weapons (Warshaper)
CN Corsair 4/Swashbuckler 1/Warshaper 1

Races: Carp Hengeyokai (OA 10)
-2 WIS, Medium, speed 30 – human
+2 DEX, Medium, speed 10, swim 30 – hybrid
STR 1, DEX 20, CON 10, Dimunitive, swim 10, AC 19 – animal (carp)
Alternate Form: human, hybrid, animal (carp), usable 1xday/char lvl
Lowlight, communicate w/ fish

Point Buy:
STR 13 DEX 17 CON 13 INT 12 WIS 10 CHA 11
lvl 4 point into DEX

HP: 5d10+1d8


Corsair: As fighter, but: all simple/martial weapons, light armor and shields (no tower).

Special Abilities: gain 1 for free at 1st and 2nd level, and can choose in place of any bonus feat: Climb-Fighting- not flat footed when climbing (replaced w/ shape soulmeld), **Rope Movement- Use Rope in place of Tumble, **Slow Fall – sword through sail, **Swinging Bull Rush – wrecking ball, Big Breath – make CON checks for drowning every other round, Ocean Tangle – use swim check instead of grapple check in opposed rolls

Swinging Bull Rush: references Dragon 306. On page 48, the “rules” for Rope Tricks appear. “When you swing on a rope or similar flexible object you move in a straight line that passes under where the rope is affixed to a spot double the distance from where you are to a point level with you but beneath where the rope is attached. Make a DC 10 Climb check, or DC 15 if 1 handed to safely complete the swing and land at your destination, or maintain your hold on the rope after completing the first swing. Failing by 5 or more results in losing your grip during the swing. The distance you cover in a swing counts against your move distance in a round (Swinging Bull Rush happens after a "charge", so your move distance is doubled.). If you swing more than 20 feet, and jump in the direction of the swing, you may count it as a running jump. If you attack a creature while swinging on a rope, your movement stops. On the following round you may continue the swing, or drop off the rope. If you have Spring Attack, you can swing, attack, and continue the swing provided you have enough movement to do so. You Provoke AoO’s normally while swinging on a rope, you may use the Tumble skill to avoid them. Each successive swing beyond the first moves 5ft less distance.




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


1st
Corsair

+1

+2

+0

+0

Balance 4, Climb 1, Jump 3, Use Rope 4

Hidden Talent - Dimension Hop, (B) Shape Soulmeld - Phase Cloak, (B) Power Attack, (B)Water Devotion

Rope Movement, 2x Flaws



2nd
Corsair 2

+2

+3

+0

+0

Balance 5, Jump 4, Use Rope 5

(B)Improved Bull Rush

Swinging Bull Rush



3rd
Swashbuckler

+3

+5

+0

+0

Climb 2, Jump 5, Swim 1, Tumble 1, Use Rope 6

(B)Weapon Finesse, Sea Legs

-


4th
Corsair 3

+4

+5

+1

+1

Climb 3, Nimble Charge

-

-



5th

Warshaper

+4

+7

+1
+1
Climb 4, Escape Artist 1, Swim 2

-

Morphic Immunities, Morphic Weapons



6th

Corsair 4

+5

+8

+1

+1

Use Rope 9

Shape Soulmeld - Acrobat Boots

(B)Slow Fall




1- Multi-Attack – all 2ndary nat attacks at -2 to hit
2- Close Quarter’s Fighting – get an AoO whenever opponent tries to grapple you
3- Combat Reflexes – DEX AoO’s/round
4- Agile Athlete – use DEX instead of STR on climb/jump
5- Extended Reach - +5ft reach on tentacle-like attacks
6- Dodge - +1 AC vs 1 target
7- Mobility - +4 Dodge bonus to AC vs AoO
8- Spring Attack – move, attack, move
9- Iron Will - +2 WILL
0- Lightning Reflexes - +2 REF


Wait, Power Attack AND Weapon Finesse in the same build?!?!?

Weapon Finesse can explicitly be used with natural weapons. Power Attack can’t be used with light weapons (like a rapier), but can be used with natural weapons. Power Attack is also a pre-req for Improved Bull Rush, which in turn in used for Swinging Bull Rush to prevent AoO’s when go-go-gadget wrecking balling. However, Power Attack and Weapon Finesse will work together once Warshaper’s Morphic Weapons comes online. Warshaper is inherently broken as there is no limit per RAW as to how many natural weapons you can grow, it simply states that it’s a standard action to grow each one. Nothing stops you from growing 8 tentacles and having them stuffed down your shirt to be pulled out later when needed, nor stop you from growing a bunch of extra arms, or claws, or whatever. Plus, you can go hybrid form and have a pile of tentacles to attack with in the water when needed, grapple on someone and drag them to the depths with you. Theoretically you could grow a tentacle, and then improve it immediately to the next damage level as well. All these secondary attacks will get a chance to hit at only -2 thanks to Multi-attack, and threaten an extra 5 ft thanks to Extended Reach.

While on ship, Nimble Charge, combined with Rope Movement and Phase Cloak and Balance pretty much grants you free movement for most purposes, Sea Legs also helps a bit. Should you get in trouble and fail an opposed grapple check, despite having an AoO to prevent it, you can always use a Dimension Hop as a get out of jail free card. Climb and jump your way around ship to your hearts content like Will Turner or Captain Jack Sparrow. Leave the running of the ship to the deckhands, you are a Marine.

Fall in the water? You have a swim speed with both hybrid and animal forms. Drowning? Turn into a carp and enjoy the current. Be a tentacle mass in hybrid form as well for some sweet intimidation fun.

See sources below, but you also have a small or medium Water Elemental available 1/day for 1 min which can either be a fellow combatant or used to harass other ships.

Thanks to Agile Athlete, all but 1 of our skills (swim, which is pretty useless on a Carp Hengeyokai anyways) are DEX dependent. Final tallies with bonuses and synergies, plus 4 from DEX: Balance 15, Climb 24, Escape Artist 7, Jump 13, Swim 3, Tumble 11, Use Rope 15. Anytime a tumble roll is called for and there is rope around, you use rope instead of tumble.


Complete Champion – Water Devotion (64)
Complete Psionic – Dimension Hop (83)
Complete Scoundrel – Nimble Charge (87)
Complete Warrior – Close Quarter’s Fighting (97), Swashbuckler (11), Warshaper (90)
Dragon 310 – Corsair (22)
Expanded Psionics Handbook – Hidden Talent (67)
Magic of Incarnum – Shape Soulmeld (40): Acrobat Boots (54), Phase Cloak (82)
Monster Manual – Multiattack (304)
Oriental Adventures – Hengeyokai (10)
PHB – Fighter (38), Feats
Races of the Wild – Agile Athlete (148)
Savage Species – Extended Reach (34)
Stormwrack – Sea Legs (94)
Unearthed Arcana – Flaws (92)
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialAttacks.htm#bullRush

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elemental.htm#waterElemental
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ground - #’s 2,4,12,17* 17 specifically calls out that the ground can be land or water. This is most important in utilizing the summon water elemental ability of water devotion as you don’t have to be on land to do so. Of course you could go all “Waterworld” and carry around a pot(or pots) of soil that you’d pour water onto to summon the elemental if you wanted to.

[daremetoidareyo]

These two entries would be a blast to have on the same team. It's a two person Viet-cong. One is just picking them off and the other is just swinging around picking them off. Working together, these two are like a horror movie for anyone they don't like who needs to walk through woods with a lot of swinging vines.

[Bronk]

I love the carp corsair! That's one spiny fish once she's ready to go with her warshaper abilities!

[WhamBamSam]

I'm surprised we got anything that didn't use at least two levels of Martial Monk. Both builds are pretty cool though.

I thought about doing a pretty standard Martial Monk 6 with Weapon Supremacy, Defensive Sweep, and tax-free Whirlwind Attack, but the rest of the build would have been pretty standard reach-op and I just wasn't motivated enough.

If Penetrating Shot worked like Great Flyby Attack and only used one attack roll (and hence would allow for taking 10 with Weapon Supremacy), then Martial Monk 2/Targeteer 1/X 3 could have been really cool. I thought about just doing a Great Flyby Attack+Weapon Supremacy build as well, but just couldn't focus in to actually get it done.

[jdizzlean]

Nice Bronk


my very first IC build had Branch Dancer in it, and although it was an illegal entry due to dragon material, i still managed to get honorable mention for it. love that class.

we'd make a good pair for sure :)

[RaiKirah]

I am super bummed I missed this, but really like these builds! Hoping to get in on the next one!

[Bronk]

Nice Bronk

my very first IC build had Branch Dancer in it, and although it was an illegal entry due to dragon material, i still managed to get honorable mention for it. love that class.

we'd make a good pair for sure :)

Heh, cool. Branch dancers for the win!


I am super bummed I missed this, but really like these builds! Hoping to get in on the next one!

Thanks!

Speaking of which, I'm definitely looking forward to the next one as well...

[daremetoidareyo]

Bronk, Jdizzle: what drag mag do you want to open up for the next comp? I'll try to get it up before the weekend.

I'm thinking issue 313 because it has lycanthropy feats. But if you two agree on a different issue, we can do that instead or in addition.

[jdizzlean]

i'm not particularly interested in a lycanthropy round myself. I would probably enter since i'm on night shift and have time to kill, but i don't have illusions about it being awesome.

a few options that make me excited for different reasons:

dragon 280 AND 329 together in one round for familiar fun

305 for God Touched shenaniganery

357 for spell sovereign

and ironically 313 for mind mage, although i'd probably do a bad job of it since psionics is not a strong point for me, and it'd be nice to have 1-3 LA free for this round

[Bronk]

I think Dragon 313 looks like it has a enough interesting bits to work with, and I don't think I'd mind a 313 challenge or just a lycanthropy challenge... having a goal definitely helps my focus!

If we do have a lycanthropy challenge, I'd like a blanket statement that all lycanthrope related things to be on the table. LA, RHD, savage progressions, maybe even stuff from other dragon magazines beyond 313... just, all in.

Those other issues that were mentioned look like good ideas for the future...

[daremetoidareyo]

The next contest is up:

It can be found HERE (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?580778-Gamerwarper-s-Optimization-Challenge-4-Amazing-and-Terrible-E6-werebeasts&p=23701553#post23701553)