Optimizing yelling

[Warchon]

Just a passing thought I had, is there any rules to turn your NONMAGICAL voice into a sonic weapon?
I'd like to potentially build a fully mundane Yelling Man character. I thought Marshall would make a good base class because thematically, he uses his voice for a wide array of (Ex) abilities already, even if mechanically it's just like any other aura.
Jester or Bard might also be a reasonable fit, especially if their spell progression can be somehow traded away, though of course their signature vocal abilities are not (Ex).

I know there are rules for determining yelling volume with a CON check, but I have no idea how or if this could translate into hitpoint damage or debilitation.

Side note, this should not be a Dragonborn copycat, since (Su) would fit that just fine. We're not yelling magical words or Truespeak that intrinsically do things, just working on sheer volume and maybe any odd tricks we can work in.

I'm hoping to throw together a build that depends entirely on having the most powerful set of lungs on the continent, so I'm looking for any feats, PrCs, or supplemental rules that might support this.

Obviously, bonus points if there is some way to, y'know, not wipe out your own party as a side effect.

[Thurbane]

I honestly don't know any non-magical ways to do this. Every ability I can think of is either Supernatural or Spell-Like...

I mean, you could make an Intimidate-based build, and yell at people, but that doesn't translate to direct damage.

Samurai has Kiai Smite, Knight has Knight's Challenge, and Blessed of Gruumsh has Thunderous Roar, which are all Ex - but they don't involve sonic damage.

If you are OK with Supernatural stuff, Wildrunner, Purple Dragon Knight, Hellreaver, Singh Rager and Mortal Hunter have abilities worth looking at.

To be honest, you may be better off just home-brewing a Yelling Man prestige class.

[Malphegor]

Complete Warrior has Kiai Shout (Which I think originally came in Oriental Adventures as the Singh Rager had it as a class ability from memory), which is a 30ft radius 3/day will save or shaken for 1d6 rounds... Which sounds like just a fairly bland aoe intimidate effect... You can probably get it at low level though so it's not too bad. It only works on targets with less HD than you.
That said, it doesn't use intimidate, so you can probably fearstack with this. Kiai shout first turn, then intimidate next.

Greater Kiai Shout does the same except it's 2d6 rounds of panicked. (I think these are Su because they use ki energy near as I can tell, but they're bland enough I'd say a non-ki user could take them up and have it be Ex)

Red Avenger from Sword and Fist can apparently do a Deadly Shout. 30ft cone, deals 3d6+Wisdom damage. (They also have a stunning shout. 30ft cone, stuns for one round on a failed save)... Really late in the class for the deadly shout, tbh.

A Mortal Hunter, a prc for outsiders who are that tsun for mortals they want to hurt them, can do a MortalBane Shout... really late in the class., 50ft radius, stuns all failed fort save mortals for one measly round. That's... kind of lackluster for a PC, plus it's magic as hell (I'd probably reflavour that as Dark Speech so foul that mortals are stunned by the disgusting alien words. "Your motheir was a hamster, and your father smells of elderberries!").

Warmaster from Sword and Fist can apparently do a lot of shouty things, Battle Cry early on functions like a bard's Inspire Courage, 1/day per level of warmaster... Man that class is weird. Never seen a Prc before where you get property as you level in it. Towers and castles are things you get for free as you progress in that, hah.



Yeah, I think a Marshall, maybe a Bard level or three in there too a more sensible way to go.

[Uncle Pine]

Hyperconscious (3rd party, but from the same author of the XPH) has the Voce Warrior PrC.

[Saintheart]

It doesn't do hitpoint damage, but there's Doomspeak as a feat from Champions of Ruin. Uses up a bardic music use, but if the enemy is within 120 feet and fails a Will save, their attack rolls, ability checks, saves, and skill checks are nerfed by -10 for 1 round. No singing, it's just cursing at the enemy.

For big audiences, there's the bard spell Resounding Voice: for a minute per level, you can be heard 100 feet away per caster level. A creature can clearly hear you at that distance.

[Warchon]

Damn I was expecting like, or or two edge case finds. You guys are amazing. Lots of meat to dig into here, I bet I can actually come up with something completely workable with all this.

[Segev]

Home brew alterations to feats found on pp. 61-62 of C. Psi:

BLESSED Heritage
You are descended from a BLESSED clan which sadly knew not the secrets of the “indoor voice.”
Benefit: Your naturally loud voice gives you Intimidate as a class skill. In addition, people listening to you speak (or otherwise vocalize) receive a bonus to their perception checks to hear you equal to the number of BLESSED feats you have.

BLESSED Enthusiasm
Prerequisite: BLESSED heritage
Benefit: After you successfully use Intimidate on a creature, you gain a morale bonus to Diplomacy, Bluff, and additional Intimidate checks equal to the number of BLESSED feats you have until the end of the next round.

BLESSED Legacy
Prerequisite: BLESSED Heritage and one other BLESSED feat; character level third.
Benefit: You gain Shout as a spell-like ability, usable a number of times per day equal to the number of BLESSED feats you have. Your CL is equal to your HD.

BLESSED Deflection
Prerequisite: BLESSED Heritage
Benefit: The sheer volume of your voice creates a barrier of protection. You gain a +1 deflection bonus to your armor class. This bonus does not function in a region of magical silence, and causes any attempt at stealth to automatically fail while you’re using it as you must be shouting loudly at your attackers. Any round in which you do not shout loudly, you do not get this benefit. (A simple, loud “HAAAAA!” in the general direction of any foes is sufficient.)
Special: You May take his fear up to three times, stacking the armor bonus each time.

BLESSED Blast
Prerequisite: BLESSED heritage, two other BLESSED feats, 5th level
Benefit: once per day as a standard action, you may unleash a mighty shout which causes all within a 15-foot cone to need to make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your HD + your Cha modifier) or be Stunned and Deafened for 1d4 rounds. Those who make the save are Deafened for half that time (minimum one round), and are not Stunned.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

It's (Ps), not (Ex) or (Na), but almost all psionic energy powers have [Sonic] as one of the energy types you can use. Just use [Sonic] a lot and say the effect is a result of screaming so loudly that it rends flesh and objects alike. Focus your feats (http://dnd.arkalseif.info/dndtools/feats/complete-psionic--59/privileged-energy--2244/) (and whatever PrCs (http://www.dragonarmyone.com/Home/index/fantasy-house-rules/character-creation2/classes/psionic-classes/prestige-classes-psionic/kineticist) you take) on boosting your [Sonic] effects.

Of course, if you manifest or cast from a Device (from Ravenloft: Legacy of the Blood) that acts as a staff or psicrown, it becomes (Ex). Say it's a mechanism that acts like a portable voice amplifier and increases its volume to absurd (and dangerous) levels.

[RaiKirah]

I know there are rules for determining yelling volume with a CON check, but I have no idea how or if this could translate into hitpoint damage or debilitation.

Well, if you want to delve into the murky world of mixing D&D physics with real physics the CON check based volume is a good starting point. Sound is made by a pressure distortion moving through a medium (air is the most likely case). Loud enough (a high enough pressure differential) and that pressure distortion approaches a discontinuity or shockwave. A strong enough shockwave can do singificant damage (ie and explosion). So, all you need to do is figure out how high you need to get your CON check to achieve a Sonic boom. Then probably look at Sonic spells to apply damage values.

[Darrin]

Vril (Drow of the Underdark) are goblins with a Shriek (Ex) attack that does 1d6 [sonic] damage. Scales up to 4d6 at level 12. LA +0, but they accidentally left the skinshift and shriek abilities out of the book. Errata (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20070504a) has the complete write-up. I'm not sure how to increase the damage, but Reverberation (Savage Species) and Ability Focus (MM) will crank up the Fort save DC by +2 each.

Vril doesn't qualify for Siren (Savage Species), but Nycter (MM3) does.