Junkyard Wars XXVI: RSL + ACF - PrCs

[Macabaret]

Welcome to Junkyard Stadium! It is in this hallowed pile of miscellaneous parts that we will hold a competition of Practical Optimization with three components. The catch? Competitors may not use the third item in their builds!

Goal: Create a build that showcases the selected ingredients while steering clear of the Forbidden Ingredient.

This competition has two Necessary Components and one Forbidden Component. This round's components are...


Necessary: Racial Substitution Levels
Necessary: Alternate Class Features
Forbidden: Prestige Classes





Creation: 32 point-buy is the presumed creation method. You may assume that you will have enough exp to reach ECL 20, and that the occasional bit of crafting, use of spells with exp components, or the like won't prevent you from doing so. However, LA buyoff is an alternate rule which is not in play.
Workshop: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. If you use web material, please link it. Dragon Magazine Compendium is allowed, as are Oriental Adventures (and its 3.5 updates in Dragon Magazine) and the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt and fractional saves are not allowed, as they create a different playing field.
Leadership is banned: We're creating one thing, not all of the things. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means.
Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until after the reveal in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.
Disputes: Any scoring disputes should be sent to the Chair via PM. Valid disputes include RAW misreadings, arithmetic errors, things missed that are present in the entry, and inconsistently applied criteria. Invalid disputes include disagreements on matters of opinion, a judge not catching something not explicitly presented in the entry, and the like. Invalid disputes will be responded to via PM by the Chair, but valid disputes will be posted in-thread for the judge to review. When disputing, please indicate the judge the dispute is intended for and provide a quote of the disputed comment or comments. Note: the Chair may edit or paraphrase any disputes in presenting them to the judges.
Presentation: You will need to present a write-up of your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20-level build in the table below. Please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability throughout its life. 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. Also for this reason, PLEASE do not include any material that may or may not offend any potential viewers/judges/competitors OR break forum rules. Any builds which violate forum rules WILL be withheld from posting.




Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, please use the following table for their entry.
NAME OF ENTRY


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



Code immediately below (spoiler).

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code immediately below (spoiler)Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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





Scoring: Each judge is required to provide the criteria by which they are judging the builds. By "criteria," we mean a simple explanation of what the judge is looking for in each of the below categories and what kind of scoring we can expect. If a judge deems a build to be illegal, they may provide a 0 in Elegance but may not refuse to judge any build presented by the Chairman.
The Categories: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Components.


Originality: Is the build unique? Does it deviate from the obvious? Does it forge its own path, or does it fall back on common, established optimization tricks? Some judges score entries for the quality of their concept & backstory as well, though not all do. Providing at least some backstory is heavily encouraged, as it helps the judges figure out who the entry is. Note that the purpose of this category is not to penalize entries that independently came up with the same idea as another entry, but rather to reward entries that explore underutilized and non-obvious areas of optimization, so, judges, try not to base your judging in this category too heavily on what other builds are doing. Multiple entries using the same element may certainly be evidence that the element is unoriginal, but you shouldn't impose anything like a "-1 for each other build using the same class" penalty.
Power: Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
Elegance: This category was formerly titled "Build Stability." Here, we're essentially measuring how skillfully you put your build together and how you balanced flavor with power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing (meaning any multiclassing that results in an xp penalty), and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, may lose you points. Rule adherence and legality of sources is scored under this category; additionally, reliance on a questionable, controversial, or ambiguous ruling can and should result in a deduction. Neither the number of sources nor their relative obscurity should be penalized--contestants should feel free to use any books they like. Dipping should not be penalized unless it results in a multiclass xp penalty; if the system won't penalize it, neither should judges.
Use of Components: Was the Forbidden Component avoided? Were the Necessary Components showcased, or simply used because they were necessary?



Disputes: Any scoring disputes will be posted by the Chairman in-thread after reviewing them privately. Valid disputes include
RAW misreadings,
arithmetic errors,
things missed that are present in the entry,
and inconsistently applied criteria.
Invalid disputes include
disagreements on matters of opinion,
a judge not catching something not explicitly presented in the entry,
and the like.
Invalid disputes will be responded to via PM by the Chair, but valid disputes should be responded to by each individual judge. Judges are obligated to respond to disputes to ensure that everyone gets a fair shake. A judge's scores will only be recognized if they have recognized all disputes. In the absence of any other judges, the entries will be judged by the chairman.



Completion Time:

Contestants will have until 20:59 CDT Tuesday August 6, 2019 to create their builds and PM them to the chairman.
Builds will then be posted simultaneously to avoid copying.
Judges will have until 20:59 CDT Tuesday August 20, 2019 to judge the builds and submit their scores. Judging deadline is subject to extension as required.
As the precedent has been set from Episode 2, should all prospective judges have posted their rulings in a neat, timely fashion and all disputes have been settled satisfactorily (to either judges, contestants, or the Chairperson), the judging period may end prematurely to give way to a new episode. No reason to keep working on a finished building and avoid moving onto the next one.


Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing! We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build that doesn't gain a medal. Contestants are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM. Everyone else can vote in-thread. Ready? Set? Get to the junkyard and start building!



Junkyard Wars in the Playground I: Shadowdancer + Sneak Attack - Rogue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?337864)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground II: Healing Spells + Ruby Knight Vindicator - Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?342896)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground III: Dragons + Theurges - Kobolds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?347412)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground IV: BoED + Undead Type - Completes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?355278)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground V: Dread Witch + Reaping Mauler - Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?360271)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VI: Wonderworker + Profession Skill - Factotum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?369604)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VII: Metamagic Feats + LA - Metamagic Reducers! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?374504)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VIII: Pounce+Small Size-Barbarian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?388151)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground IX: Earth Dreamer + Ordained Champion - Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395791)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground X: Meldshaping + Natural Attacks - Totemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?403880)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XI: Magical Darkness + Improved Familiar - Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?409650)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XII: Dragonmark Heirs + Touchstones - Martial Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430214)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIII: Mulhorandi Divine Minion + Monk - Any Other Wildshaping (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?465901)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIV: Racial Paragon Classes + Spellcasting - Base Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?479427)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XV: Ruathar + Stoneblessed - Human (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?497904)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVI: Trapsmith + Combat Trapsmith - Rogue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?540521)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVII: Elemental Warrior + Jaunter - Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?552569)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVIII: Argent Savant + Holy Scourge - Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555404)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIX: Incarnum Blade + Exotic Weapon Master - Spiked Chain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?562523-Junkyard-Wars-XIX-IB-EWM-SC)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XX: Xorvintaal Exarch + The Pact-Bound Adept - Sorcerer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?568541-Junkyard-Wars-XX-XE-PBA(a)-S)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XXI: Rebuke Undead + Teamwork Benefits - [Divine] feats (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572680-Junkyard-Wars-XXI-Halloween-Round!)
Junkyard Wars XXII: Battle Trickster + Magical Trickster - Uncanny Trickster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577512-Junkyard-Wars-XXII-Show-Me-Your-Skillz)
Junkyard Wars XXIII: Spellwarp Sniper + Silver Pyromancer - Energy Substitution (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581736-Junkyard-Wars-XXIII-Ready-Aim-Fire)
Junkyard Wars XXIV: Vow of Peace + Saint - Divine casting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585567-Junkyard-Wars-XXIV-VoPe-S-DC)
Junkyard Wars XXIV: Silverwood Arcanist + Share Soulmeld - Soulcaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?590622-Junkyard-Wars-XXV-SA-SS-S)

[Macabaret]

A Few Notes on Formatting


Your PM to the chair to enter your build is limited to a maximum character limit. If you need to split your entry into multiple PMs, that's fine. But please do not split your build mid-sentence; find a nice break point midway through and split it there. Also, when sending multiple PMs for the same entry, title your PMs appropriately. Indications such as "final" or "middle bit" are bad ideas. Be abundantly clear, for example: "Junkyard Wars XIIIII: [Character name], 3/3"


There are tables offered in the OP. All the coding is already done for you. Please do feel free to use them. They make life easier. If you have a table from previous iterations of these competitions (from years ago), do note that they may be non-functional. The coding for the site has changed over time and your version may be obsolete or incomplete. Utilize the tools offered here. If you find them to be broken in any way, please do report it to the Chair.


Color tags are not needed in your tables. The tables are built to have rows of table data that alternate colors automatically. Adding color tags for every row of your tables is just adding unneccessary characters to your post.
If you would like to change the color of your text (either within the table or in your write-ups or backstory), feel free to do so. If you do, make sure you've got everything formatted correctly.


Writing sentences in the same color of the background is usually a bad idea. It can be cute as a comical aside, where only those who are let in on your joke are those who can find the text. If, however, you include pertinent parts of your build or explination in such 'hidden' asides, there is every possiblity that a judge may not find it. If that happens, don't dispute judgements for not finding information that you've hidden. (Even if it is about the Darkstalker feat.)


No one likes to read a wall of text. Paragraphs and line breaks are certainly good ideas, but even with them, if your entry is taking up a sizable portion of a thread, using spoiler tags to shrink things down to less of an eyestrain is much appreciated.


Remember that the Chair is not your editor. I will not be sifting through your entry to fix your code. Before you submit your entry, click the preview button and make sure everything works the way you want it to. If a table is broken, fix it. If your bolded sentence doesn't stop 'bolding' where you meant it to (or, in fact, at all), fix it. Only send your entry once you've got everything as intended.

[Macabaret]

FAQ:


Are Racial Paragon classes included in the ban for Prestige Classes?
No. Racial paragon levels are valid. As are monster class levels.


Can a Racial Substitution Level and an Alternate Class Feature both be taken for the same level?
Yes, provided that they are not substituting the same feature.


Is ACF chaining (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19853009&postcount=5) legal or not for this competition?
ACFs and RSLs are class specific. In other words, in order to use a Ranger ACF, you need to use it on Ranger levels. So, for example, a Barbarian that uses an ACF to gain a Favored Enemy cannot trade that FE away through an ACF specific to Rangers.

However, if a class offers an ACF that grants a new class feature that can be traded away on its own, without specific class restrictions, that would be allowed. For example, if a Druid uses an ACF to gain Heavy Armor Proficiency, she could trade that away for Dragonscale Husk (provided, of course, that she meets the other requirements) because Dragonscale Husk does not require a specific class and is, instead, open to all classes with Heavy Armor Proficiency.


What's the difference between an Alternate Class Feature and a Racial Substitution Level? How do we tell them apart?

Typically, you wouldn't care. You'd just make the substitution and be done with it. But for this competition, needing to use both, you'll have to know what qualifies as what.
The easy answer is, if the source labels the option as an Alternate Class Feature (e.g. Player's Handbook II p.31-70), then that's what it is. Likewise, options called Racial Substitution Levels (e.g. Races of Stone p.145-152) are Racial Substitution Levels.
For options not so designated (e.g. Champions of Valor p.34-52), consider the requirements. If there is no racial requirement (e.g. Ruby Rose Knight or Vigilant Eye of Helm), consider it to be an Alternate Class Feature. If there is a restriction based on race/type/subtype (e.g. Fangshield Barbarian or Wary Swordknight), consider it to be a Racial Substitution Level.

[daremetoidareyo]

Racial paragon classes?

[Macabaret]

Racial paragon classes?

Racial paragon levels are valid. As are monster class levels.

[MisterKaws]

Okay, this is fun.

[Thurbane]

Hmm, interesting one. Time permitting, I'll try to get something in.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I love it.

Actually, I've got a build I've been looking for an opportunity to flesh out that would do quite nicely for this....

[MisterKaws]

I feel like I'm a bit masochistic whenever I start building a character for one of these competitions.

Sigh... I'm in, unfortunately for my sanity.

[weckar]

Well then, that's different...

ACFs are allowed for Racial Substitution levels as long as the replaced feature is still there, right?

[RaiKirah]

I feel like this may need a Chairperson ruling: is ACF chaining legal or not for this competition? I've seen it argued both ways, and it would be a shame for builds to be penalized for something that is widely debated as legal should a judge disagree.

[Macabaret]

ACFs are allowed for Racial Substitution levels as long as the replaced feature is still there, right?

If I'm understanding your question correctly, yes. So, as an example that won't infringe upon speculation:

If you wanted to make a Fire Gnome Sha'ir that uses a Racial Substitution level at first level which trades away your choice of gen familiar and instead grants you a slightly stronger fire gen familiar with a +2 bonus to Diplomacy, then you would still be able to also use a first level Alternate Class Feature that replaces the "normal" list of domains with an "alternate" set of domains from which to cast divine spells. All assuming, of course, that you can find and cite a valid source for the RSL and the ACF.

I hope that answers your question.

[Macabaret]

I feel like this may need a Chairperson ruling: is ACF chaining legal or not for this competition? I've seen it argued both ways, and it would be a shame for builds to be penalized for something that is widely debated as legal should a judge disagree.

Short answer: not. For a longer answer, see the FAQ upthread.

[RaiKirah]

Short answer: not. For a longer answer, see the FAQ upthread.

Thanks for the clarification. That's the way I lean on the issue as well :)

[jdizzlean]

my time is very limited up till the middle of august, i may or may not get one in

[weckar]

I am already having real trouble with the lack of direction on this one.

[RaiKirah]

I am already having real trouble with the lack of direction on this one.

This. I want to do something, I just don't really have any idea what.

[Thurbane]

Because racial sub-levels are required, this simply rules out a lot of classes...have to think harder...

[Quentinas]

This. I want to do something, I just don't really have any idea what.

I have the same problem... even considering only the classes with racial substitution levels is so big

[Macabaret]

I am already having real trouble with the lack of direction on this one.

You may not have meant it as such, but I'm going to take this as a compliment. It's nice, I think, at times to leave your comfort zone and struggle a little bit. It's what makes success so much more fulfilling.

[weckar]

In hindsight, it probably is a compliment.

Lots of second guessing though.
"Is this the obvious path? Too obscure?"

[Quentinas]

Yes i have many second thoughts without prestige classes i had an idea but maybe is it too obvious within this contest

[daremetoidareyo]

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444354-3-5-Alternative-Class-Features-(ported-from-Wizards-community-boards)

Here's a tool I use.

[Macabaret]

Heads up for those interested: There's been a new addition to the FAQ upthread.

[Macabaret]

This is your friendly one-week warning. There is one week remaining until the deadline.

How is everyone doing with this round?

[daremetoidareyo]

Omg I've run down some weird rabbit holes.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

My build, level breakdowns, and sources are all done. Debating whether to add more fluff or leave it as is.

[Quentinas]

I've decided to what to do , now i have to make a table and a background

[Quentinas]

My build was illegal so i'm doing another one i hope i have enough time to finish

[PoeticallyPsyco]

New profile pic Macabaret? Looks good!

Build submitted.

[jdizzlean]

I've had a trainee at work for 3 weeks now. They're on to another post, but i only have the vaguest of ideas for this as it is, i will probably not make the deadline to enter. looking forward to what others had in mind.

[Macabaret]

New profile pic Macabaret? Looks good!

Build submitted.

I arrived here one day recently to the disgrace of having no pic in my profile at all. (GASP!) I had to scramble a bit to find a new one. I'm glad you like it.

[weckar]

Some of us prefer going picless :P.

But yeah, one day out, I got nothing. Really curious if we will end up seeing the one obvious build.

[MisterKaws]

Some of us prefer going picless :P.

But yeah, one day out, I got nothing. Really curious if we will end up seeing the one obvious build.

I was gonna do one very obvious build, but went the entire last week without access to books & internet. No time to finish.

[pabelfly]

Really curious if we will end up seeing the one obvious build.

Not sure what the obvious build was (and I won't ask). Had one idea myself, but didn't think the crunch of the character or the fluff that would support it made it worth the writeup.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Not sure what the obvious build was (and I won't ask). Had one idea myself, but didn't think the crunch of the character or the fluff that would support it made it worth the writeup.

I have no idea what the obvious build is, and that's making me paranoid. Since last time an obvious build was mentioned, my first build (thankfully discarded) was it. I think I'm safe this time...

[Quentinas]

Well i don't know what the obvious build would be ... when i read no prestige class i had an idea but i don't know if that is the obvious (last time i tried to partecipate and one of my idea was in the obvious the other one no)

[weckar]

I'm causing paranoia. nice.

[Thurbane]

I don't think I'll get an entry in for this round, but I had a suggestion for a future round, just for lols: Undead Leadership + Death's Chosen - ???

Would it be weird to have your undead cohort also be your "master"? :smalltongue:

[Macabaret]

I don't think I'll get an entry in for this round, but I had a suggestion for a future round, just for lols: Undead Leadership + Death's Chosen - ???

Would it be weird to have your undead cohort also be your "master"? :smalltongue:

Oddly enough, I've had both of those ingredients on my list of ideas to use, but not together.
I've been digging a bit through previous contest threads and looking at suggestions others have made. If people have particular ingredients that interest you to work with, I'm certainly open to more comments like this.

[Macabaret]

The deadline, you may have noticed, has come and gone. I have two entries, which doesn't fill the podium. Are there others out there with a build in the works that would just need a bit more time or ..... ?

[jdizzlean]

i can take my very vague idea and see if i can put it into something, but i only have 8 hours from now to get it done. the wife has surgery in the AM to which i'm the designated driver. i wouldn't have another opportunity to work on it till late tmw night, and that would be the last chance i have for a week.

so i'll start poking it


((( EDIT )))

i now have a solid idea and working on that. will submit by tomorrow late night.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

{{Scrubbed}}

[jdizzlean]

i have all the mechanical stuff done, i just need to do breakpoints and write some fluff, i'll get that done today while the kiddo takes a nap, sorry for the delay

[DeTess]

I have a built pretty much done, but didn't really feel it was worth the write-up. Since we're pretty low on entries, I'll do the write-up now. Should be in in about 1-4 hours.

[jdizzlean]

submitted

and some extra text

[DeTess]

submitted

and some extra text

Yep, same, though it was a bit off a rush-job getting it all written down.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Nice! I'm excited.

[Falontani]

I have an entry but no write-up. I wont be able to get to it until Wednesday. If it's still open I'll submit, if not I'll try my hand at judging on Wednesday.

[Macabaret]

Wow. Ask, it seems, and you shall receive.

Please refrain from posting until the all clear.
Thank you.

[Macabaret]

“A Dark Moon Disciple is kind of like an assassin, in the way that a tiger is kind of like a kitten.”
http://bit.ly/2M0Ngd1
Azoth, the Raven's Shadow
Rogue 1/ Monk 9/ Rogue +6/ Warblade 1/ Rogue +3

Azoth, The Raven’s Shadow
LE Small Humanoid (halfling)
Strongheart Halfling Rogue 1/ Monk 9/ Rogue +6/ Warblade 1/ Rogue +3

STR 8 (6) DEX 16 (18) CON 10 INT 14 WIS 16 CHA 12

All ability score increases go into Dexterity, though if you want the security of overlapping blink you could put two into Wisdom instead.



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


1st
Halfling Rogue RSL 1
+0
+0
+2
+0
Balance 4, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 4, Disguise 4, Hide 4, Listen 4, Move Silently 4, Sense Motive 4, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 2, Tumble 4, Use Magic Device 1
Skill Knowledge (Iaijutsu Focus), Two-Weapon Fighting
Mimic (1/day), Ranged Sneak Attack (+2d6)


2nd
Halfling Monk RSL 1
+0
+2
+4
+2
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 4, Disguise 4, Hide 5, Iaijutsu Focus 3, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 4, Move Silently 5, Sense Motive 4, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 2, Tumble 5, Use Magic Device 1
Combat Reflexes (B), Improved Unarmed Strike (B)
AC Bonus (+0), Invisible Eye Fighting Style, Skirmish (1d6), Unarmed Strike (1d4)


3rd
Halfling Monk RSL 2
+1
+3
+5
+3
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 4, Hide 6, Iaijutsu Focus 5, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 5, Move Silently 6, Sense Motive 4, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 2, Tumble 5, Use Magic Device 1
Quick Draw, Weapon Finesse (B)
Weapon Finesse, Invisible Fist (invisibility)


4th
Dark Moon Disciple Monk 3
+2
+3
+5
+3
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 5, Disguise 4, Hide 7, Iaijutsu Focus 7, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 5, Move Silently 7, Sense Motive 5, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 2, Tumble 6, Use Magic Device 1

Darkvision (60ft), Fast Movement 10ft


5th
Monk 4
+3
+4
+6
+4
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 6, Disguise 4, Hide 8, Iaijutsu Focus 8, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 6, Move Silently 8, Sense Motive 6, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 2, Tumble 6, Use Magic Device 1

Ki Strike (magic), Unarmed Strike (1d6), Wall Walker (20ft)


6th
Planar Monk 5
+3
+4
+6
+4
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 6, Disguise 4, Hide 9, Iaijutsu Focus 9, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 6, Move Silently 9, Sense Motive 6, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 4, Tumble 7, Use Magic Device 1
Darkstalker
AC Bonus (+1), Resistant Body (Cold Resistance 5), Skirmish (+1d6, +1 AC)


7th
Monk 6
+4
+5
+7
+5
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 4, Hide 10, Iaijutsu Focus 10, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 7, Move Silently 10, Sense Motive 6, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 5, Tumble 7, Use Magic Device 1
Blind-Fight (B)
Fast Movement (20ft), Invisible Eye Fighting Style (Blind-Fight), Wall Walker (30ft)


8th
Dark Moon Disciple Monk 7
+5
+5
+7
+7
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 4, Hide 11, Iaijutsu Focus 11, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 11, Sense Motive 7, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 6, Tumble 7, Use Magic Device 1

Shadow Blend


9th
Monk 8
+6
+6
+8
+6
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 4, Hide 12, Iaijutsu Focus 12, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 12, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 7, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 1
Craven
Unarmed Strike (1d8), Wall Walker (40ft)


10th
Monk 9
+6
+6
+8
+6
Balance 5, Bluff 4, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 4, Hide 13, Iaijutsu Focus 13, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 13, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 1, Spot 7, Tumble 9, Use Magic Device 1, Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Invisible Fist (blink)


11th
Rogue 2
+7
+6
+9
+6
Balance 5, Bluff 5, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 5, Hide 14, Iaijutsu Focus 14, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 14, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 2, Spot 7, Tumble 10, Use Magic Device 2, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Spell Reflection


12th
Rogue 3
+8
+7
+9
+7
Balance 5, Bluff 6, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 5, Hide 15, Iaijutsu Focus 15, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 15, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 3, Spot 7, Tumble 11, Use Magic Device 4, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)
Swift Ambusher
Melee Sneak Attack (+1d6), Penetrating Strike, Ranged Sneak Attack (+3d6), Skirmish (+2d6, +2 AC)


13th
Rogue 4
+9
+7
+10
+7
Balance 5, Bluff 8, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 5, Hide 16, Iaijutsu Focus 16, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 16, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 4, Spot 7, Tumble 11, Use Magic Device 5, Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Disruptive Attack


14th
Rogue 5
+9
+7
+10
+7
Balance 5, Bluff 8, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 5, Hide 17, Iaijutsu Focus 17, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 17, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 9, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 6, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Melee Sneak Attack (+2d6), Ranged Sneak Attack (+4d6), Skirmish (+3d6, +2 AC)


15th
Rogue 6
+10
+8
+11
+8
Balance 5, Bluff 9, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 7, Hide 18, Iaijutsu Focus 18, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 18, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 10, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 7, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Hidden Blade (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)
Mercurial Strike



16th
Rogue 7
+11
+8
+11
+8
Balance 5, Bluff 11, Diplomacy 7, Disguise 9, Hide 19, Iaijutsu Focus 19, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 19, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 10, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 8, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Back On Your Feet (skill trick), Hidden Blade (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Melee Sneak Attack (+3d6), Ranged Sneak Attack (+5d6), Skirmish (+3d6, +3 AC)


17th
Warblade 1
+12
+10
+11
+8
Balance 5, Bluff 11, Diplomacy 8, Disguise 9, Hide 20, Iaijutsu Focus 20, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 20, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 10, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 8, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Back On Your Feet (skill trick), Hidden Blade (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Battle Clarity (Reflex saves), Weapon Aptitude, 3 Maneuvers Known (Lead the Attack, Wall of Blades, White Raven Tactics), 3 Maneuvers Readied, 1 Stance Known (Press the Advantage)


18th
Rogue 8
+13
+10
+12
+8
Balance 5, Bluff 12, Diplomacy 8, Disguise 10, Hide 21, Iaijutsu Focus 21, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 21, Sense Motive 8, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 12, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 9, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Back On Your Feet (skill trick), Hidden Blade (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Spot the Weak Point (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)
Robilar’s Gambit
Uncanny Dodge


19th
Rogue 9
+13
+11
+12
+9
Balance 5, Bluff 13, Diplomacy 8, Disguise 11, Hide 22, Iaijutsu Focus 22, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 22, Sense Motive 9, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 13, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 10, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Back On Your Feet (skill trick), Clarity of Vision (skill trick), Hidden Blade (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Spot the Weak Point (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Melee Sneak Attack (+4d6), Ranged Sneak Attack (+6d6), Skirmish (+4d6, +4 AC)


20th
Halfling Rogue RSL 10
+14
+11
+13
+9
Balance 5, Bluff 15, Diplomacy 8, Disguise 13, Hide 23, Iaijutsu Focus 23, Knowledge (religion) 1, Listen 8, Move Silently 23, Sense Motive 10, Sleight of Hand 5, Spot 13, Tumble 12, Use Magic Device 12, Acrobatic Backstab (skill trick), Assume Quirk (skill trick), Back On Your Feet (skill trick), Clarity of Vision (skill trick), Hidden Blade (skill trick), Second Impression (skill trick), Social Recovery (skill trick), Spot the Weak Point (skill trick), Twisted Charge (skill trick)

Sniping Mastery



“What if the target does something I didn’t expect?”

Crack! With his blindfold on, Azoth couldn’t see exactly what the sensei did, but the proof of what had just happened was evident in the sai clattering to the ground next to Azoth’s feet, and in the splitting pain in his head.

“Do you know what you did wrong, boy?”

“Yes, sensei,” Azoth replied, his face red with shame. His mistake had been a humiliatingly basic one. The other apprentices, raised in the retreat, would never have spoken like that, but Azoth was still used to thinking in the terms he had heard and used on the streets.

The sensei was, apparently, going to explain it anyway. Azoth felt his face redden further, but didn’t drop his ready posture.

“Dark Moon Disciples do not have ‘targets’, boy. The word “target” implies an element of uncertainty as to the outcome. Assassins have targets, because assassins sometimes miss. We have deaders. Because once the Goddess makes her wishes clear, or even for lesser contracts we accept in her name, the rest of the deader’s life is merely a formality. All that’s left to do is decide the method.”

The sensei paused. “The rest of your question was, however, a good one. You can’t predict everything. Something will always go wrong; if has not that means you have been set up for a trap.” Azoth heard the soft brush of the sensei’s steps as she turned and resumed walking, addressing all the apprentices now. “You must always incorporate both redundancy and flexibility into your plans. Preparation for every eventuality you can anticipate, flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances and opportunities, and power to follow through for the kill. These are the virtues of Shar, and of this order, and you will all strive to uphold them. If you succeed, your actions will be known across the lands. If you fail… you will die, by my hand or another’s.”

Azoth grew up on the streets. Violence, hunger, treachery, and abuse were his constant companions, leaving him jaded and misanthropic, but also skilled and dangerous. This is reflected in his first level of Rogue: bluff, diplomacy, disguise, and Mimic for pulling cons or simply ensuring his acceptance into a gang (decent protection if you can stomach the price); sense motive, listen, and spot to provide advance warning for the inevitable trouble; stealth and tumble to stay out of its way; sleight of hand and use magic device because you can’t neglect opportunities like that, even if they’re too infrequent to commit to; and a fighting style that plays to his strengths and dodges his weaknesses. Two weapon fighting with thrown weapons (daggers are ideal, but rocks and discarded bottles will do in a pinch) keeps Azoth out of melee where his low Str and HP are crippling, and lets him take advantage of his high accuracy while his racial affinity for thrown weapons keeps his damage high.

Skill Knowledge is a feat from Unearthed Arcana, intended for use with a variant skill system presented there. It still works with the default skill system, though, even though it’s much weaker that way, making a single skill permanently a class skill. Here it gives Azoth a hidden talent for focusing his ki (iaijutsu focus). This, along with his other skills and disposition, got him scouted by the Dark Moon Disciples, a particularly dangerous group of monks that worship Shar, the goddess of darkness, night, secrets, and ravens, the first and last of which will eventually give Azoth his unofficial title.

On that note, let’s talk about what’s going on in Monk. Azoth leapt on the opportunity to get out of the hell that was his childhood and early adolescence, and (once he got used to the rules and expectations) took to the life of killer-in-training like a duck to water. The halfling RSL gives monks Skirmish instead of Flurry of Blows, all the better for approaching a target. On a more practical level, it helps make up the damage when Azoth has to move and attack in the same turn, or has to make one attack count, and it qualifies him for Swift Ambusher further down the line. The Invisible Eye fighting style’s focus on lack of sight (for the first year, all students must wear a blindfold) is quite fitting for worshipers of a goddess of darkness, and Combat Reflexes is going to be very, very useful later. The similarly named Invisible Fist ACF trades Evasion for the ability to turn invisible for a round every 3 rounds (see below for a discussion of the Invisible Fist cooldowns); this is Azoth’s first source of reliably forcing the flat-footed condition to activate iaijutsu focus, and at the same level he gets Quick Draw to take advantage of it. Halfling RSLs come in clutch again, trading Invisible Eye’s Lighting Reflexes for Weapon Finesse. Dark Moon Disciple at level 3 gets you darkvision (given all the things Azoth is going to be doing in darkness this is absolutely necessary). And Wall Walker trades the much reviled Slow Fall for the ability to do exactly what you’d expect from the name, letting you quickly vault walls, climb down quickly and safely, and cross pits/crevices in dungeon corridors.

Combat-wise, Azoth favors staying within 20ft and either throwing two sai (each with 2d6 Sneak Attack) or moving to maintain distance and throwing one sai (2d6 SA, 1d6 Skirmish). Why sai? Because iaijutsu focus requires drawing a melee weapon, but doesn’t require the subsequent attack to be in melee. Sai are the only melee+thrown monk special weapons (necessary for activating Skirmish). (Okay, technically you could draw any melee weapon as a free action, drop it as a free action, and then use whatever weapon you wanted for the attack, but that’s a little cheesy). In melee you could use something more damage-dealing, but Azoth’s atrocious Str and mediocre HP makes thrown weapons the best option, especially because of the way his Sneak Attack works and TWF. If you don’t want to eat the range increment penalty, Azoth is still proficient in short bows, and I think he still has a d6 of SA with them (if within 30ft). Arrows have specific rules for how they can be used as melee weapons, so you can probably get iaijutsu focus damage just from drawing and firing them, but if your DM disagrees point out the draw-and-drop method above.

The Invisible Fist abilities don’t specify whether their cooldowns are from the activation of the ability or its expiration. The only precedent I was able to find is dragon breath, the cool down for which is always from the initiative count on which they are activated to just before that initiative count after the specified number of rounds (even for dragon breaths that last for minutes, like that of the Smoke Drake). This build assumes that this precedent holds, meaning that invisibility and later blink can each be activated every three rounds, assuming Azoth is willing and able to use the immediate action.

More levels of Monk, more ACFs, and a few more rules interpretations. But first, a recommendation: buy, beg, borrow, or steal a Sparring Dummy of the Master. Surely the Dark Moon Disciples have a few laying around somewhere. The build works fine without it, full attacking when Sneak Attack is possible and Skirmishing when it’s not, but with it Azoth’s 5ft step becomes a 10ft step, allowing him to trivially activate Skirmish. And it gets better later on.

Because Azoth has been to the Shadowfell as part of his training, he’s eligible for the Planar Monk ACF. I chose cold for his energy resistance, but fire and sonic are equally thematic as being opposed to night and stealth respectively (and if using Azoth as an NPC villain I’d be tempted to give him sonic resistance just to surprise experienced players confident that nothing resists sonic).

At the same level, he also gets Darkstalker. Stupid guard dogs.

Interesting thing about fighting styles. If you return to the default feats instead of taking the variant ones, you lose the skill bonus (to listen for Azoth) and the 6th level special ability, but you don’t lose the option of taking the fighting style’s sixth level feat if you dropped it on the second level. So while Azoth probably loses the bonus to listen (you could argue that rather than returning to the default feats he took the Invisible Eye feat and then replaced it with the Halfling RSL, and thus still qualifies, but it’s unnecessary for this build), he can still trade the useless-to-a-small-character default feats for the situationally useful Blind-Fight. If your DM rules against this, go for Improved Disarm, because at least it doesn’t require an opposed Str check.

At 8th level Azoth gets one of his heavy-hitter abilities: Shadow Blend, which gives him total concealment in anything but full daylight or daylight. The utility of this to a stealthy character with two sources of damage that key off flat-footed opponents is obvious. Note that iaijutsu focus works even on opponents with Uncanny Dodge. How this ability interacts with darkvision and true seeing is unspecified, but the fact that it works perfectly in a fully illuminated room leads me to believe that being able to see through the darkness is not enough to penetrate the concealment (and true seeing does nothing against concealment from something it doesn’t specify that it sees through). Even if this isn’t the case, this ability is fantastic. Note that you can’t take opportunity attacks against an opponent with total concealment, so Azoth can now throw sai from melee range with impunity. (Side note: Hilariously, RAW the +40 bonus you get for being invisible and stationary can be used to counteract the -30 penalty for hiding someone else with your own check). When not using this ability, he still has disguise, diplomacy, bluff, and plain old with-cover hide/move silently to get close to his targets.

At 9th level he gets the lovely Craven; scaling damage on all Sneak Attacks woohoo! Normally I hate the fluff of this feat enough that I’ll refuse to use it, but it actually is fitting for Azoth, who despite his airs to the contrary has never quite managed to heal those childhood wounds on his psyche. Fast Movement lets him retreat faster than any unmounted pursuit.

And at 10th level he gets the second Invisible Fist ability: blink for rounds equal to his Wis bonus, every three rounds. Oh would you look at that, his Wis bonus is three. Your 8th level power does somewhat overshadow this ability defensively versus martial foes, but this alongside his high Reflex and Dex should reduce any AOE damage (one of the only things still threatening to Azoth is areal bombardment) to 1/4th. Plus, you never know when you’ll be caught in daylight, or when your enemies will have daylight. For utility, this is even stronger, letting him phase through walls and bindings and enemies oh my, reducing fall damage, and arguably extending the max length of Wall Walker (since half your movement is in the ethereal plane, where you can essentially fly). This ability is freaking sweet.

For foes immune to precision damage (and for inanimate objects, like pesky locks), you’ve got iaijutsu focus. By 10th level you’re doing an average of a bit over 3d6 extra damage with what should be every attack. If your DM rules that Shadow Blend is penetrated by true seeing or (Shar forbid) darkvision, then this becomes less universal, but at the very least every deader (not a target!) should be eating the full value. If you do need to travel a large distance and attack, the Twisting Charge skill trick should come in handy.

Back into Rogue! This is a Swift Ambusher build after all. And what a return it is. Evasion is for chumps; all the cool kids are reflecting spells back at their casters. Any spell or spell-like with an attack roll that misses you (say, because you’ve got a 50% miss chance, or because you’re adding Dex, Wis, size, and monk bonuses to your touch AC before items) forces the caster to make a second attack roll, with themselves as the target, and suffer the full effects of the spell if it hits. Laugh as those high tier casters eat a ray of enfeeblement and collapse under the weight of their own gear, are forced to use their weakest saves against their own disintegrate, or just break down crying if they’re a Warlock. I will note that the specific wording (“aimed at you” from Spell Reflection and “50% chance to fail” from blink) may prevent this from working with Shadow Blend and Invisible Fist, because the spells are targeting the square you’re in instead of you and failing instead of missing, respectively. YMMV.

Penetrating Strike and Disruptive Attack are your options for foes immune to precision damage. The first is melee only and half SA dice (which means 0 at the level you get it, but full Craven damage). The second works with any Sneak Attack, even versus normally immune creatures, and trades all your SA damage (probably including Craven) to inflict a -5 penalty to AC for a turn. Azoth has got enough attacks with TWF that this is a valid – if situational – tactic even for foes vulnerable to precision damage, and it’ll get better later.

Swift Ambusher! Azoth doesn’t have any Scout levels, so he gets additional Skirmish as if he were a Scout with levels equal to your Rogue levels; Skirmish that explicitly stacks with the bonuses (not progression) of Skirmish from other sources, in this case the Halfling Monk Skirmish that is qualifying him for the feat. If he’s gotten his hands on a Sparring Dummy of the Master, this is free damage and thus fantastic; if not it’ll still see plenty of use as you move around the battlefield to line up your shots and avoid counterattacks.

Throughout this level bracket, Azoth is keeping his stealth skills and iaijutsu focus maxed (natch), but he’s also boosting his social skills as a backup/alternative, his perception skills so it’s harder for others to turn the tables on him, and the skill tricks he has under his belt. Acrobatic Backstab is a nearly guaranteed source of iaijutsu focus, Skirmish, and Sneak Attack for a single attack (as long as the opponent is vulnerable). Hidden Blade works similarly, but without the inherent movement (so not necessarily Skirmish damage). Assume Quirk, Social Recovery, and Second Impression make it a lot easier to infiltrate a deader’s location on false pretenses or generally be where you’re not supposed to be. And Twisting Charge is still good for covering ground.

Last but not least, Azoth picks up Mercurial Strike. This gem of a feat is perfect for iaijutsu focus, though it doesn’t fully come into its own until the next level bracket. Any time Azoth could take an attack of opportunity and is unarmed (which he always should be, since each weapon is drawn immediately before use and then either dropped or thrown), he can draw a weapon and attack with it; the foe is flatfooted for this attack.

Azoth waved from within the sea of dancers to get the fake king’s attention. “Excuse me, your highness, could you spare a moment of your time?!”

“Of course! I’m always willing to hear the concerns of even my smallest subjects!”

Amateurs. The real king was never that bombastic. Nor that considerate, for that matter. Azoth slid the last ten feet up to the ‘king’. He knew he had just given himself away to the watchers in the wings, but it was far to late for them to interfere now.

Things happened very fast after that. The keen eyed among those observing saw Azoth’s hands blur into motion and a single object fly into the ‘king’. The most observant saw that it was actually four sai, stylized to look like ravens, each striking a different pressure point. But most people simply saw the king explode as his body suffered four separate impacts that were each individually capable of instantly slaying a man. All the actual dancers vanished as they were teleported out of the room, leaving only the guards and an eclectic collection of ragtag misfits (adventurers contracted by the real king), more soldiers were teleported in, and something settled into place in the now much emptier ballroom.

Ah, an antimagic field, Azoth thought. Looks like they’re finally starting to take me seriously.

“Give it up, Shadow!” one of the adventurers shouted. “You may have managed to slay our body double, but the real king is safe elsewhere, and you’re stripped of your powers and surrounded!”

Azoth allowed himself a smile totally at odds with his conciliatory tone of voice. “Actually, he’s not. You see, I visited that safe-house you deposited him in before coming here. As well as all the other safe-houses you hid all those other body doubles in. Had to be sure and all that. I’m sure you understand.” And five other supposed-to-be-unoccupied buildings that probably weren’t safe-houses, but had people in them nonetheless. And eleven houses that did have the appropriate families in them, but had recently acquired an additional member and were connected in some way to the king or the adventurers. The safe-house with the actual king had been too obvious, so he’d assumed it was merely an additional layer of deception. In retrospect, it looked like he had instead vastly overestimated the competence of his opponents.

The man who acted as the face of the adventures was looking rather poleaxed. His mouth opened and closed like a fish as he tried to speak. “Wh–…. Bu–…. Ho–….” Azoth waited patiently for the man to spit it out. “Why?”

“Why… come here anyway? That’s a surprisingly good question, actually; I must admit I was expecting some tripe about morality and humanoid decency. But why I’m here is both pertinent and important. You see, this is no ordinary contract. It comes from all the way up, if you get what I mean. Shar doesn’t take kindly to having her worship outlawed, and so when she declared your little king’s death from on high, it was a two-parter. The first part, well, I’ve already told you the fruit that bore. The second part, though,” Azoth paused for effect, “the second part is that I get to make a spectacle out of this job. As visible as possible, as excessive as possible, the whole works. Send a statement and all that.”

Azoth stretched ostentatiously. Redundancy, check, flexibility, check, and power, double check. How long had it been since he’d gotten to go all out? Too long, he thought with a grin. “Anyone who wants leave, you should–”

He lunged into action.


Azoth winced as he pulled an arrow out of his back, then chugged a health potion. Using the guards as cover hadn’t worked as well as he’d hoped on the adventurer’s archer. She might have even been a problem if their mage hadn’t panicked and lifted the field.

He surveyed his work as the last few guards and the adventurers’ bard finally managed to pry open the sealed ballroom door and sprint away to perceived safety. One of the perks of rank was that he could now delegate some parts of his job. Just as the escapees would spread the word of this massacre for him, Dark Moon Disciple trainees would handle the grunt labor of dragging the dozens of bodies into the shape of an eclipse, Shar’s holy symbol.

This level bracket has two big power jumps. The first is the dip into Warblade. Adding Int to Reflex makes Azoth even more resistant to AOE, which is one of the only things that can reliably hit him. Wall of Blades is insurance for the few hits that do get through his defenses. White Raven Tactics is just fantastic for any character, and since Azoth needs two White Raven maneuvers not picking it up would be quite foolish. Lead the Attack is mostly to qualify for that, but it’ll see more use in just one level. Press the Advantage is the only odd duck here, not being one of the standard ‘powerful’ options for stances and maneuvers. It gives a second 5ft step per round (or lets you make a single 5ft step in rough terrain), making activating Skirmish trivial. If Azoth has used a Sparring Dummy of the Master it becomes even better; two 10ft steps per round is some serious mobility for still being able to full attack (remember that unlike free actions, 5ft/10ft steps cannot be taken in the middle of a full attack).

The second power jump is Robilar’s Gambit. Now every attack against you provokes an opportunity attack in turn. And thanks to Mercurial Strike, the opponent is flatfooted for that AoO. Keep in mind that, at 20th level, you’re doing 4d6+20 melee SA damage and an average of about 5.5d6 iaijutsu focus damage, for an average of about 53 damage per opportunity attack (before items). That’s enough to force saves for massive damage. Depending on your opponents, it may be worthwhile to drop Shadow Blend (total concealment blocks AoOs) for the turn and run through your foes provoking AoOs (this also nets you 4d6 Skirmish damage to each, since it’s your turn), counting on blink and high AC to ensure you’re taking less damage than you dish out. If you do, using Lead the Attack for your single attack will give you a solid +4 to any AoOs that opponent provokes by attacking (or fleeing or casting) on their own turn. Better yet, just stand next to a melee enemy you suspect has Combat Reflexes and make a full attack of flung sais; each provokes an opportunity attack of opportunity from them, but your counter-AoOs are probably doing way more damage.

The rest of the things you pick up in this level bracket are undeniably useful, but compared to the above are mostly valuable as contingencies. Your skill tricks help ensure your foes are flatfooted and counter any invisibility/cover/tripping tricks they’re trying to pull on you. More SA and Skirmish is always nice. Uncanny Dodge keeps your AC up and shuts down enemy Sneak Attackers. And the final Halfling Rogue RSL (halves the hide penalty for sniping) is insurance against having Shadow Blend shut down, and against the by now probably common foes with Blindsight, against whom you probably do need to rely on your actual hide skill ranks to keep them flatfooted. Remember that there’s nothing stopping you from using a bow for long range; you’re just limited to iaijutsu focus as your only (non-item) source of bonus damage.

Azoth works very well as an NPC assassin (don’t call him that to his face, though!). Bonus points to any party that manages to figure out the reference. They’ll likely have to work their way up to actually containing and beating him over the course of several encounters (and levels) across the campaign. Once he takes down his actual target, he’ll likely attack any pursuing PCs from an ambush, landing a few high-damage blows to discourage them, and then just leave while they debate the risks of continuing to follow him.

His biggest weakness is that he’s in this for himself; he worships Shar but isn’t a fanatic like his brethren, and is driven far more by the need to stroke his own ego than by piety (this is reflected mechanically by the choice of Warblade over Crusader). Clever and subtle PCs can bait him into relatively rash actions, if he doesn’t realize that’s what they’re doing; alternatively, they can drive him off by surprising him with a legitimate threat to his wellbeing or with fear powers (which segues nicely into the first option, as his ego could never take such a defeat). A more mechanical weakness is that while he’s top notch at stealth and decent at social interaction, his perception skills are relatively neglected. While they should be more than a match for the average NPC, a character devoted to stealth would be able to give him a run for his money in a ‘stealth duel’.

If Dragon Magazine is on the table, Sidewinder Monk gives you quite a few lovely features, including 3d6 of Sneak Attack and the ability to grow fangs for extra melee attacks a few times per day, without costing any of the truly great/essential ACFs.

If playing with flaws, a whole lot of options open up. For starters, you can switch Azoth’s race to Changeling with Racial Emulation to grab all the Halfling RSLs and the Changeling Rogue RSLs as well (more skill points and 50% fortification are pretty sweet). Plus, you can trade Skill Knowledge for the superior Aereni Focus (iaijutsu focus). If unwilling to mix campaign settings like that – or just unwilling to lose effectively two feats by switching away from Strongheart Halfling and taking Racial Emulation – you can still pick up some great feats as a Halfling: Staggering Strike, Improved/Greater TWF, Snap Kick, Superior Unarmed Strike, Ascetic Monk, and Martial Study (Iron Heart Surge) come to mind. Note to self: can you use Aptitude to switch the benefits from Snap Kick and Superior Unarmed Strike to sais?

Within the existing system you can make quite a few changes as well. Crusader instead of Warblade gives you a little more durability and accuracy (Furious Counterstrike), as well as a few more maneuvers, but costs you Wall of Steel (your final line of defense) and Warblade’s superior recovery mechanic. It also has implications for Azoth’s personality (see Campaign Use above). You could drop the last Halfling RSL’s Sniping Mastery for a different rogue special ability (probably one of the feats mentioned in flaws). You could switch Azoth’s race to Changeling without flaws, but it costs you two feats; you can mitigate this slightly by trading away Sniping Mastery for a bonus feat. Alternatively, as a Changeling another level of Monk nets you the Skarn Monk RSL for a free soulmeld and chakra bind (and the 5th level Skarn RSL gives you a point of essentia).

Champions of Ruin – Craven
Champions of Valor – Dark Moon Disciple ACFs
Complete Adventurer – Scout (Skirmish progression only)
Complete Mage – Spell Reflection
Complete Scoundrel – Swift Ambusher, Acrobatic Backstab, Assume Quirk, Back On Your Feet, Clarity of Vision, Hidden Blade, Second Impression, Social Recovery, Spot the Weak Point, Twisted Charge
Dragon Compendium – Mercurial Strike
Dungeonscape – Penetrating Strike ACF, Wall Walker ACF
Exemplars of Evil – Invisible Fist ACF, Mimic ACF
Lords of Madness – Darkstalker
Oriental Adventures – Iaijutsu Focus skill
Planar Handbook – Planar Monk ACF
Player’s Handbook I – Monk, Rogue, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Improved Unarmed Strike, Quick Draw, Two Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse, blink, invisibility
Player’s Handbook II – Disruptive Attack ACF, Robilar’s Gambit
Races of the Wild – Halfling Monk RSLs, Halfling Rogue RSL
Tome of Battle – Warblade, Lead the Attack, Press the Advantage, Wall of Blades, White Raven Tactics
Unearthed Arcana – Invisible Eye Fighting Style ACF, Skill Knowledge

Chibi Kylar from https://www.deviantart.com/peastri/art/Nendo-Angel-of-the-Shadows-491180960

[Macabaret]

Dwarceress
(after 3rd level change name to Dragonbwarferess)

Feral Dream Dwarf Dragonborn (at level 3+)
NG Dwarf Dragonblood Domain Access Planar Battle Stalwart Sorcerer 20

Backstory:
Dwarceress was born to a small clan of dream dwarves who found themselves trapped on the underside of a cave in during the war of Orcdeep. Instead of starving, they flourished, albeit a bit incestuously. Daughter to a feral dwarf chief, Dwarceress seemed to have inherited a concentrated amount of the inherent magic of the dream dwarf line. Running wild along the subterranean riverbanks, foraging for cave fish, she had an idyllic childhood, despite all the clumsiness and dimness of her stocky frame and simple mind. As a juvenile, she hunted giant albino cave lizards bare handed with her friends. As a young adult, kobold miners accidentally connected this missing clan to the surface world again. And the long lost clan rejoined the surface dwarves who had long since triumphed in the war of Orcdeep. It turned out to be a bad fit for Dwarceress. She left to go somewhere that felt as nice as home once did. She remembers her first interactions with the silly little kobolds fondly and went to join them, thinking of them as saviors. She found that this was a bad fit too, these things were as mean to each other as the "upper dwarves" were to her and her clan, if not worse. They had stories of the platinum dragon though, who Dwarceress found interesting, as obviously this was the guiding light to free her unhappy clan to return to the surface. So she is now looking for her spot in the world. She is very interested in Bahamut as a good force to appease, as maybe he simply forgot to make her as happy as he did her immediate family.

Features:
anyspell or arcane fusion using anyspell as a spell like ability 3/day,
DR 3/adamantine,
1d8+2+con hp per level, except substitution levels (1st & 9th Levels =1d6hp, 13th level=1d4hp)
cast arcane spells in medium armor with no spellcheck penalty
add con bonus to cha score for bonus spells,
spontaneously convert to summon elemental spells
ghostly tail and scimitar of sand with medium BAB
Scimitars of sand as whirling blades
Pounce and fast healing
Cast and use draconic claw at medium BAB
+6 natural armor

Drawbacks:
It's kind of a bad cleric?
You have to go dragonborn at level 3
Backstory has to include a clan of feral dream dwarves that you come from
Calculating spells known is a monster: you have multiple anyspells per day and arcane fusions make it worse
4 dexterity, 6 intelligence, 1 skill point per level

Abilities:
Str: 10+4(feral) = 14
Dex: 10-2(dream dwarf)-2(feral) = 6
Con: 15+2(dream dwarf)+2(feral) = 19 (add +1 at level 8)
Int: 8-2(feral) = 6
Wis: 13+2(feral) = 15
Cha: 17 (add +1 at level 4, 12, 16, and 20)

Racial stuff
Races of Stone p. 88 Dream Dwarf:
• +2 Constitution, –2 Dexterity
• Medium:
• Dream dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dream dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
• Darkvision 90:
• Stonecunning:
• Weapon Familiarity: Dream dwarves treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
• Stability: Dream dwarves are exceptionally stable on their feet. A dream dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
• +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks made with creatures of the earth subtype: Dream dwarves get along well with earth elementals and similar creatures.
• Dream Sight (Su): A dream dwarf can see ethereal creatures as easily as she sees material creatures and objects. A dream dwarf can easily distinguish between ethereal creatures and material ones, because ethereal creatures appear translucent and indistinct.
• Spell Power: When in contact with the ground, a dream dwarf’s effective caster level when casting divination spells or spells with the earth descriptor increases by 1. This increase applies when determining level-dependent spell variables and on caster level checks. This increase stacks with other spell power abilities, such as from the hierophant prestige class.

Feral (Savage species p.115)
• +6 natural armor bonus to AC, landspeed +10, 2 claw attacks (1d8),
• 1–3HD Improved grab, fast healing 2, darkvision 60
• 4–7HD Pounce, fast healing 3
• 8–11 Rake, fast healing 4, darkvision 90
• 12HD+ Rend, fast healing 5, darkvision 120
• Improved Grab (EX): If a feral creature hits an opponent that is at least one size category smaller than itself with a claw attack, it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it gets a hold, it can rake. Alternatively, it has the option to conduct the grapple normally, or simply use its claw to hold the opponent (–20 penalty on grapple check, but the feral creature is not considered grappled). In either case, each successful grapple check it makes during successive rounds automatically deals claw damage.
• Pounce (Ex): If a feral creature leaps upon a foe during the first round of combat, it can make a full attack even though it has already moved.
• Rake (Ex): A feral creature that gets a hold can make two rake attacks at its full melee attack bonus with its hind legs. Each successful attack does normal claw damage for that size of feral creature, plus 1/2 its Strength bonus (rounded down). If the feral creature pounces on an opponent, it can also rake.
• Rend (Ex): A feral creature that hits with both claw attacks latches onto the opponent's body and tears the flesh. This automatically deals double the appropriate claw damage for that size feral creature, plus double the Strength modifier. Abilities: +4 Str, –2 Dex, +2 Con, –4 Int (minimum 2), +2 Wis.

Races of the dragon p.8 Dragonborn:
• Special: Ordinarily, only a 1st-level character can select certain feats requiring the dragonblood subtype (see Chapter 6). However, upon becoming a dragonborn, you can elect to replace one (and only one) of your existing feats with one of these feats. A character cannot have more than one of these feats. The feat to be replaced cannot be a prerequisite for any prestige class, ability, or other feat.
• +2 Constitution, –2 Dexterity.
• Humanoid (dragonblood) For all effects related to race, a dragonborn is considered a dragon and a member of her original race.
• Age: After a dragonborn underoes the Rite of Rebirth, she emerges as an adult creature regardless of her previous age. If she lives for 200 years (see Table 1–1, page 10), she enters middle age.
• +2 dodge bonus to Armor Class against creatures of the dragon type. The dragonborn have an innate sense of how best to defend themselves against their potential enemies.
• Immunity to Frightful Presence: Dragonborn are immune to the frightful presence ability of dragons, just as if they were dragons.
• Draconic Aspect: Bahamut has blessed the dragonborn with aspects combining some of the best attributes of good dragons. Upon completing the Rite of Rebirth, a dragonborn chooses which of the following three aspects to manifest. Once the choice is made, it cannot be changed.

Class Features


Level
Class Abilities


1
Races of Stone p.147: Arcane Earthbond (Su): Takes 24 hours and uses up magic materials that cost 100 gp. The arcane earthbond ability grants a dwarf sorcerer the Alertness feat whenever he is in contact with the ground. He also enjoys damage reduction 1/adamantine when in contact with the ground. This benefit replaces the standard sorcerer’s ability to gain a familiar. If the dwarf gains a familiar from another class (such as wizard), his sorcerer levels don’t stack to determine the familiar’s abilities.

Complete Mage p.36 STALWART SORCERER Level: 1st. Special Requirement: Knowledge (arcana) 1 rank. Replaces: Reduce by one the number of sorcerer spells known for your highest spell level (to a minimum of one). As a 1st-level character, you have one 1st-level spell known rather than two. When you would gain a second known spell from a higher level, apply this penalty to the new spell level but remove it from the lower level. For example, at 5th level, you reduce your 2nd-level spells known from two to one but you gain the previously unavailable 1st-level spell (increasing your 1st-level spells known from three to four). Benefit: You gain extra hit points equal to two times your sorcerer class level. Every time you advance a level, you gain another 2 extra hit points. (So, at 1st level you have 2 extra hit points, at 2nd level you have 4 extra hit points, and so on.) You also gain the Martial Weapon Proficiency feat for a melee weapon of your choice, as well as Weapon Focus with that weapon.

Unearthed Arcana p.36: Battle Sorcerer
Hit Die d8. Base Attack Bonus: The battle sorcerer uses the base attack bonus progression of the cleric. Class Skills Remove Bluff from the battle sorcerer's class skill list. Add Intimidate to the battle sorcerer's class skill list. Class Features The battle sorcerer has all the standard sorcerer class features, except as noted below. Weapon and Armor Proficiency At 1st level, a battle sorcerer gains proficiency with any light or one-handed martial weapon of the character's choice. She also gains proficiency with light armor. Spellcasting A battle sorcerer can cast sorcerer spells derived from her class levels of battle sorcerer while in light armor without the normal arcane spell failure chance. A battle sorcerer has fewer daily spell slots than a standard sorcerer. Subtract one spell per day from each spell level on Table: The Sorcerer (to a minimum of zero spells per day). For example, a 1st-level battle sorcerer may cast four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells per day (plus bonus spells, if any). A battle sorcerer knows fewer spells per spell level than a standard sorcerer. Subtract one spell known from each spell level on Table: Sorcerer Spells Known (to a minimum of one spell per spell level). For example, a 4th-level battle sorcerer knows five 0-level spells, two 1st-level spells, and one 2nd-level spell. When she reaches 5th level, the battle sorcerer learns one additional 1st-level spell, but doesn't learn an additional 2nd-level spell (since two minus one is one).


4
Spell-Like Ability: A dragonblood sorcerer who takes the 4th-level racial substitution level gains the ability to transform a sorcerer spell he knows into a spell-like ability.A spell chosen for this ability can’t have a costly material component, an XP cost, or any sort of focus, and it can’t be a spell of the highest level the sorcerer can cast. The chosen spell is removed from the sorcerer’s list of spells known,reducing his number of known spells of that level by one,and the sorcerer loses one spell slot of that spell level—aswell as one spell slot from the next higher level of spells he is able to cast. In return for those two spell slots, he gains the ability to use the chosen spell as a spell-like ability 3/day, using his sorcerer level as the caster level. Each time a dragonblood sorcerer who has this substitution level feature gains access to a new spell level, he can exchange the spell chosen for this ability for a new one. He returns the previously chosen spell to his list of spells known and regains both lost spell slots. He then chooses anew spell, subject to the limitations given above. He loses that spell from his spells known list along with one spell slot of the newly chosen spell’s level and a spell slot one level higher than the chosen spell.


5
Complete Champion p.52 Domain Access Level: 5th. Replaces: To gain this benefit, you do not learn a new 1st-level sorcerer spell and a new 2nd-level sorcerer spell at 5th level. From now on, you know one less sorcerer spell that you can cast at each subsequent level (not counting the domain spells from this alternative class feature). Benefit: Choose one cleric domain. If you worship a specific deity, the domain you choose must be one to which your deity grants access. You gain the granted power of the chosen domain. In addition, you can cast one domain spell of each spell level available to you per day from that domain.


9
Earth Meditation (Ex): A dwarf sorcerer who takesthe 9th-level racial substitution level learns to focus hismeditations on the quiet power of the earth beneath him.If the dwarf sorcerer spends his 8 hours of rest and 15minutes of concentration to prepare spells while in contactwith the ground, he can add his Constitution bonus(if any) to his Charisma score to determine his bonus sorcererspell slots.This benefit replaces the standard sorcerer’s ability tolearn a new 4th-level spell at 9th level. From now on, thedwarf sorcerer’s number of 4th-level spells known is onefewer than the value shown on Table 3–17, page 54 of thePlayer’s Handbook.


13
Planar Handbook p.35: Spontaneous Planar Summoning (Su): A 13th-level planar sorcerer learns to summon extraplanar creatures spontaneously. When he chooses this planar substitution benefit, a sorcerer selects one of the following categories: elementals (creatures of the elemental type), celestial creatures (creatures with the celestial template), or fiendish creatures (creatures with the fi endish template). He can use any spell slot to spontaneously cast a summon monster spell of the same level, but he can use that spell to summon only creatures of the selected category. For example, a 13th-level sorcerer who chose elementals could use one of his 6th-level spell slots to cast summon monster VI. He could use that spell to summon a single Large elemental, or 1d3 Medium elementals (from the 5th-level summoning list). He could not use the spell to summon creatures that weren’t elementals. This benefit replaces the ability to learn a new 6th-level spell gained by a standard sorcerer at 13th level. From now on, the sorcerer’s number of 6th-level spells known at any class level is one less than the value shown on Table 3–17, page 54 of the Player’s Handbook.








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


1
Stalwart Battle Dwarf Sorcerer 1
0
0
0
2
k. arcana 1, concentration 2
weapon focus (b) (scimitar)

Battle Caster (Complete Arcane, p. 75)
Races of Stone p.147: Arcane Earthbond, Damage reduction 1/adamantine when in contact with the ground.

Complete Mage p.36 STALWART SORCERER, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus

Unearthed Arcana p.36: Battle Sorcerer: Hit Die d8. Medium Base Attack Bonus, Martial Weapon and Light Armor Proficiency At 1st level, a battle sorcerer


2
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 2
1
0
0
3
concentration 3




3
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 3
2
1
1
3
concentration 4
earth bloodline dragon comp p.97

Dragon heritage: Li Lung = replaces martial weapon proficiency or weapon focus
become dragonborn


4
Stalwart Battle Dragonblood Sorcerer 4
3
1
1
4
concentration 5

Races of the dragon p.107, dragonblood sub level: Spell-Like Ability any 1st level spell as an SLA


5
Stalwart Battle Domain Access Sorcerer 5
3
1
1
4
concentration 6

Complete Champion p.52 Domain Access


Spell domain (spell compendium p.280)


6
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 6
4
2
2
5
concentration 7
Savage species p.40 THICK-SKINNED
2nd Level SLA: scimitar of sand


7
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 7
5
2
2
5
concentration 8




8
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 8
6
2
2
6
concentration 9

3rd Level SLA: anyspell


9
Stalwart Battle Dwarf Sorcerer 9
6
3
3
6
concentration 10
"Draconic Claw (Races of the Dragon, p. 102)
Earth Meditation (Ex)


10
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 10
7
3
3
7
concentration 11

4th Level SLA: mnemonic enhancer (optional)


11
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 11
8
3
3
7
concentration 12




12
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 12
9
4
4
8
concentration 13
extend spell
5th Level SLA: Lesser spell matrix


13
Planar Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 13
9
4
4
8
concentration 14

Planar Handbook p.35: Spontaneous Planar Summoning (Su)


14
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 14
10
4
4
9
concentration 15

6th Level SLA: greater anyspell


15
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 15
11
5
5
9
concentration 16
Persist spell



16
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 16
12
5
5
10
concentration 17

7th Level SLA: no change


17
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 17
12
5
5
10
concentration 18




18
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 18
13
6
6
11
concentration 19
Supernatural Transformation (Savage Species, p. 39) (dragonblood sorcerer)
8th Level SLA:Anti magic field (optional)


19
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 19
14
6
6
11
concentration 20




20
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 20
15
6
6
12
concentration 21








Spells known













0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9


1
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2
4
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3
4
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4
5
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5
5
2+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6
6
2+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-
-


7
6
3+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-
-


8
7
3+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-


9
7
3+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-
-
-


10
8
3+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-
-


11
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-
-


12
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-


13
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-
-
-


14
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-
-


15
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
-
-


16
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-


17
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
-


18
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
1+1


19
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
1+1


20
8
3+1
3+1
2+1
1+1
2+1
1+1
1+1
1+1
1+1



Spells per day

Level
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9


1
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2
5
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3
5
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4
5
4
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5
5
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6
5
5
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


7
5
5
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


8
5
5
5
3
1
-
-
-
-
-


9
5
5
5
4
2
-
-
-
-
-


10
5
5
5
5
3
1
-
-
-
-


11
5
5
5
5
4
2
-
-
-
-


12
5
5
5
5
5
3
1
-
-
-


13
5
5
5
5
5
4
2
-
-
-


14
5
5
5
5
5
5
3
1
-
-


15
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
2
-
-


16
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
3
1
-


17
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
2
-


18
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
3
1


19
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
2


20
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4






Class Level
spells
bonus spells


1
0: read magic, detect magic, caltrops
1: hail of stone or magic missile



2
0: light



3

1: enlarge person (earth bloodline)


4
0: prestidigitation,
2: scimitar of sand,
2: shatter (e. Bl.)


5
1: magic missile,
1: mage armor (domain)


6
0:
3: vampiric touch,
3: keen edge (e bl), anyspell (domain)


7
1: ghostly tail



8
0: message
4: polymorph or flame whips or improved invisibility
4: stoneshape (e bl), mnemonic enhancer(domain)


9
2: whirling blade



10
0: ghost sound
5: Lesser Spell matrix
5:transmute rock to mud (e. bl), break enchantment (domain)


11
2: entice gift
3: haboob or steel dance



12
6:disintegrate
6:move earth, greater anyspell (domain)


13




14
7:greater shadow conjuration
7:statue, limited wish (domain)


15
5: luminous assassin or arcane fusion



16
8: greater arcane fusion, or mindblank
8:iron body, antimagic field (domain)


17




18
9: reality maelstrom
9:summon monster 9 (earth), disjunction (domain)


19




20






At early levels, use hail of stone or magic missile, whichever you like more, liberally. Scimitar of sand becomes your standard gishing tool through out the entire career. dwarf sub levels give damage reduction 1/adamantine,

After that, the name of the game is regaining the versatility of a sorcerer by using anyspell, arcane fusioning that anyspell use, putting anyspells into your spell matrix, and using mnemonic transfer to get more anyspell.

the SLA ability of dragonblood sorcerer levels allows for...more anyspells! You have access to this by becoming a dragonborn. Choose any of the aspects. Flight or breath weapon are best. Trade out weapon focus or the bonus martial weapon proficiency for draconic heritage. It's a prereq for draconic claw, which will allow you to attack and self buff.

Earth bloodline gives you more spells known. In my tables, I've assumed the most beneficial order of spells known lost, and assumed that you can't lose bloodline spells known.

Extend spell persist spell are there for all day buffs.

Supernatural transformation is there in case you want an su: antimagic field ability.

The feral template has a +1 LA. Buy it off if you can.

This beats normal sorcerer 20 by virtue of Dr 3/adamantine, casting in medium armor, d8+2 hp per level (in addition to 6hp per level from con), and access to any arcane spell level 5 and under with no gear. The ability to swap in summon monster spells at will to any slot, Plus bonus spells per day by adding con modifier to your cha score to determine bonus spells.

Dex boosting gear will help with saves and AC.

[Macabaret]

Lord O'ord

Half-Human Variant: RoD 150 : Half Elves are qualify as both human and elf subtypes.

LG Dragonborn Half-Elf Paragon1/Duskblade 1/Human Paragon1/Wizard 1/Duskblade +2/Human +2/Half-Elf +1/Wiz +6/Fighter 1/WIZ +4

9d8+11d4+60 HP's


Half Elf (Humanoid: Elf/Human/dragonblood):
Medium, 30ft speed, Immunity to sleep spells/effects. +2 racial bonus on saving throws vs enchantments. Lowlight vision, +1 Listen/Search/Spot. +2 diplo/gather info.
*Dragonborn adds* +2 CON, -2 DEX, +2 dodge to AC vs dragon type, Immunity to frightful presence. Draconic Aspect: Heart: Gain Breath weapon: Line, 5ft/HD, 1d8 (plus 1d8/3HD) can be acid/cold/elec/fire on each use. REF save DC 10+half HD+CON for half. Wait 1d4 rounds to use again.

Point Buy:
STR 12, DEX 12, CON 14, INT 17, WIS 13, CHA 8
Dragonborn:
STR 12, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 17, WIS 13, CHA 8
Paragons:
STR 12, DEX 10, CON 16, INT 19, WIS 13, CHA 8
all points to INT, final 24





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


1st
Dragonborn Half Elf Paragon

+0

+0

+2

+0

Balance/Conc/Hide/K-Arc/K-Rel/Listen/Ride/Search/Sense/Spellcraft/Spot/Survival/Tumble/UMD 2

Able Learner

Divided Ancestry, Elven Vision, Dragonborn -Heart



2nd

Duskblade

+1

+2

+2

+2

Conc 4, Spellcraft 5

-

Arcane Attunement, Armored Mage (Light), Spells, Dragonscale Husk ACF



3rd

Human Paragon

+1

+2

+2

+4

Conc 5, K-Arc 4, Spellcraft 6, UMD 5

Aerenal Arcanist

Adaptive Learning - (UMD)



4th

Focused Specialist Wizard

+1

+2

+2

+6

Conc 7, K-Arc 5, Spellcraft 7, UMD 6

-

Drakken Familiar ACF, Scribe Scroll, Spells



5th

Duskblade 2

+2

+3

+2

+7

Conc 8, Hide 3, K-Arc 6, Spot 4, Spellcraft 8, UMD 7

(B)Combat Casting

-



6th

Duskblade 3

+3

+3

+3

+7

Conc 9, Hide 4, K-Arc 7, Spot 5, Spellcraft 9, UMD 8

Practiced Spellcaster (Wiz)

Arcane Channeling



7th

Human 2

+4

+3

+3

+8

Conc 10, Hide 5, K-Arc 8, Spot 7, Spellcraft 10, UMD 10

(B)Extend Spell

+1 SC (Wiz)



8th

Human 3

+5

+4

+4

+8

Conc 11, Hide 6, K-Arc 10, Spot 9, Spellcraft 11, UMD 11

-

+2 INT, +1 SC (Wiz)



9th

Half-Elf 2

+6

+4

+5

+8

Balance 5, Conc 12, Hide 10, Spellcraft 12

Persistent Spell

Persuasion, +1 SC (Wiz)



10th

Wizard 2

+7

+4

+5

+9

Conc 13, K-Arc 11, Spellcraft 13, Survival 5, UMD 12

-

-



11th

Wizard 3

+7

+5

+6

+9

Conce 14, K-Arc 12, Spellcraft 14, Tumble 5, UMD 13

-

-



12th

Wizard 4

+8

+5

6

+10

Conc 15, K-Arc 14, Spellcraft 15, Ride 5, UMD 14

Shielded Casting

-



13th

Wizard 5

+8

+5

+6

+10

Conc 16, K-Arc 16, Spellcraft 16, Listen 5, UMD 15

(B)Echoing Spell

-



14th

Wizard 6

+9

+6

+7

+11

Conc 17, K-Arc 17, Spellcraft 17, UMD 16, Swift Concentration

-

-



15th

Wizard 7

+9

+6

+7

+11

Conc 18, K-Arc 18, Spellcraft 18, Search 5, UMD 17

Minor Shapeshift

-



16th

Hit and Run Half Elf Fighter

+10

+8

+7

+11

Bluff 5, Sense 5, UMD 19

(B)Weapon Focus (Longsword & Rapier)

-



17th

Wizard 8

+11

+8

+7

+12

Conc 20, Spellcraft 20, Spot 12, UMD 20

-

-



18th

Wizard 9

+11

+9

+8

+12

Bluff 6, Conc 21, Spellcraft 21, Spot 16, UMD 21

Craft Contingent Spell

-



19th

Wizard 10

+12

+9

+8

+13

Bluff 10, Conc 22, Sense 6, Spellcraft 22, UMD 22

(B) Retributive Spell

-



20th

Wizard 11

+12

+9

+8

+13

BLuff 15, Conc 23, Sense 7, Spellcraft 23, UMD 23

-

-





Duskblade
Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


2nd
3/5
2/2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
4/5
3/3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
5/5
4/4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


Arcane Attunement also provides: spell-like powers dancing lights, detect magic, flare, ghost sound, and read magic 10/day by builds end.


0- Acid Splash, Detect Magic, Flare, Ray of Frost, Read Magic,
1- Bigby's Tripping Hand, Expeditious Retreat, Magic Weapon, Shocking Grasp, True Strike


Focused Specialist Wizard: Transmutation
Banned schools: Enchantment, Necromancy, Illusions

Wizard
Spells per Day/+ Specialty Spells per day


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


4th
2+3
0+3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
3+3
1+3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
3+3
1+3
0+3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
3+3
2+3
1+3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th
3+3
2+3
1+3
0+3
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
3+3
2+3
2+3
1+3
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th
3+3
3+3
2+3
1+3
0+3
-
-
-
-
-


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


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


15th
3+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
2+3
1+3
-
-
-
-


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


17th
3+3
3+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
2+3
1+3
-
-
-


18th
3+3
3+3
3+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
1+3
0+3
-
-


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


20th
3+3
3+3
3+3
3+3
3+3
3+3
2+3
1+3
0+3
-




Bonus Spells/day for High INT:
Duskblade:
2: 1-1
5: 1-1
6: 1-1

Wizard:
4: 1-1, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1
7: 1-2, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1
12: 1-2, 2-2, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1, 6-1
20: 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-1, 5-1, 6-1, 7-1



Feats:
1- Able Learner
3- Aerenal Arcanist
5- (B) Combat Casting
6- Practiced Spellcaster – Wiz
7- (B)Extend Spell
9- Persistent Spell
12- Shielded Casting
13- (B) Echoing Spell
15- Minor Shapeshift
18-Craft Contingent Spell
19- (B)Retributive Spell

Duskblade ACF:
-Dragonscale Husk: (DrM 12) lose armor proficiency, gain scaly hide @1

Fighter ACF:
-Half Elf Sub Lvl: RoD 157, 1: Lose feat, Blade Focus +1 attack w/ longsword/rapier
-Hit and Run Tactics: DoTu 58: lose heavy armor/tower shields, +2 init and DEX to dmg of flat footed

Wizard ACF:
-Drakken Familiar: DrM 12, replace familiar w/ one of dragon subtype. Can’t deliver touch spells but can breathe fire. Replace speech with animals of same kind with dragon type creatures.
-Focused Specialist: CMage 34: restrict another school and lose 1 spell/day, gain 2 extra spells of special school/day



5-
Low BAB at this point, but both us and our familiar have breath weapons so that helps. Drakken familiar is a little broken in that it doesn’t specify which things you can apply it to, but also lists some drakken examples. So why not take the drakkensteed which gives you a flying mount that breathes fire? Aerenal Arcanist provides extra spells each level moving forward. Sure wizard can just copy them from somewhere, but this gives you more options faster. Dragonscale husk doesn’t count as armor, so there’s no ASF and will provide a ac bonus of 7 by 6th lvl. Adaptive learning lets us add UMD to the class skill list moving forward and the rest of this block is all set up for the rest of the build.

10-
Arcane Channeling is the reason duskblade is in this build. Channeling touch spells through a melee attack, why is it broken? Well, nothing says it has to be duskblade spells, so now the entirety of the wizard spell list is available to channel into a melee attack. Picking up extend and persist in this block. Persist will take a while to come into play however. A bump to our primary stat and increases to wizard casting despite no ranks in wizard at those levels thanks to paragon bonus’s.

15-
All wizard in this block to progress casting. Shielded casting allows for casting in combat w/o provoking an AoO. Echoing spell effectively doubles and triples in some cases our spell slots for the day, massively expanding extended power output. Minor Shapeshift has many uses, however immediate action gain of 15 temp HP’s is a game changer.

20-
Hit and Run fighter gives a small bonus to Initiative, as well as DEX to damage if our opponents are flat footed. Craft Contingent and Retributive Spell provide extra safety options for in combat options. We don’t quite hit the benchmark of a gish with only a BAB of 12 and 8th level spells, but that’s really not that bad considering the limitations of this round.

We’re using Arcane Channeling and choosing primarily touch spells for our spellbook. Specializing in Transmutation gives plenty of uses of Alter Self/Polymorph line to stand toe to toe in combat against anything. UMD is high enough, even w/ a CHA penalty to auto succeed on wands to activate spells from anywhere also.

As is so often the case, 13 is the sweet spot, along with pretty much every level from there on as well.

UoSI:
ACF’s: 2 fighter, 2 wizard, 1 duskblade, featuring also drow acf’s that don’t state you have to be drow in the prereq’s, as well as a draconic acf, and both human and elf feats to pump this up some more.
Racial Substituion Levels: Half Elf Fighter combined w/ both Half Elf and Human Racial Paragons


Complete Arcane: Practiced Spellcaster, Craft Contingent Spell
Complete Mage: Focused Specialist, Minor Shapeshift, Retributive Spell
Complete Scoundrel: Swift Concentration skill trick
Dragon Magic: Dragonscale Husk, Drakken Familiar
Drow of the Underdark: Hit and Run Fighter
PHB: Half Elf, Fighter, Specialist Wizard, Wizard, Feats
PHB2: Duskblade
Player’s Guide to Eberron: Aerenal Arcanist
Races of Destiny: Able Learner, Half Elf Fighter, Half Human Variant
Races of Stone: Shielded Casting
Races of the Dragon: Dragonborn
Secrets of Xen’drik: Echoing Spell
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm

[Macabaret]

Sansa, dragon of war


Rotriar the Dark had it all figured out. His plan was a work of Genius. First, he'd set the orphanage across the street from him on fire. Then, as all the do-gooders in the city hurried to safe the poor orphans, he'd break into all the merchant houses in the city to kidnap the beloved pets of their children. He'd then take the pets to his lair where he'd perform horrible experiments on them to turn them into ravening monsters. He'd then unleash his monsters back onto the city, forcing the so-called heroes to butcher the beloved children's pets in full sight of everyone. then...

A sound in the distance interrupted Rotrair's train of thought. "Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" He looked around, trying to determine the source of the sound that was clearly coming closer. "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Dunked on!" A metallic blur crashed into Rotriar from above, turning him into a paste on the ground before his reign of terror could even gets tarted.



LG Lesser Fire Genasi Cleric 1/Thug Sneak attack fighter 1/focused specialist wizard 5/Silver pyromancer 2/Spellwarp sniper 5/Silver pyromancer +3/focused spcialist wizard +3

Ability scores



Base
Racial
Level 4
Level 8
Level 12
Level 16
total


STR
14
-
+1
+1
+1
+1
18


DEX
14
-
-
-
-
-
14


CON
12
+2
-
-
-
-
14


INT
12
-
-
-
-
-
12


WIS
16
-
-
-
-
-
16


CHA
10
+2
-
-
-
-
-
12




on wyrm of war: wyrm of war states that you get a bonus feat at every 4 HD, not every 4 racial hit-dice suggesting, that you would get bonus feats for class levels. The bonus feats cane be taken from the fighter bonus feat "or any combat-related feat tied to draconic abilities", with the write-up presenting wingover as an example. In exchange for taking wyrm of war, Steel dragons lose the ability to select spells from the knowledge or trickery domains for their racial casting.



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


1st
Wyrm of war steel dragon wyrmling HD 1
+1
+2
+2
+2
psicraft 2 (CC), spellcraft 2 (CC), bluff 4, disguise 4, knowledge religion 2 (CC), spot 2 (CC), intimidate 2 (CC)

hidden talent (expansion)
alternate form, immunity to acid, poison resistance, breath weapon, spell resistance (16), casting as sorcerer level 1, blind sense (60 feet), dark vison (120 feet)



2nd
Wyrm of war steel dragon wyrmling HD 2
+2
+3
+3
+3
psicraft 2.5 (CC), spellcraft 2.5 (CC), bluff 5, disguise 5, knowledge religion 2.5 (CC), spot 2.5 (CC), intimidate 2.5 (CC)
-
-


3rd
Wyrm of war steel dragon wyrmling HD 3
+3
+3
+3
+3
psicraft 3 (CC), spellcraft 3 (CC), bluff 6, disguise 6, knowledge religion 3 (CC), spot 3 (CC), intimidate 3 (CC)
power attack
-


4th
Wyrm of war steel dragon wyrmling HD 4
+4
+4
+4
+4
psicraft 3.5 (CC), spellcraft 3.5 (CC), bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 3.5 (CC), spot 3.5 (CC), intimidate 3.5 (CC)
flyby attack(wyrm of war bonus)
-


5th
LA









6th
LA









7th
Fighter 1
+5
+6
+4
+4
psicraft 4 (CC), spellcraft 4 (CC), bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 3.5 (CC), spot 3.5 (CC), intimidate 4.5
improved bull rush
bonus feat, ACF: dragonscale husk


8th
fighter 2
+6
+7
+4
+4
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 3.5, spot 4 (CC), intimidate 6.5
shape soulmeld (mauling gauntlets)
ACF:dungeon crasher


9th
pyshic warrior 1
+6
+9
+4
+4
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 4 (CC), spot 4.5 (CC) , intimidate 7 (CC)
practiced manifester(psychci warrior)
bonus feat, manifesting


10th
Dragonblood cleric 1
+6
+11
+4
+6
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 6, spot 5 (CC) , intimidate 7
wingover (wyrm of war bonus)
strength domain, competition domain, turn energy


11th
cleric 2
+7
+12
+4
+7
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 7, spot 6 (CC) , intimidate 7

practiced spellcaster (cleric)
-


12th
cleric 3
+8
+12
+5
+7
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 8, spot 6.5 (CC) , intimidate 7.5 (CC)

-
-


13th
cleric 4
+9
+13
+5
+8
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 9, spot 7 (CC) , intimidate 8 (CC)

-
-


14th
dragonblood cleric 5
+9
+13
+5
+8
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7, disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 7.5 (CC) , intimidate 8.5 (CC)

adroit flyby attack (wyrm of war bonus), extend spell
energy barrier


15th
psychic warrior 2
+10
+14
+5
+8
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 7.5(CC), disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 8 (CC) , intimidate 9 (CC)

psionic talent
bonus feat


16th
psychic warrior 3
+11
+14
+6
+
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 8.5(CC), disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 8.5 (CC) , intimidate 9 (CC)
-
-


17th
fighter 3
+12
+14
+7
+10
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 9(CC), disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 9 (CC) , intimidate 10

bonus essentia
-


18th
Fighter 4
+13
+15
+7
+10
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 9, disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 9, intimidate 13
improved initiative, hover (wyrm of war bonus)
bonus feat


19th
fighter 5
+14
+15
+7
+10
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 9, disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 9, intimidate 16

-
-


20th
fighter 6
+15
+16
+8
+11
psicraft 4, spellcraft 4, bluff 9, disguise 7, knowledge religion 10, spot 9, intimidate 19
improved maneuverability
ACF: dungeon crasher




Sansa has racial casting as a 1st level sorcerer, learning the 0th level spells mage hand, prestidigitation, detect magic and read magic, as well as the 1st level spells silent iamge and reduce person.

Sansa also gets 3 powers known from being a psychic warrior, as well as getting the expansion power from a feat. The powers she learns are force screen, 'precognition, defensive' and thicken skin.

Finally, Sansa casts spells as a 5th level cleric, focussing on self-buffs, in particular bull's strength.






ECL 8
At this level, the basic trick of the build is in place. Sansa is a dragon that flies around and bull-rushes people into the ground for lots of damage, and that's what she does from this level till level 20. The Dragonscale husk ACF gives Sansa some nice AC without having to find armor suitable for dragons. An argument could be made for taking this ACF on your racial HD, as wyrm of war grants you the required armor proficiencies. The mauling gauntlets give Sansa a morale bonus to strength checks, such as those needed to bull-rush someone.

Speaking of wyrm of war:



What's the difference between an Alternate Class Feature and a Racial Substitution Level? How do we tell them apart?

Typically, you wouldn't care. You'd just make the substitution and be done with it. But for this competition, needing to use both, you'll have to know what qualifies as what.
The easy answer is, if the source labels the option as an Alternate Class Feature (e.g. Player's Handbook II p.31-70), then that's what it is. Likewise, options called Racial Substitution Levels (e.g. Races of Stone p.145-152) are Racial Substitution Levels.
For options not so designated (e.g. Champions of Valor p.34-52), consider the requirements. If there is no racial requirement (e.g. Ruby Rose Knight or Vigilant Eye of Helm), consider it to be an Alternate Class Feature. If there is a restriction based on race/type/subtype (e.g. Fangshield Barbarian or Wary Swordknight), consider it to be a Racial Substitution Level.

By this definition, wyrm of war is totally a racial subtitution level :P


ECL 14
The first level in psychic warrior combined with the practiced manifester feat significantly increases Sansa's store of power points. Her most important use of your power points is casting the expansion power to increase your size and get rid of size penalties to bull-rushing.
The levels in cleric (Sansa worships Dol Dorn, one of the two suggested deities for the wyrm of war) give Sansa a couple of nice abilities. Turn energy is defensive option against energy attacks, while the energy barrier class feature gives some crowd control options. The strength domain gives her a 1/day boost to strength, while the competition domain gives her a +1 bonus to opposed checks, such as the checks you make for bull-rushing someone.
Finally, the spells will mostly be focused on self-buffing and or utility if the situation demands it, with bull's strength (and later extended bull's strength) being one of the spells prepared as a standard.

The sweet spot occurs at ECL12, when Sansa has just gotten access to bull's strength

ECL 20
The two additional levels in psychic warrior bring your total manifester level up to 7, allowing expansion to be augmented to increase your size to large, with the appropriate bonuses to bull-rushing. Four more levels in fighter give you some more feats, and at level 20 your dungeon-crasher damage increases significantly.

In combat, Sansa generally sues fly-by attack to dunk on one hap-less victim and then fly out of range of most bad stuff again. Cleric spells and the turnenergy and energy barrier abilties will open up some utility and crowd control options as well.


bull rush check against a medium victim: d20 +6(strength enhanced by bull's strength)+6(mauling gauntlets with 2 essentia)+1(competition domain)+4(large size)+4(improved bullrush0=d20+21
Bull rush damage:8d6+18 (46 average)
HP:48+3d12+6d10+8d8(average 141)
AC:22 (without AC buffing spells and powers)
Energy defenses: acid immunity, cold, electricity and fire resistance 15






Dragons of Faerun: Steel dragon
Dragons of ebberon: Wyrm of war
Dragon magic: dragonscale husk ACF
dungeonscape: dungeoncrasher ACF
races of the dragon: dragonblood cleric substitution levels
expanded psionics handbook: psychic warrior, powers, psionic talent, hidden talent
compelte psionics: practiced manifester
magic of incarnum: shape soulmeld, bonus essentia, mauling gauntlets
Monster manual: flyby attack, wingover, hover
draconomicon: adroit flyby attack,improved maneuverability
spell compendium: competition domain

[Macabaret]

Bruce


Neutral Good Goliath Scout 5 / Barbarian 8 / Rogue 6

Starting Abilities: STR 17, DEX 14, CON 14, INT 12, WIS 10, CHA 8
Racial +4 STR, -2 DEX, +2 CON
All lvl increases to STR
Final Abilities: STR 25, DEX 12, CON 16, INT 12, WIS 10, CHA 8

While Raging +6 STR, +4 CON, +2 Will saves, -3 AC, -1 attack, reach 10ft






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


1st
Goliath
+0
+0
+0
+0


Monsterous Humanoid, Powerful Build, Mountain Movement, Acclimated, +2 Sense Motive (Goliath)


2nd
Scout 1
+0
+0
+2
+0
Jump 4(4), Heal 2(4), Knowledge(arcana) 2(4), Spellcraft 2(4), Spot 4(4), Search 4(4), Balance 4(4), Listen 4(4), Intimidate 4(4)
Improved bull rush
Skirmish (+1d6), trapfinding


3rd
Scout 2
+1
+0
+3
+0
Jump 5(1), Heal 2.5(1), Knowledge(arcana) 2.5(1), Spellcraft 2.5(1), Spot 5(1), Search 5(1), Balance 5(1), Listen 5(1), Intimidate 5(1)

Battle fortitude +1, uncanny dodge


4th
Lion Totem Goliath Barbarian 1
+2
+2
+3
+0
Jump 6(1), Heal 3(1), Knowledge(arcana) 3(1), Spellcraft 3(1), Intimidate 6(1)
Power Attack
Pounce, Mountain Rage 1/day


5th
Barbarian 2
+3
+3
+3
+0
Jump 7(1), Heal 3.5(1), Knowledge(arcana) 3.5(1), Spellcraft 3.5(1), Intimidate 7(1)

Improved uncanny dodge


6th
Fang Shield Barbarian 3
+4
+3
+4
+1
Jump 8(1), Heal 4(1), Knowledge(arcana) 4(1), Spellcraft 4(1), Intimidate 8(1)

Fast Charge +10ft


7th
Barbarian 4
+5
+4
+4
+1
Jump 9(1), Heal 4.5(1), Knowledge(arcana) 4.5(1), Spellcraft 4.5(1), Intimidate 9(1)
Leap Attack
Maountain Rage 2/day


8th
Martial Rogue 1
+5
+4
+6
+1
Jump 10(1), Heal 5(1), Knowledge(arcana) 5(1), Spellcraft 5(1), Intimidate 10(1), Search 7(2), Spot 7(2)
Matrial Study (Cloak of Deception) (B)
Bonus Feat, Mimic


9th
Martial Goliath Rogue 2
+6
+4
+7
+1
Jump 11(1), Intimidate 11(1), Disable Divice 7(7)
Shock Trooper (B)
Bonus Feat, Mettle


10th
Martial Spell Sense Rogue 3
+7
+5
+7
+2
Jump 12(1), Intimidate 12(1), Open Lock 2(2), Disable Divice 12(5)
Brutal Strike
Spell sense +1


11th
Goliath Barbarian 5
+8
+5
+7
+2
Jump 13(1), Intimidate 13(1), Open Lock 3.5(3)

Fortification


12th
Scout 3
+9
+6
+7
+3
Jump 14(1), Intimidate 14(1), Search 11(4), Spot 10(3)

Fast Movement +10ft, skirmish(+1d6, +1AC) trackless step


13th
Scout 4
+10
+6
+8
+3
Jump 15(1), Intimidate 15(1), Search 14(3), Spot 14(4)
Martial Stance (Assassin's Stance), Swift Ambusher (B)
Bonus Feat


14th
Martial Rogue 4
+11
+6
+9
+3
Jump 16(1), Intimidate 16(1), Open Lock 6.5(3), Disable Divice 16(4)
Improved Critical (greatclub)(B)
Bonus Feat, Disruptive Attack


15th
Martial Rogue 5
+11
+6
+9
+3
Jump 17(1), Intimidate 17(1), Open Lock 12.5(6), Disable Divice 17(1)




16th
Spell Reflect Scout 5
+11
+6
+9
+3
Jump 18(1), Intimidate 18(1), Search 18(7), Spot 17(3)
Improved Skirmish
Skirmish (+2d6, +1 AC), Spell Reflect


17th
Martial Rogue 6
+12
+7
+10
+4
Jump 19(1), Intimidate 19(1), Open Lock 17.5(5), Disable Divice 19(2)
Staggering Blow (B)
Bonus Feat, Spell sense +2


18th
Fang Shield Barbarian 6
+13
+8
+11
+5
Jump 20(1), Intimidate 20(1), Open Lock 18.5(2), Disable Divice 19.5(1)

Fast Charge +20ft


19th
Streetfighter Barbarian 7
+14
+8
+11
+5
Jump 21(1), Intimidate 21(1), Open Lock 19.5(2), Disable Divice 20(1)
Mage slayer
Streetfighter (+1 crit range)


20th
Barbarian 8
+15
+9
+11
+5
Jump 22(1), Intimidate 22(1), Open Lock 21(3)

Mountain Rage 3/day






I'm a pouncing Barbarian with an oversized weapon who hulks out when raging and has a bit of skirmish for good measure.



I'm your standard leap attack Shock Trooper (because it works), but I can charge from further away thanks to Fast Charge, can sicken when hitting thanks to Brutal Strike, and am better against casters thanks to Mettle, and spell sense.



My Rogue and Scout levels now stck for skirmish, I'm better protected against crits thanks to Fortification, and my Greatclub now has a better crit range.



Casters are afraid now due to Mage Slayer and spell reflect, I pick up more skirmish, and my crit range is increased further due to Streetfighter. That increased crit range helps me stun foes using Staggering Blow.



Complete Adventurer - Leap Attack, Scout,
Complete Arcane - Mage Slayer
Complete Champion - Lion Totem Barb
Complete Mage - Spell sense, spell reflect
Complete Scoundrel - Swift Ambusher, Improved Skirmish
Complete Warrior - Shock Trooper
Champions of Valor - Fangshields Barbarian
Dragon Compendium - Staggering Blow
Players Handbook II - Brutal Strike
Races of Stone - Goliath, Goliath Barbarian, Goliath Rogue
Unearthed Arcana - Feat Rogue
Tome of Battle - Martial study, Martial stance
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a - Streetfighter Barbarian

[Macabaret]

Quake, Dragonborn Warforged Paladin of Freedom



Stat
Base
Level
Final


Str
16
12, 16, 20
19


Dex
10

10


Con
14

14


Int
12

12


Wis
12
4, 8
14


Cha
12

12




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


1st
Warforged Paladin of Freedom 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
Bluff +4, Sense Motive +4, K(Religion) +4
Adamantine Body
Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day, Favored Enemy (Undead) +2


2nd
Paladin of Freedom 2
+2
+3
+0
+0
Bluff +5, Sense Motive +5, K(Religion) +5
-
Divine Grace


3rd
Warforged Paladin of Freedom 3
+3
+3
+1
+1
Bluff +6, Sense Motive +6, Concentration +1
Power Attack
Immunity to Stunning, Aura of Resolve


4th
Paladin of Freedom 4
+4
+4
+1
+1
Bluff +7, Sense Motive +7, Concentration +2
-
-


5th
Paladin of Freedom 5
+5
+4
+1
+1
Bluff +8, Concentration +4
-
Smite Evil 2/day, +10' speed, low-light vision, +2 Balance, Climb, Jump, Favored Enemy (Aberration +4)


6th
Paladin of Freedom 6
+6/+1
+5
+2
+2
Bluff +9, Concentration +6
Improved Bull Rush
-


7th
Paladin of Freedom 7
+7/+2
+5
+2
+2
Bluff +10, K(Dungeoneering) +1
-
Spike Stones 1/day


8th
Paladin of Freedom 8
+8/+3
+6
+2
+2
Bluff +11, K(The Planes) +1
-
-


9th
Paladin of Freedom 9
+9/+4
+6
+3
+3
Bluff +12, Sense Motive +9
Nemesis (Aberration)
-


10th
Paladin of Freedom 10
+10/+5
+7
+3
+3
Bluff +13, K(Architecture and Engineering) +1
-
Smite Evil 3/day, Favored Enemy (Evil Outsider +2, Aberration +6)


11th
Paladin of Freedom 11
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+3
Bluff +14, Craft(Armorsmith) +2
-
-


12th
Paladin of Freedom 12
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+4
Bluff +15, Craft (Armorsmith) +4
Darkstalker
Earth Glide


13th
Swordsage 1
+12/+7/+2
+8
+6
+6
Move Silently +7
-
Quick to Act +1, Weapon Focus (Stone Dragon)


14th
Swordsage 2
+13/+8/+3
+8
+7
+7
Move Silently +10, Concentration +10
-
AC Bonus


15th
Swordsage 3
+14/+9/+4
+9
+7
+7
Concentration +17
Mage Slayer
-


16th
Swordsage 4
+15/+10/+5
+9
+8
+8
Concentration +19, Move Silently +15
-
Insightful Strike(Tiger Claw)


17th
Swordsage 5
+15/+10/+5
+9
+8
+8
Concentration +20, Move Silently +20, Hide +1
-
Quick to Act +2


18th
Swordsage 6
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+9
+9
Concentration +21, Move Silently +21, Hide +6
Shock Trooper
-


19th
Swordsage 7
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+9
+9
Concentration +22, Move Silently +22, Hide +11
-
Sense Magic


20th
Swordsage 8
+18/+13/+8/+3
+10
+10
+10
Concentration +23, Move Silently +23, Hide +16
-
Defensive Stance (Shadow Hand)




13: IL 7 (4th) - Mountain Hammer, Ruby Nightmare Blade, Emerald Razor, Mind over Body, Rabid Wolf Strike, Cloak of Deception / Assassin's Stance
14: IL 8 (4th) - Death from Above, Leaping Dragon Stance
15: IL 9 (5th) - Pouncing Charge
16: IL 10 (5th) - Shadow Stride
17: IL 11 (6th) - Moment of Alacrity, Rabid Wolf Strike -> Rabid Bear Strike / Step of the Dancing Moth
18: IL 12 (6th) - Stalker in the Night
19: IL 13 (7th) - Shadow Blink
20: IL 14 (7th) - Avalanche of Blades, Shadow Stride -> Death in the Dark


4: 1
5: 1
6: 2
7: 2
8: 2 / 1
9: 2 / 1
10: 2 / 2
11: 2 / 2 / 0*
12+: 2 / 2 / 1*
*- Quake most likely would have a +Wis item by this point, so he should have an additional 3rd level spell per day, but these are his base numbers.

Example spells prepared:
1: Protection from Evil, Rhino's Rush
2: Strength of Stone x2
3: [more copies of Rhino's Rush]


Quake is a paladin. He's a frontline beater with Power Attack and plenty of BAB, but he's also extremely durable. He's immune to compulsions, poison, sleep, paralysis, disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, sickening, energy drain, and stunning, with effective full plate and DR 2/Adamantine before equipment, and has solid Fortitude. He's probably preparing Protection from Evil to avoid mind affecting spells, since he doesn't have a ton of Charisma to boost his Will saves and immunity to Compulsions doesn't cover everything. Underdark Paladin ACF loses him his mount, but mitigates the movement penalty of Adamantine body and helps his perception skills. Fighting the forces of Khyber is his speciality, and it's not like a mount would be able to enter the underground tunnels there anyway.
Quake is still a paladin. Now he can sense Aberrations anywhere near him with Nemesis, hits them like a freight train, and is probably preparing Knight's Move to get into position to Full Attack. His Smites hit pretty hard, and Smiting an Evil Aberration give him total damage buffs of around +30 before including weapon damage or buffing equipment. On the charge, that's doubled by Rhino's Rush.
Quake is now a horrifying problem for any resident of Khyber. Earth Glide lets him move around underground without leaving a trace, hunting for enemies with Nemesis aberration sense or Detect Evil. He's likely wearing a Blindfold of True Darkness to ensure he doesn't get noticed and track enemies down, and can either use Move Silently from his Swordsage levels or just carry an item of Silence. Darkstalker means that most ways of sensing him inside walls won't pick up on him, so he can appear out of the ground at any moment unnoticed. He can Pounce and has a wide array of bonuses to his damage output, including Sneak Attack and Invisibility from Cloak of Deception if needed, and if he doesn't immediately take out his target then Mage Slayer limits their options for answering you. The -4 to CL is a hit, but Rhino's Rush and Strength of Stone both don't care about Caster Level anyway. He doesn't need to breathe or sleep or eat, and can hollow out a space in the earth if he needs to chill for a while to restore his spells or prepare some healing spells to restore any damage he has taken, so he's effectively an entirely self sufficient nightmare for any of the monsters that live under the earth.
Quake still does what he does at level 15. Now he has Blindsight without requiring a magic item, from his Dragonborn (Mind) template. This means that his main abilities - Earth Glide, Blindsight for sensing, and most of his damage output - is entirely extraordinary, so he can deal with (and bring along) an Antimagic Field with zero issues. He's also now able to use Shadow Blink to disengage back into a wall after attacking as a swift action, or use Avalanche of Blades to up his damage further. He's not great at dealing with hordes of enemies, still, but if that's a consideration then a single change of maneuver to something like Death Mark or similar helps cover that weakness, if he needs to deal with armies rather than scalpel out the leadership by appearing from inside a wall and carving them in two with a greatsword.

Dragonborn - Races of the Dragon
Warforged - Eberron Campaign Setting
Paladin of Freedom - SRD
Adamantine Body - Eberron Campaign Setting
Warforged Paladin Substitution Levels - Races of Eberron
Avenger Paladin Variant (Favored Enemy) - SRD
Underdark Paladin Variant (Earth Glide) - Complete Champion
Nemesis - Book of Exalted Deeds
Darkstalker - Lords of Madness
Swordsage - Tome of Battle
Mage Slayer - Complete Arcane
Shock Trooper - Complete Warrior
Maneuvers - Tome of Battle
Rhino's Rush, Strength of Stone - Spell Compendium

[Macabaret]

There they are.

Two entries submitted before/at the deadline. Four submitted after. Perhaps next round should have a deadline one day after the start, with a two or three week extension thereafter? We shall see....

Until then, judges, you may begin!

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Huh, lots of dragons this round.

Not a whole lot of fluff, probably due to the time crunch as people scrambled to get their entries together after the deadline. Though for those who missed it, Azoth (the first one) does have some decent length story sections tucked away in the first and last level bracket breakdowns.

Now that the reveal has come, what was the "obvious build"? My best guess was a Daring Outlaw build, but that's not especially tied to ACFs or RSLs.

[pabelfly]

Huh, lots of dragons this round.

Not a whole lot of fluff, probably due to the time crunch as people scrambled to get their entries together after the deadline. Though for those who missed it, Azoth (the first one) does have some decent length story sections tucked away in the first and last level bracket breakdowns.

Now that the reveal has come, what was the "obvious build"? My best guess was a Daring Outlaw build, but that's not especially tied to ACFs or RSLs.

Thought a half-orc barbarian 20 was too obvious myself. Had some good specific racial levels and feats though.

[Gauntlet]

I assumed the obvious build was Druid 20, either with Fangshields or Halforc substitution levels. Druid is pretty great without PrCs anyway, and has plenty of solid ACFs. However, the ACFs and RSLs are more of a bonus than something you'd actually build a character around.

[weckar]

Half-orc barbarian/dungeoncrasher fighter appeared the obvious to me, as well. Suppose I may have bee wrong.

[MisterKaws]

Glad I didn't go forward with my idea. Would've had a massive overlap with entry 2, mine being a Karcerer.

[EndlessKng]

I only joined the forums yesterday, and only half-finished my entry last night since I wasn't sure how long the extension would last. Would have been different, though - Half-Elf samurai (OA)/Fighter/Warblade, using Half-Elven and Zhentarim subs on the fighter side of things and Half Elf and Human paragon as well. Not the best build powerwise but was a shockingly effective social type (and brutal Iaijutsu Focus user). Also used a variant in the OA book that allows a different set of weapons to be used for the Daisho at DM's discretion (to take Longsword and Dagger).

Looking forward to the next one of these, though!

[Falontani]

Glad I didn't enter mine... Goliath barbarian 19 using streetfighter, goliath barbarian, and Fangshield barbarian. I had most of the movement skill tricks too!
I'll begin judging on Wednesday, however please don't let me stop anyone else from judging, the more the merrier. I may judge someone completely differently than you would!

[daremetoidareyo]

This is the build i couldn't get in time.
I also fell out of love with it a little.

Wizard on a Unicorn



One day, the wizard on the unicorn was cruisin around on the plains,
And he saw a bugbear,
And he thought to himself "oh man,
i gotta get away from this bugbear.
Oh no! He's gonna chase me,
I better just turn around and chase him back. Guess what, Im on a unicor-orn!"

Wizard on a unicorn-orn.
"Hey bugbear, bet you didn't know
That I'm a wizard on a unicorn."

Look out, just watch him go!
Wizard on a unicorn

Oh no! Wizard on a unicorn.
Oh no whoa, Wizard on a unicorn!

One day, the wizard on the unicorn was riding around in the forest,
And he didn't see that ogre guy crouching down and he popped off a shot, Blam!

Fell off the unicorn and the unicorn took off runnin, while the ogre guy was reloadin,
The wizard guy snuck up on him cuz he's invizzbull
And he said, "Hey, you better watch what you're doin."

Smite!

Wizard on a unicorn!
Break your weapons on a stump!
And the unicorn wizard will step right on your foot. Ouch!
Don't wake up!
Ohhhhoo You don't want ta mess with wizard riding on a unicorn-orn.

Hey ogres, from now on, don't shoot at wizards on a unicorn
whoa oh




Lesser drow elf
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
feats
features


1
elf Paladin 1
1
2
0
0
track
Ranged Smite Evil (Su): An elf paladin can only deliver his smite evil attacks with a longbow (or composite longbow) or shortbow (or composite shortbow). The target must be within 30 feet for the paladin to use this ability. This ability otherwise functions identically to the normal smite evil class feature described on page 44 of the Player’s Handbook. This substitution feature replaces the standard paladin’s class feature of smite evil. At each level at which the paladin would normally gain an additional daily use of smite evil, the elf paladin instead gains a daily use of ranged smite evil.

Aura of good, detect evil

join paragnostic assembly for 80 years to gain k.arcana as a class skill phb p.109


2
Paladin 2
2
3
0
0


Divine grace, lay on hands


3
Pelor's blessing (EtCR 208)Paladin 3
3
3
1
1
Obtain Familiar (Complete Arcane, p. 81) [
Aura of courage,

Pelor’s BlessingA lightbringer paladin excels at slaying the undead. Whenhe channels energy to smite his foes, the power he summonsproves doubly effective against the living dead.Level: 3rd.Replaces: Divine health.Benefi t: A lightbringer paladin who uses his smite evilability against undead gains an additional +2 bonus to theattack roll and deals an extra 1 point of damage per twopaladin levels. For example, a 13th-level lightbringer paladinarmed with a longsword would deal 1d8+19 points of damagewhen using her smite evil ability against an undead, plus anyadditional bonuses for high Strength or magical effects thatwould normally apply. This is an extraordinary ability.


4
planar Paladin 4
4
4
1
1


Smite Evil Outsider (Su): A planar paladin of 4thlevel or higher can attempt to smite an evil outsiderwith one normal melee attack. She adds her Charismabonus (if any) to the damage dealt by theattack. In addition, the attack is treated asgood-aligned for the purpose of overcomingdamage reduction. If the paladinaccidentally smites a creature that is notan evil outsider, the smite has no effect,but the ability is still used up. A paladinmay use this ability a number of timesper day equal to 1 + her Cha modifi er(minimum 1).If the paladin is on a plane thatis both good-aligned and lawfulaligned(such as the Seven MountingHeavens of Celestia), she alsoadds her Charisma bonus (if any) tothe attack roll.A planar paladin can use smiteevil and smite evil outsider onthe same attack, and the bonusesstack.This benefi t replaces the ability toturn undead gained by a standard paladinat 4th level.


5
elf Paladin 5
5
4
1
1


Unicorn Mount (Sp): A 5th-level elf paladin gains the service of a unicorn to serve him in his crusade against evil. This ability is identical to the paladin’s special mount class feature, except that the paladin is treated as six levels lower than normal for the purpose of determining the mount’s bonus HD, natural armor adjustment, and Strength adjustment (but not other special abilities). The unicorn serves as a loyal steed regardless of the paladin’s gender. For example, an elf paladin’s unicorn mount doesn’t gain the adjusted statistics of a 5th-level paladin’s mount (+2 HD, +4 natural armor adjustment, and +1 Strength adjustment—see page 45 of the Player’s Handbook) until the paladin is 11th level. It gains the other special abilities of a paladin’s mount at the normal levels (empathic link, improved evasion, share spells, and share saving throws at 5th level, improved speed at 8th level, command at 11th level, and spell resistance at 15th level). The unicorn mount may only use its command ability on horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules. This substitution feature replaces the standard paladin’s class feature of special mount.

Smite evil 2/day


6
Planar Paladin 6
6
5
2
2
Sword of the Arcane Order (Champions of Valor, p. 34)
Celestial Mount: A paladin who chooses this planar substitution benefi t at 6th level may apply the celestial template (see page 31 of the Monster Manual) to her special mount. The mount gains darkvision out to 60 feet, spell resistance equal to its Hit Dice + 5 (maximum 25), and resistance to acid, cold, and electricity 5 (or resistance 10 if it has 8 or more Hit Dice). If the mount has 4 or more Hit Dice, it also gains damage reduction (5/magic for Hit Dice 4 to 11, or 10/magic for Hit Dice 12 or more), and its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. It also gains a smite evil attack, allowing it to deal extra damage once per day equal to its Hit Dice (maximum +20) with a single melee attack against an evil foe. This benefi t replaces the remove disease class feature gained by a standard paladin at 6th level. From now on, whenever the paladin gains a standard paladin level that allows her to use remove disease more frequently, she gains the indicated number of uses per week minus 1 (1/week at 9th level, 2/ week at 12th level, and so on).


7
Drakken Familar (DrM 12) Wilderness Companion (UA58) elf (RotW 157) Wizard 1
6
5
2
4
scribe scroll
Drakken Familar (DrM 12): Your familiar is a drakken version of a normal animal (see the sidebar on page 107). It gains the dragonblood subtype and all the benefi ts of being a familiar, except as described below. When your familiar would normally gain the ability to deliver touch spells, it gains a breath weapon instead. This breath is a 15-foot cone of fire, usable once per hour, that deals a number of points of damage equal to 1d6 + twice your class level (levels of different classes that are entitled to familiars stack for this purpose). A successful Refl ex save (10 + 1/2 your total class levels for determining the familiar’s abilities) halves the damage dealt. When your familiar would normally gain the ability to speak with animals of its kind, it instead gains the ability to speak with creatures of the dragon type.

Generalist Wizardry: A 1st-level elf wizard begins play with one extra 1st-level spell in her spellbook. At each new wizard level, she gains one extra spell of any spell level that she can cast. This represents the additional elven insight and experience with arcane magic. The elf wizard may also prepare one additional spell of her highest spell level each day. Unlike the specialist wizard ability, this spell may be of any school. This substitution feature replaces the standard wizard’s ability to specialize in a school of magic.

Wild Companion: A sorcerer or wizard might desire a more durable companion to accompany him on excursions into the wilderness.Gain Animal companion (as druid; treat sorcerer or wizard as a druid of half his class level). Lose Familiar.


8
High One Warrior-Wizard Substitution (champions of Valor web p.5) 2
6
5
2
5


Wizardly Smiting (Su): At 2nd level, a High One warrior-wizard can smite evil as a paladin (see page
44 of the Player’s Handbook). Her wizard levels stack with her paladin levels for the purpose of determining
how many times per day she can use this ability. This benefit replaces the 1st-level spell that a standard
wizard gains at 2nd level. From this point forward, the character has one fewer 1st-level spells that she can
prepare per day than a standard wizard does.


9
Wizard 3
7
6
3
5
natural bond




10
High One Warrior-Wizard Substitution (champions of Valor web p.5) 4
7
6
3
6


Reduce Armor Hindrances (Ex ) : The HighOne warrior-wizard’s training in spellcasting allows herto ignore some of the hindrances of armor. The arcanespell failure chance imposed by her armor is reducedby 20% (minimum 0%). Thus, she can wear light armorwithout penalty, or medium or heavy armor withreduced penalties.This benefit replaces the 2nd-level spell that a standardwizard gains at 4th level. From this point forward,the character has one fewer 2nd-level spells that shecan prepare per day than a standard wizard does.


11
High One Warrior-Wizard Substitution 5
7
6
3
6


Familiar Mount: If a High One warrior-wizard has access to a special mount based on her paladin levels, this creature gains the characteristics of a familiar as well as those of a paladin mount. The High One warrior-wizard must dismiss her familiar (if she has one) to gain this benefit, but she takes no penalties for doing so. She then uses her wizard level to determine the natural armor bonus, Intelligence, and special abilities that her familiar should have and applies those to her special paladin mount. Her High One warriorwizard levels count as wizard levels for this purpose. The mount’s natural armor bonuses from both sources stack, and it gains the greater of the two Intelligence scores. Thus, the mount has all the abilities of a special mount appropriate to the character’s paladin level and a familiar appropriate to her wizard level. Bonuses of the same type do not stack, except as noted above, and the mount cannot gain the same ability twice; it takes the better version to which it is entitled. The High One warrior-wizard does not lose experience points if the familiar mount is killed because she can summon a new one according to the rules given for paladins. This benefit replaces the bonus feat that a standard wizard gains at 5th level.


12
Wizard 6
8
7
4
7
Initiate of Nobanion ( Champions of Valor, p. 31) [Initiate]




13
Wizard 7
8
7
4
7






14
Wizard 8
8
7
4
8






15
Wizard 9
9
8
5
8
Devoted Tracker (Complete Adventurer, p. 108) [General]
get tempest breath on unicorn


16
Wizard 10
9
8
5
9






17
Wizard 11
9
8
5
9






18
Wizard 12
10
9
6
10
natural bond




19
Wizard 13
10
9
6
10






20
planar wizard 14
10
9
6
11


"Enhanced Magic (Su): A 14thlevel planar wizard learns how to channel the essence of a specific plane’s enhanced magic trait through her spells. Upon gaining this ability, the wizard must choose a specifi c plane that she has visited (other than the Material Plane). Three times per day, the wizard may spend a standard action to channel that plane’s magical essence. The next spell she casts (if cast within 1 minute) is enhanced as if she were casting it on that plane, applying any magic traits normal to that plane. This ability doesn’t apply any other planar magic traits to the wizard’s spells, such as wild magic or impeded magic. For example, a planar wizard who chose to channel the essence of the Elemental Plane of Fire would maximize and enlarge the next spell she cast after activating this ability (as if she had applied the Maximize Spell and Enlarge Spell meta magic feats, but without adjusting the spell slot used), as long as that spell has the fire descriptor. This benefi t replaces the 7th-level spell slot gained by a standard wizard at 14th level. From now on, the wizard can prepare one less 7th-level wizard spell than indicated on Table 3–18, page 55 of the Player’s Handbook."




Firebreathing celestial unicorn, and a buttload of smites

[Macabaret]

Have we any updates from prospective judges?

On another note, are there any particular ingredients that interest the peanut gallery for future rounds? I have ideas of my own, but I'm always willing to entertain other notions.

[weckar]

I'm still interested in seeing a challenge that requires particular weapons or armor but forbids proficiency in them.

[pabelfly]

Have we any updates from prospective judges?

On another note, are there any particular ingredients that interest the peanut gallery for future rounds? I have ideas of my own, but I'm always willing to entertain other notions.

My tentative and admittedly stupid suggestion is the Truespeak skill check. Besides the Truenamer itself who is an intruguing mess, you have the various Truename-related spells that could work for other classes, and several PrCs that require Truespeak that don't necessarily require the player to start with Truenamer levels.

[Falontani]

I started Judging, but something came up which robbed me of time on Wednesday. Still working on it though

[PoeticallyPsyco]

This may be me living up to my username, but I'd kinda like to see something with Symbiotic Creature.

Maybe Symbiotic Creature template + Human Heritage feat -- natural attacks (not married to that omission, but Human Heritage opens up a lot of possibilities for Symbiotic Creature)

Or Symbiotic Creature -- Human Heritage + Skills (focusing on the skill-boosting aspect of the template while closing off the options provided by Human Heritage)

Or something else cool. I'm not super attached to either of the above, but I do think Symbiotic Creature would make for a varied and memorable round.

[MisterKaws]

This may be me living up to my username, but I'd kinda like to see something with Symbiotic Creature.

Maybe Symbiotic Creature template + Human Heritage feat -- natural attacks (not married to that omission, but Human Heritage opens up a lot of possibilities for Symbiotic Creature)

Or Symbiotic Creature -- Human Heritage + Skills (focusing on the skill-boosting aspect of the template while closing off the options provided by Human Heritage)

Or something else cool. I'm not super attached to either of the above, but I do think Symbiotic Creature would make for a varied and memorable round.

Human Heritage can only be taken at level 1, and Symbiotic Creature would arguably override its type change because of that.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Human Heritage can only be taken at level 1, and Symbiotic Creature would arguably override its type change because of that.

I was thinking Human Heritage to make more things qualify for Symbiotic Creature1 in the first place, but that's a good point: we'd definitely need a ruling as to whether the total creature needs to meet the prerequisites of guest's feats (received as bonus feats), and if so whether that includes 1st level only feats.


1: and if the host has Human Heritage, it doesn't matter whether it loses the copy of the feat from the guest (if the guest had it too), because it definitely still qualifies for its own. At least, I think that's the most obvious interpretation.

[pabelfly]

Human Heritage can only be taken at level 1, and Symbiotic Creature would arguably override its type change because of that.

Symbiotic Creature would be an interesting ingredient though. I'd consider cooking with it.

[Falontani]

Arcane Archer + War Domain - Elf

[MisterKaws]

Arcane Archer + War Domain - Elf

Half-Drow is a thing, so that's not much of a restriction.

[EndlessKng]

Intimidation + Ninja (or anything really) - Zhentarim Fighter.

Wizard + Fighter - Full BAB PrCs

Assassin + Exotic Weapon - Rogue (harder mode: -Any base class with Sneak Attack or similar)

Any sort of challenge that restricts use of the core book classes and/or PrCs.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Side Note: The way Symbiotic Creature works with LA is beyond abusable (epic level character guested onto an ECL 1 character for +1 LA, I'm looking at you), but the rules for calculating its CR are much more reasonable (as long as you can't take it multiple times).

[pabelfly]

Side Note: The way Symbiotic Creature works with LA is beyond abusable (epic level character guested onto an ECL 1 character for +1 LA, I'm looking at you), but the rules for calculating its CR are much more reasonable (as long as you can't take it multiple times).

It would be pretty simple and reasonable to rule that you could only combine L1 characters in a contest involving Symbiotic Creature.

[Macabaret]

I'm still interested in seeing a challenge that requires particular weapons or armor but forbids proficiency in them.

This has left me with something of an intriguing thought ... but I don't think people would like it much. Mwhahahaha....

[Thurbane]

I have another suggestion for a future round: Arctic Priest feat (Fr) + Priest of the Waste feat (Sa) - Cleric.

[daremetoidareyo]

I have another suggestion for a future round: Arctic Priest feat (Fr) + Priest of the Waste feat (Sa) - Cleric.

In that vein, greenbound summoning -druid would be fun

Also, the spell templates from dragon compendium - arcane casters

[weckar]

This has left me with something of an intriguing thought ... but I don't think people would like it much. Mwhahahaha....

Arcane Casting + Heavy Armor - Heavy Armor Proficiency? :P

[MisterKaws]

Arcane Casting + Heavy Armor - Heavy Armor Proficiency? :P

And then watch as people pull ways to Still spells out of their asses.

[Macabaret]

How fares the judging process?

[Macabaret]

UPDATE
I have heard from our prospective judge. There has been ... well, stuff, that has happened. (I won't go into any of it here.) We've all been there a time or two, I'm sure, when life just happens, so I'm sure you can all sympathize. As a result, judging will be severely delayed.

That said, we have room for more than one judge here. If anyone else would like to step in as a judge, we certainly welcome your input. No experience necessary.

[pabelfly]

I'd like to have a go at judging. Anyone got any tips for me before I start going through each of the entries in detail?

[DeTess]

I'd like to have a go at judging. Anyone got any tips for me before I start going through each of the entries in detail?

Thanks for stepping up!

If I where you, I'd create a basic grading guideline somewhere, or steal one from a previous judge. You don't even need to share it, but it helps with keeping your judging consistent in my experience.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I'd like to have a go at judging. Anyone got any tips for me before I start going through each of the entries in detail?

Uh, let me see. I still don't have a hard and fast system for when I'm judging (typically I go with some variation on "detailed analysis for every category, but ultimately go with my gut for the final score in each"), but here's a couple of tips:

As a rule, the more detail you go into the happier the contestants are. You have to balance this with how much time you're willing to sink into it as well as how much detail you actually need to explain your score (one thing I've often seen is a (+0) or (-0) after details that were worth mentioning but didn't actually affect the score, to make that perfectly clear).

As mentioned above, consistency is pretty important.

Oh! One tip that is a little less intuitive. The Power category is a more a measure of optimization than raw power; you don't give wizards a 4-5 by default and fighters a 1-2 by default, even spellcasting is as a rule far more powerful and versatile than swordplay. It is however fair to judge a build's Power based on it's utility (social, exploration, traps, etc.) in addition to its combat prowess. It's also fair to dock points for a build that's weak for a significant chunk of its career (level brackets) even if it's 'sweet spot' is really strong.

[pabelfly]

Oh! One tip that is a little less intuitive. The Power category is a more a measure of optimization than raw power; you don't give wizards a 4-5 by default and fighters a 1-2 by default, even spellcasting is as a rule far more powerful and versatile than swordplay. It is however fair to judge a build's Power based on it's utility (social, exploration, traps, etc.) in addition to its combat prowess. It's also fair to dock points for a build that's weak for a significant chunk of its career (level brackets) even if it's 'sweet spot' is really strong.

Your whole post was full of really good advice and this bit in particular solved the question of how I'd score for power, which I was trying to work out.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Happy to help!

[pabelfly]

Small update - have finished judging the first three entrants. Three more to go.

As an aside, for anyone who's interested in judging and not sure whether it's right for them... I'd definitely recommend going for it, if you can spare the time. Going through the process of judging characters looks like a very good way to learn how to make a winning entrant, if that's a thing you're into. Don't be put off by the idea if you feel like you don't know enough about the rules - you'll be looking all of the parts of a character up regardless of your skill level to make sure you're judging a character properly, and there are threads to ask for clarification on rule points if you're not sure if something is legal or not. I've used them a couple of times myself.

Anyway, back to it. If anyone decides to get into judging, feel free to message me so we can swap judging notes.

[weckar]

I judged once. I found it extremely thankless and unrewarding compared to the effort and time required.

[Thurbane]

I judged once. I found it extremely thankless and unrewarding compared to the effort and time required.

I've had both good an poor experiences judging; but more good than bad, in my case.

[jdizzlean]

im a much calmer and courteous chef after having been a judge.

[daremetoidareyo]

im a much calmer and courteous chef after having been a judge.

Judging makes me cranky. Especially during the dispute process. I get all defensive and have to like...internally shut that off.

Its rewarding though.

[pabelfly]

All categories for scoring start at a score of 3/5, with various additions and deductions in score explained.

Azoth, The Raven’s Shadow (17/20) (Adjustment of score from 16.5)



Strongheart Halfling is the most common type of Halfling, since it gets the free bonus feat. (-1 point)
I like that you’ve put a whole bunch of levels in Monk. (+1 point)
Evil monks are underrepresented in DnD. I rather like your character concept and I like how you flesh Azoth out with some stories about his life. (+1 point)
I like that you’re making use of Swift Hunter without having levels in Scout to get bonus Skirmish damage. (+0.5 points)

Looks like you’re able to meaningfully contribute to combat throughout all twenty levels. (+0.5 points)
The power of your character is rather inconsistent and I don’t think it has to be. When you ambush enemies, you’ll have sneak attack, Iajutsu Focus, and probably skirmish damage all activating at once. Once enemies get to attack, your damage output drops quite a bit. You’ve taken stuff like Acrobatic Backstab, Mercurial Strike and Hidden Blade to give you extra opportunities to trigger Sneak Attack and Iajutsu Focus, you should be getting them as early as you can instead of level 14 or 15. I think this would help quite a bit with power consistency. (-1 point) Amendment: After some clarification, I have somewhat changed my opinion. Azoth has several opportunities to trigger Sneak Attack and Iajutsu Focus throughout his levelling career. However, the abilities listed are still attained much later than required and, given that they give the character extra opportunities to trigger Sneak Attack and Iajustu Focus damage, should have been taken much earlier. Thus, the score deduction is changed to (-0.5).
Although I’ve complained about the Warblade dip later, here I’m going to show my appreciation that you’ve taken some build resources to deal with status effects with Iron Heart (+0.25 points) Amendment: I originally stated that the player had used Iron Heart to deal with status effects. However, they have used Wall of Steel to help deal with status effects. No adjustment to the point addition here.
I like that your build has a lot of skill points, that you’ve invested in intelligence to boost them further, and have plenty to do outside of combat (+0.5 points)
Pretty average saves. No points gained or lost. (0 points)


Your character concept is, overall, well supported through class choices, feats, skills and abilities. (+1 point)
Multiclassing penalty. (-0.5 points)
Warblade is described as a frontline combatant in the same way a Barbarian and a Fighter are. You’re making a sneaky ambush attacker, so having a frontline fighter-type level mixed in doesn’t feel like it belongs to the rest of the build, flavour-wise, even if the personality of the character gels. (-0.25 points)
Many of your opportunities to make opponents flatfooted come online fairly late compared to when you could first qualify (Acrobatic Backstab, Mercurial Strike, Hidden Blade) Getting them early would give the player more opportunities to make use of Iajutsu Focus in the early and mid points of the character. (-0.5 points)
You’ve clearly laid out any parts of the build that requires GM adjudication so a prospective GM could look at it and tell you what they think. I like that. (+0.5 points)
Minor quibble with build: you should be gaining uses of Mimic at 3rd, 6th, and 9th level of Rogue. This has been noted for completion’s sake, no points deducted. (0 points)
I’d argue you don’t get Blind-Fight at 7th level (and you don’t get that +2 to Listen) because you abandoned your monk style with the Halfling ACF and by getting a different feat at level 2. You have made note of this possible interpretation in your character notes though, and proposed an alternate feat to take instead and not given yourself the bonus skill points. I’d personally choose the less favourable ruling in such a situation, but no points lost here. (0 points)
Cannot see any issues with build legality not noted in your GM notes. (+0.5 points)

In terms of the challenge… you use several racial substitute levels from two different classes, and in such a way that the build doesn’t work without them. I really like how much love you’ve shown your ingredients. (+1 point)
You trade away weaker class features for good alternate class features that greatly improve your character. (+0.5 points)
You didn’t use any PrCs. (+0.5 points)

Dwarceress/Dragonbwarferess (11.5/20)



I like the idea of combining a Dwarf and a sorcerer. Both are pretty common as separate parts of a build but I don’t see them together often. (+0.5 points)
Stalwart Battle Sorcerer 20 (I’ll get into that later) is not an uncommon sorcerer gish build. The lack of multiclassing is not enticing either. (-0.5 points)
A feral dwarf sorceress channelling her inner dragon could be an interesting character concept with some work. Right now though, it feels like a half-baked character mishmash. My interest is piqued but it needs more work before I’m hooked. (+0.5 points)
In terms of the cheese you’re using to power the build, feral template is overused (and the incorrect application is discussed and scored in the Elegance section) and Dragonborn sorcerer is pretty common optimization to get spells only dragonblooded casters can get. (-1 point)

You’re a sorcerer with full spellcasting. You’re going to be able to contribute in combat at all levels. (+0.5 points)
Benchmark of 9th-level spellcasting. (+0.5 points)
I like that you’re a caster that’s invested in boosting HP so much. Casters not made of tissue are underrated. (+0.5 points)
You’ve dumped Intelligence and have little in the way of skill points. You haven’t given yourself options for skill use outside of combat. (-0.5 points)
You have a limited amount of spells that are useful out-of-combat. (-0.5 points)
You’ve dumped dexterity to the point where you’re almost a crippled character, and you haven’t done anything to improve any of your saves that I can see. Gloves of Dexterity isn’t a magic cureall. (-0.5 points)

You haven’t done a writeup of the character for any of the benchmark levels. It is part of the submission requirements, but more importantly, it helps others understand why your build is the way it is. I haven’t added or subtracted any points for not doing this part of the submission, but it may well have helped elsewhere. (0 points)

Lets start with spell selection. Here’s what I like: the Earth Bloodline feat gives you earth-themed spells, which has synergy for a Dream Dwarf. I’m guessing this is why you specifically chose the Dream Dwarf race and the Earth Bloodline feat. You’ve added a few extra spells to make use of Dream Dwarf’s abilities, like Scimitar of Sand. I would have liked to have seen some support for the earth bloodline stuff in your character writeup, but I’ll take what I can for elegance. (+1 point)

Here’s what I don’t like about your spell selection: you’ve picked a whole bunch of spells that don’t seem to relate to most of the other parts of your character’s backstory. Spells that relate to being a dwarf, spells that relate to being feral, or spells that might fit in with a sorcerer who wants to make friends with other people or likes to go hunting. Would have helped flesh out your character concept further. (-0.5 points)

Paying to qualify for parts of your build is inelegant. I don’t know what aspect of Dragonborn you’ve selected either, because your explanation of the template cuts off before the choice, but the penalty here is for paying for a character template to qualify for parts of your build. (-0.5 points)

Dwarceress can’t express herself with her lack of skills. She survived underground and can hunt and fish, where is her survival skill? She wants to get along with other characters and races, wouldn’t she try to learn diplomacy? The lack of skills for your character does not support your character’s flavour. (-0.5 points)

The Feral Template doesn’t give your character the abilities Improved Grab, Pounce, Rake, or Rend. As per P116 of Savage Species, “it (the monster) gains special attacks indicated in the row corresponding to its monster Hit Dice”. The Savage Species monster manual differentiates between Monster hit dice and hit dice gained from class levels. You don’t have any Monster Hit dice, you don’t gain the aforementioned abilities. (-0.5 points)

The Feral Template gives you D10 hit dice, which you haven’t added to your character. You’ve mentioned the various abilities and monster-related skills you gain in your writeup elsewhere (Darkvision, Fast Healing) but you should have added them to class features too. No points gained or lost for any of this, mentioned for completion’s sake. (0 points)

LA Buyoff is not in play, as per Junkyard Wars rules. The Feral template and Stalwart Battle Sorceror 20 means you’ve bought me a level 21 character. (-1 point)

All in all, a 1/5 for Elegance. Sorry.

You’ve used both Dwarven and Dragon racial substitutions for your Battle Sorcerer, and they all improve your build. (+1 point)
ACFs like Stalwart Sorcerer and Battle Sorcerer are key components of your build and greatly improve it. (+0.5 points)
You didn’t use any PrCs. (+0.5 points)


Lord O'ord (14/20)



Half-elf is not often used as a race. (+0.5 points)
Making use of two racial paragon classes? I like that. (+1 point)
Wizard is extremely common. So is doing a dip with fighter. (-0.5 point)
I wish there was a character concept here, rather than just stat blocks and abilities. (-1 point)
I like that you’re using Duskblade’s Arcane Channelling to channel wizard spells, that’s a neat trick. (+0.5 points)


You’re a wizard with eighth-level spellcasting. You’re going to be able to contribute in combat at all levels. (+0.5 points)
I like that you’re using Able learner and Racial Paragon classes to get new class skills. You’ve got plenty to do outside of combat even without spells and I like that. (+0.5 points)
You’ve taken feats to help boost how often you’ll get to cast spells in a day. (+0.5 points)
Would have liked to have seen some resources put into improving your saves. (-0.5 points)
Pretty average saves. No points gained or lost. (0 points)

Your various class choices support your character’s gishing abilities. (+0.5 points)
I know very little about your character apart from the broadest of information. I can’t tell if you’re supporting any deeper character concept than “I want to be a gish” through classes and feats and skills or not. No marks gained or lost here. (0 points)
You have no multiclass penalties. (+0.5 points)
You paid for the Dragonborn template to qualify for parts of your build. (-0.5 points)
A quick list of suggested spells that Lord O’ord would try to learn first would have been really helpful for anyone interested in playing your character or one like it. Especially the touch spells that he would use with Arcane Channeling. (-0.5 points)
Didn’t notice any legality issues in your character build. (+0.5 points)


You’ve got a single racial substitution level of half-elf Fighter, you took it very late with your build and it feels like you’ve handicapped yourself taking it. The difference between Wizard 11/Fighter 1 and Wizard 12 is… you’ve lost a level of casting, haven’t gained BAB, and what you get in exchange for it doesn’t remotely seem worth it. Might have made a bit more sense if you’d gotten higher BAB out of the deal, but you didn’t. (-1 point)
You’ve got some good ACFs in your build that improve the power of your character. (+0.5 points)
You didn’t use any PrCs. (+0.5 points)


Sansa, Dragon of War (11.5/20)



I did not expect to see a Silver Dragon for a character build. (+0.5 points)
Several classes here but no class you’ve picked is unexpected or unusual. (-0.5 points)
Your brief snippet of story doesn’t really have much information about the character at all, although I do like the dragon’s catchprase of “get dunked on”. Would have liked to see the character developed further. (+0.5 points)
Bull-rushing characters into the ground is common advice on optimizing bull rush. (-0.5 points)
Feats to improve flying, as well as feats to add soulmelds and essential are fairly unusual choices. (+0.5 points)
Wyrm of War is a cheese I haven’t seen used often. (+0.5 points)


I’m not sure that your character is powerful enough to meaningfully contribute in combat. For example, you’ve worked out your Bull Rush damage to be an average of 46 damage at level 20, which is your main source of damage. It really isn’t much in the context of what a character would reasonably be expected to do at that level. Spending feats to support a hodgepodge collection of multiple casting and a psionics list doesn’t really bridge the gap either. (-0.5 points)
Your character build is only a good strategy when you’re not in a forest or a dungeon or indoors, fighting against characters that can’t fly. In any situation where you can’t fly, or your opponents can, and that will increasingly happen at higher levels, you’re not going to do well at all. (-1 point)
While you do have a bunch of skills, most of your skills (excepting Intimidate) are not very useable at high-level. Stuff like 9 ranks of Bluff, 9 ranks of Spot, and 7 ranks of Disguise isn’t going to get far at level 20, except against characters and NPCs who completely haven’t invested in the appropriate skills at all. (-0.5 points)
I don’t mind your saves. Not great, but not bad either. No points gained or lost. (0 points)
Overall, I’m going to have to give Sansa a 1/5 here. Sorry.


I have no idea why you included a build stub for a LG Lesser Fire Genasi. I’ll use your levelling table instead. No points deducted. (0 points)
Your entire character concept is based on bullrushing from the air, and you’ve certainly supported that with your build feat choices. (+0.5 points)
Multiclassing penalties. (-0.5 points)
A whole lot of cross-class skills and underutilized skill points. I can’t understand why you’ve put the amount of investment in the skills you have – too much for earning skill synergy bonuses, or meeting skill prereqs or whatever, yet too little to be relevant at high-level. (-0.5 points)
Level Adjustment comes before racial hit dice. You spend the first two levels buying off your LA, so to speak, playing as a one-hit dice dragon. (-0.5 points)


You have several racial substitution levels of Dragonblood Cleric substitution levels in. While these substitutions aren’t integral to the character, they are pretty useful. (+0.5 points)
You’ve got some good ACFs in your build that improve the power of your character. (+0.5 points)
You didn’t use any PrCs. (+0.5 points)


Bruce, Neuteral Good Goliath (16.5/20) (Adjustment of score from 13.5)


Goliath character is an interesting racial choice. (+0.5 points)
Scout, Barbarian and Rogue are not exactly the most common of classes, but nothing particularly unusual either. (+0.5 points)
A seven-foot tall, 300 pound sneaky barbarian rogue slash scout is absurd enough that it has my interest. Would have liked to have seen more about this character. (+0.5 points)
Power Attack, Leap Attack and Shock Trooper feat combo is pretty common optimization. (-0.5 points)


Looks like you’re able to meaningfully contribute to combat throughout all twenty levels. (+0.5 points)
No notable benchmark, such as 16 BAB, 9th-level spells, etc. reached. No points added or deducted (0 points).
You have some reasonable skill investments to do stuff outside of combat and you’ve invested in Intelligence to boost your skills per level higher. Would have liked to have seen more skills at 23 ranks at level 20 but that hasn’t affected point scoring.
(+0.5 points)
Really weak Will save, even when Mountain Raging. (-0.5 points)


Amendment: Error in original maths of comment, score would have added to 3.5/5. Score amended to reflect this.
I like the combination of Rogue and scout and Barbarian, seems like it’s well-centred on the idea of someone who can do scouting work yet is able to take up arms and fight should they encounter hostile forces. (+1 point)
Would have personally written your altered skirmish bonus damage display with your Scout and Rogue class levels stacked, but you’ve made it clear you’re getting the two together in your class writeup. No points lost. (0 points)
Goliath Rogue 2 gains Mettle of Mountains, not Mettle. Brutal Strike should be obtained as a ninth-level feat, not for tenth-level. Amendment: comment did not take Level Adjustment into account regarding what level Brutal Strike is taken. No points gained or lost here now.
There are no multiclassing penalties. (+0.5 points)
You put in a lot of cross-class skill points. (-0.5 points)


Racial substitution for Rogue, and multiple types of racial substitutions for Barbarian used. The substitution levels used greatly improve the character. (+1 point)
Fang Shield Barbarian is a 5th-level racial substitute level, not a 6th-level racial substitute level. You have also selected Goliath Barbarian as your fifth-level racial substitute level. You’re specifically getting abilities from both of these types of racial substitutions. Amendment: discussion with player has made clear that Fang Shield Barbarian 6 is not a substitution level, but the improvement of an ability of a previous substitution level and that a regular Barbarian level was taken. No points lost here, total score adjusted.
You’ve chosen some ACFs that are integral to your build. (+0.5 points)
You didn’t use any PrCs. (+0.5 points)


Quake, Dragonborn Warforged Paladin of Freedom (16.5/20)



Warforged isn’t common, but it’s not uncommon either. Call it even. No points gained or lost. (0 points)
Twelve levels of paladin? That deserves a point. (+1 point)
I like the concept of a Warforged paladin that shifts through walls hunting down enemies. The playstyle breakdown is rather interesting. I’d like to see more about this character as a person. (+0.5 points)
Shock Trooper combo is pretty common. (-1 point)
Earth Glide, Darkstalker and Blindsight without items is a really nice combo, and one I haven’t seen before. (+1 point)


Looks like you’ll be able to contribute in combat throughout all twenty levels. (+0.5 points)
Benchmark of over 16 BAB for a martial character. (+0.5 points)
Character comes with lots of natural immunities. (+0.5 points)
Saves are okay. Not bad, not great. No points gained or lost. (0 points)
Your skill points are handed out rather suddenly at times, while understandable, it makes some of your skills hard to use before that. You also have a lack of skills that you could use out battle, besides Move Silently and maybe Bluff. (-0.5 points)

Your character concept of hunting evil and aberrations is well-supported through various feat and class choices. (+1 point)
Suggested spells for Paladin is really helpful for anyone interested in playing or further developing the character. (+0.5 points)
Multiclassing penalty. (-0.5 points)
While you don’t need the Dragonborn template to qualify for parts of your build, you have bought it for specific features you don’t get in your build and can’t quite buy with items. (-0.5 points)


Warforged Paladin substitution levels, while not integral to your build do improve the character. (+0.5 points)
You’ve chosen some ACFs that are integral to your build. (+0.5 points)
You didn’t use any PrCs. (+0.5 points)

[Macabaret]

Aaaaaand... the disputing process has officially begun.


Hey pabelfly,

First of all, thanks for judging! I (and no doubt the other contestants as well) really appreciate it.

That having been said, I've got one minor dispute. More of a nit-pick really:


Level Adjustment comes before racial hit dice. You spend the first two levels buying off your LA, so to speak, playing as a one-hit dice dragon. (-0.5 points)

This would be true if the dragon was a 1 HD dragon that I took an additional 3 RHD on (such as if, for example the dragon had some sort of savage species style monster class). However, that was not the case here. the wyrmling dragon is a single unit with 2 LA and 4RHD. Until level 6, it is just not playable. At one point I had the table just start at ECL 6, but I found that to be even more confusing.

Of course, it would be completely within your rights as judge to keep the penalty but to move the reasoning towards 'can't be played before level 6' :P

Also, I'd like to make a quick clarification on the skill points, though this is meant as an explanation of my reasoning and not a dispute on the scoring. I was pretty starved for skill points for most of the built and needed to get a bunch of prerequisites early, leaving me with very little skill points to spend on other stuff in the early levels. I kept a bunch of skills as high as possible in the mid levels, but in the higher levels just committed to intimidate as it gave the character something to do in the social pillar, letting the other skills fall by the wayside.

Anyway that's it from me with regards to disputes. Once again, my thanks for judging!

[pabelfly]

Hey pabelfly,

First of all, thanks for judging! I (and no doubt the other contestants as well) really appreciate it.

That having been said, I've got one minor dispute. More of a nit-pick really:

Level Adjustment comes before racial hit dice. You spend the first two levels buying off your LA, so to speak, playing as a one-hit dice dragon. (-0.5 points)
This would be true if the dragon was a 1 HD dragon that I took an additional 3 RHD on (such as if, for example the dragon had some sort of savage species style monster class). However, that was not the case here. the wyrmling dragon is a single unit with 2 LA and 4RHD. Until level 6, it is just not playable. At one point I had the table just start at ECL 6, but I found that to be even more confusing.

Of course, it would be completely within your rights as judge to keep the penalty but to move the reasoning towards 'can't be played before level 6' :P

Also, I'd like to make a quick clarification on the skill points, though this is meant as an explanation of my reasoning and not a dispute on the scoring. I was pretty starved for skill points for most of the built and needed to get a bunch of prerequisites early, leaving me with very little skill points to spend on other stuff in the early levels. I kept a bunch of skills as high as possible in the mid levels, but in the higher levels just committed to intimidate as it gave the character something to do in the social pillar, letting the other skills fall by the wayside.

Anyway that's it from me with regards to disputes. Once again, my thanks for judging!

Thanks for responding, Sansa. I will admit I rather liked your character concept, wish I'd been able to score it higher than I did. And thanks for the nitpicking, it does help improve my knowledge on the game.

Done some further reading, and found out you're right. Thanks for correcting me with the dragon's dice and LA. As you've pointed out, it is a problem to play your character at level 1, so I'm happy with the amendment you proposed. No score change.

In regards to skill points... I had assumed something like that was your reasoning as to why you allocated your skills the way you did. Especially since the classes you combined didn't have great skill synergy. Still, I had to do my best to critique your build. I hope my marking felt fair and reasonable, and was detailed enough so you have some ideas how you can improve when you enter your next contest. One suggestion I would make to you for future contest entries, is to try to improve the efficiency of your skill point allocation and to invest in skills until it reaches near full investment (or until you meet skill synergy bonuses and class/feat prereqs).

[Macabaret]

And another.


Thanks for judging pabelfly.

I have a couple of disputes.


Fang Shield Barbarian is a 5th-level racial substitute level, not a 6th-level racial substitute level. You have also selected Goliath Barbarian as your fifth-level racial substitute level. You’re specifically getting abilities from both of these types of racial substitutions. (-2 points)

I could have made it a bit clearer, but I am not taking the Fangshield Barbarian's Awesome Charge ability (which I never take) at level 6; I am only getting the second increment of Fast charge at that level so I did not actually give up the same class ability twice.


Goliath Rogue 2 gains Mettle of Mountains, not Mettle. Brutal Strike should be obtained as a ninth-level feat, not for tenth-level. (-0.5 points)

Shock Trooper is my 2nd level martial rogue bonus feat taken at level 9 on the table. Brutal Strike is my regular 9th level feat delayed a level due to the Goliath level adjustment.

Also the point adjustment you have given on Elegance add up to +.5 but the total score is only 3.0/5.

[pabelfly]

Thanks for judging pabelfly.

I have a couple of disputes.

Fang Shield Barbarian is a 5th-level racial substitute level, not a 6th-level racial substitute level. You have also selected Goliath Barbarian as your fifth-level racial substitute level. You’re specifically getting abilities from both of these types of racial substitutions. (-2 points)
I could have made it a bit clearer, but I am not taking the Fangshield Barbarian's Awesome Charge ability (which I never take) at level 6; I am only getting the second increment of Fast charge at that level so I did not actually give up the same class ability twice.

Goliath Rogue 2 gains Mettle of Mountains, not Mettle. Brutal Strike should be obtained as a ninth-level feat, not for tenth-level. (-0.5 points)
Shock Trooper is my 2nd level martial rogue bonus feat taken at level 9 on the table. Brutal Strike is my regular 9th level feat delayed a level due to the Goliath level adjustment.

Also the point adjustment you have given on Elegance add up to +.5 but the total score is only 3.0/5.

Thanks for responding, Bruce. I agree with all of your comments regarding your score. Additional notes added after original comments, judging scores have been changed reflecting these clarifications, and new score given.

[Macabaret]

Once more unto the breach!


Much as it pains me to break a 3-way tie for first, a major aspect of my build seems to have been overlooked (such is the risk of such a long write-up; something was bound to get lost in the tide).



The power of your character is rather inconsistent and I don’t think it has to be. When you ambush enemies, you’ll have sneak attack, Iajutsu Focus, and probably skirmish damage all activating at once. Once enemies get to attack, your damage output drops quite a bit. You’ve taken stuff like Acrobatic Backstab, Mercurial Strike and Hidden Blade to give you extra opportunities to trigger Sneak Attack and Iajutsu Focus, you should be getting them as early as you can instead of level 14 or 15. I think this would help quite a bit with power consistency. (-1 point)

Many of your opportunities to make opponents flatfooted come online fairly late compared to when you could first qualify (Acrobatic Backstab, Mercurial Strike, Hidden Blade) Getting them early would give the player more opportunities to make use of Iajutsu Focus in the early and mid points of the character. (-0.5 points)
This is the big one, because while all the things you cited are useful ways of making opponents flat-footed, they are ultimately just contingencies, because two of Azoth’s ACFs should already be making opponents flat-footed almost 100% of the time. Those ACFs are Shadow Blend and Invisible Fist.

As early as 3rd level, Azoth gains the ability to turn invisible for a round every three rounds, granting him SA and Iaijutsu Focus against any enemies that can’t see invisible opponents (for either one attack with Skirmish, or using a full attack to get two attacks from TWF).

At 8th level, he gets Shadow Blend from his Dark Moon Disciple Monk ACF. Unless he’s in full daylight (or daylight) he gets total concealment, which inflicts the flat-footed condition on all opponents versus his attacks. As I explained in the breakdown, I’m pretty sure that true seeing and Darkvision are not enough to penetrate this concealment (if it works in a fully lit room, why would seeing through darkness penetrate it?), so as long as you’re not ambushed during the day, or your opponents both have daylight prepared and deduce your weakness to it, you should be getting full SA (barring immune opponents) and Iaijutsu Focus on almost every attack from this point onwards. Blindsight is a potential problem, but that’s why we’ve got Darkstalker and max ranks in Hide/Move Silently.

For the situations where Shadow Blend is impossible (or if the DM rules that it is more easily penetrated than I believe), at 10th level Azoth gets at-will blink from Invisible Fist. In addition to seriously reducing the number of spells and attacks he gets hit by, it makes opponents that can’t see ethereal foes flat-footed versus his attacks, and (once again assuming my interpretation of how the cooldown works holds up) he can have it up constantly as long as he has an immediate action to spend on that third round (though doing so gives him a 20% miss chance as well, so just relying on Shadow Blend is typically optimal unless it’s been cancelled or he needs to go on the defensive).



Warblade is described as a frontline combatant in the same way a Barbarian and a Fighter are. You’re making a sneaky ambush attacker, so having a frontline fighter-type level mixed in doesn’t feel like it belongs to the rest of the build, flavour-wise, even if the personality of the character gels. (-0.25 points)
This one is far more minor, but since I’m already disputing, I might as well bring it up. As in the inspirational material I’m drawing from*, the difference between Azoth (and other Dark Moon Disciples) and a typical assassin is that his magic makes him into a juggernaut in open battle as well as in stealth. With total concealment and possibly blink halving his damage taken and multiplying his damage given, he’s fully capable of wading into the spree. This becomes even truer once he gets Robilar’s Gambit, which in conjunction with Mercurial Strike lets him do the same even if Shadow Blend and/or Invisible Fist are countered (and even makes dropping Shadow Blend deliberately a viable strategy).

*The Night Angel trilogy, which I highly recommend. It manages to blend one of the darkest/grimmest settings I’ve ever seen with a remarkable degree of idealism; the result is a unique combination of heart-wrenching and uplifting. Oh, and it’s totally badass. My Azoth is far closer to Hu Gibbet (a psychotic butcher of a wetboy) than to the highly sympathetic actual main character Azoth, but I was unable to resist the pun (Azoth is a term for “mercury” in alchemy, and Mercurial Strike features rather prominently in the build).



Although I’ve complained about the Warblade dip later, here I’m going to show my appreciation that you’ve taken some build resources to deal with status effects with Iron Heart (+0.25 points)
Actually, I must confess that I didn’t take Iron Heart Surge, the classic anti-status effect counter. Wall of Steel is still useful for being able to deflect rays, which impose some of the worst status effects in the game (up to and including “dead”), but not on the same level as IHS. With total concealment and 50% failure chance from blink (if he has enough forewarning to have that up; by no means a guarantee) he’s still pretty resistant to status effects, but I’m not sure I actually earned that +.25.

[pabelfly]

Much as it pains me to break a 3-way tie for first, a major aspect of my build seems to have been overlooked (such is the risk of such a long write-up; something was bound to get lost in the tide).

As early as 3rd level, Azoth gains the ability to turn invisible for a round every three rounds, granting him SA and Iaijutsu Focus against any enemies that can’t see invisible opponents (for either one attack with Skirmish, or using a full attack to get two attacks from TWF).

To start this discussion, we need to differentiate between two very similar situations: Denying opponents DEX to AC, and being flatfooted. What’s the difference between the two? The difference that we’re concerned with is that Iajutsu Focus specifically requires that we attack flatfooted enemies. Denying DEX to AC isn’t enough (unlike with Sneak Attacking), we specifically need to be attacking flatfooted enemies for Iajutsu Focus to do damage.

So now we have raised that point of difference, we can start with Invisibility: Invisibilty denies opponents DEX to AC, but does not cause opponents to be flat-footed. Iajutsu Focus doesn’t work here.


Much At 8th level, he gets Shadow Blend from his Dark Moon Disciple Monk ACF. Unless he’s in full daylight (or daylight) he gets total concealment, which inflicts the flat-footed condition on all opponents versus his attacks. As I explained in the breakdown, I’m pretty sure that true seeing and Darkvision are not enough to penetrate this concealment (if it works in a fully lit room, why would seeing through darkness penetrate it?), so as long as you’re not ambushed during the day, or your opponents both have daylight prepared and deduce your weakness to it, you should be getting full SA (barring immune opponents) and Iaijutsu Focus on almost every attack from this point onwards. Blindsight is a potential problem, but that’s why we’ve got Darkstalker and max ranks in Hide/Move Silently.

I’m interested in getting some clarification here. I haven’t found the rule that states that attacks from Total Concealment specifically cause opponents to be flat-footed when you’re attacking. Would you be able to reference the material that discusses how attacking when you have Total Concealment works? I’d love to improve my knowledge of the area.


For the situations where Shadow Blend is impossible (or if the DM rules that it is more easily penetrated than I believe), at 10th level Azoth gets at-will blink from Invisible Fist. In addition to seriously reducing the number of spells and attacks he gets hit by, it makes opponents that can’t see ethereal foes flat-footed versus his attacks, and (once again assuming my interpretation of how the cooldown works holds up) he can have it up constantly as long as he has an immediate action to spend on that third round (though doing so gives him a 20% miss chance as well, so just relying on Shadow Blend is typically optimal unless it’s been cancelled or he needs to go on the defensive).

Blink specifies that DEX to AC is being denied. As discussed earlier, this isn’t the same as being flatfooted.

Quote Originally Posted by Elegance

Warblade is described as a frontline combatant in the same way a Barbarian and a Fighter are. You’re making a sneaky ambush attacker, so having a frontline fighter-type level mixed in doesn’t feel like it belongs to the rest of the build, flavour-wise, even if the personality of the character gels. (-0.25 points)
This one is far more minor, but since I’m already disputing, I might as well bring it up. As in the inspirational material I’m drawing from*, the difference between Azoth (and other Dark Moon Disciples) and a typical assassin is that his magic makes him into a juggernaut in open battle as well as in stealth. With total concealment and possibly blink halving his damage taken and multiplying his damage given, he’s fully capable of wading into the spree. This becomes even truer once he gets Robilar’s Gambit, which in conjunction with Mercurial Strike lets him do the same even if Shadow Blend and/or Invisible Fist are countered (and even makes dropping Shadow Blend deliberately a viable strategy).

*The Night Angel trilogy, which I highly recommend. It manages to blend one of the darkest/grimmest settings I’ve ever seen with a remarkable degree of idealism; the result is a unique combination of heart-wrenching and uplifting. Oh, and it’s totally badass. My Azoth is far closer to Hu Gibbet (a psychotic butcher of a wetboy) than to the highly sympathetic actual main character Azoth, but I was unable to resist the pun (Azoth is a term for “mercury” in alchemy, and Mercurial Strike features rather prominently in the build).

So let’s put two character descriptions together and see if they’re similar or not:

“They’ll [the party] likely have to work their way up to actually containing and beating him [Azoth] over the course of several encounters (and levels) across the campaign. Once he takes down his actual target, he’ll likely attack any pursuing PCs from an ambush, landing a few high-damage blows to discourage them, and then just leave while they debate the risks of continuing to follow him.”

“The warblade was born for conflict. Swift, strong, enduring, utterly confident in his martial skills, he seeks to test himself against worthy foes. Battle is beautiful to him – a perfect moment in which life hangs suspended on the bright edge of a sword… A warblade is a front-line melee combatant, much like a Fighter or Barbarian. He engages his enemies toe to toe and defeats them through skill at arms.”

Do you think that the two character descriptions given here are for a similar character? It’s my opinion that they aren’t.


Quote Originally Posted by Power
Although I’ve complained about the Warblade dip later, here I’m going to show my appreciation that you’ve taken some build resources to deal with status effects with Iron Heart (+0.25 points)
Actually, I must confess that I didn’t take Iron Heart Surge, the classic anti-status effect counter. Wall of Steel is still useful for being able to deflect rays, which impose some of the worst status effects in the game (up to and including “dead”), but not on the same level as IHS. With total concealment and 50% failure chance from blink (if he has enough forewarning to have that up; by no means a guarantee) he’s still pretty resistant to status effects, but I’m not sure I actually earned that +.25.


The 0.25 points added to your score is for making a deliberate effort with your character build to take options that allow you to deal with status effects. That you’ve done so with Wall of Steel instead of Iron Heart Surge wouldn’t change the fact that I’d still award a small points bonus to your score for doing it. I’ll amend my judging notes in this instance but this won’t change your score.

Look forward to hearing from you regarding my other comments.

[Macabaret]

Quoth the Raven's Shadow:


Thanks for your response! I nearly choked when I realized you were right that there's nothing in the SRD that says total concealment forces the flat-footed condition, but it turns out there was a method to my madness (that's what I get for not noting down where I found the rules that my build is based on).


To start this discussion, we need to differentiate between two very similar situations: Denying opponents DEX to AC, and being flatfooted. What’s the difference between the two? The difference that we’re concerned with is that Iajutsu Focus specifically requires that we attack flatfooted enemies. Denying DEX to AC isn’t enough (unlike with Sneak Attacking), we specifically need to be attacking flatfooted enemies for Iajutsu Focus to do damage.

So now we have raised that point of difference, we can start with Invisibility: Invisibilty denies opponents DEX to AC, but does not cause opponents to be flat-footed. Iajutsu Focus doesn’t work here.

I’m interested in getting some clarification here. I haven’t found the rule that states that attacks from Total Concealment specifically cause opponents to be flat-footed when you’re attacking. Would you be able to reference the material that discusses how attacking when you have Total Concealment works? I’d love to improve my knowledge of the area.

Wow, this was way harder to find than it had any right to be, but I finally tracked down proof that hiding actually makes your opponents flat-footed. I can't believe it's not just part of the SRD description of Hide or Total Concealment (it seems like such an intuitive thing), but it is part of the Rules Compendium description of Hide. EDIT: Actually, I guess it does make a demented kind of sense that the rules on stealth are hard to find.


If you’re successfully hidden with respect to another creature, that creature is flat-footed with respect to you. That creature treats you as if you were invisible (see page 76).

Total concealment against a creature means you are automatically hidden from them (and Darkstalker lets him benefit from this even against foes with Blindsight, though he does have to actually beat their roll to be considered hidden from them).

The Rules Compendium section on Invisibility also makes clear that invisibility grants total concealment by clarifying that even pinpointing such a creature with Spot, Listen, or sense of touch doesn't negate their total concealment. Therefore, invisibility also forces the flat-footed condition. (It also grants a +20 to +40 bonus on the Hide check against creatures with Blindsight).

Blink is actually much more iffy; you could argue that you count as hidden because even though you are visible some of the time, emerging from automatic successful hiding (total concealment from etherealness) and then attacking is pretty analogous to sneaking up on someone while hidden and then attacking (-5 per 5ft moved out of concealment comes out to -0 here), which does render the target flat-footed. However, I could see a DM ruling either way on this one; after all, they can see the attack itself (unless it becomes corporeal inside their body, I guess). Regardless, Azoth does get Sneak Attack by using this while Shadow Blend has been shut down by magical or mundane daylight.



So let’s put two character descriptions together and see if they’re similar or not:

“They’ll [the party] likely have to work their way up to actually containing and beating him [Azoth] over the course of several encounters (and levels) across the campaign. Once he takes down his actual target, he’ll likely attack any pursuing PCs from an ambush, landing a few high-damage blows to discourage them, and then just leave while they debate the risks of continuing to follow him.”

“The warblade was born for conflict. Swift, strong, enduring, utterly confident in his martial skills, he seeks to test himself against worthy foes. Battle is beautiful to him – a perfect moment in which life hangs suspended on the bright edge of a sword… A warblade is a front-line melee combatant, much like a Fighter or Barbarian. He engages his enemies toe to toe and defeats them through skill at arms.”

Do you think that the two character descriptions given here are for a similar character? It’s my opinion that they aren’t.

Fair enough, but if I may provide an alternate quote:

Azoth stretched ostentatiously. Redundancy, check, flexibility, check, and power, double check. How long had it been since he’d gotten to go all out? Too long, he thought with a grin. “Anyone who wants leave, you should–”

He lunged into action.

The quote about retreating is largely due to lack of investment in a fight with a bunch of random adventurers (and metagame, is intended to let said PCs survive their first encounter with him while still getting a solid grasp of his capabilities); I was also picturing it as a relatively low-level Azoth (and thus a far less melee-capable one) up against an equally low-level group of adventurers as part of the 'recurring villain across the campaign' thing I was talking about.

Still, I suppose I can't deny that an invisible, unarmored Halfling is probably not what the designers were picturing when they built Warblade.


Side Note: I just realized something kind of weird. Successfully hiding from someone once means you count as invisible to them, which gives you a +20 to +40 bonus to subsequent Hide checks against them. Talk about a positive feedback loop.

[pabelfly]

Okay, Azoth. Thanks for responding and clarifying these rules, I found it very helpful.

So let's go back to my initial judging objection, and break it in two:

"The power of your character is rather inconsistent and I don’t think it has to be. When you ambush enemies, you’ll have sneak attack, Iajutsu Focus, and probably skirmish damage all activating at once. Once enemies get to attack, your damage output drops quite a bit."

I believe you've quite adequately addressed this first half of my point. Thank you for taking the time to do it.

Now to the second half of my point: "You’ve taken stuff like Acrobatic Backstab, Mercurial Strike and Hidden Blade to give you extra opportunities to trigger Sneak Attack and Iajutsu Focus, you should be getting them as early as you can instead of level 14 or 15. I think this would help quite a bit with power consistency."

I still don't believe this point has been. You rely on Sneak Attack and Iajutsu Focus for damage, you've decided that the abilities listed are worth spending resources for in your character build. I am of the opinion that you should be getting these as soon as possible for your character - more opportunities to make flatfooted attacks to get Sneak Attack and iajutsu Focus damage is good - and you have not done so.

I consider the point half-addressed. Thus, I'm changing the point deduction from -1 to -0.5 points. Let me know if there is anything else I might have overlooked or not considered properly in my judgement of your character build.

[Macabaret]

It looks like disputes have wound down. I have a busy weekend here, but I'll check again come Monday. If there aren't any more disputes then, I'll post the reveal and we'll move on. The next round's ingredients have been chosen and I'm sure you'll all find them to be perfectly eeeevviiillll. Or, I suppose, I should say: [evil]!

[Macabaret]

A great many thanks to pabelfly for judging!



Place
Entry
Entrant
Score


Gold
Azoth, The Raven’s Shadow
PoeticallyPsyco
17


Co-Silver
Quake, Dragonborn Warforged Paladin of Freedom
Gauntlet
16.5


Co-Silver
Bruce, Neuteral Good Goliath
Darkcouch
16.5


4th
Lord O'ord
jdizzlean
14


Co-5th
Sansa, Dragon of War
DeTess
11.5


Co-5th
Dwarceress/Dragonbwarferess
daremetoidareyo
11.5



Congrats to PoeticallyPsyco, Gauntlet, and Darkcouch for their medals.

[pabelfly]

Congrats to PoeticallyPsyco, Gauntlet, and Darkcouch for their medals.

Agreed, congratulations on your entries.

[Macabaret]

The next round's ingredients have been chosen and I'm sure you'll all find them to be perfectly eeeevviiillll. Or, I suppose, I should say: [evil]!

Don't say you weren't warned. [Evil] is now up and running here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?598151-Junkyard-Wars-XXVII-US-M-A&p=24149710#post24149710).

[DeTess]

I've already said it, but it bears repeating: My thanks to Pabelfy for judging. Furthermore, congrats to the medalists!

[pabelfly]

I've already said it, but it bears repeating: My thanks to Pabelfy for judging. Furthermore, congrats to the medalists!

Sansa was a pretty interesting entry. Keen to see what you come up with the next time you enter one of these competitions.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Yep, great work judging! Your analysis was thorough, and you handled disputes with aplomb.