Iron Chef Optimization Challenge: E6 Appetizer Edition (Round XX)

[Zaq]

Welcome back to the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge E6 Appetizer Edition! We've got another high-originality round on our hands, so you're gonna have to show off how creative you are to shine here!

The form of this challenge is to take a particular D&D 3.5 base class (our "secret ingredient," or SI) and turn it into a functional E6 (https://esix.pbworks.com/f/E6v041.pdf) build, which must feature the SI as heavily as possible. (The only hard rule about this is that you must take at least one level in the SI, though judges are encouraged to look favorably on builds that take as many levels as possible in said SI.) Your final build submission should consist of your 6 regular levels and your first 10 epic bonus feats, though providing a snapshot at earlier points through the progression is heartily encouraged. Entries are to be PM'd to the Chair (that would be me!), and they will be posted anonymously; our volunteer judges will then grade each build on a 1-5 point scale in three categories: Power, Elegance, and Use of the Secret Ingredient. The builds will also be graded on a 1-10 point scale in another category: Originality. The builds with the highest three scores will be awarded medals, with the Honorable Mention award going to the non-medaling build that the Chair likes best and/or that receives the most votes for HM in this thread. (HM may not always be awarded, particularly if the number of builds is very small.) And then we all have cake!*

*Note: You must provide your own cake.

This is basically like the regular Iron Chef, and let's be brutally honest with ourselves here: this isn't a gargantuan community, and we basically all know what we're talking about at this point. Make the builds, send 'em in, post some scores, and have fun. If you've got questions, lemme know. Still, let's lay out a few rules!

Cooking Time: Builds must be submitted via PM to the Chair by 4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, October 14, 2019 (1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, October 15). The reveal shall be on the first evening the Chair has free following the cooking deadline, which is hoped to be that evening or the immediately subsequent one—I'll do my best, anyway. Judging is then encouraged to go as quickly as possible; if multiple judges volunteer, we'll set about a two-week window, but if we only get one judge, we'll try to wrap up as soon as possible after that judge presents scores. (I will admit that the deadline time may not be an exact science, but don't hide from me and we'll probably be cool.)
Kitchen: Let's break this one down a bit.



ALLOWED: Almost all D&D 3.5 material published by WotC: Core, Completes, monster books, Races Of books, alternate power source books (Expanded Psionics Handbook, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, etc.), Spell Compendium, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, Eberron material, Forgotten Realms material, and other WotC-published 3.5 material. (This list is NOT exhaustive and there are many other legal books that I did not mention by name!)
ALLOWED: Material from the 3.5 archives of the Wizards of the Coast website (including, but not limited to, the Mind's Eye articles). If you use it, link it.
ALLOWED: Official errata from WotC. If you're relying on this in a material fashion, it's a good idea to link it and to discuss it.
NOT ALLOWED: Unofficial errata, including "class fixes" (regardless of the source, including from the original author if not published in a WotC book) or fan-created content.
ALLOWED: Unupdated WotC-published 3.0 material (e.g., Sword and Fist, Masters of the Wild, etc.) except for 3.0 psionics. No 3.0 psionics allowed. If you are using 3.0 material, use the general-purpose skill updates (Wilderness Lore becomes Survival, Innuendo becomes Bluff, etc.) and the general-purpose rules updates (spells with a casting time of "1 action" become "1 standard action," etc.) when appropriate.
NOT ALLOWED: 3.0 material for which a direct 3.5 update exists. Use the updated material instead.
ALLOWED: Dragon Compendium and its errata (http://paizo.com/download/dragon/compendium/DragonCompendiumVolumeIErrata.pdf).
NOT ALLOWED: Content from Dragon Magazine and/or Dungeon Magazine unless said content appears in an otherwise allowed source.
ALLOWED: Oriental Adventures, including the 3.5 update to Oriental Adventures from Dragon Magazine #318. This is a specific exception to the "no Dragon" rule!
NOT ALLOWED: Pathfinder content, regardless of whether it is "D&D 3.5 OGL" or not. If it didn't come from WotC, we don't want it.
ALLOWED: From Unearthed Arcana: racial paragon classes, alternate class features/variant classes, spelltouched feats, and variant races. (Traits and flaws are technically legal, but traits warrant a -0.5 point penalty in Elegance, and flaws warrant a -1 penalty in Elegance.)
NOT ALLOWED: Other Unearthed Arcana content, including (but not limited to) bloodlines, LA buyoff, fractional BAB/saves, alternate casting systems, alternate skill systems, item familiars, prestigious character classes, generic classes, gestalt, etc. When you're wondering if UA content is allowed, err on the side of caution and don't mess around with it.
NOT ALLOWED: Leadership, regardless of source. Game elements functionally equivalent to Leadership (including, but not limited to, Dragon Cohort, Undead Leadership, and Thrallherd) are similarly banned. (Familiars, Improved Familiar, animal companions, Wild Cohort, psicrystals, elemental envoys, and similar game elements are allowed, and they are not considered to be "Leadership." If the difference isn't obvious, feel free to contact the Chair with specific questions.)
NOT ALLOWED: Third-party content, homebrew, or other non-WotC content.
NOT ALLOWED: Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook. Just because you're "epic" in E6 after 6th level doesn't mean that you're that kind of epic.
NOT ALLOWED: Any race or template with a level adjustment other than +0. (Or any other source of LA other than a race or template, if any such things exist.)
NOT ALLOWED: For our judges: penalizing solely based on legal sources used, regardless of whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between. If the material is legal, then it doesn't matter how many or how few books it came out of.
ALLOWED: Also for our judges: penalizing for using a source (other than material in Core; don't be vindictive about genuinely obvious stuff) that isn't listed in the build writeup. The chef may choose to present the sources in-line with the text, in a consolidated source list, or somewhere else, but if the source is listed (and is otherwise legal), it counts. If the source is not listed, you may choose to penalize for that.

If you have questions about anything in this section (or hell, in this ruleset), feel free to ask the Chair.

Character Creation: 32 point buy is assumed. For the purposes of this contest, Level Adjustment greater than +0 is banned. (This may be revised at a later point, but I don't feel that the E6 LA rules are conducive to fun in the context of this contest.) No more than two entries per chef per contest, please; if you submit two builds and somehow are so overcome with inspiration for a third that you can't help yourself, PM me and tell me which two you care about the most.
Highlighted because of past issues: It is not enough for your build to end with a level adjustment of +0. You must be +0 from start to finish. No using ANY build elements with a level adjustment above +0, even if they then get mitigated or reduced somehow.
Speculation: Please do not post any form of speculation before the reveal. Just don't do it, guys. It's not cool. This means NOT posting any of the following or anything substantially similar: what you think is going to be common, significant elements of your planned build or of other potential builds, or anything else that could directly influence someone else's build choices for good or for ill. (It's acceptable to ask for rules clarifications as appropriate, but try to avoid tipping your hand too much.) Speculation is bad because it can discourage people from posting builds and can also "taint the judging pool" when it comes to Originality, so please just try to be aware of how other people might react to your speculation.
E6: Here's how E6 works for the purposes of this contest. Build your character normally for the first six levels. After you reach level 6, you stop gaining levels and start gaining bonus feats every time you would gain 5,000 XP. Since we aren't actually tracking XP, you'll basically list your first ten epic bonus feats in the order that you take them, and we think of them as being kind of like levels. We will not use the LA-equals-reduced-point-buy rules, instead preferring to just ban races with LA, at least for now. We will not use the "capstone feats"; all feats that you take must be normal legal 3.5 feats, not homebrew E6 ones. You may not use the Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook, though if for some reason there are non-Epic feats from the ELH that you qualify for, you may take those. (I don't think there are any, but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong.) It is up to the discretion of each judge whether this is a "hard E6" (magic above 3rd level spells is simply beyond mortal reach, items that have a listed CL above 6th are just plain not available, etc.) or a "soft E6" (if you can somehow get the magic on your character, it's yours, regardless of level), though I honestly don't expect it to come up. Don't go crazy with making assumptions about items and we probably won't have to find out.
Presentation: Please use the table found below in the spoiler. List your epic bonus feats (in clear order) after the table. If you find a clever way of formatting that that isn't annoying and that doesn't break anything, have fun; if it's portable, I may steal it for the next round. When sending your build or any disputes to the Chair, clearly include your build's name in the subject of the PM, and please present your build exactly as you want the Chair to copy and paste it into the thread.
If you're using a picture, cite the source and follow any relevant citation rules. Because we have had issues with this in the past, when listing your skills, please make it very clear how many ranks you have at each level. There are multiple ways to do this and we do not wish to cramp anyone's individual style by dictating exactly how this must look, but make sure that somewhere in your entry there's an explanation of how many actual skill ranks you have. It's still fine to list total skill bonuses, if that's your style, but don't only list bonuses; make sure that there is a clear listing somewhere of your ranks alone.

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


Code for the table:

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

Contest houserules: Nearly the same as the main contest's rules here: all creatures are proficient with natural weapons they have or may acquire, bonus feats that are explicitly granted without meeting prereqs are usable even without those prereqs, and feats that affect which skills are class skills for you and/or how you spend your skill points (Able Learner, Martial Study, Truename Training, Apprentice, etc.) apply immediately at the level at which you take them (even though you normally spend skill points before taking a feat). When taking Open Minded as an epic feat, any skill that has ever been a class skill for you (including through your class, your race, your feats, or similar game elements, though please don't muck around with retroactively making something stop being a class skill for some stupid reason) is a class skill when determining how the 5 granted skill points may be spent. All usual rules about HD-related skill caps apply. When taking Open Minded as a non-epic feat, treat it as normal; the class skills of the class you took at the level you gained Open Minded (plus race, feats, etc.) are your class skills for those skill points, similar to if Open Minded's skill points came straight from your class.
Judging guidelines: The minimum score in a category is 1, and the maximum is 5 (except in Originality for high-orig rounds like this one, where the max is 10). Judges are expected to be fair, consistent, and open-minded, and they are expected to make a good-faith effort to engage with any reasonable disputes that arise, especially when RAW is in question. That said, contestants are asked to not dispute more than necessary; let's do everything in good faith and really only dispute when a judge is being inconsistent, being unfair, or is otherwise grossly misinterpreting a build.
Judges may not penalize Originality solely because a build is a tribute or homage to an existing creative work (in or out of D&D canon; note that this is not the same thing as penalizing Originality for using well-known optimization tactics), nor may judges penalize based solely on sources used (whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between, you should judge the build elements and how they work together rather than what book or what books they came out of, as long as those books are legal for this contest and are cited in the entry).
As with the main contest, we will follow the "One Mistake, One Penalty" guideline, and it is very important that the judges adhere to it. I'm going to directly copy and paste this from the main thread, and hopefully the original author won't mind too much:
Judges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.

Non-exhaustive list of examples:

Skills
Allowed:

Giving a penalty for miscalculating the number of skill points gained
Giving a penalty for not having enough ranks to meet a prerequisite
Increasing the harshness of a skill miscalculation penalty if it affects critical skills including prereqs


Not allowed:

Giving separate penalties for miscalculating skill points and for non-qualification where the non-qualification is solely caused by the miscalculation



Prereqs
Allowed:

Giving a penalty for not meeting prereqs
Scaling the penalty depending on how important the item that the build failed to qualify for is
Giving minimum score in UotSI for not qualifying for the SI
Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes other than the SI that were not qualified for (but see below)


Not Allowed:

"Cascading" failures to qualify - declaring that because a build doesn't qualify for a feat, for example, it also doesn't qualify for anything using that feat as a prereq
Treating a build as having fewer levels than it does because of FtQ for classes



Other general things that are no longer allowed:

Penalising because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalise if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.


Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified.
Dispute guidelines (NEW, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION): Disputing is long, annoying, and emotional. It's also sometimes necessary, but it's often not actually something that makes everyone have more fun. Let's go into a little more detail here.
Do NOT dispute to make an argument that goes fundamentally beyond what's in your write-up. It is the responsibility of the chef to make sure that the write-up is complete and contains their best arguments for what the build does and why it's awesome. If you didn't explain your tactics well or didn't spell out something that a judge misses, just do better next time. Don't drag it out after the fact.
Do NOT dispute just to be clever or witty or cheeky. Please. We're all adults here and so I assume you know what that means. Don't treat the build as a setup and your oh-so-clever dispute as the punchline. It's not as funny as it is in your head. Trust me. I've been down that road.
Do NOT dispute just to say "oh yeah, my bad, I missed that" or some equivalent. If you're not directly challenging the judge, save the commentary until after the reveal. I 100% get that the urge to respond to commentary is very strong, but type it out and sit on it for a while if you've gotta.
Do NOT dispute just to try to wheedle more points out of the judge. Note that this is different from saying that the judge is being truly unfair or is being truly wrong by black-and-white RAW. A dispute is NOT the place to try to scrape together a few last quarter-points. If you didn't put it in your write-up, that's on you. This also means that a dispute is really not the place to have long back-and-forth tit-for-tat arguments. That's a surefire way to get people grumpy. It's a contest on a D&D board, guys, not the results of a federal election.
Do NOT dispute to tear down another build. That's just plain not cool. If you entered the contest, it's not on you to judge the other builds.
DO dispute if the judge is being blatantly biased by giving you a substantially different ruling on a build element compared to another chef who used the same build element in nearly the same way. (Note that position in a build may affect if you're using that element in "nearly the same way" or not.) Please reserve this for the truly blatant examples. I mean it. Remember, it's the contestant's responsibility to make their best argument in the original write-up.
DO dispute if the judge is actively going against the contest rules. Note that there are relatively few ways in which a judge can go against contest rules (we intentionally give very wide discretion to our judges), but examples include truly breaking One Mistake One Penalty, penalizing just because of number of sources of (legal) material, and so on.
DO dispute if the judge is clearly ignoring unambiguous RAW. Note that this is for unambiguous RAW; if the RAW is shady and you're making an argument that isn't completely clear and that it wouldn't be strange for a GM to frown on, the judge has every right to frown on it as well. (You generally know when you're indulging in shady RAW. Be mature about this.) But if the judge is saying you didn't hit a prereq that you clearly did hit (and included in your write-up!), saying you can't do something that the plain text of the ability says you can do, or anything like that, by all means, call 'em out.
Do NOT dispute if the judge doesn't agree with your interpretation of ambiguous RAW. Yes, this is a retread of the previous bullet point; this is that important. If you're relying on ambiguous RAW, it's on you to lay out clearly why it should work the way you want it to work. Again, be mature and act in good faith: you really know when you're pushing things like this. If they don't like it, they don't like it. Move on.


Disputing is a privilege, not a right. In the Chair's sole discretion, disputes that do not meet these guidelines and/or that do not seem to be offered in good faith may be suppressed.


Other bits and bobs: If there's something major and relevant I haven't mentioned, assume that the way I handle it will probably be the same as the main contest unless stated otherwise or unless doing so would be an obviously absurd result. If you've got questions, I'll give you answers.




This round's secret ingredient:
the INCARNATE, from Magic of Incarnum!
Allez Optimizer!

The Builds:


Chef
Name
Race / Alignment
Stub
Score
Rank


Quentinas
Elec Tri (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205261&postcount=33)
LN Lesser Mechanatrix
Incarnate 6
14
2nd, silver


jdizzlean
Feth Her (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205262&postcount=34)
NG Sparrow Hengeyokai
Druid 1 / Incarnate 1 / Battle Sorc 1 / Incarnate +3
10
6th, HM


MinimanMidget
Flaylinn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205266&postcount=35)
CN Neraph
Incarnate 6
16
1st, gold


Gauntlet
Grace (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205270&postcount=36)
NG Azurin
Incarnate 3 / Ardent 2 / Soul Manifester 1
11.5
4th


Falontani
Shade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205272&postcount=37)
NE Changeling
Rogue 1 / Tiefling Paragon 2 / Incarnate 3
12
3rd, bronze


Quentinas
Soultob (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205274&postcount=38)
NE Desert Orc
Incarnate 5 / Warblade 1
11
5th






Round 4: Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?542333-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(IV))
Round 5: Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?548763-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-V))
Round 6: Racial Paragon Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?551174-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VI))
Round 7: Hexblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?553767-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VII))
Round 8: Shugenja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555626-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VIII))
Round 9: Swashbuckler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559135-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-IX)")
Round 10: Crusader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?562183-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-X))
Round 11: Soulknife (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565669-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XI))
Round 12: Factotum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569723-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XII))
Round 13: Prestige Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572441-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIII))
Round 14: Mountebank (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576318-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIV))
Round 15: Sorcerer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582751-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XV))
Round 16: Dragon Shaman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585121-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVI))
Round 17: Lurk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588149-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVII))
Round 18: Paladin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591516-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVIII))
Round 19: Scout (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?595369-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIX))



Round 1: Divine Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?197000-Iron-Chef-Appetizer-Edition!-(e6))
Round 2: Monk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?201548-Iron-Chef-Appetizer-Edition!-(e6)-II)
Round 3: Marshal (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?235221-Iron-Chef-Appetizer-Edition-(E6)-III)

[Zaq]

Here's a few gentle recommendations that are intended to improve scores and make things easier for the judges. As always, THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS POST ARE NOT RULES. Judges and contestants are free to honor them or ignore them; my intent here is only to help, and NONE of what I'm saying here is required. (That said, did you see the new dispute guidelines? Those ARE rules, so please go read them.)

Recommendations:
Double-check ALL of your prereqs. Every. Single. One. Feats, PrCs, whatever. You might even go so far as to spell out when you meet each one, but again, that's not a requirement. But one of the single biggest causes of point loss is failure to meet prereqs.
Tell the judges what's cool about your build! You spent hours or days on this (y'know, probably) and know it inside and out, but the judges are getting a whole bunch of these dishes all at once and don't know the build history of each one. You're significantly more likely to score well if you spell out exactly what makes you awesome than if you try to just let it stand on its own.
Make it easy to read! Skill tables are awful, though they're an incredibly necessary evil. Full Monster Manual-style statblocks are occasionally useful but are also insanely dense if not formatted well. Judges are very likely to miss something if you aren't careful with how you present your info. Remember that judging takes a lot of time, energy, and focus, so don't rely on the judge being willing/able to decode something in order to see what makes you interesting!
Be memorable. Remember that we're all using the same ingredient here. What makes you different?

Okay, let me be as clear as I can here: the incarnate's whole deal is flexibility. We've all got access to (nearly) all the same soulmelds and can theoretically swap them in as needed. This means that you need to make it abso-freaking-lutely crystal clear which melds you favor. Yes, yes, the whole point is flexibility, and we get that, but if you don't say that you're using a specific meld or a specific bind, don't get mad if another build gets credit for saying that they ARE using that meld just because you theoretically could too.

This is so important I'm going to repeat it, but in boldface rather than underlined.


You need to make it abso-freaking-lutely crystal clear which melds you favor. Yes, yes, the whole point is flexibility, and we get that, but if you don't say that you're using a specific meld or a specific bind, don't get mad if another build gets credit for saying that they ARE using that meld just because you theoretically could too.

SPELL. IT. OUT. Say what you're using and when you're using it. It's okay to bake in some flexibility! It's okay to embrace your swap-every-day nature! But in a high-originality round where everyone's playing with the same toys, you're going to live and die by making your tactics absolutely transparent and by really highlighting what your plans are. We all understand that flexibility is important, but don't assume that the judges will make favorable assumptions about stuff you don't spell out.

Anyway! I've had a blast with several incarnates in E6 and in E6-like environments, so I know for a fact that there's fertile ground to be mined here. (What do you mean, mixed metaphors?) Get in there and embody some alignments for me!

[Zaq]

Last post from me for a while: because this is the October round, I did consider using a "spooky" class like shadowcaster or dread necromancer, but I'm wary of the DN having enough variety to support the creativity we like, and I still haven't gotten enough ironclad commitment to the shadowcaster to be convinced that we'll get enough entries to fill up a podium.

That said, if I get an immediate and massive outpouring of support for the shadowcaster, I'd consider changing the ingredient and letting everyone dress up as gothic (goffik?) edgelords for Halloween. But I'd need to have at least three or four people express a true commitment to the shadowcaster right now. You know, if that's your thing.

[jdizzlean]

i'm good w/ incarnate.

[DeTess]

Just dropping a marker on the thread for now. If I find the time, I do like taking a shot at the incarnate though.

[WhamBamSam]

Interesting. I've missed a few rounds of this contest, so I'll see if I can come up with something for this one.

[Vrock Bait]

Gah! Incarnum! I can do psionics, maneuvers, and freaking ghost classes, but I’m terrible with Incarnum. Oh well, time to wipe the dust off my copy of Magic of Incarnum.

[Falontani]

Got an idea that might just work because of E6

[Vrock Bait]

What if we say, took the epic feats from the DMG? That was the original, better epic system. Can we cheese the rules of a cheese competition?

[DeTess]

What if we say, took the epic feats from the DMG? That was the original, better epic system. Can we cheese the rules of a cheese competition?



NOT ALLOWED: Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook. Just because you're "epic" in E6 after 6th level doesn't mean that you're that kind of epic.


Sorry, that doesn't work in this comp :P

[Quentinas]

I would be better with a shadowcaster rather than with an Incarnum class i will admit that but let's see if inspiration strikes

[Vrock Bait]

Sorry, that doesn't work in this comp :P
No, they don’t appear in the Epic Level Handbook. Eat my cheese. Technically, since it was an update, Epic Level Handbook is as outdated as the Type Pyramid.

[Quentinas]

I'm pretty sure that would be inelegant, i have think at feats that appeared in other books but never took them .
As another thing for the Halloween theme, another spooky class maybe is the death master from the Dragon Magazine Compendium i don't think it was already used no?

[Zaq]

What if we say, took the epic feats from the DMG? That was the original, better epic system. Can we cheese the rules of a cheese competition?

No. No again. Still no.

[Vrock Bait]

No. No again. Still no.
Sorry, my rule lawyering extends outside of D&D.

[jdizzlean]

i spent some time thinking about this tonight. i immediately came up w/ 3 crazy ideas. the first has gone down the rabbit hole. the hard part will be choosing between the other 2...

[MinimanMidget]

I have a really objectively terrible idea that I really want to do.

[Zaq]

I have a really objectively terrible idea that I really want to do.

Dooooo eeeeet.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I have a really objectively terrible idea that I really want to do.

Yeeeesssss... let your hate flow through you.

In all seriousness, it's the stupid but fun ideas that tend to be the most... well, fun. Look at my grappling halfling builds from last round. Those were born of me saying to myself "Let's make a grappling scout. And then, might as well make them halflings, too, because at this point all reason has gone out the window." I had a total blast making them, and spent literal days cackling to myself as I envisioned them in action.

[MinimanMidget]

Actually, having delved into it a bit more I'm going to save it for a future round. I just have to hope that I still remember it by the time that [REDACTED] is chosen as the SI.

[Quentinas]

Well for now i have two idea now i have to put them in a table

[Zaq]

Slightly more than 72 hours remain! This weekend is the big push.

I apologize for being late with this. I promised a few rulings a while ago and just have not had the chance to get to it (yaaaay finals week!). Better late than never:


Shape Soulmeld is a “bonus” meld that does not count against the number of melds granted by your class or classes.
Open X Chakra (the feats) provide “bonus” binds that do not count against the number of binds granted by your class or classes.
Please do not use necropolitan even though it technically does not have LA. It still costs you a level and I don’t have an elegant way of accounting for that, so just don’t.


As you were!

[Zaq]

Fewer than 48 hours remain! Build build build!

[Quentinas]

EDIT: Extension not needed i have submitted my two builds so i will wait for the reveal

[Zaq]

Guys. I need more entries. How long do ya need to get me some builds?

I have a couple, but not enough yet.

[Gauntlet]

I can do one for you tomorrow probably. I don't think it's very original but I'm happy to submit it.

[MinimanMidget]

I can do one quickly tonight - it's not ideal, but it can go in this round.

[Falontani]

I'll get you one after I get home tonight if you'd like

[Zaq]

I can do one for you tomorrow probably. I don't think it's very original but I'm happy to submit it.


I can do one quickly tonight - it's not ideal, but it can go in this round.


I'll get you one after I get home tonight if you'd like

You’re all rock stars.

[Falontani]

You’re all rock stars.
You're a rock star too!
But no I already had an interesting idea, although whoever judges it will probably [unnecessary comment]. But you know I expect it

[MinimanMidget]

Submitted. Fortunately (or unfortunately, really), I came up with an even dumber idea than the dumb idea I originally had.

[Zaq]

Pencils down!

[Zaq]

Build the first!


Elec Tri LN lesser mechanatrix incarnate 6
He was born in a Material plane descended from one of the outsider of the Law and he did not talk so much with the other being near his age, too much chaotic for his taste, he liked the rules and being honorable while they liked to avoid or break except some of them but they did not dislike so much the other one so he grow alone basically . He has seen that he could use his touch to folgorate something or someone but only one time for day and it was explained that was because he was a mechanatrix. He was sad when they say that he has seen that his touch could intimidate the other one and doing that only one time for day was not so good . Then he grow and started studying searching information on from who he has descended , while other studied magic or the art of the war he studied the outsider and the law to see if he had breaked a rule for not studying other discipline. But he had to study some way to defend himself and then he had the illumination , it was said that the soul in the Outer Planes was a strong thing (there was who even used them for spell) and so why he could not use his soul , he descended from outsider no? He asked this to a teacher and he indicated an ancient hall that was said that was founded by someone who wanted to fight with his soul, that he wanted to fight using the incarnum , and so he discovered that strange magic
From that year passed so much time , and now he is working to preserve the law in an honorable way without breaking any law but is not easy many being



Stat
Point Buy
Final

Strength
16 (10 point)
16 (no change)

Dexterity
15 (8 point)
13 (-2 racial)

Constitution
15 (8 point)
17 (+2 racial)

Intelligence
12 (4 point)
14 (+2 racial)

Wisdom
10 (2 point)
10 (no change)

Charisma
8 (0 point)
6 (-2 racial)

The 4th level point go to constitution



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


1st
Incarnate 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge (the planes) 4, Heal 1, Knowledge religion 4, Spellcraft 2
Healing Soul
Aura, detect opposition


2nd
Incarnate 2
+1
+3
+0
+2
Knowledge (arcana) 5, Knowledge (the planes) 5, Heal 1, Knowledge religion 5, Spellcraft 3

Chakra bind (crown)


3rd
Incarnate 3
+1
+3
+1
+3
Knowledge (arcana) 6, Knowledge (the planes) 6, Heal 1, Knowledge religion 6, Spellcraft 4
Azure toughness
Expanded soulmeld capacity +1, incarnum radiance 1/day


4th
Incarnate 4
+2
+4
+1
+4
Knowledge (arcana) 7, Knowledge (the planes) 7, Heal 1, Knowledge religion 7, Spellcraft 5

Chakra binds (feet, hands)


5th
Incarnate 5
+2
+4
+1
+4
Knowledge (arcana) 8, Knowledge (the planes) 8, Heal 1, Knowledge religion 8, Spellcraft 6

Rapid Meldshaping 1/day


6th
Incarnate 6
+3
+5
+2
+5
Knowledge (arcana) 9, Knowledge (the planes) 9, Heal 1, Knowledge religion 9, Spellcraft 7
Bonus Essentia



1° Expanded soulmeld capacity (lighting guantlets)
2° Midnight dodge
3° Cerulean Fortitude
4° Cerulean Will
5° Split Chakra Feets
6° Split Chakra Crown
7° Incarnum Fortified Body
8° Law Devotion
9° Law Devotion
10° Law Devotion


This will include the essentia from the feats


Level
Soulmeld
Essentia
Chakra Bind

Level 1
2
2(+1 from healing soul)
0

Level 2
3
3
1

Level 3
3
5(+1 from azure toughness)
1

Level 4
4
6
1

Level 5
4
7
1

Level 6
4
10(+2 from bonus essentia)
2


At the end of the build we will have gained other 3 point of essentia

Thanks to the race we have a little resistance from cold and fire ,and we absorb electric damage we have even a 1/day 5d6 of electric damage so i will not talk about this in the tactics level for level The first level no bind not so much essentia, some skill , and a feat that one could ask why take this? Why we have taken healing soul? Well because it will be used for the healing but not with that feat but putting that essentia point in the ligthing gauntlets, and putting the other one in the soulmeld that we need for example vitality belt or cerulean sandals or another soulmeld that can be useful . The principle is that using lighting guantlets we can heal ourselves thanks to the electric healing doing 2d6 of damage that is not so bad, and attacking at touch . And we can start to see who is chaotic , and putting our attention to them (even if we don't have a good spot or listen so only when we see them) We have an aura of law so we could be confounded with a cleric and because we are mechanatrix is not so strange that the aura is of Law. As skill we have various knowledge that are not so bad
Now we have three soulmeld and three essentia point and the chakra crown bind so we can put on our crystal helm that will help (incorporeal now we can strike you with the ligthing guantlets) with a point of essentia that we can choose where invest (airstep sandal for example) but our main tactics is the same without so much change. To hit more we could use that essentia point in the incarnate avatar for example
One of our main abilities come online now , and that is the expanded soulmeld capacity that permit us to do 3d6 of electric damage now with the ligthing guantlets and that is good (it signifies more healing for us out of combat around 3 of healing ) And with the feat that we have chosen we can boost our hp in some ways (but putting that point in the vitality belt will be more useful in the future) our crystal helm continue to be the main chakra because having a force descriptor attack is fantastic Incarnum radiance is a good addition but the only one use for day is not so good but is better than nothing
Well now we are starting to have a good amount of hp thanks to our constitution modifier and we have our final soulmeld shaped at this level so is a good thing and we have now the hands and the feet chakra and this one justify why we want to use soulmeld like cerulean sandal, impulse boots or airstep sandal each one is for a different thing and we will not invest so much essentia in these soulmeld (at least not if we don't need them as difference for the ligthing guantlets or the vitality belt) so is a good level
We can invest our essentia basically to fill all soulmeld now if we want (but we will not ) for a strange combination , so it's a good level sure we only do 3d6 with ligthing guantlets but we can put these damage to the weapon if we don't need the force descriptor using the chakra of the ligthing guantlets but we will not hit with a touch attack . We have good knowledge and we can try to identify even spell or other soulmeld
Well now our meldshaper level is high enough to put 3 points in the ligthing guantlets, 3 point in the vitality 3 point in the helm and even 1 point in the feet if we want or in one of the feats we have for now. Thanks to bonus essentia that is a huge boost (sadly we can't use epic feat for this contest because there would be an epic feat that we can take to gain 3 of essentia)
One feat that is good and that is the last boost to our ligthing guantlet for the damage because now in the ligthing guantlet we have an amount of essentia good with 5d6 of damage (and around 6 point of healing if we strike ourselves )
Why Midnight dodge ? Well because we will invest this point in the crystal helm for example because one point of insight AC is better than one point of dodge AC and this is why we put an 15 in the point buy at dexterity
I put these feats together because they have the same function boost the most important saves that are good but is good to boost them in a way that we use our essentia. They will not use the same amount because we will boost will of 2 and fortitude of 1 and they are the last feats that will use our essentia (that arrive at 13 )
The main problem now is that using our feet chakra is not so good or better is good but is situational because: impulse boots can boost reflex and function if we have a good reflexes save, airstep sandal use essentia and function better if we invest here, cerulean sandal unshape after some times so not in all situation we will use them so a feet magic item can be good as option so split chakra feets. Crystal helm is a very good soulshape but some magic item can be good so we use split chakra head.
We have various incarnum feat even if not all of them have the tag, but is still a boost to our high hp
A better incarnum radiance! If we boost our attack roll we have basically a better incarnum radiance (+3 rather than +2 ) which last more (without any magic item) and it is good if we think that an incarnate hold an alignment extreme , and we hold the law extreme ,devotion to the law is a good choice

The choice of setup depend on which type of enemy we will fight if there is an high touch AC the second will be better if there is an high normal AC the first will be better (the first is more versatile on the feet chakra and with essentia the second is more locked as essentia)
Ligthing guantlets 4 essentia point invested
Vitality belt 3 essentia point invested
Crystal he lm bound to crown chakra 3 essentia point invested
Feet soulmeld (depend on the situation we will have to fight) bound to chakra (choice between cerulean sandal, impulse boots , airstep sandal) essentia invested at the start 0 (we will put that after)
Cerulean will 2 essentia invested
Cerulean fortitude 1 essentia invested

Ligthing guantlets 4 essentia point invested bound to chakra hand
Vitality belt 3 essentia point invested
Incarnate avatar 3 essentia point invested
Crystal helm bound to chakra head 2 essentia invested
Cerulean will 1 essentia point invested
First setup/Second setup
Hp= 6+5d6+24 (constitution modifier)+18 (3 point of essentia in vitality belt) +10 (incarnum fortified body)=75.5
AC=10+3 (insigth from crystal helm)+1(dexterity) +2 (heavy shield)+5 (armor)=21/20 (we lose 1 point in crystal helm)
Attack roll=3 (bab)+3 strenght =6 (strike only a touch) /9 (+3 from incarnate avatar and we can try to strike with a weapon)
Saves
Fortitude 10 (5 from class 4 from constitution 1 from cerulean fortitude)
Reflexes 4 (3 from class 1 from dexterity)
Will 9 (5 from class 0 from will 2 from cerulean will +2 from crystal helm)/ 8 (we lose 1 point from cerulean will)
Damage = 5d6 of electricity/ 1d6 +5d6 +3 (using a weapon in the second setup)


All feats except law devotion =Magic of Incarnum
Law devotion = Complete Champion
Mechanatrix= Fiend Folio
Lesser planetouched race option = Player's guide to Faerun

[Zaq]

Build the second!



https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-2c4b915189897cd54d54b684e6ee7fbb

NG Sparrow Hengeyokai Deadly Hunter Druid 1, Incarnate 1, Battle Sorc 1, Incarnate +3

2d8+4d6+18

32 Pt Buy:
Str 7, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 14, Wis 15, Cha 11
Lvl 4 into CHA


Sparrow Hengeyokai (OA 10, Dragon 318 34)
-2 Wis in Humanoid, +2 DEX in hybrid form
Animal Form: Size Fine, Speed 1/50 fly average, AC 24 (+8 size, +6 DEX) S 1, D 23, C 10, Lowlight Vision, Communicate with other birds
Hybrid Form: Retain lowlight/communicate, +2 Dex, speed 20/fly 20

Deadly Hunter Druid UA 58: lose armor/shield proficiencies. Gain AC bonus as Monk (WIS to AC), Favored Enemy as ranger (exchange for Arcane Hunter ACF), Track as Ranger

Battle Sorcerer UA 56: higher HD, light armor casting, 1 less spell/slot per level





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


1st
Druid
+0
+2
+0
+2
Concentration 4, Handle Animal 4, cc-Know Arcana 1, Ride 4, Spot 4, Survival 4, cc-UMD 1
Wild Cohort, (B) Alertness
Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy, Spells, Deadly Hunter ACF (and Arcane Hunter ACF)


2
Incarnate
+0
+4
+0
+4
Know Arc 5
-
Aura, Detect Opposition (evil), Soulmelds, Essentia


3rd
Battle Sorcerer
+0
+4
+0
+6
cc-Ride 5, cc-UMD 2
Share Soulmeld
Summon Familiar, Spells


4th
Incarnate2
+1
+5
+0
+7
Conc 5, Know Arc 6, cc-Spot 5
-
Chakra Bind (Crown – Soulspark Familiar)


5th
Incarnate3
+1
+5
+1
+7
Conc 6, Know Arc 7, cc-UMD 3
-
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity +1, Incarnum Radiance 1/day


6th
Incarnate4
+2
+6
+1
+8
Conc 7, Know Arc 8, cc-Spot 6
Share Soulmeld
chakra binds (hands/feet)


1-Share Soulmeld
2- Share Soulmeld
3- Surrogate Spellcasting
4- Born Flyer
5- Natural Bond
6- Beast Totem – Displacer Beast
7- Expeditious Dodge
8- Improved Flight (good)
9- Aerial Reflexes (+3)
10- Bonus Essentia (+2)



1st : nothing fancy here, just a sparrow shaped druid flying about dropping BFC spells willy nilly about the battlefield, or plinking away w/ a sling while in hybrid form. Dropped the useless armor proficiencies and picked up Track, Favored Enemy as a ranger, which is switched out to Arcane Hunter because that is the best long lasting option favored enemy has, and WIS to AC like a monk. It’s not much, but it’s better than the armor we don’t need and won’t be using the rest of the build anyways. Wild Cohort doubles up on the Animal Companion Front, and using Animal Friendship, a 3.0 spell, gives you another for 4 attacks essentially at this level.

2nd : Jump into Incarnate, and pick up Dissolving Spittle, and Soulspark Familiar, which is the least version for now, but is just another attack each round, now you’re up to 5. The essentia is dumped into Spittle, giving us a 2d6 acid touch attack ea round in sparrow form, a form we will stay in all day long, forever, if possible.

3rd: Battle Sorcerer is twice the HP, and armored casting (light, for the rare times we’re in hybrid form) at the cost of 2 spell slots, and 2 spells known. At a CL of 1, we’re only picking utility spells anyways other than sonic snap, which is just a spell to cause blindness. Mage Armor can be shared with both our familiar, and animal companion, pumping effective AC for battles twice a day. Share Soulmeld gives Dissolving Spittle to either the AC, or Familiar. Your menagerie now gets you 6 attacks/round

4th: Incarnate now gets us the crown chakra to bind to, and Soulspark will live there forever, boosting that to a lesser familiar. Astral Vambraces gives us DR 4/magic.

5th: Expanded Capacity gets another 1 essentia above the cap investable, so Spittle is now at 3d6, and Incarnum Radiance gets you +1 AC for 6 rounds 1/day.

6th: Pick up another essentia which gets dumped into Spittle, for 4d6 acid. A second iteration of Share Soulmeld now grants your Spittle to the other of your AC or Familiar. Now you’re doing 12d6 acid, + 1d6+2 soul blast, + lots of talon attacks from your cohort and animal friendship buddy. Lucky Dice gets you a small bonus to either 1 or all 3 items each round depending on the needs of the moment.

Epics 1-2: Bet you didn’t see Share Soulmeld coming 2 more times. The best interpretation of this is that your soulspark familiar, and your cohort now pick up Spittle as well, which would net you 20d6 acid/round.
By strict RAW, this probably doesn’t fly as you can’t technically share spells w/ them.


These alternative Animal Cohorts, work just like the alternative animal companions available to a druid.


So, if you want to get into a pedantic argument over it, your cohort at least could qualify for Spittle as it works “just like a druid’s Animal Companion” Since this probably won’t work anyways, the extra 2 uses of Share Soulmeld can affect your Vambraces, so your Familiar and AC both now have DR as well.

3+: Surrogate Spellcasting comes in finally, allowing you to never shift out of sparrow form to cast your BFC spells, or utility options like Message to communicate with your party members while staying aloft.
Born Flyer nets you +4 to all your saves/maneuvering checks while in the air.
Natural Bond gets you up to an effective druid level of 4, boosting your AC’s abilities
Beast Totem gets you a further +4 to all saves vs targeted spells against you
Expeditious Dodge is +2 to AC pretty much all the time
Improved Flight and Aerial Reflexes gets you up to Good Manueverability, which grants you Hover, as well as now another +3 bonus to your REF saves
Bonus Essentia gets you a total of 6 now, which is 3 ea in Spittle and Vambraces, 4d6 acid, and DR 8/magic
Best case (before ability mods) Saves work out to: F 14 R 12 W 16


Druid Spells (including bonus spell):
0-3: Cure Minor, Dawn, Guidance, Resistance
1-2: Animal Friendship*, Cloudburst, Entangle, Hawkeye, Impeding Stones, Spore Field

Sorcerer Spells (0-4/3, and 1-2/1 until 4th lvl CHA Increase):
0-4, 1-3
Known:
0-3: Dancing Lights, Message, Sonic Snap
1-1: Mage Armor

Soulmelds Known
2: Soulspark Familiar – (crown) create a Lesser Soulspark (197)
Dissolving Spittle – (Throat) standard action spit acid w/in 30ft as ranged touch for 1d6 acid. Essentia invested (3) increases damage by 1d6, total 4d6
4: Astral Vambraces – (arms) gain DR 2/magic , + DR/2 for each essentia (3) total DR 8/Magic
6: Lucky Dice – (Hands) swift action each round, roll 2d6, if any combination of 7 get all bonuses, if not choose 1, lasts until start of next turn: +1 attack/damage, saves, skills and ability checks


Animal Companion:
Hawk
Magical beast, 1 bonus Trick (Hunting), Link, Share Spells
1d8, Init +3, Speed 10/60 fly avg, AC 17 (t15,f14) BAB +0
lowlight, F2,R5,W2
S 6, D 17, C 10, I 2, W 14, C 6
Listen +2, Spot +14
At Epic 5th, increase 2 HD, +2 NA, +1 STR/DEX, +1 Trick (Guarding), and Evasion

Familiar:
Hawk:
6HD (half master’s HP), Master’s BAB/saves, +1 NA, INT 6, Alertness, Imp Evasion, Share Spells, Empathic Link

Lesser Soulspark Familiar:
4d8+8 (26hp) Init +6, Speed 20/30 fly perfect, AC 16 (t/f 14), BAB +4, Soul Blast +8 ranged 1d6+2
Amorphous, DR 3/evil, Evasion F6, R8, W5
S 10, D 15, C 15, I 6, W 13, C 15
Diplo +4, Hide +17, Know History +5, Listen +8, Move +9, Sense +8, Spot +8
Imp Init, Lightning Reflexes

Wild Cohort:
Hawk
+3 HD, +3 NA, +1 STR/DEX, Bonus Tricks 2 (Hunting, Guarding), Evasion (pick 2 feats for HD)

Animal Friendship:
Dire Hawk
5d8+12, Init +6, Speed 10/80 fly avg, AC 19 (t 16, f 13) BAB/Grapple +3/+4, 2 talons +9 1d4+1
Lowlight, F 6, R 10, W 6. S 12, D 22, C 15, I 2, W 15, C 11. Listen +8, Move +8, Spot +10
Alertness, Weapon Finesse, 6 Tricks (Hunting, Guarding, Riding, any 3 others)

I went w/ the Hawk theme, but you could do anything. A minor refluff might be to ask the DM to allow you to be a Hawk Hengeyokai. Either way, if casting while flying in bird form is an issue, your animal friend gets 6 total tricks, riding is one of them, train it to have you mount it in the air while in bird form to cast spells, you can even have a tiny military saddle, which would really be nothing more than a post for your bird feet to hold onto if necessary. Be a hawk, riding a bigger hawk temporarily.

If your DM allows you to allocate Feats for your AC/Cohort/etc, picking up Flyby Attack for all of them turns them into flying cavalry, however the primary attack pattern is to spam acid attacks when available, as touch attacks your crappy BAB+High DEX doesn’t matter as much anyways.


Complete Adventurer: Improved Flight, Natural Bond
Dragon 318: OA Update
Eberron Campaign Setting: Beast Totem
Magic of Incarnum: Incarnate, Soulmelds
Monster Manual: Hawk
Oriental Adventures: Hengeyokai
PHB: Druid, Monk, Ranger, Sorcerer, Handle Animal Skill (tricks)
Races of the Wild: Aerial Reflexes, Born Flyer, Dire Hawk, Expeditious Dodge
Savage Species: Surrogate Spellcasting
Unearthed Arcana: Battle Sorcerer, Deadly Hunter Druid
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a Wild Cohort
http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a Astral Vambraces
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm Good Manueverability

[Zaq]

Build the third!


Flaylinn
Chaotic Neutral Neraph Incarnate 6

This build is based around one minor detail in the Incarnate Weapon soulmeld: "If your incarnate weapon leaves your hand for any reason, it returns to your grasp at the beginning of your next turn." It's a returning weapon! There are other ways to do this, but none (that I know of) are accessible or practical within the confines of E6. So, I set out to make a thrown weapon build. Of course, none of the options for incarnate weapons are actual throwing weapons, which presents some difficulties. Neraph is primarily chosen because, annoyingly, incarnate weapon prevents nonproficiency penalties but doesn't actually give proficiency, and Throw Anything requires proficiency. It is, though, wildly appropriate for a literal incarnation of chaos. It also has the Neraph Camouflage ability, which is...underwhelming, to say the least, but does give some benefit to throwing weapons. And really, who can blame an enemy for not knowing how to react when they see a humanoid toad hoicking a giant blue flail at them.



Ability
Score
Modifiers
Final Score


Strength
14
-
14 (+2)


Dexterity
16
-
16 (+3)


Constitution
17
+1 (Level 4)
18 (+4)


Intelligence
8
-
8 (-1)


Wisdom
11
-
11 (+0)


Charisma
8
-
8 (-1)





Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features
Soulmelds
Essentia
Chakra Binds


1st
Incarnate 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Knowledge (the planes) +4
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Aura, detect opposition
2
1
0


2nd
Incarnate 2
+1
+3
+0
+3
Knowledge (the planes) +5

Chakra bind (crown)
3
2
1


3rd
Incarnate 3
+1
+3
+1
+3
Knowledge (the planes) +6
Point Blank Shot
Expanded soulmeld capacity +1, incarnum radiance 1/day
3
3
1


4th
Incarnate 4
+2
+4
+1
+4
Knowledge (the planes) +7
-
Chakra binds (feet, hands)
4
4
1


5th
Incarnate 5
+2
+4
+1
+4
Knowledge (the planes) +8

Rapid meldshaping 1/day\
4
5
1


6th
Incarnate 6
+3
+5
+2
+5
Knowledge (the planes) +9
Throw Anything

4
6
2


E6 Feats:

Far Shot
Bonus Essentia
Weapon Focus (flail)
Shape Soulmeld (Keeneye Lenses)
Shape Soulmeld (Shadow Mantle)
Shape Soulmeld (Airstep Sandals)
Shape Soulmeld (Planar Ward)
Shape Soulmeld (Wormtail Belt)
Shape Soulmeld (Blink Shirt)
Shape Soulmeld (Soulspeaker Circlet)





At level 1, we can shape 2 soulmelds, one of which is incarnate weapon. We can't throw it yet (at least, not without a prohibitive -4 penalty), so we'll have to settle for putting our essentia point into it whenever we're in combat and hitting people with it like a pleb. Wherever possible, we start fights by charging, in order to get the benefit of Neraph Camouflage. Our other soulmeld should generally be a skill booster based on the needs of the party and what we expect to be doing that day, but Keeneye Lenses is a good default, stacking with the racial +2 to Spot for a nice +8 (as long as you remember to shift your essentia around when you're out of combat). We keep our Knowledge (the planes) up, since it's one thing to be unintelligent and another not to be able to identify your own species.


At level 2, we can put 2 essentia into incarnate weapon thanks to Expanded Soulmeld Capacity. We can also bind a soulspark familiar to the crown chakra for a bit of extra damage in combat.


The expanded soulmeld capacity class feature means that we can still put all of our essentia into incarnate weapon. The chaos version of incarnum radiance doesn't make a huge difference, but it will occasionally come in handy for covering a bit more distance in a charge. Or running away, if necessary. Point Blank Shot doesn't do anything for us right now, but it'll come in handy soon enough.


Our essentia capacity finally outstrips our ability to put it into incarnate weapon, so in combat we can use the extra give our soulspark a slight offensive boost. One more soulmeld, too - I like Airstep Sandals, since it's useful both in and out of combat.


One more essentia to spread around, and rapid meldshaping helps adapt to situations on the fly, letting you switch Keeneye Lenses or Airstep Sandals to a different utility meld as needed.


At last, it's the feat we've been waiting for: Throw Anything. This lets us hurl our flail, which is going to change our fighting style completely. To start with, having reached level 6, we can put one more essentia into it, for a total of 4. Now that we're not fighting in melee, soulspark familiar's 5ft range removes it from the list. We start shaping and binding Sighting Gloves, for +1 to ranged damage and Precise Shot. We also shape Incarnate Avatar - it doesn't give anything by default, but it's generally going to be the best place to put the last 2 essentia points. If it looks like accuracy isn't needed, they can go into Sighting Gloves for the damage bonus. Sadly, this means we don't have room for both Keeneye Lenses and Airstep Sandals, so we'll have to stick with whichever seems more useful. +12 to Spot is generally going to be worth more, though, especially since someone else in the party should have a fly speed by now.


A 10ft range increment is somewhat pathetic, so getting it to 20ft is a big priority for us.


Another two essentia points is nothing to be sniffed at, giving us 8 points total. With 4 points in incarnate weapon, that leaves 4 to split between Sighting Gloves and Incarnate Avatar.


+1 to attack isn't much, but we're hurting for ways to throw flails better.


At this point, we expand our utility options. Taking the feat for Keeneye Lenses frees up that slot to be shaped flexibly, although sadly it no longer benefits from the expanded soulmeld capacity class feature, so the total bonus is +10 instead of +12.


With 2 essentia (the most we can put in it), this gives a nice +8 Listen modifier to go with our Spot.


Just as useful as it was before, only now it doesn't take up our one free soulmeld.


Everyone's favourite defensive soulmeld, although as an outsider (immune to humanoid-specific spells) we have less need of it than most.


Stacks with the natural armour from Neraph, for a nice +4 natural AC total.


Like Airstep Sandals, teleporting, even short-range, has potential utility both in and out of combat.


Picking a language to understand at the start of the day isn't ideal, but reinvesting essentia makes it a lot more handy, allowing you to pick up languages as and when you have a need for them. You won't be able to read, write, or speak them, sadly, but it's still useful.

And with that, we have a soulmeld shaped on each slot every day, with one spare soulmeld from Incarnate to shape into anything we anticipate having a need for that day.



Thrown incarnate weapon flail: +13 to hit, 1d8 + 11 damage
HP: 30 + 5d6 = average 47.5
AC: 10 + 3 (Dex) + 4 (natural AC) + 5 (breastplate) + 2 (shield) = 24
Fort: 5 + 4 (Con) = 9
Ref: 2 + 3 (Dex) = 5
Will: 5




Magic of Incarnum, obviously
Neraph: Planar Handbook
Throw Antyhing: Complete Warrior
Everything else: SRD content

[Zaq]

Build the fourth!


Grace, Soul Warden
NG Azurin Incarnate 3 / Ardent 2 / Soul Manifester 1

Abilities:
Str 8
Dex 10
Con 17 + 1
Int 12
Wis 16
Cha 11



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


1st
Ardent 1
+0
+0
+0
+2
Diplomacy 4, Knowledge: Psionics 4, Psicraft 4
Azure Talent, Psicrystal Affinity, Ectopic Form [Emerald Gyre]
Mantles: Freedom, Creation


2nd
Incarnate 1
+0
+2
+0
+4
Concentration 3
-
Aura, Detect Evil


3rd
Incarnate 2
+1
+3
+0
+5
Concentration 6
Practiced Manifester
Chakra Bind [Crown]


4th
Incarnate 3
+1
+3
+1
+5
Concentration 7, Knowledge:Psionics 5
-
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity +1, Incarnum Radiance 1/day


5th
Ardent 2
+2
+3
+1
+6
Knowledge: Psionics 8
-
Mantle: Guardian


6th
Soul Manifester 1
+2
+3
+1
+8
Psicraft 7
Share Soulmeld
Psionic Investment 1


E1: Psycarnum Infusion
E2: Psionic Meditation
E3: Linked Power
E4: Constant Guardian
E5: Dutiful Guardian
E6: Expanded Knowledge [Synchronicity]
E7: Midnight Augmentation
E8: Improved Essentia Capacity
E9: Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
E10: Bonus Essentia



Example / Usual Soulmelds:


Level
Combat
Social
Investigation


Incarnate 1
Azure Talent , Dissolving Spittle, Lamassu Mantle
Azure Talent, Silvertoungue Mask, Truthseeker Goggles
Azure Talent, Keeneye Lenses, Dissolving Spittle


Incarnate 2-3
Azure Talent, Dissolving Spittle, Lamassu Mantle, Diadem of Purelight
Azure Talent, Silvertoungue Mask, Truthseeker Goggles, Enigma Helm
Azure Talent, Keeneye Lenses, Dissolving Spittle, Soulspark Familiar


Soul Manifester 1
Psionic Investment: Astral Construct, Dissolving Spittle, Mantle of Flame, Lamassu Mantle, Spellward Shirt
Psionic Investment: Astral Construct, Silvertoungue Mask, Truthseeker Goggles, Lamassu Mantle, Enigma Helm
Psionic Investment: Astral Construct, Keeneye Lenses, Dissolving Spittle, Spellward Shirt, Soulspark Familiar


E10
Psionic Investment: Astral Construct, Midnight Augmentation: Astral Construct, Dissolving Spittle, Mantle of Flame, Lamassu Mantle, Spellward Shirt
Psionic Investment: Astral Construct, Midnight Augmentation: Astral Construct, Silvertoungue Mask, Truthseeker Goggles, Lamassu Mantle, Enigma Helm
Psionic Investment: Astral Construct, Midnight Augmentation: Astral Construct, Keeneye Lenses, Dissolving Spittle, Spellward Shirt, Soulspark Familar



Powers Known:
Ardent 1: Dimension Hop, Astral Construct
Ardent 2: Hustle
Soul Manifester 1: Dispel Psionics
E6 Expanded Knowledge: Synchronicity

Final skill modifiers:
Knowledge:Psionics +9
Concentration +11
Psicraft +8
Diplomacy +4
Spot +3
Search +1
Sense Motive +3
Gather Information +0
Bluff +0
Use Psionic Device +0
+ Psion's Eyes / Truthseeker Goggles / Silvertongue Mask / Keeneye Lenses



This is where Grace gets really useful, mainly because Practiced Manifester makes her Astral Constructs last enough time to be relevant. With 4 essentia letting her fully fuel three soulmelds and Azure Talent, she can make Constructs with Improved Grab regularly, she has a reasonable number of skill bonuses to let her contribute outside combat, and she's pretty durable as well as a result of her 18 Con.

Expanded Soulmeld Capacity gives Grace more combat options, improving Mantle of Flame if she's expecting large groups or Dissolving Spittle for ranged output if she's worried about staying power.

Share Soulmeld lets Grace double up on Dissolving Spittle output, meaning she brings pretty good damage if needed. She has plenty of utility with Dispel access and loads of mobility through Dimension Hop and Hustle. Psionic Investment on Astral Construct lets her be ML7 once per day, letting her summon a level 4 construct for a big encounter. The Guardian mantle lets Grace take hits for her teammates, letting her keep her psicrystal running and her allies alive, making use of her great Con if one of the flimsier backline characters is aimed at.

Psycarnum Infusion lets Grace expend her Psionic Focus to gain 6pp for the round through Azure Talent. This means she can spend a move action each round to use a power for free (or almost free), or manifest Hustle to gain 3pp while expending only a swift action. This makes for at-will Dimension Hops or regular Astral Constructs to solve whatever problem she encounters. Linked Power lets Grace avoid the full round casting time of Astral Construct, or manifest linked Hustle + Hustle to profit on action economy.

Constant Guardian and Dutiful Guardian lets Grace swap with her allies when they are attacked. This lets her protect her teammates, and enables Mantle of Flame's damage or Spellward Shirt against attacking spells. She doesn't really care about the -2 penalty on attack rolls (especially if she uses Constant Guardian after she makes her attack rolls)

Grace is now fully online. She has 9 essentia to distribute, and several solid options for spending it. She can double up on Dissolving Spittle for 5d6+5d6 ranged damage, have SR21 against casters, reflect 5d6 damage through Mantle of Flame, or boost her skills for noncombat. Improved Essentia Capacity makes Psycarnum Infusion + Azure Talent grant 8pp rather than 6, meaning she can summon an Astral Construct IV for no pp investment each round through Midnight Augmentation. Synchronicity lets her be extremely adaptable since Grace can afford to manifest it every round, or link it to Hustle in order to profit on action economy.

Magic of Incarnum:
Azurin
Incarnate
Azure Talent, Share Soulmeld, Psycarnum Infusion, Improved Essentia Capacity, Expanded Soulmeld Capacity, Bonus Essentia
All soulmelds except Psion's Eyes

Expanded Psionics Handbook:
Psicrystal Affinity, Psionic Meditation, Expanded Knowledge
Astral Construct, Dispel Psionics, Hustle

Complete Psionic:
Ardent
Ectopic Form, Practiced Manifester, Linked Power
Dimension Hop, Synchronicity
Guardian / Freedom / Creation Mantles

Drow of the Underdark:
Constant Guardian
Dutiful Guardian

Web: (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a)
Soul Manifester
Psion's Eyes

[Zaq]

Build the fifth!



Shade the Neutral Evil Changeling Rogue 1/Tiefling Paragon 2/Tiefling Incarnate 3




Stat

Base

Level Up

Final



Strength

12


12



Dexterity

14


14



Constitution

14

4

15



Intelligence

16


16



Wisdom

8


8



Charisma

14


14










Level

Class

Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save

Ref Save

Will Save

Skills

Feats

Class Features


1st

Changeling Rogue

+0

+0

+2

+0

Hide +4, Disguise +4, Move Silently +4, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4, Gather Information +4, Craft (Poison) +4, Intimidate +4, Perform Dance +4, Iaijutsu Focus +2, Spot +4, Tumble +4

Racial Emulation

Social Intuition, Sneak Attack +1d6



2nd

Tiefling Paragon

+0

+2

+4

+2

Hide +5, Disguise +5, Move Silently +5, Bluff +5, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4, Gather Information +4, Craft (Poison) +4, Intimidate +4, Sleight of Hand +5, Iaijutsu Focus +2.5, Spot +5, Tumble +4


Improved Resistance



3rd

Tiefling Paragon

+1

+3

+5

+3

Hide +6, Disguise +6, Move Silently +6, Bluff +6, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4, Gather Information +4, Craft (Poison) +4, Intimidate +4, Sleight of Hand +6, Iaijutsu Focus +3, Spot +6, Tumble +4

Intensify Darkness

Skill Bonus, Darkness 3/day



4th

Tiefling Incarnate

+1

+5

+5

+5

Hide +7, Disguise +7, Move Silently +6, Bluff +7, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4, Gather Information +4, Craft (Poison) +4, Intimidate +4, Sleight of Hand +6, Iaijutsu Focus +3, Spot +6, Tumble +4


See in Darkness, Aura, Detect Opposition



5th

Incarnate

+2

+6

+5

+6

Hide +8, Disguise +8, Move Silently +6, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4, Gather Information +4, Craft (Poison) +5, Intimidate +4, Sleight of Hand +6, Iaijutsu Focus +3, Spot +6, Tumble +4


Chakra Bind (Crown)



6th

Tiefling Incarnate

+2

+6

+6

+6

Hide +9, Disguise +9, Move Silently +6, Bluff +9, Diplomacy +4, Sense Motive +4, Gather Information +4, Craft (Poison) +8, Intimidate +4, Sleight of Hand +6, Iaijutsu Focus +3, Spot +6, Tumble +4

Indigo Strike

Incarnum Radiance 1/day, Expanded Soulmeld Capacity +1



7th

Epic

Midnight Dodge



8th

Epic

Blind-Fight



9th

Epic

Shadow Born Warrior



10th

Epic

Combat Expertise



11th

Epic

Improved Feint



12th

Epic

Surprising Riposte



13th

Epic

Craven



14th

Epic

Blend Into Shadows



15th

Epic

Master of Poisons



16th

Epic

Poison Expert: Ingested





Size/Type: Medium Humanoid (Shapechanger)
Hit Dice: 4d6 plus 2d8+12 (40 hp)
Initiative: +4
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 12 (+2 Dex), touch 12, flat-footed 10
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+3
Attack: Dagger +3 (1d4+1) OR Necrocarnum Touch +4 [touch] (1d8 to 3d8 points of damage against living targets, this can trigger sneak attack still)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Meldshaping, Sneak Attack (+1d6+10),
Special Qualities: Minor Shape Change, Social Intuition, Incarnum Radiance, Aura, Detect Good, See in Darkness, Cold Resistance 10, Immunity to Charm
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +5
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 16, Wis 8, Cha 14
Skills: Hide +15, Disguise +11 (+13 to act in character), Move Silently +8, Bluff +23 (+27 to Feint), Diplomacy +16, Sense Motive +5, Gather Information +6, Craft (Poison) +11, Intimidate +10, Sleight of Hand +14, Iaijutsu Focus +5, Spot +5, Tumble +6
Feats: Racial Emulation, Intensify Darkness, Indigo Strike, Midnight Dodge, Blind-Fight, Shadowborn Warrior, Combat Expertise, Improved Feint, Surprising Riposte, Craven, Blend Into Shadows, Master of Poisons, Poison Expert: Ingested

Meldshaping
Essentia: 5

Noncombat Soulmelds Shaped:
Silvertongue Mask: (3 essentia invested) +8 Bluff and Diplomacy
Enigma Helm: Nondetection; creatures attempting to use divination on me must succeed a caster level check of 14
Necrocarnum Touch: (2 essentia invested) 2d8 damage as a touch attack Fort save DC 11 halves damage. +4 to Sleight of Hand as well as +4 to bluff checks made to Feint


Combat Soulmelds Shaped:
Silvertongue Mask: +2 Bluff and Diplomacy
Necrocarnum Touch: (3 essentia invested) 3d8 damage as a touch attack Fort save DC 12 halves damage. +4 to Sleight of Hand as well as +4 to bluff checks made to Feint (Essentia will quickly be rerouted to the Crystal Helm if anyone ever begins targeting me in combat)
Crystal Helm Bound to Crown Chakra: Essentia invested here grants a deflection bonus to AC, My melee attacks count as [Force] effects and bypass Incorporeal
Indigo Strike: (2 essentia invested) +4 damage whenever I make a sneak attack

Iaijutsu Focus DCs: 10=+1d6 damage, 15=+2d6 damage, 25=+3d6 damage

5 Ranks in Bluff: +2 Diplomacy
5 Ranks in Bluff: +2 Disguise to act in Character
5 Ranks in Bluff: +2 Intimidate
5 Ranks in Bluff: +2 Sleight of Hand



Shade is a skill monkey first and foremost. The party face. Whichever face the party happens to need. Shade has specialized in a few specific areas.



Shade is a liar. Shade often runs with a +23 bonus to bluff before any equipment (such as a Circlet of Persuasion, a charisma item, a masterwork bluff tool, or a luckstone). Combined with Shade’s Social Intuition and we get a 33 on any bluff check we ever have to roll. In addition we have an effective 26 Diplomacy check, 20 Intimidate check, and 16 Gather Information check. All with an effective +23 disguise check allows us to be an awesome Face.

Shade is a craven B#@$!&%. We have an effective +20 to hide, can hide in plain sight as long as we are within 10 ft of darkness, and can cast Deeper Darkness or Darkness 4 times per day. We deal 1d6+10 damage with any successful sneak attack, and we can make and apply poisons. Meaning that we will most likely have a poisoned knife on hand. A touch against a living foe deals 3d8+1d6+10 damage (low save for half) averaging us 13.5 damage per hit. Our knife will be harder to hit with, but hits for 1d4+1d6+11 for an average of 17 damage per hit. We won’t be winning any damage contests, but we will be a noticeable addition in combat. In addition we have Improved Feint and Surprising Riposte boosting our allies’ ability to hit targets as well. On the first round of combat we can easily get a low Iaijutsu Focus roll for an additional 1d6 damage. Our job is to end combats before they begin. For that we will be slipping creatures drugs to pacify them, bluffing our way through, using diplomacy, and even convincing the guard to drink some poisoned wine. For 5 rounds per day activated as a free action we get +2 damage and +20% concealment.


Honestly I meant for there to be three things, but really Shade is a skill monkey with some tricks that aren’t normally offered to tieflings and some not normally offered to changelings.

Changeling Rogue 1/Tiefling Savage Progression 1/Drow Paragon 1/Tiefling Incarnate 3 (liable to get DMs and judges to throw books at you, and may not actually meet the restrictions of no LA…)
Changeling Rogue 1/Half-Elf Paragon 2/Incarnate 3 (lame I think, but better at cha skills)
Changeling Rogue 1/Half-Elf Paragon 1/Incarnate 4 (loss of the darkness stuff, but we get a bonus feat allowing us a radically different perspective)

Quick Note: Shade currently does not possess any feats that require him to be a race other than changeling (which we always are), so it doesn’t matter what form we take. We just need to be a tiefling to take certain levels.

Changeling, Racial Emulation, Changeling Rogue are all from Races of Eberron
Tiefling Paragon is from Unearthed Arcana
All Incarnate and Incarnum is from Magic of Incarnum
Intensify Darkness, Shadowborn Warrior, Surprising Riposte, Blend into Shadows, and Master of Poisons is from Drow of the Underdark
Poison Expert is from Cityscape
Craven is from Champions of Ruin

[Zaq]

Last but not least, build the sixth!


Soultob Desert orc NE
incarnate 5/warblade 1
There was once a time the son of the noble orc on which there was a tale that before he was an elf or something similiar but he reincarnated in that race , but it is not our story. This son learned how use some weapon but he especially preferred to let the work be done from his servants without any problem about them dying or anything else. His father was a "wizard" for him, but he used the magic of the soul , the necrocarnum as he defined that. It was not a problem with that power they had the power over the land (especially because the other orcs feared that power and some of the creation were stronger than the migthiest warrior. Then a terrible day a party of adventurer came and after a long battle with his father killed him , without thinking what would happen to the family or to the orcs that were controlled. The orcs started a war with a near reign while the son searched to survive alone, discovering some books written by his father that explained that art. He think that if he could be strong enough he could refound the reign then he learned the arts of necrocarnum . He seen that the servants should be stronger so he inspired to some leaders to learn how inspire them while figthing, using the necrocarnum to be stronger when they would be hitted .



Stat
Point Buy
Final

Strength
16 (10 point)
20 (+4 strength)

Dexterity
14 (6 point)
14 (no change)

Constitution
15 (8 point)
15 (no change)

Intelligence
12 (4 point)
10 (-2 racial)

Wisdom
12 (4 point)
10 (-2 racial)

Charisma
8 (0 point)
6 (-2 racial)

The 4th level point go to constitution





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


1st
Incarnate 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Concentration 4, Knowledge (arcana ) 2, knowledge religion 2
azure toughness, Endurance (bonus)
Aura, detect opposition


2nd
Incarnate 2
+1
+3
+0
+2
Concentration 5, Knowledge (arcana) 3 Knowledge religion 2

Chakra bind (crown)


3rd
Incarnate 3
+1
+3
+1
+3
Concentration 6, Knowledge (arcana) 3 Knowledge religion 3/td]
midnigth dodge
Expanded soulmeld capacity +1, incarnum radiance 1/day


4th
Incarnate 4
+2
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 7, Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge religion 3

Chakra binds (feet, hands)


5th
Incarnate 5
+2
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 8,Knowledge (arcana) 4, Knowledge religion 4

Rapid Meldshaping 1/day

6th
Warblade 1
+3
+6
+1
+4
Concentration 9,Knowledge (arcana) 5 Knowledge religion 5
Bonus essentia
Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude

Skill like this are cross classed for this level
1° Wild cohort
2° sapphire sprint
3° White raven defense
4° weapon focus (greatsword)
5° power attack
6° evil devotion
7° evil devotion
8° evil devotion
9° evil devotion
10° evil devotion
leading the attack
action before thought
battle leader's charge
Stance:lead the charge

This will include the essentia from the feats


Level
Soulmeld
Essentia
Chakra Bind

[td]Level 1
2
2(+1 from azure toughness)
0

Level 2
3
3
1

Level 3
3
5(+1 from midnigth dodge)
1

Level 4
4
6
1

Level 5
4
7
1

Level 6
4
9(+2 from bonus essentia)
1





This build is based on using in a good way the minion that you will gain from the soulmeld
The first level one where the most important thing is our stat and probably we will do not something so strange or maybe yes . We can start creating our first soulspark familiar , investing one point of essentia for example and then choose one of these soulmeld : bloodwar guantlet (it give us a +1 to attack roll so not bad even if we had an high strenght), bluesteel bracer (so we have an higher initiative), necrocarnum shroud (to be evil and be stronger while the other are hitted ,even our soulspark familiar count for that) because the first level is more a question to hit probably is better the bloodwar guantlet so now we have a bonus to damage. The feat is mainly chosen because we use that for the essentia but we could invest one point to gain some hp
We have the crown chakra and now it opens as possibilities mainly because we can choose to have a necrocarnum zombie and a soulspark familiar and another soulmeld, or a soulspark familiar stronger with two other soulmeld . At this level is better the lesser soulspark because has more hd so we will bind that to our crown chakra putting the bloodwar guantlets, and putting the necrocarnum shroud to be more evil and gain a bonus each time someone who is living is hitted maybe even our soulspark who will regenerate the hp when we will shift the essentia point , if we are sure about the attack roll we can invest in the incarnate avatar to gain a bonus to damage
The limit of essentia on our soulmelds is improved and this is important and now our soulspark is still good with two essentia point that are good to do enough damage, the area of the necrocarnum shroud that is boosted (so even if is hitted an enemy 15 ft away we would gain the bonus so it's good) and on the bloodwar guantlet we use that to stay on par with full bab classes for now (with the necrocarnum shroud that help) We can consider to evaluate the necrocarnum circlet if we found a good creature with 3 HD putting only one point of essentia here removing the bloodwar with the other two soulmeld with 2 points of essentia. We have chosen another feat that can help us but the main thing is that it boost the essentia We have the radiance that will boost our damage
Other two chakras that can help us but is better use the necrocarnum circlet or the soulspark familiar we want the other to figth for us boosting ourself with each wound that they take so the bind remain to the soulspark or the necrocarnum. Now they are very near as hypothetical strenght because they would animate a 4 hd creature , so now is better to use each time the necrocarnum circlet and then using the soulspark familiar in an another place sadly without epic feats we can't have another bind but it should be strong enough , an example of zombie we could create is the worg but it totally depends on which enemy we will fight . We have 4 soulmeld so we can use our setup now with the possibilities to exchange the bloodwar guantlet with another soulmeld to have more damage
Now we can rapid meldshape 1/day ideal if we need to use a specific soulmeld for a specific situation so it's good is one time for day but it should be enough but it's not so exciting this level
Now we have finished our level with the leader part of the background one level of warblade, that gives us various boost. First the maneveurs that will boost our minion attack (if we use leading the attack) the damage in charge (thanks to the stance) and will boost even our damage and saves thanks to action before thought. So we have our saves that are covered thanks to the manevuers, and we can boost our soulspark familiar with the essentia point from bonus essentia now that the limit is bigger with more damage for round
Why Wild Cohort , and why now? Now because we will use the two trick to teach to our creature (probably a badger) the main things, and second because is another living thing that we could resurrect with the necrocarnum circlet so it is good in a way or in another (we could even give the work to some NPC who have handle animal for example if we want more trick ) So is good and is another minion for us
Sometimes we will need to run and in these situation this feat will be useful and we use the essentia point to boost our soulmelds so it's not bad
The feats that we use in melee , weapon focus greatsword give a bonus with that weapon and using weapon aptitude of the warblade we can change this feat, white raven defense is another feat to collaborate with our minion ,and because we use a greatsword we will give them a bonus to AC, power attack is used when we charge for example during battle leader's charge, so we will do more damage easily so these feats are good because we stay in melee with our allies to optimize even the use of necrocarnum shroud, so we stay in melee and we gain various bonus (if we want we use another weapon to doesn't give the AC bonus to our allies so they will be hitted more often this could be a strategy )
We are evil , and because we want to use our allies we use necrocarnum shroud, but it would be better if they don't die so we use evil devotion , that thematically is good and give us a DR that is good, our soulspark (lesser if we doesn't have any corpse) now an higher DR so maybe it will not die easily

Soulmeld setup (if we have a good creature corpse like a five headed hydra)
Soulspark familiar (shaped to throat) 3 essentia point
Necrocarnum circlet (shaped and binded to crown) 1 essentia point (because the zombie could not put any other point in his abilities)
Bloodwar guantlet /Incarnate avatar (depend if we are sure about attack rolls) 3 essentia point
Necrocarnum shroud 3 essentia point (so each time that a living creature is hitted we have a bonus)
Attack rolls 3 bab+ 5 strenght +1 weapon focus+ 1 bloodwar guantlet=10
Damage roll 2d6+7 strenght=14
attack rolls during a charge =12
damage roll during a charge =14+3 (stance effect) +3 (Bloodwar guantlet) =20
attack roll during a charge with power attack=12-3 (we maximize that)=9
damage roll during a charge with power attack=20+6=26
Damage roll during battle leader charge with power attack=26+10=36
Saves
Fortitude 6+3=9
Reflex 1+2 =3
Will 4
The damage and the attack is without considering necrocarnum shroud and as a part of the character we would have the other creatures .In particular way the soulspark familiar would fly while striking the enemy without being hit (doing 1d4+4 on each hit so around 6 or 7 of damage)a badger with 3 hd bonus and a necrocarnum zombie, for example a five headed hydra as creautre that have 5 HD
Hp=6+4d6+1d12+18=24+14+6.5=44.5

Desert Orc=Unearthed Arcana
Power attack, weapon focus=Player Handbook
Warblade , maneveuers and stance , white raven defense=Tome of Battle
Wild cohort =Online (archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a)
All other feats and incarnate=Magic of Incarnum

[Zaq]

Man, sorry for the lack of witty commentary this time. You know what happens when you make someone super busy with school and then give them a week where they only have to care about their day job? No, don't be stupid, of course you don't get a relaxing week of downtime—you get an even more intense week where you've scheduled in all the stuff you've been denying yourself for the whole term!

Anyway, I gotta run. If anyone wants to make a table, they'd have my gratitude.

Release... the judges!

[daremetoidareyo]

Everybody go look up ordered chaos from fiendish codex. Incarnum radiance ×2? Do you get 2 incarnum weapons?



What's the caster level on detect opposition? Is it enough to obtain a familiar?


The answers to these questions and zero time to participate really held back my entry

[jdizzlean]

i was going to do incarnate weapon and soul knife, but couldn't focus enough on it to finish it off, might have gone down part of that rabbit hole w/ you dare

[Zaq]

Everybody go look up ordered chaos from fiendish codex. Incarnum radiance ×2? Do you get 2 incarnum weapons?



What's the caster level on detect opposition? Is it enough to obtain a familiar?


The answers to these questions and zero time to participate really held back my entry

I am genuinely shocked that we didn't get any Ordered Chaos users.

[Quentinas]

I know about ordered chaos but the incarnate put his alignment among the most important of the things and using ordered chaos to gain another use of incarnum radiance (one which yes can be good but not so much) it seems so much inelegant , i have seen that trick in the round of iron chef that i judged but yes can be good but why should i do that if i want to incarnate an alignment?

[DEMON]

I was pondering a Changeling Incarnate 3 / Factotum 1 / Binder 1 / Chameleon 1 by the name of Jacko... but I couldn't bring the everchanging being to fruition.

A pity, but I hope that one day I'll get the chance to give the build a try in a real game.

[Zaq]

I was pondering a Changeling Incarnate 3 / Factotum 1 / Binder 1 / Chameleon 1 by the name of Jacko... but I couldn't bring the everchanging being to fruition.

A pity, but I hope that one day I'll get the chance to give the build a try in a real game.

Everyone’s sick of hearing about it, but I looooved my old binder/incarnate/chameleon build (that I did bring to a real game). Factotum doesn’t add much to such a build, though.

I do highly, highly recommend playing such a thing if you ever get the chance. (Word of advice: make your cheat sheets ahead of time.)

[DEMON]

Everyone’s sick of hearing about it, but

Naah, not me... Talk about it all you like :smallwink:


Factotum doesn’t add much to such a build, though.

I had to meet the Disguise ranks requirement somehow :smallsmile: Rogue or PsyRog were another options I considered (in a real game, if I could convince the DM to allow me to use the Changeling Rogue sub level on a PsyRog, I'd most likely go with that).


(Word of advice: make your cheat sheets ahead of time.)

As has my previous entry for this challenge shown, I never leave house without my cheat sheets :smallbiggrin:

[Zaq]

I used City Slicker to get Disguise as a class skill.

[thorr-kan]

I was gonna make one using the EVIL halfling race from BoVD. Alas, halfing has totemist substitution levels, not incarnate substitution levels.

Then I thought about tiefling incarnate with substitution levels, then tiefling incarnate with substitution levels combined with tiefling paragon levels. Too much tiefling, not enough incarnate.

Finally I thought about divine bard 2, w/gnome bard substitution levels, incarnate 3, w/gnome substitution levels, ardent 1 w/mantle ACF. Again, not enough incarnate, though I may build this one myself for laughs some day.

And really, Real Life wasn't leaving me any time for a build anyways. I'm looking forward to seeing our results!

[Zaq]

Do we have any judging volunteers yet?

[Zaq]

Hey everyone! Just a reminder that this contest exists and still needs one or more judges. Anyone game?

[DeTess]

Hey everyone! Just a reminder that this contest exists and still needs one or more judges. Anyone game?

I'm keeping an eye on it in case I get some free time. However, I will not commit to anything until I've actually found a moment to sit down and start judging, as my life is just a bit busy right now.

[DeTess]

So, I've found some time to judge.

Before I start, there's two things I want to share. First, a quick overview of my method: I start all categories at a base score of 3/5, and adjust up or down based on the build in increments of half a point. The originality category should speak for itself. For power, a build needs to be useful both in and out of combat to get a perfect 5/5. In elegance I penalize most build mistakes, with my assumption that everything works as written in the power category ( I might make exceptions for this if I encounter a build that seems nonfunctional). For use of SI, I look at both how many levels in the SI you took and how well you're using what the class gives, which also brings me to the second thing I want to mention.

The incarnate's main thing is soulmelds. It has class features that make your soulmelds better, or that that allow you to quickly swap them out. However, soulmelds can also be acquired through a feat, as can chakra's and even essentia. The thing that makes the incarnate truly unique from someone just taking shape soulmeld twice is that the class can swap out its soulmelds daily, or even on-the-spot if you have 4 levels in incarnate. So for a good score in Use of SI, I expect a build to show that they are taking this modularity into account. Even just showing some alternate soulmeld lay-outs for non-combat days is fine in this regard, but if you only show your 'punching things layout' I can't judge your non-combat performance, even though I know you could swap to a different set of soulmelds.

Anyway, having said all that, lets get some judging done.


Originality
Applying ‘lesser’ to a planetouched race to get a fairly powerful race at LA+0 is fairly well known trick. On the other hand, I haven’t seen the mechanatrix before so that evens out any originality penalty for taking a lesser planetouched race.
3/5

Power
You’re a defensive power-house with high AC and the ability to heal yourself back up to full HP between fights without expending resources(+0.5). Offensively you’re just okay. Doing 5-6d6 of damage isn’t bad, but if you run into something the resists or is immune to electricity (or worse, heals from it like you do) you’ve got a problem.

Out of combat, you've got some knowledge skills to help out, but that's it.
3.5/5

Elegance
Your build seems fully legal, and the combination of the lightning gauntlets with your racial ability gets the healing required for a HP-tanking character in an elegant manner(+0.5).
3.5/5

Use of SI
You’re a full incarnate and you do stuff with soul-melds. However, you seem to need most, if not all of your soulmelds for your combat set-up, leaving little room for the utility that being able to re-shape soulmelds daily gives you.
4/5




Originality
Sharing soulmelds to create a menagerie of upgraded creatures is quite the interesting concept (+1). Doubling up on dissolving spittle through share soulmeld is a fairly obvious trick, however (-0.5).
3.5/5

Power
You‘ve got quite the damage output with your flock of spitting familiars(+1).
Unfortunately, you yourself are the weakest link in this line-up. Your AC is fairly low in your hybrid form (and you don’t want to be in sparrow form because its con of 10 causes all your soulmelds to unshape: “For all meldshaping characters, your Constitution score determines the maximum number of soulmelds you can have shaped at any one time”). In hybrid form you’re also fairly slow, meaning you need to run or double move if you want to get the bonus from expeditious dodge. Your companions are also hampered by your lack of mobility as they need to stay within 5 feet of you to benefit from your soulmelds. This means you’re also a very obvious target for some AoE spells. A single fireball could really ruin your day(-1).
All that having been said, your spells and animal companions do provide you with some neat utility. (+0.5)
3.5/5

Elegance
The Arcane hunter explicitly requires you to be a ranger, so you can’t take it on a druid (-0.5). Share soulmeld cannot be taken multiple times(-1). I also don’t see why you get two feats at level 1 (-0.5). Lastly, using animal friendship is very iffy as well, since it isn’t on the 3.5 druid spell list (and though the spell itself might not ‘officially’ have been replaced between editions, the spell list very much has been) (-0.5).
1/5

Use of SI
You’ve got 4 levels in incarnate, but your built doesn’t really feel like one. The core of your build could be replicated by simply taking the shape soulmeld feat twice and bonus essential once to get the soulspark familiar and spittle. The tricks that make these abilities shine for you are coming from the druid and sorcerer.
2/5



Originality
You’re an extraplanar toad chucking flails at people that, by some quirk of the rules, returns to your hand automatically. Sure, have some originality points for that :P (+1)
4/5

Power
Your damage isn’t particularly high, breaking about even with, for example, the dissolving spittle soulmeld, though you’ve got a high enough to-hit that you should have a decent chance to hit most things. Your AC is good and your saves are decent , but you don’t have that much HP.
Your real power lies in the versatility of your soulmelds, however. The set you get from your feats gives you decent spot and listen scores and good mobility. You’ve got a soulmeld slot free so you can adapt to different situations without compromising your core combat style(+1).
4/5

Elegance
It’s all legal.
3/5

Use of SI
This build plays to the strengths of the incarnate by making sure you have flexible soul-meld slots in addition to your daily needs for combat. There isn’t really more I could ask from this class.
5/5




Originality
Doubling up on dissolving spittle through share soulmeld is a fairly obvious trick(-0.5).
2.5/5

Power
You’ve got decent offensive power by doubling up dissolving spittle with your familiar and through astral constructs, but your to-hit is bad, hampering how much use you'll really get out of that attack (+0.5).
Your defences, however, seem to be terrible. As far as I can tell, you’ve got an AC of 10 (12 against evil creatures). Your HP isn’t bad for a d6-hit die class, but that doesn’t mean it’s objectively good (for comparison, a 14-con barbarian will have on average at least 56 HP to your 46), so your swap-in to take a hit for an ally is a trick you shouldn’t repeat too often. Spell resistance is nice, but it won’t stop everything, and it doesn’t stop anyone trying to shoot you full of arrows(-1).
2.5/5

Elegance
Your psycarnum infusion+azure talent trick is rather DM dependent. You seem to assume that you can always expend the PP gained this way first. Some DM’s I know would indeed allow you to do that. Others would rule that, once the feat empties out again, you lose powerpoints equal to what the feat first gained you, meaning that this trick would only really work once you’re down to 0 PP (-0.5).
2.5/5

Use of SI
You’ve got 3 levels in incarnate, which unfortunately means you miss out on the ability to swap around a soul-meld once a day, which in turn hurts your modularity a bit. You can only really swap to your investigation or social modes if you’re fairly certain you won’t have to do any fighting.Your ability to summon an astral construct does alleviate this issue a bit though. You also show different soul-meld lay-outs for different situations, showcasing the incarnate's versatility.
4/5



Originality
For good or ill, this build doesn’t really stand out on this front. Going Tiefling racial substitution is interesting(+1), but using changeling racial emulation to get there is a fairly common well-known trick(-0.5).
3.5/5

Power
Offensively you’re not very impressive, and your defences are bad, though you’ve got some ways of disengaging from combat at least (-0.5).
Skill-wise, whoever, you’ve got very good skills for both social and stealth, and the ability to take 10 should avoid botched social rolls, so while the combat pillar might be problematic, you’re good at both the social and exploration side of things (+1).
3.5/5

Elegance
So, here’s a question for you. If a feature says you get more uses of an ability it assumes you already have, and you don’t have that ability, do you get that ability? I’m inclined to penalize you for this way of trying to acquire the Tiefling’s darkness ability, but I’m quite willing to hear a good argument here (-0.5).
The only poison expert feat I could find was in complete scoundrel, and it requires the ‘poison use’ class feature,which you don't have (-0.5).
2/5

Use of SI
You’ve got 3 levels in the SI, and you seem to be making particularly good use of the alternate class features you’re getting. Your general soul-meld selection is quite narrow, however, and could have been emulated using a feat or two, though the essentia requirement would be trickier.
3/5



Originality
Capping a build off with a martial initiator might not be the oldest trick in the book, but it’d be the first trick if I ever got around to writing an e6 optimization handbook. These classes are a fairly obvious pick for some extra power (-0.5).
That having been said, an orc melee combatant is an odd and interesting way to go with incarnate (+1)
3.5/5

Power
You have passable defences and decent offence between your own charges and those of your allies(+0.5).
As far as I can tell you really lack in the non-combat pillars though(-1).
2.5/5

Elegance
This build is completely legal. Not much else to add here.
3/5

Use of SI
This build doesn’t really feel like an incarnate despite having 5 levels in the class. You could have done just about anything you do here better with a straight warblade with a couple of feats to pick up the necrocarnum circlet and soulspark familiar.
2/5



Right, I think that's it.

*looks over builds one more time*

*finally gets the name of the third build*

@zaq, can I disqualify a built for including a horribly excessive and painful pun as its name?

[Zaq]

Puns are the best. And 100% of the builds this round seem to have had SOME kind of wordplay in the name, so I think we’re good on that front!

Thank you very much for your judging efforts, DeTess!

[MisterKaws]

Guess I'm late to the party.

Really surprised no one went VoP Incarnate/Binder/Chameleon with Shape Soulmeld being allowed as its strongest interpretation.

[DeTess]

Guess I'm late to the party.

Really surprised no one went VoP Incarnate/Binder/Chameleon with Shape Soulmeld being allowed as its strongest interpretation.

I assume to use the chameleon's 2nd level feature? because you would need to finagle an early entry if you want to get that feature in e6.

[MisterKaws]

I assume to use the chameleon's 2nd level feature? because you would need to finagle an early entry if you want to get that feature in e6.

Nah, just for the sake of being able to do literally everything while having zero magic items.

Actually, I think some of those builds have a pretty small number of unoccupied chakras. Might even be a problem to consider. I think in an actual E6 game, meldshapers would be slotless by the 30th epic feat, at most.

[DeTess]

Actually, I think some of those builds have a pretty small number of unoccupied chakras. Might even be a problem to consider. I think in an actual E6 game, meldshapers would be slotless by the 30th epic feat, at most.

A couple are, yes, but they could just start taking the split chakra feat to free up those slots again.

[Zaq]

Also, shaping a meld doesn’t conflict with an item. Only binding a meld conflicts with an item.

[DEMON]

Just an FYI to Zaq et al, that I intend to judge this round, but I'm fully booked until early November, so if you plan on moving ahead to the next round by then, defnitely don't wait up...

[MisterKaws]

A couple are, yes, but they could just start taking the split chakra feat to free up those slots again.


Also, shaping a meld doesn’t conflict with an item. Only binding a meld conflicts with an item.

That's true, I guess, and the E6 restrictions do leave the bigger chakras free, unfortunately.

But the christmas tree effect would definitely be beautiful, especially if the DM made a capstone feat for meldshapers like the Fighter feat and gave them the ability to take Double Chakra earlier.

[Luccan]

That's true, I guess, and the E6 restrictions do leave the bigger chakras free, unfortunately.

But the christmas tree effect would definitely be beautiful, especially if the DM made a capstone feat for meldshapers like the Fighter feat and gave them the ability to take Double Chakra earlier.

E6 seems to encourage such a thing (at least in the Lean Up Approach) but that doesn't seem in line with the competition rules.

[Zaq]

E6 seems to encourage such a thing (at least in the Lean Up Approach) but that doesn't seem in line with the competition rules.

Basically, here's the issue:

I don't want to homebrew new feats for every competition.
I don't want people doing their own homebrew.
I don't want Originality issues from everyone lunging for the feats that are tailor-made for a specific class.


So really, it doesn't make sense in the context of the competition.

Make no mistake: I'm 100% in favor of such homebrew feats in a home game. Absolutely. Just not here. Might be fun to play, but I don't think it's fun to compete with.



Here's a dispute from someone:



So, here’s a question for you. If a feature says you get more uses of an ability it assumes you already have, and you don’t have that ability, do you get that ability? I’m inclined to penalize you for this way of trying to acquire the Tiefling’s darkness ability, but I’m quite willing to hear a good argument here (-0.5).
The only poison expert feat I could find was in complete scoundrel, and it requires the ‘poison use’ class feature,which you don't have (-0.5).

Here to answer a question.

Honestly the way I read it, it is increasing our amount of darkness uses from 0 (standard) to 3.

You are correct, and I don't know why I listed Cityscape instead of Complete Scoundrel. However according to Masters of the Wild

If a character has a class feature or special ability that exactly duplicates the effects of a feat, then he or she can use that “virtual feat” as a prerequisite for other feats, as well as prestige classes, and so forth.
For example, a ranger can fight with two weapons as if he had the feats Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting, so he is considered to have those feats for the purpose of acquiring the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat detailed in this section. If the character ever loses the virtual prerequisite, he or she also loses access to any feats or other benefits acquired through its existence. For example, a ranger who wears armor heavier than light loses access to the virtual feats noted above, and thereby to Greater Two-Weapon Fighting as well. Acquiring a virtual feat does not give a character access to its prerequisites.


Poison Use: Assassins are trained in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade.

You can apply poison or oil to a weapon as a swift action, without provoking attacks of opportunity. In addition, you never risk accidentally poisoning yourself when applying poison to a weapon.
Master of Poisons is better in every way and covers everything that the class feature Poison Use does, so we virtually qualify for the feat.


Going Tiefling racial substitution is interesting, but using changeling racial emulation to get there is a fairly common trick.

I can't argue with Originality because its opinion based. But I disagree.

[Luccan]

Basically, here's the issue:

I don't want to homebrew new feats for every competition.
I don't want people doing their own homebrew.
I don't want Originality issues from everyone lunging for the feats that are tailor-made for a specific class.


So really, it doesn't make sense in the context of the competition.

Make no mistake: I'm 100% in favor of such homebrew feats in a home game. Absolutely. Just not here. Might be fun to play, but I don't think it's fun to compete with.


I completely understand and agree. I was intending to point out how a such a thing isn't really something the judges or chefs need to worry about.

[DeTess]

Here to answer a question.

Honestly the way I read it, it is increasing our amount of darkness uses from 0 (standard) to 3.


But doesn't that assume that every character has every ability ever, just with 0 uses? This would in turn mean that all characters could, for example, take those feats related to the darkness spell-like abilities, because they would still have the ability, just at 0 uses. And yes, I consider there to be a difference between not having an ability, or having it but having 0 uses. A wizard that has expended all their spell slots is still an arcane spellcaster after all, but a fighter isn't.




You are correct, and I don't know why I listed Cityscape instead of Complete Scoundrel. However according to Masters of the Wild
Quote Originally Posted by Masters of the Wild

If a character has a class feature or special ability that exactly duplicates the effects of a feat, then he or she can use that “virtual feat” as a prerequisite for other feats, as well as prestige classes, and so forth.
For example, a ranger can fight with two weapons as if he had the feats Ambidexterity and Two-Weapon Fighting, so he is considered to have those feats for the purpose of acquiring the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat detailed in this section. If the character ever loses the virtual prerequisite, he or she also loses access to any feats or other benefits acquired through its existence. For example, a ranger who wears armor heavier than light loses access to the virtual feats noted above, and thereby to Greater Two-Weapon Fighting as well. Acquiring a virtual feat does not give a character access to its prerequisites.


Poison Use: Assassins are trained in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade.

You can apply poison or oil to a weapon as a swift action, without provoking attacks of opportunity. In addition, you never risk accidentally poisoning yourself when applying poison to a weapon.
Master of Poisons is better in every way and covers everything that the class feature Poison Use does, so we virtually qualify for the feat.


So, two things. First, the rule from masters of the wild only specifies the reverse case to what you have here, that a class feature that duplicates a feat counts as that feat for prerequsites, not that a feat that duplicates a class feature counts as that class feature. Secondly, masters of the wild is a 3.0 source, and so its rules on prerequisties would conceivably be overruled by those of the 3.5 handbook. The case that this rule seems to have been designed for, namely a certain ranger feature, has been changed in 3.5 to no longer require this ruling as the ranger just gets those feats.

That having been said, I would probably agree with you if you presented this build for a game I was DM-ing, but it would be a houserule by me to do so, so I can't apply it here.


I can't argue with Originality because its opinion based. But I disagree.
I mean, it seems like you're arguing anyway :P

But to slightly expand on my judgement there, I've seen using racial emulation to get all sorts of interesting things on a changeling in conversations about optimization, so I consider it a fairly well-known interaction. That having been said, I should have only given you half a point in penalty for that, and a full point for your Tiefling shenanigans, so you'll gain half a point in originality.

[Zaq]

Missed one. My bad.


Power

Grace is hitting against AC 10 pretty much all the time, which makes her to-hit less of a problem. Dissolving Spittle is a ranged touch attack, and the Grappled condition prevents the target from gaining Dex to AC either. Her astral constructs all have improved grab.

Synchronicity is a pretty powerful defensive tool that you're disregarding. Interrupting an enemy attack routine by moving away (or using one of Grace's several mobility options) makes it pretty hard to get shot at by ranged attacks. Archers are also generally not happy to be engaged by Astral Constructs. There's nothing stopping her from wearing armor or other defensive items, also - given that she's focused on protecting allies with build choices, improving AC seems like an obvious line to be taking there. If you're expecting to specifically be fighting against ranged non-spell non-evil combatants, I guess Grace would be changing up her soulmelds, but that didn't feel like a scenario that's frequent enough to be worth including in the table.
Summoning 47 or more HP of Astral Construct (every turn, if needed) does a lot to help prevent enemies from engaging with Grace profitably.

Elegance
If you want to interpret Azure Talent as draining an equal amount of PP when the effect expires, an actual essentia (non-Infusion) investment into Azure Talent has two possible options for how it ends up working.
1. You invest the essentia after you replenish PP for the day. This means that tomorrow, the effect expires after regaining PP again, and you're in the negative for the same PP you gained yesterday. This means you're actually effectively borrowing PP from tomorrow when you use it - which would be a strange end result to get from the feat's wording, given that if you needed those PP each day, you'd get to actually use extra PP one day, and then have to keep investing essentia every day for effectively zero bonus.
2. You invest the essentia before you replenish PP for the day, which means your PP total is overwritten soon after anyway and the feat does nothing.
I don't think there is any reasonable interpretation of the feat causing you to lose PP (other than any unspent bonus ones) when it expires that doesn't render it entirely nonfunctional.

Use of SI
The example soulmelds listed for investigation still have both defensive and offensive options and are perfectly serviceable in combat.

[DeTess]

Power

Grace is hitting against AC 10 pretty much all the time, which makes her to-hit less of a problem. Dissolving Spittle is a ranged touch attack, and the Grappled condition prevents the target from gaining Dex to AC either. Her astral constructs all have improved grab.

You lack the precise shot feat though, so you'd be at an effective -2 to hit anyone being grappled.




Synchronicity is a pretty powerful defensive tool that you're disregarding. Interrupting an enemy attack routine by moving away (or using one of Grace's several mobility options) makes it pretty hard to get shot at by ranged attacks. Archers are also generally not happy to be engaged by Astral Constructs. There's nothing stopping her from wearing armor or other defensive items, also - given that she's focused on protecting allies with build choices, improving AC seems like an obvious line to be taking there. If you're expecting to specifically be fighting against ranged non-spell non-evil combatants, I guess Grace would be changing up her soulmelds, but that didn't feel like a scenario that's frequent enough to be worth including in the table.
Summoning 47 or more HP of Astral Construct (every turn, if needed) does a lot to help prevent enemies from engaging with Grace profitably.

Can you explain how exactly you're using synchronicity? If you're casting it normally, then you're trading offensive power for defensive power, which will not result in a net change as far as I can tell (this is what I assumed for my judgement). If you're linking it to other powers to get extra actions you'll get a boost to power, but a hit to originality, as this is pretty much the oldest psionic trick in the book.

I also don't see how movement would interrupt ranged attacks unless you move out of range or into cover, which is not guaranteed to be possible.

Regarding armor: if you'd wanted your character to wear armor, you should have said so in the write-up, and I would have taken that into account.

Your astral constructs are nice, but unless I missed a reach option they are only moderately effective at being a roadblock for anyone that isn't already engaged with them (and once they grapple someone, they stop threatening any area). They also don't do anything about the fact that you seem to have included several parts in your build that are intended to allow your character to leap in and take hits for others, so its not like you're attempting to always stay safely behind your construct.



Elegance
If you want to interpret Azure Talent as draining an equal amount of PP when the effect expires, an actual essentia (non-Infusion) investment into Azure Talent has two possible options for how it ends up working.
1. You invest the essentia after you replenish PP for the day. This means that tomorrow, the effect expires after regaining PP again, and you're in the negative for the same PP you gained yesterday. This means you're actually effectively borrowing PP from tomorrow when you use it - which would be a strange end result to get from the feat's wording, given that if you needed those PP each day, you'd get to actually use extra PP one day, and then have to keep investing essentia every day for effectively zero bonus.
2. You invest the essentia before you replenish PP for the day, which means your PP total is overwritten soon after anyway and the feat does nothing.
I don't think there is any reasonable interpretation of the feat causing you to lose PP (other than any unspent bonus ones) when it expires that doesn't render it entirely nonfunctional.

I think I failed at explaining my thoughts here properly. let's say your character has 20PP left, and uses psycarnum infusion to boost up azure talent. I think we both agree that, if you spend no power points, you're going to be back to 20PP after the start of your next turn. The ambiguity is about what happens if you spend any power points. I don't think there's any RAW about one PP taking priority over another one, so its up to individual DM's. some will love your trick and allow you to spend those 6 PP first. Others will hate it, and say you spend those PP last. So, to use the example mentioned above, if you spend exactly 6 PP, one DM might say those where the PP from the feat, meaning you have 20PP at the next turn (the same 20PP you started with), and another might say those were not the PP from the feat (so you end up with 14 PP the next turn, as the 6 unused PP from the feat drain away).

Looking at it this way, both your described options also don't work that way. If you where at 0PP before replenishing, then there's nop ambiguity about having spend the PP from the feat. If you're at more PP, then either those are from the feat (and will be added on top of your regular PP as they refresh) or they are not (in which case you loose no PP).

I did not penalize you as if your trick doesn't work (you'd have lost a full point in that case), but its ambiguous and heavily DM dependent, so I felt some penalty was still in order.


Use of SI
The example soulmelds listed for investigation still have both defensive and offensive options and are perfectly serviceable in combat.



... I don't really know what happened there. I think I somehow only properly processed the first row of your soulmeld breakdown, and failed to look at the last row? You get half a point extra there.

[Zaq]

Sorry for disappearing, folks. You know how it goes sometimes.

Gonna try to wrap up hopefully tonight or (more likely) tomorrow.

Feel free to chatter about HM and about the next ingredient! Since it looks like we kind of collectively missed the 10-point originality part of this round (NO ONE NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE HERE; WE’RE COOL), do you want to run another high-orig round next time, or shall we just stick with the usual scale?

Always taking input on ingredients! Leaning towards something somewhat magical, but I could be talked out of it.

As always, if you want to commit to a Hard Ingredient (sohei, shadowcaster, soulborn, savant, or one of the others I don’t want to flop too hard), I want to hear it. Again as always, we won’t run such a round until I get at least three people proactively committing to the ingredient ahead of time—otherwise we’ll stick with stuff that’s a bit more accessible.

Talk amongst yourselves!

[DeTess]

Feel free to chatter about HM and about the next ingredient! Since it looks like we kind of collectively missed the 10-point originality part of this round (NO ONE NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE HERE; WE’RE COOL), do you want to run another high-orig round next time, or shall we just stick with the usual scale?


...oops

Anyway, my hm vote goes to feth her. I'm affraid I wasn't exactly gentle in tearing through the mechanical implementation, but I liked the concept of a flock of birds beefed up by every subsystem under the sun.

Regarding future ingredients, I have a bit of an odd sugestion. How about, instead of taking a class as ingredient, taking a feat category (like [draconic] or [abyssal] or dragonmarks) as the ingredient instead?

[Zaq]

...oops

Anyway, my hm vote goes to feth her. I'm affraid I wasn't exactly gentle in tearing through the mechanical implementation, but I liked the concept of a flock of birds beefed up by every subsystem under the sun.

Regarding future ingredients, I have a bit of an odd sugestion. How about, instead of taking a class as ingredient, taking a feat category (like [draconic] or [abyssal] or dragonmarks) as the ingredient insteaf?

Interesting idea...

[daremetoidareyo]

I think i prefer the hard ones.

[Zaq]

Dare, are there any of the hard ones that you’re willing to commit to?

[daremetoidareyo]

Dare, are there any of the hard ones that you’re willing to commit to?

Shadowcaster!

[Zaq]

Anyone else willing to commit to shadowcaster? Because I’d dig the hell out of a shadowcaster round IF we actually get entries. But I don’t want another round where I’m begging and groveling for entries. I learned my lesson after shugenja and hexblade.

To be clear, if we don’t get that kind of commitment, we’ll do another ingredient. No biggie.

[Luccan]

Anyone else willing to commit to shadowcaster? Because I’d dig the hell out of a shadowcaster round IF we actually get entries. But I don’t want another round where I’m begging and groveling for entries. I learned my lesson after shugenja and hexblade

To be clear, if we don’t get that kind of commitment, we’ll do another ingredient. No biggie.

I'll do a shadowcaster round. It'll probably be a small round anyway, since it's a fairly niche class without a ton of supporting material

[ranagrande]

Whatever the next one is, I'm in.

[Falontani]

I'd be game for shadowcaster if we get clear rulings on how shadowcaster works... Are the spells each 1/day until we get fourth level stuff, at which point it is 2/day slas? How exactly do the paths work? Etc

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I actually just did some reading on Shadowcaster. I'd be game for using it as the SI.

[Zaq]

I'll post the reveal and the next round once I make more progress in my homework. Feel free to continue the discussion.

Falontani, are there any more specific questions about shadowcasters (beyond what you listed in your post) that you'd like resolved? If we go for a shadowcaster round, we'd go by the book:

Mysteries are 1/day when cast as spells, 2/day when cast as SLAs, and 3/day when cast as supernatural abilities. (Since we're in E6, you'll never get the 7th level class feature that gives you initiate mysteries and turns all your apprentice mysteries into SLAs—which is precisely why shadowcaster is a Hard Ingredient—but the rule is still relevant for Favored Mystery and such.)
Paths work in that you have to have the lower-level mysteries before you get the higher-level mysteries (you need the level 1 before you can have the level 2 and you need the level 2 before you can have the level 3), and the rules for when you can have a higher-level mystery are on pg. 112. You get a bonus feat for each two paths you have, as described on pg. 113.

With this level of support, shadowcaster is the likely next ingredient. As per my previous statements in threads past, since it's a Hard Ingredient, doing work on it in advance if you choose is 100% not cheating.

[daremetoidareyo]

One last question about the bonus feats. The book allows you to take metamagic feats (as described in phb) as bonus feats.

Is that because you can apply metamagic to mysteries? Is it limited to metamagic feats found in phb? (Is it referring to the feats themselves or the description of metamagic in phb?)

This thing is a raw mess.

[Zaq]

You can take any metamagic feat (that you qualify for) as a path bonus feat regardless of whether it appears in the PHB or not (though, as always, it must come from a legal source).

Per pg. 138, mysteries "cannot benefit from feats that enhance spells, such as metamagic feats, Ability Focus, or Empower Spell-Like Ability. Instead, mysteries benefit from metashadow feats." Emphasis added.

It's stupid that taking more paths can give you metamagic feats that you explicitly cannot use, but it's not broken.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

The biggest question I have is whether casting mysteries "as though they were arcane spells" counts as arcane spells for prerequisites. For an example impossible in E6, could you use casting 3rd level mysteries as arcane spells qualify you for Sublime Chord? And could prestige classes that advance spellcasting advance mysteries?

[Zaq]

The biggest question I have is whether casting mysteries "as though they were arcane spells" counts as arcane spells for prerequisites. For an example impossible in E6, could you use casting 3rd level mysteries as arcane spells qualify you for Sublime Chord? And could prestige classes that advance spellcasting advance mysteries?

This is all on pg. 117. Being able to cast mysteries counts as "ability to cast X level spells" if and only if the prereq specifies neither arcane nor divine. (Except for mystic theurge, which is a specific exception.)

Also from pg. 117:


When advancing in a prestige class that states "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" or "+1 level of existing casting class," a mystery user adds those levels to his mystery-casting class for purposes of gaining new mysteries or fundamentals. On the other hand, a mystery user does not benefit from prestige classes that only add levels to specific types of spellcasters. A prestige class that grants +1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class" or "+1 level of existing divine spellcasting class" does not increase the character's mysteries (again, excepting the mystic theurge under proper conditions).

[PoeticallyPsyco]

This is all on pg. 117. Being able to cast mysteries counts as "ability to cast X level spells" if and only if the prereq specifies neither arcane nor divine. (Except for mystic theurge, which is a specific exception.)

Apparently I need to be more thorough in my reading. Thanks for clarifying!

[MinimanMidget]

Is it crazy to suggest, in the spirit of high Originality rounds for Actually Good ingredients, that a Shadowcaster round might benefit from being a high UotSI round?

[Zaq]

Chef
Name
Race / Alignment
Stub
Score
Rank


Quentinas
Elec Tri (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205261&postcount=33)
LN Lesser Mechanatrix
Incarnate 6
14
2nd, silver


jdizzlean
Feth Her (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205262&postcount=34)
NG Sparrow Hengeyokai
Druid 1 / Incarnate 1 / Battle Sorc 1 / Incarnate +3
10
6th, HM


MinimanMidget
Flaylinn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205266&postcount=35)
CN Neraph
Incarnate 6
16
1st, gold


Gauntlet
Grace (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205270&postcount=36)
NG Azurin
Incarnate 3 / Ardent 2 / Soul Manifester 1
11.5
4th


Falontani
Shade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205272&postcount=37)
NE Changeling
Rogue 1 / Tiefling Paragon 2 / Incarnate 3
12
3rd, bronze


Quentinas
Soultob (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=24205274&postcount=38)
NE Desert Orc
Incarnate 5 / Warblade 1
11
5th



That's a wrap!

Thanks to DeTess for judging, and thanks to everyone for putting up with me being busy and slow!

Congrats to our medalists: MinimanMidget takes first, Quentinas takes second, and Falontani takes third! jdizzlean walks away with HM by popular vote (with a total of—checks notes—one vote cast)!

Time for a bit of a darker round coming up. Yes, it's happening.

[Zaq]

New round HERE! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?602325-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXI))