Piggy Knowles
2020-01-04, 01:15 PM
INTRODUCTION
With more than a decade and a half of toying around with 3.5, I’ve accumulated a lot of spare builds and ideas. While I don’t have an active game going right now, I still like to pop open my builds folder and try to refine things. Recently I decided to make a dedicated effort to flesh out some of these builds into full write-ups, and reached out to some friends in the CO community who might be interested in doing the same. In the spirit of Tempest Stormwind’s Weekly Optimization Showcase (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), I thought I’d showcase the end results here.
The goal is (usually) not to show off any fancy new TO trick, but to showcase effective, playable builds and spur discussion. While each of us has a different build philosophy, in general the intent is to create something that can be played in most groups from level 1 to level 20. Again, the goal is discussion, so feel free to discuss the build, talk about other options, make suggestions or tear it all to shreds. Also, feel free to use anything showcased here in any of your campaigns—and let us know how they work out if you do!
Right now the group consists of myself, the Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger and WhamBamSam, with a couple of other folks hopefully on their way. Typically one of us writes up the build concept and possibly a stub, the others share feedback on Discord or in some of the shared documents we have, and together we refine things until we’re happy with the final product. I’ll list the build’s main author whenever I showcase a particular build.
Buffsader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559259-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Buffsader) (ToB/Gish/Party Support)
The Utility Belt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560988-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Utility-Belt) (Psionics/Stealth/Utility)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569004-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-War-Mind) (ToB/Psionics/Melee Damage)
The Melding Pot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579458-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Melding-Pot) (Incarnum/Utility)
That’s So Raven (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581950-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-That%92s-So-Raven) (Gish/Ranged/Debuff)
Dancing in the Dark (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582528-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Dancing-in-the-Dark) (ToB/Stealth/Lock-down)
Gladys Knight and the Pips (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583657-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Gladys-Knight-and-the-Pips) (Arcane/Face/Utility)
Zen in the Art of Archery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584417-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Zen-in-the-Art-of-Archery)
I Choose You! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588818-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-I-Choose-You!) (Divine/Summmoning)
Cold World (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589769-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Cold-World) (Divine/Summmoning/Lockdown)
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591809-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Holy-Roller-and-His-Holy-Boulders) (Ranged/Wild Shape/Exalted)
Big Brother is Watching (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?593033-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Big-Brother-is-Watching) (Scrying/Arcane/Party Support)
The White Elephant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600206-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-White-Elephant&p=24195441) (Arcane/Debuff/BFC)
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?601739-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Tales-From-the-Crypt”]Tales (” (Halloween special)
For this showcase, we’ll look at a different kind of charger: Legend of the Drunken Master!
https://snakeandeagle.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/dm2.jpg
Legend of the Drunken Master
Giving new meaning to blacking out.
BACKGROUND
Charging is a fairly well-plumbed optimization staple, and with good reason. There are quite a lot of charge-based multipliers (most of which key off of Power Attack, which is also one of the best sources of bonus damage around), and if you can get your hands on the pounce ability it’s one of the few ways to move around and full attack.
But charging has quite a lot of limitations as well. You have to move a minimum of 10’ to initiate a charge, you need line of sight to your foe, you can only charge in a straight line and you must have a clear, unobstructed path free of obstacles, difficult terrain or other creatures (even your own allies). Sure, slap on a blindfold of true sight and some flight, get on a big open battlefield and you can likely charge all day, but there are still a lot of ways a smart DM can prevent an ubercharger from getting off its attacks every round.
Beyond that, charging is boring. I mean, any character is as fun as you make it, but tactically you’re rarely doing more than drawing a straight line to your nearest opponent, dumping your AC to max out Power Attack, swinging the biggest sword you can lay your hands on and hoping you can kill them before they kill you. I’ve played several uberchargers and had a good time with it, but after a while they do start to wear a bit thin.
And so, we started brainstorming about a different kind of charger. What if instead of trying to put out damage numbers that required scientific notation to properly express, we built a charger around the idea of bypassing the typical limitations that chargers face? What if instead of building the Hulk, we built something more akin to Daredevil or the Black Widow, a charger who dodged and weaved through a crowded battlefield, bouncing off of walls and running circles around her foes before getting up close and personal? Could we do that, and still end up with something capable of putting out the damage numbers required for a primary melee character?
THE BASICS
Race: Human. It’s a requirement for Lion Tribe Warrior, it avoids multiclassing penalties and the bonus feat and extra skill points are as always a big help.
Build Stub: Monk 2/Warblade 14/Drunken Master 2/Battle Trickster 2.
ACFs: Cobra Strike Monk.
Alignment: Any lawful.
Legend of the Drunken Master
Level
Class
Feats/Skill Tricks
Class Features
Maneuvers Known
Notes (Click to Expand)
1st
Monk 1
Improved Unarmed StrikeB, DodgeB, Lion Tribe Warrior, Blind-Fight
Bonus feat, flurry of blows, unarmed strike
Monk isn’t the most exciting open, especially with Cobra Strike locking you into some otherwise disappointing feats, but you still do alright. Lion Tribe Warrior allows you to pounce and flurry, meaning you can make two unarmed attacks on a charge right from level one (with the charge bonus eliminating the flurry penalty). While the light weapon requirement makes it a strictly inferior form of pounce than what the lion totem barbarian gets, this is monk-compatible and only costs a single feat. Focus on skills, stay mobile, charge in and punch things.
2nd
Monk 2
MobilityB
Bonus feat, evasion
Monk’s multiclassing restrictions mean you’ll need another level here before you go into warblade. Mobility is a solid defensive boost for any build that relies on moving around a lot, giving you a very nice boost to AC against AoOs for the level.
3rd
Warblade 1
Mage Slayer, Twisted Chargeskill trick
Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude
Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, charging minotaur, leading the chargestance
Alright, time to start making those charges hurt. Twisted Charge is a very nice skill trick that takes away the single most annoying charge restriction (the straight line requirement) once per encounter. It’ll eventually be outclassed, but for the next few levels it’s huge. And speaking of mobility, sudden leap comes online here as well, giving you swift action movement that can let you do things like jump backwards to re-charge the same foe. Meanwhile, leading the charge will be your best offensive stance for your entire career, giving you and your allies a scaling damage bonus to all charge attacks.
4th
Warblade 2
Nimble Chargeskill trick
Uncanny dodge
Battle leader’s charge
Nimble Charge helps you bypass one of the other common hurdles to charging, allowing you to charge over difficult surfaces with a balance check once per encounter. Meanwhile, battle leader’s charge is a very solid damage boost. Charge in, ignoring AoOs, and make a couple of attacks that each dish out +13 damage between this and leading the charge. That’s actually quite good for this level.
5th
Warblade 3
Battle ardor (critical confirmation)
Wall of blades
An unfortunate side-effect of being monkly is a mediocre AC. However, you have close to full BAB, so wall of blades is a great way to shore things up a bit. Parry attacks like this are also very much on-theme for this character, fitting in well with your martial style.
6th
Warblade 4
Pierce Magical Concealment, Extreme Leapskill trick
Charging minotaur -> iron heart surge, leaping dragon stancestance
Pierce Magical Concealment is absolutely essential here. It’s a great feat for any character that can afford it, but it’s especially good for chargers since it allows you to completely bypass most common methods of blocking line of sight. Since line of sight is required in order to charge, this is absolutely huge. As for your maneuvers, iron heart surge lets you surge your way out of most lockdown effects, while leaping dragon stance gives you great utility alongside sudden leap and Extreme Leap any time you don’t need the damage boost from leading the charge.
7th
Warblade 5
Great FortitudeB
Bonus feat
White raven tactics
Your first iterative attack comes online. Now you’re making three attacks on a charge and with battle leader’s charge and leading the charge, each one is doing +18 damage before taking into account your Strength or any enhancement bonuses. And you also get the incomparable white raven tactics here, letting you shuffle your allies around in the initiative order as a swift action.
8th
Drunken Master 1
Up the Hillskill trick
Drink like a demon, improvised weapons
Into drunken master. Improvised weapons is a pretty fun ability, though you’ll overall get better mileage out of something you can enchant. Up the Hill means you can dash up hills and stairs as you run around whacking people without costing extra movement.
9th
Drunken Master 2
Combat Acrobat
Stagger
Ah, here we go. Stagger is the whole reason you went into drunken master. This ability is completely singular in 3.5: it allows you to completely ignore the usual charging restriction of going in a straight line. Combined with Combat Acrobat, which allows you to ignore up to four squares of difficult terrain (as well as become functionally immune to tripping), and you can charge anywhere. Dodge and weave anywhere you want, charging the same enemy multiple times by reversing direction or running literal circles around your foes. You can still move up to twice your speed, you can ignore AoOs without relying on battle leader’s charge and you can zig-zag around the battlefield charging every round.
10th
Battle Trickster 1
Walk the Wallsskill trick, Easy Escapeskill trick
Bonus trick
Battle trickster may seem like an odd choice, but it won’t significantly delay your maneuver progression and it’s got high skill points, full BAB and a bonus feat. For your bonus skill trick, I’m fond of Walk the Walls. This lets you literally run up and down walls as long as you begin and end on a horizontal surface. Even if you’re backed into a corner, you can run up a wall and back down again to get off a full charge, and you can do it with style.
11th
Battle Trickster 2
Elusive TargetB
Bonus feat
With your bonus feat, go ahead and pick up Elusive Target. You’ve already got the pre-reqs, and it’s one of my favorite tactical feats. All of its options are fantastic: negating Power Attack is absolutely life-saving, forcing an automatic miss when you’re flanked is great and while you’re not a tripper, cause overreach is always fun.
12th
Warblade 6
Snap Kick, Acrobatic Backstabskill trick
Improved uncanny dodge
Wolf fang strike -> dancing mongoose
Back into warblade, where you’ll stay for the rest of your career. Dancing mongoose is just an easy upgrade from wolf fang strike; it’s not essential to the build, but there’s no reason not to take it. Snap Kick gives you yet another attack on your full attack routines.
13th
Warblade 7
Battle cunning (damage)
Iron heart focus
The big news here is picking up another iterative attack. Between Snap Kick and flurry, you’re now making five attacks on a charge before items, all of which benefit from your charge maneuvers and stances. Iron heart focus is a very nice defensive counter to help keep you alive and kicking.
14th
Warblade 8
Quick Escapeskill trick
White raven tactics -> war leader’s charge
Time to upgrade your charging technique. War leader’s charge gives a nice fat damage bonus on every attack; between this and leading the charge you’re now dealing +46 damage on each of your five (or more with items/spells!) attacks at the end of a charge.
15th
Warblade 9
Combat ReflexesB, Robilar’s Gambit
Bonus feat
Manticore parry
As you’ve probably noticed by now, you’re pretty much solely focusing on boosts, counters and charging maneuvers rather than strikes. Manticore parry is a nice upgrade from wall of blades; if you don’t have an adjacent target to redirect the attack to, just redirect it to the ground next to you. Meanwhile, Robilar’s Gambit and Combat Reflexes give you even more opportunities to punish those who would attack you.
16th
Warblade 10
Press the advantagestance
Press the advantage may seem like an odd choice of stance, given that you can’t five foot step while charging, but it’ll get some usefulness down the road.
17th
Warblade 11
Battle skill (opposed checks)
Clarion call
Again, boosts and counters are the name of the game. This time you pick up the very nice clarion call, letting you boost your whole party after dropping a foe.
18th
Warblade 12
Sidestep
Wall of blades -> girallon windmill flesh rip
Another iterative attack is always great. Since wall of blades is rarely getting readied anymore, go ahead and swap it out for girallon windmill flesh rip. You’re making 6+ attacks, meaning this should be adding some very reliable bonus damage as a swift action. Meanwhile, Sidestep combines with Robilar’s Gambit and Combat Reflexes to let you reposition yourself when you’re attacked. You’re all about staying mobile, so this is fantastic. And if you don’t need the damage boost from leading the charge, press the advantage even gives you an extra five-foot step here. Heck, if you get your hands on a sparring dummy of the master, you can move 20’ every time someone attacks you. Not too shabby...
19th
Warblade 13
Improved InitiativeB
Bonus feat
Raging mongoose
If you meet the qualifications, raging mongoose almost never goes amiss. While it won’t benefit from your charging boosts, getting an extra handful of attacks as a swift action can be just what you need to drop a foe.
20th
Warblade 14
Dancing mongoose -> war master’s charge
Ah, here we go. War master’s charge is about as perfect a capstone as you could hope for. Not only does it add a whopping +50 damage to your attacks when you charge, it also allows all of your allies to charge as an immediate action (and they also get a sizeable damage boost). This is an encounter-ending option, giving you the ability to shred most level-appropriate foes and reposition the party simultaneously. Just keep in mind that you can’t take immediate actions when flat-footed and you’re considered flat-footed until you act in combat, so if you plan to use this during the first round of combat, you may want to delay until after your allies go. (Or just use war leader’s charge on your first turn and then use this as your follow-up.)
[u]Warblade Maneuvers
1- Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, charging minotaur, leading the chargestance
2- Battle leader’s charge, wall of blades
3- Iron heart surge, white raven tactics, leaping dragon stancestance
4-
5- Dancing mongoose, iron heart focus, press the advantagestance
6- War leader’s charge, manticore parry
7- Clarion call
8- Girallon windmill flesh rip, raging mongoose
9- War master’s charge
Surprise, surprise, you’re a monk so you’ll want decent stats all over the place. As a melee combatant Strength is your bread and butter, and likely what you’ll boost every level. Dexterity is going to be similarly important, since it drives many of your skills and keeps you from being too squishy. Wisdom boosts that AC too, though it’s less handy than Dexterity since it doesn’t power any relevant skills. Con is always important as well. Intelligence is actually less essential than you’d think; you certainly don’t want a negative score, but the Int-based warblade abilities are not essential to the build and you have enough skill points without a boost. Charisma is safe to dump.
SAMPLE STAT ARRAYS:
28-point buy: Str 16/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 8
32-point buy: Str 16/Dex 16/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 8
Go for all the mobility skills: jump, tumble and balance are particularly important, but climb and escape artist come in handy as well. I even like dropping some into use rope to play Indiana Jones; you’ve got the skill points to pull it off. You’ll also need two points in spellcraft for Mage Slayer, and there are tons of useful skill tricks to look at (I referenced several that I personally think are worth taking in the build write-up, but there are a lot of other options as well).
You’re a monk, meaning you can get by without most mundane items, though skill boosters for the mobility skills will certainly come in handy. That said, it isn’t crazy to carry a reach weapon with you just for the sake of attacks of opportunity and triggering Mage Slayer. It won’t qualify for your Lion Tribe Warrior pouncing, but you can use it to keep foes at bay while kicking and punching anyone who comes near.
You’ll want the ability to enhance your attacks while still using flurry and Lion Tribe Warrior, which means either using a special monk weapon (kama, nunchaku, sai and siangham all qualify for Lion Tribe Warrior) or picking up an amulet of natural attacks. Of particular value is the valorous enhancement. You’re adding a lot of big flat bonuses to your charge attacks and charging every round, so valorous puts in a ton of work.
Items that further enhance your speed and mobility (especially flight, which this build does not pick up natively) are quite useful as well, as are things that give you additional attacks on a charge such as boots of speed. A blindfold of true sight can help you maintain line of sight against those who hide themselves via non-magical means. A sparring dummy of the master is fantastic if you can get your hands on it, letting you move 10’ whenever your opponent attacks you thanks to Robilar’s + Sidestep (or 20’ if you’ve got press the advantage up).
BUILD SUMMARY
Let’s bring everything together. You have +18 BAB, 9th-level maneuvers and the ability to pounce with light weapons (such as, say, your unarmed strike). You can charge in any direction and move around freely, ignoring difficult terrain, invisibility, magical fog and other similar restrictions that might otherwise prevent you from charging. You’re hyper-mobile, moving double your move speed every round, plus you get free repositioning every time someone attacks you. And while you lack many of the damage staples like Power Attack, you still easily deal level-appropriate damage thanks to damage boosters from leading the charge and your charging maneuvers. Even without adding in a single magical item, war master’s charge and leading the charge mean you can pounce with six attacks, each one getting +67 on top of your Strength and any other damage boosters. Add in a couple of level-appropriate items (Strength boosters, boots of speed and the valorous enhancement on an amulet of natural attacks) and you’re making seven attacks, each one doing an average of 183 points of damage. Sure, that may seem like small potatoes compared to an ubercharger, but it’s still more than enough to punch through any level-appropriate foe in a single round.
More importantly, though, you can move around in style. You’ve taken a fairly linear fighting style (charging) and made it extremely dynamic. You’ll be moving twice your speed on every turn with almost no restrictions on movement. Dodge and weave all over the battlefield, running around foes, leaping in to make a flurry of punches and kicks and then bouncing away via Sudden Leap. Run up and flip off of walls, tumble around and through enemies, swing across chandeliers and dance over difficult terrain as though it isn’t there. Charge the same enemy repeatedly by literally running around them in a circle, or dashing up a wall and springing back down, or tumbling beneath their feet to hit them from behind. When foes attack you, you can parry the attack away or redirect it to strike someone else, then swing back at them and then dance out of their reach. Most of your tactics are party-friendly, too. Unlike the typical charger you don’t mind allies being in the thick of things, and most of your boosts and stances help your allies as well as yourself.
VARIANTS
Battle trickster is not essential to the build, so an easy variant is Monk 2/Warblade 16/Drunken Master 2. You’ll have slightly worse skills and one fewer feat in exchange for one extra maneuver, one extra stance and getting access to war leader’s charge and war master’s charge a level earlier. The extra maneuvers and stances are not as useful as you’d think, since you’ve taken almost about every non-strike maneuver that you qualify for and none of the additional stances you pick up are as useful as leading the charge or press the advantage, but getting your two best maneuvers early is definitely worth consideration.
As far as other options, Pierce Magical Protection is a very valuable feat in the higher levels when buffstacks becomes a common sight. And if you’re not interested in the Robilar’s route, you can instead go with feats that will boost your unarmed strikes such as Superior Unarmed Strike and Improved Natural Attack. If you’ve got a friendly wizard willing to cast greater mighty wallop on you every day, this becomes a very nice option, increasing the base damage of your unarmed strikes to 6d8.
I also tried very hard to come up with a version that used thief-acrobat for its acrobatic charge ability (plus it’s a class I just really like and always want an excuse to use). There were three options I found that worked with this. The first was to use unarmed swordsage and master of nine instead of warblade. Unarmed swordsage gets evasion to qualify for drunken master and thief-acrobat, allowing you to skip monk, while master of nine lets you pick up all the charging maneuvers you need. You end up with an even more mobile and skillful version of the build, one with a thoroughly ridiculous number of maneuvers, but it matures later and is significantly weaker due to a much lower BAB (+13, or +15 with fractional) and no flurry of blows.
1 unarmed ss1- IUS, Lion Tribe Warrior, Adaptive Style
2 unarmed ss2-
3 unarmed ss3- Dodge
4 unarmed ss4-
5 unarmed ss5-
6 unarmed ss6- Blind-Fight
7 unarmed ss7-
8 unarmed ss8-
9 unarmed ss9- Great Fortitude
10 drunken master1-
11 drunken master2-
12 thief-acrobat1- Mage Slayer
13 thief-acrobat2-
14 thief-acrobat3-
15 thief-acrobat4- Pierce Magical Concealment
16 master of nine1-
17 master of nine2-
18 master of nine3- Snap Kick
19 master of nine4-
20 master of nine5-
The second option was to go with Monk 1/Warblade 14/Drunken Master 2/Thief-Acrobat 3, and use feats to pick up evasion via impulse boots. That’s not a terrible version - you have to drop Robilar’s/Elusive Target/Sidestep and delay Mage Slayer and Pierce Magical Concealment to pull it off, but otherwise the build pretty much plays the same. Sadly there’s no way to take the 4th level of thief-acrobat for skill mastery, though.
Finally, the third option is to use IL bootstrapping via uncanny trickster to get a high enough IL to work in both classes while still hitting IL 17 for war master’s charge. (For those who aren’t familiar with it, this is a pretty well-known trick that abuses the wording on multiclassing in Tome of Battle to effectively get +3.5 IL from three levels in uncanny trickster or +8 IL from six levels in legacy champion.) Monk 2/Warblade 10/Drunken Master 2/Thief-Acrobat 3/Uncanny Trickster 3 just barely ekes out an IL of 17 and BAB of +16.
All in all, though, as much as I love thief-acrobat none of those options were as good as simply spending the feat on Combat Acrobat.
SOURCES
Cobra Strike Monk ACF: Unearthed Arcana/SRD.
Warblade, maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Lion Tribe Warrior: Shining South
Drunken Master, Elusive Target: Complete Warrior
Battle Trickster, skill tricks: Complete Scoundrel
Combat Acrobat, Robilar’s Gambit: Player’s Handbook 2
Mage Slayer, Pierce Magical Concealment: Complete Arcana
Sidestep: Miniature’s Handbook
***
And that’s that! Please let us know what you think in the comments, and what you’d like to see for future showcases!
With more than a decade and a half of toying around with 3.5, I’ve accumulated a lot of spare builds and ideas. While I don’t have an active game going right now, I still like to pop open my builds folder and try to refine things. Recently I decided to make a dedicated effort to flesh out some of these builds into full write-ups, and reached out to some friends in the CO community who might be interested in doing the same. In the spirit of Tempest Stormwind’s Weekly Optimization Showcase (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?), I thought I’d showcase the end results here.
The goal is (usually) not to show off any fancy new TO trick, but to showcase effective, playable builds and spur discussion. While each of us has a different build philosophy, in general the intent is to create something that can be played in most groups from level 1 to level 20. Again, the goal is discussion, so feel free to discuss the build, talk about other options, make suggestions or tear it all to shreds. Also, feel free to use anything showcased here in any of your campaigns—and let us know how they work out if you do!
Right now the group consists of myself, the Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger and WhamBamSam, with a couple of other folks hopefully on their way. Typically one of us writes up the build concept and possibly a stub, the others share feedback on Discord or in some of the shared documents we have, and together we refine things until we’re happy with the final product. I’ll list the build’s main author whenever I showcase a particular build.
Buffsader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559259-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Buffsader) (ToB/Gish/Party Support)
The Utility Belt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560988-Optimzation-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Utility-Belt) (Psionics/Stealth/Utility)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569004-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Eternal-Sunshine-of-the-Spotless-War-Mind) (ToB/Psionics/Melee Damage)
The Melding Pot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579458-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-Melding-Pot) (Incarnum/Utility)
That’s So Raven (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581950-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-That%92s-So-Raven) (Gish/Ranged/Debuff)
Dancing in the Dark (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582528-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Dancing-in-the-Dark) (ToB/Stealth/Lock-down)
Gladys Knight and the Pips (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583657-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Gladys-Knight-and-the-Pips) (Arcane/Face/Utility)
Zen in the Art of Archery (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?584417-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Zen-in-the-Art-of-Archery)
I Choose You! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588818-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-I-Choose-You!) (Divine/Summmoning)
Cold World (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589769-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Cold-World) (Divine/Summmoning/Lockdown)
Holy Roller and His Holy Boulders (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591809-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Holy-Roller-and-His-Holy-Boulders) (Ranged/Wild Shape/Exalted)
Big Brother is Watching (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?593033-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Big-Brother-is-Watching) (Scrying/Arcane/Party Support)
The White Elephant (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600206-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-The-White-Elephant&p=24195441) (Arcane/Debuff/BFC)
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?601739-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Tales-From-the-Crypt”]Tales (” (Halloween special)
For this showcase, we’ll look at a different kind of charger: Legend of the Drunken Master!
https://snakeandeagle.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/dm2.jpg
Legend of the Drunken Master
Giving new meaning to blacking out.
BACKGROUND
Charging is a fairly well-plumbed optimization staple, and with good reason. There are quite a lot of charge-based multipliers (most of which key off of Power Attack, which is also one of the best sources of bonus damage around), and if you can get your hands on the pounce ability it’s one of the few ways to move around and full attack.
But charging has quite a lot of limitations as well. You have to move a minimum of 10’ to initiate a charge, you need line of sight to your foe, you can only charge in a straight line and you must have a clear, unobstructed path free of obstacles, difficult terrain or other creatures (even your own allies). Sure, slap on a blindfold of true sight and some flight, get on a big open battlefield and you can likely charge all day, but there are still a lot of ways a smart DM can prevent an ubercharger from getting off its attacks every round.
Beyond that, charging is boring. I mean, any character is as fun as you make it, but tactically you’re rarely doing more than drawing a straight line to your nearest opponent, dumping your AC to max out Power Attack, swinging the biggest sword you can lay your hands on and hoping you can kill them before they kill you. I’ve played several uberchargers and had a good time with it, but after a while they do start to wear a bit thin.
And so, we started brainstorming about a different kind of charger. What if instead of trying to put out damage numbers that required scientific notation to properly express, we built a charger around the idea of bypassing the typical limitations that chargers face? What if instead of building the Hulk, we built something more akin to Daredevil or the Black Widow, a charger who dodged and weaved through a crowded battlefield, bouncing off of walls and running circles around her foes before getting up close and personal? Could we do that, and still end up with something capable of putting out the damage numbers required for a primary melee character?
THE BASICS
Race: Human. It’s a requirement for Lion Tribe Warrior, it avoids multiclassing penalties and the bonus feat and extra skill points are as always a big help.
Build Stub: Monk 2/Warblade 14/Drunken Master 2/Battle Trickster 2.
ACFs: Cobra Strike Monk.
Alignment: Any lawful.
Legend of the Drunken Master
Level
Class
Feats/Skill Tricks
Class Features
Maneuvers Known
Notes (Click to Expand)
1st
Monk 1
Improved Unarmed StrikeB, DodgeB, Lion Tribe Warrior, Blind-Fight
Bonus feat, flurry of blows, unarmed strike
Monk isn’t the most exciting open, especially with Cobra Strike locking you into some otherwise disappointing feats, but you still do alright. Lion Tribe Warrior allows you to pounce and flurry, meaning you can make two unarmed attacks on a charge right from level one (with the charge bonus eliminating the flurry penalty). While the light weapon requirement makes it a strictly inferior form of pounce than what the lion totem barbarian gets, this is monk-compatible and only costs a single feat. Focus on skills, stay mobile, charge in and punch things.
2nd
Monk 2
MobilityB
Bonus feat, evasion
Monk’s multiclassing restrictions mean you’ll need another level here before you go into warblade. Mobility is a solid defensive boost for any build that relies on moving around a lot, giving you a very nice boost to AC against AoOs for the level.
3rd
Warblade 1
Mage Slayer, Twisted Chargeskill trick
Battle clarity (Reflex saves), weapon aptitude
Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, charging minotaur, leading the chargestance
Alright, time to start making those charges hurt. Twisted Charge is a very nice skill trick that takes away the single most annoying charge restriction (the straight line requirement) once per encounter. It’ll eventually be outclassed, but for the next few levels it’s huge. And speaking of mobility, sudden leap comes online here as well, giving you swift action movement that can let you do things like jump backwards to re-charge the same foe. Meanwhile, leading the charge will be your best offensive stance for your entire career, giving you and your allies a scaling damage bonus to all charge attacks.
4th
Warblade 2
Nimble Chargeskill trick
Uncanny dodge
Battle leader’s charge
Nimble Charge helps you bypass one of the other common hurdles to charging, allowing you to charge over difficult surfaces with a balance check once per encounter. Meanwhile, battle leader’s charge is a very solid damage boost. Charge in, ignoring AoOs, and make a couple of attacks that each dish out +13 damage between this and leading the charge. That’s actually quite good for this level.
5th
Warblade 3
Battle ardor (critical confirmation)
Wall of blades
An unfortunate side-effect of being monkly is a mediocre AC. However, you have close to full BAB, so wall of blades is a great way to shore things up a bit. Parry attacks like this are also very much on-theme for this character, fitting in well with your martial style.
6th
Warblade 4
Pierce Magical Concealment, Extreme Leapskill trick
Charging minotaur -> iron heart surge, leaping dragon stancestance
Pierce Magical Concealment is absolutely essential here. It’s a great feat for any character that can afford it, but it’s especially good for chargers since it allows you to completely bypass most common methods of blocking line of sight. Since line of sight is required in order to charge, this is absolutely huge. As for your maneuvers, iron heart surge lets you surge your way out of most lockdown effects, while leaping dragon stance gives you great utility alongside sudden leap and Extreme Leap any time you don’t need the damage boost from leading the charge.
7th
Warblade 5
Great FortitudeB
Bonus feat
White raven tactics
Your first iterative attack comes online. Now you’re making three attacks on a charge and with battle leader’s charge and leading the charge, each one is doing +18 damage before taking into account your Strength or any enhancement bonuses. And you also get the incomparable white raven tactics here, letting you shuffle your allies around in the initiative order as a swift action.
8th
Drunken Master 1
Up the Hillskill trick
Drink like a demon, improvised weapons
Into drunken master. Improvised weapons is a pretty fun ability, though you’ll overall get better mileage out of something you can enchant. Up the Hill means you can dash up hills and stairs as you run around whacking people without costing extra movement.
9th
Drunken Master 2
Combat Acrobat
Stagger
Ah, here we go. Stagger is the whole reason you went into drunken master. This ability is completely singular in 3.5: it allows you to completely ignore the usual charging restriction of going in a straight line. Combined with Combat Acrobat, which allows you to ignore up to four squares of difficult terrain (as well as become functionally immune to tripping), and you can charge anywhere. Dodge and weave anywhere you want, charging the same enemy multiple times by reversing direction or running literal circles around your foes. You can still move up to twice your speed, you can ignore AoOs without relying on battle leader’s charge and you can zig-zag around the battlefield charging every round.
10th
Battle Trickster 1
Walk the Wallsskill trick, Easy Escapeskill trick
Bonus trick
Battle trickster may seem like an odd choice, but it won’t significantly delay your maneuver progression and it’s got high skill points, full BAB and a bonus feat. For your bonus skill trick, I’m fond of Walk the Walls. This lets you literally run up and down walls as long as you begin and end on a horizontal surface. Even if you’re backed into a corner, you can run up a wall and back down again to get off a full charge, and you can do it with style.
11th
Battle Trickster 2
Elusive TargetB
Bonus feat
With your bonus feat, go ahead and pick up Elusive Target. You’ve already got the pre-reqs, and it’s one of my favorite tactical feats. All of its options are fantastic: negating Power Attack is absolutely life-saving, forcing an automatic miss when you’re flanked is great and while you’re not a tripper, cause overreach is always fun.
12th
Warblade 6
Snap Kick, Acrobatic Backstabskill trick
Improved uncanny dodge
Wolf fang strike -> dancing mongoose
Back into warblade, where you’ll stay for the rest of your career. Dancing mongoose is just an easy upgrade from wolf fang strike; it’s not essential to the build, but there’s no reason not to take it. Snap Kick gives you yet another attack on your full attack routines.
13th
Warblade 7
Battle cunning (damage)
Iron heart focus
The big news here is picking up another iterative attack. Between Snap Kick and flurry, you’re now making five attacks on a charge before items, all of which benefit from your charge maneuvers and stances. Iron heart focus is a very nice defensive counter to help keep you alive and kicking.
14th
Warblade 8
Quick Escapeskill trick
White raven tactics -> war leader’s charge
Time to upgrade your charging technique. War leader’s charge gives a nice fat damage bonus on every attack; between this and leading the charge you’re now dealing +46 damage on each of your five (or more with items/spells!) attacks at the end of a charge.
15th
Warblade 9
Combat ReflexesB, Robilar’s Gambit
Bonus feat
Manticore parry
As you’ve probably noticed by now, you’re pretty much solely focusing on boosts, counters and charging maneuvers rather than strikes. Manticore parry is a nice upgrade from wall of blades; if you don’t have an adjacent target to redirect the attack to, just redirect it to the ground next to you. Meanwhile, Robilar’s Gambit and Combat Reflexes give you even more opportunities to punish those who would attack you.
16th
Warblade 10
Press the advantagestance
Press the advantage may seem like an odd choice of stance, given that you can’t five foot step while charging, but it’ll get some usefulness down the road.
17th
Warblade 11
Battle skill (opposed checks)
Clarion call
Again, boosts and counters are the name of the game. This time you pick up the very nice clarion call, letting you boost your whole party after dropping a foe.
18th
Warblade 12
Sidestep
Wall of blades -> girallon windmill flesh rip
Another iterative attack is always great. Since wall of blades is rarely getting readied anymore, go ahead and swap it out for girallon windmill flesh rip. You’re making 6+ attacks, meaning this should be adding some very reliable bonus damage as a swift action. Meanwhile, Sidestep combines with Robilar’s Gambit and Combat Reflexes to let you reposition yourself when you’re attacked. You’re all about staying mobile, so this is fantastic. And if you don’t need the damage boost from leading the charge, press the advantage even gives you an extra five-foot step here. Heck, if you get your hands on a sparring dummy of the master, you can move 20’ every time someone attacks you. Not too shabby...
19th
Warblade 13
Improved InitiativeB
Bonus feat
Raging mongoose
If you meet the qualifications, raging mongoose almost never goes amiss. While it won’t benefit from your charging boosts, getting an extra handful of attacks as a swift action can be just what you need to drop a foe.
20th
Warblade 14
Dancing mongoose -> war master’s charge
Ah, here we go. War master’s charge is about as perfect a capstone as you could hope for. Not only does it add a whopping +50 damage to your attacks when you charge, it also allows all of your allies to charge as an immediate action (and they also get a sizeable damage boost). This is an encounter-ending option, giving you the ability to shred most level-appropriate foes and reposition the party simultaneously. Just keep in mind that you can’t take immediate actions when flat-footed and you’re considered flat-footed until you act in combat, so if you plan to use this during the first round of combat, you may want to delay until after your allies go. (Or just use war leader’s charge on your first turn and then use this as your follow-up.)
[u]Warblade Maneuvers
1- Wolf fang strike, sudden leap, charging minotaur, leading the chargestance
2- Battle leader’s charge, wall of blades
3- Iron heart surge, white raven tactics, leaping dragon stancestance
4-
5- Dancing mongoose, iron heart focus, press the advantagestance
6- War leader’s charge, manticore parry
7- Clarion call
8- Girallon windmill flesh rip, raging mongoose
9- War master’s charge
Surprise, surprise, you’re a monk so you’ll want decent stats all over the place. As a melee combatant Strength is your bread and butter, and likely what you’ll boost every level. Dexterity is going to be similarly important, since it drives many of your skills and keeps you from being too squishy. Wisdom boosts that AC too, though it’s less handy than Dexterity since it doesn’t power any relevant skills. Con is always important as well. Intelligence is actually less essential than you’d think; you certainly don’t want a negative score, but the Int-based warblade abilities are not essential to the build and you have enough skill points without a boost. Charisma is safe to dump.
SAMPLE STAT ARRAYS:
28-point buy: Str 16/Dex 14/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 8
32-point buy: Str 16/Dex 16/Con 12/Int 10/Wis 14/Cha 8
Go for all the mobility skills: jump, tumble and balance are particularly important, but climb and escape artist come in handy as well. I even like dropping some into use rope to play Indiana Jones; you’ve got the skill points to pull it off. You’ll also need two points in spellcraft for Mage Slayer, and there are tons of useful skill tricks to look at (I referenced several that I personally think are worth taking in the build write-up, but there are a lot of other options as well).
You’re a monk, meaning you can get by without most mundane items, though skill boosters for the mobility skills will certainly come in handy. That said, it isn’t crazy to carry a reach weapon with you just for the sake of attacks of opportunity and triggering Mage Slayer. It won’t qualify for your Lion Tribe Warrior pouncing, but you can use it to keep foes at bay while kicking and punching anyone who comes near.
You’ll want the ability to enhance your attacks while still using flurry and Lion Tribe Warrior, which means either using a special monk weapon (kama, nunchaku, sai and siangham all qualify for Lion Tribe Warrior) or picking up an amulet of natural attacks. Of particular value is the valorous enhancement. You’re adding a lot of big flat bonuses to your charge attacks and charging every round, so valorous puts in a ton of work.
Items that further enhance your speed and mobility (especially flight, which this build does not pick up natively) are quite useful as well, as are things that give you additional attacks on a charge such as boots of speed. A blindfold of true sight can help you maintain line of sight against those who hide themselves via non-magical means. A sparring dummy of the master is fantastic if you can get your hands on it, letting you move 10’ whenever your opponent attacks you thanks to Robilar’s + Sidestep (or 20’ if you’ve got press the advantage up).
BUILD SUMMARY
Let’s bring everything together. You have +18 BAB, 9th-level maneuvers and the ability to pounce with light weapons (such as, say, your unarmed strike). You can charge in any direction and move around freely, ignoring difficult terrain, invisibility, magical fog and other similar restrictions that might otherwise prevent you from charging. You’re hyper-mobile, moving double your move speed every round, plus you get free repositioning every time someone attacks you. And while you lack many of the damage staples like Power Attack, you still easily deal level-appropriate damage thanks to damage boosters from leading the charge and your charging maneuvers. Even without adding in a single magical item, war master’s charge and leading the charge mean you can pounce with six attacks, each one getting +67 on top of your Strength and any other damage boosters. Add in a couple of level-appropriate items (Strength boosters, boots of speed and the valorous enhancement on an amulet of natural attacks) and you’re making seven attacks, each one doing an average of 183 points of damage. Sure, that may seem like small potatoes compared to an ubercharger, but it’s still more than enough to punch through any level-appropriate foe in a single round.
More importantly, though, you can move around in style. You’ve taken a fairly linear fighting style (charging) and made it extremely dynamic. You’ll be moving twice your speed on every turn with almost no restrictions on movement. Dodge and weave all over the battlefield, running around foes, leaping in to make a flurry of punches and kicks and then bouncing away via Sudden Leap. Run up and flip off of walls, tumble around and through enemies, swing across chandeliers and dance over difficult terrain as though it isn’t there. Charge the same enemy repeatedly by literally running around them in a circle, or dashing up a wall and springing back down, or tumbling beneath their feet to hit them from behind. When foes attack you, you can parry the attack away or redirect it to strike someone else, then swing back at them and then dance out of their reach. Most of your tactics are party-friendly, too. Unlike the typical charger you don’t mind allies being in the thick of things, and most of your boosts and stances help your allies as well as yourself.
VARIANTS
Battle trickster is not essential to the build, so an easy variant is Monk 2/Warblade 16/Drunken Master 2. You’ll have slightly worse skills and one fewer feat in exchange for one extra maneuver, one extra stance and getting access to war leader’s charge and war master’s charge a level earlier. The extra maneuvers and stances are not as useful as you’d think, since you’ve taken almost about every non-strike maneuver that you qualify for and none of the additional stances you pick up are as useful as leading the charge or press the advantage, but getting your two best maneuvers early is definitely worth consideration.
As far as other options, Pierce Magical Protection is a very valuable feat in the higher levels when buffstacks becomes a common sight. And if you’re not interested in the Robilar’s route, you can instead go with feats that will boost your unarmed strikes such as Superior Unarmed Strike and Improved Natural Attack. If you’ve got a friendly wizard willing to cast greater mighty wallop on you every day, this becomes a very nice option, increasing the base damage of your unarmed strikes to 6d8.
I also tried very hard to come up with a version that used thief-acrobat for its acrobatic charge ability (plus it’s a class I just really like and always want an excuse to use). There were three options I found that worked with this. The first was to use unarmed swordsage and master of nine instead of warblade. Unarmed swordsage gets evasion to qualify for drunken master and thief-acrobat, allowing you to skip monk, while master of nine lets you pick up all the charging maneuvers you need. You end up with an even more mobile and skillful version of the build, one with a thoroughly ridiculous number of maneuvers, but it matures later and is significantly weaker due to a much lower BAB (+13, or +15 with fractional) and no flurry of blows.
1 unarmed ss1- IUS, Lion Tribe Warrior, Adaptive Style
2 unarmed ss2-
3 unarmed ss3- Dodge
4 unarmed ss4-
5 unarmed ss5-
6 unarmed ss6- Blind-Fight
7 unarmed ss7-
8 unarmed ss8-
9 unarmed ss9- Great Fortitude
10 drunken master1-
11 drunken master2-
12 thief-acrobat1- Mage Slayer
13 thief-acrobat2-
14 thief-acrobat3-
15 thief-acrobat4- Pierce Magical Concealment
16 master of nine1-
17 master of nine2-
18 master of nine3- Snap Kick
19 master of nine4-
20 master of nine5-
The second option was to go with Monk 1/Warblade 14/Drunken Master 2/Thief-Acrobat 3, and use feats to pick up evasion via impulse boots. That’s not a terrible version - you have to drop Robilar’s/Elusive Target/Sidestep and delay Mage Slayer and Pierce Magical Concealment to pull it off, but otherwise the build pretty much plays the same. Sadly there’s no way to take the 4th level of thief-acrobat for skill mastery, though.
Finally, the third option is to use IL bootstrapping via uncanny trickster to get a high enough IL to work in both classes while still hitting IL 17 for war master’s charge. (For those who aren’t familiar with it, this is a pretty well-known trick that abuses the wording on multiclassing in Tome of Battle to effectively get +3.5 IL from three levels in uncanny trickster or +8 IL from six levels in legacy champion.) Monk 2/Warblade 10/Drunken Master 2/Thief-Acrobat 3/Uncanny Trickster 3 just barely ekes out an IL of 17 and BAB of +16.
All in all, though, as much as I love thief-acrobat none of those options were as good as simply spending the feat on Combat Acrobat.
SOURCES
Cobra Strike Monk ACF: Unearthed Arcana/SRD.
Warblade, maneuvers: Tome of Battle
Lion Tribe Warrior: Shining South
Drunken Master, Elusive Target: Complete Warrior
Battle Trickster, skill tricks: Complete Scoundrel
Combat Acrobat, Robilar’s Gambit: Player’s Handbook 2
Mage Slayer, Pierce Magical Concealment: Complete Arcana
Sidestep: Miniature’s Handbook
***
And that’s that! Please let us know what you think in the comments, and what you’d like to see for future showcases!