Stealthy Tower Shields: Line of Effect and You

[Doctor Despair]

This is something that came up in my post to a recent thread: iirc, most abilities require line of sight/line of effect in order to function properly. Supposing you made a hide check using Hide in Plain Sight (so that you aren't forced to hide behind your own tower shield), and you had total cover from a mundane lead-lined tower shield, which of these effects would be unable to detect you due to the lack of LoS/LoE?

These seem like they would depend on LoE:
Arcane sight
Detect (good/evil/magic/hostile intent/etc)
Dweomervision (Balhannoth, MM4)
Lifesense
Mindsight
Sense magic (Mageripper Swarm, MM4)

I don't think these depend on LoE:
Blindsense (they'd be able to check to see the shield)
Blindsight (they'd be able to check to see the shield)
Touchsight (they'd be able to see the shield with no check)
Tremor sense (they'd be able to see the hider if they moved)
True seeing (they'd be able to check to see the shield)

I am 100% certain these do not depend on LoE:
Tracking
Metafaculty
Using Ice Assassin to gain your knowledge at the time of its creation

[Venger]

Depend on LoE:
Arcane sight: keyed off detect magic, blocked by lead
Detect (good/evil/magic/hostile intent/etc): blocked by lead
Dweomersight (Balhannoth, MM4): keyed off blindsense, requires loe
Mindsight:keyed off of blindsense, requires loe
Blindsense (they'd be able to check to see the shield): explicitly requires loe
Blindsight (they'd be able to check to see the shield): explicitly requires loe
Touchsight (they'd be able to see the shield with no check): explicitly requires loe
True seeing (they'd be able to check to see the shield): true seeing does not allow you to see through objects providing cover


Doesn't depend on LoE:
Lifesense: functions as mundane light, so even with a tower shield, your light slops out to the side and the undead can see you.
Sense magic (Mageripper Swarm, MM4): automatically senses auras, not keyed off any of the detects so cannot be blocked by lead and does not require loe.
Tremor sense (they'd be able to see the hider if they moved): explicitly does not require loe

I don't understand how tracking is relevant here. It's used to find creatures that are not around and does not do anything in combat. What are you referring to?

What is "metacognition?"

What re: ice assassin are you referring to?

[Doctor Despair]

Doesn't depend on LoE:
Sense magic (Mageripper Swarm, MM4): automatically senses auras, not keyed off any of the detects so cannot be blocked by lead and does not require loe.


That's unfortunate... Apart from staying 30 feet away, I can't think of a way to foil this apart from not having any spells active or magic items present. :/ Even Nystul's Magic Aura only works for the purposes of spells, not supernatural abilities. Are you sure it wouldn't use LoE? I could have sworn that, unless it mentions otherwise, most spells and effects need LoE to function (which is why the Tinfoil Hat is a favored choice to defend against AMFs).



I don't understand how tracking is relevant here. It's used to find creatures that are not around and does not do anything in combat. What are you referring to?


It could reveal the location of a creature though, couldn't it? So it couldn't pinpoint, but it could reveal what square a creature is in?




What is "metacognition?"


I meant metafaculty; my bad. I make that mistake all the time. :/



What re: ice assassin are you referring to?

Creating an ice assassin of a creature to gain all the knowledge they had at the time of creation (e.g. where they are, how they hide, where they're going, etc).

[Venger]

That's unfortunate... Apart from staying 30 feet away, I can't think of a way to foil this apart from not having any spells active or magic items present. :/ Even Nystul's Magic Aura only works for the purposes of spells, not supernatural abilities. Are you sure it wouldn't use LoE? I could have sworn that, unless it mentions otherwise, most spells and effects need LoE to function (which is why the Tinfoil Hat is a favored choice to defend against AMFs).

How often are you fighting mageripper swarms? While that's true of nystul's magic aura, only spells and magic items radiate auras in the first place.

That is true of burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation fx, but sense magic is not one of these. amf is an emanation, which is why the lead dunce cap trick works.



It could reveal the location of a creature though, couldn't it? So it couldn't pinpoint, but it could reveal what square a creature is in?
Track does not have the ability to do this.


I meant metafaculty; my bad. I make that mistake all the time. :/
No harm done. Metafaculty also does not do this.


Creating an ice assassin of a creature to gain all the knowledge they had at the time of creation (e.g. where they are, how they hide, where they're going, etc).
Even assuming you can get ice assassin off during combat, it does not have perfect up to date information of what square the target is in. If you're casting the spell normally, then in 8 hours, your target may have moved into a different square.

[Doctor Despair]

How often are you fighting mageripper swarms? While that's true of nystul's magic aura, only spells and magic items radiate auras in the first place.


Not super often, but it's still a shame, either for folks who keep them as guards, or for psionics who use Ability Rip/Astral Seed to get the ability permanently. I'll have to read up more on Ravenloft devices to see if there's any sort of suitable workaround there...



That is true of burst, cone, cylinder, or emanation fx, but sense magic is not one of these. amf is an emanation, which is why the lead dunce cap trick works.


Ah, I see; it's not a general rule for effects, but rather a general rule for effects of those shapes.



Track does not have the ability to do this.


Does it not? Track lets you follow a creatures tracks, right? Presumably until you reach the creature?



Even assuming you can get ice assassin off during combat, it does not have perfect up to date information of what square the target is in. If you're casting the spell normally, then in 8 hours, your target may have moved into a different square.

That's true enough, providing it doesn't reveal a base or hide-away of some sort. :)

[Venger]

Does it not? Track lets you follow a creatures tracks, right? Presumably until you reach the creature?

Theoretically, yes, assuming the creature stays still while you're doing all this, but even if you follow the tracks to the square the target's in, track doesn't allow you to pinpoint the actual square they're in.

[Darg]

The interesting thing about tower shields, at least in 3.5, you receive total cover from all directions as there is no facing mechanic. This means by RAW spreads can't get past your tower shield as there are no corners to go around. Since you have total cover in a sphere around you even if you hold a lantern behind the shield it dysfunctionally doesn't shine anywhere except in your sphere of protection. This also works the other way too. You can't see beyond your shield while benefitting from total cover

[Doctor Despair]

So after some reflection, and some digging, I think I have a tentative conclusion for the "all-purpose stealth character" that bypasses special senses. First, I made a list of special senses that can bypass hide/move silently I could find from checking around other similar lists on the forum:


Arcane sight
Blindsense
Blindsight
Clearsight
Deathwatch
Detect (good/evil/magic/hostile intent/etc)
Discriminating Hearing
Dreamsight (pierces ethereal invisibility)
Dweomervision (Balhannoth, MM4)
Earth Sense/Other Tremorsense Copycats
Lifesense
Magic Jar
Metafaculty
Mindsight
Nemesis
Scent
Scent copycats
Sense magic (Mageripper Swarm, MM4)
Touchsight
Total Vision (Ethergaunt, Fiend Folio)
Tracking
Treasure Scent
Tremor sense
True seeing
Using Ice Assassin to gain your knowledge at the time of its creation



Then, I made a note of different ways we can foil those senses.

Arcane sight (use a mundane mithral tower shield for total cover)
Blindsense (Darkstalker; be incorporeal or ethereal; Cerebral Blind (Slayer 6))
Blindsight (Darkstalker; be incorporeal or ethereal; Slayer 6)
Clearsight (Slayer 6? Maybe God Blooded, as it's keyed off of True Sight? If it doesn't work, to be fair, it's only normally available to ECL 26 characters)
Deathwatch (Slayer 6)
Detect X (use a mundane mithral tower shield for total cover; God Blooded of Vecna; Slayer 6)
Discriminating Hearing (Slayer 6)
Dreamsight (Don't rely on ethereal invisibility/Slayer 6?)
Dweomervision (use a mundane mithral tower shield for total cover to block our magical gear)
Earth Sense/Other Tremorsense Copycats (Slayer 6; flight; be incorporeal/ethereal)
Lifesense (wear a bodysuit and have some other way to see OR be undead, probably with the Necropolitan template)
Magic Jar (Slayer 6)
Metafaculty (God Blooded of Vecna template erases all knowledge of you, so no one knows to use it; lose it and reapply it semi-frequently)
Mindsight (use a mundane mithral tower shield for total cover; Slayer 6)
Nemesis (Slayer 6)
Scent (Darkstalker; be incorporeal or ethereal; Slayer 6)
Scent copycats (Slayer 6)
Sense magic (No good answer; don't use magic items or spells. Use Duergars' psionic invisibility, or Malphas' supernatural invisibility)
Touchsight (be incorporeal or ethereal; Slayer 6)
Total Vision (No good answer; they will see our gear.)
Tracking (Be incorporeal/ethereal; flight)
Treasure Scent (don't carry copper, silver, gold, or platinum, or gems; a lead-lined tower shield should foil it)
Tremor sense (Darkstalker; be incorporeal or ethereal; Slayer 6)
True seeing (God Blooded of Vecna template; this also means we get an effective +20 to our hide for being invisible, providing we can be invisible)
Using Ice Assassin (God Blooded of Vecna template erases all knowledge of you, so no one knows to use it; lose it and reapply it semi-frequently)

Senses with only one foil are in bold.

Special note is given for Total Vision, which has no foil, and Sense Magic, which has no realistic foil. To be cautious, then, our best answer for these two are to just stay out of range (30 feet and 40 feet respectively).



As such, we more or less require Slayer 6, the God Blooded of Vecna template, either incorporealness/etherealness or flight, either to be undead or wear a full light-blocking body suit (and presumably have some sort of blindsight to compensate), and to carry a lead-lined tower shield (probably mithral to reduce the check penalty to our hide).

As Slayer can be entered at BAB +4, the soonest we're going to reach Cerebral Blind is level 10. I think lycanthropy could technically make us eligible earlier if we are humanoid, and could also help us hit the 4 ranks of Knowledge (dungeoneering) if it isn't a class skill. We also need a power point, either by race/template or by class.

We need to be able to cast second-level arcane spells to take God Blooded of Vecna. Precocious Apprentice could do this, or Versatile Spellcaster/Heighten Spell, or Versatile Spellcaster with the Dread Necromancer/Beguiler/Warmage.

We can get incorporealness (and therefore flight) for LA2 by adding the Telthor template, and trade out the negative features of the template with Dragonborn of Bahamut. This also blocks listen checks. Notably, this means we probably want a power point from a class or feat (i.e., Hidden Talent), as Dragonborn would remove our natural power point reserve.

We can avoid being undead by wearing a body suit and wearing a Blindfold of True Dark.

So, a Dragonborn Telthor Strongheart Halfling (LA2) could take their first level in an arcane casting class (wizard?), and take Hidden Talent and Precocious Apprentice as their level 1 feats. Then, they could apply the God Blooded of Vecna template to become an ECL4 character, trading out Apprentice for Track. They could contract lycanthropy (say, Brown Bear), gaining the animal HD. They take their second level in Slayer, then have the lycanthropy cured. As they level, they could train or Psychic Reformation away their prereq feats for things like Shield/Tower Shield Proficiency, or Ghostly Grasp (to save 10k on the Ghostwalk ring); they can also pick up the bodysuit, blindfold, and a mundane, mithral, lead-lined tower shield. That should cover everything by level 7, I think, so long as we keep a 40-foot distance from high-OP casters.

For a slightly less high-OP build (not abusing lycanthropy early-entry), we'd need a full-BAB progression class that grants at least arcane caster level 1. Duskblade should fit the bill, and has the Knowledge (dungeoneering) class skill to boot. We take Precocious Apprentice and Ghostly Grasp at 1, Wild Talent at 3, become Vecna-Blooded, retrain Apprentice into Track, and then go into Slayer, capping at level 10. It's probably more optimal to do something like Duskblade 1/psionic class 4/Slayer 6, though, to take advantage of the manifesting.

[icefractal]

You know it occurs to me that if you take "tower shields provided total cover to themselves" as given (as needed to foil senses that could detect a small wooden/metal wall), then a person behind a tower shield is also a nigh-unbreakable barrier. Can't disintegrate it, for instance, because no LoE, nor use any other attack or effect that requires that, which is most of them.

[Doctor Despair]

You know it occurs to me that if you take "tower shields provided total cover to themselves" as given (as needed to foil senses that could detect a small wooden/metal wall), then a person behind a tower shield is also a nigh-unbreakable barrier. Can't disintegrate it, for instance, because no LoE, nor use any other attack or effect that requires that, which is most of them.

Effects that would normally target a person with total cover from a tower shield can instead target the tower shield. However, that requires that the caster/effect creator knows that the tower shield is there.

As an attended object, I think the tower shield should be protected by the stealth character's immunities for the most part. Otherwise Darkstalker would be entirely useless against Blindsight, for example, as they could just use it to spot your clothes and gear instead of you.

If we take for granted that even attended objects can be seen with special senses, however, there are only a few effects that can detect nonmagical objects:

Blindsense
Blindsight
Clearsight
Dreamsight (pierces ethereal invisibility)
Total Vision (Ethergaunt, Fiend Folio)
Touchsight
Treasure Scent
True seeing

By being incorporeal, not using ethereal invisibility, and not having our shield made out of currency-metals, we avoid all but Clearsight, Total Vision, and True Seeing.

Clearsight/True Seeing would negate the +20 hide bonus from being invisible, but not otherwise help in finding our hiding character. God Blooded of Vecna may protect the tower shield against True Seeing (by the same logic that Darkstalker doesn't stop working if you aren't completely naked), but I'm less convinced of Clearsight. Fortunately, it's a class ability normally only accessible to dragons of 26HD or more, and it doesn't actually auto-foil our hide check, although it is a big bonus to that dragon's spot.

Total Vision just detects all objects with no provision for being attended or unattended, so we just have to stay away. :/

[icefractal]

As an attended object, I think the tower shield should be protected by the stealth character's immunities for the most part. Otherwise Darkstalker would be entirely useless against Blindsight, for example, as they could just use it to spot your clothes and gear instead of you. Your clothes don't provide you any cover or concealment though, even if they cover 100% of your body. Because as attended items, they are part of "you" and therefore seeing the clothes = seeing you, and hiding you = hiding the clothes.

Which is also the case for a tower shield wielded normally - it does benefit from your stealth, but doesn't provide you any cover. When you use it to gain cover, it stops being "part of you", or else it would be unable to provide you cover, any more than your clothes do.

That or it does still provide cover while itself benefiting from that same cover - a somewhat absurd scenario but D&D has plenty of absurd things. It's just that in that case it isn't only stealth that benefits, it's a massive protection against most attacks and effects in the game.

[Doctor Despair]

That or it does still provide cover while itself benefiting from that same cover - a somewhat absurd scenario but D&D has plenty of absurd things. It's just that in that case it isn't only stealth that benefits, it's a massive protection against most attacks and effects in the game.

Ah, I see what you're saying. That's a funny thought. I don't think it's quite that strong however; while the general rules for total cover and LoE would prevent the shield from being targeted with effects, the specific rules for tower shields state:


The shield does not, however, provide cover against targeted spells; a spellcaster can cast a spell on you by targeting the shield you are holding.

So provided they can see the shield, they should be able to target it with, at the very least, spells that could normally target the shield-bearer.

[Venger]

Your outlined countermeasures nullify most of those special senses, but that LA hurts, and you're being pulled in a lot of directions being a strengthless brute who requires a pp reserve and arcane spells.

Earth glide (through earth dreamer for example) blocks everything on your list. Is there a way to make it gel with some of the other components of your build?

I made a build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19662157&postcount=67) doing similar things in villainous competition a few years ago which you're free to mine for ideas. The basic conceit is walk unseen and fell flight through warlock combined with mindsight to find enemies and earth glide to disappear into walls.

[Doctor Despair]

Your outlined countermeasures nullify most of those special senses, but that LA hurts, and you're being pulled in a lot of directions being a strengthless brute who requires a pp reserve and arcane spells.

Earth glide (through earth dreamer for example) blocks everything on your list. Is there a way to make it gel with some of the other components of your build?

I made a build (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=19662157&postcount=67) doing similar things in villainous competition a few years ago which you're free to mine for ideas. The basic conceit is walk unseen and fell flight through warlock combined with mindsight to find enemies and earth glide to disappear into walls.

LA3 does hurt :/ It's paid off by 20, but it's definitely not ideal. I think we can combine it with a psionic class so that there's only one "dead" level for the arcane caster class (Duskblade) before going into a psionic class for the remaining levels before Slayer.

Earth Dreamer is an option for gaining earthglide, as is somehow getting a Stone Flyer (Underdark) to accompany you.

One thing I was worried about with relying on Mindsight is that it doesn't let you see objects/obstacles, and without LoE, you can't use most other special senses either. Actually, without LoE, we couldn't use Mind Sight either. Earth Dreamer would solve that of course, as we wouldn't need Mindsight anymore... Edit: Actually, Earthsight only works out to 30 feet, which is within most of the special senses' range that we are worried about. :/


Arcane sight (Requires LoE)
Blindsense (Requires LoE)
Blindsight (Requires LoE)
Clearsight (Requires LoS)
Deathwatch (Requires LoS)
Detect X (Requires LoE)
Discriminating Hearing (Requires Incorporeal or Slayer 6; arguably might not detect us if we are a construct or undead, as we neither move through the air or shuffle along the ground, and Earthglide specifically says it makes no "other sign of your presence")
Dreamsight (Requires LoS)
Dweomervision (Requires LoE)
Earth Sense/Tremorsense/similar effects (Seems like it's foiled by Earthglide's text)
Lifesense (Requires LoS to the light)
Magic Jar (Slayer 6)
Metafaculty (Requires God Blooded of Vecna)
Mindsight (Requires LoE)
Nemesis (Slayer 6)
Scent (Technically, although RAI it wouldn't function, Earthglide doesn't help with scent. Darkstalker; be incorporeal or ethereal; Slayer 6)
Sense magic (No good answer; don't use magic items or spells.
Touchsight (Requires LoE)
Total Vision (No good answer; they will see our gear.)
Tracking (Technically, we can be tracked with scent, but good luck following the trail)
Treasure Scent (Requires LoE)
True seeing (Requires LoS)
Using Ice Assassin (God Blooded of Vecna template erases all knowledge of you, so no one knows to use it; lose it and reapply it semi-frequently)

Senses not solved by Earthglide are in bold.



So Earthglide solves everything but Discriminating Hearing, Magic Jar, Metafaculty, Nemesis, Scent, Sense Magic, Total Vision, and Ice Assassin in terms of information-gathering.

Total Vision has no answer and works within 40 feet, so we have to keep a 40-foot distance from targets whom we have no intel on anyway. If we keep 40 feet away (Edit: which is difficult if we are relying on Earthsight's 30 feet of vision), only these senses remain issues:

Magic Jar, Metafaculty, Nemesis, and Ice Assassin in terms of information-gathering.

Without taking levels in Slayer for the practical effects (Nemesis, Magic Jar) or God Blooded of Vecna for the impractical effects (Metafaculty, Ice Assassin), I'm not sure we have a good way to bypass these. :/ Earthdreamer doesn't mesh with Slayer very well either...

For the Telthor build, we're good outside of these effects at ECL4 though (or 3 in the absence of God Blooded of Vecna), as it can also glide underground. It gives us a special sense for those adjacent to us, but not for objects, too. Edit: Of course, being adjacent to folks has the same issue that Earthsight does, but that's why we keep our tower shield handy to peek out with total cover.

Duskblade 1 / Lurk 4 / Slayer 6 is a practical-optimization route that gets you limited power point progression, but gets you Move Silently/Hide as class skills.

Duskblade 1 / Wilder 4 / Slayer 6 gets you full manifesting progression, although you need a feat dip for Flexible Mind to get Hide/Move Silently as class skills.

I'm not sure how Ardent works, but that might work in place of Wilder.

All these paths leave us sorted at class level 11. If we wait to apply the God Blooded of Vecna template until level 9, we can then have all of our level adjustment paid off at level 12, whatever class level that may be. It would be annoying to carry Precocious Apprentice with us all the way to level 9, but sometimes sacrifices have to be made in the name of efficiency.

We're still at LA+3, but that should let us do the trick there, at least. If we want to forgo the tower shield, being incorporeal should let us glide through the earth (just as Earthglide) to break LoE, but it leaves the same issue of actually seeing. Hence, we probably keep the tower shield handy for when we peek out of the earth to survey our surroundings; no need to stay above ground most of the time, as being underground negates spot checks and protects us from true seeing and its cousins. For when we peek out though...

The bodysuit is still necessary for when we peek out (to protect from Lifesense), but the blindfold of true dark gives us blindsight out to 60 feet, so that should help at least a bit.

If we swap out God Blooded of Vecna for Feral, we can keep the Telthor natural telepathy for Mindsight and try to extrapolate where we're sneaking around.

On that note, we could use two feats for Shape Soulmeld/Open Least Chakra to bind the Shedu Crown to our Crown chakra and use that to qualify for Mindsight; it's a three feat dip, but it works. Being incorporeal and phasing through the ground also negates spot checks, which is notable as it makes us functionally undiscoverable outside of 40 feet. We no longer require the use of magic items for this, too, so if we avoid Ethergaunts and those who have gained their special senses, we should be golden.

I suppose we could ditch God Blooded of Vecna and just hope no one ever uses those abilities to try to find us; Ice Assassin is a pretty high-OP technique, although Metafaculty is pretty damning if it is thrown our way. Technically, God Blooded isn't perfect immunity to Metafaculty/ice Assassin anyway; if we don't regularly apply the God Blooded template, we lose the benefits of the "loss of memory" part of the template. Deities can share new information they discover about the character's actions via portfolio sense, or just perform the Metafaculty themselves, so it isn't a perfect barrier, and it's a pretty high-OP technique in the first place. If we drop that, then we have the LA paid off by level 9, and as XP is a river, we're well on our way to being on-track by ECL 11.

So we could do something like this to some effect:

Dragonborn Telthor Strongheart Halfling
1. Duskblade (Flexible Mind, Endurance)
2. Wilder
3. Wilder (Shape Soulmeld)
4. Wilder
5. Wilder
6. Slayer
7. Slayer (Retrain Endurance into Open Least Chakra, Mind Sight)
8. Slayer
9. Slayer
10. Slayer (Azure Talent) [Buy off 2nd LA]
11. Slayer
12. Umbral Disciple
13. Umbral Disciple (Midnight Augmentation)
14. Umbral Disciple

Umbral Disciple is for superior Hide in Plain Sight when you are not underground. Until you hit 14, or if you just don't go into Disciple, you could use the Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis for a worse version of it, too. Level 12 feat was chosen a bit randomly, and for epic progression I suppose you could take one level of Wilder and the rest in Slayer. In lieue of Umbral Disciple, you could also continue with other psionic PrCs to advance our manifesting.

Now that I reflect on it, though, if we're willing to delay our Slayer capstone a little, I almost like this better:

Dragonborn Telthor Strongheart Halfling
1. Wilder (Flexible Mind, Ghostly Grasp)
2. Wilder
3. Wilder (Endurance)
4. Wilder
5. Wilder
6. Wilder (Improved Flight) [Buy off 1st LA]
7. Mindbender
8-13. Slayer (Retain Endurance into Mindsight)
14-20. Mindbender

Now that I think about it, however, I suppose something like this is also an option:

Unseeley Fey Telthor Strongheart Halfling
1. Wilder (Endurance, Mindsight)
2. Wilder
3. Wilder (Draconic Aura (Vigor))
4. Wilder
5. Wilder (Retrain Endurance into Flexible Mind)
6. Wilder (Ghostly Grasp) [Buy off 1st LA]
7-12. Slayer

We're stuck at half-health semi-permanently, but we can get blindsight and average flight from Unseeley Fey, negating the need for the blindfold. We also don't need to go Mindbender anymore, not that it was an awful class, but frees up our build choices a litttle (perhaps to find room for some 4-level PrC to fit in with Wilder 6/Slayer 10.

Going that route, we could give up a manifester level for a full-bab class to accelerate us by a level, too, so we enter Slayer at 6. That would leave room for a 5-level PrC, which are more common.

At a glance, that would include Ebon Saint, Eldeen Ranger, Fist of Dal Quor, Illumine Soul, Quon Nightmare, Storm Disciple, Topaz Guardian, or Wonderworker. None of them are very good, but the Ashbound sect of Eldeen Ranger at least gives you SR20 at its capstone (more or less irrelevant by the time we get it, but hey, it's something! Unfortunately, it doesn't advance our manifesting...) Ebon Saint offers an interesting ability with its Dire Strike: Mind Interrogation. If you strike a target, you can learn the answer your target knows to one question -- no save, not mind-affecting... It does require us to have sneak attack dice though, so it might shoehorn us into the Lurk class. Perhaps something like this could be halfway decent:

Unseeley Fey Telthor Strongheart Halfling (Incorporeal, Telepathy, Blindsight, Average Flight)
1. Sneak-Attack Fighter Variant (Endurance, Ghostly Grasp)
2. Wilder
3. Wilder (Draconic Aura: Vigor)
4. Wilder
5. Wilder
6. Slayer (Mind Sight, retrain Endurance into Flexible Mind) [LA Buyoff 1]
7. Slayer
8. Slayer
9. Slayer (Combat Expertise) [LA Buyoff 2]
10. Slayer
11. Slayer (Retrain Flexible Mind into Improved Feint)
12-16 Ebon Saint
17-20. Slayer

Unseeley Fey Telthor Strongheart Halfling (Incorporeal, Telepathy, Blindsight, Average Flight)
1. Duskblade (Endurance, Precocious Apprentice)
2. Wilder
3. Wilder (Draconic Aura: Vigor)
4. Wilder (Buy Ring of Manifesting)
5. Wilder
6. Slayer (Mind Sight, retrain Endurance into Flexible Mind) [LA Buyoff 1]

Dragonborn Telthor Strongheart Halfling
1. Duskblade (Endurance, Precocious Apprentice)
2. Wilder
3. Wilder (Flexible Mind)
4. Wilder
5. Wilder
6. Slayer (Ghostly Grasp) [LA Buyoff 1] (Retrain Endurance)
7 Slayer
8. Slayer
9. Mindbender (Mindsight) [LA Buyoff 2; apply Godblooded]
10-12. Slayer
13-16 Cerebremancer (retrain Precocious Apprentice)
17-20 Slayer

Edit: To further emphasize the need for Slayer, the Elder Brain has a special sense ripe for the ability-ripping that can find anyone without LOE or LOS if you don't have Mind Blank active.


[B]Telepathic Awareness (Su): Within a radius of 350 feet, the elder brain detects all creatures whose minds are not shielded with an effect such as mind blank, even through solid rock. Within this same range, it can communicate with any creature that has a language.