WhamBamSam
2020-10-31, 09:49 PM
INTRODUCTION
It's that time of year again, and we here at the Optimization Showcase are bringing you another Halloween Special (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?601739-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Tales-From-the-Crypt). People are busy, and we don't have a build from everyone this year, but daremetodareyou and I have a pair for you to take in on this Quarantined Halloween. As always, the group - currently myself, Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger, Darrin, daremetoidareyou, and of course Piggy Knowles - helped refine ideas in our discord.
So hit the lights, snuggle up on the couch, and take in our...
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGRmNjQ5NWYtOWViZC00ZGJjLTgxNDgtZjhiMjk5ZTQ3MD AzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzI2MDEwNA@@._V1_UY268_CR86,0,18 2,268_AL_.jpg
Halloween Special II: Eclectic Boo-galoo
We'll start with daremetodareyou daring as only he dares to, as he plumbs the depths of optimization's Black Lagoon.
The Creature From the Black Lagoon
https://i.imgur.com/3rYcmiH.jpeg
"Put A Ring On It!"
INTRODUCTION
Happy Halloween!
You can't get much more "Scary fish-man" than kuo-toa. So let's glue the amazing monk feats from monster manual 5 to the Underdark's Sea Mother Whip with Savage species' Scaled Horror and call it a day here. Although we considered alter self shenanigans to access the kuo-toa monk feats, ultimately we wanted a full-time beastman of briny depths.
This is a scary fish-man monk that fish-slaps you into slapping your friends, emboldened by ranger spell access and supernatural lightning bolts. And if that doesn't horrify you, just wait until you see that there's some grappling multiple combatants as a build component.
THE BUILD
Level
Class
BAB
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features
1
Kuo Toa
1
0
2
2
Escape Artist 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 4
Power Attack
Movement: land 20, swim 50, Abilities: +2 STR, INT, CON, +4 WIS, -2 CHA, Nat Armor +6
2
Kuo Toa
2
0
3
3
Escape Artist 5, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Move Silently 5
Kuo Toa Traits: Electricity resistance 10, Immune to poison and paralysis, Slippery, Keen Sight, +8 escape artist and swim, +4 search and spot
3
Monk
2
2
5
5
Knowledge (Religion) 6, Hide 3, Spot 1
stunning fist, Improved unarmed Strike, Kuo Toan Monasticism (MMV p.97)
Bonus Feat, Flurry, Unarmed Strike
4
Invisible Fist (EoE p.21) Monk
3
3
6
6
Knowledge (Religion) 7, Hide 5, Concentration 1
Combat reflexes
Bonus Feat, Invisible Fist, Wis +1,
5
Monk
4
3
6
6
Knowledge (Religion) 8, Concentration 4, Tumble 1
Still Mind, speed bonus +10
6
Water Step (Stormwrack p.50) Monk
5
4
7
7
Knowledge (Religion) 9, Concentration 6, Escape Artist 7
Mind Shattering Strike (MMV p.97)
Ki Strike (magic), Water Step 20, 1d8 damage
7
Scaled Horror (Savage Species p.82)1
5
6
7
7
Knowledge (Religion) 10, Concentration 8, Jump 1
Improved Grab, Keen Scent, Ranger Spells
8
Scaled Horror 2
6
7
7
7
Knowledge (Religion) 11, Concentration 10, Jump 2
Freedom of Movement, Str +1
9
Scaled Horror 3
7
7
8
8
Knowledge (Religion) 12, Concentration 12, Jump 3
Unorthodox Flurry:Poison Ring (Dragon Compendium p.109 & 115)
10
Scaled Horror 4
8
8
8
8
Knowledge (Religion) 13, Concentration 13, Jump 5
Damage Reduction 2/-
11
Contemplative (Complete Divine p.30)
8
8
8
10
Concentration 14, Heal 2
Bonus Domain: Mysticism(Spell Comp. p.227) Abyss(Planar Handbook p.85), Divine Health
12
Sea Mother Whip (Underdark p. 42) 1
8
10
8
12
Concentration 15, Escape artist 8
Extra Stunning (Complete Warrior p.98)
Watery Death Prestige Domain (Underdark p.53), Wis +1
13
Sea Mother Whip 2
9
11
8
13
Concentration 16, Escape artist 9
Punish the infidels
14
Sea Mother Whip 3
10
11
9
13
Concentration 17, Escape artist 10
Independent Lightning Bolt
15
Sea Mother Whip 4
11
12
9
14
Concentration 18, Escape artist 11
Extra Stunning
Inspire the faithful
16
Crusader 1
12
14
9
14
Concentration 19, Balance 4
Furious Counter Strike, Steely Resolve 5
17
Crusader 2
13
15
9
14
Concentration 20, Balance 8
Indomitable Soul
18
LA 1
19
LA 2
20
LA 3
Spells and Maneuvers
Spells
1st: Urchins spines (Stormwrack), Blockade (Complete Scoundrel), Instant of Power (Forge of War), Blades of Fire (Spell Comp. p.31), Silvered Claws (BOED)
2nd: Burrow (Spell Comp. p.41), Swift Haste (Spell Comp. p.110), Wind Wall, Fell the Greatest Foe (Spell Comp. p.90)
3rd: Blade Storm (Spell Comp. 30), Haboob (Sandstorm), Treeshape, Skin of the Cactus (Sandstorm), Phantasmal Decoy (spell comp. 155)
4th: Blinding Beauty (BOED), Swamp stride (Spell Comp. p.217), Aspect of the Earth hunter (Spell Comp. p.16), Venom Fire (Serpent Kingdoms if it works with urchin's spines) Commune with Nature, Slipsand (Sandstorm)
Mysticism Domain
1: Divine Favor
2: Spiritual Weapon
3: Lesser Visage of the Deity (Spell Comp. p.231)
4: Weapon of the Deity (Spell Comp. p.237): Shock Pincer Staff (Defender’s of the Faith for Blibdoolpoolp p. 92)
Abyss Domain
1: align weapon or cause fear
2: Bull’s Strength or Death Knell
3: Babau slime (Spell Comp. p. 22) or Summon Monster 3 (CE only)
4: Balor Nimbus (spell comp. p.24) or Poison
Watery Death Domain
1: Entangle
2: Mark of the Outcast (Spell Comp. p.138)
3: Control Water
4: Rushing Waters (Spell Comp. p.178)
Maneuvers
1: Martial Spirit (S)
3: Bonecrusher, Defensive rebuke, Revitalizing Strike, Thicket of Blades (s)
4: Divine Surge, Overwhelming Mountain Strike
ABILITY SCORES
32 point buy
STR: 15
DEX: 14
CON: 16
INT: 12
WIS: 21
CHA: 6
Add +1 WIS at HD 4, 12, and 16. Add +1 STR at 8 HD.
SHOWCASE
ECL 5: This is where you start. Kuo-Toa have 2 monstrous humanoid racial Hit Dice and a level adjustment of +3. AThe giantitp hive mind thinks kuo toa should have LA 0 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=21897190&postcount=42), although I think a +1 or +2 LA is more reasonable, as the poison and paralysis immunity, the ability to see invisible and ethereal objects, and the net +8 to the stat array justify at least that. If I imagined a full bab class that offered all of this over 2 levels, I'd assume it was overpowered homebrew, but dispersed over 3 levels seems better.
Packed into those racial Hit dice and level adjustment are some nice things:
Ability score mods: +2 STR, CON, INT and +4 WIS
+6 Natural armor
Land speed 20, swim speed 50
Lightning bolt (su)
Adhesive
Electricity resistance 10
Poison and paralysis immunity
See invisible and ethereal
Slippery
Light blindness
Amphibious
+8 racial bonus on escape artist, +4 on search and spot.
We take Power Attack at first level to deal some extra damage, you know, if we're attacking an unarmored solitary dude.
ECL 10: Kuo toa + 4 levels of monk + 1 of scaled horror.
3 HD:
The Monk class is strong on a kuo toa. Kuo toa monasticism slots nicely into the 3rd level feat slot on the first level of monk.
Kuo toa monasticism is a powerful feat, I imagine, as an apology for that LA. So when you flurry, if your first sticky fish-slimed fist hits, the second attack in your flurry auto hits. We will eventually combine that with power attack, a poison ring, and mind-shattering strike to wollop someone so hard that they'll flounder and attack a non kuo-toa on their next round. But we'll school you on that later.
This feat offers +1 stunning attempt and makes your stunning fist saves dependent on HD instead of monk level, netting you a +1 on the save DC.
With a natural armor of +6, a dex mod of +2, and a wisdom score of 21, your AC is good for a sixth level fighter equivalent, clocking in at a solid 23.
Your real issue is a BAB of 2 on a 6th level equivalent character designed around melee. You have 2 stun attempts per day. You're going to have to travel with other kuo toas and rely on lightning bolts.
4-5 HD
The second level of monk delivers you invisible fist, which is potent and allows you to get into surprise round position to mind shattering strike someone. Combat reflexes as a bonus feat is nice too. You have 3 stun attempts, 4 hit dice, a BAB of 3 and an AC of 24, so battles will drag out. Just abscond away using invisible fist as soon as you meet a level appropriate encounter.
The third level of monk brings your movement speeds up by 10.
6 HD
The 4th level of monk opens up another acf that trades monks free fall for the ability to walk on water. Paired with the enhanced swim speed of 60, the ability to just walk up to boats absolutely helps with mobility without having to deal with fiddly jump checks. Ki strike magic allows for the use of kuo toa ethereal and anti invisibility sight to actually hit and damage ghosts and stuff. The unarmed strike damage die increases to a d8, and we obtain a 6th stun attempt after adding mind shattering strike to our attack repertoire.
Mind shattering strike uses a stun attempt that makes a person hit by the monitor make a will save (DC 22) to resist attacking the nearest non kuo toa. Paired with KT monasticism, you can guarantee a hit if the first strike in a flurry hits.
7 HD
At our seventh Hit Die, we nab the first level of scaled horror. This grants two important things moving forward: improved grab and accelerated ranger spell-progression. I've selected some entertaining ranger spell choices for the build to prepare, and our large wisdom score offers 2 bonus first level spell slots to cast from. Notably, urchins spines allows you to weaponize that improved grab ability with piddly 1d3 damage and a DC 13 fort save vs 1d2 Dex damage poison. You can smack your opponent in a flurry, and choose between stunning them or mind shattering striking them, and depending on the outcome follow up with an auto hit that begins a grapple. If you mind shatter them, they have to use their action to attack someone not in the grapple, which they need to grapple against you to do, triggering urchins spines. If they get out of the grapple, and have to move out of your threatened area to attack someone, combat reflexes allows another improved grab.
Blockade summons a 2000 lb block of wood in an unoccupied square for a few rounds. So you can sink or slow down small boats.
Instant of power can give you a +4 to an attack roll that allows you to use power attack in a flurry to hit at least once.
The climb to ECL 15 is exciting. We cycle through 3 more levels of scaled horror, dip contemplative for the mysticism domain, and then pick up the watery death domain from Sea Mother Whip. We'll paddle through it step by step, but the real horror of this build begins with access to 3rd level ranger spells.
8 HD
With Scaled Horror 2, we gain freedom of movement while in water. That means we can punch underwater. We can grapple underwater and flurry in that grapple because freedom of movement was invented to nope wizards out of certain death at the hands of bulky normies. "While you studied wrastlin', I studied Raistlin."
We gain a 7th stun attempt from our aggregate non-monk HD. We also gain our first class-derived 1st level ranger spell slot.
It bears reminding that we can be invisible for a round and walk on water, so we can gank people unawares with a flurry, and drag them into water with a successful grapple check. We add +1 to STR, bringing our STR mod to +3, putting our flurry attacks at +7/+7/+1. That makes your second attack in a flurry the ideal candidate for a swift action monasticism activation.
9 HD
With our third level of Scaled Horror, we obtain two 2nd level ranger spells from high wisdom, and we apply unorthodox flurry to our poison ring. Both this feat and this weapon are found in dragon compendium. The ring deals 1 damage, but it targets touch AC, so we can use KT monasticism in combination with power attack, to guarantee a power attack hit/mind shattering strike with our second or third attack, and we can modify that with power attack depending on how armored vs. Dexterous the opponent that you're attacking is.
The spells we've selected here are neat to play with: Burrow, of course, allows you to dig down into earth, which has all sorts of tactical options that are neat when combined with invisible fist. Swift Haste is a phenomenal spell, and you should use it liberally, until the next level, where it will have some 2nd level spell slot competition with the weapon of the deity spell from the Mysticism Domain. Fell the greatest foe is there for those cases when you have to teach a larger sized good guy who is really the boss. Wind wall appears to just ruin plans for other people, particularly on the water.
10-11 HD
At Scaled Horror 4, we complete our final level of Scaled Horror, gaining DR 2/-, which is nice. Also, we finally meet the prerequisite number of K. Religion ranks to take the contemplative prestige class next level.
At 11 HD, we abandon the scaled horror prestige class for the Contemplative class. And here, we have a fork in the road. This class grants a bonus domain. And when designing this build, all of these online domain aggregates for 3.5 kept listing mysticism as a potential domain of blibdoolpoolp. After much digging through primary sources, I can most assuredly tell you, that blibdoolpoolp doesn't give access to the mysticism domain. Which means right now, I have to go edit a bunch of stuff higher up in the entry, you'll notice because I'm going to just strike through it. The following spoiler contains how I reached this conclusion.
In 3.0’s Defender of the faith, a new type of domain was introduced called the “Prestige domain”, a special domain type that can only be accessed through prestige classes. There were only two prestige classes in that edition that were capable of accessing any of the prestige domains listed in that book: The sacred fist and the contemplative. Back then, sacred fist got a bonus domain. Prestige domains are neat, if you’re a cleric, you get a third domain. Non cleric divine casters that enter get a bonus slot solely for the spells, and arcane casters get the spells added to their spells known. Cool. I strongly considered sacred fist for this build, but the prohibition against weapons is lame.
So, the gods that are listed for the mysticism domain were limited solely by alignment, they had to be gods with no neutral elements in their alignment. And if you were a contemplative, you could select mysticism if your god fell within those alignment thresholds.
Then, complete Divine was published, which reprinted the mysticism domain, with the same weird alignment restriction, but also the strange situation where there are no gods that offer this domain. No core gods, and no “other” gods, (which is where ole Blibsdoolpoolp falls). It's a domain that can’t be selected using any RAW published gods. It’s literally the only domain in 3.5 that has no gods associated with it. Then, they write at the beginning of the chapter that these domains accompany the domains in chapter 11 of the PHB. So there is no way to get the mysticism domain using 3.5 rules if you worship a deity.
They also reprinted the Contemplative, who no longer offers access to a prestige domain, but instead gains a “bonus domain”.
This is gonna get a lot more nerdy, so keep reading at your peril.
Then the mysticism domain was later reprinted in Spell Compendium, where the book specifically chose not to assign any gods to any domains to give gamers maximum choice, but it also prefaced the domain section with a provision that these domains are selectable in addition to the choices available in chapter 11 of the PHB, so you weren’t even allowed to know that literally no god offered the domain.
Prestige domains do still exist in D&D 3.5. The transition between 3.0 and 3.5 happened in July 2003. A few books, published after that in 2003 still had prestige domain language in them, notably Draconomicon and Underdark...which is where sea mother whip is found.
The only 3.5 edition rules text that explains what prestige domains are can be found in Draconomicon and Underdark with the better description being in the latter, where it is simply defined prestige domains as domains that you cannot take at 1st level. Meanwhile, Savage Species and Unapproachable east each have prestige domains published in 2003 before the 3.5 update.
The spell compendium demoted the 3.5 edition Glory domain from the prestige status it enjoyed in Draconomicon, as well as 3.0’s Savage Species’ Suffering Domain, but it ignored the 3.0’s Talontar blightlord’s Blightbringer prestige domain.
So the question that all of this info dump begs of us is this: Does the existence of rules text in 3.5 about prestige domains then default to the 3.0 defender’s of faith’s full throated description of what they are? Because the concept has primacy there in 3.0?
I only dug into this because I really wanted a pincer staff made of force making grapple checks using the Creature from the Blagoon’s BAB and wisdom modifier via casting the spiritual weapon spell. And mysticism has that option,well actually mysticism is just plain unselectable for people with patron gods, but I didn’t know that until I got this deep into it.
The deity in this case being blibdoolpoolp. Who isn’t associated with the mysticism domain (just blackwater, watery death, water, evil, destruction, and abyss) because no god is. Does your alignment allow you to select this domain by using the Contemplative’s bonus domain class feature? Or are you limited the Evil and Lawful domains, because that's what this character’s alignment is? Which made me wonder: Can a Chaotic Evil deity grant access to lawful domains? That's weird, you meet your CE goddess and she's like, "sure here’s some antithetical-to-my-entire-shtick divine boon for ya!"
And what is the mysticism domain all about? All of the spells are about looking and behaving more like your god. But only clerics without a god can select this domain by RAW. Why isn't it called the Malignant Narcissism Domain?
What really makes this gripe sting is that kuo toa are fish men who worship a chick with a shrimp head, mammary glands, and lobster claws. Arthropods and fish are wildly taxonomically different. For squid’s sake, fish and lobster are in completely different Phyla! The only real shared characteristic they have is feet. I mean chaotic evil theocratic amphibious fish men who are pre-occupied with drowning land critters in water as a religious rite is weird enough. What is even going on here? And now, you don't even get access to spells that could help bridge the shrimp head/ fish head divide even if your whole race of electroshocking fish prefers to use weapons modelled after lobster claws.
So, Contemplative allows you to take a bonus domain offered by your deity, with no other qualifiers, and although the Blackwater Domain has evards tentacles and the amazing ability to be immune to ocean pressure, we are going to slam dunk into the Planar Handbook and fish out the Abyss planar Domain, which is offered by Blibdoolpoolp there. Although there is a spiel about clerics needing to meet an alignment criteria to select a planar domain, the unfortunately pedantic fact is that a Scaled Horror>Contemplative isn’t a cleric, so that clause doesn’t apply. Again, if one was a cleric/monk of Blibdoolpoolp, you shouldn’t even be able to get spells through a deity if you’re two alignment steps away from them, but here we are. We have access to the Abyss planar domain. Which is superior to the other domain choices left by virtue of offering +4 str for 5 rounds as a free action 1/day, and giving you a choice of two spells per spell level. Stand outs are balor nimbus, babau slime, and poisson.
We gain access to 3rd level ranger spells at this level, and boy howdy are they fantastic. First, off, on our brand new Abyss domain, we have babau slime, which deals 1d8 acid at the beginning of someone’s round where they are grappling you. At this level, a fiendish ape isn’t going to help you very much, so you can just ignore summon monster 3 from the Abyss Domain, pretty much all of the time.
The golden jewel in the crown of triton here is the third level ranger spell, Bladestorm. If you’re a monk, your whole body is a manufactured weapon, so you can make, at the very minimum, at least one unarmed strike under this spell. (I don’t want to dig into another sprawling tangent, but monk’s ability to be treated as a manufactured weapon offers the ridiculous option of using this spell for two attacks {“My monk is at least a double weapon, he has two ends!”} or infinite attacks, if you count every named body part as an individual weapon that you’re wielding)
Anyway, under a bladestorm spell, you’re wielding that poison ring in one of your hands, so you get an attack with that. By now, you should have gotten a ki focus poison ring. Use round 1 to invisibly get into position after casting babau slime or urchins spines, or skin of the cactus. With this spell, you attack everyone that you can reach with each of the weapons you are wielding. (Consider investing in a horned helmet, and some sort of knee blades and just use them non-proficiently.) You get an improved grab on each strike. So you create this giant spiny or acidic grapple. Everyone you hit is considered to be grappling each other, so when you hit with that ki focus poison ring or your unarmed strike, and you expend a stunning fist use to get them to succumb to a mind shattering strike, their next action has to be to attack a non-kuo-toa. Unlike stunning fist, there is no limit on the number of mind shattering strikes you can do per turn. Which means they have to grapple against you to do it, taking spare damage from whatever skin based pain mechanism you have going on. And if they succeed against you, they’re gonna be hurting someone else in the hellsquare that you’ve created. If they try to move away, they have to grapple you for it (taking damage), and then they’ll be attacking a friend of theirs anyway. How many people can you grapple simultaneously? I don’t know the answer to that. On your next round you can use escape artist to get out of that mess, if you need to. Or you can use (swift haste?) iteratives to stun or do more mind shattering strikes against the people you’re in this giant cartoon tussle with.
https://i.imgur.com/1dHCqi3.png
If you began this situation by capsizing a boat (dropping a blockade on it or using control water or rushing waters or something that comes online later), you have freedom of action if you’re all in the water. You can just follow up creating this mess of a grapple with a flurry routine that includes stuns and mind shatters depending on who you want to hit or get hit.
This basic technique just gets crazier as you add wands to the mix to give you multiple uses of these spells per day. And as you add on your other “ranger” spells like balor nimbus, or if you combine venom fire with urchins spines (arguably works or doesn’t work depending on who you ask), you just become this juggernaut that half-effectively locks down anything that’s about your size and weaker than you.
Lastly, If you cast treeshape on yourself in water, do you sink or float?
12 HD
With our first level of Sea Mother Whip, between having 8 non monk HD and extra stunning feat, The Creature from the Black Lagoon now has 11 stunning fist Mind-shattering strike uses per day.
You gain access to your prestige domain: Watery death, as well as 1 spell slot per level on top of your other slots to use each of the spells. Control water is a good spell, and you should use them to get yourself into position to wallop the good guys.
The high point of the Build is here @ 13 HD!
13 HD
Sea Mother Whip 2: We have access to fourth level spells, 1 for high wisdom, 1 for the Watery Death prestige domain, and another for Contemplative’s bonus Abyss domain.
The most hilarious 4th level spell on this build, which coalesces with the tagline of “put a ring on it”, is the blinding beauty spell from BOED; a spell that gives you the physical beauty of a nymph. No, you don’t transform into a nymph, you just transmute whatever you got going on to nymphlike proportions. Because you’re a scaled horror with ranger casting, and not a cleric, the [good] tag doesn’t matter for you. The abstinence component should be easy enough to swing as a CHA 6 fish-man, and the spell isn’t alignment locked at all, despite originating in BOED. So, don’t be afraid to permanently blind the good guys with your inner beauty! Then put a ring on em!
...and mind-shattering strike them as a follow up.
From the Abyss domain comes the Balor Nimbus spell, 6d6 of fire damage buff while grappling people. From the Watery Death Domain comes the Spell Compendium-nerfed rushing waters spell, which should be good for attacking unwary sea-men.
Other good 4th level spells include swamp stride, a decent spell for escape failed attempts at harassing archaeologists coming to document your existence. It’s water based tree stride, which is right up our gulley.
Aspect of the earth hunter allows you to become a landshark with all of your monk and scaled horror abilities, so it's definitely worth putting this spell on a wand. You get 2 claws, 4 when you jump attack, and they deal 2d8+8 damage, plus now you have the size and strength to make improved grab super powerful. If you can commission a custom item of natural spell (approx 15k according to AEG p.128) you can cast spells as a bullette, which opens up the grapple spells in companion with your improved grab ability. With the water step monk class feature, you can be a landshark at sea, plodding along towards your destination, which, you know, makes about as much sense as fish men worshipping a lobster headed mammal.
14-15HD
Two more levels of Sea mother whip unlocks your ability to make lightning bolts as a SU ability, and lifts your caster level a bit for your spells. Extra stunning brings you up to 14 uses of stunning fist a day.
16-17 HD
Now, we add crusader levels, mostly to grant some combat utility with standard actions, but particularly because of the utility of using defensive rebuke while you are in your bladestorm of doom where you cannot flurry unless you’re underwater using freedom of movement. With defensive rebuke, the poor sods who get improved grabbed and mind shattered who attack someone else draw your combat reflexes enhanced attack of opportunity, and you may be able to get another round of them betraying their friends. Revitalizing strike offers some mid combat healing.
And that, my friends, is the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
It's that time of year again, and we here at the Optimization Showcase are bringing you another Halloween Special (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?601739-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Tales-From-the-Crypt). People are busy, and we don't have a build from everyone this year, but daremetodareyou and I have a pair for you to take in on this Quarantined Halloween. As always, the group - currently myself, Viscount, Akal Saris, Venger, Darrin, daremetoidareyou, and of course Piggy Knowles - helped refine ideas in our discord.
So hit the lights, snuggle up on the couch, and take in our...
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGRmNjQ5NWYtOWViZC00ZGJjLTgxNDgtZjhiMjk5ZTQ3MD AzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzI2MDEwNA@@._V1_UY268_CR86,0,18 2,268_AL_.jpg
Halloween Special II: Eclectic Boo-galoo
We'll start with daremetodareyou daring as only he dares to, as he plumbs the depths of optimization's Black Lagoon.
The Creature From the Black Lagoon
https://i.imgur.com/3rYcmiH.jpeg
"Put A Ring On It!"
INTRODUCTION
Happy Halloween!
You can't get much more "Scary fish-man" than kuo-toa. So let's glue the amazing monk feats from monster manual 5 to the Underdark's Sea Mother Whip with Savage species' Scaled Horror and call it a day here. Although we considered alter self shenanigans to access the kuo-toa monk feats, ultimately we wanted a full-time beastman of briny depths.
This is a scary fish-man monk that fish-slaps you into slapping your friends, emboldened by ranger spell access and supernatural lightning bolts. And if that doesn't horrify you, just wait until you see that there's some grappling multiple combatants as a build component.
THE BUILD
Level
Class
BAB
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features
1
Kuo Toa
1
0
2
2
Escape Artist 4, Knowledge (Religion) 4, Move Silently 4
Power Attack
Movement: land 20, swim 50, Abilities: +2 STR, INT, CON, +4 WIS, -2 CHA, Nat Armor +6
2
Kuo Toa
2
0
3
3
Escape Artist 5, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Move Silently 5
Kuo Toa Traits: Electricity resistance 10, Immune to poison and paralysis, Slippery, Keen Sight, +8 escape artist and swim, +4 search and spot
3
Monk
2
2
5
5
Knowledge (Religion) 6, Hide 3, Spot 1
stunning fist, Improved unarmed Strike, Kuo Toan Monasticism (MMV p.97)
Bonus Feat, Flurry, Unarmed Strike
4
Invisible Fist (EoE p.21) Monk
3
3
6
6
Knowledge (Religion) 7, Hide 5, Concentration 1
Combat reflexes
Bonus Feat, Invisible Fist, Wis +1,
5
Monk
4
3
6
6
Knowledge (Religion) 8, Concentration 4, Tumble 1
Still Mind, speed bonus +10
6
Water Step (Stormwrack p.50) Monk
5
4
7
7
Knowledge (Religion) 9, Concentration 6, Escape Artist 7
Mind Shattering Strike (MMV p.97)
Ki Strike (magic), Water Step 20, 1d8 damage
7
Scaled Horror (Savage Species p.82)1
5
6
7
7
Knowledge (Religion) 10, Concentration 8, Jump 1
Improved Grab, Keen Scent, Ranger Spells
8
Scaled Horror 2
6
7
7
7
Knowledge (Religion) 11, Concentration 10, Jump 2
Freedom of Movement, Str +1
9
Scaled Horror 3
7
7
8
8
Knowledge (Religion) 12, Concentration 12, Jump 3
Unorthodox Flurry:Poison Ring (Dragon Compendium p.109 & 115)
10
Scaled Horror 4
8
8
8
8
Knowledge (Religion) 13, Concentration 13, Jump 5
Damage Reduction 2/-
11
Contemplative (Complete Divine p.30)
8
8
8
10
Concentration 14, Heal 2
Bonus Domain: Mysticism(Spell Comp. p.227) Abyss(Planar Handbook p.85), Divine Health
12
Sea Mother Whip (Underdark p. 42) 1
8
10
8
12
Concentration 15, Escape artist 8
Extra Stunning (Complete Warrior p.98)
Watery Death Prestige Domain (Underdark p.53), Wis +1
13
Sea Mother Whip 2
9
11
8
13
Concentration 16, Escape artist 9
Punish the infidels
14
Sea Mother Whip 3
10
11
9
13
Concentration 17, Escape artist 10
Independent Lightning Bolt
15
Sea Mother Whip 4
11
12
9
14
Concentration 18, Escape artist 11
Extra Stunning
Inspire the faithful
16
Crusader 1
12
14
9
14
Concentration 19, Balance 4
Furious Counter Strike, Steely Resolve 5
17
Crusader 2
13
15
9
14
Concentration 20, Balance 8
Indomitable Soul
18
LA 1
19
LA 2
20
LA 3
Spells and Maneuvers
Spells
1st: Urchins spines (Stormwrack), Blockade (Complete Scoundrel), Instant of Power (Forge of War), Blades of Fire (Spell Comp. p.31), Silvered Claws (BOED)
2nd: Burrow (Spell Comp. p.41), Swift Haste (Spell Comp. p.110), Wind Wall, Fell the Greatest Foe (Spell Comp. p.90)
3rd: Blade Storm (Spell Comp. 30), Haboob (Sandstorm), Treeshape, Skin of the Cactus (Sandstorm), Phantasmal Decoy (spell comp. 155)
4th: Blinding Beauty (BOED), Swamp stride (Spell Comp. p.217), Aspect of the Earth hunter (Spell Comp. p.16), Venom Fire (Serpent Kingdoms if it works with urchin's spines) Commune with Nature, Slipsand (Sandstorm)
Mysticism Domain
1: Divine Favor
2: Spiritual Weapon
3: Lesser Visage of the Deity (Spell Comp. p.231)
4: Weapon of the Deity (Spell Comp. p.237): Shock Pincer Staff (Defender’s of the Faith for Blibdoolpoolp p. 92)
Abyss Domain
1: align weapon or cause fear
2: Bull’s Strength or Death Knell
3: Babau slime (Spell Comp. p. 22) or Summon Monster 3 (CE only)
4: Balor Nimbus (spell comp. p.24) or Poison
Watery Death Domain
1: Entangle
2: Mark of the Outcast (Spell Comp. p.138)
3: Control Water
4: Rushing Waters (Spell Comp. p.178)
Maneuvers
1: Martial Spirit (S)
3: Bonecrusher, Defensive rebuke, Revitalizing Strike, Thicket of Blades (s)
4: Divine Surge, Overwhelming Mountain Strike
ABILITY SCORES
32 point buy
STR: 15
DEX: 14
CON: 16
INT: 12
WIS: 21
CHA: 6
Add +1 WIS at HD 4, 12, and 16. Add +1 STR at 8 HD.
SHOWCASE
ECL 5: This is where you start. Kuo-Toa have 2 monstrous humanoid racial Hit Dice and a level adjustment of +3. AThe giantitp hive mind thinks kuo toa should have LA 0 (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=21897190&postcount=42), although I think a +1 or +2 LA is more reasonable, as the poison and paralysis immunity, the ability to see invisible and ethereal objects, and the net +8 to the stat array justify at least that. If I imagined a full bab class that offered all of this over 2 levels, I'd assume it was overpowered homebrew, but dispersed over 3 levels seems better.
Packed into those racial Hit dice and level adjustment are some nice things:
Ability score mods: +2 STR, CON, INT and +4 WIS
+6 Natural armor
Land speed 20, swim speed 50
Lightning bolt (su)
Adhesive
Electricity resistance 10
Poison and paralysis immunity
See invisible and ethereal
Slippery
Light blindness
Amphibious
+8 racial bonus on escape artist, +4 on search and spot.
We take Power Attack at first level to deal some extra damage, you know, if we're attacking an unarmored solitary dude.
ECL 10: Kuo toa + 4 levels of monk + 1 of scaled horror.
3 HD:
The Monk class is strong on a kuo toa. Kuo toa monasticism slots nicely into the 3rd level feat slot on the first level of monk.
Kuo toa monasticism is a powerful feat, I imagine, as an apology for that LA. So when you flurry, if your first sticky fish-slimed fist hits, the second attack in your flurry auto hits. We will eventually combine that with power attack, a poison ring, and mind-shattering strike to wollop someone so hard that they'll flounder and attack a non kuo-toa on their next round. But we'll school you on that later.
This feat offers +1 stunning attempt and makes your stunning fist saves dependent on HD instead of monk level, netting you a +1 on the save DC.
With a natural armor of +6, a dex mod of +2, and a wisdom score of 21, your AC is good for a sixth level fighter equivalent, clocking in at a solid 23.
Your real issue is a BAB of 2 on a 6th level equivalent character designed around melee. You have 2 stun attempts per day. You're going to have to travel with other kuo toas and rely on lightning bolts.
4-5 HD
The second level of monk delivers you invisible fist, which is potent and allows you to get into surprise round position to mind shattering strike someone. Combat reflexes as a bonus feat is nice too. You have 3 stun attempts, 4 hit dice, a BAB of 3 and an AC of 24, so battles will drag out. Just abscond away using invisible fist as soon as you meet a level appropriate encounter.
The third level of monk brings your movement speeds up by 10.
6 HD
The 4th level of monk opens up another acf that trades monks free fall for the ability to walk on water. Paired with the enhanced swim speed of 60, the ability to just walk up to boats absolutely helps with mobility without having to deal with fiddly jump checks. Ki strike magic allows for the use of kuo toa ethereal and anti invisibility sight to actually hit and damage ghosts and stuff. The unarmed strike damage die increases to a d8, and we obtain a 6th stun attempt after adding mind shattering strike to our attack repertoire.
Mind shattering strike uses a stun attempt that makes a person hit by the monitor make a will save (DC 22) to resist attacking the nearest non kuo toa. Paired with KT monasticism, you can guarantee a hit if the first strike in a flurry hits.
7 HD
At our seventh Hit Die, we nab the first level of scaled horror. This grants two important things moving forward: improved grab and accelerated ranger spell-progression. I've selected some entertaining ranger spell choices for the build to prepare, and our large wisdom score offers 2 bonus first level spell slots to cast from. Notably, urchins spines allows you to weaponize that improved grab ability with piddly 1d3 damage and a DC 13 fort save vs 1d2 Dex damage poison. You can smack your opponent in a flurry, and choose between stunning them or mind shattering striking them, and depending on the outcome follow up with an auto hit that begins a grapple. If you mind shatter them, they have to use their action to attack someone not in the grapple, which they need to grapple against you to do, triggering urchins spines. If they get out of the grapple, and have to move out of your threatened area to attack someone, combat reflexes allows another improved grab.
Blockade summons a 2000 lb block of wood in an unoccupied square for a few rounds. So you can sink or slow down small boats.
Instant of power can give you a +4 to an attack roll that allows you to use power attack in a flurry to hit at least once.
The climb to ECL 15 is exciting. We cycle through 3 more levels of scaled horror, dip contemplative for the mysticism domain, and then pick up the watery death domain from Sea Mother Whip. We'll paddle through it step by step, but the real horror of this build begins with access to 3rd level ranger spells.
8 HD
With Scaled Horror 2, we gain freedom of movement while in water. That means we can punch underwater. We can grapple underwater and flurry in that grapple because freedom of movement was invented to nope wizards out of certain death at the hands of bulky normies. "While you studied wrastlin', I studied Raistlin."
We gain a 7th stun attempt from our aggregate non-monk HD. We also gain our first class-derived 1st level ranger spell slot.
It bears reminding that we can be invisible for a round and walk on water, so we can gank people unawares with a flurry, and drag them into water with a successful grapple check. We add +1 to STR, bringing our STR mod to +3, putting our flurry attacks at +7/+7/+1. That makes your second attack in a flurry the ideal candidate for a swift action monasticism activation.
9 HD
With our third level of Scaled Horror, we obtain two 2nd level ranger spells from high wisdom, and we apply unorthodox flurry to our poison ring. Both this feat and this weapon are found in dragon compendium. The ring deals 1 damage, but it targets touch AC, so we can use KT monasticism in combination with power attack, to guarantee a power attack hit/mind shattering strike with our second or third attack, and we can modify that with power attack depending on how armored vs. Dexterous the opponent that you're attacking is.
The spells we've selected here are neat to play with: Burrow, of course, allows you to dig down into earth, which has all sorts of tactical options that are neat when combined with invisible fist. Swift Haste is a phenomenal spell, and you should use it liberally, until the next level, where it will have some 2nd level spell slot competition with the weapon of the deity spell from the Mysticism Domain. Fell the greatest foe is there for those cases when you have to teach a larger sized good guy who is really the boss. Wind wall appears to just ruin plans for other people, particularly on the water.
10-11 HD
At Scaled Horror 4, we complete our final level of Scaled Horror, gaining DR 2/-, which is nice. Also, we finally meet the prerequisite number of K. Religion ranks to take the contemplative prestige class next level.
At 11 HD, we abandon the scaled horror prestige class for the Contemplative class. And here, we have a fork in the road. This class grants a bonus domain. And when designing this build, all of these online domain aggregates for 3.5 kept listing mysticism as a potential domain of blibdoolpoolp. After much digging through primary sources, I can most assuredly tell you, that blibdoolpoolp doesn't give access to the mysticism domain. Which means right now, I have to go edit a bunch of stuff higher up in the entry, you'll notice because I'm going to just strike through it. The following spoiler contains how I reached this conclusion.
In 3.0’s Defender of the faith, a new type of domain was introduced called the “Prestige domain”, a special domain type that can only be accessed through prestige classes. There were only two prestige classes in that edition that were capable of accessing any of the prestige domains listed in that book: The sacred fist and the contemplative. Back then, sacred fist got a bonus domain. Prestige domains are neat, if you’re a cleric, you get a third domain. Non cleric divine casters that enter get a bonus slot solely for the spells, and arcane casters get the spells added to their spells known. Cool. I strongly considered sacred fist for this build, but the prohibition against weapons is lame.
So, the gods that are listed for the mysticism domain were limited solely by alignment, they had to be gods with no neutral elements in their alignment. And if you were a contemplative, you could select mysticism if your god fell within those alignment thresholds.
Then, complete Divine was published, which reprinted the mysticism domain, with the same weird alignment restriction, but also the strange situation where there are no gods that offer this domain. No core gods, and no “other” gods, (which is where ole Blibsdoolpoolp falls). It's a domain that can’t be selected using any RAW published gods. It’s literally the only domain in 3.5 that has no gods associated with it. Then, they write at the beginning of the chapter that these domains accompany the domains in chapter 11 of the PHB. So there is no way to get the mysticism domain using 3.5 rules if you worship a deity.
They also reprinted the Contemplative, who no longer offers access to a prestige domain, but instead gains a “bonus domain”.
This is gonna get a lot more nerdy, so keep reading at your peril.
Then the mysticism domain was later reprinted in Spell Compendium, where the book specifically chose not to assign any gods to any domains to give gamers maximum choice, but it also prefaced the domain section with a provision that these domains are selectable in addition to the choices available in chapter 11 of the PHB, so you weren’t even allowed to know that literally no god offered the domain.
Prestige domains do still exist in D&D 3.5. The transition between 3.0 and 3.5 happened in July 2003. A few books, published after that in 2003 still had prestige domain language in them, notably Draconomicon and Underdark...which is where sea mother whip is found.
The only 3.5 edition rules text that explains what prestige domains are can be found in Draconomicon and Underdark with the better description being in the latter, where it is simply defined prestige domains as domains that you cannot take at 1st level. Meanwhile, Savage Species and Unapproachable east each have prestige domains published in 2003 before the 3.5 update.
The spell compendium demoted the 3.5 edition Glory domain from the prestige status it enjoyed in Draconomicon, as well as 3.0’s Savage Species’ Suffering Domain, but it ignored the 3.0’s Talontar blightlord’s Blightbringer prestige domain.
So the question that all of this info dump begs of us is this: Does the existence of rules text in 3.5 about prestige domains then default to the 3.0 defender’s of faith’s full throated description of what they are? Because the concept has primacy there in 3.0?
I only dug into this because I really wanted a pincer staff made of force making grapple checks using the Creature from the Blagoon’s BAB and wisdom modifier via casting the spiritual weapon spell. And mysticism has that option,well actually mysticism is just plain unselectable for people with patron gods, but I didn’t know that until I got this deep into it.
The deity in this case being blibdoolpoolp. Who isn’t associated with the mysticism domain (just blackwater, watery death, water, evil, destruction, and abyss) because no god is. Does your alignment allow you to select this domain by using the Contemplative’s bonus domain class feature? Or are you limited the Evil and Lawful domains, because that's what this character’s alignment is? Which made me wonder: Can a Chaotic Evil deity grant access to lawful domains? That's weird, you meet your CE goddess and she's like, "sure here’s some antithetical-to-my-entire-shtick divine boon for ya!"
And what is the mysticism domain all about? All of the spells are about looking and behaving more like your god. But only clerics without a god can select this domain by RAW. Why isn't it called the Malignant Narcissism Domain?
What really makes this gripe sting is that kuo toa are fish men who worship a chick with a shrimp head, mammary glands, and lobster claws. Arthropods and fish are wildly taxonomically different. For squid’s sake, fish and lobster are in completely different Phyla! The only real shared characteristic they have is feet. I mean chaotic evil theocratic amphibious fish men who are pre-occupied with drowning land critters in water as a religious rite is weird enough. What is even going on here? And now, you don't even get access to spells that could help bridge the shrimp head/ fish head divide even if your whole race of electroshocking fish prefers to use weapons modelled after lobster claws.
So, Contemplative allows you to take a bonus domain offered by your deity, with no other qualifiers, and although the Blackwater Domain has evards tentacles and the amazing ability to be immune to ocean pressure, we are going to slam dunk into the Planar Handbook and fish out the Abyss planar Domain, which is offered by Blibdoolpoolp there. Although there is a spiel about clerics needing to meet an alignment criteria to select a planar domain, the unfortunately pedantic fact is that a Scaled Horror>Contemplative isn’t a cleric, so that clause doesn’t apply. Again, if one was a cleric/monk of Blibdoolpoolp, you shouldn’t even be able to get spells through a deity if you’re two alignment steps away from them, but here we are. We have access to the Abyss planar domain. Which is superior to the other domain choices left by virtue of offering +4 str for 5 rounds as a free action 1/day, and giving you a choice of two spells per spell level. Stand outs are balor nimbus, babau slime, and poisson.
We gain access to 3rd level ranger spells at this level, and boy howdy are they fantastic. First, off, on our brand new Abyss domain, we have babau slime, which deals 1d8 acid at the beginning of someone’s round where they are grappling you. At this level, a fiendish ape isn’t going to help you very much, so you can just ignore summon monster 3 from the Abyss Domain, pretty much all of the time.
The golden jewel in the crown of triton here is the third level ranger spell, Bladestorm. If you’re a monk, your whole body is a manufactured weapon, so you can make, at the very minimum, at least one unarmed strike under this spell. (I don’t want to dig into another sprawling tangent, but monk’s ability to be treated as a manufactured weapon offers the ridiculous option of using this spell for two attacks {“My monk is at least a double weapon, he has two ends!”} or infinite attacks, if you count every named body part as an individual weapon that you’re wielding)
Anyway, under a bladestorm spell, you’re wielding that poison ring in one of your hands, so you get an attack with that. By now, you should have gotten a ki focus poison ring. Use round 1 to invisibly get into position after casting babau slime or urchins spines, or skin of the cactus. With this spell, you attack everyone that you can reach with each of the weapons you are wielding. (Consider investing in a horned helmet, and some sort of knee blades and just use them non-proficiently.) You get an improved grab on each strike. So you create this giant spiny or acidic grapple. Everyone you hit is considered to be grappling each other, so when you hit with that ki focus poison ring or your unarmed strike, and you expend a stunning fist use to get them to succumb to a mind shattering strike, their next action has to be to attack a non-kuo-toa. Unlike stunning fist, there is no limit on the number of mind shattering strikes you can do per turn. Which means they have to grapple against you to do it, taking spare damage from whatever skin based pain mechanism you have going on. And if they succeed against you, they’re gonna be hurting someone else in the hellsquare that you’ve created. If they try to move away, they have to grapple you for it (taking damage), and then they’ll be attacking a friend of theirs anyway. How many people can you grapple simultaneously? I don’t know the answer to that. On your next round you can use escape artist to get out of that mess, if you need to. Or you can use (swift haste?) iteratives to stun or do more mind shattering strikes against the people you’re in this giant cartoon tussle with.
https://i.imgur.com/1dHCqi3.png
If you began this situation by capsizing a boat (dropping a blockade on it or using control water or rushing waters or something that comes online later), you have freedom of action if you’re all in the water. You can just follow up creating this mess of a grapple with a flurry routine that includes stuns and mind shatters depending on who you want to hit or get hit.
This basic technique just gets crazier as you add wands to the mix to give you multiple uses of these spells per day. And as you add on your other “ranger” spells like balor nimbus, or if you combine venom fire with urchins spines (arguably works or doesn’t work depending on who you ask), you just become this juggernaut that half-effectively locks down anything that’s about your size and weaker than you.
Lastly, If you cast treeshape on yourself in water, do you sink or float?
12 HD
With our first level of Sea Mother Whip, between having 8 non monk HD and extra stunning feat, The Creature from the Black Lagoon now has 11 stunning fist Mind-shattering strike uses per day.
You gain access to your prestige domain: Watery death, as well as 1 spell slot per level on top of your other slots to use each of the spells. Control water is a good spell, and you should use them to get yourself into position to wallop the good guys.
The high point of the Build is here @ 13 HD!
13 HD
Sea Mother Whip 2: We have access to fourth level spells, 1 for high wisdom, 1 for the Watery Death prestige domain, and another for Contemplative’s bonus Abyss domain.
The most hilarious 4th level spell on this build, which coalesces with the tagline of “put a ring on it”, is the blinding beauty spell from BOED; a spell that gives you the physical beauty of a nymph. No, you don’t transform into a nymph, you just transmute whatever you got going on to nymphlike proportions. Because you’re a scaled horror with ranger casting, and not a cleric, the [good] tag doesn’t matter for you. The abstinence component should be easy enough to swing as a CHA 6 fish-man, and the spell isn’t alignment locked at all, despite originating in BOED. So, don’t be afraid to permanently blind the good guys with your inner beauty! Then put a ring on em!
...and mind-shattering strike them as a follow up.
From the Abyss domain comes the Balor Nimbus spell, 6d6 of fire damage buff while grappling people. From the Watery Death Domain comes the Spell Compendium-nerfed rushing waters spell, which should be good for attacking unwary sea-men.
Other good 4th level spells include swamp stride, a decent spell for escape failed attempts at harassing archaeologists coming to document your existence. It’s water based tree stride, which is right up our gulley.
Aspect of the earth hunter allows you to become a landshark with all of your monk and scaled horror abilities, so it's definitely worth putting this spell on a wand. You get 2 claws, 4 when you jump attack, and they deal 2d8+8 damage, plus now you have the size and strength to make improved grab super powerful. If you can commission a custom item of natural spell (approx 15k according to AEG p.128) you can cast spells as a bullette, which opens up the grapple spells in companion with your improved grab ability. With the water step monk class feature, you can be a landshark at sea, plodding along towards your destination, which, you know, makes about as much sense as fish men worshipping a lobster headed mammal.
14-15HD
Two more levels of Sea mother whip unlocks your ability to make lightning bolts as a SU ability, and lifts your caster level a bit for your spells. Extra stunning brings you up to 14 uses of stunning fist a day.
16-17 HD
Now, we add crusader levels, mostly to grant some combat utility with standard actions, but particularly because of the utility of using defensive rebuke while you are in your bladestorm of doom where you cannot flurry unless you’re underwater using freedom of movement. With defensive rebuke, the poor sods who get improved grabbed and mind shattered who attack someone else draw your combat reflexes enhanced attack of opportunity, and you may be able to get another round of them betraying their friends. Revitalizing strike offers some mid combat healing.
And that, my friends, is the Creature from the Black Lagoon.