Villainous Competition XLII: Caine?!

[jdizzlean]

Welcome to Round 42 of the Villainous Competition!

Previous Competitions

Round One: Leader of Armies (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395046)
Round Two: Nature's Revenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400517)
Round Three: Double Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406015)
Round Four: Grave Keeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?413480)
Round Five: Crime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420704)
Round Six: Ultimate Predator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430650)
Round Seven: Wicked Witch (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444478)
Round Eight: Master of the Tundra (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?461482)
Round Nine: The Power of Villainous Thinking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474230)
Round Ten: Henchman Are Villains Too (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?478068)
Round Eleven: The Higher They Rise The Harder They Fall (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483052)
Round Twelve: Power Comes at a Price (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488846)
Round Thirteen: The Gadgeteer - You Are Not Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491932)
Round Fourteen: The Thing That Should Not Be (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?496091)
Round Fifteen: The Horsemen Are Drawing Nearer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500829)
Round Sixteen: Burn Baby Burn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503974)
Round Seventeen: It's Alive! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?507768)
Round Eighteen: This is Heresy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?511933)
Round Nineteen: He Slimed Me! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?516535)
Round Twenty: Elder Evil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?521560)
Round Twenty-One: Yarr! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527415-Villainous-Competition-XXI-Yarr!)
Round Twenty-Two: I Am The Night! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531199-Villainous-Competition-XXII-I-Am-The-Night!)
Round Twenty-Three: Two Heads Are Better Than One! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535437-Villainous-Competition-XXIII-Two-Heads-Are-Better-Than-One)
Round Twenty-Four: Wrong For The Right Reasons! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541650-Villainous-Competition-XXIV-Wrong-For-The-Right-Reasons)
Round Twenty-Five: Keeper of the Gate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?550139-Villainous-Competition-XXV-No-Solicitors!)
Round Twenty-Six: Get In MY BELLY (Swallow Whole) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556705-Villainous-Competition-XXVI-Swallow-Whole!)
Round Twenty-Seven: Multiple Personality Disorder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559748-Villainous-Competition-XXVII-Multiple-Personality-Disorder)
Round Twenty-Eight: Tiny Only! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565176-Villainous-Competition-XXVIII-Bad-Things-Come-in-Small-Packages)
Round Twenty-Nine: Halloween Special (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573496-Villainous-Competition-XXIX-A-Halloween-Special)
Round Thirty: One Feat to Rule Them ALL (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577930-Villainous-Competition-XXX-One-Feat-to-Rule-Them-ALL)
Round Thirty-One: In Cold Blood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582492-Villainous-Competition-XXXI-In-Cold-Blood)
Round Thirty-Two: oh HELL NO! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?586377-Villainous-Competition-XXXII-Oh-HELL-NO!)
Round Thirty-Three: The Do Over (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589107-Villainous-Competition-XXXIII-The-Do-Over)
Round Thirty-Four: Sword and Board (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600139-Villainous-Competition-XXXIV-Sword-and-Board)
Round Thirty-Five: I Shall Call Him Mini Me! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?605444-Villainous-Competition-XXXV-I-Shall-Call-Him-Mini-Me!)
Round Thirty-Six: The Broken Man (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612196-Villainous-Competition-XXXVI-The-Broken-Man)
Round Thirty-Seven: Yin and Yang (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?617485-Villainous-Competition-XXXVII-Yin-and-Yang)
Round Thirty Eight: Spooks and Spectres (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?621069-Villainous-Competition-XXXVIII-Spooks-and-Spectres)
Round Thirty Nine: Sorta Psuedo (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?625680-Villainous-Competition-XXXIX-Sorta-Psuedo)
Round Forty: Negative Nancy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?629291-Villainous-Competition-XL-Negative-Nancy)
Round Forty One: Gojira! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632587-Villainous-Competition-XL-1-Gojira!)


We're a little different than most of the optimization threads. We run on CR instead of ECL.

Contestants:
You will need to present a write-up of your build with at least one of the following points: 5 CR, 10 CR 15 CR, 20 CR, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20 CR build in the table below. Feel free to present as many of these as you like, and please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability at all of the levels you didn't show. The rules are as follows:

Secret Laboratory:
Competitors will be free to use any official 1st party (WotC) 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Compendium is allowed, but Dragon magazine is disallowed. Unearthed Arcana is allowed. Unupdated 3.0 materials, as well as web exclusives by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere, as this may cause an Elegance deduction at the judges' discretion. Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Item Familiars and Taint are also banned from the competition. Leadership and all similar abilities are banned for sanity reasons.
Builds that are fully monstrous are allowed at no penalty. All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels.

Elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8) is the assumed ability score generation method.
Some monstrous characters can technically qualify for Epic feats as soon as their ECL is over 20. While regular Epic feats will be allowed, Epic Spellcasting and all other Epic feats that affect spells, psionic powers, or item creation are not permitted. Including these would give an unfair advantage over standard characters. For Incarnum characters, Epic Open Chakra feats are allowed; other Epic Incarnum feats are not. The Essentia Capacity increases for Epic capacity as described on p. 212. For all characters, please note that Racial Hit Dice do not count towards Epic Progression; use the regular progression even if the BAB ends up higher than 20.

Deadlines:
Contestants will have until September 24th, 0700 hours MST to create their builds and PM them to the Supreme Chancellor. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until however long it takes to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted. Deadlines are subject to extension as/if required.

Judging:
Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Build Elegance, Competence and Power, Memorable Villainy.
Keep these questions in mind when judging each category:
Originality - Is it unexpected?
Build Elegance - Is it mechanically pretty?
Competence and Power - Can it do what the concept asks of it? Is this a powerfully-built character?
Memorable Villainy - Is this a villain with style? Will it be the BBEG players long to finally kill and then talk about for weeks?
Unearthed Arcana can be penalized for elegance if the specific feature seems unnecessary or makes the playing field unfair (In this case, you can give a 1 if it makes the field unfair.)
Power level is up to you. Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. As the Iron Chef competition states, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
You may not judge if you entered the contest, unless you withdraw your submission.

Presentation:
Builds will be posted anonymously, in order to avoid the potential of bias towards a particular competitor. For this reason, please don't put your name in the build, as I'm likely to miss it when reviewing the entries!

Note:
There is now a hard limit on two (2) entries per competitor.

Using the table below, the easiest way to use it is to go to the top left of the private message, and click the little a/A icon. It allows you to see what you're writing.
Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code immediately below (spoiler).

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


You can use the table below for Spells.

Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code Immediately Below,
Spells per Day/Spells Known
Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



Speculation:
Please don’t post or speculate on possible builds until the reveal, in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.
Once builds are revealed, please do not comment on errors or rules issues on entries unless you are a judge. If you have such a comment, wait until the final reveal to post it.

Get ready to share those Evil thoughts. This edition’s villain is:


Caine?!





Limitations



Must feature unarmed combat
any entry utilizing spellcasting/psionics can ONLY use buffs or debuffs
Spirit Lion Totem is banned
Must be Evil



We will award 1st through 3rd places, and a possible Honorable Mention.
So, start your evil plotting!

Submission:
To standardize Entries, please use this format when sending it in:

PM: Jdizzlean
Subject: Villainous Competition 42, Name of your Entry
For Revisions and disputes, do the same thing. It makes it easier for me finding the entries in my mail box.
More questions? PM me with Villainous Competition 42 Questions in the header.

Tips for submitting your entry, provided by Weaselguy:

- Use capitalization and punctuation, correctly.
- Make good use of Spoilers, for cleanliness.
- Don't forget your sources. If it's something that can be found in the contents section, then book title seems to be fine. Obscure stuff, may want to include page number too.
- DeviantArt has about 9 billion pictures that you can reference, I can almost guarantee you can find one there to fit your character.
- Make good use of tables. In addition to the Build table and the Spells table, I like doing one for my Ability Scores, just to keep it neat.
- Do a build stub at the top of your Build Table, something like Wizard 2/Fighter 3/Abjurant Champion 5/Eldritch Knight 10


As always: let's keep it nice.

I'll mention that again - LET'S KEEP IT NICE! Bickering, name calling and nasty comments on the entries or other forum members are not tolerated.

New competition rule: if I feel an individual has been overly disruptive during the course of competition discussion, I will not be accepting and revealing any entries from that individual, and they will also not be allowed to judge. Any judging they enter will not be taken into account for the final tally.

It's sad that it had to come to this, but here's a list of permanently banned (from this Villainous Competition) members:

Novolin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?148361-Novolin)
Yklikt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/member.php?133435-Yklikt)

[jdizzlean]

Clarifications

Unearthed Arcana variant rules are limited: The variant character options (such as Wildshape Ranger and Thug Fighter) should not be penalized. Flaws and traits may be penalized by judges, whereas item familiars, gestalt, alternate skill systems, alternate magic systems, alternate crafting rules, generic base classes, LA buyoff, fractional saves/BAB, and bloodlines are banned. Anything not mentioned here is up to individual judges.

d20 Rokugan is not allowed material.

The Dragon Magazine update for Oriental Adventures is in use.

Leadership is banned. Any material that grants you leadership without you specifically taking it should be ignored and may not be traded away for another feat or ACF. Undead Leadership and Dragon Cohort are likewise banned. Wild Cohort and Obtain Familiar are allowed. If you are not sure if a specific feat violates the 'no leadership' rule, err on the side of caution, or ask me.

However, Leadership may be taken to qualify for another feat or class (such as the Great Captain feat or Legendary Leader prestige class), though a character still doesn't get its usual benefit in those cases. This is to allow characters to access unproblematic material that'd otherwise be made unavailable because of the Leadership ban.

On the subject of messaging the chair (me), a few guidelines:
- I am not here to give critiques on your build or guess how the judges might score it!
- For entries, please keep the entry to no more than 2 message, if at all possible.
- For entries, don't expect me to search through your entry and edit in or out material. Entries should be sent to me complete - if there is a later revision, re-submit the full build. PLEASE DON'T INCLUDE TEXT IN YOUR SUBMISSION YOU WANT ME TO EDIT OUT FOR THE POST - SUBMIT IT TO ME EXACTLY HOW I WILL POST THE FINISHED PRODUCT.
- Please make sure the name of your entry is clearly present in the message.

https://nostalgiacentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/kungfu037.jpg


Everyone, have fun!

[H_H_F_F]

Is this about building the Biblical Cain, or am I missing some relevant pop-culture?

[pabelfly]

Was thinking about making an entry, just one question - do we worry about Favored Class at all, or is that not an issue in this competition format?

[AvatarVecna]

Might build for this. Got a vague idea.

[ciopo]

Is this about building the Biblical Cain, or am I missing some relevant pop-culture?

I'm seconding some confusion about what the inspiration is. A quick google sends me to.. Kung Fu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwai_Chang_Caine)? But I'm not sure I've got it right.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I'm seconding some confusion about what the inspiration is. A quick google sends me to.. Kung Fu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwai_Chang_Caine)? But I'm not sure I've got it right.

Nah, Kwai Chang doesn't make sense with the required Evil alignment. A quick wiki search leads me to Caine, the World of Darkness RPG villain, a vampire based on the biblical Cain?

[daremetoidareyo]

Nah, Kwai Chang doesn't make sense with the required Evil alignment. A quick wiki search leads me to Caine, the World of Darkness RPG villain, a vampire based on the biblical Cain?

No, it’s inspired by Caine the wrestler who was known for punching pastoralists to death and getting cursed to forever roam the earth with a 40 hour workweek

[Kuulvheysoon]

No, it’s inspired by Caine the wrestler who was known for punching pastoralists to death and getting cursed to forever roam the earth with a 40 hour workweek

It probably says a lot about me that I honestly don't know if you're joking or not. WWE gets wild.

[jdizzlean]

Caine from Kung fu, but evil because villain

clicking the image spoiler in the second post, would've given that away

[GreatWyrmGold]

Welcome to Round 40 of the Villainous Competition!
Our third 40th round in a row. Also, the list has an empty bullet point?

[daremetoidareyo]

Also, the list has an empty bullet point?


Invisible fist!

[Buufreak]

No, it’s inspired by Caine the wrestler who was known for punching pastoralists to death and getting cursed to forever roam the earth with a 40 hour workweek

Sorry mate. That is Kane, not Caine.

[Eurus]

Having not attempted this before, can you tell me what the normal rule is for monstrous builds with feats? Can intelligent monsters be made to take feats that are different from the ones in their normal statblock (or retrain them away), or are you stuck with the default ones?

[Thurbane]

Was thinking about making an entry, just one question - do we worry about Favored Class at all, or is that not an issue in this competition format?

No, AFAIK favoured class has never been a consideration in this comp, but I guess individual judges might decide to ding you for it? I can't recall ever having seen it, though.


Having not attempted this before, can you tell me what the normal rule is for monstrous builds with feats? Can intelligent monsters be made to take feats that are different from the ones in their normal statblock (or retrain them away), or are you stuck with the default ones?

Yes - pretty sure anything that isn't listed as a bonus feat (i.e. feats gained as normal through HD progression) can be selected freely.

I'm working on an IC entry right now, but should have enough time to get one in for this, if inspiration strikes.

[H_H_F_F]

No, AFAIK favoured class has never been a consideration in this comp, but I guess individual judges might decide to ding you for it? I can't recall ever having seen it, though.

I believe I penalized one entry 0.1 points for having severe multiclassing penalties through the entire build. I'm not sure I did - I remember heavily debating whether I should penalize that or not in a villain competition, and I believe I decided to compormise on 0.1. Edit: this was in the Sorta Pseuodo round.

[Thurbane]

I believe I penalized one entry 0.1 points for having severe multiclassing penalties through the entire build. I'm not sure I did - I remember heavily debating whether I should penalize that or not in a villain competition, and I believe I decided to compormise on 0.1. Edit: this was in the Sorta Pseuodo round.

Good point - I have seen elegance penalties for excessive dipping or sheer number of classes, but not really specifically tied to favoured class rules.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Yes - pretty sure anything that isn't listed as a bonus feat (i.e. feats gained as normal through HD progression) can be selected freely.

This is not the first time this has been asked. Maybe we should add it to the rule post.

[AvatarVecna]

This is not the first time this has been asked. Maybe we should add it to the rule post.

Might be generally useful to have a link to Ur-Priest's Monstrous Monster Handbook.

[loky1109]

Must feature unarmed combat
Do regular wolf or gelatinous cube feature unarmed combat?

[Buufreak]

I believe I penalized one entry 0.1 points for having severe multiclassing penalties through the entire build. I'm not sure I did - I remember heavily debating whether I should penalize that or not in a villain competition, and I believe I decided to compormise on 0.1. Edit: this was in the Sorta Pseuodo round.

A few years back I did give elegance deductions for dipping this that and the other, but no, not specifically for anything like not following favored class and associated xp penalties.


Do regular wolf or gelatinous cube feature unarmed combat?

I could have sworn a rule about villains need to be intelligent enough to concoct villainy, but that might have been exclusive to a particular round. That said, do keep in mind the RAW (from books, not this comp) about - int things and what they can and can't take, such as feats, skills, etc.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Honestly, I keep forgetting that multiclass and favored class XP penalties are a thing. I houseruled them away a very, very long time ago.

[Eurus]

This is not the first time this has been asked. Maybe we should add it to the rule post.

Sorry! There's a lot of old threads and it's tough trying to track down specific questions...

I also wanted to ask about racial HD advancement. Is it possible, for this competition, for a monster which is intelligent and has a HD advancement entry to take class levels and then gain racial HD, or do you need to do the racial HD advancement first? I haven't found any rules to that effect, but looking at previous entries, it looks like people have been sticking to HD first and class levels last?

[mattie_p]

So. I'll be the first to admit that this spreadsheet might not work as well for this competition as it does for the other IC style competitions. But I've updated it for 20 rows of skills.

(If a given entry uses less than 20 rows worth of CR, then this should work well for you. If you use more than 20 rows, then the skill table will be most helpful for only first 20 rows).

VERSION 2.0 (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BG0-5sq4dL9Ooh7-QfXuyHzO4rXSz-CRcj29t6BeUVE/edit?usp=sharing) is here.

Skill table is completely revamped. You simply enter the skill names at the top of the columns. At each level, select the cross class status and the number of skill points applied at that level. It will give you a single column that you can copy and paste back into the leveling table. It will automatically ignore skills without ranks. It will "remember" ranks assigned previously and keep printing them. But you only need to enter a "Y" or "y" at each level for cc status, and then the number of points assigned at that level. Does the rest for you.

Good luck.

[Thurbane]

Sorry! There's a lot of old threads and it's tough trying to track down specific questions...

True, and completely understandable.


I also wanted to ask about racial HD advancement. Is it possible, for this competition, for a monster which is intelligent and has a HD advancement entry to take class levels and then gain racial HD, or do you need to do the racial HD advancement first? I haven't found any rules to that effect, but looking at previous entries, it looks like people have been sticking to HD first and class levels last?

No. This has been raised previously, and the reply has always been once you take any class levels, you can no longer advance by HD. You can do the opposite, though. You can advance by HD, then start putting on class levels after that.

That's probably another one that might be worth including in the OP.

[jdizzlean]

I am currently stuck in 70+ hour work week hell, and will be for a few weeks. so if someone wishes to add stuff to the OP/FAQ post, kindly type up a text block and i'll insert it when I have time

xoxo

[ciopo]

is there a kind soul willing to answer some questions by PM? I don't want to spoil the tentative entry, but I don't want to poke jdizzlean with them, as busy as he is

[mattie_p]

I'm not planning on participating, I can offer suggestions maybe

[Kuulvheysoon]

is there a kind soul willing to answer some questions by PM? I don't want to spoil the tentative entry, but I don't want to poke jdizzlean with them, as busy as he is

I'm hella rusty, but I don't have any intent on competing in this round.

[ciopo]

Thank you kindly, Mattie_p answered the doubt I had

[loky1109]

Firstly I think I'll not participate in this round, but now I have two ideas.

[Thurbane]

I must admit, I'm struggling with this one a little.

I had an idea I've been working on, but it just seems really lacklustre, and a little underpowered.

[pabelfly]

I must admit, I'm struggling with this one a little.

I had an idea I've been working on, but it just seems really lacklustre, and a little underpowered.

I had two ideas, and both were interesting mechanically but really suffered from lack of power. Might post them both after the reveal.

[loky1109]

First sent. Second polishing. Third in the mind.
Yes, I know, I can nominate only two. (((

[Corey]

Caine from Kung fu, but evil because villain

clicking the image spoiler in the second post, would've given that away

My first thought was Zelazny's Amber series, but that Caine used archery and daggers.

My second thought was correct. :)

Highlander guy would have been the third thought, but he was spelled Kane, and those guys used swords anyway.

[loky1109]

Second sent.

[Eurus]

TBH, I wasn't really clear on if the entries are supposed to specifically emulate Caine, or just follow the limitations (be a villainous non-spellcasting unarmed combatant), since it seemed like the previous competitions weren't really based on specific characters like that? Well, we'll see I guess.

[jdizzlean]

1. Blackleaf, the Brutal

Treant Ghost RHD +4/Barbarian 3/Fist of the Forest 1/Frenzied Berserker 5

Ability point buy: Str 12, Dex 14, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 16

Once upon a time, there was a forest. It was an old forest, given dozens of names by the various map-makers of the ages, but to its inhabitants it was just The Forest. Like all old forests, there was magic in this one. But unusually, this one also housed a sect of wild warriors and nature mages. It was from them that the treant called Blackleaf, unusually clever and curious by the standards of mobile vegetation, learned the ways of men. The Guardians of the Green trained Blackleaf in battle, but also in how to speak with humanoids and understand their ways, cautioning him that reckless aggression would only be met with greater force than he could imagine.

Eventually, the Guardians grew old. Their numbers dwindled, and some of them settled down or returned to civilization or simply died, as humanoids tend to do. Blackleaf outlived them all, and when the nearby villages tried to harvest the forest for wood or hack a highway through it, he would first politely meet with them, and then -- if necessary -- terrify them with threats of dismemberment. This was fairly effective, and he only rarely had need to actually come to violence.

Eventually, word of this reached the king, who was pointedly curious as to why a large expanse of land in his kingdom had gone almost completely without practical use. When the situation was explained to him, he pragmatically dispatched a group of mercenaries to deal with the situation. Blackleaf's reliance on scare tactics proved to be his undoing; spooked, the adventurers fell back on their habits, and cut him down. Within a year, the forest had been thoroughly pacified and was being logged.

But some part of Blackleaf lingered, watching in horror and fury. Had he not played fair, and used every means in his disposal to avoid violence? Only to be slain so unceremoniously, and see his home violated... with a grudge so deep, it's no surprise that the treant's spirit could not rest. Soon, rumors started to spread. Rumors of men going mad in the forest and turning their axes on their allies, rumors of bodies found pierced by tree roots. The king sent more mercenaries, but this time, they found nothing.

Blackleaf had learned one important lesson the day he died. The world of men was at war with his kind, and there was no sense in speaking peacefully to them any longer. That spring, the forest marched on Brightlake.

"Seriously, mate, steer clear of that forest. Some shortcuts just aren't worth it."
-Jonn of Brightlake, innkeeper

Treant Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 3
Huge Plant
Hit Dice: 11d8+1d12+3d10+60 (132 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 24 (–2 size, –1 Dex, +13 natural, +4 con), touch 11, flat-footed 24.
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+29
Attack: Unarmed +19 (1d10+10) or slam +19 melee (2d6+10)
Full Attack: Unarmed +19/+14/+9 (1d10+10) and one slam +14 melee (2d6+5) (the other slam is being used to punch people)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Animate trees, double damage against objects, trample 2d6+15
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/slashing, low-light vision, plant traits, vulnerability to fire, fast movement (barbarian), rage 1/day, fast movement (Fist of the Forest), AC bonus, feral trance 2/day, uncanny dodge, untamed strike, scent
Saves: Fort +16, Ref +6, Will +8
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 12, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 18
Skills: Diplomacy +18 (14 ranks), Handle Animal +8 (4 ranks), Intimidate +22 (18 ranks), Knowledge: Nature +17 (14 ranks), Listen +23 (18 ranks), Survival +11 (6 ranks), Spot +23 (18 ranks)
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Cleave, Intimidating Rage, Destructive Rage

With Rage and Feral Trance: Increase AC by +2, hit points by +30, fort/ref/will saves by +2. Attack routine becomes unarmed +21 (1d10+14) or slam +21 melee (2d6+12), full attack routine becomes unarmed +21/+16/+11 (1d10+14) and two slams +16 melee (2d6+6) and bite +16 melee (1d6+6). Lasts 10 rounds.

Animate Trees (Sp): A treant can animate trees within 180 feet at will, controlling up to two trees at a time. It takes 1 full round for a normal tree to uproot itself. Thereafter it moves at a speed of 10 feet and fights as a treant in all respects. Animated trees lose their ability to move if the treant that animated them is incapacitated or moves out of range. The ability is otherwise similar to liveoak (caster level 12th). Animated trees have the same vulnerability to fire that a treant has.

Double Damage against Objects (Ex): A treant or animated tree that makes a full attack against an object or structure deals double damage.

Trample (Ex): Reflex DC 25 half. The save DC is Strength-based.

Despite his name, the treant called Blackleaf the Brutal would prefer to negotiate rather than fight; his fearsome reputation is deliberately cultivated to discourage enemies from invading his forest. Nevertheless, he is no slouch in a fight, and more than prepared to defend his home with terrible fury. His fighting style is fairly self-explanatory; he animates two trees, rallies any other nearby forest dwellers that can be persuaded to pitch in, and uses his Rage and Feral Trance abilities to shred people. Intimidating Rage is generally targeted on whoever appears to be leading the forces arrayed against him, to encourage their retreat.

"Is it just me, or is the forest getting... closer?"
-A concerned guard, the day before the Burning of Brightlake

Treant Ghost Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 3
Huge Undead (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 15d12 (97 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft., fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 24 (–2 size, –1 Dex, +13 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+29
Attack: Incorporeal touch +13 (1d4 ability drain)
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +13 (1d4 ability drain)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Animate trees, double damage against objects
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/slashing, low-light vision, plant traits, vulnerability to fire, fast movement (barbarian), rage 1/day, fast movement (Fist of the Forest), AC bonus, feral trance 2/day, uncanny dodge, untamed strike, scent, rejuvination, turn resistance +4, manifestation, malevolence, frightful moan, draining touch
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +8
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 12, Con --, Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 22
Skills: Diplomacy +18 (14 ranks), Handle Animal +8 (4 ranks), Intimidate +24 (18 ranks), Knowledge: Nature +17 (14 ranks), Listen +23 (18 ranks), Survival +11 (6 ranks), Spot +23 (18 ranks)
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Cleave, Intimidating Rage, Destructive Rage

Animate Trees (Sp): A treant can animate trees within 180 feet at will, controlling up to two trees at a time. It takes 1 full round for a normal tree to uproot itself. Thereafter it moves at a speed of 10 feet and fights as a treant in all respects. Animated trees lose their ability to move if the treant that animated them is incapacitated or moves out of range. The ability is otherwise similar to liveoak (caster level 12th). Animated trees have the same vulnerability to fire that a treant has.

Death requires an adjustment in tactics, for Blackleaf... at first glance, his ability to defend his forest has vastly decreased, although suddenly appearing with a frightful moan can chase off the weak-hearted. However, in truth, his lack of physical form is a minor inconvenience at most. By animating trees at-will, he has an endless supply of bodies to possess with malevolence, and although they aren't quite as potent as his original body, his Con-based class features come back online when he has a body to wear, and there's nothing preventing him from returning with a new body again and again after it's destroyed! Most creatures will be crushed or driven back without ever understanding the nature of what they're fighting, only able to perceive an endless stream of bloodthirsty treants. If needed he can attempt to wear enemies down with his incorporeal touch as well, doing his best to remain hidden as he does so. Only if his enemies identify his nature or pose a serious and immediate threat to the forest will Blackleaf attempt to possess an enemy outright, doing as much damage as possible while forcing their allies to slay them. Even if destroyed, he's likely to rejuvenate... the only way to truly solve the problem is to convince Blackleaf to lay down his grudge, or for him to successfully topple the kingdom that incurred his wrath so many years ago.

"One night, and the town was gone. Walls crushed to powder. Not a single structure left standing. I've seen monster attacks before, but this? This was war."
-Lord Yellat, missive to the king

Treant Ghost Barbarian 1/Fist of the Forest 3/Frenzied Berserker 5
Huge Undead (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 20d12 (130 hp)
Initiative: +1
Speed: 50 ft., fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Armor Class: 24 (–2 size, –1 Dex, +13 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 24
Base Attack/Grapple: +12/+29
Attack: Incorporeal touch +13 (1d4 ability drain)
Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +13 (1d4 ability drain)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Animate trees, double damage against objects
Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/slashing, low-light vision, plant traits, vulnerability to fire, fast movement (barbarian), rage 1/day, fast movement (Fist of the Forest), AC bonus, feral trance 2/day, uncanny dodge, untamed strike, scent, rejuvination, turn resistance +4, manifestation, malevolence, frightful moan, draining touch
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +6, Will +8
Abilities: Str 30, Dex 12, Con --, Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 22
Skills: Diplomacy +18 (14 ranks), Handle Animal +8 (4 ranks), Intimidate +29 (23 ranks), Knowledge: Nature +17 (14 ranks), Listen +28 (23 ranks), Survival +11 (6 ranks), Spot +28 (23 ranks)
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Great Fortitude, Power Attack, Cleave, Intimidating Rage, Destructive Rage, Ability Focus (Malevolence)

Animate Trees (Sp): A treant can animate trees within 180 feet at will, controlling up to two trees at a time. It takes 1 full round for a normal tree to uproot itself. Thereafter it moves at a speed of 10 feet and fights as a treant in all respects. Animated trees lose their ability to move if the treant that animated them is incapacitated or moves out of range. The ability is otherwise similar to liveoak (caster level 12th). Animated trees have the same vulnerability to fire that a treant has.

No longer content with merely waiting for the axes and fire to come to him, Blackleaf is ready to bring the fight to the cities of man. His preferred strategy is to slowly move a copse of trees closer to his target settlement under cover of darkness; once released, an animated tree simply takes root wherever it is, so an entire forest can creep forward slowly. If the settlement notices and sends out forces to investigate, they are unlikely to return. Additionally, Blackleaf is smart and experienced enough to scout out his targets thoroughly, and more than willing to use his malevolence ability to throw a city into chaos with a few well-placed assassinations.

When it's finally time, he can animate and possess a tree (plus a second one for backup), march down to the town, and start tearing down walls. His deathless frenzy ability means that he can fight for at least a full minute even after taking lethal damage, and can do this three times in a single night, either bringing in more trees or simply possessing some hapless commoner and sending them on a rampage with inhuman strength. Anyone who assumes that his rampage is mindless is likely in for a grim surprise; he's smart enough to use his frenzies strategically, and isn't afraid to abandon a body and find a better angle to attack from if he's in a bad spot. However, during a frenzy he lacks much of this self-preservation sense, so a clever party could bait him into frenzying before trying to trap or exorcise him. Unfortunately, he's still likely to rejuvenate if killed, but at least he could be stalled long enough to search for a more permanent solution.




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


8
Treant (7 HD)
+5
+5
+2
+2
Diplomacy 10, Intimidate 10, Knowledge: Nature 10, Listen 10, Spot 6, Survival 4
Improved Unarmed Strike (1), Great Fortitude (3), Power Attack (6)
Treant traits, animate trees, double damage against objects, trample


9
+4 Plant HD (11 HD)
+7
+7
+3
+3
Diplomacy +4 (14), Intimidate +4 (14), Knowledge: Nature +4 (14), Listen +4 (14), Spot +4 (10), Survival 4
Cleave (9)
--


10
Barbarian 1 (12 HD)
+8
+9
+3
+3
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate 14, Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 (15), Spot 10, Survival +2 (6), Handle Animal +4 (4)
Intimidating Rage (12)
Fast movement, rage 1/day


11
Fist of the Forest 1 (13 HD)
+9
+11
+5
+3
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +2 (16), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 (16), Spot +2 (12), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
--
AC Bonus, Feral trance 1/day, Fast movement, primal living, unarmed damage 1d8


12
Fist of the Forest 2 (14 HD)
+10
+12
+6
+3
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (17), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 (17), Spot +3 (15), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
--
Uncanny Dodge, Untamed strike


13
Fist of the Forest 3 (15 HD)
+11
+12
+6
+4
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (18), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 (18), Spot +3 (18), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
Destructive Rage (15)
Feral trance 2/day, scent, unarmed damage 1d10


15
Ghost template (+2 CR)
+11
+12
+6
+4
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate 18, Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen 18, Spot 18, Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
--
Type change, malevolence, frightful moan, draining touch, manifestation, rejuvenation, turn resist +4


16
Frenzied Berserker 1 (16 HD)
+12
+14
+6
+4
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (19), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 c/c (19), Spot +1 c/c (19), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
Diehard (B)
Frenzy 1/day


17
Frenzied Berserker 2 (17 HD)
+13
+15
+6
+4
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (20), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 c/c (20), Spot +1 c/c (20), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
--
Supreme cleave


18
Frenzied Berserker 3 (18 HD)
+14
+15
+7
+5
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (21), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 c/c (21), Spot +1 c/c (21), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
Ability Focus: Malevolence (18)
Frenzy 2/day


19
Frenzied Berserker 4 (19 HD)
+15
+16
+7
+5
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (22), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 c/c (22), Spot +1 c/c (22), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
--
Deathless frenzy


20
Frenzied Berserker 5 (20 HD)
+16
+16
+7
+5
Diplomacy 14, Intimidate +1 (23), Knowledge: Nature 14, Listen +1 c/c (23), Spot +1 c/c (23), Survival 6, Handle Animal 4
--
Frenzy 3/day, improved power attack




Treant, Ghost, Ability Focus: Monster Manual
Frenzied Berserker, Intimidating Rage, Destructive Rage: Complete Warrior
Fist of the Forest: Complete Champion

[jdizzlean]

2. One Paw Cat
TREACHERY MOST FOUL!

The kind old man that helpfully pointed us toward evil was an enemy all along!

How dare he! One moment he was training Maximilian into dodging a flurry of blows, doing a gajillion love taps in the span of a breath, the next he completely obliterated him in a single punch! He's a Rakshasa!? How is that possible!? Wait a minute.. he's THAT Rakshasa? we thought him dead!

Lawful Evil Rakshasa, Outsider(good subtype), Fighter 1 / Forsaker 1 / Marshal 1 / Invisible Eye Monk 2 / Warblade 1 / Warshaper 4
AbilitiesInitialRace/TemplateTome (CR10)HD8 (CR11)Manual (CR12)Morphic Body (CR13)Tome (CR14)HD12 (CR15)Manual (CR16)Tome + Manual (CR17)Exalted Bonus (CR18)HD16 + Forsaker 1 (CR19)TotalStr8+2+4+418Dex14+4+4+426Con13+6+4+1+4+ 230Int12+2+418Wis15+2+1+4+6+230Cha10+6+420

HP 8 + 13d8 + 1d10 + 2d12 + 170 (254)
AC 48 (10 +8 dex +10 wis +11 natural +9 exalted +2 deflection -2 stance), Touch 28, Flat-footed 40
Saves fort 37 (20 base +10 con +2 feat +2 morale +3 resistance) ref 25 (9 base +8 dex +2 feat +2 morale +3 resistance +1 battle clarity) will 30 (13 base +10 wis +2 feat +2 morale +3 resistance)
Damage Reduction 15/good and piercing or 5/evil
Spell Resistance 48
fast healing 2
Attack 14 BAB + 10 WIS + 4 exalted strike + Stormguard warrior & robilar's gambit combo for one combat rhythm+channel the storm decisive strike
the ribbon stuff from an 17HD VoP, including permanent Freedom of Movement and Regeneration

CR/HDClassBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSkillsFeatsClass Features10/7Racial Hit Dies+7/+2+5+5+5Bluff +10, Diplomacy +5(10), Disguise +10, Hide +5(10), Listen +10, Move Silently +10, Sense Motive +10, Spot +10, Tumble +5(10), Assume QuirkCS, pg. 85, at 2HD, Listen to ThisCS, pg. 87, at 3HD, Point it outCS, pg. 88, at 5HD, Second ImpressionCS, pg. 88, at 4HD, Social RecoveryCS, pg. 89, at 7HDSkill Focus(Diplomacy), Iron Will, Great FortitudeChange shape, damage reduction 15/good and piercing, Spell Resistance 20+HD, Natural armor 9, Natural weapons, Detect thoughts(su) at will, 7th-level sorcerer spellcasting, Outsider traits11/8WarshaperCW, pg. 89 1+7/+2+7+5+5Bluff 10+1(2), Diplomacy 5(10), Disguise 10+1, Hide 5(10), Listen 10, Move Silently 10, Sense Motive 10+0.5(1), Spot 10+1(2), Tumble 5(10)Morphic Immunities, Morphic Weapons12/9WarbladeToB, pg. 20 1+8/+3+9+5+5Bluff 11, Diplomacy 5+7, Disguise 11, Hide 5(10), Listen 10, Move Silently 10, Sense Motive 10.5+0.5(1), Spot 11, Tumble 5(10)Ironheart AuraToB, pg. 31Battle Clarity (Reflex saves), Weapon Aptitude13/10Warshaper 2+9/+4+10+6+6Bluff 11, Diplomacy 12, Disguise 11+2, Hide 5(10), Listen 10, Move Silently 10, Sense Motive 11, Spot 11+1(2), Tumble 5(10), Clarity of VisionCS, pg. 85Morphic Body14/11Warshaper 3+10/+5+10+6+6Bluff 11+2.5(5), Diplomacy 12, Disguise 13+1, Hide 5(10), Listen 10, Move Silently 10, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 5(10)Morphic reach15/12Invisible EyeUE, pg. 53 Monk 1+10/+5+12+8+8Bluff 13.5, Diplomacy 12, Disguise 14, Hide 5+4, Listen 10, Move Silently 10, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 5+4Improved Unarmed StrikeMonk Bonus, Combat ReflexesMonk Bonus, Stormguard WarriorToB, pg. 36Decisive StrikePHBII, pg. 51, AC Bonus, unarmed Damage16/13Invisible Eye Monk 2+11/+6/+1+13+9+9Bluff 13.5+0.5(1), Diplomacy 12, Disguise 14, Hide 9+2, Listen 10+2, Move Silently 10+1, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 9+2Lightning ReflexesFeign DeathEoE, pg. 2117/14Figther 1+12/+7/+2+15+9+9Bluff 14+3(6), Diplomacy 12, Disguise 14, Hide 11, Listen 12, Move Silently 11, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 11Robilar's GambitPHBII, pg. 8218/15MarshalMH, pg. 11 1+12/+7/+2+17+9+11Bluff 17+1, Diplomacy 12, Disguise 14, Hide 11, Listen 12, Move Silently 11, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 11, Speak Language +7Sacred VowBoED, pg. 45, Vow of Povertymarshal bonus, BOED pg. 48Minor Aura(Motivate Charisma)19/16ForsakerMotW, pg. 57 1+13/+8/+3+19+9+13 Bluff 18+1(2), Diplomacy 12, Disguise 14+2(4), Hide 11, Listen 12, Move Silently 11, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 11Intuitive AttackBonus, BOED, pg. 44Ability Bonus +1, Fast Healing 1 (10), Forsake Magic, Spell Resistance +1120/17Warshaper 4+14/+9/+4+20+9+13Bluff 19+1(2), Diplomacy 12, Disguise 16+4, Hide 11, Listen 12, Move Silently 11, Sense Motive 11, Spot 12, Tumble 11Morphic Healing
from CR 10 to CR 18, we'll have a 7th level sorcerer casting, we forsake it at CR 19.
0th level spell known: Resistance, plus 6 others that qualify the buff/debuff limitation
1st level spell known: Expeditious Retreat,Shield, NerveskitterSpC, pg. 146, Blood WindSpC, pg. 33, Featherfall
2nd level spell known: Invisibility, WraithstrikeSpC, pg. 243, Blur
3rd level spell known: Heroism, Greater Mage armorSpC, pg. 136
slots are 6x 0th, 7x 1st, 7x 2nd, 5x 3rd
note : Insidious InsightRoE, pg. 187 and Wings of Cover RotD, pg. 119 are strongly considered, but if they count as buffs is Iffy, so I played it safe, take in consideration that Insidious Insight especially would make bluffing for the purpose of ritual much easier

at our 9th HD we become a 5th level initiator, our stance known is Punishing Stance, our manouvers known and readied are : Douse The Flames, Iron Heart Surge, White Raven Tactics

Here is a "balance sheet" of the wealth, per the DMG, the WBL is based on the ECL, Rakshasa has an LA of +7, so at CR 10, when we have 7HD, we have the wealth of a 14th level character
CRECLGold gainedGold spentLiquidityNet Worthspent how57190001900000Stolen by adventurers1014+131000-11000020000131000Tome of Clear thoughts +41216+110000-11000020000241000Manual of Gainful Exercise +41418+180000-11000090000421000Tome of Understanding +41519+140000-2300000355000Cloak of Resistance +5 squirreled away somewhere, rest of value stolen by adventurers... again1620+180000-11000070000465000Manual of Quickness of Action +41721+215000-2830002000750000Manual of Bodily Health +4, Tome of Leadership and Influence +4, Ritual of alignment (good)SS, pg. 14818-2022-24000723000Vow of Poverty, goodbye wealth, goodbye faithful cloak of resistance +5

Early Life (CR5)
Heroes Point of View: Today we had our suspicions confirmed, the chancellor was killed and replaced by an evil shapechanger! We managed to drive him off after an hard fought battle. No spell seemed to affect him, and he shrugged off blows that would cleave grown men in twain. At least we got a veritable fortune from his possessions. We better find out what manner of creature that was.
Villain point of view: Meddling adventurers! With this I failed the task my father put me upon, to infiltrate the court of the king of Generica. And all my wordly possessions lost! I have better respect for grandfather advice now, "Wealth is ephemeral, but a tome? a tome is forever!". I should start to accumulate hunt down such tomes and manuals...
General blurb: Strapping young adventurers encounters a teenager Rakshasa, luckily for him they don't know how to bypass its DR yet, so he manage to get away safely, but nto without losing all his wordly possession, giving him a reason to pursue possessions that can't be taken away from him.
Tactics: At this level, our DR 5/good and piercing is very unlikely to be pierced and we have the casting of a 4th level sorcerer but on an outsider chassis. So, if we get found out while we do our face social things, we can safely fallback to bite/scratch the interlopers, or run away invisible if they seem harder to kill than not. Probably by eating the AoO which should barely scratch us


Coming of Age (CR10)
Blurb: One-paw-cat has a long, hard think about what he want to pursuit in life now that he's out of his growing years and deemed an adult in rakshasa society.
After a bit of asking around and collecting the wisdom of his elders, he decides that what he wants to do is:
leverage his shapechanging for combat applications
get some martial related ways to solve problems, to not give away his nature by spellcasting
learn the secret ways of "feigning death" that that one specific monastery has
"collect them all" tome and manuals
and so he sets out to do just that.
Tactics: we still only have the base creature, so the only customization we have here is the spell selection and the equipment. Actually giving the villain items is enough to properly increase his lethality/durability, but then you have the problem that if the party wins, they get all this phat loot...
But luckily, we don't have to worry about that, because OPC already got burned that way at CR5, and so he judiciously buy and use the biggest tome he can find and afford juuust before takign his first level, what luck! That leaves about 20k gold of stuff for him to have and play around with, which also makes adeguate spoils for the adventurers.
Anyway, spells are there for him to more easily run away and/or survive long enough to run away. Feat increases saves and the lot of skill points for doing face things and scouting about, there isn't really much that can be said about tactics at this CR


The second encounter (CR 15)
Heroes POV: Today was strange, something pinged strongly on our leaderpaladin sense of evil. We followed that, but it seemed to come from a simple wandering monk that was minding his own businesses? Anyway, Maximilianthe stick in the mud promptly confronted the man, which seemed as confused as us and was trying to de-escalate when Maximilian tried to smite him. Surprisingly, it worked! Another of those tigerlike creature was revealed, a Rakshasa I believe they are called. After a short but intense battle where Bobocleric almost slayed it with a mighty and holy spell, it actually ran away again, in a manner most curious! He threw a bunch of gold at us before vanishing!
Villain POV: I can't believe I ran into those dudes again, and I can't believe my resistance to magic failed me so *shudders*, I should find ways to better protect myself from magic...
general blurb: after a near death due to spells that specifically targets evil outsiders, OPC decides to pursuit some remedy to this specific weakness.
tactics: The first half of our offensive combo is here, "infinite" amounts of natural attacks thanks to morphic weapon, comboed with the stormguard warrior tactics to make up for the relative low attack bonus we have. The blood wind spell fits very well thematically, the choreography of it, because it lends to the imagery of the villain "waving his hands around" and "ki projections" going out to hit people. I don't think White Raven Tactics and Iron Heart Surge needs to be explained.


Revenge (CR20)
Villain thought 1: I've found this secret tecnique to increase my resistance to magic! But using it interferes with the aura of magic items and spellcasting,, I need to think long and hard on this... it's a good thing I've decided long ago to focus my wealth into making my very body and mind inherently stronger.
Villain thought 2:It's most perturbing how I got found out last time, I wonder if there's a way to cheat those pesky paladins sense of evil.
Villain thought 3:What's this I hear about some strange vows that empowers our body and soul in a manner similar to magical items, but it all comes from the inner self? But the secrets of this are known only to the most good?
Heroes POV: We found a mentor for the scrappy kidmonk, He comes Maximilian approved, a palpable aura of good emanates from him...
tactics: they aren't really much different from CR15, except we gave up spellcasting for boosting SR up *a lot* and double dipping our "trade away the WBL" with Vow of Poverty. We do the ritual of alignment at CR 17. robilar's gambit makes a nice combo with stormguard warrior, and the build in general is about setting up a devastating decisive strike whenever we can full attack
We bluff our way into talking a good cleric with the good domain to do the ritual of alignment on us. We trivially hit the DC for not dieing to it, and the DC for not having our alignment changed is easy to beat, too, given our, at the time, modifier of 9 +2 feat +2 ironheart aura +5 resistance +6 wisdom = 17-24 depending on "do we have a cloak of resistance?" and "does ironheart aura bonus apply to ourselves?". Our bluff modifier is 17 +4 racial +4 detect thoughts +5 charisma = 30, so good luck to the 7th level cleric winning the opposing sense motive check.
Our sacred vow to the "guild of beggers" is "I shall give you all my material wealth", and they give us the secret to the vow of poverty in exchange for that. Now we are "oh so good" because we're giving away all our wealth whenever we obtain any, and can go on to do our REVENGE on the player's party for stealing from us, twice!
The core idea I had was twofold : emulate the wuxia feel of "a thousand punchs in the span of a breath", with a side of flavor of "a single attack so devastating nothing survives it".

To that end, my mind went to the controversial reading of warshaper that can get "infinite" amount of natural attacks. To this end and to keep to a wuxia feel it's more along the lines of "each fingerbones/articulation is a slam attack", so 15 or so per hand, but a shapechanger could scale up or down to taste anyway, so it's "as appropriate to be an interesting but not impossible challenge to the party"

Since I'm going warshaper, I have of course qualify for it, and of the various entry, Rakshasa was the one that appealed to me the most, because it has the making of a villain, and totally not because I was rewatching kung-fu panda in these weeks coughs.

So, there I am with some levels decided, at least warshaper 4 and a dash of warblade to get Stormguard warrior, I was tinkering around with a combination of monk+battle dancer + paladin + fist of the forest, for chonking up saves and AC, but I was unhappy with that, because it's bland and nothing really special. The "let's stack as many CHA to X stuff as possible" is hardly original.

I went back to the drawing board, until I landed on forsaker, because that stacking spell resistance makes for a very hefty bonus.

It only had the teeny tiny problem of "forfeiting the use of magic and magic items", I instantly thought "I suppose I could pair this with vow of poverty...", but there is the problem of alignment... "can I cheat the alignment restriction on exalted feats?" I asked myself. "Well, Rakshasas have bluff/disguise, it does mesh well in flavor to bluff our way into pretend goodness, but do we pretend good enough?". The ritual of alignment from savage species comes to the rescue, for only 63k gold we cana ttempt to gain the good subtype, with a DC 20 will save or die, and if we beat that DC by 5 or more our alignment doesn't change. Without doubt a creature with the good subtype is the most good possible, so definetively exalted-worthy, that it's actually an evil rakshasa in disguise only makes this for an interesting story :D

the reasoning of going for tomes and manuals is obvious in hindsight of "we would be giving up all use of items in our last few levels".

After having decided on trying to pursue vow of poverty, the rest of the levels was just a matter of making all the ingredients fit.

I lament not being able to fit ascetic mageCadv, pg. 105 in the build. It would pair very well with forsaker to make use of our vestigial spellcasting, but alas

marshal and fighter are a bit of a outlier, but I didn't have a choice there, what with wanting to take vow of poverty as late as possible, but still hitting all the prerequisite for stuffs and the core offensive tactic being based on Stormguard warrior. I also coulnd't not try to get Robilar's gambit given how well it comboes with Stormguard warrior and how we already got it's prerequisite satisfied with the monk levels.

I very strongly considered stopping at 2 levels of warshaper, those two levels would become one level of SwordsageToB and one level of Jade Phoenix MageToB. the JPM Arcane wrath would fit well, since it'd give us an use for those spell slots we can't use anymore when we get forsaker levels. It'd even be, with a minor reshuffle, late enough to have 4th level manouvers with the swordsage, and a singular 5th level desert wind manouver (probably leaping flame). What with us "cheating" the "must be not evil" prerequisite already with the ritual. In the end I didn't go for that because I dislike the "very common" warshaper 2. But from a power point of view those extra manouvers and arcane wrath are better value than reach and fast healing 2. We'd havea dash too many competing uses for our swift action, however, so in the end I stuck to warshaper 4

Q: Warshaper doesn't give you potentially an infinite amount of natural attacks, morphic weapon is one grown natural attacks and fingers can't be slam attacks
A: that morphic weapon is controversial is known, I feel we are firmly in the "ask your DM" territory, but this is VC, not IC. We are the DM and a cheesy thing like infiniwarshaper may well be in our toolbox while still being denied to the players, just like how we're allowed using a LA: - creature but a player isn't

Q: even if you have the good subtype, you're still lawful evil, you don't qualify for exalted feats!
A: "Any effect that depends on alignment affects a creature with this subtype as if the creature has a good alignment". Now, are we "exalted" good? that's what bluff is there for, friends

Q: you have the good subtype! even if you're technically lawful evil, you're not evil for the purpose of this round limitations!
A: I feel this is even worse than evil, since I'm an evil that is pretending to be most exalted good. Storywise, it has the marking of a villain, not a hero.

Q: here have some reliance on items penalty
A: I'm staying within the bounds of WBL as a courtesy, as a DM controlled villain, we can fiat have any item we have, listing when we get what is to show my work in regard of what is reasonable to have, it's mostly there as a "cheat VoP/forsake magic" shrug

Q: forsaker ability bonus doesn't stack with tome/manual, they're both inherent!
A: that is correct, but also disfunctional. if we rule that way, then forsaker ability bonus doesn't stack with forsaker ability bonus, since they're all +1 splitted over the levels. at most we get a +1 on each ability score, and the last 4 levels of forsaker would be disfunctional because of this no-stacking.
As such, I'm ruling that it does stack. If you disagree strongly with it, then the tome of understanding was a +5, and those meddling kids stole 27500 less gp from us, end result is the same.

Q: how are you extrapolating a CR 5 section? the base creature is CR 10
A: I'm basing it on Savage progressionSS, pg. 191, with the minor adaptions needed for 3.5, so SR instead of spell immunity and adapted DR amount/bypass

BoED = Book of Exalted Deeds
CS = Complete Scoundrel
CW = Complete Warrior
EoE = Exemplars of Evil
MH = miniature Handbook
MotW = Masters of the Wild
PHBII = Player's Handbook II
RoE = Races of Eberron
RotD = Races of the Dragon
SS = Savage Species
SpC = Spell Compendium
ToB = Tome of Battle
UE = Unearthed Arcana

[jdizzlean]

3. Tomas Stone

Doorbell rang and a man entered the magical store.
- I welcome you to my modest agency of mechanical assistants, - the storekeeper welcomed a visitor.
- Hello. I heard you sell puppets that can do… things, - the one who entered was a tall athletic man.
- Yes, but two clarifications. First, they aren’t puppets, effigy is the right word. Second, I don’t sell, I lease for all life with zero rent and non-return bail of effigy’s full cost, - the storekeeper corrected the customer.
- Hm… What is the difference?
- You cannot sell it, cannot sublet it, cannot leave it to your heirs - after your death it will return to me, and you cannot repair it only by me. That's all, - that was the explanation.
- I see… - customer thought about what he had heard, - Ok, restrictions look reasonable and suitable. I need one of your… effigy.
- What exactly do you want? A servant? A bodyguard? Maybe a curiosity?
- No, no, - customer shook his head, - I'm a martial artist and I need a sparring partner, whose life will not be a source of concern. It should be humanoid in shape and be able to mimic unarmed fighting technique. Not only “to strike or not to strike”, but something real like martial arts.
- I understand. I have several models that will fit you. Let’s look, please follow me, - the storekeeper invited prospective purchaser into the inner premises.


- ...And take a look at this model, - the storekeeper drew the martial artist’s attention to a big effigy looking similar to an ogre, - This is one of my best creations. Its prototype is an exceptional person. The name is Tomas Stone a.k.a Tombstone or Stonefist, but he doesn’t like these aliases. Child of love between a human man and an ogre woman, smart and wise enough to fight his violent nature and channel himself to good. In the beginning Tom was like a regular savage barbarian, with regular fights in the city taverns. He was lucky or, maybe it was his sleeping wisdom, but he managed not to kill anybody in fighting fury, because his fists became his favorite weapon. His count of busted tooths and broken bones, however, was impressive. Impressive enough to draw the attention of the captain of the city guard. Firstly, he was going to throw the bully in jail, but discerned in Tomas some potential. The captain pulled some strings and the young half-ogre found himself in the army as a recruit in a couple of days. It's been good for him. The discipline and the rules step by step forced his uncontrolled rage out of him and made him a good soldier. But as soon as it was possible Tom said goodbye to the army - it wasn’t for him. He roamed and one day came to a settlement in the foothills. Villagers asked him for help. A predator got into the habit of ravaging their flocks and even killed several people. Tom couldn't refuse these poor villagers and went to hunt. He had some hunting experience from his childhood, but the fact that he encountered an enormous mountain tiger can be due only to luck. Or maybe the tiger was hunting for Tom itself. Anyway, an encounter happened. The fight that followed was bloody and brutal. The tiger was a very tough opponent, and Tomas won on fumes. But when the predator fell on the snow and turned into a dead ogre, he realized that the main battle is ahead. He returned to the settlement with tidings that the predator won’t bother them again, but now he needed their help. Before the next full moon local blacksmith forged a strong cage and Tomas took it to the good cave villagers showed him and locked himself there for a full week. Cage withstood the animal's rage and as it has been since that time. Every moon he went to his cage and was giving battle to his internal tiger. Month by month he started to take precedence and one moonlit night he didn’t change. After that month he became stronger every day. His spirit, as well as his fist. It wasn't long when the word about him got out. That’s how I found him. I was in search of the best prototype for humanoid effigy and I knew right away - it was him! And I was right. Would you like to test him? - the storekeeper concluded his narrative.
- Yes, this should be interesting.


- This fighter is good. Really good, - the buyer was excited about the effigy, - And his technique is really authentic. But… I don't feel from him the desire to kill. It looks like a regular human… I mean, a regular half-ogre, and his moves almost perfectly mimic moves of living creature, but when we started fighting… I immediately sensed falseness. I understand, it would be foolish to expect such a thing from nonliving… effigy…
- I see, - the storekeeper replied, - And I think, I have what you want. But I should warn you, this is a really dangerous thing. It is my very last project. I took a copy of this effigy and saturated it with raw malice of lower planes, by immersing it into water from Styx - River of Oblivion that is flowing through most Evil places in all Multiverse. It still is mindless and obedient, but it is more than a regular magical mechanism. And if you will order it to attack you, it’ll indeed want to kill you. And in conjunction with the original skills of Tom’s effigy… It can achieve its desires.
- I want test it!


Abilities Initial Half-Ogre Level 4 Level 8 Lycanthrope Levels 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36 Effigy Corrupted Total
Str 15 +6 +1 +1 +7 +4 +4 38
Dex 10 -2 -2 -2 4
Con 13 +2 - +4 -
Int 12 -2 - -
Wis 14 +2 change to 11 -2 9
Cha 8 -2 change to 1 -2 1


Effigy Were-Legendary Tiger Half-Ogre Wolf totem Barbarian-2/Fighter-8
CR HD Alignment Class BAB Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features Unarmed Attack & Damage
1 1st CG Wolf totem Barbarian-1 (City Brawler) +1 +2 +0 +0 Climb (+2) 2; Intimidate (+4) 4; Jump (+4) 4; Survival (+3) 3; Swim (+3) 3; Improved Unarmed Strike Fast movement, illiteracy, berserker strength AB: +5; D: 1d4+5
2 2nd CG Wolf totem Barbarian-2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Climb (+1) 3; Intimidate (+1) 5; Jump (+1) 5; Survival 3; Swim (+1) 4; Improved TripB AB: +6; D: 1d4+5
3 3rd NG Fighter-1 +3 +5 +0 +0 Climb (+1) 4; Intimidate (+1) 6; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; Hammer Fist, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Heavy Unarmed Strike)B AB: +7; D: 1d6+7
4 4th NG Fighter-2 +4 +6 +0 +0 Climb (+1) 5; Intimidate (+1) 7; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike)B AB: +10; D: 1d6+9
5 5th LG Fighter-3 +5 +6 +1 +1 Climb (+1) 6; Intimidate (+1) 8; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; AB: +11; D: 1d6+9
6 6th LG Fighter-4 +6 +7 +1 +1 Climb (+1) 7; Intimidate (+1) 9; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; Superior Unarmed Strike, Weapon Specialization (Unarmed Strike)B AB: +12/+7; D:2d6+11
7 7th LG Fighter-5 +7 +7 +1 +1 Climb (+1) 8; Intimidate (+1) 10; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; AB: +13/+8; D:2d6+11
8 8th LG Fighter-6 +8 +8 +2 +2 Climb (+1) 9; Intimidate (+1) 11; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; Improved Critical (Unarmed Strike)B AB: +14/+9; D: 3d6+11; 19-20/x2
9 9th LG Fighter-7 +9 +8 +2 +2 Climb (+1) 10; Intimidate (+1) 12; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; Improved Natural attack (Unarmed Strike) AB: +15/+10; D: 4d6+11; 19-20/x2
10 10th LG Fighter-8 +10 +9 +2 +2 Climb (+1) 11; Intimidate (+1) 13; Jump 5; Survival 3; Swim 4; Greater Weapon FocusB AB: +17/+12; D: 4d6+11; 19-20/x2
16 36th LN Lycanthrope (Legendary Tiger) +29 +24 +17 +10 Climb 11; Control Shape (+39) 39; Intimidate 13; Jump 5; Listen (+5) 5; Survival 3; Spot (+5) 5; Swim (+3) 7; Iron WillB, Melee Weapon Mastery (bludgeoning) (12th), Snap Kick (15th), Power Attack (18th), Knock-Down (21th), Roundabout Kick (24th), Epic Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) (27th), Epic Weapon Specialization (Unarmed Strike) (30th), Crushing Strike (33th), Epic Prowess (36th) Alternate Form, Damage Reduction, Lycanthropic Empathy, Low-Light Vision, Scent, Curse of lycanthropy AB: +43*/+43/+38/+33/+28; D: 6d6+23 / 6d6+13; 19-20/x2
17 26th TN Effigy +19 +8 +8 +8 - DR 15/adamantine, Improved Effigy AB: +37*/+37/+32/+27/+22; D: 6d6+28 / 6d6+16; 19-20/x2
20 26th NE Corrupted +19 +8 +8 +8 - Darkvision 60 ft, DR 10/good, Acid immunity, Fast Healing 10**, Disruptive Attack**, Enhanced Power AB: +39*/+39/+34/+29/+24; D: 8d6+31+13(Vile)** / 8d6+17+13(Vile)**; 19-20/x2
* - Extra attack from Snap Kick.
** - Debatable elements from Corrupted Creature template. Look at author's words.



Initially, I built my entry around the City Brawler barbarian variant and all went good… Until I realized that this variant is from a magazine… But the whole build was near complete and the story in my head was good (to be honest, that story iteration is no longer with us, I completely reinvented it) so I decided just to cut off City Brawler. Build lost only one free off-hand TWF attack and one feat for IUS, but in the end this isn't a big deal.

I know that there is Corrupted by the Abyss template and it is sort of an updated initial Corrupted template, but… This isn't the same thing. Abyss is only one of Evil possibilities and I need some without the Law-Chaos component. I converted the Corrupted Creature template myself following the recommendations from the Update booklet. Yes, it turned out to be stronger than Corrupted by the Abyss (through Vile damage and always working Fast Healing) and if you think that's too much, just cut out parts with double asterisk. Different elemental immunity and DR (weaker than in Corrupted by the Abyss) shouldn’t be a big problem.

This is a class feature of Effigy Master PrC.

Improved Effigy (Ex): An effigy master of 3rd level or higher can improve upon his creations, granting them a permanent +2 competence bonus on attack rolls, damage, and saves. This requires one day of work and costs 100 gp of supplies per Hit Die of the effigy to be improved, but has no XP cost.
Of course every Master should use it for his best creation!

This is an apparent ruling to consider Hammer Fist attack as two-handed, but unfortunately, this isn’t clear RAW. And I can’t insist on that reading. And Power Attack itself. Effigy, even corrupted effigy, is only a mindless mechanism and can’t make decisions. So to determine how much it uses his Power Attack I suggest to check 1d20-1 every round.

First, Magic fang (PHB, p. 250).

Magic fang gives one natural weapon of the subject a +1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls. The spell can affect a slam attack, fist, bite, or other natural weapon. (The spell does not change an unarmed strike’s damage from nonlethal damage to lethal damage.)
It doesn't say whether or not an unarmed strike is a natural weapon. It does, however, specify that:
1. The spell only affects natural weapons.
2. The spell affects unarmed strikes.
The logical conclusion of this is that unarmed strikes are natural weapons.

Second, Magic Weapon (PHB, p. 251).

You can’t cast this spell on a natural weapon, such as an unarmed strike (instead, see magic fang). A monk’s unarmed strike is considered a weapon, and thus it can be enhanced by this spell.
It’s all written directly.

Thanks to Extra Anchovies (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=18422050&postcount=46) for these arguments.

Third, Fanged Ring (Dragon Magic, p. 101).

Effect: A fanged ring grants its wearer the Improved Unarmed Strike feat and the Improved Natural Attack (unarmed strike) feat. If the wearer deals a critical hit with an unarmed strike, he also deals 1 point of Constitution damage to the creature struck.

Fourth, Superior Unarmed Strike.
It isn’t clear RAW again, but by RAI, as I understand it, that feat as well as Monk’s Belt should make regular Unarmed Strike treated as Monk’s Unarmed Strike which definitely can be affected by Improved Natural Attack feat.

It is simple. Iridium/Platinum/Gold/Lead Gauntlets. But for me hand straps (like Ki Straps from MIC, p. 113) with extra weights look more likely. And of course it can’t be a problem for effigy.




PHB - Barbarian, Fighter, Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Trip, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Improved Critical, Iron Will, Power Attack
PHBII - Melee Weapon Mastery, Berserker Strength
Unearthed Arcana - Wolf totem Barbarian
MM - Improved Natural attack, Lycanthrope, Control Shape
Book of Vile Darkness - Corrupted
Complete Arcane - Effigy, Effigy Master
Dragon Compendium - Hammer Fist
Epic Level Handbook - Epic Weapon Focus, Epic Weapon Specialization, Epic Prowess, Legendary Tiger
Tome of Battle - Superior Unarmed Strike, Snap Kick
Races of Destiny - Half-Ogre
Magic of Faerun - Heavy Weapon
Sword and Fist - Knock-Down
Complete Warrior - Roundabout Kick

[jdizzlean]

4. ⟨ ǂʃǂǃǃǀǁǁɕʃ ⟩


Nobody heard spell weaver’s names for a long long time. Spell weavers themselves don’t speak and nobody can communicate with them via telepathy. But long ago their names were spoken. And all the spellweavers remember these sounds, how they should be heard. Not all of these clicks and hisses have equivalents in languages of more regular humanoids, but some certainly come close.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_consonant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e6DLwEVb6I
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilant

I understand that I haven't done anything very new in my build. But I've never created any high OP casters. It was all new for me.
I have no good story. Spell weavers are purposefully very obscure creatures and even Ecology articles in Dragon didn’t shed enough light on them.

It should have been a great day. Day when the empire should have taken its place in the universe… And it should be a great day in the sixth life of one regular spell weaver. It should be the day of his death. Day, when he’ll give new life to his six offspring.
But something went terribly wrong. The Furnace exploded at the same moment when the spell weaver placed the new chromatic discs in the breeding vessels. Almost everything had been destroyed in this explosion. But something had been flung into a dimensional breach to other planes of existence. One of such things was a breeding vessel. And that was the case, there were several chromatic discs in this vessel. One was almost fully intact, but another was shattered. It ended up in the Astral plane.
In the whole universe time went by, but Astral is a peculiar place. There is no time. Nothing was changing, only ideas were alive and moving. And ideas and thoughts were beating in the mind of a young, still not born spell weaver. He allegedly slept and had dreams. In these dreams were a myriad of fights that saw his ancestors earlier. Many warriors, their victories and deaths, their mistakes and discoveries. All their techniques and fighting methods. An unborn spell weaver was privy to them. He wasn’t a person yet, but already was impressed with martial arts of lesser species.
There is no time in Astral, but it isn’t constant. In its infinity time to time have opened portails. One of these finally entered the spell weaver's breeding vessel. Few hours have passed and a new master of magic was borned at last…

When I discovered the idea that inspired my entry I understood that he is somehow overpowered. Hey! He can do at least 3.5K damage with one full attack! Unless I am mistaken. But even when I understood that, I can't dilute him. So he is as he is.


Abilities Initial Race / Template Level 4, 8 Level 12, 16 Level 20, 24, 28, 32 Total
Str 15 -2 2 15
Dex 13 6 19
Con 12 -2 10
Int 14 8 4 26
Wis 8 6 14
Cha 12 6 2 20

Spell weaver-30/Monk-1/Swordsage-2

CR HD Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1 - Aberrant Limbs - - - - - Multiweapon Fighting (B) Extra pair of arms
11 10 Monstrous Humanoid-10 (Spell weaver) 10 0 2 2 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 13 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 6.5 (13) ranks Spell Focus (Abjuration) (B), Spell Focus (Evocation) (B), Spell Penetration (B), Extend Spell (1), Persistent Spell (3), Arcane Thesis (Mirror Move) (6), Improved Multiweapon Fighting (9) Spell-like abilities, Spells, Chromatic disk, Darkvision 60 ft., Immunity to mind effects, Shielded mind, Spell weaving, SR 21, Telepathy
11 11 Monstrous Humanoid-11 11 0 3 3 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 14 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 7 (14) ranks
11 12 Monstrous Humanoid-12 12 1 3 3 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 15 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 7.5 (15) ranks Knock-Down
12 13 Monstrous Humanoid-13 13 1 4 4 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 16 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 8 (16) ranks
12 14 Monstrous Humanoid-14 14 1 4 4 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 17 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 8.5 (17) ranks
12 15 Monstrous Humanoid-15 15 2 5 5 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 18 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 9 (18) ranks Greater Multiweapon Fighting
13 16 Monstrous Humanoid-16 16 2 5 5 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 19 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 9.5 (19) ranks
13 17 Monstrous Humanoid-17 17 2 6 6 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 20 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 10 (20) ranks
13 18 Monstrous Humanoid-18 18 3 6 6 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 21 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 10.5 (21) ranks Kung Fu Genius
14 19 Monstrous Humanoid-19 19 3 7 7 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 22 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 11 (22) ranks
14 20 Monstrous Humanoid-20 20 3 7 7 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 23 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 11.5 (23) ranks
14 21 Monstrous Humanoid-21 21 4 8 8 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 24 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 12 (24) ranks Defensive Throw
15 22 Monstrous Humanoid-22 22 4 8 8 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 25 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 12.5 (25) ranks
15 23 Monstrous Humanoid-23 23 4 9 9 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 26 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 13 (26) ranks
15 24 Monstrous Humanoid-24 24 5 9 9 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 27 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 13.5 (27) ranks, Martial Lore 0.5 (1) ranks Great Throw The Gentle Way Mastery*
16 25 Monstrous Humanoid-25 25 5 10 10 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 28 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 14 (28) ranks, Martial Lore 1 (2) ranks
16 26 Monstrous Humanoid-26 26 5 10 10 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 29 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 14.5 (29) ranks, Martial Lore 1.5 (3) ranks
16 27 Monstrous Humanoid-27 27 6 11 11 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 30 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 15 (30) ranks, Martial Lore 2 (4) ranks Scorpion's Grasp
17 28 Monstrous Humanoid-28 28 6 11 11 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 31 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 15.5 (31) ranks, Martial Lore 2.5 (5) ranks
17 29 Monstrous Humanoid-29 29 6 12 12 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 32 ranks all
Tumble, Concentration, Speak Language 16 (32) ranks, Martial Lore 3 (6) ranks
17 30 Monstrous Humanoid-30 30 7 12 12 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 33 ranks all
Tumble 16 (32), Concentration, Speak Language 16 (32) ranks, Martial Lore 3.5 (7) ranks, Knowledge (nature) 1 (2) rank Arcane Preparation
18 31 Decisive Strike Monk-1 30 9 12 14 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 33 ranks all
Tumble 22 (38), Concentration, Speak Language 16 (32) ranks, Martial Lore 4 (8) ranks, Knowledge (nature) 1 (2) rank Improved Unarmed Strike (B), Improved Grapple (B) Decisive strike, AC bonus, Unarmed strike
19 32 Unarmed Swordsage-1 30 9 14 16 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 33 ranks all
Tumble 35 (51), Concentration, Speak Language 16 (32) ranks, Martial Lore 4 (8) ranks, Knowledge (nature) 1 (2) rank Quick to act +1, Shadow Hand focus (Weapon Focus)
20 33 Unarmed Swordsage-2 31 9 15 17 Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (the planes), Spellcraft, Spot, Use Magic Device 33 ranks all
Tumble 36 (52), Concentration 28 (44) ranks, Speak Language 16 (32) ranks, Martial Lore 4 (8) ranks, Knowledge (nature) 1 (2) rank Residual Magic AC Bonus

* - The Gentle Way Mastery is active all time when spell weaver has Improved Unarmed Strike, Dodge, Improved Trip, and Combat Reflexes via Mirror Move.

Mastery abilities are a bit like the synergy bonuses a character gains if she has several ranks in certain skills: characters who learn certain combinations of feats gain an extra edge for doing so.

Class 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
Sorcerer-1 (Spell Weaver-N/A) (5) Amanuensis, Unnerving Gaze, Prestidigitation, Detect Magic {4} (3+1) Blood Wind, Mage Armor {2}
Sorcerer-2 (Spell Weaver-N/A) (6) Stick {5} (4+1) {2}
Sorcerer-3 (Spell Weaver-1) (6) {5} (5+1) Scholar’s Touch {3}
Sorcerer-4 (Spell Weaver-2) (6) Resistance {6} (6+1) {3} (3+1) Mirror Move {1}
Sorcerer-5 (Spell Weaver-3) (6) {6} (6+1) Guided Shot {4} (4+1) Heroics {2}
Sorcerer-6 (Spell Weaver-4) (6) Mage Hand {7} (6+1) {4} (5+1) {2} (3+1) Mighty Wallop, Greater {1}
Sorcerer-7 (Spell Weaver-5) (6) {7} (6+1) Shield {5} (6+1) Fox Cunning {3} (4+1) Mage Armor, Greater {2}
Sorcerer-8 (Spell Weaver-6) (6) Mending {8} (6+1) Mage Armor, Instant Diversion {5} (6+1) {3} (5+1) {2} (3+1) Sharptooth {1}
Sorcerer-9 (Spell Weaver-7) (6) {8} (6+1) {5} (6+1) Wraithstrike {4} (6+1) Dispel Magic {3} (4+1) Ice Shield {2}
Sorcerer-10 (Spell Weaver-8) (6) Read Magic {9} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {3} (5+1) {2} (3) Teleport {1}
Sorcerer-11 (Spell Weaver-9) (6) {9} (6+1) {5} (6+1) Magic Mouth {5} (6+1) Ferocity of Sanguine Rage {4} (6+1) Undeniable Gravity, Legion’s {3} (4) Undying Vigor of the Dragonlords {2}
Sorcerer-12 (Spell Weaver-10) (6) {9} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {3} (5) {2} (3) Sirellyn's Superior Magnetism {1}
Sorcerer-13 (Spell Weaver-11) (6) {9} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) Mirror Image, Greater {4} (6) Sonic Shield {3} (4) Investiture of the Barbed Devil {2}
Sorcerer-14 (Spell Weaver-12) (6) {9} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) {3} (5) {2} (3) Summon Monster VII {1}
Sorcerer-15 (Spell Weaver-13) (6) {9} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) Power Leech {4} (6) Transmute Rock to Steel {3} (4) Simulacrum {2}
Sorcerer-16 (Spell Weaver-14) (6) {9} (6+2) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) {3} (5) {2} (3) Veil of Undeath {1}
Sorcerer-17 (Spell Weaver-15) (6) {9} (6+2) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) {3} (6) Energy Immunity {3} (4) Earth Glide {2}
Sorcerer-18 (Spell Weaver-16) (6) {9} (6+2) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) {3} (6) {3} (5) {2} (3) Stasis Clone {1}
Sorcerer-19 (Spell Weaver-17) (6) {9} (6+2) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) {3} (6) {3} (6) Celerity, Greater {3} (4) Time Stop {2}
Sorcerer-20 (Spell Weaver-18) (6) {9} (6+2) {5} (6+1) {5} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6+1) {4} (6) {3} (6) {3} (6) {3} (6) Absorption {3}

(Spell slots+Bonus slots) {Spell known}

Levels after Sorcerer-20 aren't presented. There are no differences.


Equivalent of Sorcerer’s 12th level casting is good. No, it is great! Now, my spell weaver is in the beginning. “Only” three 6th level spells and only one known. But on lower levels it already has the main parts of the whole build. One spell - Heroics. With this spell spell weaver can obtain any fighter feat. First is Improved Unarmed Strike. It, plus Blood Wind, Greater Mighty Wallop, and Sharptooth, gives a great amount of damage with sixteen attacks in a round. And a big distance if he needs to. But only a few rounds in a day.

He has Simulacrum and 7th level slots now. This is the first trick. Simulacrum casts Heroics on itself, and takes necessary feats. Next, spell weaver looks at simulacrum’s feats demonstrations, casts Persistent Mirror Move, and takes these feats himself. And every strike can initiate a trip via Knock-Down.

Spell weaver takes his spellcasting maximum with the previous HD. Now he can persist Blood Wind, Guided Shot, Ferocity of Sanguine Rage, plus has extended persistent Mirror Move with up to seven feats (via Fox's Cunning) and some feats from Heroics spell. Sharptooth, Greater Mirror Image, Ice Shield grant some temporary bonuses. Plus he has twenty-four attacks.

Now the next combos are in the game. Great Throw plus Knock-Down and Scorpion's Grasp plus The Gentle Way Mastery, when all necessary feats are in, and they are in almost continuously. When a trip via Knock-Down is successful, the spell weaver can land an enemy in any square near him. Even if the initial attack was made with Blood Wind. Scorpion's Grasp allows spell weaver to start a grapple immediately after successful attack, but The Gentle Way Mastery says “No spell or other effect can force you to move.” which means autofailure of “Step 4: Maintain Grapple”, but damage from “Step 3: Hold” was done. So spell weaver has twenty-five attacks that do double unarmed damage. Triple against somebody who stands.

Starting from 30 HD spell weaver can cast Power Leech corrupt spell via Arcane Preparation. More importantly, he can cast Extended Power Leech. And Extended Summon Monster VII. With these two spells he can improve his abilities by up to sixty in one use of combo. Best creatures to use are Ferrumach, from which it is possible to drain 16 Charisma, 18 Intelligence, and 26 Constitution. 18 Intelligence rather than 14 because of Fox's Cunning. And the second best monster is Celestial Baleen Whale. It gives spell weaver 35 Strength, 13 Dexterity, and 12 Wisdom. If there are no suitable water bodies nearby, Baleen Whale can be replaced by Celestial Elephant for 30 Strength, 10 Dexterity, and 12 Wisdom.
There are two problems. First is Will save, second is corruption cost. Against wisdom drain Veil of Undeath will help. Summoned creature’s will saves aren’t great, but they still can succeed, and this isn’t good. I have a solution. Spell weaver casts Magic Mouth on himself, with any specific trigger and message like: “You should not resist my magic”. He summons monsters, gives the trigger and monsters will voluntarily give up their Will saves. After successful using of two Power Leeches spell weaver will have:
Abilities with Celestial Baleen Whale with Celestial Elephant
Str 50 45
Dex 32 29
Con 36 36
Int 44 44
Wis 26 26
Cha 34 34
for five or ten hours depending on reading the spell and what is extending and what is not.

Plus, spell weaver no longer needs to give himself Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple via Heroics or Mirror Move and now has Int to AC.

Spell weaver can take six martial maneuvers up to 8th level and one 1st level stance. It looks good to take three Shadow Hand maneuvers (Shadow Stride, Shadow Blink, Death in the Dark) and three Diamond Mind maneuvers (Diamond Defense, Mind Over Body, Rapid Counter).

Spell weaver now has one more maneuver (any Diamond Mind maneuver, Moment of Alacrity, for example), and Residual Magic feat.

Every day starts with a double Summon Monster + Power Leech combo.
Step by step.
1. Magic Mouth (3rd lvl slot);
2. Extended Summon Monster VII (9th lvl slot) - Celestial Baleen Whale/Celestial elephant;
3. Extended Summon Monster VII (7th lvl slot via Residual Magic) - Ferrumach;
4. Extended Power Leech on Ferrumach (7th lvl slot);
5. Extended Power Leech on Celestial Baleen Whale (5th lvl slot via Residual Magic);
6. Fox Cunning on Ferrumach (2nd lvl slot);
7. When he drains enough Constitution casts Veil of Undeath (8th lvl slot) with minimum CL (16).
8. Drain all what he needs.
9. When Power Leeches will and, target Dispel Magic on Veil of Undeath (3th lvl slot)
Profit.

Continue with Simulacrum + Heroics + Extended Persistent Mirror Move combo.
Simulacrum Heroics on itself up to 17 times.
Feat priority: Improved Unarmed Strike (until 31 HD); Improved Grapple** (until 31 HD); Combat Expertise; Improved Trip; Combat Reflexes; Dodge; Improved Toughness; Martial Study** (Time Stands Still) (starting from 33 HD); Martial Stance** (Balance on the Sky) (starting from 30 HD); Improved Natural Attack**; Point Blank Shot; Far Shot; Power Attack; Stunning Fist; Improved Critical; Versatile Unarmed Strike**; any one of Skewer Foe**, Pulverize Foe**, Flay Foe**; Mountain Warrior**; Ripost**; Deceptive Dodge**; Deflect Arrows; Lightning Reflexes; Run; Improved Disarm; Mobility;
Then the spell weaver looks at the simulacrum’s moves and casts Extended Persistent Mirror Move (8th lvl slot - Arcane Thesis).

** - this feats don’t explicitly allow with Mirror Move spell, but:

The DM may allow mirroring of feats from sources other than the Player's Handbook, as long as they are feats with observable physical effects.
And if you don’t allow them for Mirror Move, the spellweaver can obtain them by Persistent (for 24 hours) or Extended (for only 10 hours) Heroics casted by himself. And remember about Residual Magic feat.

Next: Persistent Blood Wind (7th lvl slot), Greater Mage Armor (3th lvl slot), Persistent Guided Shot (7th lvl slot), Persistent Wraithstrike (8th lvl slot), Greater Mighty Wallop (3th lvl slot), Persistent Shield (7th lvl slot).

If a fight will not be unpredictable, spell weaver casts Sharptooth, Sonic Shield, Investiture of the Barbed Devil, Greater Mirror Image, and uses Invisibility SLA.
Plus he can prepare a battlefield with combo Transmute Rock to Steel and Sirellyn's Superior Magnetism and fight right above this place, but I am not sure if it would be a violation against “only buffs or debuffs” restriction or not. And if you think it is - don’t mind.

If all these preparations would be dispelled - cast Greater Celerity then Time Stop and quickly refresh the most important spells - spell weaving helps in it very much. Or retreat via Teleport, Earth Glide, any Shadow Hand teleportation maneuver, or Plane Shift SLA.

If spell weaver even would be slain… Well, he has the Stasis Clone anyway.



The spell weaver preferred fighting being situated above ground via Balance on the Sky stance. Maybe 100 feet above. And when he trips somebody with Great Throw his victim in addition to regular damage takes 10d6 falling damage.

Blood Wind + Guided Shot + Far Shot.
The subject can take a full attack action to use all of its natural weapons or unarmed strikes as if they were thrown weapons with a 20-foot range increment.

thrown
weapon, such as a throwing axe, has a maximum range of five range increments.

When you use a thrown weapon, its range increment is doubled.

While this spell is in effect, your ranged attacks do not take a penalty due to distance.
So we have all unarmed attacks without penalties on distances up to 200 feet.


Extra Limbs and Grapple.

At the Dungeon Master’s option, creatures with more than two arms can get a bonus to grappling checks when they wrestle an opponent with their arms. (The bonus would not apply, for example, to a marilith’s constrict attack.) This bonus is +4 per extra pair of arms—so a marilith would get +8 (in addition to its size modifier), while a xill or a mutant sahuagin would gain a +4 bonus.
According to this spell weaver with Aberrant Limbs has +12 bonus to grapple checks.

Spell weavers and V components.
Spell weavers don’t speak. But they somehow cast spells as sorcerers. And this has no RAW support. I understand that it can look inelegant. And suggest a solution. I can skip Arcane Thesis (Mirror Move) and take in place of it Nonverbal spell. Maybe even as 1st level feat and move other feats up. If I do this my spell weaver can’t cast Extended Persistent Mirror Move - only Persistent and can’t qualify for Knock-Down on 12th level, so I need to switch the Knock-Down and Kung Fu Genius.


PHB - Monk (p. 39), Spell Focus (p. 100), Spell Penetration (p. 100), Extend Spell (p. 94), Improved Unarmed Strike (p. 96), Improved Grapple (p. 95), Prestidigitation (p. 264), Detect Magic (p. 219), Mage Armor (p. 249), Resistance (p. 272), Mage Hand (p. 249), Shield (p. 278), Fox's Cunning (p. 233), Mending (p. 253), Dispel Magic (p. 223), Read Magic (p. 269), Teleport (p. 292), Magic Mouth (p. 251), Summon Monster VII (p. 287), Simulacrum (p. 279), Time Stop (p. 294), Combat Expertise (p. 92), Improved Trip (p. 96), Combat Reflexes (p. 92), Dodge (p. 93), Deflect Arrows (p. 93), Lightning Reflexes (p. 97), Run (p. 99), Improved Disarm (p. 95), Mobility (p. 98), Point Blank Shot (p. 98), Far Shot (p. 94), Power Attack (p. 98), Stunning Fist (p. 101), Improved Critical (p. 95)
PHB2 - Arcane Thesis (p. 74), Decisive Strike (p. 51), Mirror Image, Greater (p. 120), Sonic Shield (p. 125), Celerity, Greater (p. 105), Versatile Unarmed Strike (p. 85)
DMG2 - Aberrant Limbs (p. 158)
MM - Multiweapon Fighting (p. 304)
MM2 - Spell weaver (p. 187)
MM5 - Improved Toughness (p. 205), Improved Natural Attack (p. 204)
Oriental Adventure - Great Throw (p. 63), The Gentle Way Mastery (p. 81)
Complete Arcane - Persistent Spell (p. 81), Arcane Preparation (p. 73), Mage Armor, Greater (p. 114), Absorption (p. 96)
Complete Mage - Residual Magic (p. 46)
Complete Warrior - Defensive Throw (p. 97)
Spell Compendium - Amanuensis (p. 7), Blood Wind (p. 33), Stick (p. 206), Guided Shot (p. 108), Heroics (p. 113), Wraithstrike (p. 243), Veil of Undeath (p. 229)
Races of Destiny - Scholar’s Touch (p. 167)
Races of the Dragon - Mighty Wallop, Greater (p. 115), Instant Diversion (p. 113)
Races of Stone - Earth Glide (p. 162), Mountain Warrior (p. 142)
Sandstorm - Scorpion's Grasp (p. 52)
Frostburn - Ice Shield (p. 99)
Dragon Compendium - Kung Fu Genius (p. 101), Ripost (p. 105), Deceptive Dodge (p. 95)
Dragon Magic - Ferocity of Sanguine Rage (p. 67), Undying Vigor of the Dragonlords (p. 74)
Draconomicon - Sharptooth (p. 81), Energy Immunity (p. 113)
Miniatures Handbook - Undeniable Gravity, Legion's (p. 40)
Planar Handbook - (p. )
Book of Vile Darkness - Unnerving Gaze (p. 108), Power Leech (p. 101)
Savage Species - Improved Multiweapon Fighting (p. 36), Greater Multiweapon Fighting (p. 35)
Sword and Fist - Knock-Down (p. 7)
Fiendish Codex II - Investiture of the Barbed Devil (p. 101)
Lords of Darkness - Stasis Clone (p. 189)
Tome of Battle - Unarmed Swordsage (p. 20), Shadow Stride (p. 80), Shadow Blink (p. 78), Death in the Dark (p. 76), Diamond Defense (p. 62), Mind Over Body (p. 64), Rapid Counter (p. 65), Moment of Alacrity (p. 64), Time Stands Still (p. 66), Balance on the Sky (p. 75), Martial Study (p. 31), (p. 31), Martial Stance (p. 31)
Fiend Folio - Ferrumach (p. 143)
Champions of Ruin - Flay Foe (p. 20), Pulverize Foe (p. 21), Skewer Foe (p. 22)
Planar Handbook - Nonverbal Spell (p. 40)
Web (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20000901a) - Mirror Move
Web (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20030504x) - Sirellyn's Superior Magnetism
Web (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/pg/20031231a) - Transmute Rock to Steel

Dragon #338 - Ecology of Spell Weaver(p. 62)

[jdizzlean]

and that's it this go around

[loky1109]

I have a draft for one build. I created it yesterday or day before yesterday.


Reptilian Psionical Duergar Fighter-8/Scaled Horror-1/Warblade-6/Crusader-4
CR Class BAB Feats
1st Reptilian Creature -
2nd Fighter-1 1 Combat Expertise (B); Evasive Reflexes; Brawler (Traite)
3rd Fighter-2 2 Dodge (B)
4th Fighter-3 3 Karmic Strike
5th Fighter-4 4 Improved Trip (B)
6th Fighter-5 5
7th Fighter-6 6 Improved Combat Expertise (B); Duergar Expansion
8th Fighter-7 7
9th Warblade-1 8
10th Darksong Knight-8 (Fighter Sub) 9 Ironheart Aura; Riposte (B)
11th Scaled Horror-1 9
12th Warblade-2 10
13th Warblade-3 11 Stormguard Warrior
14th Warblade-4 12
15th Warblade-5 13 Stone Power (B)
16th Warblade-6 14 Shards of Granite
17th Crusader-1 15
18th Crusader-2 16
19th Crusader-3 17 Robiar's Gambit
20th Crusader-4 18

Abilities Initial Race / Template Level 4 Other Levels Total
Str 12 +2 14
Dex 16 +1 17
Con 17 +4 +3 24
Int 13 13
Wis 8 +2 10
Cha 8 -4 4

Level Class Initiator Level Maneuvers Known Maneuvers Readied Stances Known
1st 0
2nd 1
3rd 1
4th 2
5th 2
6th 3
7th 3
8th Warblade-1 4 Insightful Strike; Steel Wind; Wall of Blades Pearl of Black Doubt
9th 5
10th 5 3
11th Warblade-2 6 Emerald Razor 3
12th Warblade-3 7 Mithral Tornado 3
13th Warblade-4 8 Steel Wind Iron Heart Endurance 4 Crushing Weight of the Mountain
14th Warblade-5 9 Insightful Strike, Greater 4
15th Warblade-6 10 Insightful Strike Rapid Counter 4
16th Crusader-1 11 Iron Bones; Defensive Rebuke; Irrestible Mountain Strike; Elder Mountain Hammer; Bonsplitting Strike 5(2) Thicket of Blades
17th Crusader-2 12 5(2) Punishing Stance
18th Crusader-3 13 5(2)
19th Crusader-4 14 Bonsplitting Strike Collossus Strike 5(2)


Maybe there are some mistakes.

Main idea is to create Martial Artist around Brawler (Traite) and this means without Improved Unarmed Strike.
What do IUS? With it we can treat and don't provoke AoO.
Well. Reptilian Creature has two claws so he treat and this build's main thing is to provoke AoO. Every time when enemy strikes he provoke AoO, maybe two and Brawler doesn't use it, via Channel the Storm Stormguard Warrior's options he takes To Hit bonus. And himself he uses Combat Rhythm option to increase his damage.
Full-attack: Combat Rhythm, Combat Rhythm, Combat Rhythm, Try to Trip
Always on full use Improved Combat Expertise, Stone Power, and fighting defensively.
Expansion - swift, 3/day, for 200 minutes each.

If enemy try to escape then use Improved Grab from Scaled Horror.

Warblade and Crusader of course can be placed in more optimal order, but I remind: this is raw draft.

[Thurbane]

Congrats to the entrants. I found this a very hard one to get inspired for.

I started working on a Monster of Legend Dragonkin Battle Dancer 11/Soul Eater 4, but it just felt a bit lacklustre, and underpowered.

I also considered a Marrusault, but again, couldn't find much inspiration...

Briefly considered an Immoth, but their innate Sorcerer casting presented issues with sticking to spells that are strictly buffs and debuffs.

Also, a note for competitors: please please please, include a brief build stub somewhere near the start of your entries! It makes it soooo much easier as a spectator (or judge) to understand what's going on! :smallsmile:

OK, went back and found all 4 did have build stubs, but had to go searching for a couple of them.

[loky1109]

Also, a note for competitors: please please please, include a brief build stub somewhere near the start of your entries! It makes it soooo much easier as a spectator (or judge) to understand what's going on! :smallsmile:

OK, went back and found all 4 did have build stubs, but had to go searching for a couple of them.
"Build stub" is something like this: Gelatinous Cube-4/fighter-3/rogue-5/Monk-1?

[Thurbane]

"Build stub" is something like this: Gelatinous Cube-4/fighter-3/rogue-5/Monk-1?

Precisely.

On searching, all the entries had one, but for at least two it took me a while to find them. I mean, it's up to each entrant, but I find putting that clearly very close to the start of your entry helps clarify things.

[Eurus]

Do we have anyone judging, incidentally?

[pabelfly]

Attempted two builds for this, both weren't suitable for the competition.

First build concept was a Truenamer/Initiator build. Unfortunately, since the build is for a villain and an NPC, they have much less WBL than a player-character, and a Truename build doesn't really work without player-level wealth.

Truespeak Check (WBL of 760K at level 20)
Intelligence (36,000 gold) – 8
Ranks – 23
Amulet of Silver Tongue, Greater (10,000 gold) – 10
Custom Ring of Truespeak +44 (193,600 gold) – 44
Total Truespeak Skill – 85

Truespeak Check (WBL of 220K at level 20)
Intelligence - 5
Ranks - 23
Amulet of Silver Tongue, Greater (10,000 gold) – 10
Custom Ring of Truespeak +20 - (62,500 gold) - 20
Total Truespeak Skill - 58

Even after putting aside a third of our wealth for just the Truespeak skill for a villain, never mind the other gear a character has to buy, a check of 58 barely gets basic Utterances at level 20, never mind Quickening them to support a character with manoeuvres. If I get the chance to make this character for a build competition another time, I might - I had some further build ideas for this that I'd like to flesh out.



Second build idea wanted to use the Truespeak prestige class, Disciple of the Word. Paladin of Tyranny 4/Monk 2/Disciple of the Word 9/X 5. Paladin of Tyranny 4 got Rebuke Undead, which could fuel Travel Devotion, and Monk 2 was a class prerequisite. The PrC isn't as crippled with a low Truespeak check as a Truenamer is, but the character didn't do nearly enough damage to work as a concept.

Anyway, congratulations and good luck to the people that did manage to make build concepts that worked.

[loky1109]

Truespeak Check (WBL of 760K at level 20)
You can be more than 20th ECL in this comp.
So ranks more 23 and Epic Skill Focus.

What did you want do with Truenamer?

[Eurus]

True, but that's a tradeoff of class levels. A truenamer ideally wants high skill checks, high intelligence, and to lose relatively few class levels.

[pabelfly]

You can be more than 20th ECL in this comp.
So ranks more 23 and Epic Skill Focus.

What did you want do with Truenamer?

It's going to be pretty hard to make up missing 30-odd skill check bonus between a PC and NPC character. And the higher the character level, the higher the check required becomes, so being a really high level could well cripple my Truespeak ability in the process.

I would have used Truenamer and Quicken Utterance. Something like Truenamer 10/Warblade 10. Haste, slow, free movement, all that to support a gish, along with enough initiator levels to hit 8th-level manoeuvres.

[loky1109]

It's going to be pretty hard to make up missing 30-odd skill check bonus between a PC and NPC character. And the higher the character level, the higher the check required becomes, so being a really high level could well cripple my Truespeak ability in the process.


require a successful Truespeak check; the DC for the check is equal to 15 + (2 × target creature’s CR). Your effective caster level for your utterances is equal to your truenamer level.
CR cap is anyway 20. Do I miss something?

You can do something like Human Truenamer 1 + Beast of Bane/Xvim + 17 Humanoin HD + Truenamer 9 + Warblade 5.
CL is 33, max ranks 36, +10 from epic focus. 23/30 gup are closed. And you can trade any Warblade level for 4 more HDs. IL 2 times more, 1+1/3 feat, 4 more max skill ranks.

Of course BoB is not original. But I invented this faster than I wrote this.

[pabelfly]

CR cap is anyway 20. Do I miss something?

You can do something like Human Truenamer 1 + Beast of Bane/Xvim + 17 Humanoin HD + Truenamer 9 + Warblade 5.
CL is 33, max ranks 36, +10 from epic focus. 23/30 gup are closed. And you can trade any Warblade level for 4 more HDs. IL 2 times more, 1+1/3 feat, 4 more max skill ranks.

Of course BoB is not original. But I invented this faster than I wrote this.

Not familiar with this, and how you calculated the challenge rating, but isn't 17 Humanoid hit dice equal to 8.5 CR, and the class levels of the other stuff equal to 15?

Also got myself mixed up with how Truespeak is calculated - it uses HD for player characters but CR for creatures with CR.

[AvatarVecna]

Not familiar with this, and how you calculated the challenge rating, but isn't 17 Humanoid hit dice equal to 8.5 CR, and the class levels of the other stuff equal to 15?

Also got myself mixed up with how Truespeak is calculated - it uses HD for player characters but CR for creatures with CR.

It's a little bit missing the exact reason why, but they're not wrong. In this competition, you're making a villain, usually a BBEG. It's generally expected that you'll be a couple levels ahead of the PCs, and PC's CRs tend to be equal to their level. So if you make a level 12 villain, your PCs are gonna be like lvl 8 or 9 (depending on how badass you are and they are). Part of why truenamers have issues is because 1) PCs face more bad guys than bad guys face PCs, so they have to deal with the DC scaling from lots more uses per day, and 2) truenamers tend to have a level disadvantage against the toughest enemies, which directly hinders their ability to affect said enemies. You don't have those two problems, so truenamer villains are (sort of) more effective than truenamer PCs.

[White Blade]

My idea was to do a Were-Dire Squid Giant of some kind and Disciple of Malar to have 8 +20 damage attacks or some such

[pabelfly]

It's a little bit missing the exact reason why, but they're not wrong. In this competition, you're making a villain, usually a BBEG. It's generally expected that you'll be a couple levels ahead of the PCs, and PC's CRs tend to be equal to their level. So if you make a level 12 villain, your PCs are gonna be like lvl 8 or 9 (depending on how badass you are and they are). Part of why truenamers have issues is because 1) PCs face more bad guys than bad guys face PCs, so they have to deal with the DC scaling from lots more uses per day, and 2) truenamers tend to have a level disadvantage against the toughest enemies, which directly hinders their ability to affect said enemies. You don't have those two problems, so truenamer villains are (sort of) more effective than truenamer PCs.

Okay, what am I missing with calculating CR?

[AvatarVecna]

Okay, what am I missing with calculating CR?

You're not doing anything wrong with calculating CR, it's just that some of the finer details bias truenaming in favor of villains, so it's not quite as bad as usual.

[pabelfly]

You're not doing anything wrong with calculating CR, it's just that some of the finer details bias truenaming in favor of villains, so it's not quite as bad as usual.

I'm of the opinion that the wealth of a PC overshadows that of an NPC when it comes to Truespeaking. I did two calculations of a PC and NPC at level 20 spending about 30% of their wealth on their Truespeak check, the PC got about 27 skill points better on their Truespeak check and could Quicken their favourite Utterance five times a day before rolling for their skill check.

Its really hard to make this difference up even with mild shenanigans like empty race levels to get into Epic levels to get Epuc Skill Focus and some extra skill ranks. Maybe I'll come up with a solution I'm happy with in the future.

[loky1109]

Not familiar with this, and how you calculated the challenge rating, but isn't 17 Humanoid hit dice equal to 8.5 CR, and the class levels of the other stuff equal to 15?

Also got myself mixed up with how Truespeak is calculated - it uses HD for player characters but CR for creatures with CR.
Humanoid's HDs raise CR 1 for 4. So +16 HD equal +4 CR. Plus, 1 HD has given by Beast of Bane template for free.

[loky1109]

Are anybody judging?

[mattie_p]

I provided some constructive feedback on one of these builds as it was taking shape. I feel that disqualifies me, even if I had the time to invest.

[jdizzlean]

still not even a hint of ajudge... call and move on, or wait longer?

[mattie_p]

I'll do something this weekend for you. So there's a hint. I barely remember which build I gave feedback to anyway.

[Beni-Kujaku]

still not even a hint of ajudge... call and move on, or wait longer?

For 4 builds, I should be able to do it this week-end.

[loky1109]

It's good news!


I barely remember which build I gave feedback to anyway.
You deliberately were talking pause. )))

[Beni-Kujaku]

Judge, judge, judge your builds, gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily d&d's just a dream


Originality: 2.5: Your feats, and generally your classes, are as bland as can be (except maybe the FotF dip), but the concept of it is extremely unique. Animating trees then possessing them infinitely without ever exposing yourself is pretty interesting.

Elegance: 4.5: Almost nothing is out of place, and your goal is very apparent in the build. This is very nice. The barbarian dip is a bit inelegant, but nothing awful. Plus, the build is very thematic. Nice.

Power and Competence: 2: Let's be honest, this will work against NPCs and villagers, but PCs will make short work of you. 2 trees against a level 10+ party will not do much, even if one is raging. And since it takes you a full-round to animate then enter a new tree, a PC party will have time to hack you down before you can overwhelm them. Also, they will find a way to attack you when you try to jump from one tree to another, if only by readying an attack action. There's no real mechanical combo here.

Memorable Villainy: 4.5: Now that's a fight I can see happening in a campaign. Some suspense, a bit of a puzzle fight, some reusability if they don't understand how to exorcize the ghost... The brutal has everything. Maybe have a better scaling power and it would be perfect.

Total: 13.5 There are a lot of good things here, and it would make for a really good fight/chapter of a campaign. I'm not sure it can keep up at high level against a party of its CR, though.



Those damned old men! We can never trust them!

Originality: 3.25: A rakshasa with vow of poverty is definitely... original (but see below). And Forsaker is always welcome. Warshaper is overused, and most of your feats are staples (except maybe Stormguard warrior).

Elegance: 1: Using the infinite Warshaper reading is nonsense and everybody knows it. Using SS rituals to change your subtype only to gain more power with next to no fluff justification is not something that I like either. And no less than 4 dips in the build. Not ideal.

Competence/Power: 2: Okay, so. You are Lawful Evil. The [Good] subtype allows you to take feats that require Good alignment, but Exalted feats do not require Good alignment. They require exalted status, which can only be acquired by good deeds. Bluff doesn't change anything to that. Even if you somehow get these Vow feats, you'll lose them as soon as you do an evil deed. Like, I don't know, plotting the demise of a paladin and their party. You're practically immune to spells allowing spell resistance (the rakshasa alone already kind of was, and with Forsaker, it becomes almost overkill), but lose your own spellcasting, and have almost no mobility option except your natural 40ft speed. Any party with a level 5 wizard will just kite you with Haste. Or BFC you. You'll have a hard time breaking a simple wall of stone. Forsaker is probably more of a detriment than anything, and most of your tricks outside your spellcasting require you to give up some of your attacks which, except if you really go the "warshaper gives infinite attacks", will be a problem for your damage output. And if you do go the infinite attack interpretation, there's no point in increasing your to-hit.

Memorable Villainy: 2.5 It's always nice to have some simple quirks to your villains. "Impassable spell resistance" is one such trick, as is "death of a thousand claw cuts". So that's interesting. But the fact that you're changing your focus completely for the final fight, from spellcaster to heavy-hitter, or the fact that you have no apparent motivation ("revenge for taking my stuff" doesn't make for a really interesting storyline) make OPC a not so good villain in my opinion. Also your fight is not that different from a regular rakshasa early on, and becomes even more bland in the late game.

Total: 8.75 This is not really the good comp for exalted feats (some may argue no comp is a good comp for VoP). And if you do get VoP, you have to have some spellcasting to make up for the lost versatility. Also saying that Forsaker and Tomes should stack because the opposite is dysfunctional while arguing that Warshapers give you as many attacks as you want because it's badly written is a level of hypocrisy I can't get behind.



The effigy is so mindless that it doesn't even have a tactics per level!

Originality: 4: Using effigy to remove every class levels and only leave the animal's hit dice while keeping the fighter feats on a lycanthrope is a very unique idea, and I can't not reward it. Effigy itself is not often seen, neither is corrupt creature. You have my attention.

Elegance: 3.5 It's a bit messy, and the reading that you keep your fighter bonus feats is questionable, but apart from that, this is pretty focused, and we can see where you're going.

Power and Competence: 3 +1 bonus for how much you stuck to te theme. The effigy's whole point is unarmed combat. However, losing all your fighter HD hits pretty hard, since you don't lose CR accordingly. You're still a construct legendary tiger with fighter feats, which can be devastating if you can place a charge.

Memorable Villainy: 1.5: This is not really a villain. It's mindless and can't plot the demise of the heroes. It can kill people but not hate them. No villain would accept that in their club.

Total: 12: I liked a lot (maybe a bit too much) the main concept of only leaving the tiger's HD while keeping the Fighter feats. Surprisingly, a similar tactic might be more advantageous in IC than here, since you still increased your CR.



They always say whatever a martial artist can do, a spellcaster can do it better. Never has it been truer.

Originality: 2.5: Using the rules of the competition to get more caster levels is pretty expected. Using spellcasting to get as many combat feats and then just beating your opponent down with your frail spell weaver arms... is not. The specific feats you took are not that original either.

Elegance: 3: The build itself is extremely simple. Just advance spell weaver as much as possible to take advantage of "Monstrous Humanoid HD=1/3 CR", then take a few levels to improve your strikes. Not much room for inelegance. It's just that there are a few things that you don't seem to really use very much. Residual Metamagic doesn't help you at all since the only spell that you couldn't persist that Residual allows you to is Veil of Undeath, which is already 10 min/level (or 5 hours, even of you don't extend it). Same with the monk level, which is a bit superfluous since it mostly gives you feats you could already take with Heroics/Mirror Move.

Competence/Power: 1.75 -> 4 Of this, 2 point is penalty because your build relies on Simulacrum and Summon Monster to make use of your main tactics, and has many other spells known that are clearly not buffing or debuffing (Stasis clone? Transmute Rock to Steel? Summon Monster VII!?). Apart from that, you're a level 30 spellcaster. There's not much more to it than that. That's solid. Using spellcasting mostly to get combat feats that you may have gotten otherwise by simply taking fighter levels is obviously not the most optimized way to use it (not counting the fact that you're not really using your 8 arms to cast multiple spells in combat), but the result is very powerful with a lot of options. The only real problem I see is that you have to get close to use your full combo (Knock down only works in melee, so Great throw doesn't trigger if you're not close to the opponent), and your mobility is a tiny bit lacking (I would have liked Haste instead of Dispel Magic). Also, Heroics can't be persisted, so if the DM doesn't allow to Mirror Move a lot of your feats, your build struggles a lot to get online (another -0.5 penalty). Removing most of the penalty because of judge ruling, and increasing the score a bit due to disputes


Memorable Villainy: 3 The concept is pretty nice, I like the whole "master of all martial arts because they copied the style of many masters" thing. However, there isn't much lore or personality to it. There was something with the Astral Plane going on at the beginning but nothing came of it. I would have liked to see something made of it (even though it would have been difficult with the impossibility to use Plane Shift. But having a villain having a lair in the Astral Plane using the timelessness to have Mirror Move last forever and slowly gain all the feats of martial artists coming to fight them would be pretty interesting.

Total: 10.25-> 12.5 This is really the incarnation of how casters can do anything, but it's really only got one trick that works questionably.


Have a good read!

[jdizzlean]

⟨ ǂʃǂǃǃǀǁǁɕʃ ⟩. Disputes.

Hello, Beni! I glad to see your judging! Thank you very much!


Competence/Power: 1.75 Of this, 2 point is penalty because your build relies on Simulacrum and Summon Monster to make use of your main tactics, and has many other spells known that are clearly not buffing or debuffing (Stasis clone? Transmute Rock to Steel? Summon Monster VII!?).
I think this should be in Elegance part. But anyway. I have disagreements.

Stasis clone have been using strongly outside battle, I don't think this is count.
Transmute Rock to Steel. Yes, you are right. But what did I write in the entry?

Plus he can prepare a battlefield with combo Transmute Rock to Steel and Sirellyn's Superior Magnetism and fight right above this place, but I am not sure if it would be a violation against “only buffs or debuffs” restriction or not. And if you think it is - don’t mind.
I think there are no any Limitations to only has spell in known.

Summon Monster and Simulacrum. I asked chair about this:


You wrote "any entry utilizing spellcasting/psionics can ONLY use buffs or debuffs".
Would it be against spirit of the rules use summons outside of fight for taking buffs through it?

And answer was: "No."

I'm requesting confirmation from chair.

using summons for buffing/debuffing seemed entirely within the context of the restriction's spirit to me, and frankly i thought was a neat way to go about it -- jdizzlean



Residual Metamagic doesn't help you at all since the only spell that you couldn't persist that Residual allows you to is Veil of Undeath, which is already 10 min/level (or 5 hours, even of you don't extend it).
I use Residual Metamagic for slot economy.

2. Extended Summon Monster VII (9th lvl slot) - Celestial Baleen Whale/Celestial elephant;
3. Extended Summon Monster VII (7th lvl slot via Residual Magic) - Ferrumach;
4. Extended Power Leech on Ferrumach (7th lvl slot);
5. Extended Power Leech on Celestial Baleen Whale (5th lvl slot via Residual Magic);
Yes, I can do it without RM, but extra 9th lvl slot never is excess.


the only spell that you couldn't persist that Residual allows you to is Veil of Undeath, which is already 10 min/level
And how RM can help me if I for some reasons want persist Veil of Undeath (I don't want this at all, I even take Dispel Magic in order to end this spell early, but...)? O_o


Same with the monk level, which is a bit superfluous since it mostly gives you feats you could already take with Heroics/Mirror Move.
I take Int to AC (+17) from monk, too. I'd like to take more Monstrous Humanoid's HD, but them unfortunately ended. (((
And if I can't copy Improved Grapple with Mirror Move monk isn't unnecessary.



not counting the fact that you're not really using your 8 arms to cast multiple spells in combat
If all goes good - of course I don't. But if somebody will dispel my buffs... Oh, yes, I’ll gonna use my arms to cast multiple spells simultaneously.


Knock down only works in melee, so Great throw doesn't trigger if you're not close to the opponent
I don't see problems.

Whenever you deal 10 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee

The subject gestures as if making a melee attack, but the result of the attack affects a target within range.

The subject uses its normal melee attack bonuses and deals damage normally if it hits
I see regular melee attacks. Yes they hit far away, but in other respects nothing changes.


and your mobility is a tiny bit lacking
Sorry, what? I can walk on air. I have Teleport, Earth Glide, Shadow Hand teleportation maneuvers, and Plane Shift SLA. Is this lacking of mobility? Well, I don't know what is mobility.
Hey! I can take Mobility via Heroics and Mirror Move, it's fighter feat, too! ;)


Also, Heroics can't be persisted
Oh. We have old, old a bunch of debate here, but I agree with your view. My bad.
But I still can Extend Heroics. Ten hours is something.
And I really need only Improved Grapple (I have from Monk) and Martial Stance. I think I can afford one-two 4th level slots.

[Beni-Kujaku]

About how it should be elegance penalty instead of power: in fact this should be Use of SI. However, this is not a category in this competition, and the description of the Power category mentions "Can it do what the concept asks of it?". I feel like the "concept" represents the restrictions on the builds



Stasis clone have been using strongly outside battle, I don't think this is count.
Transmute Rock to Steel. Yes, you are right. But what did I write in the entry?
I see no reason why you could be able to use non-(de)buff spells outside combat. The restriction was on your spellcasting in general, and Stasis Clone is definitely not it.





using summons for buffing/debuffing seemed entirely within the context of the restriction's spirit to me, and frankly i thought was a neat way to go about it -- jdizzlean
Oh, ok. +1.5




I use Residual Metamagic for slot economy.
And how RM can help me if I for some reasons want persist Veil of Undeath (I don't want this at all, I even take Dispel Magic in order to end this spell early, but...)? O_o
My bad for not reading the feat properly. I only saw it used in the shadowcraft mage, and didn't notice it was the same spell twice, which makes a lot more sense. Still, I don't feel like it's the best use of this feat , and the fact that it appears at the very end of the build, when you've already been doing your combos for a while doesn't make it seem well integrated. I would have preferred something more general, I think. Maybe Dragontouched-> Practical metamagic.



I take Int to AC (+17) from monk, too. I'd like to take more Monstrous Humanoid's HD, but them unfortunately ended. (((
And if I can't copy Improved Grapple with Mirror Move monk isn't unnecessary.
I would have liked it to be more outlined. You're not even saying that you're replicating Improved Grapple in the "Overall Tactics" paragraph. Still, +0.25, since you like AC.



I see regular melee attacks. Yes they hit far away, but in other respects nothing changes.
There's nothing like "melee attacks". An attack is "in melee" if you use it to attack an enemy within your reach by touching them directly. Blood Wind even specifically says the attack is counted as a thrown weapon. Knockback doesn't work.



Sorry, what? I can walk on air. I have Teleport, Earth Glide, Shadow Hand teleportation maneuvers, and Plane Shift SLA. Is this lacking of mobility? Well, I don't know what is mobility.
Hey! I can take Mobility via Heroics and Mirror Move, it's fighter feat, too! ;)

Walk on Air doesn't increase your speed in combat. In fact, it actively decreases it. Teleport and Plane Shift aren't usable to move yourself in combat (also Teleport is not a buff, so you can't use it). However, I did miss Shadow Blink. Shadow Stride is an acceptable mobility option, but in the end, it's only a 20ft improvement once per encounter. Shadow Blink is much better. +0.5
[/SPOILER][/QUOTE]

[jdizzlean]

we're putting our house on the market this weekend, so I may be moving soon. I'll get a table up when I can, to finalize the round, and likewise get a new round up when I can sit in front of a computer again...

[Thurbane]

we're putting our house on the market this weekend, so I may be moving soon. I'll get a table up when I can, to finalize the round, and likewise get a new round up when I can sit in front of a computer again...

I feel that: we just bought our first place, and will be moving in the next few weeks.

Hope it all goes smoothly for you.

[Thurbane]

Just popping a table here for when the chair is ready for the final reveal:




Name
Competitor
Description
Judge 1 Score
Total Score
Placing


Blackleaf, the Brutal (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211123&postcount=38)

?E Treant Ghost RHD +4/Barbarian 3/Fist of the Forest 1/Frenzied Berserker 5
13.5
13.5
1st


One Paw Cat (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211124&postcount=39)

LE Rakshasa, Outsider(good subtype), Fighter 1 /Forsaker 1 /Marshal 1 /Invisible Eye Monk 2 /Warblade 1 /Warshaper 4
8.75
8.75
4th


Tomas Stone (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211125&postcount=40)

?E Effigy Were-Legendary Tiger Half-Ogre Wolf totem Barbarian 2/Fighter 8
12
12
3rd


⟨ ǂʃǂǃǃǀǁǁɕʃ ⟩ (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211126&postcount=41)

?E Spell weaver-30/Monk 1/Swordsage 2
12.5
12.5
2nd

[jdizzlean]

apologies for the extended delay. we are under contract, and every waking moment is either spent at work, or packing I hope to be able to close the round, and start the next soon!

we close the 7th, I pray to have everything settled within a week after that, but I'm also having a new pc built... life is crazy right now!

[H_H_F_F]

It's been a couple of weeks since the 7th. I would know, because it's my birthday.
Any updates, Jdizzlean?

[H_H_F_F]

I... Declare... A coup!!!


Well, not really a coup. More like a regency or something. Point is, the chair hoped to be here weeks ago, and the round's been concluded for weeks before that. No hard feelings on my part, but I'd like to keep the competition going while Jdizzlean takes care of his IRL stuff, which should obviously take precedence for him. I've tried to get in touch with him a few days ago, but he hasn't responded. Hopefully, (and I think realistically,) his stuff will be settled before we conclude next round and he'll be able to step right back in his place for round 44. For now, I have a concept ready to launch for next round, and am fully prepared to start it once we finish up this one.

All participants of this round: please PM me which entry is yours, so we can do a reveal and start round 43.

[H_H_F_F]

I only got a response from one of our participants...

New round starts in 24 hours. If you guys want to do a proper reveal before that, please let me know which entry is yours.

[loky1109]

ciopo didn't enter forum this year, and I don't know who is third.

Upd: Eurus maybe. Was today.

[mattie_p]

I assisted ciopo with a few minor things, so I know which entry. Pm Sent

[H_H_F_F]

And... here's the reveal!



Name
Competitor
Description
Beni-Kujaku's Score
Total Score
Placing


Blackleaf, the Brutal (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211123&postcount=38)
Eurus
?E Treant Ghost RHD +4/Barbarian 3/Fist of the Forest 1/Frenzied Berserker 5
13.5
13.5
1st


One Paw Cat (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211124&postcount=39)
Ciopo
LE Rakshasa, Outsider(good subtype), Fighter 1 /Forsaker 1 /Marshal 1 /Invisible Eye Monk 2 /Warblade 1 /Warshaper 4
8.75
8.75
4th


Tomas Stone (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211125&postcount=40)
loky1109
?E Effigy Were-Legendary Tiger Half-Ogre Wolf totem Barbarian 2/Fighter 8
12
12
3rd


⟨ ǂʃǂǃǃǀǁǁɕʃ ⟩ (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25211126&postcount=41)
loky1109
?E Spell weaver-30/Monk 1/Swordsage 2
12.5
12.5
2nd



That's it for this round! Congratulations Eurus for the gold, and to loky for silver and bronze. You'll get 'em next time, Ciopo. And thank you for judging Beni! much appreciated.

Next round will go up in a few hours.

[H_H_F_F]

New round here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641088-Villainous-Competition-XLIII-The-Big-Dumb-Brute).

[loky1109]

I should say thanks to mattie_p.
Talk with you after Gojira round gave me Tomas Stone idea.

[loky1109]

I almost forgot!
Ciopo, one thing I want say for you.


Heroes POV: We found a mentor for the scrappy kid, He comes Maximilian approved, a palpable aura of good emanates from him...
This doesn't work.
First, paladin can't detect Good, only Evil (yes, there are spell for that, but who should use it???)
Second, good subtipe doesn't remove your Evil alignment, and Detect Evil still catch you.