Junkyard Wars XXXV: Complete Class + Complete PrC - PHB Classes

[Thurbane]

Welcome to Junkyard Stadium! It is in this hallowed pile of miscellaneous parts that we will hold a competition of Practical Optimization with three components. The catch? Competitors may not use the third item in their builds!

Goal: Create a build that showcases the selected ingredients while steering clear of the Forbidden Ingredient.

This competition has two Necessary Components and one Forbidden Component. This round's components are...


COMPLETE MADNESS!





Necessary: Base class that appears in the Complete series of books
Necessary: Prestige Class that appears in a different Complete series book
Forbidden: Classes from the PHB




Creation: 32 point-buy is the presumed creation method. You may assume that you will have enough exp to reach ECL 20, and that the occasional bit of crafting, use of spells with exp components, or the like won't prevent you from doing so. However, LA buyoff is an alternate rule which is not in play.
Workshop: Competitors will be free to use any official 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Magazine is disallowed, and Unearthed Arcana is allowed; but see below. Web-exclusive 3.0 or 3.5 materials 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. If you use web material, please link it. Dragon Magazine Compendium is allowed, as are Oriental Adventures (and its 3.5 updates in Dragon Magazine) and the Dragonlance Campaign Setting. Alternate rule systems from UA such as generic classes, spontaneous divine casters, gestalt and fractional saves and BAB are not allowed, as they create a different playing field.
Leadership is banned: We're creating one thing, not all of the things. If your entry includes a prestige class or ACF that grants Leadership or a Leadership-like ability as a bonus feat, the feat should be ignored and is not eligible to be traded away for another feat or ACF through any means.
Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until after the reveal in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines. Speculation and stub posting is to be avoided until the reveal is completed.
Disputes: Any scoring disputes should be sent to the Chair via PM. Valid disputes include RAW misreadings, arithmetic errors, things missed that are present in the entry, and inconsistently applied criteria. Invalid disputes include disagreements on matters of opinion, a judge not catching something not explicitly presented in the entry, and the like. Invalid disputes will be responded to via PM by the Chair, but valid disputes will be posted in-thread for the judge to review. When disputing, please indicate the judge the dispute is intended for and provide a quote of the disputed comment or comments. Note: the Chair may edit or paraphrase any disputes in presenting them to the judges.
Presentation: You will need to present a write-up of your build at at least one of the following points: 5th level, 10th level, 15th, 20th, and a "sweet spot" that you feel is the high point of the build, as well as presenting a fully-fleshed out 20-level build in the table below. Please give a rundown of the build's abilities and playability throughout its life. 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. Also for this reason, PLEASE do not include any material that may or may not offend any potential viewers/judges/competitors OR break forum rules. Any builds which violate forum rules WILL be withheld from posting.
Anonymity: if you are submitting multiple entries, please try not to have entries reference each other, or have other obvious "tells" that they are from the same competitor. If it is essential for your concept that entries are somehow linked, that is fine, but otherwise, please try to limit info that will give away who competitors are.



Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, please use the following table for their entry.
NAME OF ENTRY


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



Code immediately below (spoiler).

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


For entries with spellcasting, use the following table for Spells per day and Spells Known. (Spells Known only if necessary, i.e. Sorcerer or Bard, but not Wizard or Warmage)
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 (spoiler)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
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


For other systems (Psionics, ToB, Incarnum, etc.) keep track of PP/maneuvers/essentia separately, preferably in a nice neat list.

mattie_p has also kindly made a Google Document that greatly assists with creating and formatting tables: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BG0-5sq4dL9Ooh7-QfXuyHzO4rXSz-CRcj29t6BeUVE/edit?usp=sharing




Scoring: Each judge is required to provide the criteria by which they are judging the builds. By "criteria," we mean a simple explanation of what the judge is looking for in each of the below categories and what kind of scoring we can expect. If a judge deems a build to be illegal, they may provide a 0 in Elegance but may not refuse to judge any build presented by the Chairman.
The Categories: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Components.


Originality: Is the build unique? Does it deviate from the obvious? Does it forge its own path, or does it fall back on common, established optimization tricks? Some judges score entries for the quality of their concept & backstory as well, though not all do. Providing at least some backstory is heavily encouraged, as it helps the judges figure out who the entry is. Note that the purpose of this category is not to penalize entries that independently came up with the same idea as another entry, but rather to reward entries that explore underutilized and non-obvious areas of optimization, so, judges, try not to base your judging in this category too heavily on what other builds are doing. Multiple entries using the same element may certainly be evidence that the element is unoriginal, but you shouldn't impose anything like a "-1 for each other build using the same class" penalty.
Power: 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. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.
Elegance: This category was formerly titled "Build Stability." Here, we're essentially measuring how skillfully you put your build together and how you balanced flavor with power. We're cooking here - if your dish doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter how well-presented it is. Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category. Other things that will cause lost points here are excessive multiclassing (meaning any multiclassing that results in an xp penalty), and classes that don't fit the concept - using Cloistered Cleric in a front-line melee fighter, for example, may lose you points. Rule adherence and legality of sources is scored under this category; additionally, reliance on a questionable, controversial, or ambiguous ruling can and should result in a deduction. Neither the number of sources nor their relative obscurity should be penalized--contestants should feel free to use any books they like. Dipping should not be penalized unless it results in a multiclass xp penalty; if the system won't penalize it, neither should judges.
Use of Components: Was the Forbidden Component avoided? Were the Necessary Components showcased, or simply used because they were necessary?



Note on scoring: if you are going to penalize an entry for something specific, it is strongly recommend that it only be penalized in one of the four categories for this - the one you feel is the most relevant. It is OK to put different penalties for different instances in their own category, but if, say, someone fails to qualify for a PrC, try not to ping them in Elegance and Power, for instance.
Disputes: Any scoring disputes will be posted by the Chairman in-thread after reviewing them privately. Valid disputes include

RAW misreadings,
arithmetic errors,
things missed that are present in the entry,
and inconsistently applied criteria.

Note: only competitors are to raise disputes, and only on their own entry. If you, as a spectator, find an error in judging (or in an entry, for that matter), please hold off on comment until after the final reveal. Thank you.
Invalid disputes include

disagreements on matters of opinion,
a judge not catching something not explicitly presented in the entry,
and the like.

Invalid disputes will be responded to via PM by the Chair, but valid disputes should be responded to by each individual judge. Judges are obligated to respond to disputes to ensure that everyone gets a fair shake. A judge's scores will only be recognized if they have recognized all disputes. In the absence of any other judges, the entries will be judged by the chairman.



Completion Time:

Contestants will have until 23:59 GMT Monday January 24, 2022 to create their builds and PM them to the chairman (note: you are free to submit builds up until I start posting entries, even if this deadline has passed).
Builds will then be posted simultaneously to avoid copying.
Judges will have until 23:59 GMT Monday February 7, 2022 to judge the builds and submit their scores. Judging deadline is subject to extension as required.
As the precedent has been set from Episode 2, should all prospective judges have posted their rulings in a neat, timely fashion and all disputes have been settled satisfactorily (to either judges, contestants, or the Chairperson), the judging period may end prematurely to give way to a new episode. No reason to keep working on a finished building and avoid moving onto the next one.


Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing! We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build that doesn't gain a medal. Contestants are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM. Everyone else can vote in-thread. Ready? Set? Get to the junkyard and start building!

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 messages, 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.



Junkyard Wars in the Playground I: Shadowdancer + Sneak Attack - Rogue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?337864)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground II: Healing Spells + Ruby Knight Vindicator - Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?342896)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground III: Dragons + Theurges - Kobolds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?347412)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground IV: BoED + Undead Type - Completes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?355278)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground V: Dread Witch + Reaping Mauler - Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?360271)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VI: Wonderworker + Profession Skill - Factotum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?369604)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VII: Metamagic Feats + LA - Metamagic Reducers! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?374504)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VIII: Pounce+Small Size-Barbarian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?388151)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground IX: Earth Dreamer + Ordained Champion - Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395791)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground X: Meldshaping + Natural Attacks - Totemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?403880)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XI: Magical Darkness + Improved Familiar - Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?409650)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XII: Dragonmark Heirs + Touchstones - Martial Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430214)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIII: Mulhorandi Divine Minion + Monk - Any Other Wildshaping (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?465901)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIV: Racial Paragon Classes + Spellcasting - Base Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?479427)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XV: Ruathar + Stoneblessed - Human (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?497904)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVI: Trapsmith + Combat Trapsmith - Rogue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?540521)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVII: Elemental Warrior + Jaunter - Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?552569)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVIII: Argent Savant + Holy Scourge - Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555404)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIX: Incarnum Blade + Exotic Weapon Master - Spiked Chain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?562523-Junkyard-Wars-XIX-IB-EWM-SC)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XX: Xorvintaal Exarch + The Pact-Bound Adept - Sorcerer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?568541-Junkyard-Wars-XX-XE-PBA(a)-S)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XXI: Rebuke Undead + Teamwork Benefits - [Divine] feats (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572680-Junkyard-Wars-XXI-Halloween-Round!)
Junkyard Wars XXII: Battle Trickster + Magical Trickster - Uncanny Trickster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577512-Junkyard-Wars-XXII-Show-Me-Your-Skillz)
Junkyard Wars XXIII: Spellwarp Sniper + Silver Pyromancer - Energy Substitution (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581736-Junkyard-Wars-XXIII-Ready-Aim-Fire)
Junkyard Wars XXIV: Vow of Peace + Saint - Divine casting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585567-Junkyard-Wars-XXIV-VoPe-S-DC)
Junkyard Wars XXV: Silverwood Arcanist + Share Soulmeld - Soulcaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?590622-Junkyard-Wars-XXV-SA-SS-S)
Junkyard Wars XXVI: RSL + ACF - PrCs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?593374-Junkyard-Wars-XXVI-RSL-ACF-PrCs)
Junkyard Wars XXVII: Unholy Scion + Mark - Affiliation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?598151-Junkyard-Wars-XXVII-US-M-A)
Junkyard Wars XXVII: 1MF + CPA&A - T (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?603826-Junkyard-Wars-XXVIII-1MF-CPA-amp-A-T)
Junkyard Wars XXIX: Social Distancing Edition! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?610153-Junkyard-Wars-XXIX-Social-Distancing-Edition!)
Junkyard Wars XXX: Something a Little Spicy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?631758-Junkyard-Wars-XXX-Something-a-Little-Spicy)
Junkyard Wars XXXI: Giddy-Up! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?633325)
Junkyard Wars XXXII: Theurge Without Theurge (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?634803)
Junkyard Wars XXXIII: LotD + AF - Necropolitan (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636185)
Junkyard Wars XXXIV: SE + HoS - Soulmelds (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?637670)

[Thurbane]

Q&A:

Q1. Why no Christmas/holiday round?
A1. That's my bad - I felt I dropped the ball on getting it up in time, but I promise you I will do my best, if still chair, for next season.

Q2. What exactly are the Complete books?
A2. In case it needs to be spelled out: Complete Adventurer, Complete Arcane, Complete Champion, Complete Divine, Complete Mage, Complete Psionic, Complete Scoundrel and Complete Warrior. Five of these books (CAd, CAr, CD, CPs & CW) contain base classes.

Q3. What about base classes or PrCs that appeared in other sources as well as the Completes, such as Samurai, Warmage etc.
A3. These are still eligible, just use the Complete book version, which I believe will be the most up to date in most (all?) cases.

Q4. Can I include base classes or PrCs from other sources, such as PHB2 or ToB?
A4. That's fine, so long as the build includes at least one level each of the required sources. Judges may apply penalties if they feel you haven't followed the spirit of the comp.

Q5. Does the ban on PHB classes extend to variants and ACFs thereof?
A5. Yes - for instance, Cloistered Cleric is banned, as being a variant of a PHB class.

Q6. Is other material from PHB banned?
A6. No, just classes. Races, feats, spells, skills etc. from PHB are all fine.

[H_H_F_F]

Awesome concept, especiaply the different book requirement.

Edit: is complete psionic not included on purpose?

Edit 2: Swordsage'd.

[MinimanMidget]

Does Complete Psionic count here?

[Thurbane]

Awesome concept, especiaply the different book requirement.

Edit: is complete psionic not included on purpose?

Edit 2: Swordsage'd.

Does Complete Psionic count here?

Oops, great callout, will add it now!

[Beni-Kujaku]

Oh, that is definitely a fun round. Good call on the "different Complete book" for the prestige class. For even more completeness, let's also complete every prestige class we take and have only one base class! (This is not a proposition for rule changing, just an extra challenge for those who want :))

[loky1109]

Okay, I have idea, maybe two.

[loky1109]

First in. Try to do second.

Upd: Sent entry and immediately started to find mistakes.

[H_H_F_F]

I have two entries on the stove. I like both of them a lot, even though Vizzini is making one of them a psychological challenge to go forward with.

I like them for very different reasons, and they have radically different approaches to the task at hand, so I'm enjoying both of them. How is everyone else doing?

By the way, if anyone would like to do both this and the Villainous Competition and finds the close deadlines hard to manage, you can feel free to PM me for an extension.

[Beni-Kujaku]

How is everyone else doing?

This round is a bit too large for me, I'd probably like to delay the deadline for JW a week or two, Thurbane, if possible, so that I can make something.

[loky1109]

How is everyone else doing?

One - sent, second - cutting ingredients.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Oh, I've already got a build idea in the works! My first instinct was to rejigger one of my other entry ideas for a past contest, but Races of the Wild isn't a Complete Book and it still requires levels in Druid. So scratch that!

That said, I love how open ended this is. I think my goal will be to only use Complete Series classes and prestige classes.

[loky1109]

Does anti-Vizziny exist?
I mean: "[redacted] is so unexpected, nobody will do it" and we'll have dozen of [redacted].

[Birchy]

Rules Question:

Would Material from Savage Species be allowed? (Namely, a Feat)

[H_H_F_F]

Rules Question:

Would Material from Savage Species be allowed? (Namely, a Feat)

Yes, just make sure it wasn't updated to 3.5 in a later book.

[Thurbane]

Rules Question:

Would Material from Savage Species be allowed? (Namely, a Feat)

Yes, just make sure it wasn't updated to 3.5 in a later book.

Exactly correct: any un-updated official 3.0 material is allowed. In cases where a feat, PrC etc. was re-printed in 3.5, you should use the latest version.

[Wildstag]

Hmmm. This seems like an intriguing challenge, though with how unfocused it looks, I'm sure we'll see basically everything. Shouldn't be too hard though. We'll see.

[Thurbane]

Nice to see some entries rolling in, should be a good round! :smallsmile:

[loky1109]

More entries, more challenge, more fun!

[Wildstag]

I never realized how standalone the Complete series is, such that I find it hard to use PrCs actually from a different Complete book without it looking like a token dip to justify "see it's from a different book".

[loky1109]

Only few hours... I'm excited!

[Malphegor]

ooh cool concept for this one, I’m looking eagerly to steal- that is, er… see what people
make, yes that’s it

[H_H_F_F]

Very excited for the reveal as well. I'm pretty happy with what I've submitted.

[Thurbane]

OK, sorry for the delays, things got unexpectedly busy IRL.

Here's the reveal - please don't post until I give the all clear.

[Thurbane]

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/60/77/0f/60770f83700f3820eda7ae26c31409fa--fantasy-armor-creature-design.jpg
Property of Wizards of the Coast. Artist: Brad Rigney
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/7aec600b-b786-422a-97a7-334f525f5907/d7jejpp-1e34d7fc-7598-4e31-9d86-e6eb01cdf525.png/v1/fill/w_809,h_247,strp/small_skeletal_hydra_by_agregor_d7jejpp-pre.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9 .eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZ DQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTg yMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7Imhla WdodCI6Ijw9NjAwIiwicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvN2FlYzYwMGItYjc 4Ni00MjJhLTk3YTctMzM0ZjUyNWY1OTA3XC9kN2planBwLTFlM zRkN2ZjLTc1OTgtNGUzMS05ZDg2LWU2ZWIwMWNkZjUyNS5wbmc iLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTk2NCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2Vyd mljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.5ip8HWiaqDGx56Lq3y DLwgi3dLs3r3vEhbuWtPxgAbM
Artist: Agregor (https://www.deviantart.com/agregor)

It was a clear day. There was a lone dog at the watering hole.
Suddenly, a very big wolf jumped out from the bushes. The canine saw him and ran away. Wolf's whimpering and growling sounded after her. For human hear it was almost regular animal sounds, but every canine heard it can understand:
- Please stop! I'll not hurt you! I'm a friend!.. Snakes and toads! Ran away... All run away from me... - The wolf didn’t follow the dog, he lay down, closed eyes and covered his snout with paws.
He had been laying there for several minutes.
- Woof! - unexpected sounds really close. The wolf almost jumped out because of this.
- What? How did you snuck up so close? - The dog was sitting only a dozen feet away.
- Big. Sad. - the dog barked in reply.
- Yeah, sad. You are a brave girl, aren’t you? All others run away and not come back. All of them. I'll told you…

I had the human, the master once. He was kind to me. I don’t remember this well enough, I was goofy at that time. Like a regular wolf. But he definitely was very kind. He was the best. He named me Auricula, because of my white right ear. His name… was too human, but I know it means Protector. And he was a protector, yes. He and I, we fight many evils. Undeads, poachers, nasty goblins. Many times. And then he did something, there was a special smell and he spoke many words. And I became smarter. And our connection became stronger. I know when he is glad, when happy, when sad or angry. I could do so before, but I needed to see him, or listen, or smell, but now I just knew. So amazing!
We continued to challenge evildoers and all went well, but... One time we were ambushed by almost an army of ghouls. We fight back. Master turned into a big manyheahed lizard, hydra I guess, ripped and bite these abominations. I bite them, too. But there was somebody smart among ghouls. He knew us, what we can and how we shall fight. He poisoned these ghouls and every bite was a mistake. Step to defeat. Master realized it and he kicked me out of the fight. I wanted to return, but he roared at me so angry! And blow frozen breath towards me. I got scared! And poisoned. I ran. I know, he wanted to protect me, he understood we can’t win, but… I blame myself every day! I should have stayed with him!
I awoke at night. Weak and wounded, but alive. I immediately ran to the fighting field… There are bodies. And several ghouls that feed on it. I killed all. Master’s body disappeared. I tracked it down by the smell, it took two or three days. And when I caught up with it… My master became undead himself. I know I should destroy him. But I can’t. I looked at him from the bushes and was realizing - I just can’t. But I can seek and destroy all ghouls who survived that ambush. I found all.
One moment I felt something. My connection with the master. Shadow of it. I don’t know what happend. Maybe it was my revenge, maybe it was a matter of time… Don’t know. But he was becoming something bigger than just a ghoul. Firstly I rejoiced - he'll be back! I thought so. But I was wrong. It no longer was my master. Now he became evil himself! More evil than regular ghouls. I think he remembered some parts and… He was telling me that the undead were suffering very much. And even most good can’t resist. Then I saw it myself. He started to blight woods. Fired them. But he loved them so much before. I was looking for him and suffering with him. But I can do nothing. He became too strong. Maybe in the very first moment I could defeat him, but this time was gone. And he became stronger and stronger. His magic is so devastating now, he can turn into a skeleton lizard with many heads. So many bites… With poison and chilling fangs. Nobody can stop him. And I… I’m only looking. He goes here now, I feel that. You should run, doggy.
- Names White Paw, - Auricula in the first moment didn’t understand what he was hearing. Human’s words! From this dog, - Big Ear, you don’t need to do it all alone. I know who we can ask to help.
- How?.. - Auricula had no words, - How do you? Why? I can’t… I don’t understand.
- Oh, Big! I’m not just a regular dog! - she jumped up in the air and disappeared to emerge ten feet aside, - I’m magical, too, dummy! Let's hurry up! You are not alone longer!

Ghoul 5/Ninja 3/Emancipated Spawn 2/Blighter 10
Abilities Initial Ghoul base 2nd 3rd 4th 5th All HD Total
STR 10 2 12
DEX 8 2 2 12
CON 8 - -
INT 16 2 18
WIS 16 2 2 4 24
CHA 16 2 2 2 22
Level Class Feats Class Features
1st Druid-1 Versatile Spellcaster, Southern Magician Animal companion, nature sense, wild empathy
2nd Druid-2 Woodland stride
3rd Druid-3 Obtain Familiar Trackless step
4th Druid-4 Resist nature’s lure
5th Druid-5 Wild shape (1/day)
6th Druid-6 Natural Spell Wild shape (2/day)
7th Arcane Hierophant-1 Companion familiar, ignore arcane spell failure, wild shape (3/day)
8th Arcane Hierophant-2 Wild shape (Large)
9th Arcane Hierophant-3 Frozen Wild Shape
ECL Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Ghoul-1 0 0 0 2 28: {+4} Craft (Poison): 4; {+4} Hide: 4; {+4} Jump: 4; {+4} Listen: 4; {+4} Move Silently: 4; {+4} Profession (herbalist): 4; {+4} Spot: 4; Ability Focus (paralysis)1st 1st HD, +1 natural armor, bite 1d4, +2 turn resistance
2nd Ghoul-2 0 0 0 2 — 2 claws 1d3, paralysis (1 minute), +2 Dex, +2 Cha
3rd Ghoul-3 1 0 0 3 8: {+1} Craft (Poison): 5; {+1} Escape Artist: 1; {+1} Hide: 5; {+1} Jump: 5; {+1} Listen: 5; {+1} Move Silently: 5; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 5; {+1} Spot: 5; 2nd HD, +2 natural armor, +2 Int, +2 Wis
4th Ghoul-4 1 0 0 3 — Bite 1d6, paralysis (1d6+2 minutes), +2 Cha
5th Ghoul-5 1 0 0 3 — Create spawn, +2 Dex, +2 Wis
6th Ninja-1 1 0 2 3 10: {+1} Concentration: 1; {+1} Craft (Poison): 6; {+2} Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; {+1} Hide: 6; {+1} Jump: 6; {+1} Listen: 6; {+1} Move Silently: 6; Profession (herbalist): 5; {+1} Search: 1; {+1} Spot: 6; Expanded Ki Pool3rd Ki power, sudden strike +1d6, trapfinding
7th Ninja-2 2 0 3 3 10: {+1} Concentration: 2; {+1} Craft (Poison): 7; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; {+1} Hide: 7; {+1} Jump: 7; {+1} Listen: 7; {+1} Move Silently: 7; {+2} Open Lock: 2; Profession (herbalist): 5; {+1} Search: 2; {+1} Spot: 7; Ghost step (invisible)
8th Ninja-3 3 1 3 4 10: {+1} Concentration: 3; {+1} Craft (Poison): 8; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; {+1} Hide: 8; {+1} Jump: 8; {+1} Listen: 8; {+1} Move Silently: 8; {+2} Open Lock: 4; Profession (herbalist): 5; {+1} Search: 3; {+1} Spot: 8; Sudden strike +2d6, poison use
9th Emancipated Spawn-1 3 1 3 6 6: Concentration: 3; Craft (Poison): 8; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; {+1} Hide: 9; {+2} Intimidate: 2; Jump: 8; {+1} Listen: 9; {+1} Move Silently: 9; Open Lock: 4; Profession (herbalist): 5; Search: 3; {+1} Spot: 9; Improved paralysis6th;
Recaled feats: Versatile Spellcaster, Southern Magician, Obtain Familiar, Natural Spell, Frozen Wild Shape +2 turn resistance, recall feats
10th Emancipated Spawn-2 4 1 3 7 6: Concentration: 3; Craft (Poison): 8; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; {+1} Hide: 10; {+2} Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Listen: 10; {+1} Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; Profession (herbalist): 5; Search: 3; {+1} Spot: 10; +4 turn resistance, recall class abilities
11th Blighter-1 4 3 3 9 8: {+3} Concentration: 6; {+1} Craft (Poison): 9; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 1; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 6; Search: 3; {+1} Spellcraft: 1; {+1} Spot: 11; Deforestation
12th Blighter-2 5 4 3 10 8: {+1} Concentration: 7; {+1} Craft (Poison): 10; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 2; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 7; Search: 3; {+1} Spellcraft: 2; {+1} Spot: 12; {+2} Listen to This; Fell Drain9th Blightfire, sustenance
13th Blighter-3 6 4 4 10 8: {+2} Concentration: 9; {+1} Craft (Poison): 11; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 3; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 8; Search: 3; {+1} Spellcraft: 3; Spot: 12; {+2} Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Undead wild shape 1/day
14th Blighter-4 7 5 4 11 8: {+4} Concentration: 13; {+1} Craft (Poison): 12; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 4; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 9; Search: 3; {+1} Spellcraft: 4; Spot: 12; Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Speak with dead animal, undead wild shape 2/day
15th Blighter-5 7 5 4 11 8: Concentration: 13; {+1} Craft (Poison): 13; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 5; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 10; Search: 3; {+3} Spellcraft: 7; Spot: 12; {+2} Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Serpent's Venom12th Contagious touch 1/day, undead wild shape (Large)
16th Blighter-6 8 6 5 12 8: {+2} Concentration: 15; {+1} Craft (Poison): 14; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 6; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 11; Search: 3; {+1} Spellcraft: 8; Spot: 12; {+2} Spot the Weak Point, Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Animate dead animal, undead wild shape 3/day
17th Blighter-7 9 6 5 12 8: {+1} Concentration: 16; {+1} Craft (Poison): 15; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 7; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 12; Search: 3; {+2} Spellcraft: 10; Spot: 12; {+2} Extreme Leap, Spot the Weak Point, Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Contagious touch 2/day
18th Blighter-8 10 7 5 13 8: {+1} Concentration: 17; {+1} Craft (Poison): 16; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 8; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 13; Search: 3; {+4} Spellcraft: 14; Spot: 12; Extreme Leap, Spot the Weak Point, Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Arcane Strike15th Unbond, undead wild shape 4/day
19th Blighter-9 10 7 6 13 8: {+1} Concentration: 18; {+1} Craft (Poison): 17; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 9; Listen: 10; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 14; Search: 3; {+4} Spellcraft: 18; Spot: 12; Extreme Leap, Spot the Weak Point, Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Contagious touch 3/day, undead wild shape (Huge)
20th Blighter-10 11 8 6 14 8: {+2} Concentration: 20; {+1} Craft (Poison): 18; Disable Device: 2; Escape Artist: 1; Hide: 10; Intimidate: 4; Jump: 8; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 10; {+1} Listen: 11; Move Silently: 10; Open Lock: 4; {+1} Profession (herbalist): 15; Search: 3; {+2} Spellcraft: 20; Spot: 12; Extreme Leap, Spot the Weak Point, Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This; Plague, undead wild shape 5/day

Known languages: Common, Mulhorandi, Draconic, Thayan, Drueidan
Level Class 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th
11th Blighter-1 4 2
12th Blighter-2 5 3 0
13th Blighter-3 5 3 1 0
14th Blighter-4 6 3 2 1 0
15th Blighter-5 6 3 3 2 1 0
16th Blighter-6 6 3 3 3 2 1 0
17th Blighter-7 6 4 3 3 3 2 1 0
18th Blighter-8 6 4 4 3 3 3 2 1 0
19th Blighter-9 6 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 1 0
20th Blighter-10 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 2 1

Auricula
Advanced Dire Wolf free Companion familiar
Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 8d10+24 (72 hp)
Initiative: +3
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 21 (–1 size, +3 Dex, +9 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +8/+20
Attack: Bite +19 melee (1d8+12)
Full Attack: Bite +19 melee (1d8+12)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Trip
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, improved evasion, speak with animals of its kind
Saves: Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +7
Abilities: Str 26, Dex 16, Con 18, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Hide +2, Listen +7, Move Silently +4, Spot +7, Survival +2*
Feats: Alertness, Run, TrackB, Weapon Focus (bite)
Alignment: Neutral Good

Combat
Dire wolves prefer to attack in packs, surrounding and flanking a foe when they can.
Trip (Ex): A dire wolf that hits with a bite attack can attempt to trip its opponent (+12 check modifier) as a free action without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the dire wolf.
Skills: A dire wolf has a +2 racial bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, and Spot checks. *It also has a +4 racial bonus on Survival checks when tracking by scent.




When Aoth was alive he was a druid. His Mulan heritage gave him the opportunity to take the Southern Magician feat (on first level due Versatile Spellcaster). With this mystery feat he could qualify for Obtain Familiar and Arcane Hierophant later.
But all this was in the past, concealed for the time being by veil of death.
This time Aoth was almost a regular ghoul. A bit to smarter, with one-two unusual skills, but nothing special.
Aoth became free at that time. His ex-companion familiar killed the ghoul who was Aoth's master and this has provided him with the opportunities. First purpose - survive. Better hide, longer unlife. This is the ninja's path. Hide, poison and sneak attacks. Nine (later - eleven) times 1 round invisibility every day isn't bad. Especially ninja's invisibility which doesn't fall after attacks. And Wis to AC is very valuable for Wis based build. +2d6 Sudden Strike isn't so much now: with BAB from 1 to 4 and without TWF Aoth can't manage something great about this ability.
When some safety come, Aoth started bring back his memories, but this didn't give him peace. Remembering gave only pain, and he stopped. Recall feats and recall class abilities don't do almost anything. Aoth have no spellcasting at this levels including "recalled" druid's spellcasting, because he is Chaotic Evil and all that he can recall - abilities of ex-druid. Yes, it will work later, some as prerequisites, some will turn on itself, but now this all is dead wood weight.
+4 turn resistance (addition to Ghoul's +2) are always welcome.
Aoth realized he can't be a druid again. This path is now closed. And he turned in the exact opposite - the Blighter. With partial former memories he became stronger. Natural Spell's profit is oblivious. As like as profit from Frozen Wild Shape. Southern Magician and Obtain Familiar can work, but very limited. And of course we should look at the main dish - Blighter and his abilities. Spellcasting is something good. With a very limited spell list it isn't perfect, but Fell Drain Chill Touch for creature with three natural attacks and paralysis for minutes. Languor, Flame Strike, Animate Dead and Create Undead are useful, too.
About CL.

The blighter’s caster level is equal to her blighter level plus her druid level.

Recall Class Features (Ex): At 2nd level, an emancipated spawn remembers more of her former existence. She now can use all the class features of one former class, as a character of that former class’s level.
I think, despite the absence of real druid levels, it should be counted for the purpose of CL calculation. It means CL is 9+Blighter level.
Blightfire on 11th ECL isn't significant, but all-day 5d6 fire damage can be used in some cases. Likewise Deforestation. Another thing is Sustenance. Ghouls are Diet Dependent and while it isn't something wrong for renewed Aoth to eat somebody, circumstances happen, and it's good to have emancipation from this dependence.
Speak with dead animal and Contagious touch can be used, but are very situational.
And main guest - Undead Wild Shape. It makes no longer useless Natural Spell and Frozen Wild Shape. And Serpent's Venom later. For the record. I was very surprised that Undead Wild Shape is (SP)! I used it for nothing, but this is a very curious fact! Potentially it can work with Corpsecrafter feat line, but it is very debatable and I didn't rely on it, but if it work Ability Focus (paralysis) and Improved Paralysis can be easily changed on Corpsecrafter and Deadly Chill.
Interaction between Frozen Wild Shape and Undead Wild Shape is obscure. Should I add the skeleton template after selecting Frozen form or it is replacing skeletal form fully? I think more RAI is first reading and proceed from it. Anyway, Hydra Skeleton will be available only on 19 ECL. Until this moment there are nothing better than Dire Bear or Cave Anklyosaurus if we want more AC.
Four more levels of spells, some are useful (foresight, implosion, greater dispel magic), some not so much.
Animate Dead Animal is a good free undead source, but very picky about the type of bodies.
Unbond is interesting. First, it can be used against an enemy, sometimes with very high efficiency, if the enemy is a mounted paladin or druid with a pet Tyrannosaurus. But the second use is for Aoth himself. He still has Obtain Familiar feat and can use it due Southern Magician, but no-one new animal can wake in him some good feelings, and Unbond gives him the opportunity to freely change Familiars when he wants without any experience loss.
Finally Undead wild shape (Huge) came! Aoth can now turn into Ten-Headed Hydra Skeleton (or as I think Twelve because Blighter levels should stack with effective druid level from Arcane Hierophant's recalled Wild Shape ability)! This is a best combat form. I don't need to explain why. Plus paralysis, plus Serpent's Venom, plus Fell Drain Chill Touch. All this together give Aoth good offensive capacity.
And last but not least - Arcane Strike feat. Up to +9 to all attacks and up to 9d4 each attack's damage. With 12 attacks. Sounds good!
At the very end Aoth can do 12 attacks in standard action, charge or AoO.
Maximally every attack has +24 attack bonus and does 1d10+6+2d6+9d4 damage plus 1d6 negative energy damage plus 1 point of Strength damage with DC 19 plus 1 negative level plus paralysis with DC 30 plus poison (1d6 Con/1d6 Con) with DC 18.


Yes, I know.

Forbidden: Classes from the PHB
But I didn't use it. There is no Druid in my actual build. Yes, you can see it in "What did erase Death?" table, but death really erased it all. Aoth no longer Druid, he is Ghoul 5/Ninja 3/Emancipated Spawn 2/Blighter 10. See? No Druid. Was, but it was in the past. And I think it's enough to meet Blighter requirements.
I insist this is unupdated 3.0 material and it allowed for competition. What? Libris Mortis The Ghoul/Ghast Monster Class? No, no, no. It isn't the same. Look at the names. Do you see differences? Quod erat demonstrandum.
I was very disappointed when saw this topic (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641278-A-silly-build-with-silly-damage) on the very next day after I catch my entry idea. Who reads my thoughts? Stop this right now!
But seriously, I don't pretend on "all touches in one standard" reading, but having three-to-twelve natural attacks I'm very enthusiastically looking at this part.

Unarmed and Natural Attacks with Touch Spells: If you hold the charge of a touch spell, you can make a normal unarmed attack or an attack with a natural weapon at a later time. In this case, you’re considered armed only if your unarmed attack or natural weapon attack doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. Otherwise, you provoke attacks of opportunity as normal. If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon, and the spell discharges. If the attack misses, you’re still holding the charge.
Reading 3.0 book Masters of the Wild I found 3.0 version of the Blighter. There are many differences, but spell lists in general look similar. But the 3.0 version has only 6 levels of spells and has some spells that weren't updated. I think as the successor 3.5 Blighter can cast them. This spells are:
Kiss of Death (4th) - Creates reusable poison, delivered by touch attack.
Protection from All Elements (5th) - Reduces the effects of all elemental spells.
Invulnerability to Elements (6th) - Grants immunity to energy damage.

Last two are slightly too much for 5th and 6th level, I can agree to 6th and 8th.
Yes, this feat has the prerequisite "Ability to cast 3rd-level arcane spells" with which Southern Magician helped me, but the feat's benefit doesn't say that I can't use it with non arcane spell slots.

When you activate this feat (a free action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity), you can channel arcane energy into a melee weapon, your unarmed strike, or natural weapons. You must sacrifice one of your spells for the day (of 1st level or higher) to do this, but you gain a bonus on all your attack rolls for 1 round equal to the level of the spell sacrificed, as well as extra damage equal to 1d4 points x the level of the spell sacrificed. The bonus you add to your attack rolls from this feat cannot be greater than your base attack bonus.
So it should work with Blighter spells, too. Even without using Southern Magician (and I of course can use it if you don't agree with my reading).
I want to talk about Skeleton Hydra. This is a great monster with very poor wording. Part about severing heads and springing new isn't either Special Attack or Special Quality and I don't know how should it work with Skeleton template.

As a standard action, you can attempt a Spot
check to find a weakness in your opponent’s defenses. The DC of this check equals the opponent’s AC. If the check succeeds, your next attack against that opponent (which must be made no later than your next turn) is treated as a touch attack.
Idea is that Twelve-Headed Hydra's 12 bites is an attack. One single attack. So all 12 should be treated as a touch attack.

Ghoul Monster Class - Savage Species, p. 173
Ninja - Complete Adventurer, p. 5
Emancipated Spawn - Savage Species, p. 75
Blighter - Complete Divine, p. 23
Arcane Hierophant - Races of the Wild, p. 108
Ability Focus - Monster Manual V, p. 204
Expanded Ki Pool - Complete Scoundrel, p. 77
Improved Paralysis - Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead, p. 27
Frozen Wild Shape - Frostburn, p. 48
Obtain Familiar - Complete Arcane, p. 81
Southern Magician - Races of Faerûn, p. 168
Versatile Spellcaster - Races of the Dragon, p. 101
Fell Drain - Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead, p. 27
Serpent's Venom - Complete Divine, p. 84
Arcane Strike - Complete Warrior, p. 96
Extreme Leap, Spot the Weak Point, Swift Concentration, Clarity of Vision, Listen to This - Complete Scoundrel, p. 84-90
Corpsecrafter - Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead, p. 25
Deadly Chill - Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead, p. 25
Cave Anklyosaurus - Miniatures Handbook, p. 57
Dire Bear - Monster Manual, p. 63

Druid, Natural Spell - PHB
Spells - PHB, Complete Divine, Masters of the Wild

Honorable mention:
Death of a Familiar's Master - Tome And Blood, p. 12

[Thurbane]

Gentlefolk, we've asked many important questions over our time here, in this wonderful round of Junkyard Wars. Hopefully, we've managed to answer some. Can samurai be used effectively? Is the presence of dismissal on the Wu Jen spell list making this too easy? Was it always this frustrating to get feats without a fighter/ranger dip? These, and many more, are the questions this round forces us to ask.

Naturally, we can't answer all of them. Some questions have to remain unanswered. But one was doomed from the start to remain unasked. A question that would not let us carry on as if our actions here had any meaning. A question that had only madness and despair as the fruits of the inquiry. A question that cuts so deep into the heart of what it is to be a human that it drives us away, screaming in terror, into the night. This question was doomed to remain unasked.

But the build before you was meant to subvert that fate.

for as terrifying as that question is, it should be asked. It has to be asked. It must be asked.










WHAT









IS









TRUTH?





https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9PdZUIXmZ5c/WlsrsuT6DOI/AAAAAAAABIY/f-NXb561Zyk0aPRoZ7rYDQ3YQ_Yi3FrbACLcBGAs/s1600/Elven%2BArcher.jpg


The Question (AKA Our Hero)

CG Noncombatant Female Neraph, Ardent (CPsi p.6) 10 / Order of The Bow Initiate (CW p.68) 10.

Str 14, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 18, Cha 8. All advancements go to wis.

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features Powers Known
1st Ardent 1 0 0 0 2 Craft (bowmaking) 1, Psicraft 3. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot (F), Weapon Focus: Composite Longbow (b) Conflict Mantle (CPsi p. 67), Freedom Mantle (CPsi p. 69) Dimension Hop (CPsi p. 83), Metaphysical Weapon
2nd Ardent 2 1 0 0 3 Craft (bowmaking) 2, Psicraft 3. - Time Mantle (CPsi p. 71) Deceleration
3rd Ardent 3 2 1 1 3 Craft (bowmaking) 3, Psicraft 3. Zen Archery (CW p. 106) - Hustle
4th Ardent 4 3 1 1 4 Craft (bowmaking) 4, Psicraft 3. - - Offensive Prescience
5th Ardent 5 3 1 1 4 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Psicraft 3. - Natural World Mantle (CPsi p. 71) Time Hop
6th Ardent 6 4 2 2 5 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion) 1, Psicraft 3. Rapid Shot - Psionic Lion's Charge
7th Ardent 7 5 2 2 5 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 3. - - Metamorphosis
8th Order of The Bow Initiate 1 6 2 4 7 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 3.5. - Ranged Precision +1d8 -
9th Order of The Bow Initiate 2 7 2 5 8 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4. Practiced Manifester (CPsi p. 57) Close Combat Shot -
10th Order of The Bow Initiate 3 8 3 5 8 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 1. - Ranged Precision +2d8 -
11th Order of The Bow Initiate 4 9 3 6 9 Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 2. Greater Weapon Focus (b) - -
12th Ardent 8 10 3 6 10 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (religion 2), Psicraft 4, Spot 2. Linked Power (CPsi p. 62) Replace Primary Mantle: Conflict with Time Temporal Acceleration
13th Ardent 9 10 4 7 10 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (religion 2), Psicraft 4, Spot 2. - - Psionic Fly
14th Ardent 10 11 4 7 11 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 2. - Dominant Ideal: Freedom (https://web.archive.org/web/20211107020832/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a) Anticipatory Strike (CPsi p. 78)
15th Order of The Bow Initiate 5 12 4 7 11 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 3. Expanded Knowledge (Synchronicity) Ranged Precision +3d8 Synchronicity
16th Order of The Bow Initiate 6 13 5 8 12 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 4. Sharp Shooting (b) (CW p. 105) - -
17th Order of The Bow Initiate 7 14 5 8 12 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 5. - Ranged Precision +4d8 -
18th Order of The Bow Initiate 8 15 5 9 13 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 6. Woodland Archer (RoTW p. 154) - -
19th Order of The Bow Initiate 9 16 6 9 13 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 7. - Ranged Precision +5d8 -
20th Order of The Bow Initiate 10 17 6 10 14 Autohypnosys 1, Craft (bowmaking) 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (dungeouneering) 1, Knowledge (religion) 2, Psicraft 4, Spot 8. - Extended Precision -

Let's break it down.

Our hero starts play as a fairly standard ardent. With +2 natural armor, +2 Dex and heavy armor proficiency, she's harder to hit than most. She also hits harder than many other ardents, with her race providing her access to martial weapons. She's mainly an archer, of course, but a greatsword is a greatsword. Weapon focus, metaphysical weapon and point blank shot help make up for the low Dex at level 1, but Dex will never improve, which is why Zen Archery comes along at level 3, making her satisfyingly SAD. Her powers are mostly about damage buffing or maneuverability, whether that be moving herself or sticking melee enemies in place with deceleration. Time hop is a versatile and potent power, appropriate for the expected power spike at level 5. Metamorphosis achieves a similar goal for level 7 – being a neraph, our hero can metamorphize into outsiders, which is extremely useful.

Complete psionic mentions ardents "seek to understand universal truths", and that's what she does. Not only does she seek truth, but she also apparently finds it – at the end of an arrow. Welcome to one of the worst PRCs of 3.5, the Order of The Bow Initiate. With 4 required feats, 2 of which support a fighting style completely opposed to what the class features do, it absolutely sucks. Shooting a lot of arrows with a full attack, thanks to things like rapid shot and the splitting enchantment from CoR p.42 (which requires precise shot), is the only thing archers do well in 3.5 except sniping from insane distance. Order of The Bow Initiates refuse to do either, and do the worst thing in the world instead. Let's see if our hero manages to squeeze something useful out of 10 levels in this class.

For now, she enjoys the secondary features of the class, but absolutely refuses to engage in the atrocity that is ranged precision – unless she UNDENIABLY has to move and is straight up OUT of power points. She's far more likely to just full attack while maneuvering with hustle and dimension hop, making her a very slippery target. She can also just change into something nasty and go melee If she'd like. This is why Psionic Lion's Charge is in this build – to support the versatility of Metamorphosis and make melee forms far more potent.

Speaking of changing into something nasty, thanks to practiced spellcaster her ML at level 10, her last level of OoTBI for now, is 10 – and that's when a new form comes online for her: Arrow Demon (MM3 p. 34). These boys have an Ex ability called Symmetrical Archery. They have 4 clawed hands, and they can uniquely dual-wield bows, attacking both simultaneously for the low price of a -2 to-hit. While surely affording or finding 2 splitting (or what have you) longbows is a longshot until very late in the game, this is still a massive damage improvement. This is the main combat form for our gal for her entire career, though she still enjoys the full versatility of metamorphosis.

Jumping back into Ardent for some high level powers. Temporal acceleration easily allows buffing to be made quicker if needed, which is excellent for our Demon Arrow shenanigans if our hero is caught without her form. Not that she's useless without it, of course. Linked power is of course the best thing since sliced bread, and provides another action economy boon. Our hero has plenty of buffs, and this lets her tag them on other buffs or on swift action powers if she's ever caught without them. It is also the penultimate feat to accomplish her secret plan. Shhh, don't tell anybody.

Psionic fly lets her fly with unwinged forms, like her natural form and her arrow demon form. At level 14, the excellent anticipatory strike comes online, alongside the Dominant Ideal ACF. Our hero's dedication towards freedom becomes absolute, which means she can augment or use metapsionic feats on her freedom mantle powers at a 2 pp reduced cost. Far more importantly, it lets her apply metapsionic feats – in her case, Linked Power – without expending her psionic focus. Bonkers already, of course – she can use linked power repeatedly with impunity, and even at a lower cost than manifesting each power individually – but next level is when everything comes online.

At level 15, ranged precision becomes a 3d8 increase. That's important, because level 15 is also when expanded knowledge: Synchronicity comes online. Synchronicity is a standard action power letting you ready an action without specifying the trigger. Linking it to another power means an extra readied action. Linking it to a swift action power, when not having to expend psionic focus, means you could get an extra readied action every turn, while still having full round actions to act in.

At the ludicrous cost of a single power point, our hero can teleport 15 ft as a swift action, full attacking while gaining a readied standard action to again fire her bow – this time, with ranged precision damage. If she's in her arrow demon form, she can fire both bows with this action. She can also use 3 pp (still nothing to her at this point, with 10 ardent levels and maxed Wis) to hustle and gain the same benefits. And she can do this EVERY ROUND, all day long.

The inherent contradiction at the heart of Order of The Bow initiate is the fact that full attacking is simply always superior for archers than doing a bunch of D8s on a single arrow, and the class already forces you to get the feats for the full attack style.

This contradiction has been solved in this build. It is custom made to be a good full attack archer, with powers like offensive prescience and metaphysical weapon, augmentable to ML 14, being put on hyperspeed by the arrow demon form. It is also custom made to consistently fire single arrows benefitting from ranged precision, and utilizing them in a far superior way to just firing them on her own turn. Synchronicity means she could save these arrows to thwart casters, while still being able to fire if that didn't end up being needed, or if another caster shows up beforehand. This is pretty much the best usage possible of ranged precision, and it can be done every turn while still full attacking consistently, with an extremely minor expenditure of resources that you'd almost always spend anyways, for the movement benefits.

This is pretty much it. From here going forward, all that happens is the existing tactics being improved upon with better numbers. Our hero's got excellent damage and utility even without metamorphosis, and action economy powers up the wazoo. Ranged precision gets up to 4d8, and then 5d8. Level 18 brings woodland archer, which is always excellent for archers who makes plenty of attacks, and no one makes more attacks than our hero. Of special note is the fact that adjust for range works for a round not for a turn, which means even the very last attack in the full attack missing is useful for us – the +4 gets added to the deadly ranged precision arrows, making sure all that effort doesn't go to waste. Level 19 brings a fourth iterative, meaning 10 arrows on a full attack (15 with a splitting bow, 20 with two). Level 20 brings extended precision – and with her movement speed from the freedom mantle, hustle, dimension hop, and fly, our hero greatly enjoys being able to hang further back while still utilizing her readied precision arrows.

The question was asked.

And against all odds...

It was answered.

The splitting property was mentioned in-text, so no need to repeat it here. SADness means we only care about Wis here - no need to boost dex or anything. More Str would be ok, but our Str is already at a great +5 as an arrow demon. On top of our early-level damage buffing powers from the conflict mantle, that's enough to make excellent damage on each of our many, many arrows, so we can just focus on getting that sweet 34 Wis. Metaphysical Weapon also means we can forget about enhancement bonuses for the bow, and just focus on useful properties. Flight, action economy nonesense, and free movement are covered in build, so resources can be diverted towards stuff like magical ammunition.

The main variation of this build is focused on the sunstitute powers ACF, from the same source as Dominant Ideal. This lets you add and replace powers from mantles. I haven't used it here, as it exists in this liminal space between an actual ACF and a general allowance for homebrew - but the fact that Synchronicity isn't on the time mantle is a damn disgrace, and I think many DMs would be willing to include it. This would save a feat slot, and make the trick come online earlier.

That's the build! It gets everything good from OoTBI without the bad stuff, in a way that is literally only achievable by an Ardent 10, and no one else. For a competition that is all about using base classes and prcs from different completes – meaning, ones that don't seem like they'd work together but absolutely do – I think that's pretty cool.

[Thurbane]

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/7b/9f/72/7b9f727b61097af0179193a0b448e51c.jpg
Worasak Suwannarach (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/orc-samurai-25f90f70-9de3-4cee-9efe-01e7b0e6f75c)

Even most scary person was born as a child. Perhaps was loved by parents and was a very nice. This is true about Mir. She was very nice changeling girl with mother, father and two siblings who loved her very much! There were nothing wrong in her family, at least nothing wrong for changelings. They were lawful people and didn't hide their nature from neighbors and were respected members of the community.
She always remember her childhood fondly. Then she had a favored game which parents play with her and her siblings. Almost every evening parents became some new peoples husband and wife sometime same race, sometime different and children were supposed to turn themselves into suitable form and spend dinner and all time till night being such persons. Mir liked when parents were very different, it was more challenging that two regular humans or dwarves. Her most favorable combination was orc and human. There are so many different orcs and humans and even more possible mixes. Very enjoyably! Later Mir understand this was not only funny game, this was a practice. And always was grateful for parents about that.
Parents always talked: "You can became anybody who you want!" and it it turned out to be true for Mir. She always like honorable warriors. Strong, brave, and frightening for all enemies. Not regular soldiers or individual fighters, but those known as samurais. For another girl it can became a problem - girls rarely takes as samurai, it is more for men, but Mir was a changeling and can be a girl, a boy, or anybody more. One day she transformed into young half-orc guy, said good by her family and went to her dream.
She succeed. Being a samurai was a hard work, but and very pleasantly, too. Mir learned to fight, to be honorable and intimidating. Years passed, and nice little changeling girl became a scary half-orc with swords and a cemetery full of the dead behind. Being perfectly like half-orc opened many ways to be intimidating. She was almost perfect poor samurai, but once she threw herself into research her intimidating abilities far above and beyond. Additionally, one time she was seen by one sensei, who teach to use mind powers in fight. He looked on Mir's fights and discovered that she has a talent in this. It gave another edge for Mir's prowess.

Samurai-14/Exemplar-1/War Mind-4/Half-Orc Paragon-1
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Samurai-1 1 2 0 0 16: {+4} Diplomacy: 4; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+4 CC} Knowledge (psionics): 2; {+4 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 2; Hidden Talent (Demoralize), Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword) (B) Daisho proficiency
2nd Samurai-2 2 3 0 0 4: {+1} Diplomacy: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; {+1 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 2.5; Two-Weapon Fighting (B*) Two swords as one
3rd Samurai-3 3 3 1 1 4: {+2 CC} Bluff: 1; {+1} Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 6; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; Iaijutsu Focus: 2.5; Skill Focus (Intimidate) Kiai smite 1/day
4th Samurai-4 4 4 1 1 4: {+2 CC} Bluff: 2; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 7; {+1} Knowledge (history): 1; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; Iaijutsu Focus: 2.5; Breaking Stare 1
5th Samurai-5 5 4 1 1 4: {+2 CC} Bluff: 3; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 8; {+1} Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; Iaijutsu Focus: 2.5; Quick Draw (B*) Iaijutsu master
6th Samurai-6 6 5 2 2 4: {+2 CC} Bluff: 4; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 1; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 9; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; Iaijutsu Focus: 2.5; Racial Emulation Staredown
7th Samurai-7 7 5 2 2 4: {+2 CC} Bluff: 5; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 2; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 10; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; Iaijutsu Focus: 2.5; Kiai smite 2/day
8th Samurai-8 8 6 2 2 4: Bluff: 5; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 3; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 11; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; {+2 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 3.5; Improved Initiative (B) Improved Initiative
9th Samurai-9 9 6 3 3 4: Bluff: 5; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 4; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 12; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; {+2 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 4.5; Imperious Command Breaking Stare 2
10th Samurai-10 10 7 3 3 4: Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 4; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 13; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; {+3 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 6; Mass staredown
11th Samurai-11 11 7 3 3 4: Bluff: 5; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 5; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 14; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 2.5; {+2 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 7; Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (B*) Improved two swords as one
12th Samurai-12 12 8 4 4 4: Bluff: 5; {+1} Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 15; Knowledge (history): 2; {+1 CC} Knowledge (psionics): 3; {+1 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 7.5; Menacing Demeanor Kiai smite 3/day
13th Samurai-13 13 8 4 4 4: Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 16; Knowledge (history): 2; {+2 CC} Knowledge (psionics): 4; {+1 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 8; Breaking Stare 3
14th Samurai-14 14 9 4 4 4: Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 17; Knowledge (history): 2; {+2 CC} Knowledge (psionics): 5; {+1 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 8.5; Improved staredown
15th Exemplar-1 14 9 4 6 10: Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; Intimidate: 17; Knowledge (history): 2; {+3} Knowledge (psionics): 8; {+7} Iaijutsu Focus: 15.5; Trophy Collector Skill artistry (Intimidate), Skill mastery (Intimidate, Iaijutsu Focus, Craft (taxidermy))
16th War Mind-1 15 11 6 6 4: {+1} Autohypnosis: 1; Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+2} Intimidate: 19; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 8; {+1 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 16; Chain of personal superiority +2
17th War Mind-2 16 12 7 6 4: Autohypnosis: 1; Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 20; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 8; {+3 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 17.5; Chain of defensive posture +2
18th War Mind-3 17 12 7 7 4: Autohypnosis: 1; Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 21; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 8; {+3 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 19; Live My Nightmare Enduring body (DR 1/—)
19th War Mind-4 18 13 8 7 4: Autohypnosis: 1; Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 22; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 8; {+3 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 20.5;
20th Half-Orc Paragon-1 19 15 8 7 6: Autohypnosis: 1; Bluff: 5; Craft (taxidermy): 6; Diplomacy: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 23; Knowledge (history): 2; Knowledge (psionics): 8; {+5 CC} Iaijutsu Focus: 23; Divided ancestry, monstrous mien

* - with katana and wakizashi only.

Abilities Initial Levels Total
STR 12 12
DEX 10 10
CON 14 14
INT 14 14
WIS 14 14
CHA 15 5 20

Level PP New Powers
1st 2 Demoralize
16th 4+1 Expansion
17th 11+2 Inertial Armor
18th 11+3
19th 16+4 Hustle

Mir is regular TWFer with some intimidation side tactics.
Now Mir is intimidator with some TWF side tactics.
Intimidate grows further and Iaijutsu Focus follow. With Exemplar level Intimidate modificator is about +35, which means 45 check (take 10), plus Trophy Collector bonus against all enemies in 30 ft. Iaijutsu Focus take 10 is 28 - +4d6 damage.
Intimidate +47 without any bonuses. Iaijutsu Focus gives +6d6.
With Hustle Mir can stunlock via Imperious Command against all enemies in 30 ft. and do full attack every round for 6 rounds and stunlock with single attack all day every day.

Changeling - Eberron Campaign Setting, p. 12
Samurai - Complete Warrior, p. 8
Samurai Dead Levels - Dead Levels II (https://web.archive.org/web/20210712180912/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20070227x)
Exemplar - Complete Adventurer, p. 44
War Mind - Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 155
Half-Orc Paragon - Unearthed Arcana, p. 40
Hidden Talent - Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 67
Racial Emulation - Races of Eberron, p. 110
Imperious Command - Drow of the Underdark, p. 50
Menacing Demeanor - Races of Destiny, p. 155
Trophy Collector - Player's Handbook II, p. 83
Live my Nightmare - Unearthed Arcana, p. 94
Demoralize - Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 91
Expansion - Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 105
Inertial Armor - Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 113
Hustle - Expanded Psionics Handbook, p. 111

[Thurbane]

Sakura, The Kitsune

https://i.ibb.co/syy1dND/raf-750x1000-075-t-FFFFFF-97ab1c12de.jpg

Beguiler 1/Wu Jen 4/ Ultimate Magus 10/ Wild Soul 5

Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 16.

Put for ASI into Int, one into Wis.

The goal of this build is simple: Build and optimise the concept of a Kitsune

For the benefit of those who don't know, Kitsune are magic trickster foxes with up to nine tales. According to Japanese myth, they can live for more than a thousand years, and the most powerful can see and hear anything in the world. Sounds like an arcane caster...

Level Class BAB Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Beguiler 1 (PH2) +0 +0 +0 +2 Knowldge (Arcana) 4, (Nature) 2, Spellcraft 4, Concentration 4, UMD 4, Deciper Script 4 Dipolmancy 4, Disguise 4, Bluff 4 Surrogate Spellcasting (SS) Armoured Mage, Trapfinding
2nd Wu Jen 1 (CArc) +0 +0 +0 +4 Knowldge (Arcana) 5, Spellcraft 5, Concentration 5 Extend Spell Watchful Spirt
3rd WJ 2 +1 +0 +0 +5 Knowldge (Nature) 5, Spellcraft 6, Concentration 6, Bluff 5 Practised Spellcaster (Beguiler) (CArc)
4th WJ 3 +1 +1 +1 +5 Knowldge (Nature) 6, Spellcraft 7, Concentration 7, Diplomancy 5 Spell Secret (Silent, Ghost Light)
5th WJ 4 +2 +1 +1 +6 Knowldge (Nature) 7, Spellcraft 8, Concentration 8, Disguse 5
6th Ultimate Magus 1 (CM) +2 +1 +1 +8 Knowldge (Nature) 8 UMD 6, Spellcraft 9, Concentration 9, Deciper Script 5 Versatile Spellcaster (RotD) Arcane Spell Power +1
7th UM 2 +3 +1 +1 +9 UMD 7, Spell Craft 10, Concentraion 10, Bluff 6 Expanded spell knowledge (Ghost Light)
8th UM 3 +3 +2 +2 +9 UMD 8, Spellcraft 11, Concentration 11, Diplomancy 6 Augmented casting
9th UM 4 +4 +2 +2 +10 UMD 9, Spellcraft 12, Concentration 12, Skill Trick Chain Spell (CArc), Swift Concentration (CS) Arcane spell power +2, expanded spell knowledge (Apparition)
10th UM 5 +4 +2 +2 +10 UMD 10, Spellcraft 13, Concentration 13, Disguse 6 Quicken Spell
11th UM 6 +5 +3 +3 +11 UMD 13, Spellcraft 14, Concentration 14 Expanded spell knowledge (Haste)
12th UM 7 +5 +3 +3 +11 Concentration 15, Bluff 7, Disgise 7 Improved Initative Arcane spell power +3
13th UM 8 +6/1 +3 +3 +12 UMD 16, Bluff 8 Expanded spell knowledge (Creeping Darkness)
14th UM 9 +6/1 +4 +4 +12 UMD 17 Concentration 17, Disgise 8 Persitant Spell
15th UM 10 +7/2 +4 +4 +13 UMD 18, Spellcraft 15, Concentration 18, Diplomancy 7 Assume Supernatral Ability (Displacement) (SS) Arcane spell power +4, expanded spell knowledge (Polymorph)
16th Wild Soul 1 (CM) +7/2 +4 +4 +15 UMD 19, Concentration 19, Diplomancy 9 Unseelie courtier, spontaneous spells (1st-3rd)
17th Wld S 2 +8/3 +4 +4 +16 UMD 20, Concentration 20, Bluff 9 Unseelie bond (immune to sleep), summon Unseelie ally
18th Wld S 3 +8/3 +5 +5 +16 UMD 21, Concentration 21, Disguse 9 Touch Of Distraction (CM) Spontaneous spells (4th)
19th Wld S 4 +9/4 +5 +5 +17 UMD 22, Concentration 22, Bluff 10 Unseelie bond (+2 against enchantments), summon Unseelie ally
20th Wld S 5 +9/4 +5 +5 +17 UMD 23, Concentration 23, Disguse 10 Spontaneous spells (5th) [/td][/tr][/table]

Level Class CL 0th (BGL/WJ) 1st (BGL/WJ) 2nd (BGL/WJ) 3rd (BGL/WJ) 4th (BGL/WJ) 5th (WJ) 6th (WJ) 7th (WJ) 8th (WJ) 9th (WJ)
1st Beguiler 1 1 5 4
2nd Wu Jen 1 1/1 5/3 4/2
3rd WJ 2 3/2 5/4 4/3
4th WJ 3 4/3 5/4 4/3 0/2
5th WJ 4 5/4 5/4 4/4 0/3
6th Ultimate Magus 1 6/5 5/4 4/4 0/3 0/1
7th UM 2 7/7 6/4 5/4 0/4 0/3
8th UM 3 8/8 6/4 6/5 0/4 0/3 0/2
9th UM 4 9/10 6/4 6/5 0/4 0/4 0/3
10th UM 5 10/11 6/4 7/5 4/5 0/4 0/3 1
11th UM 6 11/12 6/4 7/5 5/5 0/4 0/4 2
12th UM 7 13/13 6/4 7/5 6/5 4/4 0/4 2
13th UM 8 14/14 6/4 7/5 7/5 5/5 0/4 2 1
14th UM 9 15/15 6/4 7/5 7/5 6/5 4/4 3 2
15th UM 10 17/17 6/4 7/5 7/5 7/5 5/5 3 2 1
16th Wild Soul 1 17/17 6/4 8/6 7/5 7/5 5/5 5 2 2
17th Wld S 2 17/18 6/4 8/6 7/5 7/5 5/5 5 3 2
18th Wld S 3 17/19 6/4 8/6 7/5 7/5 5/5 5 3 2 1
19th Wld S 4 17/20 6/4 8/6 7/5 7/5 5/5 5 3 3 2
20th Wld S 5 17/21 6/4 8/6 7/5 7/5 5/5 5 4 3 2 1

Bruce the Wizard was waiting in an inn. He'd brought snacks (Some Crutons) and... His snacks had gone. Time to make more by casting create food and water. "SNACKS!!!" So... A talking fox was eating his snacks. Meh. "Who are you?" "My name's Sakura. Do you have any more snacks?" "No... But I can teach you to make them." "Yay!"

Sakura starts out as a Wu Jen with a Beguiler dip. She mostly mostly plays like a standard controller Wu Jen, but with a few extra tricks. Beguiler gives her a ton of starting skill points (36), and some extra illusion and enchantment spells. (And more spell slots!) The Hengeyokai race lets Sakura turn into a fox (Or back) 1+CL/day. She spends most of her time in this form because of it's small size and high speed (+4 dex mod). (Remember, although gear is melds in your new from on transforming, there's nothing stopping you from taking it off beforehand) And, thanks to the feat Surrogate Spellcasting, this won't prevent us from spellcasting! She also has the skills and cha mod (+3) to act as a semi-competent face. Our Taboo is "Must wreck petty havoc on any dogs/racoon-dogs you meet"


Forms:
Fox (11 str, 19 dex, 11 con, 15 AC, small size, 1d4 bite) Small form with exceptionally high dex. Useful for the lower levels and sneaking about.

Useful spells:
Mage Hand (LV 0): It's a hand. That you can use in fox form. Handy for pinching snacks

Fiery eyes (LV1): Nice low-level blasting spell. Use to make ranged attacks in fox form.

Ghost Light (LV 1): It's a torch, with a duration of concentration, that causes fear. Good for battlefield control and to represent foxfire.

Color Spray (LV 1): A powerful control spell on weak (4HD or Less) Targets

Obsuceing Mist/ Fog Cloud (LV 1/2): Allows sakura to hide, escape, or set up ambushes. Note that it can be blown away, though

Charm Person, Disguise Self (LV 1): These help sakura pretend to be the face. She spends her spell secret on Charm Person so she can put it into normal conversation, helping her bluff and trick people.

Apparition (LV 2): Makes target look horrendous, causing AOE fear. Touch Range. Can shut down an encounter if Sakura gets in range

Entangling Scarf (LV 2): Ranged touch that entangles. Works well on monsters with bad reflex saves.

Invisibility (N LV 2, G LV 4): The ultimate sneaking tool. Useful for scouting, preparing ambushes and pranks.

Defensive Spells (All): Not dying is good. Mage armour gives Sakura AC, Blur makes people miss her. Rember you get more of these as you level up

Anything you can think of (Whatever): Sakura is a prepared caster- if it's on her spell lists and would come in handy in the next 24 hours (Say, swim in a watery area), Prepare it.




"Your really bright, you know" Said Bruce "Maybe we should enroll you at the mage's guild, you'd do really well there" "But I like you! I like that you... err... umm..." "Your cute, i'll give you that. It would break my heart to see you die to a deathtrap." Said a short man with way too many sacks and bags. "Bill... I thought you hated cute things." "Heh. A halfling can change"

Sakura enters the PRC component of this build quite early (CL 6) The PRC in question? Ultimate Magus. This is a fun casting PRC from complete mage, which has the unique feature of combining two arcane casting classes (I.E beguiler and Wu Jen). It can also fuel metamagiked spells of one class by using lower level slots from the other. However, it's not all sunshine, rainbows and double arcane caster levels. You see, Sakura has to improve her weaker arcane spellcaster class three times while progressing the PRC. However, the book defines weaker by caster level. So Sakura can take Practised Spellcaster (Beguiler) at level three and only lose 1 level of Wu Jen.
She also takes Versatile Spellcaster to allow her to use two of her low level spellslots to cast a spell one level higher. It doesn't say of what class, allowing her to turn 2 beguiler spell slots into a Wu Jen slot, or vice versa. (Potential Cheese- use it for metamagic, because their's nothing saying metamagic Isn't a spell...)
Lastly, she takes Chain Spell (Lets single target buffs and debuffs hit multiple targets), Swift Concentration (Concentrate as a swift action) and Improved Initiative (Going first=being god faster)

Forms:

Leopard (Str 16, Dex 19, Con 15, 3D4 HD, 15 AC, medium size, 1D6 Bite, 2 1D3 Rakes, Has Pounce) Not our best combat form, but works well for extended periods of scouting and/or dungeon crawling. (+4 Racial bonus on hide/move silently checks) If we use polymorph at this level bracket, this will be our preferred form- it's basically a bigger, tougher fox.

Displacer Beast: (Str 18, Dex 15, Con 16, 6D10 HD, 16 AC, 2 Tentacles (1D6), Bite (1D8), +8 Bonus to Hide Checks)
The nearest D&D has to a Kitsune. Displacement? Check. Murderous Enmity to all Tanuki Blink Dogs? Check. Extra prehensile tails/tentacles? Check. Once Sakura hits CL 15, she stays in this form for as long as possible to take advantage of the Displacement Supernatural Ability. Unfortunately, it has less Dex than a fox, so leopard is better for our purposes. For now, at least.


(Yes, i know about hydras. But i took polymorph for mainly flavor reasons)

Useful Spells

Giltterdust (LV 2): Reveal invisible creatures? With no save? Yes please! Also blinds, but we don't care about that.

Touch Of Idiocy (LV 2): Debuffs Wis, Int and Cha by 1D6 with no save. Unfortunately it's touch range. But debuffing wisdom will lower a targets will save, making this a good choice for single foes.

Fire Shruiken (LV 2): The ultimate "Create Missile" spell. 1 3D6 Shruiken per three caster levels, and they can be stockpiled! Turn any spare 1st or 2nd level spell slots into these.

Dispel Magic (LV 3): Grants a wide variety of ways to turn off magic effects. And since the check is based on caster level, Sakura's particularly adept at this.

Haste (LV 3): Haste's an excellent buff for fighters and/or gishes- one extra attack can go a long way, especially on uberchargers.

Fire Wings (LV 3): Flight. Unfortunately it's incompatible with Sakura's fox form on account of not having hands :-(

Creeping Darkness (LV 4): An extremely powerful debuff- blinds, deafens, silences. But it grants total concealment, and only works on foes that are in the cloud, right? Yes, but sakura can take swift action concentration checks to move the cloud and use her other spells to prevent movement, allowing her party to fight one foe at a time.

Spirt Binding (L (LV4), N (LV6), G (LV8) Planer Binding, Wu Jen edition. Allows you to trap any spirt, incorporeal undead, fey or elemental of less than 8/16/24 HD and make it do your bidding.

Pain (LV4): A -4 to attack rolls and skill/ability checks. Fort save lessens to -2. So, basically: good debuff, use it.

Polymorph (LV4): Gives us some extra forms. (Yes, it lets us break the game. Don't use it to do that)




Alder Bertenhuaser regretted saying "Okay, who can stay polymorphed the longest" yesterday. He'd expected his students to turn back by the next lesson. And most of them had. He, however had not expected one of his students to turn into... whatever the Kar-Turain equivalent of a displacer beast was. And stay in that form for a whole day. And actually be displaced. *Sigh* "Miss Wayne... Please explain this. Right now" "Certainly, Mr Bertenhuaser! So you see..."

Yes, Sakura is a displacer beast. Permanently. This is done by:
1) Placing polymorph in a beguiler spell slot. (it's a beguiler spell for Sakura thanks to Expanded Spell Knowledge)
2) Using Augmented Casting to sacrifice a 6th level Wu Jen spell slot to persistent spell, making polymorph 24 hours
3) Repeat the next day. This trick lets Sakura change form permanently at any time so long as she can cast both 4 and 6 level spells and charges of augmented casting (Currently 3/day by using Versatile Spellcaster on two 6th level spells)
4) Realise the Sakura can use persistomancy three times a day. on any 4th level or lower Beguiler spell. If we are being reasonable with the cheese.
(LV 1 cheese: Any 4th level or lower Wu Jen spell. LV 2 cheese: Any 5th spell Sakura can cast.)

As you might have figured out, this is the "Sweet Spot" of this build. Also, Sakura can now
use Quicken Spell (Action Economy, she can use it for free) and use Chain Spell for free, and she takes Assume Supernatral Ability to let her have a permanent 50% dodge chance unless the attack has blind sense, mind sight, etc. (Well, as as long as she's a displacer beast.)

Useful Spells:

Glibness (LV 3) +30 Bonus to bluff= famously campaign braking spell. And we can persist this. Sod it, we are going full cheese.

Slow (LV 3)
Target creature(s): can only take 1 action per round. Seriously good debuff.

Charm Monster (LV 4):
The BBEG's pet dragon is now your pet dragon. At least until you attack.

Symbol Of X. (Various): Attune the party to it or make the password swordfish, draw it on the ground, BAM! Instant ambush/trap/put the frenzied berserker to sleep!

Hold Monster/Feeblemind/Transfix (LV5/6): Win target single monster/spellcaster/horde encounter- If they fail on the will save that is (Oh wait, Sakura can debuff that with mind fog/ touch of idiocy)

Aiming at the Target (LV 5) Apparently they learned their lesson form Glibness- This is only a +10 buff and only works on a spell you are concentrating on. But it's a +10 Extend/Persist it. Right. Now.

Telepathic Bond (LV 5)+ Permanency (LV5)
Your whole party can communicate with each other. The real good part, is that you can use permanency to make it permeant. So you can make (In theory) all the important NPCs (I.E the cute knight who gave you hot chocolate) Safe. Or at least give them advanced warning.

(This recommendation require the level 2 cheese. Or a scroll)

Repulsion (LV 6) Or you can teleport to the cute knight and use this- oh. It doesn't stop disintegrate. Anyway, this is a great "protect myself from big dumb fighters" spell.

Limited Wish (LV 7) Duplicate target 6th level spell from the wizard list. You'd Be crazy not to use it.



"BOB! IT'S THE XCVIITH ALL-PLANES BEST SPELL COMBO COMPETITION-COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM THE TIPPYVERSE! "WHAT DO OUR SPELLCASTERS HAVE IN STORE FOR US TODAY, DAVE? "WELL BOB WE'VE SOME TIMESTOP BASED TRICK, A BAG OF HOLDING GATLING GUN-""WAIT-THAT'S THE ONE WON THE COMMONER ABUSE ROUND RIGHT DAVE? "SURE IS-BUT FIRST WE'VE GOT AN ARMY OF FOXES" "THAT'S PRETTY MEH, DAVE" "THIS ONE WON THE AMINAL COMPANION ROUND, BOB. IT'S GOTTA BE SOMETHING SPECIAL..."

Okay, Sakura has a level 9 spell. So now she needs to break the game. Now, we could use wish for infinite stats/spells/BBEG death. But that's not fun. So she's going to use Shapechange. This spell allows use to duplicate any non-unique creature.
Say, A Displacer Beast Pack Lord

Displacer Beast Pack Lord:
(Str 26, Dex 13, Con 20, 18D10+90 HD, Huge Size, AC 17, Displacement, 2 tentacles +25 melee (1d8+8) and bite +19 melee (2d6+4), 20ft reach)

Hmm. That's not particularly broken. What if she uses Body Outside Body?

Well... we can summon 4 Displacer Beast Pack Lords with a quarter of our current Hit Point (About 50) that act on Sakura's turn. These cannot cast spells, but that's moot when we can just beat the foe's face in with them.

But wait... what if she cast Giant Size first? Body Outside Body "creates one or more indistinguishable duplicates of you", so you could argue that any single target buffs you cast beforehand apply to the clones as well. As Sakura has a caster level of 21, she can cast the colossal version of the spell. That means her Clones would look like this:

(Str 58, Dex 11, Con 32, About 72 Hit Points, Colossal Size, AC 16 (-8 size +0 Dex, +12 Natural, Displacement, 2 tentacles +40 melee (2d8+29) and bite +32 melee (4d6+14), 40ft Reach)

Since both Body Outside Body and Giant Size spells last one minute (Two with extend spell), we can use this trick to trivialise up to three combats per day (Use versatile spellcaster cheese for extra 7th, and extend spell to make both spells 8th level)

In other news: Sakura now has 5 levels the Wild Soul class. She take the Unseelie version of the class, letting her:
1) Summon a shadow mastiff fox to do her bidding
2) Gain sleep immunity and a +2 bonus to saves against enchantment spell/effects when her shadow fox is summoned
3) Cast the spells Lesser Confusion (LV1), Detect Thoughts (LV2), Poison (LV3), Bestow Curse (LV4) and Endless Slumber (LV5) Spontaneously.


-Hit Dice: 4d8+12 (30 hp)
-50ft Speed
-Armor Class: 14 (+1 Dex, +3 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 13
-Full Attack: Bite +7 melee (1d6+4)
-Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., shadow blend, scent
-Saves: Fort +7, Ref +5, Will +5
-Str 17, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 13
-Skills: Hide +8, Listen +8, Move Silently +8, Spot +8, Survival +8
-Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Track
-Special Abilties:
-Bay (Su): When a shadow mastiff howls or barks, all creatures except evil outsiders within a 300-foot spread must succeed on a DC 13 Will save or become panicked for 2d4 rounds. This is a sonic mind-affecting fear effect. Whether or not the save is successful, an affected creature is immune to the same mastiff ’s bay for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.
-Trip (Ex): A shadow mastiff that hits with its bite attack can attempt to trip the opponent as a free action (+3 check modifier) without making a touch attack or provoking an attack of opportunity. If the attempt fails, the opponent cannot react to trip the shadow mastiff.

Shadow Blend (Su): In any condition of illumination other than full daylight, a shadow mastiff can disappear into the shadows, giving it total concealment. Artificial illumination, even a light or continual flame spell, does not negate this ability. A daylight spell, however, will negate it.

[Thurbane]

Barry Cuttingwords

Human Samurai 2, Hexblade 3, Battle Dancer 2, Ronin 1, Swordsage 1, Warrior Skald 1, Seeker of the Song 7 War Chanter 3

https://i.imgur.com/DNpzEDc.png


Abilities Initial Race / Template 4th 8th 12th 16th 20th
STR 16
DEX 8
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 16 1 2 3 4 5


You know, I’ve always considered magic to be… Inelegant. Not that it can’t be beautiful at times, it’s just… All these spells, these casters referring to themselves as « arcane » or « divine », I just never wanted to fit in one box, you know ? That’s just been, milked to the bottom, you know ? I wanted something different, I wanted to…

- Barry ! Come down now !
-*sigh* Yes, mom, just wait five minutes !

I wanted to be something unique ! And you know what’s unique ? Music ! Dance ! Art ! Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t I just become a bard ? They have music, don’t they ? Well, that’s the thing. Bards tell the world that they only use music, but in the end they’re just another type of caster. Their music is just some add-on. So I set my sights on becoming…

- Barry ! If you don’t come down right now, no dinner for you tonight !
- Mom, I was introspecting, you don’t have to treat me like I’m still a baby.
- I will stop treating you like a baby when you show me that you are an adult. When are you going to finally choose one class of your own ? You are just taking dips in a class and then you drop out of it ! Your brother already has 4 levels of warblade !
- Warblades are so mainstream, mom, everybody does it nowadays, I already told you I don’t want to just be a big stupid fighter with a big stupid axe, I want some…
- You want some variety in what you can do and not only doing extraordinary things, and not only casting some silly spells, I know, you told me that two months ago already. That’s why I managed to arrange an entry for you in the hexblade college. But you dropped out almost immediately ! I thought you would like that, becoming a gish like mommy ! I remember, when I gained my first duskblade level, I was so excited to meet new…
- Moooooooom ! The whole village knows about your duskblade junior year, you tell the story almost every week ! And for the hexblade, they’re just some frustrated kids who can’t work enough to become wizards. They’re all just « oh, look, I can cast arcane spells now, I’m invincible. » I got out of there immediately after they announced the first spellcasting course. I am NOT going back.
- *sigh* You’re just like your father. He also started Chaotic like you, but then he turned Lawful and settled down. That’s just a phase, you’ll see.
- Dad’s an expert, mom, they’re supposed to settle down, and no, it’s not a phase, I tried being Lawful, you know. Baator, I even went to samurai school ! They have such a stick up their ass I thought I was visiting aunt Yuri at the paladin barracks. I got kicked out before I could even learn the first special skill… What a waste, I would almost rather have become a fighter. But now I’ve decided what I want to be. I’ll be a warrior skald ! I’ll continue as a battle dancer for a while, and then I’ll go adventuring an compose a poem of my own adventures ! I’ve already started to write a few verse, and Delek from hexblade school said he has contacts that are skalds, and he invited me to see them in three days. Maybe I’ll have to train a bit more as a warrior to join them, but I’m sure I can do that by the end of the year !
- Oh… Barry, I’m sorry you got kicked out of samurai school, but I’m glad you found something that seems to passionate you. You know I just want you to find your way in the world, but remember that being a musician isn’t as easy as it seems. Many are called, but few are chosen, especially without enchantment magic. But I’m fully rooting for you, Barry, I’m sure that you’ll make a great warrior skald if you put your everything to it ! I just wanted you to know, that if anything went wrong, if for a reason or another you feel like you won’t be able to continue in this way, you’ll always be welcome home. Also, remember my second cousin Amatyl ? He used to be a skald too, but he became a researcher later. He calls himself a « seeker of the song ». Maybe you can go there and he can give you some advice to start your career.
- Mom, I… Thank you for your support, I promise you I’ll do my best !
- I’m sure you will, champ ! Now, would you like to have dinner, it’s been cooked for a while and I wouldn’t want to use Flame to reheat it.


Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Battle Dancer 1 1 0 2 0 28: {+4 CC} Concentration: 2; {+4 CC} Knowledge (Arcana): 2; {+4} Jump: 4; {+4} Perform (Dance): 4; {+4} Perform (Poetry): 4; {+4} Sleight of Hand: 4; {+4} Tumble: 4; Power Attack (Human), Cleave, Improved Unarmed Strike (Battle Dancer) AC bonus, unarmed strike
2nd Samurai 1 2 2 2 0 5: Concentration: 2; {+3} Intimidation: 3; Knowledge (Arcana): 2; Jump: 4; Perform (Dance): 4; {+2 CC} Perform (Poetry): 5; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 4; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Bastard Sword) (Samurai) Daisho Proficiency
3rd Samurai 2 3 3 2 0 5: {+2} Concentration: 4; {+3} Intimidation: 6; Knowledge (Arcana): 2; Jump: 4; Perform (Dance): 4; Perform (Poetry): 5; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 4; Two-Weapon Fighting (Samurai), Skill Focus (Perform (Poetry) Two Swords as One
4th Hexblade 1 4 3 2 2 5: Concentration: 4; Intimidation: 6; {+5} Knowledge (Arcana): 7; Jump: 4; Perform (Dance): 4; Perform (Poetry): 5; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 4; Hexblade's Curse 1/day
5th Hexblade 2 5 3 2 3 5: {+2} Concentration: 6; Intimidation: 6; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 8; Jump: 4; Perform (Dance): 4; {+2 CC} Perform (Poetry): 6; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 4; Arcane Resistance
6th Hexblade 3 6 4 3 3 5: Concentration: 6; Intimidation: 6; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 9; Jump: 4; Perform (Dance): 4; {+4 CC} Perform (Poetry): 8; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 4; Snap Kick Mettle
7th Battle Dancer 2 7 4 4 3 7: Concentration: 6; Intimidation: 6; Knowledge (Arcana): 9; Jump: 4; {+5} Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 9; Sleight of Hand: 4; {+1} Tumble: 5; Dance of reckless bravery
8th Ronin 1 8 6 4 3 5: Concentration: 6; {+2} Intimidation: 8; {+3 CC} Knowledge (Arcana): 10.5; Jump: 4; Perform (Dance): 9; Perform (Poetry): 9; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; Sneak Attack 1d6, Infamy
9th Swordsage 1 8 6 6 5 9: Concentration: 6; Intimidation: 8; {+3 CC} Knowledge (Arcana): 12; {+6} Jump: 10; Perform (Dance): 9; Perform (Poetry): 9; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; Craven, Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword) (Discipline Focus) Quick to act +1, discipline focus (Diamond Mind)
10th Warrior Skald 1 9 8 8 5 7: Concentration: 6; Intimidation: 8; {+2 CC} Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 11; Perform (Dance): 9; {+4} Perform (Poetry): 13; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; Bardic Music
11th Seeker of the Song 1 9 8 8 7 7: {+3} Concentration: 9; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+3} Jump: 14; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 14; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; Rapture of the song (+2AC), Seeker Music, Burning melody
12th Seeker of the Song 2 10 8 8 8 7: {+3} Concentration: 12; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 15; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 15; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+2} Swift Concentration; Snowflake Wardance Combine Songs, Song of unmaking
13th Seeker of the Song 3 11 9 9 8 7: {+4} Concentration: 16; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 16; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 16; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+1} Diplomacy: 1; Swift Concentration; Dirge of frozen loss
14th Seeker of the Song 4 12 9 9 9 7: {+1} Concentration: 17; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 17; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 17; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+2} Diplomacy: 3; {+2} Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration; Rapture of the song (+2 saves), Song of life
15th Seeker of the Song 5 12 9 9 9 7: {+1} Concentration: 18; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 18; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 18; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+4} Diplomacy: 7; Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration; Combat Expertise Subvocalize, Anthem of thunder and pain
16th Seeker of the Song 6 13 10 10 10 7: {+1} Concentration: 19; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 19; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 19; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+2} Perform (sing): 2; {+2} Diplomacy: 9; Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration; Hymn of spelldeath
17th Seeker of the Song 7 14 10 10 10 7: {+1} Concentration: 20; Intimidation: 8; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 20; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 20; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+4} Perform (sing): 6; Diplomacy: 9; Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration; Rapture of the song (DR 2/-), Ballad of agony reborn
18th War Chanter 1 15 12 10 10 7: {+1} Concentration: 21; {+1} Intimidation: 9; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 21; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 21; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; {+3} Perform (sing): 9; Diplomacy: 9; Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration; Doomspeak Inspire toughness, war chanter music
19th War Chanter 2 16 13 10 10 7: {+1} Concentration: 22; {+4} Intimidation: 13; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 22; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 22; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; Perform (sing): 9; Diplomacy: 9; Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration;
20th War Chanter 3 17 13 11 11 7: {+1} Concentration: 23; {+4} Intimidation: 17; Knowledge (Arcana): 13; {+1} Jump: 23; Perform (Dance): 9; {+1} Perform (Poetry): 23; Sleight of Hand: 4; Tumble: 5; Perform (sing): 9; Diplomacy: 9; Never Outnumbered, Swift Concentration; Inspire recklessness



Barry is not called Cuttingword yet. Instead, he fights almost like a fighter, using his samurai training to wield two swords. At this point, his first class as a battle dancer doesn't give him much, since he still wears heavy armor. With heavy armor, Mettle, balanced saves and arcane resistance, he should be pretty resilient in combat, although pretty weak to Reflex spells. He uses his high BAB and Power attack to increase his damage output and TWF and Cleave to increase his number of attacks. Hexblade Curse is a nice free action to have against a strong opponent.
Barry continues his melee training and finally enters the Warrior Skald prestige class. Becoming a Ronin grants him the ability to sneak attack people, increased by Craven for hefty damage. The penalty against fear effects is balanced out by the battle dancer's Dance of Reckless Frenesy, along with giving Barry the necessary skills for his future career. Swordsage, as always, is an incredibly powerful dip, allowing Barry to increase his sneak attack capabilities enormously. Island of Blades allows him to almost always flank an opponent, Wolf Fang Strike to attack with both blades even after a charge, and snap kick makes a third attack possible, for a total of 1d10+3+2d6+4+3*(1d6+10)=60 damage, before Power Attack, assuming all three hits hit. Sudden Leap is also useful to increase Barry's mobility in a fight, and Sapphire Nightmare Blade is used to make sure to get sneak attack even if Barry is alone.


Stance: Island of Blades
Maneuvers: Cloak of Deception, Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap, Sapphire Nightmare Blade, Burning Blade, Wind Stride
Well, Warrior Skald didn't work out, and Barry quickly became a Seeker of the Song. He gets a lot of new uses for his bardic music, but above all, he gets combat advantages when he uses them. Seeker of the Song has a lot of "bardic music" uses, but none of them explicitly states that you have to concentrate to maintain them. Most of the time, that means Barry can Inspire Greatness and use Burning Melody (or another elemental resistance song, if he knows what he's up against), all day long without having to expend additional bardic music (maybe his companion will tire of hearing him sing all the time, but they'll have to accept it. On top of the two hit dice from Inspire Greatness, Barry gains +2 to all saving throws and +2 AC due to rapture of the song, and now uses the Snowflake Wardance to be able to hit his enemies very consistenly with both blades. He also get th Swift Concentration skill trick. Normally this trick isn't very useful since the concentration still breaks if you cast another spell, but for Barry it's really good, and allows him to Fascinate people by a swift action while maintaining Inspire Greatness on himself.
Barry reaches the peak of his art. He gains DR 2/- when he sings, and can shut down most of a spellcaster's spells with hymn of Spelldeath (few casters choose to buy an item boosting Concentration, but most music users will buy one boosting Perform). He also gets arguably the most broken bardic music use in the game: Doomspeak. With a use of bardic music and an almost irresistible saving throw (including your full character level), you can make everything about an enemy suck for one round, including -10 to all saving throws, allowing your mates to SoD the heck out of them. And this isn't even mind-affecting, so it will affect almost everyone! Seriously a good tool for Barry and worth using an action on.
Barry also enters War Chanter, which seemingly give him uses of both War Chanter music and bardic music at each level, and especially give him use of the Inspire Recklessness music. This last ability is extremely good, since it allows him to put 17 points of AC into damage, then use any free action or swift action (like concentrating on his bardic music) to get his AC back, since Inspire Recklessness specifies that the AC penalty only applies until your next action.

Barry is now an excellent gish-like fighter, using his music to improve his physical and fighting capabilities while keeping high saves, high defenses and high BAB.



Champion of Ruin: Doomspeak, Craven
Complete Arcane: Seeker of the Song
Complete Warrior: Samurai, Hexblade, War Chanter, Ronin
Frostburn: Snowflake Wardance
Dragon Compendium variant: Battle Dancer
Races of Faerun: Warrior Skald
Tome of Battle: Swordsage, Snap Kick

[Thurbane]

And so, it is said he has emerged from the Quarter of Emptiness, body and mind intact. He was the same, yet he was threefold changed. For the foreigner had indeed died, and a Bedine was born in his place. The sword that came to spill our blood, has given instead the gift of blood. And he who was once but a man, was now truly of the sand.

The ancient promises had said that a uniter, he who would give us our faith, would be given the faith by that which is ours. And indeed, the prophet had brought us our god – but his belief in Shaundakul was flawed, like all the men of the wet land. He had taught us of the Rider of The Winds, yet he was taught by our lands of his truth.

For the men of the wet lands are weak and cowardly, and they named the Rider the "Helping Hand" – as if the purpose was to be guarded from the world, not to experience it. For the wind to be harvested, and not surrendered to. It is said they had built great roads and castles in his name, drank deep of the waters of the illusion of control. As if one was to resist the chaos of the world, and not to accept it. It is said that they had taken our god before we came to know him, and bound him to their walls, and to their greed. For they were weak, and weak they remain.

But our prophet had learned the truth, and he has put it in his blood. Drink of his blood, my children, of the truth made material. The Rider of The Winds calls on you to embrace your lack of control. Let the wind sweep you where it may, and let not yourself become vain, as if your decisions overrule the wonders of the land. Help your brethren by teaching them the truth of the land.

We are all but grains of sand, swept by unseen winds. Even the high and mighty of Shade are such. The only difference is between the free and the enslaved – those who accept this truth and relish in it, and those who reject it, and doom themselves to misery and pain. To truly help them is to shatter their shackles of gold and stone.

So said The Prophet. So said The Desert Wind.

https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d0000b27332990e763ccbb8073ba78f16


Alnabi The Desert Wind, Prophet of The Great Sand Sea.


CN male human. Hexblade (CW p.5) 8, Divine Crusader (CD p. 33) 1, Windwalker 1 (Faiths and Pantheons p.212), Geomancer (CD p.41) 8, Hierophant 2.

Abilities: Str 14, Con 14, Dex 8, Int 12, Wis 8, Cha 18. All advancements go to Cha.



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


1st
Hexblade 1
1
0
0
2
Diplomacy 4, Hide 2, K. Arcana 4, Move Silently 2
Weapon Focus (Greatsword), power attack
Hexblade's Curse 1/day


2nd
Hexblade 2
2
0
0
3
Diplomacy 4, Hide 2, K. Arcana 4, Move Silently 2, Spellcraft 4
-
Arcane Resistance


3rd
Hexblade 3
3
1
1
3
Diplomacy 4, Hide 2, K. Arcana 6, Move Silently 2, Spellcraft 4, Survival 1
Lightning Reflexes
Mettle


4th
Hexblade 4
4
1
1
4
Diplomacy 4, Hide 3, K. Arcana 6, Move Silently 3, Spellcraft 4, Survival 1
-
Dark Companion (PHBII, p. 47)


5th
Hexblade 5
5
1
1
4
Diplomacy 4, Hide 4, K. Arcana 6, Move Silently 4, Spellcraft 4, Survival 1
Spell Penetration (b)
Hexblade's Curse 2/day


6th
Hexblade 6
6
2
2
5
Diplomacy 4, Hide 5, K. Arcana 6, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 1
Track



7th
Hexblade 7
7
2
2
5
Diplomacy 8, Hide 5, K. Arcana 6, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 1
-
Greater Hexblade's Curse


8th
Hexblade 8
8
2
2
6
Diplomacy 8, Hide 5, K. Arcana 6, K. Religion 2, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 1
-



9th
Divine Crusader of Shaundakul 1
8
4
2
8
Diplomacy 8, Hide 5, K. Arcana 6, K. Religion 2, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
Practiced Spellcaster (CAr p. 82)
Aura, Travel Domain


10th
Windwalker 1
9
4
2
10
Diplomacy 8, Hide 5, K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 2, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Air and Travel Spells, Soft Fall


11th
Geomancer 1
9
6
2
12
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 2, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Drift I, Spell Versatility 0.


12th
Geomancer 2
10
7
2
13
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 3 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 2, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
Heretic of The Faith [Limbo] (Power of Faerun, p. 46)
Drift I, Spell Versatility 1, Ley Lines (Desert, +1)


13th
Geomancer 3
11
7
3
13
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 6 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 2, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Drift II, Spell Versatility 2.


14th
Geomancer 4
12
8
3
14
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 3, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Drift II, Spell Versatility 3.


15th
Geomancer 5
12
8
3
14
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 6, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
Leap Attack (Cadv, p. 110)
Drift III, Spell Versatility 4, Ley Lines (Desert, +2)


16th
Geomancer 6
13
9
4
15
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 9, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Drift III, Spell Versatility 5.


17th
Geomancer 7
14
9
4
15
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 12, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Drift IV, Spell Versatility 6.


18th
Geomancer 8
15
10
4
16
Diplomacy 14, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 15, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
Sudden Extend (CAr p. 83)
Drift IV, Spell Versatility 7.


19th
Hierophant 1
15
12
4
18
Diplomacy 18, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 15, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Caster level increase, Special Ability: Spell Power


20th
Hierophant 2
16
13
4
19
Diplomacy 22, Hide 5, Jump 8 K. Arcana 6, K. Nature 6, K. Religion 15, Move Silently 5, Spellcraft 4, Survival 5
-
Special Ability: Spell Power




Hexblade Spells Known:
1st level: Bloodletting (level 4, CM p.97), Distract Assailant (Level 4, SpC p.69), Karmic Aura (level 6, CM p.108), Catsfeet (level 8, CM p.98).
2nd level: Karmic Backlash (level 8, CM p.109), Magical Backlash (level 8, DrU p.62).

Hexblade spells per day (does not include Cha):



Level
1st
2nd


4th
0
-


5th
0
-


6th
1
-


7th
1
-


8th
1
0



Divine Crusader spells per day:



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


9th
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


10th
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
2
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-


12th
2
2
1
0
-
-
-
-
-


13th
3
2
2
1
0
-
-
-
-


14th
3
3
2
2
1
0
-
-
-


15th
3
3
3
2
2
1
0
-
-


16th
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
0
-


17th
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1
0


18th
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
1




Drift Effects:

I: Wilting Touch (11), Cat's Tail (12).
II: Camel Hump (13), Elk Swiftness (14).
III: Deer Antlers (15), Crocodile Bite (16).
IV: Leopard Pounce (17), Trip Like a Wolf (18).

Alnabi starts his life as a mere mercenary leader affiliated with the Zhentharim. A natural-born leader, he has his own small band of mercenaries following him, serving wherever the road takes them. He has been a worshipper of Shaundakul since his youth, but as the years go on, and as he journeys far and wide throughout Faerun, his faith strengthens - bordering on absolute devotion by the time he becomes a divine crusader of the helping hand.

These early years see him fighting with a greatsword with a few arcane tricks to help him. He's an excellent debuff monkey with his dark companion and his (greater) Hexblade's Curse, and works very well in conjunction with spellcasters and other such sorts. His dark companion is an AoE -2 to saves and AC, which makes it harder to save against his hexblade's curse – a further -2 (or -4, from level 7 forwards) on basically all rolls for 1 hour.

High Cha pumps the DC for the curse, as well as his arcane resistance. It also helps him do some diplomacy. Mettle means reflex is his only really weak save, and will remain that throughout his career – so he takes lightning reflexes. (Well, if we're being honest, he takes that because he has to, but it at least makes more sense for him than iron will or great fortitude.)

His spell list is comprised mainly of swift or immediate action spells to supplement his fighting – with the exception of magical backlash at level 8, a highly situational spell from Drow of The Underdark that could really ruin a spellcaster's day even at ecl 20. Thanks to the short casting time, they're all consistently relevant, even if they stop being really good after a while.

As a divine crusader of the Helping Hand, Alnabi chooses the travel domain as his domain. Windwalker requires clerics who take the class to have either the air or travel domain, and even though he isn't a cleric, and he would self-qualify with spells of air and travel, you can't be too safe. Besides, the travel domain frees up some skill points for diplomacy, and is fun – longstrider is better to have as a martial than as a caster, and while locate object is obviously situational, fly will be great. Practiced spellcaster comes along immediately, so all the spells feel ok to use.

As already mentioned, level 10 brings windwalker (weapon focus pulling double weight here). It provides spells of air and travel – and while Alnabi already has travel spells (for now) the air list is a great addition to his very limited divine casting, and all the early level options are excellent.

This is the point in his career when he is sent by the Zhentharim to The Sword in Anauroch, to help protect and expand the Black Road. A Zhentharim soldier, and a devout crusader of the god of roads and trade, he was a natural pick for this mission. During one Bedine raid, him and his unit got separated from the main force, and a chase ensued. They escaped into the Quarter of Emptiness, where the Bedine dared not follow.

Fifty men entered that heart of the desert. A tenday later, one emerged. Alnabi surrendered to the curious Bedine in silence – a silence he would keep for 3 months. He had done anything his captors require, except speak of what he had seen – but they could notice he was not the same man who negotiated and fought with them before. The desert wind constantly shifted around him, true zealotry burned in his eyes, and his mere touch would make the flowers of the oasis wilt. When he broke that silence, he did so to reveal his radical reimagining of the faith of Shaundakul – a doctrine that would come to be known as the Anaurochian Heresy.

Alnabi has come to believe that the faith of Shaundakul as he had known it was false and corrupted. It was never meant to be a faith of miners and traders, those who force the open worlds into roads and portals, and in these profane actions allow for the very existence of cities, towns and villages. It was meant to be a religion of those who would roam free, a religion focused on the shattering of roads, not their construction. The god was said to be a god of chaos, so why were his devotees so busy with creating order? Humanity must accept the inherent chaos of the universe, and live unattached to stone and wood. He had warned the proud Bedine that even though they had fought tooth and nail to preserve their noble way of life, the mere trading of their salt and spices for foreign goods would slowly and steadily lead to their assimilation into settled society. He pushed them to forsake all notions of trade – raiding and pillaging were the only just answer to those who would bind themselves to the road.

This was the first step in Alnabi's path of zealotry. He would spend the rest of his life spreading the faith of Shaundakul among the desert Bedine tribes, attempting to negotiate alliances between them and lead them with new fervor against the Zhentharim and their sacrilegious road across the desert. He would become the Desert Wind, Prophet of The Great Sand Sea. His form would be changed more and more by the desert, becoming less and less human and more and more divine as time would go on.

Mechanically, this drastic change is represented by the entry into the Geomancer class (to represent the transformation by the desert) and by the Heretic of The Faith feat (to represent the new line of thinking). Heretic of the faith allows Alnabi to replace the travel domain with the Limbo domain (SpC p. 284) – a domain which requires CN alignment, and perfectly fits his new view on the world, the need to surrender to a constantly changing world with acceptance, and a complete zealotry in the battle against organized society.

His spell list now includes spells from the Limbo, Air, and Travel domains (thanks to windwalker) meaning 4 spells per level. Not nearing any full caster, but much better than what Divine Crusader would naturally offer. These domains all complement each other very well, covering different aspects of play.

Geomancer allows him to better fit himself to the desert he now defends. The ley lines ability makes perfect sense for him, and helps his CL on both Hexblade and Divine Crusader spells – the latter of which he advances with every level of the class. Drift means he becomes a better combatant, as well as gaining better survivability in the desert with his Camel Hump.

Besides gaining access to some very thematically appropriate spells, Air and Travel spells from his Windwalker dip allow the Desert Wind to have access to many excellent utility spells he wouldn't otherwise have. Dimension door comes along at 12, Teleport at 13, Chain lightning at 14, Greater teleport at 15. Meanwhile he gains excellent spells all throughout with his Limbo domain – basically all of them are as worthy of mention here, so I won't go through each one individually. But come on – baleful polymorph, animate objects, song of discord, word of chaos, Otto's Irresistible Dance – Sufficed to say, he makes for a proper spellcaster as well as being a good combatant. With full investment in Cha and somewhere between -2 and -6 on saves for his enemies, he's guaranteed to be very hard to deal with.

Level 17, as usual for casters, represents a huge spike in power. He's gained 2 natural weapons from drift by this point, but at this level he gains pounce – and it's (Ex), not (Su) like the common form, a fact that'll be important in a moment. Pouncing with leap attack, a two handed weapon and 2 natural attacks is great fun. He also gains his 9th level spells – His list includes Elemental Swarm, Astral Projection, Planar Perinarch, and Mother******* Shapechange.

Thanks to his leylines, he's only 2 levels behind on his CL, which means he has access to many, many excellent forms. While shapechange loses you your supernatural abilities, and your racial Ex abilities, it does not lose any Ex abilities one gains from class levels – such as drift. Now, while some DMs would arbitrarily decide that despite the language explicitly allowing it, you lose the natural weapons (I disagree, both on RAW and on flavor grounds I think they work) but pounce inarguably transfers. Having high Cha and high BaB is extremely good for shapechange – Bab takes care of iteratives with any form that uses those, and Cha powers most Su abilities you'll want to get your hands on.

Level 18 finishes out his spell progression, and gains free trip attempts on any natural attack hit. Nice to have on his natural form, nasty as hell on any form with high Str and a bunch of natural weapons.

This is where we leave geomancer behind. We can't advance our divine casting with it any further, we got the important Drifts we cared about (access to fly/air walk makes wings less necessary), and it'd lose us a point of BaB anyway. Instead, we take the most natural class for a prophet at the peak of his powers to take – Hierophant. By level 20, we hit the all important 16 BaB, have sudden extend for shapechange or any of our many buffs/debuffs, and a CL of 10 for arcane casting and 20 for divine casting while in the desert. Get a sizing, mouthpick weapon if you really want to open your options up, but a pit fiend or a titan are pretty damn nice too. So – the full power expected from a shapechange cast by a 20th level sorcerer (which'd be the best class to cast it), except dark companion and pounce-leap-attack and 4 iteratives and trip attempts and extra natural weapons.

Pretty good for a Hexblade, wouldn't you say?

[Thurbane]

...and there we are.

Good grief, the forum made that more difficult than it needed to be.

6 entries this time around. :smallsmile:

[Beni-Kujaku]

What is truth? Baby don't shoot me‚ don't shoot me‚ no more

[loky1109]

We have a lot of interesting entries!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Judge 1 Judge 2 Judge 3 Total Place
Aoth Siahores (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345495&postcount=25) CE Ghoul (Human) Ghoul 5/Ninja 3/Emancipated Spawn 2/Blighter 10
The Question (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345508&postcount=26) CG Neraph Ardent 10/Order of The Bow Initiate 10
Mir Roar (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345509&postcount=27) L? Changeling Samurai 14/Exemplar 1/War Mind 4/Half-Orc Paragon 1
The Kitsune (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345511&postcount=28) ?? Hengeyokai (fox) Beguiler 1/Wu Jen 4/Ultimate Magus 10/Wild Soul 5
Barry Cuttingwords (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345512&postcount=29) C? -> L? -> C? Human Samurai 2/Hexblade 3/Battle Dancer 2/Ronin 1/Swordsage 1/Warrior Skald 1/Seeker of the Song 7/War Chanter 3
Alnabi, The Desert Wind (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345517&postcount=30) CN Human Hexblade 8/Divine Crusader 1/Windwalker 1/Geomancer 8/Hierophant 2

2 Samurais, 2 Hexblades, Ninja, Ardent, Wu Jen, and bunch of non-repeated PrCes.


Now, when all works are presented, I'm asking you to pay some attention to another competition - Zinc Saucier XL: Our Little Loving Friends.

[Beni-Kujaku]

I love these builds so much. Most of them are both interesting and flavorful, that's really a breath of fresh air. I feel like it's something we don't have anymore in the more standardized and disputed competitions of Iron Chef, while VC, E6 and ZS have rulesets a bit too restrictive to my taste, so thank you for bringing back this one!

[H_H_F_F]

Cool entries all around. I thought this round would get us some good entries, and I'm glad to have been right. Well done, folks.

Do we have any potential judges lurking around?

[Thrice Dead Cat]

I missed the cutoff, but had a couple of ideas. Wu Jen 4/Warlock 1/Eldritch Theurge 10/Abjurant Champion 5 was the first build I was toying with, but I just could not get the fluff to where I wanted it to go. The real idea was to use Body Outside Body to spam additional invocations (mainly Eldritch Glaive attacks) and then control the battlefield with Giant Size. Those tricks didn't come online until 14th level, which isn't great. I also felt like I had a poor time utilizing the ET class features and for the life of me, I could not create a coherent story for this character.

I also had the idea to start with Hexblade (plus maybe some Crusader just for the line of "Crusader... Divine Crusader") into Divine Crusader, but I was trying to make Ordain Champion work to no success.

[loky1109]

Judges? Anybody?

[Thurbane]

Judges? Anybody?

Indeed - any judging would be very much appreciated.

While we wait, any suggestions or requests for next round/future rounds?

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Indeed - any judging would be very much appreciated.

While we wait, any suggestions or requests for next round/future rounds?

I'm slowly working through judging, but should have everything posted this weekend at the latest.

As for ideas, how about something from Tome of Magic? We've had a few rounds with Incarnum classes either required or banned, but what about Shadowcasters, Binders, and Truenamers?

[H_H_F_F]

I'm slowly working through judging, but should have everything posted this weekend at the latest.

As for ideas, how about something from Tome of Magic? We've had a few rounds with Incarnum classes either required or banned, but what about Shadowcasters, Binders, and Truenamers?

Thank you for judging!

I feel like these classes don't have enough support outside ToM to make for a really interesting round, but I could be wrong.

[loky1109]

Indeed - any judging would be very much appreciated.

While we wait, any suggestions or requests for next round/future rounds?
1) Like this round, but cross-setting. ;)
2) Something with banned all base classes.
3) Something 3.0 + something later 3.5 - ???

[Beni-Kujaku]

1) I would like something like Shadowcaster+Shadowcrafter-any arcane or divine class. See if you can do something of it. That would be really restricted, but may be interesting.

I don't think Truenamer is doable, as it is so reliant on items and/or skill-boosting spells to do anything.


2) Or, even better, something like any prestige class with a name including "master" (Beastmaster, Master of the Unseen Hand, Master of Masks.....), +another prestige class with a name including "master", -any class in which you take 4 levels or less (Ye've got to master them classes, goddamnit!).

[H_H_F_F]

Could do some strange racial optimization, perhaps. Something like Kalashtar + Something, but no manifesting.

[Thurbane]

Those suggestions have sparked my imagination.

I have a somewhat off the wall idea for next round - not sure it will be popular, but I'll give it a try.

Also, thanks in advance for the judging Thrice Dead Cat :smallsmile:

[Thrice Dead Cat]

This is my first time judging, so I worry that even with the rubric below, things will be a little fast and loose. Rough rubric is as follows:



Starts at 3/5. It's the halfway point, so that's what I'll use for everything
I'm going to focus more on the narrative and the character you're presenting here than strictly the mechanics. So even a Fighter 20 could score well if you did something interesting with it.
Numerous dips will likely lead to penalties.
"Standard" tricks/builds will also likely be penalized (e.g., Wizard 3/Master Abjurer 10/Iot7V 7 isn't taking home any points here, ignoring the obviously banned class for the moment)





Starts at 3/5
The goal is "What sort of power/flexibility do you bring to your role, and does it achieve the goals of said role?" Essentially, I'm trying to provide some weight to avoid pure caster supremacy.
Still, bigger numbers, more skills, and more tools all count to more power.





Starts at 4/5
Illegal entry deductions apply here
Same goes for ambiguous/debatable interpretations.
Skill point math being off or missed skills also apply here (e.g., Knowledge of a creature where you have zero ranks in the appropriate Knowledge without some other way to know about it via something like Bardic Knowledge/Lore/something like the Jack of All Trades feat for a floating 0.5 skill rank/etc.)
Multiclassing penalties will earn a minor penalty if they apply at all.





You have twenty levels to play with to spend on various base/prestige classes, but even a Required Base Class/Required Prestige Class isn't necessarily enough for 5/5.
Forbidden material will be penalized.



That out of the way, let's begin!



Originality
3.5/5
I didn't expect to see any monster classes (+0.25) nor Blighter. I have issues with Blighter, but that all falls under the last category. Having the narrative be from the perspective of the old animal companion is a nice touch, too. (+0.25)

Power
4/5

You've got 9th level spells, some sudden strike, poison use, wildshape, and plenty of immunities from Blighter and being a Ghoul. You even bypass the feeding restriction placed on you by Ghoul with your Blighter levels (+0.5). You're not really an accelerated caster compared to the "standard" Blighter, but you still managed to get 9th level spells in time.

You also have Ability Focus on what amounts to a Save-or-Die from level 1 on and eventually Improved Paralysis to bump the DC up even further (+0.5). Ghouls are fragile in terms of HP due to the lack of bonus HP and 3 LA, but you eventually make up for some of that with your Blighter levels and undead wildshape. I will complain but the lack of stat block for that form given how much you dedicate to it as your combat form, but won't penalize you for it.

I disagree with how your phantom levels stack here though. Recall Class Features only works on one class. So you have Wildshape as a (ex-)Druid, not a Druid/Arcane Heirophant - more over Undead Wildshape is its own ability and does not stack with regular Wildshape. So you're down to only 10 heads on your hydra.

I also don't agree with your analysis on Spot the Weak Point either. Yes, all of your hydra bites occur on a standard action, but the attacks are still distinct, separate rolls of the dice. A shadow pouncer who uses a standard action to teleport is still making multiple attacks, even if they all occur off of a standard action. Similarly, there has to be a "first" bite even if they all trigger off the same action. I don't think it's enough to penalize you, as you've still got a decent attack routine with your hydra. Neither this nor the last ruling really affects your power here.

Elegance
2/5

Southern Magician doesn't give you Arcane Caster levels: your Druid Caster Level is still Divine even if you can occasionally cast treat your spells as arcane, not Arcane. So you don't qualify for Obtain Familiar (-0.5) and thus don't qualify for Arcane Heirophant's Companion Familiar - or rather, your Arcane Caster Level is 0 for the Familiar benefits (-0.25). This also means that Auricula's stats don't work as presented as Aoth never qualified for AH.

I'm also going to reference you to page 35 of Libris Mortis - specifically:


Because of the similarity between ghouls and ghasts, a single undead monster class covers both creatures. In effect, a ghoul “becomes” a ghast at 6th level.


The differences between the two "ghoul" classes are relatively minor. I'm working under the assumption that you can finish LM's ghoul class at 5th level rather than being forced into the ghast levels. Taken together, Aoth is down 2 Str and up 2 Wis and 2 Cha over what he would have with the "proper" version. (-0.25).


Use of Ingredients
0*/5

*I'm sorry, but you're trying to have your cake and eat it here, too. You're either an ex-Druid or you're not. You either qualify for Blighter and thus have ex-Druid-ness or you don't. Raising as a Ghoul might mean not having anymore Druid levels but Emaciated Spawn's "Recall Class Features" means you're still using (ex-)Druid here. (-3) RAW, Blighter cares about Druid levels, too. So if we go with your Druid 0, you're getting Druid 0. That means your Blighter caster level is only ever 1-10. The fact is, you don't qualify for this contest one way or the other.

I know you wrote tried to pre-empt this with your pre-challenge, but I simply do not buy it. Yes, currently, there are 0 Druid levels, but you still have Druid class features thanks to Emancipated Spawn, and, if you ever take ES 3, you suddenly have all of those Druid levels again.




Originality
3.75/5

I didn't expect to see any part of that opening race or build stub (+0.5). Using Synchronity, Linked Power, and Dominant Ideal together is a bit cliche (-0.25), but you're using it more like a Psionic Haste/Snake's Swiftness for your Ranged Precision more than anything else (+0.25). I mean, you could still use it for manifesting other powers or anything else that a Standard Action allows. You also need a flaw to qualify in time for OotBI. You could have still qualified on time without the flaw, but doing so would have meant delaying one of Zen Archery or Practiced Manifester and then dropping one of probably either Zen Archery or Sharp Shooting (-0.25). EDIT: Per the dispute, this penalty is being moved to the Elegance category and increased to (-1).

Ardents also get thrown around CharOp circles due to being able to access higher level powers via Practiced Manifester, but you're using all of that psionic power to make a frog that shoots a bow better and eventually turn into a demon that does more of the same. I'm familiar with Arrow Demons being exactly what they say they are, but I can't think of many builds off-hand that go this route (+0.25).

Power
4/5

You use the Practiced Manifester "trick" to stay on track for maximum powers known/highest power available until 14th level, so you're more or less on par with every other caster until then (minus a few powers known). Really though, you're less an Ardent than you are an Ardent pretending to be a Psychic Warrior, so that's the metric where I'll gauge you by (+0.25). Your powers known keep you mobile or otherwise at enough range to use your bow your entire career. Metaphysical Weapon, Offensive Prescience, Psionic Lion's Charge, Metamorphosis, and the rest aid in your schtick in one way or another (+0.25). OotBI doesn't do much for you other than giving you not!sneak attack, good BAB, and some feats - but you made its work.

You're effectively SAD from levels 3 on with almost Good BAB and one and a half good saves. By the time you're done, you also have access to 7th level powers and 14 ML before items boost it further (+0.25). Your attacks before level 10 aren't going to be as strong as a charging barbarian, but you've at least got range and powers on your side.


Elegance
3.75/5

You have a total of two classes, take 10 in each over 10 levels. You also use everything that OotBI offers, even if it requires Linked Power shenanigans to work! It's a minor thing, but you never pick up any ranks in Knowledge (The Planes), so there's no real way to know of Arrow Demons. A rank (or the Knowledge Mantle) would have sufficed here (-0.25).

EDIT: You could have still qualified on time without the flaw, but doing so would have meant delaying one of Zen Archery or Practiced Manifester and then dropping one of probably either Zen Archery or Sharp Shooting (-1).

Use of Ingredients
5/5

You took 20 levels in required classes - an even 10 levels in Ardent (+1) and 10 levels in, of all things, Order of the Bow Initiate (+1)! More importantly, you use the features of both together in synchronicity!




Originality
3.75/5

A psychic changeling that lives their life as a Half-Orc Samurai is not something I was expecting here (+0.5). You've got 15/20 levels dedicated to the Ingredients, and 14 of those are Samurai levels. That said, there using Samurai 10 with the Dead Levels with Imperious Command is one the better known ways to make Samurai useful (-0.25). War Mind with Demoralize for a 2/day (at low levels) way to force the shaken condition on multiple targets are both nice additions, however (+0.5).

Power
3.25/5

Mir Roar is a scary gal guy person. They can demoralize as a Move Action, and you can do that without magic items. Sadly, that ability is easily replicated with the Fearsome Armor enhancement from Drow of the Underdark. I feel that it's important to for Junkyard Warriors to be competent without magic items, but you're spending an extra 1-4 levels to get an ability that costs next to nothing by the time it comes online via Samurai (and is easily affordable by level 6 going by WBL). War Mind eventually gives you extra move actions with hustle, which helps you demoralize and full-attack, but that doesn't happen until level 19 (+0.25).

You're also spending two feats and your one level of Half-Orc Paragon for what amounts to +8 (+X from Trophy Hunter). The problem is, Trophy Hunter is incredibly restrictive and just doesn't really add anything that you couldn't get elsewhere (like, say Intimidating Rage).

Mir is more competent than a Complete Warrior Samurai, but I don't think it's better than a dedicated Spooky Samurai. I realize CHA boosts both IF and Intimidate, but putting most of your points into CHA feels like a waste. Your Samurai levels eventually turn the Will saves against being Intimidated into 1d20+misc. bonuses anyhow, so the higher CHA really only matters up until level 9, but the lack of points to spend on your other stats will always hurt.


Elegance
3.75/5

Using Racial Emulation to count as a Half-Orc for all things is a neat trick, but it isn't elegant. Essentially, you're trading a feat for a -2 Str, +2 Int, +2 Cha, and the ability to temporarily lose Menacing Demeanor if you so happen to shift out of your Half-Orc form (-0.25). I know some people will say that Changelings can't qualify for another race's Paragon class, but I don't care (and I feel like dinging you for taking the one level you do have of Half-Orc Paragon would be penalizing you twice for same infraction even if I didn't think that Racial Emulation works here).

I feel like you could have shuffled some levels around though. You delayed Examplar until 15th level even though you qualified with Samurai 10. Breaking Stare 3 only affects Paladins RAW (although one could argue that the samurai now overcomes all immunity to fear effects). I already mentioned an alternative to Improved Staredown, so that would give you another 4 levels to play with. You could have either added another ~3 levels of Examplar (gaining, say Skill Focus: Iaijutsu Focus and allowing you to add CHA to your Fort Save, or even just more levels where Iaijutsu Focus is a class skill), the rest of Half-Orc Paragon (opening up both Intimidating Rage and Orc or Human Paragon), more War Mind (more power points, up to 4th level powers), or something else like Uncanny Trickster.

Heck, Uncanny Trickster would have been perfect here! Mir could have spent skill points on the Never Outnumbered skill trick and three other skill tricks and come out with a ton more skill points per level and 2/3 advancement on one of your other class's class features.

Use of Ingredients
4/5

You have 15/20 levels of required ingredients (+0.75). I feel like you could have made some slight modifications (say, Samurai 10/Exemplar 1/War Mind 2/Uncanny Trickster 3, advancing War Mind and then either more War Mind, Samurai, or even Half-Orc Paragon). Your build is also cohesive, if a late bloomer (+0.25). You made sure to hit Samurai 14 for the guaranteed ability to Intimidate as a move-action and do eventually get extra move actions: it's just very late.

I also wish you would have spent more time describing the various options in your level breakdown. Saying "Now Mir is intimidator with some TWF side tactics" doesn't tell me much. Mir has 10 levels at that point: there should be some amount of tactics there. You have ranks in IF at every level, but you only mention it starting at level 15.




Originality
3.5/5

Wu Jen into Ultimate Magus is unique, but almost required given the lack of Wizard here. Wild Soul is a nice addition, and fits the theme of being a trickster spirit (+0.25). I also wasn't expecting Hengeyokai. You're a weird, magical fox from level 1 (+0.25). You dive into some typical Persistomancy cheese, but it's all legal and unambiguous.

Power
4/5

You're a full caster and a half. You're down one level compared to a full caster levels 1-11, are down two between levels 12-15, and three 16-20 (+0.25). UM makes up for the lost caster levels with Arcane Spell Power, so you're really just behind on spells per/day and progression for your Wu Jen side (+0.25).

Your Persistent Polymorph trick works and means your physical stats don't mean squat, even if you're staying the body of something vaguely like a kitsune the entire time (+0.25). The fact that you can do this as early as 13th level is nice, too. Polymorph is a 1 minute/level spell, so it's not unreasonable that you could keep it up through at least most of a dungeon crawl when you first get it at 9th level. It would likely just take multiple spell slots to do so.

You only call out the Shadow Mastiff, but Wild Soul also gives you some extra versatility by giving you more spell options for you Beguiler slots. It's just a shame that you didn't put SM4 on the Beguiler list. From both a power and flavor standpoint, getting the persistent polymorph is certainly the right option though (+0.25).

Also, Surrogate Spellcasting means you don't have to worry about polymorphing into something that prevents you from casting spells in the event you decide to be something other than a crazy fox. So that's nice!

As for feats, you've got all the staples for an Ultimate Magus - several metamagic feats, Versatile Spellcaster for higher level spells, and even the cheesy Assume Supernatural Ability. The only thing that sticks out is Touch of Distraction. By the time you take it, you really don't want to be in melee combat (well, not the real you. Body Outside Body you can still go to town).

Elegance
3.5/5

Minor complaint, but you didn't cite where your spells come from. Wu Jen only have spells in the PHB, Complete Arcane, Complete Mage, and Dragon Magic, but still (-0.25). Making the spell list is a pain, and you've got two lists to go through, but it's still useful to know where everything's coming from even if you only list the "useful" spells you have. Your build flows fairly well and begins to "work" as intended as early as level 6 (+0.25).

Given that your goal is to be a kitsune, you're stuck either miming actions or drawing words in the dirt until you pick up Tongues (ECL 6) but don't call out a language option until ECL 10 with Telepathic Bond. Arguably, Ventriloquism would also work from level one on, but that would eat into your spell slots. It's just a shame you didn't call that out, is all (-0.25).

You also have two classes with alignment restrictions but don't list that. Wu Jen means you're non-lawful and you have to be non-good to summon a Shadow Mastiff. So that puts Sakura in the lower right corner of possible alignments.

Use of Ingredients
4.75/5

You have 19/20 levels in required classes and even went for the underappreciated Wild Soul. Let's call it a 4.75 here. I feel like you take an odd swing into being a gish at level 15, when Body Outside Body and Giant Size become available. (Admittedly, my own idea for this contest was to go Warlock/Wu Jen/Eldritch Theurge/Abjurant Champion and use BOB and Giant Size with Eldritch Glaives).




Originality
3.75/5

The class line is a mess, but you managed to avoid taking any multiclassing penalties with it (+0.25). You've also got some solid bardic music without any levels in bard (+0.5). It's not worth a penalty, but I wish you'd have stuck around one of the three "bard" classes a little longer. You could have entered Warrior Skald as early as level 7, and WS 2 would have netted you a way to reduce the effects of Snowflake War Dance, if nothing else. Human is pretty standard as far as races go, but not really worth dinging you here either.

Power
3/5

Power wise, you're a weird, mostly feat-less fighter from levels 1-9, and then you're a less magical bard from levels 10 on.

Unfortunately, you've got conflicting requirements regarding Battle Dancer and Samurai on whether you want armor or not (-0.25). You've also got a Dex penalty, but that's really only an issue surviving from level one to two. Magic items will eventually "solve" that, and you do want as much Charisma as possible to land hits with Snowflake Wardance. Combining TWF and Power Attack isn't ideal - you lack the extra damage you get from two-handing your bastard sword, can't apply the bonus damage to your short sword, take an additional penalty trying to use both at once (-0.25). You're Snap Kick attack can at least make use of PA, but that's another -2 penalty on your attacks that round.

You've also got five separate feat requirements for all of your classes. EWP (Bastard Sword) is essentially free. Power Attack is useful, and Cleave is most likely to be useful at low levels when HP are low and a couple of bandits are a tough fight. Skill Focus and Combat Expertise sadly just don't do anything for you, other than net more Bardic Music and Inspire Recklessness at level 20. If you dropped War Chanter for the last three levels of Seeker, you could have Doomspeak online at level 15 instead of 18.

Discipline Focus is also poorly worded. At least one interpretation is that you only get the +1 to hit with the chosen Discipline's weapons, not the feat itself. The exact text is,



Weapon Focus: At 1st level, you gain the benefit of the Weapon Focus feat for weapons associated with the chosen discipline.

The counterpoint is that "gaining the benefit" of the Weapon Focus feat would also mean being treated as having it for qualifications. I don't want to start a RAW debate here, and I'm not penalizing you for this poor wording, but it is very much a grey area.

Warrior Skald's wording on granting all Bardic Music based off of just Perform ranks might be a holdover from 3.0, but it's a great way to cheat on levels and get more songs online (+0.25).

Craven feels mostly like filler. It's extra sneak attack damage (+9 when you take it is a little better than the average of +2d6) and the penalties are easily overcome with Battle Dancer, sure, but it delays things like Snowflake Wardance and Doomspeak. I just think getting SFWD online sooner would have been much more useful to you here. Same goes for everything else, really.

The Seeker songs and Rapture help shore up your defenses, but the biggest boon is being able to keep two songs going at once. That saves a bit on action economy if you want both Inspire Greatness/Courage or really anything, since Seeker leaves the door open for pretty much anything like Bardic Music with its permissive wording (+0.25).

Really, my biggest complaint is just how late everything is in your build. You don't really need Ronin levels for you primary shtick and you probably don't really even need Samurai levels. You could have instead taken Swordsage sooner, hit Warrior Skald at 7, and fit in more music.


Elegance
3.5/5

The alignment yo-yo between chaotic and lawful is messy. It would have been a little smoother to "finish" battle dancer before going into Hexblade and then Samurai, maybe saving Hexblade 3 for level 7 before going into Ronin (-0.25). Your low Dex means you're relying on either armor or your Cha for AC instead, but then that doesn't work with armor at all. Warrior Skald is really the class that makes everything else come together. It's fine having a lynch pin - I mean, Power Attack is that for pretty much every barbarian worth their salt, but it's the one that you need for everything else and delaying it just makes everything feel undercooked (-0.25).

Use of Ingredients
3/5

You have 12/20 levels dedicated to qualifying classes (+0.25), as Ronin and War Chanter don't contribute to meeting the qualifications here (although, if you had a level in Scout or something else from one of the other Completes, then they would, in my opinion). It's still 16 levels of classes coming from a Complete Book though. Unfortunately, you've got three levels that don't really fit in with the rest of what you're doing in my opinion (Samurai and Ronin, -0.25). Seeker helps you with action economy, but you're always down at least six Bardic Uses per day compared to what could be available with, well, Bard. There's really not much you can do about that, given the whole "no core classes" bit, admittedly.




Originality
4/5

I love the fluff you have here, and you've done a good job tying together the feats, classes, and story (+0.5). I was hoping to see at least one Divine Crusader entry, but I wasn't expecting to see Geomancer with it! There's something to be said for qualifying for it "as intended" with 2nd level slots from both an arcane and divine spell casting class (+0.5).

Power
3.75/5

For the first 8 levels, you're "just" a Hexblade. Spell Penetration feels like a waste right now, but it does work with your spells known and helps your Divine Crusader casting later. The bonus feat options are limited, so it's really that or Combat Casting. As most of your Hexblade spells known are mostly swift actions anyhow, you don't need to worry about attacks of opportunity. Still, I've got to ding you here for not once putting a rank in Concentration (-0.25). Yes, Diplomacy fits the story you have and you need a bunch of cross-class ranks in order to qualify for all of your prestige classes, but you have 20 levels and at least some of those 22 skill points you could have put into Concentration. It's not as if the checks are typically that high, either, as all you ever need to worry about hitting is 15+spell level (so 16 to 24).

That said, you've got the standard Hexblade package of abilities and the ever lovely Dark Companion ACF in those first eight levels and several ways to force saves against fatigue or exhaustion (+0.25). You also have the standard Power Attack option against low AC targets for these levels.

With Divine Crusader, things quickly change. Your caster level suffers, like most accelerated casters and you're never actually "ahead" on the level of spells you can cast, but you made the very limited casting work (+0.25)! I'm of the opinion that since you are not a Cleric, you don't need to meet the extra requirement that Windwalker imposes, but even if it did, the fact that it also gives access to the spells from both of the required domains. It meshes incredibly well with Heretic of the Faith and doubly so using it to a Planar Domain, which normally requires giving up two Domains (+0.25).

Leap Attack means you're getting better returns on your alpha strike. You're no ubercharger, but it's there. It also comes online with your first natural attack. You're less likely to hit with it, as you never have multiattack, but it's essentially just another iterative at that point. Same with the crocodile bite. I do appreciate the morphing mouthpick weapon (and agree on your assessment regarding Drift and shapechanging abilities), so you don't have to worry about your magical stick not being effective when you drastically change in size (+0.25).

Elegance
4.25/5

Each of your classes flow well into each other. Hexblade makes for an excellent entry point for Divine Crusader. Divine Crusader at least shares one requirement with Windwalker. Geomancer's bizarre requirements are met with an accelerated class, but you're technically behind even what a Wu Jen/Spirit Shaman needs to enter it as far as levels spent go (+0.25). From a campaign standpoint, I also see this character fitting rather well. The Anauroch is easily one of the biggest places for adventurers to dungeon delve at higher levels, so while you're not always guaranteed your +2 CL from Drift, it's not farfetched given the Forgotten Realms (+0.25). Hierophant makes an excellent capstone. You could have taken more Windwalker or Divine Crusader levels, but neither seems quite right for a devout Heretic.

On that last note, I want to talk about Heretic of the Faith. It requires DM adjudication to get into all of the details. Your story works, but it's still a sign to give the DM extra leeway to say "no" to it. It's also a little cheesy to effectively get a two-for-one deal (really, a two-for-a-feat deal in your case) on domains by trading in the one domain you do have for a Planar Domain. I don't think it's worth a penalty here, but that's just me.

I also have to ding you on Distract Assailant. I know Complete Arcane added a few spells to the Hexblade list, but I found no mention of Hexblade in Spell Compendium (-0.25). It's one spell, and I easily admit I could have missed it.

You eventually drift (pardon the pun) back into a more melee combatant with your Leopard Pounce. It has the added restriction of only working on the first round of combat, but that's neither here nor there. And like you said, it works incredibly well with the forms that shapechange can give you. You don't specify any one form and at least have three separate Knowledge skills, so I won't penalize you here for saying "I'm going to be XYZ Outsider" while having no way of knowing about said creature.

Use of Ingredients
4.75/5

You have 8 levels in a valid base class and 9 levels in a valid prestige class for a total of 17/20 levels (+0.75). You also meet the contest requirements by level 9, too (+0.25). Hexblade has always paired well with "real" spellcasters, and you're one yourself thanks to Divine Crusader (+0.25). Geomancer is an odd grab bag of abilities, but all of them but the deer antlers tie in someway to movement and/or the desert (+0.25).

[Thurbane]

Thank you so much for the judging Thrice Dead Cat - as usual, any disputes, PM me, the chair directly.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks, Thrice Dead Cat. You're awesome.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Happy to be of service! It took a little longer to review than I would have liked, but it's still technically the weekend where I live.:smalltongue:

[Thurbane]

Here's our first dispute:


Thank you so much for judging, Thrice Dead Cat! I'm overall very happy with your judgement. Sadly, I do have one significant dispute:

It seems like I've been penalized 0.25 points in originality for the use of a flaw. However, the competition rules for judging, under elegance, clearly say:

Use of flaws is an automatic loss of one point per flaw in this category.

So I unfortunately have to ask you to penalize my entry a full point in Elegance. (Please remove the smaller originality penalty while you do so, as to not double-penalize the same issue.)

Since I'm already writing to you, I might as well note that I think as a Neraph, a member of a race which originates on an outer plane only 1 plane apart from the abyss on the Great Wheel, Our Hero does have a somewhat stronger case than most Humanoids to know about Arrow Demons. A penalty still seems fair, I guess, and it doesn't seem like you use smaller fragments than 0.25. I wouldn't have mentioned it if I wasn't disputing anyway, and I understand if that doesn't seem like enough of a distinction to affect the score.

[Beni-Kujaku]

No disputes here‚ thank you TDC!

[H_H_F_F]

My HM goes to Aoth. Going for blighter on this round was ballsy.

[loky1109]

Table.
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Thrice Dead Cat Total Place
Alnabi, The Desert Wind (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345517&postcount=30) CN Human Hexblade 8/Divine Crusader 1/Windwalker 1/Geomancer 8/Hierophant 2 17.75 17.75 1st
The Question (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345508&postcount=26) CG Neraph Ardent 10/Order of The Bow Initiate 10 16.50 16.50 2nd
The Kitsune (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345511&postcount=28) ?? Hengeyokai (fox) Beguiler 1/Wu Jen 4/Ultimate Magus 10/Wild Soul 5 16.00 16.00 3rd
Mir Roar (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345509&postcount=27) L? Changeling Samurai 14/Exemplar 1/War Mind 4/Half-Orc Paragon 1 14.75 14.75 4th
Barry Cuttingwords (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345512&postcount=29) C? -> L? -> C? Human Samurai 2/Hexblade 3/Battle Dancer 2/Ronin 1/Swordsage 1/Warrior Skald 1/Seeker of the Song 7/War Chanter 3 13.50 13.50 5th
Aoth Siahores (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345495&postcount=25) CE Ghoul (Human) Ghoul 5/Ninja 3/Emancipated Spawn 2/Blighter 10 9.50 9.50 6th

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Here's our first dispute:

I appreciate this Junkyard Warrior keeping me honest. I've updated the score, having moved the Flaw penalty to Elegance and brought it in line with the standard (-1) penalty per the competition rules.

The comment about plane of origin is worth noting (and is something I missed despite rereading the Neraphim entry even), but as the competitor surmised, the penalty stays. As a judge, I'm not asking for for a ton of ranks - just that there's some way to overcome the usual "You can't beat a DC >10 for untrained Knowledge checks" that the skill imposes.


My HM goes to Aoth. Going for blighter on this round was ballsy.

Blighter was very ballsy, but I just am not of the opinion that it works for this competition. I would like to see a second judge's opinion here, if one comes forward. Otherwise, I'll wait for disputes and comments from the other participants after the disputes end.

[H_H_F_F]

Blighter was very ballsy, but I just am not of the opinion that it works for this competition. I would like to see a second judge's opinion here, if one comes forward. Otherwise, I'll wait for disputes and comments from the other participants after the disputes end.

Oh yeah, to clarify this was not at all a comment on your judgement - just an entry I enjoyed, regardless of how it should be scored. That's what HMs are for, after all.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Oh yeah, to clarify this was not at all a comment on your judgement - just an entry I enjoyed, regardless of how it should be scored. That's what HMs are for, after all.

That's more than fair! It was an interesting entry and I like the idea of spending 2 levels on ES to sneak in extra levels. It's just that in order to have the qualifications for Blighter, there are still those old Druid levels that were there at one point in the past.

As an aside, I don't know if I ever would expect to play that an ES in a campaign. It's a cool concept, but feels like a headache for the DM to run - both in leading up to the player taking their first level in the class and then dealing with the bursts in power at ES 2 and the potentially massive ECL boost at ES 3. As a two level long prestige class, it's probably the single best way to play something like a Vampire Spawn or other non-template undead without the massive HD/LA costs.

[Thurbane]

One more dispute for now:


Thrice Dead Cat, thanks for judging!

I don't agree with you about Southern Magician and Obtain Familiar/Arcane Heirophant.
I don't agree with you about your reading Emancipated Spawn's Recall Class Features about ex-Druid.

But... I took some risks when decided to build Blighter through Emancipated Spawn. I understood this. And I now have no time and willingness to discuss this topics. Especially since it'll not give me much better place.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Aoth, I understand the disagreements and do not wish to strawman your stance, but let me at least expand on my rational.

First, we'll look at Southern Magician and Obtain Familiar.



Once per day per two spellcaster levels, you can case a divine spell as an arcane spell, or vice versa. This enables you to bypass arcane spell failure due to armor, or gain additional benefit from spell that functions differently for a divine caster instead of an arcane caster, such as true seeing or magic weapon....

...The actual source of the spell's power doesn't change, nor does its means of preparation.

The emphasis is mine, but that reads to me that it doesn't give you an Arcane nor Divine caster level you don't already possess even if it temporarily let's you make a Druid spell arcane. That is to say, your Druid (or Cleric or Favored Soul or etc.) caster level is still divine. As Obtain Familiar requires Arcane Caster Level 3 and you currently have 0, that makes that feat an illegal choice.

In regards to cheating levels with Spawn, this is different than saying "Well, you could take an illegal class options at your next available level." That's always true and not productive for either of us. However, before becoming a Ghoul, Aoth was a Druid - you even provided a 9th level build stub! The fact that those levels have disappeared behind undeath means little to me. We're also in vague rules territory. What happens if Aoth is ever resurrected? Does he remain a Ninja? Do you add old and new build options? Would he need to take ES3 first?

Even if I didn't think your options were disqualifying, I'd still throw a heavy elegance penalty here.

[Birchy]

Thanks for judging, Thrice Dead Cat!

Some self-reflection on my build (The Kitsune):

- Sakura's alignment is CN. Need to mention that next time.

- I lost elegance points to my spell list. The thing is, I forgot about the "Animals can't speak common" thing. Also i need mention sources for spells next time- Rary's Telepathic Bond is cast using two beguiler spell slots (Thank you, Versatile Caster)

- On the "Animals can't speak common" problem, Sakura could use:


- Message (Beg 0/ Wu Jen 0): It may only let her bark/whine, but it let's her warn other party members of traps/monsters/danger/etc. (It also might let her talk normally- i'm not sure how the "language dependant" clause would interact with Surrogate Spellcasting)

- Ghost Sound (Beg 0/ Wu Jen 0): Lets Sakura project sound for 6 sec/level. That sound could be her voice

- Ventriloquism (Wu Jen 1): Lets Sakura throw her voice for 1min/level. Use this for conversations with people who can't speak common.

- A Pearl of Speech (Common) (MIC): Speaking any language for a Whole Day, for 300 GP? Bargain!

- Tongues (Wu Jen 3): Speak any language for 10 min/level. Sakura uses this for longer conversations/trips

- A Crystal Mask of Languages (Common/?/?/?/?): Lets the user speak/read/write five languages. Costs 2500 GP Sakura knows five languages by default, so she somehow gains Craft Wondrous Item she could craft this.

- A Quill and Parchment: Who needs to talk when you can write?

[Thurbane]

Uh, probably best not to announce which build is yours until final reveal :smallwink:

[H_H_F_F]

A few hours, he said...

[Thrice Dead Cat]

Maybe there are more disputes coming.


Also, in regards to the disputes for Sakura, it looks like my math was off on your total score. I had applied the penalty for lack of speech to the Elegance subsection but never carried it up to the total score (or maybe I forgot to apply another +0.25).

At any rate, there would be no change in the final score if I removed that penalty and don't want to otherwise lower your total score as that's an error on my part.

[Thurbane]

Sorry guys, RL got in the way. Just finishing up breakfast and getting ready for work. Reveal should be in next hour or two.

Just enough time for the reveal before work (please let me know if I missed any score adjustments):




Name
Alignment / Race
Class Levels
Chef
Thrice Dead Cat
Total
Place


Alnabi, The Desert Wind (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345517&postcount=30)
CN Human
Hexblade 8/Divine Crusader 1/Windwalker 1/Geomancer 8/Hierophant 2
H_H_F_F
17.75
17.75
1st


The Question (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345508&postcount=26)
CG Neraph
Ardent 10/Order of The Bow Initiate 10
H_H_F_F
16.50
16.50
2nd


The Kitsune (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345511&postcount=28)
?? Hengeyokai (fox)
Beguiler 1/Wu Jen 4/Ultimate Magus 10/Wild Soul 5
Birchy
16.00
16.00
3rd


Mir Roar (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345509&postcount=27)
L? Changeling
Samurai 14/Exemplar 1/War Mind 4/Half-Orc Paragon 1
loky1109
14.75
14.75
4th


Barry Cuttingwords (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345512&postcount=29)
C? -> L? -> C? Human
Samurai 2/Hexblade 3/Battle Dancer 2/Ronin 1/Swordsage 1/Warrior Skald 1/Seeker of the Song 7/War Chanter 3
Beni-Kujaku
13.50
13.50
5th


Aoth Siahores (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25345495&postcount=25)
CE Ghoul (Human)
Ghoul 5/Ninja 3/Emancipated Spawn 2/Blighter 10
loky1109
9.50
9.50
6th (HM)




Congrats to all entrants, especially H_H_F_F for taking the top two spots, and first time (IIRC) entrant Birchy for taking the bronze! Also to loky1109 for the HM.

Next comp will be up in the next 24 hours, soon rather than later depending on work. I hope you guys like it - I think it will have the potential to be quite polarizing.

[loky1109]

I think it will have the potential to be quite polarizing.

Sounds suspiciously...
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_83deV342Rw/hqdefault.jpg

H_H_F_F, both your entries are great! But I like Question more. Great matched 10/10 is so cool!

[H_H_F_F]

Yay! I'll post my full thoughts on the comp soon, just popping in to say that


(please let me know if I missed any scor adjustments

While not a score issue per se, I did vote for HM on loky's Aoth, so I'd like to see that forever emblazond (is that a word?) on the table. Unless that's not customary for JW, of course.

[loky1109]

While not a score issue per se, I did vote for HM on loky's Aoth, so I'd like to see that forever emblazond (is that a word?) on the table. Unless that's not customary for JW, of course.
Well, there is this in OP:

Looking for as many contestants and judges as feel like playing! We will award 1st through 3rd places, as well as a shout-out for honorable mention. The honorable mention prize is given to the most daring or unexpected build that doesn't gain a medal. Contestants are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM. Everyone else can vote in-thread. Ready? Set? Get to the junkyard and start building!

[H_H_F_F]

Oh, shoot. Missed that. I'll vote through PM next time, Thurbane. Apologies.

[Thurbane]

New round is up: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642413-Junkyard-Wars-XXXVI-Vestige-Binding-MWP-Binder&p=25359801


While not a score issue per se, I did vote for HM on loky's Aoth, so I'd like to see that forever emblazond (is that a word?) on the table. Unless that's not customary for JW, of course.

I'll update now :smallsmile:

[H_H_F_F]

Thoughts on this round:

First thing first: Hell yeah!

I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I feel completely casual about this and am emotionally mature enough to not care about the medals, or something. Gold and silver in the same round feel totally awesome to get.

I'm glad you liked my entries, Thrice Dead Cat! By the way, Complete Adventurer p.139 contains a note adding a few spells to the hexblade list, including Distract Assailant. I should've sourced it, but there it is. Felt silly to dispute something like that when I failed to source it in text and was already in the lead, but I'll mention it now for the record, in case someone wants to use it in the future. Concentration, however, was a very fair complaint. It's something I routinely neglect when building casters, and I need to stop doing that.

Birchy, congrats on bronze! I thought The Kitsune was very competently built. I'm not as familiar with Japanese culture and mythology, so I can't say how faithful the adaptation is, but it gave off the right feel to me. With the material translated to Hebrew, Wu-Jen gishes were some of my earliest attempts at optimization, and I'm glad to have seen them represented here – even if "gish" is a bit inaccurate until the very end of your career.

Loky, I thought Aoth was very clever, and it's absolutely my HM and my favorite build not-by-me this round, but I would've decimated your scores as well. You flew too close to the sun. Mir Roar I was less impressed with, mainly because it was less involved and felt like you weren't as interested in them, but it was a good effort to do something with Samurai, which I appreciate.

Beni, I actually worked on a hexblade-skald-seeker of the song for the first week or so! Had a few different tables done and everything, even considered dipping my toes in war chanter at some point. In the end, it was just an ugly build that felt too forced. I had to take battle dancer for the perform skills, and then I had what felt like a few open levels and wanted more unarmed defense, so I went back to my old wells with deepwarden + fist of the forest, realized I needed flaws, and just… gave up at some point, when I realized all I really had to show for "optimizing" seeker of the song was having cha and a dark companion. By that point, Hetz and Alnabi started forming, and they were just clearly superior builds to that mess. Despite actually being messier, and less optimized in a way, I like your take on it far more than mine: you found a nice thematic way to embrace the chaos. You would've been unhappy if I was judging, though – this scale of alignment shenanigans always gets a hefty penalty from me.

And for anyone interested:

The Desert Wind was the entry I almost avoided submitting because of Vizzini. Mechanically, he's actually roughly based on a build I've played long ago for a level 20 oneshot, except that one was just Hexblade 8/ Divine Crusader of Obad-Hi 2/ Geomancer 10 with the animal domain (only Hebrew-translated material was used for that one, and it was before gaining experience on the forums). The current version is much more mature, obviously, and a much more powerful caster – especially in the mid-levels. But the core late-game idea of shapechange with high-cha, 4 iteratives, drift benefits and martial feats was there even then.

I kept panicking about other people submitting hexblade divine crusaders, except everyone else will just take Hexblade 8/ Divine Crusader 3/ sovereign speaker 9 or something and I'll be the one standing there like a fool with lightning reflexes, track, and only 4 domain spells per level. I didn't want to do that, because I thought my take was more interesting and it used more completes content. Very naturally qualifying for geomancer without southern magician cheese also appealed to me, but what really pushed me over the edge to submit him was the fluff. The second Alnabi came alive in my mind, I had to let him exist out there. I'm happy I did.

The question… get ready for a long story. It has ups and downs, fear and betrayal, and finally – redemption.

Order of The Bow Initiate has been lurking in one form or another in the back of my mind for a long, long, LONG time. I find OoTBI to be an absolutely fascinating failure of design, and I've spent a lot of time on thinking of how to make it work. The two paths I've come up with since joining the forums and opening myself to new material are to either have a ton of arms and take multitasking, or be a master of readied actions while still being able to function normally. I've long thought that the only situation which really benefitted from ranged precision was readied actions. Ranged readied actions are a very useful tool to deal with many threats, especially spellcasters, and being able to pump the damage (and therefore, the concentration dc) on that single hit seemed like the only sweet spot in that trash fire of a class.

I've gone over many iterations of it over time (factorums for cunning surge, mostly), usually using synchronicity in one way or another. When this competition came up, I looked at CW, and there it was, tempting me. I decided to give it another shot.

That's when I found dominant ideal, and realized I've solved the riddle. I was genuinely excited. I've used many action economy shenanigans in other attempts to make it work, but this was certainly the one. Movement, readied actions, and full attacking, every turn, reliably, for the whole day. Phenomenal, and leaving me with a beautiful 10/10 stub.

I set out to make the best ardent archer I could. I was convinced I could make one that'd be very functional, and as an ardent with limited known powers it wouldn't feel silly to be shooting instead of manifesting in combat. Zen Archery was obvious, and I quickly realized that Arrow Demon would be perfect for me. I first ran into it here ( https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?425634-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXX&p=19553556&viewfull=1#post19553556), on a build that did a very similar thing to what I've been doing before. I remember at the time of reading being very impressed, before realizing that the volley rule meant that you couldn't add the precision damage to both arrows. But here, on a dedicated full attacker, I knew I wanted to metamorphize into an arrow demon. So, I needed to be an outsider, which meant going Neraph. That'd also net me a clean way to get longbow proficiency, which is great news – I wouldn't have to rely on the shaky reading that the conflict mantle takes care of that for me.

And the build just naturally grew from there. I set hard on complete psionics and tried to figure everything out as perfect as I could get it. Get martial buffs, get the action economy to have them on, get movement and survivability. I struggled with it here and there – I didn't really need close combat shot when in my combat form, and my only justification for using the sharp shooting bonus feat was "I'm a Zen Archer, I don't have the Dex to take improved precise shot" – but ended up with something I believed, when submitting, to perhaps be my best work. Not only did the main trick work phenomenally, it was also just a great archer even without it.

It was so good, I deleted all the fluff I wrote and even the character's name (Hetz Emet, by the way, "truth arrow" in Hebrew) so it wouldn't distract from the crunch. I knew I'd probably make more points with fluff, but I just felt like this entry transcended it. The story wasn't the story, the story was the mechanics. So I submitted.

But one thing legit kept me awake at night (well, for a few minutes, at least), even after submitting the build. I knew I had to take a flaw, as to not push zen archery too late, and (gods forbid) delay the main trick even more. But taking a flaw, and then having my last feat be just a "very good archer feat" like woodland archer? I took a flaw here – all my feats have to be completely essential, right?

That's when I suddenly thought to myself that maybe there are obvious Wis-archery synergies I'm missing. Zen Archery is often mentioned in relation to clerics – there's gotta be a Zen Archery handbook, somewhere, right? I'll find it, find a more meaningful, transformative last feat to take, and resubmit the entry before the deadline. I went online, and typed " 3.5 gitp zen archery", as you do.

The first result from the forums didn't yield anything, so I went to the first sub-result, or whatever you call these things on google showing you different pages from the same site.

What I found made me seriously consider asking Thurbane to withdraw my build.

I found this (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?584417-Optimization-Showcase-in-the-Playground-Zen-in-the-Art-of-Archery).

Piggy Knowles already did the ardent archer, and did it in a way that was shockingly similar (yet far superior) to what I had done. So close it made me doubt myself whether I've seen it before or not. Sure, he hasn't used OoTBI or my dominant mantle trick, but the brilliant Ardent Archer build I've made was already done, and done better than I ever could.

(Seriously, expansion + Zen archery to not care about losing Dex was freaking inspired. Who the hell thinks of getting big when thinking of archery?)

He used all the same mantles as me, used nearly all the same powers up to the levels I could keep up.

I felt like if I don't withdraw the build, everyone familiar Piggy's build would think I was plagiarizing his work. I wanted to write to him, but he's been off the forums for a while now.

But I didn't want to withdraw the build. After all, I should be proud that I managed to stumble on something so similar to what a master like Piggy Knowles had made! I worked so hard, and I was so proud of the result. So what if someone else came up with similar tricks before me? The core trick was different, and I almost decided that had to be enough. I wasn't getting big, and he wasn't readying shots with synchronicity. I was almost at a decision, but I couldn't make the final verdict, and sort of froze until the reveal

And I've been sitting here, biting my nails and not being able to say anything because of anonymity. I was so worried I'd get a 0 in originality or something, but I told myself that I knew I didn't just steal and modify the build, and that had to be enough.

So, I know, I know. I promise I didn't copy Piggy, but I know it's very similar. I think it's different enough to have merit, especially merit as a legitimate use of OoTBI without any questionable RAW interpretations. A use Piggy's build wouldn't have been able to accomplish, with only 8 actual ardent levels. And I'm glad the judge agreed – even if, like me, he simply wasn't familiar with Piggy's brilliant build. The only thing I'm left truly unhappy with is not sourcing Neraph. Don't know how I missed that, I would've penalized me for sure.

And… that’s it! A big relief to finally get all of these thoughts and feelings off my chest, and I'm very happy with my scores. Thank you all for participating. Many Thanks to Thrice Dead Cat for being the hero we needed, and to Thurbane for being so darn sweet. See you all next round!

[Thrice Dead Cat]

H_H_F_F, I knew you had to have found Distract Assailant somewhere. I recalled that it had been updated in Spell Compendium, but that book makes zero mention of Hexblade. I also knew Complete Arcane had a sidebar giving them more spells and checked there. After both came up empty, I just settled on "Well, I had to go looking for it, and I know it's not a core (or core+XPH) spells. So it's a penalty either way." I knew by the rest of The Desert Wind's craftsmanship that it had to be somewhere.

Even though The Question came in second, it was easily my favorite build. Like I said in my judgment, you made OotBI work! It was clean, simple, and while extra actions are cheesy, the end result is effectively one shot of ranged sneak attack. And that just makes it all worth it!

It's also funny that you mentioned Hexblade into Divine Crusader and Sovereign Speaker, as that was one of my ideas. I just couldn't write a story that justified switching from Non-good to Neutral Good, and I didn't want to go Samurai or Swashbuckler.

As for the other four builds, Sakura was probably the "most expected," if only because Wu Jen have such fun options like Giant Size, Body Outside Body, and Minute Form on their list. They're are other gems, but there are enough spells to make them something other than Wizard, Lesser. Plus, Wild Soul is a class I forget exists and wonder why it doesn't get me love whenever I flip past it.

Mir was interesting to me in that they were a Changeling. I was just sad it was mostly to trade a feat for some changes in stat penalties. I like dthe interaction between War Mind for Hustle and move action AoE intimidate use, but she just felt like such a late bloomer.

I like the fourth wall breaking story with Barry, but the shifts in alignment and opposing desires for no armor and heavy armor at low levels was just too much to swallow. I liked the idea of making a spell-less bard, especially for this competition. Mr. Cuttingswords has certainly given me ideas for the future.

Aoth also got me thinking on other ideas. Why should I ever take that last level of Emancipated Spawn? I can just lose my race, take a low ECL undead instead, and then cram in extra good stuff! It's deliciously cheesy!

But as a judge? As a judge, I feel that writing out a 9 level stat block with "Druid" as the base goes against the spirit of this competition, if not the letter of it as well. This is certainly an honorable mention, but I see Emancipated Spawn as being far too problematic to ever use for one reason or another.

With that, I do want to thank everyone for their entries and Thurbane for keeping this competition going. If I don't have any submissions for the next round, I'll likely judge again, too! The Junkyard's constraints are interesting, and I hope we keep seeing more Warriors arise from the trash heaps!