Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XXXVII

[Zaq]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/647393639886094337/853704182153871380/rsz_transparent_version.png

Welcome back to the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge E6 Appetizer Edition! This round will be a bit more of a back-to-basics kind of thing, so go wild.

The form of this challenge is to take a particular D&D 3.5 game element (our "secret ingredient," or SI) and turn it into a functional E6 (https://esix.pbworks.com/f/E6v041.pdf) build, which must feature the SI as heavily as possible. (The only hard rule about this is that you must take at least one level—where applicable—in the SI, though judges are encouraged to look favorably on builds that take as many levels as possible in said SI or that otherwise use it as heavily as possible.) Your final build submission should consist of your 6 regular levels and your first 10 epic bonus feats, though providing a snapshot at earlier points through the progression is heartily encouraged. Entries are to be PM'd to the Chair (that would be me!), and they will be posted anonymously; our volunteer judges will then grade each build on a 1-5 point scale in four categories: Originality, Power, Elegance, and Use of the Secret Ingredient. The builds with the highest three scores will be awarded medals, with the Honorable Mention award going to the non-medaling build that the Chair likes best and/or that receives the most votes for HM in this thread. (HM may not always be awarded, particularly if the number of builds is very small.) And then we all have cake!*

*Note: You must provide your own cake.

This is basically like the regular Iron Chef, and let's be brutally honest with ourselves here: this isn't a gargantuan community, and we basically all know what we're talking about at this point. Make the builds, send 'em in, post some scores, and have fun. If you've got questions, lemme know. Still, let's lay out a few rules!

Cooking Time: Builds must be submitted via PM to the Chair by 4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, Mar 14, 2022 (1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15). The reveal shall be on the first evening the Chair has free following the cooking deadline, which is hoped to be that evening or the immediately subsequent one—I'll do my best, anyway. Judging is then encouraged to go as quickly as possible; if multiple judges volunteer, we'll set about a two-week window, but if we only get one judge, we'll try to wrap up as soon as possible after that judge presents scores. (I will admit that the deadline time may not be an exact science, but don't hide from me and we'll probably be cool.)
Kitchen: Let's break this one down a bit.



ALLOWED: Almost all D&D 3.5 material published by WotC: Core, Completes, monster books, Races Of books, alternate power source books (Expanded Psionics Handbook, Magic of Incarnum, Tome of Battle, Tome of Magic, etc.), Spell Compendium, Book of Exalted Deeds, Book of Vile Darkness, Eberron material, Forgotten Realms material, and other WotC-published 3.5 material. (This list is NOT exhaustive and there are many other legal books that I did not mention by name!)
ALLOWED: Material from the 3.5 archives of the Wizards of the Coast website (including, but not limited to, the Mind's Eye articles). If you use it, link it.
ALLOWED: Official errata from WotC. If you're relying on this in a material fashion, it's a good idea to link it and to discuss it.
NOT ALLOWED: Unofficial errata, including "class fixes" (regardless of the source, including from the original author if not published in a WotC book) or fan-created content.
ALLOWED: Unupdated WotC-published 3.0 material (e.g., Sword and Fist, Masters of the Wild, etc.) except for 3.0 psionics. No 3.0 psionics allowed. If you are using 3.0 material, use the general-purpose skill updates (Wilderness Lore becomes Survival, Innuendo becomes Bluff, etc.) and the general-purpose rules updates (spells with a casting time of "1 action" become "1 standard action," etc.) when appropriate.
NOT ALLOWED: 3.0 material for which a direct 3.5 update exists. Use the updated material instead.
ALLOWED: Dragon Compendium and its errata (http://paizo.com/download/dragon/compendium/DragonCompendiumVolumeIErrata.pdf).
NOT ALLOWED: Content from Dragon Magazine and/or Dungeon Magazine unless said content appears in an otherwise allowed source.
ALLOWED: Oriental Adventures, including the 3.5 update to Oriental Adventures from Dragon Magazine #318. This is a specific exception to the "no Dragon" rule!
NOT ALLOWED: Pathfinder content, regardless of whether it is "D&D 3.5 OGL" or not. If it didn't come from WotC, we don't want it.
ALLOWED: From Unearthed Arcana: racial paragon classes, alternate class features/variant classes, spelltouched feats, and variant races. (Traits and flaws are technically legal, but traits warrant a -0.5 point penalty in Elegance, and flaws warrant a -1 penalty in Elegance.)
NOT ALLOWED: Other Unearthed Arcana content, including (but not limited to) bloodlines, LA buyoff, fractional BAB/saves, alternate casting systems, alternate skill systems, item familiars, prestigious character classes, generic classes, gestalt, etc. When you're wondering if UA content is allowed, err on the side of caution and don't mess around with it.
NOT ALLOWED: Leadership, regardless of source. Game elements functionally equivalent to Leadership (including, but not limited to, Dragon Cohort, Undead Leadership, and Thrallherd) are similarly banned. (Familiars, Improved Familiar, animal companions, Wild Cohort, psicrystals, elemental envoys, and similar game elements are allowed, and they are not considered to be "Leadership." If the difference isn't obvious, feel free to contact the Chair with specific questions.)
NOT ALLOWED: Third-party content, homebrew, or other non-WotC content.
NOT ALLOWED: Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook. Just because you're "epic" in E6 after 6th level doesn't mean that you're that kind of epic.
NOT ALLOWED: Any race or template with a level adjustment other than +0. (Or any other source of LA other than a race or template, if any such things exist.) However, as a specific exception for round 26, see below.
NOT ALLOWED: For our judges: penalizing solely based on legal sources used, regardless of whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between. If the material is legal, then it doesn't matter how many or how few books it came out of.
ALLOWED: Also for our judges: penalizing for using a source (other than material in Core; don't be vindictive about genuinely obvious stuff) that isn't listed in the build writeup. The chef may choose to present the sources in-line with the text, in a consolidated source list, or somewhere else, but if the source is listed (and is otherwise legal), it counts. If the source is not listed, you may choose to penalize for that.

If you have questions about anything in this section (or hell, in this ruleset), feel free to ask the Chair.

Character Creation: 32 point buy is assumed. For the purposes of this contest, Level Adjustment greater than +0 is banned. (This may be revised at a later point, but I don't feel that the E6 LA rules are conducive to fun in the context of this contest.) No more than two entries per chef per contest, please; if you submit two builds and somehow are so overcome with inspiration for a third that you can't help yourself, PM me and tell me which two you care about the most.
Highlighted because of past issues: It is not enough for your build to end with a level adjustment of +0. You must be +0 from start to finish. No using ANY build elements with a level adjustment above +0, even if they then get mitigated or reduced somehow. However, note that a special exception is in place for round 26...
Speculation: Please do not post any form of speculation before the reveal. Just don't do it, guys. It's not cool. This means NOT posting any of the following or anything substantially similar: what you think is going to be common, significant elements of your planned build or of other potential builds, or anything else that could directly influence someone else's build choices for good or for ill. (It's acceptable to ask for rules clarifications as appropriate, but try to avoid tipping your hand too much.) Speculation is bad because it can discourage people from posting builds and can also "taint the judging pool" when it comes to Originality, so please just try to be aware of how other people might react to your speculation.
E6: Here's how E6 works for the purposes of this contest. Build your character normally for the first six levels. After you reach level 6, you stop gaining levels and start gaining bonus feats every time you would gain 5,000 XP. Since we aren't actually tracking XP, you'll basically list your first ten epic bonus feats in the order that you take them, and we think of them as being kind of like levels. We will not use the LA-equals-reduced-point-buy rules, instead preferring to just ban races with LA, at least for now. We will not use the "capstone feats"; all feats that you take must be normal legal 3.5 feats, not homebrew E6 ones. You may not use the Epic feats from the Epic Level Handbook, though if for some reason there are non-Epic feats from the ELH that you qualify for, you may take those. (I don't think there are any, but I'm sure someone will prove me wrong.) It is up to the discretion of each judge whether this is a "hard E6" (magic above 3rd level spells is simply beyond mortal reach, items that have a listed CL above 6th are just plain not available, etc.) or a "soft E6" (if you can somehow get the magic on your character, it's yours, regardless of level), though I honestly don't expect it to come up. Don't go crazy with making assumptions about items and we probably won't have to find out.
Presentation: Please use the table found below in the spoiler. List your epic bonus feats (in clear order) after the table. If you find a clever way of formatting that that isn't annoying and that doesn't break anything, have fun; if it's portable, I may steal it for the next round. When sending your build or any disputes to the Chair, clearly include your build's name in the subject of the PM, and please present your build exactly as you want the Chair to copy and paste it into the thread.
If you're using a picture, cite the source and follow any relevant citation rules. Because we have had issues with this in the past, when listing your skills, please make it very clear how many ranks you have at each level. There are multiple ways to do this and we do not wish to cramp anyone's individual style by dictating exactly how this must look, but make sure that somewhere in your entry there's an explanation of how many actual skill ranks you have. It's still fine to list total skill bonuses, if that's your style, but don't only list bonuses; make sure that there is a clear listing somewhere of your ranks alone. You are allowed, but not required, to use this extremely spiffy tool (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BG0-5sq4dL9Ooh7-QfXuyHzO4rXSz-CRcj29t6BeUVE/edit#gid=401538143) that mattie_p cooked up (thanks, mattie_p!).

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


Code for the table:

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


Contest houserules: Nearly the same as the main contest's rules here: all creatures are proficient with natural weapons they have or may acquire, bonus feats that are explicitly granted without meeting prereqs are usable even without those prereqs, and feats that affect which skills are class skills for you and/or how you spend your skill points (Able Learner, Martial Study, Truename Training, Apprentice, etc.) apply immediately at the level at which you take them (even though you normally spend skill points before taking a feat). When taking Open Minded as an epic feat, any skill that has ever been a class skill for you (including through your class, your race, your feats, or similar game elements, though please don't muck around with retroactively making something stop being a class skill for some stupid reason) is a class skill when determining how the 5 granted skill points may be spent. All usual rules about HD-related skill caps apply. When taking Open Minded as a non-epic feat, treat it as normal; the class skills of the class you took at the level you gained Open Minded (plus race, feats, etc.) are your class skills for those skill points, similar to if Open Minded's skill points came straight from your class.
Judging guidelines: The minimum score in a category is 1, and the maximum is 5 (except in high-Originality rounds, wherein the maximum in Originality is 10). Judges are expected to be fair, consistent, and open-minded, and they are expected to make a good-faith effort to engage with any reasonable disputes that arise, especially when RAW is in question. That said, contestants are asked to not dispute more than necessary; let's do everything in good faith and really only dispute when a judge is being inconsistent, being unfair, or is otherwise grossly misinterpreting a build.
Judges may not penalize Originality solely because a build is a tribute or homage to an existing creative work (in or out of D&D canon; note that this is not the same thing as penalizing Originality for using well-known optimization tactics), nor may judges penalize based solely on sources used (whether those sources are plentiful, sparse, common, obscure, or something in between, you should judge the build elements and how they work together rather than what book or what books they came out of, as long as those books are legal for this contest and are cited in the entry).
As with the main contest, we will follow the "One Mistake, One Penalty" guideline, and it is very important that the judges adhere to it. I'm going to directly copy and paste this from the main thread, and hopefully the original author won't mind too much:
Judges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.

Non-exhaustive list of examples:

Skills
Allowed:

Giving a penalty for miscalculating the number of skill points gained
Giving a penalty for not having enough ranks to meet a prerequisite
Increasing the harshness of a skill miscalculation penalty if it affects critical skills including prereqs


Not allowed:

Giving separate penalties for miscalculating skill points and for non-qualification where the non-qualification is solely caused by the miscalculation



Prereqs
Allowed:

Giving a penalty for not meeting prereqs
Scaling the penalty depending on how important the item that the build failed to qualify for is
Giving minimum score in UotSI for not qualifying for the SI
Not giving credit for (note: not the same as penalising for) tactics using feats or classes other than the SI that were not qualified for (but see below)


Not Allowed:

"Cascading" failures to qualify - declaring that because a build doesn't qualify for a feat, for example, it also doesn't qualify for anything using that feat as a prereq
Treating a build as having fewer levels than it does because of FtQ for classes



Other general things that are no longer allowed:

Penalising because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalise if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.


Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified.
Dispute guidelines (NEW, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION): Disputing is long, annoying, and emotional. It's also sometimes necessary, but it's often not actually something that makes everyone have more fun. Let's go into a little more detail here.
Do NOT dispute to make an argument that goes fundamentally beyond what's in your write-up. It is the responsibility of the chef to make sure that the write-up is complete and contains their best arguments for what the build does and why it's awesome. If you didn't explain your tactics well or didn't spell out something that a judge misses, just do better next time. Don't drag it out after the fact.
Do NOT dispute just to be clever or witty or cheeky. Please. We're all adults here and so I assume you know what that means. Don't treat the build as a setup and your oh-so-clever dispute as the punchline. It's not as funny as it is in your head. Trust me. I've been down that road.
Do NOT dispute just to say "oh yeah, my bad, I missed that" or some equivalent. If you're not directly challenging the judge, save the commentary until after the reveal. I 100% get that the urge to respond to commentary is very strong, but type it out and sit on it for a while if you've gotta.
Do NOT dispute just to try to wheedle more points out of the judge. Note that this is different from saying that the judge is being truly unfair or is being truly wrong by black-and-white RAW. A dispute is NOT the place to try to scrape together a few last quarter-points. If you didn't put it in your write-up, that's on you. This also means that a dispute is really not the place to have long back-and-forth tit-for-tat arguments. That's a surefire way to get people grumpy. It's a contest on a D&D board, guys, not the results of a federal election.
Do NOT dispute to tear down another build. That's just plain not cool. If you entered the contest, it's not on you to judge the other builds.
DO dispute if the judge is being blatantly biased by giving you a substantially different ruling on a build element compared to another chef who used the same build element in nearly the same way. (Note that position in a build may affect if you're using that element in "nearly the same way" or not.) Please reserve this for the truly blatant examples. I mean it. Remember, it's the contestant's responsibility to make their best argument in the original write-up.
DO dispute if the judge is actively going against the contest rules. Note that there are relatively few ways in which a judge can go against contest rules (we intentionally give very wide discretion to our judges), but examples include truly breaking One Mistake One Penalty, penalizing just because of number of sources of (legal) material, and so on.
DO dispute if the judge is clearly ignoring unambiguous RAW. Note that this is for unambiguous RAW; if the RAW is shady and you're making an argument that isn't completely clear and that it wouldn't be strange for a GM to frown on, the judge has every right to frown on it as well. (You generally know when you're indulging in shady RAW. Be mature about this.) But if the judge is saying you didn't hit a prereq that you clearly did hit (and included in your write-up!), saying you can't do something that the plain text of the ability says you can do, or anything like that, by all means, call 'em out.
Do NOT dispute if the judge doesn't agree with your interpretation of ambiguous RAW. Yes, this is a retread of the previous bullet point; this is that important. If you're relying on ambiguous RAW, it's on you to lay out clearly why it should work the way you want it to work. Again, be mature and act in good faith: you really know when you're pushing things like this. If they don't like it, they don't like it. Move on.


Disputing is a privilege, not a right. In the Chair's sole discretion, disputes that do not meet these guidelines and/or that do not seem to be offered in good faith may be suppressed. The Chair reserves the right to choose to post all, some, or none of a dispute if appropriate.


Other bits and bobs: If there's something major and relevant I haven't mentioned, assume that the way I handle it will probably be the same as the main contest unless stated otherwise or unless doing so would be an obviously absurd result. If you've got questions, I'll give you answers.




This round's secret ingredient:
The BARBARIAN (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/barbarian.htm), from the Player's Handbook!



Allez Optimizer!




The Builds:

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef MinimanMidget Judge 2 Judge 3 Total Place
Bramble Wolfsoul (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395857&postcount=34) CG Jungle Halfling Barbarian 2/Battle Dancer 1/Warblade 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Hellreaver 1 Eldonauran 11.75 11.75 5th
Gromorth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395858&postcount=35) CG ex-Half-Orc Dragonborn Eagle Totem Hunter 6 loky1099 12.75 12.75 3rd
Ka'assani (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395861&postcount=36) NG Unseelie Spellscale Druidic Avenger Deadly Hunter 1/Boar Totem Barbarian 4/Crusader 1 H_H_F_F 16.00 16.00 1st
Knut Longclaw (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395863&postcount=37) TN Razorclaw Shifter Totemist 2/Barbarian 4 Venger 10.75 10.75 6th
The Incarnum Dragon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395864&postcount=38) NG ex-Duskling Dragonborn Barbarian 5/Crusader 1 Eldonauran 14.00 14.00 2nd
Mario (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395865&postcount=39) CN Strongheart Halfling Ape Totem Barbarian 5/Beastmaster 1 AsuraKyoko 12.50 12.50 4th
Wrath of the Tempest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395868&postcount=40) CE Warforged Bear Totem Barbarian 6 loky1099 14.00 14.00 2nd


Round 4: Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?542333-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(IV))
Round 5: Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?548763-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-V))
Round 6: Racial Paragon Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?551174-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VI))
Round 7: Hexblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?553767-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VII))
Round 8: Shugenja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555626-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VIII))
Round 9: Swashbuckler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559135-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-IX)")
Round 10: Crusader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?562183-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-X))
Round 11: Soulknife (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565669-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XI))
Round 12: Factotum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569723-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XII))
Round 13: Prestige Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572441-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIII))
Round 14: Mountebank (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576318-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIV))
Round 15: Sorcerer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582751-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XV))
Round 16: Dragon Shaman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585121-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVI))
Round 17: Lurk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588149-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVII))
Round 18: Paladin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591516-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVIII))
Round 19: Scout (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?595369-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIX))
Round 20: Incarnate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?599279-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XX))
Round 21: Shadowcaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?602325-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXI))
Round 22: Dragonmarks (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?606051-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXII))
Round 23: Fighter (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?611114-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXIII))
Round 24: Pets (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615226-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXIV))
Round 25: Warlock (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?617510-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXV)&p=24666502)
Round 26: Monsters (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?619170-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXVI))
Round 27: Ardent (exhibition round) (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?622593-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXVII)
Round 28: Rogue (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?623937-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXVIII)
Round 29: Signature Spells (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?627038-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXIX)
Round 30: Any Prior Ingredient (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?628860-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXX)
Round 31: Ranger (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?631229-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXI)
Round 32: Tanking (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632897-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXII)
Round 33: Psychic Warrior (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?634208-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Round-XXXIII)
Round 34: Flight (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?635332-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Round-XXXIV)
Round 35: Binder (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?637382-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXV)
Round 36: Skill tricks (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?639486-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXVI)


Round 1: Divine Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?197000-Iron-Chef-Appetizer-Edition!-(e6))
Round 2: Monk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?201548-Iron-Chef-Appetizer-Edition!-(e6)-II)
Round 3: Marshal (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?235221-Iron-Chef-Appetizer-Edition-(E6)-III)

[Zaq]

Here's a few gentle recommendations that are intended to improve scores and make things easier for the judges. As always, THE RECOMMENDATIONS IN THIS POST ARE NOT RULES. Judges and contestants are free to honor them or ignore them; my intent here is only to help, and NONE of what I'm saying here is required. (That said, did you see the new dispute guidelines? Those ARE rules, so please go read them. And I'm even going to be better about enforcing them this time.)

Recommendations:
Double-check ALL of your prereqs. Every. Single. One. Feats, PrCs, whatever. You might even go so far as to spell out when you meet each one, but again, that's not a requirement. But one of the single biggest causes of point loss is failure to meet prereqs.
Tell the judges what's cool about your build! You spent hours or days on this (y'know, probably) and know it inside and out, but the judges are getting a whole bunch of these dishes all at once and don't know the build history of each one. You're significantly more likely to score well if you spell out exactly what makes you awesome than if you try to just let it stand on its own.
Make it easy to read! Skill tables are awful, though they're an incredibly necessary evil. Full Monster Manual-style statblocks are occasionally useful but are also insanely dense if not formatted well. Judges are very likely to miss something if you aren't careful with how you present your info. Remember that judging takes a lot of time, energy, and focus, so don't rely on the judge being willing/able to decode something in order to see what makes you interesting!
Be memorable. Remember that we've all seen these ingredients used at least once before. What makes you different?

As a PHB class, the barbarian is pretty well-supported with all kinds of ACFs, feats, PrCs, etc. Go ahead and dive into that frenzy, folks, and show me what makes you different from the next bloke who gets a little angry now and then!

[Venger]

There are six levels of barbarian? Sounds like an interesting round. Down to cook.

[loky1109]

I already have an idea. It's too raw now, needs to ripen.

[AsuraKyoko]

Barbarian, eh? Sounds interesting, let's see if I can come up with something unique.

[Eldonauran]

Hmm.... Manage to catch one of these things at the beginning this time. Might toss my hat in the ring. It's been a while since I participated.

[Gruftzwerg]

I just noticed something in the rules and wanted to ask if this was changed and why?



NOT ALLOWED: Unofficial errata, including "class fixes" (regardless of the source, including from the original author if not published in a WotC book) or fan-created content.

I mean Tome of Battle *couch..
Without the so called Inoffical Errata that exists from IIRC Sage advice and customer support replies, the book has a few problematic things otherwise.

Is it really intended to exclude the ToB errata here?

[Zaq]

Right. We're not using Ari Marmell's shadowcaster tweaks or that hexblade fix from the other dev whose identity I briefly forgot (was that Mearls?) or anything like that, and yeah, we're not using the unofficial ToB errata fan project either. It's great and I support it for actual gameplay at a real table, but I feel like it's overall mostly not necessary for this contest.

To be honest, in thirty-six rounds and counting it genuinely hasn't come up. Most of the worst stuff isn't especially viable or interesting in E6 (especially when the SI isn't directly ToB-related, but even in the crusader round I don't recall anyone going infinite with WRT or anything), and there's generally not much that's so busted on its face that there's no reasonable or functional way to interpret it just in what's written. (And besides, bizarre edge cases in the rules can be fun hooks for TO.)

If there's a specific thing that's 1) common enough that one could reasonably run into it without building specifically for it and 2) actually a problem in that there's truly no functional way to use it without an explicit fix, hit me up and we can see if a universal ruling is necessary (such as the contest rules re: monks and unarmed strikes, etc.), but I'll be blunt and tell you that I'm not expecting too many such cases to really exist.

[H_H_F_F]

I have an idea, but it just almost works. It doesn't seem like I can get it to be fully functional, but I'll try my best.

[H_H_F_F]

It works. I'm in for this round.

[Eldonauran]

Just posting to acknowledge that I will be participating. I just need to finalize my entry.

[daremetoidareyo]

I found inspiration!

[MinimanMidget]

I have a build I could submit, it practically writes itself, it's just...boring.

[loky1109]

My barbarians sent.

[Eldonauran]

My submission(s) are in.

I had waaaaaay too many ideas for this one.

[H_H_F_F]

I'm looking forward to this round. Hope no one else went for the exact same thing I did...

[H_H_F_F]

Very excited to see the builds!

[loky1109]

Very excited to see the builds!

9 hours, didn't I miscalculate?

[H_H_F_F]

9 hours, didn't I miscalculate?

Yeah, but I'm pre-excited :tongue:

[loky1109]

Yeah, but I'm pre-excited :tongue:

I'm, too. )))

[Eldonauran]

I'm trying to distract myself :smallbiggrin:

[AsuraKyoko]

Err, I'm still working on it, I'll try to get it in by the deadline, but I might need an extra hour or 2 to get the writeup done, sorry for slowing things down...

[H_H_F_F]

No need to apologize! The more, the merrier.

[Mero]

Err, I'm still working on it, I'll try to get it in by the deadline, but I might need an extra hour or 2 to get the writeup done, sorry for slowing things down...

A little less than four hours left, correct? I'm in the same boat. No hard feelings if I don't make it - my own fault for putting it off over the weekend. I may have underestimated some aspects' time requirements.

[AsuraKyoko]

A little less than four hours left, correct? I'm in the same boat. No hard feelings if I don't make it - my own fault for putting it off over the weekend. I may have underestimated some aspects' time requirements.

In general, the chair is willing to delay if they know someone is still working, and provided you submit before the reveal, you should be fine.

[loky1109]

Cooking Time: Builds must be submitted via PM to the Chair by 4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, Mar 14, 2022 (1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15).

About this. I'm only one who doesn't understand how "4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, Mar 14" turns into "1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15"? And for what reason at all there are two different presents of the same timing? Why "1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15" isn't sole writing?
Every time I look on reveal time my head is blowing up.

[Eldonauran]

An observation from someone who has competed in the level 20 Iron Chef builds before...

I spent about as much time with each of these E6 builds as I did with any of my other submissions in the level 20 builds. Apparently, having to concentrate everything down to just 6 levels sure takes some work.


About this. I'm only one who doesn't understand how "4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Monday, Mar 14" turns into "1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15"? And for what reason at all there are two different presents of the same timing? Why "1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15" isn't sole writing?

You missed the GMT-9 bit, my friend. Its the same time, just for people more familiar with the time zones over across the pond. I believe GMT-9 is Eastern time zone for the USA.

[loky1109]

You missed the GMT-9 bit, my friend. Its the same time, just for people more familiar with the time zones over across the pond. I believe GMT-9 is Eastern time zone for the USA.

Exactly. Minus. It should be 7:59 AM GMT on Monday, Mar 14, 2022. 1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15 is +9. Or I'm wrong?

UPD: Yeah, I'm wrong. My mind doesn't work good with USA Civilian Time format at all.

[MinimanMidget]

I'm still not inspired by my ideas, so I'm planning on judging this round. Been a while since I took a turn at it.

[Mero]

Yeah, I'm not going to get this finished in the next half hour. I would probably need multiple (3?) more hours, which I understand would push it to very late European time - I have all the choices, outline and, flavor, and am mostly done with commentary, spotlight text, and initial math pass, but I haven't gotten any of the tables in nor done the crucial math, etc. check.

[AsuraKyoko]

Build Submitted!

[daremetoidareyo]

I’m out. Work takes precedence

[Zaq]

Exactly. Minus. It should be 7:59 AM GMT on Monday, Mar 14, 2022. 1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, Mar 15 is +9. Or I'm wrong?

UPD: Yeah, I'm wrong. My mind doesn't work good with USA Civilian Time format at all.

Also, I'm a dumb American and I'm just not good at this kind of thing :smalltongue:

Anyway, pencils down, team! Builds incoming!

[Zaq]

Are we in for a stickerbush symphony?



Bramble Wolfsoul
Chaotic Good Jungle Halfling


https://loginportal.funnyjunk.com/large/pictures/91/62/91623a_6940897.jpg
Image Source (https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ea/3b/30/ea3b302721ba7dca8fc415f80d7a8f5d.jpg)
Jungle Halfling
-2 Strength, +2 Dexterity
Small
Speed: 20ft
Weapon Prof: Throwing Axe
Weapon Prof: Handaxe
Weapon Prof: Shortbow (Composite)
+2 Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently
+2 bonus on Fort save vs Poison
+1 to hit with thrown weapons
Poison Use
Favored Class: Barbarian




Source:
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma


Point Buy (32)
15
14
14
12
10
14


Jungle Halfling
-2
+2
+0
+0
+0
+0


Level 1
13
16
14
12
10
14


Level 4
13+1 (14)
16
14
12
10
14

Final Scores
14
16
14
12
10
14
[/TR]



Character Sheet for Completed Build (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2605483)
* = Denotes requirements for Fist of the Forest
^ = Denotes requirements for Hellreaver


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


1st
Barbarian 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
[20 points] Climb +1 (1), Craft: Poison +1 (1), Handle Animal +4 (4)*, Listen +2 (2), Know:Planes +2cc (2), Survival +4 (4)*, Spot +2cc (2)
Power Attack*^
Ferocity 1/day (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#ferocity), Spiritual Wolf Totem (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#spiritual-totem), Illiteracy


2nd
Battle Dancer 1 (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseDc/battleDancer.html)
+2
+2
+2
+0
[5 points] Know:Planes +0.5cc (2.5), Swim +1 (1), Tumble +3 (3)
Improved Unarmed Strike*
AC Bonus (Cha), Unarmed Strike


3rd
Warblade 1
+3
+4
+2
+0
[5 points] Tumble +2 (5), Concentration +3 (3)
Great Fortitude*
Battle clarity (Ref save), Weapon aptitude


4th
Barbarian 2
+4*
+5
+2
+0
[5 points]Climb +1 (2), Craft: Poison +1 (2), Know: Planes +1cc (3.5), Swim +1 (2)
Improved Trip
Wolf Totem Bonus Feat


5th
Fist of the Forest 1
+5^
+7
+4
+0
[5 points] Craft: Poison +2 (4), Know: Planes +0.5cc (4)^

AC Bonus (Con), Fast Movement, Feral Trace 1/day, Unarmed Damage, Primal Living


6th
Hellreaver 1
+6/+1
+7
+4
+2
[4 points] Craft: Poison +2 (6), Know: Planes +1 (5)
Weapon Finesse
Holy Fury (3), Furious Strike +2/+1d6






Level
Discipline
Manuever
Type
Summary


1st
Tiger Claw
Wolf Fang Strike
Strike
Attack target twice


1st
Diamond Mind
Moment of Perfect Mind
Counter
Use Concentration in place of a Will Save


1st
Iron Heart
Steel Wind
Strike
Attack two different targets


2nd
Shadow Hand
Cloak of Deception
Boost
Greater Invisibility until end of turn


1st
Stone Dragon
Stonefoot Stance
Stance
+2 Str Checks, +2 AC, cannot move more than 5ft


1st
Shadow Hand
Isle of BLades
Stance
Being adjacent with ally counts as flanking






Epic Feats
Feat Name
New Feature
Essentia Pool
Soulmelds
Soul Binds


1st
Martial Study
Learn Maneuver: Cloak of Deception
0
0
N/A


2nd
Martial Stance
Learn Stance: Isle of Blades
0
0
N/A


3rd
Shadow Blade
Dex to damage (Shadow Hand weapons or in Stance)
0
0
N/A


4th
Shape Soulmeld (Totem Avatar)
+3 HP, +X Natural Armor
0
1
N/A


5th
Bonus Essentia
+2 Essentia
2
1
N/A


6th
Open Least Chakra (Feet)
+1 to Balance/Move Silently, bonuses vs grapple/overrun/etc
2
1
1


7th
Snap Kick
Bonus Unarmed Strike, but -2 all attacks
2
1
1


8th
Shape Soulmeld (Enigma Helm)
Divination resistance, +X Will Saves
2
2
1


9th
Open Least Chakra (Crown)
+1 insight to Will Saves, Immune to Charm
2
2
2


10th
Iron Will
+2 to Will Saves
2
2
2




Bramble gets her start out as a member of a tribe of Jungle Halfling living on the outskirts of the jungle and the plains that border open ocean, her home located on the high cliffs that overlook the bay. She had always been a scrapper since she was a child but never one to lose her temper. Instead, she'd have these flashes of intense hyper-focus that quickened her reaction time and let her muscles surge with power. It always left her queasy afterwards, but never fatigued like the others. She was also fairly strong and hardy for a member of her race, and learned early on how to trade off accuracy for power.
As she grew, matured and began contributing to her tribe, she became a fairly accomplished hunter, favoring ambushes, poisons that fatigued the target, and pack tactics to swarm over the target and bring down even the larger ones. She had little experience with magic growing up, the only form she was aware of was the spiritual magic of the shaman who represented their connection to their wolf totem spirit. It was this inexperience with magic that was the cause of so much tragedy that followed.
Our skill choices were made to meet the skill requirements of Fist of the Forest as early as possible, to take advantage of the 4x skills level 1 offers. Power Attack was chosen here because it is required for both prestige classes and offers an early source of damage increase to offset the lower strength and smaller damage die halflings have to use.
Jungle Halfling was chosen to enhance the flavor of the recipe. A typical halfling would give us better saving throws and not double up on weapon proficiencies we already have, but wouldnt have the same wild and feral feel, something we can carry over into Fist of the Forest and guide our choices of feats/abilities. The poison use ability comes in handy too.
Tragedy struck early into Bramble's adult life. Having ventured a bit too far from the relative safety of the jungle to pursue the target of her hunt, she caught the attention of some slavers that had been passing by. She never noticed them, too intent on her hunt, but they were able to follow her trail and track her down through the use of divination magic, eventually locating and raiding her home. Most of her tribe scattered and got away, but Bramble and a large handful of others were captured and hauled off to be sold.
Bramble ended up being sold and served on board a merchant ship. This was mostly due to the fact that she simply did not know how to swim and couldn't easily escape while at sea. She was very adapt at wiggling free of bonds, often having her strength underestimated.
She spent about a year at sea, though it may have been longer. She was not literate in any sense of the word and couldn't read the calendars or logs. It was during this time that she had to learn how to defend herself without any weapon or armor. Luckily, there were others like herself serving and between them, they were able to learn a method in which to use their natural charisma to 'feint' their opponents. Over time, Bramble's fists and limbs grew dense from the constant impacts and she was able to use them as effective weapons. Also... she learned to swim... a little. And to Tumble. That was an important skill.
Some narrative flare is required to introduce a class that is not a perfect compliment with Barbarian, but hopefully one that pairs well with it as the recipe simmers. Battle Dancer was chosen to get access to Improved Unarmed Strike, as Monk was simply not an option, and we did not have a feat free to pick it up in time to qualify for Fist of the Forest. Due to this level of Battle Dancer, the ability score distribution was altered to make use of a higher charisma and not let an ability go to waste. Also, that +2 to reflex saves is nice.

It was not long after her first year of slavery that her ship encountered tragedy. And when she tells the tale, Bramble makes it quite clear that the tragedy was not an accident. Simply put, Bramble had slowly been sabotaging the ship just enough that the next big storm would cause a series of failures that would leave the ship at the mercy of the storm. Bramble did not take well to being a slave and she was not one of to be domesticated.
When the ship eventually was claimed by a storm, Bramble and some of the other slaves absconded with a row boat in the middle of the worst of the storm, willing to risk drowning than what was going to follow (slow death by starvation and thirst). They had no control on where they ended up but were eventually picked up by warship after about a week at sea.
Bramble chose to enlist rather than being forced into service of another kind and spent the next four years training and fighting for this foreign nation. They fought in a very different manner than she was used to and she struggled to adapt to it. But she was never one to submit or give up. She persisted and developed her own method of utilizing their techniques to fight. She even understudied with the more mysterious assassins as their sneaky methods appealed to her style more, but some of their interests and focuses left her with a distasteful feeling.
Once or twice, she thought she recognized a shore line that they passed. It always left her wondering about home and if she would ever find it again. Then, after her four years of service were up, she left to seek her home again.
First, we took Great Fortitude to finish off the feat requirements for Fist of the Forest. Narratively, it is to reflect the intense training that Bramble had to undergo in order to learn a fighting style so different from her own and the endurance she had to build up in order to make use of the maneuvers she learned. The skills were to round off the Tumble skill and pick up Concentration so that we can at least do something about that abyssal will save at least once per combat.
Then, the choice of Warblade. It is a class that offers quite a bit to round out Bramble's capabilities. It boosts her Reflex save (from Int score) and lets her keep her full BAB. On the surface, it doesn't seem like it would pair well with either Barbarian or Battle Dancer, but it works for one very specific reason: Wolf Fang Strike. We get to weave her Wolf Spirit/Totem Barbarian flavor into the selection of this maneuver. It is this remembrance of her home that sends her back to her roots.

Bramble returns home to find her tribe scattered and fractured, in the midst of conflict with neighboring tribes of other races and facing their own kind of internal struggle. Some want to leave the jungle and make their own way in more civilized lands while others want to return to the deeper areas of the jungle, to reclaim ancestral territory and ways of life. Having just returned from the outside world, she is looked on as a symbol of hope from one side and a dire warning that the outside world poses a very real risk to their tribe.
She slowly reintegrates with the tribe, and through sharing her experiences, she is able to help reunite the two opposing factions though mostly by satisfying the desires of those wanting to leave with her tales and displays of new fighting styles. However, it is the more reserved side that has the hardest time accepting her back and to help this along, she seeks out some of their wilder kin in order to prove herself. These particular people adopt the most feral side of their spirit totem and live as the wolves do, shunning artificial dwellings and hunting for their own food, relying on themselves and their companions to help bring down the kill.
We see Bramble return home and renew her connection with the land and wolf totem spirit. This re-dedication to her roots is reflected in the bonus feat she receives and focus more on the 'natural' side of her capabilities (Climb, Swim, Poison) with just a touch of learning about the Planes.
This is our last level of the special ingredient (and just enough to meet the minimum two level requirement), but not the last level that utilizes fury and anger to get the job done. Hopefully, you feel (as I do) that the trade offs are worth it.

Peace never lasts long enough. Just as Bramble felt she was settled back in and thriving, trouble gets stirred up when the more progressive halflings set out to see the world and a select few of them decided to be foolish enough to bring outsiders into the jungle to trade. This created a great amount of resentment and many broke off from the tribe, descending deeper into the jungle to avoid what they expected was another impending raid by outsiders. Bramble tried to neutral in the matter, serving as a go between for the two groups until the raids actually happened.
Bramble withdrew from the conflict, not wanting to be captured again and turned to fully embrace the primitive lifestyle of her ancestors. She began to live as the wolf does, adopting its ways as her own. Lacking the natural weapons of the wolf, she kept those she had grown used to wielding while strengthening her natural abilities. This lifestyle well suited her current needs and she called the wilds of the jungle her home. This was the way of things for a good amount of time, until she stumbled across remnants of her tribe in the deepest parts of the jungle. Something wicked and evil had torn threw them, and she began to hunt it.
This is where we see Bramble completely shed the trappings of civilization she was forced into earlier in her life. She doesn't forgo using tools, weapons, or skills she's acquired, but she does adopt the lifestyle of the wolf. She taps into another form of rage and begins to fight so viciously that she even uses her teeth as weapons. She finally gains the fast movement class feature.

Bramble enters into this stage of her life after slaying the fiend that tore open so many of her tribe. She literally tore out its throat with her teeth while in the throes of a Ferocious Feral Trance that somehow tapped into a fury that transcended simple rage. Before, the anger was always a wild, chaotic frenzy that she held in check through force of Will. This time, it was a consuming Wrath that burned with righteous vengeance and ... it felt right. It opened her eyes to a greater battlefield that lay beyond her mortal framework, and her training in spiritual ways finally made sense to her.
From that point forward, Bramble became a kind of ghost in the jungle, moving from place to place and targeting anything supernatural that she found that threatened the harmony of the jungle. She first became more adept at hiding and moving quietly, striking from the shadows and disappearing without a trace. Then she became like the wind whipping debris with great force, learning to turn her quick movements into precise momentum that sank her axes deep into flesh and her fists into even softer places. Eventually, she became sensitive enough to the spiritual forces around her that she began to shape them to her will, crafting them into quasi-real equipment she could wear.
The culmination of her class progression introduces a new kind of rage, that of Holy Fury. Now, she has a per encounter source of damage increase and something to fall back on before she initiates a Ferocity moment, or a Feral Trance. Combining all three at once is a serious threat to whatever she faces. The acquisition of Weapon Finesse here turns her into a straight up melee combatant that only uses ranged weapons to stalk her target, thrown weapons when she gets closer, and pummeling fists when shes right on top of them.

Martial Study - Greater Invisibility for a round is good (especially when we need better position or a quick GTFO moment) but we need a Shadow Hand maneuver...
Martial Stance - To qualify for this feat, which helps us flank even more often and let's us take ...
Shadow Blade - This feat, which nets us dexterity to damage.
Totem Avatar - Picking up late but this is to show some connection with the spiritual realm, which otherwise doesn't manifest except for flanking bonus and a bonus feat. Reflavor this to be the image of a large wolf, and we get some bonus HP and natural armor increases but also...
Open Least Chakra (Feet) - Bonus to some skills BUT binding Totem Avatar to our feet let's us get some rather substantial resistances to combat maneuvers, trip being one of them. We don't want to be tripped in response to a failed trip attempt of our own.
Snap Kick - Because we like more attacks and our main melee attack is an unarmed one.
Enigma Helm - Resistance to divination is fun (and important due to backstory reasons), but we really are here for the Will Save increase from invested Essentia.
Open Least Chakra (Crown) - Helps us with our Will save and let's us bind our Enigma Helm, making us immune to charm.
Iron Will - Finish up our boosting of the Will saves.


Weapon(s) of choice: Fists, Throwing Axes, and Comp Shortbow. And Poisoned arrows.
Armor: None, just her Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma between her and the enemy.
Magic Items: Typical stuff (deflection AC boosts and saving throw boosts). Braces of Armor are good too.
Variants: If you get access to an item to boost your saves and Natural armor by +2, consider trading off Totem Avatar & Enigma Helm soulmelds for Worg Pelt and Diadem of Purelight. You'll get thematic appropriate exchanges to keep the flavor of a wolf-like spiritual totem and not have to deal with duplicate bonuses to saves/armor.
Saving Throws: Will save is, by far, the most important ability score to boost. We net a +7 to any Will saves we make (2 Base, +1 insight, +2 Enhancement, +2 Iron Will) and can replace a will save with a concentration check outside of a rage (ferocity/feral trance), but I'd prefer that to be higher.
Armor Class: Unlike most Barbarians, we have a fairly decent AC bonus due to being a Dex focused (CON/CHA too) without ANY armor on. We can wear armor without any real penalty but between CON and CHA, we are effectively wearing Hide armor already.
To Hit/Damage Bonuses: This character needs zero help with attack bonuses. Between the size bonus, the racial bonus, weapon finesse, flanking boosts, predisposition to tripping everything and full BAB, this character has an abundance of accuracy to trade off for power attack at most opportunity. With Shadow Blade, she gets her dex bonus to damage with her unarmed strikes. The use of poisons is also something to consider when damage is taken into account.
Races:
Halfling (Jungle)- Player's Handbook (Unearthed Arcana)

Classes/Substitutions:
Barbarian - Player's Handbook
Ferocity (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#ferocity) - Cityscape
Spiritual Totem (Wolf) (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#spiritual-totem) - Complete Champion
Totem Barbarian (Wolf) (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#wolf-totem) - Unearthed Arcana
Battle Dancer (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseDc/battleDancer.html) - Dragon Compendium
Fist of the Forest - Complete Champion
Hellreaver - Fiendish Codex II

Feats:
Power Attack - Player's Handbook
Great Fortitude - Player's Handbook
Improved Trip - Player's Handbook
Weapon Finesse - Player's Handbook
Marital Study - Tome of Battle
Martial Stance - Tome of Battle
Shadow Blade - Tome of Battle
Shape Soulmeld - Magic of the Incarnum
Bonus Essentia - Magic of the Incarnum
Open Least Chakra - Magic of the Incarnum
Snap Kick - Tome of Battle
Iron Will - Player's Handbook

Other:
Maneuvers (All) - Tome of Battle
Soulmelds (All) - Magic of the Incarnum

[Zaq]

Anyone who thinks archery isn't for brawny folks has never tried to shoot a bow.


https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/009/655/102/small/susanna-harle-zakai1.jpg
Susanna Harle ~ MonsterMyrr (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/O6gnk)

Gromorth is a half-orc who was born and raised in the middle of the Hordelands in a human barbarian tribe who has "Eagle Who Watching from Above" as their totem. His childhood wasn't easy. Half-orc amongst human children, what can go wrong? If he wasn't so strong, even more than regular half-orcs are, he maybe wouldn't be able to survive, but he was. And when strength wasn't enough he ran and nobody can't overtake him. It was a surprise, but despite strength his first and favorite weapon became a bow. He shoots with high accuracy and his arrows pierce the hide of almost any animal. When his tribe's camp was attacked by several ogres, he was in the front line of defenders. He killed his first enemy that day. Two arrows right in the eye. But he didn't become a warrior, he chose the way of the hunter. More importantly, come to think of it. Warriors fight only when it is needed, hunters ensure tribe's live everyday.
But his destiny wasn't to be a hunter and nothing more, no. His destiny was darker and valorer. One day he returned with prey and found his tribe all dead. Tents were destroyed, bodies burned and striped off with sand jets or ripped with huge claws. It was a yellow dragon. Destroyed by sorrow and anger Gromorth prayed to any God with desire for vengeance and his prayers were answered. Bahamut the Great Platinum Dragon gave Gromorth the Call. Of course Gromorth unserved "Yes!"

CG ex-Half-Orc Dragonborn Eagle Totem Hunter 6
Abilities Initial Half-Orc Dragonborn 4th Total
STR 16 2 18
DEX 15 -2 1 14
CON 14 2 16
INT 12 -2 10
WIS 12 12
CHA 8 -2 6
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Eagle Totem Hunter-1 1 2 0 0 16: {+1} Craft (Bow): 1; {+4} Jump: 4; {+3 CC} Spot: 1.5; {+4} Survival: 4; {+4} Tumble: 4; Tireless Eagle's vision, favored enemy (giant), illiteracy
2nd Eagle Totem Hunter-2 2 3 0 0 4: Craft (Bow): 1; {+1} Jump: 5; {+1 CC} Spot: 2; {+1} Survival: 5; {+1} Tumble: 5; Rapid Shot (B) Archery combat style, uncanny dodge
3rd Eagle Totem Hunter-3 3 3 1 1 4: Craft (Bow): 1; {+1} Jump: 6; {+1 CC} Spot: 2.5; {+1} Survival: 6; {+1} Tumble: 6; Point Blank Shot, Lightning Reflexes (B)
4th Eagle Totem Hunter-4 4 4 1 1 4: Craft (Bow): 1; {+1} Jump: 7; {+1 CC} Spot: 3; {+1} Survival: 7; {+1} Tumble: 7;
5th Eagle Totem Hunter-5 5 4 1 1 4: Craft (Bow): 1; {+1} Jump: 8; {+1 CC} Spot: 3.5; {+1} Survival: 8; {+1} Tumble: 8; Favored enemy (dragon), uncanny bravery
6th Eagle Totem Hunter-6 6 5 2 2 4: Craft (Bow): 1; {+1} Jump: 9; {+1 CC} Spot: 4; {+1} Survival: 9; {+1} Tumble: 9; Improved Rapid Shot, Manyshot (B) Improved archery combat style

Epic Feats
Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Footbow)
Improved Flight
Precise Shot
Far Shot
Plunging Shot
Ready Shot
Woodland Archer
Aerial Reflexes
Improved Favored Enemy
Weapon Focus (Footbow)

Gromorth was a Hunter Barbarian variant with Eagle Totem. He has giants as his first favored enemy, but this is very campaign related. Also good options are animals, humans, and vermin. With Tireless feat and all about archery feats his main tactics is to exhaust enemies and shoot them. But now there is nothing special. +6-+9 AB, d8+4-+5 (composite longbow (+4 Str bonus) is needed) one time, about 40 hp, about 16 AC.
Gromorth became the winged Dragonborn of Bahamut. Now he can fly and due Tireless feat this fly is unlimited in time. Archery and flying are created for each other. This is a natural union.
With Improved archery combat style Gromorth not just gets free Manyshot feat, but also possibility to take Improved Rapid Shot feat that has Manyshot prerequisite, but doesn't have Manyshot's Dex 17 prec that is unreachable for half-orc dragonborn in E6. Improved Rapid Shot means three attacks with +8/+8/+3 without any bonuses.
Gromorth is developing his flying and archery skills.
First, he takes Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Footbow) for another +2 to damage.
Precise Shot, Far Shot, Plunging Shot, Ready Shot, and Woodland Archer are natural choices for archers.
Improved Flight and Aerial Reflexes are good feats for fliers.
Improved Favored Enemy and Weapon Focus (Footbow) give not so much, but still are good.

Type Name Book Page
Race Half-Orc PHB 18
Race Dragonborn of Bahamut Races of the Dragon 5
Class Barbarian PHB 24
Class variant Hunter Unearthed Arcana 58
Class variant Eagle Totem Barbarian Unearthed Arcana 48
Alternative Class Feature Uncanny bravery Dragon Magic 14
Alternative Class Feature Skilled city-dweller Cityscape WE link (https://web.archive.org/web/20201112031718/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)
Feat Tireless Player's Guide to Faerûn 46
Feat Rapid Shot PHB 99
Feat Point Blank Shot PHB 98
Feat Lightning Reflexes PHB 97
Feat Manyshot PHB 97
Feat Improved Rapid Shot Complete Warrior 101
Feat Exotic Weapon Proficiency PHB 94
Feat Improved Flight Races of the Wild 151
Feat Precise Shot PHB 98
Feat Far Shot PHB 94
Feat Plunging Shot Races of the Wild 152
Feat Ready Shot Heroes of Battle 99
Feat Woodland Archer Races of the Wild 154
Feat Aerial Reflexes Races of the Wild 148
Feat Improved Favored Enemy Complete Warrior 101
Feat Weapon Focus PHB 102
Weapon Footbow Races of the Wild 164

[Zaq]

A well-fed animal is less dangerous than a hungry and desperate one, after all.


I was 12 year old when I made the dumbest decision of my life.

My home, a tiny hovel near the Shadowcrags, had experienced losses to what seemed like attacks by a mountain lion – but our Druid advisor was worried. Things, he warned, were not as they seemed. Something managed to slip through the labyrinth. He hurried away to seek help, begging us to stay put and stay safe.

Two nights later, I took my pocketknife and headed into the forest, determined to slay the demon that haunted my home. It was near complete darkness, and I had no abilities as a tracker, so I couldn't even tell that I was getting close. That is, until the very moment when the shimmering form of the hellcat leaped towards me from between the trees. Only at that moment, did I realize how completely unmatched I was. I screamed in complete terror, pissed my pants, and waved my poor rusty knife desperately.


To my utter surprise, the terrible demon wailed in fear, turned on its heels and ran away.

I… made it run away?

"You alright, kid?" I heard a voice in the dark. A match was lit up to ignite the contents of what I could not yet recognize as a Xen'Drik fire-leaf pipe.

The dim light revealed a tall figure, gaunt and skeletal as can be. Two pitch-black eyes stared at me, from a hauntingly beautiful face of delicate green scales – the like of which I've never seen before or since. The face was decorated with a fresh wound, a deep scratch that bled in magnificent silver – but as I watched, the wound closed, leaving no trace behind. He was wearing the garb of a gatekeeper, but he didn't seem like one, and was covered head to toe in memorabilia from all over the world. At his hip, alongside his shield, rested a beautiful one-handed sword, with an elegant, narrow blade of Breland steel.

I initially wanted to step closer, to take some comfort in the presence of another person, especially one of such strange beauty. But another glance made me instinctually step back instead. Despite being completely monochromatic, his eyes still… burned, burned with a passion I found too intense to bear. I wondered how that slender body could even hold such fire.

"I'm… I think I'm okay. Shouldn't we go? That, that – that thing might come back." I shuddered.

"The demon? Nah, it's alright. You scared it off." I could hear it now – the casual tone was strained, a thin façade that could be torn away at a moment's notice.

"How could I scare it off?"

Sharp white teeth flashed through the dark. "Anything can scare it off, now. It'll run as fast as it can, as far as it can. It'll run away from common folk, from children, from mice baring their teeth. And it won't stop running – not for a century or so, I hope. Hard to say – I'm not sure how long my kind lives. I don't have the patience to research such things. Come, child. Let's take you home."

The confusing jumble of statements left me baffled. I started walking alongside him, at a safe distance, and latched onto the last part of his little speech. "What does your lifespan has to do with anything?"

He glanced at me as we walked, his face covered in shadows cast by the gleaming pipe. "It can feel my wrath, you see. Like a fire burning its tail, wherever it goes. We're connected, now, me and it. No matter how far it goes, he can never escape my anger."

I thought about it for a moment. "But… what happens when you calm down?"

He smiled. "Clever." He inhaled deeply from his pipe and exhaled with a sickly cough. Once his breathing calmed, he spoke again:

"That's my secret, kid.

"I'm always angry."






Ka'assani, the Emaciated Hulk


NG (exalted!) middle-aged male Unseelie [DC, p.222] Spellscale [RotD, p.23]. Druidic avenger deadly hunter (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm) druid 1/ Berserker Strength [PHB2, p. 33] boar totem barbarian 4/ crusader [ToB, p. 10] 1.
Season's Power: Winter Chill.
Attribute Point Buy Spellcasle Unseelie Fey Middle-Aged Level 4 ASI Berserker Strength Final
Strength 17 -2 -1 4 (also, +2 to all saves and DR 2/-) 18
Dexterity 9 2 -1 10
Constitution 8 -2 -2 -1 3
Intelligence 8 1 9
Wisdom 10 1 11
Charsima 18 2 2 1 1 24


Ka'assani was born to orcish parents, living on both sides of the Shadowcrags. His mother belonged to the ancient tradition of the gatekeepers, and to a bloodline tainted by the fey who slip from Thelanis into the Towering Wood. His father was a Ghaash'kala sorcerer, believing his power came from the dragon Eberron himself – an extension of the progenitor wyrm's will to bind the children of Khyber. He saw proof to that thought in the birth of his son, who was clearly more dragon than orc. But the child was far too frail and would surely perish in the hardships of the Demon Wastes. His mother took him to grow up in the relative safety of the Eldeen Reaches, where he would be protected and cared for.

From his mother, Ka'assani inherited the fickle and terrifying darkness of Thelanis, tamed by the teachings of the Great Druid on the sanctity of all natural life. From his father, he inherited wrath and fire, bound by utter determination to fight for what is right. From both, he inherited the absolute conviction to fight back against evil, and to push away the terrible things coming from the depths – whether those be demons or aberrations.

His mother took care of him from the moment she birthed him until the day she died, at the marvelous age of 56. Despite spending his entire life completely sheltered and cared for, those legacies have helped him overcome his innate weaknesses to slowly find his way. At the age of 37, he started advancing towards a path of adventure and glory. His rage, once it was ignited by witnessing the terrors of the world outside his mother's domain, would not be quelled – though he eventually learned to keep the flame low, controlled by his devotion to do good, to never unnecessarily take a life. He ended up fighting against evil wherever it is found – amongst the schemers in the cities of the five nations, the monsters roaming the Talenta Planes, the cursed abominations in Xen'Drik or the eternal enemies emerging from the Dragon Below, near his home. His rage, once his downfall, became his power – Mystically burning away the minds of the evil beings he faced, leaving them unable to do anything but run.

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Druid 1 0 2 0 2 Intimidate 4, Ride 4, Survival 4 Intimidating Strike [PHB2, p. 79], Track (b) Fast movement, Favored enemy (undead) +2, Rage 1/day, Wild empathy,
2nd Barbarian 1 1 4 0 2 Intimidate 5, Ride 5, Survival 5 Diehard (b, only while raging) Berserker Strength
3rd Barbarian 2 2 5 0 2 Intimidate 6, Ride 6, Survival 6 Righteous Wrath -
4th Barbarian 3 3 5 1 3 Intimidate 7, Ride 7, Survival 7 - Extended rage (3 rounds total)
5th Barbarian 4 4 6 1 3 Intimidate 8, Ride 7, Survival 7, Never Outnumbered [CS, p. 87] - -
6th Crusader 1 5 8 1 3 Intimidate 9, Ride 9, Survival 7, Never Outnumbered. Intimidating Rage [CW, p. 102] Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 1

[B] Maneuvers Known Stances Known
Crusader's Strike, Foehammer, Mountain Hammer, Shield Block, Vaungard Strike. Martial Spirit

Epic Feats
1st Stone Power [ToB, p. 32]
2nd Skill Focus (intimidate)
3rd Iron Will
4th Hardened Criminal [City of Stormreach, p. 95]
5th Aberrant Dragonmark (cause fear) [ECS, p. 47]
6th Dragonmark Rage [Dragonmarked, p. 138]
7th Lesser Aberrant Dragonmark (Scare) [Dragonmarked, p. 141]
8th Supernatural Transformation (scare) [SS, p. 39]
9th Blazing Berserker [Sand, p. 49]
10th Frozen Berserker [FB, p. 48]

So, let's talk about Berserker's Strength. It's a fascinating ACF – a rage-like state which activates any time you have below 5*(Barb level) hp, and only stops when you heal beyond it. It's hard to optimize with, because it's not that impressive by itself, and you need to keep your pure barbarian levels very high in order to benefit from it, and even then it's not up to you when and where it kicks in. If you have a problem with running out of rage uses, just take extra rage.

However, Berserker Strength's potential for very long durations becomes interesting when we consider the last line of its description:
Any effect that would normally apply only during your rage applies whenever your Berserker Strength is active. That would include a lot of interesting and useful feats and class features, some of which might enjoy a duration that is longer than 10 or 20 rounds. How long? Well… forever sounds good, doesn't it? But since we can't do that, how about "as long as your character lives"?

There is an elegantly simple way to achieve that goal: just be unable to heal beyond the threshold. Have your maximal hp be lower than 5 times your barbarian level, and you're done – you can have whatever effect you find particularly useful on at all times.

So, tanking your Con to 3 with a race, a template, and middle age. All of these lower our Con while Raising our Cha, the huge importance of which will make more sense later. Not something I thought I'd do when I first encountered the Barbarian round, but it makes sense. And just like that, within a few levels you'll be Berserking at all times. You'll eat, drink, sleep and go to the bathroom with terrifying rage.

Unfortunately, Berserker's Strength doesn't actually qualify you to take any feat that'd be useful with it, as it doesn't count as rage or frenzy for the purposes of any qualification. That'd mean you'd have to get your hands on actual rage. We do that with Druidic Avenger, which also lets us start the game with some spellcasting to make up for our atrocious con score and utilize our blood quickening meditations from our race. Assuming average hp rolls, you're berserking full time from level 3 onward, and that wouldn't change for as long as you live. I took some leeway here, because I didn't want to have to rely on average rolls: the odds of this build finishing with 20 hp or more (which would mean the trick fails) are 30%. If that's too high for you, you could go for the quick trait: that'd reduce the probability to just 9.3%, but 30% seems low enough. And if we're willing to assume average rolls (like we usually do here – nobody says "oh I survive despite my low con by rolling very high") we're just fine.

Let's look at level 3's feat, and its effects. We start combat by using our 1st level feat, intimdating strike, making them shaken. The moment the results of the attack (damage and intimidation effect) are resolved, the enemy needs to make a save against the rider effect of the damage: righteous wrath. Thematically, this feat lets you roleplay coherently, despite being in an eternal state of rage, and to explain your wish to non-lethally deal with your enemies despite your rage. Mechanically, this is a DC 20 (by level 6) will save, which would already be no joke for anything you're expecting to fight at these levels. But it's much worse: since they're adjacent to you, they have a -7 to all saves because of winter chill, and they're already shaken, which is another -2. A DC 20 will save with a -9 is virtually impossible to make. If they fail, they're frightened of you for the encounter.

This racial aura is actually one of your strongest assets: you give any enemy adjacent to you a -6 to saves from level 1, and it escalates to -7 at level 4. This makes you an incredibly potent debuffer, even if nothing else you do works.

Once they fail that saving throw, it's time for the final coffin in the nail. At level 6, the core feat of the build arrives: intimidating rage. Intimidating rage lets you demoralize an opponent within 30 ft as a free action while raging. You get to do that once per encounter, and the shaken condition lasts for as long as you're raging. For you, that means one permanent level of fear for an opponent you've demoralized that way.

That wouldn't be all that impressive, if it wasn't for a crucial line from heroes of horror, the primary source for fear rules in D&D 3.5:
The duration of the different fear effects are not relevant. If a creature is subject to doom becomes panicked as a result of a cause fear spell, It is panicked for the full duration of cause fear, even if the doom spell's duration expires before the cause fear spell's duration does.

For anyone in the cheap seats, let me say that again: If you use the permanent demoralization trick on someone who's already shaken, they'll be frightened of you for life. That's nice: they'll withdraw whenever they see you, which would make it very hard to mess with you again.

But if you use the trick on someone who's already frightened… They're panicked for life. They will never stop running away from where they think you may be, probably only collapsing to sleep or stuff something in their mouth. They can't do anything else, they drop whatever they're holding, and they'll run from any other danger as well. It's not just that they can't mess with you again – they can't mess with anyone, ever again, as long as you're raging. Meaning, as long as you live.

We've arrived at the heart of the build: non-lethally defeat the evil opponents you face, and put Eberron's immortal fiends out of commission for a far longer period than killing them would achieve. This isn't fear as debuffing, not even fear as an encounter-ending debuff. This is a wholly new approach: fear as a permanent solution. The whole build will be centered around twin principles: doing that as effectively as possible on the one hand, and somehow surviving epic E6 adventures with 15 hit points, less than a decent first level barbarian would get, on the other hand.

So, how do we do these things? Let's start with the offensive, and then go to the defensive.

Our core combo is rushed to right as we arrive at level 6: make an opponent panicked forever in one round. We close on an opponent, and strike with an intimidating strike. With a +20 (9 ranks, 7 cha, 4 unseelie racial) to intimidate without any items and without taking penalties (and +23 once skill focus comes online as our second epic feats) we should be easily beating the modified level check of 99.9% of appropriate and semi-appropriate opponents. Intimidating strike, like daunting presence from Libris Mortis, doesn't affect already shaken opponents, but that's fine: we're using it as our baseline, not as our escalator.

Against multiple opponents, you might want to wait with the demoralization for a later turn: your intimidating strike and righteous wrath should last for the encounter anyway, and never outnumbered works on top of intimidating rage. The only issue is managing to keep the frightened and non-frightened enemies within 10 ft of each other and within your movement's reach, but be conscious of this option. Of course, the enemy will still be panicked even if righteous wrath is the last applied debuff, but the language on that is less decisive.

During epic feats, you keep improving your offensive capabilities. You first enhance your intimidate modifier, and then use your experience adventuring on the hard streets of Stormreach to be able to take 10 on intimidate checks. This sets the DC of your modified level checks to 33. Later, you use supernatural transformation on your lesser dragonmark to be able to cast Scare twice a day, despite being in a rage. This is your anti-horde tactic. Approach a large group of enemies, and force them to make a DC 19 saving throw, with at least some of them making them with -7 (Su abilities don't provoke, so no need to worry about activating it in melee.) Follow up with intimidating rage + never outnumbered, and they're all non-lethally dealt with for as long as you live. Scare leaves anyone who saves shaken, which still helps you. This is all made possible by the unique exception lent to spellscales, which lets them take aberrant draogonmarks despite not belonging to a dragonmarked race. See "spellscales in eberron" in Races of the Dragon, page 36.

When dealing with enemies immune to fear, you offensively rely on your abilities as a debuff monkey, providing your steady -7 to saves to your foes. You also have your maneuvers, especially the ever-useful mountain hammer. The reason for taking foe-hammer as well has to do with the granted maneuver system – you want to make sure you have a decent damage dealing maneuver available to you as often as possible, and they both do the same extra damage and ignore DR. Undead will be the most common enemy you face which you won't be able to scare, so having them as a favored enemy is helpful to make up for that. Additionally, you'll be able to provide some healing here and there, but likely nothing major – your resources will usually be devoted to keeping yourself alive.

Speaking of which, let's talk defense. Your first important ability here is DR. You have DR 2/- from your perma-rage, but usually you'll be able to ride on your DR 5/cold iron from your unseelie nature. DR 5 may not be very significant in a 20 level build, but it's a huge help in E6, and lets you survive in melee. +2 to all saves from berserker strength is also helpful.

From your class levels, first comes the diehard bonus feat from the boar totem. That greatly expands your survivability, adding 10 more hitpoints to your tiny pool. When things become truly difficult, you can rage once a day for three rounds (thanks for that as well, boar totem!) to keep yourself alive just a bit longer, as well as pack some extra umph to your punch. Just make sure you only use it when there's no risk of getting healed above 20 hp. If you only rage once your Die-hard kicks in, you should be fine.

Level 6 and your first epic feat, however, is when your defensive capabilities really turn on. Martial spirit and crusader's strike can help you maintain your hp pool, and steely resolve gives you some breathing space, and becomes far more effective once stone power comes online. 5 BaB is the best possible spot to have stone power in: you can fully utilize it, and you don't take penalties for secondary attacks for no added benefits. As an intimidating strike and maneuver-based build who isn't relying on power attack, Stone power is your bread and butter. The numbers are very impressive in an E6 context, and they're backed up by DR and steely resolve. The crusader dip and stone power lift you up to an actual survivable melee character, despite having atrocious HP. The math here works very well.

Iron will and hardened criminal offer some minor defensive boons, of course, but the next big thing is Dragonmark rage. This feat grants you fast healing 1 (improved to 2 one feat later) while you're angry. And as you recall…

Finally, you finish out the build with the common Blazing-Frozen-Berserker trick, to become immune to both fire and cold damage. While other barbarians can use instantaneous rage to avoid these types of damage during encounters, their permanent nature for you opens up other options; you could adventure in hostile planes, manifest zones, inside volcanos, in the heart of a storm in Frostfell, and other pulp-adventure environments Eberron often includes.

To sum up: this build features a way to utilize an often-derided ACF to achieve a completely unique (as far as I'm aware) way of permanently dealing with enemies non-lethally. It does so by being an on-the-face-of-it anti-synergic barbarian with 3 Con and investing mostly in Cha.


First, if your DM lets you pick your random unseelie fey effects, take wings 100%. I'm personally a fan of dragonlike wings for Ka'assani, of course. Darkvision is also good, and complements your existing low light vision well.

If your DM believes that SLAs can be used in a rage, supernatural transformation becomes less necessary. I think a cool and thematic feat you could take in that case would be ToB's Avenging Strike. It's very situational, but the math is good and it fits the character well. A more conventional choice would be Nymph's kiss, which I considered for this build (at first level, giving up skill focus) but decided I wanted the full trick on as early as possible. Having both would pump the intimidate roll to 35, and would give you some skill points to invest.

[Zaq]

Never approach Anubis with a heavy heart.



https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/647393639886094337/950596458271371264/blank_tradingcard.jpg
Knut Longclaw: Guardian of the Pack


Knut found the place easy enough. Outside the tavern was a sign of a serpent’s head, mouth open, fangs bared. Beneath was probably the place’s name written, but it could’ve said anything as far as he was concerned. He couldn’t read it.

Knut nudged open the saloon doors with his hip. Inside, the place was comfortably busy. A big lump of young people and their various hangers on, spear carriers, and companions hovered around the bar. The ones closest to it leaned in and addressed the barman. Their garments were dyed a thousand different colors, the sleeves and belts and hems gravid with bells and jewels and tiny decorative skulls.

The barman glanced between a gap in a few shoulders and looked Knut in the eye.

“With you in a moment, sir,” he said and pointed the crowd over to an urn at the end of the bar.

Knute came closer to the bar.

“I can wait if you need to serve these people first. I’m not in a hurry.” Everyone got out of his way, something he was plenty used to, but they just seemed in a hurry, not to be moving out of fear.

They lined up and poured water from the enchanted urn into cups on their belts, their cupped hands, and into each others’ mouths with great haste.

“It’s fine, we get a lot of cataclysm magi in here.” The barman gestured and a stool pulled itself out. Knute sat down.

“That doesn’t bother you?” he asked and glanced at the pictures of the apples on the barrels of cider lining the wall behind the bar.

“Way I can see it, I could get upset or realize they don’t tend to come alone. If they insist on making a special trip to come here with their friends or bodyguards or the little lords they rescued, the others will want to stay to have a drink or slice of pie or what have you.”

Knut nodded and pointed at a barrel adorned with a glistening red apple mottled with flecks of gold.

“Tell me about that one,” he said.

The barman chuckled and reached for a small glass. He glanced at Knut’s snout, performed a quick mental calculation and substituted it for a broad, squat jar. He poured a little cider in it and nudged it over to Knut.

“Are you sure? It’s a very long story.”

Knut tapped the glass against the bar and lapped at the liquid inside. It tasted of honey and sunlight.

“I got time.”

“All right. Name’s Andraias, by the way,” the barman said.

“Huh. Kind of old-fashioned, isn’t it? I’m Knut.”

“I suppose. Anyway, a while back, I carried water for one of these adventuring crews. I’d had a map in my family for some time that led to a cursed apple tree.”

“I’m guessing you left that part out.” Knut emptied the jar. “That’s wonderful. I’ll have a pint of that.”

“In my defense, no one ever asked. You know how some sorts get around treasure maps.” Andraias made a note in a ledger behind the bar and started Knut a tab.

“So what did you need them for?” Knut asked.

“Back then, I wasn’t in any shape to get past the tree’s guardians on my own.”

“But you are now?”

“Well, I don’t like to brag . . .”

“Sure you do. Everyone does.”

“You’ve got me there. As far as the tree went, there were other things there to satisfy my companions. I forswore my share of gold and jewels in exchange for one of the apples.”

“And they didn’t get suspicious?” Knut took a sip of his cider.

“I mean, as far as they were concerned, they were cursed, they figured I was either crazy or hadn’t heard the stories about them. Either way, they felt like they were getting one over on me so they weren’t about to set me straight.”

“I think I heard something about cheating and honest men once, but I forget how it goes. What was the curse on them?”

“They enflame anyone who’s exposed to them with desire.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad. Don’t humans of a certain age pay a lot of money for things that’ll enflame their desires?”

“Ha, it’s not exactly like that. It overwrites anything else on your mind. Anything and everything comes second to getting your hands on the apple and eating it.”

“Hm. So that was it? You went on the adventure and ate an apple?

“Not exactly. I’d had some time to think about it, so I was able to get it home in one piece without eating it.”

“What’d you do?” Knut asked.

“Oh, who remembers? It was so long ago. Something involving pulleys and ten foot poles. I got it home after a while.”

“It didn’t go bad?”

“No. Part of the curse on it. You could fight your best friend to the death for it only for it to roll out of your hand and sit in a cave for a hundred years only for someone else to find it. That kind of thing.”

“Wait a minute, I think I have heard of these things. Once the skin got broken people would fly into these insane bacchanals and kill everyone around them. If the juice from one fell on the ground, you’d fall to your knees and eat the dirt, right?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“So what’d you want with it? Chuck it off a cliff and have your enemy chase after it?”

“Only if I wanted to follow. What I figured I’d do is, ah, not to be indelicate,” Andraias began in that special tone usually employed by people who were about to say something they’d regret.

“Careful.” Knut finished his cider and pushed the jar over to be refilled.

Andraias passed the new pint over. “Well, you know how you people are descended from were-thises or were-thats?”

“My uncle’s a were-that,” Knut joked.

“You know what I mean; over time, the were-blood became dilute enough that the specific magic of lycanthropy wasn’t present in a given creature’s descendants. If you bit me right now—not to say you would, of course—I wouldn’t turn into anything other than a man crying on the floor.”

“All right. So how’d you find someone to start a family with this, ah, poisoned apple? Did you go to a matchmaker and find it a dryad or something?”

“Would that it were so simple. This thing was magical, but it was still an apple. It could only mingle with other apple trees.”

Knut finished his cider and motioned for another, which he got.

“Huh. How long’s an apple tree take to bear fruit anyway?” He’d never had cause to think about it.

“A lot longer than you’d think. And it wasn’t just one apple tree I had to grow. One generation out and these things would still be dangerous. Even when they were safe to eat, I had to start selecting for things like taste, how well they’d travel, you know, all that.”

“Wouldn’t they still keep forever?” Knut asked.

“Afraid not. As they lost their magic, it means little things like that got lost too. For every one I was able to get into the press, there were about ten thousand that didn’t make the cut. But I can’t complain about the results.” Andraias tapped the side of the cider barrel, which sounded disappointingly empty.

“How’d you swing that, anyway?” Knut asked. The barman looked about forty and smelled human. If he’d bred that many apple trees, he’d be much older.

Andraias laughed. He poured the last of the barrel into a glass for himself and drained it. He waved a wand and the other stools started turning themselves over on the bar. Knut was the only one still sitting here. The other patrons must’ve left while Andraias was telling his tale.

“You know, it really is lucky you came here today. I’m having a kind of private party here after closing. Normally it’s just for VIPs, but why not, life’s too short. It’s more fun with more people there.” He flipped open part of the bar and beckoned Knut over. He crossed that invisible line and followed Andraias toward the back. On his way, tore out the page in the ledger with his tab.

“Yours isn’t, is it?” Knut asked.

“Ha! Quite right.”

“How’d you swing that anyway?”

Andraias opened a secret door in a wall behind the barrels and started down a staircase. “Do you need a torch? I always forget if your kind can see in the dark.”

“Better than you.”

Andraias lit a torch anyway. The further down they went, Knut heard a low buzz of many voices.

“There’s this theory amongst certain religious scholars. The Flame would call it blasphemy—“

“The Flame calls everything blasphemy.”

“Ha, too right. Anyway, the same way my cider apples are distant scions of something born of the divine, the thinking goes that’s where the shifter race, and even the lycanthropes themselves arose.”

Knut trailed his hand along the stone wall as they descended the stairs to keep his balance. His claws scraped along the stones, growing rougher as they went down. He absently counted them with every step.

“From some curse, you mean?” Hardly out of keeping with the Flame’s genocidal propaganda.

“Oh, far from it. Somewhere far from Khorvaire, there were gods with heads like truedives and beasthides and all sorts of things. I’ve seen depictions of them on the walls of ancient temples, ones the Flame hasn’t managed to burn. The resemblance is uncanny.”

“And knowing this helps keep you young, does it?”

“Not . . . exactly. You know the old theories about finite divine power. If the gods can have children, and those children can have children, each with some small spark of divinity, then it can really hardly be called finite, can it? Especially since gods never have to grow old, even if they do sometimes die.”

Knut’s free hand balled into a fist.

“What are you saying?”

“I should think it would be obvious. You are descended from a predator of some persuasion, aren’t you?”

“We all are. Can’t even call it a lucky guess.”

“I mean you don’t share humanity’s lack of pragmatism about these things: kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten.” Knut’s heartbeat quickened.

“The same way minerals build up in salt, these crumbs of divinity stick behind in me. It’s what keeps me young.”

Knut drew close behind him. “And you aren’t worried about reprisals from these gods?”

Andraias laughed again. “They don’t exactly keep a close eye on all their bastards, now do they? Even if they wanted to, there’s not enough hours in the day. Besides, I should think many of them would understand it’s the way of things. There are ones with the heads of hawks and lions in the murals I’ve seen. It looks like there’s just something a rung above them, eh?”

“I suppose so. And you’re just sharing this with me out of the goodness of your heart?”

They got to the bottom of the staircase. “Something like that. These feasts of mine, they tend to attract scavengers. I figure the less l have left over, the less I have to worry about.”

They came to a small, cramped little room, full of salivating beasts, albeit ones that walked on two legs. Knut even saw a few shifters among their number and muscled back a wave of bile.

A swiftwing lay bound on a low dais on a bed of carrots, onions, and potatoes. He was still breathing.

“Thank you everyone for waiting. I just had to lock up. Knut here is the newest addition to our little club.” Andraias drew an ancient stone knife from his belt with symbols in a language Knut didn’t recognize and passed it over to him by the blade.

“Care to do the honors?” he asked.

Knut accepted the knife. “Do you mind if I shift?”

“Oh, please, make yourself comfortable.”

Knut dropped the knife. His muzzle elongated and his claws grew from his fingertips. He stopped holding back the rage that had been building in him all evening and let it deepen his change. He shifted his footing into a ragewild stance. Knut’s form shifted into something much more like his distant godly ancestor. He met Andraias’s gaze and the power of his fury turned him to stone.

Someone standing to the front or back of Knut could see him as he was, while to someone at his side, he was almost invisible. Every facet of his body was infinitely sharp, which made bringing his claws through Andraias’s neck easy work. Whatever strength had built up in his body from preying on Knut’s people didn’t carry over to a lump of stone.

The knife fell to the floor and shattered.

“I have been hunting this man, this scourge on us. I came here as a ploy to be brought in to his good graces to find out what he was doing and put a stop to it. I am certain all of you who are members of our people were here for the same reason, and those who are not were here solely to aid them in this. For this, I thank you. After all, there’s no other reason any of you would want to be here, is there?” Andraias’s head had turned back to flesh. It dripped blood as Knut made a fist in its hair. His headless body slumped against the dais.

“Nope.”

“No.”

“Yeah, you’ve got us pegged.”

Knut passed his hand over the ropes binding the swiftwing and cut them. Knut handed over his coat to cover him up.

“I’m taking his head. I intend to sacrifice it to Anubis to let him know no one is going to be hunting his sons and daughters any longer. Everyone knows there’s no meat on a head anyway. If you came here intending to eat, I lay no claim to the rest of him.” Any members of the crowd who seemed uneasy with the benefit of Knut’s doubt seemed to forget their compunctions as they advanced toward Andraias’s leftovers to start undressing them and light the coals under the dais.

Knut led the swiftwing upstairs before any of them could change their minds.

“Th-thank you. I didn’t know what I was gonna do,” the kid said.

“Forget it.” Knut opened the pantry, cut a few slices of ham with his claws and tossed them on a plate with an apple he cored with his thumb. He opened a bottle of cider with his teeth and set it on the bar.

“Go ahead and eat. I figure if he was planning on roasting you whole, he’d been starving you a couple days.”

The kid nodded and wiped his upturned snout with a napkin. He sipped the cider and coughed, having underestimated its strength. “Hey, that’s pretty good. What’s in this stuff?”

Knut piled barrels in front of the door to the cellar and began searching for a match.

“You know, it’s a funny story . . .”


TN razorclaw shifter totemist 2/barbarian 4



str 18 (increases here), +2 when shifting, +4 from raging
dex 12 +2 racial
con 14 +4 from raging
int 12 -2 racial
wis 10
cha 8 -2 racial

final stats while in combat (raging, shifting)
str 25
dex 14
con 18
int 10
wis 10
cha 6





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


1st
Totemist 1
+0
+2
+2
+0
handle animal 4, k (arcana) 1, k (nature) 1, k (planes) 1, listen 1, spot 4, tumble 4
wild cohort (wolf)
Wild empathy, illiteracy


2nd
Totemist 2
+1
+3
+3
+0
handle animal 1 (5), listen 1 (2), spot 1 (5), tumble 1 (5)

totem chakra bind +1 capacity


3rd
Barbarian 1
+2
+5
+3
+0
intimidate 4
share soulmeld
spiritual totem (lion), illiteracy (again),


4th
Barbarian 2
+3
+6
+3
+0
intimidate 3 (7), tumble 1 (6)

uncanny dodge


5th
Barbarian 3
+4
+6
+3
+1
Skills

spell sense


6th
Barbarian 4
+5
+7
+3
+1
intimidate 1 (8), never outnumbered, tumble 1 (7)
destructive rage
Rage 2/day




1 power attack
2 open chakra (hand)
3 shifter mulitattack (1 shifter feat: 4+con rounds, 1/day)
4 shifter savagery (2 shifter feats: 5+con rounds, 2/day)
5 extra shifter trait: longtooth (3 shifter feats: 6+con rounds, 2/day)
6 longtooth elite (4 shifter feats: 7+con rounds, 3/day)
7 wolf berserker
8 raging luck
9 ragewild fighting
10 improved trip


In order to showcase barbarian’s cool powers, we are complementing it ever so slightly with some totemist. It provides access to the entire totemist list of soulmelds. Every single one of these soulmelds can be bound to your totem chakra to provide a variety of cool effects. Going into every single one would take too long, but they will for the most part provide a bonus to two skills equal to 2+2 for every point of essentia invested, and/or a utility effect such as render you immune to flanking, allow you to fight on even when dying, or bottomlessly detect magic.

The totem bind for most melds is to provide a natural attack to supplement the ones already provided by shifter: claws and bite. If your GM is overly restrictive and won’t allow you to have more than one bite or more than two claws despite RAW not actually forbidding this, no worries, you can always bind something like the unicorn horn that will not provide any possible conflict with your longtooth bite or razorclaw claws. Totem binds can also provide unique effects such as unlimited short range teleportation with the blink shirt or the ability to breath underwater with the kraken mantle.

All of these great effects aren’t yours alone, though. You can handily share them with your wild cohort, a wolf. A capable flanking buddy with a great trip ability, everything you can do, it can do as well. Of particular note is the basilisk mask, which I’d like to draw your attention to.

Normally, this meld is somewhat difficult to derive benefit from, since the petrification on an enemy only lasts for 1 round, but performing the actual petrification consumes a full round action. Your wild cohort capably comes to the rescue. When this is bound to your totem, it can use it as well to petrify enemies for you. Once they are turned to stone, you can use your prodigious strength (with the aid of the oft-overlooked destructive rage) to destroy the inanimate statue in one fell swoop, instantly killing any adversary who is susceptible to petrification without the need for a combat where they could retaliate. It can also do the things it’s traditionally employed for such as destroy doors, manacles, et al.

When you aren’t doing this, barbarian, the main course of this dish, bolsters all your other powers through its indispensable class features such as pounce through the lion totem, allowing you to move and attack with all your weapons at once. You leave your hands free by attacking with armor spikes as your weapon and then using your natural attacks (bite from longtooth, 2 claws from razorclaw, and any you may have from totemist). These attacks are made at a higher bonus than normal thanks to shifter multiattack.

Pounce being provided through barbarian allows you to use your opened hand chakra’s bind for things aside from the sphinx claws, letting you access cool things like the worg pelt, whose hand bind gives you a free trip attempt whenever you hit with a bite. This is useful both before you get improved trip as your final epic feat and even after, giving you an extra free trip without using an attack itself.

Shifter savagery boosts your bite and claws’ damage by two steps and doubles their crit threat ranges. You have enough shifts and rages to do this more often than not in combat. Longtooth elite makes all bites which deal damage deal 1 point of con without a save which adds up quickly and will help defeat enemies from a thousand cuts. It also lowers their fort save versus other effects, such as the rattle the weakling ability from the ragewild fighting tactical maneuver which dazes enemies.

Wolf berserker and improved trip help immobilize enemies and provide another source of extra attacks, plus making you better at tripping. Raging luck gives you a free action point every time you rage. You can do all the standard cool things with this action point and one extra one, the brutal charge maneuver from ragewild fighting. If you spend an action point on it, you can add your str bonus an extra time when charging an enemy on top of all the damage you already deal. Its final maneuver, instinctive strike, lets you make an immediate melee attack against enemies any time you fail a will save.

The spell sense acf grants your bonus to the far more generally applicable threat of spells and slas instead of traps. The skilled city dweller acf lets you swap out ride for tumble on both your skill lists. Never outnumbered lets you demoralize multiple enemies at once with intimidate.

In addition to standard pouncebarian things, you can petrify enemies and destroy them in addition to deal extra damage through a steady source of extra action points. These bonuses and additional rider effects present on the feats and special abilities of this build provide a bit more variety versus the bog standard two handed fighting ubercharger, in addition to shoring up some of those weaknesses with additional utility such as the ability to teleport through the blink shirt and fly to circumvent obstacles like marbles, bypass difficult terrain, and charge in places that are not a perfectly straight line on a flat plain of land with melds like the pegasus cloak, phase cloak, or kraken mantle.



srd: barbarian, power attack, improved trip
eberron campaign setting: shifter mutiattack, raging luck
magic of incarnum: totemist, shape soulmeld, share soulmeld
races of eberron: shifter, shifter savagery, extra shifter trait, longtooth elite, ragewild fighting
unapproachable east: wolf berserker
skilled city dweller: cityscape web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)

[Zaq]

I wouldn’t have been able to resist slipping "da ba de da ba di" into that name somewhere.



Schakri Sililos Sepa ux Sidhyarion tiathar Vutha Amuul
Neutral Good Dragonborn (Duskling)



https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f7/68/fe/f768fed14602477e9d1c77f3e110dc88.jpg
Image Source (https://the-lost-lands.fandom.com/wiki/Torinn?file=Torinn.png)
Duskling
Fey (Extraplanar, Incarnum)
Speed: 30 ft (+5ft per essentia)
+2 Con, -2 Int
Low-Light Vision
Essentia Pool: 1

Dragonborn Duskling
Speed: 30ft
Humanoid (Extraplanar, Incarnum, Dragonblood, Fey)
Speed: 30ft
+2 Dodge AC vs dragon types
Immune to Frightful Presence of Dragons
Draconinc Aspect: Wings
Gliding
Flight: 30ft (average) (limited)
Dive Attack (piercing weapons only)




Source:
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma


Point Buy (32)
16
15
14
12
12
8


Duskling
+0
+0
+2
-2
+0
+0


Level 1
16
15
16
10
12
8


Level 4
16
15+1 (16)
16
10
12
8


Dragonborn (Level 6)
+0
-2
+2
+0
+0
+0


Final Scores
16
14
18
10
12
8




Character Sheet for Completed Build (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=2605817)
* = Denotes requirement for Spell Sense
^ = Trades off all Armor Proficiency for Dragonscale Husk



Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Skills
Feats
Class Features
Essentia Pool
Soulmelds
Soul Binds


1st
Duskling Barbarian 1 (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#duskling-barbarian)
+1
+2
+0
+0
[16 points] Climb +4 (4), Jump +2 (2), Listen +2 (2), Spot +1cc (1), Survival +4 (4), Swim +2 (2)
Shape Soulmeld (Rage Claws)
Beserker Strength (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#berserker-strength), Incarnum Speed, Illiteracy
1
1
N/A


2nd
Barbarian 2
+2
+3
+0
+0
[4 points] Climb +1 (5), Jump +1 (3), Spot +1cc (2)

Uncanny Dodge
1
1
N/A


3rd
Barbarian 3
+3
+3
+1
+1
[4 points] Know: Arcana +1cc (1)*, Know: Religion +1cc (1)
Cobalt Charge
Spell Sense +1 (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#spell-sense)
2
1
N/A


4th
Barbarian 4
+4
+4
+1
+1
[4 points] Jump +2 (5), Know: Arcana +0.5cc (1.5), Know: Religion +0.5cc (1.5)


2
1
N/A


5th
Fangshields Barbarian 5 (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/barbarian.html#fangshields-barbarian)
+5
+4
+1
+1
[4 points] Know: Arcana +0.5cc (2), Know: Religion +0.5cc (2), Spellcraft +1cc (1)

Awesome Charge
2
1
N/A


6th
Crusader 1
+6/+1
+6
+1
+1
[4 points] Concentration +4 (4)
Bonus Essentia
Furious Counterstrike, Steely Resolve 5, Dragonscale Husk^ (https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCore/fighter.html#dragonscale-husk)
3
1
N/A






Level
Discipline
Manuever
Type
Summary


1st
Devoted Spirit
Martial Spirit
Stance
Heal 2 HP per attack


1st
Devoted Spirit
Crusader's Strike
Strike
Damage Enemy; You or ally heal 1d6+3 HP


1st
Devoted Spirit
Vanguard's Strike
Strike
Allies get +4 to hit struck target


1st
White Raven
Douse the Flames
Strike
Struck target can't make AoO's


2nd
White Raven
Battle Leader's Charge
Strike
Charge and make attack; if successful +10 dmg


2nd
Stone Dragon
Mountain Hammer
Strike
Attack does +2d6 damage, ignores DR/Hardness






Epic Feats
Feat Name
New Feature
Essentia Pool
Soulmelds
Soul Binds


1st
Stone Power
-X to hit, +2X temp HP
3
1
N/A


2nd
Shape Soulmeld (Threefold Mask)
Cannot be flanked, +X to Search/Spot
3
2
N/A


3rd
Open Least Chakra (Crown)
+1 insight to Will Saves, Extra Move Action
3
2
1


4th
Iron Will
+2 to Will Saves
3
2
1


5th
Midnight Dodge
+X dodge to AC
4
2
1


6th
Shape Soulmeld (Impulse Boots)
(Imp) Uncanny Dodge, +X to Reflex
4
3
1


7th
Open Least Chakra (Feet)
Evasion, +1 Balance & Move Silently
4
3
2


8th
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity
Invest 3 Essentia into one soulmeld
4
3
2


9th
Travel Devotion
Once per day, for one minute, Swift action to move speed
4
3
2


10th
Travel Devotion
Once per day, for one minute, Swift action to move speed
4
3
2




Sidhyarion was born to a tribe of Dusklings living deep within the Silver Marches, his birth notable only due to the steel-blue hue of skin and the dragon shaped birthmark over his heart. He was a quiet sort of child, more contemplative and reserved than most of his siblings and peers. Slow to anger and long suffering in patience, but when he was pushed over the line, it was as if some inner beast would uncoil itself and roar in challenge. Those times, it was always after he had been physically harmed in some way. A few times Sidhyarion lost himself in that rage and could not be brought out of it until he was physically subdued or, once they better understood his condition, when his mind was soothed through the use of healing magic. Then, his inner beast would stand down, allowing his reason to reassert itself. Because of this, Sidhyarion was taught how to shape the incarnum within himself into a soulmeld that would channel his rage into a fighting frenzy that only death itself could take from him.
Duskling Barbarian is taken for several reasons:
1) Our eventual goal of getting Awesome Blow on charges requires a nonhumanoid race in order to take the Fangsheilds Barbarian Substitution 5th level. Dusklings are Fey type, not humanoid, and still count as Dusklings even after being reborn as a Dragonborn.
2) The Duskling racial increase to speed doesnt stack with the Incarnum Speed of the substitution level and will be lost when the character eventually is reborn as a Dragonborn. This ensures we still have an increase to our base speed, which is a hallmark of the Barbarian class. Also, that boost to initiative.
3) It gives us a narrative reason to begin our adventuring career with essentia and the magic of the incarnum soulmeld of Rage Claws.

Why learn to shape Rage Claws?
1) Berserker Strength is a very dangerous method to initiate a Rage for a barbarian, requiring them to be low on HP in order to make use of it. Any method to extend their effective HP and allow them to act when below 0 HP (and even act normally) is worth its weight in gold.
2) Upon rebirth as a Dragonborn, we can retrain our first level feat to something else. I have chosen NOT to do so in this presentation, but it is a way to reallocate the feat to something more useful once we have a buffer of 25hp, Steely Resolve 5, and ways of healing ourselves in battle. I prefer the extra 10 to 19 HP.
It was about this time that Sidhyarion became active in the ongoing battles that raged in the Silver Marches between the Fangshields and their numerous enemies, most notably the clashes between followers of Tiamat and servants of a black dragon that neighbored their lands. Why? Sidhyarion couldn't really tell you, other than feeling a sort of call or desire to do so. He was welcomed without the usual hesitancy that is reserved for the more humanoid appearing races, as his otherworldly fey nature was immediately apparent. Sidhyarion was trained in the ways of the Fangshields and learned how to always be alert, ready to move at a moments notice and how to avoid the clever tricks of those that attempted to remain unseen. It was also here that Sydhyarion was introduced to the first dragonborn he had ever laid his eyes on. Without even knowing the person, Sidhyarion felt as if he knew them and what they were.
Uncanny dodge is the perk of this level, and is useful, sparing us from being flat-footed in most occasions. When we eventually begin to wear heavier armor, it will be well worth the investment.
Despite what Sidhyarion thought he knew about these dragonborn, he felt a call and desire to know more. Due to his Illiteracy, he was forced to rely on the knowledge of those willing to speak to him and their particular interpretations of the relationship between Bahamut and the dragonborn. This stunted his immersion into the faith and delayed his eventual conversion. It did, however, ring true enough in his mind that he learned a way to defend himself better against spells, having learned to recognize bits of the magic and react slightly faster when he was the target. It certainly saved his life on more than one occasion. Especially the time he first encountered Vutha Amuul, a young dragon with black scales and a particular love of watching things perish while they dissolved in its acid spittle. Known as 'Black Void' in the Common tongue, this juvenile Black dragon was a scourge to the scouts and often performed surprise raids that left many permanently scarred.
Much of the character's attention is focused on learning what dragonborn are and how they relate to Bahamut, which is reflected in the skill choices at this level. Also, Spell Sense requires at least one rank in Knowledge Arcana, so this makes the perfect level in which to integrate the two choices. We choose Cobalt Charge as our feat for this level as charging is going to be one of our staple abilities later, and we could use the extra essentia later (especially since we lose one point due to the racial change). We can also use it now, putting both one point in the feat and in Incarnum Speed, with the option to swap the new point from speed to Rage Claws if we need that extra 3 hp. Bonus to hit and damage is always good.
Sidhyarion devotes a little less time to his research on dragonborn and Bahamut then previously, but still picks up what he can in passing. Instead, he focuses more on his ability to leap over obstacles and down from higher places. Black Void is becoming more of a problem and Sidhyarion feels more and more a compulsion to deal with the dragon before it becomes too powerful. This single minded focus leaves him little room for other improvements.
Nothing exciting happens here except for an increase in base Fortitude save. Normally, a Barbarian gets their second daily use of Rage but since we are using the Berserker Strength alternative, this just becomes a dead level for class abilities. The increase in Jump is to help offset future armor check penalties to the checks.
Sidhyarion finds himself joining up with an adventuring group that had been sent to help deal with the scourge that was Black Void. This group also happened to hold within its members a dragonborn Paladin of Bahamut who, upon learned of Sidhyarion's interest in the subject matter, eager shared what he knew of the Dragon deity and the rituals involved with devoting themselves to Him. This dragonborn offered to help Sidhyarion with his religious journey once they had vanquished Black Void, as the ritual involved required a good deal of time. Sidhyarion eagerly agreed, learning what he could from the dragonborn as they traveled to the juvenile dragon's lair. It was during this time that Sidhyarion was able to display his battle prowess to the dragonborn, going as far as showing off his ability to enter a Berserker rage and crashing into smaller creatures to send them flying.
Eventually, they found the lair of the dragon and after a battle that nearly killed Sidhyarion several times over, they managed to vanquish the foul dragon. Sidhyarion claimed the final blow by leaping down from a high point and splitting its skull with a overhead chop of his heavy weapon. To be honest, the dragon was not much larger than himself but it had put up an incredible fight none-the-less, so Sidhyarion had somewhat mixed feelings of disappointment but also of respect for the dragon.
We gain the ability to deliver an Awesome Blow at the end of the charge while we are in a rage (Berserker Strength), even if we do not meet the requirements for the feat. This lets us launch any creature smaller than ourselves away 10ft and knock them prone. Their reflex save is equal to the damage we deal, and we can deal a lot depending on our weapon choice. Right now, that is limited to small creatures because we don't count as a humanoid until our transition to dragonborn, locking us out of Enlarge Person spells.
Sidhyarion commits himself to Bahamut and undergoes rebirth, becoming Schakri Sililos Sepa ux Sidhyarion tiathar Vutha Amuul (which roughly translates into "Noble Purple Soul 'born as' Steel Heart 'slayer of Tiamat's servant' Black Void". He spends the next year or so of his life traveling with his dragonborn mentor, learning what he can of his new nature and learning to fight as part of a group of adventurers. He develops skills to serve as a skirmisher, leading the charge into battle and forcing opening to allow for a swift retreat. He learns to fly for brief periods of time and incorporates the ability to send his foes flying with his ability to fly into them. Sidhyarion never becomes what you would call truly religious, but takes to this new life with passion and zeal. He might not be the first Duskling to undergo the rite of rebirth, but he is certainly one of the few that carry the indigo scales of the incarnum dragon that his rebirth allowed him to manifest.
The transition to 6th level is marked first by our transformation into a dragonborn, reducing our Dex and bumping up our Con. We lose our broad immunity to charm effects (since we were fey and not a humanoid), our racial boost to speed and one point of essentia. We gain much, much more. Wings, gliding and a dive attack! Humanoid type (yeah, enlarge potions!), Immunity to Frightful Presence of dragons, and a new language. We also get options for being dragonblooded, letting us make use of trading off heavy armor for dragon scale armor (see below). We can also retrain our first level feat but I opted not to do so.
The actual entry into level 6 is into Crusader. This deviates from the special ingredient more as an homage to Bahamut and the dragonborn race, blending the Lawful Good nature of the deity with the Chaotic rage of the Barbarian. We settle on a Neutral Good middle ground that allows us to fortify our melee defenses, sharpen our battle tactics, and give us the ability to heal ourselves out of a Berserker Strength rage. We trade away the Crusader's proficiency with Heavy armor (and proficiency with all armors, actually) to get the Dragonscale Husk ability.
The choice of Bonus Essentia is important. First, this is the first level we can take it. Secondly, we can shape Rage Claws, so we get 2 points. And lastly, we need all the points we can get since we lost one in the rebirth.
Stone Power - This is purely to help us avoid taking more damage than necessary in (and out of) Berserker Strength so that we can maintain some semblance of control over our ability to function in battle. It is essentially (up to) DR 15 if we are fighting something easy to hit (10 Temp HP + 5 Steely Resolve). During Berserker Strength, we also get an additional DR 2/-.
Threefold Mask of Chimera - It effectively gives us Improved Uncanny Dodge (cannot be flanked). We double up on that later but ... we also want to for other reasons. Plus, this is to allow us greater mobility and action economy, since we have to spend a full round action to Dive (or charge). Getting into ideal placement for that action is key. We need the following feat to make it work...
Open Least Chakra (Crown) - This immediately fortifies our Will Save and lets us bind Threefold Mask to our Crown Chakra. Now, we can zip around the battle field.
Iron Will - Fortify that Will Save, enough said.
Midnight Dodge - Mostly for the bonus point of Essentia but to give us an option for +2 Dodge AC when we might need it.
Impulse Boots - Doubled up on 'Improved' Uncanny Dodge. Just in case, you know, the Threefold Mask gets unshaped somehow. Also, boost that Reflex saves. And ...
Open Least Chakra (Feet) - Bonus to some skills BUT binding Impulse Boots to our feet give us Evasion. This gives us a greater ability to get away from spells that go after our HP, especially important while in Berserker Strength and it helps with dragon breath weapons.
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity - This is strictly to help offset the penalties from using Threefold Mask's bonus move action. Reducing the penalties to -2 instead of -5 is significant.
Travel Devotion - Because why not? If Threefold Mask is unshaped, this helps us still use our tactic of repositioning for best outcome. And...
Travel Devotion - Taking it twice means that we can do it in more than one battle.


Weapon of Choice: Halberd +1 (Reach, Slashing or Piercing)
Backup weapon: Sword + Shield
Armor: Dragonscale Husk
Magic Items: Just your typical items to boost AC, Saves, attack, etc, etc

Threefold Mask gets effect of Expanded Soulmeld Capacity (can invest 3 essentia)
Invest 2 Essentia in to Incarnum Speed and Impulse Boosts unless otherwise needed (+20ft move, +4 initiative, +2 reflex saves)
Enlarge Person to be cast on you or drink a potion of such.
Martial Spirit Stance is always active (+2 hp healed per attack)
Battle Leader's Charge is only used to close the distance to each enemy ONCE, otherwise it is saved for Berserker Strength period
Douse the Flames is to be saved for retreat of self or others (see when Berserker Strength is triggered)
Use Stone Power to keep buffer of HP in combination with Steely Resolve (and DR2/- when Berserk)
Use a combination of Threefold Mask and Travel Devotion (as needed) to move into tactical positions for charge/diving attacks.
Saving Throws: Like all barbarians, the Reflex and Will saving throws are an area that could use improvement. Anything to boost them is useful, though enhancement bonuses to Reflex saves do not stack with the Impulse Boots. Enhancement bonuses to Will saves, however, will as there is a +1 insight bonus from the Crown Chakra being open and a +2 type less boost from Iron Will.
Armor Class: Any sort of Natural, Deflection, Dodge or typeless increase will be helpful. The Dragonhusk cannot be enchanted as a typical set of armor (as it does not count as one to be enchanted). Avoiding blows is not the point of this character, as receiving damage to trigger Berserker Strength is required. Instead, it is to reach that 25 HP threshold and stay there, mitigating the rest of the damage through use of temporary HP and self-healing.
To Hit Bonuses: The character has a respectable to hit bonus though makes use of accuracy reducing techniques in order to mitigate damage received and maximize damage dealt. Anything to boost his accuracy is welcome.
Races:
Duskling - Magic of the Incarnum
Dragonborn - Races of the Dragon

Classes/Substitutions:
Barbarian - Player's Handbook
Duskling Barbarian - Magic of the Incarnum
Fangshields Barbarian - Champions of Valor
Berserker Strength - Player's Handbook II
Spell Sense - Complete Mage
Crusader - Tome of Battle
Dragonscale Husk - Dragon Magic

Feats:
Bonus Essentia - Magic of the Incarnum
Cobalt Charge - Magic of the Incarnum
Expanded Soulmeld Capacity - Magic of the Incarnum
Iron Will - Player's Handbook
Midnight Dodge - Magic of the Incarnum
Open Least Chakra - Magic of the Incarnum
Shape Soulmeld - Magic of the Incarnum
Stone Power - Tome of Battle
Travel Devotion - Complete Champion

Other:
Maneuvers (All) - Tome of Battle
Soulmelds (All) - Magic of the Incarnum

[Zaq]

Ba ba ba ba ba BA-rbarian


“Another Caravan in the Talenta Plains was attacked last week. The identity of the perpetrator has still not been confirmed, but the survivors of the attack say that they were attacked by a single dinosaur-riding halfling. This marks the third such attack this month, and the largest caravan attacked so far. Travelers through the Talenta Plains are advised to stick to the established trails, and to only travel in large groups, with at least 10 trained guards..”
- the Korranberg Chronicle, Mol issue, 9th day of Dravago, 998 YK




Mario

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/667969182633033739/952750361255497868/Gordito.jpg
(Image Source: http://drmcninja.com/)

CN Strongheart Halfling Barbarian 5/Beastmaster 1

Ability Scores:

Abilities Initial Race / Template 4th Total
STR 17 -2 1 16
DEX 16 2 18
CON 14 14
INT 11 11
WIS 8 8
CHA 8 8

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Barbarian 1 2 0 0 16: {+4} Handle Animal: 4; {+4} Ride: 4; {+4} Survival: 4; {+4} Climb: 4; Skill Focus (Handle Animal), Quick Draw Illiteracy, Whirling Frenzy 1/day, Climb 10 ft.
2nd Barbarian 2 3 0 0 4: {+1} Handle Animal: 5; {+1} Ride: 5; {+1} Survival: 5; {+1} Climb: 5; +2 Intimidate
3rd Barbarian 3 3 1 1 4: {+1} Handle Animal: 6; {+1} Ride: 6; {+1} Survival: 6; {+1} Climb: 6; Mounted Combat, Power Attack Bonus Feat (Power Attack)
4th Barbarian 4 4 1 1 4: {+1} Handle Animal: 7; {+1} Ride: 7; {+1} Survival: 7; {+1} Climb: 7; Whirling Frenzy 2/day
5th Barbarian 5 4 1 1 4: {+1} Handle Animal: 8; {+1} Ride: 8; {+1} Survival: 8; {+1} Climb: 8; Climb 20 ft.
6th Beastmaster 6 6 3 1 4: {+1} Handle Animal: 9; {+1} Ride: 9; {+1} Survival: 9; {+1} Climb: 9; Boomerang Daze Animal Companion, Wild Empathy

Epic Feats
Natural Bond
Point-Blank shot
Rapid Shot
Brutal Throw
Mounted Archery
Power Throw
Boomerang Ricochet
Two-Weapon Fighting
Far Shot
Improved Mounted Archery




Whirling Frenzy - Not very original, but it’s pretty important for the build, since it gives an extra attack, allowing Mario to hit more targets with Boomerang Daze. (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy )
Ape Totem - Exchanges Fast Movement, Uncanny dodge, Trap Sense, and Improved Uncanny Dodge for a climb speed, a bonus to intimidate and Power Attack as a bonus feat. (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#apeTotemClassFeatures)




At early levels, Mario’s primary strategy is to skirmish on a normal mount, varying between melee and ranged attacks as necessary. At these levels, Mario doesn’t do anything particularly unique, and mostly just does some of the standard barbarian things.
This all changes when Mario reaches level 6. He gets the 2 things that bring his build together. First of all, he takes a level in the Beastmaster class, which gets him his mount and partner: a Fleshraker named Yoshi. The other key component of the build also comes at level 6: the feat Boomerang Daze. Mario’s primary strategy is now to hurl his boomerangs at every enemy he can see, dazing them while Yoshi does leaping charges at them.
Due to the mounted combat rules, Mario can make full attacks while Yoshi charges. This gives good mobility, and allows Mario to consistently hit multiple enemies with save-or-sucks every turn.

Epic levels -
Natural Bond is an important feat, since it bumps Yoshi into the next bracket for animal companion advancement, giving an increase to Str, Dex, HD, and Natural Armor, greatly increasing capability and survivability.

Beyond that, feats are geared towards increasing the number of attacks Mario can get in a round, thus allowing him to disable more enemies at once with Boomerang Daze. On top of that, increasing accuracy and damage improves the reliability of the daze effect.

The order of the feats can be changed to suit the needs of the build - the Rapid shot feat line can be moved up or moved back, or Brutal/Power Throw can be moved up. Extra Rage (Complete Warrior, p. 98), can also be substituted in if necessary.


The most important item for the build is the Talenta Boomerang. Mario can use it as a martial weapon, because he is a halfling from the Talenta Plains (Eberron Campaign Setting, p. 26), and he can also use a Talenta Sharrash, which makes a good backup weapon.
Beyond that, items which improve Yoshi’s performance in combat are particularly useful, along with the standard items for improving his own combat abilities.



Feature Source
Talenta Boomerang Eberron Campaign Setting, p. 119
Strongheart Halfling Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, p. 18
Whirling Frenzy SRD
Ape Totem SRD
Boomerang Daze Races of Eberron, p. 108
Boomerang Ricochet Races of Eberron, p. 108
Beastmaster Complete Adventurer, p. 26
Natural Bond Complete Adventurer, p. 111
Fleshraker Monster Manual III, p. 40-41
Brutal Throw Complete Adventurer, p. 106
Power Throw Complete Adventurer, p. 111
Improved Mounted Archery Complete Warrior, p. 101

[Zaq]

Imagine shuffling your feet on the carpet in winter, but, like, as a fighting style.


https://assets.3dtotal.com/data-import/data/images/interviews/932-tid-wormhole-jpg.yip3ho.image.3bd.jpg
Ruben Alvarez (https://3dtotal.com/news/interviews/mastering-concept-design-by-3dtotal-staff-ruben-alvarez-zbrush-photoshop-interview#article-all-images-c-ruben-alvarez)

Warforged are forged for war, you know. There are many types of them. Psiforged, druids, even arcane casters, but most popular models created for close, face-to-face fights. There are differences inside this group, too. Some are good with weapons, some with bare hands, but anyway most of them are about martial arts and discipline of some sort. Most but this one. He is about endless scorching wrath!!!

Abilities Initial Warforged 4th Total
STR 17 1 18
DEX 12 12
CON 16 2 18
INT 9 9
WIS 12 -2 10
CHA 8 -2 6

CE Warforged Bear Totem Barbarian-6
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Bear Totem Barbarian-1 1 2 0 0 12: {+4} Climb: 4; {+4} Craft (Armor): 4; {+4} Jump: 4; Adamantine Body, Toughness (B) Illiteracy, berserker strength
2nd Bear Totem Barbarian-2 2 3 0 0 3: {+1} Climb: 5; {+1} Craft (Armor): 5; {+1} Jump: 5; Improved Grapple (B)
3rd Bear Totem Barbarian-3 3 3 1 1 3: {+1} Climb: 6; {+1} Craft (Armor): 6; {+1} Jump: 6; Shocking Fist, Great Fortitude (B)
4th Bear Totem Barbarian-4 4 4 1 1 3: {+1} Climb: 7; {+1} Craft (Armor): 7; {+1} Jump: 7;
5th Bear Totem Barbarian-5 5 4 1 1 3: {+1} Climb: 8; {+1} Craft (Armor): 8; {+1} Jump: 8; +4 bonus on grapple checks when raging
6th Bear Totem Barbarian-6 6 5 2 2 3: {+1} Climb: 9; {+1} Craft (Armor): 9; {+1} Jump: 9; Second Slam

Number Epic Feats
E1 Draconic Aura (Vigor)
E2 Improved Fortification
E3 Mad Foam Rager
E4 Martial Study (Mountain Hammer)
E5 Stone Power
E6-E10 Improved Damage Reduction*5

Wrath isn't so wrathful so far. He gets in a rage only when his hp is 15 or less. This is too close to destruction and Wrath doesn't have enough options to prevent it, but destroy the enemy first. His main offensive weapon now and forever is his slam. His damage is d4+6 (9 when berserker strength is active) + up to 3d4 electricity due Shocking Fist.

A creature’s primary natural weapon is its most effective natural weapon, and the creature uses its full attack bonus with that weapon. It applies its full Strength modifier on damage with its primary weapon—or 1-1/2 × its Strength bonus if it has only one natural weapon.
Shocking Fist also is a method to decrease Wrath's hp to activate berserker strength. Now it works not so fast and always being within 3 hp of activation isn't a good idea - only 18 hp, but if the enemy hit Wrath and there is already 18 hp - decreasing to 15 is better than not decreasing.
Also do not forget about the grapple. In E6 without FoM it is good tactics. And Wrath can slam grappled target as well.
Most improvements in these levels are just numbers. More BAB, more saves, more skills. The most notable changes are +4 bonus on grapple checks from Bear Totem and Second Slam. Wrath tries to grapple the enemy and slams him to the death. Now berserker strength's threshold is 30 hp of 69 (or 71 depends on count decimals or not) total, this is much better.
Things are getting together. Vigor lets Wrath heals up to 1 hp more than his half (35 or 36) and this number is within 6 hp of berserker strength's threshold, so Wrath can easily say: "I'm Always Angry" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAYnwsKzIGA).
Improved Fortification not only gives its benefit, but its drawback, too, and now nobody can heal Wrath and stop Wrath's rage with this.
Berserker strength lets Wrath use the Mad Foam Rager feat many times in one fight. Theoretically he even can delay one single effect for an unlimited period of time. With active Vigor and every round activating Shocking Fist he can enter in berserker strength every round again, so...
Mountain Hammer while in most is a prec, but it is useful prec.
Stone Power is another option to manage hp. With only -3 AB, Wrath now can give full Shocking Fist's charge without limitation.
+5 to DR for total 7/adamantine isn't solution to all problems of course, but some problems with it (and immunity to sneak attacks and crits from Improved Fortification) are fully solved.


Type Name Book
Race Warforged Eberron Campaign Setting
Class Barbarian PHB
Class Variant Bear Totem Barbarian UA
ACF Berserker Strength PHBII
Feat Adamantine Body Eberron Campaign Setting
Feat Toughness PHB
Feat Improved Grapple PHB
Feat Shocking Fist Player's Guide to Eberron
Feat Great Fortitude PHB
Feat Second Slam Races of Eberron
Feat Draconic Aura Dragon Magic
Feat Improved Fortification Eberron Campaign Setting
Feat Mad Foam Rager PHBII
Feat Martial Study Tome of Battle
Feat Stone Power Tome of Battle
Feat Improved Damage Reduction Eberron Campaign Setting
Draconic Aura Vigor PHBII
Maneuver Mountain Hammer Tome of Battle

[Zaq]

And there you have it! Twelve seven angry men PCs for your judging pleasure!

Judges, over to you!

[Mero]

Interesting bunch at first glance, for sure!

None doing quite what I had in mind, so I'll keep the idea for now. Hopefully another ingredient will fit the idea. Anyway, I had fun just getting my mind to churn and some of the build onto the page.

I saw that there's often an effort to get judges. I don't have the experience that best leads to judging besides reading a bunch of the old threads for the assorted comps, but if I have the time this weekend (no guarantee), then I'll take a shot. I found this round fascinating. Well, I'll at least see how long it take me to get through one build and reassess then.

[MinimanMidget]

Very nice batch! Always great when someone else submits a better version of the build you didn't. The only idea I had that's not on display was "do something with Roof-Jumper", and AsuraKyoko covered that with Kate only 3 rounds earlier.

I'll get started on judging tonight - it'll be good to give my hands a break from the demands of Elden Ring anyway.

[AsuraKyoko]

Very nice batch! Always great when someone else submits a better version of the build you didn't. The only idea I had that's not on display was "do something with Roof-Jumper", and AsuraKyoko covered that with Kate only 3 rounds earlier.

I'll get started on judging tonight - it'll be good to give my hands a break from the demands of Elden Ring anyway.

I got a lot of reminders of Kate for this round; mostly when looking at ACFs. I'm glad that someone else remembers her, too! She was a lot of fun to make


Some pretty interesting builds all around, here. A good variety of things, it looks like.

[Eldonauran]

I'm impressed with the builds submitted. Good job everyone!

Also, if it was easier to get a damnable bite attack without having to be a kobold... Well, it would have been epic. Satisfied with what I ended up submitting.

[loky1109]

Table!
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels
Bramble Wolfsoul (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395857&postcount=34) CG Jungle Halfling Wolf Totem Barbarian 2/Battle Dancer 1/Warblade 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Hellreaver 1
Gromorth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395858&postcount=35) CG ex-Half-Orc Dragonborn Eagle Totem Hunter 6
Ka'assani (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395861&postcount=36) NG Unseelie Spellscale Druidic Avenger Deadly Hunter 1/Boar Totem Barbarian 4/Crusader 1
Knut Longclaw (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395863&postcount=37) TN Razorclaw Shifter Totemist 2/Barbarian 4
The Incarnum Dragon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395864&postcount=38) NG ex-Duskling Dragonborn Barbarian 5/Crusader 1
Mario (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395865&postcount=39) CN Strongheart Halfling Ape Totem Barbarian 5/Beastmaster 1
Wrath of the Tempest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395868&postcount=40) CE Warforged Bear Totem Barbarian 6

[loky1109]

We have 6 different totem animals (including Spiritual Totem) from 7 builds. Nice!
7 if consider that standard barbarian "has" Jaguar totem. )

I expected more Barb-6 builds.


Also, if it was easier to get a damnable bite attack without having to be a kobold... Well, it would have been epic.
Deformity (Teeth).

[H_H_F_F]

Great builds all around. Worth the wait.

[H_H_F_F]

Interesting bunch at first glance, for sure!

None doing quite what I had in mind, so I'll keep the idea for now. Hopefully another ingredient will fit the idea. Anyway, I had fun just getting my mind to churn and some of the build onto the page.

I saw that there's often an effort to get judges. I don't have the experience that best leads to judging besides reading a bunch of the old threads for the assorted comps, but if I have the time this weekend (no guarantee), then I'll take a shot. I found this round fascinating. Well, I'll at least see how long it take me to get through one build and reassess then.

Hey, thanks for intending to judge, Mero!

My first direct involvment with a comp was judging too (psion uncarnate, in the main Iron Chef competition). I'd say as long as you've read through the entries carefully and have a good grasp on the different categories, you should be fine - no reason to worry about lack of experience.

[thorr-kan]

Nice list of barbarians!

I just couldn't get anything off the ground. The shoal halfling possibility had Ape Totem, so that would at least have followed the unofficial theme.

The half-orc racial paragon class/scout without a level of barbarian titled, "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" was *not* in the spirit of the competition. So I regretfully stomped on that idea.

I'm looking forward to our results!

[loky1109]

I'm looking now on my entry... I could make better, I see it.

[Eldonauran]

Deformity (Teeth).Ah, I should have been more clear. Two feats and an alignment restriction is not what I consider to be 'easier' to get a bite attack then just being a kobold. I'd rather eat the ability score penalties than lose two feats and be forced to be evil.

Honestly, what I wanted to do with the bite attack simply wouldn't have worked in the E6 format competition unless I took flaws to get extra feats and I'm not willing to eat the judging penalty for doing so.

[loky1109]

Ah, I should have been more clear. Two feats and an alignment restriction is not what I consider to be 'easier' to get a bite attack then just being a kobold. I'd rather eat the ability score penalties than lose two feats and be forced to be evil.

Honestly, what I wanted to do with the bite attack simply wouldn't have worked in the E6 format competition unless I took flaws to get extra feats and I'm not willing to eat the judging penalty for doing so.

Ok. Laika from Savage Species WE. LA +0, bite 1d4, +2 Con, -2 Int, Track (B), +2 Listen and Survival, LLV, Speak with Animals (canine only) (Sp) 1/day (CL 1)

[MinimanMidget]

Ok. Laika from Savage Species WE. LA +0, bite 1d4, +2 Con, -2 Int, Track (B), +2 Listen and Survival, LLV, Speak with Animals (canine only) (Sp) 1/day (CL 1)

Or just Darfellan (from Stormwrack). Better bite, comparable stat modifiers, much more straightforward.

[daremetoidareyo]

My build revolves around optimizing illiteracy. Which means I needed exploding runes and sepia snake sigil and illusory script.

Which meant Neanderthal arfificer 3/barb 3. But like Neanderthal did the heavy lifting and barbarian, despite being the orinal node of the concept, became irrelevant

[Zaq]

I was really hoping someone could optimize trapkiller and somehow argue that they could turn their opponents into mechanical traps and then smash them.

[daremetoidareyo]

If you can turn them into a mechanical trap you don’t need to disarm them

[Venger]

Ah, I should have been more clear. Two feats and an alignment restriction is not what I consider to be 'easier' to get a bite attack then just being a kobold. I'd rather eat the ability score penalties than lose two feats and be forced to be evil.

Honestly, what I wanted to do with the bite attack simply wouldn't have worked in the E6 format competition unless I took flaws to get extra feats and I'm not willing to eat the judging penalty for doing so.

You can always revere an elder evil and get them for free.

[H_H_F_F]

How are we doing, judgement-wise?

[MinimanMidget]

How are we doing, judgement-wise?

I haven't even found time to start yet. Hoping this week will have more space in it.

[Zaq]

*tap tap*

This thing on?

[MinimanMidget]

*tap tap*

This thing on?

Judging is underway. The way things have been going lately, I'm not going to try and predict when it'll be done.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks for the update, Minimanmidget!

By the way, is anyone else judging?

[MinimanMidget]

Sorry for the wait, everyone. I know how this is going to sound, but I haven't played any videogames in over a week and I still struggled to find time to get it done. Anyway, judgements are ready to go, just waiting on a clarification from Zaq before I post them.

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks for the update, Minimanmidget!

By the way, I kind of fizzled out of playing video games a few years ago, but it doesn't "sound" like anything to me. You're allowed to have other hobbies, you know :tongue:

[MinimanMidget]

Thanks for the update, Minimanmidget!

By the way, I kind of fizzled out of playing video games a few years ago, but it doesn't "sound" like anything to me. You're allowed to have other hobbies, you know :tongue:

Thanks, but...builds were posted 4 weeks ago. I've tried your patience to a somewhat ridiculous extent at this point.

[H_H_F_F]

Yeah, well, I've got no right to complain given how late I've been lately. Getting JW judgements finished as we speak, by the way.

It seems like Zaq's been offline for a minute. If it seems appropriate to you, you could post your judgement as-is and update it later once Zaq comes back and gets back to you with answers and disputes. Could speed up the process somewhat. Only if that sounds like a good idea to you, though: I don't know the exact situation at hand, and Zaq will probably be back soon anyway.

[MinimanMidget]

I see what you mean. Alright, here we go.



Halfling isn't anyone's first thought for a Barbarian, with its Str penalty and Small size. The Jungle variant has Barbarian as a favoured class, but then you didn't end up using it anyway. Even taking your focus on Dex into account, there are much more obvious choices. (+0.5)

Wolf Totem, bleh, especially since it doesn't really go with the jungle theme. Battle Dancer is an interesting choice, whereas Warblade isn't, although I appreciate that you tried to tie it into her wolf theme. Fist of the Forest comes as no surprise. Hellreaver wouldn't be a surprise either, except it's not very useful within E6. (-0.5)

Your feat choices are...bland. A lot of them are just small numerical boosts. Overall, Bramble uses Dex to punch things, and does a little bit of other stuff, and that's about it. (-0.5)

You did a good job with your backstory, but it does feel like you were writing to justify your choices, rather than building to fit your concept.

Overall: 2.5


You have a nice attack routine...once per day. It starts looking a lot less impressive when your Ferocity/Feral Trance isn't up. You can use them separately, of course, and you have a few ways to mess with your accuracy/damage dials, which helps. Your trip check is decent, Furious Strike is something, and you're good at flanking, although you didn't include a flanking partner in the build. Maneuvers and poison give you some extra tricks. This would be a higher bonus if it wasn't for the once per day part. (+0.25)

Defensively, you've got plenty of hp, and your AC is good - great when you're feeling angry. Your Fort is good, your Ref is decent, but gets better when you're mad, and while your Will is your weakest point (although still not especially weak), immunity to charm and fear covers most of that anyway. (+0.5)

Outside of combat, Bramble doesn't really do anything. You've got mediocre bonuses to a bunch of miscellaneous skills, and that's about it. (-1)

Overall: 2.75


Please don't link to sources that violate copyright. It may be convenient, but listing book sources is sufficient and doesn't break any rules. (-0.5)

On the subject of convenience, thanks for writing up a full character sheet - very helpful for judging purposes. (+0.25)

Overall: 4.75


The actual minimum requirement is 1 level in the SI, not 2, but 2 is still not a lot. That said, Fist of the Forest and Hellreaver are both, to an extent, Barbarian PrCs, and that counts for something. (-0.75)

This is a tricky build to judge, because while you have, for example, 3 varieties of rage, only 1 of them actually comes from Barbarian. Don't get me wrong, theme and feel counts for a lot, but at the end of the day, Barbarian is only a part of what makes this build work. (-0.5)

Overall: 1.75

Total: 11.75



Half-Orc is the classic Barbarian race, and Dragonborn is even more expected than that. (-1)

Hunter isn't an ACF I expected to see the light of day. (You'll be hearing more about this later.) Eagle Totem isn't a choice I saw coming either. (+0.5)

I actually thought about a footbow archer, but I certainly don't think it's obvious or unoriginal. With that said, as you said yourself, your feats are natural choices for that concept (except maybe Ready Shot - never seen that one before). (+0.5)

I have to ask, being an archer, why was Gromorth in the front line of defenders when fighting ogres? Also, first time I've heard of a yellow dragon, I had to look that one up.

Overall: 3


Your attack routine is...okay. Neither your accuracy nor your damage are quite where I'd like them to be. Plunging Shot is a nice bonus against landbound enemies, but it's very situational, especially when trying to combine it with Point Blank Shot. (-0.25)

You have a lot of hp, your AC is...okay, and you have flight, which helps with staying alive. Your Fort and Ref are both decent, but your Will is terrible. (-0.25)

In terms of utility, you have a decent Survival score, which I guess you might occasionally find some reason to use, you have a good Jump score, which, considering you've got flight, you will never find a reason to use, and a Spot score not really good enough to be useful. (-0.75)

Overall: 1.75


I can't find anything to complain about!

Overall: 5


All 6 levels in the SI. (+1)

So, Hunter. The thing is, you traded rage, which is the Barbarian's strongest and most defining feature, for 2 feats, one of which you don't even use. Yes, Mayshot is a pre-req for Improved Rapid Shot, but Improved Rapid Shot is a +2 to hit. You know how else you could have gotten a +2 to hit? Ferocity would be one way. And yes, there's Favoured Enemy, but it's just not enough for what you traded away. I just look at this build, and can't see how it benefits from being a Barbarian over a Ranger, or even a Fighter. It also just feels like a wasted opportunity - the normal problem for archers is a lack of damage. Footbow is a nice way to make up for that weakness, especially with a great Str score, like...the one you could have gotten from rage. (-1)

Overall: 3

Total: 12.75



I suspect everyone who's looked at Berserker Strength has thought about trying to make it always-on. But anyway, this is one of those times when the score is a foregone conclusion. I can follow my usual process, and assign bonuses and penalties to individual elements, but it's pointless and I'm running behind. What you did, and how you did it, is well and truly a 5 here. I do want to give a shout out to a really fun and well written backstory. I also really like how spellscale is doing double duty allowing you to take Aberrant Dragonmark (which is obscure enough in itself) and lowering your Con.

Overall: 5


Okay, so. This is a really cool trick. The consequences are, for a lot of enemies, literally worse than death. One of my first thoughts was that it would be fairly easy to remove, but everything I can find will only suppress it for a while, not remove it altogether. It's absurdly effective against single targets, and still usable against groups. The numbers you've got on it are hard to argue with...with one important exception. Your to-hit bonus is just not high enough for everything depending on it. Intimidating Strike, Stone Power, your manuevers - they all rely on your attack roll. The even bigger problem with fear, of course, is that a lot of things are immune to it. You've got backup plans for them, which I appreciate, but it would still be better if you could use your primary trick on everything. Of course, failing all else, you can always contribute by hanging out near enemies and passively putting their saves in a dumpster. (+0.75)

This is going to come as a shock to you, but you don't have much hp (even counting Diehard). You haven't said anything about what armor you intend to wear, but if you're complying with druidic restrictions in addition to the penalty from Berserker Strength, your AC is going to be garbage. You have, effectively, fast healing 4, along with Stone Power and Steely Resolve, not to mention your DR, and immunity to fire and cold damage. Even with Berserker Strength, your Fort is weak, your Ref is terrible, and your Will is mediocre. Don't get me wrong, you're harder to kill than someone with an average of 15.5 hp total really has any right to be, but that's still just not that hard to kill. (-0.75)

When you're not giving your enemies permanent mental breakdowns, you're still great at intimidating people, and you're...okay at other Cha-based checks on your ability modifier alone. You have decent Ride and Survival scores, for what that's worth. (-0.5)

It's weirdly funny to me that you have a level of Druid spellcasting (and the requisite Wis) that you can never use.

Overall: 2.5


It's a bit mean, but when I'm judging a round and there's a build with a crazy trick like this, I take great pride in poking holes in it. This one, though - I've gone over it a few times, and I just can't find a flaw in it.

Unseelie Fey, ew. No listed LA, sample character has LA+0, LA- templates are unplayable, etc. Let's skip ahead and go with "legality is questionable, inelegance is certain". (-0.5)

This is (as far as I can recall) the first time I've ever had to judge a build that used aging. On reflection, I'm okay with it - you're not cheesing the penalties or anything, you just happen to benefit from them.

Multiclass experience penalty, have a slap on the wrist. (-0.25)

I have to say, I was expecting this category to be bad for you, but you've stayed shockingly clean. Either that or I'm just failing to find the problems.

Overall: 4.25


4 levels in the SI, and your Druid level is very much Barbarian-lite. (+0.25)

This is a build that has to be, and can only be, a Barbarian. All the way from your core trick to a decent chunk of your defensive options, it's Barbarian all the way. Heck, almost half your feats require rage. (+1)

Overall: 4.25

Total: 16



I was hoping we'd see a shifter. They're not a widely used race, but at the same time, they're a natural fit for barbarian. Overall, I think they merit neither a bonus nor a penalty here. (+0)

Totemist is a natural (get it?) complement to barbarian and to shifter. It even has a breakpoint at level 2, lining up perfectly (in E6, I mean) with the one barbarian has at level 4. Lion spiritual totem is so expected at this point that it almost wraps around to being surprising that anyone would take it, knowing they'd be hit with a penalty. Especially when piling on natural weapons. (-1)

Most of your feats are natural choices with your concept, but there are some standouts. Destructive Rage is one of those feats no-one ever takes, and you've not just taken it, you've come up with something really cool to do with it. I'd never even heard of Raging Luck before, and I wish I had - a guaranteed source of action points (potentially even in a campaign where they aren't in use) could be used for some really cool things. (+0.5)

Your introduction is great! (+0.25)

Overall: 2.75


You have a great attack routine, even without Shifter Savagery - solid rider effects in Con damage and trip, too. Your wolf buddy will contribute either with the basilisk mask or with its own attacks, not to mention a flanking bonus. Speaking of basilisk mask, it's a cool trick you came up with. Your +15 bonus to the break check is impressive, but break DCs are high. I can't find an exact number for a stone statue, but a 1-ft. thick stone wall has a break DC of 35. Anyway, as you mentioned, Totemist gives you access to plenty of other cool tricks, but you do have to pick a limited selection each day. Speaking of daily limits, it's my experience that 3 shifts will get you through most days, but 2 rages is going to leave you short a lot of the time. (+0.75)

You've got a good amount of hp, especially when you're raging, but your AC will be a little low, especially when you're raging. Your Fort is good, and improves when you rage, your Ref is on the low side, and your Will is garbage, even in rage. (-0.5)

Outside of combat, you have mediocre bonuses in Intimidate and Spot, and a varying amount of utility from your soulmelds, which competes with your combat utility. (-0.75)

Overall: 2.5


You spilled a little bit of Faerun on your Eberron character. This one's actually a bit worse than usual - not only is Wolf Berserker a regional feat, it has a specific pre-req on top of that that's impossible to fulfill. You could at least have taken 2 ranks of Knowledge (local) to help justify this. (-0.5)

Multiclass experience penalty, have a slap on the wrist. (-0.25)

You don't qualify for Share Soulmeld. Firstly, a Wild Cohort is not technically an animal companion. That's not a big deal. What is a big deal is that you can't share spells with it (unless you take 5 levels of Silverwood Arcanist), which Share Soulmeld requires. (-0.5)

Not to sound obvious, but you forgot to take skills at level 5. Normally I'd say "forgot to list skills", but looking at your totals at level 6, it's quite clear that you forgot to take them at all. I feel bad about it, but I'd be remiss not to penalise it at all. Your Ref also should have gone up this level, incidentally. (-0.25)

Shifter Multiattack, Shifter Savagery, and Ragewild Fighting all require BAB +6. Not much to say about this one, but ouch. (-1.5)

Overall: 2


4 levels in the SI, which I generally consider the baseline number. (+0)

Shifter, totemist, barbarian. Your 3 ingredients blend almost perfectly, with the unfortunate exception being that lost point of BAB. Barbarian isn't quite as critical to your build as I would have preferred, but Totemist is boosting it, and vice versa (I really do love your Destructive Rage trick), and the same is true of Shifter. I do wish you'd taken Extra Rage, though. (+0.5)

Overall: 3.5

Total: 10.75



Much like the shifter, dusklings aren't a widely used race, but they are a natural fit for barbarian. Dragonborn, on the other hand... (-0.5)

Duskling Barbarian is a relatively unusual choice, since there are much stronger abilities that fast movement can be traded for. Berserker Strength is probably the least used rage variant, especially when you're not using it for shenaningans. You don't see many Fangshields Barbarians, either. Crusader dips, on the other hand, you see quite a lot of. (+0.25)

Your feat choices are interesting. We see a lot of incarnum feats in this contest, but your soulmelds aren't the usual ones. Travel Devotion is very familiar, but the overall picture here is quite distinctive. (+0.5)

This is another backstory that feels like it was written to justify your build. It's also weird - Sidhyarion was...destined to become a dragonborn? Or something like that? It's an odd detail to include and never expound on.

Overall: 3.25


So, with Threefold Mask of the Chimera, you're making a dive attack every second round (I'm not sure if you were aware of this, but Threefold Mask heavily restricts your actions in the next round) for 2d10+12. When you're using Travel Devotion, it's every round. When Berserker Strength is active, it's 2d10+18. Awesome Blow will sometimes add +1d6, as well as potential tactical value. It's not as much damage as I'd like, considering it's once per round at most, but your to-hit is strong, and that helps. Manuevers help a bit, too, but I don't think it's enough. (-0.5)

You've got a lot of hp, and decent AC, even with the penalty for charging. Your Fort is good, especially when Berserker Strength is active, while your Ref and Will are mediocre, but less so with Berserker Strength. Flight, evasion, DR from Berserker Strength, Martial Spirit, Stone Power, Steely Resolve, and even Improved Uncanny Dodge will all help you stay alive. (+0.5)

In terms of utility, you can fly, your Spot bonus is worth mentioning, and you have a bunch of other skill bonuses that aren't really worth mentioning. (-0.75)

Overall: 2.25


Please don't link to sources that violate copyright. It may be convenient, but listing book sources is sufficient and doesn't break any rules. (-0.5)

On the subject of convenience, thanks for writing up a full character sheet - very helpful for judging purposes. (+0.25)

Multiclass experience penalty, have a slap on the wrist. (-0.25)

I can't find any rules about disqualifying yourself for a racial substitution level after you've already taken it, which makes me happy because it's rather neat. It'd be nice if you'd taken the Fangshields level at 3 - not in any way required, just nice.

Overall: 4.5


5 levels in the SI. (+0.5)

So, the main features you got from Barbarian are Berserker Strength and Awesome Blow. You've invested a bit into Berserker Strength, while Awesome Blow is arguably the core of your build. I also like that you've taken pains to replace improved uncanny dodge after you traded it away. (+0.5)

Overall: 4

Total: 14



Halfling is an unusual choice for a barbarian, especially one focusing on Str, but strongheart is just about the least interesting type of halfling. (+0.25)

You said it yourself, Whirling Frenzy is not very original. Ape Totem is more interesting, but you're only really using it for a pre-req feat, and Beastmaster isn't an obvious pick, but a fleshraker is infamous at this point. (-0.25)

Mounted thrower isn't the most obvious barbarian concept, but it's not unheard of, either. More generally, Boomerang Daze/Boomerang Ricochet is well known, and once you've chosen that concept, your other feats are all very vanilla. (-0.5)

Overall: 2.5


You've got a lot of extra attacks, but your accuracy suffers - +6/+6/+6/+6/+1 (your best case scenario) is veering into "flurry of misses" territory. On the other hand, 1d3+6 damage on each of those attacks adds up to a lot of damage if you can land your shots, not to mention a lot of Boomerang Daze saving throws with a decent DC on them. Given those two sentences, it's hard to see how Power Throw is a good idea in general, but if you really need something dazed making a single attack and cranking the DC up is a good option to have. I'd argue that you definitely need Extra Rage, since Whirling Frenzy accounts for a big portion of your damage, and you need every scrap of accuracy you can get. Two per day is definitely going to leave you short sometimes, but unfortunately I can't give you credit for mentioning it as a possibility - I can only judge what's in the build. Anyway, moving along, your fleshraker is, well, a (slightly advanced) fleshraker, and that's worth a lot, too. (+0.5)

Defensively, you've got plenty of hp, and good AC, especially in Whirling Frenzy. Your Fort and Ref are both okay, but your Will is literally 0. It's worth mentioning here that dazed enemies don't get to attack you, too. (-0.25)

Outside of combat, you're good at climbing, and you've got a decent Survival score. Your fleshraker has scent and Track (but no Survival to back it up), and that's something, but in general, when you're not fighting, you're not contributing much. (-0.75)

Overall: 2.5


Strongheart halflings come from Faerun, not the Talenta Plains. (-0.25)

Overall: 4.75


5 levels in the SI. (+0.5)

Other than Whirling Frenzy, it's hard to see what Barbarian is really doing for you. Given the skills and feats you need, the build would work a lot better as a Ranger, and you'd even get a couple of extra levels for animal companion purposes. (-0.75)

Overall: 2.75

Total: 12.5



Warforged is one of the best races for a barbarian, and it gets used accordingly often. Still, at least it's not dragonborn warforged. (-0.75)

Bear Totem is probably the most used of the (non-spiritual) totems after Wolf, but that's still a lot less use. Berserker Strength showed up a lot in this round, but it's a very unusual choice in general. (+0.25)

I like your feats - you're going all in on being a warforged, grappling is classic but still cool, and messing with your own hp to bounce in and out of rage is fun. And then you took 5 copies of Improved Damage Reduction, which makes me really sad - you could do a lot with 5 feats. This is just leaving points on the table. (+0.25)

Overall: 2.75


Even with Shocking Fist, your damage is a little underwhelming. Grappling is nice in theory, but your numbers aren't overly impressive there either, and more importantly, you don't really gain much by it. You can still slam, but with a penalty, so I can't help but think that the usefulness of grappling for you is largely going to be determined by how screwed the enemies you're fighting happen to be by it, and how well your allies can take advantage of it. Similarly, the idea of entering Berserker Strength every round is cool, but in practice I'm not sure it's all that workable. Even if your max hp happens to end up exactly where you want it to, using Shocking Fist to activate Berserker Strength means you don't get the benefits of Berserker Strength on one of your two attacks in the round. On top of that, this is a tactic that relies on nothing else damaging you, while you're planning to fight in melee and even grapple enemies. Basically what I'm trying to say is that this is an overly finicky tactic to try and use in a real game. (-0.75)

You've got a ton of hp, and your AC is good. Your Fort save is great, but your Ref and Will are both pitiful, albeit slightly less so when Berserker Strength is active. DR 7 is certainly nice (although not enough to justify 5 feats), and Improved Fortification is great. Vigor, Stone Power and Mad Foam Rager will all help keep you alive too. (+0.5)

In terms of utility, you're okay at climbing and bad at jumping (Adamantine Body is crippling here). (-1)

Overall: 1.75


No complaints here.

Overall: 5


All 6 levels in the SI. (+1)

Warforged isn't just your race, it's the biggest part of your build after barbarian. It definitely feeds into barbarian, but it's still significant that more than half your feats are specific to warforged, even if they're mostly defensive. That aside, your tactics all either come from barbarian or combo with it. (+0.5)

Overall: 4.5

Total: 14

[H_H_F_F]

Thanks so much for your judgements, Minimammidget! Interesting read, for sure.

I've got a couple of disagreements, but nothing substantial, and nothing that justifies a dispute by Zaq's guidelines, I don't think. We can talk about those after the reveal!

[MinimanMidget]

Interesting read, for sure.

Well that makes me nervous.


We can talk about those after the reveal!

Looking forward to it! I understand the reasons behind the dispute guidelines, but I really do love getting feedback. Even when it's negative.

[H_H_F_F]

Well that makes me nervous.

Language barrier. It was solely a compliment.

[AsuraKyoko]

No disputes here. Thanks for judging!

[daremetoidareyo]

Hey judge,
Outside of the judging guidelines and everything, what were your favorite one or two things you saw?

[loky1109]

Updated table
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef MinimanMidget Total Place
Bramble Wolfsoul (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395857&postcount=34) CG Jungle Halfling Barbarian 2/Battle Dancer 1/Warblade 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Hellreaver 1 11.75 11.75 5th
Gromorth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395858&postcount=35) CG ex-Half-Orc Dragonborn Eagle Totem Hunter 6 12.75 12.75 3rd
Ka'assani (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395861&postcount=36) NG Unseelie Spellscale Druidic Avenger Deadly Hunter 1/Boar Totem Barbarian 4/Crusader 1 16.00 16.00 1st
Knut Longclaw (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395863&postcount=37) TN Razorclaw Shifter Totemist 2/Barbarian 4 10.75 10.75 6th
The Incarnum Dragon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395864&postcount=38) NG ex-Duskling Dragonborn Barbarian 5/Crusader 1 14.00 14.00 2nd
Mario (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395865&postcount=39) CN Strongheart Halfling Ape Totem Barbarian 5/Beastmaster 1 12.50 12.50 4th
Wrath of the Tempest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395868&postcount=40) CE Warforged Bear Totem Barbarian 6 14.00 14.00 2nd

[MinimanMidget]

Hey judge,
Outside of the judging guidelines and everything, what were your favorite one or two things you saw?

My two favourite builds are currently the highest and lowest scoring. Not sure what that says about my process.

[loky1109]

Okay, so. This is a really cool trick. The consequences are, for a lot of enemies, literally worse than death. One of my first thoughts was that it would be fairly easy to remove, but everything I can find will only suppress it for a while, not remove it altogether.

Recitation of Meditative State can work if panic will be suppressed.

[MinimanMidget]

Recitation of Meditative State can work if panic will be suppressed.

Who ever said Truespeak had nothing to offer! :smallamused: There's probably more out there, I didn't look very hard. If nothing else, killing them and bringing them back to life should do it. Mostly I was just surprised I couldn't find a core spell that would do it. Remove Fear - nope. Lesser/Greater Restoration - nope. Heal - nope.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Well, Berserker Strength stops when you're helpless, and spellscales still need to sleep, so in the current form this build can only make people afraid of everything for a few dozen hours. Fortunately this is easy to fix, since Forestlord elves are elves (they don't really sleep) with the dragonblood subtype. However, you won't be able to take the dragonmark you want, which is a shame for your horde tactics. Iron Heart Surge can also be used, in those rare moments where the affected foe is calm and in a safe place. Obviously anything with immunity to mind affecting is also immune to fear, so that wouldn't work on some enemies.

Honestly, the easiest way in an E6 world (so no resurrection) to get out of such a situation would be to retrain 3 levels into paladin (no non-Dragon Magazine variant of paladin gives immunity to fear). And that's even better than it just being permanent: you can only escape the fear if you truly, from the bottom of your heart, repent and choose the path of light. And you can never fail to your new obligations, or the fear comes back. I find that awesome.

[MinimanMidget]

Well, Berserker Strength stops when you're helpless, and spellscales still need to sleep, so in the current form this build can only make people afraid of everything for a few dozen hours.

This is veering into dispute territory - I'm uncomfortable having read it before the round ended.

[H_H_F_F]

My HM is Knut Longclaw.

[daremetoidareyo]

My hm goes to kaasani

[Venger]

Thanks for judging, no disputes.

[loky1109]

Who ever said Truespeak had nothing to offer! :smallamused: There's probably more out there, I didn't look very hard.
Yeah, I found another one - Indifference from 3.0 Tome and Blood.

[Zaq]

Thanks for your patience, team! Been distracted with some stuff going on, and I've also had a bit less access than usual to my computer. (My upstairs computer died so I've had to bring my downstairs computer upstairs to replace it, and since I usually work on Iron Chef stuff on my downstairs machine, that means that it hasn't been present when I've been thinking about IC stuff, and that little disruption is enough for the ADHD to kick in and derail me... but anyway.)

Dispute! I'll include this one because there is indeed a RAW dispute here, but please remember to try to focus on hard RAW discrepancies as much as possible.


MinimanMidget, thank you! Well done judging!


Originality
Have nothing to say here. I don't think warforged is obvious choice for a barbarian, but this opinion has a right to exist.


Even if your max hp happens to end up exactly where you want it to, using Shocking Fist to activate Berserker Strength means you don't get the benefits of Berserker Strength on one of your two attacks in the round.
This isn't true.

You must declare that you are using this feat before you make your attack roll.


On top of that, this is a tactic that relies on nothing else damaging you, while you're planning to fight in melee and even grapple enemies.
I understand, enemies will try, and sometimes they will succeed, but! I'm not just hope to have 35 hp.
I have options to manage my hp to this amount and options to resist damage dealt to me.


Similarly, the idea of entering Berserker Strength every round is cool, but in practice I'm not sure it's all that workable.
Really I don't need entering Berserker Strength every round in regular battle. It just cherry on top, some option to dealing with unusual and strong conditions. And even not every round, but it's very likely enter BS more than once during single battle, which means I have unique opportunity to use Mad Foam Rager more than once. It isn't guaranteed, but even chance is more than regular barbarian can rely.


Even if your max hp happens to end up exactly where you want it to
I see, you didn't understand. I almost nether have max hp. I have as much as Vigor lets me (35 or 36). As Warforged I don't heal naturally (and due to Improved Fortification don't heal by Cure spells), only repair myself, so I can have exactly as many hp as I want.


DR 7 is certainly nice (although not enough to justify 5 feats), and Improved Fortification is great. Vigor, Stone Power and Mad Foam Rager will all help keep you alive too. (+0.5)

In terms of utility, you're okay at climbing and bad at jumping (Adamantine Body is crippling here). (-1)
Now I think I should take Mithril Body, two more Con (instead of Str) and five (or less) Roll With It instead five Improved Damage Reduction. Yes, it'll give me 6 excess hp, but are it big deal?

[MinimanMidget]

Thanks for your patience, team!

No worries! Just glad it wasn't anything more serious.


You must declare that you are using this feat before you make your attack roll.

Good catch, I messed that up. It didn't really affect your score, though - the fundamental problem here is that WotT just isn't that dangerous in BS or out of it. (The first 3 sentences of my Power judgement.) I probably talked about BS more than I should have, certainly disproportionately to its contribution to the score. That happened because it's a cool idea, so I unpacked it and analysed it, because it was interesting to me, not because it was important to your score.


I see, you didn't understand. I almost nether have max hp. I have as much as Vigor lets me (35 or 36).

No, I understood. When you say Vigor leaves you at 35 or 36 hp, that requires that your max hp end up almost exactly at the average of 70.5. In general, we use averages for the contest as an indicative measure of how much hp a character is likely to have, but most games still roll for hp at level up, so you can't assume an exact number. You can contrast WotT with the 2 other berserkers here - Incarnum Dragon doesn't rely on a specific number, just has BS as a "when it happens, it happens", and Ka-assani does rely on a specific number, but didn't assume the average and even addressed this issue specifically. Anyway, it's not like this really affected your score either, I just wanted to clear it up.


Now I think I should take Mithril Body

I mean, you could have done that, but your AC would be lower, and honestly it probably wouldn't have boosted your score in non-combat utility, because being good at climbing and jumping is still not enough for you to contribute anything most of the time.


two more Con (instead of Str) and five (or less) Roll With It instead five Improved Damage Reduction. Yes, it'll give me 6 excess hp, but are it big deal?

Slightly less DR/- vs slightly more DR/Adamantine, isn't really going to shift things either way. The lower Str bonus, on a character who already doesn't do much damage, is probably not a good choice. Note that WotT did fine for defensive capability and badly for offensive. As for five (or less) copies of Roll With It, as an example, here are five feats you could have taken: Jaws of Death, Endurance, Steadfast Determination, Scorpion's Grasp, Spiked Body. Giving you an extra attack, boosting your Will save, and making you better at grappling. I'm not saying you should have taken these feats specifically; they're just examples. My point is that you can do a lot more with five feats than just getting a small amount of DR, and at least as far as my judgement goes, you would have done better.

[daremetoidareyo]

I probably talked about BS more than I should have, certainly disproportionately to its contribution to the score. That happened because it's a cool idea, so I unpacked it and analysed it, because it was interesting to me, not because it was important to your score.

Can I steal this?

Like as a occasional judge, I sometimes desire to demonstrate that I am walking a mile in the builders shoes and the fact that I am committing effort to it, is demonstrating the fun their build made me have. And when that doesn’t align with what the original builder thought was cool about the build, it comes off as criticism rather than a celebration.

[MinimanMidget]

Can I steal this?

Absolutely! I'm flattered you think it's worth stealing. It's also nice to know that I'm not the only judge who struggles a bit with this issue, minor as it might be.

[Zaq]

That's all, folks! Finally got a little bit of focus with my head in the right place, so let's pack this up and set up the next round!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef MinimanMidget Judge 2 Judge 3 Total Place
Bramble Wolfsoul (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395857&postcount=34) CG Jungle Halfling Barbarian 2/Battle Dancer 1/Warblade 1/Fist of the Forest 1/Hellreaver 1 Eldonauran 11.75 11.75 5th
Gromorth (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395858&postcount=35) CG ex-Half-Orc Dragonborn Eagle Totem Hunter 6 loky1099 12.75 12.75 3rd
Ka'assani (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395861&postcount=36) NG Unseelie Spellscale Druidic Avenger Deadly Hunter 1/Boar Totem Barbarian 4/Crusader 1 H_H_F_F 16.00 16.00 1st
Knut Longclaw (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395863&postcount=37) TN Razorclaw Shifter Totemist 2/Barbarian 4 Venger 10.75 10.75 6th
The Incarnum Dragon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395864&postcount=38) NG ex-Duskling Dragonborn Barbarian 5/Crusader 1 Eldonauran 14.00 14.00 2nd
Mario (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395865&postcount=39) CN Strongheart Halfling Ape Totem Barbarian 5/Beastmaster 1 AsuraKyoko 12.50 12.50 4th
Wrath of the Tempest (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25395868&postcount=40) CE Warforged Bear Totem Barbarian 6 loky1099 14.00 14.00 2nd

Thanks to MinimanMidget for judging and to loky1099 for putting together the table! Congrats to our winners H_H_F_F, loky1099, and Eldonauran! I really enjoyed this round. I think you'll like the next one, too... stay tuned!

[Zaq]

New round! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645111-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXVIII)

[H_H_F_F]

Well, damn. That sleep thing really took the wind out of my sails. I really thought diehard took care of the helpless issue for me. The issue could be solved without changing the build with the wakeful mind graft from Faiths of Eberron, but that's very specific and expensive item reliance that I didn't think Ka'assani had. It is from his setting, which, good, but it's still a disappointment. But hey – at least we know the trick could feasibly be done with this build, unchanged.

There could be other sources to get something like that done, but I can't think of any right now. The only one that comes to mind is a feat from LM, but it's for non-good only. If no elegant solution is found, I'd have to take an elf, which would mean no dragonmark rage (an important defensive asset) and finding another way to frighten entire groups – on top of either having lower Cha or using far-realms material for star elf. That's all assuming trancing elves aren't helpless, and I'm not a 100% sure on that. Anyone knows for sure?

The Indifference spell would be a cure – but you know, the victim is panicked. They're running. They're not in a state to go look for a wizard that knows this extremely obscure spell. If an ally of a victim manages to track them down, manages to figure out what's wrong with them, and that such a spell could cure them, and find a wizard with this spell… Sure, it's a possibility, but come on. As for the truespeak solution – yeah, if Ka'assani tries to panic someone who happens to have that feat, and that person manages to be found by allies who can calm them down, they'll be alright. That's an extreme edge case though, and I'm not worried about it.


I've had more to say regarding the judgement originally, both to my benefit and to my detriment, but I don't really feel like it right now. Maybe later. Not gonna lie: I'm pretty damn salty over my build's weaknesses being analyzed by fellow competitors during the judgement phase. Like, the criticisms and weak points that were brought up were fair, and I would appreciate them being brought up by a judge (or by anyone, after the reveal), but the whole thing becoming a multi-party discussion when I can't defend myself and judgements are still unconcluded did not feel good.

Anyway.

My absolute favorite entry, Venger's Knut, relied on breaking statues – and per the SRD, statues count as pillars. Pillars don't have a break DC, but they have 900 hp and hardness 8 – same numbers as a 5 ft wall of unworked stone, which has a break DC of 65. "Smaller" statues can count as slender pillars, which still don't have a break DC, and have the same hardness and more HP than a foot of reinforced masonry, which has 45 as its break DC. So, as much as I loved your entry, Venger, it needs DM adjudication, and then it needs the DM to be extremely generous with their decision, ignoring the precedent completely. So, as much as I loved, it I don't think it works.

Well, congrats to my fellow medalists. See you all next round, I hope. Thanks again for judging, Minimanmidget, and thank you Zaq for running the show.

[loky1109]

I'm 1109, not 1099. It's birthday. )))

[ciopo]

I've had more to say regarding the judgement originally, both to my benefit and to my detriment, but I don't really feel like it right now. Maybe later. Not gonna lie: I'm pretty damn salty over my build's weaknesses being analyzed by fellow competitors during the judgement phase. Like, the criticisms and weak points that were brought up were fair, and I would appreciate them being brought up by a judge (or by anyone, after the reveal), but the whole thing becoming a multi-party discussion when I can't defend myself and judgements are still unconcluded did not feel good.

Not having had an horse in this race, I'll say this : it didn't come off as analyzing your build (for) weakness to me, but more something along the lines of "this build trick is so cool, I wonder what could remove the panic", I would have taken it as a compliment if it was my build.

Fairs' fair, I understand where you're coming from. It does skirt the speculation rule, but that's a pre-reveal limitation

[MinimanMidget]

I've had more to say regarding the judgement originally, both to my benefit and to my detriment, but I don't really feel like it right now. Maybe later. Not gonna lie: I'm pretty damn salty over my build's weaknesses being analyzed by fellow competitors during the judgement phase. Like, the criticisms and weak points that were brought up were fair, and I would appreciate them being brought up by a judge (or by anyone, after the reveal), but the whole thing becoming a multi-party discussion when I can't defend myself and judgements are still unconcluded did not feel good.

I'm sorry about that. I should have headed it off sooner, but while it was in the realms of "here's this ridiculously obscure method of removing that no-one would ever even have access to" it seemed like harmless fun.

I loved Ka'assani (I hope that was obvious from my judgement), and in general I always love seeing awesome tricks like this. Always happy to talk about my judgements, either here or in PM if you prefer.

[loky1109]

This round... I like it. So different entries! Amazing!
7 different totems in 7 barbarians! Wow! )))

H_H_F_F, it's a best idea I ever seen! Cool! Yeah, you didn't do it to the floor, sleep is stroke of bad luck, but idea is poor gold! And it is achievable. One step more. Clearly first place!

Fun fact, both full 6 barbs are mine. ) I see why it happens, regular barb has almost nothing on 6th level. I take two single options which make sense.

Fun fact #2. First and one of the second places are Berserker Strength barbarians! It is one of the least strong barb options and we have it on top! Cool!

One confession from me. When I wrote my dispute about Wrath I looked on the table... If MinimanMidget gave me some additional points, I'll get nothing (I can't catch up with Ka'assani), but I'll lose Gromorth's third place, who was judged so precisely... I just can't dispute anything about him. It was unusual experience! I think, I did all right.

Upd. It's my first E6 time! And I take two places on the podium! Wow again!