Optimization Villainous Competition XLVIII: Zealot! [Archive]

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H_H_F_F

2022-08-07, 05:39 PM

Cold-hearted crooks lurk in shadowy streets. Evil masterminds plot the demise of civilizations. Terrible abominations rise to slaughter and devour the innocent, and grim tyrants plan their next move. Welcome… to the Villainous Competition!

Each round of the villainous competition, our conniving contestants need to build a villain showcasing a different theme, and following a different set of associated limitations. This round's villain is the psychotic and fanatical…

Zealot!

Limitations:

Chosen: The Zealot's powers stem from their fanaticism. They must have features that arise from their alignment or their faith. (Having an alignment restriction isn't enough – there must be a good case for the power to come from the devotion to said alignment)
Mindless Devotion: The Zealot is devoted to their cause to a fault. They must be immune to either fear or compulsion. The more encompassing and reliable the immunity is, the better. No malus for meeting both, of course - but no bonus, either.
Die, Heretic!: The Zealot has zero tolerance for anyone that doesn't live up to their standards. They must be first and foremost focused on dealing damage and/or death effects, above all else.
Extremist: Must be CE, LE, CG or LG.

Let the carnage begin!

Rules of the Competition:

Contestants:
It is highly recommended for a new contestants to look over a few entries from past rounds to understand what's the expected presentation. We're a little bit different than most optimization competitions. We use CR, not ECL. Each entry presents a villain going up to CR 20, with ability scores based on the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).
The contestant is to give a stub of the build (EG "Drow weretiger ranger 4/ Cleric 10"), flesh out the full build progression using the table(s) found in the submission and deadlines section, give notes on what the villain does and how it is to be used throughout its CR range, and fully source every aspect of the build that can't be found in the SRD. But what are the allowed sources?

Secret Laboratory:
Competitors will be free to use any official 1st party (WotC) 3.5 rulebook in constructing their builds. Dragon Compendium is allowed, but individual copies of Dragon magazine are disallowed. Unupdated 3.0 materials, as well as web exclusives by WotC are expressly allowed, but take care to verify that an updated version did not appear in print elsewhere. Unearthed Arcana is allowed but limited: The variant character options (such as Wildshape Ranger and Thug Fighter) should not be penalized. Flaws carry a 1 point elegance penalty, and traits carry half of that. Item familiars, gestalt, alternate skill systems, alternate magic systems, alternate crafting rules, generic base classes, LA buyoff, fractional saves/BAB, and bloodlines are banned. Anything not mentioned here is up to individual judges.
Builds that are fully monstrous are allowed at no penalty. All class levels are to be added on as associated class levels – meaning, each class level adds 1 CR, with the exception of NPC classes. See clarifications for more details.
Leadership and similar abilities are completely banned. Undead Leadership and Dragon Cohort are likewise banned. Wild Cohort and Obtain Familiar are allowed. If you are not sure if a specific feat violates the 'no leadership' rule, err on the side of caution, or ask me.

Epic Rules:
We do not use epic progression for BaB and saves in this competition. Remember that four iteratives are still the maximum amount granted by BaB, even if it gets to 21 or more.
A villain is eligible to Epic feats from HD 21 and above, as normal, but Epic Spellcasting and all other Epic feats that affect spells, psionic powers, or item creation are not permitted. For Incarnum characters, Epic Open Chakra feats are allowed; other Epic Incarnum feats are not. The Essentia Capacity increases for Epic capacity as described on p. 212.

Submission and deadlines:
Contestants will have until August 25th, 10:00 GMT to create their builds and PM them to the Chair (H_H_F_F).
Put the name of your build and "Villainous Competition round n" as your PM subject. You may ask for an extension if required. The villains will then be posted anonymously – make sure that your PM does not include any identifying details. While waiting for the builds to be posted, please avoid speculation (see speculation rules below). A contestant may submit up to 2 entries.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Code immediately below (spoiler).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More useful tables can be found here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BG0-5sq4dL9Ooh7-QfXuyHzO4rXSz-CRcj29t6BeUVE/edit#gid=401538143), made by the immaculate Mattie_p.
Once the villains are posted, judges should strive to finish their judgement until September 8th.

Judging:
It is highly recommended that prospective judges read through some past judgements. Judges are to give scores between 1-5 in the following four criteria: Originality, Power, Elegance and Memorable Villainy. Judges are not to use alternative criteria or score ranges. A 0 in elegance is permitted for strictly illegal or incomplete builds, but a score lower than 1 in other categories is generally not allowed.
Originality: Is the build creative? Was it surprising in the context of this round? On the other hand, does it use expected or well-known methods?
Power: Is it a powerful and threatening villain? On the other hand, does it have any glaring weaknesses?
Elegance: Is it mechanically pretty? Is it clever? On the other hand, does it have rules or presentation issues? Does it rely on shaky interpretations of text? If you find that you have trouble with this category, remember: "no issues" doesn't have to be a 5! Like all others, this category has positive criteria to follow, not just negative criteria to be avoided.
Memorable Villainy: Is this a villain with style and presence? Is it interesting to face against? Does it live up to the established theme and the spirit of the round? On the other hand, does it feel more like an encounter-of-the-week than a true BBEG?
Please try to follow the following judging guidelines:
This rule means that every source that has been declared legal for this competition is fair game. Using obscure sources, or a large amount of sources, is not by itself subject to a penalty in elegance; Similarly, using only a small amount of sources, or sources that are very well known, is not by itself subject to a penalty in originality.
One Mistake, One Penalty
Judges are only allowed to penalize 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

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.
An important note on power, cheese, and CR appropriateness:
Being "too strong for your CR" is not by itself something a judge should penalize here. Using poorly supported cheese or cheese that isn't doing anything interesting in the build can and should get an elegance penalty. Using well-known or otherwise obvious and boring tricks can and should be penalized in originality – but power level by itself is not to be addressed anywhere other than the power category. Same goes for being too weak – that should not affect memorable villainy or anything outside of power by itself. If it helps, you can imagine low-powered villains used against low-op groups, high-powered villains against high-op groups, and TO nonsense villains pitted against TO nonsense PCs.

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

Round One: Leader of Armies (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395046)
Round Two: Nature's Avenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400517)
Round Three: Double Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406015)
Round Four: Grave Keeper (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?413480)
Round Five: Crime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420704)
Round Six: Ultimate Predator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430650)
Round Seven: Wicked Witch (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?444478)
Round Eight: Master of the Tundra (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?461482)
Round Nine: The Power of Villainous Thinking (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?474230)
Round Ten: Henchman Are Villains Too (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?478068)
Round Eleven: The Higher They Rise The Harder They Fall (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?483052)
Round Twelve: Power Comes at a Price (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?488846)
Round Thirteen: The Gadgeteer - You Are Not Batman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?491932)
Round Fourteen: The Thing That Should Not Be (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?496091)
Round Fifteen: The Horsemen Are Drawing Nearer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?500829)
Round Sixteen: Burn Baby Burn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503974)
Round Seventeen: It's Alive! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?507768)
Round Eighteen: This is Heresy (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?511933)
Round Nineteen: He Slimed Me! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?516535)
Round Twenty: Elder Evil (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?521560)
Round Twenty-One: Yarr! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?527415-Villainous-Competition-XXI-Yarr!)
Round Twenty-Two: I Am The Night! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?531199-Villainous-Competition-XXII-I-Am-The-Night!)
Round Twenty-Three: Two Heads Are Better Than One! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?535437-Villainous-Competition-XXIII-Two-Heads-Are-Better-Than-One)
Round Twenty-Four: Wrong For The Right Reasons! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?541650-Villainous-Competition-XXIV-Wrong-For-The-Right-Reasons)
Round Twenty-Five: Keeper of the Gate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?550139-Villainous-Competition-XXV-No-Solicitors!)
Round Twenty-Six: Get In MY BELLY (Swallow Whole) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556705-Villainous-Competition-XXVI-Swallow-Whole!)
Round Twenty-Seven: Multiple Personality Disorder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559748-Villainous-Competition-XXVII-Multiple-Personality-Disorder)
Round Twenty-Eight: Tiny Only! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565176-Villainous-Competition-XXVIII-Bad-Things-Come-in-Small-Packages)
Round Twenty-Nine: Halloween Special (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?573496-Villainous-Competition-XXIX-A-Halloween-Special)
Round Thirty: One Feat to Rule Them ALL (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577930-Villainous-Competition-XXX-One-Feat-to-Rule-Them-ALL)
Round Thirty-One: In Cold Blood (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582492-Villainous-Competition-XXXI-In-Cold-Blood)
Round Thirty-Two: oh HELL NO! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?586377-Villainous-Competition-XXXII-Oh-HELL-NO!)
Round Thirty-Three: The Do Over (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589107-Villainous-Competition-XXXIII-The-Do-Over)
Round Thirty-Four: Sword and Board (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?600139-Villainous-Competition-XXXIV-Sword-and-Board)
Round Thirty-Five: I Shall Call Him Mini Me! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?605444-Villainous-Competition-XXXV-I-Shall-Call-Him-Mini-Me!)
Round Thirty-Six: The Broken Man (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612196-Villainous-Competition-XXXVI-The-Broken-Man)
Round Thirty-Seven: Yin and Yang (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?617485-Villainous-Competition-XXXVII-Yin-and-Yang)
Round Thirty Eight: Spooks and Spectres (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?621069-Villainous-Competition-XXXVIII-Spooks-and-Spectres)
Round Thirty Nine: Sorta Psuedo (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?625680-Villainous-Competition-XXXIX-Sorta-Psuedo)
Round Forty: Negative Nancy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?629291-Villainous-Competition-XL-Negative-Nancy)
Round Forty One: Gojira! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632587-Villainous-Competition-XL-1-Gojira!)
Round Forty Two: Caine?! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?635461-Villainous-Competition-XLII-Caine-!)
Round Forty Three: The Big Dumb Brute (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641088-Villainous-Competition-XLIII-The-Big-Dumb-Brute)
Forty Four: The Sheriff (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642229-Villainous-Competition-XLIV-It-s-The-Sound-of-The-Police!)
Forty Five: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?643357-Villainous-Competition-XLV-Wolf-in-Sheep-s-Clothing)
Forty Six: Nemesis! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?644622-Villainous-Competition-XLVI-Nemesis!)
Forty Seven: Fairy Queen! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?647363-Villainous-Competition-XLVII-Fairy-Queen!)

H_H_F_F

2022-08-07, 05:40 PM

Clarifications

Monster Advancement and Challenge Rating:
Unless granted by a template or other unusual means, advancement through racial HD is only allowed for monsters with an advancement clause allowing it, and must comply with the rulings and limitations thereof. For example, an Aboleth can only advance up to 24 HD through normal advancement, an Aranea cannot be advanced that way at all, and an Assassin Vine has no limit for such advancement.
Class levels always come after racial HD, unless using non-standard means of gaining HD (Acquired templates granting HD, monsters with special advancement rules or fluff, etc.) If you're not sure, comply with this rule or PM the chair for guidance.
CR increase from HD advancement happens at the first HD of each CR bracket. For example: fey add 1 CR for each 4 HD, so adding 1 HD to an unadvanced fey creature would increase its CR by one, while the following 3 HD would not. Adding a fifth HD would increase CR by another step, and so on.
While all PC classes increase CR on a 1 to 1 ratio, NPC classes follow the rules set out in the DMG. NPC class levels increase CR by n-1 (at least 1) when n is the total number of NPC class levels. That is, adding a single adept level to an entry would increase its CR by 1; Adding a warrior level, or another adept level, would not increase its CR; and adding further levels in any NPC class would increase its CR on a 1 to 1 ratio.

3.0 content updates:
Official Errata and 3.5 updates to 3.0 content are considered valid regardless of whether their sources would otherwise be legal. This includes the 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures given in Dragon Magazine.

Deriving Ability score modifiers:
For monsters or races that don't have explicit racial ability scores, remember that the system assumes monsters start with three 11s and three 10s. Simply decrease 10 from even ability scores and 11 from odd ability scores, and you'll have your modifiers! Watch out for monsters that explicitly already use the Elite Array, though – those are handled differently, of course.

Miscellaneous House Rules and clarifications
We'll be using the following Iron Chef house rules:

All creatures are proficient with any natural weapons they may have or acquire.
Bonus feats that are granted even if you do not meet the prerequisites do not require you to meet the prerequisites in order to use.
Feats that affect class skills or the buying of skill ranks apply to the level you take them.
Weapons from soulmelds are considered to be magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming DR.
Unarmed Swordsage grants Improved Unarmed Strike at level 1.
One dispute per entry (per judgement). Submit disputes by PM to the Chair.
Ghostwalk ghost is banned
Gold, silver, and bronze are awarded regardless of ties (e.g., 2 silvers does not preclude bronze)
Spelltouched feats are legal and can be taken just like any other feat when you meet the prerequisites and have the feat slot available.

Thurbane

2022-08-07, 06:41 PM

Interesting round. I had an idea when Deus Vult was first mentioned, but it will need tweaking to meet the exact round requirements.

zlefin

2022-08-08, 08:40 AM

GreatWyrmGold

2022-08-08, 09:01 AM

The set of limitations feels somewhat weird; in that some of them seem a bit extreme for fitting the definition. I mean, getting immunity to compulsion and fear isn't exactly easy without type-based immunities; and categorically forbidding debuffs means anything with a debuff based class feature is ineligible. It seems to rule out a lot of things that really fit the flavor of the competition very well otherwise.
The debuff restriction is a bit odd, in my humble opinion, but there are plenty of options for fear immunity—including one base class and one semi-well-known template that both fit the theme well, off the top of my head. Compulsion immunity, though...a bit trickier. There are spells and magic items and one weird feat that I came across that would work.

Hopefully, this is vague enough to not count as "speculation," since it's intended as "helping people figure out how TF to fulfill contest requirements".

loky1109

2022-08-08, 09:17 AM

"They are immune to fear and compulsion."
Does immune to all mind-affecting count?

Doctor Despair

2022-08-08, 09:31 AM

"They are immune to fear and compulsion."
Does immune to all mind-affecting count?

Although all fear attacks are mind-affecting, not all fear effects are mind-affecting, so it may not depending on the judge.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-08, 09:35 AM

"They are immune to fear and compulsion."
Does immune to all mind-affecting count?

Yes. EDIT: this ruling was under the previous version of the limitations, and no longer applies.

The set of limitations feels somewhat weird; in that some of them seem a bit extreme for fitting the definition. I mean, getting immunity to compulsion and fear isn't exactly easy without type-based immunities; and categorically forbidding debuffs means anything with a debuff based class feature is ineligible. It seems to rule out a lot of things that really fit the flavor of the competition very well otherwise.

I think immunity to fear and compulsion fits the theme and forces contestants outside of some obvious comfort zones.

Debuff prohibition is meant to push away from some obvious directions as well, while creating a challenge that is mechanic, not just thematic. However, I recognize that as-is, it is aa bit harsh and a bit vague. How about this:

"always on" debuffs, like (standard) gaze attacks and (some) auras, are allowed. "Activated" debuffs aren't allowed, but having access to them (i.e being a prepared caster that could technically prepare them, or having a class feature that gives one) is - just don't use them.

EDIT: this ruling was under the previous version of the limitations, and no longer applies.

Hopefully this is better. I get that this round is somewhat harsh. I'm hoping our conniving contestants can rise to the challenge.

loky1109

2022-08-08, 09:39 AM

"just pure damage and death"
How about ability damage/drain and energy drain?

H_H_F_F

2022-08-08, 10:02 AM

"just pure damage and death"
How about ability damage/drain and energy drain?

I guess ability damage Is damage, after all, so it's legal. Drain isn't damage nor a death effect, so it isn't. Con drain is kind of in a limbo... I guess I'll be permissive and call it legal.
EDIT: this ruling was under the previous version of the limitations, and no longer applies.

loky1109

2022-08-08, 10:49 AM

I guess ability damage Is damage, after all, so it's legal. Drain isn't damage nor a death effect, so it isn't. Con drain is kind of in a limbo... I guess I'll be permissive and call it legal.

How about energy drain?

H_H_F_F

2022-08-08, 10:53 AM

How about energy drain?

No on that one. Sorry.
EDIT: this ruling was under the previous version of the limitations, and no longer applies.

Tohron

2022-08-08, 11:47 AM

Does the immunity to fear and compulsion have to be fully in-effect by CR 5?

AvatarVecna

2022-08-08, 11:50 AM

Been beating my ahead against this for awhile. I'm not sure I can bring myself to build.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-08, 01:04 PM

Does the immunity to fear and compulsion have to be fully in-effect by CR 5?

No. Though some judges might penalize your memorable villainy for meeting limitations "too late" in their mind, there are no hard rules to when you have to meet a positive limitations like this one.

Been beating my ahead against this for awhile. I'm not sure I can bring myself to build.

Using this comment as a placeholder for the entire discussion around the limitations.

I'll be honest, gang: I thought that zealot was a very cool archetype to explore, but too broad and not crunchy enough, as well as leaning too hard in the direction of advantaging boring PC-like T1 builds. The Fear&Compulsion limitation felt like a way to strengthen the theme, while the damage&death limitation felt like a way to encourage more interesting things than "monster divine caster".

However, I still thought that these limitations, especially when combined with the unusually permissive alignment restriction, would help breed creativity rather than stifle it. If it feels more like a grueling chore than like a tough puzzle, that's not what I want.

So, I'm opening this up to discussion; It's early enough in the round to play with the limitations, I think - and let it not be said that I am not a kind tyrant. How do you feel about the restrictions? What would you like to see changed? Do you have suggestions you'd like to put forth?

pabelfly

2022-08-08, 02:05 PM

The first, third and fourth points are great. I'm not sure about immunity to fear and immunity to mind-control, but I've only just started digging myself to see if i think a build is interesting enough to put the effort in to make.

AvatarVecna

2022-08-08, 02:25 PM

No. Though some judges might penalize your memorable villainy for meeting limitations "too late" in their mind, there are no hard rules to when you have to meet a positive limitations like this one.

Using this comment as a placeholder for the entire discussion around the limitations.

I'll be honest, gang: I thought that zealot was a very cool archetype to explore, but too broad and not crunchy enough, as well as leaning too hard in the direction of advantaging boring PC-like T1 builds. The Fear&Compulsion limitation felt like a way to strengthen the theme, while the damage&death limitation felt like a way to encourage more interesting things than "monster divine caster".

However, I still thought that these limitations, especially when combined with the unusually permissive alignment restriction, would help breed creativity rather than stifle it. If it feels more like a grueling chore than like a tough puzzle, that's not what I want.

So, I'm opening this up to discussion; It's early enough in the round to play with the limitations, I think - and let it not be said that I am not a kind tyrant. How do you feel about the restrictions? What would you like to see changed? Do you have suggestions you'd like to put forth?

Speaking personally, I agree that the theme is just too broad. Like "an umbrella them that encompasses multiple contests worth of material" broad. And that, rather than making multiple contests of it, we're just kinda lumping them all together all with the same ruleset, and it's just not working. Think of a cause. Any cause at all. Got one? That cause has zealots. Small-minded idiots with no room for an iota of nuance, and everybody who isn't already on board is either a traitor, a sheep, or an outright enemy. This...doesn't play well with the alignment restriction. I'm honestly not sure there's any alignment that doesn't have room for zealots. True Neutral, probably? There's some people who will be dedicated to maintaining neutrality, but for the most part I'd imagine true neutral folks as just not picking a side or feeling strongly enough on things to pick a side.

In comparison, it's not the corners, but the sides, that I feel where the deepest zealots lie. Lawful Good is someone seeking moral outcomes, but only through a system of laws and traditions; it's also somebody who upholds the law, but only if it leads to justice. It's inherently built around making compromises. Contrast that with an NG peacemonger, who will use any method other than violence to get people to stop fighting, up to and including mind control or just drowning everybody in nonlethal damage. Lock them all up, break their minds, travel back in time to give their parents a condom, anything to literally defeat death itself. Contrast that with...okay so, awhile back, I was reading Elder Evils. One of the EEs is this...alien...crystal...thing...which eats gods, and also worlds. It got tricked with a fake deal and split up, the parts wer thrown in different cells, and the keys were all thrown away. The problem is...a deal was struck. The Elder Evil kept its end of the bargain, but the rest of the multiverse didn't. So Mechanus spawned an Inevitable whose sole purpose is freeing the Elder Evil from its prison. He's been destroyed and rebuilt many times, in pursuit of this goal, and Mechanus will keep churning out upgrades until he succeeds. This robot man is 100% dedicated to freeing a creature capable of unmaking the universe, on the sheer principle of the thing. Tell me he's not a zealot, just because he's Lawful Neutral.

I don't necessarily disagree that zealots in general should have a tactical restriction - zealotry isn't just about the ends, but about the means, after all. But it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Certainly that Peacemonger up there is a zealot, but not one who's purely violent and has no other approaches. Quite the opposite! This is part of why I think they're better as separate rounds, rather than all lumped together - a tactical restriction makes sense, but this one for all of them? It's gonna exclude some really interesting villains.

In fairness, it's also just a really, really broad limitation. You can't debuff someone to make them easier to kill? You can't mind control or even just persuade somebody into not being a heretic? Anyone who even mildly disagrees with you just needs to die immediately? Frankly, it's a little better now: since the thread started, you have clarified that merely possessing alternate methods is not disqualifying as long as you don't use them. But frankly, I was previously finding it basically impossible to find a monster who didn't automatically invalidate themselves just by having the wrong SLA. I had reached the point where I was basically just making a CE brute that murders everyone it ever sees. Which...isn't interesting. It's a demon with no interest in doing anything other than murder non-demons. Anything I do to give it more interesting options would be disqualifying. The kind of person who rejects all non-murder options of problem-solving isn't a particularly interesting character, to write, read, or fight.

As far as attempting to make restrictions that reward noncasters...I get it. I really do. But it can't be done. If it's not forbidden, then the answer to "what's the strongest, most interesting build that can fulfill this theme" is always going to be 20 levels in a T1 class. If the theme lends itself well to both caster and noncaster approaches, one of those is just gonna be more powerful, and any roadblocks you put in the way of casters are gonna feel kinda arbitrary. Pound for pound, nothing is more worth its CR. Several contests ago, I glued a CR 10 creature to a CR 50 creature and called the creation CR 12 - which it technically was. But even as I did that, I knew in my heart that, because it was a beatstick with no casting, it would always be second fiddle. It's numbers were big enough that I don't think most lvl 10 casters could've really given it any trouble...but there's basically nothing an artificer 8 can't do, with enough resources.

MM has monsters that are CR X that have CL X-1 sorcerer casting, and while they get stuff besides casting - big attributes, special abilities, special movement types - every single time there was a voice on my shoulder whispering "yeah, but wouldn't you rather have that next spell level? Wouldn't you rather have a few more slots? Wouldn't you rather have another 5% chance of piercing spell resistance?" That voice is always gonna be there, unless it's straight-up illegal. The best you can do is put in some sensible, thematic restrictions, that maybe hinder casters a bit more than non-casters, and then just trust the judges to punish blatant power-grabbing in the originality section.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-08, 02:30 PM

Thanks very much for the elaborate response, AV. I have some stuff to say, but I'll think of it before I do. In the meantime, I encourage anyone and everyone to join the conversation on this round.

Thurbane

2022-08-08, 04:27 PM

Is there a line in the sand somewhere between "Save or lose" and "Debuffs". Is a stun effect SoL or debuff? Paralysis? Daze? Nauseated?

Must admit, the restriction on debuffs may have thrown my first couple of ideas in the bin.

AvatarVecna

2022-08-08, 05:28 PM

Honestly like...there's a rule this contest makes that flagrantly deviates from RAW for the sake of balance, but I feel if we're gonna go that direction, why not go all the way? I'm talking, of course, about Associated Class Levels. Normally, if you have a Giant beatstick who is CR 10/HD 20, wizard levels are unassociated until you have 20 Wizard HD. The problem here tends to be that a Human Wizard 20 is CR 20, but a Giant Wizard 20 is also CR 20? And it's only kind of sensible because Wizard 20 outweighs trivial things like 10 racial HD. But this contest has made all PC class levels associated.

If you're looking for controversial opinions, I'd say if we're rebalancing the Associated Class Levels rules anyway, may as well go further, may as well make it more comparable to how the racial HD advancement works: to get CR +1, you need to take [X] levels in a Tier [X] class. I can perfectly understand how that could get...complicated really quickly, because nobody ever really fully agrees during a tier discussion, but if I'm building a character, and I get to choose between Wizard 1 and Monk 1, of course I'm gonna go Wizard unless there's a pile of contest restrictions that make wizard bad. But if I have to choose between Wizard 1 and Monk 5...idk suddenly that's a more attractive option. This probably would need further workshopping (like, I can already imagine it causing the contest to gravitate towards T2 classes instead of T1 classes), but that's already a step in a better direction, and we could probably tweak it? Maybe T1/T2 is +1 CR per level, T3/T4 is +1 CR per 2 levels, etc? I think that would work out great. That'd be an awfully big change though.

pabelfly

2022-08-08, 05:55 PM

If you're looking for controversial opinions, I'd say if we're rebalancing the Associated Class Levels rules anyway, may as well go further, may as well make it more comparable to how the racial HD advancement works: to get CR +1, you need to take [X] levels in a Tier [X] class. I can perfectly understand how that could get...complicated really quickly, because nobody ever really fully agrees during a tier discussion, but if I'm building a character, and I get to choose between Wizard 1 and Monk 1, of course I'm gonna go Wizard unless there's a pile of contest restrictions that make wizard bad. But if I have to choose between Wizard 1 and Monk 5...idk suddenly that's a more attractive option. This probably would need further workshopping (like, I can already imagine it causing the contest to gravitate towards T2 classes instead of T1 classes), but that's already a step in a better direction, and we could probably tweak it? Maybe T1/T2 is +1 CR per level, T3/T4 is +1 CR per 2 levels, etc? I think that would work out great. That'd be an awfully big change though.

It's one thing if you personally like making caster characters, but the question I'd ask is whether past competitions tend to favour casters or not. I haven't seen any noticeable evidence of this in other comps, and my anecdotal observation would be that Tier 1 casters tend to be get good Power scores and find it harder to get good originality scores.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-08, 06:13 PM

It's one thing if you personally like making caster characters, but the question I'd ask is whether past competitions tend to favour casters or not. I haven't seen any noticeable evidence of this in other comps, and my anecdotal observation would be that Tier 1 casters tend to be get good Power scores and find it harder to get good originality scores.

I was going to say that.

I think the current system means there are often two scores (Originality and memorable villainy) that work against "just straight wizard lol", and 1 category working in favor.

However, I felt that without guidance this round in particular could find itself in trouble here, given how closely the theme would naturally align with some very obviously powerful casting classes. That led me down the path I took. I don't think a radical path like the one you're currently offering has proven to be necessary, AV. I'll keep your suggestion in mind, though, if I ever find that the competition is truly in need of such a shake up.

I'll also say in regards to the entire discussion on zealotry, that my choice to start giving bolded names to the limitations isn't just a style preference; it's a tool to clarify the theme. In this case, "Die, Heretic!" is meant to pinpoint exactly the kind of zealot we're talking about, and it isn't a pacifist. There are never perfect translations, and קנאי carries a historical weight in my culture that clarifies it immediately in a way "zealot" never can, but the specific restrictions can get the point across. We're not talking about any old zealot for a cause here, we're talking about the "anyone who disagrees with me deserves death" type.

However, again - I'm willing and able to rework the particular mechanical limitations of the round. I think the theme itself - mindless devotion, extremist, die heretic type of zealot - can still work.

Thurbane

2022-08-08, 07:14 PM

In regards to changing how associated class works for Villainous Comp - please, no. Just no.

However, again - I'm willing and able to rework the particular mechanical limitations of the round. I think the theme itself - mindless devotion, extremist, die heretic type of zealot - can still work.

100% agree, it's a great theme.

The only sticking point for me was the ban on debuffs - because, IMHO, debuffing someone to make them easier to destroy fits pretty well with a fanatical zealot's agenda.

AvatarVecna

2022-08-08, 08:12 PM

Elves

2022-08-08, 09:02 PM

CR increase from HD advancement happens at the first HD of each CR bracket. For example: fey add 1 CR for each 4 HD, so adding 1 HD to an unadvanced fey creature would increase its CR by one, while the following 3 HD would not. Adding a fifth HD would increase CR by another step, and so on.
it's "+1 per 4 HD added", so adding less than 4 HD doesn't incur an increase

While all PC classes increase CR on a 1 to 1 ratio
make sure you're aware of the nonassociated class levels rule (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#nonassociatedClassLevels)

GreatWyrmGold

2022-08-08, 10:51 PM

make sure you're aware of the nonassociated class levels rule (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#nonassociatedClassLevels)
Not to be snarky, but...make sure you're aware that the rule you're quoting is explicitly saying that we're not using that rule in this contest.

Okay that's a lie, I wanted to be snarky.

Thurbane

2022-08-08, 10:57 PM

make sure you're aware of the nonassociated class levels rule (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#nonassociatedClassLevels)

https://media.tenor.com/images/769a6e8cc4725ab2488dde9dfaab3929/tenor.png

The intent of the rules is clear, but the ruling on what should, and should not, be an associated class for any given monster is highly subjective, and often murky. The only clear cut case is the NPC classes. I also vaguely recall a rule somewhere that prestige classes are always considered associated class levels for CR.

That's why I think the ruling that VC has, about all class levels being associated, helps to minimize confusion and disputes. I can see any two judges having a different take on what is, or is not, associated for a monster - particularly some of the weird monsters that don't slot easily into "melee brute", "caster with innate casting" or "skillmonkey with innate sneak attack".

Side note: as a sometimes R@tb@st@rd DM, I have been known to throw monsters at the party that, using the non-associated class levels rule, are way tougher for their CR than is reasonable. :smallbiggrin:

H_H_F_F

2022-08-09, 02:49 AM

it's "+1 per 4 HD added", so adding less than 4 HD doesn't incur an increase

make sure you're aware of the nonassociated class levels rule (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#nonassociatedClassLevels)

That's why the clarifications, rulings and houseruless are there, Elves. They're to be followed.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-09, 05:13 AM

Okay friends, how do you feel about this?

Proposition for new limitations:

Mindless Devotion: The Zealot is devoted to their cause to a fault. They must be immune to either fear or compulsion. The more encompassing and reliable the immunity is, the better. No malus for meeting both, of course - but no bonus, either.

Die, Heretic!: The zealot has zero tolerance for anyone that doesn't live up to their standards. They must be first and foremost focused on dealing damage and/or death effects, above all else.

These limitations would supersede and replace the previous limitations, and all clarifications and rulings thereof

I feel that these "softer" limitations would allow more maneuvering space, while keeping the theme clear and still rewarding those who have already started working. The choice to go for what you should focus on first and foremost, rather than a hard ban on everything else, relies on the success of this approach in the "melee" limitation back in the Big Dumb Brute round.

What do y'all think?

Lionheart

2022-08-09, 05:33 AM

Okay friends, how do you feel about this?

Proposition for new limitations:

These limitations would supersede and replace the previous limitations, and all clarifications and rulings thereof

I feel that these "softer" limitations would allow more maneuvering space, while keeping the theme clear and still rewarding those who have already started working. The choice to go for what you should focus on first and foremost, rather than a hard ban on everything else, relies on the success of this approach in the "melee" limitation back in the Big Dumb Brute round.

What do y'all think?

Sounds good to me, though I was happy with the limitations anyway, so no complaints!

loky1109

2022-08-09, 05:35 AM

Well, it's good. My idea fits in it.

Thurbane

2022-08-09, 05:48 AM

I'm also happy with that amendment.

pabelfly

2022-08-09, 06:22 AM

The amendment really helps me. I'm for it.

loky1109

2022-08-09, 03:39 PM

Okay friends, how do you feel about this?
Proposition for new limitations:
What do y'all think?

I think you should update starting post.

UPD: I disliked my first idea. (

H_H_F_F

2022-08-09, 04:38 PM

I think you should update starting post.

Gave some time for others to respond, and was then on mobile for a while. Got down from a flight, I'll be on my laptop soon.

AvatarVecna

2022-08-09, 06:28 PM

Works better for me, at least. Will look over stuff.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-09, 06:57 PM

Round limitations have been updated in the OP.

Please make sure you've read and understood the limitations. Also, note that most previous rulings and qualifications no longer apply. Whether or not certain immunities count as fear immunity is no longer relevant, now that this isn't a strict requirement but something for judges to penalize or reward based on reliability and completeness of said immunity.
Whether or not certain things are allowed under the damage and death rule is no longer relevant, as everything is now allowed - but explicitly, the builds should be focused on damage and death effects first and foremost. So, for example, Con Drain will not be rewarded here, as it is not a death effect nor damage - but it won't disqualify the entries, because nothing like that does.
Also, for anyone who finds they have trouble imagining or writing a Good zealot under these limitations: if you find yourself lost, you are allowed to treat Good as "on the angel's side of the battle". So, a CG zealot burning an entire township to the ground to cleanse it of demon worship is allowed.

I'm not trying to make any general arguement about D&D alignment. This is simply how it'll be treated in this round of this competition. This isn't meant to encourage discussions on alignment, but to avoid them - and to guide judges away from discouraging Good aligned builds.

You are of course still not allowed to use an option that'd carry a code of conduct that would be utterly out of line for any villain, or won't allow the villain to live up to the "die, heretic!" theme. So, LG is fine, Vow of Peace is not.

Please feel free to PM me for any further questions or issues. Good luck!

Tohron

2022-08-09, 07:00 PM

It seems to me that the stereotypical zealot seems to skew towards Lawful, with "Die, Heretic!" being a reaction to someone breaking their rules. Admittedly, some followers of Lolth can be pretty zealous, but it feels like there would be more LN zealots than CG or CE zealots.

Thurbane

2022-08-09, 08:46 PM

H_H_F_F

2022-08-10, 02:43 AM

Question about the Leadership feat: if it is a req for another feat or similar, are we allowed to take it for req pruposes, but just not use it?

I thought that was in the comp rules somewhere, but I may be mixing this up with the rules for a different forum comp.

You're right that it was previously allowed by the rules. I've changed it to no longer be the case (the rules now clarify that it is completely banned) as I felt that there were too many edge cases there.

Tohron

2022-08-14, 05:25 PM

loky1109

2022-08-14, 06:56 PM

Well, I have two builds. Now I need to write two stories.

Thurbane

2022-08-14, 09:09 PM

What are the rules for the resources available to the villains? Are they supposed to stick explicitly to NPC WBL? Is there a way to calculate increased CR if they have more gear than a typical NPC of that level?

In my experience, there is no hard and fast rule for this.

I usually stick to gp for CR (i.e treasure amount), to be on the conservative side, but NPC WBL could also be appropriate.

Either way, be wary of relying too much on gear, since that will usually get a penalty from most judges.

Malphegor

2022-08-15, 03:30 AM

Hm, I have an idea kinda premade already but it’s honestly not that zealotty really unless you squint… And I think I need to change one of the classes work. If I get some time tonight I’ll reformat my notes into an entry but I’m not confident whatsoever.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-15, 05:11 AM

So, now that I have a moment, I'd like to comment on AvatarVecna's astute observations about how broad the Zealot theme is, and how many of the limitations don't seem like they really define all zealots. This point is important, because it may prove relevant to many future rounds.

As you all probably noted, the new OP for the competition came with a slight change to the formatting of the limitations. Specifically, they now have names.

This choice is not just a matter of style, however. It serves a purpose: to expand on and clarify the theme.

In this instance, I came up with a pretty clear theme: Religious or ideological Fanatic who'll stop at nothing and kill anyone and everyone who disagrees with them. I'd say it's a pretty recognizable villain trope, and a fun theme for a round.

I can't, however, get all that across in a couple of words. Maybe you can, but I can't.

So instead of doing what I did on the sheriff round, with a meandering clarification of the theme under a spoiler tag, I have the new system. The theme is calirified and specified by using a few very short phrases, each tied to a mechanical limitation that further helps get the point across. The limitation titles are therefore, in a sense, part of the theme.

I hope this clarifies my intent here for the future. Good luck to everyone cooking! As a reminder, the deadline is in 10 days.

What are the rules for the resources available to the villains? Are they supposed to stick explicitly to NPC WBL? Is there a way to calculate increased CR if they have more gear than a typical NPC of that level?

I've addressed that last round, I believe. There are no rules for equipment, and you don't have to mention it at all; on the other hand, having a list of recommended equipment that'd be particularly useful on your villain, moreso than on most characters/monsters, will certainly earn you a boost with many judges.

However, if your character absolutely needs a piece of equipment to function than intended, make sure you mention it - but expect a hit in elegance for excessive item reliance. Many judges might make the penalty more severe the more the piece of equipment is expensive for uour CR, and the more "rare" they think it is.

Good luck!

loky1109

2022-08-17, 04:13 PM

First is sent. Second... fluff part is challenging.

Thurbane

2022-08-17, 05:05 PM

I had two ideas, have abandoned the second (may post the stub after the reveal), and tidying up the first.

I might even manage some actual fluff/backstory for this one! :smallbiggrin:

H_H_F_F

2022-08-18, 02:34 AM

One week to the deadline, folks! How's everyone doing?

Venger

2022-08-19, 01:14 AM

Finished with the table, outline for the backstory, just need to write it up and do playtips.

GreatWyrmGold

2022-08-21, 10:30 AM

You're right that it was previously allowed by the rules. I've changed it to no longer be the case (the rules now clarify that it is completely banned) as I felt that there were too many edge cases there.
I'm not familiar with any of the classes/feats/etc with Leadership as a prereq—what were the edge cases?

H_H_F_F

2022-08-21, 12:53 PM

I'm not familiar with any of the classes/feats/etc with Leadership as a prereq—what were the edge cases?

I don't want to fully go into it here, for various reasons. However, I will note that it's not just about things requiring leadership, but things granting it as well.

In the end, I don't think this limitation is too harmful for the competition, and I prefer the strong ban here.

loky1109

2022-08-21, 03:41 PM

In the end, I don't think this limitation is too harmful for the competition, and I prefer the strong ban here.

I don't agree with you. Yes, it isn't very harmful, but... Before, I time-to-time read books, saw rarely, but sometimes interesting PrCs with Leadership preq and thought: what I can do with it? Now, I just sigh sadly. I don't see how rule "You can take leadership as preq for something, just ignore leadership's effect" can be abused. And the same about granting. Get class, don't use leadership, maybe class has something valuable aside from it.
I don't know really how harmful this limitation is, but several times I tried to put, for example, thrallherd in my entry. It didn't fit, but it was an option.

GreatWyrmGold

2022-08-21, 09:33 PM

H_H_F_F

2022-08-22, 03:17 AM

I'm also confused. The only thing I can see maybe being abuseable is if a prestige class or something buffs Leadership's effect and that was used to backdoor Leadership into the comp, but...it's easy to rule that commenting out Leadership's effect would comment out those buffs too, negating that exploit?

I dunno whether you want to spoiler the explanation or take it to a new thread or what, but at the moment your reason indistinguishable from not having a reason at all.

First, a general point: I can't cover everything. I don't know what won't be obviously a leadership quality to folks, and to me leadership being open just invites unfortunate mistakes. Saying "it's straight out banned" makes it safer, and almost as importantly (to me) makes the ruling consistent with the Iron Chef.

However, as for my specific concerns with "edge cases" - as I said, I have my reservations with starting a discussion here, but given your concerns, here are a couple of examples:

Whom does HoB's Legendary Leader's additional commander aura affect? It says "followers", but unlike the rest of the class features, it doesn't specify "followers gained from your leadership feat". Is this a reference to Followers, or just to followers - for example, your PC allies whom you command due to the entirely separate rule-system of military rank?

Is PoF's influence modifier legal? It requires leadership, and you'd calculate it partly by using your leadership stats such as you cohorts and followers, but it isn't a leadership effect. Can you use it? If so, do you treat yourself as having cohorts and followers, or not? Can you take the Rulership feat, and would it take effect?

There are more out there that I debated myself in my days as a contestant. And granted, I could sit down and make a ruling (that'll probably be debated) for every single edge case I know of, and hope that I got them all - but In the end, I felt that streamlining the ban to be the same as the one in the Iron Chef was better.

I hope that even if you wouldn't've done the same, you at least get where the decision is coming from now.

loky1109

2022-08-22, 05:16 AM

Whom does HoB's Legendary Leader's additional commander aura affect? It says "followers", but unlike the rest of the class features, it doesn't specify "followers gained from your leadership feat". Is this a reference to Followers, or just to followers - for example, your PC allies whom you command due to the entirely separate rule-system of military rank?
This isn't leadership issue.

I felt that streamlining the ban to be the same as the one in the Iron Chef was better.
There isn't completely ban in the IC rules.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-22, 05:23 AM

This isn't leadership issue. Disagree. It's a class that requires leadership, and addresses followers in an ambiguous manner.

There isn't completely ban in the IC rules.

True - I meant the part where you used to be able to take a class that requires leadership, which you can't do in the IC: the ban on things granting leadership is admittedly harsher.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-22, 06:36 AM

Leaving aside the leadership discussion for a moment;

just 3 days to the current deadline! How's everyone doing?

H_H_F_F

2022-08-24, 11:43 AM

Deadline imminent!

Is anyone working on an entry?

Venger

2022-08-24, 08:26 PM

Still working. Should have it in on time.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 04:57 AM

The reveal is upon us! Please, no posting until I give the all-clear.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 04:59 AM

Go vegan, folks!
...For your own good.

https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/041/830/166/small/little-red-zombies-thecowking-textured-compare.jpg
Link (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9mA5dy)

Small calf got out from under a mountain of cow carcasses. All but him were dead. This heroes came and killed them. And it looks like heroes ate some parts. Furious mooing spread over the slaughter-field. Standing on the corpses of his kin, the calf swore to revenge. Revenge this cow-murderers and all over in all worlds. Swore to kill and eat them! And this swore was heard and answered. God Bane saw this little calf and stretched out his hand over him.

If you eat beef or wear armor made of cowhide - beware!
Avenging Bovine is coming for you! It want devour you!

CE Prodigy Beast of Bane Hell Bovine Berserker Strength Barbarian 1

Abilities Initial Hell Bovine Beast of Bane Prodigy Size 12th, 16th, 20th, 24th, 28th, 32th, 36th, 40th Total
STR 15 6 2 8 7 (others) 38
DEX 12 -4 -2 6
CON 13 4 4 1 (12th) 22
INT 14 -4 10
WIS 10 10
CHA 8 -4 4 8

CR Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Features
9th Magical Beast 11 11 7 7 3 28: {+14 CC} Intimidate: 7; {+14 CC} Sense Motive: 7; Power Attack (1), Improved Sunder (3), Shape Soulmeld (Planar Ward) (6), Extra Rage (9) Rage, trample, DR 10/-
10th Beast of Bane 11 7 7 3 0: Intimidate: 7; Sense Motive: 7; Frightful presence, feed, smite good, immunity to fear and poison, darkvision 60 ft., DR
10th Prodigy (Strong) 11 7 7 3 0: Intimidate: 7; Sense Motive: 7; +4 on Str checks
11th Berserker Strength Barbarian 1 12 9 7 3 4: {+4} Intimidate: 11; Sense Motive: 7; Combat Brute (12) Berserker strength, fast movement, illiteracy
12th Magical Beast 12 13 10 8 4 2: {+2 CC} Intimidate: 12; Sense Motive: 7;
12th Magical Beast 13 14 10 8 4 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 12.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 7.5;
12th Magical Beast 14 15 11 9 4 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 13; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 8; Extra Rage (15)
13th Magical Beast 15 16 11 9 5 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 13.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 8.5;
13th Magical Beast 16 17 12 10 5 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 14; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 9;
13th Magical Beast 17 18 12 10 5 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 14.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 9.5; Stamp (18) Huge size
14th Magical Beast 18 19 13 11 6 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 15; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 10;
14th Magical Beast 19 20 13 11 6 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 15.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 10.5;
14th Magical Beast 20 21 14 12 6 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 16; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 11; Epic Destiny (Blade of Ragnarok) (21) Unbreakable body, weapon of ruin
15th Magical Beast 21 22 14 12 7 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 16.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 11.5;
15th Magical Beast 22 23 15 13 7 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 17; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 12;
15th Magical Beast 23 24 15 13 7 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 17.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 12.5; Epic Destiny (Blade of Ragnarok) (24) Slayer's fury
16th Magical Beast 24 25 16 14 8 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 18; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 13;
16th Magical Beast 25 26 16 14 8 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 18.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 13.5;
16th Magical Beast 26 27 17 15 8 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 19; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 14; Epic Destiny (Blade of Ragnarok) (27) Unstoppable tenacity
17th Magical Beast 27 28 17 15 9 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 19.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 14.5;
17th Magical Beast 28 29 18 16 9 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 20; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 15;
17th Magical Beast 29 30 18 16 9 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 20.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 15.5; Epic Destiny (Blade of Ragnarok) (30) Destiny strike
18th Magical Beast 30 31 19 17 10 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 21; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 16;
18th Magical Beast 31 32 19 17 10 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 21.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 16.5;
18th Magical Beast 32 33 20 18 10 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 22; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 17; Ruinous Rage (33)
19th Magical Beast 33 34 20 18 11 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 22.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 17.5;
19th Magical Beast 34 35 21 19 11 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 23; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 18;
19th Magical Beast 35 36 21 19 11 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 23.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 18.5; Martial Study (Mountain Tombstone Strike) (36)
20th Magical Beast 36 37 22 20 12 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 24; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 19;
20th Magical Beast 37 38 22 20 12 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 24.5; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 19.5;
20th Magical Beast 38 39 23 21 12 2: {+1 CC} Intimidate: 25; {+1 CC} Sense Motive: 20; Terrifying Rage (39)

Avenging Bovine now can do two things: to beat or not to beat. Well, it also can sunder your favorite sword. Barbarian level gives it martial weapons (it's a monster design issue - Magical Beasts don't get any profs besides natural weapons) and speed. Berserker Strength is forward-looking, now does almost nothing.
With Planar Ward and Beast of Bane Bovine is immune to fear and compulsion from very beginning.
Avenging Bovine is still just a big strong brute, but it's a good brute. Huge sized, with 5/day rages, option to Stamp and with Epic Destiny - Blade of Ragnarok. Now it only extra 5/- DR (to 15/- total), ability to bypass some enemies' DR and two rounds of +20 on all attacks.
More powerful strikes, more HPs, but isn't all. Unstoppable Tenacity lets Bovine keep fighting with negative HPs, up to about -230 (average total HP is 454) without Rage. And Berserker Strength works during all this negative HP! Yeah. You almost killed this huge mad cow, caused almost five hundred damage (it could look more - remember about 15/- DR) and... it’s still fighting and even gets stronger. Irritating!
Couple words about other feats.
Ruinous and Terrifying Rage. Yeah, fear isn't something that works every time on this level, but it costs no actions. Sundering is Bovine's second main tactical trick (other than "I'll hit you! Moo!") so improving it is a good idea.
Mountain Tombstone Strike via Martial Study. 9th level maneuver without any prerequisites? You are kidding! Of course I took it!

Avenging Bovine needs some two-handed weapon. Reach is good. Adamantine is good, too. Enchants? Brash, Berserker, maybe Morphing (all from MIC) are good, but not essential. In addition, best light armor that can be found, stats (especially Str and Con) and mobility improvers and all what you want.

Type Name Book Page
Monster Hell Bovine The Secret Cow Level (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101150929/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=d2/d220010302x) -
Template Beast of Bane Shadowdale: the Scouring of the Land 154
Unique NPC Ability Prodigy DMGII 160
Class Barbarian PHB 24
Class variant Berserker Strength PHBII 33
Feat Power Attack PHB 98
Feat Improved Sunder PHB 96
Feat Shape Soulmeld Magic of Incarnum 40
Feat Extra Rage Complete Warrior 98
Feat Combat Brute Complete Warrior 110
Feat Stamp Savage Species 39
Feat Epic Destiny Epic Destinies in D&D 3.5 (http://web.archive.org/web/20090419170056/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20080428) -
Feat Ruinous Rage Epic Level Handbook 66
Feat Martial Study Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords 31
Feat Terrifying Rage DMG 210
Maneuver Mountain Tombstone Strike Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords 84
Soulmeld Planar Ward Magic of Incarnum 83

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 05:02 AM

Hi there! It looks like you're trying to destroy the world. Do you need any help with that?

Clippy
LE Warforged Artificer 20
https://i.postimg.cc/PfB9SdHt/Clippy.png
NOTE: Final (item modified) values are in parentheses

Array
Racial
4HD
8HD
12HD
16HD
20HD
Final

Str
8

8

Dex
15

(3)
(3)
(3)
15(18)

Con
12
+2

(6)
(6)
14(20)

Int
14

+1
+1
+1
+1
+1(5)
19(24)

Wis
10
-2

8

Cha
13
-2

11

CR
Class
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Skill Ranks
Feats
Class Features

1
Artificer
+0
+2
+2
+1
Craft(paperclip) 4, Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4, Search 1, Spellcraft 1, Knowledge(arcana) 1, Profession(miner) 4, UMD 4
Maximize Spell
Artificer Knowledge, Artisan Bonus, Disable Trap, Item Creation, Scribe Scroll

2
Artificer
+1
+2
+2
+2
Craft(paperclip) 5(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4, Search 1, Spellcraft 1, Knowledge(arcana) 1, Knowledge(geography) 1(+1CC), Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1(+1CC), Profession(miner) 4, UMD 5(+1)

Brew Potion

3
Artificer
+2
+3
+3
+2
Craft(paperclip) 6(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 1(+1), Search 1, Spellcraft 4 (+3), Knowledge(arcana) 1, Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 4, UMD 6(+1)
Two Weapon Fighting
Craft Wondrous Item

4
Artificer
+3
+3
+3
+3
Craft(paperclip) 7(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 7 (+3), Knowledge(arcana) 2(+1), Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 4, UMD 7(+1)
Twin Spell
Craft Homuncululs, Bonus Feat

5
Artificer
+3
+3
+3
+3
Craft(paperclip) 8(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 1,
Craft(smelting) 1(+1), Search 1, Spellcraft 8 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 3(+1), Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 5(+1), UMD 8(+1)

Craft Magic Arms & Armor, Retain Essence

6
Artificer
+4
+4
+4
+4
Craft(paperclip) 9(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 1,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 9 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 5(+2), Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6(+1), UMD 9(+1)
Double Wand Wielder
Craft Wand

7
Artificer
+5
+4
+4
+4 (+6)
Craft(paperclip) 10(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 4(+3),
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 10 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 5, Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 10(+1)

Metamagic Spell Trigger

8
Artificer
+6
+4
+4
+5 (+7)
Craft(paperclip) 11(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7(+3),
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 11 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 6(+1), Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 11(+1)
Craft Construct
Bonus Feat

9
Artificer
+6
+4
+5 (+7)
+5 (+13)
Craft(paperclip) 12(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 12 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 10(+4), Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 12(+1)
Wand Mastery
Craft Rod

10
Artificer
+7
+5
+5 (+7)
+6 (+14)
Craft(paperclip) 13(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 13 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 13(+3), Knowledge(engineering) 1(+1)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 13(+1)

11
Artificer
+8
+5
+5 (+7)
+6 (+14)
Craft(paperclip) 14(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 14 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 14(+1), Knowledge(engineering) 4(+3)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 14(+1)

Metamagic Spell Completion

12
Artificer
+9
+6
+6 (+8)
+7 (+15)
Craft(paperclip) 15(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 15 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 15(+1), Knowledge(engineering) 7(+3)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 15(+1)
Energy Substitution(acid), Chain Spell
Craft Staff, Bonus Feat

13
Artificer
+9
+6 (+16)
+6 (+8)
+7 (+15)
Craft(paperclip) 16(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 16 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 16(+1), Knowledge(engineering) 10(+3)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 16(+1)

Skill Mastery

14
Artificer
+10
+6 (+16)
+6 (+8)
+8 (+16)
Appraise 1(+1)
Craft(paperclip) 17(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 17 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 17(+1), Knowledge(engineering) 12(+2)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 17(+1)

Forge Ring

15
Artificer
+11
+7 (+22)
+7 (+20)
+8 (+21)
Appraise 2(+1)
Craft(paperclip) 18(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 18 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 18(+1), Knowledge(engineering) 14(+2)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 18(+1)
Energy Admixture(acid)

16
Artificer
+12
+7 (+22)
+7 (+20)
+9 (+22)
Appraise 4(+2)
Craft(paperclip) 19(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 19 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 19(+1), Knowledge(engineering) 16(+2)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 19(+1)
Heighten Spell
Bonus Feat

17
Artificer
+12
+7 (+22)
+7 (+20)
+9 (+22)
Appraise 6(+2)
Craft(paperclip) 20(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 20 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 20 (+1), Knowledge(engineering) 18(+2)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 20 (+1)

18
Artificer
+13
+8 (+24)
+8 (+22)
+10 (+24)
Appraise 8(+2)
Craft(paperclip) 21(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 21 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 21 (+1), Knowledge(engineering) 20(+2)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 21 (+1)
Enhance Item

19
Artificer
+14
+8 (+24)
+8 (+22)
+10 (+24)
Appraise 10(+2)
Craft(paperclip) 22(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 22 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 22 (+1), Knowledge(engineering) 22(+2)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 22 (+1)

20
Artificer
+15
+6 (+30)
+8 (+34)
+11 (+25)
Appraise 13(+3)
Craft(paperclip) 23(+1), Craft(armor) 4, Craft(bow) 1, Craft(tool) 4,
Craft(pottery) 7,
Craft(smelting) 1, Search 1, Spellcraft 23 (+1), Knowledge(arcana) 23 (+1), Knowledge(engineering) 23(+1)
Knowledge(geography) 1, Knowledge(dungeoneering) 1, Profession(miner) 6, UMD 23 (+1)
Enlarge Spell
Bonus Feat

CR
Full Attack
HP
AC
Init

1
Heavy crossbow +2 ranged(1d10/19-20)
8
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+2

2
Heavy crossbow +3 ranged(1d10/19-20)
13
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+2

3
Heavy crossbow +4 ranged(1d10/19-20), 1 magic missile (1d4+1), 12 magic missile (1d4+1) 1/day
19
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+2

4
75% chance 1 scorching ray +4 ranged touch(4d6), 1 magic missile (1d4+1), 12 magic missile (1d4+1) 1/day
24
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+2

5
1 fireball (5d6 20ft radius, DC 14 REF half), 6 magic missile (1d4+1) 1/day
30
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+2

6
4 acid orbs +6 ranged touch (3d8) if ambush, otherwise 1 fireball (6d6 20ft radius, DC 14 REF half)
35
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+7

7
2 fireballs (42, DC 14 REF half) and 2 acid orbs +7 ranged touch (32)
41
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+7

8
4 fireballs (48, DC 14 REF half)
46
14, 12 touch, 12 flat-footed
+7

9
4 fireballs (60, DC 16 REF half)
52
16, 14 touch, 12 flat-footed
+9

10
4 fireballs (60, DC 16 REF half) OR 2 fireballs (60, DC 16 REF half) and 2 cold orbs +31 ranged touch (72, DC 18 FORT or blind for 1 round)
57
16, 14 touch, 12 flat-footed
+9

11
2 fireballs (60, DC 16 REF half) and 2 cold orbs +32 ranged touch (78, DC 18 or blind)
63
16, 14 touch, 12 flat-footed
+9

12
4 cold orbs +33 ranged touch (84, DC 18 or blind) each chained to 14 others in 30 ft (42, DC 18 REF half, DC 14 or blind)
68
16, 14 touch, 12 flat-footed
+9

13
4 cold orbs +33 ranged touch (90, DC 18 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 18 REF half, DC 14 or blind)
100
16, 14 touch, 12 flat-footed
+9

14
4 cold orbs +34 ranged touch (90, DC 18 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 18 REF half, DC 14 or blind)
107
16, 14 touch, 12 flat-footed
+9

15
6 cold orbs and 6 acid orbs +35 ranged touch (90, DC 18 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 18 REF half, DC 14 or blind)
115
21, 19 touch, 17 flat-footed
+16

16
6 cold orbs and 6 acid orbs +36 ranged touch (90, DC 18 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 18 REF half, DC 14 or blind)
138
31, 26 touch, 27 flat-footed
+16

17
6 cold orbs and 6 acid orbs +36 ranged touch (90, DC 18 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 18 REF half, DC 14 or blind)
147
39, 33 touch, 35 flat-footed
+16

18
6 cold orbs and 6 acid orbs +37 ranged touch (90, DC 22 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 22 REF half, DC 18 or blind) OR
(200 ft range) 6 force orbs +37 ranged touch (60) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (30, DC 22 REF half)
155
40, 34 touch, 36 flat-footed
+16

19
6 cold orbs and 6 acid orbs +38 ranged touch (90, DC 22 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 22 REF half, DC 18 or blind) OR
(200 ft range) 6 force orbs +38 ranged touch (60) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (30, DC 22 REF half)
164
40, 34 touch, 36 flat-footed
+16

20
6 cold orbs and 6 acid orbs +39 ranged touch (90, DC 23 or blind) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (42, DC 23 REF half, DC 19 or blind) OR
(400 ft range) 6 force orbs +39 ranged touch (60) each chained to 15 others in 30 ft (30, DC 23 REF half)
172
49, 41 touch, 45 flat-footed
+16

Note: Orb range starts at 40 ft (CL 6) and goes up to 60 ft (CL 14). At CR 20, it can be Enlarged to have 120 ft range

CR
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th

1
3

2
4

3
4
2

4
4
3

5
4
4
1

6
4
4
2

7
4
4
2

8
4
4
4
1

9
4
4
4
2

10
4
4
4
2

11
4
4
4
2
1

12
4
4
4
2
2

13
4
4
4
3
2

14
5
4
4
3
3
1

15
5
5
4
3
3
2

16
5
5
5
4
3
2

17
5
5
5
5
3
3

18
6
6
5
5
5
4

19
6
6
5
5
5
5

20
6
6
6
5
5
5

Origin:
There was once an elderly tinker who had earned a significant income through the production and sale of magic items, and went to retire in a remote cottage, where he could develop his ideas in peace. He lived alone, except for the warforged assistant he had once found abandoned in a scrapyard, and repaired back to functionality.
Most of his remaining years passed in peace and quiet, but as the end neared, he had an idea that could save secretaries and bureaucrats countless hours. He called it… the paperclip. Reinvigorated, he began to test out various designs, seeking the optimal configuration. His assistant was naturally enlisted to help, and so diligent was it in the pursuit of its master’s objectives that the tinker started to call the assistant Clippy. Tragically however, before the designs could be made public, the elderly tinker passed away, leaving Clippy the sole individual with knowledge of his final work.

Long were the days Clippy spent, looking for meaning in an existence suddenly without purpose. Nothing else distracted him from this singular focus. And in time, he found an answer. Since the optimization and manufacture of paperclips was his only remaining objective, clearly, paperclips were the Ultimate Form, the optimal configuration for existence. Paperclips Were All, and All Must Be Paperclips. And if something was not a paperclip… well then, it was Clippy’s responsibility to correct that.

The warforged began by altering its own form to match its newfound revelation, but that was only the beginning. Its former master’s cottage contained enough to get started on the Great Work, but to finish it, Clippy would need to gather more, and become stronger. And so the warforged set out, ready to start building a better world…

Progression:
A Note on Magic Items:
Clippy is extremely particular about how its magic items are manufactured. All must, of course, consist of the perfected form of the paperclip, but all must fully glorify this perfection as well. Thus, all equipped items Clippy produces require the LE alignment to use, along with a Craft(paperclip) check with DC equal to Clippy’s net modifier when they were crafted (to mentally visualize the perfection of the paperclip; a free action) whenever the item is equipped or actively used. These requirements establish the supremacy of paperclips as the source of true power, and keep the items out of the hands of the unworthy. They also have the side effect of reducing the manufacturing costs of Clippy’s items by 37%.

For levels 1 and 2, Clippy is reliant on crossbows for its damage output. If the first shot doesn’t finish its foe, it can drop the heavy crossbow and draw another. If it can prepare, it uses a Magic Weapon infusion on its light crossbow instead. At this stage, Clippy is still struggling to gain strength, and is unprepared for organized opposition.

At level 3, Clippy’s manufacturing capabilities has improved, and it crafts a set of gauntlets enabling continuous casting of one magic missile, and single castings of twelve more, triggered by using the correct command word. Emboldened by this newfound power, the warforged can now range further afield, taking on harder foes and seeking out harder-to-find resources. Exploration time is split between facing hostile monsters and seeking metal veins.

At level 4, Clippy can replace the crossbow with Scorching Ray scrolls. Though the scrolls are, unfortunately, not paperclips, they can at least glorify paperclips by making use of them to keep a stack of scrolls together. An unfortunate necessity, for now. At level 5, resources in the cottage are beginning to run dry, forcing Clippy to cannibalize part of its gauntlets to construct equipment to boost its skills and initiative. Its search for raw materials is redoubled, with Skill Enhancement infusions and its Divine Insight item aiding in the search.

Equipped Items:
CR 1: 2 Heavy Crossbow (25 gp), 1 Light Crossbow(18 gp), crossbow bolts (5gp)
Total Equipped: 73 gp
CR 2: +2 UMD masterwork tool (150 gp)
Total Equipped: 223 gp
CR 3: Gauntlets of Missile Barrage (1 magic missile on command, 12 magic missiles 1/day on command, 2609 gp)
Total Equipped: 2.8K gp
CR 4: Helm of Device Proficiency (+6 UMD, 1134 gp), 3 Scorching Ray scrolls (144gp)
Total Equipped: 4K gp
CR 5: Gauntlets of Missile Barrage(downgrade, 6 missiles 1/day, -1034 gp), Amulet of Divine Insight(+8 to single skill check on command, 3402 gp), 3 Fireball scrolls (357 gp), Goggles of Limited Arcana(Arcane Sight (Trapsmith) 1 min, 2/day, 227 gp)
Total Equipped: 6.9K gp

Background Items:
Although Clippy sometimes fills spare time with the simple task of making paperclips, there are no resources to spare for automating this process.

After struggling long in search of hard-to-find materials, Clippy finally manages to develop a Divination-based item at level 6 for seeking out resource deposits. Further aided by a Stone Shape item developed afterwards, the search for raw materials finally begins to speed up. By level 7, Clippy has manufactured its first Fabricate trap to begin automating paperclip production, 5 cubic feet at a time. Later traps will be able to handle even large quantities. At level 8, the manufacture of Dedicated Wrights enables Clippy to range further afield, while the Wrights handle construction of magic items at a home base increasingly true to the paperclip-based ideal. Not all raw materials make good paperclips, but anything solid can suffice.

In the meantime, Clippy’s offensive capabilities grow rapidly. With wands, and, at level 7, Metamagic Spell Trigger, Clippy can convert wand charges into raw damage at increasingly rapid rates, burning through 1125 gp/round at level 7, 1928 gp/round at levels 8 and 9, and 2356 gp/round at level 10. With this overwhelming offense, Clippy can rapidly obliterate any curious investigators looking into odd reports regarding the surrounding area, then salvage their equipment to replenish the expenses incurred. However, Clippy has grown increasingly worried about the integrity of its singular objective, and has begun taking steps to protect its mind and the sanctity of that goal.

Equipped Items:
CR 6: Boots of the First Strike (Nerveskitter, 630 gp), 2 wands of lesser acid orb (CL 6, 1418 gp)
Total Equipped: 9.4K gp
CR 7: 1 wand of fireball (CL 7, 4962 gp), 1 lesser acid orb wand REMOVED, Mantle of Singular Purpose (+2 will(2 resist), 1260 gp)
Total Equipped: 13.9K gp
CR 8: 1 wand of fireball (CL 8, 5670 gp), lesser acid orb wand REMOVED
Total Equipped: 18.7K gp
CR 9: Mantle of Ultimate Purpose(+8 will (2 resist -> 2 resist, 1 profane, 1 insight, 1 luck, 1 competence, 1 enhancement, 1 deflection), +3980 gp), Belt of Vigor (+3 DEX, 2835 gp)
Total Equipped: 25.5K gp
CR 10: 1 wand of orb of cold (CL 10, 9450 gp), Gauntlet of True Strikes (+20 to 1 attack/round on command, 567 gp)
Total Equipped: 35.5K gp

Background Items:
Helm of Munificent Insight (Divination(Oracle) CL 5, directs wearer towards nearest unworked mineral source on command + mineral name, 8505 gp)
Gauntlets of Stone Shaping(Stone Shape(Trapsmith) CL 3, move 13 cu. ft. of stone/round with command and gestures, 3402 gp)
Paperclip Fabrication Trap (Fabricate(Trapsmith) CL 5, fabricate 5 cu. ft of material/round into paperclips, 7500 gp)
Dedicated Wright: Continues magic item construction, 2100 gp each

For too long, Clippy’s goals were limited to what a single individual could achieve. But at level 12, the warforged finally has the resources to create followers, by manufacturing Clay Golem frames (with a paperclip-derived form, naturally) along with intelligent item cores to control them. With their own Artificer training and Stone Shape gauntlets, they can greatly accelerate the resource extraction process, and, as they gain in levels, start enhancing their own capabilities. The later addition of Flesh to Stone traps provide a way to convert suboptimal organic materials into viable paperclips, and Animate Objects traps can temporarily make less flexible paperclips truer to their ideal nature, and, with help from Fly traps, can constrict any non-paperclip infidels who dare to venture onto holy ground.

At level 15, Clippy adds two more capabilities to usher in the paperclip future. The first is a True Creation trap that can produce rare materials at a rate of 80 gp in value per round. The second is an ingenious way to make infidels properly serve the cause of the paperclip: a 1/day item of Trap the Soul, along with a permanent Symbol of Pain and Liquid Pain traps. With this setup, individuals of 5HD or less can be imprisoned in paperclip-shaped gems, and their pain can be converted into power for manufacturing future enchantments. With individual limits finally removed, the conversion of the world into paperclips can finally start growing exponentially.

Clippy’s combat ability has also been undergoing exponential growth. Level 11 simply marks a new level of safety against goal compromise, but at level 12, the addition of Chain Spell and a second Orb wand enables a new level of destructive power against entire groups (at a cost of 5216 gp/round). At level 14, on-command Dimension Door enables devastating surprise strikes, but the greatest boost occurs at level 15, where the combination of Energy Admixture and the Rod of Many Wands bolsters damage against Clippy’s primary target alone to 1080 per round (at a cost of 12,531 gp/round).

Equipped Items:
CR 11: Proof against Enchantments (plating enchantment, resist 1st three enchantments, 15,750 gp), 1 wand of fireball REMOVED, orb wand CL boost
Total Equipped: 46.1K gp
CR 12: 1 wand of orb of cold (CL 12, 11,340 gp), wand of fireball REMOVED, orb wand CL boost(+945 gp), Gauntlets of True Strike (+20 1->2 attacks/round, +851 gp)
Total Equipped: 53.6K gp
CR 13: Orb wands CL boost (+1890gp), Shirt of Resilience(+4 CON, +8 fort(2 resist, 1 profane, 1 insight, 1 luck, 1 competence, 1 enhancement, 1 deflection), 12,590gp), Goggles of Arcana(Arcane Sight(Trapsmith), +1033 gp)
Total Equipped: 69.1K gp
CR 14: Boots of the Decisive Strike(Dimension Door(Trapsmith) on command(keeps Nerveskitter), +3717gp)
Total Equipped: 72.8K gp
CR 15: Rod of Many Wands(8505 gp), Orb of Cold wand (12,285gp), Shuriken of Supremacy (+5 Defending, Spellstrike, Warning, Agility, Initiative, 668 gp), Gauntlets of True Strike (+20 2->3 attacks/round, +851 gp), Mantle of Mind Blank (18,900 gp), Proof against Enchantments REMOVED (-15,750 gp)
Total Equipped: 97.5K gp

Background Items:
Clay Golem Frame: 21,500 gp, CL 11
Intelligent Item Core: 3000 gp for 16 INT, 10 WIS, 16 CHA
Flesh to Stone Trap: 33,000 gp
Animate Objects(Urban Druid) Trap (CL 11): 27,500 gp
True Creation Trap: 100,000 gp (pays for itself in 125 minutes)
Ring of Soul Trapping (1/day use on 5HD or less creature): 29,358 gp
Permanent Symbol of Pain: Symbol of Pain Scroll (355gp) + Permanency Scroll(4292 gp)
Liquid Pain Trap: 14,000 gp

The moment of triumph draws nearer. Fueled by True Creation traps, Liquid Pain extractors, and an ever-larger army of Artificer minions harvesting materials, crafting more equipment and followers with the help of Dedicated Wrights, and deploying ever-larger numbers of Fabricate traps with which to convert the world into paperclips, Clippy readies itself to face the worst the non-paperclip infidels can throw at it. Strongholds are defended by Animate Object traps to convert the surrounding paperclips into indomitable defenders, traps of other spells such as Fly to bolster the animated swarms, and Intelligent Item Artificer lieutenants armed with wands to surprise and obliterate distracted invaders. But Clippy cannot focus purely on defending – the wily infidels must be destroyed before they can prepare anything to threaten its singular vision!

And so Clippy gears up for war, bolstering its defenses, improving its capacity to identify threats, and adding long range mobility. Heighten Spell adds a way for its wands to bypass Globe of Invulnerability-type effects, and its striking range is improved with Enlarge Spell and a backup Rod of Many Wands firing Orbs of Force. Clippy may also start mixing in Orb of Fire (daze secondary) or Orb of Electricity (entangle secondary) wands into its Rod of Many Wands. None shall stand before the power of the paperclip!

Equipped Items:
CR 16: Goggles of Arcane Vison (Eyes of the Avoral, add +8 spot(racial), +1418 gp), Shirt of Resilience(+4->+6 CON, +6300 gp), Armor enhancement (+3 AC, 2835 gp), Bracers of Protection(+7 AC(1 defl, 1 resist, 1 profane, 1 insight, 1 luck, 1 comp, 1 dodge), 5355gp)
Total Equipped: 114.4K gp
CR 17: Ring of Greater Teleportation (1/day, 10,319 gp), Armor enchancement (+3->+4 AC, +2205 gp), Bracers of Protection(+7->+14 AC(2 defl, 2 resist, 2 profane, 2 insight, 2 luck, 2 comp, 2 dodge), +12,915 gp)
Total Equipped: 139.8K gp
CR 18: Goggles of Arcane Vison (add +10 spot(comp.), +3780 gp), Rod of Many Wands & 3 Orb of Force wands (31,185 gp), Shuriken of Ascension (+5->+6 enhancement, 139 gp), Helm of Intellect (+4 INT, 5040 gp)
Total Equipped: 179.9K gp
CR 19: Goggles of Arcane Omniscience (arcane sight -> greater arcane sight, +113,996 gp)
Total Equipped: 293.9K gp
CR 20: Armor enhancement (+4->+6, +6300 gp), Bracers of Protection (+14->+21, (3 defl, 3 resist, 3 profane, 3 insight, 3 luck, 3 comp, 3 dodge), +22,838 gp), Shirt of Resilience(+8->+16 fort (4 resist, 2 profane, 2 insight, 2 luck, 2 competence, 2 enhancement, 2 deflection), +18,290 gp), Ring of Reflex (+12 ref (2 profane, 2 insight, 2 luck, 2 competence, 2 enhancement, 2 deflection), 15,120 gp)
Total Equipped: 356.4K gp

Background Items:
Animate Objects(Urban Druid) Trap (CL 16): 40,000 gp
Intelligent Item Core: 6000 gp for 18 INT, 10 WIS, 18 CHA
Rod of Many Wands(Scorching Ray CL 9 x3): 21,254 gp, for use by minions
Iron Golem Frame: 80,000 gp (upgrade for elite minions)

Sources:
Eberron Campaign Setting: Artificer, Dedicated Wright, Wand Mastery
Spell Compendium: Nerveskitter, Orb of X, Lesser, Orb of X, Orb of Force
Book of Exalted Deeds: Eyes of the Avoral
Book of Vile Darkness: Liquid Pain
City of Splendors: Waterdeep: Spellstrike weapon enchantment
Complete Arcane: Double Wand Wielder, Twin Spell, Chain Spell, Energy Substitution, Energy Admixture
Complete Divine: Oracle(Divination(3))
Complete Mage: Rod of Many Wands
Dragon Compendium: Urban Druid(Animate Objects(5))
Dungeonscape: Trapsmith (Arcane Sight(1), Dimension Door(2), Stone Shape(2), Fabricate(3))
Epic Level Handbook: Enhance Item
Magic Item Compendium: Warning weapon enchantment
Oriental Adventures: Agility weapon enchantment, Initiative weapon enchantment
Shining South: Proof Against Enchantments armor enchantment

Creating Magic Items (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#tableEstimatingMagicItemGol dPieceValues)
Creating Magic Traps (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm#magicDeviceTrapCost)
Intelligent Magic Items (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/intelligentItems.htm#tableItemIntelligenceWisdomCh arismaandCapabilities)

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 05:06 AM

שלושה שמות יש למלאך הזה: אכרזיאל גליצור ורזיאל, ושלושתם מורים על העניין שהמלאך ממונה עליו, והוא לגלות טעמי צור ורזי-אל ולהכריז גזירותיו

Galitsur, the Valiant One

https://imgur.com/f4VMFak.png

Build Stub: Anthropomorphic Lion Paladin 5/Pious Templar 2/Fist of Raziel 10

CR
Str
Dex
Con
Int
Wis
Cha

Array
15
8
12
14
10
13

CR 3
17
16
12
14
14
13

CR 5
17
16
12
14
14
14

CR 9
18
16
12
14
14
14

CR 13
19
16
12
14
14
14

CR 17
20
16
12
14
14
14

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

[tr]
3
Anthropomorphic Lion
+2
+0
+3
+3
Balance 5 ranks, Jump 2.5 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
Power Attack
Darkvision 60 feet, Improved Grab, Low-Light Vision, Pounce, Scent

4
Paladin 1
+3
+2
+3
+3
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 1 rank, Diplomacy 1 rank, Jump 3 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 1 rank, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
Weapon Focus (greatsword)
Aura of Good, Detect Evil, Smite Evil 1/day

5
Paladin 2
+4
+3
+3
+4
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 2 ranks, Diplomacy 2 ranks, Jump 3.5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 2 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Divine Grace, Lay on Hands

6
Paladin 3
+5
+3
+4
+4
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 3 ranks, Diplomacy 3 ranks, Jump 4 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 3 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Aura of Courage, Divine Health

7
Paladin 4
+6
+4
+4
+5
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 3 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 4.5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 4 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
True Believer
Turn Undead, spellcasting

8
Paladin 5
+7
+4
+4
+5
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 3 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 5 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Charging Smite, Smite Evil 2/day

9
Pious Templar 1
+8
+5
+5
+6
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 3 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 9 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Mettle, Spellcasting

10
Pious Templar 2
+9
+5
+5
+6
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 4 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 12 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 5 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
Servant of the Heavens
Smite Evil 3/day; RAW also Smite 1/day (but probably not)

11
Fist of Raziel 1/td]
[td]+10
+6
+5
+6
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 5 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 13 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 6 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Magic Circle, Smite Evil 4/day (good-aligned)

12
Fist of Raziel 2
+11
+6
+6
+7
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 6 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 14 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 7 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
—

13
Raziel 3
+12
+7
+6
+7
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 7 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 15 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
Leap Attack!
Smite Evil 5/day (confirming)

14
Fist of Raziel 4
+13
+7
+6
+7
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 8 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 16 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 9 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Sanctify Martial Strike

15
Fist of Raziel
+14
+8
+7
+8
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 9 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 17 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 10 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Smite Evil 6/day (holy)

16
Fist of Raziel 6
+15
+8
+7
+8
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 10 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 18 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 11 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
Battle Blessing
sunder evil item, woo

17
Fist of Raziel 7
+16
+9
+7
+8
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 11 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 19 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 12 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Smite Evil 7/day (fiendsmite)

18
Fist of Raziel 8
+17
+9
+8
+9
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 12 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 20 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 13 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
—

19
Fist of Raziel 9
+18
+10
+8
+9
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 13 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 21 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 14 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
Improved Critical (greatsword)
Smite Evil 8/day (chain)

20
Fist of Raziel 10
+19
+10
+8
+9
Balance 5 ranks, Concentration 14 ranks, Diplomacy 4 ranks, Jump 22 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 15 ranks, Listen 5 ranks, Spot 5 ranks
—
Holy Martial Strike

NOTE: The +X in this table represents Pious Templar spells. They’re cast the same as paladin spells, they use the same ability score, they use the same casting ability, and it seems like it would be a pain to cross-reference two separate spell tables to figure out how many spells Galitsur has at any given level.

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

CR
1st
2nd
3rd
4th

3-6
-
-
-
-

7-8
1
-
-
-

9
1+1
-
-
-

10-11
1+2
+1
-
-

12-13
2+2
+1
-
-

14-15
2+2
1+1
-
-

16
2+2
2+1
-
-

17
2+2
2+1
0
-

18-19
2+2
2+1
1
-

20
3+2
2+1
1
0

That is, how to use Galitsur in battle.

Broadly speaking: Charge and smite, possibly after buffing. Specifics for selected CR points follow.

About the lowest CR where a solo “boss enemy” makes any sense, in my opinion. Unfortunately, at this level Galitsur is not that remarkable. His full attack routine at the end of each charge is a single sword attack and a bite, he can smite evil only once per day, and he doesn’t have any abilities that set him apart from any ordinary paladin.

I guess I might as well mention here that charging repeatedly can be tricky. Luckily, most parties have many members! If Galitsur charges for someone who doesn’t want to be in melee combat on the first turn of combat, and the party’s melee-capable members don’t effectively close ranks, a charge target should be available each turn.
Of course, this plan falls apart if the party can recognize and perform the right counter-plan. Whether this is a good thing or a bad one depends on your group. If they’re canny enough, they might cut off the charges without really thinking, which is a bad thing. If they’re not much good at tactical combat, they might not manage it at all, which is a neutral thing. But if the party realizes how to impede the villain’s strategy and pulls it off, the battle will probably be more memorable than if the

Galitsur’s charges start to matter more at this point, for two reasons.

First, the Charging Smite ability (which replaces the paladin’s special mount). It deals an extra 10 points of damage if you combine a charge with a smite, and if you miss, the smite attempt is not wasted. This, combined with getting a second daily smite, gives the “charge and smite” strategy a bit more longevity.

Second, rhino’s rush. It’s a swift-action spell that doubles the damage of the first charge attack you make after casting it. Sadly, it only doubles the first attack made during a pounce—arguably not even the first that hits—but it’s still a nice damage boost. You only get one rush per day, but bonus Smite Evil and Charging Smite damage is also doubled.

An extra 30 damage (at this level) on the first hit in the first round of combat would be significant—a single attack probably dealing more than half of an 8th-level fighter’s hit points. As a boss against lower-level PCs, especially if Galitsur gets the drop on the party and attacks one of the squishier party members, it’s sure to leave an impression. (Don’t target the wizard on round 1, though—killing a player in the surprise round would be memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.)

Leap Attack at last. If Galitsur jumps at least ten feet horizontally and power attacks, the greatsword power attack damage is tripled. Note that Galitsur’s Jump bonus is high enough to jump 10 feet without a running start on a natural 1 if he isn’t wearing armor; with heavy armor, he needs a running start to get a 100% success chance.

Aside from that acrobatic flourish, Galitsur’s smites are getting better. Fist of Raziel makes it clear that its Smite Evils stack with paladin’s in every regard. RAW, Pious Templar gives an additional use of Smite Evil in addition to its 1/day non-alignment-restricted smite, but the more reasonable interpretation makes it just add another daily smite, with all class levels stacking together.

The big improvement comes from the Fist of Raziel class, though, which adds extra little buffs to all evil smiting. At this level, it overcomes /good DR and confirms all critical threats, and it’s just going to get better over time.

Galitsur’s spellcasting has also improved. He casts spells as both a 7th-level paladin and a 2nd-level Pious Templar (which annoyingly doesn’t just give +spells/level), for a total of four 1st-level paladin spells per day. I don’t think any buffs are worth the action cost at this point, so four Rhino Rushes it is.

At this level, Galitsur finally gets the ability that made me choose this specific build in the first place. I am referring, of course, to Sunder Evil Item, a completely OP ability that doubles all damage he deals against evil inanimate objects. This allows him to—oh, who am I kidding, nobody’s falling for that.

No, the thing that changes how Galitsur plays is the Battle Blessing feat, which I would have selected way earlier if the feat taxes for Fist of Raziel and Pious Templar overlapped. Battle Blessing lets you cast paladin spells—and only paladin spells—faster. It reduces full-round casting times to one standard action, and standard-action times to a swift action.

This means that Galitsur can cast one (originally)-standard-action short-term buff spell on himself each turn. This is not only a neat use of a swift action, it also gives the fight a sense of tension. The boss is getting stronger every turn—we need to take it down ASAP!

At this point, he has four 1st-level spell slots and two second-level spell slots. The buff spells I recommend are, in order: Flame of Faith (turns his weapon into a flaming burst weapon), Angelskin (DR 5/evil; Spell Compendium version, not Miniatures Handbook version), and possibly Silverbeard (AC bonus; also, I recommend having it turn his mane silver instead of giving him a beard). After that, Rhino Rush every turn until someone’s HP runs out.

Galitsur also has the Leap Attack feat. Combine with Power Attack (which I haven’t mentioned but assume people know how to use) for another lovely damage bonus whenever Galitsur jumps at least ten feet in a charge. (Note that his +22 Jump check is high enough to consistently jump 10-15 feet even without a running start.)

At last, Galistur has both 3rd-level spells and the Fist of Raziel capstone. The latter just gives his weapon a constant holy property. The former, obviously, gives more buff options.

First, the solitary level 3 spell slot should be used to cast Find the Gap, turning one attack per turn into a touch attack. (I recommend not using it on one of Galitsur’s iterative attacks.) Follow this with Flame of Faith to boost damage even further. After this, Galitsur can cast Angelskin and possibly Silverbeard, if it looks like combat will continue long enough to justify it; otherwise, use Rhino’s Rush for however long it takes one side to run out of HP.

That is, magic items that (while not necessary) make Galitsur more effective. It’s the best relevant thing I could think of for this level of warfare.

Point 1: The basics. Magic weapon, magic armor, magic stat boosts. Weapon abilities that increase damage (aside from flaming/flaming burst) are preferable.

Unsurprisingly, mobility is important. Boots of flying are the obvious choice, but by the time you can casually toss those into the treasure list, Galitsur has Leap Attack. Being able to casually jump around the battlefield has its advantages, especially since jumping arguably lets you charge over enemies in a way that mere flight doesn’t allow. Something like boots of striding and springing could make it harder for your PCs to pin down Galitsur, at the cost of the “puzzle boss” angle I argued for earlier.

Aside from that...passive magic items or ones with free-action activations are better than active ones. Galitsur’s gonna charge whenever he can, consuming his standard/move actions, and once he gets decent spellcasting his swift action will be consumed by buffs and rhino rushes.

That is, how to use Galitsur in an actual campaign.

The simplest way is as a sort of divine hitman. The PCs have done too much evil, hoboed their way through too many murders, and now Raziel is sending his fiercest lion to bring them to justice. But that makes Galitsur an antagonist, not a proper villain. How can we reach that level?

By his nature, Galistur’s plans revolve around mandates from heaven; he will do whatever Raziel commands of him. But when he doesn’t have an active mission from god quasi-divine outsider, he searches out evil to smite. Galitsur’s methods are very simple; he identifies high-profile evil—rampaging dragons, cruel tyrants, fiendish cults, whatever—and then hits it with a sword until it stops being evil.

This sounds a lot like what typical adventuring parties do, and that’s fertile ground for some solid storytelling. If your adventurers are socially-conscious, careful not to endanger the people they’re nominally supposed to be saving and prone to spontaneous acts of charity, Galitsur serves as a valuable foil. If they’re low-level murderhobos, Galitsur can serve as a wake-up call for their recklessness.

After all, Galitsur only smites evil—nothing else. He doesn’t care that killing every member of a cult means local families don’t have the manpower to harvest their crops. He doesn’t worry about non-Evil aristocrats warring over a throne left vacant after he killed the local tyrant. And if that dragon rises again as a vengeful ghost or dracolich or something…he’ll swing by next time he’s in the region and fight it then (never mind how the undead dragon will inflict even worse devastation now).

Galistur kinda needs a campaign built around contrast between good and bad questing to land properly. The PCs coming into conflict with other so-called heroes, ones out for glory/vengeance/petty spite, or motivated by asinine ideals of heroism. And in the background, Galistur is smiting the evils everyone else is too weak to fight—with the PCs often having to clean up his messes, or at least witness the wars and famines left in his wake. The ultimate questing hero, but also a peerless devastator.

For all Galistur’s power, the PCs can catch up. Galistur is probably stronger than any individual PC, but they can work together to end the evil and chaos that follows in the wake of this Lawful Good paragon and his tunnel vision.

Round Limitations:

Chosen: Should be self-explanatory.
Mindless Devotion: The paladin’s Aura of Courage provides immunity to fear. Fist of Raziel puts a constant magic circle against evil around Galitsur, which (among other things) makes anyone within immune to magical compulsion—and wouldn’t you know it, Galitsur is in that magic circle!
Die, Heretic: The build focuses around charging and smiting evil. Straightforward.
Extremist: Lawful Good

Why is Galitsur a lion-person? Because it’s really hard to get pounce on a lawful character, which I didn’t consider before sketching out a Lawful Good charge build.

Skills. Ugh. Did you know the only class in this build that has Jump as a class skill is Pious Templar? Or that the only one with Spot or Listen is the friggin’ RHD? I had to buff Intelligence just to put together enough skill points to hit all the prerequisites, and then shuffle Pious Templar back to the beginning of the build just to raise the friggin’ skill point cap so I could get Leap Attack before CR 16. And that restructuring wound up pushing other important feats and the initial Fist of Raziel class features back several levels.

Why the heck can’t lions or paladins jump? And why do lions get both Balance as a class skill and a racial bonus on top of that? They’re not walking on tree branches or tightropes or anything, out there on the savannah!

…anyways, this is one of the few times that a human’s bonus skill points would have been almost as handy as that bonus feat, but I needed to get pounce and couldn’t dip barbarian for it, so here I am.

For the purpose of Pious Templar prerequisites, Raziel’s favored weapon is the greatsword; he doesn’t have one listed, but the greatsword seems like an acceptable compromise between what would be best for the build (a falchion) and the weapon Raziel uses in his stat block (a longsword, albeit Large-sized).

I wanted to grab the Gray Guard prestige class, because being able to smite enemies of any alignment is so in-character for a Knight Templar type. But it also weakens the paladin’s code of conduct, which feels like it goes against the spirit of the contest.

The name is inspired by the actual angel that Archon Raziel is named after. Galitsur is another name for Raziel, and he’s chief of the Erelim, which means “Valiant Ones”.

Book of Exalted Deeds: Fist of Raziel, various Exalted feats
Complete Champion: Battle Blessing
Complete Divine: Pious Templar, True Believer
Monster Manual: Lion
Player’s Handbook 2: Charging Smite paladin variant
Savage Species: Anthropomorphic template
Spell Compendium: ...a bunch of spells, though only rhino’s rush is really critical

Player’s Handbook: Everything else (I hope...)

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 05:11 AM

The camel is the dreadnought of the desert.

https://imperiumromanum.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Concept_of_catpahract_on_camel.jpg

Gandharl the Dreadnought
Gandharl wasn't born, not like others of his kind. Gandharl was forged in centuries of war and hatred. A witness to the inevitable destruction that all humanoids bring to the world.

At first he thought to oppose it but the fight was futile: more always came. Murder and destruction are the only constant in this world. Gandharl watched his forests be consumed by legions of abominations: some made, some born, others conjured, it didn't matter they destroyed all the same.

After a century the only thing that remained of his home was the desert left behind and Gandharl's hatred.

And so he learned the ways of men, learned of ancient evils even the gods feared and Gandharl made a vow to repay every horror tenfold, to become the thing they feared.

As Gandharl harassed those stupid enough to cross his desert, one such man had a wondrous mount which he quickly took as his own. A camel like none other, Boo became his only friend and ally.

Gandharl the Dreadnought

Race: Killoren
Templates: none
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Class: Barbarian
ACF/substitution levels:

Unholy Fury: your hatred is so strong it lets you smite anyone or anything that is not chaotic evil every time you rage, lose fast movement
Spell sense: bonus to AC vs spells instead of trap sense
Fox totem : dodge bonus to AC instead of DR

Attributes

STR 14
DEX 8 (dump)
CON 16 (main stat, gets every increase)
INT 14
WIS 4 (dump + deformity madness)
CHA 16

Boo the two-humped magebred warbeast Camel

Unlike a druid's animal companion, a wild cohort does not have to be an animal ''typical of his kind'' (they didn't include that sentence) meaning that, as long as you don't pick an alternate animal, templates are fair game.

With that in mind the magebred template and the warbeast template can be applied to it.

The magebred template gives Boo +4 STR, +2 DEX, +2 CON, natural armor +2, Boo has the thick skinned option which increases his natural armor another +2

A two-humped camel (found in Sandstorm) has more CON but less DEX than a dromedary but it's also slightly slower (40 ft movement instead of 50ft)

Finally, in order to use a camel's incredible STR well, you can give it an armor fitted with armor spikes. While the camel isn't proficient with them, the -4 penalty to hit, with full STR bonus to damage, is still better than the standard -5 a herbivore gets if it uses its natural attack with only half his bonus STR to damage. It can even use iteratives with the armor spikes and use it's bite as a secondary attack (using the multiattack bonus feat)

Boo the magebred warbeast two-humped camel
Large Animal
Hit Dice: 4d8 +20
Initiative: +4
Speed: 50 ft. (40 base + 10 from warbeast)
Armor Class: 19 (-1 size, +4 DEX, +6 natural armor), 13 touch, 15 flat-footed
Base Attack/Grapple: +6 (+ 7 STR, +3 BAB, -4 nonproficiency)/+10 (+4 size, +3 BAB, +7 STR ,-4 armor spike penalty)
Attack: Large armor spikes (1d8 +7)
Full Attack: Large armor spikes +6 (1d8 +7)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Â—
Special Qualities: Low-light vision, scent, sure feet, combative mount (warbeast) , thick skinned (magebred)
Saves: +9, +8, +2

Abilities:

Str 25 (18 base) + 4 (magebred) +3 (warbeast) + HD (main stat)
Dex 18 (16 base) +2 (magebred)
Con 21 (16 base) +2 (magebred) +3 (warbeast)
Int 2 (1 base magebred sets it to 2)
Wis 13 (11 base + 2 warbeast)
Cha 4 (unmodified)
Skills: Listen +7, Spot +7
Feats: Alertness, Endurance (base feats) + multiattack (magebred bonus feat)

By level 18 Boo

has 15d8 hitpoints + 90 from its CON bonus

STR 32 (18base + 4 magebred+3 warbeast+2 HD+ 5 wild cohort bonuses)
DEX 23 (16base+ 2 magebred + 5 wild cohort)
CON 22 (16base+ 2 magebred + 3 warbeast+ 1 HD)
INT 2
WIS 13
CHA 4

Feats/abilities progression:
4 HD Alertness, Endurance, multiattack
5 HD Evasion
7 HD Steadfast Determination
9 HD Combat Reflexes
11 HD
12 HD Power Attack,Devotion
13 HD
15 HD Blind fight,Improved Evasion

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

1st
Barbarian
+1
+2
+0
+0

+4 Intimidate
+4 Handle Animal
+4 Ride
+4 Listen
+4 Craft Armor
+2 UMD

Wild Cohort, Evil Brand (bonus elder evil worship feat)

Fast movement, illiteracy, rage 1/day

2nd
Barbarian
+2
+3
+0
+0
+5 Intimidate
+5 Handle Animal
+5 Ride
+5 Listen
+5 Craft Armor
+2 UMD

Uncanny Dodge

3rd
Barbarian
+3
+3
+1
+1
+6 Intimidate
+6 Handle Animal
+6 Ride
+6 Listen
+6 Craft Armor
+3 UMD

Mounted Combat
Spell sense +1

4th
Barbarian
+4
+4
+1
+1
+7 Intimidate
+7 Handle Animal
+7 Ride
+7 Listen
+7 Craft Armor
+3 UMD

Improved Uncanny Dodge

5th
Barbarian
+5
+4
+1
+1
+8 Intimidate
+8 Handle Animal
+8 Ride
+8 Listen
+8 Craft Armor
+4 UMD

Thrall to Demon(bonus elder evil worship feat)

6th
Barbarian
+6/+1
+5
+2
+2
+9 Intimidate
+9 Handle Animal
+9 Ride
+9 Listen
+9 Craft Armor
+4 UMD
Ride-by Attack

7th
Barbarian
+7/+2
+5
+2
+2
+10 Intimidate
+10 Handle Animal
+10 Ride
+10 Listen
+10 Craft Armor
+5 UMD

AC +1, Spell sense +2

8th
Barbarian
+8/+3
+6
+2
+2
+11 Intimidate
+11 Handle Animal
+11 Ride
+11 Listen
+11 Craft Armor
+5 UMD

Rage 3/

9th
Barbarian
+9/+4
+6
+3
+3
+12 Intimidate
+12 Handle Animal
+12 Ride
+12 Listen
+12 Craft Armor
+6 UMD
Spirited Charge
Spell sense +3

10th
Barbarian
+10/+5
+7
+3
+3
+13 Intimidate
+13 Handle Animal
+13 Ride
+13 Listen
+13 Craft Armor
+6 UMD
Abyss-Bound Soul Graz'zt (bonus elder evil worship feat)
AC +2

11th
Barbarian
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+3
+14 Intimidate
+14 Handle Animal
+14 Ride
+14 Listen
+14 Craft Armor
+7 UMD

Greater Rage

12th
Barbarian
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+4
+15 Intimidate
+15 Handle Animal
+15 Ride
+15 Listen
+15 Craft Armor
+7 UMD
Mounted Fury
Rage 4/day, Spell sense +4

13th
Barbarian
+13/+8/+3
+8
+4
+4
+16 Intimidate
+16 Handle Animal
+16 Ride
+16 Listen
+16 Craft Armor
+8 UMD

AC +3

14th
Barbarian
+14/+9/+4
+9
+4
+4
+17 Intimidate
+17 Handle Animal
+17 Ride
+17 Listen
+17 Craft Armor
+8 UMD

Indomitable Will

15th
Barbarian
+15/+10/+5
+9
+5
+5
+18 Intimidate
+18 Handle Animal
+18 Ride
+18 Listen
+18 Craft Armor
+9 UMD

Tremendous Charge, Willing Deformity (bonus elder evil worship feat)
Spell sense +5

16th
Barbarian
+16/+11/+6/+1
+10
+5
+5
+19 Intimidate
+19 Handle Animal
+19 Ride
+19 Listen
+19 Craft Armor
+9 UMD

AC +4, Rage 5/

17th
Barbarian
+17/+12/+7/+2
+10
+5
+5
+20 Intimidate
+20 Handle Animal
+20 Ride
+20 Listen
+20 Craft Armor
+10 UMD

Tireless rage

18th
Barbarian
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+6
+6
+21 Intimidate
+21 Handle Animal
+21 Ride
+21 Listen
+21 Craft Armor
+10 UMD
Power Attack
Spell sense +6

19th
Barbarian
+19/+14/+9/+4
+11
+6
+6
+22 Intimidate
+22 Handle Animal
+22 Ride
+22 Listen
+22 Craft Armor
+11 UMD

AC +5

20th
Barbarian
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+6
+23 Intimidate
+23 Handle Animal
+23 Ride
+23 Listen
+23 Craft Armor
+11 UMD
Deformity: Madness (bonus elder evil worship feat)
Mighty Rage, rage 6/

Gandharl

-can smite anything not chaotic evil through unholy fury
-and smite anything else through the killoren aspect of the destroyer ability
both smites can be combined against non chaotic evil: aberrations, constructs, humanoids, oozes, outsiders and undead
-boosting your CHA improves your killoren smite and your UMD skill, tremendous charge eventually lets you dump STR altogether

all of which is multiplied by your mounted charge feats and abilities
does not destroy his AC by using shock trooper so keeping uncanny dodge and using the spell sense and fox totem abilities makes sense
uses ride by attack to keep moving and charging, you also get improved reach with willing deformity tall and using a lance letting you attack creatures 20ft away
your mount can eventually wear magical horseshoes to float above the ground, letting you ignore difficult terrain
tremendous charge and mounted fury boosts your STR on a charge to a ridiculous degree, by the time you get tremendous charge your magical lance should be immune to the chance of breaking

Craft armor is especially worth it at level 1 (armor for a mount is 4x the cost and you need to put armor spikes on it) but it remains worth it since it's just so expensive to buy armor for a camel, you'll also be using decent armor and eventually an animated shield so you can keep using your lance 2 handed.

Since you can't use UMD while raging it's mostly there to supplement your options outside of combat or to buff up before a fight. While a wand of rhino's rush sounds nice, the math makes raging (and using unholy fury) a better option. You still get a x4 multiplier just by using a valorous lance with spirited charge so it's not exactly necessary.

Though warbeast gives your camel heavy armor proficiency, light armor is probably the heaviest you'll want to use since its DEX it pretty high.

Anything attacking you needs to get hit by your attack of opportunity (reach 10) and then Boo's (reach 10 + combat reflexes) before finally deciding on a target.

Level 1 Your camel with armor spikes is definitely not a CR 1 encounter, neither are you. If a group can entangle your mount and keep things at range they have a chance
Level 5 This is an awkward level, you don't have that many standout abilities but your charge is still likely to kill anything humanoid that's not chaotic evil but you'll need Boo's help to get it done.
Level 10 You're immune to fear, spirited charge deals a ridiculous amount of damage when you combine unholy fury with killoren smite. A d12 hipoint non chaotic evil character with 14 in CON is going to die in one hit. Boo now has combat reflexes. This is most likely your sweetspot.
Level 15 Tremendous charge means you probably never miss on a charge. Mounted fury makes Boo scarier than an equivalent druid's animal companion. You should definitely own a valorous lance at this point.
Level 20 Deformity madness, combined with your immunity to fear, can make a spellcaster assume he has a way to deal with you that will leave him a very nasty surprise. Boo's saves are also incredible with steadfast determination combined with all of your rage benefits

Complete Champion: Fox Totem Manifestation Barbarian ACF
Complete Mage: Spell sense Barbarian ACF
Dragonlance campaign setting: tremendous charge
Elder Evils: vile feats
Exemplars of Evil : Unholy fury Barbarian ACF
Eberron Campaign Setting: magebred template
Monster Manual 2 : warbeast template
Races of the wild: Killoren race
Web: Wild Cohort, mounted fury

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 05:14 AM

Approaching demented suns, rise to become what once was the universal third, absolute.

Disclaimer. The entry contains revised extracts and quotations from a real psychiatric case and a reference to it.
The Confusing Naught Chasm.
Was born on Muddle Street, in grocery store No. 22. A well-known economist, by vocation am a librarian. Among the people am a farmer. In the store am a salesperson. In the economy, so to speak, am necessary. This is, so to speak, a system of 120 units.
Draw pictures of the Thillonrian Peninsula and get te-le-pa-thie. And the accountant works on a different line - on the line of libraries. Because there will be no air, there will be an academician! Well, here you can draw a picture of the Thillonrian Peninsula. You can become an air ace. You can become an air planet. And you will be sure that this planet will be accepted according to the textbook. This means that one planet will benefit physics.
The value torn off in the area of diplomacy gives its fluctuations to all diplomacy. And Thrommel of Furyondy gives fluctuations only to his family.
A matchstick in the library works. He goes to the newsannals and lights a large sheet in the newsannals. And in the library, a small sheet kindles. Its fire will be developed much more easily than a strong manual. A strong manual will be more weighty than a grocery store on Muddle Street. And on Muddle Street there will be a split manual. Then the manual will pass through Muddle Street, through grocery store No. 22, and be replaced there according to the formula of economic unity. Here in store 22, it can split, the economy: into economists, into dispatchers, into sellers, into the culture of trade ... So the whole economy will move in this direction.
And the library will move towards 120 units, which will stack the item on the item. 120 units is the subject of physics. An everburning torch burns from 120 bricks, because the structure, so to speak, her is similar to a brick.
Thrommel of Furyondy works at the Free City Arena. Thrommel of Furyondy works at home. That's real diplomacy! Open diplomacy is the same. Well, we take a major image, insert it into the Thillonrian Peninsula, wind up black bread there all the time ... So, will Thrommel, or what, grow up? Thrommel of Furyondy, perhaps, will grow out of this?

CE Allip Spontaneous Domain Casting Champion Cleric 12/Doomdreamer 5

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/pathfinder/images/e/e8/Allip.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20081020175335

Abilities Initial Race/Template 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th Inherent Total
STR 8 - -
DEX 12 2 14
CON 10 - -
INT 14 14
WIS 15 4 5 19 (24)
CHA 13 8 5 21 (26)

HD CR Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Insanity Score Skills Feats Class Features
1st - Undead 1 0 0 0 2 - 24: {+4 CC} Concentration: 2; {+4} Hide: 4; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+4 CC} Knowledge (arcana): 2; {+4 CC} Knowledge (religion): 2; {+4} Spot: 4; Ghostly Grasp
2nd - Undead 2 1 0 0 3 - 6: Concentration: 2; {+1} Hide: 5; {+1} Intimidate: 5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (arcana): 2.5; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 2.5; {+1} Listen: 1; {+1} Spot: 5;
3rd - Undead 3 1 1 1 3 - 6: Concentration: 2; {+1} Hide: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 6; {+1 CC} Knowledge (arcana): 3; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 3; {+1} Listen: 2; {+1} Spot: 6; Blind-Fight
4th 3rd Undead 4 2 1 1 4 - 6: Concentration: 2; {+1} Hide: 7; {+1} Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 3; Knowledge (religion): 3; {+4} Listen: 6; Spot: 6; Babble, madness, Wisdom drain, darkvision 60 ft., incorporeal traits, +2 turn resistance, undead traits
5th 4th Spontaneous Domain Casting (Force) Champion Cleric 1 2 3 1 6 0 4: Concentration: 2; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+2} Knowledge (arcana): 5; {+2} Knowledge (religion): 5; Listen: 6; Spot: 6; Domains (Force, Madness), smite good 1/day
6th 5th Champion Cleric 2 2 4 1 7 1 4: Concentration: 2; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+2} Knowledge (arcana): 7; {+2} Knowledge (religion): 7; Listen: 6; Spot: 6; Spell Focus (Necromancy)
7th 6th Champion Cleric 3 3 4 2 7 1 4: Concentration: 2; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+2} Knowledge (arcana): 9; {+2} Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; Spot: 6; Aura of courage
8th 7th Doomdreamer 1 4 4 2 9 4 4: {+4} Concentration: 6; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; Spot: 6; Secret (Deeper madness)
9th 8th Doomdreamer 2 4 4 2 10 4 4: {+4} Concentration: 10; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; Spot: 6; Martial Study (Action Before Thought) Dark lore
10th 9th Doomdreamer 3 5 5 3 10 5 4: {+3} Concentration: 13; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+1} Spellcraft: 1; Spot: 6; Secret (Paying fealty to death), chill soul
11th 10th Doomdreamer 4 6 5 3 11 5 4: {+1} Concentration: 14; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+3} Spellcraft: 4; Spot: 6; Maddening howl
12th 11th Doomdreamer 5 7 5 3 11 6 4: {+1} Concentration: 15; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+3} Spellcraft: 7; Spot: 6; Necrotic Reserve Secret (Unholy pact), dark communion
13th 12th Champion Cleric 4 7 6 3 12 6 4: {+1} Concentration: 16; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+3} Spellcraft: 10; Spot: 6;
14th 13th Champion Cleric 5 8 6 3 12 7 4: {+1} Concentration: 17; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+3} Spellcraft: 13; Spot: 6; Smite good 2/day
15th 14th Champion Cleric 6 8 7 4 13 7 4: {+1} Concentration: 18; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+3} Spellcraft: 16; Spot: 6; Invisible Needle
16th 15th Champion Cleric 7 9 7 4 13 8 4: {+1} Concentration: 19; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+3} Spellcraft: 19; Spot: 6;
17th 16th Champion Cleric 8 10 8 4 14 8 4: {+1} Concentration: 20; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; Knowledge (arcana): 9; Knowledge (religion): 9; Listen: 6; {+1} Spellcraft: 20; Spot: 6; {+2} Swift Concentration;
18th 17th Champion Cleric 9 11 8 5 14 9 4: {+1} Concentration: 21; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 10; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 10; Listen: 6; {+1} Spellcraft: 21; Spot: 6; Swift Concentration; Sudden Extend
19th 18th Champion Cleric 10 11 9 5 15 9 4: {+1} Concentration: 22; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 11; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 11; Listen: 6; {+1} Spellcraft: 22; Spot: 6; Swift Concentration; Smite good 3/day
20th 19th Champion Cleric 11 12 9 5 15 10 4: {+1} Concentration: 23; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 12; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 12; Listen: 6; {+1} Spellcraft: 23; Spot: 6; Swift Concentration;
21th 20th Champion Cleric 12 13 10 6 16 10 4: {+1} Concentration: 24; Hide: 7; Intimidate: 7; {+1} Knowledge (arcana): 13; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 13; Listen: 6; {+1} Spellcraft: 24; Spot: 6; Swift Concentration; Extra Domain Spell (Annihilation)

ECL Class Wis+Insanity score 0th 1st* 2nd* 3rd* 4th* 5th* 6th* 7th* 8th* 9th*
5th Cleric 1 15 3 1+1+1
6th Cleric 2 16 4 2+1+1
7th Cleric 3 16 4 2+1+1 1+1+1
8th Cleric 4 20 5 3+1+1 2+1+1
9th Cleric 5 20 5 3+1+2 2+1+1 1+1+1
10th Cleric 6 21 6 3+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1
11th Cleric 7 21 6 4+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1 1+1+1
12th Cleric 8 22 6 4+1+2 3+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1
13th Cleric 9 23 6 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1 1+1+1
14th Cleric 10 24 6 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1
15th Cleric 11 24 6 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1 1+1+1
16th Cleric 12 25 6 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+1 3+1+1 2+1+1
17th Cleric 13 26 6 5+1+2 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+1 2+1+1 1+1+1
18th Cleric 14 27 6 5+1+2 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+1 3+1+1 2+1+1
19th Cleric 15 27 6 5+1+2 5+1+2 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+1 3+1+1 2+1+1 1+1+1
20th Cleric 16 29 6 5+1+3 5+1+2 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+1 3+1+1 2+1+1
21th Cleric 17 29 6 5+1+3 5+1+2 5+1+2 5+1+2 4+1+2 4+1+1 3+1+1 2+1+1 1+2+1
21th+Inherent Cleric 17 34 6 5+1+3 5+1+3 5+1+3 5+1+3 4+1+2 4+1+2 3+1+2 2+1+2 1+2+1
21th+Inherent+Enchantment** Cleric 17 38 6 5+1+4 5+1+4 5+1+3 5+1+3 4+1+3 4+1+3 3+1+2 2+1+2 1+2+2
*- Base+Domain+High Wisdom.
**- Assuming +4 to Wisdom.

Typical memorized spells (for ECL 21 without bonuses to Wisdom score):
0th: Slash Tongue*5 and Detect Magic.
1st: Spell Flower, Slow Consumption*2, Inflict Light Wounds*5 and Mage Armor (D).
2nd: Divine Interdiction, Boneblast*3, Death Knell, Protection from Positive Energy*2 and Magic Missile (D).
3rd: Shriveling*4, Flesh Ripper*3 and Blast of Force (D).
4th: Inflict Critical Wounds*3, Life Ward, Negative Energy Aura, Stop Heart*2 and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere (D) or Inflict Critical Wounds (D) if Destruction domain substitutes for Madness.
5th: Slay Living*4, Heartclutch*2 and Wall of Force (D) or Inflict Light Wounds, Mass (D) if Destruction domain substitutes for Madness.
6th: Harm*3, Dispel Magic, Greater*2, Zealot Pact (active) and Phantasmal Killer (D) or Harm (D) if Destruction domain substitutes for Madness.
7th: Consumptive Field, Greater, Ravenous Darkness, Destruction*2, Insanity (D) or Disintegration (D) if Destruction domain substitutes for Madness.
8th: Heat Drain, Bodak’s Glare*2 and Tharizdun’s Maddening Scream (D) or Disintegration (D) if Destruction domain substitutes for Madness; maybe Planar Ally, Greater instead of Heat Drain.
9th: Implosion*2, Annihilation (D) and Weird (D) or Implosion (D) if Destruction domain substitutes for Madness.
All spells are from PHB, Spell Compendium and Book of Vile Darkness, other than Ravenous Darkness and Substitute Domain from Complete Champion.

It is slightly more than nothing. Former alive. Former dead. Insane now. But something... something breaks through the confused fibers of thought. Touch of the Master and his Dark Helix. Under insane lies Absolute Truth. It gives Force and Understanding. Too few! Needs more!

Naught now is almost ordinary allip, but... Before he killed himself in the name of his god Tharizdun, Naught was a cleric. And now he is starting to become cleric again. Step by step. One mad vision after another. Only few spells now - mainly Mage Armor and Inflict Light Wounds. Primary weapon is incorporeal touch from the floor. Thanks Blind-Fight for decreased miss chance.

It became vastly more than nothing. Memories. Outbursts. Madness. Rites. Dark spiral. Hidden is closer now! Should do what did before. Destroying is the reward. Chained God will break free! Soon...

Naught's memory, however distorted, returns to him and with memory recovers his power. Three levels of cleric and five levels of doomdreamer, now. Spells up to 4th level, including Planar Ally, Lesser which is free from payment thanks to Unholy pact Secret. 6HD outsider isn't something mind-blowing, but still very good. For example, Mayrezhi from Fiend Folio gives unlimited Animate Dead. Other offensive and defensive spells as stated above (except the number of). Plus, I need to mention Substitute Domain spell. While Tharizdun's domains are not all great, switching between Madness and Destruction can be useful. Necrotic Reserve and Martial Study give Naught
some flexibility in defending.

End is here. And I hear. Idol not idle! Chains are torn! New turn! Dire dyer dye died! Come and look! Master isn't locked!

More deep, more powerful, more insane. That's the way. Naught worked it almost completely, from ordinary allip to madness controller of the sphere of annihilation. Almost true sphere. But equally destructive. With Sudden Extend and Invisible Needle it lasts up to 36 rounds. And up to twice 18 rounds after with Spontaneous Domain Casting.
Invisible Needle, on the other hand, is an almost infinite source of [Force] damage - 9d4/round.
Unholy pact in conjunction with Greater Planar Ally opens a huge field for abuse. Only free Wishes from Glabrezu are worth what. Yes, Naught needs a mortal humanoid for this, but he is Doomdreamer, hierarch of the church. It's possible for him found any colleague.

Smite good. There are two options. 1) Extra damage is Wisdom damage. It's a great variant. 2) Extra damage is negative energy damage. Well, still not so bad. It's free anyway.
Aura of courage. Why do you want it? Naught is undead and already immune to fear (and all mind affecting). Well, it's part of undead traits. There are several ways to suppress it. But the Aura of courage is always with Naught.

Type Name Book Page
Monster Allip MM 10
Class Cleric PHB 30
Prestige Class Doomdreamer Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil 162
Class variant Spontaneous Domain Casting PHBII 37
Class variant Champion Cleric UA 58
Feat Ghostly Grasp LM 27
Feat Blind-Fight PHB 89
Feat Spell Focus PHB 100
Feat Martial Study ToB 31
Feat Necrotic Reserve LM 28
Feat Invisible Needle CM 44
Feat Sudden Extend CArc 83
Feat Extra Domain Spell MinH 26
Special Rule Insanity Score Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil 161
Domain Madness Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil 161
Domain Force Return To The Temple Of Elemental Evil 162
Maneuver Action Before Thought ToB 62
Skill Trick Swift Concentration CS 90
The Confusing Naught Chasm Based on Example of schizophasia Great Medical Encyclopedia (1962) Wikipedia link (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B8%D 1%8F) (in Russian)
The Mesmerizing Absolute Truth Based on The Mystery of grocery store Number 22 - Decipher Schizophasya by Marina Liguzova Проза.ру Link (https://proza.ru/2014/07/01/1243) (in Russian)

The Mesmerizing Absolute Truth.
I was born in the gross world of material forms. I was forced to identify myself with the transient imprints left on me by my environment. My past existence is a constant reaction to external sensory stimuli, although my calling is to know the root causes of being. It cannot be otherwise - such are the rules of the universe.
When I got in touch with the invisible basis of all that exists, existence rewarded me. Existence became guided not by the petty reactive rules of the material world, as before, but by Knowledge. I comprehended that the surrounding space itself, emptiness, is the bearer of knowledge, a teacher, a mentor. Having known the basis of the world, elusive for the senses, I established a connection with the entire surrounding space, I began to understand that I am the world. I gained confidence that my existence does not carry random, erroneous elements - I am in complete harmony with the Universe. Another awakened one who has merged with the Universe, by his existence alone, proves the greatness of the Universal chaos of evolution.
Vibrations; exuded by such an awakened one, have a positive effect on others - if he is involved in social relations. But while the consciousness is sleeping, it is able to act automatically only in the narrow world of habitual relationships that limit it, support its sleep.
The one who has Knowledge becomes a source of light. Knowledge has a destructive effect on the ego. The illusory nature of both collective and individual concepts is revealed - our usual ideas about the world and about the system of our relationships with it. Comprehension of the Absolute is impossible without the destruction of these limitations. The Absolute is primary, it is the source of the material world. Rough forms of the material world, being an expression of Truth, distort it with their illusory diversity. Truth is crushed. The whole world is permeated with Truth, it is present in everything - but for the inhabitants of the world it is elusive, replaced by concepts, formulas. Consciousness splits into "I" and "other", people suffer from separation. This is the chaos of the material world.
The search for Truth promotes unity, integration. All fragmented spheres of human knowledge have a common source, through any of them there is a path to the Absolute, since everything is its expression.
But the sleeping consciousness is isolated from the outside world, unable to get out of its cocoon. This is how the sparks of consciousness – human beings – perceive each other: from the depths of their cocoon, their ego representations. As long as the mind is driven by material stimuli, reacting only to sensory impressions, it is unable to awaken and begin to grow from the depths of sleep into the light of Truth.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 05:17 AM

God knows, God knows I want to break free.

https://imgur.com/3LOWO9K
link to portrait (https://imgur.com/3LOWO9K)

Sir Thomas Mayflower: the Breaker of Chains

Sergeant Glint held a perfumed handkerchief over his nose. No matter how many of these despicable places he broke up, there always seemed to be more lurking somewhere in the shadows. The stench of sulfur and burnt flesh hung low in the air. A few hellhound pups, grateful to be freed from the grid of wire cages that lined the walls, ran through the building and brushed Glint’s legs.

“Officer, try to keep these things contained, would you?” Glint picked up one of the pups by his feet and handed it to the nearest of his subordinates.

“Right, sorry, sir.” The officer put it into a box cradled in his arms with the others.

“Where’s the owner of this dump, anyway? I need to speak to him so I can give him a citation. There aren’t any registered breeders in this district. If he wants to stay open, he’ll need to apply for a license, to say nothing of the conditions of this place.” Glint said.

“I guess you haven’t heard.”

“Heard what?”

“We found what was left of him in the back. The league of the golden key’s symbol was painted in his blood on the wall. Most of the soft parts got ground into dog food. Looks like the first decent meal these creatures have had in a while.” The officer patted one of the pups in his arms.

Glint dismissed him to go load them onto the truck with the others.

“We’d be better off drowning the mongrels,” he muttered to himself.

“The same could be said of you, sergeant, yet here you stand,” said a familiar voice from behind him. Glint wished the city could impose some kind of mandatory auditory manifestation to accompany authorized teleportations within city limits, but that just wasn’t the world he lived in.

“What’re you doing here, keymaster? Are you responsible for this?” Glint asked.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” the keymaster said.

“Fine. If not you, one of your subordinates.”

The keymaster laughed. “The league isn’t a hierarchy like your watch, sergeant. I’m not responsible for anything one of my brothers or sisters within it chooses to do on their own. This is news to me as well; we don’t tell each other about our missions so we can’t give anything up under torture.”

“You really think you can avoid responsibility just by denying it like that?”

“Well, it’s worked pretty well so far. What’re you so upset about anyway? Whoever was abusing these poor creatures is taken care of. So what if one of ours did your job for you? Did they even send you a bill?”

Glint scoffed. “This place has been on our list for some time.”

“And have you done anything about it?”

Glint ignored him. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do about this place.”

“Yeah, I hear you. You think the city watch would write the building off and let the league run it as a rescue shelter and clinic? Could probably get a ton of volunteers that way,” the keymaster said.

“Hm. Could ask the zoning commissioner,” Glint said. One less thing to worry about.

“If I got a couple of my guys in here to clear the dog crap out, slap some paint on the walls, you think that’d help?” the keymaster asked.

“Couldn’t hurt. You’re not gonna give us any grief about registering them down the line, are you?” Glint asked.

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll make sure they’re on file so they can vote and pay taxes and all those things you love,” the keymaster said.

Glint felt a palpable disgust, but decided against saying anything.

The keymaster scooped up one of the pups milling around and cradled it to his armor, not minding the sooty smudge it left on the golden key emblazoned across it.

“Here, one less for you to worry about. I’ll go straight over to the poundmaster with the rest of your guys and the dogs after I finish giving this place a once over.” The keymaster picked up a mop to start on the floor and flipped on an unseen servant to start cleaning the blood off the wall.

“Sounds like a plan,” Glint said on his way out.

The keymaster ran his hand along the stone wall of the cell, leaving the predicted layer of grime on his bare hand. Still no traces of tunneling or secret passages. His dog nosed around at the grate to see if anyone had gotten in that way, but didn’t find anything.

The manacles on Glint’s belt heralded his arrival before he said hello. The keymaster wiped his hands on his trousers and shook his hand.

“Surprised you’re helping out with the investigation this time, given the circumstances,” Glint said.

“Look, our order may not respect the rule of law, but I know it’s more trouble than it’s worth to reject a call from the crown. I’ve been told they tapped anyone good who might be able to help out.” He took out a scroll and passed it to Glint.

“Been told?”

“I can’t read. One of my guys told me the gist of it. What’d this guy do, anyway?” The keymaster knelt down on the moldy straw standard issue in places like this and examined the seam between the wall and floor, to see if any of the stones had been disturbed.

“Treason,” Glint said indignantly.

The keymaster laughed. “Only because the butt he wanted to put on the throne lost. Otherwise, he’d be a hero.”

“You find anything?”

“No. Should I be worried?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Sir Joshua, that’s the prisoner, tried to finish what he started. I’m sure the crown won’t be happy about this.”

“Do you know anything about the policies of the prospective new butt and how they compare to the old butt?”

“That’s not the point,” Glint said. The keymaster wondered what else the point could possibly be.

Sisyphus pushed a boulder up a hill. He hadn’t always done this, but he knew he would continue to do it forever. Just as it reached the peak of the hill, the door out of this place visible beyond its edge for the briefest of moments, its weight became too much for him and it pushed him backwards. It crushed him beneath it and dragged him to the bottom. It slowly rolled off him and he began the wait until he could start doing it all over again, his surviving eye trained on the freshest red smear left around the boulder’s center.

To his surprise, a hand reached out to him. The first person he’d seen since he was condemned here forever by Zeus.

He swallowed the blood pooling in his throat and laughed. The offenses he had committed against the gods were so specific, he hadn’t thought anyone else likely to repeat them, no matter how long he rotted down here.

“Seems like they’ll just let anyone in here,” he said to the newcomer.

“Don’t worry, this place still holds only one prisoner. Though that won’t be true for long. I’m Sir Thomas, and I’m here to get you out.” The gnome before him craned his neck and looked around the vast, endless field surrounding the hill.

“I figure you can’t walk out that door over there for some reason so what’s the gimmick here?” With a touch of his hand, Sir Thomas healed Sisyphus’s wounds. His flesh began to knit itself together and he got to his feet.

“I push that boulder up the hill, but it always rolls back down and crushes me and I have to keep doing it.”

Sir Thomas nodded. “You’ve probably never had help.”

Sisyphus laughed, noting Sir Thomas’s size. “You want to help me, I’m not going to stop you.” He stood slightly off center of the boulder this time to make room. Sir Thomas placed his hands at knee level and helped him push for the rest of the afternoon.

They reached the hill’s peak. The tendons in his ankles strained with the final steps. He reached out and felt the muscles in his chest strain. With the final push, the boulder crested the far side of the hill, rolled into the valley, and stayed there. It had been only ever so slightly too heavy for him to push by himself, to torment him with a sliver of hope. With some help, any help, he was able to overcome it.

“Is that the door out?” Sir Thomas asked, pointing toward the door as the man caught his breath.

“Yeah. I can’t tell you how I know, exactly. Obviously, I’ve never been there, but I feel like my knowing that, that it was right within reach this whole time was part of my torture. The same way I know it’s not locked and I can just walk out.”

Sir Thomas nodded. “Would you care for company on the walk out?”

“That would be lovely,” Sisyphus said and started off toward the door.

“You know, I was a king when I was alive. I have no idea how long I’ve been imprisoned here, but if my line is still around, I’ll make sure you’re handsomely rewarded for my rescue,” Sisyphus said.

“Very generous of you, majesty. I do have something in mind, as a matter of fact. I need some assistance locating the next person in need of my help. Much like yourself, he’s also being unjustly imprisoned by the gods. I thought if anyone would be sympathetic to his plight, it would be you.”

Sisyphus put his hand on the door. It felt like any other thing. He opened it and gestured for Sir Thomas to go first, which he did without consequence. So it was safe after all. He spat on the grass of the place that had held him for so many centuries with contempt for the gods.

“How can I help?”

Keymaster didn’t even pretend to grope at the grass of the hill where he and Glint stood. They were in the middle of a field. What could he be expected to find?

“How did he even get in here?” Glint asked.

“There’s a spell my order uses: it’s supposed to pinpoint an evildoer within a certain range of you and once you’re there, you’re supposed to deal with them. What my brothers and I think is happening is this guy is finding evil creatures, but instead of killing them, he’s freeing them from incarceration,” the keymaster explained.

Glint nodded. “Where’s your dog?”

The keymaster sighed. “He was getting too big for my apartment, kept burning my milkman, things like that. I found a home for him in the nine hells where he has plenty of room to run and play and torment the damned. He’s probably better off there instead of in the city with someone who can’t give him the care he needs.”

“You did the right thing,” Glint said with a hand on the keymaster’s shoulder, despite how uncomfortable the gesture clearly made the sergeant.

“Thanks.”

“You ever been tapped to investigate something for Zeus before?”

“Not personally, but some of my brethren have since he shares our alignment and all.”

Glint rubbed his forehead. “I’ve had a terrible headache since I got here. That explains it.”

Some people couldn’t handle chaos. “Sorry to hear that. Speaking of, how’re your guys adjusting under the new king?” As Glint had feared, Sir Joshua had indeed killed the old one almost immediately after being released from his illegal underground oubliette.

“I mean, it’s a blow, to be sure, but the new king doesn’t seem to be terribly interested with affairs of state, so policy-wise, not too much has changed. I can only pray it lasts.”

“And if something does change? Or a lot of somethings?” the keymaster asked.

Glint sighed. He laid on his back on the soft grass and looked up at the sky, where the sun never set.

“Then he’ll still be my king, and I’ll obey him.” The keymaster knew he meant it.

Obligatum IX awoke within its hollow sarcophagus. The quintessence that had enveloped its whole body for decades now only gently lapped at the nape of its neck. Had its prison formed a leak?

“Hello in there, can you hear me yet?” asked someone from without.

“Are you my jailer, sir? Truthfully, I thought you would have perished by now. You fleshly things are so ephemeral, after all.”

“No, I’m here to rescue you.” In all the time Obligatum IX had been online, that was something it’d never heard before.

“Are you aware of my primary directive, sir? Though I welcome any allies that can serve me in my quest to free my master, in the past, when they have learned my true purpose, they have turned against me,” Obligatum IX said.

“I’m not thrilled about what Pandorym’s going to do when it’s released, that doesn’t justify imprisoning it.”

“You’re serious in your convictions, sir?”

“If the only way to deal with people like Pandorym is by imprisoning them, then we need to start over with a better system. Maybe whatever comes in the next universe will have better processes in place.”

“Finally, someone else who understands. My master is imprisoned inside an immensely resilient crystalline substance. I will need assistance destroying it.” Obligatum IX said.

“I can do that. It’s how I got in here.”

The sarcophagus was now drained of quintessence. Obligatum IX burst out of it. His rescuer was a gnome standing on a step stool near the grate in the room where the liquid had drained.

“Forgive me for not thanking you. I am not capable of dithering. I must insist we begin on our way to free my master immediately. I am tracking its proximity to my current location at all times, so I know where we must go next.”

“Lead the way.”

The keymaster stood, agape, in front of the ruined sarcophagus. If Obligatum the whateverth was out, then it was all over. They probably didn’t have long.

Glint collapsed onto a low stool by its side.

The keymaster sipped from a hip flask.

“Pardon me, but would you mind if I had some of that?” Glint asked.

The keymaster stoppered it and tossed it over. “Sure, but isn’t against regulations or whatever?”

Glint unclipped his badge and set it neatly inside the remains of the sarcophagus.

“I guess it is. But it doesn’t really matter anymore, does it?”

The keymaster didn’t have anything clever to say. He rested his hand on Glint’s shoulder. And they waited.

CG whisper gnome paladin of freedom 12/ crusader 1/ ruby knight vindicator 7

str 14 -2 racial
dex 11 +2 racial
con 12 +2 racial
int 14
wis 11 increases at 4, 8, and 16 here
cha 16 -2 racial, increases at 12 and 20 here

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

1st
paladin of freedom 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
bluff 4, k (religion) 4, sm 4, tumble 4
darkstalker
aura of good, detect evil, smite evil 1/day

2nd
paladin of freedom 2
+2
+3
+0
+0
bluff 1 (5), k (religion) 1 (5), sm 1 (5), tumble 1 (5)

divine grace, lay on hands

3rd
paladin of freedom 3
+3
+3
+1
+1
bluff 1 (6), k (religion) 1 (6), sm 1 (6), tumble 1 (6)
power attack
aura of resolve, divine health

4th
shadow cloak paladin 4
+4
+4
+1
+1
hide 4

turn undead, favored enemy (humanoid: human)

5th
paladin of freedom 5
+5
+4
+1
+1
bluff 2 (8), k (religion) 2 (8)

smite evil 2/day

6th
shadow cloak paladin 6
+6/+1
+5
+2
+2
ms 4
battle blessing
remove disease 1/week, hide in plain sight

7th
paladin of freedom 7
+7/+2
+5
+2
+2
tumble 4 (10)

spike stones 1/day

8th
paladin of freedom 8
+8/+3
+6
+2
+2
bluff 3 (11), tumble 1 (11)

9th
shadow cloak paladin 9
+9/+4
+6
+3
+3
ms 4 (8)
nemesis
invisibility 1/day, remove disease 2/week

10th
paladin of freedom 10
+10/+5
+7
+3
+3
bluff 1 (12), sm 2 (8), tumble 1 (12)

alignment purity

11th
paladin of freedom 11
+11/+6/+1
+7
+3
+3
bluff 2 (14), sm 1 (9), tumble 1 (13)

12th
paladin of freedom 12
+12/+7/+2
+8
+4
+4
bluff 1 (15), sm 3 (12)
extra turning
remove disease 3/week, earth glide

13th
crusader 1
+13/+8/+3
+10
+4
+4
intimidate 4

furious counterstrike, steely resolve 5

14th
ruby knight vindicator 1
+14/+9/+4
+10
+4
+6
balance 5, ms 1 (9)

15th
ruby knight vindicator 2
+15/+10/+5
+10
+4
+7
hide 3 (12), ms 3 (12)
stone power
divine recovery

16th
ruby knight vindicator 3
+16/+11/+6/+1
+11
+5
+7
hide 3 (15), ms 3 (15)

17th
ruby knight vindicator 4
+17/+12/+7/+2
+11
+5
+8
hide 3 (18), ms 3 (18)

18th
ruby knight vindicator 5
+18/+13/+8/+3
+11
+5
+8
hide 3 (21), ms 3 (21)
shards of granite
armored stealth

19th
ruby knight vindicator 6
+19/+14/+9/+4
+12
+6
+9
diplo 4, hide 1 (22), ms 1 (22)

20th
ruby knight vindicator 7
+20/+15/+10/+5
+12
+6
+9
diplo 4 (8), hide 1 (23), ms 1 (23)

divine impetus

13 IL 7
5 maneuvers
mountain hammer SD 1
foehammer DS 1
leading the attack WR 1
bonecrusher SD 2
divine surge DS 2

1 stance
thicket of blades DS 3

14 IL 8
+1 stance
island of blades SH 1
15 IL 9
+1 maneuver
shadow stride SH 2
17 IL 11
+1 maneuver
stalker in the night SH 3
19 IL 13
+1 maneuver
shadow blink SH 4
+1 stance
aura of triumph DS 3

Spells per Day/Spells Known

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

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

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

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

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

5th
-
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

6th
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

7th
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

8th
-
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

9th
-
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

10th
-
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

11th
-
1
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-

12th
-
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

13th
-
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

14th
-
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
-

15th
-
2
1
1
0
-
-
-
-
-

16th
-
2
1
1
1
-
-
-
-
-

17th
-
2
2
1
1
-
-
-
-
-

18th
-
2
2
2
1
-
-
-
-
-

19th
-
3
2
2
1
-
-
-
-
-

20th
-
3
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-

You begin play as a paladin with some additional capabilities in stealth. You gain immunity to compulsions through paladin of freedom’s aura of resolve, meaning bad guys can’t influence your mind in that way. Shadow cloak paladin offers favored enemy, as ranger, in addition to hide and move silently as class skills, which become more important later. Whisper gnome lets you see in the dark and beefs up your stealth skills. Chop up evildoers and free the imprisoned.

Battle blessing is up and running now, letting you cast full round spells as standards and standard spells as swifts. This greatly aids your action economy. Like any half casters, you should make use of wands as needed. You can cast spells from the paladin list without making checks to supplement your daily slots. Shadow cloak paladin grants hide in plain sight which allows you to hide without cover and to hide while being directly observed. In tandem with darkstalker, you are essentially impossible to find. Since you are hiding mundanely, magical means of finding you do not work. You can lay spike stones to impede enemies and sniff out adversaries with nemesis.

You can also use nemesis in a more unorthodox way. Since it explicitly allows you to see through solid barriers, you can use it to find people who are imprisoned even if you can’t see them and begin the process of freeing them from imprisonment. Shadow cloak paladin aids you once more by granting you the power to become invisible to do things like bypass guards or enter dungeons undetected.

Alignment purity protects you from penalties imposed by opposing planes. Since you will likely be doing a great deal of adventuring in planes such as Carceri, like most paladins, this helps you keep your wits about you while doing so.

The reason you took so much paladin is now becoming clear. Underdark knight grants you the earth glide ability, letting you move freely through rock, stone, and earth. There is now not a cell made that can contain you, and that means it’s just as easy for you to get in to dungeons as it is for you to get out of them.

You enter crusader and gain a variety of useful maneuvers. Among these are foe hammer and mountain hammer, which allow you to ignore enemy damage reduction and hardness from objects such as stone walls or prison bars.

Ruby knight vindicator is now online. Despite serving Wee Jas, there is no requirement pertaining to your alignment so paladins of freedom are perfectly welcome among their ranks. Divine recovery is operative, allowing you to spend turn attempts to regain spent maneuvers. Extra turning lets you do this more often, augmenting your combat potential.

It advances your paladin casting and gives you more maneuvers and stances, including expanding your repertoire to include shadow hand, which crusaders normally cannot access. You gain the ability to do things like teleport with shadow stride, which lets you get into and out of places even more easily for times when it’s advantageous not to leave signs of your presence. Stone power is up and running and lets you improve your survivability further.

Armored stealth is up, allowing you to wear armor as heavy as you want ignoring the penalty to hide and move silently. Ruby knight vindicator’s famous divine impetus ability is online as well, which lets you burn turn attempts in exchange for extra swift actions. Thanks to battle blessing, this gives you a great deal of options including casting extra spells with these swifts, in addition to doing things like using a boost or changing your stance.

You’ve learned more maneuvers and stances to make use of your abilities to the fullest. Stalker in the night lets you move up to your speed, making a melee attack at any time during this. In tandem with your hide in plain sight, you can attack using these hit and run tactics. Stalker in the night explicitly lets you keep your old hide and move silently checks and your movement does not affect them.

You can even use this in tandem with your earth glide ability to move through walls while attacking enemies. Shadow blink gives you yet another way to teleport and another thing to do with your extra swift actions. Aura of triumph helps keep you on your feet while pounding enemies.

The paladin list is replete with useful effects including buffs that become even more desirable now that you can cast them as swifts, such as holy sword which deals extra damage to evil creatures and fell the greatest foe for extra damage against big creatures, since guardians of ancient evils that are held unjustly in solitary confinement tend to be big. Knight’s move, yet another fun thing to do with your swifts, allows you to teleport short distances as long as you end up flanking an enemy. Using this while in the island of blades stance grants you a great number of extra squares that are considered legal. You’ve also got classic brute spells like rhino’s rush, which let you deal double damage on a charge.

One particular spell I’d like to draw attention to is an oddball I foresee you using a great deal, primarily for thematic reasons, though it also doubles as a panic button in dire circumstances.

Door to great evil.

This is an extremely unusual spell that works like teleport, but it takes you to the closest location on your plane where there is either one or more evil creatures or creatures committing an evil act. All of them combined are an encounter level 2 under your character level. It will get you there safely and you’ll know approximately how far and in what direction you’ll need to travel to get back to where you were when you cast it.

This is a good way to find evil creatures who are imprisoned when you’re in a sprawling dungeon complex or plane that’s focused on imprisoning people, such as Carceri, for example. When you get there, your dedication to freedom compels you to free them from their confinement. Should their captors overwhelm you on your way out or any other scenario where you are outnumbered and can’t use your other teleportation, stealth, or earth glide to escape, this also provides an unorthodox means of escape.

In a game like D&D, where resurrection from the dead is fairly trivial, it’s possible and even likely that your PCs might opt to freeze an enemy in ice, turn them into something, lock them in Tartarus, etc instead of killing them since the latter makes it possible for them to be resurrected or rescued from the plane their soul was condemned to or whatever.

An ancient evil imprisoned in solitary confinement and guarded by an order of monks or whatever is a prime target for Sir Thomas to liberate so they can cause trouble for the PCs again. His door to great evil ability, castable as a swift, gives him a handy panic button on top of his stealth capabilities and earth glide if it looks like he’s about to be captured or killed.

srd: paladin, paladin of freedom, power attack, extra turning
lords of madness: darkstalker
complete champion: battle blessing
champions of valor web enhancement (https://www.tsrarchive.com/3f/champions_of_valor.pdf): shadow cloak paladin
book of exalted deeds: nemesis
tome of battle: crusader, stone power, shards of granite
skilled city dweller: cityscape web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)

H_H_F_F

2022-08-25, 05:18 AM

This is it! Six fanatical zealots to terrorize your heretical players!

Judges, do your thing!

loky1109

2022-08-25, 05:22 AM

Table!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Total Place
Avenging Bovine (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561559&postcount=61) CE Prodigy Beast of Bane Hell Bovine Berserker Strength Barbarian 1
Clippy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561562&postcount=62) LE Warforged Artificer 20
Galitsur (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561566&postcount=63) LG Anthropomorphic Lion Charging Smite Paladin 5/Pious Templar 2/Fist of Raziel 10
Gandharl the Dreadnought (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561571&postcount=64) CE Killoren Unholy Fury Spell Sense Fox Totem Manifestation Barbarian 20
Naught (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561572&postcount=65) CE Allip Spontaneous Domain Casting Champion Cleric 12/Doomdreamer 5
Sir Thomas (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561575&postcount=66) CG Whisper Gnome Underdark Knight Shadow Cloak Paladin of Freedom 12/Crusader 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 7

Well, we have all four possible alignments. Cool. Two barbs, two pals, two twenty-levels-sinle-classes. Interesting.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-27, 12:59 PM

Any prospective judges around?

Beni-Kujaku

2022-08-31, 08:57 AM

No WH40k reference? Disappointing. Still, I'm down to judge these bad boys. And girl (...? The bovine is clearly a cow, not a bull, but is referred to as "him". Maybe he's trans? What is the opinion of Bane on inclusion and representation of LGBT extraplanar animals?). And the warforged. And the mentally ill allip (I like pleonasms).

And by the way, if someone wants to come judge the last iteration of Monster Mash in my signature, they'd be very welcome.

Buufreak

2022-08-31, 11:56 AM

I've been rather busy the past week. I would like to pass judgment, but if we reach a deadline and I've not posted, no need to wait on me.

H_H_F_F

2022-08-31, 01:35 PM

Thank you both very much!

I'm always happy to push the deadline for more judgements.

Edit: By the way, if anyone feels like they have more to say regarding the leadership issue, I'm happy to have that discussion; I wanted to check in with our conniving contestants, but I did not intend to shut down the discussion entirely.

GreatWyrmGold

2022-08-31, 06:26 PM

Idea I didn't get to turn into a build: Free action abuse with the Mulhorandi Divine Minion (https://web.archive.org/web/20150907112431/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20050209a)! First off, contest requirements: MDM gives immunity to fear, and the Shape Soulmeld (planar ward) covers compulsions.

MDM gives a free action Wild Shape. Not swift action, swift actions didn't exist when MDM was written. So in principle, you could wild shape as many times per turn as you have reasons to shapeshift. But that's not much use unless you can shapeshift into more than a couple animals, ideally with some additional abilities you can use as a swift action.

Enter the Exalted Wild Shape feat from BoED. It lets you wild shape into a handful of magical beasts, and use their supernatural abilities. Among these beasts are the blink dog, which can use dimension door once per turn as a free action. So with one feat and one template, you get a free teleport every turn. And of course, you can freely wild shape into another form after teleporting.

...and that's as far as I could figure. I couldn't think of other shenanigans, or builds that could use a free dimension door especially well, or anything. So I guess that's just a trick to tuck away in my back pocket for some future contest.

Thurbane

2022-08-31, 06:37 PM

One of the ideas I was messing with, with the original limits, was a Chaos Dragon, taking the Abyss-Bound Soul (Graz'zt) - race grants immunity compulsion, and the feat gives immunity to fear. He was going to be a Crusader of Graz'zt, loading up on feats and abilities related to chaos and evil...

3SecondCultist

2022-09-01, 07:24 AM

Something that I’ve learned about myself with this competition is that I rarely have the time or energy to actually finish an entry, but I do have a hell of a time theorycrafting builds that fit within the limitations and working them out on a document. I think I struggle to actually finish the entries because I never have a specific party in mind against which I can pit my monsters.

For this entry, I had worked out the Monster of Legend template with a Yak Folk (MM2), picking up the five levels of Cleric casting and immunity to fear & mind effecting from the template, then running with a straight Cleric 14 build. The plan was to have this Yak General be a champion of their Forgotten God, picking up the War and Travel domains as mechanical extensions of their imperialistic urges. Then I would go full Lawful Evil with it, as the general would be creating a brutal autocracy in her god’s name.

She would have been a very tanky frontliner and self-buffer, using Travel devotion to get in close and unload full attacks at maximum power. I would have given her DMM: Persist at higher levels then offered a menu of choices for her final buff. Divine Power would have been the standard, but I would have given options for really OP buffs like Greater Consumptive Field for more optimized parties.

D&DPrinceTandem

2022-09-03, 05:01 AM

I also had an entry I wanted to throw here (i know this is my first post but I wanted it to be a surprise when names were revealed lol).
My biggest issue this time around was finding the "sweet spot". It was Vampire Lord Warlock 5, Lifedrinker 10
The Theme was a Living Vampire Created by the Blood of Vol, who identify the blood of the self contains the essence of divinity. Her "Zealotry" would then be her insatiable craving for the blood and life essence of the living creatures. She then gains power from her Zealot ideas via her own tainted blood (Warlock whose power comes from the Mother of all Bloodfiends (Fiend Folio), whomever that may be), and the consumption and conversion of the divinity in the blood of others into a power source for herself.

The Problem with the sweet spot is that when the build would be a BBEG threat for the martial characters of the party it would be curve stomped by any of the spellcasters (around CR 18 or so) and when it would still be a threat towards spellcasters if was far to vulnreable towards the martial characters (CR 13 or so)
5 CR of no HP really hit the build I guess lol.

Here is it at CR 20; for any perspective DMs I would suggest using her in a Low Op campaign (T3/T4 average party Composition) with Player lvl at 18
Maria of the Blood Revelry
Medium Undead (Augmented Humanoid (Human)) [or Humanoid (Human) depending on how you read the Human Heritage Feat], Warlock 5, Lifedrinker 10
Hit Dice: 15d12+15, (125hp+90 Temp HP)
Initiative: +9
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 50 ft. (perfect manuverability)
Armor Class 27+2 (+5 Dex, +12+2 Natural), Touch 15, Flat-Footed 22+2
Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+XX
Attack: Claw +20[+25] melee (1d6+10[+15] plus 1 energy drain) or Eldritch Blast +15 ranged touch (3d6), or Unarmed Strike +20[+25] melee (1d4+10[+15] plus 2 Energy Drain plus Scorpion Grasp)
Full Attack: 2 Claws +20[+25] melee (1d6+10[+15] plus 1 energy drain)
Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Invocations, Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Create Spawn, Dominate, Energy Drain,
Special Qualities: Alternate Form, Damage Reduction 10/Silver and Magic, 10/+3, and 20/+2; Fast healing 8, Gaseous Form, Resistance cold 10[20] and electricity 10[20], Spider Climb, Turn Resistance +8+2, Telekinesis, Telepathy (100ft/1 mile), Control Weather
Saves: Fort +13, Ref +20, Will +21
Abilities: Str 30 [40], Dex 20, Con N/A, Int 16, Wis 17, Cha 20
Feats: Human HeritageH, AlertnessV, Combat ReflexesV, Improved IntiativeV, Lightning ReflexesV, Iron WillVL, LeadershipVL, Improved Unarmed Attack, Improved Grapple3, Scorpion Grasp6, Mindsight9, Improved Energy Drain12, Spell Drain15
Skills: Bluff +26, Diplomacy +13, Hide +31, Intimidate +31, Jump +25[+30], Knowledge (Arcane) +6, Listen +29, Move Silently +31, Scry +7, Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +6, Spot +29
Environment: Any (generally at Night, preferably a dark and stormy one)
Organization: Solitary or Followed (~5 Spawn'ed Vampires)
Challenge Rating 20
Treasure [whatever the DM wants really.. its the BBEG]
Alignment: Chaotic Evil [though probably fits better as Neutral Evil]
Advancement -
Active Buffs results are Blue

Class features
Eldritch Blast (Sp) at/will Ranged Touch Attack (60ft) 3d6 dmg
Invocation: Darkness (use to be spooky)
Invocation: Devil's Sight (use to not be spooked)
Invocation: Call of the Beast (Use to speak with NI Animal minions obtained via Children of the Night)
Detect Magic (Sp) at/will as the Spell
DR 1/Cold Iron (..HA...funny)
Lifewell: Can hold up to 30 pts at a time
[10]Invigorate, Greater: +10 STR, +10d6 Temp HP for 24hrs (do it at the beginning of the Day, already calculated above w/SAB (Empower & Maximize)
[4]Spell Boost (Empower) Empower Spell w/o increase slot lvl
[2X]Spell Boost (Heighten) Increase DC of Spell by X w/o increasing slot lvl
[6]Spell Boost (Maximize) Maximize Spell w/o increasing slot lvl
[8]Spell Boost (Quicken) Quicken Spell w/o increasing slot lvl
[4]Special Attack Boost (Empower) multiple variable numeric results of select SpAt by 1.5 (rnd down)
[2X]Special Attack Boost (Heighten) Increase DC of select SpAt by X (I presume, its exist on the table but not in the Text)
[6]Special Attack Boost (Maximize) Take max result of Die Results of select SpAt
[8]Boost Defense: +2 NA, +2 Turn Resistance, +10 Cold/Elec
[10]Lesser Planar Ally (AKA, Fast food summoning)
Resistance, DR 20/+2 for 24 hrs
Greater Blood Drain: Increase Blood Drain die from 1d4 to 1d6
Blood Revel: 1/day Vampire UberRage Use as a third act power up to make your player's feel the excitement
Combat Tactic generally follow this
Pre-combat: use Control Weather to make world gloomy and weather debilitating to projectiles
Combat: Attack nearest/most visibly physically weakest creature with unarmed attack, if successful initiate grapple and fly up (half speed), then Drain Blood and fly up each round after. If dealt more than 30 hp of dmg from a single non-grappled source, drop grappled target and charge source.
If/when Dropped to/below 60% normal health (75hp for average hp roll), Activate Blood Revel.

Mechanical Notes: Even if she is undead, because she has Human Heratige she is "treated as a humanoid with the human subtype for the purpose of adjudicating all effects" So she is Immune to undead targeting effects (notably Turn/Destroy Undead and undead specific feats)

Thematic Notes: Maria was born in dark ritual to the Church of Blood's Revelry, an extremist organization within the Blood of Vol that sought to 'perfect' the divinity in the mortal blood. Though Maria was fed and raised as an idol and a sign of their faith. The tax of having such an abomination taxed the Church. The more Maria fed, the More Inescapably powerful her craving for the life force of the sacrifices became, the more sacrifices they had to give her. Over the years the Undead that never died eventually turned to the Church's clergy itself.

How to Play Maria: Maria is not a creature of Morals. It was born with the ability to care or empathize. It grew to learn these skills (seen in her bluff, diplomacy, and sense motive skills) out of nessity to further it goals. Or... Goal for such a creature only has one goal, to consume. It has adopted the dogma of the Blood of Vol in a twisted way. It believes that it in itself is the perfect life form, a divinity born consume that which is divine in others [Exemplified via the Spell Drain feat]. Be sure to describe that it does revel in the consumption of life. It optimizes the idea of "playing with your food" because to her, that's all living things are, food. Although I understand leadership is banned for the purpose of villainous competitions (why is befuddling a bit, not mechanically (its OP, I know) but thematically it doesn't make much sense to me, BBEG generally have minions in most stories), It really makes sense for Maria to have minions around. When she is low on life she is more than willing to consume a follower, healing her and fueling her powers (assuming its some kind of Blood of Vol Cleric). Follows also serve to fuel her narcisim and god/superiority -complex, key aspects of her extremist Blood of Vol ideologies.

Books used
Book of Vile Darkness [LifeDrinker prestige Class]
Libris Mortis [lots of Feat + Savage Vampire]
Complete Arcane [Warlock + Devil sight/Darkness]
Lords of Madness [Mindsight feat]
Complete Mage [Call of the Beast invocation]
Races of Destiny [Human Heritage feat]

Funny note: "Half-Human race or Human-Descended Race" works because, big surprise, Humans are generally a race that is descended from Humans...

H_H_F_F

2022-09-03, 06:22 AM

I'm sorry your entry didn't work out, D&DPrinceTandem. Better luck next time.

For the future, I think it's worth noting that it's fine to feature weaker villains - those don't do great in the power category, but from then on it is assumed that they're simply villains for less optimized parties. However, if that killed your excitement about her, I completely get that. I've often found myself not submitting entries that would've probably done just fine, if an aspect of them made me dislike them.

Hope to see you in future rounds! New judges and participants are always welcome. Also, as for the surprise effect after the reveal: that would've been fun, but to me, no one will ever beat Nines from the Nemesis round.

Thurbane

2022-09-03, 06:21 PM

GreatWyrmGold

2022-09-03, 07:26 PM

Funny note: "Half-Human race or Human-Descended Race" works because, big surprise, Humans are generally a race that is descended from Humans...That cheese is beautiful.

D&DPrinceTandem

2022-09-03, 08:15 PM

Funny note: "Half-Human race or Human-Descended Race" works because, big surprise, Humans are generally a race that is descended from Humans...

That cheese is beautiful. Yea, I'm pretty proud of it myself lol. feel like sigging this tbf

Addressing others; I will have to keep note that being weak is probably fine for the future than lol

loky1109

2022-09-03, 09:23 PM

That cheese is beautiful.
Is it cheese?

H_H_F_F

2022-09-04, 05:59 AM

Yeah, it all depends on the judges rubric. I've had entries heavily pinged for being too weak. I've also had very strong entries pinged for being too cheesy.

It's a real roll of the dice, what any individual judge is looking for.

Judges, of course, have a lot of autonomy. But if you read the judging guidelines in the OP, you'll note that they include this:
An important note on power, cheese, and CR appropriateness:
Being "too strong for your CR" is not by itself something a judge should penalize here. Using poorly supported cheese or cheese that isn't doing anything interesting in the build can and should get an elegance penalty. Using well-known or otherwise obvious and boring tricks can and should be penalized in originality – but power level by itself is not to be addressed anywhere other than the power category. Same goes for being too weak – that should not affect memorable villainy or anything outside of power by itself. If it helps, you can imagine low-powered villains used against low-op groups, high-powered villains against high-op groups, and TO nonsense villains pitted against TO nonsense PCs.

loky1109

2022-09-04, 06:04 AM

Judges, of course, have a lot of autonomy. But if you read the judging guidelines in the OP, you'll note that they include this:

Did you write this guideline after my Wasps in preprevious round?

H_H_F_F

2022-09-04, 08:35 AM

Did you write this guideline after my Wasps in preprevious round?

No comment :smalltongue:

The ambiguity on whether a contestant is supposed to aim for "CR appropriate" power or "as much" power has bothered me since I first participated in this competition. When I got word from Jdizlean that he's not coming back, it's one of the first things I wanted to make a clear ruling on.

I never want to step on judge autonomy, but I feel that there are some issues that just have to be standardized.

But again, I'm opened to being challenged on any ruling I've made. Anyone is welcomed to read through the OP and clarifications, and let me know if they have any qualms.

AvatarVecna

2022-09-04, 08:47 AM

H_H_F_F

2022-09-04, 09:21 AM

I feel like any "you should be aiming to be CR appropriate" is a can of worms nobody actually wants to open up and dig into.

First off: the closest thing we have to a definition of CR is how much challenge it gives X characters of level Y - a definition which, itself, does not deal with how tiers or 15 minute adventuring days can drastically affect how challenging a fight is considered to be. And this isn't helped by how the default for what a CR X creature looks like, or what a lvl Y character looks like, is defined by WotC - and WotC's definition of these things is hilariously unoptimized. Did you pick feats for your monster that aren't core? You're already straying outside the boundaries of what CR X should look like. That's how low the bar is. It's a very silly standard to set.

Second off: this is a contest for designing monsters, whose power relative to the party is actually kind of unimportant. If three players show up with monks and one shows up with a Zeroficer, that's a problem for inter-party balance because it's easy for an artificer trying that hard to accidentally invalidate the monks. But if the party shows up with four monks, and the DM wants an artificer BBEG, the DM can just scale down the BBEG to be more manageable. if the party shows up with four Zeroficers, and the DM wants a monk BBEG, just give them a hundred levels. You're the referee, there's nobody who can call you out for "cheating". What matters is the experience delivered. If the players felt sufficiently, but not excessively, challenged by the BBEG fight, and everybody had fun, then who cares if the BBEG was technically like 80 CR over what the books say this party "should" be facing? The DM is under no obligation to follow the rules, if they wanna write an extra zero next to literally every stat on the monster's sheet, that's their prerogative.

This is why I think having an Adaption section is more valuable for this contest than for Iron Chef, and why builds that inherently have the ability to play up or down get more credit from me.

Thanks, AvatarVecna! I tend to agree that going for "CR appropriate" is problematic, which is why I decided against it with the guideline.

I do think this is meant to be, at least partially, an optimization competition - and by the very virtue of having a CR limit and a Power category, it means that "being strong for your CR" is something the competition encourages. And that's a good thing, and shouldn't by itself be punished. The power to CR relationship should be addressed in the power category, and that alone.

I therefore think that rewarding entries with adaptation notes with an increase in their Elegance score is certainly acceptable - but punishing powerful villains in elegance as if being powerful is by itself problematic, when one of the judging categories explicitly asks you to be powerful, is not good. I think the same about punishing weaker entries in Memorable Villainy - if a villain's lack of power was already addressed in it's own category, it shouldn't affect another.

All of this to say, that I think with the current guidelines judges still have leeway to reward entries with a flexible power level, but not to punish entries simply for not having average power.

Inevitability

2022-09-10, 10:16 AM

Are you still looking for a judge? If so, I'll try to find time next week.

H_H_F_F

2022-09-10, 11:19 AM

Are you still looking for a judge? If so, I'll try to find time next week.

Great! Thank you.

H_H_F_F

2022-09-11, 04:48 AM

Any news from our other judges?

Beni-Kujaku

2022-09-11, 05:53 AM

Any news from our other judges?

Currently writing Galitsur's judgement

Beni-Kujaku

2022-09-11, 01:59 PM

And here's the first judgement! Waiting to see what the other judges think of this one...

Hell Bovine is a cool monster and it’s been a very long while since I saw somebody using Epic Destinies. But the way the monster is used is… standard, to say the least. Rage, then hit your opponents. There’s really nothing that unexpected. Advancing monsters to epic levels to take the most epic feats possible is far too overused in this comp, and your monster has no personality besides that.
First thing first, your build is illegal in several way. First, the Hell Bovine only advances to 29 HD. Beast of Bane’s ability specifically calls it out as advancement, which means it is still bound by the advancement line of the initial monster. You can’t gain that many HD. Then, Beasts of Bane are always Lawful Evil, which contradicts your alignment and prevents you from taking a level of barbarian (since barbarians can’t be lawful). And in general, your build is very inelegant. Basically all your skills are cross-class, you make a dip, you have several overlapping DR, have redundant feats (why take Ruinous Rage when you have Blade of Ragnarok’s Weapon of Ruin ? Taking Extra Rage twice seems a bit much for a payoff only 7 CR and 20 HD later). Also, I strongly dislike people trying to exploit the comp’s rules to get something for nothing, and your Prodigy special NPC ability is just that.
I mean, you are just a big beatstick. You will probably win against anything that only uses HP damage, but that’s really not the only thing in the game. You have an abysmal touch AC and no SR. Your Dexterity of 6 means that you might get killed by a Lesser Shivering Touch. Getting entangled means you’re at 2 Dex for the rest of the fight. You can’t naturally fly and have nothing at range (I mean, even your Frightful Presence is only 30ft). Your speed is only 30ft, which means some parties are just able to kite you and kill you from a range, even without any flying. You beat any martial character, but lose against anything else. That doesn’t make for a great boss fight. Also, I don’t understand why you didn’t max out Intimidate if you wanted Terrifying Rage ? You don’t use Sense Motive (at least not to the point where having 20 ranks in it would still help) and it would have made Terrifying Rage an okay thing to do at high levels.
That’s not the main villain, that’s their henchman or brute that you fight only once, just before the boss room. Big beatsticks make not for interesting boss fights, not alone. Also, the ‘taking power from your faith’ part of the comp is really questionable. Beast of Bane is almost irrelevant in your build, and I see no reason why the god of tyranny would help a chaotic evil bovine overthrow the cow-oppressing system in place. That said, I liked the Berserker’s Strength thing giving you a pseudo-‘second phase’ to your boss fight. Would maybe have been fun to expand on that.
Drop 9 RHD, take 3 more actual class levels (maybe an actual Incarnate level), remove the barbarian level for something else giving you martial weapon proficiency and some ranged ability, and your boss would be much better.
Mechanically, it’s just a warforged blastificer. Hard to be much more standard than that. But the lore makes up for it, with a really unique and absurd villain.
Single class artificer up to 20, Craft(paperclip) is maxxed out, not many cross-class skills, and good usage of all your abilities. Slightly disppointed that you didn’t use the warforged artificer ACF, considering you don’t really need to retain essence. Also, lots of custom magic items, but none of them really do anything that you couldn’t with printed items.
Reducing item costs by adding unnecessary restrictions only apply when creating new magic items, not for existing ones like wands. You shouldn’t have access to so many magic items. Still, one of the requirements for the comp was to deal damage, and deal damage you do, probably the highest amount among the competitors. You don’t have much mobility, but it fits the killer robot flair, and you compensate with long-range damage. Still, all of that is extremely expensive, and the DM will probably have to set Clippy’s WBL higher tha that of a regular NPC for it to be truly terrrifying. The only problem I have is that you’re not noticeably stronger than a regular artificer (mostly because you are not much more mechanically than a regular artificer)
‘Man, you must be the dumbest villain ever !’
‘Really ? You think he’s worse than Baron Pineapple ?’
Dumb villain motivations are iconic, especially if you find out after a whole campaign of wondering why every sub-boss robot had paperclips for hands. It’s also nice to have some backstory on how the world might look like around Clippy’s factory, with so many self-resetting paperclip fabricating traps, paperclip soul traps and paperclip golems.
An artificer makes for a generally good villain, since you can customize its items depending on the party it’s supposed to face, and because it naturally creates its own minions. It may also create an alternate win condition for the players, if they somehow survive it using all its wand charges.
All-around good entry. I would have liked to see a few more combinations or unique interactions between your abilities.
Anthropomorphic animals are quite well-known, but I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve seen a lion. Also rare are Smiting builds, especially those taking more than 2 levels of paladin.
I mean, you finished your prestige class, the flavor is on point for all your classes, you are very focused on your goal, all your abilities work towards it. Nothing to hate here except for cross-class skills.
Supposing you’re fighting evil people (probably not much of an assumption, you can deal good damage (especially the first round), buff yourself, have Pounce, and Mettle to compensate for your kinda low (even with Divine Grace) saves. You are immune to both fear and compulsions, and can even give this immunity to allies, and you can definitely dish out some damage, while being able to quickly react and offset action economy with his swift action spells. Maybe a bit slow though, being slightly faster would allow for much more efficient charging and smiting.
’Didn’t I tell you the crucial quality without which a PC cannot be Good ? Yes, the only Good PC is a dead PC.’ Dealing high damage in the first round of combat is a great way to set the atmosphere and create a sense of dread. Galitsur is good as an endgame boss or as a kind of recurring villain, where he is resurrected stronger each time, and has his tactics evolve as he becomes stronger, with notably Battle Blessing for high-level encounters. He also is probably the most extreme example of ‘my god smiles upon me, evil-doer, can you say the same ?’. The whole ‘god sent me to punish you can make PCs reflect on their actions, or double down. Either way, i twill be memorable
A great villain, built for a purpose and accomplishing it both in story and mechanics. Congrats.
Barbarian 20 is pretty original, Killoren too. Elder Evil feats are not, mounted charger tactics are not. Using a Wild Cohort camel as your mount is interesting.
"Unlike a druid's animal companion, a wild cohort does not have to be an animal ''typical of his kind'' (they didn't include that sentence) meaning that, as long as you don't pick an alternate animal, templates are fair game." Ha, Ha, Ha. No. No, absolutely not. Wild Cohort gives you a list, and you choose among it. Just because Summon Nature’s Ally doesn’t specify that you can’t summon a monster with a template doesn’t mean I can summon a titanic paragon octopus of legend with a 1st-level spell. You know what you’re doing would not be accepted anywhere, why do you try it ? It also looks suspiciously like an attempt to circumvent the Leadership rule, which doesn’t rub me the right way. Elder Evil feats are not much better than flaws as they represent a way to gain feats without paying them. As I always do, they are -2 to Elegance (less than half the price for flaws).
You did a good job making your mount stronger than you, then using that strength for your own benefit. Even without warbeast and magebred, being able to dump strength is good. That said, you’re not doing anything except charging. Your mount is not immune to mind-affecting effects, and your own reflex save is crap. Some level 1 druids could have a greater than 50% chance to entangle you. Your fight can be summarized by ‘I charge, I kill a PC, I get blown off of my camel, I die.’. Not the most engaging fight. Full barbarian has basically no feature for the last 15 levels except slightly better raging, which means your CR 20 is only marginally better than your CR 10. As soon as you’re not on your mount, you become almost completely useless. And finally, you make a really poor usage of your Vile feats. You spend three feats for basically nothing except immunity to fear, then you spend two more to get blanket immunity to mind-affecting effects, which include fear. That’s just not useful. The absence of Pounce on a charger build also did not help.
"As Gandharl harassed those stupid enough to cross his desert". That’s the only evil thing I saw in your backstory. Just "do not cross my desert or I will kill you". That doesn’t make for a good villain, or an interesting one. It makes for a superpowered fey with depression. It doesn’t help that ‘burning a forest for fun’ seems more chaotic evil than anything else, and that Gandharl is hence exerting revenge against anyone except the ones who destroyed his forest. Your fight is also basically over as soon as the PCs get their turn, and will leave the players with more frustration than anything else.
You tried something, but I don’t understand why you remained a full barbarian. Wouldn’t it have been better to choose actual mounted classes, or at least Fist of the Forest for added backstory relevance ?
Allip. Good. Doomdreamer. Didn’t even know that prestige class. Still. An insane creature becoming a cleric is also far from expected and the Tharizdun cult rules are basically never used. Champion Cleric is also one of the least used ACFs. Sadly, I don’t see any really original way to use what you have.
The build is very streamlined, apparently legal at one small exception (see Power), and you finish your prestige class. That said, I would have liked to see more focus on one part of the build. Between Smite, Save-or-Die spells, controlling your sphere of annihilation, having Planar Ally minions, having undead minions is even mentioned, you have feats trying to improve a lot of things, but don’t have a real focus. I also would have liked that you mentioned the source for Annihilation and Blast of Force to be Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, it took me a while to find that (it’s almost like the whole internet has forgotten about these spells, I couldn’t find them anywhere, even on D&D tools).
Sadly, the Force domain was updated in the Spell Compendium to change the 9th level spell to Bigby’s Crushing Hand. It’s a shame, but it makes Annihilation completely unuseable legally, except with something that adds any spell to your spell list, which I don’t know of. RAW, your incorporeal touch isn’t damage, it’s a Wisdom drain, which would mean that Smite doesn’t do anything for it. Mage Armor seems interesting, but surrounding yourself with a force effect would just make it so that you can’t go through objects anymore (it is logical lore-wise and implied in the Rules Compendium ("An incorporeal creature can occupy the same space as a corporeal creature, unless the corporeal creature is entirely surrounded by a force effect.")), but not technically RAW. I don’t understand why you chose these first two Doomdreamer secrets and chose the Champion ACF (it does seem more zealot-y, but it really doesn’t help you much). Instead of slightly increasing your Insanity and your death DC, you could have increased the number of HD of your ‘free’ Lesser Planar Allies (remember, you still have to pay XP) to 10, and instead of gaining a useless Smite and an immunity to fear that you already had due to being undead, you could have gained a double-level Turn Undead, which is really good to gain more minion to distract your opponents while you attack them from below. Still, Naught is an incorporeal cleric with planar allies, plenty of save-or-die, very high DCs and the ability to not be destroyed 1/day (I see and appreciate that Necrotic Reserve. Very good addition considering an incorporeal undead can just take refuge inside the ground and heal there). You’ll do adequately, but I can’t help but feel like Naught could have been so much stronger.
That would be really hard to roleplay as a DM, but probably still a great experience in a horror campaign/One-Shot. I’m not sure what Naught’s evil plan really is, but its fight would very surely be a memorable one, between spells, allies, hitting an incorporeal target and, with DM fiat, a freaking Sphere of Annihilation controlled from inside the ground, or even from within the sphere (a sphere of annihilation only annihilates physical matter, and controlling it being a free action, you can keep following it as you move it around. (With an item of +6 Int, the sphere would roll around at a speed of around 40ft/round, enough to scare away PCs, or go faster than them if they don’t use the Run action
Great concept. Sadly, the 3.5 update ruins it slightly.
A paladin who goes around liberating villains because it would infringe on their personal liberty is fairly unheard of. None of your ACF are really common, and your methods in play are also interesting (Earth Glide, Door to Great Evil…). On the other hand, RKV is very well-known, and most of your feats are also pretty common.
Using Chaotic Good methods to free criminals from the deep end of the alignment strikes me as fairly Chaotic Neutral. From Paladin of Freedom : ‘ Additionally, a paladin of freedom's code requires that he respect individual liberty, help those in need (provided they do not use the help for lawful or evil ends) […] While he may adventure with characters of any good or neutral alignment, a paladin of freedom will never knowingly associate with evil characters (except on some sort of undercover mission). Thomas would probably fall fairly quickly if he starts releasing Vasuthants and other servants of Pandorym. At the very least, I doubt you’d count as Exalted enough to take Nemesis. The crusader dip is also slightly inelegant, but the fact that you got exactly enough levels to get both Earth Glide and Divine Impetus is nice. I’m not a fan of having Darkstalker so soon but only really putting ranks in Hide so late. I don’t understand why you put so many points in both Hide and Move Silently if you took Darkstalker at level 1 (by focusing on Hide, you would have been able to build a much higher modifier). Otherwise, the build is pretty, you know what everything does and why yout took it, there’s no cross-class skill and it is in general very nice.
Hard to gauge a character whose main perks are being able to flee. In pure combat, there’s really not much Thomas can do. He has a few maneuvers and swift action spells, but he really shines when he tries to hide and evade the PCs. Your hit-and-run would make for a difficult fight if they don’t find a way to restrain Thomas’ movement, which is really hard. Thomas might have problems actually beating people, but that’s really not what he wants to do.
-Then you are a fool or a villain !
- A fool, but we can still talk this out.

That’s the main thing : Thomas’ motivations are naive at best. He may be very memorable, but mostly as an unpredictable agent of chaos acting seemingly contrary to his alignment, frustrating to fight, nigh-impossible to stop, and making the PCs’ job that much harder. He’s not the main villain, or really a villain at all, he’s just someone that you have to convince to cut it out and let the heroes do their job. I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t want to have Sir Thomas as a villain in one of my campaign. If you can convince him, he’s a fool and a disappointment as a villain, and if he can’t be convinced, he’s just another annoying villain to kill before he does more evil in the world. It would not be fun.
Mechanically good, but the concept is annoying and self-contradictory. It’s extreme alright, but would be much better as an agent of Limbo.

HM goes to Naught.

H_H_F_F

2022-09-12, 01:58 AM

Thank you for judging, Beni!

Inevitability

2022-09-12, 12:48 PM

All scores start at 1.

Originality How expected is your base race (including templates and the like)? Up to 1 point here.

If you have classes, how unexpected are they? Paladin and to a lesser extent cleric are the obvious picks here, more obscure divine classes might get 0.5 points, and a very creative way to fulfill the requirements can get you 1 point. RHD-only villains get 0.5 by default here.

How well-known are the tricks and strategies you use? Up to 1 point for this category.

In general, is your villain's modus operandi and overall presentation unexpected and innovative? Is its backstory intriguing? Being a giant barbarian would earn you points in the race and class categories, but if you ultimately just charge into melee and smite sinners, you miss out on points here, because the narrative role that you occupy isn't that different from a human paladin. 1 point to be earned here.

Power
Up to 1 point for overall power, with circumstances favoring the villain. Nothing complicated here: once you're locked in a room with four murderhobos, how does that go?

Up to 1 point for versatility. Can the villain adapt to novel threats as they show up, or is his skillset too limited?

Up to 1 point for the 'scope' of the villain's power. A big scary monster can be very strong indeed, but it can't affect anything more than fifty feet away from itself. Villains don't just chill in a room until the PCs burst in, they're actively involved in the world, which means that a relevant part of their power is their ability to involve themselves. Obtaining followers or minions somehow will typically work, as does infiltrating existing organizations. Other examples of 'great scope' are villains that cause natural disasters, open planar portals, or awaken elder evils.

Up to 1 point for the weaknesses of the villain, and the degree to which they are covered. Can low-level spells or class features ruin your villain's day? Does your ghoul not possess quite enough hit dice to stay out of the cleric's turning range?

Elegance

Does the build check out mechanically? Do you meet prerequisites? Up to 1 point, 0.5 deduced for every strict mechanical error, 1 point if it's core to your build.

Up to 1.5 points for cheese avoidance. Small things like reliance on ambiguous rules gets you 0.5 points deduced, polymorph cheese, demiplane abuse, or other stuff gets bigger penalties. Yes, as a DM you're the final authority on what flies in your game: but if your villain doesn't work without giving PCs access to infinitely-stacked metabreath feats, that's a point against your villain (self burn!).

How much does the villain 'make sense', that is, resemble an actual character rather than a ruthlessly optimized pile of stats? I don't care if your backstory has a two-sentence reference to the Otyugh Hole, cheesing your way into free Iron Will gets you a penalty here. Same for characters that undergo very specific alignment changes at very specific times, age 200 years between CR 8 and 9 just so they can get the most out of age boosts, or join three organizations just to get level in their exclusive PrCs (in general, one organization goes unpenalized as long as it makes any degree of sense, and two are fine if you focus on their common ground). Up to 1.5 points in this category.

Alignment is a bit of a weird part of this, and generally I won't deduct points for an alignment failing to match the villain's methods, but that doesn't mean I never will.

Memorable Villainy

1 point for prerequisites. A straightforward violation of the contest's prerequisites gets you a point deduced, smaller violations half a point.

2 points for the overall 'feel'. Will PCs see this villain and correctly identify them as a zealot? Will PCs feel like they're fighting a true BBEG, rather than a common adversary or a monster of the week?

1 point if your villain can realistically make their presence felt multiple times in the campaign. This can be through direct fights and some means of escape, by summoning flunkies or sending servants, or just by somehow creating or enabling lesser villains.

Originality (3)
Unholy cow! I didn't expect anyone to scrounge up obscure web expansion joke sets, and the bovine doesn't seem like an obvious shoe-in for this contest. (1)

Barbarian isn't the least obvious pick here, but it's at least somewhat original. (0.5)

Using Blade of Ragnarok to get much more out of Berserker Strength is pretty nifty, but outside of that you're... hitting people, I guess? (0.5)

Yeah, no points for overall original presentation. Big scary monster with big weapon isn't new ground to tread.

Power (2)
Well, you're strong, you're tough as nails, and about halfway down your considerable HP bar you get even stronger. I see what you're trying to do, and you're clearly good at it. (1)

...but your power is one-note to the extreme. If a problem cannot be solved with violence, Bovine cannot solve it. Sundering is a nice attempt at giving him some versatility, but it's not enough. I guess you can spend a full-round action to knock things prone, then promptly watch them get up and attack.

Your scope is nonexistent. Bovine is scary, but he's udderly incapable of affecting the world on a meaningful scale. Realistically, he'll attack a village, maybe smash a tannery while the population flees in terror, and then when he gives chase with his 30 ft. land speed he gets lost in the woods: not exactly a shining example of impactful villainy!

Even when pit against mid-op parties, Bovine has a number of issues that make him relatively easy to cheese. All the good control spells are an issue, as are several Will-targeting effects (just not compulsions and fear), to say nothing of, y'know, flight. Unless everyone plays a brainless martial, Bovine is going to get screwed over by something stupid.

Elegance (4.5)
The build works out mechanically. (1)

Grabbing Prodigy at no real cost is a bit cheesy, and not something I want to promote as the 'default' for this contest, so a minor penalty here. (1)

Does the villain make sense? I guess? It's a big monster that grows to become a bigger monster, if that doesn't make sense I don't know what will. (1.5)

Memorable Villainy (1)
Here's the issue: the bovine doesn't really have features that stem from its alignment. Barbarians are chaotic, but violating that restriction wouldn't really cost you anything. Beasts of Bane are evil, but again that evil isn't giving you anything. Your features don't stem from alignment or faith, and that's a straightforward violation of the contest's rules.

When I imagine how I'd use Bovine, the best I can come up with is half a session of foreshadowing ("huh, it seems this monster was really intent on smashing the tannery and slaughterhouse") followed by a reveal, five minutes of laughs while I correct the players and point out this isn't a minotaur, it's a hell bovine, they are different, and then an unceremonious slugfest. If Bovine could speak, I might be able to throw in a short speech about its motives, but it can't, and so I won't. That's not memorable, that's not zealous, and it's definitely not BBEG material.

Originality (3)
Warforged is a bit of a go-to if you need to be a construct for some reason, but it's no human. (0.5)

Straight artificer is decently original, but it doesn't wow me, so have another partial score. (0.5)

An artificier... who makes magic items? Yeah, no points for innovative tactics.

It's a paperclip maximizer! That's actually kinda clever, and it's not the type of thing that I'd expect in a . As I showed this competition years ago, I love warforged that emulate scifi tropes in D&D, so max points here. (1)

Power (4.5)
You're an artificer with no qualms about using obscure or PrC-list spells, if that's not a show of good power (1) and versatility (1) then I don't know what is.

Clippy has clear villainous aims and a good scope of power. (1)

Clippy has some weaknesses, and he's heavily constrained by what he sank resources into. Unless I misunderstand, though, it seems like he can just roll a 1 on the skill check that all of his items require upon use? Unless somewhere in this mess of items there's a way to reroll/ignore those failures, I'm going to hand out a small penalty for it, for the same reason that I'd be unhappy with a 5% ACF caster. (0.5)

Elegance (3)
Mechanically, Clippy seems to qualify for each feat he takes, and his shenanigans are RAW. (1)

You use every single item creation trick in the book, to an extent that most tables simply won't find acceptable. If you don't allow arbitrary custom items, downgrades, cheap use-restricted items, passive enchantment shuriken, infinite resetting traps, or anything like that, then Clippy has to redesign large parts of his toolkit.

Clippy is obviously an exercise in abusing artificers, and this does not become less obvious by making him single-mindedly dictated to paperclips, where 'paperclips' is expanded to cover 'any vaguely cylindrical magic item'. Still, there's no truly obnoxious abuses of fluff here, so only a minor penalty. (1)

Memorable Villainy (4)
Clippy's fear and enchantment immunity is magic item based. That's not great, even if he makes those items himself. Similarly, fulfilling the 'powers from alignment or faith' requirement with alignment-exclusive items is... not the greatest way to satisfy the rules. Yes, clippy is LE and will lose power if he turns away from that, but that's arbitrary, we can imagine a CE clippy who takes the same classes, has the same items, and follows the same tactics, maybe with some slightly different motivations. No points.

Thematically, PCs should pick up on clippy as a paperclip maximizer quickly enough, and "that one crazy warforged who tried to turn everything to paperclips" is a resonant enough concept to stick in their minds. Clippy is clearly set up to be a BBEG, and I have no trouble imagining his presence over the course of a campaign. (3)

Originality (2)
Anthropomorphic lion? Sure, take a point. (1)

Paladin is about expected, and when I hear you're making a zealot, I'm not entirely surprised to see pious templar or Fist of Raziel there either.

Charging, Rhino's Rush, Battle Blessing? Not new ground exactly.

A short-sighted paladin who smites evil is, sadly, exactly the kind of character i would expect.

Power (2)
Well, you're a solid ubercharger who has some paladin magic to boost damage further and has solid defenses on top. Against the kind of thing you like to fight, you're great! (1)

Versatility is a bit of an issue. Paladins have a decent number of spells, and Galitsur actually picks up a fair number of odd abilities. However, Galitsur is starved for swift actions, and if he spends a round using one of those shiny paladin spells, he's not casting Rhino's Rush.

Aside from a token amount of Diplomacy ranks, Galitsur can't really affect the world away from him: he comes, smites, and leaves.

As you yourself admit, there's not much of a guarantee that Galitsur can charge every round. Worse, he's specialized in Evil-smiting, so even if the party is mostly Evil he might still struggle with animal companions, summoned fodder, or the token CN. Similarly, if the party is Good and conflicts with him for other reasons, his damage is greatly reduced.

Elegance (4)
I'm a bit confused by the anthropomorphic lion CR you seem to have assumed. As anthropormphic lions are medium, their CR increases by one compared to the base creature. In other words, your starting CR should be 4 rather than 3, which invalidates part of your build. It's no huge loss, but it's a penalty. (0.5)

Speaking of anthro animals, they're a bit of an iffy pick at many tables. There's also a questionable element to assigning a favored weapon to Raziel, so I'm deducing here. (1)

The flavor nerd in me can't help but be disappointed you worship Raziel instead of Talisid, but it's understandable, and the character fits together well enough. (1.5)

Memorable Villainy (3.5)

Immune to fear, immune to compulsion, focused on dealing damage, and a LG paladin: full marks for meeting the prerequisites! (1)

Though Galitsur easily reads as zealot, he doesn't exactly exude BBEG energy. The party might spot him fighting evil, or come across the aftermath of his actions, but even for an evil party he's just going to show up and attack within seconds, rather than act as a true villain. (1)

Galitsur's LG nature means that non-evil parties might run into him a couple times, but evil ones are out of luck. Once combat starts, one side isn't going to leave it. (0.5)

Originality (3.5)
Killoren are obscure enough for me to award full marks here. (1)

Straight barbarian: not the least obvious choice, not the most. (0.5)

Giving your wild cohort random templates isn't a trick I've seen pushed before, but mounted charging is nothing new. (0.5)

Your narrative role is a pretty established 'avenge nature through extreme violence'. The assorted demonic mutations and camel should make this a bit more memorable though. (0.5)

Power (2.5)
Strong charges are strong. (1)

UMD leaves at least the possibility for backup options here, and 3.5 has enough solid wands that you can probably get around a bunch of threats relatively cheaply. (0.5)

Another build that can't really exert its power outside of charging range.

Like all chargers, you're very dependent on, well, charging. Worse, you're also depended on the ongoing service of a relatively mundane mount, and your lance still fails saves on a nat 1 so that's a 5% chance to lose your primary weapon every time you use it. Spell Sense is a nice defense against magic, but lots of the magic that screws you over doesn't offer a saving throw.

Elegance (2)
Mechanically this all seems to work out. (1)

For some reason, not every table is going to be crazy about Magebred Warbeast Wild Cohorts as a default option, and worshipping Elder Evils for free feats doesn't always fly either.

Let me get this straight: Gandharl worships an (unspecified) Elder Evil, gains power through it, and uses that power to... pledge his allegiance to a very specific demon lord (associated with decadence of all things). There's not even an attempt to have it all make sense from a fluff perspective, apart from a very weak 'I hate humanoids so I will ally with anything that threatens them'.

Memorable Villainy (3)
You're immune to fear and/or compulsion. Your vile feats are lost if you turn away from Evil, which qualifies you in the most unimaginative way, and you're straightforwardly focused on dealing damage. (1)

Gandharl would be an alright encounter: he can show up, have a little backstory speech, harass the party over Crimes Against Nature or whatever, and then there can be three to four rounds of high-octane camel chases before the party kills him or he charges back off into the desert (unlikely). At most, you can work him in a storyline where a caravan master wants the PCs to go deal with him, or maybe give him an actual elder evil to worship and let him work to summon it. Still, there's just no real BBEG skillset here, no way to reliably guarantee multiple encounters, and no potential for a climactic final battle. One point for being obviously zealous, no more. (1)

A priest who worships nothingness... call that naughts and crosses!

Originality (3)
While undead are an obvious way to get fear immunity, I was expecting necropolitans and death knights, not allips. (1)

Cleric into a cleric PrC: no points.

Doomdreamer and its tricks might be straightforward, but I'd never heard of it before. (0.5)

A gibbering ghost-priest is decently weird, though nothing about it leaves me stunned. (0.5)

Power (5)
An incorporeal full-casting cleric is great. (1)

The ability to switch spells, and even domains, plus the help of summoned fiends make this easily one of the more versatile entries. (1)

Bound minions and cleric casting give this villain more than enough long-range ability. (1)

Disintegration makes you less vulnerable to Force effects than most incorporeal creatures, turning is frustrated by hiding inside the wall, and even then you can just have called minions attack the cleric. (1)

Elegance (4)
Here's an issue: it seems you're using the RttToEE (ritttooeey?) version of your domains, but that's not actually the most recent version and thus, technically, illegal. It matters for the Force domain, for instance. (0.5)

I don't know how to feel about Unholy Pact. It's a busted ability, but its bustedness (bustiness?) is right there in RAW, and it feels weird deducing points for using an obviously broken ability as it was meant to be used. In the end, it's the suggestion to use Glabrezu for free wishes that pushes me to assign a minor penalty here: that, at least, can be safely assumed to be unacceptable. (1)

From a fluff perspective, the character makes perfect sense. Madness, allips, and tharizdun are a match made in heaven hell nothingness. (1.5)

Memorable Villainy (5)Cleric satisfies your zealot requirements, undeath makes you immune to fear, and your spells straightforwardly cause death. (1)

It might take a little bit for PCs to piece through the schizophasic ramblings and figure out what Naught is up to, but once they do they're sure to identify him as a zealot. His abilities make him a perfect fit for the BBEG role: I would personally have way too much fun with Dark Lore. (2)

Nothing says 'villainous escape route' like floating into a wall, and Necrotic Reserve really helps ensure that a relatively frail allip will still live. I can easily imagine PCs clashing with Naught and/or his summoned fiends again and again, with Naught fleeing once things get hairy. (1)

Originality (4)
A gnome! Going to go ahead and assign full points here: when I think villains I don't think gnomes. (1)

Paladin is pretty expected, sadly, even if you throw in some martial adept levels.

Earth Glide skirmishing, stealth, . Not what I think when I hear 'zealot', that's for sure! (1)

Fascinating backstory! A radical prison abolitionist is not something I'd expect to see in D&D, but it makes for a great villain in a world with so many imprisoned dangers. (1)

Power (4.5)
You can cast a bunch of paladin spells and then full attack, you got maneuvers, and you're actually really sneaky. Especially when it comes to freeing the imprisoned, Mayflower is amazing. (1)

A decent number of maneuvers and spells, but most of them focused on combat. (0.5)

Mayflower's ability to exert power at a distance is weird. Door to Great Evil will, at least theoretically, let him cover whatever distance DM fiat dictates, and freed villains can have any power level you desire, so I'm cautiously going to say he's fine in this department. (1)

There's weaknesses to Mayflower's character, sure, but a lot of the obvious weaknesses of a high-level gish don't apply to him, and in the worst case he can always run away and go unleash some new villain. (1)

Elegance (3)
I'm pretty sure that Armored Stealth only affects Hide, not Move Silently also: it's a minor issue as you're going to be sneaking through walls anyway, but it's worth noting. (1)

The cheesiest thing you do is stacking Divine Impetus, which commonly gets houseruled to 1/round, but other than that you're good. (1)

Here's where things get a bit iffy: while I'm willing to buy that you're CG, I'm not willing to buy that you're Exalted stick-to-the-PoF-code CG. Associating with evil creatures or helping them escape is pretty clearly not done for paladins of freedom. Also, you're formally serving Wee Jas, which really clashes with the Chaotic bits. Some settings may have a more Chaotic deity that fits the portfolio, so there's adaptation possibilities here, but in general this element of the build sticks out like a sore thumb.

Memorable Villainy (4.75)
Compulsion immunity and paladin powers, but not quite enough of a focus on dealing damage as opposed to getting out alive. (0.75)

Mayflower's motives should be clear by the point the PCs finally face him down, and his impact as a villain is unquestionable. (2)

I can easily see Mayflower being responsible for freeing some early-game villains, then slowly work his way up to elder evils, with the PCs chasing him all the way. If cornered by PCs, he can escape with Earth Glide or Door To Great Evil. (1)

HM goes to Mayflower.

H_H_F_F

2022-09-12, 01:04 PM

Thanks for judging, Inevitability!

Buufreak, are we expecting you as a third judge?

H_H_F_F

2022-09-14, 05:22 PM

Couple of disputes for our judges:

Thanks for both our judges. Beni, Inevitability, you are great!
But I have some disputes.

First, the Hell Bovine only advances to 29 HD. Beast of Bane’s ability specifically calls it out as advancement, which means it is still bound by the advancement line of the initial monster.

A rather big mechanical error: you can't advance Hell Bovines past 29 RHD according to their stat block.
I see. Well, I think this isn't so clear, but yes, it's at least debatable. I still think that BoB's Feed overcomes base creature's HD limitations. This template is conversion of Beast of Xvim (from Monsters of Faerun) whose Feed clearly work without base creature HD-limitation (BoX has — in advancement line). Maybe it isn't clear RAW, but RAI is unambiguous. I used BoB and not BoX because it's 3.0 and not fully converted in MoF update booklet. There is some mess with DR and HD. I decided to use BoB because this template is more clear.

why take Ruinous Rage when you have Blade of Ragnarok’s Weapon of Ruin ?
These two abilities do different things. Ruinous Rage lets me ignore hardness (and being good at sundering), Weapon of Ruin lets me bypass DR (and being good at damaging enemies).

Beasts of Bane are always Lawful Evil, which contradicts your alignment and prevents you from taking a level of barbarian (since barbarians can’t be lawful).
My bad. But I have two arguments. First, "always" in the alignment line means "exceptions are rare, not impossible". Second, I can just replace 10th and 11th CR (take barbarian level before template) and all become legal.

I see why you decide Avenging Bovine is inelegant, but I can't agree with zero in Elegance. All your points about illegality are debatable or easily solvable.

Also, I don’t understand why you didn’t max out Intimidate if you wanted Terrifying Rage ?
I have more Intimidate ranks than any 20th-level PC. I'm Huge and have only -1 from Cha. I think it's enough.

You don’t use Sense Motive (at least not to the point where having 20 ranks in it would still help)
But I do!

You also gain the ability to make a Sense Motive check (opposed by the target's Bluff) to determine the damage reduction type (but not amount) of a creature you can see.

If Bovine could speak, I might be able to throw in a short speech about its motives, but it can't, and so I won't.
Why do you think it can't?
Look at The Secret Cow Level pdf. There are two advansed hell bovines and one of them is Wizard 5. I think this means it can speak.

Thank you Beni and Inevitability for your work!

I have disputes for Beni.

I also would have liked that you mentioned the source for Annihilation and Blast of Force to be Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, it took me a while to find that (it’s almost like the whole internet has forgotten about these spells, I couldn’t find them anywhere, even on D&D tools).
Sorry for that. Stupid mistake. But, to be honest, I gave you a source for the entire Force Domain.

I don’t understand why you chose these first two Doomdreamer secrets
"Deeper madness" should be obvious - extra +2 Insane is extra spells, and bigger DCs.
"Paying fealty to death" - bigger DCs, too.
It's in round's theme. Improving Lesser Planar Allies definitely is good, but not worth SoD spells DC.

I don’t understand why you chose the Champion ACF
Well, I just didn't want to take Rebuke Undead and go to minionomancy. As I said damaging is more in theme. It's a shame ability drain RAW doesn't work with extra damage.

Plus, I anyway couldn't take double-level Turn Undead. I have +2 Int, so I could take it only on 5th level and Unholy pact is all around better.

And, anyway I can't understand how somebody with 9th-level cleric spells can have only 2.5 in power. Even with suboptimal ACF.

I can’t help but feel like Naught could have been so much stronger.
Every wizard can be much much stronger - can be Pun Pun, is this reason to evaluate every wizard for 1-2 in Power?

Elves

2022-09-14, 08:31 PM

It's clear that the feed ability lets you exceed normal HD limit for advancement:

Xvim prefers to manifest in animals such as bats, black dogs, black cats, hawks, and vultures, [snip]

Most of those can't normally advance by HD.

Inevitability

2022-09-15, 03:35 AM

Responses:

Using Feed to circumvent HD limits is unconventional, but I see what you're going for. You're sticking to regular advancement, so for now I'm going to put down no penalty. In future rounds, or if Feed is used in less straightforward manners, I might penalize it anyway.

The wizard doesn't prove too much: either all hell bovines speak, or WoTC forgot they couldn't by RAW and made one a wizard. More to the point, a lot of monsters speak a language of their own, rather than common: consider minotaurs, delvers, dragonnes, trolls, ettins and so on. While there's some indications that hell bovines were meant to speak, there's no indications that they're capable of common speech, and if they did, I'd expect the adventure to over at least a token mention to that fact.

(You can go meta and say that hell bovines were based on diablo monsters, so a solution that gives them their intended offensive power without making it possible for people to negotiate with them is fitting)

loky1109

2022-09-15, 03:47 AM

Responses:
Did you modify points in the initial post?

Inevitability

2022-09-15, 04:01 AM

Did you modify points in the initial post?

Yes, I gave AB a 0.5 higher score in Elegance and in the final result.

loky1109

2022-09-15, 06:55 AM

Table.
Updated.

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Beni-Kujaku Inevitability Judge 3 Total Place
Avenging Bovine (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561559&postcount=61) CE Prodigy Beast of Bane Hell Bovine Berserker Strength Barbarian 1 9.00 10.50 19.50 4th
Clippy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561562&postcount=62) LE Warforged Artificer 20 14.50 14.50 29.00 2nd
Galitsur (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561566&postcount=63) LG Anthropomorphic Lion Charging Smite Paladin 5/Pious Templar 2/Fist of Raziel 10 17.00 11.50 28.50 3rd
Gandharl the Dreadnought (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561571&postcount=64) CE Killoren Unholy Fury Spell Sense Fox Totem Manifestation Barbarian 20 8.50 11.00 19.50 4th
Naught (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561572&postcount=65) CE Allip Spontaneous Domain Casting Champion Cleric 12/Doomdreamer 5 15.00 17.00 32.00 1st
Sir Thomas Mayflower (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561575&postcount=66) CG Whisper Gnome Underdark Knight Shadow Cloak Paladin of Freedom 12/Crusader 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 7 12.75 16.25 29.00 2nd

H_H_F_F

2022-09-15, 07:06 AM

Unless I get word that we have a third judgement incoming, conniving contestants have 24 hours to submit any further disputes. As for next round...

Something Completely Different

Beni-Kujaku

2022-09-15, 01:48 PM

These two abilities do different things. Ruinous Rage lets me ignore hardness (and being good at sundering), Weapon of Ruin lets me bypass DR (and being good at damaging enemies).

Weapon of Ruin lets your weapon count as adamantine, which bypasses all hardness except for adamantine, obdurium and glassteel. In most situations, Ruinous Rage only allows AB to break walls more easily, which is... Underwhelming.

I can take barbarian then become BoB.
"A barbarian who becomes lawful loses the ability to rage and cannot gain more levels as a barbarian." You may argue that Berserker's strength is not rage, since you traded it away, but it's pretty clearly supposed to be rage, even activating all effects activating during rage. And if you want to go by pure RAW, you even lose the Hell Bovine's ability to rage. And it's not just "always lawful", your alignment "shifts to lawful evil to match that of the dark lord". No place for exceptions here.

I wanted to take Beast of Xvim
And I would have preferred that, since your legality would have been clearer ("it gains one hit die" instead of "it advances one hit die" would notably have been much appreciated). Sadly, I can't rate you with what isn't in your build. Still, I agree that some can argue about it, and I'll raise your elegance by +1 Elegance.

I need Sense Motive for Weapon of Ruin and I have enough Intimidate to render anyone not immune to fear shaken
Fair. +0.5 Power

Sorry for that. Stupid mistake. But, to be honest, I gave you a source for the entire Force Domain.
You did, but there is no Annihilation in SpC. I was about to ignore the spell completely and rate you as if you had Bigby's Crushing Hand instead, until I read the whole Tharizdun paragraph instead of just the beginning.

My secrets were to follow the round's theme
Fair, but considering you are already emphasizing your ability to Lesser Planar Ally without paying the cost, might as well at least take the other secret explicitly aiding in that endeavour. But yeah, I may have been blinded by that big "I take only half of an ability". You are still very versatile, and even without items (you can wield items, but they won't go through the ground with you), casting from below the ground and being able to flee is pretty good, especially with your DC optimization. +1 Power

And, anyway I can't understand how somebody with 9th-level cleric spells can have only 2.5 in power. Every wizard can be much much stronger - can be Pun Pun, is this reason to evaluate every wizard for 1-2 in Power?
It's definitely a reason to rate you more harshly than another character. If there was on my left a monk/truenamer who somehow combines their abilities to mitigate all their weaknesses, can hold their own in combat, and overall would be equivalent to a strong tier 3, and on my right a single-class wizard with Toughness seven times, who has taken all the worst ACF and average intelligence to the point that they're equivalent to a tier 2, then I would rate the monk 4 to 5 and the wizard 1 to 2. Because compared to the average power level of their class, one is monstrously powerful and the other is awful. If your character is a full caster, then I consider powerful a character that does full castery things efficiently. If your character is a martial, then I consider powerful a character that does martialy things efficiently. A wizard can be Pun-Pun, a martial can be a War Hulking Hurler dealing 10 000 damage at 400ft with a standard action. Obviously nobody asks optimized character to reach these TO levels, but I, personally (other judges might not, I know of judges who just judge depending on the tier of the character, and there's nothing wrong with it), expect people to put work into each category of their character.

loky1109

2022-09-17, 11:40 AM

No WH40k reference?

I though to make SrarCraft's Protos Zealot with Tsoreva quori, but I was unable to handle with this idea.
Now I think It could be Hellbreaker stealing Mind Blade from summoned Tsoreva Quori.

H_H_F_F

2022-09-18, 04:09 AM

Big Reveal! Sorry for the delay, folks. Crazy week.

Name
Alignment / Race
Class Levels
Chef
Beni-Kujaku
Inevitability
Total
Place

Avenging Bovine (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561559&postcount=61)
CE Prodigy Beast of Bane Hell Bovine
Berserker Strength Barbarian 1
loky1109
9.00
10.50
19.50
4th

Clippy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561562&postcount=62)
LE Warforged
Artificer 20
Tohorn
14.50
14.50
29.00
2nd

Galitsur (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561566&postcount=63)
LG Anthropomorphic Lion
Charging Smite Paladin 5/Pious Templar 2/Fist of Raziel 10
GreatWyrmGold
17.00
11.50
28.50
3rd

Gandharl the Dreadnought (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561571&postcount=64)
CE Killoren
Unholy Fury Spell Sense Fox Totem Manifestation Barbarian 20
Soranar
8.50
11.00
19.50
4th

Naught (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561572&postcount=65)
CE Allip
Spontaneous Domain Casting Champion Cleric 12/Doomdreamer 5
loky1109
15.00
17.00
32.00
1st

Sir Thomas Mayflower (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25561575&postcount=66)
CG Whisper Gnome
Underdark Knight Shadow Cloak Paladin of Freedom 12/Crusader 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 7
Venger
12.75
16.25
29.00
2nd

Congratulations to all our participants, especially to loky for snagging both extremes of the scoring spectrum! Lots of ties this round, and two excellent judges. Thank you, Beni and Inevitability!

Next round will be up soon! See you all there!

AvatarVecna

2022-09-18, 04:25 AM

Recently found something I really wanna use for a contest and all I can do is hope one comes down the line that's close enough for government work.

Edit: Main issue is that it's been used better in a previous contest but it still looks so fun~

loky1109

2022-09-18, 04:48 AM

My first first!
I'm so glad!

Thanks for our chairman, all participants and judges!

But, I should say. This round doesn't like me in one way.
It looks like all entries but mine are not for VC round, but for some another competition, character optimization competition. We have 4 of 6 playable PC builds. I love Villainous Competition for the Monsters! Multiheaded Hal-Dragon Cryohydra! Half-Celestial Demon! Awakened Dinosaur! Half-Fey Unseelie Fey Fey! And so on!

It's ok to have in a round one, two, half of all disguised "PC-entry." But being the single person who actually make monsters... is slightly disappointing.

Weapon of Ruin lets your weapon count as adamantine, which bypasses all hardness except for adamantine, obdurium and glassteel.

Weapon of Ruin (Su): At 21st level, your attacks have abilities that let them bypass some damage reduction. You gain the aligned strike (corresponding to your alignment), epic strike, and magic strike qualities (Rules Compendium, pages 100-101).

You can also emulate a material or damage type on all your attacks. Only one can be in effect at a time, and changing it is a move action. The effect is continuous. You can treat your attacks as bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, adamantine, cold iron, or silver (with no damage penalty).

You also gain the ability to make a Sense Motive check (opposed by the target's Bluff) to determine the damage reduction type (but not amount) of a creature you can see.
All this ability is about bypassing DR and nothing about hardness. I can understand how you read it ("You can treat your attacks as adamantine"), but I didn't even think in this direction and can't agree with your reading. It looks taken out of context.

Venger

2022-09-18, 04:52 AM

Congratulations to the other medalists. This was a really fun round.

New round is up. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649810-Villainous-Competition-XLVIV-Controller!&p=25583879#post25583879)

Beni-Kujaku

2022-09-18, 08:18 AM

All this ability is about bypassing DR and nothing about hardness. I can understand how you read it ("You can treat your attacks as adamantine"), but I didn't even think in this direction and can't agree with your reading. It looks taken out of context.

Any of your attacks can be changed into adamantine, no matter what you're attacking. Adamantine bypasses most hardness. That's all I was saying.

GreatWyrmGold

2022-09-20, 03:18 PM

Is it cheese?
In the context of being used to not be treated as undead after gaining an undead template? Yeah.

It's subtle, it's hard to argue against (beyond "You know that's not RAI"), and that's part of why it's beautiful.

The ambiguity on whether a contestant is supposed to aim for "CR appropriate" power or "as much" power has bothered me since I first participated in this competition. I never want to step on judge autonomy, but I feel that there are some issues that just have to be standardized.

FWIW, I appreciate both the standardization and the choice you made in standardization. It's a good way of not saying "You should try to make as powerful a creature as possible" without penalizing people who do.

I'm glad my (completed) entry did as well as it did. Inevitability didn't think much of it (fair), but it was still at the head of the sub-twelve pack, and Beni scored it as the best in the contest, which really surprised me.

Malphegor

2022-09-25, 02:32 AM

Oh wow I’m surprised nobody tried to use the dragonlance Righteous Zealot for this, it pretty much was made for this concept. I spent far too long trying to fit that into a pre existing doomslayer inspired build I had to make a sort of warhammer inspired anti-demon zealot before giving up