Junkyard Wars XLI - Spellcasting + Rage - Rage Mage

[pabelfly]

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

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

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

Necessary: Spellcasting
Necessary: Rage
Forbidden: Rage Mage


https://i.imgur.com/jLnrSKl.jpeg

ANGRY! SPELLCASTING!



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



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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



Code immediately below (spoiler).

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code immediately below (spoiler)Spells per Day/Spells Known


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

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




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


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



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

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

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

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

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



Completion Time:

Contestants will have until 23:59 GMT Monday February 20, 2023 to create their builds and PM them to the chairman (note: you are free to submit builds up until I start posting entries, even if this deadline has passed).
Builds will then be posted simultaneously to avoid copying.
Judges will have until 23:59 GMT Monday March 06, 2023 to judge the builds and submit their scores. Judging deadline is subject to extension as required.
As the precedent has been set from Episode 2, should all prospective judges have posted their rulings in a neat, timely fashion and all disputes have been settled satisfactorily (to either judges, contestants, or the Chairperson), the judging period may end prematurely to give way to a new episode. No reason to keep working on a finished building and avoid moving onto the next one.


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

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



Junkyard Wars in the Playground I: Shadowdancer + Sneak Attack - Rogue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?337864)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground II: Healing Spells + Ruby Knight Vindicator - Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?342896)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground III: Dragons + Theurges - Kobolds (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?347412)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground IV: BoED + Undead Type - Completes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?355278)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground V: Dread Witch + Reaping Mauler - Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?360271)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VI: Wonderworker + Profession Skill - Factotum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?369604)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VII: Metamagic Feats + LA - Metamagic Reducers! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?374504)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground VIII: Pounce+Small Size-Barbarian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?388151)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground IX: Earth Dreamer + Ordained Champion - Cleric (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?395791)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground X: Meldshaping + Natural Attacks - Totemist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?403880)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XI: Magical Darkness + Improved Familiar - Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?409650)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XII: Dragonmark Heirs + Touchstones - Martial Weapons (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?430214)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIII: Mulhorandi Divine Minion + Monk - Any Other Wildshaping (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?465901)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIV: Racial Paragon Classes + Spellcasting - Base Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?479427)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XV: Ruathar + Stoneblessed - Human (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?497904)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVI: Trapsmith + Combat Trapsmith - Rogue (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?540521)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVII: Elemental Warrior + Jaunter - Fighter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?552569)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XVIII: Argent Savant + Holy Scourge - Wizard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555404)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XIX: Incarnum Blade + Exotic Weapon Master - Spiked Chain (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?562523-Junkyard-Wars-XIX-IB-EWM-SC)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XX: Xorvintaal Exarch + The Pact-Bound Adept - Sorcerer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?568541-Junkyard-Wars-XX-XE-PBA(a)-S)
Junkyard Wars in the Playground XXI: Rebuke Undead + Teamwork Benefits - [Divine] feats (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572680-Junkyard-Wars-XXI-Halloween-Round!)
Junkyard Wars XXII: Battle Trickster + Magical Trickster - Uncanny Trickster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?577512-Junkyard-Wars-XXII-Show-Me-Your-Skillz)
Junkyard Wars XXIII: Spellwarp Sniper + Silver Pyromancer - Energy Substitution (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?581736-Junkyard-Wars-XXIII-Ready-Aim-Fire)
Junkyard Wars XXIV: Vow of Peace + Saint - Divine casting (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585567-Junkyard-Wars-XXIV-VoPe-S-DC)
Junkyard Wars XXV: Silverwood Arcanist + Share Soulmeld - Soulcaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?590622-Junkyard-Wars-XXV-SA-SS-S)
Junkyard Wars XXVI: RSL + ACF - PrCs (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?593374-Junkyard-Wars-XXVI-RSL-ACF-PrCs)
Junkyard Wars XXVII: Unholy Scion + Mark - Affiliation (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?598151-Junkyard-Wars-XXVII-US-M-A)
Junkyard Wars XXVII: 1MF + CPA&A - T (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?603826-Junkyard-Wars-XXVIII-1MF-CPA-amp-A-T)
Junkyard Wars XXIX: Social Distancing Edition! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?610153-Junkyard-Wars-XXIX-Social-Distancing-Edition!)
Junkyard Wars XXX: Something a Little Spicy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?631758-Junkyard-Wars-XXX-Something-a-Little-Spicy)
Junkyard Wars XXXI: Giddy-Up! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?633325)
Junkyard Wars XXXII: Theurge Without Theurge (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?634803)
Junkyard Wars XXXIII: LotD + AF - Necropolitan (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636185)
Junkyard Wars XXXIV: SE + HoS - Soulmelds (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?637670)
Junkyard Wars XXXV: Complete Class + Complete PrC - PHB Classes (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641168)
Junkyard Wars XXXVI: Vestige Binding + MWP - Binder (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?642413)
Junkyard Wars XXXVII: Bone Collector + Necropotent - ToB (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?644772)
Junkyard Wars XXXVIII: NPC Class + Prestige Class - Base Classes (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645816)
Junkyard Wars XXXIX - Stunning Fist + Evasion - Monk (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?646976)
Junkyard Wars XL - Ninths + Metamagic - Prepared Spells (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?648718)

[pabelfly]

Housekeeping: In keeping with the poll results, the next thread will be Smite + Mounted Combat - Paladin. After that, I'll make another poll and present some ideas to see what contests people are interested in.

Rule Addition - change to rules surrounding Leadership feat: "If your entry includes a prestige class that requires Leadership, you still need to qualify, but the feat should thereafter be ignored."

The other rules surrounding Leadership do not otherwise change.

Q1: Is Rage only Rage or other ragelike options are acceptable?
A1: Rage variants are allowed. For the purposes of this competition, any Rage variant is considered to forbid the use of spellcasting while raging unless it explicitly says that it does not. If it explicitly says that it does not forbid the use of spellcasting while raging, that variant is not allowed.

Q2: Are Psionics, etc. considered spellcasting for the purposes of this competition?
A2: Psionics, etc are considered spellcasting for the purposes of this competition. As above, Rage forbidding spellcasting also forbids the casting of psionic abilities, etc, while Raging

Q3: What exactly defines 'rage-like'? Do judges get to decide for themselves whether a given ability is pushing the definition too much, or is there some set of guidelines that we can safely stay inside of?
A3: A rage-like ability is any ability not gained through spellcasting that provides a temporary boost to a character's physical stats or AC while explicitly forbidding the use of spellcasting.

EDIT: The word explicitly has been added to eliminate abilities that, while providing temporary boosts as specified, make spellcasting more difficult and cumbersome but do not specifically ban spellcasting.

Q4: What if I find a solution that bypasses how Rage (or equivalent) forbids spellcasting?
A4: This is fine, as long as Rage or the equivalent ability originally explicitly forbid spellcasting.

Q5: Are Artificer Infusions considered spellcasting for the purpose of this competition?
A5: I'm going to say yes. While they're not a spellcaster, Infusions are a concentration-based ability, so they can't be used while using Rage or equivalent, and they function just like spells and follow all the rules for spells. This will include not being able to be used while Raging as Raging does not allow for the casting of spells.

[loky1109]

Question #1. Is Rage only Rage or other ragelike options are acceptable?

[pabelfly]

Question #1. Is Rage only Rage or other ragelike options are acceptable?

Rage variants are allowed. For the purposes of this competition, any Rage variant is considered to forbid the use of spellcasting while raging unless it explicitly says that it does not. If it explicitly says that it does not forbid the use of spellcasting while raging, that variant is not allowed.

[Inevitability]

What exactly defines 'rage-like'? Do judges get to decide for themselves whether a given ability is pushing the definition too much, or is there some set of guidelines that we can safely stay inside of?

[pabelfly]

What exactly defines 'rage-like'? Do judges get to decide for themselves whether a given ability is pushing the definition too much, or is there some set of guidelines that we can safely stay inside of?

A rage-like ability is any ability not gained through spellcasting that provides a temporary boost to a character's physical stats or AC while forbidding the use of spellcasting.

[Thurbane]

I have an idea. Not sure if it's a good one, or if I'll have time, but we shall see.

[loky1109]

I have two ideas now (while theme came from me, I hadn't any idea before yesterday).
Slightly crazy ideas...

Let's look how them assemble.

[pabelfly]

New Q&A Update: In the definition of Rage-like abilities, the word "explicitly" has been added to eliminate abilities that, while providing temporary boosts as specified, make spellcasting more difficult and cumbersome but do not specifically ban spellcasting.

[loky1109]

...and both my ideas are officially dead. )))

[pabelfly]

...and both my ideas are officially dead. )))

Sorry. I did think they were cool ideas though.

[Inevitability]

I got something weird brewing (then again, how else would you do this challenge?). No idea if and how I'll make a second submission, though.

[loky1109]

Sorry. I did think they were cool ideas though.

I'll save them for later cases. )

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Okay, my first build is dead in the water, due to me completely misremembering how a specific infusion worked. I do think that the premise was good, though, so time to try a different execution (and I still get to explore a base class I haven't used before, albeit not the one I was originally intending).

[Condé]

Haven't read everything so I apologize if the question is stupid but...

Isn't *edited* an easy solution?

Édit : there is a class that might be an easy way around the forbidden ingredient.

[loky1109]

Haven't read everything so I apologize if the question is stupid but...

Isn't {censored} an easy solution?
It sounds like Speculation.


Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until after the reveal in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines. Speculation and stub posting is to be avoided until the reveal is completed.
Please cut it from your post.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Haven't read everything so I apologize if the question is stupid but...

Isn't *edited* an easy solution?

Édit : there is a class that might be an easy way around the forbidden ingredient.

Don't think that would work.


If it explicitly says that it does not forbid the use of spellcasting while raging, that variant is not allowed.

If I were judging, I would rule any build that used [the class you were talking about] illegal.

[pabelfly]

If I were judging, I would rule any build that used [the class you were talking about] illegal.

So I saw the class mentioned too. Perhaps I have not made things quite clear, so I'll add this:

The intent of the competition is to combine Rage and spellcasting, both of which I hope I've reasonably defined for potential entrants. Rage explicitly forbids spellcasting. The obvious solution to the problem is to use Rage Mage, which is the forbidden ingredient.

If there is a class or ability that lets you bypass how Rage (or equivalent) forbids spellcasting, I would say that's fine, as long as the ability originally forbid spellcasting.

I'll make this more clear in the Q&A.

[loky1109]

...and both my ideas are officially dead. )))
News from the fields: I got another crazy idea. )))

[pabelfly]

An entrant has asked for clarification around needing the Leadership feat to qualify for a prestige class. To clarify: "If your entry includes a prestige class that requires Leadership, you still need to qualify, but the feat should thereafter be ignored." The feat is otherwise treated the same as before in the rules.

[Vrock Bait]

A quick dispatch from discussions on the Discord server: did not know that there were so many self-harm related character options in 3.5e. :smalleek:

[pabelfly]

A quick dispatch from discussions on the Discord server: did not know that there were so many self-harm related character options in 3.5e. :smalleek:

Well that has inspired two thirds of a possible contest idea:

Self-Damaging Class-Feature plus ???? Minus Naberius. Not sure what would go well where the question marks are though.

[Inevitability]

Well that has inspired two thirds of a possible contest idea:

Self-Damaging Class-Feature plus ???? Minus Naberius. Not sure what would go well where the question marks are though.

Slightly altered suggestion: Self-Damage + Lifesense - Necropolitan, which cuts out most of the obvious Naberius use cases (can't restore constitution damage if you don't have a constitution score!) and creates some fun tension between difficulty healing / low HP and mandated self-damage. Lifesense is mostly there to force constitution-less characters, simply mandating "no constitution" could work as well.

[pabelfly]

Slightly altered suggestion: Self-Damage + Lifesense - Necropolitan, which cuts out most of the obvious Naberius use cases (can't restore constitution damage if you don't have a constitution score!) and creates some fun tension between difficulty healing / low HP and mandated self-damage. Lifesense is mostly there to force constitution-less characters, simply mandating "no constitution" could work as well.

Hmm... I'll think about this one. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Inevitability]

Thought I had found a good reason to use Rage on a caster build... only to realize that [super well known optimization staple] is not only mechanically superior to what I wanted to do but also removes the reason I had for Raging. I love it when one class outshines all alternatives for a certain playstyle!

Ah well, back to the drawing board...

[pabelfly]

I remember looking back at old contest threads, and they actually gave trophies and ribbon out for first, second, and third place, as well as for the Honourable Mention. Is this something that people are interested in?

I had a go at creating an "Honourable Mention" ribbon as a proof of concept. If people were interested, I'd design the trophies about to this level of quality. Obviously, if you can do better than my paltry efforts, I'd love to use them instead.


https://imgur.com/jwNvlNJ.png

EDIT: Also had a go at making a first-place trophy.


https://imgur.com/fj5nRjX.png

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I remember looking back at old contest threads, and they actually gave trophies and ribbon out for first, second, and third place, as well as for the Honourable Mention. Is this something that people are interested in?

I had a go at creating an "Honourable Mention" ribbon as a proof of concept. If people were interested, I'd design the trophies about to this level of quality. Obviously, if you can do better than my paltry efforts, I'd love to use them instead.


https://imgur.com/jwNvlNJ.png

That's super cool

[Tohron]

Are Artificer Infusions considered spellcasting for the purpose of this competition?

[pabelfly]

Are Artificer Infusions considered spellcasting for the purpose of this competition?

You know what, I'm going to say yes - while they're not a spellcaster, Infusions are a concentration-based ability, so they can't be used while using Rage or equivalent, and they function just like spells and follow all the rules for spells.

Addendum: remember that Rage says: "nor can he [a Barbarian] cast spells" so remember that as we're treating Infusions as spells, they also can't be used while Raging for that reason either, not just for needing a Concentration check.

[Inevitability]

Ohhh, I had an idea involving infusions as well. Didn't end up submitting it, but I'm eagerly looking forward to the reveal to see if this one's a case of great minds thinking alike.

[loky1109]

First entry sent.

UPD: pabelfly, suddenly I was curious, What was the distribution of votes in the voting on the round theme?

[pabelfly]

First entry sent.

UPD: pabelfly, suddenly I was curious, What was the distribution of votes in the voting on the round theme?

39% for Spellcasting + Rage - Rage Mage
26% for Smite + Mounted Combat - Paladin (our next Junkyard Wars contest).
13% for Multiweapon Fighting + Spellcasting - Barbarian
13% for Vow of Poverty - Alternate Forms
9% for Truespeak + Tome of Battle

So after we do Smite + Mounted Combat - Paladin, I'll come up with some future contest ideas, steal a few previous suggestions and throw them all up for another poll, since that seemed to work pretty well this time.

Also, finished doing up the trophies.


https://imgur.com/fj5nRjX.pnghttps://imgur.com/Dgp7XY5.pnghttps://imgur.com/r9wyknq.png
https://imgur.com/jwNvlNJ.png

As I said before, my pixel art skills are only average. Anyone who wants to design some nicer trophies for the contest, be it drawn or done in CAD is quite welcome and I'd appreciate it.

[Notafish]

I happen to be playing something that might fit in a current campaign. I've never done one of these competitions, though. Is the goal here to present a nifty build that incorporates both ingredients or are we also trying to pull off the implied trick of spellcasting and raging at the same time?

[pabelfly]

I happen to be playing something that might fit in a current campaign. I've never done one of these competitions, though. Is the goal here to present a nifty build that incorporates both ingredients or are we also trying to pull off the implied trick of spellcasting and raging at the same time?

Your choice. While I can't tell you how a prospective judge will score a potential build, I suspect if there is some synergy between your raging and spellcasting, even if you can't cast while raging, you won't do too badly.

[Inevitability]

Though I won't be judging, if I were to I'd assign points for use of rage, use of casting, and the degree to which your build can get use out of their combination specifically.

"Casting while raging" is a pretty specific effect obtainable from only a few sources, but there's ways to make your casting and raging work for each other in other ways too, and I would judge builds on their ability to do that.

[pabelfly]

Just wanted to give this thread a bump - there's two weeks left to enter, which should be plenty of time to prep an entry if you missed this back when the thread launched. I've already got some interesting entries, so you'll be in great company if you do enter.

[pabelfly]

We have about three days left. If anyone requires an extension, feel free to shoot me a PM. I'd much rather extend the deadline than have someone miss out on submitting their entry.

[Gruftzwerg]

We have about three days left. If anyone requires an extension, feel free to shoot me a PM. I'd much rather extend the deadline than have someone miss out on submitting their entry.

I'm working on the write up and need to check for possible errors..^^
I hope that I will have enough time to get it done by the regular time limit. If not, I'll come back begging..

[pabelfly]

I'm working on the write up and need to check for possible errors..^^
I hope that I will have enough time to get it done by the regular time limit. If not, I'll come back begging..

I'm happy to wait until you've done your entry. I'd much rather you make an entry you're happy with than it gets in on time.

[Gruftzwerg]

I'm happy to wait until you've done your entry. I'd much rather you make an entry you're happy with than it gets in on time.

It's more of a time management issue as always for me...
I'm working on the writeup and hope that I can spare enough time to finish it maybe even tomorrow. We'll see..

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Put the build together, but I'm away from home until tonight, when I'll start formatting it all. Hopefully won't have to ask for an extension.

[Gruftzwerg]

Put the build together, but I'm away from home until tonight, when I'll start formatting it all. Hopefully won't have to ask for an extension.

I hope I get it done in the next 3+ hours. I'm currently working on it. Or lets say I'm currently taking a lil break to check the forum and refresh my mind^^

UPDATE: I'm done and sent my entry in. Did take a bit longer but yeah..^^

[Thurbane]

My build never got past the rough outline stage. Just don't have time to dedicate at the moment. Look forward to seeing what people came up with ,and if anything was similar to what I thought of...

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Okay, submission is in.

[pabelfly]

Okay, I'm going to post all of the submissions. Please hold off on posting until I'm done, thanks.

[pabelfly]

Trox, Shaped By War

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

(music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKRUPYrAQoE))

NG Saint Frostblood Half-Orc Barbarian 1 / Cleric of Heironeous 3 / Ordained Champion 4 / Flux Adept 10

"The claim that 'war never changes' is both true and false. True, because every war is the same fight, the same struggle, the same cosmic battle, differing only in the details. And false, because no man can fight a war and not be changed by it."


Level 4, 8, 16 increases go to Strength, level 12 increase goes to Wisdom.



STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA


Array
15
10
14
14
14
12


Racial
17
10
14
12
14
10


Post-ASIs
20
10
14
12
15
10


Post-Sainthood
20
10
16
12
17
14



Known languages are Common, Orc, and Draconic. Upon acquiring the Saint template, this is largely superseded by Tongues.


The half-orc, clad in the white robes of an acolyte, shifted slightly in his chair. Across from him, the senior priest smiled politely, the stylized silver swords around her neck clanking together as she shifted position.

"Worry not, Trox of Yrthak Pass. Many a mercenary has found faith fighting side by side with the Shining One's church. There might be much for you to learn still, but our temples come well-equipped, and every priest shall be your instructor. Teaching the strong in matters of worship is little different from teaching the devout in matters of battle."

Trox muttered a word of thanks, and almost made to leave when he realized the priest had another thing to say.

"That said, before you begin your training... I have a question, more of a riddle, perhaps. This is unrelated to your initiation: it is simply something I like to ask new devotees. Can I pose it to you?"

The orc nodded.

"Humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings; all were created by the gods. In that creation, we can already find the potential for war: the strength to wield weapons, the frailty to be killed by them. But why did the gods make it so? Why allow for their creations to kill one another? Why not give us the stony hide of gargoyles, which no spear or blade may pierce? Why not the vitality of trolls, that may survive even beheading? Or, if need be, why not remove our strength, and thus make violence impossible? The gods are neither cruel nor short-sighted: they must have known their design capable of great evil: why did they not make it less so?"

The orc reflected on that question. "How long to answer?"

The elderly priest smiled at that question.

"Why, Brother Trox, I've pondered it for sixty years and still not found an answer. If you find one ere I die, I will be pleased."


Pale Dirt. A narrow peninsula, blasted by the northwestern ocean gale, home to smattering of farms and three tiny villages. The church of Heironeous kept a small shrine in the largest of them, maintained mostly out of an age-old obligation to station a priest in 'each border County of the Kingdom, for Education and Training of the Guard'. Earth's End had no guard: it had two dozen militiamen, half of which showed up to any given drill. On occasion, a stray ogre would wander in from the highlands, they'd scare it off, and that was that.

In other words, Pale Dirt made for a perfect spot to reassign any turbulent priests to. And Trox, more and more distrusted by his peers, had been deemed turbulent enough. The half-orc, tasked with little other than staying out of the way, spent his time praying, helping the villagers out where possible, and training his body to peak human ability.

He found the peak of human ability to be... insufficient.

Demons poured forth from the hole in reality, uncaring that their summoner had been slain. The paladins, clerics, and other warriors that had penetrated the enemy formation had gambled on the fact that her death would end the spell: now they were surrounded on all sides by fiends, the main force too far away to help.

Esther the Just, commander of the regiment, cast spell after spell, each felling more demons that were just as quickly replaced by their brethren. She was going to die here, but at least some of those abominations would die with her.

A commotion to her right. A small figure split off from the main force, charging through the demons' ranks towards their position. A hopeless endeavor: already the fiends were attacking from all sides, blasting it with frost and lightning, calling out in unholy tongues. There the figure fell, barely halfway to their position, and what difference could it have made there? No, what she had witnessed was nothing but foolish bravery, an-

A golden light began to emanate from where the figure had been standing. A few demons began screeching, the din of battle still not enough to drown out their cries. Speechlessly, Esther watched the figure rise again, fight off its attackers, and advance, sword held before it. No ordinary sword, she realized: far bigger than the one-handed blades most of the church used. It almost reminded her of...

With a final mighty charge, the figure landed in the midst of the beleagured paladins. Immediately, the demonic attack faltered: the monsters halting their attack as if kept at bay by the radiance alone.

"Greetings, teacher." the figure spoke in a language Esther had only heard from the mouths of angels. She looked on in awe as he turned and smashed headlong into those stronger demons that still dared approach.

The figure, no, Trox, that initiate-turned-heretic, stood proud and radiant. Yellow flames enshrouded his teal body, heating his mail to a dull red glow. Two great swollen hands were clasping an inchor-covered greatsword, their nails lengthened and thickened into claws. The wounds demons had dealt him were closing before her eyes, somehow failing to be more than skin deep anywhere. Blood and sweat dripped off of him, a greenish tinge to both substances. The orc almost looked like a madman's painting: all bright colors and clashing lights, yet there was something utterly divine about him.

In that moment, she realized he had found the answer to her question long, long ago.

The war between Good and Evil, in all their many facets, trumps all else in importance. Evil will inevitably reject peace, and when it does, Good must be prepared. Faith alone is not enough: it must be backed by martial skill. Wars must be fought, and we should fight then on the side of Good. In all this, the church of Heironeous is correct.

But the church fails to answer why war is inevitable. A million possible worlds are conceivable where violence itself does not exist, where disagreement is impossible, where conflict has no point. If nothing else, we can imagine a world like ours where all receive some form of invulnerability: why did the gods not create that? A mere apostate might call their power limited, their motives cruel, their foresight fallible, but we reject these lies.

The answer is this: a skin that cannot be cut by swords cannot be cut by scalpels. A hand that cannot forge weapons cannot forge the tools of reason. The frostblood orcs of old would drink the blood of dragons, suffusing them with frozen power: a body that rejects all poison would have rejected this gift, too. However paradoxical, we were made frail so we may twist ourselves away from frailty.

What is war, then? A confrontation with our limits, and a challenge to exceed them. A reminder that mere humanity may not be sufficient to avoid death, a proving ground for those who seek to venture beyond. War is, on a cosmic scale, nothing more than a question posed by the gods: our own bodies will be the answer. The gods granted their creation the capacity to change: we would dishonor them by making no use of it.

---

Those who adopt this heresy typically choose a greatsword as their weapon. The symbolism is straightforward: the symbol of their god, simply made greater, as a plain example of the self-improvement they strive towards. Among those clerics who aren't Ordained Champions, Chaotic Good alignments are common.




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


1st
Skilled City-Dweller Barbarian 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
Climb 4, Knowledge (Nature) 2cc, Knowledge (Local) 1cc, Literacy 2, Sense Motive 4, Tumble 4
EnduranceB, Extra Rage
Illiteracy, Rage, Spiritual Totem (Lion)


2nd
Cloistered Cleric 1
+1
+4
+0
+2
Craft (Alchemy) 1, Heal 2, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 3
Weapon Focus (Longsword)B
Lore, Turn Undead, Knowledge Domain, War Domain, Courage Domain


3rd
Cloistered Cleric 2
+2
+5
+0
+3
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (2), Heal +1 (3), Knowledge (Arcana) +3 (4), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (5)
Heretic of the Faith(Greatsword, Planning), Weapon Focus (Greatsword)B, Extend SpellB
Planning Domain


4th
Cloistered Cleric 3
+2
+5
+1
+3
Heal +2 (5), Knowledge (Arcana) +3 (7), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (7)
-
-


5th
Ordained Champion 1
+3
+7
+1
+5
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (8), Knowledge (Religion) +1 (8)
Power AttackB, Intuitive AttackB
Destiny Domain, exchange granted powers of Knowledge and Destiny domain, Continued Advancement, Modified Spontaneous Casting


6th
Ordained Champion 2
+4
+8
+1
+6
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (5), Collector of Stories skill trick
DiehardB, Great Fortitude
Smite


7th
Ordained Champion 3
+5
+8
+2
+6
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (6), Tumble +1cc (5)
-
Channel Spell, Divine Bulwark


8th
Ordained Champion 4
+6/+1
+9
+2
+7
Balance 1cc (1), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (7)
-
Fist of the Gods, Rapid Spontaneous Casting


9th
Flux Adept 1
+6/+1
+9
+4
+7
Balance +2 (3), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (8)
Blazing Berserker
Grace Through Will


10th
Flux Adept 2
+7/+2
+9
+5
+7
Balance +2 (5), Craft (Alchemy) +1 (9)
-
Pheromonic Control, Thermoregulation +2


11th
Flux Adept 3
+7/+2
+10
+5
+8
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (10), Twisted Charge Skill Trick
-
Iron Stomach


12th
Flux Adept 4
+8/+3
+10
+6
+8
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (11), Nimble Charge Skill Trick
Righteous Wrath
Bitter Tides


13th
Flux Adept 5
+8/+3
+10
+6
+8
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (12), Sense Motive +2 (6)
-
Feign Death


14th
Flux Adept 6
+9/+4
+11
+7
+9
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (13), Sense Motive +2 (8)
-
Taste of Truth


15th
Flux Adept 7
+9/+4
+11
+7
+9
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (14), Sense Motive +2 (10)
Headlong Rush
Haste


16th
Flux Adept 8
+10/+5
+11
+8
+9
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (15), Sense Motive +2 (12)
-
Boiling Blood


17th
Flux Adept 9
+10/+5
+12
+8
+10
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (16), Sense Motive +2 (14)
-
Polyhaemia


18th
Flux Adept 10
+11/+6/+1
+12
+9
+10
Craft (Alchemy) +1 (17), Sense Motive +2 (16)
Sanctify Martial Strike
Regeneration 1


20th
Saint Template
+11/+6/+1
+12
+9
+10
-
-
Insight bonus to AC, Holy Power, Holy Touch, SLAs, DR 10/evil, Fast Healing 9, Acid Immunity, Cold Immunity, Electricity Immunity, Petrification Immunity, Keen Vision, Protective Aura, Resistance to Fire 10, +4 on saves against poison, Tongues



Spells per Day


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th


2nd
3
2+1
-
-
-
-


3rd
4
3+1
-
-
-
-


4th
4
3+1
2+1
-
-
-


5th
5
3+1
2+1
-
-
-


6th
5
4+1
3+1
-
-
-


7th
5
4+1
3+1
1+1
-
-


8th
5
4+1
3+1
1+1
-
-


9th
5
4+1
4+1
2+1
-
-


10th
5
4+1
4+1
2+1
-
-


11th
6
5+1
4+1
2+1
1+1
-


12th
6
5+1
4+1
2+1
1+1
-


13th
6
5+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
-


14th
6
5+1
4+1
3+1
2+1
-


15th
6
5+1
5+1
3+1
2+1
1+1


16th
6
5+1
5+1
3+1
2+1
1+1


17th
6
5+1
5+1
3+1
3+1
2+1


18th
6
5+1
5+1
3+1
3+1
2+1


20th
6
5+1
5+1
4+1
3+1
2+1



Typical Spells Prepared (ECL 20, CL 10):
0: Create Water, Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Magic
1: Command, Detect Secret Doors, Doom, Obscuring Mist, Resurgence, Resurgence
2: Detect Thoughts, Shield Other, Shield Other, Shield Other, Silence, Sound Burst
3: Bestow Curse, Bestow Curse, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Remove Curse, Speak with Dead
4: Bestow Curse, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Panacea
5: Plane Shift, Raise Dead, True Seeing

(domain spells underlined)

ECL 5
Your early-game role is best characterized as 'barbarian who remembers he is a cleric when combat ends'. You're wielding a greatsword, you have 3/day Rage, you got Power Attack... You also have the War Domain on speed dial, so you can fill spell slots with healing and utility and not miss out on Magic Weapon when needed. Medium Armor (which you can sleep in!) and the constitution boost from Rage give you a solid degree of survivability.

You also have some knowledge skills and Lore, things that are typically rolled between and at the start of encounters, so they minimally interfere with Rage. For the first few levels you're actually quite capable of contributing to the party this way: later on the lack of skill points starts to hurt.

Our heresy allows us to exchange Heironeous' longsword-specific benefits to a slightly bigger weapon, while also giving us the Planning domain and Extend Spell with it (if your DM doesn't like heresies, you can also just take Extend Spell normally and wield a longsword two-handed). Extend Spell itself has minimal benefit, but presumably making a spell last 6 rounds instead of 3 matters sometimes.

Speaking of exchanging things, Ordained Champion lets us give up two domain granted powers (the +1 CL to divination spells granted by knowledge, and the destiny domain reroll) and get two fighter bonus feats in return. Intuitive Attack is a really weird pick that'll only matter when we take strength damage: we chose it because it's one of a very limited list of fighter bonus feats that are also exalted.

ECL 10
Ordained Champion helps resolve the central paradox of raging casters: how to use spells you can't cast? The answer is: by burning them on damage bonuses with Fist of the Gods! If you'd rather protect yourself a little, Divine Bulwark gives some decent DR. They're supernatural abilities, and can thus be used during Rage.

In addition, you can Channel spells into your weapon, where they stick around for up to 8 hours. This straightforwardly lets you get in-combat use out of spells cast far before combat (Bestow Curse, Blindness, Sound Burst etc are all very nasty, Command can disarm foes). Another casting trick involves putting Silence either into our weapon or on ourselves: we weren't going to cast in-combat spells anyway, but it can really mess with enemy casters.

You also get Rapid Spontaneous Casting, allowing you to drop a Magic Vestment or Spiritual Weapon before entering rage and charging into battle. Essentially, between Channel Spell, Rapid Casting, and Fist of the Gods, you're getting use out of a regular 'spell allotment' each encounter... except you're also raging and full attacking all the while. We don't really have space for Divine or Devotion feats in the build, but our turning attempts can be expended on Smite, each one granting us one-time +7 damage boosts.

By the way, remember how we picked up the Destiny domain? It gives us Delay Death, which combines with our Diehard feat to let us completely ignore damage for brief intervals. Obviously it's not a strategy to employ every encounter (that damage will still be there when the spell wears off), but it can make for some impressive moments.

Finally, Trox begins experimenting with his own physiology, manipulating his own body temperature (Blazing Berserker, Thermoregulation) and movements (Grace Through Will). Pheromonic Control has minor synergy with the charisma-based abilities we will get, and at worst gives two more Turn Undead attempts (and thus smites) per day. Flux Adept also gives us some Balance ranks to help against the ever-scary Grease. Note how Blazing Berserker removes our innate Fire vulnerability: a welcome bonus at the level enemy clerics get Flame Strike!

We're not finishing Ordained Champion for lack of space, but note the 5th-level class features are mostly useless to us (we have more strength than wisdom and don't really care about caster levels). Even the point of BAB that we lose is going to be compensated for quickly enough.

ECL 15
Flux Adept levels are starting to eat into our BAB... but we're saved by Divine Power, which is a swift action to cast and gives us a third iterative just as the fighter starts getting one! Plus, y'know, +6 strength, a boost our two-handed power attacking charging self certainly appreciates.

Most of what flux adept gives us is mechanically unimpactful, but I like viewing these features through the lens of someone optimizing their own body for wartime environments: capable of subsiding on anything, able to escape bonds and cells by sweating acid, good at playing dead when needed, and quite capable at interrogations. Plus, 2/day free-action extraordinary Haste at the end makes up for a lot. Note that flux adept's abilities tend to be Supernatural or Extraordinary: neither of which Rage interferes with.

Also, note how a lot of Flux Adept abilities have constitution-based uses per day, so Rage actually grants us more uses of them! Bitter Tides especially might see some use: you can deal upwards of 70 points of acid damage in a little over half a minute (enough to melt down a 2-inch steel door) or gradually deal hundreds of points of damage over the course of an hour (which gets you through ~4 feet of hewn stone). Even adamantine will gradually dissolve under your hands: every ten minutes get you through two and a half inches of it.

We also grab Righteous Wrath to deliver a cute debuff on evil enemies and help us keep those Exalted feats around (combining it with a channeled Doom might pay off big time against low-Will foes), and finally take Headlong Rush because we have a ton of multiply-eligible bonus damage (Power Attack, Fist of the Gods, Smite, our immense strength). Lastly, we obtain two skill tricks that will help with reliably lining our pouncing charges up.

ECL 20
Flux Adept gives us Regeneration that can only be overcome by cold, electricity, fire, and sonic damage. Between Saint and Blazing Berserker, we have immunities to all except sonic. In other words, while raging, virtually all damage we take is nonlethal: now there's a capstone! Most of the ways to still hurt you involves targeting Fortitude or Will, but those are boosted by Rage, great base stats, and good base save values (plus Great Fortitude).

It's not just our barbarian side complementing our caster side: headlong rush really appreciates how our flux adept investment leaves its main downside nonexistent. The -2 AC that rage inflicts is also a lot less impactful now. This is also the point where we can start preparing several Shield Others a day: it lasts for hours/level and halves the damage your favorite allies will take with basically no drawback.

Outside of that, not much to say. You round out cleric progression to get to 10th-level casting, you have some at-will SLAs now, you get DR 10/evil (making Divine Bulwark somewhat obsolete, but it wasn't the best way to use your spells anyway), you hit evil creatures harder, and all your spells and special abilities get a bonus to the DC. Your Sense Motive also gets quite high (+30 with Guidance) thanks to the Flux Adept boost and a solid base stat, so you have something to do in social encounters. While I don't see it coming up, note that it's one of the few skills that functions normally during rage! The alchemy is for downtime crafting and occasional Polyhaemia.


Frostblood Half-Orc - DM
Saint - BoED

Skilled City-Dweller - Cityscape web
Spiritual Lion Totem - CChamp
Cloistered Cleric - UA
-Courage Domain - SC
-Planning Domain - CWar
-Destiny Domain - RoD
Ordained Champion - CChamp
Flux Adept - DComp

Twisted Charge, Nimble Charge, Collector of Stories - CScndr

Extra Rage - CWar
Heretic of the Faith - Power of Faerun
Intuitive Attack, Righteous Wrath, Sanctify Martial Strike - BoED
Blazing Berserker - SndSt
Headlong Rush - Races of Faerun

[pabelfly]

Ragnor Kolbjorn
Race: Maenad. Alignment: True Neutral

Me? The name's Ragnor. Ragnor Kolbjorn if you care about a second name. I'm what's called a War Mind. Basiclly I use the power o' ma mind to improve my ability ta kill the enemy. I learned it from my former master in those things. Guy was named Alberik. Unfortunately, he was killed by members of the Valborg Clan. Not alot o' Valborgs anymore.
My skin? Eh, apparently, one o' my who-knaws-how-many great-great-grandsires decided to rut wi'h an ee-leeth-eed. Mindflayers some call 'em. I got a bit of benefit from it.
Yeah, I worship Skadi; what o' it? If'n you want ta fight me o'er it, knaw that the gods have gifted me wi'h the Battle Fury.

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Fighter 1 +1 +2 +0 +0 Knowledge (Psionics) 4 Ranks, Knowledge (History) 2 Ranks, Use Magic Device 4 Ranks, Ride 1 Rank, Concentration .5 Ranks Apprentice (Spell Caster), Power Attack Weapon and Aromr Proficiencies. Racial Abilities:Naturally Psionic, 1/day energy ray (sonic only), Outburst 1/day
2nd Fighter 2 +2 +3 +0 +0 Knowledge (Psionics) 5, UMD 5, Knowledge (History) 2, Ride 1, Concentration 1 Ranks Improved Unarmed Strike
3rd Fighter 3 +3 +3 +1 +1 Knowledge (Psionics) 6, UMD 6, Knowledge (History) 2, Ride 1, Concentration 1.5 Ranks Illithid Heritage
4th Fighter 4 +4 +4 +1 +1 Knowledge (Psionics) 7, UMD 7, Knowledge (History) 2, Ride 1, Concentration 2 Ranks - Resolute ACF
5th Fighter 5 +5 +4 +1 +1 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, UMD 8, Knowledge (History) 2, Ride 1, Concentration 2.5 Ranks
6th Berserk 1 +5 +6 +1 +1 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 9, Ride 1, Concentration 3.5 Ranks Psionic Fist Battle Fury 1/Day, +10 Ft movement speed
7th Berserk 2 +6/+1 +7 +1 +1 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 10, Ride 1, Concentration 4 Ranks Damage Reduction 1/-
8th Berserk 3 +7/+2 +7 +2 +2 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 11, Ride 1, Concentration 4.5 Ranks Beast Shape 1/Day (Eagle)
9th Berserk 4 +8/+3 +8 +2 +2 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 12, Ride 1, Concentration 5 Ranks Illithid Skin Battle Fury 2/day, Damage Reduction 2/-
10th War Mind 1 +9/+4 +10 +4 +2 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 13, Ride 1, Concentration 7 Ranks Chain of Personal Superiority +2, Psionics
11th War Mind 2 +10/+5 +11 +5 +2 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 14, Ride 1, Concentration 9 Ranks Chain of Defensive Posture +2
12th War Mind 3 +11/+6/+1 +11 +5 +3 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 15, Ride 1, Concentration 11 Ranks Illithid Legacy Enduring Body (DR1/-)
13th War Mind 4 +12/+7/+2 +12 +6 +3 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 16, Ride 1, Concentration 13 Ranks
14th Fighter 6 +13/+8/+3 +13 +7 +4 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 17, Ride 1, Autohypnosis 1 Rank Improved Iniative
15th War Mind 5 +14/+9/+4 +13 +7 +4 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 18, Ride 1, Concentration 15, Autohypnosis 1 Rank Unavoidable Strike Sweeping Strike
16th War Mind 6 +15/+10/+5 +14 +8 +5 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 19, Ride 1, Concentration 17, Autohypnosis 1 Rank Enduring Body (DR 2/-),
17th War Mind 7 +16/+11/+6/+1 +14 +8 +5 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 20, Ride 1, Concentration 17, Autohypnosis 3 Ranks Chain of Personal Superiority +4
18th War Mind 8 +17/+12/+7/+2 +15 +9 +5 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 21, Ride 1, Concentration 17, Autohypnosis 5 Ranks Greater Illithid Legacy Chain of Defensive Posture +4
19th War Mind 9 +18/+13/+8/3 +15 +9 +6 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 22, Ride 1, Concentration 17, Autohypnosis 7 Ranks Enduring Body (DR3/-) (68pp)
20th War Mind 10 +19/+14/+9/+4 +16 +10 +6 Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 23, Ride 1, Concentration 17, Autohypnosis 9 Ranks Chain of Overwhelming Force


Abilities Initial 4th 8th 12th 16th 20th Total
STR 14 14
DEX 16 1 2 3 4 20
CON 14 14
INT 12 12
WIS 14 1 15
CHA 8 8

Level Class Manifester Level Powers Known Power Points
1st Maenad Racial 1* Energy Ray 1/day, Sonic Only 1
2nd " " 1* 1
3rd " " 1* 1
4th " " 2* 1
5th " " 2* 1
6th " " 3* 1
7th " " 3* 1
8th " " 4* 1
9th " " 4* 1
10th War Mind 1 1 Claws of the Beast 4
11th War Mind 2 2 Catfall 8
12th War Mind 3 3 Psionic Charm*, Read thoughts* 13
13th War Mind 4 4 Psionic Lion's Charge 19
14th - 4 19
15th War Mind 5 5 26
16th War Mind 6 6 Hostile Empathic Transfer 35
17th War Mind 7 7 45
18th War Mind 8 8 Psionic Dimension Door, Dispel Psionics*, Psionic Dominate* 56
19th War Mind 9 9 68
20th War Mind 10 10 Oak Body 81


Type Name Book Page
Race Maenad Expanded Psionics Handbook 13
Class Fighter Player's Handbook 37
Prestige Class Berserk Deites and Demigod 201
Prestige Class War Mind Expanded Psionics Handbook 155
Feat Apprentice (Spellcaster) DMG II 176,178
Feat Power Attack PHB 98
Feat Improved Unarmed Strike PHB 96
Feat Illithid Heritage Complete Psionic 62
Feat Psionic Fist Expanded Psionics Handbook 50
Feat Illithid Skin Complete Psionic 62
Feat Illithid Legacy Complete Psionic 62
Feat Improved Initiative PHB 96
Feat Unavoidable Strike Expanded Psionics Handbook 52
Feat Greater Illithid Legacy Complete Psionic 62
Alternate Class Feature Resolute Complete Champion 48
Psionic Powers All Expanded Psionics Handbook Varies


Level 1-5: Ragnor is just a Fighter at this point. Apprentice (Spell caster) is taken in order to qualify for War Mind later on. (Knowledge (Psionics) and War Mind's Special Requirement are covered by this). Power Attack is for extra damage potential. IUS is a feat tax, as is Illithid Heritage. Resolute ACF is there because of the horrible Will save. Outburst gives +2 Str at the cost of -2 Int and -2 Wis and lasts for 4 rounds.
Level 6-10: Berserk is a very front-loaded class. Essentially Greater Rage at ECL 6, 1/day single animal Wild shape at ECL 8. DR 1/- at ECL 7, and 2/- at ECL 9. Not bad for a martial. Eagle was chosen for the 80ft fly speed. War Mind 1 gives Ragnor actual manifesting, and qualification for the challenge. Psionic Fist is another feat tax, albeit one that does give a little bit of extra damage. Illithid Skin is another feat tax, but gives us an extra +1 to AC. Reflex saves are bad at this point, and the high dexterity is the only help it gets. Ragnor is a brawler type and needs backup, preferably the kind that doesn't have to fight near him .
Level 11-15: At ECL 14 we take our last level of Fighter, but other wise it is straight War Mind. I.I. is there because I couldn't easily find a decent FBF that Ragnor could easily qualify for. Illithid Legacy Gives the Psionic Cahrm and Read Thoughts powers. Catfall is more utility, and Psionic Lion's Charge is self explanatory. Unavoidable Stike lets Ragnor target Touch AC for a single* attack with an unarmed or claw attack. Can also be used with Power Attack. The Chains allow a quasi-rage 3/day (+2 Str and Con for a minute) and +2 AC for a minute ( also 3/day.) Sweeping Strike gives some ability to target multiple enemies. Reflex save is better at this point. He remains a brawler, and honestly should use Battle Fury a bit less.
Level 16-20: War Mind the rest of the way. At War Mind 7 and 8 the chains improve to +4 each. At War Mind 9 Damage Reduction finally improves to 3/-. And the capstone gives an extra +10d6 to a single attack. That is the main reason for choosing unavoidable strike earlier. Greater Illithid Legacy gives Psionic Dominate and Dispel Psionics. Hostile Empathic Transfer is for combat healing/Touch damage. Psionic Dimension Door is for obvious reasons. Oak Body is for extra durablity if needed. Battle Fury is now a back up ability for Ragnor at this point. Indeed, Ragnor can at, level 20, perform a single high damage strike and then proceed to harass the enemy in melee with good survivabilty.

[pabelfly]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/fb5db09fdf09c57b5d6ad7bb475537c6/e964be9e9bd1f151-cf/s500x750/345533001e9906517069caf8ba8cbf8b208d6f54.jpg
European Werebadger by KaiserFlames (https://www.deviantart.com/kaiserflames)

Long time ago one dwarven clan fell in with the devils. They crossbreeded and got the power from having durzagon-like members in the clan. But they wanted more and rebelled against the dwarven king. Unfortunately conspiracy was exposed and revolution was crushed. All adult dwarves of this today forgotten clan participated in the riot and were killed or executed. Only several dozens of children escaped through an old unstable portal and were lost. Everybody thought they were dead.

But they survived. Devil-blooded dwarven children alone in the far uncharted caves... It was a very hard time and without adults they forgot too many, they became more wild, more feral than were their forebears. It lasted for centuries, they survived, evolved on their own, acquired new traditions and beliefs. One day they found an exit to the surface. It was very terrible for wild uncivilized dwarves, it was a different world, full of monsters and unknown hazards. Place where spirits should live. It happened once a badger came into dwarven caves. It was an old and weary animal. And very calm. Tribe's shaman managed to tame this creature and was very proud of this - he was the shaman, he should deal with hazards of the Outside. In this way Badger became the totem of the tribe.

Passed a few generations. Shamans explored the totem spirit and one of them found the way to unite maeluth’s and badger's spirits and body in one great rite. He performed this ritual for all tribe and from this moment all tribal members became werebadgers.

Badger tribe still exists today in their distant caves. It's a very savage and wild tribe, most of its members are cruel and evil and religious rituals of the tribe are very violent and unsafe. Even tribe members don't always survive the maturity ceremony. Trogdrak should never have survived it, he was too weak and clumsy and not shining in health against the background of other children, but... Badger spirit inside him turned out to be stronger than anybody expected. When at the end of the ceremony his lifeless body turned into an almost ten-footed tall animal even the shaman gasped! It was incredible! After this incident he had no other ways but to become the shaman - with such a strong badger inside!

He grew older and studied with an old tribe shaman, but he did not receive satisfaction from this destiny. He wasn't so evil and cruel as his tribesmen, shamanic rites mostly seemed disgusting and excessive. One day he woke up and went outside. Shaman told him before many horror stories about this place and he was ready to fight with hostile monsters, spirits and demons, but... There were none of them. There was a forest around, never before seen trees and bushes. It was so... beautiful!

He lived in the forest alone for years. He taught himself how to obtain food and make a shelter. How to heal himself when he was ill and how to deal with wild animals and plants - they turned out not to be demons at all, just regular creatures of flesh and blood or wood and sap.

He met an undead once. They were just two ordinary human zombies, but for Trogdrak they were a new and eerie encounter. He remembered how he himself nearly died due the maturity ceremony and was afraid. But this fear wasn't detrimental for Trogdrak, but instead woke up a new power inside him. Power to feel death, rebuke undead and improve his kamlanie rites.

Trogdrak long time lived alone and saw no one sentient being. His forest was too distant from any civilized places, but it could not last forever. One day all changed. People came. Humans and several half-orcs. They were poachers. Trogdrak faced them suddenly, he could not have expected such. Poachers didn't expect to meet bear-sized badger with six legs, either, but they were poachers and always knew what to do when they saw such a gimmick. Of course they attacked Trogdrak trying to capture him alive. It was a mistake. Trogdrak fighted back and killed them all.

But he understood: poachers were only the first sign. After them more people will come. Trogdrak went in the footsteps of poachers and met another newcomers. This time it wasn't a surprise and Trogdrak managed to hide out and let them pass. They followed the poachers' trail and it looked like they weren't friends. It was Guardians of the Green squad, they received information about a band of poachers who headed towards virgin forests to find new prey and wanted to prevent this from happening.

Trogdrak watched Guardians until they reached the site of the battle. He hid the bodies and loot, but for a skilled tracker the overall picture was clear: poachers tried to take a bite out of size. And Trogdrak understood it's a matter of time when new guests found all his footprints and his place. It was time to decide: to fight, to flee away... or to come out and talk...

TN Ferral Natural Weredire Badger Lesser Maeluth Spirit Shaman 6/Death Delver 1/Holt Warden 2/Mystic Wanderer 3
Abilities Initial Lesser Maeluth Lycanthrope Feral Levels Animal/Hybrid Form Bite of the Weretiger Bite of the Werebear + Sirine's Grace + Ability Enhancer Total Total AF Total AF + BotWT Total AF + BotWB + SG + AE
STR 8 4 12 12 18 12 24 36 42
DEX 8 -2 -2 4 4 6 4 8 12 14
CON 10 4 2 12 6 10 16 28 34 38
INT 16 -4 12 12 12 12
WIS 12 2 2 16 16 16 16
CHA 18 4 6 22 22 22 28

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
3rd Natural Lycanthrope +3 LA - - - - - Iron WillB Alternate form, lycanthropic empathy, curse of lycanthropy, DR 10/silver, low-light vision, scent
4th Ferral +1 LA - - - - - Darkvision, fast healing
5th Dire Badger 1 HD 1 2 2 0 12: {+4 CC} Knowledge (religion): 2; {+4 CC} Perform (oratory): 2; {+4} Spot: 4; Extend Spell1, TrackB Dwarf traits, fiend hammer, improved grab, rage
6th Dire Badger 2 HD 2 3 3 0 3: {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 2.5; {+1 CC} Perform (oratory): 2.5; {+1} Spot: 5;
7th Dire Badger 3 HD 3 3 3 1 3: {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 3; {+1 CC} Perform (oratory): 3; {+1} Spot: 6; Persistent Spell3
8th Dire Badger 4 HD 4 4 4 1 3: {+2 CC} Knowledge (nature): 1; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 3.5; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; Pounce
9th Spirit Shaman 1 4 6 4 3 5: {+2} Concentration: 2; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 2; {+1 CC} Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; {+1} Survival: 1; AlertnessB Spirit guide (Badger), wild empathy
10th Spirit Shaman 2 5 7 4 4 5: {+2} Concentration: 4; {+1} Heal: 1; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 3; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; {+1} Survival: 2; Plant Defiance6 Chastise spirits
11th Spirit Shaman 3 6 7 5 4 5: {+2} Concentration: 6; {+1} Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 3; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; {+2} Survival: 4; Detect spirits
12th Spirit Shaman 4 7 8 5 5 5: {+2} Concentration: 8; Heal: 2; {+3} Knowledge (nature): 6; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; Survival: 4; Blessing of the spirits, rake
13th Death Delver 1 7 10 5 7 3: Concentration: 8; {+3} Craft (alchemy): 3; Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 6; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; Survival: 4; Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell)9 Deathsense, rebuke undead
14th Spirit Shaman 5 7 10 5 7 5: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; {+3} Diplomacy: 3; Heal: 2; {+2} Knowledge (nature): 8; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; Survival: 4; Follow the guide
15th Spirit Shaman 6 8 11 6 8 5: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; {+5} Diplomacy: 8; Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 8; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Spot: 6; Survival: 4; Ghost warrior
16th Holt Warden 1 8 13 6 10 5: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; Diplomacy: 8; Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 8; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; {+3} Profession (herbalism): 3; Spot: 6; {+2} Survival: 6; Spell Focus (Transmutation)12 Nature sense, plant affinity, rend
17th Holt Warden 2 9 14 6 11 5: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; Diplomacy: 8; Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 8; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; {+1} Profession (herbalism): 4; Spot: 6; {+4} Survival: 10; Rebuke plants, woodland stride
18th Mystic Wanderer 1 9 14 8 12 3: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; Diplomacy: 8; Heal: 2; {+2} Knowledge (nature): 10; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; {+1} Profession (herbalism): 5; Spot: 6; Survival: 10; Blind-FightS, Power AttackS Glory of the divine, sleep
19th Mystic Wanderer 2 10 14 9 13 3: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; {+3} Diplomacy: 11; Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 10; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Profession (herbalism): 5; Spot: 6; Survival: 10; Ability Enhancer15 Familiar (weasel), lore of nature
20th Mystic Wanderer 3 10 15 9 13 3: Concentration: 8; Craft (alchemy): 3; {+3} Diplomacy: 14; Heal: 2; Knowledge (nature): 10; Knowledge (religion): 4; Perform (oratory): 3; Profession (herbalism): 5; Spot: 6; Survival: 10; Attune GemB Gem magic, resist charm
B - bonus feats, S - feats granted by spell.

Level Class 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
8th Spirit Shaman 1 3 2+1
9th Spirit Shaman 2 4 3+1
10th Spirit Shaman 3 5 4+1 2+1
11th Spirit Shaman 4 6 5+1 3+1
14th Spirit Shaman 5 6 6+1 4+1 2+1
15th Spirit Shaman 6 6 6+1 5+1 3+1
16th Spirit Shaman 7 6 6+1+D 6+1+D 4+1+D 2+D
17th Spirit Shaman 8 6 6+1+D 6+1+D 5+1+D 3+D
18th Spirit Shaman 9 6 6+1+D 6+1+D 6+1+D 4+D 2+D
19th Spirit Shaman 10 6 6+1+D 6+1+D 6+1+D 5+D 3+D
20th Spirit Shaman 11 6 6+1+D 6+1+D 6+1+D 6+D 4+D 2+D
Level Class 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th Turn Attempts
HM - - Wood Wose; Deep BreathP; Crabwalk; Aspect of the WolfP Bone Talisman; Countermoon; Acorn of Far Travel Augment Object; Nature's Rampart - Druid Grove; Echo Skull Spellstaff; Ironwood; Liveoak -
9th Spirit Shaman 1 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 1: Longstrider/Rapid Burrowing 0
10th Spirit Shaman 2 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 2: Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 7
11th Spirit Shaman 3 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 2: Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 1: Master Air 7
12th Spirit Shaman 4 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 1: Master Air 8
14th Spirit Shaman 5 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 1: Master AirP 1: Giralon's Blessing 16
15th Spirit Shaman 6 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 2: Master AirP; Align Fang 1: Giralon's Blessing 16
16th Spirit Shaman 7 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 2: Master AirP; Align Fang 1: Giralon's Blessing 1: Friendly FireP 16
17th Spirit Shaman 8 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 2: Master AirP; Align Fang 2: Giralon's Blessing; Jagged Tooth 1: Friendly FireP 24
18th Spirit Shaman 9 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 3: Master AirP; Align Fang; Earthbind 2: Giralon's Blessing; Jagged Tooth 1: Friendly FireP 1: Bite of the WeretigerP 24
19th Spirit Shaman 10 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 3: Master AirP; Align Fang; Earthbind 2: Giralon's Blessing; Jagged Tooth 2: Friendly FireP; Magic Fang, Superior 1: Bite of the WeretigerP 24
20th Spirit Shaman 11 3: Naturewatch; Silvered Weapon; Detect Magic 3: Power Sight; Longstrider; Rapid Burrowing 3: Master AirP; Align Fang; Earthbind 3: Giralon's Blessing; Jagged Tooth; Giant's Wrath/Downdraft 2: Friendly FireP; Magic Fang, SuperiorP 1: Sirine's GraceP 1: Bite of the WerebearP 36*
P - spells for Persistent spell use.
*- number of turns including turns from Charisma improved via Sirine's Grace spell.
1) Acorn of Far Travel + Liveoak give me a treant ally everywhere.
2) Acorn of Far Travel + wearable bonsai oak + familiar's Share Spells = my selfbuffs all day long working for my familiar without needing to be close to me.
3) Familiar + Aspect of the Wolf. Thanks to Share Spells I could cast this spell onto my weasel familiar. With shared buffs from #2 it gives me powerful melee buddy. If I want persist Aspect of the Wolf I need to find some additional turn attempts (for example via Bone Talisman) or replace some spell from my regular persist list. In Spells Retrieved Aspect of the Wolf most likely replaces Power Sight. If it isn't enough Aspect of the Wolf opens opportunity to use Animal Growth onto familiar. Yes, I have no options to add this spell into my Spells Retrieved (Sirine's Grace is more important), but it's a solvable problem (Spellstaff, Attune Gem or some another item).
4) Creating Spellstaff of Spellstaff and the next day using it to create Spellstaff of any other useful sixth level spell (spells up to fifth levels I could preserve without Spellstaff of Spellstaff) is some long but cool way to get around spells retrieved limitations.
5) Druid Grove also is a method to get extra spells. Especially if I got Orange Prism. Four spell levels preserved for next usage is great.
6) Spellstaff/Druid Grove + Ironwood and Augment Object. My spells' storages really need to have the most possible hardness.
7) Power Sight is a very unique spell. It's a very good method to study foe. Yeah, I'll not know what levels he has, but the number of levels is already quite good information.

8) Rage and spells overall. Yes, I can't cast spells while I raging and badgers rage has wording

...until either it or its opponent is dead. ... The creature cannot end its rage voluntarily
But I'm not just a badger, I'm a natural lycanthrope. I can end my rage in any moment just by turning into my maeluth form.

9) Attune Gem isn't spell itself, but it is free feat that gives me another way to preserve spells for future.
Book Spells
Spell Compendium Naturewatchp. 146; Crabwalkp. 53; Rapid Burrowingp. 166; Wood Wosep. 242; Align Fangp. 9; Countermoonp. 53; Master Airp. 139; Earthbindp. 76; Giralon's Blessingp. 106; Jagged Toothp. 126; Nature's Rampartp. 146; Giant's Wrathp. 105; Downdraftp. 72; Magic Fang, Superiorp. 136; Bite of the Weretigerp. 28; Sirine's Gracep. 191; Echo Skullp. 77; Bite of the Werebearp. 27; Deep Breathp. 61; Aspect of the Wolfp. 16;
Web Silvered Weaponlink (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101074952/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mc/mc20020130a); Bone Talismanlink (https://web.archive.org/web/20201111200627/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a); Acorn of Far Travellink (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101150341/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20040710a);
PHB Detect Magicp. 219; Detect Animals or Plantsp. 218; Longstriderp. 249; Spellstaffp. 282; Ironwoodp. 246; Liveoakp. 248;
Masters of the Wild Power Sightp. 92; Druid Grovep. 87;
Stronghold Builder's Guidebook Augment Objectp. 41;
Exemplars of Evil Friendly Firep. 27;
Death Delver's spell list isn't very useful, but at least Lesser Restoration could find its place.

Here we start. Natural Lycanthrope synergizes well with Feral template. All Animal HDs became Monstrous Humanoid HDs. Fast healing, improved grab and pounce, all this is good. I take advanced dire badger as Trogdrak's animal counterpart. There is no restrictions in template description against this.
Real class levels. Four of Spirit Shaman and one of Death Delver. I found DMM Persistent as a good option to use my badger's rage and spells at the same time. At this level it works only with Master Air and maybe with Deep Breath, but later this tactics will significantly improve.
It's the apex. With all my persistent spells and dire badger form I'm a very dangerous melee combatant even with not so good BAB and not very combat oriented feats. Even during rage I have very high AC with two times Cha mod (Glory of the divine and Sirine's Grace) and 14 NatAC, plus persistent Friendly Fire gives perfect protection against ranged attacks.
I also have options to fight with flying enemies and/or with enemies at the range. Plus I have methods against various DR. Of course not all my spells could by persistent and I anyway have limited amount of turns, but with round or two for preparation I could deal with almost everything.
I also have a familiar now and I could make it good combatant, too, by casting on it some spells that I use for selfbuff.

It isn't very useful for my entry, but it's some free numbers that I can obtain. I have at least 17 Affiliation Score with one-time criterions only and easily could get more with multiple use criterions.
Full affiliation's description is in the Complete Champion, p. 68.
I want to obtain Orange Prism Ioun Stone. This +1 CL significantly improves several of my spells.
If I'd have at least +4 Wis item I will be able to cast enough Bone Talismans to feed all needed persistent DMM spells.
I know, not everybody allow to use DMM with non-undead turns (Plant Defiance and Rebuke plants in my entry). If you feel the same way I point at the Bone Talisman spell. It could provide me enough turn attempts. For all spells, but one (I'd choose to skip the Master Air) or for totally all with two Bone Talismans from the Druid Grove.

Type Name Book Page
Race Maeluth Fiend Folio 136
Race Lesser Player's Guide To Faerun 190
Race Lycanthrope Monster Manual 170
Race Dire Badger Monster Manual 62
Template Feral Savage Species 115
Class Spirit Shaman Complete Divine 14
Prestige Class Death Delver Heroes of Horror 93
Prestige Class Holt Warden Complete Champion 84
Prestige Class Mystic Wanderer Magic of Faerûn 35
Feat Iron Will PHB 97
Feat Extend Spell PHB 94
Feat Track PHB 101
Feat Persistent Spell Complete Arcane 81
Feat Alertness PHB 89
Feat Plant Defiance Masters of the Wild 24
Feat Divine Metamagic Complete Divine 80
Feat Spell Focus PHB 100
Feat Blind-Fight PHB 89
Feat Power Attack PHB 98
Feat Ability Enhancer Dragon Compendium 91
Feat Attune Gem Magic of Faerûn 21

[pabelfly]

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Wander
True Neutral Shifter (razorclaw) Cleric 1 / Psychic Rogue 16 / Weretouched Master 3

“But how? How did you penetrate my trap-filled labyrinth and reach the ritual chamber in time?!”
“Elementary. All it takes is the right tools, and a little intellect. I make sure never to leave the house without either.”
“So now what? Is this where you spout a long-winded explanation, as you reveal your genius to the audience?”
“Actually, this is where I pretty much just beat you to death.”


Wander is, well, a wanderer, traveling from place to place and adventuring for the thrill of testing their skills and growing ever stronger. They've got a whole lot of tricks up their well-armored sleeve, and are equally at home wading into battle or sneaking through a trap-filled lair. Wander works best in a party with flanking buddies, but has more than enough stealth to get the drop on enemies, and is far tankier than any rogue has a right to be.


Cleric 1/ Psychic Rogue 8/ Weretouched Master 3/ Psychic Rogue +8
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Cleric (Sovereign Host: Plant, Travel) 1 0 2 0 2 16: {+4} Knowledge (nature): 4; {+4} Survival: 4; {+4 CC} Hide: 2; {+4 CC} Move Silently: 2; Shifter Ferocity Aura, Spontaneous Domain Casting (Plant) ACF, Turn Undead
2nd Psychic Rogue 1 0 2 2 2 8: Knowledge (nature): 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 5; {+2} Hide: 4; {+2} Move Silently: 4; {+1} Search: 1; {+1} Disable Device: 1; Sneak Attack +1d6, Trapfinding
3rd Psychic Rogue 2 1 2 3 2 8: Knowledge (nature): 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 6; {+2} Hide: 6; {+2} Move Silently: 6; {+1} Search: 2; {+1} Disable Device: 2; Razorclaw Elite Evasion
4th Psychic Rogue 3 2 3 3 3 8: Knowledge (nature): 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 7; {+1} Hide: 7; {+1} Move Silently: 7; {+2} Search: 4; {+1} Open Lock: 1; {+1} Disable Device: 3;
5th Psychic Rogue 4 3 3 4 3 8: Knowledge (nature): 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 8; {+1} Hide: 8; {+1} Move Silently: 8; {+2} Search: 6; Open Lock: 1; {+2} Disable Device: 5; Sneak Attack +2d6
6th Psychic Rogue 5 3 3 4 3 8: Knowledge (nature): 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 9; {+1} Hide: 9; {+1} Move Silently: 9; {+2} Search: 8; {+1} Open Lock: 2; {+1} Disable Device: 6; Darkstalker Danger Sense
7th Psychic Rogue 6 4 4 5 4 8: Knowledge (nature): 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 10; {+1} Hide: 10; {+1} Move Silently: 10; {+2} Search: 10; Open Lock: 2; {+2} Disable Device: 8;
8th Psychic Rogue 7 5 4 5 4 8: {+1 CC} Knowledge (nature): 4.5; {+2 CC} Survival: 11; {+1} Hide: 11; {+1} Move Silently: 11; {+1} Search: 11; {+1} Open Lock: 3; {+1} Disable Device: 9; Sneak Attack +3d6, Danger Sense (Uncanny Dodge)
9th Psychic Rogue 8 6 4 6 4 8: {+1 CC} Knowledge (nature): 5; {+2 CC} Survival: 12; {+1} Hide: 12; {+1} Move Silently: 12; {+1} Search: 12; {+1} Open Lock: 4; {+1} Disable Device: 10; Improved Unarmed Strike
10th Weretouched Master 1 6 6 8 4 4: Knowledge (nature): 5; Survival: 12; {+2 CC} Hide: 13; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 13; Search: 12; Open Lock: 4; Disable Device: 10; Weretouched I (Wolverine)
11th Weretouched Master 2 7 7 9 4 4: Knowledge (nature): 5; Survival: 12; {+2 CC} Hide: 14; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 14; Search: 12; Open Lock: 4; Disable Device: 10; Shifter Multiattack (B) Bonus Shifter Feat, Wild Empathy
12th Weretouched Master 3 8 7 9 5 4: Knowledge (nature): 5; Survival: 12; {+2 CC} Hide: 15; {+2 CC} Move Silently: 15; Search: 12; Open Lock: 4; Disable Device: 10; Shifter Savagery Weretouched II (Wolverine)
13th Psychic Rogue 9 8 8 9 6 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; Survival: 12; {+1} Hide: 16; {+1} Move Silently: 16; {+2} Search: 14; {+2} Open Lock: 6; {+2} Disable Device: 12; Danger Sense (Improved Uncanny Dodge)
14th Psychic Rogue 10 9 8 10 6 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; Survival: 12; {+1} Hide: 17; {+1} Move Silently: 17; {+2} Search: 16; {+2} Open Lock: 8; {+2} Disable Device: 14; Sneak Attack +4d6
15th Psychic Rogue 11 10 8 10 6 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; Survival: 12; {+1} Hide: 18; {+1} Move Silently: 18; {+2} Search: 18; {+2} Open Lock: 10; {+2} Disable Device: 16; Craven, Psicrystal Affinity (B) Special Ability (bonus feat)
16th Psychic Rogue 12 11 9 11 7 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; {+1 CC} Survival: 12.5; {+1} Hide: 19; {+1} Move Silently: 19; {+1} Search: 19; {+2} Open Lock: 12; {+2} Disable Device: 18;
17th Psychic Rogue 13 11 9 11 7 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; {+1 CC} Survival: 13; {+1} Hide: 20; {+1} Move Silently: 20; {+1} Search: 20; {+2} Open Lock: 14; {+2} Disable Device: 20; Sneak Attack +5d6
18th Psychic Rogue 14 12 9 12 7 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; {+1 CC} Survival: 13.5; {+1} Hide: 21; {+1} Move Silently: 21; {+1} Search: 21; {+3} Open Lock: 17; {+1} Disable Device: 21; Extra Shifter Trait (Swiftwing) Special Ability (Skill Mastery (Hide, Move Silently))
19th Psychic Rogue 15 13 10 12 8 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; {+1 CC} Survival: 14; {+1} Hide: 22; {+1} Move Silently: 22; {+1} Search: 22; {+3} Open Lock: 20; {+1} Disable Device: 22;
20th Psychic Rogue 16 14 10 13 8 8: Knowledge (nature): 5; {+1 CC} Survival: 14.5; {+1} Hide: 23; {+1} Move Silently: 23; {+1} Search: 23; {+3} Open Lock: 23; {+1} Disable Device: 23; Sneak Attack +6d6

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


Level \ Abilities STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
1st 16 10 14 14 14 6
2nd 16 10 14 14 14 6
3rd 16 10 14 14 14 6
4th 17 10 14 14 14 6
5th 17 10 14 14 14 6
6th 17 10 14 14 14 6
7th 17 10 14 14 14 6
8th 18 10 14 14 14 6
9th 18 10 14 14 14 6
10th 18 10 14 14 14 6
11th 18 10 14 14 14 6
12th 19 10 14 14 14 6
13th 19 10 14 14 14 6
14th 19 10 14 14 14 6
15th 19 10 14 14 14 6
16th 20 10 14 14 14 6
17th 20 10 14 14 14 6
18th 20 10 14 14 14 6
19th 20 10 14 14 14 6
20th 21 10 14 14 14 6

Character Level 0th Divine 1st Divine Power Points
1st 3 2+1 0
2nd 3 2+1 1
3rd 3 2+1 3
4th 3 2+1 5
5th 3 2+1 8
6th 3 2+1 11
7th 3 2+1 14
8th 3 2+1 17
9th 3 2+1 20
10th 3 2+1 20
11th 3 2+1 20
12th 3 2+1 20
13th 3 2+1 24
14th 3 2+1 28
15th 3 2+1 32
16th 3 2+1 36
17th 3 2+1 40
18th 3 2+1 48
19th 3 2+1 56
20th 3 2+1 64

Level 1st 2nd 3rd 4th
1st
2nd compression
3rd control light
4th defensive precognition
5th
6th control sound
7th animal affinity
8th feat leech
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th hustle
14th telekinetic force
15th greater concealing amorpha
16th
17th correspond
18th psionic freedom of movement
19th psionic dimension door
20th


Nothing wrong with taking help where you find it... a little well-placed help from above is well worth a little faith. Cleric 1 doesn't give us many spell slots, but the Spontaneous Domain Casting ACF lets us devote all of them to whatever utility spells are best for the day and still have a solid combat option in spontaneously casting entangle. Access all armors lets us dump Dex, a much-needed reduction to our MAD; once you can afford it, an Animated shield is another solid boost to your AC that most rogues can't enjoy. Our domains also give us crucial access to Survival and Knowledge (nature) as class skills. +2 to the two most important saves in the game is just icing on the cake.

As a Shifter, we get access to a lot of perks, several of them quite good. Shifter Ferocity is a massive boost to our early-game survivability, being essentially 10 extra HP right from level 1. Its utility fades as your level rises, so if your DM allows retraining you might want to look into that later (I'd recommend Healing Factor or Reactive Shifting), but in this level bracket it's gold. Then Razorclaw Elite gives us a pseudo-pounce. And while shifting is at best rage-adjacent, later on it gives us access to true Rage. Last but not least, having two primary claw attacks is even better than TWF for Sneak Attacking, more than making up for our lost point of BAB.

In Psychic Rogue, we get the lovely Trapfinding (though our Disable Device is a little low early) and the lovelier Sneak Attack. Our powers are aimed at bolstering our stealth and defenses. Defensive precognition is currently only worth casting as a prebuff, but once we get some power points to spare it can be manifested as a swift action, and it scales quite nicely through augmentation.

Skill-wise, we're investing hard into Survival, Move Silently, Hide, and Search as our utility tools. We invest a more modest number of ranks into Knowledge (nature) for identification and into Disable Device. We even send a few into Open Lock, though we won't be good at that for a while. Aw, well, just carry an ax.


Darkstalker, a necessity for any build interested using stealth. Between this, compression, perhaps animal affinity, and ideally some mithril armor if you can swing it, we're almost as good as a traditional sneaky Rogue, only with control sound and control light for creating our own favorable environments.

Combat-wise, we're a few D6s behind that traditional Rogue, but with a much higher Str contributing to damage, and at the end of this bracket we get Improved Unarmed Strike and a bite attack, bringing us up to five attacks per full-attack while shifting (which also now gives us a +2 to Con).


Finally, Rage! Early in this bracket, we pick up the two abilities that bring the combat side of this build fully into gear. Weretouched II lets us enter Rage whenever we take damage while shifting, and Shifter Savagery gives all of our natural weapons (which I believe includes our unarmed strike, but I could be wrong about that) a massive boost while we're both raging and shifting. Enemies are put in a very awkward position; Rogues are typically glass cannons, but Wander has comparable damage without the fragility, and if hit will actually heal automatically (increased Con) and start doing even more damage! Plus, hustle lets us move and full-attack to open the fight for when charging with Razorclaw Elite isn't quite enough (or when conditions prevent it). At level 15 we get Craven for a flat damage boost (which takes advantage of our increased threat range in a way that more D6s can't), and Psicrystal Affinity gives us our own flanking buddy.

Speaking of our Psicrystal, it shares our skills like a familiar, making it even better at sneaking than we are, but it's also got its own feats... which we can steal with feat leech. I haven't created a table just for the familiar, but some good psionic feats for it are Hidden Talent and the Metapsionic feats. Darkstalker can't be stolen from the Psicrystal (and we already have it), but it'll probably need it.

This is the sweet spot for the build, with all the powers and feats you need. You can't cast while Raging, but that won't start until the second turn of the battle (unless you've picked up Reactive Shifting somewhere and your DM rules that it does let you shift before your first turn in combat), giving you a round to spend on buffing and/or a control spell/power if you don't want to wade into the fray immediately.


As mentioned, the build is already fully online at this point; nothing left to do but shore up the gaps. Our numbers keep rising, and we get some sweet level 4 powers. The last feat is highly flexible, as is the last Psychic Rogue Special Ability, but I went with Extra Shifter Trait (swiftwing) to give you guaranteed flight while shifting, even if stripped of your magic items and buffs, and Skill Mastery to take 10 in your best skills. We also get Disable Device back up to max ranks, and Open Lock up to max ranks for the first time.

Champions of Ruin - Feats: Craven.
Eberron Campaign Setting - Races: Shifter (razorclaw, swiftwing). Classes: Weretouched Master. Feats: Extra Shifter Trait, Healing Factor (mentioned only), Shifter Ferocity, Shifter Multiattack.
Expanded Psionics Handbook - Feats: Hidden Talent (mentioned only), Metapsionic feats (mentioned only), Psicrystal Affinity.
Lords of Madness - Feats: Darkstalker.
Races of Eberron - Feats: Razorclaw Elite, Reactive Shifting (mentioned only), Shifter Savagery.
SRD - Classes: Cleric. Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike. Other: Plant Domain, Travel Domain, Psicrystal. Powers: animal affinity, compression, control light, control sound, defensive precognition, feat leech, greater concealing amorpha, hustle, psionic dimension door, psionic freedom of movement, telekinetic force.
Web - Classes: Psychic Rogue.

[pabelfly]

Batsu, the Bat-man

Raging Dances of the Toxic Storm


While doing my researches for the build and browsing through dozens of threads and even some handbooks, I often (not always!) noticed some misconceptions imho.

1. "Don't dip monk as a druid, take a Monk's Belt"


2. "Druids are not great at persisting spells. Most spells can't either be persisted or already have a long duration."
(In fact, it's hard to find any recommendations to persist as druid at all. I sole found 2 threads with a list and both are very small..)

3. Vermin Shape (city-shape) ain't as good as regular Wild Shape and is more of a fluff choice.
(This assumption is even claimed by the druid handbooks.)

4. Druidic Avenger is a bad ACF and should be generally avoided unless it's for fluff or to meet some requirements. It's not worth to give up the Animal Companion.
(Again, the handbooks and discussions on several forums, show no love for this ACF)

(1) The Monk's Belt doesn't provide you with the Unarmed Strike (US) ability of a monk, but sole with the US "damage". Thus you still provoke AoO when using US and can't use spells and effects as if they would be manufactured/natural weapons. It makes a difference to have the monk's US, when you are in forms that sole have a single attack otherwise. With imp. US you can get iterative attacks on those forms and can still use your natural weapon(s) as secondary attack(s). This is an important difference here. So unless you want to invest into the Imp. US feat along the Belt, a monk dip is still recommended (if you wanna focus on Wild Shape).

(2) Druid has a lot of interesting spells to persist as I will showcase in this build. I have done the hard work and have gone through most books I have access to, to make a nice list specific for this build.

(1+2) Since persisting ain't easy (+6 spell lvl increase), we need one of the workarounds to easily persist spells.
DMM can be an option, if we get Turn Undead somehow. But since turning pools are very limited (especially as druid), this only persist a few spells at best.
Incantratrix could work with the Southern Magician feat, but that would also limit the spells persisted to the daily uses of the feat. The "Alternate Source Spell" feat would solve that limitation, but the feat is from Dragon Magazine and thus only available outside of this contest.
Which leaves us with Spelldancer as last option to easily persist spells. But that prc comes with heavy feat taxes (4!), which further limits the build (4 + Extend + Persist = 1 feat left for the build). Dipping monk comes really handy here due tot he bonus feats. We get 2 required feats and some nice monk stuff that has imho a good synergy with the druid class (imp US, Monk AC).
Conclusion: Spelldancer is the best option for a druid to persist spells. And avoiding monk is not always the best option to go. Monk also gives Perform as class skill, which also helps to enter Spelldancer and to max the ranks for the Spelldance ability. So overall its a fitting supplement to a druid.

(3) Vermin Shape has some really nice forms. But beside from that, there is another rule exploit that I'm gonna showcase here.

(4) While an animal companion has great value in the first half of the lvls (1-10), it starts to lose on value at the later lvls. 3/4 BAB and unless you fully build around your Animal Companion, it will have lesser HD too (and thus again lesser BAB). It has a harder time to reliably hit stuff at higher levels (unless you specifically build around your animal companion).
Rage doesn't lose on value over the levels and has later multiple uses. In fact, this build has more synergy with Rage than a normal Barbarian has imho. While most builds sole use Rage for improving their normal (Full) Attacks, this build further can use it to improve the DCs of some Special Abilities used by the Wild Shape forms. Most DCs are CON based and thus profit from the untyped bonus provided by Rage. And imho a +2 to DC retains its value over all levels, while the Animal Companion loses on value at later levels. Same with the STR bonus from Rage. It value doesn't diminish over the levels.
Finally, Rage ain't that problematic for the typical "gish" build, since those barely spend more then 1 round on buffing at the start of combat (you don't want to waste multiple rounds for buffing). (assuming that we are already wild shaped) You cast the standard action spell you want to use and still have your swift & movement action and can enter Rage as free action at the end of the first turn (ideally before the two parties/factions get into combat range).

As a final note I want to say that the build turned out much more optimized than initially intended.
The build was originally intended just as Druidic Avenger that combines Rage with Persisted Spells. Since we are talking about druids here, the options for build variations are overwhelming. To such an extend that I thought: "OK, I guess I have to make two Drudic Avenger builds..".
But then something happened..
While double checking the Wild Shape rules and all its updates for a lil trick I intended to showcase in the build, I noticed some major misconceptions about our perception of the rules here.
This build will be a TO showcase of the "current broken state of Wild Shape" and why this makes the T1 druid even more of an issue to handle as DM..^^
But this new TO exploit also allowed me to merge the two build concepts back together into a single one. So be prepared for a totally overloaded build.

Note that new TO showcases are legal entries according to the competition rules. Finally, the build ain't really relying on the TO stuff to be strong. Just the power to persist basically any spell needed and to pounce full buffed with any wild shape form is already very strong. So for normal games there is really no need to go this far. But since I noticed this RAW exploit, I wanted to share it with you here for the contest's sake

Finally I'm a bit sorry to make you read this much, but as said "It's the fault of the druid's complexity..."



Batsu's Backstory

Batsu wasn't born. He was made via illegal experiments by an evil caster. As the local authorities noticed the experiments they arrested his master and executed him after a trial. At first the authorities didn't know what to do with the experiments. Their code forbids to kill the innocent and Batsu himself hadn't done anything evil and seemed calm, friendly and intelligent (language). As the king himself was informed about this innocent, he decided that he should be trained as elite soldier if possible. And that he shall one day join the royal guard, when he has grown up and finished his training.
From Batsu's point of view his early years felt very chaotic. His former master (the evil caster) wasn't very nice to him and did all kinds of painful experiments on him. As such he was kinda relieved when he was rescued by the royal guards. At the same time this new and big world was overwhelming for him. Finding a place to belong to, was his first desires outside. But he quickly did manage to make some friends amount his comrades. And he kinda feels at home for the first time. This has become his family and he feels the urge to protect em. After his base training has finished he joins a special unit of the royal guards. His duty is to identify and eliminate all threads to the kingdom. Batsu seems to have a goal for his life now. Become as strong as possible to protect those that he loves.
He gets a personal coach that plans and helps him with his special training. His coach thought that some "hand to hand combat" (monk) would be the best way to start his special training. Since Batsu has some Natural Weapons, there is a lesser focus on weapon training (sole monk weapons and later druid weapons).

Let us all find out how Batsu's abilities will evolve over time and what kind of other special training he will do...


Alignment: Lawful Neutral
(monk requires you to be lawful and a druid needs a neutral component)

Race: Anthropomorphic Bat
While it may seem like a pure optimizers choice, there aren't many other options here. To avoid XP penalties I needed a race with either monk or druid as favorite class that is also a non-humanoid (Fangshield Druid). The sole other options are other anthropomorphic animals or Killoren. And while I would have normally taken Killoren, I had a hard time to imagine one in a city environment (City-Shape) due to their super strong connection to the nature. This kinda forced me into an Anthropomorphic animal and I ended up going for the bat since I thought it doesn't matter anymore if I pick a cheesy +4WIS race or one with +6WIS..


STR: 10 ( 14 base -4 race)
DEX: 12
CON: 14
INT: 16
WIS: 20 (14 base + 6 race)
CHA: 6 (8 base -2 race)
Wisdom is the mainstat and gets maxed.




Monk 2 / Druid 17 / Spelldancer 1





1) "Familiarity with the assumed Form"
This is a topic often discussed and assumed as something that is in the DM's duty to determine the needed requirements. But as it seems, Rules Compendium did get rid of the word "familiarity".
Let us have a look at the current limitations for picking a target form:

The form chosen must be that of an animal the druid has seen or could reasonably know about. The assumed form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level.
Besides from the unchanged HD limitation, we sole need to either have seen or reasonable know about the target form. If we have seen it or not is either part of the backstory your DM agreed upon or what you did see during your adventures. To find out if you reasonably "know" something about a target form, you need to make knowledge rolls (DC = 10 base + HD) in the right knowledge category (nature for most wild shape stuff). Which means a single point in K. Nature per Druid level is enough to know all forms you can possibly shape into (take-10 + K. Nature). It's basically a skill-tax for wild shape to gain its full potential (to not to be limited to sole the forms you have seen). So by RAW it's very easy to access all possible forms just by raising the skill.


2) The change to Alternate Form
"In the beginning there was Wild Shape and it referred to Polymorph. And that referred to Alter Self. And everything was good."

You are effectively disguised as an average member of the new form’s race.
"But then mankind (WotC) has sinned and changed Wild Shape for no reason to now refer to Alternate Form and everything went to ****..."
Alternate Form doesn't have the same limitations Alter Self has.
This allows Wild Shape to target possible non-average members of the target forms. Like those with an HD Advancement (just pass the higher Knowledge DC). You can get all the stuff an advanced creature would get like a possible size increase (and the changes according to the new size).
Note that since our HD doesn't change, anything related like ability DCs (10 base + 1/2 HD + CON) of the target form should scale accordingly with our own HD. BTW, this is another lil piece that changed over time. Originally the formula (in the MM) used RHD, which got later changed into "character's HD" in the Rules Compendium.


3) Enhance Wild Shape
This is already known to be very powerful. But the true RAW scale seems even more broken. We all know that selecting the option to get EX abilities is the most powerful. Wild Shape suddenly gives you all the EX feats.
Note: most feats default into the EX category unless they are magical and/or have a friendly reminder (SLA; SU). This statement (that most feats are EX) can also be found in the BoED (which sets all exalted feats to be SU and thus excludes em for here for us).
The cheese here is that Wild Shape uses the druid's own HD. And since "Advanced Monsters/Creatures" are "unique", we can even change our choices with each new use of the Wild Shape ability. And as long as the selected feats are EX, Wild Shape will provide the druid with em.


4) Vermin Shape + Enhance Wild Shape
Vermin Shape doesn't get the attention it deserves imho. Most handbooks and discussions I have found see it as fluff option and think that it is weaker compared to regular animal shape forms. Well, they ignore the interesting rule interaction here. Most vermin are normally mindless due to "INT: - ". The general rule for nonabilities excludes them from picking any feats according to their HD. But Wild Shape retrains the druid's mental scores. Thus the target form is now eligible to pick feats according to its HD. And it's HD is the druid's HD..
This is like Awaken(ing) a tree or a construct. Both suddenly have an INT score and the "new sentient being" may freely pick feats.
This allows to pick freely a new set of feats according to our HD for the vermin forms, making em very optimizer friendly.

5) Humanoid Shape + Enhance Wild Shape
Similar abuse options like vermin shape. We just lack Knowledge: Local to "reasonably know about target forms". But anything we see is a potential target for abusing feats. Have a drink with some other adventurers in the tavern to see/know em. How about a Fighter? Or a Rogue? Or maybe you want to have a drink with some crafters? Endless abuse potential. I mean, you could suddenly realize that the totally random looking guy sitting in a tavern has sneak attacks.

Final Conclusion:
All this mess boils down to that Wild Shape ain't limited to "an average member of the new form’s race" anymore.
While I can see an argument to be made that the assumed (advanced) form's HD should limit ability DC and Feats, that would sole be a houserule and not RAW.
The INT rule of Wild Shape is more specific than the target (vermin) form's original non-ability for INT. And that nonability was the reason why the creature couldn't pick feats in the first place. Without that limitation it can pick feats accordingly to its "HD". Just like an Awakened tree or construct suddenly gets an INT score and can now pick feats.
I hope you get now what I meant with "current broken state of Wild Shape". Multiple changes at different parts of the rules did imho lead to this unintentional mess. I think that maybe the change to Alternate Form was really intended to give druid "scaling Wild Shape forms", whitout thinking about Enhance Wild Shape and the consequences. But it is as it is...
*Reminder at myself to introduce Wild Shape houserules for my local group..^^*
For the showcased wild shape forms I included the base HD and the Advancement HD for the audience, if they wanna use this build at a real game outside of RAW TO.





LVL
Class
BAB
For
Ref
Wil
Skills

* cross class skill
Feats

Bonus F.
M=monk
D=druid

Class Features


1st
(Cobra Strike) Monk

(Unearthed Arcana)
+0
+2
+2
+2
Balance: 4
Concentration: 4
Craft (Poisonmaking): 4
Knowledge (Nature): 2*
Listen: 4
Perform: 4
Spot: 4
Combat Casting

Dodge (M)
Unarmed Strike 1d6

Flurry of Blows

Monk AC bonus (WIS)

Bonus Feat


2nd
(Cobra Strike) Monk
+1
+3
+3
+3
Balance: 5
Concentration: 5
Craft (Poisonm.): 5
Listen: 5
Perform: 5
Ride: 1
Spot: 5
Mobility (M)
Evasion

Bonus Feat


3rd
Druid (1)

Variant: Druidic Avenger
(Unearthed Arcana)
+1
+5
+3
+5
Concentration: 6
Knowledge (Nature): 4 (+2)
Listen: 6
Perform: 6* (+2)
Spot: 6
Endurance
Fast Movement +10ft

Nature's Sense

Rage 1/day

Wild Empathy (-4)


4th
Druid (2)
+2
+6
+3
+6
Concentration: 7
Knowledge (Nature): 6 (+2)
Listen: 7
Perform: 7* (+2)
Spot: 7

Woodland Stride


5th
Druid (3)
+3
+6
+4
+6
Concentration: 8
Knowledge (Nature): 8 (+2)
Listen: 8
Perform: 8* (+2)
Spot: 8

Trackless Step


6th
Druid (4)

Iron Constitution
(Cityscape Webenhancement (http://rpg.nobl.ca/archive.php?x=dnd/we/20070228a))
+4
+7
+4
+7
Concentration: 9
Craft (Poisonm.): 6
Knowledge (Nature): 9
Listen: 9
Perform: 9* (+2)
Spot: 9
Extend Spell

Strong Stomach (D)
Bonus Feat


7th
Druid (5)

Fangshield Druid
(Champions of Valor)

City-Shape (Cityscape)
+4
+7
+4
+7
Concentration: 10
Craft (Poisonm.): 7
Knowledge (Nature): 10
Listen: 10
Perform: 10* (+2)
Spot: 10

City-Shape (small/medium animal; hands) 1/day


8th
Druid (6)
+5
+8
+5
+8
Concentration: 11
Craft (Poisonm.): 8
Knowledge (Nature): 11
Listen: 11
Perform: 11* (+2)
Spot: 11

Rage 2/day
City-Shape 2/day


9th
Spelldancer

(Magic of Faerun)
+5
+8
+7
+10
Knowledge (Nature): 12* (+2)
Listen: 12* (+2)
Perform: 12
Spot: 12* (+2)
Persistent Spell
Spelldance


10th
Druid (7)

Fangshield Druid
+6
+8
+7
+10
Concentration: 13 (+2)
Knowledge (Nature): 13
Listen: 13
Perform: 13* (+2)
Spot: 13

City-Shape (humanoids)


11th
Druid (8)
+7
+8
+8
+11
Concentration: 14
Craft (Poisonm.): 9
Knowledge (Nature): 14
Listen: 14
Perform: 14* (+2)
Spot: 14

City-Shape (small/medium animal/vermin)


12th
Druid (9)
+8
+9
+8
+12
Concentration: 15
Craft (Poisonm.): 10
Knowledge (Nature): 15
Listen: 15
Perform: 15* (+2)
Spot: 15
Reach Spell

(Complete Divine)
Venom Immunity


13th
Druid (10)
+8
+9
+9
+12
Concentration: 16
Craft (Poisonm.): 11
Knowledge (Nature): 16
Listen: 16
Perform: 16* (+2)
Spot: 16

City-Shape 3/day


14th
Druid (11)
+9
+10
+9
+13
Concentration: 17
Craft (Poisonm.): 12
Knowledge (Nature): 17
Listen: 17
Perform: 17* (+2)
Spot: 17

Rage 3/day

City-Shape (Tiny animal/vermin)


15th
Druid (12)
+10
+10
+9
+13
Concentration: 18
Craft (Poisonm.): 13
Knowledge (Nature): 18
Listen: 18
Perform: 18* (+2)
Spot: 18
Poison Spell

(Drow of the Underdark)
City-Shape (animal/vermin swarm; no size limitation, sole HD limiation)


16th
Druid (13)
+11
+11
+10
+14
Concentration: 19
Craft (Poisonm.): 14
Knowledge (Nature): 19
Listen: 19
Perform: 19* (+2)
Spot: 19

A Thousand Faces


17th
Druid (14)
+11
+11
+10
+14
Concentration: 20
Craft (Poisonm.): 15
Knowledge (Nature): 20
Listen: 20
Perform: 20* (+2)
Spot: 20

City- Shape 4/day


18th
Druid (15)
+12
+12
+10
+15
Concentration: 21
Craft (Poisonm.): 16
Knowledge (Nature): 21
Listen: 21
Perform: 21* (+2)
Spot: 21
Mad Foam Rager

(PHB II)
Timeless Body

City-Shape (Large Animal/Vermin)


19th
Druid (16)

City-Soul
(Cityscape)
+13
+12
+11
+15
Concentration: 22
Craft (Poisonm.): 17
Knowledge (Nature): 22
Listen: 22
Perform: 22* (+2)
Spot: 22

Rage 4/day

City-Shape
(Animated Object small/medium/large 1/day)


20th
Druid (17)
+14
+13
+11
+16
Concentration: 23
Craft (Poisonm.): 18
Knowledge (Nature): 23
Listen: 23
Perform: 23* (+2)
Spot: 23

Tireless Rage




(Part 1 of 2)

[pabelfly]

(Part 2 of 2)

Batsu, the Bat-man

Raging Dances of the Toxic Storm




Spells per Day


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


1st - 2nd
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
3
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
4
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
5
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
5
3
2
1
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
5
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
6
4
3
2
1
-
-
-
-
-


10th
6
4
3
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


11th
6
4
4
3
2
1
-
-
-
-


12th
6
4
4
3
3
2
-
-
-
-


13th
6
5
4
4
3
2
1
-
-
-


14th
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
-
-
-


15th
6
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
-
-


16th
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
-
-


17th
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
-


18th
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
-


19th
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1


20th
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2






Spells:
While the snapshots explain what will be persisted early on when we get Spelldance, this is a full list here that shows the recommended options for the later levels/endgame (when we can abuse Sheltered Vitality with Reach spell to persist it). I also included some of the more important daily spells that can't be persisted (or where it doesn't make any difference due to long base durations).
I initially sole wanted to point some spells out and refer to a "handbook" for the remaining spells. But there ain't no good handbook/list for persisting druid spells. I found only a few, but those where very small. Due to this, I'm afraid that most people aren't really aware of the options a druid has here. The list got much bigger than I initially expected.

S = Spelldance:

P = Persistable Spell
T = Touch Spell, needs Reach Spell to be persisted (can also be used to buff allies)
D = Duration of clvl/hour or more. Not worth to persist.
# = can not be persisted

color code:
x = Highly Recommended / Mandatory
x = Important but gets replaced later
x = Recommended
x = Nice to have but less important (may also be situational)
x = Niche and barely needed



LVL

Spell Name
Source
S
Details


0th
Detect Magic
PHB
P

Detect magic all day long as soon as you concentrate on it


0th
Read Magic
PHB
P
Again situational useful. Doesn't hurt to have it.


0th
Detect Ghost
Ghostwalk
P
Situational, but since it is sole a 0th lvl spell slot why not be prepared for those niche situations.


1st
Camouflage

Spell Comp.
P
+10 circumstance bonus to Hide


1st
Produce Flame
PHB
P
Fire based melee or ranged touch attack 1d6 +1/lvl (max +5).


2nd
Blood Frenzy
Spell Comp.
#
/
#
The spell replaces a daily charge for our Rage ability, thus giving the option for extra Rages early on. At later levels it loses a bit on value since we get more daily Rage uses from Druid lvls.


2nd
Lesser Restoration
PHB
#
/
#
Mostly used to get rid of fatigue (rage & spelldance) and ability damage (spelldance). Sole interesting until lvl 12 when we can persist Sheltered Vitality (with Reach Spell).


2nd
Lion's Charge
Spell Comp.
P
The first spell to persist, since it provides the build with Pounce in all forms.


2nd
Master Air
Spell Comp.
P
First option to fly. Will get later replaced by Stormrage


2nd
Animalistic Power
PHB II
T
+2 enhancement bonus to physical ability scores. Gets replaced by Chasing Perfection.


2nd
Barkskin

PHB
T
enhancement bonus to Natural Armor. Gets later replaced by Tortoise Shell.


2nd
Halo of Sand
Sandstorm
P
Up to +4 deflection bonus to AC


2nd
Linked Perception

PHB II
P
Each nearby ally gets +2 Listen & Spot for each other ally. example: 4man party, everybody gets +6 (untyped)


2nd
Wild Instinct
Races o. Eberron
P
+10 insight bonus to Listen & Spot; retrain DEX to AC when flat-footed or attacked by an unseen opponent


2nd
Embrace the Wild
Spell Comp.
P
Low-light vision + Blindsense 30ft.; +2 untyped bonus to Listen & Spot


2nd
Easy Trail
Spell Comp.
D
Creates a path trough underwood and gives +5 to DC to track you(r allis).


2nd
Body of the Sun

Spell Comp.
P
Deal up to 5d4 fire dmg within 5ft.


2nd
Frost Weapon
Frostburn
T
+1d6 frost dmg for target weapon.


2nd
Scrimitar of Sand
Spell Comp.
P
Scrimitar that can make "touch attacks" at the cost of no STR-modifier. Enemies hit must make a save or dehydrate. Can be situationally useful (against high AC enemies or water based creatures).


2nd
Flame Blade

PHB
P
Similiar to Scrimiar of Sand but ignites combustable stuff like clothes.


2nd
Conjure Ice Objects
Frostburn
P
Create objects made from ice. Complex items need a craftcheck (sadly 0ranks in craft^^). Can be situationally be useful.


2nd
Nature's Favor
Spell Comp.
T
/
T
Taget "animal" gets up to +5 luck (!) bonus to attack & dmg. Becomes interesting when we persist Shapechange. We could Shapechange all day in a animal form (to get the type) and still use Wild Shape on top to profit from this. The +5 dmg is especially nice for single target Poison Spitting (since it boosts the poison dmg).


3rd
Girallon's Blessing
Spell Comp.
T
Grow an additional pair of arms and turn all "hands" (incl. from Frangshield Druid) also into claws. We have now 4 claw attacks in all forms..^^
While a DM might intervene, by RAW this seems also be true for the swarm forms.


3rd
Primal Instinct
Dragon Magic
D
24h base duration, +5 to Initiative & Survival


3rd
Venomfire

Serpent Kindgom
D
While the build really doesn't need any more dmg, I wanted to mention it for completeness sake. And it's always nice to have some acid dmg.


3rd
Charge of the Triceratops

Spell Comp.
T
Get a "Gore" attack that deal double damage on a charge. Note that Gore attacks don't interfere with Bite attacks as can be seen on the Gargoyle (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/gargoyle.htm).


3rd
Frostfold

Spell Comp.
P
+10 competence bonus to Hide & Move Silently


3rd
Edward's Menacing Tentacles
PHB II
P
2 tentacles with 10ft reach; each provides a free attack each turn for 1d8 + STR dmg; each has its own AoO per turn.


3rd
Corona of Cold
Spell Comp.
P
10ft emanation; save or take 2d6 dmg + move at half speed and -2 penalty to STR and DEX


3rd
Wreath of Flames
Dragon Magic
P
Adjecent enemies take 1d6 fire dmg at the end of your turn. Melee Attacks deal +1d6 fire dmg


3rd
Quillfire
Spell Comp.
P
Gives a Quill attack for 1d8 dmg that is poisonous (1d6 STR primary and secondary).


3/4
(Gr.) Blindsight
Spell Comp.
T
Blindsight 30ft (Gr. = 60ft).


4th
Enhance Wild Shape
Spell Comp.
D
The next Wild Shape form gives all EX abilities. Preparing it in multiple slots it recommended


4th
Sheltered Vitality
Spell Comp.
T
Provides immunity to ability damage/drain, fatigue & exhaustion. Perfect for Persisting more spells. Each normal cast lets Batsu persist multiple spells. After hitting lvl 12 he can use Reach Spell to persist this spell 1st each day and than persist all spells he wants.


4th
Last Breath
Spell Comp.
#
this is a no-level-loss Reincarnate witht the sole downside that it can only be cast immediately after death (within next round). You should always have at least one slot prepared with this.


4th
Contagious Touch
Spell Comp.
#
/
T
Can be used with "Poison Spell" either as combat starter or be persisted. The former is mostly interesting for swarm forms due to their autohit mechanism for "Attacks". The latter causes it to become a ranged touch attack all day long (thus not compatible with US and Natural Attacks sadly). Both interesting options.


4th
Friendly Fire
Exem. of Evil
P
Redirect ranged (touch) attacks made against you to another target within 30ft.


4th
Essence of the Raptor
Spell Comp.
P
increases speed to 60ft; +8 untyped bonus to Hide, Jump, Listen, Spot, Survival


4th
Bite of the Wearboar

Spell Comp.
P
+4 enhanc. bonus to STR; +6 enhanc. bonus to CON; +8 enhanc. bonus to natural armor; + Blind Fighting + grow Natural Weapons (get later exchanged for Bite of the Werebear)


4th
Superior Magic Fang
Spell Comp.
P
up to +5 enhanc. bonus to all Natural Weapons.


4th
Freedom of Movement
PHB
P
&
T

Pesisting it provides so many immunities against movment hapering effects. Very nice to have all day long.


4th
Cone of Euphoria
Dragons of Fearun
P
standard action cone breath - save or be dazed for 1d6 rounds; 1d4 round cool down between breaths


4th
Spore Cloak
Races of Faerun
P
Anyone who shares the space with us (incl. grapple, trample, overrun..) makes a save or takes 1d6 / 2d6 CON dmg (poison). Ideally for trampling forms with Wild Shape; also provides 20% concealment misschance. Downside is, it becomes inactive while indirect sunlight.


4th
Raptor Cloud

Secrets of Sarlona
P
Concelment + soft cover; melee attackers take 1d8 dmg. +5 untyped bonus to Jump & Tumble


4th
Blinding Beauty
B.o.E.D.
P
Humanoids within 60ft. make a Fort. save or get blinded; can be suppressed and reactivated as free action.


5th
Owl's Insight
Spell Comp.
T
+ 1/2 clvl insight bonus to WIS. With the 24h duration we should be getting even more bonus spells. Now we can persist even more spells.. a Win-Win situation^^


5th

Death Ward
PHB
T
Immune to: death spells, magical death effects, energy drain, and any negative energy effects


5th

Plant Body
Spell Comp.
T
Allows spells and effects to treat us as "plants" but doesn't give the type. Instead we just get the immunities to: extra damage from critical hits, mind-affecting spells and abilities, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and polymorphing


5th
Sirine's Grace

Spell Comp.
P
+4 enhancement bonus to DEX & CHA; CHA as deflection bonus to AC; 60ft swim speed; breathe water; move & fight unhindered under water. This is mosty for the swim speed due to our low CHA..


5th
Poison Thorns

Spell Comp.
P
1d4 STR / 1d4 STR poison dmg when enemy makes successful Unarmed Strike or Natural Weapon attacks; also buffs our own Unarmed Strike with the poison.


5th
Radiance
PHB II
P
/
P
Nearby Undead are dazed as long as in effect range + 1d6 round after leaving; no save no SR !! While this is a niche spell, if you ever intend to fight undead, this gets mandotory to persist every morning.


6th
Superior Resistance
Spell Comp.
D
24h base duration, +6 resistance bonus to saves, boosts our good saves even more.


6th
Energy Immunity
Spell Comp.
D
24h; By default we pick fire.


6th

Vigorous Cycle
Spell Comp.
P
Fast Healing 3 for all nearby allies


6th

Bite of the Werebear
Spell Comp.
P
+16 enhanc. bonus to STR; +2 enhanc. bonus to DEX; +8 enhanc. bonus to CON; +7 enhanc. bonus to Natural Armor; Natural Weapons; Multiattack + Power Attack + Blind Fighting


6th

Chasing Perfection

PHB II
T
+4 enhancement bonus to all stats. Besides from the 50g costs for the material component just a great spell to benefit in all forms.


6th

Tortoise Shell
Spell Comp.
T
up to +9 enhancement bonus to Natural Armor.


6th
Fires of Purity
Spell Comp.
T
up to +15 fire dmg to all melee attack and also backlashes at melee attackers.


6th
Shuffle
Shining South
T
Teleport as move action up to 50ft (depending on lvl) all day long. Perfect for swarm shapes to avoid AoO.


7th

True Seeing
PHB
T
Immunity to any illusion based effect and see trough transmutation effects.


7th

Master Earth
Spell Comp.
#
Effectively Teleport without error (on the same plane) for the druid only.


7th

As the Frost
PHB II
P
Immunity to cold; DR 10/magic piercing; Creatures in 15ft make a save or take 2d6 cold dmg + "Slow" effect (as the spell); This would get a much higher rating if it could be surpressed (for being in town). For combat this is great and highly recommended.


7th

Gr. Aura of Cold
Frostburn
P
2d6 dmg to creatures in 10ft range.


8th
Word of Recall
Spell Comp.
#
Teleport back to a location defined while preparing the spell. You can also take your allies with you.


8th
Stormrage

Spell Comp.
P
40ft fly speed (good); Immune to ranged thrown attacks and projectile weapons; Immune to (magical) wind effects; as a Standard action shoot electricity at your enemy up to 100ft range for 1d6/2lvls (should be useable while in Rage, since we don't cast it and sole use the spells effect to make a touch attack)


8th
Earth Glide

Races of Stone
T
Gain the ability to glide in earh without leaving any evidance. Batsu can move anywhere^^


9th
Shapechange

PHB
P
Shapechange all day. I don't think I need to explain this one^^


9th

Foresight

PHB
P
Never be surprised or flat-footed. Always have a clue what will happen next or what you should do next to avoid hazards.


9th

Undermaster
Spell Comp.
P
Gain a bunch of earth related SLA all day long. Most notable is Xorn Movement here imho



Since we get 5+ spell slots for most of the spell lvls and can have 40+ WIS for a bunch of bonus spells, we can cover most of the spells we want for those levels. There are some level with more options than spell slots or where we might need some spell slots for regular spell usage. Remind you that you can prepare spells in higher lvl slots if you want to have some flexibility here.

If we go all out, we get a bunch of abilities (e.g. fly, SLA, shoot electricity from our eyes); high bonuses for our deception and perception skills (hide, spot, listen..); a bunch of rider dmg for our Unarmed Strikes; multiple dmg auras and other cool stuff. Most notably here is the long list of immunities.
Batsu can persist more spells than an Incantatrix can and even more than non-druid spelldancers. I hope that I could also showcase that druids have a lot of interesting spells that can be persisted.

Thx to persisting most of our spells, it doesn't interfere with our Rage ability use in combat. We could even start combat with casting a spell (E.g. (gr.) Whirlwind or Poison Spell: Contagious Touch) and use a free action for Rage afterwards. If we don't want/need to cast a spell at the start of combat, we can immediately pounce into combat.
If our physical attacks should be somehow ineffective (e.g. Immunities against Weapon Damage & poison), we can rely on our Stormrage attacks (or Undermaster SLA abilities) and dmg auras as fallback strategy.



We start as (Cobra Strike) Monk. The bonus feats Dodge and Mobility are feat taxes. The same is true for our remaining feat choices, thus we try to make the best of it here..

Soon Batsu has finished his hand to hand combat training with flying colors. While his trainer is kinda happy about the results, he is also concerened if all the disciplin holds to much of his true animalistic powers back.
As such the focus of the training now shifts to his animalistic Rage and natural powers (druid).
His trainer was afraid at first that his animal Rage could interfere with his disciplin (lawful), but as it seems Batsu has found a good balance between balance and rage. (Note that the Rage alignment rule is part of the "Ex-Barbarian"-rule and not part of the rage ability itself. Rage itself has no alignment restrictions.)
Due to the high adrenalin this kind of training produces, he always seems to be in a hurry (+10ft base speed).

The Blood Frenzy spell gives her additional Rage usage, if she has used up her regular Rage charges. Due to this, she can Rage more often then most other builds at this (or any other) lvl if she wishes (and prepares the spell). Also note that Blood Frenzy really works with your own Rage ability and ain't just a cheap ripoff like the normal "Rage" spell is. Thus it has full compatibiity with anything that affects the normal Rage (imporant for Mad Foam Rager later).



Trackless Step is a nice gadget for scouting and infiltration to leave no evidence that you have been there.

Strong Stomach negates sickening effects and nauseated gets reduces to sickened. The real deal is that we can't get nauseated (which otherwise would reduce our actions). Real immunity to nauseated is hard to get, thus this is one of the few options to deal with it. This is the start of the long list of immunities this build will get.

With Wild Shape he gets access to the well known Fleshraker (MM III) form. This is the first source that provides the build with Pounce. For the start this will be the main combat form.
Note that Fangshield Druid allows Batsu to grow "hands" in any form he Wild Shapes into (if he wants). Due to this, I didn't want to spend a feat slot for "Natural Spell", and instead rely on a "Perl of Speech" or a permanent "Tongues" spell to cast spells in shaped form. Since we will (soon) persist most spells, there is no real need to cast spells in wild shaped form. But having the option to cast still gives some extra options (e.g. Combat spells before/at the start of combat, or Last Breath in real emergencies). Finally, bot the Perl and/or the Tongues spell are normally easy available stuff. So I hope for no "item dependency penalty" here, since the build ain't really relying on this and the stuff is normally easy to get.



Batsu's trainer soon realizes that his emotions while fighting (Rage) interferes with his spellcasting and tries to find at least a workaround to this. The coach comes up with the idea the he should learn to persist his spells all day long, as some casters do it. As such his coach arranges some special metamagic training for Batsu.
His trainer also notices that Batsu likes to dance often after the training for releasing the stress of the intense training. He sees the value of this and thinks it could be implemented into his magical training. He often heard stories about casters that involve dancing to release incredible amounts of magic. Maybe Bastu can become one of em (Spelldancer).

When Bastu finally unlocks his Spelldance ability, he immediately can start to persist lots of spells. We will use Lesser Restoration and/or Sheltered Vitality to spelldance more than we would normally be able to. If you can, buy a wand to save the spellslots for the regular daily use. This allows to persist even more spells early on. We can already persist more spells as a DMM build (even without relying on wands).
Don't forget that since we persist the spells out of combat we can always take-10 on the Perform rolls. Thus even with our CHA penalty, we will succeed the roll by default.
Example @ lvl 9:
Take 10 + 12 ranks -2 CHA = 22 Perform
DC = 10 base + spell lvl (e.g. 4th) + 6 (persist) = 20
Since spell lvl doesn't increase/improve as fast as our Perform skill does, this will never change (that we succeed by default).

The spell Lion's Charge gives pounce and is the first spell we want to persist. Batsu can now pick other forms instead of Fleshraker and still have access to pounce. This allows for much more options to choose from. Note that if the form doesn't have multiple attacks, we can fall back to monk's Unarmed Strike to get iterative attacks and add the Natural Attacks as secondary attack. Since US can be made with different body parts, it doesn't interfere with any kind of Natural Weapon we might have. Due to this we have much more (pounce) options than the typical druid-gish here.
Master Air is the second spell that should definitively be persisted early on since it gives the ability to fly. Now we can make diving charge/pounce attacks with any from and don't need to rely on specific flying forms (diving charge/pounce deals double dmg with piercing and slashing attacks). Out of combat it helps with scouting from the air or to reach spaces that would otherwise be to difficult to get (e.g. on top of buildings/trees).

Enhance Wild Shape is another staple spell of this build. It enables Wild Shape to access the EX abilities of the target form, which unlocks all kind of sweet things. Immunities, EX feats (most feats are EX), special senses, regeneration, fast healing,... almost anything you could ask for. Just find the fitting form for the given situation...
Which brings us to Humanoid Shape. Remind you that Wild Shape ain't restricted to the average forms of a race and that seeing the target form is enough to Wild Shape into it. (Sadly we lack Knowledge: Local to really abuse this..^^).
So any humanoid NPC that your DM uses is a valid target. And let me remind you to think of all the nice things Enhance Wild Shape provides, if we pick "get EX abilities" with it. Get any EX-feat and EX-abilities the target humanoid has. Including it's EX-class abilities, since the class is part of the specific form's HD/Advancement we are emulating here.
So when a new humanoid NPC comes up in a game, the DM can basically hand over the relevant stats for Enhanced Wild Shape to you.. which brings us to possible metagaming exploits^^



Batsu further improves his abilities (City-Shape, Rage, Spells).

Batsu starts to learn new combat forms (vermin). To keep the size of this build manageable, I will sole showcase the main options for this build. There are other interesting options too, but mentioning everything ain't possible here. But before showcasing the form, we need to have a lil biology lesson regarding a spider's anatomy. Spiders have Pedipalps (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedipalp) which are appendages. This should allow to grow the "hands" ability of Fangshield Druid on em. With this we can avoid that it interferes with other attacks like, bite, claw or legs (slam). The hands can either be used to wield a weapon (e.g. 2h quarterstaff) alongside of the natural weapons of the spider; to make Unarmed Strikes or for the somatic spell component when casting spells.




Spitting Spider (7HD base; Adv: 8-14HD (large) can't further advance due to size limitation)
(Drow of the Underdark; P 141-142)
This nice form comes with inbuild pounce:
Bite 1d8+6 + poison (1d6 DEX/ 2d6 DEX)
2x Slam (with the front legs) 1d6+3
Together with the additional "hands" we have a pretty long Full Attack chain.
This form can also spit its poison with a ranged touch attack. We will abuse this with our feat selection:
(1) Deadly Spittle (Serpent Kingdom) - spits poison in a cone
(3) Ability Focus (poison) - add +2 to poison DC
(6) Martial Study (Tome of Battle): Cloak of Deception (ToB) - Gr. Invisibility until end of turn
(9) Virulent Poison (Savage Species) - another +2 DC to poison
(12) Martial Stance (Tome of Battle): Assassin's Stance - Sneak Attack +2d6
(15) Craven (Champions of Ruin) - for a -2 penalty against fear we get +1 to Sneak Attack dmg per character lvl! Note that we are not mindless in this form and thus not immune to fear/minaffecting.
(18) Telling Blow (PHB II) - Deal sneak attack dmg on critical hits
Note that precision dmg (sneak attack) has the same dmg type as the original attack (see Rules Compendium). In case of the (single target) Spitting ability this means +2d6 DEX dmg totaling to 3d6 DEX dmg. With Cloak of Deception we can ensure to get at least one sneak attack in a battle. Craven adds to this madness by adding our character lvl to the sneaky poison dmg^^. Anything that fails the save and ain't immune will instantly die.
And those who are immune still have to face our long pounce attack chain. (remind you of Unarmed Strikes/quarterstaff + iterative attacks)
An alternative feat option would be the TWF line to wield a quarterstaff as mainhand, Unarmed Strikes as offhand and all natural weapons as secondary weapons. This would further enhance the pounce chain and would be more interesting if you know that you are going to fight mostly poison immune targets (undead, constructs,...).




Tangle Terror (12HD; Advancement: 13–20 HD (Medium))
(Drow of the Underdark; P 142)
This spider has 2 interesting abilities. It's poison deals 2d6 WIS/ 1d6 WIS which is an interesting alternative to DEX dmg. Maddening Webs is the other interesting ability that confuses enemies on a failed will save.
While this form can also make use of pounce (with "hands"), we will focus more on the abilities with our feat selection here:
(1) Spit Venom (Serpent Kingdom) - Turn the poison into a ranged touch attack
(3) Deadly Spittle (Serpent Kingdom) - turns the poison spitting into a cone
(6) Martial Study: Cloak of Deception (ToB) - Gr. Invisibility until end of turn
(9) Ability Focus (MM):Poison - +2 DC
(12) Martial Stance (ToB): Assassin's Stance - Sneak Attack +2d6
(15) Craven (Champions of Ruin) - (see above)
(18) Ability Focus (MM): Maddening Web - +2 DC
Again we can pull of the trick with the ranged touch attack spit and Gr. Invisibility. 4d6+(lvl) WIS dmg should kill most stuff with ease.
2d6 WIS dmg as cone attack is also an interesting attack AoE option.


With access to Reach Spell we can finally go all out. Suddenly "Sheltered Vitality" becomes persist-able and allows Batsu to persist as many spells as he wants (and is willing to spend the spellslots for). This is a huge power spike for this build and heavily changes our playstyle with spells. We will use most slots to persist spells and only use a handful of situational spells that can't be persisted. Have a look at the Spells and Spelldance table to get an impression of the spell options to persist and those that are interesting otherwise for this build.

Poison Spell can be abused with Contagious Touch to apply poison to all Unarmed Strike and Natural Attacks for several rounds. This becomes a nice option to start combat. Especially for the swarm forms, since they automatically hit their attacks. As poison we use either Terinav Root (Arms & Equipment) (1d6/2d6 Dex; contact DC 16) or Sasson Juice (BoVD) (1d4/1d4; contact DC18). Both are cheap to craft (or buy) and stacks well with the DEX dmg of our Spitting Spider and Scorpion Swarm forms.

Note that a swarm's "Swarm Attack (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#swarmSubtype)" scales with its HD, thus the druid's HD in our case. This gives any swarm form we take decent weapon damage.
While the Fanshield Druid's "Hands" ability may seem questionable, imho by RAW there is no limitation. While the examples doesn't provide a swarm, the rules still never exclude such an option in any way. Due to the low STR (1) it is recommended to use one of the "touch attack weapon spells" (persist Scimitar of Sand or Flame Blade if you want).
Finally, swarm forms extend the list of immunities the build has access too. And the sole downside (+50% area dmg) is compensated by (buffed) high saves and Evasion to negate the entire dmg taken. Except maybe AMF, there aren't that many spells that can affect these forms at all when we are full buffed. Unless your DM spams AMF encounters, these forms are really EZ-mode for most encounters, if you wanna play "better safe than sorry".
Also note that most swarms have INT: - and thus the same rules as with vermin shape allows us to pick feats freely according to our HD.

Swarm, Murder of Crows (4HD; NO Advancement)
(Tome of Magic)
This swarm forces additional Reflex saves (in addition to the Fortitude saves against the Distraction ability all swarms have) or otherwise "blinds" your foes. The sole lil downside here is, that this blindness can also be cured by healing the swarm damage you have taken. Another point of note is, since the blinding effect is bound to the swarm attack, it comes at the end of our turn, compared to the distraction ability which leaves the enemies time until their turn (for immediate actions or to get help from their allies to move em out of the area). The form has Improved Initiative and Alertness as racial bonus feats.
(1) Ability Focus (Distraction)
(3) Ability Focus (Blinding)
(6) Martial Study: Crusader's Strike - Heal 1d8 +1/Initiatorlvl
(9) Martial Stance: Martial Spirit - Heal 2 HP (you or an ally in 30ft) with each successful autohit of the swarm attack(s) (since this form doesn't get fully immune to weapon dmg, this is a nice way to compensate for that)
(12) Combat Expertise - Since we use our "regular attacks" at best to make "melee touch attacks" (e.g. Flame Blade) this is imho a nobrainer.
(15) Martial Study: Cloak of Deception (gr. Invisibility until end of turn to avoid AoO)
(18) Combat Reflexes - With "hands" and a (summoned) weapon we threaten squares again. Because the "hands" ability is more specific then the forms general inability to threaten squares.



Swarm, Scorpion (9HD, NO Advancement)
(Sandstorm)
These stingy lil things come with a bunch of nice things. First, Weapon Finesse as racial bonus feat allows for easier use for touch attacks (E.g. Flame Blade). It gets 4d6 Rend dmg on anything that it successfully distracted. And the 1d4/1d4 DEX Poison dmg is just the icing. Since these are Diminutive, their are fully immune to weapon damage. Which means, this form doesn't need to fear AoO from moving to much.
(1) Ability Focus: Distraction - a +2 bonus to the DC
(3) Ability Foucs: Poison - adds +2 to the DC
(6) Virulent Poison: adds another +2 to the Poison DC
(9) Martial Study: Vanguard Strike - allies get +4 to hit ally you hit with this attack
(12) Martial Stance: Iron Guard's Glare - enemies we threaten (in our spaces due to 0ft range) get -4 to hit our allies
(15) Martial Study: Action Before Thought - use Concentration check in place of a Reflex save
(18) Martial Study: Burning Brand - turns weapon damage into fire dmg until end of turn. handy to bypass DR and immunities.






A Thousand Faces is a nice gimmick (since we already have humanoid shape). Maybe it can help to let the spider forms look more friendly (e.g. humanoid face)?^^

At lvl 17 we get access to 8th lvl spells. Most notably here is Stormrage which we will persist. It allows to fly in any wind condition (even magical), which can be combined with "Control Weather" or the "(Greater) Whirlwind spell" as battlefield control. Fly freely around while everyone else has to deal with a Hurricane..^^
Stormrage further allows as a standard action a ranged lightning attack every turn (1d6 / 2 caster lvl). This should also be legal attack option for Rage, if we should need a quick ranged lighting attack for some reason.

Mad Foam Rager is another interesting defensive ability this build has access to. While Raging it allows to delay the effect of a single attack, spell, or ability used against you until the end of your next turn. As if it wouldn't be hard enough to harm this build at all, now we can even cheese out an extra turn (for countermeasures) if something unexpected should happen to our lil Batsu.

Another game changer is Shapechange , which we'll unlock at lvl 19 and will persist too. The most basic use it to make "Enhance Wild Shape" obsolete, since it provides already EX abilities together with SU abilities on top. This frees some spellslots, which we can use to persist other spells. But there is also a spell combo (mentioned in the spells section: Nature's Favor) for extra cheese if you want. If you intend to abuse this spell itself, have a look at this nice handbook (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?517934-The-3-5-Shapechange-Handbook) as reference.

Also at lvl 19, we get the ability to shape into Animated Objects. These are another cheesy option for Enhanced Wild Shape (The same as with vermin and swarm shape. the target form suddenly has an INT score and can pick feats).
Become an adamantine statue to gain hardness and some other nice stuff. Nothing world changing (compared to the other stuff of this build), but still a nice option and imho more fitting for this characters theme as elemental wild shape. And since we can freely pick the feats for it, it's more flexible as the elemental shapes. Note that Knowledge Arcane is the required skill to "know" about constructs (which we sadly don't have any points in). So, either we rely on our random roll luck or need to see the actual target statue at least once for a reasonable time (DM decision).


Tireless Rage is the Capstone of the build...
Well.. we might Rage in an Anti Magic Field and after the fight...
You get the point how useless this is. I just couldn't find a good single level dip. I thought about taking Spelldancer 2 for the evasion ability (and take Invisible Fist ACF for monk), but that would cause a delay for either Evasion or the rest of the build, which I disliked. Can't help it, but this is the capstone of this overloaded build..^^



Here are some nice to have items that enhance the build:

Necklace of Natural Weapons +1 + Assassination + Fury (effectively a +3 weapon for pricing)
(Assassination is from the City Scape web enhancement (http://rpg.nobl.ca/archive.php?x=dnd/we/20070314a); Fury from Heroes of Battle)
We get this for Claws, Bite, Slam, Spitting attack and for Unarmed Strikes (as natural weapon). Note that Superior Magic Fang's enhancement bonus trumps the items bonus, while still having normal synergy with the Assassination ability.
Both abilities add "+1d6 extra damage", which is important for Poison spitting (single target), since there the extra dmg becomes poison dmg. Deal up to 5d6 + character lvl as DEX dmg in spider forms. The Assassination ability further increases the poison DCs by the enhancement bonus (of Superior Magic Fang= up to +5).

Pearl of Speech
Nice to skip Natural Spell for this build, since we already can already have hands while wild shaped for the somatic spell components. It's not mandatory but helps to stay in Wild Shape form all day long without hampering our ability to communicate with our allies. Imho most druids get it anyway even if they have Natural Spell. It's just that this build profits more of this item than a regular druid would normally.

Quarterstaff (large) (non-magical)
If you wanna go for the quarterstaff spells.


Wish and even more Wishes
Mainly for WIS. If the DM rules that you keep inherit bonuses to physical scores while wild-shaping, get it for STR, DEX and CON too. Maybe even for all scores, since the build doesn't really rely on magic items as much as other builds do.

Wild Shape Armor
Just for the extra AC to maintain a high (tank) AC over all lvls.
If you wanna go all out, stack all the elemental resistances as high as you can get em.

Animated Shield
For the same reason as the armor.

Metamagic Rod: Chaining (MIC)
If you wanna play the party buffer, buy a few of these and chain some of the persisted touch spells. (e.g. Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Plant Body, Chasing Perfection, just to name a few. have a look a the touch spells in the list for all options)
I also thought to pick this as feat instead of either Poison Spell or Mad Foam Rager, but this is how it ended (as gear option). If anyone want to play this build, this is an interesting alternative feat option.



Final Words
I wish every contestant good luck and I'm curious to see what the others have under their sleeves. I enjoyed this contest's topic more then I initially expected. And as said, I feel sorry to make you all read this much. Especially the judges..
But this (druid class) quickly escalated into an unexpected amount of complexity. It was not my original intention. I swear it^^
Imho this almost feels more like a Master of all Trades than anything else I have build so far.

[pabelfly]

https://i.pinimg.com/564x/81/2e/d6/812ed6dee550a9db305615e98a046aa1.jpg
by Guillaume Martinet (https://mrtnt.artstation.com/projects/YeeQ96)

Born as an Frostblood orc, raised only by father, Grakk wasn't a happy child even by the orcish standards. His father was a stupid warrior and wanted to make the son into a "real orc". For him there is no virtue better than furious blow and there is no disgrace worse than magical arts. Grakk's upbringing was brutal and violent, especially when his parent found out that Grakk has arcane gifts. Batterings and exhausting exercises were things that, father thought, will enable extirpate taint of magic from his son and will give him the gift of battle rage. Well, he probably died as a happy orc - he achieved his goal, Grakk flew into a rage finally and immediately killed hated parent.

Grakk realized long ago: all that his father told is wrong. He said the sky is blue, so it's actually red. He said magic is a taint, so it's a gift. First thing Grakk did after father's murder was to go to the shaman and ask to be his apprentice.

Grakk's father's study didn't give young orc many things which are needed for full-fledged shaman, but actually wasn't worthless. Grakk was tireless and strong enough to hammer respect for him directly into a bully's fangs. After all, orcs respect brute force very much. Especially from somebody who is expected to be weakling like a shaman's apprentice.

And, in addition, Grakk was making progress in his apprenticeship. He found in himself great affinity to the power of the very Death. He was becoming a master of undead and terrifying curses. This gives him even more respect than he had before. When he finished his studies he formed the gang of young orcs and went to raid. And again, and again. He turned out to be a lucky warlord who not only rushed into battle in the front lines, but also supported his warriors with powerful spells and inspirational warcries.

Even dead orcs raised up and continued to fight after his words. "Gruumsh! Command! You! Rise!" he shouted! "Death isn't cause for desertion!" he yelled! And his orcs, alive and undead, rushed to the foes in bloody final rage.

CE Frostblood Orc Unholy Fury Barbarian 1/Dread Necromancer 14/Orc Warlord 5
Abilities Initial Frostblood orc Levels Total
STR 11 4 15
DEX 10 10
CON 14 14
INT 14 -2 12
WIS 10 -2 8
CHA 17 -2 5 20
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Barbarian 1 1 2 0 0 20: {+4 CC} Concentration: 2; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+4} Jump: 4; {+4} Ride: 4; {+4} Survival: 4; Tireless, Endurance (B) Dragonblood subtype, illiteracy, rage 1/day, resistance to cold 10, unholy fury, vulnerability to fire
2nd Dread Necromancer 1 1 2 0 2 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 5; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 1; Ride: 4; {+1 CC} Survival: 4.5; Charnel touch, rebuke undead
3rd Dread Necromancer 2 2 2 0 3 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 6; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 1; Ride: 4; {+1} Spellcraft: 1; {+1 CC} Survival: 5; Fell Animate Lich body DR 2
4th Dread Necromancer 3 2 3 1 3 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 7; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 1; {+1 CC} Ride: 4.5; {+1} Spellcraft: 2; Survival: 5; Negative energy burst 1/day
5th Dread Necromancer 4 3 3 1 4 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 8; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 1; {+1 CC} Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 3; Survival: 5; Advanced learning (Kelgore’s Grave Mist), mental bastion +2
6th Dread Necromancer 5 3 3 1 4 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 9; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 2; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 4; Survival: 5; Leadership Fear aura
7th Dread Necromancer 6 4 4 2 5 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 10; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 3; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 5; Survival: 5; Scabrous touch 1/day
8th Dread Necromancer 7 4 4 2 5 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 11; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 4; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 6; Survival: 5; Lich body DR 4, summon familiar
9th Dread Necromancer 8 5 4 2 6 3: Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 12; Jump: 4; {+1} Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+1} Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Blood of the Warlord Advanced learning (Negative Energy Wave), negative energy burst 2/day, undead mastery
10th Orc Warlord 1 6 6 2 8 5: {+2} Bluff: 2; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 13; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 2; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Gather horde ×150%
11th Orc Warlord 2 7 7 2 9 5: {+2} Bluff: 4; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 14; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 4; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Inspire courage
12th Orc Warlord 3 8 7 3 9 5: {+2} Bluff: 6; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 15; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 6; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Accelerate Metamagic (Fell Animate) Gather horde ×200%
13th Orc Warlord 4 9 8 3 10 5: {+2} Bluff: 8; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 16; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 8; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5;
14th Orc Warlord 5 10 8 3 10 5: {+2} Bluff: 10; Concentration: 2; {+1} Intimidate: 17; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; {+2} Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Final rage
15th Dread Necromancer 9 10 9 4 10 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 4; {+1} Intimidate: 18; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Mad Foam Rager Negative energy resistance
16th Dread Necromancer 10 11 9 4 11 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 6; {+1} Intimidate: 19; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Light fortification 25%
17th Dread Necromancer 11 11 9 4 11 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 8; {+1} Intimidate: 20; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Lich body DR 6, scabrous touch 2/day
18th Dread Necromancer 12 12 10 5 12 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 10; {+1} Intimidate: 21; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Practical Metamagic (Fell Animate) Advanced learning (Animate Dread Warrior), enervating touch
19th Dread Necromancer 13 12 10 5 12 3: Bluff: 10; {+2} Concentration: 12; {+1} Intimidate: 22; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; Negative energy burst 3/day
20th Dread Necromancer 14 13 10 5 13 3: Bluff: 10; Concentration: 12; {+1} Intimidate: 23; Jump: 4; Knowledge (religion): 5; Ride: 5; Sense Motive: 10; Spellcraft: 7; Survival: 5; {+2} Swift Concentration; Mental bastion +4
Level Class 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th
2nd Dread Necromancer 1 3
3rd Dread Necromancer 2 4
4th Dread Necromancer 3 5
5th Dread Necromancer 4 6 3
6th Dread Necromancer 5 6 4
7th Dread Necromancer 6 6 5 3
8th Dread Necromancer 7 6 6 4
9th Dread Necromancer 8 6 6 5 3
15th Dread Necromancer 9 6 6 6 4
16th Dread Necromancer 10 6 6 6 5 3
17th Dread Necromancer 11 6 6 6 6 4
18th Dread Necromancer 12 6 6 6 6 5 3
19th Dread Necromancer 13 6 6 6 6 6 4
20th Dread Necromancer 14 6 6 6 6 6 5 3
All spells but advanced learning are from PHB and Heroes of Horror.

I want to explain what I did with SI. Our SI in this round are spellcasting and rage. You can't cast spells while you rage. Okay, I said, then I need to fully control when I rage and when I don't. Which means I need an endless amount of rages per day and the ability to fly into a rage more than once during a single encounter. I already may prematurely end my rage as it said in the rage description. And of course I need to deal with fatigue.
Orc Warlord's capstone and Tireless feat give me all I want. Invoking the final rage is a free action and there are no per day or per encounter limitations. I think it is implied that fatigued and exhausted conditions were enough limitations itself, but for me this doesn't work.
More of than there even are no limitations per round, so nothing prevents me to incite myself and all my nearby allies into greater rage every round. It's of course a very permissive reading, but I'm ok even with regular rage every round.
Of course I want to end every turn with another final rage after casting all spells that I want to cast. Also every time I rage I have a new use of Mad Foam Rager feat and Smite from Unholy Fury ACF. Because final rage is free action I even can use it after casting a spell and before touch attack to get +Cha mod to attack roll via smite.
Fatigue and exhaustion actually are issues. Not for me, I'm immune, but for my allies. That's why I want to have undead around me. They are immune, too, plus, raging is a limited tactic for undead in normal, because of only 3 rounds duration. I solve this problem for them.

One-level barbarian goodies and four levels of dread necromancer. Second level spells (most interesting are Spectral Hand with various touch spells and Charnel touch and Kelgore’s Grave Mist), negative energy attacks, rebuke undead, 1/day rage as last argument. Fell Animate exists, but is unusable at this moment.
Enter orc warlord after eight dread necromancer levels. Two prerequisite feats, undead mastery, ghostly visage familiar, fear aura, third and fourth level spells (good for me are Vampiric Touch, Animate Dead, Enervation, Phantasmal Killer, Negative Energy Wave from advanced learning) and ability to use Fell Animate. I can have my undead horde with me now.
Orc warlord is finished and I return to the dread necromancer. I obtain at these levels my main trick, looking also limitless inspire courage and Accelerate Metamagic feat, thanks to my draconic ancestry.
Five final dread necromancer levels. Spells up to seventh level (most useful are Animate Dread Warrior, Vile Death, Control Undead, Harm, Greater Dispel Magic, several SoD), fortification 25%, Practical Metamagic, some extra goodies from dread necromancer features.

Type Name Book Page
Race Frostblood Orc Dragon Magic 10
Class Barbarian PHB 24
Class Dread Necromancer Heroes of Horror 84
Prestige Class Orc Warlord Races of Faerûn 184
Class variant Unholy Fury Exemplars of Evil 22
Feat Tireless Player's Guide To Faerûn 46
Feat Endurance PHB 93
Feat Fell Animate Libris Mortis 26
Feat Leadership PHB 97
Feat Blood of the Warlord Races of Faerûn 161
Feat Accelerate Metamagic Races of the Dragon 98
Feat Mad Foam Rager PHB 2 80
Feat Practical Metamagic Races of the Dragon 101
Spell Kelgore’s Grave Mist PHB 2 116
Spell Negative Energy Wave Tome and Blood 94
Spell Animate Dread Warrior Unapproachable East 48
Skill Trick Swift Concentration Complete Scoundrel 90

[pabelfly]

Sana Bogle

https://lexica-serve-encoded-images.sharif.workers.dev/md/0e2f0de4-900e-463d-9a4a-5fe7c89c4fd4

CG Human Paragon 1 / Sha'ir 1 / Human Paragon +2 / Geomancer 7 / Blood Magus 1 / Dread Witch 5 / Blood Magus +1 / Geomancer +2

Sana Bogle / all alone
Lost and hungry / skin and bone
Watch her come now / run and hide
Or she'll give you / quite the fright


https://i.imgur.com/Bt58yZl.png

Long, long ago, there was a little girl. She was kind and gentle and curious, and yet none of the other children in the village wanted to be her friend. Never was she invented to join their pretend-plays, their scavenger hunts, or their sleepovers. And so the little girl would wander the woods all by her lonesome, and sit by the babbling brook, and talk to it merrily.

One day, it began to talk back.

The brook offered her friends, lots and lots of them, and endless warm summer nights and smiles and no bedtime at all. And the little girl accepted happily, and was whisked away to a magic place where all she had been promised came true, and she made friends with the fairies and spirits who lived there, and they played all day long and had the best time.

But then, one day, something went wrong when playing, and the little girl just laid there, eyes unblinking and unfocused, some weird red jelly streaming down the back of her head. The fairies tried and tried, but nothing they did made the little girl get up again, not even when they looked for all the cracks in her body and fixed them right up. This made the fairies very sad, and they cried a small lake, but at last the cleverest of them spoke up, and told the others that humans had something called a soul that made them move and talk and breathe, and the little girl must've lost hers.

So the fairies all split up and crawled through the mud and the clouds and places beyond, looking for the little girl's soul. And when they came back, they all proudly showed the little bits of soul they'd found, and carefully put it back inside of their playmate. But nothing they did seemed to work, and when they tried to take the bits of soul out again, they could not find them.

At this, the fairies got really scared, and they ran over to the babbling brook, and asked it what they were to do. The brook got very angry at them, and they hid under rocks and behind trees, but at last it calmed down and went over to the girl. And though he fixed her right up, and she walked and talked and breathed again, he too could not take out the little bits of soul.

The little girl, who never quite realized what had happened, went right back to playing with her friends, but discovered that they had now become scared of her. She didn't look the same, they said. She kept scratching at her skin, they said. She was creepy now, they said. This made her really sad, and she cried and cried until the babbling brook came, who said that it was best if she went home again. That made her even sadder, because she was not quite sure what home was anymore, so the babbling brook gave her a little friend made of dewdrops and laughter, and that made her happy enough to agree to leaving.

Now the little girl, who by now is not very little anymore, walks the earth again, roaming the ruins of what, a long time ago, was her village. Sometimes people find her, and try to do bad things to her, but she's really good at making them go away (without hurting them; she does not like to hurt people). She knows, vaguely, that her head is not quite right anymore, that something that isn't her gets her brain really mad sometimes, especially when she's distracted by doing magic. On good days, she forgets about this right away.

And so she waits, kind and gentle as ever, hoping another friend will soon come by...

Ability scores: 10/10/14/14/8/18, all increases to charisma.

Human Paragon class skills: Chosen skills are Bluff, Concentration, Diplomacy, Hide, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Nature), Move Silently, Intimidate, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device

Languages: Common, Aquan, and Sylvan.



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


1st
Human Paragon 1
+0
+0
+0
+2
Bluff 2, Concentration 4, Diplomacy 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 4, Move Silently 1, Spellcraft 1, Use Magic Device 4
Tireless, Able LearnerHB
Adaptive Learning (Intimidate), Guisarme Proficiency


2nd
Sha'ir 1
+0
+0
+0
+4
Concentration +1 (5), Diplomacy +1 (5), Intimidate +1 (5), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (5), Knowledge (Nature) +1 (5)
-
Spellcasting, Summon Gen Familiar


3rd
Human Paragon 2
+1
+0
+0
+5
Bluff +1 (3), Concentration +1 (6), Diplomacy +1 (6), Intimidate +1 (6), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (6), Knowledge (Nature) +1 (6), Use Magic Device +2 (6)
Nymph's Kiss, Great FortitudeHPB



4th
Human Paragon 3
+2
+1
+1
+5
Bluff +2 (5), Concentration +1 (7), Diplomacy +1 (7), Intimidate +1 (7), Move Silently +2 (3) Use Magic Device +1 (7)
-
+2 Charisma


5th
Geomancer 1
+2
+3
+1
+7
Concentration +1 (8), Diplomacy +1 (8), Hide +1 (1), Intimidate +1 (8), Knowledge (Arcana) +2 (8), Move Silently +1 (4), Use Magic Device +1 (8)
-
Drift 1 (Hair becomes vines), Spell Versatility 0


6th
Geomancer 2
+3
+4
+1
+8
Concentration +1 (9), Diplomacy +1 (9), Intimidate +1 (9), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (9), Spellcraft +1 (2), Use Magic Device +1 (9), Never Outnumbered Skill Trick
Imperious Command
Drift 1 (Feathers), Ley Lines (Forest) +1, Spell Versatility 1


7th
Geomancer 3
+4
+4
+2
+8
Concentration +1 (10), Diplomacy +1 (10), Intimidate +1 (10), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (10), Move Silently +1 (5), Spellcraft +2 (4), Use Magic Device +1 (10)
-
Drift 2 (Dryad's Beauty), Spell Versatility 2


8th
Geomancer 4
+5
+5
+2
+9
Concentration +1 (11), Diplomacy +1 (11), Intimidate +1 (11), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (11), Move Silently +1 (6), Spellcraft +2 (6), Use Magic Device +1 (11)
-
Drift 2 (Elk's Swiftness), Spell Versatility 3


9th
Geomancer 5
+5
+5
+2
+9
Concentration +1 (12), Diplomacy +1 (12), Hide +1 (2), Intimidate +1 (12), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (12), Spellcraft +2 (8), Use Magic Device +1 (12)
Toughness
Drift 3 (Antlers), Spell Versatility 4


10th
Geomancer 6
+6/+1
+6
+3
+10
Concentration +1 (13), Diplomacy +1 (13), Hide +2 (4), Intimidate +1 (13), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (13), Spellcraft +1 (9), Use Magic Device +1 (13)
-
Drift 3 (Gills), Ley Lines (Forest) +2, Spell Versatility 5


11th
Geomancer 7
+7/+2
+6
+3
+10
Concentration +1 (14), Diplomacy +1 (14), Hide +1 (5), Intimidate +1 (14), Move Silently +1 (7), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (14), Spellcraft +1 (10), Use Magic Device +1 (14)
-
Drift 4 (Wolverine's Rage), Spell Versatility 6


12th
Blood Magus 1
+7/+2
+8
+3
+10
Concentration +1 (15), Diplomacy +1 (15), Intimidate +1 (15), Knowledge (Arcana) +1 (15), Spellcraft +1 (11), Use Magic Device +1 (15)
Intimidating Rage
Blood Component, Durable Casting, Stanch


13th
Dread Witch 1
+7/+2
+8
+3
+12
Concentration +1 (16), Diplomacy +1 (16), Intimidate +1 (16), Knowledge (the planes) +2 (2), Use Magic Device +1 (16)
Unnatural WillDWB
Master of Terror


14th
Dread Witch 2
+8/+3
+8
+3
+13
Concentration +1 (17), Diplomacy +1 (17), Intimidate +1 (17), Knowledge (the planes) +2 (4), Use Magic Device +1 (17)
-
Absorb Fear


15th
Dread Witch 3
+8/+3
+9
+4
+13
Concentration +1 (18), Diplomacy +1 (18), Intimidate +1 (18), Knowledge (the planes) +2 (6), Use Magic Device +1 (18)
Raging Luck
Fearful Empowerment 1/day


16th
Dread Witch 4
+9/+4
+9
+4
+14
Concentration +1 (19), Diplomacy +1 (19), Intimidate +1 (19), Knowledge (the planes) +2 (8), Use Magic Device +1 (19)
-
Delay Fear, Greater Master of Terror


17th
Dread Witch 5
+9/+4
+9
+4
+14
Concentration +1 (20), Diplomacy +1 (20), Intimidate +1 (20), Knowledge (the planes) +3 (11)
-
Fearful Empowerment 2/day, Horrific Aura, Reflective Fear


18th
Blood Magus 2
+10/+5
+10
+4
+14
Concentration +1 (21), Diplomacy +1 (21), Intimidate +1 (21), Knowledge (the planes) +3 (14)
Heroic Companion
Scarification


19th
Geomancer 8
+11/+6/+1
+11
+4
+15
Concentration +1 (22), Diplomacy +1 (22), Intimidate +1 (22), Knowledge (the planes) +2 (16), Spellcraft +3 (14)
-
Drift 4 (Scent), Spell Versatility 7


20th
Geomancer 9
+11/+6/+1
+11
+5
+15
Concentration +1 (23), Diplomacy +1 (23), Intimidate +1 (23), Knowledge (Arcana) +2 (17), Spellcraft +3 (17)
-
Drift 5 (Feathered Wings), Spell Versatility 8





Spells per Day


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


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


2nd
4
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
5
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
5
5
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
5
6
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
5
6
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
5
6
5
4
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
5
7
6
4
2
-
-
-
-
-


9th
5
7
6
5
4
-
-
-
-
-


10th
5
7
7
6
4
2
-
-
-
-


11th
5
7
7
5
5
4
-
-
-
-


12th
5
7
7
6
5
4
2
-
-
-


13th
5
7
7
6
5
4
2
-
-
-


14th
5
7
7
6
5
5
4
-
-
-


15th
5
7
7
6
6
5
4
1
-
-


16th
5
7
7
7
6
5
5
4
-
-


17th
5
7
7
7
6
6
5
4
1
-


18th
5
7
7
7
6
6
5
5
3
-


19th
5
7
7
7
6
6
6
5
3
1


20th
5
7
7
7
6
6
6
5
4
3



Spells Known


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


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


2nd
5
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
6
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
6
4
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
7
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
7
5
3
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


7th
8
5
3
2
-
-
-
-
-
-


8th
8
6
4
3
-
-
-
-
-
-


9th
9
6
4
3
2
-
-
-
-
-


10th
9
7
5
4
3
-
-
-
-
-


11th
9
7
5
4
3
2
-
-
-
-


12th
9
8
6
5
4
3
-
-
-
-


13th
9
8
6
5
4
3
-
-
-
-


14th
9
8
6
5
4
3
2
-
-
-


15th
9
9
7
6
5
4
3
-
-
-


16th
9
9
7
6
5
4
3
2
-
-


17th
9
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
-
-


18th
9
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
-


19th
9
9
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
-


20th
9
9
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2



Spells known (level learned):
0: Detect Magic (2), Ghost Sound (2), Light (2), Prestidigitation (2), Read Magic (2), Caltrops (3), Disrupt Undead (5), Mending (7), Arcane Mark (9)
1: Blockade (2), Grease (2), Mage Armor (2), Summon Monster I (4), Enlarge Person (6), Friendly Face (8), Instant Diversion (10), Cause Fear (12), Benign Transposition (15)
2: Web (5), Deflect (5), Invisibility (6), Eagle's Splendour (8), Familiar Pocket (10), Scare (12), Detect Thoughts (15), Snake's Swiftness (17), Doom (19)
3: Permeable Form (7), Stinking Cloud (7), Dispel Magic (8), Haste (10), Greater Mage Armor (12), Alter Fortune (15), Disobedience (17), Daylight (19)
4: Polymorph (9), Voice of the Dragon (9), Ruin Delver's Fortune (10), Friendly Fire (12), Dimension Door (15), Solid Fog (17), Greater Invisibility (19)
5: Summon Monster V (11), Mind Fog (11), Swift Etherealness (12), Dominate Person (15), Teleport (17), Dismissal (19)
6: Greater Dispel magic (14), Wages of Sin (14), Summon Monster VI (15), Ghost Trap (17), Forcecage (19)
7: Plane Shift (16), Constricting Chains (16), Forcecage (18), Greater Teleport (20)
8: Maze (18), Sunburst (18), Irresistible Dance (19)
9: Dominate Monster (20), Prismatic Sphere (20)

Sana can usually retrieve spells on an encounter-by-encounter basis, and prefers to have a few swift and a few standard-action spells to get two rages a turn when needed. When she's able to fit a single divine spell in there, the best option is the Luck domain's underleveled Freedom of Movement, with Dispel Law, Earthquake, and Divination all occasionally useful as well.

ECL 5
At low levels, we're a basic charisma-based caster. The sha'ir's quirky spell preparation mechanism lets us quickly retrieve random sorc/wiz utility spells, and maxed social ranks combine with 21 charisma and Nymph's Kiss to grant us insane Intimidate and Diplomacy bonuses (+17 to both at ECL 5). We also have a water gen familiar that can fly, swim, and make use of our stealth ranks when scouting. It's probably an alright scout, though for now (foreshadowing!) it's mainly an awkward spell preparation mechanism. That said, it can use a lot of magic items (being humanoid and capable of speech) so maybe offload random wands or other magic loot on to it.

We improve on the basic Sha'ir into Geomancer progression by heading into Human Paragon, which gives us a bonus feat, +2 charisma, a cherrypicked list of skills (that with Able Learner become essentially permanent class skills), and guisarme proficiency.

Why a guisarme? We have 10 strength and +2 BAB, so not to make melee attacks. The answer is twofold; firstly a reach weapon improves our threatened area, which lets us Demoralize foes 10 ft. away (not quite relevant now, but soon it'll be). Secondly, tripping only cares about strength and size, not BAB, meaning we're at least passable at it: if a 16 strength fighter charges us, we have reasonable odds of landing an AoO trip and winning the 1d20 vs 1d20+3 contest. It's a last resort, but not an insignificant one, and it sure beats praying for a low attack roll. Note that we can switch between holding our guisarme in one hand and wielding it in two as a free action (https://web.archive.org/web/20160123054506/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20041102a), so somatic components won't be a problem.

Our spells include Mage Armor and Deflect for defense, Grease and Web for BFC, and Blockade and Summon Monster I to put some things between ourselves and enemies. As the levels go on, we'll have a slight preference for swift/immediate action spells and magic with a visual component: you'll soon see why.

ECL 10
A bunch of Geomancer levels leave us with various physical mutations, most notably granting us +4 Diplomacy (useful when preparing spells) and a gore attack (useful to threaten adjacent foes in addition to nonadjacent ones). Outside of that, we're mostly advancing sha'ir casting with slightly better HD, saves, and skills than actual sha'ir levels would've given us. We also grab Imperious Command and Never Outnumbered. Intimidation is still just a side business for us, but forcing substantial saves vs Cowering once per encounter is rather nice.

Notable spells include Friendly Face and Voice of the Dragon for optimizing Diplomacy, Enlarge Person, Haste, and Eagle's Splendour as buffs, Familiar Pocket to keep our little XP liability safe, and Ruin Delver's Fortune to turn our sizeable 22 charisma into a defensive bonus. Instant Diversion is a stylish way to escape melee, creating several illusionary doubles that can bait enemy AoOs for us. Polymorph is its own amazing self.

ECL 12 (SWEET SPOT)
With another level of Geomancer to get 'rage like a wolverine', as well as a level of Blood Magus, the build's main trick has come online.

See, Geomancer says you enter a rage 'if you take damage'. Blood Magus lets us use our own blood as a component when casting spells, which deals 1 damage to us, so every time we cast a spell we can immediately start raging afterwards. This activates Intimidating Rage, allowing for a free action demoralize attempt. If we fail, we just dismiss the rage (negating the fatigue with Tireless) and cast a swift action spell to enter rage a second time in one turn. Spells fuel rage, which fuels demoralize attempts, which keeps your foes away from you (the caster) and within reach of your Grease, Web, or summons' full attacks, allowing you to stick around and cast more spells.

Now, and this is critical, we want to stay raging when it's not our turn. +2 Fortitude, +2 Will, and +2 HP/level are all significant defensive buffs, and +4 strength helps with our guisarme trip technique (which, I want to stress again, scales surprisingly well). Ending rage isn't stated to be an action, so you can possibly do it even when it's not your turn, in which case even immediate action spells remain castable. If your DM rules against that, just dismiss rage when you think you might need Ruin Delver's Fortune in the coming round, and don't be afraid to switch it back on with a Deflect or Permeable Form when necessary.

(Obviously, don't dismiss rage if losing the extra HP would kill you: just down a potion or intimidate someone and realize a normal caster would have died there)

ECL 15
Raging Luck gives us a free action point every time we rage, which is every time we cast a spell and then some. That's 3d6b1 added to a roll of your choice (averaging slightly less than a +5 bonus). We'll typically use it to boost the Intimidating Rage check, but you could keep it in reserve to improve a saving throw or even a guisarme trip attempt (going from a +0 to +7 modifier in an instant feels great, and more importantly gives great odds to trip all sorts of casters and even weaker strength-types). Not only is rage directly boosting our survivability, it's indirectly doing so as well.

Speaking of Intimidate, we've started taking levels in Dread Witch (despite Sana looking and acting like a horror movie villain, all these classes are compatible with Exalted CGs!), giving us a scaling Intimidate bonus, a big bonus against fear and the ability to absorb it for our own benefit, and the 1/day ability to apply the Shaken condition with a spell. We're mostly here for the intimidate bonus, but a lot of our spells are compatible and free debuffs are never bad.

Spells like Greater Mage Armor and Alter Fortune further improve our survivability, Wages of Sin is a great way to deal with Evil foes, and Summon Monster V and VI give us some muscle for dealing with magic-resistant foes. Swift Etherealness is the ultimate escape button, and you can delay the Intimidating Rage check to when you reappear 1 round later. Friendly Fire is a very fun and underrated answer against ranged attacks, which are otherwise a bit of a concern, and lets you no-save turn enemies' attacks against them. You can even cast it as an immediate action!

ECL 20
Our Rage-fueled action points have two awkward sides. The first is that we can generate two per round, but are prohibited from actually spending both. The second is that we only have the action points while raging, which means we can't use them to boost skills that rely on patience and concentration (Knowledge, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device). However, with Heroic Companion, our gen familiar can access the second action point and use it on Rage-locked skills (or, sometimes, its own saving throws). With its Intelligence and Dexterity exceeding ours, frequently the best course of action when making a check will be to cast a cantrip, take 1 damage, get mad, and delegate our familiar to make the actual check: how many builds can say they use Rage to augment their knowledge rolls? (UMD ranks are optimized so that with a +4 bonus from the action point and a roll of 2, our familiar succeeds on the DC 25 checks to activate items blindly)

Our final class levels give us more bonuses with Fear spells and the ability to apply them to normally immune targets, a touch attack that Panics (and whose to-hit benefits from the Rage strength bonus!), Scent and wings from geomancer, and a creepy Scribe Scroll variant from Blood Magus. The latter interacts very favorably with Sha'ir: you can look for powerful divine spells (Miracle!) during downtime, inscribe them, and not have to worry about waiting 1d6+9 hours when it matters anymore.



All listed statistics are before factoring in items.

Our base caster level is 18. Blood Magus improves this by 1 if we damage ourselves while casting. Dread Witch lets us absorb fear effects (even our own) to fuel a CL increase of up to +3. While in a forest, our CL increases by another 2.

Our save DC is 10+level+7. Dread Witch adds +2 to the DC if we're casting a Fear spell (our 2/day Fearful Empowerment can make any spell qualify).

Our saves are +15/+5/+14, with an addition +2 Will and Fortitude while raging, an additional +7 on saves against Fear, and various spells (Like Ruin Delver's Fortune) helping out on the side. Note that despite looking like a wizard, our Fortitude is on par with a fighter's, which should pose a nasty surprise to anyone trying to hit a Disintegrate.

We have 8+1d4+2d8+9d6+2d6+5d4+40+3 = 113 HP, or 153 while raging. Our HP while not raging is comparable to a 14 constitution rogue. While raging, it's that of a 16 constitution cleric. While we don't exactly enjoy attacks coming our way, we're not quite as frail as the full caster role implies, and can certainly hang around melee even if we don't want to join it.

Our Diplomacy modifier is +38 (+7 charisma, 23 ranks, +2 Nymph's Kiss, +4 Dryad's Beauty, +2 Synergy). We can boost this further with Eagle's Splendour (+2), Friendly Face (+5 against non-hostile creatures), and Voice of the Dragon (+10).

Our Intimidate is +44 (+7 charisma, 23 ranks, +2 Nymph's Kiss, +10 Dread Witch, +2 Synergy), which is buffed by Voice of the Dragon as well; if we make the check while raging, we can add an action point to add around +5 to the result.

Sha'ir - Dragon Compendium
Human Paragon - UA
Geomancer - Complete Divine
Blood Magus - Complete Arcane
Dread Witch - Heroes of Horror

Tireless - Player's Guide to Faerun
Able Learner - Races of Destiny
Nymph's Kiss - Book of Exalted Deeds
Imperious Command - Drow of the Underdark
Intimidating Rage - Complete Warrior
Raging Luck - Eberron Campaign Setting
Heroic Companion - Magic of Eberron

[pabelfly]

Okay, entries are all in. Thanks to everyone for entering.

From here:
- I'll write up the table of the seven entries we got.
- Feel free to discuss any failed entry ideas, ingredients, failed build stubs, and so forth.
- Everyone can vote for their choice of the comp's Honourable Mention. If you're a contestant, you can vote via PM (obviously you can't vote for yourself)
- If you're interested in judging, feel free to volunteer. Don't worry if you don't feel like you have a great amount of system mastery or there are systems you don't understand well, judging a comp is a great way to gain that understanding, and you can always ask questions on forums or look up answers to fill in gaps in your knowledge if the books themselves aren't answering your questions. I've personally found judging is great for expanding my understanding of many different game systems and gaining an understanding of how to improve my entries for future contests. The forum is only as good as it is when people make these contributions, and they're very much appreciated.

After judging is completed, I'd love feedback on how this Junkyard was run. Anything you think I can improve, or was done well, or whatever. It's my first time Chairing, so all feedback, positive and negative, is appreciated.

[pabelfly]

Build table



Name
Alignment/Race
Class Levels
Chef
Total
Place


Trox, Shaped By War
NG/Saint Frostblood Half-Orc
Barbarian 1 / Cleric of Heironeous 3 / Ordained Champion 4 / Flux Adept 10





Ragnor Kolbjorn
TN/Maenad
Fighter 6 / Berserk 4 / Warmind 10





Trogdrak of the Badgers
TN/Ferral Natural Weredire Badger Lesser Maeluth
Spirit Shaman 6 / Death Delver 1 / Holt Warden 2 / Mystic Wanderer 3





Wander, Shifter Psychic Rogue
TN / Shifter (Razorclaw)
Cleric 1 / Psychic Rogue 16 / Weretouched Master 3





Batsu, the Bat-man
LN / Anthropromorphic Bat
Monk 2 / Druid 17 / Spelldancer 1





Grakk "Halfdead"
CE / Frostblood Orc
Unholy Fury Barbarian 1 / Dread Necromancer 14 / Orc Warlord 5





Sana Bogle
CG / Human
Paragon 1 / Sha'ir 1 / Human Paragon +2 / Geomancer 7 / Blood Magus 1 / Dread Witch 5 / Blood Magus +1 / Geomancer +2

[Beni-Kujaku]

"Humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings; all were created by the gods. In that creation, we can already find the potential for war: the strength to wield weapons, the frailty to be killed by them. But why did the gods make it so? Why allow for their creations to kill one another? Why not give us the stony hide of gargoyles, which no spear or blade may pierce? Why not the vitality of trolls, that may survive even beheading? Or, if need be, why not remove our strength, and thus make violence impossible? The gods are neither cruel nor short-sighted: they must have known their design capable of great evil: why did they not make it less so?"

However paradoxical, we were made frail so we may twist ourselves away from frailty.

I like that answer. Imperfection breeds progress. That's an optimistic answer. But there is a pessimistic side to it. The violent war against demons is not meant to be fought by mortals, but by angels, and powerful agents from beyond. It is meant to protect mortals, and they fight in this war not by sword and strength, but with philosophy and morale. A mortal giving in to violence may roll back a few demons in their lifetime, but becomes an eternal soldier of chaos after their death. No, we weren't given strength to fight outside of our cradle plane. But then why? Imperfection breeds progress. Unsatisfaction breeds progress. And gods know better than anyone that all mortals are eternally unsatisfied. They gave us enough strength to wield weapons, enough strength to kill each other, so that we don't realize that there could be so much worse we can do to each other.
Fireballs in item shapes, launched at a frightening frequency by magically enhanced giant crossbows, cloudkills permeating entire battlefield, mass mindrapes of whole children generations, flying constructs dropping large-scale weapons, repeated fimbulwinters on enemy areas, the ability to increase temperature on entire planets through epic spells, we can even imagine devastating spells that could be launched from anywhere on the planet, scorching an area with fire and releasing a cloud of disease killing every survivor there in a matter of days or weeks. What determined countries may accomplish should regular weapons not be sufficient to kill their neighbour and claim resources or morale right is truly frightening.

Gods made us frail because they trusted us to improve. Gods made us strong because they feared what would happen if we improved.

[Inevitability]

Some thoughts on the entries:

I expected at least one person to go for the 'raging caster in a can' classes (Champion of Gwyyyyyyr or Runescarred Berserker), glad to see neither show up. I also considered Disciple of Thrymm as one of the few caster classes open to barbarians (perhaps entering as a werebadger), but beyond Frozen Berserker + Fire Immunity I didn't see any real synergy there.

Also very happy to see a druidic avenger build (I think I can safely reveal that one isn't mine, people know I'm not much for TO), and surprised that not one but two people used some type of frostblood orc this round. It's not exactly a common ingredient, is it?

------------------------------

My most fleshed-out unsubmitted idea was a Human Inspire Awe Bard 1/Marshall 1/Bard +2/Celebrant of Sharess 6/Sublime Chord 1 /Wyrm Wizard 2/Chord +7, to get Pounce, Rage, 9th-level wizard spells, 7 bardic music attempts, and solid charisma synergy across the board without taking the expected barbarian dip.

Feats were very tight: I was thinking of taking Celebrant's prerequisite vows at level 1, at level 3 Snowflake Wardance and Haunting Melody as a bard bonus feat, Knowledge Devotion (Arcana) at level 6, at level 9 any metamagic (Smiting Spell?), and then Arcane Strike, Intimidating Rage, and Extra Rage at higher levels.

Bard would fuel snowflake wardance for charisma to-hit, marshall would offer charisma to damage when charging, celebrant of sharess gives Rage, Pounce, and casting, which then qualifies us for Sublime Chord entry, and Wyrm Wizard gives us Divine Power on the Sublime Chord list so we can keep BAB high. There'd be some fear synergy between our charisma focus, Haunting Melody, Inspire Awe, and Intimidating Rage, but keeping intimidate ranks high would've been a bit of a chore as they would generally be cross-class.

I ended up not going with the build because it felt like a lot of work for relatively little payoff, and being restricted to one-handed weapons made the whole thing disappointingly reliant on Arcane Strike to keep damage high enough. Plus, wading into melee all but required a turn of buffing with Divine Power, and between light armor and low HDs the character was disappointingly frail.

[Inevitability]

That reminds me, did anyone come across Waveservant while building? It's not the most straightforward ingredient, but it is a full casting advancement class that grants Rage, and making it work would've been a fun challenge. Plus, entering it isn't as big of a pain as it seems: both its requirement feats are obtainable as bonus feats quite easily.

[loky1109]

I had idea around Halfling Outrider's Defensive Riding. It's quite a "rage" according to round restrictions, but it's too cheese to go such textually, I think, and I didn't manage to find out something smart around this single ability.

I also had an idea with Drunken Master, but it was killed by chair. )

[pabelfly]

I had idea around Halfling Outrider's Defensive Riding. It's quite a "rage" according to round restrictions, but it's too cheese to go such textually, I think, and I didn't manage to find out something smart around this single ability.

I also had an idea with Drunken Master, but it was killed by chair. )

I can see where you're coming from with Drunk Master, but a stat drop doesn't forbid your casting. I mean, unless you dip under 10, but there's no way to guarantee that.

Still not sure I should have treated defining "Rage" as a Chair. In retrospect, I think the best way might have been to say that "Rage" doesn't have to be specifically the "Rage" ability, as long as you pick an ability in similar function and you can argue your case in your build. But maybe people prefer how I defined it so there's no "is this Rage enough for a build?".

However, we did have seven entrants in this Junkyard, which is a really solid number for this comp, so something must have went right in all of this.

[loky1109]

Actually, I'm glad I'm not judging this round. It promises to be hard.

[Thurbane]

Interesting array of entries, well done everyone.

My stub was a Half-Orc Druidic Avenger (this variant comes with casting and rage built right in), taking the Channeled Rage feat to turn Rage uses into bonuses on will saves. Coupled with Wildshape, you can pump strength pretty high, so pretty high will saves.

Other than that, a pretty standard Druid build, minus an animal companion. I couldn't get that enthused about the concept.

[Notafish]

The build I'm trying in-game is an elf-barian with Whirling Frenzy that classes into Revenant Blade via Wizard and Mystic Ranger - which I'm excited to try out if we ever make it to level 7, but the rage component felt like too much of an afterthought for this contest.

I'm excited to read the submissions!

[loky1109]

I expected at least one person to go for the 'raging caster in a can' classes (Champion of Gwyyyyyyr or Runescarred Berserker), glad to see neither show up.
I thought about RB, but... His spellcasting is a poor man's version of spellcasting and his rage still prevent him from casting. I don't think it's good option. And I'm not sure if it's correct to call RB "raging caster in a can". Yeah, it has rage and is sorta caster, but... No synergy.

[Inevitability]

I'm also curious if anyone saw the feat Franctic Rage (FoE) because it's one of the very few pieces of material out there predicated on you being a raging caster. Basically, it requires the Madness domain and causes your rage to boost Dexterity and Constitution, instead of Strength and Constitution. I thought about combining it with dragonfire adept to have a rager who's mostly using rage for the constitution boost, rather than the strength boost, and can thus trade the latter out for a dexterity increase.

The final build idea was something like CE Jungle Half-Elf Barbarian 1 / Dragonfire Adept 1 / Cloistered Cleric 3 / Eldritch Disciple 10 / Contemplative 1 / Seeker of the Misty Isle 4, worshipping Vecna.

Ends up with a Greater invocation and a 6d6 breath weapon in addition to 17th-level cleric casting, has some minor synergy going on between Frozen Berserker and the fire resistance that ED gives you, plus Intimidating Rage and Fearful Glare. Does the typical long-term buffing / summoning / utility thing outside of combat and fires off boosted breath weapons within. Gets a ton of great domains despite the obligation to pick Madness, ending up with something like Magic/Madness/Travel/Pride/Knowledge.

The fluff concept was that of a barbarian from a tribe of wild elves who learned a major clue to the location of the misty isle, but was cursed by Vecna to expel only fire and death whenever he tried to speak it, now frantically attempting to earn the god's favor so he might at least share his secret with others.

...of course, the casting made the entire rest of the build feel rather pointless, so I didn't end up going for it.

[pabelfly]

Just wanted to give this a bump and see if anyone was interested in judging.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

If we don't have any judges soon, I can withdraw my entry and judge the rest.

[pabelfly]

If we don't have any judges soon, I can withdraw my entry and judge the rest.

Was thinking, if we don't have a judge within the month, I'd ask our entrants if they'd accept me doing judging work. Not my preference - I'd much prefer to maintain my impartiality - and I wouldn't do it if one of our comp entrants disagreed, but that's my next suggestion.

[Gruftzwerg]

Was thinking, if we don't have a judge within the month, I'd ask our entrants if they'd accept me doing judging work. Not my preference - I'd much prefer to maintain my impartiality - and I wouldn't do it if one of our comp entrants disagreed, but that's my next suggestion.

Imho it would be sad if one of the entries had to withdraw for judging. So I would prefer it if you as chairman would jump in if no one else volunteers.

[pabelfly]

Imho it would be sad if one of the entries had to withdraw for judging. So I would prefer it if you as chairman would jump in if no one else volunteers.

I'll DM everyone on, let's say the 20th. That way if someone doesn't want me to judge, they can be anonymous.

Might take me a while to judge, casting is always really difficult to do and I've got seven entries to work out.

[Gruftzwerg]

I'll DM everyone on, let's say the 20th. That way if someone doesn't want me to judge, they can be anonymous.

Might take me a while to judge, casting is always really difficult to do and I've got seven entries to work out.

Just wanted to kindly ask for a status update. Did you get any complaints because of your intend to judge?
And did you started the judging process and how well are you progressing?

[pabelfly]

Just wanted to kindly ask for a status update. Did you get any complaints because of your intend to judge?
And did you started the judging process and how well are you progressing?

Havent asked yet. I wanted to wait until the 20th but if someone hasn't volunteered now, I don't think they will, so I'll send out some PMs now and ask.

EDIT: I have two solutions to this problem.
1) I judge.
2) Entrants judge other entries that are not their own (I will post your judging to maintain anonymity). Their entry receive a score from them that's the average of the scores they gave other entries (eg, if entrant X rates other comp entries 12, 10, 15, 12, 11, and 13, their entry would receive a 12.17) We average all the scores to work out our comp winner.

I'll see what our entrants think of my possible ideas.

[Inevitability]

Pabel, your inbox is full.

Anyway, a suggestion to remove some perverse incentives from player-led judging: normalizing scores.




Let's say there's 3 players, A B and C.

A ranks B 5/20 and C 2/20.

B ranks A 10/20 and C 10/20.

C ranks A 6/20 and B 8/20.

A is ahead in total scores (16/40, while C is 12/40 and B is 13/40). However, A ranked the other players notably low, and both A and C agree that B is the better of their competitors.


However, if we instead rank people by 'percentage of total points assigned' we get the following picture.

A assigned 71% of his points to B and 29% to C.

B assigned 50% of his points to A and 50% to C.

C assigned 43% of his points to A and 57 to B.

Under this metric, A has obtained 93% of judge scores, B has obtained 128%, and C has obtained 79%. B wins, A is second, and C is third.


It still encourages players to rank their strongest competitors low, but that's harder to determine because it requires knowledge of other judges' rankings, and it's also more difficult to justify with established scoring metrics. It no longer incentivizes players to assign low scores across the board, because what matters is the relative position of all players, just like with normal judgements!

[loky1109]

Anyway, a suggestion to remove some perverse incentives from player-led judging: normalizing scores.




Let's say there's 3 players, A B and C.

A ranks B 5/20 and C 2/20.

B ranks A 10/20 and C 10/20.

C ranks A 6/20 and B 8/20.

A is ahead in total scores (16/40, while C is 12/40 and B is 13/40). However, A ranked the other players notably low, and both A and C agree that B is the better of their competitors.


However, if we instead rank people by 'percentage of total points assigned' we get the following picture.

A assigned 71% of his points to B and 29% to C.

B assigned 50% of his points to A and 50% to C.

C assigned 43% of his points to A and 57 to B.

Under this metric, A has obtained 93% of judge scores, B has obtained 128%, and C has obtained 79%. B wins, A is second, and C is third.


It still encourages players to rank their strongest competitors low, but that's harder to determine because it requires knowledge of other judges' rankings, and it's also more difficult to justify with established scoring metrics. It no longer incentivizes players to assign low scores across the board, because what matters is the relative position of all players, just like with normal judgements!
We have trouble here with players with two entries.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

When the Gamewarpers competition was around, it also had everyone judge each other. Pulling up the rules from the last such comp I entered, they did it like so:


Once all the builds have been posted, follow these guidelines for judging:

1. Entrants will read all of the entries and rate all the other builds. Each build must be given at least a short paragraph of observations, including at least a passing elaboration on each of the following categories: Originality, Power, Elegance, and Theme*. Entrants will not judge their own builds.

2. The judge will summarize all of their thoughts comparing the entries into a final paragraph, and end with a first place selection and a second place selection. If there are at least 5 entries, a third place will also be chosen. Honorable Mention may also be awarded here (explain your choice if you make one), but is not required.

3. These judgments, just like the builds, will be PM'd to the chair. Any entrant that does not judge will be disqualified. You have one week from the posting of the builds to submit your judgment. At the end of this one week period, all the judgments will be posted and a final ranking given.

Scoring: All first place ratings will earn 4 points. All second place ratings will earn 2 points. All third place ratings, should they be needed, will earn 1 point. Ties will be broken by number of 1st place rankings, then by number of 2nd place rankings. If the builds are still tied after that, the medal is shared.

There is no dispute process! What you see is what you get. You can discuss the judgments given after the fact, but it's too late to change anything, so keep it all in good humor, eh?

*The four categories are mostly adopted straight from Iron Chef. Originality, Power, and Elegance use their same definitions, but Theme is the rough analogue for Use of the Special Ingredient. Since what form that takes varies from competition to competition, this category encompasses how well the build utilizes whatever element defines this round, or how well they use the given theme. For this round, it would represent how well they made use of those extra 2 levels, and how centered on LoM the build was. Did they manage something that can't be pulled off with only E6? Did they merely have a feat from LoM and barely use it? Let us know.


So rather than doing a full-blown analysis of each build, the judges just have to choose and rank the best 3. Comparatively easy, which is probably a good thing for people that didn't sign up for judging and haven't necessarily done it before.

[pabelfly]

Okay, tidied up my DMs so I should be able to get some mail now.


When the Gamewarpers competition was around, it also had everyone judge each other. Pulling up the rules from the last such comp I entered, they did it like so:

So rather than doing a full-blown analysis of each build, the judges just have to choose and rank the best 3. Comparatively easy, which is probably a good thing for people that didn't sign up for judging and haven't necessarily done it before.
a
This is a pretty decent process. I might implement this as an alternate should we get no judges next contest.


Let's say there's 3 players, A B and C.

A ranks B 5/20 and C 2/20.

B ranks A 10/20 and C 10/20.

C ranks A 6/20 and B 8/20.

A is ahead in total scores (16/40, while C is 12/40 and B is 13/40). However, A ranked the other players notably low, and both A and C agree that B is the better of their competitors.


However, if we instead rank people by 'percentage of total points assigned' we get the following picture.

A assigned 71% of his points to B and 29% to C.

B assigned 50% of his points to A and 50% to C.

C assigned 43% of his points to A and 57 to B.

Under this metric, A has obtained 93% of judge scores, B has obtained 128%, and C has obtained 79%. B wins, A is second, and C is third.


It still encourages players to rank their strongest competitors low, but that's harder to determine because it requires knowledge of other judges' rankings, and it's also more difficult to justify with established scoring metrics. It no longer incentivizes players to assign low scores across the board, because what matters is the relative position of all players, just like with normal judgements!

So I like Poetic's idea better than my attempts to do averages and the weighted scoring suggestion here. It seems to have worked before.

As an aside, I did the maths with my suggested method:

A ranks B 5/20 and C 2/20 (A gets a resulting average score of 3.5).

B ranks A 10/20 and C 10/20 (B gets a resulting average of 10/20).

C ranks A 6/20 and B 8/20 (C gets a resulting average of 7/20)

A = 3.5 + 10 + 6 = 19.5
B = 5 + 10 + 8 = 23
C = 2 + 10 + 7 = 19

Our results are that B wins, A comes second, and C comes third, the same as the weighted scores would indicate. It also works for people that do multiple entries, which I'm not sure how weighted average handles.

I personally prefer Poetic's suggested method, but I'm also open to alternate ideas for contests where we don't have a judge.

[pabelfly]

Okay, I’ve had several responses from contestants saying they’re happy for me to complete judging for the comp. I’ve in the middle of judging the first entry, with the presumption that everyone else who hasn’t yet responded will agree.

[pabelfly]

Update: have completed judging for two entries so far.

Still waiting on two other people to get back to me and let me know if they're okay with me judging the contest.

[loky1109]

Update: have completed judging for two entries so far.

Still waiting on two other people to get back to me and let me know if they're okay with me judging the contest.

I think I said I'm ok. Didn't remember and duplicate it here.

[pabelfly]

I think I said I'm ok. Didn't remember and duplicate it here.

Yeah, there's one more left (just had a DM from one of the contestants).

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Apparently I was the holdout. I remember writing up a reply, but it's not in my Sent Items, so I must have... just closed it without hitting send? My bad.

[pabelfly]

Quick update - just about finished judging four of the seven entries, so maybe halfway done.

[pabelfly]

Update - been busy with work and other stuff but I have completed the first four entries. Also, I suck at doing damage calculations, so I anticipate a few corrections from entrants, but I do welcome those corrections.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Update - been busy with work and other stuff but I have completed the first four entries. Also, I suck at doing damage calculations, so I anticipate a few corrections from entrants, but I do welcome those corrections.

No worries. Just started a new job myself, and have noticed my free time rapidly evaporating as well.

[pabelfly]

Okay, quick update: have currently finished judging the sixth entry, so only one to go, and I need to check over the entries before posting my judging notes. Not sure when I'll finish but I expect it will be less than a week away.

Apologies for the delays, didn't expect I'd have to judge as well and I don't have as much time to dedicate to judging as I'd like. Will fix this so it's not an issue for the next comp.

[pabelfly]

Okay, time to post scores. Thanks for your patience, everyone, it has been hard to find time to dedicate to judging.

As always, please feel free to DM me if you have critiques about any part of the judging I have made. We are all only human and it is hard to get everything correcet, especially with a system as complex as DnD 3rd edition.



Scores start at a baseline of 3/5.

Frostblood Orcs and Half-Orcs are pretty common, IMO. (-0.5 points)
Taking the Saint template? And multiple flavourful exalted feats? Yes please. (+1 point)
I like Heretic of the Faith. (+0.5 point)
Ordained Champion isn’t the most common prestige class, but it isn’t the most original pick either. Call it even. (0 points)
I really like seeing half-progression prestige caster classes like Flux Adept and want to see more of them. (+1 point)
Cloistered Cleric is really standard stuff. (-1 points)
A one-level dip for Barbarian is standard stuff. (-0.5 points)

With no obvious benchmarks reached, instead, let’s do some damage calcs for your level 20 character.

We’ll presume you’re Raging and have Divine Power active for full BAB, giving you a base of 30 STR.
We’ll do calcs for Power Attack 0 and Power Attack 5
We’ll presume you use up a fourth-level slot for bonus damage.
We’ll presume you have a +1 weapon. We’ll assume you have +6 Belt of Giant Strength
We’ll presume you can charge and can make use of Headlong Rush.
We’ll presume your opponent at level 20 has 36 AC and DR 15.
Since you haven’t invested in criticals, particularly bypassing crit immunity, we’ll assume you’re fighting an enemy that doesn’t take extra damage from crits.

Accuracy
20 BAB + 10 STR + 3 Belt of Giant Strength + 1 (Weapon Focus) +1 (Weapon)
Power Attack 0: 35/30/25/20
Power Attack 5: 30/25/20/15

Damage
Power Attack 0: (1d10 + 13 STR x 1.5 + 4 (Spell slot)) x 2 (Headlong Rush)
58 per hit on charge (43 after damage reduction).
Power Attack 5: (1d10 + 13 STR x 1.5 + 10 + 4) x 2
78 per hit on charge (63 after damage reduction)

Regular Hit, Power Attack 0: 43 * 0.95 + 43 * 0.75 + 43 * 0.75 = 105.35 average damage a round

I don’t have to go any further, ballparking around 100 damage a round as a melee is what I want to see at level 20. (+1 point)
Your build presumes you’re always going to be able to charge at your enemies to do reasonable damage. While you’ve picked up Twisted Charge, and that’s helpful, that’s definitely not always going to be the case and your damage falls off sharply then. (-0.5 points)
The spell list is handy, thank you. I presume you meant to include Divine Power in the list since it’s mentioned in the writeup. In any case, no points won or lost. (0 points)
It’s a pity seeing odd ability scores at level 20. You’ve done this to barely qualify for fifth-level Cleric spells, but I’d suggest tweaking stuff like this to ensure you have even points to get the most out of the worth of your stat allocation. No points won or lost. (0 points).
Saves (while Raging) are 19/9/15, which is decent but not spectacular. (+0.5 points)
HP while raging is 169.5, which is decent for a frontliner. (+0.5 points)
Skills at level 20 – Balance 5, Climb 4, Craft (Alchemy) 17, Heal 5, Knowledge Arcana 8, Knowledge Local 1, Knowledge Nature 2, Knowledge Religion 8, Literacy 2, Sense Motive 16, Tumble 5. I feel like you have a lot of skills with low investment to qualify for various skill tricks and classes and you don’t have much in the way of high-level skills where you can reliably get good rolls, for end-game, besides Sense Motive and Craft (Alchemy). And I’d still prefer 21 ranks by ECL 20 too. (-0.5 points)
We have some pretty decent in-built defensive options here, even if some of them only come online at level 18. I like. (+0.5 points)

I like your backstory text. I’m not giving out extra points for it – I don’t want to handicap the scores of people who aren’t creative writers – but this lets me easily understand what sort of character you want to create and I enjoyed reading it. Good job. (0 points)
A pretty tidy build stub. (+1 points)
You complete a full prestige class in your build. (+0.5 points)
No Favored Class penalty. (+1 point)
Sanctify Martial Strike requires 15 CHA. You cap out at 10 CHA before gear. There’s an argument to be made that maybe you could qualify for it based on equip items, and you should be able to afford 36K at level 18, but relying on equip items to meet feat (and thus template) prereqs is inelegant. (-1 point)
You’ve got Intuitive Strike, which helps you qualify for the Sainthood Template, but your character otherwise has no reason to use this. You can’t use it with your greatsword, and if you give up your greatsword, you’d lose the power and enchantments of your main weapon. I would have preferred to see this integrated into the build instead. (-1 point)

Your choice of Rage-like ability for this contest is Rage. No-one can argue that this isn’t Rage or an equivalent. (0 point).
Rage at first level, casting from second level. Hard to imagine getting the two more quickly. (+1 point)
You can cast before combat starts and have buffs up before Raging. You turn spell slots into damage resistance, extra damage, or can channel spells, so you have plenty of extra combat options thanks to your casting levels, even while you Rage and can’t cast. (+1 point)

Maenad surprised me. (+0.5 point)
War Mind isn’t a common pick to me. (+0.5 points)
Berserker isn’t a common pick at all. I’m interested to see what you end up cooking here. (+0.5 points)
I really liked the Illithid Heritage feat line. (+0.5 points)
I’d like your Fighter levels more if you picked some more obscure feats or abilities or had more of them. (-0.5 points)

With no obvious benchmarks reached, let’s do some damage calcs for your level 20 character.

We’ll do two calculations.
First assumes you’re charging with Psionic Lion’s Charge and using Claws of the Beast. This means you don’t have your Berserk abilities activated, but you can do two attacks of 5d6 + STR on your charge.
Since Claws of the Beast specifically doesn’t give you extra attacks (the text says so, and they’re natural attacks), and you haven’t taken any feats that would allow you to bypass this rule, you only get two attacks at full attack bonus.
The second one has your Berserk abilities activated and Claws of the Beast activated, but you only get a single attack since you can’t use Psionic Lion’s Charge.
Let’s assume you have 14 STR and have “Chains of Personal Superiority” activated for +4. Let’s assume you have a +6 STR belt, for a total of 24 STR.
Let's assume you use 19PP to cast Claws of the Beast for 5d6 damage per hit.
Let’s assume you spend 3PP per hit to attack flatfooted, and can only miss on a 1 (when you don’t have Berserk activated).
We’ll assume the opponent has DR 15.

Accuracy (Psionic Lion’s Charge) – 19 BAB + 7 STR = 26/26
Damage (Psionic Lion’s Charge) – 5d6 + 7 per hit
24.5 (9.5 after DR)

9.5*0.95 = 9.025

Accuracy (Battle Fury) – 19 BAB + 7 STR + 3 STR = 29
Damage (Battle Fury) – 5d6 + 10 per hit
27.5 (12.5 after DR)

12.5 * 0.75 = 9.375

Your damage per round is pretty low for level 20. (-1 point)
Note: Calculations are really hard to get right if they’re not your character. If you feel I’ve messed it up, you’re welcome to do the calculation against the same enemy with 36 AC and 15 damage reduction. I’d ideally like to see a melee character be doing around 100 damage a round.
It’s a pity seeing odd ability scores at level 20. You’ve done this to barely qualify for fifth-level War Mind spells, but I’d suggest tweaking stuff like this to ensure you have even points to get the most out of your stat allocation. No points won or lost. (0 points).
I’m not sure how often you’d actually use Battle Fury. Are you really going to be using a whole standard action to gain +6 to STR and CON? A combat is typically two to four or five rounds, and you’ve spent one of those rounds for a fairly minor buff. For comparison, a regular Barbarian can go into Rage instantly for +4 to STR and CON and still has their full turn to damage, heal, or whatever else. (-0.5 points)
I’m not sure how to score HP. On one hand, if you’re using Psionic Lion’s Charge, you don’t have +6 CON. On the other, if you’re using Battle Fury, you have an extra 60 HP but you don’t have the benefits of full attack on charge.
So your HP either 158.5, which is alright, or 218.5, which is damn good. I’ll average the two and call it decent. (+0.5 points)
Save scores are 18/15/18 (presuming Resolute ACF is activated, presuming Battle Fury isn’t). Good scores. (+1 point)
Skills: Knowledge (Psionics) 8, Knowledge (History) 2, UMD 23, Ride 1, Concentration 17, Autohypnosis 9 Ranks. We’re rather low on skill point. I get that some of these were for class entry, but at level 20 we’re only really going to have Use Magic Device to use outside of combat. (-1 point)

This is a tidy build stub, you only switch back to a previous class once. (+0.5 points)
No multiclassing penalties. (+1 point)
You invest a reasonable amount of levels into one prestige class and complete another. (+1 point)
Not a fan of seeing half-ranks in skills. (-1 point)

Battle Fury and Beast Shape both look like Rage to me. (0 points)
“Battle Fury” from 6th-level, and psionic abilities are online at level 10. Would have liked at least one, if not both, online earlier. (-0.5 point)
I’m not seeing a great deal of synergy between your psionic abilities and Battle Fury or Beast Shape.
Positives – you have a few long-duration abilities like Claws of the Beast and Oak Body, you could conceivably have them up before you go with Battle Fury. You have a few psionic abilities that are useful out of combat, like Psionic Charm and Psionic Dimension Door.
Negatives – if you’re using your berserker ability, you can’t make use of your short duration or swift action psionic abilities. Especially your Psionic Lion’s Charge, which you need to use to get full attacks off on a charge.
It’s not nothing, but I was hoping for more synergy. Half a point. (+0.5 points)

Really didn't expect a Dire Badger to make an appearance. I really like that. (+2 points)
Some fairly interesting and somewhat unusual feats here. (+1 point)
Lycanthrope and Feral templates aren’t common but also aren’t uncommon. Call it even. (0 points)
Holt Warden and Mystic Wanderer aren’t common but also aren’t uncommon either. Call this even too. (0 points)
Persisted DMM builds are a dime a dozen. (-2 points)
Edit: I still think DMM builds are extremely common, and the most obvious solution to the problem of combining rage and casting, but not quite as ubiquitous as DMM Cleric, at least. Let's give you half a point. (+0.5 point)

A dip into Death Delver is a very obvious addition to a DMM build. (-1 points)

Your real stats with Persist look like this 30/16/34/14/16/24 (See Elegance for breakdown of stat calculations).
With no obvious benchmarks reached, instead, let’s do some damage calcs for your ECL 20 character.

You have Rage active and your typical spells persisted.
Let’s presume you are at least at CL 12 at level 20 through items, etc.
You have 34 STR (30 STR, as calculated in Elegance, +4 Rage). There’s no point of a Belt of Giant Strength, you already have an enhancement bonus over +6 already.
You get two claw attacks at full BAB and a bite.
Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.

Attack: 10 BAB + 12 STR
22/22 Claw, 20 Bite
Damage:
1d8 Claw + 12 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
19.5 (4.5 after DR)
Claw. 2d6 Bite + 6 STR +3 Greater Magic Fang.
16 (1 after DR)

Your damage per round is pretty low for level 20. (-1 point)
Note: Calculations are really hard to get right if they’re not your character. If you feel I’ve messed it up, you’re welcome to do the calculation against the same enemy with 36 AC and 15 damage reduction. I’d ideally like to see a melee character be doing around 100 damage a round.
EDIT: The damage calculations were wrong. Here is the recalculated damage output:

Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.
Let's assume you get four attacks each round with Girallon's Blessing. You don’t get extra attacks from high BAB due to Girallon’s blessing.
Let’s assume you’re medium.
Let’s assume you have Rage going and have +2 to STR.
Let’s do calculations for Power Attack 0 and Power Attack 5.

Attack Routine - Claw/Claw/Claw (secondary)/Claw (secondary)/Bite

Accuracy:
10 BAB + 14 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
27 accuracy (main claw)
22 accuracy (secondary claw)
22 accuracy (bite)

Damage
1d4 Claw (Girallon's Blessing) + 14 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
19.5 damage per hit

2d6 Bite (Medium) + 7 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
17 damage per hit

Damage output:
17.5 x 0.6 + 17.5 x 0.6 + 17.5 x 0.45 + 17.5 x 0.45 + 16 x 0.45 = 48.6 damage per round

Damage output (Power Attack 5)
24.5 x 0.35 + 24.5 x 0.35 + 24.5 x 0.2 + 24.5 x 0.2 + 22 x 0.2 = 31.35 damage per round

This damage output is now enough I’ll give you another (+0.5 points). Still sub-par (I’d want to see around 100 damage per round) but I am happier than previously.

EDIT 2: Now that I can agree that Trogdrak is large, we can recalculate damage output:

Let's assume you have all your spells up, and you have stats of 42/14/38/12/16/28
Let’s assume you have Rage going and have +4 to STR (for a total of 46 STR)
Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.
Let's assume you get four attacks each round with Girallon's Blessing. You don’t get extra attacks from high BAB due to Girallon’s Blessing.
Let’s assume you’re Large.
I'm not bothered to do calcs for Power Attack 5; it's going to be less damage than Power Attack 0 anyway.

Attack Routine - Claw/Claw/Claw (secondary)/Claw (secondary)/Bite

Accuracy:
10 BAB + 18 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
31 accuracy (0.8) (main claw)
28 accuracy (0.65) (bite)
26 accuracy (0.55) (secondary claw)

Damage
1d4 Claw (Girallon's Blessing) + 18 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
23.5

2d8 Bite (Bite of Werebear) + 9 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
21 damage per hit

Damage output:
23.5 x 0.8 x 2 (Primary Claws) + 23.5 x 0.55 x 2 (Secondary Claws) + 21 x 0.65 (Bite) = 77.1 Damage

I'm going to give this another (+0.25 points)
You only get Pounce on the first turn of combat. When you have to move more than five feet after the first turn, your damage is going to drop off badly. (-0.5 points)
HP calculation – 10 (Dire Badger D8 to D10 from Feral) + D10*3 + D8*6 (Spirit Shaman) + D8 (Death Delver) + D6*2 (Holt Warden) + D8*3 (Mystic Wanderer) + 12*15 (Con)
So this is 259HP. If I were to normalize this against other entrants who I calculated at level 20 that can get the benefit of a +6 CON item (you can’t), you’d have the equivalent of 198HP. I like. (+1 point)
Your actual level 20 stats are 10 BAB and 15/9/14 saves (level 18 is where you made your table error). No points won or lost. (0 points)
27/12/22 is your saves after boosts. If I were to normalize this against other entrants who I calculated at level 20 without Enhancement-boosting items, you'd have saves of 24/9/19. Reflex is a little lower than I’d like but Fort and Will are great. I’ll pass it. (+1 point)
Your DMM spells give you some really good defensive options. (+0.5 points)

Your stats boosts from Were form are wrong. Dire Badger would give you 4/6/8, not 12/4/12. (-0.5 points)
EDIT: There was some misunderstanding with the Lycanthropy template, the amount of hit dice and stats are correct. My mistake. (+0.5 points)
You try to stack a bunch of Enhancement bonuses together, and you can't do that.
Sirine’s Grace gives an Enhancement bonus to Charisma and Dexterity.
The Cloak of Charisma and Belt of Dexterity are both Enhancement bonuses.
The Dex bonus from Bite of the Weretiger is also an Enhancement bonus.(-0.5 points)

Recalculating base stats

8/8/10/16/12/18 (Point Buy)
0/-2/4/0/0/0(Lesser Maeluth)
4/-2/4/-2/2/0 (Feral Template)
0/0/0/0/2/0 (Lycanthrope Template)
4/6/8/0/0/0 (Dire Badger)
12/4/6/0/0/4 (Sirine's Grace + Bite of the Weretiger persisted)
2/2/2/0/0/2 (Ability Enhancer bonus)

Total 30/16/34/14/16/24

EDIT: There was some misunderstanding of the original build. There was actually no attempt at stacking enhancement bonuses. (+0.5 point)

Recalculated stats:
Base - 8/8/10/16/12/18
Lesser Maeluth - 0/-2/4/0/0/0
Feral 4/-2/2/-4/2/0
Levels - 0/0/0/0/0/4 CHA
Total Base Stats - 12/4/16/12/16/22 (before Lycanthropy)

Lycanthropy (Medium Dire Badger) - 4/6/8/0/0/0
Boosts (Werebear, Sirine's Grace, and Ability Enhancer feat) - 18/6/10/0/0/6
Rage 4/0/4/0/0/0

Total - 38/16/38/12/16/28 (With Rage active)


So we have “Lesser” variant from Player’s Guide to Faerun applied to the Maeluth in this build. I don’t agree that “Lesser” can be applied to it. The PGTF has Lesser Deep Gnomes, Lesser Gray Dwarfs, and Lesser Planetouched. Planetouched is a region in PGTF which is defined as consisting of Aasimars, Tieflings, and Genasi. There’s no direct written rule that we can apply the “Lesser” type to other Outsiders, such as Maeluth. I don’t see how we can fix this by changing to Lesser Gray Dwarf, since it has a -4 CHA modifier, which influences all of our stats including how many spells we can persist. (-1 point)
The build implicitly argues that since Plant Defiance uses the same mechanics and calls out Turn Undead, it can thus be used to power Divine Metamagic. However, the feat Divine Metamagic specifically calls out only Turning and Rebuking Undead as fuelling it and nothing in Plant Defiance contradicts this argument. I don’t agree with your assessment that it can fuel DMM. (-1 point)
The Special Attacks section of the Feral Template only gives you extra abilities based on your monster hit dice, not your class hit dice. That means you do get Improved Grab and Pounce (because you have 4 monster hit dice) but you don’t get Rake or Rend. (-0.5 points)
This is a tidy build stub – you only go back to a previous class once. (+0.5 point)
No multiclassing penalties. (+1 points)
No prestige classes completed. No points won or lost. (0 points).

Your choice of Rage is Rage. No points won or lost. (0 points)
You sort out DMM at ECL 13, which is kinda late. You have some minor synergy beforehand, but that’s over half the build range before you synergise Rage and Casting. (-0.5 points)
Rage at ECL 1, casting at ECL 8. Not bad, but there are builds that are much more efficient at picking the two up. Call it half a point. (+0.5 points)
Persisted spells have excellent synergy with Rage, but you can't use spellcasting resources while you rage. You're also forced into Rage and can't stop raging. On balance, call it half a point. (+0.5 points)
EDIT: Trogdrak's creator has argued that you can stop Raging by turning back to your original form. Alternate form say that you lose extraordinary effects, of which Rage is one. I agree with that argument. (+0.25 points)


In terms of casting options, was not expecting a psychic rogue. (+1 point)
Cleric dip is overused. (-1 point)
Shifter and associated feats aren’t common. I like that. (+0.5 points)
Weretouched Master is also a bit out of the norm. (+0.5 points)
Usual feats for psions and rogues. Understandable when they're so good but this is where the penalty is given. (-0.5 point)

Let’s do some damage calcs
Let’s assume you get flanking to get sneak attack damage off.
You can only attack once with each claw (natural weapon rules and Razorclaw shifter notes)
Let’s assume you a +1 Necklace of Natural Weapons. Let’s assume you have +6 STR Item.
Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR.

Attack Rolls
14 BAB + 8 STR + 1 Weapon + 2 Flanking
= 25 attack roll (23 for bite)

Damage
1d8 claw + 6d6 sneak damage + 20 Craven + 8 STR + 1 Weapon + 6 Razorclaw = 60.5 (45.5 damage after DR)

0.50 * 45.5 = 22.75
0.40 * 0.35 * 104 = 3.64
1d6 natural weapon + 6d6 sneak damage + 20 Craven + 7 STR + 1 Weapon = 52.5 (37.5 damage after DR)
0.25 * 37.5 = 9.38
0.10 * 0.25 * 90 = 2.25

15.58 + 3.64 + 15.58 + 3.64 + 10.88 + 2.25
51.57 damage per round

Damage is slightly lower than I’d like, but not terrible. (+0.5 points)
You come with your own inbuilt companion for flanking to help ensure your sneak attacks. Great stuff (+1 point)
Lot of enemies are going to be immune to sneak attack shenanigans, unfortunately. (-0.5 points)
It’s a pity seeing odd ability scores at level 20. I suppose that 21 STR is slightly better than 20 for carrying stuff, but I’d suggest tweaking stuff like this to ensure you have even points to get the most out of the worth of your stat allocation. That could have been an extra two points in DEX, for example, which is a +1 to initiative, +1 to Reflex saves and +1 to AC. No points won or lost. (0 points).
A whole bunch of skills at full ranks. (+1 point)
HP of 118 at level 20 for a frontline character, even one with sneak attack, is pretty low. I’d rate this worse if you didn’t have so much built around sneaking. (-0.5 points)
Saves are 12/13/10. Pretty ordinary all round, but there’s at least no terrible saves here. (-0.5 points)


Pretty elegant build stub – you only go back to your main class after getting what you want from your prestige class, but its otherwise a straightforward level order. (+1 point)
You don’t finish your prestige class. No points won or lost. 0 points.
Multiclassing penalty. (-1 point)
A bunch of skills are cross-classed. I have to say something but I’m not too mad given all of your skill points though. (-0.25 points)
Going for heavy armor means we can’t make use of Evasion and we also impair our Move Silently skill which we invest significantly in. (-0.5 points)

Your version of Rage is a version from Weretouched Master. Works for me. (0 points)
Casting at first level. Rage at 12th level. I’d be happier if Rage came online several levels earlier. (+0.5 points)
You get some psionic options to use out-of-combat, and you have some buffs you can use before combat. You can also buff/debuff on your first turn before you’re hit and automatically start Raging. I would have liked to see some synergy here that let you use some of your psionic resources while Raging, but this isn’t too terrible. (+0.25 points)


So here's some important text from the opening post about builds: ”Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered. In the words of one of my predecessors, a little cheddar can be nice, but avoid the mature Gruyere unless you're making a cheese fondue.”

The central part of the build is using Sheltered Vitality to bypass the negative effects of Spelldancer. However, you weren’t the first to come up with this. A few examples of this being recommended prior to the comp: here (https://minmaxforum.com/index.php?topic=2534.0), here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=21565421&postcount=7), and here ( https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?267391-3-5-update-for-Spelldancer))

Here’s another comp entry for E6, discussing the same exploit for a potential E7 build: here (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?356451-Edith-the-E6-Persistomancer).

While it sounds like you figured this out independently without reading old posts, this is not new TO. Still, we can judge this build like any other.

Not as ridiculously overused as human, but Anthro Bat is an obvious choice for any class that values a good Wisdom score, never mind the free Flight for LA 0. (-0.5 points)
I just finished judging a Spelldancer build in the last Junkyard comp. (-1 point)
Druids are pretty common. (-1 point)
A caster persisting spells? At least it isn't using Divine Metamagic. (-1 point)
Spelldancer + Sheltered Vitality isn’t new TO, but still, this was the first time I’ve seen it before doing judging research. I'll give you half a point. (+0.5 points)
A bunch of the usual melee feat taxes. Won’t penalize you for that though. (0 points)
Strong Stomach surprised me. Half a point. (+0.5 points)
Poison Spell metamagic surprised me. Half a point. (+0.5 point)

“Cheese is acceptable, but should be kept to a sane level unless you're showcasing a new TO build you've discovered”. As stated before, this isn’t new territory, and this is far too powerful to be played at any table.

I’m going to score this a flat 3/5. You get points for meeting relevant benchmarks (I’m going to save myself hours of work by just saying all your stats and damage will be OP), but I’m taking away two points for being far beyond what I’d consider an acceptable power level. Set to score of 3.

Pretty elegant build stub – you only go back to your main class after getting what you want from your prestige class, but its otherwise a straightforward level order. (+1 point)
You don’t finish your prestige class. No points won or lost. 0 points.
No multiclassing penalties. (+1 point)

Your choice of Rage is Rage. Works for me. (0 points)
Casting and Rage both at first level. Can’t possibly be better than this. (+1 point)
You synergize Rage and casting at level 9. Fairly early, I like. Persisted spells have excellent synergy with Rage, but you can't use spellcasting resources while you rage. Call it half a point. (+0.5 points)

Frostblood Orc is a fairly common choice. (-0.5 points)
A one-level dip for Barbarian is standard stuff. (-0.5 points)
Dread Necromancer is fairly common. (-0.5 points)
Orc Warlord surprised me. Interested to see what you end up cooking with this. (+1 point)
Fell Animate surprised me. I want to see more non-standard metamagic options in builds. (+1 point)

Damage calcs for this are hard. Unlike other builds which are gishes with Rage ability or similar, you obviously want to use your Rage to power your undead cohorts. You have 28HD of worth of undead, which is really good but also impossible to properly gauge the worth of (as an aside, I would have considered Practiced Spellcaster, but that’s an observation that does not affect scoring), you’ve got Rage on your undead and you have 7th-level spellcasting. Looks pretty solid to me, I’ll pass it. (+1 point)
EDIT: You have a huge amount of undead HD. Still, I gave you full marks here, so no score change (0 points)
It’s a pity seeing odd ability scores at level 20. There’s little difference between 14 and 15 STR, but I’d suggest tweaking stuff like this to ensure you have even points to get the most out of the worth of your stat allocation. No points won or lost. (0 points).
HP is about 134 at level 20, which is underwhelming. You’re ranged with minion support, but that’s going to count little when you’re ambushed or against ranged attacks. (-0.5 points)
Saves with Rage active are 12/5/14. Your Fort and Will are average and your reflex is pretty bad. (-0.5 points)
EDIT: Save with Rage active are actually 14/5/14. I think this merits a score of 0, rather than -0.5. (+0.5 points)
You have one skill at full ranks, and there’s a mishmash of other skills at varying levels, presumably for skill and feat prereqs and the like. I like to see a bunch of skills at high ranks, if not full, to give you extra options when not in combat, and to be sure they’ll be effective consistently. I’m not seeing them here. (-1 points)
EDIT: I didn't properly recognize some of the defensive stuff in this build. Mad Foam Rager is pretty nice, especially with your ability to dismiss Rage and use your turn to cast cures or buffs before taking the hit you were supposed to take. Damage Reduction is nice, but not in itself so amazing to be worth extra points. (+0.25 points)


You complete a short prestige class. (+0.5 points)
No favored class penalty. (+1 point)
Pretty straightforward levelling order. (+0.5 points)

We’ve went with Rage for our Rage. Classic. (0 points)
Rage at first level, casting at second level. Can’t do much better than that. (+1 point)
Your way of creating Rage/Casting synergy is to cast, then trigger rage at the end of your turn, deactivate rage at the start of your turn without penalty, and cast again, repeat ad nauseum? Unexpected way of solving the problem but this is perfect synergy to me. (+1 point)


Human is my pick for the least unoriginal race. (-1 point)
Blood Magus surprised me. I suspect this is more from my lack of in-depth experience with casting builds more than you selecting something rare or exotic, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. (+1 point)
Dread Witch is an interesting class. I suspect this is a class less-used than normal, and I like that. (+1 point)
Human Paragon is a common option. (-1 points)
Sha’ir is a common casting class. (-0.5 points)
Geomancer is a common prestige class. (-0.5 points)
EDIT: It was argued that I should have considered that reusing Rage repeatedly was original. I critique the ability of this to work elsewhere, but here I'm going to say: this is pretty cool and unusual, and you do deserve points for it. (+1 point)

You get a benchmark of ninth-level spellcasting. (+1 point)
I love your skill list. You have plenty of skills, a bunch at max level, if not high, and you have options to use them out of combat. (+1 point)
This would be where I would penalize your build for not being able to cast all of the time, in the same way I penalize builds that rely on certain conditions to achieve "good damage", but I feel like that would be penalizing you twice, since I penalize your lack of rage/casting synergy in Use of Secret Ingredient. Still, I will leave a note on this issue and say no points are won or lost within the “Power” aspect of this build for this. (0 points)
HP is about 150 at level 20, which is decent. (+0.5 points)
Saves are 17/5/14 with Rage at level 20. I’ll pass Fort, but Will is a bit below what I’d like and Reflex is far below. I’ll give you half a point. (+0.5 points)
Some pretty good Diplomacy and Intimidate scores, and this has been done without unduly sacrificing combat ability. I like. (+0.5 points)

The build order is fairly messy, you repeatedly switch between multiple classes. (-1 point)
This would be where I would penalize your build for losing casting ability entirely, but as before, I feel like that would be penalizing you twice, since I penalize your lack of rage/casting synergy in Use of Secret Ingredient. Still, I will leave a note on this issue and say no points are won or lost within the “Elegance” aspect of this build for this. (0 points)
You finished a short prestige class. (Human Paragon isn’t counted for scoring this) (+0.5 points)
No multiclassing penalties. [B](+1 point)

We’ve went with Rage for our Rage. Classic. (0 points)
Casting at second level is good, Rage at 11th is less so. Call it half a point. [B](+0.5 points)
So I'm going to explain why this section is a zero. You get Rage “as a wolverine”, which has two important rules: first, you take damage in combat and you're forced into rage, and two, you cannot end its rage voluntarily. You can't cast, you just turn into a melee combatant with 11 BAB, a weak strength score and few feats to support melee frontlining. Rage in your build actively makes your build worse and you don't even have the option of not using your Rage. [B](set to zero points)
EDIT: Let's redo this. I didn't see enough rules regarding the specific Rage mechanics for Geomancer, tried my best to work it out, but I can't argue that I wasn't overzealous. I still have concerns, but let's do this again.
There are no specific mechanics regarding how to Rage properly for a Geomancer. While a Wolverine is referenced in the Geomancer prestige class, that doesn't mean anything besides flavour text, as you pointed out. Fair critique on your part.
However, we are told we Rage as a first-level Barbarian, and Barbarians can only rage once per encounter. Now, does Geomancer negate the Rage rules of Barbarian? I'd be leaning on saying it doesn't: taking damage as Geomancer triggers Rage as a first-level Barbarian, but the rules for Barbarian Rage say you only get to Rage once per encounter. But, again, Geomancer isn't written very well for this particular ability, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else came up with a completely different interpretation to my first or my second attempt at parsing this, and I wouldn't even say they were wrong if they did. I don't think you can turn off Rage when it's not your turn though: we usually have specific rules when we can act out of turn order - but that seems like a minor issue.
So let's call this a +0.5 points. Even with my fairly stingy interpretation of Geomancer Rage, you still start off the first round after attacking with boosts to CON and your Will save, which are some very nice buffs. (+0.5 points)

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I think you put a little more weight on the build state at level 20 than I do, but that's ultimately just a stylistic difference. Thanks for judging!

[Inevitability]

Sure seeing a lot of frostblood orc bias in this 'fair and honest' judging!

In all seriousness, thanks for the judgement! I posted a lot of ideas for future builds in past threads, which I believe you've seen already, so this round I'll be quiet and let others make their recommendations.

[pabelfly]

I think you put a little more weight on the build state at level 20 than I do, but that's ultimately just a stylistic difference. Thanks for judging!

I just benchmark level 20, with the understanding that it's indicative of the whole build. If your damage, saves and HP aren't great at level 20, for example, they're probably not at other levels either.

The other problem with benchmarking levels other than level 20 is that every build gets their power spikes at different levels. If I benchmark builds at level 5, am I unduly penalizing a build that gets its trick at level 6? However, all builds should have all their tricks online at level 20, so it's equal for everyone.

If there's obvious power spikes/falls at particular levels in the build, I'll take that into consideration but that's very rarely the case.

Anyway, it's time to start looking over rebuttals:


Thank you for judging!

I made table with you HP and saves evaluation.
Entry HP Power F/R/W Power
Trox 169.5 +0.5 19/9/15 +0.5
Ragnor 158.5-218.5 +0.5 18/15/18 +1
Trogdrak 198 +1 24/9/19 +1
Wanderer 118 -0.5 12/13/10 -0.5
Grakk 134 -0.5 12/5/14 -0.5
Sana 150 +0.5 17/5/14 +0.5
And I'm slightly confused.

Between Grakk and Sana are 16 hp, Grakk got -0.5, Sana +0.5
The same about saves. There is only 5 Fort difference (and, actually, in rage Grakk's Fort is 14). Is it worth 1 point gap?

Let's list every character's HP in order and how I scored them:

Wanderer 118HP (-0.5 points)
Grakk: 134HP (-0.5 points)
Sena: 150HP (+0.5 points),
Trox 169.5 (+0.5 points)
Ragnor Kolbjorn 188.5 (+0.5 points)
Trogdrak :198HP (+1 point)
Batsu: yes (unscored)

The reason there's some confusion here is that I'm inclined to be slightly generous to builds that otherwise score quite poorly. Sena is a great example of this: Sena's build has a score of 10.5 (still need to go over their judging critique), so when I'm judging the other parts of a build, I'm more inclined to say: "that's alright" than I would otherwise be.

Forgetting Sena for a moment, Wanderer had 118HP and got -0.5 points, and Trox had 169.5HP and was given +0.5 points. I think you slot in fairly closely to Wanderer in terms of HP, both of you build around avoiding direct confrontations, and both of you deserve a similar score.

If I judge in the future, I may come up with a chart that specifically says what scores you get for specific HP and save scores.

I hope this explanation is reasonable and makes sense to you. Apologies for any confusion.



Now let's talk saves. I somehow missed your rage bonus to CON when doing fort save calculations, my mistake. I like 14 a lot better than 12, and this is enough to pass my personal threshold on save scores, so I'll set your score on saves to 0 points, so (+0.5 points)

Here's a list of saves and how I scored them:

Wanderer: 12/13/10 (-0.5 points)
Grakk (before adjustment): 12/5/14 (-0.5 points)

Grakk (after adjustment): 14/5/14 (0 points)

Sena: 17/5/14 (+0.5 points)
Trox: 19/9/15 (+0.5 points)

Trogdrak: 24/9/19 (+1 point)
Ragnor Kolbjorn: 18/15/18 (+1 point)

Batsu: yes (unscored)

Again, I'm inclined to be slightly generous to builds that otherwise score poorly, such as Sena. Comparing your original score to other builds, Wanderer has +8 Reflex and -4 Will compared to you, and scores the same as your original score. Trox has +7 Fort, +4 Reflex and +1 Will over you, and gets +0.5 points. I'm happy where I scored you here. No change.


Also, if we talk about saves and hp, I want to mention Mad Foam Rager feat. In normal it's 1 per encounter, but for Grakk it's actually 1 per turn, which means almost unlimited delay of any one attack. If it's great HP damage strike - it's like extra hp, if it's save-or-lose spell or effect, well, firstly I'll win, next spell will be unimportant, if it's save-or-die, I have time to find appropriate protection.

Also I have DR 6/bludgeoning and magic, Light fortification, and +4 against sleep, stunning, paralysis, poison, disease, and negative energy effects (including energy drain, some ability drain, and inflict spells).

So let's go over this: Light fortification isn't bad, but you're going to want full fortification by level 20 anyway. Same for the other situational save bonuses: not that you'll never use them, but you'll end up buying immunities to them anyway. We're all buying off the "List for Necessary Magical Items." I'm not inclined to give points for these either.

DR 6/Bludgeoning and Magic and Mad Foam Rager are worth recognition. Mad Foam Rager is really nice in that you can dismiss Rage, cast a spell or buff/cure yourself, and then take the hit. DR is small but nearly always useful. I'll give both of these +0.25 points all up. (+0.25 points)


Actually, I have (4+5 (Cha mod)) * 14 (Dread Necromancer level)=126 HD of undead (more if I have Cha items). Look at undead mastery ability of Dread Necromancer.
Plus, 14 undead HD commanded via Rebuke Undead.

Thanks for the correction. You already got full marks here though.



EDIT: I have three other critiques to work on, will do them later.

[pabelfly]

Hi and let me first thank you for jumping in to judge and the time and effort you spend. Overall I'm pretty happy with the judging.

Now to my lil dispute here:
(the things mentioned are a bit overlapping. sorry for that)

(1) TO
I think you missed what I intended as TO here. It's not about the Persisting. I mean look at the Rules section. It's about Wild Shape no being limited to average target forms and what this means for Vermin Shape + Enhance Wild Shape or Humanoid Shape + Enhance Wild Shape.
Since this is not a pure caster contest but a gish contest, TO regarding the combat abilities should be legal for the contest too.
Especially Vermin Shape profits the most here, since with Knowledge Nature we can effectively imagine any "possible advanced creature" with simple Knowledge checks. This gives the build access to a 2nd set of exchangeable feats.
I feel like this hasn't been acknowledged.

Before we start discussing anything... please, please, please give me sources. This is extremely helpful when I need to research and understand your build. And if you want to discuss TO, citing page numbers and text is really helpful. But I digress.

Fair enough that I didn't properly address both. When you throw so much information at me, it's hard to keep track of everything, but that's my mistake. I'll do my best to go through it this now.

So, there seem to be two claims of theoretical optimization here:
1) Sheltered Vitality + Spelldancer is broken TO we want to dissect (discussed later, we'll skip for now except when required)
2) Enhance Wildshape is broken TO we want to dissect

Firstly, these are two separate pieces of TO on the same build. You don't need persisted spells, Spelldancer, or Sheltered Vitality to make Enhanced Wildshape be broken, or vice versa. You first get Enhanced Wildshape at Druid 7, which gives you seven hours to Wildshape, without even a single bit of metamagic. It's enough time to Wildshape to whatever you're hoping to Wildshape into and do whatever exploits you're claiming.

So let's discuss "Enhance Wildshape". We'll start with the base ability, Wild Shape. I'm going to highlight a key line of text from the ability: "This ability [Wild Shape] functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here"

Okay, what does the "alternate form" special ability tell us?

"Except as described elsewhere, the creature retains all other game statistics of its original form, including (but not necessarily limited to) HD, hit points, skill ranks, feats, base attack bonus, and base save bonuses."

The claim, then, is that we want to use the Enhance Wild Shape spell to "Gain the extraordinary abilities of the new form", and specifically, a special, perfectly-tailored list of feats that we can use that come from a special version of the creature.

I feel that this is wishful thinking more than a reasonable interpretation of the rules. Form, to me, indicates we are talking about the innate racial abilities of the creature. You Wildshape into Fleshraker to get Pounce (and other goodies, for example). There could be Fleshrakers that have Barbarian levels, or Rogue levels, but you wouldn't get these if you turned into a Fleshraker, because they're not the abilities of the form, but the class levels instead.

I think I'll also highlight this, which I also found while doing research on the Humanoid Form ability for Fangshields Druid:

"The humanoid form can resemble a human, dwarf, elf, or other Medium humanoid as the druid desires and has the appropriate racial traits for that race (according to the polymorph spell)".

The key phrase here seems to be "racial traits". Not class traits.

So, if you wanted to be, say, a random Drow and get SR 11 + Class level, you can, because that's a Drow racial trait. But I see no evidence that you can turn into Dan the Barbarian Drow and get all of his Barbarian feats alongside SR 11 + Class Level.


(2) Spelldancer + Sheltered Vitality from arcane casters
In the links you provided I don't see anyone mentioning to get Sheltered Vitality as cross class spell. While it may seem like an obvious choice, I at least couldn't find any examples of that at the time I did write the build. While this combo is not what I tried to "sell" as new TO, I still felt I should mention this, since my point (2) overlaps with my point (3)

I am not getting your point here. I'll pin that on myself though, so I'll see what I can do to explain myself and you can tell me what I'm missing:
1) Your build mainlines Druid, and Sheltered Vitality is a Druid spell. I'm not sure how it's a cross-class spell.
2) Even if I were to accept your argument that it's a cross-class spell, the exploit that is not new TO is the combination of Sheltered Vitality and Spelldancer. I'm not overly concerned how you manage to get Sheltered Vitality onto your spell list, only that you've done so and you're using it to negate Spelldancer's negative effects, which has been mentioned in other places I've mentioned.

If I've missed the point of your argument, please let me know.


(3) Triple Penalizing Persisting Spells

I got a penalties for:
- Spelldancer in Originality (and the dip is all about Persisting)
- Persisting Spells in Originality
- Power because it is to much..

Would be nice if you could narrow it down to a single penalty in a single category.

Further I feel that persisting spells is a common trophy for gish builds and feel it shouldn't be penalized for this SI/contest. It's not like I forcefully add Persistent Spells onto a otherwise mundane SI here. Sure, it maybe was/is the most obvious choice to go here for this contest and doesn't deserve extra/full points for "use of SI". But imho it doesn't deserve any penalties for the Power category.
And while we are at the power category, I would like to point out the Wild Shape TO again here. So even if you penalize the Power category, I feel like the Wild Shape TO wasn't taking into account for the category.

Let's break it down to two parts, 1) Spelldancer + Sheltered Vitality, and 2) Enhance Wildshape

1) Spelldancer and Sheltered Vitality
I can understand the argument being made here. Hopefully the following explanation will make sense why I'm not doubling (or tripling) on a single penalty for your build.

The penalty for Spelldancer in Originality is for the class itself, without any comment on what you're using that class for. Spelldancer doesn't have to be used to persist spells. For example, you could cast, say, a Blistering Fireball from a level 3 spell slot (and you can use it before you have fourth-level spells or fourth-level spell slots). It's not required that you use it for Persist Spell. I'd still mark you down regardless of what you used Spelldancer for.

The penalty for Persist is for an extremely common metamagic strategy. You state: "Further I feel that persisting spells is a common trophy for gish builds and feel it shouldn't be penalized for this SI/contest". Surely I should be disencouraging "common trophies" when marking originality? You can build a gish without Persist Spell, and multiple entries in this competiition combine "casting + rage" without using Persisted spells. It's also a very obvious strategy for working around the limitations of Rage. I don't feel that this is original.

So, onto Power:

I haven't penalized power solely because of Persist Spell. There's another Persist Spell build in the entries which I had no trouble scoring for Power. The penalty is for the sheer amount of spells persisted with your build, far beyond what would be reasonably expected in any sort of playable 3e build.

2) Enhance Wild Shape
I don't believe this is an exploit, as discussed above.


Thx again for taking your time for the disputes.

Happy to take the time, and I hope you had fun with the comp. Don't hesitate to respond if you feel like I've missed anything.

[pabelfly]

Before we start discussing anything... please, please, please give me sources. This is extremely helpful when I need to research and understand your build. And if you want to discuss TO, citing page numbers and text is really helpful. But I digress.

Fair enough that I didn't properly address both. When you throw so much information at me, it's hard to keep track of everything, but that's my mistake. I'll do my best to go through it this now.
I tried to explain it in detail in the "Rules" spoiler. I suggest to reread it. I'll sum it up here to keep this message as short as possible:

1. Familiarity with the Target Form
In the PHB Wild Shape required "familiarity" with the target form. Since "familiarity" wasn't defined, it was mostly DM dependent how he will interpret and rule it.
Rules Compendium did rewrite the entire Wild Shape ability (p.26) and did get rid of that phrasing.
The new wording is "...an animal the druid has seen or could reasonably know about. The assumed form’s Hit Dice can’t exceed the character’s druid level."
What you have seen can be determined by your characters backstory (confirmed by the DM) and what he has actually saw while leveling. And if you reasonably "know" something about a creature is determined by a simple "Knowledge" check of the right category for the type. For animals and vermin it's a "Knowledge: Nature" check (DC = 10 base + HD of the creature).
This makes it quite easy to "know" all possible animal and vermin forms for your current level (HD limitation). Since we can "take 10" for the skill check, we sole need the HD of the creature as ranks in "Knowledge Nature". By RAW this should prevent any discussions between player and DM if the druid is familiar and what it requires to be familiar. We can now rely on basic rule mechanics to determine if your character "has reasonable knowledge" or not by defaulting to "Knowledge Nature" checks.

2. In the PHB (p.37) Wild Shape used to refer to Polymorph to base its effect upon. And Polymorph referred to Alter Self (p.197), which had the limitation that "you are effectively disguised as an average member of the new form’s race." That line limited the user to an average form, with average stats and no "Advancement:"
The PHB errata made the following change:

Wild Shape
Player’s Handbook, page 37
Replace sentence 3 of this class feature with the following text:
This ability functions like the alternate form special ability (see the Monster Manual), except as noted here.
...
The "problem" ( = exploit) here is that the Alternate Form special ability (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm) lacks any limitation in that regards.
Thus the druid ain't limited to "average members of the target race" due to the ERRATA changes. This allows for forms with "Advancement:" as long as it still fits the HD limit. And we sole need to pass the Knowledge: Nature check for the higher HD to know about the advanced forms.

Now.. lets combine everything mentioned so far with ...

3) Enhance Wild Shape (EWS)
We all know how broken EWS can be. I'll sole focus here on the most powerful option it offers: "to get the EX abilities of the target form".
Note: most feats default into the EX category unless they are magical and/or have a friendly reminder (SLA; SU). This statement (that most feats are EX) can also be found in the BoED (p.39; Exalted feats: the 3rd sentence). If you want a more detailed information on this, I can provide it (but it's lengthy). But for now I hope that this is enough (as said I try to keep the response short^^).
Remind you that creatures that have advanced by "Advancement:" are all unique (e.g. PHB races). And we ain't limited to pick the same specific Advancement every time. We can always chose another specific advance creature (with different additional feat progression for the extra HD), as long as we have either saw the individual or can reasonably "know" about such a creature (by a Knowledge Nature check).


4) Vermin Shape + Enhance Wild Shape
As said, most people (including guides) seem to be totally unaware how broken this Alternate Class Feature is. Vermins are normally mindless ("INT: -") and thus don't get the "general feats for its HD". This is a specific rule about "nonabilities" that causes this:

Any creature that can think, learn, or remember has at least 1 point of Intelligence. A creature with no Intelligence score is mindless, an automaton operating on simple instincts or programmed instructions. It has immunity to mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects) and automatically fails Intelligence checks.

Mindless creatures do not gain feats or skills, although they may have bonus feats or racial skill bonuses.

But the druid retrains his INT, which suddenly allows the target form to be able to pick feats as normal. Remind you that Wild Shape ain't limited to an average member of the race anymore due to the changes in the Rules Compendium. We are shaping into an intelligent target form that thus will always have feats according to its HD. Its basically like an "Awakened" construct that suddenly has a mind and can pick its feats.
Finally note that you keep your original HD when Wild Shaping.. You basically get a 2nd set of feats for the vermin form (as long as we sole pick EX feats for the target form, which we will of course do).

5) Humanoid Shape + Enhance Wild Shape
This is similar broken as Vermin Shape. It's just that the build didn't push "Knowledge: Local" to know about "humanoids". But we can rely on any form that we have seen so far. If you wanna be cheesy and do annoying metagaming, you can basically force your DM to hand out any relevant information (for Humanoid Shape) to you for any "humanoid" you "see". Suddenly you know that the farmer in the corner of the tavern has a "5d6 Sneak Attack"...
I hope you get the problem with a player that gets this kind of information due to his Humanoid Shape ability mechanics that allows him to access those things. If the DM wants to prevent this, the target NPC would need to have more HD than we can Wild Shape into. It's madness..^^ I don't suggest the abuse here. I just wanted to point out the issue here...



Cheesy and kinda broken imho. But that is the current state of EWS after all the changes made to Wild Shape. If you want to make anyone responsible for this build: It was the combined work of the authors of the PHB ERRATA, the authors of the Rules Compendium and the author of EWS that created this beautiful mess of rules here..^^



2) Enhance Wild Shape
I don't believe this is an exploit, as discussed above.

Explanation see above. It's what can be done with EWS under the updated rules and with access to vermin/humanoid shape.



Happy to take the time, and I hope you had fun with the comp. Don't hesitate to respond if you feel like I've missed anything.
Thx again for taking your time. I also hope that you maybe kind find some joy in dissecting the rules. ;)

Rules Compendium has some rules for us for both Wildshape and Alternate Form. We don't need to delve into errata, especially since Rules Compendium is newer than the errata. I'm going to highlight two important paragraphs from Alternate Form rules on P24:

"The creature loses the natural weapons, natural armor, and movement modes of its natural form, as well as any extraordinary special attacks of its natural form not derived from class levels."

"The creature gains the natural weapons, natural armor, movement modes, and extraordinary special attacks of its assumed form."

The second paragraph conspicuously omits that you do not gain extra abilities from your new form due to class levels. Since the Enhanced Wild Shape spell does not explicitly change this rule, I cannot find myself agreeing with your rule interpretation.



I haven't penalized power solely because of Persist Spell. There's another Persist Spell build in the entries which I had no trouble scoring for Power. The penalty is for the sheer amount of spells persisted with your build, far beyond what would be reasonably expected in any sort of playable 3e build.
First I would argue that the Spelldancer dip is commonly used for Persisting Spells. I bet you didn't see much else done with Spelldancer. Due to the heavy feat tax there simply ain't much room for many meta feats. This is especially true if you consider the extra time needed to use Spelldance which makes regular use in combat (for e.g. Quicken Spell) near impossible.
Then I tend to think that the "amount of persisted spells" is sole significantly more when compared to the "other options to persist spells" (DMM; Incantatrix..). It's just that Spelldancer ain't used so much due to it's heavy feat taxes.
But when I see Spelldancer builds (here and on other forums), they tend to persist much more spells than any other build. Most just use a wand of Lesser Restoration for this or just play a necropolitain (IIRC there is even a E6 build out there). And as far as I can tell, those people seem to be actually playing those characters (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?405473-Need-ways-to-be-immune-to-con-damage-and-fatigue). So, imho it is just that most tables don't play with that many persisted spells, but some do (sadly not my table..^^).

You don't have to use Spelldancer to Persist spells. The fact that you feel this is the standard way to optimize the class could well be true, but it's a poor endorsement of the originality of your idea.

[pabelfly]

Rules Compendium has some rules for us for both Wildshape and Alternate Form. We don't need to delve into errata, especially since Rules Compendium is newer than the errata. I'm going to highlight two important paragraphs from Alternate Form rules on P24:
I just pointed out the the change to Alternate Form was done by the ERRATA first. It did find it way naturally into the Rules Compendium. No matter how we look at it, it doesn't affect my arguments.




"The creature loses the natural weapons, natural armor, and movement modes of its natural form, as well as any extraordinary special attacks of its natural form not derived from class levels."

"The creature gains the natural weapons, natural armor, movement modes, and extraordinary special attacks of its assumed form."

The second paragraph conspicuously omits that you do not gain extra abilities from your new form due to class levels. Since the Enhanced Wild Shape spell does not explicitly change this rule, I cannot find myself agreeing with your rule interpretation.

The "target form" (normal stats form the MM) gets altered by the (Enhanced) Wild Shape rules to result in the "Assumed Form" (our final stats).
The "Assumed Form" isn't mindless and thus ain't handicapped by the normal INT non-ability. Since that restriction ain't there anymore, the general rules to pick feats according to your HD are fully affecting the assumed form.
You would need an explicit call out to trump the general rule for picking feats according to your HD. And while regular Wild Shape has such a special limitation (no Ex abilities, sole EX attacks), Enhance Wild Shape is even more specific and does give us the EX abilities (including those feats that are EX). You can't stop the general rules for picking feats according to your HD from applying if the "mindless" condition ain't there anymore. It's like anything else that suddenly gets an INT score.
Note that Wild Shape ain't restricted to "average members of a race" anymore due to change from being polymorph base to becoming based on Alternate Form. Your assumed vermin form ain't mindless.

Even if we ignore the Vermin Shape debate for a moment, we can still easily access any creature with "Advancement:" options by either seeing one (important for humanoid shape; since we lack ranks in knowledge local) or by making a "Knowledge Nature" check (animals and vermin). Even that alone is imho still a new (TO) improvement compared to the common interpretation in the community (as far as I know). Creatures with Advancement just have more HD and sole increase the DC for the Knowledge check. And it's pretty easy to have enough ranks in the Knowledge skill to pass the max DC for your current druid level available.


This is/was my last attempt to explain my point. You are free to disagree ;)

Thx for your patience and effort. Especially since you initially wasn't the judge and did jump in.

Let's agree to disagree. You're more than welcome to make a thread to discuss the topic, and I'd be interested in reading what other people think.

[pabelfly]

Okay, before we start Trogdrak's rebuttal, I'm going to be reordering the text of the rebuttal slightly. This is because some critiques I have later in the rebuttal answer earlier questions. I'll post the full original and unedited text at the end for transparency purposes.


Thank you for judging!
I have some objections.


Persisted DMM builds are a dime a dozen.
Even Persisted DMM Spirit Shamans?
You did say nothing about my base class. Is it not original at all for you?


You know, I think you have a small point. I still think it's common, and the most obvious solution to the problem of combining rage and casting, but not quite as ubiquitous as DMM Cleric, at least. I still want to give you a penalty, but maybe I can be slightly more lenient towards your build. Let's give you half a point. (+0.5 points)

This is the first bit that is reordered:



Your stats boosts from Were form are wrong. Dire Badger would give you 4/6/8, not 12/4/12.
You are talking about Medium Dire Badger, my Lycanthrope half is Large Dire Badger, I deliberately got 4th racial HD to get increasing size. 12/4/12 is correct for Large Dire Badger.

Okay, I see where the mistake is between us. I went through the Lycanthrope template and worked the stats out because I was unfamiliar with the template, and wanted to be sure you did it right.

I don't think you did.

Here's an important bit of text from the Lycanthrope template: "[Hit Dice and Hit Points are the] Same as the base creature plus those of the base animal"

We’ve also got a bunch of examples to work back from, so let's look at the first example to be sure we understand how to apply the template properly. It's based off a Human with Brown Bear lycanthropy. Brown Bear has 6 RHD, Human has 1 RHD. The werebear example has 1d8 + 6d8 HP. So, from the text and example, we need to add the HD of both parts to work out our build.

So let's look at your build. Your Lesser Maeluth has 1 HD. Large Dire Badger has 4 HD. You should add these together to get 5 RHD for your Large Dire Werebadger. You instead have 4 RHD.

What I did when judging was attempt to remake your build to make sure the template was done correctly, I saw problems and went: "oh, you've done the stats wrong", rather than: "oh, you've done the template wrong".

Hopefully this explains the confusion, and why I'll be going through the rest of the build as if you're a medium character.



You try to stack a bunch of Enhancement bonuses together, and you can't do that.
Actually I didn't. Total Enhancement bonus exists in the column "Bite of the Werebear + Sirine's Grace + Ability Enhancer". It is correct. I didn't try stack Bite of the Weretiger with it. It were different options for different ECLs.


12/4/6/0/0/4 (Sirine's Grace + Bite of the Weretiger persisted)

I wish you had listed your stats at various ECLs, it would have made it much easier to understand. I don't want to switch between multiple points of your build to work out what buffs you expect to have going at a given level and work out whether your total stats are right or not. And part of the error here was you thinking you had a Large Dire Werebadger, and me thinking you had a medium-size one. But I made part of the error. Anyway, let's try to work out your level 20 stats.

Base - 8/8/10/16/12/18
Lesser Maeluth - 0/-2/4/0/0/0
Feral 4/-2/2/-4/2/0
Levels - 0/0/0/0/0/4 CHA
Total Base Stats - 12/4/16/12/16/22 (before Lycanthropy)

Lycanthropy (Medium Dire Badger) - 4/6/8/0/0/0
Boosts (Werebear, Sirine's Grace, and Ability Enhancer feat) - 18/6/10/0/0/6
Rage 4/0/4/0/0/0

Total - 38/16/38/12/16/28 (With Rage active)

I'll remove the point penalty from stacking Enhancement bonuses. (+0.5 point)

Now we have that, let's have another try at doing damage calcs.



22/22 Claw, 20 Bite
I see you didn't count in two more claws from Giralon's Blessing.


Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.
But

19.5 (4.5 after DR)
16 (1 after DR)
Do I bypass DR or not? Highly likely I do, I have many options to bypass varies DRs.


1d8 Claw + 12 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang

2d6 Bite + 6 STR +3 Greater Magic Fang.

It's for medium creature, I'm large.

And I have Power Attack from Bite of the Werebear.

Plus you didn't mention my familiar anywhere in power calculations.

Okay, I made a few errors when trying to work out your damage. Let's do them again and work out your base damage.

Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.
Let's assume you get four attacks each round with Girallon's Blessing. You don’t get extra attacks from high BAB due to Girallon’s blessing.
Let’s assume you’re medium.
Let’s assume you have Rage going and have +2 to STR.
Let’s do calculations for Power Attack 0 and Power Attack 5.

Attack Routine - Claw/Claw/Claw (secondary)/Claw (secondary)/Bite

Accuracy:
10 BAB + 14 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
27 accuracy (main claw)
22 accuracy (secondary claw)
22 accuracy (bite)

Damage
1d4 Claw (Girallon's Blessing) + 14 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
19.5 damage per hit

2d6 Bite (Medium) + 7 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
17 damage per hit

Damage output:
17.5 x 0.6 + 17.5 x 0.6 + 17.5 x 0.45 + 17.5 x 0.45 + 16 x 0.45 = 48.6 damage per round

Damage output (Power Attack 5)
24.5 x 0.35 + 24.5 x 0.35 + 24.5 x 0.2 + 24.5 x 0.2 + 22 x 0.2 = 31.35 damage per round

As for your animal familiar, you obtain it at level 19, and it’s at level 3. It’s not really relevant to your entire build, and even when you do have it, it’s not very important or strong, it doesn’t even merit a mention in your summary, I don’t see it greatly influencing your damage per round. Obviously, you’re quite welcome to calculate damage output against our theoretical monster with 36 AC and 15 DR and demonstrate otherwise.

Still, this damage output is now enough I’ll give you another (+0.5 points)

Damage output is still sub-par (I’d want to see around 100 damage per round) but I am happier than previously.



Planetouched is a region in PGTF which is defined as consisting of Aasimars, Tieflings, and Genasi.
Planetouched isn't region. It's category of creatures to which maeluth belongs.

Creatures that can trace their bloodlines back to an outsider are called “planetouched.” Because of their outsider heritage, planetouched have some unusual characteristics, and these qualities appear in descendants of the original planetouched creature for several generations. Though the maeluth, mechanatrix, shyft, and wispling presented below share characteristics among themselves, they tend to adopt the cultural beliefs that they are born into.
This is quotation from MM1:

Planetouched is a general word to describe someone who can trace his or her bloodline back to an outsider, usually a fiend or celestial.
The effects of having a supernatural being in one’s heritage last for many generations. Although not as dramatically altered as a half-celestial or a half-fiend, planetouched still retain some special qualities.
The two planetouched varieties described here are the most common. Aasimars are humans with some trace of celestial blood in their veins, and tieflings have some fiendishness in their family tree.
There is no “typical” aasimar or tiefling. They do not have their own societies or cultures, instead blending into existing ones. Many have character classes.

The text of Planetouched in Player’s Guide to Faerun specifically says: “in addition to all the racial traits detailed elsewhere in this book.” While it’s interesting that the term Planetouched is used elsewhere, I don’t buy that it’s relevant to us when the variant is said to specifically apply only to races within the PGTF book. Occasionally reused names or ideas reoccur in 3.5 due to the huge amount of source books available, and it doesn't mean they're compatible. No score change.



The build implicitly argues that since Plant Defiance uses the same mechanics and calls out Turn Undead, it can thus be used to power Divine Metamagic. However, the feat Divine Metamagic specifically calls out only Turning and Rebuking Undead as fuelling it and nothing in Plant Defiance contradicts this argument.
Do you remember, I have a plan "B" - Bone Talisman?


Relying on specific items to achieve what your build wants to do is still a penalty for build elegance. No change to your score.


Persisted spells have excellent synergy with Rage, but you can't use spellcasting resources while you rage. You're also forced into Rage and can't stop raging.
It was in my entry.

8) Rage and spells overall. Yes, I can't cast spells while I raging and badgers rage has wording

...until either it or its opponent is dead. ... The creature cannot end its rage voluntarily
But I'm not just a badger, I'm a natural lycanthrope. I can end my rage in any moment just by turning into my maeluth form.[/QUOTE]

Where does it say that your rage ends after you shapeshift back to maeluth?




Thank you for judging!
I have some objections.


Persisted DMM builds are a dime a dozen.
Even Persisted DMM Spirit Shamans?
You did say nothing about my base class. Is it not original at all for you?



22/22 Claw, 20 Bite
I see you didn't count in two more claws from Giralon's Blessing.


Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.
But

19.5 (4.5 after DR)
16 (1 after DR)
Do I bypass DR or not? Highly likely I do, I have many options to bypass varies DRs.


1d8 Claw + 12 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang

2d6 Bite + 6 STR +3 Greater Magic Fang.
It's for medium creature, I'm large.

And I have Power Attack from Bite of the Werebear.

Plus you didn't mention my familiar anywhere in power calculations.



Your stats boosts from Were form are wrong. Dire Badger would give you 4/6/8, not 12/4/12.
You are talking about Medium Dire Badger, my Lycanthrope half is Large Dire Badger, I deliberately got 4th racial HD to get increasing size. 12/4/12 is correct for Large Dire Badger.


You try to stack a bunch of Enhancement bonuses together, and you can't do that.
Actually I didn't. Total Enhancement bonus exists in the column "Bite of the Werebear + Sirine's Grace + Ability Enhancer". It is correct. I didn't try stack Bite of the Weretiger with it. It were different options for different ECLs.


12/4/6/0/0/4 (Sirine's Grace + Bite of the Weretiger persisted)
It should be Bite of the Werebear.


Planetouched is a region in PGTF which is defined as consisting of Aasimars, Tieflings, and Genasi.
Planetouched isn't region. It's category of creatures to which maeluth belongs.

Creatures that can trace their bloodlines back to an outsider are called “planetouched.” Because of their outsider heritage, planetouched have some unusual characteristics, and these qualities appear in descendants of the original planetouched creature for several generations. Though the maeluth, mechanatrix, shyft, and wispling presented below share characteristics among themselves, they tend to adopt the cultural beliefs that they are born into.
This is quotation from MM1:

Planetouched is a general word to describe someone who can trace his or her bloodline back to an outsider, usually a fiend or celestial.
The effects of having a supernatural being in one’s heritage last for many generations. Although not as dramatically altered as a half-celestial or a half-fiend, planetouched still retain some special qualities.
The two planetouched varieties described here are the most common. Aasimars are humans with some trace of celestial blood in their veins, and tieflings have some fiendishness in their family tree.
There is no “typical” aasimar or tiefling. They do not have their own societies or cultures, instead blending into existing ones. Many have character classes.



The build implicitly argues that since Plant Defiance uses the same mechanics and calls out Turn Undead, it can thus be used to power Divine Metamagic. However, the feat Divine Metamagic specifically calls out only Turning and Rebuking Undead as fuelling it and nothing in Plant Defiance contradicts this argument.
Do you remember, I have a plan "B" - Bone Talisman?



Persisted spells have excellent synergy with Rage, but you can't use spellcasting resources while you rage. You're also forced into Rage and can't stop raging.
It was in my entry.

8) Rage and spells overall. Yes, I can't cast spells while I raging and badgers rage has wording

...until either it or its opponent is dead. ... The creature cannot end its rage voluntarily
But I'm not just a badger, I'm a natural lycanthrope. I can end my rage in any moment just by turning into my maeluth form.

[pabelfly]

Well, I still disagree.

Here's an important bit of text from the Lycanthrope template: "[Hit Dice and Hit Points are the] Same as the base creature plus those of the base animal"

We’ve also got a bunch of examples to work back from, so let's look at the first example to be sure we understand how to apply the template properly. It's based off a Human with Brown Bear lycanthropy. Brown Bear has 6 RHD, Human has 1 RHD. The werebear example has 1d8 + 6d8 HP. So, from the text and example, we need to add the HD of both parts to work out our build.
Let's look at this example.

The werebear presented here is a 1st-level human warrior and natural lycanthrope, using the following base ability scores: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8.
Human doesn't have RHD at all. Single humanoid HD exchanges with first class level.
I think Trogdrak still is a Large Dire Badger.

"Single humanoid HD exchanges with first class level" - you don't have a single humanoid HD any more. You added a bunch with the Lycanthropy template.

Important reference: P310 of Monster Manual says: "Humanoids with 1 Hit Die exchange the features of their humanoid Hit Die for the class features of a PC or NPC class". The Lycanthropy template gives us more than 1 HD, so we can't disregard that hit dice any more.

If I'm incorrect, how do you explain that the example creature of human + werebear based off a Brown Bear having a total of 7HD when a normal Brown Bear has 6HD? It's written that it has 7HD, the maths comes out as it having 7HD. If my assertation is incorrect, where does this extra HD come from from the example monster?



I wish you had listed your stats at various ECLs, it would have made it much easier to understand.
Point taken. Sorry for that. For me it looks more easily understood, I see it could be different for not me.


Attack Routine - Claw/Claw/Claw (secondary)/Claw (secondary)/Bite

27 accuracy (main claw)
22 accuracy (secondary claw)
22 accuracy (bite)
While text of the Giralon's Blessing contains wording "secondary limbs" it doesn't mean "secondary natural attak".

The creature gains four claw attacks, each using its base attack bonus + its Str modifier for attack rolls. Each claw deals 1d4 points of damage + the subject’s Str modifier


You can attack with both claws at your full attack bonus, but your bite attack takes a –2 penalty (as if you had the Multiattack feat).

Monster Manual again, P312, under "Natural Weapons": "Natural weapons are weapons that are physically a part of a creature". Girallon's Blessing gives us an extra set of arms, that seems like natural weapons to me. "When a creature has more than one natural weapon, one of them (or sometimes a pair or set of them) is the primary weapon. All the creature’s remaining natural weapons are secondary". And that also fits with the spell defining specific limbs as primary and secondary. And secondary natural weapons take a -5 unless otherwise specified.

I'm happy with my interpretation here - the spell sees fit to specify primary and secondary limbs here.

You are right about bite being 25 instead of 22. My mistake. Your bite attack is 17 damage per hit, and with an increase in accuracy of 0.15, that's a difference in damage of 2.55 damage per round. No score change, but thanks for the correction.




As for your animal familiar, you obtain it at level 19, and it’s at level 3. It’s not really relevant to your entire build, and even when you do have it, it’s not very important or strong, it doesn’t even merit a mention in your summary, I don’t see it greatly influencing your damage per round. Obviously, you’re quite welcome to calculate damage output against our theoretical monster with 36 AC and 15 DR and demonstrate otherwise.

Okay. Quick calculation. I'm not sure how exactly you calculated damage output, so I make first step - my familiar's stats.

Familiar + persisted Aspect of the Wolf + persisted Bite of the Werebear, Sirine's Grace, and Superior Magic Fang.

Base stats - 13/15/15/mental
Boosts (Werebear, Sirine's Grace, and Ability Enhancer feat) - 18/6/10/...
Total - 31/21/25/...

It has my BAB, werebear's attacks (2 claws 1d8 and secondary (only -2 penalty) bite 2d8), Power Attack feat from Bite of the Werebear, +3 from Greater Magic Fang.
Look at "Some Spell Usage" #2 and #3 parts in my entry.

Wait, you are adding some very different numbers that shouldn't be added together. Aspect of the Wolf gives the creature a total of 13 strength, or +1 ability modifier. You add +18 ability modifier from your persisted spells for a total of 19 modifier, not 31. Your Level 3 weasel has 2 BAB, how does it get your BAB? Add the weasel's BAB to the STR modifier, you get 21 for attack rolls, so whatever damage you think you'll do gets multiplied by 0.3 to work out average damage per round, your bite is at -2 so gets multiplied by 0.2. This isn't going to be a significant damage addition.

I'll also point out a few other issues with trying to use Weasel to boost your DPR to something I'd find acceptable:
1) Your weasel has three levels of 1/2 d8 HP. Even with +10 CON modifier from buffs and +2 CON from Aspect of the Wolf, that's... 8.5 (3 levels of Weasel) + 12 x 3, or 45 HP. It's going to take one or two hits before it dies.
2) It's tiny with terrible reach. It needs to take attacks of opportunity to enter an enemy's square to attack. I don't like its chances when it has 45HP, and I doubt it's AC or other abilities are enough to compensate.
3) I do damage calculations to get a rough idea of whether you're doing decent damage at all levels, not just level 20. Adding a familiar that only appears at level 19 doesn't help me get an rough idea of your damage throughout the rest of your levels.

No score change.





Do you remember, I have a plan "B" - Bone Talisman?
Relying on specific items to achieve what your build wants to do is still a penalty for build elegance. No change to your score
Bone Talisman isn't specific item, it's my own spell (https://web.archive.org/web/20201111200627/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mb/20040721a)!

Thanks for this.

The text says the talisman gives you one turn attempt for a second level spell slot. You need at least 7 to use DMM Persist, and your level 20 spell selection says you're going to persist five spells (Master Air, Friendly Fire, Superior Magic Fang, Sirine's Grace and Bite of the Werebear). How many 2nd-level or above spell slots do you see yourself spending to get enough Persists off to run your build as you intend? It's not like you can stockpile this spell either. You don't even have 35 spell slots.

No score change.




Where does it say that your rage ends after you shapeshift back to maeluth?
In Alternate Form description.


—The creature loses the natural weapons, natural armor, movement modes, and extraordinary special attacks of its original form.
—The creature gains the natural weapons, natural armor, movement modes, and extraordinary special attacks of its new form.
Badger's rage is an extraordinary special attack. Trogdrak just doesn't have it in his maeluth form.

You know what, you make a convincing argument here. You still can't use spellcasting resources while raging, but you can at least leave Rage when you want. Given your ridiculous stats, the penalties for being fatigued don't even matter, if you even have to deal with Fatigue. I'll give you points for this. (+0.25 points).

[H_H_F_F]

I just had a half-formed thought for a round theme: Undead+something -necropolitan. Feels like it could be broad enough to offer a lot of options, but still offers a strong theme with heavy build investment that will ensure unique entries and strong focus on the components.

Thoughts?

[loky1109]

I just had a half-formed thought for a round theme: Undead+something -necropolitan. Feels like it could be broad enough to offer a lot of options, but still offers a strong theme with heavy build investment that will ensure unique entries and strong focus on the components.

Thoughts?

Junkyard Wars XXXIII: LotD + AF - Necropolitan (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636185)

Although it might actually be interesting.

[H_H_F_F]

Junkyard Wars XXXIII: LotD + AF - Necropolitan (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?636185)

Although it might actually be interesting.

Right. Forgot about that. Probably where the idea came from, somewhere in the back of my mind.

[pabelfly]

Okay, this is the last back-and-forth with Trogdrak. If we can't work it out in three back-and-forths, we're not going to work it out. I've got one more critique to start going through, so thank you for your patience .



If I'm incorrect, how do you explain that the example creature of human + werebear based off a Brown Bear having a total of 7HD when a normal Brown Bear has 6HD? It's written that it has 7HD, the maths comes out as it having 7HD. If my assertation is incorrect, where does this extra HD come from from the example monster?
I already explained that:


The werebear presented here is a 1st-level human warrior and natural lycanthrope, using the following base ability scores: Str 13, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 8.
Example monster DOESN'T have 7 HD. it has 6 HD and 1 class level.


Okay, I think you're right. I hate how badly-worded this template is, but I think you've managed to interpret it correctly. Removed the stat penalty from elegance on Large critique. (+0.5 points)



And that also fits with the spell defining specific limbs as primary and secondary. And secondary natural weapons take a -5 unless otherwise specified.
Do you ignore spell direct wording?


The creature gains four claw attacks, each using its base attack bonus + its Str modifier for attack rolls. Each claw deals 1d4 points of damage + the subject’s Str modifier


the spell sees fit to specify primary and secondary limbs here.
But spell says nothing about primary and secondary natural weapons.


The build sees fit to differentiate between primary and secondary limbs for creatures that have arms and those that don't. P311 defines what natural weapons are, states that secondary natural wepaons get a -5 penalty, and you're using your limbs as natural weapons. I'm happy with my interpretation on this. No point change.



You are right about bite being 25 instead of 22. My mistake. Your bite attack is 17 damage per hit, and with an increase in accuracy of 0.15, that's a difference in damage of 2.55 damage per round.
We are still talking about size.


Now that we agree that you're large, let's do the damage calcs for level 20 one last time:

Let's assume you have all your spells up, and you have stats of 42/14/38/12/16/28
Let’s assume you have Rage going and have +4 to STR (for a total of 46 STR)
Let’s assume our opponent has 36 AC and 15 DR. Let's assume you bypass that DR.
Let's assume you get four attacks each round with Girallon's Blessing. You don’t get extra attacks from high BAB due to Girallon’s Blessing.
Let’s assume you’re Large.
I'm not bothered to do calcs for Power Attack 5; it's going to be less damage than Power Attack 0 anyway.

Attack Routine - Claw/Claw/Claw (secondary)/Claw (secondary)/Bite

Accuracy:
10 BAB + 18 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
31 accuracy (0.8) (main claw)
28 accuracy (0.65) (bite)
26 accuracy (0.55) (secondary claw)

Damage
1d4 Claw (Girallon's Blessing) + 18 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
23.5

2d8 Bite (Bite of Werebear) + 9 STR + 3 Greater Magic Fang
21 damage per hit

Damage output:
23.5 x 0.8 x 2 (Primary Claws) + 23.5 x 0.55 x 2 (Secondary Claws) + 21 x 0.65 (Bite) = 77.1 Damage

I'm going to give this another (+0.25 points) Now that we're using better stats and can agree you are large, this does look better. I'd still like to see damage at around 100 per round though. Especially when we're assuming that you'll beat DR solely based on the idea that you have some ways to bypass some DR types when this won't always be true for all DR types or for general, untyped DR.



Aspect of the Wolf gives the creature a total of 13 strength, or +1 ability modifier. You add +18 ability modifier from your persisted spells for a total of 19 modifier, not 31.

What? I gave you ability scores, not modifiers. Str 31 means +10 modifier.


Your Level 3 weasel has 2 BAB, how does it get your BAB?
Familiar uses master's BAB (look at PHB,, p. 52). Not part BAB from class that gain familiar. Total master's BAB.


Your weasel has three levels of 1/2 d8 HP. Even with +10 CON modifier from buffs and +2 CON from Aspect of the Wolf, that's... 8.5 (3 levels of Weasel) + 12 x 3, or 45 HP. It's going to take one or two hits before it dies.
Also PHB, p. 53. Familiat has one-half of master's total hit points.


It's tiny with terrible reach.
It isn't tiny. Wolves aren't tiny, wolves are medium, Aspect of the Wolf transform into wolf form.

Okay, thanks for clearing this up. I can admit I was in the wrong here - the familiar does look better than before. Medium is a nice size, your HP, BAB and stats are much better, and so forth.

Still, I see significant problems here. You've got the familiar that's stuck by your side to get all of your buffs, so you can't use it for scouting, reconnaissance, flanking enemies. You're both limited to attacking enemies within your rage. And the moment you or your familiar are forced apart by even five feet, your familiar has lost all of your buffs for the entire day. And it's not as if there aren't ways to do this.

There's also the fact that I want to see what sort of damage your character would be doing without going to the trouble of actually doing the maths for every single level for levels 1 to 20, and using a class feature you get at level 19 doesn't assist with that extrapolation.

No score change.


The text says the talisman gives you one turn attempt for a second level spell slot. You need at least 7 to use DMM Persist, and your level 20 spell selection says you're going to persist five spells (Master Air, Friendly Fire, Superior Magic Fang, Sirine's Grace and Bite of the Werebear). How many 2nd-level or above spell slots do you see yourself spending to get enough Persists off to run your build as you intend? It's not like you can stockpile this spell either. You don't even have 35 spell slots.

Actually I have enough slots.
I have 12 turn attempts, 5 spell slots are needed for casting spells, I need 23 (DMM)+5 (spells)=28 slots.
I have: 26 slots of 2nd+ level without any items (with +4 item I'd have enough spell slots). I have Druid Grove with up to 4 spell levels (exactly two 2nd level spells), I have Spellstaff, I have Attune Gem feat. Or I could not persist for example Master Air.[/QUOTE]

So, to back up:
My original critique was that Plant Defiance can't fuel metamagic,
You've responded with: "oh, I have bone talismans".
After working that out (thank you), we're now at a point where we can persist our spells, which is great, but now we're a caster without any spells that we can cast as support during the day, after doing our morning buff routine.

If we had started at this point, I'd still taking off points from your build since you don't have access to your spells, or we can persist less spells than your build originally intended. No score change.

[pabelfly]

I just had a half-formed thought for a round theme: Undead+something -necropolitan. Feels like it could be broad enough to offer a lot of options, but still offers a strong theme with heavy build investment that will ensure unique entries and strong focus on the components.

Thoughts?

Not really familiar with undead or necropolitan. I'll just leave this to ponder upon in the back of my mind, but it could be interesting. I have a bunch of half-formed contest ideas like this, which are just waiting for the other half to come to me.

So, boring admin stuff: I just need to respond to one last critique for this contest. Hopefully we'll get the next round going within a week and hopefully sooner than that.

Junkyard Wars XLII will be Smite + Mounted Combat - Paladin. Mentioned this before, will mention it again for those that don't remember since it's been a while. I'll also be adding procedures for contestants judging various entrants if we don't have judges volunteering. This has been discussed before, there were some good ideas presented that have worked in the past. I think this is the best way to deal with the issue of not being able to find someone that's willing to step into the role of judge if it happens again.

After that, I'll be doing another poll with some contest ideas. Hopefully with a bit of experience from the last poll, I have more interesting contest ideas for you to pick from. I'm open to adding other people's ideas to the poll too.

[pabelfly]

Divine Power isn't mentioned in the spell list because Ordained Champion lets me spontaneously cast it, and the spell list only shows spells prepared.

Thanks for correcting me on this, it's much appreciated. This had no bearing on your score.


]I'm also a bit disappointed in the penalty for skills: Trox can always cast Guidance of the Avatar or Divine Insight if a skill needs to be rolled... but also, who's expecting a cleric to derive his out-of-combat utility from skills? Clerics have access to a giant toolbox ranging from Plane Shift to Remove Curse to Summon Monster, which they can prepare any day it's needed: do they really need strong skill investment to reliably contribute out of combat? Note that unlike most clerics, we could even fill our slots with utility exclusively, and use our abilities that convert spell slots into buffs to get through combat encounters: even if we don't have higher-level spells, we're a lot more likely to have the right low-level one prepared!

I can understand your argument here, but I've got two points in response.

Firstly, I'm pretty sure I took the time to examine everyone's skill points or lack thereof. If having high skill points is an unreasonable request of a caster, it's an unreasonable request I'm making of all casters, regardless of the spell list they pull from.

Lastly, spells that boost skill checks are great when you have them prepared and can use them, you'll have my full agreement there. However, high skill points are always great.

No score change.

[pabelfly]

I would like to ask why my originality score seems to depend solely on class and race, and not on my tactics (toggling rage on and off multiple times a turn is original, surely?) or my feats (some of which are quite uncommon). Action points are an underused mechanic that I was really happy about using, but it seems like they show up nowhere in your score.

Furthermore, I strongly dispute your entire reading of a geomancer's rage ability.

The literal text of the ability is:


You can rage similar to a wolverine. (If you take damage, you rage as a 1st-level barbarian – see Barbarian entry, page 25 of the Player's Handbook – or gain +1 effective level of any class you have that grants rage as a class feature, but only for determining the benefits of rage.)

Consider the context in which it appears: the geomancer's drift abilities, which are written in a very particular way.

One of the abilities says 'you become as graceful as a cat' and then says it gives +4 balance: should we ignore that line because actual cats get +8 balance? If 'your eyes become as sharp as an eagle's' should we really be getting a conditional +4 instead of an unconditional +8 to spot? If you can 'pounce like a leopard', does that ability only work on the first turn of combat, unlike a leopard's? If your sense's 'become as sharp as a bat', do you get 20 or 30 feet of blindsense?

My point being: when drift abilities refer to animals, this is obviously flavor, not mechanics. Keeping the context in mind, if this ability says 'you can rage similar to a wolverine' (not even 'as a wolverine', similar to one), and immediately after says 'you rage as a 1st-level barbarian', the mechanical effect of that ability derives fully from a barbarian's rage, including the ability to end it prematurely: my final trick doesn't work much different from Grakk's. Mark my elegance down for an reliance on a slightly ambiguous rule if you must, but a 0 in UoSI is excessive.

Let's redo your Use of Secret Ingredient score. I didn't see enough rules regarding the specific Rage mechanics for Geomancer, tried my best to work it out, but I can't argue that I wasn't overzealous. I still have concerns, but let's do this again.

There are no specific mechanics regarding how to Rage properly for a Geomancer. While a Wolverine is referenced in the Geomancer prestige class, that doesn't mean anything besides flavour text, as you pointed out. Fair critique on your part.
However, we are told we Rage as a first-level Barbarian, and Barbarians can only rage once per encounter. Now, does Geomancer negate the Rage rules of Barbarian? I'd be leaning on saying it doesn't: taking damage as Geomancer triggers Rage as a first-level Barbarian, you dismiss it when it's your next turn and try to trigger it again, but the rules for Barbarian Rage say you only get to Rage once per encounter. But, again, Geomancer isn't written very well for this particular ability, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone else came up with a completely different interpretation to my first or my second attempt at parsing this, and I wouldn't even say they were wrong if they did. I don't think you can turn off Rage when it's not your turn though: we usually have specific rules when we can act out of turn order - but that seems like a minor issue.

So let's call this a +0.5 points. Even with my fairly conservative interpretation of Geomancer Rage, you still start off the first round after attacking with boosts to your two most important saves and HP, which are some very nice buffs. (+0.5 points) (Use of Secret Ingredients is now (4 / 5)

I’ve also recognized how you repeatedly turn Rage on and off in your build design in Originality. While I don’t think this actually works, Originality is only where I ask if you’re doing interesting or unusual stuff, and I think this qualifies. (+1 point)

Lastly, Action Points rules: This is honestly a wash. I should have written this, but I’ll write what I should have here: Action points feats are fairly uncommon (i'd give points in Originality if I were giving points), but they’re also fairly easy to cheese, as you’ve found out (I'd take the same amount of points away).

I’m going to call this a wash. (+/- 0 points)

[Inevitability]

No further disputes.

[pabelfly]

Final results:



Name
Alignment/Race
Class Levels
Chef
Total
Place


Trox, Shaped By War
NG/Saint Frostblood Half-Orc
Barbarian 1 / Cleric of Heironeous 3 / Ordained Champion 4 / Flux Adept 10
Inevitability
16.5
First


Grakk "Halfdead"
CE / Frostblood Orc
Unholy Fury Barbarian 1 / Dread Necromancer 14 / Orc Warlord 5
Loky1109
16.25
Second


Sana Bogle
CG / Human
Paragon 1 / Sha'ir 1 / Human Paragon +2 / Geomancer 7 / Blood Magus 1 / Dread Witch 5 / Blood Magus +1 / Geomancer +2
Inevitability
14.5
Third


Ragnor Kolbjorn
TN/Maenad
Fighter 6 / Berserk 4 / Warmind 10
Laughing Dog
14
Fourth (Tie)


Trogdrak of the Badgers
TN/Ferral Natural Weredire Badger Lesser Maeluth
Spirit Shaman 6 / Death Delver 1 / Holt Warden 2 / Mystic Wanderer 3
Loky1109
14
Fourth (Tie)


Wander, Shifter Psychic Rogue
TN / Shifter (Razorclaw)
Cleric 1 / Psychic Rogue 16 / Weretouched Master 3
PoeticallyPsycho
13.5
Sixth (Tie)


Batsu, the Bat-man
LN / Anthropromorphic Bat
Monk 2 / Druid 17 / Spelldancer 1
Gruftzwerg
13.5
Sixth (Tie)



Thank you everyone for entering, and thank you again for your patience while I was judging.

Now that the contest is over, any feedback or suggestions on what I can do better would be greatly appreciated. Now, I'm going to start writing up the next Junkyard Contest, which should hopefully be up in less than a day.

[Inevitability]

Well, I'm sure glad I went for that dispute on Sana... last to third is one heck of a leap.

I have no real comments on the judging process: I would penalize or boost some different things (I notably dislike the 'class switching' elegance penalty) but I honestly think you dealt with the unexpected burden really well. Some kind of incentive to judges might be good for future rounds, or maybe trying to recruit them before the reveal?

[pabelfly]

I have no real comments on the judging process: I would penalize or boost some different things (I notably dislike the 'class switching' elegance penalty) but I honestly think you dealt with the unexpected burden really well. Some kind of incentive to judges might be good for future rounds, or maybe trying to recruit them before the reveal?

I'm open to offering incentives, but I'm not sure what I can offer besides selecting the next contest ingredients (as long as it meets the "A + B - C" format).

[loky1109]

Thank you for your work, pabelfly!
But I should say I'm not very happy about your judging of Trogdrak.
It looks like you didn't read entry and my disputes carefully enough.

Yes, part about humanoid HD is slightly unclear, but I had to send you the same quote from MM twice, you didn't notice it first time apparently.
Also about my familiar.

You've got the familiar that's stuck by your side to get all of your buffs, so you can't use it for scouting, reconnaissance, flanking enemies.
It was directly in my entry in "Some Spell Usage" spoiler:

2) Acorn of Far Travel + wearable bonsai oak + familiar's Share Spells = my selfbuffs all day long working for my familiar without needing to be close to me.
It’s a little unpleasant to see that your entry hasn’t been thoroughly examined by the judge. I understand, judging is hard, I know how it could be, and I don't blame you, just turn your attention to this.