[Workshop] Optimizing Inlindl School (DoTU)

[Saintheart]

EDIT: This thread isn't the guide you're looking for. Look for my Inlindl School Mini-Guide.

Looking for ideas, input, etc - I may turn this into a mini-guide if enough options come up.

Inlindl School (DoTU)'s operative section says: at the start of your turn, sacrifice your shield bonus to AC in exchange for a bonus on melee attack rolls equal to one-half that bonus. This bonus applies only on attacks made with light weapons (or other weapons to which Weapon Finesse applies)

So it seems to me there are three levers which can be worked on:

- Light weapons, or other weapons that Weapon Finesse can apply to.
- Where can you pick up a shield bonus to AC
- How high can you push a shield bonus to AC

Footnote: per Weapon Finesse, if you carry a shield, its Armor Check Penalty applies to your attack rolls. On first look this cuts the useability of this feat down a bit. We could be cute and say "Haha, I'm not carrying an Animated Shield", but Animated Shields specifically sheet their Armor Check Penalty back to the owner. (However, that stricture likely doesn't apply to Shield and the like). So that begs us to add a fourth lever to work on:

- How low can you push your ACP

However, the way the feat's worded, you don't have to use Weapon Finesse, only that the attack bonus from Inlindl School applies to light weapons or weapons which could be used with Weapon Finesse. But this then becomes a question of opportunity cost since Inlindl School requires that you take Weapon Finesse and Combat Expertise. There are the odd couple of other feats like Shadow Blade that count as Weapon Finesse for prerequisites, but I'll have to look at them later.

Meanwhile:


- Feycraft weapons: they count as weapons to which Weapon Finesse can apply, but cannot be two-handed weapons - only light or one-handed.
- Classes or features that deem stuff to be light weapons (e.g. Corsair from Dragon magazine)
- Certain finesse'able weapons: Elven Courtblade, Drow Scorpion Chain, Spiked Chain, Rapier, Blade Boot, Ribbonweave, Spinning Sword, Daishalar (Dragon 301), Stingray Whip (Stormwrack), Lynxpaw, Dragonsplit (MM 4).
- Natural Weapons, Unarmed Strikes are always considered light weapons.
- As always, the great Thurbane has a list for Finesseable weapons. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?599432-3-5-Weapon-Finesse)



- Carry a shield, duh. Animated shield allows you to have your hands free, but the ACP still applies.
- Shield spell
- Deflect from PHB 2! -- gives a shield bonus of half your CL against the next attack before the end of your next turn. Which means it can be cast in one turn and then used by Inlindl School at the beginning of the next turn. And it's an abjuration spell that grants a Shield Bonus, so Abjurant Champion PrC features apply to it as well. Cast as an immediate action, too, so not heavy on the action economy.
- Shield Block maneuver (ToB) grants your shield bonus +4 to an ally as an immediate action.
- Ring of Force Shield (DMG 232). Functions as heavy shield (+2 to AC) with no ACP.
- Gnome Tortoise Blade (CWar)
- Manople (SStorm)
- Dwarven Buckler-Axe (CWar)
- Sang Kauw (OA) - on conditions.



What I've thought of so far:

- Enhancement bonuses to the physical shield (+1 to +5)
- Tower Shield gives a native +4 but comes with massive -10 ACP
- Extreme Steel Shield (RoS) gives a native +3
- Abjurant Champion 5 applying a bonus to a Shield spell or other Abjuration spell bonus (raises the +4 to +9 in effect for Shield and in the case of Deflect effectively gives you a +1 to +5 to half your CL as the shield bonus.)
- Raising CL on a Deflect spell
- Shield Wall feat (HoB): if you and an adjacent ally are each using a shield, your shield bonus to AC increases by 2.


I suck at psionics, are there any powers that grant or enhance Shield bonuses specifically? Incarnum? ToB maneuvers etc?



Not just on armor, because it's the ACP of the shield (and only the shield) that applies if Weapon Finesse is being used.
- Masterwork (-1 ACP)
- Mithral (-3 ACP, doesn't stack with Masterwork)
- Darkwood (-2 ACP, doesn't stack with Masterwork)
- Entropium (A&EG) ... sort of? +2 to ACP for Climb and Jump, but -2 to ACP for other affected skills...
- Nimbleness armor quality (MIC) (-2 ACP)
- Hellforged template (DMG 2) (-2 ACP)
- Shield Specialization feat (PHB 2) (-1 to ACP)
- Vengeance Knight 1 (PrC) (CoR) (-1 to ACP for all shields at first level. Strictly speaking, can't get any more reductions in ACP for shields, but the class does allow a reduction in ACP for armors)


Any thoughts, ideas, approaches, builds to suggest? As said, this is a work in progress.

[Zarvistic]

It doesn't do any of those things, but turtle dart could be interesting for a build.

[Inevitability]

Divine Shield has some hefty restrictions on usage (eats an use of turn undead, lasts for a few rounds, standard action to use) but it adds your charisma bonus to your shield's shield bonus. Synad can probably get it as a swift action 1/day?

[daremetoidareyo]

I built around two weapon defense and Indlidl school
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=23126100&postcount=58

[Gruftzwerg]

A)
Shieldbearer
Spellcompendium Sorc/Wiz 1

Touch spell that works similar to animated shield but doesn't carry over the ACP penalties.

Thus you want to have some way to persist a touch spell (Ranged Spell + Persist Spell).
Incantatrix or Spelldancer as prc.
Abuse (persisted?^^) Polymorph forms with multiple attacks (e.g. Hydbra).


OR

B)
Abjurant Champion
Why not persist (again Incantatrix or Spelldancer) the Shield spell and get up to +9 shield bonus?
Again, combo with persisting Polymorph.

[tyckspoon]

I suck at psionics, are there any powers that grant or enhance Shield bonuses specifically? Incarnum? ToB maneuvers etc?


Force Screen (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/forceScreen.htm) is just Shield, Psionic, although with the obligatory psionic scaling mechanism for dumping more power points into it. Doesn't have very efficient scaling, tho.

[Menzath]

The feats Focus Shield and Shield specialization each give a +1bonus to your Shield while holding or using the appropriate shield type.
Seems like wording prevents them from being used with the shield spell.

In addition to Abjurant Champion mentioned above, Argent Savants second level ability Force Armor gives a flat +2 to force effects that give an AC bonus(of their type).

The only way I can find to fit the shield spell, abujuant champ, Argent savant, and divine shield onto one build is to go
Dread necro/prestige bard/sublime chord/abjurant champ/Argent savant.

It's odd, but would give your shield spell an AC of 11+cha mod.

Can magic vestment be cast on the shield spell to give it an enchantment bonus too? If so that could bump it to a potential 16+cha mod.

[Anthrowhale]

Force Screen (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/forceScreen.htm) has a shield bonus of 4+1 / 4 manifester levels. The obvious way to maximize that is by jacking up your caster level and then using Mental Pinnacle (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/spells/mentalPinnacle.htm) to convert it into a manifester level, then manifesting this via one of the various ways to add Force Screen to your manifestable powers like this (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm#manifestAnUnknownPowerFr omAnothersPowersKnown).

At caster level 105, for example, you could have a shield bonus of 30.

[Saintheart]

Just logging here, but one little find over in Tome of Magic: Apprentice Path Mystery, Cloak of Shadows path -- Steel Shadows, 10 mins/level - grants a +3 shield bonus to AC (and a +3 armor bonus) to AC, no ASF, no ACP. It's from the Abjuration school specifically too, so Abjurant Champion might apply to it -- and might apply to boost both the shield bonus and the armor bonus. And as said it gets around the Mage Armor problem because of the school.

[daremetoidareyo]

Shield bonuses don't stack, but if you were dual wielding shields, could you trade the two shield AC bonuses at the beginning of your turn to fuel it?

[Thurbane]

Coat of Arms spell can give up to +6 shield bonus. 1 minute/level. Can be boosted by Argent Savant.

Summon Warforged Champion gives +5 shield bonus, so long as the Champion is within 15 feet.

[Gruftzwerg]

Shield bonuses don't stack, but if you were dual wielding shields, could you trade the two shield AC bonuses at the beginning of your turn to fuel it?
You can only do the conversion once at the start of your turn and you only have one Shield bonus stat.

Thus you could sacrifice the bonus of on shield (which you are using at the start of the turn) and keep the other. As soon as it get lower than your other shield bonus, it will automatically change. (due to the only highest bonus counts rule)



Coat of Arms spell can give up to +6 shield bonus. 1 minute/level. Can be boosted by Argent Savant.

Summon Warforged Champion gives +5 shield bonus, so long as the Champion is within 15 feet.

Sadly these can't be further improved.

Remind you that magical shields can have up to +9 shield bonus (due to their enchantment bonus to shield bonus).
example: Tower Shield +5

Thus besides from Abjurant Champion's possible +9 Shield spell "shield bonus", I don't really see any good spell alternatives so far.

[Saintheart]

Thus besides from Abjurant Champion's possible +9 Shield spell "shield bonus", I don't really see any good spell alternatives so far.

Slight cheese might mean that Deflect can slightly outrun it little bit higher. If you read the spell as granting a shield bonus -- it only applies against the next attack against you, but it is a shield bonus nonetheless -- then you cast it as an immediate action in the round before and then sacrifice it at the beginning of your turn, and it applies to all of your melee attacks for the full round.

Deflect gives you 1/2 CL in Shield Bonus, so to outrun Shield (+4 Shield Bonus) you just need a CL of 10. Which most Abjurant Champion 5s will have. Deflect is abjuration school, so Abjurant Champion only improves it from there. Gets better as you level up or do other stuff to steroid your CL. Deflect's a Sor/Wiz 2 (and Duskblade 2) so Pearls of Power could keep you pulling a similar trick all day long.

[Gruftzwerg]

Since we slowly get into cheesy stuff:


You imbue a suit of armor or a shield with an enhancement bonus of +1 per four caster levels (maximum +5 at 20th level).

If you have "dodge ranged rulebook attacks" as a real life ability, you could try to apply MV on your Shield spell ^^

Note that "Shield" itself was never generally defined in 3.5, but sole "Shield Bonus". We also have specific shield rules for "Weapons" and "Armor", but we lack any general topic for shields. Thus, magical "shield" effects should be legal targets for MV. ;)

[Gorthawar]

Knight 2 can add another +1 to shield bonus against one opponent (+2 at lvl 11 and +3 at lvl 20) which could be used as a base for a Gish build.

Edit: Something like Knight 2/Paladin 4/Seul Arcanamach 3/Abjurant Champion 5 with divine shield should get a 39min shield spell at +10+Cha bonus.

[Saintheart]

I guess I've got the current conclusions from this:

1) You get best benefit out of Inlindl School specifically with magic, not mundane gear. It does very little for ranged attackers since it's explicitly limited to melee attack rolls (yes, Gruftzwerg, I know, Bloodstorm Blade ... :D ) Inlindl School applies for a whole round, so it likely has most application for spamming two-weapon attacks, anthropomorphic octopus PCs :D or attack of opportunity builds.


2) You're not going to pull a lot of numerical benefit out of Inlindl School unless you cheese Deflect, and then only if your CL is sky-high. Deflect is equivalent to unmodified Shield at CL 8, and even then, it becomes a shield bonus of 1/2 CL - therefore +4 - which Inlindl School then converts into a +2 to melee attack rolls. (Thread on raising Caster Level (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?484088-3-5-Raising-Caster-Level) is here.) But even then, Deflect takes CL 30 to grant a +15 Shield Bonus, which AbChamp 5 raises to +20, and then Inlindl School renders a +10 to attack rolls. And I'm guessing a DM would look at that usage a bit askance since it's bending the intent of the spell.

Compare Gorthawar's nice stub with +10 + CHA Shield Bonus. Assuming a CHA 18 (+4) and a +6 stat booster, that's a +17 Shield Bonus, and therefore a +8 to attack rolls under Inlindl School. It's a pain to get set up tactically since it's a standard action to get Divine Shield going, you need turn undead uses, and then you need to have Shield cast. But probably a lot more achievable at most tables than CL 30!


3) Abjurant Champion 5 is practically a must if you're going down the Shield or Deflect line. There just isn't much else under 3.5 that helps with shield bonuses like this. It's basically free fodder for Inlindl School at the very least, leaving aside anything else you can do with AbChamp.


4) Optimized Shield seems the least worst way to use this feat in tandem with Weapon Finesse - because spells impose no ACP. Weapon Finesse applies your shield's ACP to your attack rolls, which has big implications on how high you have to get your shield bonus to counter the loss in attack bonus given by Inlindl School.


5) The Extreme Steel Shield seems to be the most viable base rather than taking a Tower Shield if you're going to mitigate the Weapon Finesse problem at (4) above, because it's practically impossible to wield a Tower Shield with no ACP. You only get to a -1 to ACP with:
- Mithral (-3 ACP, incorporates Masterwork quality automatically)
- Nimbleness armor quality (MIC) (-2 ACP)
- Hellforged template (DMG 2) (-2 ACP)
- Shield Specialization feat (PHB 2) (-1 to ACP)
- Vengeance Knight 1 (PrC) (CoR) (-1 to ACP for all shields at first level)
... and a Tower Shield is only giving you +4 in Shield Bonus anyway. You might as well use an Extreme Steel Shield instead for its +3, at least you can fully counter the ACP.

5a) You might as well make it an Animated shield if you're going this path, you need both hands and you're going to wear the ACP either way.


6) If you're stuck with a physical shield, using Inlindl School without using Weapon Finesse seems the least suboptimal solution. Which is unfortunate since that implies at least two feat taxes: Weapon Finesse and Combat Expertise. Then it's a matter of weapon choice, with the most optimal choices unfortunately sweating you for a further Exotic Weapon Proficiency tax:

6a) If you're planning on serious Power Attack or an attack of opportunity build (since Inlindl School hits all attacks until your next turn, i.e. AoOs are boosted as well), you're probably stuck with boring old Spiked Chain as the most optimal choice, mainly because it's a finesseable weapon but still two-handed, has Reach, and can be used for trip attacks.

6b) Elven Courtblade seems to be the silver medal here because it still sweats you for an EWP, but doesn't have Reach. It's only really on the podium because of its damage dice and because it's a two-hander, i.e. you could still use Power Attack with it. It's probably a little more attractive if you're going into Champion of Corellon Larethian ... and interestingly, Inlindl School has some synergy with that PrC since it could be taken as the bonus feat at level 1 - Inlindl School is a bonus fighter feat and it has Combat Expertise as one of its prerequisites.

6c) Feycraft weapons grant a much wider array of one-handed weapons which can then be used with Inlindl School, but they have drawbacks: a feycraft weapon has a damage dice one less than its normal counterpart, a feycraft one-handed weapon is light for the purposes of the Weapon Finesse feat, but no other purpose, i.e. that feycraft longsword is still going to impose big TWF penalties if wielded in the off hand. (That said, two weapons actually come out interesting in this analysis: the bastard sword and the maul, which have the same mechanic. Both are exotic weapons, but they're one handed weapons by category ... and they don't require an EWP feat if wielded in two hands, they're treated as martial weapons. A feycraft bastard sword has a 1d8 damage dice, requires no EWP to wield in both hands, gets x1.5 STR bonus like a two-handed weapon does, can be used with Power Attack, and can be freely used with Inlindl School since it's a weapon to which Weapon Finesse can be applied, being considered a light weapon here.)


7) If you are stuck with a physical shield, stuck with having to use Weapon Finesse, and stuck with two-weapon fighting, (i.e. no unarmed or natural attack), then rapier and short sword seem to be the least suboptimal weapons that don't cost a further feat to use, since they can both be used with Weapon Finesse and they impose the minimum TWF penalties. However, one to consider if you have the space for a EWP feat is the Dragonsplit (MM IV, p. 151) -- these impose 1d6 each just as rapiers and shortswords do, but they offer a x4 critical multiplier or a 19-20/x2 depending how they're gripped. On the other hand, if ToB is open, the more optimal choice here would likely be twin short swords and taking Shadow Blade, since that would allow you to apply your DEX to damage at least.


8) Inlindl School is not something to focus your whole build around, but rather as an adjunct or enhancement to another primary strategy: offsetting Power Attack penalties or enhancing attack spam in a TWF or unarmed weapon build. And even then don't bust a gut getting to it.




Anyone got any other observations on this?

[loky1109]

6c) Exotic Weapon Master's Uncanny Blow.
2) Persistent Deflect looks very interesting here.

[Gruftzwerg]

8) Inlindl School is not something to focus your whole build around, but rather as an adjunct or enhancement to another primary strategy: offsetting Power Attack penalties or enhancing attack spam in a TWF or unarmed weapon build. And even then don't bust a gut getting to it.




Anyone got any other observations on this?

I think I did found the missing links here:

Argent Savant (2) Force Armor: +2 AC to Force spells


Sanctified One - Wee Jas - Armor of Law:

Armor of Law (Su): If you have an armor bonus (permanent or temporary), it increases by an amount equal to your class level. If you have no armor bonus, you can increase your shield bonus instead. If you have neither, you gain no benefit.
SO has 5 lvls.

So we are looking at:
+4 Shield
+5 Abjurant Chamption
+5 Sanctified One
+2 Argent Savant
+5 Magic Vestment

= +21 (or +16 if you don't like MV)

Not gamebreaking but still some nice numbers imho.

[pabelfly]

There's some nice and substantial bonuses being floated around here, but Inlidl School only adds accuracy to finessable weapons, not damage. I've found the problem with finessable weapons is not just ensuring you get enough hits in, but doing decent damage with each hit, especially as damage reduction becomes more relevant.

So, what build options are we adding to this to amp up damage? I'd say Unarmed Strikes can be Finessed, and with Power Attack, can convert accuracy bonuses to power attack damage at a 1:1 ratio, but maybe other people have alternate suggestions. There's also the Elven Courtblade, which gets even more benefits from Power Attack and can make use of Weapon Finesse, if we want to use an exotic weapon.

[Gruftzwerg]

There's some nice and substantial bonuses being floated around here, but Inlidl School only adds accuracy to finessable weapons, not damage. I've found the problem with finessable weapons is not just ensuring you get enough hits in, but doing decent damage with each hit, especially as damage reduction becomes more relevant.

So, what build options are we adding to this to amp up damage? I'd say Unarmed Strikes can be Finessed, and with Power Attack, can convert accuracy bonuses to power attack damage at a 1:1 ratio, but maybe other people have alternate suggestions. There's also the Elven Courtblade, which gets even more benefits from Power Attack and can make use of Weapon Finesse, if we want to use an exotic weapon.

Poison Spell feat lets you do apply poison to your unarmed strike full attacks.
Add the TWF feat chain + haste + Natural Attacks from Alter Self/Polymorph/..

[Saintheart]

Quick thoughts on other uses: mounted combat. Damage on a mounted charge attack is doubled. Pity wecan't use a lance for it, because that's a two-handed weapon -- even feycraft doesn't help with that.

Paladins can share spells with their special mount. Make your mount a proper tank with a heavily boosted Shield spell, you go ahead and sacrifice your Shield bonus, but your mount retains your boost to its AC.

Haven't got heavily into this thinking as yet.

[Gruftzwerg]

Quick thoughts on other uses: mounted combat. Damage on a mounted charge attack is doubled. Pity wecan't use a lance for it, because that's a two-handed weapon -- even feycraft doesn't help with that.

Have a look:

While mounted, you can wield a lance with one hand.
edit: but still doesn't help here. Not finesse-able

[Menzath]

So, what build options are we adding to this to amp up damage?

If we are using an arcane casting build, the feat Arcane strike is almost a must.
For spells Mighty Wallop and its greater version jumps to the front for most useful.

For more mundane types or if you have enough attacks(or both)and do bludgeoning damage the feat Pulverize Foe.
You gain a stacking +1d6 whenever you hit the same enemy more than once in a round.
I like adding it to dual wield, lightning mace, crit builds.

[Saintheart]

On mounted combat, Wild Plains Outrider is a 3 level PrC that has a nice capstone: still exercise a full attack if your mount takes only a single move. You can fight with any weapon while mounted, it's only the lance that gets you triple damage on a charge. Also, valorous weapons.


Another thought: Inlindl School has one defensive application through its otherwise pretty useless Combat Expertise prereq, against incorporeals or touch attacks:

(1) Apply 1/2 shield bonus to attack rolls under Inlindl School.
(2) Use Combat Expertise on attack action to transfer attack bonus to dodge bonus to AC.
(3) Profit. Shield bonuses don't apply to touch attacks - but dodge bonuses do. Gain on touch AC with no overall loss in attack accuracy since you paid for it with Inlindl School.

Of course, Shield Ward does the same thing and more for the cost of a single feat slot, of course, but if you didn't have the space for it, it's a nice small mitigation.

[Darg]

Where's the rule that says mithral doesn't stack with masterwork? The entry only says the costs are included in the price not that they don't stack.

And my version of the DMGII says that hellforged template is only -1 ACP

[Pezzo]

The feat let's you trade away your shield bonus at the start of your turn, a variable tower shield can then be transformed into a buckler with a swift action, so you'd get half the tower shield bonus to attack, without the penalties.

[Saintheart]

Where's the rule that says mithral doesn't stack with masterwork? The entry only says the costs are included in the price not that they don't stack.

And my version of the DMGII says that hellforged template is only -1 ACP

Noted on hellforged. The SRD entry for mithral says mithral weapons and armor are always masterwork items...?

[Darg]

Noted on hellforged. The SRD entry for mithral says mithral weapons and armor are always masterwork items...?

Magic armor is always masterwork, would that mean that nimbleness only provides half its benefit?

[Gruftzwerg]

Magic armor is always masterwork, would that mean that nimbleness only provides half its benefit?

There is no reason for nimbleness to not stack with the masterwork bonus.

1. By the stacking rules, it stacks because they are different bonus types (masterwork and untyped)

2. There is no specific exception like for the masterwork bonus of weapons:

All magic weapons are also masterwork weapons, but their masterwork bonus on attack rolls does not stack with their enhancement bonus on attack rolls.

I think you got mislead due to the specific magic weapon rule here.

[Darg]

There is no reason for nimbleness to not stack with the masterwork bonus.

1. By the stacking rules, it stacks because they are different bonus types (masterwork and untyped)

2. There is no specific exception like for the masterwork bonus of weapons:


I think you got mislead due to the specific magic weapon rule here.

The masterwork bonus is an enhancement bonus so they simply don't stack because of the general rule.


A masterwork weapon is a finely crafted version of a normal weapon. Wielding it provides a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls.

In 3.0 the masterwork bonus was untyped so it had to have a specific exclusion clause to prevent it from stacking with the enhancement bonus. This got copy and pasted to the 3.5 DMG.

Masterwork armor on the other hand is an untyped modifier and does not have any exclusionary text:


Just as with weapons, you can purchase or craft masterwork versions of armor or shields. Such a well-made item functions like the normal version, except that its armor check penalty is lessened by 1.

The inherent lessening of the ACP penalty by mythril is untyped as well. The general rule is that untyped modifers stack unless given specific exclusion or they come from the same source which isn't provided in this combination. A material type providing a benefit is a different source than being a superior version of an item. Meaning a mithral breastplate has an ACP of 0 (4-3-1=0).

[Saintheart]

Looks like we've got a RAW vs RAI discrepancy once again! (i.e. that it looks like they meant the masterwork was subsumed in mithral, but RAW it isn't.)

And to darg's credit, it looks like Sean K. Reynolds and the Sage agree with him, per the sources from this old 2002 thread from ENworld... (https://www.enworld.org/threads/sage-mithril-and-masterwork-stack.10267/) One more issue to restate/reagitate in the mini-guide I'm going to turn the front post into.

[Rebel7284]

There is some caster level optimization in this thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?652847-Optimizing-Song-of-Cosmic-Fire

Basically, Theurgic Specialist can get you a caster level of nearly 300 in one school while still saving yourself 10 levels for full Sublime Chord progression.

+150 or more AC is a nice number and then adding half of that to attack is pretty silly too. Probably too much TO for most tables though!

[Saintheart]

There is some caster level optimization in this thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?652847-Optimizing-Song-of-Cosmic-Fire

Basically, Theurgic Specialist can get you a caster level of nearly 300 in one school while still saving yourself 10 levels for full Sublime Chord progression.

+150 or more AC is a nice number and then adding half of that to attack is pretty silly too. Probably too much TO for most tables though!

Certainly still worth a mention, even if it has to use Dragon magazine to get up.


As for me, I was twisting my head around how to cut the feat taxes down a bit. One bit of RAW cheese I came up was the combination of Shadow Blade, Heavy weapons (MoF p. 179), and Feycraft.

Shadow Blade counts as Weapon Finesse for prereq purposes. So far, so good, we can qualify for Inlindl School via Combat Expertise + Shadow Blade.

Shadow Blade gives us DEX to damage but only works on certain weapons. Luckily, one is the short sword, which is also a light weapon.

Feycraft versions of light weapons, per DMG 2, substitute DEX for STR on attack rolls, "as if" the wielder had Weapon Finesse. Problem is a feycraft short sword drops its damage dice from d6 to d4.

For builds loading stuff like sneak attack or Knowledge Devotion or similar onto light weapons, you might be content to just wear the rough -1 statistical damage on rolls with each weapon and not have to take up the Weapon Finesse feat slot. However, if you'd rather keep the 1d6, there does seem to be a way forward, via Heavy weapons.

A Heavy short sword does 1d8 damage, not 1d6. Logically a feycraft heavy short sword does 1d6 - whether because the 1d8 dropped to 1d6, or the heaviness upped it from 1d4 to 1d6.

Even more amusing, although Heavy weapons can never be used with the Weapon Finesse feat, a feycraft light weapon just grants DEX to attack rolls without recourse to Weapon Finesse - at least by RAW.

Problem being of course that you take a -4 to attack rolls unless you have an Exotic Weapon Proficiency in heavy shortsword, so it's a wash. You get to ignore Weapon Finesse but still have to take EWP. On the other hand, if you've got a level in Exoticist from Dragon Magazine, you have EWP slots to burn ... or if you're taking levels in Exotic Weapon Master, you don't care (and note that class gives you a free TWF feat when using your twin heavy short swords).


I was also looking a little closer at Iaijutsu Master, which seems to have a little synergy with Inlindl School in the sense that you really want an iaijutsu draw to hit.


Weapon Finesse (Ex) gives you all but explicit use of Weapon Finesse with a katana. Under virtual feat rules from MoTW, this means it counts as Weapon Finesse for the purpose of prerequisites.

The Iaijutsu Master can pick up Combat Expertise as a bonus feat at level 4. Again, another feat slot saved for other stuff.

Usually you take Iaijutsu Master for 5 levels, and assuming earliest possible entry, that means you exit I.Master at ECL 12, right when the next character feat hits - take Inlindl School at that point. Assuming you've built a solid Shield bonus, your Iaijutsu draws now get some better assurance of a hit because you drop your shield bonus to AC and put half of it to your attack rolls.

Oh, and the Heavy weapon cheese has an interesting freebie for katanas too: heavy weapons, so long as wielded in two hands, avoid the -4 attack penalty. Katanas already can be wielded in 2 hands as martial weapons, i.e. again you can avoid a EWP feat slot if you're using 2 hands. But then you likely blew a feat slot anyway to get Weapon Focus in katana, which Iaijutsu Master needs.



EDIT: Also thought of a nice bit of parmesan when talking Leadership antics, or (a little more practically) the Paladin's mount or the Druid's animal companion.


Wall of Steel is a teamwork benefit from PHB 2 (p. 162) that basically says if you put a bunch of people together and they all meet certain prerequisites, they get to exercise a small benefit. Most of the time, they're pretty ordinary.

But they are essentially slotless. And they do have one application for us. Because under Wall of Steel, if the team leader has BAB +8 and Tower shield proficiency, and every member of the team has BAB +2 and Shield proficiency, then as a swift action the members of the team can lose their shield bonus to AC and hand it to any other adjacent member of the team. And though shield bonuses normally don't stack, this teamwork benefit says they do - the granted benefit stacks with "the recipient's existing shield bonus, if any". Which would include any other shield bonuses granted by other team members. No ACP comes across either. Better yet, you don't actually have to be using a shield at the time of invoking this feat, it is the shield bonus that comes across.

You can probably see where this is going. The most mundane application is to grab 5 hirelings at BAB +2 and have them follow you around with Tower Shields in hand. When there's something ugly in melee range that you absolutely want to splat, and you've got Inlindl School, your hirelings all throw you their shield bonuses (5 x +4 if they're all to your sides and behind you = +20 shield bonus to your AC), which you then promptly abandon under Inlindl School for a +10 to your attack rolls in that round.

The more hilarious application is if said 5 hirelings have just had Shield cast on them through some method, since they don't even have to carry the Tower Shields around. It's the shield bonus to AC that comes across to you, and even stacks with your own Shield spell too.

But it gets even more interesting - and economical - if you're an Abjurant Champion with a special mount.

Because special mounts can share their owners' spells. And, per the explicit rules of Teamwork Benefits, special mounts and animal companions can be part of a team for the purposes of teamwork benefits. They even get taught the benefit by a Handle Animal check. A paladin's bog-standard mount is a heavy warhorse, which has a BAB +3, all it needs is Shield Proficiency via a feat (replace Endurance).

We then have:
(1) AbChamp 5 casts (say) a Shield spell, boosted to +9 under his class abilities.
(2) Share Spells (Ex) means that shield bonus also affects the mount, i.e. the mount has a +9 Shield Bonus too.
(3) As a swift action, the mount throws its shield bonus back to the AbChamp 5. AbChamp now has a +18 Shield Bonus because it stacked, under Wall of Steel's rules. Don't worry about the mount, Mounted Combat allows your Ride check to be its AC, lol.
(4) And finally, Inlindl School allows the AbChamp to wipe that +18 Shield bonus in favour of +9 to his attack rolls.


Same trick works for animal companions or familiars. Only requirement is that they've got Shield Proficiency, which admittedly does require the DM to allow you to switch out a feat on the base animal if it's a special mount or familiar, and you avoiding an airborne DMG when you select it as a feat for the animal companion.