Iron Chef Optimization Challenge in the Playground CXXV

[The Viscount]

Welcome to Optimization Stadium, the field of combat for our storied competition. Here the contestants will be transmuting lead into gold as we showcase the overlooked, underused, weird, wild, and wonky prestige classes.

Voting led to a 3-way tie. It falls to the Chair to break that tie. This one is "a paradox" because it's a stealth/anti-stealth class where you use light to hide better? Or something? If you ask which one won, I will know that you, like most people, did not read this intro text, and your shame will be great. Crack open Complete Champion and know this could have been avoided, this time we're cooking with Shadowspy!

Welcome, contestants, judges, and guests to Iron Chef. Here in Optimization Colosseum, contestants will endeavor to create an optimized and flavorful character using a specified D&D 3.5 prestige class as a "Secret Ingredient".

Contestants: You will need to present a full 20-level build for your entry. Also required is a rundown of how your build works at lower levels, to demonstrate that it is a functional character that could be played from 1-20 in a real game. Traditionally contestants give "snapshots" of tactics and abilities at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20. The purpose of these snapshots is not just to showcase your use of the SI, it is to demonstrate that your character is playable at every level. For this reason, it's still worth giving a snapshot before you have entered the SI.

Menu: The "special ingredient" can be drawn from any legal source. Originally, the plan was to mostly use Core and Completes, but that was a long time ago, and we've started running out of interesting classes to use if we restrict ourselves to those.

32 point-buy is the presumed creation method.
If you do use a different point-buy, please make your case for its necessity in your entry. Keep in mind that for using exceptionally large or small point-buys may warrant deductions in elegance and/or power.

Kitchen: 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 Elegance 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. Here's a guide to most of what has and hasn't been updated. (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20050110x) Alternate rule systems from UA such as gestalt or Generic Classes are not allowed, as they create a different playing field. Also, item familiars are forbidden. Please refrain from using Taint unless it's necessary for the Secret Ingredient.
NB: Official Errata and 3.5 updates to 3.0 content are considered valid regardless of whether their sources would otherwise be legal. This includes the 3.5 update of Oriental Adventures given in Dragon Magazine, and the 3.5 updates of Dragonlance Campaign Setting content given in later third party Dragonlance books.

Cooking Time: Contestants will have until 13:59 GMT on Sunday, March 19th, 2023 to create their builds and PM them to the Chairman, The Viscount. You may submit build by email if it is too large for a single PM. Please put the name of your build in the subject line of your PM. Builds will then be posted simultaneously, to avoid copying. Judges will have until 13:59 GMT on Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 to judge the builds and submit their scores. If no judges have scored by that point, only the scores of the first judge to submit will be counted.

Judging: Judging will be based on the following criteria, with each build rated on a scale from 1 (very poor) to 5 (exemplary) in each area: Originality, Power, Elegance, Use of Secret Ingredient.

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 could bear a little elaboration. It basically measures how skillfully you put your build together, and whether you sacrificed flavor for 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 considered in poor taste, and judges are asked to take a dim view of this option, taking it into account while grading. Other things that will cause penalties here are excessive multi-classing, and classes that don't fit the concept. Please note the following: a legal source's relative obscurity should not be considered as penalizing Elegance, excepting the aforementioned issues with Unearthed Arcana. Using conflicting setting material may result in a penalty to Elegance at the judges' discretion, but a book's relative obscurity may not. In that same vein, drawing solely from the Core 3 (and the d20 SRD) should not be punished for lacking Originality.
Presentation: 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!

Due to concerns about standardizing entry format, I'd like everyone to try to use the following table for their entry. (A fillable, pre-formatted version found here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BG0-5sq4dL9Ooh7-QfXuyHzO4rXSz-CRcj29t6BeUVE/edit#gid=0))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.
Speculation: Please don't post or speculate on possible builds until the "reveal," in order to avoid spoiling the surprise if a particular competitor is producing a build along those lines.

Leadership is banned; we're producing a meal, not a seven-course banquet for a hundred diners. 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.

So! Who wants to sign up as a contestant, and who wants to sign up as a judge? 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. Judges, contestants and guests alike are invited to vote for honorable mention via PM. If there are no votes, Honorable Mention will go to the chairman's favorite build.

Past Competitions

Courtesy of some wonderful volunteers, there is a handy-dandy spreadsheet guide to all previous builds here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oyjVU5JmeCnC8YTMqDArDqE5PszHl0Ysadz630kuTGk/edit?ts=59a4835f#gid=0). PM if you'd like to contribute to the spreadsheet for access.

Iron Chef I: Entropomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142470)
Iron Chef II: Psibond Agent (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146583)
Iron Chef III: Cancer Mage (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=148584)
Iron Chef IV: Stonelord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=150595)
Iron Chef V: War Chanter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152543)
Iron Chef VI: Master of Masks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156876)
Iron Chef VII: Green Star Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158633)
Iron Chef VIII: Pyrokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160266)
Iron Chef IX: Animal Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162702)
Iron Chef X: Mythic Exemplar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164381)
Iron Chef XI: Blade Bravo (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166539)
Iron Chef XII: War Mind (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9426386)
Iron Chef XIII: Vigilante (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172233)
Iron Chef XIV: Seeker of the Song (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174434)
Iron Chef XV: Drunken Master (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176049)
Iron Chef XVI: Assassin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178202)
Iron Chef XVII: Ardent Dilettante (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182492)
Iron Chef XVIII: Unseelie Dark Hunter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186097)
Iron Chef XIX: Dread Pirate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=190607)
Iron Chef XX: Incandescent Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10976416)
Iron Chef XXI: Ghostwalker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=198921)
Iron Chef XXII: Dervish (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206576)
Iron Chef XXIII: Divine Crusader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=210071)
Iron Chef XXIV: Tactical Soldier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214198)
Iron Chef XXV: Scion of Tem-Et-Nu (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217441)
Iron Chef XXVI: Shadowdancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=220956)
Iron Chef XXVII: Mindbender (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=224008)
Iron Chef XXVIII: Cryokineticist (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227304)
Iron Chef XXIX: Consecrated Harrier (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229688)
Iron Chef XXX: Initiate of Pistis Sophia (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233346)
Iron Chef XXXI: Shadow Sentinel (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=236908)
Iron Chef XXXII: Temple Raider of Olidammara (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239786)
Iron Chef XXXIII: Drow Judicator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=243052)
Iron Chef XXXIV: Dragon Disciple (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=246072)
Iron Chef XXXV: Death Delver (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249542)
Iron Chef XXXVI: Acolyte of the Skin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=252923)
Iron Chef XXXVII: Justiciar (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?255215-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XXXVII)
Iron Chef XXXVIII: Hand of the Winged Master (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255215)
Iron Chef XXXIX: Renegade Mastermaker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=260333)
Iron Chef XL: Nightsong Infiltrator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263173)
Iron Chef XLI: Geomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266709)
Iron Chef XLII: Shadowblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270196)
Iron Chef XLIII: Bladesinger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274122)
Iron Chef XLIV: Urban Soul (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279116)
Iron Chef XLV: Talon of Tiamat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15216595)
Iron Chef XLVI: Cipher Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=287314)
Iron Chef XLVII: Cold Iron Warrior (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=291294)
Iron Chef XLVIII: Shadow Sun Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=297327)
Iron Chef XLIX: Thrall of Orcus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=302487)
Iron Chef L: Corrupt Avenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=307823)
Iron Chef LI: Black Flame Zealot (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312773)
Iron Chef LII: Anointed Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317934)
Iron Chef LIII: Zerth Cenobite (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325164)
Iron Chef LIV: Osteomancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330890)
Iron Chef LV: Mountebank (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?336373-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LV)
Iron Chef LVI: Dwarven Defender (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?342807-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LVI)
Iron Chef LVII: Darkrunner (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?349040-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LVII)
Iron Chef LVIII: Spellsword (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?357412-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LVIII)
Iron Chef LIX: Fleet Runner of Ehlonna (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?364667-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LIX)
Iron Chef LX: Lasher (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?371835-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LX)
Iron Chef LX(II): Acolyte of the Ego (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?372145-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LX)
Iron Chef LXII: Dungeon Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?376810-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXII)
Iron Chef LXIII: Witchborn Binder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?382632-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXIII)
Iron Chef LXIV: Slime Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?387166-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXIV)
Iron Chef LXV: Thunder Guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?394981-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXV)
Iron Chef LXVI: Dwarven Chanter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?400810-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXVI)
Irogn Chef LXVII: Gnome Giant Slayer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?406613-Irogn-Chef-Optimisatiogn-Challegnge-ign-the-Playgrougnd-LXVII)
Iron Chef LXVIII: Fang of Lolth (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?412530-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXVIII)
Iron Chef LXIX: Shiba Protector (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?420165-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXIX)
Iron Chef LXX: Order of the Bow Initiate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?425634-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXX)
Iron Chef LXXI: Silver Key (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?431484-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXI)
Iron Chef LXXII: Spellfire Channeler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?439020-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXII)
Iron Chef LXXIII: Flux Adept (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?448596-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXIII)
Iron Chef LXXIV: Crinti Shadow Marauder (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?458711-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXIV)
Iron Chef LXXV: Thief of Life (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?472831-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXV)
Iron Chef LXXVI: Legacy Champion (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?477153-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVI)
Iron Chef LXXVII: Great Rift Skyguard (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?482249-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVII)
Iron Chef LXVIII: Risen Martyr (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?487560-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXVIII)
Iron Chef LXXIX: Black Blood Hunter (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?492923-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXIX)
Iron Chef LXXX: Master of Many Forms (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?498359-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXX)
Iron Chef LXXXI: Serene Guardian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?502666-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXI)
Iron Chef LXXXII: Elocator (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?505762-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXII)
Iron Chef LXXXIII: Winterhaunt of Iboorighu (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?510581-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXIII)
Iron Chef LXXXIV: Waverider (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?514631-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXIV)
Iron Chef LXXXV: Astral Dancer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?519296-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXV)
Iron Chef LXXXVI: Twisted Lord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?525401-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXVI)
Iron Chef LXXXVII: Shadowsmith (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?528361-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXVII)
Iron Chef LXXXVIII: Arboreal Guardian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?533367-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXVIII)
Iron Chef LXXXIX: Thrall of Demogorgon (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?536247-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-LXXXIX)
Iron Chef XC: Bloodstorm Blade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?542380-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XC)
Iron Chef XCI: Fatemaker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?550203-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCI)
Iron Chef XCII: Eye of the Xanathar (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?556092-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCII)
Iron Chef XCIII: Hoardstealer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?560330-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCIII)
Iron Chef XCIV: Doomlord (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?564804-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCIV)
Iron Chef XCV: Gnomish Artificer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?571065-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCV)
Iron Chef XCVI: Oozemaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576075-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCVI)
Iron Chef XCVII: Aerial Avenger (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?579553-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCVII)
Iron Chef XCVIII: Visionary Seeker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?583331-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCVIII)
Iron Chef XCIX: Life Eater (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?589964-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-XCIX)
Iron Chef C: Swiftblade (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?601292-Iron-Chef-Optimisation-Challenge-in-the-Playground-C)

Iron Chef CI: Night Mask Deathbringer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?610308-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CI)
Iron Chef CII: Blade Dancer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?613031-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CII)
Iron Chef CIII: Psion Uncarnate (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?614461-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CIII)
Iron Chef CIV: Atavist (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615697-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CIV)
Iron Chev CV: Primeval (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?618136-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CV)
Iron Chef CVI: Disciple of Mammon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?620730-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CVI)
Iron Chef CVII: Insidious Corruptor (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?622560-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CVII)
Iron Chef CVIII: Crimson Scourge (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?624099-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CVIII)
Iron Chef CIX: Tattooed Monk (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?626458-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CIX)
Iron Chef CX: Rage Mage (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?628809-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CX)
Iron Chef CXI: Watch Detective (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?630421-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXI)
Iron Chef CXII: Spinemeld Warrior (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632291-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXII)
Iron Chef CXIII: Celebrant of Sharess (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?633637-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXIII)
Iron Chef CXIV: Thayan Gladiator (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?635212-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXIV)
Iron Chef CXV: Shining Blade of Heironeous (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?637097-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXV)
Iron Chef CXVI: Peregrine Runner (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?638522-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXVI)
Iron Chef CXVII: Imaskari Vengeance Taker (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?640260-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXVII)
Iron Chef CXVII: Siren (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?641848-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXVIII)
Iron Chef CXIX: Arcane Duelist (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645786-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXIX)
Iron Chef CXX: Berserk (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?646933-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXX)
Iron Chef CXXI: Dragon Descendant (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?648507-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXXI)
Iron Chef CXXII: Cerebrex (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?650262-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXXII)
Iron Chef CXXIII: Defiant (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?651923-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXXIII)
Iron Chef CXXIV: Beast Heart Adept (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?652714-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-in-the-Playground-CXXIV)

[The Viscount]

FAQ:
Q: What's this even about?
A: I'm glad you asked, actually... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15415117&postcount=1)

Q: Is Dragon Compendium Allowed?
A: Yes (as well as its Errata), but individual issues of Dragon Magazine are not.

Q: What about 3.0 materials?
A: 3.0 materials, whether online or in printed form, are allowed unless they've been officially updated to a 3.5 edition.

Q: Are Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, or Kingdoms of Kalamar allowable sources?
A: The Dragonlance Campaign Setting is allowed, but the subsequent books for Dragonlance are considered 3rd party, and are therefore not eligible, despite the "WotC approved" status of those books. The same holds for Oriental Adventures (1st party) and the subsequent Rokugan books (3rd party). Materials from Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, and Kingdoms of Kalamar are considered 3rd party for purposes of this contest, and are therefore not allowed.

Q: What about online sources in general?
A: If the online source is a) published by WotC, and b) not replaced by an updated version at a later time, it is eligible. Use it, link it.

Q: Where's the line drawn with "acceptable/unacceptable" for Unearthed Arcana?
A: A few specific things are explicitly acceptable. The elemental/environmental races, spelltouched feats, variant character classes, specialist wizard variants, whirling frenzy, aspect of nature, and racial paragon classes are legal. Item Familiars and Gestalt have always been verboten, since before IC migrated to GitP; don't expect that to change. Flaws have similarly always been noted as warranting a deduction; I'm extending that to Traits, though they warrant 1/2 the penalty in Elegance that a Flaw would because they're roughly 1/2 as useful. Alternate spell systems, alternate skill systems and alternate crafting rules all create an uneven playing field, and as such, will be disallowed for as long as I am Chairman. In a similar vein, LA buyoff and fractional BAB are also disallowed. Bloodlines and the Retraining options presented in the PHB2 are ripe for abuse, and will be strongly discouraged as long as I am Chairman. Note that judges are allowed to look askance at any use of Unearthed Arcana not specifically mentioned above, at their discretion, and otherwise penalize Elegance according to their preference.

Q: What, exactly, does the ban on Leadership mean?
A: As folks have started to try to work around the edges of this one, I'm forced to spell it out more plainly. No Leadership, Draconic Cohort, or Feats that grant a similar ability are allowed EXCEPT Wild Cohort. Any PrC you choose with Leadership or a Leadership-analog has that ability entirely ignored for this contest, as it may neither be used nor traded away via any means whatsoever.

Q: What's the minimum score in a category?
A: Assuming an entry is legal, the minimum score in any category is 1. If a judge is convinced that an entry is mechanically illegal by the RAW, the judge may give the build a score of 0 in Elegance, and proceed to judge the entry as if the offending material was not included. Failing to meet a special requirement for a prestige class does not merit a 0, but may qualify for a penalty, at the judge's discretion. Because this contest focuses on Player Characters, an entry that is not technically allowed for a PC, but is viable as an NPC, counts as a legal entry, but may receive a minimum score at the judges' discretion.

Q: Creatures and templates with no listed LA are playable, right?
A: No. No listed LA is equivalent to LA: -. It is not suitable for PCs. If you use it, expect judges to look extremely disfavorably on it.

Q: So what's the deal with equipment, anyway?
A: There is no official policy on how much equipment you should list. Historically, judges have frowned upon "item dependent" builds, but unfortunately the definition of that has been applied to mean anything from builds that don't function if you remove one very specific item, to builds that so much as mention a particular weapon. Builds that don't list gear should be assumed to buy useful generics - items to boost their primary stats, cloaks of resistance, appropriate magical weapons and armor, and so forth. If a build would find particular items useful, they should be listed, but experience suggests that the more generic you keep them, the more favorably judges are likely to look upon them, as a build being shut down because the Thundering Bagpipes of Urist McTrumpetbritches were unavailable is considered a weakness. Similarly, requiring items in order to be able to qualify for things tends to be frowned upon.

Q: Do you have any other rules and guidelines on how to judge?
A: We do, actually, designed to try and avoid unpleasantness we've encountered in past contests. The things we've come up with to avoid repeating this are given below.

One Mistake, One Penalty

Judges are only allowed to penalise once for a given mistake. If someone messes up their skills and doesn't qualify for a PrC, ding them as hard as you like. Once. In one category. You don't then get to declare that because they didn't qualify for that PrC, they don't get those levels, and thus don't qualify for anything else. If Ranger is a common ingredient, ding them for Originality. Once. Don't also take off points for Two-Weapon-Fighting being a common ingredient.

Non-exhaustive list of examples:

Skills

Allowed:

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


Not allowed:

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



Prereqs

Allowed:

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


Not Allowed:

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



Other general things that are no longer allowed:

Penalizing because someone has chosen to build a tribute to an existing creative work
Deciding that a backstory has not met a fluff prerequisite well enough, or because its method of meeting it is "unrealistic". You may penalize if a fluff prereq is not addressed at all, but not for how well it is addressed.
Please don't base your scores off the scores of another judge.


Note that these are protections, not licenses. Deliberately taking a feat that you know you don't qualify for hoping to just suck up the judging penalty for a feat that you couldn't normally take is not okay, and may lead to your build being disqualified.

Q: Do you have any contest house rules or clarifications to ambiguous rules?
A: Some that have come up in previous contests and needed answers to:

All creatures are proficient with any natural weapons they may have or acquire.
Bonus feats that are granted even if you do not meet the prerequisites do not require you to meet the prerequisites in order to use.
Able Learner's benefit applies to the level you take it.
Weapons from soulmelds are considered to be magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming DR.
Unarmed Swordsage grants Improved Unarmed Strike at level 1.
Not finishing Savage Progression is subject to a penalty to Elegance
One dispute per entry. Submit disputes by PM to the Chair.
Ghostwalk ghost is banned
Gold, silver, and bronze are awarded regardless of ties (e.g., 2 silvers does not preclude bronze)
Spelltouched feats are legal and can be taken just like any other feat when you meet the prerequisites and have the feat slot available.
The Variant Classes in Unearthed Arcana are considered ACFs.

Q: Can I submit more than one entry?
A: You may submit up to two entries into a given competition.

[Venger]

What a class. In to cook.

[Inevitability]

How does the Disguise boost granted by Aura of Anonymity work? You don't typically make disguise checks while in a crowd of 10 or more, only when you create the disguise: do we consider it as a sort of 'passive increase' to the quality of our disguises or do we follow RAW which makes it useless (or at least harder to use).

[Gruftzwerg]

How does the Disguise boost granted by Aura of Anonymity work? You don't typically make disguise checks while in a crowd of 10 or more, only when you create the disguise: do we consider it as a sort of 'passive increase' to the quality of our disguises or do we follow RAW which makes it useless (or at least harder to use).

It's for the enemies that try to spot/identify you while being in a crowd.

Imagine you are wanted and you use a Disguise to prevent being identified. When you are in a crowd, the viewers (e.g. guards) have a harder time to identify you.

[Inevitability]

It's for the enemies that try to spot/identify you while being in a crowd.

Imagine you are wanted and you use a Disguise to prevent being identified. When you are in a crowd, the viewers (e.g. guards) have a harder time to identify you.

That might be the intent, but what the feat does is give you a bonus on Disguise checks: checks you generally have already made by the time you're in a crowd and trying to avoid detection.

[Gruftzwerg]

That might be the intent, but what the feat does is give you a bonus on Disguise checks: checks you generally have already made by the time you're in a crowd and trying to avoid detection.

You do the same as what you always do when situational modifiers change (IIRC DM decision):

a) keep the base roll and adjust to the new modifier

b) re-roll the skill

Think about "Move Silently" and when you change to a more or less noisy surface. Dunno if there is an actual rule for this, but I would lean more towards option (a).

I'm always more on the "situational adjustment" side. Like when you are Raging and your CON changes within the duration. Does the duration change along? Imho yes.

[The Viscount]

How does the Disguise boost granted by Aura of Anonymity work? You don't typically make disguise checks while in a crowd of 10 or more, only when you create the disguise: do we consider it as a sort of 'passive increase' to the quality of our disguises or do we follow RAW which makes it useless (or at least harder to use).

If someone makes a Spot check against your Disguise while you are in a crowd of 10 or more and you rolled Disguise when making the disguise earlier, retroactively treat it as if you made the check with the bonus from the SI.

[loky1109]

I have no ideas about SI and even more, I'll have no time to work on before deadline. Looks like I'll be judge.

[Frostmoon]

...uh. May I ask, to whoever designed this beauty of a class: why????

So, more seriously: is there anything in Radiance of Pelor that actually states whether or not it can be repeatedly used on the same light source? Can RoP stack with itself?

[Inevitability]

It's annoying how many of these features are passive. Optimizing cerebrex and its blindsense or puzzle-solving bonuses was hard, but at least you could construct an argument that the feature would help with action X and your build benefits from doing X. But how do you optimize a build for... having NPCs try to discover your alignment?

[Paragon]

Is it just me or using Truth of the Light or Pelors vision at will three times per day makes no sense ?

[The Viscount]

Can RoP stack with itself?

Sure, go nuts.

[Frostmoon]

Sure, go nuts.
Oh man. XD

Well, my brother and I have been putting together an exceptionally dumb idea, so hopefully I'll have the time to bring it to life!! :3

[MinimanMidget]

Is it just me or using Truth of the Light or Pelors vision at will three times per day makes no sense ?

Fixed in the errata.

[Khatoblepas]

Talking of the errata, it says:


Page 106 – Blinding Light –
[Revision]
Second sentence should read, “At
will, you can use discern lies as a
swift action, as the spell (caster
level equals your character level).”

Which makes Blinding Light read:


Blinding Light (Su): At 7th level, you learn to blind nearby foes with a brief but intense flash of light. At will, you can use discern lies as a swift action, as the spell (caster level equals your character level). Any creature in the area that fails a Reflex save (DC 10 + shadowspy level + Wis modifier) is blinded for 1d6 rounds. Sightless creatures are not affected by this ability.

What is the area in this context? I know it's most likely a mistake, but I'm trying to find anything to salvage in this class.

Additionally, does Radiance of Pelor affect the subject of a Light spell, or a [Light] spell? For example, can Radiance of Pelor affect the area of effect of a Luminous Gaze (SpC) spell?

[Paragon]

Unassuming entry sent.
Was fun to build as always. Can't wait to see what others have found to do with this horrifying class

[WeaselGuy]

I have a perhaps not horrible build for this. Now comes the arduous task of creating fluff, and porting everything from MS Excel over to forum markup.

[The Viscount]

Talking of the errata, it says:



Which makes Blinding Light read:



What is the area in this context? I know it's most likely a mistake, but I'm trying to find anything to salvage in this class.

Additionally, does Radiance of Pelor affect the subject of a Light spell, or a [Light] spell? For example, can Radiance of Pelor affect the area of effect of a Luminous Gaze (SpC) spell?

Man, that's messy.
You can use Blinding Light as a swift action. Ignore the remaining Blinding Light errata. The remaining changes in the errata do take effect.

Luminous gaze creates a light source, so would be affected by radiance of pelor.

[loky1109]

Hello folks! How is your progress?

[Gruftzwerg]

Hello folks! How is your progress?

I'm slowly getting a headache... is that enough progress??^^

I'm halfway trough. I hope that the build unfolds as intended.

[daremetoidareyo]

I figured out the central premise, now I just to make it shine

[Inevitability]

Got my builds in, got one or two unfinished stubs as well as a few that I'd hardly call more than jokes, I'll post these after the reveal.

[Frostmoon]

I'm a bit over midway through on my build; the concept is full, a good chunk of the fluff has already been written up, but the fiddly bits are making it take a bit longer than I hoped. XD Since I don't appear to be the only person still in-progress, would anyone mind if I request an extension?

[The Viscount]

No problem.

[Gruftzwerg]

I'm a bit over midway through on my build; the concept is full, a good chunk of the fluff has already been written up, but the fiddly bits are making it take a bit longer than I hoped. XD Since I don't appear to be the only person still in-progress, would anyone mind if I request an extension?
I agree. Some extra time would be nice.


No problem.

We appreciate it ;)

[Frostmoon]

No problem.

Thank you so much!!! :D

[daremetoidareyo]

I need the time too

[Gruftzwerg]

I'm done and sent my entry in. Thx again for the extra time. I hope that everybody gets to finish their ideas. The more the merrier.^^

[Inevitability]

Has the Ravager (Complete Warrior) ever been brought up as an ingredient? Because I'm looking at and well...

It's not actively unusuable, it gets full BAB, it's just really hard to say what a melee build would get out of it.

The class is gated behind a NE/CE alignment and requires +5 BAB. It needs you to take Improved Sunder and Power Attack, which aren't terrible feats. Most notably, it wants you to have ranks in Survival, Knowledge (Religion) and Intimidate, which makes the obvious fighter entry slightly more complicated.

The class skill list consists of five skills, none of which are exceptionally good. Survival isn't even on there, so good luck to anyone trying to make that prerequisite put in work elsewhere.

The class features are Pain Touch (deal 1d8+level damage with a touch attack, or add 1d4+level to a weapon hit), Aura of Fear (impose a penalty on saving throws, arguably as a standard action, enemies can end it by walking away), and Cruelest Cut (smite-alike that deals constitution damage). All three are heavily limited in uses/day.

Also, your capstone is a 1/day Phantasmal Killer. Y'know, the worst spell that still gets to call itself 'save or die'. Not that it matters, because you still don't have any way to get Concentration ranks, so good luck using it reliably.

[The Viscount]

(Getting out of the way the caveat that I could be convinced if there's strong support from the chefs) Ravager is exactly the sort of ingredient I try to avoid. The class features are as you pointed out, not good and extremely limited. I of course pick bad ingredients for the competition, but due to my prior years as a competitor I try to pick classes that either are bad in an interesting/unique way, are so powerfully bad that they offer a challenge in how to use them at all, offer something to build off of, or in an optimal scenario, more than one.

The only part of the class that appeals to my optimizer heart is making a character that mechanically provides a means of surviving 10 rounds of onslaught by 16 6th level characters.

Not sure what you mean about the capstone. As an instantaneous effect, you shouldn't need to use Concentration.

[Inevitability]

Not sure what you mean about the capstone. As an instantaneous effect, you shouldn't need to use Concentration.

Every other part of the class encourages being in melee, and using SLAs defensively requires concentration. Either you commit to only using it at the start of a battle (messing up early positioning and acting on incomplete information) or you randomly eat AoOs now.

Fair points on avoiding ravager though, I can see it being actively unfun to build with.

[Paragon]

Every other part of the class encourages being in melee, and using SLAs defensively requires concentration. Either you commit to only using it at the start of a battle (messing up early positioning and acting on incomplete information) or you randomly eat AoOs now.

Fair points on avoiding ravager though, I can see it being actively unfun to build with.

Yes I agree with the AoO triggering. It wouldn't if it were a swift action for instance

[Paragon]

How long is the extension ? (Just so I know when I'll have the time to read it all at once)

[The Viscount]

When I get some more of the builds that are pending. Likely not this weekend.

[The Viscount]

Hush falls over the stadium. The reveal begins! (Please hold off on posting until the all clear).

[The Viscount]

The dark may be more feared, but it is often light that does more harm.



Lucifer, the Lightbringer
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” Desmond Tutu


https://lucifermeanslightbringer.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/digital-painting-kirsi-salonen-lucifer-rising.jpg?w=1040

NB Aasimar, lesser Swordsage1/Cleric2/Shadowspy10/Master of Radiance5



Fun Trivia : Lucifer comes from the latin Lux : the light, and Ferre : to carry/to bring. He is literally the Lightbringer.

Feat Summary
Alignment : Neutral Good
Race : Aasimar, lesser
Level 1 : Nymph’s Kiss, Improved Unarmed Strike (Unarmed Swordsage)
Level 3 : Intuitive Attack
Level 6 : Sanctify Martial Strike
Level 9 (ECL 11) : Practiced Spellcaster (Cleric)
Level 12 (ECL 14) : Shadow Blade
Level 15 (ECL 17) : Divine Spell Power
Level 18 (ECL 20) : Craft Contingent Spell

Point Buy
Point Buy at level 1
STR 10
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 10
WIS 16 +2
CHA 14 +2

Saint +2 Con, +2 Wis, +4 Cha
All level increases in Wis



Lucifer was born in the slums of Barovia from the union of a celestial being and a nymph. The nymph would occasionally come to visit but he mostly lived with his father who made a point of driving every undead out of Barovia, which ended up costing him his life. As such, Lucifer has had to learn and survive the undead scourge plaguing his everyday life. Putting his heritage to good use through wisdom and charisma, he managed to survive by gathering vital intel on the presence of undead while nourishing a deep hatred for those unnatural beings that knew only destruction.
Sometimes, Lightbringers would come and raid the village and Lucifer couldn’t help but be awestruck every time he saw them ride towards the city, bathing in the warm and familiar light of the Sun, cleansing Barovia of the monstrosities that kept invading it.
One day he mustered all the courage he had and asked to join them.

His natural talent for Light was soon identified as a prodigy and welcomed into the Lightbringers’ Guild. Being accepted amongst the very people he revered was cause enough for Lucifer to give himself to the cause wholeheartedly : He answered every request for help from a fellow Lightbringer, he rose through the ranks of the Church of the Shining Light and even ended up catching the attention of Pelor’s Shadow Guard. He was approached by them after a few years during which they thoroughly studied him and his thirst for uprooting evil and undeath convinced them.

Lucifer was one of the fastest members of the Church of the Shining Light to be indicted into Pelor’s Shadow Guard and he did his best to live up to this honor. His accomplishment always resulted in great evil being snuffed out and dealt with without him ever taking the credit for it. That one time he risked everything to prevent some vampire about to unleash his evil scheme upon the world and succeeded only because he accepted to be turned into what he despised most. His sacrifice wasn’t in vain since he caught the attention of Pelor himself who elevated him to Sainthood. From here on out, Lucifer has been the right arm of the deity, intervening and was later known as Lucifer Lightbringer.



LevelClassBase Attack BonusFort SaveReflex SaveWill SaveSkillsFeatsClass Features
1stUnarmed Swordsage 10022Concentration (+4) 4; Gather Information (+4) 4; Hide (+4) 4; Know (Nature) (+4) 4; Know (Religion) (+4 CC) 2; Move Silently (+4) 4; Spellcraft (+4 CC) 2; Nymph's Kiss, Improved Unarmed Strike (Swordsage Bonus)Quick to Act +1, Discipline Focus (Shadow Hand)
2ndCloistered Cleric 10224Concentration (+1) 5; Gather Information (+1) 5; Hide (+2 CC) 5; Know (Nature) (+1) 5; Know (Religion) 2; Move Silently (+2 CC) 5; Spellcraft 2; Sun Devotion (Cleric Bonus), Knowledge Devotion (Cloistered Cleric Bonus)"Good, Sun (Traded) and Knowledge (Traded) Domains
True Daylight ACF"
3rdCloistered Cleric 21325Concentration (+1) 6; Gather Information (+1) 6; Hide (+2 CC) 6; Know (Nature) (+1) 6; Know (Religion) 2; Move Silently (+2 CC) 6; Spellcraft 2; Intuitive AttackUndead Intuition
4thShadowspy 11347Concentration (+1) 7; Gather Information 6; Hide (+1) 7; Know (Nature) (+1) 7; Know (Religion) (+1) 3; Move Silently (+1) 7; Spellcraft (+2 CC) 3; Aura of Anonymity, Radiance of Pelor
5thShadowspy 22358Concentration (+1) 8; Gather Information 6; Hide (+1) 8; Know (Nature) (+1) 8; Know (Religion) (+1) 4; Move Silently (+1) 8; Spellcraft (+2 CC) 4; Extra Turning (Shadowspy Bonus)Bonus Feat, Immunity to Blindness
6thShadowspy 32458Concentration (+1) 9; Gather Information (+3) 9; Hide (+1) 9; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) (+1) 5; Move Silently (+1) 9; Spellcraft 4; Sanctify Martial StrikeVeil of Pelor
7thSaint LA+1
8thSaint LA+2
9thShadowspy 43469Concentration (+1) 10; Gather Information (+1) 10; Hide (+1) 10; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 10; Sense Motive (+3) 3; Spellcraft 4; Personal Eclipse
10thShadowspy 54469Concentration (+1) 11; Gather Information (+1) 11; Hide (+1) 11; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 11; Sense Motive (+3) 6; Spellcraft 4; Extra Turning (Shadowspy Bonus)Bonus Feat
11thShadowspy 655710Concentration (+1) 12; Gather Information (+1) 12; Hide (+1) 12; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 12; Sense Motive (+3) 9; Spellcraft 4; Practiced Spellcaster (CCleric)Truth of the Light
12thMaster of Radiance 157712Concentration (+1) 13; Gather Information 12; Hide (+2 CC) 13; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+2 CC) 13; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4; Radiance Aura 1/d, Turn Undead
13thMaster of Radiance 268713Concentration (+1) 14; Gather Information 12; Hide (+2 CC) 14; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+2 CC) 14; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4; Searing Light
14thMaster of Radiance 378813Concentration (+1) 15; Gather Information 12; Hide (+2 CC) 15; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+2 CC) 15; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4; Shadow BladeRadiance Aura 2/d
15thMaster of Radiance 479814Concentration (+1) 16; Gather Information 12; Hide (+2 CC) 16; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+2 CC) 16; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4;
16thMaster of Radiance 589814Concentration (+1) 17; Gather Information 12; Hide (+2 CC) 17; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+2 CC) 17; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4; Beam of Sunlight, Radiance Aura 3/d
17thShadowspy 799814Concentration (+1) 18; Gather Information (+4) 16; Hide (+1) 18; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 18; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4; Divine Spell PowerBlinding Sight
18thShadowspy 8109915Concentration (+1) 19; Gather Information (+4) 20; Hide (+1) 19; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 19; Sense Motive 9; Spellcraft 4; Extra Turning (Shadowspy Bonus)Bonus Feat, Sun's Revelation
19thShadowspy 91010915Concentration (+1) 20; Gather Information (+2) 22; Hide (+1) 20; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 20; Sense Motive (+2) 11; Spellcraft 4; Hide in Plain Sight
20thShadowspy 1011101016Concentration (+1) 21; Gather Information (+1) 23; Hide (+1) 21; Know (Nature) 8; Know (Religion) 5; Move Silently (+1) 21; Sense Motive (+3) 14; Spellcraft 4; Craft Contingent SpellVision of Pelor


LevelClass0th1st2nd3rd4th5th6th
1st
2ndCleric 131+1
3rdCleric 242+1
4th
5thCleric 342+11+1
6th
7thSaint LA+1
8thSaint LA+2
9thCleric 453+12+1
10th
11thCleric 553+12+11+1
12th
13thCleric 653+13+12+1
14thCleric 764+13+12+11+1
15thCleric 864+13+13+12+1
16thCleric 964+14+13+12+11+1
17th
18thCleric 1064+14+13+13+12+1
19th
20thCleric 1164+14+14+13+12+11+1


Maneuvers : Shadow Blade Technique, Clinging Shadow Strike, Burning Blade, Windstride, Wolf Fang Strike, Sudden Leap and Child of Shadow Stance.





The Social Class variant from Cityscape, in a Lower-Class like our PC gives us Gather Information as a permanent class skill.
Aasimar is the right racial choice for multiple reasons. +2 to Wis for a Wis-based caster and +2 Cha for Gathering Information + one extra turn undead attempt. On the story side, being the descendant of a celestial being matters to Lucifer’s story and having Light 1/d as an SLA is just a plotpoint’s bullseye.
Starting as an unarmed swordsage so we get the IUS feat for free (we’ll get light armor proficiency back next level) we get 6+Int with Conc, Know (Nature), Hide, Move Silently as class skills, +1 to Init, Weapon Focus for specific Shadow Hand weapons (which unarmed strike is) so you don’t feel the missing BAB too much. Maneuvers make us lethal at first level ; Shadow Blade Technique somewhat offsets the poor strength we have, and Burning Blade is an encounter-ender at low levels.
2 levels of Cloistered Cleric are next. 6+Int needed here because Hide and Move Silently are cross class skills, we trade 2 domains for Knowledge Devotion (to make Know (Nature) a permanent class skill as well as a +1 or +2 to hit & damage) and Sun Devotion (true sunlight is nice but vital when needed and extra damage vs undead is sweet). True Daylight, the Lightbringer Cleric ACF, trades the +1 CL from Good Domain for a second ability to create true sunlight, both of which powered by turn attempt (which we’ll have plenty of). Since we’re going to focus on undeads so much, the Cleric’s Undead Intuition is a free class feature to grab that interacts with Know Devotion and completes the fluff of this PC.
We enter the SI at the earliest possible and get 2 levels before we hit ECL6.
Lots of feats on these few levels. Nymph’s Kiss is our first Exalted feat, brings us a +1 skill point per level, +2 circumstance bonus to Cha-related checks (Gather Information and Turn Undead are good examples) and a +1 to saving throw vs spells and SLAs.
Intuitive Attack lets us use our main stat to hit with simple weapons (and every Shadow Hand weapons we can wield is) making us able to hit and even shoulder the -2 from Wolf Fang Strike that combines well with Burning Blade’s boost (Our IL is 3 by level 5).
On the Shadowspy side, Aura of Anonymity makes sense for a city-raised, lower-class, maxed out Hide PC and Extra Turning is welcomed to power our other abilities (10 turn attempts at ECL5).
Radiance of Pelor has many uses such as boosting true sunlight via Sun Devotion or True Daylight or our go-to spells : Light of Lunia making is a 120ft radius of light (60ft bright). The spell itself is strong vs undead and means we have something to do when we want to avoid melee. Sun Bolt is a gem at low levels.



6th level is key. We get Sanctify Martial Strike (See Notes & Discussions) which is the third exalted feat we need to qualify for Sainthood.
LA+2 is universally accepted for being too low for the Saint template and I agree. We do meet every step asked in BoED p29 with our PC so we might as well enjoy it. Native Outsider type, our tremendous Wis to AC (unconditionally), key ability boosts, +2 DC (+3 if we consider the +2 Wis) to any special ability we have (spells included), better melee vs Undead/Evil, DR, fast healing, immunities (which cover the resistance you had previously, it’s nice), fire res (10), permanent Tongues, better vision, at will can trips (and Bless) but most importantly, a Holy Radiance aura of light granting a Protection from Evil and Lesser Globe of Invulnerability whose radius can be doubled via Radiance of Pelor for hours at the time.
This is worth the +2LA and then some imho.
More Shadowspy levels grant Personal Eclipse (which you can always use thanks to your permanent aura) and 4 extra turn attempts (totalling 16 !).



Another Shadowspy level to get an Zone of Truth (with +2 to its DC thanks to Saint) as well as 3rd level casting, opening up Master of Radiance.
It comes with another aura of light (expandable via Radiance of Pelor) which grants no-save penalties (-2 to hit, damage, save) to undeads, and a +2 CL to [Light] spells. Radiant Aura lasts 1 minute per use which basically covers an encounter. We can even send some Searing Light spells for free which are lethal to undeads in particular.
Practiced Spellcaster is a welcomed addition to have our signature spells (see Spell section) last longer and bypass SR and counting the +2CL from Radiant Aura, we’re only 1 CL behind full casters at this point. At ECL 14, we reach 4th level spells which mean Divine Power comes online, doubling our BAB, +3 to our Str mod, and temp hps to go toe-to-toe with undead when our kiting tactics have lowered them. Celestial Brilliance lasts for days/lvl so you can assume having it always on and Shadow Blade adds Dex to damage which can be enhanced handsomely via Divine Agility
All those bits of damage start to add up to something (see Notes & Discussion)



Finishing Master of Radiance with 3 Radiant Aura per day and a 7th level spell equivalent as an SLA (up to 30 times a day if you do nothing else with your Radiant Aura).
Back to Shadowspy for some goodies: Blinding Light and Sun’s Revelation both benefit from the +2 DC of the Saint template, while Hide in Plain Sight is available whenever you use your Sun Domain or True Daylight ability, even in the darkest dungeons where the worst undead lie in wait.
We reach 20 turn attempts per day as a 7th level Cleric and 6th level spells while our CL is boosted to 17. Divine Spell Power allows us to use our huge turn pool to empower our CL. Turn checks are 1d20 +2 synergy from Know (Religion) +2 Nymph’s Kiss +5 Cha +2 from Shining Light church affiliation meaning we have a 95% chance to benefit from at least a +1 to CL (and 45% to have CL +4).
Considering the +2 to CL for [Light] spells during Radiant Aura, we can reach 21 at best (in which case we should throw Hammer of Righteousness since it has no cap)
Finally, reaching Cleric 11 in casting was hard but we qualify for Craft Contingent Spell. When Lucifer needs to infiltrate perilous undead sanctums alone, having a Divine Power “right before an melee attack reaches me” can be really useful.





While this build isn’t dependent on any item, it sure can benefit from some.
- The Sunsword (EtCR). It is wielded as a short sword which satisfies both the Intuitive Attack and Shadow Hand weapon (Shadow Blade, Weapon Focus and Sanctify Martial Strike) prereqs.
By undergoing the ritual of bonding with the sword, you have it act as a +4 bastard sword (wielded as a short sword) that deals double damage to undeads and Negative Energy Plane creatures.
Damage is 2x[1d10+4 (Sunsword) +18 (Sun Devotion) +1 (Knowledge Devotion) +Dex +Str] +1d6 fire (Burning Blade) +1d8 (Saint) +1d4 (Sanctify Martial Strike) which is a lot.
You can add the Divine Wrath (MIC) enhancement to it for CHAd6 damage since it’s a +2 short sword it would even cost too much.

- Stat improving items, in the following order or importance : Wis (Spells, AC), Dex (AC, init, ranged touch attacks), Cha (Turn attempts, social skills, Divine Spell Power), Con (HP, Fort saves), Str (Damage, encumbrance).

- The Monk’s Belt could be a nice addition since it would stack with everything else totalling :
10 +Wis (Saint) +Wis+1 (Monk’s Belt) +Dex +8 (Greater Luminous Armor) +2 (Magic Circle)
At level 20 with a periapt of wisdom and gloves of dexterity +6, this gives Lucifer 46 AC.

- Reliquary Holy Symbol of Pelor (MIC) would grant 2 turn undead attempts. (even 3 if you picked Improved Turning as a Shadowspy bonus feat but the math would be bad)

- Radiant Sphere (MIC) is pretty nice to have if you want to convert that huge turn attempt pool into ranged attacks.

- Check out the Temple of the First Dawn (CC) location too. Its minor ability is great when you bring back your party to rest so that you can optimize healing. The Major one is even better, making undead susceptible to crits by expending one of our 20 turn attempts ? Your friendly rogue has already forgotten when you stopped him from thieving around. Quicken Spell applied to [Light] spells (or cure ones but who are we kidding) once per day can be a huge deal.



Sanctified Magic CoV p.52 indicates
While wizards, druids, rangers, and paladins can all prepare sanctified spells, clerics have a special advantage: they can spontaneously cast any sanctified spell, just as they can spontaneously cast cure spells. which is a pretty good addition for Lucifer’s versatility.

List of Sanctified spells include great choices for Lucifer :
1 : Vision of Punishment
2 : Luminous Armor*
3 : Brilliant Emanation*, Hammer of Righteousness, Path of the Exalted (helping with Saint)
4 : Holy Fire Shield (CoV), Greater Luminous Armor*
5 : Curtain of Light*
6 : Valiant Steed

Other usually prepared spells
1 : Light of Lumia*, Nimbus of Light*, Guiding Light*, Hide from Undead
2 : Light of Mercuria*, Sun Bolt* (UE), Body Ward (CC)
3 : Light of Venya*,
4 : Moon Bolt, Aura of the Sun* (LEoF), Death Ward, Freedom of Movement
5 : Dawn Shroud* (CoV), Divine Agility
6 : Crown Of Brilliance*, Lucent Light*

* : means this spells sheds light over an area and as such can be extended by Radiance of Pelor




Sainthood
To qualify for Sainthood (BoED p.29) we need : 3 exalted feats, 6th level, good alignment and not losing access to an Exalted feat or class ability all of which is perfectly doable, and Lucifer meets these conditions unquestionably.
Fluffwise, performing an extraordinary sacrifice and having the DM’s approval that you behaved accordingly can be a nice RP challenge but I don’t see why you couldn’t do it.

Stuff like Augury or Path of the Exalted are mechanical ways to basically “ask your DM to avoid making mistakes” spell (If Lucifer wants to use the latter, he ought to get it from a scroll before gaining the Saint template since he can’t yet cast it).

Affiliations
- Lightbringer Guild is easy, Lucifer qualifies at level 1 thanks to the lower class Social Class variant.

- Shining Light Church : Lucifer only really needs rank 2 which requires 10 points. Points can be earned via hunting and killing undeads and he starts at +5 at ECL 6.

- Pelor’s Shadow Guard : Lucifer can climb the affiliation score pretty fast (+8 for having a shadowspy level, +6 for a cleric one) and the highest rank gives Greater Invisibility CL=Character Level 1/d. We sure can use that.

Sanctify Martial Strike
Weapon Focus is a prereq but Discipline Focus gives us the “benefit of the Weapon Focus feat for weapons associated with the chosen discipline” and the Master of the Wild’s Virtual Feat section p.20 as well as Sword & Fist p.5 state
If a character has a class feature or special ability that exactly duplicates the effects of a feat, then he or she can use that “virtual feat” as a prerequisite for other feats, as well as prestige classes, and so forth Since nothing has ever errata’ed this rule, we’re good.

The Light
Just to sum up the different ways we have to create light :
- Saint’s Holy Aura is at will (and comes with a Magic Circle Against Evil and Globe of Invulnerability, lesser)
- True Daylight (Lightbringer Cleric ACF) and Sun Domain are powered through turn attempts and produce real sunlight which damages Vampires and Bodaks (Libris Mortis p.20)
- Spells (Light of X, Nimbus of Light, Curtain of Light, Celestial Brilliance, Crown of Brilliance, Dawn Shroud, …)
- Light as a racial SLA
- Radiant Aura from Master of Radiance

Lucifer lives up to his name



SRD - Feats, Spells
Complete Champion - Cloistered Cleric, Affiliations, Devotion feats
Complete Divine - Divine Spell Power
Web - Dead Level : Undead Intuition (https://web.archive.org/web/20080314044435/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a)
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - Sunsword, Lightbringer Guild and ACF
Complete Arcana - Practiced Spellcaster
Unapproachable East - Craft Contingent Spell
Champions of Valor - Sanctified Magic Rules p.52, Spells
Tome of Battle - Swordsage (unarmed), Shadow Blade
Book of Exalted Deeds - Saint, Spells, Feats
Libris Mortis - Master of Radiance
Spell Compendium - Spells

[The Viscount]

The desert is a natural home for harboring extremes.



Sam Sandshield, Servant of the Shadow Sun

"When is it dark above the sands, but bright as day beneath?
How can a man strike at a foe he does not know about?
Who aims for the throat with eyes closed shut?
All these questions have the same answer."

-Riddle of Mochnil

NG Asherati Favored Environment Spiritual Connection Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1 / Cloistered Cleric 1 / Unarmed Swordsage 1 / Shadowspy 10 / Shadow Sun Ninja 5 / Nentyar Hunter 1 / Devoted Defender 1

Level 1: 9 STR / 17 DEX / 14 CON / 10 INT / 16 WIS / 8 CHA
Increases at level 4, 8 in dex, 12, 16 in wis, 20 in dex.
Final array: 9 STR / 20 DEX / 14 CON / 10 INT / 18 WIS / 8 CHA

Three things are taught at the monastery of Mochnil: to master the darkness within, to survive the harshness outside, and to honor the creator above. Sam, born to traders in the distant great dale, was sent to live at the monastery at a young age. Trained in the arts of stealth, combat, and wilderness survival, the young asherati now brings these skills to bear to protect all who seek to live in peace.


Long ago, in the great market-place of Mochnil, there was a spiteful man. This man, who roamed the desert to buy and sell, mocked the people's faith in the Shining One above, and called the Sun a cruel and hateful thing, and its light a painful scourge. And though the spiteful man knew it not, the Shining Servant walked the crowds in a thousand guises, and so heard his blasphemies.

But when the man next left the city, though he travelled by night, he was spotted by robbers. Struck by an arrow and frightful for his life, he prayed for deliverance, and the Shining One took mercy, and delivered bright salvation though it was the dead of night.

And so from the sand rose the Shining Servant, who turned aside the arrow-heads and sword-points from the spiteful man, and whose bright radiance blinded the robbers. Eyes closed, blade guided by faith, the Shining Servant swung unneringly. The robbers saw only shadows and tricks of light, heard only their own panicked screams, felt only the burning light of the Shining One.

And when the battle was done, Shining Servant called on the Sun's Fire, and from the Fire took Life, and so healed the lonely man's wounds. And the Shining Servant guided him to an oasis, and there told him the truth of the Shining One above, whose light is harsh only to the un-believer. And the man wept, and saw the light, and became a faithful servant.



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


1st
Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1
+1
+2
+2
+0
Gather Information 4, Hide 4, Move Silently 4, Search 4, Spot 4, Survival 4
Heat EnduranceB, TrackB, Weapon Finesse
Favored Environment (Temperate/Warm Desert), Spiritual Connection, Track


2nd
Cloistered Cleric 1
+1
+4
+2
+2
Gather Information +1cc (5), Sense Motive 4
Sun DevotionB
Lore, Turn Undead 2/day, Community Domain, Knowledge Domain


3rd
Unarmed Swordsage 1
+1
+4
+4
+4
Gather Information +1cc (6), Hide +2 (6), Move Silently +2 (6)
Darkstalker, Improved Unarmed StrikeB, Weapon Focus (Shadow Hand)B
Quick to Act +1, Discipline Focus (Weapon Focus), Unarmed Strike 1d6


4th
Shadowspy 1
+1
+4
+6
+6
Balance 2, Hide +1 (7), Move Silently +1 (7), Tumble 2
-
Aura of Anonimity, Radiance of Pelor,


5th
Shadowspy 2
+2
+4
+7
+7
Balance +1 (3), Hide +1 (8), Move Silently +1 (8), Spot +2 (6), Tumble +1 (3)
AlertnessB
Immunity to Blindness, Bonus Feat, +1 cleric casting advancement


6th
Shadowspy 3
+3
+5
+7
+7
Balance +1 (4), Hide +1 (9), Move Silently +1 (9), Spot +2 (8) Tumble +1 (4)
Martial Study (Shadow Hand) (Cloak of Deception)
Veil of Pelor


7th
Shadowspy 4
+4
+5
+8
+8
Hide +1 (10), Move Silently +1 (10), Survival +2cc (6)
-
Personal Eclipse, +1 cleric casting advancement


8th
Shadow Sun Ninja 1
+4
+7
+10
+10
Balance +1 (5), Hide +1 (11), Move Silently +1 (11), Tumble +1 (5)
-
Monk Abilities, Touch of the Shadow Sun


9th
Shadowspy 5
+4
+7
+10
+10
Hide +1 (12), Move Silently +1 (12), Survival +2cc (8)
Combat CastingB, Shadow Blade
Bonus Feat


10th
Nentyar Hunter 1
+4
+9
+12
+10
Hide +1 (13), Move Silently +1 (13), Search +1 (5), Survival +1 (9)
-
Woodland Stride


11th
Shadowspy 6
+5
+10
+13
+11
Hide +1 (14), Move Silently +1 (14), Tumble +4 (9)
-
Truth of the Light, +1 nentyar hunter casting advancement


12th
Shadowspy 7
+6
+10
+13
+11
Hide +1 (15), Move Silently +1 (15), Tumble +4 (13)
Gloom Razor
Blinding Light


13th
Shadowspy 8
+7
+10
+14
+12
Disguise 2, Move Silently +1 (16), Tumble +3 (16)
Extra TurningB
Bonus Feat, Sun's Revelation, +1 nentyar hunter casting advancement


14th
Shadowspy 9
+7
+11
+14
+12
Disguise +4 (6), Move Silently +1 (17), Tumble +1 (17)
-
Hide in Plain Sight


15th
Shadowspy 10
+8
+11
+15
+13
Disguise +6 (12)
Face-Changer
Vision of Pelor, +1 nentyar hunter casting advancement


16th
Shadow Sun Ninja 2
+9
+12
+16
+14
Hide +2 (17), Move Silently +1 (18), Tumble +1 (18)
-
Flame of the Shadow Sun


17th
Shadow Sun Ninja 3
+10
+12
+16
+14
Hide +2 (19), Move Silently +1 (19), Tumble +1 (19)
-
-


18th
Shadow Sun Ninja 4
+11
+13
+17
+15
Move Silently +2 (21), Tumble +2 (21)
Stunning Fist
Light Within Darkness


19th
Shadow Sun Ninja 5
+11
+13
+17
+15
Hide +2 (21), Move Silently +1 (22), Tumble +1 (22)
-
Darkness Within Light, +1 AC


20th
Devoted Defender 1
+12
+15
+19
+15
Hide +2 (23)
-
Harm's Way



Maneuvers:
ECL 3: Burning Blade, Clinging Shadow Strike, Counter Charge, Distracting Ember, Mighty Throw, Shadow Blade Technique
ECL 6: Cloak of Deception
ECL 8: Shadow Garotte
ECL 17: Shadow Stride

4 maneuvers readied per day until ECL 19, at which point it becomes 5.

Stances:
ECL 3: Child of Shadow
ECL 19: Assassin's Stance

Cleric spells:
Spells per Day


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd


2nd
3
2+1
-


5th
4
3+1
-


7th
4
3+1
2+1



Typical spells prepared (domain):
0: Create Water, Detect Magic, Detect Magic, Read Magic
1: Comprehend Languages, Detect Secret Doors, Protection from Evil, Resurgence
2: Detect Thoughts, Silence, Silence

Nentyar Hunter spells:

Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


10th
3
-
-
-


11th
3
2
-
-


13th
4
3
2
-


15th
4
3
3
2



Typical spells prepared:
1: Entangle, Entangle, Pass Without Trace, Snare
2: Blur, Gust of Wind, Neutralize Poison
3: Freedom of Movement, Freedom of Movement, Invisibility
4: Break Enchantment, Commune with Nature


ECL 5:
We enter the SI as early as possible, having used only three levels to get all the prerequisites we need. Our capabilities at this level are a bit unfocused, but we'll always have something worth doing. We can cast track, use martial maneuvers, gather food, cast low-level cleric spells, spot secret doors, scout, and stand guard like a champ (with Alertness helping out with the latter two). With Calm Emotion, Speak With Animals and Speak With Plants as SLAs, we can improve our information-gathering skills. Sun Devotion helps in dealing with undead (quite common as far as desert monsters go!).

In combat, we make use of Tumble, swordsage maneuvers, and the odd cleric spell. Distracting Ember gives us or the rogue a flanking buddy, Counter Charge messes up those low-level orc barbarians, Mighty Throw demolishes enemy positioning, and Shadow Blade Technique is just solid reliable damage. Burning Blade applies on your secondary unarmed strike as well as your prime weapon. By using Tumble to move around (or Counter Charge / Mighty Throw to keep foes away), Child of Shadow grants concealment, which combined with natural armor, 18 dex, light armor, and a shield should make us tanky enough to offset our mediocre HDs.

Finally, our race and PrC provide us with some class features that are worth going over in more detail.

Because we're an Asherati, we are bioluminescent and able to swim beneath the sand of our favored desert terrain. The 1/day dazzling flash is mostly useless, though I want to note that it's a free action and slightly improves our chances of hiding. Speaking of Hide checks, we have a +2 racial bonus on both stealth skills, with another +2 Hide in sandy areas. Not quite a whisper gnome, but hardly as bad as stealth as you'd expect a medium race to be!

Secondly, note that the area covered by our innate light is absurdly huge (60 ft. bright, 60 ft. dim). Spotting things at that range is possible, but tends to be limited by direction (bullseye lanterns) or cost (permanent Daylight items), or applies to only a single PC (long-range darkvision).

That said: 60 ft. needs improving. A stealthy humanoid can sneak up to where it can close the distance in a mere two move actions, and a mounted enemy can come charging in from beyond the radius in the same time. Enter Radiance of Pelor, which can double the range to an absolutely insane 120 ft. of bright and 120 ft. of dim light (note: the DMG suggests that visibility in a sandy desert is 6d6 x 10 feet; 210 on average). Neither speed nor stealth crosses that in any reasonable amount of time: so we just went and turned a useless class feature into Say Goodbye To Nighttime Ambushes. As a bonus, RoP doubles the distance at which Body Lamp can detect buried items (or burrowing foes!).

Immunity to Blindness helps out against some hazards of the waste, most notably Mirror Sand (Sandstorm, page 23) but regular sunglare as well. If worst comes to worst, you can have the party form a blindfolded conga line behind you and lead them through dangerous zones safely.

ECL 10:
Alright, before you say anything about that BAB: we have weapon focus, reliable flanking, and a variety of ways to deny enemies their dexterity bonus: we'll end up with a to-hit considerably higher than most secondary melee combatants. Speaking of Dexterity, with Shadow Blade it's now adding onto our melee damage!

Anyway, shadow sun ninja gives us monk AC, meaning we can stop using armor and shields (incidentally, this frees up our off-hand for in-combat spellcasting). We take it at the right level to grab Shadow Garotte, granting us a ranged debuff attack. The class also gives us Touch of the Shadow Sun, which deals reliable damage against high-AC foes and out of combat combines with Distracting Ember to generate net healing for the party (summon a fire elemental as a swift, punch it as a standard, put out the flames as a move, next turn heal ourselves or an ally as a swift and recover as a full-round, healing at least 1d8+3 while taking 1d4 and very sometimes 1d4+1d6 ourselves, in the long run we can outheal the damage).

After picking up Combat Casting as our second bonus feat, we meet all the prerequisites for Nentyar Hunter and enter the class. From now on, it is this class that we'll be advancing with Shadowspy, ending our cleric advancement after gaining 2nd-level spells (including Darkness, Find Traps, Lesser Restoration, and most of all Silence). The first level spells of NH are a bit underwhelming, but still include solid options like Entangle, Pass Without Trace, and an undercosted Snare.

Woodland stride is a bit more situational, but deserts have oases and with our love for tumbling we really do not want to get stuck in difficult terrain. Personal Eclipse enhances our Hide in a straightforwardly useful way, and while Veil of Pelor is hard to really showcase, I'll just point out that Detect spells can penetrate 60 feet of sand without issue, so being invisible to them is great if you want to burrow unseen.

ECL 15:
Five levels of shadowspy boost our Nentyar Hunter casting to the point where we get 4th-level (!) spells. We can use amazing spells like Commune With Nature, Invisibility, Keen Edge (rapiers are shadow hand weapons and have 18-20 crit, just putting that out there), Break Enchantment, and underleveled Freedom of Movement, as well as spells like Gust of Wind or Wind Wall that get enhanced uses in desert conditions, and Blur to grant us an alternate source of concealment. Nentyar Hunter's version of Invisibility being 3rd-level is actually a boon for us, as it lets us use it to fuel Face-Changer, effectively giving us at-will Disguise Self and finally letting us properly use the Disguise bonus granted by Aura of Anonymity. If the DM is stodgy and insists the bonus only applies when you make the check within the crowd, point out that Face-Changer is only a full-round action to use and can be used in crowds just fine.

And just to be clear: I mostly recommend using this magic for out-of-combat utility or buffs on the eve of battle, preferably while you're sneaking up on enemies or spot them coming at you. Casting in combat will be hard with your lack of Concentration investment, though you might still want to cast a long-range Entangle from time to time.

Of course, Shadowspy does more than advance another class's casting. We get two subtly different abilities that protect us from lies, which is useful for our neglected social side. We're not the party face exactly, but we can be its ear: tagging along invisibly and spotting any deceit that the negotiator did not pick up on. We also obtain a neat save-or-suck with a very respectable DC, a True Seeing ability that we otherwise would have no way of getting (unlike regular clerics; this feature might do more for us than for the median shadowspy!).

Finally, we get the amazing (Su) version of Hide In Plain Sight, allowing us to make hide checks whenever we're in sunlight, which we can create using Sun Devotion (usable 6/day now that we have Extra Turning). In addition to the obvious use in exploration, it slots into our combat routine in a way that'll soon become obvious.

On the pure combat side, we grab Gloom Razor. For now we'll mostly be focused on the second and third benefit, using Distracting Ember or a buddy to set up flanks and then using the maneuvers next turn to full attack a flat-footed and flanked opponent, then move as a free action and use that to hide again, keeping our swift free for boosts, Sun Devotion, or Personal Eclipse. That said, if we can hit someone with a Blinding Light and the concealment makes them miss us, the first maneuver might come into play as well!

ECL 20:
Nentyar Hunter's 5th-level spells are pretty mediocre, so we don't feel too bad about losing out on them. Instead we return to Shadow Sun Ninja, obtaining move action teleportation with Shadow Stride. We also get the broken Flame of the Shadow Sun, which does not work as intended without errata, but at any rate can give you constant cold resistance 10 (useful when exploring freezing locations, if nothing else).

Light Within Darkness lets us flashbang large groups of enemies when we make 'succesful hide checks', which is both incredibly on-brand and easy to activate thanks to Gloom Razor, Personal Eclipse, and HiPS. Darkness Within Light then gives us huge bonuses on attack and damage rolls against these foes. The Shadowspy's Blinding Light also comes into play here, giving us a good backup way to activate Darkness Within Light. And on the topic of 'attacking blinded people', might I introduce you to Assassin's Stance, our new best friend who's going to be adding 2d6 damage on all our hits? (Another use for Sun Devotion: dealing 20 damage per hit to all those undead who thought they were clever for being sneak attack-immune)

Our final feat is Stunning Fist: Shadow Sun Ninja gives us five uses, and our other levels give three more, so about twice per encounter we get to apply yet another debuff with no additional cost in actions. Blinding enemies wrecks their AC, making us less likely to miss and waste a use of Fist, and the secondary wisdom focus mandated by Shadowspy is once again relevant here. Note that most enemies immune to stunning (plants, elementals, even constructs and undead) can be blinded by Blinding Light and have poor Reflex saves to boot, letting us hedge our bets a little compared to the usual debuffer.

Our capstone comes from Devoted Defender, which answers the question implicit in Gloom Striker: if you have total concealment anyway, why would enemies bother attacking you? The answer: because once they attack someone else, we trigger Harm's Way and force them to swing at our seemingly empty space. If they miss from concealment, which has a good chance of happening, you get a swift action Hide check, which then fuels Light Within Darkness next turn.

The tactical value of combining Harm's Way with stealth is massive: if the enemies see the wizard guarded by a hulking fighter, they'll just go attack the cleric or rogue. But if the enemies see the wizard out in the open, seemingly unprotected, they're a lot more likely to rush in. Note that we can redirect weaponlike spells as well, and with our touch AC quite high and our lowest save a whopping +17 fortitude before items, I don't think we'll mind absorbing the occasional Disintegrate or Plane Shift.

(At higher levels you'll spend less and less time in the desert, so I've been phasing out terrain-specific references, but all these tricks work perfectly well with your burrow speed as well! Burst out of the sand to take a hit, why not?)

Remember: if done poorly, 'stealth build' simply means 'my allies each take 33% more damage'. This stealth build blinds most foes on the field, then goes and absorbs every attack meant for the squishiest PC, because 'Good' ruddy dang well implies you're a team player!


In addition to sticking to the SI's concept (sneaky divine caster with light powers), and showcasing its class features, we also make use of the structure of the PrC in more abstract ways.

The fact that Shadowspy can be entered at 4th-level sets it apart from many other classes, and is essential to our ability to finish it while squeezing in three other PrCs. Its high skill points per level also help out massively there.

Even the fact that the half-casting advancement happens at even levels (normally a detriment) is useful to us! This causes the fifth-level bonus feat to be obtained before the third level of casting advancement, letting us enter Nentyar Hunter with Combat Casting and advancing it three times with our remaining shadowspy levels.

We lean into the wisdom/dexterity ability requirements by getting wisdom to AC, which also lets us go unarmored and thus take a lesser penalty on stealth. We also fix the issue where a shadowspy's SLAs are redundant with regular cleric spells by abandoning our cleric progression for the ranger-like spells of Nentyar Hunter, giving those class features actual uses beyond 'oh, I guess I do not have to specifically prepare Discern Lies'.

To further enhance shadowspy's concept, we enter a class that grants Invisibility as a divine spell, which is almost impossible to do when locked into a deity that grants none of the right domains. When we combine it with Silence, we can become nearly undetectable.

Asherati - Sandstorm

Ranger - Player's Handbook
--Skilled Citydweller - Cityscape
--Spiritual Connection - Complete Champion

Cleric - Player's Handbook
--Cloistered Cleric - Unearthed Arcana
--Community Domain - Complete Divine

Unarmed Swordsage - Tome of Battle

Shadowspy - Complete Champion
Shadow Sun Ninja - Tome of Battle
Nentyar Hunter - Unapproachable East
Devoted Defender - Sword and Fist

Heat Endurance - Sandstorm
Track - Player's Handbook
Weapon Finesse - Player's Handbook
Sun Devotion - Complete Champion
Darkstalker - Lords of Madness
Improved Unarmed Strike - Player's Handbook
Weapon Focus - Player's Handbook
Alertness - Player's Handbook
Martial Study - Tome of Battle
Combat Casting - Player's Handbook
Shadow Blade - Tome of Battle
Gloom Razor - Tome of Battle
Extra Turning - Player's Handbook
Face-Changer - Complete Mage
Stunning Fist - Player's Handbook

[The Viscount]

Even the biggest of shadows still need a little light.



Jeremy Thicket

https://i.imgur.com/G6hEQ0n.png

NG Grig Ranger 1 / Cloistered Cleric 2 / Shadowspy 4 / Vigilante 1 / Shadowspy +5 / Mystic Theurge 3 / Shadowspy +1







STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA


Point-buy
8
10
12
14
12
18


After modifiers
2
18
14
14
14
22


After ASIs
2
18
14
14
14
26




Long, long ago, in a land far far away, there was an old artificer. Despite having several thousand ways to break WBL, he was poor and humble, and lived in a small wooden shack together with a small homunculus he made himself. And every day he prayed to Pelor, god of life, to please grant him a flesh-and-blood son, for he was unmarried and had no children.

And Pelor was so moved by this man's love and faith that he sent a 17th-level cleric to cast Incarnate Construct on the homunculus, turning it into a real human boy. And to guide this new life and educate it in the manners of good and evil, he then sent a slightly lower-level cleric, which is where we come in.

Being a moral guide is no easy task, you know! Solving problems with violence or bloodshed is the approach most adventurers take, but it's hardly the right example to be presenting to an impressionable child. Avoiding bad influences requires you to recognize them first. Helping someone navigate the big city means you have to be up-to-date about its goings-on. And most importantly, you gotta know when to take a back seat, put some buffs on the kid, and disappear in the shadows for him to show off.

Fortunately, the honorable Jeremy Thicket is more than up to the task!





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


4th
Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1
+1
+2
+2
+0
Concentration +4 (4), Gather Information +4 (4), Hide +4 (4), Knowledge (Local) +4 (4), Move Silently +4 (4), Search +4 (4), Sense Motive +4 (4), Tumble +4 (4)
Darkstalker, DodgeGB Urban TrackingRB, Weapon FinesseGB
Spiritual Connection, Rival Organization (Church of Nerull), Urban Tracker


5th
Cloistered Cleric 1
+1
+4
+2
+2
Gather Information +1cc (5), Hide +1cc (5), Move Silently +1cc (5), Spellcraft +2 (2)
Healing DevotionB
Domains (Strength, Knowledge), Lore, Spontaneous Domain Casting (Strength), Turn Undead


6th
Cloistered Cleric 2
+2
+5
+2
+3
Gather Information +1cc (6), Hide +1cc (6), Move Silently +1cc (6), Spellcraft +2 (4)
Sacred Vow
-


7th
Shadowspy 1
+2
+5
+4
+5
Gather Information +1 (7), Hide +1 (7), Intimidate +2cc (2), Move Silently +1 (7), Sense Motive +1 (5)
-
Aura of Anonimity, Radiance of Pelor


8th
Shadowspy 2
+3
+5
+5
+6
Gather Information +1 (8), Hide +1 (8), Intimidate +2cc (4), Move Silently +1 (8), Sense Motive +1 (6)
AlertnessSB
Immunity to Blindness


9th
Shadowspy 3
+4
+6
+5
+6
Hide +1 (9), Knowledge (Local) +4 (8), Move Silently +1 (9), Sense Motive +2 (8)
Vow of Nonviolence
Veil of Pelor


10th
Shadowspy 4
+5
+6
+6
+7
Concentration +2 (6), Gather Information +2 (10), Hide +1 (10), Move Silently +1 (10), Tumble +2 (6)
-
Personal Eclipse


11th
Vigilante 1
+5
+6
+8
+9
Gather Information +1 (11), Hide +1 (11), Move Silently +1 (11), Tumble +5 (11)
-
Detect Evil, Streetwise


12th
Shadowspy 5
+5
+6
+8
+9
Gather Information +1 (12), Hide +1 (12), Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (1), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (2), Move Silently +1 (12), Tumble +1 (12)
StealthySB Vow of Peace
-


13th
Shadowspy 6
+6
+7
+9
+10
Gather Information +1 (13), Hide +1 (13), Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (2), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (4), Move Silently +1 (13), Tumble +1 (13)
-
Truth of the Light


14th
Shadowspy 7
+7
+7
+9
+10
Gather Information +1 (14), Hide +1 (14), Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (3), Knowledge (Religion) +2 (6), Move Silently +1 (14), Tumble +1 (14)
-
Blinding Light


15th
Shadowspy 8
+8
+7
+10
+11
Gather Information +1 (15), Hide +1 (15), Knowledge (Arcana) +2cc (5), Move Silently +1 (15), Tumble +1 (15)
Air Devotion, Extra TurningSB
Sun's Revelation


16th
Shadowspy 9
+8
+8
+10
+11
Concentration +2 (8), Gather Information +1 (16), Hide +1 (16), Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (6), Move Silently +1 (16), Tumble +1 (16)
-
Hide in Plain Sight


17th
Mystic Theurge 1
+8
+8
+10
+13
Concentration +2 (10), Spelcraft +2 (6)
-
-


18th
Mystic Theurge 2
+9
+8
+10
+14
Concentration +2 (12), Spellcraft +2 (8)
Persistent Refusal
-


19th
Mystic Theurge 3
+9
+9
+11
+14
Concentration +2 (14), Spellcraft +2 (10)
-
-


20th
Shadowspy 10
+10
+9
+12
+15
Gather Information +4 (20), Move Silently +4 (20)
-
Vision of Pelor



Cleric:
Spells per Day


Level
0lvl
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


5th
3
2+1
-
-
-


6th
4
3+1
-
-
-


8th
4
3+1
2+1
-
-


10th
5
4+1
3+1
-
-


17th
5
4+1
3+1
1+1
-


18th
5
4+1
4+1
2+1
-


19th
6
5+1
4+1
2+1
1+1



Level 20 prepared (domain):
0: Cure Minor Wounds, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Magic, Light, Light,
1: Close Wounds, Obscuring Mist, Protection From Evil, Protection from Evil, Sanctuary (Detect Secret Doors)
2: Guidance of the Avatar, Guidance of the Avatar, Silence, Silence (Detect Thoughts)
3: Daylight, Remove Curse (Clairvoyance)
4: Death Ward (Divination)

These represent a sort of 'default loadout'; obviously the entire cleric list of 4th-level and lower is available to us.

-----

Vigilante:
Spells per Day


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


11th
2
-
-
-


13th
3
-
-
-


15th
4
2
-
-


17th
5
3
-
-


18th
5
4
2
-


19th
5
5
3
-


20th
5
5
4
2



Spells Known


Level
1st
2nd
3rd
4th


11th
2
-
-
-


13th
3
-
-
-


15th
3
2
-
-


17th
4
3
-
-


18th
4
3
2
-


19th
4
4
3
-


20th
4
4
3
2



Level 20 known:
1: Accelerated Movement, Catsfeet, Friendly Face, Instant Diversion
2: Alter Self, Invisibility, Misdirection, Pyrotechnics
3: Haste, Glibness, Major Image
4: Freedom of Movement, Shadow Conjuration


We start our adventuring career with a level of ranger. Every class feature gets swapped out: Rival Organization is chosen over Favored Enemy because of the skills it boosts and its more defensive nature (boosting Gather Info, Knowledge, Sense Motive, and AC), and Skilled City-Dweller gives us four skills we all need and is thus a no-brainer. Urban Tracking will go great with the Gather Information reqs that the SI demands, and Spiritual Connection is just better than Wild Empathy for ranger dips.

Our cleric level is sadly mandated for Shadowspy entry, preventing us from picking a more interesting divine class. We grab healing devotion because we only have around 15 HP, and even with DR it's nice to have a built-in source of healing that'll kick in whenever we go down. True daylight will help against undead, which are going to be a bit of a problem for our default strategy; we're willing to give up the Strength domain's granted power for it.

What that strategy is? Well, grigs can generate an Irresistible Dance effect by playing their fiddle. I'm choosing to interpret this as a standard action to initiate and then a standard action to keep going each turn, but even so it's incredibly good, forcing save-or-loses on a huge area at-will. It makes up for our awkward LA and basically guarantees we'll be useful in most battles. If we can affect at least a single enemy during each round, all of our melee allies get a free attack with boosted to-hit, while that enemy skips its turn.

The ability is mind-affecting, but mind-affecting immunity tends to be on creatures that lose to our other main draws; flight and stealth. Vermin won't have the skill points to spot us, constructs only rarely fly, oozes fail on both counts, plants rarely fly and those with skill points tend to be on friendly terms with fey anyway. That leaves undead, against which we can currently attempt some weak Turning, cast Hide From Undead, or simply buff our allies with spontaneous Enlarge Person. We also have Entangle as a 3/day SLA with a respectable DC of 15, which corporeal undead get screwed by, so the things that mess up our primary strategy are by no means stonewalling us.

Out of combat, we help out by being extremely hard to spot (+17 hide before items or magic, and 3/day Invisibility when needed), talking to plants and animals, and employing Urban Tracking. We also have a respectable modifier to Sense Motive and various social skills, making us a bit of a face early on, and our +3 to Lore will retrieve some useful knowledge from time to time.


Radiance of Pelor is so mediocre that even I can't give a pitch for it beyond 'we have low-light vision so we benefit extra compared to humans or something'. Aura of Anonymity is good because free skill bonuses are always good, and having flight lets us enter or leave crowds easier than most.

Immunity to Blindness, however, is amazing for us. Grigs have 3/day Pyrotechnics, which is generally too hard to use to be worth it. Either you rely on external fire, which is hard to target and unreliable, or you carry a fire source with you and include yourself in your spell's AoE: neither is appealing. But with immunity to blindness, we can carry a tindertwig, turn it into a flashbang, and be no worse for the wear! (obviously never use the smoke variant on stuff you're carrying)

Also: thanks to Vow of Nonviolence our Entangles and Pyrotechnics SLAs, fiddleplay, and most of our spells just got that much harder to resist for humanoids and monstrous humanoids. The DC to avoid irresistible dance, for such creatures, is 23, and it's set to increase to 25 in a single level.

Personal Eclipse boosts our hide even further. Veil of Pelor seems redundant with our new 2nd-level spells, but it's an immediate action, and can thus be used in response to divination spells that seek out magic auras. Arcane Sight is an underrated means of locating enemy sneaks, and you can at the very least create irrelevant auras for it to pick up on. Ventriloquism works for this as well, and will make the enemy think twice about assuming that any illusion aura is your invisibility spell. Unlike other PCs, we aren't very reliant on weapons and armor, so we might even be able to get away with shedding our magic gear entirely for brief missions, leaving only the fake auras.

Anyway, on the casting side we get Close Wounds, Silence, Detect Thoughts, Lesser Restoration, and the busted Guidance of the Avatar (or Divine Insight, if your DM bans GotA). We mostly use our cleric casting for buffs and utility, but our Vow helps keep the few spells with saves competitive. Find Traps and a skill-boost spell combine for an 1/day burst of trapfinding (helped by the grig's racial Search bonus), but we don't have to worry too much about those while scouting; traps can fail to show up on Detect Magic, or target flying tiny-sized creatures, but rarely both.


Thanks to our shadowspy bonus feat, we enter vigilante and begin to advance it with shadowspy. The vigilante list is surprisingly good, consisting of the bard list minus its conjurations (eh), evocations, and enchantments, and thus still including the many great transmutations and illusions on there.

(By the way, while vigilantes only get 4th-level spells, their list is a subset of the bard list and includes higher-level spells because of how it's defined. The build does not rely on it, but assigning a portion of your WBL to scrolls and wands of 5th-/6th-level bard spells is totally doable).

Catsfeet and Accelerated Movement both help out with sneaking, Pyrotechnics is now a spell in addition to a SLA, letting us use it even more (again note that intelligent mind-affecting immune foes are, by and large, not immune to reflex-save blindness). Alter Self is a bit limited because of our tiny size, but we can still turn into rime sprites (tiny, 80 ft. perfect flight, 60 ft. swim, str/dex boosts) and bog imps (small, 60 ft. burrow, str/dex boosts, +8 hide bonus in swamps). Notably, once we turn into a bog imp or other small-sized creature, we can then use our Disguise Self SLA to assume the likeness of a halfling or gnome, finally letting us use the disguise bonus granted by Shadowspy and helping us disappear in the crowd when needed. This might give a +20 modifier on your final disguise check, but that's a kind of silly bit of RAW so ask your DM (at any rate you should get +10, and increasing that slightly for using two spells seems reasonable).

The vigilante's streetwise ability also boosts our Urban Tracking checks, which is nice, and Detect Evil at-will helps us identify which people need our moral guidance.

Vow of Peace sends our AC into the stratosphere, shatters weapons that hit us, and calms all creatures nearby. Ask your DM whether playing the fiddle counts as an 'aggressive action'; if it doesn't, you can play until the calmed creatures start to dance, then act freely while they remain incapacitated. Between its bonus to Diplomacy, Sacred Vow's bonus to diplomacy, a massive charisma stat and a synergy bonus from Sense Motive, we're looking at +16, and a quick Friendly Face bumps that to +21; the barest expenditure of resources makes you a face on par with the 16 charisma max-ranks paladin! Stealth and diplomacy help minimize the annoying effects of your vows: you don't need to worry about taking prisoners if you evaded or befriended them!

Our return to shadowspy yields us Stealthy and Extra Turning as bonus feats, which help fuel our stealth and divine feats respectively. Note the comprehensive defense we're setting up here: spells run into our high saves, melee weapons will shatter upon striking us, and ranged weapons need to eat a flat miss chance thanks to Air Devotion (Pelor is no Air god, but the sun is in the sky, sunlight causes wind, and we literally fly; there was enough thematic synergy there to me and it's RAW-legal anyway). Unlike the typical tanky character, enemies can't simply ignore us, because we're still spreading nasty debuffs with each action.

Truth of the Light and Sun's Revelation both get the +4 to their DC from Vow of Nonviolence, which helps us now we're no longer pumping Sense Motive. Our giant charisma modifier is useful here as well; shadowspy pretends to be a wisdom-based class but has way more features that care about charisma. Although we can prepare Zone of Truth in our cleric slots, it will have a much lower DC: this SLA is not redundant! The fact that we can cast it without somatic components and as a swift action means we won't have to stop fiddling to get it off, letting us smoothly transition from combat to interrogation.

Blinding Light is great for this build. Normally, the issue with a 2/day save-or-suck is that you're going to waste some of the uses on unfortunate rolls, so there might be days you won't even get use out of it. However, our Irresistible Dance effect imposes a -10 penalty on Reflex saves, which makes Blinding Light great for screwing over everyone currently dancing when we need to go and do something else, and because it's only a swift action we get a full round of actions afterwards (and, in the unlikely situation our targets made the save, we can just keep playing). Instead of gambling with the limited uses of Blinding Light, we can gamble with an at-will ability and only use the flashbang when it's guaranteed to work.


Mystic Theurge gets used to bring us to 4th-level cleric spells and 4th-level bard spells, and also gets us the Spellcraft ranks we need to more reliably identify detection spells being cast. Glibness can end social encounters all by itself, Remove Curse is great utility and always good to have on your backup caster, Shadow Conjuration is ridiculously versatile, and Haste/FoM are both insanely good buffs.

Persistent Refusal gives yet another feat to channel our Turn Undead uses into (we're up to 15, so this is not a scarce commodity), and lets us make new saves against ongoing spell effects, which is most of the really bad ones that don't instakill you. And as for those instakills, our cleric levels do give us Death Ward... Really, Jeremy represents a build type I really like, where your to-go trick is so capable out of the box that you can focus entirely on maximizing defenses.

We also grab Hide in Plain Sight, letting our tiny self with near-maxed Hide ranks disappear entirely. By the way, ask about playing a fiddle while hidden; though a DM might argue it breaks stealth by making people 'observe' you, you can now hide in plain sight anyway! Note that up until now, we probably had to expend resources to get into fiddle range versus faraway foes; but wide open spaces tend to be sunlit, meaning we can just sneak through them! Furthermore, ask your DM if our true daylight ability renders areas sufficiently 'sunlit' for the purpose of HiPS.

True Seeing is one of the nicer cleric spells that we miss out on, so getting it as a SLA is great. The fact that it's lacks a verbal component also helps with casting it while stealthed, though that's an upside I imagine most shadowspies get out of it.

For those who've been keeping track, our fiddle now forces a DC 26 save before items (30 vs humanoids and monstrous humanoids), our Gather Information is up to +32 and can easily be bumped further with Friendly Face or [divine skill-boosting spell of choice], and our SLAs have a DC around 20. Our AC is 24 before any items and can be very easily increased, our touch AC is high enough that low-BAB wizards will still struggle to hit us, and we force enemies to make multiple saves before their weapon even breaks our skin. We can target both Will and Reflex to deliver potent debuffs at a surprisingly high DC, covering most of the monster manual and ensuring our allies will always appreciate having us around (worst case, we spend a combat applying Hastes and Enlarge Persons). Out of combat, we get as much out of vigilante as we can and get access to whatever cleric spells are most useful at the time; we're no full caster, but we can easily relieve some pressure from a party whose main arcane/divine caster has limited spells known.



Jeremy is a sort of 'fifth man', much like bards or rangers are to the classic fighter/rogue/cleric/wizard party. In combat, he'll be bulkier than the rogue and wizard, but less so than the fighter or cleric, with enough personal healing to keep himself going and apply his buffs and debuffs. Between the fiddle, his SLAs, and cherrypicked buffs from the two best lists in the game, he's sure to have something to do each combat.

Out of combat, he's got the raw magic to do quite well at several key skills, even where no skill points are invested, and additionally specializes in stealth and urban tracking. 4th-level bard spells and 4th-level cleric spells contain a truly massive amount of utility between them, making him great at covering the gaps in a party's available magic.


Why shadowspy, on such a build? Well, partially because we're pretty feat-starved and shadowspy cheaply gives us Alertness. But more broadly, because it grants all sorts of abilities that we make great use of: blindness immunity for easier Pyrotechnics, charisma-based utility spells, a reflex-based swift action save-or-suck, and even the coveted Hide in Plain Sight! Sure, shadowspy makes us lose some casting, but we already comitted to sacrificing spellcasting power for stealth when we decided to play a grig; we might as wel double down on it and accept that we're more of a magical rogue than a stealthy caster.

Grig - Monster Manual (NOT savage species this is not the savage species grig)

Skilled City-Dweller, Rival Organization Ranger, Urban Tracker Ranger - Cityscape Web Enhancement (https://web.archive.org/web/20160612142357/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)
Spiritual Connection Ranger - CChamp
Cloistered Cleric - UA
Lightbringer Cleric - Rav
Spontaneous Domain - PHB2
Vigilante - CAdv
Mystic Theurge - DMG

Darkstalker - LoM
Air Devotion, Healing Devotion - CChamp
Sacred Vow, Vow of Nonviolence, Vow of Peace - BoED
Persistent Refusal - FCII

[The Viscount]

... Anukis, Seshmu, Meshkent, Hemsut, Tefnut, Heket



Anubis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis) Chi'ting
(read: "a noob is cheating" )



Our story begins within a lil settlement in the woods that was raided by a marching army. Everyone died, except for Anubis who managed to find a good spot to hide. He was hiding on a tree when the attack happened. After the attack he was crying all day long until a fey noticed the voice of the small child. Aisha wanted to help Anubis and took care of him for a while. But she ain't the right person to raise a humanoid child. Therefore after the war ends, she brings him to the next human settlement with a temple (of Pelor) and hopes for the best. She occasionally visits him to see if he is doing well and becomes kinda like a 2nd mother to him(Nymph's Kiss).
The (Pelor) temple took good care of him for some time. But after reaching a certain age they said that he has to make up his mind if he wants to officially join the temple or not. They didn't want to force the priesthood on him, but if he wanted to stay longer that was the sole option. Due to the incident in his past, Anubis has a hard time with Religions (it was a religious war that killed his parents, but some say the real reason was money). As such he tries to find his own luck and starts to work at a nearby outpost tavern near the forest. He still keeps a good connection to the Pelor temple and even sometimes helps them out if they are in need of some helpers.
There where times when he also believed in money and dreamed to become rich. But he quickly realized that money can corrupt even those who are normally nice gentle people. The things about life he learned from hearing other peoples stories at the tavern did enlighten him. The older he becomes, the more he dislikes money. His boss is a nice guy who also notices Anubis' gentle heart (since he doesn't want any payment other than food and shelter). He tells Anubis that it is a waste for somebody like him to work at a rough place like a tavern and that he should talk to "Ian", a cleric at the temple of Pelor in the town and get into priesthood.
But so far Anubis is fine just living an ordinary life now (Human Paragon).
One night Ian arrieves on his way back from a mission. Since it was late when he arrived at the tavern, he decides to stay over night and have some drinks. The tavern is very crowded that night and the sole table with some free seats is the one with a dwarf. He (Ian) shortly greets the dwarf and requests a beer from Anubis. The dwarf just nips his beer and doesn't seem to be in the mood for talking. After some time a sneaky looking elf and a guy wearing a robe and a pointy hat join the table. Nobody seems to be in mood for a chat and so everybody gets drunk. Suddenly loud noises come from outside. A guy rushes in and yells "Orcs, ORCS!". Suddenly the dwarf jumps up and says "It's about time to get some fun. Let's get em." The other nod and stand up. Anubis, not knowing what else to do, also follows em outside.
There some people are already fighting off the orcs. The dwarf gives the group a short inspecting look and yells: "Sneaky guy, you come with me and aid me. Pointy hat guy will stay in the back and give us backfire. And the priest will keep us alive."
Somehow the Dwarf didn't pay any attention to Anubis. Well, maybe because he doesn't look like an adventurer or combatant in any way as the boy working in a tavern. But before he can end his thought, the fight breaks out and he needs to defend himself with a club.
The fight shows Anubis what a priest can really do. Ian was using his divine magic to defend his allies and strengthen their attacks. And his healing ensured that nobody died on this incident.
Anubis is impressed and convinced that priesthood maybe ain't that bad. Maybe he should join the "cloister" for some time (2nd lvl)..



Human Paragon 3 / Cleric 1 / Church Inquisitor 2 / Shadowspy 9 / Apostle of Peace 2 / Sand Shaper 1 / Contemplative 1 / Radiant Servant of Pelor 1


The main idea behind the build did evolve from the name. I wanted to use Apostle of Peace to get 9th lvl spells with 1/2 spell progression from the SI. I did come up with the name while reading the exception that Apostle of Peace creates for Vow of Poverty (suddenly it's ok to use some defensive magic items..^^). The name did further lead me to the idea to somehow include some sand magic (Sand Shaper) for the build's own theme (Anubis).
Contemplative is another dip to extend the very limited spell list of Apostle of Peace. RSoP is mainly there to further extend on the Radiance ability of Shadowspy. Human Paragon is helping out with the heavy skill requirements of the build.
I also wanted to mention that I didn't go for the final level of Shadowspy, because VoP already provides the build with permanent True Seeing.


Race: Silverbrow Human
(Dragon Magic)
We need the Feather Fall SLA to qualify for the Sand Shaper dip. When no additional information for an SLA is provided, it defaults to Sorcerer/wizard spell casting (if possible) and has Clvl = HD:

If no caster level is specified, the caster level is equal to the creature’s Hit Dice. The saving throw (if any) against a spell-like ability is:
10 + the level of the spell the ability resembles or duplicates + the creature’s Cha modifier.


Some spell-like abilities duplicate spells that work differently when cast by characters of different classes. A monster’s spell-like abilities are presumed to be the sorcerer/wizard versions. If the spell in question is not a sorcerer/wizard spell, then default to cleric, druid, bard, paladin, and ranger, in that order.


With Feather Fall we qualify for the required 5 arcane caster lvl to dip Sand Shaper. Note that Sand Shaper never specifies or restricts to which class you add the bonus spells. By RAW there is no reason to not allow the spells to be added to a divine class (like Apostle of Peace). It sole differentiates between prepared and spontaneous spellcasting.


Alignment: Neutral Good

Religion: Pelor

Base Stats (bonuses)
STR: 10
DEX: 10
CON: 12 (+2 @lvl20 = 14)
INT: 16 (+2 @lvl 16 & 20 = 20)
WIS: 15 (+5 from lvlUP) (+2@ lvl 7 & 11 & 15 & 19 = 28 total)
CHA: 14 (+2 Ability Boost @lvl 4) (+2 @lvl 11 & 15 & 19 = 22 total)
(+VoP enhancement Bonuses)


Skills:

The build has many dips that have skill rank requirements. Due to this the skill progression is really messy. We further rely on "Primary Contact" (feat) to enter Apostle of Peace one lvl earlier than normally possible (Concentration 10 ranks). This helps to unlock 9th lvl spells for Apostle of Peace later on.

Human Paragon class skills picks:
Concentration, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Hide, Move Silently, Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (religion), Spellcraft, Survival
With Adaptive Learning we pick Diplomacy to turn it into a class-skill for all classes.


Bonus Feats:

Human (Paragon) Bonus Feat
Vow of Poverty Bonus Feat (from BoED is not tag is mentioned)
Shadowspy Bonus Feat



LVL
Class
BAB
For
Ref
Wil
Skills
Feats
Class Features


1st
Human Paragon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/racialParagonClasses.htm#humanParagon)
+0
+0
+0
+2
Concentration: 4
Gather Information: 4
Hide: 4
Move Silently: 4
Knowledge (arcana): 4
Knowledge (religion): 4
Spellcraft: 4
Sacred Vow

Vow of Poverty

Nymph's Kiss

Adaptive Learning:
Diplomacy


2nd
Cloistered Cleric
(Unearthed Arcana)

ACF: Rebuke Dragons
(Dragon Magic)
+0
+2
+0
+4
Diplomacy: 4 (+4)
Knowledge (nature): 4 (+4)
Vow of Nonviolence

Rebuke Dragons

Sun Domain

Strength Devotion

Knowledge Domain


3rd
Human Paragon
+1
+2
+0
+5
Concentration: 6+1 (+2)
Diplomacy: 6 (+2)
Hide: 6 (+2)
Move Silently: 6 (+2)
Favored:
"Temple of Pelor"
(+2 competence bonus to Concentration)
(Cityscape)

Primary Contact:
(+1 rank to concentration)
(Cityscape)
Bonus Feat


4th
Human Paragon
+2
+3
+1
+5
Concentration: 7+1
Diplomacy: 7
Hide: 7
Move Silently: 7
Survival: 4 (+4)
Intuitive Attack

Ability Boost:
+2 CHA


5th
Church Inquisitor
(Complete Divine)
+2
+3
+1
+7
Gather Information: 8 (+4)
Knowledge (religion): 8 (+4)

Detect Evil

Inquisition Domain


6th
Shadowspy (1)
(Complete Champion)
+2
+3
+3
+9
Concentration: 9+1 (+2)
Diplomacy: 9 (+2)
Hide: 9 (+2)
Move Silently: 9 (+2)
Sense Motive: 2 (+2)
Touchstone:
"City of the Dead"
(Sandstorm)

Vow of Peace
Aura of Anonymity

Radiance of Pelor


7th
Apostle of Peace
(BoED)
+2
+5
+5
+11
Concentration: 10+1
Diplomacy: 10
Gather Information: 10 (+2)
Knowledge (religion): 10 (+2)
Sense Motive: 4 (+2)

Turn Undead


8th
Apostle of Peace
+3
+6
+6
+12
Concentration: 11+1
Diplomacy: 11
Gather Information: 11
Knowledge (religion): 11
Sense Motive: 8 (+4)
Gift of Discernment
(Player's Guide to Faerun).

Pacifying Touch


9th
Sand Shaper
(Sandstorm)
+3
+6
+6
+14
Concentration: 12+1
Diplomacy: 12
Heal: 5 (+5)
Sense Motive: 9
Subduing Strike
Desert Insight

Dust Magic

Sand Shape


10th
Shadowspy (2)
+4
+6
+7
+15
Concentration: 13+1
Diplomacy: 13
Hide: 13 (+4)
Move Silently: 11 (+2)
Knowledge (religion): 13 (+2)
Holy Subdual

Extra Turning

Bonus Feat

Immunity to Blindness


11th
Contemplative
+4
+6
+7
+17
Concentration: 14+1
Diplomacy: 14
Sense Motive: 13 (+4)

Bonus Domain:
Glory

Divine Health


12th
Shadowspy (3)
+5
+7
+7
+17
Concentration: 15+1
Diplomacy: 15
Hide: 15 (+2)
Move Silently: 15 (+4)
Sense Motive: 15 (+2)
Extend Spell

Nimbus of Light
Veil of Pelor


13th
Shadowspy (4)
+6
+7
+8
+18
Concentration: 16+1
Diplomacy: 16
Gather Information: 13 (+2)
Hide: 16
Knowledge (religion): 16 (+3)
Move Silently: 16
Sense Motive: 16

Personal Eclipse


14th
Shadowspy (5)
+6
+7
+8
+18
Concentration: 17+1
Diplomacy: 17
Gather Information: 17 (+4)
Hide: 17
Knowledge (religion): 17
Move Silently: 17
Sense Motive: 17
Extra Turning

Holy Radiance
Bonus Feat


15th
Shadowspy (6)
+7
+8
+9
+19

INT: 18

Concentration: 18+1
Diplomacy: 18
Disguise: 4 (+4)
Gather Information: 18
Hide: 18
Knowledge (religion): 18
Move Silently: 18
Sense Motive: 18
Persistent Spell
Truth of the Light


16th
Shadowspy (7)
+8
+8
+9
+19
Concentration: 19+1
Diplomacy: 19
Disguise: 8 (+4)
Gather Information: 19
Hide: 19
Knowledge (religion): 19
Move Silently: 19
Sense Motive: 19
Defender of the Homeland
(Champions of Valor)

Blinding Light


17th
Shadowspy (8)
+9
+8
+10
+20
Concentration: 20+1
Diplomacy: 20
Disguise: 12 (+4)
Gather Information: 20
Hide: 20
Knowledge (religion): 20
Move Silently: 20
Sense Motive: 20
Extra Turning
Bonus Feat

Sun's Revelation


18th
Shadowspy (9)
+9
+9
+10
+20
Concentration: 21+1
Diplomacy: 21
Disguise: 16 (+4)
Gather Information: 21
Hide: 21
Knowledge (religion): 21
Move Silently: 21
Sense Motive: 21
Divine Metamagic:
Persistent Spell

Exalted Truning
Hide in Plain Sight


19th
Radiant Servant of Pelor
+9
+11
+10
+22

INT: 20

Concentration: 22+1
Diplomacy: 22
Disguise: 18 (+4*)
Knowledge (religion): 22
Sense Motive: 22

Extra Greater Turning

Radiance

Turn Undead


20th
Church Inquisitor
+10
+11
+10
+23
Concentration: 23+1
Diplomacy: 23
Disguise: 21 (+6*)
Knowledge (religion): 23
Sense Motive: 23
Vow of Obedience
Immune to Charms



Spells per Day: Cleric / Apostle of Peace


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


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


2nd
3

1+1

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
4

2+1

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
4

2+1

1+1

-
-
-
-
-
-
-


5th
5

3+1

2+1

-
-
-
-
-
-
-


6th
-

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


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


8th
5
3
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


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


10th
5
3
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-


11th
6
3
2
1
0
-
-
-
-
-


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


13th
6
3
3
2
1
0
-
-
-
-


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


15th
6
3
3
3
2
1
0
-
-
-


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


17th
6
4
3
3
3
2
1
0
-
-


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


19th
6
4
4
3
3
3
2
1
0
-


20th
6
5
4
4
4
4
3
2
1
0



-> 5
We start out as an almost ordinary human (paragon). After our first battle experience at the tavern outpost Anubis focuses to become a priest ASAP and thus spends some time at a cloister (cloistered cleric). It seems that maybe due to his draconic blood, he can Rebuke Dragons and not Turn Undead as other clerics do.
Ian seems to be suspicious about some recent incidents at the temple. It seems that there is a conspiracy within the temple. Someone is spying on the temple's activities and seems to be interfering. Since Ian trusts Anubis, he informs him about his thoughts and asks him for assistance (Church Inquisitor).

Intuitive Attack helps to hit enemies in melee (WIS instead of STR)(later when we have Subdual Attack).
Detect Evil at will is always nice to have.

All the combat and violence as part time adventurer and part time priest starts to bother Anubis. He starts to dislike violence more and more (Vow of Nonviolence).


-> 10
After some time as Church Inquisitor, he is approaches by the talent scouts of Pelor's Shadowguard. They invite him to become a Shadowspy (of Pelor). This special unit operates in secrecy and remains unknown to the public. Anubis shows good qualities to fit as a Shadowspy and his reputation is still low enough to work without being identified by everyone as servant of Pelor.

As Shadowspy Anubis manages to be more useful to help solving the conspiracy. He is able to find some clues and reports em to Ian.
While Anubis likes his life(style), he has a big desire for peace. This leads him to make a "Vow of Peace". He thinks that anything and everything can be solved peacefully. "One needs sole the right mindset."
He effectively becomes an "apostle of peace".

On one of his missions Anubis was sent into a desert. He immediately felt in love with it and a deep bound towards it. Maybe it's due to his draconic blood line, who knows. But what he knows is that his bound to sand also manifests in his abilities. (Sand Shaper)

On his long journeys through the desert, Anubis realizes that he has also a talent for sand magic (Sand Shaper). He can Summon Desert creatures, if he can't prevent combat anymore and needs to be defended. "Animated Sand" is another nice spell. The Animated creature is friendly and intelligent (speaks a language), thus open to ask requests/favors via diplomacy. Since it has an INT score, we can pick feats with it. Mainly to pick Subduing Strike.
If the DM allows it, he can make object of sand and should be able to use em (since they are sole temporary objects by his own magic and have no value imho here should be made an exception. But the DM opinion may vary here).

Radiance of Pelor can double the range of an light source. While the example lists sole objects that are the target of a [Light] spell, the list is inclusive and not exclusive. Thus magical light sources on creatures like Holy Radiance (@ lvl 14) or a light spell on a creature like Blinding Glory (9th Glory, inlduces a Daylight effect) should also be affected by this ability.

Subduing Strike and Holy Subdual allows him to defend himself in melee without breaking his vow (of peace). This will be helpful against mainly those otherwise immune to our abilities.(note that glory domain gives access to "Holy Sword"). Combined with Strength devotion's slam attack, we can DISCIPLINE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp17xxJQXOM) any evildoers by giving em a fatherly slap.

Pacifying Touch helps to calm those down that successfully made a save roll against the Calm Emotions aura of Vow of Peace. The touch bypasses Saves and SR and thus is the ultimate tool to prevent combat. And if something should be immune to mind affecting abilities, we can fall back to the before mentioned Desert Summons & Subdual Strikes.


-> 15

Personal Eclipse boosts our Hide checks immense and makes Anubis extra hard to spot.

Anubis is always contemplative about life, religion and everything. Maybe its due to his focus on such thoughts that Pelor extended the spells he grants him access too (Contemplative; Glory Domain). His soul is so pure that it extends to his physique and gives him immunity to diseases.

He further learn techniques to hide his alignment to better spy on the enemies of the church (Veil of Pelor).

Truth of the Light gives access to Zone of Truth, which helps us to judge any potential liars in the church.



-> 20

Binding Light allows to blind enemies in cone. Another defensive tool if the enemies should be immune to "Calm Emotions".

Sun's Revelation further extends Anubis abilities to expose liars. While Zone of Truth doesn't allow lies, with this spell we can let the liar lie without him noticing that we know that he is lying. Sometimes it's best if the liar doesn't get exposed immediately to get to the higher ups behind him/her.

Anubis also gets a special version of Hide in Plain Sight which requires a sunlit spot to hide in it. For that, we have some spell options. E.g. Celestial Briliance (Glory) with a duration of days/clvl.

Radiant Servant of Pelor gives us another "Radiance" ability which double the range of all [Light] spells. Together with the Radiance ability of Shadowspy we triple the range of all Light spells (e.g. Sunbeam, 7th Glory; or Blinding Glory, 9th Glory).

With all the Extra Truning and 2 turning pools (Rebuke Dragons from Cloistered Cleric and Turn Undead from Apostle of Peace), we can make use of Divine Metamagic and still fuel Sun Devotion when needed to hide.
= (3 base + Cha* + 3x Extra Turning) x2 separate turning pools
= (3 + 6 + (3x4)) x2
= (9 +12) x2
= (21) x2
= 42 (the answer to everything..^^)
* Cha 22 @lvl 19

With 42 turnings we can persist up to 7 spells via DMM. Best solution imho is to persist 6 spells and to leave 6 turns to fuel strength devotion. But depending on the circumstances you may want to use all charges for persisting.

Suggestions for DMM: Persistent Spell
Here are some suggestion. No particular order. Just pick those most fitting for the day/situation.

1. End to Strife (BoED)
80-ft.-radius emanation, centered on you; creatures are aware that they take divine punishment for hostile actions = 20d6 dmg (nonlethal at casters wish)

2. (Greater) Visage of the Deity (BoED)
Mainly interesting due to resistance/immunity to energy damage types and the ability to fly.

3. Miracle: "Holy Transformation" (Spell Comp.)
By becoming a Hound Archon we live up to our name Anubis. This also gives us the archon subtype which enables us to make use of the spell Shield of the Archons. Note that your DM might force you to pick either Greiter Visage of a Deity or Holy Transformation. While there is an argument that the bonuses gained don't exclude each other, they are still altering your body and depend on those changes to give you the bonus (from a common sense point of view). It's arguable and imho boils down to DM decision here.

4. Shield of the Archons (BoED)
Requires to be an Archon (see Holy Transformation). Blocks one targeted spell per round at you. Each spell has a 5% chance per spell lvl to break the shield (the spell is still blocked). If you expect a lots or magical combat over a day, maybe leave some turning charges free to persist this multiple times per day.

5. Holy Aura
Kinda an improved Protection of Evil aura

6. Detect Thoughts
Always a handy tool for a spy and inquisitor.

7. Detect Secret Doors
Again nice to have on spy missions

8. Detect Magic
Another nice tool to look out for magical enemies, traps, items..

9: Entrophic Shield
Ranged defense (20%miss) angainst long range attacks from outside our auras

10. Crown of Glory (Spell Comp.)
20ft aura: +4 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks, immunity to fear effects, and temporary hit points equal to your caster level

11. Detect Chaos
Another detection spell.

Magic Items:
As said at the beginning, Apostle of Peace seems to create a specific exception for Vow of Poverty:

As part of their sacred vows, apostles of peace forswear the use of armor, though they may wear magic items that protect them (such as a ring of protection or bracers of armor). An apostle of peace who wears any armor is unable to cast apostle of peace spells or use any of his supernatural class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter.

I don't want to delve to much into this, but I wanted to mention the imho most intesting general options at least.

The most obvious ones are Bracers of Armor for special armor abilities and stuff that gives a some kind of AC bonus. Preferably untyped or dodge bonuses that stack with out VoP bonuses.

But imho the best thing to get is a Belt of Priestly Might. The +1 bonus to NA gives us the permission to use it. It further provides a +2 enhancement bonus to STR. Finally and what is imho most important is, that it also works as a Holy Symbol. Because that is not part of the things you may normally "use" with VoP. You can alternatively conjure a symbol via Summon Holy Symbol (Complete Champion; Cleric 0th; non magical and has no value per definition). As long as you don't have this item, you have to rely either on the summoned focus or sole use a focus while doing your duty for the temple.

Btw, I hope that this build doesn't turn into a discussion at the lvl of "using doorknobs". I hope for a mostly functional interpretation of the rules, especially considering the specific exception created by Apostle of Peace here.
Imho the best "in character" explanation why the Apostle sudden can use some defensive magic items is that it's part of his official temple outfit for him to wear while on duty (which may be always depending on your lifestyle). The temple still owns the stuff and he may sole use it as long as he is part of the temple. Maybe even sole for official stuff. Depends on DM decision here, since RAW will just end in hairsplitting arguments imho.

Anubis Chi'ting has evolved as divine whoreshipper Pelor so much that he finally is able to solve the conspiracy regarding the temple. Interestingly this also explained who has initiated the war that killed his family. God's ways of justice sometimes takes some interesting turns, Anubis thinks.

I hope you enjoyed the build. Imho an Apostle of Peace as Shadowspy may be not the norm, but it is imho somehow fitting. A spy normally tries to avoid combat as beast as he can, so why not be a pacifist. Most spies work most of time when there is "peace" and not sole when there is "war". The abilities from Vow of Peace and the Pacifying Touch from AoP are very fitting for a spy imho. And on regular adventures/missions we can rely on that do handle most combat encounters with ease. The sole downside of the build is that costly material components for some spells need to be "officially" provided by someone else: e.g your party members or the temple if you do some official stuff.
While Apostle of Peace is often seen as an annoying choice to play at a table, imho it depends on the players and what type of game they want to play. If the focus is more on role play and solving riddles for the players and less on the direct combat, an Apostle of Peace can be the perfect character for such a group. While these kind of groups/campaigns are rare, they still happen and can be refreshing from the common combat focused campaigns. It's just that all players need to make this decision together when someone intends to play a Apostle of Peace character.
I hope I could convince you of the beauty this build has for me as entry for the contest. Imho it keeps the fluff of the SI and adds some nice fluff of his own to it (see name and the explanation at the beginning).

Thx for your patience and good luck to all the contestants.

[The Viscount]

It is better to light a candle than to curse the ingredient.



Chatoyan Silika



https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/704885103867723830/1090340639251648642/Screenshot_2023-03-28_at_2.22.42_PM.png?width=800&height=404
Neutral Good Asherati (sandstorm p.37&139)
Low Class Cloistered Cleric of Pelor 1/Artificer 6/Shadowspy 4/Cragtop Archer 4/Candle Caster 5


When the Missionaries came through preaching of Pelor, I wondered why the world would need more than one sun god. Aurifar, Caliph of the Sky, does everything Pelor does, though his sanctimony is a bit less structured around being an obedient child. Ultimately, though, I reasoned that there is no difference between the two gods of the sun, what I was seeing was a reflection of the sun god through his people, just as my inner light refracts differently through different sands. I researched the matter thoroughly; I lost an entire rainy season festooned in my research. I found something though. The sun gods cannot reach very far into the earth and the worst enemies of the light find refuge there. My peoples are gifted in that we can reach into the depths of the desert, and from there, the enemies of light must then retreat further.




Abilities

Initial
4th

8th
12th
16th
20th


STR

12




1


DEX
14







CON
14







INT
14


1
1



WIS
14
1

1





CHA
12










Shadowspy, the deep cover agents of the god Pelor in his battle against...*checks notes*...SHADOWS??

This class has one very interesting ability granted at first level: Radiance of Pelor: The ability to expand sources of light. The only thing limiting factor is that we need to find sources of light that have a duration and an effect beyond making you able see.

Here is the text of the ability, as it will need to be perused when we get to the shadowcaster exploit in the last quartile of the build.


Radiance of Pelor (Su): Pelor has granted you the power to enhance sources of light so that they shine as brightly as the sun. As a swift action, you can augment any or all light sources within 60 feet (including torches, lamps, lanterns, and campfires, as well as objects that are the target of a light spell and magic weapons that glow). The range of any light source so affected doubles, and the effect lasts a number of hours equal to your shadowspy level, or until the light source is extinguished, whichever occurs first. This ability can be used a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum once).

I really scoured over 127 different splat books to find this build. And the one ability that I could find leverage on without a single inelegant reading of the ability was found in Sandstorm. The asherati have two unique racial abilities, copied belowed for completeness: Sandswim and Body lamp.


Sandswim (Su): As a merfolk is to the sea, an asherati is to sand, ash, dust, and even softsand (but not slipsand, packed dirt, or rock). An asherati can sandswim through such materials at his land speed while wearing light armor or carrying a light load. His speed drops to 5 feet if an asherati wears heavier armor or carries a medium load. An asherati cannot make any headway through the sand while carrying a heavy load. An asherati breathes normally while under the sands. This supernatural ability doesn't allow an asherati to breath in mediums other than sand, dust, or ash, nor does it allow an asherati to hold its breath longer than normal in water or dangerous gases.

Body Lamp (Su): An asherati can make his skin glow at will, providing bright light out to 60 feet and shadowy illumination out to 120 feet. In a medium of loose soil, such as sand, dust, or ash, a peculiar quality of the light allows an asherati to make out solid objects up to 60 feet away. Under the sand, this light is sufficient for navigation and general identification of objects, but not for reading, recognizing individuals, or other similar feats of fi ner perception. This ability does not allow an asherati to see invisible creatures or creatures with concealment more easily than normal. Other creatures in the sand with an asherati do not gain this special sight, but they can see the sand take on a warm, orange glow. Once per day, as a free action, an asherati can bring his skin up to full brilliance so rapidly that it can dazzle all creatures within 30 feet for 1 minute. Creatures can avoid this effect with a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the asherati's character level + his Cha modifier).


"In a medium of loose soil, such as sand, dust, or ash, a peculiar quality of the light allows an asherati to make out solid objects up to 60 feet away."

The ability for an asherati to see are affected by the light generated by the body lamp ability. The light itself has a peculiar quality that any asherati can use to see. So if we supercharged the ability to see through sand with Shadowspy's Radiance of Pelor ability, we could do something maybe.

Ranged attacks. Problem is that despite having line of sight, there is no line of effect, so the badguys that you see through the sand have total cover and therefor cannot be targetted.

But we immediately hit paydirt.

Complete warrior (page 134) has the Bloodseeking enchantment for ranged weapons.


Ammunition fired from blood seeking weapons flies around cover if necessary to strike a living creature,
negating any bonus to Armor Class the target might have due to intervening cover. The shooter can even
fire at a target with full cover, but she must know the target is there, there must be an unobstructed path for
the ammunition to reach the target, and the target still has total concealment (and thus a 50% miss chance).
The blood seeking ability doesn’t function against plants, oozes, undead, and constructs.

So we can now target the enemies that we see through the sand, while sandswimming, so long as there is not an unobstructed path to the target. That's where Champions of Ruin comes into play. On page 129, is the brilliant energy arrow:


Brilliant Energy Arrow
Level: Assassin 2, Ranger 2, Justice of Weald and Woe 2,
Components: V, M,
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Touch
Target: One masterwork arrow or bolt
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell is cast upon a masterwork arrow or bolt, transforming its head into brilliant energy that gives off light as a torch (20-foot radius). A brilliant energy missile ignores nonliving matter. Armor bonuses to AC (including any enhancement bonuses to that armor) do not count against it because the missile passes through armor. It deals normal damage and has no effect on constructs, undead, and objects. The arrow or bolt must be fired during the same round the spell is cast, or the magic dissipates and is lost. The projectile is destroyed even if it misses its target. Material Component:Masterwork arrow or bolt.

Unless there's a sandgolem or living sand in the path, you can now hit your opponents with arrows from underground from 60 feet away. Which means that radiance of pelor can double this range up to three times to 480 feet away. With widen supernatural ability, you can target solid objects with blood in them from 960 feet away.

Then all we need to do is get the ability to actually hit them from that far. Cragtop archer supplies us with Horizon shot and Arcing shot.

There are all sorts of mundane arrows to choose from for other effects. Listed after the infusions per day table are the sandy archery spells that augment this build further, namely split arrow. We can afford to take time between attacks as only burrowers, high level druids, and other asherati can bring the battle to me. Further augmenting the build versatility is the ability to soften earth and stone, which can allow this technique to work in dirt. Transmute stone to sand allows further environmental variability.

I built this thing 3 different ways, and artificer grants the most boons to the style of the class. This build comes online with the full shebang at level 7. The ranger version was useless till level 15. One thing that seems good to point out is how prestige classes advance artificer.


Artificers benefit in a specific way from prestige classes that have “+1 level of existing spellcasting class” as a level advancement benefit. An artificer taking levels in such a prestige class does not gain any of his class abilities, but he does gain an increased caster level when using his infusions. Levels of prestige classes that provide +1 level of spellcasting effectively stack with the artificer’s level to determine his effective caster level. An artificer gains access to higher-level infusions at these prestige class levels as though he had gained a level in the artificer class. An artificer can qualify for prestige classes with spellcasting level requirements (as long as they do not specifically require arcane or divine casting), even though his infusions aren’t spells. Prestige classes with caster level requirements are also well suited to the artificer. An artificer’s caster level for his infusions fulfi lls this requirement. Classes that advance only arcane or divine spellcasting classes, specifically, would not benefit an artificer, because infusions are neither arcane nor divine in nature. Likewise, a prestige class with a prerequisite to cast a specific spell would be unavailable to an artificer.

We qualify for Cragtop archer by building horizon goggles to grant us the far shot feat.

Major exploit developed we then need something to carry us into high levels. And what stands out is that the radiance of pelor might be interpretted as extending the duration of a light source's effects.

"The range of any light source so affected doubles, and the effect lasts a number of hours equal to your shadowspy level, or until the light source is extinguished, whichever occurs first."

The effect can be interpretted as referring to the effect of the light source rather than being a self identifying term for the ability. So if you had levels in candle caster, you gain the ability to store spells in candles.


Candle Effect: A successfully lit candle automatically activates the stored spell at the beginning of the candle caster's action in the next round (which does nor draw an attack of opportunity). It works exactly like a spell prepared and cast the normal way However, since she lit the candle during the previous round, the candle caster can take normal actions on the same round the candle's spell takes effect.

The flame of the burning candle mimics the triggered spell's duration. Thus, an instantaneous spell causes the candle to flare and burn out immediately while a candle scribed with a spell having a longer duration burns for that length of time. However, if the flame is extinguished before the spell expires, the spell's duration is cut short.



If the candle light of a spell with a duration is extended to last for hours, under the reading that "the effect" lasts a number of hours equal to your shadowspy level, or until the light source is extinguished. If the length of the time that the candle is lit determines the duration of the spell for curtailing the spell, does extending the duration of the flame mean that the spell duration is then...extended by hours?




[TR]
Level
Class
Base Attack Bonus

Fort Save
Reflex Save
Will Save
Skills

Feats
Class Features


1st

Low Social Class (Cityscape p.59) Cloistered Cleric (UA p.50)of Pelor
0
2
0
2
32: {+4} Move Silently: 4; {+4} Hide: 4; {+2 CC} Spot: 1; {+4} Concentration: 4; {+4} Craft (candlemaking): 4; {+4} Gather Information: 4; {+2 CC} Survival: 1; {+4} Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; {+4} Spellcraft: 4;
Good Devotion (Complete Champion, p. 58) , Heretic of the Faith (Power of Faerun, p. 46) (Trickery Domain, elven double bow)
Lore, Turn Undead, Trickery Domain, gather information.


2nd
Artificer 1
0
2
0
4
6: {+1 CC} Move Silently: 4.5; {+1 CC} Hide: 4.5; Spot: 1; Concentration: 4; Craft (candlemaking): 4; {+1} Gather Information: 5; Survival: 1; {+3} UMD: 3; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Spellcraft: 4;
Scribe Scroll
Artificer knowledge, artisan bonus, disable trap, item creation, Scribe Scroll


3rd
Artificer 2
1
2
0
5
6: {+1 CC} Move Silently: 5; {+1 CC} Hide: 5; Spot: 1; Concentration: 4; Craft (candlemaking): 4; {+1} Gather Information: 6; Survival: 1; {+3} UMD: 6; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Spellcraft: 4;
Brew Potion, Judged by Aurifar (Sandstorm p. 50)
Brew Potion


4th
Artificer 3
2
3
1
5
6: {+1 CC} Move Silently: 5.5; {+1 CC} Hide: 5.5; {+1 CC} Spot: 1.5; {+1} Concentration: 5; Craft (candlemaking): 4; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 1; {+1} UMD: 7; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; {+1} Disable Device: 1; Spellcraft: 4;
Craft Wondrous Item, Far Shot
Craft Wondrous Item, Horizon Goggles


5th
Artificer 4
3
3
1
6
6: {+1 CC} Move Silently: 6; {+1 CC} Hide: 6; {+1 CC} Spot: 2; {+1} Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 4; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 1; {+1} UMD: 8; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Disable Device: 1; {+1} Decipher Script: 1; Spellcraft: 4;
Smiting Spell (PHB2 p. 92)
Craft homunculus, bonus feat


6th
Shadowspy (Complete Champion p.105)
3
3
3
8
8: Move Silently: 6; Hide: 6; {+5} Climb: 5; {+3} Spot: 5; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 4; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 1; UMD: 8; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Disable Device: 1; Decipher Script: 1; Spellcraft: 4;
Exotic Weapon Pro Elven double bow(Arms and Equipment Guide p.7) Trickery Devotion (Complete Champion p. 63)

Aura of anonymity, radiance of Pelor


7th
Artificer 5
3
3
3
8
6: Move Silently: 6; Hide: 6; Climb: 5; Spot: 5; Concentration: 6; {+2} Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+2 CC} Survival: 2; {+2} UMD: 10; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Disable Device: 1; Decipher Script: 1; Spellcraft: 4;
Craft Magic Arms and Armor
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, retain essence, Bloodseeking enchantment


8th
artificer 6
4
4
4
9
6: Move Silently: 6; Hide: 6; Climb: 5; Spot: 5; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+2 CC} Survival: 3; {+1} UMD: 11; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; {+2} Disable Device: 3; {+1} Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4;
Craft Wand
Craft Wand


9th
shadowspy 2
5
4
5
10
8: Move Silently: 6; Hide: 6; {+4} Climb: 9; Spot: 5; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+2 CC} Survival: 4; {+2 CC} UMD: 12; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4;
Mountain Warrior (Races of Stone, p. 142), Extra Turning
Bonus feat, immunity to blindness


10th
shadowspy 3
6
5
5
10
8: {+1} Move Silently: 7; {+1} Hide: 7; {+1} Climb: 10; {+1} Spot: 6; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+2 CC} Survival: 5; {+2 CC} UMD: 13; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 4; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4;

Veil of Pelor


11th
Cragtop Archer (Races of Stone p.101) 1
7
7
5
10
6: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; {+1} Spot: 7; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Survival: 6; {+2 CC} UMD: 14; {+1} Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 5; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 1;

Adept climber, farsight


12th
Cragtop Archer 2
8
8
5
10
6: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; {+1} Spot: 8; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Survival: 7; {+2 CC} UMD: 15; {+1} Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 6; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 2;
point blank shot

Strike from above


13th
Cragtop Archer 3
9
8
6
11
6: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; {+1} Spot: 9; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Survival: 8; {+2 CC} UMD: 16; {+1} Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 7; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 3;

Arcing shot


14th
Cragtop Archer 4
10
9
6
11
6: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; {+1} Spot: 10; Concentration: 6; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 17; {+1} Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 2; Spellcraft: 4; {+1} Knowledge (nature): 4;

Horizon shot


15th
shadowspy 4
11
9
7
12
8: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; {+1} Spot: 11; {+2} Concentration: 8; Craft (candlemaking): 6; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 18; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; {+3} Decipher Script: 5; Spellcraft: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4;
Woodland Archer (Races of the Wild, p. 154)
, Great Fortitude (belt of endurance)

Personal eclipse, craft belt of endurance (AEG)



16th
Candle Caster (Tome and Blood p.52)
11
9
7
14
5: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; Spot: 11; {+2} Concentration: 10; {+1} Craft (candlemaking): 7; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 19; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 5; Spellcraft: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4;

Scribe Candle


17th
Candle Caster
12
9
7
15
5: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; Spot: 11; {+2} Concentration: 12; {+1} Craft (candlemaking): 8; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 20; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 5; Spellcraft: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4;

Extend Candle


18th
Candle Caster
12
10
8
15
5: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; Spot: 11; {+2} Concentration: 14; {+1} Craft (candlemaking): 9; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 21; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 5; Spellcraft: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4;
Widen Supernatural Ability (Tome of Magic, p. 75)
Unfettered Candle


19th
Candle Caster
13
10
8
16
5: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; Spot: 11; {+2} Concentration: 16; {+1} Craft (candlemaking): 10; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 22; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 5; Spellcraft: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4;

Enlarge Candle


20th
Candle Caster
13
10
8
16
5: Move Silently: 7; Hide: 7; Climb: 10; Spot: 11; {+2} Concentration: 18; {+1} Craft (candlemaking): 11; Gather Information: 6; Survival: 9; {+2 CC} UMD: 23; Craft (bowyer/fletcher): 8; Disable Device: 3; Decipher Script: 5; Spellcraft: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4;

Dipped Candle






Level
Class
0th

1st

2nd
3rd
4th
5th


1st
Low Social Class Cloistered Cleric of Pelor
Cleric
Cleric











2nd
Artificer 1


2











3rd
Artificer 2


3











4th
Artificer 3


3

1








5th
Artificer 4


3

2









6th
Shadowspy


3
2








7th
Artificer 5


3

3
1






8th
artificer 6


3

3
2






9th
shadowspy 2


3
3
2






10th
shadowspy 3


3
3
2






11th
Cragtop Archer 1


3
3
2






12th
Cragtop Archer 2


3
3

2






13th
Cragtop Archer 3


3
3
2






14th
Cragtop Archer 4


3
3

2






15th
shadowspy 4


3
3

3
1




16th
Candle Caster


3
3
3
2




17th
Candle Caster


3
3
3
2




18th
Candle Caster


3
3
3
2

1



19th
Candle Caster


3
3
3
2
2



20th
Candle Caster


3
3

3
3
2






Spell Level
Spells for Underground Archery Vital spells in Bold


1

Truestrike, hunter's mercy (SpC), Guided Arrow (Miniature Handbook), Hawk eye (SpC), Instant of Power (FoW), Raptor's Sight (RotW), Accuracy (Complete Arcane), Lay of the Land (SpC),


2

Brilliant Energy Arrow (CoR), spell slayer arrow (CoR), sonic weapon (SpC), Soften Earth and Stone (SRD)


3
flame arrow (SRD), Darkflame Arrow (CoR), Arrowstorm (SpC), Arrowsplit (CoR), Serpent Arrow (CoR), undead bane weapon (SpC), Near Horizon (CM), Find the Gap


4
Doublestrike arrow (CoR), Bloodfreeze arrow (CoR), Melf's Slumber Arrow (CM), shadow arrow (CoR)


5
transmute stone to sand (SaSt), nightstalker's transformation, Alaunghaer's Triptych (dragons of the north web)



6
Brilliant Blade (SC p.40)



7
Arrow of Bone


8
prismatic bow (CM)




Alaunghaer's Triptych (Transmutation)
Level: Sor/Wiz 5
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Targets: Up to three magic items
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Special
Spell Resistance: No (object)

You activate up to three items you are wearing or carrying, which together count as a quickened spell (whether you activate one, two, or three items, it counts as a quickened spell for that round, preventing you from casting another quickened spell that round). These activations occur in any order you choose. Only one ability of any particular item can be activated by a particular use of this spell, and the ability must be a spell trigger- or command word-activated ability. The items must be items that you could otherwise activate (for example, you have to know the command word for the item, a character with no cleric levels could not use this spell to activate a wand of cure light wounds, and so on), and must be used properly (items that use magic item slots such as bracers and rings must be worn in the appropriate location, a wand must be held in hand, and so on). The items function normally (you choose the target or area, are subject to any limitation of the items, and so on) and do not suffer any penalties due to being activated quickly by the spell. You may aim the items at the same target or different targets. If more than one item generates a touch effect (such as ghoul touch and shocking grasp), only the last-activated item's touch effect functions, with the other or others having dispersed as if you had cast a spell while holding the charge on a touch spell (in short, activating multiple touch effects is a wasted use of the potential of this spell). A triptych is not completely reliable. Each time the spell is cast, roll d% for each item; a result of 5% or less means the spell fails to activate the item. If the item were the first or second item activated by the triptych, you can attempt to activate it again with your remaining one or two activations from the spell.



Level 5
One of the bigger hurdles to this prestige class is skill requirements, which we cover with heretic of the faith to swap a domain to the trickery domain. This grants class skills. From cityscape there is a variant rule where you can add permenant class skills by virtue of your socioeconomic class growing up. From this, we obtain the gather information skill. Following the rules in complete champion, we trade out access to the good domain to obtain good devotion feat.

At level 3, we pick up the judged by aurifar, another sun god, solely to work around favored class penalties. We can switch back to pelor befor shadowspy and build items of atonement as necessary to not pay penalty fees on having a level in cleric. With craft wondrous item, we are able to build ourselves some horizon goggles, which are awesome.

Between scrolls, potions, and wondrous items, Chatoyan should be a valuable member of the group. Infusions can be used to shoot from underground (weapon augmentation (bloodseeking), spell storing item (brilliant energy arrow)).

Level 10
At level 6, we double our ability to deal damage by taking proficiency in the eleven double bow. Mostly it lets us shoot two arrows if we waste a move action double docking the arrows. Radiance of Pelor now allows us to grow brightly and see further under the sand.

Once we enter shadowspy, we no longer need access to the trickery domain for the skill availability, , so we can turn that into a super convenient illusionary double that can also shed light and be affected by radiance of pelor. And there is no maximum range of your trickery double, so… if they’re fast, the peculiar quality of their light can extend your range.

At level 7, we can craft ourselves a bloodseeking elven double bow and start raining arrows from the ground. at higher levels, we can add some exploding, spell storing, exit wound enchantments to make this thing worthwhile.

Crafting wands of our favorite ranger-archer based spells now unshackles us from problems, and the alaunghaers triptych spell will allow us to have brilliant energy splitting darkflame arrows so long as we are capable of figuring out the action economy (candles of alaunghaers might help, if you can light candles underground).

We nab extra turning for our devotion feats from shadowspy 2.



Level 15

Four levels of cragtop archer will allow us to shoot at anything we can see. This is a power upgrade, allowing attacks from further away. The fourth and final level of shadowspy allows us to have upgraded hide checks, although only in direct light. There is a line about asherati’s being unable to hide while they have body lamp activated, but maybe this ability circumvents it? It should. RAW, you can’t. Further, we gain one more artificer infusion level.

Point blank shot and woodland archer are added to the mix. Of course, if you create a custom item of point blank shot, you can instead choose something like dragon compendium’s guided spell.


Level 20

5 levels of candle caster, with a level 20 capstone of storing two spells in a candle and the ability to extend the duration of those spells to 4 hours, as discussed in the introduction.

The candle can be lit by your trickery double, which is a neat thing.



Go banish the darkness with your light!

[The Viscount]

Amrunaaaaan, Amun all night and daaaaaaay


Amrunanun
Star Elf Bard 9/Cloistered Cleric 1/Shadowspy 10

Pelor’s light is all. Even in the shadows where it seems absent, the sun’s rays define life and death. The shadowspy may peer into these recesses, cast the light of grace into these places where it is occluded, and yet in truth, it has been there always. The dark forest floors of the jungles of Aernal cannot be such without the canopy that grows in the sun’s rays. Sun rises, sun sets. Life, death, rebirth. Light flashing into being or being snuffed out. It is all, in truth the omnipresent and everlasting light of the sun.

Ability Scores
10 Str, 12 Dex, 12 Con, 14 Int, 12 Wis, 18 Cha
Increase Cha at all opportunities.

Build Table
Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Nature Bard 1 0 0 2 2 29: {+4} Balance: 4; {+4} Iaijutsu Focus: 4; {+4} Gather Information: 4; {+4} Hide: 4; {+4} Knowledge (Religion): 4; {+1} Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Arcana): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+4} Move Silently: 4; {+1} Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 1; Aereni Focus (Iaijutsu Focus) Bardic Music, Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy
2nd Cloistered Cleric 1 0 2 2 4 8: Balance: 4; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 5; {+5} Concentration: 5; Gather Information: 4; Hide: 4; {+1} Knowledge (The Planes): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 5; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Move Silently: 4; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Knowledge (Local): 1; Sun DevotionB, Knowledge Devotion (The Planes)B Turn Undead, Sun Domain, Healing Domain, Knowledge Domain
3rd Bard 2 1 2 3 5 8: Balance: 4; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 6; {+1} Concentration: 6; {+2} Gather Information: 6; {+2} Hide: 6; Knowledge (The Planes): 1; Knowledge (Religion): 5; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+2} Move Silently: 6; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Knowledge (Local): 1; Darkstalker -
4th Shadowspy 1 1 2 5 7 8: {+1} Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 7; {+1} Concentration: 7; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 7; Knowledge (The Planes): 1; Knowledge (Religion): 5; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 7; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 2; {+2} Collector of Stories; - Aura of Anonymity, Radiance of Pelor
5th Shadowspy 2 2 2 6 8 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 8; {+1} Concentration: 8; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 8; Knowledge (The Planes): 1; Knowledge (Religion): 5; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 8; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+4} Knowledge (Local): 6; Collector of Stories; Extra TurningB Immunity to Blindness
6th Shadowspy 3 3 3 6 8 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 9; {+1} Concentration: 9; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 9; Knowledge (The Planes): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 6; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 9; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+3} Knowledge (Local): 9; Collector of Stories; Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Gnome Quickrazor) Veil of Pelor
7th Shadowspy 4 4 3 7 9 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 10; {+1} Concentration: 10; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 10; Knowledge (The Planes): 1; {+3} Knowledge (Religion): 9; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 10; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 10; Collector of Stories; - Personal Eclipse
8th Shadowspy 5 4 3 7 9 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 11; {+1} Concentration: 11; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 11; {+1} Knowledge (The Planes): 2; {+2} Knowledge (Religion): 11; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 11; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 11; Collector of Stories; Extra TurningB -
9th Shadowspy 6 5 4 8 10 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 12; {+1} Concentration: 12; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 12; {+2} Knowledge (The Planes): 4; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 12; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 12; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 12; Collector of Stories; Touchstone (Oxyrhynchus) Truth of the Light
10th Shadowspy 7 6 4 8 10 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 13; {+1} Concentration: 13; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 13; {+2} Knowledge (The Planes): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 13; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 13; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 13; Collector of Stories; - Blinding Light
11th Shadowspy 8 7 4 9 11 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 14; {+1} Concentration: 14; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 14; {+2} Knowledge (The Planes): 8; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 14; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 14; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 14; Collector of Stories; Extra TurningB Sun's Revelation
12th Shadowspy 9 7 5 9 11 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 15; {+1} Concentration: 15; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 15; {+2} Knowledge (The Planes): 10; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 15; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 15; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 15; Collector of Stories; Death Devotion Hide in Plain Sight
13th Shadowspy 10 8 5 10 12 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 16; {+1} Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 16; {+2} Knowledge (The Planes): 12; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 16; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 16; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 16; Collector of Stories; - Vision of Pelor
14th Bard 3 9 6 10 12 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 17; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 17; Knowledge (The Planes): 12; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 17; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 17; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+3} Perform (Dance): 3; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 17; Collector of Stories; - -
15th Bard 4 10 6 11 13 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 18; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 18; Knowledge (The Planes): 12; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 18; Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 1; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 18; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+3} Perform (Dance): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 18; Collector of Stories; Snowflake Wardance Resist Nature's Lure
16th Bard 5 10 6 11 13 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 19; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 19; Knowledge (The Planes): 12; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 19; {+3} Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 4; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 19; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Perform (Dance): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 19; Collector of Stories; - -
17th Bard 6 11 7 12 14 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 20; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 20; Knowledge (The Planes): 12; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 20; {+3} Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 7; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 20; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Perform (Dance): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 20; Collector of Stories; - Suggestion
18th Bard 7 12 7 12 14 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 21; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 21; Knowledge (The Planes): 12; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 21; {+3} Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 10; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 21; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Perform (Dance): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 21; Collector of Stories; Martial Study (Shadow Stride) -
19th Bard 8 13 7 13 15 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 22; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 22; {+1} Knowledge (The Planes): 13; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 22; {+2} Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 12; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 22; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Perform (Dance): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 22; Collector of Stories; - -
20th Bard 9 13 8 13 15 8: Balance: 5; {+1} Iaijutsu Focus: 23; Concentration: 16; Gather Information: 6; {+1} Hide: 23; {+1} Knowledge (The Planes): 14; {+1} Knowledge (Religion): 23; {+2} Knowledge (Dugeoneering): 14; Knowledge (Arcana): 1; Knowledge (Nature): 1; {+1} Move Silently: 23; Knowledge (Nature): 1; Perform (Dance): 6; {+1} Knowledge (Local): 23; Collector of Stories; - -

Bard Spells per Day/Spells Known
Level 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1st 2/4
3rd 3/5 0/2
5th 3/6 1/3
7th 3/6 2/3 0/2
9th 3/6 3/4 1/3
11th 3/6 3/4 2/3
13th 3/6 3/4 2/4 0/2
14th 3/6 3/4 3/4 1/3
15th 3/6 3/4 3/4 2/3
16th 3/6 3/4 3/4 2/4 0/2
17th 3/6 3/4 3/4 3/4 1/3
18th 3/6 3/4 3/4 3/4 2/3
19th 3/6 3/4 3/4 3/4 2/4 0/2
20th 4/6 3/4 3/4 3/4 3/4 1/3
Bard Spells Known
0th: Daze, Detect Magic, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Prestidigitation
1st: Grease, Hideous Laughter, Improvisation, Swift Invisibility
2nd: Whirling Blade, Alter Self, Summon Elysian Thrush, Blur
3rd: Phantom Steed, Mirror Image, Haste, Glibness
4th: Dimension Door, Freedom of Movement, Dominate Person, Ruin Delver’s Fortune
5th: Greater Blink, Persistent Image, Shadow Evocation

Cloistered Cleric 1 covers the casting requirements for Shadowspy while Bard gets us the skills we need to enter at the earliest possible point. Aereni Focus makes Iaijutsu Focus a class skill forever, and with Darkstalker and Grease to help set it up as well as Knowledge Devotion and Collector of Stories, we can deliver some powerful alpha strikes. As we won’t really be using the Inspire Bardic Musics, we trade them in for the Nature Bard variant, and the animal companion that it gives is relevant in these levels as well, and it can help fill out crowds to 10 individuals for Aura of Anonymnity bonuses.
Shadowspy progresses Bard casting to access Whirling Blade and improves stealth to set up iaijutsu attacks. With the iaijutsu classic gnome quickrazor and the base ability from Oxyrhynchus, we can even deliver an additional iaijutsu attack to follow up the Whirling Blade so long as there are multiple enemies lined up appropriately, as we make multiple attacks and catch an enemy flatfooted. Summon Elysian Thrush can grant another long-term summoned creature hanging around to fill out the numbers for Aura of Anonymity, and with Sun Devotion and multiple bonus Extra Turning feats, we never need to worry about keeping Personal Eclipse online. Blinding Light is also now online, offering a way to make enemies flatfooted as a swift action to set up iaijutsu attacks where they would not otherwise work.
Hide in Plain Sight offers another way to keep enemies flatfooted, and as our primary attack option, Whirling Blade, is a standard action anyway, moving to hide in combat is no problem. It may be necessary to have concealment due to the wording on Shadowspy’s Hide in Plain Sight ability, but Blur solves this problem. With huge pools of Turn Undead and Bardic Music abilities to draw from, we can also use Death Devotion and Snowflake Wardance to boost offensive capabilities. Bard casting also provides Phantom Steed and Mirror Image, which, in addition to the regular ways in which they’re good, add numbers to crowds for Aura of Anonymity.
We return to Bard to finish things out, progressing casting up to 5ths and keeping skill points high. Martial Study (Shadow Stride) is always a pretty solid option for an 18th level feat, but it’s better than usual here with our stealth capabilities and as Whirling Blade means we don’t care about making full attacks.

Complete Champion: Death Devotion, Knowledge Devotion, Sun Devotion, Shadowspy
Frostburn: Snowflake Wardance
Oriental Adventures: Iaijutsu Focus
Planar Handbook: Oxyrhynchus
Player’s Guide to Eberron: Aereni Focus
Races of Stone: Gnome Quickrazor
Sandstorm: Touchstone
Spell Compendium: Greater Blink, Improvisation, Ruin Delver’s Fortune, Summon Elysian Thrush, Swift Invisibility, Whirling Blade
Tome of Battle: Martial Study, Shadow Stride
Everything else is SRD.

[The Viscount]

The cheese course is naturally served last.


Pelor's Divine Sun
Anthropomorphic Bat Cloistered Dead Levels Cleric 2 / Psychic Rogue 1 / Shadowspy 10 / Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 / Ardent 1 / Psy Theurge 5


First thing's first: this is a Theoretical Optimization Build. We're bringing out the whole round of cheese today, so prepare yourself for the nonsense at hand.

TYPE: Monstrous Humanoid
SIZE: Small
ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good
AGE: Venerable
DEITY: Pelor (duh)
Languages: Common, Celestial
HIT DICE: 15d6 + 5d4
WHY: you let me do this, fools

Initial Stats
STR: 13
DEX: 09
CON: 09
INT: 15
WIS: 18
CHA: 09

Modified Stats (Anthro Bat, Venerable)
STR: 03
DEX: 03
CON: 03
INT: 18
WIS: 27
CHA: 10

End Stats (Leveling, Vow of Poverty)*
STR: 03
DEX: 05 (+2 at level 19)
CON: 03
INT: 22 (+2 at 15/19)
WIS: 40 (+1 at 04/08/12/16/20, +2 at 07/11/15/19)
CHA: 16 (+2 at 11/15/19)

*All regular leveling points go into WIS.
* Vow of Poverty goes, as follows: WIS+8, CHA+6, INT+4, DEX+2


Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class (and VoP) Features
1st Cloistered Cleric 1 0 2 0 2 Gather Info 2 (+4), Hide 2 (+4), Move Silently 2 (+4), Heal 4 (+4), Knowledge: Psionics 4 (+4), Knowledge: Religion 4 (+4), Diplomacy 4 (+4), Concentration 4 (+4), Spellcraft 4 (+4), Knowledge: Local 4 (+4) Healing Devotion, Sacred Vow Simple Weapon Profiency, Light Armor Profiency, Lore, Knowledge Domain, Sun Domain, Healing Domain, Turn Undead
2nd Psychic Rogue 1 0 2 2 2 Gather Info 5 (+3), Hide 5 (+3), Move Silently 5 (+3), Heal 4, Knowledge: Psionics 4, Knowledge: Religion 4, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 4, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1 (+1) - Sneak Attack (1d6), Trapfinding
3rd Dead Levels Cloistered Cleric 2 1 3 2 3 Gather Info 6 (+2), Hide 6 (+2), Move Silently 6 (+2), Heal 5 (+1), Knowledge: Psionics 6 (+2), Knowledge: Religion 5 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 4, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1 Vow of Poverty Undead Intuition, AC Bonus (+5), Endure Elements
4th Shadowspy 1 1 3 4 5 Gather Info 7 (+1), Hide 7 (+1), Move Silently 7 (+1), Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 7 (+2), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7 (+3), Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1, Spot 1 (+1), Listen 1 (+1), Sense Motive 1 (+1) Nimbus of Light Aura of Anonymity, Radiance of Pelor, Exalted Strike (+1)
5th Shadowspy 2 2 3 5 6 Gather Info 8 (+1), Hide 7, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 8 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1, Spot 1, Listen 2 (+1), Sense Motive 8 (+7) Extra Turning Immunity to Blindness, Sustenance
6th Shadowspy 3 3 4 5 6 Gather Info 9 (+1), Hide 9 (+2), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 9 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1, Spot 1, Listen 7 (+5), Sense Motive 9 (+1) Extend Spell, Defender of the Homeland Veil of Pelor, Deflection (+1), AC Bonus (+6)
7th Shadowspy 4 4 4 6 7 Gather Info 10 (+1), Hide 10 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 9, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1, Spot 5 (+4), Listen 10 (+3), Sense Motive 10 (+1) - Personal Eclipse, Resistance (+1), Ability Score Enhacement (WIS+2)
8th Shadowspy 5 4 4 6 7 Gather Info 11 (+1), Hide 11 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 9, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1, Spot 11 (+6), Listen 11 (+1), Sense Motive 11 (+1) Extra Turning, Exalted Turning Natural Armor (+1), Mind Shielding
9th Shadowspy 6 5 5 7 8 Gather Info 12 (+1), Hide 12 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 12 (+3), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 4, Escape Artist 1, Spot 12 (+1), Listen 12 (+1), Sense Motive 12 (+1), Decipher Script 2 (+2) Persistent Spell Truth of the Light, AC Bonus (+7)
10th Shadowspy 7 6 5 7 8 Gather Info 13 (+1), Hide 13 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 13 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 8 (+4), Escape Artist 1, Spot 13 (+1), Listen 13 (+1), Sense Motive 13 (+1), Decipher Script 2 Lliira's Blessing Blinding Light, Exalted Strike (+2), Damage Reduction 5/magic
11th Shadowspy 8 7 5 8 9 Gather Info 14 (+1), Hide 14 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 14 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 12 (+4), Escape Artist 1, Spot 14 (+1), Listen 14 (+1), Sense Motive 14 (+1), Decipher Script 2 Extra Turning Sun's Revelation, Ability Score Enhacement (WIS+4 CHA+2)
12th Shadowspy 9 7 6 8 9 Gather Info 14 (+1), Hide 14 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 14 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 12 (+4), Escape Artist 1, Spot 14 (+1), Listen 14 (+1), Sense Motive 14 (+1), Decipher Script 2 Divine Metamagic, Intuitive Attack Hide in Plain Sight, AC Bonus (+8), Deflection (+2), Greater Sustenance
13th Shadowspy 10 8 6 9 10 Gather Info 15 (+1), Hide 15 (+1), Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 14, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 12, Escape Artist 1, Spot 15 (+1), Listen 15 (+1), Sense Motive 15 (+1), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial (+1), Psicraft 2 (+4) - Vision of Pelor, Resistance (+2), Energy Resistance (5)
14th Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 8 8 9 12 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 15, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 15, Listen 15, Sense Motive 16 (+1), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1 (+1), Psicraft 4 (+4) Gift of Discernment Extra Greater Turning, Radiance, Turn Undead (stack), Exalted Strike (+3), Freedom of Movement
15th Ardent 1 8 8 9 14 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 15, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 17 (+4), Listen 15, Sense Motive 17 (+2), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1, Autohypnosis 1 (+1), Psicraft 5 (+1) Practiced Manifester (Ardent) Assume Psionic Mantle: Elements, Assume Psionic Mantle: Light and Darkness, AC Bonus (+9), Ability Score Enhacement (WIS+6 CHA+4 INT+2), Damage Reduction (5/evil)
16th Ardent 2 9 8 9 15 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 15, Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 18 (+2), Listen 15, Sense Motive 18 (+2), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1, Autohypnosis 1, Psicraft 5, Knowledge: Nature 3 (+3) Gift of Faith Assume Psionic Mantle: Freedom, Natural Armor (+2)
17th Psychic Theurge 1 9 8 9 17 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 18 (+3), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 19 (+2), Listen 15, Sense Motive 19 (+2), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1, Autohypnosis 1, Psicraft 5, Knowledge: Nature 3 - Exalted Strike (+4), Resistance (+3), Regeneration
18th Psychic Theurge 2 10 8 9 18 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 21 (+3), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 20 (+2), Listen 15, Sense Motive 20 (+2), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1, Autohypnosis 1, Psicraft 5, Knowledge: Nature 3 Inivisible Spell, Sacred Strike AC Bonus (+10), Deflection (+3), True Seeing
19th Psychic Theurge 3 10 9 10 18 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 22 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 22 (+4), Listen 15, Sense Motive 21 (+2), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1, Autohypnosis 1, Psicraft 5, Knowledge: Nature 3, Knowledge: the Planes 1 (+1) - Ability Score Enhacement (WIS+8, CHA+6, INT+4, DEX+2), Damage Reduction (10/evil),
20th Psychic Theurge 4 11 9 10 19 Gather Info 15, Hide 15, Move Silently 7, Heal 5, Knowledge: Psionics 6, Knowledge: Religion 23 (+1), Diplomacy 4, Concentration 7, Spellcraft 4, Knowledge: Local 15, Escape Artist 1, Spot 23 (+2), Listen 15, Sense Motive 23 (+4), Decipher Script 2, Speak Language 1: Celestial, Knowledge: Arcana 1, Autohypnosis 1, Psicraft 5, Knowledge: Nature 3, Knowledge: the Planes 1, Profession: Sun 1 (+1) Holy Radiance Exalted Strike (+5), Energy Resistance (15)

Level Class 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1st Cleric 01 3 1+1+2 - - - - -
2nd Cleric 01 3 1+1+2 - - - - -
3rd Cleric 02 4 2+1+2 - - - - -
4th Cleric 02 4 2+1+3 - - - - -
5th Cleric 03 4 2+1+3 1+1+2 - - - -
6th Cleric 03 4 2+1+3 1+1+2 - - - -
7th Cleric 04 5 3+1+3 2+1+3 - - - -
8th Cleric 04 5 3+1+3 2+1+3 - - - -
9th Cleric 05 5 3+1+3 2+1+3 1+1+2 - - -
10th Cleric 05 5 3+1+3 2+1+3 1+1+2 - - -
11th Cleric 06 5 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 - - -
12th Cleric 06 5 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 - - -
13th Cleric 07 6 4+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 1+1+3 - -
14th Cleric 08 6 4+1+3 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 - -
15th Cleric 08 6 4+1+4 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 - -
16th Cleric 08 6 4+1+4 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 - -
17th Cleric 09 6 4+1+4 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 1+1+3 -
18th Cleric 10 6 4+1+4 4+1+3 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 -
19th Cleric 11 6 5+1+4 4+1+4 4+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3 1+1+3
20th Cleric 12 6 5+1+4 4+1+4 4+1+3 3+1+3 3+1+3 2+1+3

Level Power Points Psy Rogue Powers Ardent Powers
1st - - -
2nd 2 Force Shield -
3rd 2 - -
4th 2 - -
5th 2 - -
6th 2 - -
7th 2 - -
8th 2 - -
9th 2 - -
10th 2 - -
11th 2 - -
12th 2 - -
13th 2 - -
14th 2 - -
15th 2+2+6 - My Light, Control Flames
16th 2+6+13 - Dimension Hop
17th 2+11+19 - Control Light
18th 2+17+26 - Light Beam
19th 3+25+35 - Adapt Body
20th 3+35+45 - Teleport, Psionic

Book of Exalted Deeds: Sacred Vow, Vow of Poverty, Nimbus of Light, Exalted Turning, Intuitive Attack, Gift of Faith, Sacred Strike, Holy Radiance
Champions of Valor: Defender of the Homeland, Dawn Shroud
Cityscape: Invisible Spell
Complete Arcane: Persistent Spell
Complete Champion: Healing Devotion, Shadowspy
Complete Divine: Divine Metamagic
Complete Psionic: Ardent, Practiced Manifester, Dimension Hop, Light Beam
Dead Levels: Character Class Companion #1 (https://web.archive.org/web/20131108042144/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a): Dead Levels Cleric
Dragons of Faerun: Light of Xymor
Elder Evils: necessary info on space
Frostburn: cold temperature rules
Mind's Eye // Psychic Rogue (https://web.archive.org/web/20161031221931/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b): Psychic Rogue
Mind's Eye // Psychic Theurge (https://web.archive.org/web/20140614130232/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925b): Psychic Theurge
Player's Guide to Faerun: Lliira's Blessing, Gift of Discernment
Savage Species: Anthropomorphic Bat
Unearthed Arcana: Cloistered Cleric
Yep, it's two parts. Prepare yourself for some nonsense, my friends.

You, my friend, are a bat. An old, old bat with hands and feet and wings, stuck drudging through the wartorn provinces of the Greyhawk world with only piety to your name. You don't have a name, or money, or any real physical abilities to speak of – but you do have the vaguest bit of magic, the slightly hint of psionics, and all the wisdom from those years you've spent in poverty With this new awakening, you find yourself able to handle simple encounters: with a casting of Summon Monster 1 and many flaps of your wings, you can manage to take down a few of society's foes from afar. Your psychic Force Screen protects you from any enemy who gets a bit too close, and divine defense from your godly Vow keeps you warm and fuzzy inside. You're a weak half-cleric, but you manage.

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

As implied above, these early levels are going to be a bit tough. Pelor's Divine Sun is nothing more than a weird half-cleric with no physical stats right now, and so their gameplay style is mostly going to rely on monster summons and flight. Force Screen is a nice little back-up ability, and there're a few direct attack spells within the Cleric spell-list, so they should be fine. Hopefully.

A surprise invitation lands you within the coveted ranks of Pelor's Shadowspies, an organization dedicated to hiding in plain sight. You're not really sure how you got here – you're just an old bat! You're not even that good at hiding!! – but you accept it anyways, and with great enthusiasm no less. After all, it's through Pelor that you've found a purpose in your old life, and so of course you'll do your best to serve him and his community in whatever ways you can manage.

What you "can manage" is actually rather interesting, as it just so happens. Your Vow glows happily around you, a pretty Nimbus of Light that keeps you all fuzzy inside; you wish to engulf your newfound comrades in this pleasant softness, and so you wish and wish until lo and behold, the whole town is covered in light. You can't count how far it spreads, no approximation in your head of the math needed to figure it all out, but that's fine; you don't need to know. All you really need is the reassurance, now, that you fit in: you have become their Lamp, the one who guides the other Shadowspies into their brightly-lit hiding spots. All is good.

And then it isn't.

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

Woah! This set covers off the entirety of Shadowspy, plus dips into Radiant Servant of Pelor and Ardent…and yet nothing much happens. This level set instead indicates that Pelor's Divine Sun can begin utilizing certain elements of their gimmick, but is still unable to actually pull off the full thing yet. Now that they've entered Shadowspy, we can officially get exponential.

Remember that silly question at the start about whether or not Radiance of Pelor could stack upon itself, to which the Viscount foolishly answered "yes"? Well. Well. Fun times, everyone. We can repeatedly double any light source within 60 feet up to our WIS Modifier count. At level 04, when the Divine Sun enters this class, they can double something 9 times. Our little Nimbus of Light feat gives us 5ft of bright illumination; using this horrible stacking method, we now have a 2,560ft radius of bright light. Oh, and we can


Admittedly, there's not a ton we can do with just light – hence why this is only the start of the gimmick, and not it in full. We'll be able to really do stuff at level 17; instead, most of this level set is just set-up and idling; we need all 10 levels of Shadowspy in order to have 10 hours of exponential light, but we don't really need the class for anything else, so. Whoops? At least we're still a weird half-cleric, and the gathering of WIS skills is nice (Spot, Listen, Sense Motive), so our little Sun dude will be fiiiine.

So many of them are dead. So, so many of them. You aren't sure what happened – your senses had twigged the appearance of some dracolich in the area, but you could've sworn that it was further away, and then it was just there and.

You could do nothing.

So you train. You train and you train and you train those burgeoning psychic powers, those clerical spells – you push them hard, make them work in tandem as if they're really just one and same. You seek out old texts in hidden ruins, rifling through pages until you finally, finally find something of use. Hidden in one of the small, overgrown sanctuaries lies a dusty spellbook. You've found many like it before, useless to someone like you, but something about this book feels different. You swear you see a glow from the imprinted text in the middle of the book, so you open it midway and hope.

Inside are two spells: Dawn Shroud and Light of Xymor. They're unusual beasts, incantations you've never heard uttered prior, yet they seem so perfect to you. Both spread light, something you've always been good with, but more than that, they're attack spells; Dawn Shroud promises to burn oozes and undead, Light of Xymor destroys evil dragons. It's almost scary, just how well-suited you are to these spells; you feel yourself subconciously muttering the words for Xymor in awe, your body moving out of its own desire.

Light spreads out across the sanctuary.

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

And now, with level 5 Cleric spells, this little bat can finally begin to utilize its gimmick!! Light of Xymor and Dawn Shroud are crucial to this build. Through Divine Metamagic Persistomancy and the full 10 levels of Shadowspy, we can actually keep one single spell up at its max radius for 10 hours each day. Both spells use Daylight's 60ft radius, and we'll be doubling that 14 times – and that's without pulling into Owl's Wisdom (+2) and Radiant Servant of Pelor's Radiance (+1, but only for Dawn Shroud). We can alternate spells nightly, too, just to make sure that we hit different targets each time. Anyways, now the bat doesn't have to move and can just hang out and murder undead, oozes, and evil dragons from quite afar! Yay!!

Oh, and in case you're wondering: the "sense" thing was, indeed, a reference to the Dead Levels Cleric ability. It's mostly fluff, but I figured it was fitting, especially with its bizarrely unlimited range ("a cleric can identify...from any distance") and undead focus.

You forgot one important detail: light is easily blockable. You know that some vile critters have hidden themselves away from your nightly glow, finding nice little shadows to keep themselves safe. Thankfully, you're a lot more powerful than you once were; no longer are you just a venerable, dying bat; now, now you have your magic, your psionics, your Vow, your God. As the sun begins to fall one fateful night, you spread your wings and flap as hard as you can.

Welcome to the upper atmosphere, my little bat. Nothing can stop your light from up there.

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

WE'RE ESCAPING TO THE ONE PLACE THAT HASN'T BEEN CORRUPTED BY DRAGONS: SPACE!

…well, there probably are space dragons, but eh.

Anyways, welcome to the upper atmosphere! Page 23 of Elder Evils talks about the Moonlet, a weird space cosmic horror thingy. The section surrounding it makes it clear that the constant vacuum damage is only an issue once someone leaves the atmosphere, which means that the atmosphere itself is actually pretty safe. While this part of space will be in the "Unearthly Cold" damage-area, the Energy Resistance given to us by Vow of Poverty is exactly enough to mitigate any cold damage by level 20. Oh, and VoP also removes any need to breathe, eat, or drink, so we can just hang out here for as long as we need.

Oh, and in case you're wondering about the radius of our spells, well…they're both 60ft radiuses doubled 17 times for Light of Xymor and 18 times for Dawn Shroud. So, respectively, that's 7,864,320ft and 15,728,640ft radiuses for each spell, now kept going for ten hours all while up in space in order to ignore any lighting issues. Yeah. Dawn's Shroud's radius is wider than the U.S. (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and the territories). This thing has freaking continental powers.

It's not enough. It was never enough, was it…? Your light just can't spread across this world, not fully. You want them all to feel it, the warmth that suffuses across your chest and puffs out your old, withered fur.

But that's why you've been training your psionic powers, isn't it?

You pray to Pelor day after day after day, calling upon him to give you someone who can help teleport you across long distances. (You love your little Teleport, Psionic, and it's helped you get to space quickly, but you need something more.) It takes multiple sunrises for him to finally comply, but when he does, he does it perfectly. Today, a shimmering efreeti floats in front of you, called down through your whispered Planar Ally. You nod, and you set yourself up: Adapt Body covers you entirely; you'll need it for where you're going to go.

"Mr. Genie, please. Take me to the sun."

He stares, blankly, certainly aware of the implications of that sentence. Still, he gives you a glance-over before complying, aware that once you leave, there's no coming back.

Yes. There's only a short while before Adapt Body gives out and the vacuum of space knocks you out, but that's fine. You've always wanted to see the sun, feel it caress your skin. As you reach out, you smile brightly: you're within the necessary distance. You can make everyone feel the sun.

Today, the Earth basks in light.

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

Yep. Yep. We're reverse Iron Heart Surging the sun. Why? Because I needed a real capstone for this build, and this seemed like the goofiest, most absurd option, so. Ardent was taken entirely to give them Adapt Body, a nice little power that'll let 'em survive for enough time to repeatedly double the sun's light (and, thus, everything that comes with that light). Oh, and their Energy resistance should help with the constant burning for a little while, though I doubt it'll last. Unfortunately, the one issue here is that we can't grab Greater Teleport, so we'll have to rely on Planar Ally to give us a being that can teleport us instead; like, say, an Efreet using Wish. As such, we're kind of having to rely upon GM support, but eh. If the GM was allowing this sort of build anyways, I doubt going much further is going to get that much pushback. ;3

[The Viscount]

That's our entries for the round. Thank you for your patience. Judges, over to you!

[Gruftzwerg]

Oh we have some prominency here. Lucifer and Anubis are joining the competition this time. lol

Interesting entries at first glance. And no big overlapping as it seems. Looks like a nice round. I need to make some time free to give the builds a closer look.

[Frostmoon]

Best of luck to everyone!! The builds are all interesting and thoughtful, with some characters going in directions I wasn't at all expecting (and one character taking a path I had vaguely thought about, but didn't know how to get to -- kudos to that, nyan).

Some miscellaneous observations:
* Dang, none of us went for the Paladin route; in fact, we're all Cloistered Clerics in particular.
* 4/7 are Exalted.
* 2 utilized Radiance of Pelor to break the game, but they did so in completely different ways; another person declared RoP useless, and I think this duality sums up this class XD
* I can already see a major typo in my build...nyoooooooo.... XD

[Inevitability]

I'm very interested in how these builds all make use of seemingly useless class features like Radiance of Pelor, Immunity to Blindness, or Aura of Anonymity, and I'm fascinated by some of the tricks they went with.

I'm not that surprised to see zero paladins, but I had at least a few ideas where it could be justified over cleric (typically either situations where you wanted divine grace, where the BAB mattered, or Devoted Inquisitor builds).

Assas-sinless
Human Feat rogue 2 / SA thug fighter 5 / Paladin 1 / Slayer of Domiel 2 / Shadowspy 10, gets 4th-level spells that work great on a stealthy skillmonkey, Divine Grace, 4d6 sneak attack, +15 BAB. I didn't end up getting a ton of actual synergy with shadowspy (other than 'blind people and sneak attack them') and the whole thing got incredibly feat-hungry which prevented me from meaningfully working Devoted Inquisitor in there.

The Holy Hobo
Vow of Poverty Deepwyrm Half-Drow Wildshape Ranger 7 / Paladin 1 / MoMF 3 / Shadowspy 9, using Shadowspy to get free Alertness for MoMF entry and have a ton of relevant features that stick around in wild shape (which in turn gives some great stealth forms). The last level of Shadowspy isn't taken because you end up with 3rd-level ranger spells either way and get True Seeing from your Vow already. Strength Devotion adds another natural weapon to your routine while transformed, which is also nice. Also, ranger 7 gets you Crowd-Walker, to more easily move in the crowds that boost Aura of Anonymity. Humanoid wild shape also helps you get use out of the disguise bonus and all the lie-detection spells aren't redundant with the ranger list like they'd be on a cleric. Deepwyrm Half-Drow showed up a couple times in my stubs for being a race with darkvision, favored class (any), and innate Disguise Self, making it remarkably well-suited to this round.

You can gnot see me
I was on a bit of a ranger streak while building, and thought about the Gnome Ranger substitution levels to pick up Invisibility. Ranger 9 / Paladin 1 / Shadowspy 10 gets +17 BAB, Evasion, 4th-level spells including Greater Invisibility, and the aforementioned useful ACFs, but it forces you into some pretty obscure subraces to not run afoul of favored class penalties (Dragonlance's Mad Gnome or Dragon Magic's Stonehunter Gnome) and being a small -str ranger is of course never fun. If the requirements for shadowspy didn't include an arbitrary class restriction I'd have picked whisper gnome, swapped out the paladin level for a nice PrC, and never looked back.

Three's Company
I came really close to sending in a Synad Paladin 4 / Soulknife 3 / Soulbow 3 / Shadowspy 10, using Serenity to base Divine Grace and Turn Undead on Wisdom and be extremely SAD and just be a divinely-flavored stealth archer with Woodland Archer and all that jazz. The reasoning behind Synad was to get more uses out of your Hidden Talent (Chameleon) and to occasionally use Vision of Pelor as a swift action, though I guess I was relatively free in my selection of race here. Unfortunately you barely miss out on +16 BAB and your damage is pretty unimpressive.

[loky1109]

I'll start to judge next week.
Table is in process.

UPD: table incoming!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Total Place
Lucifer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749037&postcount=37) NG Saint Lesser Aasimar Unarmed Swordsage 1/True Daylight Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Master of Radiance 5
Sam Sandshield (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749039&postcount=38) NG Asherati Favored Environment Spiritual Connection Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1/Cloistered Cleric 1/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Shadowspy 10/Shadow Sun Ninja 5/Nentyar Hunter 1/Devoted Defender 1
Jeremy Thicket (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749040&postcount=39) NG Grig Skilled City-Dweller Spiritual Connection Rival Organization Urban Tracker Ranger 1/Spontaneous Domain Casting Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Vigilante 1/Mystic Theurge 3
Anubis (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749043&postcount=40) NG Silverbrow Human Human Paragon 3/Rebuke Dragons Cloistered Cleric 1/Church Inquisitor 2/Shadowspy 9/Apostle of Peace 2/Sand Shaper 1/Contemplative 1/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1
Chatoyan Silika (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749047&postcount=41) NG Asherati Cloistered Cleric 1/Artificer 6/Shadowspy 4/Cragtop Archer 4/Candle Caster 5
Amrunanun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749048&postcount=42) ?? Star Elf Nature Bard 9/Cloistered Cleric 1/Shadowspy 10
Pelor's Divine Sun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749051&postcount=43) NG Anthropomorphic Bat Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Psychic Rogue 1/Shadowspy 10/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1/Ardent 2/Psychic Theurge 4

[Frostmoon]

UPD: table incoming!
Nice!! Thank you. :D Taking a look at the Bat, though -- while the line at the top says "... / Ardent 1 / Psychic Theurge 1", the character actually appears to be "... / Ardent 2 / Psychic Theurge 4" according to the real build table. None of the others seem to have that type of discrepancy, unless I've missed something.


I'm very interested in how these builds all make use of seemingly useless class features like Radiance of Pelor, Immunity to Blindness, or Aura of Anonymity, and I'm fascinated by some of the tricks they went with.
Yeah!! That was kind of what I was referencing in my post-mortem above. Many of the class abilities appear to be useless on first glance, so I suppose it makes sense that a lot of us would attach to them in order to try and bring out the hidden potential. Honestly, I'm really happy that we all went in such weird directions; I would've never come up with some of these my fellow competitors used.

[H_H_F_F]

My HM goes to Silika.

[Inevitability]

Looking at the build table again, I think one of the most surprising things is that there's only a single human or strongheart halfling on there. Beast heart adept was 4 entries out of 9, Cerebrex was 3/6, this one only 1/7!

[loky1109]

Looking at the build table again, I think one of the most surprising things is that there's only a single human or strongheart halfling on there. Beast heart adept was 4 entries out of 9, Cerebrex was 3/6, this one only 1/7!

We have two Asheraties instead!

[Akal Saris]

Very interesting mix of builds! I think my favorite is the grig, because I really like the idea of using swift action blindness along with standard action irresistible dances to completely lock down opponents. Pathfinder lets me play a debuff-focused character right out of the box with the Witch, but it's much rarer to see them in 3.5.

[Paragon]

I'm disappointed in myself for not pushing through with my paladin build.

With the gnome sub Shadow Cloak Knight level 6 you have Hide & Move Silently as class skills and a Hide in Plain Sight that covered hiding in shadowy illumination as an Ex ability which fit nicely into shadowspy (Skilled City Dweller trade Handle Animal for Gather Information). Whisper Gnome would have been a good chassis too.

I wanted to go Knight of the Raven 4 but I realized (wayyyyy to late to my taste) I couldn't since SCK4 doesn't give you Turn Undead... That was the last straw for me trying to fit this in so I dropped it. Maybe I should have tried a bit more...

[Inevitability]

I'm disappointed in myself for not pushing through with my paladin build.

With the gnome sub Shadow Cloak Knight level 6 you have Hide & Move Silently as class skills and a Hide in Plain Sight that covered hiding in shadowy illumination as an Ex ability which fit nicely into shadowspy (Skilled City Dweller trade Handle Animal for Gather Information). Whisper Gnome would have been a good chassis too.

I wanted to go Knight of the Raven 4 but I realized (wayyyyy to late to my taste) I couldn't since SCK4 doesn't give you Turn Undead... That was the last straw for me trying to fit this in so I dropped it. Maybe I should have tried a bit more...

You could've just taken the 6th sub level but not the fourth, right?

I looked at SCK myself, but only as an early entry thing (so paladin 4 straight into shadowspy) and the skill requirements just got a little bit too steep doing things that way. Paladins are MAD enough already, no point in adding a positive int mod to that.

[Paragon]

You could've just taken the 6th sub level but not the fourth, right?

I looked at SCK myself, but only as an early entry thing (so paladin 4 straight into shadowspy) and the skill requirements just got a little bit too steep doing things that way. Paladins are MAD enough already, no point in adding a positive int mod to that.

Sure but then I'd have to fill the "cross class" into "finally a class skill" gap in one 2+Int level. No can do

I had a Intuitive Attack paladin in mind with Serenity you become a lot less MAD

[daremetoidareyo]

I hated this ingredient. What is pelor spying on? How does blasting people with zone of truth help you remain a spy? Why are shadow spies canonically loners operating on the fringe?

The vibes are all discordant, but not in a rich compelling way.

And then the abilities….None of them outpace the coolness of a new level of spells, so there’s no mechanical reason to proceed very deep into the prestige class. And with the flavor of the thing being so blindingly inscrutable, all that’s left is finding a way to put these abilities into some sort cohesive adventuring schtick.

The best suggestion I saw discussed was to be a paparazzo who believed sunlight is the best disinfectant, who showed up with a crowd for hide bonii, zone of truth blasting from there. The connection to sunlight is poetic, but still, as part of an adventuring party, it’s hard to be paparazzi under my current understanding of how the job operates

[daremetoidareyo]

I just found this and wanted to add it to the collected knowledge here:

THE EYE OF THE SUN Official adventure

The eye of the sun is an ancient device built by the lizardfolk shaman Ssh’rik untold eons ago. It captures the rays of the sun, producing a brilliant light that illuminates the Ziggurats of Ssh’rik. Though it was once immensely powerful, the eye of the sun now produces a comparatively feeble effect. With another few years of full exposure to the sun, however, it will once again be a truly devastating item.

The eye of the sun is a series of brass tripods, lenses, and crystal orbs that move with the sun, capturing its energy. It continually produces an effect identical to that of the daylight spell, except that it extends to a 600-foot radius.
A user who makes a successful Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 15) can gaze through a lens and clearly see objects up to 15 miles away. (The town of Tooj-Reh falls well within this range.)

In addition, such a user can command the eye of the sun to release a ray of sunlight as intense as that of a sunbeam spell, though it does not affect creatures. The ray lasts for 13 rounds and can be targeted on any single Large or larger object within 15 miles that the user specifies, so long as it is visible through the viewing lens at the time. Any unattended object targeted by the beam bursts into flame after 3 rounds of uninterrupted exposure; an attended object (such as an inhabited house) is entitled to a Reflex save at the same bonus as its attendant. In the case of multiple attendants (such as two or more inhabitants of a house), use the highest Reflex save bonus.

Strong evocation; CL 13th; Craft Wondrous Item, clairaudience/clairvoyance, daylight, sunbeam; Price 114,000 gp; Weight 1,200 lb

[loky1109]

I just found this and wanted to add it to the collected knowledge here:

THE EYE OF THE SUN Official adventure

I have no words!

[The Viscount]

Inviting a high-level monk over to my house to make it more resistant to deadly laser beams.

[Paragon]

I just found this and wanted to add it to the collected knowledge here:

THE EYE OF THE SUN Official adventure

The eye of the sun is an ancient device built by the lizardfolk shaman Ssh’rik untold eons ago. It captures the rays of the sun, producing a brilliant light that illuminates the Ziggurats of Ssh’rik. Though it was once immensely powerful, the eye of the sun now produces a comparatively feeble effect. With another few years of full exposure to the sun, however, it will once again be a truly devastating item.

The eye of the sun is a series of brass tripods, lenses, and crystal orbs that move with the sun, capturing its energy. It continually produces an effect identical to that of the daylight spell, except that it extends to a 600-foot radius.
A user who makes a successful Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 15) can gaze through a lens and clearly see objects up to 15 miles away. (The town of Tooj-Reh falls well within this range.)

In addition, such a user can command the eye of the sun to release a ray of sunlight as intense as that of a sunbeam spell, though it does not affect creatures. The ray lasts for 13 rounds and can be targeted on any single Large or larger object within 15 miles that the user specifies, so long as it is visible through the viewing lens at the time. Any unattended object targeted by the beam bursts into flame after 3 rounds of uninterrupted exposure; an attended object (such as an inhabited house) is entitled to a Reflex save at the same bonus as its attendant. In the case of multiple attendants (such as two or more inhabitants of a house), use the highest Reflex save bonus.

Strong evocation; CL 13th; Craft Wondrous Item, clairaudience/clairvoyance, daylight, sunbeam; Price 114,000 gp; Weight 1,200 lb

So if Pelor's Divine Sun were to use Radiance of Pelor 10 times on this effect, it'd go from 15 miles to 15360 miles away. That's over half the circumference of planet Earth ^^

[loky1109]

So if Pelor's Divine Sun were to use Radiance of Pelor 10 times on this effect, it'd go from 15 miles to 15360 miles away. That's over half the circumference of planet Earth ^^

Yes, but planet is sphere and light travels in a straight line.

[Paragon]

Is the Material Plane a sphere though ? :D

[Inevitability]

Yes, but planet is sphere and light travels in a straight line.

Just put it in space and illuminate half the earth! Put it in geostationary orbit and your DM can't even make the 'horizontal speed' objection that traditionally applies to orbital shenanigans.

[Frostmoon]

Just put it in space and illuminate half the earth! Put it in geostationary orbit and your DM can't even make the 'horizontal speed' objection that traditionally applies to orbital shenanigans.
Just randomly setting things on fire from space~ I dig the chaos this forum brings, nyan. :3

[WeaselGuy]

I got ridiculously busy and totally forgot to submit my entry for this round, but I did have fun building a LG Lesser Aasimar Rogue 5/Paladin 1/Slayer of Domiel 4/Shadowspy 10. The other entries looked really good though, so I don't know how well I would have placed overall lol.

[loky1109]

My judging criteria.

Originality. Starts at 3. Most subjective part. I look at races, classes, prestiges, feats and clever tricks. Combo that involves SI may be reviewed in UoSI section.

Some bad news for all these Cloistered Clerics. You all receive -0.5 points upfront.

Power. Starts at 0. I have four parts 1.5 points in each. Yes, I know what 1.5x4 is. )
Offense. How good are you at making damage? Attack bonuses, damage, attack options, rider effects, etc.
Defense. Your hp, saves, AC and other defense options.
Utility. Being face, scouting, making money, tracking, mobility options, healing, buffing, etc.
Flexibility and Endurance. It isn't good for you to be able to do your main uber-trick once per week. Also it isn't good if you need to prepare specifically for every case in advance without the ability to adjust on the fly.

Elegance. Starts at 5. I search for any mistakes, inaccuracies, ambiguity and give you a penalty. In rare cases when I find something pretty clever I can add some bonus.
TO RAW is always less than RAI. There is no way you could make me believe in d43 damage dice and similar nonsense.
Cross-​setting materials isn't something harmful if you know when to stop.
Multiclassing isn't sin, either. Multiclass XP penalty - opposite.
I don't like missed opportunities. If you take toughness five times it isn't pretty elegant in my book.
I look at formatting. Your entry should be easy to read. All skills in place, all feats clearly came from (regular, bonus, some free, etc.), there are right full sources, etc.

UoSI. Starts at 0.
Did you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - +1 if all is ok. If it isn't... Well, if issue could be easily solved maybe 0, maybe something between. If issue is unsolved you just get 1 point in UoSI.
Did you enter SI early? - up to +0.5.
Did you finish SI? - up to +0.5. Maybe some decrease if you finished SI very late.

Did you use all SI abilities (Advancing Spellcasting, Aura of Anonymity, Radiance of Pelor, Bonus Feats, Immunity to Blindness, Veil of Pelor, Personal Eclipse, Truth of the Light, Blinding Light, Sun's Revelation, Hide in Plain Sight, Vision of Pelor, wide variety of skills) at all? - up to +0.15 each.
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? - up to +0.5 each.

It isn't enough just to have, for example, Hide in Plain Sight and saying: "It is useful for everybody and for me, too." No, you should have something on top of that, in Hide in Plain Sight example it could be Darkstalker.
Combo, in turn, is something that you need to come up with, something creative. Synergy of HiPS and Darkstalker isn't a great find.

Did you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - up to +0.5.
Does you entry thematically fit the SI? - between -0.5 and +0.5.
Maybe SI made your entry worse than it could be without SI? - up to -1.

I'll try to start tomorrow.

[H_H_F_F]

I'm glad to announce that after about 6 months of neglect, the Iron Chef spreadsheet is again fully up to date.

[The Viscount]

Thank you for your efforts! I really appreciate it.

[Paragon]

I'm glad to announce that after about 6 months of neglect, the Iron Chef spreadsheet is again fully up to date.

I think we all do

[loky1109]

Quick update.
I re-read entries and formed a general opinion about them. Tomorrow will start writing my detailed verdict.

[loky1109]

Three Four entries done.

[Paragon]

I gotta say, Thanks for the updates, it's really satisfying (at least for me :-D)

[loky1109]

Okay. Judging incoming!


Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Lesser Aasimar isn't good for your originality. Swordsage dip also is bad here.
Master of Radiance should be expected, but for me it wasn't (but didn't wow me either).
Saint... I didn't know it's coming. Very nice! Divine Spell Power also is your friend. Craft Contingent Spell, too.

I give you 2 points here.
Offense. I looked at you... your melee capability isn't mind-blowing, yes you could do something, especially against undead, but it isn't best what I saw. Your spells, well, you have Cleric-11 casting, it's great, but your spell selection is not about a big amount of damage except for a couple of spells. I give you +0.75 here
Defense. This is better. Good saves, good immunities, not bad hp, fast healing, good AC, good protective spells. I give you maximum here: +1.5 points.
Utility. Clerics are usually good about utility. You aren't an exception. Maybe you aren't the best, but good enough (+1).
Flexibility and Endurance. This isn't a good part for you. You have one enemy - undead. Against other enemies you could do too few. Good for you, you have endurance - spell slots and turn attempts aren't unlimited, but amount is enough for several battles in a day (+0.5).

Total: 3.75
It isn't big deal, but... your entry is very skill point starving, but you buy your Spellcraft as cross-class while you could spend at least 2 skill points less, you just need to take Spellcraft at your cleric levels instead of Concentration (-0).

You took Knowledge Devotion. I see your main point was Knowledge (Nature), but... having Knowledge Devotion with only Know (Nature) 8 and Know (Religion) 5 looks wasteful for me. It should became little penalty (about -0.25), but Knowledge Devotion is actually free for you and you utilized it in very clever way (and have Cleric's dead level for your Religion) so I give you bonus also (+0.25) - draw.

Social Class variant for me is something for nothing - penalty (-0.5).

You mentioned Sunsword. It isn't an issue itself, you don't rely on it, but there is one issue inside.

It is wielded as a short sword which satisfies both the Intuitive Attack and Shadow Hand weapon

With a simple weapon of your size or a natural weapon, you may use your Wisdom modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attack rolls.
Both bastard and short sword are not natural nor simple weapons (-0.25).

It is wielded as a short sword which satisfies both the Intuitive Attack and Shadow Hand weapon (Shadow Blade, Weapon Focus and Sanctify Martial Strike) prereqs.
Actually this doesn't work, either.

...can be wielded by a character proficient either a bastard sword or short sword.
Nothing about qualifying "as short sword" for something more. I don't give you more penalty here, it looks like your interpretation is close to the author's intent and Sunsword has some other editing issues, plus it isn't fair to punish you much for something that isn't actually required part of your entry.

Go to your spells.

Lucent Light*
Did you mean Lucent Lance?

Sun Bolt* (UE)
It isn't from Unapproachable East, it's from Shining South.


* : means this spells sheds light over an area and as such can be extended by Radiance of Pelor
It isn't true about Sun Bolt and Lucent Lance, this spells have no continuous area effects to extend.
Summarily it costs you -0.25 points.

Total: 4
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1)
Do you entry SI early? - Yes (+0.5).
Do you finish SI? - Yes, but only at 20th level (+0.3).
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - loud and clear Yes, but very straightforward (+0.15)

Aura of Anonymity - I don't see any synergy (+0).

Radiance of Pelor - Yes, you use it (+0.15) and I can say use have some combos, too obvious for me, but still deserved +0.1 points

Bonus Feats - 3*Extra Turning aren't something really WOW, but at least you use this turn attempts from time to time. I give you +0.1 for each - +0.3 points total.

Immunity to Blindness - you don't use it (+0).

Veil of Pelor - you don't use it (+0).

Personal Eclipse - you have enough ranks in Hide for me (+0.15) and you have synergy with your Sainthood (+0.2)

Truth of the Light - you just have it (+0).

Blinding Light (not Blinding Sight as you wrote in the table) - I don't see it is very useful for you, well you have good DC at least and Reflex-based blinding could be useful against undead (+0.05).

Sun's Revelation - you just have it (+0).

Hide in Plain Sight - Okay, you have good enough hide, but at the moment when you got HiPS you really need to have Darkstalker to Hide. It's useful, but not so much (+0.1).

Vision of Pelor - you just have it (+0).

Skills - nothing special (+0).
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - you really use all of them (+0.5).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - I'd say yes, and very good (+0.5).
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - No (-0).

Total: 4
Total: 13.75

Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Swordsage is bad.
Asherati, Shadow Sun Ninja, Nentyar Hunter and Devoted Defender are unexpected.
Your feat, spell and maneuver selections are nothing to say about. Maybe Stunning Fist slightly surprising.

I give you 3 points.
Offense. Okay, you could make some damage. You aren't helpless in melee, have some interesting options, but your spells are totally not about damage (+0.5).
Defense. Your defense is better. Great saves, not bad hp, good enough AC and miss chances. I give you +0.75 points.
Utility. Much better. You are a scout, have broad skills (although with not very big numbers), Face-Changer gives you good disguise, you could Track, and have useful spells and your sand swim is cool movement mode (+1.25).
Flexibility and Endurance. Your spells are slightly limited in numbers, but spells aren't your main resource. You have only 6 turn attempts and 8 SF. But your main tricks are almost unlimited. Another problem is environmental dependence. You are much better in the Deserts. I give you +0.75 points.

Total: 3.25

Nentyar Hunter's version of Invisibility being 3rd-level is actually a boon for us, as it lets us use it to fuel Face-Changer
Nice find! I give you bonus +0.25 points for that.
Another +0.25 for feeding on Distracting Ember via Touch of the Shadow Sun.
I HATE your skill presentation, I needed to remade full progression by myself (-0.5).


Skilled Citydweller - Cityscape
Actually it's Cityscape Web Enhancement (-0).


I'll just point out that Detect spells can penetrate 60 feet of sand without issue, so being invisible to them is great if you want to burrow unseen.
I found your point about penetrating sand with Detect spells... just wrong. RAW maybe, sand isn't mentioned in the list of materials that blocking detects in spell's description, but I see no way it could work in real game (-0.25).

And... That's all.

Total: 4.75
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1).
Do you entry SI early? - Yes (+0.5).
Do you finish SI? - Yes (+0.5).
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - Yes (+0.15). I like how you jump from Cleric to Nentyar Hunter (+0.1)

Aura of Anonymity - I give you bonus for synergy with Face-Changer (+0.1).

Radiance of Pelor - You declare synergy between this ability and asherati's Body Lamp and yes, there is synergy, but... Do you use it for what? To work literally a lamp? I doesn't worth points (+0).

Bonus Feats - You qualify for two PrC with two of your bonus feats (one of them was used twice!). Third is Extra Turning and for you it triples your turn attempts. It isn't great, but still. Overall I give you +0.35 plus +0.5 points here.

Immunity to Blindness - Mirror Sand and sunglare are something (+0.05).

Veil of Pelor - I didn't buy your idea about detect-transparency of sand, so you just have this (+0).

Personal Eclipse - You have a good Hide and are Hide oriented in general (+0.15). I think Personal Eclipse is more specific than Body Lamp and let you hide even with it is active (+0.25).

Truth of the Light - You just have it (+0).

Blinding Light - You have some usage for this (+0.15).

Sun's Revelation - You just have it (+0).

Hide in Plain Sight - I say yes (+0.15).

Vision of Pelor - You just have it (+0).

Skills - Well, you used something, but you have too few skill points to talking about significant impact (+0.05)
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - Mostly you used it, only Gather Information was left in the lurch (+0.45).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - I'd say fitting isn't full, but something close (+0.25).
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - I think actually yes. Your Gloom Razor + Light Within Darkness + Darkness Within Light + Harm's Way trick, you know, overshadows your Shadowspy's levels. Yes, you have some goodies from it, but nothing that you couldn't get in another way (-0.5).

Total: 4.2
Total: 15.2

Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Grig? Vigilante? Vow of Peace? Persistent Refusal? Let's see what you make with such an intriguing start.

I would rate originality a 4 points.
Offense. You know your problem. Okay, you could neutralize a significant part of your enemies, but is it enough? I don't think so (+0.25).
Defense. Here you are good! Maybe you want more hp and Fort, but all others are very good (+1.5).
Utility. Here you are good, too. Great spells, good skills including scouting Urban Tracking and some facing, useful SLAs (+1.25).
Flexibility and Endurance. Amount of spells is good, 15 turns is good either. You have some preferable opponents - humanoids and monstrous humanoids and your main tactic doesn't work against mind-affecting immunity, it's minus (+0.75).
LA is bad overall (-0.25).

Total: 3.5
Another terrible skill presentation (-0.5).


thanks to Air Devotion (Pelor is no Air god, but the sun is in the sky, sunlight causes wind, and we literally fly; there was enough thematic synergy there to me and it's RAW-legal anyway)
Well, no.

Clerics and Domain Feats: If you are a cleric (or any other character class who gains access to a domain), you can choose any domain feat corresponding to the list of domains offered by your deity, even if you do not have access to those particular domains. A cleric of Pelor, for example, can choose to cast spells from the Good and Healing domains but select the Strength Devotion and Sun Devotion feats.
I see a ban here, maybe it's too implicit, but the intent is clear (-0.5).


Veil of Pelor seems redundant with our new 2nd-level spells, but it's an immediate action, and can thus be used in response to divination spells that seek out magic auras.
Undetectable alignment doesn't help with "divination spells that seek out magic auras" (-0.25).


Although we can prepare Zone of Truth in our cleric slots, it will have a much lower DC: this SLA is not redundant!
Stop. Why will it have a much lower DC? As I see DCs are equal (-0.25).

Total: 3.5.
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1).
Do you entry SI early? - Yes (+0.5).
Do you finish SI? - Yes, but only at 20th level (+0.3).
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - loud and clear Yes, but very straightforward (+0.15)

Aura of Anonymity - You just have it (+0).

Radiance of Pelor - I have nothing to give you here (+0).

Bonus Feats - You qualify for Vigilante with one of them, Stealthy gives you some minor bonuses and Extra Turning gives you... nothing special. I give you +0.2 and +0.2 points.

Immunity to Blindness - You give me good reason (+0.15).

Veil of Pelor - You are invisibility based character, this ability could help against some enemy with Detect Good (+0.05).

Personal Eclipse - Do you really need +5 to Hide? Okay, but then why did you not max your hide ranks? You could get 4 more. I didn't see how this ability is important for you (+0).

Truth of the Light - You just have it (+0). If I miss something and SLA actually has better DC than spell, I'll change my mind.

Blinding Light - I see use (+0.15) and good combination (+0.3).

Sun's Revelation - You just have it (+0).

Hide in Plain Sight - You got your points here (+0.15).

Vision of Pelor - You just have it (+0). Even more, it could break your Invis.

Skills - Well, you used something, but you have too few skill points to talking about significant impact (+0.05).
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - You actually do. You double qualify with Gather Information and use it for Urban Tracking. Other prerequisites are in use, too (+0.5).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - Not very much for me (+0.1).
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - Really I'd let 2 levels and go into something more useful. Blinding Light is really good, but it isn't worth five levels (-0.75).

Total: 3.05
Total: 14.05

Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Silverbrow Human, Human Paragon, Contemplative, Radiant Servant of Pelor, Primary Contact trick, DMM (Persistent), Vow of Poverty are against you.
Apostle of Peace and Sand Shaper are your friends.
Enemies outnumbered allies. 1.5 points here.
Offense. You have 9th level spells, but you know, your Vow of Peace is a very restricting vow. You at least have Subduing Strike and Holy Subdual. And you have some "offensive" spells that maybe don't break your vow (+0.5).
Defense. Here you're glowing (+1.5).
Utility. Here you're glowing, either (+1.5).
Flexibility and Endurance. Your spell list even with Desert Insight isn't very broad. You have many spell slots, but as it always happens with DMMers you have too few Turn attempts. And of course you can't overcome some of your deficit via magic items (+0.75).

Total: 4.25
Another bad skill presentation, but slightly better (-0.25).

Church Inquisitor.

To qualify to become a church inquisitor, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Alignment: Lawful good or lawful neutral.
You are Neutral Good and it couldn't be solved. You need to be "Any neutral" for Sand Shaper, you need to be good to be exalted (-1).

Primary Contact doesn't work this way.
Yes, this feat gives you 1 skill rank even above normal rank maximum, but! It doesn't give you 1 rank above maximum forever, only at level when you get it. When you level up next time normal limitations shall be honoured. You didn't qualify for Apostle of Peace (-1).

You miscalculate your skill points at 1st level, you missed four.
You miscalculate your skill points at 2nd level, you missed two.
-0.25 points for this.

19th - Disguise: 18 (+4*)
2th - Disguise: 21 (+6*)
What does this asterisk mean?


"Animated Sand" is another nice spell.
Are you talking about Awaken Sand (-0)?


He can Summon Desert creatures, if he can't prevent combat anymore and needs to be defended.
Vow of Peace doesn't work this way. There is no place for "ifs". You prevent combat. Dixi (-0.25).

Sunbeam and Celestial Brilliance look like spells dangerous for your Vow (-0.25).

I understand your points about Desert Insight, but I see how many DMs could disagree (-0.25). Plus, most spells here are against your Vow or are already in your spell list.

Total: 1.75
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1).
Do you entry SI early? - Not the most (+0.35)
Do you finish SI? - No, you only 9/10 and your 9th SI level was at 18th level (+0.2).
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - Clearly yes! Even with only 8th level spells (+0.15).

Aura of Anonymity - You just have it (+0).

Radiance of Pelor - It works with some of your spells (+0.15) and have synergy with RSoP's Radiance (+0.1).

Bonus Feats - You need all these Extra Turning for your DMM (+0.15) plus you qualify for Radiant Servant of Pelor with it (+0.15)

Immunity to Blindness - You just have it (+0).

Veil of Pelor - Sorry, but it gives you nothing. Your alignment is protected 24/7 since 8th level, thanks to VoP (+0).

Personal Eclipse - You just have it (+0).

Truth of the Light - It is one of your AoP spells (again since 8th level) and you didn't make something special with it (+0).

Blinding Light - You just have it (+0).

Sun's Revelation - It is one of your AoP spells (since 11th level) and you didn't make something special with it (+0).

Hide in Plain Sight - You just have it (+0).

Vision of Pelor - You don't have it (-0).

Skills - Well, you have several skills maxed out, but didn't do something with broad variety (+0.05).
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - Well, Cleric looks abandoned, other - ok (+0.4).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - Yes (+0.5).
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - You are very overshadowed by your spellcasting. Looks like it could be better for you to have at least one (actually two) time more "+1 level of existing spellcasting class" and I don't see in SI things really valuable for your build, but Extra Turning (-0.75).

Total: 2.45
Total: 9.95

Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Asherati, Artificer, Cragtop Archer are unexpected. I had Candle Caster in mind, but it somehow is unexpected, too.
I give you 4.5 points total here.
Offense. I'd say you have good offensive options, but damage per round could be better (+0.75).
Defense. On the one hand you're under the sand and this is good defense itself, but on the other hand if it doesn't work you're in the world of troubles (+0.75).
Utility. You are an Artificer/Candle Caster. This gives you great utility potential (+1.25).
Flexibility and Endurance. You are very limited by a sandy environment and have issues with foes who could reach you, also you are limited in the amount of infusions. You, however, can compensate for it with crafting (+0.75).

Total: 3.5
Good things first. I like you took Heretic of the Faith. I like that you have Craft (bowyer/fletcher). I like what you did with Trickery Domain. This all gives you +0.25 points.
Bad things...

And the one ability that I could find leverage on without a single inelegant reading of the ability was found in Sandstorm.
Sorry, I should disagree.


"In a medium of loose soil, such as sand, dust, or ash, a peculiar quality of the light allows an asherati to make out solid objects up to 60 feet away."
Well yes, but:

In a medium of loose soil, such as sand, dust, or ash, a peculiar quality of the light allows an asherati to make out solid objects up to 60 feet away.
I have strong conviction that Body Lamp doesn't let you see things out of sand, only items inside. It ruins all your combo (-1).


Complete warrior (page 134) has the Bloodseeking enchantment for ranged weapons.
Sorry, I didn't understand why you needed this? You anyway need Brilliant Energy Arrow to work and it gives you all you need (-0).


Unless there's a sandgolem or living sand in the path, you can now hit your opponents with arrows from underground from 60 feet away.
Sandgolem actually isn't a living matter, I don't know why you mention it (-0).


With widen supernatural ability, you can target solid objects with blood in them from 960 feet away.
Firstly I want to give you a penalty here, but next I read this feat carefully... Well, I see clearly, it looks like your usage is against the author's intent, but they write ToM feats so poorly... Yes, it works. No penalty here.


At level 3, we pick up the Judged by Aurifar, another sun god, solely to work around favored class penalties. We can switch back to Pelor before shadowspy
Sorry, this doesn't work.
Firstly, we have one way to change your divine patron.

A cleric who changes his patron deity must complete a quest to prove his devotion to his new patron. The nature of the quest depends on the deity, and it always clearly reflects the deity’s
alignment as well as his or her goals and beliefs. To start the process, the cleric must voluntarily accept a geas/quest spell cast by a higher-level cleric of his new deity. During the quest, the cleric has no access to spells or cleric class features—except his weapon and armor proficiencies, which he does not forfeit.
Upon completing the quest, the cleric receives the benefit of an atonement spell from a cleric of the new deity. The character then becomes a cleric of the new deity and is inducted into the clergy during an appropriate ceremony of the DM’s choosing. After selecting two of the new deity’s domains in lieu of his old ones, the character has all the powers and abilities of his previous cleric level, plus the granted powers of his new domains.
This method is the only one by which a cleric can change his deity. The retraining rules can’t be used to accomplish this task—it is simply too substantial a change in the character’s identity (not to mention his source of power) to chalk up to a bit of practice in his off hours.
Do you see? It isn't as easy as you think. And you need to do it twice, plus you need assistance from high level clerics (read: DM). I don't think it'll fly.
But even if it will...

If you ever lose favor with Aurifar, or change your patron deity to another deity, you lose the benefit of this feat
See? You took a feat and completed two hard quests and got... literally nothing, well at best, you didn't have XP penalty for three levels - from 3rd to 6th. I don't think it's worth such a cost (-0.75).
If you want cleric as your favorite class, go to the Unearthed Arcana, p. 100. There is a feat Additional Favorite Class.

Social Class. This variant rule for me is something for nothing - penalty (-0.5).

Qualifying for PrC via items is inelegant in my book. You did this twice (-1.5).

Elven double bow... Okay, it's a cool weapon, but... How do you think to use it?

The arrow or bolt must be fired during the same round the spell is cast, or the magic dissipates and is lost.
You can't cast BEA twice (2 swift actions), nock two arrows on the strings (move action) and fire Horizon Shot (full-round action) all in the single round (-0.25).
This limitation of BEA also doesn't let it work with Doublestrike Arrow (Casting Time: 1 swift action, Duration: 1 round), Melf's Slumber Arrows (use a swift action to imbue an arrow, arrow that doesn't deal damage to a target before your turn ends loses its magic), Shadow Arrow (Casting Time: 1 swift action, arrow or bolt must be fired during the same round the spell is cast, or the magic dissipates and is lost), Arrow Storm (Casting Time: 1 swift action, Duration: 1 round, you need multiple arrows), Arrowsplit (Casting Time: 1 swift action, arrow or bolt must be fired during the same round the spell is cast, or the magic dissipates and is lost).
You could bypass this with Candle of Alaunghaer's Triptych and this is very smart to use bad part of ability (A successfully lit candle automatically activates the stored spell at the beginning of the candle caster's action in the next round) in your favor (+0.25), but it's the single and expensive way. And even it can't help with Arrow Storm (-0.25).

About Trickery Devotion.

so we can turn that into a super convenient illusionary double that can also shed light and be affected by radiance of pelor.
Trickery Devotion lets you create your double, but this double refers to unseen servant and silent image/major image/project image, but there is no indication it has your Su abilities (-0.25).


If the length of the time that the candle is lit determines the duration of the spell for curtailing the spell, does extending the duration of the flame mean that the spell duration is then...extended by hours?
There is clear answer and this answer is "No":

The range of any light source so affected doubles, and the effect lasts a number of hours equal to your shadowspy level, or until the light source is extinguished, whichever occurs first.
It's written directly in the ability description (-0.5).

I’d be happy to see a maxed Spot in this build (-0).

Total: 1
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1)
Do you entry SI early? - So so (+0.35).
Do you finish SI? - No, only 4/10 (+0)
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - I say yes (+0.15) and you found interesting "caster" to advance (+0.25)

Aura of Anonymity - You don't use it (+0).

Radiance of Pelor - Yes (+0.15)! And your combo is almost brilliant (+0.5)!

Bonus Feats - You have one Extra Turning to fuel your Trickery Devotion from two times per day to three (you need only one more turn for one more use :smallfrown:). Not so much (+0.05).

Immunity to Blindness - You don't use it (+0).

Veil of Pelor - You don't use it (+0).

Personal Eclipse - You don't use it (+0).

Truth of the Light - You don't have it (-0).

Blinding Light - You don't have it (-0).

Sun's Revelation - You don't have it (-0).

Hide in Plain Sight - You don't have it (-0).

Vision of Pelor - You don't have it (-0).

Skills - About half of your SI skill points are spent on cross-class skills (+0).
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - Just took it and forgot (+0).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - Sorry, but no (-0.5).
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - Actually no (-0).

Total: 1.95
Total: 10.95

Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Bard is good.
Gnome Quickrazor Iaijutsu Focus is bad. Very very bad.
Feats... Opposite to surprise.

I give you 1.5 points here.
Offense. Well, you I have good damage output (+1).
Defense. I don't see anything interesting here, your defense potential looks very mediocre (+0.25).
Utility. Bard is almost best utility class for my taste and you aren't exception (+1.25)
Flexibility and Endurance. You don't rely on some specific conditions or enemies, but your amount of 2nd+ level slots for your main weapon is limited (+0.75).

Total: 3.25
I really want to see sources for Star Elf and Nature Bard (-0.5).

What is your alignment (-0.25)?

Your race is from FR, your main feat is from Eberron, your main skill is from Rokugan, and your God is from Greyhawk. It's too much even for me (-0.25).

Death Devotion for cleric of Pelor? No.

Clerics and Domain Feats: If you are a cleric (or any other character class who gains access to a domain), you can choose any domain feat corresponding to the list of domains offered by your deity, even if you do not have access to those particular domains. A cleric of Pelor, for example, can choose to cast spells from the Good and Healing domains but select the Strength Devotion and Sun Devotion feats.
I see a ban here, maybe it's too implicit, but the intent is clear (-0.5).

More about it.

Furthermore, you can never have more than two domain feats (except as specified in Clerics and Domain Feats, below).
Let's look at Clerics and Domain Feats:

Clerics and Domain Feats:...
In addition, you can choose to give up access to a domain in exchange for the corresponding domain feat. Doing so allows you to select up to three domain feats, but you cannot prepare domain spells or use the granted power of the sacrificed domain
My reading is you could sacrifice domain for third domain feat, but you still couldn't take third domain feat in a regular way (-0.25).

Iaijutsu Focus + Whirling Blade.

You make a normal melee attack, just as if you were attacking with the weapon in melee, against each foe in the weapon's path
Yes, I see, I made this mistake myself once.
Let me quote:

"One melee attack" argument does not work. At all. It says one attack against each, not one attack against all. If I give one cookie to each child, I'm giving out more than 1 cookie. Unless there's only one child there.
link (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25376645&postcount=73)
In my case it was Whirlwind + Iaijutsu Focus. Sorry, doesn't work (-1).

Oxyrhynchus on the other hand, looks workable and smart (+0.25).


It may be necessary to have concealment due to the wording on Shadowspy’s Hide in Plain Sight ability, but Blur solves this problem.
No penalty (-0), but I should ask: what in wording did give you this strange idea?

Total: 2.5
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1).
Do you entry SI early? - Yes (+0.5).
Do you finish SI? - Yes (+0.5).
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - You use it (+0.15) and use with unusual class (+0.2).

Aura of Anonymity - You try and you even do something (+0.05).

Radiance of Pelor - You don't use it (+0).

Bonus Feats - You have three Extra Turning and three different Devotion feat, not the best usage, but not the worst (+0.3).

Immunity to Blindness - You don't use it (+0).

Veil of Pelor - You don't use it (+0).

Personal Eclipse - No combos, but it's in use (+0.15).

Truth of the Light - You don't use it (+0).

Blinding Light - No combos, but it's in use (+0.15).

Sun's Revelation - You don't use it (+0).

Hide in Plain Sight - You use it, you have maxed Hide and Darkstalker (+0.15).

Vision of Pelor - You just have it (+0).

Skills - I don't how SI broad skill lost works for you (+0).
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - Half to half (+0.25).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - No (-0.5).
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - It looks like Bard-20 could be better (-0.75).

Total: 2.15
Total: 9.4

Cloistered Cleric -0.5.
Anthropomorphic Bat, Ardent, Radiant Servant of Pelor, Vow of Poverty, and Divine Metamagic are bad things for originality.
Psychic Rogue and Psy Theurge - opposite.
And I really didn't expect your trick, while I remember one similar entry in one of the VC rounds.

Total: 3
Offense. You aren't very good here, but you at least a half of cleric (+0.5)
Defense. Here you don't glow, too, but are slightly better (+0.75).
Utility. You could do something, just like half-cleric (+0.75).
Flexibility and Endurance. Okay, you have enough "ammo", but your main trick works only against some types of creatures (+1).

Total: 3
Okay. I found nothing to quibble about. Almost.
You rely on efreeti in your final trick and it doesn't work very well.
First.

you can augment any or all light sources within 60 feet
Well, you could augment all matter of the sun within a 60 feet radius around you. It isn't a big deal.
Even if we agree with the claim that the Sun is a single object and should be augmented all... Well, the Sun's light’s range will double. And this gives as... Nothing? Actually, it will not even be brighter. I know how it works in physics, but we are talking about TO build, yes?
I give you -0.5 here.

One more thing. You'd better indicate what skill points are cross-class (-0).

Total: 4.5
Do you qualify for SI (and stayed qualified after entering)? - Yes (+1).
Do you entry SI early? - Yes (+0.5).
Do you finish SI? - Yes (+0.5).
Have you found some interesting combos involving SI abilities? Do you at least use them?

Spellcasting - You use it (+0.15).

Aura of Anonymity - You don't use it (+0).

Radiance of Pelor - I can't say no (+0.15), and you found two great combos (+1).

Bonus Feats - You fuel DMM with these feats (+0.15).

Immunity to Blindness - You don't use it (+0).

Veil of Pelor - You don't use it (+0).

Personal Eclipse - You don't use it (+0).

Truth of the Light - You don't use it (+0).

Blinding Light - You don't use it (+0).

Sun's Revelation - You don't use it (+0).

Hide in Plain Sight - You don't use it (+0).

Vision of Pelor - You don't use it (+0).

Skills - I say you use it slightly (+0.05).
Do you use SI prerequisites or just take it and forget? - You use them (+0.5).
Does your entry thematically fit the SI? - Oh god, Yes (+0.5)!
Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - It's hard to say, you actually use only 1st level ability, and maybe bonus feats, but this ability is dependent on your PrC level. I think you can allow yourself to exchange one-two, maybe more levels without significant harm (-0.25).

Total: 4.25
Total: 14.75

Couple words from judge.
Well. I said this before and saying this again. I want to see total skill ranks at every level. I want to know what your character could do at the 20th level and at the level before your entry in any PrC.
And about Anubis's presentation.
Your presentation What I want to see
Diplomacy: 4 Diplomacy: 4 (+4)
Diplomacy: 5 Diplomacy: 5 (+1)

We have here two entries with the bard's spell list. One of them even tries hard to use the Aura of Anonymity.
It's a shame nobody found this.

Phantom Battle
Illusion (Figment)
Level: Bard 3, beguiler 4, sorcerer/wizard 4
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You create an illusory horde of snarling ogres, fierce orcs, and proud knights in armor, all locked in battle. Creatures in the area move cautiously as they are caught up in the phantom melee.

This spell creates the illusion of a fierce battle. Your enemies move cautiously and pass up the opportunity to strike their foes, since the roar and confusion of the battle distracts them.
All creatures within the area of the spell that fail their saving throws cannot make attacks of opportunity. In addition, all creatures within the area are considered flanked. A creature ignores these effects when it leaves the spell’s area. If a creature reenters the spell’s area after leaving it, the creature can attempt another save to resist the spell if its initial save failed. A creature that enters the area for the first time after the spell is cast must also make a saving throw to resist the effect.

A phantom battle spell produces noise appropriate to a mob of creatures locked in battle. Anyone in the battle can plainly see that the conjured fighters are no threat, since they strike solely at other phantom warriors, but the din, tumult, and confusion make it difficult to focus on the true foes at
hand. A creature that succeeds on its save can still see the spectral outline of the illusion, but is able to block out the distraction and fight as normal.
When you cast this spell, you can choose for it not to affect a number of allies you designate less than or equal to your caster level.
It could be easy +0.15 and +0.5 from me.


Table:
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef loky1109 Total Place
Lucifer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749037&postcount=37) NG Saint Lesser Aasimar Unarmed Swordsage 1/True Daylight Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Master of Radiance 5 13.75 13.75 4th
Sam Sandshield (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749039&postcount=38) NG Asherati Favored Environment Spiritual Connection Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1/Cloistered Cleric 1/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Shadowspy 10/Shadow Sun Ninja 5/Nentyar Hunter 1/Devoted Defender 1 15.20 15.20 1st
Jeremy Thicket (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749040&postcount=39) NG Grig Skilled City-Dweller Spiritual Connection Rival Organization Urban Tracker Ranger 1/Spontaneous Domain Casting Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Vigilante 1/Mystic Theurge 3 14.05 14.05 3rd
Anubis (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749043&postcount=40) NG Human Human Paragon 3/Rebuke Dragons Cloistered Cleric 1/Church Inquisitor 2/Shadowspy 9/Apostle of Peace 2/Sand Shaper 1/Contemplative 1/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 9.95 9.95 6th
Chatoyan Silika (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749047&postcount=41) NG Asherati Cloistered Cleric 1/Artificer 6/Shadowspy 4/Cragtop Archer 4/Candle Caster 5 10.95 10.95 5th
Amrunanun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749048&postcount=42) ?? Star Elf Nature Bard 9/Cloistered Cleric 1/Shadowspy 10 9.40 9.40 7th
Pelor's Divine Sun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749051&postcount=43) NG Anthropomorphic Bat Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Psychic Rogue 1/Shadowspy 10/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1/Ardent 1/Psychic Theurge 5 14.75 14.75 2nd

[loky1109]

It was hard round to judge.
I'm very disappointed by this "only cloistered clerics" entries. I really wanted to see some paladins. But... We have what we have.

In some moment I had troubles with math - I calculated (try to sum values) UoSI for one entry seven times and every time I had different numbers. It was 1 AM.

I hope I didn't make stupid mistakes, but if you see something I'm open for disputes.

[daremetoidareyo]

I don’t have disputes, just clarifications. So I’ll drop those after the reveal

[The Viscount]

Thank you for judging Loky!

I have a couple disputes here.




First off, thank you for judging. Sadly I have a number of disagreements.


I found your point about penetrating sand with Detect spells... just wrong. RAW maybe, sand isn't mentioned in the list of materials that blocking detects in spell's description, but I see no way it could work in real game (-0.25).

Veil of Pelor - I didn't buy your idea about detect-transparency of sand, so you just have this

So we both agree on the RAW and we both agree that if this works it would be worth points. Well, I've played at tables where it would work. Flip it around; when a paladin says 'I want to use detect evil to see if I can locate the blue dragon that burrowed beneath the sand' do you think every DM ever would respond 'no, I know RAW agrees, but I am saying it is unintended and you cannot do it that way'.

My use of Veil of Pelor relies on ambiguous rules, or at least on rules that many reasonable DMs would patch - I acknowledge that. But it also relies on rules that many reasonable DMs would keep, and I am sad to see you treat this as if almost no DMs would ever let Detect Evil penetrate sand.

Looking at other builds, you often say 'your usage of this class feature is based on ambiguous rules' and then give a penalty in elegance and a bonus in UotSI. Why can't my use of Veil of Pelor get treated like this?


Radiance of Pelor - You declare synergy between this ability and asherati's Body Lamp and yes, there is synergy, but... Do you use it for what? To work literally a lamp? I doesn't worth points

So body lamp without RoP gives 60 feet of bright light and 120 feet of dim light; let's say it is night, so it's totally dark outside the radius of the lamp, and then you get ambushed.

If the enemy is stealthy (so they can hide in dim but not bright light) and has 30 feet speed, they can easily sneak up to the edge of your bright light and then move into melee using the surprise + first rounds of combat. And if they are not very stealthy but fast (60 ft. like on a horse), they can simply charge in from the edge of the dim light. In both cases, the enemy gets to attack in melee before you can even respond to them.

Those are really bad situations, tactically! You do not want combat to start with the party wizard in melee range, prone, and down a chunk of HP.

But thanks to radiance of pelor, we now have 120 feet of bright light and 240 feet of dim light. The sneaky enemy cannot move 120 feet in a round and still attack, and the fast enemy cannot move 240 feet. Now they will still be a short distance away from you during your first turn, even if they won initiative, so your party can get into formation, rise to their feet, cast buffs, make a quick ranged attack, etc etc. This is a big benefit, and something we can only do thanks to Radiance of Pelor!

We are not just a lamp, we are a big enough lamp for our illumination to have meaningful tactical impact! Quantity has a quality all of its own; if you get ambushed during the night, you get a round to prepare that you wouldn't have without Radiance of Pelor! I would like acknowledgement of that.


Sun's Revelation - You just have it

Vision of Pelor - You just have it

So if someone is a high-level cleric, who can prepare Discern Lies or True Seeing every day through normal casting, they get 0 points for UotSI here. That makes sense.
But Sam, who can only cast these spells with the help of Shadowspy, gets... 0 points for UotSI here.

Surely these are different kinds of 'just having it'? If you took away Sun's Revelation, we would lose more than that cleric; the score ought to reflect that, right?


Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - I think actually yes. Your Gloom Razor + Light Within Darkness + Darkness Within Light + Harm's Way trick, you know, overshadows your Shadowspy's levels. Yes, you have some goodies from it, but nothing that you couldn't get in another way


That whole combo has an obvious hole: it doesn't get off the ground if I can't hide. Gloom Razor needs a source of concealment, either stealth or Light Within Darkness, but Light Within Darkness needs me to hide. And without Light Within Darkness I can't use Darkness Within Light all that well, and Harm's Way also gets much worse. What we need is a way to hide reliably, but we will not always have total cover or total concealment and we don't want to spend actions on creating it.

Shadowspy gives us Hide in Plain Sight which solves that very very big issue. Unlike HiPS from easier sources (Dark creature, Shadowdancer, Hellbreaker) it does not restrict the places we can use it.

Besides, we need to get 2 bonus feats (Alertness and Combat Casting) for our PrCs because we are very feat starved. And to fit in all those PrCs it really helps that shadowspy can be entered at level 4; otherwise you need to squeeze the casting advancement, bonus feats, and HiPS into even fewer levels.

What is the 'another way' you talk about? It does not seem as easy to replace shadowspy in this build as you make it sound. How do I replace my 10 shadowspy levels and get unrestricted HiPS, bonus feats, and casting advancement, without expending extra feats?





Offense. You know your problem. Okay, you could neutralize a significant part of your enemies, but is it enough? I don't think so (+0.25).

Why isn't it enough? Not because of the mind-affecting immunity; you penalize that elsewhere, so why is an AoE save-or-lose getting only +0.25 power? What kind of class outside of tier 1 has effects like that?

Sure, it takes up all our actions, but that doesn't actually matter. A wizard who keeps casting save-or-dies on enemies to kill them also takes up all his actions. But that wizard gets a kill turn 1, turn 2, etc, while we get all our kills at the same time, on turn 1! That's fewer attacks the enemies get and less damage the party takes.


Undetectable alignment doesn't help with "divination spells that seek out magic auras" (-0.25).

I do not think that Undetectable Alignment makes you undetectable to detect magic.

What I mean is this:

You are hidden from an enemy, but the enemy knows someone is there (maybe you failed a Move Silently check). He casts Detect Magic or Arcane Sight to see if he can find any magic auras.

You quickly respond and cast Undetectable Alignment as an immediate action, on a pebble 30 feet away from you. Now the enemy will not simply see the aura of your gear, but also an abjuration aura in a different place, of a spell that is usually only cast on creatures. He might choose to attack that instead, or otherwise be confused!

That is also why I mention going without magic gear or buffs: if you do that, then the Abjuration aura will be the only magic signature around. That means that the enemy will almost definitely be misled and attack it instead of using a better method for detecting you. You cannot cast it as an immediate action, but Ventriloquism works for this too, because it is Illusion and you would expect that on a hidden creature (+ you can have noises come from the same spot).


Stop. Why will it have a much lower DC? As I see DCs are equal

Truth of the Light - You just have it (+0). If I miss something and SLA actually has better DC than spell, I'll change my mind.

Sun's Revelation - You just have it (+0).

From the SRD:


The saving throw (if any) against a spell-like ability is:

10 + the level of the spell the ability resembles or duplicates + the creature’s Cha modifier.


Our Zone of Truth spell is a cleric spell and will therefore use our wisdom score to calculate the DC, which is much lower than our charisma score and gives us a much lower DC than the SLA grants. The same goes for Discern Lies and Sun's Revelation.


Aura of Anonymity - You just have it (+0).

We have Disguise Self as a SLA and Alter Self as spell and outline a way to use them to look like a normal humanoid, which grigs otherwise cannot do; does that not count for something? The disguise bonus is pretty good for us!

Also, we are Tiny and can move through crowds of small or medium creatures more easily; that synergizes with Aura of Anonymity too.


A Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creature can move into or through an occupied square.


Immunity to Blindness - You give me good reason (+0.15).

I'm sorry, but- isn't this a combo? Pyrotechnics almost never gets used despite having a pretty powerful effect, because it is so hard to use without blinding yourself. Immunity to Blindness fixes that completely, is that not 'an interesting combo' by your own judging guidelines?


Personal Eclipse - Do you really need +5 to Hide? Okay, but then why did you not max your hide ranks? You could get 4 more. I didn't see how this ability is important for you

Look at our level order: Hide is only a class skill during one of our final 4 levels, and I simply prioritized and decided that because of Personal Eclipse we could afford to focus more on Move Silently and Gather Information, which were all competing for the same skill points. We care about Hide: lots of high-level monsters can see through Invisibility or use magic items/spells to accomplish the same! Plus, our trick where we bring no magic equipment or auras obviously does not work with invisibility, so having hide high naturally is important. Even without the max ranks, we should still be stealthy enough; being tiny gives +8 and our dexterity is pretty good!


Maybe SI makes your entry worse than it could be without SI? - Really I'd let 2 levels and go into something more useful. Blinding Light is really good, but it isn't worth five levels (-0.75).

So firstly, this is written with the assumption that the SLAs don't have a better DC.

But more importantly, we really want Shadowspy 9 for Hide in Plain Sight, which is a powerful ability even if we are invisible. Our invisibility has limited uses per day and a lot of high-level monsters can see through invisibility but not through darkstalker stealth. And if we go Shadowspy 9, we definitely want Shadowspy 10 for the True Seeing, which we don't actually get with our cleric levels. This build is just fine with the levels it takes currently.


Chefs, you have until 13:59 GMT on Sunday, April 23rd for any remaining disputes.

[Frostmoon]

I don't have any disputes, either! :3

[The Viscount]

And one more.


1)
You have many spell slots, but as it always happens with DMMers you have too few Turn attempts.
Eh, normally I would consider up to 42 turn attempts to be a lot more than most builds have. I really don't know where your standard here is..



2)
Another bad skill presentation, but slightly better (-0.25).
I'm not sure if "presentation" is part of the thing that should be measured in the "Elegance" category. I far as I see it, it doesn't judge the presentation of the build, but the elegance of the build itself.

(on a sidenote; maybe we should have a category for exactly that: Presentation)


3)
Primary Contact doesn't work this way.
Yes, this feat gives you 1 skill rank even above normal rank maximum, but! It doesn't give you 1 rank above maximum forever, only at level when you get it. When you level up next time normal limitations shall be honoured. You didn't qualify for Apostle of Peace (-1).


You gain 1 bonus rank in that skill (even if doing so would put you above your normal maximum ranks for that skill).
Why should this part of the effect vanish on level up? I don't see any rule/text base for that assumption. Nowhere do the rules tell you that this effect sole counts for your current level.

4)
You miscalculate your skill points at 1st level, you missed four.
You miscalculate your skill points at 2nd level, you missed two.
-0.25 points for this.

What does this asterisk mean?
The first level is correct. Nymph's Kiss doesn't apply, since we pick the feat after spending the skill points. Thus we get the extra point at the 2nd level for the first time.
But yeah, I failed at lvl 2 there. Dunno what happened here.
And the asterisk is there to indicate that it is a cross class skill and we sole get 1/2 ranks for the points invested. Sorry for not calling it out.

5)
Vow of Peace doesn't work this way. There is no place for "ifs". You prevent combat. Dixi (-0.25).
What? Since when may you not participate in a combat encounter as a Vow of Peace user? Why should summoning monsters and ordering em to help me out in combat fail my vow? I can command em to make non-lethal attacks. Imho you are imagining problems here that aren't there.

______________
Thx for taking your time to judge and for the disputes. And sorry for the late respone, but I'm very short on time lately..

[loky1109]

Let's dispute. )


So we both agree on the RAW and we both agree that if this works it would be worth points. Well, I've played at tables where it would work. Flip it around; when a paladin says 'I want to use detect evil to see if I can locate the blue dragon that burrowed beneath the sand' do you think every DM ever would respond 'no, I know RAW agrees, but I am saying it is unintended and you cannot do it that way'.
Well, sand is actually stone, just finely crumbled, and "but I am saying it is unintended and you cannot do it that way" is how DMing works sometimes, but I see your point.

I think you are right and I should give you bonus in UoSI for Veil of Pelor - +0.1 points.


We are not just a lamp, we are a big enough lamp for our illumination to have meaningful tactical impact!
I really don't think it's a big deal, plus I don't think it's always a good idea to light such a big illuminant every night (enemy archers see you, you don't see them, bad tactical situation, too), but I see how it could have an impact. I give you +0.05.


Surely these are different kinds of 'just having it'? If you took away Sun's Revelation, we would lose more than that cleric; the score ought to reflect that, right?
Sounds fair. I think I should reevaluate these paragraphs not only for you. It will be in separate spoiler.


What is the 'another way' you talk about? It does not seem as easy to replace shadowspy in this build as you make it sound. How do I replace my 10 shadowspy levels and get unrestricted HiPS, bonus feats, and casting advancement, without expending extra feats?
Okay, maybe I overestimated easiness. I'm removing the penalty - +0.5 points improvement.

Total: +0.65 points


Why isn't it enough? Not because of the mind-affecting immunity; you penalize that elsewhere, so why is an AoE save-or-lose getting only +0.25 power? What kind of class outside of tier 1 has effects like that?
Maybe you're right, I penalized you too much here. Your way to get around the Vow of Peace is good. I still think offense isn't your strong side, plus VoP could be a pain for the rest of your party, but it deserved +0.25 points more.


I do not think that Undetectable Alignment makes you undetectable to detect magic.
Oh! I see...
Remove Elegance penalty (+0.25) and add +0.25 in UoSI for a nice little combo.


Our Zone of Truth spell is a cleric spell and will therefore use our wisdom score to calculate the DC, which is much lower than our charisma score and gives us a much lower DC than the SLA grants. The same goes for Discern Lies and Sun's Revelation.
It's a shame. Remove Elegance penalty (+0.25), add +0.2 summary for both SLA in UoSI.


We have Disguise Self as a SLA and Alter Self as spell and outline a way to use them to look like a normal humanoid, which grigs otherwise cannot do; does that not count for something? The disguise bonus is pretty good for us!

Also, we are Tiny and can move through crowds of small or medium creatures more easily; that synergizes with Aura of Anonymity too.
On the one hand you're right, but on the other it still is too externally dependent. You need the crowd to use this.
But I see your city-theme and... well, +0.1 points.


I'm sorry, but- isn't this a combo?
Yes, it is. Your combo with Pyrotechnics deserves a bonus - give you +0.2.

About Personal Eclipse. I understand your point, but... I just dislike what you do with your skills at 20th level. I'll try to be more unbiased - +0.15 points.


So firstly, this is written with the assumption that the SLAs don't have a better DC.
Point taken.

But more importantly, we really want Shadowspy 9 for Hide in Plain Sight, which is a powerful ability even if we are invisible.
I understand you went here for HiPS. But.. You could get it earlier with Shadowdanser without any casting loss. Yes, you need some extra feats, but you have three free levels for different classes with bonus feats.
I'm not sure if SLAs deserve some points here. Well, I give you +0.25.

Total: +1.9 points



1) Eh, normally I would consider up to 42 turn attempts to be a lot more than most builds have. I really don't know where your standard here is..
Well, I needed to add a smile here. You have enough attempts. Everybody always wants more, but 42 is ok (and yes, is the answer to the “ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything”). Your points here are with this idea in mind.


2) I'm not sure if "presentation" is part of the thing that should be measured in the "Elegance" category. I far as I see it, it doesn't judge the presentation of the build, but the elegance of the build itself.
I'm sure. If something makes your entry harder to read - it's Elegance penalty.


3) Why should this part of the effect vanish on level up? I don't see any rule/text base for that assumption. Nowhere do the rules tell you that this effect sole counts for your current level.
Nothing is vanishing. You got your extra skill point at the moment when you took the feat, but this extra skill rank doesn't overwrite the general rule for other skill points.
At 3rd level you up your Concentration to 6 ranks and take Primary Contact. Primary Contact adds 1 free rank above your normal maximum and now you have 7 ranks. At the next (4th) level you want to spend 1 more skill point in Concentration, but you already have 7 ranks in Concentration and you can't put more and Primary Contact doesn't float up, it still is 7th rank.
No change.


4) The first level is correct. Nymph's Kiss doesn't apply, since we pick the feat after spending the skill points.


Q: Do you have any contest house rules or clarifications to ambiguous rules?
A: Some that have come up in previous contests and needed answers to:
...
Able Learner's benefit applies to the level you take it.
Maybe it isn't totally clear, but this applies to Nymph's Kiss, too.
But, let ambiguousness be interpreted in the participant's favor. Remove penalty (+0.25).


5) What? Since when may you not participate in a combat encounter as a Vow of Peace user? Why should summoning monsters and ordering em to help me out in combat fail my vow? I can command em to make non-lethal attacks. Imho you are imagining problems here that aren't there.
I'm always very picky with RP parts of Vow feats. And I'm not sure you could successfully command Lion, Locust swarm, or Dire tortoise to make non-lethal attacks.
No change.

Total: +0.25



We are talking about Truth of the Light (Zone of Truth), Sun's Revelation (Discern Lies), and Vision of Pelor (True Seeing).

Name Zone of Truth Discern Lies True Seeing Total
Lucifer No change No change No change +0
Sam Sandshield No change 0.1 0.1 +0.2
Jeremy Thicket No change No change 0.1 +0.1
Anubis No change No change No change +0
Chatoyan Silika No change No change No change +0
Amrunanun 0.1 0.1 0.1 +0.3
Pelor's Divine Sun No change No change No change +0


Updated Table:

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef loky1109 Total Place
Lucifer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749037&postcount=37) NG Saint Lesser Aasimar Unarmed Swordsage 1/True Daylight Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Master of Radiance 5 13.75 13.75 3rd
Sam Sandshield (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749039&postcount=38) NG Asherati Favored Environment Spiritual Connection Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1/Cloistered Cleric 1/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Shadowspy 10/Shadow Sun Ninja 5/Nentyar Hunter 1/Devoted Defender 1 16.05 16.05 1st
Jeremy Thicket (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749040&postcount=39) NG Grig Skilled City-Dweller Spiritual Connection Rival Organization Urban Tracker Ranger 1/Spontaneous Domain Casting Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Vigilante 1/Mystic Theurge 3 16.05 16.05 1st
Anubis (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749043&postcount=40) NG Human Human Paragon 3/Rebuke Dragons Cloistered Cleric 1/Church Inquisitor 2/Shadowspy 9/Apostle of Peace 2/Sand Shaper 1/Contemplative 1/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 10.20 10.20 5th
Chatoyan Silika (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749047&postcount=41) NG Asherati Cloistered Cleric 1/Artificer 6/Shadowspy 4/Cragtop Archer 4/Candle Caster 5 10.95 10.95 4th
Amrunanun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749048&postcount=42) ?? Star Elf Nature Bard 9/Cloistered Cleric 1/Shadowspy 10 9.70 9.70 6th
Pelor's Divine Sun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749051&postcount=43) NG Anthropomorphic Bat Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Psychic Rogue 1/Shadowspy 10/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1/Ardent 1/Psychic Theurge 5 14.75 14.75 2nd

[The Viscount]

Thank you for the quick response!

With that, here's our final placements.

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef loky1109 Total Place
Lucifer (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749037&postcount=37) NG Saint Lesser Aasimar Unarmed Swordsage 1/True Daylight Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Master of Radiance 5 Paragon 13.75 13.75 3rd
Sam Sandshield (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749039&postcount=38) NG Asherati Favored Environment Spiritual Connection Skilled City-Dweller Ranger 1/Cloistered Cleric 1/Unarmed Swordsage 1/Shadowspy 10/Shadow Sun Ninja 5/Nentyar Hunter 1/Devoted Defender 1 Inevitability 16.05 16.05 1st
Jeremy Thicket (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749040&postcount=39) NG Grig Skilled City-Dweller Spiritual Connection Rival Organization Urban Tracker Ranger 1/Spontaneous Domain Casting Cloistered Cleric 2/Shadowspy 10/Vigilante 1/Mystic Theurge 3 Inevitability 16.05 16.05 1st
Anubis (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749043&postcount=40) NG Human Human Paragon 3/Rebuke Dragons Cloistered Cleric 1/Church Inquisitor 2/Shadowspy 9/Apostle of Peace 2/Sand Shaper 1/Contemplative 1/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1 Gruftzwerg 10.20 10.20 5th
Chatoyan Silika (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749047&postcount=41) NG Asherati Cloistered Cleric 1/Artificer 6/Shadowspy 4/Cragtop Archer 4/Candle Caster 5 daremetoidareyou 10.95 10.95 4th
Amrunanun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749048&postcount=42) ?? Star Elf Nature Bard 9/Cloistered Cleric 1/Shadowspy 10 WhamBamSam 9.70 9.70 6th
Pelor's Divine Sun (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25749051&postcount=43) NG Anthropomorphic Bat Undead Intuition Cloistered Cleric 2/Psychic Rogue 1/Shadowspy 10/Radiant Servant of Pelor 1/Ardent 1/Psychic Theurge 5 Frostmoon 14.75 14.75 2nd

Thank you to our chefs on cooking with a very difficult ingredient!
Congratulations to Frostmoon for medaling using Iron Chef's proud tradition of cheese, and to Inevitablity for double golds. A rare feat.

Next round up shortly

[Paragon]

Double gold, man kuddos !

That brought me up to third place, which I had no ambition for this round. Well played all, I had good laughs

[Inevitability]

I don't know what I expected when I opened the thread, but... double gold wasn't it. Well then!

To be honest, I wasn't sure which build would do better: Jeremy was obviously a much more creative concept but felt heavily restricted in scope, while Sam at times felt extremely cluttered. I suppose having them share a spot makes as much sense as anything.

Thanks to loky for judging, and to The Viscount for hosting!

[H_H_F_F]

Congrats to all participants! I'll update the spreadsheet soon.

Inevitability, congratulations for double gold! I do have a gripe with Jeremy that I hoped you could comment on:

Jeremy is meant to be a "fifth man", and is very much focused on buffing. Jeremy's main strategy also involves forcing everyone within 30 ft of him who isn't a sprite to make high DC will saves or lose.

These to things really don't mesh well together, in my mind. You describe it as if your buddies would be pummeling the dancing enemy - but wouldn't they be dancing, too? In fact, given their type is very likely humanoid or monstrous humanoid, wouldn't they be far more likely to dance than many enemies? How does this jive?

I have the same issue with your immunity to blinding schtick. You're going to blind your friends! Also, as a far less significant note, pyrotechnics isn't a reflex save, so it doesn't broaden your toolkit as much as you thought it did, I think.

Anyway, congrats again! I liked the choice to go grig a lot here, and you made it work with the SI - but unless I'm missing something, I just feel like it really doesn't mesh well with the rest of the build.

[Inevitability]

Jeremy is meant to be a "fifth man", and is very much focused on buffing. Jeremy's main strategy also involves forcing everyone within 30 ft of him who isn't a sprite to make high DC will saves or lose.

These to things really don't mesh well together, in my mind. You describe it as if your buddies would be pummeling the dancing enemy - but wouldn't they be dancing, too? In fact, given their type is very likely humanoid or monstrous humanoid, wouldn't they be far more likely to dance than many enemies? How does this jive?

So the exact wording is:


When the fiddler plays, any nonsprite within 30 feet of the instrument must succeed on a DC 12 Will save or be affected as though by irresistible dance for as long as the playing continues.

The way I see this, you initiate the ability when you start playing as a standard action (as per usual for supernatural abilities), force a round of saves, and at that point anyone who wasn't affected is fine and anyone who was affected will dance for however long you play. Thus, with some minor positioning (helped by 40 ft. flight or alter self movement modes) you can activate the ability when there's no allies within the area, and afterwards they can enter it and smack the dancing foe. You don't use it while your allies are within range, but with an AoE smaller than your movement rate I don't see that coming up all too much (a lot of combat ends up with pretty identifiable 'battle lines' that you can then fly over or through; you're bulky enough to risk that). If positioning is truly impossible, that's what the buffs are for.

Now, I might be mistaken about that interpretation. If the effect instead forces all unaffected creatures to make a save every round while all affected ones remain caught that'd obviously mess up the idea of giving allies free AoOs. It would also make the ability so much more powerful that I don't think you -need- the free AoOs at that point.

(All of this had me look up the bard list again and made me realize I forgot an obvious combo: Animate Instrument from Complete Scoundrel; pity I didn't think to include that, especially because it so neatly solves the issue of music and stealth meshing poorly)

[daremetoidareyo]

Thank you for the HM on silika.

I chose Asherati because it had a light based ability that worked with radiance of pelor. But to really leverage it, I needed to use the light from a distance. So ranged attacks became important.

Two hurdles arise:

1. you can’t target someone who has concealment and total cover. Only the bloodseeking enchantment bypasses that. From there, brilliant energy spells and arrows then allow the projectile to move through sand. With the extended light and targeting range then cue up cragtip archer.

2. Favored class. I argued heretic of the faith plus judged by aurifar as a way around it. But really, just ignoring multiclass penalties is obviously the more elegant approach. I’m dismayed that I lost more points on that (I figured it would snap to whatever the ignoring multiclass penalties would earn. I should have made that that expectation known). Theres no real reason to blow a feat on this effort other than ignoring multiclass penalties

Lastly, if the double you create from trickery devotion already has radiance and body light activated on the caster, I think it’s reasonable that the double is also producing asherati light. Which allows you to load up more luminance onto it before sending it out to be a vision extending beacon to extend your ranged attack range at a lower use per day cost

[Akal Saris]

Inevitability, congratulations on the double gold! I really liked Jeremy - it was a build I would actually consider playing in a game, which is saying a lot for Shadowspy :)

[loky1109]

My congratulations for medalists! And thanks to The Viscount!



1. you can’t target someone who has concealment and total cover. Only the bloodseeking enchantment bypasses that. From there, brilliant energy spells and arrows then allow the projectile to move through sand. With the extended light and targeting range then cue up cragtip archer.

For me, brilliant energy itself bypasses cover issue.


Lastly, if the double you create from trickery devotion already has radiance and body light activated on the caster, I think it’s reasonable that the double is also producing asherati light. Which allows you to load up more luminance onto it before sending it out to be a vision extending beacon to extend your ranged attack range at a lower use per day cost
Do you argue that any silent image could produce asherati light?
Does double produce light as you? Yes. Does this light have peculiar quality of asherati light? I don't see why it does.

[daremetoidareyo]

first off, this isn’t a dispute or sour grapes, just an explanation of the creation thought process I was using. Your judgement is valid. I think it’s important to make this distinction, cuz I know I dump elegance in my builds.




Do you argue that any silent image could produce asherati light?
Does double produce light as you? Yes. Does this light have peculiar quality of asherati light? I don't see why it does.

Talking with some buds, I contemplated arguing illusions could produce extendable light with RoP, so yes???

Silent image Text: This spell creates the visual illusion of an object, creature, or force, as visualized by you. The illusion does not create sound, smell, texture, or temperature.

So it could work. Depending on interpretation of the word “force”. Does a silent illusion of a candle shed light? It’s wierd when you drill into it.

[loky1109]

Light? Of course yes. Silent image could shed light. I argue that this light is just light, it doesn't provide you sight through sand. As like silent image of somebody with Holy Radiance feat doesn't damage undead.

[Inevitability]

I don't really have a horse in this race, but I think there's a case to be made that illusions, in fact, don't shed light.

Most things like Silent Image, Major Image, etc, are part of the figment subschool. The description for such effects says:


Figment

A figment spell creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. (It is not a personalized mental impression.) Figments cannot make something seem to be something else. A figment that includes audible effects cannot duplicate intelligible speech unless the spell description specifically says it can. If intelligible speech is possible, it must be in a language you can speak. If you try to duplicate a language you cannot speak, the image produces gibberish. Likewise, you cannot make a visual copy of something unless you know what it looks like.

Because figments and glamers (see below) are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. They cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these spells are useful for confounding or delaying foes, but useless for attacking them directly.


Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not receive saving throws to recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion.

A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline.

A failed saving throw indicates that a character fails to notice something is amiss. A character faced with proof that an illusion isn’t real needs no saving throw. If any viewer successfully disbelieves an illusion and communicates this fact to others, each such viewer gains a saving throw with a +4 bonus.

The logical limitation of all figments is that their sensations are false, and don't have the real consequences you would expect. An illusion of a wall won't stop someone from walking through even though it feels solid, an illusion of a fire won't cook your food even though it feels hot, and an illusion of a laser pointer can't burn out someone's retina even though it looks very bright.

Now, what then is the 'false sensation' of light? Imagine you wake up in a dark room and create an illusion of a brightly burning lantern. You could certainly, as part of the same illusion, make the room look well-lit, and you would have the distinct impression of being in a well-lit room.

But this illusion would only include whatever you consciously decide to include: if the real floor is red, your room will not automatically have a red floor. If there's a door on the far side, the illusion would not automatically include it. If you're using a spell like Lucent Lance, which relies on ambient light, it would fail. Your illusionary light is not real light because it has none of the logical consequences of real light: you can fake some of those consequences by enhancing the illusion, but nothing you do creates or blocks real photons.

Other people in the room would be able to make consistent comments about the color of the floor, the size of the room, but ultimately nobody would know anything about the room, because their sensation is determined by you and you do not know what the actual room looks like.

So to circle back to the topic: what would an illusionary double of an asherati look like? Anyone looking at it would get the impression that it's emitting light, for sure. But unless it's standing in the midst of a brightly lit field, that light will fail to illuminate its surroundings beyond the boundaries of the illusion, and would not appear to accurately illuminate its surroundings within the boundaries.

If you send your illusion into a dark room, you could choose to fake the nearby objects being illuminated (which would be fully limited by your knowledge of those objects and their appearance, and not reveal anything about them to you), or you could choose for your illusionary light to not extend to other objects at all (creating an obvious inconsistency). Both of these would probably provoke saves to disbelieve, if they don't constitute outright proof that the light source isn't real.

[Frostmoon]

Congratulations to the other medalists!!!!! I'm genuinely quite surprised that I got silver for this bit of goofy nonsense, eheh, let alone a special shoutout. Thank you!! And thanks to my brother, too; he did a lot of the theory-crafting behind the build.

So, the Sun wasn't really a sun at the start: before the Viscount confirmed that Pelor's Radiance could be stacked, the general idea of the build was to use Persisted, Invisible Light of Xymor to drive dragons out of their homes (or kill them; either was fine). As such, the original name for this build was "Pelor's Divine House Squatter" or "Pelor's Divine House Flipper". That original build utilized more of Shadowspy's capabilities, mostly by virtue of actually needing the stealth aspect. XD Still, I'm happy with the way it turned out: after all, continent-spanning abilities is rather rare, and it was fun to build something that could only be made with the secret ingredient. (Though, yeah, I probably didn't need all 10 levels; with a few less ShadSpy levels, maybe I could actually grab Greater Teleport and not have to rely on a genie...?)


So if Pelor's Divine Sun were to use Radiance of Pelor 10 times on this effect, it'd go from 15 miles to 15360 miles away. That's over half the circumference of planet Earth ^^
Heck, the whole fact that people were referencing my build...it makes me so happy!!! I'm glad to have seriously added to the collective knowledge here.