Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XLIII

[Venger]

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

Hello, all, from your new Chair. Welcome back to the Iron Chef Optimization Challenge E6 Appetizer Edition! It's time for round forty three: let's see how it grows and do some plants.

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

*Note: You must provide your own cake.

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

Cooking Time: Builds must be submitted via PM to the Chair by 4:59 PM GMT - 9 on Thursday, May 11, 2023 (1:59 AM GMT on Thursday, May 11). The reveal shall be on the first evening the Chair has free following the cooking deadline, which is hoped to be that evening or the immediately subsequent one—I'll do my best, anyway. Judging is then encouraged to go as quickly as possible; if multiple judges volunteer, we'll set about a two-week window, but if we only get one judge, we'll try to wrap up as soon as possible after that judge presents scores. (I will admit that the deadline time may not be an exact science, but don't hide from me and we'll probably be cool.)
Kitchen: Let's break this one down a bit.



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

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

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Code for the table:

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

Non-exhaustive list of examples:

Skills
Allowed:

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


Not allowed:

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



Prereqs
Allowed:

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


Not Allowed:

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



Other general things that are no longer allowed:

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


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


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


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




This round's secret ingredient:
PLANTS!


Your dish must be, use, control, befriend, manipulate, craft, create, destroy, or in some other meaningful way, interact with plants. What that means is largely up to you, but please be as clear as possible about how you are utilizing these elements in your entry.


Allez Optimizer!




The Builds:
Coming soon!



Round 4: Knight (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?542333-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(IV))
Round 5: Ninja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?548763-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-V))
Round 6: Racial Paragon Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?551174-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VI))
Round 7: Hexblade (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?553767-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VII))
Round 8: Shugenja (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?555626-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-VIII))
Round 9: Swashbuckler (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?559135-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-IX)")
Round 10: Crusader (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?562183-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-X))
Round 11: Soulknife (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?565669-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XI))
Round 12: Factotum (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?569723-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XII))
Round 13: Prestige Classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?572441-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIII))
Round 14: Mountebank (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?576318-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIV))
Round 15: Sorcerer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?582751-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XV))
Round 16: Dragon Shaman (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?585121-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVI))
Round 17: Lurk (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?588149-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVII))
Round 18: Paladin (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?591516-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XVIII))
Round 19: Scout (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?595369-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XIX))
Round 20: Incarnate (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?599279-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XX))
Round 21: Shadowcaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?602325-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXI))
Round 22: Dragonmarks (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?606051-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXII))
Round 23: Fighter (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?611114-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXIII))
Round 24: Pets (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615226-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXIV))
Round 25: Warlock (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?617510-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXV)&p=24666502)
Round 26: Monsters (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?619170-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Edition-(Round-XXVI))
Round 27: Ardent (exhibition round) (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?622593-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXVII)
Round 28: Rogue (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?623937-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXVIII)
Round 29: Signature Spells (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?627038-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXIX)
Round 30: Any Prior Ingredient (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?628860-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXX)
Round 31: Ranger (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?631229-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXI)
Round 32: Tanking (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632897-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXII)
Round 33: Psychic Warrior (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?634208-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Round-XXXIII)
Round 34: Flight (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?635332-Iron-Chef-Optimization-Challenge-E6-Appetizer-Round-XXXIV)
Round 35: Binder (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?637382-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXV)
Round 36: Skill tricks (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?639486-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXVI)
Round 37: Barbarian (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?643149-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXVII)
Round 38: Fire (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645111-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXVIII)
Round 39: Bard (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?647916-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XXXIX)
Round 40: Poison (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649605-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XL)
Round 41: Light and Darkness (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?651986-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XLI&highlight=XLI)
Round 42: Let's Move (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?654630-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XLII)

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

[Venger]

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

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

[AsuraKyoko]

Ooh, seems interesting! I'm in to cook.

[Inevitability]

I like this round! Build submitted.

[loky1109]

I like this round! Build submitted.

It was pretty quick!

[daremetoidareyo]

Inspiration!!!

[AsuraKyoko]

Unfortunately, my idea just did not come together. If we need more submissions, I can take another stab at it, but I don't know how long that would take. Sorry everyone...

[H_H_F_F]

Hey, wasn't there supposed to be a reveal here?

[Venger]

While there was, I have not yet received enough dishes to fill the podium. Since there are some people who sound interested, I am happy to extend the deadline a bit.

[FactualArcher]

I can probably get a build in today, if you're willing to wait, though it'll be fairly light on fluff.

[FactualArcher]

I submitted my entry. It's a bit rough, but if the round ends here I'm guaranteed at least 3rd. If the contest already ended, just ignore my submission.

[AsuraKyoko]

While there was, I have not yet received enough dishes to fill the podium. Since there are some people who sound interested, I am happy to extend the deadline a bit.

Ah, in that case, I can probably finish mine and get it submitted in a couple of days. Sorry for the delay, everyone.

[Venger]

Great, can't wait to see it.

[Venger]

The podium is full so it's time for the reveal! Please refrain from posting until I give the all-clear.

[Venger]

Putting a new spin on fruit of the poisonous tree.

CN Human Ranger 5/Slayer 1
Str 10 Dex 15 Con 10 Int 14 Wis 14 Cha 12
+1 to Dex at 4th level

Inahil was born and raised in a tribe of humans deep within the jungle. There, he learned to hunt game, climb through the trees, and identify the dangerous plants and animals of the forest. Hise tribe also possessed inborn psychic talent, which was honed by the tribe's leaders. However, even the tribe's psionic strength would not save them. Before Inahil was full grown, Yuan Ti moved into the area, with their psychic thralls in tow. The ensuing was was brief but vicious and the humans were destroyed. Inahil survived, however, to wage a war from the shadows against the Yuan Ti empire. He used poison crafted from the plants of the jungle and grown by his inner power to drive back the interlopers. After many of the Yuan Ti died to silent arrows, they began to call Inahil Whisper Death. Time and time again, he avoided their hunting parties, for the plants and trees of the forest whispered warnings to him, and he was at home in the densest undergrowth.

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Reflex Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1st Ranger 1 1 2 2 0 Survival 4 (+4), Spot 4 (+4), Listen 4 (+4), Climb 4 (+4), Jump 4 (+4), Hide 4 (+4), Move Silently 4 (+4), Craft (Poisonmaking) 4 (+4), Knowledge Nature 4 (+4) Track (B), Point Blank Shot, Hidden Talent (Minor Creation) Favored Enemy (Monsturous Humanoids) +2, Spiritual Connection
2nd Ranger 2 2 3 3 0 Survival 5 (+1), Spot 5 (+1), Listen 5 (+1), Climb 5 (+1), Jump 5 (+1), Hide 5 (+1), Move Silently 5 (+1), Craft (Poisonmaking) 5 (+1), Knowledge Nature 5 (+1) Rapid Shot (B)
3rd Ranger 3 3 3 3 1 Survival 6 (+1), Spot 6 (+1), Listen 6 (+1), Climb 6 (+1), Jump 6 (+1), Hide 6 (+1), Move Silently 6 (+1), Craft (Poisonmaking) 6 (+1), Knowledge Nature 6 (+1) Master of Poisons, Endurance (B)
4th Ranger 4 4 4 4 1 Survival 7 (+1), Spot 7 (+1), Listen 7 (+1), Climb 7 (+1), Jump 7 (+1), Hide 7 (+1), Move Silently 7 (+1), Craft (Poisonmaking) 7 (+1), Knowledge Nature 7 (+1) Spiritual Guide
5th Ranger 5 5 4 4 1 Survival 8 (+1), Spot 8 (+1), Listen 8 (+1), Climb 8 (+1), Jump 8 (+1), Hide 8 (+1), Move Silently 8 (+1), Craft (Poisonmaking) 8 (+1), Knowledge Nature 8 (+1) Favored Enemy (Monsturous Humanoids) +4
6th Slayer 1 6 4 4 3 Hide 9 (+1), Move Silently 9 (+1), Craft (Poisonmaking) 9 (+1) Woodland Archer Favored Enemy (Yuan ti) +2, Enemy sense (Yuan ti)

Feat list:
1-Precise Shot
2-Skill Focus (Craft Poisonmaking)
3-Psionic Shot
4-Fell Shot
5-Psionic Meditation
6-Iron Will
7-Indominitable Soul
8-Brachiation
9-Quick Reconnoiter
10-Far Shot


Level 1-5. Inahil starts as a basic archery ranger, with the ability to make a few poisons on the side. At 3rd level he gets Master of Poisons, which allows him to apply poison as a swift action. With Minor Creation and his craft skill he can make some fairly solid poisons. Malyss Root Paste and Sassone Leaf Residue are his poisons of choice, both of which are plant based. Malyss deals dex damage to enemies and Sassone is unique or nearly unique among poisons as it gives direct bonus damage, both of which are strong against low level foes. Outside of combat, Inahil can speak with plants and animals on top of his already decent scouting abilities, giving him solid utility. His ranger spellcasting is basically nonexistent, but it does give him a one day Entangle. In addition, Inahil is quite strong against monstrous humanoids due to his favorite enemy.
E6. Inahil picks up some more abilities for use against the Yuan Ti with his level in Slayer. He also gets Woodland Archer, giving helping his iterative attacks, but also letting him stalk his foes with poisoned arrows fired from hiding. With Skill Focus and a masterwork tool, he can theoretically craft Black Lotus Extract, the most deadly plant based poison. More reliably, you can use Terinav Root, a nasty contact poison that does significant dex damage. Later, Inahil gains the ability to move around more easily in forests with his Brachiation, improving his ranged skirmish abilities, and he picks up several feats to shore up his weak ish will save. With Fell Shot he can land his most expensive poisons very accurately, making his hopeful surprise attack extremely deadly.

Inahil uses plants in three ways. One, he can speak with them, helping him scout and potentially locate sources for his poisons. Two, once he gets Brachiation he can move easily in forested and overgrown areas, giving him an advantage in areas with plants. Three, and most core to the build's concept, he can throw down some fairly strong plant based poisons. Poison is normally fairly weak, but at E6 it works better against lower base saves.


Slayer-SRD
Minor Creation, Psionic Shot, Fell Shot, Hidden Talent-EPH
Quick Reconnoiter, Brachiation-CA
Spiritual Guide, Spiritual Connection-CC
Woodland Archer-RotW
Indominable Soul-PHBII
Master of Poisons-DotU
Poisons-DMG

[Venger]

Animal, vegetable, or mineral?

Ukko, the One Grown Upon

NG NeanderthalFrost Cleric of Mielikki 5 / OozemasterMotW 1

Imagine the world, destroyed.

The ground is covered in ashen gray silt, washed away by the slightest rain; no plants are left to take root in it. A few cities remain as empty, weathered ruins, their denizens long dead. The sky looks wrong: bright red at dusk and dawn, green and grey at noon. The sun is bloated, brightened; a stinging sensation accompanies all daylight excursions. Even magic itself has been maimed, lessened: the great spells of old are now consigned to the realm of legend.

Imagine living in that world, far in the north, in a place where little changed while all else collapsed.

You live in a small band; perhaps twenty or thirty in number, and know of several more bands that size. All of you are strong and tough; you have to be. You're clad in little more than animal hides, your weapons and tools are made of bone and rock. You survive by scavenging, by hunting the few remaining beasts, by your shaman's magic. None of you can read or write; only a few know script ever existed. Sometimes you find those magic materials the ancients possessed: iron, copper, wood; those are good days. Your band must travel ever-further to hunt ever-leaner prey, must fight off ever-more of the old world's horrors; you tell yourself it doesn't matter, you'll be able to get by; you're not sure you believe that.

Now imagine that one day, you are chosen. The method matters little; perhaps it was a prophetic dream, perhaps a booming voice from above, perhaps a small beast turned to look at you with too-human eyes and spoke in your dead mother's voice.

The one who chose you is a goddess; her power faded, her worshippers dead, her sacred forests blighted. She is acting out of desperation; if nothing changes, she will fade, and the last bits of nature she protects shall perish. She tells you of seeds buried beneath glaciers, frozen yet not dead; retrieve them, carry them south, and pray they take root in the lifeless soil there.

With the last of her power, she grants a boon; a cloak of frost and fungus. It will protect you, she says, and preserve the seeds until they reach their new home. But it itself is life too, to be spread and nourished, a cornerstone of a future food web.

You know it will be dangerous, that it will be a lonely task, that it might not work at all. You have never seen a forest, and hardly believe they could truly be as great as you're told, that they could truly save the world. Perhaps it's best to stay with the tribe, and help out the shaman, and hope that something, somehow, will get better.

But you know well enough that it won't, that this is truly the world's last hope, and so you set out into the wastes, armed only with memories of beasts long gone, and promises of life resurgent.

(also a longspear, but we're trying to be poetic here!)

array: 16 str/10 dex/14 con/14 int/12 wis/12 cha
modifiers applied: 18 str/8 dex/16 con/12 int/12 wis/12 cha
Increase wisdom at level 4.

Languages: Common, Celestial



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


1st
Cleric 1
+0
+2
+0
+2
Concentration 2, Craft (Alchemy) 2, Knowledge (Nature) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Survival 2, Swim 2cc
Animal DevotionCChamp
Turn Undead, Spontaneous Domain Casting (Plant)PHB2, Plant Domain, Travel Domain


2nd
Cleric 2
+1
+3
+0
+3
Concentration 2, Craft (Alchemy) +1 (3), Knowledge (Nature) +1 (2), Knowledge (Religion) +1 (2), Survival 2, Swim 2
-
Undead Intuitition +2dead levels web enhancement (http://rpg.nobl.ca/archive.php?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a)


3rd
Cleric 3
+2
+3
+1
+3
Concentration 2, Craft (Alchemy) +1 (4), Knowledge (Nature) 2, Knowledge (Religion) 2, Survival 2, Swim +1cc (3)
Great Fortitude
Undead Intuition +3


4th
Cleric 4
+3
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 2, Craft (Alchemy) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 2, Knowledge (Religion) +3 (5), Survival 2, Swim 3
-
Undead Intuition +4


5th
Cleric 5
+3
+4
+1
+4
Concentration 2, Craft (Alchemy) 4, Knowledge (Nature) +1 (3), Knowledge (Religion) 5, Survival 2, Swim +1cc (4)
-
Undead Intuition +5


6th
Oozemaster 1
+3
+6
+1
+4
Concentration +2 (4), Craft (Alchemy) 4, Knowledge (Nature) 3, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Survival +3 (5), Swim 4
Initiate of NaturePGtF
Minor Oozy Touch (Brown Mold)



Epic feats:
1: Fiery BurstCM
2: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
3: Augment Summoning
4: Beckon the FrozenFrost
5: Extra Turning
6: SnowcastingFrost
7: Icy CallingFrost
8: Cloudy ConjurationCM
9: Rapid SpellCD
10: Quicken TurningCD


Level 1: 3//2+1
Level 2: 4//3+1
Level 3: 4//3+1//1+1
Level 4: 5//4+1//2+1
Level 5+: 5//4+1//2+1//1+1

Typical prepared spells at epic levels:
0: Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds (2), Detect Magic (2)
1: Resurgence, Conjure Ice Beast I (2), Summon Monster I
2: Lava Missile, Rapid Conjure Ice Beast I
3: Rapid Conjure Ice Beast II

Domain spells:
1st: Longstrider
2nd: Locate Object
3rd: Fly

Can spontaneously cast Entangle, Barkskin, and Plant Growth.


ECL 1
You're a cleric, sure, but you're also an 18 strength neanderthal with 2/day Animal Devotion and a +1 racial bonus on longspear attacks. Stand behind the fighter and spear goblins with +5 to hit and 1d8+6 damage, and you should get through Low Level Caster Hell without any problems. Out of combat, you can offer some minor item crafting, the occasional helpful knowledge check, and neanderthal-boosted survival skills. You can't read, but what are you, a wizard?

On the casting side of things, Spontaneous Entangle gives us a plant theme from the get-go and combos with our Travel Domain power to let us move unimpeded in our own vegetation. Freedom of Movement is generally really hard to obtain in E6, so getting access to it from first level is amazing (it also has minor synergy with our swim ranks, in case that ever comes up).

ECL 3
Second-level spells, more rounds of travel domain power, better turning. We grab the cleric dead level feature to get slightly better at identifying undead, which are common mid-level foes. You can now cast spontaneous barkskin, in case you need to repurpose some utility spells for combat right this instant, but outside of that there isn't much worth noting here.

ECL 6
We grab Initiate of Nature as our final pre-epic feat. This grants us a pretty considerable command animals/plants pool, so if you want you can now run around with a couple wolves or phantom fungi under your control. There's a bit of a convoluted trick where you first cast Substitute Domain to temporarily grab the Animal domain instead of the Travel one, and then use Speak with Animals to better coordinate your commanded creatures, but that's ideally saved for focused missions with lots of advance planning, or for the scouting phase of more direct operations.

More importantly, we unlock Mold Touch, which is a spell that creates patches of the heat-draining brown mold. Oozemaster grants us full immunity to brown mold damage, meaning we can carry it on our own body without ill effect. Your DM might argue that you have immunity to the direct damage but not the ambient cold... at which point you refer them to the neanderthal's Climate Tolerant trait, granting them the ability to exist comfortably in 'cold' temperatures, like that created by the mold.

The spell is instantaneous, so normally I'd suggest spamming it during downtime, but you don't even have to do that: simply create a single patch, apply a torch, and watch it grow all by itself, then harvest some of the mold and spread it further. Ideally, you'd be leaving a trail of mold patches behind as you go, doubling back to grow and harvest them if an encounter results in the destruction of your current one. In most situations, actually preparing the spell shouldn't be necessary, though you can still do so if you really want to be safe.

In combat, we move adjacent to one or more foes, dealing 3d6 no-save no-dr no-attack damage for free, and then we get to hit someone with our two-handed weapon of choice (a quarterstaff is probably best by now and still gets your +1 racial bonus). Against particularly high-AC foes, or enemies who must be taken alive, on subsequent rounds we might prefer to use our oozy touch, which deals only 1d6+1 damage but ignores armor.

We're still a caster, but those are more of a long-range option to fall back on if our close-range melee doesn't work out. Concentration isn't maxed, but we have better-than-average constitution and anyone who runs up to threaten us in melee takes 3d6 damage, so getting hit while casting isn't as big of an issue as it might be for others.

Though speaking of spells... we can cast Entangle on our mold patches (yes, this is rules-legal, see the discussion section below) to create ensnaring fields of fungus that constantly drain the body heat of everyone inside them, while being immune to every single effect of them (even the difficult terrain, thanks to Travel's granted power) ourselves.

Now, brown mold deals subdual cold damage, meaning undead are immune (though even undead do not like Entangle), but Turn Undead backed up by 5 cleric levels and a religion synergy bonus takes care of them fine. Constructs are a bit trickier, but there aren't all that many E6-level constructs for the simple reason that most require higher-level spells to create.

Epic
Against cold-immune enemies, which tend to be vulnerable to fire, we grab Fiery Burst. In addition to being a solid combat option that can increase the size of our mold patches, it simplifies the process of spreading our mold and could even be used in combat for that. Cold subtyped foes that somehow don't fear your melee attacks will take (2d6)x1.5 damage, which I won't pretend is great but is pretty respectable as far as worst matchups go.

More centrally, we grab a bunch of summoning feats, which happen to have great synergy with everything we want to be doing already.

A brief overview: Snowcasting lets us improve our spells by including snow or ice as a component, which we can ensure by freezing Create Water in the region of cold around our mold and preserve continuously. Beckon the Frozen turns our summons into [Cold] creatures that deal extra cold damage, and Icy Calling then boosts those creatures because we're calling them into the low-temperature area created by our mold. A badger is hardly impressive at these levels: a Conjure Ice Beast badger with +8 strength, 15 HP, +4 dexterity, and +2d6 cold damage on all its hits is significantly more so, especially when it's also immune to all the cold damage you're throwing around (and can even serve as a mobile mold platform).

(By the way, note that Conjure Ice Beast lets us access the Summon Nature's Ally list as well; Ice Beast Lions or Ice Beast Black Bears are all absolutely terrifying with all the buffs we grant them).

Rapid Spell can be used to downgrade round-long summoning spells into standard actions, letting us cast a summon and then get our moldy self in position to deal even more damage. Cloudy Conjuration is a very versatile feat that can serve as debuff or cover, and even works with Mold Touch if you ever end up casting that in combat!

To cover our noted weakness against undead, we grab some turning-related feats: Quicken Turning lets us wreck havoc with the action economy (which we were already doing against every other creature type, so the situational nature is mitigated), and Extra Turning makes sure we're optimally using all those available free actions (it also helps with our devotion feats).


First of all, let's get the big one out of the way: real-world taxonomy be damned, brown mold is a plant in D&D terms. I could make a number of suggestive arguments: that 'fungus' is not a category D&D really acknowledges, that all the fungal monsters have the plant type, that our ability to create brown mold is explicitly derived from worship of a deity with the plant domain... but I don't have to do any of that, because the DMG tells us:


In a dungeon’s damp, dark recesses, molds and fungi thrive. While some plants and fungi are monsters and other slime, mold, and fungus is just normal, innocuous stuff, a few varieties are dangerous dungeon encounters. For purposes of spells and other special effects, all slimes, molds, and fungi are treated as plants.

It then goes on to list the brown mold explicitly, so let it be clear: we're just as involved with plants as your average treehugger druid.

Anyway, with this expanded definition of 'plant' in mind, how involved are we with them? Quite! We're walking around covered in plants, we can spontaneously cast one of the best plant-related spells in the game from first level on, we then develop a strategy for generating arbitrarily large patches of brown mold, which both enables our Entangles and makes us an offensive threat all by itself. It is thanks to this plant that we can boost our already-amazing summons even further (because it generates an area of cold), and those can in turn serve to further carry the mold around. Oh, and we can have 10 HD of plant creatures following us around, in case you ever come across those.

[Venger]

Time for some exploration of a core spell...


Quercus




https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/704885103867723830/1110049628554006548/Screenshot_2023-05-21_at_11.38.20_PM.png

NE Amphibious Arctic Dwarf Druid 3/wu jen 1/Mantled Psywar 2

I have been wanting to have an excuse to figure out a way to abuse treeshape beyond the confines put forth in the spell. so here goes my attempt at a little Faustian Rules Alchemy.

Question: Can you have a negative ability score at any point?

Because if we can generate an affirmative answer to that, well then we can grow this little seed around it.


Tree Shape
Transmutation Level: Drd 2, Rgr 3
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)
By means of this spell, you are able to assume the form of a Large living tree or shrub or a Large dead tree trunk with a small number of limbs. The closest inspection cannot reveal that the tree in question is actually a magically concealed creature. To all normal tests you are, in fact, a tree or shrub, although a detect magic spell reveals a faint transmutation on the tree. While in tree form, you can observe all that transpires around you just as if you were in your normal form, and your hit points and save bonuses remain unaffected. You gain a +10 natural armor bonus to AC but have an effective Dexterity score of 0 and a speed of 0 feet. You are immune to critical hits while in tree form. All clothing and gear carried or worn changes with you. You can dismiss tree shape as a free action (instead of as a standard action).

DMG page 290 states:

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/704885103867723830/1110003724329435176/image.png?width=900&height=144

As my good friend said, let's explore this linguistic space. It's never NECESSARY to keep track of a negative ability score. A character's ability score cannot DROP below zero.

What if we generated a character that could never have a positive ability score because, in the womb, they had an ability score of negative 2. It never dropped below zero. It never was above zero. It was already negative at birth. Theoretically, we have an ability score below zero. We can just round up to zero, as its not NECESSARY to keep track of an ability score below zero. What if we CHOSE to keep track?

Presented here is a build predicated on using this linguistic space and flaws to generate a character with a dexterity score of negative 2. This will allow us to use treeshape in the manners of which it was never intended.

For completeness, PHB p.11 has this to say about racial ability modifiers

"If these changes put your score above 18 or below 3, that’s okay, except in the case of Intelligence, which does not go below 3 for characters."

There is no bottom cap on ability scores modifiers at generation time with the exception of intelligence

Now we can generate our horrendous dexterity one of two ways with non-deductive point buy: all scores begin at 8.
1. Be a dragonborn amphibious arctic dwarf in a campaign world where dragonborns can breed true. Just add the pathetic flaw and boom: out of the box -2 dexterity.
2. Be an amphibious arctic dwarf whose mother worshipped an elder evil to imbue upon her child willing deformity feats, as represented by vile feats, purchased with flaws, character flaws, which are inborn to the character. By being willing deformity obese with the pathetic flaw, we get our character down to -2 dexterity before birth. This is relying on the implied intent of 1st level feats to represent any endowment from any period of a character's backstory. The existence of celestial attended birth, or nymph's kiss represent events along a backstory continuum. The flaws and deformity feats are chosen to have taken place immediately before character generation, so that the negative ability score always was, and never dropped. There is no prohibition from BEING at negative ability score points, (although it's not NECESSARY to track it), only from DROPping into negatives



Abilities

Initial

Race / Template/flaws
4th



STR

14
2
16


DEX
8
-10
-2


CON
16
4
20


INT
11

11


WIS
17

18


CHA
8
-2
6





Yes. Big Deal, we have a character with effective dexterity zero, from birth, giving us permanent paralysis and helplessness.

Yes.

But Dragon Compendium allows us to leverage treeshape into granting us a positive(!) dexterity score through the use of the feat, Ability enhancer.


Your helpful transmutation spells aid you more than normal.
Prerequisite: Spell Focus (transmutation)
Benefit: Any transmutation spell you cast that enhances ability scores increases the ability scores by +2 more than it normally does. For example, casting bull's strength with this feat grants the subject a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength, instead of the usual +4 enhancement bonus.


Now, they made the mistake of not tying this enhancement of ability scores to bonuses of enhancement typing. Any bonus to an ability score from a transmutation spell is fair game to be considered enhanced. And seeing as how we have a dexterity of minus 2, and that treeshape gives us a dexterity of zero....Well I'd say that is indeed an enhancement.

Therefor, tree shape triggers the ability enhancer feat to increase the ability score of dexterity by +2 more than it normally does, granting us an EFFECTIVE DEXTERITY SCORE OF 2.

No longer at dexterity zero (or lower, although it's not NECESSARY to point this out) we are no longer helpless nor paralyzed.

We do have the problem of zero speed though. This will be solved by psychic abilities later.

Congratulations we have a character that can treeshape and take action, real physical actions. Sure the speed is zero, but freedom mantle and the speed of thought feat will address that. Literally transform into a tree, this is a transmutation spell, not an illusion spell. So we can even become a dead tree with a limited number of limbs. I’m not entirely sure of the utility of being a dead tree over a live tree, other than potentially being a possible target of burial blessing or speak with dead.

Now that’s a lot of inelegant flaw usage and rules lawyering just to get +10 nat AC and zero speed as a tree.

We can also be a shrub.

Actually, there is a list of all of the cool different trees that you can become found here, in Jowgen's fantastic thread, Magical Plants and where to find them (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?479663-Magical-Plants-and-Where-to-Find-them)

My favorite for this psionic build is the Canath tree: (https://web.archive.org/web/20151106184101/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20030725a) it bears psionic capacitor fruit.

But there are a number of wierd berries/apple trees on that list.

Weirwood (FRCS p. 80, MoF p. 181) Rare oak-like tree with leaves that are a silver-sheen brown on top and velvet black on the underside, often protected by Dryads and Treants. Can grow huge and many-branched, will not burn from non-magical fire, and imparts a warm clear tone to musical instruments made from it. It can replace oak or holly in any spell, and living Weirwood has fire resistance 20 (no means to preserve this quality after harvesting is known). Weirwood within the illumiation radius of a magical light source emits light as a candle for 1d4+1 rounds after leaving the area.

Sussur aka. Deeproot (Und p. 108) A rare, magical, faerzres-dependent tree with long gnarled branches and banyan-like aerial roots found in the largest underdark caverns. Grows to 60 ft of height, has very few leaves, and absorbs magic, creating massive (i.e. several 100 ft) antimagic fields. Und p. 108

Living Wood aka. Lifewood (SBG p. 36,) This "special living wood" is writtento only be found in Elven Forests, where it was specially "bred". It heals 1 HP per round.

Healing Apple Tree (Mysteries of the Moonsea p. 61) A magically bred medium-sized apple tree that bears red fruits that heal like Goodberries (does not count as a meal). A tree produces 100 apples per season.







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


1st
Druid
0
2
0
2
16: {+4} Ride: 4; {+4} Concentration: 4; {+4} Handle animal: 4; {+4} spot: 4; {+5} Spot: 5;
"Flaw: Pathetic (-2 Dexterity), Slow (UA)
Willing deformity (Heroes of Horror 125), Willing Deformity (obese) (BOVD), Sudden Silent"
Animal companion, nature sense, wild empathy


2nd
Wu jen
0
2
0
4
2: Ride: 4; {+1} Concentration: 5; Handle animal: 4; spot: 4; {+1} spellcraft: 1; Spot: 5;
Sudden Still spell
Watchful spirit, bonus feat


3rd
Druid
1
3
0
5
4: {+1} Ride: 5; {+1} Concentration: 6; {+1} Handle animal: 5; {+1} spot: 5; spellcraft: 1; Spot: 5;
Spell Focus (Transmutation)
woodland stride


4th
Druid
2
3
1
5
4: {+1} Ride: 6; {+1} Concentration: 7; {+1} Handle animal: 6; {+1} spot: 6; spellcraft: 1; Spot: 5;

Trackless step


5th
Psychic warrior
2
5
1
5
2: {+1} Ride: 7; {+1} Concentration: 8; Handle animal: 6; spot: 6; spellcraft: 1; Spot: 5;
Speed of thought
bonus feat, (call armor)


6th
Mantled Psychic warrior
3
6
1
5
2: {+1} Ride: 8; {+1} Concentration: 9; Handle animal: 6; spot: 6; spellcraft: 1; Spot: 5;
Ability enhancer (Dragon Compendium)
Freedom Mantle, adrenaline boost






Epic Feats


natural bond


mounted combat


rideby attack


photosynthetic skin


powerful charge


reckless charge


spirited charge


tremendous charge


earth sense


earth power



Backstory:
Artic dwarves are known to be surly and have stereotypical Slavic accents. A witch princess secretly devoted to an elder evil is this characters mom. Whose moral putrescence teratogenically modified her growing child into a slug of a dwarf.

Abandoned to the wild, the child was discovered by some druids who did everything they could ease the malady of the child, to little avail.

Level 1:
Here we are, a simple paralyzed lump. We do have an animal companion that can do all of our XP gaining for this level. And we have sudden silent, which allows us to once a day, cast omen of peril that we can share with our animal companion who can then do a complicated interpretative dance for other PCs to manage. Other than that, you’re just a big useless lump with a pet.

Level 2:
Finally, we can adventure. With the onset of the first wu jen level, we are able to sudden silent, sudden still a spell, allowing us to cast it while paralyzed with a purely mental action. Aspect of the wolf fulfills this requirement, allowing us, for 10 minutes per day, do anything that a wolf with a normal wolfscores can do. The animal companion can drag us on a sled to set us up for optimal use of those 10 minutes of adventuring as a wolf. We have 4 1st level wu jen spells available to choose from. Endure elements and silent image are good options. The shield spell can add even more AC.

Level 3:
20 minutes of wolf shape!. And woodland stride while being drug around on a sled is at this point, the most powerful use of woodland stride I’ve ever seen!
Spell focus transmutation sets us up for ability enhancer at level 6.

Level 4:
We’re here. We finally have tree shape. We can cast it now if we want, but we’ll be limited to normal treeshape behavior until level 6. Most trees float, so you’ll have buoyancy if you need it.

Level 5:
Psychic Warrior is lending us a number of very useful things. 1. A free psionic feat that gives us +10 insight bonus to speed, 2. Manifestation as a purely mental action, and 3. The call armor power. It won’t be relevant until level 6, when we are finally an ambulatory tree. Because being an ambulatory tree is funnier if that tree is wearing armor. And there are a number of non-metallic armors including mountain plate, stone armor, living coral armor, that you can just summon onto your tree. This speed bonus will allow us to move as a tree-shaped person

Level 6:
Mantled warrior grants us access to the freedom mantle, which adds another 10 to our speed while psionically focused, bringing our tree up to a movement of 20. And we finally have ability enhancer, so when we cast sudden stilled and silent treeshape, we turn into a tree for hours, that can walk at a speed of 20 while psionically focused. We have +10 natural armor, -4 dexterity penalty to AC, and we get all of the benefits of being a tree that can move. With call armor, we can add another +5-+9 to our AC in non-metallic armors. Granting an AC in the 20s.

E1:
Natural bond adds 4 to our effective druid level, which allows us to trade out our animal companion for an elasmosaurus, a huge sized creature that we can ride in both water and on land. Giant crocodile is also a viable option.

E2 &E3:
Mounted combat lets us begin our mounted armored obese tree riding an elasmosaurus or giant crocodile career! Now we can ride by attack

E4: photosynthetic skin helps us stay in flavor

E5-e8:
Charging feats that explode our damage dice. Tremendous charge allows us to use our animal companion's strength score for our triple damage lances.

E9-e10:
Stone power and stone sense grant us more narrative power as well as some psionic shenanigans

[Venger]

And that's the round! Happy reading, everyone.

[loky1109]

I maybe judge. But I need at least week before start.

Table incoming.

UPD: table!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Judge 1 Total Place
Inahil Whispering Death (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786389&postcount=15) CN Human Spiritual Connection Spiritual Guide Ranger 5/Slayer 1
Ukko, the One Grown Upon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786390&postcount=16) NG Neanderthal Spontaneous Domain Casting Dead Level Cleric 5/Oozemaster 1
Quercus (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786392&postcount=17) NE Amphibious Arctic Dwarf Druid 3/Wu Jen 1/Mantled Psywar 2

[H_H_F_F]

I thought about just going straight SS treant, which gets to large by level 6. But given that the monster round was proclaimed "an exception" to the no LA rule (despite not having any LA) it felt very sketchy, and also I couldn't find anything too interesting to do with my plant type other than "good immunities", and ithet r than that it was just a good old large bruiser build.

[loky1109]

I thought about just going straight SS treant, which gets to large by level 6. But given that the monster round was proclaimed "an exception" to the no LA rule (despite not having any LA) it felt very sketchy, and also I couldn't find anything too interesting to do with my plant type other than "good immunities", and ithet r than that it was just a good old large bruiser build.
I'd give SS theant 0 or 1 in elegance.

[H_H_F_F]

I'd give SS theant 0 or 1 in elegance.

Yeah, makes sense. Haven't submitted it for a reason.

I have a streak of never not-placing in a competition outside the IC, don't want to squander that on a treant :smalltongue:

[AsuraKyoko]

As it turns out, I was not able to find the time to finish my entry, but the basic idea was to use Shillelagh, Brambles, Enlarge Person, and Might Wallop to swing a massive quarterstaff around. I couldn't really come up with anything else to do with it, though, so it wasn't really a complete build.

Sorry I wasn't able to submit, things have been hectic over here. The submissions all look pretty cool!

[H_H_F_F]

Okay, I just read the entries. I like this round! I laughed multiple times while reading Quercus.

Also: a certain someone has now been unleashed on the Appetizer Edition. Things will never be the same.

[loky1109]

I'll start judging tomorrow.

[loky1109]

Sorry, I was slightly out of time at this week.

[daremetoidareyo]

Any word on this comp?

[loky1109]

Judging incoming!
Again, sorry for delay.

Originality - starting from 3.
Power - starting from 0.
Elegance - starting from 5.
UoSI - starting from 0.

Human, ranger, Hidden Talent (Minor Creation), Master of Poisons aren't surprising.
Slayer is. Psionic Shot feat line isn't something I expect in this round, but not very new for me.
The idea of an archer with poisoned arrows... Well, it's very common, but I don't see it often.

I give you 2.25 points here.
You are a competent archer, but your main source of damage is poison. In E6 it works against many enemies, but I don't know what you will do against dozen of skeletons. (+1.25)
Your main defense is a distance as I can see. Your hp is low, your saves are mediocre all, but Will with Indomitable Soul, your AC is hardly worth mentioning. (+0.5)
You are a good scout. Good stealth, perception and athletic skills with ranger's ACF, Brachiation and Quick Reconnoiter as a bonus. One almost top knowledge, craft, plus Minor Creation could make not only poisons. Good. (+1.5)
Plus if yuan ti is the core of the game you'll shine. It's limited, but a good addition. (+0.25)

3.5 points total.
Your 6th level skills

Hide 9 (+1), Move Silently 9 (+1), Craft (Poisonmaking) 9 (+1)
How should I figure out they all are cross-class? I shouldn't, you should say me that (-0.25).
Slayer from SRD... Well, SRD isn't material published by WotC. Slayer is actually Illithid Slayer from Expanded Psionics Handbook. Illithids aren't under OGL and were cut out, but you still could see Brain Nausea and Blast Feedback abilities. These abilities make no sense for Yuan Ti Slayer (-1).
I look at your latter half of epic feats and it looks like you didn't know what to take. Indomitable Soul, Brachiation and Quick Reconnoiter are not bad feats, but are they the best options for you? I’m seriously not sure. (-0.25)
You could get Slayer at 5th level and return into ranger at 6th. It'd save some skill points for you. (-0)
Your skill presentation... Well, I'll not penalize you for it in this entry, because it matters only at one level, but I still strongly dislike it. I want to see all ranks at all levels, not only ranks in skills that you raise up! (-0)
Psionic Meditation requires 7 ranks in Concentration, you have 0 (-0.5).

Total: 3 points.
Okay, you speak with plants, you move via trees, and you use plant-based poisons... Well, it's something, but not much. I call it 1.5 points.

Total: 10.25

Neanderthal, Oozemaster are surprises. Also I didn't expect Cleric and Initiate of Nature at all. And I very much like your main trick!
Your feats aren't so impressive, but almost nothing is boring.

Here you have 4.25 points.
You're good at damage dealing. 3d6 without action, save or attack for everybody in 5 ft is cool trick. Plus you could hardly strike 'em with 'e spear hardly. And you have your Ice Beasts and other spells. And you have your turns against undead. Not the best solution, but still working. Yes, there are enemies who could get you in trouble, not many and you have back up options. (+1.75)
You have good hp. Your AC isn't worth a mention. Yes, most foes want to stay away from you, but if somebody doesn't or has a bow it could become a problem. Your saves... Your Reflex is awful. Fort is great and Will is okish, but Reflex is a trouble. (+1)
You have some knowledges, survival, and alchemy. Command animals or plants via Initiate of Nature is also an interesting option. Of course you have a variety of spells for all occasions. But you really aren't a skill monkey, or scout, or party face, etc. (+0.5)
Good for you, you could work all day every day. Yes, your spells are limited, but even without most of them you are still a serious threat. (+0.25)

Total: 3.5 points.
First. Your entry made for a very specific setting. It doesn't fly without changes in every game at every table. But let it be (-0).

A badger is hardly impressive at these levels: a Conjure Ice Beast badger with +8 strength, 15 HP, +4 dexterity, and +2d6 cold damage on all its hits is significantly more so, especially when it's also immune to all the cold damage you're throwing around (and can even serve as a mobile mold platform).
Sorry, it can't.

Cold Aura (Su): The ice beast deals 1d6 points of cold damage to all creatures within 10 feet as a free action at the beginning of its turn each round.

Brown Mold: ... Cold damage ... instantly destroys it.
Actually, Conjure Ice Beast and your brown mold trick hinder each other. Yes, they are still usable simultaneously, but you should be very careful. (-0.5)
Also, your main trick is very not party friendly (-0.5).
Your skill points allocation looks chaotic, but I have no issues with it (-0).

Your total points here are 4.5. Very good!
You have Spontaneous Domain Casting (Plant), you can rebuke or command plant creatures, and of course your Brown Mold trick! Looks very well!

I give you 4.25 points.

Total: 16.5

Oh! It was really... really weird! Only one thing that come between you and max points in Originality is Earth Power. Матушка Сыра Земля vibe is very thematic, but "some psionic shenanigans" уже набили оскомину have already bored everyone to death.

You got 4.75 points.
Until 6th level you could do almost nothing. Really. Yeah, you could do something, but it all is so limited... And even at 6th level, you have only 6 hours of activity per day (-1, yeah, for now you have -1 point in power, it will increase later, but first you go under. I’ve decided to use your logic here)
Well, let it work. What can you do when you are moving tree? Your supposed charge damage looks good and your AB is good enough. And that's actually all. Yeah, there are 1st level spells, but you mentioned only Aspect of the wolf and it's like you don't use it after you grab tree form (+0.75).
Defense. On the one hand you have great hp, good AC even with your 2 Dex, good Fort and Will. On the other hand your Reflex... And Call Armor works only 2 min for you. Plus we should not forget about initiative. -4 Initiative is bad for everybody, but for charger type it's even worse. Watchful Spirit helps, but only once per day (+0.75).
Your skills are nothing special. Some of your tree form could make something useful, but it looks very situational (+0.5). Well, Deeproot is cool (+0.5).

Total: 1.5 point.
First thing first. It's a beautiful TO idea, but I don't see it fly. And your base ground is Faustian Rules Alchemy as you own said. I don't call it illegal, okay, but it's at least very questionable (-0.5).
Two flaws (-2).
I understand, this "Spot: 5;" from the very first level is a typo, but you should be more careful (-0.25).

Natural bond adds 4 to our effective druid level
Sorry, but only 3. And anyway "This bonus can never make your effective druid level exceed your character level." No elasmosaurus or giant crocodile for you. And this means you don't have an animal companion which you are able to ride in large Tree Shape (-1).

My favorite for this psionic build is the Canath tree: it bears psionic capacitor fruit.
Yes, it's cool, but you need to be a Canath Tree for at least 1 month without interruption to get a fruit, but you can't. Same thing with Healing Apple Tree (-0.25).
Where is your source list? Yeah, you listed something, but you should list all, at least all outside PHB (-0.5).
Actually, your entry looks like you expected to get a hard penalty for your main idea and decide you have nothing left to lose and went rogue. Flaws, not listed sources, bad edited table. I don't like this.

Earth sense has no sense for a mounted charger (-0).

You earned only 1 points for this category, but you really could earn more. Not a full mark of course, but I see you with 2 or 2.5 points.
You are the tree. 6 hours per day. All other time you could do nothing. And you have photosynthetic skin. I think you are very in theme here. Full mark.

5 points.
Total: 12.25

And the table.
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef loky1109 Total Place
Inahil Whispering Death (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786389&postcount=15) CN Human Spiritual Connection Spiritual Guide Ranger 5/Slayer 1 10.25 10.25 3rd
Ukko, the One Grown Upon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786390&postcount=16) NG Neanderthal Spontaneous Domain Casting Dead Level Cleric 5/Oozemaster 1 16.50 16.50 1st
Quercus (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786392&postcount=17) NE Amphibious Arctic Dwarf Druid 3/Wu Jen 1/Mantled Psywar 2 12.25 12.25 2nd

[H_H_F_F]

I enjoyed reading your judgment, loky. Thanks!

[daremetoidareyo]

No disputes here

[FactualArcher]

None for me as well

[H_H_F_F]

Hey chair, should we be expecting a reveal in the coming days?

Also, I'd like to remind anyone who might be interested that there are three entries in the Villainous Competition (in my sig) awaiting judgement.

[Venger]

One dispute:



Greetings Loky, thanks for the judgement.


"[The badger] can even serve as a mobile mold platform)."

Sorry, it can't.
It can. Quote the Ice Beast template description: "An ice beast loses all special attacks of the base creature. It gains one (and only one) of the following special attacks, chosen by its maker at the time of its creation."

Elsewhere, I talk about the badger's melee attacks dealing 2d6 cold damage (1d6 is from a feat), so I think it's pretty obvious I want them to have Frigid Touch instead of Cold Aura. The ice beasts will only deal cold damage to those they attack, and not to the mold on their backs. In other words, there's no conflicting mechanics here, just synergy.

No other disputes!

[H_H_F_F]

I believe that I have mistaken the identity of the certain someone. Sad.

I have a new pet theory.

[loky1109]

It can. Quote the Ice Beast template description: "An ice beast loses all special attacks of the base creature. It gains one (and only one) of the following special attacks, chosen by its maker at the time of its creation."
Oh... I see. Remove -0.5 penalty.

[Inevitability]

No further disputes.

[Venger]

Then it's time for the reveal:


Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef loky1109 Total Place
Inahil Whispering Death (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786389&postcount=15) CN Human Spiritual Connection Spiritual Guide Ranger 5/Slayer 1 FactualArcher 10.25 10.25 3rd
Ukko, the One Grown Upon (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786390&postcount=16) NG Neanderthal Spontaneous Domain Casting Dead Level Cleric 5/Oozemaster 1 Inevitability 16.50 16.50 1st
Quercus (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25786392&postcount=17) NE Amphibious Arctic Dwarf Druid 3/Wu Jen 1/Mantled Psywar 2 daremetoidareyo 12.25 12.25 2nd

New round up soon

[H_H_F_F]

Congrats, guys!

FactualArcher, nice to see you so consistently competing since you joined the forums! Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Inevitability, I somehow missed your announcement that you've submitted, and I legit thought this was a Zaq build. That's a huge compliment for you, by the way, and a disappointment for me - I thought Zaq was showing signs of life, despite being MIA for so long. Miss that guy.

Dare, loved your build even more than the usual. There's something I love about a build that is fully dedicated to doing something weird, even if it's nigh completely pointless.

Looking forward to next round!

[Venger]

New round up now! (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?657484-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XLIV&p=25811186#post25811186)