Iron Chef E6 Appetizer Edition, Round XLIV

[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 four: what is reality? It's time to blur the lines of perception with illusions.

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 Tuesday, July 18 25, 2023 (1:59 AM GMT on Tuesday, July 18 25). 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:
ILLUSIONS!


Your dish must be able to obscure the presence of things that exist, create facsimiles of things that don't, influence the senses of others, make one thing appear as something else, and the like either with or without the use of magic. You are not specifically required to be a wizard who specializes in the school of illusion though of course this is allowed.


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 43: Plants (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?655880-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XLIII)

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, sounds cool. I'm in to cook (hopefully for real this time...)

[thorr-kan]

Interesting choice. Maybe I'll be able to cook for this one.

[loky1109]

Have no ideas and have no time. Maybe shall judge. But not sure.

[Inevitability]

I've got something I'm feeling good about: in to build.

[Inevitability]

With the deadline coming up, how are things looking with everyone's entries?

[daremetoidareyo]

With the deadline coming up, how are things looking with everyone's entries?

A million ideas. None that I’ve settled on cuz they rely on a DM agreeing with me to work.

[Inevitability]

A million ideas. None that I’ve settled on cuz they rely on a DM agreeing with me to work.

My two cents: go with it anyway! Just because a build might get an elegance penalty doesn't mean it can't score great in the other categories. I'd rather see a bunch of crazy DM-dependent builds than the same old same old.

[Venger]

In the interests of having a full podium, I would be happy to extend the deadline another week.

[thorr-kan]

In the interests of having a full podium, I would be happy to extend the deadline another week.
Please do.

[Venger]

It has already been done. The OP is updated accordingly.

New deadline is Tuesday, July 25. Happy cooking.

[Venger]

Is anyone still cooking? Would be happy to provide an extension of a few days for a full podium.

[daremetoidareyo]

Is anyone still cooking? Would be happy to provide an extension of a few days for a full podium.

I need two days to dazzle the judges

[Venger]

Ok. Two days then

[Venger]

Podium's full, time for the reveal! Please refrain from posting until I give the all clear:

[Venger]

What's that they say about abyss gazing?

Mehndi Toner

https://i.postimg.cc/TP3v3W1Q/image.png

CG Half-Elf Skilled City-Dweller Sneak Attack Fighter 1 / Half-Elf Paragon 3 / Dragonmark Heir 2

In Sharn's middle city, flanked by greengrocers and locksmiths, you might spot an unassuming business. Below two small windows of frosted glass, next to a stylized illustration of a darkmantle, there is written:


THE SILHOUETTE: Tattoos, Piercings, Assorted Magical Services, Aesthetic and Utilitarian, inquire within!

Heading through an immaculate green door, one enters a large but full room. A small table groans under the weight of pamphets and binders, each illustrating some of the complex artworks that can be turned into tattoos. Charts hanging from the wall instead show intricate geometrical patterns, with elaborate notes detailing the arcane energies each invokes. Some distance away, a tray of needles and ink vials floats out of a cupboard: carried by some disembodied force? Perhaps-

The proprietor steps into view and introduces herself as Mehndi. She is a tall half-elf with short dark hair, adorned head to toe with tattoos: abstract works that resemble birds, twisting flowering vines, and a number of designs in the style of dragonmarks; a bit of a gauche trend, but a trend all the same. The two marks found among half-elves are of course not present: such a thing would skirt too close to impersonation.

You inquire as to the magic tattoos, and receive a detailed list of boons. Protection, resistance to magic, supernatural luck... It's an impressive range of options, beyond the abilities of all but the most dedicated mages. Fearing the answer, you ask about the price, only to hear a number so low it baffles the mind. Elsewhere, prices might hover around two hundred and fifty gold, and this woman is not even asking for half that? It seems like it would barely cover the cost of materials, so you inquire as to the catch.

"No catch! I like my job, I can make a living with these rates, and I'm not about to start price gouging for something that'll wear off by this time tomorrow."

Catch or no catch, those prices can't be beat. You pick out an effect, choose a design, and are informed there's an open spot coming right up. You sit down and begin some small talk: the woman is good conversation, humble yet frank, and you even find yourself letting some things slip that were supposed to be kept secret. She reassures you it's all safe with her, and you believe it.

And then, mere minutes after you walked in, the strange woman suddenly stands up. You express confusion, she points at your arm, and there it is: the tattoo, fully finalized. The whole thing was utterly painless; truth be told you hardly noticed her work, and yet it looks perfect. No, not just looks: already the magical enhancement is up and running, already arcane power flows freely from the sigil. Incredulous, you ask once more about just how she does all of this, but her response is only a sly smile and a cryptic remark.

"Trust me on this: you shouldn't think too much about it. No refunds for those who do."

Mehndi grew up in one of Sharn's many bad neighbourhoods, in a run-down tattoo parlor frequented only by the most unsavory types. Her caretaker, an elderly true-born half-elf, was family to her, and she repaid the favor by taking any unruly customers down a peg. Faced with a heavily tattooed half-elf and her mean-looking morningstar, most chose to go quietly.

When her caretaker died, seemingly taking the secret of her origins with him, Mehndi took over the shop. For a few weeks, it seemed like that would be all: a quiet life, neither comfortable nor squalid, punctuated by the background violence of the slums.

Then, Mehndi woke up to find a tattoo she never remembered placing. A dragonmark, but not just any dragonmark: the mark of shadow. She was no khoravar at all, but a child of elf and human! Now with a lead to her parents' identity, Mehndi approached House Phiarlan, and after some initial scepticism was quickly granted a place in their ranks. Her life improved considerably from that point on, though she still spent much of it in the slums: chasing down leads and rumors for the good of her house.

But still, questions remained. The house was unable (or unwilling?) to inform her who sired her. The mark's powers came to be accompanied by strange images and flashbacks, visions none could explain. And the ever-scheming house lords might very well be hatching plots that force them in opposition with pure-hearted Mehndi...

ECL1: STR 10 / DEX 10 / CON 12 / INT 12 / WIS 16 / CHA 16
At ECL 4, Half-Elf paragon increases our wisdom by 2, while the ASI is put in charisma.
During epic levels, Mark of the Twelve Moons increases our charisma by 1.
Final stats: STR 10 / DEX 10 / CON 12 / INT 12 / WIS 18 / CHA 18

Languages: Common, Elven, Draconic



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


1st
Sneak AttackUA Skilled City-DwellerWeb (https://web.archive.org/web/20160612142357/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a) Fighter 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
Craft (Tattooing) +4 (4), Gather Information +4 (4), Intimidate +4 (4)
Intuitive AttackBoED
Sneak Attack +1d6


2nd
Half-Elf ParagonUA 1
+1
+2
+2
+0
Bluff +2 (2), Craft (Tattooing) 4, Diplomacy +3 (3), Gather Information 4, Intimidate 4
Least Dragonmark (Mark of Shadow) (Minor Image)ECS
Bonus Feat, Divided Ancestry, Elven Vision


3rd
Half-Elf Paragon 2
+2
+2
+3
+0
Bluff +3 (5), Craft (Tattooing) 4, Diplomacy +2 (5), Gather Information 4, Intimidate 4
Favored in House (House Phiarlan)ECS
Persuasion


4th
Half-Elf Paragon 3
+3
+3
+3
+1
Bluff +2 (7), Craft (Tattooing) 4, Diplomacy +2 (7), Gather Information 4, Intimidate 4, Use Magic Device +1cc (0.5)
-
+2 Wisdom


5th
Dragonmark HeirECS 1
+3
+5
+5
+3
Bluff 7, Craft (Tattooing) 4, Diplomacy +1 (8), Gather Information 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (Arcana) +2 (2), Sense Motive +1 (1), Use Magic Device +1cc (1)
Lesser Dragonmark (Mark of Shadow) (Shadow Conjuration)ECS
Lesser Dragonmark, House Status


6th
Dragonmark Heir 2
+4
+6
+6
+4
Bluff 7, Craft (Tattooing) 4, Diplomacy +1 (9), Gather Information 4, Intimidate 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 2, Sense Motive +4 (5), Use Magic Device 1
Dragon ProphecizerMoE
Additional Action Points, Improved Least Dragonmark (Disguise Self)



Epic Feats:
1: Prophecy's HeroMoE
2: Unlock DragonmarkDragonmarked
3: CravenCoR
4: Mark of the Twelve MoonsDragonmarked (+1 charisma)
5: Intimidating StrikePHBII
6: Master ManipulatorPHBII
7: Dragonmark AdeptDragonmarked (Blindsight 1/day)
8: Urban TrackingCS
9: Dragonmark LuckEotLQ
10: Mighty DragonmarkDragonmarked



ECL 1: We're starting off as a basic sneak attacker, though one with unusual stats. Intuitive Attack and sneak attack let you do decent damage even though your physical stats are average (+4 to hit and 1d8+1d6 damage is probably more than what the rogue can muster at this point). You're also solid out of combat, thanks to your good charisma, ranks in all the social skills you can squeeze out of a fighter, and your racial bonus to diplomacy and gather information. Hitting +5 diplomacy out of the gate is nice as it lets you reliably turn unfriendly people indifferent or indifferent people friendly.

Defensively, you boast 11 HP, as much armor as you can get your hands on, and +3 to the two most important saves (plus another +2 to enchantments).

ECL 2: Half-Elf Paragon starts improving our social skills and so-so reflex save. More importantly, it gives us our dragonmark, letting us use the decently versatile Minor Image once per day and kicking off our illusion theme. Some might balk at giving a half-elf the mark of shadow, but:


Some half-elves continue to arise through the union of humans and elves. These individuals, with both a human and an elf parent, can appear among any of the human or elf dragonmarked houses, and thus might have either a human or elf dragonmark of the appropriate bloodline.

(really, why don't more people make use of that? I guess half-elves suck, but surely a bad race is preferable over one that gives -2 constitution)

ECL 3: Our racial bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information is upped to +3: together with the bluff synergy bonus, our diplomacy modifier is currently +13 (+3 charisma, +5 ranks, +3 racial, +2 synergy), so with a masterwork tool and the chance to take 10 we're turning unfriendly people friendly. Furthermore, all other charisma-based skills get a +2 bonus as well, so we get even better at lying, intimidating, disguising, performing, and (soon) using magical devices.

We can also ask our house for favors, but that's so poorly-written that I'm not sure I can assume it does anything without DM permission.

ECL 4: Half-Elf paragon happens to give us something useful at every level: this time it's a wisdom bonus, which will be useful for reasons that shall soon be explained. We also start investing in UMD, but our need to get diplomacy and bluff to 7 ranks prevent us from getting a full rank quite yet.

ECL 5: With all requirements met, we enter a PrC as our 5th level. Right away, we get the Lesser dragonmark of shadow, giving us shadow conjuration, perhaps the most busted E6-accessible illusion in the game. More on it later. We also use the expanded skill list to invest in knowledge (arcana), take our first sense motive rank, and get an additional use of Minor Image.

ECL 6: Another illusion added to our repertoire (despite our lack of disguise ranks, we have +15 to the skill when magically cloaked), our dragonmark CL upped to 8, and the Dragon Prophecizer feat, which lets us enter a state of 'prophetic fervor' seven (3 + wis) times a day. It's not that good for now, but just you wait!

We also get 5 ranks in sense motive, thus grabbing yet another synergy bonus, and now have +19 (+9 ranks, +3 charisma, +2 bluff synergy, +2 sense motive synergy, +3 persuasion), with another +2 if we're talking to someone from our house.

Epic 1: Prophecy's Hero is now giving us an action point every time we enter the fervor state, meaning that throughout the day we can throw a 1d6 bonus onto a random out-of-combat skill checks seven times: not bad!

Epic 2 (sweet spot): Here's where it all comes together. Unlock Dragonmark now lets us spend an action point to activate any SLA that our least or lesser mark can grant. This is pretty sweet from a pure utility perspective, and you'll definitely appreciate the odd Scrying (it shouldn't be too hard to obtain blood or skin from anyone you tattoo) or Clairvoyance that's now castable, but more fundamentally this lets us turn action points into dragonmark uses. Thus, those seven daily action points from Prophecy's Hero are now all another casting of Shadow Conjuration. Action economy reasons make it difficult to do this in-combat, but shadow conjuration is so good that this restriction doesn't greatly matter (and we definitely could still do this in combat, it'd just take two rounds).

Epic 3: Our damage has been a bit underwhelming for a while, but with Craven it picks right back up. Unlike your typical rogue, we have a +8 base Will save that'll commonly get boosted by +2 (plus the potential bonus from our tattoos), so we're a bit more comfortable lowering our saves against fear.

Epic 4: As it happens, another point of charisma means a bonus to tons of important skills and a higher save DC for our dragonmark powers. In this situation specifically, Mark of the Twelve Moons can be justified. Specifically, our diplomacy balloons to +20 before items, meaning we can make full-round rushed checks that have a 50% chance of calming hostile foes down, or of turning indifferent people helpful, all before magic and items. And of course, even our worst foe is probably indifferent towards some disguised identity, so finding a minute to strike up a conversation won't be too hard.

Epic 5: Intimidating Strike is basically a free encounter-long debuff given that we can't make full attacks anyway. Our remarkably high to-hit (+10 with a tattoo but before magic items) means we can pretty easily take a penalty to increase the chance of the intimidate check succeeding. Said intimidate check is of course a respectable +12 all by itself.

Epic 6: More uses for charisma-based skills! We can now use our sky-high diplomacy to set up our subsequent bluffs or to catch others in their lies, making us an extremely potent face. I can't stress enough how powerful Master Manipulator is in a social context: almost nothing in E6 can just force people to speak the truth.

Epic 7: The ability to get blindsight up will help us secure sneak attacks, and the extra Shadow Conjuration is just icing. We can now also use Veil of Shadow when unlocking our dragonmark, and self-concealment isn't the worst buff, so note that it's an option.

Epic 8: Urban Tracking gets some use out of our +11 Gather Information and helps round out our capabilities some: not much point in being a face if you can't find the people you want to talk to.

Epic 9: Dragonmarked Luck gives yet another Shadow Conjuration per day, bringing the total to 10, though this one comes at the cost of a least dragonmark use. It can also serve to give us an action point on short notice.

Epic 10: Finally, Mighty Dragonmark to round things out, making our many dragonmark powers much harder to resist or disbelieve and adding another +2 CL. That means we're now at a CL of 10, which is where many low-level spells have their effects top out anyway.



Least:
Minor Image 2/day
Disguise Self 1/day

Lesser:
Shadow Conjuration 2/day
BlindsightSC 1/day

Can turn Prophetic Fervors (7/day) into dragonmark uses with Prophecy's Hero -> Unlock Dragonmark.
1/day can transfer a use of the least dragonmark into a use of the lesser dragonmark with Dragonmark Luck -> Unlock Dragonmark.

When unlocking the dragonmark, Darkness, Scrying, Clairvoyance/Clairaudience or Veil of ShadowSC can be used instead of the default abilities.

SHADOW CONJURATION:

In the following section I outline some spells that are good ways to burn your many shadow conjurations a day. Note that it says affected creatures 'can' make saving throws to disbelieve, so we can assume they won't if that's not in their favor.

Also, note that the increased level of Shadow Conjuration will reduce the downside of doubling up on saving throws. If a 18 charisma caster uses Wall of Smoke, it's got a DC of 15, so a foe with +4 to all saves has a 50% chance of making the save. If we use Shadow Conjuration, the DC is 19 (10+4+4+1), so that same foe has only a 30% chance. Even though it's allowed two saves, its chance of succeeding on both adds up to 49%: comparable to the non-shadowy casting! Our casting additionally retains a lessened chance to work if the first save is made and boasts a higher CL.

Finally, if a few of these listed spells seem niche, they probably are. The point is that we have all of them as options, with no need to pick any until we use Shadow Conjuration.

Bridge of SoundSS - Invisible invulnerable barrier that can explicitly be at 'any angle' and should often do basically the same as a wall of force. Or you could use it as a bridge, like a boring person.

Clothier's ClosetMoE - Technically a way to generate infinite money, though the resale value might drop from the clothes being only 20% real. At any rate a solid source of disguises, and probably lets you pull an Emperor's New Clothes on some unsuspecting mark (great if you need a diversion!).

Corpse CandleSC - Reveals 'hidden objects' so might just obviate the need for search checks entirely. It's also one of the few conjuration-based light sources.

CREATE MAGIC TATTOOSC - Insanely good, as you bypass the expensive component and long casting time. You can give a +2 resistance bonus to all saves, a +2 competence bonus to attack rolls, a (stacking) +1 luck bonus to attack rolls, or a +1 deflection bonus to AC. If you have any shadow conjuration uses left when making camp, use them to cast this on your party members and enjoy basically free buffs during the next day. We can take 10 while casting this to hit 15, which is exactly enough for the effects we can create.

Deep BreathSC - Suffocation is nasty, and being able to delay it on short notice is very helpful.

Dream SpiritSoS - Incorporeal summon that sticks around for a minute? Great for scouting beyond walls (or floors, or ceilings), or just as a near-invulnerable vanguard to send in when a monster needs softening up.

Ectoplasmic WebGhost - Don't bother with the PHB variant: this is better in every way. Incorporeal creatures tend to lack ranged attacks and can't break the web with brute force, so this amounts to a save-or-die for many of them.

Engulfing TerrorDrU - A DC 20 fortitude save vs paralysis? That's really good even if there's an additional save to disbelieve. Even better, your ability to disbelieve automatically makes this thing less of an issue if it goes after the party.

Grease - It's grease, use it to move stuff, to prevent charges, or to turn slopes into deathtraps. Still good even with a saving throw.

Glitterdust - As above, great even if it offers a saving throw: anything that was going to fail a moderately hard will save should still have trouble with two high ones.

Golden DragonmailCoV - +1 mithril full plate is pretty good in an E6 context. Ask your DM if disbelieving it gives you an 80% chance to ignore the armor check penalty and movement reduction, but be prepared to dodge thrown books. The silver variant doesn't reduce movement speed, but gives three fewer points of AC.

Ice DartsFrost - Great with sneak attack: dealing 8d4+4d6+24 on a failed will save is rather huge. Entering prophetic fervor shouldn't look obviously hostile, so consider using this whenever you ambush an unsuspecting foe.

Mage Armor, MassSC - Nice if your party is heavy on the monks, rogues, and arcane casters, or if you can't bring your golden dragonmail somewhere.

Phantom Steed - Insanely powerful, and with your souped-up CL these have a speed of 200 ft. and can cover 200 miles over the course of the 10 hours-duration; plus they can ignore rough terrain and even bodies of water. You don't even have to stand around for 40 minutes before everyone in the party has one, because shadow conjuration cuts it down to a standard action.

Regal ProcessionSC - Ten horses per casting: enough to completely clog up a battlefield, move a bunch of NPCs, or just show off. They'll die to a stiff breeze, but that doesn't matter when there's just so many of them. You also get to stick a 'personal symbol' on the horses, which definitely counts as a tattoo for our theme.

Sepia Snake Sigil - Not an easy effect to set up, but it lasts permanently and doesn't cost you anything, so use this during downtime and trap all your books with fake fake snakes. Note that you can use this to put people in suspended animation over the course of a mere 2 turns, which is useful if they're dying of poison/curses/asphyxation! Also, if someone ever wants text tattooed on themselves, you can work this into it.

Servant HordeSC - 2d6+10 unseen servants that last for the entire adventuring day? Give them some bags of marbles and sneak attack at your leisure, or just use them to lug your stuff around, trigger traps, or mob an enemy base and grab everything not nailed down: the possibilities are endless.

Summon Monster III - Not the best option in combat, but notable for giving you access to a flying mount (Celestial Hippogriff) and a tunnel-digger (Celestial Dire Badger), as well as various small elementals. Picking celestial eagles gets you some aerial scouts with +16 spot, which could also be useful, and summoning 1d4+1 giant fire beetles is one of the few ways to light up an area with conjurations.

Unseen CrafterRE - Another scarily potent spell with how much you can spam it. During downtime, you can keep up to 90 of those things active at the same time, enough to earn dozens of gold per day or create most simple objects (like those marbles we like to have unseen servants spread) within a week. As a cute flavorful bonus, they share your craft ranks and can thus help out in the tattoo parlor!

Wall of SmokeSC - Another of those spells that's so good at what it does that the extra save doesn't ruin it, especially when you're casting it 3 levels above par. Note that like all other mist/fog spells, you can automatically see through, but your enemies need to disbelieve.

In general, use your many out-of-combat uses to buff the party with mage armor and/or magic tattoos, then cast mainstays like Ectoplasmic Web or Glitterdust in battle, keeping a few uses apart for utility. In general, try to minimize the amount of battles you'll need to actually fight by using diplomacy and disguise, so you'll have the maximum amount of uses available during the fights you can't avoid.

[Venger]

Finally, I understand what it is to be Tiffany-twisted.

Funhouse California, the Phantom Roadblock

"You can attack any time you want, but you can never hit!"


The world is not a complex place.

There's Good. Truth, altruism, compassion, honor, life, prophecy. And there's Evil: sadism, callousness, greed, death, deception. Black and white, Toldoth and Elishar. We all have our side, our duty to fulfill, our role to play out. Two gods, to govern all the world, and not a hair's-width between them.

My teachers told me that I, just like them, was marked by Evil. That my magic was that of the dark trickster-god: magic that conceals, that deceives, that confounds. That my fighting revealed a thirst for blood and a lust for battle: unwilling to let any foe escape my wrath, relishing in every wound dealt or received.

I thought they were right, for the longest time. Every time I wore a false face, every time I distorted my image and tricked a foe into striking empty air, every time I reflected myself in my shadow and sent it off to steal and distract, I served Toldoth not merely in action, but in essence. You cannot put out a fire with burning coals: what hope did I have of doing good with the tools of evil?

But the world is not a complex place. Evil deceives, it corrupts, it seeks to claim all for itself. Why did I ever trust its servants to interpret my powers for me? They sought to disguise a far simpler truth: that my powers could be used for good, and thus could not be of evil.

When I stand between enemy and ally, an impassable bastion; when I disguise myself as a servant of darkness, and let evil's love of itself ensure my free passage: how are such actions anything but the work of Elishar? How could they be wicked? And if so, how could my essence be? I am a defender of the weak, a soldier of light, no different from those who were born among the righteous.

Race: Deepwyrm Half-Drow (DrM, RoF)
Classes: Swashbuckler (CW) 1 / Crusader (ToB) 4 / Soldier of Light (D&D) 1
Alignment: NG
(the backstory implies an evil alignment at low levels, but this is not mechanically required and not a part of the build per se; all that matters is that by the end of level 5 you're NG)
Patron deity: Toldoth at low levels, Elishar from level 5 on. Note that these gods are from a dualist cosmology, as detailed in Deities and Demigods.

Ability scores: 12 str/16 dex/14 con/14 int/8 wis/14 cha (no racial adjustments)
ASIs: Increase Strength by 1 point at ECL 4.



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


1st
Swashbuckler 1
+1
+2
+0
+0
24; Balance +4 (4), Bluff +4 (4), Disguise +4 (4), Forgery +3 (3), Knowledge (Arcana) +1cc (1), Knowledge Local +1 (1), Tumble +4 (4) Use Rope +2 (2)
City-Slicker (Cscp), Weapon FinesseB
Arcane Stunt (Blur) (CM)


2nd
Crusader 1
+2
+4
+0
+0
6: Balance +1 (5), Bluff +1cc (5), Disguise +1 (5), Forgery 3, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Knowledge (Religion) +1 (1), Tumble +1 (5), Use Rope 2
-
Furious counterstrike, Maneuvers, Skilled City-Dweller (Ride -> Tumble) (web (https://web.archive.org/web/20160612142357/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a)), Stances, Steely Resolve 5


3rd
Crusader 2
+3
+5
+0
+0
6: Balance 5, Bluff +1cc (6), Disguise +1 (6), Forgery +1 (4), Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 1, Tumble 5, Use Rope 2, Assume Quirk (CSc) +2
Trickery Devotion (CC)
Indomitable Soul


4th
Crusader 3
+4
+5
+1
+1
6: Balance 5, Bluff +1cc (7), Disguise 6, Forgery 4, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Knowledge (Religion) +2 (3), Tumble 5, Use Rope 2, Assume Quirk, Second Impression (CSc) +2
-
Zealous Surge


5th
Crusader 4
+5
+6
+1
+1
6: Balance 5, Bluff +1cc (8), Disguise +1 (7), Forgery +1 (5), Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Knowledge (Religion) +2 (5), Tumble 5, Use Rope 2, Assume Quirk, Second Impression
-
Steely Resolve 10


6th
Soldier of Light 1
+6/+1
+8
+1
+1
6: Balance 5, Bluff +1cc (9), Disguise 7, Forgery 5, Knowledge (Arcana) 1, Knowledge (Local) 1, Knowledge (Religion) 5, Tumble 5, Use Rope 2, Assume Quirk, Second Impression, Collector of Stories (CSc) +2
Martial Stance (Thicket of Blades) (ToB)
Detect Undead, Turn Undead 5/day, Spellcastin't



Further Feats:
-Extra Turning
-Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Spiked Chain
-Combat Reflexes
-Stand Still (XPH)
-Force of Personality (CAdv)
-Power Attack
-Goad (CW)
-Knowledge Devotion (CC)
-Deft Opportunist (CAdv)
-Reckless Offensive (RoF)



Maneuvers:
2: Vanguard Strike
2: Douse the Flames
2: Crusader's Strike
2: Stone Bones
2: Martial Spirit
4: Mountain Hammer

Stances:
2: Iron Guard's Glare
3: Bolstering Voice
6: Thicket of Blades

Swashbuckler? Crusader? Whatever Soldier of Light might be? It doesn't scream 'illusionist', now does it?

But even so, we start out with a solid array of illusions. Swashbuckler gives us a round of Blur as a swift action 3/day, while our race offers us Disguise Self. Between our solid charisma, ranks in Disguise, Forgery, and Bluff (the former two courtesy of City Slicker), and racial bonus to the latter of those, we're remarkably good infiltrators. Our two ranks in knowledge and okayish intelligence give us another utility dimension. Use Rope is just there because two ranks let us make basic knots by taking 10.

Although we have Weapon Finesse, it's probably better to grab a greatsword, eat the minor hit to accuracy, and get another 1d6 over what a rapier would deal; at least until you get maneuvers. Keeping a big two-hander around will be useful with your future Mountain Hammer lockpicking anyway.

Crusader gives some solid boons: charisma to Will, a save reroll once per day, and of course stances and maneuvers. Douse the Flames and Iron Guard's Glare help make us the enemies' prime target, with Stone Bones granting impressive amounts of DR once they're forced to attack us. The other maneuvers provide good support to our teammates, and Mountain Hammer is the lockpick it always is. Bolstering Voice is mostly there as a panic button; Will is our lowest save and sometimes you really don't want to fail it. The class also gives you better armor, and at low levels you should use it, but in the long term it's good to switch back to light (or mithril medium) as movement speed becomes more important than AC again.

We also grab some skill tricks that boost our Disguise abilities, further highlighting our racial illusion SLA and all the utility it can provide for us. Trickery Devotion also adds obvious illusion flavor, giving us a Silent Image that can manipulate objects and eventually upgrades into a Major Image. We can also combo with Disguise Self; if we need the illusion to look different from our base form, we can Disguise Self, create the duplicate, and dismiss Disguise Self. Few illusions actually combo directly with each other, so seeing these enhance each other is really fun.

Aside from all that, it's also going to become the core part of our combat strategy. How, you ask?

"As long as the simulacrum remains within 5 feet of your position (and you can direct it to do so as a free action), you can perform a Bluff check in combat as a swift action. You gain a +4 bonus on this check, which is opposed by your opponents' Sense Motive checks. If you are successful, your foes believe the image is you (and vice versa) for 1 round."

...wow. So any targeted ranged or melee attack will be aimed at the wrong square, any targeted spell arguably fizzles, some area attacks get mis-aimed, and foes won't even know what movement of theirs will or won't provoke AoOs? That's an insanely powerful effect; I'd argue it's one of the strongest things that illusions can do in E6.

And we boast +13 bluff, with another +4 bonus tacked on, against a skill that most monsters have +1 or +2 to; we're almost guaranteed to succeed. Between the 5 turning attempts from Soldier of Light and the 4 from Extra Turning, we can create the simulacrum a total of 4 times a day, with it sticking around all encounter.

(This is a decent moment to point out that yes, Soldier of Light gives casting, and no, we couldn't spare the 12 wisdom needed to make use of it. For what it's worth, the list is very mediocre and something I expect the party's divine caster, or even the party's potion stash, to have covered by now)

But avoiding attacks is only useful if they were aimed at you in the first place. Iron Guard's Glare was a step in the right direction, but why bother letting foes get near our allies at all? With a spiked chain, Combat Reflexes, Stand Still, and Thicket of Blades, we form an incredibly potent lockdown build. Once foes are stuck in our reach, they'll be forced to attack us... at which point we trick them into hitting an invulnerable illusion instead. With our incredible bulk compensating for those few hits that get through (all our classes have d10 hit die and we have 14 con), I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we can comfortably tie down a whole battlefield and not have to worry too much for our own safety.

(and sure, Trickery Devotion is a standard action to set up, but with how many of our attacks are made outside our turn anyway, I think it's fine to spend a single action on this every combat)

From there on, we focus on improving our capabilities across the board. Force of Personality gives us a very welcome +3 to Will that applies basically always (in addition to letting us get double mileage out of any charisma-boosting item we might come across), Power Attack pays big dividends now that we use a two-handed weapon (it also appreciates how we haven't lost a single point of BAB throughout the build), Goad lets us use our stray move action if we ever use a standard action maneuver and don't want to move (and of course we love forcing enemies to attack us, so its actual effect is great for us as well).

Knowledge Devotion is pretty nice for us; Religion + Arcana + Local covers many enemies you're likely to face in E6, especially in the urban setting we vaguely imply, and with Collector of Stories even the 1-rank skills still get a +8 modifier to them. Deft Opportunist obviously synergizes with all the AoOs we're going to be making, and helps us land our Stand Stills. Lastly, Reckless Offensive is a very obscure feat that happens to mesh great with our combat strategy specifically: it lets us choose to take -4 AC in exchange for +2 to hit for a round, but it lets us make this choice at any point during our turn before we attack. In other words, we can make the swift action bluff check for Trickery Devotion first thing every turn, and only take the trade if we rolled well and are guaranteed to avoid all incoming attacks anyway.

All things considered, we present a very capable full-BAB lockdown build that incorporates illusions into its routine in a novel and unique way, while also retaining a solid amount of utility (Detect Undead at-will, Detect Magic 3/day, Disguise Self) backed up by a variety of little-seen utility skills. Our defenses are stellar, with +10 fortitude, +4 reflex, and +5 will, further bolstered by a 1/day save reroll and a way to reliably avoid most targeted spells and weapon attacks. Our martial maneuvers let us heal, buff our friends' attack rolls, or let an ally escape a tight spot, making us an excellent team player.

This build spiraled out from the Trickery Devotion + Turn Undead + Tanking combo, but fitting all that in one build was challenging. The obvious route to get 2/3 of those in one level is cleric, but I think cleric dips are overused and boring, and besides I felt like this build would actually benefit from getting to +6 BAB.

Settling on full BAB forced me into Paladin of Freedom, which does honestly get a lot of what I was looking for and can even trade its casting for Extra Turning, but also heavily leaned on Goad to draw the actual aggro, which led me to look into charisma-boosting races. Stubs like Star Elf Paladin 6 (with the unicorn mount ACF), Spirit Hellbred Paladin 5 / Crusader 1, Dragonborn Star Elf Paladin 5 / Fighter 1 or Deepwyrm Half-Drow Paladin 5 / Crusader 1 were all conceived in this time, with very similar internal structures, relying on the paladin mount to get you into melee and then using Goad with your move and attacking with your standard.

While trying to make Blade Bravo work (as they get free Goad with a +2 bonus to the save DC) I stumbled across swashbuckler. Tinker Gnome Paladin 4 / Swashbuckler 1 / Blade Bravo 1 was technically doable, but it'd be a mountless gnome in heavy armor, so I scrapped that one rather quickly. Being a gnome would have allowed us some nice illusions via Natural Trickster, though.

I finally decided that Goad just wasn't cutting it and looked for actual mass lockdown strategies, arriving at Stand Still+Thicket of Blades Crusader rather quickly. That meant I needed a new source of Bluff and Turn Undead, with only full BAB classes an option, forcing me to dip Soldier of Light and using my final level on the swashbuckler (not the only full BAB class with bluff, but by far the most useful for our high-dex combat reflexes build; arcane stunt was a nice bonus). For the race, I needed something with favored class (any) and ideally some bonuses to illusion use or bluff, so returning to deepwyrm half-drow was the obvious solution. It's always nice when the final implementation of a concept uses lots of little bits of material from earlier in the building process!

[Venger]

That doesn't sound right, but I don't know enough about dragons to refute it.

Qop the Dragon-stomper

"There is a draconic prophecy that scours the land and even leaves tattoos across the living. There is a grand conspiracy of dragons that plagues this world to subjugate all of us under tyranny. We must eradicate the entirety of the dragonic threat! I KNOW WHO THE REAL ENEMY IS AND IM ALWAYS RIGHT!"



LG Deepwyrm Half-Drow (Races of Faerun 62 & Dragon Magic p.6)
Wildshape Arcane hunter elf Ranger 1/Drakken familiar Combat Wizard High Transmuter 5


Due to extensive combat training against all sorts of dragons and dragon-kin, Qop has internalized a fear against the malefactious dragonkind into a deadly combat style. And he can find the dragon in anyone through the use of the deceptive facade spell.




Abilities

Initial
Race / Template
4th


STR

14




DEX
12




CON
13

+1


INT
16




WIS
13




CHA
10








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


1st
Arcane Hunter (Complete Mage 32) Wildshape (UA 58) Elf (Rotw 155) Ranger

1
2
2

0
40: {+4} move silently: 4; {+4} survival: 4; {+4 CC} Bluff: 2; {+4} Knowledge (nature): 4; {+4} Listen: 4; {+4} Sense Motive: 4; {+2} Spot: 2; {+2}Knowledge (arcana) 1

Foehunter (PGTF 38), Track
Elf Favored enemy: dragon (+4), arcanist (+2), Fast movement (as barbarian), Track



2nd
Drakken Familiar (Dragon Magic 12) Transmuter combat wizard (UA 59)
1
2
2
2
5: move silently: 4; survival: 4; Bluff: 2; Knowledge (nature): 4; {+5} Concentration: 5; Listen: 4; Sense Motive: 4; Spot: 2; Knowledge (arcana) 1
Improved unarmed strike
Fighter Bonus feats, Banned Abjuration and Enchantment, Drakken familiar



3rd
Transmuter
2
2
2
3
5: move silently: 4; {+2 CC} hide: 1; survival: 4; {+2 CC} Bluff: 3; Knowledge (nature): 4; {+1} Concentration: 6; Listen: 4; Sense Motive: 4; Spot: 2; Knowledge (arcana) 1
Bane magic (Heroes of Horror 119)
spells


4th
Transmuter
2
3
3
3
5: move silently: 4; {+2 CC} hide: 2; survival: 4; {+2 CC} Bluff: 4; Knowledge (nature): 4; {+1} Concentration: 7; Listen: 4; Sense Motive: 4; Spot: 2; Knowledge (arcana) 1

spells


5th
Transmuter
3
3
3
4
5: move silently: 4; {+2 CC} hide: 3; survival: 4; {+2 CC} Bluff: 5; Knowledge (nature): 4; {+1} Concentration: 8; Listen: 4; Sense Motive: 4; Spot: 2; Knowledge (arcana) 1

spells


6th
Transmuter-high transmuter (UA 64)

3
3
3
4
5: move silently: 4; {+2 CC} hide: 4; survival: 4; {+2 CC} Bluff: 6; Knowledge (nature): 4; {+1} Concentration: 9; Listen: 4; Sense Motive: 4; Spot: 2;Knowledge (arcana) 1
Bane of Infidels (Power of Faerun, p. 53): followers of Tiamat
Spell versatility: Deceptive Facade, Favored enemy (dragon) +6, arcanist +2, followers of tiamat +2






Epic Feats


"Dragonfoe
(Draconomicon, p. 105)"


"Dragon Hunter
(Draconomicon, p. 104)"



Ascetic Hunter ( Complete Adventurer, p. 105)


Wise to Your Ways ( Ghostwalk, p. 39)


Dragon Hunter Bravery (Draconomicon, p. 104)



"Azure Enmity
(Magic of Incarnum, p. 34) "


"Nemesis
( Book of Exalted Deeds, p. 44)"


"Bonus Essentia
(Magic of Incarnum, p. 35) "


Power Attack


"Toughening Transmutation
(Complete Mage, p. 48) "


SPELLS
1 expeditious retreat, Nerveskitter, Shieldbearer, disguise self, mage armor
2 scimitar of sand, earthbind, jaws of the moray, mirror image, wraithstrike
3 deceptive facade, scorpion tail, shivering touch, fly, mass snake's swiftness,




Elven Blood: (PHB)
For all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered an elf. Half-elves, for example, are just as vulnerable to special effects that affect elves as their elf ancestors are, and they can use magic items that are only usable by elves.

Ranger (SRD) Favored Enemy (Ex)
At 1st level, a ranger may select a type of creature from among those given on Table: Ranger Favored Enemies. The ranger gains a +2 bonus on Bluff, Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks when using these skills against creatures of this type. Likewise, he gets a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. At 5th level and every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, and 20th level), the ranger may select an additional favored enemy from those given on the table. In addition, at each such interval, the bonus against any one favored enemy (including the one just selected, if so desired) increases by 2. If the ranger chooses humanoids or outsiders as a favored enemy, he must also choose an associated subtype, as indicated on the table. If a specific creature falls into more than one category of favored enemy, the ranger’s bonuses do not stack; he simply uses whichever bonus is higher.

Elf Favored Enemy (Ex): (RotW 155)
An elf ranger's favored enemy ability grants him a +2 bonus on Hide, Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival checks used against creatures of the chosen type, and a +2 bonus on weapon damage rolls against such creatures. If the elf ranger chooses humanoid (orc), undead, or "servants of Lolth" as his favored enemy, these bonuses rise to +3. "Servants of Lolth" includes drow, monstrous spiders of all sizes, and driders; this is an addition to the normal list of options for a ranger's favored enemy. This substitution feature replaces the standard ranger's 1st-level favored enemy class feature.
This substitution feature also affects the elf ranger's later improvements to his favored enemy ability. Each time an elf ranger gains a new favored enemy, he can increase the bonus for one favored enemy by 2, or by 3 if he chooses to increase his bonus against orcs, undead, or the servants of Lolth.



Dragonblood subtype (Races of the Dragon 4)
DRAGONBLOOD SUBTYPE If a race possesses the dragonblood subtype, it has a strong affinity to dragons—which means that spells, effects, powers, and abilities that affect or target dragons also affect it. The subtype qualifies a creature to use magic items normally only usable by dragons, and qualifies the creature to take feats that have the subtype as a prerequisite. The dragonblood subtype also makes creatures subject to harmful effects that affect dragons.


Spell Versatility (Ex): UA p.63
A 5th-level transmuter using this variant can adapt magic of other schools to his own style of spellcasting. For every five class levels that the transmuter gains, he can select one spell of any spell level that he has access to and treat it as if it were a transmutation spell. This means, for example, that the specialist can learn the spell normally and even prepare it as a bonus spell from the transmutation school. This spell can even be from a school that he has chosen as a prohibited school. Once a spell is chosen to be affected by this ability, it cannot be changed. For example, a transmutation specialist using this variant has selected abjuration and necromancy as his prohibited schools. At 5th level, he gains access to 3rd-level spells. He chooses dispel magic and forever after treats dispel magic as if were a transmutation spell. A transmuter using this variant does not gain bonus feats for advancing as a wizard.

Magic Descriptions PHB 173 & 174
Transmutation spells change the properties of some creature, thing, or condition. Representative spells include enlarge person, reduce person, polymorph, and shapechange.

Glamer: A glamer spell changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.

Deceptive Facade (Complete Mage) Transmutation (Glamer)
Level: Bard 2, Sorcerer 3, Wizard 3, Components: V, S, Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Touch Target: Creature or object (up to 1 cu. ft./level) touched Duration: 10 minutes/level (D) Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless, object) or Will disbelief (if interacted with, everyone else) Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless) After an instant to lock the appropriate image in your mind, your touch brings it to life, spreading a new image across the canvas of reality. Deceptive facade allows you to alter the appearance of another being or object. When cast on another creature, it functions as disguise self, except that it can affect a target other than yourself. When cast on an inanimate object or a structure, the spell allows you to alter the object's visible characteristics. You might change its color, make it appear to be made of a different material or substance, increase or decrease its apparent size by up to 10 percent, or modify other cosmetic details. Deceptive facade does not alter any other sensory properties of the target. A creature that interacts with the glamer can make a Will save to recognize the illusion, just as with disguise self.


Qop is a ranger that has favored enemy dragon from the Foe Hunter feat. With the Elf ranger sublevel that Qop can access through his elfblood racial trait, each addition of any additional favored enemies provokes the addition of a +2 to new favored enemies, thereby accumulating a +6 through two feats that add ranger favored enemies. Arcane hunter only changes the options chosen at this level, and is therefor comportable.

Now, as stipulated in the rules section, our enemies need to be dragons. And after equivocating long and hard as to the rules around disguised dragons and Favored enemy bonii (do you get your bonuses?), or illusionary dragons (do you get your bonuses?) or creatures that you believe are dragons but aren't (do you get your bonuses?), what if we tricked ourselves into believing that the enemy we were fighting was a dragon?

Sure, RAW, the dragon needs dragon type. But, what if we used an illusion spell to disguise our enemies as dragons by using deceptive facade cast as a transmutation spell...if that spell wasn't an illusion, as the 5th level of transmuter can provide through the spell versatility. Transmutation is a spell type that makes a literal change in those it afflicts. And so, we present Qop - A transmuter using a glamer spell to reap huge combat bonuses. Qop can turn anything into a dragonblood thing with deceptive facade spell, no save. Because disguise rolls aren’t template restricted like polymorph spells, and due to dragonblood trait being affected by things that affect dragons, even bad things, Qop can convince himself to get bonuses on ANYTHING.

When you read the build after all of that, one thing will stand out. What is going on with ascetic hunter. That, expert reader, is built off the premise that you can use the scorpion tail spell (races of eberron p.190) to make unarmed strikes (its not a nat attack, it has its own rule set) which you can then pump the stun DC of through ascetic hunter. Everything else stacks combat bonuses against dragons.

Qop has +6 to bluff, listen, spot, survival, saves against the abilities of dragons,and damage rolls (also +1d6 for nemesis) as well as +2 AC, to hit, CL vs SR as well as saves again, and dragon bane spells deal +2d6 (chill touch?). Azure enmity adds +2 insight to bluff, listen spot, survival, and damage rolls also.

+6+2insight: +8 on bluff, listen, spot, and survival.
1d6 (nemesis) +6+2 insight damage to favored enemies from weapon attacks
+8 vs saves (wise to your ways + Dragon hunter)
+3 DC vs scorpion tail stun DC
-2 Dragon save DCs
+2 to attack rolls
+2 to opposed rolls and CL checks vs SR

[Venger]

I will never know what it is to be this happy.

Best In Show: The Goodest Boy


https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/704885103867723830/1134248513283309668/Untitled.jpg?width=436&height=462
Chaotic Neutral Dog Hengeyokai
Savant 1/Shapechange Egoist 1/Artificer 4





Abilities

Initial
Race / Template
4th



STR

10




DEX
10




CON
12




INT
16




WIS
14
-2



CHA
15

1





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


1st
Savant (Dragon Compendium 45)




36: {+4} Handle Animal: 4; {+4} Bluff: 4; {+4} Intimidate: 4; {+2} Diplomacy: 2; {+2} Use Magic Device: 2; {+4} Control Shape: 4; {+4} knowledge (the planes): 4; {+2} Profession (dog show): 2; {+2} Disable Device: 2; {+4} Disguise: 4; {+4} forgery: 4;
City Slicker (Races of Destiny 150)
Academic lore, skill assistance (5 feet), trapfinding


2nd
Shape change (http://http://rpg.nobl.ca/archive.php?x=dnd/psm/20070314a)egoist




5: Handle Animal: 4; Bluff: 4; Intimidate: 4; Diplomacy: 2; Use Magic Device: 2; {+2} Concentration: 2; Control Shape: 4; {+1} knowledge (the planes): 5; Profession (dog show): 2; {+2} Heal: 2; Disable Device: 2; Disguise: 4; forgery: 4;

Minor shapechange: Attraction, Create sound, empathy


3rd
Artificer




7: {+2 CC} Handle Animal: 5; Bluff: 4; Intimidate: 4; Diplomacy: 2; {+2} Use Magic Device: 4; {+1} Concentration: 3; Control Shape: 4; {+1} knowledge (the planes): 6; Profession (dog show): 2; Heal: 2; Disable Device: 2; {+1} Disguise: 5; forgery: 4;
Animal Devotion (Complete Champion 54)
Artificer knowledge, artisan bonus, disable trap, item creation, Scribe Scroll


4th
Artificer




7: Handle Animal: 5; {+2 CC} Bluff: 5; Intimidate: 4; Diplomacy: 2; {+2} Use Magic Device: 6; {+1} Concentration: 4; Control Shape: 4; {+1} knowledge (the planes): 7; Profession (dog show): 2; Heal: 2; Disable Device: 2; {+1} Disguise: 6; forgery: 4;

Brew Potion


5th
Artificer




7: Handle Animal: 5; Bluff: 5; {+2 CC} Intimidate: 5; Diplomacy: 2; {+2} Use Magic Device: 8; Concentration: 4; Control Shape: 4; {+1} knowledge (the planes): 8; Profession (dog show): 2; Heal: 2; Disable Device: 2; {+1} Disguise: 7; {+1} forgery: 5;

Craft Wondrous Item


6th
Artificer




7: Handle Animal: 5; Bluff: 5; Intimidate: 5; Diplomacy: 2; {+1} Use Magic Device: 9; Concentration: 4; {+3} Control Shape: 7; knowledge (the planes): 8; Profession (dog show): 2; Heal: 2; Disable Device: 2; {+1} Disguise: 8; forgery: 5; {+2} Gather Information: 2;
Planar Touchstone (Planar Handbook 42): were-glade (Planar Handbook 164), still spell
Bonus feat, craft homonocleus





Epic Feats


Focused skill user (Complete Psionic 54) [Psionic] (umd, disguise, handle animal)


Personal Touchstone (Planar Handbook 41)


fey heritage (complete mage 43)


fey presence (complete mage 43)


fey skin (complete mage 43)


Deceitful (PHB 93)


Charlatan (Song and Silence 38)


Open Minded ( Expanded Psionics Handbook 48): Second Impression
( Complete Scoundrel 88) Assume Quirk
( Complete Scoundrel 85), +1 intimidate


Sweet Talker
( Complete Scoundrel 81) Social Recovery
( Complete Scoundrel 89) Never Outnumbered
( Complete Scoundrel 87)


extend spell



Spells to Emulate with Scrolls/Wondrous Items

0: Minor Disguise (Spell Compendium, p. 142) (+2 disguise)

1. Friendly Face (Races of Destiny)(+5 diplomacy and gather info), Aspect of the Wolf (Spell Compendium, p. 16) (bonus attributes for your dog form), Enrage Animals (Champions of Ruin) (ruin the competition)

2. Beastmask (Defenders of the Faith)(Animals perceive you as a dire version), Reflective Disguise (Spell Compendium, p. 171) (if you wanna get gross with it), Divine Insight (Spell Compendium, p. 70) (5+CL skill bonus),

3. Mask of the Ideal (Complete Mage) (+4 bluff and diplo), Hound of Doom (Complete Warrior)(summon an illusionary hound that knows every single handle animal trick), Glibness (Player's Handbook p. 235) (+30 bluff)


The Goodest Boy is a Dog Hengeyokai, and all shapechangers get an inherent +10 bonus to disguise for the the alternate form they change into. "[COLOR=#000000][FONT=Arial]In animal form, a hengeyokai is effectively disguised as an animal, gaining a +10 bonus on Disguise checks while in this form."

Also, The Goodest Boy can also communicate with animals that it shares a form with. "Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex): hengeyokai can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, rats with rodents, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, toads with amphibians, weasels with similar creatures (weasels, minks, polecats, ermines, skunks, wolverines, and badgers). Such communication is limited by the intelligence of the conversing creatures"

Further, there is a minor shapechange ability that grants another +10 to disguise checks, it's called minor shapechange, and it can be accessed by non-changelings by taking the egoist psion sub level.


Minor Change Shape (Su): Changelings have the supernatural ability to alter their appearance as though using a disguise self spell that affects their bodies but not their possessions. This ability is not an illusory effect but a minor physical alteration of a changeling's facial features, skin color and texture, and size, within the limits described for the spell. A changeling can use this ability at will, and the alteration lasts until he changes shape again. A changeling reverts to his natural form when killed. A true seeing spell reveals his natural form. When using this ability to create a disguise, a changeling receives a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks. Using this ability is a full-round action.

Now, what can one do with a +20 to disguise one’s self as a dog? You enter dog show competitions and clean house! You can disguise yourself as all but the tiniest breeds, and with above average human intelligence, you can pull off all sorts of neat tricks. Further, with the ability to talk to dogs, wolves and foxes and the like, social skills like bluff, diplomacy, gather information, and intimidate are on the table to disrupt competition.

Artificer grants access to a number of spells that can be crafted into wondrous items or scrolls that absolutely let the goodest boy dominate the dog show competition.

Now, it is likely that the ability to impersonate any dog is a niche ability. But, the adventuring careerist can see the utility of a dog impersonator immediately. Dogs and wolves are commonplace animals in urban and rural environments, and the scouting potential is obvious. Adventurers often have dogs at their side, and a highly intelligent doggo can investigate while the adventurers distract a person


The goodest boy has a unique to E6 trick: access to the shadow hound spell. This hexblade 3 spell creates an illusionary dog that knows all of the tricks. Even the poorly thought out trick of teamwork benefits. The shadow hound can participate in competitions too.

For the worldly player of exotic role playing experiences, the reflective disguise trick creates a scenario where people think a dog is a person. Paired with powers like attraction or mask of the ideal, the goodest boy can curate absurd situations of the sort that need not be discussed in polite company.

The goodest boy has the feat planar touchstone wereglade: allowing the rare 200% dog. By using the higher order power, you can create a dog wolf hybrid with fantastic stat bonuses. Not only that, but lycanthropes have social bonuses when dealing with wolves. Further, due to savant granting all skills, the goodest boy has access to the control shape skill, which arguably allows the goodest boy to access his lycanthropy forms outside of the higher usage limit of the touchstone site.

Further, savant allows the sharing of skill ranks with hired handlers at these dog show events.

On top of the massive disguise bonus, egoist grants access to the power control sound. Need a modified bark? Boom. Need a whistle that only dogs will hear and go nuts over?

Animal devotion gives access to new dog shapes and fur patterns and abilities that minor shape change can cover up

Leaving nothing to chance, fey presence grants charm monster as a SLA, giving a shot at winning with monstrous judges. The fey skin feat grants some DR.

The forgery skill allows for multiple entries into the same competition under differing aliases.

The first two skill tricks are purchased with the open minded feat. The second two are bonus from the extra skill trick feat. These will allow a number of extra effects based on the doggo’s social forays.

Best in show: The goodest boy can win a dog show on their own merits or by using the shadow hound and thus, is worthy of gold.

[Venger]

And that's our roster! To you, judges!

[thorr-kan]

Those are some of the most interesting builds I've read in awhile. Well done, folks!

I'm not competing nor judging, which is too bad. I've got a build for this I've been tinkering with for ages, but life just keeps preventing me from participating.

[loky1109]

And that's our roster! To you, judges!

Me in. But I'm out of PC right now and at least couple days.

[MinimanMidget]

Are we sure this wasn't the half-elf round? I mean, wow. Anyway, I'm going to have a run at judging this one.

[lylsyly]

I only participated once, way back in the racial paragon round. But I always watch this. Not going to say yet which one it is but I think one of these may be the best overall build I've seen yet.

[thorr-kan]

Are we sure this wasn't the half-elf round? I mean, wow. Anyway, I'm going to have a run at judging this one.
I know! I expected at least one gnome. If I'd submitted, it would have been a gnome.

[daremetoidareyo]

I know! I expected at least one gnome. If I'd submitted, it would have been a gnome.

I had a gnome that I passed on because it was a cool idea but was so ability score MAD that it wasn’t good enough. I’ll post a stub when I’m at the computer

[daremetoidareyo]

Here was my gnome illusionist that I wound up abandoning:

Whisper gnome



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


1st
Gnome Illusionist Focused Specialist illusion master Combat Wizard
0
0
0
2

Precocious Apprentice (Complete Arcane, p. 181), Expertise
Gnome illusion spells, illusion mastery, -1 CL to evocation, Chains of Disbelief, Fighter bonus feat, Banned: Necromancy, Enchantment, Abjuration


2nd
Illusionist
1
0
0
3





3rd
illusionist
1
1
1
3

Uncanny Forethought (Exemplars of Evil, p. 26)



4th
Spell thief
1
1
1
5





5th
swordsage
1
1
3
7





6th
Swordsage
2
1
4
8

master spellthief






Epic Feats


Shape Soulmeld: Illusion Veil: +1 insight bonus to the save DCs and add one round duration of your illusion spells and spell-like abilities per essentia.


Bonus Essentia


Mastery of Twisted Shadow: Whenever you cast an illusion spell, you can choose as a free action to grant yourself concealment for 1 round per level of the spell.


Sand Dancer: move at least 10 feet using your Tumble skill in an area covered in a layer of at least 1 inch of ash, dust, loose earth, or sand, you can supplement an attack made in that same round with flung or kicked material. A foe damaged by your attack must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Wis modifier) or be blinded for 1 round.


Improved Trip


sand snare: If you successfully trip an opponent in any area of ash, dust, loose earth, or sand that is at least 1 inch deep, that opponent must take a fullround action to stand during the round after being tripped. Following that round, the target can get to his feet with a move action (as normal). The opponent still provokes attacks of opportunity while attempting to stand, as normal


Silencing Strike:: If you hit your target with a melee attack and successfully deal sneak attack damage, a fi eld of supernatural silence also surrounds the target.


Sandskimmer


Sand Spinner


Sand camouflage






Step of the Wind p. 74 Stance While you are in this stance, you ignore penalties to speed, movement, or skill checks associated with movement (such as Tumble, Jump, and Climb checks) incurred by moving through difficult terrain. If you attack an opponent standing on difficult terrain while you are in this stance, and if that foe takes a movement penalty for moving through difficult terrain, you gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and a +4 bonus on Strength or Dexterity checks made as part of a bull rush or trip attempt against that enemy. You gain this bonus on checks made to either accomplish or resist a bull rush or trip.



Child of Shadow p. 76 Stance If you move at least 10 feet during your turn, you gain concealment against all melee and ranged attacks until the start of your next turn. You also gain the standard benefits of concealment, but you cannot use this stance to hide in plain sight; you must still use some other terrain feature that normally allows you to use the Hide skill. The fluttering shadows make it difficult to specifically target you, but your enemies are aware of your position. This maneuver is a supernatural ability.



Mighty Throw



Cloak of Deception



Clever Positioning



Shadow Blade Technique



Sapphire Nightmare Blade



Stone Bones



Shadow Jaunt




Major Image Illusion (Figment) Level: Brd 3, Sor/Wiz 3 Duration: Concentration + 3 rounds This spell functions like silent image, except that sound, smell, and thermal illusions are included in the spell effect. While concentrating, you can move the image within the range. The image disappears when struck by an opponent unless you cause the illusion to react appropriately.

The precocious apprentice levels with focused specialist opens up extra 2nd level spells that are mastered as if by spell mastery, but also grants us access to major image from first level.

The major image in question is one of inches of sand all along the ground. The duration is 5 rounds after you stop concentrating (thanks illusion veil). Because you're on sand, you open up sand spinner and sand dancer feats, as well as sand camouflage. Due to sand acting like difficult terrain for those on it, the swordsage stances either grant combat bonuses or concealment. If you trip your opponent (mighty throw operates by trip rules) it takes a full round action for them to stand up.

Blinding people with illusionary sand sets you up for sneak attacks to steal spells, which you may arguably use to power more illusions.

The problem with the build is that it is very swingy. Ability scores are low, and trip optimization was difficult with so low BAB. Will saves to disbelive blindness or sand holding you down.





Abilities
Initial
Race / Template
4th


STR
14
-2
12


DEX
12
2
14


CON
10
2
12


INT
16

17


WIS
14

14


CHA
12
-2
10

[Inevitability]

While we're waiting for the judges, any thought on 'thrown weapons' as an ingredient for next round?

[Venger]

If there is interest in it, I'd be amenable.

[lylsyly]

While we're waiting for the judges, any thought on 'thrown weapons' as an ingredient for next round?

You mean talenta halflings with boomerangs. Kinda been done.

[Inevitability]

You mean talenta halflings with boomerangs. Kinda been done.

We had a bard round with only a single dragonfire inspiration build and a barbarian build with only a single lion totem; I think we can expect a little creativity on part of the contestants.

[lylsyly]

We had a bard round with only a single dragonfire inspiration build and a barbarian build with only a single lion totem; I think we can expect a little creativity on part of the contestants.



YES, because they have both been done to death and there really nothing original out there. Same reason I only participated in the racial paragon round. It was original.

Thing is EVERYTHING has already been done.

You want a thrown weapons round? Sure. Talenta halflings with boomerangs and a level of bloodstorm blade. Again, it's been done a million times.

[Inevitability]

YES, because they have both been done to death and there really nothing original out there. Same reason I only participated in the racial paragon round. It was original.

Thing is EVERYTHING has already been done.

You want a thrown weapons round? Sure. Talenta halflings with boomerangs and a level of bloodstorm blade. Again, it's been done a million times.

The racial paragon round was 50% the same half-orc paragon fear/charger build; 2 out of the 11 entries weren't a human or half-human. Is that your idea of an original round? I just thought of 3 thrower builds that aren't a bloodstorm blade or talenta halfling, top of my head; I feel like you're being needlessly dismissive.

I mean, you can talk about how only one round out of fourty cleared your high standards for originality... but then why should the chair listen to you? If there's an ingredient that actually interests you, by all means throw it out there, but don't just complain if you're going to complain about everything.

[AvatarVecna]

I accidentally clicked "ignore" on a discord message I'm 90% sure was asking me if I could judge this, so now I kinda feel obligated to.


YES, because they have both been done to death and there really nothing original out there. Same reason I only participated in the racial paragon round. It was original.

Thing is EVERYTHING has already been done.

You want a thrown weapons round? Sure. Talenta halflings with boomerangs and a level of bloodstorm blade. Again, it's been done a million times.

"These things are never original!"

"We've had some rounds that avoided the obvious paths."

"They only avoided those paths because they were unoriginal, but they were still deciding builds based on the meta."

lol ok

[loky1109]

I bring you the table!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef Judge 1 Judge 2 Judge 3 Total Place
Mehndi Toner (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833862&postcount=17) CG Half-Elf Skilled City-Dweller Sneak Attack Thug 1/Half-Elf Paragon 3/Dragonmark Heir 2
Funhouse California, the Phantom Roadblock (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833863&postcount=18) NG Deepwyrm Half-Drow Arcane Stunt Swashbuckler 1/Skilled City-Dweller Crusader 4/Soldier of Light 1
Qop the Dragon-stomper (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833864&postcount=19) LG Deepwyrm Half-Drow Wildshape Arcane Hunter Elf Ranger 1/Drakken Familiar High Transmuter Combat Wizard 5
Best In Show: The Goodest Boy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833865&postcount=20) CN Dog Hengeyokai Savant 1/Shapechange Egoist 1/Artificer 4

And I'll start to judge today.

[AvatarVecna]

Originality: 4.75
+3.00: Base
+0.50: Race
+0.50: Classes
+0.50: Feats
-0.25: Skills
+0.50: Overall Concept

Other than the fact a social manipulator is basically the single best skill role to fill in a game like this, the build had a lot of surprises for me. Dragonmarks have a lot of potential and tying it in thematically is a treat too.

Power: 4.75
+3.00: Base
+0.25: Lvl 1-4
+0.50: Lvl 5-8
+0.50: Lvl 9-12
+0.50: Lvl 13-16

Low levels: Solid defenses, average offence, and a face role that starts slow but is solid by the time you reach mid-low. Your doing your best to make up for losing a point of BAB and having low base skill points and not having maneuvers or spells, and it's mostly fine but I can't justify full marks.

Low-Mid: Offense has fallen off, but out-of-combat utility has skyrocketed above even what most mages are going to be bringing to the table.

Mid-High: Offense and skills get brought up to par. This is a very solid well-rounded character you've got.

High: A few more upgrades for your main trick - substantial ones, too.

Elegance: 4.50
+3.00: Base
+0.25: Two base classes
+0.25: No more than one PrC
+0.25: No multiclass penalties
+0.00: One very minor qualification issue
+0.25: Cites all sources
+0.25: Good Synergy
+0.25: No rule-twisting

So, the way I handle Elegance is a bunch of different things, but a lot of what it comes down to is "how many tables would this build fly at with no troubles, in my experience". In this build, the only thing I see that would cause a potential problem is actually the Exalted feat. They generally require explicit DM permission, and frequently involve fluff requirements on top of whatever the mechanical ones are. Additionally, exalted characters are generally held to a higher moral standard; evil acts cause immediate loss of exalted feats, and it's not unreasonable to say that patterns of even just neutral behavior can see you slipping. This is something that rarely gets attention on the forum because alignment is silly and fluff is hard to police in a theorycrafting discussion. All I'm saying is, the character as presented feels coincidentally Good rather than exalted Good, and since your offense is hinging a lot on that +4 to attack, I could see this becoming an issue at the table. It's a very minor issue though, I couldn't even justify giving an actual penalty on it.

UotSI: 4.75
+3.00: Base
+0.50: Versatility
+0.50: Power
+0.25: Reliability
+0.50: Fluff

Shadow spells exemplify the power and versatility inherent to illusions. However, involving an extra save vs -80% effectiveness and a roll against SR (if any) makes it a lot less reliable in-combat. Of course, since it's mostly out-of-combat, and you've put good work into pumping the Save DC throughout your career, I won't knock you much for that. It's hard to say this doesn't feel like a solid choice for an illusionist when you're spamming 4th lvl spells in a game that caps at lvl 6.

Originality: 3.75
+3.00: Base
+0.50: Race
+0.25: Classes
-0.50: Feats
+0.50: Skills
+0.00: Overall concept

"Crusader with all the melee lockdown stuff" is really dragging your score down here. I've seen judges who knock off points for things that feel like they're fishing for originality points, which the race and PrC kinda feel like, but I don't really get that mentality. I love that I've never even heard of Soldier of Light before. I love that this build is highlighting how weird Trickery Devotion is. I would hate if every build just gave up on doing something new.

Power: 4.50
+3.00: Base
+0.25: Lvl 1-4
+0.50: Lvl 5-8
+0.50: Lvl 9-12
+0.25: Lvl 13-16


Low: Crusader is solid as always, but lvl 1 looks (relatively) painful and your Trickery trick is low on uses.

Low-Mid: Your trick has skyrocketed in uses, and you've started down the path to a proper lockdown build.

Mid-High: The lockdown build is all coming together.

High: A few more things to lock down enemies with, to round out the build. Nothing particularly exciting or impressive though.

Elegance: 5.00
+3.00: Base
+0.25: Two base classes
+0.25: No more than one PrC
+0.25: No multiclass penalties
+0.25: No qualification issues
+0.25: Cites sources
+0.50: Amazing synergy
+0.25: No rule-twisting

Normally I'd penalize for dips, but I'm willing to skip that in E6 comp. Feels unfair. Additionally, if your alignment change was more official/integral to the build, I'd ding you for it, but since it ain't necessary, it ain't a problem. Trickery Devotion works really well with an AoO build since it's not competing for action economy. Full marks.

UotSI: 3.00
+3.00: Base
-0.25: Versatility
+0.25: Power
+0.25: Reliability
-0.25: Fluff

Blur 3/day is neat but nothing to really write home about. Disguise Self with rank support won't pass a physical inspection but is otherwise extremely solid. But let's be honest, they're gimmicks at best; the real star here is Trickery Devotion, a lovely weird little ability. Of the three illusion things you can do, only one of them has the classic versatility of illusions where they can be tweaked to fit the situation, and that's the disguising. The feat is still great, but it has to look like you and can only do so much and can only go so far. It's very defined.

If the feat was "free action Bluff check to become immune to single-target effects for 1 round", I'd stick power at full and call it a day. But it must be mentioned that the illusory has a maximum of 12 HP (22 if we're being generous on what "character level" means in an E6 context). Between the odds of getting hit and the odds of taking a hit, this will reasonably soak two maybe three hits per use. That's pretty good! But it's a far cry from flat-out immunity. And there's another reason it's not a perfect defense that fits better in reliability...

Most illusions that are have the versatility of vague writing also fall into the reliability trap, where it's easy for a DM to rule against them, or make smart decisions in-character that take the possibility of illusions into account. You're mostly fine on that front; all three are just too well-defined in what they do to give the DM wiggle room to screw you. However, there's a hole in your defense that seems almost inevitable: the second an enemy aims for the "real you" and the weapon flies through basically unhindered, they'll adjust their targeting and aim for (what they think is) the fake next time. You can argue that this kind of double-fake-out nonsense is exactly what the Bluff vs Sense Motive check is supposed to represent. I don't disagree...the same way I usually agree with the illusionist when the DM pulls rank and screws them.

Ultimately, this isn't an illusionist. It's a crusader with a neat gimmick. It's a very neat gimmick - neat enough to avoid full penalty - but they are still a knight in shining armor at heart.

Originality: 3.25
+3.00: Base
+0.50: Race
-0.50: Classes
+0.25: Feats
+0.25: Skills
-0.25: Overall Concept

There's some neat stuff here, but at the end of the day it's just a racist wizard with a weird gimmick.

Power: 4.25
+3.00: Base
+0.25: Lvl 1-4
+0.50: Lvl 5-8
+0.25: Lvl 9-12
+0.25: Lvl 13-16


It's weird to have a 6-level competition where you have 5 levels in a full caster class and I'm still underwhelmed by your capabilities. You sink a dozen feats and a full level into getting a whole bunch of favored enemy benefits against "everyone", but at the end of the day you're a CL and half a spell level behind where you could be your entire career, with basically no feat support for your actual casting. Even with a DM who accepts your presentation of how the Deceptive Facade transformation interacts with Favored Enemy, there's still the chance of failure, and it costs a 3rd lvl slot to even attempt to gain those benefits.

Elegance: 3.75
+3.00: Base
+0.25: Two base classes
+0.25: No more than one PrC
+0.25: No multiclass penalties
+0.25: No qualification issues
+0.25: Cites sources
+0.50: Amazing synergy
-1.00: Argument generator

Not only will this start a new argument about getting FE bonuses against things it doesn't cover, it does so by opening up the door on whether FE bonuses apply the rest of the time. Otherwise, very well-put together build, no complaints.

UotSI: 1.75
+3.00: Base
-0.50: Versatility
+0.25: Power
-0.50: Reliability
-0.50: Fluff

You're a transmuter with a single good illusion trick that's very easy for a DM to equivocate over, and in fact is designed to force the DM to have that exact argument because your whole build depends on the outcome of that argument. If it works, though, you're certainly getting high bonuses against every big enemy that crosses your path. Not every enemy, only so many slots, but still.

Originality: 4.00
+3.00: Base
+0.50: Race
-0.50: Classes
+0.00: Feats
+0.50: Skills
+0.50: Overall concept

Loving the concept here. Feats are a mixed bag. Classes are...well, you're a psion/artificer. Not exactly plumbing the depths of creativity here.

Power: 4.25
+3.00: Base
+0.00: Lvl 1-4
+0.50: Lvl 5-8
+0.50: Lvl 9-12
+0.25: Lvl 13-16


Truthfully, giving a rating here is kind of weird. How powerful are you? Well, aim small, miss small. As an adventurer? You're an under-leveled artificer with some side-gimmicks in other stuff. Not awful by any stretch of the imagination, artificer can be pretty broken (even if you don't seem to be abusing it), but clearly not bringing your best to bear. For a dog show winner? Best in show, easily. Guaranteed blue ribbons. But this isn't a competition where we judge entries based on how good they are at winning dog shows.

Elegance: 3.00
+3.00: Base
+0.00: Three base classes
+0.25: No more than one PrC
-0.25: Multiclass penalties
+0.25: No qualification issues
-0.25: Doesn't cite all sources
+0.25: Good synergy
-0.25: Minor argument

Didn't cite sources on race. Mostly noticed this cuz I had to check the favored class...which was Wu Jen, so MC penalties. Additionally, I don't imagine many DMs will take an issue, but I can see an RAI stickler taking issue with you stacking the Shapechanger and Minor Shapechanger bonuses to Disguise. It seems to be rules-legal, but it's kinda tricksy, yknow?

Artificer works well with basically anything, and you certainly seem to be using it to support both your personal theme and that of the contest.

UotSI: 4.00
+3.00: Base
+0.00: Versatility
+0.25: Power
+0.50: Reliability
+0.25: Fluff

If you had nothing but the double-disguise, this would be an easy minimum in versatility. As it stands, artificer is the king of pulling weird random tricks out of their ass, and your suggested item creations are staying on theme, so it averages out. At this point the dedication to your personal theme is what's limiting the number of toys you can play with and how good they can be. Your tricks are mostly defensible (even artificer isn't really be abused, just used), so the aforementioned double-shapechanger argument is the only place where a DM can make trouble for your illusion theme...and you've already been penalized for that. No double-dipping on penalties around here. As far as fluff goes, tricksy shapechangers aren't quite illusionists, but they're along the same lines, and I like what you're doing. Near-full marks there.

[daremetoidareyo]

Thanks for judging. No disputes here

[thorr-kan]

I had a gnome that I passed on because it was a cool idea but was so ability score MAD that it wasn’t good enough. I’ll post a stub when I’m at the computer

Mine was going to be a gnome bard with paragon and substitution levels, leaning into Bardic Music and the feats boosting spell level and save DC, along with Lyric Spell and Extra Music.

[MinimanMidget]

Global judging note on half-elves: I don't judge Originality based on how much an ingredient appears within the round. Half-elf is a race you almost never see normally, and you certainly never expect to see in a build contest, so it's worth a bonus, regardless of showing up in three out of four builds. Deepwyrm half-drow is slightly more expected, since half-drow is the only way to access drow-only stuff, and deepwyrm is basically something for nothing at that point.



Half-elf, see judging note. (+0.75)

Sneak Attack Fighter is meh, but Dragonmark Heir is definitely unusual, and Half-Elf Paragon is downright weird. (+0.5)

This isn't the first dragonmark build we've seen, even outside of the round where it was the theme. That said, your Prophecy's Hero + Unlock Dragonmark trick is new to me, and you have some other unusual feats mixed in with some normal ones. You have an odd mix of skills, too. (+0.25)

With that said, the end result is a build that spams dragonmarks/Shadow Conjurations. It's neat, but it's not exactly groundbreaking. (-0.75)

Overall: 3.75


Shadow Conjuration is (famously) pretty good. It's not normally accessible in E6, either, and 10 uses per day is more than a normal spellcaster would get of their highest level spells, although not nearly as many as their total spells per day. Your action economy isn't ideal, obviously. It's crazy to me that you didn't pump more ranks into Knowledge (arcana). Having your prophetic favour last for 8 rounds instead of 4 isn't game changing, but it makes going into one when you think there's combat coming up a lot more viable. Outside of that, you can sneak attack at +10/1d8 + 1d6 + 6, which is...okay. Damage isn't really your thing. Intimidating Strike is something, I guess. (+0.5)

Defensively, I guess there's nothing stopping you from wearing heavy armour and a shield. Your hit points are decent, and your saves are all okay. I was expecting this to be a problem for you, but it's surprisingly solid. (+0.5)

Outside of combat, you've got great social skills, some minor illusions (including Minor Illusion), and lots of Shadow Conjurations. You're looking solid here too, although you have the classic problem of a limited resource pool that you'll have to split between combat and utility. (+0.25)

Overall: 4.25


Ice Darts runs afoul of the volley rule, so it's not as good as you think. I'm also not completely convinced you can use Unlock Dragonmark to access the SLAs from Dragonmark Adept. These are minor quibbles, but I just can't find anything to really object to. And I have to say, Prophecy's Hero + Unlock Dragonmark is a very neat combination.

Overall: 5


In terms of your ingredients, only the Mark of Shadow is intrinsically tied to the illusion theme. You could submit almost exactly the same build to a different round just by changing which mark you used. (-0.75)

When it comes to mechanical effect, your primary output is a whole lot of Shadow Conjuration. Which is an illusion, certainly, but it's an illusion whose effect is Conjuration spells. You can use some other illusions, but it's obviously not your focus. (-0.5)

In terms of overall feel, it really is more of a dragonmark build than an illusion one, I think. It would've done fantastically in that round, though. (-0.5)

Overall: 1.25

Total: 14.25




Deepwyrm half-drow, see judging note. (+0.5)

One level of Swashbuckler shows up a lot, and Crusader is so overused that people actively avoid it. I didn't expect to see either in the illusion round, but still. Soldier of Light is a bit more interesting, but in a build where you also took Knowledge Devotion and Trickery Devotion, it's just a Cleric dip wearing a paper bag on its head (and mangling your fluff a bit to try and justify it). You haven't even used anything that requires +6 BAB to get something out of all this extra effort. (-0.5)

Other than Trickery Devotion and City Slicker, your feats (as well as your stances and maneuvers) are just cookie cutter optimisation. Your skills are a bit better, but even then you've got a lot of ranks dedicated to Knowledge Devotion, the standard 5 ranks of Balance, and so on. (-0.5)

Overall, it's just a standard spiked chain build with a few small tweaks. (-1)

Overall: 1.5


First and foremost, the simulacrum from Trickery Devotion is not "invulnerable". It has 12 hit points. So, you know, good luck with that. Beyond that, well, I called it cookie cutter optimisation earlier - these things are standard because they work. You've exaggerated your capabilities a bit (no, you can't lock down an entire battlefield with your 10 foot reach), but it's obviously very effective. Although it suffers a bit compared to similar builds because of your low Strength score. (+0.5)

I wouldn't say your defences are "stellar". You have a lot of hit points, and your AC is okay (but not great). Your Fort is good, but your Ref and Will don't impress me as much as they seem to impress you. You have a lot of other minor defensive capabilities, so this is still a good category for you, just not as good as you seemed to think. (+0.5)

Outside of combat, you're good at Bluff and Disguise. Detect Magic uses are nice to have, and Detect Undead isn't bad either, even if it suffers in comparison to Detect Evil. (-0.5)

Overall: 3.5


Reckless Offensive is pretty obscure, but the 3.5 update, Reckless Offense, definitely isn't - it's literally in the SRD. Luckily for you, it doesn't change anything for your build.

The rules for dualistic religions don't actually allow for worshipping both gods - in fact, they explicitly discourage it. That said, you're not a cleric, so (as you said) you don't actually require an alignment change. I'm frowning at it, but I'm not penalising it. What I will penalise, though, is that Elishar doesn't exist in Faerun, where your character is from. (-0.25)

Martial Spirit is a stance. (-0.5)

Overall: 4.25


As far as ingredients on theme go, you have Trickery Devotion. I guess deepwyrm half-drow is sort of thematically linked to illusions. It's not a lot. (-0.5)

In terms of effects, you have Trickery Devotion, Disguise Self once per day, and 3 rounds of Blur per day. It's still not a lot. (-0.5)

Overall? This is a Crusader build that picked up Trickery Devotion. (-1)

Overall: 1

Total: 10.25




Deepwyrm half-drow, see judging note. (+0.5)

Wizard is one of the most expected classes imaginable for this round. Specialising in Transmutation rather than Illusion is obviously a slight twist, but you're still a wizard, no matter how many times you wrote Transmuter in your entry. Ranger shows up a lot in general, even if it's not an obvious pick for illusions specifically. You've made heavy use of ACFs and variants, which helps a bit. (-0.75)

Your feats are a lot weirder. Favoured Enemy optimisation was a bit of a thing in the Ranger round, but it's not something anyone does normally. Your skills are all pretty standard skills, but you've spread yourself around a lot. Your spell list feels like you knew the spells you cared about (which are the interesting ones), then you filled in the rest with optimisation staples. I don't want to hold that against you, though, because I'm just glad you gave me a spell list - it's very annoying (and all too common) to judge full spellcasters who haven't bothered to specify. (+0.5)

Looking at your build overall, it's definitely a strange build. There are some cool ideas here, and even though I don't think a lot of it works (look forward to hearing about that in Elegance), I enjoyed reading it. (+1)

Overall: 4.25


Even assuming everything works, you're looking at casting Deceptive Facade on the enemy you plan to attack. They're not going to be willing, so you have to land a touch attack, then they have to fail their Will save (harmless means they can make a save if they want to, and they have no reason to assume their enemy is casting a touch range spell on them for their benefit). After that, you're potentially also looking at casting Scorpion Tail - 2 rounds gone and you haven't done anything yet. Even once you start attacking, your numbers aren't exactly impressive. There's just a ton of setup for not much payoff. (-0.75)

Defensively, your hit point pool is miserable for someone who plans to be in melee. Even with Mage Armour, your AC is pretty bad, and your saves are all low. Those numbers improve against your favoured enemies, at least. You have some other defensive buffs on your list, but that's more time spent buffing and not actually doing anything. (-0.75)

Outside of combat, you have a bunch of skills, but you've spread yourself way too thin to be good at any of them. You've got Disguise Self, Deceptive Facade (and you're certainly better off casting Deceptive Facade on an ally with a better Bluff score than Disguise Self on yourself), and Fly. Your skill bonuses get better against your favoured enemies, but you also won't be able to cast Deceptive Facade to make everyone you want to use skills against your favoured enemies. The only way this character can function is in a campaign that's all about evil dragons all of the time. (-0.5)

Overall: 1


The regions for half-drow are Dambrath and the Dalelands, meaning that you don't actually qualify for Foe Hunter. If it makes you feel any better, regular half-elves don't either, it's actually only aquatic half-elves who can pick the Dragon Coast. In general, regional feats are a mess, so I'm only giving a minor penalty, but watch out for it in future. (-0.25)

Arcane Hunter and Elf Ranger both explicitly replace the 1st-level favoured enemy class feature, so no, it's not "comportable". I'm assigning a larger penalty here because this was completely avoidable. You didn't need Arcane Hunter for your trick to work, you just apparently couldn't bring yourself to be a ranger without it. And it seems like you knew it was dodgy, too. (-0.75)

On a related note, Spell Versatility and Combat Wizard both replace wizard bonus feats. This one is much more ambiguous, since the wording of Spell Versatility suggests it can just as easily replace fighter bonus feats as wizard bonus feats. Still, you're not supposed to be able to combine variants that replace the same ability, so it's a minor penalty. (-0.25)

What the heck is going on with your skill points at 1st level? You've listed the total as 40 (should be 44), but the actual total you've got there is 28. Sense Motive is not a class skill, and normally I'd assume you meant to use Skilled City Dweller and forgot to mention it, but you've also treated Survival as a class skill, so that's not possible. Knowledge (arcana) doesn't have CC on it, but you've correctly treated it as cross-class. (-1)

Bane of Infidels specifically requires worship of a specific deity, which you neglected to include. I'm assuming you meant Bahamut, given that the opposing deity you picked is Tiamat. (And no, chromatic dragons or anyone you disguise as a chromatic dragon is not automatically a follower of Tiamat.) (-0.25)

Wise to Your Ways is from Ghostwalk, and you have a bunch of Faerun-specific feats. (-0.25)

An unarmed strike is a specific weapon. If Ascetic Hunter had used the phrase "unarmed attack", I could maybe see an argument that your Scorpion Tail trick might work, but it says unarmed strike. If you were a Monk, you could argue that you could make unarmed strikes with your tail, but then they wouldn't be free actions, they'd just be your regular attacks, and you wouldn't get the stunning effect anyway. (-0.25)

And finally, the big one. No, Spell Versatility doesn't turn Deceptive Facade into True Polymorph. (-1)

Overall: 1


Looking at your ingredients, you have some illusion spells. Deceptive Facade is the one you're leaning on the most, but you made it into a Transmutation spell, remember? That cuts both ways. I guess deepwyrm half-drow is sort of thematically linked to illusions. (-0.5)

Mechanically, you have Disguise Self, Mirror Image, and Deceptive Facade. This round is really making me rethink my criteria for this section, because half of the builds have no distinction between the ingredients that are on theme and the effects they can produce that are on theme. (-0.5)

Overall, this is a Favoured Enemy build that uses a single illusion spell to pretend everyone they fight is a dragon. (-1)

Overall: 1

Total: 7.25




Hengeyokai shows up a fair bit, but it's usually sparrows - I don't remember seeing the dog version before. (+0.25)

You certainly don't see Savant every day, even as a dip for class skills. I guess it's conceptually no different than the (more common) Factotum dip for the same purpose. I've seen an Egoist dip for Change Shape before, but it's not common either. Artificer, on the other hand, shows up all too often. (-0.5)

None of your feats are particularly unusual, but they're not particularly standard, either. Your skills aren't too weird, with the exception of Control Shape, which I'm not sure I've ever seen used before. (+0.25)

This is a pretty strange build. Even if we ignore the whole "dog show" concept, it's still very odd. (+1)

Overall: 4


In terms of combat effectiveness, even if you turn into a dog, then turn into a werewolf hybrid, then activate Animal Devotion, which is your best case scenario, you're still not exactly overwhelming as a melee fighter, and it's not like you can do that all the time. Other than that, you have Deep Slumber once per day, which is nice if not great, and Charm Monster once per day, which is pretty good, especially since a single use of Charm Monster can potentially boost your party for a week at a time. Hound of Doom isn't bad either. Aspect of the Wolf would lower your ability scores, so I'm not sure why you thought that was a good idea. (+0.25)

As far as defences are concerned, your hit points are on the low side, your AC isn't great, and your Fort and Ref are both low. All of those get better when you're a werewolf, at least. Your Will save is solid. You have a bit of DR, and a bit more as a werewolf. All in all, I have concerns for your wellbeing. (-0.5)

You can win dog shows, no doubt about that. Outside of that, you can turn into a dog, and you're great at Disguise in general, but your other social skills are a bit too low to be relied on. Bluff in particular is one of those skills that you really need to either max out or ignore, because it's dangerous to use it and fail. You can make up the difference (and then some) with the scrolls you've listed, but whipping out a scroll and casting it is going to make people suspicious in a lot of social situations. UMD (and really Artificer in general) can potentially do a lot here, and Knowledge (the planes) is often handy. You have trapfinding and Disable Device trained, but with few ranks and none in Search it's not exactly amazing. Skill assistance is a cool ability that suffers from your low ranks in most of your skills. Charm Monster is useful here too, but only once per day. (-0.25)

Overall: 2.5


The link you gave for Shape Change Egoist is dead. For this and other reasons, I'd encourage you to use Internet Archives links for WotC archive material. (-0.25)

You left out your BAB and save bonuses. I need to record them somewhere so I can reference them in my Power judgement, so in case anyone is curious, they are +3 BAB, +1 Fort, +1 Ref, +8 Will. (-1)

How are you planning to get to the Were Glade? And not just once, but regularly? Plane Shift is hilariously out of reach in E6. As a level 7 encounter, does it even exist in E6? On a related note, it's a lot less dangerous than a lot of touchstone sites, but if you run into a werewolf lord you're going to be in trouble. It's a minor thing, but where did you get your touchstone key? (-0.5)

Using Savant to take Control Shape ranks is neat. Treating Control Shape as a class skill at level 6 is a lot less neat. Even if the higher-order ability of the Were Glade qualifies you for getting Control Shape as a class skill, and I'm not convinced it does, you can't possibly have the higher-order ability at level 6 when you took the skill ranks, because you only just took Planar Touchstone and haven't had time to visit it yet. The only way this could possibly work is if you were in the glade when you leveled up, which would at least explain where you got your touchstone key, I suppose. On the same topic, using Control Shape for extra uses is clever, but it's also pretty dodgy. (-1)

Social Recovery requires 8 ranks in Bluff, and 5 in Diplomacy - you only have 5 in Bluff and 2 in Diplomacy. Never Outnumbered requires 8 ranks in Intimidate, and you only have 6. (-0.75)

Another round, another paragraph about magic item crafting penalties. The contest rules aren't clear on how xp works, and whether you can afford to lose some. If each character gets enough xp to level to E10, the moment you craft something, you've lost access to your final feat. Your craft reserve certainly helps, but it doesn't completely remove the problem. There's also potentially an issue with gold, too. My general rule when judging is to allow mundane items and ignore any magic items, since most builds don't assume they have access and we want a level playing field. There's obviously a big difference between "my character can craft these items" and "my character wants to buy these items", but I still feel weird about assuming you can fund your crafting, but others can't buy magic items. (-0.5)

As a side note, you have 4 levels of Artificer spellcasting. You have a full section on the scrolls you plan to craft and use, but you haven't told me anything about what you plan to do with the spellcasting that you get for free every day?

Based on the Disguise skill description, I don't think the +10 for transformative magic is supposed to stack, but it doesn't really matter.

Overall: 1


As far as ingredients go, only the fey feats are tied to illusions at all. You've listed some illusion spells, but "I plan to craft these scrolls" is a product of Artificer as an ingredient, and Artificer is definitely not thematically tied to illusions. (-0.75)

On the other hand, those spells do count for the mechanical effect category. Which is just as well, because they're all you have here, except for Disguise Self once per day. (-0.5)

It's difficult to judge the overall feel of this build, because it's hard to tell what this build actually does (outside of dog shows, I mean). It seems like it's mostly dedicated to being a shapeshifter, though. (-0.5)

Overall: 2.25

Total: 9.75


And on a completely other note, I quite like the idea of throwing weapons as a theme - I can think of a few different build ideas for that one.

[Venger]

Dispute for AvatarVecna:

First of all, thank you for judging!


But it must be mentioned that the illusory has a maximum of 12 HP (22 if we're being generous on what "character level" means in an E6 context). Between the odds of getting hit and the odds of taking a hit, this will reasonably soak two maybe three hits per use. That's pretty good! But it's a far cry from flat-out immunity.

Trickery Devotion is weirder than you think still. It tells us "The simulacrum combines the characteristics of the silent image and unseen servant spells". Silent Image only gives us the force's AC, but if we want to know about its survivability, we turn to Unseen Servant. This says:


The servant cannot attack in any way; it is never allowed an attack roll. It cannot be killed, but it dissipates if it takes 6 points of damage from area attacks. (It gets no saves against attacks.)

The only part of this overridden by Trickery Devotion is the 'HP' which is set to 6+character level instead. But Unseen Servant strongly suggests that the servant doesn't actually take damage from anything except area attacks (otherwise, why call them out specifically?). It doesn't really matter how many people stab our illusion buddy; as long as it's not an area attack, everything's fine.

[loky1109]

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

Your class selection... Well, it would be a lie to call it unsurprising! As like as general idea to build around Dragonmarks and associated feats. On the other hand, PHB race can't be a true surprise. And Craven is a boooooring option.
I give you 4.5 points here.
Killing or debuffing enemies aren't your best aspects, but you still could make something in this field. After all, you can hit 'em with a sword (+1).
Your defenses are quite good especially if you are ready. But even if you aren't, okish hp, good saves, but not best possible AC (+1).
Your social skills, Urban Tracking, Master Manipulator and a great variety of available utility spells are amazing (+1.75)!
10 Shadow Conjurations per day in E6 is cool, but you really want to have more. Plus, your main trick is online only in Epic (+0.25).
Total: 4 points.
Sneak attack fighter variant doesn't get Gather Information as class skill, you need Thug for it. Yes, you clearly could get it, but you didn't. Plus, if you did it has anti-synergy with Golden Dragonmail - Thug loses medium armor proficiency (-0.5). I see it now.
Plus, it would be good to know what EotLQ means without googling (-0).

It's really all I could find. Perfect 5 points.
I'll be brief. Illusions clearly are main theme of your entry, its main weapon and main tool and it's great tool!
Full mark! 5 points.
Total: 18.5

First. I frequently see Half-Drow in E6. And dragonblood variation also doesn't work to your advantage. As like Crusader, but here four levels help you - It's more than I expected for this round. Swashbuckler and Soldier of Light are good for you.
Feats... There are some very common, but also some slightly obscure. And your general idea is interesting.

Total: 3.5 points.
You are good at striking people (+1.5).
Your HP, AC, two of three saves and Trickery Devotion's double give you great defensive potential (+1.5).
Your skills are ok. Plus you have some utility (two detects, Trickery Devotion). Not very much, but something (+0.5).
Trickery Devotion quickly drains your Turns, it could be an issue (+0).

Total: 3.5
Only issues I found is reliance on specific gods and cosmology and possible alignment change (-0.5).

Total: 4.5
It's hard.
Blur and Disguise Self are ok, but not very much. Trickery Devotion on the other hand is very interesting. I'd call it "core" of your entry. You still could operate without it, but it's a significant part of your power. I give you 3.5 points here.

Total: 15

I already told about Deepwyrm Half-Drow. But your class selection differs. Ranger isn't very expected. Wizard - is, but not Transmuter. And your trick is totally unexpected. Feats are mostly surprising, too. You got two feats that have eponymous PrC. )

You get 4 points from me here.
Let assume your trick works. With it you have surprisingly good offensive power for a wizard (against a single enemy), plus you are, y'know, a wizard (+1).
Defensively you have good saves against dragons and poor against all others. Even with your trick it isn't enough if you encounter more than one-two enemies. Your hit points are low, AC - nothing to write home about (+0.5).
Skills and other utility options... You are a wizard, yes, but your typical memorize is not very interesting. Yes, fly, expeditious retreat, disguise self and nerveskitter, but I think it could be better. Skills... Not nothing, but nothing special (+0.75).
Your spells look like they will run out in one-two encounters (+0).

Total: 2.25
Arcane Hunter and Elf Ranger trade the same ability, you couldn't take both (-0.5).

Your reading of Elf Favored Enemy could raise questions among DMs.
"This substitution feature also affects the elf ranger's later improvements to his favored enemy ability." could be read as it affects only favored enemy ability obtained by ranger levels (-0.25).

Elephant in the room. Transmutation Deceptive Facade. Well, high transmuter could treat Deceptive Facade as Transmutation, but... This fact doesn't change what spell does. It still functions as an illusion, it IS an illusion effect. And of course it doesn't change the creature's type and/or subtype. Your trick just doesn't work (-2).


Qop can turn anything into a dragonblood thing with deceptive facade spell, no save.
Wait a minute! Why "no save"?

Saving Throw: Will negates (harmless, object)

(harmless): The spell is usually beneficial, not harmful, but a targeted creature can attempt a saving throw if it desires.
I definitely see will save here (-0.5).

Your point about synergy between Scorpion Tail and Ascetic Hunter is questionable. And even if it works... You waste a feat for one "1 round/level" spell per day? Doesn't sound like a great decision (-0.25).

Total: 1.5
You have disguise self and mirror image. You main trick is built around another illusion spell - deceptive facade, but... You tried to make it Transmutation spells. You really rely on transmutation affect, not on illusion. I think it's against spirit of UoSI.

Total: 2 points.

Total: 9.75

For me almost everything in your entry is surprising.
Full mark: 5 points.
Okay, "The goodest boy can win a dog show" but let's see how he will showcase himself in more typical adventurer's action.

What about offensive capability? You can do something, but nothing special. You can bite in many ways, potentially can Emulate various spells via Artificer, but your spell selection isn't about it. I give you +0.5 for potential, Hound of Doom and Were Glade.
Defensive. Good Will, poor other saves (ok, in wolf form Fort is something). Not great hp. You have some NatAC and Dex from time to time, Fey Skin, but that's all. Plus magic items potential of course (+0.5).
Utility is your strong side. Varies spells, skills, skill tricks, SLA, Magic Item Creations. Good (+1.75).

You are limited in Planar Touchstone Higher-Order Uses and Fey Presence SLA, but magic items limited only by your WBL (+0.5)

Total: 3.25
Where are your BAB and saves (-0.5)?

You didn't list sources for Hengeyokai, egoist and Artificer. They aren't in PHB (-0.25).

Where is your power known (-0.25)?

I look at your epic feats... They looked like you didn't know what to take (-0.25).


Further, due to savant granting all skills, the goodest boy has access to the control shape skill, which arguably allows the goodest boy to access his lycanthropy forms outside of the higher usage limit of the touchstone site.
I don't think it works (-0.5).


{+3} Control Shape: 7
Sorry, but:

Any character who has contracted lycanthropy and is aware of his condition can learn Control Shape as a class skill.
Were Glade doesn't give you contracted lycanthropy (-0.25).

Total: 3
You have Hound of Doom, Reflective Disguise, Beastmask, Minor Disguise, Friendly Face, Mask of the Ideal and all of this are Illusion, but I don't see any special synergy for illusion in your entry. Maybe you even became more powerful if you exchanged these spells for some others (what you could easily do). I give you 2.5 points.

Total: 13.75

And Table:
Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef AvatarVecna MinimanMidget loky1109 Total Place
Mehndi Toner (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833862&postcount=17) CG Half-Elf Skilled City-Dweller Sneak Attack Thug 1/Half-Elf Paragon 3/Dragonmark Heir 2 18.75 14.25 18.50 51.50 1st
Funhouse California, the Phantom Roadblock (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833863&postcount=18) NG Deepwyrm Half-Drow Arcane Stunt Swashbuckler 1/Skilled City-Dweller Crusader 4/Soldier of Light 1 16.25 10.25 15.00 41.50 2nd
Qop the Dragon-stomper (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833864&postcount=19) LG Deepwyrm Half-Drow Wildshape Arcane Hunter Elf Ranger 1/Drakken Familiar High Transmuter Combat Wizard 5 13.00 7.25 9.75 30.00 4th
Best In Show: The Goodest Boy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833865&postcount=20) CN Dog Hengeyokai Savant 1/Shapechange Egoist 1/Artificer 4 15.25 9.75 13.75 38.75 3rd

[MinimanMidget]

I'm going to assume that dispute applies to me too.


Trickery Devotion is weirder than you think still. It tells us "The simulacrum combines the characteristics of the silent image and unseen servant spells". Silent Image only gives us the force's AC, but if we want to know about its survivability, we turn to Unseen Servant. This says:

The servant cannot attack in any way; it is never allowed an attack roll. It cannot be killed, but it dissipates if it takes 6 points of damage from area attacks. (It gets no saves against attacks.)

The only part of this overridden by Trickery Devotion is the 'HP' which is set to 6+character level instead. But Unseen Servant strongly suggests that the servant doesn't actually take damage from anything except area attacks (otherwise, why call them out specifically?). It doesn't really matter how many people stab our illusion buddy; as long as it's not an area attack, everything's fine.

Unseen Servant can't be attacked directly because it's a shapeless force. Figments have an AC (as you yourself noted in your dispute) because they can be attacked. No change.

[AvatarVecna]

Trickery Devotion is weirder than you think still.

Broadly, I agree with the other judge. An unseen servant can't be damaged by non-AoE because it is invisible and shapeless - it can't be targeted or attacked with single-target effects because there's nowhere to aim and nothing to hit. Trickery Devotion gives it shape and makes it targetable, most DMs are going to read that as making it vulnerable to single-target damage even though that's not written anywhere in the ability. I believe you are correct on RAW, which would necessitate a +0.25 to your UotSI/Power rating, but that power is offset by an argument anti-illusion DMs can easily pick, lowering UotSI/Reliability by the same amount. I agree on the RAW front; despite that, ultimately, no change in scoring.

[Inevitability]

No disputes.

[Venger]

Thanks for a quick back and forth. Very encouraging to get 3 judges. Due to the size of the round, I'll just pop my head in and say let me know if there's any more disputes. If I get an all clear I can put the new round up later today. If not, I'll check in in a couple of days to make sure everyone's had time to read judgements.

[Venger]

Time for the reveal, everyone!

Name Alignment / Race Class Levels Chef AvatarVecna MinimanMidget loky1109 Total Place
Mehndi Toner (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833862&postcount=17) CG Half-Elf Skilled City-Dweller Sneak Attack Thug 1/Half-Elf Paragon 3/Dragonmark Heir 2 Inevitability 18.75 14.25 18.50 51.50 1st
Funhouse California, the Phantom Roadblock (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833863&postcount=18) NG Deepwyrm Half-Drow Arcane Stunt Swashbuckler 1/Skilled City-Dweller Crusader 4/Soldier of Light 1 Inevitability 16.25 10.25 15.00 41.50 2nd
Qop the Dragon-stomper (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833864&postcount=19) LG Deepwyrm Half-Drow Wildshape Arcane Hunter Elf Ranger 1/Drakken Familiar High Transmuter Combat Wizard 5 daremetoidareyo 13.00 7.25 9.75 30.00 4th
Best In Show: The Goodest Boy (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25833865&postcount=20) CN Dog Hengeyokai Savant 1/Shapechange Egoist 1/Artificer 4 daremetoidareyo 15.25 9.75 13.75 38.75 3rd

Congrats to both our chefs and thanks to our judges. New round up now (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658668-Iron-Chef-E6-Appetizer-Edition-Round-XLV&p=25843341#post25843341).

[Inevitability]

Amazing to see Mehndi received so well: I worked out the basic concept a couple months ago (though focusing on the Mark of Making and Minor Creation optimization at first) and found this round the perfect place to use it. Funhouse was more of an afterthought build, but I'm still happy to see him place second. Definitely a fun round, I'd love to see more spell school-related rounds in the future!